Photo by sidewalk_story

It took a while, but Spring has finally come to Minnesota. So, squinting in the sunlight and gasping the fresh air pouring through newly opened widows, my thoughts turned to cleaning, de-cluttering and purging all the stuff that has piled up around here. Then I started to think about the state of my social networks (of course). After all, the potential audience exposed to my garage is fairly small compared to my varied online nooks and crannies. It’s also more fun to blog about this than organize my closets.

Perhaps your own social networks could use a bit of tidying up? Continue reading →

Starbucks cups and their jackets have been sporting a new design for the roll-out of Pike Place Roast. Hearkening back to their roots (the first store was in Seattle’s Pike Place Market), they feature a version of the original Starbucks logo. The main figure, often mistaken for a mermaid in the modern logo, is actually a siren. It’s this retro imagery that is stirring up something of a controversy in San Diego of all places.

According to a startribune.com article from 5/16: A Christian group called The Resistance says the new image “has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” Mark Dice, founder of the group, said in a news release. “Need I say more? It’s extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks.”

Seriously? I suppose there’s something of a mystique about the women in question, but she’s no Julia Roberts. Ironically, this version is a bit more modest than the original (think in terms of strategic hair placement). The evolution of the Starbucks logo is quite an interesting story in its own right.

I’m actually more offended at the idea that McDonalds is now serving lattes, mochas and cappicinos! Not surprisingly, early reviews (latte, mocha) are lukewarm.

Does anything get you hot and bothered about coffee?

I spent the day at MinneBar on the University of Minnesota campus. It’s been interesting to watch this annual event grow over the past few years. Solid attendance (400+) and a packed docket of sessions made this (un)conference well worth my time. The new design track of sessions was a hit with me too. It was great to see so many familiar faces, connect with new folks and even meet some Twitterers in the flesh.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Jamie Thingelstad led an aptly named Power WordPress session. He obviously knows his way around WordPress! He shared some incredibly valuable plugins, practices and SEO tips. Easily one of my favorite sessions of the day.
• I got a personal demo of Seesmic, a video conversation platform, from Thomas Knoll. It’s sort of like Twitter with video or video blogging with video comments. Very cool and worth watching in the coming months. I wish him all the best in his move west.
• Looking forward to the evolution of the Refresh TwinCities group. Exciting changes on the horizon…
• The State of the State: Technology in Minnesota panel raised some good issues about encouraging local startups and entrepreneurs. It was barely over when a summary was posted to the Blog Herald by Matt Kraven Craven.
• I was lucky enough to play with a laptop from the One Laptop per Child initiative. The design was quite innovative, very sturdy too. The display is color indoors and switches to monochrome in full sunlight. It even flips back on itself for reading ebooks. I’d love to see this feature on other laptops. It would be something to get these in the hands of children around the world.
• Consolidating all the demos into back-to-back lightning sessions was another welcome addition this year. My friends at Localtone Radio showed off their site and even gave me a shout out for doing the design (Thanks guys!). I was also impressed with demos by Scribblr Scribbls , FanChatter, CodeMorphic.

A big thank you to the organizers and sponsors. I’m really looking forward to next year.

Photo by keela84

It all started a few weeks ago. I had recently given into the hype and begun using Twitter. I quickly became addicted to the micro-blogging platform and a bit of a zealot, trying to convert everyone I met into a user. But this isn’t about that. I’d like to focus on the day I realized how powerful the twitterverse (yes, people call it that) really is.

One evening while watching CNN I tweeted (people call it that too) about Anderson Cooper. Not 24 hours later, Anderson Cooper was following me on Twitter. Now, as of this writing he’s following 1,498 others. But what stuck with me was that he had been listening. He took the time to set up an alert. He gets it. Not many other journalists do right now. After reading his tweets, I discovered that he’s actually very funny too.

Lightning struck again this week when I tweeted a link to a thoughtful piece about Zappos that Tim Brunelle had written for talentzoo.com. The article mentioned Zappos and their innovative use of Twitter for customer service. Less than 5 hours later Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh was following me. Again, he’s listening. He’s also a voracious Twitterer. He gets it too.

Slowly the potential power of this platform is sinking into mainstream America. Comcast, of all companies, now has a dedicated staffer monitoring Twitter and blogs for complaints. They’re beginning to get it.

How about your company? Are they listening? Do they get it?