Uber Oops. Bloomberg Publishes Steve Jobs Obituary.

Gawker is gawking at Bloomberg’s bigtime blunder: inadvertently publishing a ‘test’ obituary for the guy with more than a few corporate lives: Steve Jobs. Jobs battle with pancreatic cancer and recent wraith-like appearance at the new iPhone launch has been the scuttlebutt among investors and fans for some time, with rumor-mongers pointing to such possibilities as Laurene Powell Jobs’ propensity for pushing radical vegan diets on her husband as the culprit.

Putting aside the utter macabre of it all, what’s fascinating is the list of Who’s Who to call upon :: shudder :: his expiration. On the hot list : ex-girlfriend and SV power player, Heidi Roizen; best friend Larry Ellison; Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; Jerry Brown; Bill Gates, Al Gore; one of the first Apple evangelists, Guy Kawasaki; Nolan Bushnell and more of the industry’s luminaries.

Guru’s Note: As one who worships on the altar of New Products, Steve Jobs is indisputably one of my gods. His companies and his products tend to have nine endlessly intriguing and eclectic lives. Here’s hoping Steve does, too.

Fanning the Sarah Palin Social Networking Frenzy.

Social networking site Facebook is leading the pack (so far) of Sarah Palin fans. As of this noon today, the Governor’s Politician’s Fan Page was booming, with 31,803 fans and counting, many of them active and posting.

The VP Candidate also has a MySpace page, with 1591 Friends to date.

And a Ning page.

Linkedin.com is showing a Sarah Palin as an employee of a Metro Hotel in Australia. And here’s what shows up when I search on Hi5.com for Sarah Palin.

Guru’s Update at 11:25 p.m. Pacific: Sarah Palin Facebook page now up to 35,926 supporters.

While Leon Trotsky seems stuck at 1272 fans.

Cal Wins Season Opener with 62,000 + 4 Tree Sitters Watching.

Kevin Riley passed for 202 yards and two second-half touchdowns, and Shane Vereen broke an 81-yard scoring run with 4:21 left in California ’s 38-31 victory over Michigan State on Saturday night.

No word on whether Dumpster Muffin was one of those cheerleading Treesitters.

More RetroBranding: The MilkMan Returns to Manhattan

As my Facebook friends know, I’ve spent the past week writing Moo concepts. Not easy when one is lactose-intolerant, but hey, we stalwart copywriters carry on even in the face of potential hives.  So here I am, deep in cow cuds, when I discover this new product update from my favorite Springwise site: The Manhattan Milk Company is reviving old-fashioned dairy delivery, delivering organic milk to customers’ doors in glass milk bottles.

For a USD 5 delivery charge, Manhattanites can get a weekly delivery of fresh milk. The company’s driver loads up his truck on Wednesdays at 4 am and delivers to all of Manhattan, picking up empty bottles when he drops off the full ones. The milk is sourced from 51 Amish farms in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, about 160 miles southwest of New York City, and is also sold at the Batch store on 150B W. 10th Street.

This ‘everything old is new again’ trend follows the triumphant return of Schlitz Classic, which sold out in its native home of Milwaukee in a matter of days. It was quickly snatched up by both older guys who remember the beer from back in the day, and younger drinkers curious about the brouhaha. Apparently, you can remember the 60’s, even if you were there.

Guru’s Note: I drive one of the world’s primo examples of retro-branding:  the VW “New” Beetle convertible in gecko green with adorably pimped out green daisy wheels.

With this trend in mind, what’s next?  What would YOU like to bring back? Perhaps with a new green or tech twist?

Yahoo’s Mash Gets Smashed.

I got an email yesterday from Yahoo saying that it is closing Mash, its latest social media effort.

Mash was supposed to be an upgrade from Yahoo360, one of its previous social networking experiments, which I actually kind of liked.  But then I am the typical early adopter who even took a stab at Yahoo’s Mixd, which also shut down.  I have a vague memory of something called Mingle, too. Or maybe that was one of the names I generated for a social marketing project. At this stage in Y! world, they ought to consider skipping the M part of the alphabet.

Guru’s Note:  In July, Yahoo e-mailed its Yahoo! Music Store customers telling them it will be closing for good.  Another reason to avoid those M’s …

With An ‘Attack Dog” VP Now On The Ballot, Dems in Denver May Need To Paws For Puppy Love.

Travelmole reports: When the Democrats come to Denver next week for their national convention, it will be dog days — at least in some places.

Particularly at the Hotel Monaco, where the “director of pet relations” will be on hand to greet attendees.

“Hercules” will be decked out in a specially-made red, white and blue tuxedo and top hat, which he will be debuting on August 25 in the Hotel’s lobby. He will be there for photos with both two- and four-legged fans, as well as a petting or two, sporting his new “Super Delegate” tuxedo.

With the polls showing McCain closing in on Obama, the diehard PUMA Hillary crowd not falling immediately into lockstep, and the feisty ‘attack dog’ Biden already in full pounce, a ‘paws’ for a little puppy love may be very welcome.

Next Up At Baby Pilates Class: Zuma Nesta Rock, Gwen Stefani’s Latest Production.

Gwen Stefani on Thursday gave birth to a boy, Zuma Nesta Rock.

Undoubtedly he will attend Baby Pilates classes with:

Apple and Moses, children of Gwyneth and Chris

Kal-El Coppola, son of Nicolas Cage and Alice Kim

Reignbeau, daughter of Ving Rhames

Audio Science, son of actress Shannyn Sossamon and Dallas Clayton

Alabama Luella, daughter of reality TV stars Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler

Pilot Inspektor , son of actor Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf

Denim and Diezel, sons of Tony Braxton

Banjo, son of actress Rachel Griffiths and Andrew Taylor.

Moxie CrimeFighter, daughter of Penn Jillette

Puma and Seven Sirius, children of Erykah Badu

Maybe their instructor could be Diva Muffin, daughter of Frank and Gail Zappa.

Check out this list of Celebrity Baby Names.

Note:  While the Guru, long semi-notorious as a Name Dame, Name Gnome or even the pompous — Name Generator — agrees that names should instantly telegraph a strong positive feeling and even a smile,  she also believes names should not trigger problems in the proverbial sandbox. (Even the corporate sandbox. Wakoopa anyone?)  Of course, these offspring will likely travel with pricey bench-pressing bodyguards to ward off playground bullies.  Civilians should stick with Ava and Abigail (2007 most popular girl names) or Aiden and Braden (2007 most popular boy names). They’re also more apt to fit neatly into all those teeny-tiny squares on the SAT registration forms.

Cal Bears Tap Into The Power of Video For Friends & Family Opening Game Promo.

BERKELEY - California head football coach Jeff Tedford has named sophomore Kevin Riley as the Golden Bears’ starting quarterback for their opener against Michigan State on Saturday, Aug. 30 at Memorial Stadium. Tedford made the announcement following Thursday afternoon’s preseason practice and said that senior Nate Longshore will also play in the opener.

The Golden Bears will need more than a viral video to play catch up this season.  Last year at this time, they were a nationally ranked football team with great potential.  We actually attended the game in which they were Number 2 for about ten minutes. This year?  All the Web 2.0 tricks, from Tedford’s blog to downloading free fan software, may not be able to compensate for that embarrassing showing in Palo Alto, where the Speedo’d Stanford marching band joyfully tromped on our Bear pride.

On the other hand, Golden Bear Olympians continue to do us proud in Beijing.

From Balsamic Vinegar to Brett: The 2008 Beloit College Mindset List

Jsonline reports: Beloit College released today this year’s version of its Mindset List, a collection of 60 cultural waypoints originally designed to help the college’s professors understand where the incoming students are coming from.  

Guru’s Note:  My guess is that 99% of Berkeley’s professors do not need this list, as they’re already mind-melded with college freshmen.

Multiculturalism and environmentalism have always been a large part of life for those born in 1990 and later, said Ron Nief, the school’s public affairs director and one of the people who assemble the annual list.

Also, items many older folks consider high-tech are commonplace for these teens. A decade ago, Nief notes, some college students were just giving up pay phones. Colleges were installing phone lines in individual dorm rooms for the first time.

Now students who enter school don’t even know why the phone lines are there, Nief said. Many haven’t used a landline in years. 

Guru’s Note:  My daughter’s dorm room at Berkeley has a landline but she never hooked it up and has no idea what the number is.  It’s all about her iPhone.

“Technology is such a part of their lives, they don’t even recognize it,” Nief said.

If you’re a Mad Men addict, it’s a trip to look at Beloit’s list against the context of that show.  Some of my Gen Y friends have been aghast at the portrayed treatment of women, Jews, and blacks — and astounded at the mind-numbing presence of alcohol and Luckys.  It’s safe to say that none of these entering college freshmen females have ever had to wait for the men to finish dinner before they got served!

Posted: Aug. 19, 2008

1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.

3. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.

4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.

5. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.

6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.

7. Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.

8. Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”

9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.

10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.

11. All have had a relative - or known about a friend’s relative - who died comfortably at home with hospice.

12. As a precursor to “whatever,” they have recognized that some people “just don’t get it.”

13. Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando.

14. Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.

15. Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.

16. Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.

17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.

18. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.

19. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.

20. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.

21. Students have always been “Rocking the Vote.”

22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.

23. Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.

24. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”

25. There have always been gay rabbis.

26. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.

27. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.

28. IBM has never made typewriters.

29. Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.

30. McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.

31. They have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola.

32. There has always been Pearl Jam.

33. The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.

34. Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.

35. They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium.

36. They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.

37. Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border.

38. Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.

39. Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.

40. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.

41. Macaulay Culkin has always been “Home Alone.”

42. Their parents may have watched “The American Gladiators” on TV the day they were born.

43. Personal privacy has always been threatened.

44. Caller ID has always been available on phones.

45. Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.

46. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.

47. They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”

48. Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.

49. Soft drink refills have always been free.

50. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”

51. Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.

52. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.

53. The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.

54. The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.

55. 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.

56. Michael Milken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.

57. Offshore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.

58. Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.

59. There have always been charter schools.

60. Students always had Goosebumps.

The list’s authors also note for these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

Retail’s Best New Back To School Viral Campaign: YearbookYourself.com.

Ever wondered what you might look like in a past life? (Ewwww, did you look like your MOTHER?! Now you’ll know for sure.)

In the cleverest viral campaign since OfficeMax’s Elf Yourself, social-networking-savvy Taubman Centers, owner of upscale shopping malls nationwide, has created a buzzworthy new site to drive more teens and their parents into its malls for back-to-school shopping.

YearbookYourself.com allows you to upload a photo and see yourself with classic hairdos and vintage outfits through the decades. Era-appropriate music plays while you’re waiting to be stunned by your new ‘do. Once Yearbooked, people can save their pictures and post them to their favorite social networking site, such as Facebook and MySpace, as well as share them with friends. All I can say is: Keen! (1956 Guru) Groovy! (1966 Guru) Awesome! (1988 Guru)

Unfortunately, for all its blockbuster potential, the site architecture breaks a number of basic social marketing rules. In fact, parts of the site are somewhat kludgey and even confusing. Most significantly, the fact that the Taubman shopping center connection is never explained until you’re suddenly asked to Choose A Mall.  Huh?  Yet all they had to do is add a screen or a crawl along the bottom that explains who is behind the site.

The Malls themselves require registration — that typical My Mall stuff –which is really annoying. It stops the flow; it stops the excitement. It is a significant barrier to continued engagement. I was interested in seeing how Lucky jeans were an update on 1978 jeans — but I couldn’t see them without ponying up a pile of my personal information. Why create this terrifically trippy widget if you’re going to make it difficult to explore?  What’s likely to happen is the sponsors’ worst nightmare: a high level of engagement with the YearbookYourself pictures and then a marked percentage of abandons when the user hits the reg-required mall pages.  With all those teen fashionistas out there scouring the web for store and style content, its a shame to lose them with barriers and bumps that should have been prevented via Usability Testing.

Worse, once you’re in Mall World, you can’t easily return to the YearbookYourself you’ve already created.

I do applaud the erstwhile attempts to connect yesterday’s styles and trends with today. 

The site also features “homeroom” pages that allow visitors to save their favorite yearbook photo to a page and then invite friends to post their photos as well. Once invited, friends post their photos, a virtual yearbook page is created. Shared links allow friends to view each others’ homeroom pages. They can also save, print, email or post their yearbook photo creation to a webpage or social network site.

I’m conducting some mini-research this week to see if teens think YearbookYourself.com is fun, corny, cool or lame — and will track if and where they actually post. My focus-group-guru self thinks they won’t admit a thing . . . but that MySpace will see some Yearbook action soon.

Wouldn’t it have been a kick if Taubman, and always innovative ad agency Colle + McVoy,  had added:

• A celeb component, with a Gossip Girl, hot band, or Jonas Brother getting Yearbooked? MySpace would have been an awesome partner here.
• A Buy-and-Sell-Your Friends game.  Does your bff cost more in 1978 or 1954?
• Stimulated Homeroom usage by mixing in REAL celeb yearbook pix as part of a prize-winning scavenger hunt or name that celeb.  Again, partner with MySpace.  Wouldn’t The Ubiquitous Tom be perfect in Yearbook ‘disguise’? 

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