Tuesday, March 31, 2009

HONDA CONNECTS BRAIN THOUGHTS WITH ROBOTICS


Opening a car trunk or controlling a home air conditioner could become just a wish away with Honda's new technology that connects thoughts inside a brain with robotics. Honda Motor Co. has developed a way to read patterns of electric currents on a person's scalp as well as changes in cerebral blood flow when a person thinks about four simple movementsmoving the right hand, moving the left hand, running and eating. Honda succeeded in analyzing such thought patterns, and then relaying them as wireless commands for Asimo, its human-shaped robot.


Lori

The State of Social Media 2008

I found an interesting article on PR 2.0 website that included the stats below. Considering how fast social networks are growing, do you think these stats have become outdated by now?

Blogs and social networks are now part of our daily lives.

* comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)
- Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
- Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million
- Total internet audience 188.9 million

* eMarketer (May 2008)
- 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)
- 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)

* Universal McCann (March 2008)
- 184 million WW have started a blog | 26.4 US
- 346 million WW read blogs | 60.3 US
- 77% of active Internet users read blogs

Full article: www.briansolis.com/2008/09/state-of-social-media-2008.html

Twitter uses

http://mobileactive.org/twitter-organizations-1-guest-blogger-nate-ritter

I liked this article because it really explained the good uses and not so dependable uses for Twitter and other resources. The article justifies why you need to use many different types/styles of technology that are out there and not just rely on one source.

Nanci

NStar Smart Grid Coming to Home Computer


NStar released its plans to integrate so-called smart grid technology into its service area Tuesday, a part of a state-mandated plan to use efficiency to stem the demand for new power generation.

LINK

Lori

Sun-Times Media Group files for bankruptcy

Another sign of the times...

Sun-Times Media Group files for bankruptcy

Ginger

Released this A.M.......Skype on iPhone

Check out the video regarding Skype on the iPhone by following the link below. My parents used Skype regularly a few years ago while my Dad was working overseas. FYI...Skype is a great way to just have fun with video calls and a cheap way to see/talk to people without expensive international phone rates.

Isabelle

Mobile Tech Minutes: Skype on the iPhone

http://jkontherun.com/2009/03/31/mobile-tech-minutes-skype-on-the-i...

Is Twitter Too Big Too Fast?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/31/twitter.fail.whale/index.html?iref=t2test_techtues

Lisa Wagner-Rappe

Monday, March 30, 2009

University offers Master's Degree in Facebook

Check this out by clicking on the link below, this is interesting!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,511647,00.html


Cassandra Holdsclaw

Library of Congress to use social networking sites

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/30/library-of-congress-to-step-up-use-of-social-networking-sites/

Posted by Lisa Wagner-Rappe

Library of Congress to use social networking sites



Lisa Wagner-Rappe

It's Not Fast Enough??

New research findings at MIT could lead to microchips that operate at much higher speeds than is possible with today's standard silicon chips, leading to cell phones and other communications systems that can transmit data much faster.



Lori

MIT NEWS

Death by Digital

Good Morning Everyone! Here's a story I saw on CNN this morning about the Virgin megastore in Times Square going out of business. Digital downloads are becoming the most popular way to access music and the result is the closing of retail CD outlets. I can't imagine a world without CD's, but it may be in our future. The Age of Access is upon us!

Ginger

Using Twitter at the Chicago Tribune

From Twitter Tips:

mariko

Link did work again so here it is:

http://www.socialmedia.biz/2009/03/28/using-twitter-at-the-chicago-tribune/

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Micro-transactions and why Twitter will transform your brand

Sorry to be posting yet another article but just read this off Twitter Tips:





mariko

here's the link since that link button didn't seem to work right:

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/22467.asp?&cid=21726&uid=-1

Posting Links

When posting a link, hit the chainlink icon in the menu, it's right above the box you type in to post. It's next to the T symbol with a colorful square. Paste the URL in the box provided and then it will link the article. You can also type a word, highlight it in this box, hit the chain link and paste the URL, then the word that you typed will be the link. For example, Dr. Syb.

Another WSJ Article on freebies

This one is about software companies resorting to giving out freebies titled "As Sales Dry Up, Some Software Companies Resort to Freebies":


mariko

P.S. Intuit the maker of Quickbooks and TurboTax has already been doing that. You can get a free version of Quickbooks called Simple Start which is limited to X (20?) number of customers and vendors.

WSJ Article about FB, Twitter

Saw this article in the Wall Street Journal this morning called "Putting Your Best Faces Forward" about Facebook, Twitter & Myspace.


mariko

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Time Magazine Articles

Hello All,

Just got home to find my issue of TIME magazine waiting in the mailbox. Yes, I still subscribe to the goo-ol' fashioned paper version. I can find it all online but sometimes I still like to curl up on the couch with a paper version to read.

Anyways, here are some links to some articles in the latest issue that relate to some of our discussions today...

The End Of Excess: Is This Crisis Good For America?


Here's To The Death Of Broadcast

Overexposure: Is The President Doing Too Much TV?


Mind Over Chocolate


Thanks!

Lisa Wagner-Rappe

Thursday, March 26, 2009

One more blog I like to keep up with...

We just started requiring this read, The Pirates Dilemma, for our program in NYC. It's on my summer reading list, but I've been trying to keep up with the blog in the meantime...lots of good stuff!

Sarah

Leadership Music Digital Summit

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to share on one of the sessions this week at the digital summit. One of the most recent innovative ideas that the entertainment industry is considering is adding a subscription fee for music to college tuition. Thoughts?

Sarah

Southwest making a "Maverick" move

Hey guys,

Southwest is making some bold decisions in the midst of our economy. Check it out...
Sarah C.

Beyond Advertising: Choosing a strategic path to the digital consumer



The distinctions are blurring between advertising and marketing, as new forms of communication marry the return on investment (ROI)-characteristics of marketing with emotional characteristics of traditional brand advertising - in short, the old ways cannot meet the challenges of today.




Here is the link

http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/ibvstudy/gbs/a1031045?cntxt=a1000062


Lori

The Power of Facebook and Twitter

I was watching the nightly news last night and they did a story on the flooding in Fargo, North Dakota. In the story both Facebook and Twitter were mentioned as ways of getting volunteers to come and help. We talked about these two social networking sites, along with Craigslist (which is also mentioned), quite a bit in class. They can be hard to keep up with and some people just don't want to use it at all, I too was fighting the Facebook monster (I gave in to the peer pressure of my family, my mom was on Facebook before me!). I thought this was an interesting story about how quickly information gets out, especially in times of need, and how powerful one social networking site can be. Here is the video of the newscast:

Ginger

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Another interesting book

Freakanomics is a book that has an interesting take on the types of things that Anderson is talking about, though it does not deal with the "long tail" phenomena. It gives an interesting look at certain traditional views of economics. I forget who wrote it.

Back in Business

It seems to be working, I've logged in and out a couple of times by going to the www.blogger.com website. Here is a link to the article I emailed:

The 'Little-Guy Economy' is flourishing
While corporate giants are drowning or barely treading water, small shops with low operating costs that leverage their smarts are staying afloat and, in some cases, thriving.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29638188/from/ET/

Ginger

The Long Tail of Netflix


From The Long Tail- "Today you can choose to have Amazon ship you tax software in a box in ten days or simply download it and run it right now. Other services offer you the same choice for music: a CD next week or the digital tracks now" (248).

Years ago I can remember song writer friends being stoked that their song made it on a George Strait record or a Faith Hill album. Back then it was all about CD sales and they were guaranteed their royalties along with the hit writers on the record. However, with the advent of digital downloads if your not the writer of the hit you WILL make less money. Not just a few thousand dollars, but tens-hundreds of thousands of dollars in difference. However, it is all about customization now and selection. I no longer buy the whole CD I typically purchase 2-3 songs from an album on iTunes.

The link below is about Netflix streaming movies online. Which will likely cause consumers to customize their movie experience and not go to the brick and mortar stores. They can save time, gas, and money. However, it will impact stores such as Blockbuster even more.

Lori


Here is the link

http://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-pays-about-a-nickel-to-stream-each-movie-online-2009-3

Logging onto the BLOG

I spoke to one of the professors here at Nashville State about the propblem we were having, and we were both able to log in. Don't worry, he has no interest in logging into our blog again, and has probably already forgotten the conversation.

I then signed out and tried it again and it failed! I then went stragiht the the blooger website. www.blogger.com (NOT mocbelmont.blogspot.com) and the log in information worked. I don't have the why, but I think I have the how.

Let me know if this works for any else.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Mavericks At Work

Here are some thoughts from Mavericks at Work that may be helpful to you. The authors quote many executives.

"We didn't get here by playing by the rules of the game. We got here by setting the rules of the game."
Chris Albrecht, HBO President
.

"What I realize now is that you can never, ever take your eye off the customer." Mike McCue, Co-Founder, Tellme Networks

From the authors of Mavericks, William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre

"Sometimes the innovators with the most compelling strategic twists choose to broadcast them with a whisper rather than a shout."

CD Baby and The Long Tail

by Ginger

While reading the first few chapters of The Long Tail, I began to think about an online company called CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com). If you haven't heard of it, it's an online source for independent music artists to sell and promote their music. Created by Derek Sivers as a way for his music friends to sell music, it has grown into a $22 Million company. Just like Facebook and Twitter, it was never intended to grow to the size it is now. Most of these independent artists are way down in the long tail, but collectively they make up a large majority of music sold today. As Chris Anderson states in the book, “popularity no longer has a monopoly on profitability.” In regards to these artists, he also states it “doesn’t mean they don’t have a potential audience; it’s just that it’s a small one.” Everyone has an audience; it is just having the tools to get the music out there to find them. Most of these musicians aren’t trying to become the next great artist; they just want people to listen to their music. As Chris Anderson talks about, most will keep their day jobs (amateur vs. professional). So now when an artist plays a show and someone says, hey where can I buy your CD?, they can just say “it’s at CDBaby.com, baby!” I encourage you to check out the website if you haven’t seen it before. Here is a good video about CD Baby by the founder of mixergy.com and also a couple of links to video of Derek Sivers talking about artists on CD Baby:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDloYl9TzaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIooc_370Hw

CNN says Newspapers are Dying

This is an article from CNN.com about the death of
newspapers. Again, I remind you not to study the dying, study the living. You should not interview the past in order to create a future strategy. Instead, study mavericks. In the book Maverick's At Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win , the authors studied different industries and realized that maverick leaders really do lead. They are so far in front that the only guidance for them is their internal value system.

Study people who are doing innovative things. Locally, start with Rex Hammock, Dave Delaney and Morgan Levy.

I'm working on getting them as guest speakers as well.

Open Discussion

So in this innovative learning experiment, your Professor assigns a class blog. A classmate, Lisa asks is this the best way? Excellent question. What are your other options? Possibly wordpress.com, ning.com, kickapps.com. Of course, that means people need to explore the sites to figure out which one will be the most efficient, user-friendly and get the job done. And, there are probably thousands of other sites to consider.

Note, I chose Blogger because it was easiest enough for me to learn. However, I have students with blogs on wordpress, the Practicum Pioneers and Belmont Media Blog.

The Long Tail: Are we losing something valuable

I am reading "The Long Tail" and I understand what the auther is saying about virtues of getting away from the constraints of "Brick and Morter" buildings. However, as regards the movie industry, aren't we minimizing the experience of being in a theatre. There are some movies that are better in the theatre. Bigger screens, better sound, overpriced drinks and popcorn, etc... If this trend continues, is there a risk that the movie theatre will disappear? Currently the phrase "direct to video" is viewed in a negative conotation, but what if that becomes the norm?

OK. I figured it out.

So now that I am on, my question is the same as Lori's. Is this the most efficient way to do this?

New Posts/Topics

Hey All,

I received this classblog info from Dr. Syb. I asker her for it because I didn't have any info on it, otherwise. I use Lori's info to log in. That is the only way I am able to post new topics, etc. But I question that--should I be using her info? Or do I need to set up my own account. If I do--it looks like I won't be able to post new topics.

Help?

Lisa Wagner-Rappe

Sunday, March 22, 2009

I signed in under lori's email and the password....do I need to create my own account and post differently? Or is that okay?
Hey All,

Here is a site that updates all of the other social networking sites at the same time.....

http://ping.fm/

Lisa Wagner-Rappe

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Book Info?

Which books do we need to read for next week?
Thanks :)

Welcome to Class

This is a test.