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Monthly Archives: October 2011

Where Business Change Meets Journalism: EVERYWHERE

Posted on October 31, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 6 Comments

Back in the day, I served a couple of years as President of an international  journalism group. The Computer Press Association was a collection of people who, as the name suggested, wrote about technology and took the tenets of journalism pretty seriously.

I’m not a journalist any longer, but I feel qualified to discuss the subject, as I have here on several occasions. And I can honestly say that at this point I’m having a hard time deciding what journalism is. ... READ MORE of Where Business Change Meets Journalism: EVERYWHERE at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (425 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Search Engine Optimization SEO

Netflix, The Video Game

Posted on October 28, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 2 Comments

As business change continues to swirl around video games and other media properties, Redbox prepares a 20% price increase (albeit one that shouldn’t have a bad impact on or create fallout from their customers), and Netflix keeps making stupid mistakes, you might be wondering where you’re going to get your next movie rental.

There’s a big problem building. ... READ MORE of Netflix, The Video Game at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (574 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Content, Media

USPTO’s New Stupidity Record (Apple 7,657,849 & 8,046,721)

Posted on October 26, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 7 Comments

 

Slide to Unlock

 

Shouldn’t Intellectual Property need to include something intellectual?

Yesterday, The United States Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) set some kind of new record for granting stupid patents. Apple is the proud new owner of not one, but two patents on “Slide to Unlock”. The Slide To Unlock patent numbers are 7,657,849 and 8,046,721, and now Apple, at least in the United States, is the only company allowed to sell touch-screen devices that unlock by touching that screen and moving your finger.

I’m not kidding. ... READ MORE of USPTO’s New Stupidity Record (Apple 7,657,849 & 8,046,721) at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (351 words, 1 image, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change

The Biggest Business Change You Never Heard of: The CMS

Posted on October 25, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 8 Comments

Sometimes, “Good Enough” is good enough. But only sometimes. And when designing your web site, you need to step up to something better than good enough.

This isn’t going where you think it is.

When Answer Guy Central was very young (and in fact was just the home of “The Computer Answer Guy“, this is how our web site looked:

The Computer Answer Guy Website, Straight HTML, 1998 ... READ MORE of The Biggest Business Change You Never Heard of: The CMS at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (876 words, 2 images, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Content, Design, Search Engine Optimization SEO

Video Games: Fertile Ground For Real Business Change

Posted on October 24, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 2 Comments

About a year ago, I told you about a court ruling that (maybe) makes selling software you no longer use illegal. It’s going to take years for that issue to resolve, and when it does you can bet that some attorneys will find a way to claim that certain kinds of “software” aren’t software at all—while others will take the opposite tack.

Let’s assume, just for argument’s sake, that video games are software. ... READ MORE of Video Games: Fertile Ground For Real Business Change at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (466 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change

A Timeline of The Trademark Dispute Over Timeline (Patents)

Posted on October 21, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 2 Comments

Timeline

One of the things we do at Answer Guy Central is Intellectual Property Consulting. I don’t talk about that area of our expertise too often because … well, because it’s not very interesting. Besides, combined with our position in Search Engine Optimization, talking about Intellectual Property is so complicated that once I get started I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop!

Facebook’s Timeline Version, of all things, has given me a chance to talk about Intellectual Property. ... READ MORE of A Timeline of The Trademark Dispute Over Timeline (Patents) at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (647 words, 1 image, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Content

New York City Marshal Linda Swift and Legalized Extortion

Posted on October 20, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 22 Comments

Ever had your car towed away unexpectedly? How about being removed from your car by someone implying themselves to be a law enforcement official? I’d like to introduce you to the New York City Marshal program, and particularly to one City Marshal, Linda Swift.

Let’s start with full disclosure: ... READ MORE of New York City Marshal Linda Swift and Legalized Extortion at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (1143 words, 3 images, estimated 4:34 mins reading time)

  1. I’m fully aware that I’m venting here
  2. That’s OK; I use examples from my personal life to talk business change all the time
  3. While a long description of the actions I suffered this week at the hands of one New York City Marshal might not seem to have any business lessons, I promise, they do
Filed Under: Business Change

Cute Kittens, Cuter Puppies, Facebook, and Privacy

Posted on October 18, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 0 Comments

This story is about “Ruffles”. Ruffles isn’t for sale, but as cute puppies go, he’s right at the top of the heap. I found Ruffles’ picture on Facebook, on the profile of a woman I had never met when I posted Ruffles’ picture on Facebook—but I know her husband.

Ruffles’ daddy is often walking his cute puppy when I’m out with my dog, and he once mentioned what his wife does for a living. It took me under a minute to find her profile on Facebook, and … there was Ruffles, displaying all his cute puppiness. ... READ MORE of Cute Kittens, Cuter Puppies, Facebook, and Privacy at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (413 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Marketing

Here’s Why You Can’t Sell to Small Businesses

Posted on October 17, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 3 Comments

Are you still cold calling? Have you noticed that selling to small business in particular is all but impossible (and of course, selling to large business is even harder)?

Business changes. All the time. I’m fascinated by business change, and our clients know we help them create and get them through the process of business change. Sure, I’m all about that pesky Search Engine Optimization stuff, and I love talking about how SEO works particularly in relation to long tail marketing, but I get really hopped up on the pure academics and how they intersect with reality. ... READ MORE of Here’s Why You Can’t Sell to Small Businesses at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (718 words, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change

Yahoo Begs for Links, Offers Bribes. Is That SEO?

Posted on October 14, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 0 Comments

If there was ever a doubt in your mind about how important SEO Consulting and Search Engine Optimization are, you may now thank the good folks at Yahoo! for defining the issue clearly. SEO matters, and Yahoo! is handing out bribes.

Never mind the irony of poor grammar in that missive (We think you’re writing … is great?  Really?), just think about what it all means. Yahoo, a content farm if ever there was one, is trying to become a bigger content farm, rumored to be trying to merge with another huge content farm (AOL), and simultaneously offering smaller content farms the SEO juice that all content farms crave. ... READ MORE of Yahoo Begs for Links, Offers Bribes. Is That SEO? at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (283 words, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Search Engine Optimization SEO

Google Worries. (Siri on iPhone 4S NOT a Virtual Assistant)

Posted on October 13, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 5 Comments

Any second now, Apple’s iPhone 4S is going to be “real”. October 14 is the official launch date for the latest version of iPhone, and once it’s “out” people will be walking around talking to their phones, giving us all something new to be frustrated by and driving a new wedge between manners and technology.

As I told you when Steve Jobs left us last week, I’m actually considering moving from my nearly-two-year old Droid to an iPhone. And I like Android. A lot. And my issues with Apple are huge. The new iPhone is that good. ... READ MORE of Google Worries. (Siri on iPhone 4S NOT a Virtual Assistant) at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (518 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change

The PressPausePlay Business Model: GIVE IT AWAY. Or Not.

Posted on October 11, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 3 Comments

The guys who made PressPausePlay have a problem: as they make abundantly clear in the film, anyone can make music or movies using inexpensive equipment that they might well already own. But whether that’s a good thing or bad is up in the air.

When I’ve written about the music business and the movie business before, my focus has generally been on the business change that big companies with lots of money are making or trying to stave off. The Redbox/Blockbuster debacle is one example, and Pink Floyd slapping their record label around in court is another. In PressPausePlay we have a discussion of the issue from the other side; anyone can create art and distribute it. Music labels have become all but passé, and movie studios are headed in the same direction. ... READ MORE of The PressPausePlay Business Model: GIVE IT AWAY. Or Not. at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Media

The Real Reason Steve Jobs Was Such a Great Salesman

Posted on October 7, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 3 Comments

Steve Jobs Could Sell Anything

You know why Steve Jobs could sell us anything? Because he didn’t care what we wanted.

OK, so that’s not exactly true. Steve Jobs realized we didn’t know what we wanted, and rather than ask us what appealed to us, he told us what it was.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that Jobs could figure it out, and correctly.

When I was writing my short ode to Steve Jobs yesterday I left out something that felt Jobs-esque enough to talk about but didn’t feel like it belonged in that piece. Once when asked what market research went into the iPad, Mr. Jobs replied: “None. It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want“. ... READ MORE of The Real Reason Steve Jobs Was Such a Great Salesman at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (255 words, 1 image, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Marketing

Thank You, Steve Jobs. RIP

Posted on October 6, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 5 Comments

I’m not one to jump on bandwagons.

But today, I can’t think of anything to write about that isn’t related to Steve Jobs. I know, everyone’s writing about Steve Jobs today. Rest in Peace, Steve. Steve, we’ll never know another like you.

Steve Jobs wasn’t just about business change; Steve Jobs was about changing the world.

I’ve picked on Apple plenty. I don’t like the way they do business (although they’re certainly effective and their products are great, and consistently innovative). I’ve fliply referred to Steve Jobs as “Chairman Steve”, and I think the comparison to the long-time head of the Chinese Communist Party is apt; you did things Steve Jobs’ way, because when Steve Jobs wanted something it … just … happened. ... READ MORE of Thank You, Steve Jobs. RIP at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (208 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change

Facebook Knows What People Talk About, Doesn’t Care

Posted on October 5, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 1 Comment

When I told you about The Facebook Timeline Version and its impact on privacy last week I was pretty laid back about it. Yes, Facebook is setting us all up to disclose even more information about ourselves than we had already been giving away, but at the same time I find Facebook Timeline to be friendly enough to make that feel less creepy than Facebook felt to me before Timeline View came along.

Turns out there’s even more going on there than we knew. ... READ MORE of Facebook Knows What People Talk About, Doesn’t Care at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (301 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change




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