You see the purpose of this blog is to share with the world via the net images and videos that are thought provoking and keep those of the attentive public aware.

I love pictures, being a photographer of nature, and videos that make you think and possibly bring about a cause to action.

So there you have it quite simply a avenue by which to do this and this blog I hope will accomplish my task.

Having said that here is my challenge to you fellow blogger.

Won't you join me in this task?

So what do you think is this something that you could do to help reduce poverty?

Be a part of the community of currently 7,519 registered blogs sites to participate with an audience in excess of 7,841,931 readers.

Click the banner below and sign up to help the concerted effort to reduce poverty!

Follow Blog Action Day on twitter

I hope you join me an currently 8,000 other blog sites for this event!

Follow me on twitter

Welcome in advance.

The field has been narrowed down and Player Search has been selected as one of the top 10 finalists for the Yahoo BOSS Mashable Challenge!  You can vote for Player Search here: http://mashable.com/2008/10/07/voting-boss-mashable-challenge/

Overview of the contest:

The BOSS Mashable Challenge pits developer against developer.  How do you win?  Build a kickass mashup – search engine or any other Web app – using the BOSS API and any other data sources/technologies. Yahoo! Search BOSS is a completely open API from Yahoo! Search.  It gives developers access to highly scalable Web, news and image search technology without the need to make large infrastructure investments.  More details of the contest can be found here.

Our submission:

“Player Search is a vertical search engine for sports that searches local and national news, video, photos, stats and more for content targeted to individual professional, collegiate and Olympic athletes.  Player Search leverages Yahoo BOSS APIs for its site search and news search categories as well as photos from Flickr.  Player Search searches the full spectrum of on-line sports content from mainstream sources such as Yahoo and CBS Sports to local newspapers, team websites, and sports blogs as well as the latest video highlights from ESPN, NFL Network, MLB.com and many others.”

Voting (in case you missed the link above!):

You can vote for Player Search here: http://mashable.com/2008/10/07/voting-boss-mashable-challenge/

Thank you for your support!

Ted

What Mashable didn't include were Twitter accounts. You can follow Obama @barackobama and even Hillary Clinton @hillaryclinton. Obama automatically follows you back, while HRC doesn't. Interesting, considering the "elitist" finger-pointing that was going on not too long ago. Obama is one of the most followed people on Twitter, while HRC is followed by about 5,000 but follows no one. Discuss.

Mashable - Educate Yourself Post, 25 Sites about McCain and Obama

One thing I am decided on, as tonight's debate starts, I'll be following @debatedrink for rules on tonight's debate drinking games.

STUDENT TWEETS: Everyone has to start somewhere.

I started Twittering in February with no idea what I was doing. How did I become acclimated? I was online three or four times a day looking up tech news, reading Mashable and TechCrunch, NYT Tech columns, PRWeek, Business Week, poring over Google Trends, getting GMail alerts for news and blog posts on PR and Social Media, virtually all of the blogs in my Google Reader were tech and PR blogs. I needed to be able to engage with the people who were on Twitter about things that were important to them.

When LaunchSquad, found me on Twitter, though, it was because I'd "tweeted" about one of their clients - Vivaty.

TWITTER ON THE JOB?

JetBlue was one of the first business Twitter feeds that I followed and actually tweeted back at. They are one of the best Twitter business models I've seen.

When I started here, one of the first things I was asked to do on each of my accounts was either establish or revamp their Twitter activity. I wrote a Twitter strategy based on a case-study on JetBlue's Twitter activity.

WHY I PAY ATTENTION: Their 4,800 followers are resulting from updates about their flight schedules, flying/travel tips and steady responses to customers and other Twitterers.

WHAT I TAKE AWAY: To be savvy with customers and Twitter, you need to pay attention to what they're saying. People often express frustrations with software and companies on Twitter.

Another great example is Mighty Leaf Tea. They're hardly tech, but they're in the East Bay and so here in San Francisco - and silicon valley, we're big fans. They've got great, unique flavors which makes for great "Tweets". 

WHY I PAY ATTENTION: They're not tech. At all. They sell tea, for god's sake. But they come up with useful ways to discuss their products over Twitter and currently have 500+ followers in their pocket.

WHAT I TAKE AWAY: They post "relevant" issues and articles and are engaged in their industry beyond just their product - like the above post: List an interesting article and bring it back to the product. Very nice.

THE SKINNY

I suggest before taking on a client's Twitter campaign, work on beefing up your own feed in addition to the rest of your online presence. Social media savvy applied to personal uses can only help when you're asked to do it for a client.

A friend of mine and former intern here at LaunchSquad, Ben Kessler, has a great blog as well as a juggernaut Twitter following (currently at 579) and has managed 6,200+ updates so far - In September he averaged 24 updates a day. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

In my own case, I eventually found an even balance for my Twitter feed: my initial rabid tech/PR discourse combined with a cultural commentary (articles, music, film, events) and have - to reinforce Julia Roy's point - seen a steady increase of 5-10 new follower's a week.

Once you've honed this aspect of social media - and not to imply, by any means, that I have - you've become a valuable asset to any company, client and agency as they all are trying to figure out what Twitter means and could do for their business.

PlayerSearch is highlighted in the Yahoo BOSS Mashable Challenge.

http://mashable.com/2008/10/02/final-showcase-boss-mashable-challenge/

The era of Web 2.0 has created a freedom for entrepreneurs that never before existed – though that freedom is not without its risk. That said, all you need to get your conference idea off the ground is a nest egg investment, a good “hub” location, a strong network that you can tap for sponsors, speakers and attendees, and the power of word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) – which is exactly what it sounds like. And, while unconferences such as BarCamp, PodCamp and WordCamp are impressive, I’m talking about a bona fide technology conference.

Check it out.

Hey tworld. YOU are making amazing things happen. That's right Mashable, Chris Brogan, Warren Whitlock,  Microblink and Pitchengine are just a few super cool tweeps talking about the Top 50 Tweeples contest. (Not to mention all of the great promotion sent out by each of you.)  

It begs me to ask the question, who are some other cool tweeps NOT talking about it? Reach out to your networks today, right now, and get them voting. We could make Twitter history! Well, maybe that's a little presumptious, but heck, I'm up for it if you are.

I'll go first. Hey Peter Shankman. You're a big dog. Are you talking about the Top 50 Tweeples contest? Your tweeples are certainly voting for you. Want to help us out? (I have much love for Peter Shankman, by the way. And if he ever called me out on something I think I would die.)

NOTE: Since the original post, Mr. Peter "HARO" Shankman sent out a request to his network. Woooohooo! Pretty darn cool...the power of annoyance. :) THANK YOU! 

As of today, day 5, we've had more than 700 tweeples submitted. With one week left, great things are upon us. Thank you for making this so much FUN!

To make it even easier, copy and paste text below and RT (retweet) away: Pls RT: did YOU tell anyone about the Top 50 Tweeples to follow contest today? http://poprl.com/1Kl (voting ends oct 7)

Go read the post for yourself, but all I needed to see to agree was Reason #1:

"If they recommend a Twitter campaign"

Like Alex, I am a twitter fan, (@tomob) and I agree with him, it is no place to start. Getting "social media" is a big deal. It is asking corporations to act like human beings and become an integral part of the community that exists around their products and brands.

Being an integral part of the community means:

1. It is a relationship, not a campaign
2. Community motivations get served first – not yours
3. You have to contribute
4. You have to be real – open, honest, direct, transparent

This is not something that can be outsourced. Outsourcing community involvement is like outsourcing friendship. It really can't be done effectively.

With respect to "Social Media Consultants" the answer is the same as it always was. No, we're not going to have licensing or standards. Those of us on the Vendor side (me @ MotiveQuest) have to be clear both about what we will and won't do. Anyone who says they do it all is just lying. Those of you on the buyer side have to ramp up the due diligence. Ask for and call references. Do some research. Sort the wheat from the chaff.

Finally, this transformation is not going to be easy. Establishing relationships with your customers and communities (is that "Social Media?) is hard work. It cuts across the silos. It will require getting Marketing, PR, Customer Service, Engineering/Product, Legal and Exec all on board. It will require real people making real efforts to connect every day.

Good Luck!

TO'B

Let me address each of his main points one by one.

(1) The average Internet user probably isn’t an active member of dozens of Web 2.0 services. While this may be difficult for some to believe, the truth is that most people don’t feel compelled to sign up for every new Web 2.0 service that launches. And quite frequently, users sign up for services that they eventually end up using very little. Data portability seems a lot less compelling when one recognizes that many, if not most, mainstream Internet users aren’t actively investing their time equally across a wide range of Web 2.0 services.

Actually you're wrong. Data Portability is not about 'Web 2.0' - it's about any web-based service. A typical user might use CNN, Yahoo Mail, Facebook, AIM, their cell phone and their PC or Laptop. That's a lot of apps. Imagine the possibilities of having them sync some aspects of your data.

(2) The average Internet user probably doesn’t need or want to take his friends along to every Web 2.0 service he or she signs up for. These services can be fun and entertaining, but the notion that every user wants to be able to import his data when signing up for a new one is asinine.

Really? I remember the same argument against Telephones, PCs and Cell phones. It's only asinine if you have a failure of imagination.

The point is not what users do today, but rather what is new applications and innovation are possible in an open data ecosystem.

(3) Privacy is just as important as openness. Where does my data end and yours begin? If you believe that users of Web 2.0 services have some inherent “right” to control their own data but that this data is in inexorably linked to the “social graph,” what “rights” do users have to control where “shared” data goes?

Openness is the wrong word. The DataPortability project does not refer to the 'Open Web' for a reason.

Privacy is also the wrong word. Privacy is too broad a term that has no actionable attributes. We need to focus on words that represent features for implementation. Features that achieve control. Words like Access controls and permissioning for example.

As for shared or derived data, the lines are being drawn and the issues are being debated. Just because it's hard to work out doesn't mean it's not worth trying.

If you’re willing to try something different, or have never fallen under the Delicious spell, Faviki is quite good. Simple and powerful are two elements it exhibits, and the smart design can grow on the user rather quickly. Altogether, Faviki is impressive. For a social bookmarking service, that’s certainly saying a lot.

Read the full post here. Thank you for the kind words, Mashable!

FDIC May Need $150 Billion Bailout as Local Bank Failures Mount

The IndyMac debacle is taking a large bite out of FDIC reserves, and if scores of other banks fail in the year ahead, the fund will be depleted. Taxpayers will have to step in. Full read : http://tinyurl.com/5yt6o8

Buffett Buys Goldman Stake in `Economic Pearl Harbor'

Billionaire Warren Buffett, calling turmoil in the markets an "economic Pearl Harbor,'' said his $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is an endorsement of the Treasury's $700 billion bank rescue plan. Full read: http://tinyurl.com/4t98sr

Warren Buffett stake in Goldman Sachs earns $783 million return

Within hours of revealing his dramatic, confidence-boosting investment in Goldman Sachs yesterday, Warren Buffett had made a $783 million (£424 million) notional profit. Full read: http://tinyurl.com/43ntgu

Stocks rise on bailout hopes; credit remains tight

Financial markets grew more upbeat Thursday as lawmakers moved closer to hammering out a deal aimed at reviving the crippled financial system. The Dow Jones industrial average at times rose more than 300 points on optimism about the plan and demand for short-term, safe haven assets eased slightly as some investors bet the move would help unclog credit markets. Full read: http://tinyurl.com/3eknzr

OTCBB LIGHTENS UP

Here's a comparative look at the total dollar value of all securities traded on the OTC Bulletin Board over the past 7 yrs

As the chart indicates, dollar value dipped below $44 billion for the first time in '07 since '03.

The OTCBB also provides a graphic depiction of the monthly dollar value of securities traded on the exchange from 8/07 to 8/08

OTCBB: Total Dollar Volume by Month

(August 2007 - August 2008)

As depicted by the chart to the right, total dollar volume has been dropping considerably over the past year with August figures representing a nearly 60% decrease. In addition, total share volume is down almost 20%. So, things have certainly been better for the exchange in past months.

While the overall Bulletin Board exchange may have seen better days, there are still a great number of compelling plays in this arena and a great deal of money to be made in playing BB Stocks.

Here's a few examples of some recent small cap success stories:

Quest Minerals & Mining Corp. (OTCBB: QMNM) recent advanced more than 4,000% in just 3 trading sessions, running from $.0016 to $.075 from 6/18 to 6/23. Roughly every $1,000 invested at the recent low yielded profits of approximately $43,000.

City Loan Inc. (OTCBB: CYLN) advanced near 3,2000% Tuesday on 30K shares traded and followed up that performance today gaining 50% or $.05 on modest volume of 2.679. CYLN is now showing potential to reach higher highs as its financial situation improves and the company pushes forward with aggressive expansion plans. As I've mentioned previously CYLN operates in the somber, but prosperous auto title loan industry and could transform itself into a national market leader if growth objectives are met over the next 12-24 months.

Quantum Technologies (OTCBB: QTWW) ran from $.50 on 1/30 to more than $3.00 in July for +500% gains on sheer future potential despite a horrendous bottom line, for now at least.

Biophan Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: BIPH) - a medical device company focussed on treatment of acute heart failure - gained 212% or nearly $.02 Wednesday on news it recently eliminated $2.3M in dilutive financing .

Location Based Technologies (OTCBB: LBAS) - a provider of personal location solutions - has seen its stock price surge from the $1.50 range back in July of '07 to a recent high of $10.61 this past summer for gains exceeding 600%.

InternetPlays.com
http://www.internetplays.com
http://www.myspace.com/internetplays

http://twitter.com/internetplays
http://internetplays.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/29fqep

Check out our recent press:

• The Chronicle of Higher Education announced Unigo's launch on its Wired Campus blog.
• Mashable gave Unigo a favorable review in The Startup Review:
  

  ...both in design and in features, [Unigo] proves itself able to deliver on things today’s Web users would find themselves interested in. Reviews are essential, after all. Networking is also nearly as important. And the ability to browse and share media in the form of photos, videos and documents brings it full-circle.

• YPulse predicted that Unigo "could change the way this year's seniors decide on a college."
]]> http://blogtalkradio.wordpress.com/?p=3292 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:33:02 +0000 Deborah Ng http://blog.blogtalkradio.com/2008/09/23/the-best-of-blogtalkradios-interviews-at-blogworld-expo/ [/caption]

BlogTalkRadio's Shaun Daily was the hardest working man in radio last weekend. I'd like to present you with the highlights of our weekend at BlogWorld Expo. We arranged for interviews with some of the best names in the blogging business. Check out our BlogWorld Expo archives:

• Wendy Piersall from Sparkplugging.com
• Dawn Olsen from Blog Critics/Glosslips Radio
• Jennifer Fowler of Frugal Upstate
• Dr. Val Jones, M.D.
• Pat Kitano and Bob Woods
• John Chow
• Robert Scoble and Roxanne Darling
• Richard Levitt
• Sarah East from PopCrunch.com
• Linda Sherman from Singular City
• Jim Turner of One By One Media/ BlogWorld Expo Radio
• David Berkowitz
• Alan Levy
• [caption id="attachment_3297" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Shaun Daily interviews Darren Rowse"][/caption]

  Darren Rowse

• Coach Deb
• Marissa Louie from Ad Village
• Joe Klein NewMediaCreative.com
• Jonathan Olsen MyCauseTV.com
• Adam Ostrow from Mashable
• Lorelle VanFossen
• Jeremy Wright
• Tom Webster Edison Media Research
• Eric Olsen - BlogCritics/Technorati

Enjoy the interview. Hope to catch you next time around!

Images coutesy of Hilary Leewong

]]> http://douglasandmain.wordpress.com/?p=1183 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:20:02 +0000 douglasandmain http://douglasandmain.fr.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/twitter-helper/ Have trouble following the conversation? Cindy has a suggestion.
]]> http://glubbleblog.wordpress.com/?p=57 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:49:29 +0000 Alexander van Elsas http://blog.glubble.com/2008/09/22/glubble-for-families-is-already-drawing-the-attention-of-the-press/ As we approach our official launch of Glubble for Families, the press is already writing about the new release. We have opened up the preview for Glubble for Families (see here for more information).

Mashable has written a very nice article here. A few quotes:

Glubble is a family social network that focuses on the safety of your children.

They have also done well to make it a fun place to hang out for parents and children alike. Children can easily keep their parents up to date with the events in their lives that the parents need to know about. Because of the flexibility, parents can feel included without appearing to be over controlling everything their children are doing while on the Internet.

And here is another one, form parenttalktoday.com. They wrote a post entitled "new Glubble for Families make the Internet fun and safe for kids".

It's  great to see the word getting spread about Glubble for Families, even if we haven't even officially launched. I'll keep you updates on new posts that might appear in the coming days.

You're still very welcome to try out the preview of the new Glubble for Families. Just register over at our user forum and download it there.

]]> http://kirstenmckinney.wordpress.com/?p=41 Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:44:39 +0000 kamckinney http://kirstenmckinney.fr.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/branding-every-inch/ It should not come as a surprise, but MASHABLE reported today on the brandable cursor by Ad Camo.  Sigh. The war of the future will be fought over keeping ones person from being branded.
]]> http://foshowley.wordpress.com/?p=215 Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:23:03 +0000 Kaitlin http://foshowley.fr.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/online-community-debates-bloggers-react-to-wsjs-new-social-network/ Online Community Building [caption id="attachment_216" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="WSJ"][/caption]

Wall Street Journal rolled out a new social network this past weekend. Catch: it has a paywall. Will users buy access to a social network?

NO WAY: Tech.Blorge writes...

How is the Wall Street Journal missing the boat with their attempt at community building? For starters, they have made their community an exclusive, behind-close-doors paid subscription service. By trying to be another FaceBook or LinkedIn for paid subscribers and excluding casual visitors and readers, the Wall Street Journal effectively eliminates the most important aspect of social media for enterprise - community building.

MAYBE: Mashable writes...

While I’ve never been a fan of the pay-wall in general, there have been a number of situations where I think it’s a very viable business model. PEHub, for one, offers some of very advanced information that’s available by paid subscription only. The information contained therein is generally only useful for a very short and finite period of time, and the folks it ends up being useful for usually have the money to pay for it.

Similarly, the Wall Street Journal came from those types of roots. In recent years, they’ve gone a lot more mainstream with their editorial policies, not to mention their readership. Chances are, though, if you use the Wall Street Journal as your filter on the news, you belong to a somewhat elite community.

There are other ways of restricting membership. Facebook used to only allow students from certain Universities then more and more. Then they went open access.

Who has the best online communities? Network elitists or democratic users?

LINKS:

Read more (Blorge)
Read more (Mashable)
Wall Street Journal's "new look" (WSJ)

]]> http://icouldcrybutidonthavetime.wordpress.com/?p=1635 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:35:23 +0000 amyz5 http://icouldcrybutidonthavetime.fr.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/friday-fun/ I don't mean to step on my Freakatorium piece and post twice in one day but I loved this one so much I had to share. Be sure to scroll down to the Freakatorium as it is a post you don't want to miss.

I saw this vid on Mashable, my most favorite tech geek site, and thought you all might enjoy it. Very creative!

 :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : 

]]> http://internetplays.wordpress.com/?p=107 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:57:48 +0000 internetplays http://internetplays.fr.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/oh-the-humanity-financials-getting-slammed-again/ Maybe they should just halt Lehman Brothers already(LEH) , the stock already looking to open very low this morning , in the three dollar range. All other financials are looking super bloody this am as well, with Merrill Lynch(MER) in the teens, Citigroup (C) trading around $17 per share and Washington Mutual(WM) approaching penny stock status! 

"Lehman failed to find anyone to invest necessary capital. With Washington Mutual potentially needing some in the future, the market is taking the opportunity to punish the company," said Jaime Peters, a banking analyst at Morningstar in Chicago. Full read http://tinyurl.com/5hcmer


While Lehman has very few options, it has some advantages that Bear Stearns did not have before its collapse, mainly the special loan program which was subsequently created by the US government for Wall Street banks. The risk for Lehman is that employees and monies might quickly drain away if confidence in the bank continues to erode. Full Read http://tinyurl.com/5c73br

Sirius XM(SIRI) stock tanks on wider loss forecast

The New York based company  which completed its acquisition of rival XM in July, told analysts at a media conference Tuesday that it expects to post a $350 million adjusted loss from earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2008(EBITDA). Full read: http://tinyurl.com/6y625d

BLURBS from the room this am:

" LULU <-------- selling products to females, however, when the not so hot looking new female ceo took over, the stock just basically tanked when she arrived "

"I almost think that LEH real bottom will be in the $2s, although most of these made bottoms in the 3s up to now "

" you know AXA will be selling MER today, 48m to unload there"

"LEH for a trading co not to see the writing on the wall & make a deal last week...they're getting their just desserts."


Join the Conversation! Click here!

Tread carefully!

InternetPlays.com
http://www.internetplays.com
http://www.myspace.com/internetplays
http://twitter.com/internetplays
http://internetplays.wordpress.com
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]]> http://arorasachin.wordpress.com/?p=20 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:52:22 +0000 arorasachin http://arorasachin.fr.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/lifemojo-on-mashable/ LifeMojo is now a part of MVP Batch-2.

See Mashable link for more details - http://mashable.com/2008/09/10/india-internet-investments/.

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