tech
Sarah Lacy Gets It
SarahLacy.com: Maybe Blogging Is Just a Loss-Leader?
If you look at SarahLacy.com as a business, the blog isn’t a profit center. It’s my low cost personal PR, lead generation, networking, advertising all rolled in one.
Yes I read Sarah Lacy's blog. No she doesn't just promote her book. Thankfully she's a real tech reporter with great content. She hit the nail on the head today with the excerpt above. Blogging is at it's best when it's used to promote what you really do. I had a podcast that I did every friday discussing the tech work I did during the week. It went well for a while until I realized my low numbers was because the audience I wanted to help never heard of a "Podcast". My music related podcast was a hit on Itunes (Hiphop Bizness) but I wanted to separate myself from that field...
Anyway, if you are a coder, start a blog. Build Websites? Blog about it. Internet company owner? Yes, blog it! Free or cheap promotion is the Web 2.0 way to go. Getting to know your customers this way will give you a direct channel to their needs and wants. Sarah gets it, do you?
Pulling The Lever On Social Media
My mom used to tell me a story of how when she was a little girl, she was sent to get water. Now she's from North Carolina and at that time sinks inside the house was a luxury. So she sat her bucket down and pulled the lever on the water pump. After a couple of pulls, it goes up and down by itself and fills up the bucket. So she's watching the lever and decides to jump on it for a horsey ride. Well, she does this for a little bit until she slips and the lever in an upswing pops her in the chin. I can't remember if it knocks her out or not but she learned something valuable that day: Don't play with the lever!
I'm not sure people are getting the point in Social Media. I asked Alejandro Reyes( www.successfool.com ) about Robert Scoble and on live video he said he didn't want to talk about him, curious... You would think Scoble is the perfect model to follow for Internet marketing: Be yourself 100% percent of the time. Gain a following and direct them to cool stuff you find interesting...Ohhh no profit making, hmph. Well I'm not too sure about that. After gaining the loyalty of so many tech hungry people, pulling the lever to get something out of it shouldn't be devious in my opinion. This was touched on before once he put ads on his blog. The question not answered though is how can we use these social media tools properly?
I'm certainly not an expert in this space but (wait for it..) I do have some ideas.
1) Use your Followers to work for a company promoting new tech things:
Ok that's not new since that's what Scoble is currently doing...
2) Start your own company working (for profit) with potential developers and test their products with your audience:
I guess this is the rub, since I feel your hard work to get a following, should allow you to be compensated for it in some way.
There went Scoble's Sponsor...
Seagate Technology guides fiscal 1Q below Street
"Shares sank $1.80, or 10 percent, to $15.50 in aftermarket trading Tuesday."
That could be the headlines soon. This is the first time I've seen a negative tech finance article in awhile. Seagate fell under Wallstreet's expectations, that's not surprising.What's scary is Tech's delay in feeling the impending recession. There's only two shoes and the quicker the other one falls,the quicker it can be picked up. It's like trying to fight a fever. Just let it take it's course so things can get back to normal...
Web 2.0 = Small Business
It's strange. There used to be a time when the bigger the company and it's brand, the safer you feel. We would pour into appliance stores only, not "department stores, allowing the sales rep full reign with our wallets."Well if it's a ___ then it must be good." That was our reasoning.Of course now we realize that just like purebred dogs, certain "brands" break down or stop working at the exact same time, and the same part stops working on every item. This comes with the territory I suppose, but what about the internet?
It appears there is an online war out there with companies pitching for blogger's most precious commodity : Their Comments. This is a very touchy subject because if your blog doesn't have the latest and greatest, what are you?
I personally don't go for big brands anymore. I like the new guy with the latest technology and hunger to be the best. The fact that I can see Disqus creator Daniel Ha on friendfeed comforts me. My motto used to be."If we use a big company and something goes wrong, we can sue or threaten them to get results." Now it's "If we use a small business and something goes wrong, the minute I inform them I get a response (thanx Lijit)! I like that, how about you?
more Tech widgets
T-Mobile
First Anzman now Winer? To be fair, one is a widget showcasing human posting. While the other is a scraper collecting the latest tech news. Both are innovative for sure but winer seems to be a bit more ambitious. His new site( http://tech.newsjunk.com/ ) appears to be in competition with www.techmeme.com . As a blogger i love it but as a web user i have one more choice to make. What makes this one better than the other? It's still early plus the originator of the rss feed might more tricks up his sleeve....
The Digital Gap Is getting Smaller
Top News - Educators wrestle with digital-equity challenges
Despite gains in the number of households that are online and the number of computing devices in the hands of students, making sure all learners have equitable access to technology resources continues to be a challenge in the United States and worldwide, said panelists at a recent summit.
I believe this will get better because it is being acknowledged. The rest of this article shows how it's getting better globally also. That's good news. My kids don't use the pc at all. They see their parents on it but they can't use it, too young. My daughter's kindergarten class has a MAC and a PC. At home I prefer them having more physical activities and yes the PS2. I want them to understand that yes you can play games on it but that's not the sole purpose. PCs are a tool. Hopefully when it's time to do book reports and build a virtual project, they'll be focused enough to do that, and then play games on the separate game console. What do you think? Subscribe to us via twitter: @myphillynetwork
I Still Don't Believe Wireless Is Safer
Most federal tech execs say wireless Internet is secure - Washington Business Journal:
“The majority of federal employees find wireless Internet boosts their productivity"
You can have a kagillion(?) experts say that wireless is safe for all I care. I do agree that going wireless makes you more productive. I just worry about these "experts"...Really I switched to Linux just to be "safer". I watch my router software to see any "new" connections. Two firewalls? Ha! That's not enough. Studying Network security make you more paraniod, not safer. I cut all of my bluetooth options off after seeing the bluetooth penetration software, forget Paris Hilton! If they really want you they will get you. Just back up your personal files to flash drives...Scratch that, AVOID having any personal files on your pc. If anything, saving things on the internet instead of your hard drive is safer. Buy a shredder and watch anyone outside your house with a laptop, even if they are just watching DVDs...Wait, who's that...*peeking thru blinds*
When All Else Fails, Buy More Tech Stock
Minyanville - NEWS & VIEWS-DepewTube: Like Shooting Tech In a Barrel
Kevin's throwing darts at the technology corner of his screen and coming up green no matter what ticker he hits. From Apple (AAPL) to IBM (IBM), a lot of tech stocks are outperforming today.
Things are getting scary outside of Silicon valley. American Car companies are on the verge of shutting down. Gasoline is getting more expensive even though the price of oil per barrel is going down. China bought most of our national debt (thanx btw) and the scariest thing to date? Starbucks can't afford to have a store every other block!!! So what's a "Day Trader" to do? Apparently it's buy tech stock. The virtual world is looking real green right now and the bubble won't burst for a while (sorry Dvorack) .
Still in love with Eee
T-Mobile
This little laptop is a monster at work! It allows me to be mobile and test/resolve issues. I need to write this off somehow! Just Kidding. When I noted on www.friendfeed.com/solacetech that I dropped my Eee for the third time, here's the response i received :
"FriendFeed
posted a message
“I just dropped my almost two weeks old Eee for the third time...”
Saturday at 11:51 pm
...and what happened? I'm guessing...nothing. I've dropped mine half a dozen times (twice in 2 minutes flung it across a room by snagging my foot on the power cord) and it acts like it hardly noticed. Good feelin', ain't it? Oh, if it got smooshed...sorry. - Jim Stanger
it still works! my daughter dropped my vista laptop and the screen broke! i <3 Eee!!! - You"
10 tips for PR people...
Since Philadelphia is now trying to be players in the tech game, we better get use to spin doctors. Here's a list of things to expect or wish from the PR...
