I don't normally pimp products and services, although perhaps I should. I, like most of the staff and many of our readers, am a dedicated consumer of local, hand-made, craft and independent everything and tend to avoid mass production/corporate retailers and goods when possible. Not long ago I reconnected, thanks to the magic of social … Continue reading Biscottii Goddess is awesome. Just saying.
New research suggests that social media is a bubble - how long before it bursts? These are heady days for social media interests. Facebook and Twitter run rampant, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vine and Instagram are booming, Ello is all kinds of interesting, and somehow or another Google+ and StumbleUpon are still hanging in there. While there isn't … Continue reading Facebook’s worst nightmare: what if social media is just that – social?
It turns out that one of my favorite business writers, MediaPost's Bob Garfield, hates those Jane Seymour Kay Jewelers ads as badly as I do. Awww. Every kitsch begins with Kay. But wait. Open your heart? No, unless by “heart” they mean “wallet.” Ladies and gentlemen, I give you open-heart sorcery: the black art of combining … Continue reading Fake Cause Marketing: Bob Garfield takes Jane Seymour and Kay Jewelers to the woodshed
Plus-size fashion? Sure, as long as you don't care about color. I had kind of a WTF? moment at work today, that turned into a moment that made me think, and finally into a full-blown depressing moment. We're working on a project for a retailer that sells a wide range of clothing to women. We … Continue reading Retailers and plus-size women: a disgusting insight from Big Data
A month ago most of you had probably never heard of Ello. By now a lot of you have. And at the pace the news has been getting around in the past few days, this time next week even hermits will know about it. The short version is that Ello is the brainchild of a … Continue reading Say Ello: six observations about the world’s newest social network
What would happen if you put Yogi Berra in charge of making infographics? We've written about the problems with infographics before, but this one takes the cake. There's a fun one from Ethos3 up at SlideShare.net addressing the importance of nonverbal communication when making presentations. It's generally pretty helpful, but it also provides us with a lesson in the … Continue reading Infographic best practices: learn how math works
"Hiring managers" say only apply for jobs you're qualified for. Fine. Now, here are some things HR needs to do in return. I subscribe to a number of industry mailing lists and content services as part of my work, and periodically they'll publish stories aimed at helping job seekers - how to find opportunities, how to … Continue reading Dear Human Resources: four ways employers can help America’s job hunters (and themselves)
The Kroger chain of stores, including QFC, King Soopers, City Market and more, are slaughtering trees for no good reason. Will you ask them to stop? I just went to the store, and it's time I piped up about something that has been bugging me for awhile. Have a look: This is my receipt. Notice … Continue reading Why do Kroger stores waste so much paper?
IABC Communicator of the Year has a pattern of bad behavior. I'm not sure "I'm sorry" is enough. We all screw up. When we do, it's our responsibility to acknowledge it and apologize to those our mistake in someway damaged, hurt, disadvantaged or inconvenienced. Hopefully we learn and move on, never repeating the mistake. But … Continue reading Kelly Blazek, Cleveland’s nasty e-mailer: how seriously should we take her apologies?
No, this clever program isn't 100% there yet, but listen to the audio and think about it for a second. Imagine what it's going to be like in a decade. It tells us something about the state of technology that we're this far down the road to machines that can pass as real humans. But … Continue reading The first machine to pass the Turing Test is going to be … wait for it … a telemarketing robot
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