Capitalogix

Screen Capture Software Worth Snagging

I'm so glad I found Snagit.  It is one of the un-sung heroes that I use all the time but don't think about because it is so reliable and stable that I forget how good it is.

What Can You Do With Snagit? 

Capture anything you see on the screen. Edit and combine those captures. Add text, arrows, or highlights to make the image better.  Then share them through your favorite applications. Organize and find them again later.

I end-up using it several times a day.  It is my default image editor.  I use it to create or edit the graphics for the blog, presentations and e-mails.  I use it to capture and annotate certain financial transactions ... and to get or give tech support. Bottom-Line: the more you use Snagit, the more ways you'll find to use it. 

Here is a two-minute video that will give you a quick overview of some of the things Snagit can do for you.

Techsmith makes several other cool tools too.  I'm not affiliated with them, other than as a satisfied client.  Just thought it was worth sharing.  Hope it helps you too. 

Click here to go to the product page for Snagit.

Click here to download a trial.

Happy Dance Postcards From Around The World

I found this strangely compelling and fun to watch. 

Been there, want to go there, hadn't even heard of there ... I've flown over 4 million miles, and enjoyed realizing I haven't even scratched the surface, yet.

Why watch a video of a guy doing his happy dance in various places around the world?  See for yourself. 

Here is a link to several of his videos and a link to his website.

Some Mother's Day Thoughts

 To those of you with young children, here is a peek into your future.

After years of hard work and your best efforts (OK, mostly your best efforts) ... I predict that your adorable bundles of joy will someday wish they could send you this card.

So, take a moment to think about your Mom ... and remember that she was very young when she did those things to you ...

... and what you make them mean is up to you.

Everything You Need To Know About Swine Flu

Good news, this picture does not illustrate an effective vaccine technique.

Swine Flu is getting a lot of press. Some responses make fun of the panic.  For example, I saw a link to a test to determine if you have the disease.  Clicking the link takes you to a page that says "Panic!  You Are Infected."

Twitter is a great place to watch public emotion unfold.  Here is a comic that pokes fun at the reaction to Swine Flu.

 

Humor aside, here are some links on the subject if you are interested.

• Here is a link to the CDC's updated tally of human cases.
• Here is a graphic guide to germs and where they most likely are near you.
• Here is Organized Wisdom's Swine Flu page.
• Here is the Swine Flu global news summary page from Reuters.
  
• And, here is a FluTracker Map.
  

Who Cut the Cheese?

Clever; but does it make you want to buy a beer?

Here is the direct link on YouTube.

It Is Only A Problem Until You Know The Solution

Some challenges seem tough to solve ... until you know the solution.

When I was younger, I spent hours twisting and turning a Rubik's Cube.  It seemed random or even impossible until I found the solution. 

Then it got a lot more fun.

Want to solve it yourself?

• Beginner's Solution to the Rubik's Cube.
• Solving Rubik's Cube Using No Memorized Sequences.
• How to Solve the Rubik's Cube in Seven Steps.
• Solving Rubik's Cube for Speed.

Here is the direct link to the video.

Tough Times Call For Hope And Inspiration

The Red Ribbon is a fun video worth watching.  It is a reminder that Hope, Inspiration and Passion are important catalysts to moving forward, regardless of what you do for a living.

I hope you like it.

Here is the direct link on YouTube.

Capitalogix Commentary 3/13/09

It's a puzzle.  Is this yet another bear-market bounce, or the start of something more meaningful? It was just the second gain in 10 weeks; but the 12% rise from 12-year lows was enough to start the debate.

The usually bearish, and quite well-respected, Doug Kass suggested that we might be seeing a "generational low" here.  Personally, I'm skeptical.  But when Doug Kass and Warren Buffet agree, I'm going to try and see what they see.

Also note that tech is leading, and the financials are doing reasonably well, right now, too.  For a sustained rally, that is as it should be.  Nonetheless, the proof will be in the follow-through.

With that in mind, here is a chart of the Banking Index from Bill Luby's VIX and More.  It shows that we've had one-week rallies several times since August.  A bigger move might be an important sign?

Also note that the major US Equity Indices are rallying into the overhead resistance created by the November lows. And that is where we start the week.

There's a joke amongst traders: The Trading Gods allow you to buy the low-tick then sell the high-tick ... once. After that, you're free to do the opposite as often as you want.

Note that there is a kernel of truth in most good humor ... and if you haven't seen Jim Cramer on the Daily Show, it's worth watching.

Here are a Few of the Business Posts Moving the Markets that I Found Interesting This Week:

• Global Stimulus Coordinated Effort Shot Down. (The Daily Beast)
• China’s Leader Says He Is ‘Worried’ Over U.S. Treasuries. (NYTimes)
• Outsmarting Wall Street? How Quants Tried to Model The Physics of Money. (NYTimes)
• AIG Paying $165 Million in Bonuses After Federal Bailout. (NYTimes)

And, Here are a Few More Lighter Ideas and Fun Links:

• What does one TRILLION dollars look like? (PageTutor)
• The Unsaid Reason VCs May Not Back You: Resource Efficiency (Mark Peter Davis)
• Time Management in the Age of Social Media. (BusinessWeek)
• Twitter Has A Big Month, Grows To Over 8 Million U.S. Users (SocialTimes)

The Twitter Tools I Use All The Time

Last week's article predicted that Twitter is likely to be in your future. In this article I'm going to share some guidelines and the best tools I've found to make your Twitter use easier and more productive.

The number of third-party tools available for Twitter is one of the best indications that the service is destined to continue growing in functionality and popularity. I tried many things and settled on a few that work well. Hopefully that list will save you some time.  It is at the bottom of this article.

Twitter 101: The Basics.

Twitter can be anything you want it to be.  If you only want to follow a few friends and keep things very social, that's okay. On the other hand, if you want thousands of followers and the ability to drive traffic to your website, it's still okay.

I've come up with some basic guidelines that work well for me. I'll share some of them with you here.

First, you never have a second chance to make a first impression. So make a good first impression. That means choosing the right user-name and picture to support the image you want.  It also means that you should fill-in your one-line bio in a way that makes people want to find-out more about you.  Try to use the key words that will help people find you using search (or choose to follow you when they look at your profile).

Second, Twitter is not e-mail, and you're never going to read all of it. This was hard for me because I'm used to starting at the beginning and ending at the end. I like that kind of structure. However as the number of people you follow grows ... the stream of information becomes overwhelming. It helped me to think of it as a stream. That meant I didn't have to drink all of it, but it was there for me to dip my cup into anytime I wanted.

Third, Twitter doesn't limit your ability to follow people for the first 2,000 people. For most people that means that Twitter doesn't put any practical limit on them. However, after the first 2,000 followers, Twitter restricts your ability to follow additional users using a simple guideline ... you are limited to a 10% extension of your followers. So if you have 3,000 followers, then Twitter will allow you to follow up to 3,300 people. With very few exceptions, that means that I un-follow someone if they don't follow me back. A lot of people follow that rule. This brings me to the fourth rule.

Fourth, you'll end up with a lot more followers if you follow people back. Tony Robbins and Bill Gates can get by following a dozen people and still have 100,000 people follow them. I suspect that you and I won't be able to do the same thing. At first, I spent a lot of time deciding whether I was going to follow a certain person. Over time, however, I started to set the bar much lower. It simply took too much time to filter. So now, I follow back almost everyone, but I'm very quick to un-follow someone whose messages are too frequent or too distracting. This was simply a more efficient way of dealing with the practical realities of using Twitter.

Fifth, this is social media ... be social. For every two or three posts, have at least one with a link to an interesting article not by you. Also, study a few of the stars, thought leaders, and examples of your target customer. Note that they have different behaviors. Then match and mirror relevant behavior (follower/followee ratio, number of posts with external links, etc.).

Hope that helps.

Here are the tools I use to make working with Twitter easier and more productive.

Browsers:

• TweetDeck: Very nice, full-featured Twitter browser application.  I keep coming back to this.
• Twittelator Pro: Complete iPhone Twitter client. I tried them all, this was the best for me.
• Power Twitter: If you use Firefox, then try this add-on.  It works very well.

Search:

• Twitter Search: See what's happening - right now.
• Twithority: Comprehensive and pretty Twitter search by rank, time, etc.
• Twilert: Receive e-mail updates of tweets containing your brand, name, or any keyword.

Stats:

• TwitterCounter: Great graph showing your Follower growth, top 100 lists, etc.
• TwInfluence: Measures the combined influence of a user and their followers.
• Twitalyzer: reports on relative influence, signal-to-noise ratio, generosity, velocity, & clout
• Twitter Friends: Lots of statistics about your Twitter behavior and contacts.

Looking for Trends:

• ReTweetist: Find the most popular items and people on Twitter.
• ReTweet Radar: Another trend-spotting service with Twitter word cloud.

Find and Manage Followers:

• Mr.Tweet: Very nice service that recommends followers and helps you connect with them.
• SocialToo: Reporting service shows who followed or un-followed you; lets you auto-follow back.
• Twitter Karma: Who do you follow but doesn't follow you back ... and who aren't you following?
• Twollow: Auto-follow people on Twitter based on keyword matching in their posts.

Utilities:

• TwitterFeed: Easy way to send your blog's RSS feed to Twitter and other services.
• TweetBurner: Shorten & track URLs used in you posts (works with TweetDeck & Twitterfeed).
• TwitBacks: Custom Twitter background for your profile.

Finally, Here are some good posts to expand your Twitter horizons:

• Twitter in Plain English - a brief video answering the question Why? (Vimeo)
• Twitter Basics ... and More! (James Dickey)
• Personal Branding with Twitter. Nice list of things to consider. (Sebastien Page)
• Finding the right Brand Voice on Twitter.  Nice list to consider. (Mashable)
• Twitter Graphics for your "Follow-Me" Badge. (Sebastien Page)
• Twitter Background Images for your Profile Page. (Sebastien Page)
• Nice Twitter-related blog. (Twit Tips)

It Would Be Funnier If It Wasn't So Sad

There is a kernel of truth in most good humor.  So last week I posted a clip of Jon Stewart poking fun at CNBC on the Daily Show ... and it was funny.  This week, Jim Cramer went on the Daily Show to defend himself ... and the results are funnier, with even more kernels of truth.  Here are un-edited extended versions of that interview.  This is certainly worth watching.

Part 1 of the Interview.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Part 2 of the Interview.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Part 3 of the Interview.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Click here to see more of the Daily Show's and Colbert's Best Jim Cramer Moments.