Aug 26

• Just your everyday Joe's using the myTouch. The new T-mobile commercial for TV, Theaters, online, and print kicks off tomorrow. I will be right along with them - I have one myself. Very excited about the new extended battery life (5h talk time or so).

Painted ladies in the Hayes

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Aug 25

• Today is a proud day for me. I took and passed the CA license exam. I

went about a month ago but didn't have my paperwork quite right, so today I
returned to settle up. The CA dmv is pretty much the same as the nys dmv. It
is scary to think what the world would be like if everything was so
inefficiently run as the dmv. Probably a bit like the old Russian bread
lines.

• More news online ads boost offline sales. We already had a big hunch this was the case. Evidence is mounting that online is as effective as TV, posted on Google's blog. I tend to agree, especially for brand awareness campaigns. This is terrific news for online advertising who've figured out how to make campaigns effective, and drive their sales in the online and offline world.

Aug 24

• Are you neutral or subjective when you blog? A new development called sentiment analysis is taking place on the internet. What's interesting about this is that web mining is taking a new form - feelings, vs facts to diagnose a web page, and better understand intentions and mass stream of consciousness. The computer science plot thickens!

San Francisco scenic shot guest starring - fog

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Aug 21

• A few days ago, MSNBC.com purchased local news site everyblock - which has a interesting site for SF. It reminds me of another site...lets see? Ah yes, a very Google Analytics modeled layout for police calls, crime blotters, threats, you name it. Great way to learn what you probably didn't know about your hood.
• comScore/dunnhumby study shows CPG online advertising works to build retail sales on par with TV. "Revealing that the Internet can be as effective an advertising medium as television advertising. Over the course of twelve weeks, online ad campaigns with an average reach of 40 percent of their target segment successfully grew retail sales of the advertised brands by an average of 9 percent. This compares to an average lift of 8 percent for TV advertising as measured by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) and published in their seminal research paper “How Advertising Works.”
• TGIF people! Have a great weekend.

Aug 17

• Got Gmail? It's officially the 3rd largest email provider after AOL and Hotmail. I have used Yahoo and MSN in the past and present myself. I prefer gmail myself, then hotmail then yahoo. Yahoo is crazy ad-centric, where my reading space is compromised unless I want to pay for 'premium' email services. Er no thanks. I may as well just go back to rowgirl@mail.com, where I'd get a new ad page inbetween clicking on an email link and then reading it. Maximum distruption and intrusiveness.
• Yesterday was another great day to sail on the bay. Some good wind and fog-less closer to the Marin and Angel Island side. On the way back home from Sausalito we stopped at Cavallo Point just under the Golden Gate Bridge on the Sausalito side. I have never ventured over there, but there is some great sights and attractions. It even looks like the Presidio, only a bit newer. Next time you're in Sausalito, drive by and have a drink at the hotel and gaze out to the bay to see the tankers, birds, and outriggers pass by.

Aug 11

• 7 Great Adserver Solutions - my favorite is up there. A good high level comparision of today's top options for serving ads on your web site. A few are free (Google Ad Manager, Open X)
• I haven't seen this myself, but I am going to start looking. Goats are one of my favorite animals. Way better than pushing a lawn mower, my least favorite chore (another apt living perk).

Google Hires Goats To Mow Its Lawn (GOOG)

• Flash gets tricky with cookies. Great Wired article on how there's new technology out there that 'bends' around existing privacy policies. It's gettig a lot of attention now that Google and behavioral targeting is getting more attention these days.

Posted using ShareThis

Aug 10

• As rumored, Publicis buys Razorfish, the advertising arm of Atlas, from Microsoft for $530M in auctioned treasury shares. This is a good move and a value buy. It also makes the French agency a much larger player in the digital advertising space. Publicis can expand its digital advertising and generate up to 25% of its sales in this area. Razorfish can once again be an agency that supports all types of digital clients.
• This weekend was a great training weekend for MS Waves to Wine. I am keeping a riding blog/log on my personal fundraising page. Lots of hills yesterday. I really enjoyed the ride. We took lots of good breaks to combat the 1400ft climb!
• Looks like Gietner is also feeling the housing slump. The trickle-up effect spares no one, as John Stewart shows us on the video clip.

Aug 6

• How much is Google's brand worth? $100 billion according to Millard Brown. MSFT is #2 followed by Coca-Cola. Some other usual suspects at top brand value follow (Apple, IBM, Blackberry). Who's missing? I didn't see Tide or P&G up there, but then again maybe its becuase they keep changing their brand (diluting it in my opinion)
• I am enjoying watching The Ascent of Money - a 1-hour episode, 4 hour series shown on PBS. I'm on episode 3. This is a great tale of how money historically has come and gone, and what countries, economies, and industries have learned along the way. They are beautifully made and produced, and very insightful. Watch them for yourself on pbs.org.

• I swam for 45 mintues this morning. Very tiring. Probably because I'm learning a new technique that Paul was kind enough to show me. It feels very different, and I can tell I'm using my upper body lots more than my old stroke (thanks to camp swimming lessons). Let's hope it pays off, or at least I can do it for 1.2k for my upcoming triathlon in September.

Aug 5

• Kevin Ryan chats briefly about stealth mode in starting a company on Silicon Alley Insider
• The new Android myTouch launched today. I'm seriously thinking my Blackberry Pearl 8100 has had a good run, but its time to join the mobile 3G brigade. I'm already a big T-mobile fan so its a just a matter of taking the plunge and coughing up $199.99

• I found a great new online hiking resource for bay area hikes. It looks like it's already a book. I hope to use it this Sunday in Marin county. I've thought about this hike for a while at theAudubon Preserve. Maybe its time to go.'

• Yesterday I had one of my favorite deserts. This cake is so good. It is fairly dense, if done right, so eat sparingly. Although that can be difficult at times (like yesterday).

Aug 4

• First comic I've seen on Microhoo. Enjoying it!
• Depeche Mode is coming to my neighborhood (Mountain View) next Wednesday. It could potentially be my 2nd Depeche Mode concert I've been to, and my 2nd seeing them alone! (a bit of a die hard)

Aug 3

• Happy August - my favorite month (due to birthday at the end)
• comScore backs up why the click doesn't matter in online advertising. I am a big fan of comScore, and this is a great article that details exactly what should be the focus instead: sales impact and post-buy analysis. The emphasis echoes what I communicate every day in my work - display ads help search succeed and vice versa. Marketers are waking up to this, but there's still plenty of CMOs and the like who need futher convincing, at big Fortune 500 companie
• Eric resigns from is seat from the Apple board today. Interesting commentary about why, which is in principal how Apple and Google differ on vision. Oh yes and the FCC. All this 2 days before the new Android appears in stores. It's for the best.