Posts filed under 'Computer'
Your most embarrassing messages, online
Ok, now technology is here with a vengeance with Audioo.com
From a tech-geek whose last project was an online repository of downloadable sound effects, Audioo’s also a repository, but not sound effects, this time embarrassing voicemails uploaded by users who received these messages from their friends – or people that used to be their friends.
After upload, each message’s transcribed and posted as both a text and audio file, with examples from various area codes including:
(718): A UPS guy calls a customer to pick up leftover boxes, which he’s worried about ’cause he thinks they may be holding a ferret, a point he emphasizes by swearing, then saying "I don’t cuss unless I’m serious about something" — well, $#**.
(917): A clearly pale guy tries to convince a girl to come over by letting her know that "to answer your question, I put on sunscreen even if it is pitch dark outside, literally… I got some spf 80 here. I got some spf 90. I got some spf 1000. Seriously, I’m just tryin’ to get you to my house so we can make out. Just come on over. I got the spf whatever. And uh, we’ll go hang out in the sun. Or not. It doesn’t matter." Hmmmm… actually it kind of does.
This makes me sad for the people involved and I guess just sad in general. If you participate, I have the T-shirt for you. Is this a good use of technology?
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Add comment June 30, 2010
Smart Phone Marketing
So, what does the announcement of the new iPhone 4 mean to you? Will you sell you old phone and make the switch next week? I’ve already seen tutorials on how to sell your old phone on ebay. I do love the improved camera (front and back), the HD video, better email, wireless keyboard support and more. But I’ll probably keep my iPhone 3gs till it’s time to renew my phone contract.
Why? This is not an earth shaking new product – it’s an improvement or next generation of a winning product. It’s release insures that the smart phone is the hot and growing client platform for many moons. If you are not marketing to the mobile customer and consumer you are missing the fastest growing segment of computing. The platform is affordable and powerful. In fact, in some countries the desktop has all but been replaced by a smart phone.
It happened to radio with the mp3 player. Most people I know use their cell phone – not a home phone. Next, I predict that the smart phone will take over more of the TV and desktop/laptop market. Excuse me, I have a skype call on my phone …
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Add comment June 11, 2010
Build a Social Media Platform!
by Dwight Cook
Social Media is about person-to-person activity. Don’t be “the company” be a person. Be a good listener. Be passionate, it’s contagious. Stay on your toes … adjust and learn from connections. Stay real. If you become prideful people will know.
As in all marketing, identify who you want to follow. It’s not just about how many friends or followers you have but how many are valuable? So you must target your social media efforts. Develop categories subjects and keywords and include these subjects in your social media "talk".
Content is so important that we recommend part of your monthly budget be allocated for a virtual assistant to write on your social media platforms. We do this for most of our clients – they simply don’t have the time. Automated posts on these targeted subjects can be used but you must interact too or you will be thought of as a robot and people will begin to unfollow or unfriend you.
A blog is a great part of the social media puzzle. Blogging subjects should also be targeted and can position you as an expert. Every time a blog post is made it should be announce on the other social media platforms with a link back to the blog. These posts can be automated.
Interconnect your social media networks. We suggest that some of your Twitter posts are also put on facebook. Facebook is more about relationships than Twitter so when you get a large Twitter following you can drive traffic to your blog or website and facebook.
A contest is a great way to jumpstart your social media following. Incentives and freebies still work and can be a valuable ingredient if you don’t want to slowly build your social media network.
Finding Targeted Users
It is important to build a network of targeted Twitter followers.
Content is very important and should be about the key subjects your targeted followers and their interests. We use 5 methods of finding targeted users:
1. The FIRST method of finding targeted users is by searching for users with specific
keywords in their Twitter updates.
2. The SECOND method of finding targeted users is to search by profile data on users who have specific information listed in their Profile. Users generally type a few sentences about themselves in their profile, which makes this another great way to get highly targeted users.
3. The THIRD method of finding targeted users is to search by location. We can search for a user within a certain mile radius of a specific location.
4. The FOURTH method of finding targeted users is search by followers of another user. This can be very powerful if used correctly. Searching followers of another user can find followers of your competition or followers of a power user.
5. We can also find targeted users followed by another user. Often, users will follow users who have similar interests as they do, so it can be a good idea to follow their users as well. For example, a person might tend to follow other users who tend to have the same profession or hobbies as they do.
· Merchandise the connection to your Facebook page everywhere a customer might interact with your brand online
· Include a compelling call-to-action and even an incentive for your customers to join your Facebook community
· If you want more fans, you should be leveraging the fans you already have to get them
Social media is all about customer support, communication, content, and count. There are several ways to grow your audience.
Make it visible
As I pointed out last week, turning customers into fans can be as easy as making them aware of your presence at Facebook. Where possible, make sure to use the "one-click" fan button feature offered by Facebook. And, do not hesitate to cross-promote your Facebook page via other social media channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, or your online forums.
Give a reason
Include a compelling call-to-action and even an incentive for your customers to join your Facebook community. Offering an incentive is an important component in this process.
Interaction
Another way to activate your customer base to interact with you at Facebook is to invite them to join the conversation. Post topics and invite fans to comment
Fans recruit fans
Fans are important. Who wants to have a fanpage with no fans? Whether you have 300 or 300,000 fans at Facebook, two things are certain: 1) You want more fans and 2) you should be leveraging the fans you already have to get them. Facebook fan drives are becoming more popular than ever. Some of the best examples include contests and promotions.
Advertise
When doing a promotion, building fans or having a contest, advertising can help. Currently, targeted Facebook advertising is a bargain. It’s cost per thousand people is super low … and did I mention it is targeted? Consider budgeting for reoccurring targeted Facebook display advertising. It’s better than traditional media, especially as part of a social media package.
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Add comment March 19, 2010
Speed up Outlook 2007
My Outlook has been very slow starting up as of late. It’s also slow when switching between my mail and calendar functions. This is crazy since I have a really fast computer. Today I found a way to really speed it up and I had to share.
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Follow these steps: 1. Open Outlook as an Administrator by going to C:Programs/Microsoft Office/Office12 and right clicking on the Outlook exe program. Choose “Run as Administrator”. 2. Then once Outlook opens, go to Tools, then Trust Center, then Addins. 3. Click “Go…” at the bottom and uncheck Outlookaddins. 4. To maximize speed, uncheck everything EXCEPT Windows Indexing, which may be the only useful addin anyway. 5. If you lose some function that was useful, just follow the steps above and check the addins that correspond to the missing function. Then exit Outlook and restart it to test the addin’s fuction. |
When I did this this morning, the speed of my Outlook 2007 improved significantly. I had about 17 addins that I unchecked. We are supposed to to have a new Outlook and Office soon from Microsoft and I hope they have addressed this performance issue.
1 comment March 4, 2010
Embracing the Social Media Groundswell
It’s every companies dream to ride a big wave. How do you do that with social media? I like to think about conversing at a friends dinner party with people you know and have just met. You would not hard sell someone at the party your good and services –would you? It’s socially unacceptable. So as you build your social network today, here are some tips to help you surf the coming swell with awareness.
- Social Media Groundswell is about person-to-person activity.
- Don’t be “the company” be a person.
- Be a good listener.
- Be patient, transform your company, one person at a time.
- Be passionate, it’s contagious.
- Stay on your toes … adjust and learn from connections.
- Stay real. If you become prideful people will know.
Add comment February 19, 2010
Reaching 384 million people
A recent article about China and Google mentioned how well controlled the Internet is in China, but don’t forget that the market is huge. I love the Chinese people and if you want to reach a lot of people … could this be your market? China has an estimate 384 million Internet users and a huge cell market. Hello China!
China’s government aggressively promotes Internet use for business and education, but tries to block access to material deemed “subversive” or pornographic. I wish the US blocked porno.
Google made news and caused an outcry among Chinese internet users when it announced thisit might pull out of China over censorship and e-mail hacking. I’m still waiting to see if hardball works.
1 comment February 4, 2010
See Amazing SixthSense Technology
We don’t really want to use computers, we want information. What if you could control your computer and it’s information. Open your eyes as to how you could react to the physical word with Pranav Mistry at TEDIndia. This is amazing!
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Add comment January 30, 2010
Can Google Change China?
Have you been to China? It’s an amazing country with smart very productive people. Many predict that China will be the leading economic nation soon … or are they now?
The Google machine (no that’s not a slam) thinks that they can muscle China. In our last Shanghai trip, we found that when you went to an blocked web site or said a word in your email that was against government policy … your computer screen would go black and display a warning for a period of time. I was told that if you get too many warnings then Chinese security would be on the way. We heeded the warnings and complied. The NSA thinks they monitor the net?
Now Google wants to offer an uncensored search engine in China? China is changing but not fast enough for Google. Read more ….
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2 comments January 29, 2010
Share Documents in the Clouds
Almost everyone I know uses Office or Office for Mac. Bur sharing documents can be a bother. Even email is not dependible because of Spamfiltering, mail policies and AntiVirus programs that block your attempts to share.
Have you seen what is going on with all of the servers and services available today?
Sharing is fundamental to cloud computing. This type of sharing uses your Web browser as the window to the cloud experience. With OfficeLive Workspaces, you can view and share Word documents, Excel –spreadsheets, PowerPoint, or many other documents – from anywhere to anywhere. Whether you are at home, at work, at the library, or in a hotel room with Internet. Forget sending e-mail attachments back and forth, or using a thumb-sized flash drive that too often gets misplaced.
Clouds are Everywhere
Computing in the clouds gets even more fun when you see your desktop computer in the clouds. No, nothing has been abducted from your home. Welcome to Mesh, your personal network of your own computers in the sky, viewed in your favorite Web browser. Once your computers are adding to Mesh, you can view any of your computers from all the other computers—and all for free. I use Mesh to connect to my desktop computer at work when I must have a file or need to run a program remotely.
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2 comments January 28, 2010
Unified Contacts List
Since this is automated, the listing is prone to errors. If you think listings are were wrongly linked. Additionally, users may also insert new contacts to a unified card by tapping on Edit -> Link Contact and choosing a contact name to link. This is especially useful if you want to group a list of users under one head.
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Add comment August 17, 2010