MLB.com just joined the social media revolution in a way that is still as obvious, but probably hasn’t found its way into public domain. The question is if sharing the brand with Twitter officially makes it business-friendly for the sport, ( or consumer brand and advertiser like P&G, Sprint ) In fact as one might feel to be important , does this spread of ‘co branded’ Twitter and MLB/NFL/IPL/NDTV/BofA count for more than the reputation management and the catching up? Before we move on with the discussion, let’s give the @mashable it’s due MLB.com Shows You…
Selected by zyaadaguy
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Social Media and New Markets
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Sports Marketing – a good game for Twitter
21 Oct 2009 | 12:19 am -
A leg of tweets …with IPL n between – Distraction or Brands?
15 Oct 2009 | 12:57 amBarack Obama is learning testimonial marketing on the ground for healthcare, clunkers are away and superbowl is already 2/3rds sold with Red Sox and Cardinals falling away to give a sticky brand even with fat expenses for Yankees, Phillies and both the LA franchises ( Dodgers – NLCS and Angels – ALCS, for the newbies) In Asia, IPL has taken root, Champions League has shown the other Cricket brands in the Commonwealth and probably US has a couple of teams switching from Soccer to T20 Cricket this time Closer to where it hurts, Apple is redesigning Disney retail ( one last time?)… -
Rio wins the 2016 bid, Obama gets the Peace prize :)
10 Oct 2009 | 2:34 amRIO DE JANEIRO IS ALSO HOLDING F1 RACES NOW AFTER ITALY IN THE CALENDAR AND THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP IN 2014. Must be a Godsend for Brands to chant Rio at work and not for Samba alone -
Is NFL the most twitterised brand?
30 Sep 2009 | 1:38 amNFL Shield A lot of NFL gets on Twitter too. Apart from the fact that NFL Network has exclusive high quality coverage online with 100% video support and lots of fantasy games for the fans, most NFL players incl Chris Johnson are alive and ’speakalot’ on Twitter. Featured here is how one of the better known teams of the NFL, the New England Patriots have made a distinctive interactive app for Facebook..going into grapping the attention and mindshare of a 100 million odd users..it’s great to see something as entrenched as the NFL going out to bat with the invisible continent… -
Building43 : Twitter spends a lot of time here
18 Sep 2009 | 1:30 ammore about "Building43 : Twitter spends a lot of…", posted with vodpod
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An investment Blog
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What China might learn from India | Advantage zyaada
27 Oct 2009 | 12:21 amA First rough draft I hate writing influencing stuff for these ‘namakool’ government people..a true laissez faire capitalist as bollywood would say today – but much as I like to disappoint wooden leg intelligentia (sorry Saugata, not you) and unfortunate colleagues who cannot see the depth and incisiveness of my decisions ( only some times, as most of my followers and poachers would attest from the last 15-20 years, i have quite some intellectual property when it comes to establishing the kingdom’s fine traits and setting up the next wins. Well, this introduction… -
Dual Listing requests and other cultural ‘absurdities’
25 Oct 2009 | 2:41 amGlobal businesses must have more of these war stories. We will see them again. If only that European and now African businesses are using recessionary conditions and development as excuses to bring down their hammer on the world. For this, they are using parochial and hithertho untenable institutions / policies that were at the root of all the misdemeanours of socialism and then for some of the backwardness of France, Western Europe and the black Continent that they successfully colonialised 200 years ago. MTN is not the onl one from South Africa. There is going to be more than one Dubai… -
Let’s see some Temasek muscle
24 Oct 2009 | 8:23 pmIndia WSJ reports today that Temasek is planning to add to its investments in India and China. Temasek recently completed its bond issue of $1.5 billion (Bloomberg). As of 2007 itself, Temaseks holdings in India included a 5% stake in Airtel and amounted to over 4% of its global portfolio at over $3 billion. It would have risen further in Dollar terms today with SGD having appreciated to 1.394 SGD to USD from 1.71 levels then. They began in India (2004) with a 9% stake pick up in ICICI Bank, then at its vaunted peak, and 7.7% in Matrix Labs. They also bought a 5% stake in Apollo Hospitals and… -
ING gets to make a profit, Buyer Beware?
15 Oct 2009 | 11:47 pmThe Discussion on Citi, BofA results, GS bonuses and JPM’s growth is scheduled on the same Diwali weekend as well.. The ING Sale: Will OCBC grow into a larger Pan Asian role? ING has sold the Asian private banking business to OCBC, which was having difficulty in growing in Asia but has made rapid strides in expanding in KL and can now focus again on Singapore. The $1.46 billion price ( Sing $ 2 billion) for assets that are not growing is based on the assumed scalability of the asset base of $15-16 billion. The unit was costed for $1 billion for the bank in its balance sheet. The N11… -
A leg of Tweets – Holiday season, Dow 10K, JPM results.. | gyancafe
15 Oct 2009 | 12:53 amFunding new infrastructure..a global imperative The new USA with new infrastructure « Obamanomics http://bit.ly/3kSJ2k about 3 hours ago from HootSuite Apple is not going to ruffle anyone as Windows 7 brings $MSFT back into the game (by the by, just to wake up your senses before dinner ..) about 5 hours ago from HootSuite Two-thirds of Superbowl AD inventory was sold/booked even before Week 1 of NFL..and there is six more months for the “new” network CBS about 6 hours ago from HootSuite Dow 10K definitely took its time coming! G’night all about 13 hours ago from HootSuite…
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The Bankwatch
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On Bank Systemic Risk, International Integration and Capital Requirement | Turner Discussion Paper
2 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pmThere has been much talk of systemic risk since the financial crisis hit. I see it more as a crisis of banking and banking confidence, and the debate on systemic risk is critical because it exists because of Government intervention and protections, implicit and explicit. The latest from Lord Turner of the FSA is a discussion paper, that reviews systemic risk and provides as good a discussion on that topic as I have seen. What it particularly interesting is how the insights raise the prospect of penalising globally integrated banks over nationally independent organizations with higher capital… -
“Rally fuelled by cheap money brings a sense of foreboding” | ft.com
22 Oct 2009 | 11:34 pmGillian Tett voices her concerns here, based on background discussions with bankers. We are not out of the woods yet, despite the equity markets. Rally fuelled by cheap money brings a sense of foreboding | FT Yet, if you talk at length to traders – or senior bankers – it seems that few truly believe that fundamentals alone explain this pattern. Instead, the real trigger is the amount of money that central bankers have poured into the system that is frantically seeking a home, because most banks simply do not want to use that cash to make loans. Hence, the fact that the prices of almost… -
Is the utility bank/ risky bank model workable?
22 Oct 2009 | 10:51 pmMartin Wolf makes a persuasive argument that regulatory division between financial utilities and risk takers (casinos in his words) is impossible. Why curbing finance is hard to do | FT Martin Wolf First, the border between utility and casino banking is impossible to draw. For Mr Kay, the utility is the payment system and protection of deposits. This would leave all lending – including to households and businesses – inside the casino. For those in the US who hark back to the Glass-Steagall Act, the distinction is between commercial and riskier investment banking. … … Mr… -
Bank of Canada joins other Central Banks is calling for caution
22 Oct 2009 | 8:35 pmIn the regular Monetary Policy Report the Bank of Canada keeps their focus on a low interest rate environment right through 2010. On inflation the view is mixed … The main upside risks to inflation relate to the possibility of a stronger-than anticipated recovery in the global economy. A stronger global recovery would be transmitted to Canada via trade, financial, confidence, and commodity price channels. There is also the risk that Canadian domestic demand could be more robust and have a more sustained momentum than projected. On the downside, a stronger-than-assumed Canadian dollar,… -
A succint comparison of exiting 1980 recession, and 2009 recession
20 Oct 2009 | 8:30 pmI thought this a particularly succinct view of the next 10 years view prospects for banks and their business planning. The view from New York | Buttonwood/ Economist The bearish view came from Josh Rosner of Graham-Fisher. Mr Rosner was one of the first analysts to spot the potential havoc caused by the interaction between subprime mortgages and structured products like CDOs. He thinks the economy will not rebound as it did in the 1980s. Demographic trends are not as favourable (the baby boomers were entering their prime earning period in the 1980s; now they are retiring); while credit card…
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Obamanomics
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Can Apple mark a Lifestyle return?
19 Oct 2009 | 11:07 pmThe Advantage zyaada analysis follows later Here is the result and comparisons from Marketwatch.com Apple Inc. on Monday reported a 46% increase in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings as the company posted higher revenue than a year ago led by better-than-expected sales of iPhones, Mac computers and iPods. Apple (AAPL 202.40, +12.54, +6.61%) said it earned $1.67 billion, or $1.82 a share, on revenue of $9.87 billion. During the same period a year ago, Apple earned $1.14 billion, or $1.26 a share, on $7.9 billion in sales. Apple’s results topped the estimates of analysts surveyed by… -
A leg of tweets .. Holiday season in the US 2009 & Bank results
15 Oct 2009 | 1:03 amBarack Obama is learning testimonial marketing on the ground for healthcare, clunkers are away and superbowl is already 2/3rds sold with Red Sox and Cardinals falling away to give a sticky brand even with fat expenses for Yankees, Phillies and both the LA franchises ( Dodgers – NLCS and Angels – ALCS, for the newbies) In Asia, IPL has taken root, Champions League has shown the other Cricket brands in the Commonwealth and probably US has a couple of teams switching from Soccer to T20 Cricket this time :) Closer to where it hurts, Apple is redesigning Disney retail ( one last time?)… -
The new USA with new infrastructure
14 Oct 2009 | 9:56 pmObama’s stimulus plan has funded more than 300 billion for US cities while an additional $820 billion is funding healthcare ( hopefully, in just a few weeks) not counting any of the bailouts for the banks and the Car companies How the Dems have caused a new hole? - Infrastructure spending is sacred, countries aren’t Infrastructure spending is supposed to reach $35 trillion ( that’s 10 China’s or maybe 5 including the future growth) in the next 20 years according to CIBC World Markets and thus the deficit we have been running in infrastructure spending will soon… -
Will Buffet’s GE get rid of NBC?
1 Oct 2009 | 7:32 amNBC Universal executives declined to deny a report Wednesday night that Comcast, the cable giant, is in talks to buy the television and movie company from General Electric.Comcast also did not deny the report that bankers for the two sides discussed a possible deal Tuesday in New York. Such talks often lead nowhere, but rumors have circulated for months that GE might be looking to unload the news and entertainment company. NBC is stuck in fourth place among broadcast networks, and Universal Studios is enduring a rough movie season.”We have no comment,” NBC Executive Vice President… -
Limited Sale of Toxic Assets | Marketwatch
30 Sep 2009 | 7:13 pmzyakaira notes: You would have also noted the change in IMF estimates bringing the potential industry losses to $2.8 trillion of which less than half have been recognized as of yet in hope of recovering asset prices. European Banks are as usual the bigger perpetrators, not having recognized these losses. Needless to say, Private investors stayed away as use of government capital, provisioning and IFRS are being put into limited use by the global banks not used to disclosures and public vilification..retail interest is almost non existent, much like the early years of debt markets in Asia and…
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Guy Kawasaki
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The 19 bloggers Inc. thinks you should read
6 Nov 2009 | 6:20 pmInc. named 19 bloggers that you should read. We’ve aggregated them all in one place: Inc19.alltop. -
How to Get Found
4 Nov 2009 | 3:29 pmThe 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
2 Nov 2009 | 8:47 amBy 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
28 Oct 2009 | 2:26 amThis 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
26 Oct 2009 | 4:24 pmOver 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.
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Breaking Tweets
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DC Comics to launch first Islamic superheroes comic book
6 Nov 2009 | 10:35 amDC Comics will be launching a new comic book series called The 99, the Islamic superheroes created by a Kuwaiti psychologist. Gulf News reports, the creation of the Islamic superheroes is mainly intended to curb stereotypes associated with people of the Islamic faith. The characters fight evil and personify the 99 attributes of Allah. Twitter users are fascinated by the first Islamic superheroes, but some feel it’s not a good idea. leilangod (Toronto, Canada) loves that “DC Comics will launch a new comic book series depicting Islamic superheroes” http://bit.ly/hHziO. My… -
TwitPics: Twitter users ‘Remember, remember the 5th of November’
6 Nov 2009 | 10:34 amTwitter users in the United Kingdom and in former British colonies took part in annual festivities on Thursday, November 5 to commemorate Guy Fawkes Night. Usual festivities include fireworks, bonfires, and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes. Calling for religious toleration, Guy Fawkes and other conspirators on the evening of November 5, 1605 tried to carry out a plot, known as the Gunpowder Plot, to blow up the British Parliament building and kill King James I. Ultimately, the plot was unsuccessful. Fawkes was captured, tried and executed. Reuters and The New Zealand Herald on Thursday… -
Fort Hood shootings: Seven dead at army post outside Killeen, Texas
5 Nov 2009 | 1:28 pmAt least seven people were killed and several others injured in a shooting at the Fort Hood military base outside Killeen, Texas on Thursday afternoon. Local television station KXXV reported, “We’ve learned an incident has taken place at the sports dome, now known as the soldier readiness area. Temple ISD Schools Have Been locked down as part of this incident. The district’s spokeswoman tells News Channel 25 the district is on soft lockdown.” People in and around Fort Hood were worried and shared their concerns on Twitter. RicoRossi (Fort Hood, Texas) if your… -
Israel claims to have stopped Iranian arms ship
5 Nov 2009 | 9:51 amPer BBC, the Israeli Navy has seized a ship reportedly headed by Iran carrying weapons disguised as civilian cargo, yet Iran has denied the allegations. The Israeli Navy has reported that the arms ship was on its way to Hezbollah, where fights between Israeli and Iranian forces has been active. Several hundred tonnes of weapons were seized making it the largest involving Iran since 2002 when the Israeli military found 100 tonnes of arms. People in the Middle East reacted to the news through Twitter. petitedov Smthg nice to wake up to: Israel seizes Iranian ship bound for Hezbollah loaded with… -
Brazilian man surprises family, shows up at own funeral
4 Nov 2009 | 9:23 pmBBC News reports that Ademir Jorge Gonclaves,a 59-year-old bricklayer from Brazil surprised his family by showing up to his own funeral alive Monday morning. Gonclaves had been identified by his family as the victim in a car accident the previous day in Brazil’s southern state of Parana. However, it was later revealed that Gonclaves had spent the previous night drinking ‘pinga’ with friends. Police even reported that the family had trouble identifying the body due to its disfigurement. Twitterers were amazed and confused with Gonclaves’ surprising appearance:…
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Neuromarketing
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Emsense Raises $9 Million
3 Nov 2009 | 9:09 amNeuromarketing firm Emsense has raised $9 million in additional capital. The new round was led by an investment from Technology Partners with existing investor the Foundry Group also participating. This funding will allow EmSense to continue its global expansion in support of its many market research partners. The funds will also enable the company [...] -
Want Some Emotion with That Website?
3 Nov 2009 | 5:01 amAs a web community guy, one of the most common problems I see is the failure to communicate emotion properly when people interact online. A remark intended as humorous can be perceived as a personal attack, or an expression of sympathy can be taken as cruel sarcasm. While I always suggest caution (particularly [...] -
College Branding: What if Harvard Moved Next Door?
2 Nov 2009 | 5:06 amWhy do most college branding efforts end up as meaningless pablum? I think it’s because most colleges have been relatively insulated from the effects of devastating competition. In fact, historically there have been major barriers to competition in the cozy world of higher education. The biggest have been geography, cost, and reputation. [...] -
Scent Marketing vs. Social Media
30 Oct 2009 | 5:23 amThe other day, Ad Age’s CMO Strategy Section ran a column by Harald Vogt on scent marketing. Vogt may not be entirely impartial on the topic – he is the founder and chief marketer of the Scent Marketing Institute – but he makes some good points when he questions why so few marketers employ [...] -
Sugar as Brain Food
29 Oct 2009 | 5:22 amThis isn’t great news for dieters, but sometimes sugar can be a good thing. Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, had subjects perform a mentally taxing task – watching a video while being careful to ignore random words scrolling across the bottom of the screen. (Apparently, it takes quite a bit [...]
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Wall Street Journal
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G-20 Sets Timetable for Assessments
7 Nov 2009 | 8:28 amFinance officials from the G-20 nations agreed on a detailed timetable for assessing each others' policies with the aim of rebalancing the global economy. -
Some Bankers Cool on Rusal IPO
7 Nov 2009 | 6:44 amA $2.5 billion IPO by aluminum firm Rusal will be one of the year's hottest deals. But some banks are cool toward working with its founder, Oleg Deripaska. -
Treasury Blocks Fannie Tax Credit Sale
7 Nov 2009 | 6:42 amThe Treasury blocked Fannie Mae's proposed sale of $3 billion in housing tax credits to Goldman Sachs and Berkshire Hathaway. -
Blackstone, Fortress Benefit From Market Gains
7 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amBoth Blackstone and Fortress posted third-quarter earnings that showed how the sharp market rally has improved the fortunes of private equity and hedge funds. -
In Fort Hood, 4 Minutes of Chaos
7 Nov 2009 | 3:31 amVictims and witnesses came forward to describe the Fort Hood shootings, as authorities gathered information about alleged assailant Nidal Malik Hasan.
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The investment blog on Post
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Busy Season Credit Policy | Advantage zyaada
27 Oct 2009 | 12:10 amI hate writing influencing stuff for these 'namakool' government people..a true laissez faire capitalist as bollywood would say today - but much as I like to disappoint wooden leg intelligentia (sorry Saugata, not you) and unfortunate colleagues who cannot see the depth and incisiveness of my decisions ( only some times, as most of my followers and poachers would attest from the last 15-20 years, i have quite some intellectual property when it comes to establishing the kingdom's fine traits and setting up the next wins. Well, this introduction is probably embedded into my names and… -
20 Tweets from Friday - Part Deux | zyakaira
18 Sep 2009 | 9:49 amRural Distrbn: Current FDI limits / Foreign Investment limits of 20% / 49% in DTH may go up to allow foreign media investors to catch upabout 6 hours ago from HootSuiteUnitech Telenor has revised capital participation terms putting responsibility on Telenor to fund all expansion, ready with 8500 towers..about 6 hours ago from HootSuiteNew Islamic Bank Al Baraka to take off in Kerala based on Shariat principle of Bai al salam, distribution of profit and est of a social fundabout 7 hours ago from HootSuiteChina's bear trend unlikely to be braked but may recover… -
20 Tweets from Friday | zyaada
18 Sep 2009 | 9:34 amFrom Marketwatch.com Dow up more than 50 points as U.S. stocks open Frida.. http://bit.ly/C53J4 :ask us to analyse7 minutes ago from twitterfeed Valuations too high http://post.ly/5WrLabout 1 hour ago from Posterous Indian PE deals, lousy skype fights ..just bad weather everywhere Valuations! Valuations! | The investment blog http://bit.ly/Tq2Ipabout 1 hour ago from Splitweet And to end the day of tweets, from the Sun Tsu of War ( from Gekko) when your enemy is stronger than you, don't be afraid..to run awayabout 6 hours… -
Valuations too high
18 Sep 2009 | 7:58 amThree sales canceled, carried over, increased stakes and quick QIPs instead of IPOs, no one’s playing to the basement anymore..Wanted to sell, couldn’t get my price so bought some more. Whacky, emulating personal shopping habits of people more than corporate board tussles of the 1990s. KKR now owns 80% of Aricent (79), WNS will still have Warburg and Axis bank is happy with $720 million where it could have easily absorbed another tranche of the same amount. And this is in the faster growing market of India that we have these white elephants. In fact the 2007 majority view of these… -
Airtel MTN sign deal agreement
9 Sep 2009 | 10:49 pmWhile leading media analysts were continuing discussion on the various touchy edges of the deal, Bharti and MTN finalised the first phase of the deal yesterday, avoiding control issues and closing well before the deadline. Airtel upped the offer to $14 billion for MTN for 49% while MTN is now likely to acquire 33% of Airtel for $10 billion. The MTN take includes added cash in return for lesser discussions on control issues. Being adequately funded the cash rich Airtel still walks away with a great deal combining Singtl, Airtel and the kingdom of South AfricaAs Prahalad Santigram of…
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NYT: Deal Book
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Treasury Rejects Sale of Tax Credits to Goldman
6 Nov 2009 | 4:58 pmAs expected, the Treasury Department blocked the sale of Fannie Mae's unused tax credits to Goldman Sachs late Friday, arguing that the government would lose more money on taxes than it would gain from the proposed deal. -
EBay Settles Suit Over Skype Sale
6 Nov 2009 | 4:35 pmEBay has formally settled the litigation around its sale of Skype, settling a dispute with the online calling service's founders. -
Madoff Trustee Drops $279 Million Merkin Claim
6 Nov 2009 | 2:42 pmThe trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff's investment firm has dropped a $279 million claim against the New York financier J. Ezra Merkin's hedge funds, which invested one-fourth of their money with the now-convicted swindler. -
Like Son, Like Father at JPMorgan Chase
6 Nov 2009 | 1:44 pmJamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, no longer has to look very far for parental advice. His father is joining the bank's securities business. -
Landry's: The New Frankenstein?
6 Nov 2009 | 12:46 pmThe Deal Professor examines the buyout of Landry's Restaurant, a leveraged deal that was terminated in the financial crisis and resurrected from the dead this week.
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NYT: World Business
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Chinese Agencies Struggle Over Video Game
6 Nov 2009 | 11:11 pmTwo government agencies are facing off over the right to regulate the popular online game World of Warcraft. -
Turning Happy Hour Into a Global Job Search
6 Nov 2009 | 10:53 pmAs the New York economy founders, job seekers are using social events to forge foreign connections that hold hopes of new careers. -
World Briefing | Africa: Ivory Coast: Judge Rejects Request in Toxic Waste Case
6 Nov 2009 | 10:49 pmAbout $45 million intended to compensate 30,000 victims of a toxic waste dumping scandal in Ivory Coast will not be diverted to a self-appointed community representative, a judge in Abidjan ruled Friday. -
Enthusiasm for I.P.O.'s Starts to Fade Across Asia
6 Nov 2009 | 10:38 pmThere are signs that the primary equity window that saw a big revival two quarters ago is beginning to quickly shut. -
Beijing Denounces U.S. Duties on Chinese-Made Pipes
6 Nov 2009 | 10:37 pmChina denounced new duties as protectionist, a week before President Obama is due in China talks.
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TARP Results Blog
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GMAC Hoping Geither Still Wearing "Sucker" Name Tag
27 Oct 2009 | 4:42 pmGMAC, already the recipient of $12.5 billion in cash and $7 billion in loan guarantees from the US Treasury is looking to land another $3 to $5 billion from taxpayers that the government would hold as preferred stock, according to the Wall Street Journal. Most of us can appreciate the difficulty of being in the business of providing car loans at a time like this -- fewer people are buying cars (except during the "Cash for Clunkers" period), and those who want to buy cars are less likely to pass the now more rigorous screening process. Most people are hanging onto cars longer, and,… -
Car Czar Writes off $20 Billion Given to GM - It's a Start
22 Oct 2009 | 4:29 pmSteven Rattner, the man appointed "car czar" by President Obama, suggested at a speech given to the Brookings Institution that the $50 billion in bailout money given to GM is now probably only worth $30 billion. However, it isn't really $30 billion. It's more like 1% of $30 billion.The shares of what used to be GM now closed today at about 63 cents per share, less than one-half of their value in May. The current market cap of what used to be GM (now called Motors Liquidation) is $388 million. 60% of that is $232 million. Let's point out that what the taxpayer… -
Treasury "Failed" in AIG Bonus Hearings
14 Oct 2009 | 10:27 amIn testimony today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the special inspector general for the TARP program gave the Treasury Department -- and Timothy Geithner's management -- a failing grade, according to the Wall Street Journal. "This was a failure of communications, a failure of management," special inspector general Neil Barofsky testified. Associated Press states that Barofsky testified that "Geithner is 'ultimately responsible' for regulators failing to rein in massive bonus payments..." You can read about the AIG bonus payments at one of our prior… -
Creating Second Class Banks
13 Oct 2009 | 5:11 pmI've struggled over the past few weeks on the issue of the "pay czar", Kenneth Feinberg, of the federal government having the opportunity to structure the compensation of the highest-ranking people in the firms who have received, or will receive, US bailout money. Europe is also in the process of putting similar limitations in place.After careful deliberation, I must say that this concept -- not just the execution -- is wrong, and for many reasons, the most important of which is that it creates a second-class of company in an otherwise free market environment competing for… -
Ken Lewis Agrees to Leave Bank of America at Year End
30 Sep 2009 | 9:02 pmThe public story is that Ken Lewis, Bank of America's CEO, has chosen to retire from the bank at the end of the year. The underlying story is probably much more salty.Lewis has been with the bank for 41 years, being from all accounts an exemplary executive until the last several years. He has been at the helm while disaster after disaster struck. Destruction of shareholder wealth? Absolutely, as the current stock price has finally climbed back to 1996 prices -- yes, anyone who bought shares in the from 1996 to 2008 has...lost...money. Taking on business risks that are too…
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trendsspotting blog
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For a Better (Digital) World
3 Nov 2009 | 7:00 amIn a beautiful thought-provoking project of Jonathan Harris (creator of We Feel Fine – one of the first social web emotion visualization projects), Harris shares some touching personal insights with artistic inspirations relevant to a digital world. In this “World Building in a Crazy World” – Harris suggests 1-2-3 principals for a world building idea – “a universal idea executed simply, with an element of play, nostalgia or beauty”. Enjoy. Tweet This Post Plurk This Post Buzz This Post Delicious Digg This Post Ping This Post Reddit Stumble This Post -
Halloween through Location Based Applications
1 Nov 2009 | 7:11 amGoogle Latitude or other location based applications working through mobile phones can let you track your kids whereabouts during Halloween. Aside from tracking, many of those applications can be used (note privacy concerns) for sharing the Halloween experience. Locations of retailers selling costumes and decorations can also be found by using applications as Poynt. To improve the Halloween experience, Zillow.com, have created a Trick or Treat Housing Index, which presents the top-five neighborhoods to maximize candy harvesting. The index uses four equally weighted data variables: Zillow… -
Google Wave: Invite Led Viral Campaign
22 Oct 2009 | 2:24 pmSearch Engine giant Google, has shown the world how it is reshaping the way communication happens over the internet with the soft launch of Google Wave. And it has done so in a way it knows best – through invite based viral marketing. The internet witnessed tremors of excitement when 100,000 exclusive invites to Wave were sought after by surfers who were curious, passionate, and addicted to Google. A sense of Déjà vu is hard to avoid. Google sent out similar invites when it launched Gmail in 2007, to build hype. Privileged invites led marketing has been a potent weapon that Google has… -
New ppt Slides: Consumer & Market Trends during Recession
19 Oct 2009 | 5:11 amTrendsSpotting.com has released a slides presentation on its new published report: Consumer and Market Trends during Recession – Cross Industry Research. Enjoy. Consumer & Market Trends during Recession – Cross Industry Research Report by TrendsSpotting.com View more documents from Taly Weiss. Click here to learn more about the report - Tweet This Post Plurk This Post Buzz This Post Delicious Digg This Post Ping This Post Reddit Stumble This Post -
Is the Recession over? Research Suggests American Consumers aren’t Buying it: Cross–Industry Research Report by TrendsSpotting.com
9 Oct 2009 | 5:15 pmQuoting Bloomberg, (July 26 2009) “The worst U.S. recession in five decades probably eased in the second quarter (2009) as trade and government stimulus mitigated the damage from declines in housing, inventories and consumer and business spending”. President Obama is similarly optimistic declaring that “the worst may be over in the economic crisis”. Is it really? Are there signs of consumer recovery? In this TrendsSpotting report we follow the main consumer markets and consumers’ behavior indications for the year 2009. To better understand how Americans are adjusting their buying…
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NYT: Front Page
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Abortion Fight Erupts in Health Care Debate
7 Nov 2009 | 8:27 amStay with us throughout the day as we file updates to the floor debate in the House of Representatives. -
Muslims at Fort Voice Outrage and Ask Questions
7 Nov 2009 | 6:49 amMembers of the local mosque in Killeen, Tex., say they hope good relations will prevail in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings. -
Broader Measure of U.S. Unemployment Stands at 17.5%
7 Nov 2009 | 5:35 amThe official jobless rate excludes millions of people who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who want to be working full time. -
Prospect of More U.S. Troops Worries Afghan Public
7 Nov 2009 | 4:50 amEight years of war have left people in Afghanistan exhausted, impatient and increasingly unsure that the Taliban can be defeated. -
Bonuses Uncertain for Bloomberg Election Aides
7 Nov 2009 | 4:49 amThe closeness of his re-election may jeopardize the payouts, some as high as $400,000, that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has routinely given campaign workers.
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NYT: Business
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Broader Measure of U.S. Unemployment Stands at 17.5%
7 Nov 2009 | 5:35 amThe official jobless rate excludes millions of people who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who want to be working full time. -
Chinese Agencies Struggle Over How to Handle Video Game
7 Nov 2009 | 4:46 amTwo government agencies are facing off over the right to regulate the popular online game World of Warcraft. -
Virtual Goods Start Bringing Real Paydays
7 Nov 2009 | 2:10 amIt is quickly becoming commonplace for people to spend a few dollars to get ahead in an online game or to give a friend a gift on a social network. -
Stocks and Bonds: Seeing the Glass Half Full Despite the Day’s Reports
7 Nov 2009 | 12:18 amThe market had been expecting unemployment to top 10 percent before peaking. But the pace of job losses has accelerated and the rate is likely to go higher. -
Official Endorses Workplace Clinics for Vaccine Distribution
6 Nov 2009 | 11:20 pmThe official said swine flu vaccine should be distributed through many outlets, to get it to high-risk people quickly.
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WSJ: Real time economics
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Full Text: Tim Geithner’s Statement at the G-20
7 Nov 2009 | 8:05 amThe following is the full text of the statement by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at the G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors: I want to start with the state of the global economic recovery. Yesterday’s jobs numbers in the United States reinforced that this is still a very tough economic environment. The pace of job losses has slowed sharply, but unemployment is very high and still rising. Millions of Americans are out of work, or working less than they would like. The crisis caused enormous damage, and that damage has left consumers and businesses still… -
U.S. Factories Are ‘Grossly Underutilized’
6 Nov 2009 | 1:18 pmU.S. manufacturing is finally on the mend — though as many factory bosses are quick to point out, when you’re in a hole this deep, everything looks up. That’s certainly true of capacity utilization. The numbers show U.S. factories remain “grossly underutilized,” writes Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist of MAPI/Manufacturers Alliance, in a new report. Capacity utilization, which includes manufacturing, mining and utilities, has been hit hard in this recession, reaching 70.5% in September after being in the 80s for years. In the manufacturing sector, factory utilization for… -
Jobs Report: Something for Politicians of Every Political Stripe
6 Nov 2009 | 11:07 amFriday’s employment report may not have provided any clear signal as to when the U.S. economy might start creating jobs, but it did have something to offer for politicians of just about any stripe. President Barack Obama speaks about Friday’s jobs report. (Getty Images) Democrats who want to argue that the Obama administration’s stimulus measures are working can point to the headline number: a shrinkage of 190,000 jobs on nonfarm payrolls in October. While not pretty in itself, it suggests that the job market is worsening at a slower rate. The economy lost an average of 226,000 jobs… -
Airlines Illustrate Why Layoffs Continue
6 Nov 2009 | 11:03 amWhy are companies still laying people off if the economy’s looking better? A closer look at the airline industry might help answer that question. While carriers say they see glimmers of evidence that the plunge in passenger demand that began a year ago is bottoming out, they aren’t seeing many signs that travelers are coming back or are willing to pay more for tickets. So the airlines are continuing to trim jobs, drop money-losing routes and take seats out of the air. The shrinking began in earnest in 2008, when oil prices were surging, but the recession gave them new incentives to… -
Unemployment Extension Adds Up to 99 Weeks of Benefits
6 Nov 2009 | 9:37 amThe latest extension of unemployment benefits couldn’t come at a better time, it seems; President Barack Obama signed legislation into law Friday providing an additional 14 to 20 weeks of benefits for those who have already exhausted theirs or will do so by year-end. Job seekers search for work at a jobs fair. (Getty Images) The extension comes on the same day the Labor Department announced the U.S. unemployment rate hit 10.2% in October, crossing into double-digits for the first time in 26 years as the nation’s jobless swelled to 15.7 million. The bill, passed earlier this week by both…
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NYT: Most E-Mailed
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Modern Love: A Brief Visit From My Soldier Son
7 Nov 2009 | 7:06 amAmid anxiety, a family celebrates the wonders of military life with a wedding for a son going off to war. -
Broader Measure of U.S. Unemployment Stands at 17.5%
7 Nov 2009 | 5:35 amThe official jobless rate excludes millions of people who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who want to be working full time. -
Virtual Goods Start Bringing Real Paydays
7 Nov 2009 | 2:10 amIt is quickly becoming commonplace for people to spend a few dollars to get ahead in an online game or to give a friend a gift on a social network. -
She Ran to Gunfire, and Ended It
6 Nov 2009 | 11:45 pmKimberly Munley, who brought down the gunman, was on her way to have her car repaired when she jumped into action. -
Big City: Happy Times at the Dog Run, Now Coming to an End
6 Nov 2009 | 11:06 pmAfter finding a new community at the small-dog run in Washington Square Park, a retired surgeon prepares to move back to Ohio.
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NYT: Media & Advertising
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John Mashek, Veteran Political Reporter, Is Dead at 77
6 Nov 2009 | 10:56 pmMr. Mashek was a reporter and columnist for nearly half a century for U.S. News & World Report, The Boston Globe and other publications. -
Talk to The Times: The Choice Blog
6 Nov 2009 | 9:25 amJacques Steinberg is answering questions from readers. -
Fox Wins Election Night Ratings on Cable
6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 amAs Republicans won governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, the Fox News Channel saw Nielsen ratings gains. -
Advertising: After a Brutal Year, Marketers Regroup to Share War Stories and Ideas
5 Nov 2009 | 10:40 pmAttendance at the Association of National Advertisers conference is about the same as in 2008, but the atmosphere has changed. -
Scripps Buys Major Stake in Travel Channel
5 Nov 2009 | 10:34 pmThe deal values the cable channel at nearly a billion dollars, a price that some analysts say they believe is too high.
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NYT: Thomas L. Friedman
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The Best Allies Money Can Buy
3 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmAmerica has been able to fight two wars with few allies because we’ve hired the help. -
More Poetry, Please
31 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmPresident Obama does not have a communication problem, but a “narrative” problem. Without one, his message is lost. -
Don’t Build Up
27 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmThe U.S. does not have the Afghan partners, the allies, the domestic support or the financial resources to justify a nation-building effort in Afghanistan. -
Eyes on the Prize
24 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmLet’s figure out Afghanistan. But Iraq must remain a priority. Transform Iraq and it will impact the whole Arab-Muslim world. -
The New Untouchables
20 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmThose who create services, opportunities and ways to recruit work can compete on the world market. That is the key to understanding our education challenge today.
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NYT: Gretchen Morgenson
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When Shareholders Crack the Whip
31 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmA landslide against board incumbents at Texas Industries is an example of what happens when shareholders act like the company owners that they are. -
Can Citigroup Carry Its Own Weight?
31 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmCitigroup has received government aid several times in the past 80 years, and this time around, some investors see its infusion of federal cash as a good sign. -
If Lenders Say ‘The Dog Ate Your Mortgage’
24 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmJudges are scrutinizing the methods lenders have used in foreclosures. One ruling eliminated a mortgage debt because the lender didn’t prove it held the note. -
Wall Street Follies: The Next Act
24 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmCutting a huge paycheck down to size and other measures won’t keep the world safe from financial wizardry. -
Don’t Let Exceptions Kill the Rule
17 Oct 2009 | 9:00 pmThe House Financial Services Committee’s bill to regulate derivatives is a step in the right direction but has too many exceptions.
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Topic: Technology
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DC Comics to launch first Islamic superheroes comic book
6 Nov 2009 | 10:35 amDC Comics will be launching a new comic book series called The 99, the Islamic superheroes created by a Kuwaiti psychologist. Gulf News reports, the creation of the Islamic superheroes is mainly intended to curb stereotypes associated with people of the Islamic faith. The characters fight evil and personify the 99 attributes of Allah. Twitter users are fascinated by the first Islamic superheroes, but some feel it’s not a good idea. leilangod (Toronto, Canada) loves that “DC Comics will launch a new comic book series depicting Islamic superheroes” http://bit.ly/hHziO. My… -
TwitPics: Twitter users ‘Remember, remember the 5th of November’
6 Nov 2009 | 10:34 amTwitter users in the United Kingdom and in former British colonies took part in annual festivities on Thursday, November 5 to commemorate Guy Fawkes Night. Usual festivities include fireworks, bonfires, and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes. Calling for religious toleration, Guy Fawkes and other conspirators on the evening of November 5, 1605 tried to carry out a plot, known as the Gunpowder Plot, to blow up the British Parliament building and kill King James I. Ultimately, the plot was unsuccessful. Fawkes was captured, tried and executed. Reuters and The New Zealand Herald on Thursday… -
Fort Hood shootings: Seven dead at army post outside Killeen, Texas
5 Nov 2009 | 1:28 pmAt least seven people were killed and several others injured in a shooting at the Fort Hood military base outside Killeen, Texas on Thursday afternoon. Local television station KXXV reported, “We’ve learned an incident has taken place at the sports dome, now known as the soldier readiness area. Temple ISD Schools Have Been locked down as part of this incident. The district’s spokeswoman tells News Channel 25 the district is on soft lockdown.” People in and around Fort Hood were worried and shared their concerns on Twitter. RicoRossi (Fort Hood, Texas) if your… -
Israel claims to have stopped Iranian arms ship
5 Nov 2009 | 9:51 amPer BBC, the Israeli Navy has seized a ship reportedly headed by Iran carrying weapons disguised as civilian cargo, yet Iran has denied the allegations. The Israeli Navy has reported that the arms ship was on its way to Hezbollah, where fights between Israeli and Iranian forces has been active. Several hundred tonnes of weapons were seized making it the largest involving Iran since 2002 when the Israeli military found 100 tonnes of arms. People in the Middle East reacted to the news through Twitter. petitedov Smthg nice to wake up to: Israel seizes Iranian ship bound for Hezbollah loaded with… -
Brazilian man surprises family, shows up at own funeral
4 Nov 2009 | 9:23 pmBBC News reports that Ademir Jorge Gonclaves,a 59-year-old bricklayer from Brazil surprised his family by showing up to his own funeral alive Monday morning. Gonclaves had been identified by his family as the victim in a car accident the previous day in Brazil’s southern state of Parana. However, it was later revealed that Gonclaves had spent the previous night drinking ‘pinga’ with friends. Police even reported that the family had trouble identifying the body due to its disfigurement. Twitterers were amazed and confused with Gonclaves’ surprising appearance:…
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Chris Brogan
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Interview with Mike Myatt
5 Nov 2009 | 8:46 pmMike Myatt is Chief Strategy Officer of N2Growth, a business that deals with branding, coaching, leadership management and more. Mike was also kind enough to buy many copies of Trust Agents, which made me wonder: what kind of a guy buys a ton of books to help a guy out, without wanting me to go and speak at some event or something? Mike just wanted to see things go well with our launch, and for that, I’m grateful. I asked Mike some questions about his business and where he sees all this going. Here’s our interview: You help coach CEOs on leadership and related issues, and… -
How to Think Of Blog Posts
5 Nov 2009 | 4:26 amThe secret to blogging every day is a blend of three things: discipline, practice, and ideas. That last part is usually what I find people asking me for help with, so let’s talk about that today. Ideas don’t just grow on trees. But, you do have to harvest ideas the way you’d pick apples. Why? Because they’re everywhere. Here are some of the ways I find ideas. How to Think of Blog Posts Answer questions. You get emails with people asking you for your thoughts on X. Write the post instead of just replying to the email. Take pictures. I see strange things out and about. -
Wiring Up Business- Two Channel Social
3 Nov 2009 | 10:14 pmLet’s imagine you’re a small or medium sized business and looking to use social software to improve communications on many fronts: support, service, marketing, etc. If you chose to use a service like Twitter, for instance, for some of this communicating, I can see the need to have a two-channel mindset: one public and customer-facing and the other private and business-facing. On the public channel, you’d talk with customers and prospects about the business, including everything from support help to promotional opportunities, to general good will. On the other channel,… -
Trust Agents- An Introduction
3 Nov 2009 | 7:39 amI can’t say thanks enough to John Spiropoulos for his great video project from my trip to Southern California to spend time with Brandtailers. These videos he made are amazing. Pay attention to the quality John put into them more than the content itself. I mean, I’m flattered and pleased, but also pay attention to how John did what he did. I think he’s top shelf. You? If you can’t see the video, click here. -
Thank You Amazon-Thank You Friends
3 Nov 2009 | 4:28 amYesterday, Trust Agents was named a Top 10 Book by Amazon.com, thanks in great part to YOUR kindness by ordering it. In just over two months, the book has made the New York Times Bestseller’s list, the Wall Street Journal Bestseller’s list, the top 5 sellers on Audible.com, and now the Top 10 Business & Investing books of 2009, according to Amazon. I consider every one of those successes to be yours. You did all the hard work. Julien and I just typed. Thank you for what you’ve done to make the book successful, and for believing in us. For those of you who haven’t…
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NowSourcing
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Plurk Community: You’re Doing it Wrong
2 Nov 2009 | 7:36 amImage via CrunchBase I remember when Plurk first came out. At first glance its user interface was different but once you got to spending some time on the site, it was pretty cool. As luck would have it, Plurk also came around when Twitter was having some of its worst downtime in history. Take that, and some nifty enhanced features (conversations on one page, ability to share images and video, dancing bananas and it seemed as though Plurk really could have taken over the microblogging space. But it didn’t. Why? I would offer that Plurk ultimately didn’t listen to its… -
Facebook Share Released: Facebook Takes on Digg and Tweetmeme
29 Oct 2009 | 3:22 pmAs Facebook comes in to become one of the largest population groups in the world, it still finds its own flaws. Thanks to what can easily be assumed to be the influence of other social media sites, such as Twitter and Digg, the folks at Facebook have added yet another new feature. Facebook Share allows a member to post a link/video/image to their wall that they find interesting or useful. Beyond spreading the content around to a broader audience, Facebook Share keeps track of the exact number of times a link has been “shared.” Depending upon the amount of friends that are active… -
Homeless But Not Humorless
22 Oct 2009 | 8:18 amWhile visiting Austin, Texas, I came across this ingenious sign being utilized by a homeless man. Judging by the fact he had set this sign down and was instead using a second sign he’d fashioned, the one pictured here may just have been too snarky for the passersby. -
BREAKING: Twitter Translate Launches
21 Oct 2009 | 4:32 pmThe Twitter Translation Community project is up and running! Now, thanks to your fellow Tweeple, you will soon be able to have Twitter in French, German, Italian, and Spanish, which are in addition to the currently implemented Japanese and English. The announcement for this project was made earlier this month on the Twitter blog. Since this is a community deal, Twitter needs you to chip in and do your part. If you can fluently read and write in a second (or third or fourth) language, Twitter Wants You! It looks like the FIGS are taken, but there are definitely more tongues in the world than… -
The New Community Rules: Add to Your Toolbelt
20 Oct 2009 | 6:59 amThe New Community Rules is one of the latest social media books out there, written by Tamar Weinberg. Tamar and I are friends and enjoy debating the finer points of social media. While we don’t always agree she has outdone herself in this book. New and experienced marketers alike are sure to gain some bits of new knowledge, and this book can be used as a reference manual in approaching new social networks for the first time. One of my major criticisms of most social media marketers is that even when they are not just full of hot air, they tend to be one-trick ponies. Meaning…
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The Game Ranch
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Witch of Salem review
22 Oct 2009 | 9:43 amWitch of Salem is a cooperative game for 2 - 4 players that is based on stories by Wolfgang Hohlbein set in the world of H.P. Lovecraft's mythos. The designer is Michael Rieneck and it is published in an English edition by Mayfair Games. Players are helping Robert Craven, the powerful Witch of Salem, close the portals located around the city of Arkham and to banish the Great Old One imprisoned in the underwater city of R'lyeh. Opposing them are the evil magician Necron and hordes of evil creatures. The Goal The players win the game if they manage to close all the portals and banish the Great… -
Roll Through the Ages and more Tales
20 Aug 2009 | 2:14 pmWell, we didn't get to go to game night this past week. Ed had to take our eldest to soccer practice and I got to go...grocery shopping. Yay. This full-time job gig is taking some getting used to. Oh Free Time, how I miss thee! Last week, though, I got to play Tales of Arabian Nights again. Once again, I really enjoyed it. This time, I fared miserably. In fact, my first character died after finding a door hidden in the sands. Upon descending, she found a woman imprisoned below and tried to save her. An e'freet (sp?) jumped out of hiding and tore me from limb to limb. Not exactly a pleasant… -
July Gaming
7 Aug 2009 | 4:02 pmOnce again, my gaming blog has been neglected but this time I have a real excuse, and one that doesn't involve World of Warcraft. I've been working part-time at my local library for the past six months and have now accepted a full-time position. I've gone from doing stem cell research as a medical lab technician to being a full-time stay-at-home mom and am now headed in a totally new career direction as a....librarian. Well, only pretending to be one for now as I don't have a Master of Library Science degree yet. That's probably in my future though. The job's a great fit for me so far as I've… -
Game Awards
29 Jun 2009 | 8:00 amWhat's the world coming to when you can neither complain about the Spiel des Jahres winner nor poke fun at the Origins winners??? While I had a slight leaning towards Pandemic, I'm still thrilled that Dominion took the SdJ. It's innovative and fresh and very addicting. It's got a bit of a CCG vibe going for it, which helps. Those Origins people finally got it right. Pandemic was chosen for best board game with Dominion taking the honors for best card game. The choice for family/party game was Say Anything and the best historical game was Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear. I haven't… -
It's a Small World after all
16 Jun 2009 | 11:40 pmHa! Can't get that song out of your head now, can you?? As I mentioned in my previous post, Ed and I were lucky to be invited to spend Memorial Day weekend playing games with three other couples. We stayed in condos on Lake Palestine near Tyler, in the piney woods of northeast Texas. This is quite near my mother's house and where I spent my teenage years, so it was very convenient to dump/drop off our boys with her for the weekend. The condos were shabby, but adequate, and the views were beautiful when it wasn't raining and we managed to drag ourselves away from the gaming and outside to get…
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Board Game Beast
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Nov 6, Firefly Fantasies
5 Nov 2009 | 5:18 pmWant to play Firefly Fantasies FREE online and enter REAL CASH tournaments? Now you can! Click to play NOW!Game: Firefly Fantasies Play FREE or FOR -
Nov 6, Bomp Bomp
5 Nov 2009 | 5:10 pmWant to play Bomp Bomp FREE online and enter REAL CASH tournaments? Now you can! Click to play NOW!Game: Bomp Bomp Play FREE or FOR REAL CASH online -
Nov 6, Four Seasons game
5 Nov 2009 | 5:03 pmWant to play the Four Seasons game FREE online and enter REAL CASH tournaments? Now you can! Click to play NOW!Game: Four Seasons Play FREE or FOR -
Nov 6, Flower Power game
5 Nov 2009 | 4:52 pmWant to play the Flower Power game FREE online and enter REAL CASH tournaments? Now you can! Click to play NOW!Game: Flower Power Play FREE or FOR -
Nov 4, Block Party
3 Nov 2009 | 6:05 pmWant to play Block Party FREE online and enter REAL CASH tournaments? Now you can! Click to play NOW!Game: Block Party Play FREE or FOR REAL CASH
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Investment Banking News
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FDIC seizes United Commercial Bank
6 Nov 2009 | 10:17 pmFederal regulators closed San Francisco’s troubled United Commercial Bank — one of the nation’s largest banks serving the Chinese-American community — and sold the bank and its $6.5 billion in deposits to East West Bancorp. (EWBC) -
Prosperan Bank fails; Alerus Financial buys deposits, branches
6 Nov 2009 | 5:40 pmIn the swiftest demise yet of a local bank, Oakdale-based Prosperan Bank was shuttered Friday by state regulators. -
Freddie Mac will not make Treasury draw
6 Nov 2009 | 2:35 pmA day after Fannie Mae said it would tap the Treasury Department for another $15 billion, Freddie Mac reported another quarterly loss but said it does not currently need more government aid. (FRE) (FNM) -
Rainier Pacific gets NASDAQ warning
6 Nov 2009 | 2:23 pmRainier Pacific Financial Group Inc. said Friday that it has received a warning notice from the NASDAQ stock exchange that it could be delisted because the minimum bid price on its common stock was below $1 for 30 consecutive days. (RPFG) -
United Security Bank of Sparta fails
6 Nov 2009 | 2:17 pmRegulators seized tiny United Security Bank of Sparta, Ga., Friday, making it the state's 21st failure of the year, as Georgia’s banking crisis shows no sign of abating.
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U.S. News - Money & Business
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Surface Permafrost Likely to Vanish in Alaska
6 Nov 2009 | 3:40 pmThe unstable thawing of permafrost could cause serious damage to infrastructure in the state. -
No Luck Finding an H1N1 Flu Shot? You’re Not Alone
6 Nov 2009 | 2:52 pmOnly 34 percent of parents seeking vaccine for kids found it. -
Elections Hurt, But Public Still Doesn't Blame Obama
6 Nov 2009 | 2:27 pmIn terms of expectations, Obama's week could have been perceived as much worse. -
Segregationist Tells Ole Miss President to Back Off Student Body
6 Nov 2009 | 2:25 pmSchool officials have weighed in against a chant that says, "The South will rise again." -
Access Limited for Stanford's Handicapped Students
6 Nov 2009 | 2:23 pmDisabled students struggle with "less-than-accommodating" buildings on Stanford's campus.
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Inside Facebook
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Facebook Updates Promo/Sweepstakes Guidelines – What It Means for Marketers
6 Nov 2009 | 11:25 amThese days, running promotions on Facebook Pages and inside Facebook apps is one of the simplest and most effective ways of engaging Facebook users. However, while Facebook does allow third parties to run contests and promotions on Facebook, it has been posting increasingly specific guidelines throughout the past year detailing just what is and what isn’t allowed. Now, Facebook has just posted a new set of promotional guidelines that go into much more detail. We’ve excerpted and highlighted some of the most relevant sections below, but the most important part: All promotions that… -
Legit New Games in This Week’s Up and Coming Facebook Apps List
6 Nov 2009 | 10:09 amThere are a few diamonds in the rough mix of simple applications on this week’s list of the top 20 up and coming apps. We put this list together by looking at the applications with between 100,000 and 1 million monthly active users in AppData, sorted by which applications gained the most users in the past week. As this week shows, looking at this segment of apps can show great apps before they become hits. Top Gainers This Week Name MAU Gain Gain, % 1. What kind of mask do you wear? 235,158 +207,243 +88.13 2. JibJab 896,201 +190,506 +21.26 3. what are you born to do? 913,576 +189,108… -
Share Music Tracks And Playlists Directly Through Facebook With New WinAmp Plug-in
6 Nov 2009 | 9:57 amA new plug-in for Facebook from music player WinAmp may be a long-awaited key to comprehensive music sharing that has been lacking from the site — at least for people who still use Winamp. I am Listening To gives Facebook users the ability to share what they’re listening to at any given time, as well as load playlists directly to their profiles. The Facebook Listening To v1.0 application updates your Facebook status when you listen to songs with the WinAmp music player. Your Facebook friends will know exactly what tracks you’re enjoying, or you can load entire playlists to… -
Online Retailers See Benefits From Facebook Presence
6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amRetailers that are launching or beefing up their Facebook pages may not be able to easily track a monetary return on the time and energy spent on the pages, but many are starting to see benefits. Engaging in customers and building large fan followings is giving retailers like Kohl’s valuable insight into what their customers want, so sellers are better able to tailor their sites and specials to meet buyers’ needs. A recent poll buy Shop.org revealed that as the holiday shopping season get in full swing, almost half of all online retailers will begin to ramp up their presence on… -
Europe Grew by 10 Million New Facebook Users Last Month, Here’s the Top 20 Gainers
6 Nov 2009 | 1:00 amFacebook now has 326 million monthly active users, according to the data the company makes publicly available, and Europe countries make up around a third of this number. From the United Kingdom to Turkey, many of the largest countries in the region gained the most users, totaling 108 million monthly actives by the end of this month — across Europe, that’s up around 10 million from October. The trend is shifting from what we’ve seen before, when the United Kingdom and northern European countries with smaller populations gained the most. Now, in order to make our list of the…
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The Economist
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China syndrome
7 Nov 2009 | 2:11 amLondon’s Asian art festival is full of surprisesASIAN Art in London—the city’s week-long late-autumn flowering of dealers’ shows and daily auctions, which ended on November 7th—was characterised by some beautiful exhibitions, an unprecedented flood of Chinese visitors and an assortment of auction sales that included some lots that went through the roof, others that failed utterly and a few notable pieces that were withdrawn on suspicion that they may have been fakes.Christie’s had the hardest time of it. Despite the bullish market for Chinese ceramics and… -
After the horror at home
6 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmIs there any lesson to be drawn from the shootings at Fort Hood?FORT HOOD is one of the largest army bases in America, sprawling over more than 300 square miles (some 780 square kilometres) of nondescript central Texas grassland between Austin and Waco. It is home to more than 50,000 active-duty soldiers, many of whom pass through on their way to Iraq or Afghanistan. One of their errands before deploying is to stop at the Soldier Readiness Processing Centre for last-minute medical and dental checks. It was here, on Thursday November 5th, that soldiers preparing for and returning from war… -
This week's top stories [06 November 2009]
6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amOur top articles ranked by reader popularity.Out from storageOut of the runningThe week aheadA prepackaged pratfallTricks of the tradeBack in his old hat?An electoral testHow to change the systemRed alertPutting competition first -
Jobs gloom, with glimmers
6 Nov 2009 | 4:31 amAmerica's jobless rate passes 10% but the job market should start to improve soonIT WAS widely expected to happen at some point, but not yet. The unemployment rate in America jumped to 10.2% in October, up from 9.8% the month before, an increase that was far more dramatic than most economists had projected.The grim milestone demonstrates that, even though the recession is apparently over, for the average worker it remains in force. The misery is actually greater than the headline number suggests: an alternative unemployment rate that includes those who would like to work but are not looking… -
For peat's sake
6 Nov 2009 | 1:31 amThe world’s wetlands are big sources of greenhouse gasesPEATY wetlands emit about 1.3 billion tonnes of CO2 a year as a result of human activity that drains them and thus exposes them to the oxidative effect of the atmosphere. This figure does not include the effect of fire on dried-up bogs, which can double the amount. That, at least, is the conclusion of a report published by Wetlands International, a lobby group, this week. Drained peat occupies 0.3% of the world’s land surface, but is responsible for 6% of man-made CO2 emissions. Indonesia is the biggest emitter, but richer…
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Washington Post
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Horrific day for weary troops
7 Nov 2009 | 9:00 amPolice officer's brave efforts stop Army psychiatrist from firing on unarmed soldiers in a scene that witnesses describe as "like being back in Iraq." -
In Peshawar, a state of denial
7 Nov 2009 | 9:00 amMany in Pakistani city blame "foreign hands," not Taliban, for last week's heinous market bombing. -
Soldiers, health system strained
7 Nov 2009 | 9:00 amPromises to improve psychiatric care have fallen short at Walter Reed, other military hospitals. -
Faces of a jobless recovery
7 Nov 2009 | 9:00 amDespite signs of economic growth, bleak data point to a stark future for job seekers and employers. -
Abortion amendment faces vote
6 Nov 2009 | 10:29 pmDems agree to decide emotional issue with risky House floor vote that could seal fate of entire bill.
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SEO, Marketing Blog
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Twitter and the Hype Cycle
25 Oct 2009 | 6:15 pmIn early 2009, there was a lot of hype around micro blogging and platforms such as Twitter. The research group, Gartner, has produced a detailed report on where micro blogging falls in the hype cycle.Technologies tend to follow a cycle of adoption and Twitter is no different. While everyone in the media has jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, many users have signed up only to leave their new accounts tweet-less. With a large number of people turned off by the technology, the hard core tweeters are still in full force. It's this core group that will see Twitter through the "trough".Now you will… -
What is Google Wave anyway?
2 Oct 2009 | 10:11 amWith all the hype recently, I thought it would be good to get the word out about what Google Wave actually does and how it is helpful. Below is a simple video that helps explain Google Wave in plain English.(thanks to cmilburndesign) -
Brother can you spare a Google Wave invite?
1 Oct 2009 | 10:31 amA while back I posted about Google Wave, the new chat, video, sharing wiz-a-ma-jig from Google. I would like to provide a review but I am still waiting for an invite to this app and would appreciate anyone who has an invite to share. If you do, please email or DM me on Twitter. I would be happy to link to you or do a review on your product or company. -
SEO and Google SideWiki
30 Sep 2009 | 9:20 amRecently, Google released a new feature called SideWiki to add to their Internet browser toolbar. The goal of SideWiki is to allow users to input comments and share information about web sites all over the Internet. When visiting a site with the Google SideWiki toolbar enabled, a small blue arrow and comment icon appear to the left of your browser window. When clicked, SideWiki expands to reveal details about the current site and include comments shared by other toolbar users who entered comments.Why should I care about SideWiki?SideWiki allows anyone to comment on your site. This means that… -
Email Marketing and SEO
4 Sep 2009 | 8:28 amThe gang over at SEOmoz put a nice video together on using email marketing and SEO together to promote your web site. This video does a great job explaining how each plays a role in attracting visitors to your site and how to keep them coming back.
