Saturday, December 30, 2006

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Worthy Blogs

BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Andy Nulman
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
Darren Barefoot
Two Hat Marketing

The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett’s Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Carpe Factum
Steve’s 2 Cents
Simplicity
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Make it Great!
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
Urban Jacksonville
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham’s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com
37 Days

A Clear Eye
Alex Halavais
Blog Brothers
Brand Autopsy

Brand Soul
Creating Passionate Users
Crossroads Dispatches
Doc Searls
Drawn

eHub
FAST Company
gapingvoid
gillianic tendencies
Good Experience
Hitchhikers Guide to the Blogosphere
Hobopoet
How to Save the World
Josh Hallett
Joy of Six
Learned on Women
Listics
Make it Great
my topography
New Charm School
Occupational Adventure
Orbit Now
Pause
PureLand Mountain
Seth Godin
Simplicity
Songs of Experience
Talking Story
Time Goes By
Tom Peters

Tomorrow Today
WonderBranding
World Changing
Tertiary Education
Joyful Jubilant Learning

Creative Think
8wishes
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
100 Bloggers
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
The Frager Factor
Mindblob
OrbitNow!
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That’s Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Friday, December 01, 2006

Technorati Profile

How I try to spend my days – Manifesto to my children

Do what you value

This is different from doing what you love. I love chocolate but making it is not what I value – no disrespect to chocolateurs.

I value hard work and innovation and surprises and play. And because I value them I work on them.

Do not seek permission to dream

You know what’s right. It’s in your genes to be the punk rocker of your life.

Yet we often (constantly?) seek endorsement, sanctioning, approval from defined and undefined authorities.

This is a vestigial remnant of too many years in the schooling system – self appointed authorities that demand your respect, when you know you should just…

…Love

It’s a verb – NOT just a fuzzy feeling inside.

Love demands actions. So when you say you love something make sure your actions say it too.

Respect your art

Whatever ‘art’ you’ve chose for yourself: from selling strategy to film making, from basket weaving to driving trucks, from taming lions to plumbing houses and everything in between.

Respect means you’ll work at it to do better than what you did yesterday and the day before.

Respect the artist

Don’t be too hard on yourself – just showing up everyday is a big achievement when most have stopped showing up a long time ago.

Be humble to your art but not submissive.

Be there and…

…Be present

You have to be in the moment to make the moment count. Get rid of distractions and do what you value.

There’s no TRYING - it’s all about TRYING.

Do not make TRYING an escape clause – as in “I’m trying this to see if it works, if not I’ll quit.” There’s no trying – there’s doing.

And yet, it’s all about trying. After all, no one walks before crawling.
Be sure to know the difference.

Write

It’s one of the few hallmarks of being a human being. The ability to read meaning in abstract scrawls and symbols is uniquely human.
Write love letters and poetry. Write menus and business plans, write novels and your dreams and fear. Even write abuse if you need to. But put it in writing. Do it with style. Write.

Rinse Repeat

Persistence pays off.

The mightiest mountain will crumble under the gentlest breeze of eternal winds.

Make Stuff

" WHY MAKE STUFF?

You can change the world with a pencil, a piece of paper, a chunk of
charcoal and piece of cardboard, a paintbrush, a crayon, a d-cam, a
blog, a cell phone, a recorder; a projector, some clay and a kiln, some
wood and a few tools, some sticks, stones, and grasses, a stove and
some vegetables, found glass, paper, metal, plastic, a torch, a welder,
a stick and some sand, a knife to carve with, an idea, some mud and
hay, a computer, some seeds, a needle and thread and scrap of fabric,
the list goes on. You can change yourself by using any of this stuff or
any thing else that might come to mind and hand.

Why we make stuff matters. How we make stuff is secondary. Any method,
material or vehicle that allows you to get to what you're trying to
see/feel/say/suggest is equally valid. What we make is not the point.
That we make, that we DO, is.

Making stuff develops the ability to see, hear, taste, smell and feel.
Making stuff is about problem solving, the openness to possibilities,
development of skills, internal and external navigation and resolution,
a sense of exploration and adventure. Making stuff transforms one from
a consumer to a contributor. Making stuff is not passive. Making stuff
involves making choices. Realizing you have choices and making them is
empowering. Empowerment leads to confidence, and the courage to
question and challenge the status quo. Making stuff and sharing it is a
social and political act, which opens avenues for communication. That
can help prevent us from becoming mindless drones subservient to the
mass media, politicians, advertisers and commercial interests that have
constructed the consumer culture for the purposes of distracting and
desensitizing us from reality.

Make it up, make do, make it real, make it personal, make it public.
Make it work, make it accessible, make it cheap, make it fun, make it
serious. Make it loud or soft, make it bright or dim, make it big or
small. Make it obvious, make it subtle, make it to be touched, tasted,
smelled, heard. Make it open to interpretation, open for discussion,
open to criticism. Make it open. Make it from found stuff, made stuff,
recycled, reused and repaired stuff. Make it from scratch, from a kit,
a mix, a box. Make it new or make it old. Make it specific, make it
general, make it purposeful, make it pointless. Make it a question,
make it an answer, make it clear, make it vague. Make it high tech,
make it lo-fi, make it inclusive.

Just make it. When you're done, make more and make different. No need
to explain, justify, apologize, or validate. Make it, and let it go.

Dare to fail big, and attempt to change the world. Resist conformity,
think for yourself and go make some stuff of your very own."

From gapingvoid http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/003479.html

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

This is it

We're here to make a dent in the Universe.

A William

Forse l'hai già capito: non è facile crescere, ancor meno diventare adulti.
Essere grandi significa avere più libertà, più mezzi economici, ma anche molte più responsabilità.

Il tuo compito, la tua meta in fondo al viaggio, è diventare migliore dei tuoi genitori.
Alza la fronte. Non farti imbrogliare da chi vorrebbe comprare il tuo consenso con denaro o adulazioni, non ti far bastare ciò che sono disposti a darti. Il tempo ti dirà che le idee sono tanto più preziose quanto più sono diverse.

Alza la fronte e non porre limiti alla tua ambizione: essi sono fatti per essere superati attraverso passione e capacità. Non è vero che nella vita bisogna accettarsi, piuttosto è fondamentale sapere che ti puoi migliorare, qualsiasi sia la stagione che stai attraversando.
Sforzati di trovare il coraggio per dare spazio alla tua creatività, confida nel tuo talento cercandolo ogni giorno e ogni notte dentro di te.

Raschia il barile delle tue capacità, scopri ogni cunicolo della tua anima ma non donarla mai tutta, riservane sempre una briciola per ogni tua prossima passione.

L'esistenza non è una corsa di cento metri, ma una maratona meravigliosa e per arrivare alla fine occorre merito, non furbizia; voglia di essere disponibili a meravigliarsi, non infruttuose ricette alchemiche: "un uomo libero agisce sempre in buona fede e non ricorre all'astuzia", diceva Spinoza.

Non dare retta a chi ti indica le scorciatoie, prova ad osare strade difficili, evita tutto ciò che è comodo e diffida di chi te lo propone. Fa' crescere dentro di te rabbia e sete per l'inquietudine.
Non buttarti via, impara a dannarti senza perderti.

Alza la fronte e tieni dritta la schiena: nemmeno gli anni la curveranno, soltanto l'ignavia.

Ama la tua libertà e difendila da tutto e da tutti; adora la tua autonomia, riparala dal canto delle sirene ricattatrici: le dipendenze non fanno crescere, aiutano soltanto a smarrire il senso del viaggio.

Non farti atterrire dall'urto delle tue emozioni, contamina con l'eco di quel rombo magnifico chi, accanto a te, ha abbassato lo sguardo.

Impara che hai diritto a pensare che nella vita si possa e si debba tentare e sbagliare, e che nessuno ti deve poter giudicare per gli errori che commetterai, ma semmai per le omissioni che ammetterai a te stesso.

La riga la si tira alla fine, non certo a vent'anni, e, quando ti verrà di guardare alla vita come ad una straordinaria vallata percorsa, avrai finalmente capito che la sera cui sei giunto conosce segreti che il lontano mattino nemmeno poteva immaginare; ma dovrai anche sapere che ciò che di buono è stato l'ha costruito la tua anima, così come anche ciò che le tue forze non sono state capaci di compiere.

From the preface of 'I figli non crescono più' by Paolo Crepet

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Nuno's World

Nuno's World

Google News

Google News

Apple - Support - Discussions - User Profile: Captain Mench

Apple - Support - Discussions - User Profile: Captain Mench

Win an ipod at Writers Block!

Visit this blog by ex-Apple 'evangelist' Mike Evangelist

Start of the New Year

Started the New Year with a series of mindless, mind-numbing meetings that would test the patience of a saint. It is still mind-boggling to me how I managed to stay awake – my will power astounds me as every cell in my body was screaming to let it fall asleep.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Guy Kawasaki blog

From Guy Kawasaki Blog


Guy’s Golden Touch


If only I could get paid for answering the question, “How can I get people to evangelize my product?” I would be able to stop working and play hockey every day. Alas, there is no way to get paid for this information, so I give it to you for free.

The short answer is called “Guy’s Golden Touch.” You might think this means, “Whatever Guy touches turns to gold.” If only this were true. The actual definition is, “Whatever is gold, Guy touches.”

Bookmark this: The key to evangelism is a great product. It is easy, almost unavoidable, to catalyze evangelism for a great product. It is hard, almost impossible, to catalyze evangelism for crap. (Evangelism, after all, comes from the Greek word for “bringing the good news,” not “the crappy news.”)

This is a duhism if I’ve ever heard one: “I guess we should create a great product.” Duh! As opposed to a crappy one? The salient question, however, becomes, “What are the characteristics of a great product?” Here is the answer.

Think: DICEE

Deep. A great product is deep. It doesn’t run out of features and functionality after a few weeks of use. Its creators have anticipated what you’ll need once you come up to speed. As your demands get more sophisticated, you discover that you don’t need a different product.

Indulgent. A great product is a luxury. It makes you feel special when you buy it. It’s not the least common denominator, cheapest solution in sight. It’s not necessarily flashy in a Ferrari kind of way, but deep down inside you know you’ve rewarded yourself when you buy a great product.

Complete. A great product is more than a physical thing. Documentation counts. Customer service counts. Tech support counts. Consultants, OEMS, third-party developers, and VARS count. Blogs about it counts. A great product has a great total user experience—sometimes despite the company that produces it.

Elegant. A great product has an elegant user interface. Things work the way you’d think they would. A great product doesn’t fight you—it enhances you. (For all of Microsoft’s great success this is why it’s hard to name a Microsoft product that you’d call “great.”) I could make the point that if you want to see if a company’s products are elegant, you need only look at its chairman’s presentations.

Emotive. A great product incites you to action. It is so deep, indulgent, complete, and elegant that it compels you to tell other people about it. You’re not necessarily an employee or shareholder of the company that produces it. You’re bringing the good news to help others, not yourself.


If you want a smashing example of DICEE product, you need not look any further than iPod. Deep: thousands of songs, podcasts, and recently video plus third-party add-ons that have added functionality Apple never anticipated. Indulgent: yes, you could buy a cheaper MP3 player, but that’s not the point, is it? Complete: total integration with online buying, Apple’s support (other than a battery or two), and online support by independent web sites. Elegant: One wheel does it all, right? Emotive: How did you first find out about it?

So if you want raging, inexorable thunderlizard evangelists for your product, make sure it’s DICEE.

Edgar Allen Poe

The complete works of Edgar Allen Poe

Favorite blogs

Recently admired blogs are (in no particular order):

Michael Chabon’s

McSweeney's

Seth Godin

Sunday, January 01, 2006

The New Year starts with rain

Started the New Year with rain

We went out to lunch an had a great time - got the kids to drive the car and they were hollering and howling with shear joy.

The house is under attck from rogue mosquitoes. They are assalting us every time we exit the house. We have identofied the source as a water tank.

G now armed with enough insect repellant and fly spray has secured the perimeter.

Fun start to a good year.