Central Perk

miercuri, 14 decembrie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Cute Japanese School Buses
Google Is Richer Than 28 Poorest Countries Combined GDP [infographic]
Extreme Pogo Stick Skills
The 20 Worst Christmas Album Covers of All Time
Best Protest Signs Of 2011

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 01:54 PM PST

Sending children off to school in the morning might be a little easier if their school buses looked like these! From cute puppy faces to Thomas the Tank Engine, each themed bus is more squeeee! inducing than the next.

Kitty Cat School Bus

Thomas the Tank Engine School Bus

Hello Kitty School Bus

Locomotive School Bus

Puppy School Bus

Totoro Neko Bus

Teddy Bear School Bus

Pikachu School Bus

Airliner School Bus

Blue Whale School Bus

Lion School Bus

Google Is Richer Than 28 Poorest Countries Combined GDP [infographic]

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 01:45 PM PST

How much revenue does Google earn? What are its major sources of revenue? How profitable are its products and services? BusinessMBA.org has come up with an infographic that gives you insight into the numbers behind Google. According to the infographic, Google had $29.3 billion in revenue in 2010. The amount is more than the combined GDP of the 28 poorest countries in the world.

Here are some of the other key highlights:

The bulk of Google's revenue comes from selling ads through AdWords. Over 97% of Google's revenue comes from advertising and only 3% from other sources, including its products and services.

$2,500,000,000 of Google's revenue comes from mobile ads. This figure is expected to grow further in 2011.

What makes Google's massive revenue possible is the fact that the search giant receives over 1 Billion unique visitors per month.

People spend a total of 200 billion minutes per month on its sites.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Source: businessmba

Extreme Pogo Stick Skills

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 10:20 PM PST

This is definitely not your grandmother's pogo sticking. "Pogo GoPro" is a video of extreme pogo stunts shot with GoPro video cameras. The video is by Xpogo, "The Home of Extreme Pogo."

The 20 Worst Christmas Album Covers of All Time

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:42 PM PST

Christmas time is here again, time for laughter, time for gin. I am all for the happy Christmas music blaring out of speakers at every store I go to, but these albums cross the line. Here are some albums that can make Christmas cheer turn into Christmas drear.

Best Protest Signs Of 2011

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:23 PM PST

There's no doubt that 2011 has been the year of protests. So many protests.

Egypt, Libya, Greece, Italy, Spain, Chile and that of course doesn't include the Occupy protests that took the nation by storm.

One way to get your message across at a protest, is to hold up a large sign. It doesn't have to be flashy. It doesn't even have to be written in neat handwriting, all that matters is that it's witty, smart and it doesn't hurt if it's funny.

Buzzfeed compiled a list of the 40 Best Protest Signs of 2011. Here are some of the highlights.

From a pro-Egypt protest in Toronto.

From a Slut Walk protest.

From an Occupy Wall Street protest in Times Square in October.

From Egypt.

From a pro-Libya protest in Kansas City, Missouri.

From a pro-Egypt protest in Toronto.

From an Occupy protest in Zuccotti Park.

From an Occupy protest in Seattle, Washington.

From Cairo, Egypt. The sign says: "Thank you Facebook."

From a protest at the WIsconsin Capitol against Governor Scott Walker.

From a protest at the Wisconsin Capitol in February.

From an Occupy protest in NYC.

From a protest at the Wisconsin Capitol.

From a pro-Libya protest in Washington DC.

From a union protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

From an Occupy protest in NYC.

From a counter-Westboro Baptist Church protest.

From a student protest in Chile. The signs say: "We have the right to be upset. Excellent education for all."

From the Zombie Walk in Lawrence, Kansas.

From Zuccotti Park in NYC.

From a gay pride parade in Texas.

From a pro-Libya rally in Washington DC.

From a protest at the Wisconsin Capitol. (Pedobear in the back)

From an Occupy protest in NYC.

From a Planned Parenthood rally in Austin, Texas.

From an Occupy protest.

From a protest at the Wisconsin Capitol.

From an Occupy protest in NYC.

From a rally at the University of California after the pepper spraying cop incident.

From a protest in Cairo, Egypt.

From a pro-choice rally in New York City.

From Zuccotti Park in NYC.

From a protest in Egypt. The sign says: "Leave already, my arm is hurting."

From an Occupy protest in Dallas, Texas.

From a Slut Walk protest in San Francisco.

From "The Rapture" in May.

From a counter-Westboro Baptist Church protest. In May, hackers took down the WBC website.

From a Global Marijuana Day protest in Edmonton, Canada.

From an Occupy protest in NYC.

From a protest in Egypt.

Seth's Blog : Assorted tips, hope they help

Assorted tips, hope they help

No stranger or unknown company will ever contact you by mail or by phone with an actual method for making money easily or in your spare time. And if the person or company contacting you asserts that they are someone you know, double check before taking action.
Don't have back surgery. See a physiatrist first, then exhaust all other options before wondering if you should have back surgery.
Borrow money to buy things that go up in value, but never to get something that decays over time.
Placebos are underrated by almost everyone.
It's almost never necessary to use a semicolon.
Seek out habits that help you overcome fear or inertia. Destroy those that do the opposite.
Cognitive behavorial therapy is generally considered both the quickest and most effective form of addressing many common psychological problems.
Backup your hard drive.
Get a magnetic key hider, put a copy of your house key in it and hide it really well, unlabeled, two blocks from your house.
A rice cooker will save you time and money and improve your diet, particularly if you come to like brown rice.
Consider not eating wheat for an entire week. The results might surprise you.
Taking your dog for a walk is usually better than whatever alternative use of your time you were considering.

Told you they were assorted.

• Email to a friend •

What happens in 17 days

Good afternoon,

Take a moment to watch this video about a tax policy that's likely to hit your wallet.

Just 17 days remain until the payroll tax cut expires. Unless Congress takes action, taxes go up for 160 million Americans on January 1st.

We asked one of the President’s economic advisors to put together this brief video to explain the payroll tax cut issue in basic terms. Take a look:

If you find the video useful, please share it with others. Basically every working American stands to lose money if Congress doesn't act, and it's important to understand why.

Thanks,

David Plouffe
Senior Advisor to the President

This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com.
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Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House

The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

How to Launch, the Spotify Way

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 12:33 PM PST

Posted by AndrewDumont

It's all about the first impression. Whether you're launching a startup, product or feature, the launch can make or break it. It's the shining moment when all eyes are on you.

Better make the most of it.

There are stories of how some companies got it right, but one that stands out in particular: Spotify.

Looking at the success of Spotify, to the tune of over 2.5 million paying subscribers, there's one thing that sticks out in my mind… the launch. The fact is that many similar services existed long before. Folks like Rhapsody, Rdio and MOG had the coveted first to market advantage. They had it won. Spotify wasn't the first to market, at least in the US. Yet, everyone in the US was anxiously awaiting Spotify. Foaming from the mouth anxious.

Spotify are masters of the launch. Artists, aficionados, ninjas -- pick your favorite flavor. So, how'd they do it? How can you achieve the same launch success? Let's take a look at how they did it.

Private Beta

Exclusivity, it's the value that comes from launching in private beta. Spotify executed the private beta beautifully. The concept is simple; grant invites to a select few, those select few have a limited number of invites to grant to their friends, and so on, and so on. It's a process that inherently brings discussion, need and distribution. Just look at the buzz.

There's some subtle detail there, though. Beta invites are like a spigot, if you turn it on full throttle, the well will dry up quickly. If you open it slightly, the water comes out slower, and more controlled. Spotify only granted users a limited number of invites. It created scarcity, and allowed them to control their growth. Now that the service is scalable and distribution became widespread, they turned it on full force.

Geographic Segmentation

Faceook famously used geographic segmentation. In one of my favorites, The Social Network, Sean Parker uses the term "little big horn" to describe the strategy of planting Facebook at surrounding campuses of the one they were looking to target. Spotify launched in a similar fashion, however unintentional, just on a larger scale.

Being in the states, all we ever heard was that Spotify was coming. Again, again, and again. So we waited. Then, we waited some more. Finally, it arrived and everyone had to have their hands on it. I too couldn't wait to use it, even though I was already happily using Rdio. If they would have just opened the doors in the US without any prior buildup, that outcome would've been much different. Instead, it looked like this.

The "Right" Press and Subtle Hints

You don't need press to be successful, but it sure helps. Especially at launch. But there's a difference between press, and the "right" press. Most folks think that landing a few articles in TechCrunch is all you need to do to get that first wave of users that you can ride to the bank. Wrong.

Press is strategic, and you need to put your message in the hands of the right market. For some (including Spotify) TechCrunch, LifeHacker, and Mashable were part of the right audience. Their readership had those coveted, tech loving early adopters. That wasn't all they did, though. They got their message in front of music lovers through outlets like Rolling Stone, MTV, Spinner, etc. Press means nothing if your target user isn't reading it.

It's important to also note how they released their news. Apple infamously uses subtle hints for every single product they release. They give fanboys (like myself) just enough information to stir the pot, without spilling the beans. It causes a frenzied debate over what the latest and greatest announcement will be. Spotify did the same thing for their expansion into the US, and most recently with their announcement of a "new direction." A taste is all that's needed to make someone start salivating.

Influencers

If the subtle hints and amazing press didn't draw you in, surely the breadth of celebrities boasting about the service did. Tweets from Ashton, Britney Spears, Trent Reznor, Talib Kweli and countless others constantly filled the interwebs. All of the right people in the music space were talking about Spotify. Influencers in a niche can provide the social proof and validity that many early stage companies lack, with the click of the tweet button. Spotify took care of their influencers, and the favor was returned.

Virality and Innovation

How can you make the most out of a massive influx of beta users? You build viral features that encourage sharing and new user acquisition, of course. Luckily for Spotify, music is inherently viral. People enjoy sharing the music they listen to. So, Spotify built features into their service that made it easy to share the music you were listening to. They took it a step further to making it completely thoughtless with the new Facebook integration. But they made sure to encourage action from the other end, as well. Every song that gets shared on Facebook has a nice little play icon next to each song. When a user clicks on it, a Spotify registration action appears.

Fuel for the launch fire.

Not only did Spotify build new user acquisition into their DNA, but they made the platform sticky by continuing to innovate. The launch is only a means to an end. What you do after you get users in the door is a whole 'nother discussion.

Conclusion

Spotify won the launch game. They were strategic, precise and had all of the necessary pieces to the puzzle. They realized that a launch isn't just throwing up a blog post and callin' it good. There are deep, powerful implications that result from launching properly.

It made Spotify, will it make you?

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Watch Live: President Obama Honors Troops at Fort Bragg

Your Daily Snapshot for
Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011

Watch Live: President Obama Honors Troops at Fort Bragg

Today, at 11:55 a.m. EST, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will speak to troops and their families at Fort Bragg and across the nation to thank them for their service and sacrifice during the Iraq War.

Watch live at WhiteHouse.gov/Live starting at 11:55 a.m. EST

From the Photo Archives

President Barack Obama visits with U.S. troops at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, April 7, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Seth's Blog : "WATCH THIS!"

"WATCH THIS!"

This is a common attention-getting technique online. Throw yourself under a bus, attract spectators.

There are countless ways to reveal your embarrassments, your inner demons and your current conflicts. There are a myriad of crazy projects you can undertake, all guaranteed to attract an appreciative crowd, the same people who want to see the crazy guy jump off the bridge or the brawl break out in the parking lot.

Do it well enough and enough often and you will gain attention.

But you'll still be under a bus.

• Email to a friend •

miercuri, 14 decembrie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

Seth's Blog : Assorted tips, hope they help

Assorted tips, hope they help

More Recent Articles

What happens in 17 days

How to Launch, the Spotify Way

How to Launch, the Spotify Way

Private Beta

Geographic Segmentation

The "Right" Press and Subtle Hints

Influencers

Virality and Innovation

Conclusion

Watch Live: President Obama Honors Troops at Fort Bragg

Seth's Blog : "WATCH THIS!"

"WATCH THIS!"

More Recent Articles

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

miercuri, 14 decembrie 2011

More Recent Articles

Private Beta

Geographic Segmentation

The "Right" Press and Subtle Hints

Influencers

Virality and Innovation

Conclusion

More Recent Articles

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

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