Archive for December, 2009

Ok, so for those who have no idea as to what I would love for Christmas this year below is my list of some items that would be awesome. However some items won’t fit under the good old Christmas tree.

The definitive compilation of forty years of Tim Burton’s artistry.

The Art of Tim Burton is the definitive compilation of forty years of Tim Burton’s artistry, including film concepts and hundreds of illustrations from his personal archives, edited under the creative guidance of Burton himself. This comprehensive 434 page book is grouped into thirteen chapters that examine common themes in Burton’s work, from his fascination with clowns to his passion for misunderstood monsters, to his delight in the oddities of people. Many of Burton’s friends and collaborators offer their thoughts, insights and anecdotes about Tim Burton’s style and artistic approach to life. For the first time ever a comprehensive look at the personal and project artwork of Tim Burton. Hardcover with cloth slipcase. Hand signed inside cover.  Includes numbered and individually signed lithograph – ready for framing, not folded. Over 1000 illustrations and 430 pages plus foldouts.  Handsomely priced at $299.99 USD.

Aston Martin Carbon Black Special Editions

Just in case your normal, standard-issue Aston Martin isn’t cool enough for you, there’s the Aston Martin Carbon Black Special Editions ($TBA). The company’s DBS and V12 Vantage will both get the carbon black treatment which includes a metallic black finish that’s meant to offer a different look in different conditions, carbon fiber-and-Kevlar seats covered in black leather with silver stitching, anodized black tread plates, piano black dashboards and center consoles, and more.

Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside the Box

Having played the cello since age four, Yo-Yo Ma has gone on to become one of the most revered cellists of our time. Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside the Box ($500USD) celebrates this legacy by including every album he’s ever recorded, along with two discs of unreleased and rare recordings, spread across 90 discs, entirely remastered with DSD technology to bring even the oldest recordings up to modern standards. In addition, it includes a 312-page hard-bound book, filled with archival photos, essays, track lists, and more, all encased in a velvet-lined book inspired by the instrument that made him famous.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Ultimate Edition

Nothing burns the movie lover’s wallet quite like having to pony up the cash for a second copy of a movie they already own, but if there’s any holiday classic I deem worth the double-dip, it’s this one. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Ultimate Edition ($25/DVD, $32/Blu-ray) includes the Griswold’s holiday adventure in glorious anamorphic widescreen, along with a theatrical trailer, an unfortunately Chevy Chase-less but otherwise solid commentary track, instant snow powder, a set of coasters with favorite quotes from the film, an “I survived a Griswold family Christmas” button, a Santa hat, and, for those picking up the Blu-ray edition, a miniature mug replica.

McIntosh MXA60 Integrated Audio System

The McIntosh 60th Anniversary MXA60 Integrated Audio System ($7,500USD), the company’s first-ever standalone setup, gives you audiophile-quality sound in a beautifully compact design. And while its price tag might seem high, you’ve got to recognize that this thing was designed and built by the same team responsible for the $250,000 McIntosh Reference System. The tabletop system features a high-performance 75-watt-per-channel amplifier, a CD/SACD/MP3 player, vacuum tube preamplifier, an AM/FM/RBDS Tuner, and 2-way bass reflex custom loudspeakers. All that is housed in metal casing with anodized aluminum accents and backlit glass faceplates with Peak Reading Wattmeters.

Bread & Butter Skincare Kit

Keep clean and looking good while being your old, lazy self. Bread & Butter Skincare ($85USD) sends you a Winter Kit with all your bathroom essentials as soon as you place your order, and then in the first week of June, they’ll send you their Summer Kit with warm weather specific face stuff. The winter kit includes two tubes of daily face cleanser, two tubes of daily face moisturizer, a stick of daily lip balm, and a sample of daily body moisturizer, while the summer kit comes with two tubes of daily face cleanser, two tubes of daily SPF face moisturizer, and a sample of daily shave gel.

Polaris Rush

Tear up the powder this winter aboard a Polaris Rush ($TBA). Packing Polaris’ well-received 600 Liberty engine, the Rush boasts a stronger, stiffer chassis that allows for more precise control and less ski lifting, a progressive-rate rear suspension to prevent bottoming out on big bumps (or jumps), and true rider-active control, letting the you move your body weight forward to help with cornering or slide back on the seat for more grip when accelerating. It might have a more steep learning curve than your average snowmobile, but once you get the hang of it, it’ll be well worth it.

Mmmvelopes – Everything should taste like bacon.

If you’re the type of person that still sends correspondence via snail mail, and you like the taste of bacon — and really, who doesn’t? — then you need to grab yourself some Mmmvelopes ($7/25USD). These standard-size, bacon-looking envelopes echew the nasty and potentially deadly glue of old for a new adhesive that tastes just like real bacon. Just don’t forget the postage.

Nikon D3s

Whether you’re a photo journalist or a hobbyist with a passion — and budget — for the latest and greatest, the new Nikon D3s ($5,200USD) should be on your list. With an eye-popping maximum ISO of 102,400, this new 12.1 megapixel beast can shoot photos or 720p video in near-darkness, and also offers 9 fps full-frame shooting in bursts up to 36 RAW or 82 JPEG files, Nikon’s world-class 51-point AF system, 3D Color Matrix Metering II, one-button Live View, dual CF card slots, and more.

Apple Unibody MacBook

It’s about time. Apple finally updated its long-in-the-tooth non-aluminum laptop today with the release of the new MacBook ($1,000). Bringing it up to speed with its Pro counterparts, the new base-level MacBook features a polycarbonate unibody design with a non-skid bottom surface, an LED-backlit 13.3-inch display, a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA 9400M graphics, Apple’s latest built-in battery technology for up to seven hours of battery life, and a glass multi-touch trackpad. Sadly, there’s no black option this time around.

Rickshaw Waterproof X-Pac Moleskine Folio

Keep your precious notebook safe from the elements inside a Rickshaw Waterproof X-Pac Moleskine Folio ($50USD). Going beyond just a typical case, the X-Pac’s interior boasts a clear business card holder, secured zippered compartment, four pen sleeves, a padded flap to protect the journal’s cover from the pen clips, and clear rear pocket. Built to order in San Francisco from rugged rip-stop nylon, and available in black, red, or subtle mint green.

Ork Posters

Celebrate the various neighborhoods of your favorite city with Ork Posters ($22). Available for a number of large cities, each poster features a map of the area, with each neighborhood listed in beautifully twisted typography.

The Resistance by Muse

If you thought British-based Muse was just another hard rock band, think again. The Resistance by Muse ($10/Amazon, $12/iTunes LP) is the band’s fifth studio album, and it doesn’t disappoint. Part Queen, part rock opera, part symphony — no joking: the last three songs on the album make up the three parts of “Exogenesis” — this is as ambitious an album as we’ve heard since Flight of the Knife, and is every bit one of the best of 2009. Opt for the iTunes LP version, and along with videos, lyrics, artwork, and other goodies, you’ll also get the nifty visualizer pictured above.

I found this very interesting blog “Six Pixels of Separation” by Mitch Joel at Twist Image. He wrote a little blurb about Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve been a fan of Malcolm Gladwell for some time now and found it interesting that he has reached such popularity since then. I believe I read his book first book, The Tipping Point about 3 years ago. The post about Gladwell mentions rock star and business book author in the same sentence, I was  pleasantly surprised to see that. He is well deserving of his success. Back to the post,  I chuckled when I read the part about Mitch overhearing a conversation between the Flight attendant and a passenger.

Read onwards and please watch the C-Span interview. Quite fascinating!

Recently, in a shopping mall, I spotted a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, for sale at HMV. It’s hard to believe it, but Gladwell must be the first business book author who is truly a rock star.

That wasn’t the only time I have felt this way about Gladwell. A few weeks prior to the shopping mall incident, I was on a flight and a female flight attendant was talking to another female passenger who was sitting one row behind me, and the conversation went something like this:

Flight attendant: Did you read his latest book?

Passenger: No, I bought it, but I’m reading Blink first. Do you have the new one? Is it any good?

Flight attendant: He is so fascinating and writes in such an accessible way. He’s also very cute. He flies with us from time to time, and he’s always so nice and polite. On top of that, he’s an amazing dresser and he has the coolest hair.

That’s Malcolm Gladwell (he is very dreamy). He’s reached Bono-like status in pop culture and his star power continues to soar. Just in time for the holidays, he released a new book, What The Dog Saw, which is a compilation of his essays from The New Yorker. Earlier this week, C-SPAN spent an hour with Gladwell. It’s well-worth watching:

Oh, almost forgot. I need to mention that Mitch Joel is quite the rock star himself. A little blurb:

Mitch Joel

Marketing Magazine dubbed him the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” and called him, “one of North America’s leading digital visionaries.” In 2006 he was named one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image – an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. He has been called a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert and community leader. He is also a Blogger, Podcaster, passionate entrepreneur and speaker who connects with people worldwide by sharing his marketing insights on digital marketing and personal branding.

In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (recognizing individuals who have achieved a significant amount of success but have not yet reached the age of 40).

by Erik Qualman

Is Social Media a Fad or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?  Welcome to the Social Media Revolution:

Stats from Video (sources listed below by corresponding #)

1] By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network
2] Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
3] 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
4] Years to Reach 50 millions Users:  Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)… Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
5] If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia (note that Facebook is now creeping up – recently announced 300 million users)
6] Yet, some sources say China’s QZone is larger with over 300 million using their services (Facebook’s ban in China plays into this)
7] comScore indicates that Russia has the most engage social media audience with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month – Vkontakte.ru is the #1 social network
8] 2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction
9] 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum
10] % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80%
11] The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
12] Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres (combined) have more Twitter followers than the  population of Ireland, Norway, or Panama.  Note I have adjusted the language here after someone pointed out the way it is phrased in the video was difficult to determine if it was combined.
13] 80% of Twitter usage is outside of Twitter…people update anywhere, anytime…imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?
14] Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé…In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen
15] What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…
16] The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
17] Wikipedia has over 13 million articles…some studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica…78% of these articles are non-English
18] There are over 200,000,000 Blogs
19] 54% = Number of bloggers who post content or tweet daily
20] Because of the speed in which social media enables communication, word of mouth now becomes world of mouth
21] If you were paid a $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $156.23 per hour
22] Facebook USERS translated the site from English to Spanish via a Wiki in less than 4 weeks and cost Facebook $0
23] 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content
24] 34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands
25] People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services  than how Google ranks them
26] 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
27] Only 14% trust advertisements
28] Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI
29] 90% of people that can TiVo ads do
30] Hulu has grown from 63 million total streams in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009
31] 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video…on their phone
32] According to Jeff Bezos 35% of book sales on Amazon are for the Kindle when available
33] 24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation because we no longer search for the news, the news finds us.
34] In the near future we will no longer search for  products and services they will find us via social media
35] More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook…daily.
36] Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy Listening first, selling second
37] Successful companies in social media act more like party planners, aggregators, and content providers than traditional advertiser

The above statistics and “Social Media Revolution” video tell the story, social media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.  Please feel free to share with any non-believers!

I’ve come across many of these new short animated video clips that seem to be gaining popularity. The subject matter is varied and vast. For example, I found this one very interesting. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute film that takes viewers on a provocative and eye-opening tour of the real costs of our consumer driven culture—from resource extraction to iPod incineration.  Annie Leonard, an activist who has spent the past 10 years traveling the globe fighting environmental threats, narrates the Story of Stuff, delivering a rapid-fire, often humorous and always engaging story about “all our stuff—where it comes from and where it goes when we throw it away.”

Leonard examines the real costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal, and she isolates the moment in history where she says the trend of consumption mania began. The Story of Stuff examines how economic policies of the post-World War II era ushered in notions of “planned obsolescence” and “perceived obsolescence” —and how these notions are still driving much of the U.S. and global economies today. Leonard’s inspiration for the film began as a personal musing over the question, “Where does all the stuff we buy come from, and where does it go when we throw it out?” She traveled the world in pursuit of the answer to this seemingly innocent question, and what she found along the way were some very guilty participants and their unfortunate victims.

Annie Leonard is the author and host of  The Story of Stuff. She is wrapping up work on a book version of the film to be published by Free Press of Simon and Schuster in March 2010.

Sit down and take a 20-minute break and enjoy.

Timothy Walter Burton was born August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California. As a teenager bored with suburban life, he entertained himself by painting, drawing and making short films. In 1976 Burton entered CalArts in Valencia, CA which led to a job as an apprentice animator at The Walt Disney Company in 1979. His independent temperament was not well suited to work on the studio’s The Fox and the Hound (1981) and none of the hundreds of wildly imaginative concept drawings he did for The Black Cauldron (1985) were used for the film. However, Disney recognized his talent and supported the production of the shorts Vincent (1982), Hansel and Gretel (1983) and Frankenweenie (1984).

Burton’s feature film career began at Warner Bros. in 1985 with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice (1988) and Batman (1989), and his international reputation as an auteur with a unique visual style and imagination was cemented with artistic and box-office success of Edward Sissorhands (1990) for 20th Century Fox and Disney’s Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

Burton’s fourteen features include work in such disparate genres as, biography of Ed Wood (1994), science fiction Mars Attacks (1996), horror Sleepy Hollow (1999), fantasy Big Fish (2003), stop-motion animation Corpses Bride (2005), children’s literature Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and the musical Sweeney Todd ( 2007). Burton has directed for television – Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1984) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents The Jar (1986), commercials – Hollywood Gun (1998) and Timex (2000), a web series – The World of Stainboy (2000) and the music video Bones (2006) for the rock group The Killers. In 1997, he published a book of illustrated verse The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories and in 2003 Darkhorse Comics introduced his collectible figures Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys. Although he is known primarily as a filmmaker, Burton has always pursued private projects as an illustrator, painter and photographer – work that further reveals what he shares with a generation of artists influenced by late 20th Century popular culture. Burton’s 3-D adaptation of Alice in Wonderland will be released in March 2010. He resides in London.

Tim Burton animates the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) logo:

On view at MoMA November 22, 2009–April 26, 2010

For more information please visit www.moma.org/timburton.

Originally posted by Erik Qualman on his blog Socialnomics™. It is a blog designed to cover the latest trends in social media.  It primarily focuses on covering the latest news on social media and what it means for users and businesses, often taking irreverent view points of a popular topic:

Social Media ROI examples and video.

A big question out there these days is: What is the ROI of Social Media? Or the ever popular how do I measure the ROI of social media?  Often when I get this question it’s appropriate for me to retort: “What’s the ROI of your phone?”  Other times it’s not appropriate to respond with this answer, which, if done in the wrong tone, or place, can win you a free punch in the face.  Then there are the naysayers that adamantly proclaim, “We aren’t doing social media because there isn’t any ROI.”

To borrow from the Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Benjamin Zander, there are those in life that sit in the back row with their arms folded, judging, and complaining.  Then there are those that sit in the front row with a vision and they are spending their energy on making that vision a reality.  This article and video have been put together with the hopes of it being a viable tool for those with a vision to get those seated in the back row to stand up and see the social media light.

Drafting off the success of the Socialnomics: Social Media Revolution Video – over 1.2 million views and counting – thanks for the support!  This newest video Socialnomics: Social Media ROI showcases that social media can help you achieve success on almost any front.  While the video uses familiar nomenclature like ROI, many pieces of social media behave so differently than anything we have ever seen, that I prefer to use “What does or will success look like?” rather than “What’s the ROI?”

After all, why are we trying to measure social media like a traditional channel?  Social media touches every facet of business and it should be viewed more as an extension of good business ethics.  Which, if done properly, will harvest sales down the line.  Co-Chairman Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter & Bogusky puts it best when he states:

“You can’t buy attention anymore. Having a huge budget doesn’t mean anything in social media…The old media paradigm was PAY to play. Now you get back what you authentically put in. You’ve got to be willing to PLAY to play.” – Alex Bogusky, Co-Chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky

However to speak in a business vernacular that is more readily understood today please find below some salient examples and data points which are found in the video:

1.  Over 300,000 businesses have a presence on Facebook and roughly a 1/3 of these are small businesses.

2.  Gary Vaynerchuk grew his family business from $4 million to $50 million using social media.  Gary’s eccentric personality and offbeat oenophile knowledge have proven a natural path to success with his Wine TV Library.

3.  Vaynerchuk found first hand that $15,000 in Direct Mail = 200 new customers, $7,500 Billboard = 300 new customers, $0 Twitter = 1,800 new customers.

4-5.  Wetpaint/Altimeter Study found companies that are both deeply and widely engaged in social media significantly surpass their peers in both revenue$ and profit$.  The study also found the company sales with the highest levels of social media activity grew on average by +18%, while those companies with the least amount of social activity saw their sales decline -6%.

6.  Lenovo was able to achieve cost savings by a 20% reduction in call center activity as customers go to community website for answers

7-8.  Burger King’s Whopper Sacrifice Facebook program incented users to give up ten of their Facebook friends in return for a free Whopper.  The estimated investment for this program was less than $50,000 yet they received 32 million media impressions which roughly estimated equals greater than $400,000 in press/media value.  Which to put in context is somewhat like reaching the entire populations of 19 states (understanding this doesn’t account for unique vs. repeat visitors, etc.)

9.  BlendTec increased its sales 5x by running the often humorous “Will it Blend” Videos on YouTube blending everything from an iPhone to a sneaker.

10.  Dell sold $3,000,000 worth of computers on Twitter

11.  To put things into perspective, only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive return on investment.  This is where the majority of media dollars reside today.  I don’t believe the majority of media dollars will reside there tomorrow.

12-14:  “You can’t just say it. You have to get the people to say it to each other,” says James Farley, CMO Ford.  Ford seems to know what they are doing, especially with Scott Monty leading the social media charge.  By giving away 100 Ford Fiestas to influential bloggers, 37% of Generation Y were aware of the Ford Fiesta before its launch in the United States.  Is it any wonder why 25% of Ford’s marketing spend has been shifted to digital/social media initiatives?  Ford is the only US auto company that didn’t take a government loan.

15.  Naked Pizza, a New Orleans Pizzeria that specializes in healthy pies, set a one day sales record using social media.  In fact 68% of their sales came from people “calling in from Twitter.”  On top of that (no pun intended) 85% of their new customers were from Twitter.  So, yes, social media does work for small businesses.  Feel free to have a bottle of Vaynerchuk wine with your pizza.

16.  Volkswagen goes 100% Mobile for launch of GTI.  The reason that I mention this is that mobile drives social media usage and social media usage drives mobile.  More and more we will see most social media usage on the phone.

17.  Tweets for a Cause sent out a tweet from Atlanta to encourage support of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  As a result of retweets from such notables as @mashable, @G_man, @zaibatsu and others, the Atlanta Chapter site received 11,000 visitors in 24 hours as a result of this initiative by ResponseMine Interactive.

18.  Intuit introduced “Live Community” into their TurboTax® products 2 years ago.  Due in part to the resulting word-of-mouth, they have seen unit sales increase +30% each year and have now integrated “Live Community” into their other products like QuickBooks, Quicken, etc.  “Live Community” allows customers to ask other customers questions which has proved both beneficial to the customer and to Intuit.  In some instances, the customer can answer questions that Intuit isn’t allowed to answer because of regulatory restrictions.

19.  Software company Genius.com reports that 24% of its social media leads convert to sales opportunities

20-23.  During Barack Obama’s rise to the White House, he garnered 5 million fans on social media and 5.4 million clicked on an “I voted for Obama” Facebook button.  Most importantly this resulted in three million online donors contributing $500 million in fundraising. An astounding 92% of the donations were in increments of less than $100.

24.  The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center witnessed a 9.5% increase in registrations by using social media.

25-28.  Web host provider Moonfruit more than recouped its $15,000 social media investment as their Website Traffic soared +300% while correspondingly sales increased +20%.  They also saw a huge lift in their organic search engine rankings getting on the first page for the term “free website builder.”

29.  eBay found participants in online communities spend 54% more money

30.  Co-Chairman Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter & Bogusky puts it best when he states: “You can’t buy attention anymore. Having a huge budget doesn’t mean anything in social media…The old media paradigm was PAY to play. Now you get back what you authentically put in. You’ve got to be willing to PLAY to play.”

31.  “Think of Twitter as the canary in the coal mine.” – Morgan Johnston, JetBlue

32.  71% of companies plan to increase investments in social media by an average of 40% because: a) Low Cost Marketing b) Getting Traction c) We Have To Do It

33.  “Our head of Social Media is the customer” – McDonald’s

I had a good chuckle this morning upon discovering a rather large photographic collection of Stormtroopers in various situations. Photography by Stéfan Le Dû.

Stormtroopers 365 is a photo project starring TK455 and TK479, Stormtroopers in the Galactic Empire Army. The project began on April 3rd 2009 and should end on April 3rd 2010. Each day during this year, a new picture is added to the series. Oh and don’t forget the miniseries – Message to Luke Skywalker. “When will this stupid farmboy get the message that he’s rebel scum?”

Stormtroopers 365 calendars for 2010 are also available from the following sites :  qoop or  lulu (recommended for people outside the US – lower shipping cost).

The MeasureMe Stick transforms the traditional ruler into a playful, modern object. Display as an original graphic piece or use to chart your child’s growth through the years. Each piece is handmade in Chicago by Studio 1A.M.

Materials
* Bamboo construction
* Non-toxic ink and finish
* Stainless steel pegs (mounting hardware)

If you love Photoshop and own a fridge, these magnets might be for you. It’s a sure fire way to make any photo you post on your fridge look Photoshopped.

What else can I say about Photoshop magnets except that I am disappointed they didn’t include a magnet for the cursor. I’m hoping they eventually can come out with the entire Adobe CS Suite. Yup. I’m a nerd. You can order your set of magnets from thinkgeek.com.