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This is a really fascinating documentary about one of the most incredible minds in the world. He is a savant, which is a person who is able to perform incredible feats with their minds. He was able to learn Icelandic in a week, and memorize Pi to about 20 thousand digits. What makes him unique among savants is that he has relatively normal social skills. Kim Peak, the man behind the movie Rainman is one of the most famous savants. He is able to read a page in about 10 seconds and remember about 98% of what he read. Peak also remembers virtually everything he has ever read.
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You can follow me at @charlessipe on Twitter
do implement the 4 hrs of alone time for work #Rework Does your company have any iPod Apps in the App Store? 32 minutes ago via web { 0 comments }
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I wrote this article for the Small Business Library blog about my key takeaways from the recent book Rework from the guys behind 37 signals. I really enjoyed this book because it challenged a lot of the traditionally held beliefs on how to be successful in business so it was unique and thought provoking. David also gave a great talk recently at Stanford called “Unlearn Your MBA” which you can watch here.
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, takes an alternative look at starting and building a successful business. Jason and David founded the successful Chicago software company 37 signals based on business principles that often contradict with traditional thinking on business. Here are a few of my favorite ideas from the book.
Get Enough Sleep
In Rework, the authors discuss that entrepreneurs often brag about how little sleep they get. The problem with sleep deprivation is that although you work more hours, you will not be able to think very well if you are tired and this can lead to poor decisions.
Don’t Advertise
One of the drawbacks of buying advertising is that you know that some of your advertising isn’t working, but you don’t know which part. 37 Signals uses non-traditional media like their blog, Signal Versus Noise, which has over a hundred thousand readers. They are able to reach a large number of people with their message at no cost besides the time to write thoughtful blog articles.
Planning is Guessing
Often new businesses create 1-year, 5-year, or even 10-year plans. But the authors argue that we can not predict what will happen in the future so plans are often irrelevant when conditions change. And often business owners will stick to their plans simply because they have invested so much time in developing a business plan.
Don’t Get Venture Funding
The authors say that one of the major mistakes that new businesses make is taking outside investment from venture capitalists, but this could also apply to other financing. The problem with having a lot of someone else’s money to spend this can take the business owner’s focus off the important thing, profitability. Often companies that have funding put off worrying about profitability until later, which the authors say is like trying to build a rocket ship without worrying about gravity.
Hire When It’s Painful
Often growing businesses hire quickly to keep up with demand, but the authors warn to be careful not to hire too quickly. They recommend hiring when there’s more work than you can handle for an extended period of time. There are several disadvantages to hiring too quickly. One problem is that it is difficult to eliminate staff once you hire them even if they are no longer needed. They also point out that it is difficult to be truthful if you disagree when there are a lot of strangers in the office as most people want to be polite and non-confrontational.
Check out Rework for more useful advice from Jason and David.
This article has been republished from the Small Business Library blog.
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This excellent documentary examines the positives and negatives of the digital revolution on society. In South Korea they have rehab schools for kids that are “addicted” to the internet. “The Korean government are taking an assertive approach to the addressing the social problems created by the net”.
Here’s the link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/
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Academic Earth is an amazing resource for learning. It is incredible we are able to watch lectures from the top universities in the world for free. Here is a terrific lecture on the fascinating field of positive psychology.
Watch it on Academic Earth
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The 52books Challenge challenges you to read 52 books in 2010 or a book a week.
Julien Smith had a great explanation on his blog on why you would want to do this. From How to Read a Book a Week in 2010
It feels awesome. It gives you an amazing amount of ideas. It helps you think more thoroughly. It’s better than TV and even the internet. It makes you understand the world more. It is a building block towards a habit of completion. Did I mention it feels awesome?
Julien who co-authored the great book Trust Agents, gave some excellent tips like it’s okay to cheat by reading some short books, and don’t fall behind, and make sure to make it part of your routine to read a certain number of pages every day.
Tip: Listen to Books on Audible
I would add another tip: listen to books on audible. Some people may say that it’s not really reading because you are listening to the text, but I think it is just as good as reading a physical book, and in many ways it is better. This allows you to knock out a bit of reading when you are standing in line at the coffee shop or sitting in traffic. There is also an awesome deal if you go to audible.com/twit2 where you can get 2 free audible books absolutely free (you could cancel your subscription before 30 days and not have to pay for the subscription if you want).
Tip: Use the Kindle App on iPhone or iPod Touch
Also if you can get an iPhone or iPod touch, use the Kindle application. It will allow you to pull a book out of your pocket when you have a few minutes to read.
If you want to join the challenge, you still have time. You can also see how others are doing by searching for the hash tag #52books on Twitter.
I only have read 7 books so far this year so I need a major rally to achieve the challenge this year.
So far I’ve read:
-What the Dog Saw
-Crush It
-The Blind Side
-Linchpin
-The Road
-The Next Evolution of Marketing
-The Lost Symbol
-Switch (added 4-12)
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I’ve read all of Malcom Gladwell’s books and saw him speak. Brilliant stuff. I wish he could be cloned.
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I had a blast at SXSWi this year. You couldn’t tell we are coming off the worst recession in decades because the city was buzzing with tons of energetic entrepreneurs and attendance this year was way up. I stopped by the Facebook Developers conference (via UStream) for a brief moment but lost interest so I headed out to the parties (via Leo Laporte’s live stream). The Mashable party was buzzing and there were a ton of cool people from as far away as Romania (Yola.com) and South Africa. A smart woman from South Africa said that the flight was 32 hours to Austin. Of course Pete Cashmore was there with Robert Scoble and Molly Wood from CNet. Pete said that he had to book the venue for the party 1 year in advance. I followed Leo to Gary Vaynerchuk’s party where Gary was passing out 100 bottles worth of wine and Kevin Rose showed up. The talk of the conference was not Four Square or Gowalla, but rather Leo Laporte’s crowd surfing at the Digg Party.
So I wasn’t actually at SXSWi this year but it was fun to live vicariously through Leo Laporte’s live stream and following people on Twitter. Hopefully I can make it out to Austin in the next few years.
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/mager/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
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Here is a really useful article from the New Horizons Colorado blog. Check out New Horizons in Bellevue, WA for courses on computers and software.
Although free software has been around for longer than personal computer
s, it is only recently that the open source community has produced programs that combine commercial-level functionality with commercial-level ease-of-use. Today, it is possible to run your computer without buying a single piece of software, and to do it 100% legally. Open-source software is software which is freely distributed and for which the source code (the underlying program) is available. There are a number of reasons why someone might develop open-source software, ranging from the desire to sell services such as support or customization (the Gillette model—give away free handles to sell razor blades), on down to such altruistic purposes as the love of programming. Whatever reason the programming team may have for releasing their application as open-source, what is important to the end user is that the software is free and trustworthy (with open code, anyone can find any irregularities in the program).
Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com
This is the modern incarnation of what was, for most of us, our first browser—Netscape. Mozilla is fast, efficient, and extremely compatible (it even runs Microsoft Silverlight sites like Netflix Movie Viewer).
Media Viewer: VLC Media Player
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Are you looking for a player that plays pretty much every format available and does it well? VLC’s the one for you. It’s fast, small, and easy to use. How good is it? I use iTunes to figure out what file I want, then open it in VLC to actually watch it. Here’s a bonus: if you want to turn your “non-copy protected” DVD movies into files that you can store on your computer and watch on VLC, use Handbrake (http://www.handbrake.fr/) to convert them.
Photo Editing: GimPhoto
http://www.gimphoto.com/
The GNU Image Processor (hence the name “GIMP”) has been around for a while and has gradually been gaining a user base, especially in the face of the escalating cost (in terms of money and computer capacity) of Adobe Photoshop. An enterprising user redesigned the interface to make it feel more like Photoshop and renamed it “GimPhoto”. It is perfect for home users or small business users who do not require CMYK output (if you do not know what it is, you do not need it!).
Office Suite: OpenOffice.org
http://www.openoffice.org
Currently on version 3.2, OpenOffice.org has just about everything you would need in an office suite, and is free. It looks and feels a lot like Microsoft Office and can read and write files in Office format. It also tends to run a little faster than the Microsoft applications.
PDF Creation: PDF Creator
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
If you just need to turn documents into PDFs, this is the tool for you. It installs as a printer driver and does that one thing very well. Please note that during the installation process, it gives you the option to install a Browser AddOn which is a co-branded toolbar. You may want to unselect this option.
Operating Systems: Linux http://www.linux.org
Although the vast majority of users will choose to run these applications on a Windows PC, it is also possible to use a free and open-source operating system: Linux. The vast majority of the applications listed above will run on Linux, as well. More information on this process can be found at Linux Online Inc.’s site at http://www.linux.org/dist/download_info.html .
Games
Frets on Fire – http://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/ (similar to Guitar Hero)
AssaultCube – http://assault.cubers.net/ (free multiplayer first person shooter)
LinCity – http://sourceforge.net/projects/lincity/ (city building simulation game)
PokerTH – http://www.pokerth.net/ (Texas Hold ‘Em with computer or online multiplayer)
Glest – http://glest.org/en/index.php (3D Real-Time Strategy – similar to Age of Empires)
WinSudoku – http://sourceforge.net/projects/winsudoku/ (no description necessary)
All of the above games are free and open-source. Many are comparable in quality to applications that would be purchased, as opposed to the typical “freeware” game that can be downloaded from most sites.
Photo source http://www.sxc.hu/profile/speedy2
This article has been republished with permission from the New Horizons Colorado blog.
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Here are the best marketing books for 2009 listed in order of awesomeness:
1. Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media) by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah
Why and how to market your business online through inbound marketing rather than outbound marketing.
2.Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson
Can free be an effective marketing strategy? Anderson explores the history of free and how companies are using free as a winning strategy.
3. World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories by David Meerman Scott
Makes a good argument for using social media and online marketing to market your business more effectively. Tons of excellent case studies to support the new methods of marketing.
4. The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning by Bob Gilbreath
Bob describes a new approach to marketing in which the marketing itself is valuable. Lots of great examples of companies doing meaningful marketing.
5. Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
Excellent book about how to use social media to build relationships with your customers and colleagues. Has been called the “How to Win Friends and Influence People” of social media.
6. Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik
The followup to the hit Web Analytics An Hour A Day. Kaushik is the thought leader on measuring online marketing and donates all of his proceeds from the books to charity.
7. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vee is one of the most successful personal brands on the web and is one of the best success stories for social media marketing. His book is more motivational than tactical but there are a lot of great ideas too.
8. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin
Linchpin describes how to thrive in the new economy that has replaced the broken factory-work model. It is more of a success book, but there are great takeaways that can help you in your marketing or business career.
9. Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini
Lots of interesting studies and examples that describe ways to be more persuasive while providing insights into the way we think.
Other books of note:
Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
Marketing 2.0: Bridging the Gap between Seller and Buyer through Social Media Marketing
The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business
The Social Media Marketing Book
Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone.
Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods
Have any book recommendations to add to the list? Leave a comment!
Also see: Top 10 Marketing Books of 2008
This article has been republished from Cool Marketing Stuff
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I attended the Twitter 1
40 conference in Seattle today…well sort of. I wasn’t physically at the conference but I watched most of the speakers’ presentations via UStream.
How to Attend A Conference Virtually
If a conference broadcasts a live stream via UStream, it’s almost as good as being at the conference (or even better). You can comment on what the speakers are talking about and see what others are saying via Twitter in real time (which UStream integrates really well). If you want to network, you can interact with others on Twitter who are using the conference Twitter tag (#140tc) or you can attend the networking event after the conference or the after party which are often free.
I wonder if there is a website that tells you about all the upcoming conferences that will be broadcasting on UStream.
You can also view past presentations at conferences by searching UStream as well as YouTube and Vimeo or Google Video. These presentations are a great source for learning although it can be hard to sort through lots of content to find the cream at the top. I have a set of marketing talks at http://coolmarketingstuff.com/video and Marketing Over Coffee has a great resource called Conference in a Box which is a set of good marketing presentations.
Ted is another great conference that puts up videos of most – if not all – of their presentations.
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/afropicmusing/ / CC BY 2.0
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1. Having a blog helps you create more content on your site, which often leads to more pages showing up in Google search results.
2. Every new blog post is a potential source for inbound links to your site.
3. Blogs give you a platform to speak directly to your customer.
4. Blogs are a place to publish content that solves problems of your buyer persona (the types of people who are likely to buy your product)
5. Blogs allow you to cover a wide range of topics related to your industry, which takes advantage of the long tail effect in Google searches (About 75% of searches are for unpopular phrases).
6. Blogs encourage direct feedback from your customers.
7. Blogs encourage you to think deeply about your field and continuously learn so you can write insightful articles.
8. Blogs allow you to give free gifts (in the form of valuable content) to potential customers which can develop a relationship with the potential customer.
9. Each blog post is a potential landing page for potential customers to learn more about your company.
10. By frequently updating your blog, Google will send its search bots to your site more often. Google often favors sites with constantly updated and fresh content.
11. Blog articles, when written in a casual voice, can show customers that there are real people behind the company and it’s not just a soul-less corporation.
12. Business websites that blog tend to get more traffic to their site. See Study Shows Small Businesses That Blog Get 55% More Website Visitors
Can you share additional reasons why every business should have a blog?
Article republished from the Sparkplug Digital blog
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I read a blog post that called The Road the book of the decade and I can’t disagree. I definitely recommend it, and the Audible version is terrific (the unabridged version).
My Amazon Review:
The Road is one of those rare works of fiction that is can affect you on a deep personal level. In The Road you are enveloped into an apocalyptic world which you experience with a man and his son as they struggle to survive the harshest conditions imaginable. With his poetic descriptions, McCarthy gives you a frightening, dark, and realistic story of struggle that you won’t soon forget.
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