This Facebook parody from UCB Central is pretty much on the mark regarding Facebook Privacy Settings.

This facebook thread shows Karma in action. Lesson learned, don’t honk at tourists!

• Danielle said basically a bunch of medical terms that were over most marketers (at least this one’s head).
• Dr. Pradeep showed a really cool video which woke up the crowd.

On a whole, I wasn’t impressed at all with this session. The panel was too scripted and didn’t provide a lot of value.

I really like Jason’s point about planning. His point on “planning” is that its guessing. Strategic planning should be strategic guessing, financial planning should be financial guessing, etc.

Jason also wasn’t fond of the word “entrepreneur” and startups. He thinks that term scares more people away from business than encourage it. For startups, the principles of business doesn’t always work. You need money to be successful!

Having a good point of view is extremely important for a company. Each company should stand for something and have a voice. This helps keep decisions simple.

One point that really drove home was to have a core competency for your business. A good example was the hot dog stand. People aren’t going to come to your stand, they are going to come to your hot dogs!

I also like how Jason talked about selling your by-products. Growing up and working at my Uncle’s meat packing plant, they sold every part of the animal. Every part! For the interactive world, by products could be knowledge (key learnings) or technology frameworks.

I didn’t like what Jason said about new customers vrs old customers. His point was that customers can out grow you, and instead of adding new features, it is easier to let them go. His analogy was that there will always be more freshman than seniors in college. The golden rule in business is that its more profitable to keep existing old customers than soliciting new.

Although I haven’t read the book yet, I am going to the store here at SXSW to pick it up for the flight home. Jason ended with a great quote about apologies. He said that when you spill coffee on someone, you are sincerely sorry. You don’t say “I apologize for any inconvenience that this caused you”! The key to a great company is believing in your apologies.

I got a laugh today when I checked out my LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn shows a “who viewed you also viewed” section. I can see how they would check out several other Ad 2 members who have had a similar career path. These included San Diego iPhone development company Treeline Interactive.

Barack Obama though? Are we underestimating ourself or is LinkedIn’s algorithm a little out of wack?

Justice was my first friend when I interned with the Indians back in 2002. He has provided guidance throughout my whole career. Its fun to work together now in the online world. Check out his stuff at Czar Justice.

Wishing you the best in 2010!

Since I left for my Euro-trip, I haven’t been able to stay current with my Mad Men episodes. I purchased the first two episodes on iTunes and will buy the rest before my flight back to San Diego.

I love the stories about advertising life in the 50/60’s. During my trip to Amsterdam two weeks ago, a friend of mine was smoking Lucky Stripes. That is a brand featured on the show. I’m not a smoker, but I haven’t seen that brand in the US. Is it still around? Anyways, I look forward to catching up on the series. Stay classy Donald Draper!

In this article, we will be discussing a smattering of business applications for: Google Android offered through T-Mobile, Apple iPhone with AT&T, Blackberry Storm from Verizon, and HTC Touch Diamond with Sprint. Innovation has flourished in the software market, leading to many software platforms; today, however, comparisons will focus simply on a phone’s applications, not on the software platform the applications are based upon.

Google made many headlines with their landmark Android software, and their initial foray into the cellular world has many buzzing, simply because an open source device has not truly been done yet in the US market. Google’s open source platform has allowed many user friendly programs to help the business person develop their brand: Locale, a service that allows users to specify where geographically to be silent, loud, vibrate, or any combination, a file sharing service (Mshare), and an Easytranslator for those of us who aren’t language savvy. This just scratches the surface of the many business uses the Google Android has.

Appple’s iPhone made a huge splash in the pond when it debuted, and it still is a landmark phone for its users, and a source of consternation for the competitors. The applications for the iPhone are as broad and well developed as the Android, if not more so, for the iPhone has a decent head start. Some applications for business are: Timewerks, a client tracking and invoicing program, Goal-Tracker, which allows business professionals to create, manage, track, and develop goals, a file beaming service called iBeam, among literally thousands of options. The iPhone has been and continues to be an application dream.

The Blackberry Storm is the first RIM device to display a touch screen, yet their software has been legendary both in the start up phase of cell phone and PDA device merging, and throughout their company’s history. Applications for Storm user are less broad, given the Verizon mantra of proprietary software management, however, adventurous users can download various applications from sites like fandango and be on the cutting edge of business application. The foremost feature of this phone is of course the push email, which allows users to see when an email is sent, delivered, and whenever one is sent to their phone as well. Other business applications include: Documents to Go, which allows users to navigate the different file formats easily, MyCaption, which allows a voice to text resource for emailing, and Beyond411, which allows users to specify any sort of search in a variety of ways. This Blackberry didn’t take the market by storm, but this RIM device has made it’s place secure.

Sprint’s Touch Diamond has business applications, and a broad range of them hail from the windows platform of software, which is what the Diamond boasts. Alongside the platform, the Diamond also can reorient a webpage from wherever you are in your phone. Applications like Contactmanager2.0, Fileshare1, and PocketInformant 8.51 all help you with your business needs all while having simple titles. HTC’s Touch Diamond is a phone mane users can enjoy.

When comparing applications, it is important first to know what your needs are. When that has been decided, and you know what cell phone carriers cover your business area in a comprehensive way, you must decide which phone, and which applications, are right for you. You have been shown many doors; happy app hunting!

Andrea started with a general introduction to search engine optimization. I was scared that this event was going to turn into a Search Engine 101 session! The event description made it sound like this was a more advanced session. Generally, for a good seo presentation, you have to be aware of your audience before hand. It is very hard, if not impossible, to speak effectively to beginner and advanced seo practictioners at the same time.

She did know her stuff and progressed up the SEO hierarchy. She pointed out Google Caffeine and changes that you should look for. I would love to see her in an advanced SEO session.