I read an interesting article that was sent to me about Twitter. The main premise was Twitter is a fad and the retentention rate was very low when compared to Myspace and Twitter. Read more from  eMarketer. I've heard this argument with Facebook MySpace as well.  This is what we have to keep an eye out for that will kill twitter. It will not be low adoption rates but any combination of thease items.  Fail to quickly monetize twitter Continue to anger the developers that build 3rd party apps around their platform Get bought to soon by a large company like Google Fail to change their underlying structure to scale correctly and add new features quickly Facebook turns around and opens their platform up so people from the outside can follow you through Facebook Not figuring out a way to keep new users engated early once they first sign up Also Nielsen suggesting that the retention rate of 40% may be incorrect. Neilsen failed to account for all access points. Here is an article that rebuffs Neilson findings. The methods in which people communicate is decentralized and fragmenting, and this is happening at a faster rate.  For companies that are trying to get into the space they have to assess what ...

I love ted for many reasons. It expands my mind, causes me to rethink current ideas. Continually changes my perspective and all these great presentations are free! One of the recent TED speeches that bring me hope is the speech by Willie Smits. His Journey and mission is to save the rain forest using a holistic approach. He thinks about the whole and works from the bottom up involving and incentivizing the people throughout the process.   His speech was very powerful for me. Because he went out and made things happen. The road was difficult but he continued to push ahead even through adversity and the many challenges he faced his accomplishments are amazing!   After listening to his speech for the first time I wanted to sell the house pack up the family and move out there to help! But really... come on... I’m comfortable... I'm not going to do that. I'm in love with the idea. I believe in my life time we are in for some monumental changes where we will have to leave our comfy sofas and do something.   We are defiantly at a cross roads where we have to make some drastic changes if we want to insure our ...

I'm not a Republican or Democrat, I'm a concerned citizen. Their are certain characters in our government that stick by their principles and vote accordingly. One politicion that would get my vote is Dr. Ron Paul. Ronnie has talking about our broken montanary policy for years. He has mentioned many times about the feds inflating the money supply and their messing around which will eventully bankrupt the whole country for many years. If we listened to the congressmen we wouldn't be in half the mess we are in now.

I must say Jon Stewart is at his finest. He totally ripped apart John McCain Acceptance Speech.  The comparison between Bush and McCain are hilarious, although the same could be said between Barack and Bush and nearly any other politiction that was making an acceptance speech.  Check out the video.  

I do not support the bail out of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. It looks like the bill will pass the Senate. The president who threaten to veto the bill will sign it into law. Lets cut to chase the consumers were stupid enough to buy a home that they couldn't afford thinking that the housing market would continue to apprciate in value and with all the cash that was floating around lenders naturally were going to take advantage. My take is if you can't afford the house don't buy it! I'm so apathetic, I'm totally flaccid! Let’s see what's really going on with the housing bill. ·         This is a band aid being put on a stab wound! ·         More money will be printed to cover peoples stupidity ·         The government is saying hey Fanny May & Freddy Mac go and take all the risk you want the tax payers will bail you out ·         300 billion dollars over the past year has been spent already bailing out the industry ·         Treasury bills are exchanged for Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac securities what a smart move, what’s backing our dollar now? ·         In the 600 page bill all credit transaction will be reported to the ...

If you are remotely interested in technology you've heard about the new iPhone 3G. I wrote in an earlier post about the announcement at the world wide developers conference. The release date for the phone was July 11Th. I was torn if I should get the new iPhone 3G, but Steve Jobs kept whispering in my ear telling me if you want to be cool, and accepted by society I must get this phone at all cost! Naturally I promptly obeyed his request and took the day off in hopes of getting the phone the first day it came out. With my relaxation chair in one hand, and my pattie in the other I went to my local AT&T store at 6:00 am. Now the stores didn't open until 8:00 am but I took the risk that there wouldn't be too many people in line. Well my assumption was correct. I was sixth person in line! The wait was very pleasant, everyone seemed to be excited about getting the phone, including myself and the excitement mounted as it got closer to 8:00 am. The doors were open promptly at 8:00 am and I was one of the first batch to get inside. I ended up getting the white 16 ...

Debating race is a series of conversations between Dawson and a wide swath of people from Scholars: Gary Orfield, Cornel West, politicians: John McCain, John Kerry and pop-political commentators Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher. They tackle many aspects in this book which is broken down into 7 areas.   Civil Rights Ethnicity Conflicting Loves Youth & Violence Black Masculinity Catastrophes Anatomy of A Conflict Why Bill Cosby is still wrong   Overall I found this book very powerful and presents a very deep dive into very controversial areas. Unfortunaly their is not enough dialog about those very serious issues. There is such a wealth of ideas presented in this book I could start a blog just tackling those issues. From reading the book here are a few thoughts.   The 7 areas discussed in his book, are not black and white but many shades of grey. I‘ve gained an appreciation of how complex each of these areas discussed in the book are.   The real struggle is about power and control. Those who have it the "ruling elite" and those do not "everyone else" To illustrate that example here are two facts. Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and African Americans constitute about 25 percent of the population together. They have about 6 percent of our nation’s operating businesses. ...

Quite a few late nights were spent playing Diablo II. On June the 28th in Paris, Blizzard announced the latest update to this classic game. So far they have two character classes for us to drool over with a total of 5 all together. I'm really excited for this game although Starcraft II is in my number one spot for most anticipated games. Take a look at the intro trailer.   19 minutes of game-play goodness  

Although this book was written in the 1930's Dale Carnegie book how to win friends and influence people is a masterpiece on human relations. The key points in his book still hold sway today.   If you are a shy person, or even someone that is out going you will find great nuggets of wisdom in this book. After reading the book, I have tried to implement some of his key techniques, with varied success. I consider the key points in his book common sense, but very few people use these techniques consistently, if at all.   Here are the key points from his book. Fundamental Techniques in Handling People Don't criticize, condemn or complain "Give honest and sincere appreciation." "Arouse in the other person an eager want." Six Ways to Make People Like You "Become genuinely interested in other people." "Smile." "Remember that a man's name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language." "Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves." "Talk in the terms of the other man's interest." "Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely." Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking "Avoid arguments." "Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never tell someone they are wrong." "If you're wrong, admit it quickly ...

At the Texan Republican convention there was booth hosted by the Republicanmarket that was selling an assortment of items. One of the buttons said “If Obama is President… will we still call it The White House? There has been a lot of talk about this, a lot of people were offended. Do you find this button offensive? Personally, I’m am not surprised by this or overly offended. Where there is differences between people there will be distrust, and fear. We see this in every level in society. Look this country is still quite divided, instead of open debate. Issues of race are kept under the radar. It’s sad that there are numerous amounts of people who would not like to see a black president. Its sad to see that their are people that will put color, or a persons sex above, qualifications. I say where the button! At least I know where you are coming from. On the other hand this is blatant. A Marietta bar owner was selling T-Shirts that had a picture of curious George holding a banana and in large copy it said Obama in 08. There was a poll on Croooksandlairs, the results was 41% were not offended by ...