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October 3, 2007
Woah - Google 411!
Tired of getting those $1-$2 charges on your phone bill every time you call information? Google has just launched a free 411 telephone directory service. Call 1-800-GOOG-411 or, 1-800-4664-411, to check it out. Absolutely brilliant. It really works!
I love the way that Google is using a YouTube video to blast the message out that this new service is available. Talk about doing a product launch in the new Web 2.0 world. Google puts a link to a fun, non-stuffy, non-overworked video on its site. It instantly gets thousands of viewers, and people like me with blogs to repost their video. Contrast this to everything Apple does - exceedingly polished, but very closed. Not so easy to repost an Apple ad, or a Steve Jobs keynote.
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March 30, 2007
BlogHer Business 2007
Last week I was in NYC participating in the first BlogHer Business Conference. Since its inaugural conference in the summer of 2005, BlogHer has been a focal point for women's voices in the blogosphere, both in its conferences and on the BlogHer website, an effort which I am proud to be part of.
As a business woman and a woman with a blog that has evolved into a business, what better place to meet peers and share ideas than at a women's conference devoted to the more professional aspects of blogging. Diva Marketing's Toby Bloomberg and I have been to all the conferences so far, and we shared a moment or two of awe at how far things have come, since July 05.
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August 8, 2006
BlogHer 2006
Arianna Huffington after the closing panel at BlogHer06. Photo by Elise Bauer.
Well, a week has passed since BlogHer06, and I have finally recovered my voice, worn hoarse by two days and 3 nights of almost non-stop interaction with the hundreds of intelligent, interesting, expressive, and opinionated people, mostly women, who made up the conference. Why do I love the BlogHer conference? The reason is similar to the epiphany I had the first time I attended a women-in-business conference at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where I received my MBA. Having worked in the technology field for twenty years, and having attended countless professional conferences, my world, at least in work, has been almost entirely made up of men, and with it men's interests and attitudes about the world. Sitting in the classrooms which are usually occupied mostly by men, it was almost magical to look around the room and see bright, open, intelligent faces of women, women more concerned with contributing to the discussion and connecting with others than sounding smarter than everyone else.
I have four younger brothers, I have worked in technology, and I have trained in martial arts (mostly with men), for most of my adult life. I enjoy the company of men. But sometimes, it's just more fun to hang out with women. We tend to be more supportive of each other, and therefore more willing to take risks, e.g. display more vulnerability, in front of each other.
So this is the appeal of BlogHer for me - relaxing, engaging, and talking about subjects that interest me profoundly, with women. Every other conference geared toward the web, blogging, internet technology, etc. is top-heavy with men. And often the same men too, doing the speaking rounds at all the conferences.
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June 12, 2006
Tina Seelig - What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20
Tina Seelig, Executive Directory for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program
Here is the link to the video of Tina's presentation, starts about 5 minutes into the presentation.
Tina Seelig is the Executive Director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and one of the most truly brilliant and creative people I have ever met. In addition to a PHD from Stanford Medical School in Neurology, she's written many books, educational cards for kids, and is a serial entrepreneur. I recently listened to this talk she gave at Stanford, and then played it again just to take notes. She has great advice for those legions of young women and men starting out their careers, including (my notes in italics):
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March 26, 2004
Microsoft Gets Its Due, Finally
Like so many in the tech industry, except those who actually work for Microsoft, I'm delighted at EEU's recent anti-trust ruling against Microsoft. Microsoft abuses its monopoly in operating systems to limit innovation and competition in software applications. The NY Times quoted Steven Balmer saying, "We believe that every company should have the ability to improve its products to meet the needs of consumers." True, but not if that "product improvement" is a a bundling strategy that stacks the deck against all other software providers.
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October 20, 2003
Lawrence Lessig - Free Culture
Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Stanford Law School, and chair of the Creative Commons Project, speaks out about how our copywrite and intellectual property laws are stifling creativity and innovation. His flash presentation can be found at http://www.eff.org/IP/freeculture/free.html. In this presentation, professor Lessig describes how the length of term for copyright protection keeps getting extended. He calls this the "Mickey Mouse" Protection Act as every time Disney is about to lose its protection for Mickey, the law gets extended. Lessig discusses how so much of our innovation comes from building on innovations and the creativity of others (Disney himself based his animations on fairy tales in the public domain) and that by restricting our ability to create derivate works, we are squashing our ability to innovate. (The flash presentation itself is a great communications piece. Good use of technology to get a point across.)
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September 30, 2003
Monkeys and Company Policies
Heard on the net:
Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling.
Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. Soon enough,whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up.
Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder. One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.
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April 30, 2003
Dave Neeleman - JetBlue - more iTunes
Heard Dave Neeleman, founder and CEO of Jet Blue Airways give a talk at Stanford's School of Engineering last night. I flew Jet Blue once, to NYC, and was impressed with the experience - all leather seats, spacious leg room, multi-channel TV in every seat, and all ticketless. So I was curious to see the force behind this company. What I didn't anticipate was how soft-spoken and understated he appeared. Here's a man who didn't take stock options when they were offered. Why? Because he already had 20% of the company, and that was enough. He donates his salary to a fund for helping employees who are facing catastrophic events in their lives. He spends at least 3 hours a week on his own airline flights, interviewing every passenger and helping out the crew members serving snacks and cleaning up after the flight. Talk about walking your talk. On top of all that he has nine children. His parting words of advice to the gathered couple hundred aspiring entreprenuers was to ask yourself, "if your company went away tomorrow, would anybody miss it? Would the customers miss your products or services? Would your employees miss working for your company?" Important questions. Good reminder that we all want our lives to have meaning. There's no reason that this fundamental desire should fly out the window with regards to work.
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