Better Living Through Technology

Every so often I get tired of all the gloom and doom that seems to pervade today's headlines. As a change of pace, I like to focus on the enjoyable aspects of my job (yes, there are a few). One of my favorites is researching the unique and creative ways emerging technology is being put to use. Here are three examples.

I.  Yesterday (April 3) marked the end of Wal-Mart’s “Get on the Shelf” campaign. It was a brilliant combination of reality TV and social media.

Zombie repellant might not be something you expect to find on the shelf at Walmart. Or, for that matter, puppy shoes.

Wal-Mart dubbed its contest the "Get on the Shelf" program — an American Idol-style competition for small businesses. Two rounds of online voting will determine three winners, all of which will be sold online, with the grand prize winner gaining a spot in select stores.

For Wal-Mart, it's all about garnering publicity and social-media hits. But for the winner of the contest, it's a chance to go from a virtual unknown to a distinguished product sold with roughly 150,000 others at more than 3,800 Wal-Mart stores nationally.

What a great idea. In addition to the favorable publicity and flood of new Facebook friends, Wal-Mart gets a ton of free market research. And some small business gets an incredible opportunity – that same free publicity, plus what just might be the most expensive per-square foot real estate in the world: Wal-Mart shelf space.

II.  On a smaller scale, there’s a website that connects buyers and sellers of anything – any good or service – as long as it’s priced at five dollars. There is a truly bizarre assortment of things people are willing to do or sell for five dollars. For example:

• I will dance to 2 minutes of any song of your choice in a hot dog costume for $5
• I will sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm in Hebrew and send you the voice file by email for $5
• I will make the sounds of animals in Ukrainian language and send you mp3 file for $5
• I will sing 'Happy Birthday to you' in Welsh, wearing only a Welsh flag thong and woolen hat…
• I will photoshop your face onto the movie poster of your choosing for $5
• I will draw you as an animal for $5
• I will shout anything you want in a banana costume for $5

But it’s not all fun and games. There are some serious business offers out there as well.

• I will improve your website with 10 tips for $5
• I will transcribe 15 minutes of audio for $5
• I will install the latest version of WordPress for you for $5
• I will write product reviews of 800+ words for $5
• I will make you an android app business card for $5
• I will help you write an attention grabbing elevator speech or 30 second introduction for $5

It’s an intriguing mix ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Check it out.

III.  Finally, we have an organization that encourages people to visit small local businesses en masse and spend money at those locations.

Modeled on the flashmob concept, these Cash Mobs use social media in an attempt to positively impact community businesses.

The idea started last fall when Buffalo blogger Chris Smith envisioned using the purchase power of flash mobs to help small businesses. He set a few ground rules: each person should try to spend $20 and pay full price for items. He says this sets cash mobs apart from other social media deals.

“What you get with a Groupon or a Living Social deal is a one-time injection. And it’s not necessarily a profitable injection. You’re having to cut your prices so significantly. With this, because we ask people to spend a little time in the store, we encourage the entrepreneur to spend a little time with the shoppers, talk about the products they have. It builds a relationship that you don’t get with a coupon.”

Will it work long-term? I have no idea, although it’s off to a good start.

Now, nearly 200 cash mobs have cropped up in 35 states and a handful of countries, mostly through word of mouth online.

Another incredible idea. It's a simple concept using simple technology, but it has the potential to help struggling small businesses across the country.

I've challenged my students to take advantage of one or more of these opportunities, and to let me know what happens. I'd love to know if anyone out there tries it, and what the results are.

The most you can lose is $5...

Lt. Clovis Ray Returns Home

A little while ago I posted the story of a 30-year-old man who gave up a successful career, left behind a wife and young son, and joined the Army to serve his country.

Two years after doing so, Lt. Clovis Ray was KIA in Afghanistan.

This weekend Lt. Ray's remains were returned home.

The local paper has a touching slide show of his final trip home (accompanying story here).

Please take a few moments to offer a prayer for Lt. Ray, his family and friends, and all our other service members.

 

An unidentified U.S. Army officer, right, consoles Dean Ray, 5, hiding behind his mother Shannon Ray's leg, after the remains of Army 1st Lt. Clovis T. Ray, Dean's father, arrived at the Kelly Field Flightline. Ray died March 15th in the Kunar province in Afghanistan.

Not Forgotten

Go here and give this gal her props...

Couldn't Have Happened To A More Deserving Guy

H/T to Jammie Wearing Fools for the link.

Department of Redundancy Department: Keith Olbermann Fired Again, Replaced by Eliot Spitzer

Current TV said Friday afternoon that it had terminated the contract of its lead anchor, Keith Olbermann, scarcely a year after he was hired to reboot the fledgling channel in his progressive political image.

The cable channel indicated that he had failed to honor the terms of his five-year, $50 million contract, giving the channel the right to terminate it. Starting Friday night, the former prostitute-frequenting Client Number Nine New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer  will take over Mr. Olbermann’s 8 p.m. time slot.

In a continuing pattern of behavior that reminds one of Olbermann's role model, barack obama, little Keithie blamed his firing on everyone but himself, just as he did in his previous dismissals.

That brings to mind a quote from my favorite philosopher, Homer Simpson:

"How come things that happen to stupid people keep happening to me?"

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2012.03.30

Today's selection is not the style of music I usually listen to. In fact, I never even heard of the performer -- Katy Perry -- until I ran across this article about the left calling for a boycott of the singer.

Katy Perry transforms herself into a U.S. Marine in her latest power-pop single, "Part of Me," which addresses female empowerment and pays particular tribute to service women.

However, at least one media type doesn't support Perry's Marines shout-out.

Prominent feminist Naomi Wolf, author of "The Beauty Myth" and one of many who were arrested amid the Occupy Wall Street protests last year, is urging Americans to boycott the singer, labeling her video "a total piece of propaganda for the Marines."

In response to Ms. Wolf's call for a boycott, I immediately bought the song at iTunes and posted the video here. It does begin with one of those annoying vid-commercials, so use the 15 seconds or so to visit the fridge and snag a cold one.

Then toast the Marines and all the other members of our military who serve so Naomi Wolf and the rest of the Occupy Whatever scum can run off their mouths.



And just to really piss off the left, some of the Marines at Camp Pendleton are featured in the video.

Hoo-Rah!

What I Wish I'd Said

This morning I commented on the Trayvon Martin shooting. In that post I made mention of how ironic it was that the same ethnic group that has suffered so much at the hands of lynch mobs is now in the process of assembling one of their own.

This evening I came across the following post, which says what I was trying to say, but much more succinctly and eloquently.

The Lynch Mob Assembles

I haven’t written about the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida for the simple reason that I was as shocked by his murder as anyone else. I am not a racist no matter what some might say, and as a parent of a teenage boy myself I’m quite sensitive to seeing parents suffer the type of loss that is my own greatest personal fear. But I’ve learned from past experience to never trust initial reports, so I have been waiting for the dust to settle and the truth to be revealed. And waiting. And waiting.

The righteous anger that erupted immediately after Martin’s death has morphed into something else, something much more ugly. It is one thing to demand an investigation into his death, it’s another to call for his killer’s capture “dead or alive” as the Black Panther’s have, or to pass along his address – erroneously it turns out – to your 250,000 followers on Twitter the way Spike Lee has. This is the hysteria of the mob, and it is dangerous yet the politicians who don hoodies in Congress are so caught up in it that they are blind to it.

It is impossible to imagine Martin Luther King jr sending out the addresses of the men who killed James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in 1964 for a very simple reason: He had seen first hand the results of lynch mobs, and he knew their irrationality and power. He had seen innocent men tried, convicted and executed by the mob, and he knew that the greatest antidote for it was the application of slow but inexorable blind justice. Florida 2012 is not Mississippi 1964, so why are so many so desperate to turn the clock back? Convene a grand jury and let the Truth come out, but do not unleash the beast that threatens to devour everyone including those that set it loose among us.

Ever seen a lynch mob? This is how one starts. Someone innocent is going to get hurt, the outcome of most lynchings, and hysteria will be replaced by regret. But by then it will be too late, and those that think they are righteous today will have innocent blood on their hands tomorrow.

Well said, sir, well said.