Building a Bridge Over a Chasm

 

 

Geoffrey Moore was ahead of his time when he wrote Crossing the Chasm.

After reading his analysis on bridging “the Chasm” between early adopters and the mainstream market, I realized that this was an essential idea that’s been overlooked by many young startups. Some companies don’t know where to begin with their marketing efforts, and slowly dissipate into the black hole of Silicon Valley. Others find themselves on the right track, but hit a bottleneck when they arrive at the chasm, unsure of their next step. With new seeds of innovations constantly sprouting throughout the world, Moore’s approach on crossing the chasm is very relevant today.

At its core, the book analyzes how to approach the various psychographic (personality) profiles from the Technology Adoption Cycle, primarily the minority of hardcore, geeky enthusiasts versus the mainstream majority. Moore states that very few companies distinguish the visionary early adopters from the pragmatic second wave of users who follow.  This leads startups to fall straight into the chasm rather than crossing it safely. Unlike visionaries, who see potential in a startup’s prospects and want to see it grow, pragmatists want to see how the company will bring personal value to them.

What Moore suggests is to take more surgical approach to each market segment. Rather than placing all the eggs in to one basket, Moore describes entering the mainstream market like the D-Day invasion. If a startup is able to methodically capture the audience from one small part of the overall market, its success can then travel vertically to other segments. From one niche market to another, it’s an opportunity that can allow a company to dominate the mainstream (with a little patience and a lot of luck).

Apple is a great example of crossing the chasm successfully. After launching the iPod, the company constantly reengineered its product to meet the needs of each market segment, making each version better, simpler, and more powerful.  Warby Parker, a startup once focused on providing the best online shopping experience for eyewear, now has physical showrooms across the U.S. that cater to a different market of traditional shoppers.

But where does PR come into all of this? As an agency, we define and reinforce key messages about a startup’s product or service, with slightly different messages to suit each segment of the press. As a startup comes to the edge of the chasm, proper PR can build a compelling message to target niche markets, helping usher the startup towards the mainstream as smoothly as possible.  Word of mouth remains one of the most powerful tools in commerce; approaching the right people with the right message is the backbone of the best PR agencies.

And yet… I can’t help but notice another issue that today’s startups face. Another chasm is growing between innovators and early adopters, one step “earlier” in the lifecycle. With so many buzzed-about startups entering the market on a monthly, rather than annual basis, it’s become more difficult to garner the attention of visionaries and VCs. After all, a startup can’t concern itself with mainstream success if it can’t win over the early adopter first. Perhaps, in the future, Moore will address this issue in a new book, and share his advice for this new obstacle.  In the mean time, I highly recommend Crossing the Chasm as a foundation for any young tech company’s marketing strategy.

Image Credit to IllustrationSource and WikiMedia 

 

A Visitor’s Guide to Silicon Alley

TriplePoint New York is often asked about life in Silicon Alley. We get questions such as “what companies do we need to meet, what co-working spaces do we need to check out,” and more from our colleagues and contemporaries on the West Coast.

While there are numerous growing technology companies with offices in the “Alley,” including Tumblr, Bonobos, AppNexus, Birchbox, Boxee, Learnvest and more, there are also many favorite communal spots of the NY tech community. At these staples, you’ll find everyone from founders to VC’s to hackers plotting their next product feature or closing a funding round.

Here are some of the most popular destinations, complete with insider tips from TriplePoint and various tech influencers.

[portfolio_slideshow]

Thanks to @Mashable, @Birchbox, @FredWilson, @Naveen, @NihalMehta, @Benpopper, @Digital_sweet, @CBM, @LonisTweets, @Daveambrose, @Bonobos and all the tipsters within. Here’s our full list:

Ace Hotel Lobby (29th and Broadway):Get there early if you need seating for more than yourself. Make sure to grab coffee from Stumptown and if you have time, have breakfast at the Breslin.

Shake Shack (23rd and Madison): SF has In-N-Out, but we’ve got the shack. Give me a Double Shack Burger with a black & white shake in Madison Square Park over In-N-Out’s loud fast food environment any day of the week.

Birreria, at Eataly (23rd and Fifth): Situated atop Eataly with a retractable roof, Birreria is enjoyable year-round, but unbeatable when the weather is nice. The Shiitake mushrooms is one of the best dishes in the entire city.

General Assembly (20th and Broadway): What sets GA apart from the rest of the coworking spaces is its robust education program. If you don’t take a class, you’re missing out.

Tarallucci E Vino (18th and Fifth): Tucked around the corner from General Assembly, this Italian cafe is a regular on the tech breakfast and lunch circuit. You can’t go wrong with a croissant or the custard cream doughnut.

Grey Dog Cafe (11th and University): South of Union Square and only a few steps away from Dogpatch Labs, Grey Dog is often packed with various techies. Get the “Grey Dog’s Breakfast,” and thank me later.

Silicon Valley Roots: Is What the Dormouse Said Still Audible?

Industries in the United States have always defined various geographic regions of the county. In the nineteenth century, indigo and cotton plantations became symbols of the South, while Northern life was literally built around factories. In the early 1900s, Detroit became the Motor City and the Midwest established itself as the Corn Belt. Countless other examples of geographic specialization exist. Even after some of these industries collapsed, their cultural footprints were fossilized in the structure of towns, city architecture, street names, geographic landscape, and, most importantly, the pace of life in these regions.

Silicon Valley is the technology hub of America, but as businesses from the Valley continue to sprout after seed funding, many seem to drift further and further from their cultural roots.

The history of Silicon Valley, predating the well-known stories of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, is captured in John Markoff’s 2005 What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry. Markoff follows the unsung heroes of the computing industry, tracing their personal and professional paths across the mid-twentieth century in Northern California. But mostly, What the Dormouse Said also presents how, in one rare instance of American history, an extraordinary culture birthed an industry.

The founders of the Silicon Valley were in many cases misfits –  gifted minds who fled the stifling culture of East Coast suburbia for the freedom of 1960s counterculture in California. They found passion envisioning a new way of life aided by technology. They lent their time to corporations and the government as they dedicated their minds to projects of personal interest, embracing the freedom espoused by the Free Love movement. This zeal is also present in the histories of some recent companies. Both Facebook and language translation company Transperfect grew out of college dorms.

During the age of the corporate-ladder-climbing crony, the majority of men were buttoned-up in strict hierarchies, often working 30+ years with the same company. Myron Stolaroff, however, prototyped America’s first magnetic reel-to-reel tape recorder and then began guiding Silicon Valley residents down the rabbit hole of group-moderated LSD trips, meant to “open their minds to new creative visions.” Meanwhile, Robert Albrecht was facilitating knowledge flow throughout the Valley with the People’s Computer Company newsletter (named after Janis Joplin’s band, naturally). Fred Moore and Gordon French took Albrecht’s vision a step further, holding meet-ups to foster hobbyist computer passions and encourage idea-sharing among a gifted young crowd, including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, with their now famous Homebrew Computer Club.

This insular community of techies created a camaraderie unique to the West Coast. This camaraderie gave rise to a dynamic personal computing industry that morphed and progressed parallel to the minds of its members. But as years have distanced the personal computing industry from its roots, a new question has sprouted: is “what the dormouse said” still audible?

Silicon Valley, though still our country’s undeniable tech hub (no offense; keep truckin’ Silicon Alley), seems to have forgone the collaborative growth of times past in favor of reality shows, buzzwords, and Klout scores. Self-proclaimed serial entrepreneurs build businesses for profit, then cash out to start the venture over again.  Even in the 70s gifted minds in the personal computing industry looked to turn their enthusiasm into profits, and Moore’s Homebrew Computer Club generated a variety of companies including Apple and North Star. This isn’t a new or terrible phenomenon; if businesses were started solely out of passion, our shoes would likely lack laces and plastic bags would be a scarce commodity. But it is, in a sense, a perversion of the process. In a complete turn-around from the Silicon Valley of the 1960s, start-ups are driven by the desire to build a financially successful tech business rather than build on a passion for a better tomorrow. The result is a slough of clones — so many iterations of the same product that companies can’t always justify their versions as improvements upon a concept (much less as new original concepts), different brand names notwithstanding.

The scientists of personal computing history approached innovation from multiple angles. IBM set the computing standard with punch card computing. From there, Hewitt Crane pushed magnetic computing. And Doug Engelbart, close friend and colleague of Crane, opted to raise digital computing from its nascent form, creating the framework for the Internet and personal computer, including the mouse, display, and html, and then unveiled them in an epic demo (thought Steve Jobs came up with those moves himself?). Though Engelbart’s concept won out, each took his individual concept as far as possible and then allowed the ideas to coalesce into a more refined product. There were failed companies and mutinies, but throughout the process knowledge was constantly shared at sociopolitical hubs like Kepler’s Books. Today, talk of idea-sharing among companies is usually in reference to patent lawsuits.

There are some companies that are innovating and not creating replications of already successful products. The tablet has long been seen as the only child of the personal computer, but some start-ups are looking past the tablet and furthering the spirit of Silicon Valley, taking the personal computer to extremes. Livescribe smartpens house a computer in the shell of a pen and turn paper into an interactive display. Google, opting to bypass the tablet route, aims to further integrate computing into our lives via Project Glass. And both Microsoft and Burton are attempting to make William Shatner proud by developing 3D holograms. There are also myriad start-ups bringing innovative ideas to an increasingly tired space. As Silicon Valley progresses, the companies that are planting new seeds rather than adding tepid water to saturated soil are those that are paying mind to the flowering culture that bore their industry. What’s left to the rest is to be inspired by the inspirational, but go beyond what exists. And remember what the dormouse said–feed your head.

Livescribe is a TriplePoint client.

How to Be Innovative

There must be something in the water. In Silicon Valley, innovation runs deep and entrepreneurs seem to be everywhere you look. There are countless go-getters who all believe they have the next big idea and are willing to drop everything to prove it. Even beyond the world of tech meetups and conferences, it seems like every weekend I chat with servers, bartenders, bus drivers, lawyers, and bankers who admit they are working on a side project, creating a new product and dreaming of one day running their own business.

With so many ideas brewing in the Bay Area and entrepreneurs so confident that their idea has what it takes, it is important to stand out from the crowd which can be difficult when everyone around you is trying to be “different.”

How do you keep up your mind sharp and continuously innovate?  Here are a few ideas you should try:

1) Stop calling company brainstorm meetings

The idea of brainstorming first became popular in the 1950s, thanks to B.B.D.O. advertising exec, Alex Osborn. It’s a nice feel-good idea because in a brainstorm, no answer is allowed to be criticized. The idea is that people will share more ideas because they are not afraid of ridicule. However, Jonah Lehrer — a science writer and expert on how companies can encourage innovation, and author of Imagine explained in a New Yorker article that research has repeatedly found that, despite the popularity of brainstorming, group performance declines as the group size gets bigger. It turns out groups generate more ideas if they work alone and pool ideas together later.

Groupthink

Psychologists have found that in large groups “groupthink” sets in. People tend to want to avoid tension and disagreement, so they end up gravitating toward agreeing rather than considering alternate viewpoints. Critical evaluation of ideas is beneficial because it challenges people to reassess their arguments, consider other perspectives and discover new viewpoints they may not have considered before. To be innovative, it is best to skip the brainstorm and instead share thoughts with only a few people, evaluating and challenging each other’s ideas.

2) Accidentally run into people that are different from you (on purpose)

Intellectual diversity is key to innovation. Encouraging people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise to converse and bounce ideas off of each other can help them think beyond their normal patterns of thought. Steve Jobs understood this and purposefully planned Pixar’s headquarters to be built in a circular fashion around an atrium. He wanted to encourage people from different teams to ”accidentally” run into each other every day and share ideas. In order to increase foot traffic, they eventually put all the bathrooms in the building in the atrium. This way, the Pixar staff was more likely to strike up chance conversations outside their normal teams multiple times a day.

3) Encourage an “aha” moment by taking a shower or watching comedy

Make them laugh

Have you ever solved a puzzle or thought of a new creative idea in the shower? Or after taking a stroll or a quick a cat nap? Many creative moments reportedly pop up when least expected. These moments of insight typically come out of the blue, when your mind is not focusing on the problem you are trying to solve.

Part of this has to do with being relaxed and in a good mood. EEG studies (that measure electricity in your brain) have found that people who are more relaxed are able to solve more puzzles. In a study by researcher Mark Beeman, researchers found that participants that watched a clip of Robin Williams doing stand-up comedy were more likely to solve insight puzzles, with the average success rate increasing 20%.

4) Let them eat cake! …or nap, or play Ping-Pong…

Jonah Lehrer has also studied the work environment of the innovative company, 3M. 3M gives every engineer an hour to do anything they want, as long as they promise to share it with their colleagues. It could be anything – and employees have the freedom to choose — from playing a video game, to taking a nap, knitting, or going for a stroll. As Lehrer puts it, they are encouraged to “manage their own attention.” This gives engineers the chance to step away from their desk and do something else, which often helps them be more productive even if it could potentially look like they are wasting time.

5) Paint your walls blue

If all else fails, one quick fix that could help is to paint your room blue. John Lehrer has noted that people working in a room that is a relaxing shade of blue tend to solve more puzzles and think more creatively. Those in a red room are able to focus more on details, which can be good for certain tasks, but blue rooms encourage relaxation and thinking in more abstract terms.

Paint the walls blue

Sources:

Scott Berkun Blog: http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/

Susan Cain, “The Rise of the New Groupthink,” The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Jonah Lehrer, “Groupthink,” The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=all

Jonah Lehrer, Imagine

NPR Fresh Air interview: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/21/148607182/fostering-creativity-and-imagination-in-the-workplace

 

Playing in an Asynchronous World

The recent rise of mobile as a key platform in the gaming space is accompanied by meteoric growth in asynchronous gameplay. Not what you typically envision when hearing of the latest “multi-player videogame,” asynchronous games do not require the two or more participants to be playing simultaneously; rather, players make turns at their convenience. Chart toppers such as Words With Friends, Hero Academy and Draw Something have millions of people around the world playing asynchronous games daily.

The appeal of this detached gameplay mode on the mobile platform is obvious: by not having to participate “in-sync,” players are free to go about their day, logging in to make a move only when it’s convenient. Growing up, getting a quick game of StarCraft going with my friends required planning in advance to ensure everybody was free (or hoping they were signed into Ventrilo). Now the rich, social experience of multiplayer gaming is available anywhere, anytime, and with any of your hundreds of Facebook friends.

Without a doubt, asynchronous gameplay is bringing millions of new gamers online. Everybody from busy professionals to even busier moms can find time throughout the day to glance at their phones and lay down a quick 20-point word or crudely sketch a sunflower for their friends. These types of people that could never carve out a two-hour block of time to delve into the latest RTS or explore the world of a new MMO are exactly the target audience for asynchronous games.

Recently, I became completely addicted to Zynga’s Words With Friends. My phone buzzed constantly with updates – after all, with 10 or 15 games happening simultaneously, there’s always somebody free to play. I am, and imagine I always will be, a huge Scrabble fan, and my initial enthusiasm motivated the first few weeks of play. However, after a few months of playing WWF, I found myself oddly numb to the experience. Sliding my finger across each subsequent “New Move” notification pop-up seemed more and more of a chore and less about enjoying the game. I was no longer playing because I was immersed in the game, but rather because felt beholden to making the next move so my friends would not be left hanging.

A few months back, I finally snapped out of my daze and started reflecting on the experience, ultimately concluding that I expected too much of asynchronous gameplay. Like most of my daily electronic information flow, the game simply became another source for that short, addicting burst of serotonin so many of us crave in the Digital Age, with little to gain that could not be found in a casual glance at Twitter.

I may think that I’m a busy person and at times certainly am, but I’m no mom rushing kids to soccer practice and dance recitals. In retrospect, I probably spent close to two hours a day keeping up with WWF – not exactly a “non-disruptive” amount of time. Keep in mind, this was not two hours I scheduled specifically for play, but like with most players, time taken in small increments throughout the day that quickly added up to the point of distraction. This most convenient form of gaming was not only sucking an hour or two out of each day, but also doing so when I should have been focusing on work or enjoying the company of friends.

A few months free of Zynga’s iron grip and I’m making a point to schedule time for the sort of immersive gaming that I used to know and love, inviting friends over for a game of Super Smash Bros. or investing the time to set up a game of Risk or Settlers of Catan. I still play the occasional game of Draw Something or Scramble With Friends, but my notifications have all been turned off, and the icons are gone from my home screen. Now, I play only when I’m truly not busy or have made a point to invest some time.

Asynchronous games are part of a wider push in the tech space to make everything as convenient, connected and on-demand as possible. “No time to sit down and play? Just have these bite-sized snippets instead!” That’s great for people on the go, but for those of us accustomed to the deep immersion that comes with truly investing yourself in a game, with setting up your StarCraft hotkeys and arguing over which dictionary to use for Scrabble, there is more than a bit of magic missing so far, in asynchronous gameplay.

While I may sound like the exception to the rule in the face of so much overwhelming success, evidence suggests many others experience the same burnout and disappointment after the initial rush to play. However, I’m confident that the next generation of asynchronous game developers will mitigate these issues with innovative new features that not only keep us hooked, but also tear us away when things start to get out of hand and our entertainment threatens to become a chore.

 

The Gamification of Running

“Gamification” is everyone’s favorite buzzword these days. It’s so hot, that we still use quotes to write it out — “gamification.” Yes, it’s that fresh.

To put it simply, “gamification” is applying game-design thinking to non-game applications in order to make them more fun and engaging. Think Foursquare; you earn points for checking into locations, competing with your network of friends that also use the app for the most points earned through check-ins over a specific period of time.

Outside my role as media maven and gaming publicist, I’m a sweat enthusiast. Yoga, cycling, hiking, I do it all, but my true love is and will always be running. However, sticking to something like an 18-week marathon training program requires a lot of motivation. Enter the “gamification” of running.

I’m an avid Nike+ user. In fact, I’ve been using it for years, long before “gamification” became a part of our daily media consumption. Nike+ uses a sensor to track running distances. The information is then synced online and shared with the Nike+ community and through social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Users can also set up personal goals for time, distance, or frequency of runs. Additionally, Nike+ has built-in achievement milestones to hit through the program based on total miles run. These levels are broken down by color, going from light to dark. I still get excited each time a legendary runner like Paula Radcliffe congratulates me on hitting a new level.

There are a multitude of similar applications and communities that now serve the same purpose — RunKeeper, MapMyRUN, and TriplePoint’s very own client, Fitocracy. They all help keep runners motivated by providing fun and entertaining ways to keep progressing, whether it’s by hitting achievements, earning points, or sharing completed runs through social networks.

The “gamification” of running. Did you hear that? That was the sound of my worlds colliding.

Social Media in 2012: You’d Better Start Swimming

In the past few years, so much has changed for social media that little of our quaint old landscape remains at all anymore – at least, not as it once was.

Now it’s spread to encompass much, MUCH more than a few social networks. Social media affects every corner of the media landscape – traditional press outlets just as much as blogs.

Spilling Over

And that’s only a small piece of the social explosion – tech companies, web, mobile and app developers, be forewarned. The new generation of consumers is not nearly as interested in new technologies as the last. Forget confusing, varied user interfaces – there is no learning curve for platforms and programs today’s consumer already knows. Free social services with unlimited content, like for a case-in-point example, YouTube…

Teens today would rather use YouTube for music discovery than apps like Pandora or Spotify – even more than the almighty iTunes itself.

It’s all traced straight back to social media and the implications go on for days… If you don’t understand how teens (and other mainstream consumer demographics) are using social media, then you will have a hard time succeeding in web-based business at all anymore. Why? Because it’s no longer just a matter of reaching – or even engaging – fans in social media.

The whole social industry has forced its way to the top of a virtual landscape that once didn’t exist.

Now What?

Now, not using social media to its full potential is a silly missed opportunity. Not realizing you need help is a leading cause of brand drama. (Okay, that was a made up fact, but probably still true.)

Social media is about reaching your most important audiences with messages that SCREAM genuine, relatable thought leadership.

For some, “doing” social media is obvious. But for others – the ones balancing budgets and doling out dollars – the question is all about measuring results. What metrics and analytics are representative of a successful, data-driven social strategy? Answering that is a mountainous task. There is no one right answer. Social media isn’t just about what you do, it’s about how you do it.

Numbers Game

From the PR agency perspective, we’re entering an exciting (and somewhat scary) new era of measurement. Ours is an esoteric craft with typically intangible – though highly influential – results.

Until now, advertisers had their CPPs and CPMs… Web marketers had their affiliate links and traffic analytics… And then we PR folk came in and guaranteed little to nothing numerical… Awkward.

TriplePoint long ago realized the need for SEO driven websites and blogs. We’ve built a system with more measurability than ever for press release distribution, website referrals, measuring influence and sharing information internally. If you’re wondering what any of that has to do with social media – it’s everything.

Now, we can implement these same strategies for social media – marketing and promoting our clients more effectively, and finally having hard, measurable data and results – proof of pass or fail.

Double Trouble

If the next (ahem, current) generation of online consumers gets their news and multimedia through social networks instead of through traditional media… Well then welcome to comboville, because now (and for the foreseeable future), you have no choice but to “do social” and PR. “Old school” generations aren’t going to stop reading USA Today anytime soon, you know.

For more info on TriplePoint‘s social media and content creation services, please contact pr (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

5 Productivity Tools for PR Pros

It’s no secret that today’s PR pro faces substantial challenges. The advent of social networking and the continued proliferation of blogging have proven highly (warning, buzzword!) disruptive to the field, creating countless new influencers in virtually every industry. What’s more, influence is increasingly determined not by the publication one writes for but the ability to share and promote content through social media… thus influencers may “live” on any number of different platforms.

In essence, while an article in the New York Times is almost always valuable, true awareness is more likely to be driven by a critical mass of buzz from specialized, focused blogs (enthusiasts) and linking and discussion via social media.

Tasked with generating this buzz, the onus is on PR to filter through immense amounts of information and decide who to talk to and how. But with new influencers and ways to communicate popping up daily, as well as an unforgiving 24/7 news cycle, this is no simple task. The effective flack must be a lightning bolt of efficiency.

Luckily we no longer have to rely solely on cavernous cups of coffee to give us the edge we need. An ever-expanding internet may bring new challenges, sure, but also tools that allow us to be quicker and smarter than ever. Below are 5 of those tools I love for their ability to help me do more with less time:

Continue reading 5 Productivity Tools for PR Pros

5 Tips for Building your Gaming PC, Continued

Earlier this week, I wrote a blog post that outlined 3 things to consider when looking building your own gaming PC. Part 2 of this article covers the two remaining tips for constructing your PC and getting it up and running.

Part 4: Setup and construction of your PC. You’ve now picked out your parts; you have your core components unboxed and are ready to create the monster that will be your gaming PC. The most important first step that many people skip over is making sure all of their ordered parts work, specifically before you begin to put your parts into your case. It is extremely important to take this first step because it is much easier to test and swap out non-working parts before they are secured into your case.  Important side note: make sure to ground yourself to avoid harming your computer parts with electrostatic discharge. In addition to this, anytime you are connecting or disconnecting parts, unplug your power supply from its electrical source, and ensure that the switch on the back is in the “off” position.

The next step is to connect your core components to your motherboard. This includes your processor, heatsink, video card, RAM, primary hard drive, and power supply. For your processor, make sure you read the instructions and set up your processor in the correct pin slots. Similarly, there are specific slots to put your RAM sticks in. All motherboards are different, so consult your included motherboard booklet to find the correct ones. For your PSU, make sure you run power to the 24-pin connector, and the 8-pin power connector to your mobo, as well as the power connectors on your graphics card.

With everything set up outside of your case, it will look something like what is picture above. In order to make sure your parts work, you will need to close a power circuit on your mother board. You can use the end of a screwdriver to do this, closing the circuit and connecting the two points on your motherboard panel titled “power switch.” I have included a picture here to show you what the two power pins look like in the mobo booklet as well as on the mobo itself, which are highlighted in red.

Note that there are only two pins you should be connecting, and the panel is located on the lower right corner of your motherboard. After you touch the metal end of a screwdriver to these two points, your computer should start up. You’ll notice the heatsink fan, PSU fan, and GPU fan all begin to spin, as well as various lights on your motherboard coming alive. If any of the fans are not spinning, turn everything off by flipping the switch on the back of your PSU and recheck the connection of your cables and parts.

Once you ensure that all of your parts are working, you should disconnect your entire out-of-case setup, except for the processor/heatsink, and begin to put your parts into your case, starting with the motherboard. Once the motherboard is in and secure, you can connect your PSU, GPU, RAM, hard drives, DVD drive, case fans, and case buttons to your motherboard. All motherboards differ from one another, so if you are unsure of where or how to connect a certain part, consult your motherboard user manual. Additionally, you can leave a comment on this article and I will do my best to address your concerns myself.

You’ll want to take your time in hooking everything up to ensure proper cable management. This will help prevent your parts from heating up and improve your case airflow. As often as you can, run your cables through the back panel of your case to reduce clutter around your core components. Once you have all of your parts in, put those case panels back on and hook up your mouse, keyboard, and monitor(s). Before you’re ready to game, there is one last step you need to take.

Part 5: Get your machine running. Once your computer is up and running, you’ll need to get all of your vital programs installed and running. For newer machines, you’ll want to install a 64-bit version of Windows. If you opted to get an SSD, make sure that you select to install the Windows OS on your SSD and not your internal hard drive. Once Windows is installed, you will be to install important drivers and BIOS. Your motherboard should come with a CD that has all of the software you need. Be wary of installing all of the software that is included on your disc, as some of the programs aren’t needed. All motherboard drivers differ, so if you’re unsure of what a specific driver does, Google your motherboard manufacturer with the driver name to find out more information. On top of your motherboard drivers, make sure to install the latest graphics drivers for whatever GPU you use. While your GPU may come with an installation disc, the driver in there will likely already be outdated. It’s also important to mention that if you are installer a newer graphics driver, you should completely remove the previous driver before installing the new one.

Once you have your important drivers installed, you can begin to put on software that will enhance your machine. For Antivirus software, I like to use Microsoft Security Essentials, as it is a low memory anti-virus that is free for Windows users and performs phenomenally. Additionally, you’ll want to install Malwareytes and Spybot: Search and Destroy. Both are great programs that should be run every two to four weeks to ensure that your computer stays spybot and malware free.

The other software you should put on your computer depend on your personal computing habits. When you are looking to install all of your software, unfortunately, it can be difficult finding all of the correct installers from each respective website. A great tool to use in order to easily install numerous software programs is Ninite. In a nutshell, Ninite is an installer aggregator: you select which programs you would like to install and Ninite then makes one simple installer, which will include everything you’ve chosen. Note that in order for your Ninite installer to work, you will need an internet connection.

Once your software is set up, it’s time to game! If you have any experience with gaming at all, you’re likely familiar with Valve and their gaming portal, Steam. If you aren’t, Steam is a one-stop-shop where you can buy, download, and play almost any PC game available. What’s great about Steam is that you can take your account with you anywhere, enabling you to log-in to your Steam account on any computer and download/play your games.

You are now a PC gamer; congratulations! Take solace in the fact that you can play almost anything, and at any point can upgrade your system to enable a better gaming experience. If you have any questions about setting up your PC or would like recommendations on parts to get, let me know in the comments.

Happy Gaming!

5 Tips for Building your Gaming PC

What Not to Do...

Launched by Pong 40 years ago, home gaming has become a staple in millions of households worldwide. Whether you’re a mobile, console, or PC gamer, the evolution of technology will continue to make all forms of gaming available to the masses.  Newer, better technology will also become cheaper, which will enable a wider audience of gamers to really immerse themselves in their hobby of choice.

While the points can be argued until the end of time, I believe best way to really experience and immerse oneself into a game experience is through a PC. Contrary to popular belief, PC gaming is not dying, and PC gaming provides a more customizable experience in terms of settings, and ease of use. In addition to this, the graphical capabilities of PCs far outweigh those available on current (and most likely future) generation consoles.

Building a gaming PC is tough, with many different parts that are combined to breathe life into a gaming monster.  Along with providing a sense of do-it-yourself satisfaction, building your own gaming PC is one of the most rewarding experiences for any hardcore gamer or technology enthusiast. Since there are many intricacies involved in creating that perfect gaming PC, I’ve created a list of 5 tips to help everyone, from budget buyers to PC aficionados, in making their perfect PC.

Step 1: Know your budget. There are a million different parts you can buy for your PC gaming machine, which makes for millions of different combinations. The great thing here is that building a machine on a budget is totally possible. I recently helped a friend build a mid-tier gaming machine for around $700, while on the flip side I built a top-of-the-line machine with literally the best parts I could buy via newegg.com just for fun. The cost? A cool $7,299.91. I did this just to prove how vast a difference there is with what you can build.

Another important thing to consider for your budget is whether or not you already have a mouse, keyboard, and monitor. A good gaming mouse and keyboard combo can cost around $120, and a single 23” LCD monitor will run you around $160, but these are one-time purchases that will last around 3-5 years or longer if cared for properly. When you are next upgrading your PC, you will likely continue to use the same mouse, keyboard, and display.

Step 2: Pick your pony (company). There are two companies that manufacture central processing units (CPUs): Intel (Integrated Electronics Corporation) and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices). Techradar has a great interview article that very thoroughly looks at the Intel vs. AMD debate.  Personally, I have always gone with Intel processors, which are more expensive but are better for overclocking. AMD CPUs are great processors at a cheaper price than most comparable Intel CPUs. In the end, it usually comes down to personal preference and who has come out with the latest CPU. No matter which one you pick, make sure you pick the corresponding motherboard (mobo).

Just like CPUs, there are also two companies to choose from when looking at graphics processing units (GPUs a.k.a. video cards): NVIDIA and AMD. NVIDIA cards focus on providing a 3D gaming experience to gamers via additional hardware. While 3D can seem like a gimmick to some, I was extremely impressed by Batman: Arkham Asylum at this year’s GDC using NVIDIA 3D. NVIDIA also just released their Kepler series video cards, which currently beat out AMD’s 7990 series as the fastest video cards in the world and for the first time allow 3 independent displays to be run from one NVIDIA card. AMD cards, on the other hand, offer something called Eyefinity through their software, which allows gamers to plug 3 monitors into one card and get a 180-degree view of whatever game they choose to play. While setting up Eyefinity can be difficult, it provides a one-of-a-kind gaming experience that really immerses you into whatever you are playing. Flying a jet in Battlefield 3 and seeing an enemy flank me through the periphery of a side monitor was a jaw-dropping experience.

In the end, it comes down to personal preference and budget. Certain NVIDIA cards are cheaper than their AMD counterparts, and vice-versa. Remember, too, that if you want to fully utilize your video card, you will need 3 displays for your AMD card to run Eyefinity, and a 3D compatible 120Hz monitor for your NVIDIA card to run 3D. 

Part 3: Pick your other parts. Since we have already covered CPUs and GPUs, we want to also look at other core components that make up computers. The most important part of a computer after the CPU and GPU is the Motherboard. As mentioned before, you’ll want to get a mobo that corresponds with your chosen CPU, be it Intel or AMD. Another thing to check is that your chosen mobo has the same socket number as your processor. For example, Intel has LGA 1155, 1156, and 1366 sockets, among others. If your CPU is an LGA 1155 socket, then you want to be sure your mobo supports an LGA 1155 socket. Other than that, ook at the SATA (Serial ATA) speed of your mobo. Most new boards will be SATA 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s. In very simple terms, the SATA number is the speed at which your hard drives will communicate with your motherboard and thus the rest of your computer. The higher the SATA Gb/s number, the faster things will run. Additionally, if you plan on using more than 1 GPU, make sure your mobo has enough PCI-e slots to run your GPUs. Asus and Gigabyte both make quality mother boards that are a great value.

Talking about SATA types brings us to the next vital part of your gaming PC: the hard drive. There are current two main types of hard drives, Internal Hard Drives and Solid State Drives (SSDs). Internal hard drives have moving parts, which can cause a lag when your computer performs certain operations. Internal drives are also relatively inexpensive, and are standard in most pre-built desktop computers and laptops. Solid State Drives have no moving parts, and thus much faster than internal hard drives. Most new ultrabooks (laptops that are extremely thin and fast, like the MacBook Air) come stock with SSD drives. Going from using an internal hard drive to an SSD is like night and day in terms of how much faster your computer speed and response rate will be.

My tip for building the best gaming PC is to buy a 60-120GB SSD to run your operating system (OS). This makes it so that all of the main tasks completed by your computer will be done much more quickly. Since you will be limited on space, you can then buy an internal hard drive to store your music, movies, and other large files. Make sure to get an SSD3 drive as they are the newest and fastest SSDs available.

When building your gaming PC, a big decision to make is what size case you want to have. The main difference between case sizes is not only size, but cable management and air flow. While significantly larger, full tower cases provide better airflow for your parts that are likely to become very hot, like your CPU and GPU. If you’ve got the space and extra funds, I always recommend getting a full tower case.

For power supplies (Power Supply Unit, PSU), there are a few things to consider. A regular PSU comes with all of the connection cables already attached, whereas a modular PSU comes with fewer cables attached, but enables the users to attach additional, included cables, should they need to. Newegg has a very handy Power Supply Calculator which you can use to figure out just how much power you need for your new system. There are a lot of cheaper PSUs that look nice but don’t perform well, so stick with brands like Cooler Master, NZXT , Thermaltake, and XFX to ensure you are getting a quality PSU.  If you’re going to be running more than one video card or any additional cooling, it’s better to have a higher wattage for your power supply.

The last parts you need to complete your gaming PC are Random Access Memory (RAM) and a CD/DVD Drive. RAM is additional memory your computer uses to perform intensive tasks. If you plan on doing any heavy photo or video editing with your machine, I would recommend grabbing 12GB or 16GB of RAM to ensure a smooth experience. For gaming, 8GB of Corsair Dominator or Corsair Vengeance will do the trick. Make sure your RAM frequency is compatible with your chosen mother board to avoid an unnecessary headache. Additionally, if you ever opt to upgrade from 8GB to 16GB, make sure the second 8GB you buy is the same make and type of the first 8GB you bought.

While they are becoming more obsolete, for desktop PCs I think it’s still important to grab a CD/DVD reader/burner for when you do get the occasional physical copy of a game to install. In addition, it’s important to get an aftermarket CPU Fan (heatsink) or liquid cooling for your CPU if you plan on overclocking your PC. A heatsink is like a radiator for your CPU, and while all CPUs come with a stock heatsink, these cannot handle the massive heat generated from an overlocked PC. If you try to overclock your CPU without a heatsink or liquid cooling, you could damage and possibly ruin your CPU.

That’s it for steps 1 to 3. Check out the follow-up article with steps 4 and 5: how to assemble your PC and how to get yourself up and gaming.

 

South By Super Sad True Love Story By Southwest

In Gary Shteyngart’s novel Super Sad True Love Story (Random House, 2010), the schlubby protagonist clings to his old-world ways, doing his best to resist the overabundance of technology and information that barrages him in a not-too-distant-future version of New York City. He is starkly contrasted by his love interest, a younger woman who has grown up with these perpetual streams of stimulus and embraces them without question. The book tells a cautionary tale of personal connections and human relationships gone awry, replaced almost entirely by digital communication and instant, unlimited access to data. While I’m tempted to shrug off this dystopian future, a startling amount of this tech exists already and is gaining popularity. In this way, Shteyngart’s novel feels uncomfortably akin to nonfiction.

Highlight & Glancee were recently deemed the kings of South By Southwest (SXSW 2012), while peripheral nods were given to their competitors like Banjo & Sonar. These apps show you information about those around you. More specifically, they display location-based Facebook interests and Facebook friends-of-friends of people who are physically near you, in the same bar or on the same street. The impetus to browse search results, judge potential connections and act upon them is up to each individual user, but these apps provide opportunity. For more information, Robert Scoble gives a stellar rundown on The Next Web.

Info and images, social networks and video chat, newsfeeds and live-streaming, and above all the shopping, Shopping, SHOPPING – all of this is beamed to äppärät users in real-time, a userbase that includes basically everyone on Earth, minus the destitute and the elderly. While specifics are never given, the äppärät is described as a futuristic iPhone where a haze of holograms replaces the touchscreen and display real-time information on and around the user. The latest äppärät is a small pebble-like device worn like a trendy necklace, a cell phone immune to the battery woes of today. Nothing in the book is so futuristic that I can’t imagine it becoming commonplace in the next year or two.

With these new apps, the data used for comparing and ranking your nearby peers is pretty mundane: movies and bands you like, your favorite cuisine, perhaps the schools you attended. These are things that any Facebook friend could learn about you, but when this info is automatically sent to strangers in text-message-like pings, it changes from passive to active data. You are broadcasting information about yourself to anyone who has downloaded a free app – I can wait while you go update your Facebook “likes.”

The data being sent around by apps like Highlight is rather innocuous – it’s strictly qualitative stuff. But Super Sad True Love Story takes data-sharing to the extreme, where anyone with an äppärät can see quantitative data like your credit rating, your cholesterol level and even your annual salary. In this novel, not only is privacy dead, it’s been long-forgotten.

Before apps like Highlight can gain widespread adoption, they’ll need a filter system (such as a minimum number of friends in common) to weed out the surge of false-positives. For instance, you’d be more inclined to chat up someone with 6 common Facebook friends than someone with only one third-degree connection. Similarly, you might not shy away from approaching a stranger if you had a very specific interest in common; millions of people like Radiohead, but as a New York City resident, I’d happily chat with another fan of Portland, Oregon’s DJ Copy.

In the not-too-distant-future, speaking to another person… out loud… face to face will be so uncommon that it gives rise to the term “verbal-ing.” In the novel, everyone is surrounded by three-dimensional clouds of information, images, advertisements and videos. Even today, it’s too easy to get sucked in by the distractions of a smartphone and miss the real world around you. But apps like Highlight are not as ominous as they may initially sound.  By encouraging people to socialize and meet new friends, these apps turn a few common interests into the potential for a friendship, as it was in the pre-smartphone era.

For more info, check out a video interview with Shteyngart on the äppärät via TechCrunch.

GDC 2012: TriplePoint Client Preview

TriplePoint is bringing the heat to this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC 2012). And by heat, I mean a menagerie of clients with cool games and gear. (Obviously.) People keep asking what we’re up to, and it’s no secret, so… OK, actually,  there are some secrets. If I told you everything in this preview, what would be left for next week? Let’s just call this a sneak peek and get going already.

TriplePoint’s GDC 2012 client catalog:

In alphabetical order, because we love all our clients equally…

Frima (Multiplatform)

Frima Studio is flying in all the way from Quebec City Canada to tease a variety of titles in their original IP lineup including:

  • Lives & Death: A dark, adventure game in development with comic book legend Marv Wolfman for XBLA and PSN. A trailer, screenshots and concept art will be available.
  • Nun Attack: A tower offense game in development for iOS that puts the player in control of an elite squad of attack nuns. Extensive screenshots and character bios will be available.
  • A Space Shooter: A retro arcade style shoot em’ up available now for PSN, iOS, Android and Kindle Fire. Playable iPad demo available.

Frima’s booth will be located at Kiosk #10 inside of GDC Play. Contact zfuller (at) triplepointpr (dot) com for appointments.

Papo & Yo (PSN)

Papo & Yo, the PSN puzzle platformer already getting nods as one of 2012’s most anticipated titles, will be on the GDC show floor in Sony’s PSN section, showing a new gameplay demo. As Quico, a young boy, players travel through the surreal world of Papo & Yo with companions Lula, a robot, and Monster, a monster. Need assistance getting in on all this awesome? Contact joleary (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

Paradox (PC)

Paradox Interactive is doing 2 cool things at GDC that you should know about. THE FIRST COOL THING: Showing off four indie games at the oh-so comfortable Paradox loft on O’Farrell and Powell, not far from the Moscone. Three titles being shown are unannounced; one of them is the new project from the Magicka development team. And they are:

  • A Game of Dwarves, from acclaimed independent developer Zeal Game Studio
  • Project “JFK” by Arrowhead Game Studios, creators of Magicka
  • Project “Revenge!” by Brazilian dev team Critical Studio
  • Project “Silverado” from Zeal Game Studio

THE SECOND COOL THING: Paradox is hosting a multiplayer event on Tuesday March 6th at 4pm! The game being shown is War of the Roses (from Paradox and Fatshark). It’s basically going to be a kick ass LAN party with beverages and what not. Think: Battlefield meets medieval combat. Want more details? Need some help? Hit up dmartinez (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

RocketChicken (iOS)

Developers from RocketChicken are flying in from the great white north (or just Vancouver, if you prefer) to demo their new location-based ARG iPhone app at GDC next week. An ARG iOS app? Yup. It’s called CodeRunner and, in it, you get to be a badass spy. You get to interact with OTHER badass spies. You can to leave “dead drops” all around the real world (which can be physical or picture clues left via riddles). AND the game has incredible production value, from voice acting to video.

Furthermore, I think you should check this out because our content manager has been running around San Fran all week setting up geo-locations for the demos. I need him back, and you need this game. CodeRunner details are here. Contact pklugman (at) triplepointpr (dot) com for appointments.

Shadow Government (iOS)

Play the news, rule the world. That’s right, you heard me. Shadow Government is the brain child of Playmatics, one amazing development team and a heap of government data from the Millenium Institute. It’s a little hard to explain, which is why it’s great news that the game’s creators are giving a talk next week to tell YOU all about it. Meantime, read more here.

Shadow Government is a reality-based social game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and is set to enter closed beta next week. In addition to formal GDC talks by one of the Playmatics founders, Nick Fortungo, you can also catch the creators AND THE FIRST EVER PUBLIC DEMO at the Swiss Game Arcade on Tuesday evening. RSVP for that, stat. If you’re a reporter and you want to meet with the development team outside the Swissnex event, please contact kate (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

Sketch Nation Studio (iOS)

This iPhone app is more than a game – it’s a toolkit that allows you to build your own games, then sell them for REAL MONEY on the ACTUAL APP STORE! Draw your game’s characters and scan them in, or create them using the in-app painting tools. Then create your game, whether it’s a shooter, free-runner, platformer, racing game, the sky is the limit! It’s totally free, and players can earn in-game currency by selling their hand-drawn assets in Sketch Nation Studio. For more info, please contact rjones (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

SweetLabs (Pokki)

I said SweetLabs, not sweetbreads. This company is sweet nonetheless, and they’ll be showing off their new Pokki platform next week in the Intel booth (#1024 ) during show hours. Oh but THAT’S NOT ALL, friends. SweetLabs will also be hosting a panel on Tuesday as part of the Social & Online Games Summit (with Dan Hsu as moderator and execs from EA, Digital Chocolate and Kabam). During GDC, SweetLabs will also be announcing the winners of their $50K developer challenge, honoring top original game submissions. You can schedule a chat with SweetLabs co-founders by contacting dblackwell (at) triplepointpr (dot) com.

What does Pokki do? It brings awesome apps to your desktop. That’s what.

More, you want more detail? Oh alright. Pokki’s app platform is transforming the “desktop” experience with games from the likes of Kabam, EA and Digital Chocolate, in addition to other multimedia and communications apps. That means better discovery and increased engagement for game publishers through one-click access to content via desktop apps. Pokki enables developers to create full-featured desktop apps for Windows 7 using HTML5, which currently includes apps such as EA’s Madden NFL Superstars, Kabam’s The Godfather: Five Families, Rdio, Gmail, Facebook and Twitter.

Was your favorite TriplePoint client not on the list? It doesn’t mean they won’t be at GDC in some capacity next week. Maybe their stuff was simply TOO secret to talk about yet ;]

Gesturing Forward with SoftKinetic

Every year, the Consumer Electronics Show comes to Las Vegas and shines a spotlight on what we can all expect from new technology and the world’s innovators. For attendees, it’s a great chance to hear valuable insight from industry leaders, and go hands-on with all manner of new gadgetry — or, in the case of our clients at SoftKinetic, hands-off. SoftKinetic was on hand to showcase their latest advances in the growing field of gesture recognition technology — a field we’ve seen grow in gaming, through devices like the Wii, Kinect, and Move. It’s not hard to envision a future, as we continue to migrate from keyboards to touchscreens, where ease of interface continues to rise through smaller cameras and finer tracking software.

Our sister site, Frisky Mongoose, caught up with SoftKinetic for a brief Q&A about the technology that debuted at CES. Follow this link for insight from SoftKinetic’s Virgile Delporte.

SOPA – PR Poison?

What does the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) mean to you, if you’re in public relations? Nothing good. For a business increasingly dependent on social media, whose arsenal has always relied upon viral, user-shared content, and whose aim is to get everyone talking about their clients, SOPA poses a significant threat.

If it is somehow possible that you have not yet read about SOPA – an unlikely scenario, given that reading this blog makes you an able consumer of online content, and the SOPA debate has dominated the web for the last several weeks – the proposed legislation is available here. Put simply, SOPA would allow for court orders to be issued against websites accused of piracy or other illegal activities, potentially requiring (among other things) that ad networks halt their business with said sites, search engines de-link said sites, payment processors cease accepting payments for said sites, and more. In essence, a site accused of facilitating piracy can immediately lose all access to business-vital functions such as site discovery, content sale, and ad revenue.

Everyone whose livelihood is rooted in the gaming industry can likely agree that piracy is terrible and its practitioners should be punched in the head. Trying to solve the issue with SOPA, however, opens the door to entirely new problems, many of which may disrupt your life as a PR professional (or a company that uses PR to promote itself). Continue reading SOPA – PR Poison?

Clouding My Mind: The Cleverness of Steam

Why are the Steam Sales are so darn effective?

As someone who’s worked in PR, sales, and marketing for a few years now, sometimes I like to think that I’m “above” the reach of typical advertising and market tactics. Just like someone who works in film can’t sit through a movie without picking apart the shots, or a game developer can’t help but analyze how well the character camera works with the level design, so it goes for us flacks. We see an animated web banner or a Black Friday flier, and we start thinking about whether the branding is effective, the virality of the content, the effectiveness of the messaging, and a lot of other buzzwords we are ashamed to know.

As such, it takes a very effective piece of marketing to make me take notice – and, rarely, to actually put me into a frenzy of drooling, ravenous, I’ve-gotta-buy-that consumerism. One company is able to do this to me, consistently, year after year: Valve, with their recurring holiday sales on Steam, their digital game distribution platform. The Steam Sales may well represent some of the smartest marketing in gaming and e-commerce today. Continue reading Clouding My Mind: The Cleverness of Steam