By now, you've probably seen that Sham Wow ad starring Vince Offer- a slick-talking spike-haired wiseguy in his 20's who raves about an overpriced rag.

I was joking around with my friends about Vince's condescending tone, New York accent. His pompous demeanor ,headset and rushed delivery imply that he has better things to do than waste his time talking to you- the ignorant consumer.

My favorite Shamwow quotes from Vince:

'Are you following me camera guy?'

'You know the Germans are always going to make good stuff.'

'You're going to spend $20 a month on paper towels so you already throwing your money away.'

I think one reason the infomercial became memorable from the clutter of late-night ads is because of his tacky headset. It's totally irrelevant to the ad, but it's also one of the main items you remember. For some reason, those seemingly  trivial visual touches can make a lasting impression.

Don't believe me? Ask anyone from the Orlando area about Appliance Direct. For years,a lady in plaid dress and a knee brace has yelled "If you didn't buy direct, you paid too much!" at the end of every ad. The funny thing is- her knee brace has alternated between each leg. Obviously, she recovered from her initial injury years ago, but for some odd reason, the brace remained. "Lee the appliance lady" told tackyfabulousorlando blog, that the knee brace remains because it evoked a positive reaction from focus groups.

So what's my point? Whether its a knee brace or a headset, those simple visual tricks can distinguish a brand from the rest of the pack.

In the wake of the Wall Street meltdown, corporate CEO's don't have the best reputation with the American public. I believe it's unfair to lump every CEO into one category, but the court of public opinion is heavily influenced by every news report of a CEO taking the easy way out of a dire situation with a "golden parachute" of compensation.

While many of us live from paycheck to paycheck, it’s infuriating to hear some of the outrageous figures CEOs are earning. That’s why Daniel Amos, the CEO of AFLAC, is being hailed as an exemplary leader. AFLAC's policies, including say on pay, portray Amos as an executive who is in touch with his workers, rather than the stereotypical, money-grabbing character we've become accustomed to visualizing.

 Last night, Amos was a guest on Mike Huckabee's weekly TV show on Fox News, and Amos explained why he didn't receive a $13 million dollar bonus. AFLAC uses a “Say on Pay program”, where AFLAC's investors vote on the figure they think the top five executives should earn. AFLAC's reasoning? If times are tough for their employees and investors, times should be tough for them as well. Amos told the USA Today he would refuse any “golden parachute” offer that bCEOs were receiving during the banking crisis last fall.

If they don't think I'm doing a good job, they don't have to worry about paying me off.

Amos' stance is more than a paradigm shift, it’s also a great strategy to bolster AFLAC's image. For all the personal income Amos lost from his possible bonus, he's virtually raised millions more in positive, free publicity from major news coverage.

For novice Internet users,  Google Reader, RSS feeds and other media tools may seem too foreign to tinker with. Feed Chronicle, "the collaborative newspaper" does all the work for you and arranges your story in a friendly, familiar format.

On Feed Chronicle news sources are determined by the user. The front page is displayed in a three column layout, with tabs for various news topics: World, US, Business, Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Science and Offbeat.

A simple homepage might seem like a suicide design plan for a news site, but plenty of Americans still prefer a simple and straightforward layout, such as Drudge Report. Drudge's dull design has been criticized for years, but the site attracts millions of readers each day and up to 7 billion each year.

Essentially, the  publishers of Feed Chronicle devised a personal version of Drudge Report and gave  more control to the reader. A customizable layout scheme allows each member to choose five different sources for each news segment of their online "paper".For a lighthearted, satirical source, you can choose the Onion.  Other news sources include:

• New York Times
• MSNBC
• Fox
• CNN
• The Onion
• Reuters

I was pleased by the two-step registration process, and within 10 minutes, I completed my custom "newspaper."

Here's my list of pros and cons for the beta version of Feed Chronicle.
Pros:

• Customizable news layout.
• Easy interface- which caters to its target market.
• Multiple news categories.

Cons:

• Lack of sources for certain sections, including sports and science.

There's still room for improvement, but I think the minds at launched Feed Chronicle may have found an ideal site for news junkies.

As we enter 2009, former tech leaders are scrambling for solutions to spark sales, while expanding 3G technology is opening new doors forambitious developers.

Freeverse: Developed several top-selling iPhone Apps, including Flick Fishing, Flick Bowling and Wingnuts Moto Chaser.

Epic Tilt: Developed popular games and apps for App Store, including ESPN Cameraman, Pussycatt Dolls Party Pack, and Be like Lil Wayne.

Lexcycle: Creators of the Stanza App, which includes hundreds of classic literary works for free reading.

Geezeo.com: Combines social networking, personal finance, and a unique gauge of the economy. Geezeo uses member-submitted banking data to analyze consumer trends..

China Mobile Limited: China's primary mobile provider is rapidly building its 3G network and it's potential market is larger than the  entire U.S. population.

tv.com: CBS' answer to youtube and hulu, TV.com uses neutral platform that broadcasts hit shows from each of the major networks, including Grey's Anatomy and Heroes.

Microsoft: Jerry Seinfeld and the Mojave Experiment ads didn't convince customers or investors that the company has gone stale.

Ooyala: Founded by three former Google leaders, Ooyala has over 5,000 publishers using its syndication platform - Backlot. Ooyala's goal is to build a successful technology company that focuses on delivering premium video content to  providers, advertisers, and most importantly, consumers.

Sony: 2008 was a rough year for Sony. Disappointing PS3 sales and exploding PC batteries and a layoff of 16,000 workers combined to scare investors from the tech giant.

Nintendo: Wii's phenomenal success continues to amaze investors, but the momentum will eventually stall. What's the next big product from one of our favorite video game makers?

Does your TV need some fine-tuning? Evidently,HDTV's are like high-performance sports cars, because they need to be tweaked for optimal performance, or, in your TV's case- picture quality. At least, that's what Best Buy is telling us.

The troubled electronics retailer is being critcized in the blogosphere, for its $300 calibration service.

I'll read more info about this "calibration technique", because of few of the readers on dvice and consumerist claim it's a legit service. (Of course, those could be some Best Buy posters.)
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Best Buy is coming off  a tough holiday season, so I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be a big scam.

Our readers have spoken, and they declared Marketingshift's top story of 2008: HBO's extreme marketing of Trueblood.

Jason Dowdell wrote the first Trueblood plost after he received an unusual package containing a vial full of red liquid along with a small card with Japanese writing on it and a URL. Eventually, Jason realized it was HBO's creative media pack to promote the new series, Trueblood.

Before we knew it, readers were hooked on the HBO hit series about modern vampires. Four months after the post, we still receive comments on a daily basis, which is why it comes as no surprise that Trueblood received 41% of the  total votes out of 10 stories. It was followed by Amazon's holiday sales record, which received 25% of the vote. In third place, there was a tie between the boycottalabamanow.com controversy and our post about slower traffic for eBay and Best Buy during holiday sales. They each received 16.7% of the vote.

We're glad you voted and enjoyed the crazy ride known as 2008 with us. We can't wait to see the amazing developments in 2009.

One of government's harshest critics might be  latest contestant in the Bailout Sweepstakes - Newspapers.

I was catching up with one of my old friends from journalism school and he predicted newspapers would be the next in line for government help, if the  auto bailout is granted. We chuckled, but today, his prediction is close to becoming a reality. State representative Frank Nicastro is begging the state of Connecticut to save the Bristol Press and New Britain's paper, The Herald.

Nicastro claims print media, particularly local papers, are still a vital component of American media, because it provides news that's "ignored by big papers,television and radio stations."

I worked at a local paper, and I'll be the first to tell you that a government-funded bailout, at the state or federal level, is NOT the solution. A government-funded press isn't a free press, and it won't fulfill its duty to cover the government without any influence. Once D.C. or your state starts throwing cash at your newspaper, they'll be obligated to return the favor.

Paul Janensch, a journalism professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, and a former reporter, agrees with my stance. He told Reuters,
"You can't expect a watchdog to bite the hand that feeds it,"

If Nicastro is succesful in his attempt to take  taxpayer money, it's only a matter of time before the major publishers head to capital hill for a  slice of the federal pie.

Author Hugo Black said that criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

In Rueter's same article, Marc Levy, executive editor of the Herald and the Press, claimed that objectivity won't be sacrificed, and it will be business as usual.

 

It's the brutal reality. You'd say, 'thank you very much for helping me with that, but now we have to ask you about this thing.'

 

Another key fact to consider is that mulitiple surveys revealed  the vast majority of print journalists who donate to politicians favor the Democratic Party. (Including a survey by NBC) Remember that the Democrat party that will have executive power and an expanded presence in congress this year.

Do you honestly think that major publishers, such as Gannett, will use an objective approach toward a government that's putting food on their table?
Print publishers and editors can claim they're victims of circumstance,but so can  everyone else in this economy.

Maybe if those newsroom executives had prioritized online publishing before the major shift occurred, they wouldn't be in the dire situation they now face.

I hate to see ANY newspapers close their doors, but I also don't want to the government play favorites with handouts, and if I wanted state-run media, I would move to Cuba or North Korea.  Newspapers need to search for creative solutions,such as the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post's shared content agreement,which is one step in the right direction.

As we've all watched eBay, the king of online auctions, fall from its perch above the rest of the online markets, new auction sites hope to gain from eBay's loss. Frustrated members are searching for sites with a friendlier user experience, such as iList. 

Credibility and transparency are the core principles of iList. Unlike eBay and Craigslist, where you only have one source of info about the person you're dealing with, iList requires each member to link to a major social networking sites.

Social networks facilitate the transactions on ilist, which means your personal reputation and information is available for praise or scrutiny. Once you post an item and set your price, its sent to Facebook's livefeed, for everyone to see.

To rank member credibility, iList employs a unique feedback system, known as Karma- which encourages you to spread the word about your friend's product via your social networks. Some other activities also allow you to earn karma, such as

    * Promoting your friends listings on Facebook
    * Inviting friends to iList
    * Completing your profileNone of my friends had any active listings, so I will invite some of them to join.

Your Karma ranking elevates when you post friend's items on Facebook or Myspace,when you invite friends to iList, and when you optimize your profile.  Evidently, those are just the first elements factored into karma.A note on the site reads:

We are currently discovering all the ways users can earn Karma. Thanks in advance for your flexibility with us as we adjust any imbalances in the Karma system. If you have ideas for Karma, let us know.

Other appealing aspects of iList include a platform to upload videos showcasing your listed item. There's also a company blog with updates on new features and tools, customer testimonials and company developers commentary on the iList's plans.

Personally, I think Karma's format was designed with better foresight than eBay's feedback scoring system. I placed my first item on facebook, because it's designed to increase your odds of selling the item.

Roku's Netflix player was Wired magazine's top gift of 2008, and for good reason. For $100, Netflix subscribers get an easy way to watch thousands of movies on their home TV.

The Netflix player uses RCA cords (The same cords you use for your DVD player) to sync your PC with the TV. That means you don't have to mess around with VGA adaptors and DVI cords.
Not to be outdone by its rival, Blockbuster also created a digital media player. Blockbuster's digital mediapoint has several appealing aspects:

• Progressive playback, rather than streaming video,
• Multiple outlets, including HDMI,two USB  ports, Ethernet port, WiFi and an SD slot.
• New movies are available within 30 days of DVD release.

You get the player free if you spend $99 for 25 rentals, but unlike Netflix, you'll eventually pay for play. Rentals cost $1.75 after you view your first 25 titles, but Netflix's plans include unlimited views.

Everbody lovers a device that makes life a little easier, but for every average joe who doesn't know the difference between an AVG cord and a DVI cord, there are savvy consumers who realize they can save hundreds of dollars if they:

1. Subscribe to Netflix's cheapest plan.
2. Connect one cord from the PC to the TV
3. Adjust the display settings in the computer's control panel.

X-Box 360 owners can save even more time by just subscribing to Netflix's service on X-Box Live. I just wonder howif and when the general public will learn about the cheaper option.

I'm a sports junkie, so when if I'm too busy to watch the game, I want a quick and easy way to check the latest scores involving my favorite teams.

Naturally, when I discovered the favorite teams feature on ESPN mobile, I thought it was a great concept: Fans can customize an entire page to track the scores of all their college and pro teams. The entire process SHOULD only take three steps

1. Sign in to your espn.com account. (I was already a registered user).
2. Tap the Favorite Teams tab.
3. Browse and add your favorite  teams.

ESPN sorts the teams by the sport and division. For example: I tapped NCAA Football-ACC- and FSU Seminoles.

Other teams in my group included the Orlando Magic, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Duke Blue Devils and my alma mater's football team- the Samford Bulldogs.

After I saved my favorites, I figured it would come in handy when FSU played Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl last Saturday.

I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. A few days later, when I tapped favorite teams, NONE of the teams were listed.

Initially, I thought itwas just a one-time glitch. Nope. Even after I went through the entire process and saved my teams a SECOND time, the teams still didn't appear. 

Afer a third attempt,Samford and Duke were the only teams it recalled, but  it recalled Duke football- not basketball. Honestly, does anybody really want to track Duke football? I bet the head coach avoids any reminders of their most recent game.

For a company that claims to be the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN has a long way to go before its the worldwide leader in sports apps.