Dean Newton

Microsoft Video Spoofs Gmail - Pretty Funny

 

http://youtu.be/OrkAuwaoFGg

Apple now has more cash than the U.S. government

According to the latest statement from the U.S. Treasury, the government had an operating cash balance Wednesday of $73.8 billion. That's still a lot of money, but it's less than what Steve Jobs has lying around.

Tech juggernaut Apple had a whopping $76.2 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of June, according to its last earnings report. Unlike the U.S. government, which is scrambling to avoid defaulting on its debt, Apple takes in more money than it spends.

This symbolic feat -- the world's most highly valued tech company surpassing the fiscal strength of the world's most powerful nation -- is just the latest pinnacle for Apple, which has been on an unprecedented roll.

More here: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/07/29/apple.cash.government/index.html?hpt=hp_p1

www.deannewton.com

5 Things to Never Say While Negotiating

Useful points on negotiating - Note especially numbers 3 and 4 ....

1. "Between". The word "between" tends to be tantamount to a concession, and any shrewd negotiator with whom you deal will swiftly zero-in on the cheaper price or the later deadline. In other words, you will find that by saying the word between you will automatically have conceded ground without extracting anything in return.

2. "I think we're close."  A skilled negotiator on the other side may well use this moment as an opportunity to stall, and thus to negotiate further concessions. Unless you actually face extreme time pressure, you shouldn't be the party to point out that the clock is loudly ticking in the background. Create a situation in which your counterpart is as eager to finalize the negotiation (or, better yet: more eager!) than you are.

3. "Why don't you throw out a number?" Some research has indicated that the result of a negotiation is often closer to what the first mover proposed than to the number the other party had in mind; the first number uttered in a negotiation (so long as it is not ridiculous) has the effect of "anchoring the conversation."  [I don't always agree with this one - you should read the larger article to understand the writer's point - but it's definitely applicable in some cases.]

4. "I'm the final decision maker." At the beginning of many negotiations, someone will typically ask, "Who are the key stakeholders on your side, and is everyone needed to make the decision in the room?" You almost always want to establish at the beginning of a negotiation that there is some higher authority with whom you must speak prior to saying yes. In a business owner's case, that mysterious overlord could be a key investor, a partner, or the members of your advisory board. The point is, while you will almost certainly be making the decision yourself, you do not want the opposing negotiators to know that you are the final decision maker, just in case you get cornered as the conversation develops. Particularly in a high-stakes deal, you will almost certainly benefit from taking an extra 24 hours to think through the terms.

5. "Fuck you." The savviest negotiators take nothing personally; they are impervious to criticism and impossible to fluster. And because they seem unmoved by the whole situation and unimpressed with the stakes involved, they have a way of unnerving less-experienced counterparts. [I can't say I always agree with this one either - while you don't have to drop the F-bomb, sometimes a little "Ronald Reagan-like crazy goes a long way.]

Read more at http://www.inc.com/guides/2011/01/five-things-to-never-say-while-negotiating.html

www.deannewton.com

Over a Third of US Adults Carry Smartphones

More than one-third of all U.S. adults have a smartphone, according to a survey published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, one of the clearest snapshots yet of how smartphones are changing the U.S. mobile landscape.

The survey found that 89 percent of all U.S. adults have some kind of cell phone and that 42 percent of those are smartphone owners, which translates into 35 percent of all U.S. adults. Pew broke the survey results down by varying demographic groups, and found that Android devices are the most popular, and that smartphones are more popular among the affluent.

Read more: Pew study: 35% of U.S. adults own a smartphone - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/pew-study-35-us-adults-own-smartphone/2011-07-11#ixzz1SJDZCXiB
Subscribe: http://www.fiercewireless.com/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceWireless-FierceWireless

www.deannewton.com

50 Social Media Stats for Your Next Powerpoint

On her social media and PR blog, Commentz, Sarah Evans and her staff compile a lot of stats. She cherry-picked the most relevant for marketers to share with Ad Age.

1. "Social media accounts for one out of every six minutes spent online in US." (Journalism.co.uk)

2. "Seventy-seven percent report that they use social media to share their love of a show; 65% use it as a platform to help save their favorite shows; and 35% use it to try to introduce new shows to their friends." (TVGuide.com study via TVNewsCheck.com)

3. "Facebook users are overall more trusting than non-internet others. Pew reported, 43% of survey participants were more likely than other internet users to feel that most people can be trusted." (Pew Internet via Social Media Club)

4. "22% of all grandparents in the UK are using social networks, according to Mashable. The study, which collected results from 1,341 grandparents from the UK, showed that 71% of grandparents who use a social network use Facebook, 34% are on Twitter and 9% use the business social network LinkedIn." (Mashable via Social Media Today)

5. "In the first four months after its January 2010 launch in Russia, Facebook use grew by 376%, and today more than 4.5 million people use the site regularly." (comscore.com via Mashable)

6. "The 'Weinergate' scandal caused a significant drop in tweeting politicians. According to VentureBeat, after the scandal 'the number of tweets by Republican members of Congress dropped by 27 percent, while those of Democrats dropped by 29 percent.'" (VentureBeat via Marketing Pilgrim)

7. Instagram "currently has a user base of 4.25 million in only seven months, with ten photos being posted a second." (prsarahevans.com via TechCrunch)

8. "It only takes 20 people to bring an online community to a significant level of activity and connectivity." (Ning via TheNextWeb)

9. "Nearly twice as many men (63%) as women (37%) use LinkedIn." (Pew Internet via prsarahevans.com)

10. "In the last election Google was the largest player -- the Obama campaign directed 45% of its online campaign dollars to the search site." (Advertising Age)

MORE HERE:  http://adage.com/article/adagestat/50-social-media-stats-kickstart-slide-deck/228708/

www.deannewton.com

Interesting stats from social media site provides NING.

Interesting stats from social media site provides NING.

As Internet savvy individuals use social media to change the way they view the world, custom social site provider Ning sits at the epicenter of this shift. Ning has just released a powerful study on social media tools citing that custom designed destination sites that integrate with the best social media tools into a single, seamless community give brands and a companies a huge market advantage to organize, rally, lobby, create or effect change. Ning’s study examines growth and trends in community engagement across the social media ecosystem based on data from nearly 90,000 communities and 65 million unique monthly visitors across the globe.

The Ning Point of View shines a light on the actions of its Ning community creators and participants and also ranks the most social categories and regions online. The report showed that education outranks music and politics to secure the number one spot, while California, New York and Texas rank as the top social states on the web. Other findings from the report include the fact that it only takes 20 people to bring an online community to a significant level of activity and connectivity and that there is a shift from broadcasting status updates to developing dialog, highlighting the importance of two-way conversation in social media.

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/06/20/interview-ning-ceo-discusses-new-findings-in-social-media/

www.deannewton.com

 

Supreme Court Limits BK Ability to Decide Claims

Apologies - I know for some this is as boring as it gets, but if you have ever used Chapter 11 to resolve frivilous claims, or been subject to having a claim resolved through that process, this is a game changer. 

On June 23, 2011, the US Supreme Court issued a narrowly divided decision in Stern v. Marshall, limiting Bankruptcy Court jurisdiction over certain types of claims. The Court found that while the Bankruptcy Court was statutorily authorized to enter final judgment on a tortious interference counterclaim (as a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(C)), it was not constitutionally authorized to do so. The Court held that section 157(b)(2)(C), as broadly written to include all "counterclaims by the estate against persons filing claims against the estate," violates the limitations of Article III of the Constitution.

http://www.lw.com/Resources.aspx?page=FirmPublicationDetail&publication=4231

www.deannewton.com

Shortmail.com - Twitter for Email

A 500 character limit on email?  Miracles do happen.

Email is an unavoidable burden for most, and an undeniable time-suck for all. But now, social startup 410 Labs is trying to fix our email woes with Shortmail.com, a service the Baltimore-based company considers the Twitter of email.  

www.deannewton.com  

http://www.fastcompany.com/1763820/shortmail-twitter-for-email-has-500-character-limit-forces-conciseness

Netflix May Be Overtaking Pay TV In Latin America

In the U.S. and Canada, Netflix has largely positioned itself as a complement to existing pay TV services. With its great Latin American adventure, it may have the opportunity to not just supplement pay TV, but to replace it in that region. The combination of low pay TV adoption, as well as growing broadband penetration, means that Netflix could become the primary subscription video service that many Latin American consumers pay for.

http://gigaom.com/video/netflix-cable-latin-america/

Google+ A Threat to Facebook IPO?

The closest thing Facebook’s ever had to a true rival was MySpace. And there’s no doubt as to who won that fight. News Corp., which bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, just unloaded it to an investor group for only $35 million.

However, there’s a new kid on the social-networking block ready to take a swing at Facebook, and its name is Google Plus.

Prior to the late June emergence of Plus, Google was dead in the social-networking world following the flop of the perplexing Buzz.

Google Plus is another story altogether. I actually don’t get what’s so great about it. To me, it just seems like a simpler, cleaner Facebook with some different organizational tools.

However, it’s new, it’s hot, and people want in. Why do they want in? Probably because Google’s keeping people out.

Google very smartly limited the number of invites into Plus, and that’s gotten people talking and going cuckoo to get invites from friends or strangers. In fact, the first batch of invites was used up within 48 hours, resulting in same kind of scarcity-based viral marketing that helped launch Gmail, and ironically, Facebook.

This excitement means that Google is officially in the social-networking game, and that’s a major, major problem for Facebook.

http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/facebook-ipo-google-plus-facebook-ads/7/12/2011/id/35675