Geek Soap Box

Clearing out my work Outlook mailbox after the conference.  Realized I had a particularly interesting exact number of unread messages. No, my “l337″ score is not all composed of 13 thousand real, actual e-mail that I’ve blown off.  I also get deluged with messages from system error logs, new Web site accounts, bookstore purchases, and [...]

Going through my Google Reader articles, I came across a recent article on AriWriter that raises the same issue that has been percolating in my mind recently: just when is it best practice for a Web site to force a link to open in an external (new) window? The “Web standard” these days — based [...]

I am pleased to report that my first-ever “foray” — pardon the pun — into the world of podcasting is now live!  Go download “This Week in Media” Episode #173 today and listen to us banter for an hour on advertising addressability and why content is king, live from Transformation 2010 in San Francisco, CA! [...]

Cross-posted at 4A’s Events Blog. Whether you work in the advertising/marketing community, the association world, or anywhere in between, chances are you have been to quite a number of conferences over the years. These conferences are all the same on the surface, to a certain extent. They provide an opportunity to meet and share information/stories [...]

If you are truly interested in developing a top-notch online persona, such as on a blog or via your unique, personal Twitter account, I think the best advice I could ever give you is this: Do as I say, not as I do. Much like an online microcosm of the American Dream itself, the smart [...]

SocialFishing linked this weekend to a pretty cool slide show on “personal vs. professional social media identities” in the world of nonprofit associations.  It’s a rather fascinating issue that likely extends beyond our little insular world of associations into the entire corporate landscape.  Just what is the correct way to engage with your membership or [...]

Back in April, the Current Television Network made waves in the new biz community by boldly soliciting agencies to respond to an RFP for an account review via Twitter, the popular upstart social-networking site usually filled with 140-character comments on what users had for breakfast or other pithy commentary. What made the move so innovative, though, [...]

Remember last year’s 4A’s Leadership Conference?  The facilities were awesome, and everyone worked hard to create a great program as always, but there was a definite undercurrent of uncertainty plaguing attendees and casting a shadow over the show.  What was happening to the business?  Were agencies going to be shut out of  “digital” (intentional use [...]

March really must come in like a lion and leave like a lamb, because when I left for Dixie on Tuesday the temperature stood in the frigid teens and 12 inches of snow blanketed bucolic Douglaston.  Today, it’s approaching 70 and I just drove around town with the sunroof open.  Perhaps I brought the weather [...]

If yesterday at the 2009 4A’s Media Conference & Tradeshow was all about transparency, today has seemingly revolved around the generational evolution of the consumer mindset. We have been hearing for over a year now that “digital changes everything,” and today’s emerging themes – as voiced by 4A’s CEO Nancy Hill, GroupM North American CEO [...]