How many of you have kids in school? How many of you have kids carrying HUGE backpacks to school? How many of you are paying doctor bills for your child’s back problems because of lugging around heavy books? Even the packs with wheels are a pain – literally. Ever seen a child try to roll one over a curb on his way to school? Not a pretty sight.
I’ll bet, once parents see the Kindle up close and in action, they will want to buy one for themselves. Talk about market share and saturation. I hear the distant sounds of Ka-ching!
Let me see, off the top of my head here are some ways this could be of benefit:
Less paper consumed
Less trees cut
Easier to update published content
Less trash from out-dated school books
Lighter pack backs
Less stress on children’s backs and bodies
Lower family medical bills
RSS feeds to teacher assignments
Bookmarks to teacher blogs
Exposure to Kindle eReaders
Create raving fans
I am sure the list could go on. Also, if you’re an Amazon employee, this is another opportunity for you to help out your local community. School administrators will thank you and parents will love you.
If you think this is a worthwhile idea, let Jeff Bezos know. Send him a quick email and let’s see what happens.
Feel free to comment here as well and let me know your thoughts or if there is anything missing on the list of benefits. If you do not see an upside to this idea, let me know that too.
This provocative clip gives you some data to chew on if you are wondering about the ROE and ROI of Social Media. Thanks Socialnomics – Social Media Blog.
You may remember when I first started writing about Twitter and then when I started using it. I have found it fun and interesting using the micro-blog format. It is certainly faster than writing a 200-250 word blog article.
So how about you? Why do you Twitter? Do you like to keep up with friends and family? Do you view it as a “game” wanting to see how many followers you can gain? Do you use it as a form of self-expression or do you think of it as a way of developing community?
Let me know here in the comment section below. Enjoy!
Who would think a friend half-way around the world would talk me into joining Twitter? Well, Justin did, but I admit I am still skeptical. I have been tweeting for a coupe days and only have 7 followers…hmmm. Could be my original conclusions were right (See Related Articles).
I’ll give it some time and try several different environments. Who knows, I might like it.
Also, let me know if you’re on Twitter too! You can find me at eweirdguy.
Really? Who says, blogging is dead? Maybe it was Jason Calacanis. Well, if you’re Jason and your tired of writing lengthy content…yeh, blogging is probably dead for you. Twitter is short, sweet, and to the point. And, it doesn’t hurt if you have a following or are seen as a bit of a celebrity.
Well…it makes all the difference!
If you’re an average person, what do you care? If you’re blogging for your family and friends, then guess what? Blogging is not dead. If you’re tweeting for family and friends, good for you. Although, I question whether your family is reallt interested in where you are at any given time or how many times cute-little-Suzy rolled peas up into her 8-month-old mouth (See Twitter Is For The ADD Generation).
Sorry Jason, blogging is not dead. Twitter is fun for some, but it will soon be replaced by a type of video tweeting and live friend0finder mash-ups.
What do you think? Take the poll or make a comment.
Phil Cooke, Producer/Director, recently posted this on his blog. This applies to many areas of life and work. I thought it was interesting…very interesting. Where do you see application in your life?
When people ask me why I use a Mac, my usual response is that it’s more “intuitive.” A PC is logical, but a Mac’s interface and software is more like the way I think. I’ve also noticed it in how quickly young kids adapt to a Mac in contrast to a PC. They just seem to “get it.” It’s similar to the GPS systems on my car. A few years ago I had a Lexus and I loved the GPS. It just made sense. It thought the way I did. But now I have a Land Rover and I hate it. The Land Rover GPS is good, and it’s very logical – but I find it’s very difficult to use.
I’ll be taking a week off to focus on closing out a project (July 28-August 1). More to come from the lessons learned during this engagement. It’s a really cool online course with custom hooks into a client app. The back-end was designed as “plug and play” so content can quickly and easily be swapped out while still being applicable to the course testing and grading scenarios.
I was in my local Apple Store today and noticed the line of people waiting to purchase the new 3G iPhone. It was lunch time and they were waiting in line…
Waiting in line!
Where else have you heard of this? The local AT&T Store ran out — everyone was at Apple. Plus, some people said it was easier to get the phone through Apple than AT&T (hint, hint — take notes AT&T).
Previously On WeirdGuy
You may have read my previous articles about the iPhone. I hoped you listened. If you did, then you are not one that is kicking yourself for having purchased the first generation phone. Although, you might find someone (a Windows user perhaps) that would be willing to buy it from you for $100 and give you a nice down payment on the new iPhone. And hey, this time you have a choice of White or Black :)
So, it comes down to this — I am rethinking the iPhone in this new iteration. Granted, I would probably keep my iPod because it has a heck of a lot more memory and holds every song I own, but this new 8GB iPhone looks pretty sweet for the price…hmmmm….
You may ask, “Are you willing to trade in your current Smart Phone for Apple’s new release?” Yeh, I am willing. I just have a few questions about the email and package pricing. You see, I use Entourage and I want to get my email on the iPhone. Does that mean I have to use Mobile Me? My email is currently through AT&T and I hear you cannot get it without forking out the $100 for Mobile Me.
Help Me
What do you think?
Did you recently purchase a new iPhone? How do you like it? What do you love/hate about it?
What advice would you give me about the new iPhone? Should I get one? Why/why not?
Can I get my Entourage email any other way on an iPhone? Can I sync my Entourage Calendar too?
Barb and I have a special marriage bonding ritual. On Sunday nights we put the kids to bed and then we cuddle up and watch Desperate Housewives. No matter what challenges we’re facing nothing compares to the lives on Wisteria Lane. Hey, don’t blame me. Barb was the one who wanted me to watch Teri Hatcher and I just got hooked.
At the end of season four, something very strange happened. The last scene started with three words: Five Years Later. Everything seemed turned upside down. Susan had a new husband, Lynette and Tom’s young children were suddenly teenagers, Bre was a mega–successful party planner, and Eva Longoria inexplicably looked frumpy. We thought maybe it was just an end of the season joke, but we found out the next day that the producer, Marc Cherry, had created these changes with a purpose in mind.
He said he just wanted to start the next season with a clean slate. He found that he was falling into a trap of extending story lines from the first three seasons, and he wanted an opportunity to energize the creativity on the show. So he shook things up and took a chance. The show might bomb, but at least he demonstrated the courage not to settle for the status quo. Instead he reached for something new, within the framework of the show he created.
Apple’s Forays into the Wilderness
Sometimes we forget that Apple was not always Fortune’s most admired company in the world. Back in the late 1990s Apple was doing everything it could to reduce inventory, get focused, and avoid bankruptcy. So they decided to shake things up, with a purpose in mind. They decided to open up Apple retail stores so that customers could see their products up close and get to know them better. They were also able to provide great hands–on training. Gateway Computers had just exited retail stores having lost a ton of money. Critics said that Apple would regret opening up stores. Well, let’s see. They soon generated a billion dollars a year through those stores, and later generated a billion dollars a quarter. Sometimes it’s worth it to shake things up.
New Ideas Don’t Always Work, But They Do Open Up New Possibilities
Thomas Edison was always shaking things up and oftentimes failing spectacularly. Not just in light bulbs, but in concrete and phonographs and telephones and on and on. But even in his failures he found some nuisance that could be used in combination with other ideas. Same could be said for Walt Disney and GE and virtually every successful person and organization. Be willing to mix things up.
To be Purposeful You Have To Have a Purpose
Why does your organization exist? Don’t look at your corporate brochure, just tell me conversationally why your organization exists. What is its purpose? I’ve helped dozens of organizations and groups answer that question for themselves, but I almost never took the time to think about it for my one–person business. Then it dawned on me that no matter how big or small a business is, it has to have a purpose in order to shake things up with a purpose.
On a flight home last week I started doodling around in the back of a book and I landed on my company’s mission and philosophy. Those words seem so fancy for such a small enterprise, but the impact a company has on other people is not based on the number of employees it has. It is based on the value contributed to the customers.
Here’s The Coughlin Company’s Mission & Philosophy:
Provide practical processes to propel great performances.
Embrace simplicity and avoid process creep.
Those 13 words summarized my whole approach to creating value for customers. At the end of the day, my work is to give you a process you can consider using to improve your results. Also, as I have written before, I’ve noticed that smart, hard–working people tend to want processes that are really complicated because simple ones seem too easy. Smart, hard–working folks tend to take simple processes that are delivering really good results and make them really complicated in the hopes of achieving amazing results. It doesn’t usually work that way. My philosophy is to encourage people to embrace simple approaches and then work to hone them to an even greater degree of simplicity rather than a greater degree of complexity.
Clarify Your Purpose
In order to shake things up for yourself or your organization, clarify your purpose. Then within that purpose ask yourself, “What can I do or we do to mix up what we’re doing and generate new levels of innovation, creativity and customer value?” Don’t try 20 changes. Just select one or two things you’re going to shake up a bit and see what possibilities those changes create.
Book Recommendations
I read two wonderful books this month: “The Enzo Ferrari Story” by Enzo Ferrari, and “Inside Steve’s Brain” by Leander Kahney. Both of these books talk a great deal about the importance of shaking things up with a purpose in mind at Ferrari and at Apple.
Soak up the ideas, good and bad, from everything you do and see, in and out of the office. Then decide what aligns with your purpose. Determine what’s worth giving a shot. And ensure the process is simple. Sometimes it’s hard to fathom that it can be, just that easy.
Former Apple employee, Andreas Haas, thinks he has a niche market. He’s taken the MacBook and modified it into a tablet PC. Is the market ready?
Haas founded Axiotron in January 2005. The official ship date for the Modbook was Decemnber 2007. How many units have the they sold? I could not find the answer to that. How does Axiotron intend to stay in business? From their own Web site comes this insight:
Axiotron determines a potential project or market to be a viable case of Solution Hardware if all of the following characteristics are met
Off-the-shelf hardware is insufficient.
Market size warrants full product cycle.
Profitability can be achieved early in product life cycle.
Could I also use the Modbook as a digital notebook? Yes! Take a look at how to use Inkbook as a way to write notes and then transcribe or export them as you’d like.
But, the question stills remains, “is the market ready?” Just because you build it does not guarantee they will come. The buzz may be out but unless the dollars are coming in, Modbook may go the way of the Apple Newton.
NOTE: Robyn, from Elephant Poop, took time to respond to the Twitter article. Below is her response and how she finds Twitter useful in her life. Enjoy!
Hey, Eric!
Well, I really don’t spend a lot of time ON it; I have it open in a sidebar of Firefox and set to update every three minutes, though it may be as long as several hours before I actually open the sidebar to look at the tweets. It’s more or less like music playing very softly in the background. Every so often I turn up the volume, then turn it down again after the piece I like has finished. And if I’m on deadline or just not interested, I shut Twitter down, often without announcement. No one seems to mind.
I don’t follow a lot of people – for teenagers it may be quantity (how many can you follow and how many are following you?), but I’m kinda selective. Right now, I’m following about 14. There are some bloggers I follow and they often will tweet when they’ve uploaded a new post or if they’re attending a conference and just heard something interesting. I like when I get short updates about areas I’m interested in. For example, Jackie Peters was at the same conference as Peter Shankman, who was giving the keynote address and she mentioned that Peter’s address was on “PR and transparency on social networks,” something I think I want to know more about. I know Peter will likely put his presentation on his blog, so I now I know to be looking for it.
As for entertainment, I follow Guy Kawasaki (who is generally too busy to blog more than a couple of times a month) and he linked to some pics (using Twit Pic) of his trip to Kuala Lumpur while it was happening, including some imposing temple steps he climbed, the great seats you get on Cathay air and a fabulous dinner you can have in Indonesia while having to look at an advertisement for ear candling! It’s noodling and minutiae, but it makes the world my backyard, so to speak, while letting me feel as though I am more connected to the people I follow. I wish more of my friends and family would join and use it – most of them live hundreds of miles from me and I would like to know about some of their small victories and defeats as well as their large ones. I have one sister with a chronic disease who occasionally tweets and it’s great to be able to hear from her even if it’s only 140 words or less at a time!
Like a lot of people, I got a Twitter account a year or so ago, but didn’t use it because I couldn’t see the benefit. But there were a few people online whose ideas interested me and sparked my own ideas. So I started following them to see if their short posts were as interesting as their long ones. I do have one person I started following who blogs too much about her yard and kids, but for the most part it hasn’t been disappointing. Maybe it’s like the haiku of the online world – a way to connect without giving up your life to email or feed reading. If you stick to reading the poets whose work you find interesting, you can learn and be entertained at the same time on several levels in several idioms. It has also reminded me of learning the
value of each word you use (something I didn’t do in this reply, but I’m just getting over a bad sinus infection, so I’m still a little woozy). Okay, okay, I nearly always write too much and have to edit myself! :-) If this had been Twitter, I probably would have said it shorter and sweeter!
In the last article I asked, “what is Twitter really for?” Now I am wondering who is it really for?
Is it really for the average person on planet Earth? Is my life really that interesting that I feel compelled to notify others (or an online service) of everyday changes:
“I got out of bed at 6:00am .”
“I showered using a new shampoo.”
“I am meeting (insert name) at Starbucks for coffee at 8:00am.”
Okay, okay, I know that is a bit condescending. Yet, if I have to tell someone something immediately — like I just got out of an opening night Broadway play and YOU have to see it — I’ll call or text them on my mobile.
Celebrities
If I were a celebrity, I might see the value in Twitter. I know people are going to be interested in me and besides, it’s a form of marketing and PR.
Let’s face it, the average person is more apt to be interested in a celebrity figure than Joe-Schmoe down the street cutting his grass at 2:00pm.
Voyeurism
This brings up the topic of reality TV and the voyeuristic society we are becoming. We would rather watch or hear about peoples lives than help or interact with them. There is a cool detachment that can be unhealthy and disturbing at times. Does Twitter advance this trend
Use Twitter?
I am still not convinced. There are others forms of communication that are more intentional. Yet, in this seeming ADD Generation intentionality gives way to spontaneity.
I’d venture to say that 2/3 of the people reading this are familiar with the Web 2.0 technology, but for you other 1/3 out there visit CommonCraft for an idealistic explanation of Twitter. Then come back and finish this article.
Okay now, why do you use Twitter?
I was out having dinner with some friends and the subject came up. The question was asked, “Who has time for Twitter and why in the heck would you do it to begin with?”
Being a technologist, my first reaction was to stand up for the online application. Isn’t it obvious? Look how popular it is. But I paused for a moment and thought.
Why do people use Twitter?
Do I really need to know what my friends and family are doing every hour? Do I really care? I mean, some of it is pretty mundane stuff. Am I wasting my time (life) watching other’s lives go by? Hmm…
I started to think of the generational differences and the monotonous chime I here from college age friends and younger — “I’m bored.” This being said as they Twitter from their cell phones, text message friends while watching movies (in the theater!), playing videos games on their laptops while IM’ing an acquaintance in Europe.
Is Twitter just another thing to keep the minds of the ADD generation busy? Is there real social value? Tell me what you think.
I attend a lot of meetings. I find that I take better notes when I write with pen on paper than trying to type with my 4-finger method. Consequently, I find myself transcribing my notes into my laptop so I can have electronic copies of them.
This takes a LONG time for me.
I have tried scanning in documents and using OCR software, but with handwritten notes it is terrible. I will not even attempt to clean up the documents. It is faster to transcribe.
I have been looking into digital notepads and wondered how well they worked. If you have used one or know someone who has, drop me a note in the comments section below. I wonder if it would be worth inversting in one….
Mark Cuban started an interesting discussion about blogging and following vs. leading in regard to content generation. The rules have changed and media as we know it is changing — vying for the ever elusive “repeat customer” and the income that they can bring [my reading between the lines]. Below is an excerpt of the article from Mark’s site. I encourage you to read it. Feel free to come back to WeirdGuy and let me know your thoughts.
If you blog, regardless of what software you use, you are a blogger and what you produce is a blog. If you want to call yourself a columnist, so be it. If you are a reporter in a 1 page internet only publication, yes you are.
From there, only one question comes up. Why. Why ? Why do you do what you do. Is it because:
You get paid to do it ?
Because you want to promote something or to promote yourself ?
Because you want to start a discussion ?
Because you want to communicate with customers, fans or ??
Because its a way to say whats on your mind ?
Because you want to make money from it ?
I’m sure there are other reasons to communicate on the web. What software you use, even whether you use video, text and/or pictures, really doesn’t matter.
What matters is why you do what you do.
For most of us, we start on the furthest reaches of the long tail of all content. To make money from whatever it is we produce is not only difficult, its near impossible. To get off the long tail is near impossible as well. Only a few will ever find their way to a point of generating enough consumers of our content to have any choice in whether we monetize or influence a material number of people. Others of us will still be in the long tail, but have influence in a small verticial segment important only to those who already know us, or come to know us. Its possible to be a big player in a small pool, and get paid for it, still reside on the long tail.
The hope by all on the longtail is that the “quality” of the publication will garner enough consumers to move them off. Like the artist whose art is better, the band or musician whose music is better, the producer, director or actor whose video is better. Everyone hopes that quality of content is the final arbiter of attraction and success.
The worst part of it all is that when you are on the long tail, it takes a lot of money or luck to get off and 99.99pct , never get off. Which is exactly the definition of the longtail.
Thats for individuals.
For corporations who publish on the web (as opposed to aggregate 3rd party content), again, regardless of what content management software they use, or what they call themselves, the longtail is death. If you are a blogger, and you work for a major media company, you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You are granted a platform with traffic. Thats the good news. The bad news is that you also have ratings. If you can’t hold your traffic or build upon it, you better hope you generate sufficient value in other places, or your days of publishing on the web may be numbered. For those of you who haven’t noticed, paid bloggers do come and go from media websites if they don’t produce. But wait, there is worse news.
This video from Digital Ethnology demonstrates the changing paradigm of content/information transfer and their inter-relationship with our shifting lifestyles.
After watching it, tell me what you think will be our greatest challenges over the next 10 years. Comment below.
How many times have you been to a networking event and felt that everyone you met wanted something from you? You leave thinking, “I thought this was a networking occasion, not a sales affair.” Maybe, you have been in the other shoes and looked at networking events as a place to dig up sales and business leads. If a person didn’t show interest in what you had to offer, you had no time for them and moved on to the next person/opportunity.
Another way to think of networking events is to think of them as relationship building events. Instead of wanting something from the people you meet – how about wanting something for the people you meet?
Does this concept seem upside-down to you? For instance, why is it we expect people to treat us with respect and show interest in us when we do not reciprocate? This tells something about our motivation, doesn’t it?
So, what are we to do? Certainly, we want networking to be worth our time and effort. We want it to profitable – right?
I suggest the relational approach. Be genuinely interested in others first. Find out what they do and how you can help them succeed. Anne Baber and Lynn Waymon offer several excellent suggestions in their book, Make Your Contacts Count, about building a relational network. Teach your contacts that you can be trusted by letting them see 1) your character, and 2) your competence.
Character
• Be unfailingly reliable
• Meet deadlines
• Go for the win/win solution
• Treat everyone you meet fairly
• Speak well of people even when they are not present
• Collaborate rather than compete
• When something goes wrong, make it right
• Compensate generously for your failure
• Go the extra mile
• Respect other people’s time and possessions
Competency
• Have earned the proper credentials
• Stay at the leading edge of your profession
• Have won praise and awards from your peers
• Take life-long learning seriously
• Are cited as an expert in the trade press or mass media
• Teach or mentor others
• Consult with others to share expertise
• Do the job right the first time
• Handle the “little stuff” with care
• Follow through to make sure you meet or exceed expectations
Next time you come away from a networking event you will be more fulfilled. You will have started numerous new relationships that will pay big dividends in the end. You will experience a good reputation – one who can be trusted, can get the job done, and is looking out for the success of others.
We like to have background noise — whether we’re in the car, at home, or in the office — we have the radio or TV on or the sounds of kids and coworkers keep a constant white noise. How many of us like quiet and solitude? How many like introspection?
More often than not, our outer life is the result of our inner life. Try as we might to hide certain aspects of ourselves, our character and motivations leak out. Do we like what we see? Do others? Here are four tips that will change your inner life and, consequently, impact your outer life:
Allow time to spend in solitude and silence.
Surround yourself with good counselors — this includes family, friends, and professionals.
Strive for balance in your personal life, family life, and work life — prioritize your time.
Be accountable to someone(s) — a life examined is a successful life.
NOTE: This is for those hosting their blogs for free on WordPress. If you are not sure, you can check your URL. It will read something like name.wordpress.com
Like you, I frequently monitor the Blog Stats page on the WordPress Dashboard. It’s a barometer of audience participation and whether articles are of relevance. To make it easy for my readers to find the “Best Of WeirdGuy” I would manually go through the posts and note the lifetime views until I had a list of 10-20 articles. Then I would load the links into a Text widget. Needless to say, this process was cumbersome and time consuming. I emailed WordPress and after some back-and-forth correspondence Alex and I found the statistics pot of gold. Now creating a “Best Of…” widget is much easier.
I have had several bloggers comment on the “Best Of…” widget in my sidebar and some have asked me how to do it. For posterity, I decided to create this How-To so that you can share your best-of-the-best with the world. Enjoy!
Step 1 – Gather Your Data
From your Dashboard > Blog Stats Admin page, click on Top Posts & Pages.
From Top Posts & Pages you can view summaries of top posts from the last week, 30 days, 3 months, or year. For this exercise we want to click on the line Summarize: All Time. This will give you a summary of the top posts for the life of the blog.
Collect your data here for your top 10+ articles and posts.
Step 2 – Format Your Widget
I like to open a second window, or if you use Tab Browsing, another Tab. Navigate to your Presentation > Widgets Admin page. Use an extra Text widget and title it, Best Of… (or something else snappy).
You will need to know some simple HTML for this next part. You can create a bulleted list or numbered list — the choice is yours. I like to use a bulleted list, or in HTML, an unordered list <ul>. Here you will move back and forth between your two Tabs or Windows. Return to your All Time stats page and Copy the link location (PC: right mouse click or Mac: CTRL click). Move back to your widget and Paste the URL for the article within your <a> tag. Type the article title, close out your tag and move on to the next link. Copy the next link location from the stats page and move back to the widget until you have added all your links.
Your HTML Code should look something like this:
<li><a href=”Link Location Here”>Article Title Goes Here</a><br>
The <li> tag is for each List Item and the <br> tag puts a Break after the line.
Step 3 – Save Changes
Finally, close your widget and Save Changes from your Admin page. Click View Site to review your handy work and make sure it looks the way you expected and is placed on your blog where you want. If you need to tweak it or add/change more, just repeat Step 2 — That’s it!
What I have outlined here is “one way” of doing this. If anyone has used another method please feel free to share in the comments section below. Thanks.
By E. Brown
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