I've been leafletting for three days, getting out the word to Germans and Americans alike. If you're in the city today, here are the details:

Thursday, July 24
Siegesäule (Victory Column), entrance via the Brandenburg Gate ONLY
Entry begins at 4 p.m., speech begins at 7 p.m.
No bags or banners allowed. Expect security checks (and delays) similar to airport security at the entrance.
Large screens with live feed have been set up along Strasse des 17. Juni should crowds prevent listeners from getting close to the stage.

I'll be there registering Americans abroad to vote. If you've never registered or have not yet requested your absentee ballot, do stop by today and we'll get you set up for November. (If you're an American abroad somewhere other than Berlin, please go to the website Vote from Abroad to get your registration in order.)

What i have heard so far has been amazing click the pic to check out their page i fucking love "Wild International"

"Our webcasts have 40-50 viewers in the morning, 20-25 in the afternoon. It’s mostly our competitors or people who have, or think they might have, a stake in what is being said. We attract few viewers simply because these are boring meetings."

"It’s symbolic: the fact that it is there, that it is an option, is important. We also break out pieces of the webcast and put them on blogs when we are dealing with controversial issues,” he explained.

“The whole transparency costs next to nothing. The challenge is time: I would much rather spend all my time blogging than being an editor.”

This has been thought by so many for so long; I am so fucking excited about this i mean, who knows more about what people want then the people themselves. It's about time some thing like this has happened i cant wait to see what comes of this so run on over to The Techcrunch Web Tablet Project, and get in on the action!

UpDate: Big Props to Ryan Gonzalez for this nice little diddy

Cum In My Undies

Here is their site LightningCarCompany.co.uk

It has fewer pages than three years ago, the paper stock is thinner, and the stories are shorter. There is less foreign and national news, less space devoted to science, the arts, features and a range of specialized subjects.

Business coverage is either packaged in an increasingly thin stand-alone section or collapsed into another part of the paper. The crossword puzzle has shrunk, the TV listings and stock tables may have disappeared, but coverage of some local issues has strengthened and investigative reporting remains highly valued.

Steven Smith, editor-in-chief of the Spokesman-Review over de studie:

“Our readers are migrating away from print to digital platforms. We must migrate with them. Failure to change, put plainly, means failure (…) Our success will depend on the commitment of each of us to be fearless in the face of relentless, never-ending change, gritty in the face of doubt and resolute in the service of our communities who continue to rely on our journalism as never before.”

Karmasheetra

Now this is a real party game!

WUT THE FUCK

This has got to be a fucking joke!

Disney and London Underground have very little in common, except perhaps that both are a part of vacation experiences. But they do have two very different but very inventive service offerings that you ought to learn about. And I am going to do a bit of a cop out on this one. Since I have already written about this with Wolff Olins, I will direct you to that work (it is much more in detail, and their are some nice applications that you can take with you as well). It includes a nice discussion with Lee Cockerell and a in-depth look at the Oyster Card. Take a look, you may enjoy it. If not, let me know why.

In the meantime, I have come across a tumblr site that is very well written and quite enjoyable to read. It is called One Person Trend Stories, and it is worth a look. Today's post was:

... One Woman Takes a Stand Against Coffee Shops That Play Really Loud Music

Yesterday it featured a man that refused to buy the iPhone and a few days ago we read of a woman that refused to look at her ex boyfriend's Facebook updates. How can you refuse to read that?

read more | digg story

WoW

• First up is Patricia from Norman (welcome back!), who wanted to know how to treat her luggage if she feared it had been exposed to bedbugs.

This is a serious (if icky!) question, as no one wants a bedbug infestation at home. Bedbugs retreat into crevices, making them extremely difficult to eliminate once they have been introduced. If you have followed the news, you will know that due to a ban on the toxic chemical once used to kill bedbugs, they have begun infesting even 5-star hotels in major cities. Once more, ick!

One of the best resources I found online addressing this came from the University of Minnesota Extension office. Most essential information is the following:

How can I assure that my items are not carrying bed bugs without throwing them away?

Many people may want to discard all luggage and clothing after discovering an infestation, but this is unnecessary. The key is to contain all items suspected of carrying bed bugs in plastic bags until the items can be laundered, washed by hand, heated, or frozen.

Before leaving the infested site, anything that can be laundered should be sorted and placed in plastic bags. Separate the laundry as you would if you were normally laundering items, specifically: light colored clothes from dark items; delicate items from items that can be laundered on wash / dry regular cycles; and finally, dry cleanable items. Separating the clothing permits easy loading of the washing machine and you can avoid escaping bed bugs as you try to sort the laundry at home.

When washing, set the washer and dryer for the hottest setting that the fabric can withstand. If you need to use a dry cleaning service, mention to them that the items may have bed bugs and they can keep the articles in the plastic bags until just before loading into the machines.

Suitcases and other items that cannot be placed into a washing machine should be carefully inspected, and if bed bugs are found (or you are not sure) place them into plastic bags, as well. Suitcases may be hand-washed. If hand-washing any items, use soapy water and make sure that the hottest water possible is used. Test the item to make sure it will not be affected by the hot water. A target temperature of 100°Fto 120°F should be sufficient. Use a scrub brush along the seams and folds.

Items that cannot be washed may be heated or frozen. Currently, research is being conducted to determine the most effective thermal conditions for killing bed bugs, while not damaging materials. However, based on related research, a two-hour core exposure at 120°F (45°C) should be considered a minimum target temperature for heat treatments. For freezing, a minimum of 23°F (-5°C) must be maintained for at least 5 days. As the temperature is decreased, the time of exposure is shortened. For instance, the articles could be “flash frozen,” resulting in a very short time of exposure, but the target temperature should be -15°F (-26°C), the conditions required to instantly freeze the eggs. Keep in mind that most household freezers will have varying temperatures between 30°F and 20°F, and a 2-week freeze time is recommended if you are uncertain of the freezer temperatures.

Remember, if heating or freezing conditions are used, remember that these adverse conditions must reach the core of the articles being treated.

Patricia chose to "treat" her suitcase by placing it in the hot Oklahoma sun for a few hours. You may have to adjust your method based on location and season.

At the time that Patricia wrote me about bedbugs, a friend of mine was dealing with a lice outbreak in the family. Here is an article with links to lice-control resources. If you are not the parent of a school-aged child, you might be surprised to learn that lice are gaining resistance to the chemical most commonly used in shampoo treatments (which you might remember from your own childhood), making nit-picking combs the most reliable method for eliminating eggs and nits. Hopefully you will never deal with a bedbug or lice infestation on vacation, but it never hurts to be prepared for these ugly sides of travel as well.

• Next we have Mark in Orlando who wanted to know the best time to buy his train tickets for a Munich-Paris trip in September.

Any time you're considering travel across Germany, you'll want to brush up on how to do it cheaply by reading the following two posts: Getting Across Germany Cheaply, Part One and Getting Across Germany Cheaply, Part Two. If you're set on the train, the first one's for you.

Mark wrote in his email that online forums suggested it would be cheaper to wait until arriving in Germany to purchase his ticket. This is simply false. It is possible to purchase tickets from any computer in the world up to 90 days before your travels using Deutsche Bahn's online search function, and it pays to buy as close to the 90-day border as possible. The cheapest tickets -- inside of Germany called "Dauer Spezial," across Europe called "Europa Spezial" -- have limited numbers and will be snapped up quickly. Here is a page describing how to book your tickets online (or by phone, if you prefer), along with the delivery options (printing vs. mailing vs. picking up).

In Mark's case, there is a special sale between Munich and Paris called Europa Spezial Frankreich, with tickets available for as little as 39 euros! Unfortunately for him, on the date he wishes to travel, all of the 39-euro tickets have already sold. There are, however, three trains with 59-euro fares and one with a 69-euro fare, so it still pays to book in advance.

What follows is a quick tutorial in searching for scheduled trains and their prices for your trip:
+ Enter your information here: Munich, Paris, date and approximate preferred time. No need to change anything else. Click enter.
+ Because it's an international connection, it will ask you to enter your age, in case you are eligible for a further discount. Put in your age and hit enter.
+ On the next page, it will bring up three trains around the time you entered. If you want to see earlier or later trains as well, click on the Earlier and Later arrows in the "Time" column. You will see it also shows you the standard fare as well as the savings fares. In order to see which prices are actually available, click on "show availability for all." When you find the time/price combo you like and want to book online, select purchase. On the next page, locate the proper fare and select purchase again. You will then be taken to the booking engine, which will make you register before allowing the transaction.

• We close today with Margaret in Italy, who is wondering how to deal with a serious case of homesickness while spending the summer alone abroad.

First stop for anyone feeling homesick (or irritable, sad, or otherwise emotionally unstable abroad) is this article on culture shock. It is important to remember that what you're feeling is absolutely normal and you are by no means alone.

> Contact with home is important, but it only helps to a certain degree -- it can feed the homesickness if you dwell on it too much. That said, we all need somewhere to vent, and that generally means calling your nearest and dearest. If a phone is not available, a Skype account allows you to call people using the internet and it's pretty darn cheap.

> Is your suitcase fully unpacked and stored away somewhere, or have you been living out of it? Put your things on shelves and give yourself a mental cue of permanence.

> Make new habits and rituals. Always buy your bananas from the same guy, always get the same pastry at the same shop. As people begin to recognize you, are friendly, and can anticipate your needs, you have the feeling you belong.

> It might help to reflect on your experiences, to distance yourself somewhat from your feelings. Journaling or blogging and photography are a good way to get a new perspective: think about how you would distill this experience for others and simply document it.

> Try to cherish the opportunity everyday by doing something Italian that you *can't* do at home -- hang out on a piazza, surrounded by ancient buildings, drinking coffee or just listening, watching people parade by with their baby strollers and high heels; try a new gelato flavor (or three); visit a museum and admire the marble sculptures; go to the market and buy fresh ingredients for a bufalo mozzarella and tomato salad dinner; wander town without a map and discover new things; get on the train and take a weekend trip to Rome, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Venice, Bergamo!

> I know the saying is "Feed a fever," but a taste of home can be a quick fix. For Americans, try to:
+ bake something, anything -- banana bread's a good one, your favorite cookies or brownies are another
+ whip up something typically American: hamburger and fries or potato salad, taco salad or fajitas, BBQ chicken

> Laughter and distraction are also good cures. It can't hurt to:
+ see a movie or watch a DVD in English; serve with buttery popcorn
+ watch The Daily Show, The Colbert Report or some other (keyword: ) funny show you like [I have heard but am not condoning that a computer with internet access can find most any programs from abroad using a proxy and Hulu or Surf the Channel]

> If doing things by yourself makes you feel lonely (and thereby homesick), then take someone with you or pick up someone along the way. Read the post Meet People While Traveling for more ideas.

Thanks to these readers for writing in. If you’ve got a question, feel free to shoot me an email via the contact form.

Found Footage: Blending an iPhone 3G

Joe and I worked together at LinuxWorld.com (the site, not the trade show) where I was the editor in chief and he was one of our top column and tech feature writers. In the tech world, the late '90s were all about the disruptive force of Linux, Linux vs. Microsoft, Slashdot, and all other kinds of fun stuff. And Joe was a lightening rod for it all with his observations both in his writings and in our forums.

Joe was a sweetheart, a story teller, and a good writer. And he was an animal lover. When he told me about his miniature horses, I politely listened, not quite believing that this guy had fallen in love with tiny horses. But he had, and I got to hear tales and get photo updates over time.

Condolences to his wife, daughter, family, friends, and animals. His voice, words, and spirit will live on.

The sad thing is that the state of local media in Rockingham County has devolved to weekly calendar listings for car shows and church stews, press releases from the sheriff and two paragraph generic briefs from local government meetings.

I know some people interested in providing the journalism and multimedia content if any of you know someone interested in the business side of ad sales.

If you're a smart reader and are subscribed to your favorite airlines' e-news and deals mailing lists, you likely got the same plea I did, signed by the CEOs of AirTran, Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, and United Airlines and U.S. Airways. What could have brought these competitors together, moving them to address their most loyal customers in a united front? I'll give you a hint -- it's NOT a Passengers' Bill of Rights . . .

It is, of course, OIL PRICES. We all know airlines are feeling the pinch too; difference is, they've found a scapegoat on which to pin their concerns:

Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now. . . .

Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation.

Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

So we are to believe it's not your flabby, outdated business models, your exorbitant executive benefits, your slow sacrifice of everything resembling service, your unmotivated, underpaid, overworked ground staff, crews and pilots, your failure to make capital investments, your mismanagement of resources, your lack of foresight, or your unwillingness to raise prices that has lead to this industry crisis in the face of higher fuel costs? Nor that crumbling flight-control infrastructure, overburdened hubs or even exorbitant airport charges are having a negative influence? Rather that your problems lie, in fact, in traders' offices far away from the tarmac you're jetting from every single day?

I don't buy it. Every airline -- with Southwest and Alaska as the leaders in this field -- actively hedge a healthy percentage of their fuel prices in order to increase profits and stabilize their business with regard to future expenditures. Southwest has used its hedged-price advantage to pass savings on to customers: keeping ticket prices low, not adding or increasing fees, maintaining the modicum of service airline passengers expect. (RyanAir has followed the same model to keep its ticket prices extremely low; when its hedged advantage ran out in April, RyanAir froze executive pay and cut positions in telephone sales to decrease costs.) The hedged reserves of the other major airlines have kept them from going even further into the red. And what is hedging but a form of speculation on the future price of oil?

Neither do they. Paul Krugman (x2) and Joseph Nocera of the NY Times, Jon Birger at Fortune Magazine, James Surowiecki of the New Yorker, Tom Bergin for Reuters, The Economist Magazine, my economist friend Seth. Budget Travel's This Just In outlined the issue before the email had even arrived in my inbox; Thursday evening (Berlin time), Upgrade: Travel Better and Cranky Flier had yet to weigh in (Mark at Upgrade has since given his opinion).

If you want to learn more, read some academic research on fuel hedging and the U.S. airline industry (1, 2) or listen to NPR's recent reports on increasing oil prices and their effect on the airlines (1, 2, 3). But don't send that uninformed chain letter on to your representatives simply because your airline tells you to.

Next time 12 airline CEOs come begging in your e-mailbox, what would YOU like to see in their letter? Leave your ideas in the comments below.

Just a few weeks ago, Reps. John Culberson (R-TX) and Tim Ryan (D-OH) began their great Twitter debate over U.S. energy policy. It seemed a welcome move for many in the online world: members of Congress connecting with citizens, sharing their ideas and debating policy in an open environment.

This article is a bit more positive than the original posting which reported,

Congressmen Learn To Use Twitter, Break New Ground In The Field Of Bipartisan Bickering, Hurting America

On my Twitter account, I am able to follow these two congressmen, Barack Obama, and a surrogate Tweeter for John McCain (I wonder if he knows what he is missing). In fact, I was near Malia Obama's birthday party just this last weekend, but we decided to stay in Yelllowstone rather than trying to crash the Butte, Montana gathering.

It is no wonder that Senator Obama, with his embrace of this and other new media, is not only more appealing to the younger, more tech-savvy audience, but he also has come to represent a more hopeful and forward-facing platform.

Of course, Jason Linkins writes:

Now, we're somewhere at T-minus-very-soon before someone breathlessly writes something to the effect that this is awesome and democratic and a positive trend because it increases access and transparency and gives the average citizen an intimate look into the world of lawmaking. I say: Balderdash!

I hope this is not "breathlessly" written, but this trend toward transparency and approachability works in all spaces in which communities are formed. It is through such accessibility-creating technologies that these groups will be able to gather when distance and other such constraints limit their interactions.

read more | digg story

So how does this work in regards to small business???  Or with business in general.  Well Google has become the ultimate provider in business services.  I am a HUGE fan of their analytics.  The depth of information provided is such a huge asset for anyone who wants, and well should be, tracking how people are driven to their Web site.  This allows you to evaluate and re position your dollars that are being spent on advertising, both in traditional media outlets as well as through on-line methods.  On that front, Google also has a fantastic PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising program that allows you to advertise to your target market on-line through key word searches, base don key words you choose that relate to your business or service.  The other great option with PPC on Google is that it allows you to set your maximum daily spend, your location you want to fit your budget and see your conversion rate and measure able metrics.  Another new favorite of mine that Google offers is their checkout/on line store options.

The on line media network is very influential, more so than most business owners will give them credit for.  Remember the Purple Heart scandal or John Kerry????  The Dan Rather and George W Bush fake documents?  Those stories were broke on line.  Many traditional media journalists search the blogosphere for news, for ideas and for references.  So if you aren't on line how will they find you?  It is free to post your own white paper, press release to your website and most on line forums and communities.  If you get found and are active enough, what is that worth to you?  For a small business who lacks the budget for a PR firm or online distribution company, the blogger tool of google can be your voice to the media world and to everyone else outside your immediate reach.

There are so many options out there in terms of free or low cost marketing tools that it is worth some serious searching.  Through the use of advertising, websites, blogging, twittering, digging, forums and on line business networking groups, the options abound.  Though I spend a significant portion of my time after work on the Internet, I still am finding new ways to market through the web.  I still am trying to get web casts, pod casts and webinars to become more of an option for the small business.  So go check out Google Business Solutions here: http://www.google.com/services/ and see what you can do to increase your online presence.

Interpublic: Social Is Fastest Growing Emerging Medium; Search Is Slowing (Mediapost Story)

"The fastest growing of the emerging media platforms tracked by Magna, he said, is social media, which includes both social networks and applications like ad-supported widgets. Wieser estimated that social media ad spending would rise 37.4% in 2009, thought that is nearly half the 60.8% rate it is expected to grow in 2008."

07/2008 Brian Wieser Presentation on Emerging Media

07/2008 Robert Coen Presentation on Advertising Expenditures

Our work at MotiveQuest lays a foundation for social computing/media strategies as we organize analyze and mine all the conversations about a brand & category to uncover the hidden human motivations and drivers as well as competitive dynamics. This information is critical for planning and execution of successful social media strategies.

Are you listening?

TO'B