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The Mets’ Delicate Dance With a Billionaire
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 07:12 AM PST
| The Mets’ Delicate Dance With a Billionaire Posted: 05 Nov 2013 06:19 AM PST The question of whether Steven A. Cohen should sell his minority partnership stake in the Mets has surfaced, Richard Sandomir writes in the Sports Business column in The New York Times. | | Telefonica and Vivendi Deals Underscore European Trend Posted: 05 Nov 2013 05:44 AM PST Consolidation continues in Europe's telecommunications industry, as big players shed assets they consider secondary to their refocused strategies. | | Endo Health to Buy Specialty Drug Maker for $1.6 Billion Posted: 05 Nov 2013 04:42 AM PST Endo Health Solutions, a health care company known for its pain medication, has reached a deal to acquire a Canadian specialty drug company, Paladin Labs, for $1.6 billion in stock and cash. | | U.S. in Talks to Settle Suit Over Merger of 2 Airlines Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:58 PM PST The Justice Department has started talks with American Airlines and US Airways, seeking concessions on airport takeoff and landing slots. | | After a Decade, SAC Capital Blinks Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:54 PM PST The Justice Department's deal with SAC Capital Advisors caps an investigation that turned a mighty hedge fund into a symbol of financial wrongdoing. | | SAC: A Textbook Case of Corporate Prosecution Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:47 PM PST The decision to indict a company is one way to punish wrongdoing and influence deterrence. | | Wall Street’s Marathoners Go the Extra Mile Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:18 PM PST Amateur runners who work on Wall Street have to balance a training regimen against the demands of a job that can dominate their waking hours. | | Why a Pension Case Will Not Change Private Equity Tax Law Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:13 PM PST The head of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council defends the tax treatment of carried interest. | | Extra Cash and New Chief Buy BlackBerry Just a Bit More Time Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:02 PM PST Calling off an auction without a buyer in hand can leave a company in a precarious position, the author notes. | | The Impact of the Settlement on SAC Capital and Cohen Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:40 AM PST While the hedge fund has put the government's criminal case behind it, Steven A. Cohen remains the focus of a criminal investigation and an S.E.C. administrative complaint. | | Weigh In on Twitter’s I.P.O. Value Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:28 AM PST With its new price range, Twitter is worth as much as $14 billion. A calculator offers a way for investors to decide if that is too high or just right. | | High-Level Executive Switches to Carlyle From Warburg Pincus Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:26 AM PST Kewsong Lee, who had been at Warburg for more than two decades, will hold the new position of deputy chief investment officer for corporate private equity at Carlyle. | | SAC Capital Agrees to Plead Guilty to Insider Trading Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:06 AM PST The hedge fund owned by Steven A. Cohen has agreed to pay a record $1.2 billion penalty, becoming the first large Wall Street firm in a generation to confess to criminal conduct. | | What a Big Investment Says About BlackBerry’s Endgame Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:02 AM PST With the $1 billion convertible debt investment led by Fairfax Financial Holdings, BlackBerry can now be viewed as a binary play. It will either fail miserably or be a remarkable turnaround. | | Men’s Wearhouse Rejects Jos. A. Bank Again Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:12 AM PST Men's Wearhouse refused to allow Jos. A. Bank confidential access to its books, possible ending the battle to combine two of the country's biggest retailers of men's suits. | You are subscribed to email updates from DealBook
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Clickbooth Expands into Related Content Market
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 07:04 AM PST
| Clickbooth Expands into Related Content Market Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:58 PM PST Clickbooth, the long-established performance-based online marketing company, and throwers the biggest party at Affiliate Summit, announced today the release of RevContent, the next phase of their cost per click product formerly known as CBCPC. The evolved brand more accurately represents what the product has become, an industry leading content monetization platform. "This expansion allows us to continue to build strong, sustainable content monetization solutions by placing the highest priority on the needs of our clients," said Chris Butlin, RevContent Director of Business Development. Clickbooth's cost per click product has experienced significant growth since its original inception in 2010 which has enabled the company to launch the RevContent brand and bring performance based advertising technology into the related content market. "RevContent represents the evolution and inevitable expansion of our cost per click offerings," said Chris Maynard, Director of Software Development. As consumer and technological demands have shifted the direction of the performance marketing industry, RevContent, along with its new content-widget, have been designed as an answer to client's changing business needs. RevContent reflects both the enhancement of existing services as well as expanded offerings of Clickbooth's cost per click product. Through an advanced delivery algorithm, RevContent focuses on promoting quality content on premium sites in order to give consumers content that is relevant to their interests. The new, exclusive widget interface will allow Sites to build engaging placements aiming to enhance the consumer experience and monetize each user more effectively than before. Richard Iwanik-Marques, Director of Operations added, "By expanding our already established product into the content recommendation market, we are giving our Advertisers access to highly engaged consumers searching for content on some of the most premium sites, empowering them to reach vast new audiences across our network of exclusive placements." Serving over 17 billion impressions each month on top ranked sites, RevContent is already establishing itself as an industry leader in content monetization. For more information on RevContent, visit www.RevContent.com. 
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Open thread for night owls: Walmart eager for Court to help it block workers' disability benefits
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:28 AM PST
- Open thread for night owls: Walmart eager for Court to help it block workers' disability benefits
- Economics Daily Digest: You can keep it, unless your insurance is no good
- Macca's Meatless Monday: Everybody out there can make a difference
- Daily Kos email list surpasses 1,000,000 active subscribers
- How are the rich getting richer? The more they make, the lower income tax rates they pay. Face palm.
- GunFAIL XLII: LAX shooter's was actually the SECOND gun fired in a U.S. airport last week
- Health insurance for free? Millions could qualify
- Obamacare 'rate shock' victim changes her mind, calls the law a 'blessing in disguise'
- Maine candidate for governor: Yes, I am gay. 'But why should it matter?'
- ENDA moves forward in Senate, 61-30
- Republican civil war rages on. Could both sides please lose already?
- Sen. Rand Paul, plagiarist, wants to challenge accusers to a duel ... but he won't
- What will House Republicans who voted for ENDA in 2007 do in 2013?
- Former House Speaker Jim Wright latest to run afoul of Texas 'voter ID' law
- Midday open thread: Doctors, equality and gay bars
- Romney 'cackled' at sight of 'Pufferfish' Christie without suit jacket
- Dianne Feinstein releases 'reform' bill that codifies the worst NSA abuses
- Lindsey Graham steals a page from Ted Cruz's playbook
- Southern National Guards defying Hagel order to recognize same-sex military spouses
- The other side of 'rate shock': Health insurers mislead customers on Obamacare
- Did John Boehner just say equal rights are 'frivolous'?
- Doctor Hand
- Obama: We need ENDA because 'We need to harness the creativity and talents of every American'
- Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Mitch McConnell declares war on the Senate Conservatives Fund
- Daily Kos Radio is NOT LIVE, but just as fun, at 9am ET!
| Open thread for night owls: Walmart eager for Court to help it block workers' disability benefits Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:30 PM PST At Mother Jones, Erika Eichelberger writes Walmart Is Trying to Block Workers' Disability Benefits: Last week, amidst a deluge of criticism about Walmart's poverty-level wages, the retail giant announced promotions for 25,000 of its roughly 1.3 million US employees. But although Walmart has raised pay for some of its employees, it is simultaneously fighting to convince the Supreme Court to allow it to more easily avoid paying disability benefits.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Co. and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., a case brought by Julie Heimeshoff, a Walmart employee who sued the company and its insurance provider in 2010 for refusing to pay her disability benefits. Heimeshoff worked at Walmart for nearly 20 years, most recently as a public relations manager. About 10 years ago, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, lupus, and other chronic pain problems, and in June 2005, the pain became so severe that she had to stop working. Heimeshoff applied for disability benefits and, after a long internal review, her claim was denied. She sued over the denial of benefits less than three years later. That was within the statute of limitations—or so she thought. When Heimeshoff started working for Walmart, she signed a contract saying that if she were ever denied disability benefits, she could only sue the company for wrongful denial of benefits if she did so within three years of filing her disability claim. But the US government and consumer lawyers say that Walmart's contract is bunk, because established law stipulates that the clock doesn't start ticking on those three years until an employee's claim for benefits is improperly denied. A ruling in Walmart's favor could make it more difficult for millions of workers—not just people who work for Walmart—to obtain disability benefits. [...] |
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2011—Rick Santorum explains God's role in American law: | No, when Rick Santorum is speaking about "God's law" and how it supersedes the laws of the country, he is referring to "God's law" as he himself defines it. That is what Santorum wishes to enshrine into American governance. He quite literally presumes to be speaking for God, when he goes on about how this or that law needs to be changed to comport with God's law, but where other religious figures might simply say that those that believe different interpretations of God's law are going to hell, Santorum and others demand that those that belief different interpretations of God's law be identified as criminals. Do you believe life "begins at conception?" Rick Santorum does, and so, he asserts, American law must comport entirely to his interpretation, not yours. Do you believe homosexuality is a sin? Rick Santorum does, and so he demands the laws of the nation be written to properly punish those that believe otherwise. |
Tweet of the Day:  Why is Dan Snyder emailing season ticket holders to pressure DC Council to support Skins name? Because he's losing. http://t.co/... — @EdgeofSports
We're in classic mode once again for today's Kagro in the Morning show, with a pre-2012 election/post-Sandy episode, featuring polling & punditry roundups with a storm-impacted Greg Dworkin. We discussed Chris Christie's cooperation with President Obama, the strange-sounding-but-explainable call of "toss-up" for OH, the punditry's ongoing love affair with "The Narrative," and Republicans' clinging to "The Math." But is "The Math" really just code for "we're cheating"? Plus, more on the astonishing idiocy of attacks on Nate Silver, and Dick Morris has finally written The Dumbest Thing Ever.
High Impact Posts. Top Comments.
 | | Economics Daily Digest: You can keep it, unless your insurance is no good Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:42 PM PST By Rachel Goldfarb, originally published on Next New Deal Click here to receive the Daily Digest via email. Aides Debated Obama Health-Care Coverage Promise (WSJ) Colleen McCain Nelson, Peter Nicholas, and Carol E. Lee speak to Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Richard Kirsch about the President's assurance that people who liked their insurance would get to keep it. He says adding an asterisk for good insurance wasn't practical. The Tea Party's Assault on Workers (WaPo) Roosevelt Institute Fellow Mike Konczal writes that states controlled by the GOP aren't just taking action against public sector workers. Coordinated legislation across these states is harming private sector workers and limiting local labor protections, too. Absolute 'credibility issue' for Obama (The Kudlow Report) Roosevelt Institute Fellow Dorian Warren appears on CNBC to discuss how the Healthcare.Gov rollout has harmed the Affordable Care Act and the President. He points out that 97% of Americans are unaffected by the website, which limits the potential damage. Walmart Is Trying to Block Workers' Disability Benefits (MoJo) Erika Eichelberger reports on a case before the Supreme Court which could make more difficult for all workers to obtain disability benefits. Walmart is trying to argue that appeals must occur within three years of filing a disability claim - regardless of how long that decision takes. Burns Explores Roosevelt Legacy in New Documentary; Screening at Ga. Home of FDR (WaPo) The Associated Press reports on an early screening of part of his new documentary on the Roosevelt family. Burns attempts to get beyond "treacly and superficial" stories to the real history and legacies of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt. New on Next New Deal The Origins of "If You Like Your Health Insurance, You Can Keep It" Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Richard Kirsch explains why the President's leading message on health care was necessary. A more nuanced explanation would have allowed Republican fear-mongering to kill reform. Federal Court Decision Doesn't Just Limit Abortion: It Creates a Crisis for Women's Health Care in Texas Roosevelt Institute Fellow Andrea Flynn writes on the Fifth Circuit decision that has shut down numerous women's health clinics across Texas. The state's new abortion laws aren't just limiting access to a legal medical procedure - they're limiting access to all health care.  | | Macca's Meatless Monday: Everybody out there can make a difference Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including: better health, animal rights, public health, food safety, frugal living, water and land depletion, global food crisis and the staggeringly huge contribution of meat/livestock production to climate change (pdf) Want to opt out of conspicuous consumption? It can be done. Want to opt out with the fastest, most effective and easy solution? You can be a part of the solution to repairing our planet with a simple decision to eliminate meat and meat products each day. I can attest that it's liberating to be a part of the solution to the most critical issue of climate change. Macca's Meatless Monday/Meatless Advocates is a solution oriented activist group, with solutions for some of the most pressing issues of our time including: climate change, global food/water insecurity and public health. Here we don't just talk about the severity of the crisis. Armed with knowledge about how our actions can contribute we become part of the solution. I was inspired to create this series by former Beatle and vegetarian advocate Paul McCartney(Macca) who partnered with the Meatless Monday campaign to promote less consumption of meat. We not only discuss the advantages of a less meat diet we also do some cooking, share recipes and listen to great Beatle music!  | | Daily Kos email list surpasses 1,000,000 active subscribers Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:41 AM PST The Daily Kos community has passed another major milestone. This morning, our email list surpassed 1,000,000 current subscribers:
Last year at this time, the Daily Kos email list stood at roughly 400,000 subscribers. So even though this is a post-election year, our community is growing at a phenomenal rate. Here is our list growth by month, since the email list launched in August 2010, counting only current subscribers:
These are not just empty signups, as our list is extremely active. Since Oct. 1, over 700,000 of the 1,000,000+ subscribers either took at least one action or opened at least one email. In that time, the average list member opened 8 emails, and clicked 3.6. There is a new progressive majority in America, and as time goes on it will only get bigger. In order to make sure that demographic majority becomes a governing majority, our primary job as progressive activists is to mobilize that majority and make sure that it retains the right the vote. The Daily Kos community plays a key role in that mass mobilization. By bringing together millions of people in one place through creating and highlighting some of the best progressive content anywhere, we are able to channel those people into political action. This action includes not just petitions, contacting public officials, and financial contributions to key electoral campaigns, but also the simple act of sharing our community's first-rate analysis of the news of the day. In an era of corporate dominance both in the news media and on Capitol Hill, it is because of Daily Kos that voices of the progressive grassroots are still heard far and wide. We are an engine for growth and change, and this first 1,000,000 is only the beginning.  | | How are the rich getting richer? The more they make, the lower income tax rates they pay. Face palm. Posted: 02 Nov 2013 07:55 AM PDT An article in Saturday's New York Times Business section digs down into the numbers to demonstrate something people need to know in order to understand just how much the 1 percent run things. James B. Stewart looked at the income tax rates the richest among us paid in 2009, arguably the worst year for our economy since the Depression. Here's what he found. According to IRS data, the top 400 taxpayers (i.e., the top sliver of the top 1 percent), had an average adjusted gross income (AGI) of $202 million. That year, the top federal rate was 35 percent (it's now 39.6 percent). And what percentage did they pay to the federal government in income taxes: less than 20 percent (!) How about the top 1 percent overall, people with AGI's over $344,000? They paid an average of just over 24 percent. And the top 0.1 percent?, those with AGI's over $1.4 million? They paid 24 percent. Fascinating. The rate dropped the higher you went into the top 1 percent. No one is paying close to the actual top marginal rate. And bear in mind that tax exempt interest doesn't even count in the AGI for these people, with it, their incomes would be higher and their effective tax rate even lower. This is why it drives me bananas when people whine about the supposedly high taxes paid by the rich. There was that golfer, Phil Mickelson, who complained that with the federal and state tax rate (in California), he was paying more than 60 percent of his income in taxes, or some such nonsense. These rich yahoos ignore (or lie) about the fact that the payroll tax only is levied on the first $100K in income, and that capital gains taxes—the source of a disproportionate share of income for those at the tippity top—is taxed at a rate much, much, lower than the marginal rate, and so on and so on. Stewart explained that in 2009 capital gains made up 46 percent of the total income for the top 400 taxpayers, which is "much higher than for most people." The top 400 received 16 percent of all the capital gains earned by Americans. Four hundred households. Think about that. As I discussed a bit more in my post Sunday, raising the top income rate to 39.6 percent as of this year will help, as will the increased Medicare taxes on higher incomes as well as the higher capital gains taxes on higher incomes (both of these last two are elements of Obamacare). The reality is that, even with these coming changes, virtually no one will be even coming close to paying that 60+ percent rate cited by Mickelson (actually, he said 62-63 percent, to get all technical and stuff), let alone 50 percent or even 40 percent, even including all federal, state, and local income and payroll taxes. When we progressives say that the rich, especially the ultra-rich, need to pay their fair share, this is what we mean.
 | | GunFAIL XLII: LAX shooter's was actually the SECOND gun fired in a U.S. airport last week Posted: 03 Nov 2013 08:25 PM PST  Ten of the 29 guns found by TSA agents this week at airports around the country. Not counting the AR-15 at LAX. Rough week this time around. Just one gun cleaning accident, thankfully. But four cops involved in accidental discharges, four home invasion shootings, six hunting accidents, two injuries caused by dropped guns, two guns that accidentally went off in the carriers' pockets, one gun forgotten and left behind in a school bathroom, and one gun accidentally fired at an airport checkpoint (not the one intentionally fired at LAX). That last incident happened at the Bismarck, North Dakota airport (where they know what they're doing with their guns). Now, one way to see this is that a forgetful fellow, who just happened to be traveling as a law-abiding citizen toting his trusty shotgun, had a little mishap in unloading the weapon so he could check it safely for the flight. But another way to look at it is that just one day before the LAX shooting, a man walked into an airport with a loaded shotgun and fired it. And this was actually a relatively slow week in terms of the number of guns found on passengers, with just 29 found. Sure, there was no intent to do any harm on the part of the gent in Bismarck. But then again, who waits until they get to the airport to unload a shotgun they want to take on an airliner with them? Two other incidents of note are illustrative of other important principles of gun safety. First, from Anchorage, Alaska, an active duty military man, leaving his base to meet his family for lunch, accidentally shot himself with his personal weapon. Much has been made of military policy on carrying weapons on-base, after the shooting incidents at Ft. Hood and at the Washington Navy Yard, for instance. But this story tells us a little something about why the military prefers that even well-trained active duty personnel not carry weapons unnecessarily. Because this guy's leg is perfectly fine and hole-free so long as the military's policy governs his behavior. But as soon as he walks outside the gates and exercises Teh Freedomz, POW! The second incident reminds us once again that although gun safety training for children is thought to reduce the number and frequency of accidents, it is not magic. The father of the 12-year-old boy tragically lost in Pratts, Virginia, last week made a point of noting that he'd been trained in gun safety. We don't know all the details of how this accident happened, of course. But we know it did. And we are reminded by it of the death of another young child in central Virginia in late May, a 10-year-old girl accidentally shot by her 13-year-old brother, also described as having been trained in gun safety. The child victims of GunFAIL were, unfortunately, rather more numerous this week. They were ages 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 12, 13, 15 and 17. Meanwhile, there seems to be no stopping the rash of guns found in schools, either, with weapons found this week in Oswego, Illinois; Kansas City, Kansas; Greenfield, Indiana; Gig Harbor, Washington, and; Harvey, Illinois. Below the fold, the latest compilation.  | | Health insurance for free? Millions could qualify Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:22 AM PST As many as seven million people could qualify for subsidies that would cover the entire cost of a health insurance plan under Obamacare, according to three independent estimates, as reported in The New York Times. The lowest tier of health plans on the exchanges, the Bronze plans, often come with premiums low enough to be completely covered by subsidies. But those plans might not be the best choice for many of the seven million who could get them without having pay, because of their high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. The latest analysis was conducted by McKinsey's Center for U.S. Health System Reform, whose independent research has been cited by the federal government and others. [...] The analysis found that five million to six million people who are uninsured will qualify for subsidies that will be greater than the cost of the cheapest bronze or silver plan. A million more people with individual insurance could also be eligible, according to McKinsey, although estimates of the size of the market for private individual insurance vary widely. None of the people in the analysis qualify for Medicaid. It's a good deal for healthy people or people without family obligations, maybe not such a good deal for everyone. That's why health insurers and the administration haven't been widely touting these plans—they don't want people getting into plans that will cost them nothing at the front end, but could result in high costs for them if they get ill. That's causing many people who can finally afford health insurance to make the decision very carefully. Dante Olivia Smith, a lighting designer from Manhattan, learned that federal subsidies would allow her to buy a bronze plan for $24 a month. "It was astounding," she said. "I almost started crying, and called my mom." In the end, however, she went with a silver plan for $91 a month that included dental and vision coverage. Ms. Smith, who is 30, said she opted for the more comprehensive plan because of her work, which requires her to climb ladders and use power tools. "If I had a different job, for 24 dollars a month I would have been like 'Woo-hoo!' " she said. "But the reality is, I know what my risks are in my life." So much for "rate shock." This is a far less sexy story than the tiny percentage of people losing their current plans and having to may more for new, better ones, because it's not all about how horrible the law is. It's probably not going to be all over the news like those other stories, but it is all about what this law was supposed to do: make health insurance affordable for as many people as possible.  | | Obamacare 'rate shock' victim changes her mind, calls the law a 'blessing in disguise' Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:11 PM PST Dianne Barrette, the 57-year-old Florida realtor who was paying $54 a month for a Blue Cross insurance plan that got cancelled quickly became the poster person for the "Obamacare is taking my insurance away!" campaign after CBS News ran her story, and almost just as quickly became the face of debunked Obamacare stories when Fox News' (!!!) Greta Van Susteren poked it full of holes. It's been a useful story for plenty of journalists—Erik Wemple of the Washington Post, and Nancy Metcalf of Consumer Reports—to explore what's really going on with Obamacare, "rate shock," and people losing their junk insurance. After all that follow-up, The New Republic's Jonathon Cohn did some of his own calculations, exploring the plans that were available in Florida and her likely subsidy qualification. He was limited to the information about Barrette that was publicly available and by the fact that Florida is using the federal site and he couldn't really get on it and dig around. Nonetheless, using what information is available, he found quite a few options for real health insurance that weren't prohibitively expensive. He followed up with Barrette to see what all this new information meant to her, and what she now thinks about Obamacare. In a nutshell, she says, "it's a blessing in disguise."
When I gave her a broad description of the plans available, she seemed interested. I noted that she'd be paying $100 or $150 extra a month for policies that still had high cost-sharing, so that she would still be a lot of money out of her own pocket. (I also made very clear that I'm not an insurance agent or broker—that, when she finally goes shopping for insurance, she should talk to a real expert for advice.) Here was her response: "I would jump at it," she said. "With my age, things can happen. I don't want to have bills that could make me bankrupt. I don't want to lose my house." Barrette can't be sure until she sees the numbers for herself. And so far she hasn't been able to do so, thanks to the technological problems at healthcare.gov. But as she's become more aware of her options, she said, she's no longer aghast at losing her plan—and curious to see what alternatives are available. "Maybe," she told me, "it's a blessing in disguise." Barrette was used by CBS, plain and simple. They wanted a horror story about Obamacare and they found one that seemed to fit the bill, at least on the surface. But the real story is now out, and as a result Barrette knows what her options are and is optimistic about them. CBS hasn't done a follow up story on this, much to their detriment, but perhaps all of the debunking that's been done on this story will make the traditional media a little more reality-based when they approach Obamacare stories going forward.  | | Maine candidate for governor: Yes, I am gay. 'But why should it matter?' Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:00 PM PST In Maine, Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud is running for governor. He's decided to respond to opponent-peddled rumors that he's gay in the most public way possible, by penning an op-ed that says yep. So I wasn't surprised to learn about the whisper campaigns, insinuations and push-polls some of the people opposed to my candidacy have been using to raise questions about my personal life. They want people to question whether I am gay. Allow me to save them the trouble with a simple, honest answer: "Yes, I am. But why should it matter?" […] I write this now merely to let my opponents and the outside interests who fund them know that I am not ashamed of who I am. And if seeing someone from my background, in my position, openly acknowledge the fact that he's gay makes it a little bit easier for future generations to live their lives openly and without fear, all the better. Michaud is running against incumbent Paul LePage, who has a history of colorful statements and actions as governor. While Michaud did not directly accuse the LePage campaign of involvement with the "whisper campaigns," it would not be out of character. I can't help but think his conservative opponents badly misjudged the times in which we live. They tried to peddle the notion that Michaud was gay: Michaud announced that he was. So … what now? Are they going to make something of it? In 2013? Really? Michaud has already demonstrated his own character; it will be interesting to see how his opponents respond. If they're wise, they won't. But Paul LePage, in particular, has never, ever been considered to be a wise man.  | | ENDA moves forward in Senate, 61-30 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:35 PM PST As expected, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act cleared its first procedural vote in the Senate early Monday evening. The vote was 61 to 30, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Mark Kirk, Orrin Hatch, Dean Heller, Kelly Ayotte, Rob Portman and Pat Toomey voting in favor. Kirk made his first floor speech since his 2012 stroke in support of ENDA, saying, "I think it's particularly appropriate for an Illinois Republican to speak on behalf of this measure in the true tradition of Everett McKinley Dirksen and Abraham Lincoln, the men who gave us the 1964 civil rights act and the thirteenth amendment to the constitution." No Republican spoke against the measure, but an overwhelming majority of Republicans voted against it while every Democrat was in support. The Senate can now move forward to a simple majority vote on a bill that a majority of Americans not only support but already think is law, prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. ENDA's fate in the House is much less clear, with Speaker John Boehner, who will decide if it even gets a vote, opposing the bill because it might provoke frivolous lawsuits and cost jobs he's afraid of the hard-right extremists in his caucus and not exactly a champion of equality himself.  | | Republican civil war rages on. Could both sides please lose already? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST 
The NRSC is organizing a boycott of the GOP ad firm that made this anti-McConnell ad The Senate GOP's campaign arm is organizing a boycott of an ad firm that works with the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF), because SCF supports primary challenges against incumbent Senate Republicans—including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "We're not going to do business with people who profit off of attacking Republicans," said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the committee. "Purity for profit is a disease that threatens the Republican Party." The committee has conveyed the same message, privately, to 2014 Senate candidates, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee (the senatorial committee's House counterpart), the Republican Governors Association and Mike DuHaime, the chief strategist for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, for whom Jamestown also does work. More on the Republican civil war below the fold.  | | Sen. Rand Paul, plagiarist, wants to challenge accusers to a duel ... but he won't Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:53 AM PST  Oooooops. It looks like Sen. Rand Paul does indeed have a plagiarism problem: An entire section of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's 2013 book Government Bullies was copied wholesale from a 2003 case study by the Heritage Foundation, BuzzFeed has learned. The copied section, 1,318 words, is by far the most significant instance reported so far of Paul borrowing language from other published material. […] In this case, Paul included a link to the Heritage case study in the book's footnotes, though he made no effort to indicate that not just the source, but the words themselves, had been taken from Heritage. Lifting over a thousand words—three full pages of text—for your own book? Yeah, that ain't copying a few phrases from Wikipedia no more. That's a double-barreled cut-n-paste. Presumably, when some poor delusional sucker out there is out to buy a book featuring the deep wisdom of Rand Paul, they're looking for the deep wisdom of Rand Paul, not the deep wisdom of the Heritage Foundation lifted wholesale because Rand Paul was too damn lazy to retype anything himself and had way too many pages left to fill. In another instance in the book, several sentences appeared similar to a report by a senior fellow at the Cato Institute Mark Moller in the National Wetlands Newsletter. Moller said he had not given anyone permission to reprint any parts of his article. Damn, this thing was apparently quite the (unintentional) group effort. Sen. Paul, for his part, is responding in the only fashion the Paul family has ever learned: by turning the batshit knob to eleven and threatening to duel people who bring it up:
"[I] take it as an insult and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting. I have never intentionally done so." He continued, "And like I say, if, you know, if dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, you know, it would be a duel challenge. But I can't do that, because I can't hold office in Kentucky then." I can actually envision Sen. Rand Paul pacing off with reporters with old-timey pistols, ready to defend his honor over the matter of whether or not he's allowed to lift entire pages of other people's work and pass it off as his own. I really, truly can.  | | What will House Republicans who voted for ENDA in 2007 do in 2013? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:51 PM PST  Well, Paul? The Senate is set to hold a first vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act late Monday afternoon, and is ultimately expected to pass the bill with several Republican votes. But in the House, Republicans seem dead set against the bill prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. No surprise, right? Except it kind of is: Back in 2007, both Rep. Paul Ryan and the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Greg Walden, voted for ENDA.
What's more, as late as 2010, when the measure was being debated again, both Ryan and Walden were sticking up for the basic principle at the heart of ENDA. Said Ryan: "I think ENDA's the right thing to do." Said Walden: "I don't believe in discrimination in the workplace." In fairness, in those same interviews, both Ryan and Walden opposed the inclusion of protections for transgendered Americans. And that protection is in the current version set to pass the Senate. But Boehner's statement grounds House GOP opposition to today's version of ENDA in the notion that it will lead to frivolous lawsuits and kill jobs, not in transgender protections. Let's face it, if you "don't believe in discrimination in the workplace," allowing it to continue for gay people because you actually do believe in discrimination in the workplace when it comes to transgender people is a position that will make very few people happy. But, as noted, transgender protections aren't what Republicans are talking about. They're talking about religious liberty, despite a very broad religious exemption in the current version of ENDA. They're talking about all those frivolous lawsuits that might happen, even though they haven't happened in the states that already have ENDA-like laws. (To say nothing of the idea that it's somehow frivolous to sue because you lost your job not because of how well you did your job but because of sexual or gender identity.) But transgender protections? Many Republicans oppose them, just as some congressional Republicans doubtless do think it's just fine to fire someone for being gay, but they're notably not running around bragging about it. So will Ryan and Walden pressure Boehner to allow a House vote on ENDA? Or will they confirm once again that their party has become ever more extremist in recent years?  | | Former House Speaker Jim Wright latest to run afoul of Texas 'voter ID' law Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:45 PM PST When your Republican-pushed "voter ID" law is snagging people like the former speaker of the House, you may have a problem a bit bigger than actual voter fraud ever was: Former House Speaker Jim Wright was denied a voter ID card Saturday at a Texas Department of Public Safety office. "Nobody was ugly to us, but they insisted that they wouldn't give me an ID," Wright said. Wright, who is now 90, had only an expired driver's license and a Texas Christian University faculty ID, neither of which were good enough to prove to the nice state of Texas that he was not just some other person pretending to be Jim Wright, former Speaker of the Freaking House. (A gun permit, mind you, would have been acceptable.) And while Jim Wright is a former speaker of the Freaking House and therefore has an assistant available to help him jump through the next necessary hoops (obtaining a certified copy of his birth certificate, re-applying at the DPS to obtain the necessary new identification), there are hundreds of thousands of Texans who weren't and don't and can't. No worries, though: Tarrant County Elections Administrator Steve Raborn said Saturday that people who might find themselves in a similar situation should cast a provisional ballot and obtain identification needed to "cure" it within six days. […] Raborn's office reached out to people who might have expired driver licenses, such as those who live in nursing homes, to let them know that the license can be expired by no more than two months to be a valid photo ID for voting. […] They must have proof of citizenship, such as a passport or certified copy of a birth certificate. If a person doesn't have a certified copy of a birth certificate, he or she can go to the Tarrant County clerk's office and get a certified copy for $3 if it is for the purpose of getting an EIC. Along with the birth certificate, people need to show two other pieces of identification — such as a driver license expired less than two years, a voter registration card, school records, military records or a Social Security card — to get the EIC. Raise your hand if you think Americans in nursing homes are going to be able to do all that in the six days necessary in order to get their already-cast ballot to "count." It'd be easier to just get the damn handgun license. (Note to self: Arm all Texas nursing home residents. That'll make the nurses' jobs a hell of a lot more interesting.) And this doesn't even count the requirement that your current ID match the name in the polling book, a so-called "accidental" effect of the law that just happens to primarily impact married women who have changed their names, or the difficulty in visiting a state office that does not have offices in all state counties. Given that Texas has had recent outbreaks of voter fraud approximately never, there's no question that the new law is intended almost exclusively as a vehicle for disenfranchisement. It's nabbed the former speaker of the house, and it's nabbed gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, and it's expected to nab as many as 800,000 other legitimate Texas voters. It's a poll tax, plain and simple. Republicans have been trying to keep certain people from voting for decades, i.e. people who might not vote the right way, and it's not exactly coincidence that the recent Supreme Court decision pooh-poohing the notion that such things happen these days has resulted in an orgy of new Republican laws aimed squarely at making it happen.
 | | Midday open thread: Doctors, equality and gay bars Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST - Today's comic by Tom Tomorrow is Doctor Hand:
- What you missed on Sunday Kos ...
- The country doesn't like Republicans? Well, Republicans don't like the country either, by Dante Atkins
- Anti-racism is not 'anti-white', no matter what Republicans say, by Denise Oliver Velez
- For Obama to claim some credibility on the NSA spying scandal, Alexander and Clapper must go, by Laurence Lewis
- Obama has done nothing to address income inequality. Right, by Ian Reifowitz
- Makers Versus Takers, We Must Get The Narrative Right, by Egberto Willies
- No water, no life, by VL Baker
- Our networks don't always work so well, by DarkSyde
- The times, they are a changin':
A gay couple became the first men to marry each other West Point yesterday. Larry Choate III and Daniel Lennox, both graduates of storied military academy, married Saturday at the U.S. Military Academy's famed Gothic Cadet Chapel. - Debunking myths about people struggling to survive:
A new survey of panhandlers in downtown San Francisco dispels a number of myths that society propagates about homeless people. Conventional wisdom is that those on the sidewalk asking for a dollar are lazy freeloaders who will use the money for alcohol or drugs. Some even think that beggars are living large off of handouts, such as Fox News' John Stossel, who has bravely used his television perch to take on beggars. "I had heard that some people beg for a living and make big bucks — $80,000 a year in some cases," Stossel told Fox & Friends. "You really shouldn't give to these street people," Stossel concluded. "You are really supporting alcoholism and drug problems." [...] They found that, for the vast majority of beggars, Stossel's view was simply not true.
In San Francisco's Union Square, the typical panhandler is a disabled middle-aged single male who is a racial minority and makes less than $25 per day despite panhandling seven days a week for more than five years. Though Stossel was insistent that panhandlers just use the money for beer and pot, the majority of those surveyed did not. In fact, 94 percent used the meager funds they raised for food. - They should be so proud:
Last spring, Pat "PJ" Newton applied for a local business license to open a bar and cafe in Shannon, Miss., two hours away from her Memphis, Tenn., home. A few weeks later, at the mayor's request, she attended a meeting at the Shannon town hall ... A man in the back stood and held up a petition signed by nearly 200 residents. "We don't want another bar here in the town," Newton remembers him saying. The petition declared that the bar would offer "no benefits or enhancements to the citizens of the Town of Shannon." At the end of the meeting, the town's aldermen voted 4 to 1 to reject Newton's application ... "The children will be influenced," one man said, according to the meeting minutes. One woman said her son practiced soccer in a nearby field. "I don't want my son playing soccer anywhere near the bar," she said, according to Newton. [...] Although some people at the town hall meeting said they simply didn't want another bar in town, no matter the sexual identity of its patrons, several residents who signed the petition presented that night confirmed to The Huffington Post that they did so because they knew the bar would cater to gays. One 80-year-old resident, Betty Scott, put it bluntly: "I'm anti-gay." - Jimmy, back in the day:
"That's the closest I've come to getting into a fist fight with a head of state." -- Jimmy Carter, quoted by the South Africa Sunday Times, saying he "almost got in a fight with the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, because he was refusing to let Aids be treated." - From the weird files:
A small alligator found under an escalator at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has left authorities puzzled. A maintenance worker discovered the alligator, which is about a foot long, on Friday in Terminal 3, Chicago Police spokesman Jose Estrada said Sunday. An officer captured the reptile by putting a trash can over it. ''We don't know where it came from or how long it'd been residing in the airport facilities,'' Estrada said. ''It's one of those random incidents.'' - We're in classic mode once again for today's Kagro in the Morning show, with a pre-2012 election/post-Sandy episode, featuring polling & punditry roundups with a storm-impacted Greg Dworkin. We discussed Chris Christie's cooperation with President Obama, the strange-sounding-but-explainable call of "toss-up" for OH, the punditry's ongoing love affair with "The Narrative," and Republicans' clinging to "The Math." But is "The Math" really just code for "we're cheating"? Plus, more on the astonishing idiocy of attacks on Nate Silver, and Dick Morris has finally written The Dumbest Thing Ever.
  | | Romney 'cackled' at sight of 'Pufferfish' Christie without suit jacket Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:54 AM PST Another nugget about Mitt Romney's vice presidential selection process from the latest installment of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's "Game Change" franchise, excerpted over the weekend in TIME: Punctuality mattered to Romney. Christie's lateness bugged him. Mitt also cared about fitness and was prone to poke fun at those who didn't. ("Oh, there's your date for tonight," he would say to male members of his traveling crew when they spied a chunky lady on the street.) Romney marveled at Christie's girth, his difficulties in making his way down the narrow aisle of the campaign bus. Watching a video of Christie without his suit jacket on, Romney cackled to his aides, "Guys! Look at that!" According to Halperin and Heilemann, Romney's decision to pass over Christie—who was given the code name "Pufferfish" by the campaign—went beyond childish giggling, however. The list of questions Myers and her team had for Christie was extensive and troubling. More than once, Myers reported back that Trenton's response was, in effect, Why do we need to give you that piece of information? Myers told her team, We have to assume if they're not answering, it's because the answer is bad. The vetters were stunned by the garish controversies lurking in the shadows of his record. Among them: A DOJ investigation into Christie's enormous expensive reports as U.S. attorney, his work as a lobbyist for a financial industry group in which Bernie Madoff was top official, whether or not his household staff had been properly documented, and his awarding of contracts to political allies. As a result, even Christie's fans within Romneyland decided he had so many liabilities he could not have survived the GOP primary, let alone a vice presidential nomination, so their selection process moved forward. With Pufferfish out of the mix, Halperin and Heilemann write, "the choice that now seemed inevitable" was Paul Ryan. And what was it that drew Mitt to Ryan?
Beyond all the political pros and cons, Romney felt comfortable with Paul. He reminded Mitt of junior partners he used to work with at Bain: eager, earnest, solicitous, smart and not at all threatening. So Mitt Romney wasn't picking a vice president of the United States. He was picking a vice president of an investment fund. And he got what he wanted, and perhaps someone to jog with.  | | Dianne Feinstein releases 'reform' bill that codifies the worst NSA abuses Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:20 AM PST The sweeping surveillance programs the NSA has used to spy on Americans outside the bounds of existing laws would be officially authorized under new legislation from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, passed out of the Intelligence committee last week. Feinstein calls this a "reform," but what it would actually do is make legal all of the abuses uncovered by Edward Snowden's leaks, codifying the NSA's collection of all of our phone records—a massive setback for privacy rights. Privacy experts say that the FISA Improvements Act, which passed 11-4, codifies current surveillance practices instead of fixing the law to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans: "This was an opportunity for Congress to really recalibrate the statute, and it's very disappointing that they've used this opportunity to cement domestic spying programs instead," says Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel for the ACLU. The primary focus of the bill is Section 215 of FISA. This is the part of the law that provides the legal justification for the bulk collection of the telephone metadata of Americans, including phone numbers and the date and duration of calls (but not the content of those conversations). While the bill's language amends the statute to prevent the NSA from hoovering up phone metadata en masse, it provides gaping loopholes that could allow the agency to continue with its bulk collection practices as usual, such as if there's a "reasonable articulable suspicion" that an investigation is related to international terrorism. The legislation also makes it legal for the government to collect and search records that are three "hops" from a target who is suspected of terrorism—in other words, a suspect, all of that suspect's contacts, and all of their contacts. The bill makes only surface fixes and "absolutely allows for the kind of collection that is already happening right now," according to Amie Stepanovich, the director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's (EPIC) Domestic Surveillance Project. The legislation would also expand the NSA's surveillance powers, giving it new authority to tap the cell phones of non-Americans believed to be living outside of the U.S., but who enter the country. The NSA would have 72 hours to track these cell phones. It would also impose a 10-year prison sentence on any unauthorized person who accesses NSA information, a Snowden penalty, basically. Feinstein's bill has a few weak reforms, mostly dealing with the FISA court, allowing it to hear amicus briefs in certain cases (though it already does have that authority and has used it on some occasions) and authorizes a report from the Court to Congress about its decisions. That's not a release of decisions, but rather a report on decision. This isn't reform. This is about as bad the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 which retroactively legalized warrantless wiretapping and gave all the telecomms who helped conduct it retroactive immunity. It's an attempt to sweep all of the abuses recently brought to light under the rug of legality. The icing on this Feinstein cake is that all of the committee meetings about this bill, indeed the committee meeting in which it was passed, were conducted in secret. Ironic for a bill that Feinstein says is intended to increase transparency in surveillance programs. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has been working with Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) on legislation also introduced last week that does include real reform. It would end the bulk collection of data, require the government obtain court orders before it could use the information collected on Americans, create transparency allowing communications providers to disclose information about the orders they've received from the NSA, make FISA court orders since 2003 public, and create a public advocate for the FISA Court. Feinstein has vowed to kill this actual reform legislation.
 | | Lindsey Graham steals a page from Ted Cruz's playbook Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:45 AM PST Sen. Lindsey Graham isn't just Sen. John McCain's favorite sidekick—he also likes to fashion himself as a "reasonable Republican," unlike lunatics such as Sen. Ted Cruz. But Graham is facing multiple tea party challengers in the South Carolina GOP's U.S. Senate primary next year, and there's only so much sanity the tea party can handle, therefore: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham reiterated his pledge to block all of Obama's nominees for executive branch positions until Congress is allowed to hear testimony from those on the ground during the Benghazi terrorist attacks in 2012. "I shouldn't have to do this – to make these threats," he said on "Fox News Sunday." Actually, Graham doesn't have to make those threats. Not only have many of the Benghazi survivors already testified, several more are scheduled to testify later this month. If Graham has a reason to believe that isn't enough, he should make his case, but that's not what he's doing: He's simply copying Ted Cruz's shutdown tactic, and applying it to nominations. Moreover, Graham isn't even convinced that his tactics will work. In his words:
"The only way this will work is if my GOP colleagues get behind me and Democrats too and support my request to find out exactly what happened," he said. That's exactly the same thing that Ted Cruz said about the government shutdown. Instead of making an argument on the merits, Cruz decided to write a ransom note. Cruz didn't get what he wanted, but along the way he managed to make a lot of people suffer. Graham's actions are taking place on a smaller playing field, but as a tactic, blocking the president's ability to nominate senior members of his administration is exactly the same. If Graham wants to fend off his tea party challengers by concocting Benghazi conspiracy theories, that's one thing. But he shouldn't make the rest of the country suffer just so he can gain a political edge.  | | Southern National Guards defying Hagel order to recognize same-sex military spouses Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:21 AM PST National Guard leaders in several southern states continue to be hellbent on being bigoted in defiance not just of Defense Department policy but of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's explicit order that they issue military spouse IDs to same-sex military spouses. After the Supreme Court's decision striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act led the Defense Department to say it would recognize same-sex marriages, a few states looked for ways to make it difficult for couples to get that recognition. Ways like forcing them to drive hours to bases located on federal land, rather than issuing the IDs at state facilities. Last week, Hagel let the National Guards of nine states— Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Indiana—know that equality isn't optional, ordering them to recognize same-sex military spouses. So far, only Indiana has complied. South Carolina is taking the approach of making things harder for everyone, forcing all National Guard spouses to go to federal bases to get their IDs. The states refusing to comply with Hagel's order point to state laws against marriage equality. But John Aravosis points out:
... there's a little known fact that the National Guard, while split in its administration between the states and the federal government, tends to get the lion's share of its funding from the feds. Take Mississippi (please). The Mississippi National Guard annual report for fiscal year 2011 shows that the state of Mississippi appropriated almost $7.8 million for the state National Guard. In that same year, the federal government gave the Mississippi National Guard $679 million. In 2012, the figures were similar: $685 million from the feds, $7.2 million from the state of Mississippi. [...] Things get awfully interesting when you've got federal money mixed in with state money, as it's against federal law - as set by the US Supreme Court – to use federal money to deny federal benefits in any way to married gay couples. It's all well and good for states like Mississippi to pretend that the National Guard is "theirs," but when the feds are paying 99% of the tab, legally the Mississippi National Guard belongs to Uncle Sam. As for the Mississippi constitution and the other state constitutions banning gay marriage, the US Constitution trumps any of their documents, individually or collectively. But apparently for some states, it's not enough to have gone down in history on the wrong side of segregation. Now they have to make a stand on the wrong side of history—and the law—once again.  | | The other side of 'rate shock': Health insurers mislead customers on Obamacare Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:07 AM PST There's been a lot of media focus on people who have been getting letters from their health insurance companies telling them that their plans are being cancelled and they'll have to pay a lot more for the equivalent plan that the insurer will happily roll them into. What's missing in at least some of these letters, a new TPM investigation finds, is that the customer has many more choices and might be eligible for subsidies if they shop on the new health insurance exchange. Some of the letters don't even mention that there is a health insurance exchange. One of the people featured is Donna, a 56-year-old Seattle resident with a 57-year-old husband and 15-year-old daughter. Her insurer, LifeWise of Washington, sent her a letter that said nothing about the exchange, telling her she'd be rolled into a new plan that would cost her about $300 more a month. Donna knew about the new marketplace, so she shopped there, and found a plan that would save her family more than $1,000 a month with her subsidy. Donna knew about the exchange and was able to shop around. Some of these health insurers are banking on finding customers who aren't as knowledgable, and will take the bad deal offered to them.
TPM has confirmed two specific examples where companies contacted their customers prior to the marketplace's Oct. 1 opening and pushed them to renew their health coverage at a higher price than they would pay through the marketplace. State regulators identified the schemes, but they weren't necessarily able to stop them. It's not yet clear how widespread this practice became in the months leading up to the marketplace's opening -- or how many Americans will end up paying more than they should be for health coverage. But misleading letters have been sent out in at least four states across the country, and one offending carrier, Humana, is a company with a national reach. Those four states are Washington, Colorado, Kentucky and Missouri, but those probably aren't the only states. In the case of Donna, the insurer told TPM that their "experience is that our customers are already aware that they have other options in the market and that we've never had to tell them in the past that we have competitor." What he's not saying that his own company had a plan that would have offered Donna a much better deal on the marketplace, but that here was an opportunity to try to dupe the customer in to a more expensive one. In Kentucky, Humana did dupe 2,200 people into taking that bad deal, but a proactive insurance commissioner heard about the scam and put an end to it. The result was that those 2,200 were released from their obligation to Humana, and allowed to shop on the exchange for a better deal. They also gave Humana a whopping $65,000 fine for misleading practices. That's what happens when there's an insurance commissioner who is proactive and in a state that is trying to make Obamacare work. In the 36 states that didn't set up their own exchanges, where state government is hostile to Obamacare, who knows how many people are being taken in by their insurers?  | | Did John Boehner just say equal rights are 'frivolous'? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:18 AM PST With Senate passage basically assured, some Democrats have been hoping to run the same playbook on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that got the Violence Against Women Act through the Republican-controlled House. As Nancy Pelosi describes how the VAWA fight went, "We made it too hot to handle in the public ... It had to come to the floor." ENDA will have to be white hot, though, given this:
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) affirmed on Monday morning that he would oppose a law that would prohibit discrimination against gay and lesbian employees in the workplace, citing the possibility that it would put a financial burden on businesses. "The Speaker believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost American jobs, especially small business jobs," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in a statement. The facts show that the Speaker's beliefs on this front are wrong—Sen. Rob Portman cited the lack of lawsuits in states that have laws against anti-gay workplace discrimination as one of his reasons for supporting ENDA and, as President Obama noted in his pro-ENDA op-ed, a majority of Fortune 500 companies have nondiscrimination policies—but we know how Republicans are with their beliefs. This gets to a fundamental distinction between VAWA and ENDA: Republicans had to at least pretend to be opposed to violence against women and quibble around the edges of which women should be protected and how strongly. They're a lot more comfortable just saying no when it comes to LGBT people—in fact, LGBT people were one of the groups House Republicans were trying to get excluded from VAWA protections. Still, Pelosi is right: The only hope for passing ENDA through this Congress is making it too hot to handle and forcing Boehner to let it come to the floor for a vote with a majority of Republicans opposing it. The other hope, of course, is taking back the House.  | | Doctor Hand Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:50 AM PST 
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 | | Obama: We need ENDA because 'We need to harness the creativity and talents of every American' Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:23 AM PST Not content with just releasing one of those dry statements of administration policy on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, President Barack Obama went to Huffington Post to make the case that workplace discrimination hurts us, and banning it is the right thing to do:
Americans ought to be judged by one thing only in their workplaces: their ability to get their jobs done. Does it make a difference if the firefighter who rescues you is gay—or the accountant who does your taxes, or the mechanic who fixes your car? If someone works hard every day, does everything he or she is asked, is responsible and trustworthy and a good colleague, that's all that should matter. Business agrees. The majority of Fortune 500 companies and small businesses already have nondiscrimination policies that protect LGBT employees. These companies know that it's both the right thing to do and makes good economic sense. They want to attract and retain the best workers, and discrimination makes it harder to do that. So too with our nation. If we want to create more jobs and economic growth and keep our country competitive in the global economy, we need everyone working hard, contributing their ideas, and putting their abilities to use doing what they do best. We need to harness the creativity and talents of every American. The Senate is scheduled to hold its first vote on ENDA late Monday afternoon, and is very close to the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster. If it passes the Senate, though, John Boehner will need to face serious, serious pressure if ENDA is ever going to get a vote in the House. 6:30 AM PT: ENDA has picked up its 60th Senate supporter:
 | | Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Mitch McConnell declares war on the Senate Conservatives Fund Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST  Want the scoop on hot races around the country? Get the digest emailed to you each weekday morning. Sign up here. : • NRSC: Talk about Republicans in disarray. The NRSC has warned Republican advertising firm Jamestown Associates that they won't get any more business from the committee because of the work it's done on behalf of the Senate Conservatives Fund, which has targeted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky's GOP primary. What's more, the NRSC is also asking other campaigns and party organizations to boycott Jamestown as well, accusing the company of engaging in "purity for profit." Not only is it hilarious to see Republicans attacking other Republicans for wanting to make money, but predictably, at least one conservative has leapt to Jamestown's defense: Rep. Mark Sanford. (Too good, right?) SCF, of course, isn't backing down, and even if Jamestown were to cave, someone else will take their money. You really should click through for some of the delicious, juicy quotes, though, like SCF calling McConnell "a power-hungry bully who isn't getting his way" and McConnell's camp firing back that the SCF "has been wandering around the country destroying the Republican Party like a drunk who tears up every bar they walk into." Good times!  | | Daily Kos Radio is NOT LIVE, but just as fun, at 9am ET! Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:30 AM PST
Daily Kos Radio's Kagro in the Morning show podcasts are now available through iTunes. It's another Encore Presentation of a Classic KITM podcast, in which we're pre-2012 election, and post-Superstorm Sandy. Mitt Romney's about to lose, Nate Silver's under attack but about to be vindicated, and Dick Morris goes batshit insane. We're LIVE ON TAPE (except there's no tape, actually) at 9:00 a.m. ET with Kagro in the Morning, thanks to NetrootsRadio.com. Listen LIVE here: The Daily Kos Radio Player Click this Link to Listen on your iTunes, Winamp or Windows Media Player Can't see the live stream and/or podcast players in these posts? Do you use NoScript or something similar to control Javascript? Want to? Remember to enable Libsyn and Shoutcastplayer, and you'll see our players every morning! Or if you prefer, why not download the Stitcher app on your favorite mobile device, and search for the Netroots Radio live stream? And hey, when you do, be sure to sign up with the promo code DAILYKOS, and earn Daily Kos Radio $1 in the Stitcher affiliate program! Please do remember to "favorite" us while you're at Stitcher. We're bouncing up and down in the rankings these days, and the more of you who help us, the more listeners out there who'll find us on the Stitcher network. Miss our last show? You can catch it here: Need more info on how to listen? Find it below the fold.  | You are subscribed to email updates from Daily Kos
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Researching Your Market To Identify Needs, The “Why Train” Technique And The 90/10 Rule For Content Vs Sales
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MSDN Blogs - MSDN Blogs
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST
| MSDN Blogs - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Learn more about the MSDN Blog Platform at the MSDN Blogs - Help blog! Provide Site Feedback on MSDN Blogs | | Blogs - ASP.NET Weblogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST In this talk that I gave last June for Orchard Harvest in Amsterdam, I showed, in no particular order, my favorite Orchard features, tricks, and modules. | | Blogs : The Official Microsoft IIS Site Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Read or subscribe to IIS blogs. Bill Staple's blog and other Microsoft IIS team blogs. | | Developer Tools Blogs - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Search this blog Search all blogs. Related resources. Visual Studio Developer Center Visual Studio Product Website; Buy an MSDN Subscription; | | .NET Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST The .NET blog (AKA: dotnet blog) discusses new features in the .NET Framework and important issues for .NET developers. | | MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST In case you are capable of the German language, Christian Binder has posted an interview with me taken during TechED 2009 in Berlin, and we augmented it with an ... | | MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST This morning, Mozilla shared their feelings on IE9 with a post that claims to answer the question, "Is IE9 a modern browser?" While they grudgingly concede that ... | | MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST To follow up on our announcement of releasing Rx 2.1 , we'd like to let you know what changed in this release. We have updated the Reactive Extensions for .NET ... | | The Silverlight Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Silverlight Show: Windows 8 and the future of XAML Part 7: The application lifecycle of Windows 8 applications | | Terry Zink's Cyber Security Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST A blog about fighting spam and malware by a member of Microsoft Forefront Online Security anti-spam team | | Windows PowerShell Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST This post is a part of the nine-part " What's New in Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 " series that is featured on Brad Anderson's In the Cloud blog. | | Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Official Microsoft Developer Network blog providing the latest news and information about the operating system. | | MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST My name is Jeff Cardon. I'm a member of the Microsoft OneNote team and I'd like to share some of the tips and tricks that are available in this fantastic product. | | Matt Harrington - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Office hours: in-person help for US developers working on Windows 8 and Windows Phone apps | | IEBlog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Microsoft corporate weblog about the IE browser. | | Official T4 team blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST T4 stands for Text Template Transformation Toolkit and is Microsoft's template based text generation framework included with Visual Studio. | | The Old New Thing - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST I dreamed that I arrived at my polling station just before it closed, but the ballot was not what I expected. Instead of voting on political candidates or referenda ... | | MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Jensen Harris' blog about the Microsoft Office user interface | | MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST We're putting this blog (Data Access blog) into suspended animation. That doesn't mean we will stop blogging about ADO.NET and data access stuff, or that we'll take ... | | MSDN Blogs Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:08 AM PST Microsoft Dynamics CRM Team & MVP Blog ... In the CRM 2013 release, significant improvements are made in the way forms are loaded in the browser. | You are subscribed to email updates from Search Msdn
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Marketing analytics: Combining the what with the why
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:07 AM PST
| Marketing analytics: Combining the what with the why Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:31 AM PST This is part two of a series. Read part one. Hopefully we all know a little about marketing analytics, at least on the periphery, so I would like to delve deeper into the analytics process. First, let me start with a little history. For a long time, companies simply spent money on websites and online marketing because everyone else was doing it. Since then, the Web has really “grown up”as a vehicle, and people are realizing that we need to be held accountable, just as with other vehicles (TV, radio, print, etc.). If you are still living in the traditional world of Web analytics, you are looking at page views, hits, click-thru rate, bounce rate, etc. — sounds good right? The problem is these KPIs (key performance indicators) actually tell you very little. They tell the what but not the why. They aren’t specific to a particular industry. So if these analytics aren't giving us the full picture, then what will? Today we are seeing Web analysts use what we call KIA (key insights analytics). As the name suggests, it's the insights that are important. For example, if you have an e-commerce site, you can see through analytics how much shopping cart abandonment there was, but this still doesn't tell why the user did not complete the sale. Only by combining the what and why will you fully understand the effectiveness of your website or marketing efforts. As another example, consider direct-mail pieces, print advertisements or e-mail blasts. Hopefully you are doing at least some of these. Now, I suspect you not only have your website address on the ad, but your phone number. To track the efforts of people going to your website to, say, make a reservation or redeem a coupon, people typically send them to their home page. This make the effort impossible to track. So a better solution is to try setting up a separate landing page that you only use for that particular ad. This way, you can at least see how the ad performed in driving traffic to your site. Now for the phone number. Do you tell your staff to ask how a customer heard about you? This is better than nothing, but you are at the mercy of your staff to document and report this to you. A much better way is to use a third party vendor, that will set up a special number for you to place on your advertisements. What happens is when the prospective client calls, the call is routed seamlessly through their system and tracking software then to your number. Now you have a clear picture of the ads effectiveness. So back to KIAs. How can KIAs help us understand the whys? Many marketers will tell you the quantitative data is important (raw numbers), but in reality the qualitative data is critically important. It can get us substantially closer to understanding the why. This qualitative data helps us peek into the mind of the customer. Combining the what (quantitative) with the why (qualitative) can be exponentially powerful. Here are some examples of qualitative date: Customer satisfaction, opinion tracking and visitor engagement (think social media). Examples of these methodologies would be experimental or A/B split testing. Surveys, usability testing, site heat-map overlays and behavioral analysis. You can infer someone's intent, but sometimes two people might look at the same set of data and clicks and form two different opinions. Because of this, I like to use with clients is called outcome analysis or also called the what element. People get so bogged down with quantitative analysis, they forget at the end of the day, the real question is, "So what happened, what was the outcome?" As you can see, this can be a very complicated process, filled with many landmines. If your marketing agency is simply giving you quantitative data like bounce rates, the question always comes back to why, as why is my bounce rate so high? Paul Beaulieu is president of Harrison Marketing. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Harrison Marketing operates as a market consulting and design firm. Harrison Marketing assists organizations in creating awareness, visibility and revenue through media planning, website development — including mobile sites and mobile loyalty programs — social media, content management, business development and consulting services. Beaulieu is also an adjunct professor at Stratford University, where he teaches culinary arts and ServSafe, sales and marketing, and accounting and finance. He may be reached at 443-690-7400 or pbea...@harrisonmarketingmd.com.
Related Posts: Marketing analytics: Combining the what with the why originally published by SmartBlogs | You are subscribed to email updates from SmartBlogs » Social Media
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Turtle Beach i30 and i60 headsets aim at Mac and iOS devices
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:07 AM PST
| Turtle Beach i30 and i60 headsets aim at Mac and iOS devices Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:01 AM PST Turtle Beach has pulled the wraps off a pair of new headsets designed specifically for use with Apple products. The headsets include the i30 and the i60 designed to be used with Mac computers and iOS devices. These two headsets bring many of the features Turtle Beach is famous for in its gaming headsets to […] | | Philips hue adds BR30 and GU10 bulbs plus Disney StoryLight Posted: 05 Nov 2013 12:00 AM PST Philips promised more focused lighting options for the holidays as part of its hue wireless bulb range, and the company has delivered, revealing not only two new bulb types, but a tie-in with Disney that integrates special Mickey-themed lamps with interactive story books. The hue BR30 is headed to the US first, targeting the popular […] | | Philips hue BR30 Review Posted: 05 Nov 2013 12:00 AM PST Philips’ hue range of wireless lights has come a long way from its ZigBee beginnings, but it’s the new BR30 downlight bulbs that the Dutch company expects to really crack the US market. Still packing the same multi-colored, Android and iOS controlled convenience for the DIY smart home, these latest hue bulbs now fit into […] | | LG G2 being offered under Android developers loaner program Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:03 PM PST LG has announced that it is expanding its Android Developers Program with a device-loaning program, giving developers a handset for free to use during the development process. The first handset to be offered under the program is the LG G2, which isn’t surprising given the push the maker has present with the new handset. Those […] | | Google Helpouts brings experts in video chats, is now live Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:07 PM PST Back in August, we talked about Google’s new Hangouts-like service called Google Helpouts, which brings subject experts to you wherever you need them via video chatting. It has been a couple months since the wraps were taken off the new service, and it is now live. The platform utilizes Google Wallet, Google Plus, and Hangouts […] | | Nikon Df unveiled as a lightweight FX-format DSLR Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:17 PM PST Calling it a “modern classic,” Nikon has unveiled its new Df DSLR camera, a retro-designed FX-format shooter being targeted towards advanced photographers who need a lightweight FX-format camera. The design is built upon the foundation left by Nikon’s F series 35mm film cameras from days gone by, and is accompanied by technologies akin to that […] | | PS Vita update 3.0 rolls out with PS4 Link Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:11 PM PST Sony has announced a new update that began rolling out for the PS Vita today, bringing the handheld’s firmware up to version 3.00. This is a big update for the gaming device, and with it comes a variety of PlayStation 4 related features, including PS4 Link for playing PS4 games on the handheld’s display. We’ve […] | | Twitter hosts political rappartee between White House and opponents Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:30 PM PST The Obama administration has been increasingly using Twitter as a way to shape news stories and public debate, often going so far as to eschew traditional channels like press releases and news conferences in favor of the social microblogging network, Reuters reports. Characterizing the White House’s Twitter activity as an “army” waging “wars” with conservatives […] | | Kepler Space Telescope data suggests up to 40 billion Goldilocks planets Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:42 PM PST A new analysis of Kepler Space Telescope data by Berkeley astronomers suggests that as many as 40 billion planets with climates similar to Earth’s may be calculated to exist in the Milky Way galaxy. Of those, 11 billion orbit stars similar to our sun. The rest of the hypothetical planets orbit red dwarf stars, which […] | | Maingear Pulse 17 gaming laptop introduced with 21mm thickness Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:41 PM PST Maingear, maker of the Pulse 11 we reported on last year, is back with its latest machine, this one boasting the special designation of world’s thinnest 17-inch gaming laptop. This machine packs many of the trimmings you’d expect from a gaming laptop, and clocks in with a weight of less than 6-pounds, something that makes […] | | Holiday Gift Ideas 2013 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:55 PM PST Halloween has come and gone, and with its passing comes the start of the holiday shopping season. Companies are preparing to launch their latest offerings in time for seasonal gift-giving, and sorting through the endless products, promotions, and special pricing for the perfect gift can be enough to make anyone’s head spin. We’ve got more […] | | Nissan Z35 to possibly fulfill 2011 Esflow concept at Tokyo Motor Show Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:42 PM PST Nissan is set to reveal a new coupe that is rumored to resemble the company’s 2011 Esflow concept car. Codenamed Z35, the new coupe is aimed at twentysomethings, Nissan executive vice president Andy Palmer told Motor Trend. It will compete with the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ. The Z35 will debut at the 2013 Tokyo […] | | Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen thinks Xbox, Bing should be dropped in favor of enterprise Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:24 PM PST Business talks about what Microsoft’s future holds have picked up extra speed in recent weeks since the announcement of Steve Ballmer’s departure and the hunt for a replacement CEO. According to various sources, the board in part has to decide what area of expertise the next CEO should have, even looking at potential candidates in […] | | NSA directorship to go civilian, report asserts Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:09 PM PST The NSA directorship might revert from a military to a civilian post, The Hill has reported. The Pentagon “has already drawn up a list of possible civilian candidates for the next NSA director,” the report said, although “no formal decision has been made yet.” The NSA directorship would relinquish authority over Cyber Command, and a […] | | Apple to build manufacturing facility and solar power grid in Mesa, Arizona Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:50 PM PST Mesa, Arizona is in for a dose of Apple-fueled economic growth, according to an announcement the state’s governor made today. Apple will be constructing a new manufacturing plant in the city, and with it will come 1300 new jobs for the construction itself and management, and 700 jobs for manufacturing once it is open. Beyond […] | | Google chairman Schmidt speaks out against NSA on data taps Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:12 PM PST Google’s executive chairman Erc Schmidt has publicly rebuked the NSA over recent revelations the US spy agency has tapped the company’s international data cables to conduct surveillance on hundreds of millions of people around the world, including most of the American Internet user base. He has registered formal complaints with the NSA and members of […] | | Nokia Lumia tablet with 8-inch display in the works Posted: 04 Nov 2013 02:54 PM PST There's another Nokia tablet in the wings, readied for a release and reveal as early as Q1 of 2013, so says sources close to the matter speaking anonymously. This next-generation will follow along closely with the machine that's being released this fall, that being the Nokia Lumia 2520. Just like what we got a hands-on […] | | Sony RX10 first-impressions [samples] Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:23 PM PST Sony has done a little recycling with the RX10 camera, but when it’s re-using the 20.2-megapixel sensor from the much-loved RX100 Mk.II we can’t complain too much. In the compact, the 1-inch Exmor R sensor targeted street photographers and those who didn’t want to necessarily sacrifice image quality despite having a camera that could fit […] | | AT&T iPad Air activations pummel last year’s launch Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:33 PM PST With the launch of the carrier-specific iPad Air comes word that Apple does not appear to be slowing with popularity of the singular iPad franchise. Today AT&T suggests that activations were “more than 200% over the past three days” when compared to “last year’s launch weekend.” To be specific, this launch weekend taking place last […] | | Valve: No “exclusive killer” games for SteamOS Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:44 AM PST Valve may be pushing its SteamOS platform for gaming-centric Steam machines, but the company won’t be trying to “artificially” drive sales by making upcoming titles like much-anticipated Half-Life 3 exclusives. “That would go against our whole philosophy, to launch something that's exclusive to SteamOS or Steam Machines” Valve’s Anna Sweet confirmed to IGN when questioned […] | | 2014 Lexus RC coupe revealed Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:46 AM PST Lexus has previewed its new RC coupe, bringing the luxury two-door up to date with its aggressive IS-style grille and borrowing plenty from the Lexus IFA sportscar. Set to be officially revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, two versions of the RC have been prepared: the RC 360 with a more traditional […] | | Nikon DF details emerge amid leaked photos Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:44 AM PST The Nikon DF appearing in full sooner than later has been pushed in a series of press photos this morning, allowing the public to see the hardware before they know its abilities. What you’ve got here is the embodiment of what Nikon shared in teaser videos ramping up to this week in “Pure Photography” (also […] | | Silverado Cheyenne concept turns truck into Camaro Z/28-inspired beast Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:19 AM PST GM may be pushing its 2014 Camaro Z/28 as the performance monster, but the company has decided there’s no reason the Silverado truck shouldn’t get a similar jolt, at least in concept form. The 2014 Chevrolet Silverado Cheyenne concept takes the regular cab puts it on a serious diet, switching out several of the regular […] | | Google game Ingress gets serious: Beta ends December 14th Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:09 AM PST Those dedicated enough to the Google game Ingress thus far will find a lovely badge waiting for them once the game leaves Beta mode on the 14th of December. It’s there that players that have reached level 5 will be getting a “Founders” badge while the rest of the world walks in their wake. Google […] | | Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Elite Edition appears in sand, snow, and jungle colors Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:46 AM PST The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 has been on the scene essentially dominating the press for its unique segment – smartphone-controlled drones – for some time, but until now only in a couple of color combinations. Here in the Fall of 2013, the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 suits up for hunting season. Three different color combinations are set […] | | Wii Mini coming to USA with Mario Kart to boot Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST The smallest of the higher-end gaming consoles has been revealed to be approaching the United States just in time for the holidays: the Wii Mini, complete with Mario Kart. This little beast works with a cut-down collection of abilities that were once only available on the original Wii. Here you’re not able to connect to […] | | AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom arrives aside last year’s Camera Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:45 AM PST The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is arriving on the 8th of November at AT&T, joining the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Camera from 2012 with 4G LTE. This device takes many of the newest Samsung Galaxy S 4 features and shrinks them down to a handheld size with a massive camera at its back, ready […] | | Amazon stokes FAA device ruling fire with Kindle blow-out Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:29 AM PST Amazon has decidedly announced their full support of the new FAA ruling for in-flight device use with not only a suggestion that they’ve always done so, but that they’re willing to let their device prices prove it. Amazon Kindle prices have been kicked down a notch for a single day by the company suggesting they’re […] | | Nokia Lumia 925 revealed with 1080p Verizon aim Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:58 AM PST There’s a 5-inch Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphone out in the wild, one that goes by the name of Lumia 929 with Verizon’s logo up front. The Nokia Lumia 929 will be bringing on the Windows Phone 8.1 heat this upcoming season with a 5-inch AMOLED display at 1080 x 1920 pixels. Inside you’ll […] | | HTC One KitKat update schedule solidified Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:35 AM PST This morning the folks at HTC have confirmed their intentions with the HTC One, HTC One Max, and HTC One mini for updating software builds to Android 4.4 KitKat. With the United States and the likes of Europe, the Middle Ease, and Africa, HTC will be working with carriers to update to KitKat starting – […] | | BlackBerry ditches Fairfax buyout and CEO Thorsten Heins for $1B investment Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:14 AM PST It’s no secret that BlackBerry has been struggling to compete on the global smartphone market. The company was once one of the largest smartphone providers in the industry and in recent years has been unable to complete with offerings running the Android operating system and the iPhone from Apple. BlackBerry has been working hard to […] | | India to launch mission to Mars this week Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:51 AM PST India wants to become the fourth nation or group of nations on the planet to reach Mars. India plans to launch a spacecraft called Mangalyaan, which means “Mars Craft” in Hindi. If successful, India will become the fourth nation to reach the red planet behind the Soviet Union, US, and a European conglomerate of countries. […] | | Star Trek 3 director tipped to be Joe Cornish Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:22 AM PST The last two modern Star Trek movies have been undeniably popular and very good. Both of those films have been directed by JJ Abrams. However, Abrams will reportedly not be directing the third installment in the modern Star Trek franchise. Rumors are circulating that a new director has been chosen for the next film in […] | | Windows XP may get no antivirus updates for Security Essentials after April Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:03 AM PST If you’re using the computer that runs Windows XP, you know that Microsoft is ending support for the operating system as of April 2014. Microsoft has been pushing hard to get users to upgrade to a new version of the operating system from Windows XP and it began a big push to get people to […] | | Honda recalls Odyssey minivan over self-activating brakes Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:45 AM PST In recent model years, many automotive manufacturers have begun including technology in their vehicles that help drivers avoid accidents. Some of that technology includes brake systems that can activate the vehicle brakes with no driver intervention to help avoid an accident. Honda has announced that it’s recalling 344,000 of its Odyssey minivans in the US […] | | iPad Air adoption rate is five times higher than the iPad 4 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:32 AM PST Some numbers are in for the first weekend of iPad Air sales from Fiksu. The numbers show that the iPad Air has been adopted in significantly higher numbers than the iPad 4 when it launched last year. According to the numbers, the iPad Air has about five times the adoption rate of the iPad 4 […] | | Motorola tips Moto G unveil for November 13 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:00 AM PST It’s not exactly a closely held secret that Motorola plans to roll out a new budget focused smartphone soon. The first rumblings we heard about the Moto G budget smartphone came back in late October when the device was tipped to be a cheaper version of the Moto X. Shortly after we first heard of […] | | Nokia and Samsung extend patent deal for five years Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:43 AM PST Patents are the bread-and-butter of the mobile market with many legal battles fought in court to secure and enforce them. Huge amounts of money change hands as technology company’s license patents held by others. Nokia and Samsung have announced that they have extended their patent agreement adding another five years to the deal. This patent […] | You are subscribed to email updates from SlashGear
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Take the Faster Path to Earned Media (and Engage Customers Right Away)
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 03:07 AM PST
| Take the Faster Path to Earned Media (and Engage Customers Right Away) Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:00 AM PST For businesses, the ability to drive customer attention online is more critical than ever—and for good reason. Engaging a consumer in the right way on the Web provides an opportunity to tap into their social networks, increase their digital word of mouth, and begin racking up earned media cred. The Value of Earned Media Research shows that earned media (in the form of recommendations and reviews from friends and family members) are some of the most powerful influencers along a consumer's path to purchase. The latest Local Consumer Review survey shows a positive shift in consumer trust and appreciation of online reviews, with 72% of consumers saying they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations and 52% saying positive online reviews make them more likely to engage with a business. So, the opportunity to convert consumers into advocates who freely publicize your wares among their social networks cannot be ignored. It must be embraced—quickly. Yet, tapping these social networks and turning consumers into online advocates isn't an easy task. Consumers have grown much savvier in their online activity. A recent Accenture Seamless Retail Study found 69% and 62% respectively said online pop-up ads and mobile banner ads would never influence their purchasing. And now, they are accustomed to using multiple screens—from anywhere, any time—to research and purchase products, connect with friends and family, and enjoy a broad array of entertainment options. This “always on” phenomenon provides advantages for brand marketers, if embraced appropriately. Potential roadblocks, such as consumers employing technologies to block advertisements and unsolicited communications along the way, must be taken into consideration and further validate the need to leverage a myriad of channels—both online and off—to reach, inspire, and compel audiences to move past being just interested consumers and onto becoming brand advocates. The optimal strategy will deliver a well-defined media mix that takes target audiences on a journey through paid, owned, then, ultimately, earned media. Earning Media Using Digital Place-Based Strategies to Activate, Engage, and Amplify Digital in-store media provides advertisers with captive audiences along the path to purchase, and when used strategically, it provides multiple options for moving target audiences seamlessly through an integrated digital media cycle that ultimately results in the coveted earned media brand marketers desire. That cycle, which incorporates activation, engagement, and amplification, provides a packaged method for building brands, extending campaigns, and reaching across social networks.  Let's use an example of a beverage brand and an offer to download a coupon to demonstrate how an integrated digital media cycle might work.
1. Activate A consumer sees an advertisement on a screen in store, in a quick-service restaurant, convenience store, or other venue along the path to purchase that provides a compelling call to action to engage with a beverage brand by downloading a digital coupon with his mobile device. These types of offers can tap into consumers' shopping impulse modes and drive them to pick up the beverage immediately while they are in store or, if they are not in store, to add the beverage to their next shopping list. Some alternative strategies for digital place-based activation include… - Cast a vote. Which team do you think will win the Super Bowl?
- Answer a short survey. What's your favorite chip flavor?
- Enter to win. Sign up now to win a trip to Hawaii!
- Sign up! Earn reward points.
2. Engage Consumers now are directed to engage with mobile content owned by the brand after they respond to the on-screen call to action. The brand can deliver their coupon by connecting to an already existing mobile campaign or develop a unique experience that takes into account their audiences location and mindset, delivering a more comprehensive experience and driving better conversion. 3. Amplify The content then provides options to amplify the brand's campaign using consumers’ various social networks and share the brand's offer of the digital coupon as well as their positive experiences with the brand, which turns consumers into brand advocates.  Brands that are able to architect new experiences that converge paid, owned, and earned media are the brands that will win.
Those brands are engaging audiences across multiple screens, capitalizing on authentic content, reaching new fans, and boosting audience participation. They are playing to the way consumers want to (and expect to) be reached. Strategically activating mobile campaigns through digital place-based media is an important way to reach audiences along the path to purchase who are already engaged in the day-to-day activities of media consumption, hanging out, and shopping. The end result is increased consumer engagement and loyalty, better insights gained into consumer behavior, and a much faster path to the Holy Grail of earned media—the ability to build a widespread team of brand advocates who will deliver your messages to their connections at little to no expense. |
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How to Maximize Email Lead Capture
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:53 AM PST
| How to Maximize Email Lead Capture Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:41 AM PST How to Maximize Email Lead Capture written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing Despite the reports coming out of some corners of social media, email as a marketing tool is very much alive. In fact, email marketing still produces the highest return on investment of any form of marketing. Internet marketers have always known the money is in the list, but the real power of email marketing comes when you integrate it with content and social media. I’ve written about the idea of a total integrated online presence frequently so today I want to focus on one very important element of email marketing and that’s lead capture. Lead capture is simply the idea of offering a reason for every web site visitor to join your email marketing list. Of course, this comes with the assumption that you’re creating and offering a compelling reason, usually the promise of a specific and future form of content, for someone to exchange their email address in return. Once that threshold is crossed you need to also study and implement the best methods for maximizing your email lead capture. Quite often this is simply a matter of putting the right call to action in the right place at the right time. Since you can’t always know when someone will decide they’re ready to subscribe I like to first think in terms of creating many entry points – someone who, say, wouldn’t go looking to subscribe might get inspired after reading a particularly timely blog post found in search. The following three forms of capture should be considered before you determine your precise set of tools. Active capture – I like to go out looking for people who want my content so I create things like free ebooks and push specific landing pages for this form of content out via advertising and strategic partnerships. I actively build my list in this way. Passive capture – I also want to make it easy for people who stumble upon my content to subscribe by placing subscribe forms in strategic locations throughout my site. Shared capture – The final consideration is to look for ways that people can share your content, particularly if that act of sharing can lead to fresh exposure to your lead capture system. Don’t forget to promote sharing to your existing list as well. Some new plugins that let people Pay With a Like or take a social action such as Like to Unlock make sharing even more viral. Now let’s move to some of the proven ways to implement each of these types of capture. Lightbox pop over – many people claim to hate the pop ups, and with good reason, but the fact is that smart pop ups – ones that only appear one time and only after people have read for a bit, convert. Feature box at top of home page – Some WordPress themes come complete with a feature that allows you to keep your desire to have people subscribe right up there front and center on every page. This is a proven way to make sure people know this is an option. - Many form tools work for this, but Gravity Forms is particularly useful for WordPress
End of each blog post – Often people will come to your site anew by way of a blog post found when conducting a search. This may be the only page on your site they visit that day so many smart marketers place the subscribe box at the end of every post with the idea that if someone really likes that one piece of content they may want to see what else there is. 
Right sidebar – I’ve always placed a rather generic sign up form in the right sidebar of my theme and month after month this position brings in subscribers. Bar across top of page – It’s rather in vogue at the moment to place those attention grabbing thin bars across the top of pages that draw attention to sign up without completely distracting the view. About us page – For many people the about us page is a high traffic page. People are doing research on your organization and this is a great place to first sell the fact that you’re all about great content and then make a pitch for people to sign up. Contact us page – This is another little used place to find subscribers but I find that when someone wants to get in contact they often follow me on social media and subscribe all from this page. Use your email service provider’s ability to track various forms so that you can monitor what placement is performing well. Tools like Gravity Forms offer A/B split testing so your can try different calls to action. Finally, I’ll drop one more pretty big consideration on you. Statistics say that only about 1-3% of visitors to most sites actually take the plunge and subscribe. So, what about the rest? A new and growing field of web site software is attempting make sense of anonymous visitor tracking – people who don’t give your any data, but consume content. Anonymous visits The following software can help you turn random visits into leads by providing additional information such company name and allowing you to offer specific kinds of content and offers based on how they came to your site and what pages they visited. This knowledge can help you turn more of these visits into subscribes. So you see, it’s not a matter of creating a form and hoping lots of people find it and take action. Lead capture takes a comprehensive and strategic approach, but it’s worth the effort.  |
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Software, hardware, everywhere
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:47 AM PST
| Software, hardware, everywhere Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:31 AM PST Real and virtual are crashing together. On one side is hardware that acts like software: IP-addressable, controllable with JavaScript APIs, able to be stitched into loosely-coupled systems—the mashups of a new era. On the other is software that’s newly capable …  | | Four short links: 4 November 2013 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:32 AM PST A Game Designer’s Guide to Google Glass (Gamasutra) — nice insight that Glass is shovelware-resistant because input is so different and output so limited. (via Beta Knowledge) Be Polite, Pertinent, and Pretty (Slideshare) — design principles from Dopplr. (via Matt …  | | Upward Mobility: The Mobile Payment Problem Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:33 AM PST There was a time when the two big unsolved puzzles of online finance were micropayments and mobile payments. Micropayments were a problem because no one seemed willing to make sub-dollar transfers economically viable, while mobile payments had a chicken-and-egg solution …  | | How Secure is Your Old and Inactive User Data? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:34 AM PST A couple weeks ago Brian Krebs announced that Adobe had a serious breach, of customer data as well as source code for a number of its software products. Nicole Perlroth of The New York Times updated that to say that …  |
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Humility: The Personality Trait That Creates Champions
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:40 AM PST
| Humility: The Personality Trait That Creates Champions Posted: 04 Nov 2013 12:30 PM PST Watching the World Series last week took me back to my days managing professional baseball franchises.  Over 20-years in the game I studied what it took to get minor league athletes to the major leagues and what it took to transform Major Leaguers into World Series Champions.
And now I apply those learnings to my small business clients to help them create their own “champion, high-performance business culture.” I believe the secret ingredient that makes the difference in each of those contexts is the personality trait of humility! Although it takes a tremendous amount of confidence to become a professional athlete, it also takes a tremendous amount of humility. Reason being is that athletes are always facing tougher levels of competition as they move up the ranks. In order to adjust to that advanced competition, athletes must be open to feedback and open to learning how to adjust their techniques to succeed at the higher level. In a related context, teams fortunate enough to put themselves into the position of playing in the post-season championship playoff tournament will face continually tougher opponents as they move through the tournament on the way to the championship game. On the path to the championship, teams are constantly studying video of the competition to identify tendencies to exploit. They will also watch video of their own past performance to find nuances in their approach that they can adjust and leverage. There is a fine balance between confidence and humility. There is a fine balance between believing in yourself and knowing you are good at what you do, yet also believing you still have room for growth and development. I believe mastering that balance is what makes champions in athletics, and high-performers in the workplace. Humility is an underrated trait in the workplace, especially in management and leadership. Many organizational leaders mistakenly believe they need to have all the answers to be trusted and respected. Many try to cover their inadequacies with a false sense of confidence that crumbles when confronted with an issue they are uncomfortable addressing. Other organizational leaders try to cover their inadequacies by refusing to hire anyone with higher skills or knowledge than they. Instead, a better approach would be to lead with humility by showing some vulnerability and authenticity showing they’re human and no different than those they are trying to lead. The interesting paradox with this approach is that many leaders feel leading with humility and showing some vulnerability is a sign of weakness. Not true! In reality it takes a tremendous amount of self-confidence and positive self-esteem in order to lead with humility. Do you have what it takes? Author: Skip Weisman, The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert, works with small business owners to help them lead their employees from drama & defensiveness to ownership & initiative. During a 20-year career in professional baseball management, Skip served as CEO for five different franchises. That experience gave Skip tremendous insight and skill for build high-performing teams in the workplace. Skip's new small business coaching program, based on leadership during the American Revolution, is called Revolutionary Leadership. For a limited time Skip is offering complimentary Revolutionary Leadership Strategy Sessions, which are private, 1:1 consultations with small business owners and chief executives. To learn more and request your strategy session visit www.LeadershipCommunicationExpert.com/freestrategysession . | | Passed Over for the Top Job Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:30 AM PST You have spent years building your application – solid experience, top skills, and a solid reputation. You are ready to take the leap to the next level within your organization only to see the opportunity go to someone from the outside. What are you to do? Two years ago, the Chronicle of Higher Education posted an article addressing your options and possible responses when you are an internal candidate and are passed over for a job you believed you deserved:  It is a good read as many of us have been in the situation Ms. Vaillancourt (the author) describes. She offers six options on how to deal with the situation and each option's effectiveness. In the end she recommends "Do something that makes the hiring official realize that you would have actually been the better choice." This is definitely a safe route to take. Why?
In this job market, finding a similar level position may be difficult – thus keeping your current job may be a blow to your ego, but financially, and career-wise, staying put may be your best option. Also, by being a stellar employee instead of a cancerous cell within the office, the new hire (possibly your new boss) will see you more as an ally as opposed to a threat that needs to be eliminated. Being a stellar employee can also help shine a positive light on your brand. The opposite approach, taking a low road and being a cancerous cell within the office, will destroy the brand you have built for some time. I remember the advice a senior director gave me 10+ years ago. He witnessed a co-worker apply for a senior management position within the department and lose out to an outside applicant. During the next year, the co-worker was less than a stellar employee and was eventually fired for inappropriate use of funds. The co-worker could not accept being passed over for the job. After my mentor told me this story, he finished with sound advice. He said when one is passed over for a job, especially the "top" job within a division when you are a viable candidate (appropriate experience level, skill level, etc.), one should realize the decision most likely means the organization's leadership does not see that individual as a viable candidate to ever lead that division. When this happens, the passed-over employee has two options: 1) stay, accept the decision and be at peace that the current level is as high as one will go within that company (or find a way to grow in order to be considered the next time the job comes open) or 2) leave and try for the top job at another organization. The two options may sound as if the choice is between a defeatist or angry reaction. In my experience when one gets passed over for the top job, if he/she cannot be at peace with the decision, it often turns into a toxic situation that ends poorly. Be honest with yourself, can you accept being passed over? Can you work with/for the new person? How important is the top position to you? One does not need to leave the day after learning one did not get the job, but if you know you will hold a grudge or cannot work for/with the new hire, it is time to begin to look outside the division and make a move. Author: Kevin Monahan is the Associate Director of the Notre Dame Career Center. In this role, he leads the center's employer relations efforts in addition to coaching young professionals in career management and career change capacities. He combines career consulting services with employer outreach to help find opportunities for both constituencies. He is the author of the Career Seeker's Guide blog. | | Personal Branding Weekly – Persistent and Consistent Action Posted: 04 Nov 2013 02:30 AM PST Losing weight has always been challenging for me and I know why. I consistently eat yet I work out in spurts. Inspiration hits and I'm off and running (literally) and I will sustain that level for a short time and then I'll get "too busy" and it will be days before I do any substantial activity again. Yet, my eating is consistent. I eat every single day without question.  To paraphrase the late Jay Conrad Levinson, father of Guerilla Marketing, he said that he would rather have poor marketing with commitment than great marketing and no commitment. It's that persistent and consistent action that is also vital to your personal brand management.
What are you doing on a consistent basis to manage and to communicate your personal brand? What are you doing persistently to manage your reputation online and offline or to network and develop the relationships you already have? What are you doing to consistently create value for yourself and for those you serve? Take a look at what we covered this week. Which posts provide insights and resources that add to your quiver of consistency? Some takeaways to help your brand consistency: - One of his secrets was that Carnegie learned early on that people like to hear their own names. As simple as it may sound, we often are too concerned with our own daily life, forget most people who are around us and, thus fail to make them feel important. (Author, Ken Sundheim)
- The idea of the well-rounded generalist is, if not a myth, at least an inefficient use of anyone's time. (Author, Erik Deckers)
- Even if you don't sell tangible products, Pinterest is a great place to spread your brand message. (Author, Leslie Truex)
- Visual content is very effective in telling your brand's story, and helps connect your audience in a compelling way. (Author, Susan Gilbert)
- And link your blog to your website. It will help to establish credibility and show that you're knowledgeable and active in the industry. (Author, Sabrina Clark)
- Something you should always be doing for your brand, whether unemployed or not, is to constantly build and shape your network. (Author, Heather Huhman)
- Your personal brand is built by knowing who you are and being able to tell stories that showcase these qualities. (Author, Nance Rosen)
We've crafted some great tweetables you can use in your own tweets: Curate your career: put info about yourself in one place to let people visually comprehend what your career is about. http://ow.ly/qoNZM [tweet this] Blog Link: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/curating-your-career-by-creating-a-career-scrapbook Passed over for the top job? Do something that makes the hiring official realize you would have been the better choice. http://ow.ly/qoPrJ [tweet this] Blog Link: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/passed-over-for-the-top-job Mastering the balance between confidence and humility is what makes high-performers in the workplace. http://ow.ly/qoRsm [tweet this] Blog Link: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/humility-the-personality-trait-that-creates-champions You don't have to be good at everything; we live in a world of specialization now. http://ow.ly/qoSvV [tweet this] Blog Link: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/improve-your-best-skills-not-your-worst-ones Studies show that almost 70% of Americans do not like their jobs. Are you one of them? http://ow.ly/qoXkO [tweet this] Blog Link: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/6-steps-to-find-happiness-in-your-career-for-the-week-of-nov-4th Did you know that over 90% of recruiters and employers are using LinkedIn to identify job candidates? http://ow.ly/qp14w [tweet this] Blog Link: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/job-seekers-be-found-promote-your-personal-brand In Corporate America, be known as sincere not full of self-interest and you’ll quickly make allies around the company. http://ow.ly/qp210 [tweet this] Blog Link: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/how-to-win-friends-in-corporate-america My husband's work at a grocery store is a source of interesting stories about people's behavior when they ask for something or don't get what they want. It's remarkable how different some act when they're speaking with the mayor, city council, CEOs and community leaders. I'm reminded of a phrase I heard a long time ago, if you want to know who someone is watch how they treat the people that work for you. You see brand consistency, the positive and the negative, rings through. People can't always put their finger on why they don't like, trust or believe someone yet there's a gut feeling that undeniable. Even in the cases of those who are great at masking their actions, eventually their persistent behavior catches up with them – after all it's consistent which makes it easy to predict. This next week, we're diving into: • It's not a problem that you don't have an MBA.
• Branding mistakes you didn't know you're making.
• The fact that there are no difficult people. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Each of us appreciate you! Author: Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks– a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand. Maria Duron is founder and moderator of #brandchat - a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers. Are you busy? Here's some quick and easy tips on Social Marketing for busy people. |
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What I’ve learned in the first four years of ACH Communications
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:37 AM PST
| What I’ve learned in the first four years of ACH Communications Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:05 AM PST Four years ago last month, I made the leap from “working for the man” to “working for myself” when I started ACH Communications. It’s been quite a ride–and, to be honest, four years went awfully quick. But, I think that’s a good sign, right? Time goes quickly when you’re enjoying yourself–and that couldn’t be more true. 
As Sunday night creeps up each weekend, I find myself looking forward to the week ahead. I mean REALLY looking forward to it. No lying in bed an extra 10 minutes dreading the week ahead. No extra cup of coffee needed to wake me up (I’m down to one cup a day now  . No whining about my job. Nope–the last four years have been fantastic. This new role has given me the opportunity to work with some of the biggest and best brands in the Twin Cities, including Sleep Number, General Mills, Mall of America, Allina Health, UCare and Feed My Starving Children–just to name a few. It’s given me the flexibility I need in my schedule to raise two small children. It’s given me the opportunity to say “no” when I want or need to. It’s given me the opportunity to try new and different things–often. And, it’s given me financial success (and that was never the intended goal–and it still isn’t). But, this success is hardly all mine. I’ve had a lot of help in these last four years. Too many people to thank publicly, really. But, a few folks come to mind that really helped me get my start: * Candee Wolf–my first client! (and a good friend) * Gabby Nelson–my first big, Fortune 500 client (another good friend) * Shelli Lissick, Brian Bellmont and Jen Bellmont (my first partners, and helped me with so many things in getting started) * Angela Hanson (no one does this without support from their wife/husband/partner) This list really could go on and on. But believe me when I say there are a TON of people to thank. And along the way, I’ve also learned a lot. After all, working for yourself is a journey. And, you really never stop learning. I thought I’d share seven lessons I’ve learned in my first four years of working for myself: There is no “off switch” Yes, you get to control and manage your schedule. But, the downside of that is there’s really no “off switch.” This is not a job for someone who wants a 8-5 job. Since relationships are such a big part of this work, you literally are always working. At soccer games. At church. At school functions for your kids. Which leads me to… Relationships are everything Over the first four years, I think I’ve completed one RFP. Almost every piece of business that comes my way is via referrals or relationships. And, I’m rarely in a competitive situation. That means, someone has vouched for me somewhere along the line. So, I’ve learned that relationships are everything in terms of new business. Translation: I have coffee with a lot of people (but I don’t necessarily “sell” in those meetings). I volunteer my time often. And, I sometimes do things that I’m not quite sure will have an immediate “ROI” for my company (the MN Blogger Conference comes to mind). Why? Because you never know where that next lead will come from… Setting your own schedule has its perks–and its downfalls Mentioned this above, but the flexibility comes at a price. You skip out to hit that concert for your daughter? You’re making up that time in the evening. In many ways, you’re still chained to the billable hour. PTO is “different” If I were working for an agency or company right now, chances are I’d have 4-6 weeks of PTO. And, I’d potentially have a “backup” at work to help when I’m out of the office. With this job, I have neither. There is no PTO. You don’t work, you don’t get paid. And, backups are tough to find. Sure, you can find other solos that will help while you’re out, but it can be difficult to orchestrate. My new plan (as of 2013): Take more, shorter vacations. We take four, short vacations a year. Usually 3-5 days in length. Translation: I’m never gone for more than a week (clients are happy), but I still get time away on a more regular basis (Arik is happy). To say “you have to be OK with ambiguity” is a monstrous understatement Clients don’t commit to budgets til the last minute. Crisis’ pop up during the day you don’t anticipate. Tech drops when you need it most. While you could say these things for any job in PR, it’s amplified when you work for yourself–mostly because you are ALWAYS the person who has to figure it out. Creativity means more than just “creativity” When you think of “creativity” you think about that big idea you’re going to sell the client, right? While that’s definitely a skill you need for this role, it’s the OTHER creativity I’m talking about: Creative problem solving. It’s an essential skill for this job. Your email is hacked in the middle of the day? Guess who has to figure that out. You want to attend a national event, but don’t want to spend the money on the hefty admission ticket? Guess who’s trying to hack his way into the event. Creative problem solving is something you’ll do every day in this role. Don’t cheap out on partners and subcontractors I learned this one the hard way early on. Trying to go cheap when it came to both partners and subcontractors. I’ve eventually flipped the other way. And I haven’t regretted it for a moment. Pay for expertise. It’s worth it. For the time it will open up for yourself alone. Thanks for installing the Bottom of every post plugin by Corey Salzano. Contact me if you need custom WordPress plugins or website design. What I’ve learned in the first four years of ACH Communications is a post from: Communications Conversations |
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How One Country Increased Tourism to Record Levels By Embracing UGC
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:30 AM PST
| How One Country Increased Tourism to Record Levels By Embracing UGC Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:00 AM PST I’m not a huge fan of crowd-sourcing marketing content or campaigns. The reason is because typically such campaigns attract an audience that has little or no loyalty to the brand, but instead wants to win a prize. But I love the campaign that the Philippines conducted last year to drive interest in tourism. The pacific island country launched an app called More Fun in the Philippines. The app lets you overlay the slogan More Fun in the Philippines over a picture you take, but let’s you add an explanation of why ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’. Here’s a few examples: 
Once the pictures are taken and your caption added, they can be shared on Facebook, Twitter or as you see above, on a blog. What I love about this crowd-sourcing effort is because it puts the content in the hands of people that have a passion for the brand. This is key, because the people that will be interested in participating in this campaign are proud Filipinos that want to showcase the Philippines and let the rest of the world see their country as they do. The Philippines took the content created by its citizens and used submissions on its website as well as in advertising. 
"In a very real sense it's a people power campaign because you can't imagine how spontaneous this has all been. There's this latent love of country that we have been able to unleash" explains Ramon Jimenez, Secretary of Tourism for the Philippines. This campaign was incredibly popular, in fact the hashtag #morefuninthephilippines became the top trending topic on Twitter and visitors to the Philippines increased by 16% during the campaign, to record levels. So if you want to do a similar crowd-sourcing campaign, keep in mind who you are appealing to and what their motivation is for creating content about your brand. You want to put the content creation in the hands of people that have a natural affinity and loyalty to your brand, not those that are only encouraged to participate in order to win a prize. Or worse, people that want to participate in order to mock your brand.   |
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Marketers Talk Hummingbird, '(Not Provided)' & More Ahead of SES Chicago 2013
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:30 AM PST
| Marketers Talk Hummingbird, '(Not Provided)' & More Ahead of SES Chicago 2013 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:30 AM PST Several Meetup Groups plan to converge on the SES Chicago conference this week. Here, organizers of several of these groups share insights on Hummingbird's impact on SEO; how to cope without keyword data; and their Google holiday wish list.  | | Could Bing Ever Overtake Google in Search? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:30 AM PST Google has dominated search, but Microsoft has a real opportunity to influence searcher behavior and Bing adoption through the integration of Bing search through its vast network of assets. Here's what it would take for Bing to surpass Google.  | | 13 Metrics Every PPC Report Should Have Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:30 AM PST Metrics can be tied back to four basic lifecycle stages of attracting, engaging, converting, and renewing. Let's look at how these stages can apply to your PPC efforts. Depending on the frequency of your reporting, here are 13 metrics to include.  | | The Continued Collision of Big Data with Mobile & Local Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:30 AM PST We're seeing lots of other interesting technologies bubble up to better track the offline effectiveness of online and mobile ads like search. But is the data questionable when ad companies have a vested interest in reporting higher performance?  | You are subscribed to email updates from Search Engine Watch
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Starbucks coffee Social V SEO
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:22 AM PST
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Hackpad
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:10 AM PST
| Hackpad Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:11 AM PST I love Hackpad. And it's strange because most of what Hackpad does, Google Docs does. And I really like Google Docs. I use Google Docs dozens of times a day. But there is something about Hackpad that I like better than Google Docs for massively open online realtime document creation. Let's not turn that into an acronym please. Yesterday, we created this document on Hackpad. And I embedded it on AVC. You could sit there and watch people from all around the world entering stuff into it, taking stuff out, commenting, adding things, etc. You could see when the folks in asia woke up and started entering in asian companies. Wikipedia showed the power of the crowd to come together and co-create (peer produce) information. I truly believe the result is better, even if it can be a bit messy at the edges. The document we created yesterday is also messy. I am trying to decide if I should clean it up. There is a bunch of stuff in that document that I would like to remove, that I don't think belongs there. I might do that in a day or two and then lock it down for now. Or I may not. Haven't decided yet. As my friend Peter said to me over email this morning, it is a great "crib sheet". If you have thoughts or suggestions on that decision, please leave them in the comments for me. But regardless of how that decision goes down, I would like to thank the Hackpad team for creating an amazing product. We put it through the paces yesterday and it came through like a champ.  | You are subscribed to email updates from A VC
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An Amazing Piece
Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:10 AM PST
| An Amazing Piece Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:52 PM PST It's an example of some of the new directions we're going at TPM, doubling down on but also branching out from our core focus on high-speed, iterative coverage of politics. This piece "Why Do Poor People 'Waste' Money on Luxury Goods?" by Tressie McMillian Cottom, which we published on Friday, has been one of the most popular pieces on TPM in all of 2013. I really recommend it to you.  | | The Bitter End Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:28 PM PST So in case you were wondering, here's how the last desperate day of Joe Lhota's campaign went in our Mayor's race here in NYC The truly comical last day of the Lhota campaign .... pic.twitter.com/nqURBvs29D — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 4, 2013  | | Halloween Primer for the 21st Century Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:05 PM PST Along the lines of the "Yes, You're Probably Racist" twitter feed (or is it a website?), I think we need a Primer for Halloween for people who seem developmentally challenged in entering the 21st century. So, is it cool to dress up for Halloween in black face? No, not cool. Is it cool to dress your child up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan? No, that's not cool anymore. Not sure when it was cool.  | | We Need Your Help Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:25 AM PST | | Boehner: Sorry, Gay People, Nothing for You Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:13 AM PST | | Must Read Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:10 AM PST A TPM special investigative report on the extreme lengths health insurers across the country are going to hold on to their existing customers and deny them the benefits of Obamacare. Read it here.  | You are subscribed to email updates from Editor's Blog
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Making Sales Process A Permanent Part Of Your Sales Culture
Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:15 PM PST
| Making Sales Process A Permanent Part Of Your Sales Culture Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:30 AM PST Will Brooks
EVP & Director of Marketing, The Brooks Group 
This morning, I was talking to David Finch, CEO of ATCOM, a very respected telecom company located in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park. David is a good friend, mentor and client who is absolutely relentless about his sales culture and has been for years. Why? He'll tell you the reason is simple: because it works. Finch is unbending about making sure his sales team lives and breathes the IMPACT Selling sales process and expects his management team to coach IMPACT on a daily basis. Today, David was telling me about a guy by the name of Pat Murray, a speaker he recently saw who was talking about a concept he calls "intolerables." An intolerable is something that a leader cannot and will not permit to exist in the company's culture. Typically, intolerables are things like "being disrespectful to your coworkers," "unethical behavior," etc. Today, of course, David and I were talking about ATCOM's intolerables, specifically in the context of his sales team. Finch explained to me that as he heard Murray deliver his talk, his mind (naturally) went to ATCOM's sales culture. Here are a couple of his intolerables: - Any time a salesperson talks to management about a deal, they'd better be able to provide critical details about the opportunity such as the prospect's behavior style, what step of IMPACT they're in and how many qualifiers they meet. If the salesperson doesn't have that information, he or she had better get it and get it fast! To not know isn't acceptable.
- At ATCOM, not to have IMPACT as a prominent topic as part of any gathering of salespeople – formal or informal – is an intolerable. In other words, any time the sales team is together, the IMPACT sales process should be the basis of any sales opportunity they discuss.
- At ATCOM, there's only one reason you lose a sale: because you got outsold. If you've followed the IMPACT sales process, that's the only reason you can lose a sale. It's not because the competition has a feature you don't have or for any other reason that "surprises" you when they don't buy from you. If you follow MPACT, then you should know exactly what, when, how and under what circumstances the prospect will buy.
Finch has been able to "enculturate" IMPACT into his sales environment and will be the first to tell you that it's hasn't been easy. It's not a "set it and forget it" thing. It requires passion for the process, and a commitment to fundamentals, ongoing and consistent reinforcement and coaching. He's had to keep IMPACT front and center on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. And, as a consequence, it's now become an "intolerable" NOT to live and breathe IMPACT. I urge you to ask yourself what you're doing to drive the kind of behaviors you want from your sales team. Are you as relentless as you need to be about keeping your sales process in front of your reps and do you hold them accountable for using it? Or do you let it "slide" and move on to the next corporate initiative? - @WilliamPGBrooks The post Making Sales Process A Permanent Part Of Your Sales Culture appeared first on Sales Evolution. | You are subscribed to email updates from Sales Evolution
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10 Productivity Tips from a Blue-Collar Genius
Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:08 PM PST
| 10 Productivity Tips from a Blue-Collar Genius Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:00 AM PST 
Imagine a fifty-something man in a blue long-sleeve shirt, the cuffs unbuttoned, his knuckles thick and coarse. He’s on the side of the road, quibbling over a stack of used cinder blocks with a merchant. This is my grandfather. And it’s 1980, roughly. His brother, my great-uncle, shuffles the dirt with his boots beside the white 1953 Dodge van, the one with a hot 5.2 liter block engine in between the driver and passenger seat — an engine they fetched from the junkyard a few years ago and nursed back to life. A 24-pack of Stag warms on the engine case. My grandfather was a magnificent man. Father of twelve, husband to one. A carpenter, electrician, gardener, plumber, water skier, snow skier, welder … the builder of both of his houses, houses he built with recycled material, not paying a penny over value. And there is something about looking at photographs of him, something otherworldly, marginally divine. Not quite the aura that comes with a photograph of Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Cobain, or Carl Sagan … But a reverence and awe in its own right. He was a blue-collar genius. To say he had an influence on my life would be an understatement. In fact, a good part of how I work — how I get things done — I owe to him. Let me explain. 1. Teach yourself everything My grandparents were staunch Roman Catholics. That meant a lot of things, but most visibly it meant they had a large family. Twelve kids to be exact. And it’s something that motivated my grandfather to no end. Each time my grandmother told him that she was pregnant, he would go out and learn a new trade: how to operate a boiler, roof a house, frame a room, run plumbing, rebuild cars. You name it, and that former city boy learned it. For me this has meant to have the guts to discover how to write, negotiate, code, install WordPress, understand SEO, get usability, and so on. Fortunately, the resources are out there to help you learn: the books, the blogs, the videos. Even hundreds of free online academies that can make you smarter in an afternoon. 2. Boil down your to-do list to two or three items I can promise you that my grandfather never had a to-do list, the show piece of every productivity wonk worth his salt. But boy, did he get stuff done. His life was simple: work, build his house, eat, sleep, work, build his house. Throw in a baby here, a weekend down at the cabin on the lake with the boys there … and his life has a pretty simple and singular rhythm about it. That lack of complexity meant he knew what he needed to do each and every day. There were few decisions to make about what to work on. Just get up and do it. The same is true for a writer: write the blog post, work on the book, do the research. Keep it simple and focus on the most important things each day, day in and day out, 365 days a year. 3. Recycle everything I spent several summers on my grandfather’s farm, painting everything that didn’t move: the goats’ fence, the railroad tie wall, the shutters … with a mix of paint left over from twenty different cans (think padded-room blue). One summer my cousin and I dug a ditch forty feet long and four feet deep, then laid pipe for a septic line. Granddad picked up the pipe from a residential construction company who couldn’t use it because of a flaw. Once a week I mowed three acres of grass with a push mower rescued from the side of the road. No surprise, I lost my appetite for manual labor. What I didn’t lose was that appreciation for hard work … and the ability to be resourceful and recycle material. It was in my blood. For a content marketer this can mean flipping a podcast into a blog series … or yanking that draft and pulling it into a white paper … or turning your best articles into a content library. Waste nothing, and maximize everything. 4. Get up early and stay up late As you can imagine, money was tight for my grandfather. Food was usually bland, clothing was cheap and handed down, and the house was crowded (my youngest uncle often slept in the bathtub or closet). But they never starved, never went in debt, always had shelter, and always paid their bills on time. How? My grandfather was a hard worker, honest, but also an early-to-rise and late-to-bed kind of guy. Unless he was sick, he didn’t linger in his bed or the couch. He maximized his awake time and got stuff done. The lesson for a content creator is this: work when you are at your peak. 5. Watch television on a small screen As he got older my grandfather naturally started to slow down. To relax he would often watch television. However, he didn’t splurge watching an Andy Griffith marathon with a 52-inch flat screen with surround sound. He kept to his tiny black-and-white for years when he could easily afford a bigger one. He simply didn’t want the distraction. In my own life I have tried to maintain this habit. Outside of professional football and Phineas and Ferb, I watch little to no television. I also limit the videos I watch online and the articles I read. Of course that means I’m a cultural idiot. But that’s how you master the craft. It goes back to knowing what has to be done — and getting that done before you reward yourself with the distractions of life. 6. Have fun You would think that with how much he worked and the size of his family he would never have time to play. But that is wrong. My grandfather loved to play. He taught every single one of his children how to snow and water ski. When he ran out of children to train, he taught my cousin and me how to snow and water ski. Not to mention he took tae kwon do with his youngest daughter, and he loved to fish. He loved to work hard and play hard. I must confess, this one is difficult for me because I have a hard time relaxing. And when I do relax, it’s usually behind a book. But when I can get out there and play ball with my boy, jump on the trampoline with the girl, or take a long hike with the little lady … it works wonders on me. It’s rejuvenating. 7. Be generous My grandfather is probably rolling over in his grave as I say this, but I’m a selfish turd — stingy as all get out with my time. Ask me to help you clean up your yard after a thunderstorm has scattered debris everywhere and I’ll go limp. “Sorry, I’ve got this rare disease where I go blind and can’t use my hands when I’m around a wheelbarrow. Or a chainsaw.”
My grandfather, on the other hand, wouldn’t hesitate to drop what he was doing to fix the AC unit for the widow across town. I clearly have work to do in this area. But the lesson I learned from him is that when I do go out of my way to help someone, there is an indescribable emotional reward that follows. Whether it’s giving my time to a budding writer or aerating the lawn for a single mother, I learn that life is not about me … it’s about people. Speaking of people … 8. Build and belong to a community My grandfather bought seven acres on the backside of the city in an area teeming with trees and narrow two-lane roads. His plan was to give away an acre to each child who wanted to build a house. At its pinnacle he had six houses on those seven acres. All his children’s. My grandfather loved family, his community, his tribe. And being part of that tribe is a magnificent privilege. This is true online, too: when you find a culture and cause you can put your weight behind you feel less alone, you have purpose, and you become more optimistic about the future. This is definitely the vibe we’ve cultivated in our Authority forums. 9. Work on a small bit of a large project everyday Here’s a question for you: when does a man find time to build a house when he has children everywhere and works 14 hours a day? I really don’t know. If it was me, I’m sure I would’ve just paid someone else. But not my grandfather. It didn’t matter if it was only for 30 minutes, he worked on building his house. Installing a window here, pouring concrete there. Over time a house rose out of the earth. And he did that twice in his own lifetime. For you, this could mean writing one blog post a week. Over time, an authoritative website will rise out of the Internet. This holds true for any large project, like writing a book or building a business. Be patient, delay gratification, work on a small chunk every day … and in time you’ll have something majestic. 10. Learn to sleep anywhere Perhaps this is less virtue and more survival strategy, but when you work 18 hours a day or more, you look for ways to get your rest. Here’s how granddad did it. During breaks he would climb to the top of boilers and make a nest out of coats, then take a cat nap. Refreshed, he would return to his shift renewed and sharp. After a long, humid morning of driving beams into the lake bottom to build a thirty-foot dock, granddad would get some shuteye on a lawn chair, his chin resting into his bare chest. Upon waking he was vigorous and feisty. I’ve clearly inherited this trait. Around 2:00 p.m., I’m worn out. Circling the same task over and over again. Continuing to work is unproductive. I could boil up another pot of coffee, but I’ve found I’m sharper if I crash for five or ten minutes. After that short nap, I feel human again. And ready to go. Sleep is essential. Get at least seven hours a day. And if you can, grab that nap. It’ll make you smarter. Conclusion My grandfather will never make it into a management book. He won’t appear on a list beside Benjamin Franklin as an efficiency hero. But that doesn’t mean he was any less successful. He is a patriarch of a large family that I am blessed to be a part of. Every male and female from that family is a hard-working, productive human being. It’s a legacy that goes beyond my grandfather’s seventy years … And it’s the sort of enduring legacy I wish to create. Not so much with wood, metal, and people. But with words, ideas, and stories. For the benefit of people. And I think that’s something that would make him proud. What about you? Do you have a blue collar hero in your past? Image used with permission from Sasa Roksandic of roksandic.net.  About the authorDemian Farnworth Demian Farnworth is a Senior Writer for Copyblogger Media. Follow him on Twitter or Google+.  Related Stories | You are subscribed to email updates from Copyblogger
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A funeral for riding boots
Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:02 PM PST
| A funeral for riding boots Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:30 AM PST  Maybe it’s because I keep my possessions to a minimum that I sometimes have difficulty parting with objects that have been a significant part of my life.
A few years ago, I had to say goodbye to a pair of riding boots. I’ve been an avid equestrienne for the better part of 30 years and I bought my first pair of REAL riding boots in 1986. I wore these boots in horse shows around the province and in clinics with Olympians. The boots helped me ride at various equestrian centres in nine different cities in four different provinces. Finally, in June 2010, they broke beyond repair while in service at a local horse show. It was a difficult moment for me, realizing that I would have to say goodbye to these boots that had served me so well for so long. In order to cope with the loss, I decided to have a funeral for the boots. I set up a Facebook event and invited my friends, many of whom I have ridden with over the years. At first I thought that they would think that I was crazy (and they may have a point) but most of my friends helped me make the event memorable. One of my friends quoted a poem from Harpers New Monthly Magazine, Volume 54, December 1876: Farewell, old boots! a tender last farewell!
Inanimate, but mourned as if with souls
Instead of soles: I’ll find for you some dell
Where, though no bell for your requiem tolls.
I had a few other friends weigh in and admit that this event encouraged them to retire various objects: dance shoes, army boots, and paint brushes. One colleague wrote that it was “time to lay to rest ‘Wedding Glass’, the last surviving member of a set of glasses that outlived ‘Marriage’ by 21 years”. Of course there is always one clown in the bunch and he thanked me for the “booty call”! All in all, it made me feel much better that I had given a public tribute to my riding boots that had served me so well in the past. I wrapped them tightly in a plastic bag and they were taken away in the “hearse” (garbage truck). If you have items that you have difficulty parting with, try having a funeral or a tea party or even writing a letter to the item, explaining its importance in your life. Save the letters with pictures of the items either on your computer or in a scrap book. It helps to let your friends in on the deal. They can comfort you and make you laugh like no inanimate object ever could. Let Unclutterer help you get your home or office organized. Subscribe to our helpful product shipments from Quarterly today. | You are subscribed to email updates from Unclutterer
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Exploded songs
Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:01 PM PST
| Exploded songs Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:14 AM PST | | Front-end loader acrobatics and tractor drifting Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:30 AM PST For the sufficiently skilled front-end loader driver, doing a front wheelie with a 20-ton machine is a piece of cake. Got this from Modern Farmer's selection of "Jaw-Dropping Russian Tractor Videos"; the other one I liked from the list is this guy who souped up his tractor with a car engine and then does donuts in his field. Tags: Russia video | | What if baseball moved to a 16-game season? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:59 AM PST Joe Posnanski thinks about how baseball would change if MLB moved to a 16-game schedule like the the NFL. I love stuff like this. 4. Baseball would become dramatically more violent. I'm not 100% certain of this, of course. But I am probably 75% certain. Right now, we don't tend to think of baseball as a contact sport. There IS contact -- plays at the plate, double-play meetings at second base, the occasional hit-by pitch and ensuing bench-clear -- but it's mostly tangential to the game. Football, meanwhile, is violent at its core. Or anyway, that's what we think now. Except -- baseball was extremely violent in its early days. And I think that if the game was played just once a week, if you faced each team only once or twice a season, if every game was critical, there would be a lot more violence in baseball. Collisions at the plate would be intensified. Nobody would concede the double play without really taking out the fielder. Pitchers would be much more likely to send message pitches. And I think you would probably find violence where there is none right now.
(via mr) Tags: baseball Joe Posnanski sports | | How Lorde became Lorde Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:42 AM PST New Zealand journalist Duncan Greive caught onto Lorde early and has written the self-styled "definitive inside account of Ella Yelich-O'Conner's rise to the top". For advertising, Maclachlan calls in Alistair Cain, Universal New Zealand's head of marketing, and plays an early cut of the television commercial on his computer. Ella wants to keep the date rendered in Roman numerals. It looks crazy (XXVII.IX.MMXIII). She won't be moved. After an hour, they're done. Afterwards, Cain says that in 20 years in the industry he's never come across an artist so engaged with the minutiae of their presentation. He points up at a giant poster of Lana Del Rey. "With her, we could do whatever we liked," he says. Ella is frequently compared to Del Rey, though it infuriates her. Both are white women making pop music soaked in the rhythm and attitude of hip-hop. But Del Rey has a much more conventional narrative -- she had an image makeover prior to her breakout Born To Die album, and co-writes her songs with some of the biggest producers and writers in the industry. Ella's songs, meanwhile, are very much her vision, and hers alone.
Tags: Duncan Greive Lorde music | You are subscribed to email updates from kottke.org
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iPad Air manages 24 hours of battery life as LTE hotspot
Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:42 AM PST
| iPad Air manages 24 hours of battery life as LTE hotspot Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:30 AM PST 
One of the unsung uses of the iPad is as a personal LTE hotspot. It's rather easy to set up the device as a hotspot for a MacBook if you need to work away from Wi-Fi, although you'll need to keep an eye on your data usage. Last year, Anand Lal Shimpi at Anandtech discovered that an LTE iPad 3 could work as a wireless hotspot for 25.28 hours, downloading data at 50 KB/s. Shimpi repeated his test with the new iPad Air and discovered that even despite having a much smaller battery, the iPad Air can run for 24.08 hours as a hotspot at twice the throughput rate (100 KB/s). The iPad Air battery is quite a bit smaller due to the slim profile of the device -- it's a 32.4 Wh battery compared with the 42.5 Wh battery built into the third-generation iPad. As Shimpi points out, both the A7 system-on-a-chip and the Qualcomm MDM9615M modem in the iPad Air use a 28nm LP process that sips power. Shimpi's test was to set the iPad Air up as a personal hotspot, using Wi-Fi tethering to connect it to a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. He started the 100 KB/s transfer -- twice the data rate of the earlier test -- and turned the iPad Air's display off. After a day and 8 GB of data transfers, the iPad Air ran out of juice. As Shimpi notes, "you'll likely burn through your monthly data allotment before you run out of power." iPad Air manages 24 hours of battery life as LTE hotspot originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Daily iPad App: Hay Day is a casual farm sim that'll have you raising chickens in no time Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST 
If you are a fan of sims like Theme Park, then you should check Hay Day from Supercell. Hay Day is a farming sim for the iPad and iPhone that brings the spirit of Farmville to the iOS platform. Hay Day kicks off with a brief tour that walks you through the basics of the game. Once the tour is over, you are prepared with the skills to turn your small plot of land into a booming agricultural metropolis. You can grow crops, raise animals, produce eggs and even make baked goods like bread. Everything flourishes over time, but you can speed things up with diamonds. When you harvest your bounty, you can trade with friends or sell your wares to make money to improve your farm. Hay Day is a freemium game, which means it is free to download, but includes in-app purchases that may be required to advance in the game. It's good clean fun for sim fans with some time on their hands and a bit of cash to spare. Daily iPad App: Hay Day is a casual farm sim that'll have you raising chickens in no time originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Rumor Roundup: What's your favorite scary headline? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:00 AM PST  Now that Apple has presumably announced everything it's going to sell in 2013, that must mean the deafening roar of dumb rumors will die down for awhi -- hahahaa, no, it's just as bad as ever. And as a special treat, rumor blogs are also putting on their own "analyst" hats and pretending they know what they're talking about when it comes to Apple's future plans. It's kind of adorable and heartbreaking at the same time, like a puppy with a concussion. Staggering around... trying to find his way. You keep it up, little guy. You -- *sniff* -- you keep it up.
More evidence suggests that the iPhone 5c is a dud (BGR) BGR's definition of "evidence" is as scanty as it always is when it comes to their sources, and its "analysis" (heavy sarcasm quotes) is predictably dumb. "If [Apple] expected that a cheaper iPhone would sell at equal or higher volurmes than the iPhone 5s, then it was sorely mistaken," BGR notes. Well, I guess Apple will have to cry itself to sleep on a bed fashioned from the billions of dollars it's making off the more expensive iPhone 5s, then. BGR also says this result is "somewhat surprising given that the 5c was billed by many as a lower cost alternative that would appeal to more budget minded consumers." In other words, they're still clinging to the notion that the 5c was supposed to be the long-rumored "low cost" iPhone rather than the mid-tier model that actually debuted. (Aside: it still warms my heart that the iPhone 5c's pricing made two years worth of analyst ranting and ravings about a "low-cost" iPhone designed to chase after market share at the expense of profit look like the pure stupidity that it always was. Ahhh, the afterglow.) Laying all that aside, please tell me how after only two months on the market an iPhone that accounts for nearly 2 percent of all iPhones counts as a "dud." We're talking about hundreds of millions of devices out there. Two percent of hundreds of millions is still a hell of a lot. Opinion: What can we expect from the elusive Apple Television? (9to5 Mac) This entire piece is sure to give Gene "Where's my Apple HDTV?" Munster his weekly jolt, but for the rest of us, it's pure... what's a more polite word for -- (Let's go with "fantasy" here, sir. --Ed) The question no one ever seems to ask regarding a possible Apple HDTV is, "Why?" Why would Apple enter a saturated, low-margin, low-yield market? The iPhone succeeded in the mobile phone market because it brought something truly new to the landscape, and Apple continues to benefit from the iPhone because people still generally view mobile phones as "disposable" tech to be renewed every 2-3 years. How many people do you know who are swapping out their televisions that often? People have been expecting Apple to produce an HDTV for years, but it keeps not happening. I suspect it's because Apple knows better. Too bad virtually no one else seems capable of catching a clue. Rumor: LG nearing deal to supply 'iWatch' OLEDs, Samsung not a candidate (AppleInsider) Apple has shown zero interest in adopting OLED technology in any of its devices, and the iWatch is nothing more than an analyst's LSD trip. "Hard evidence supporting a near-future debut" for the iWatch "has yet to surface" according to AppleInsider. That's probably because the iWatch is and always has been a profoundly stupid idea. Rumor: Big-screen 'iPhone 6' coming Sept. 2014, Apple to focus on one-handed use (AppleInsider) No one outside of Apple has any idea what the 2014 iPhone will be like. Period. The source of this story, "Japanese magazine Mac Fan" is just trolling for page views, and AppleInsider (among many other rumor blogs) is just doing the same by passing it along as though it's the least bit credible. How far can fanboys carry Apple? (BGR) BGR does us all a favor by using the F-word in its headline, which immediately outs the article as completely devoid of anything approaching intellectual value. Aside from the fact that this is (of course) sourced from a know-nothing analyst, anyone who is still claiming that Apple's profits are driven or maintained by "fanboys" is simply not paying even the most rudimentary attention to the market. The "fanboy" argument might have made sense in 2007 or 2008, when iPhone sales were in the mere millions. It makes absolutely zero sense now that Apple sells 30 million or more iPhones every quarter. Apple's success is thoroughly and absolutely mainstream. It has been ever since the first time the company sold ten million iPods in a year. Apple's 100+ billion dollar stockpile of cash has nothing to do with "fanboys" and everything to do with normal human beings who don't give a rip about your pathetic attempts to stereotype them. Accept it. Period. Target takes a guess at Retina iPad mini launch date: Thursday, Nov. 21st (9to5 Mac) From the article: "We believe this is more than likely a speculative date as retailers like Target don't usually get such early information." Several lifetimes ago, I used to work for Target. I can guarantee the company has absolutely zero concrete information on when the Retina iPad mini will be available. iOS 7: The perfect mobile platform for murderers (BGR) This has to be the link-baitiest headline on the link-baitiest blog in the history of ever. "Ok, so iOS 7 isn't the most beloved software Apple has ever released," BGR claims, which follows in their time-honored tradition of making broad statements that completely fly in the face of the facts. If iOS 7 is so controversial or "unloved," then why is it that two-thirds of all iOS users are running it on their devices less than two months after its launch? Worse for BGR's rapidly fading credibility, the spoof video they use as a source for this story has absolutely nothing to do with iOS 7 itself. The devices in the video are all indeed running the latest version of iOS, but the video consists of a collection of traditional horror movie tropes related to mobile phones rather than anything specifically related to iOS 7. Run! The stupidity is coming from inside the house!!! Rumor Roundup: What's your favorite scary headline? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Five apps for the iPad Air: the first apps I installed on Apple's latest tablet Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:30 AM PST 
Sales of the iPad Air kicked off this weekend and I, like many others, grabbed one of Apple's latest tablets. Coming from an iPad mini, I couldn't wait to try out the new A7 processor in the full-size tablet. As soon as I unwrapped the device, I picked five of my favorite apps and gave the processor a thorough workout. Unlike the iPad fourth generation, which got a little warm from my nonstop playing, the iPad Air cruised along without a hitch. Enough of the jabber, here are the first five apps I installed on the iPad Air. iMovie [iOS Universal; US$4.99 (free with new device purchase)] iMovie is included for free with all new iPads and there is a good reason why Apple bundled this software with the new Air -- its performance is perfectly smooth on the Air. Asphalt 8 [iOS Universal; $0.99] Asphalt 8 just sings on the iPad Air -- responsive performance, fast transitions between races and no hesitations. Infinity Blade 3 [iOS Universal; $6.99] I'm not much of an Infinity Blade fan, but I always check it out when I get a new device as I consider it to be the gold standard for game playing and graphics performance on iOS. Google Earth [iOS Universal; Free] Google Earth is one of those apps I always install as I enjoy browsing the 3D landscapes. As with the other apps, Google Earth was a great experience on the Air. Snapseed [iOS Universal; Free] Snapseed may not be the most taxing of apps, but it is one I use in my free time to spiffy up the photos I take with my iPhone. Five apps for the iPad Air: the first apps I installed on Apple's latest tablet originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Daily iPhone App: PicSketch turns your photos into sketches Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST  PicSketch is a US$1.99 universal app that takes any photo on your iOS device and turns it into an image that looks like it was sketched. Using the app is a two-click operation. One click lets you select the style of sketch; another click lets you select a color or mono background.
You can explore several of the options, and when satisfied either save the photo or share it. The app gives you 22 pencil sketch styles, five sketch effects like B&W and color and 18 different retro-looking sketch backgrounds. The app works as advertised, but I never felt the photo itself had the true look of a sketch. Instead, it looks like a photograph that's surrounded by brush strokes. Meanwhile, significantly more expensive applications like Photoshop and third-party plug-ins can achieve the effect more successfully. PicSketch produces nice results without looking like a true sketch.
PicSketch does have some handy editing tools, like a crop feature and control of brightness and contrast. You can get some nice effects from PicSketch, but I think it falls short of emulating a true pencil or charcoal sketch, something that has been achieved by other software. My Sketch HD, for example, sells for the same price and I think gets a look closer to a pencil drawing. PicSketch requires iOS 6.0 or later, and is optimized for the iPhone 5 series. Daily iPhone App: PicSketch turns your photos into sketches originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Apple's advertising budget dwarfed by Microsoft and Samsung Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:30 AM PST  A common refrain heard from Apple critics is that Apple's success has everything to do with marketing and not much at all to do with innovative products. In years past, for instance, they often liked to say that the iPod was just a ho-hum MP3 player that was able to own the market thanks to an assortment of dancing silhouette ads.
In truth, advertising will only take you so far. In the short term, it's a great way to introduce the public to your product, but in the long run, a cash-infused marketing campaign touting less-than-stellar products that consumers don't want is destined to fail. That being the case, Horace Dediu of Asymco last week posted a chart that really puts Apple's advertising efforts into perspective. 
Over each of the last five years, both Samsung and Microsoft spent more on advertising than Apple. In 2012 in particular, Samsung spent more than 4x as much on advertising than Apple did. To be fair, Samsung's product lineup is far more expansive than Apple's, but the chart above should serve as a reminder that Apple's success is rooted in great products, not a bloated advertising budget. An interesting question to ponder, though: Seeing as how Samsung has shrewdly used advertising to effectively own the Android smartphone market, should Apple leverage some of its extensive cash reserves to more heavily advertise its own products? Apple's advertising budget dwarfed by Microsoft and Samsung originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | iPad Air quite popular in first weekend of sales Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:00 AM PST  During the debut of iOS 7, OS X Mavericks and the iPhone 5s and 5c, we regaled TUAW readers with facts and figures on the relative adoption rate of each new Apple product compared to previous products. The numbers came from two sources: Chitika Research and Fiksu. The latter company added an iPad Air tracker to the mix over the past weekend, and although the sales numbers are minuscule compared to overall iPad sales, the iPad Air appears to have an adoption rate almost five times that of the fourth-generation iPad. Fiksu's numbers, which are based on impressions on its ad network, show the three-day adoption rate for the iPad Air at 0.73 percent of the entire iPad installed base. By comparison, the iPad 4 was only at 0.15 percent of the installed base after the same amount of time. The iPad mini was a bit higher at launch, at about 0.21 percent of installed base after three days. Only time will tell if the numbers will continue to show higher adoption rates or if the initial surge was due to pent-up demand for a new device. iPad Air quite popular in first weekend of sales originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Daily Deals for November 4, 2013 Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:45 AM PST It's time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive TUAW Deals, a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked iOS and OS X selections. TUAW's Daily Deals The Star Wars Jedi Knight Gaming Pack [On sale for $6.99, down from $20] Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy allows you to become A Jedi - Customize your character's look and gender, then enter the Jedi Academy. A Lightsaber As Unique As You - Construct your own lightsaber from handle to blade. Eventually learn the power of wielding two lightsabers or the ultimate double-bladed lightsaber made famous by Darth Maul. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast lets you Wield Your Lightsaber Like Never Before - A whole new set of lightsaber abilities featuring a slew of attack and defense moves. Use The Force Wisely - Control powers of the Force including Jump, Push, Jedi Mind Tricks and more. Save 65% on The Star Wars Jedi Knight Gaming Pack at TUAW Deals. Deals from Dealnews - Other World Computing: [Computer Accessories] OWC Garage Sale: Deals from $1! on RAM, accessories, computers, more
- Other World Computing: [Apple Computers] Used Macs and iPads at OWC from $239 + free shipping
- Best Buy: [iPhone Accessories] Pebble Smart Watch for iOS & Android Smartphones for $150 + free shipping
- eBay: [TV Antennas & Receivers] TaoTronics Rotating Outdoor HDTV Antenna for $36 + free shipping
- JCPenney: [iPad Accessories] Dodocase Classic Case for iPad for $22 + $8 s&h
- World Market: [Computer Desks] Metal Edge Laptop Desk for $60 + $11 s&h
- Sonic Electronix: [Digital Camcorders] Alesis TwoTrack Recorder for $39 + free shipping
- BuyDig: [TVs] Seiki 39" 4K 120Hz 2160p LED LCD HDTV for $569 + free shipping
- CTCStore: [iPad Accessories] Acase iPad Air Case for $1 + $5 s&h
- eBay: [TV Antennas & Receivers] Refurb Mohu Leaf Ultimate Amplified HDTV Antenna for $55 + free shipping
- Yugster: [USB Flash Drives] Victorinox Swiss Army Alox Slim 16GB USB Flash Drive for $14 + $5 s&h
- BuyDig: [Inkjet Printers] Canon PIXMA WiFi Printer, photo paper for $79 after rebate + free shipping
iOS Software Discounts -
Stacheify [iPhone; Category: Entertainment; Now free, down from $0.99] Ever wanted to look more attractive? Try a mustache! In fact, try MANY different "follicle-accurate" stache styles with Stacheify! Your photos will even come to life. -
gMusic 2 [iOS Universal; Category: Music; Now free, down from $1.99] Google Music allows you to keep up to 20,000 of your favorite songs in the cloud. Now you can listen to your entire music collection without having to use any space on your iOS device. -
Stickman Downhill [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Now free, down from $0.99] Experience ultra realistic and fast paced action packed downhill biking in stunning environments. -
Runtastic Squats Trainer PRO [iOS Universal; Category: Health & Fitness; Now free, down from $1.99] With the runtastic Squats PRO app as your personal trainer, you can now improve your leg strength and reach new fitness goals. -
Actions for iPad [iPad; Category: Productivity; Now free, down from $3.99] Control your computer applications in the best way, your way. -
The Great Jitters: Pudding Panic Reloaded HD [iPad; Category: Music; Now free, down from $0.99] Puzzle a shivering jello through 60 levels of a haunted house. But beware! Scary monsters are waiting in the dark! Your only chance of survival is to scare the monsters back before the pudding quivers, shivers and faints from fear. Apple's App of the week. OS X Software Discounts -
Magic Crush Saga [OS X; Category: Games; Now free, down from $2.99] Magic Crush Saga is a magic themed match-3 game,which has a wonderful story mode. -
Crypt3 [OS X; Category: Utilities; Now free, down from $6.99] A simple app for encrypting and decrypting files and folders. Uses AES 256bit encryption in CBC mode and can securely shred old unencrypted files after they are encrypted. -
Appy Fridays [OS X; Category: Various; $10.99] Spend $10.99 and get OS X apps including FX Photo Studio Pro, Photo Slideshow for Mac andPicCollage in the Fantastic Photo Bundle. The offer is valid till November 7, 2013. Other Deals NextWorth [10% extra on your next iPad Trade-in] Use the special offer code "TUAW" the next time you are trading in an iPad with NextWorth to receive an extra 10% on the trade-in value. Deal ends November 11. Note: All prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly. TUAW is not responsible for third-party deals and cannot guarantee availability or quality of any particular product at a specific price. Daily Deals for November 4, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | OS X Mavericks uses ambient light detection on some Macs to delay sleep mode Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:30 AM PST | | J.D. Power explains how Samsung eked out win over the iPad in customer satisfaction survey... kind of Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:00 AM PST 
Last week we reported that a J.D. Power tablet satisfaction survey bizarrely gave Samsung the top prize. I say "bizarrely" because if you look at the chart below, Apple's iPad bested Samsung tablets in every single category except for cost. Keep in mind that each category is afforded the same weight. 
Also strange is that Samsung managed to attain a 5/5 score in overall satisfaction while failing to receive a 5/5 in any of the metrics used to compute that final score. Naturally, many suspicious eyebrows were raised in the wake of J.D. Power's inexplicably tabulated rankings. 9to5Mac and TechCrunch both reached out to J.D. Power asking for a bit of much-needed clarification. J.D. Power's response reads: It's important to note that award is given to the brand that has the highest overall score. In this study, the score is comprised of customer's ratings of five key dimensions or factors. To understand the relative rank of brands within each of these five dimensions we provide consumers with PowerCircle Rankings, which denote the brand that has the highest score within each factor regardless of how much higher their score is. In the case of Apple, although they did score higher on four out of five factors measured, its score was only marginally better than Samsung's. At the same time, however, Apple's score on cost was significantly lower than that of all other brands. As such, even though its ratings on other factor was slightly higher than Samsung's, Apple's performance on cost resulted in an overall lower score than Samsung. So essentially, Apple narrowly bested Samsung in the categories it did win and was way behind in the lone category it lost -- cost. While that makes sense in theory, the chart above indicates that the voting wasn't at all close with respect to factors such as "performance" and "ease of use." All in all, this study is still pretty bizarre. I mean, why release a chart that doesn't accurately and visually represent actual scoring? All this does is undermine the very reason behind conducting such surveys in the first place, namely providing consumers with data to help inform their purchasing decisions. J.D. Power explains how Samsung eked out win over the iPad in customer satisfaction survey... kind of originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Tim Cook pens op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, urges Congress to support Employment Nondiscrimination Act Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:30 AM PST 
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Sunday penned an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal urging members of Congress to approve the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. The Employment Nondiscrimination Act would make it illegal for companies with more than 15 employees to discriminate against current or prospective employees on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In the op-ed piece, titled "Workplace Equality Is Good for Business," Cook stresses that Apple strives to create a welcoming work environment where people can fully be themselves regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender or sexual orientation. When people are comfortable to be exactly who they are, Cook writes, they "have the comfort and confidence" to be the best version of themselves and to "do the best work of their lives." Cook's piece reads in part: Apple's antidiscrimination policy goes beyond the legal protections U.S. workers currently enjoy under federal law, most notably because we prohibit discrimination against Apple's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees. A bill now before the U.S. Senate would update those employment laws, at long last, to protect workers against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We urge senators to support the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, and we challenge the House of Representatives to bring it to the floor for a vote. Apple has, of course, been a longtime and vocal supporter of gay rights, both in and outside of the workplace. You might recall that Apple this past February joined a number of companies in a collective effort to have California's Prop 8 deemed unconstitutional. Apple was also quick to praise the Supreme Court for overturning the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) this past June. In a statement issued to All Things D at the time, Apple said: Apple strongly supports marriage equality and we consider it a civil rights issue. We applaud the Supreme Court for its decisions today. Tim Cook pens op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, urges Congress to support Employment Nondiscrimination Act originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | iPhone 5s and 5c sales reportedly off to strong start in India Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:00 AM PST 
When Apple introduced the iPhone 5s and 5c during its September media event, the company touted that both devices would be available in more than 100 countries by December. Since then, Apple has slowly but surely rolled out both iPhone models to an ever-growing number of countries. On October 25, Apple's new iPhones launched in 35 new countries. This past Friday saw both new iPhone models hit stores in an additional 16 countries, including India. Apple has been trying to improve sales in India for some time now, and so far it seems as if Apple's new iPhone lineup is proving to be quite the hit in the country. After launching in India this past Friday, The Economic Times this Sunday indicated that both devices have been selling extremely well: Apple has completely sold out its premium iPhone 5s in India in less than 24 hours of its retail launch, while the iPhone 5c model has become the fastest-moving model in stores and is expected to be sold-out during the weekend, the country's top multibrand cellphone retail chains said. This is the first time a new iPhone model got sold out in India in such a short span of its launch, with fresh stock of iPhone 5s available again from Wednesday. Sales of the lowerpriced colourful iPhone 5c, however, picked up pace only from Saturday with consumers buying the model since 5s was sold out, mirroring a global trend. While this is ostensibly great news, it's hard to really appreciate the significance without first being aware of what iPhone 5s and 5c supply levels were like on Friday. It's no secret, after all, that iPhone 5s supply remains rather lean even a few weeks out from launch. Nonetheless, struggling to meet demand is undoubtedly a "problem" that most other companies would love to grapple with. Further, with the iPhone currently ranked sixth in terms of smartphone sales in India, word that the iPhone 5s and 5c are off to great starts must be welcome news to the higher-ups at Apple. iPhone 5s and 5c sales reportedly off to strong start in India originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Poll: How well does the iPhone 5s Touch ID work for you? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:30 AM PST 
The iPhone 5s seems to be the best iPhone Apple has ever made, yet after a month of use, it's primary feature -- the Touch ID fingerprint scanner -- doesn't seem to be all that. To be sure, Touch ID seems to work reasonably well for a number of users, but there's a growing number of anecdotal reports (including from myself) in Apple's Support Communities that the Touch ID is hit or miss with an increasing number of false-negatives resulting in users having to re-code their fingerprints or even restore their iPhones completely. Here at TUAW we'd love to hear from you about your Touch ID experience. Take the poll below and feel free to elaborate in the comments. View Poll Poll: How well does the iPhone 5s Touch ID work for you? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Senior iOS Engineering VP Henri Lamiraux leaves Apple Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST 
9to5Mac has confirmed that Henri Lamiraux, a top iOS Engineering VP at Apple, has left the company for the open and welcoming pastures of retirement. Lamiraux had reportedly decided that iOS 7 would be the last major iOS release he'd be a part of and officially decided to leave following the release of iOS 7.0.3. Mark Gurman reports: Sources within Apple's iOS division say Lamiraux is respected and he was in charge of developing the applications that come with iOS. The executive also led feature-implementation across the operating system, and he managed both bug-fixing processes and feature distribution to consumers. He also managed the frameworks within the operating system that power features and allow developers to build applications... Lamiraux is a longtime Apple veteran, having begun his career at One Infinite Loop all the way back in 1990. A chemical engineer by training, the bulk of Lamiraux's tenure at Apple was spent working on OS X. Once Apple transitioned into an iOS-centric company, however, Lamiraux made a similar transition himself. Beginning in October 2005 -- when work on the iPhone began -- Lamiraux served as director of software engineering for iOS Apps and Frameworks. By January 2008, he became a senior director of software engineering before becoming a VP of software engineering in September of 2009. As a final point of interest, Gurman notes that Lamiraux was previously one of Scott Forstall's top lieutenants. Senior iOS Engineering VP Henri Lamiraux leaves Apple originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Nov 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET/7pm PT: iPad Air Edition! Posted: 03 Nov 2013 05:20 PM PST  All-new dial-in experience! See below -- do not call into Talkshoe, we won't be there. Be sure to set up Fuze Meeting before the show if you want to join in live.
It's Sunday once again, so we return to that long standing tradition, the TUAW talkcast! (Yeah yeah, it's an hour 'earlier' than last week. I know.) This week we have a look at the new iPad Air, as well as a preview of the coming week's events in TUAW land, the MacTech Conference, where you can meet Victor and Kelly, and even hear Kelly speak! Well. Granted it's not revolutionary to hear me speak, but I have a topic this time so you still might want to check it out. Reminder on new-style talkcasting: With some help from the fine folks at Fuze, we're using a new system to record the show. This should let everyone listen in live -- and, if you want, raise your hand as you would in the Talkshoe room to get unmuted and chime in. You can join the call in progress (meeting # is 20099010) at 10 pm ET from any computer via this link; if you download the Mac or Windows Fuze clients ahead of time, you'll get better audio and a slicker experience, but browser-only will work fine. Just click the phone icon to join the audio once you're in. Using an iPhone or iPad? Grab the native clients from the App Store and get busy. (Even Android users can join the party.) Still feel like using the conventional phone dial-in? Just call 775-996-3562 and enter the meeting number 20099010, then press #. While the Fuze web and native clients have a chat channel, we'd like to reserve that for host participants, requests to talk and other real-time alerts... so the full-on chat for the show will appear in this very post at 10 pm tonight. You'll need Twitter, Facebook or Chatroll credentials to participate in the chat. We'll remind everyone to check back in at that time. Your patience and forbearance with our new tech is appreciated in advance. For the time being, the podcast feed of the show will continue to originate from Talkshoe and should be there within 24-36 hours. See you tonight! Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET/7pm PT: iPad Air Edition! originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 03 Nov 2013 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | Gen 2 lilitab adds easy on/off, MagKey to iPad kiosk Posted: 03 Nov 2013 12:30 PM PST 
When we last checked in on the lilitab tablet kiosk product 18 months ago, the sturdy and economical stand delivered a sleek, minimalist look for retail and exhibit environments. Rolling forward to new tablet models, however, required replacing the entire head unit, and the fixed viewing angle wasn't ideal for some environments. It was also not particularly easy to turn off a tablet at night when it was encased with the high-security faceplate on the original lilitab. Now creator Adam Aaronson and the lilitab team have rethought the entire product for the lilitab Gen 2 kiosk, which began shipping late in Q3 of this year. The lilitab Gen 2 works perfectly with the iPad 2, which many kiosk implementations choose for its lower price; it also works great with the 3rd and 4th gen units, and iPad Air support is on the way soon. The lilitab kiosks are assembled in California under Apple's "Made for iPad" certification program; the company claims to be the only tablet kiosk manufacturer that has achieved Level 6 MFi certification in the program, allowing it to put together final products featuring the Lightning device connector. (Of note, as the lilitabers have been working on supporting the iPad Air, they discovered that the new Smart Cover for the Air follows the example of the iPad mini model and uses two reverse-polarity magnets to trigger device sleep, versus the single magnet sensor on the older iPads. That config, says Aaronson, means that almost all pre-release "works with iPad Air" third-party cases will actually not sleep the device properly -- if you bought one, be sure to test it out.) In rethinking the lilitab kiosk, one of the first things that got improved was the setup process. Gone is the complex threading/wedging of the power adapter into the support base; now the stand includes a straightforward USB pigtail cable, which can be attached directly to power or to an extension cable. The overall assembly process is quite a bit faster, as the baseplate attaches much more easily than before. In addition to the self-standing floor models, there are countertop, surface and wall-mount options. It's on the business end of the kiosk where you'll find the most noticeable improvements in the Gen 2. Rather than a cable passthru from the stalk to the iPad head unit, the Pro version of the head unit sports a custom, lockable magnetic connector. Need to pack up your kiosks for the night? Simply unlock them and pull them easily off the stalk in seconds. Another advantage of the custom connector: you can quickly spin your tablet from landscape to portrait mode. The head unit and connector also now sit on an articulated joint, so it's much easier to adjust display angle when needed. The company also offers a basic, no-tilt version of the head unit. Inside the cradle, adjustable brackets, silicon bumpers and a swappable power module support the use of most full-size tablets with minimal adjustment (with the exception of the iPad 1, which is too thick to fit properly under the top cover). The really magical gadget, though, is the MagKey; this slender magnetic strip can slide into a slot on the back of the lilitab cradle, where it triggers the iPad 2/3/4 Smart Cover sleep sensor. In a snap, the iPad is asleep for the night, and can be awoken for business the next day just by pulling out the MagKey again. For point-of-sale or commerce applications, the lilitab head unit can be expanded with either a Square reader mount point or the liliswipe secure card reader. In fact, lilitab is teaming up with credit card processing giant VeriFone to deliver the Pro-V kiosk with an integrated VeriFone card reading solution. The big advantage there is the ability to leverage VeriFone's end-to-end security model, which reduces the effort involved in certifying the retail environment for PCI-DSS compliance (the industry standard governing the handling of payment card data). The lilitab Floor Basic model starts at $245, while the Pro comes in at $395. Beyond the standard black or white, the company offers a full line of custom skinning and branding options to help your kiosk match your business look. Gen 2 lilitab adds easy on/off, MagKey to iPad kiosk originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 03 Nov 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments | | iOS 7 calendar display bug for end of DST hits USA Posted: 03 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST |
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12 Brands That Captured Our Attention Through Instagram Contests by @albertcostill
Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:34 AM PST
| 12 Brands That Captured Our Attention Through Instagram Contests by @albertcostill Posted: 04 Nov 2013 10:30 AM PST Dunkin Donuts/Instgram In case you didn’t take notice, Instagram is kind of a big deal. But, since the social media platform has 150 million users, we’re guessing that you did in fact notice. However, does that mean that you can utilize Instagram to establish your brand? As the recent study published by TrackMavern illustrated, not […] Author informationJust a typical guy that enjoys an ice-cold beer, pizza, sports and music. Since venturing into the blogosphere many years ago to discuss his favorite tunes, Al has been known to write for online publications by Alpha Brand Media such as SoJones and AMOG, as well as Search Engine Journal, to discuss everything and anything that matters. The post 12 Brands That Captured Our Attention Through Instagram Contests by @albertcostill appeared first on Search Engine Journal. | | AdWords or Facebook: That’s the Question! by @Rocco_Zebra_Adv Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:30 AM PST There has been a great deal of discussion lately about whether AdWords or Facebook Ads are more effective. The reality is, each has its place depending upon your vertical, audience, and purpose. Lets take a look at the differences and how they work so you can decide which will work best for your approach. Branding […] Author informationFounder and CEO of Zebra Advertisement, a result oriented SEM consulting firm. Rocco consults companies that spend up to US$5M in PPC advertisement budget per day, speaks 3 languages, and has been recently shortlisted as Young Search Professional of the Year by the 2013 European Search Awards and by the 2013 US Search Award. The post AdWords or Facebook: That’s the Question! by @Rocco_Zebra_Adv appeared first on Search Engine Journal. | | Why Do 92% of Smartphone Users Utilize a Google App? by @albertcostill Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:30 AM PST Flickr Whether you love, dread, or fear Google, there’s no denying that the search engine is one of the most dominant forces in the online world. But, just how dominant is Big G? Well, 92% of smartphones use some sort of Google app, according to the following chart by Statista. We think that could be […] Author informationJust a typical guy that enjoys an ice-cold beer, pizza, sports and music. Since venturing into the blogosphere many years ago to discuss his favorite tunes, Al has been known to write for online publications by Alpha Brand Media such as SoJones and AMOG, as well as Search Engine Journal, to discuss everything and anything that matters. The post Why Do 92% of Smartphone Users Utilize a Google App? by @albertcostill appeared first on Search Engine Journal. | You are subscribed to email updates from Search Engine Journal
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