Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of your time.
- Dream for an Insomniac, 1996
You see, the saying “say it with flowers” is really true. The lover’s dozen you give your special someone merely comprise the canvas on which the two of you will paint your unbridled passion of romance.
But wait, there’s more! By entering this special promo code ABUGGEDLIFE-68140 in your checkout, you are entitled to a 5% discount from February 1 to February 15 2008.
Another great option would be to order from Express Regalo, one of the current advertisers on this site via The Blog Bank. They are offering discounts for stems as well also from February 1 to 15 2008.
Whichever option you decide to go for, you’re guaranteed not to lose. You know why? Because love … love conquers all!
“That Jayvee guy, he’s so dreamy.”
- Mike Villar, Rising Internet Star
In the Philippines, a number of bloggers I know have begun contribution stints for magazines because of their blogs. In the same light, a number of contributing writers for print have also begun writing blogs.
Here are some of the publications I have written for in the past. I currently write for some of these till today:
Mobile Philippines
PC Magazine Philippines
GAME! Magazine
CHALK Magazine (umm long story!)
Rogue Magazine
MANUAL Magazine
EPSON Vision Corporate Magazine
CANON Images Corporate Magazine
Do you also write for print publications? If so, which ones are they? Do they allow you to place your author bi-line with your blog address?
We talked about blogs, blogging, and using blogs as a teaching instrument in lesson plans. According to the teachers, high school students are very familiar with Friendster blogs as their means of self expression. Why not channel this enthusiasm into a learning tool in the classroom? The teachers were very receptive and although the session was short, we’re working on phase two of our school penetration program. We’ll be working with the top journalism students of Lagro National High School and help them use blogs in a number of class projects. The possibilities are numerous. [Blog and Soul]
Thank you to Arpee and Juned for working on this project. Do you want to volunteer your time to talk about blogs to students? Click here.
This is a template I took from the news blog of CNET. The post caught my eye because it talked about an actual TEMPLATE to doing social media campaigns. I’m not sure if Mike Abundo (head curmudgeon) or Steve Rubel (PR guru) would agree with this chart — but hear me out for a bit. The image above is basically a means to illustrate the different channels of our innovative Internet space, with a zero in on social interactions online. You can download the PDF template by clicking on this link.
Click HERE to see how Ford made use of this template to come up with their own social media friendly site.
Enter the social media news release (SMNR), originally conceived by SHIFT Communications, a viable new format to spark and cultivate online conversations about a product. Todd Defren, Shel Holtz, Chris Heuer, and other bloggers have been on the soapbox preaching about SMNRs for almost a year now. The list of companies that have used the SMNR includes Coca-Cola, BEA, SAP, Novell, and Belkin, among many other smaller companies.[Read]
The chart doesn’t tell you HOW to do things. It tells you WHAT is available in the Internet community - blogs, social networking, social bookmarking, viral videos, and the like.
In this episode, Kate and I talk about the Friendster profile angles phenomenon, put on a small demo, and give some tips on how to take better profile shots. For a higher quality download of the show, proceed here.
We’re giving out prizes too! There are two contests with prizes up for grabs. Kate is giving away lady stuff and I’m giving away two Timbuk2 rugged iPod cases. Though the contest is open to everyone, we can only ship prizes within Metro Manila. You can send your photo entries to me at jayveefernandez dot com or leave comments for the “camera-happy” terminology.
I apologize in advance for some editing issues. This is my first attempt to do editing using an extract audio feature to display photos over running sound.
UPDATE: Olive Castillo of RockEd has discussed a similar topic, identifying the guidelines to taking “friendster shots.”
The Samson CO1U Condenser microphone has received legendary reviews from tech community groups and audiophiles alike. I have been exposed to using the microphone ever since Vic Icasas lent me one for recording the Mobile Philippines podcasts late last year with Art Ilano and Adel Gabot.
After months of mental debate on whether I should be getting one, I finally decided to bite the hook, as I also found it useful for singing duets with Boogie and recording acoustic music - apart from its more suitable use as a podcast microphone. For current Samson owners, it would be wise to download the SoftPre application to configure the microphone to suit your needs. The microphone retails for P3,890.00 and is sold in all Audiophile stores. This is the recommended piece of equipment for those who wish to take their audio recording to the next level, without the burden of a hefty budget.
The complete recording set includes the microphone, the stand and the spider mount which retails for a little less than P5,500. You can actually forego the spider mount but I suggest getting the solid base because it only costs P420.00. You can also utilize your Make and Do skills to create your ownpop filter using an old pair of stockings and a shirt hanger.
Without further ado, here is my rendition of Man in the Mirror, originally written by Michael Jackson. This version is arranged by Tuck Andress. Please pardon the mistakes, as I was having a hard time playing this piece on a classical guitar (it’s much easier to play this on a steel string folk guitar as the fret boards are smaller). Or maybe I’m just rusty.
In the communications industry, advertising in magazines is one effective means of getting your message across. Placing a one page advertisment on the right newspaper or magazine can most probably get the message to your target demographic. However, there is always a back door to getting published without having to pay a cent. Welcome to the strategy known as the press release - a means to get your message through without having to pay P100,000.00 for an ad space.
I was part of a panel last week at the “PR Rocks” PRSP Summit together with Ms. Pennie Azarcon-dela Cruz of Sunday Inquirer Magazine and Jones Campos of Globe Corporate PR. We discussed the Malu Fernandez controversy from an editorial perspective, corporate transparency to consumers, and tips on how to pitch to the media. Ms. Pennie, an award winning editor, gave some tips on how to make the editor’s job easier in choosing which press release to place.
Are you a PR or marketing practitioner? Here are some effective ways to get your press released published. You have to bear in mind that dozens of press releases make it to the inbox of newspaper and magazine editors every day. How does the editor pick the really good ones to publish? How do you make your piece of paper stand out from the rest of the stack? Here is a compiled list from Ms. Penny with some of my notes:
For the longest time I’ve held on to the premise that video podcasts should only be done when you have something value-added to show off that can’t be conveyed through a regular audio podcast. On a more practical note, audio podcasts are also much easier to download and can be utilized for a more flexible listening experience while in transit. If your video show is composed of talking head(s), why not just extract the audio and you’ll most likely get the same result?
Lately though, I feel like taking that statement back. I’ve started to become more interested in these “talking heads” shows where you see one, two or more people propped on chairs deep in an avid discussion. Notice the facial expressions of people on video who are very passionate and enthusiastic. Look at the hand gestures and movements they make to and from their seats. Notice the rapport that develops as they face one another.
These small changes in body language contribute to an inflection you do not notice on audio. Which is why I feel it would always be good to do video podcasts with people who are very expressive and restless. Body language can convey other feelings such as sincerity, concern and sadness. Have you been watching Darren Rowse’s weekly Problogger videos? He’s always pleasant - which is on tangent to his online writing personality.
Have you checked out the new offering from Moo lately? I posted about Moo’s awesome printing service several months ago. They now let you print stickers which you can slap onto journals and other things you want to personalize. A set of 90 stickers costs about $10.00.
I tried ordering a new set of Moo Cards yesterday and I got a transaction error after ordering two boxes of cards. Apart from this anomaly, I’ve found Moo cards to make good alternatives to printing biz cards yourself. You avoid all the hassles of buying materials and finding a printer. But best of all, Moo cards gives you an edge to start a conversation with the person you’re giving it too. Here’s a tip: choose a background photo that makes for a good conversation piece.
The only downside to these Moo cards is that your chances of getting picked in a goldfish bowl raffle is reduced to half
Winthrop Yu, former head honcho of PC Magazine Philippines led me to this Forbes piece on how specialist blogs are stealing rich advertising from tech media - and I don’t just mean traditional tech publications, but their online counterparts also. In other words, if I were an advertiser, I’d actually see more value in putting ads in TechCrunch and Engadget than in CNET, PC Magazine and its online PC Mag website.
What?! Why the online counterparts? Because the surfing public is smarter now. They use popup ad blockers to get rid of annoying and unwanted ads that cram content into a funnel, you’d be forced to sprawl a 600 word article into 4 pages just to get more page views.
According to the article, Google Search revolutionized advertising, as searching for content in the form of products and services proved to bring in a sense of “demand” from the consumer and contextually targeting advertising to match content. Hence, Google AdSense is raking in tons of cash from just technology blogs alone.
In the “old model” of print, you’d need a publishing house and a printing press as well as your editorial, sales and marketing staff to run the business. On the web, you barely need an office. You don’t even need a sales team as the consumers themselves target ads for you via contextual search.
OK hold on. Before this post grows into a “new vs traditional media” rant, I kid you not, it isn’t. Let’s talk about traditional web sites. Continue reading →
