The name of Ikea's new SOLVINDEN lamp translates from Swedish as "Sun Wind," as those are the two things that power it. The cordless LED lamp is charged by a combination of the lampshade, which rotates in a breeze, and the sun's rays hitting the solar panel on top. The solar panel also contains a sensor that apparently swiches the lights on when it's dark outside. (There's also an on/off switch.) What we're not sure of is how the $30 SOLVINDEN is meant to be used, as the stalk on the floor-standing model seems a bit flimsy for permanent outdoor use. With no power cables it's conceivable you…
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Most Topular Stories
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Ikea's New Solar-and-Wind-Powered Lamp
Core779 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am -
Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe #OfficeandGuyK
How to Change the World20 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… -
Unabashed Gearhead Gnarlyness
metacool25 Jan 2012 | 9:29 amThe Fujifilm X-Pro1 -
Will The Real Social Business Experts Please Stand Up?
Logic+Emotion7 Feb 2012 | 10:23 amStop what you're doing and check out this thread (on Google Plus of all places) started by Francine Hardaway. She started it off with a simple question. "Who are the best experts in social business?"What followed was a robust discussion on what social business is, isn't and who's driving the agenda forward in the space both in thought and action. If you're interested in the emerging definition of social business (aka the convergence of enterprise 2.0 and social media) I highly recommend you taking a look. Some of my favorite thoughts:"the thread that social business is not the same as social… -
6 Powerful Guest Post Tactics that No One’s Talking About
@ProBlogger9 Feb 2012 | 6:05 amThis guest post is by Tom Ewer of Leaving Work Behind. Guest posting is a hot topic amongst startup bloggers. It is one of the most widely-adopted blog promotion strategies in existence, and has been made perhaps even more popular by the success of “serial” guest posters such as Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing. His “blitzkrieg” strategy may come across to some as a triumph of quantity over strategy, but nothing could be further from the truth. He understands the key concepts that we will be exploring in this post, and executes them in a highly effective manner. Whilst…
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Core77
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Ikea's New Solar-and-Wind-Powered Lamp
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amThe name of Ikea's new SOLVINDEN lamp translates from Swedish as "Sun Wind," as those are the two things that power it. The cordless LED lamp is charged by a combination of the lampshade, which rotates in a breeze, and the sun's rays hitting the solar panel on top. The solar panel also contains a sensor that apparently swiches the lights on when it's dark outside. (There's also an on/off switch.) What we're not sure of is how the $30 SOLVINDEN is meant to be used, as the stalk on the floor-standing model seems a bit flimsy for permanent outdoor use. With no power cables it's conceivable you… -
American Design in Paris 2012, Triode Gallery
9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amReporting and Images by Marc Thorpe. (Above) Lindsey Adelman, Agnes Chandelier For the third year running, Parisian design showroom Triode hosted American Design in Paris exhibition to coincide with the Winter Maison & Objet tradeshow. The annual exhibition has become a showcase for American design talent with previous exhibitions showing one-off and production pieces from the likes of Harry Allen, Paul Loebach, Matilde Alessandra and Moorhead & Moorhead. This year's show was a special collaboration with Roll & Hill and MatterMade. The roster of American designers included those who have… -
The 88 is seeking a Graphic Designer in New York, New York
9 Feb 2012 | 4:00 amGraphic Designer The 88New York, New York The 88 is a digital agency offering creative services, social media management and content creation. Located in SoHo, they are seekign a full-time art director/designer to support their work for a variety of high-end clients. » view The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.(more...) -
Muji's Upcoming Product Fitness 80 Exhibition in London
9 Feb 2012 | 2:00 amLondoners with a taste for minimalist design are in for a treat: A Muji exhibition revealing archives of their work, prototypes and some of their not-for-sale-in-Europe objects, opens March 9th at London's Design Museum. The somewhat baffling exhibition title, Product Fitness 80, makes sense when you read Muji's latest philosophical musings: The products in the exhibition all address the question, what would happen if we used 20% less materials and energy in the actual process of making products? And in terms of the final object, what is then the role of the user in customising, re-using and… -
Reykjavik's Interactive City Center Map
9 Feb 2012 | 12:00 amIn 2009 Monocle took notice of Reykjavik's growing businesses and optimistic entrepreneurs, a hopeful sign that the city, and Iceland in general, might be on the brink of overcoming their 2008 economic collapse. The start-ups here are not deterred by conditions and take inspiration from successful forebears, such as CCP Games, [whose]...executive producer Nathan Richardsson notes, 'This wave of innovation happening in Iceland is a result of the dire consequences of 2008, which provides a useful constraint on developing ideas to find the simplest, best solution.' In stark contrast to the…
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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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metacool
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Unabashed Gearhead Gnarlyness
25 Jan 2012 | 9:29 amThe Fujifilm X-Pro1 -
metacool Thought of the Day
12 Jan 2012 | 11:28 am"Most people don’t form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling. ...when you read a biography of someone you admire, it’s rarely the things that made them happy that compel your admiration. It’s the things they did to court unhappiness — the things they did that were arduous and miserable, which sometimes cost them friends and aroused hatred. It’s excellence, not happiness, that we admire most. ...Fulfillment is a byproduct of how people engage their tasks, and can’t be pursued directly. Most of us are… -
What's a sleestak?
5 Jan 2012 | 9:17 pmWhere do great songs come from? A great question, to which I must ask: what's a sleestak? Every once in a while, I become obsessive about a special tune. Case in point, I've probably listened to Tower of Power's Knock Yourself Out several thousand times. When I encounter a piece I like, I need to listen to it over and over and over to unlock its secrets. It drives my wife nuts. Here's my latest obsession, a tune called Cloisonné: Readers of metacool will know that I deeply admire They Might Be Giants. Not only is their cover of Tubthumping the official anthem of… -
Innovation principles by Markkula
24 Dec 2011 | 2:41 pmThe genesis of these thoughts on marketing from Mike Markkula are detailed on page 78 of Walter Isaacson's intriguing biography of Steve Jobs. In their clarity, simplicity, and actionability, they are stunning. As a marketer, I take three lessons from them. First, they are about people. Markets are made up of individuals. When striving to bring something new and cool to life, we're much better off imagining the life of a single customer than we are trying to disaggregate and disambiguate mountains of anonymized market data. A holistic understanding of the customer… -
metacool Thought of the Day
22 Dec 2011 | 12:45 pm"Between the unknowns of birth and death it is our love and courage, the banishment of fear, that decides if we really lived." - Steve Matchett
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Logic+Emotion
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Will The Real Social Business Experts Please Stand Up?
7 Feb 2012 | 10:23 amStop what you're doing and check out this thread (on Google Plus of all places) started by Francine Hardaway. She started it off with a simple question. "Who are the best experts in social business?"What followed was a robust discussion on what social business is, isn't and who's driving the agenda forward in the space both in thought and action. If you're interested in the emerging definition of social business (aka the convergence of enterprise 2.0 and social media) I highly recommend you taking a look. Some of my favorite thoughts:"the thread that social business is not the same as social… -
People, Places & Events
3 Feb 2012 | 11:01 amA few significant events happening over the next few months—here's where I'll be: Chicago: February 6th, Social Media Club, An Interview With Richard EdelmanOur I'll be interviewing Richard Edelman our CEO in our new office space as we host the Chicago Social Media Club. We will be discussing this Year's Trust Barometer findings. If you can't make it to Chicago, we will be live streaming video the interview at 5:00 CST. London & New York: February 13-16, Social Media Week Our London office is hosting a panel titled "Social Business In Action". A topic I'm very passionate about—then… -
How To Be A Social Media Self-Righteous Jerk
1 Feb 2012 | 4:28 pmThe scale above shows the many stages one has to go through in order to become a bona fide self-righteous jerk in social media. Still, there are many people who aspire to reach this peak, but fall short in executing against it. Given this observation, I thought it would be worthwhile to piece together a few best practices which will ensure your status as a social media self-righteous jerk (or SMSRJ). In no particular order: 1. Join The Klout GestapoAll social media SMSRJ's know that Klout is simply evil incarnate and requires a organized force to take on this evil axis of influence wherever… -
Launching a Social Command Center (Without The Center)
27 Jan 2012 | 8:05 am"Social command centers" are all the rage today and it's not without some merit. Many organizations now find themselves in a real-time business environment where news travels faster than sound, and information is set free. As a result, some forward thinking companies have put "monitoring" in place either in-house or in combination with partners. This isn't enough. And to make matters worse, I've seen companies make the classic mistake of buying a tool BEFORE putting any thought into the design that goes into effective monitoring and response, forgetting the 3P's (People, Process, Platforms). -
Trust Shifts From Institutions To Individuals
23 Jan 2012 | 9:44 pmToday I had the opportunity to present to academics and industry experts from the international poultry industry (you can listen to a re-cap via a short podcast from "Agwired" here). During the presentation I was able to share some results from the recently released 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, in which the overarching theme is a general skepticism toward institutions such as government and big business with signs of hope when it comes to empowered individuals. A Person Like YourselfIn last year's study, it was the expert and even the analyst who enjoyed some degree of trust from the public…
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@ProBlogger
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6 Powerful Guest Post Tactics that No One’s Talking About
9 Feb 2012 | 6:05 amThis guest post is by Tom Ewer of Leaving Work Behind. Guest posting is a hot topic amongst startup bloggers. It is one of the most widely-adopted blog promotion strategies in existence, and has been made perhaps even more popular by the success of “serial” guest posters such as Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing. His “blitzkrieg” strategy may come across to some as a triumph of quantity over strategy, but nothing could be further from the truth. He understands the key concepts that we will be exploring in this post, and executes them in a highly effective manner. Whilst… -
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…
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Conversation Agent
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Being in Control of the Interaction
9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amI don't know about you. I wasn't terribly impressed by the Super Bowl ads this year. With the exception of the seducing commercial of the FIAT Abarth, where they are clearly in control of the interaction, most ads seemed to have sacrificed newer creative executions for safer ones. At the per second dollar spend, it was an understandable move. Disappointing because of the high expectations created through social media ahead of the big day. I got many ad preview offeres from the PR Agencies working with brands this year. A few days ahead of the game I saw that FIAT was making the rounds on… -
Collaboration? You Must be Joking!
8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amI read this post by Chris Saad the other morning in response to Robert Scoble 's mention in a recent post and I keep thinking about the applicability of its concepts not just for Silicon Valley and the tech community. It applies to marketers and communicators as well. [Posted originally on Google+]<rant>1. lead not just cheerlead - how many times do we copy the same concept over and over, or look at short term payoffs when the opportunities are on the making better promises side of the conversation?2. add to the business DNA - nothing dies, not media companies, not blogging, not… -
What a Difference Five Years Make
7 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amHere I am. Writing from my heart more than my head where all the good ideas are and I get the zinger -- yeah, a personality would be great. Seriously? Kidding. I'm sure it would. And I have one. I can go from Zero to Italian in no time. When appropriate. Why do you care? Because that's just it -- online content should have a style and point of view, to get more personality it needs to have guts, and it needs to have time. Guts don't come from charts and stats, they come from people. Time as in face time, as in skin in the game, as in relationships. Or you're just making the seagull move --… -
How Would You Redesign the Sears Customer Experience?
6 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amAs a regular at Brand Autopsy, I remember the "would you miss" series of posts about brands John Moore wrote a couple of years back. The brands discussed ranged from Denny's, Costco, Ace Hardware, Dairy Queen, Crate & Barrell, BusinessWeek, UPS, Pizza Hut, to Walgreens, Polaroid Instant Film, Advertising Age, The Cheesecake Factory, Chili's, Wells Fargo, and more. One of the brands was Sears -- if Sears went out of business tomorrow, would any of us care? Does Sears provide such a unique product and customer experience that we would be saddened if it didn’t exist? How did Sears do on… -
... then I Discovered I am Actually Funny
5 Feb 2012 | 4:00 amSo, I've been thinking. What I'm doing here with this blog is not working. It's not you, it's me. Somehow I manage to scare you off to some site with LOL cats whenever you open your feed. I'm not inspiring you. Or maybe I am, and you're not telling me. I've tried a couple of things to justify keeping up with producing researched and useful content. That only makes the scraping and copying and rewriting gremlins happy and me poor. They don't link anymore in the sphere, those bastards. This is a departure from my usual writing style, I know. I've been slaving on figuring out an angle for the…
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Design Observer: Main Posts
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Marc Angélil, Jørg Himmelreich, Hubertus Adam & J. Christoph Bürkle: An Interview with Jacques Herzog: From Art to Architecture
9 Feb 2012 | 8:07 amOn Places, an interview with Jacques Herzog, who discusses the recent work of Herzog & de Meuron and the challenges of maintaining a creatively vital practice. -
Rick Poynor: On My Shelf: A Classic by Berger and Mohr
8 Feb 2012 | 2:52 pmJohn Berger and Jean Mohr’s A Fortunate Man brilliantly fuses words and photos to examine a doctor’s life. -
Georgia Tech: Partner News: Georgia Tech Selected as National University Transportation Center
8 Feb 2012 | 1:57 pmThe Georgia Institute of Technology has been named by the U.S. Department of Transportation as the lead for one of ten national Tier One University Transportation Centers. -
Michelle Hauser: Pop Photographica: Daile Kaplan’s collection is, both literally and figuratively, off the wall.
8 Feb 2012 | 7:20 amDaile Kaplan’s comprehensive collection all has one unifying trait: a photographic element that was not intended for viewing on the wall. -
Arizona State University: Partner News: How Public Is the Good? Symposium at Arizona State University
7 Feb 2012 | 1:35 pmThe Design School hosts a transdisciplinary design symposium at the Tempe Center for the Arts on March 7, 2012.
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Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing
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Google+ Has a Perception Problem
9 Feb 2012 | 5:36 amRemember that smart kid who sat in the front of the class, but was ignored by the cool kids? That’s a good metaphor for what Google+ is going through. I’ve heard from corporate social strategists I should be cautious about how much time and how frequently I discuss this nascent social newtork, and I spoke to media from a Tier 1 this week who said “does anyone even go there anymore? It seems like a wasteland”. Furthermore take this damning image which has been viewed 11k times suggests Google+ is filled with Google employees –and that’s about it. In fact, in our data on Super bowl… -
Altimeter Webinar Recording: State of Social Media Management Industry
8 Feb 2012 | 10:08 amThis week, Altimeter (myself and Andrew Jones, researcher) hosted a webinar stemming from the the recent report on Social Media Proliferation, which you can download the full report on this blog post. In the embedded slides and video below, you’ll be able to get additional insights on how we perceive how this market will change in the coming years: We’ll see a vendor shakeout, although expect pure play vendors of each of the five uses cases to remain Consolidation will occur from market forces of email marketing, web analytics, CMS, marketing automation, brand monitoring, support… -
Hey Retailers! Refine That Mobile Marketing Strategy (Altimeter Report)
7 Feb 2012 | 10:01 amThis latest Altimeter Report, by my colleague Industry Analyst Chris Silva, focuses on how companies must develop a mobile marketing strategy. It sources research from 26 ecosystem contributors including brands, agencies, and technology providers. To learn more about this report, please register for the webinar in which Chris will provide deeper knowledge from the report. This report is powerful in a few ways, it indicates the growth the in space, referencing that 45% of all mobile phone users are carrying a smart phone, and the growth rate for tablets is 23% annually. The report also… -
Five Trends: How Brands Integrated Social, Mobile, and Web into 2012 Super Bowl Advertisements
6 Feb 2012 | 8:39 amBy Altimeter’s Jeremiah Owyang, Brian Solis, and Zak Kirchner Findings: Five Trends Indicate Cross Channel Integration a Mainstay. Super Bowl ads, while only representing the nation’s largest consumer facing ads are a bellwether for advertising trends for the remainder of the year. To best understand these trends, Altimeter Group’s research team analyzed each Ad in real time, and conducted analysis to best understand the advertising trends for 2012. Using Chicago as a middle ground, we reviewed all ads from kickoff till the game clock expired and found that trends out of 87… -
P&G Layoffs Signal Focus on Digital Industry
4 Feb 2012 | 10:49 amLast week was a tremendous change, giant marketer P&G announces 1600 layoffs as they reduce jobs in various roles, and instead shifting budget to digital marketing. The CEO, when pressed, indicates a strong focus on digital marketing, citing: “In the digital space, with things like Facebook and Google and others, we find that return on investment of the advertising when properly designed, when the big idea is there, can be much more efficient” -Bob McDonald, Chairman-CEO, P&G Yet this is a trend, as P&G had previously cut advertising spend on soap operas on traditional TV,…
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Seth's Blog
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Inaccurate labels and why we need them (and need to improve them)
9 Feb 2012 | 2:46 amIf I tell you, "I'm going to the baseball game," it seems as though you're likely to understand what I mean. Of course, you won't. When George Will goes to a baseball game, it's a religious experience. Me, I don't even like baseball. Or maybe it's my nephew's ball game (the playoffs), or maybe going to the game causes me to miss an important event, and on and on. We label the experience with just two words, and two words can't possibly capture the emotions and circumstance surrounding an event. The same thing is true with brands. If I tell you that a new business was funded by USV, that might… -
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.
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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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Branding Strategy Insider
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Time For Brand Marketers To Lead A Comeback
7 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmIt’s a good thing the game between the NFL's New England Patriots and the New York Giants was exciting because this year’s Super Bowl commercials were dull, and what a weird thing to say about the Super Bowl. Generally, it’s the very opposite of that. Perhaps it’s best not to read too much into Super Bowl ads vying for viral buzz (many of which adopted a new pre-game, social media preview approach to generate buzz, albeit some have argued it was poorly done). But there was one thing that stood out. In a noticeable departure from the tradition of Super Bowl Sunday, this year’s crop… -
When To Reposition Your Brand
6 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmBrand repositioning is necessary when one or more of the following conditions exist: Your brand has a bad, confusing or nonexistent image. The primary benefit your brand "owns" has evolved from a differentiating benefit to a cost-of-entry benefit. Your organization is significantly altering its strategic direction. Your organization is entering new businesses and the current positioning is no longer appropriate. A new competitor with a superior value proposition enters your industry. Competition has usurped your brand's position or rendered it ineffectual. Your organization has acquired a… -
How To Transform An Under-Performing Brand
5 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmOnce the decision has been made to continue to invest in an under-performing brand, brand owners will be faced with a new set of challenges completely foreign to them. The temptation is always to do more of what got you there. That rarely works when brands face reinvention. By that I mean brand relevance. The main reason brands begin to under perform is that people no longer care. When that happens, like it or not, you’ll be starting over from scratch. This is a hard pill for brand owners to swallow, particularly if the brand was once an iconic leader in its category. For brand owners… -
Logo Design Requirements
4 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmA brand’s identity is a combination of visual, auditory, and other sensory components that create recognition, aid in memory encoding and decoding, represent the brand promise, provide differentiation, create communications synergy, and are proprietary. The logo is one key component. Here is what we look for when we evaluate logo design: Memorable – highest recognition and recall (both of which can be tested for) Including recognition at maximum distances (can be tested for) Aesthetically pleasing Timeless quality - the logo will not become dated Appropriate for the product/service… -
Brand Tagline Requirements
3 Feb 2012 | 9:10 pmIn definitive global research, The Conference Board has found the development and consistent use of a tagline to be a key factor in brand strategy success. A tagline that succinctly and powerfully communicates the brand’s promise is one of the quickest, easiest and least expensive ways to communicate the brand’s new position to internal and external audiences. It should consistently accompany the brand’s logo in situations outlined by the brand architecture. I believe that developing brand taglines (and elevator speeches) are the most important next steps one can take once a brand has…
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Copyblogger
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How to Recover From a Social Media Hangover
9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 am“Hello. My name is Cori and I’m a social media addict. “Today is day 1 of my commitment to give myself a regular break from technology and the foggy, uncreative haze it can unwittingly lead to.” I was reading a post the other day by blogger Michael Brenner at B2B Marketing Insider, talking about getting your social media game on. Of course, being the skimmer that I am, the first thing that caught my attention and made me go back and read the whole thing was his mention of having a Social Media Hangover. His hangover was induced by sometimes (as we all do) forgetting to… -
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…
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Twitter / chrisbrogan
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chrisbrogan: @noisyzen - good for your level up.
9 Feb 2012 | 8:59 amchrisbrogan: @noisyzen - good for your level up. -
chrisbrogan: @codyboardman - didn't check that out, for sure.
9 Feb 2012 | 8:37 amchrisbrogan: @codyboardman - didn't check that out, for sure. -
chrisbrogan: @kendralante - that book's a bunch of poop. : )
9 Feb 2012 | 8:36 amchrisbrogan: @kendralante - that book's a bunch of poop. : ) -
chrisbrogan: RT @mitchjoel: The death of the unconference movement: http://t.co/mzivBM2l
9 Feb 2012 | 8:28 amchrisbrogan: RT @mitchjoel: The death of the unconference movement: http://t.co/mzivBM2l -
chrisbrogan: @ljjones @gapingvoid - calling YOURSELF a disruptor or visionary? Owie.
9 Feb 2012 | 8:16 amchrisbrogan: @ljjones @gapingvoid - calling YOURSELF a disruptor or visionary? Owie.
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Neuromarketing
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Super Bowl Ads: “Second Payoff” Pays Off
8 Feb 2012 | 11:11 amThe Super Bowl is the biggest day of the year for football fans, and just about as important for neuromarketing companies. The first results of neuromarketing studies from the big game are trickling out, and Innerscope Research observed a strategy employed by multiple advertisers: a “second payoff” at the end of the ad, after the [...] -
Neuromarketing Fun: Add Your Caption
7 Feb 2012 | 5:32 amWant to win a signed copy of my new book, Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing? I thought we could have a little fun while we’re waiting for the results of the Super Bowl neuromarketing studies to roll in. Read on… Neuromarketing scares some people, even though the techniques used by [...] -
NeuroBowl: Neuromarketing and Super Bowl 2012
3 Feb 2012 | 5:51 amThe Super Bowl may be the biggest sports event of the year and the biggest advertising event of the year, but it’s also the biggest event of the year for neuromarketing companies. With $3 million being spent on every 30 second spot, you can be sure that lots of advertisers rang up their favorite neuromarketing [...] -
Social Personalization and the Doppelganger Effect
1 Feb 2012 | 5:18 amAre you overlooking a way to personalize your ads that goes far beyond the usual “Dear Roger” salutation? In my recent article, Put Your Customer in the Ad, I mentioned that LinkedIn was using profile pictures for targeted ads. Since then, I’ve been able to capture a couple of examples. The first one surprised me [...] -
Time Warner Opens NYC Neuromarketing Lab
26 Jan 2012 | 5:42 amTime Warner Inc. is opening their new “Medialab” at its New York City headquarters. The media giant expects to “generate valuable insights into consumer behavior, evolving media habits and industry trends across all of Time Warner’s businesses, brands and advertising partners.” The lab sounds like one of the more diverse facilities dedicated to this kind [...]
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The BrandBuilder Blog
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10 things you still need to know about social media / social business.
8 Feb 2012 | 2:34 amSince I am bouncing around Europe this week, (come say hi at #tsc12 if you can), now is a good time to republish this list from a few months ago. It is still as relevant today as it was then: 1. “Social” is something you are, not something you do. If your company culture doesn’t focus on building relationships with your customers, then chances are that you won’t use social media to do it either. The “media” doesn’t dictate how social a company is or isn’t. It simply enhances its ability to be a social business – if in fact it is – or illustrates the extent to which it… -
What every CEO can learn from P&G’s Robert McDonald
1 Feb 2012 | 4:45 amWe’re going to talk about a few things today: The relationship between ad spend and sales, the importance of focusing on the right metrics in order to make smart budget decisions, the problem with using impressions as a unit of campaign success, and how easily die-hard habits can trip us up. Hat tip to Chris Young for pointing me to this story in Business Insider. Pay attention to how the story begins: Reality appears to have finally arrived at Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest marketer, whose $10 billion annual ad budget has hurt the company’s margins. P&G said… -
Dispatches from the future: The moon base mission patch.
30 Jan 2012 | 11:42 pmPosted November 8, 2020. Above: Mission patch commemorating the establishment of the first American moon base in the final year of President Gingrich’s second term. Though the moon base’s name was auctioned off to the highest bidder as soon as it became operational, it was originally named after Vice-President Herman Cain’s famous 9-9-9 tax plan, which made it possible for federally-backed private funding to finance 100% of the project. Happy Florida primary, everyone. It only gets weirder and crazier from here. Note: Credit where credit is due - The original template was… -
More things you need to know.
19 Jan 2012 | 4:01 amWe’ll resume our Deathbed Confessions series next week with Part 3. In the meantime, here are a few insights from people far smarter than me that might come in handy: On innovation, grabbing life by the horns, and not pissing your life away: “Do things that are gaspworthy.” That was one of the main messages delivered by Tom Peters, the influential business thinker and management [expert], in a speech at Epsilon’s Integrated Marketing Symposium 2006 at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, CA. “Do cool stuff that make people gasp,” said Peters, who looked older and angrier than in his… -
SOPA, PIPA and bills like them want to kill this blog. And yours.
17 Jan 2012 | 8:01 pmIf you like this blog and others like it, don’t support SOPA or any of its variants. If you hate this blog and others like it, support SOPA and all of its variants. It’s that simple. 1. None of it effectively impacts piracy. 2. It throws the baby out the window but doesn’t do a whole lot to throw out the bathwater. It’s backwards. As much as I’ve loved writing here for the last 7 years, if SOPA or any future incarnations of SOPA pass, I will have to shut down this blog. Here is why: http://mashable.com/2012/01/17/sopa-dangerous-opinion/ As for the reason why…
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Ries' Pieces
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Super Bowl of Advertising - 2012
6 Feb 2012 | 11:37 amWhile the gridiron battle between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots was close, the advertising battle on the tube was not. The Super Bowl battle for commercial success might better be described as a mixture of the old classics, the new stuff, the overly sexy and the over the top. Here is my brief recap on the best/worst ads of the night. The Old Classics The Super Bowl isn’t for also-rans. The big game is best served by big brands that are category leaders and that support the game year after year with consistent themes. Coca-Cola The three polar bear ads delivered. The ads… -
Tim Tebow, the brand
16 Dec 2011 | 10:07 amTim Tebow is the hottest story in sports. While the Green Bay Packers are charging ahead with an undefeated record, everybody is talking about the Mile High Messiah and Tebowing. How did this happen? What can you learn from it? The Keys to Tebow’s brand success: 1. Be Different. While there is nothing new about the collision of faith and football, Tim Tebow went out of his way to show PDF – public displays of faith. He also lives the life of a church going goodie-goodie. No alcohol, no smoking, no drugs, no sex (he is staying celibate til marriage.) His outspoken and open faith made him… -
The Secret of Steve Jobs
9 Nov 2011 | 9:53 pmSteve Jobs was a rebel who didn’t go about life or work in the normal way. He dropped out of college, was a fruitarian for a time and was often called an arrogant, obnoxious, weirdo. Being a rebel, however, wasn’t the secret of Steve Jobs. In our youth-obsessed culture, rebels are a dime a dozen. Steve Jobs was a technology genius. From an early age, he was fascinated by electronics. He tinkered at his father’s workbench and joined his high-school electronics club. Jobs was so gifted that Atari's chief technology engineer gave him a job as a game designer even… -
Netflix Strategy is Right and Wrong
20 Sep 2011 | 1:49 pmThere are several important lessons to be learned from the Netflix brand story. In recent days, the story has heated up after CEO Reed Hasting’s Sunday night email blast and blog post. In his email, Hasting apologized profusely, then turned around and further enraged his loyal 23-million subscriber base by taking the Netflix brand away from its red envelopes. Let me break down the good, the bad and the ugly of this classic story. In the beginning. Netflix was founded in 1997 and two years later it became the subscription-based DVD-by-mail service millions of customers in the United States… -
Walmarts needs to stop being so cheap. At least when it comes to advertising.
22 Aug 2011 | 7:40 amPublished by AdAge.com, August 22 In a down economy with consumers pinching every penny, you would think that sales at a retailer synonymous with "cheap" would be up, not down. Yet sales at Walmart have been down for two years in a row. Actually, that's nine straight quarters of decline. The only good news at Walmart is profits rose this quarter 5.7%, but that was mostly due to cost cutting and international growth. The really bad news is that Walmart's core U.S. business, which accounts for 62% of sales, is in a seemingly…
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Online Marketing Blog
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Good Content Marketing vs. Great Content Marketing: Learn the Difference From Joe Pulizzi #OMS12
9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amIf you are part of the online marketing or content marketing industry you have undoubtably heard of Joe Pulizzi (@juntajoe) and his company the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). Joe has been a member of the content marketing community for over a decade, and has made it his mission to help brands create quality content and distribute that content through multiple online channels. This was my first time seeing Joe speak and he made it a great interactive experience, and was of course wearing his trademark Orange. I enjoyed the history that Joe shared with the audience as well as his… -
Innovative Search Features Drive Engagement – Paul Vallez #OMS12
8 Feb 2012 | 3:30 am"Google taught us how to search." - Paul Vallez Paul Vallez admits that when he started at HP less than a year ago he had just come from Ask.com and was pretty cocky about what he knew. Vallez also shares that he wasn’t very open to new ideas and wanted to step into his new position at a big brand and immediately demonstrate value. What was his approach? 75% Cocky 25% Open to new ideas In Vallez’s presentation he identified what he called “3 Key Learnings” that he shared with the audience for improving the way that your search strategy is implemented for… -
#Optimize This: Online Marketing Summit 2012 Presentation
6 Feb 2012 | 7:21 amI’m headed to (hopefully) sunny San Diego today for the annual Online Marketing Summit conference where I’ll get to present on one of my favorite topics: Optimization. Of course, if you read Online Marketing Blog very often, you’ll know my definition of optimization is a bit different than traditional SEO. My post last Thursday “Are You Optimized?” touched on this. The competition for attendance during the breakout sessions at OMS is really tough during the time slot I’m scheduled for. SAP, Wider Funnel and SAP are all presenting at the same time as… -
Online Marketing News: Facebook IPO, Harmonize with Google+, Pinterest Dominates Traffic
3 Feb 2012 | 4:55 amFacebook in Numbers: Prior to the IPO The big news in social media and business this week is Facebook’s new IPO. This infographic from statista and creative commons shares some very interesting figures about Facebook, before it goes public. Highlights include: In 2012 Facebook is expected to reach: 90% of U.S. Social Network Users & 60% of Internet Users. Assuming a valuation of $100 billion, Facebook would be work 67 to 100x’s it’s estimated 2011 net income. The Social Media Buzz “How to Harmonize Google+ With Your Other Social Platforms” Search Plus has placed even more… -
Essential Shifts in Online Marketing: Are You On Board? Are You Optimized?
2 Feb 2012 | 7:21 amIs your company adaptable? Is your marketing optimized? I think most online marketers get the fact that marketing and communications on the web is a fast changing place and that most companies are structured to move at a slower pace than the digital world is evolving. Take for example, the notion of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s been around for about 15 years or so and in just the past few months Google has made the most significant changes ever. Despite the crystal clear focus towards search integration with social, many companies and digital pundits are still skeptical about…
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The Tom Peters Weblog
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Off the Cuff #2
7 Feb 2012 | 8:17 amOur Off the Cuff video series is a direct response from Tom to your questions. This is the second video in the series, which poses the question, "What is the greatest piece of advice you ever received that has made you a better writer or communicator?" It's a terrific question for Tom, and he discusses not only writing influences, but touches on public speaking as well. Don't miss the Dan Pink technique at the end; it may feel excruciating in practice, but there's no denying the improvement gained. -
TLBT Video #73Strategy: Measure Innovation
3 Feb 2012 | 8:46 amWe've posted the latest video in The Little BIG Things series on YouTube. Do you think it's impossible to measure innovation? In this video, Tom offers a brilliantly simple, easy-to-implement method for ensuring that a good portion of your work meets the mark on innovation. You can find the video in the right-hand column of this page or watch it at YouTube (time: 2 minutes 3 seconds). Or, get a PDF transcript of the video's content: Strategy: Measure Innovation. -
MOAP #4
30 Jan 2012 | 7:53 amThe latest installment of Tom's "Mother of All Presentations," or MOAP, is now available at ExcellenceNow.com. You can download the PowerPoint version or a PDF. We'll be releasing a section every other week throughout 2012. Part 4 introduces Tom's conviction that encouraging your people to make friends in other functions of the organization should be a top priority. Tom says you should reward such behavior, make it an agenda item. Download Part 4 of Tom's Mother of All Presentations, and learn how and why cross-functional socialization (read, idea-sharing) is essential to business excellence. -
Race to Nowhere
27 Jan 2012 | 4:51 amTom has said, "We tell our kids to 'be still,' then tell them to 'read history books'—which are replete (100%!) with tales of people ... who never sat still." This is obviously not the ideal way to cultivate a talented workforce. The education system in the United States still seems to be attempting to churn out well-behaved factory workers. With the enormous pressure placed on teachers to produce sufficient test results, the classroom becomes more about test preparation than exploration and discovery. Albert Einstein, long since deceased, had this to say: "It is nothing short of a… -
Advice, For What It's Worth ...
25 Jan 2012 | 7:20 amI was asked to contribute (a very few words) to a family page offering words of wisdom to a graduating high school senior. That's a serious challenge—and I literally spent days on the task. Here, for better or for worse, is the result: Rules For Living Life to the Hilt Nothing will turn out the way you thought it would. There is no bigger waste of time than making plans. Any success you have will be the byproduct of having thrown yourself headlong and without reserve into what you were most passionate about—and then ridden the wave you created wherever and at whatever speed it…
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Influential Marketing
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The Best And Worst Of Super Bowl Marketing Strategy 2012
6 Feb 2012 | 1:40 amI couldn't help but feel sorry this year for anyone who only watches the Super Bowl ads for entertainment. Perhaps the most defining feature of all the ads this year was how uniformly uncreative and dated they were. Marketers turned to old and obvious gags like girls in bikinis and dogs (lots of dogs) to try and carry their ads. The result was a very disappointing collection of ads for anyone who loves marketing and the hype of Super Bowl advertising. Still, there is plenty of marketing to learn from all the efforts this year, so let's get started in breaking down the strategy behind the ads… -
What The Amish Paradox Can Teach You About Marketing
3 Feb 2012 | 4:01 amLast year on a trip back to the US from South Africa, I picked up a magazine about a topic I knew very little about. It is of the common tricks I use to learn about different industries outside of the ones I work directly with – and in this case, the magazine I ended up with was called Farmer’s Weekly. The content was as you would expect, advice for farmers on techniques, information about regulations that will affect their industry and ads for tractors and things like that. In the middle of the issue I picked up was a feature article about what the author called the “Amish Paradox”… -
The 4 Principles Of Delusional Economics
27 Jan 2012 | 4:59 amWhen it comes to economic theories, there is plenty of fascination in the business world around how to explain what drives business and purchasing activities. Behavioural economics, the field of economics concerned with examining why people behave the way they do when it comes to their purchasing behaviour, is hot right now. Bestselling books like Freakonomics and Predictably Irrational dig deep into the psyche of people to try and explain seemingly illogical actions. My own upcoming book called Likeonomics, to some degree, looks at a similar theme of why we do business with people and… -
FinnAir, Republic Day & Why Celebration Is The Best Marketing Strategy
26 Jan 2012 | 8:28 amA few weeks ago it was my birthday. The day before on a Saturday morning, my two boys came leaping into our room very excited to wake me up. It wasn't so much about my birthday, unfortunately, as it was about getting ready to do their favourite thing on a Saturday morning: going to IHOP for pancakes. And when there is a birthday involved, it is an even bigger deal. Your birthday is a celebration there. They bring over at least 6 of the wait staff to sing their own version of the birthday song to you. You get ice cream for breakfast (what kid wouldn't love that?). People love celebrations -… -
Honda Masters The Art of Marketing Timing
23 Jan 2012 | 6:44 pmEvery year at the start of the new year there is something that most of us do without realizing it. It is related to making new year's resolutions, but it is more about sequencing your long term goals into the order in which you want to achieve them. One example might be saying to yourself, "I want to be married and then have a kid before I turn 35." Life is full of these little promises. So full, in fact, that often we make them to ourselves without even thinking. It raises an interesting marketing question as well. What would it take to get a customer to reevaluate the life sequence they…
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trendwatching.com
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February 2012 | POINT-KNOW-BUY
30 Jan 2012 | 5:01 pmSmartphone-toting consumers are embracing a world in which they can find out about (and potentially buy) anything they see or hear, even if they don't know what it is or can't describe it in words. POINT-KNOW-BUY will reshape consumers' info-expectations, search behavior and purchasing patterns. We check out the drivers, from smartphones to the emerging visual tech ecosystem. With examples from brands like Google, Heinz, Adidas and Amazon... Read POINT-KNOW-BUY » New! We've translated our free Trend Briefings into eight other languages: Nederlands Français Deutsch Português Español… -
December 2011 | 12 CRUCIAL CONSUMER TRENDS FOR 2012
5 Dec 2011 | 5:01 pmWhile we certainly live in ‘interesting’ times, there are more opportunities than ever for brave and creative brands and entrepreneurs to deliver on changing consumer needs. Read the 12 must-know consumer trends for 2012, from SCREEN CULTURE to RED CARPET to POINT & KNOW... Read 12 CRUCIAL CONSUMER TRENDS FOR 2012 » New! We've translated our free Trend Briefings into eight other languages: Nederlands Français Deutsch Português Español Türkçe -
November 2011 | DEALER-CHIC
6 Nov 2011 | 5:01 pmDeal hunting has become an integral part of daily life for millions of consumers. We dive into the drivers behind the deal phenomenon, the long-term impact on all B2C brands, and (of course) the latest brand innovations... Read DEALER-CHIC » New! We've translated our free Trend Briefings into eight other languages: Nederlands Français Deutsch Português Español Türkçe -
October 2011 | (RE)COMMERCE
3 Oct 2011 | 6:01 pmFor smart consumers, 'trading in' is the new buying. There are more opportunities than ever for consumers to make the most of their possessions; with novel brand buy-backs, exchange schemes, online platforms and mobile marketplaces, all offering convenient resale options... Read (RE)COMMERCE » New! We've translated our free Trend Briefings into eight other languages: Nederlands Français Deutsch Português Español Türkçe -
We're hiring (again): do you know the perfect candidate for any of these jobs?
27 Sep 2011 | 6:01 pmWe hope you enjoyed our recent Trend Briefing on RETAIL RENAISSANCE. As we continue to expand both our free content and paid services, we’re growing rapidly, and we're now on the look-out for London-based native English speakers (or might as well be ;-) for the below positions. If any of these jobs ‘is you’ or someone you know, please do let us know. TREND THINKER Do you have 3+ years of experience as a trend / business thinker, with a truly global perspective? Are you passionate about reading and writing on the future of business and consumerism? More here » CLIENT…
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TechCrunch » Enterprise
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BoardProspects Wants To Help Companies ‘Build Better Boards’, Raises $650,000
9 Feb 2012 | 6:57 amDon’t you just hate when you’re out skateboarding, minding your own business, and suddenly one of the wheels comes off and you break a kneecap? Well now there’s a new startup called BoardProspects, which aims to help companies build better boards. A quick glance at their website reveals that the company is not going to be able to solve your skateboarding woes, however, but it may help your business roll more smoothly. If your company is in need of new members for the board of directors (cough Yahoo cough) or the advisory board (cough Honeywell cough), you may want to give… -
Oracle Buys Talent Management Solutions Company Taleo For $1.9 Billion
9 Feb 2012 | 5:05 amOracle this morning announced that it is acquiring cloud-based talent management solutions provider Taleo for $46 per share or roughly $1.9 billion, net of Taleo’s cash and debt. Taleo’s solutions basically help organizations attract, motivate and retain human capital, and will serve to boost Oracle’s Public Cloud offering. The transaction is expected to close in the Summer of 2012. Here’s how Oracle pitches the buy: Together, Oracle and Taleo expect to create a comprehensive cloud offering for organizations to manage their Human Resource operations and employee… -
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. -
Dimension Data Buys Telecom Expense Management Software Maker Xigo
7 Feb 2012 | 7:24 amTelecom expense management (TEM) solutions company Xigo, which Greg likened to a Billshrink for large companies, has been acquired by one of its partners, IT services and solutions provider Dimension Data for an undisclosed sum. Dimension Data says the acquisition of Xigo, formerly known as Invoice Insight, will enable them to offer enterprise customers an integrated cost optimization solution for spend analysis, sourcing, provisioning and invoice processing. The company adds that it will focus on increasing Xigo’s market share in the United States and roll out the services to other… -
Microsoft Invests In 24/7 For Customer Service Software
7 Feb 2012 | 7:03 amMicrosoft announced this morning a new agreement with 24/7 Inc. , a company that designs intuitive customer experiences. As a part of the deal, Microsoft will merge its interactive self-service assets (meaning people, clients and technologies), into 24/7 Inc. The deal also includes an R&D partnership, long-term IP licensing and Microsoft taking an equity stake in 24/7, Inc. According to the companies, the purpose of the new partnership is to jointly bring the power of natural user interfaces and data analytics at cloud scale (Big Data) to enable the future of customer service businesses.
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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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KillerStartups.com - all
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Statmyweb.com - Find Out More From Any Website
9 Feb 2012 | 2:40 amThere is more than meets the eye when it comes to websites. On one side you get an attractive or a blunt design. But on the other, there is background information that tells us a lot about the website and who is behind it.Read moreLearn more about Statmyweb.com in Dataopedia.comFind out how much Statmyweb.com is worth with Stimator.comHave a business question? Ask Startups.com -
WebToTheRescue.com - Learn How To Launch A Business
8 Feb 2012 | 2:45 pmNillie Goldman has devoted her life to the business world. Her studies, which you can read at her LinkedIn -
Saveandsearch.com - Create Your Own Sites Database
8 Feb 2012 | 1:03 amSaveandsearch.com is a tool that lets you keep information you come across while browsing on the internet.Read moreLearn more about Saveandsearch.com in Dataopedia.comFind out how much Saveandsearch.com is worth with Stimator.comHave a business question? Ask Startups.com -
Archify.com - Browse Social Network Contents
7 Feb 2012 | 2:58 pmThe world wide web changes faster than what our chances to keep track with it allow. A consequence of this is that we may loose some contents we saw around on some website, and especially in social networks. When we come back to check it later, it may no longer be there at hand.Read moreLearn more about Archify.com in Dataopedia.comFind out how much Archify.com is worth with Stimator.comHave a business question? Ask Startups.com -
Wajam.com - Search Social Network Content
7 Feb 2012 | 2:45 amWajam is an extension for web browsers, that lets you get search results of contents shared by your friends on social networks.Read moreLearn more about Wajam.com in Dataopedia.comFind out how much Wajam.com is worth with Stimator.comHave a business question? Ask Startups.com
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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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Brains On Fire Blog
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I Watched, I Purchased, My Problem was Solved
9 Feb 2012 | 6:42 amI recently remembered a story about advertising that worked wonders in introducing me to a product that I purchased and loved. Being somewhat of a music and technology nerd, I follow several blogs that keep pace with what’s happening in the industry. I can’t remember exactly where, but in browsing one of those sites a few years ago I ran across this marketing video from a company called Tune Up Media (1): They happened to be running a discount promotion at the time, so in an extremely rare instance for me, I acted on their message, went to the website, and purchased their product. -
Get Your WOM Notebook Ready… Chapter One: Believe
8 Feb 2012 | 6:30 amSo, here you are… a friend of WOM or maybe you are just starting to explore. Word of Mouth Marketing is a passion for me, and I’m lucky enough to have a career in it. But this didn’t happen by accident. My career took root organically, as a result of my belief in the power of WOM, not because I set out to do it. Back in 2001, Brains on Fire partnered with the Department of Health and Environmental Control of South Carolina. We were tasked with the challenge of tackling teen smoking in our state. If you are at all familiar with South Carolina, you probably know tobacco plays a… -
Airport Conversations and The Secret Sauce of Success
7 Feb 2012 | 6:59 amEvery once in awhile someone will ask me what I do for a living. These conversations usually occur in the kinds of places where strangers feel compelled to carry on polite chitchat. In line at the grocery store. Doctor’s office waiting rooms. Airplanes waiting to be cleared for take-off. When I tell people I am a writer, they often respond in the same way I imagine I would respond if someone told me they traveled with the circus or roadied for Def Leppard in the 80s. An incredulous mix of shock and awe, with undertones of questioning my sanity. “That’s…brave,” they… -
Inspiration.
6 Feb 2012 | 7:28 amThe Erics, looking for inspiration. Hello! Hope you’re excited about the week ahead of you. I am. About a year or so ago, I posted a blog asking YOU a simple question. And since I LOVED the answers and they all inspired me, I am asking again… I really need you guys today. I love writing. Think I have shared this before, but I believe writing inspires thinking and exploring and sharing. And thinking and exploring and sharing are good things. If you are reading this and hanging out with us, I have to believe you think we add value in your life. So, I have a question for you: If you… -
The Power of Kindness.
2 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amFresh flowers from Libby William’s Photoblog. The other day I got a note in the mail. The old fashion “ink on paper” kind. It started like this: Dearest Darling Robbin, Hmmmm. I have to tell you in the middle of my crazy, busy, over stimulated workday, those words stopped me dead in my tracks. I took a deep breath and smiled at the “over the top-ness” of this salutation. What came after that was nothing short of the kindest words anyone’s written to me in a long time. Just a couple of heartfelt observations mixed in with some wit and honesty. It was a nice gentle break from…
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Signal vs. Noise
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All or something
9 Feb 2012 | 8:37 amOne of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming. That unless you can give your business all your thoughts and hours, you don’t deserve success. You are unworthy of the startup call. This myth neatly identifies those fit for mission: Young, without obligations, and few if any extra-curricular interests. The perfect cannon fodder for 10:1 VC long shots. They’re also easier to rile up with tales of milk and honey at the end of the rainbow, or the modern equivalents, “compressing your working life into a few years” and “billon… -
Behind the scenes: Reinventing our Default Profile Pictures
8 Feb 2012 | 9:34 amMister Default Here he is: our default profile picture. You may know him as “Generic Avatar”. He’s the picture you get when you create a new account and profile on Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, and Campfire. Mr. Default is a standard guy. He’s found everywhere on the web (in variations): message boards, comments, activity streams. He forces everyone to look like him regardless of gender, race, and physicality. He’s also very boring. Time for a change People don’t usually have a picture on hand to change the default avatar. What happens is none of the… -
What's your answer?
8 Feb 2012 | 9:00 am“If a customer asked you why, how would you answer?” This is a question I’ve been asking a lot lately. Why could be “why does it work this way?” or “why can’t I do that?” or some variation on that theme. I think your answer to those questions is a great way to measure your product. Are you happy with your answers? Are they fair answers? Are they clear answers? Would you be happy with the answer if you were the one asking the question? The goal isn’t to get to “Yes” on every answer. The goal is to listen to your answer and ask… -
No framework needed
8 Feb 2012 | 7:42 amIt goes without saying that we use Rails a lot here at 37signals. Often times, when we look at a problem, we turn to Rails or something similar, because when you have a high-performance precision screwdriver, everything starts to look like a finely engineered screw. Sometimes, what you really need is a big hammer, because what you’re looking at is a nail. Our public sites – sites like 37signals.com and basecamphq.com – are a perfect example of this. Let me tell you about our journey with these sites over the years, and how we’ve landed on a simple solution that boosted… -
SaaS: Change starts easy and then gets really hard
7 Feb 2012 | 12:58 pmBasecamp just turned 8 years old. Here’s the launch announcement right here on this blog back on February 5, 2004. That’s a long time ago. We’ve learned a ton since then. One of the most interesting lessons has been the increasing degree to which time influences change. When we first launched Basecamp, we could iterate rapidly. We were incredibly prolific those first few months. We launched a bunch of new stuff and made rapid improvement every few weeks. Eventually it plateaued and slowed down. Why is that? Part of it is because many of the improvements we wanted to make…
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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin current issue
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The Evolutionary Armistice: Attachment Bonds Moderate the Function of Ovulatory Cycle Adaptations
25 Jan 2012 | 8:48 amNatural selection modified the attachment-behavioral system to bond adult mating partners in early members of the genus Homo, thus facilitating increased investment, especially paternal investment, in offspring. Previously existing adaptations that fostered intersexual conflict (e.g., ovulatory adaptations) could have threatened attachment bonds; therefore, the attachment-behavioral system might have evolved the ability to mute or refocus such adaptations for the purpose of strengthening the bond. Two studies offer support for this prediction. Women who were strongly attached to their… -
Why Men (and Women) Do and Don't Rebel: Effects of System Justification on Willingness to Protest
25 Jan 2012 | 8:48 amThree studies examined the hypothesis that system justification is negatively associated with collective protest against ingroup disadvantage. Effects of uncertainty salience, ingroup identification, and disruptive versus nondisruptive protest were also investigated. In Study 1, college students who were exposed to an uncertainty salience manipulation and who scored higher on system justification were less likely to protest against the governmental bailout of Wall Street. In Study 2, May Day protesters in Greece who were primed with a system-justifying stereotype exhibited less group-based… -
Social Roles, Basic Need Satisfaction, and Psychological Health: The Central Role of Competence
25 Jan 2012 | 8:48 amThe authors propose that competence need fulfillment within valued role domains (i.e., spouse, parent, worker) will account, in part, for associations between autonomy and relatedness need fulfillment and psychological health. Testing these assertions in cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys of women in two independent community samples, the findings are the first to formally examine whether the satisfaction of competence needs within social roles accounts for associations between other types of need satisfaction and affective outcomes as well as depressive symptomology. Evidence… -
Social Exclusion and Pain Sensitivity: Why Exclusion Sometimes Hurts and Sometimes Numbs
25 Jan 2012 | 8:48 amSome research indicates that social exclusion leads to increased emotional- and physical-pain sensitivity, whereas other work indicates that exclusion causes emotional- and physical-pain numbing. This research sought to examine what causes these opposing outcomes. In Study 1, the paradigm used to instantiate social exclusion was found to moderate the social exclusion-physical pain relation: Future-life exclusion led to a numbing of physical pain whereas Cyberball exclusion led to hypersensitivity. Study 2 examined the underlying mechanism, which was hypothesized to be the severity of the… -
Understanding the Better Than Average Effect: Motives (Still) Matter
25 Jan 2012 | 8:48 amPeople evaluate themselves more positively than they evaluate most other people. Although this better than average (BTA) effect was originally thought to represent a motivated bias, several cognitively oriented theorists have questioned whether this is the case. In support of a motivational model, the author reports five studies showing that the BTA effect is stronger for important attributes than unimportant ones (all five studies) and that once attribute importance is taken into account, the effect occurs when self-evaluations are compared with a single peer (Study 2) and when self is…
