Capitalogix

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.

Social Media 101 - The Name Land-grab

Real Estate is about location, location, location.  That's true on the web as well.  Years ago, I watched people rush to register Internet domains.  Well it's happening again; only this time it is on a wide-range of social media sites.

Before I go further, or before you decide to skip to the next article, here's a piece of advice worth paying attention taking; Register your name, your company name, and any other product or keyword you want to protect on Twitter.

I'll take that even further; register those names on other social media services as well. I'm talking about companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, StumbleUpon, and Digg. Even if you don't believe you'll use the service, you may not want someone else talking to the public using a name that they may associate with you. Here is a link to a service that helps you reserve your name.

I watched my kids use instant messages, texting from their phones, and then Facebook. Slowly I've adopted these technologies. Still, it's hard for me to believe that I'm using Twitter.  If you're not using them yet, you probably will soon.

The Big Three:

LinkedIn is the most corporate of the services. It's an enhanced resume with a clever algorithm to figure out how you can connect to someone else. So, if I wanted to contact Mark Cuban, it would tell me which of my director second level contacts have contacts with him.

Facebook used to be for college students, but has quickly become the most popular social media application. I'm amazed at how many business people use this as their primary form of keeping in touch with people socially.  The Facebook platform is evolving quickly and is very easy to customize by telling it that you want to see you more of this and less of that.

Twitter is getting popular quickly; and it has a lot of business momentum.  It drives traffic and is quickly becoming useful as form of search engine that shows trends and what's happening right now.  I see more third party development and support for Twitter than the other platforms combined.  I didn't "get" Twitter at first; but it is growing on me.

Here is a cartoon comparing the three services.

• On LinkedIn it seems like connections are made based on worthiness. 
• On Facebook connections are based on how you know the other person
  (and it's common to have more Facebook friends been LinkedIn connections).
• On Twitter your follower list is more elastic; people will come and people will go
  (and it's common to have more Twitter followers than Facebook friends). 

So go register some names, and next time I'll share some of the tools I use to make using social media easier and more productive.

First Impressions of the New Kindle.

Frankly, I didn't think I would love it. I was wrong.  Perhaps more important than just "loving it", I like using it.

It's thin, light, and easy-to-read. At first I wasn't sure it felt right ... But, at first, I didn't buy the leather cover. Believe it or not, that made a big difference. I like that it now feels like a "book" in my hands. There is a lot to like, and I got used to it very quickly.

A Mini Feature Review:  Here are the basics.

• Terrific Display: it uses fast and crisp E-Ink technology;
• Huge Capacity: it will hold over 1,500 books;
• Wireless: it has built-in free access to Sprint's data network;
• Great Battery Life: it lasts for more that 4-days worth of reading, even with the wireless on;
• Built-in Keyboard: to annotate text, or to use search capabilities and the Internet;
• Text-to-Speech: surprisingly well done and useful while driving or doing things.

Looking Good Is A Good First Step.  While I was waiting for my Kindle to come, I guess the thing I questioned most was whether I'd actually read on it.  Right out-of-the-box, my first impression was that the Kindle had a great display.  I took it outside, and it still looked terrific, even in the bright sunlight. I did have to adjust the font size for it to feel "right" to me. However, it was easy to figure out what felt natural (and here is a hint for the older readers ... at night, a slightly bigger size is what feels natural to me).

Having Lots Of Things To Read Is Nice Too. Carrying a bookcase full of books in pencil-thin package is pretty cool.

There's over a quarter million books available for the Kindle, and that number is growing rapidly. Many best-sellers are just $9.99, which is much cheaper than the paper versions.  In addition to books, Amazon has made it easy to read web and blog content with the built-in browser and free Sprint data network. Also, you can convert and transfer Microsoft Office and PDF files by e-mailing them to your Kindle's e-mail address.

Cheap Is Good, Free is Better.  To get you used to reading on the Kindle and using Amazon's store to get the content, they've made an impressive amount of books free. The first book I downloaded was a free copy of the Bible. I heard it was a Good Book. That's good business on many levels.

Download Sample Chapters To Make Sure You Like It.  Taking that concept a little further, Amazon also makes it easy to download a few sample chapters of many books to your Kindle before buying. This has already changed how I use Amazon, and it adds a key benefit that the storefront bookstores relied on, browsing several books to find the one that suits me. Now, I can do that anywhere and anytime.

And once the sample is on your Kindle, it's only takes one-click to get the whole thing. It's all very fast, very convenient, and very clever marketing.

Yes, I sense it's the future. And I'm a gadget guy who loves to play with the future early. However, I'm also a gadget guy who has a pretty big gadget graveyard for things that didn't work so well. The Kindle works well. I can tell because I'm using it more, not less.

All-in-all, I'm impressed.  Next time, I will talk about the business implications of the Kindle on Amazon and its customers, competitors, and suppliers.  Till then, here are a few other links worth exploring.

• Amazon's Kindle 2 Page With Pictures and Demos
• RadarFarm's News Links about the Kindle 2
• MobileRead's Wiki Page for the Kindle 2

So Bad, It's Good

Microsoft has a new product that people use to create a new genre of really bad music.  I have to admit that I enjoy it, even though it's like watching a train wreck.

Microsoft just released Songsmith, a product where you sing the words as best you can, and its software supplies computer-matched musical accompaniment. The truth is that it probably has some pretty advanced technology.

It has become trendy to take a vintage rock video, strip out the instruments, and then let Songsmith process the classic song in "unexpected" ways.  So, if you want to hear the Police's song, Roxanne, differently than you had before ... Songsmith is the right tool for that job.

To make things worse (or better) Microsoft's promotional video for Songsmith is so bad that it is painful to watch.  It is so campy I suspect it was done intentionally to generate buzz. You've got to see it to believe it.

Here is the direct link. 

For the record, I'm a fan of Microsoft.  It may not be a popular position to take, but I like and use lots of their software.  They come up with many innovative things.  The ad, above, may not be their best effort. So watch and listen for yourself?

Here is the result of Songsmith processing the classic Police song, Roxanne.

Remember, you get to choose lots of options, like tempo, style, and instruments.  So, someone wanted it to sound like this.  Still, it speaks for itself, doesn't it?  Here is the direct link.

Here's one with a slightly better result ... Oasis' Wonderwall.

Here is the direct link.

Here are a few other links worth checking.  Remember, real music sounds better when this stops.

• Here is a link to a Techcrunch article about Songsmith and its ad.
• Here is a link to a collection of other horrific Songsmith versions of Billy Idol, The Cars, etc.
• Here is a link to more strange re-mixes.
• Here is a link to a spoof of the ad that isn't politically correct, but you may find funny.
• Here is a link to Microsoft's product page for Songsmith.
• And if you still want more, search for "Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith" on YouTube.

Resonant Chamber

This Animusic video is mesmerizing.  The animation is better than what you find in many video games and adds something to the music, which is pretty good in-and-of itself. 

The video was not animated by humans.  Instead, the studio that created this video invented an animation engine that analyzes the notes in a piece of music and the engine's algorithms animate from there.

Fascinating; check-it-out for yourself.

Here is a direct link to the video on YouTube.  Animusic has their own YouTube Channel.

Data Visualization of President Obama's Inauguration Speech

Here are two interactive ways to look at and understand what was said.

Go to Wordle's site to make one yourself.  You can choose colors and layouts to get the look you want.

Also, here is a Word Tree from IBM's Many Eyes site.  I like this type of tool because you can interact with the data.  Type in any word you see in the Word Cloud above.  This will show you every instance of that word, in context.

Also, here is an embedded link to a version you can interact with yourself.  I suggest you start with words frequently used in the speech like: Nation, People, Today, New and Must.  You can also try phrases like "We Will".

The Word Tree tool is interesting and useful. Also, I can see how it will work in a business setting with business plans, proposals, marketing material, etc.  This is very cool; and it is easy to build a word tree on your own data at Many Eyes.  Have Fun. 

Other Links:

• Word Clouds of Inaugurations Compared (Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Lincoln). (Read Write Web)
• Hand-Drawn Mindmap of Obama's Speech. (Agerbeck)
• Photosynth Image of Inauguration site. (Mashable)
• Another Inauguration site panorama with incredible detail. (Gigapan)
• Pictures of Obama's Inauguration from Space; puts things in a different perspective. (GeoEye)

Hope, As Something to Hope For

It doesn't matter if you've read "The Audacity of Hope."  Tuesday, change will come.

I'm pretty sure that President Obama will not have these lines in his Inauguration Speech.

"Most of all, I want to thank the Republicans for making this historic occasion possible. Of course, I must also thank you, President Bush, for years of angering the American people. Without your efforts, none of this would have been possible. You have shown the world that  "change" is not only something we can believe in again, but something we demand."

What Obama won't say on Tuesday ... is being said with cartoons or gadgets like this Obama Inauguration Speech Generator.
Click the image below to make your own.

I found it at Mashable, and enjoyed remembering playing MadLibs as a little kid.

Also, Esquire had an interesting piece that generated two links on this topic.

• Just the facts. Click here to see a time-line showing major event milestones of the last 8 years.
  Worth looking-at.  I forgot some, and wish I forgot others.
• Also, click here for an article that reflects on the past 8-years, and asks how we handled them.