I saw a girl at a bus stop who appeared to have a cigarette in her mouth. “Yuck,” I thought. Then, I realized it was a lollipop. I immediately wanted to become her friend.

You see, there is something special about lollipops. As far as your mouth is concerned, you could just as well be eating a normal hard candy. But the stick makes a world’s difference. You are proclaiming to the world, “I am enjoying a candy.” There is no way to be inconspicuous about eating a lollipop. You have committed to this act, and do so with no shame.

And anybody who feels such passion for candy is all right in my book.

Tuesday, May 5th was Gravity Summit’s “Social Media Marketing for Business” at Stanford. I’ve known Rodney Rumford since Joachim and I made Graffiti for Facebook, and he was kind enough to save me a spot.

The focus of the talks was very much aimed towards large businesses; presentations were given by such notable people as Bob Pearson of Dell, Inc. and Charles Miller from DIRECTV. That said, it seemed there were plenty of small business owners attending, and many of the points were generalizable. The main idea is:

Social Media is conversation. When a business or individual understands this, they can do great things.

Bob Pearson pointed out that “the majority of customers don’t call you.” Businesses have largely been detached from consumers, interacting only when the customer pursues a purchase. This no longer should be the case, as businesses now have the tools to actively engage in conversation with their customers and meet them halfway.

Social Media brings conversations into the open, and allows businesses to be aware of what people are saying. They then need to actively engage in these conversations and be involved in the dialogue. In doing so, businesses will learn more about the community and share more about themselves. In short, they must learn to be transparent.

I just ordered Strunk & White’s “The Elements of Style,” 50th anniversary edition. I don’t have the book yet, but the purchase inspired me to pay more attention to writing. Hopefully this can be someplace where I can practice writing, incorporating new ideas and polishing my prose. No high hopes yet, as I don’t often continue such things for long, but we’ll see how it goes :)

Found here first

I was at a restaurant last night and saw a couple having dinner together. At a few points, the guy was texting on his phone and the girl was looking really bored. Boo on him. 

And then once he finished he left his phone sitting open on the table. I guess he was expecting replies? Maybe that sort of thing is commonplace now, but I still think it’s rude.  

It's always exciting to see original prototypes of good products. Not to mention the sample conversation going on in there is rather delightful. 

What will you name your child?

An excellent story about the making of Donkey Kong and what it was like to work in an early video game company.

The Documentary Type

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? - Before you write this movie off as one that sounds like it was done by those guys that make stupid teen movies (I almost did), go watch the trailer. It’s done by the guy who made Supersize Me, and chronicles his quest to find Osama Bin Laden. And the trailer plays Gogol Bordello music.

 Planet B-Boy - A documentary on the breakdancing culture. This movie looks awesome.

 Young at Heart - A group of elderly people in New England sing covers of great rock songs. This is a must-see.

Continue reading →

I'm definitely glad they keep iterating until they got to the current version, but that 2nd revision’s pretty neat too.