Strategy Ideavelopmentreation

Outside the agency environment, I was introduced to Agile development: [...]

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Design Forgiving a pretty face

In the late spirit of Valentine’s day, I’ve been thinking [...]

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Digital #Facebook

Social media snobs were revoked the ability to scoff at [...]

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Culture The Evolution of the Holiday Card

I mailed Holiday cards 5 years in a row, and [...]

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Big Orange Slide

Thursday, June 20th, 2013

There’s Gold in them there hills

June 19, 2013 by Scott Dube

There’s Gold in them there hills.
California has always been “the promised land”, so to speak, for those seeking fame and fortune.  With the discovery of gold in 1848 the California Gold Rush had begun. Hundreds of thousands of people infected with “Gold Fever” packed up their families, all their belongings and headed west to California.
Following closely on the heels of the Gold Rush, oil was discovered. Within a few short decades California became the largest oil producing state in the union. Black gold was flowing through the economy creating jobs and prosperity.
As California’s population continued to expand rapidly, major industrial projects and agriculture continued to propel the Golden State’s rise.
Hollywood completed the picture in the 1930’s with the golden age of cinema.
The Second World War created another kind of ‘Gold Rush’ as major industrial companies set up in California to supply the war effort.
After the war the Gold Rush known as Silicon Valley was in its infancy.
And in the sixties ‘the summer of love’ basked in the golden glow of the
California sun.
So with all these golden dreams of California in mind, and like so many before me, I packed up my belongings and headed west. I was pursuing my own dream of fame and fortune.
Although I can’t say that I found a summer of love on my recent trip to California (I am married and was travelling with my wife), my hopes and dreams of striking it rich with gold had come true.
On June 13th Grip was awarded a One Show Entertainment Gold pencil, and if that wasn’t ‘striking it rich’ enough, we picked up a bronze pencil too! The Gold Award was for Film: Theatrical & DVD Releases, and the bronze award for “User Generated Content”.
The project was: The Movie Out Here. The inspired client was Labatt Breweries of Canada and the brand was, the always innovative, Kokanee Beer.
I’d like to thank the many people who made this project a reality.
My dream now is that it brings fame and fortune to you all.
Check out the “The Movie out Here” (some link to content)There’s Gold in them there hills.
California has always been “the promised land”, so to speak, for those seeking fame and fortune.  With the discovery of gold in 1848 the California Gold Rush had begun. Hundreds of thousands of people infected with “Gold Fever” packed up their families, all their belongings and headed west to California.
Following closely on the heels of the Gold Rush, oil was discovered. Within a few short decades California became the largest oil producing state in the union. Black gold was flowing through the economy creating jobs and prosperity.
As California’s population continued to expand rapidly, major industrial projects and agriculture continued to propel the Golden State’s rise.
Hollywood completed the picture in the 1930’s with the golden age of cinema.
The Second World War created another kind of ‘Gold Rush’ as major industrial companies set up in California to supply the war effort.
After the war the Gold Rush known as Silicon Valley was in its infancy.
And in the sixties ‘the summer of love’ basked in the golden glow of the
California sun.
So with all these golden dreams of California in mind, and like so many before me, I packed up my belongings and headed west. I was pursuing my own dream of fame and fortune.
Although I can’t say that I found a summer of love on my recent trip to California (I am married and was travelling with my wife), my hopes and dreams of striking it rich with gold had come true.
On June 13th Grip was awarded a One Show Entertainment Gold pencil, and if that wasn’t ‘striking it rich’ enough, we picked up a bronze pencil too! The Gold Award was for Film: Theatrical & DVD Releases, and the bronze award for “User Generated Content”.
The project was: The Movie Out Here. The inspired client was Labatt Breweries of Canada and the brand was, the always innovative, Kokanee Beer.
I’d like to thank the many people who made this project a reality.
My dream now is that it brings fame and fortune to you all.
Check out the “The Movie out Here” (some link to content)
kokanee_blog_post2

California has always been “the promised land”, so to speak, for those seeking fame and fortune. With the discovery of gold in 1848 the California Gold Rush had begun. Hundreds of thousands of people infected with “Gold Fever” packed up their families, all their belongings and headed west to California.

Following closely on the heels of the Gold Rush, oil was discovered. Within a few short decades California became the largest oil producing state in the union. Black gold was flowing through the economy creating jobs and prosperity.

As California’s population continued to expand rapidly, major industrial projects and agriculture continued to propel the Golden State’s rise.

Hollywood completed the picture in the 1930’s with the golden age of cinema.

The Second World War created another kind of ‘Gold Rush’ as major industrial companies set up in California to supply the war effort.

After the war the Gold Rush known as Silicon Valley was in its infancy.

And in the sixties ‘the summer of love’ basked in the golden glow of the California sun.

So with all these golden dreams of California in mind, and like so many before me, I packed up my belongings and headed west. I was pursuing my own dream of fame and fortune.

Although I can’t say that I found a summer of love on my recent trip to California (I am married and was travelling with my wife), my hopes and dreams of striking it rich with gold had come true.

On June 13th Grip was awarded a One Show Entertainment Gold pencil, and if that wasn’t ‘striking it rich’ enough, we picked up a bronze pencil too! The Gold Award was for Film: Theatrical & DVD Releases, and the bronze award for “User Generated Content”.

The project was: The Movie Out Here. The inspired client was Labatt Breweries of Canada and the brand was, the always innovative, Kokanee Beer.I’d like to thank the many people who made this project a reality. My dream now is that it brings fame and fortune to you all.

Check out “The Movie Out Here”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miWgZMY1lz8

Editors note: On June 19th, 2013 Grip was also awarded a Silver Cyber Lion at Cannes for The Movie Out here.

#Facebook

hashtag_blog[3]

Social media snobs were revoked the ability to scoff at those incorporating hashtags in their Facebook statuses late last week. Not long after Facebook introduced Verified Profiles and Pages (à la Twitter), hashtags have made their debut.

The hashtag has been utilized to provide contextual relevance (in such few characters), to filter and share content, and to ignite conversations since Twitter’s early days – and has since been adopted by everyone from Instagram to Tumblr. It has become an integral part of the way consumers digest information: from news to sports events, to award shows. Hashtags are seen as a means to describe an emotion, a thought, or a theme of a shared photo, and have quickly caught on with the masses – even the late adopters – as a means to share culturally relevant trends and to get more “likes” (#instadaily, #iphonepicsonly, etc.)

Shortly after the one-year anniversary of their Instagram acquisition, Facebook has incorporated the hashtag. The billion-strong network has been answering to the increase of interest in niche networks by integrating the services, and has brought in the hashtag in the same fashion. Content shared from external services (like Instagram) will be functional, allowing users to pull up the feed and search results of friends, pages they follow and public profiles. Users are then able to post updates directly, paving the way for a more real-time experience and giving Facebook a head start on populated content.

What does this mean for marketers? In terms of ad products, it has yet to be determined. In terms of content, it will help us reach the consumers we’ve lost in the constant tweaking of the Facebook algorithm. We can become relevant again, and capitalize on the once-promising EdgeRank optimization of a “Merry Christmas” post! It is important that we consciously avoid abusing the tool, and instead incorporate it in an organic way, mirroring consumers’ social activity instead of alienating them. It is a chance for us to interact with the massive fan bases built over the years.

What do you think about hashtags on Facebook?

Confessions of an Apple Junkie

May 14, 2013 by Ben Steele

bs

My cell contract is expiring in a couple of months, and I’ve started to look at what my next smartphone will be. As a diehard Apple loyalist for the past 15 years, you’d expect it to be an iPhone – well, iPhone 5 to be exact. The beauty of the iPhone would be its immediate fit with my multiple AppleTVs, MacBook Pros, MacBook Air, iPads and Airport Extremes. One might say that a trip to the Apple Store is lost on me, as there are very few products I do not own. I say this not as a means of boasting, but to put into context my extreme loyalty to the brand. I loved Apple before most people knew who they were; when Steve Jobs worked there the first time, and when you could only buy a Mac from about three stores in the city. I lived through the Mac clones, the launch of OSX, and the switch from PowerPC to Intel processors. I experienced the innovation, the introduction of WiFi and Bluetooth, and I was the first of my friends to have an iPod (thanks again, Crichton.) So why is it that I have little interest in the iPhone 5? How does a diehard Apple junkie turn their back on an Apple product? I have thought long and hard about my decision, and am ready to explain, starting from the beginning:

Microsoft dominated the computing industry for the majority of the eighties and nineties. As explained by Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers: The Story of Success, Bill Gates had more access to computer servers than anyone else.  He was able to become a master programmer while other students struggled for an hour of access. His advantage, and lack of competition, lead to the creation of MS-DOS and Microsoft Office, and naturally became a staple with businesses across the nation (while still too expensive for home usage.) When computer prices eventually began to drop and the product became attainable for personal use, people bought what they were familiar with. The user experience remained very technical and business focused, and I always thought it felt like you needed to be an expert to safely operate the system.

Apple, on the other hand, was founded on a completely different approach. They wanted to make the process simple and easy. They were the first to introduce a computer with Graphic User Interface (GUI) that used a mouse to move the cursor on screen (a technology Steve Jobs stole from his early days at Xerox), and have been innovative yet simplistic for the length of the company’s history. The iMac was the first to catch the mainstream wave, demonstrating the ease of connecting to the Internet by simply plugging in. Then, the iPod changed the music and personal electronic market forever, followed by the iPhone, which redefined the practicality and modern day necessity of the smartphone. Apple was the creator of cool, well-designed, groundbreaking products. To maintain this newfound stature, Apple needed to control the software with a closed development system to ensure little competition.

Microsoft and Apple competed almost exclusively until recently.

There is now an influx of competition with a population that understands the art of programming. We are now in a world where 20 year olds have never known a day without the Internet, and programming has become a language accessible to those with a wireless connection, initiative and the luxury of time. We are seeing a group of ‘kids’ able to create smart, inventive technology. They do not look to large tech companies to increase distribution, and are the reason Apple is losing the control. Apple is now venturing in unfamiliar territory where tech companies, startups and independent programmers are everywhere, releasing cool, well-designed, groundbreaking products.

Apple is no longer the best smartphone option. And with the release of apps designed to control my Apple family from an Android device, there is no reason for me to purchase an iPhone 5. I’m leaning towards the HTC One with its sleek aluminum case, full HD screen and front mounted speakers – all missing from the iPhone 5. Maybe I’m not such a diehard Apple fan after all, but rather, a junkie of well-designed technology.

Facebook posts its status update on television.

April 9, 2013 by David Crichton

Facebook is about to launch Facebook Home. The elevator pitch is essentially this: people don’t talk to apps, they talk to people, so instead of seeing a screen of apps on your phone, you see all the friends you interact with, instead. At first blush, it seems like a cool concept – bringing the phone back to what it was invented to do — connect people. Whether we are seeing a shift in how mobile devices are used or simply another way to waste time, remains to be seen. But I digress, the point of this article isn’t about how cool Facebook Home may or may not be. It’s about the “cool” way Facebook chose to advertise it: with television. Over the weekend, Facebook ran a television commercial, created by Wieden and Kennedy touting the new offering. Just to recap: Facebook used television to sell a social media product. Traditional advertising, used to sell what many are calling the demise of television and/or branding. A “share” or “pull” medium sold by “push” media. I won’t comment; I’ll just lay the irony out there. Another point of interest is the commercial itself. It makes no sense, and really gives no clues as to what Facebook Home is or does. Apparently I’m not alone, as the many “comments” reflect the same sentiment. The spot depicts your typical scruffy-faced, gen-something-gadgeter on a plane playing with his phone, as a bunch of weird stuff starts to happen around him – people in overhead compartments pop out, cats run around the cabin, etc, end on logo. And that’s pretty much it. If I hadn’t come across the online video while searching for the spot, it’s likely I would never have been able to understand what the spot was saying. The real idea is in the video, albeit not as “creative”. What’s even more interesting is once I knew what the spot was trying to say, I couldn’t help but think of the “original” version of the spot, done by Cliff Freeman and Partners for Prodigy, back in 1995. That’s like a century ago in internet years. But the spot (and the rest of the campaign) was brilliant. One spot showed a woman smashing a banjo on the side of a deserted dusty road, screaming that she couldn’t learn to play it. Up rolls Barry White (yes, The Prince of Pillow Talk, himself) in an old green bus, with a route sign that reads: MUSIC. The doors open and Barry rumbles, “Havin’ problems baby…beatin’ up your banjo?” The woman gets on the bus and all manner of musical chaos breaks out; banjo players, gospel singers, disco fever. The spot ends with a replication of Prodigy’s graphical user interface – one of the first to use one – showing all the different user groups available. A voiceover explains, “Music… just one of the many user groups on the new Prodigy”. Now keep in mind, this was when the internet was in its infancy, and you actually had to PHONE for a subscription to Prodigy, who was attempting to group interests together on one platform to make sense of the this new medium. As a consumer you got it: your computer is the bus, pulling up to all the stops that interest you along the information highway (Yes, that’s not just a joke phrase in meetings, unfortunately that is what we used to call the internet). Similar to the Facebook Home spot, except far clearer in its explanation for something not understood, or even known about for that matter.

Social Media may be the new marketing darling, but as we often stress within our walls, it has to be grounded in the basics of advertising. What are you selling, who are you selling it to, and what is the simplest and most compelling way to tell them. As Mr. Freeman said in referencing his spots, “We’re talking in a language that everyone can understand.”

The original by Prodigy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTJ6IhY9lzo

The video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lep_DSmSRwE

Hi, I’m a GRIP Social Media Intern

April 3, 2013 by Janet Ha

Social Media Intern of Steel

Hi, my name is Janet Ha and I’m a Social Media Intern at Grip Limited.

Before you start deliberating on how my role is probably another run-of-the-mill internship that doesn’t go beyond community management (including but not limited to drafting out Tweets for accounts I’m not allowed to touch with a ten-foot-pole and creating Facebook ads of questionable quality), let me be the first to say:

Grumpy Cat

I’m not your regular intern. This is my fourth* social media internship and the second agency position I’ve held since starting at Humber College’s Bachelor of Creative Advertising program. I’m what you may consider an “internship pro” when it comes to the social space.

So what makes Grip different when it comes to social?

Good Guy Boss

Working as a Social Media Intern at Grip has been a re-education in social media. Grip uses social media in such a way that doesn’t exploit followers and yet leverages brand pillars to spark engagement between brands and their online communities. That being said, the Social Content Team at Grip is not your average community management department. First off: they’re not Community Managers, they’re Social Content Strategists. To paraphrase Shakespeare: What’s in a title?

Jobs in social media are often assailed with questions on their validity in the industry and whether or not those holding the positions are full of it. For example, you cannot append “guru” to the end of your title without being scoffed at as some kind of ignorant poseur. So what difference do the words “content strategist” make? Yes, we do perform expected community management duties like answering questions and comments on client social media platforms, including the creation of crisis management strategies for situations that would make any PR rep tremble with fear from the looming media onslaught.

Disregard Fans, Acquire Engagment

We partner with Accounts and Creative teams to create content and digital strategy decks, monitor industry trends, exchange memes internally and basically have a work hard, play hard mindset that translates into compelling content, outstanding metrics and an optimistic future for social media in advertising as a whole.

Social Media Intern is the official job title on the contract I signed with HR in December, yet I have worn many hats in this role and have accumulated invaluable agency experience. My internship contract with Grip ends this week. It was a fantastic experience and I will use these lessons in advertising for good. How do I know? That’s because by the time this blog is posted, I will be Grip’s latest Social Content Strategist.

Thank you Grip, for the best internship I have ever had.

*I hear you ask: “Why so many internships?” I much prefer working to gain experience in the industry I’m passionate about than folding clothes and slinging coffee (that’s another thing you don’t do in an internship with Grip!).

Grip Limited Acquired By OmniCorp

OmniCom

Grip Limited has come under new ownership. Known for iconic work for brands like Labatt, Honda, and YUM!, the agency believed they were joining the roster of global holding giant OmniCom, who posted profits of 3.9b in 2012. However, due to a clerical error, they have actually become the latest acquisition of OmniCorp — a worldwide leader in the production of sentient, bloodthirsty robots.

“We couldn’t be happier about joining the OmniCorp family,” said visibly distressed founding partner David Crichton. “The technical and digital knowhow that OmniCorp brings to the table is unparalleled in the industry,” Crichton explained between shrieks of pain as a titanium claw tightened around his neck.

President Harvey Carroll was quick to clarify that the agency will still operate under the ethos that made it work. “The day-to-day of the company will remain largely unchanged,” Carroll elaborated as numerous purple crosshairs honed in on the middle of his forehead. “We’re still going to do great work, and put our clients needs first. The only thing that’s different is we’re now under the yoke of a dozen automaton murderers. It’s a real recipe for success.”

Grip Limited’s already robust offerings of digital development, comprehensive print studio and creative/strategic planning have expanded to include thermonuclear drone attacks and armed sentry defense systems.

“We’re hoping to have cybernetic brainwashing in house by fiscal 2014,” Carroll added.

New managing partner PainDroid209 has reportedly already implemented personnel changes — including the hiring of seventeen trillion nanobots and the incineration of 90% of the humanoid workforce.

Ideavelopmentreation

January 18, 2013 by Ken Easson

agile

Outside the agency environment, I was introduced to Agile development: an iterative approach to development that sees a project evolve as it’s built. But typically within the agency world, a small core team finalizes each project concept before production starts. This can lead to a one-dimensional project and everyone outside the core team feeling like a grunt worker. How can everyone on a team have the opportunity in each project to contribute – especially in his or her area of expertise?

Google has offered an Agile solution to agencies. Rather than letting one side do all the ideation, this approach introduces flexibility through iteration. It gets more people involved in the thinking part of the project: people with different skills in the trends and technologies that will make the project shine. To avoid the chaos and typical ineffectiveness of a free-for-all brainstorm, the project is broken down into stories, and stories are fleshed out by small teams.

The project benefits because not all the thinking needs to be finalized before any building starts, giving more time for ideas to ferment. Crack teams work on key components, each bringing their unique skills to the project, and the project improves as it evolves into a final piece. It answers the question, “how can developers and art directors work creatively together?” Ethan Marcotte in Responsive Web Design explores this at some length: he proposes that this is an ideal method for building responsive applications. With the plethora of connected devices today, responsive design is not simply a nice-to-have, but essential criteria for modern, cost effective interactive. But it definitely requires teamwork between artist and programmer.

Today’s users choose which ads they watch, and only interact with the brands they like; they share and promote stories only if they are worthy or offer sufficient reward. The need for engaging ideas has never been greater – iterative and collaborative development gets the best ideas, creative, and technology into each finished piece, and those working on the piece each have the satisfaction of being a part of its creation.

The Evolution of the Holiday Card

December 21, 2012 by Lana Pawziuk

Stella Artois Holiday Infographic

I mailed Holiday cards 5 years in a row, and then last year I decided not to. This year, it’s not happening again.

Lana-Facebook-Post

I know Holiday Carole and the wonders of Google Street View integration are going to wow my parents like they wowed many others to date. I can already picture us all sitting around my parent’s living room, with the laptop plugged into the TV playing load and clear. If there was a kid watching maybe they’d even get confused and run to the door to look outside for Carole and her friends!

It makes me sort of sad that I have neglected to send holiday cards two seasons in a row, yet part of me likes the idea of saving paper, money and time. When technology makes it so easy to send nicely crafted and designed greetings at anytime of the year, it’s no wonder receiving cards in the mail feels a bit like a thing of the past.

Whether you send and receive physical or digital cards, send a quick text, talk on the phone, or have the pleasure of sharing a warm embrace this season, the important thing is to count your blessings and share your good tidings. At Grip we do a nice thing called “Secret Santa Shuffle: Give, Receive and Give Again” where we pick the name of a colleague, buy a gift for their 10 year old self and then donate all the toys to a local charity.

There are so many ways to spread cheer throughout the Holiday season. Donate blood, give someone a friendly smile and spend time with people you love. Seasons Greetings :D

Editors’ note: The Stella Artois Holiday Carole app was developed by Mother. Social media amplification is being handled by Grip. Check it out.

In the world of social media only the headlines seem to matter

December 19, 2012 by Patrick Tomasso

instaeffigy

Yesterday the internet blew up over a change in Instagram’s terms of service. If you were browsing your Twitter feed you would have seen headlines such as: “Instagram can sell your photos to advertisers” or “Instagram owns all of your content now”. All of this stemmed from an update to their terms of service agreement:

“To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.”

Logically if those headlines and interpretations of the update were true what would the outcome have been? Would my selfies be turned into a billboard? Would my pictures of over priced lattes and gourmet doughnuts be used in a commercial? No. You have to remember that your photos (for lack of a better word) suck. You’d be hard pressed to find a brand that would actually use your content without permission regardless of the legal terms. Not only is this poor brand practice, but it just doesn’t make sense to use low MP filtered photos from people’s smartphones.

The line in Instagram’s TOS speaks directly to the way Facebook advertises (Instagram’s parent company) ”in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions”. This means that a brand could use your photo in a sponsored method within the platform. This update to the TOS was clearly in preparation for a monetization strategy within Instagram, which has been confirmed in their apology. For example, if Starbucks had a sponsored image it could appear in your feed or if one of your friends used the Starbucks hashtag it could appear in the app as a sponsored unit.

Ideas and statements can spread like viruses on social media. Yesterday’s attack on Instagram was a prime example of nobody doing any actual fact checking and simply following generic headlines that have been pushed by sites and blogs seeking visits and click throughs. These headlines act like a bacteria that infests into the psyche of a casual user causing common sense to go out the window.

There was no need to panic.

If you are still thinking of deleting your account (or you already did), consider that almost every social network has these same terms in place for content and nobody has expressed such concern. Headlines influence the behaviour of the masses causing us to jump to conclusions, forget common sense, and ignore the actual facts. Instagram is a great, free platform to share moments and create images for friends to see – these terms do not change that fact. If we want it to remain free we are naive to expect that they wouldn’t introduce advertising, so what they are doing is really in the best interest of the user.

Instagram. I still love you. I’m not going anywhere.

For reference:
Instagram’s official response.

Freezing the Information Flow

December 4, 2012 by Justine Leetham

Illustration by Andy Slater

By the time this article surfaces, I will be well on my way to Antarctica with my friend and colleague Joanna McFarlane. There are a number of things that excite me about this trip (don’t let me get started on the penguins or we’ll be here for hours) but one in particular stands out: the idea of being off the grid for two full weeks. I’m not talking about the kind of off the grid where your out of office notification is on, but you’re still secretly checking emails and watching to make sure everything is OK. I’m talking about no Wi-Fi, no cell service, no social media. Full stop.

Of course, you’re already thinking, “If she takes a picture in Antarctica without posting it on Instagram, does it really exist?”

We are plugged in as an industry, a community, a country and a continent. We are, dare I say it, addicted to social media. The photos and thoughts we publish are rated, reviewed and ranked based on how many Likes they receive, how many Shares they earn, and how many Comments are made. In advertising, we monitor these metrics for our clients’ social footprint on a daily basis and from these insights we challenge our Social Content Strategists to push harder to develop engaging, shareable and ultimately ‘viral’ content.

Perhaps because of this keen attention to our clients’ engagement rates, an element of this constant monitoring trickles into our own personal social network. How many Likes did my new photo get? How come no one commented on that hysterical joke I just posted? Why isn’t this video of my friend’s cat wearing a penguin costume getting more shares?

Taking time to disengage and refocus can prompt a fresh surge of energy, creativity, and excitement in our work. I don’t think that we have to travel to the ends of the earth to do it, but it can certainly help. For two full weeks we will be completely disconnected. We will be taking in our surroundings instead of just focusing on capturing them (not to mention wondering which filter would make that cellphone picture look better). It will be liberating to spend time on checking out for once, not ‘checking in’.

When we do come back to the connected world I’m sure we will both cave in and post a few #lategrams. And shortly after, Joanna, being the Analytics wizard that she is, will inevitably dig into the numbers behind how successful the trip was deemed based on how many Likes, Comments, and Shares our photos receive. My prediction? We’re bound to get a few extra thumbs up from our social networks than the average photo, but high or low engagement rates aside, taking the time to log out now and then (voluntarily or involuntarily) may be the secret key to keeping your own content fresh.

Editors’ note: for more on the subject of Grip’s experiences having to disconnect, read these past articles!
The Internet Can Wait
Consumer Unplugged