Selected by hotflashnews

• 
  Guy Kawasaki

• The 19 bloggers Inc. thinks you should read

  GuyKawasaki

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:20 pm

  Inc. named 19 bloggers that you should read. We’ve aggregated them all in one place: Inc19.alltop.

• How to Get Found

  GuyKawasaki

  4 Nov 2009 | 3:29 pm

  The reality is that people and technology is getting better and better a blocking out unwanted interruptions—aka, “marketing.” Brian Halligan is the CEO of HubSpot, and he explains in my post on the American Express Open Forum “how to get found.” It’s all about creating great stuff and letting Google et al do what they do: find great stuff.

• How I tweet

  GuyKawasaki

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:47 am

  By popular demand (and some complaints), I’ve done a FAQ with myself about how I tweet. Hope this helps you use Twitter for your business too. I explain how I use ghostwriters and why I repeat my tweets among other “unusual” practices.

• Current Twitter Demo Script

  GuyKawasaki

  28 Oct 2009 | 2:26 am

  This is the set of links that I used to demo Twitter by going down through this list to show why Twitter is such a valuable marketing tool. Introduction Home page Profile page Monitor Search Guy Kawasaki or Alltop Starbucks VIA introduction Search for “Prius” or “Civic” Sell Dell Outlet Kogi BBQ Support Comcast Cares Engage JetBlue Virgin America Fandango Prospect Camaro Camaro near Palo Alto Advanced searches Surfing or skateboarding (shows how to eliminate extraneous results such as “surfing the web” How I Tweet - Find Alltop MyAlltop helped me find this.

• How to Avoid Twitter Cluelessness

  GuyKawasaki

  26 Oct 2009 | 4:24 pm

  Over at the American Express Open Forum blog, I explain how to not look clueless on Twitter. The first five ways are: Don’t tell other people how to tweet. Don’t tell the world that you unfollowed someone. Don’t ask people why they unfollowed you. Don’t constantly tweet mundane updates and babble. Don’t use a small picture for an avatar. To read all ten and why they impugn your intelligence, click here.

• 
  Seth Godin

• The amateur scientist (that's us)

  Seth Godin

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:41 am

  Many people buy a car (probably their single biggest discretionary purchase) based on slamming a door, kicking a tire and judging the handshake of a salesperson.We choose a surgeon based on the carpeting in his office and a politician by his hair cut.During the first week of swine flu vaccines in New York, most parents (more than half!) chose to keep their kids out of the program.Interviewed parents said things like, "I'm not sure it's safe," and "I wanted to see if it affected other kids..."No mention of longitudinal studies or long-term side effects. No science at all, really, just rumors…

• Embracing lifetime value

  Seth Godin

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:46 am

  If you walk into a company-owned cell phone store to sign up for a contract, what are you worth?Given the huge gross margins at AT&T and Verizon and the standard two-year contract, I think it's easy to figure on more than $2000 in lifetime value.If you ran a business where a customer represented an additional $2,000 in profit, how would you staff? How long would you make someone wait? If staff costs $25 an hour, how long would that extra person take to pay off?Few businesses understand (really understand) just how much a customer is worth. Add to this the additional profit you get from a…

• Some books for November

  Seth Godin

  18 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Random thoughts from all over for those of us hungry for new ways to think. This month's list is here. The previous list was blogged in September.

• The reason they want you to fit in...

  Seth Godin

  18 Nov 2009 | 2:03 am

  is that once you do, then they can ignore you.

• Breakthroughs and drips

  Seth Godin

  17 Nov 2009 | 2:25 am

  There are only two ways to win in the market.You can create a breakthrough. A promotion so powerful that people can't help but engage. An innovation so remarkable, people can't help but talk about it. A pricing strategy or ad campaign that breaks the mold and is worthy of attention. This takes huge guts and substantial investment.Or you can win with consistent benefits, delivered over time. You win by incrementally earning share, attention and trust. This might take years.Almost all marketing attempts to do neither of these, and of course, fail. Painless and quick are rarely associated with…

• 
  Wine Library TV

• Passport to South American Wines – Episode #772

  tv@winelibrary.com (Winelibrary TV)

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:33 pm

  Gary Vaynerchuk sits down with Samantha Brown from the Travel Channel and tastes three different wines from South America. Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version. Wines tasted in this episode: 2008 Quintay Sauvignon BlancChilean Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Vinedo Vintos EstivalUruguay White Wine 2006 Tomero Petit Verdot Other Argentine Red Wine Links mentioned in todays episode. The “Crush It!” Book Tour Great Weekends with Samantha Brown

• Dr Vino Visits Wine Library TV – Episode #771

  tv@winelibrary.com (Winelibrary TV)

  19 Nov 2009 | 1:47 pm

  Gary Vaynerchuk tastes some Thanksgiving picks with writer and blogger Tyler Colman (aka Dr Vino). Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version. Comments on this episode(116) Leave a comment › “Dr Vino Rules. Great guest Gary Vee. QOTD: since we don’t celebrat…” by osvar falcón lara “DR. NNNNNNEEEEEERRRRRDDDDDDO!!!!!!! Somebody get the man something for…” by carl View all 116 › Wines tasted in this episode: 2007 Selbach-oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Kabinett RieslingMosel Riesling 2005 Viking Vouvray Tendre SecVouvray 2007…

• Wines for a Big Event – Episode #770

  tv@winelibrary.com (Winelibrary TV)

  18 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pm

  Since Gary Vaynerchuk gets so many emails asking about how to pick wines for weddings and other events, he invited celebrity event planner Marcy Bloom to tackle it with him on the Thunder Show. Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version. Comments on this episode(123) Leave a comment › “Great guest! Loved it when she got startled a little as Gary BURST in…” by Joe “Interesting comment on the 08 Campuget Blanc Costieres De Nimes. I of…” by Robin C View all 123 › Wines tasted in this episode: 2008 Campuget Blanc Costieres De…

• California Chardonnay Throwdown – Episode #769

  tv@winelibrary.com (Winelibrary TV)

  17 Nov 2009 | 4:19 pm

  Gary Vaynerchuk tastes three serious and highly rated Chardonnays and has some big announcements. Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version. Comments on this episode(198) Leave a comment › “I’ll be going to Santa Barbara, CA with a friend and his wife that inv…” by Made By Foot “QOTD: will be at a fren’s place, likely to bring a bottle of red. We’l…” by MaRc View all 198 › Wines tasted in this episode: 2008 Brewer Clifton Santa Rita Hills ChardonnaySanta Barbara Chardonnay 2007 Dumol Isobel ChardonnaySonoma…

• A Little Update and a Few Statements – Episode #768

  tv@winelibrary.com (Winelibrary TV)

  16 Nov 2009 | 12:45 pm

  Gary Vaynerchuk has a few quick things to say. Comments on this episode(76) Leave a comment › “wups! happy belated birthday gary! p.s. the question of the day, 4t…” by ben from boston “I can’t see the video, nothing there,…only the title. What a tease!…” by pacw808 View all 76 › Wines tasted in this episode:

• 
  Holy Kaw!

• World AIDS Day: making awareness sexy

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:06 pm

  World AIDS Day is coming up on December first—and awareness is sexy. So, take a few moments to read this great post by Sheryl Lee Ralph. She brings up great points that will really challenge the way you feel about the awful disease that killed more than 3,000,000 last year alone. To put that into perspective, Swine Flu has only killed 1000 people to date. Don’t get me wrong, that’s terrible too, but if those numbers can spark a media frenzy—surely HIV and AIDS are deserving of some discussion time too. Be sure to read the article, and maybe share it with those you…

• How to buy the Twilight: New Moon house

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:59 pm

  You can own the Twilight: New Moon house. It’s for sale for $3.3 million. If you hurry, you can close escrow in time for the Winter Olympics because it’s in West Vancouver. Total Twilight coverage. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• Stuff Brazilians like

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:03 pm

  Total news coverage of Brasil and soccer. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• Why the right fertilizer can cut greenhouse gases

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:32 pm

  In a stinky Science development, researchers have discovered that using alternative types of fertilizers can cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, at least in one part of the US. Nitrogen fetilizers are often necessary to yielding sufficient crops, but their use leads to the release of nitrous oxide, a major atmosphere enemy. Fertilizer use is one reason an estimated seventy-eight percent of America’s nitrous oxide emissions come from agriculture. But scientists have compared those emissions with newly developed fertilizers formulated with “controlled release” polymer-coated…

• Capturing water in sloooow mooootion

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:12 pm

  Some things just look cooler in slow motion. Jell-O? Totally better. A punch to the face? Way more awesome. Photographer Martin Waugh spends his day watching single droplets of water, capturing the tiny and beautiful splashes with super slo-mo video. Check out the video from Discovery and you’ll definitely never look at a leaky sink the same way again. Science geekiness galore. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• 
  Mashable!

• Droid Does: A Price Drop

  Adam Ostrow

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:04 pm

  When it was released earlier this month, the retail price for the Motorola Droid was $200 for new activations on Verizon. Although Verizon is staying firm with that price point for now, it appears that some of its retailers are not. Specifically, Amazon and Dell have both cut prices on the smartphone to $150 and $120, respectively. The news comes just one day after news broke of price cuts by online retailers on other devices not named iPhone: the Palm Pre and Pixi. Of course, the device cost shouldn’t really play a huge role in consumer’s decision given the total costs of ownership for…

• Top 10 News Readers Judged by Mashable Readers

  Barb Dybwad

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:47 pm

  Each Friday we choose a Lunchtime Poll topic to get a sense of how Mashable readers feel about the chosen topic of the week. Below are the results from last Friday’s poll, where we asked for your favorite news reader. Is your favorite app or service not represented in the list? Let us know in the comments! And to make sure your vote counts next time, be sure to vote in this week’s Lunchtime Poll, where we want to know your favorite video-sharing service. A surprising number of readers in the top 10 were Mac apps, and enough of you said you’d switched to using Twitter as your…

• HOW TO: Use Social Media to Find Black Friday Deals

  Susan Payton

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:33 pm

  Susan Payton is the Managing Partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an internet marketing firm. She blogs at The Marketing Eggspert Blog, and teaches marketing courses at Marketing EggSchool. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing. We’re a week away from Black Friday and just a few years ago, if you wanted to find the best deals, you had to wait for the sales flyers to hit your newspaper or mailbox. You’d make a list of what you wanted and get your game plan together. But that’s all changed because of social media. Tools like iPhone apps, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook…

• LUNCHTIME POLL: What’s Your Favorite Video Sharing Service?

  Barb Dybwad

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:58 pm

  It’s Friday, people, which means that not only is it Follow Friday, it’s also time for the Lunchtime Poll! Last week we wanted to know about your favorite news reader (or whether you use RSS at all). We’ll have the results for you later today, but let’s get a head start on the new poll: what’s your favorite video sharing service? We’ll start off with some responses from the staff here at Mashable, and let you fine folks have at it in the comments. Be sure to let us know along with your vote why you chose it as your favorite. We’ll post the results…

• Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters

  Tamar Weinberg

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:57 pm

  Thanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for enabling us to bring you the latest social media news and resources. Mashable’s sponsors are as social media savvy as our readers! Advertise with us and get noticed. Help us to help you. Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers, and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views a day in addition to weekly recognition to thank you as our premium sponsors. Are you interested? Contact us for more information…

• 
  The Bloggess

• Hope for Anissa

  Jenny the bloggess

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:26 am

  I don’t think I’ve ever done this before on this blog and I hope that I never have to do it again but I’m asking for your help.  If you read this blog a lot then you already know Anissa Mayhew because she’s a regular commenter.  She’s a blogger, a reader and a faithful friend.  More than once Anissa has had my back during rough times.  She’s a founding member of The Bloggess Army (codename: Kaiser Soze).  She’s publicly defended me more than once…mostly from myself.  She’s hysterical and witty and bitingly sarcastic and now…

• Breaking news: Waffles

  Jenny the bloggess

  18 Nov 2009 | 3:59 pm

  My friend, Hannah, just sent me an email to alert me about breaking news on Yahoo: Not a joke, you guys. Real. Live. Screenshot. Holy shit, y’all. And my first thought was “I have to share this with the internets immediately because WTF, news media?  Why is this a top story?!”  And then my second thought is that I shouldn’t tell anyone about it until I have a chance to go out and buy all the Eggos I can find first because this way I get a headstart on the hoarding.  But no, I decided to share with you now because I have integrity.  And because I already have a box…

• Japan, part 2 (ish): Tommy Lee Jones needs to mind his own business

  Jenny the bloggess

  16 Nov 2009 | 8:18 am

  OMG, you guys.  I actually published a “part 2″ to a post that I labeled “Part 1″.  I think that’s the first time that’s ever happened.  Is there a medal for this, or some sort of ribbon?  If so, please mail one to me.  Unless it’s that bullshit white participant ribbon.  No one wants that ribbon.  Unless you buy it yourself and wear it ironically.  Then it’s kind of awesome.  Or desperate.  One of those. So where was I?  We’d just landed in Japan and luckily I was still using my journal at the time because I’ve already…

• It might not even be pudding. It may have been lotion. Or some sort of spackle.

  Jenny the bloggess

  14 Nov 2009 | 5:46 pm

  A video of weird/offensive/awesome stuff I bought in Japan.  Also, I suck at making videos.  That’ll be evident if you make it to the end.  But about halfway through I eat a boobie.  So there’s that.  Totally redeeming. Comment of the day:Peppermint creeps the everliving crap out of me. Totally did not expect the eye color change thing. And since she’s Japanese, there’s probably some horrible karmic consequence of pulling the ass-string. Like, in seven days you’ll be forcefed boobie pudding until you die.  Unless this whole Vlog was like “The Ring” and then we’re…

• Why, Google?

  Jenny the bloggess

  11 Nov 2009 | 10:34 pm

  Taking a short intermission from stories of almost getting murdered in Japan to demand that you go right now to Google and type in “Why”.  Then look at the auto-suggestions. I’ll wait. Why are you still here?  Okay, fine. I’ll do it for you. Awesome. Bonus:  What comes up when you type in “Why won’t”: Technically I've wondered about that second one too. And that’s why the internet was invented, y’all. (Hat-tip to Relo who saw this phenomenon and instantly thought of me.  Thanks?) Comment of the day: “Why won’t my parakeet eat…

• 
  NYT > Technology

• BigDeal Puts a New Spin on 'Entertainment Shopping'

  By BRAD STONE

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:37 pm

  BigDeal, a new venture-backed "entertainment auction" site, takes on Swoopo.com by saying there is no way to lose.

• A Look at California's New TV Energy Rules

  By ERIC A. TAUB

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:02 pm

  While it will be a challenge, TV manufacturers believe that they'll be able to meet new California standards for HDTV power consumption.

• Hacked E-Mails Fuel Climate Change Skeptics

  By ANDREW C. REVKIN

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:55 pm

  The e-mails and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university will undoubtedly raise questions about the actions of some scientists.

• Sony Ericsson's Infinite Hope for a Turnaround

  By SAUL HANSELL

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:05 pm

  Sony Ericsson hopes to differentiate its new smartphones with an "Infinite Button" that links entertainment and communications. But will it ever be sold in the United States?

• E.U. Takes More Time to Review Oracle-Sun Deal

  By DEALBOOK

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:24 pm

  European Union regulators said Friday that they have extended until Jan. 27 a deadline to wrap up their antitrust review of Oracle's planned $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems.

• 
  tech news - Google News

• Georgia Tech 70, George Mason 62 - USA Today

  Google Inc.

  Atlanta Journal ConstitutionGeorgia Tech 70, George Mason 62USA TodayUdofia closed it with a three-point play for a 24-17 edge with 3 1/2 minutes left, and Georgia Tech went into halftime with a 27-19 lead. Rip Tech's Hewitt for losing already? Not just yet, I sayAtlanta Journal ConstitutionCollege Basketball: Dayton gets by Georgia Tech, 63-59Philadelphia InquirerYellow Jackets try to sting Patriots in San JuanKansas City StarBleacher Report -SportingNews.com -The Associated Pressall 753 news articles »

• Tech coach Johnson signs contract extension - Atlanta Journal Constitution

  Google Inc.

  Atlanta Journal ConstitutionTech coach Johnson signs contract extensionAtlanta Journal ConstitutionGeorgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson signed a one-year contract extension Friday that ties him to Tech through 2016. Georgia Tech's Johnson agrees to extensionESPNBreaking News: Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson Agree to Contract ExtensionBleacher ReportPaul Johnson signs contract extensionExaminer.comall 32 news articles »

• Windows 7 wagging the dog for tech sector - MarketWatch

  Google Inc.

  Telegraph.co.ukWindows 7 wagging the dog for tech sectorMarketWatchBy marketwatch The reason for the failure of the tech sector to double-dip in March is because it was already gearing up for a potentially big fourth Tech Tip of the Week: Unearth Region-Specific Windows 7 ThemesTechSpotWindows 7 and the tech sectorMarketWatchall 182 news articles »

• Oklahoma at Texas Tech preview - Dallas Morning News

  Google Inc.

  Oklahoma at Texas Tech previewDallas Morning NewsAP Texas Tech hasn't beaten a Big 12 South opponent this season and needs a victory to become bowl eligible (a win over FCS team North Dakota does not Oklahoma at Texas Tech College Football Betting LinesBetFirmsTexas Tech 94, Northwestern St. 75CBSSports.comReese begins career with Red RaidersCrestview News Bulletin (blog)RedRaiders.com -Double-T Nation (blog) -The Daily Toreador (registration)all 25 news articles »

• Tennessee Tech (2-1) at Memphis (1-1) - Kansas City Star

  Google Inc.

  Memphis FlyerTennessee Tech (2-1) at Memphis (1-1)Kansas City StarTennessee Tech actually played a game last night versus Lipscomb, and the result was a hard-fought 92-89 victory. The Golden Eagles are set to play their Tennessee Tech beats Lipscomb 92-89The Associated PressMemphis Tigers vs. Tennessee Tech (FEF, 7 pm)Memphis Flyerall 80 news articles »

• 
  PhilanTopic

• 'Career Pathways' and Young Professionals

  Regina Mahone

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:04 pm

  Career Pathways to Philanthropic Leadership, a new "baseline" report from the Council on Foundations, has received a fair amount of attention. Based on a quantitative study of the appointment of 440 CEOs and executive directors over four years (2004-08) and a companion qualitative project, the report was designed to develop new insights into how philanthropic organizations choose their leaders and how individuals make their way into those positions. Specifically, it looked to answer four questions: What are the professional backgrounds and profiles of CEOs and executive directors of…

• Readings (and Other Stuff) - Nov. 19, 2009

  Regina Mahone

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:57 pm

  Here's what we've been checking out today: Paul Brest: President's Essay: Forms of Philanthropic Support: The Centrality of Alignment (Hewlett Foundation) Podcast: Diversity and Inclusion in the Nonprofit Sector (NonprofitNext) Video: An Interview with Paul Polak: Over 17 Million Poor Customers Served (Unreasonable blog) Video: Scroogenomics - Wharton Professor Makes the Case for Charitable Giving During the Holidays (Charity Navigator) Phil Cubeta: Philanthropedia Q&A (Gift Hub) Dirk Smillie: A Perpetual Recession For Papers (Forbes) Chronicle Review: Academe and the Decline of News…

• Don't Be Afraid to Share Your Stories

  Mitch Nauffts

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:25 pm

  (Consultant Thaler Pekar helps smart leaders and their organizations find, develop, and share the stories and organizational narratives that can rally critical support. Her previous posts in this series can be found here, here, and here.) Too many foundations are confounded by storytelling. Paralyzed by the need to tell the one perfect story that embodies their brand, acknowledges all their stakeholders, AND helps to advance their goals, foundations often refrain from telling any stories at all. As a result, potentially transformative knowledge fails to reach hungry audiences…

• Readings (and Other Stuff) - Nov. 17, 2009

  Regina Mahone

  17 Nov 2009 | 3:21 pm

  Here's what we're reading today: Holden Karnofsky: Not Our Last Word on the Kiva Controversy (GiveWell) Elizabeth Clawson: What Is Social Impact? (Nonprofit Periscope) Robert Frank: Does the Gates Foundation Need a $500 Million Complex? (WSJ) Amy Sample Ward: Causes, MySpace & ideablob (Tactical Philanthropy) Allison Fine: Redlining Online Kari Dunn Saratovsky: The Role of Millennials in Reshaping a Sector (Social Citizens) Marc Lacey: Money Trickles North as Mexicans Help Relatives (NYT) Miguel Helft: Everyman Offers New Directions (NYT) What are you reading?

• VIDEO: Be That Woman

  Mitch Nauffts

  17 Nov 2009 | 2:26 pm

  In time for the holidays, the Washington Area Women's Foundation is out with a new campaign called Be That Woman. The campaign, and the video below, is based on a simple premise: If you invest in a woman or girl, the investment benefits all. The video, which was done pro bono by RP3 Agency in Bethesda, Maryland, isn't as dramatic as the Girl Effect video we wrote about back in February, but it has a sweet, vaguely retro quality that I find appealing. What do you think? Does the video work? Will it inspire you to action? And if not, why not? Be nice... -- Mitch Nauffts

• 
  TechnologyStory.com

• The Technology Hype Cycle

  Scott Klososky

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:09 am

  There is a concept in the technology world that I find pretty interesting, and it is called the Technology Hype Cycle. It postulates that there are stages that technologies go through as to how they are adopted by humans. The speed that any single technology goes through the stages might vary a bit, but the stages are always there. Here is a description: The Technology Trigger – The genesis of the technology, this where only extremely geeky people have any idea what it is. The Peak of Inflated Expectations – This is where our “next big thing” is suggested as the cure to all ills…

• Google Andriod, the iPhone, and Blackberry

  Scott Klososky

  12 Nov 2009 | 6:55 am

  The funny thing about being a technology guy is when people meet you, they tend to ask for advice, just as I am sure doctors experience. The latest question I get a lot is, ”what phone should I be getting next?” An example from last night… I was at a client dinner and a 50-ish looking executive saunters over and says, “hey technology guy, why does my IT department tell me I have to use a Blackberry, and what do you think I should get next?” Two questions and oh so many answers. I am old enough to remember when the decision between phones was wall mount or desktop, and black or…

• Augmented Intelligence

  Scott Klososky

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:02 am

  Being a creative person, I am always on the look out for a way of mixing words that might be a new way to describe something that is not well described today. As I speak to audiences about business intelligence and how it will move us to artificial intelligence engines that run our organizations, I have been struggling to replace the AI moniker. Artificial intelligence was never a good descriptor of a software application that would appear to be able to think. The reality is AI is just a sophisticated set of rules that simulate how a human might process a set of variables. The human brain is…

• Stories From the Road

  Scott Klososky

  21 Oct 2009 | 5:49 pm

  One of the cool things about being a speaker is hearing all the interesting stories of how technology is impacting people. Here are a few I have heard in the last couple of weeks… On gentleman in his 60’s came up today and said he really did not know much about social media, but he was proud of something he has accomplished this year. His wife had picked up a stray dog she had found and had promptly gone old school to find the owner. She put up posters around town with a picture and a phone number. After a week or so, the dog was still at the house and this guy was getting nervous about a…

• Tech Spending – How Much Is Enough?

  Scott Klososky

  19 Oct 2009 | 11:53 am

  One of the most difficult aspects of technology as a tool is deciding how much to invest, when to invest, and then being at peace that you will get a return on the investment. This applies to us individually, and to all organizations. I have been wrestling with both the last few weeks and that inspires me to write this content for you. I have a client that is growing quickly, been in business many years, has the profits to upgrade their digital plumbing, and the need to take a big step forward. We are talking a possible investment of one to two million dollars possibly – maybe more. At the…

• 
  Nonprofit Online News

• The Side-Effect Principle: How Stakeholders Share Information as a Result of Other Goals

  By and large, people don't share information online simply for the purpose of sharing. They do it for their own reasons. I'll be teaching a workshop next week on stakeholder-generated content and this will be one of the key strategic insights. See what you think of The Side-Effect Principle: How Stakeholders Share Information as a Result of Other Goals

• Building Your Online List Seminar Moved to January 13, 2010

  For the first time in years, I double-booked myself for teaching an online seminar. (I'll be at a public interest gathering in Aspen, CO in December.) Because there is a lot of value in the live versions of our seminars, we rescheduled this one: Building Your Online List: A High Integrity Model for Reaching Large Numbers on the Internet. It will now be held on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010, making it the first workshop of the new year for us. See you there!

• How the Web and the Weblog have Changed Writing

  Philip Greenspun is a visionary technologist and a very charming writer. I recommend his piece on How the Web and the Weblog have Changed Writing. In particular, I believe that most nonprofits have substantial mismatches between their media and their messages and could really learn a lot from this article. If you are publishing online in any fashion, if you're consider weblogs, or if you are thinking of so-called "user generated content" (which I think should just be called "content"), you own it to your stakeholders to read this.

• Session Notes from Web of Change 2009

  I was unable to attend this year's Web of Change gathering at Hollyhock, but there are some good Session Notes accumulating online. These are in fact all notes, rather than articles, so be prepared to use them as the basis for an email to the presenters or a lot of online searching for named examples and resources. I recommend you start with the first one on the list (which is my personal favorite): Technology and True Love - Integrated Engagement Tracking.

• Six Online Community Vendors for Associations: An Analysis

  Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer at SocialFish have published an analysis of Six Online Community Vendors for Associations. I'm disturbed by the fact that every single one of the chosen applications is a proprietary application provided by a single vendor. Another way to do this analysis would have been to compare open source platforms - such as AroundMe, Elgg, Mahara, NewsCloud, and many others - and then compare the vendors competing to provide you with strong service. With single source proprietary vendors you are far more likely to get locked in. While the analysis does look at open APIs, it…

• 
  Have Fun • Do Good

• Record Your Grandma's Stories: StoryCorps' National Day of Listening is Nov. 27

  Britt Bravo

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:13 pm

  Will you be spending Thanksgiving with friends who tell great stories, a relative who has wonderful tales from "back in the day," or just someone special whose life you'd like to celebrate? Why not record their story in honor of StoryCorps' National Day of Listening the day after Thanksgiving (November 27th).StoryCorps provides a free, downloadable Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide, as well as an Education Toolkit to use in a classroom or library, and a Community Service Toolkit to use in, "veteran’s hospitals, senior centers, homeless shelters, and other community centers."I also like their…

• Have Fun Do Good Day: 29-Day Giving Challenge

  Britt Bravo

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:08 am

  Long time readers of Have Fun Do Good probably already know about the 29 Day Giving Challenge created by my friend, Cami Walker.During the 29 Day Giving Challenge, you give away one thing each day for 29 days. It can be anything: time, money, something you already have, something you buy, a smile, a compliment, or a kind word.What you might not know is that since I first wrote about the Challenge in April 2008, Cami has published a New York Times bestselling book, 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life, and has appeared on the TODAY Show! Pretty cool, huh?I've completed the…

• Have Fun Do Good Day: Stretch!

  Britt Bravo

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:51 am

  Do-gooders need to take care of themselves, as well as others, and that includes taking care of their bodies.If I can make time to do yoga in the morning, I know it's going to be a good day. Sometimes I do it for 10 minutes, sometimes for 30 minutes, and sometimes I have the luxury of going to a 60-90 minute class. Either way, every little bit makes a difference.If yoga sounds intimidating to you, just think of it as stretching with a lot of breathing (:Above is a 4-minute video of the Six Movements of the Spine by Kimberly Wilson (who interviewed me recently) that you could probably do right…

• Vote Today, Watch on Thanksgiving: 2009 CNN Heroes

  Britt Bravo

  18 Nov 2009 | 1:52 pm

  It's your last chance to vote for your favorite 2009 CNN Hero!A "Blue Ribbon Panel" selected the 2009 Top Ten CNN Heroes out of 9,000 nominations, and now you can choose the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year from their Top Ten. Voting ends Thursday, November 19 at 6 AM ET. The Top Ten Heroes are an incredibly inspiring group. You can watch videos about each hero, and learn more about their stories on the 2009 CNN Heroes voting page. Give their organizations a click below:Brad Blauser, Wheelchairs forIraqi Kids (One Person Can Make a Difference blog)Roy Foster, Stand DownDoc Hendley, Wine to…

• Have Fun Do Good Day: Do Something Nice for an Animal

  Britt Bravo

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:11 am

  I've been thinking a lot about animals lately, as I've mentioned in a couple recent posts, Midlife Food Crisis: What's Your Food Story?, and Love Animals? 9 Animal Rights Organization Blogs for Your Weekend Reading. What better way to have fun while doing good then doing something nice for an animal!We have an adorable, but needy cat, who gets very sad when we go out of town. She is still recovering from our being away last week, so early this morning I gave her a special treat, cuddle time in bed when it was still dark out (she usually isn't allowed in till we are awake). Oh, the purrs!

• 
  NYT: Environment

• Hacked E-mails Fuel Climate Change Skeptics

  By ANDREW C. REVKIN

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:35 pm

  The e-mails and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university will undoubtedly raise questions about the actions of some scientists.

• Industrialized Nations Unveil Plans to Rein in Emissions

  By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL and NEIL MacFARQUHAR

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:55 pm

  Prior to a climate change meeting scheduled for Copenhagen, industrialized countries, except the United States, are offering targets to curb greenhouse gases.

• Paying More for Flights Eases Guilt, Not Emissions

  By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:37 pm

  The sheer size of the airline industry’s emissions makes it hard to judge the effectiveness of carbon offset programs.

• Business of Green: Storm Over the Chamber

  By JOHN M. BRODER

  19 Nov 2009 | 12:43 am

  Thomas Donohue, the United States Chamber of Commerce’s president, expressed hostility toward climate legislation, which led several businesses to resign in protest.

• Seas Grow Less Effective at Absorbing Emissions

  By SINDYA N. BHANOO

  18 Nov 2009 | 11:57 pm

  The Earth’s oceans have recently grown less efficient at sopping up carbon dioxide from fuel emissions, new research suggests.

• 
  The GiveWell Blog

• Two charities, one microfinance institution

  Holden

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:44 pm

  We’re looking for a good option for U.S. donors interested in supporting microfinance. We’ve been examining the largest, most prominent U.S.-registered charities in this area: Grameen Foundation, Unitus, Accion, Women’s World Banking, Opportunity International and FINCA. All of these are large organizations that list a variety of “partner” microfinance institutions. One thing that might surprise a donor in this area is that sometimes the “partnerships” overlap. For example, Women’s World Banking lists Enda Inter-Arabe in its network, and so does…

• Denying the choice

  Holden

  19 Nov 2009 | 6:44 pm

  GiveWell spends a lot of time on the question, “Should I give to charity A or charity B?” One of the things that has surprised us about the world of charity is how many people insist on answering, “Both” or “You can’t/shouldn’t be asking that question.” To them, all that matters is whether a charity does some good, not how much good it does or how it compares to other options. One statement of the idea comes from none other than the Jeffrey-Sachs led WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (footnote 24): Many have asked the Commission what…

• UNICEF Inspired Gifts: Revolution or Donor Illusion?

  Holden

  18 Nov 2009 | 8:36 am

  UNICEF offers you the chance to buy measles vaccines for 100 children for $27.10. And lest you complain that you’ve heard this one before, it assures you specifically that “While other organizations allow supporters to purchase ’symbolic’ gifts, Inspired Gifts are actual items.” Is this finally the “real personal connection” donors have been waiting for? We can’t say for sure. Unlike Kiva, UNICEF provides no information about where the money goes and what projects are in progress. But we can ask a few critical questions: There are many costs for…

• Quality of life in the developing world

  Natalie

  17 Nov 2009 | 9:26 am

  When we argue that donors should give internationally, one of the most common questions we get is, “Sure, you may be able to save a life in Africa, but what type of life are you saving? If you save a child from malaria will s/he likely die from something else soon after? Will s/he suffer from other problems that significantly reduce his/her quality of life?” We recently published a report on standard of living in the developing world that tries to answer that question. It looks at what facts are available from relatively broad, plausibly representative studies to answer “what is…

• Not our last word on the Kiva controversy

  Holden

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:58 pm

  Nathaniel Whittemore writes that it’s “time to move on” regarding the recent Kiva controversy. I disagree. It’s true that Kiva handled the criticism admirably, and made significant changes to its website to improve clarity for donors. It’s also true that Kiva has a stronger case than many for being generally transparent and impactful. Finally, it’s true that those of us who have been blogging about Kiva are a bit tired of the subject. But none of this changes the fact that many (I would guess the vast majority) of Kiva’s enthusiastic users don’t…

• 
  Feeds

• Hello Salesforce Chatter, so long Yammer?

  Jennifer Leggio

  19 Nov 2009 | 12:37 pm

  Salesforce Chatter brings trusted collaboration and social networking to enterprises. Is it bye-bye time for competitors?

• What the duck? Aflac gets quackin' on Facebook

  Jennifer Leggio

  12 Nov 2009 | 12:49 pm

  The ducky insurance company uses Facebook to promote fundraising and brand awareness

• Creepy elves and disco dancing: A business win for OfficeMax

  Jennifer Leggio

  10 Nov 2009 | 1:58 pm

  Who knew that weird dancing elves could be good for business?

• American Express OPEN keeps 'pulse' on small business with social media

  Jennifer Leggio

  9 Nov 2009 | 9:44 am

  American Express OPEN is using social media to spur its own growth, but the growth of its small business customers.

• Twitter Lists will change the social dynamic

  Jennifer Leggio

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am

  Lists will either be the great equalizer, or create a pseudo ‘class’ system within Twitter.

• 
  Jeff Bezos

• **"A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well."Jeff Bezos

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:01 am

  **"A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well."Jeff Bezos[Filtrs in article: "Jeff Bezos" ][FiltrRank: 4][Source: twitter.com/all_music_lover]

• 12 Characteristics of Successful Internet Entrepreneurs (Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, others)http://bit.ly/2gfJ9C

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:49 am

  12 Characteristics of Successful Internet Entrepreneurs (Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, others)http://bit.ly/2gfJ9C[Filtrs in article: "Jeff Bezos" ][FiltrRank: 4][Source: twitter.com/zorian]

• We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. We should alway make the customer experience better. Jeff Bezos

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. We should alway make the customer experience better. Jeff Bezos[Filtrs in article: "Jeff Bezos" ][FiltrRank: 4][Source: twitter.com/BethanyTexas]

• Business advice for your law practice, adapted from Jeff Bezos | Lawyerist: http://bit.ly/16Gqjs ...

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Business advice for your law practice, adapted from Jeff Bezos | Lawyerist: http://bit.ly/16Gqjs ...[Filtrs in article: "Jeff Bezos" ][FiltrRank: 4][Source: twitter.com/fairymonster12]

• Think: "A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well." -Jeff Bezos

  19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Think: "A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well." -Jeff Bezos[Filtrs in article: "Jeff Bezos" ][FiltrRank: 4][Source: twitter.com/DebiHammond]

• 
  GreenerBuildings

• Wells Fargo Expands Green Financing with Cleantech Practice

  GreenBiz Staff

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:37 am

  The banking giant's new commercial banking group focused on clean technology firms will add to the $600 million the company has already dedicated to the market.

• US Uses Less Water Than It Did a Generation Ago As Global Concern Grows Over Scarcity

  GreenBiz Staff

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  The United States is using less water than it did 35 years ago, which is a good thing given the rising concern about water issues among investors and stakeholders worldwide, new information released this week shows.

• AU Optronics Helps Create a Frisbee-Shaped Solar Roof at Taipei Playground

  GreenerBuildings Staff

  19 Nov 2009 | 6:15 am

  AU Optronics Corp., Taiwan's largest manufacturer of thin film transistor liquid crystal display panels, has helped craft a “Solar Frisbee Roof” to canopy playground equipment at a Taipei schoolyard.  

• 'Super Star' Green Label Proposed

  Chris Cheatham

  19 Nov 2009 | 4:22 am

  A major overhaul to the Energy Star program, which currently certifies and labels products that are energy efficient, is imminent. But how this overhaul occurs remains to be seen.

• US Army's Pacific HQ Cuts the Ribbon on National Green Building Pilot

  GreenerBuildings Staff

  19 Nov 2009 | 3:39 am

  Local and federal dignitaries celebrated the opening of a development at Fort Shafter, the U.S. Army Pacific Headquarters, that's being hailed as the greenest neighborhood on a military installation and the largest project of its kind for the Army.  

• 
  Ecofriend

• Eco Cars: Renault Aeon concept EV gets fueled by solar energy

  Jolly

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:29 am

  Eco Factor: Concept electric vehicle designed to be powered by renewable energy. Designed by Vlad Icobet, the Renault Aeon is a concept electric vehicle that makes sure that your daily commute to the office has minimum impact on the ecosystem. The all-electric car is inspired by modern architectural structures that are blended with natural organic forms. The futuristic vehicle offers state-of-the-art technology and materials that provide optimum quality and high performance at the same time. The teardrop aerodynamic shape helps the two-seater vehicle reach high speeds without emitting any…

• Eco Tech: Engineering students harness power and water from sewage

  Jolly

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:24 am

  Eco Factor: Students develop bio-cell to clean sewage water and generate electricity. A team of engineering students at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur have developed a bio-cell, which they claim can be used to treat sewage water and also generate renewable electricity – a solution that can solve the energy and water crisis in one go. The bio-cell (LOCUS) can be set up in the form of a plant, which can treat sewage water for a housing complex as it flows through the plant. The patent-pending invention carries a cell that will automatically grow millions of anaerobic bacteria…

• Eco Tech: Purdue researchers identify maize cell wall genes, can boost biofuel production

  Jolly

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:07 am

  Eco Factor: Research focuses on ways to produce biomass best suited for biofuel production. Researchers at Purdue University have identified and grouped the genes responsible for cell wall development in maize, which could further help discover ways to produce biomass best suited for biofuel production. Discovering some 32,000 genes of maize, scientists can study the function of individual genes and how they affect plant development. The research team was mostly interested in studying the genes that regulate cellulose, lignin and other parts of the plant’s cell walls. The team now hopes to…

• Eco Tech: 1.9MW solar panel plant to help Crayola produce 3 billion crayons

  Jolly

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:03 pm

  Eco Factor: Renewable energy power plant to be set up for Crayola. PPL Renewable Energy has joined forces with UGI Corp. and Crayola to break ground on a 15-acre solar energy park at Crayola’s headquarters and manufacturing facility in Forks Township. The renewable energy generated by the solar farm will help the company to produce 3 billion crayons. Equipped with 26,000 solar panels, the solar farm will be installed by First Solar and will be able to produce 1.9MW of power, which is 10% of the company’s total annual energy consumption. The high-efficiency solar panels being used in the…

• Eco Gadgets: Recycled robotic alarm clock won’t let you snooze

  Jolly

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:47 pm

  Eco Factor: Robotic alarm clock made from found items. While most alarm clocks are equipped with a neat little button that allows you to snooze for a few more minutes before you get ready for the day, designer Vadim Ryazanov thinks that the same button is the reason most of us are frequently late at work. Vadim is a creator of Mr. Wake, a small robotic alarm clock that not only ensures that you’re awake before the alarm is turned off, but also helps you burn a few calories in doing so. The robotic clock is made from a found alarm clock and carries a frame made from plastic pens. The clock…

• 
  ReadWriteWeb

• An iPhone Visualization App That Syncs with the Cloud

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:50 pm

  Roambi announced a pro version of its iPhone application this week that syncs with Salesforce.com and other cloud-based services or on-premsie sales environments. It's a visualization application, providing mobile workers with a pretty cool way to see sales information. Integration is by far one of the most significant trends we are seeing in the enterprise space. It's a wave, really, marked this week by Salesforce.com and its move to turn the Force.com development platform into a service that makes all of its applications social. Sponsor A good example of this trend are small companies like…

• Three Great Light Blogging Tools Compared

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:35 pm

  Once the service for those serious enough to pay for the privilege to post, TypePad recently released a free "Micro" service. The company made the decision to offer a free product realizing the demand for a platform more formal than Twitter and less formal than Wordpress or Typepad's original product. ReadWriteWeb compared TypePad's Micro against 2 other leading light blogging tools. Below are our thoughts: Sponsor TypePad Micro: In addition to being able to blog via email, iPhone app, "Blog It" bookmarklet and the general WYSIWYG dashboard, this tool also allows users to cross post to…

• 8tracks to Launch Playback API and Developer Program

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  It appears that the time for freemium music services in the US has passed. Earlier this week streaming music site Imeem sold to MySpace for under $10 million dollars while laying off a large number of staff. For a company with all four major record labels signed, more than 15 million uniques a month and well over 5 million tracks in its catalogue, it came as a sobering blow to the industry. While many companies move to a subscription model, 8tracks continues to forge along in what some describe as a convenient loophole. As of this weekend the company is publicly launching its API for Boston's…

• Memento: Protocol-Based Time Travel for the Web

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am

  The Web constantly changes and evolves. That, of course, is what makes the Internet so exciting, but it also means that finding older versions of a website is hard. The current push towards the real-time web is making this problem even more apparent. Memento, a project based at Old Dominion University, wants to make it easier to access older versions of a web page without having to go to the Internet Archive. To do this, the project is using a relatively obscure feature of the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Sponsor The Memento project wants to give browsers a 'time-travel' mode.

• The Future Is All About Context: The Pragmatic Web

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:14 am

  The semantic Web has long been heralded as the future of the Web. Proponents have said that Web experiences will some day become more meaningful and relevant based on the AI-esque computational power of natural-language processing (NLP) and structured data that is understandable by machines for interpretation. However, with the rise of the social Web, we see that what truly makes our online experiences meaningful is not necessarily the Web's ability to approximate human language or to return search results with syntactical exactness. The value of the semantic Web will take time because the…

• 
  JamBase

• Gov't Mule: More 2010 DatesXmas Jam Tix Still On Sale

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:55 pm

  GOV'T MULE ANNOUNCE MORE DATES FOR WINTER TOUR 2010, XMAS JAM TICKETS STILL ON SALE Gov't Mule has announced the second leg of the Winter By A Thread Tour, beginning in February, 2010 at the House of Blues in Cleveland, OH and wrapping up at another HOB location in Houston, TX. Complete tour dates below. Gov't Mule Tour Dates Gov't Mule 11/21/09 Sat The Forum London, GB 12/09/09 Wed Horizon Records Greenville, SC 12/12/09 Sat Asheville Civic Center Asheville, NC 12/30/09 Wed Beacon Theatre New York, NY 12/31/09 Thu Beacon Theatre New York, NY 01/15/10 Fri Grand Lido Negril Negril, JM 01/16/10…

• Hiromi's Sonicbloom | 11.14 | Tel Aviv

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:20 pm

  Words by: Kevin Schwartzbach Hiromi's Sonicbloom :: 11.14.09 :: Hangar 11 :: Tel Aviv, Israel Hiromi Uehara by Muga Miyahara As if there aren't enough things being exported out of Japan these days. It's no surprise, of course, given that the Japanese have a habit of taking things invented by Americans and making them smaller, better, and more efficient. First it was cars, then electronics, and now jazz. Hiromi Uehara certainly is small (standing at no more than five feet), certainly is efficient, and certainly is better than just about any contemporary American jazz pianist. In a genre…

• Greensky Bluegrass/Sheaffer Tour

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:22 pm

  GREENSKY BLUEGRASS TEAMS WITH RAILROAD EARTH'S TODD SHEAFFER FOR TOUR Greensky Bluegrass Perennial bluegrass favorite Greensky Bluegrass has joined forces with Todd Sheaffer of Railroad Earth for an inspiring one-week tour in December. Greensky Bluegrass is one of the most exciting bands in today's music scene. Since winning the 2006 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest, Greensky has been touring the country consistently, averaging over 170 shows a year and playing to many sold out audiences along the way. In a very short time the band has performed with the likes of Tony Rice, Peter…

• Wanee 2010: April 15-17

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:22 pm

  WANEE MUSIC FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES DATES FOR 2010, TICKETS ON SALE SOON The 2010 Wanee Music Festival will be held Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17 at the Spirit of Suwanee Music Park in Live Oak, FL. Also, don't miss the Wanee Kick-Off Party which will be held on Thursday, April 15. The lineup for this year's show and on-sale information for tickets and packages will be announced soon. Last year's Festival nearly doubled in attendance from 2008, and 2010 is looking to be even more exciting. For all upcoming information head on over to the Wanee site. Check out Jambase's coverage of the…

• Jon Anderson | 11.15 | Santa Barbara

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:22 pm

  Words & Images by: L. Paul Mann Jon Anderson :: 11.15.09 :: SOhO :: Santa Barbara, CA Jon Anderson :: 11.15 :: Santa Barbara, CA A special last minute show was added to the calendar at Santa Barbara's premiere live music restaurant and bar venue, SOhO. Jon Anderson played an acoustic set of new and old material, at the intimate spot last Sunday night. As the quintessential lead singer of the classic rock band Yes, Anderson sang on every album in the band's catalog, save one. Yes' chameleon lineup has boasted some of the biggest names in rock music throughout its long history, and in many…

• 
  metaefficient

• Best Backyard Compost Tumblers

  benjamin

  18 Nov 2009 | 2:10 pm

  Best Compost Tumblers Composting is a great way to reduce the amount of waste your household generates, plus there’s the added benefit of free fertilizer for your yard or garden. There are some nifty options for indoor composting on the market, but to do it on a larger scale you need to move outdoors. Here are four of the best compost tumblers available, each of which will help keep your backyard composting as easy and tidy as possible. (more…) Related posts:Naturemill Pro Promises Easy & Efficient Indoor CompostingSun-Mar ToiletsA Clever Rainwater Diverter © Justin Thomas for…

• REI’s LEED Certified Stores

  benjamin

  11 Nov 2009 | 11:15 am

  LEED Gold REI Store In Round Rock, TX (image: REI) REI’s newest LEED certified retail stores are evidence that smart business and environmental responsibility sometimes lead down the same path. These new stores enjoy lower operating costs, and customers appreciate the company’s dedication to sustainable building. (more…) Related posts:The First LEED Platinum Data CenterAn Energy Producing Home In DisguiseVancouver: All New Developments Must Be Green © Justin Thomas for MetaEfficient Reviews, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments

• Toshiba Dynario Fuel Cell Device Charger

  benjamin

  10 Nov 2009 | 1:01 pm

  Toshiba Dynario Fuel Cell Device Charger (photo: Toshiba) The first commercially available fuel cell device charger is here! (Well, technically it’s only “here” if you’re reading this in Japan, but that should soon change). Toshiba’s Dynario charger packs fuel cell technology into a portable package that can provide instant power to a dead mobile phone or other gadget, completely off the grid. (more…) Related posts:Fuel Cells Being Used To Power Japanese HomesAn Energy Producing Home In DisguiseThe PowerGorilla: Flexible Portable Power © Justin Thomas for MetaEfficient…

• An Energy Producing Home In Disguise

  benjamin

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:24 pm

  The Energy Producing Home (image: Neumann Developments) Who says that a home with cutting-edge energy efficiency has to look like an ultra-modern pod? This recently completed Wisconsin home packs so much energy tech that it makes money by selling electricity back to the grid, and it still keeps a low neighborhood profile. (more…) Related posts:“Low-E” Windows Maximize Buildings’ Energy EfficiencyREI’s LEED Certified StoresNew World Record Set For Solar Efficiency: 31.25% © Justin Thomas for MetaEfficient Reviews, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments

• The Best Shower Filters Of 2009

  Justin

  26 Oct 2009 | 3:04 pm

  I just replaced my shower filters, so I thought I’d update my best shower filter review from earlier this year. Each update to the review generates a lot of useful comments. So I’m incorporating what I’ve learned from those comments into this latest review. (more…) Related posts:How To Filter Your Shower Water Very EfficientlyThe Best Shower FilterRemove Chlorine From Your Bath Efficiently © Justin Thomas for MetaEfficient Reviews, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments

• 
  9GiantSteps

• Correlation (or lack thereof) between audio quality and sales

  George

  13 Nov 2009 | 10:51 am

  While it pains me to say it, based on a whole lot of years of experience, I see very little correlation between how well-recorded a record is and how well it sells. I was talking about this with someone recently, and was inspired to draw the diagram below to try and explain it. Yes, it looks like something a convicted serial killer might scrawl on a jail cell wall, but I never said I could draw. Essentially, it’s just stating that unless you’re 2 standard deviations (shitty sounding at the left end of the tail, and amazing sounding at the right) from the mean with respect to your…

• Coin a Phrase: The “Downsell”

  George

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:09 pm

  We all know about the upsell: Mass Merchants, etc. lure you into their store with a low-cost item (too often, CDs) in the hopes that you leave with some high-margin item like a washing machine. The “Downsell” is different. As I’ve discussed, the music business is now the merch business, and the way to go is to create a vast and sometimes over-the-top (like the awesome Josh Freese campaign) product array with some big-ticket (and high-margin) items that create awareness and drive people to the artist’s Site. The reality, of course, is that most customers will look at…

• Reflections on the 2009 Future of Music Policy Summit

  George

  10 Oct 2009 | 9:50 am

  OK, a day or so after my panel at the fantastic Future of Music Policy Summit, and I want to try and toss out a few thoughts. First off, while I’m typically not real big on conferences, I can enthusiastically recommend this one. The values of the conference and the caliber of speakers/workshops makes this - in my mind - the go-to conference. Get yourself registered for 2010 asap. So, my panel was entitled New Musician’s Toolbox. I moderated, and the panelists were: Duncan Freeman, founder, Band Metrics; Charlie McEnerney, Host + Producer, Well-Rounded Radio/Musicians for Music…

• Californication: I do love me some trademark squabbles

  George

  22 Aug 2009 | 7:37 pm

  OK, confession time: During a recent night of insomniac action (brought to bear by some jackasses whom, while they shall remain nameless, as I am indeed a gentleman if nothing else, will some day soon face the inevitable karmic retribution that their myopic, ego-driven actions certainly merit) I came across the show Californication on Netflix Instant. While my instant queue is full of all sorts of, shall we say, more staid films of which I could have availed myself, none of these were particularly compelling (remember, I was tossing and turning and mad). So…Californication it was. The…

• More on loving music: Can’t Hardly Wait

  George

  12 Aug 2009 | 4:52 pm

  Yesterday I twittered out a pretty unvarnished sentiment about my love for music: I was delighted by all the “@” responses I got - I ain’t alone. One of the reasons I shot that tweet out was because I was - after a long day of meetings and travel - so very excited to listen to some of the new jazz records I’ve recently been obsessed over. What I like about them is that these records are endlessly fascinating to me. I don’t feel like I can sort of figure them out on first listen in the same way as I - rightly or wrongly - do with so much non-jazz stuff these days.

• 
  GreenSmith Consulting

• U2, Oxfam America, New York MTA: Green Hypocrites?

  Paul Smith

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  If you're looking for an example of someone who walks their talk, Mike Lieberman would be your man. Best known as CanarsieBK on the web, this Brooklyn man is a living, breathing demonstration of how one can live sustainably, anywhere. He proves anything is possible, growing a thriving vegetable garden on his fire escape, and demonstrating actionable steps, daily, on how to be personally sustainable. And he's definitely not afraid to speak his mind.Today Lieberman takes aim at those who don't seem to be walking the talk, balanced with options they could choose to align their actions better…

• Coming soon...

  Paul Smith

  28 Oct 2009 | 11:50 am

  I've got something bubbling up inside me, and it's all Chris Brogan's fault. The man who I'm sure has a stunt double or two for all that he does, issued a challenge in a recent video, Overnight Success Part 2 - A Call to Arms. In it, he said that it's time for us to stop just playing small, playing remedial when it comes to using social media to its full potential. Time to level up, together, as it were. It knocked something loose in me.I began to write all sorts of thoughts, not necessarily focused on social media, but instead on sustainability, and how I see people and businesses practicing…

• Do You Know Your Community? Does the Community Know You?

  Paul Smith

  21 Oct 2009 | 5:00 am

  I believe that we learn best by hearing from many different voices. And in this case, I'm learning along with you in our latest guest post. Like many of you, I use my deep, broad online resources almost exclusively for getting new business, and with the exception of one client, all are from other parts of the country, or even out of the country. Here we have Victoria Klein reminding us to pay attention to and make best use of what's going on right in our local communities, in terms of business, and gives several excellent resources to best explore it. Please share any we've missed, of which…

• Modwalls Green Tiles Video Review - Taking Junk and Creating Beauty

  Paul Smith

  1 Oct 2009 | 11:56 am

  Being on Twitter, I come across a lot of interesting finds. Like Modwalls, that makes some gorgeous, thoroughly sustainable tiles, made from things like recycled car windshields, reclaimed building glass, tumbled soda bottle pieces, and wine corks! They spin gold from these modest sounding origins, as you'll see in the video review I did, below. I was impressed with the depth of their sustainability, as even their packing materials are these innovative triangle shaped pieces of paper. I suspect they're much more likely by people to be recycled then, say, soy or corn starch based "popcorn" are…

• The Best Feature of Snow Leopard: What it's Missing

  Paul Smith

  15 Sep 2009 | 4:00 am

  In recent weeks there have been several articles on the best and least known features of Apple's new operating system, Snow Leopard. From Quicktime's ability to record and edit audio, video, and screencasts, to its Exchange support, to the small but pleasing ability to minimize documents to their respective app icons in the dock (rather then to the side of the dock in a messy jumble) there has been a lot covered. But perhaps the best and least heralded feature of Snow Leopard is what it's missing: 10% of its energy use, compared to its predecessor, Leopard.Among the factors contributing to…

• 
  Topix: SXSW News

• Perfect

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:09 pm

  This site is edited by Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago, as an ongoing experiment in web publishing, design and commerce.

• Inquiring Minds: Deer Tick's Front Man Goes for That Chased-by-Alligators Sound

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:33 pm

  Providence, R.I., band Deer Tick may hail from "Up North" but their sound is purely steeped in grungey folk and rockabilly yelp.

• Show Preview - An Evening with Daniel Johnston

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:14 am

  Here's something special. Our much-cherished local singer-songwriter, Mr. Daniel Johnston , will be playing an intimate show at the St.

• Clean It Up

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:50 am

  This site is edited by Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago, as an ongoing experiment in web publishing, design and commerce.

• Good Morning Malmo

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:55 am

  This site is edited by Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago, as an ongoing experiment in web publishing, design and commerce.

• 
  Ecogeek

• Wind Power Could be Stored as Ice

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:16 pm

  A perfect way of storing electricity generated by wind turbines has been elusive so far.  Ideas like super-sized batteries, compressed air and hydroelectric storage have all been floated.  One company though thinks the answer could be as simple as making ice. Calmac has come up with a storage system called IceBank that uses the energy generated at off-peak night-time hours to make ice.  That stored ice is then used for cooling purposes during high-demand daytime hours.  The company claims that reducing electricity demand for cooling can cut energy costs by 20 - 40 percent.  That…

• Fastest Computer in the World Focused on Climate Change

  17 Nov 2009 | 2:55 pm

  The Jaguar XT5 computer, housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Knoxville, Tenn. and owned by the Department of Energy was just named the fastest computer in the world by the TOP500 list.  It has a performance speed of 1.759 petaflops or quadrillions of calculations per second and that power is being focused on solving the issues of climate change. The Jaguar is an open science machine for performing peer-reviewed research.  It is being used to create models and simulations for predicting regional climate change, studying enzymes for developing better ethanol and writing algorithms…

• Action on Climate Change Delayed: Copenhagen Won't be Binding, Congress Won't Pass Bill This Year

  16 Nov 2009 | 1:07 pm

  As reports have indicated for the past several weeks, a binding agreement won't be reached in Copenhagen this December.  Leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation this past weekend met and decided that the Copenhagen conference would be used to come up with an interim "politically" binding agreement and to set a date and time for a legally binding one sometime next year. The goal of cutting global emissions by 50 percent by 2050 has been scrapped and instead a 2007 goal of reducing energy intensity - emissions per unit of economic output - by 25 percent by 2030 is being…

• 203 MW Wind Farm Completed in Utah

  13 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pm

  It's great to see some of the large wind farm projects that were just ideas a couple of years ago become reality. First Wind's Milford Wind Corridor project has just seen the completion of its first phase - 203.5 MW in Millard and Beaver Counties in Utah, the largest renewable energy facility in the state. The wind farm consists of 97 turbines and will be able power 45,000 homes.  Southern California Public Power Authority is purchasing all of the electricity generated over the next 20 years on behalf of the cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena and Burbank. Construction on the wind farm began…

• Solar Spacecraft to Launch in 2010

  13 Nov 2009 | 4:28 pm

  The Planetary Society is planning to launch a solar-propelled space craft in 2010 after its first attempt landed in the ocean four years ago. The LightSail-1 would run on the pressure of light hitting its four triangular-shaped Mylar sails.  The society sees the project as a way to achieve long space flights with slow, continuous acceleration that eventually leads to high speeds.  The society's executive director imagines flights of many years reaching speeds of 100,000 mph where the craft could leave the solar system in five years instead of 25. The spacecraft will be composed of three…

• 
  Green Tech Media: Cleantech Investing

• Exciting news

  info@greentechmedia.com

  12 Nov 2009 | 6:58 pm

  Long-time readers will know that in my spare time (ha) I've been serving as President of the Renewable Energy Business Network, a non-profit I and Andrew Friendly of ATV officially co-founded last year (although read below for more backstory)... Yesterday we were extremely pleased to announce that REBN and the Clean Economy Network have joined forces, with the REBN network of chapters and leaders being integrated into the Clean Economy Network Foundation.  It's an exciting move that will mean bringing a lot more professional leadership to the combined effort, with the existing REBN…

• Friday follies

  info@greentechmedia.com

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  Some random links and observations on a Friday: Apparently not every reader picked up on the fact that my last post was tongue-in-cheek.  Guess you had to be there.  Fortunately, Scott was in fact there... David Gold wrote recently on some of the same issues, wondering why solar and the like have gotten so much attention from VCs while technologies like geothermal have gotten much less attention.  His answer is that in large part "much of the bias has to do with the fact that not many VCs have strong networks of geologists, drilling technologists, heat pump engineers and steam…

• Conventional wisdom and cleantech venture capital

  info@greentechmedia.com

  4 Nov 2009 | 2:02 pm

  I had the pleasure of speaking as part of a panel this morning at the Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance's conference in Philadelphia.  Here's a taste of what I told them: 1.  Cleantech only happens in Silicon Valley and MIT.  If you look at the dollars flowing into cleantech from venture capitalists, and read the sunday NYT, that's the natural conclusion you would draw.  So my apologies to everyone in Philly (or the rest of the country outside of northern California and Boston), there's clearly very little good entrepreneurial activity in cleantech in your region. 2. …

• Friday folderol

  info@greentechmedia.com

  30 Oct 2009 | 12:37 pm

  Some random items, including some administrative housekeeping:   1.  If you haven't seen it, it's worth reading DOE Secretary Chu's op-ed on weatherization and all of the governmental support being thrown toward that part of energy efficiency.  Heady times for residential and commercial energy efficiency efforts.  Side note:  The Secretary of Energy is publishing his op-eds in the Huffington Post now?  Wow, this Internet thingy might actually be catching on.   2.  How the government "picks winners and losers" is a topic of much conversation these days,…

• Great returns from cleantech

  info@greentechmedia.com

  28 Oct 2009 | 12:11 pm

  Did you see the Q2 venture returns report from Cambridge Associates and the NVCA (note: pdf)?  If so, you were probably as intrigued by the chart on page 7 as I was. On that page is a chart of "US Venture Capital Dollar-Weighted Internal Rate of Return on Vintage Year Companies" broken out by sector.  They don't break out cleantech as a category, but they do break out Energy.  And the numbers are pretty noteworthy. Energy category IRRs vs. All Companies IRRs 2002  Energy = 43.0%, All = 8.75% 2003  Energy = 46.0%, All = 12.3% 2004  Energy = 10.4%, All = 12.8%…

• 
  Breaking Tweets

• One in six Americans go hungry

  Fahad Zuberi

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:44 am

  A new study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows more Americans are going hungry. USA TODAY reports, forty-nine million people in American households one in six  went hungry or had insufficient food at some point in 2008, the highest number since the government began tracking the problem in 1995.Twitter users in the United States are wondering why they don’t hear more about this. Some users are being thankful for what they have in these tough times. SexyNexBoy73 (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania)That is so sad. Economic news – CNNMoney.com >1 in 6 Americans goes hungry 16…

• Obama in China: Twitter users in region address Beijing visit

  Craig Kanalley

  16 Nov 2009 | 8:57 pm

  As part of his first tour of Asia, U.S. President Barack Obama met Tuesday with Chinese leader Hu Jintao in Beijing, participating in a summit to discuss a number of issues, per BBC. @stevebruskCNN tweeted the following about the event, “CNN live now…President Obama and President Hu make comments after their meeting in Beijing. Unlike many such events, no questions allowed.” Twitter users in China are paying close attention to Obama’s visit to their country. Annie_He (Beijing) #Obama talks abt human rights, the police arrests 20 dissidents & activists.

• Swine flu challenges airline travelers

  Nicole Hernandez

  13 Nov 2009 | 12:02 am

  The push to prevent others from being infected with swine flu is causing conflict between airline travelers. Tampa Bay Online reports the staff at United Airlines suspected passenger Mitra Mostoufi had the flu and forced her to get off the plane and stay in Tampa as she was trying to return to her home in Hawaii on Monday. Mostoufi and other sick travelers are finding it difficult to travel by plane if airlines know they may potentially have the disease. Twitter users question if what airlines are doing is appropriate and are scared of catching the disease on planes: KGMB9 (Honolulu,…

• Munich doctors make breakthrough in breast reconstruction

  Fahad Zuberi

  12 Nov 2009 | 2:17 pm

  Doctors in Bavaria have become the first in Europe to test a new post-mastectomy plastic surgery procedure that uses pig tissue. News24 reports, after giving replacement breasts made from pigskin to six women in Germany, doctors in Munich detailed the new method on Thursday, saying it results in fewer scars for mastectomy patients. Twitter users are feeling optimistic about this breakthrough.  One user is even having a little fun and warning people of the pig breast cancer flu. AngelaSS (Royston, Georgia) Make sure you don’t catch the pig breast cancer flu! http://tinyurl.com/yfdrdfw…

• TwitPics: Twitter users celebrate U.S. Veterans Day with photos

  Elle Eichinger

  11 Nov 2009 | 12:59 pm

  The United State’s celebration of Veteran’s Day dates back to after World War I. First designated a holiday by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, current President Barack Obama honored the day by speaking at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. today.Twitter users were attending parades around the country, and also posting pictures of their own favorite soldiers. @kevin_oates (Venice, CA): Great photo from Hyundia's video board in Times Square from the Veterans' Day Parade @d1ane (Milford, MI):WWII Sailor at Memorial Day parade in Milford MI--INCREDIBLE turnout of…

• 
  NPR: Pop Culture

• Real-Life Physics Problems Star On TV

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  The stars of The Big Bang Theory are two fictional Caltech physicists, but the physics problems they study are real. Bill Prady, the program's co-creator and executive producer, talks about including real-world science in the script, from dark matter to magnetic monopoles.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Palin Does Oprah, Oprah Calls It Quits ... For Now

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

  Freelance journalist Jimi Izrael, civil rights attorney Arsalan Iftikhar, syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette and NPR Political Editor Ken Rudin give their take on the latest headlines. This week, the guys discuss former GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's return to the national stage, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try 9/11 co-conspirators in civilian court and Oprah's big announcement that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will end In 2011.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Without Further Ado, Sarah Palin Returns

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:11 am

  Cultural and political phenomenon Sarah Palin returned to the national spotlight this week to promote her memoir "Going Rogue" and fielded questions about a possible run for the White House in 2012. Host Michel Martin talks with Mary Kate Cary, a columnist with U.S. News and World Report, and Matt Continetti, author of "The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star" about what might be next for the former Alaska governor.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• James Franco Checks In To 'General Hospital'

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  The star of Milk and Pineapple Express — and a little movie franchise called Spider-Man — will be spending some time in Port Charles over the next couple of months. His guest-starring stint may help "freshen the image of daytime," says the soap opera's executive producer.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• 'The Onion': Mocking All Who Deserve It Since 1988

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  America's Finest News Source has released a book celebrating its 21 years of satire (with a wink). Onion editors Joe Randazzo and Joe Garden talk with Renee Montagne about the serious business of being funny. Also: See the fun The Onion has had at NPR's expense.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• 
  SocialButterfly

• Knowledge + Attitude = Action?

  Alex

  19 Nov 2009 | 8:36 pm

  This was the equation at the center of one of Thursday’s New York Times Articles titled: How Understanding the Human Mind Might Save the World from CO2. The article shared insights gained from the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference this past week in Washington D.C., and wouldn’t you know–highlighted social marketing as a potential solution to leading the climate change movement forward. I believe the main message from the article is best summed up by one of the quotes from researcher Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr: “Social psychologists have now known for four…

• Mr. Roboto is…a Social Marketeer?

  Alex

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:46 pm

  Yes, you heard correctly. Who ever thought you’d hear the word “robot” used in the same sentence of “social marketing?”  Julia Snow of SocialMarketingEast did. Using online technology xtranormal, Snow created three YouTube tutorials about social marketing–each lasting about a minute and a half–featuring robots. The idea is for anyone to create their own videos or to submit questions that can be addressed in future tutorials. Below, you can follow part one of the robots explaining what social marketing is and how it’s different from traditional…

• Focus on Some Inspiration

  Alex

  15 Nov 2009 | 9:52 am

  I am so thankful for community–including those at BlogHer. I woke up this morning and found this inspiring post and video emphasizing a word that I’ve been concentrating on: FOCUS. The video starts with this beautiful quote. I encourage you to take a moment and reflect upon it: “Your real work is to decide what you want and then focus upon it, for it is through focusing upon what you want–that you will get it. That is the process of creating.” The video closes with another thought-provoking quote by Ghandi: “Keep your thoughts as positive because your…

• Transparency Isn’t Just for the Government

  Alex

  12 Nov 2009 | 9:33 pm

  It’s also for non-profits. This was the hottest topic during our first #read4change gathering–fueled by the recent revelations of Kiva and its transparency question. (Background: a NY Times article broke sharing that Kiva, a micro-lending Web site that markets “person-to-person” lending–actually works with third parties to help get loans in the hands of people who need them.) What I find most interesting–is that while this revelation has created an emotional response, most people still choose to support the cause. An additional effect is that it has sparked…

• Building a Web Site: Easy as 1, 2 OR 3?

  Alex

  3 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pm

  Today, I heard that fundamentally there are three main purposes of a Web site: 1) informational, 2) transactional and 3) community-based. AnInformationalWeb site is one that is primarily a resource. A transactional Web site has a desired action, which is usually associated with e-commerce. And lastly, a community-based Web site is one that is designed to encourage people to interact, network and share. I’m not one to put things into boxes and draw hard boundaries, but at first I liked this concept. It’s simple. It’s easy. But, after pondering for a second, I got to thinking:…

• 
  The School for Social Entrepreneurs

• Why Jedward are social entrepreneurs: fact

  Nick Temple

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:43 am

  On the way back from a full day of Social Enterprise Day events (which I'll round up next week), was delighted and amused to read an article in the Evening Standard, by the CEO of Blastbeat (which you should check...

• Social Enterprise Day: from the Black Country to Downing St

  Nick Temple

  19 Nov 2009 | 3:11 am

  Happy Social Enterprise Day everyone. It's been a busy Global Entrepreneurship Week already, with SSE at the British Library launch event, a Westminster briefing event, our own Sydney-London video-conference event (check out the write-up for top 10 networking tips for...

• Networking advice + tips for (and from) social entrepreneurs

  Nick Temple

  18 Nov 2009 | 8:19 am

  So it's Global Entrepreneurship Week this week. And it's a week chock full of events, press releases, statistics and more. Our own contribution came this morning with a live videoconference between SSE students in London and Sydney, using CISCO's Telepresence...

• Scaling social entrepreneurship (or why many molehills make a mountain)

  Nick Temple

  17 Nov 2009 | 3:06 am

  [This post was written for the UnLtdWorld Shout Out for Social Enterprise series] There are big problems in the UK and in the rest of the world: social and environmental needs and challenges that are not currently being met adequately...

• Video-tastic: social entrepreneurs in Melbourne + New York

  Nick Temple

  1 Nov 2009 | 8:20 am

  Whilst SSE's focus has been resolutely on the UK over the past 6 months (hello Cornwall, Yorkshire, Devon, Hampshire to the growing franchise), there's also been a bit of international expansion and work going on as well. By all accounts...

• 
  Cause Marketing

• Followup: Injecting Emotion into Your Cause Marketing

  Paul Jones is the president of

  12 Nov 2009 | 6:33 am

  On October 23, I posted about Ulta's Windows of Love campaign for the Breast Cancer Reseaerch Foundation.Earlier this week Ulta sent out this recap email to supporters.Thanks to Kate L. for sharing!

• Does Cause Marketing Scale?

  Paul Jones is the president of

  11 Nov 2009 | 3:46 pm

  We see evidence of big cause marketing all the time.You know, cause marketing so massive… like the Red campaign or Boxtops for Education… that it seems to create its own gravity.Plainly, when properly designed, cause marketing scales up very well, thank you very much.But what about the little guys? Does cause marketing scale down as well as up?Here’s why this is an important question. In the

• Asymmetry in Cause Marketing

  Paul Jones is the president of

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:54 pm

  Research shows that when there is asymmetry in cause marketing between the sponsors and the cause, the entity that gains the most from the relationship is the smaller brand.But there’s an asymmetry continuum of sorts.For instance, when Yoplait yogurt and Susan G. Komen for the Cure link up, the brands which are arguably equivalent in their respective spheres, the benefits confer

• Non Breast Cancer Cause Marketing in October

  Paul Jones is the president of

  27 Oct 2009 | 11:26 am

  Clients ask me all the time: have the breast cancer charities sucked out all the oxygen out of the atmosphere for cause marketing during October? That is, can anyone else do cause marketing during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month?I can't give a categorical answer, but here are three quick takes on cause marketing campaigns going on in this month that aren’t about breast cancer, plus a forth

• Injecting Emotion into Your Cause Marketing

  Paul Jones is the president of

  23 Oct 2009 | 3:43 pm

  Successful cause marketing appeals not only to your head, but to your heart as well.The head part comes easier for me and probably for many of you as well. So how do you inject heart into a cause marketing campaign?Ulta’s answer is to ask people to write their breast cancer stories in a letter and then post them in the front windows of their stores.They call it 'Windows of Love.'Ulta supports The

• 
  Bizzia » Small Business

• Goodbye From Small Business

  Linette Gerlach

  28 Oct 2009 | 1:26 pm

  Bizzia Small Business will be going away and merging with some of the content at EveryJoe starting tomorrow, so I wanted to bid you all a fond farewell since I will not be writing here any more. You can still find me several other places online, give me a shout out on Twitter sometime I’m @Linetteg there. I’d love to hear from you. You can also stop by and visit me at one of my other blogs. Mostly I blog about parties and entertaining, with a little kid’s stuff thrown in for fun. So, if you like parties or kids (and who doesn’t like kids!) stop by The Kid’s…

• 5 Advantages Running a Small Biz From Home

  Linette Gerlach

  28 Oct 2009 | 7:18 am

  I run my small business from home, and I love it! There are advantages and disadvantages to running your small business from home. Today I’m going to focus on the advantages, because it’s more fun to think of the positive, right? One of the biggest advantages is working in your slippers if you want to. When you’re not meeting with clients or customers you can hang out in comfortable clothes and your slippers if you want to. I do always try to get dressed for the day when I get up in the morning. I think that sets the tone for the day. When I’m up and dressed I’m…

• Seasonal Small Business Ideas

  Linette Gerlach

  28 Oct 2009 | 6:49 am

  Some small business ideas are seasonal in nature. If you pick the right business you can work really hard for a couple months out of the year and take it easy the rest of the year. That doesn’t usually mean you’re not working at all, there’s usually quite a bit of preparation the rest of the year for those few months of crazy business. Some businesses are just slow certain times of the year, but you still have to be there open for business. Seasonal businesses do have their draw backs, one of the biggest drawbacks is cash flow. It can be hard not to spend when you have cash…

• Small Business False Starts

  Linette Gerlach

  27 Oct 2009 | 8:56 pm

  Have you ever thought of starting your own small business but never quite got it off the ground? Many small businesses don’t even make it off the drawing board. They may look good on paper, but for some reason or another aren’t practical in the real world. Are you someone who’s got a great idea for a small business? Maybe you’ve thoght of  a new product, or a new way of doing things, or cutting edge technology? Will you be able to get it off the ground, or will it be just an idea in your head? How can you get your dream business from ideas to reality? If you…

• Resources To Help With Your Small Business

  Linette Gerlach

  26 Oct 2009 | 10:15 am

  When you’re starting a small business it can be frustrating to get all the information you need. You may not even know where to look, or what you need to get your small business off the ground. Here are a few online resources to help you get the information you need to get your small business up and running. The government has an excellent resource for businesses of all sizes at Business.gov, and if you don’t like to read you can check out some of the information at the Business.gov YouTube channel. They have a ton of helpful resources for new business owners. Another excellent…

• 
  Nonprofit Leadership 601

• Take-Away Points from Colloquy: “Challenges of Developing New Theory in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Studies”

  19 Nov 2009 | 8:26 pm

  Guest Blog post from Taylor Peyton Roberts, University of San Diego.Chair: Margaret HarrisPresenters:Jeff Brudney, Bob Donmoyer, Angela Eikenberry, Paul Kabalo, Lucas Meijs, Laurie Paarlberg, Jo Anne Schneider, Nidhi SrinivasAlthough this session was so rich with discussion that it would be impossible for me to do it justice in a blog, the meeting was such a thought-provoking treat that I have been inspired to collectively summarize some key highlights:• In nonprofit research, borrowing from theories of other disciplines requires accurately interpreting the languages of those…

• 2009 ARNOVA-Goers: Meet Your Wordle.

  19 Nov 2009 | 8:10 pm

  Guest Blog post from Taylor Peyton Roberts, University of San Diego.If you haven’t already spent enough time perusing ARNOVA’s 38th Annual Conference Program today, here’s a colorful twist on the program’s content.For those of you who are not familiar with Wordle, it is an online application that allows users to transform text into word cloud graphics. In the final product, the most frequently-appearing words are largest in size. I couldn’t resist the temptation to discover the Wordle-flavor of ARNOVA’s detailed conference program this year. Check out the snazzy result!

• ARNOVA: What’s in a name? Involving the community in research.

  18 Nov 2009 | 6:25 pm

  Tonight during the teaching section workshop we learned about Research Service Learning that was defined as “a collaborative teaching and learning strategy designed to promote academic enhancement, personal growth, civic learning, and the development of research capacities.Students render meaningful service—which include research activities—in community settings that present them with experiences related to academic material” (Clayton & Metelsky, 2009 Arnova Handout).Many people may know this type of research by a different name “Participatory Action Research.” This type of…

• Countdown to ARNOVA

  17 Nov 2009 | 12:15 pm

  I'll be blogging at the ARNOVA Conference from November 19-21st in Cleveland, OH and will be joined by:Debra BeckGraham DoverLindsey McDougleJohn Ronquilloand guest bloggers Taylor Peyton Roberts, Alice Walker, and Debra WeinerAdditionally, we have several conference attendees who will be tweeting about the conference using the #arnova09 hashtag.

• Way to go ARNOVA!!

  10 Nov 2009 | 2:31 pm

  Next week I'll be attending the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organization and Voluntary Action ARNOVA annual conference in Cleveland, OH and I am super excited!! This year I'll be part of ARNOVA's social media team so stay tuned for updates via this blog, the ARNOVA website, and twitter #arnova09.I have to say ARNOVA has made amazing progress this past year to connect with younger nonprofit scholars and to establish a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Ning. This mostly due to the efforts of John Ronquillo, way to go John!Stay tuned for live posts about the conference…

• 
  Connections

• Blackbaud’s 2009 Conference for Nonprofits - Day 4

  Steve MacLaughlin

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:04 am

  This is the final day of Blackbaud's 2009 Conference for Nonprofits and there's a big focus on Internet topics today. This morning I am doing a session called "The Future of Blackbaud’s Internet Solutions" which will be full of surprises about some great new things we're working on. And then the online focused content kicks into high gear! Blackbaud added an extra set of Internet related sessions on today's agenda. Blackbaud's Internet Afternoon is an exclusive networking and training opportunity for our Blackbaud Sphere and Blackbaud NetCommunity…

• Blackbaud’s 2009 Conference for Nonprofits - Day 3

  Steve MacLaughlin

  17 Nov 2009 | 5:04 am

  This is the third day of Blackbaud's 2009 Conference for Nonprofits here in Charleston, South Carolina.Yesterday was pretty action packed and the tweetup event was a lot of fun. The morning begins with keynote speaker Derreck Kayongo, a former Kenyan refugee who fled political despotism in Uganda, Derreck will share how he chose an uncommon path on life’s journey — a path that has led him to his current work of changing the world. Derreck will share his story and his personal mission in a context that will reenergize attendees and challenge them to sharpen their focus as they…

• Blackbaud’s 2009 Conference for Nonprofits - Day 2

  Steve MacLaughlin

  16 Nov 2009 | 4:50 am

  Today Blackbaud's 2009 Conference for Nonprofits really swings into high gear after yesterday's kickoff events. This is going to be a very busy day with lots of sessions, meetings, and events on the agenda. Today's Live Sessions:Can't attend the conference? Watch these sessions live online:8:30 – 9:15 a.m. ET, General Session with Blackbaud CEO Marc Chardon9:30 – 10:45 a.m. ET, Skill Building: Ethics Under Fire, presented by Jay Love, Joy Simpson, and Paul Clolery3:45 – 5:00 p.m. ET, The Tough Questions We Aren’t Asking Ourselves, presented by Holly Ross (NTEN)…

• Blackbaud’s 2009 Conference for Nonprofits - Day 1

  Steve MacLaughlin

  15 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am

  Today is the start of Blackbaud's 2009 Conference for Nonprofits in Charleston, South Carolina. This is the 10th year of the conference and every year it just gets better and better. There are a lot of pre-conference workshops going on today. I'm attending the Blackbus.org User Group meeting this afternoon. I have put together a bunch of things for show and tell. Plus, I know they will probably have a lot of questions about our Internet solutions. The welcome reception starts at 6pm tonight. Should be a good start to a great week of sessions and meeting with clients from across the…

• 2009 State of the Not-For-Profit Industry Survey Results

  Steve MacLaughlin

  11 Nov 2009 | 4:08 am

  Blackbaud Europe has released the 2009 State of the Not-For-Profit Industry survey. Blackbaud teamed up with The Resource Alliance for the second year in a row to produce this pan-European benchmarking study. The results were unveiled at the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands. SONI 2009 attracted over 648 completed survey entries from fundraising organisations in the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, France and Italy. The results provide an overview to help not-for-profits benchmark their operations across five key areas: General operations (staffing levels, budgets,…

• 
  Entry Level Living

• Five Problems with How We Measure Social Change

  ajlovesya

  17 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am

  For this month’s Nonprofit Millenial Bloggers Alliance post, we are tackling defining and measuring social impact. I think we talk about social change so much that we underestimate what it takes to bring it to fruition.  Social change is inherently a societal concern with multiple layers and intersections, which makes defining it and measuring it difficult.  Can you really address health care without examining income, race, and gender?  Can you attribute a safer neighborhood to the efforts of a nonprofit or to changes in city legislature or both? Given the complications in simply…

• Reflecting on Service and Community on Veterans Day

  ajlovesya

  11 Nov 2009 | 8:41 am

  What has always stood out to me about Veterans Day was the silence from the Veterans in my life. When I would come up with ways to celebrate I was met with appreciation, but generally frustration and some confusion over why people suddenly want to celebrate and discuss Vets. This is partly because of the way we, as a nation, look at Veterans and war. In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

• Keeping My Fire-Lessons Learned

  ajlovesya

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:56 am

  Last week I wrote about my current struggle in maintaining the passion that brought me to the sector. The comments and feedback have been wonderful and really pushed me to reflect more on what I do and why I do it.  Here are a few things I now know to keep in mind: Be deliberate about keeping and adding fire to your work: I think my biggest mistake is assuming that my passion does not need TLC.  But it’s easy to get caught up in your professional work and get out of touch with your original inspiration for pursuing a career in social change. So take time to nurse your soul and get in…

• Keeping My Fire

  ajlovesya

  26 Oct 2009 | 5:15 am

  Elisa Ortiz recently wrote a great piece about her journey into the nonprofit sector.  It got me thinking about mine and the challenges I am facing.  So for this Nonprofit Milleninal Bloggers Alliance post, I’m reflecting on why I’m in the sector. I didn’t get into the nonprofit sector because of a desire to feel warm inside.  In fact becoming a nonprofiteer was never a goal of mine.  I got involved in social justice work because I was angry.  I was angry at the blatant inequalities I saw every day on my way to my posh prep school in downtown Brooklyn from my family’s tiny…

• 20Under40: A Week Long Conversation about Leadership Changes in the Arts

  ajlovesya

  20 Oct 2009 | 1:49 pm

  Some time ago I posted about the call for submissions for the 20Under40 anthology which will feature 20 essays by emerging leaders in the arts about the future of arts and arts education.  To follow up with this amazing project they are hosting a week-long discussion for emerging leaders in the arts to talk about generational changes in leadership and the value young people bring to the arts field: Emerging Leaders Blog Salon Join the Emerging Leaders Network of Americans for the Arts and the 20UNDER40 anthology for the Emerging Leaders Salon on ARTSblog the week of October 19-23. Nearly 20…

• 
  Brave New Words

• Translating Hebrew Literature

  18 Nov 2009 | 4:02 pm

  I learned about this website and newsletter on translating Hebrew literature from Erika Dreifus, who learned about it from the Jewish Council Book Blog.

• Call for Papers

  13 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pm

  There is a conference here at the University of East Anglia in the spring and you can still submit a paper proposal. Here is the information:DISORDERING THE DISCIPLINES: TRANSLATION AND INTERDISCIPLINARITYGraduate Symposium in Translation Studies Friday 26th and Saturday 27th March 2010Elizabeth Fry BuildingUniversity of East AngliaThis postgraduate symposium, the fourth in a biannual series hosted by the School of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, aims to advance the state of knowledge in the academic study of translation. Its objective is to facilitate the…

• And We Have a Winner

  9 Nov 2009 | 4:03 pm

  The winner of our first give-away is Nina, who wrote:"_In the Land of Invented Languages_ by Akira Okrent discusses non-naturally occuring languages like Esperanto, Klingon, Bliss Symbols (an early communication system for people with disabilities who are nonverbal. This is perhaps an unconventional choice, but I read it some time ago, and found it interesting."Nina, please email me with your contact details so I can pass them on to the publisher.Thank you all for your comments and recommendations! Check back soon for a compiled list of suggestions and also for another give-away!

• A Magnificent Give-Away

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:02 pm

  Brave New Words is pleased to present our first give-away. In order to win a copy of John McWhorter’s book Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post.In your comment, please recommend a book about a language. Give the name of the book and its author, and write a couple of sentences about why this is a book worth reading. You do not have to use your real name and you should definitely not post your address, but you do need to include your e-mail address, so I can contact you, and you have to be prepared to give me your…

• A Magnificent Book Told in a Magnificent Bastard Tongue

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:04 pm

  This past weekend, I read what I quickly realized was my favorite language book of the year, John McWhorter’s Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English. This fascinating book is not about words, as interesting as they are. Instead, it is about grammar. Why is English grammar different from that of the other Germanic languages? As Mr. McWhorter puts it:“English’s Germanic relatives are like assorted varieties of deer-antelopes, springboks, kudu, and so on-antlered, fleet-footed, big-brown-eyed variations on a theme. English is some dolphin swooping around underwater,…

• 
  Startup Story Radio with Rob McNealy

• 2009 Angel Capital Summit with Chuck Blakeman

  podcasts@startupstoryradio.com (Rob McNealy)

  10 Nov 2009 | 7:04 am

  In This Podcast Episode Rob McNealy interviews Chuck Blakeman of TeamNimbusWest about the Angel Capital Summit, which is taking place in Denver on November 17th at the Colorado Convention Center. Chuck Blakeman’s Bio Chuck Blakeman has experience with companies as small as $100,000 and as large at $120 million. He re-positioned, started and sold businesses, and obtained [...]

• The Federal Reserve with Stick it to the Man Author Ronald Lewis

  podcasts@startupstoryradio.com (Rob McNealy)

  8 Oct 2009 | 7:23 pm

  In This Podcast Episode Rob McNealy interviews Ronald Lewis about his new book, Stick it to the Man, and the problems with the Federal Reserve system. Ronald Lewis’ Bio Ronald Lewis, author of Stick it to the Man,  is a Denver-based activist, speaker, entrepreneur, and technologist.  An early adopter of emerging technologies, Lewis became the first Denver-based lifecaster [...]

• Surviving Debt with Mitchell Allen

  podcasts@startupstoryradio.com (Rob McNealy)

  19 Sep 2009 | 7:27 pm

  In This Podcast Episode Rob McNealy offers a timely interview with Mitchell Allen, author of A Survival Guide to Debt: How to Overcome Tough Times & Restore Your Financial Health. Mitchell Allen’s Bio Mitchell L. Allen is the founder, president, and chairman of Debt Education and Certification Foundation, a leading provider of personal debt management courses. Courses he [...]

• Cirque du Soleil Kooza Adds Shows in Denver

  podcasts@startupstoryradio.com (Rob McNealy)

  14 Sep 2009 | 1:25 pm

  Cirque du Soleil KOOZA has just announced that due to popular demand, they’ve added an additional block of shows in Denver, from September 30th through October 4th!  The show is truly fantastic, and I’d highly recommend it to all of you if you have the opportunity to see it. In This Podcast Rob McNealy interviews Vitali Charsunou, [...]

• Networking and Mentoring with Carol Quinn of 3Lunches

  podcasts@startupstoryradio.com (Rob McNealy)

  7 Sep 2009 | 9:13 pm

  In This Podcast Episode Rob McNealy interviews Carol Quinn co-founder of 3Lunches about the importance of networking and one-on-one mentoring in business. Carol Quinn’s Bio Entrepreneur, writer and advertising creative, Carol Quinn is the co-creator and author of the upcoming nonfiction book: “3Lunches: How to Change Your Life with Friend-to-Friend Coaching and a Sandwich,” and the blog: 3Lunches.com. With [...]

• 
  Sustainablog

• President’s Environmental Youth Awards Recognize Green Student Leaders

  Jeff McIntire-Strasburg

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:40 am

  How many of the environmental education initiatives that you know of were started by teachers, parents, or non-profit organizations? That’s typical: from artistic approaches to rainwater harvesting to solar boat building, most efforts at teaching kids about environmental issues start with adults. But students often come up with their own programs, too, and the President’s Environmental Youth Awards aims to highlight those efforts that start with schoolkids. Started in 1971 by the EPA, this awards program “…recognizes young people across America for projects which…

• When it Comes to Food, Concern is Good - But Action is Better

  Steve Savage

  19 Nov 2009 | 6:06 pm

  The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has developed a career-long role that entails finding issues to worry about and writing about them.  That can be a good thing because science is definitely about asking the hard questions.  Sometimes however, these well-intentioned folks can let their biases and presuppositions get in the way. UCS has just released a report linking increased pesticide use to the adoption of biotech crops.  Their presuppositions are that both of these are bad things - GMOs and chemicals.  Their logic flaw is that even though they note that the biggest increase was in…

• The Ethics of Selling Crop Seed: Part 2 - GMO Seed

  Steve Savage

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:12 am

  This is a followup post that will attempt to address some additional, wide-spread myths about the commercial sale of seed.  In this case the topic with be “GMO” seed improved through genetic engineering (an industry that is now 13 years old and which has been planted on well over 2 billion acres cumulatively, much of it in the developing world). As someone with substantial direct experience with this industry over the years, I’d like to try to speak to some distorted perspectives on this technology. The First Biotech Crops The four earliest commercial biotech crops…

• The Ethics of Selling Crop Seed: Part 1

  Steve Savage

  17 Nov 2009 | 12:18 pm

  There is a lot of confusion and disinformation circulating today about seeds and the ethics of their commercial sale.  Actually a healthy, commercial seed industry is critical for agricultural sustainability.  Because seeds are such a fundamental component of the sustainability of our food supply, this area deserves careful thought and accurate information even if you are never going to farm or even garden. I’ll try to address some of the modern “myths” about this.  I’ll talk about “farmer-saved seed,” and “hybrid seed.” In a later post…

• Revenge of the Angry Mermaid

  Tom Schueneman

  17 Nov 2009 | 11:39 am

  Copenhagen is a water town, and the iconic symbol of Denmark’s capital city is the Little Mermaid silently standing watch over the harbor. Next month the Little Mermaid welcomes the global community coming to negotiate at least the foundation of an international treaty at the COP15 climate conference to carry beyond the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012. The Little Mermaid takes her role as a symbol of climate change seriously. And she’s angry. Angry because also coming to her town are thousands of lobbyists and business (as usual) representatives intent on holding back progress for…

• 
  The Onion

• In Focus: Overweight College Student Announces Plans To Wear Shorts, Sandals For Rest Of Year

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:06 am

  STATE COLLEGE, PA—Kyle Norton stated that he would also forgo a winter coat and continue to don the same coffee-stained sweatshirt he has been wearing since mid-October.

• Senator Byrd The Longest-Serving Lawmaker

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:37 am

  After more than 56 years in office, 92-year-old Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) has become the longest-serving member of Congress. What do you...

• Sports: LeBron James Encourages NBA To Stop Jumping In Honor Of Michael Jordan

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:30 am

  WASHINGTON—Prior to Wednesday's game against the Washington Wizards, Cleveland Cavaliers all-star LeBron James announced that he would stop jumping during professional basketball games in order to properly honor recent Hall of Fame inductee Michael Jordan.

• Montessori School Of Dentistry Lets Students Discover Their Own Root Canal Procedures

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  NEW YORK—"At Montessori, we believe dentistry to be more than just the medical practice of treating tooth and gum disorders," said school director Dr. Howard Bundt. "It's about fostering creativity."

• Inside The Obama White House: Specifically The Air Conditioning Duct Near The West Wing

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:31 am

• 
  TheWayoftheWeb

• The social ages of videogames

  Dan Thornton

  19 Nov 2009 | 12:07 am

  I’ve been thinking about the concepts of game theory, play, and videogames for a while now – and they’re a lot more prominent in my thoughts considering the recent coverage of the success and controversy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Coincidentally, there seems to have been a rise in discussions about whether videogames and social networks are turning our youth into antisocial loners sat in dark rooms, existing on caffeinated drinks and sugar, and basically living up to the outdated stereotype peddled out every so often by media and politicians too old to bother actually spending…

• Private companies, ID cards, data and employees

  Dan Thornton

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:52 am

  Anyone else making a link between the uproar when UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith revealed plans for private businesses like chemists and photo shops to record fingerprints and biometric data for the proposed national identity card scheme, and the news now that T-Mobile UK employees have been caught selling consumer data to outsiders? Data is valuable, and valuable things are a target for people to try and obtain via nefarious means. And while I’m sure the employees of my local chemists are doubtless wonderful people, I’m not sure they’re paid and monitored enough to ensure…

• Videogames, morality, the media, and Modern Warfare

  Dan Thornton

  16 Nov 2009 | 12:33 am

  The mainstream media interest in videogames has generally only been sparked by the regular doses of outrage at whichever game is currently corrupting our children. Which is why I’ve been so absorbed by the coverage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in which you go undercover and become part of a terrorist act – and also the media coverage which seems to be a more balanced and mature look at video game morality than we’ve previously had (Probably because most people in their 30s have grown up with videogames and are reasonably likely to have a current generation console in their house).

• Ouch….

  Dan Thornton

  9 Nov 2009 | 2:27 pm

  Due to back problems, the laptop isn’t able to make the commute with me, hence the slight lack of blogging at the moment. Rest assured I’ll be back shortly… In the meantime, I spent today at the Radio at the Edge conference, and Adam Bowie has a great live-blogged write-up of the event. Plus I’m taking part in Movember, so you’ll shortly get to see a most appalling attempt at a moustache. In the meantime, I’m off to dose myself on Ibuprofen for a bit longer…

• FriendsReunited advert – wtf?

  Dan Thornton

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:14 am

  I’m almost speechless. Where to start? So FriendsReunited is now owned by Brightsolid, a subsidiary of comic publisher DC Thompson, which paid £25 million in August but still hasn’t added the sites to the official website. (edit: This is due to the fact the purchase is being looked at by regulators, and is therefore not complete). And their first move is to buy traditional TV advertising? Unless… The fact that Brightsolid owns findmypast.com and the advert clearly positions GenesReunited on an equal footing to FriendsReunited gives one indication where things are going. And…

• 
  Entrepreneur.com

• Dress Up Your Online Store for the Holidays

  17 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  These tips will give your customers--and your business--plenty of reasons to celebrate the season.

• Stop Trying to Close and Enjoy the Ride

  17 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Instead of giving clients the hard sell, just be helpful.

• 7 Indispensible--and Free--Keyword Tools

  16 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Take your social media strategy to the next level by using it to improve your products and services.

• Is Offshoring Really the Best Option?

  16 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  3 reasons why getting the most from U.S. employees may be a better strategy.

• Get to Know Your Competition

  15 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  7 shrewd strategies for forging alliances--and staying ahead of the pack.

• 
  digg.com: Stories / Comedy / Popular

• So You're Locked In a Room With Your Clone: Fight or F#@k?

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:40 pm

  Imagine you are locked in a room with your exact clone for an hour. How do you handle it?

• Apartment Haunting

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:10 am

  "Finding a new apartment is easy; finding one not haunted by evil spirits is hard."

• 5 Reasons That Make It OK to Get Wasted on Thanksgiving

  19 Nov 2009 | 4:50 pm

  Thanksgiving is for giving thanks, yes, but more importantly for those of us in the over 21 set, it is a chance to get slightly hammered with mom, dad, and the rest of the family...and for good reason too...

• Kids Reenact The First Thanksgiving

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:20 pm

  American history is brought to life by children in this true-to-life reenactment of the first Thanksgiving.

• Exchange Your Old Jewelry for Cats!

  19 Nov 2009 | 1:30 pm

  *****

• 
  Small Business Labs

• Local Web Continues to Grow - Twitter Adding Location Data

  Steve

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:08 am

  The New York Times covers Twitter's planned release of geolocation data.  The new feature will take advantage of geolocation data in cellphones letting users include their location in tweets.  This will allow users to search Twitter by location, improving its use for location applications like local commerce.  It will also allow comparisons across geography.  For example you could compare what  people in New York tweeting about swine flu versus people in Texas.  More evidence of the growth of the local web. 

• Steve King Named 2009 SNCR Fellow of the Year

  cbockels

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am

  The Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) named Steve King the 2009 Fellow of the Year at their recent awards gala in Boston.  SNCR Executive Director Jen McClure stated: "His vision for SNCR’s potential, his impressive experience and expertise as a business leader and researcher, and his unwavering commitment to the Society’s mission and goals is greatly appreciated, and I am honored to work with him as a colleague on our board of directors and as a Fellow conducting research on behalf of our organization.” As managing director of Emergent Research and a…

• The Rise of Social Media Peer Groups

  Steve

  19 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am

  The Society for New Communications Research(SNCR) just released the preliminary results of a new study showing that corporate decision makers are increasingly turning to online social networks for assistance in decision-making.   The study, The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks, examines the role that social media has on decision-making among business professionals.  Key findings include: Professional decision making is becoming more social as decision-makers utilize social network to research, inform and validate decisions. Professionals trust online…

• Home Businesses and Their Employees

  Steve

  18 Nov 2009 | 8:53 am

  Based on questions and feedback we are getting on the homepreneur study, the finding that roughly half of homepreneurs have employees seems to be the most surprising result. We weren't surprised by these results, mainly because we were surprised by this years ago when we first started researching home-based businesses.  Over the years our conversations, interviews and surveys of home-based business owners have consistently shown that a high percentage are employers.  While there haven't been a lot of recent studies on home-based businesses, others have…

• It's All About Leads

  Steve

  17 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am

  Yes, this is pretty obvious.  But we often overlook the importance of leads and lead generation.  Also overlooked is how central lead generation is to the business models of many of the Internet's most successful companies - and how lead generation is changing media and marketing.  Google is, of course, all about leads via adwords.  So is eBay and all the other online markets.  For example, I just made a restaurant reservation using Open Table.  It is a public company worth $600 million that gets a big chunk of its revenue…

• 
  Small Business Trends

• Investing in IT Helps Your Business Move Ahead, Benchmarking Shows

  Rieva Lesonsky

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:50 am

  The recession is cutting into small and midsized businesses’ IT spending, and some industries are hurting more than others, according to the results of the latest IT Effectiveness Index (ITEI) survey. The ITEI is a benchmarking tool that measures the technology effectiveness of small and midsized businesses. (Small Business Trends is one of the partners of the study.) According to the latest survey, the manufacturing industry has been hit hardest, with 66 percent of people in this industry delaying, halting or canceling IT projects, and a similar number reducing capital expenses. Also hard…

• Careers: Talking Turkey

  Staci Wood

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  Every year I do a certain number of holiday cartoons. While they always sell well, they’re among the hardest ideas to generate. Thanksgiving is the hardest. Halloween and Christmas have tons of great stuff to play with, and Valentine’s Day is pretty good, but Thanksgiving is pretty much just turkey. One year I got to thinking about how bad it has to be being a turkey in November, and that led to a host of other holiday animals’ woes. Except for the groundhog. He sleeps, he wakes up. Shadow, no shadow, back to sleep. Nice and easy. So I thought it would be funny to have other…

• Vote for the Best Small Business Books of 2009

  Staci Wood

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:09 am

  It’s time to vote on your favorite small business books of 2009. For the second year in a row we are holding the Best Small Business Book Awards – Reader’s Choice. This year the Awards are bigger and better than ever.  A total of 47 books have been nominated. And you can help choose the winners. The 10 books that get the most votes from readers like you will receive a Reader’s Choice Award. Following are some FAQs that explain the Awards and how to vote. What are the Awards? The Small Business Book Awards, presented by Small Business Trends, recognize the year’s best new books for…

• SMBs to Increase 2010 Email Marketing, Social Media Spend

  Lisa Barone

  19 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am

  Earlier this week, we shared the results of a study from VerticalResponse, Inc. that found that more than 25 percent of respondents would not cancel their health care if given a public option. But that was only half the survey. The rest of the survey quizzed SMB owners on their planned usage and spend for email marketing, social media, search engine marketing and online banner ads for the coming year of 2010. Here’s a snapshot of where SMB owners said they would and would not be spending their budgets. 74.1 percent will increase their email marketing spend. 68.3 percent will increase their…

• The Burger King $1 Cheeseburger: How Much Does It Really Cost?

  Joel Libava

  18 Nov 2009 | 6:16 pm

  I’ll admit it. Most of the time I am biased. I am usually out there trying to protect prospective franchisees. I try to provide tons of information to them about the realities of being a franchise owner. I also try to provide tips that current franchisees can use to grow their businesses. It’s not that I’m against the franchisor. Franchisors provide that entrepreneurial spark — that service or product idea that they have systematized to sell to others. If it wasn’t for the franchisor, hundreds of thousands of people would never have had a shot at small business…

• 
  Duct Tape Marketing

• QuickBooks 2010 Expends Beyond Accounting

  John Jantsch

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:59 am

  QuickBooks 2010 Expends Beyond AccountingThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing The latest version of QuickBooks is a big step outside the box for the leading small business accounting software. Building on Intuit’s Connected Services Strategy announced last year, QuickBooks connects to several new online services that enable small businesses to extend the power of their information already in QuickBooks QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2010 feature the all-new Intuit App Center, providing users access to scalable, Software-as-a-Service business applications directly from within QuickBooks.

• What the Heck is Integrated Marketing Anyway?

  John Jantsch

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:07 am

  What the Heck is Integrated Marketing Anyway?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing When I first started my business, several decades ago, I was determined to tell people that, mine was an integrated marketing firm. To which, I generally received polite nods and the occasional more truthful – “What the heck is integrated marketing anyway?” Well, c’mon I would mutter, “everyone knows it’s a management strategy and meta-discipline focused on the organization-wide optimization of unique value for stakeholders[1].” Right, see the problem with the term was…

• Is Social Media Changing Selling?

  John Jantsch

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:44 am

  Is Social Media Changing Selling?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Mike McLaughlin (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunes Social media has certainly changed marketing, but few people are addressing just how dramatically it’s changed sales. In this interview we hit that subject pretty head on. My guest for this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is Mike McLaughlin. He’s the author of Winning the Professional Services Sale, which offers professional service providers, business development managers, and…

• 3 Tools to Make Twitter Lists Even More Useful

  John Jantsch

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:37 am

  3 Tools to Make Twitter Lists Even More UsefulThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing I’m a big fan of the newish Twitter List function. I wrote about it last week – 5 Reasons to Use the New Twitter Lists Feature Now that I’ve you pumped up about using lists, I want to talk about a few tools that I think can make the feature even more useful. Twitter List Widget - (example above) this is a homegrown Twitter feature that’s pretty well hidden. Scroll to the bottom of your Twitter homepage and look for the link called Goodies. Then click Widgets, MyWebiste, ListWidget.

• Winner of the Social Media Library

  John Jantsch

  15 Nov 2009 | 6:02 am

  Winner of the Social Media LibraryThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing In case you missed my post on Friday I offered one signed copy of One these seven books: Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, New Community Rules by Tamar Weinberg, Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel, Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik, Duct Tape Marketing by well, me, Whuffle Factor by Tara Hunt and CrushIt by Gary Vaynerchuk to the person that most creatively answers the following: I get the biggest return for my business using social media when I [fill in the blank] – Here’s the original…

• 
  StartupNation

• Ugh! Bad Day-But Still Thankful!

  Melanie Rembrandt

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am

  Ok. So it’s 5:00 a.m., and I walk to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee with my eyes half open. Ugh! I forgot to put coffee into the machine last night, and there is just a pot of hot water waiting for me. Oh well. I’ll make a fresh batch and use the bathroom while I’m waiting. Ugh! The toilet overflows. Where is that plunger? I take care of this and proceed to dress for my day without any issues. The new coffee is done brewing, and it’s time to sit down and work. I’m excited about helping a new client bring in more sales with some SEO copywriting. But then… Ugh! My keyboard…

• Are You Promoting Yourself?

  Melanie Rembrandt

  13 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am

  In the process of promoting your products and services to potential customers, are you also promoting yourself? Competition is fierce today, and people want more for their money. This means that they are not just looking at products and services – but the people behind the businesses as well. With this in mind, what kind of image do you project? As you scramble to follow up on leads and attract new customers, it can be easy to let yourself go and have your personal promotion fall to the bottom of the priority list. To avoid this from happening, here are three questions to ask before…

• ABC News Now Appearance: Maximizing Your Holiday Sales

  Rich Sloan

  11 Nov 2009 | 10:19 am

  Doing our best for you StartupNation folks, here’s our latest advice regarding making the most of your retail holiday selling season. Hope you find it helpful. Please add in your own tips as comments below, too! We could all use the wisdom!  Click on the image to view… ShareThis

• Why you should pay for this content

  Rich Sloan

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:10 pm

  Weird that I’d write a blog post about paying for content in a free content world, isn’t it?! Weirder yet that StartupNation has for years on end been a STRICTLY free content site and hosts many tens of thousands of pages of free content and features. So why have we recently launched a paid content offering (in our new Quarterly Marketing Trends eReports)? Because they’re worth it. Our experts and co-authors spend weeks amassing research and drawing out takeaways and distill those down into clear trends and action items that could have a profound impact on your business. For…

• Exceed Expectations to Boost Sales

  Melanie Rembrandt

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:35 am

  If you want to increase your level of returning customers, there is one major thing that you need to take care of at the very beginning of every relationship - Expectations. This may sound simple, but if you don’t spell out what you are going to provide for the money, you can run into major confusion and complications in the future. And it goes both ways. Your customers need to tell you what they expect too. With this in mind, here are three key tips to think about when you begin to work on any new projects or customer sales: 1. Communicate goals. Before you exchange funds, products…

• 
  CreativityRulz

• New Blog Posts

  Tina

  9 Nov 2009 | 10:46 am

  For several months I have been keeping a blog on the Psychology Today website. You can find all my recent blog postings there: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creativityrulz- Tina

• Time is More Valuable than Money

  Tina

  20 Sep 2009 | 1:15 pm

  Most people look at their bank accounts with great attention and assess how much money they have to spend, to invest, and to give away… But, they don’t look at their time the same way, and end up wasting this incredibly valuable resource. In fact, time is much more valuable than money because you can use your time to make money, but you can’t use money to purchase more time.Time is the great equalizer… Each day has only 24 hours - nobody has any more than anyone else. Everyone, from poets to presidents, fills those hours, one after the other, until they are all filled up. Every single…

• Life is an the Ultimate Open Book Exam

  Tina

  21 Aug 2009 | 10:04 am

  In most schools, students are evaluated as individuals and graded on a curve relative to their classmates. In short, when they win someone else loses. Not only is this stressful, but it isn’t how most organizations work in the real world. Outside of school, people usually work on a team with a shared goal, and when they win so does everyone else. In fact, in the business world there are usually small teams embedded inside larger teams, and at every level the goal is to make everyone successful.The typical classroom also has a teacher who views his or her job as pouring information into the…

• FAIL in order to SUCCEED

  Tina

  28 Jul 2009 | 7:14 am

  I require my students to write a failure résumé. That is, to craft a résumé that summarizes all their biggest screw ups — personal, professional, and academic. For every failure, each student must describe what he or she learned from that experience. Just imagine the looks of surprise this assignment inspires in students who are so used to showcasing their successes. However, after they finish their résumé, they realize that viewing their experiences through the lens of failure forced them to come to terms with the mistakes they have made along the way and to extract important lessons…

• Brainstorming Rules: What TO DO and What NOT TO DO...

  Tina

  26 Jul 2009 | 8:13 am

  These two short videos are priceless! They were created by students at the Stanford Design Institute. The first one shows how NOT to brainstorm and the second one shows HOW to do it effectively. They picked a fanciful problem to solve - saving your chewing gum when you go to class.The worst case example happens all the time. In fact, I was at a meeting last week with people with whom I don't normally work, and we were "brainstorming" about a new program. One person made a suggestion, and someone else literally responded with, "Go shoot yourself." For anyone who has spent any time polishing…

• 
  BIG marketing for small business

• Om Malik And Guests Discuss Perfect Hosting for Startups

  Rajan Sodhi

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:44 pm

  GigamOM and PEER 1 Hosting are putting on an event called FutureHosting and broadcasting it live on webstream, Dec 3rd at 9:30am PST. The live panel discussion will be hosted by leading technology blogger Om Malik, and an excellent lineup that includes: Byron Sebastian, CEO, Heroku Sebastian Stadll, Founder, Scalr Jason Hoffman, CTO, Joyent Robert Miggins, SVP BizDev, PEER 1 Hosting They will debate the perfect web hosting environment for early stage entrepreneurs as the hosting market evolves towards an on-demand model. Topics include delivery of platform-as-a-service, and optimizing…

• Top 5 Free Services to Build a Website

  Rajan Sodhi

  12 Nov 2009 | 11:23 am

  If you’re a small business without a website, I have one question for you: What the hell are you waiting for? If the idea of high costs or technical know-how is still stopping you, then you need to pay attention to the list below. These are my top five free or inexpensive easy-to-use web building services that can get you up and running your own website in minutes! No. 1 – Wordpress My all-time favorite. I’ve written countless times about my love affair with Wordpress and how it can be used not only for your blog, but for your company website. The platform is incredibly easy…

• Banner Ads Are Better Than Clicks Suggest

  Rajan Sodhi

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:08 pm

  I attended the ad:tech Digital Marketing event in London back in September and sat in on an intriguing presentation by ComScore about online banner advertising and how more and more people are clicking on less and less of them. In fact, only 8% of Internet users account for 85% of all clicks according to their study. Compared to search engine marketing (SEM), click-through on banner ads seem pitiful and almost a waste of resources and money. But wait. Before you decide to kill your banner ad campaign, consider this: using just click-through to measure the performance of your banner ad…

• Cloud Hosting Still Cloudy for Many Businesses

  Rajan Sodhi

  26 Oct 2009 | 11:48 am

  Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison believes cloud is just water vapor. All the buzz in web hosting these days is around cloud hosting. From large providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) to the Rackspace Cloud, to a whole bunch of tiny providers, you can’t find a corner on the Internet that isn’t talking about or trying to offer up a cloud service. But what exactly is cloud? If you aren’t quite sure, you’re not alone. A recent independent cloud hosting study of 200 IT decision makers showed that 88 percent of them do not use cloud technologies, while 39 percent said that…

• Make Your Website Your Best Salesperson

  Ryan Kelly

  23 Oct 2009 | 12:35 pm

  While stacking up your sales department is a good way to drive inbound leads and sales, I find that many businesses are overlooking the potential for a rockstar salesperson: their website. Don’t be afraid to invest in your website just as you would a training and education budget for a salesperson. You may be tempted to throw a lot of money into paid search, but investing in organic search will last much longer, making it the most effective way to drive leads for your business. That means once the ad budget runs out, the leads and the traffic stops, but the work you put into organic…

• 
  OnStartups

• Answers OnStartups Roundup 1 - March of the parentheticals

  Jason Cohen

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am

  By now you've probably heard of Answers OnStartups, the new Q&A community for any topic about startups and entrepreneurship. If not, here's Dharmesh's announcement. I have the good fortune of being asked to co-moderate the site with Dharmesh, probably as a result of the popularity of a few provocative but useful guest-posts here on OnStartups. (Note to those of you hoping to expand your influence in the blogosphere and beyond -- take the advice from Leo and Darren and Mary and, I suppose, me: Guest-posting is a good way to do it!) What does "moderation" mean, you ask? I took it mean "Get…

• Adam Smith Video On The Story Of Xobni

  Dharmesh Shah

  16 Nov 2009 | 3:51 pm

  As noted in my previous article on startup marketing, I had the opportunity to speak at the MIT Startup bootcamp recently.  My friend, and an all-around great guy, Adam Smith (founder of Xobni) spoke earlier that day.  Adam did a great job capturing the experience of starting a company and watching a company grow.  Adam's both brilliant and articulate.  Well worth watching the video.  Here are some quick notes from the video (to help entice you to watch). 1.  If you can improve email just a little bit, you can create a lot of value.   2.  PG: "Go shake…

• Dharmesh On Startup Marketing: Video From MIT Startup Bootcamp

  Dharmesh Shah

  16 Nov 2009 | 1:13 pm

  I recently had the opportunity to speak at the MIT Startup Bootcamp held at the MIT Kresge Auditorium (a great venue that President Obama spoke at just a couple of weeks later). This was a fantastic event with a packed house (1,000+ people in the live audience) where some great entrepreneurs had a chance to share their experiences and insights.  I was a little nervous in the beginning (as usual), but once I warmed up, I think I did OK. Here's a recorded video of my talk.    Hope you enjoy the video. Would love to hear your comments and questions. Looking for other startup…

• Startups: How To Build A Barrier To Entry With Inbound Marketing

  Dharmesh Shah

  20 Oct 2009 | 1:16 am

  I’ve been doing a fair amount of speaking lately.  It’s partly driven by my recently released book, Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs (which is doing exceptionally well -- more below on this). The topics I usually speak on are startups (surprise) and marketing (surprise, surprise).  And, when I’m really on a roll and feeling adventurous, I talk about startup marketing. First off, a quick confession.  I’m not really a marketer, and I don’t play one on TV.  I’ve never had the word marketing in my job title, ever.  The closest…

• Holy Crap! HubSpot Has Now Raised A Total Of $33 Million

  Dharmesh Shah

  19 Oct 2009 | 2:12 am

  It has been a little over a year since I announced the news that my marketing software startup closed it’s Series B round of funding.  The article, “Insanity? Why A Bootstrap Entrepreneur Raised $17 Million in Venture Funding”, was a candid glimpse into the rationale for raising what seemed like a huge amount of money to me at the time (it seemed huge, because it was — at least to me). Today, we’ve released news that HubSpot has just closed on another $16 million funding round (our Series C) bringing our total capital raised to a whopping $33…

• 
  Solutions Are Power

• Following Up on a Few Things: Celebrities, Crises and One Year Here

  Joe Loong

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:00 am

  Here are a few items that came up recently that reminded me of other things that happened, only less recently: * Social Media Vulnerabilities: From the New York Times Sunday edition came a report of a Hollywood burglary ring whose members not only targeted celebrities, but used celebrity gossip web sites to figure out when those celebrities would be out partying, so they could break in knowing no one would be at home. Granted, celebrities aren’t normal people — their movements are tracked and broadcast with unhealthy intensity. And the burglary ring (alleged, that is)…

• Interview with the Product Manager – Mike Hollen of nsMail

  Steve Fisher

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Mike Hollen and talk about nsMail, what it is and the changes that came with the improved Network Solutions brand. We talked about all areas of hosted email and some great improvements and new products coming in the future. The video of the interview is below: To see more videos, check out the series section below or check out the interviews in advance, you can see them on our Solutions Are Power YouTube channel.

• Interview with the Product Manager – Lynne Brehmer of nsWebAddress

  Steve Fisher

  19 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am

  Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Lynne Brehmer and talk about nsWebAddress, what it is and the changes that came with the improved Network Solutions brand. We talked about the reasons for the name change and how it still means your domain name, but it encompasses so much more, especially for being more small business friendly. The video of the interview is below: To see more videos, check out the series section below or check out the interviews in advance, you can see them on our Solutions Are Power YouTube channel.

• What Does Marc Benioff Really Have To Say About The Cloud At Dreamforce 2009?

  Kenneth Yeung

  18 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  I’m sitting here at the 2009 edition of the Dreamforce Conference to listen to the CEO of SalesForce, Marc Benioff, talk about his thoughts about the cloud and listen in to any potential  announcements that he may have about the company and their highly successful product. And without disappointment, it turns out that Salesforce is rolling out what they’re calling their “biggest breakthrough ever”: Salesforce Chatter. According to their release, Salesforce Chatter is the “first social computing application and platform for real-time enterprise…

• Behold the Power…Keyword Power

  Travis Petersen

  18 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  When it comes to online marketing, whether you’re going the organic route with SEO and link building or targeting paid search through PPC or both (which you should, if you can, hint-hint), there are few, if any, aspects more important than choosing the right keywords. So how do you choose the right keywords for your enterprise’s website? Depending on whom you ask, there are many ways to go about it, many online tools—Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery—that you can use, and a number of places to get started. But the important thing to remember is that no online tool or SEO expert knows…

• 
  The Happiness Project

• Try Fun, Quick Exercises to Boost Your Creativity.

  GretchenRubin

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:20 pm

  I’m working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too! Everyone’s project will look different, but it’s the rare person who can’t benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in right now. Each Friday’s post will help you think about your own happiness project. One of my favorite resolutions, because it’s so much fun to keep, is Read at whim. Instead of trying to be very targeted about my reading, as I once tried to be, I let myself read whatever I want to read. The other day, at coffee with my blogpals Caren and Leah from the great site, Drinking Diaries, Leah…

• In Which I Get Teary Reading My Own Book.

  GretchenRubin

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:56 am

  This week, I finished the audiobook for The Happiness Project. As I’d expected, it made me very happy to learn to do something new and to get a glimpse into the unfamiliar world of sound recording. It was also thrilling to learn that none other than Jim Dale had sat in the very same seat that I was using, when he was recording Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It took him three weeks! And they had top, top security. What surprised me most about the recording process was how emotional I became while reading certain parts of the book. I literally choked up and had to take a drink of water…

• Fifteen Tips to Avoid Nagging.

  GretchenRubin

  18 Nov 2009 | 11:47 am

  Every Wednesday is Tip Day. This Wednesday: Back by popular demand...fifteen tips to avoid nagging. I've posted this list before, but I'm posting it again, because the issue of nagging is something that people raise with me frequently in discussions of happiness. It turns out that being a nag is just as unpleasant as being nagged -- so figuring out how to end nagging brings a real happiness boost to a relationship. But even though no one enjoys an atmosphere of nagging, in marriage, or any partnership, chores are a huge source of conflict. How do you get your sweetheart to hold up his or her…

• "Learn New Skills, Ask Questions, Practice Yoga--and Only Travel Carry-On."

  GretchenRubin

  17 Nov 2009 | 11:52 am

  From time to time, I post short interviews with interesting people about their insights on happiness. During my study of happiness, I’ve noticed that I often learn more from one person’s highly idiosyncratic experiences than I do from sources that detail universal principles or cite up-to-date studies. I’m much more likely to be convinced to try a piece of advice urged by a specific person who tells me that it worked for him or her, than by any other kind of argument. Sometimes, in ways that I don’t really understand, I begin to overlap with people in blogland, to the point that I…

• Some Counter-Intuitive Facts about Loneliness.

  GretchenRubin

  16 Nov 2009 | 11:05 am

  Sometimes people ask, “If you had to pick just one thing, what would be the one secret to a happy life?” The answer is clear: strong bonds with other people. If I had to pick one thing, that’s it. The wisdom of the ages and the current scientific studies agree on this point. On that subject, I just finished a fascinating book by John Cacioppo and William Patrick, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection. The book underscores the conclusion that few things will challenge your happiness more than loneliness. Without thinking it through, I’d assumed that being lonely…

• 
  Inspire Minds

• Success story of Poacha who saves Lives

  changeminds

  24 Oct 2009 | 3:32 am

  For over ten years now, Khushroo Poacha has stood by the sole belief that to do good work you don’t need money. Poacha runs indianblooddonors.com (IBD), a site that lets blood donors and patients in need of blood connect with each other almost instantaneously. He also does not accept cash donations. The site has been live for almost ten years and with over 50,000 donors in its database, IBD is perhaps a classic example of what the Internet is truly capable of. But more importantly, it is a reflection of a single human being’s desire to make a difference to this world. It all…

• Dr.Tulsi aged 21 becomes India’s youngest Doctorate holder

  changeminds

  31 Aug 2009 | 1:35 am

  It’s not very often that you attach the title ‘Dr’ to the name of a 21-year-old youngster. Meet Dr Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, who is on top of the world today after joining an exclusive club of scientists with a doctorate at the age of 21. Dr Tulsi is the youngest person in India to hold a doctorate and with this feat he has joined an eminent club of greats like Dr John Forbes Nash, an American mathematician who competed his PhD from Princeton University, US at the age of 21. His faculty at the Indian Institute of Science is truly inspired by his research on software for next…

• Inspiring Interview of Dr.Abdul Kalam

  changeminds

  28 Jun 2009 | 6:01 am

  ‘A clear aim, knowledge, hard work and perseverance spells success’ A vibrant octogenarian — that’s what describes Dr Kalam best. For a man of 80 summers, Dr Kalam is extraordinarily full of life even at 8.15 pm when we sat down for a freewheeling chat, nay an experience. We ask him about his famous ‘thinking hut’ at Rashtrapati Bhawan. “It is a great place,” he says. “Two books came out of there. Here, I don’t have sufficient area — but everywhere I capture thoughts.” His infectious enthusiasm overpowers us all as we…

• Inspiring Life of Henry Ford

  changeminds

  20 Jun 2009 | 8:55 am

  Irish ForeFathers The Ford family had its roots in Ireland though they had traces of English and Scottish blood in them. Its main occupation was agriculture. In 1862, a young couple moved a house located at some distance to the south of the other Ford families. They were William and Mary Ford. ‘Grandma’ Holmes, was directing affairs and it was with her help, that this male child was born into the household. The infant was named Henry after his uncle. Henry was one of the eight children. The Eternal Habit The first few years of Henry’s boyhood were spent at home under his mother’s…

• Inspiring story of Stephen Hawking, great scientist

  changeminds

  14 May 2009 | 8:53 am

  On January 8, 1942, Stephen Hawking was born to Frank and Isobel Hawking in Oxford, England. Frank was a researcher specializing in tropical diseases. He later became the Head of the Division of Parasitology at The National Institute of Medical Research. it was at this research center that the two met and got together for a meaningful future. She had got in to odd jobs before she ended up as a secretary at the institute. Isobel returned to London with the two-week old Stephen, who later began schooling at Highgate where they resided. In 1950, Frank Hawking joined the Institute for Medical…

• 
  Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen Shapiro

• TEDx NASA

  Stephen Shapiro

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:08 am

  I am now in Newport News, Virginia preparing for my speech tomorrow at TEDx NASA.  There will be 1700 aerospace engineers and scientists in the audience. My topics is titled “Innovation is in the Space.” I have only 6 minutes for my presentation.  This may prove to be my most challenging speech yet!  Blaise Pascal (not [...]

• FT Innovation Conference Highlights – Part 1

  Stephen Shapiro

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:24 am

  I just returned from a week in London where, amongst other things, I spoke at the FT Innovate conference. There was an impressive line-up of speakers including the CEOs of Jaguar, EMI and Best Buy. This is the first of two blog entries with conference highlights. Jaguar Land Rover David Smith, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover, [...]

• Complete Idiots’s Guide to Target Marketing

  Stephen Shapiro

  17 Nov 2009 | 10:42 am

  My good friend Susan Friedmann just released her next book today, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Target Marketing.” Do you want to get the word out to buyers about all the great things your business has to offer, but a big-bucks marketing campaign just isn’t in your budget? Now you can get the expert information you [...]

• London FT Innovate Conference

  Stephen Shapiro

  9 Nov 2009 | 2:02 am

  My schedule has been crazy lately!  My work with InnoCentive, my speeches all over the planet, and a manuscript due in a few weeks.  My blogging has become the victim of this.  But that will change. This week I am one of the speakers at the FT Innovate conference in London.  I will also be blogging [...]

• Content is No Longer King…Long Live the King (Part 2)

  Stephen Shapiro

  21 Oct 2009 | 1:05 pm

  In an earlier blog entry on content, readers provided a number of interesting comments. If you haven’t already read that article (and the comments), you may want to do so in order to understand this new article. Many did not agree with my point of view. And that is great. I only wanted [...]

• 
  Jef Menguin Seminars

• Moving Up

  Jef Menguin

  18 Nov 2009 | 6:52 pm

  How to move Up, UP, Up in a down, down, down world. This will be the subject of my next squidoo lens. I will start writing some of my ideas today. I thank God because I have a life to celebrate the things that I want to do. Inspiring people is one of them. I hope we can inspire all. I hope you can join me. Jef Note: Please refer my website http://jefmenguin.com to your friends. See more progress on: Aspire and Inspire Posted in 43 things Tagged: Inspiration, motivation

• Check out You Are Invited to TOPS Toastmasters Philippines – 1767573

  Jef Menguin

  13 Nov 2009 | 11:13 pm

  Hi, I want you to take a look at : You Are Invited to TOPS Toastmasters Philippines – 1767573 Posted in personal effectiveness

• Most reliable training provider in Metro Manila

  Jef Menguin

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:57 am

  I did not notice it. I thought people can easily find me in Google search engine. My experience was that when people are looking for seminars and workshops in metro manila, or seminars and workshops in the Philippines, they always find my websites in the first pages. Sometimes, three of these pages appear in the top ten. Yahoo sometimes put me in the first page, but yahoo is unreliable since it places the older websites and older seminars in the front page. In effect, people are viewing seminars which were held two or three years ago. Sad.  That is why I encourage people to use Google more…

• Let it be clear

  Jef Menguin

  26 Oct 2009 | 1:38 am

  Funny how it happened. I listened to an applicant for half an hour, then explained how my business works. Of course she was interested to know how she will work. And I am interested to show how my business works. I thought knowing how the business works can help her see how she can be successful when she works with me. But then, the magic word came. She said she was confused. I stopped. I have wasted my time. All the time, she was concerned about the the details. She wants me to explain how she will spent her day working for me. I was showing her the big picture, because I like her to see the…

• I am happy facilitating my workshops and seminars

  Jef Menguin

  25 Oct 2009 | 5:48 pm

  Last Saturday I conducted a teambuilding workshop for the officials of a Barangay in Pasay. I have conducted workshops for government agencies, but never for barangay officials. One friend told me that the most difficult group to handle are barangay officials. He said that many are know-it-alls, people who seemed to know all the answers and reasons why answers cannot be done. That comment was of course not encouraging. The teambuilding was scheduled to start by 8.30am but the only two participants arrived on time. I was informed that there are 25 expected participants. The rest, 17 more,…

• 
  TEDTalks (video)

• TEDTalks : Tom Wujec demos the 13th-century astrolabe - Tom Wujec (2009)

  Tom Wujec

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:29 am

  Rather than demo another new technology, Tom Wujec reaches back to one of our earliest but most ingenious devices -- the astrolabe. With thousands of uses, from telling time to mapping the night sky, this old tech reminds us that the ancient can be as brilliant as the brand-new.

• TEDTalks : Devdutt Pattanaik: East vs. West -- the myths that mystify - Devdutt Pattanaik (2009)

  Devdutt Pattanaik

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:32 am

  Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West -- and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another.

• TEDTalks : Fields Wicker-Miurin: Learning from leadership's "missing manual" - Fields Wicker-Miurin (2009)

  Fields Wicker-Miurin

  18 Nov 2009 | 7:17 am

  Leadership doesn't have a user's manual, but Fields Wicker-Miurin says stories of remarkable, local leaders are the next best thing. At a TED salon in London, she shares three.

• TEDTalks : Mathieu Lehanneur demos science-inspired design - Mathieu Lehanneur (2009)

  Mathieu Lehanneur

  17 Nov 2009 | 7:34 am

  Naming science as his chief inspiration, Mathieu Lehanneur shows a selection of his ingenious designs -- an interactive noise-neutralizing ball, an antibiotic course in one layered pill, asthma treatment that reminds kids to take it, a living air filter, a living-room fish farm and more.

• TEDTalks : Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology - Pranav Mistry (2009)

  Pranav Mistry

  15 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

• 
  The Practice of Leadership

• Research finds leadership skills inadequate to meet current and future demand

  George Ambler

  16 Nov 2009 | 11:29 pm

  New research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) which surveyed 2,200 leaders from 15 organizations, in three countries between 2006 and 2008 produced some interesting findings. The research project was designed to answer the following questions: What leadership skills and perspectives are critical for success now and in the future? How strong are current leaders in these critical skills and perspectives? How aligned is today’s leadership strength with what will be the most important skills and perspectives in the future? A comparison of the leadership strength from the research…

• Leaders Take Risks!

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pm

  Photo by schoschie   The act and practice of leadership is a risky undertaking. Leadership is the act or bringing about positive change. This requires leaders to initiate, to blaze new trails, to venture into the unknown and unexplored terrain. All of this entails risk. Kouzes and Posner in their bestselling book, “The Leadership Challenge” describes it this way: “Leaders are pioneers – people who are willing to step out into the unknown. They are people who are willing to take risks, to innovate and experiment in order to find new an better ways of doing things.” Leaders take…

• 10 reasons why you’re going to fail!

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:50 am

  I can across a really stunning post on failure by Tony Morgan, “10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail” that is really worth sharing, so here is Tony’s list… 10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail It’s not your passion. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing. You don’t have a plan. You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That includes a financial plan. (I happen to believe you need direction from God on…

• The 2009 Most Influential Business Thinkers

  George Ambler

  1 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am

  Forbes.com released their 2009 “The Most Influential business Thinkers”  results. The consulting firm CrainerDearlove compiled this list of today’s top thinkers, by surveyed 3,500 people and a panel of experts to determine the 2009 edition of the Thinkers 50, the fifth edition of a biennial list of the most influential living management thinkers. This years results are listed below.   Rank Name 2007 Rank Country Day Job 1 C.K. Prahalad 1 India/U.S. University of Michigan Academic 2 Malcolm Gladwell 18 Canada New Yorker Columnist 3 Paul Krugman U.S. Princeton Academic 4…

• Keeping your goals in focus

  George Ambler

  30 Aug 2009 | 1:39 pm

     Photo by kevindooley The article “For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big” from the NY Times discusses the work of the best selling business author Jim Collins. Given the popularity of Jim Collins the article discussed how he allocates his time, which is as follows: “… in a corner of the white board at the end of his long conference room, Mr. Collins keeps this short list: Creative 53% Teaching 28% Other 19% That, he explains, is a running tally of how he’s spending his time, and whether he’s sticking to a big goal he set for himself years ago: to spend 50 percent of…

• 
  Management Craft

• The Value of Simplicity - Do You Know What Simple Feels Like?

  Lisa Haneberg

  18 Nov 2009 | 4:27 am

  I am just back from Bhutan and Thailand. I will post more about what I learned on the trip in the coming days, but here is just a quick thought. Simplicity is beautiful. We gunk up our lives and our work and our desks and our wardrobes and our friendships and our teams and our processes with more complexity and complication than is needed, I think. We need to experience simplicity to really feel it's power and pleasantness. I stayed for three days in a valley that has no electricity except for a few hours of solar power or power from small individual generators. The valley could have…

• The power of great mentorship - "Direction" from Lisa Edwards

  Lisa Haneberg

  13 Nov 2009 | 2:50 am

  Here is another guest post and story from Lisa Edwards called Direction. This one is profound - I love Lisa E's stories. You can also check out her book here. She makes a great point about how a bad experience or misfire can create a whole new opportunity. How can you use this story to further your goals this week? Direction “Keep looking up.”   Dick Damrow  All of us have a mid-life crisis at some point in our lives.  Some of us have it later in life, others have it early on. I was lucky.  My mid-life crisis happened in my early thirties. Several years before then, I had returned…

• Creating Accountability

  Lisa Haneberg

  10 Nov 2009 | 3:24 am

  Here's an interesting article about accountability from Bob Prosen on The Street called, Helping Your Company Win: The Innovators. He offers several ways we can assess our role and priorities and practices to improve clarity and accountability. Check it out.

• The Four Conversations: Communication That Gets Results

  Lisa Haneberg

  4 Nov 2009 | 3:23 am

  Over the last few weeks, I have been trying to get caught up on my business book reading - I was SOOO behind. I will be out of the country for the next three weeks, so I have cued up several posts about great books. These posts will be about books I recommend, because I don't have time to write about a book I would not recommend you buy.Sixty percent of all management problems result from faulty communication. ~Peter DruckerThis post is about a unique book called, The Four Conversations: Communication That Gets Results by Jeffrey Ford and Laurie Ford. I first met the Fords about 15 years ago.

• The Unforced Error - Why Some Managers Get Promoted While Others Get Eliminated

  Lisa Haneberg

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:55 am

  Over the last few weeks, I have been trying to get caught up on my business book reading - I was SOOO behind. I will be out of the country for the next three weeks, so I have cued up several posts about great books. These posts will be about books I recommend, because I don't have time to write about a book I would not recommend you buy.This post is about a very fun and helpful book called The Unforced Error by Jeffrey Krames (you can listen to the podcast I did with Jeffrey about his last book, Inside Drucker's Brain, here). I love this book - it is written with such style and texture -…

• 
  Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog

• The FDIC Anesthesia Is Wearing Off

  John Agno

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:31 pm

  By Guest Author Robert Prechter The following article is an excerpt from Robert Prechter's Elliott Wave Theorist. For more information from Robert Prechter on bank safety, download his free report, Discover the Top 100 Safest U.S. Banks. Perhaps the single greatest reason for the unbridled expansion of credit over the past 50 years is the existence of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, another government-sponsored enterprise created by Congress. The coming rush of bank failures is an outcome made inevitable the very day that Congress created the FDIC. The reason is that the creation…

• Six Essential Leadership Traits for Hard Times

  John Agno

  17 Nov 2009 | 9:54 am

  The following behaviors characterize a good leader in a downturn: 1.   Honesty and credibility. Nobody can be certain about the business environment and its direction. The only viable options are intellectual honesty and humility. Your authority depends on your ability to facilitate understanding and solutions—not from omniscience. 2.   Ability to inspire. Many people are extremely anxious. The recession descended as suddenly as a tsunami, destroying hard-earned savings and putting jobs at risk. You and your team must inspire employees by toughening their resolve and…

• Shrinking Business

  John Agno

  16 Nov 2009 | 5:26 am

  A record number of U.S. companies are beating earnings expectations but a big portion of their profits come from cost-cutting, disappointing investors who are hoping for boosts in revenue.  The worry is that without a meaningful upturn in U.S. sales, cost-cutting can only boost profits so long. Barring acquisitions, your company will likely be smaller two years from now, according to Ram Charan.  In his new book, Ram Charan: Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn, the bestselling author identifies the key rules to follow if you want to get the…

• Leadership in Times of Economic Uncertainty

  John Agno

  13 Nov 2009 | 9:48 am

  If you’re like most leaders, you’ve never before experienced a downturn like this.  Reports about the end of the recession mean little if your company continues to fight cash-flow problems.  You know that the term 'jobless recovery' is an oxymoron. You cannot allow yourself to be afraid.  Others look to you for strength and guidance. You must give the best you have and move quickly, even when faced with incomplete information. In his new book, Ram Charan: Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn, the bestselling author identifies the key…

• Drivers of Retention

  John Agno

  10 Nov 2009 | 6:29 am

  In its latest biannual survey, released in October 2009, temp firm Spherion Staffing Solutions asked about 300 employers and about 2,500 workers to name the top "drivers of retention."  As they did in 2007 and 2005, the bosses listed soft stuff: "management climate" and "supervisor relationship," for instance.  Employees' top two in all three surveys?  Benefits and compensation.  And this year, only 27% are "very satisfied" with their pay.  Just 37% are equally happy with their benefits. Of course, the high unemployment rate has scared working Americans into hanging on to their jobs at…

• 
  A List Apart

• On Web Typography

  17 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Until now, chances are that if we dropped text onto a web page in a system font at a reasonable size, it was legible. But with many typefaces about to be freed for use on websites, choosing the right ones to complement a site's design will be far more challenging. Many faces to which we’ll soon have access were never meant for screen use, either because they’re aesthetically unsuitable or because they’re just plain illegible. Jason Santa Maria, a force behind improved type on the web, presents qualities and methods to keep in mind as we venture into the widening world of web type.

• Real Web Type in Real Web Context

  17 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Web fonts are here. Now that browsers support real fonts in web pages and we can license complete typefaces for such use, it's time to think pragmatically about how to use real fonts in our web projects. Above all, we need to know how our type renders in screens, in web browsers. To that end, Tim Brown has created Web Font Specimen, a handy, free resource web designers and type designers can use to see how typefaces will look on the web.

• Can You Say That in English? Explaining UX Research to Clients

  3 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am

  It's hard for clients to understand the true value of user experience research. As much as you'd like to tell your clients to go read The Elements of User Experience and call you back when they’re done, that won’t cut it in a professional services environment. David Sherwin creates a cheat sheet to help you pitch UX research using plain, client-friendly language that focuses on the business value of each exercise.

• You Can Get There From Here: Websites for Learners

  3 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am

  "Content-rich" is not enough. Most websites are not learner-friendly. As an industry, we haven’t done our best to make our content-rich websites suitable for learning and exploration. Learners require more from us than keywords and killer headlines. They need an environment that is narrative, interactive, and discoverable. Amber Simmons tells how to begin creating rich content sites that invite and repay exploration and discovery.

• Getting to No

  20 Oct 2009 | 3:00 am

  A bad client relationship is like a bad marriage without the benefits. To avoid such relationships, or to fix the one you’re in, learn the five classic signs of trouble. Recognizing the never-ending contract revisionist, the giant project team, the vanishing boss and other warning signs can help you run successful, angst-free projects.

• 
  Publishing 2.0

• High-End Brand Publishers Need to Sell Scalable Premium Ad Solutions, Not Commodity Ad Space

  Scott Karp

  26 Oct 2009 | 9:26 am

  Newspaper online advertising has not benefited greatly from the recent upswing in online ad spending, according to the New York Times and most of the recent newspaper company quarterly results. This is no surprise because most newspaper websites sell SPACE for commodity advertising — display ads and classifieds — and thus are hard pressed to compete with ad networks that specialize in selling commodity ad space by the megaton (or giving it away for free, in the case of Craigslist). Back when newspapers where the only game in town for ad space, they could charge whatever they…

• Content Doesn’t Matter Without the Package

  Scott Karp

  16 Sep 2009 | 8:25 pm

  In response to the launch of Google’s Fast Flip, I observed that Google is correctly focused on creating a new user interface for news, when most media companies are not. A lot of people responded that Fast Flip is not an innovative or effective UI for news — which may be true, but that misses the point entirely. It doesn’t matter so much whether Google succeeds or fails with this particular experiment. What matters is that they are trying to solve the right problem. The challenge for media companies is not to figure out what to do with their content — content in and…

• What Google Understands About the Future of News and Publishing That Publishers Do Not

  Scott Karp

  14 Sep 2009 | 5:37 pm

  Google knows a lot about the future of news — more than many publishers. It’s evident in Google’s new product, Fast Flip, which allows news consumers to “flip” through news stories. What’s striking about Fast Flip is that Google is innovating precisely where publishers used to lead innovation. Fast Flip is a new package for news. The publishing business has always been about packaging content. Newspapers. Magazines. Newsletters In digital media, on the web, the news package is now a function of software — which is why Google is innovating precisely…

• The Briefing: Start at Y Combinator, finish at EveryBlock

  Ryan Sholin

  17 Aug 2009 | 1:54 pm

  It was a busy Monday morning in two corners of the hacker journalist community: EveryBlock is acquired by MSNBC, and Y Combinator announces a “request for startups” to address that whole “future of journalism” question hanging out there in the open air. Want to catch up? Start here: Msnbc.com acquires local news Web site MSNBC.com | August 17, 2009 Ryan Sholin says: MSNBC acquires Everyblock. This brief includes a reminder that they bought Newsvine some time ago. Not a bad stable of news sites to have around. Tags: Media & Journalism, EveryBlock, msnbc, Adrian…

• What I Read Today: Facebook Buys FriendFeed Edition

  Scott Karp

  10 Aug 2009 | 5:17 pm

  Why Facebook Wants FriendFeed GigaOm | August 10, 2009 Scott Karp says: Om Malik calls it “the problem of plenty.” Facebook is trying to solve it by acquiring FriendFeed. Will news orgs compete? Facebook Takes FriendFeed To Take On Twitter TechCrunch | August 10, 2009 Scott Karp says: M&A, as always, is driven by startups building what incumbents should have but couldn’t. karaswisher: Now That There’s FaceFeed, Does That Make Twoogle More Inevitable?: http://bit.ly/fET9I Twitter | August 10, 2009 Scott Karp says: Winner – Best FF/Facbook Post Title mathewi:…

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  SmartBrief on Social Media

• Social nets pose real IT risks

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Social media escapes oversight at many companies, providing security vulnerabilities that can threaten an enterprise network, -More- 

• Each e-contact worth $948 to IBM

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  IBM is embracing social media, but unlike many other firms, it is backing up its efforts with numbers.  -More- 

• Don't spam LinkedIn groups with links

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Newbies to a LinkedIn group need to establish a reputation before they post links, or they will be considered spammers, Doron -More- 

• Game consoles don't quite integrate social sites

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Facebook and Twitter are now on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but the way the tools are implemented renders them useless, Gus M -More- 

• Twitter reports end of Oprah's show before it's official

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

  Twitter was abuzz Thursday with news that Oprah Winfrey would announce the end of her longtime talk show this morning.  -More- 11 Advanced SEM Strategies Are your SEM costs up, or conversions down? Ben Brutsch explores strategies that can help, such as: - Deep funnel analysis - SEO and SEM synergies - Campaign Fencing Download Now

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  TechCrunch

• Gmail Creator Thinks Email Will Last Forever. And Hasn’t Tried Google Wave.

  MG Siegler

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:30 pm

  “Email is not going to disappear. Possibly ever. Until the robots kill us all.” – Paul Buchheit, creator of Gmail, co-founder of FriendFeed, currently doing vague infrastructure things at Facebook. Today, at our RealTime CrunchUp event in San Francisco, Buchheit and Threadsy founder Rob Goldman sat down for a chat with our own Steve Gillmor and Erick Schonfeld. The topic was: Can We Kill Email Already? All Aboard The Micro-Message Bus. So can we kill email? Well if Buchheit’s quote didn’t tip you off, the consensus was “no.” Though there are some…

• RealTime CrunchUp: Where’s The Money In RealTime?

  Jason Kincaid

  20 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pm

  For our last discussion at the RealTime CrunchUp, we’ve got a panel on actually generating revenue from these services. Participating in the discussion are some of the Valley’s top VCs and veterans of the space. Brian Singerman — Founders Fund Ron Conway — Angel Investor Dan’l Lewin — Corporate VP for Strategic and Emerging Business Development at Microsoft George Zachary — Charles River Ventures Paul Buchheit — Facebook/FriendFeed Andrew Braccia — Accel Partners Michael Arrington — Editor and Founder, TechCrunch Moderated by Steve Gillmor and Erick…

• RealTime CrunchUp: The Rise Of Geo Streams

  Jason Kincaid

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:36 pm

  Today at the RealTime CrunchUp, representatives from some of the top companies involved in location based services came together to talk about the current state and future of geo-based services. Participating in the panel were: Matt Galligan, co-Founder of SimpleGeo Ryan Sarver, Director of Platform at Twitter Tristan Walker, VP of Business Development at Foursquare Steve Lee, Group Product Manager Google Maps for Mobile and Google Latitude Justin Shaffer, Founder of Hot Potato Elad Gil, CEO of Mixer Labs Moderators were our own Erick Schonfeld and MG Siegler. Video by Ustream Early in the…

• Rippol’s Video Discovery Engine Launches To The Public

  Jason Kincaid

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:22 pm

  Rippol, the video discovery site that combines both complex algorithms with user suggestions to surface interesting content, has launched to the public at today’s RealTime CrunchUp. We recently took an in-depth look at the service, but for those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s a recap: Rippol looks at your video watching activity on the site, as well as that of your friends and people in your demographic. It then looks at meta data from video content ingested from sites like YouTube and Hulu, and uses machine learning to identify videos it thinks you’ll like. From…

• RealTime CrunchUp: Media Streams As The Ultimate Marketing Vehicle

  Leena Rao

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:13 pm

  At our Real-Time CrunchUp today in San Francisco, we are hosting a panel titles “Media Streams: Are These The Utlimate Marketing Vehicle?” Panelists include Sean Rad, CEO of Ad.ly; Ryan Amos, co-founder of DailyBooth; Jesse Engle, CEO of CoTweet; Robin Bechtel, a celebrity agent and Philip Nelson, SVP of strategic development for NewTek. Below find my live notes (paraphrased): ES: What are celebrities doing to leverage the social streams? RB: I oversee Britney Spears’ digital properties and we are using Twitter to build up buzz around her concerts. Using Twitter, we were…

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  Delicious Tag: Anthropology

• Edward T. Hall: Books

  atramantano

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:21 pm

• The Standard Cross Cultural Sample in R

  nikete

  20 Nov 2009 | 4:51 pm

• YouTube Blog: Curator of the Month: Michael Wesch

  PriscilaNeri

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:53 pm

• Journal de la société des américanistes

  cdnindexer

  20 Nov 2009 | 2:13 pm

• YouTube - An anthropological introduction to YouTube

  dojau

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:40 pm