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• Leadershi*

  Dilbert.com Blog

  14 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  Recently President Obama announced that he supports gay marriage. But he also said that if states want to continue discriminating against gays, it's their decision. I assume the President also believes Abe Lincoln should have stayed out of the slavery issue under the theory that the states should decide which rights they grant their minority populations. (Someone clever said that before I did. I forget who.)Meanwhile, President Obama is using scarce federal funds to shut down marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical marijuana. On this issue, the President is opposed to…

• Run against the Republican Party

  Dave Winer's "Scripting News" weblog

  15 May 2012 | 11:59 am

  I saw Romney interviewed on Fox, and all the arguments about him being awkward and a flawed human being, to me, are unconvincing. To balance those, I look at what I know about the President. Honestly, measuring one man against another, it's a draw. The reason I'll almost certainly vote for Obama in the fall is that he is not a Republican. The thought of them controlling the government again, is a real motivator. I saw what they did in August with the debt ceiling. And I see it coming again and again. This is a party that's taken a very wrong turn. I think a United States run by Republicans is…

• Should you learn to code?

  Dave Winer's "Scripting News" weblog

  16 May 2012 | 11:08 am

  I have to weigh in on this. You should learn enough about anything to find out if you love it. I had no idea I was good at writing software until, on a lark, I enrolled in a Computer Science class at Tulane University in 1975. So I'd say, looking back, that was a good thing. If it worked out for me, why not give it a shot. But programming is at one end of a spectrum. It's like mountain climbing or spelunking, not like bungee jumping or hiking in the Alps. Programming is hard. And it's definitely not for everyone. I think the reason well-intentioned programmers get irritated by the sudden rush…

• Harvey Geller, Universal Music Group's Top Lawyer, Is Out

  AllThingsD

  Peter Kafka

  16 May 2012 | 1:17 pm

  Harvey Geller, Universal Music Group’s longtime lawyer, left the company earlier this week. A person familiar with Universal said he was now headed for another job but didn’t have other details. Geller’s name will be familiar to many digital media companies, since he often led fierce and sustained battles against them on behalf of the world’s biggest music label.

• Digital analogs are no longer sufficient

  Seth's Blog

  Seth Godin

  16 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  The parking meter was rebooting. I guess we're supposed to walk to the other end of the garage and find one that's working. We're seeing digital awareness coming to just about everything. In this case, it was the parking meter near the library. Of course, it's not really a parking meter, it's a centralized fee collection system that saves the town a lot of money. It's easier to collect from, certainly, it doesn't waste the time of meter readers (who get alerted as to what spaces aren't paid for, as opposed to checking them all) plus it doesn't let a new parker enjoy a few minutes of the last…

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  Dave Winer's "Scripting News" weblog

• Should you learn to code?

  16 May 2012 | 11:08 am

  I have to weigh in on this. You should learn enough about anything to find out if you love it. I had no idea I was good at writing software until, on a lark, I enrolled in a Computer Science class at Tulane University in 1975. So I'd say, looking back, that was a good thing. If it worked out for me, why not give it a shot. But programming is at one end of a spectrum. It's like mountain climbing or spelunking, not like bungee jumping or hiking in the Alps. Programming is hard. And it's definitely not for everyone. I think the reason well-intentioned programmers get irritated by the sudden rush…

• Quick idea for Quora

  16 May 2012 | 10:51 am

  Quora just raised $50 million. Quora is a very nicely done piece of software. Almost everyone thinks so. But I also think they're too late. There are already plenty of corporate blogging silos for people to write into. And the demand for them never was that high. So I think it would be interesting, with all their money and nice software, if they tried a pivot. Here's the idea... 1. Position relative to wordpress.com. A simpler more modern, better-designed version. Updated. 2. If possible release the back-end as open source, so you can complete the picture. If not, start work on that, and make…

• Chrome is better, day 2

  16 May 2012 | 10:23 am

  I'm now four days into using Chrome as my primary browser, after switching from Firefox. Top-line review: My work is better. Not just in the browser, everywhere. Having a strong competent tool in web browsing brings confidence to all my writing and programming work. I started a thread about this yesterday. A story. When I got angel funding for my first company, the lead investor arranged for the company to get me a car. I had been driving a rented Dodge Omni, month to month, a real piece of shit. I didn't have credit, or money for a down payment. So every month I scraped together the rent for…

• Run against the Republican Party

  15 May 2012 | 11:59 am

  I saw Romney interviewed on Fox, and all the arguments about him being awkward and a flawed human being, to me, are unconvincing. To balance those, I look at what I know about the President. Honestly, measuring one man against another, it's a draw. The reason I'll almost certainly vote for Obama in the fall is that he is not a Republican. The thought of them controlling the government again, is a real motivator. I saw what they did in August with the debt ceiling. And I see it coming again and again. This is a party that's taken a very wrong turn. I think a United States run by Republicans is…

• Chrome is better

  15 May 2012 | 10:34 am

  I've spend a couple of days working fulltime in Chrome, and it's improved my workflow.

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  AllThingsD

• Harvey Geller, Universal Music Group's Top Lawyer, Is Out

  Peter Kafka

  16 May 2012 | 1:17 pm

  Harvey Geller, Universal Music Group’s longtime lawyer, left the company earlier this week. A person familiar with Universal said he was now headed for another job but didn’t have other details. Geller’s name will be familiar to many digital media companies, since he often led fierce and sustained battles against them on behalf of the world’s biggest music label.

• Google Gets Semantic, Launches Knowledge Graph Starting Today

  Liz Gannes

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  Google today formally launches some anticipated and previously glimpsed semantic features for its core English search engine on Google.com accessed through computers, phones and tablets. This “Knowledge Graph” is a two-year-old project that evolved in part out of Google’s acquisition of Metaweb in 2010. Google now says it understands 500 million entities and 3.5 billion attributes and connections. When users search for a term that triggers the Knowledge Graph, they’ll see a box of information on the right-hand side of the search results page. The boxes contain all…

• iPhone Engineer and Gmail Designer Team Up on Electric Imp to Connect Devices

  Liz Gannes

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  A new start-up called Electric Imp promises to turn almost any product into a connected device with the addition of a tiny card in a slot. Former iPhone engineering manager Hugo Fiennes, former Gmail designer Kevin Fox and long-time firmware engineer Peter Hartley co-founded the start-up, which is intended to help users monitor, control and get alerted by their devices. Electric Imp founders Peter Hartley, Hugo Fiennes and Kevin Fox Some potential applications are a laundry machine that texts a user when the wash is done or a power charger that turns on when the price of electricity goes…

• iSwifter's New App Brings All Flash-Based Facebook Games to the iPad

  Tricia Duryee

  16 May 2012 | 11:55 am

  Most games on Facebook are built using Adobe Flash, and therefore don’t work on the iPad. While Facebook is slowly working out the kinks to bring more games to mobile, there’s a small company in Menlo Park, Calif., that has beat them to it. ISwifter is announcing a new iPad app today called theWorx for Facebook, which gives users the full Facebook experience — social games and all. That means users can check their crops, maintain their cities and feed their fish without having to boot up their computer. A small company of 20 employees, iSwifter is almost entirely…

• Exclusive: Groupon Hires Amazonian as VP of Engineering, Opens Seattle Office

  Tricia Duryee

  16 May 2012 | 11:45 am

  Vinayak Hegde is the latest Amazon executive to join Groupon as its new VP of Engineering. The Chicago-based daily deals company expects to announce his appointment later this afternoon. Hegde will be based in Seattle, overseeing the company’s marketing technology expansion, and will also be in charge of opening a new 20-person office here. At Amazon, Hegde spent six years managing payments, and another six years heading up several business units, including social networking, email and browser teams. He also ran Amazon’s “Traffic Systems” group, which works on…

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  Seth's Blog

• Digital analogs are no longer sufficient

  Seth Godin

  16 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  The parking meter was rebooting. I guess we're supposed to walk to the other end of the garage and find one that's working. We're seeing digital awareness coming to just about everything. In this case, it was the parking meter near the library. Of course, it's not really a parking meter, it's a centralized fee collection system that saves the town a lot of money. It's easier to collect from, certainly, it doesn't waste the time of meter readers (who get alerted as to what spaces aren't paid for, as opposed to checking them all) plus it doesn't let a new parker enjoy a few minutes of the last…

• Hard work on the right things

  Seth Godin

  15 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  I don't think winners beat the competition because they work harder. And it's not even clear that they win because they have more creativity. The secret, I think, is in understanding what matters. It's not obvious, and it changes. It changes by culture, by buyer, by product and even by the day of the week. But those that manage to capture the imagination, make sales and grow are doing it by perfecting the things that matter and ignoring the rest. Both parts are difficult, particularly when you are surrounded by people who insist on fretting about and working on the stuff that makes no…

• Worldliness

  Seth Godin

  14 May 2012 | 4:41 am

  Intelligence is the combination of knowing a lot about a little while you also know a little about a lot. Deep domain understanding helps you create analyses. Your ability to understand how a particular system (no matter how small) works allows you apply a confident analysis to new systems you encounter. Once you know everything there is to know about nuclear physics, soccer or the praying mantis, it makes it easier to understand new systems. At the same time, it's impossible to be smart without also being aware of the wider world. That's because it's the random interactions and the…

• The reason the customer is always right...

  Seth Godin

  14 May 2012 | 4:08 am

  If you insist that they are wrong, they stop being your customer* (if given half a chance). People spend their time and attention and money in places that make them feel valued. *There's nothing wrong with asking customers who are wrong to leave. Just be sure you do it on purpose.

• Dedicating the merit

  Seth Godin

  13 May 2012 | 4:02 am

  For an author, one of the nicest parts of the traditional book is the dedication page. The dedication is far more than an acknowledgement to someone who helped you write the book, it's a permanent signpost, a capstone to the work of a year or more. Even if the person you've dedicated the book to can't read it, the writer benefits from the knowledge that a connection was made and that a memory was preserved. Here's the thing: you can dedicate just about anything. A project, a meeting, a tweet. You don't have to tell anyone but yourself. This blog post, like all the posts before it, has a…

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  kottke.org

• A blind man's first experience with echolocation

  Jason Kottke

  16 May 2012 | 1:37 pm

  Austin Seraphin, who you may remember from his review of the iPhone, recently learned how to use echolocation to navigate his physical environment in a new way. We started out in the hallway outside of my condo. They turned an old school into lofts, so the hallways and stairwells look and sound like a school. He had me walk down the hallway without touching the walls by using echolocation. Just to make it clear: echolocation does not normally replace the use of a cane, but for this exercise I did not use a cane. I could hear the hard surfaces, and gradually the walls came into focus. I could…

• The sounds of Aronofsky

  Jason Kottke

  16 May 2012 | 12:56 pm

  The person who made Wes Anderson From Above and Tarantino From Below has put together a supercut of distinct sounds from Darren Aronofsky's films. (via ★interesting) Tags: Darren Aronofsky   movies   video

• Straight White Male, the game of life's lowest difficulty setting

  Jason Kottke

  16 May 2012 | 11:48 am

  Using a video game metaphor, John Scalzi explains straight white male privilege for those straight white males who get hung up on the word "privilege". Dudes. Imagine life here in the US -- or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world -- is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time. Let's call it The Real World. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to…

• Facebook's current valuation in BK Whoppers

  Jason Kottke

  16 May 2012 | 10:28 am

  Facebook's going public in a few days and will finally get a real valuation attached to it. During a 2009 Burger King promotion that doled out free Whoppers for deleting some of your Facebook friends, I estimated Facebook's valuation at about $1.8 billion. What BK has unwittingly done here is provide a way to determine the valuation of Facebook. Let's assume that the majority of Facebook's value comes from the connections between their users. From Facebook's statistics page, we learn that the site has 150 million users and the average user has 100 friends. Each friendship is requires the…

• Ken Burns talks about stories

  Jason Kottke

  16 May 2012 | 8:43 am

  In this short film by Sarah Klein and Tom Mason, Ken Burns shares his thoughtful perspective on what makes a good story. Abraham Lincoln wins the Civil War and then he decides he's got enough time to go to the theatre. That's a good story. When Thomas Jefferson said "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal", he owned a hundred human beings and never saw the hypocrisy, never saw the contradiction, and more importantly never saw fit in his lifetime to free any one of them. That's a good story. Over at the Atlantic, Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg has an interview…

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  Charlene Li

• Beyond the IPO: Ten Implications of a Public Facebook

  Charlene Li

  8 May 2012 | 10:05 am

  By Susan Etlinger, Charlene Li and Rebecca Lieb The run-up to Facebook’s IPO reminds me a bit of a wedding: everyone’s attention is on the big day (expected to be Friday May 18), without much regard for the weeks, months and years afterward. Charlene Li, Rebecca Lieb, and I sat down to discuss some of the implications of a newly public Facebook: on shareholders, business and Facebook itself. — SE  (Cross-posted from altimetergroup.com.) Whether or not Facebook’s IPO ends up being one of the world’s largest (this Washington Post article places it 6th, between…

• Webinar: A Foundation For Mobile Business

  Charlene Li

  20 Mar 2012 | 12:46 pm

  Now for a word on mobile in the enterprise. Altimeter’s mobile analyst, Chris Silva, is working on a report that explores how managers on the business-side – not the IT – side of the organization are increasingly leading the charge to bring mobility to their workforce. A key challenge is how to build the control and security foundation for a mobile business strategy. Chris and I will be hosting an open, no-cost webinar on Wed March 28th at 10am PT/1pm ET that will discuss the key elements of the mobile control layer, its importance, and how both the technologies and leadership…

• Report: Making The Business Case For Enterprise Social Networks

  Charlene Li

  22 Feb 2012 | 3:58 am

  In 2011, the US hit a milestone — more than half of all adults visit social networking sites at least once a month. But when it comes to using social-networking technologies inside organizations, many business leaders are at a loss to understand what value can be created from Facebook-like status updates within the enterprise. Some organizations have deployed social-networking features with an initial enthusiastic reception, only to see these early efforts wither to just a few stalwart participants. The problem: Most companies approach enterprise social networks as a technology deployment…

• New Report: “Make An App For That: Mobile Strategies For Retailers”

  Charlene Li

  7 Feb 2012 | 12:16 pm

  When it comes to shopping, I have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone. Some apps are actually helpful, letting me explore products or buy something immediate. But the vast majority of the retailer apps litter my screens, sitting unused after an initial, disappointing whirl. My frustration is reflected in the findings of my colleague Chris Silva‘s new report, entitled “Make An App For That: Mobile Strategies For Retailers“. Of particular value is that Chris pivots the report around two major strategies retails can use when it comes to mobile: Enrich: These strategies are…

• Jerry Yang’s departure signals a New Day for Yahoo!, the passing of an era for Tech

  Charlene Li

  17 Jan 2012 | 6:30 pm

  My first reaction to the news that Jerry Yang is leaving Yahoo! was that this was the passing of an era. I first met Jerry in 1994 when he was still a PhD student at Stanford, before he and David Filo left to run Yahoo! full time. Through bubbles and two economic downturns, Jerry has always been omnipresent in Silicon Valley. But all good things come to pass. With the arrival of Scott Thompson as the new CEO of Yahoo!, it makes sense that Scott be given a clean slate upon which to write the future of Yahoo!. This is very much the norm for incoming CEOs, where founders are asked to take a…

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  Daring Fireball

• Walt Mossberg on Microsoft’s ‘Signature’ PCs

  John Gruber

  16 May 2012 | 12:24 pm

  Mossberg: Microsoft also offers a program that, for $99, will turn users’ Windows 7 PCs into Signature versions, if the owner brings the computer into one of its 16 stores, due to grow to 21 outlets in coming months. In other words, you pay $100 to get the crap removed from your new computer. Nice.  ★ 

• WSJ Says Apple Is Switching to 4-Inch iPhone Displays

  John Gruber

  16 May 2012 | 11:47 am

  Lorraine Luk and Juro Osawa, reporting for the WSJ from Hong Kong: The new iPhone that Apple Inc. is expected to unveil this year is likely to have a larger display than its current models have, with the company ordering bigger screens from its Asian suppliers, people familiar with the matter said. The new screens measure at least 4 inches diagonally, the people said, compared with 3.5 inches on Apple’s latest model, the iPhone 4S. Production is set to begin next month, the people said. Analysts have predicted that the next iPhone will come out in the fall. Not much to add, other than…

• Ashton Kutcher Dressed Like Steve Jobs

  John Gruber

  16 May 2012 | 11:38 am

  Now it’s come to this: I’m linking to TMZ.  ★ 

• Google Green

  John Gruber

  16 May 2012 | 11:29 am

  Nicely done package from Google explaining and illustrating their environmental strategies. Impressive and never-before-seen look inside some of their data centers. And their “Story of Send” is Google at its whimsical best.  ★ 

• Glassboard 2.0

  John Gruber

  15 May 2012 | 3:31 pm

  Brent Simmons: We at Sepia Labs just released Glassboard 2.0 for iPhone and Android. There’s even a new web app — in beta (still suffers from cats). (All three apps are free.) Two things. First, Brent is a friend and someone whose work I’ve long admired. When Brent does something new, it’s a sure thing I’m going to check it out. I did that with Glassboard, and, I must admit, I didn’t get it at first. Just didn’t see how I’d use it. But then I went to a weekend-long conference where a dozen or so of my friends set up a board on Glassboard. We shared…

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  Logic+Emotion

• Social Business: Where It's Been & Where It's Going

  David Armano

  6 May 2012 | 1:56 pm

  "Chasing the past, I stumbled into the future". - T A Sachs I've always been a firm believer that in order to look to the future, we must look back to and fully grasp the past (and the present). Having had several recent engaging conversations with smart people who I respect, I've picked up a hint of exhaustion around usage of the word "social". Could it be that some who saw the "change" coming years ago are weary of having carried that torch for so many years as we move into the heavy lifting? It's natural to want to move to the next thing—but I'm convinced that today we are largely still…

• Own The Data, Own The Future

  David Armano

  14 Apr 2012 | 11:15 am

  Now that some of the dust is settling around Facebook's massive acquisition of Instagram this past week, we can all take a step back and think about the bigger picture. Yes, Facebook understands the critical role mobile will play in how billions of people interact and communicate but they also understand that interactions, engagement, consumption or whatever you want to call it generates one thing. Data. Facebook wants it. Google wants it. And all businesses will want to understand it. There is huge, big business to be built around all kinds of data. Targeted marketing is the first salvo and…

• Thoughts on the Future of Social-Digital Agency Services

  David Armano

  7 Apr 2012 | 12:29 pm

  *The above does not reflect actual or estimated market share Now is as good a time as any to be thinking about the future of digital (and social) as defined by those of us who provide services or even products around these. If you work for any agency or consultancy—this article is relevant for you. If you're on the "client side" consider it relevant as well as ultimately it is your business model and needs which dictate the market conditions that affect your partners, vendors and professional service providers. I'm writing this piece from the perspective of having worked at several digital…

• Thoughts On Altimeter's Digital Influence Report

  David Armano

  21 Mar 2012 | 12:13 pm

  Altimeter's most recent report titled "The Rise of Digital Influence" revolves around the theory and practice of "digital influence". A trend that will not die despite the industry's counter movement against platforms such as Klout and the scores of imitators which have subsequently followed. (Full disclosure, I was interviewed in depth for the report). Altimeter rightfully begins the analysis of "digital influence" by calling out the distinction from how we view influence traditionally and offering a brief definition:"Traditional influence is defined as the act, power, or capacity of causing…

• Klout Targets Agencies Via "March Madness" Competition

  David Armano

  20 Mar 2012 | 10:33 am

  Klout has dialed up their marketing efforts, this time placing agency individuals in a March Madness bracket style competition they are calling "Agency Insanity".  Critics will scoff at it as another attempt to get individuals to pump up scores, but in actuality the effort is a straight forward marketing initiative aimed at raising awareness, generating buzz and getting Klout to show up in people's social streams. A while back, Klout's founder Joe Fernandez and I discussed something like this as part of a brand initiative and it's interesting to see it in action under a different context.

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  Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing

• Keynote: Three Future Trends of Social Business (Slides)

  jeremiah_owyang

  16 May 2012 | 10:33 am

  I’m presenting here at Webcom in Montreal, sharing the State and Future of Social BUsiness. In fact, I think the Cluetrain as we know it, while right for many years, needs modification to represent how the social web is changing. I took the first three theses of the mainfesto and translated it to represent how I see advertising integrating with social as well as optimization and Social Performance software. The three trends that I see impacting the social business space include (but are not limited to): Trend 1: Corporate Websites Reborn. I asset that corporate websites as we know them…

• Video: Scaling your Social Business

  jeremiah_owyang

  13 May 2012 | 8:34 pm

  A few days before the hectic 2012 SXSW storm (my analysis here), The Dachis Group hosted the Social Business Summit (catch one in your city) with some of the world’s top brands to discuss social business.   Kicking off the day, I shared Altimeter’s research on how advanced companies are scaling their programs –and avoiding programs that will slow them down.  A few key points we iterated: Being prepared in advanced with: the proper policies, teams, roles, and education programs. These are the foundation needed to build a Center of Excellence. Advanced corporations have…

• People on the Move in the Social Business Industry, May 11, 2012

  jeremiah_owyang

  11 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Both the submissions on this job announcement board, as well as available social media positions at corporations continue to pour in. In this continued digest of job changes, I like to salute those that continue to join the industry in roles focused on social media, see the archives, which I’ve been tracking since Q4, 2007. People on the Move in the Social Business Industry: Although I’m a few months behind this, first of all, congrats to Mia Dand (twitter, linkedin) is Director, Global Social Media at Symantec, focused on building and leading social media strategy for…

• A New Category Defined: Social Performance Software

  jeremiah_owyang

  4 May 2012 | 8:32 am

  A new software category has emerged to bring performance marketing to social channels. After interviewing over 10 software companies and 10 agencies, a new trend has emerged that will change the social business landscape. What is this trend? The marketing performance techniques to refine TV, Radio, SEO and other marketing mediums are now moving to the social space.   Read my definitive post on Mashable to learn how this impacts not only brands, but also Facebook and my long term predictions on how this will play out. Market Needs Companies are struggling to scale to keep up with all the…

• Podcast: Why The Term “Social Media Agency of Record” Will Dissolve

  jeremiah_owyang

  30 Apr 2012 | 9:08 pm

  I’m honored to be a guest on Mitch Joel‘s famed podcast, Six Pixels of Separation, to discuss my latest post that’s caught the Industry’s attention how Social Media Agencies are Turning to Ads. Mitch invited me on the podcast to discuss this further. One of the assertions I make is the term “Social Media Agency of Record” (aka SMaoR) will eventually go by the wayside, as those pure play agencies are starting to move into advertising (starting with social ads), digital, interactive, and more. My take? We’ll just have a broader focus as social becomes…

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  Amy Wohl's Opinions

• Speaking Events, Meetings

  Amy Wohl

  27 Apr 2012 | 1:38 am

  I'm getting ready to leave for IBM's Impact Conference (think WebSphere) in Las Vegas, April 29 to May 3rd. I'll be speaking at two sessions, in case you'll be there: One is the CSCC (Cloud Standards Customer Council) session on Monday, April 30 at 3:15 for a discussion on the state of cloud standards and the important role the CSCC plays. Melvin Greer, senior fellow and chief strategist, Cloud Computing, Lockheed Martin; chair, CSCC steering committee, and Amy Wohl, principal consultant of Wohl Associates (me!); CSCC steering committee member will lead the discussion and…

• SOA Governance - What are Your Company's Plans?

  Amy Wohl

  16 Jan 2012 | 3:00 pm

  I'm going to be speaking on SOA Governance at IBM's Pulse Conference on March 5 and have created a short survey to understand what are your company's plans for using SOA Governance. Please do me the favor of completing this survey - it will take you three minutes or less and will be most valuable to me.  Take the Survey by Clicking Here. Thank you. 

• A Ride on the Hybrid Bus

  Amy Wohl

  3 Jan 2012 | 12:36 pm

  Amy Wohl is currently guest blogging on IBM's Impact site.  We will be posting links to each of those blogs here. The new post is available here: A Ride on the Hybrid Bus

• Master Data Management, Business Process Management and Service Oriented Architecture

  Amy Wohl

  14 Dec 2011 | 5:24 am

  Amy Wohl is currently guest blogging on IBM's Impact site.  We will be posting links to each of those blogs here. The new post is available here: Master Data Management, Business Process Management and Service Oriented Architecture

• Computing for Everyone

  Amy Wohl

  9 Dec 2011 | 2:09 pm

  Grady Booch, an IBM fellow and esteemed software engineer is working on a project to bring a series to television and the web which will approach Computing the way Carl Sagan approached the universe. Daryl Taft has written an excellent article explaining the project and its goals. They will use Kickstarter to fund the initial startup (that comment papers over the fact that Grady, his wife Jan and a number of others have been working on the project for four years). The part of the project I particularly love, beyond the fact that Grady is a great storyteller and the subject is endlessly…

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  Dilbert.com Blog

• Leadershi*

  14 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  Recently President Obama announced that he supports gay marriage. But he also said that if states want to continue discriminating against gays, it's their decision. I assume the President also believes Abe Lincoln should have stayed out of the slavery issue under the theory that the states should decide which rights they grant their minority populations. (Someone clever said that before I did. I forget who.)Meanwhile, President Obama is using scarce federal funds to shut down marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical marijuana. On this issue, the President is opposed to…

• Venture Capital

  11 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  The media treats with reverence the geniuses who invested early in tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and other big Internet names. If you're a super wealthy person, and you obtained your wealth by luck, inheritance, or financial manipulation, you're probably eager to prove you have something useful to offer the world. You want to be associated with a sexy new startup to demonstrate your brilliance and establish some family honor. You want to do the modern equivalent of buying yourself a title. Instead of becoming Lord of Devonshire, you can be an early investor in a startup that…

• Future Generations

  9 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  People like to say they care about future generations. That's ridiculous, obviously. The reality is that people only care about perpetuating their own genes. If we cared about the quality of life for future generations, most births in modern societies would result from the sperm and eggs of donors that are healthy, brilliant, talented, hard-working, happy, tall, and blessed with excellent emotional intelligence. To keep things non-racist, let's assume the donated sperm and eggs in my hypothetical situation come from the best specimens in every ethnic group.Just to be clear, I'm…

• Income Distribution Magic

  7 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  Suppose you could snap your fingers and instantly reduce the huge disparity in income distribution across the globe. Would you do it?Many of you will probably say yes. You'd take some of the "extra" money from the rich and use it to help the needy. But suppose I put one condition on this magic power of yours. Suppose the only thing you can do by magic is reduce by half the wealth of the top 1% while knowing the money would be transferred to no one. The money would simply cease to exist. The rich would have half as much, while everyone else remained the same. Would you use your…

• Homes for Oldsters

  4 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  Have you visited an assisted living facility for the elderly lately? If you have, I'll bet it was clean and professional, but also unspeakably sad. The residents are well cared for, but they look lonely and bored and forgotten. Maybe we should figure out how to fix that situation before it's our turn.If you consider the huge demographic wave of retirees coming down the road, and the fact that many haven't saved enough for retirement, and the fact that science keeps finding ways to keep our withered bodies alive longer, we have a big problem brewing. Where will all of those old…

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  Doc Searls Weblog

• An AR treat

  Doc Searls

  14 May 2012 | 9:40 am

  Enticed by Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald (aka @DutchCowboy) in this tweet, I fired up Layar (an AR — Augmented Reality — browser from the company by that name, which he co-founded), and aimed it at the cover of my new book. What followed is chronicled in this Flickr set. Start here, then follow the links at the end of each caption. It’s a fun way to see what linky stuff might be found with any image you can visit in the world. Right now its purposes are mostly commercial. But I’d love to see the technology applied to questions we might have in the much larger non-commercial world,…

• A way to see what you get

  Doc Searls

  13 May 2012 | 3:35 pm

  According to The Cost of Reading Privacy Policies, a paper by Aleecia M. McDonald and Lorrie Faith Cranor of Carnegie Mellon University, “national opportunity cost for just the time to read policies is on the order of $781 billion.” This is based on reading 1462 policies with a median length of 2518 words, taking about ten minutes per policies, adding up to 76 work days per year, or a total of 53.8 billion hours for the U.S. population reading those polcies. This number, observes Alexis Madrigal, senior editor of The Atlantic, exceeds the GDP of Florida. So, Joe Andrieu and…

• Tsé Bitʼaʼí

  Doc Searls

  10 May 2012 | 6:33 am

  That’s the Navajo name for what everybody else calls Shiprock. It’s a rock spire that rises out of the desert southeast of Four Corners in the far northwestern corner of New Mexico. Elevation at the peak is 7,177 feet, with a prominence of 1,583 feet. Technically, it’s what geologists call a monadnock, an inselberg, or a volcanic neck or plug. By whatever name, it’s what remains of a volcano that was active 27 million years ago, in the Oligocene epoch, one among many volcanic perforations of what later became the American southwest. Radiating in three directions from…

• Department of Corrections

  Doc Searls

  9 May 2012 | 10:16 pm

  One nice thing about blogging is that you get to correct what you write. Tonight I put up a long post that I had second, third, fourth and fifth and additional thoughts about, and finally decided to kill. I do that a lot, actually. Just not usually with stuff I’ve already put up. But I did it this time. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have another go at the same subject. Meanwhile I’ll grab some much-needed sleep.

• Take us to The Rivers

  Doc Searls

  7 May 2012 | 10:37 pm

  News rivers were a brilliant idea in the first place. Perhaps, now that at least one high-profile publisher has embraced them, the rest might follow. But first, some history, in the best chronological order I can muster — Sometime way back there, Dave Winer created rivers of news for the NY Times and the BBC (NYTimesriver.com and BBCriver.com). Being RSS-fed and in plain formatting, they loaded instantly, and were so Web 1.0+ compliant that they even looked great and loaded fast on phones (such as my Treo) that were not yet smart in the iOS/Android manner, or fed by 3+G data…

• 

  A VC

• Bootstrapping

  Fred

  16 May 2012 | 4:43 am

  With all the talk of massive amounts of cash sloshing around the web/mobile startup ecosystem (including things I've said recently), you would think that nobody bootstraps anymore. But that is not true at all. Last week my partner Albert blogged about our most recent investment in Behance. Behance was bootstrapped for its first five years. As Scott Belsky, Behance's founder and CEO, wrote on the Behance blog: For the past five years, Behance has been a bootstrapped enterprise. We’ve sold Action Pads, books, job postings, conference tickets, and even banner ads (horror!) to generate the…

• Mobile Native Services

  Fred

  15 May 2012 | 7:55 am

  One of the most exciting areas of Internet applications these days are applications that are "mobile native". That doesn't just mean mobile first. It means mobile native - the app could not exist if the mobile smartphone didn't exist. A great example of this is the "book a cab ride on your phone" category. The leader in this category is Uber which does a great job and really nailed the experience. I've also used SideCar in San Francisco and Hailo in London. All three are great experiences. These services work so well because the cab driver and the passenger both have mobile phones that are…

• MBA Mondays Series: People

  Fred

  14 May 2012 | 5:31 am

  Based on the feedback I got on this topic last week, I've revised the title of the series and the topics we are going to cover. The series will be called People. Human Capital is a turnoff. Businesses are all about people. And people aren't capital. I've added posts on retention and asking someone to leave the company. So here is the schedule of posts: - The importance of culture and fit when hiring - Where to find strong talent - Optimal headcount at various stages - Best hiring practices - Retention - Asking somone to leave your company - How to leverage your partners (including your…

• Easy Come Easy Go

  Fred

  13 May 2012 | 9:21 am

  I just read that a lot of the social news reader traffic publishers like Washington Post and The Guardian were getting from Facebook has dropped off dramatically. Next we will read that the traffic social video apps get from Facebook has dropped dramatically. All of this reminds me of the big drop in traffic SEO driven sites deal with every time Google does an algorithm change. SEO and Facebook timeline integration is "best practice" on the Internet. You should do both. They can be great free acquisition channels. But they are not great retention channels. Because easy come easy go. Be your…

• Android in Europe and Asia

  Fred

  12 May 2012 | 9:03 am

  I was going through the board deck of our portfolio company Wattpad this morning. Wattpad is the leading writing/reading community on the web and mobile. Quantcast says over 7.5mm people visit their website each month. And Wattpad is one of the top free "Books" apps in both the iOS an Android apps stores. Wattpad has a very large mobile user base around the world as a result of the sucess of its mobile apps. And so this slide on geographic distribution of its user base caught my attention: The iOS user base for Wattpad is about 65% in North America. But Wattpad's Android user base is less…

• 

  John Battelle's Search Blog

• Penner Ash Willamette Pinot 2009

  jbat

  15 May 2012 | 12:42 pm

  Penner-Ash Willamette Valley 2009 Pinot drank VERY well last week.

• New Feeds For Searchblog

  jbat

  15 May 2012 | 12:11 pm

  Pardon the site-specific interruption, but as part of my ongoing quest to keep my content here on my own site, I’ve begun posting pictures of stuff here that I’d otherwise put on Instagram, Twitter or other services. Given that many of you read Searchblog for my trenchant commentary as opposed to my preferences in pinots, I promised you that I’d create new RSS feeds. Well, here they are! You’ve got a lot of choices – Everything (all photos and posts), Everything But Photos, Headlines Only, and Photos Only. Many thanks to the team at Blend for helping me make this…

• Get to Know Ross Levinsohn

  jbat

  13 May 2012 | 8:23 pm

  The remarkable news today that, among other important board moves, Ross Levinsohn will take over as interim CEO at Yahoo may well mark the end of an era – should his tenure stick, perhaps we can stop talking about the web pioneer in past or conditional tenses. If you’d like to get to know him a bit better, here’s an interview I did with him at Web 2 last Fall.

• The Audacity of Diaspora

  jbat

  13 May 2012 | 8:13 pm

  Last Friday Businessweek ran a story on Diaspora, a social platform built from what might be called Facebook anti-matter. It’s a great read that chronicles the project’s extraordinary highs and lows, from Pebble-like Kickstarter success to the loss of a founder to suicide. Given the overwhelming hype around Facebook’s IPO this week, it’s worth remembering such a thing exists – and even though it’s in private beta, Diaspora is one of the largest open source projects going right now, and boasts around 600,000 beta testers. I’ve watched Diaspora from…

• Oh, MacROSTIE!

  jbat

  12 May 2012 | 12:48 am

  A very happy Friday night with my wife, mother in law, and kids (and tomatoes, kale, wild rice, et al), made round by this MacRostie Pinot, 2007. Yippee, it’s the weekend!

• 

  Signal vs. Noise

• We're hiring: Help us significantly improve conversion and retention

  Jason F.

  14 May 2012 | 12:18 pm

  We’re looking for another teammate. This time we’re looking for someone who is completely focused on improving conversion and retention. You love moving the needle, one small step at a time. This job is all about seeing untapped potential. Conversion could be financial (get more people to start a trial or complete it – what we consider a “sale”), or outcome-based (inspire people to create more Basecamp projects by showing them creative ways to use Basecamp they never thought of before). Or something else. Retention could be reducing cancellations, or reducing…

• Taking the Pain Out of MySQL Schema Changes

  John

  14 May 2012 | 8:53 am

  A common obstacle we face when releasing new features is making production schema changes in MySQL. Many new features require additional columns or indexes. Running an “ALTER TABLE” in MySQL to add the needed columns and indexes locks the table, hanging the application. We need a better solution. Option 1: Schema Change in Downtime This is the simplest option. Put the application into downtime and perform the schema change. It requires us to have the application down for the duration of the “ALTER TABLE”. We’ve successfully used this option for smaller tables…

• Basecamp in Antarctica

  Shaun

  10 May 2012 | 9:39 am

  We have customers around the world doing extraordinary things with our software, but Ben Saunders is taking it to a whole new level. Ben and his team are using Basecamp to organize an expedition to the South Pole and back, unsupported and on foot. This is the same journey Captain Robert Scott died trying to achieve 100 years ago, and no one has attempted it since. Ben has been a professional polar explorer for more than 10 years and is one of only three people to complete a solo journey to the North Pole. He will be joined by Alastair Humphreys, who has cycled 46,000 miles around the world,…

• Sortfolio: Going once, going twice...

  Jason F.

  7 May 2012 | 5:19 pm

  A year ago we put Sortfolio up for sale. We entertained a variety of offers, met with a few potential suitors in person, and negotiated numbers. Ultimately nothing came together. Then we shelved the process so we could focus all of our efforts on designing and building the new Basecamp. Sortfolio continued to run itself for another year, generating over $200,000 in profit for us during that time. Our paying customer count continues to hover consistently in the 170s, each paying $99/month to be listed as a premium member. The price We’ve put Sortfolio on the clock: We either sell it by…

• VIDEO: Keynote by David from RailsConf 2012 on progress…

  David

  1 May 2012 | 2:05 pm

  Keynote by David from RailsConf 2012 on progress, curiosity, fear, and the danger of easy-bake ovens.

• 

  chrisbrogan.com

• Create a Setting and Connect With Emotions

  ceb

  14 May 2012 | 12:26 am

  I recently moved the delivery time of my beloved newsletter to be Sunday morning (well, that’s when it launches here, though my New Zealander and Australian friends all get it on Monday). In the process, I talked to people about sharing this information over breakfast, and with a “second cup of coffee” sometimes. I basically set a scene in the reader’s head that we were having a personal chat over breakfast. Ask yourself this: in trying to reach others for whatever your goal may be, is it facts or emotions that will win them over? Which do you think plays the bigger…

• Nobody Reads Agency Blogs- Or Why You Need Skin in the Game

  ceb

  7 May 2012 | 8:57 am

  Thanks to Jason Falls, I just read this post about how many marketing agencies are closing down their blogs and tweeting and Facebooking instead. “Nobody reads agency blogs, and there are so many out there it’s impossible for people to keep up anyway,” said Sam Weston, director of communications at digital agency Huge. Nobody Reads ANY Blogs- If They’re Boring I’ll tell you without even having to look why nobody reads a blog: because it’s boring. Because it’s poorly written. Because it’s utterly self-referential. Nobody has time to read junk. Why would you?

• Constraints

  ceb

  5 May 2012 | 11:43 am

  I was at a live performance the other night where Jacq sang and played with Girish, and I had a great conversation with Reggie, the drummer for the night. (I am SO sorry that I don’t know your last name, Reggie.) We talked about the fact that his typical drum kit for events is usually like 30 or so pieces, but that he decided to go minimal for the event. He had a kick drum, a snare, a tom, two cymbals, and a cowbell. What Reggie said was something like this, “I really enjoy this, because it means I really have to use what I have to get the expression I’m aiming for. I…

• Pattern Break

  ceb

  2 May 2012 | 11:17 pm

  When you wake up in the morning, you check your emails, probably from your phone. First thing. Yes? Why? There’s no good answer to why. Even brain surgeons can wait until they’ve done other things before checking in on the world outside of your immediate proximity. So why do you do it? Because it’s a habit, a pattern. Do you read the top tech and marketing blogs? Why? Why do you read this blog? Because you’re subscribed? Are you getting something from it? If no, then why are you still doing it? Twitter and Facebook are hugely pattern-driven. They thrive off the same…

• Where Should You Put Your Content?

  ceb

  30 Apr 2012 | 9:44 am

  I’ve been asked by subscribers of my personal newsletter how I decide what goes on my blog and what goes into my newsletter. I think the answer differs depending on your strategy, but I’m more than happy to tell you how I view it. I put information that sells on my blog, and information that nurtures in my newsletter. Information that Sells My job, because people seem confused these days as to what exactly it is I do or am selling, is to help mid-sized to larger companies build business (revenue and growth) by improving their use of the human digital channel (social media, email…

• 

  iJustine / Justine Ezarik

• Fishies

  ijustine

  14 May 2012 | 4:13 pm

  This was amazing! All these fish just came up to hang out! We were able to sit and they just swam around like it was NBD. Where the fishies hang out.

• Fishes in the floor!

  ijustine

  14 May 2012 | 2:43 pm

  Part 2 of our travel day to Bora Bora!

• Dinner on the beach

  ijustine

  14 May 2012 | 2:42 pm

  Sunset dinner on the beach in Bora Bora!

• Wave Race 64

  ijustine

  14 May 2012 | 11:55 am

  Wave Race 64… IRL!! Hahaha my favorite game ever. Even though you can hardly tell.. That’s us in the middle of the ocean. Not my turn to drive… Random shot while speeding by at 70mph. OK MY TURN NOW!!! Ryan relaxing after my really great jet ski driving skills. Amazing view from the other side of the island.

• Bora Bora

  ijustine

  12 May 2012 | 4:13 pm

  “It looks like a screensaver” – it does and I can’t believe this place is actually real! Palm trees before sunset at the St. Regis resort. Really pretty panoramic view before they boat you over to the resort. Overwater bungalow at sunset! The dock/balcony off the back of the bungalows. Bora Bora sunrise. Pool! View from the smaller “Oasis pool” cabana. Google maps screenshot of where we are! Panoramic view at sunset from the Lagoon restaurant. Me and Ryan! View from breakfast! More overwater bungalows! The only way to go!

• 

  dooce® main feed

• Ms. May

  dooce

  16 May 2012 | 8:55 am

  For someone too young to have ever watched "Dynasty," Cami sure knows how to give the Carringtons a run for their money. Dress: Vintage Heels: ASOS Bag: Antique Shop Sunnies: ASOS Necklace: F21 Lipstick: MAC Snob (You can find Cami here. Photos by Billy Concha.) click image above to see the photo on dooce.comby dooce in Daily Style© Armstrong Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Originally published by Heather B. Armstrong for dooce.com as Ms. May. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

• Over the East River

  dooce

  16 May 2012 | 7:30 am

  I got to walk along the East River in Manhattan on Sunday morning, one of the most gorgeous days I've ever spent in New York. So I acted like an obnoxious tourist and gawked at this landmark a little too earnestly. It's probably my favorite thing in the city, that and the angry, cynical cab drivers who take pride in escaping death at every turn. The attitude with which they operate a vehicle is my spirit animal. click image above to see the photo on dooce.comby dooce in Daily Photo© Armstrong Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Originally published by Heather B. Armstrong for dooce.com as Over…

• What an excellent day for an exorcism

  dooce

  15 May 2012 | 12:53 pm

  (I am currently out of town on business, so for the next few days I'm going to post some things from my archives that many of you have probably never seen. This following was originally published on December 12, 2005.) Yesterday while pushing Leta through the grocery store in a cart that had a car fastened to its front I accidentally backed the entire 600 pound vehicle over my right foot. A woman and her child were waiting several feet down the aisle for us to move out of the way, and for the first time in many, many years I actually thought twice about bursting into flames of profanity. The…

• An unfortunate blister

  dooce

  15 May 2012 | 9:50 am

  I told him he needed sunscreen if he was going to lie around outside like this, and now he's complaining? You gotta learn, SON. click image above to see the photo on dooce.comby dooce in Daily Chuck© Armstrong Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Originally published by Heather B. Armstrong for dooce.com as An unfortunate blister. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

• DA BIRD!

  dooce

  15 May 2012 | 7:38 am

  A couple of weeks ago I took the girls over to Kate's house to see her new chickens. No surprise, Leta said hello, nice to meet you, now where are the books? But Marlo... Marlo wanted to become one with those birds. She wanted to put her face under their wings and give them kisses. She told them stories about the gorilla she saw at the zoo and the octopus she saw at the aquarium and the STHNAAAAKE! she saw in her backyard. I'm going to get so much shit for this, but you guys. I am raising A CARNY. click image above to see the photo on dooce.comby dooce in Daily Photo© Armstrong Media, LLC.

• 

  Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

• Example email to a hacked site

  Matt Cutts

  27 Apr 2012 | 10:18 am

  Beyond clear-cut blackhat webspam, the second-biggest category of spam that Google deals with is hacked sites. The most common reaction we hear from webmasters is “The problem is with the Google search. There is nothing wrong with our website.” That’s a real quote from an email one site owner recently sent us. Sadly, it turns out that the site is almost always really hacked.The single best piece of advice I can give to prevent website hacking is “keep your web server software up-to-date and fully patched.” That prevention is much better than the hassle of…

• New 30 day challenge: No news

  Matt Cutts

  15 Mar 2012 | 11:16 am

  I haven’t given an update on my 30 day challenges in, like, forever. So here goes:- In 2011, I paused my 30 day challenges to do a “six month challenge”: training to run a marathon. I ended up running the San Francisco marathon (while tweeting!) and a couple half-marathons. Pro tip: ramp up slowly to a marathon. I trained but then said “Hey, I can run 13 miles, so let’s just go for it!” and that was pretty foolish. But I’ve continued to run with some friends I met through USA Fit, and I did an 18 mile run this past Sunday!- In October 2011, I went…

• Eventful Events

  Matt Cutts

  5 Mar 2012 | 11:41 am

  Updated: Okay, there’s a new plan. My wife is having surgery to put a screw in her foot, and the operation is two days before my panel. I really can’t leave her to come to SXSW. We’re going to try for me to Skype in to the panel instead. Cross your fingers.Every so often real life catches up with you in ways you didn’t expect. My wife broke her foot a few days ago. She took a unfortunate spill off a stepstool, but she’s telling everyone it was a ninja fight. Those ninjas pack a wallop: she’ll wear a cast for up to 6-8 weeks, and the doctor said she…

• It’s time to stop PROTECT IP

  Matt Cutts

  18 Jan 2012 | 6:47 am

  A couple months ago, I wrote this about SOPA: SOPA galvanized the tech community, from start-ups to venture capitalists to the largest web companies. SOPA was an unexpected shock and a wake-up call. Well, guess what? Now the internet is awake. And I don’t think it’s going back to sleep any time soon. We might need to rally again in the near future, but we can do that. The internet learns fast.Now it’s time to rally and get loud. It’s time to call your Senators. Heck, it’s time to ask your parents to call their Senators. If you think the internet is something different, something…

• Sharing a search story

  Matt Cutts

  11 Jan 2012 | 2:20 am

  I’ve been reading a lot of the coverage of the Search plus Your World launch and I wanted to share my story and then clarify something.I love to stay up until early in the morning playing Werewolf. In early December I went to a journalism conference called “News Foo Camp” in Phoenix and played a lot of Werewolf. When I got back, for some reason I searched for [werewolf] — maybe I was thinking about making a custom deck of werewolf cards. Because I was dogfood-testing Search plus Your World, this is what I saw:In the top row of pictures, you’ll see a bunch of people playing…

• 

  Bob Sutton

• "I believe in my heart, I would have worked for an asshole"

  Bobsutton

  12 May 2012 | 11:37 am

  The No Asshole Rule emphasizes that one of the best ways to avoid the negative effects of workplaces that will leave you feeling demeaned and de-energized is to carefully assess your boss and colleagues during the interview and recruitment process.   Guy Kawasaki and I had fun with this challenge a few years back when we developed a list of 10 signs that your future boss is likely to be a bosshole.  In this spirit, I got a remarkable note the other day from a fellow who used his job interview to determine that his future boss was likely to be an asshole. Note the often…

• New Research: Thinking About Your Mortality Makes You A Better Person

  Bobsutton

  2 May 2012 | 10:37 am

  A pointer to this from Australian Chris Barry came in my email this morning.  Here is what Ken Vail and his co-authors found: Contemplating death doesn't necessarily lead to morose despondency, fear, aggression or other negative behaviors, as previous research has suggested. Following a review of dozens of studies, University of Missouri researchers found that thoughts of mortality can lead to decreased militaristic attitudes, better health decisions, increased altruism and helpfulness, and reduced divorce rates. Some of the specific effects were quite interesting -- everything from…

• The Narcissistic Personality Quiz

  Bobsutton

  26 Apr 2012 | 4:56 pm

  I sent out a tweet the other day about a study showing that men who score high on a narcissism test appear to experience more stress than those who score low (but not narcissistic women).  Stress was measured by "cortisol levels,"   a hormone that  "signals the level of activation of the body’s key stress response system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis."  You can see a report about study here.  I thought the most interesting part was the link to the 40 item Narcissistic Personality Quiz, which is based on the measure in…

• Politicians and Persuasion: When to Use Abstract Versus Specific Messages

  Bobsutton

  26 Apr 2012 | 1:37 pm

  As I was reading research this morning for our scaling project, I came across a series of studies that has implications for both politicians and -- perhaps organizational leaders --- who wish to persuade others to like and support them.  The question tackled by these studies in paper by Hakkyun Kim and his colleagues in the Journal of Consumer Research was when "influencers" are better of using vague, abstract high level messages -- ones that are more about "why" -- versus concrete, specific, implementation oriented messages -- ones that are "how" to get…

• Powerful Men Talk More, Powerful Women Don't Because It Damages Their Likeability, Power, and Effectiveness

  Bobsutton

  20 Apr 2012 | 12:24 pm

  The depths of societies ingrained sexism -- and the degree to which successful women understand it is a fact of life that requires constant vigalance and adjustment -- never ceases to amaze and trouble me.  A new study in the Administrative Science Quarterly (Volume 56, pages 622-641) by Yale faculty member Victoria L. Brescoll presents a trio of studies that examine gender, power, and volubility (talking time).  The headline above contains the upshot.  Here are some details: 1. In a study of United States senators (using data from 2005 and 2007), more powerful male senators…

• 

  AE on the Verge

• 3 Reasons to Trash Your Office

  22 Apr 2012 | 9:11 am

  I've started the process of ridding my office of 24 years worth of "stuff" that has accumulated. I never should have waited this long ... Here are three reasons to trash your office .... 1. Space: Do you really need papers and files everywhere? How much of what is in your office is never going to be looked at again by anyone, for any reason? Take the time to go through every file and trash what needs to be trashed; put in master files what needs to be retained; or scan what can really be kept electronically. I even threw away 23 years of old calendars - no one is ever going to ask me what I…

• Association Meetings: Another breakfast option

  10 Apr 2012 | 12:05 pm

  At a recent association membership meeting (in a bank conference room), breakfast was a row of various breakfast pizzas (i.e., eggs instead of tomato sauce) and various whole fruit (oranges, grapes, bananas) - versus a continental with muffins or an expensive full breakfast. I thought it was an inexpensive option to catering - and very popular with the attendees.

• The Reusable Big Check

  1 Feb 2012 | 8:36 pm

  I was at a meeting yesterday where they used the SAME big check for presentations to two different organizations with two different amounts ... They just ERASED the check between uses. Was plenty professional for the photo opps too.Details they provided: "I got the check for about $95 at signazon.com. It comes in different sizes and thicknesses; and you can add your own logo. We’ve used it several times, and it’s a lot more cost effective than $50 for a cardboard check from a printer although, obviously, the payee can’t take it home!"Here's a photo:

• How to Prepare for a Skype Interview

  24 Jan 2012 | 5:51 pm

  I am moving to Connecticut in a few months and for the first time in decades actually have to think about details related to a new job search, including preparing for an interview. I've been quizzing colleagues who have been interviewed on Skype to get their input about how to prepare for a Skype interview (should I ever have to do one), along with my own thoughts as a Skype user ...1. Be a Skype user long before you actually have to use it for business so you know what you’re doing; get accustomed to seeing others and yourself on a screen in a conversation;2. Be sure you know how to work…

• Office Technology: More to worry about

  23 Jan 2012 | 8:15 pm

  Are your meetings being watched via your videoconferencing equipment without your knowledge? An article in the New York Times gives that a big maybe. Apparently hackers can often easily get into those video conference systems - thus into the board rooms that host the equipment - and can then watch and listen to everything that happens in those rooms. The article also mentions that the US Chamber found that an IP address in China may have accessed them via an apartment thermostat and office printer. Seriously, did we need more office equipment to worry about?Here are a few more things to think…

• 

  ze's page :: zefrank.com

• the art of the animated gif

  16 May 2012 | 1:02 pm

  these are stunning :: a great animated gif will have no beginning and no end :: by Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg :: (via mymodernmet) ::

• time-lapse european history

  15 May 2012 | 11:24 am

  click below to watch :: the second (slower) version is a little easier to follow

• underwater hotel

  14 May 2012 | 1:31 pm

  still a "conceptual design" but still badass :: click below to watch the promo reel :: (via mymodernmet) ::

• surprisingly great cover of lmfao

  11 May 2012 | 1:32 pm

  this kid's all kinds of adorable and his voice is nothing like you'd expect :: nice work, noah :) :: click below to watch

• outtakes from colbert's interview with sendak

  10 May 2012 | 1:06 pm

  just more of the wonderful :: nsfw (language) :: click below to watch

• 

  Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

• 5 Reasons Why Landing Pages Are a Must

  John Jantsch

  16 May 2012 | 7:25 am

  Online marketers have used the term “landing page” for many years to describe a sales tactic focused on getting people to take one, specific action. Today, landing pages have simply become a required element in the marketing toolbox for every imaginable business, including local brick and mortar types. Example of a personalized lead capture landing page A landing page is just the page people land on because an ad or email directed them to that specific page as opposed to your site’s homepage. Effective landing pages make it very clear what a visitor is going to get from a page and how…

• 13 Questions That Will Lead You To Your Perfect Marketing Strategy

  John Jantsch

  15 May 2012 | 7:54 am

  Plenty of startups try to determine the perfect business model to take to market only to find that the market doesn’t need, want or understand what they are presenting. The fact is most books or courses on business models take this into consideration by suggesting trial and error scenarios and market hypothesizes prior to launch. Any business model, or plan for that matter, is little more than a guess and I believe that your best chance for getting that guess right is to build your business model based on a marketing strategy. This assumes the role a fully developed marketing strategy…

• 5 Non Spammy Ways To Get a Blogger’s Attention

  John Jantsch

  14 May 2012 | 7:28 am

  Everyone, from PR firms to individuals with a product to sell, pitches bloggers these days. Getting coverage or exposure for your business by way of a number of highly read blogs should be a foundational element of your PR approach. So, I thought I would share of few of my thoughts on the most effective ways to get a blogger’s attention and stand out in a way that gives your pitch a far better chance of garnering coverage. Sadly, it would much easier to write a post on what not to do, but I like to stay on the positive side here. Whether your goal is to land a guest post, get a review of…

• Weekend Favs May Twelve

  John Jantsch

  12 May 2012 | 7:39 am

  My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr or one that I took out there on the road. New Duct Tape Marketing t-shirt design via Hugh MacLeod Gapingvoid Good stuff I found this week: Ming.ly – A personal relationship manager that aggregates your contacts from Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter into a searchable merged address book that allows…

• Engaging Your Macro Metric As a True Measure of Success

  John Jantsch

  11 May 2012 | 7:59 am

  Business owners and marketers are told to measure and quantify everything. The problem is this practice alone can lead to false assumptions and a fixation on things that simply don’t matter that much. lollipolluza via FlickrAre website visits, Facebook Likes, newsletter signups or even revenue the true measure of success for your business? Perhaps, but how so? When we simply create a list of what we might call key performance indicators without the proper focus with which to weight them, it all simply becomes an exercise in collecting. It’s a lot like having a bunch of puzzle pieces…

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  KurzweilAI » News

• Nvidia flaunts Kepler’s GPU power in video demos

  16 May 2012 | 7:11 am

  Nvidia is flexing its graphics muscle at the 2012 GPU Technology Conference, and the videos below show off Kepler’s new visual tricks:real-time ray tracing, simulation of physical bodies, and cloud gaming powered by its new GeForce Grid system.

• Protein synthesis at synapses

  16 May 2012 | 7:02 am

  (Credit: Iván J. Cajigas et al./Neuron)Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Brain Research researchers have used new-generation sequencing to directly identify a very large number (more than 2500) of mRNA molecules present in axons and dendrites. The finding my help explain how proteins establish long-term memories.During learning, information is stored at the synapses, the junctions connecting nerve cells. Synapses also require new proteins to show changes in their strength (synaptic plasticity). Historically, scientists have focused on the neuron cell body as the place where the required…

• Key genes for schizophrenia identified

  16 May 2012 | 6:39 am

  Top candidate genes for schizophrenia. CFG, convergent functional genomics; GWAS, genome-wide association study; ISC, International Schizophrenia Consortium. (Credit: M Ayalew et al./Molecular Psychiatry)An Indiana University-led research team and collaborators have identified and prioritized a comprehensive group of genes most associated with schizophrenia and that can generate a score indicating whether an individual is at higher or lower risk of developing the disease.They used a convergent functional genomics approach that incorporates a variety of experimental techniques.The scientists…

• NASA trains astronauts for asteroid mission

  16 May 2012 | 6:30 am

  Armageddon film (credit: Touchstone Pictures)NASA is training a team of astronauts to land on an asteroid to explore its surface, search for minerals, and even learn the skills they may need to destroy it should one pose a threat to the Earth.NASA hopes to launch an unmanned spacecraft that will use a robotic arm to collect samples from an asteroid by 2016 before sending a manned mission by the late 2020s.A manned mission will aim to rendezvous with an asteroid up to three million miles from the Earth, taking around a year to make the entire round trip. The astronauts could stay on the…

• Gene therapy for aging-associated decline tested

  16 May 2012 | 6:27 am

  Direct GFP fluorescence in shaved back skin of mice treated with the indicated vectors (credit: Bruno Bernardes de Jesus et al./EMBO Molecular Medicine)Mouse lifespan was extended up to 24 percent with a single gene treatment in research at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), using gene therapy, a strategy never before employed to combat aging.Mice treated at the age of one lived longer by 24% on average, and those treated at the age of two, by 13%. The therapy, furthermore, produced an appreciable improvement in the animals’ health, delaying the onset of age-related…

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  pmarca

• The CEO’s Weekly Checklist

  Marc Andreessen

  14 May 2012 | 3:23 pm

  In his latest blog post, my partner Scott Weiss offers a few suggestions for what a CEO should be doing on top of his or her expected responsibilities. You can read his checklist here. Filed under: Uncategorized

• Our Philanthropic Commitment

  Marc Andreessen

  25 Apr 2012 | 3:45 pm

  We are delighted to announce that the six General Partners of Andreessen Horowitz, with our families, are all committing to donate at least half of all income from our venture capital careers to philanthropic causes during our lifetimes. The reason is simple.  We are fortunate to work with some of the best entrepreneurs and technologists in the world, and in the process help create great and valuable companies.  That activity, done well over decades, can generate a lot of money that can then be productively deployed philanthropically back into the society that makes it all possible.  We…

• A Clarification With Respect to Yahoo

  Marc Andreessen

  9 Dec 2011 | 11:57 am

  Over the last several weeks, there have been erroneous reports in the press that my partner Jeff Jordan and/or I might become an operating executive of Yahoo in some capacity. To be crystal clear, neither Jeff, nor I, nor any of our partners at Andreessen Horowitz, are in the running for, or would accept, any operating role at Yahoo, including CEO, acting CEO, chairman, or executive chairman. Jeff and I have high regard for Yahoo, but we are fully committed to our day jobs as general partners at Andreessen Horowitz and board members of our portfolio companies. Filed under: Uncategorized

• Merging Glam and Ning

  Marc Andreessen

  20 Sep 2011 | 6:01 pm

  Today, my company Ning, where I serve as chairman and cofounder, is announcing that it has agreed to merge into Glam Media.  In this post, I’d like to briefly explain the whats and whys, and to thank a lot of people who have worked very hard to get us to this point. Ning is my third company, founded several years ago by Gina Bianchini and myself, and run for the last couple years by my close friend and colleague Jason Rosenthal.  Over the last two years, Jason and his team have brilliantly executed a dramatic transformation of the company and today Ning hosts over 100,000 social…

• Primer for Hiring Execs

  Frank Chen

  14 Oct 2010 | 1:48 pm

  Andreessen Horowitz prefers funding companies whose CEO is a co-founder. We also prefer founders who are technical. Put the two together, and you often have a CEO who has to hire executives into roles (e.g., marketing, sales, customer support, finance) she has never done before. How in the world do you interview and recruit someone for a role you’ve never done before? Start with Ben’s latest blog post “Hiring Executives: If You’ve Never Done the Job, How Do You Hire Someone Good?“. Filed under: Business, Startups

• 

  Escape From Cubicle Nation

• Announcing … Fantastic lineup of Spring classes from Power Teaching students

  ssanders

  16 May 2012 | 12:56 pm

  In April, I ran another session of my Power Teaching class. Another extremely smart and enthusiastic group joined in intensive study of effective training design and development, and worked on real, live classes that they are launching this Spring. I love teaching this class for three reasons: It is exceptionally energizing to share my passion for teaching with completely open and eager participants They really worked their hearts out to apply great design to their classes, ensuring a superior learning experience for their students They were extremely generous with each other, sharing ideas…

• Expand your comfort zone, expand your market

  Pamela

  14 May 2012 | 4:04 pm

  Isn’t it wonderful to get to a place in your business or career where you don’t have to work very hard to make a happy, healthy living? Jim Collins calls it the “sweet spot” and Martha Beck calls it “The Promise Land” in her four-square model of change. Before you get to this spot, you long for it. You work hard to make it happen. And then when you reach it, and hang out there for awhile, a funny thing happens: you get itchy to get to a new place. You start to yearn to grow, and to leverage the success you have had to date in new and interesting areas. My…

• How blogging changed my life

  Pamela

  27 Apr 2012 | 1:14 pm

  Once upon a time, I was sitting in my home office in Mesa, Arizona with a tiny baby boy in my arms, and a big idea in my head. “What if I could help all those people I met in my years consulting in large corporations who wanted to start a business?” It felt like crazy talk. I imagined disguising myself and going into the cafeterias of Silicon Valley companies and handing out flyers. I had no idea where to begin. Thankfully, through Andrea Lee, I met Suzanne Falter-Barns. Her course about building an online presence had an assignment to start a thing called a blog. I didn’t…

• Small Town Rules That Can Help Your Business, No Matter the Size

  Pamela

  26 Apr 2012 | 6:04 pm

  Becky McCray and Barry Moltz have just released their new book Small Town Rules: How Big Brands and Small Businesses Can Prosper in a Connected Economy. It is a fascinating resource with genuinely new insights for everyone in business. In my 20-minute interview with Becky McCray, we discuss: Common misconceptions people have about small, local businesses What large corporations can learn about branding from small business The formula for instant social media success (I am only sort of kidding – the way that Becky explained it made so much sense!) Download the podcast here:…

• Calling on your inner badass to step up to the plate

  Pamela

  24 Apr 2012 | 1:52 pm

  Dine’ (Navajo) Chief Manuelito In the seven years that I have been parenting, I have had a few less than proud moments. Like the potato chip for dinner situation. And the losing the birthday invitation that my 4-year old had been looking forward to all week, resulting in a missed party. And, well, I don’t want to make this too long of a blog post. You get the idea. But sometimes I have what could be construed as a not-so-proud moment with one of my kids that turns into something that is actually quite profound. The potty mouth badass recognizing moment The other day, I was driving…

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  Global Neighbourhoods

• Help Me With a Forbes Column on Google+

  shelisrael

  3 May 2012 | 10:02 am

  Ever since I started writing The Social Beat for Forbes, I’ve been wondering what to do with this, my beloved home blog. I have an idea. I currently crowd source my column ideas on Twitter and Facebook to get content, quotes and ideas that often find their way into the my columns. But people send me lots of content that just doesn’t fit. It is not their fault. My descriptions are space limited at Forbes and my requests are often too open ended.  So I thought I would try expanding descriptions here. We’ll see how this works out. Right now, I’m writing a story about…

• Special Offer: Stellar Presentations for only $4.99!

  shelisrael

  3 Apr 2012 | 9:38 am

  I launched my new book, Stellar Presentations: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Giving Great Talks six weeks ago. It is the most critically acclaimed of my three books. On Amazon, 10 people have given it five stars, two people gave it four stars and no one has rated it lower. Other blog reviews have also been highly favorable. People who read it say the book is not just for entrepreneurs but for anyone who has to present in any kind or size of organization. I’ll let the market decide. Some people think that because the book is so brief–just 76 pages, a two-hour read–that…

• Come Visit me at Forbes.com

  shelisrael

  31 Mar 2012 | 10:53 am

  I am writing a column for Forbes.com called The Social Beat. Everything I write related to Social media, the web, startups and the tech sector will appear there. It will be the primary venue for my online writing. Please come and visit me there. Occasionally, I will have something to say on other topics, particularly related to my book and speaking projects. I will use Global Neighbourhoods when that occurs. Until then, I hope you will come and visit me in my new home.        

• A Stellar Presentations Excerpt: The Three Questions

  shelisrael

  29 Feb 2012 | 9:32 am

  The following is excerpted from Chapter One of my new book: Stellar Presentations: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Giving Great Talks. The Three Questions I was raised as the youngest son in a Jewish family.  That meant that each Passover I recited the ritual Four Questions that launched the story-telling part of our Passover dinner. These days, I am rarely the youngest one at the table. But as a speaker and a coach, I begin the story that my clients or I will tell by reciting three questions: Who are the people in the audience? What do I have that they want? What do I want to accomplish…

• So, Why Is Stellar Presentations So Damn Short?

  shelisrael

  27 Feb 2012 | 12:42 pm

  My new book, Stellar Presentations is 76-pages on length and costs about 10 bucks. I estimate it will take two hours of your time to read it. Four times in the three weeks since I launched the book, people have complained that the book is too short and that I should add more chapters to make it worth the money I’m asking. As I so often do, let me tell you a story to illustrate a few points: A woman drives her Mercedes into a garage. The mechanic asks her what the problem is. “I’m not sure. It just doesn’t sound right when it’s idling,” she says. The…

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  JessicaNow....bringing the moxie.

• Baby Sports Clothing by BabyFans - Meet My Client

  Jessica Smith

  7 May 2012 | 8:11 am

  Since launching smith&moxie just over a month ago I've started working with some amazing clients.  So amazing that I'd love to introduce them to you. My very first client is BabyFans.  BabyFans sells clothing for your littlest sports fans.  So whether your little girl or boy is a  Lakers Baby or Celtics Baby, Yankees Baby or Red Sox Baby, or a fan of your alma mater, they've got you covered.  How did I come to know BabyFans? It's a Terps connection. Todd Wilson, the founder and owner of BabyFans, and I went to the University of Maryland together.  Back in the…

• using klout to create influencers vs. measure them

  Jessica Smith

  27 Apr 2012 | 7:47 am

  There's been a lot of debate about Klout recently. Some people tout their Klout as if it's their license to drive the social media highway. But to me that would be like giving someone a driver's license based on the sole fact that they drive a shiny new car.  You'd have to consider driving record, safety ratings of the vehicle, and their inclination to engage in road rage.  (I think you get where I'm going with this). Others criticize their lack of transparency about their algorithm (last I checked most analytics providers consider their algorithms proprietary, but if you want to…

• use a launch landing page to launch a new business while you build: kickoff labs review

  Jessica Smith

  25 Apr 2012 | 8:18 am

  AwesomeAllies.com, mentor matchmaking and expert advice for entrepreneurial women, was an idea I'd had for the past three years.  You know...one of those ideas that pops in your head and you buy the url so you can launch it "one day". With my recent return to being an entrepreneur and starting my own digital marketing advisory, smith&moxie, I thought the time was ripe for finally launching this "passion project" I had put on the back burner these past few years. I wanted to get the idea out there while working on the website and developing the framework for the program. There…

• top 10 reasons you should be an awesome ally

  Jessica Smith

  17 Apr 2012 | 8:19 am

  So, two weeks ago tomorrow I will have launched smith&moxie. In the meantime, I decided to start working on a side project that's been bubbling up in my mind over the past few years. Nothing makes makes my day more than someone sharing with me that my advice and direction helped them reach their goals, attain success, or make their business really take off. Most of them don't realize I learn and grow from the process of functioning as their mentor. It's the best leadership development there is. I've always thought it could be pretty powerful to mentor women who would like to be mentors…

• social media for small businesses

  Jessica Smith

  13 Apr 2012 | 2:13 pm

  I'm going to blame this post on Google+ or, to be more succinct, the fact that I don't really use it that much.  So why did I start using it in the first place?  Simple.  Peer pressure.   When Google+ first launched I was included in those first rounds of Google users that received access by invitation only.  And when you get an early invitation for new platforms, to some (admittedly me) it's like being able to cut to the front of line or gain VIP access.  Because of this, I was excited to test it out but didn't have high hopes after Google Wave. Shortly after…

• 

  Go Daddy Executive Chairman & Founder Bob Parsons' Personal Blog

• What YOU should never discuss with Co-workers or Employees. The smart way to use voice mail.

  9 May 2012 | 3:33 am

  Watch Video BlogGot a problem! News flash: Just about everybody does. My favorite techniques for dealing with problems, so you can keep your sanity and stay productive on the job.

• Act now to SAVE $10 on your order of $60 or more!*

  Domain names, web hosting, eCommerce tools and more! Whatever your Web needs, you'll SAVE $10 when you spend $60 or more through this special offer. *Not applicable to ICANN fees, taxes, sale priced domains and transfers, bulk domains and transfers, premium domains, Search Engine Visibility advertising budget, or gift cards. Discount reflected in your shopping cart - cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer, discount or promotion, or in connection with special partnership discount programs. After the initial purchase term, discounted products purchased with special offer discounts…

• 

  Matt Mullenweg

• Diary Of A WordCamp

  Matt

  15 May 2012 | 10:41 am

  With all the hubaboo going on about WordCamps right now, it’s nice to read Siobhan McKeown’s Diary Of A WordCamp on Smashing WordPress, a great story about her experience at WordCamp Netherlands.

• WP Businesses and Contributions

  Matt

  13 May 2012 | 7:54 pm

  10up partner Helen is now a core WP contributor and 10up highlights that contribution on their blog. It’s very exciting to see more core involvement springing up all over the WP ecosystem, as it has a big impact on the quality of the core software we all depend on. Let me know if you spot any more examples and I’ll share them here.

• Three Laws of Makerbot

  Matt

  8 May 2012 | 10:21 am

  The landlord at 87 Third Avenue included a lease clause requiring that MakerBot comply with science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov’s “three laws of robotics,” which require that robots follow orders, not injure humans, and protect their own existence. Makerbot has a fun article in the WSJ today about moving office space. (Makerbot is an Audrey company.)

• Richard Clarke on Stuxnet

  Matt

  26 Apr 2012 | 10:46 am

  Smithsonian Magazine has a great article on Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism czar, discussing Who Was Behind the Stuxnet Attack.

• Automattic Growth

  Matt

  25 Apr 2012 | 9:40 am

  Liz Gannes writes for AllThingsD, Automattic Grows Up: The Company Behind WordPress.com Shares Revenue Numbers and Hires Execs. In addition to Stu joining as CFO and Paul as Consigliere/Automattlock, we’ve been on a hiring roll the past month or two with excellent folks joining at every level of the company, including two more Matts. If you’re passionate about Open Source and making the web a better place, like we are, there’s never been a better time to join. My favorite thing about logging in every morning is the people I work with. Friends say I work too much but it…

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  blog maverick

• The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why The Economy Won’t Get Better Any Time Soon

  markcuban

  13 May 2012 | 7:34 pm

  This is what I see when i think about higher education in this country today: Remember the housing meltdown ? Tough to forget isn’t it. The formula for the housing boom and bust was simple. A lot of easy money being lent to buyers who couldn’t afford the money they were borrowing. That money was then spent on homes with the expectation that the price of the home would go up and it could easily be flipped or refinanced at a profit.  Who cares if you couldn’t afford the loan. As long as prices kept on going up, everyone was happy. And prices kept on going up. And as long…

• Some Olympic Thoughts

  markcuban

  22 Apr 2012 | 6:43 pm

  My position on NBA players and the Olympics has not changed since I first wrote about it nearly 8 years ago. It was stupid then. It has not gotten any smarter. The following is an article put together by Brett Morris that provides an additional perspective and some more details that to me, re-enforce my position. ### When the Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade said he thought “guys should be compensated” for participating in this Summer’s Olympics, he received a great deal of public backlash for being “un-American,” and “selfish,” from all walks of life…

• The Greatest Business Risk You Don’t Know About – Your Business Will Be Sued Over Patents

  markcuban

  18 Apr 2012 | 1:53 pm

  Your business is at risk. For a lot of money. No matter what type of business you are in,  you are susceptible to a patent infringement lawsuit.  The worst part about this risk is that there is nothing you can do to protect yourself.  You are a victim in a business world horror movie. Unfortunately , there is no one to scream “no don’t do it. Don’t open that door” and protect you. All the doors are open and the trolls are all attacking. Why wouldn’t they  ? Put yourself in the position of a patent troll.  If the laws changed in your industry so that if you…

• Dont Follow Your Passion, Follow Your Effort

  markcuban

  18 Mar 2012 | 2:47 pm

  I hear it all the time from people. “I’m passionate about it.” “I’m not going to quit, It’s my passion”. Or I hear it as advice to students and others “Follow your passion”. What a bunch of BS.  ”Follow Your Passion” is easily the worst advice you could ever give or get. Why ? Because everyone is passionate about something. Usually more than 1 thing.  We are born with it. There are always going to be things we love to do. That we dream about doing. That we really really want to do with our lives. Those passions aren’t…

• I Hope Yahoo Crushes Facebook in its Patent Suit

  markcuban

  13 Mar 2012 | 3:10 pm

  Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I hate patent laws. I think 99pct of the time they are anti-competitive, corruptive,  impede creativity and innovation and can kill small businesses. I think the ratio of patent law doing a good job protecting company IP vs it being used purely to negatively impact competitors or to troll for un-earned revenue is probably 1000 to 1, or worse. When I read that Yahoo was suing Facebook my immediate reaction was disdain. As I thought more about it, I came to realize that this case could be the water shed moment that causes enough people to recognize…

• 

  The Business Blog at Intuitive.com

• The New Reality for Journalists: Continuing Education

  10 May 2012 | 11:57 pm

  A guest post from Sherri Vasquez, host of Latin View on Colorado Public Television.Gone are the days when news reporters were regarded as professional journalists, government watchdogs, and the guardians of public interest. In today's fast-changing world of new media technologies, news organizations want web developers, videographers, and social media marketers who can report.A Denver television station recently posted a job opening for a multi-media producer, saying journalism degree "preferred" but web publishing and streaming required.So if you suffered through college courses on…

• Interview with a rare languages translator: David Leoney

  4 Apr 2012 | 10:08 am

  Out of the blue, I received a query from David asking if it'd be okay if he translated my article on how to write spam assassin rules into Estonian. I said 'sure' and he did the translation -- spam assassin help in Estonian -- but I was curious about his experience as a freelance technical translator. Hence this interview...Q: Tell us a bit about you, David. Where do you live? Where are you going to school and what languages do you speak? I live in Italy and also here have my school at the university. I speak Italian, Spanish and Catalan.  Q: You focus on technical translations. Is that…

• Kickstarter and Interactive eBooks, An Interview with Donny Claxton

  30 Mar 2012 | 6:49 pm

  I've known Donny since we met at a men's conference a few years ago in Atlanta, and when he shared with me that he was working on an interactive book around the history of Machu Picchu, I was so interested, I asked if I could interview him. This is the result.Q: You're launching a new type of interactive book with your kickstarter project on Machu Picchu. What's your inspiration for this?What excites me the most is an image of a darkened kid's room at night with a pup tent set up in the middle of the room.  On the cover of the tent are patterns of pyramids, Stonehenge, menhirs,…

• How to moderate a great panel discussion

  17 Feb 2012 | 11:32 am

  I'm going to be moderating a panel discussion at the Dad 2.0 Summit entitled Show 'Em You Mean Business and as part of preparing for the panel, I've been thinking about what makes a really great panel discussion at a conference and what, by contrast, produces one that's a boring snoozefest where people are all quickly distracted by their smartphones and the free coffee in the lobby.The result are my recommendations based on moderating and participating in dozens and dozens of panels at a wide variety of business and technical conferences.Disagree with each…

• Chevy, Ford, 2012 and Blunt Superbowl Adverts

  5 Feb 2012 | 11:17 pm

  Just watched Superbowl XLVI and really enjoyed the game. Tense, surprisingly close, and a match that could have switched on that final "Hail Mary" pass. How can you not enjoy that?In addition I also watch the Superbowl to enjoy the advertisements and really liked the Walking Dead-esque post-apocalyptic ad from Chevrolet that suggested only people with their heavy-duty Silverado trucks would survive the apocalypse, not people with Ford trucks.Haven't seen the ad, officially known as the Chevy 2012 Apocalypse Video? Here's an embed: What makes this Chevy Silverado 2012 Apocalypse Video so…

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  Conversation Agent

• Most Marketers Still Not Making Data-Driven Decisions Surveys Find

  Valeria Maltoni

  16 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  How do large corporate marketers collect and use data? Are practices in marketing measurement and ROI changing? How about the integration of digital and traditional marketing? Has the excitement around big data brought about a shift in how marketers conduct their business? These are some of the topics for investigation in a recent study conducted by Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership and the New York American Marketing Association (NYAMA). The short answer: there is still a big gap between where organizations would like to be and where they actually are in…

• Answering Common Inquiries About Content

  Valeria Maltoni

  15 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  Three kinds of inquiries I receive regularly: write about us give us your content allow us to post Many of you find the contact form for consulting work. In that case, I'm happy to provide a quote and scope of work. If that's not what you're after, the quickest way to find out what is accepted for review and publication is by following the link to -- submit your question on the top menu. In all cases, the best outcomes come when the ask is appropriate. Note the term "pro" is part of the word. Making the ask Don't know how to ask? Here's how to write an email that stands out for your review.

• Why Experience is Key to Customer Loyalty

  Valeria Maltoni

  14 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  Whenever I travel, I'm reminded of the many amazing opportunities that come from being able to reach many parts of the world relatively easily. Let's face it, things can go wrong with the weather and with technology. It is how an airline -- or any company, for that matter -- handles customer fairness that will make a big difference to its bottom line. Will they have to discount fares more deeply so people will do business with them again next time? There is plenty of room left for improving customer experience in the travel industry -- airlines, hotels, car services, even airports, with a few…

• Business Lessons I Learned from my Mother

  Valeria Maltoni

  13 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  My mother was Miss Romagna. Her name is Anna Laura. I wanted to have her purple blue eyes and ready smile. She has the welcoming spirit of a woman always ahead of the times and comfortable in her own skin. In addition to being a mother of three (all girls), she has had multiple careers -- accounting, sales, public office, geriatric care, and beautician; some overlapping for years. Mother really gets communications -- the listening part especially -- the organization of work, along with the care of the individual.  Whether she negotiated credit rates or the recovery of the elderly, she made…

• Fair Pay, Participation Value, and The Intention Economy

  Valeria Maltoni

  12 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Do you know the pay scale for your industry? I'm not talking about the job wanted ads -- those may mislead you and take you down the generic path. You're not generic, you have specific skills, and you should be able to calculate market value. Just like with salary, where you don't have a cut and dry answer, interaction and involvement are not exactly the same thing. Community participation has highs and lows, and they may not follow the touted 1% route. How active are people online? Has it changed in the last couple of years? Marketers can optimize campaigns and programs only so far. Without…

• 

  The Daily Nightly

• Anxious Greeks withdraw almost $900 million in one day

  16 May 2012 | 8:45 am

  Follow @nbcnightlynews What we're following: - Physician says George Zimmerman had broken nose, black eye- Anxious Greeks withdraw almost $900 million in one day- U.S. has 55 daily encounters with suspected terroristsAnd did you see...- FDA delays new sunscreen rules to avoid shortages- U.S. veterans to return war medals in protest- GM to drop all advertising on Facebook     

• Panetta restricts F-22 flights due to oxygen system complaints

  Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News

  15 May 2012 | 2:33 pm

  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has ordered all F-22 flights to remain near an airfield in case the pilot suffers from oxygen deprivation due to the aircraft's oxygen system. NBC's Brian Williams reports. Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News writesDefense Secretary Leon Panetta has ordered the Air Force to restrict flights of its new F-22 stealth fighters because of continuing problems with the aircraft's oxygen system.Follow @msnbc_usAt least 22 pilots have suffered from oxygen deprivation while in flight since April 2008.Panetta on Tuesday ordered that all F-22 flights remain within a "proximate…

• Hundreds evacuated as wildfires spread in Arizona

  15 May 2012 | 8:53 am

  Follow @nbcnightlynews What we're following: - Hundreds evacuated as wildfires spread across northern Arizona- Former Murdoch editor Rebekah Brooks to be charged over phone hacking - John Edwards' daughter to take the standAnd did you see...- Poll finds most users distrust Facebook- Retail sales slow- Shopper bitten by rattlesnake in Walmart     

• Iranians feel the pain of sanctions: 'Everything has doubled in price'

  Ali Arouzi

  15 May 2012 | 8:44 am

  Ali Arouzi writesTEHRAN – The economy here is in shambles, according to Iranians, whether the government will admit it or not.The United States, the European Union and the U.N. have imposed tough economic sanctions against Iran –- blocking access to the international banking system and hurting sales of Iranian crude oil -– as a way to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. In the short term, the harsh sanctions have had an impact on Iran’s economy -– inflation has gone through the roof, and the unemployment rate is staggering, especially among…

• Bottles, binkies and sippy cups: Dr. Nancy Snyderman's safety tips for parents with young children

  14 May 2012 | 3:03 pm

  A new study in the journal Pediatrics found that in 2009 a child was taken to the emergency room every 90 minutes because of battery injuries, twice as many visits as 20 years ago. NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports. By Stacey Naggiar and Dr. Nancy SnydermanNBC NewsFor parents of babies and toddlers, safety is always on the mind.  But despite parents’ best efforts, some common household products can be an unlikely source of danger.  Two studies published Monday in the journal Pediatrics describe the hazards associated with popular button batteries as well as with bottles,…

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  Ann Coulter's Townhall.com Column

• Elizabeth Warren Dances With Lies

  9 May 2012 | 6:20 pm

  Elizabeth Warren, who also goes by her Indian name, "Lies on Race Box," is in big heap-um trouble. The earnest, reform-minded liberal running for Senate against Scott Brown, R-Mass., lied about being part-Cherokee to...

• Deport the GOP Establishment

  2 May 2012 | 6:33 pm

  On no issue is the elite/American divide so great as on immigration. For decades, a majority of Americans have wanted to decrease immigration. Not just illegal immigration -- all immigration. Nearly three times as...

• Romney Doing the Job the Republican Establishment Won't Do

  25 Apr 2012 | 5:17 pm

  The actual Republican Establishment -- political consultants, The Wall Street Journal, corporate America, former Bush advisers and television pundits -- are exhorting Mitt Romney to flip-flop on his very...

• Negroes With Guns

  18 Apr 2012 | 5:28 pm

  Liberals have leapt on the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida to push for the repeal of "stand your ground" laws and to demand tighter gun control. (MSNBC'S Karen Finney blamed "the same people who stymied gun...

• Fighting the Last War

  11 Apr 2012 | 5:46 pm

  In a fast-changing world, a common mistake is to keep fighting the last war. For example, why would Republicans support sending more troops to Afghanistan, when that war was long over, or helping topple Moammar...

• 

  Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report

• Responsive Images and Web Standards at the Turning Point – Mat Marquis in ALA

  Jeffrey Zeldman

  15 May 2012 | 2:36 pm

  IN A SPECIAL ISSUE of A List Apart for people who make websites: Responsible responsive design demands responsive images — images whose dimensions and file size suit the viewport and bandwidth of the receiving device. As HTML provides no standard element to achieve this purpose, serving responsive images has meant using JavaScript trickery, and accepting that your solution will fail for some users. Then a few months ago, in response to an article at A List Apart, a W3C Responsive Images Community Group formed — and proposed a simple-to-understand HTML picture element capable of…

• My Glamorous Life: The Power Compels You

  Jeffrey Zeldman

  10 May 2012 | 5:52 am

  I DREAMED that my friend Jason Santa Maria took a job at a popular new startup that had exploded onto the world scene seemingly overnight. A fascinating visual interface was largely responsible for the popularity of the company’s new social software product. It was like a Hypercard stack that came toward you. A post full of exciting social significance just for you would appear in a self-contained deck with rounded corners. The next post would pop up on top of the first. The next, on top of that one. And so on. In my dream, people found this back-to-front pop-up effect thrilling for some…

• Keep your site’s type right; let users work offline

  Jeffrey Zeldman

  8 May 2012 | 8:08 am

  IN ISSUE No. 350 of A List Apart for people who make websites: keep your web type looking right across browsers, platforms, and devices; let users do stuff on your site even when they’re offline. Say No to Faux Bold by ALAN STEARNS Browsers can do terrible things to type. If text is styled as bold or italic and the typeface family does not include a bold or italic font, browsers will compensate by trying to create bold and italic styles themselves. The results are an awkward mimicry of real type design, and can be especially atrocious with web fonts. Adobe’s Alan Stearns shares quick…

• A plane crash in slow-mo

  Jeffrey Zeldman

  7 May 2012 | 11:27 am

  I WAS SOBER SIX MONTHS when my Uncle George took me to lunch and told me he believed his sister, my mother, had Alzheimers. She was 60. Via frequent short visits to Pittsburgh and more phone calls than we’d shared in decades, I helped my dad accept that he needed to take her to the doctor for tests. Then I helped him accept the results. She declined over ten years. It was like a plane crash in slow motion. At my Aunt Ruth’s funeral, my mother cried and cried, with no clue who she was crying for. When I joined my parents at the grave site, my mother turned excitedly to my father…

• Big Web Show 69: Chris Cashdollar on fonts.com

  Jeffrey Zeldman

  3 May 2012 | 9:13 pm

  HAPPY COG Creative Director Christopher Cashdollar is my guest in Episode No. 69 of The Big Web Show, the weekly podcast on “everything web that matters.” In 35 lively minutes, Chris and I discuss the joys and challenges of redesigning typography mega-site Fonts.com; nimble versus waterfall; process versus inspiration; running a creative department that is interactive in every sense of the word; the two sides of a design education (learning and teaching); fostering collaboration; and the transition from doodling eight-year-old to graphic design student to interactive creative…

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  Digital City Mechanics

• Activity based experiences

  marccanter

  15 May 2012 | 12:11 pm

  Here are some archival ideas from 2002:

• An ecosystem – in Prezi

  marccanter

  9 May 2012 | 11:27 am

  For your interactive pleasure: Roadmap to building a digital economy ecosystem on Prezi

• Digital City ["insert your city or region here"]

  marccanter

  9 May 2012 | 11:23 am

  The Digital City ["insert your city or region here"] pilot project would create and maintain a series of “New Economy Apprenticeships” which would lead to a “digital economy ecosystem” in ["insert your city or region here"].  This pilot project would implement a new kind of workforce training methodology which would tie intermediate and advanced training to new economy apprenticeships, project participation and job creation. Interns would be put to work on one-off and on-going projects, which would be paid for by local “socially conscious” sponsorships.  Entrepreneurial…

• Two marketing essays

  marccanter

  3 Apr 2012 | 5:27 pm

  Here are a couple of essays – which further explain our system and what our purpose and goals are. “What do you do WITH all this bandwidth?” – our answer to the Gigabit networking, broadband infrastructure question. Building on existing training and educational efforts - cause every city already has LOTS of schools and educational training efforts.  So what makes what we’re doing different or better?

• Digital City Jamaica

  marccanter

  9 Mar 2012 | 5:52 am

  Digital City Mechanics is closing on our first major deployment where we’ll be implementing our educational methodology, running programs, producing projects and offering services to Jamaicans.  This effort will also strive to connect Jamaicans to their diaspora around the world.  Details to follow.

• 

  Andy Sernovitz | Damn, I Wish I\'d Thought of That!

• A name with a bug, part 2

  Andy Sernovitz

  16 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  Last week we had an amazing conference called the Word of Mouth Crash Course. It was a fantastic day, the third in a series. But it wasn’t as big as we expected, and we discovered a critical reason why: We changed the name of the event — it used to be called Word of Mouth Supergenius — without any testing. Here’s what happened — people thought that it was an online course instead of a live conference. The word course implied online training to many people. We also failed to use certain trigger words that indicate that something is a live event: Summit, Expo,…

• A name with a bug, part 1

  Andy Sernovitz

  15 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  We were going to launch a site called WordofMouthMarketing.org. During the few months we were planning it, everyone kept saying WordofMouth.org — they kept dropping the word marketing. Even employees and contractors who were working on the project. That was a problem. If our own team couldn’t get the name right, how would our customers find the site? So we killed the project until we could get ownership of WordofMouth.org. It was incredibly lucky that we caught the problem before we launched. We would have sent all of our confused customers to someone else’s site. Lesson:…

• Give them an experience they’ll never stop talking about — and a reminder to re-start the talk

  Andy Sernovitz

  14 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  The Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, TX invites school and scout groups to spend the night camping in the zoo. It’s an amazing behind-the-scenes experience. More that just the camping, which is remarkable, you also get to feed a giraffe, pet a rhino, and hold a giant cockroach. Just as important: Every kid gets a free shirt with the Zoo Snooze logo on it. And everyone other kid in school finds out about the Zoo every time the shirt is worn. (And because it was a Cub Scout trip, dozens of kids in the same grade all have the shirt.) Lesson: Don’t just think about the experience. Think…

• What’s the simplest thing you can do to create a remarkable experience?

  Andy Sernovitz

  13 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  Subway gave us a kids meal in this nice reusable bag. We talked about it, we told people, we kept it, and we tell more people when our daughter carries it around. Probably cost them 30 cents — which is about 10 cents more than a throw-away box. But the conversations it starts are priceless word of mouth advertising moments.

• 35 ways to improve sales

  Andy Sernovitz

  12 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  Classic advice from e-commerce master Sam Decker, now CEO of Mass Relevance, originally published in 2004 and still relevant: Can I find that item I’m looking for? Tune your internal search engine to match top search terms to product pages. Put top sellers on home page. People buy on impulse or recommendation. Match the landing page to the marketing campaign. Use vanity urls for offline advertising. Test your categories, naming and navigation with customers. They’re less intuitive than you think. Can I find something that interests me? Put top sellers on home page. Add related items to a…

• 

  Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed

• Twitter Digest: 2012-05-15

  Paul Kedrosky

  16 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Having long ago dated a lovely Dutch girl, I'm really torn on the whole Dutch disease thing – http://t.co/DaRkVxh0 -> Debate today on best cameo ever. It's this: "I loved you in Wall Street". Can there be debate? http://t.co/KjTAZTYS -> I think I'm going to tweet in entish more often. Crazy satisfying. -> The global hotel Club Sandwich index – http://t.co/S2KkLXVR /via @theeconomist -> English too brief to show my love of this, so … entish: A-lalla-lalla-rumba-kamanda-lindor-burúmë – http://t.co/8djZn85r ->

• Twitter Digest: 2012-05-14

  Paul Kedrosky

  15 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Ski industry watching as eastern US resort sues insurer over catastrophe policy payout – http://t.co/9D87veC1 -> Can't believe the gold bugs aren't all over the tragic end of Canadian Tire money. http://t.co/zgi20svE -> Apropos my amorality, I tried the psychopath test earlier today & turned out saner than I thought. http://t.co/84VN3XfG / cc @jonronson -> Chagrined I can't work up energy to care about Jamie Dimon, VaR models, etc. It used to be that when things were going to hell it bugged me. -> Think of putting in recreational bid for FB IPO allocation.

• Twitter Digest: 2012-05-13

  Paul Kedrosky

  14 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Just showed offspring you can find pi to 7 places at position 50,366,472 of pi. Yes, I'm that geeky. http://t.co/qlnYgMJF -> The Floppy Disk icon means "save", & 14 other icons that don't make sense anymore – http://t.co/ZFSXcsTG /via @techmeme -> Strong stuff in Pettis's latest, incl on China wobbles and a collapse in commodity prices – http://t.co/HHmAkY8f -> Never realized YouTube's lead was this gigantic: Top 10 Video, Multimedia Websites – April 2012 http://t.co/DmIUvjyr -> Evans-Pritchard: World edges closer to deflationary…

• Twitter Digest: 2012-05-12

  Paul Kedrosky

  13 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Dean Potter walks a tightrope over Enshi Grand Canyon – YouTube http://t.co/LbosSSVg -> John Lanchester · Marx at 193 · LRB http://t.co/Pmzp4iqd -> More Wealthy Chinese Said to Seek Exit Options via Investor Visas – http://t.co/A3v6GXMo -> Photo set: 75 Years Since The Hindenburg Disaster – http://t.co/9gkkH2aK -> Neutrinos to Give High-Frequency Traders the Millisecond Edge – http://t.co/S2ow8l7e -> The shitty singularity – http://t.co/RicFaj74 -> Gruber: IOS low-hanging fruit – http://t.co/Ww41pBYv ->

• 

  @ProBlogger

• 5 Effective Tricks to Create a Killer Call to Action

  Guest Blogger

  16 May 2012 | 9:04 am

  This guest post is by Greg Digneo of Sales Leads in Thirty Days. Here’s the dirty little secret: there are actually two steps to building an extremely popular blog. The first and most popular step is to drive traffic by guest posting, social media, and SEO. The far less sexy step is to convert that traffic into loyal readers who will become the backbone of your community.  Who will share every piece of content you produce with their friends.  And who will ensure that every post sparks an engaging discussion. But most of all, they will be the first to buy your products and services. The…

• Get Obsessed with Your Message

  Guest Blogger

  15 May 2012 | 3:01 pm

  This guest post is by Danielle LaPorte of DanielleLaPorte.com. Blog = up? Posts = rolling? It’s time to get obsessed with your message. A quick dictionary moment, to differentiate between your voice, your topics and your message. Your voice is what makes your writing distinctive, compelling, unmistakably you. You’ll carry your voice from your blog, right into your book. Seamless, identifiable. Individual. Your topics are the categories or subjects you write about (Eco-luxe weddings on a shoestring budget! Savvy corporate management, with heart and soul! Thrifty vegan recipes!) Your…

• On the Elusive “Next Level” of Blogging

  Darren Rowse

  15 May 2012 | 9:04 am

  We’ve all heard of it—the elusive “next level” that so many bloggers talk about online. But what is the next level? How many levels are there? Is there an end point in leveling up? These are all worthwhile questions—especially for more experienced bloggers who have spent a lot of time and energy in reaching the level they’re already at. For these bloggers, trying to reach the next level can involve a degree of risk, so the steps that get us toward the next level might be taken slowly and with care. On the other hand, the web isn’t exactly undersupplied with…

• Grab Your BWE Virtual Ticket for $100 Off—24 Hours Left

  Darren Rowse

  14 May 2012 | 7:09 pm

  Wish you could get to Blog World Expo this year, but can’t make it to New York? Me too. I’ll be in Queensland with the winners of my blogging competition, but I know there are plenty of bloggers from other countries, as well as within the States, who won’t be able to attend Blog World this year. Fortunately, you and I don’t need to miss out on the information and fun of the Expo (and if the speaker list for this year is anything to go by, the conference is going to be really impressive). We “remote” bloggers can still “attend” on a BWE virtual…

• Install Your First WordPress Theme

  Guest Blogger

  14 May 2012 | 9:09 am

  This guest post is by Karol K of ThemeFuse. Seeing a headline like “How to Install a WordPress Theme” on ProBlogger might seem strange at first. This doesn’t sound like a “pro”-thing at all, right? If you’ve been dealing with WordPress for a while then this is probably even more than obvious to you. However, everyone starts somewhere, and there are plenty of experienced bloggers who haven’t ever installed a WordPress theme—but would like to give it a try. Maybe you’re installing your first theme right now, and you’re searching for a…

• 

  AllThingsD » Walt Mossberg

• Microsoft Gives Windows a Clean Sweep

  Walter S. Mossberg

  15 May 2012 | 8:01 pm

  For a long time, some Microsoft officials have privately griped that PC makers don’t present Windows in its best light. They clutter desktops with icons that are often little more than ads for third-party products; include confusing utilities that duplicate functions already in Windows; require lengthy setup; and configure PCs in ways that slow them down. One consequence, in the eyes of these Microsoft executives, is to confer an advantage on the company’s main operating-system rival, Apple. [ See post to watch video ] Now, Microsoft is doing something about the situation. In a…

• A Real-Estate App When You're Buying or Just Nosy

  Walter S. Mossberg

  8 May 2012 | 8:05 pm

  Let’s say you’re walking around your neighborhood, or a neighborhood you’d like to make yours, and you spy a house you find interesting. Even if it isn’t for sale, you can just whip out your iPhone, take a picture of the home and in less than a minute, you’ll have an estimate of its price, plus details on its square footage, number of rooms, similar homes for sale and other facts. [ See post to watch video ] This feat of digital magic, which works all over the country, is performed by a new, free app called HomeSnap, from a Washington, D.C., online real-estate…

• Are Macs More Secure?

  Walt Mossberg

  1 May 2012 | 11:25 pm

  Q: Apple claims Macs to be more secure than Windows PCs. In the light of recent malware attacks on the Mac platform, there are several articles on the Web questioning this claim. What is your take on this matter? A: Macs aren’t invulnerable to malicious software. No computer is. But the people who produce viruses and spyware have traditionally focused on Windows—and still do, primarily. There have indeed been a couple of recent instances of malware that spread among some Macs in the real world. But bear in mind that, despite the steady growth in Mac sales, Windows still powers the…

• Samsung Aims to Get in Touch With Media Players

  Walter S. Mossberg

  1 May 2012 | 8:08 pm

  Here’s a shocker: Not everyone wants to buy a smartphone. Parents, for example, often balk at paying high monthly cellular-data bills for their teens and tweens and would rather they stick with simpler phones, if they have phones at all. And even some adults prefer simpler, less costly phones. For a lot of these users, a popular solution has been what’s called a connected media player: Essentially a smartphone without cellular voice and data access, and without the monthly cellular bill. And the king of that category has been Apple’s iPod touch, which starts at $199. A…

• Taking Dictation

  Walter S. Mossberg

  24 Apr 2012 | 4:47 pm

  Q: Can I hook up my iPhone to my iMac and dictate into a word processor? Or should I just dictate into the Notes app on the iPhone and send that by email? I am executor of my mom’s estate and she left a lot of written memories that I want to compile into a book for family members. It would be a lot easier to dictate than to type them all. A: As far as I know, the iPhone can’t be used as a dictation appendage for a computer. You’d have to dictate into a document on the phone and transfer that to the computer. But you don’t have to use Apple’s Notes app. There are…

• 

  BenEdelman.org

• Flash-Based Cookie-Stuffer Using Google AdSense to Claim Unearned Affiliate Commissions from Amazon

  7 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  We present a cookie-stuffer invisibly dropping Amazon Associates cookies via the Google AdSense display ad network -- and, by all indications, getting away with it.

• Search My Logs of Affiliate Fraud

  19 Mar 2012 | 7:00 am

  Since 2004, I've been tracking and reporting all manner of rogue affiliates -- using spyware and adware to cover competitors' sites; using trickier spyware and adware to claim commission on merchants' organic traffic; typosquatting; stuffing cookies through invisible IFRAME's and IMG's, banner ads, and even hacked forum sites; and the list goes on. While I've written up dozens of rogue affiliates on this site and in various presentations, today Wesley Brandi and I are introducing something better: query-based access to our records of affiliate fraud targeting top affiliate merchants. Enter a…

• Hack-Based Cookie-Stuffing by Bannertracker-script

  27 Feb 2012 | 6:00 am

  We present a cookie-stuffer that collects traffic by hacking numerous top sites, including sites as popular searchenginewatch.com (Alexa traffic rank #2045). The perpetrator then monetizes this traffic by invisibly dropping affiliate cookies for Amazon, using 200+ separate affiliate IDs to evade notice. We show the JavaScript the perpetrators use to hide their practices; we flag their other efforts to evade detection; and we estimate their revenue from this scheme.

• Large-Scale Cookie-Stuffing at Eshop600.co.uk

  30 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am

  We present a cookie-stuffer notable for the volume of his attack and his attempts at obfuscation.

• Advertising Disclosures in Online Apartment Search

  25 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am

  A decade ago, the FTC reminded search engines of their duty to label advertisements as such. Most general-purpose search engines now do so (though they're sometimes less than forthright). But practices at specialized search engines often fall far short. In today's posting, Paul Kominers and I examine leading online apartment search services and evaluate the disclosures associated with their paid listings. We find paid placement and paid inclusion listings at each site, but disclosures range from limited to nonexistent. Where disclosures exist, they are largely hidden behind multiple…

• 

  Brian Solis

• The Fallacy of Information Overload

  Brian Solis

  15 May 2012 | 8:50 am

  Some of you know me through my work in studying how social media and disruptive technology impact business and culture. Others have worked with me in translating insights into action and change within the enterprise.  Every now and then, I share another side of myself that evokes the aspiring social scientist in me as I explore how all of this is affecting us as individuals and human beings. Not a day goes by when I’m not asked about whether or not the social media bubble will finally burst. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Pinterest, this all has to be too much right? More…

• Music, Film, TV: How social media changed the entertainment experience

  Brian Solis

  10 May 2012 | 9:56 am

  Social media is more than a digital water cooler for TV and movies. The global conversation that takes place around events and the experiences people share based on what they watch teaches us about consumer preferences. More importantly, their activity influences behavior. Behavior counts for everything. Studying it is just the beginning of course. In order to understand and eventually steer behavior, we must translate activity into insights and in turn, translate insights into actionable strategies and programs. The Hollywood Reporter recently published an exclusive poll about social media…

• The future of TV is more than social, it’s a multi-screen experience that needs design

  Brian Solis

  7 May 2012 | 1:19 pm

  The future of television is much more than social; much in the same way that the future of media is too, more than social. Social is a fabric; it connects the individual nodes that make up the human network. But, social however, is not a means to an end. And, as such, the same is true about the working theories driving Social TV. Understanding the role social plays in how viewers connect with programs and other people is essential to defining the future of television. Over the years, I’ve written much about my vision for the long overdue convergence of not only web and TV, but also how the…

• The Path from a Social Brand to a Social Business

  Brian Solis

  2 May 2012 | 11:17 am

  I’ve been a long-time supporter of MediaTemple’s (MT)Residence program along with Gary Vaynerchuk, Neil Patel, and many others whom I respect. I wanted to share my “7 questions to answer to become a social business” with you here.. Social Media is pervasive and is becoming the new normal in corporate marketing. Brands who get this right are starting to build their own media networks rich with customer connections numbering in the millions. Right now, Coca-Cola has over 34 million fans on Facebook, but they’re hardly alone. Disney follows just behind with 29 million…

• Do Customers Really Matter to Your Business? Prove it.

  Brian Solis

  30 Apr 2012 | 10:21 am

  Frank Eliason and I have known each other for many years. We’ve shared the stage on many occasions, he’s made an appearance on Revolution, and most importantly, I’m proud to call him a personal friend. Frank has championed the adaption and transformation of customer service during his time at Comcast and at CITI. Never one to shy away from sharing his opinions, he’s certainly bullish on where service needs to be as a function and a philosophy versus where it is today. In fact, he’s gone so far as to call out social media customer service as being a…

• 

  Joho the Blog

• [2b2k] Peter Galison on The Collective Author

  davidw

  16 May 2012 | 8:54 am

  Harvard professor Peter Galison (he’s actually one of only 24 University Professors, a special honor) is opening a conference on author attribution in the digital age. NOTE: Live-blogging. Getting things wrong. Missing points. Omitting key information. Introducing artificial choppiness. Over-emphasizing small matters. Paraphrasing badly. Not running a spellpchecker. Mangling other people’s ideas and words. You are warned, people. He points to the vast increase in the number of physicists involved in an experiment, some of which have 3,000 people working on them. This transforms…

• Goodies from Wolfram

  davidw

  14 May 2012 | 9:17 pm

  Some wonderfully interesting stuff from Stephen Wolfram today. Here’s his Reddit IAMA. A post about what’s become of a New Kind of Science in the past ten years. And a part two, about reactions to NKS. And here’s a post from a couple of months ago that I missed that is, well, amazing. All I’ll say is that it’s about “personal analytics.”

• [2b2k] The Net as paradigm

  davidw

  13 May 2012 | 4:48 pm

  Edward Burman recently sent me a very interesting email in response to my article about the 50th anniversary of Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. So I bought his 2003 book Shift!: The Unfolding Internet – Hype, Hope and History (hint: If you buy it from Amazon, check the non-Amazon sellers listed there) which arrived while I was away this week. The book is not very long — 50,000 words or so — but it’s dense with ideas. For example, Edward argues in passing that the Net exploits already-existing trends toward globalization, rather than leading…

• Awesome James Bridle

  davidw

  10 May 2012 | 1:36 pm

  I am the lucky fellow who got to have dinner with James Bridle last night. I am a big fan of his brilliance and humor. And of James himself, of course. I ran into him at the NEXT conference I was at in Berlin. His in fact was the only session I managed to get to. (My schedule got very busy all of a sudden.) And his talk was, well, brilliant. And funny. Two points stick out in particular. First, he talked about “code/spaces,” a notion from a book by Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin. A code/space is an architectural space that shapes itself around the information processing that happens…

• Newly de-classified diseases

  davidw

  8 May 2012 | 8:19 am

  The DSM — the psychiatric tome that lists diagnosable (and thus billable) disorders — is being overhauled. Famously, in an earlier edition, homosexuality stopped being counted as a disease. I have some hopes that some illnesses of the Internet will be formally recognized: Internet Conceptual Infantilization: Sufferers believe what they read on the Internet simply because it is on the Internet. Wikiperfectionism: Sufferers engage in pitched battles over small questions to which there is no conceivable right answer. Also known (rarely) as “Disproportioniki.” Narcissistic…

• 

  Daniel Pink

• 3 more emotionally intelligent ways to keep streets safe

  Dan Pink

  16 May 2012 | 8:35 am

  As always, the mailbag of emotionally intelligent signage is brimming with examples sent by readers around the world. And as always, the most prevalent target of this new approach to sign and symbol is dangerous driving.  Here are three that caught my eye: A homemade sign from a tough-minded (but not litigious) parent: An official sign from the hilly state of Himachal Pradesh in northeast India: (If your Hindi is rusty, this translates to “If you fancy speed, become PT Usha. Speed driving is a sign of stupidity.” If your Indian sports history is rusty, PT Usha is one of the…

• Ask Tom Peters anything you want — only on Office Hours

  Dan Pink

  11 May 2012 | 7:56 am

  Our next guest on Office Hours is none other than Tom Peters — the peripatetic and perspicacious co-author of In Search of Excellence and the man The Los Angeles Times called “the father of the post-modern corporation.” Join us on Monday, May 14 at 2pm, EDT, for what promises to be a terrific Office Hours episode. I’ll talk with Tom about the state of the economy, the new rules of work, and his recently released “mother of all presentations.” And as always, you’ll be able to call in and ask him anything you want. (Don’t know what Office Hours is?

• Can you launch a startup with just 100 bucks?

  Dan Pink

  8 May 2012 | 7:15 am

  Later this month, Facebook is planning a ninety billion dollar IPO. Let’s write out that number so we glimpse its enormity: $90,000,000,000. Whoa. Chris Guilliebeau thinks Facebook is cool. But he urges the rest of us to concentrate on a smaller number: a hundred bucks. Let’s write out that one, too. $100. See? It’s a lot more manageable. In his new book, The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future, (Buy it on Amazon, BN.com, or IndieBound), Guillebeau examines a slew of people who’ve started enterprises with…

• 3 outstanding books for your spring reading list

  Dan Pink

  2 May 2012 | 7:09 am

  Over the last few months, I’ve had the privilege of reading three truly outstanding books. None are about business or work per se — but all are amazing and worth your time. The first is Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in the Mumbai Undercity. Boo, a New Yorker writer, spent three years observing life in a slum adjacent to the airport in Mumbai, India. She returned with a riveting story that’s centered around a self-immolation and ensuing false accusations, but is ultimately about family, poverty, justice, and being human. This work…

• Travel Tip #12 — Never get sick again . . . again

  Dan Pink

  30 Apr 2012 | 8:17 am

  It’s been awhile. But here — in response to astonishingly meager demand — is a new Travel Tip. (To be fully prepared, it’ll help to have seen this one.) PREVIOUS TIPS: Tip #1 — Never get sick again Tip #2 — The magic of earplugs Tip #3 — Four road food rules of thumb Tip #4 — The rule of HAHU Tip #5 — More hygiene! Tip #6 — Staying connected Tip #7 — Zipping through security lines Tip #8 — One thing you should never do in a hotel room Tip #9 — The secret(s) to beating jet lag Tip #10 — The first thing you should buy Tip #11 – The hidden…

• 

  craigconnects

• Tips on Sharing Facebook Posts & Twitter Tweets

  craigconnects

  15 May 2012 | 4:01 pm

  Hey, I figure that sometimes people doing good stuff want me to spread the updates to my networks in social media, starting with Facebook and Twitter.I tell 'em to email me the links to their posts, and maybe they should do so for all their supporters. Just send us the links with a few words as to what they're talking about.That means we can click on those links, and that brings up their posts in a browser. From there, we just click on Share or Retweet. Just two clicks, and the original post is sent throughout our networks.Here's how to send the link to a specific post:For…

• A New Era of Squirrel-Based Activism

  Craig Newmark

  30 Apr 2012 | 1:32 pm

  So, here's the deal, folks – #Squirrels4Good has been taking over social networks. The good news about this is that the National Wildlife Federation surpassed the $5K mark that I recently promised.Since everyone is so passionate, and the @NWF has their boots on the ground doing such good work, I want to up the ante $5K more, and give the NWF a total of $10K if we can keep the #squirrels4good going.Here's a video I did with the NWF to support them, @common_squirrel, and squirrels everywhere:No matter what we do, no matter what we don't do, the squirrels are here.

• Follow Me

  craigconnects

  25 Apr 2012 | 12:00 pm

  Guest post by Brett SheatsFor the past ninety-four years, the United States Army Infantry School has been located at Fort Benning, Georgia. Thousands of young, freshly shaved heads enter its gates every year to undergo the metamorphosis from patriotic civilian to steely-eyed mayhem machine.During their time at Fort Benning, each new infantry recruit learns countless skills that will be key to his survival in combat, from accuracy with a rifle and equipment maintenance to small unit tactics. All of these lessons are neatly tied together with one inescapable fact: As infantrymen, when combat…

• #Squirrels4Good

  craigconnects

  23 Apr 2012 | 11:45 am

  Hey there, are you feeling squirrelly? Many of you know my love for squirrels and birds. I've decided to team up with @common_squirrel and @NWF to raise money for #Squirrels4Good. I'm a fan of urban survivors, and for that matter, I've been told I can get a little squirrelly, and more than once. I know other people really have an affinity for squirrels, too.Here's the deal, for each time someone uses the hashtag, #Squirrels4Good on Twitter or on my Facebook page  or NWF’s facebook page, I'll give $1 to the National Wildlife Federation up to $5K. I will also donate…

• Think You Have the Right to Vote? Not so Much!

  Craig Newmark

  29 Mar 2012 | 9:10 am

  Folks, think you have the right to vote? Maybe not so much. I've been working with some good folks focusing on Voter Suppression issues that are happening across the country. There are some bad actors who are trying to pass legislation that will keep eligible people from voting.What I learned in high school civics class is that an attack on voting rights is virtually the same as an attack on the country. So I asked people smarter than me to help me do what George Washington would have wanted me to do, collect and release the information you're getting from us today.I worked with the…

• 

  The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

• The View From Your Window

  Andrew Sullivan

  16 May 2012 | 1:21 pm

  Newbridge, Ireland, 7.38 am

• Quote For The Day II

  Andrew Sullivan

  16 May 2012 | 1:05 pm

  "When evangelicals turn their anti-gay sentiments into a political campaign, all it does is confirm to my gay friends that they will never be welcome in the church. It makes them bitter, and it makes me mad too. This is why I never refer to myself as an evangelical. Ugh. I’m embarrassed to be part of that group,” - an evangelical college senior, in a blog post by Rachel Held Evans. Money quote from the post written the day after Amendment One passed in North Carolina: As I watched my Facebook and Twitter feeds last night, the reaction among my friends fell into an imperfect but…

• Pressuring The President

  Andrew Sullivan

  16 May 2012 | 12:40 pm

  Conor Friedersdorf claims that I'm not doing it very much: In the aftermath of a huge step like embracing gay equality, gushing is understandable. But the prior months of comments about how lucky we are to have him, the invocations of "12 dimensional chess," constantly comparing him to the Road Runner, the celebrations of his strategic acumen as if it's as laudable as doing what's right, and enthusing about how cool he is? It's increasingly hard to take at the end of a first term littered with broken promises. And it obscures the fact that Obama ought to be pressured…

• The End Of A Third-Party Pipe Dream

  Andrew Sullivan

  16 May 2012 | 12:30 pm

  Avlon is sad that Americans Elect has failed to find a candidate. Chait is unsurprised: I do think there is a general desire out there for a third-party candidate. It’s just that the desire isn’t ideological. Lots of Americans think the parties both stink and have little understanding of what the parties actually believe. The idea that there’s a third-party movement rooted in any set of policy goals is silly, and the notion that the there’s a third-party movement rooted in Tom Friedman’s particular policy goals is completely insane. Larison nods: Americans Elect failed because it…

• What Is Romney Worth?

  Andrew Sullivan

  16 May 2012 | 12:19 pm

  A comprehensive analysis:  Supplemented by a dozen interviews – from local real estate experts to private equity partners – we get a detailed look at the current state of Mitt’s money, pinpointing his net worth at $230 million, split between 9 different asset classes. Highlights include the sale of nearly all of his individual equities – he sold 71 stocks since his last disclosure – and a big move into cash. He now holds $16 million, up from $1 million in August.  Still, he's no George Washington.

• 

  Jessica Gottlieb A Los Angeles Mom

• The Perfect Mother’s Day

  Jessica Gottlieb

  14 May 2012 | 11:54 pm

  Yesterday was blissful as Mother’s Day always is. Mr. G always makes a bigger fuss than necessary and I always let him. It’s my wifely duty to be a little pampered. Saturday night we couldn’t quite agree on where to eat but we all agreed that we’d be eating out. The kids wanted Laurel Tavern but they don’t really understand that it’s a bar. So they don’t understand that on a Saturday night no one wants them there. Further the place is packed and loud and Laker-y. So we drove past Laurel Tavern in an effort to show them why we wouldn’t be eating…

• Jamie Lynne Grumet Breastfeeds on the Cover of TIME Magazine

  Jessica Gottlieb

  10 May 2012 | 2:12 pm

  Does this help or hurt attachment parenting?

• It’s 10pm. Where is Your Child’s Cell Phone?

  Jessica Gottlieb

  10 May 2012 | 3:01 am

    In an effort to make my teenage daughter hate me (because really, what other motive could I have?). I gave Jane two options regarding her cell phone at night. Option 1: She can leave her cell phone plugged in downstairs Option 2: I can add back parental controls and after 10pm she will only be able to call or text me, her grandparents and 9-1-1. There is no option 3. We had tears and threats. I wasn’t spoken to for two solid hours. If you’ve ever met Jane you’d know how meaningful silence is. This is a child who needs to communicate to feel alive. “It’s my…

• I Was Late Everywhere Yesterday

  Jessica Gottlieb

  9 May 2012 | 12:28 pm

  Yesterday was supposed to be a busy day. I was supposed to be taping a video with a production company at 9.30 in the morning. This would have meant that I was going to have to get up at 6.30 so that I could look and smell good before getting the kids off to school. My friend Yvonne was having a Healthy Child Healthy World event at her house from 10 to 12 and I figured I’d just get there as quickly as I could and maybe have an hour with my girlfriends. At the very last minute my 4pm appointment turned into a noon appointment and the shoot was cancelled. Of course I had it in my mind…

• Uproxx: White Boy Privilege Gone Wrong

  Jessica Gottlieb

  8 May 2012 | 6:06 pm

  Recently someone pointed me to an article on a site I’d never seen before. It’s called Uproxx. The tag line is The Culture of What’s Buzzing. After looking at the staff page I’m guessing that the “culture” they’re referring to is the culture of 20 something caucasian men. Which is fine, but it’s a narrow field of vision and there’s so much privilege in there that it might be difficult for these young men to actually understand consequences. So I thought I’d address them here. Similarly to how they addressed my friend Calvin…

• 

  Dembot

• Welcome Keghan Hurst

  21 Apr 2012 | 1:21 pm

  You may have been wondering where Rocketboom has been for the last several months. The wilderness? Sitting around selling stamps? Nope. Looking for Keghan. You would think a grand search through the depths of YouTube would lead you to the talent you are looking for pretty easily, wouldn’t you? You might even think that having access to Hollywood agents, or subscription platforms like Backstage might help, right? Well YOU WOULD BE WRONG!! If you have ever enjoyed Rocketboom in the past, you know that we put it all into talent and I can tell you with all certainty, talent is very rare. So…

• Partnering up with Apple

  18 Apr 2012 | 5:19 pm

  I have a bit of interesting financial detail about Rocketboom to share. It’s a method of fund raising that I don’t hear others talking about, and it feels wrong somehow, but also it’s working great, for now, so I wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone had any major criticism. One of the (many) ways I have kept Rocketboom afloat over the years is through a relationship I have built with Apple. You could say I am a lurker of sorts. Or perhaps you would call me a bona fide fan boy (since my first BBS which I ran on an Apple //e many years ago). Now I’m trading…

• On The Economics of Publishing To YouTube: Frequency

  3 Apr 2012 | 11:47 am

  As we’re gearing up to relaunch Rocketboom, we face an interesting conundrum. When Rocketboom originally launched, we were reaching an audience who consumed our content in two main ways: they either came to our website daily to see each new episode, or they used podcasting or feed readers to be reminded of new daily episodes. The entire format of Rocketboom was designed to reach this kind of audience. As such, it worked best for us to release a new episode each weekday as it fit in nicely with people’s daily consumption behaviors and kept us fresh and on top of the beat. That was…

• Have you ever seen a musical performance by North Koreans? I...

  6 Feb 2012 | 5:04 pm

  Have you ever seen a musical performance by North Koreans? I Highly recommend taking a minute and half to check out this one.

• How Money Determines Elections

  6 Jan 2012 | 12:02 pm

  If you look at the last five Presidential races, in each case, the candidate who spent the most money, won. Over the years, I’ve learned a few things about politics because my Dad was a major influence to the Democratic party and I payed attention to a lot of the things he was doing. He was a great man in my book and became one of the happiest people I have ever met, a workaholic entrepreneur driven by the pure passion of Democracy and opportunity for everyone. Some of his closest friends even accused him of being a Socialist. When he first got his jet, he would fly Ann Richards…

• 

  Bijan Sabet

• just ordered this bluetooth headset for working out. high hopes...

  16 May 2012 | 8:03 am

  just ordered this bluetooth headset for working out. high hopes - they look great.  (via Plantronics Backbeat Go)

• newspeedwayboogie: this is the song of the day for me. The new...

  16 May 2012 | 7:12 am

  newspeedwayboogie: this is the song of the day for me. The new song sounds even gentler than his previous work, which was already quite gentle. His voice has an even better timbre and the instrumentation has more texture.  Wonderful whitneymcn: The Tallest Man On Earth - 1904 There’s a new TMOE record this summer; all is well. Yes!

• “Hallway Chat”, #6 @nabeel and I discuss/debate...

  15 May 2012 | 7:52 am

  “Hallway Chat”, #6 @nabeel and I discuss/debate Facebook Opengraph, my new Android phone, Nabeel’s latest take on Picturelife and Wunderlist Click here for previous episodes. 

• Big syndicates for consumer seed rounds but not capital intensive ideas?

  14 May 2012 | 8:28 am

  We have seen a ton of seed rounds completed over the last 24 months where the start up raises less than $2M of initial financing and has sometimes 4 (or more!) traditional venture firms participating plus a half dozen angels (or more!) in the same round.  Many smart folks have commented on that strategy and whether that is a good idea of traditional venture firms or entrepreneurs. For this post, I’m not going to comment on that topic (1) But contrast that to the capital intensive investment opportunities. We are often asked to evaluate a Series A round of a capital intensive idea…

• New Order - Regret shared from exfm

  14 May 2012 | 8:07 am

  New Order - Regret shared from exfm

• 

  inessential.com

• Evolution of Glassboard’s Timeline

  15 May 2012 | 11:28 pm

  The first five shots are from mockups as they evolved. The last screen shot is the shipping version — a screen shot from the app. (Click the image for the big version.) Screen shot of the shipping version:

• Glassboard 2 links

  15 May 2012 | 12:16 pm

  Here’s Nick Bradbury on Glassboard 2.0. Here’s the announcement on the glassboard.com blog. Update: here’s an interview with me by Matthew Panzarino on The Next Web.

• Glassboard 2.0

  15 May 2012 | 11:52 am

  We at Sepia Labs just released Glassboard 2.0 for iPhone and Android. There’s even a new web app — in beta (still suffers from cats). (All three apps are free.) We’ve been working on this version since last fall — it’s a big upgrade. Much of it is a new design. (I spent most of my time doing graphics, while Nick Harris did most of the iPhone programming. Nick Bradbury did the wireframes and wrote the Android app, and Brian Reischl wrote the web app.) In case you’re not familiar with Glassboard, here’s the deal: what Pair is to the bedroom, and Path is to the rec room, Glassboard…

• Sugarbert

  9 May 2012 | 12:35 pm

  I’ve always liked this Flaubert quote: Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work. I like this Charlie Rose interview with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson from 2003. Here’s part two. Among a bunch of other things, they talk about making their art simpler. But I especially love the exchange starting about 4:30 into part two. “Everybody we know,” says Lou. “Works,” says Laurie.

• Wish

  26 Apr 2012 | 6:04 pm

  I wish there was a separate WWDC just for Mac development. Imagine how much fun that would be. I’d totally go. I don’t imagine there’s any chance of that happening, but a fella can still dream.

• 

  nakedjen

• How Does Your Garden Grow?

  nakedjen

  11 May 2012 | 7:22 pm

  Here, have two more, plus a nice garden shrub!

• Everybody's beautiful in their own way.

  nakedjen

  4 May 2012 | 4:22 pm

  I know you're all very astute and smart people. So, I'm not going to recap the important news events of this week for you, the events that I know each and every one of you followed and that I know may have appalled you just as much as they appalled me.

• Spotlights That Gave an Occasional Moment's Glitter

  nakedjen

  27 Apr 2012 | 3:20 pm

  We stopped at Jimmy John's to get a sandwich for me because I was hungry. I'm hungry a lot because I'm growing, you know? All I wanted was a ham sandwich. So she asked them to make me a ham sandwich with just ham. And mayonnaise. That's all. None of that other stuff. They told her no! She said she would pay them whatever they wanted, just make me the sandwich. They said no! Nakedjen has trouble with sandwich people. Did you know that? She does. The sandwich lady at Whole Foods HATES her. She won't even make her a sandwich.

• Bears Behind Bars

  nakedjen

  24 Apr 2012 | 2:06 pm

  No, of course not. That is never how she raised me. I do know how to set a table properly and how to greet an ambassador and how to write a proper thank you note and that showing up at the White House with shocking pink hair might cause the Secret Service to pat me down extra carefully. Still, as she sighs heavily while standing behind me during the pat down, she also knows that I rather enjoy the attention and that it is precisely because she also told me that I could absolutely BE anything and anyone I wanted to be and that there was NOTHING THAT I COULD NOT DO that I am the very person…

• Naked Pitch

  nakedjen

  17 Apr 2012 | 11:40 pm

  My readers know that one thing I love to do is celebrate Fridays by getting "naked" in open spaces in Salt Lake City. So to really celebrate the opening of City Creek, I think the best way to do this would be a Naked Friday photo in center of those choreographed fountains. Any Friday will work for me. I know it will definitely make a huge splash.

• 

  Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com

• GM to Facebook: Your ads don’t work (but our content marketing does)

  Rex Hammock

  15 May 2012 | 9:04 pm

  The Wall Street Journal is reporting, in a three-person bylined story, that GM plans to stop advertising on Facebook after its senior marketing executives decided “that paid ads on the site have little impact on consumers’ car purchases.” However, while the company won’t pay for advertising on the site, they plan on continuing their content marketing activities on Facebook. Here are the bullet points: GM paid $10 million to Facebook for advertising during the past year. GM paid agencies and others (companies other than Facebook) $30 million for the creation of content…

• See you tomorrow at Techville

  Rex Hammock

  14 May 2012 | 3:47 pm

  I’m looking forward tomorrow to participating in the day-long event hosted by the Nashville Technology Council, Techville. I’ll be sharing a panel with MusicSynk’s John Pisciotta on the impact of digital media on two of Nashville’s more visible industries: music and publishing. As there are new ways that digital media and the networked marketplace change music and publishing every day, we may likely limit our remarks to those changes that occur during the next 24 hours. The key reason to attend events like this in your hometown and region, is to meet others who are…

• The only thing that can save Yahoo is a ham radio that talks with the year 1999

  Rex Hammock

  13 May 2012 | 11:07 pm

  [Note: This post includes spoilers related to a 12-year old movie you'll probably never see, if you haven't already.] With each new backwards somersault in the never-ending dive of Yahoo! into the abyss, I keep remembering the first movie I can recall that included an internet startup’s business success in the story line. It was the Dennis Quaid film that came out in the year 2000, Frequency. It was a, hmm, science fiction, time travel, alternative history, kind of movie that revolved around the easily believable premise that Quaid’s son, as an adult in the year 2000, could use…

• RexBlog Re-run – A company is too large when its CEO can’t explain how it makes money

  Rex Hammock

  12 May 2012 | 5:34 pm

  In March, 2009, I wrote a blog post that collected some of my thoughts in reaction to the economic collapse we had just experienced (and are still feeling). In light of the news this week that the much-admired and rarely-wrong CEO of JPMorgan is not immune from the laws of nature and market-places, I thought back to a section of what I wrote that day: The whole “bigger is always better” thing has now been exposed as a nice theory, but a failed reality. Why? Because all the algorithms and information technology and most brilliant programming in the world can’t overcome the bugs of…

• I’d rather have lots of next small things than one next big thing

  Rex Hammock

  8 May 2012 | 10:03 am

  A 2006 article I wrote about Jason Fried on why bigger isn't better. See note, links at the bottom of post. [Note: The following post is intended for people who actually read what it says, not for those who don't read it, but feel the need to react to what they think it says.] Obviously, I love internet-enabled technology and startups and am overly (obsessively?) fascinated by how the internet is changing our lives, jobs, relationships, culture and well, I could keep going. I’ve chronicled a lot of that fascination and interest on this blog for the past 12 years. However, there are…

• 

  Berkeley Blog

• Morning Evacuation of Occupy the Farm

  Berkeley Blog

  9 May 2012 | 10:58 am

  I live in Albany --  on the outskirts of Berkeley -- but I've lived in Berkeley since 1969, so whenever I hear the early morning sound of helicopters, I assume there's either been a major traffic accident or a revolution. This morning, before 7 a.m., a huge chopper appeared a few hundred feet above my kitchen window and right away, I knew time was up for Occupy the Farm. On April 22, a few hundred people took wirecutters to a section of land in Albany called the Gill Tract, owned by the University of California, and planted one acre of crops, brought in two crates of chickens,…

• Andy Grove Says Speed of Discovery in Healthcare Too Slow

  Berkeley Blog

  5 Apr 2012 | 8:33 pm

  Andy Grove is a dreamer. Even though his speech is slurred and his body movements out of control from Parkinson's disease, the cofounder of Intel and former UC Berkeley Ph.D., gave an  astute diagnosis and prescription for government incompetence  in three agencies -- the NIH (which funds scientific research), the FDA (regulates drugs), and the CMA (sets prices on healthcare) -- at an inaugural Ernest Kuh lecture series at UC Berkeley's School of Engineering on April 5. Starting with the technological advancements made according to Moore's law, named after Intel…

• Internet Oprah

  Berkeley Blog

  16 Feb 2012 | 4:15 pm

  Salim Ismail is VP of a boot camp for future business leaders called Singularity University. Neither an accredited university nor a place where machines plan to take over the functions of humans, SU, as it's called, brings together 80 Ph.D. students and entrepreneurs from around the world for a ten-week summer session in Mountain View, where they listen to more than 100 experts in bleeding edge technologies, from robotics to space exploration and clean tech. After the lecture immersion, small, self-selected teams work in on solving a problem that will affect one billion people in the next…

• Artist Supports Food Sovereignty of World's Small Farmers

  Berkeley Blog

  14 Feb 2012 | 11:57 am

  Fernando Garcia-Dory is on a conquistadorial quest: to transform the thousands of abandoned villages in rural Spain from wastelands into cultural sites, whether edible landscapes or artistic reconstructions of past agrarian cultures such as sheepherding. Last night he spoke at the David Brower Center in Berkeley -- named after the enviro-activist -- as part of a series of lectures on art and technology hosted by the Center for New Media at UC Berkeley, under the aegis of Ken Goldberg. Through a project in Spain called Inland, he is engaging artists and landscapers to reconstruct these…

• Bay Area Media Merger Needs To Add One More Player

  Berkeley Blog

  8 Feb 2012 | 7:50 pm

  Today, the Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley announced a preliminary merger with The Bay Citizen in San Francisco, with Phil Bronstein taking over temporarily as CEO of the ersatz media operation. The force behind this merger seems to be Warren Hellman, now deceased, but while alive, a philanthropic founder and ongoing supporter of The Bay Citizen and a close friend of Bronstein. It seems to me these nonprofits can leverage the combined talents of their journalists, photographers, web architects, operators, and funders to become the dominant media provider for citizens in the San…

• 

  gapingvoid

• In praise of the email newsletter format

  Hugh MacLeod

  9 May 2012 | 10:40 am

  [Subscribe to the gapingvoid newsletter here.] This made me very happy– Austin Ray from Mailchimp interviewed me about my “fantastic open rates”. Mailchimp, as you know, is what powers my daily cartoon newsletter. With email newsletters, at least with Mailchimp, the average “open rate” is around 6%-8% i.e. for every hundred people you send out to, six to eight people actually open it and read it, as opposed to just sending it to the trash. Our newsletter is 40%+. That’s amazing. We were impressed to find out that Hugh MacLeod‘s MailChimp campaigns consistently maintain a…

• Leaving the mainstream…

  Hugh MacLeod

  9 May 2012 | 10:27 am

  This is the latest cartoon to go out in the newsletter. I’m not anti-mainstream; it has its place. That being said, it isn’t for for everyone. And yes, sometimes you have to leave it, to find out who you REALLY are. I can certainly relate…

• The trouble with big companies…

  Hugh MacLeod

  8 May 2012 | 12:03 pm

• All three possible answers

  Hugh MacLeod

  8 May 2012 | 11:05 am

• I hate my life

  Hugh MacLeod

  8 May 2012 | 10:52 am

• 

  GerardMcLean.com

• Here is your bag of parts, sir

  Gerard McLean

  2 May 2012 | 8:15 am

  At some point in time during the past couple of years, vendors quit selling “solutions” and are now selling bags of parts. They have an app to do this part and a web site to do this. Their Windows-PC software … Continue reading →

• Four skills every college graduate needs

  Gerard McLean

  29 Mar 2012 | 9:34 am

  I was shooting the breeze with a college professor friend of mine the other day because his son is getting married this coming June. We were musing over where the time goes and the topic turned to “kids today” as … Continue reading →

• Standing out in a large crowd

  Gerard McLean

  27 Mar 2012 | 10:25 am

  Last Christmas, a friend of mine who lives in New York City sent me a box of cookies from Levain Bakery. If you have never had a cookie from them, go right now and get one.. or two. I’ll wait. … Continue reading →

• I wanna get on Oprah

  Gerard McLean

  5 Mar 2012 | 7:56 am

  I know that Oprah is off the air, but work with me a bit on the metaphor. If you are a writer, you want to get on Oprah and your book will sell. If you are a CPG manufacturer, you … Continue reading →

• The last buggy whip maker

  Gerard McLean

  4 Mar 2012 | 5:22 pm

  I plopped down on the well-worn couch he had in his office on one of my regular hang-out visits. He was a local business guy I’ve been friends with for over a decade. It was always a good way to … Continue reading →

• 

  Derek Sivers

• Advice on moving to Los Angeles

  Derek Sivers

  24 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am

  Someone moving to Los Angeles asked my advice. Here it is: I lived in LA from 2002 to 2009 and loved it. There are a few things to understand: It’s not really a city. Not long ago, it was just a bunch of small towns: Venice, Pasadena, Burbank, Encino, Beverly Hills - but then for tax reasons they drew a circle around about 30 small towns and decided to call it Los Angeles. So if you go just understanding it’s a bunch of adjacent towns, each quite different in character, and don’t go expecting a city, then it won’t be so frustrating. When someone says they hate LA, you have to ask,…

• Friends from memory

  Derek Sivers

  20 Dec 2011 | 2:00 am

  Here’s a great project, that will fill you full of gratitude and reminiscing: Try to write down all the friends you’ve ever had - from memory. No address book, no phone, no Facebook. Just memory. Remember all those people you met and connected with that made a difference in your life. It’s amazing how many are still in your head. childhood friends you haven’t seen since you were 8 teachers old crushes and flings random encounters with great conversation There are some you’ll remember who don’t remember you. (There are some you’ve forgotten who remember you well.) I did mine…

• The co-op business model: share whatever you've got

  Derek Sivers

  20 Nov 2011 | 2:00 am

  I feel like I know almost nothing about business, because the only business I’ve ever done is the co-op / sharing model. It goes like this: 1. You already have something that people want. It might be something you own, something you’ve learned how to do, or access to valuable resources, space, or people. 2. Find a way to share it with everyone who needs it. Share because it’s what you do for friends, because it’s the right thing to do, because it makes the world a better place, and because it’ll make you deeply happy. Share as your contribution in return for all the things and ideas…

• 232 sand dollars

  Derek Sivers

  15 Nov 2011 | 2:00 am

  When I was 22, I lived alone on the Oregon Coast for a year, just practicing, recording, dreaming, and going for 10-mile runs in the sand. I had been coming to this beach since I was a baby, and had spent hundreds of hours walking every bit of it. As a kid, our rare golden treasure was to find an unbroken sand dollar shell on the beach. It had happened maybe five times in my life. But that year, one cold spring day, when I had the whole beach to myself, I was out for a run, and I found one! A few minutes later, I found another! 30 seconds later, another, and another. I carried them in my…

• Procrastination Hack : change and to or

  Derek Sivers

  24 Oct 2011 | 2:00 am

  “When do you go running?” “When the time is right.” “When is the time right?” “When it's a nice day, and I've finished my work, and I haven't just eaten, and I'm feeling energetic.” “Repeat that last sentence, changing ‘and’ to ‘or’.” “When it's a nice day, OR I've finished my work, OR I haven't just eaten, OR I'm feeling energetic.” “That sounds like a better plan.” Got a list of conditions you need satisfied before you do something? Try changing and to or.