Before you read this article, you may have thought your dog had the grossest eating habits ever. But Fido's penchant for poo is nothing compared to some of these sickos highlighted in Cracked. For example, Victorian scientist William Buckland: He didn't just stop at the meat of animals, either. While on a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral, a strange mark was found on the floor. A debate broke out as to what the stain could possibly be, at which point Buckland got on his hands and knees, licked the stain and confidently announced it to be bat piss. But the craziest thing Buckland ever did, at…
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Most Topular Stories
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8 historical figures who ate disgusting things
Holy Kaw!8 Feb 2012 | 11:26 pm -
Meet the Mother of All Processes
Brian Solis8 Feb 2012 | 10:32 amGuest post by John M. Bernard, author of the new book, Business at the Speed of Now, and Chairman and Founder of Mass Ingenuity. Imagine going to work in one of Henry Ford’s factories a century ago, proud that management referred to you a “hand” or a “hammer” or maybe even a “wrench.” The labels reflected Ford’s emphasis on automation and management’s view of laborers as mere cogs in the machine. Screw this nut onto that bolt; weld this strap to that frame; do it over and over and over again until your brain froze with boredom. Of course, management needed workers to get the… -
Pinterest Hits 11 Million UMVs (and 8 Tips for Brands)
Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence Blog8 Feb 2012 | 9:02 amIn case you haven’t heard, last night TechCrunch announced that Pinterest hit 11.7 million UMVs, becoming the fastest standalone site ever to surpass 10 million monthly uniques. This presents a huge opportunity for brands, as you might have already read about here. The #1 driver of consumer purchases is word of mouth recommendations from friends, and Pinterest holds the power to drive authentic “word of eye” recommendations in a way that is changing the landscape of social commerce. How? The landing page for Pinterest is an endless visual stream of subtle product… -
Is social media free?
Being Peter Kim2 Feb 2012 | 12:22 amIn 2002, I was having a budget conversation with my CFO. I was general manager of the online store and we were discussing my requests for FTEs, technology upgrades, and marketing spend. The CFO asked me, "this is an online store...why do we need to spend any more money...doesn't it run itself?" (I'm 99% sure he wasn't joking.) This week, news has been circulating that FMCG company Procter & Gamble will eliminate 1,600 jobs and shift more budget into digital media. The headline over at Business Insider is a bit more incendiary: "P&G To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It's Free To… -
Live blogging Politics of the Internet
Doc Searls Weblog25 Jan 2012 | 12:30 pmSo I’m at Micah Sifry’s Politics of the Internet class at the Kennedy School, and risk live-blogging it (taxing my multitasking abilities…) Some questions in the midst of dialog between Micah (@Mlsif) and the class (#pol-int)… Was there a $trillion “internet dividend” over the old phone system, and was it a cost to the old system? Did the Internet have to happen? Is the IETF‘s “rough consensus and running code” still a prevailing ethos, or methodology? Is it an accident that the rough consensus above is so similar to the #Occupy methods?
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Holy Kaw!
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8 historical figures who ate disgusting things
8 Feb 2012 | 11:26 pmBefore you read this article, you may have thought your dog had the grossest eating habits ever. But Fido's penchant for poo is nothing compared to some of these sickos highlighted in Cracked. For example, Victorian scientist William Buckland: He didn't just stop at the meat of animals, either. While on a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral, a strange mark was found on the floor. A debate broke out as to what the stain could possibly be, at which point Buckland got on his hands and knees, licked the stain and confidently announced it to be bat piss. But the craziest thing Buckland ever did, at… -
5 explanations of why teenagers act the way the do
8 Feb 2012 | 11:22 pmUnderstanding the teenage mind could be a life's work. For those of you who don't have that kind of time, however, Mental Floss gives five things that could explain the mind of the teenager. For example, parents, have you ever wondered if your teenager is somehow getting dumber? Parents of teens often wonder what happened to the bright child they used to have. How can someone go from getting A’s to getting C’s when they seem to be doing the same amount of work? Once again, changes in the brain are to blame. While the merits of IQ tests are debatable, scientists used to think IQ… -
Surviving the loss of a star employee
8 Feb 2012 | 11:16 pmSome groups have stellar members who carry the team. That's all well and good until that member leaves. Then what? This Smartblog video will help you answer that question: Full story at Smartblog on Leadership. Top news for leaders. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Disneyland circa 1957 [video]
8 Feb 2012 | 11:14 pmThis video was shot in 1957, less than two years after Disneyland had opened. The footage is newly restored and ready to take you to the happiest place on earth as it was in its early days. Full story at Mental Floss. All the top Internet videos in one place. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
People unplugging their TVs during the Super Bowl
8 Feb 2012 | 11:08 pmThere's no faster way to ruin an American's day than to unplug his or her TV during the Super Bowl. Think we're exaggerating? Take a look at these folks go form 0 to 60 in less than a second, all thanks to Jimmy Kimmel's latest Challenge. Full story at Jimmy Kimmel Live. Top sports news. Permalink | Leave a comment »
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Brian Solis
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Meet the Mother of All Processes
8 Feb 2012 | 10:32 amGuest post by John M. Bernard, author of the new book, Business at the Speed of Now, and Chairman and Founder of Mass Ingenuity. Imagine going to work in one of Henry Ford’s factories a century ago, proud that management referred to you a “hand” or a “hammer” or maybe even a “wrench.” The labels reflected Ford’s emphasis on automation and management’s view of laborers as mere cogs in the machine. Screw this nut onto that bolt; weld this strap to that frame; do it over and over and over again until your brain froze with boredom. Of course, management needed workers to get the… -
2011 Was the Year of the Mobile Consumer, What’s in Store for 2012? Value.
7 Feb 2012 | 10:10 amChris Silva, my colleague at Altimeter Group, released a useful report today that I wanted to share with you here. Mobile is important and I believe you know this. However, when we consider mobile, we often think about the experience when and where it begins. But, we often miss the opportunity to lead a more meaningful journey as it may travel from small screen to larger screens across laptops, desktops and beyond. And along the way, we must now determine our role in this journey to provide information, shape decisions, and influence behavior. In Chris’ report, he reminds us that 2011… -
Season 2 Finale: How Yamaha invests in new customer experiences
3 Feb 2012 | 10:52 amThis is it…the Season Finale! And, what a way to end Season 2 of (R)evolution…. In this episode, Yamaha shares what is by far the most expansive view of disruptive technology’s impact on business infrastructure and culture on the show to date. What you’ll see is a genuine discussion with Jeff Hawley and Rick Williams of Yamaha explore how an already successful business is exploring new opportunities to better define the customer experience before, during and after transactions. It comes down to workflow. Nowadays, it either works for you or works against you. Here,… -
Smartphones, Tablets, PCs, The Devices People Use to Discover Information in Social Media (and when)
2 Feb 2012 | 3:13 pmMy friends over at bit.ly published an interesting graph that reveals the devices as well as the days/times that people use different devices and how and when they consume information. As you can imagine, it’s across the board, but as you can see, there are waves that every device follows, except the desktop. Desktops are of course the devices that we can assume people use during work hours. As such, they are most heavily used on weekdays before noon. Interestingly enough, phone traffic peaks at about the same times, but not to similar effects. What’s also telling is that tablets… -
What’s Love Got to Do with It? The 3P’s of Identity
2 Feb 2012 | 6:16 amGuest post by Allison Cerra, author of Identity Shift With the 2012 Presidential election looming, there’s no shortage of polls to help narrow the field of candidates. I find a recent one from Fox News to be particularly fascinating. Among other questions, Republican primary voters were asked which Republican presidential candidate is most likeable and which they would most trust with a nuclear weapon. While Newt Gingrich scored at the top of the heap in earning the trust vote, he scored only marginally well on the likeability scale. The topic was discussed on the network’s “Fox &…
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Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence Blog
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Pinterest Hits 11 Million UMVs (and 8 Tips for Brands)
8 Feb 2012 | 9:02 amIn case you haven’t heard, last night TechCrunch announced that Pinterest hit 11.7 million UMVs, becoming the fastest standalone site ever to surpass 10 million monthly uniques. This presents a huge opportunity for brands, as you might have already read about here. The #1 driver of consumer purchases is word of mouth recommendations from friends, and Pinterest holds the power to drive authentic “word of eye” recommendations in a way that is changing the landscape of social commerce. How? The landing page for Pinterest is an endless visual stream of subtle product… -
Retailers: Take Social a Step Further
6 Feb 2012 | 10:22 pmAs retailers find their feet in social marketing, it would be interesting to know why they started down the road in the first place. All too often the answer is, “Because my customers expect me to be on Facebook.” Often “So I can push promotions” tops the list. But isn’t it great when the answer is, “I wanted to learn more about a few of my biggest fans, and leverage their influence to generate repeat visits at end of the purchase funnel?” This we don’t hear often. Social-savvy retailers understand that their platforms aren’t just another… -
Preparing for the Social Media Bowl
5 Feb 2012 | 1:57 pmWe’ve been watching social media chatter around the “big game” intensify over the past week – especially if you live in Indianapolis. But since Volkswagen first teased its teaser ad with the barking dogs (and garnered over 11 million views along with way), the ad community has slowly followed suit and rolled out their wares. Consumers that wanted to gain clout (and Klout) passed it along as quickly as possible. But will two weeks of conversation or two minutes of 1.5 million tweets (like those amassed around Tim Tebow’s heroics this season) sway opinion, increase favorability or… -
Sh*t We Say: Lessons from a Long-Tailed Meme – Part 2
31 Jan 2012 | 8:58 am(Part 2? Yeah, check out Part 1.) In case you missed it, Ron Paul supporters, ASU students, and VFX artists were among those that joined the fray since my last post. The variations continue to proliferate further down the tail, satirizing - and entertaining - more niche audiences. What does this add up to? Segmentation. While I easily enjoy Sh*t ASU Students Say even though I’m not a Sun Devil - and haven’t even been to the campus - the video resonates better with those who were. Beyond that, the video’s arc is more relatable to students who enrolled in the past 5-10 years… -
The Updated Ogilvy Social Media Engagement Code
29 Jan 2012 | 10:23 amFirst of all, this isn’t new. We have had a social media-related ethics code in place since 2005. At that time, it was the Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics. It helped us decide what was ‘best-practice’ and what wasn’t. These are our ethics not something handed down through culture or a governing body. We simply believed that social media’s true power was grounded in trust — trust between bloggers and their readers; between brands and their followers; between marketers and customers. The updated code covers more contemporary circumstances. Facebook for one.
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Being Peter Kim
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Is social media free?
2 Feb 2012 | 12:22 amIn 2002, I was having a budget conversation with my CFO. I was general manager of the online store and we were discussing my requests for FTEs, technology upgrades, and marketing spend. The CFO asked me, "this is an online store...why do we need to spend any more money...doesn't it run itself?" (I'm 99% sure he wasn't joking.) This week, news has been circulating that FMCG company Procter & Gamble will eliminate 1,600 jobs and shift more budget into digital media. The headline over at Business Insider is a bit more incendiary: "P&G To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It's Free To…
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Doc Searls Weblog
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Live blogging Politics of the Internet
25 Jan 2012 | 12:30 pmSo I’m at Micah Sifry’s Politics of the Internet class at the Kennedy School, and risk live-blogging it (taxing my multitasking abilities…) Some questions in the midst of dialog between Micah (@Mlsif) and the class (#pol-int)… Was there a $trillion “internet dividend” over the old phone system, and was it a cost to the old system? Did the Internet have to happen? Is the IETF‘s “rough consensus and running code” still a prevailing ethos, or methodology? Is it an accident that the rough consensus above is so similar to the #Occupy methods? -
Surf’s up! Look north
24 Jan 2012 | 2:44 pmAccording to this… … the Aurora is on. The Kp Index has hit 5, and a geomagnetic storm is on. Here’s today’s SpaceWeather on the matter. Follow the links there. Bear in mind that the aurora are curtains of light up to a thousand miles high. So if the auroral oval is pushed down over southern Canada (which these storms tend to do), it should still be visible far south across the United States. Current links: Northern Lights over the UK metofficenews.wordpress.com) An Easy Guide To Observing Aurora mbcalyn.wordpress.com) Epic Geomagnetic Storm Erupts :… -
2025 in 2012
23 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pmMarcel Bullinga is a Dutch futurist and author of Welcome to the Future Cloud. Today I got pointed on Twitter to a Q&A with Bullinga by Aaron Saenz at SingularityHub. Interesting stuff. An excerpt: SH: Welcome to the Future Cloud seems to be very supportive of intellectual property (IP) rights and digital rights managements (DRM). Are IP and DRM necessary to the development of a healthy future? MB: Yes and no. The trend is twofold. We will have ironclad ways to protect our data, our virtual sources and our identities. We will wrap our virtual belongings with what I call a Cloud Seal. A… -
PR’s problems, 20 years later
22 Jan 2012 | 8:37 pmI was near the end of my career as a PR guy when I wrote the essay below for the January 1992 issue of Upside. Since then Upside has been erased. Some bits of it still persist on the Internet Archive, but nothing before 1996. But I did save my own draft of the piece, and put it up here, back in the mid-90s, where it has remained all but invisible. So I thought it would be fun to surface it now on the blog, on the 20th anniversary of its original publication. Here goes: THE PROBLEM WITH PR Toward a world beyond press releases and bogus news By Doc Searls There is no Pulitzer Prize for… -
Can’t lose, in a way
22 Jan 2012 | 2:34 pmI grew up in New Jersey and New York, rooting for the Giants. (And, in the Namath era, the Jets too.) Then, after 20 years in North Carolina (mostly as a college basketball fan), I lived in the Bay Area for 25 years, and rooted for the 49ers there. One daughter lives in the Bay Area, and most of my wife’s huge family lives in the Bay Area, and most of them are hard-core for the Niners. We were out there a week ago and got some great hang time watching the Niners beat the Saints. However, I’ve worked and lived in New England for five and a half years now, and have been rooting for…
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Forbes - Entrepreneurs
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BranchOut Reaches 300 Million Profiles And 10 Million Users
8 Feb 2012 | 9:11 pmBranchOut, the professional jobs network that runs on top of Facebook, announced that it has reached 300 million profiles in its network. -
Sheryl Sandberg
8 Feb 2012 | 7:39 pmPhotos of the Forbes Most Powerful Women -
Facebook's Lack of Boardroom Diversity: Why Not Use Facebook to Change Facebook?
8 Feb 2012 | 7:39 pmThe world’s most highly anticipated IPO is also calling attention to a problem that continues to plague corporate America: the lack of women on boards. Scheduled to go public in May, Facebook was founded on innovation and disruptive thinking – but the company has yet to appoint one woman to its seven-person board of directors. This glaring blemish on Silicon Valley’s social media giant prompted the likes of Malli Gero, the Executive Director of 2020 Women on Boards-a national campaign to increase the percentage of women on public boards—to issue a press release entitled… -
On The Edge
8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 pmIn the make-or-break world of the PGA Tour, each shot can mean the difference between a guaranteed windfall or a year in cheap hotels. -
Thanks For The Memory
8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 pmJeff Ready saves small businesses big money by selling data storage in tidy, tailored chunks. Now he's turning those dumb boxes into servers.
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chrisbrogan.com
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Throw Away the Maps
6 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amPeople judge us by the path they’ve seen us walk before. They can’t anticipate our future steps. We, ourselves, look to how things have been, what seems to be the lay of the land, without realizing that the maps are not the territory. Want to succeed at work? Then don’t try to do your job. Instead, work towards something larger, more meaningful, and something that blends your convictions internally with your best ability to help others externally. Want to create something new? Then throw away the old, or maybe join two disparate old things together into something new. The… -
The Next Social Networks
5 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amThe rage in social networks right now is Pinterest, partly because it’s probably the first social network that has a much higher adoption rate by females than males, and partly because it’s an interesting concept: somewhere between visual social bookmarking and scrapbooking. What also might not be immediately obvious is that it’s just “easier” to interact there. In that way, Pinterest has something in common with Instagram, which is community around photos. What I’m interested in, though, is Gentlemint, which I keep calling “Pinterest for… -
Learn From Adele – Build Your Platform
3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amJacq and I just watched Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (amazon affiliate link), and though every song was just wonderfully done, I found myself fascinated by what Adele was doing in between each song. Because even though most people would be interested in hearing her belt out her amazing repertoire of hits, what I took away from the performance was Adele’s real magical ability: the ability to resonate with her audience. What Adele Could Teach You About Impact I’m writing something about this right now for my upcoming book with Julien Smith, but I had to share some of the… -
Rob Gokee is a Musical Wizard
2 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amI had such a great experience working with award winning musical composer Rob Gokee. We did some musical work together, and the process was so amazing. Rob helped me create my theme song for Shhh! The Secret Show. So anyhow, he and I sat down to do an interview, and it’s a bit long, but it’s totally worth it. We talk about what collaboration feels like at a distance, what it takes to get music like this made for your own show, and a lot more. Rob’s a hero to me, and has been part of the community for a while. I was so fortunate to have worked with him. Can’t see the… -
Build Your Platform – Start
30 Jan 2012 | 1:30 amThe following is part ONE of a series called Build Your Platform. If you find it interesting, please consider subscribing for free to get the rest of the series. This post is long. You might want to bookmark it for later. The age of social media oversaturation is upon us. People are declaring Twitter bankruptcy to go along with their email bankruptcy. They cite not wanting to start on yet another social network as their reason for not getting more involved with Google+. And just as soon as you start getting into Pinterest, you hear about Path, but wait: there’s Gentlemint, which is…
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Mashable!
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Google Chrome Update Brings Faster Browsing
9 Feb 2012 | 1:12 amThe new stable release of Google’s web browser Chrome brings several improvements, most importantly faster browsing and more protection from malicious downloads. From now on, when you start typing in Chrome’s address box (or omnibox, as Google calls it), as soon as Chrome autocompletes the URL you’re likely to visit, it will prerender the page, making your overall browsing experience faster. As far as security goes, Chrome now does checks on executable files you’ve downloaded from the net. It matches the executables against a whitelist – a list of programs known… -
‘Bachelor’ Contestant Courtney Gets Auto-Tuned [VIDEO]
8 Feb 2012 | 9:19 pmFans of The Bachelor are all too familiar with this season’s over-the-top contestant Courtney, who makes snide comments at the camera and likes to take off her bikini top. Now, a video has popped up on YouTube that has turned some of her signature phrases — from “Winning!” to “I do modeling” — into a catchy Auto-Tune clip. The contestants are vying for a rose from winemaker Ben, and Courtney has rubbed many of them the wrong way, and this video shows why. This is not the first time YouTube users have turned pop culture moments into Auto-Tuned videos. -
Facebook Talks About Social Games and Mobile Apps for 2012
8 Feb 2012 | 9:09 pmFacebook revealed its roadmap for social games and mobile apps for the rest of the year at the Inside Social Apps 2012 conference on Wednesday in San Francisco — and it’s good news for app developers. Want to create an app for Facebook’s Open Graph? The mobile space presents a huge opportunity to create cross-platform social games, said Carl Sjogreen, director of product management at Facebook, who spoke to a packed conference center filled with IT insiders about Facebook’s projections for the mobile social gaming and app space for this year. “You sort of had to… -
What Digital Non-Profits Can Learn From Companies Like Google
8 Feb 2012 | 8:46 pmDaniel Atwood works with organizations in the social sector to craft meaningful experiences for customers and constituents, and to find innovative product, campaign and messaging ideas in unexpected places. We live in a world where new digital products are solving problems daily — from managing our finances to remembering the groceries. Often, they’re solving problems we didn’t know we had, like the need to connect several times a day in 140 characters or less. Occasionally, they’re creating new problems (but that’s a topic for another conversation). What… -
Comment and Highlight on Websites with commentto
8 Feb 2012 | 8:30 pmThe Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: commentto Quick Pitch: Comment anywhere. Genius Idea: Commentto is a browser add-on service that allows users to highlight, bookmark, comment, save and share bookmarks and excerpts on websites. Do you ever want to add extra knowledge to a news story or other content on the web? Well, browser add-on commentto lets you comment on anything you want. Commentto allows users to highlight…
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Richard Edelman - 6 A.M.
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Down from the Mountain
3 Feb 2012 | 8:17 amI just returned from the World Economic Forum’s 2012 meeting in Davos. These nine issues were the focus of discussion and attention. 1. The European Crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel talked about a coordinated Europe having more power. “We need more steps of integration in the interests of competitiveness… We need structural reforms leading to new jobs…We should have a common foreign policy and binding agreements on the debt levels allowed... Just because we have been at the top for the past 50 years, we cannot take competitiveness for granted.” Mrs. Merkel’s vision of a… -
2012 Trust Barometer: Business Can Earn the License to Lead
25 Jan 2012 | 8:18 amIn 2008-2009, in the wake of a recession that saw large, global companies such as Lehman Brothers and AIG collapse, trust in business imploded. Government stepped in with bailouts and new regulations. But in 2011, government became paralyzed by the politics of extremism and endless haggling – and the public lost confidence. The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer sees an unprec¬edented nine-point global decline in trust in government. In twelve countries, it trails business, media, and non-governmental organizations as the least trusted institution. This has pushed more countries into the… -
Media Cloverleaf Comes to Life
20 Jan 2012 | 10:14 amI met with senior management of two of the best emerging media companies this week. I come away even more impressed with their ambition and willingness to experiment within the boundaries of quality and integrity. Mike Allen of Politico addressed our global public affairs team in Washington on Wednesday. He said that there are 225 people working at the company. They have gone beyond their digital roots to offer a print product. He joked that Politico is now available in vending machines along Park Avenue in New York City (4,000 print copies are distributed every day in NYC). He noted that the… -
Implementation Science
13 Jan 2012 | 9:50 amI went to a breakfast Wednesday hosted by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health at the World Economic Forum offices in NYC. It was a terrific panel, with five professors and senior members of the corporate healthcare community from important companies such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi and BD. The Dean of Mailman School, Linda Fried, started the conversation by challenging the group to come up with new healthcare modalities to offer better quality and broader access within the present level of spending. The first big idea was Implementation Science, based on customer… -
Government and New Media
6 Jan 2012 | 10:51 amI had a chat this morning with my friend Steve Goldsmith, professor at the JFK School of Government at Harvard. He was mayor of Indianapolis and deputy mayor of New York City. We commiserated about the low opinion of government. He believes its reputation problem worsens the farther away its get from a close connection to the people. Local government is still liked by more than 50 percent of voters, state government is in the middle, while Congress has only a nine percent approval rating. Goldsmith had a wonderful anecdote likening government’s reputation woes to a quip he heard growing up…
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Inc.com
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How to Network Strategically
8 Feb 2012 | 2:00 pmTake these tips on professional networking, including advice from Matt Wilson, founder of under30ceo.com. -
Weighing a Big Decision? Take Your Time
8 Feb 2012 | 9:45 amTo understand all the consequences of an important choice takes time and attention--even if it's hard to come by.I've written before about the importance of sleep.Tired brains lose their capacity to think critically, to evaluate data, and to understand the meaning of evidence. But chronic fatigue in the workplace isn't the only invisible risk we run daily. So too is speed.I know, I know: We're all supposed to run fast companies in which quick decisions today are better than perfect answers a week from now. In the blink of an eye, we're all supposed to be naturally brilliant. But I'm not so… -
Fixing Silicon Valley's Bias Problem
8 Feb 2012 | 8:14 am -
5 Simple Business Truths From Mom
8 Feb 2012 | 7:35 amEssential lessons about life turned out to be lessons for business.In my speaking engagements, I often get asked how I decided to focus on culture and employee engagement as the most important drivers for my business. Did some event trigger this approach? Did I work somewhere else and then decide that this is the way I wanted to do business? The answer is neither. Beryl has been my only gig (at least for the last 27 years). I guess I just didn’t know any better. The credit goes to my mom and dad.My parents are terrific people who managed to keep three boys from killing each other in a… -
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8 Feb 2012 | 7:24 am
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Fast Company
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3 Ways To Deal With A No-Win Situation
8 Feb 2012 | 12:41 pmIf you're a Star Trek aficionado, then not only have you heard of the "Kobayashi Maru Scenario" but you can recount it easily to others. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, the Kobayashi Maru Scenario is a no-win situation cadets encounter at the series' Starfleet Academy. In it, the cadet is in command of the Federation ship, responsible for rescuing another Federation vessel (the Kobayashi Maru) from attacking Klingon Warbirds. If the cadet chooses not to save the ship in distress, it will be destroyed with all hands. However, if he goes to the ship's aid, he will precipitate… -
Amazon Inks Deal With Viacom, Sprint Announces iPhone-led Q4 Highs And Lows, Japan Targets 30% Cut In Rare Earth Use
8 Feb 2012 | 12:41 pmBreaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day.Amazon Inks Deal With Viacom For Video Streaming. Amazon has plumped up its Prime Instant video streaming catalog with a pile new TV shows, courtesy of its new agreement with entertainment hub Viacom. The deal brings up its video count to over 15,000, putting it in a stronger position to compete against the recently formed Redbox/Verizon double act and traditional TV destroyer Netflix. --NS --Updated 9:50 a.m. ESTSprint's Q4 Sees iPhone Led Highs And Lows. Sprint is announcing results coming off its first… -
How To Find Your Next $140 Million
8 Feb 2012 | 11:26 amI recently spent the day with author Andrea Kates, who was challenged to connect the relevance of the working philosophy found in her best-selling book, Find Your Next, with real solutions that can help move businesses forward. Working with the executive team of a national restaurant chain on this particular day, Kates asked herself, "Which single metric could they focus on to yield the most growth for the company?" Her conclusion was that of all the metrics and contributing factors, it all boiled down to a dogged pursuit of increasing guest frequency. She learned that an increase of one… -
New Details On Redbox-Verizon Streaming Service, Netflix Competitor
8 Feb 2012 | 8:33 amYesterday Coinstar, the parent company of Redbox, the 35,400-kiosk-strong movie-rental service, announced a joint venture with Verizon to provide a subscription-based streaming video service, thus positioning the companies in direct competition with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Coinstar also announced that it would acquire NCR's entertainment business, which includes its former rival Blockbuster Express, adding more than 9,000 kiosks to Redbox's roster around the country. Now new details about the combined companies' plans have emerged. First, it's clear the companies are adamant about bringing… -
Why Facebook's Daily Active Users Is Not The Number That Matters
8 Feb 2012 | 7:25 amA fracas emerges over the fact that not all daily Facebook users visit the company's website. Advertisers tell us why that's missing the point. More Facebook Coverage Be sure to read about the Facebook investors poised to make billions from the social network's impending IPO. And take a deep dive into our earlier profile of Mark Zuckerberg: Hacker. Dropout. CEO. Then compare the Zuck of yesterday with the Zuck who just penned a letter to investors. Plus, dig into all of the revenues and user numbers. Check back here for more to come in the days ahead. In the new world, however, brand…
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Seth's Blog
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How do they know you're not a flake?
8 Feb 2012 | 2:43 amBefore your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person is going to triage it to find out if it's even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures. Do I know this person? Did someone I trust send them over? Where does she work? (Ideo? the FDA? The New York Times?) Has she won an award? Is she famous? Are there typos and is the design sloppy? Are they pestering me? Do I already follow this person online? Does music play when I visit the website? Will… -
Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea
7 Feb 2012 | 2:09 amBut it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be ignored and need to spend more money. Horizonal marketing, on the other hand, means creating a remarkable product and story and setting it up to spread from person to person. It's out of your control, because all the interactions are… -
Who is your customer?
6 Feb 2012 | 2:26 amRule one: You can build a business on the foundation of great customer service. Rule two: The only way to do great customer service is to treat different customers differently. The question: Who is your customer? It's not obvious. Zappos is a classic customer service company, and their customer is the person who buys the shoes. Nike, on the other hand, doesn't care very much at all about the people who buy the shoes, or even the retailers. They care about the athletes (often famous) that wear the shoes, sometimes for money. They name buildings after these athletes, court them, erect… -
In search of a timid trapeze artist
5 Feb 2012 | 2:01 amGood luck with that, there aren't any. If you hesitate when leaping from rope to another, you're not going to last very long. And this is at the heart of what makes innovation work in organizations, why industries die, and how painful it is to try to maintain the status quo while also participating in a revolution. Gather up as much speed as you can, find a path and let go. You can't get to the next rope if you're still holding on to this one. -
Will energy consumption stay private?
4 Feb 2012 | 11:45 amIt's clear that the consumption of energy has external effects that impact more than just the person who is paying for it. Geopolitical, health and economic issues come to the neighbors and nearby citizens of entities that are using a lot of power. It was always straightforward to see who was burning a lot of wood or drove a huge car. It's easy to see when a company has a huge smokestake belching carbon. What happens when sensors make it easy to see how efficient a machine is, how much of a resource is being consumed and how much exhaust is being spewed? What happens when Google maps shows…
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AllThingsD
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Breaking News Rules
9 Feb 2012 | 12:01 amBut when it comes to the verdict, surely the reporter should rush to the live microphone or camera first – even if that means being beaten by a rival tweeter? – BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones on the BBC’s new guidelines that prohibit its reporters from breaking news on Twitter -
Alibaba Seeking $3 Billion Loan to Buy Back Yahoo Stake
8 Feb 2012 | 9:12 pmChinese Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is in the process of raising a US$3 billion loan from around six banks to buy back the stake that Yahoo Inc. owns in the company, people familiar with the situation said Thursday. Yahoo owns 40% of Alibaba Group. The six banks — Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Credit Suisse Group AG, DBS Bank Ltd., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings PLC and Mizuho Financial Group — are in the process of getting internal credit approval to underwrite the loan, which is said to have a tenor of three years with a yield of around 4%. The… -
For iPad and Mobile Devices, a 'Port' out of the Norm
8 Feb 2012 | 6:04 pmThe pocket-size USB flash drive has become nearly ubiquitous in the PC world, for moving files among machines and for adding extra storage. But it can’t be used with most tablets because they lack standard USB ports. [ See post to watch video ] Now, there’s a special, modified, pocket flash drive that works as usual with PCs and Macs, but can transfer and stream files to popular mobile devices without standard USB ports, such as Apple’s iPad and iPhone, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and many other Android devices. Its secret: It has built-in Wi-Fi to beam the files to and from… -
An iPhoto Slide Show on CD
8 Feb 2012 | 6:01 pmQ: How can I burn a slideshow that I made in iPhoto on my MacBook Pro onto a CD? A: You can export the slideshow as a video (a QuickTime movie in Apple parlance) and then burn that video to your CD. Here’s how: In iPhoto, after you’ve created the photo slideshow, with titles, music and so forth, click on the “Export” button at the bottom of the slideshow-creation window. Choose an option for the resolution of your movie and click “Export.” Then, choose a destination on your hard disk where you’ll temporarily store the movie. Next, insert the… -
Google: That 2.25 Percent MoMo Patent Royalty Sounds About Right to Us
8 Feb 2012 | 5:20 pmMotorola Mobility’s demand that Apple pay it patent royalties of 2.25 percent on sales of some iPhones and iPads raised a lot of eyebrows. But not at Google, which could close its acquisition of Motorola Mobility as early as next week. Evidently, Google has no trouble with that percentage at all. In a letter to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) today, Google said that should it complete its proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, it will license the company’s standard-essential patents under “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” terms…
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Scobleizer
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Hacker News vs. Google+
5 Feb 2012 | 10:20 amI might as well have titled this “Hacker News vs Marketers.” Or “Hacker News vs Bloggers.” Or “jerks vs nice people.” But I never participate in Hacker News for a few reasons and I just was faced with these reasons again when I read the responses there to my blog post yesterday. 1. Programmers often have an attitude of “I can code, you can’t, so I am defacto better than you.” This often comes out in Hacker News comments. 2. Programmers love to bash people anonymously and then, in real life, they will come begging for PR for their companies… -
It’s too late for Dave Winer and John Battelle to save the common web
4 Feb 2012 | 5:02 pmThe date was January 3, 2008. Facebook had kicked me off for running a script to try to save the common web. See, I worked with Plaxo to run a simple script. One that would have taken my contacts out of Facebook and put them back into the common web. The script did some very simple things: 1. It grabbed all my friends names. 2. It grabbed all their phone numbers. 3. It grabbed all their email addresses. 4. It gave me a simple CSV file with all that data so I could bring them back to Google, or Microsoft, or anywhere else I wanted to put them. Facebook’s answer was predictable. They shut… -
HTML 5 pushback in San Francisco? Best mobile app designers say yes
1 Feb 2012 | 3:39 pmThe new Path? The one that won a Crunchie last night for great design? It’s not done in HTML 5. This morning I saw something new coming soon from Storify. Not done in HTML 5. This morning I visited Foodspotting, which just shipped hot new apps on iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Not done in HTML 5. More and more I’m hearing that designers and developers are ignoring HTML 5, especially for the high end of apps. Why? Well, Path’s founders told me it just isn’t possible to build a great user interface, the way they did it in HTML 5. Storify’s founder told me it… -
Why Facebook will be worth a half trillion by 2015: the mobile and open graph revenue it’s leaving on the table
1 Feb 2012 | 2:48 pmLots of people think Facebook is overvalued, at about $100 billion (it just released their S1, announcing its IPO). But in talking with developers, like I did with Foodspotting’s founder, Alexa Andrzejewski, and in reading the S1 I see that Facebook has left most of the potential revenue on the table. That makes me think that the folks crying “overvalued” are nuts. Check that interview out, Foodspotting is one of the hottest San Francisco startups, aimed at people who are looking for better places to eat. Here it is from just this morning: See, Mark Zuckerberg is sandbagging… -
2012 brings a pause in the disruption
31 Jan 2012 | 4:58 pmOK, I’ve been talking with hundreds of geeks from around the world this year at three conferences, CES, DLD, and World Economic Forum. I’m seeing a trend that is worth talking about. What is it? We’re seeing the end of one of the most disruptive ages in human history. I believe that we’re seeing a pause in the disruption. More on that a little later. Just think about all the changes humans have been asked to adopt in the past eight years. Most of us, back then, didn’t carry mobile computers in our pockets. If we did use tablets, like I did, they were expensive,…
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AllThingsD » Walt Mossberg
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For iPad and Mobile Devices, a 'Port' out of the Norm
8 Feb 2012 | 6:04 pmThe pocket-size USB flash drive has become nearly ubiquitous in the PC world, for moving files among machines and for adding extra storage. But it can’t be used with most tablets because they lack standard USB ports. [ See post to watch video ] Now, there’s a special, modified, pocket flash drive that works as usual with PCs and Macs, but can transfer and stream files to popular mobile devices without standard USB ports, such as Apple’s iPad and iPhone, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and many other Android devices. Its secret: It has built-in Wi-Fi to beam the files to and from… -
An iPhoto Slide Show on CD
8 Feb 2012 | 6:01 pmQ: How can I burn a slideshow that I made in iPhoto on my MacBook Pro onto a CD? A: You can export the slideshow as a video (a QuickTime movie in Apple parlance) and then burn that video to your CD. Here’s how: In iPhoto, after you’ve created the photo slideshow, with titles, music and so forth, click on the “Export” button at the bottom of the slideshow-creation window. Choose an option for the resolution of your movie and click “Export.” Then, choose a destination on your hard disk where you’ll temporarily store the movie. Next, insert the… -
Real Bonding With Family Around the TV Via Skype
25 Jan 2012 | 6:03 pmAs you read these words, millions of people are conducting video chats using the popular Skype service, now owned by Microsoft. Most of these calls are low-resolution encounters between two individuals, conducted over personal computers. [ See post to watch video ] This week, I tested a new device that aims to transform Skype video chats into room-size experiences, involving whole families or groups of friends on each end—seeing each other, chatting and sharing photos in high definition using TVs. It’s called telyHD, and comes from a small Silicon Valley start-up called Tely Labs. In… -
Track Changes on an iPad
25 Jan 2012 | 6:02 pmQ: You recently reviewed an iPad app that lets you use Microsoft Office programs on an iPad. But does this support the “Track Changes” feature of Office, which I cannot find on any of the office-type apps I’ve tried on the iPad? A: Yes, it does. And tracked changes are synchronized with your PC or Mac. As I noted in the review, the new app, called OnLive Desktop, gives you the complete Windows version of Office on an iPad, via the cloud. So all features in the Windows version, including the tracking of changes, are available. Q: I am a new Mac user and would like to become a… -
Talk Is Cheap and Reliable on Nokia's $50 Phone
18 Jan 2012 | 6:03 pmThe standard price of a smartphone running one of the modern mobile operating systems is typically $200, with a two-year service contract. Recently, there have even been a few, largely unsuccessful, attempts to boost prices to $300. [ See post to watch video ] But phone makers and carriers have been eager to push smartphones into lower price bands to expand the market. Older and more basic models have been showing up for less. Multiple Android models sell for around $100, and a few well below that. Even Apple, which established the $200 standard, sells its iPhone 4, which is outwardly…
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How to Change the World
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Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe #OfficeandGuyK
20 Jan 2012 | 10:46 amOver the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches, Word business plans, and Excel financial models. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.I leave you with two sets of top ten lies: one of entrepreneurs and one of investors so that you know what not to say and what not to believe. Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs “Our projections are… -
Design a Sam Adams beer
20 Jan 2012 | 8:24 amNow this is a fun project. I’m helping Sam Adams “tap” the knowledge of beer drinkers and crowd source its next brew. Join the party by getting the app and designing your beer: The final brew will be released in Austin in the first week of March. #sponsored -
How to Create an Enchanting Financial Forecast #OfficeandGuyK
17 Jan 2012 | 1:52 pmThis is the third post in my Microsoft partnership, and it’s all about numbers. The topic is crafting your financial forecast to include in your pitch. Bill Reichert, my partner at Garage Technology Ventures, created an Excel model and wrote this blog post. There’s a lesson in this too: Get the best person for the job. His grasp of financial models and how to present them exceeds mine by two orders of magnitude. The Purpose of Financial Projections When it comes to financial projections, there are two types of entrepreneurs: first, the “visionary entrepreneur” who… -
How to Create an Enchanting Business Plan #OfficeandGuyK
12 Jan 2012 | 8:16 amHere is the second post in my series about planning, pitching, and launching a new business venture. In partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve created a Word document that outlines a good business plan. It’s saved to my SkyDrive folder here. Feel free to download it and use it as inspiration. And if you’re working with a partner, you can use the free Word Web App to stay in sync. I provided the PowerPoint document before the Word document because a good business plan is an elaboration of a good pitch as opposed to a good pitch being a distillation of good business plan. -
How to Create an Enchanting Pitch #OfficeandGuyK
9 Jan 2012 | 8:01 amWelcome to the first in a series of blog posts I’ll be doing as part of a partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps. Over the next two weeks, I’ll cover everything a budding entrepreneur needs to turn an idea into an enchanting investment opportunity—from the perfect pitch to a killer business plan to financial forecasts. I’m going to start with a little dissertation on creating effective PowerPoint pitches for your company. I embedded the sample deck for you to click through by using the PowerPoint Web App. When you’re ready to get started, you can download the…
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gapingvoid
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My next book… and some personal thoughts on the future of the economy.
8 Feb 2012 | 12:23 pm[The paperback galley copies. It’ll actually be coming out in hardback and Kindle only etc.] I already broke the news on Twitter a while back, but yeah, gapingvoid Book Number Three comes out in April [Amazon pre-order link here]. Like I said earlier: Think of it a wee love letter to the blog. As everything and everybody gets swallowed up by Facebook, Google+ and other “Death Stars”, remember the importance of having one’s own piece of real estate to call one’s own… It’s also very, very short. I was in Brevity Mode at the time. And I made sure to put lots of new cartoons in… -
You chose money
7 Feb 2012 | 8:27 am -
Story of my life:
7 Feb 2012 | 8:15 am -
All good relationships
6 Feb 2012 | 8:27 am[Sent out recently in the gapingvoid newsletter. Sign up here etc..] -
For all you zen-hipster knuckleheads in the audience:
2 Feb 2012 | 11:05 am
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Holtz Communications + Technology | Blog
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The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #637: February 6, 2012
6 Feb 2012 | 12:56 pmContent summary: Donna Papacosta promos Tweeps in Profile featuring Shel as ‘Mr February’; new FIR Book Review by Kris Gallagher of Intern Nation; FIR Book Club #1 recording posted; News That Fits: the Komen Kerfuffle; Ragan promo; Dan York adds his perspectives on the Komen Kerfuffle; with gov.uk, the British government redefines the online government platform; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; listener comments from the FIR Room on Friendfeed; Reuters launches Social Pulse; TemboSocial promo; no report from Michael Netzley in Singapore this week; Costa Concordia and… -
Leadership involvement is vital to social intranet success
3 Feb 2012 | 8:38 amEvidence continues to mount that social intranets have the potential to produce big results for organizations. The ongoing McKinsey & Company study points to outcomes ranging from increased market share to reduced time to market, along with a host of other positive results. Studies from MIT and Aberdeen Group show productivity gains among employees using social intranets. Yet a recent study from IABC and Prescient Digital Media suggests that 39% of companies don’t have any social components on their intranets (the number is as high as 49% in other research), and a substantial number… -
FIR Book Club #1: “Social Media Strategist” Author Christopher Barger
2 Feb 2012 | 3:55 pmChristopher Barger was the guest author for the inaugural installment of the FIR Book Club, hosted by FIR Book Review Editor Bob LeDrew. Christopher is senior vice president, Global Programs for Voce Communications, a Porter Novelli company. Before arriving at Voce, Christopher was director of global social media at General Motors, building the company’s social media program and leading its presence across multiple social networks. His work to repair GM’s reputation in the social web earned him PR News’ “Social Media Leader of the Year” award in 2010. Christopher also previously… -
FIR Book Review: Intern Nation by Ross Perlin
2 Feb 2012 | 11:43 amIntern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy, by Ross Perlin, is reviewed by guest reviewer Kris Gallagher. From the book description: “Every year, between one and two million Americans work as interns. They famously shuttle coffee in a thousand newsrooms, congressional offices, and Hollywood studios, but they also deliver aid in Afghanistan, build the human genome, and pick up garbage. They are increasingly of all ages, and their numbers are growing fast—from 17 percent of college graduates in 1992 to 50 percent in 2008. A huge and increasing number of… -
Gamification of PR messages could be a game changer
1 Feb 2012 | 12:09 pmNearly everything you read about gamification is marketing-focused. When the books on the topic feature titles like “Game-Based Marketing” (which I enjoyed, by the way) and panel discussions at conferences focus on the benefits of adding a game layer to marketing efforts, it’s no wonder people might think there’s no pure PR use for games. The difference between marketing and more classic public relations is simple. Marketing is designed to promote and sell products or services. PR, on the other hand, is about building mutual understanding between an organization and…
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Seth's Blog
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How do they know you're not a flake?
8 Feb 2012 | 2:43 amBefore your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person is going to triage it to find out if it's even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures. Do I know this person? Did someone I trust send them over? Where does she work? (Ideo? the FDA? The New York Times?) Has she won an award? Is she famous? Are there typos and is the design sloppy? Are they pestering me? Do I already follow this person online? Does music play when I visit the website? Will… -
Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea
7 Feb 2012 | 2:09 amBut it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be ignored and need to spend more money. Horizonal marketing, on the other hand, means creating a remarkable product and story and setting it up to spread from person to person. It's out of your control, because all the interactions are… -
Who is your customer?
6 Feb 2012 | 2:26 amRule one: You can build a business on the foundation of great customer service. Rule two: The only way to do great customer service is to treat different customers differently. The question: Who is your customer? It's not obvious. Zappos is a classic customer service company, and their customer is the person who buys the shoes. Nike, on the other hand, doesn't care very much at all about the people who buy the shoes, or even the retailers. They care about the athletes (often famous) that wear the shoes, sometimes for money. They name buildings after these athletes, court them, erect… -
In search of a timid trapeze artist
5 Feb 2012 | 2:01 amGood luck with that, there aren't any. If you hesitate when leaping from rope to another, you're not going to last very long. And this is at the heart of what makes innovation work in organizations, why industries die, and how painful it is to try to maintain the status quo while also participating in a revolution. Gather up as much speed as you can, find a path and let go. You can't get to the next rope if you're still holding on to this one. -
Will energy consumption stay private?
4 Feb 2012 | 11:45 amIt's clear that the consumption of energy has external effects that impact more than just the person who is paying for it. Geopolitical, health and economic issues come to the neighbors and nearby citizens of entities that are using a lot of power. It was always straightforward to see who was burning a lot of wood or drove a huge car. It's easy to see when a company has a huge smokestake belching carbon. What happens when sensors make it easy to see how efficient a machine is, how much of a resource is being consumed and how much exhaust is being spewed? What happens when Google maps shows…
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PR-Squared - Social Media Marketing and Public Relations
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Open Letter to Havas CEO David Jones
8 Feb 2012 | 8:12 amHi Mr. Jones. I caught your MSNBC interview this morning with Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski re: your new book, Who Cares Wins: Why Good Business is Better Business. You made some excellent points re: how transparency, authenticity and speed will win the day for corporations; about how companies who expect to do well must increasingly expect to do good, as it is becomes ever easier for consumers to suss out egregious behavior and punish bad actors (from un-friending to public humiliation). This is all well-worn territory for Social Media geeks, of course, but it’s always good… -
Facebook IPO is Good for Everybody
6 Feb 2012 | 6:35 amDepending on who you ask, the Facebook IPO will result in boundless glory or is destined to be remembered as the final pinprick in an impending burst of the current tech bubble. For my part, whereas in the past I likened Facebook to previous Walled Garden successes like AOL (the AOL of the early 90′s, not the AOL of today – which is a SHIFT client!), in the past 18 months or so I’ve only been impressed by Facebook’s ability to embed itself across the larger, open expanses of the Web. It “rides alongside” us as we surf, versus dictating how and where we experience the… -
Susan G. Komen PR Disaster: Lessons Learned
3 Feb 2012 | 11:27 amWow. It’s been nearly two weeks since my last blog post. Sorry about that. I was out sick. And wow, what a crazy time to sit on the sidelines… Facebook IPO. Hello! More on that in a future post. Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood. Sheesh! Let’s talk about that! (Caveat: I am a Blue State progressive; whose mother died of breast cancer; who marched on Washington as a college student in support of women’s rights; and whose dear-departed grandmother spoke with horror of the days prior to Roe v. Wade. Got all that? You’ve been warned.) Just as I started… -
It’s the End of the Web as We Know It … or, Speed Kills
23 Jan 2012 | 9:46 amThose of you who follow me on other social nets like Twitter or Facebook know that I am pretty opinionated when it comes to politics. Suffice to say that I am a card-carrying member of the “Liberal Coastal Elites.” (I try not to over-indulge or bore folks with it; and I certainly can play nice with my right-leaning friends.) I bring it all up only as a segue to the fact that I am a big fan of Andrew Sullivan’s Dish blog. Sullivan’s one of the big dogs in blogging; he’s been freshly-empowered by his move to the Daily Beast to experiment… -
Thoughts on a Twitterversary
19 Jan 2012 | 7:18 amLet’s take a ramble. One of those automated spambots on Twitter informed me that today was my 5–year anniversary of microblogging. Wow. Five years. Really? What was I up to five years ago? I was living in Boston, in-between my family’s quinquennial moves to San Francisco. My brain was on fire, as I’d hit upon a worthy successor to the Social Media News Release concept and was just a couple of weeks away from debuting the Social Media Newsroom template. As I look back, 2007 was a prolific time for the entire Social Media industry. It was not only the year Twitter…
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DIGITAL MEDIA - Google Blog Search
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The Latest Trends in Digital Media, Part 2 | LifeSource Direct
9 Feb 2012 | 1:00 amMarketing experts discuss their forecasts for digital media. -
Sutherland Weston launches digital media services division ...
8 Feb 2012 | 5:51 pmBANGOR, Maine — Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications, a Bangor-based public relations and marketing firm, has added a digital media services division to its lineup. The move will strengthen Sutherland Weston's -
GigaOm Buys Digital-Media News Site PaidContent | Digital ...
8 Feb 2012 | 10:57 amGigaOm, the digital-media company that publishes a popular tech blog of the same name, is buying the digital-media news site PaidContent.org from London-based Guardian News & Media, GigaOM said today. GigaOm -
Viddy raises $6 million for social video clips - Digital Media Wire ...
8 Feb 2012 | 9:07 amMobile social video application Viddy has raised $6 million dollars in financing from returning investorsBattery Ventures with participation from Greycroft Ventures and Qualcomm. -
Women Entrepreneurs in the Digital Media Frontier grants ...
8 Feb 2012 | 8:49 amhttp://iwmf.org/pioneering-change/new-media-women-entrepreneurs/frequently-asked-questions.aspx Women Entrepreneurs in the Digital Media Frontier: Frequently Asked Questions 1. What is the purpose of the grant?
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TechCrunch
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Remember Netvibes? It’s Finally Acquired By Engineering Giant Dassault Systèmes
8 Feb 2012 | 11:48 pmIt’s been a long and winding road since Tariq Krim created and eventually left Netvibes, but today Netvibes has been acquired by huge French engineering giant Dassault Systèmes for an undisclosed amount. Krim continues to pursue his original dream of organising the social web on Jolicloud. -
Analytics Dashboard Netvibes Sold To Dassault Systèmes
8 Feb 2012 | 11:06 pmNetvibes has just been acquired by European product design company Dassault Systèmes (sure this isn’t the type of thing I usually write, but I like the founder Tariq Krim so bear with me here … ). French startup Netvibes is a sentiment analytics dashboard that allows Fortune 500 companies to track their social media presence throughout the realtime web. Dassault is a “3D experience” design company — which lets designers virtualize how products will work in the real world — so the acquisition actually seems jarring at first, but Netvibes CEO Freddy Mini… -
Hipster CEO Also Apologizes For Address Book-Gate, Calls For “Application Privacy Summit” [Guest Post]
8 Feb 2012 | 8:07 pmThe following is a guest post from Hipster CEO Doug Ludlow, following yesterday and today’s revelations that select apps were uploading users’ entire address books to their databases. We blew it, we’re sorry, and we’re going to make it right. It’s Hipster’s goal to provide a fun and beautiful service for our community to share where they are, and what they are doing – creating a safe environment for our users is of the utmost importance to us. However, when we built our “Find Friends” feature for iOS, we clearly dropped the ball when it comes to protecting our… -
Is A Hash Of Hash Of A Torrent Of A Torrent Of Copyrighted Data Copyrighted?
8 Feb 2012 | 7:23 pmLet’s try to parse this. Pirate Bay (.se) user allisfine just recently uploaded a torrent to the site that is a collection of all the magnet identifiers for the entire site (actually, only about a quarter of the site, but all the publicly visible ones). That is to say, it is a list of the unique identifiers, cryptographic hashes, of every .torrent file on the site. In a way, this torrent file, or indeed its magnet identifier (938802790a385c49307f34cca4c30f80b03df59c), contains millions or billions of dollars worth of pirated content. Or does it? It’s more a philosophical question… -
Stealthy Startup timeRAZOR Raises $3.4M Pre-Launch, Partners With Major Household Brands
8 Feb 2012 | 7:01 pmGot FOMO? (That’s “fear of missing out” for those of you who don’t do slang.) There will soon be an app for that, or so says the $3.4 million in angel funding the stealthy D.C.-area startup called timeRAZOR has raised. In its pre-launch state, the curious company is already lining up brand partnerships with big names like Marriott and L’Oreal in preparation for its March debut. But what the heck is a timeRAZOR? According to CEO and co-founder, Jeff White (formerly the founder of govWin), timeRAZOR is a mobile application that will help people discover…
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Wired: Gadgets
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Purported Pictures of iPad 3's Rear Casing Emerge
8 Feb 2012 | 4:28 pmThe launch of Apple's next iPad is just around the corner, if the presence of leaked parts images are any indicator. Today, what reasonably seems to be the rear casing of the new iPad has popped up in photo form on the interwebs. -
Sprint's iPhone Strategy Is Paying Off, Q4 Results Suggest
8 Feb 2012 | 2:46 pmSprint desperately needed a hit, and it looks like it got one. The struggling wireless carrier sold 1.8 million iPhones in its fourth quarter, with 40 percent of those phones going to first-time Sprint customers. -
Adobe Splashes Out With Creative Cloud
8 Feb 2012 | 2:30 pmAdobe is making a big splash into the cloud with its Creative Cloud service, launching an enhanced online version of its sought-after Adobe Creative Suite for $50 a month on a one-year contract. -
Little Lenses: 3 Miniature Cameras Tested
8 Feb 2012 | 3:21 amThese extraordinarily tiny picture machines make snapping photos fun and different. -
Greenpeace Hates Big Tech, But Wants To Kill Google Least
7 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pmGreenpeace looks down on the tech giants of the world. But it looks down on Google the least. On Tuesday, the big-name environmental-rights outfit unveiled its annual ranking of the tech giants working hardest to combat climate change and shift their operations to renewable energy sources. It's called the "Cool IT Leaderboard," and this year's leader is Google, which scores a mere 53 points out of 100. Cisco, last year's leader, dropped to second, with 49 points.
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Lifehacker
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From the Tips Box: Chrome History, Amazon Prime on iOS, and Chrome to Phone [From The Tips Box]
8 Feb 2012 | 5:00 pmMore » -
Microsoft OneNote Comes to Android, Syncs with Microsoft SkyDrive [Onenote]
8 Feb 2012 | 4:30 pmMore » -
Remains of the Day: Windows 8 Consumer Preview Launches Feb. 29th [For What It's Worth]
8 Feb 2012 | 4:00 pm -
How to Set Up Windows 7 Homegroups for Seamless, Instant Sharing Between PCs In Your Home [Emailable Tech Support]
8 Feb 2012 | 3:30 pmMore » -
Amazon Prime Expands Its Video Streaming Library, Adds 2,000 More Titles [In Brief]
8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 pm
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A VC
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Payments Day
8 Feb 2012 | 3:27 amYesterday was payments day at USV. Two pretty big things that our firm has been involved in for a while now were coincidentally announced on the same day. First, our newest portfolio company Dwolla announced the closing of a round we led on their blog. Dwolla is building a large network of engaged users via a radically lower cost payment system. How much lower? Zero for transactions below $10 and a $0.25 flat fee for transactions over $10. If you move $10,000 over the Dwolla network, you or the recipient (your choice) will be charged $0.25. That's it. Dwolla does this by avoiding credit… -
Building The Ecosystem
7 Feb 2012 | 7:35 amI've always seen the work that my colleauges and I do as more than venture capital investing. That is our main job and we need to do it very well. But we also need to work to make sure the macro environment for our investing activities remains attractive. There are two primary activities that Union Square Ventures focuses on in addition to our core venture capital activities of backing and then working closely with entrepreneurs and their teams. They are policy advocacy around protecting the freedom to innovate and efforts to build the ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurship. Longtime… -
The Management Team - Guest Post From Phil Sugar
6 Feb 2012 | 2:44 amContinuing our MBA Mondays series on The Managemet Team, we are deep into the guest post phase. This guest post comes from AVC regular Phil Sugar. I've never met Phil, but his comments here at AVC tell me that he's a very experienced entrepreneurial manager. And so I reached out to him to ask for a guest post. And he responded with this post below. There are so mant great lines in here, I'm tempted to reblog a bunch of them. Best Friends, Buddies, and Co-WorkersSince there is no way I am going to be more insightful than Matt or JLM about management process, I am going to go through three… -
Women Entrepreneurs
5 Feb 2012 | 6:05 amA few weeks ago, I spent the day at NYU ITP at the Womens Entrepreneurs Festival. This is a one day event put on by The Gotham Gal and her friend Nancy Hechinger who is on the faculty at NYU ITP. In its second year, the WE Festival features a day of panels and talks featuring women entrepreneurs. Men can attend and do, but the stage is filled with women all day long. It's a very different experience from the typical startup/tech event and I highly recommend it to anyone who is eager to see more women doing startups. My favorite panel was called Makers and featured five women who love to… -
The Teen Art Gallery
4 Feb 2012 | 4:40 amThis is the kind of thing that happens in the age of the Internet and Kickstarter. My daughter Emily told me one of her friends was involved in opening an art gallery and they are using Kickstarter to raise the funds to make it happen. In their own words, the "Teen Art Gallery is an organization run for teens by teens that features young artists, ages 12-19, in New York City galleries." If you go about 2mins into this video below, you will see that the teenagers have built an entire organization, filled with themselves, to run this business. Entrepreneurship in action! They are raising…
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HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog
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How to Score Your Leads So Sales Works the Hottest Prospects
8 Feb 2012 | 1:47 pmThe good news about inbound marketing is that it can help you attract high volumes of leads. The challenge then becomes, how do you separate the good, quality leads from the people who are just starting to look around? That’s where lead management, and specifically, lead scoring comes in. With lead scoring, you can attach values to each of your leads based on their professional information and the behavior they’ve exhibited on your website. For example, you would likely rank a vice president-level lead who has spent time on both your products and pricing page higher than an… -
A Marketer's Complete Guide to Launching Mobile Apps
8 Feb 2012 | 10:02 amAccording to former CEO of AppVee and AndroidApps Alex Ahlund, the average cost to develop a mobile app is $6,453 -- and the cost can skyrocket to as much as $150,000 depending on the complexity of the app. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, the money and resources you dedicate to conceptualizing and developing a truly great mobile app can all be put to waste if you don't orchestrate a proper mobile app launch. In fact, in December 2011, the 1 millionth mobile app was pushed to market. To give you an idea of just how quickly these mobile apps are being released, at the end of 2010, there… -
How to Attract the RIGHT Social Media Followers for Your Business
8 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amThe benefits of an extensive social reach are clear, but how do you attract the right followers for your company? As with most inbound marketing, relevancy can make or break the effectiveness of your strategy. So to ensure you have a social media following that helps you advance your marketing objectives, start by identifying a set of core topics that reflect the interests of people who typically become your customers. If you're a HubSpot customer, you can use the Keywords App and the Social Media Prospects App to help with this. For example, we at HubSpot would choose the… -
Why User-Generated Content Is More Important Than You Think
7 Feb 2012 | 11:33 amA certain group of consumers has been gaining attention from marketers recently, because of the strong role they play in the purchasing decision; these power purchasers are known as Generation Y. Whether they're part of the target audience to which you sell or not, this group is worth considering as part of your inbound marketing strategy because there's a strong likelihood they either will become part of your target audience in the future, or because they already influence your target audience now. Let's break down who these power purchasers are, some of the interesting demographics and… -
How to Create Marketing Offers That Don't Fall Flat
7 Feb 2012 | 6:16 amIn marketing, offers are the gateways to lead generation. Without them, site visitors have no way of getting converted into leads. They are also a critical tool for nurturing existing leads into a position that makes them more sales-ready. But gosh, isn't the word 'offer' so utterly vague and abstract? What the heck is a marketing offer, and what are the qualities of a good one? Because we see so many marketers get tripped up on this concept, let's discuss exactly what a marketing offer can be, highlight the characteristics of an effective offer, and explain how you can start using them the…
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BuzzMachine
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Economist debate on sharing
8 Feb 2012 | 1:28 pmThe Economist has just launched a debate between me and Andrew Keen — and you — on the proposition that society benefits when we share information online.” Here is my opening statement; follow the link for Andrew’s and the discussion: We are sharing for good reason—not because we are insane, exhibitionistic, or drunk. We are sharing because, at last, we can, and we find benefit in it. Sharing is a social and generous act: it connects us, it establishes and improves relationships, it builds trust, it disarms strangers and stigmas, it fosters the wisdom of the crowd,… -
Sin or sense?
8 Feb 2012 | 7:04 amOh, no, the “original sin” meme of newspapers not charging for content is rising again. Sigh. Dick Tofel, general manager of Pro Publica and former assistant publisher and assistant managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is a very smart and reasonable man and he has written a smart and reasonable Kindle Single (enabling him to charge as a matter of metaphor) about “why newspapers gave away the future.” But his case is not exactly what it appears, for this is more of a history than a reverse-Reagan (that is, “Mr. Gorbachev, build this wall!”). Tofel… -
Facebook goes public: Zuckerberg in Public Parts & WWGD?
1 Feb 2012 | 12:12 pmRelevant to the expected Facebook IPO announcement, here are excerpts from my interview with Mark Zuckerberg for Public Parts. “I’m in the first generation of people who really grew up with the internet,” Zuckerberg tells me. “Google came out when I was in middle school. Then there was Amazon and Wikipedia and iTunes and Napster. Each year, there were new ways to access information. Now you can look up anything you want. Now you can get cool reference material. Now you can download any song you want. Now you can get directions to anything. The world kept on getting better and… -
Efficiency over growth (and jobs)
26 Jan 2012 | 12:29 amThe hook to every song sung at Davos is “jobs, jobs, jobs.” The chorus of machers on stages here operate under an article of faith that growth can come back, that they can stimulate it, that that will create jobs, and then that all will be eventually well. What if that’s not the case? I am coming to believe, more and more, that technology is leading to efficiency over growth. I’ve written about that here.This notion is obviously true in some sectors of society: see news and media, retail, travel sales, and other arenas. But how many more sectors will this rule strike:… -
Davos, disrupted
24 Jan 2012 | 11:53 pmI’m among the disrupted of Davos. Outside, there’s an #OccupyDavos encampment in igloos (really). Down the road, someone will be giving out an award to the worst company of the world. But the disruption is no longer outside. That’s what I sensed in past years; that’s what they wanted to believe here. Now the disruption is inside. Every institution is challenged. Every. The World Economic Forum issued a list of global risks (though Google’s Eric Schmidt countered on his Google+ page that he’s optimistic; that’s because he’s a disruptor).
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blog maverick
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Would Shareholders Give a Higher P/E to Keep Jobs in the USA ?
29 Jan 2012 | 3:21 pmIt used to be that if you owned shares of a public company, you actually felt like you owned shares of that company. The concept of actual ownership by individuals is long gone. Shareholders as owners are nothing but a concept , and echo from days gone by. That shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s just as rare for individuals with less than 10 figures in their networth to even consider actually buying shares as a path to ownership. But what if this were not the case any longer ? For those of you that own shares of stocks in companies,either directly or indirectly, would you be… -
The TV Business Keeps Getting Stronger !
14 Jan 2012 | 4:53 pmBack in my broadcast.com days we had a saying that “bits are bits”. That once content becomes digital, it is naturally going to become available on any and all digital devices. Based on this, we always made the point to be platform and device agnostic. We didn’t care where or how people saw our content, as long as they saw it and we had the chance to monetize it. We also knew that our core value proposition to consumers was that on broadcast.com they were able to get content that they couldn’t get on TV. We had Yoga channels, we had cricket live and on demand, we had… -
Why Startups Shouldn’t Hire PR Firms
13 Jan 2012 | 3:31 pmA quote from my book, How to Win at the Sport of Business got picked up in multiple stories. In the book I stated effectively that “Startups should never hire a PR firm”. As you would expect, the PR Industry was not over-joyed at the comment. Articles were written about how incredibly valuable a good PR person can be to a startup. Actually, I have no doubt that a smart PR person can add value to a startup. The problem is that all things considered, it’s not enough value. The first problem with hiring a PR firm is cost. Cash is always in short supply in startups. -
You Don’t Live in the World You Were Born Into
31 Dec 2011 | 9:54 amI thought this was appropriate to start the new year. We all have the tendency to believe that we are living in a very advanced technological period. We get all excited about the new tech we got at Xmas and what we read about that will soon be available to us. In reality, everything we are excited about today is going to be incredibly old and boring much faster than we ever expect. No matter what year you were born, by the time you finish(ed) high school, its (was) a completely different world. Today’s high school seniors were born prior to the World Wide Web, wireless internet,… -
The Fan Experience at Sporting Events – We dont need no stinking smartphones !
24 Dec 2011 | 9:17 amWith the season starting tomorrow, I wanted to update a blog post I did in 2010. In just the past 18 months the number of proposals for in-game entertainment have skyrocketed. It seems like every day I get a new proposal to invest in a company that is going to revolutionize the experience of going to a sporting event. Without fail the proposal starts out with some form of “with the explosion in sales of smartphones…” Then I get the meat of the pitch which is some derivative of stats, pictures, fantasy games, social sharing via FB/Twitter or some new network to replace…
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FriendFeed - charleneli
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EngagmentDB Report, July 2009
1 Feb 2012 | 11:57 amCharlene Li EngagmentDB Report, July 2009 - http://www.slideshare.net/charlen... February 1 from SlideShare - Comment - Like -
Open Leadership for Work, Church, and Family
30 Dec 2011 | 8:58 amCharlene Li Open Leadership for Work, Church, and Family - http://www.slideshare.net/charlen... December 30 from SlideShare - Comment - Like -
Untitled
17 Dec 2011 | 6:39 amCharlene Li Untitled - http://www.flickr.com/photos... December 17 from Flickr - Comment - Like -
Altimeter Group Team Photo, December 2011
16 Dec 2011 | 4:18 pmCharlene Li Altimeter Group Team Photo, December 2011 - http://www.flickr.com/photos... December 16 from Flickr - Comment - Like -
Philippines AdCongress speech by Charlene Li
20 Nov 2011 | 7:29 amCharlene Li Philippines AdCongress speech by Charlene Li - http://www.slideshare.net/charlen... November 20 from SlideShare - Comment - Like
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A VC : Venture Capital and Technology
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Payments Day
8 Feb 2012 | 3:24 amYesterday was payments day at USV. Two pretty big things that our firm has been involved in for a while now were coincidentally announced on the same day. First, our newest portfolio company Dwolla announced the closing of a round we led on their blog. Dwolla is building a large network of engaged users via a radically lower cost payment system. How much lower? Zero for transactions below $10 and a $0.25 flat fee for transactions over $10. If you move $10,000 over the Dwolla network, you or the recipient (your choice) will be charged $0.25. That's it. Dwolla does this by avoiding credit… -
Building The Ecosystem
7 Feb 2012 | 2:58 amI've always seen the work that my colleauges and I do as more than venture capital investing. That is our main job and we need to do it very well. But we also need to work to make sure the macro environment for our investing activities remains attractive. There are two primary activities that Union Square Ventures focuses on in addition to our core venture capital activities of backing and then working closely with entrepreneurs and their teams. They are policy advocacy around protecting the freedom to innovate and efforts to build the ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurship. Longtime… -
The Academy For Software Engineering
13 Jan 2012 | 2:39 amA number of years ago, I wrote a blog post talking about the need to teach middle school and high school students how to write software. In the comments (where the good stuff happens), a Google engineer told me to go down to Stuyvesant High School and meet a teacher named Mike Zamansky who had taught him to write code in high school. So I did that and thus begun my education into the world of computer science education in the NYC public high school system. What I learned was that other than Mike's program at Stuyvesant and a few other small programs, there wasn't much. So began… -
Shapeways and 3D Printing
11 Jan 2012 | 3:03 amLast week, in the thread on Herky Jerky Investing, the AVC community forked into an incredible discussion about 3D printing and our portfolio company Shapeways. If you click on this link, you'll see that the conversation just goes on and on and on. Clearly 3D printing is something that has captured the imagination of many members of the AVC community. We are huge believers in the power of technology to feed creativity and new kinds of businesses. 3D printing in general and Shapeways in particular is exactly that kind of transformative technology. It is still not on the radar of most… -
Fredsquare
7 Jan 2012 | 4:29 amOur very own Kid Mercury has built a learning community (and game) called Fredsquare. The following is a guest post he has written to introduce all of you to it. I hope you'll visit Fredsquare, play the game, and learn a bit about startups too. I am sure the Kid will love to get your feedback on Fredsquare in the comments too. FredSquare is an application I’ve hacked together for the AVC community. Its mission statement is to help startups learn. Here’s how it works: Articles and videos from around the web that help startups learn are imported the site. Comments on AVC tagged #fs are also…
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Wired Top Stories
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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 9
8 Feb 2012 | 9:01 pmGoogle's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills. -
GigaOM Acquires PaidContent: Interview With GigaOM CEO Paul Walborsky
8 Feb 2012 | 5:30 pmOm Malik's GigaOM has purchased media news organization ContentNext, paidContent's parent company, from the UK's Guardian News & Media. -
Purported Pictures of iPad 3's Rear Casing Emerge
8 Feb 2012 | 4:28 pmThe launch of Apple's next iPad is just around the corner, if the presence of leaked parts images are any indicator. Today, what reasonably seems to be the rear casing of the new iPad has popped up in photo form on the interwebs. -
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gregory Brothers, ACLU Team for Video on Photographers' Rights
8 Feb 2012 | 4:10 pmBenjamin Franklin kicks an informative and hilarious rhyme about transparency and First Amendment protections for pro and amateur photographers in the latest video from Joseph Gordon-Levitt?s open collaborative production company, hitRECord. -
Researchers Build Hard Drive of Future With Lasers
8 Feb 2012 | 4:00 pmA team of researchers from across Europe and Asia has demonstrated a way of using laser heat to store data rather than magnetic fields, potentially increasing the speed of your hard drive by 100 times or more. Tom Ostler -- a physicist at the University of York, which led the research project -- tells Wired that this could not only allow allow your machine to save files much faster, but also reduce the machine's power consumption by avoiding traditional magnetic storage techniques.
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Pogue's Posts
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Things That Were Once Amazing
2 Feb 2012 | 11:04 amDavid Pogue is amazed that people are still amazed at children's tech prowess. It's too bad there's no List of Things That Were Once Amazing, but Are Really Kind of Old News at This Point, he says. It would be a handy clip-and-save document that you could review, perhaps to avoid unwittingly embarrassing yourself at the next cocktail party. -
Look, Ma, No Hands! Operating a Laptop With Eyes Only
26 Jan 2012 | 10:43 amTobii, a Swedish company, is demonstrating eye-tracking software that really rocked my world. Imagine reading a Web page or Word document on the screen and the page scrolls automatically, gracefully and effortlessly as you proceed through the article. The system knows where your eyes are and how fast you're going. -
A New G-Shock Watch Awaits a New Bluetooth
24 Jan 2012 | 5:57 amCasio's G-Shock GB6900 watch uses a new, low-power Bluetooth chip called Bluetooth Smart (or Bluetooth 4.0) to do amazing things with a PC or smartphone. Butt the watch doesn't work unless your phone also has Bluetooth 4.0 - and right now, only a couple of them do. -
Put Down the Pitchforks on SOPA
19 Jan 2012 | 9:50 amNot enough people have acknowledged that the opposition was arguing two totally different points - the "you're going about it the wrong way" group and the "we want our illegal movies!" group. In the new world of Internet versus government, the system worked. The people spoke, government listened, and that's good. But let us do it responsibly, people. Both sides have an obligation to do the right thing. -
A Gadget Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts
5 Jan 2012 | 12:36 pmIf you think Amazon's real cost to make that Kindle Fire is $201, then by all means go to China and cobble one together yourself. The components are only part of the cost of any gadget.
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NYT > Technology
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App Smart : Apps to Help Singles Flirt Their Way to Romance
8 Feb 2012 | 10:44 pmMany matchmaking apps exist, and now more apps to help singles flirt their way to romantic attachment are also popping up. -
California Housing Market Braces for Facebook Millionaires
8 Feb 2012 | 10:30 pmThe Bay Area and Silicon Valley expect the windfall from the Facebook stock offering to make their in-demand region even hotter. -
Cisco Posts Better-Than-Expected Profit
8 Feb 2012 | 10:13 pmImproved demand for business products lifted results for the maker of computer networking equipment. -
Is This Living Room Big Enough for My TV?
8 Feb 2012 | 10:10 pmHuge televisions, once an expensive oddity, are now the affordable norm. -
Sprint Posts a Net Loss Despite a Gain on iPhone
8 Feb 2012 | 10:00 pmThe nation’s No. 3 cellphone carrier reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.3 billion, or 43 cents a share, on revenue that climbed 5 percent to $8.7 billion.
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Engadget
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Lenovo releases Q3 earnings report, shipments rise, profits soar
9 Feb 2012 | 12:18 amLenovo turned in another stellar earnings report yesterday, following up on a huge Q2 with an encouraging Q3. For the fiscal quarter ended December 31st, the PC maker saw its net profits reach $153 million, marking a 54 percent increase over last year's $99.7 million. Revenue also rose 44 percent last quarter to a record $8.4 billion, thanks in large part to a surge in PC sales. In mature markets, Lenovo saw revenues increase by a whopping 81 percent to $3.6 billion, while emerging market sales reached $1.3 billion, marking a 13 percent rise over the previous year and accounting for about 15… -
Google Chrome update brings speedier browsing, enhanced security, joy
8 Feb 2012 | 11:22 pmThe week isn't quite over yet, but it's already shaping up to be a busy one for Google Chrome. After finally bringing its browser to Android on Tuesday, Google yesterday announced an update for the original desktop version, promising faster browsing and enhanced security. More specifically, this new Stable release features a revamped omnibox that will now pre-render pages as a user types in a URL or search query, allowing for faster load times. Google has also tweaked its Safe Browsing feature, which will now automatically scan downloaded files for malware, with an especially sharp focus on… -
Sony's 3D Library lets Aussies borrow products free of charge
8 Feb 2012 | 10:33 pmSony's push for three dimensional entertainment has inspired it to launch a series of product-loaning machines in the land of Oz. These "3D Library" kiosks, as the manufacturer is simply dubbing 'em, will let Aussies checkout a variety of Sony's 3D-capable products at no cost and for up to three days. Folks itching to create some 3D content for free can choose from the Handycam HDR-TD10, NEX C3 and Bloggie cameras. And, as if hardware wasn't enough, you'll be surprised to hear the company's also throwing in its own flicks and PlayStation games as part of its loaner campaign. The program is… -
Sony Cyber-shot TX300V inductive charging camera and dock hands-on (video)
8 Feb 2012 | 9:41 pmYou may have thought that Sony's Cyber-shot TX200V was the company's most powerful point-and-shoot to date, but that's not exactly true. The company has a Japan-only version of the TX200V called the TX300V, and it's quite a compelling upgrade. The camera's most apealing addition comes in the form of a wireless charging and transfer dock -- it refuels your pocket snapper through inductive charging while also wirelessly transferring images to your computer using TransferJet. It can also draw power from your computer's USB port (no AC adapter required). Oh, and it ships in the camera box.Sadly,… -
Olympus black E-M5 Micro Four Thirds camera and internals eyes-on
8 Feb 2012 | 8:48 pmBy now we're quite familiar with the Olympus E-M5's attractive external appearance, but what does it look like on the inside? The company carefully disassembled its new flagship model, and displayed the components in ten layers for us to examine at CP+ in Yokohama, Japan. The image sensor module is perhaps the most impressive component, due in part to its five-axis sensor-shift image stabilization. We can also spot the magnesium alloy shell, main system board and top plate. Another display encased a compete E-M5 kit, with a lens, split right down the middle. You'll find a variety of views in…
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CNET News
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Sigma SD1: Wait, did we say $9,700? We meant $3,300
9 Feb 2012 | 1:08 amSaying it improved manufacturing, the Japanese camera and lensmaker will start selling a lower-priced SLR in March. Also: perks for those who paid the high price. -
A quad-core iPad 3? Not so fast
8 Feb 2012 | 10:39 pmA quad-core Apple chip powering the iPad 3 is not moral certainty. Here are some reasons why. -
Facebook defriending leads to alleged murder
8 Feb 2012 | 10:17 pmA father who was allegedly upset that a couple defriended his daughter on Facebook stands accused of murdering the couple. -
CNN suspends Roland Martin for homophobic, violent tweets
8 Feb 2012 | 9:15 pmCNN political analyst belittled men wearing pink and the near-naked H&M David Beckham ad via Twitter during the Super Bowl--tweets that some critics say were anti-gay and violent. -
Google said to be readying cloud-based storage service
8 Feb 2012 | 9:01 pmFree service called Drive will allow users to upload and retrieve photos, documents, and videos, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.
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Business Blogs
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5 Things You Need to Know About Marketing Your Business On Pinterest
8 Feb 2012 | 6:57 pmI’ve found a new addiction on the Internet; it’s Pinterest. And it appears that I’m not the only one that’s addicted to this amazing website. With close to 12 million active visitors in the US per month Pinterest just happens to be the newest “big thing” in the social media world. In case you haven’t heard of it, Pinterest is like a virtual version of the bulletin board that you keep in your office. Users have their own “boards” where they can post images of things that they find interesting, inspiring, or memorable online. Users can… -
The Rules of Networking
8 Feb 2012 | 6:15 amI know you may find this surprising since I am always chatting about connecting on the Internet, but I am a big believer in face-to-face networking. In fact, if you spend all your time being social on social media, it is my belief that you will get nowhere fast. The main idea behind using social media for business is to convert your connections into real time engagement as in pipeline, networking, collaboration. Lately, I have been putting my money where my mouth is and getting out and networking. It has been both fun and rewarding for me. I met a few key business people and engaged… -
Are You Missing Out on This Direct Marketing Opportunity?
4 Feb 2012 | 6:14 pmLast weekend I went to a local farmer’s market to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables. As I visited the different businesses exhibiting at the market, I couldn’t help but put on my marketing hat. After all that’s what I do! My biggest observation was that while all of the businesses were there to sell their products to as many people as possible, they were missing out on a huge opportunity for continued sales. Small businesses, especially ones like the ones at my local farmer’s market, have a special place in my heart. I immediately wanted to go give them… -
Leading Moms in Business: What a collective!
3 Feb 2012 | 7:29 amI was planning on a different topic for this week, and then I had a change of heart. This week marked the beginning of the 3rd annual StartUpNation Leading Moms in Biz Competition. Yes, I do realize that you are on the StartUpNation site, but I really want to call your attention to this unique opportunity. First of all, huge thanks to StartUpNation for holding this competition. It is an extraordinary feeling for moms in business to be recognized for the momentous effort behind running a business and growing a family at the same time. For someone who manages a family and business along… -
5 Reasons to Use the Phone Instead of E-Mail
1 Feb 2012 | 1:01 pmIf you are an SEO copywriter, love technology, or just don’t like dealing with people, you may be using e-mail too much and missing out on some important opportunities and communications. If you haven’t picked up the phone in some time, here are… 5 Reasons to Use the Phone Instead of E-mail 1. You have a long message to share. If you have a lot of information to share with someone, pick up the phone. After all, it takes time to write a lengthy e-mail, and the recipient may not even read your entire message because it’s too long. By having a quick conversation via phone, you’ll be…
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ManagingCommunities.com
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What Can You Do When Information Leaks from a Private Forum?
6 Feb 2012 | 6:58 pmphoto credit: Vivian Chen [陳培雯] Private forums are meant to be private – the information contained within is supposed to only be for the people who have access to that forum. But, people don’t always respect this fact and eventually, you may have someone leaking private information to people who shouldn’t have it. The question [...] -
Social Media and Online Community Platform Usage by Inc. 500 Companies Detailed in Study
2 Feb 2012 | 7:10 pmDr. Nora Ganim Barnes, a Chancellor Professor of Marketing and the Director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, has released the results of the center’s fifth annual study into the usage of social media by Inc. 500 companies. The survey asked participants about thirteen particular types of social media: [...] -
Good Online Community Management is Censorship
30 Jan 2012 | 3:00 amOne of the reasons that words matter so much is that different words prompt different emotional reactions from people. If you call someone a spammer, they are more likely to react defensively than if you said that they were advertising. Even though, when it comes to the action, these are the same thing. Let’s take [...] -
ManagingCommunities.com is 4 Years Old!
26 Jan 2012 | 4:00 amphoto credit: barbourians Friday will mark 4 years since the launch of ManagingCommunities.com. In honor of this occasion, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has been supportive of this site and me. Thank you to those that read this blog, subscribe to it and spread the word by passing along my [...] -
When Your Members Criticize a Company or Person, Invite Them to Your Community
23 Jan 2012 | 4:10 pmphoto credit: SmithGreg I recently had a member on one of my communities start a thread to review a book, which he criticized. Most of his review was fair, but there were some parts that I felt were a little harsh. Still, it was appropriate for our community. As an author, I do sympathize with [...]
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Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel
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Are You Using The Right Words For Your Brand?
8 Feb 2012 | 10:30 amAre you using the right words to build your personal brand in your resume, marketing materials, and social media updates? Often, there’s a disconnect, or gap, between the words used in resumes, marketing materials, & day-to-day social marketing, and the personal brand an individual is trying to build. Personal brand building is impossible if you’re not using the right words! To make sure that you’re using the right words, I’d like to share a free online tool you can use to visually display the contents of your resume, marketing materials, and social media marketing… -
Interview Rejection To Selection
8 Feb 2012 | 2:30 amPeople unfamiliar with sales techniques usually become depressed by interview rejection and then lose momentum for continuing in their search for employment. From a typical salesperson’s perspective, rejections are not necessarily bad particularly when used as valuable learning lessons. BUT the seasoned sales professional, with a smile on her face, will mentally say, NEXT! Early in my sales career, I learned that it was necessary to make 100 sales calls in order to make 10 sales. It was not motivating to learn I only had a 10% chance for making a sale. We were then told, the more… -
3 Ways To Implement Your Personal Brand Offline
7 Feb 2012 | 10:30 amFor most professionals, personal branding thrives online. Through juggling social media profiles, managing reputation, creating content, and securing our sites, we may forget that personal branding can also be done in person – and can be just as effective, if not more so. Attending an industry event, association meeting, or even a professional cocktail hour in your city can be a great and easy way to transition the brand you’ve created online into the real world. Consider below three ways to implement your brand in person once you’re there: Keep The Conversation Going. Since you’re… -
20 Questions Smart Employees Ask Themselves
7 Feb 2012 | 2:30 amThese 20 questions cover five key areas that are critical to your accurately evaluating how well you’re doing at work. Your answers (or score) predict whether you’re likely to be promoted, fired or kept simmering in the same spot for years to come. Score each question on a scale of 1-10 (10 = AWESOME). Add up your total score in each category. If you are totally awesome, you’ll have a total of 200 points. If you score below 30 points in any category, it’s time to take remedial action. Job mastery How well do I? 1. Exhibit expertise of the particular knowledge and skills that make me a… -
How To Really Impress During A Job Interview
6 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pmNext to a root canal appointment, few things in life are as nerve inducing as the job interview. In this day and age, the face-to-face interview is typically the first time a prospective employee will speak to an actual person. This “actual” person literally has your career in the palm of their hand. They will determine, based on this portion of the hiring process, whether or not the process will continue or come to a screeching halt. Wow! No wonder you’re nervous. Right? Below are a few ideas that will go a long way toward taking some of the pressure off of you and making the most of…
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NYT > Small Business
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Small-Business Guide: Business Owners Adjusting to Patent System Overhaul
8 Feb 2012 | 10:20 pmEntrepreneurs see pros and cons in the America Invents Act, which is being phased in through March 2013. -
Special Section: Wealth: Taking Back Your Business
8 Feb 2012 | 9:28 pmEntrepreneurs who have seen the companies they sold hurt by bad management or a bad economy often get the urge to take back control. -
You’re the Boss Blog: Will The New Patent Laws Help or Hurt Small Businesses?
8 Feb 2012 | 10:10 amWith changes phasing in over 18 months, business owners are just beginning to understand the impact of the America Invents Act. -
Wealth Matters: Advantages and Risks of Gingrich’s S Corporation
8 Feb 2012 | 9:28 amNewt Gingrich set up his speaking and consulting business as an S corporation, which exempted this portion of his income from Medicare taxes, an unusual move for a business based on services. -
She Owns It: Finding a Balance Between Delegating and Micromanaging
8 Feb 2012 | 8:48 am"We hired people to do these jobs, why is it that nobody seems competent enough to do them?" the owners wondered.
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BusinessWeek.com -- Small Business
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DIY Apps Save Small Businesses Time, Money
6 Feb 2012 | 8:25 pmA study estimates that small companies have cut 725.3 million annual employee hours by using mobile apps, equaling $17.6 billion in savings -
Turning Girls into Tech Entrepreneurs with a Single App
6 Feb 2012 | 8:23 pmTechnovation Challenge is a contest for high school students run by Iridescent, which uses online software called App Inventor -
For Some U.S. Manufacturers, Time to Head Home
2 Feb 2012 | 3:00 pmMore companies are assessing the true cost of outsourcing -
Michigan Wants More Immigrants
2 Feb 2012 | 3:00 pmRepublican Governor Rick Snyder wants to attract talented foreigners he sees as crucial to the economy -
After Hedge Funds, a Career Rejuvenation
2 Feb 2012 | 3:00 pmA TSA inspection helped Julie Macklowe switch careers from hedge fund manager to entrepreneur, selling luxury, travel-friendly toiletry kits
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The Engaging Brand
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How Memories are Made and Unmade
8 Feb 2012 | 11:47 amIt strikes me as odd that we see the future as unmade and the past as made, because in a sense I think it works the other way! I was coaching a leadership team today and when they started to talk about an acquisition, it was really interesting to compare how people perceived what had happened. This is so often true. We imagine that the past fixed and yet as we talk about the past we preserve it, but we also slightly evolve it based on our emotional investment. Memories are made, unmade..... Ironically, we also make the future with the decisions we take today. We decide our future by what we… -
How to Optimize Your Resume with Social Media
7 Feb 2012 | 9:35 amThere are two things we know for certain about today’s economy. 1) Finding jobs is getting more and more difficult, for both college educated and non-college educated people. 2) Social media has made job hunting and job candidate hunting trickier. Social media brings a degree of transparency - for better or worse - to the application and interview process that wasn’t there before.In the old world, before the heavy use of LinkedIn and Facebook, employers relied on personal networks to find great candidates. Now, they combine that with these impressive social networks, not just for fact… -
Why Social Media Can Work For Your Brand
6 Feb 2012 | 7:01 amIt is often said that art externalises and fixes beliefs. When we express our ideas in whatever format, we bring our ideas to life. Social media is an art form. It allows us to share experiences, expectations, fears and hopes in a format that personalises what you stand for.... The social part of this kind of media means that it can be shared. Just like art, the 'can be shared' can be transformed into 'will be shared' if it reflects real life, real problems, real facts or real opportunities which people can relate to... And just like art, there is nothing new to share...there is just your… -
Show 371 - Little Black Book of Innovation
3 Feb 2012 | 3:04 amI hope you enjoyed last weeks show on Steve Jobs and here is show 371 of The Engaging Brand business and marketing podcast talking about social media, leadership and marketing and sponsored today by MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup - for special offer try today! Today Scott Anthony of Innosight joins Anna Farmery to discuss The Little Black Book of Innovation and we discuss The paradox of innovation - the optimism of the word and yet the stress it causes How to look at innovation The idea of "thunk' value How we all have to find our inner salesperson Is… -
Martin Luther King on Consensus
1 Feb 2012 | 11:15 amConsensus is a word you hear alot in businesses. And yet I always struggle with the idea...although it seems a good one....I think it can be a dangerous one. Consensus is a compromise.....or in another sense, no one is happy! Consensus tends to take you to mainstream rather than the edges were the premium lies Consensus is settling rather than inspiring Consensus is a lack of leadership...why? Think of what Martin Luther King said "Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus" I see consensus can be a sign that people have not bought into the vision,…
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Learn Guitar with Will Kriski
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Soloing Over Difficult Chord Changes
29 Jan 2012 | 9:44 amSoloing over chord progressions can be a daunting task. Especially if you get into jazz when you’ve had a rock/metal background. You might know how to solo over common chord progressions such as ii-V-I’s, but what happens when you come across a different chord progression? If you’re like me you can tend to get stuck, or overanalyze the progression – not getting anywhere with the work you’ve put in. An incredibly effective method to deal with this (but often forgotten) is to listen to what others have done over the same progression. Then steal the phrase and then… -
Learning Hip Licks
19 Jan 2012 | 7:21 amI’ve always loved the sound of saxophone solos since I was turned onto jazz. I think it’s because they are so melodic, between the note choices and the phrasing. To be a little more technical, the phrases have a variety of intervals whereas a lot of guitar solos involve similar intervals (half/whole steps or pentatonic patterns). The guitar has so much more potential than that. I just picked up Greg Fishman’s Hip Licks for Saxophone and highly recommend it not just for jazz but also jazz fusion (eg Greg Howe). Not because you will learn melodic and tasty licks over all chord… -
Making Ineffective Practice More Effective
18 Jan 2012 | 11:05 amThe beauty of learning something new is it puts you back into the mindset of a student or ‘newbie’. I’ve spent the last few years learning jazz after (now) 30 years of playing so I got to see what worked and what didn’t. Many professionals and teachers are not actually good at teaching beginners (for say jazz) because they can’t remember or relate to the issues of beginners. Another problem is that teachers tend to teach the same thing that everyone else does, which may not be that effective. One of the interesting thoughts I have is that most teachers… -
Taking New Guitar Students via Webcam
19 Dec 2011 | 9:50 amI’m open to taking some new guitar students over webcam for private lessons. I just finished a long contract and have more time for teaching students now. I’d love to have you as one of my students. For more info check out this link. Will -
Transcribing Solos and Making Them Your Own
12 Nov 2011 | 12:29 pmMy goal in this post (and others) is to teach you how to learn for yourself. So instead of just teaching you specific things I aim to teach you how to go about the process of learning. This will allow you to develop a learning system. Here we are talking about learning the language of jazz through the music itself. Transcribing music is the most direct path to learning a style, such as jazz improvisation. Imagine trying to learn French from a book rather than imitating real French people. But if you’ve already transcribed an entire solo and even learned it note for note you might be…
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Learning Guitar Now Blog
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Paul Beard Goldtone Dobro Demo
18 Jan 2012 | 4:51 amI picked up this Dobro as a fairly inexpensive way to get a roundneck resonator. Previously I had owned a squareneck version of this guitar, so I knew it was a good instrument. For the price, I don’t think you can find a better sounding resonator. It simply sounds amazing and comes alive to me unlike many of the other guitars in this price range. I picked up this guitar for $550 at Musicians Friend. I challenge you to find a better deal. In the video below I give you a short demonstration of what this guitar sounds like using open g tuning. I’m also using fingerpicks in this video… -
Where are Video Podcasts 1-26?
13 Jan 2012 | 9:12 amPodcast 1-26 were recorded about 3-4 years ago and some of the lessons contain bad video quality, information about products that are no longer available, and some of the lessons I don’t feel like were my best information. I was learning about doing a video guitar lesson podcast. Some of these video podcasts’ are not compatible with the ipod or iphone as well. The original video files were lost due to a hard drive failure so there can be no editing of the videos. For these reasons, I have decided to remove them forever. They are gone and will not ever be available. You can check out… -
Video Podcast 57: Warren Haynes Slide Guitar
6 Jan 2012 | 4:52 amIn Video Podcast 57, I want to show you a standard tuning slide guitar lick in the style of Warren Haynes. This is the first lesson where I use the 335 for playing standard tuning slide. This guitar has not been setup for slide. The action is pretty low and I’m using a set of .010′s for strings. It is harder to play like this, but not impossible. You really have to keep a light touch, while pressing the slide gently against the strings. Watch the Video Tab for this Lesson To get the tone for this lesson, the amp is a 1966 Fender Vibrolux on 6 with a Weber Mini Mass. For pedals I… -
How to Set and Achieve Goals with Your Guitar Playing
4 Jan 2012 | 7:28 amIt’s 2012 and I bet your super pumped that this WILL BE the year that you start playing blues and slide like you want to. You are probably really excited about the new gear you got for Christmas and you’ve been thinking about how this year is going to be different than all the other ones. This year YOU WILL PLAY LIKE DUANE! Or whomever you are into. So what happens to most people who start the year off with this attitude? I would say that the majority of people have really good intentions when the new year arrives, but for some reason things just don’t go as planned, and… -
Slide Guitar Tone – Gibson SG and Fender Blackface Vibrolux
16 Dec 2011 | 6:00 amIn this video I want to show you the many different tones you can get from a Gibson 61 SG Reissue and a Blackface Fender Vibrolux. There are no effects being used other than reverb from the amp. That will give an idea of what kind of tone you can get from using this combination of guitar and amp. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or comments. Related Posts:The Infamous Guitar Tones of Eric ClaptonBlues Guitar Tone Lesson: Gibson 335VL Effects Bullitt Booster Fat Vintage DemoMy Settings for Blues Guitar and Slide Guitar DVDs1966 Fender Vibrolux Review: The Ultimate Gig amp…
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Church of the Customer Blog
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Playbooks and visual explanations
6 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amBy the time the New York Giants and the New England Patriots took the field Sunday for their Super Bowl matchup, the players on both teams had read, re-read and rehearsed their respective game playbooks dozens, if not hundreds of times. They'd studied each play via multiple diagrams and photographs, stats and descriptions of assignments for every player on the field. A playbook is an apt metaphor for any business team that needs concise, how-to plans to deal with the complexity of systems, processes and moving variables, especially with social business. Whether it's for one of the world's… -
People trust people
1 Feb 2012 | 12:27 pm[Click on chart to see larger version.] The latest edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer study just came out showing CEO's in the dog house when it comes to being trusted. Who do people trust? Academic and tech experts, sure. But the biggest movers in the study are "a person just like me" and "regular employee." Look at your 2012 marketing plan. Are you providing ways for your customers to get together in-person and online to encourage word of mouth? Are you showcasing your best employees in social media, at conferences, and at private events with customers? Source: 2012 Edelman… -
FedEx's apology: expertly delivered
21 Dec 2011 | 8:29 pmWe've seen this before: 1) company makes an egregious service mistake and is outed by a customer via a YouTube video, 2) video goes viral, 3) mainstream media picks up the story and amplifies it, 4) PR nightmare begins. This week's culprit is FedEx. A California FedEx driver is caught on a security-camera video flinging a package containing a computer monitor over the fence of a gated Southern California house. At no time does the driver attempt to ring the bell for delivery. Just a toss over the fence, and he jumps back into his truck. In two days, the video has over three million views. … -
The simplest definition of word of mouth marketing
28 Nov 2011 | 12:38 pmNice video from WOMMA on the basics of word of mouth marketing. Tweet -
14 new statistics about word of mouth marketing
17 Oct 2011 | 11:45 amThe Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) has a neat infographic detailing the latest stats about word or mouth marketing, online and offline. Source: WOMMA Note: the WOMMA Summit is coming up November 16-18 in Las Vegas. It's a great conference to learn the latest WOM marketing techniques from leading brands and agencies. Tweet
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Copyblogger
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The “New” SEO Secret Weapon
8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amIf you have a web site, you may have noticed one of two things about the traffic you get from search engines. Your search traffic may have dried up overnight, with once-healthy streams turning into a sad little trickle. Or you may have noticed a nice, steady improvement as you’ve climbed higher in the SERPs (search engine results pages), while other sites that used to outrank you suddenly evaporated. There’s a super-secret new ingredient in SEO. It was always a factor, but it’s become even more important recently, as the Google team relentlessly declares war on what they see… -
8 Quick Tips for Writing Bullet Points People Actually Want to Read
7 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amIt’s a Twitterized world, we’re just living in it. Blog posts, Tweets, quick videos, Google+, the Facebook Timeline, and tens of thousands of images pinned to digital boards are flying past us faster than we can read them. Faster than we can even scan them, depending on the time of day. What does this mean for writers trying to cut through it all? At least two things that I can think of: You’d better know how to write a compelling headline You’d better know how to write bullet points that grab (and keep) your reader We’re not telling you to keep your copy short. -
7 Crucial Tactics for Writing a Wildly Successful Guest Post
6 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amWe all know that guest posts grow blogs. But not many people realize that tactical guest posting grows careers. Most bloggers I see pump out these articles while reciting the mantra “quantity over quality”; there’s no real strategy and there are no real long-term benefits. In this post I am going to show you the seven crucial tactics for writing a radically successful guest post. Done right, these strategies will get you more email subscribers, coveted Google ranking positions, and a big head-start on your content marketing goals. Who am I to teach you about guest blogging? -
7 Smashing Social Media Marketing Links
4 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amThis week on The Lede … What really works on Twitter One thing social media copywriters should never do 9 productive social media hacks A reminder of the power of the original social media If you just can’t wait for The Lede every Saturday, and you want even more practical, useable links than the seven we highlight here every week, follow @copyblogger on Twitter. It’s painless. Really. // 9 Social Media Hacks You Need to Embrace Now Mr. Baer makes a good case that though social media is inexpensive in monetary terms, it can get good and costly when it comes to spending your… -
Whether You Call it Blogging or Not, Online Content Still Rules
3 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amWhat if most of the business world stopped blogging tomorrow? Would you stop as well? No, if that happened, you’d find yourself sitting on the opportunity of a lifetime. Social networking sites would explode with likes and retweets and pins and +1s of your original content all day long. This is why the annual “blogging is dead” claim is so dumb. Even if it were true, your continued content production would dominate the web in every way. So, instead of worrying about the latest claimed trend or alarming decline of the moment, stay the course. Original content creation is the…
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Social Media Darwinism
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Gut Feeling or Analytics – which is better?
8 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amSo I was talking with a CMO buddy of mine the other day over dinner and this topic came up. Of course you know as a CMO of a leading Social Media analytics firm – I think you can guess which side of this argument I was on. But seriously, my buddy honestly wanted to know – so what can you do with all this good social media analytics that you talk about? He really didn’t know. So here is what I told him that marketers should be doing with analytics but haven’t truly adopted. I think part of the problem is that some of these tactics haven’t become a standard operating procedure but… -
What Social Data can Teach You about Audiences
1 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amMy son is a senior in high school and I am beginning to help him with his search for the right school. One of the aspects of college life that he is looking forward to is belonging to a university with strong school spirit. So to help with this, I suggested that we use football teams as a proxy to find the right environment. With this in mind, we set out to find a simple list of “2011 NCAA Football Rankings” – an easy Google search is there ever was one. I assumed that the top result, ESPN’s 2011 NCAA Football Rankings, would be the perfect match for our search, until I looked at… -
Trust is hard to come by these days
25 Jan 2012 | 10:00 amFor years I have kept tabs on the Edelman Trust barometer report, which comes out every January in Davos. And this year was no exception. After last year I figured this years report could make an excellent gauge of the economy worldwide! Simply put the report states: Trust is down in every industry and every country across the board by an average of 6%. So what does this mean for marketers and for major brands in an era of social media? Well 2 things … Hidden in the data is the fact that CEOs and Government officials are at the very bottom of the totem pole when it comes to delivering a… -
Brands: It’s not enough to be liked
15 Dec 2011 | 10:00 amImagine a company that has upscale retail locations around the United States receiving tens of thousands of customer visits. Now imagine not having anyone there to greet and interact with those customers. What’s the point of the storefront? Facebook fan pages are much the same thing. But only 0.2 to 2 percent of fans go back to a page. Why? Because there is nothing going on that interests them. Fan pages are a unique marketing canvas to connect with avid consumers. Yet some brands are terribly underutilizing these pages, making them basically brochureware repositories — essentially… -
How important is real-time data? It’s all relative
7 Dec 2011 | 6:35 amThe speed with which social media spreads ideas and information has led many marketers to place a premium on capturing data in real time. But should real-time data be such a priority? Real time means different things to different people when the term is used as a proxy for recency. To an evolutionary biologist, real time could mean thousands of years of species development data. To a 911 dispatcher, real time is a few seconds worth of critical information from a telephone call. What about marketing and advertising? This notion of “relative real time” extends there, too. To a marketing…
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trendsspotting blog
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“Trends and Innovations in Mobile Accessories” Research Report
1 Feb 2012 | 8:03 amWe are happy to announce the release of a new TrendsSpotting research report uncovering major trends in Mobile Accessories. Based on exploration of over 2000 new accessories released since 2011 + CES 2012 and a market analysis of major market trends characterizing this growing market, TrendsSpotting has identified about 150 recently released products that reflect new emerging trends in mobile accessories. The innovations analyzed in this report are profiled according to … -
LEADING DIGITAL WOMEN PREDICT 2012
11 Jan 2012 | 6:20 pmFor the last five years TrendsSpotting trends research company has published prediction reports covering trends in tech, mobile and social media, suggested by leading technology and business experts. TrendsSpotting’s Influencers Prediction Reports 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 are read by thousands of readers and are used by leading companies to plan their future (viewership at Slideshare/TrendsSpotting). As TrendsSpotting is involved in re-placing the role of women in the digital world (see us at Microsoft’s Women Think Next and WIFT), we have decided that this year we will dedicate this… -
Emerging market for mobile health products
9 Nov 2011 | 3:15 amIn the past year, products using mobile devices to monitor health conditions are becoming more popular with the first ones now getting accepted by the Food and Drug Administration. Among health care apps entering the market are blood pressure monitoring cuffs, CT-scan viewers, and pocket ultrasound machines. The market is still at its first steps but rapid growth is expected: according to mobile market consultancy research2guidance, by 2015 30 percent of the world’s smartphone users will be using mobile health products, up from 5 percent today. The big promise for consumers are… -
2020 Predictions -Model for Future Innovations
14 Oct 2011 | 2:12 amBased on the concept of “The Internet of Things” TrendsSpotting has developed a working model for NPD. ”The ANA Model” was developed and implemented while working with tech companies, and allows us to predict future products and services. The “ANA Model” identifies the process where data is collected from reported “Actions”, then delivered to predefined monitor systems or professionals by “Notifications”. The outcomes can “Alert” people through a visualized system. Few daily activities are presented to reflect the… -
How crowdsourcing games help solve scientific problems: Review of current projects
6 Oct 2011 | 7:09 amIt has been shown that the human capacity has still important advantages over computers. Scientists have learned to use crowd sourcing tools to improve their research. To achieve cooperation, they present models of the problems in a game like display and challenge the partipants to find solutions. Scientists in Carnegie Mellon University (look up Luis von Ahn) were the first to use human brains to help them solve problems associated with searching for images on the web (computers are not very good at distinguishing images from each other using visual cues). This lead to the development…
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EveryJoe » Work
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Newt Gingrich Doesn’t Have Eye of the Tiger
30 Jan 2012 | 3:51 pmNewt Gingrich is in trouble. And this time, it doesn’t involve an ex-wife or the polls. Gingrich is in trouble for allegedly using the song “Eye of the Tiger” without permission. He’s being sued for unspecified damages in an Illinois federal court. “Eye of the Tiger” is owned by Rude Music Inc. and was made famous in Rocky III. Rude Music Inc. says that Gingrich has used the song ever since 2009. They reportedly have evidence that he used the song in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In addition to unspecified damages, Rude Music Inc. also wants the judge to order Newt… -
Fox Morning Show Co-Anchor Greg Kelly Accused of Rape
26 Jan 2012 | 2:46 pmGreg Kelly, the co-host of FOX’s “Good Day New York” and the son of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, has been accused of rape. Not only does the 30-year-old paralegal claim the sexual assault occurred, she also says that she got pregnant and subsequently had an abortion as a result of the attack. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is investigating the allegation, and Kelly has not been charged with any crime as of yet. However, he has “strenuously” denied the charge through his lawyer. The alleged rape occurred back on Oct 8 when the two allegedly met on… -
Could Facebook Shut Down Over SOPA & PIPA?
17 Jan 2012 | 11:30 amIf you are like many people, you are reading a lot about SOPA and PIPA right now. To get the lowdown, check out this post about how SOPA/PIPA can affect you. Also, watch this video about understanding SOPA and PIPA, and find out if Facebook could actually shut down. Though Wikipedia is going dark over SOPA/PIPA tomorrow. Many companies actually support SOPA, from ABC to Visa. Allison Boyer of BlogWorld has a good piece about Why SOPA Scares the You-Know-What Out of Me that talks about a lot of worrisome loopholes. You should also read this article from Daily Kos about the repeated blows SOPA… -
Wikipedia to Go Dark on Wednesday to Protest SOPA & PIPA
17 Jan 2012 | 8:13 amThe U.S. government is currently considering to bills that are causing quite a stir — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). According to TechCrunch, “Websites found to offer pirated content, along with the services that they use, could be hidden from US internet users by being delisted on search engines and potentially on DNS servers themselves.” Many people believe with these bills, we’d be heading down a slippery slope and the legislation could threaten free speech. Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales has decided to send a message by going dark for… -
How Twitter Can Backfire
17 Jan 2012 | 7:08 amIf you own a business, you might rush out and put your business on Twitter. While this is a good idea most of the time, you should also be aware of how Twitter can backfire and hurt your business. Check out our list below to see if your company is in danger. Lack of Updates If you have a Twitter page for your business that isn’t updated regularly, people may think your business is unreliable. Or they may think your business is out of business. Sounding Like Spam If all you use Twitter for is to talk about your products without any other sort of interaction, your company may get a…
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@ProBlogger
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How to Succinctly Report a Blog Issue to Tech Support
8 Feb 2012 | 6:07 amThis guest post is by Matthew Setter of Malt Blue. How often do you find it happening to you? You discover an issue with your site, or one of your community members emails you to tell you about it, and soon you start to see tweets about it too. Maybe it’s as simple as an error message that detracts from the professional appearance of your site. Perhaps the contact form doesn’t send messages to your contact email address. Or is it that the whole site just displays as a blank page, otherwise known as the white page of death? You’re not a programmer, a software engineer or a seasoned… -
Make Your Blog Load Faster than ProBlogger: Part 2
7 Feb 2012 | 12:05 pmThis guest post is by Devesh of WP Kube. A few months ago, I wrote a guest post here called How to Make Your Blog Load Faster than ProBlogger. Today, I’ll go into some more detailed advice to help you speed up your site even more. If you’re a blogger, you already know about the importance of blog loading speed, and the role it plays in search engine rank and marketing your blog. But if this is new territory for you, here are three quick reasons why you need to speed up your blog: Google includes website loading speed as an important metric in their ranking algorithm. If you want… -
How I Beat my Best Month Ever by Doing Something Good, Better [Case Study]
7 Feb 2012 | 6:04 amMid-December 2010: on my photography site, we launched a new campaign—our first ever 12 Days of Christmas promotion. The result was my biggest month of earnings ever up to that point. The idea was simple: offer discounts on 12 products over the 12 days leading up to Christmas. I used a mix of my own ebooks and products from other photography sites with affiliate commissions. The result was massive. Not only did we see some great revenue generated, it created some lovely buzz on the site. Due to the success of the 2010 campaign, in mid-December 2011 we launched our second 12 Days of… -
Six Steps to Make Sure Your Site Is Ready to Go Viral
6 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amThis guest post is by Nancy Sathre-Vogel of Family on Bikes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Surely Google Analytics was confusing my site with another, way more popular site. There was no way my visitor numbers could be so high! And yet they were. One of my posts had taken off and was spreading like wildfire. Those viral post phenomena that happen to others were now happening to me. The first day, 17,000 visitors came to my website. The next day we topped out at 56,000. Readers were coming in droves. It was exciting. It was exhilarating. My site, viral! Wow! And then I took a… -
How to Handle Criticism: a Practical Guide
5 Feb 2012 | 12:03 pmImage by Stuart RichardsAs bloggers, each of us has to deal with criticism. Blogging is a very public activity—almost all of us has the goal of gaining readers to our blogs—and the more people you reach, the more likely it is that you’ll hear criticisms. “You’re wrong…” “How can you say that? You don’t know what you’re talking about.” “I couldn’t disagree more…” “This is the last time I read this blog!” These are just some of the criticisms bloggers regularly face—I’ve received versions of…
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ReadWriteWeb
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Groupon's First Earnings Call Missed the Mark, But It May Not Matter
8 Feb 2012 | 9:28 pmToday in its quarterly earnings call, Groupon reported that it did not meet fourth quarter expectations. The company posted a $43 million loss, or $0.08 cents per share. Despite the loss, Groupon's revenue in the fourth quarter 2011 grew 194% to $506.5 million, up from $172.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. In fact, the fourth quarter 2011 was the company's first quarter of operating profitability since it opening international operations in the second quarter of 2010. This brings everyone back to the same question: Is the daily deals model a real, legitimate business, or is it just a… -
Daily Wrap: January's List of Apps You Need to See and more
8 Feb 2012 | 6:00 pmDan Rowinski rounds up the best apps, in our opinion, of January 2012. This and more in today's Daily Wrap. Sometimes it's difficult to catch everything that hits tech media in a day, so we wrap up some of the most talked about stories. We give you a daily recap of what you missed in the ReadWriteWeb Community, including a link to some of the most popular discussions in our offsite communities on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ as well. Sponsor New iPhone, iPad and Android Apps for January 2012 In what is surely a labor of love, Dan Rowinski combs through the mass of apps released… -
Stop Saying "Finally"
8 Feb 2012 | 5:50 pmFIIIINALLY! Google released a Chrome beta for Android! GODDDDD. What took them so long? All the Ice Cream Sandwich users have been waiting, like, FOREVER! Finally, Tweetbot for iPad came out. I've only been asking them for, like, EIGHT MONTHS! Jeez. Apple fiiiinally released iTunes Match after a whole month, and it didn't even work right! Listen to how this sounds. How do we, the tech bloggers, get away with headlines like this? Where do users get off complaining impatiently about updates to a service that costs them $2.99? Or a free service? Let's have a reality check. Remember how awesome… -
10 Ways to Win Over Writers
8 Feb 2012 | 5:00 pmAs a PR person, product developer, CEO or whatever, you're probably more interested in getting noticed by the media than developing a relationship with a particular writer. That's one way to go about it. Then there's that old-fashioned "building a relationship with a real person not a robot" idea. You know, treating people like people and taking the time to get to know them. Oh right, yeah, forgot about that. Writers, like artists, are sensitive to ideas and people. But not every writer will get you or your product - and in the tech world as in any world, each writer has their own… -
Nginx Continues Growth, Adds Commercial Offerings
8 Feb 2012 | 4:30 pmAccording to the Netcraft Web Server Survey for February 2012, Nginx was "the only server to experience a non-negligible market share increase this month" by picking up 0.27 percentage points. Good news for the upstart Web server, just as the brand-new company behind Nginx takes the wraps off its commercial packages. Nginx has had quite the growth spurt over the past year. In February of last year Nginx had 7.57% of the market, or about 21 million domains hosted with Nginx. Microsoft had 20.04%, or about 57 million. Apache was at 60.10%, with more than 171 million domains. Sponsor…
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Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
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Can You Find Success Following a Firing?
8 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amOne of the most challenging situations a person can find themselves in is trying to secure a new job after they’ve been terminated from a previous position. While there is hope of locating employment following a termination, the odds are definitely lessened for such individuals, who must fight through the stigma of being removed from a company. The bottom line is resiliency and the ability to best explain away why you were let go. For those individuals who have to deal with such a situation, keep several things in mind: Deal with reality – It is never easy when the pink slip arrives and… -
Five Delegation Thinking Traps that Trip Almost Everyone Who Wants to Scale Up
7 Feb 2012 | 5:39 amScaling Up Requires Pushing Down Lower-Level Tasks In the companies I worked with and for, product development schedules were cyclical, with seriously tight deadlines at certain times of the year and a more relaxing pace when those deadline had been achieved. To even out this ebb and flow of deliverables, we would hire freelancers, off-sire staff, and development groups. Even the most entry-level full-time people were managing and influencing the performance of someone else. The ability to influence another person’s performance in positive ways affected how quickly employees could grow… -
Does Your Business Style Connect or Make People Cringe?
6 Feb 2012 | 5:43 amGet Serious Attention In Amanda Valenti’s recent guest post here about Common Writing Mistakes, she made many important points that I encourage small businesses to take to heart. If spelling, grammar, and homophones are not your strong suites, find someone who can edit what you write. It IS worth it because Amanda is absolutely correct – these types of errors will cost you visitors and business. There is something more serious you must be aware of as well and that is what kind of image you are presenting to the world. Specifically, what you consider acceptable regarding profanity,… -
Beach Notes: After the Storm
5 Feb 2012 | 7:11 amby Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh After the storm, creative thinking … With all the driftwood on the beach after recent big storms, some people see debris spoiling the usually pristine sands. Others see a gift for creativity. What do you see when everything goes pear-shaped and plans fall apart? Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh -
What to do while you are waiting
5 Feb 2012 | 1:00 amMany people have to wait a long time for something to happen. Tom Petty was right: The waiting is the hardest part. It’s easy to become impatient, especially when we cannot see any signs that anything is happening. It’s like the seed germinating within the earth. Although there may be millions of chemical reactions going on beneath the surface, from topside, the soil resembles a mute brown plane, keeping its own counsel. Maddening. The urge to dig up the seed to check on its progress is almost overwhelming, and yet, in order for the seed to bear fruit, we must trust that the process is on…
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PR-Squared - Social Media Marketing and Public Relations
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Open Letter to Havas CEO David Jones
8 Feb 2012 | 8:12 amHi Mr. Jones. I caught your MSNBC interview this morning with Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski re: your new book, Who Cares Wins: Why Good Business is Better Business. You made some excellent points re: how transparency, authenticity and speed will win the day for corporations; about how companies who expect to do well must increasingly expect to do good, as it is becomes ever easier for consumers to suss out egregious behavior and punish bad actors (from un-friending to public humiliation). This is all well-worn territory for Social Media geeks, of course, but it’s always good… -
Facebook IPO is Good for Everybody
6 Feb 2012 | 6:35 amDepending on who you ask, the Facebook IPO will result in boundless glory or is destined to be remembered as the final pinprick in an impending burst of the current tech bubble. For my part, whereas in the past I likened Facebook to previous Walled Garden successes like AOL (the AOL of the early 90′s, not the AOL of today – which is a SHIFT client!), in the past 18 months or so I’ve only been impressed by Facebook’s ability to embed itself across the larger, open expanses of the Web. It “rides alongside” us as we surf, versus dictating how and where we experience the… -
Susan G. Komen PR Disaster: Lessons Learned
3 Feb 2012 | 11:27 amWow. It’s been nearly two weeks since my last blog post. Sorry about that. I was out sick. And wow, what a crazy time to sit on the sidelines… Facebook IPO. Hello! More on that in a future post. Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood. Sheesh! Let’s talk about that! (Caveat: I am a Blue State progressive; whose mother died of breast cancer; who marched on Washington as a college student in support of women’s rights; and whose dear-departed grandmother spoke with horror of the days prior to Roe v. Wade. Got all that? You’ve been warned.) Just as I started… -
It’s the End of the Web as We Know It … or, Speed Kills
23 Jan 2012 | 9:46 amThose of you who follow me on other social nets like Twitter or Facebook know that I am pretty opinionated when it comes to politics. Suffice to say that I am a card-carrying member of the “Liberal Coastal Elites.” (I try not to over-indulge or bore folks with it; and I certainly can play nice with my right-leaning friends.) I bring it all up only as a segue to the fact that I am a big fan of Andrew Sullivan’s Dish blog. Sullivan’s one of the big dogs in blogging; he’s been freshly-empowered by his move to the Daily Beast to experiment… -
Thoughts on a Twitterversary
19 Jan 2012 | 7:18 amLet’s take a ramble. One of those automated spambots on Twitter informed me that today was my 5–year anniversary of microblogging. Wow. Five years. Really? What was I up to five years ago? I was living in Boston, in-between my family’s quinquennial moves to San Francisco. My brain was on fire, as I’d hit upon a worthy successor to the Social Media News Release concept and was just a couple of weeks away from debuting the Social Media Newsroom template. As I look back, 2007 was a prolific time for the entire Social Media industry. It was not only the year Twitter…
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MarketingProfs How-To Articles
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Four Keyword Research Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
6 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amIf you are serious about the words "sales," "profit," and "conversions," you must master keyword research. Learn four common pitfalls marketers make when selecting keywords--and how to avoid them. Read the full article at MarketingProfs -
The Inside Scoop on Using Twitter Lists for Profit and Sanity
3 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amThe dirty secret of Twitter is that as helpful as it can be, it's also a time sink. Learn how properly using and cleaning up your Twitter lists can help you save time--and generate leads for your business. Read the full article at MarketingProfs -
10 Hot Tips (and a Promo Campaign Planner) for Seasonal Sale Success
2 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amCustomers today expect more deals and offers during holiday seasons, so it's important to create seasonal campaigns to increase revenues. Here are 10 tips--and a campaign planner--to help you achieve seasonal sale success. Read the full article at MarketingProfs -
Five Tips for Implementing a Successful QR Code Campaign
1 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amQR codes can be inexpensive to implement and can provide you a measureable return on investment--if you use them correctly. Learn five invaluable tips for implementing an effective QR code campaign. Read the full article at MarketingProfs -
Four Easy Tactics for Becoming a Must-Follow Account on Twitter
31 Jan 2012 | 7:00 amTwitter is a powerful channel that can help you connect with customers, promote products, and create brand awareness. Learn four tactics for making your Twitter account a social media heavyweight in your industry. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
