How To Rule The Web

I saw this book review by Guy Kawasaki from the founding editor of BoingBoing. Check it out!

Would you like to rule the web? Mark Frauenfelder’s new book will help you do exactly that. I thought I knew about most of the cool stuff on the web, but thirty pages into this book it was clear to me that I was deluding myself.

Mark is the founding editor of BoingBoing.net and editor in chief of Make. His book is called Rule the Web. Here are ten things that I learned about by reading it. I am sure you will discover many useful and cool tips in this book. He’s got a blog to keep up to date too.

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Looks like a good read. Maybe it will pop up soon on my Current Reading sidebar.

“Stop Treating Employees So Well”

I almost choked when I saw this. The NYTimes had an article about Costco that Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer, covered:

You’d think that if a company treats its employees well (a lot better than their competitors) and gets great business results because of it, that this company and it executives would be celebrated and praised for it.

You’d be wrong.

The New York Times has a great article about Costco, the huge chain of supermarkets who spend much more on their employees than their main competitors.

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Can you believe this?

Free Illustrator “Foliage” Brushes 2

Once again, BittBox churns out some amazing free design tools. This new set of foliage brushes builds on the last set. These brushes can really make unique contributions to your design projects.

Available as Adobe Illustrator v.10 (format for .ai and .eps) and as SVG and PSD — download them now!

iPhone Needs a Software Update Soon!

Now, who did not see this one coming?

By Charles Jade | From Ars Technica

At the beginning of last month, rumor of a massive iPhone update circulated among the Apple-watching community. The update was said to include advanced applications and features, such as an iChat-like IM and the ability to cut and paste text. Sadly, July went by without custom ringtones, a Flash plug-in, and maybe a back button. But now it’s (almost) August, and this time instead of anonymous nerds on the Internet engaging in wish fulfillment, a six-figure analyst is predicting an update based upon a conversation with an Apple insider.

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Google and DoubleClick Merger

I saw this article by Nate Anderson on Ars Technica about the Google/DoubleClick merger for 3.1 billion.

If your childhood was anything like mine, telling your mom “But everyone at school is doing it!” elicited only a knowing smile and a question about whether you would follow your classmates off a cliff if they all marched over the edge together. “Everyone’s doing it,” you learned, did not necessarily make something a good idea. Still, Google’s willing to dust off the old argument in defense of its proposed merger with DoubleClick.

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What are your thoughts regarding this trend? Do you think Google has made a wise decision?

Goin’ Off The Rails on The Link Train

Have you heard of “Link Trains”? Are you part of one?

Some Bloggers are using link trains to drive up their stats on sites such a Technorati. The rough premise is similar to a chain-letter, but in this case it’s a series of posts. You include the previous blog links in your post and add several additional then ask others in your network to do the same. At the same time you ask several of the previously linked blogs to publish an article/post of yours.

In many cases this has driven blogs into the Top 100 on Technorati. Is this a symptom of our micro-wave, I-want-it-now mentality or a lazy way to get top billing? Will these blogs have the quality of content to stay in the top ranks? Is this a popularity vote not based upon mob mentality?

What are your thoughts?

Crème Brulee French Toast

By E. Brown

As you can tell from several of my articles about Atlanta restaurants, the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group is one of my favorites and one of the more consistent. Chef Greg Sears of the Atlanta Bread Company has provided his recipe for Crème Brulee French Toast. I hope you like it.

INGREDIENTS
1 Loaf Brioche Bread
1 Stick Butter
8 Large Eggs
1 Cup Brown Sugar
¼ cup Heavy Cream
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

METHOD

1. Trim all crust from Brioche
2. Cut in 1-inch slices.
3. Melt butter in saucepan, with cream and brown sugar until combined.
4. While brown sugar is cooking, mix eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla together with wire whisk.
5. Pour brown sugar mixture into a greased 9×13 baking dish.
6. Place Sliced brioche on top of brown sugar mixture and press lightly.
7. Pour all egg mixture over brioche bread evenly.
8. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit over night in refrigerator.
9. The following day, bake at 375 uncovered until top of bread is golden brown.
10. Allow to cool, and cut out with round cookie cutters.
11. Place 2 pieces on plate and garnish with fresh berries and Vermont maple syrup.

Recipe courtesy of Chef Greg Sears, Corner Café, Buckhead Life Restaurant Group

Thank you Chef Greg.

Bon Appétit!

*For more on restaurants, food, and recipes, visit the Grub category of WeirdGuy Blog.

Juicy News About Joost™

By E. Brown

While flipping between work related files and catching up on my tech reading, I came across the Connected Internet blog, by Everton Blair, out of the U.K. Everton is also a Joost Beta Tester, like me, and has some interesting news about the future of Joost:

Joost, the peer-to-peer TV sharing application from the inventors of Skype and Kazaa, has signed up more than a million beta testers and is on track for an end-of-year launch, its co-creator has revealed. Finally, the whole world will get to see what a great service Joost is, which in my view makes a mockery of the shoddy and poor quality videos available on other services.

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Note: Currently, Everton works with one of London’s largest ISP’s running their portal and online operations.

The significant strides Joost has made over the last months is amazing. They are adding more and more content every time I look. Do you like vintage black and white Godzilla movies? It’s on Joost. How about vintage NewsRadio shows with the late Phil Hartman? You can find it on Joost!

Interested in signing up for Joost as a Beta tester? Let me know by emailing me with a valid first and last name and email address and I’ll sign you up. [eweirdguy at bellsouth dot net]

Related Articles

Babelgum Tastes Like Joost!

Joost Beta Wide Open

Joost Alive on Apple TV

Joost You and Me

Common Sense Carrots

By E. Brown

Have you seen the book, The Carrot Principle? I was on a business trip and, as is my habit, I swung by the airport bookstore. While perusing the Business section, I saw this book. I picked it up and read the inside dust jacket.

Why does this book exist? A simple survey of employees within any organization will tell you that if you treat people well and compensate them adequately (and in some cases creatively) you will retain people longer and have a happier business culture.

It’s Common Sense
This is nothing new. Rewards and discipline are the two great motivators we learn as children. Certainly, you can phrase these concepts differently, but it’s all semantics and at the end of the day the results are the same. See what Publishers Weekly had to say about The Carrot Principle:

Gostick and Elton, consultants with the O.C. Tanner Recognition Company, have made a career out of promoting the idea of employee recognition as a corporate cure-all. (Their previous books include Managing with Carrots, The 24-Carrot Manager and A Carrot a Day). Here, they cover familiar ground, showing how many managers fail to acknowledge the special achievements of their employees and risk alienating their best workers or losing them to competing firms. They advocate creating a “carrot culture” in which successes are continually celebrated and reinforced. Dozens of recognition techniques include the obvious (“When a top performer is going on a particularly long business trip, upgrade her ticket to business class”) to the offbeat (“Hire a celebrity impersonator to leave a congratulatory voice-mail message on an employee’s phone”). But the authors pad the pages with unsurprising survey results, the umpteenth recapitulation of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and long anecdotes of questionable relevance (e.g., three pages about Charles Goodyear’s rubber-vulcanizing technique in order to introduce the notion that a transforming force—like employee recognition!—can produce surprising results). Gostick and Elton’s philosophy is appealing, but could have been explained in a long magazine article. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Something Deeper
Do I disagree with what the authors report in the book?

No, but it is common sense. To me what is more disturbing is the felt need for a book like this to exist. As the author’s rightly claim:

Just as the research illuminates recognition as the key to success, it also illustrates a universal self-deception: The vast majority of leaders believe they already are effective at recognition.

During the past ten years, we have visited more than two-dozen countries, spent thousands of hours consulting with leaders of Fortune 500 titans, and taught seminars to almost a million managers. Repeatedly, the problem has not been convincing managers that purpose-based recognition can help them to achieve their corporate goals if done right. No, the mountain we continually have to climb is getting leaders to entertain the idea that they might be doing recognition wrong.

Yet the evidence certainly suggests that is the case. In the Jackson Organization survey, the majority of employees reported feeling unrecognized, and only 40 percent of employees reported high engagement and high job satisfaction. What’s more, according to a 2006 survey of 14,000 workers conducted by Salary.com, 65 percent of employees are currently looking for other work.

The problem, for most leaders, stems from approaching leadership from the old transactional approach. Within this model, recognition is a leadership tool to manipulate people to work harder and be more loyal, helping the manager achieve his or her goals.

Now, there is the issue — “recognition is a leadership tool to manipulate people”. This goes back to the Lone Ranger mentality — the boss who cares only about him/herself. This is a much more insidious issue than that of motivation.

Yes, the hard-nosed, insecure, Lone Ranger might “get the job done” but at what cost? I venture to say, and the authors of The Carrot Principle show through their research, that it is more costly doing business with these kinds of leaders. A team approach with a culture that promotes and values employees is by far more successful in the long run.

Back to my original question: Why does this book exist? Unfortunately, it is because many in leadership are unwilling, or worse yet, unable to change.

I like the quote from John Maxwell — “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.” And, in some cases it might make the best sense for that leader to take his carrot and walk away.

Additional Reading
- The Leadership Lone Ranger is Dead
- Leadership Insecurity
- No Jackets Required
- Leadership Gardener

Kevin Kelly – The Technium

Having been an avid reader of Wired Magazine from it’s beginning I always enjoyed anything I read from Kevin Kelly. When I heard he was going to be at the Q Conference this last spring I had to go. He was truly inspiring. Below is the beginning of an essay by Kevin entitled, The Technium and The 7th Kingdom of Life – A Talk with Kevin Kelly. Enjoy!

The main question that I’m asking myself is, what is the meaning of technology in our lives? What place does technology have in the universe? What place does it have in the human condition? And what place should it play in my own personal life? Technology as a whole system, or what I call the technium, seems to be a dominant force in the culture. Indeed at times it seems to be the only force – the only lasting force – in culture. If that’s so, then what can we expect from this force, what governs it? Sadly we don’t even have a good theory about technology.

I’m trying to investigate ways to understand the long-term consequences of technology in the world and place it into some position along with other grand things like biological nature, big history, the physics of the cosmos, and the future. It’s a very ambitious project and, surprisingly, there isn’t really much thinking about technology in terms of its sphere of influence in a way that might be useful to thinking about how to evaluate what we make.

There’s no predictive theory of technology either. I’ve been inculcated with the fundamentals of GBN-style scenarios to understand that all predictions are wrong by default. So, when I say predictive, I don’t mean in the sense that we could actually predict, in detail, what technology will do. I mean predictive in the sense of a theory that would give us the tools to guide its direction at the large scale. A theory that would let us say that we know enough about technology’s past that we can expect certain things about it in its future. Right now, we basically take technologies as they come up, and each novel technology, one by one, catches us caught off-guard. Though I don’t think I’m capable of generating it, a useful theory of technology is what I would love to find.

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Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine and author of the best-selling “New Rules for the New Economy,” and the book on decentralized emergent systems, “Out of Control.” He is currently editor and publisher of the popular Cool Tools, True Film, and Street Use web sites.

“You’re Fired!”

Tuck

“You’re fired!”

Roll

“You fired!”

Tuck

“You FIRED!”

So, goes one of the many funny scenes between Tuck and Roll within Pixar’s, A Bug’s Life. Yet, while this may have been a funny scene to many movie goers and, later, to many families owning the VHS video or DVD, this is not so funny to some bloggers today.

Today, more than a few bloggers are hearing the words, “You’re fired” over the articles and posts they have made about the companies they work for. USA Today and recently, Ars Technica, reported on such issues:

Many companies are now cracking down on bloggers, firing employees who post unflattering information about the company in public. Wired has just noted the new Proofpoint survey on corporate monitoring of employee communications. That survey found that 32 percent of companies employ people whose job responsibilities include sifting through outgoing e-mail. 14 percent of companies have disciplined employees for improper use of social networking sites, and nine percent have fired people within the last year for items that they posted on blogs or message boards.

That’s a lot of firings—and it gives a good reason for workers to be concerned about the material that they post publicly.

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What are your thoughts on these matters? Is this an infringement on freedom of speech or a need to create new policies within corporate America? I wonder how many businesses have contracts/conditions on employee blogging within their Human Resource departments?

Who knows where all this may lead, but the fact that this has become “news worthy” speaks highly of the influence Blogs have in today’s world. We’ll see how this plays out in the year ahead – until then, keep blogging!

Community Jumpers

[I almost named this article, Why Social Communities Are Fickle.]

By E. Brown

There is a trend amongst online social community environments. As new features and functionality are added to the sites, users are “jumping ship” (or more accurately – “jumping from ship ship”) for the lure of the latest and greatest.

This trend seems to have some baffled. Recently, many on MySpace have been flocking to (or in some cases, back to) FaceBook – and they are telling there friends too. It’s a migratory time.

New Game in Town
I liken this to the software application wars reminiscent of Macromedia FreeHand and Adobe Illustrator, QuarkXpress and InDesign, or Microsoft Word and WordPerfect, that leap-frog over one another in new features and functionality with each release. However, the difference then was that fiscally you were tied to a certain software package and were least likely to jump over to another because you knew with the next upgrade you’d have access to some of the same competitor features, if not more.

Then along came “competitive upgrades”. Now, here was the chance for many to switch to the other manufacturer without a huge outlay of cash. Software companies found themselves in a new game.

In today’s world, with rich-media, Ajax, and Web 2.0 online applications and environments, the ease to switch can be accomplished on a whim. Is it any wonder that the abandonment rate of community sites is so prevalent? Why stay with one when you have new and better features with another?

Fickle Crowd
Today’s Web-savvy generation can be a tough group to predict. Viral communication and change for the latest-and-greatest seem to be commonplace.

How are community developers going to retain their communities? Should that really be the end goal? If your business model is monetary gain, you’re probably screaming, “Yes, the goal is to keep people!”

If so, how?

Below are a list of questions to ask yourself, followed by a list of tips that you might find useful.

Questions:

1. What are you currently doing to retain members? Is it working?
2. What are you planning on doing to keep members? Is that your goal?
3. Who is your competition and what are they doing?
4. What member loyalty programs do you have in place? Are they working? Why/why not?
5. What are you doing to reward new members?
6. Is your target niche too narrow? Too broad?
7. Is your backend technology flexible enough to promote change? Do you have the funds to change?

Tips:

1. Define who you are and make no apologies for it.
2. Define who your members are and who you want them to be.
3. Stay on task and do not change with “every little whim”.
4. Be willing to change #1-2 if needed.
5. Talk to your members — treat them like royalty.
6. Put your money where your mouth is.
7. Build your technology in modular fashion — think plug & play.

I hope you have found this article of use. It is truly challenging garnering community members. Stay flexible, do not be afraid of reality, and above all have FUN!

Why Web 2.0 Is Not Enough

I saw this article by Marion Jensen on TechConsumer. No matter what you think about the term “Web 2.0″ and how it is defined, this has definitely become a buzz word. What do you think of Marion’s article? Read the remainder and comment below.

It’s easy to spot revolutions or major events in the past. The shrinking of computer parts in the 70s, the PC revolution of the 80s that led to the Internet explosion of the 90s, etc. At the beginning of the new millennium, we had at our fingertips millions of pages of information. It wasn’t a question of ‘is it out there somewhere’, it was a question of ‘it’s out there, how do I find it?’

Enter Google. Google wasn’t the first search engine, nor was it the last, but it quickly became THE search engine because they did something different. Google created a search engine that took all of that information and made it useful and relevant. They did it not by teaching the machine to do it, but instead by teaching the machine to observe what we humans were linking to. By tapping into the social side of information, Google quickly became the best search engine for finding the information in the sea of content.

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Is Wi-Fi About to Crumble?

I love Wi-Fi. I used to use it at Starbucks for meetings. Not any more–it costs at Starbucks. I rarely have meetings at Starbucks anymore. I love to go use it where it is free. There are lots of other people doing the same thing. I have talked with them. I see them at free hot-spots regularly. Sometimes the network we’re on crashes and either you go elsewhere or wait until it comes back online. I usually wait. I get something to eat (I need to support the establishment since they are providing me with this service – plus I take up one of their tables for many hours – I need to support them). I do work that I do not need Wi-Fi for while I wait. Once the network is back up, it’s business as usual.

Or is it?

The perspective below by Selina Lo, CEO of Ruckus Wireless, makes some good observations. Take a read and tell me what you think.

Perspective by Selina Lo | From CNET News.com

Originally developed to allow multiple computers to share access to the Internet, the Wi-Fi lure of “free spectrum, no strings attached,” is driving every imaginable type of handheld device to embed the technology as users demand Wi-Fi access at home, in the workplace and in public venues. Yet as more and more content is poured into Wi-Fi networks, the technology is now struggling to keep pace.

Next generation Wi-Fi technology, 802.11n, is widely viewed as a panacea to the current limitations. A tremendous boost to Wi-Fi, 802.11n increases the capacity of the technology to hundreds of megabits per second (Mbps) from 54 Mbps today. This is achieved by ganging multiple Wi-Fi radios together in a single Wi-Fi device. At challenging locations where the higher data rates are not possible–for example, at the far ranges or in noisy environments–the extra Wi-Fi radios are used to strengthen the signal and extend its reach.

These all sound appealing except for a nagging blind spot–interference caused by neighboring devices that operate in the same unlicensed spectrum.

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Quotable Quote – Pat Lencioni

Success is not a matter of mastering subtle, sophisticated theory, but rather of embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence.

- Pat Lencioni (from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team)

You’re in Charge – Now What?

Based on the book: You’re in Charge–Now What? : The 8 Point Plan, by Thomas Neff and James Citrin

The 8 Point Plan

The fundamental idea is: Get set to learn, set proper expectations, lead by example, set the appropriate direction, read the culture, build trust, listen well, and communicate effectively. These ideas are transformed to become the 8 steps for building your foundation towards great performance as a new manager:
1. Prepare Yourself During the Countdown
2. Align Expectations
3. Shape Your Management Team
4. Craft Your Strategic Agenda
5. Start Transforming Culture
6. Manage Your Board/Boss
7. Communicate
8. Avoid Common Pitfalls

As I have stated on many occasions, I am all about tools. Here is a book that puts practical thinking into the hands of the new leader/manager. This is good common sense material.  The book gets into much more detail than summarized in the eight points above. Be sure to pick up a copy. And, if you’re skeptical (like many today), grab a used/like-new copy for $8 — a cheap expense for the ROI provided.

Have fun and grow!

Meosphere – It’s All About Me

By E. Brown

Have you tried Meosphere? No? If you love lists and filling out your NetFlix profile of movie ratings, you will love Meosphere. Joining Meosphere is free of charge. Simply fill out a few details about yourself and then start filling in the lists. The lists surround a number of topics that you choose from as they relate to you. For instance, there is a list of States You Have Visited. Select the States in the U.S. you have been to and Meosphere starts to put together a unique profile about “you” – thus the name ME-osphere.

There are lists on Books, Movies, Cities, Food, Pets, Cars, Sports, Recreation…you name it. The more you fill out the better and richer the profile results. It’s really addictive!

Another cool feature is that you can invite friends and family to join Meosphere and then compare your “spheres”. You might not have known how much you have in common regarding places visited, things seen, countries traveled, food eaten, and more.

This site can help build and enrich relationships and open up new areas of conversation and business that you might not have discovered otherwise. The potential of Meosphere is unlimited.

For example, here are the current Most Popular Lists:

• US States You’ve Been To (Map)
• Major US Cities You’ve Been To
• US Airports You’ve Been To
• Top NYC Attractions You’ve Been To
• Cars You Drove in High School

Additional fun topics are:

• Academy Award Winners You’ve Seen
• 30 Books Adults Should Read
• Best Selling US Albums You Own
• Pets You’ve Had
• Hairstyles You’ve Worn
• And more…

I am telling you this is a really FUN site. Check out Meosphere today!

Art Nouveau Meets Tech

I get a regular email newsletter from Microcenter. In this month’s Chris created a beautiful case mod that I had to share. I am a big fan of art history (studied it for several years) and especially like the organic appeal of the Art Nouveau period. Chris designed this exquisite case using his woodworking skills and his love for period art.

My latest project is inspired by the flowing drapery and organic aspects found in art nouveau design. I am not a carpenter by any stretch of the imagination, but that won’t stop me from creating what amounts to a fancy wood shell that depends on an existing case shell to provide support and the mechanical functionality of a desktop case. To tie the project elements together, I decided to incorporate flowering dogwood blossoms into the design of the wood panels and windows. I want the natural wood grain to be obvious, and it should also fit with a color scheme of pink and white. I settled on Bubinga for the wood, and obtained a nice selection of this “African rosewood” from the neighborhood Woodcraft store.

read more…

If you’re feeling adventurous, try your own case mod -or- better yet, tell me about one(s) you have already done and I will put images of the more interesting cases here on the blog.

Have fun!

Addition: 8/19/07 The second part of the case mod project with a complete summary and price list. Check out the radiator cooled CPU!

Fun Free Illustrator “Foliage” Brushes

BittBox has done it again. If you’re an illustrator, designer, or PhotoShop artist, brushes are great tools to add to your palette of creativity. This series of tear drop shaped “foliage” brushes are provided free of charge from BittBox.

The downloadable sets consist of CS3, CS1, AI, EPS, and SVG formatted brushes for creating beautiful textures, backgrounds, and whatever else you can dream up. Download your set today and be sure to tell the gang at BittBox, “thanks!”

Now, go create, inspire, and have fun!

The Katalyst Blogrolls WeirdGuy

WeirdGuy is proud to be among the noted blogs on Kevin Carroll’s the katayst blog. If you haven’t heard of Kevin’s blog, let me ask you, “what rock have you been living under?”

Kevin is a big believer in “fun at work”. Sound familiar? He was a huge innovator for play and fun during his tenure at Nike®. Kevin is on the board of the National Institute for Play and was also appointed as the Special Advisor to the humanitarian group, Right to Play.

Thank you katalyst blog — keep the fun coming!