The Acer Guy

Hello Acer Guy readers,

Over the past two months, this blog has started to develop a life of it’s own. What I mean by that is that rather than going down the usual path of engaging readers by soliciting comments on my personal view on life, the universe and all-things Acer, it’s beginning to behave in exactly the same way a corporate blog does, turning the direction of the communication the other way around. Scoble and Israel have never been so right.

A quick look at the comments section should give you an idea of what I mean.

This is absolutely fine by me - I’ve learned more about Acer’s customers through this means than any other I have taken part in, but now the time has come to move the experience up a gear.

So, taking a leaf out of Acer’s next target’s illustrious book, I’m going to turn the tables on you, in the hope that you help me build an important reference onto the world of Acer, and give me a far better insight into what your looking for when I do what I’m paid to do: write Acer’s marketing stuff.

Point number one: I have seen a growing demand for support yet I am not a support guy. Having said that, there have been some pretty good suggestions from readers and Acer support so the basics are there. Would a support forum section be of any help and how would you like it structured? Please remember this is not and cannot replace an official support centre but I do recognize the need.

Point number two: How about the reviews section? I cannot do my own (they would be biased) but are links to “reputable” sites OK? I’ve seen a good few site exits from these pages so I guess you like them.

Point number three: Let’s take it a step further. What about some kind of video section? I’m toying with the idea of starting some Camtasia “how-to” videos. Would you like to see this idea take off? How about I set up a YouTube-style section where readers send in their own how-to videos? The number of times I’m been asked “how to turn GridVista off means there’s a definite demand for something like this.

Point number four: Finally, the one thing I’ve always wanted to do is something along the lines of Dell’s frankly brilliant IdeaStorm. I’m not sure how to set this up yet but where there’s a will there a way. That Swicki over there on the right is a wonderful indicator of what you’re really looking for (4000 OrbiCam searches in the past 30 days…) but I’d like to make the results more transparent for the benefit of everyone. One way to do this is to start some kind of direct, open feedback section. Again, this is my own initiative and not Acer’s so don’t expect them to start selling directly, pre-install Apple’s OSX or make their notebooks green or anything

Joking aside, the number of visitors to this site is growing at a wonderfully steady rate and, even more significantly, the number of comments you guys are leaving is turning this project into a real conversation.

All I’m asking is a little advice on how to make it better.

PS If any of you know of a web/blog design agency that could set this all up, give me their number.

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More Vista worries here.

I have noticed a HUGE demand for “Acer OrbiCam driver” in my swicki. We’re talking a LOT of people: 759 searches (number 1 spot) compared to 130 for the second-placed “customer support” request.

I have found this link to DriverZone.com for the Acer OrbiCam driver. According to this page, the supported systems are:

Operating Systems: Win 98, Win 98SE, Win ME, Win 2K, Win XP, Win Server 2K3, Win Vista

Hope this helps if you’re in trouble.

UPDATE 1 (request): For all of you reading this article I need to know if the solution at DriverZone.com actually works. Can you leave a reply and let me know?

UPDATE 2 (request): Same thing applies to the Device Manager solution.

UPDATE 3: Scroll down for what might be a solution you didn’t know you had… (thanks Richard) or save yourself the time and click here.

UPDATE 4: I have closed comments to this post as the argument has moved on. Please read this post for a solution. Thanks.

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While TheAcerGuy isn’t exactly ranking well on whatever search engine you use, it does attract some visitors.

And those visitors seem to be using the Swicki that’s been sitting there on the right since November to find out more information on Acer.

I thought I’d post the results so far as they provide a curious insight into what’s hot (important) and what’s not.

Acer support - 36
Acer laptop - 29
Asus Lamborghini - 25
Acer notebook - 23
Acer Travelmate 270 - 18
Gianfranco Lanci - 15
Acer Ferrari - 14
Acer USA - 14
Empowering Technology… - 14
HP PDA - 14
Acer review - 13
Fingerprint recognition… - 13
Acer PDA - 12
Acer computer - 11
Acer deals - 11
Acer mobile solutions… - 9
acer n music matc - 9
Trusted Platform Module… - 9
Acer PC - 8
Acer notebook cpu upgrade… - 3
Acer USA warranty - 2
internet explorer 7 - 1
orbicam spec - 1
travelmate 8200 - 1
Acer - 0
acer c500 pocket pc trave…- 0

As expected, support is top of the agenda. Given the heat some other manufacturers have been taking over their customer support, this is not at all surprising.

Interesting to see the Asus Lamborghini up there above the Ferraris (who’d have thought?) along with HP’s PDAs that also feature for some reason which means that Acer’s are obviously well worth a look.

One curious one (for me at any rate) is the interest in Internet Explorer 7. I have a hunch this has to do with the ActiveX issue but who knows what you guys are looking for??

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I thought I’d liven things up with a Swicki.

That’s right. A Swicki. To start with it’s that funny looking thing with images and red text over on the right.

A Swicki, according to its developers, is “a new kind of search engine that allows anyone to create deep, focused searches on topics you care about. Unlike other search engines, you and your community have total control over the results and it uses the wisdom of crowds to improve search results.”

Essentially it should show what people are actually looking for when it comes to Acer.

Obviously it’s in its early stages and I still have to fine tune it, but it will be curious to see how this develops. Whatever the results, you’ll be the first to know.

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