Athletes Return the Favor

A recent article in the New York Times shed light on a topic often assumed but less often discussed - athletes showing love to their alma mater. While Universities consider campaigning for wealthy alumni’s help to finance their efforts – particularly in athletics – it’s not as often you hear about famous athletes giving back to the schools that helped their rise to superstardom. That may be changing.

Recently, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green gave $3.1 million to Michigan State’s athletic department, a massive sum and one of the largest amounts ever given by an athlete. Green is not alone. The Times reported that Miami Dolphins tackle Ndamukong Suh gave Nebraska $2.6 million from his first NFL contract. Also, Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson offered $5 million to the University of Illinois at Chicago, an amount totaling roughly half the Flames’ budget for a new baseball stadium. Saints QB Drew Brees has made two seven-figure donations to his alma mater, Purdue.

Green told the Times his gift was a thank you. “I went to Michigan State as a boy, a boy who really didn’t know where life was going to take me, really my own identity. I left Michigan State a man.” From a public relations perspective, having a famous athlete as an alumnus is a gift that gives both ways. Sure, like Green, most of the young men who come in as talented freshmen athletes are relatively clueless about life and all its various opportunities.

They bring with them drive, determination, and untapped opportunity. As life on campus teaches them lessons, they need to learn to move to the next stage in life, their efforts on the field or floor put butts in the seats and money in the coffers. Education and opportunity for fame and notoriety. It’s a fair trade. Then, a fortunate few athletes go on to huge paydays in professional sports.

Paydays that would not have been possible except for the opportunity to shine they had in college athletics. Many realize the connection, and more are saying “thanks” for their big opportunities with signatures on big checks.

AT&T to buy DirecTV: How will this shake up the tech industry?

This past week AT&T won its bid to purchase satellite TV provider DirecTV. One of the conditions reached in the deal was an agreement from AT&T to increase its broadband reach to a greater number of homes and businesses. In a single move, the combined company is now the largest pay-TV provider in the United States. The Justice Department said it would not challenge the deal because it doesn’t “pose a risk to competition.”

Lessons From a Top Social Media CEO

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner recently spoke at Wisdom 2.0, a business conference in San Francisco. He talked about lessons he’s learned on his rise to the top. We can all learn a lot about management success from what Weiner had to say.

Nintendo makes Bowser VP

Nintendo just hired Bowser to be its US Vice President of Sales. In a match made in tech PR heaven, Nintendo just got a tremendous Vice President with a name that no media outlet – or Nintendo fan – will be able to resist. There’s a story here that everyone will want to read.

Self-driving Semi: Wave of the Future?

So, the media is buzzing about new “self-driving” semis, and some people are asking: “Didn’t they make a horror movie about this?” The one certainty about technology is that it will try to accomplish the impossible. Just when you think you have seen everything, the World of Tomorrow completely changes. Yes, people have been talking about driverless cars for years, but most folks imagined small single vehicles, not necessarily Optimus Prime.

Cracking Under Pressure

When the iPhone 6 hit the market, it was The Big News in tech for weeks. Then someone tested it, and the phone failed to hold up under the pressure. About nine customers complained about “bent” phones after the first week of sales. Nine. But, it’s the iPhone so of course it was big news. Then a couple of British kids videoed themselves bending an iPhone 6 Plus and posted the video on YouTube.

Views stacked up, and It Became Fact: iPhones will bend, and then break. But what about the competition? Well, Samsung, purveyor of what would have once been called absurdly large handheld devices, now has a similar problem. According to reports, the new Galaxy S6 Edge can be permanently deformed when bent with 110 pounds of pressure.

So who has the edge? Well, no one, it seems. The iPhone 6 bent when the same amount of pressure was applied. Then again, it held up a bit longer than the Galaxy did before being irreparably destroyed.

What’s the PR result of all this bending and breaking? Well, the smart money is on “don’t bend or break your phone,” but the consumer takeaway will likely only reinforce previously determined personal preference. Each side will say: “see, they both break, but mine is still better.”

Some people are asking if Bendgate is the beginning of the end for “bigger and thinner” phones. Probably not. When smartphones first arrived on the market, accessibility was the name of the game. They mimicked the size of current cell phones but added features. Now experience is the name of the game in the market – the name has even changed from phone to “mobile device.”

Smartphones are, once again, tools to deliver an experience…an experience that increasingly includes visual-based entertainment and information. For that, bigger screens are better. So bigger screens are what consumers will be offered. How to deliver the best experience with the best resistance to damage (without hurting new purchase numbers) is the Holy Grail challenge right now for mobile engineers.

Branson vs.Tesla

Richard Branson loves it when you travel with a Virgin. He’s winning fans in so many transportation spaces—trains, planes, spacecraft. It’s only natural that a man who made his billions with innovation would set his sights on other means of getting people from here to wherever they would rather be. And, with a move into the cruise ship sector already announced, where else is there for Branson to go? Passenger cars, of course.

And, because this is Branson, you know he will do it with style…and enough difference to make a splash wherever he lands. Perhaps telegraphing his intentions, Branson recently joined his racing team in Miami, where Virgin Racing was competing in the all-electric Formula E race. Yes, it’s a competition of entirely battery-powered racecars, all capable of going from zero to sixty in about three seconds.

In case you missed it, Formula E is billed as the “world’s first international, all-electric racing event.” Organizers said the event’s purpose is to “push the edges of electric car technology.” Races have been held in popular Formula 1 locales from Beijing to Monte Carlo. According to reports in Bloomberg, the vehicles currently reach top speeds of 160 mph, but they can do so in virtual silence. Can you imagine a race where all you could hear is the scream of the crowd?

What’s that you heard about the inherent performance limitations of electric vehicles? Well, friend, they were wrong. Just when you were wondering what he would say next, Branson dropped this bombshell on the press: “We have teams of people working on electric cars. So, you never know, you may find Virgin competing with Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business.”

Hey, Elon Musk, that sound you just heard was a gauntlet landing at your feet.