I Love Dave's Killer Bread!

Maybe some of you haven’t heard, but on the West coast there’s a bread out there that’s rockin’ all the artificial extras out of pre-sliced loaves and tuning in the protein, fiber, and organic whole grains to create the seediest smoothest sounds on the shelves. Toping my charts in the bakery aisle is Dave’s Killer Bread. It’s a bread that rocks my world with it’s killer taste, texture, and it’s dedication to the most authentic organic ingredients.

I Love Dave’s Killer Bread from all things delicious on Vimeo.

This month, to kick off my cookbook launch and to celebrate the fact that their warbling wheat is now available in Fairway, I made a video to honor the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Spring Induction ceremony. We’re “toasting” the eight new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and paying homage to them with toast recipes to cover and characterize all their classic hits. Here’s the set list:

1 First on the line up: Bill Wither’s Just the Two of Us Toast on Dave’s Thin Sliced Twenty-One Grains seared with a soulful slice of butter and two sunny side up eggs, because after all, they’re “aint no sunshine when you’re gone.” Just these two ingredients is all you’ll need.

2. Next on stage, Ringo Starr’s All Starr Toast: Skillet seared on Blues Bread and smeared with Chicken Liver Mousse to go back to his Liverpool roots. Ringo’s classic masterpiece, Octopus’s Garden is faithfully recreated with a tender combination of charred octopus and dusted with his very own “Starr” star anise.

3. In Joan Jett’s Cherry Bomb Toast, DKB Powerseed is were covered in sumac and cloves, to start off slow in “Crimson and Clover.” We’re dropping our “Cherry Bomb” with freshly popped skillet cherry tomatoes and topped with none other than Blackened Artichoke Hearts.

4. Sit back for a smooth ride on The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Strawberry Jam Toast: Bring back that Blues Bread, go deep in a field of creamy butter, and spread some sweet Strawberry Jam all over this sweet soulful morning slice.

5. We’re keeping it high class with The Five Royales Royal Toast: Toasting in their royal lineage on Dave’s classic Good Seed Bread, we’re smearing on Royal Jelly Butter Honey and crowning their Blues dynasty with what else but roasted Royal Trumpet Mushrooms and King Crab. And on that final sleek note, we’re letting a Royal Velouté sauce take a solo all over this reigning sweet salty combo.

6. On Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Little Wing Toast we’re hitting all his power tabs on Dave’s Power Seed Bread and going back to his Dallas roots with Smoky Texas-Style BBQ battered chicken wings.

7. And for Lou Reed’s Berliner Egg Cream Sunday Morning Brunch Toast we’re starting this “Perfect Day” on Dave’s Good Seed soaked in egg and milk, and then seared for an Egg Cream French toast. Spread marmalade on that like the creamy inside of a “Berliner” doughnut and slice off a few banana pieces from the Velvet Underground’s iconic cover art to stamp your morning with Lou. Finally, listen through Berlin all the way through (that whole album ins a masterpiece) with a chord of dusted power sugar.

8. And for the final act “Nice Guys Finish Last” with Green Day American Idiot-Proof Toast: It’s pretty simple. Dave’s Twenty One Grains lays down a slice for “21-Guns,” and let’s hope any idiot can pop a slice into the toaster to crank up some of these toast classics.

So order your backstage pass early to the release of Better on Toast that hit shelves March 31st and meanwhile rock out to eight of these great artist’s hits on some of Dave’s Killer Bread!

Follow Jill Donenfeld on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theculinistas


Cultivating Brand Romance in Today's Always On Distracted World

All start-ups and brands in need have the same marketing challenge. Cost effectively finding, keeping and motivating customers to support your business, in a world where distraction rules and attention spans are just seconds.

Ten Critical Strategies for Getting Heard and Standing Out

Great marketing strategy blends alchemy and intuition with customer expectations Start with a concept map that works on a napkin or your favorite menu. Then, ask a potential customer what resonates and what does not. Move forward accordingly.

Iteration is critical skill for all product and brand marketing tactics. Expect some bumps in the road. Pivot accordingly.

Can’t keep the investors or BOD members out of the marketing strategy; i.e. wives, husbands, friends, relatives and maybe somebody at Starbucks, you may be in trouble and need to pull back.

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.

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Thinking a social buffed “growth hacker” raised on Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and Tender have everything figured out and then mapping a strategy around their brand positioning. Real perspective is in many cases experience driven.

Copying competitors and thinking this is marketing strategy nirvana. Some of them may be copying you and then where does this leave your business? Or, worse, they have no clue about marketing and your copying them. Not a good idea.

It’s a distracted, cluttered world and prosumers are drowning in content smog. Write with your ears and create smart content that informs and engages, coupled with sequential repeat loops.

Moore’s Law has bit the dust – marketing is in real time now and sell cycles can be viciously long. Keep some of your marketing powder dry for the long slog.

Hire for balance: you need marketers, sales pros, biz div, finance experts, etc. Not just coders, ignore today’s drumbeat of all things geeky and technical.

Ideas are cheap and tactical well thought out marketing still drives your brand awareness. Content in the form of a blog posts with high quality baked in images is in many cases the “voice” of your business.

Recognizing creativity is a fickle attribute and it may take time to develop. Every aspect of business cannot be measured, in spite of all the “growth hacks” we all see around us. Especially creativity.

Product marketing has to mesh smoothly with customer needs and branding. But, the light bulb “ah ha” moment’s may take time to emerge. Look for patterns in the data.

Great marketing is really about romance and love. You are selling a product to a customer and good chemistry has to be part of the equation. Not to be trite, but if “romance” (“why we love XX/YY…..”) is not part of the equation, success may not occur.

Today’s crowded markets are high growth friendly but can be brand killers too. It’s a noisy world and precise targeting is much better than trying to attack a broad market.

t’s a weed problem: too many execs get lost in the weeds working through the strategy and tactics. See: “lead, follow or get the hell out of the way….” Don’t over analyze and go with your gut when it feels right.

Email still delivers significant brand value. Social media is at times like that super model across the room you may want to wine and din. But, email is the partner you want to bring home to meet Mom. Perspective is everything.

“How Content Heroes and Heroines are Made Not Born”

“What I Learned About Social Media from Andy Warhol”

“How to Generate More Revenue and Lower Costs with the Cloud”

“Why Every Marketing Campaign Lives or Dies on this Foundation”

“Four Critical Marketing Strategies to Stand out in Today’s Noisy World”

“Why so Many Web Sites are Lipstick on a Pig”

“How to Win Your Darwinian Digital Battles”

“The Ten Second Race to Content Nirvana”

Bell Labs Could Send Sign Language Over The Phone – In 1979

Back in the good ‘ole days before the internet and Yo and Meerkat and Snapchat, we had one way to talk to people in faraway lands: the telephone. But a microphone and speaker aren’t much use if you’re hearing impaired.

Read more…



MSI’s New 15.6-Inch Mobile Workstation Notebook With 4K Display

WS60-2OJ-057JP

MSI hits back with their new 15.6-inch mobile workstation notebook, the WS60 2OJ-057JP. Adopting a magnesium-lithium alloy casing, this thin and light mobile workstation notebook (19.9mm / 1.96kg) is built with a 15.6-inch 3840 x 2160 4K display, a 2.60GHz Intel Core i7-4720HQ processor, an Intel HM87 Express Chipset, an NVIDIA Quadro K2100M 2GB graphics card, a 16GB DDR3 RAM, a 256GB SSD (2x 128GB) and a 1TB 7200rpm hard drive.

Powered by a 6-cell lithium polymer battery, the system has a Full HD webcam, an SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot and built-in Dynaudio speakers (w/ Audio Boost & Sound Blaster Cinema 2), and runs on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OS. Connectivity-wise, the WS60 2OJ-057JP provides WiFi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0. Priced itself is set at 318,000 Yen (about $2,659). [Product Page]

KDDI’s Latest Wireless LAN Router For Personal Home Use

HOME-SPOT-CUBE2

KDDI Corporation is about to launch their latest wireless LAN router ‘HOME SPOT CUBE2′ for personal home use. Corresponding to the ‘Draft 11ac’ (the new standard for wireless LAN IEEE802.11ac), this compact and stylish wireless LAN router is configured with one Internet LAN and one LAN port, and supports for dual-band WiFi access point (2.4GHz & 5GHz up to 866Mbps).

Supporting Windows 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, Android 2.3 or later and Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later operating systems, the HOME SPOT CUBE2 provides security through encryption using WPA2 and WPA / WPA2 mixed.

Measuring W76mm x D76mm x H80mm and weighing 232 grams, the HOME SPOT CUBE2 will go on sale from April 10th for unannounced price yet. [Product Page]

Joni Mitchell, Iconic Folk Singer, Hospitalized

Iconic folk singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell was hospitalized in Los Angeles on Tuesday, her official website confirmed. At this time, her condition has not been released.

Paramedics responded to a call for an unconscious female at Mitchell’s Los Angeles home around 2:30 p.m. local time, sources told TMZ. The Los Angeles Fire Department told Variety that paramedics responded to a 911 call on Mitchell’s street, but did not say who the call was for nor would they release information about the patient’s condition. People magazine also reported that a patient was transported.

Requests for information from Mitchell’s representatives have not been answered.

joni mitchell singer
Canadian folk singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1972. (AP)

Mitchell, 71, has led a storied career, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential folk artists of the 1960s and 1970s. The winner of eight Grammy Awards, she is best known for her many hits including “River,” “Help Me,” “Both Sides Now” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”

It was not apparent if Mitchell had been hospitalized in the past. She has been an unapologetic smoker for most of her life, telling the Telegraph in 2007, “Smoking is one of life’s great pleasures.” Mitchell has said that she suffers from a condition called “Morgellons syndrome,” a somewhat controversial skin disorder that is characterized by sores and crawling sensations on the skin.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

'Artoo In Love' Shows R2-D2 Getting His Little Metal Heart Broken By A Mailbox

Dating isn’t easy, even for droids.

The new short film “Artoo in Love” looks at the astromech’s travails as he struggles to find love in San Francisco and Berkeley.

And just when he thinks he’s found it… a rival steps in.

Check it out in the clip above.

“Artoo in Love,” which made its debut over the weekend at the Sonoma Film Festival, was written and directed by Evan Atherton, an Autodesk engineer who works on “experimenting with new technologies as they relate to digital design.”

People have definitely been having real emotional reactions to it,” Atherton told Mashable. “I think that stems from what always made Artoo special: He was more than just a machine. So seeing that play out, and seeing Artoo really sad, tugs on some childhood heartstrings.”

Gizmodo reports that Atherton spent two years working on the film, using a 3D printer at Autodesk’s San Francisco offices to make the parts for the pink R2 unit.

Animation World Network has some of the technical details of the production.

(h/t SFist)

Innovating Together

By Nick Bygrave (OH)

I’m writing this on the tour bus leaving the San Jose conference center where the EF Global Student Leaders Summit took place. My group is quite tired from the countless activities at the conference, but everyone is still wide eyed and excited to depart on our upcoming tour of Costa Rica. Before starting the next part of the journey, I am using this bus ride as a time to reflect upon the incredible weekend I just experienced.

We started Saturday morning with the highly anticipated visit of Dr. Jane Goodall. Granville High School’s very own student, Ryan Redding gave a great speech introducing Dr. Jane Goodall. Next, Dr. Goodall calmly, and in a hushed voice, described her career path and the struggles she faced dealing with chimpanzees. With various stories and anecdotes, she took us through a wonderful journey of challenges, discovery, and great spiritual enlightenment.

Later in the day I was lucky enough to interview Dr. Goodall during the press conference. I can comfortably report that she is as insightful one-on-one as she is to a crowd of hundreds. To read more about Saturday’s activities and Dr. Jane Goodall, check out the previous post by fellow EF student journalist, Eliza Klein.

The majority of Saturday and Sunday were devoted to the design thinking sessions. My group consisted of intelligent, creative and diverse members. Each person truly brought something interesting to the table. Shortly after introducing ourselves, we were told to create an original and innovative solution to an environmental problem. One of our group members told a story of her friend Kristina who lived on the New Jersey shore where Hurricane Sandy hit. Kristina described how there was a long period of time where garbage and debris from the storm were scattered on the beach. This, in turn, harmed wildlife as well as the environment. After hearing more about this environmental issue, my team and I decided that this story would be our project’s focus.

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Photo Credit: Adeline Yeo

After going through a number of ideation exercises we reached the conclusion that we would make a prototype of a trash removal truck. This truck would be solar powered, making it completely ozone-friendly. The truck would also efficiently retrieve debris by scooping it up with a simple but effective rotating scooper. Sensors would warn the driver of animals and other objects that were not trash.

Next, the team began the prototype phase. Within a matter of minutes, what started as a group of kids throwing out ideas turned into a fast-paced, synchronized dance of grabbing, gluing and cutting of office supplies and recycled bottles. We worked efficiently, and the group’s overall harmony became clear. In less than an hour, we had converted a detergent bottle, some bottle caps and pipe wires into a pretty convincing miniature natural-disaster clean-up truck. This, along with the posters we had worked on the previous days, was starting to look like a rather professional proposition. Once the final touches complete, we wrote our pitches and read them over and over until we could recite them with ease.

Finally, the Innovation Village was upon us. Over 500 attendees all crowded into the lobby of the conference center to learn about the fifty projects that were created. Presentation time came and went quickly. As I began to walk around the village, I also started to realize how good every other project was as well. Some groups took on small projects, such as cleaning up after a concert, while others challenged big issues like air pollution in a major city. Although some were better practiced and more convincing than others, every single group brought forward an original and largely feasible solution to some relevant modern problems. As loud and hectic as the room became, you could still see people leaning in to hear what the presenters had to say about their projects. We went from drawing pictures on a poster one day, to reciting a detailed and advanced presentation of a possible natural disaster clean-up solution the next. I was by all means amazed at how quickly we were able to go from ideating to making a prototype.

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Photo credit: EFTours/Instagram

The closing ceremony was an exciting yet sad forty minutes. It consisted of a couple short goodbyes followed by a number of longer ones with new friends from my team. Although the conference is behind me, the enthusiasm of the students is something that has stayed with me. I am privileged for not only meeting the incredible Dr. Jane Goodall, amongst many other influential adults, but I am also lucky to have met some truly incredible young minds. I have never been so happy to be truly out-brained. Looking back on the weekend, this was one of the most uplifting and optimistic experiences of my life.

About the Global Student Leaders Summit Series
This post is part of a series produced by EF Educational Tours, in recognition of the EF Global Student Leaders Summit.

Throughout the next two weeks, you will hear from EF Student Journalism Interns detailing their experiences before, during and after the 2015 Costa Rica Summit. The internship offers a way for students traveling to Costa Rica to become even more engaged with their journey and gain real-time, deadline driven writing experience. During the Summit these students will be covering stories as they unfold and sharing their experiences through their writing!

For more information on EF Educational Tours click here.

Early Birds Versus Night Owls: What Your Bedtime Really Says About You

The tortoise and the hare. Coyote versus roadrunner. The Sharks and the Jets. There are many proverbial rivalries that have rocked this world, but perhaps none so divisive as the one between the early bird and the night owl — two rivals who share the same world on opposing clocks.

Whether you’re an early bird singing your way through morning or a night owl hooting around late at night, you can thank (or blame) your genes. The human clock follows roughly a 24-hour cycle that syncs with sequences of light and dark. What separates the night owl from the early bird is the former’s slightly longer circadian rhythm.

It is not, however, just their bedtimes that distinguish these two rivals. Studies show that your sleep schedule can actually influence your personality. We partnered with Garnier ® Miracle Sleeping Cream™ to explain the five major ways being an early bird or a night owl can affect your personality in this battle over bedtime.

1. Wit
wit

While people often argue that the early bird gets the worm, there are also advantages to burning the midnight oil. Night owls scored the highest on inductive reasoning according to one study, and further research has shown that night owls tend to have higher IQs and cognitive abilities.

Early birds, however, still tend to perform better in school, adapting more easily to a 9-to-5 world. While night owls suffer social jet lag, early birds flutter through the day, setting clear goals and accomplishing them. Early birds are not only productive before their coffee kicks in but also more proactive. These skills combine to help early birds fly high.

And the winner is … TIE

2. Charm
love bird

You’ve probably heard that owls hunt at night. Well, their human counterparts seem to do the same. One study revealed that male night owls reported having twice as many sexual partners as male early birds had! (Interestingly enough, more men than women identify as night owls in the population as a whole.)

But it’s not all good news for night owls. Both males and females are more likely to be single or in short-term relationships — in contrast to the early birds who flock together and sustain longer bonds. An Australian study also linked night owls with “the dark triad” of personality traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy — proof that when you’re tired, you really can get cranky!

And the winner is … THE EARLY BIRD

3. Creativity
owl creative

Night owls tend to be more creative. While they are definitely not “morning people,” they experience bursts of energy that make them more productive later on.

A study at the University of Barcelona revealed night owls are novelty-seeking and like to explore the unknown. They are risk-takers, which may be explained by higher cortisol levels, a stress hormone that gets the body ready to face immediate threats and that contributes to daring behavior. For night owls, risk can pay off, translating into innovation, opportunity and financial gain. Sorry, early birds — you may be too timid to go get the worm, after all.

And the winner is … THE NIGHT OWL

4. Stamina
stamina owl

Waking up energized and well rested, early birds might seem like the frontrunner in stamina … Think again.

Early birds and night owls performed equally well in reaction time tests one hour after waking, but night owls performed significantly better 10 hours after being awake. Early birds may wake up chirping, but night owls fight through the morning blues and rejuvenate throughout the day.

And the winner is … THE NIGHT OWL

5. Satisfaction
flock bird

Alas, social jet lag catches up with the night owls! To follow a 9-to-5 schedule, night owls often suffer fatigue and are more prone to anxiety, depression and even addiction.

As night owls struggle not to be nocturnal, society has organized around an early bird schedule, which favors the early bird’s wellbeing and even brain function. Early birds have more white matter in the brain, which enables communication between nerve cells. As a result, early birds have more pathways for feel-good hormones like serotonin and dopamine. This may explain why early birds tend to demonstrate more positive social traits, like optimism and persistence — a surefire way to start every day singing!

And the winner is … THE EARLY BIRD

Early Birds Vs. Night Owls
Wit: Tie
Charm: +1 Early Birds
Creativity: +1 Night Owls
Stamina: +1 Night Owls
Satisfaction: +1 Early Birds

And it’s a tie … The rivalry rages on!

Garnier ® Miracle Sleeping Cream™ combines the hydrating and recharging power of a mask with the light refreshing feel of a cream. This anti-aging formula reduces signs of dull, dry and tired looking skin. Skin is firm, looks younger and well rested in just one week. Visit Garnierusa.com/sleepwiththis to learn more. #SleepWithThis

Why I Am Quitting Social Media

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This may surprise many people who know me. I am giving up something people associate me with today: Social Media. To many, checking Facebook messages or playing online games may be an addiction that’s hard to break, but for me, social media has become part of my everyday life.

Social media has helped me get jobs and change my career trajectory. I’ve also used different social media networks in many of the jobs I’ve held to connect people, ideas and brands. I’ve even been invited to speak about my experience with these tools. And there are so many relationships that have been formed from social media, that this isn’t just an addiction, it’s been a way of life for me.

But today, I am taking back control of my life and leaving social media behind. Today is the day I am publically quitting social media.

By now, many of you know that today is April 1st and many people will share posts with a serious tone, which will become part of an April Fool’s prank. While the introduction and title of my post may appear to be one of these jokes, it’s anything but. Let me explain.

April is the month of my birth. And for the past two years, I have asked for donations to be made to my favorite organizations in lieu of gifts. This is also the month I was planning to pull off an April Fool’s joke. I was going to milk a cow wearing a Speedo. If you are wondering how I picked that, you have to check out my Giving Tuesday fundraising campaign for No Kid Hungry. As I started working on making it happen, I came to learn just how serious cow milking is. If you think about it, milk is something most of us consume, so it needs to be done it a somewhat sanitary way. So just image a hairy man in a speedo milking a cow. That’s not so sanitary. My crazy idea was crushed by reality. But it did get me thinking, instead of trying to do a stunt on a single day, what if I used the power of social media, by not by using it myself, and the result would be something with a lasting impact and not just a single day of notoriety. This led me to the idea of quitting social media. At least, until I raise $10,000 for No Kid Hungry.

Being Heard
My theory is, by not posting on any of my social channels, my message will still be heard. Anyone who reads this has the opportunity to share it. Quite possibly, it may reach more people than if I was still on social to share it myself. Why? We all know that only a fraction of our friends and followers see the content we post. For the most part, it’s the same people seeing most of your content. If others are sharing your message, not only will more people have a chance to see it, but an entire new group of people will hear my message.

Making An Impact
By donating on my birthday to No Kid Hungry, we can raise $10,000, which will connect children with 100,000 meals. In a country where 1 in 5 kids faces hunger insecurity, this will be a major step in helping end child hunger here in the U.S. How long will it take to raise $10,000? One day, one week, one month? Maybe one year?! Regardless of how long, the impact will be the same. It’s the children that matter. Period.

Learning
Having never seen or heard of anyone going through something like this, I’m excited to learn if my theory of more people hearing about No Kid Hungry by me not sharing any of it on social media will hold true. I am hoping my community will help me not only provide 100,000 meals but will also get others involved.

More importantly, I’m looking forward to the lessons I will learn about myself. When I took a digital vacation almost two years ago, it had a lasting impression on me. This isn’t the same. I’ll still look at social media, I just won’t engage or post on it. Will this make me more focused? Will I feel like I have more time? This is about learning. For me and for anyone who learns about No Kid Hungry.

What Can You Do?

There are 4 ways you can help and take action today with me:

  1. Donate to No Kid Hungry and help reach the goal of $10,000.
  2. Share this message.(I won’t)
  3. Learn more about No Kid Hungry and get involved
  4. Nothing. (Keep me off social media)