We’re almost so used to the idea of weapons-toting drones, that finding a drone with a pair of actual arms is a little unusual. This quadcopter with a pair of arms is the brainchild of university professors, who clearly didn’t think about the consequences of giving flying robots the ability to pick things up and run away with them. Everyone duck.
A lot of people fear that drones might invade their privacy (and for good reason), but put to good use, UAVs can help monitor crops, film spectacular aerial views and, in this case, capture tax-evading millionaires. Law enforcement agencies in South…
Remember when Twitter rolled out its way of buying stuff from within the mobile app? Well, it turns out the startup behind the micro-blogging firm’s commerce function is powering Facebook’s payment service, too. As Recode tells it, Stripe is the sole…
Chris Pratt just got even more awesome.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” star is hosting the season premiere of “SNL” this weekend, but first he stopped by “The Tonight Show” on Thursday to face off with Jimmy Fallon in “Word Sneak,” a game where you try to use random words in casual conversation.
Fallon has played the game in the past with Ricky Gervais and Bryan Cranston, but the “totally natural” way these two use “titmouse” and “dentures” in an everyday chat may make this one the best of all.
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.
Season 40 of “SNL” premieres this Saturday, September 27, at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
I don’t know why I’m so mesmerized. Maybe because the ant looks positively alien from up close. Or maybe because I wish I could suck out and deflate the water I drink like a balloon letting out air instead of having to pour it in me like fuel. Whatever it is, it sure makes for a nice GIF.
The King Fire in California has been burning for just twelve days now, but that’s been long enough for the fire to eat up hundreds of thousands of acres, and destroy a number of properties. This NASA photo of the area puts all that into perspective.
Driving a car off a lot usually comes with a sense of exhilaration or freedom, but that thrill is short-lived when you’ve got a debt collector riding shotgun wherever you go. That’s basically the case for a whole host of Americans with bad credit –…
Every start-up has the same marketing challenge. Finding customers.
God knows why the failure rate is an abysmal 90% for startups.
Here is my truncated “30K foot” perspective based on years of work with startups.
Too smart for your own good and can’t get out of the way when you hire an agency or consultant.
“No one knows this business like me….”
It’s a weed problem: too many execs get lost in the weeds working through the strategy and tactics.
Great marketing is about simplicity. Or see: “lead, follow or get the hell out of the way….”
Can’t keep the investors or BOD members out of the marketing strategy.
Committees create snafus, endless turf wars and other forms of mediocrity not good for strategic or tactical marketing.
Hiring a PR firm too early and/or letting them drive the strategy when/if no clue about digital media: design, technology, social and/or content marketing.
Thinking Cisco, SAP or Intel have everything figured out and then mapping a strategy around their brand positioning.
You are a start-up right? You don’t have the firepower, marketing budget or the type of team to execute this kind of strategy.
Have too much money. When is too much too much you ask?
When it gets in the way of tactical execution: see endless tacking back and forth.
Get to market and listen.
Mirroring competitors and thinking this is marketing strategy nirvana.
Some of them may be copying you and then where does this leave your business?
Yes, competitive intelligence is always meaningful if done right.
But, wholesale copying a marketing strategy with minimal tweaks and iterations is never a good thing.
Falling in love with technology or worse, afraid to test new technology.
Moore’s Law has bit the dust – marketing is in real time now and sell cycles can be viciously long.
Your customers are on smartphones and they are distracted.
You gotta get their attention with content in context drenched in tech’s repeat loops.
Look No Further for Easy Answers
You read this far, so here’s my formula for success: find a customer, ask them why they bought and then build your marketing strategy around this message.
I don’t portend to have all the answers. It’s in the data.
But, rave on: you are driving this economy and deserve cheers, accolades and the billions some of you are making.
#livedigital
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It took 30 years or so to build the San Diego Downtown library. Money was always an issue, but mostly, I suspect, it was because of the common perception that libraries were dying in the wake of Google and the sheer number of online sites available at the click of the mouse.
However, when you add a cutting edge charter school to the thinking about a new library, along with an art gallery, an auditorium, a rare books room, a teen center, and a section devoted to children, what you have is a very special place; one that hundreds of visitors from around the world are exploring.
Everything is housed inside a building that cries out for adoration and amazement like the Sydney Opera House. In fact, it is fair to say that the Downtown Library has already become a monument to the city, and E3 Civic High, as the school is named, a model for the future of education.
E3 Civic High is thought to be the only school in the nation housed in a library, and draws heavily on the resources of downtown where students are serving in professional internships, job shadowing and have the chance to graduate with both a diploma and a community college degree.
The school, which occupies the sixth and seventh floors of the library, uses project-based learning techniques that ask students to tackle real world problems with lessons that combine multiple subjects. For example, in a class that combines algebra, geometry and statistics, students study San Diego crime patterns. In addition to analyzing crime statistics, students study cause and correlation and then collaborate to find ways to curb crime. The curriculum is often team taught, and “art integrated,” that is teaching many disciplines at one time and using the arts, broadly defined, as the vehicle to do so.
E3 Civic High believes the “co-location of a charter high school within a public library … offers extensive opportunities for collaboration, as both organizations support a mission of lifelong learning and literacy.” The design of both the library and the school is unique too. Art is everywhere. Open spaces, tables and comfortable chairs invite collaboration. For most students this a fun, and exciting place to be, very much unlike the schools they ever attended.
To launch the library and tell the world that something new and exciting was being born, students at San Diego State University (SDSU) designed a logo calling it “The Next Chapter.”
According to retired library director Deborah Barrow, the new logo like the new library “represents a rebirth for the entire San Diego Public Library system.” An SDSU marketing executive added, “The new logo brings to mind the new Central Library’s iconic dome, which is becoming a prominent feature in the San Diego skyline. The main colors of the logo — teal and orange — reflect San Diego’s proximity to the ocean and the region’s vivid sunsets and sun-drenched hills.”
As expected, the new library has all the bells and whistles our techno age can offer including fiber optic architecture allowing for high bandwidth transmission which supports all the next-generation services; Wi-Fi throughout the Library, the Garden Courtyard and Auditorium; a video wall in the foyer with multiple video screens placed in a layout pattern at multiple angles and rotations, as well as access to14,000 DVDs, 1.2 million books and 1.6 million historic and governmental documents. Of course, every student has a Mac Book Air and Internet access, even at home for $9.95 if the family qualifies.
In addition, the Library:
• Creates a multi-sensory experience to grab visitor attention and let them know they are entering a technological library of the future.
• Features quintessential San Diego images with fast moving time-lapse shots of iconic San Diego locations and interactions.
• Weaves in the theme of literacy and the Library’s new tagline, “Discover Your Next Chapter.”
Dr. Helen V. Griffith, Executive Director of e3 Civic High, calls it a “revolution of the phenomenal…. a model for public education in a (high tech), world-class, nine-story public library!”
But the new school isn’t about technology, or the library per se. It’s goal, as Helen Griffith put it, is ” to create innovators, problem-solvers, and effective communicators who will become engaged in the business of making our city, our state, our nation, and our world a better place.”
The San Diego Downtown Library and E3 Civic High celebrate their first anniversary this weekend. There is a lot to celebrate.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
