First Word

Ever see someone walk across a busy intersection absorbed in texting on his/her Smart Phone? How common is that scene (and how dangerous)? When I lived in LA the scene of a guy or girl walking obliviously down a busy street texting or doing something else on his/her Smart Phone was as common as a McDonald's on every other corner. People go to restaurants to enjoy a lovely meal and instead of conversing with each other each one's head is down and each one is absorbed in something on the Smart Phone. Bored waiting for something? Just watch a movie on your Smart Phone. Don't feel like talking to your companion, play on your Smart Phone. Forget magazines in the waiting room. Download an article. Some of the conveniences are really great. Who doesn't want to watch a movie while waiting for something. The issue at hand is the disconnect and alienation. When I was married the TV was on 24 x 7. When I got divorced I swore to put an end to the major disconnect the flat screen ...

Now with social media taking over the networking landscape, here are three things NOT to do on social media: Logos as your face on a professional page and not a fan page – never place a logo in place of a face. People don’t interact with brand names and swirly letters. They like to know they are talking to (e-gads) an actual warm-blooded human being. Fan pages are different. Liking a logo works in this case. I can think of a handful of “logos” I interact with and wonder, “Is this a guy or girl?” Mug shots are scary – don’t use your iPhone to snap what appears to be nothing more than another Lindsay Lohan mug shot. If you’re genuinely using your social media to market and network, try a nice and professional head shot that is appealing. I’m not saying you need to look like a super model or GQ guy just keep it nice and “in focus.” What ya got in your hands there Fred ? What are you doing in your profile picture or background shot? Drinking? Table dancing? Wearing a biki...

Blogging makes a great tool to market your business. Many free and paid services are available. I'm going to weigh in on my opinion based on observation and use of the tools. Blogger -- I obviously prefer Blogger. I use it for this blog, and I have been satisfied with its capabilities for what I do. And that is key to the process. What are you going to do with it? Now video blogging has become a big deal, and many marketers have promoted its use as popular. I see many sites now use video blogging, too. For what I do, video blogging isn't key. So my use of the video feature isn't as critical. Most sites now offer that feature (more or less in capability). Blogger allows you to insert a video. The problem I found is that my iPhone capabilities make it nearly impossible to send a video to my computer (too much bandwidth is required). So if you do intend to video blog, it's more dependent on whether or not you have the video-making capabilities. Additionally, some blogs ...

"New Mexico Sky" by Scott D. Roberts, author and now talented photographer! I want to print this photo for my wall. Gorgeous!!  My dear friend and fellow author Scott D. Roberts , who recently penned the novel Vengeance is Now , was out on the road for his book tour and sent me this picture of the New Mexico sky (isn't it gorgeous). Can you believe that was taken on an iPhone in HD? Amazing what technology does on a Smart Phone. Well, the ghost in the machine moment ... I was at my desk last night and suddenly this photo gets sent (on its own) from my phone to my email. How utterly bizarre is that? I love this photo! I didn't send if from my iPhone. It parked itself in my email in-box all by itself. I sometimes wonder what the fairies are up to LOL. My good friend and operations manager Bo Bradley and I often marvel over the fairies. I'm not entirely sure what is the message behind sending me the photo, but it's gorgeous and I'm sharing with all of you...

Okay, I have to start off with an astute observation made by wonderful boyfriend Kirk Donnelly who whispers all sorts of sage wisdom in my ear. One day we were bantering back and forth in text and the discussion took a serious turn.  Suddenly, my phone rings and Kirk says, "Why the heck are we having a serious discussion in text?"  I started laughing. "I don't know sweetheart, why are we?"  "Text is no place to have a serious discussion, sweetie." LOL ...  And words to live by ... TEXTING is no place to have a serious discussion whether personally or professionally .  We are a strange techno society indeed. What is up with people using text to discuss important matters? I had a relationship where the person never picked up the phone and all the heavy stuff went down in text. First, text and email are cold media -- no voice, no inflection, no tone, and no idea of the true intent or emotions behind it. The only upside, you ca...

I finally after resisting it had to break down and text people. It's an interesting floodgate. Once I started doing it, all of my clients and friends must have picked up on the text vibe ... she's texting now let's text her . So, now everyone is texting. Texting has even taken on a form of courtship (among other things). I recently got a surprise text from a male associate out of nowhere. I was surprised to even hear from him. And the texts weren't about work. He was asking me how I was doing and that sort of thing. Pretty soon the texts got a little "flirty" (not really a word) and it dawned on me, this is the new form of the "phone call." Men don't call women anymore. They text them. Think about it. It's almost safer, right? You don't have to face rejection with an actual voice. I also noticed texts are a great way to avoid real conversations, period. Need to talk about something difficult, let's text and that really limits the conv...

We now live in an e-mail and text-crazed society. You can't walk into a room these days without noticing at least one person bent over his/her Smart Phone with his/her fingers going crazy. What totally blows my mind is that most of that texting is completely unimportant dithering. I once worked with someone who couldn't stop texting. At first, I thought it was work. Then over time, I realized it was meaningless and probably not terribly scintillating texts going back and forth with men, friends or family. If you started to add up all of the time wasted texting back and forth, I bet it would be four or five hours easily of nonsense texting. Whatever happened to real conversations? Email can be just as time-consuming. But what I find particularly amusing are the people who are in the same room together and text back and forth. You're at a party and you're texting back and forth with your friend across the room? Here is an idea! Walk over and talk. What's up with that?...

We have become a world of people that look like this: bent over, face lit up by LCD screen, fingers moving. I don't even have to tell you what I'm talking about and you know exactly what I'm talking about. The worse part of our little e-world is the completely loss of social graces. We text (at least try to) while driving, so they have to make a law to stop this. Now texting while driving is the craziest thing -- and obviously not safe. I once drove with a former associate that I had to tell her, "Quit texting! You're scaring me!" But the biggest offenses include: talking on the cell phone while socializing with someone else, talking on the cell phone during a meal with someone else; talking or texting in the car while you're with someone else; and my favorite, texting in the movie theatre. I once worked with this woman whose obsession with texting ran so deep, she texted non-stop. The only problem was it wasn't really for business. And when it came to...

I am a Mac lover. I have been a Mac lover for 20 years (yes, I just dated myself). I have Mac on my desk, Macbook Air and iPhone. Rumor has it with cloud computing starting, my gadgets are all going to automatically and wirelessly synch up. Since I've had technology clients in the technology standards area, I already knew this was coming. Awhile back, they called this your wireless personal area network (WPAN), now they're calling it cloud computing. Don't ask me why, but I always imagine a dark, little rain cloud hovering over my desk when I think of cloud computing. Now my faithful readers are wondering, "Is she going to talk about her Mac, cloud computing or rain?" Well, I am feeling somewhat unorganized today so I'll just meander through this blog and hope you find something useful. Well, cloud computer or WPAN -- it's all the same automatic synch. Way cool stuff if you ask me. I would imagine somewhere out there Hal is applauding us all. If you don...