Advice to Magazine Publishers

From Jaffe Juice this morning...
Whether it will be heeded or not...

"Instead of courting media buyers, court your consumers instead. Media buyers aren't going to help you solve your problems...you are. If you reinvent yourselves and create a more evolved environment through which to engage your readers, chances are the me-too media buyers will flock back like sheep.

The ad-edit relationship is contrived and backwards. Content is key...not getting an additional page from P&G. The answers to your problems are all around you; you need to open your eyes."

A Shot from the Workshop Last Saturday

Tammy did an excellent job at the last workshop. This image was created while demonstrating a very dramatic lighting with small lightbox and umbrella hair.

I really enjoy the workshop and the teaching experience. Some of the attendees commented that they couldn't wait to get home and start doing the lighting they had learned.

It does seem to me that light and it's subtleties isn't being taught well in many places where it should be. It is a craft that digital cannot bypass.

There are some great shots by participant Fred Fergusen at the workshop site. Hopefull we will see a few from some of the other attendees soon.

The lighting scheme for this image is at the workshop site - Tip #2.

HAHAHAHA... well, you gotta see this

You know how much I hate flash only websites. But here is a fantastic use of Flash to make something silly, but fun.
Note: political, but not of one side.
(thanks David)

Go here.

Digital Manifesto

I posted this a while ago, but thought that it would be apropos to do so again as my client and friend, Peter, has changed his business model. He is going smaller. And therefore getting bigger.

From full service photo lab with 20+ employees (and the challenges that imposes itself), a huge building and the constant search for photographers shooting film... to a small, efficient service that specifically specializing in large prints. Only large prints. That's a mighty change. That's MightyImaging.com.

And they will be excellant. Actually they already are. His intently focused staff of three will produce a product that is superior, faster and with less hassle than ever before. He gets it, Peter does. And he is pressing with extreme energy.

Now, instead of looking for every photographer that he can find, Peter is focusing on the photographers and corporate clients that really need his services.

Faster. Lighter and, well cooler.

Here is the "Digital Manifesto" that I wrote and designed for him - and all who are making that transition.

Wow... this sounds great!

August is such a weird month. Hot, muggy here in Phoenix. Working hard and focusing on the magic of September. Don't ask me why, but September always means "new beginnings" to me.

So I see this offer for a Stone Massage....

If you are in Phoenix and want to have a truly wonderful experience... try it out. You will love it.

HOT STONE MASSAGE

Allow 1:15 minutes

The hot stones are incorporated into out traditional Swedish massage. The stones are heated to approximately 115 degrees, the stones supply moist heat to the area being treated. This in return brings blood to the muscle to increase circulation and detoxify the muscle.

Deliver what is expected...

and you may be perceived as boring.

I am always pushing to do something not expected, or above and beyond... even if it is just a little bit. When the bar is raised, you have to work even harder to standout. Doing it the same as everyone else gets you nowhere. Stand up, stand out... shine.

Creating Passionate Users: Getting what you expect is boring.: "People talk about things that are surprising, or that really suck.

You talk about the waiter who went way above the call of duty. You talk about that movie that Ebert gave four stars but that you thought was one long and painful cliche.

So wake up the brain and do something surprising or at least unexpected for a given context. If you're a teacher, trainer, or authoring learning materials, for frick's sake don't have all your exercises, lessons, and stories simply confirm what the learner expects!. If the learner spends a half-hour doing an exercise that does exactly what you said it would, that's valid practice, but not memorable."

Design Cliches:

Speak Up...
Nice, fun article about some of the symbols that should have long ago been retired. Thank goodness.

This post is about those symbols we use … or rather, those other people use … to indicate common themes, concepts or ideas. Those symbols which have been used so often that they’ve become clichés. I warn against using them: or challenge designers to breathe new life into their rotting corpses. Welcome to the land of the living dead.

Marc Hauser: 15 - Get Off Your Butt...

You may have to register. Even so, it is worth taking a moment to register. Lots to read here... and, hey... get off your butts....

Marc Hauser: 15 - Get Off Your Butt...: "So the job log is light. The phone is quiet. The studio echo is getting you down.

SO WHAT. We are photographers. WE MAKE PHOTOGRAPHS. So get busy.

You are probably saying to yourself, “What can I do how do I start?”
Well, I start with writing down all my ideas some of which I get from looking at other things around me. For example, I saw some photos by a photographer in the 1930's that got me thinking about doing my own take on his concept."

MarketingProfs - MARKETING PHOTOGRAPHY

Here is a fascinating thread on helping a young commercial shooter get started. Read the whole thing.

Some of my favorite ideas offered...

• To start getting his name "out there" check out istockphoto.com. Its a very easy way for photographers to get their work seen around the world and does return a little money. The objective for you, however, is just to get your friend known, so pick some of his "lower-end" photos and upload them to this site.



• I hope this is helpful. I am not sure this is how your friend can "make it big" right away, but if you specialize in an area, it may work. The guy that took my wedding photos was actually the definitive photographer for the Anza Borrego State Park, the largest desert state park in the country. Almost all photos of this park are his. He has several books out, all sold at tourist spots in the park. Just another example ...

MarketingProfs - MARKETING PHOTOGRAPHY

WVEC.com | News for Hampton Roads, Virginia | Virginia News

Here's a life in photography that is fascinating. He has found new ways to re-invent himself and protect a solid investment in his images. Take a few minutes, it really is a good read.

A few years back, Fortune noticed some of his photos popping up without permission. Determined not to let his work get pilfered, he brushed up on copyright law, hired a lawyer and sued for compensation.

The thefts proved to Fortune that his old images still had value. Soon after, he began the monumental task of organizing his massive collection of negatives.

New technology let him produce his own quality prints, and the former technophobe learned to embrace the computer as a way to preserve and publicize his extensive image catalog.

Partnering with a wire service gave many of his photos a second life in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and on shows such as A&E's "Biography."

Christine - Hot Summer Day

Christine - Hot Summer Day
Originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Ok... getting a little lighter here. Been such a stressful month that I decided to do a new group of images for the workshop tomorrow. I will take the participants through a whole hours shoot with Christina. These images I liked a bit.

The workshops are a lot of fun for me and the models really enjoy it. Christina will be joining us tomorrow as well as Tammy.

There should be some great shots coming out of this seminar. I will get permission to post a few from the attendees.

Credibility... an important asset.

Credibility?: From the Editorial Page of the New York Times:

"But the overarching explanation [for public concern about the economy] is that people are feeling insecure because they understand that today's economy is built on shaky fundamentals. Average Americans may not sit around fretting about America's outsized budget and trade deficits, and its unprecedented foreign indebtedness. But many of them -- as buyers, borrowers and employees -- are concerned about the increasingly bubbly housing sector. The economy's shortcomings are nowhere more obvious than in the job market... job growth is still substantially slower than in previous recoveries. Wages for 80 percent of the work force are barely keeping pace with inflation... Because Mr. Bush fails to acknowledge the lackluster job and wage growth, he fails to respond appropriately. The administration's insistence that the economy is getting better all the time... only intensifies the anxiety that people feel."

From a news account on the very same day:

"Emboldened by rising wages and better job prospects, American consumers headed to car dealers by the thousands last month to take advantage of Detroit's deep discounts, and helped empty bulging warehouses. A series of economic reports released yesterday showed rising retail sales, lower initial unemployment claims and continuing low inventory levels. Economists say the three reports confirm what many of them have been saying: the economic expansion is picking up its pace... The economy has added 190,000 jobs a month on average so far this year, up from 180,000 jobs a month last year. The unemployment rate was at 5 percent in June and July."

When you hear that the MSM is losing credibility and readers... remember this post. And make sure you and your people are aware of the messages you all are sending. Make sure it is cohesive and doesn't cancel out each other. Otherwise you look, well, not credible.

Hat Tip: Instapundit

Seth's Four Curves and the PHOTOtool

A few months ago Seth was talking about his experiences in publishing and launching new ideas / products. He called it "Four Curves of Want and Get".

Daniel and I know exactly what he is referring to. We have experienced it a lot lately.

We own the PHOTOtool, an image management, marketing and sales tool for photographers and artists. We launched to great fanfare, and acceptance. We had good sales for awhile and then it seemed to slow.

We built this thing to help photographers. Our prices are amazingly affordable (at $50 a month - total) and still we seemed to hit a steep hill. Some of our competitors offer lots less for lots more and we still had a challenge finding qualified leads. It is frustrating as we of course don't have some of the bigger bucks for marketing that some of our competitors have. So we have tried being even more audacious in getting the message out.

Seems to be working. Getting around 2 leads a day and when we show the photographers what the PHOTOtool does for them, it is actually an easy sale.

The point of this post is that we could have just waited and spent more money to get noticed, but instead chose to be very proactive in limited geographical areas. This focused push seems to be bearing fruit. We seem to be gaining a steady uptick.

What we do, you can do. Don't stand still, try things that may only reach 25-40 people... if they are targeted, and your message stays relevant, you can keep the marketing driving hard. Or Total Control Sites are driving leads to us and the blog is helping as well. We are pushing the blog work hard starting September so I will keep you posted on how that is going as well.

Good advice for us keyboard jockeys...

I have some days spent over 14 hours at the computer... designing, writing, surfing, being inspired. I am going to try this new concept. Moving around. Hmmmmm.... Sounds almost seditious.

To-Done: "Moving gets the blood flowing, which in turn gets the ideas going. I keep five or six blank sheets of newsprint taped to my office wall so that I can jot down notes when I’m moving around my space. It’s an incredibly effective tool, and one I highly recommend.

Moving gets my body involved a bit in my work too – forgive me if this sounds all new-agey and grosses you out – but living exclusively in my head, I find my ideas can get stale. Moving my body helps to remind me that our human motives are not purely mental; a fact that’s particularly tough to remember when I haven’t moved for 14 hours!"

Didja ever do this?

Huh?
One of the best accounts ($wise) I ever had was a food service company that made consumer product. The art director called me and told me that the last photogprapher had lost the account because when he was delivering a job he noticed that the CFO had an 8x10 of one of the previous jobs hanging on his wall. The photographer mentioned it and the CFO told him how much he loved the image and was so proud of it and how everyone complimented him on it. He was very liberal in the praise of the photog as well.

Photog gets back to studio, fuming... and writes an invoice for un-negotiated usage and bills them $1000. When the art director called him (after being reamed by the company) the photographer wouldn't budge.

They paid him. They fired him.

Enter me. The AD wants to know my usage rights and I ask what they need. He tells me that they sometimes don't know all the uses, but most definitely they do not want to be hassled over someone making a print for their office.

Not to worry. I built that into the contract and we were off.

I did nearly 40K per year from that one client. The other photographer stood his ground, made his point. Could have handled it a thousand different ways, but chose to be bullish and arrogant.

In the 5 years that I worked on that account, they never reused a single image of mine. Most of the time they would lose them and I would charge a handsome fee for dupe transparencies (which I held at the studio).

Seth has it right. Lose a customer and gain huge negative goodwill for $4.

Morons.

Seth's Blog: Clueless: "Then, this morning, I head to the bank. Poor guy is arguing with the 'customer service manager'. The problem? He had $4 in his checking account as he was waiting to close it. The bank charged him a monthly $5 service fee. The fee bounced. Then they charged him $30 for bouncing the fee on an inactive account.

The manager was trying to explain the policy, but the bottom line is that all the real estate, all the ads, all the marble, all the computers... all wasted... because they were enraging the guy. Over $4."

ZipZapZop. You'll love this...

...or you'll hate it. I imagine the possibilities of this. Spend some time and get to know the guy. Vlogging is going to explode soon. Then we can get RSS feeds of videos: news, entertainment, opinion... could be cool and could be a disaster. (BTW... have you heard some of the more awful podcasts out there.).

ZipZapZop Vlog

Do you love landscapes?

Originally uploaded by kunja.

I do. And this wonderful image by "kunja" at Flickr's landscape group is there along with 4000+ more. Vote for your favorite landscape image and just have a little fun this Saturday morning.

NOTE: clicking on the image will take you directly to kunja's page.

Roger Hicks gets it

Small is the new big. Read Rogers post here (halfway down) and read the rest of the page for some extremely interesting photographic news and perspective.

shutterbug: Future Report: "Small Is Beautiful In The Hands Of Enthusiasts
The easiest way to envision the future for photography is to look at the American automobile market. Fifty years ago it was considered downright eccentric, possibly even a little suspect, to drive anything other than a big, heavy, domestic sedan. Oh, sure, there were people who drove imports, or sports cars, or Jeeps, but not, you know, our kind of people.

Fast forward to today. Imports? Look around you. And look at the proliferation of different kinds of vehicles: sports cars, luxury cars, super-economy cars, SUVs, serious off-roaders, crew-cab pick-ups, people carriers…

The photographic market is fragmenting the same way. Almost all the small players at photokina were singing from the same hymn sheet. Our best year ever; 75 percent growth last year; very happy with our market share; maybe the industry is in decline but we are growing; can’t keep the stock on the shelves; the show has gone better than we could have imagined; the litany went on and on.

This is the future. Small is beautiful. The big guys must adapt—think Dodge Viper—or go under. Of course the mass-market boosters try to talk down the small guys, but ’twas ever thus. Ignore them. The future of photography is today more in the hands of enthusiasts than it has been for a century or more. And in case you aren’t sure who the enthusiasts are, that’s you and me. Vote with your pocketbook: we’ll get what we want.
—Roger W. Hicks"

Grazia Neri Delivers a Powerful Post

...on the death of photojournalism. Whether it's dead, dying or just really ill, read a post that will make you think long and hard about where we are and where we may be going.

Is it too late? Can it be saved? Grazia gives an indepth view of the working photographer.

Photojournalism on Life Support by Grazia Neri - The Digital Journalist: "Photojournalism on Life Support

by Grazia Neri

I no longer want to hear about whether photojournalism is dead or not. Twenty years ago the legendary Howard Chapnick said that it was a 'dying business' but at the same time it produced outstanding photographers: James Nachtwey, Chris Morris, James Baalog, Tony Suau, Steve McCurry, Donna Ferrato and many more. In 1994 after the Gulf War and after a seminar in Milan in 1989, I realized that new technologies would take up 80% of a photographic agency's creativity and time at the expense of content. But I also understood that this was the right road for photojournalism to take, as it has done from its difficult beginnings."

Hasselblad and Imacon merge to take on the professional digital market

Powerful partnership. (Hope that the web team figures out that the image is 1.1MB and takes forever to load. That will help the whole digital image thing have even more credibility.)

This will be a very nice camera and definitely a new bar for imaging and color perfection.

Hasselblad and Imacon merge to take on the professional digital market: "

A BRAVE NEW WORLD:
Hasselblad and Imacon merge to take on the professional digital market
PRESS RELEASE
12 August 2004

Shriro Sweden, the holding company of Victor Hasselblad AB, and part of the Hong Kong-headquartered Shriro Group, has announced the acquisition of leading international high-end scanner and digital cameraback manufacturer, Imacon. The move will see Imacon and Hasselblad merge to accelerate Hasselblad’s ambitions in the professional digital photographic sector, and creates what the new company believes to be the leading single source supplier for digital photography at the top end of the professional photographic market."

Bail! Bail! Bail!

All I can say is that I can't believe how many car commercials follow each other on the tube. Predictably lame and boring ads. Thank goodness they don't appear on the blogs I read.

Big Brands are stuck. Don't think like a big brand. Think like a little guy. A little wiry, fast rascal that can move quicker than the giants. Dodge, weave... beat them in the arena that you can own. Leave them to the world of old media. Try new things. Win.

Small is the new big.

Fast Company Now: "There's an interesting discussion going on at gapingvoid and Seth Godin's blog entitled, 'the multi-billion dollar suicide pact between clients and television.'

As Hugh says, 'Both Budweiser and Velveeta are permanently locked into what Seth Godin calls the 'TV-Industrial Complex'. And they have no credible way of freeing themselves from it. ... This is what Madison Avenue's main job is, from now on. Handling the multi-billion dollar suicide pact between clients and television.'

Then Seth says, 'Can the world of blogs etc. help Budweiser? Only on the margins. The world of new media is not the place to launch the next one-size-fits-all mega brand, nor is it the place to shore a flagging brand like that up.'

I have thought for a long time that, since the big brands get to throw their money around in mass media and other big worlds, it would be unfair of them to trounce around in 'our' little gardens.

But, what Seth and Hugh are saying is that it is not only 'unfair,' but impossible. These big brands are in a sinking ship, but they've claimed stake there, so they have to go down with it."

Macromedia - Dreamweaver 8

Wow.. this looks really good. The support for RSS and XML looks promising.

Macromedia - Developer Center : Dreamweaver 8 New Features and Benefits

Blogging... the trend is up...

Interesting post and links at "down the avenue" blog. I have been meetng fewer people who don't know what a blog is and more that are starting to actually follow blogs.

down the avenue: "A new comScore report called 'Behaviors of the Blogosphere: Understanding the Scale, Composition, and Activities of Weblog Audiences,' discovered that 50 million Americans (roughly 30% of the American Internet population), visited blogs in Q1 this year, which is a 45% increase over the same period last year."

Seth's Blog: Unlikely... Hopefully

Seth's point is one we have been touting to our clients. Go ahead and place a couple of hundred images on low-cost stock sites like iStockphoto. Start a photoblog and show some of the more esoteric of your images. Put them up with Creative Commons licensing. Not all our your stuff... some of your stuff. Shoot specifically for giving it away.

Bands play for free to develop an audience. Dancers dance at any opportunity to perform so that they can show their stuff and develop fans. Authors read excerpts at bookstores. Cartoonists leave little cartoons on napkins in chic NY bars.

Photographers should treat their work with more respect and realize that sometimes the best way to get noticed is to give something of value away. Build a following on your blog. Give an image away every month... with the caveat that if someone uses it, they let you know. Make a collage of all the cool things folks did with your free image.

There are so many ways to create authentic 'buzz' instead of trying to spin your way into a web of 'marketspeak'.

Ya know....

Seth's Blog: Let's just say the unlikely happens: "But soon, producers seeking an audience start to make their stuff free. Because when they do, the audience goes up 100x.

And then, in order to compete, others do the same thing. Wouldn't you if you had a touring band? Wouldn't you if you had already exhausted your DVD sales and wanted a big enough audience for your sequel?"

Groan....

(HatTip Kevin)

Coloreal eBox - A Turnkey Solution for Digital Photographer: "Photosimile is like having a professional photographer on staff. In seconds, anyone can create professional, color accurate photos. The controlled lighting environment inside the photo light box yields shadow-free images ideal for websites, product catalogs, eBay� auctions and enhanced business communication."

Well, living up to the hype...

...can sometimes be dangerous. I have long felt that Google's social demeanor will not serve it well in the future. Far too much silliness to survive the incredible challenges it may face soon.

Google's PR Hissy Fit | Bayosphere: "Some bloggers are calling Google ugly names as a result of its ill-considered move, as if it overturns the corporate 'don't be evil' motto. Nah. Google is a young company. We shouldn't be surprised that it sometimes acts its age."

Smile... you are the subject of your own mental image

Really strong post on visualization and human interaction. I have studied NLP and know that the mental image that we create of a situation has more chance of materializing that same way if we keep it reinforced with constant visualization. We become what we expect to become. We see what we have expected to see.

I prefer not to have mental images imposed on me by others, preferring to visualize from the information presented and keeping a sense of excitement of the moment. Then at the moment that I have decided what I need, I then make all the effort necessary to produce what I have visioned. In photography and in life, it works.

Read it all. It will definitely make you think about what you think about.

Better Living: Thoughts from Mark Daniels: The Pictures in Our Minds: "People often tell me that they’re not creative or imaginative in any way. “I’m no visionary,” they say laughingly. But that isn’t true. One of the things that most distinguishes our species from the others on this planet is that we all have these pictures in our minds. We have a remarkable capacity to envision the future, be it the evening ahead or what we want to do for retirement.

Some of our pictures have been painted by others and imposed upon us. Others of our own composition enslave us and keep us from being all we could be. Some annoy us and some inspire. Some excite us and lead us to do wonderful things."

A Study...

... in marketing.

A press release noting the creation of a blog. Yep. For a wedding photographer. Yep. And...it got picked up. Yep. Nationally. Yep.

The headline was pulled from the initial block which was repeated in the body of the release (as printed). Yep.

Hmmmmmm.... Do you think it is time to get serious about this blogging stuff and try to implement something into your overall strategy? You do have a strategy, right?

Good.

Business News : Stagi Imagery Blog Released to Showcase Their Award Winning Wedding Photography; Get an Inside Look into the Wedding Photography Industry "Stagi Imagery - Award winning wedding photography has released a blog to showcase their wedding photography. The Stagi Imagery blog was created to show the latest and greatest products in the wedding photography industry."

A long poignant article on Film, Digital and Change

It is sad for me to witness the destruction of the mom and pop lab structure as it has existed for decades. We wont know what we had until it is gone. And then we may miss it more dearly than we know.

Redlands Daily Facts - News: "Wormser fears that a lot of history could be lost, because digital photography is not produced and stored like traditional developed film.

'The majority of people who shoot digitally don't even have their photos printed. They're stored on a computers or CDs,' he says. 'Some think they'll print, but then they don't, and when something happens to their computer, or they need space on their disc, they lose their images.

'In the future, you won't be able to pull out a shoe box of grandma's old photos and dig through family history. From the '90s on, history might be lost because it won't be captured on film.'"

What's that old saying?

Find a need and fill it. How many of us have grumbled about images that are standard for delivery today (8.5 x 11, 8x12, 13x19...) but not in frames? This guy is filling that need, and doing it well.

Of course, this is good for all of us and I have already ordered a few frames for my home. But it also says something about an established industry.

Walk the rows of frames at Target, Walmart, Pottery Barn... no 13x19's - no 8x12's.... well, very few, that is, if any at all. Certainly no selection. And yet these sizes are very popular and represent the full-frame digital image on many, if not most, digital cameras.

Have the frame manufacturers been blind to the trend? Do they not know what is happening in the industry they support in order to exist? Do any frame company owners have a digital camera? Do they care? Are they just flat out addicted to the thrill of cropping to a 5x7 instead of leaving the damn thing alone at 6x9? I hope they are watching this upstart as he begins to chisle a niche out of their business.

My gut tells me that within a few months we will start to see some new sizes slowly emerge from within this slow moving industry. But that may come as a reaction to competition and not as a need to be part of their customers experience. When you are truly delivering to your clients, you lead, not follow.

Frame Destination, Inc. Fills Void in Photography with Elegant Frames in Non-Standard Sizes: "Armed with the research and know-how to produce new types of advanced frames, Rogers opened Frame Destination, Inc. in April of 2004. Starting out in a modest brick-and-mortar warehouse location, the website, http://www.framedestination.com, was launched to meet the ever-growing need for museum and archival-quality frames in non-standard sizes. Frame Destination, Inc., primarily a web-based company, has already grown out of its first home and moved into a new building where customers can shop in the convenient showroom."

Archive: Blonde Test 23

Archive: Blonde Test 23
Originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Having fun in my home office scanning images from the archives. Mostly from prints, but there are a few negs and transparencies to do. It's funny how you can remember the exact moment that you took a shot. Just thought I would share this old image shot in the late 80's. Cross toned in copper and blue and scanned from the print.

Unbelievable... but yet true

So I post about a spammer getting murdered, and I get this comment (see the post below). It is a spammer commenting with a link to a stupid mortgage site. GEEEEEEEZ....
S'cuse me - I got a hammer around here somewhere....

qoute the spammer...
Spammer Sote Filpo said...
read your blog, think you'd be really interested in this website
unqoute the spammer

So what do you think the chances are that I will buy from this site? Why would anyone? Who does this kind of, what... marketing?

Hey... maybe I will call them and let them know how overjoyed I was to get this message cause I never get any messages wanting to sell me mortgage. What a clever marketing idea... sending unsolicited comments on my blog. Then I will call them every 10 minutes for an hour. Make some appointments with their agents... you know, late at night, far north Scottsdale... that kinda thing.

Enough to make me cry...

I spent a fortune on my beloved RB's. I love them to this day. Now, the oldsters are being put out to pasture in favor of digital. (NOTE: This is not my auction, I was just struck by the camera, lens, body going for $113... Argh...

eBay: Used RB67 Pro S Portrait Outfit (item 7535298394 end time Aug-07-05 10:47:39 PDT)

Hmmm... Well,,,, It wasn't me

... although I have felt like doing this to the next spammer who tries to enlarge my maleness and sell me a mortgage. I would say "what goes around..." Naw. (...you just did - ed.)

Yeah. I guess I did. (hat tip: Kevin)

Russia’s Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM: "Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head."

Moore's Law Hits Blogosphere... Ouch

Blogs, media and us...
I am looking at the incredible explosion of online media sources... blogs, ezines, portals and many personal sites like MySpaces and wondering if this momentum can sweep content creators along with it. Images, design and content will be in huge demand, but the continual challenges of lower cost per entry and rising entrepreneurship will provide considerable competition.

This is the point in time to start preparing for shifts in media, its delivery and how you can be involved. It is a coming storm, but many will do well in its wake.

Read:
Purple Cow
Prize Inside
Tipping Point

ABC News: Silicon Insider: Moore's Law Hits Blogosphere: "By this point Moore would only say that he could no longer predict how long his 'law' might last, but surely it would have to eventually crash into some unbreachable wall: fabrication cost (price) or quantum physics (miniaturization) or mathematics (perpetual doubling, like the proverbial grains of rice on a chessboard, would eventually approach infinity).

Yet, when I last talked with Gordon a couple years ago about the law, which has now made his name immortal, he could only chuckle in disbelief that not only was it still at work, but showed no sign of slowing down. The Semiconductor Industry Association, which he advises and which prepares the biannual Industry Roadmap, now sees no serious obstacles to Moore's Law until at least 2015, and perhaps well into the middle of the century. By then, $50 microprocessor chips will have greater processing power than the human brain, and home PCs will be as powerful as today's biggest supercomputers."

Mike Eller: Photographer / Marketer

Mike Eller is a local photographer here in Phoenix. Visiting his local bank, he noticed some new construction and a very bare wall. He mentioned in a nice way that he had some stuff that would look really good on that wall. The manager overheard and now Mike is having a show on that bank's newly constructed wall. The bank is even helping with the opening.

Nice going Mike, this is good positioning for you, and will create some nice buzz as well.

Eeeeek... now that's a mouse!

...and it is about time we get a mouse like this for our macs...

Apple

Ferg on Creativity

... at Jaffe Juice.

Jaffe Juice: The Phenomenon called Ferg: "Ferg's opinion is that the new definition of creativity = the old definition of creativity, and by that he means, it's all about the idea. Some of his pointers included:"

When you criticize something...

... it would be a good idea to at least have a bit of a clue about what you are criticizing. Joe Dvorak seems pitifully foolish in his diatribe against the Creative Commons licensing project. Even more so after it is dissected here.

If you are wondering about Creative Commons and what it means and does, take a look at this very useful article that teaches, while spanking the silliness of Dvorak.

joegratz.net � Dvorak on Creative Commons: “Humbug!”: "John C. Dvorak recently published this column criticizing Creative Commons. Some of his criticisms are valid; others, based on a misunderstanding of the Creative Commons licenses or the role of Creative Commons as an organization; others still, based on dangerous misconceptions about the law."