So now that I own both the iPhone 3G S and a MacBook Pro, I really don’t see what possible use I could have for the new iPad. First off, what a terrible name. I’ve been reading for weeks that the rumoured names for the device were iSlate, iTablet, iPad … and iPad wins. Get ready for the maxi pad jokes, Apple. Actually, MADtv has that pretty much covered in this sketch from four years ago.

And okay, it’s a nice device for consuming media, and the iBook store is neat, but the iPad falls in its ability to be a do-everything device. It lacks a camera and it doesn’t multitask. I heard one defence for the iPad stating that it was made this way on purpose, as to not pull sales away from the MacBooks. That makes sense, but then what do I need the iPad for? I haven’t quite figured it out.

So the fanfare and the hype that has been building up for weeks didn’t quite deliver what it promised, but when does it ever do that? I’d say rarely ever. Maybe iPad version 2.0 will take some of the critics cries into consideration.

Another disappointment I felt during the whole Apple CES keynote was that I expected iPhone OS 4.0 to be released, but it looks like I’m going to have to wait for that, too. I guess that’s okay, though, as I don’t think I’ll upgrade to OS 4.0 until blackra1n or somebody else figures out how to jailbreak it. And my guess is Apple is going to make it a lot harder to do this time around.

All being said, yes. I’m a total Apple fanboy now.

And look at the super awesome shiny wonderful case I am getting for my MacBook! Excited!

A nice spread of chocolates from Coppeneur.

Christmas is coming up, and I have been thinking about what to buy my parents and other relatives. While probing the web for ideas, I came across the North American arm of a fine chocolate maker based out of Germany called Coppeneur.

Before I give some of this stuff away I decided I might as well try it myself. I ordered a handful of different treats from their online store in order to get a sense of what they had to offer, and I referred to a chocolate tasting guide from Seventypercent.com for a chocolate-tasting how-to.

Armed with my new knowledge of the six categories of chocolate tasting, I present to you my first ever review of a dark chocolate. This one in particular is Coppeneur’s Trinidad 72% with Habanero and Lavender. I opened up the package to discover it comes with a nice little book on the company’s history and product lines. Unfortunately it was all in German and I was unable to translate. Still, it shows the maker cares a lot about the presentation – and you can see that throughout the packaging, from the silver wax seal to the graphic imprint on the chocolate itself.

Great presentation all the way through, from the packaging down to the imprint on the chocolate.

Aroma

The first test is the smell of the chocolate itself. My initial impression is that it’s incredibly fresh, as the smell of the peppers mixed with the chocolate is potent but not overwhelming. This is what I imagine an equatorial plantation smells like.

Look/Snap

Next we test how it looks and how it breaks apart. According to Seventypercent, good chocolates are a more reddish hue than black, indicating finer quality cocoa beans were used in the production of the chocolate. And that’s exactly what it looks like here. The chocolate has a nice brownish red colour with a clean snap, indicative of good production. No air bubbles here!

Taste

Enough fooling around with this whole smelling it and looking at it business – let’s bite into this sucker already. Taste has the most weight when rating a chocolate, and rightly so – why else would you eat it if not for the taste?

The chocolate came with a nice little book, written in German.

On initial placement on the tongue the chocolate bursts with strong flavours of the Habanero pepper and coffee beans with lighter touches of the lavender mixing in. It melts slowly and the spice of the pepper remains constant, while the richness of the cocoa bean shines through. Overall, it’s a really nice flavour with just the right amount of spicy kick from the pepper. It’s neither too sweet (an indicator that the makers are masking poor quality ingredients with too much sugar) nor too bitter. My basis for comparison is close to nil, but I have to say it was a taste sensation unlike any other chocolate I’ve tried.

Melt

“One of the reasons chocolate is so pleasant is that cocoa butter melts very close to body temperature,” says Seventypercent. That means it shouldn’t be cloying or sticky when it melts. From my experience tasting just now, I can tell you that this one performs quite well – it melts smooth on the tongue and doesn’t break into chunks, it just liquefies in a pleasing manner.

Length

The length of a chocolate refers to how long the aftertaste lingers once the chocolate is eaten. Since this one had a particularly spicy bent, the aftertaste lingers for quite some time and reveals the strength of the

A nice touch - the logo and graphic imprint on the chocolate itself.

Habanero along with the purity of the chocolate. At 72 per cent cocoa, the chocolate is on the high end of the scale – Seventypercent says it won’t review any with less than 55 per cent and recommends chocolates with 60 per cent and higher cocoa content.

Opinion

Finally, there’s a category for the chocolate taster’s overall impression of the chocolate, taking all the previously reviewed factors into account.

I have to say, as a novice chocolate taster, I found the 72% Habanero & Lavender from Coppeneur delightful. The spiciness was a surprise, but certainly a pleasant one. What was really remarkable about the chocolate was its fresh aroma and taste, indicated by the strong flavours and lasting aftertaste. And the crowning touch for me was the attention to detail in the packaging and presentation of the bar.

Feist: A beautiful voice and an oblivious tribe leader?

I’ve been spending some time listening to the audiobook version of Tribes: We Need You To Lead by Seth Godin. In the book, Godin talks about how people inside organizations and around the world are all connected, and need to be connected by tribes. These tribes are the cirlces of people centred around a leader – someone who is creative, confident and who the members of the tribe look up to, follow and emulate.

Godin cites The Grateful Dead as a key example of how a tribe can lead to success in any industry. The Dead didn’t rise to fame by climbing to the top of the charts with a hit single. They relied on the Deadheads, their legion of unwavering fans, to see their live shows and buy their albums. They were a tribe who helped the band be successful by loyally attending shows and honestly spreading their love of the band among their friends. This, says Godin, is the power of tribes and the mark of leaders – people who see value in something and want to share it in an unselfish way.

Feist, despite her mainstream success with 1-2-3-4, also depends on her loyal fans to keep things active in her career. She rewards fans by sharing personal anecdotes at shows and other gestures that tell fans “hey, I know you, I know where you’re from and I care about things you care about.” By rights, she’s an accessible star.

She has a significant amount of influence as the leader of her own tribe. But when that power is taken for granted, as it was the night of her show in Winnipeg, it can really reflect poorly on her. Let me explain. During “Secret Heart”, Feist had her camera operator put the camera on the floor, pointed at the back of her shoes. She then lifted each sole to reveal the words “THE PYRAMID” written on two small pieces of paper, taped to her soles.

My immediate inference was that the “secret” she was “dying to reveal” was that she was having an after-show party at The Pyramid (a popular music venue in downtown Winnipeg). Two hundred, yes, 200, other people thought exactly the same thing, and marched straight down to the Pyramid after the show.

Meanwhile, Dave McKeegan, the proprietor of said venue, was enjoying his night off by having a few beers with his friends and watching Monday Night Football. The one staff member actually at the venue called him in a panic when people began to line up outside, abuzz with chatter of when their precious tribe leader would make her appearance.

McKeegan begrudgingly made his way down to work as the fervent Feist fans poured into the Pyramid, waiting patiently for the maiden of the eve to arrive. The two staff members served drinks to fans and the ebb of conversations continued to move from hope to disbelief to anger and back again. But she did not show. Nor apparently did she intend on ever doing so.

According to a sound engineer who spoke with the artist shortly after her concert’s end, her intent was to give a shout-out to one of her favourite venues in the city. She had an early flight the next morning to skirt off to Regina to prepare for her next show. However, rumors of her appearance at The Pyramid were going around before her show commenced, so her intent is muddled in the sea of speculation. It’s possible she at one point intended on showing up and then decided against it after an energetic but tiring performance. Touring takes a lot out of artists. I will give her that.

But her failure as a tribe leader is her apparent broken promise to her loyal fans, who were eager to make a connection. Successful tribe leaders, as Godin says, are people who are willing to converse with the tribe, share ideas and give of themselves as members of that tribe.

At the very least, if she felt unwell or too exhausted to make an appearance at The Pyramid, she could have sent someone to inform people at the venue she wasn’t going to be there.

I think this is where common courtesy meets the mark of a leader. The more we all understand the influence we have on people as leaders of our own tribes, the better leaders we will become and the more successful we will be.

I think I’m going to send Feist a copy of Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People. Just for kicks.

But in this time of market meltdowns and financial recessions, I wonder what effect the current global economic situation will have on “the little guy” in the industry, like me (right now).

My initial thought is that it probably won’t have a serious effect, unless all the freelance work you’ve been doing was for big financial institutions. That’s an unlikely situation, though. I think the more subtle change we’re going to see is that when the dust settles and businesses begin to rebuild themselves, they will think strategically about including more ‘guaranteed to work’ strategies and taking less risks creatively when what they should be doing is exactly the opposite.

If you want to be a brand that’s constantly on the tip of people’s tongues, you have to constantly (and consistently) be doing things and saying things that surprise people. The more we can strike a balance between fresh creative and a more pragmatic approach, the more people will appreciate and even welcome our messages, our symbols, our brands.  Marty Neumeier noted that a brand is not a product or a logo or even what a company says or does. It’s “a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or organization.”

The more we can remember that, the more we’ll come to recognize that building a brand goes beyond having a really tight IMC plan. Beyond an awesome campaign. Beyond a box, a great spokesperson or a history of award-winning creative. It involves living and breathing your brand character. Understanding that every decision you make as the owner of a product or a corporate entity reflects upon your brand.

And the reason that is and will always be true – brands don’t belong to us. They belong to YOU.