Business Change

This Isn’t Pretty: Upgrading to Windows 8 is a Bumpy Ride

Posted on May 13, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 0 Comments

Being The Answer Guy, I get asked a lot of questions about not only our 2013-era focus on Integrated Marketing and Influency, but also, more broadly, computers. How DO those things work, anyway?

When Windows 8 was approaching release I did some testing of the new operating system—not so much because I was excited to upgrade but because Microsoft had announced the end of support for Windows XP. I don’t really need help with Windows, but ‘the end of support’ means that there will be no more security upgrades, and in our always-connected (or EVER connected, actually) world that’s just not acceptable. This meant that I needed to choose between replacing many of the computers at Answer Guy Central or upgrading the operating system in them. ... READ MORE of This Isn’t Pretty: Upgrading to Windows 8 is a Bumpy Ride at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (1155 words, 1 image, estimated 4:37 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Influency, Marketing

Media, Goodbye Television, Influency, and Business Change

Posted on May 2, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 1 Comment

Aereo, Hulu, Netflix, and The TV/Media Business

Yesterday, Netflix lost the right to carry about 2,000 movies. Also yesterday, YouTube ‘declared victory’ over television. And this weekend, my fiancée and I are moving her daughter into an apartment of her own, where she has no plans to sign up for cable television.

Wrap you head around all that, and if you come to any conclusion other than ‘the media business is really, really changing’, you need to start over. ... READ MORE of Media, Goodbye Television, Influency, and Business Change at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (530 words, 1 image, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Influency, Media

When Are You Too Old To Be a Programmer?

Posted on April 30, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 0 Comments

Too Old to be a programmer?

When are you too old to be a programmer?

As an old guy, my perspective is skewed. That’s OK; all of our perspectives on all issues are skewed by who we are. But is there an answer that ‘makes sense’?

According to a new study, older people might actually make better programmers than younger ones. This is a seismic shift in the way the topic has long been discussed, and in conflict with something I asked about a few years ago; might older people be too set in their ways to use SmartPhones? ... READ MORE of When Are You Too Old To Be a Programmer? at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (248 words, 1 image, estimated 1:0 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Development

Keeping Google Keep (or using Evernote)

Posted on March 21, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 1 Comment

Google Keep Is No Evernote Replacement—Yet

Google, ever-more focused on being involved in every part of every one of our every moves, has released something new. Ignoring the issue of Google’s trustworthiness, or what happens when your stuff is in ‘The Cloud‘, Google Keep is . . . well, it might be a Keeper.

The idea behind Google Keep is simple. We all have ideas that strike us at all times of the day or night. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a way to get them into our computers, phone, or tablets immediately so we didn’t forget them and they were then available to use wherever we were, from all of our devices? Google Keep is brilliant! Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? ... READ MORE of Keeping Google Keep (or using Evernote) at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (666 words, 1 image, estimated 2:40 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Influency

Influency, Back-Up Plans, and When ‘Everything’ Isn’t Enough

Posted on March 19, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 0 Comments

You REALLY Don't Want a Youtube Penalty

Google penalties are a very bad thing. We’re careful to keep our clients’ Optimization strategies on the up-and-up so Google not only sees them as important and worthy of high search engine optimization rankings, but doesn’t ever see them as bad guys. And we demonstrate our work and philosophies by drinking our own Kool-Aid.

YouTube penalties are even worse.

Yesterday, when we uploaded The Daily Influency Video, we were greeted by a couple of problems. First, yesterday’s video isn’t “monetized”, meaning that there are no advertisements running in or before it. And second, we’ve lost the ability to include links in our videos back to the pages we talk about here at Answer Guy Central: ... READ MORE of Influency, Back-Up Plans, and When ‘Everything’ Isn’t Enough at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (582 words, 2 images, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Content, Influency, Media

Verizon FIOS has a new plan for Media Influency

Posted on March 18, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 1 Comment

Media, Influency, and The Unbundling of Television Channels

We’re always looking for new forms of Influency and new ways to create business change. In fact, so is everyone, including huge ~~telecommunications~~ media companies like Verizon.

Yes, I just called Verizon a media company. That’s a business change for sure, and historically not the way the behemoth is referred to, but it’s apt. Verizon wants to be your one source for media and media delivery and they’re trying something new.

Something huge. Something that will help Verizon tremendously and their customers in a lesser way. In fact it’s possible that it could actually hurt Verizon customers, but this one is going to take some time to play out so … think about this: ... READ MORE of Verizon FIOS has a new plan for Media Influency at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (494 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Influency, Media

How To Get A Wireless Carrier To Lower Your Monthly Charge

Posted on March 8, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 0 Comments

Influency comes in many forms, and with almost everyone having a mobile phone, your wireless telecom carrier sure does occupy a position of influency in your life. You’ll pay what they tell you, or bad things will happen.

Or maybe not.

Over three years ago, Google took a shot at disrupting the wireless telecom business when they introduced the NexusOne. Nothing happened. But time has passed, business has changed, and the idea of buying a phone inexpensively and taking it to another carrier is starting to mature. ... READ MORE of How To Get A Wireless Carrier To Lower Your Monthly Charge at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (458 words, 1 image, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Customer Service, Influency

Media, Influency, Niche Nook Marketing, and Bad Investments

Posted on February 25, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 0 Comments

Comparing Nook to Kindle? Oh, Never Mind; Barnes and Noble Gives Up on Influency

Comparing Nook to Kindle? Stop. Barnes and Noble Has Given Up on Influency

Less than ten months ago, Microsoft paid $800 million for one-sixth of one part of Barnes and Noble. I told you then that it was a ridiculous valuation, but numbers notwithstanding thought that Microsoft was making a good move buying their way into a new market.

Now, even the “hot market” part of the deal is looking bad. ... READ MORE of Media, Influency, Niche Nook Marketing, and Bad Investments at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (404 words, 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Influency, Marketing, Media

Gary Vee Climbs a Vine, Watches Porn, and Markets Influency*

Posted on January 28, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 0 Comments

I don’t talk about retail very much, because it’s a business where very little changes. Influency* ? Sure; see the commercial, buy the goods. Nothing new there.

This morning I’m thinking about Dove soap.Dove, a brand of homegoods-conglomerate Proctor and Gamble’s main competitor, Unilever, is a client of wine-geek-turned-marketing-consultant Gary Vaynerchuk‘s Vaynermedia. And last week Garyvee, as he’s known to his million Twitter followers, advised his client Dove to start playing with a new toy called Vine. Here are the results:

https://twitter.com/Dove/status/294944595731685376 ... READ MORE of Gary Vee Climbs a Vine, Watches Porn, and Markets Influency* at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (544 words, 1 image, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Marketing

Influency Tool? A Refrigerator. Object of Influency: You.

Posted on January 15, 2013 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 3 Comments

Influency and the Evernote-Ready Refrigerator

Last week at the huge consumer trade show CES, Samsung introduced a refrigerator with a touchscreen and Internet access. And as dumb as that sounds, there’s one small tweak that makes it anything but.

The Samsung T9000. Now with Influency* baked right in. ... READ MORE of Influency Tool? A Refrigerator. Object of Influency: You. at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (508 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Influency

When—If Ever—Can You Trust Google?

Posted on December 17, 2012 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 7 Comments

In Google, we trust. A few days ago, though, Google did something that has to call into question whether the search and advertising behemoth is trustworthy. Trust Google? That’s getting harder.

Let me be clear that I’m talking about some very specific stuff here. I still think my decision to start using a Chromebook was a good one, and I feel the same way about my Nexus 7 tablet. And despite Google’s continued tweaking of the way they do search and what it means to your privacy, I’m OK letting the Google pipe stay open all the time in all my devices. ... READ MORE of When—If Ever—Can You Trust Google? at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (621 words, 1 image, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change

Simplify, simplify, simplify . . .

Posted on December 14, 2012 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 3 Comments

Remember the little “peanut men” of clip-art, circa 1995? It was a simpler time. Telephones were telephones, computers were computers, and unless you were The Computer Answer Guy, ne’er did the twain meet.

You want that time back, don’t you?

Yesterday’s post about bandwidth speeds being too difficult to qualify sent me on a trip down memory lane. Pinpointing how fast your downloads are running really can be hard, there are no “Any” Keys, and in general, computers are too hard to use. ... READ MORE of Simplify, simplify, simplify . . . at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (674 words, 1 image, estimated 2:42 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Influency

What’s the REAL Answer to your Computer Question?

Posted on December 13, 2012 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 3 Comments

My favorite part about being The Computer Answer Guy was that I got a chance to help people out with what seemed like simple questions, often had complicated answers, and needed to be addressed in terms that mattered to the people asking them. I saw things like puzzles, and I got paid to solve them!

Of course, that’s what business is, and we all deal with that kind of thing every day. But to me, being The Computer Answer Guy was just plain fun. ... READ MORE of What’s the REAL Answer to your Computer Question? at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (878 words, 1 image, estimated 3:31 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Influency

Nothing is Free—Except Maybe Google (But Not Really)

Posted on December 11, 2012 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 4 Comments

Nothing is Free. Nothing. Is. Free. NOTHING IS EVER FREE.

You knew that, right?

I’ve been sharing my ideas about business change with you for years, and one of the themes that’s recurred over and over is that Google—even if somewhere deep in their bowels they still believe in their old corporate ‘Don’t Be Evil‘ credo—has become and will continue to become more and more evil.

Of course, business is business; ‘evil’ no more belongs in a business lexicon than ‘justice’ belongs in a discussion about law. ... READ MORE of Nothing is Free—Except Maybe Google (But Not Really) at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (489 words, 1 image, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change

Headway Runs WordPress! WordPress Runs Headway! (Uh-oh)

Posted on December 7, 2012 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Influency & Integrated Marketing Strategist • 3 Comments

Ack!, as the character in the middle would say.

Today, I’m taking our old “computers are too hard” refrain in a whole new direction. Ready? Content Management Systems Are Too Hard.

As we get ready to re-brand and re-deploy Answer Guy Central around Influency*, I find myself asking again and again: What’s hard about this stuff? Of course, the accompanying question is then, What’s Easy? ... READ MORE of Headway Runs WordPress! WordPress Runs Headway! (Uh-oh) at Answer Guy Central, your Influency and Integrated Marketing Source By Clicking Here (1304 words, 1 image, estimated 5:13 mins reading time)

Filed Under: Business Change, Content, Design, Development, Media

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Tag Archives: Business Change

This Isn’t Pretty: Upgrading to Windows 8 is a Bumpy Ride

Media, Goodbye Television, Influency, and Business Change

When Are You Too Old To Be a Programmer?

Keeping Google Keep (or using Evernote)

Influency, Back-Up Plans, and When ‘Everything’ Isn’t Enough

Verizon FIOS has a new plan for Media Influency

How To Get A Wireless Carrier To Lower Your Monthly Charge

Media, Influency, Niche Nook Marketing, and Bad Investments

Gary Vee Climbs a Vine, Watches Porn, and Markets Influency*

Influency Tool? A Refrigerator. Object of Influency: You.

When—If Ever—Can You Trust Google?

Simplify, simplify, simplify . . .

What’s the REAL Answer to your Computer Question?

Nothing is Free—Except Maybe Google (But Not Really)

Headway Runs WordPress! WordPress Runs Headway! (Uh-oh)

Connect With Us (+1) 646 827 3800