Managing & Technology — www.ddmcd.com

Website copyright © 2002-2025 by Dennis D. McDonald. From Alexandria, Virginia I support proposal writing & management, content and business development, market research, and strategic planning. I also practice and support cursive handwriting. My email: ddmcd@ddmcd.com. My bio: here.

All in Media

"White Papers" Need to be Mobile, Too

Aug 15

Aug 15 "White Papers" Need to be Mobile, Too

Dennis D. McDonald

Advertising, Media, Mobile Tech, Publishing, Web

Are your white papers easily accessible on mobile devices? Viewed by some as “old school” marketing devices, others still use and expect them. Just last week, for example, I was asked for a set of my own white papers by a business prospect. That experience led me to write this article.

Using a Social Network to Gang Up on Apple

Jul 10

Jul 10 Using a Social Network to Gang Up on Apple

Dennis D. McDonald

Android, Apple, Google, Google+, Media, ,

Tech Journalist Mike Elgan recently published an article on the Google+ social network titled Is Google+ becoming a hostile place for Apple customers? Should it be?

Jun 3
Jun 3 Crowdsourcing the Design of Facebook's "Facephone"

Dennis D. McDonald

Advertising, Crowdsourcing, Facebook, Humor, Media, Smartphone, Voice Response, iPhone

Were I in charge of designing the Facebook smartphone, I would absolutely love what’s going on now on the web.

Some Disappointments with Walmart Vudu's DISC-TO-DIGITAL Service

May 15

May 15 Some Disappointments with Walmart Vudu's DISC-TO-DIGITAL Service

Dennis D. McDonald

DRM, DVD, Media, Movies, VUDU, Streaming

Once I got things to work, I was really impressed with the audio and video performance of Walmart’s Vudu movie service, so I was really interested in trying out Vudu’s Disc-to-Digital service for a small number of my old movie DVD’s I’d like to see in higher-than-DVD definition.

May 3
May 3 How Computers and TV Cohabit in the Living Room - May 2012

Dennis D. McDonald

Collaboration, Facebook, Media, Television

The accompanying image shows three laptop computers in use as we watched Game of Thrones last night. What’s wrong with this picture?

May 1
May 1 Smart TV Will Change Your Living Room -- But How?

Dennis D. McDonald

Apple, DRM, Media, Television, VUDU, Video

Mike Elgan’s How Smart TV Will Change Your Living Room is one of the better “future of TV” articles I’ve read. His view of the changing role of TV is straightforward:

Apr 23
Apr 23 Watching My First VUDU Movie

Dennis D. McDonald

Blu-Ray, DRM, DVD, Media, Netflix, VUDU, Walmart

Last week my friend Charlie came over after dinner. We go out to movies a couple of times a month and afterwards go for a beer. This time we decided to stay in. He would supply the beer and I the popcorn. Our intended entertainment: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE GHOST PROTOCOL.

Apr 18
Apr 18 Personal Experience with the iPhone 4s

Dennis D. McDonald

Apple, Linkedin, Media, Mobile Tech, Productivity, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes

It’s not unusual to find myself when I go back to a browser based application from an iPhone app I’m struck by the messiness and clutter, despite the added functionality.

When the Cold War Was Winding Down, Could the Soviet Military Have Maintained Secrecy Had Social Media Existed?

Apr 12

Apr 12 When the Cold War Was Winding Down, Could the Soviet Military Have Maintained Secrecy Had Social Media Existed?

Dennis D. McDonald

Collaboration, Media, Politics, Security, , Telecommunications, eGovernment, Cold War, Secrecy

“Would the Soviet Union have been able to maintain the secrecy of its nuclear and biological warfare development efforts had modern social media like Facebook and Twitter been available?”

Mar 8
Mar 8 Thoughts About The New Apple iPad

Dennis D. McDonald

Android, Apple, Media, Mobile Tech, Television, iPad, iPhone

Yesterday Apple announced the new iPad. I like the new iPad and really think I would enjoy it as a way to manage and manipulate my nature photographs. I want one!

Peer Review in Scientific Journals Isn't Perfect - So What Else Is New?

Feb 4

Feb 4 Peer Review in Scientific Journals Isn't Perfect - So What Else Is New?

Dennis D. McDonald

Collaboration, Media, Peer Review, Publishing, Science, Science Education, Transparency, Journals

In “Stop deifying ‘peer review’ of journal publications” Jonathan Eisen skillfully walks the reader through three realities of how peer review works with scientific journals:

Jan 1
Jan 1 I Just Updated My Copyright Date - So What?

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, Media, SOPA

I just updated the copyright statement in the footer of this blog from

Aug 22
Aug 22 Downsizing The Home Media Collection, Part 1

Dennis D. McDonald

Over the weekend I “weeded” our home book collection. We’re remodeling both our living room and dining room in anticipation of our daughter coming home later this year from the Peace Corps. We’re reducing the number of linear shelf feet devoted to books, CD’s, and DVD’s as we change things around a bit and as we adjust to the increasing importance of digital media.

Is the "Content Web" Really Dying?

Jul 7

Jul 7 Is the "Content Web" Really Dying?

Dennis D. McDonald

Content Management, Documents, Google, Google+, Media, Metrics, Research, Search, Statistics

It’s fashionable these days to point to Facebook’s ascendancy as why Google-type search’s dominance of the Internet is over.

Content May Not Be King But It Still Behaves Like Royalty

Jun 27

Jun 27 Content May Not Be King But It Still Behaves Like Royalty

Dennis D. McDonald

Copyright, Internet, Jeff Jarvis, Media, Metrics, Publishing

One of my favorite media commentators is Jeff Jarvis. I especially enjoy his weekly converaations hosted by Leo Laporte on This Week in Google. Jarvis’ perspective always gets at the big picture of what’s happening with the web economy.

Using Roku: Week 4

Feb 4

Feb 4 Using Roku: Week 4

Dennis D. McDonald

Cable TV, GUI, Media, Roku, Television, Streaming

I’ve been using the Roku box for over a month now. I like this product a lot.

Using Roku: Week 1

Jan 17

Jan 17 Using Roku: Week 1

Dennis D. McDonald

Cable TV, Media, Roku, Television, Streaming

I’ve been using the Roku box for about a week now. At first I just saw it as a replacement for the Xbox 360’s streaming of Netflix. But there’s a lot more programming available via the Roku that I’m still exploring.

It's not true that "Google Doesn't Do Social"

Sep 10

Sep 10 It's not true that "Google Doesn't Do Social"

Dennis D. McDonald

Google, Media, Personalization, Search, Semantic Web, , Transparency

What Google is doing with Google Instant is beginning to expose some of the inner workings of its internal processes in real time. Making the fine tuning of this process more “social” and also responsive to realtime user tuning could be next and might be one way that Google Wave based technology finds its way into Search.

Two Simple Organizing Models for Communication Program Planning

Apr 7

Apr 7 Two Simple Organizing Models for Communication Program Planning

Dennis D. McDonald

Business Models, CRM, Contact Center, Content Management, Customer Communication, Customer Support, , , Strategic Planning, Strategy, Web 2.0, eGovernment, Communications, Media

Sometimes I need to be whacked on the side of the head to keep things simple.