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Official Google Blog: Supercharging Android: Google to Acquire Motorola ...

2011-08-15T12:42:00.000-04:00

Official Google Blog: Supercharging Android: Google to Acquire Motorola ...: "Since its launch in November 2007, Android has not only dramatically increased consumer choice but also improved the entire mobile experien..."

Books that shouldn't pass you by....

2011-07-14T13:30:00.000-04:00

We all have our fave's. Here's a few of mine:

Four Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

by: Timothy Ferriss

I learned: How to Unplug!

My greatest take-away: Inspiration. There's never been a better time to be geographically un-tethered.

If you graduated high-school and became a successful business owner, then high-fives all around. However, most people find themselves working for other people. This can be valuable and lead to a happily-ever-after scenario but many of us become tied to a job we don't really love and feel helpless as we wrestle with financial and familial dependence.

This book gave me the inspirational kick I needed. I learned new methods of action. It wasn't just a get rich quick scheme. Maybe a get-rich smart scheme? If nothing else, this book gave me the reinforcement to begin dreaming again. It reminded me to take risks. It outlined better ways of getting work done and better ways of avoiding business mistakes. If you're looking for methods of breaking the status quo, read the Four Hour Work Week.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
by: Jim Collins
I learned: How to achieve excellence!
My greatest take-away: Subtraction. Companies achieve more by stripping away than they do by adding on. It also reinforces the face that people are the most important asset to any company.

This book melds science and business in an engaging yet uncomplicated manner. As Collins lays out the structure of the book, I find myself slipping back into the 'academic research' mindset that I picked up in University. Case in point, Collins lays out the metrics and parameters he used in his quest and explains why his findings are valid.

He unveils the successful business strategies of corporations and their leaders. The beauty of it all is that he explains it to you without sounding like a scientist or a business professor. If you want to learn about some intriguing business strategies and unravel some interesting misconceptions, read Good to Great.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by: David Allen
I learned: How to get organized!
My greatest take-away: Focus and Organization. Mastering your mind by mastering your in-basket.

We've all heard that old saying: "less is more". Some call it Business Process Optimization. It's about efficiency. That's nothing new. That's not the magic part.

The adage of 'less is more' can be difficult to implement. Ever try to explain love or death in a sentence? Could you live happily if you cut your budget in half? 'Less is more' is a science that needs to be executed properly. In other words, if you have trouble with excessive emails, you could erase them all. That would be effective but it's probably not the best way of executing that initiative.

David Allen teaches how you can simplify your life in a smart and practical way. I have already implemented many of the techniques that David teaches and they work! I can't stress enough how much I like finding books that actually do what they say they will. Results matter and you will see results once you read Getting Things Done Fast.

Disruptive Marketing: Thinking the Unthinkable. Attaining the Unattainable

2011-06-03T08:00:00.008-04:00

Society trains us to be non-disruptive, to behave, to blend in with society. Most of us follow this rule because we find comfort in conformity. Corporations follow this very notion to their own demise.

Though conformity can keep you out of trouble, the truth of the matter is conformity can cause your brand to slip under the radar. Great companies reject normality, do things disruptively; these are industry leaders and trend-setters.

Celebrities have been doing this for quite some time: Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Kiss, Michael Jackson, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton, just to name a few.

Disruptive Marketing is simply thinking the unthinkable. Creating ideas and goals to attain the unattainable: the ultimate leader in the industry. Disruptive Marketing involves risk-taking, seeking the opportunity to stand out from the market by creating and selling innovative products, services, and technology or marketing campaigns. For guided steps read Luke William's blog: Develop Ideas that will Disrupt your Industry.

Disruptive marketing has its challenges. The risk is high and the success can be hard to maintain. Competitors are constantly recycling and replicating others’ innovation. As a result, more companies are focusing on customer experience: building reputation and memorable experiences to promote lasting relationships.

The only way to play the game is to get a clipboard out and strategically plan out your next move; to ambush and obliterate your opponent or colonize. It is important to embrace the concept of competition as well as the advantages of cooperation in collaborative marketing.

Disruptive marketing has become the boardroom tool for emerging technology companies and cutting edge products such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Facebook, Twitter, Nike, Disney, Coca Cola. Fast Company's comprehensive list of the most innovative companies of 2011.

How do they do it? If there was a formula, it wouldn’t be disruptive. Nevertheless, here are some ways top companies used disruptive marketing to shake up the industry:

Mars Canada “Random Acts of Chocolate” campaign
Disruptive on a personal level, promoting engagement with Canadians to share their stories of kindness on their website and Facebook page (creative advertising & relationship marketing), donating to charity and getting Canadians involved – making a difference in the community and advocating products through free chocolate giveaways.
(Source: http://goo.gl/M308d)

Pizza Pizza App
Free downloadable app for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad users to order take-out food. A revolutionary take-out ordering method that will change the norm of how you order food. (Source: http://goo.gl/671J9)

Square - Mobile Credit Card Plug-In Reader
Square and Apple teamed up to produce a product that can read credit cards for the iPod Touch, iPhone4, and iPad to allow users to process mobile sales. A revolutionary payment method that will change how people do business; credit card payments without distance restrictions and potential for increased sales. (Source: http://goo.gl/t2b64)

Why is disruptive marketing so important in today's marketplace?
Society is influenced by disruptive changes in technology and media. This, in turn, changes the way we engage with our target markets. Traditional marketing will probably never fade away, but will hopefully be modified to meet the demands and requirements of the evolving world. A mix of traditional marketing and guerrilla marketing are good approaches to meet these demands.

As pioneers revolutionize the industries by retiring old products, inventing new products, competitive pricing, product packaging, and sales tactics, it will be increasingly important to analyze these changes in the market and adapt swiftly. In this way, companies can remain relevant and on the radar.

Recommended Reading

Disrupt - Luke Williams
Beyond Disruption: Changing the Rules in the Marketplace - Jean-Marie Dru
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers - Geoffrey A Moore

The Officepolitik and Why Dilbert Can Be Sad

2011-03-18T00:41:00.007-04:00

Famous for his satirical office comic, Scott Adams mastered the art of making fun of your life. Unless of course, you work 9-5 and love what you do. If you fall into that category, you've basically won the lottery. No, wait...some people who win the lottery still don't love what they do, so you may in fact be doing better than someone who has won the lottery. I just wanted to emphasize how rare it is. For the rest of the world, we live in what I call the 'officepolitik'.

Realpolitik, if you've ever heard of it, refers to "politics based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations" (source)

Officepolitik then, refers to politics based primarily on the pragmatic 'real-world' office culture that defines so many people's lives - whether personal or public, local or global.

So, why do you care? Maybe you don't...but maybe you should. Your work-life shapes everything you do. Even if you're not paying attention. Even if you're not trying. Even if you don't care. It's busy shaping who you are. That's why we often call it 'work-life'. Or worse, the evil sister of work-life known as 'work-life-balance'!

Which leads to my next point, why are Dilbert cartoons so funny? They are funny because they are frighteningly accurate. But that's not really funny - not in the real sense of the word. That's funny, as in "That's funny, I didn't know you could get electrocuted by standing in water and putting your hand in an electrical socket" (Limited Liability Disclaimer: Don't try that at home kids). Dilbert might be funny because you are so defeated in your 'work-life-balance' that all that is left to do is laugh.

Dilbert's hilarious office scenarios shouldn't be quite so accurate. Just the other night I had people in tears (from laughter) because I so accurately described their work-day and work-year scenarios. I was mildly proud but for some reason I had an awkward sense of sadness. There's nothing funny about a company that's wasteful, where management is disassociated with the staff, where employees that fail are constantly promoted and employees that are valuable are never recognized. That shouldn't be one of those "It's funny cuz it's true" reality checks. Unfortunately, this is the case for many companies across the globe.

Let me also clearly state that I'm not some unrealistic hippy who thinks we should just quit our jobs run through flowery fields all day. Life is up and down and so is work. I get it. I more than get it.

To clarify further, I've attached some questions you can ask yourself. These will help identify whether or not your work-life is a joke:

Does your company spend thousands, if not millions, on new projects? Then take years to implement them? Only to have the project loathed and despised by the employees.
Does each employee at your organization think they work harder than everyone else? (Aside from being a mathematical impossibility, it's psychologically significant)
Do you reflect on the good times of days past?
Have you experienced bullying or harassment in the workplace? And worse, have you seen it happen without any recourse?
Do you find solace and comfort when reading Dilbert? That is, instead of having a chuckle at a funny comic, or better yet having a hearty laugh once a day with your 'team'?

If you answered yes to one or more of those questions, it's time for change. I'm not at all critiquing Dilbert. In fact, nothing I'm writing about has anything to do with the comics you read. It's about your life. That's not a laughing matter when the joke's on you.

Illustrator: The basics - What's the difference between the Solid Black Arrow and the Outlined White Arrow?

2011-03-17T16:12:00.014-04:00

Hello everybody. I was thinking of starting a series of tutorials on Illustrator Basics. And now I am!

I hope to keep these tutorials very short, but packed full of helpful stuff that will take you out of your Pinto and put you in a Pantera... not quite a Ferrari just yet. I say that only because I intend for these tutorials to truly be the basics and my hope is that they will target those of you who are just beginning and get you to the next step (potentially Illustrator: "How'd you do that?" The next step).

I should mention that I don't know how many tutorials there will be. For one, I would like to see what kind of following this will have. And two, we could potentially have a lot seeing as there are 'basics' when it comes to all of the different tools and components in Illustrator. My hope is that I can give people a better understanding and build their base of Illustrator knowledge so that they can continue to develop on their skills.

Without further adieu, the first tutorial.

What's the difference between the Solid Black Arrow and the Outlined White Arrow?

The solid arrow is called the 'Selection Tool'. The outlined arrow is called the 'Direct Selection Tool'. The main differences are as follows.

*Definitions: Path: A path is the outline of an object (closed or open). Object: Any closed path (a path that returns to where it began). *

The 'Selection Tool' (solid arrow) allows you to:

Move an object
Resize an object (proportionately or disproportionately)
Rotate an object
Enter into a designated group view
Select multiple objects
Move and/or rotate multiple objects (all manipulations above apply)
Manipulate 'handles' (not efficient, therefore not recommended)

The 'Direct Selection Tool' (outlined arrow) allows you to:

Move an object or path
Select any one or multiple points of an object or path
Manipulate any one or multiple points of an object or path
Manipulate 'handles'

Simply put, the 'Direct Selection' tool is for specific alterations and the 'Selection Tool' is for more bulky work.

An example? Sure.

If you wanted to move your artwork (all of it) "more to the right", you would choose the 'Selection Tool', click and drag to highlight all of your work, then simply click and hold the selected items, move them to where you like, and release.

If you had created a path with the pen tool, and you wanted the points to be closer together, you would chose the 'Direct Selection Tool'. This would allow you to click on the point of your choice and simply move that one singular point in whatever direction you like (independently of the other point).

There are a variety of examples that I could give you on these two tools and they are some of the most frequently used tools on the roster. However, for that very reason, you're going to gain more experience and a better understanding with these tools and their quirks faster than any other by just using them.

Advice: if you don't know, try it, see what happens.

Again, I want to keep these tutorials super simple. But I'd love to hear some feedback on how I could make them better. If there's something specific that your having a problem with, comment and let me know what the issue is... maybe I'll throw it into the next tutorial. Otherwise, I'll do my best to help you out with the best reply I can give.