Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Being Reasonable - Marc Babej

Marc Babej write at Being Reasonable, the blog for Reason, Inc.

From this week's interview with Tom Asacker, author of A Clear Eye for Branding, Marc writes:
In the minds of many marketers, retention is almost synonymous with “loyalty.” You see it differently. In your view, what’s the problem with loyalty as a framework?

Loyalty is another poor metaphor for business. Listen, when they asked Einstein what single event was most helpful to him in developing his theory of relativity, he answered: “Figuring out how to think about the problem.” With his enlightened answer in mind, I would suggest that marketers employ a new mental model to help them think about their problems and stay aware of, and adapt to, the increasing number of sudden and unexpected shifts in the marketplace.
From Surprise, Surprise: Viewers Want DVR's to Skip Ads

Last month, TV executives claimed their research had revealed that TV viewers use DVRs to time-shift programming, not to skip ads. Agenda: get advertisers to pay for time-shifted ad impressions.

Not so, says WPP media agency MindShare. According to a survey published earlier this week, 80% of DVR owners mentioned the ability of DVRs to skip ads. As Jason Maltby of Mindshare Broadcast puts it; “consumers want to control not just what they watch and when they watch, but also the ability to avoid commercial placements.”


Read Marc for good words on advertising, marketing, branding, etc.


Tuesday, December 27, 2005

bard's eye view - Jeremy Abrams

From Jeremy's profile:
A blog "...that knits up the blogger's ravelled sleeve of care. Balm of bloggers' hurt minds. Chief nourisher in life's feast of blogging."
An approach to blogging and expressing oneself is to take on a persona, an alter ego. Jeremy takes on the world from the view point of one of the great writer's, William Shakespeare.

From Iago, Morgan Freeman and Racism, Jeremy writes:
Each century finds in Shakespeare, through his humanity, answers to its own questions, questions that lay beyond Shakespeare's own day, in the undiscovered country of the future. Just as Mr. Freeman's description of a post-racist world may have pointed to the undiscovered country of our future. As for Mr. Freeman's imagined future, as Hamlet says in a somewhat different context:

"'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished."
From Measure for Measure and Patriot Act, Jeremy writes:
Bardseye's viewers who don't already know can today be informed that the Duke himself was listening in on Isabella and Claudio's family squabble. Mistrustful of Angelo, the Duke in fact never left Vienna. He assumed instead a friar's habit and secretly wandered the backstreets of his own city, learning at first hand the nature of the people he governed.

Under the expanded powers of the Patriot Act, the FBI and NSA (National Security Council for our non-American readers) have for the last four years been doing much the same. And in our modern recasting we will have Angelo stand in for an Al Qaida cell member, whose public face of rectitude, like Angelo's, belies his nefarious subterranean plans. Isabella's virtue will stand for something like the Brooklyn or Golden Gate Bridge, or the Sears Tower, or the Statue of Liberty or the White House. Or maybe just a planeload of people.
I could go on but it is best that you read this for yourself.

Shakespeare is as relevent today as he was in the Elizabethan times and Jeremy makes this very clear.

Read bard's eye view!


Monday, December 26, 2005

10 Minutes to Better Teaching - Michael Ballenger

Michael Ballenger writes at 10 Minutes to Better Teaching

10 Minutes to Better Teaching is a concept resource for faculty development in higher education. The concept- Give me 10 minutes and I'll give you something practical you can take into your college classroom.

10 Minutes to Better Teaching represents a first step. My hope is that once instructors understand that faculty development can provide practical assistance to their classroom or online environment; they will be more willing to attend more formal training, participate in learning groups, and share best practices between departments

10 Minutes to Better Teaching is a service of the Academic Applications Department of Concordia University- Portland Oregon

This is not really a blog but this is a use of blogging technology to share information. Since some of the information it is sharing comes from blogs it fits here.

Nicely done.
We can learn from this and hence it has achieved its purpose!


Saturday, December 24, 2005

'Twas the blog before Christmas

'Twas the blog before Christmas, when all through the house
No blogger was stirring, no hand moved the mouse.
The postings were stacked by the tag cloud with care,
In hopes that more readers soon would be there;

The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of updates danced in their heads;
And me with my podcast, downloaded like that,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out from my laptop there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my desk to see what was the matter.
Away to the portal I flew like a flash,
Tore open the reader and refreshed the cache.

The enclosure attached soon gave me to know
That new entries were here, more news I should know.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a raft of new updates, eight headlines so clear,

With a quick Wiki update, who could it be?
Our investor, of course, a leading VC.
More rapid than eagles his portfolio came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Blogspot! Now Feedster! now, Movable Type!
On, FeedBurner, FeedBlitz! (On Marketing Hype!)
To the top of the feed! To the top of them all!
Now blog away! blog away! blog away all!"

As valuations that before the wild bubble do fly,
When they meet with a fund, mount up to the sky,
So up to the top of the investments they flew,
With RSS data, and named it Web 2.

And then, with a twinkling, I read in my news
Each notable posting, contrary views.
As I drew back my hand, and was turning around,
Down to my trackback he came with a bound.

His comments were brief, what was ado?
Were adwords OK? Did users click through?
A bundle of mashups he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

Our AJAX - how it twinkled! Our tagging - how merry!
We socially networked to his brand new BlackBerry!
Our RSS valid, we were well syndicated,
We subscribed to the feeds that we loved (and we hated);

The stump of our web site held tight in our teeth,
The hyperbole encircled his head like a wreath;
We tagged Technorati, we blogged with the best,
On Feedster we surged and made the A-list.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And marked us on Frappr, and Flickr he searched.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
Updated his blog, up our OPML rose;

He sprang to his feed, gave his investments a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"

**

With best wishes from FeedBlitz to everyone this holiday season!

(c) www.feedblitz.com 2005
Full reproduction permitted only with full attribution and links intact.

Technorati:

Thursday, December 22, 2005

notSalmon - Karen Salmansohn

Hey, Karen writing on her blog has had these titles for recent posts:

Come on, from "career butt kicks" to "Love lessons from Mussolini", this you have to read!

So what are you waiting for? Follow a link, check it out.

And if you don't end up adding her to your RSS reader or signing up for her newsletter, let me know.

That information should help direct future recommendations!


PS - these are her RSS feeds...

You can try either
www.notsalmon.com/atom.xml
or
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyLifeBoosterBlog

Jabberwock - Jai Arjun Singh

Jabberwock, the same as from Alice in Wonderland.

The byline reads:
"It seems very pretty," Alice said when she had finished it, "but it's rather hard to understand! ... Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas - only I don't exactly know what they are!"
From Some notes on the new King Kong
How does it compare with the original?

Meaningless comparison. Cinema is a young form that has seen enormous changes occur in a relatively short period of time (just a little over a century). In literary terms, the difference between the creaky 1933 King Kong and this new, CGI-fuelled one by Peter Jackson is as vast as that between the works of Chaucer and the modern-day novel, probably vaster.
From Patna Roughcut review
This isn’t to suggest that most youngsters who frequent film festivals do so out of a sense of obligation, or that they get nothing worthwhile from the experience. And the Cine Society passage is, of course, only a small part of Chowdhury’s powerful book. But it captures a motif that runs through the work: that of disaffected people with idealistic notions about "high culture" that have little relevance to the realities of their lives; of dreams that come to naught; of too much thinking and not enough acting.
You should read more of this. This is good stuff!

Blowin' in the wind

The song title for this blog caught my eye. A classic folk song if there ever was one.

Get a life! Gotta blog!

Gotta blog brings up memories of the dance routine from Singing in the Rain, Gotta dance!

The first post I read is about Elton John's "marriage" or civil ceremony. And I like the point of view.

The About page has the following in the Biography section

I miss my wife, who is teaching at a college in Kolkata, India, and my son, an undergraduate at a liberal arts college in the US, while I am working in Singapore.
This will be worth reading.

Won't you join me?

Add Blowin' in the wind to your RSS reader.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Zingers - David Zinger

The byline reads "Unique humor and personal perspectives you can read in one minute".

David writes for you to read these quickly. They'll be short and to the point. Occasionally with pictures. You won't find any long disertations here.

David also writes on Strength-based Leadership.
Keith Ferrazzi was a co-author of Never eat alone: And other secrets to success, one relationship at a time. Brian Uzzi is a co-author of How to build your network.

Two authors with 4z’s in their names are contributing to a renewed buzzzz on relationships, connecting, and networking.
Read more of David's writing on Strength-based Leadership!

Year end preview


The pie chart depicts the split of the posts here amongst male, female, and group blogs with a small amount of "other" posts. This posting, for example, would be considered in the other category.

The Hitchhiker Team has been busy posting on 155 days with 217 different posts since March of this year.

When I look back over who we found and wrote about here, I am glad I am sitting down. It is amazing.

I hope you think so too!

In case the chart is hard to read, here is the table that drove the chart:

Blog Type Count Percent
Group 43 20%
Male 94 43%
Female 75 35%
Other 5 2%
Total 217 100%

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Three Kid Circus - Jennifer

I know. It's unbelievable how much I look like Xena, Warrior Princess. Except, you know, shorter. And with red hair.


Houston Running - Jon Walk

Yes, Jon writes on running in the Houston area. I am sure he must get some comments about his last name.

A new runner's attempt to energize the discussion of Houston-area (and Texas as well) road racing. Focus and attention will be given to Houston-area runners, specifically HARRA members, that compete in outside-of-the-area events as well as those who do interesting things that aren't captured in the various media outlets, such as Inside Texas Running, Runner Triathlete News and Roberta MacInnis' Running Notebook in the Houston Chronicle (all fine publications but with limitations too).

Full of information on the running scene based in Houston.

Full of good running resources.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Carnival of 100 Bloggers, Issue 1

Check out Issue 1 of the Carnival of 100 Bloggers featuring Rosa Say, Trevor Gay, Pet Campbell, Ken Camp, Rebecca Thomas and Troy Worman.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Time Leadership by Jim Estill

Jim Estill started a computer distribution company, EMJ Data, from the trunk of his car in 1979. In September of 2004, Jim sold EMJ to SYNNEX. At the time of its sale, EMJ had amassed $350 million in sales. Now, Jim is CEO of SYNNEX Canada.

Time Leadership is his blog.

...

Tags: Leadership and Time Management.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

misbehaving.net - group blog by women about women and technology

The description of misbehaving.net is:
misbehaving.net is a weblog about women and technology. It's a celebration of women's contributions to computing; a place to spotlight women's contributions as well point out new opportunities and challenges for women in the computing field.
The group of women posting there are:

danah boyd
Hilde Corneliussen
Caterina Fake
Meg Hourihan
Liz Lawley
Fiona Romeo
Dorothea Salo
Halley Suitt
Gina Trapani
Jill Walker


Oh, and Halley is here also! No, I am not following her around. She does not need my support, she already is an A lister. We are way out here on the edge of the long tail!

But for the woman's view point, you need go no further than to visit misbehaving.net!

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Top10 Sources

Gee, this site could put us out of business. We pale in comparison. Primarily due to Blogger's limitations. And this is a part time thing for us.

But Top10 Sources has it all. Look at the categories!

Business & Money

Entertainment

Fashion

Food & Wine

Health & Science

Hobbies & Games

Holidays

Humor

Ideas & Culture

Law

Life

Media

Movies

Music

People

Places & Travel

Needless to say, we provide a personal interest in what we view and share here. We think that is our reason to be and THE reason for which you are encouraged to come back from time to time and see what's new.

You always have a choice: read us or Top10 Sources

Monday, December 05, 2005

A View from England - Maureen

Maureen writes at A View from England
I'm an American expat - from Minnesota - residing in the UK. I live in a small town near London with my English husband and our two sons (16 and 14).

I follow current events avidly and I'm particularly interested in issues about parenting, education, health, nature, and the environment.

I enjoy reading, writing, gardening, birding, aerobics, movies, and going to the theatre. My other interests are philosophy, psychology, history and of course blogging!

I frequently blog about the government's plans for an ID card & National Identity Register which I strongly oppose.
Read more of Maureen and her View from England!

A List Apart

A List Apart is for people who make web-sites. That includes a lot of us. The topics discussed here include: code, content, culture, design, process, and user science.

The writers are many. The writing is excellent.

Following are links to a few articles I found interesting:

Sunday, December 04, 2005

800-CEO-READ Blog

It's curious that neither Steve nor I have written about the 800-CEO-READ blog written by Todd S. It's a blog about books, of course, featuring reviews, reading lists, and author profiles and interviews. If you enjoy leadership, management, and self-help books, the 800-CEO-READ blog is an excellent guide.

...

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Just breathe - alexis stewart

Alexis writes at Just Breathe that she is

I am an indefinable something (probably not in a good way).

She writes of her haven

She does an occasional meme - like Lemon Meringue Pie!

She writes of embarrassing customer announcements.

Read more of Alexis!