Yippiee! BIPI

Comcast retires domains

2008-01-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

I just got an interesting email from Sender Score saying that Comcast is retiring several domains.

Why should you care?!

Well, if any of the email addresses that are in your database end with this domain (i.e. the part after the '@'), then they'll keep bouncing your email messages back to you, which can look bad in terms of deliverability. Deliverability basically means how well your emails get through all the spam traps (both user dictated and ISP dictated - sometimes emails will never even make it into someone's junk mail box because their ISP kept it from being delivered at all). If you want to evaluate how well your email advertising is going, then you want to have the best deliverability statistics available, and something like a retired domain can really screw with that.

a great new word!

2007-11-27T12:37:00.000-08:00

While playing around on FreeRice.com, I came across this word:

bac·cif·er·ous [bak-sif-er-uhs]
adjective Botany.
bearing or producing berries.

[Origin: 1650–60; < L baccifer (see bacci-, -fer) + -ous]

Now that is Berry Interesting!

A lovely tribute to spin

2007-08-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Was reading an article on chronic fatigue syndrome today, and stumbled across this:

“You can change people’s attributions of the seriousness of the illness if you have a more medical-sounding name,” said Dr. Leonard Jason, a professor of community psychology at in Chicago.

Thank you, Dr. Jason, for that lovely lesson on spin-doctoring. Someone put him on a political campaign...

This started my gerbil running on her wheel today, about being a copywriter (a hearty shout-out to Scott out in Vegas, who is way better than I hope to be...). What has always struck me as irritating about being good at writing (yeah, a $160K education and ah kin rite reel gud fer shur) is that it doesn't pay. And i'm not just talking about the benjamins, either, folks. I've never been seriously hopeful about being a millionaire... my expectations for a comfy life run at about a $100K-a-year combined family income. What I mean by it-don't-pay is that, more and more, due to this information smog (thanks, David Shenk),

I find myself not writing because I don't think anyone will read me.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem? I've got a serious case of uselessness surrounding my writing-self. The most joy I get out of writing these days is writing emails (and the occasional letter) to Able Ponder.

The flip-side of this is that I'm reading more than ever - various blog posts, slate.com. I am voracious for more AblePonder posts, and can't wait to click the bolded headers in my google-reader pane. So if I'm reading like a hound, from whence comes this faithlessness in my own readability? Is it the fact that I tried (and still try, at turns) to professionalize what was initially a hobby? If doing what you love is "the secret," am I doomed to sequentially kill all that I love, and be a hopelessly miserable professional?

I hope not. I hope that my work with Julian and BHQG among others will help keep me fresh, help keep me excited about what I do. After all, writing that House and Hammock article for Julian was exhilarating and satisfying. Designing the BHQG site delights me. I hope that this isn't just because I'm not doing it 8 hours a day. I hope that I can make this into an 8-hours-a-day gig that really does delight me and doesn't dull me into retirement.

Who's behind those awful Burger King commercials

2007-04-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Great article on Slate.com about the Ad agency behind the Burger King commercials.
Man, I hate those things. I will go so far as to change the channel.. and i'm lazy.

The Joys of Direct Marketing

2007-03-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

From someone who was apparently subscribed to an email list that he was NOT interested in.
Around here, CAN-SPAM is worshipped. We do all sorts of double and triple checking to make sure that people don't get emails that they don't want

>I have a really cool offer for you, but I will only offer it once.
>
>You can stop sending me your stupid bull-shit which has been craftily
>designed to extract cash from the week-minded, or not.

>If you choose to acknowledge the fact that I am one who who has a life, and
>therefore could not give-a-shit-less about your wasted life, enslaved to a
>ridiculous sport. Then I will refrain from bringing a rather substantial
>law suit against your precious Miami Tunas. If you refuse to acknowledge my
>rights, and my wishes to privacy, I will gleefully contact my attorney.

>PS
>This is my ninth attempt to be removed from your dumb-ass list. I think a
>fair value would be about one million dollars every time you continue to
>harass me. I'm sure that my attorney will agree with me.

Obviously, this has been turned over to the dev department to be taken care of immediately.

What's even better is: (from dev) The punch line? Dude has received ONE email (the one he replied to). Clicked the unsub link and successfully opted out.

Ahhh.
Direct Marketing is fun.

It pays to be a writing tutor... and have friends who are getting married

2007-03-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

With all of the hustle and bustle of parents moving, brother moving, and me buying appliances (who goes and buys a washer and dryer on their lunch hour? Seriously...), there hasn't been too much time for BIPI-related work, much less posting.

But I thought I'd share this:

<<< me and my boy Alan Metcalfe when the Vandy team returned from Sacramento - photo by the lovely JoAnna Todd, bridesmaid :)

More soon on the wedding, as I'm hoping that mom and I can whip up a bachelorette scrapbook before June 2.

Home networking, part 1 – all you need to do is plug in a cord...

2007-02-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

BIPI's biggest project of late has been helping Montgomery Associates move their office to a new location. And what a project it has been.

Part of what BIPI does – or, at least, attempts to do – is help make it a bit easier to use all of the cool technology that's out there (making your e-mails pretty, making your website a little easier to navigate, helping you set up a blog, making your office wireless). We make it easier by meeting you where you are - whether you're just tech-savvy enough to get yourself into trouble or all you know is that you want something better than what you've got but no idea how to get there.

Today's lesson comes in the form of an experience this morning – specifically, that home networking doesn't need to be hard, or complicated, or frustrating for the end-user (that'd be the guy or gal who just wants their internet to work properly!).

Here's the lesson:

A home network is relatively simple. Now, since wireless is pretty hip, i'm going to talk to you about a wireless network, which is what MAI has. Think of it as a bicycle wheel.
The axle of the wheel is the modem, which translates the information coming and going over the internet line coming into your home, from your ISP (internet service provider). This modem is where it all starts – it's how you connect to the rest of the world.
In order to be wireless, you will need a router, which is like the hub of the wheel. That router will send out a signal - the spokes of the wheel.
Your computer is at the tire-end of the spoke, and that is where you want your internet access. In order to get access at that point – your computer – you need to be able to get a signal from the modem to the router, then from the router to your computer.

Lots of elements come into play during this connection, but a good example of a connection problem happened this morning. MAI's recently-moved office is not yet settled, due to a prolonged and bloody battle with local cable/internet/phone provider Comcast. This battle, though still pitched, is currently on hold. As a stop-gap, BIPI set up service with Windstream, whose customer service has led MAI to look into switching to their cable service as well.

A call from MAI this morning, however, had us doubting Windstream's so-far stellar customer service, as Lisa, MAI's president, reported an inability to connect to the internet as well as confusion about the network name. Once BIPI started investigating the problem, however, Windstream's reputation was saved. The problem was – as is common – simple user error.

The modem was not connected to the office router, resulting in no internet connection for anyone on the office network. Once the connection was made, internet access was restored.

The moral of the story? As simple as it seems, check to make sure you're plugged in before you worry about service being down or your computer having a problem. :) Stay tuned for more on 'keep it simple, stupid' home networking facts next week.

For more information about our services, for now, please email us by clicking here.

Onward & Upward,

Danielle Throneberry, CEO

Finally, a BIPI web presence

2007-01-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

January 15, 2006

In the words of Anthony Orio, "you gotta start somewhere," and this is the start.

Berry Interesting Productions, Inc. - a.k.a. BIPI - incorporated in September of 2006 in Nashville, TN with the primary aim of providing services to Montgomery Associates, Inc. (whose division Yeehaw Stampin' uses BIPI's marketing and design services), Jim & Ed Sherraden (Ed's book, World War II Remembered, was published by BIPI in late 2006) and, briefly, GSM Toys (a group of manufacturing reps whose offices in Nashville employed our services).Thanks to these people, BIPI now has the resources to go forward with serious design and marketing initiatives. Our most recent projects are working to build Talkin' Trash with Throne, a college sports analysis blog, and assisting in a very small way the folks over at Franklinis.com, a local site for all things Franklin and Williamson County, TN.

BIPI uses Adobe and Macromedia software running on a Macintosh platform. We exclusively use the EMMA email-marketing application for e-newsletter intiatives.

BIPI owes many thanks to Lisa Throneberry, the mastermind behind our incorporation, and to Julian Bibb, owner of JLB Works, LLC, whose moral support and constant praise helped to push our own web presence into the light of day.

For more information about our services, for now, please email us by clicking here.

Onward & Upward,

Danielle Throneberry, President