If you enjoyed Ken Cosgrove busting a move on Mad Men, then you’ll love it even more when Daft Punk comes to call in the last century. We dare you to keep those happy feet still. Full story at YouTube via Kottke. Messing with TV.
Selected by jeffbrown
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Most Topular Stories
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Mad Men meets Daft Punk [video]
Holy Kaw!24 May 2013 | 5:36 pm -
The Morning After - s3 | e103 - Fri, May 24, 2013
Hulu - Popular videos today23 May 2013 | 11:53 pm“Hannibal,” “Save Me,” “Rookie Blue,” and more on “The Morning After.” -
We Buy Ideas, Not Media – Q&A with “Anti-Agency” CEO Ric Militi – Part 1
Mark Ramsey Media LLC23 May 2013 | 2:50 pmRic Militi is CEO and Creative Director of InnoVision LLC, a leading independent Southern California “anti-agency” (they don’t “buy” radio, for example, they “invest” in it), and he has strong feelings on radio’s place in the mediasphere. If you read no other part of this interview, skip to the last few paragraphs. This is Part 1 of our conversation. Part 2 posts tomorrow. Watch the video of our conversation or check out the highly abbreviated transcript below. Please upgrade your browser Prefer audio? Try this: Download mp3 (You can subscribe to all the MRM video and audio… -
You Cannot Keep Up a Façade for Three Years
Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel24 May 2013 | 2:30 amIf you are looking for a job. Don’t put up a facade and hope that you’ll eventually come to terms with what you have resigned yourself to do. Don’t do it. Just don’t. If you are in a job that is not your ideal job. Don’t fake it. Your best work will not come through. Your best efforts will never be applied to this role. Don’t do it. Just don’t. Don’t put up a facade to attempt doing a role that you are not passionate about. Don’t tell yourself a lie that you will eventually have to refute. Eventually you will need to come to terms with that… -
Have any tips for parents dealing with temper tantrums?
Lifehacker24 May 2013 | 3:00 pmGreat discussions are par for the course here on Lifehacker. Each day, we highlight a discussion that is particularly helpful or insightful, along with other great discussions and reader questions you may have missed. Check out these discussions and add your own thoughts to make them even more wonderful!Read more...
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Holy Kaw!
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Mad Men meets Daft Punk [video]
24 May 2013 | 5:36 pmIf you enjoyed Ken Cosgrove busting a move on Mad Men, then you’ll love it even more when Daft Punk comes to call in the last century. We dare you to keep those happy feet still. Full story at YouTube via Kottke. Messing with TV. -
One-upping Bond: Behold, the self-destructing hard drive [video]
24 May 2013 | 5:18 pmWorried about someone making off with your hard drive and all those super, secret files the bad guys are dying to get their dirty hands on? Well, chances are they’ll just hack you and the damage will be done before you have a clue what happened, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the show [...] -
What a week’s worth of groceries looks like around the world
24 May 2013 | 5:07 pmEver stop and look at your grocery cart as though it wasn’t yours? Would people say you were a healthy eater, a busy person, a late-night snacker? Photographer Peter Menzel decided to use a wider lens and focus on what families from different countries consume in a typical week and, as you might guess, pizza figures prominently [...] -
One thing a leader must to do succeed
24 May 2013 | 3:46 pmSadly, 25% of businesses fail within their first year and an astonishing 70% of businesses fail within ten years. So, if you’re thinking about starting a business or you’ve recently made the leap, how can you optimize your chances of success? What is the single most important factor in determining your success? 1. Build a strong [...] -
Wow! Couple’s close encounter with surfing killer whales in boat wake
24 May 2013 | 1:30 pm
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Hulu - Popular videos today
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The Morning After - s3 | e103 - Fri, May 24, 2013
23 May 2013 | 11:53 pm“Hannibal,” “Save Me,” “Rookie Blue,” and more on “The Morning After.” -
The Colbert Report - s9 | e108 - Thu, May 23, 2013
23 May 2013 | 11:14 pmNew York Times reporter Christopher Chivers visits The Colbert Report to talk about Syria.Closed captions available. -
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - s18 | e108 - Thu, May 23, 2013
23 May 2013 | 9:34 pmMorgan Freeman discusses his new movie "Now You See Me."Closed captions available. -
Hannibal - s1 | e8 - Trou Normand
23 May 2013 | 3:29 pmWill and Jack rush to stop a killer assembling his victims in a gruesome totem pole. Meanwhile, when Nicholas Boyle's body shows up, Abigail Hobbs and Hannibal are forced to cover their tracks.Closed captions available. -
The Morning After - s3 | e102 - Thu, May 23, 2013
22 May 2013 | 11:55 pm“Modern Family,” “MasterChef,” “The Middle,” and more on “The Morning After.”
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Mark Ramsey Media LLC
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We Buy Ideas, Not Media – Q&A with “Anti-Agency” CEO Ric Militi – Part 1
23 May 2013 | 2:50 pmRic Militi is CEO and Creative Director of InnoVision LLC, a leading independent Southern California “anti-agency” (they don’t “buy” radio, for example, they “invest” in it), and he has strong feelings on radio’s place in the mediasphere. If you read no other part of this interview, skip to the last few paragraphs. This is Part 1 of our conversation. Part 2 posts tomorrow. Watch the video of our conversation or check out the highly abbreviated transcript below. Please upgrade your browser Prefer audio? Try this: Download mp3 (You can subscribe to all the MRM video and audio… -
Radio: Pretend your Customers are Fans, not Advertisers
22 May 2013 | 4:55 amSo I’m talking to a digital solutions provider who has created a platform featuring new value for consumers as part of a radio station’s online brand. Right in the middle of his on-screen experience, surrounded by the new stuff he created for his radio client, is that particular station’s Facebook feed. “Why is that there?” I asked, since it has nothing to do with the value proposition of the content around it. “The station wanted it there,” he replied. “Why?” I asked. “Because they wanted to be able to promote their Facebook posts to their audience – and do it with the… -
I Don’t Need an App for That
20 May 2013 | 3:19 pmThe rule most broadcasters use in framing their mobile app (if they’re wise enough to have one) is: Does this app offer up a stream of the station? Does it throw in some podcasts and some blogs and even some social media feeds? All of that’s fine – as far as it goes. But does it go far enough? When you ponder a mobile platform for a station that can already be experienced on every mobile platform on every highway in your market (i.e., the “car”), you have to ask this question: What will consumers want from a mobile app when they can already hear the station on… -
What Radio can learn from ABC TV
15 May 2013 | 3:44 pmA few days ago ABC announced that they would begin live streaming content in two major markets with more to follow on a new app called WatchABC. NPR reports: ABC and other networks have long allowed you to watch their prime-time shows online after they air on TV, but ABC is the first broadcast over-the-air network to let you watch their live feed — including local news, daytime talk shows and prime-time dramas. Over the next few months, it will expand to cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Eventually, ABC expects most of its affiliates will be onboard. Is it the exact same… -
Your PPM Strategy is Wrong: Word-of-Mouth Still Matters
14 May 2013 | 9:07 amIt is almost impossible to count the ways in which playing to Arbitron’s PPM measurement methodology may provide short term gains for radio ratings, but very much at the expense of the health of radio brands long-term. And here’s yet another one. It is accepted wisdom that, since PPM supposedly measures behaviors rather than recall of behaviors, then so-called top-of-mind recall is irrelevant. After all, why remind folks that you’re there when they no longer need to remember what they listened to? Here’s one reason why. Because top-of-mind leads directly to…
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Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel
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You Cannot Keep Up a Façade for Three Years
24 May 2013 | 2:30 amIf you are looking for a job. Don’t put up a facade and hope that you’ll eventually come to terms with what you have resigned yourself to do. Don’t do it. Just don’t. If you are in a job that is not your ideal job. Don’t fake it. Your best work will not come through. Your best efforts will never be applied to this role. Don’t do it. Just don’t. Don’t put up a facade to attempt doing a role that you are not passionate about. Don’t tell yourself a lie that you will eventually have to refute. Eventually you will need to come to terms with that… -
The Internet Black Hole
23 May 2013 | 10:30 amIt seems logical, doesn’t it, to focus your job search effort toward applying for jobs online? With millions of jobs posted on over 10,000 job boards, you could apply 24/7/365. You could even apply without having to brush your teeth or change out of your pajamas! Unfortunately, over 99% of online job applications do not produce any results. The stupendous ineffectiveness of all these activities has given the internet a new nickname … “the black hole.” A black hole, for those who are not astrophysicists, is a place where large amounts of matter go in and nothing comes out. In… -
Harnessing the Power of Personal Brands in Your Business
23 May 2013 | 2:30 amSmall businesses don’t usually have huge amounts of capital to work with. They cannot afford to spend too much on advertising and the only way for them to succeed is to focus on providing great customer experiences. If a customer is happy with a certain product or service, then they are much likely to recommend it to others. This type of personal brand word of mouth marketing is highly efficient and cost effective. It plays an integral role in drawing customers to businesses such as plumbing, roofing, electrical repairs, tutoring, and the legal profession, among others. In order to create a… -
Putting the You in Business Dealings
22 May 2013 | 10:30 amPeople respond positively to other relatable people. A recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that advertisements that appealed to a specific emotion fared better than those with a celebrity endorsement. In a nutshell, the researchers discovered that an advertisement with an average man proposing to his girlfriend got a stronger response from consumers than the same product praised by a popular athlete. There are likely thousands of interpretations possible for this response, but here is what I think: people respond positively to other people like them. While glamorous, the… -
Profile of a Successful Salesperson
22 May 2013 | 2:30 amAre you driven? Successful salespeople are very goal driven determined to achieve their distant star and beyond. Further defining the personality and deep within, the successful salesperson does soul searching to understand their motivating forces and then prioritizes which to accomplish first. This becomes a forever commitment to education to do one’s best. And the competitive salesperson strives to be the best. When unusual ideas are presented, this type is not quick to dismiss but instead possesses an open mindset to consider possibilities. The attitude is, anything is possible, with the…
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Lifehacker
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Have any tips for parents dealing with temper tantrums?
24 May 2013 | 3:00 pmGreat discussions are par for the course here on Lifehacker. Each day, we highlight a discussion that is particularly helpful or insightful, along with other great discussions and reader questions you may have missed. Check out these discussions and add your own thoughts to make them even more wonderful!Read more... -
Make Something Great with PVC Pipe This Weekend
24 May 2013 | 1:00 pmAlthough not one of the DIY All Star materials, people use PVC pipe to create all sorts of awesome things because it's cheap, sturdy, and versatile. This weekend, grab some at your local hardware store and tackle one of these fun projects.Read more... -
Make a MacBook Dock with Sugru and a Few Cables
24 May 2013 | 12:00 pmLaptop docks generally don't come cheap—especially when you have a Mac. DIYer Johan Frick put together a simple docking solution with the necessary cables and a little bit of Sugru, saving a ton of money in the process.Read more... -
This Week's Most Popular Posts: May 17th to 24th
24 May 2013 | 11:30 amThis week we looked at the best Android phones around, got some career advice, and got some nice airline and hotel upgrades. Here's a look back.Read more... -
Cork or Twist: What's the Best Way to Stop Up a Wine Bottle?
24 May 2013 | 11:00 amCork, synthetic cork, or screw cap? Each medium has its perks, it seems. But which one keeps wine aging the right way? The experts at Stack Exchange attempt to put the controversy to rest.Read more...
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Mashable
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Ultra-Rare Apple I Computer Up for Auction
24 May 2013 | 4:02 pmAn Apple I computer, the low-powered PC that started it all for the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, co-founder Steve Wozniak and the then very new Apple Computers, is up for grabs on May 25. All you need is somewhere north of a half a million dollars. The still-working computer goes to the highest bidder at the German auction house Auction Team Breker. According to a release, the system is part of a wide-ranging auction of "Firsts" that includes a MITS Altair 8800, a Nat Wadsworth’s 1973 Scelbi-8H (the first Intel 8-bit system) and a mechanical computer, the Pascaline. The virtually… -
Hanson Beer Mmmhops to Make Its Debut
24 May 2013 | 3:24 pmNearly two years after pop band Hanson announced it would be introducing a beer line, Mmmhops is almost ready for its debut. That's right, dear readers — you'll be able to sip your way into '90s nostalgia. Called Mmmhops — a reference to the brothers' popular "MMMBop" song from 1997 — the pale ale makes a cameo in the film Hangover 3, which hits theaters this weekend. The beer is a product of Mustang Brewing in Oklahoma — the boys' home state — and is in the final stages of brewing, according to BeerPulse. Mmmhops has arrived @thehangover… -
Officials: Stopping 3D-Printed Guns Could Be Impossible
24 May 2013 | 2:47 pmAs the world's first 3D-printed handgun starts to be replicated, authorities are scrambling to react to a technological advancement that only a few weeks ago sounded more like science fiction than fact.. But according to a leaked bulletin by the Department of Homeland Security, any effort to stop the printing of these guns might be in vain. A May 21 DHS bulletin distributed to several law enforcement agencies across the country, and obtained by Fox News, basically states that there might be nothing that can be done to stop people from downloading and printing plastic guns "Limiting access may… -
Syrian Electronic Army Taunts Twitter in Latest Hack
24 May 2013 | 2:19 pmThe Syrian Electronic Army claimed credit for hacking one of British television network ITV's Twitter accounts Friday. One of the SEA's hijacked tweets linked to a story about Twitter's recently introduced two-step verification, aimed at preventing such hijackings. "Just kidding. The Syrian Electronic Army was here. #SEA via @Official_SEA12," read one of the false tweets from @itvlondon. The SEA's tweets have since been deleted and the account restored. An ITV spokesperson told Reuters the hack was triggered by a phishing email, meaning an ITV employee likely opened a malicious link that… -
Sony's Cute Speaker Ball Is Music to our Ears
24 May 2013 | 2:09 pmI'm kind of in love with Sony's little egg-shaped speaker, the SRS-BTV5. The tiny, tennis-ball-sized gadget is so cute, it really deserves a name other than the seemingly random series of characters. Maybe Veronica. It looks like a Veronica. At least mine does, but that's probably because it's raven colored. I really wanted one of the bright pink ones — it just seems to go better with the spherical shape — but black still makes a statement, if a quieter one. And by quiet, I'm referring to the design, of course — not the sound. Veronica actually plays fairly loud for a tiny…
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TechCrunch
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Ask A VC: Index Ventures' Danny Rimer On The Future Of Ecommerce And More
24 May 2013 | 2:50 pmOn this week’s Ask A VC episode, Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer joined us in the studio. Rimer has been in the venture industry for over 11 years so he had plenty to share on how VC has changed, and the differences in the venture world in Europe and the U.S. Rimer, who has led the firm’s investments in Etsy, Nastygal and many others, also talked to us about the future of e-commerce and how the industry is changing for startups. Check out the video above for more! -
Microsoft And Google Bury The Hatchet To Work On A Windows Phone YouTube App With Ads
24 May 2013 | 1:31 pmOnce a upon a time, Microsoft saw fit to put together a YouTube app for Windows Phone and it was actually pretty great — it let users download videos straight from the app and there was nary an ad to be found. To absolutely no one’s surprise, Google wasn’t too pleased: after all, the features that made the app so appealing didn’t exactly jibe with YouTube’s terms of service, and the search giant demanded the offending app be removed. Well, after a bit of back and forth (and a conciliatory update), it seems the two companies have finally come to an agreement. -
Gillmor Gang Live 05.24.13 (TCTV)
24 May 2013 | 1:07 pmGillmor Gang – Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, John Taschek, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor. Recording for today has concluded. -
Laptop Week Review: Samsung 700T Fly Or Die
24 May 2013 | 12:57 pmIn lieu of a formal review, Matt Burns and I sat down to take a look at the Samsung 700T AKA ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T, a convertible tablet that has a small button on the keyboard that pops out the Windows 8 tablet that forms the brains of the machine. The device is a bit chintzy – more pressed metal and injected plastic than I like to see on a laptop – but at about $1,000 retail it’s an acceptable compromise for Win8 users who are looking for a nicer tablet. I gave this device a Fly simply because I like the idea – a laptop that turns into a tablet with much fuss… -
Google Needs To Bring Emerging Markets Online To Grow Its Business Opportunities In The Next 10 years
24 May 2013 | 12:21 pmThe WSJ has reported that Google is participating in discussions with emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and Africa about setting up wireless network infrastructure in cities and towns. A source told the WSJ that: “The wireless networks would be available to dwellers outside of major cities where wired Internet connections aren’t available and could be used to improve Internet speeds in urban centers.” This aligns with Google’s goals of surrounding the world with technology that fits into our daily lives. That’s a “don’t be evil,”…
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Techmeme
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Venture Firms Build Own Software to Gain an Edge (Evelyn M. Rusli/Wall Street Journal)
24 May 2013 | 3:50 pmEvelyn M. Rusli / Wall Street Journal: Venture Firms Build Own Software to Gain an Edge — A new website named Grove popped up earlier this year to help entrepreneurs find potential recruits, talk to other startups and track rivals' growth. — That is if the entrepreneur is backed by Sequoia Capital, the well-known venture-capital firm … -
Iran Hacks Energy Firms, U.S. Says (Wall Street Journal)
24 May 2013 | 2:45 pmWall Street Journal: Iran Hacks Energy Firms, U.S. Says — Oil-and-Gas, Power Companies' Control Systems Believed to Be Infiltrated; Fear of Sabotage Potential — WASHINGTON—Iranian-backed hackers have escalated a campaign of cyberassaults against U.S. corporations by launching infiltration and surveillance missions … -
Google Glass's Hidden Labs Features - 'OK Glass' Everywhere, Web Browsing, Video Stabilization, And More [Video] (Ron Amadeo/Android Police)
24 May 2013 | 2:10 pmRon Amadeo / Android Police: Google Glass's Hidden Labs Features - ‘OK Glass’ Everywhere, Web Browsing, Video Stabilization, And More [Video] — Google Glass is very much an experimental piece of hardware and it turns out the software has been built with that ethos in mind, too. With root and a few carefully-crafted ADB commands … -
ITV News Twitter account hacked by Syrian Electronic Army (Reuters)
24 May 2013 | 1:40 pmReuters: ITV News Twitter account hacked by Syrian Electronic Army — (Reuters) - British broadcaster ITV on Friday became the latest media outlet to have one of its Twitter feeds hacked by anonymous supporters of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, just days after Twitter beefed up security to prevent such attacks. -
Microsoft and Google working together on new YouTube Windows Phone app (Tom Warren/The Verge)
24 May 2013 | 1:05 pmTom Warren / The Verge: Microsoft and Google working together on new YouTube Windows Phone app — Google is announcing today that it's working together with Microsoft on a new YouTube app for Windows Phone. Following a fight with Microsoft over an unauthorized Windows Phone YouTube application, the pair appear to have resolved their differences.
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Church Marketing Sucks
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The True Beauty of Alaska: Creative Missions Wrap Up
24 May 2013 | 6:31 amSurrounded by snow-capped mountain scenery begging to be Instagrammed at every turn, a team of creative missionaries from 17 different states and England spent the week pouring into ministries in Alaska, a state where license plates say “The Last Frontier” and snow is measured by the foot. “Alaska is a beautiful place. But the real beauty is the people,” said Creative Missions founder Cleve Persinger at the beginning of the week when the Anchorage region was hit with a late spring snow even for Alaska standards. “That’s why we’re here, to help… -
Get 15% Off Echo 2013
23 May 2013 | 12:20 pmThe Echo Conference is coming to Dallas July 24-26. It’s a conference for artists, geeks and storytellers. Score a 15% discount by using the code “ILOVECFCC”. The Center for Church Communication will be there, so stop by and say hello. You also have to check out the geekiest conference promo video ever. Also, the best: Echo 2013 Promo from Echo Hub on Vimeo. -
What the Church Could Learn from Google CEO Larry Page
22 May 2013 | 4:00 amLast week Google CEO Larry Page took the stage at the I/O keynote and shared some personal insights as well as a powerful quote that you may have already seen floating around the web: “We should be building great things that don’t exist.” Isn’t that amazing? Go ahead and read it again and let it soak in. Here are two major takeaways the church can take from Page’s keynote: 1. The Church Should Build Great Things That Don’t Exist We’ve spent so much time trying to be like the world, we’ve lost our identity. We want to produce music like the world. We want to… -
Kyna Moore on Creative Missions
21 May 2013 | 4:00 am“Creative Missions helps remind me that the church is bigger than Bellevue, Wash., … I love that for one week a year, I get to learn from pastors outside my region and denomination how they are sharing God’s love.” -Kyna Moore (Q&A With a Creative Missionary) This week Creative Missions is serving in Alaska. Consider supporting the effort and follow along to see what God is doing. -
Follow Along With Creative Missions 2013
20 May 2013 | 4:00 amThis week church communication professionals are serving in Anchorage, Alaska, with Creative Missions. It’s a missions trip for creatives and a chance to help local churches communicate better. Learn more about this year’s trip and follow along: (Not working? View the story “Creative Missions 2013″ on Storify.) [View the story "Creative Missions 2013: Anchorage" on Storify]
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Ron Edmondson
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A Secret to Success in Ministry You May Not Know
24 May 2013 | 4:20 amI might have discovered a secret to the success of Jesus’ disciples. And therefore my own ministry. I never caught it until recently. Read these verses and see if you see what I saw: They were to wear sandals, but not put on an extra shirt. So they went out and preached that people should repent. (Mark 6:9, 12 ) Remember what happened? And they were driving out many demons,anointing many sick people with olive oil, and healing them. (Mark 6:13) Did you catch what made them successful? Don’t miss it? They wore sandals. You get it. If I want people to respond. If I want to see… -
5 Words That Can Shape Your Parenting
23 May 2013 | 4:00 amI learned much of what I know about parenting after I was a parent. Thankfully, my two boys are model young people. I would say I have two of the greatest young men as sons that any parent has ever seen. (Biased…aren’t I?) But, seriously, we have seen good fruit from our labor as parents. I believe that is in part because we followed certain principles. Again, we learned as we went and it was purely the grace of God, but we were intentional. These principles can greatly increase your success as a parent, in my opinion. This comes not only from my personal experience, but also my… -
7 Ways to Respond on Sunday after a Disaster is in the News
22 May 2013 | 4:00 amThis was a week (again) where the news was dominated by a natural disaster. Knowing that this blog is read by many pastors and church leaders, I felt led to address the issue many of them (us) will be considering…or at least should be. How to respond the Sunday after a disaster in the news: This is often a delicate issue. Unless your church is super large, and probably even then, you won’t be able to respond to every disaster with money and people. Obviously there are disasters every week. Some get more national attention than others. How do you know what to address on Sunday? How do… -
How to Follow My Blog After Google Reader
21 May 2013 | 7:00 amIf you haven’t heard, Google Reader is going away. Quickly. It was announced a couple months ago, but it ends July 1, 2013. I was bummed, because I use Google Reader to follow most of the blogs I follow. Many people follow this blog through Google Reader. What to do? Well, short answer…it’s easy. Case solved. Sign up to have this blog emailed. Do that at the top right of my home page HERE. Just enter your email address and follow the instructions. Sign up for Feedly. Do that HERE. Feedly is a quick, couple minute transfer of your Google Reader blogs to follow them on Feedly. -
How to Pray for and Respond to Oklahoma
21 May 2013 | 4:00 am(I borrowed this picture from the Salvation Army website. Since I mentioned them below I hope they won’t mind.) Yet another tragedy. There are no words to describe the scenes we are seeing from the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma. No words. So don’t say anything. Just pray. Please, don’t try to provide answers when people ask why. Don’t pretend you know why. Don’t find some “righteous” sounding reason for the devastation. It’s not helpful. So don’t say anything. Just pray. Years ago, when I served as vice mayor of my community, we were hit…
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Pete Wilson
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The Truth About Prayer
22 May 2013 | 6:48 amThis past Sunday at Cross Point, we continued our series on the 5 Lies We Believe where we focused on prayer. I received so much feedback from all of you and countless others so I couldn’t narrow it down to just one central lie that we buy into when it comes to prayer, but I touched on 3 different lies. We put together a quick video recap for you. I really hope it will help some of you to know the truth about prayer. Your prayers DO matter to God. Your prayers DO change things.
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ChurchCrunch
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Becoming An Effective Worship Leader
24 May 2013 | 8:00 amEveryone wants to be an effective worship leader. Except for those that are not worship leaders I suppose. There are plenty of blog posts about being an effective worship, how to fail as a worship leader and if you’re worship leader is a superstar wannabe. But Carlos Whittaker, aka: Los Whit, aka: Ragamuffin Soul, has finally narrowed all these down to 7 Keys To Becoming An Effective Leader Of Worship: 7 Keys To Becoming An Effective Leader Of Worship Stop thinking there are actual keys to this and just read your freaking Bible and meditate on it so that it pours out of You on… -
Dangerous: A Go-to Guide for Church Communication
24 May 2013 | 7:00 amThey way our world communicates is rapidly changing and if the Church doesn’t take notice and change it’s communication style, we will fail to reach the world. Change can be difficult, especially if you’re unsure exactly how you should go about that change. Thankfully, a new book on Church communication has been made available from the classy and knowledgeable Center for Church Communication: DangerousA Go-to Guide for Church Communication From the Center for Church Communication: “This booklet is written by the reinforcements, men and women in the trenches of church… -
The Boat for Singing
24 May 2013 | 6:00 amSinging together in a room with great acoustics does so much for the soul! It always renews me and fills me up to go forth with the simple singing of a song like “It is Well” or “Amazing Grace” This boat, takes singing to a completely new level, one I’d love to be a part of someday soon! Here is what the boat’s creator had to say: Being afloat disarms the visitor, creating a space for new experiences, especially in close proximity to the water’s surface. The substance of water, unlike land, is unowned and unregulated, while singing in groups creates a… -
The Truth About the Me Me Me Generation
24 May 2013 | 5:00 amUnderstanding the effects of technology on our culture and different generations is essential for the Church. We have to be careful that our culture doesn’t fog our Biblical worldview, and for us to effectively deliver the Gospel, it’s important to know what people are thinking and how they view the world. Perspective dramatically effects how we see things, and if we’re trying to point out the truth, we need to make sure we’re pointing in the right direction. Is it on your left or my left? One thing I’ve been seen popping-up around the web and in the halls of… -
Creative Advertising: Humane Society Bus Ad
24 May 2013 | 4:00 amI had to post this. Not only is this incredibly creative advertising and funny… …but cats always bring more pageviews. #problogging [via Reddit] You just finished reading "Creative Advertising: Humane Society Bus Ad" on ChurchMag! Feel free to comment on it! We use the Standard Theme for our blog platform!
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WSJ.com: Media & Marketing
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Factory Deaths Raise Fast Fashion Doubts
24 May 2013 | 2:08 pmDeadly accidents in Bangladesh factories have people questioning the costs of "fast fashion," a design trend pioneered by Spanish labels that relentlessly rotate collections to keep new styles on store racks. -
McDonald's Defends Ronald
23 May 2013 | 3:33 pmMcDonald's CEO Don Thompson, presiding over his first annual shareholders meeting since taking the helm, last summer, defended Ronald McDonald and the company's efforts to market to children. -
Discovery to Launch Online Video Network
22 May 2013 | 9:01 pmDiscovery Communications is launching a video network, dubbed TestTube, with original series available free, hoping to capture younger viewers harder to reach through traditional TV. -
Music's Best Marketing: Awards
20 May 2013 | 10:45 amThe digital age is transforming the music industry, but an old standby is boosting record sales: the awards show. -
Starbucks Sets Sights on Vietnam
19 May 2013 | 4:10 pmStarbucks has penetrated scores of markets over the years, but may face a challenge in Vietnam's deep-rooted coffee culture.
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WSJ.com: Personal Technology
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High-Tech Grocery Lists
22 May 2013 | 4:46 amCranky Consumer tries few services that aim to make shopping a piece of cake: grocery-list mobile apps. -
Quicken on the Mac
22 May 2013 | 12:35 amWalt Mossberg answers a reader's question on using a Windows version of Quicken on the Mac. -
Raising the iPad's Productivity Level
15 May 2013 | 12:09 pmIPads and other tablets are being used every day for productivity tasks once reserved for laptops. Walt Mossberg looks at apps that attempt to emulate the features of Office. -
An Old Start to a New Windows
14 May 2013 | 1:50 pmWalt Mossberg reviews Start8 and Pokki, two products that restore the Start Menu to Windows 8. -
iTunes You Can Use
8 May 2013 | 11:56 amFor people who are puzzled over fine points of iTunes, Katherine Boehret offers some ways to improve the way they use the digital-download source.
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Ford Motor Company Newsroom
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Ford Honors Top Suppliers Around the Globe for Excellence in 2012
24 May 2013 | 12:00 pmFord Motor Company hosted its 15th annual World Excellence Awards (WEA) ceremony Thursday evening to celebrate 47 of its top-performing global suppliers in 2012. -
Ford eNews – May 22, 2013
22 May 2013 | 1:30 pmKBB.com: Ford Fusion is a Best Family Car; Ford Fusion Energi earns top safety rating; Ford Fusion, Escape accelerate 'super segment' share gains; Ford increases capacity in North America; Ford enables makers to innovate on TechShop tour; Ford – empowering diversity for 35 years -
Ford Credit Presentation at AFSA Credit Summit for Fixed Income Investors
22 May 2013 | 7:00 amOn Wednesday, May 29, Sam Smith, director, Long Term Funding and Securitization, Ford Motor Company, will deliver a presentation about Ford Motor Credit Company at the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) Credit Summit for Fixed Income Investors in Boston. The presentation will begin at 4:10 p.m. ET and last approximately 35 minutes. -
Ford Increases North American Capacity by 200,000 Units and Reduces Summer Shutdown to Meet Surging Demand
21 May 2013 | 10:01 pmFord Motor Company will add an additional 200,000 units of annual straight-time capacity this year. In addition, Ford will produce an extra 40,000 units by idling select plants for only one week during what has been the traditional two-week summer shutdown. -
Ford Fusion Energi Earns Top Vehicle Safety Rating from NHTSA
19 May 2013 | 10:01 pmThe 2013 Ford Fusion Energi has earned the highest possible “five-star” Overall Vehicle Score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The five-star rating is the U.S. Government’s highest-possible safety rating and is determined only after severe testing procedures as part of NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), which combines vehicle performance in frontal and side-impact crash tests and resistance to rollover.
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@ProBlogger
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How to Create a Blog Purpose Statement in 3 Simple Steps
23 May 2013 | 8:54 amYesterday, I shared a series of questions to help those bloggers seeking a little clarity when it comes to what their blog could be about. Today, I wanted to share 3 more questions – these are not so much focused upon YOU as a blogger but upon your readers. Hopefully they’ll also help you achieve a little clarity. Who are your readers? What do they need? How will they change as a result of reading your blog? Answer these 3 questions and you will actually have a pretty good purpose statement for your blog. You could certainly go into some real depth on each question but even doing… -
7 Questions to Ask Yourself to Bring Clarity to Your Blogging
22 May 2013 | 8:28 amDo you feel like you’ve lost clarity around what it is that you’re trying to do with your blog? I’ve recently bumped into a few bloggers grappling with this idea. Some were new, even ‘Pre’ Bloggers, while a couple had been blogging for a while but had lost some direction. Out of these conversations, I put together a set of questions to help them think it through. The questions revolve around asking: What are YOU About? While I won’t guarantee you instant clarity on answering these questions I hope that putting a little time aside to work through them… -
7 Steps to Proofreading Like a Pro
21 May 2013 | 9:37 amThis is a guest contribution by Charles Cuninghame, website copywriter and owner of Text-Centric. I’m sure we can all agree that proofreading is the least fun part of blogging. But while it may be tedious, it’s well worth the effort. Typos are not only embarrassing, they can also cost you money. In a widely reported study in 2011, British entrepreneur Charles Duncombe found a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half! If you don’t have a product, then you could be missing out a blog subscriber or repeat visitor! Here’s a tried and tested proofreading process that I’ve… -
Are You Balancing Emerging Technology with Effective Strategy?
20 May 2013 | 8:21 amLast week I was asked at a conference to reflect upon the future of digital and among other things I made a reflection that seemed to resonate with those gathered. It was: Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. As online publishers we see a steady stream of articles being written about new and future technologies, companies and trends in the online publishing space. It is certainly an exciting time to be doing what we’re doing with such amazing development happening all around us and some amazing projections being made about what is ahead of us – however in the midst… -
How to Blog Like a Pro: Workshop on the Gold Coast Australia – Next Week
19 May 2013 | 7:56 pmNext week (29th May) I’m running a special workshop at the Internet Conference on the Gold Coast here in Australia. The workshop is titled – How to Blog Like a Pro – and you’ll get 4 solid hours of teaching in it – all delivered by me in a workshop limited to 40 people only. The workshop has only previously been available to those signing up to the full 3 day conferences as an add-on but there are a few tickets still available and so I asked the organisers if we could sell them as a stand-alone ticket (i.e. you don’t have to come to the full 3 day event).
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ReadWrite
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Marissa Mayer Has Already Made One Big Mistake With Tumblr
24 May 2013 | 2:30 pmYahoo's $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr is already being hailed as a brilliant move, securing a younger Internet demographic and a fertile field for native advertising, an innovative business model where content from brands lives side by side with users' contributions. In buying Tumblr, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer made a nod to the company's past missteps in promising to "not screw it up." But in one crucial way, she already has. That $1.1 billion is a lot of shareholder cash. And so Yahoo is promising investors that Tumblr will contribute to the bottom line next year. An understandable… -
Google Planning Wireless Networks To Connect The Next 1B People - WSJ
24 May 2013 | 1:25 pmIf Google had its way, everyone in the world would be on the Internet, using Google services. To bring that goal to fruition, Google is reportedly working to build cellular networks in Africa and Southeast Asia to help bring hundreds of millions of people online for the first time. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google is in talks with countries like Kenya and South Africa to fund and deploy cellular networks in those countries, using wireless spectrum reserved for television broadcasts. Bone deep in Google’s business strategy is that the more people that use the Web, the more… -
Microsoft And Google Declare A Truce In Their YouTube Fight
24 May 2013 | 1:03 pmGoogle and Microsoft are finally shaking hands and agreeing to work together over Microsoft's controversial YouTube app for Windows Phone devices. "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube’s API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time," Microsoft and YouTube said in a joint statement sent to ReadWrite. Microsoft will take down the current YouTube app from the Windows… -
iOS 7 Rumor Watch: 'Black, White and Flat All Over'
24 May 2013 | 12:11 pmIt's widely rumored that Apple's new iOS 7, to be unveiled at WWDC next month, will ditch the company's ill-fated love affair with "heavy textures," also known as skeuomorphic design, for a more flattened take on the user interface. A new report from 9to5mac on Friday suggests that this new flat design will also incorporate lots of black and white, though it's unclear just how far this simplified color scheme will permeate the new OS. (See also: iOS Users Beg Apple: Set Our iPhones & iPads Free!) Other updates will reportedly include changes to the longstanding lock screen, new… -
Google Has A Trojan Horse To Disrupt TV: Really, Really Big Data
24 May 2013 | 10:08 amIt's a huge year for TV's future. Yet for all the excitement about Web-first soap operas, data-driven programming and the disruption of broadcast, the Internet TV "inflection point" that 2013 has become is just the beginning. A Trojan horse is slowly rolling into town, and it's bursting at the seams with data. Wheeling it along is none other than Google. Indeed, if the data-fueled success of Netflix's House of Cards is as crucial to TV's future as many believe, what Google is most likely planning will make the transformation we've witnessed so far look like early innings in a very long…
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chrisbrogan.com
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Be Open to Inspiration
10 May 2013 | 8:41 amI’ve been in a bit of a fog the last week or so. Nothing worth talking about, really. Depression stuff. But then it lifted. What’s interesting to me is how I found my footing and how I got back on track, and so there are two items I want to share with you from this: the actual learning, and more importantly, the realization of what got me there. Be Open to Inspiration Humans have this way they deal with too much information. They discard tons of inputs and keep what they feel is important. This is necessary, by the way. Can you imagine how busy your brain would be if you thought… -
Do Local Businesses Deserve Your Money?
7 May 2013 | 1:38 pmI sat at the counter at my local restaurant the other day and waited for over 7 minutes without anyone bothering to acknowledge that I was there. And then I walked out. And so did my money. For good. In fact, I drove to McDonalds, got some scrambled eggs and an iced coffee, and was in and out of the system within the same 7 minutes. (You can save your comments with disdain for McDonalds. If you’re a parent, you go there, unless you don’t. Either way. It’s not the point.) Now, before you try to defend this other place, no, it wasn’t busy. Yes, at least two employees had seen me, and… -
Why Use These Outlier Social Media Tools?
30 Apr 2013 | 4:21 pmWhy should you bother using tools like Vine and Instagram, and the like? That question was asked to me by Pam Vitaz, and she asked it somewhat in this context (my words not hers): Vine’s interesting, but you basically just shot a funny video. Why do that? Here’s the video she meant: Can’t see the video? Click Here. Can’t hear sound? Hover over it and click the little sound thingy. On the surface, it’s the kind of question you can answer with “why not?” But that’s not good enough. Why Use These Outlier Social Media Tools? First, it’s your… -
Can You Work at Being Fearless?
29 Apr 2013 | 7:03 amFear is at the heart of most of our worst choices. I read this facebook post by James Altucher and it really punched me in the stomach. But that’s just one punch in a series, because every time I question how I ended up somewhere, the real answer (underneath all the bull answers) is fear. It’s why most stupid things happen, why all bad things happen (when humans are involved), and is even worse than you think. I’m afraid of a weird collection of things. I’m afraid of sharks (ever since seeing Jaws at a very young age – because I pestered my parents tirelessly til… -
Sponsored Post – Mobile Productivity and the Future
24 Apr 2013 | 4:53 amCan you be productive while on the road? I say yes. In fact, I’m writing this from a hotel room before heading off to a meeting with a client. The following is sponsored by Cloud Powered Work, which is a project with IDG, LinkedIn, and Microsoft’s Office365. Everything in this post is mine, and my opinions are my own. I just produced an episode of my radio show from my hotel room, because I realized that an episode was due and I hadn’t done the work before I took off for the day. Last night, while I waited for my slightly delayed airplane, I cracked open SkyDrive pulled down…
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Brian Solis
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Be a Tool: Properly Resource Your Enterprise for Social Media
24 May 2013 | 8:25 amGuest post by Danna Vetter, VP, Consumer Strategies, ARAMARK You’ve heard it all before. You do your research. You write the strategy. You set the goals and objectives. You train your community managers. You go live in two weeks. Facebook announces Timeline. You kick [insert EVERYTHING]. There is only one thing that can be done in situations such as these – control what you can control. As marketers, we have all come to rely on these external social platforms, of which we do not own, control, or lead. There is obviously a certain compromise that we all must accept in this new world – we… -
Getting Back to Basics: Why Brands are Getting it Wrong in Social Media
21 May 2013 | 8:29 amQuestion: What is your #1 advice for social media strategists and managers? Answer: Stop talking about social media Type “social media” into a Google search bar and you’ll find roughly about 4.7 billion results in .30 seconds. Next, try “social media conference.” You’ll see something along the lines of 1.2 billion results in .25 seconds. Social media is important but I’d argue we aren’t celebrating it for the reasons we should. Instead, we are forcing social media to conform to traditional thinking and processes rather than adapting business philosophies and supporting… -
Internal social networks improve communication + collaboration when empowered to do so
17 May 2013 | 4:49 amI received an email from my friend at CIO Journal just as I boarded a United flight from Mexico City to San Francisco. He was on deadline and the topic was too good to miss. I’ve spent more than a fair amount of time studying and reporting on the social landscape as it pertained to internal engagement, communication and collaboration. I frantically typed on my iPhone with my thumbs before the door closed. Time was.running.out. With the hit of the send button, the door closed, and I was relieved to know that I made the deadline. Fast forward….the article recently ran in… -
New Digital Influencers: The Coming Youthquake
14 May 2013 | 7:32 amElements of inspiration that went on to become my new book, What’s the Future of Business, Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences Blame it on the youth they say. Indeed, there’s a great assumption that the future of technology falls in the hands of emergent generations. The youth of today will someday represent the majority of consumers, employees and citizens. That’s always the case, but what we don’t yet fully appreciate is just how different young adults think today. We don’t yet understand what it is they value and why. We’ve not yet assimilated how they make decisions… -
Part 2: The Broken Link of Social Customer Service
9 May 2013 | 8:05 amPart Two. An edited excerpt of What’s the Future of Business, Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences In Part 1 of this series, The First Mile: The Broken Link of Social Media Customer Service, we reviewed the opportunities and challenges that face any business seeking to engage customers in social networks. To become customer-centric requires a culture that supports customer-centricity and an active investment in defining the first mile experience. The first mile of customer engagement is a post-commerce or post-transaction strategy that invests in an ongoing experience to keep…
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Social Media Mom
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The Perfect Data Storm [Infographic]
21 May 2013 | 12:04 pmThere is a perfect data storm that is upon us and is threatening our mobile broadband networks. More and more people are using visually heavy social content such as photos and videos. All of this data could result in network slow-downs and higher costs for subscribers. In the future, it is likely that out networks will need 1000x more bandwidth. The kind of content we consume on mobile is becoming more meatier and diverse, such as Ebooks, sountracks and movies. Check out the infographic below presented by spark.qualcomm.com to learn more about the data storm heading our way and how we can… -
How is Media Affecting Kids? [Infographic]
14 May 2013 | 12:52 pmKeeping your children’s mind and bodies healthy is a big part of parenting. But how do you do that when they are being overrun by media and technology on a daily basis? A child’s idea of “playing” used to be enjoying the outdoors, now they prefer iPhones, iPads, gaming consoles and many other forms of gaming technology. How is this affecting them? Check out the infographic below to learn about how media and technology is affecting children. Source: Early Childhood Education Degrees -
ABCs of Motherhood [Infographic]
9 May 2013 | 2:35 pmDid you know there are 2 billion Moms in the world? That means lots of babies! Check out the infographic below presented by Mommy.com to learn some interesting numbers behind motherhood. -
Technology in the Classroom [Infographic]
26 Apr 2013 | 10:32 amIf you are in your early thirties or over, you may remember some modern technology being introduced in school. You probably took a typing class and may have worked on computers for one or two classes. Today, the classroom looks quite a bit different. With the advancement of technology and the growing concern for the environment, schools are shifting their focus. The days of backpacks heavy laden with oversized textbooks are becoming a thing of the past. Today’s textbooks are neatly compressed data stored on an iPad or other digital devices. Such devices are, in some cases, also… -
Are Women Bad Drivers? [Infographic]
17 Apr 2013 | 10:44 amAre women really bad drivers? According to a study, 6.5 million car crashes happen when both drivers are women, which only accounts for 20.5 percent of all car crashes. Ninety-four percent of all crashes involving death or bodily harm involve male drivers. Also, women are 27 percent less likely to cause auto accidents than men. Check out the infographic below to learn more about the numbers behind both men and women drivers to decide for yourself if women are bad drivers or not. Source: Shift Insurance
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PR-Squared - Social Media Marketing and Public Relations
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7 secrets to a successful, enduring business
20 May 2013 | 5:29 amWhat makes an agency successful begins not with fancy corporate jargon or a client roster of well known brands, but with the people at it. Choosing who those people are and who they collectively can be is a daunting challenge overall, but impossible without knowing what you stand for. That’s why core values are so important. At SHIFT, our core values are part of employee reviews. They’re part of monthly team meetings, when team leaders recognize accomplishments by their team members aligned with each of the values. They’re part of our hiring process, and candidates are… -
Nibbling at the Apple
7 May 2013 | 4:22 amIt’s becoming fashionable to take a bite out of Apple. There was Jean-Louis Gassée’s scathing article in the Guardian. There was Jon Gruber (of Daring Fireball) damning Apple with faint praise: blaming the media for cherrypicking the news to weave a narrative about Apple’s slow demise. I expect the chorus to grow louder before it weakens. Blood in the water, and all that. Apple doesn’t do itself many favors. Its trenchant secrecy used to seem cool – and I daresay it would still be considered cool – if not for the fact that a) competitive technologies are legitimately “catching… -
Did you know 70% of Facebook users are mobile?
3 May 2013 | 5:56 am…at least some of the time. That’s the latest in our findings after reading through Facebook’s Q12013 SEC Filing. See what other surprises are on tap for marketers in our summary on the SHIFT Communications blog post. -
SHIFT Turns 10: Reflecting Back, Looking Forward
30 Apr 2013 | 5:55 amWhen we sat around a conference table and battled through the process of defining our values a few years ago, SHIFT changed as an organization – we now had criteria that helped us define what it meant to be a SHIFTer and helped guide us through decisions, whether it was about our people, clients or services. We had a roadmap in a way we never had one before – sure, the instinct had been there, but now it was tangible and the fact that those values have lived far beyond a poster on a wall, is something we all take tremendous pride in as an organization. Want to see what we did with those… -
Put out the fires with effective crisis communications
2 Apr 2013 | 5:41 amOver on the SHIFT blog, we’re looking at the strategy for extinguishing the fires when your brand is ablaze. Knowledge, speed, and ownership are the three keys that will help you get things under control quickly with effective crisis communications. Learn more and download the free infographic now!
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Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Insights - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image
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A Birthday Wish
24 May 2013 | 4:40 amYes, today is my Birthday. I'm not big on birthdays. That's not true. I'm just not big on my own birthday. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I never got the pony that I wanted when I was a little kid (joke!). I've received a bunch of kind birthday wishes already (many thanks). With that, many people have also said that they are going to buy a copy of my new book, CTRL ALT Delete, today as "birthday gift." And, to be honest, that's just amazingly awesome. Still, it feels a little self-serving. I not only can't stop anyone from doing that, because I do want to encourage as many people… -
Staggering Stats And The New Reality
23 May 2013 | 8:17 amHave you seen the CTRL ALT Delete experience yet? My latest book, CTRL ALT Delete, came out two days ago. In an attempt to create attention and interest, the team at Twist Image put together a very compelling story about business today. So far, the experience has been getting some rave reviews in places like Twitter and Facebook, but - for the most part - people are still misunderstanding what this all means. When you put things into context, provide the data to back it and present it as a story, you would think that the information would wake people up. It rarely does. It turns out that… -
Welcome To The One Screen World
21 May 2013 | 7:56 pmChannel surfing got weird. There was this episode of All-Star Celebrity Apprentice this season that revolved around each team's ability to create a television ad for the consumer electronics company, LG. It wasn't really about a particular model of television or kitchen appliance. It wasn't about some new-fangled technology that would allow their washing machines to clean your clothes through some kind of micro-parcel technology. It was all about how connected these devices have now become. The television, the smartphone, the washer and dryer and yes, even the refrigerator are now… -
CTRL ALT Delete. Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends On It. Today Is The Day
21 May 2013 | 4:48 amWhat are you going to reboot today? Today is the day. My second business book, CTRL ALT Delete, is now available. This book is broken up into two sections. Section one is titled Reboot: Business and in it, I define the five movements that have changed business forever that brands are doing little (to nothing) about. These aren't trends (as in, things that are coming). These are movements. They are here. They are backed up with data. They are massive. This will freak out many - but more importantly - provide an amazing opportunity for anybody (from startup to multinational) to take advantage… -
Understanding Humans And Making Marketing Better
19 May 2013 | 5:31 amEpisode #358 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to. There are certain people that business leaders and marketers should be paying a lot more attention to. Adam Alter is one of those individuals. He recently published his first book, Drunk Tank Pink - And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel And Behave, and it is a truly fascinating journey into the relationship between the forces of our environment and how this shapes the outcomes of our lives. Yes, it's deep stuff, but it is told in a very fun and compelling way (no…
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Common Craft - Common Craft - Our Product is Explanation
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What Explanation and Design Have in Common
23 May 2013 | 10:17 amWe hear a lot about design these days. Apple products are probably the most popular examples. The idea is that Apple became one of the most valuable companies in the world, in part, because they focus on the design of their products. But what does that mean, really? What do organizations who focus on design do differently? Recently the TV show 60 Minutes featured the design company IDEO, which was founded by David Kelley. At multiple points in the interview, Kelley mentions an idea that is at the core of design and design thinking. The word is empathy. The central tenet of… -
HuntingEnglish's Top Ten Explanation Tips
20 May 2013 | 11:54 amEnglish teacher Alex Quigley (@HuntingEnglish) recently shared his top ten explanation tips: A few gems: 1. ‘Know what the students know’ when planning your explanation: All great teachers have an excellent knowledge of their students. This knowledge is paramount in pitching the explanation just right. Vygotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development’ is key here – the explanation should be matched to the audience: not too complex as to be unintelligible to the students, but not too simple or unchallenging so as to bore the students and prove uninteresting. By knowing your students you… -
Seth Godin on Learning by Analogy
20 May 2013 | 10:49 amMarketing genius and author Seth Godin recently wrote about the use of analogy in educating others and frames an idea that's near and dear to my heart: Marketing, like all forms of art, requires us to learn to see. To see what's working and to transplant it, change it and amplify it. We don't teach this, but we should. We don't push people to practice the act of learning by analogy, because it's way easier to just give them a manual and help them avoid thinking for themselves. The opportunity is to find the similarities and get ever better at letting others go first--not with what… -
Want a Successful Revolution? Find an Explainer
17 May 2013 | 10:47 amJason Kottke pointed me to a passage from the Kurt Vonnegut novel Bluebeard, where he outlines the three types of specialists that are needed for success in a revolution. Remarkably, one is an explainer. Here’s the passage: Slazinger claims to have learned from history that most people cannot open their minds to new ideas unless a mind-opening teams with a peculiar membership goes to work on them. Otherwise, life will go on exactly as before, no matter how painful, unrealistic, unjust, ludicrous, or downright dumb that life may be. The team must consist of three sorts of… -
So, How's The Book Doing?
14 May 2013 | 11:20 amAbout 6 months ago, my first book was published: The Art of Explanation. Being my first, I didn’t know what to expect from the process, the reviews, the sales, the marketing. Thankfully I found my way through and now have some information on how it’s been received. First, let me start by offering a HUGE thanks to all the people who have purchased the book. You rock. I wish I could thank you more personally. I hope it has helped you think differently about how you communicate. So how IS the book doing? A few factors helped me get some sense of how the book has been received since it…
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Christopher S. Penn : Awaken Your Superhero
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When pricing is public, when pricing shouldn’t be public
24 May 2013 | 3:44 amEllen Butler asked: “Do you post your project, hourly, or starting rates on your website?” The answer depends on what pricing model you’re using. If what you’re selling is a commodity, then pricing can be public. Most people who are in service-based businesses are selling hours of their time, which they treat as a commodity, just like apples, iron, gold, Apple’s stock, rice, and corn. That pricing model also makes it easy for buyers to do apples-to-apples comparisons. John Doe’s pricing is $50 an hour, while Jane Doe’s pricing is $40 an hour. If all… -
How to never run out of content: teach the news
23 May 2013 | 5:07 amIf you’re struggling with a content marketing strategy, if you’re struggling to put together something that your brand can be known for, the simplest, most effective fallback is to teach the news. Yesterday, I was doing some work on a financial aid company’s account. Few things are as bewildering or poorly explained as the process of paying for college. The converse of this quandary is that the opportunity to explain it, any part of it, is a limitless well you can draw from if you teach people how the system works, especially as news occurs. For example, in the financial aid… -
Beware of checkbox marketing!
22 May 2013 | 3:49 amDoes this sound familiar? When you’re looking to buy a product or service, especially as a business, there’s a list of must-have features. A/B split testing. Dolby Surround Sound. Retargeting. If a product or service doesn’t have the features that you or your executives read as “must-have”, you give it a pass. Does this sound familiar? When you’re in product development, you have a laundry list of features that the best in class competitor has, and you’re comparing it to your own. At every turn, things that actually need to get done get bumped in… -
Changing your mind in a suit
20 May 2013 | 3:36 amEver notice that business is getting more and more casual? I certainly have. Dress codes have been relaxed almost to the point of “please just wear clothing”. That’s okay – the more latitude you give people, the more ability you give them to differentiate themselves. That’s one of the main reasons I love to wear a very formal business suit on things like customer visits and on stage, complete with the seemingly unnecessary necktie. It’s a differentiator as more people get more casual. There’s an even more esoteric reason for doing so beyond surface… -
What Warcraft teaches us about selling convenience
17 May 2013 | 3:51 amOne of the easiest paths to profit in World of Warcraft is to have a mage visit the various cities in the game and pick up stock items from various vendors and resell them at obscenely high prices. For example, here’s my mage visiting the engineering company in the game to buy some blueprints from him for 2 gold coins. She’ll resell these plans on the in-game market, the auction house, for anywhere between 20 and 437 gold, depending on how lazy the customer is feeling, and someone will buy them without fail in the next 48 hours. Why wouldn’t the customer simply go to the…
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louisgray.com
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Apps and Gadgets Optimizing More of Your Life Data
23 May 2013 | 10:39 pmIt's been just over a year since I started my experiment with Fitbit, tracking not only my every step daily, but also my weight, learning how I measured up against my peers and against myself. The act of tracking my information, and keeping up with my peers, along with an irrational desire to stay atop virtual leaderboards, led me to lose thirty pounds at peak, and with little dramatic effort, I dropped 7 inches in my waist and have had to rebuy clothes more than once.But Fitbit hasn't been the only data tracking app I've made part of my life, and I'm looking forward to more, for information… -
Mobile Data Goes Up, Phone Calls Go Down, Can't Explain That
2 May 2013 | 1:11 amBy the end of last month, Verizon was regularly sending me updates on how close I was to reaching the top of my 4 gigabyte data cap available in the plan I share with my wife. A little over two weeks in, I had used more than two gigabytes, after three weeks a third, and by the end of the billing cycle, I could have hit maximum capacity, had I just left my favorite Spotify playlist on play and asked all my apps from Google Play to update simultaneously.But I was nowhere near capacity for our shared voice plan. Not by a long shot. In fact, the month saw a record low in our actual voice… -
Devoxx France Video: Early Adopters, Press and Social Media
25 Apr 2013 | 3:01 pmLast month, I had the opportunity to travel to Paris, France and speak at Devoxx 2013, with a focus of helping startups raise their "visibility seed round". Often, companies focus on their product, and yes, to raise money - but there's a missing piece, gaining the first customers and first press. Before stepping on to the stage, I sat down with fellow Googler +Alexis Moussine-Pouchkine to talk about mistakes company often make in reaching out to first users and press, and how they can leverage social media.We also talk a bit about Google Developers Live (+GDL), the program I manage,… -
Pictures, Or It Didn't Happen on Mobile
19 Apr 2013 | 10:06 pmFoursquare made waves two weeks ago with the launch of their newest application, which more broadly emphasized recommendations, discovery and tips from friends than the original use of the app - a simple checkin, alongside the race for badges and mayorship as you traveled from place to place. Some sites called it the death of the checkin altogether, not wanting to miss an opportunity to be sensational.But the application's refresh did more than take the focus of all my minor comings and goings. It made photos an even greater part of the experience, putting pressure on me, more than ever… -
All Hands Meetings: Good, Bad and the Ugly
19 Apr 2013 | 10:06 pmWhether at a startup or a Fortune 500 company, culture and communication with colleagues can have an incredible impact on morale and the bottom line. Amass enough naysayers, and the negative inertia can drag down the optimists. Similarly, a well-timed rallying cry can spur troops to close out the quarter on an up note, and help others be willing to work extra hours for a shared goal. One of those opportunities for shared discussions is the company-wide all hands meeting, led by management, typically starring the CEO. In my dozen-plus years in the Valley, from the tiniest of startups, to my…
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Blonde 2.0's Blog
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New Mobli Video Mocking Instagram Made By Duval Guillaume
23 May 2013 | 9:12 amMobli, the photo and video sharing app, launched today an amusing online film that shows Instagram users what can happen to their photos. Mobli used the services of the prestigious ”Duval Guillaume” communications agency. The story comes on the heels of the recent Instagram controversy which changed it’s policy and wanted to sell users’ photos. -
Join Me at LeWeb London!
13 May 2013 | 8:12 amAfter the fabulous time I had last year, I cannot wait to go back. The second edition of LeWeb London will take place June 5th and 6th. It is, as always, one of the industry’s great international gatherings, bringing together the leaders and influencers defining a movement. I’m always amazed at what Geraldine and Loic Le Meur can put together. The focus of this year’s lineup is “The Sharing Economy”. This new movement is not only a shift from consumerism, but an adjustment of social values altogether. While on the surface the sharing movement consists of peer-to-peer… -
What Mad Men Can Teach us About Social Media Marketing
8 May 2013 | 8:31 amDon Draper and the team at Stanley Cooper. I have just discovered Mad Men. Where has this amazing television series been hiding? Ok, it’s been on my watch list for some time now, (about 5 years) but I have finally crawled out of the pile of Real Housewives of Atlanta and Keeping Up With The Kardashians (Oh, the humanity!) and started watching some quality television. Not surprisingly, I have noticed some parallels with the work that is done at Blonde 2.0 and by the Sterling / Cooper gang. Ok, so Joan Holloway isn’t swanning around and there is significantly less… -
The BEST apps for Pizza lovers
22 Apr 2013 | 5:28 amEveryone is a lover of pizza. And if you say that you’re not- well, you’re lying. Even as a former health fanatic, I still remember the month that I consumed pizza, every day for 19 days in a row. The hot dough, crispy crust, perfectly burned cheese on top with an assortment of toppings; just thinking about it makes me drool a little [excuse me while I wipe up my keyboard]. Luckily for me, the advancements in technology managed to include pizza in their to-do list along with computers, smart phones, and other great innovations. Now, ordering pizza is just as fun and exciting as playing… -
Who Needs to Pay for a Personal Trainer When you Have a Smartphone!?
17 Apr 2013 | 8:14 amThere are many excuses not to work out: Gym memberships are expensive; you don’t have time; you can’t work out alone; and so many more. I know them, because I’ve used each at least once. Well these days, with the endless amount of health and fitness apps out there, it seems like all the excuses have boiled down to the only real one out of all of them- laziness. So what do these workout apps have to offer? There is a large variety of health-focused apps available these days and they range from dieting to body building. Still, according to The Huffington Post’s health trends article…
