Greg G.
Welcome to Nothing Bundt Cakes! Gather 'Round. Visualize your LinkedIn network. The $670 Alternative to MacBook Air: iPad, Toccata Keyboard. On Wednesday Steve Jobs unveiled a new MacBook Air, with an entirely solid state hard drive, seven-hour battery life, super-slim design and a price tag of $1,000 (for the 11-in. model). Yet for the previous week, I'd already been using an ultra-light Apple notebook with an entirely solid-state hard drive, a battery that charges fast and lasts for so long I rarely have to care (I just plug it in every other night), and an eminently portable 9.7 in. screen (which detaches).
It has a pretty generous 32GB of storage. Most importantly, it cost me, in total, a mere $670. What's it called? The iPad, of course--augmented by the best external iPad keyboard I've seen, the $70 Toccata keyboard case from an Australian company called PADACS. A couple of months back we wrote about a similar case/keyboard that was getting a lot of buzz in the U.K.
Like the best products in the Apple ecosystem, the Toccata just works. The case is a rich thick leather-like material that keeps itself shut with magnets. Greatest Hits of TED Videos. QR Codes Used to Help Clean Up the Gulf. BP may have been able to cap the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, but cleanup efforts are really just beginning. In an interesting intersection between technology and social activism, QR codes could prove instrumental in helping ensure that the Gulf is fully restored. Nonpartisan activist group Women of the Storm is rallying public support around Gulf restoration. They've started the celebrity-backed Be the One campaign to get signatures for their petition, which states: "I demand that a plan to restore America's Gulf be fully funded and implemented for me and future generations. " ScanLife, makers of mobile barcode scanning technology, has stepped in to support the cause and they're bringing QR codes to the rescue.
ScanLife created a QR code that, when scanned, directs users to a mobile site where they can watch the Be the One video (embedded below) and sign the petition. A shel of my former self. Is Social Media Making Corporate Websites Irrelevant? There was a time when having a dotcom was absolutely key to your brand, and once you had one, it was the URL you pointed everyone to in all of your marketing. But with the emergence of the social web, and opportunities to engage with fans elsewhere, is that really the right strategy – or even a requirement at all? You’re probably already noticing it – business cards containing Twitter usernames as opposed to domain names, bands promoting their MySpace profile instead of their own website, and even ad campaigns directing people to participate in a social media rather than visit a branded website. The latter is exactly what Vitamin Water is doing through a multi-channel campaign featuring NBA superstars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.The ads themselves are hard to miss on sites like ESPN, with banners surrounding all four sides of the homepage’s content.
Why Facebook? One advantage of using your own branded URL is that the Web is universal – anyone can go to your homepage. Is it Working? Trendspotting. Social media conversations can reflect peoples’ attitudes, needs, desires and intentions. The challenge is to listen wisely and use market research skills to “ask” the right questions. When you wish to follow perceptions and intents keep in mind that you will need to follow day to day jargon, and that the conversations traced are typical to the specific social network you are searching at. Currently, I find that there is no tool as Twitter to extract such knowledge and map real time reflection of peoples minds. While conducting many social media research projects, I have collected some insightful search queries, useful for marketers and to those who wish to keep track on perceptions and shared interests. I have divided eight social media queries to the following three categories: 1. 2. 3.
I. Social media allows consumers to openly share and discuss their needs and desires. 1. 1.1 “I must get a new..” 1.2. 1.3. 2. 2.1 “I wish I had” (New York) 2.2. 3. 3.1 “I need help” (global) II. 4. 5. 6.
Help. Restaurants. Social Media Best Practices.