Wow, it has been a while since blogging. Time seems to pass swiftly and finding it again to write is a challenge with so many other things going on.

I recently saw a special on CNBC called “Big Brother, Big Business“. It spoke about all the ways the government—Big Brother—can see into our lives. They can listen through our mobile phones even while off. The black boxes in all cars with airbags can be used to track your driving habits (not location). Certainly, these are feasible. But this fuels conspiracy theorists.

The special discussed microchipping humans. It’s the same technology used in pets. A small RFID chip the size of a grain of rice is implanted beneath the skin. It simply stores a 16-digit number that, when read with a special device (by police or a vet), can be looked up in a database that stores the owner’s contact information. The technology has returned pets home after wandering hundreds of miles from home. It seems that animal rescue leagues all over are promoting the microchipping of animals and often offer it free with a spay/neuter.

Implanting such chips in humans has caused a great stir with privacy advocates and conspiracy theorists. In 2004 the FDA approved the implants in humans. The chip is not a tracking device and it does not store information. The RFID chip, again, only stores a unique number that can be found in an encrypted database. That database can store whatever information one chooses: identifying information, emergency contacts, financial information, medical information, allergies, security clearance, etc. This is fantastic for emergency situations where a person may not have an ID on or may be unconscious. VeriChip Corp markets just that. They produce the product for emergency medical reasons (Patient Identification) and offer wearable chips for the elderly (Wander Prevention) and infants (Infant Protection), and attachable chips for tracking assets and tools. It certainly is something of the future. I call my dog the Bionic Dog since she has an implant.

VeriChip explains that the chips are only for ID purposes and do not contain GPS. In the case of their infant protection systems Hugs and Halo, it has protected over one million babies in 2007. Hospitals attach the wearable tags around the baby’s foot and have a matching one on the mother. This ensures mother/infant matching so the baby can move around the hospital without fear of leaving without the mother. Sensors throughout the hospital can track the baby, making sure it does not leave. If the band or tag is tampered with, the staff are alerted.

Even still, many are skeptical (http://noverichipinside.com/). YouTube is filled with videos warning against the “conspiracy”, that the government is “in” with VeriChip and that the RFIDs will be used to track all of us! Have fear! Alas, the chips cannot be activated further than about 10 cm away.

It’s a valuable technology and can be misused, sure. But it’s no more dangerous than your RFID-enabled credit card. It would sure make me feel better if I was unconscious and injured and they had no other way of identifying me aside from an RFID microchip.

More >> Fox Report; MythBusters

Travel, life-improvement, social networks — It’s all there on the web. Here are a few feel-good sites to visit:

Goodreads - A social network for book readers. List your books and review them. See what your friends and others are reading. Look up book reviews from other readers.

Swaptree - Trade books, music, and DVDs with others. For free.

stickK.com – Make a commitment contract for yourself to reach a goal (eat healthier, lose weight, live greener). The incentive is money. Fail your goal and the money you down can go to a charity, a charity you don’t support, or a friend or foe. Succeed and you get your money back.

Walk Score – Type in an address and see how walkable the neighborhood is.

TripTouch – This should be your homepage wherever you travel. Open up the site and you get a snapshot page of local info on the city in which you’re currently located.

I have spoken in the past about delegating. It’s becoming a much larger trend, now with services popping up overseas in, where else, India. Blogs and news articles discuss outsourcing your personal tasks. Now companies like Your Man In India, Get Friday, and AskSunday allow you to outsource individual tasks or projects and pay by the hour. Small businesses may choose this cheaper route as an alternative to hiring another full-time employee.

Tim Ferriss wrote The 4-Hour Workweek, which talks about living your “dream life” by outsourcing a lot of your life / tasks. His book doesn’t come without criticism, and many say he is selfish that something comes from taking pride in work. Still, outsourcing and delegating tasks help you manage your time. Sunday is a personal assistant service co-founded by Steve Ludmer, a Penn grad with a great deal of business management background. “Sunday is committed to simplifying our member’s lives by providing personal, travel and tech support assistance via the Internet and telephone.” Their call centers are in India and the Philippines.

What makes Sunday different from a typical concierge service is that there are few limits. Most concierge services will try to stay away from medical or financial requests and they won’t give you a wake up call. They won’t but something on eBay for you or Craigslist and they won”t purchase tickets from just any source. Sunday will. Sunday will call your cable company, wait on hold for you and patch you in when a rep comes on the line. They’ve called a magazine for me to check on the status of a gift subscription. The best part is that they turn around results in often less than an hour. The price is cheap: $29 for 30 requests per month. Less than a dollar per request. Hey, it’s outsourcing.

Feedback on Sunday:

• The few times I’ve called, I tend to reach one individual (Bruce). Sunday is not about caller experience. They barely ask questions. Because of this you have to be as detailed as possible. They listen to you and say, “Okay, we’ll email you.” No date or time when to expect the results.
• Since speaking with a person is more like speaking at them, it’s probably better to use their voicemail feature and leave a message with your request.
• Turnaround time impressed me. Less than an hour for Boston restaurants with wine tasting menus (they even called the places to confirm). 12 minutes for a request to call a magazine customer service for me (I emailed the request).
• Most large US-based concierge services take your request and simply add it to their queue, often taking 24 hours for the restaurant request (above). I asked Sunday to send me a spreadsheet with external hard drive options, prices, etc. I got that in one hour. My credit card concierge said it would be three business days!
• It’s great if you want to make a personal call (like to your bank) but can’t at work. Email your details and they’ll call for you.

The bottom line is that Sunday is impressive in getting it done in a timely manner and doing exactly what you ask without much of an “experience.” Larger concierges strive to give you a call experience, often provide pull and access, and try to add value–but turnaround time can be way too long.

Sunday Perks:

• Reminder calls
• Make your doctor appointment
• General information
• International calling (make calls for you and patch you in as needed)
• An online profile that the rep can access
• They typically begin a request right away
• Can access your email accounts or Google calendar (passwords are encrypted through the Sunday Portal)
• Travel agency
• Computer tech support

Sunday Projects is similar to sites like Your Man In India (YMII), which perform larger projects (business, data, entry, research, presentations) and charge by the hour or quote a price depending on the project. YMII focuses mainly on NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) and can assist with anything regarding India such as sending your family flowers, helping with taxes, relocating to India, etcetera. Outsourcing has become personal. It’s obvious that Sunday can only offer their services so cheap because of this. They’re looking for a cheap solution, not something focused on customer experience.

>> Read more about Americans outsourcing to Asia [1, 2, 3]

What was the fasting rising Google search of 2007? iPhone. Google’s 2007 Year-End Zeitgeist was recently released and showcases the “collective consciousness” of our world and the top newsmakers.

It also clues us into the consciousness of the Presidential campaign:

It’s also been an exciting year for celebrity happenings. February was a spike in Britney Spears searches after she shaved off all her hair. Or June when Paris Hilton was released from jail. Then there’s the Hannah Montana craze, for which searches far topped the Rolling Stones:

Diets, ringtones, game consoles, sports – Google shows trends in not only our search patterns, but delves deep into our thinking. What’s on our mind? Google looks at the top Who is, What is, How is searches:

Who is God?
What is love?
How to kiss

>> View the full 2007 Zeitgeist here

Not sure if you’ve seen the power of Google Maps’ newish Street View feature. They’ve recently expanded and now feature 360 degree street-level photography in 21 US cities.
I’ve just recently discovered it since they’ve expanded to Boston. I would say that 95% of streets in Boston are covered. Google used special cameras attached to vehicles that drove through every street. Coverage even expands out into suburbs.

So not only can you see a location from above by satellite, but you can zoom down and see what it looks like to stand there. Let’s say you’re planning a trip to Boston and you want to see the State House. Take a look before you get there. Just enter a location or click any highlighted road on the Street View map and you’re there. Pan around.

It’s great if you’re going somewhere for the first time and you don’t know what the business or house looks like.

Heading to Boston by Amtrak? Check out South Station. Check out Macy’s in Downtown Crossing. Check out Flamepoeira, my favorite coffee shop in the North End. How about the Prudential:

The upcoming Presidential election has got some big issues, one of which is America’s health care problem. But Daniel Brook makes a good point in Good Magazine:

“… it’s puzzling that when the presidential candidates talk about their health-care proposals, they only talk about poor kids and Wal-Mart workers. This doesn’t square with my experience of the health-care crisis. I know plenty of people who are sweating health-care coverage. None of them are poor kids. And they don’t work at Wal-Mart.”

The US has a pretty low self-employment rate compared to other countries and what is holding freelancers, artists, creative folk, and other people back from pursuing their own businesses, asks Brooks? Health care. Or lack thereof. Now think about countries with universal health care. Health care is not an obstacle to self-employment. Politicians need to stop focusing on the Wal-Mart workers, and pay attention to everyone whose dreams may be barred because of something that should be a universal right.

“Lately, Americans have come to think of the governmental safety net as being not for the ambitious but for people who can’t take care of themselves—like poor kids. But the metaphor “safety net” comes from the piece of circus equipment that lets the trapeze artist attempt his or her most daring feats.
It’s time the proverbial trapeze artists among us spoke up. And time the candidates listened.”

>> Read Daniel Brook’s full article here.

Slate’s Chad Lorenz has brought up an interesting insight: Is email dying?

It seems that us young people are foregoing email for other messaging mediums like IM, Twitter, and Facebook messages. Forget old fashioned email party invites: It’s a Evites, Facebook or Google event invites. But maybe that’s slow. You might as well RSVP by IM!

Personally, I find fewer people are quickly responding to email. Now it’s instant responses that are expected. Texts or IMs. Goodbye Yahoo and Hotmail account. At least Gmail has a chat feature … and I tend to use that more than typing an old fashioned electronic mail.

As we head into the new year, it’s important to look back and see what events occurred that will lead us into future trends. Trendwatching.com has compiled a fantastic report on important consumer trends that will take center stage in 2008.

Items like the iPhone has created a revolution about “status spheres”. It’s all about lifestyle and having the latest. But, there are many different kinds of spheres, according to Trendwatching.com, high net work individuals increased 8.3% this year creating more disposable income and more of a market for premium products (like $17,000 pacifiers). These people make up we we call the “traditional” status sphere. Then there’s the online sphere which is all about online presence and status or the eco sphere which includes people trying to greenify their lives.

This ties in with the next trend for 2008: Premiumization — making any product into something even more, like high-end $20 bottles of Evian water. It’s about catering to the rich and making those in debt, poorer.

More trends to bloom in ‘08: Need for instant gratification, obsession with the web, narrower–more local–social networks, and ecommerce, eco-awareness, and make-it-yourself and personalized products.

Read the full trend briefing here.

One huge trend that began at the beginning of Apple’s existence was a growing cohort of people who became followers of Apple’s innovation and insanely great ideas. Not only that. Macintosh has become a “lifestyle”.

Since then sprouted fan and rumor sites, a Cult of Mac book and blog, forums, product unwrapping ceremonies. The Cult of Mac book says that Apple has become sexualized in the eyes of its hardcore followers (see undressing below). New product and software releases, store openings pull thousands out to retail stores in long lines and hours of waiting. When have you seen that for Microsoft?

When they get home they take “undressing” or unboxing photos of their new Mac, exemplifying Apple’s artsy and efficient packaging. There’s even a site devoted to unboxing ceremonies: Unbox.IT

With Apple’s Mac market share rising above 8% and the release of Leopard, you can expect the Cult of Mac base to grow. More will find themselves checking AppleInsider.com or MacRumors to find out about the newest Apple product rumors or taking unboxing photos and posting them to their Flickr. Macintosh is a lifestyle, for sure.

Today at work someone sent me a blog link that got me laughing harder than I ever have. I couldn’t control myself. Johnny Virgil writes a blog called 15 Minute Lunch, in which he posts many humorous entries about all sorts of things he encounters. It turns out that the other day he found a 1977 JCPenney. What comes is a series of old school catalog pictures and some pretty freaking hilarious commentary.

>> View the post here. You’ll laugh pretty hard.

This is a response to a comment by Kate on my Sexist Products entry. She feels this was my opinion, not surprisingly, after a discussion we had on why women, on average, make 25% less than men (according to a GAO report).

There are many reasons that feminist organizations do not often take into account when reporting these numbers. The GAO concluded some reasons: Many women leave their job either to have a child or raise a family. When they decide to return to a career they have fallen behind the amount of time they were out of the workforce. They are not in the same point in their career or experience as they may have been if they hadn’t left work. So, if you compare men and women in their same period of life, you will most likely find women with a lesser median salary partly because of this gap in career experience. Women also tend to have fewer years of work experience.

Another possible reason is that women do not tend to ask for a raise or promotion as often as men do. We should not discount any discrimination, as black people also statistically make less, though factors such as education and time in the workforce must be considered. There are many reasons such as this that contribute to women earning less than men.

CNNMoney.com’s Jeanne Sahadi published an article called the “76-cent myth“, and she comes to similar conclusions, but doesn’t discount any discrimination (which may account for a quarter of the wage gap):

“But all the wage-gap ratio reflects is a comparison of the median earnings of all working women and men who log at least 35 hours a week on the job, any job. That’s it.

“It doesn’t compare those with equal work, equal training, equal education or equal tenure. Nor does it take into account the hours of overtime worked.”

>> Read more about the pay gap and the GAO report.

Here’s a trend: Niche marketing. I’ve spoken about it before; about how marketers are more and more targeting women who make up more than 80% of consumer purchasers in the US.

Now BuzzFeed has captured this as “sexist products”. Home Depot is piloting a new store called “Her Depot,” a store for women with “cleaner” aesthetics. Now women can buy tools comfortably! Feministing.com calls is the “most condescending sister store of all time.” Garmin is releasing the Pink Nüvi GPS for the ladies.

These products are nothing new. It’s smart marketing indeed. Products are targeted to all sorts of people: children, men, women, elderly, boomers… It’s not sexist.

I apologize there have been no posts in a while. Here’s the reason:

Leena’s a Bichon Poo and boy has she been keeping me busy! Updates soon…

This is absolutely amazing! I can’t tell you how long I’ve been looking for the ultimate way to track your spending. It’s here.

I have been creating spreadsheets to tracking spending, following a detailed budget, and entering every single transaction I have into a banking program. That’s all fine and good at the micro-level, but here comes Mint.com, an easy to use website for managing your finances — on autopilot.

The best part is this: Mint connects to your banks and downloads all your transaction data, aggregates it, and analyzes it. You have a live snapshot of your finances — your savings and debts. It will alert you when your balances go below a certain level or if you’re close to a credit card due date. It will even tell you your spending habits and if you’re spending more on shopping this month than you do on average.

Mint takes security seriously and has a strong privacy and security policy. How do they make money? By giving you offers to save money, like transferring to an E*Trade account or getting a credit card with a lower interest rate.

The economy is a tough and complex thing sometimes. In times of turbulence or high inflation, the US central bank typically adjusts interest rates. This controls spending since it determines how expensive it is to loan money.

Just recently they reduced interest rates by one-half percent. This means it’s cheaper to borrow money — more spend and that in turn drives the economy. Hooray for debt and spending! The Fed hopes this will prevent a recession. And, since the US is the world’s largest economy, it affects other economies, too. Will it work? It may or may not. The US housing market is fragile and may not recover its slowdown.

>> Read an explanation of the US interest rates at BBC News

Avast! It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! So yah scurvy dog, what it to yah? Make yah learnin’s below!

The dream of passenger travel to space is here. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceline is well on its way to flight in 2009 or 2010. Already, SpaceShipTwo (predecessor to SpaceShipOne) is being constructed in Mojave, California. The flight experience takes passengers into sub-orbit where they will experience four minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth. The spaceliner will be launched in the air from a mega “mothership” aircraft. Tickets are $200,000 for the maiden passenger flight.

The first spaceport has been designed and will be located in New Mexico. Construction begins in 2008 and the new Spaceport America terminal and hangar facility will house two White Knight Two motherships and five SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. The terminal will have plenty of space for lounges, offices, and operation and flight facilities. The cost of the spaceport is estimated to be $31 million.

Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic says that 2008 will be “The Year of the Spaceship”.

One thing that has always bothered me is how the United States insists on being different than the rest of the world. We call it soccer. We don’t have universal health care. We don’t even use the metric system!

The US is one of three countries in the world that do not use the metric system. GOOD Magazine has prepared a powerful graphic that shows how isolated we are.

See the full version here, including an explanation about the origin of the meter.

Today was Free Hug Day, as organized through a Facebook event. Location? Everywhere. Number confirmed participants? 879,258.

After posting about this a few days ago, I decided to hang a “FREE HUGS” sign on my cube at work today. I think some people thought I was just silly. I got a few chuckles as people walked past, many questions, and ended up giving five hugs by day-end. There was this one woman who kept asking about it throughout the day, so I finally said, “Do you want one or not? You’ve been avoiding it all day!” She shyly ran off.

Others I think seemed to feel uncomfortable with the thought. The guy that sits behind me made his own sign that read, “Hugs $.50″. No one had heard of this international campaign! (They thought it was my ’strange’ creation) From all over the world, you can find hundreds of these free hugs pictures on Flickr. I used today to show people that acts of kindness are not so hard — yet it seems you will always have those who are made awkward by affection.

Look at these pictures. Who wouldn’t smile?

This is generating a bit of buzz. Channel Federator, the net’s place for cartoons and animation has presented, internet pop culture in three minutes.

This is a tribute to the internet celebrities of the past couple years, the Numa Numa Guy, the nervous sportscaster, lonelygirl15, Shoes, Dick in a Box, and so much more. Love it.

When you live in a country where the national savings rate is frighteningly low and consumer credit is what drives the economy, you really need to focus on saving.

I’ve been keeping a budget (PearBudget) fairly well, however there are times where I tend to spend over budget and I don’t really see that until I enter my receipts and see the totals. So how do I stay on budget? It’s something, for some reason, I had never thought of before: Write it down.

My budget is divided into five “irregular” spending categories (food, needs, auto, entertainment, misc). What I do now is see the remaining amount in each budget category and write it down! I keep it in my pocket or iPhone and can reference it to determine whether I can buy whatever it is I want to buy. This way I’ll have more of a real-time view of my budget wherever I am–and update it periodically.

>> Read more about American debt, saving money, and open the Thought Press money drawer

When I learned that Apple reduced the cost of the 8 GB iPhone by $200 after two months (now $399), I was pissed–as was many early adopters of the iPhone. “Can I be paid my $200 for being a beta tester?” wrote one on a MacRumors forum. Others calculated what this “Early Adopter Tax” cost per day: $3. Like many, I expected the price to drop possibly for Christmas, but not $200!

Hundreds of letters poured into Steve Jobs’ inbox and as blogs and sites continued to post anger and disappointment in Apple, Steve realized he made have made a bit of a mistake and lost some trust with their most loyal customers.

So, Steve Jobs published an open letter on apple.com telling everyone that all early buyers of the iPhone before the price drop will receive a $100 credit that can be used at the Apple Store. This was a good decision and a good change of heart.

“… we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers … Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.”

It finally happened. A few weeks ago I dropped my iPhone on the sidewalk as I was trying to plug in my headphones. The result was a few dents and nicks on one side and the casing popped out a bit. While the phone still worked, my nerves were cringing.

The Apple Store would not help me since the phone was still working. I guess I’d have to live with it the way it was. Just then I realized I had purchased the phone with my American Express card. It had the Purchase Protection Plan!

I ran home and looked up the terms and conditions and discovered that accidental damage was covered within 90 days of purchase. I went to americanexpress.com/onlineclaim to determine what documentation I needed: Your Amex charge receipt (statement), original store receipt, photograph or repair estimate for damage, and any insurance documentation if you went through homeowner’s or renter’s insurance first. I went to the Apple Store to get a repair estimate ($279.45). I faxed the documents in and two weeks later I got a communication saying that this payment has been approved and will be credited to my account!

It worked. Now I have to go to the Apple Store, set up the repair, get their loaner phone, and smile. Hooray for American Express.

Sometimes, a hug is all we need.

This is what the Free Hugs Campaign is all about. Juan Mann began this amazing cause after he had returned home to Sydney and saw lots of people hugging and being welcomed by their friends or family. He was alone and had no one to smile and hug him, so he took some cardboard and a marker and created a sign that said, “FREE HUGS”.

The result was a campaign of random feel-good kindness that swept the world. When I was in Seattle I saw some people with these signs. I was thrilled and joyfully hugged my fellow strangers. I can tell you, hugs feel a lot more special when they come from someone you’ve just met. Frowns turn to smiles and bad days turn good.

Playboy is 54 years old and apparently their readership is declining. In response to that and to contribute to the world of social networking, they have launched Playboy U. The non-nude social network is open only to college students and requires a .edu email. “Sorry, but high schoolers, old dudes and your Mom can’t join,” says the site.

Playboy Enterprises Inc. is hoping to build more brand loyalty through a cable television program, Sirius channel, and now Playboy U. The company is now returning to profitability after a heavy loss in 2000.

The social network prohibits nudity although, I think you will find, it leans toward more provocative message board topics and racy photos. Can professors join? Sorry, Playboy U claims it will cancel membership of any faculty, staff, or alumni it discovers.

>> More about Playboy’s attempted profit recovery at Time.com

Pomegranate Mojito? Pomegranate Ice Cream? Pomegranate Frappuccino? Or, my favorite, POM tea!

The fruit is hip and trendy and popping up everywhere. According to a recent USA Today article, in 2000 only 4% of those in the United States had ever eaten a pomegranate. It has been shown that they can reduce cholesterol, blood pressure, and of course, there are high levels of antioxidants. You’ll even find Häagen-Dazs has released a Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bar.

>> Read some more about pomegranate’s health benefits [1, 2]; Read the buzz!

Wow! This is worth buying an iPhone for! SHAPE Services, based in Germany, has released an online web-based access to Skype through your iPhone. Now you can make cheap or free international calls on your cell phone! The service uses your SkypeOut credits.

But here’s the best part: After you log in and enter a phone number to call, the service rings your phone and then connects you to the number you’re calling. Simple and free (for now during beta). Just point your iPhone browser to skypeforiphone.com.

There are some great sources for election data. Newsvine’s ElectionVine (right) tracks the election consensuses site by site. Bloggers and sites post polls on their sites and Newsvine aggregates the results. What does this give? A view of the race “across the independent internet and blogosphere.”

More people seem to be paying attention this election too. With so many important issues at hand, a chart showing each candidate’s position would be helpful! Below is a tiny snippet of a much larger chart showing all the candidates, divided by party, and their standings on all the major issues. Click the image to see the full-size version.

Just announced: On January 2008, the Walt Disney World themepark, Disney-MGM Studios will be changing its name to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

>> Read the full press release 

I never realized how cheap GPS units have become for your car. After research and speaking with others, not long ago I bought a Magellan Maestro 3100 GPS ($200) and I have been quite pleased! All the reviews give it a thumbs up for value and quality. While there are only 750,000 points of interest, the map is pre-loaded and cannot be updated, and there is no traffic or voice recognition, I’ve found the device to be perfect for a first-time buyer like myself. The Maestro 3100 gives clear verbal directions, quite accurate travel time, and has a simple user interface.

Today I was travelling about 20 miles, part of which was on the highway. The traffic slowed down quite a bit so on the Maestro display appeared an detour icon. This appears when the unit notices you’ve slowed down in a traffic jam. I pulled out my iPhone with Google Maps and checked to see what the traffic was like ahead (very slow for the next 2-3 miles). I then hit the detour icon on the GPS and chose to avoid 3 miles of the current road. The Maestro took me off the next exit and lead me down a few roads, spitting me back on the highway about 3 miles from where I was. The traffic was moving speedily at that point. Fantastic.

>> Read a detailed review and the Engadget review

Here’s something I don’t understand: People who send “virus warning” chain emails. These emails apparently warn you of a circulating computer virus and ask you to “pass it on immediately!” So these emails circulate — most likely endlessly, even after this virus (if it’s even real) is eradicated. They are chain emails and have no integrity.

This information arrived this morning direct from both Microsoft and Norton.

You may receive an apparently harmless email with a Power Point presentation “Life is beautiful.” If you receive it, DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately. If you open this file, a message
will appear on your screen saying: “It is too late now, your life is no
longer beautiful.”

Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and
the person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, e-mail
and password.

BS. This has been circulating since 2002 (Snopes).People that fall for this probably fall for the Nigerian scams as well. Here’s one that someone just posted on Facebook. How sad.

READ. Don’t just skim over.

Hello, I thought I would pass on an email I rec’d today from a friend:
If some person with the email address bum_tnoo@hotmail.com wants to add you as a friend – do not accept it because he is a hacker. Tell everyone on your list because if anyone accepts him/her then you get them on your list and he/she will figure out your ID, computer address, so copy and paste this message to everyone and fast because if he hacks their emails he is hacking your mail for Facebook as well.

Somehow I think the person that wrote this is smiling, seeing it posted everywhere by gullible people.

I’ve never been one to constantly be reading. I know many who can get through a book in a couple of hours and never fall asleep during the read, like I do. The latest books I read have been through referral, and that’s definitely the best way to discover new books. I prefer non-fiction, so here are some great books I’ve read recently thanks to friends or others recommending them:

How to Be Like Walt – This is possibly the best biography of Walt Disney I’ve come across. The book pulls together Walt’s life lessons and attributes like imagination, optimism, courage, integrity, and hope for tomorrow, and shows how you can apply his learnings to your life.

Blink – A bestseller about snap judgments and first impressions–and their importance. Blink shows you how the hidden unconscious plays a major role in our decision-making.

Vagabonding – Rolf Pott’s book will change your mindset about independent long-term travel. How to get started, life on the road, travel experiences you may encounter, the joy and self-fulfilling affect of travel. This will give you the travel bug.

One Year Off – Long term travel–with three kids! This is a fun tale of a family who left their jobs and sold everything to travel the world for one year. It’s a fun read and you’ll find yourself smiling throughout.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves – Mentioned previously by me, an enjoyable lesson in punctuation and grammar, highlighting the sad state of it in our daily life.

The Power of Now – An inspirational and life-changing guide to focusing on living in the moment and simply being present in the Now, not constantly worrying about the future and dwelling on the past, the cause of most of our pain. I’m halfway through and it creates an exciting new possibilities for self-happiness.

Where have you not seen products or services targeted to baby boomers? This month’s trendwatching.com briefing is about such “forever trends” and these ginormous niche markets: Women, GLBT, Boomers! Here’s a brief overview:

Women
Here’s a good point — Women make 80+% of consumer purchasing decisions in the US. Maybe you’ve noticed plenty of adverts targeted to the female species (Female Fever, it’s called). “Why should boys have all the fun?” says an Indian ad for a Honda scooter made for women. Sales jumped. Also, while alcoholic beverages for women is nothing new, beer-sellers are introducing specific brands for women.

Almost every industry is touching this important niche: Investing, retail, food and beverage, clothing, shoes.

Gays
Quite a market indeed: trendwatching.com states that the buying power of the GLBT community will exceed $835 billion by 2011. There are websites devoted to marketing in this market. Lots of companies have taken a positive first step in gay-friendly advertising and it’s been shown that this has created a powerful new sales-driving segment.

And it’s not just the young. Elderly gay communities have opened up all over. Bank of America introduced The Rainbow Card which helps organizations devoted to the issues of the gay community. You will find also that lots of travel and vacation opportunities have cropped up for gays.

Boomers
This category barely needs an explanation. Baby boomers are probably the largest consumer market segment today; and it’s growing.

The world’s population is aging at a staggering rate. The 50+ population is the fastest growing segment worldwide and predicted life expectancies are at a historical high. An American turns 50 once every seven seconds. Within the next few years, 50% of the European Union’s population will be 65+. By 2030, in Italy, retirees will outnumber active workers. By 2050, the median age in Thailand will rise to 50. (Source: MIT AgeLab.) – From trendbriefing.com

Frightening. With that, you see oodles of “over 50″ social networks, dating sites, travel services, and tons of other online companies focusing on this profitable population. Medicines? Health care? You bet! The industry has a worsening strain on it, but drug advertisements and fitness products are very present.

You also find that in regards to travel, boomers are being bombarded with marketing for luxury homes, retirement locations and communities, vacations, and healthy frozen culinary delights.

All in all, these market segments are key to consumer industries. They remain solid and profitable.

>> Download the entire report from trendbriefing.com

Boomer photo from Flickr user playerOne

At work, some people have said to me, “How do you keep your inbox so empty?” I see some people’s inboxes and they are so full of emails that they don’t know what else to do other than cherry-pick through them. Some items are even unread! <gasp> They have to scroll, too! I see some people’s Gmail and they never archive! They keep everything in the inbox–missing the purpose of Gmail.

One of my colleagues has a folder called “Pending – Immediate”, in which she seems to throw most things. I’m not sure what exactly “pending – immediate” means. Enter Inbox Zero, a concept that I follow and its as simple as determining whether an email is actionable. You don’t just check your email; you process it:

1. Delete (or archive) – Simply delete things you don’t need, junk. You may want to create a single folder called ‘Archive’ to which you drag these items you don’t need, but can search for in the future.
2. Delegate – Have someone else take care of it. What I do, if it’s something I want to check up on at some point or am waiting to hear back, I set a timer to remind myself to follow up, and/or I BCC myself when I forward the email and stick that in a ‘Waiting For’ folder. No ‘Pending – Immediate’ needed here!
3. Respond – I always try to be prompt to respond to emails if needed. These emails should be kept to five sentences or fewer.
4. Defer – If the email is something you can’t act on now or should be dealt with at a future date, defer it. Set a timer to remind you and place it in another spot. I typically keep these to do’s in a ‘Next Actions’ folder.
5. Do – If it takes two or three minute, do it immediately.

And now your inbox should be empty! There should be no excuses in keeping something there. For projects (take up more than one task), I don’t put it in my ‘Next Actions‘ folder, but I create a project folder within my ‘Current Projects‘ folder in which I store any related items that I am collecting for the project. Once the project is complete, I drag the project folder to ‘Past Projects‘. And it’s out of my vision!

Then if I want a quick at-glance view of my Next Actions, I created a simple spreadsheet in which I list all the tasks, their due date, whether the status is “waiting for” (WF) or not, its importance, difficulty, and any details related to the task. I have it automatically sort by WF, then due date, then importance. Then I just check them off or update the status as I go! Some at work have called me a machine.

>> Check out Merlin Mann’s presentation on Inbox Zero to Google employees.
>> Related GTD / Productivity stuff; Life

There are dozens of question and answer sites, some paid, some based on user responses or a social network. There are lots of places to go for advice when we need it, but what about advice from someone who has been through the trials and tribulations of decades and decades of life?

To whom do you go? Why only someone as wise as a 60 plus! I came across a wonderful service called Elder Wisdom Circle. It’s a place for younger people (in their teens, 20s, and 30s) to ask an elder for advice. They call them Cyber-Grandparents. Young people appreciate it and the elders are pleased to give advice to the youth who seeks it! Their Statement of Purpose says it:

Provide a platform for seniors 60 and over to share their advice and wisdom with younger people. To become the most widely read personal advice in the world. Provide a meaningful, enriching volunteer opportunity for our Elders living at home or in communal senior facilities. Improve society’s perception and value of our older citizens.

Your Cyber-Grandparent will respond to you individually and will provide advice based on his or her personal experiences and own wisdom. What a wonderful service. Sometimes the values of the older generation can do some good on us youngins.

Go to elderwisdomcircle.org to seek your advice.

The most important asset to a serious blogger is statistics. You have to know how many readers you have, what causes people to read, where they come from, and how they find you. It does seem like common sense.

Well, the infamous Grammar Vandal I’ve been speaking about has been popularized by BuzzFeed, and lately, The Boston Globe. “How many site views did you get?” I asked her after the newspaper article was published. “I don’t know,” she said. (!) She has no stats set up on her Blogger account! I was shocked since every day I check my stats, see what clicks have been made, what search terms bring people to Thought Press, and from where visitors are referred.

“I mainly judge it on how many comments I receive,” she responds. Both myself and a colleague said to her, in concert, “That’s a terrible way to judge it …” Though a bit too late, she finally added Google Analytics and is up and running.

Other important blogger to-do’s are regular pinging after posting. Sites like Pingoat can do the trick very well and increase your traffic. Also, keeping your posts short and concise will keep your readers coming back as they may not have the time or patience to read a lengthy post. Blog readers tend to have short attention spans.

These are the basics of blogging and it’s a shame that a serious blogger, who will soon be featured on NPR, has missed the essentials in running a blog.

>> Don’t forget to subscribe for more genius like this

Yes, believe it. There are so many companies that offer a great culture and a fun place to work. Employees are happy, productive, and look forward to work each day. After all, you spend most of your day at work, so you might as well enjoy it!

Most jobs can get boring and tedious. I pleasantly came across positivesharing.com, a blog devoted to being happy at work. Alexander Kjerulf is a speaker and consultant on happiness at work. I’ve always felt that finding a job, regardless of pay, that I enjoyed, was the most important thing. Kjerulf not only blogs about Costco’s underpaid CEO, happy email signatures, or posts signs that say, “Remember: If it isn’t fun, it isn’t working”. He just published a new booked titled, “Happy Hour is 9 to 5: Learn How To Love Your Job, Create a Great Business and Kick Butt at Work”.

The book is all about finding a job you love or loving the job you have, tools to create a happier workplace, and the motivation you need. I’m saving up to get my $29 copy and this seems like an amazing book that everyone should read. So many people are too serious at work. You need to make work a fun environment so people actually look forward to spending most of their day there!

>> Check out “Happy Hour is 9 to 5“

You’ll notice I added a Grammar section. I figured if a fourth post about this would appear, it’s only fair.

You may know about my friend, The Grammar Vandal. She’s been all over Boston fixing improperly punctuated signs and correcting carelessly formed words (everyday). Take a look at a sign we both discovered at a new Papyrus store:

It should be ‘every day‘. It is unbelievable that Papyrus’ marketing team would make such a big mistake. I took the liberty of placing a “Panda Says No” sticker from my Eats, Shoots and Leaves book.

The latest news evolves The Grammar Vandal and the police during an effort to correct a street sign that said, “Professors Row”. Take a read and chuckle.

Singular they
Today we had a bit of an argument, which resulted in a denial to my request to become a contributer to her grammar blog. The debate was over the word they (or their, them) to be used as a singular pronoun where the article is indefinite. For example, it is argued that saying, “A good student does their homework,” is incorrect and that ‘their’ should be replaced with ‘his or her’. My friend argued that their is for plural use (’The students did their homework’). I struck back with the fact that they is defined in the Oxford American Dictionary as, “[singular] used to refer to a person of unspecified sex : ask someone if they could help.” Usage defines a word and language does evolve (note the addition of ‘ginormous’ to the Merriam-Webster dictionary just this past week).

Multiple grammar and usage guides have accepted this use of the singular use of they. The Cambridge Guide to English Usage says this use of the word avoids sexism, as many choose to say a universal he instead of him or her:

“It avoids gratuitous sexism and gives the statement broadest reference. ‘They/them/their’ are now freely used in agreement with singular indefinite pronouns and determiners, those with universal implications such as any(one), every(one), no(one), as well as each and some(one), whose reference is often more individual.”

Merriam-Webster says, “The use of they, their, them, and themselves as pronouns of indefinite gender and indefinite number is well established in speech and writing, even in literary and formal contexts.” And my point is made.

Side Note >> Kate McCulley, The Grammer Vandal, makes her debut this Sunday (July 15, 2007) in the Boston Globe after cracking down on grammatical errors on Boston’s Newbury Street. In the meantime, take a look at some photos of her findings.

>> For previous posts on grammar, check out the grammar section

There have been a number of thoughtful responses to Michael Moore’s edgy new film SiCKO. Personally, I felt the movie captured the fault in the United States healthcare system with crystal-clear presentation. About 50 million of Americans are uninsured. The state of the country’s private healthcare system is a sad example in comparison to the rest of the Western world who seems to get by much better on a universal plan.

The film displays the evils of the healthcare industry, its focus on sole profit, and Western countries (Canada, UK, France, Cuba) where universal healthcare provides quality medical care and offers doctors quite a comfortable compensation. The numerous reviews and responses trumpt Moore’s work in bringing this issue to our attention, yet claim there are a few fact-picking situations, creating a bit of an imbalanced documentary.

“Moore claims that ERs don’t overcrowd in Canada. Yet a recent government study suggested that only about half of patients are treated in a timely manner. Moore suggests that Britain offers quality medical care; meanwhile, one in eight Britons waits more than a year for surgery. France is held up as the promised land, with free health care, doctor home visits, and even laundry service for new moms. Not a word, however, about the heat wave of 2003 that killed 13,000 elderly because the hospital system was unresponsive.” – David Gratzer, NRO

But Moore’s website posts emails from Canadians stating, “I would like you to know that wait times to see a doctor in Canada aren’t nearly as bad as some media heads would like you to believe.” Even still, SiCKO provides yet another disturbing truth about poor government control of basic rights, handing it off to private healtcare and pharmaceutical companies whose hands are stretched out waiting for our money instead of focusing on proper care.

>> Read one response to SiCKO
>> Sign a petition for a healthcare bill and find out what else you can do
>> View Michael Moore and Dr Sonjay Gupta on Larry King Live [1, 2, 3]

“I bought a Moleskine,” says one blogger who needs a place to jot down his great blogging ideas.

The Moleskine notebook is said to be the legendary notebook of people like Ernest Hemingway and Vincent van Gogh. These things date back a couple centuries. It went away for a while but now is back–bigger than ever.

“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.” – Ernest Hemingway

It has become the cornerstone of lifehackers and those wishing to improve their productivity and ideation. We’ve hacked the Moleskine! We’ve found the best pen for writing in it! The Moleskine has become our ‘external hard drive’!

Its uniqueness has given people a reason to start writing. A standard ruled pocket notebook Moleskine costs about $11, but they come in 9 other styles (sketch, plain, music, story board). Then there are large notebooks, reporter notebooks, city books, art books, and thin cahier notebooks. I have tried to incorporate the Moleskine into my life–jotting down thoughts, ideas, lists, and journal entries–but I haven’t been writing as much as I’d like.

Many Moleskine owners use the book for artistic sketches or travel notes. Others simply document daily life. This is a trend that is worth sticking around. We all need to do a little more writing; a little more thinking.

>> Lifehacks abound around the Moleskine [1, 2, 3]
>> A Moleskine blog

I promise this will be my last grammar post! A while ago I was listening to my Sirius radio in the car and this Christian song by Big Tent Revival came on. I looked at the display and saw this: “Two Sets of Jones’“. I could not believe it!

Jones’ is the possessive form, as in, “that’s the Jones’ house.” If there are more than one Jones, you add an es to the end. So if there are two families named Jones you may say, “here come the Joneses!” If one family was coming toward you, you’d say, “here come the Jones.” — Or, it can be argued that it is correct to say “Joneses” if it’s a single Jones family. Names ending in s can cause confusion over pluralizing rules. Both ways for a single family work:

“Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the child’s approach to life. They’re people who don’t give a hang what the Joneses do.” – Walt Disney

Back to this incorrect song title. I could not believe that a song title would be wrong. I immediately called the station and left a voicemail, explaining that the apostrophe makes Jones possessive and that adding an es creates more than one Jones. I said that grammar is one of our most important dying arts. It’s true.

After this call, I never thought anything would be changed since it’s the official title of a song, but, to my amazement, a couple weeks later I hear the song come on and the displayed title on my satellite radio says: “Two Sets of Joneses“!

Take a look at Google’s music page for this song. You will see the official song title does in fact have Jones’.

The wait is finally over! I waited in line 6.5 hours yesterday at my local AT&T store. They even hired what looked like a well-dressed nightclub bouncer to control the crowd. I was number 10 in line at 11:30am and the bulk of the people arrived after 4:00pm, totalling about 75-80 people by the time 6:00pm rolled around.

Then the unpacking photos…

I’ve always felt that Facebook was a bit more classy than MySpace. Of course, Facebook started as a college-exclusive social network and has since expanded. The BBC reported on a new study about the social divide between Facebook and MySpace users.

“Facebook users tend to be white and come from families who are keen for children to get the most out of school and go on to college.” – BBC News

Danah Boyd, a PhD student from UC Berkeley’s School of Information Sciences conducted the interviews with users.

The fact that Facebook users tend to go to college is no surpruse due to its roots, but MySpace users tend to come from families where parents did not attend college. They also tend to come from immigrant families and are characterized at school as “socially ostracized.”

“Teenage users of both sites have very strong opinions about the social network they do not use”, said Boyd.

>> BostonNOW blogger bluecanary says, “The study also doesn’t address the crossovers who have accounts with both [sites]. Are they caught in iPergatory between the joiners and the freaks? Are they a geek by day and Rico Suave at night? All in all, this study gave me far more questions than answers.”

With just less than two days until the release of the iPhone, Apple is still releasing instructional videos on apple.com and rumors are pouring out of the mill. Here’s some last-minute information one should know:

• Above-average size Apple stores may be getting a shipment of 1,000 phones with a 4:1 ratio of 8GB to 4GB
• No wireless insurance; only Apple’s Warranty
• Reviews are mainly positive: iPhone scratch resistant; breakthrough; keyboard easy to get used to; AT&T EDGE network very slow
• In-home service activation through iTunes
• Rate plans are reasonable

>> View the video about the iPhone Keyboard
>> View the video about activating your iPhone

Well, we know that’s not true. In fact, many schools do not allow students to cite Wikipedia as a source; some are blocking the site completely. Still, 36% of American adults online consult Wikipedia according to a recent Pew Internet report. And the largest group of that are 18- to 29-year-olds.

• More educated people consult Wikipedia
• Much of the site’s traffic comes from Google and other search engines
• Convenience of the site is important to 71% of those seeking science information

Wikipedia’s popularity is thanks to the vast amount of information (about 5.3 million entries) and its number one ranking on top educational/reference sites.

>> Read the full report here

If you remember my post called Grammar Nazis, you’ll remember I mentioned my friend’s obsession with correct grammar. She put a comma sticker on an ad in Boston.

I have read Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss, a best-selling book about punctuation. It’s quite a lot of fun to read and you finally learn how to correctly use a semicolon! The book has made me a lot more aware of grammatical errors present in our daily lives. My Grammar Nazi friend and I went to Six Flags New England and noted three incorrect signs:

Here, you’ll note that it should be “every time“, as “everytime” is not a word.

“Do-It-Yourself” is correct. Not having a dash after ‘it” is wrong.

Who are in the restroom? Mens are in the restroom!

–No. Men are in there, not mens. It should either be “men” and “women” or “men’s” and “women’s”

The sad part is that no one notices this terrible mistake. My friend has taken her grammar Nazism to the next level and created an exclusive blog devoted to the topic: The Grammar Vandal. She states there that I don’t think hyphens should ever be used (Do It Yourself). That’s incorrect actually. I said that in that case, they could either be used or not. Still, “Do it yourself” is a command. “Do-it-yourself” describes.

I’ll admit I don’t know a great deal about wines. I got to Trader Joe’s and pick out what looks good and is on sale. Now that the summer is approaching, enjoying a glass of wine in your backyard on a cool summer evening sounds just perfect.

But which wine? simplehuman has prepared a great guide to choosing a good wine (at a good price), depending on with what they pair well. They even provided a link to some great wine cocktail recipes.

>> Find a recommended wine

Here’s the latest, if you haven’t caught up:

1. The iPhone will be released on June 29 at 6:00pm local time.
2. A 2-year contract may not be required, as Apple removed this fine print from their TV ads.
3. 64% of AT&T stores have said to be keeping unofficial wait lists.
4. Possibly 3 million phones to be ready for launch

Now we just wait.

BusinessWeek’s Peter Burrows reported that Apple plans to ship 3 million iPhones on its June 29 launch. This will be the biggest product launch for the history of Apple.

It’s easy to forget that the iPod wasn’t an immediate hit when it rolled out. Apple had years to ramp up production. Jobs did so expertly, often creating a sense of scarcity by running slightly short of demand. With all the buildup over the iPhone, pumping up demand will be the least of his concerns. – BusinessWeek, 7 June 2007

This gives iPhone buyers a light of hope that they will get one on the launch date.

Apple has released television ads confirming the release date of the iPhone as June 29. Take a look at apple.com/iphone for amazingly awesome ads and QuickTours. Wow, I’m excited.