Got it. What's Next?
Does this make me want to buy a bunk bed? Maybe not. But did it introduce me to a url I had never heard of before? Yes. And am I forwarding said url around to others who might want to buy a bunk bed? Apparently so.
But check out this fun and easy game from Bunkbeds.net.
1 minute, 28 seconds
“A Nigerian Muslim court Monday detained an 84-year-old Islamic preacher with 86 wives after he failed to heed a call by local leaders to divorce all but four of them…..The authorities charged Mohammed Bello with “insulting religious creed” and “unlawful marriages” after local chiefs and Muslim leaders gave him until September 7 to comply with Islamic sharia law, which allows a man to have no more than four wives at a time.”
I see it now – “Elimina-wife.” 82 eliminations to get to the remianing 4. Endless possibilities on an International stage here….
Well, it’s happened. What started as a fantastic 17 person Presidential race, with people sharing new ideas for how to run the country, has turned into a giant mud-slinging session that has left me dis-spirited and ready to move to Croatia to open a coffee stand.
What happnened to this race? We had Bill Richardson’s immigration ideas, Obama’s unifying rallies and Hillary’s messages energizing women. Giulani and Thompson added star power, Romney was the clean cut businessman with the ability to run the Olympics and a state, while McCain the Maverick was driving the Straight Talk Express. Even Ron Paul, who people labeled as crazy, at least had an interesting Flat Tax Plan. Real candidates with real ideas.
But now, I can’t watch TV or listen to the radio without hearing barking, shrieking, sarcasm and disdain. No one has any ideas, and everyone has a criticism. Olberman and Chris Matthews take turns firing shots at Republicans in hopes Obama will dance with them first at the inauguration. Conservative journalists rail on Obama’s 143 days in US Senate as being unfit to lead. Media members sitting on the left side of the bench use big words and smarmy sarcasm to imply that anyone who doesn’t agree with them 100% is stupid. Those on the right scoff at people and make it clear that anyone who doesn’t know how to climb into the middle class is just useless.
Our whole country is attacking each other and every campaign message is about hate – McCain is too old., Obama too green. McCain lies, Obama exagerates. Biden is mean, Palin is crazy. Then everything that happens must be assigned to someone. The Financial situation is Bush’s fault, no McCain signed a bill in 1999 that caused this, no Obama’s liberal policies would make it worse, etc…Gas is expensive because we’re in Iraq, no because Democrats won’t let us drill, no because Republicans are beholden to lobbyists in the oil industry….
I’ve been beaten. The candidates’, pundits’, advisors’ and supporters’ combined message has finally sunk in. According to what I am hearing from everyone, “Collectively we’re screwed, it’s someone else’s fault, and we’re really going to be screwed worse if you vote for the other guy.” That’s the message I am getting – please tell me I’m hearing it wrong. Plus, none of them are explaining to me that they can fix it, they are just explaining to me that the other group can’t. So I guess that’s the message. Take my money out of the stock market and run.
Oops – too late for that too….Now what?
I was down at CTIA in San Francisco last week expecting to be wowed by tons in mobile innovations. I really thought I’d be furiously taking notes and have plenty to write about for weeks. Sadly, I was forced not to publish the trip report I did write and had sent internally to the folks at Spring Creek Group, due to my overall philosophy of only writing about innovations I like, not complaining about things I don’t get or won’t use. I figure Techcrunch does enough criticizing for the entire blogosphere, so no reason to be one of the naysayers
So instead of a trip report from the Bay, here are 2 clever text messaging apps that I read about at PCWorld.com and now use fairly regularly
1) Google Calendar SMS Commands – I use Google Calendar, as part of my slavery to Gootle Mail, Docs, Chat, Analytics and Ad Words. Instead of having to sync my Blackberry every day, i can simply send a text to GVENT (48368) with the word “day” and I get a full schedule. If I want tomorrow’s shcedule, I type “nday.” I immediately receive a text back with my schedule.
2) Diet Watcher – If you’re watching calories, Diet.com can help you keep count. Text any major restaurant chain’s name and menu item to DIET1 (dial 34381) and they’ll send you back the nutrition stats: calories, fat, carbs, and protein. In case you are curious, a McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger has 440 Calories (23g fat), while a Starbucks Grande Latte has
Neither of these services are awe-inspiring, but if you want information quickly, they are pretty useful. And really at the end of the day, “Useful, Easy and Free” beat slick marketing and $60 Million in Series C funding any day of the week.
I bet you didn’t know that the Lego “Mini-man” just had his 30th birthday. Launched August 25, 1978, he’s now been featured in hundreds of Lego products. So how do you announce this across the Social Media spectrum? I think this video does a great job.
If your company is forced to attend tradeshows, eventually you have to settle on what kind of chotchke you need to hand out. This conversation usually goes like this:
Boss: What are we giving away?
You: How much do you want to spend?
Boss: Not much. I want all our best leads and customers to get something really cool so they’ll remember us, but I don’t want random people to get anything from us for free.
You: So cool, but kid of secret.
Boss: Exactly. But something they can use over and over when they get back home.
You: Like a pen, USB key, mouse pad, etc…
Boss: Like that, but different. This makes sense right? Ok, let me know what you come up with.
Well, I saw two useful chotckes at CTIA yesterday, and thought I would pass them along.
Funny clip from Google News. Notice who the headline is slamming.
I found a pretty fun little list over at Lifehacker today, in one of the comment threads. If you are testing out Google Chrome (and you really should be so you can see how Browser War II is going to play out) then these toolbar commands will give you some things to play with.
Note: This is as “techy-nerdy” as this blog will ever get. But some of the commands are pretty cool. Let me know if you find others.
ADDITION: Yardloo.com also has a handy list of normal commands that you can use with Windows:
I really like what Hulu is doing. If you haven’t checked it out, go to the site and play around one evening. It really seems to be run by some smart folks.
So, I’m not picking on them for launching a promotional TV schedule with graphics that display the wrong calendar dates. It just shows that no one is perfect, so if you are going to launch something on your web site, it’s never a bad idea to have someone review it. That way your boss doesn’t have the chance receive a snarky email froma “colleague” that asks why the creative team can’t read a calendar.
I’ve heard people ask a lot of questions about the byzantine world of airline pricing. The process is so bizarre, that an entire company (Farecast.com) was built to help consumers decide the best time to purchase. That company was then bought by Microsoft for millions.
But WCBSTV.com reports that now JetBlue brings us a promotion, that if successful, could break the model. The airline is auctioning off more than 300 roundtrip flights and six vacation packages this week on eBay, with opening bids set between 5 and 10 cents. The flights are to more than 20 destinations, including four “mystery” JetBlue Getaways Vacation packages to undisclosed locations.
If implemented on a wider basis, those who want to fly the most will pay the most fot eh ticket. There would be potentially no ceiling on highly sought after flights – but potentially no floor either. I think the interesting thing will be to see what amount of “bargain buys” would go unused. If I can lock down a $40 flight to LA for 3 months from now, I would gladly pay the pittance. But who knows when November rolls around if I use it or not. Anytway, this is an interesting promotion to watch.
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