HR Generalist (engineering firm) Seattle, WA

Engineering / Technology firm in Seattle area is searching for an HR Generalist to lead their day-to-day operations at their headquarters location in the Seattle area.

Excellent benefits package and the opportunity to impact every facet of the HR discipline, with direct involvement in benefits - compensation - employee retention and recruiting.

Compensation targeted at level for those with approximately 5 years of HR Generalist experience.

Please forward resume to: TalentResourceGroup@gmail.com - include one paragraph detailing your most significant accomplishment of 2007.

Human Resources Generalist:
This position will manage the day-to-day operations of the HR office, including benefits, compensation, recruiting, and employee retention.

Essential Functions
* Manage the recruitment process for exempt and non-exempt employees and interns and serve as the single point of contact and hands-on recruiting resource for managers and owners.

* Assist with the development and administration of programs, procedures, and guidelines to help align the workforce with the strategic goals of the company.

* Assist with the monitoring of the company wage and salary structure within the company, including bonuses and raises.

* Provide competitive market research and prepare pay studies

* Oversee/conduct new hire orientation

Required Experience
* 5 years progressive HR exp
* PHR preferred
* Bachelor's degree in related field.
* Proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel, applicant tracking systems, and the internet.

Why Are Blogs Such a Big Deal?

Still struggling with this whole blog-thing?

In 3 minutes, CommonCraft explains blogs in simple English:

RecruitingBlogs.com: Best Recruiting Blogs of 2007

RecruitingBlogs.com has launched the 2007 Best Recruiting Blog Awards, and my WirelessJobs.com site has been nominated.

But really, there's some incredible blogs represented here, so if I don't win the grand prize (a trip to Vegas, sponsored by ZoomInfo.com) I won't be too disappointed.

Below is a final list of all of the Best Recruiting Blogs of 2007 that have been nominated.

Good luck to the bloggers, and a big thanks to RecruitingBlogs.com (Jason Davis) for pulling this together.

Gautam Ghosh
Your HR Guy
Recruiting Animal
The Chad
Instigator Blog
CollegeRecruiter Blog
CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Employers Blog
Marketing Headhunter
Xtra Cheezhead
Sourcing Corner
Jeremy Langhans
Jobmatchbox
Secrets Of The Job Hunt
Good To Know
Diggings
Staffing Software Talk
HR Search Marketing
The Hire Sense
MNheadhunter
Hiring Revolution
Wired & Hired
Digital Recruiter
Digital Recruiting
Cheezhead
Jim Stroud
Talent In China
Six Degrees From Dave
CyberSleuthing
Job Search Marketing
Recruitomatic
Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters
Career Hub
Career Waymark
Penelope Trunk
JibberJobber
WirelessJobs.com
Utah Tech Jobs
Executive Restaurant Recruiter
Sitting Xlegged
Neil Hernandez
Recruiting Edge
HRM Direct
Systematic HR
Workfarce
Social Median
One Louder
I, Donato
Checkster Blog
SalesRepRecruiter
Amybeth Hale Blog

Application Developer (Wireless) - Madison, WI

A large wireless/telecom client in Madison, WI is searching for an Application Developer to join their development.

Face it...the wireless business is cool. And growing like crazy. And they need top developers to keeping pushing the envelope and developing applications that make the wireless junkies go wild.

Hard to resist, eh?

If you want to be part of this wireless craziness, and you've got a year or two of development experience, email me: smithtx@gmail.com (App Developer in subject line).

Look forward to talking,

Dennis Smith
Director, Talent Strategy
WorldLink, Inc.
Editor, WirelessJobs.com


*Here's the full techie lowdown on the skills:

Software Engineering: C, PL-SQL, SQL Plus, K Shell

eSkills: HTML/CSS, Java/JSP, J2EE, XML

Databases: Oracle

Eye Tracking Rules

From Tim, to Seth, to me, to you:

Seth's highlights, in alphabetical order:

• Ads in the top and left portions of a page will receive the most eye fixation.
• Ads placed next to the best content are seen more often.
• Bigger images get more attention.
• Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixation.
• Fancy formatting and fonts are ignored.
• Formatting can draw attention.
• Headings draw the eye.
• Initial eye movement focuses on the upper left corner of the page.
• Large blocks of text are avoided.
• Lists hold reader attention longer.
• Navigation tools work better when placed at the top of the page.
• One-column formats perform better in eye-fixation than multi-column formats.
• People generally scan lower portions of the page.
• Readers ignore banners.
• Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones.
• Show numbers as numerals.
• Text ads were viewed mostly intently of all types tested.
• Text attracts attention before graphics.
• Type size influences viewing behavior.
• Users initially look at the top left and upper portion of the page before moving down and to the right.
• Users only look at a sub headline if it interests them.
• Users spend a lot of time looking at buttons and menus.

• White space is good.

Rich UI Engineer (Contract) - Dallas, TX

Rich UI Engineer - Dallas, TX (Contract)

Self-driven person with good software architecture background in C/C++, COM, .NET, or JAVA-middleware and/or UI frameworks. The perfect candidate will have Browser framework experience (Mozilla for example)

Experience required:

Strong C/C++ background;

Microsoft COM (Component Object Model) and/or CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture);

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

ECMA (Java Script)

Record of architecting and/or leading middleware projects based on the technologies above;

Frosting on the cake:

XUL (XML User-interface Language)

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

XBL (XML binding language)

RDF (Resource Description Framework)

JAVA

Embedded devices experience

Interested? Please forward your resume to Dennis@WorldLink-US.com

T-Mobile Jobs - the recruiter's chat

T-mobile Jobs - the recruiters chat

Listen to the recruiters of T-Mobile’s Engineering/Operations team discuss their jobs and find out from them why T-Mobile is a great place to work. You’ll hear regional recruiters Dennis Smith, Jen Hinkle, Ryan Pothoven, Mattea Cirrincionne, Kristen Kunath & Sherri Howe. Some of the jobs discussed are RF Engineers, Field Technicians , Real Estate & Zoning Manager and Construction Manager. To apply visit tmobile.com/jobs

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Meatball Sundae

Godin posts about his upcoming book (yes, a new book) Meatball Sundae ... HERE.

Frustrated? Bored? Sick of your stinky cubemates? Let us help.

Need a new gig?

Check out the 43 Folders Job Board.

At the gym ... working off the humble pie

I recently renewed my commitment to the “gym.”

We have a terrific “Rec Center” in our city (actually, multiple Rec Centers), complete with all the latest exercise equipment, basketball courts, pool, etc…

For less than $70/year, you can exercise to your heart’s content. And, it helps that I only live one block from the Center.

So, I’m at the Rec Center last night with my workout buddy and there’s a nice lady in the room and she’s just flat talkin’ our legs off. After a few minutes of explaining to me how she can hardly stand to put much weight on the exercise machines, she looks at me and says,

“So, are you the Father/Son team that comes in here all the time?”

Uh.

No.

I look at my buddy and laugh. Seeing how I’m the one with the gray hair and presumably the “Father,” I suppose I shouldn’t be laughing so hard. It’s just that, I’m 43 and my workout buddy is 38.

Wow. I guess I should be flattered that she thinks I’m in here all the time. But the flattery is tempered by the fact that I presumably have a 38 year old son.

Guess I need to spend a few more hours in the gym workin’ off this humble pie, eh?

Thanks lady. It’s nice to be not-so-subtly reminded of my humanity.

See you in the gym.

Make a Name for Yourself

In the past year, this guy has done more to impact my professional career than anybody else on the planet.

Really.

And he just wrote his fourth book.

And you can buy it HERE, and HERE.

Or, you can download the complete book HERE, for free (just read through his post and you'll find the link that says, "right now."

That's the one you click.

Why should you read it?

Well, as Scott says,

"If you don't make a name for yourself, someone will make one for you."

Job Search Competition Tight Among College Grads

Interesting insight from Experience Inc's fifth annual College Graduate Survey.

More than 2,800 graduating seniors took Experience's online poll, and nearly 50% of those who had already started their job searches at the time of the survey were still looking. The results, released in early April, also showed that only 22% of these students had offers in hand. Another 15% planned to continue on to graduate school, and 10% had yet to begin searching.

So, college grad, where are you?

Dennis Smith
T-Mobile USA
Sr. Manager, Recruiting

The Father of Wireless (and Wireless Jobs)

Martin Cooper. Just an average genius working for the man at Motorola .

But on April 3, 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper placed a call to rival Joel Engel, head of research at AT&T's Bell Labs, while walking the streets of New York City talking on the first Motorola DynaTAC prototype.

And so the levers of cell phone obsession began to turn.

10 years later, the Brick was born, and those who had the cash dropped almost $4,000 for the 10-inch, 28-ounce anchor created by Coop and his team of engineers at Moto.

The differences between Cooper's Brick and today's phone? Can you say, calendar, calculator, alarm clock, gps, video, web browser, and MP3 Player?

Dahl's article offers up a bit of history that I find seriously amusing:

Analysts in 1983 predicted that by 2000, there would be 900,000 wireless users in the United States.

Reality?

There were more than 100 million wireless users by the end of 2000, and 229 million at the end of last year. My family alone accounts for four of the 229 million (I'll be adding three more in the not-to-distant future).

Yes, my Blackberry is never far from reach. I exchange text messages with my team late at night and early in the morning (cut it out, Jen!) ; )

On the chance that I've misplaced it (along with my keys), I'm irritated 'til it's safely back in my front pocket.

I glance at my messages while driving to work (just kidding, Mr. State Farm Insurance Man!). I send my wife and children secret messages throughout the day. I am always connected.

Geez, thanks Mr. Cooper. No, really, thanks! We complain about being overly-connected, but if we're honest, most of us wouldn't have it any other way.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying it's healthy. But it's our reality (and I like it).

Reality also says that about one-fourth of all wireless calls have at least one problem (2006 study by J.D. Power and Associates). Whether it's dropped calls, disconnected calls, static, or interference, the problems exist. And if we're grumpy when we can't find our Blackberry, we're even grumpier when we drop a call.

Why?

Because we can't stand not being connected! Like I said, I'm not proud of this particular mental illness, but I'm not about to change. Even if that means I have to crawl on my roof line at midnight in the middle of a thunder storm, I'm going to make that phone call, by golly!

Even the Father of Wireless (Cooper) agrees with us. He's now 79 years old, owns six cell phones, carries three and pays the bills for 20. He was even talking on his cell phone for his interview with Dahl, explaining that he understands our obsession, our need, to have a signal:

"When you've got that phone, you feel connected, you feel part of a group,"

says Cooper.

"Who's the group? It's everyone in the world, on your cell phone."

Yep, Dr. Cooper still gets it.

Because the most important thing is being able to stay connected to the most important people in our lives.

Thanks Father Cooper Wireless.

Here's to 30 more years of wireless connectivity and the jobs that make it happen.


source: McClatchy Newspapers, Melissa Dahl

Can Blogging Help You Get a New Job?

Sarah E. Needleman (Associate editor for CareerJournal.com) posts a nice article in today's WSJ (subscription required) about blogging and how it can help you get a new job.

Here's a short excerpt:

Corporate recruiters have long surfed the Web to vet potential hires, but now they are also surfing blogs to unearth job candidates, expanding their talent pool and gaining insights they say they can't get from résumés and interviews.

If you are a recruiter and you aren't surfing the blogs, you are already behind the eight ball.

If you are surfing the blogs but aren't making hires, at a minimum, you are putting yourself in great networking stead. And, personally, I'm finding no greater opportunity than blogs, for developing relationships with candidates for future opportunities.

One of my goals is to use the blogosphere to make new contacts every day (ok, at least one).
And for the most part, I consistently meet this goal.

As an example, it wasn't too long ago that I left a comment on the WirelessisFun.com site, and as a result, struck up a friendship with the guys behind the WirelessisFun firewall. We now have a pending podcast for sometime in the near future and an almost daily dialogue. However, I'm really looking forward to talking my buddy Dan in to a new career with T-Mobile USA.

It's a long relo to Bellevue, WA from Romania, but hey, anything's possible in the blogosphere.

Needleman also posted an article titled,

What Job Seekers Can Gain From Blogs about Recruiting

Without question, the blogosphere is the place to go for job hunters who are seeking advice (of course, I'm slightly biased to this point, but it's because I'm right). And modest.

Here's a few of the blogs noted in the article - great choices - I read every one of these blogs and believe that job-search savvy job seekers should be reading them too.

YourHRGuy.com

Cheezhead

Resume Hell: Dumb Stuff I Read on Resumes

JibberJobber

Brazen Careerist

• Todd Raphael's World of Talent

Kaleidoblog

Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters: The Blog

• George's Employment Blawg

the CHAD

Go get 'em job seekers!

And while you're at it, don't forget to stop by WirelessJobs.com.

Just one visit a day, that's all I ask.

Dennis

Great Minds Think Alike

Elvis to Headline @ EREexpo 2007 (San Diego)

C'mon, meet me @ EREexpo 2007 and we'll talk Recruiting and eat a coupla' Peanut Butter 'n Banana sandwiches, eh?

It doesn't get much better than that.

source: WirelessJobs.com

The Coveted Joost Invitation

If anybody has a Joost invitation to spare, my interest is officially piqued.

C'mon, send some Joost Juice my way, would'ja?

wirelessheadhunter@gmail.com

Bloggers Face-Off: Liz Strauss vs. Mike Sansone

source: Daily Blog Tips

This week the Bloggers Face-Off will feature two conversation bloggers.

What is a conversation blogger? Someone that connects other bloggers, establishes relationships and creates conversations.

Probably you already know Liz Strauss from the Successful-Blog. She managed to create a vibrant community on her blog, and she is also the mind behind the SOB (Successful and Outstanding Bloggers) program.

Mike Sansone is the author of Converstations, a blog that is focused on helping bloggers and business entities to create conversation platforms.

The results of the Blogger Face-Off are noted HERE!

Get 'em while you can....there won't be a rematch.

20 Most Interesting Wireless Startups

Paul D. Kretkowski (DailyWireless) brings us a nice post today:

20 Most Interesting Wireless Startups

I'll list the 20 Wireless Startups here, and you can check out DailyWireless for the specifics on each HERE.

I'll even bet that a few of these companies are on the hunt to hire some wireless geeks:

1) Admob

2) Blyk
The first free mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

3) FON
A HotSpot in every pot.

4) Futuretxt

5) I'minlikewithyou
Interesting concept, just won't apply to me.

6) Jajah
I'm liking this one - make VoIP calls from your PC or landline w/o downloads or plug-ins - even w/o having broadband.

7) Jaiku Mobile

8) Jott
Dictation turned in to email?

9) Medio
Mobile search

10) Mozes
Send and receive mobile messages to and from your fave bands, social groups, friends.

11) MyGADS

12) myMobileMedia
Giving mobile subscribers access to their PC (music, pictures, video).

13) Obopay
This just might be my fave of the 20...will allow me to make $$ transfers alarmingly ez (backed/secured by MasterCard).

4 words: Money on your phone.

14) Radar
Instant picture conversations with your favorite people and no one else.

15) Streamverse

16) Teleflip
Email on your cell phone ... for free.

17) Twitter
If you don't know what Twitter is yet, I can't explain it to you. Well, yes I can. Twitter answers the question, "What are you doing?"

Assuming somebody cares.

18) Thrrum

19) VoiceThread
Create a voicethread and collect the stories behind your pictures.

20) ZenZui
Stop surfing. Start Zooming.

The Most Visited Blog Search Engine ... Technorati

Technorati's State of the Union, April 2007 just came out two hours ago and it provides some interesting facts for those enthusiastic about blogs.

I guess that would be me.

But it doesn't appear that I'm alone.

In March, Technorati exceeded 9 million unique visitors, which is a 141% increase in monthly visitors in a single quarter.


Check out Sifry's complete state o' the union address HERE.

Job Seeker: Make Your Best Job Interview Your Last One

source: WirelessJobs.com


Scott Ginsberg posted this morning about his beloved Cardinals.

Actually, the post isn't about the Cards so much, but he uses the Cards season opener as a platform to encourage us to be more like David Eckstein.

If you don't follow Baseball, you don't know Eck. But you should. He's the perfect example of a major-leaguer who, day in - day out, gives his absolute best on the field.

He doesn't coast. He doesn't save himself. He leaves it all on the field.

Here's why Scott loves Eck:

Because every grounder matters.
Because he gives it his all, every time.
Because he plays harder than anybody.
Because he actually sprints on and off the field, every inning.

Did Eck win the MVP last year because he's lucky?

Don't think so.

If Eck were asked to name the one game, in all his years of playing, that he believes to be his best, Scott believes Eck would say,

My last one.

Here's Scott's takeaway: Make your best one your last one.

The best sales call you ever made…was your last one.
The best speech you ever gave…was your last one.
The best report you ever handed in…was your last one.
The best meeting you ever had with your staff…was your last one.
The best customer service phone call…was your last one.

Now, let's make this even more relevant for my audience: the job seeker.

Are you looking for a job?

Are you currently engaged in job interviews?

Make your best interview your last one.

If so, it just might be your last one.

Resume Blunders from Hell

I visited my buddy at Resume Hell today.

As usual, I was not disappointed.

Here's a clip from one of the resumes they recently received....and apparently, this person takes their hobby very seriously:

"Hobbies: I enjoy cooking Chinese and Italians"

Ok, this person either has a very sick sense of humor, or, they failed to contact Louise for some expert resume assistance.

Let's hope it's the latter.

Wireless industry brings TV to cell phones

Outside the United States, 400,000 people in Italy are using a cell TV service launched less than a year ago by the mobile carrier 3, a unit of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.

Those customers, representing nearly 6 percent of the carrier's 7 million users, are paying as much as 29.99 euros ($40) extra per month to get TV on the go.

In Korea, several million have signed up for mobile TV services from TU Media Corp. and others since 2005.

Most of the talk around it's ability to take off in the U.S. has been a thumbs-down.

However, in early March, Verizon Wireless introduced an eight-channel service that broadcast programming, much of it identical to that being shown on regular TV, including shows from CBS, Comedy Central, ESPN, Fox and NBC.

The service, delivered over an $800 million network being built bT&T Incy Qualcomm Inc. and slated to expand to 20 channels, will also be offered later this year by the new AT&T's Cingular Wireless under a recent deal.

Undeterred by the loss of these two major wireless providers, a rival venture started by cell tower operator Crown Castle International Corp. is forging ahead with a trial network across the New York City area. The venture, Modeo, says it remains confident it will launch the service in 30 major markets at a cost of up to $500 million.

No doubt about it - mobile tv is here.

Whether it flies or not is another question.

source: DailyIllini

YouTube to Launch Mobile Site

YouTube will launch its mobile website in June 2007 for U.S. users, according to a spokesperson. The mobile YouTube site will go live once the exclusivity clause on the company’s mobile video deal with Verizon Wireless expires.

The service will be live for European users in May. YouTube has been already working closely with mobile carriers, and handset makers such as Nokia on the mobile version of their video service.

In response to my question if YouTube is developing a mobile client, the spokesperson said that the company had been talking about it, but had no information to share at this time. Check out a preview of the blocked mobile site or this demo site, which you can see from some mobile phones.

source: GigaOM

Slugging through the War for Talent

Take heart job seekers!

The chips are stacked on your side of the table, and in the war for talent, employers think they know what you want.

But most are still found wanting.

According to a study released today by Development Dimensions International (DDI), and Monster^®, today's job market is increasingly in the hands of the candidate.

The study, titled “Slugging Through the War for Talent: Selection Forecast 2006-2007,” reveals that 73 percent of staffing directors report competition for talent has increased since 2005, while 79 percent expect it to further intensify in 2007.

“Candidates are in a very powerful position—organizations need to think about hiring as a competitive practice if they want to attract the best people,”

said Scott Erker, senior vice president of DDI’s Selection Solutions.

“Right now, there is a significant gap between what candidates want and what employers think they want. That’s dangerous for organizations, because many don’t understand the motivations of the candidate sitting right in front of them.”

This is DDI’s third study of hiring and recruiting practice since 1999, providing perspective on the changing shape of the hiring market over the last eight years.

The report, which reflects responses from staffing directors, hiring managers and job seekers across five global regions, examines recruitment, selection and retention practices and reveals that a tightening labor market has subsequently led to a power shift toward job seekers.

In order to lure top talent in this increasingly competitive environment, the
findings suggest that employers must identify, understand
and respond to job seekers’ motivations and desires.

The study also outlines the tactics and strategies organizations can implement to improve their hiring systems and better meet job seekers’ needs.

“The recruiting industry has acknowledged for several years that retiring Baby Boomers, coupled with a tightening labor market, would eventually bring about an acute labor shortage. However, the survey findings indicate that this eventuality is already upon us,”

said Neal Bruce, vice president of alliances, Monster. “

Select Survey Highlights

• It’s a buyer’s market.

• There is a gap between employer perceptions and candidate realities.

• Turnover is rapid.
  

• Interviews can be dealmakers or deal breakers.

The executive summary, "Selection Forecast 2006-2007" is is currently available online from DDI HERE and the Monster Intelligence web site, HERE.

Check out the complete article on PRWeb.com.

Lose Market Share ... Write for the Robots

Arthur Wall (SEOBook.com) guest posts on Problogger today with:

What Does it Mean to Optimize a Blog Post?

Appealing to the robots is a surefire way to never gain market-share,

says Wall.

Read the complete article HERE.

Top 5 Things That Should Be Taught in Every School

Brian Kim knocks it out of the park with this post.

Here's a quick list of his top 5 (be sure to read the entire post HERE):

1. Personal Finance
2. Communicating Effectively
3. Social Skills
4. Sales
5. Time Management

Scott Pollard Corrupts our Youth

Scott Pollard, former NBA'er with the Kings, reminds us why he's a failed role model for our children. If you can stomach his ignorance, check it out HERE.

Good is not almost as good as great

Advice from Godin:

"Fire half your sales force."

Because good sales people are not almost as good as great sales people.

If you want the long version, click HERE.

Technorati Acquires PersonalBee?

source: Mashable.com

We’re still waiting for confirmation from founder Ted Shelton on this one, but I give a fairly good probability to the news today that blog search engine Technorati has acquired PersonalBee, the “news discovery engine” that uses human editors and algorithms to sort through the news, creating a series of niche portals. It’s a similar idea, in fact, to Boxxet.

PersonalBee doesn’t seem to have gained much traction in terms of traffic, visitors and buzz, and there doesn’t seem to be a strong motivation to build your own “beehive” (portal page).

According to Valleywag, which brought the rumor online today, Technorati is interested in spinning out lots of niche news sites - the price is a six figure sum and Shelton would become VP of business development at Technorati. If this is confirmed, it’s certainly a technology/talent buy, since the site’s traction isn’t much to boast about.

First Truly Mobile Social Networking Service Launched

VelvetPuffin announced the launching of the first integrated social networking service that allows its users to instantly communicate, create and share user-generated content of all types with friends and family through a mobile phone or desktop computer.

Completely carrier independent and offered at no cost to the consumer, VelvetPuffin merges instant messaging and social networking to create truly mobile social networking.

source: The Blog Herald

Addicted to the CrackBerry You Are

Russian Pigs in Space

Thanks to OMG LMAO for bringing us these breathtaking "pigs in space" pics.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

This amazing video has been viral since early Feb. I picked it up from John Battelle's Searchblog.

Security Scanner Can See Through Clothes

source: WiredNews

By TERRY TANG
Associated Press Writer

Sky Harbor International Airport became the country's first to begin testing a controversial new federal screening system that takes X-rays of passenger's bodies in an effort to find concealed explosives and other weapons.

The Phoenix airport started testing the new technology on Friday. It can see through people's clothes and show the body's contours with blush-inducing clarity.

During testing, the machine will be used only as a backup screening measure. Passengers who fail the standard screening with a metal detector will be able to choose between the new device or a pat-down search.

"It's 100 percent voluntary, so if the passenger doesn't feel comfortable with it, the passenger doesn't have to go through it," TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

Passengers selected for screening by the device are asked to stand in front of the closet-size X-ray unit with the palms of their hands facing out. Then they must turn around for a second screening from behind. The procedure takes about a minute.

"It seems faster. I'm not uncomfortable with it,"

said Kelsi Dunbar, 25, of Seattle, who chose the machine.

"I trust TSA, and I trust that they are definitely trying to make things go quickly and smoothly in the airport.

Startup hopes to modernize parking hunt

Finding a parking spot often requires drivers to summon their inner caveman: Scan the horizon for the target, then bag it before someone else does.

A startup company is betting it can chip away at that anachronism and transform the search for parking just as eBay Inc. changed auctions.

SpotScout Inc. hopes to create an online marketplace where drivers armed with mobile phones can not only reserve private spaces in garages and driveways, but also swap public parking spots in real time, with vacant spaces going to the highest bidder.

Full-story HERE: Yahoo!News

10 Sure-Fire Ways to Get RSS Readers Visiting Your Blog

source: Problogger

how do I get my RSS readers to visit my actual blog?

Before I give a few tips of how to do this - it is worth noting that for some bloggers this is not a major objective and they are quite happy to have their readers engage with their content where ever the reader wants to.

I totally respect this approach and feel similarly. However there are reasons why it can be beneficial for a blog to have actual readers and not just RSS subscribers. Two main reasons come to mind:

• Interaction - to this point RSS doesn’t do interaction very well. If you want comments - you need to get people over to your blog.
• Monetization - If you’re interested in monetizing your blog then you’ve got a better chance of doing so with actual visitors than RSS readers. While there are a variety of RSS advertising options for bloggers - in my experience none perform as well as on blog advertising (although I’m open to hearing about people who’ve found a more profitable method).

If those two things don’t interest you the following 10 tips might not be up your alley. If they do - read on for a few brief ways to convert RSS readers to actual blog readers:

1. Actively encourage comments - Last year I did a little analysis of the posts that got the most most clicks in my feeds (Feedburner offer these stats) and there was a direct correlation between comment numbers and clicks. Further analysis showed that those posts that had high comment numbers and high clicks were posts where I…. (wait for the secret)…. asked questions. Want some examples? - how about these three ‘open mike’ posts.

2. Show Readers Comment Numbers - Another way to encourage comments is to show how many others have already commented. I do this using Feedburner’s Feed Flares in my feeds.

3. Use Polls - In a similar way - running polls on your blog and announcing them in posts will draw readers to your actual blog. In fact any interactive tool or feature that can’t be carried out via RSS can bring on readers (eg, quizzes, chat tools etc).

4. Interlink posts - If you have html activated in your feed (it’s usually automatically that way if you publish full feeds) link to other posts, pages or categories within your blog as you write. Make them relevant links that fit with your post and that will give your RSS readers something useful when they follow the link. For example - this is what I did a couple of paragraphs back with my links to open mike posts.

5. Related posts - A more automated way of giving readers something to click on that will lead them to your blog is to use a ‘related posts’ section at the end of posts (in a similar way to the ‘related posts that many bloggers have at the end of posts on their actual blog). These are becoming more and more common (although I’m not sure what tool people use to do it - let us know in comments if you use one). Keep in mind that you don’t want to clutter your RSS feeds.

6. ‘Best of’ posts - The interlinked posts on steroids is the ‘best of’ post. It isn’t something you’d want to do everyday - but occassionally it can be a great way to draw readers over to your blog by pulling together a number of older posts. I learnt the power of this late last year in my Best of ProBlogger 2006 post which was one of the most clicked upon posts in my RSS feed.

7. Use Video - This is something that is changing but until recently very few feed readers allowed their users to see embedded video. These days feed readers like Google Reader do allow video (and others are following suit) but it’s still something that might work to some extent depending upon which aggregators your readers are using.

8. RSS and Bookmarking - I’ve chatted with a few ProBlogger readers recently who say they use the ‘Digg This’ link in the bottom of my feeds and that after doing so they keep coming back both to the Digg page and the post itself to see if it’s gotten popular. I’m not sure this is something many do - but it does have the potential to leverage RSS readers to help spread the word about your blog.

9. Design Changes - Once again - this isn’t something you’d want to do simply to get RSS readers to come and visit, but one of the added benefits of making design changes to your blog (and announcing them) is that you’ll often get people coming over for a look. This happens both when you completely relaunch your blog and also when you make ‘tweaks’ like adding new features to your sidebar, navigation menus etc.

10. Excerpt Feeds - I’ve left this one until last because it’s pretty obvious and is one of the main reasons that I hear bloggers giving for not moving their feeds to ‘full feeds’. I’m not going to rehash the debate here over full vs partial feeds but while full feeds is one of the ways to get more subscribers - having partial ones is a way to get people who do subscribe to come visit your blog.

A Word of Warning

As I’ve written this post I’ve felt like making disclaimers all along the way because while the above techniques will draw readers from your RSS feed into your blog - some (or most) of them can also be sure-fire ways to become so annoying to your readers that they unsubscribe from your feed in frustration.

Don’t tease your readers, don’t try to manipulate them and don’t attempt to force them into actions that they don’t really want to do.

Create a user experience IN your RSS feed and you’ll find that the benefits will flow on. You might not draw all your readers over to your blog every day - but they will come across from time to time and more importantly many of them will find what you produce useful enough to pass it on to others.

Wal-Mart Dives into the Movie Download War

source: TechCrunch

After dabbling in movie download tests, Walmart is now jumping into the movie and television download business head first, and will launch their new site later today at walmart.com/videodownloads.

This is an extremely crowded market already, although Walmart has locked up deals with all of the major studios - Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Universal. See the chart included in this post for the studio deals locked up by other movie download services - CinemaNow, MovieLink and Amazon Unbox all have similar deals as well. iTunes and other competitors don’t.

Television networks who’ve agreed to provide content include Fox, CW and Viacom’s MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Logo and VH1. The television download market is currently dominated by iTunes.

Prices for movies will be $10-$20. Television shows will be $2. Downloading and watching content will require a Windows PC, as with all of the services mentioned above except iTunes.

Will This Be Successful?

Walmart has had mixed results in their online initiatives. They’ve completely bailed out of the movie-rental-by-mail market when they couldn’t make headway against Netflix. In this case, however, there is no established player to try to kill. The movie download market is in its nascent stage and anyone can win.

CinemaNow and MovieLink should be particularly worried. They operate on very low margins, are being attacked by iTunes and others already, and now have to contend with Walmart. It’s unlikely they’ll have the staying power to make it, and it doesn’t look like any of the major sites are looking to buy in this space. It’s cheaper to build a Windows-based DRM-laden player and do deals with studios directly.

However, iTunes still has the only service that works cross-platform, plays on an iPod and now on the living room television with Apple TV. And they already dominate the television download market. Walmart will not be able to easily hurt iTunes in the short term.

And don’t forget that Netflix has already released a very, very good free(ish) movie and television download service, and Joost is another service coming soon. None of these companies are going to lie down in the face of competition from Walmart, and they know that Walmart will bail out of markets that they can’t dominate.

All of this is good for the consumer, but prices are still too high. Movie downloads are still more expensive than simply buying a DVD.

Blogumentary: documentary about blogs

Chuck put his entire documentary feature film online.

It's called Blogumentary and it documents the rise of political and personal blogs, from the early days up through the Iraq War and Dan Rather's downfall.

excerpt from BoingBoing

Seth's Top Ten of All Time (sort of)

From Seth Godin's post titled, "The Top Ten Ways to Blog the Easy Way"

Seth gives us the all time list of top 10 lists.

Check out his post HERE so you can click on each number (1 - 10) and read the individual posts.

There's obviously some decent top 10 lists here or they wouldn't appear on the Purple Cow's blog...check 'em out.

VC's opt-in for LinkedIn

Professional social network LinkedIn will announce a previously rumored $12.8 million round of financing on Monday, led by Bessemer and the European Founders Fund. The company, which has been profitable since March 2006, has raised $13.4 million in two previous rounds of financing, bringing the total to more than $26 million.

The company had something north of $10 million in revenue in 2006, and says they’ll do substantially more than that in 2007. LinkedIn Answers, which launched earlier this month, has been a huge success, they say. LinkedIn has 70 employees, up from 45 a year ago. They claim 9 million worldwide users, and are adding 100,000 or so new users per week.

The valuation of the financing round is not being disclosed by the company, but it is rumored to be around $250 million.

LinkedIn’s European competitor, Xing, is currently generating about €2.8 million in revenue per fiscal quarter, or $3.6 million. The company was valued at about $200 million when it went public in December 2006.

source: TechCrunch

Top 10 Stupid Ways to Hinder Market Adoption

Here's the top 3...you'll have to read Guy's post to get the rest. But it's worth the read:

1. Enforced immediate registration. Requiring a new user to register and provide a modicum of information is a reasonable request—I just think you should do it after you’ve sucked the person in. Most sites require that registration is the first step, and this puts a barrier in front of adoption. At the very least, companies could ask for name and email address but not require it until a later time.

   A good example of a site that does the right thing is Netvibes. It allows you to do a high level of customization without registering. (Thanks to Glenn Kelman)

2. The long URL. When you want to send people an URL the site generates an URL that’s seventy characters long—or more! When you copy, paste, and email this URL, a line break is added, so people cannot click on it to go to the intended location.

   Here’s an URL for a billiard table copied and pasted from the CostCo site. Just how many billiard-table models could CostCo be selling?

   http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11197553&search=billiard%20table&Sp=S&Mo=8&cm_re=1-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&N=0&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=billiard%20table&Ntt=billiard%20table&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

   The justification often goes like this: “We create a long URL because people with Crays might break our code and see private pages. Seventy characters that can be twenty-six lower case letters, twenty-six upper case letters, or ten numbers ensures that no one can break our code since the possible combinations outnumber the quantity of atoms in the universe.” This is what keeps sites like TinyUrl and SnipURL in business.

   Also, speaking of URLs, it’s good to have an easy naming convention for URLs. MySpace, for example, creates easy-to-remember URLs like http://www.myspace.com/guykawasaki.

   ---

   Test: Can people communicate your site’s URLs to others over the phone?

   Extra credit: People using Verizon and can do this despite its coverage.

   ---

3. Windows that don’t generate URLs. Have you ever wanted to point people to a page, but the page has no URL? You’ve got a window open that you want to tell someone about, but you’d have to write an essay to explain how to get that window open again. Did someone at the company decide that it didn’t want referrals, links, and additional traffic? This is the best argument I can think of for not using frames.

source: How to Change the World (GK)

MyBlogLog integrates Flickr

It hasn’t always been clear how Yahoo planned to tie together its many small social media properties.

But it seems that MyBlogLog, acquired by Yahoo earlier this month (see Yahoo-MyBlogLog), is already seeing some integration with another slightly geeky Yahoo property: Flickr.


excerpt: Mashable!

Google mashes up books and maps

Google Inc. has started integrating its popular mapping service with its controversial books search engine to let people plot on maps references to places they find in books.

Now, book entries in Google's Book Search may include a section called "Places mentioned in this book." The section includes a map from Google Maps with pins indicating places included in the text. Below the map is a list with the name of the places, linked to the pages in which they are mentioned, and an excerpt from the text.

Some books whose entries include this new feature are Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace and Charles Sanford Terry's Bach: A Biography.

excerpt: ComputerWorld

Japan's Health Minister: Women are "birth-giving machines"

Japan's 71-year-old health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa gave a speech in which he called Japanese women "birth-giving machines" and called on them to "do their best per head."

The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head, although it may not be so appropriate to call them machines.

source: BoingBoing

Wireless Carriers Say Cell Phones are No Danger

Well, I suppose this is nice to know...but did "not knowing" actually slow cell phone usage (MOU's)?

A four-year long study of cellular telephone base stations has found their transmissions pose no risk to human health, the carriers funding the study said Wednesday.

Mitsubishi Chemical Safety Institute carried out the study for Japan's three largest cellular carriers: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Softbank Mobile. The study began in November 2002.

source: Yahoo!News
excerpt: Well, I suppose this is nice to know...but did "not knowing" actually slow cell phone usage (MOU's)?

A four-year long study of cellular telephone base stations has found their transmissions pose no risk to human health, the carriers funding the study said Wednesday.

Mitsubishi Chemical Safety Institute carried out the study for Japan's three largest cellular carriers: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Softbank Mobile. The study began in November 2002.

source: Yahoo!News
excerpt: WirelessJobs.com

Bebo Minicards Launched

While over on Bebo checking out the new Slide.com guestbooks, I spotted an announcement for Bebo Minicards, from the printing startup Moo. Moo first attracted blogger love back in September 2006 with the launch of their Flickr Minicards - Flickr users can convert their shots into a box of 100 printed photo cards for $19.99. Moo has also produced Skype Minicards in the past, although that promotion is coming to an end.

The Bebo Minicards, which went live on Wednesday according to the Moo crew, allow users to print 100 cards of their Bebo photos, plus text and other add-ons, for $14.99. Taking into account Bebo’s popularity in the UK, the price in UK pounds seems to take center stage. Moo has its own Bebo profile, of course, and utilizes Bebo’s photo feature to show off the product. What’s more, they’re giving away a set of 10 free Minicards to every Beboer to promote the service.

excerpt: Mashable.com

1 Billion Mobile Phones Shipped in 2006

Blockbuster mobile phone sales during the holiday season last year propelled shipments to more than 1 billion for all of 2006, market researcher IDC said.

Handset vendors shipped a record high 294.9 million mobile phones in the past three months of 2006, propelling the full year total to 1.02 billion, according to IDC. (IDC is owned by International Data Group, which also owns Computerworld.)

The fourth quarter figure was 20% higher than the same time in 2005, while the full year figure beat the 832.8 million wireless handsets sold in 2005.

excerpt: ComputerWorld

Credible Christian

During the first two decades of her adult life, Barbara Curtis thought Christians were idiots. A radical feminist who protested war and lobbied for abortion on demand, Barbara got her kicks from yelling obscenities at the "pigs" during rallies. A sexually promiscuous, cocaine-snorting welfare mom, Barbara called herself a "fag hag" (a woman who parties with gay men). She lived to shock people, "to be different and avant-garde."

Today, the only visible residue of Barbara's past is the blurry rose tattoo etched on top of her right hand. "I got it done in 1969 at a place across the street from the Greyhound station where all the sailors went. It seemed like a good idea at the time," she muses, shrugging. "I wasn't thinking that someday I'd be a 58-year-old woman with this thing on my hand."

Barbara—now a Christian—doesn't hide her tattoo or her past. Nor does she flaunt them. Instead, she draws on what she's learned from her experiences as she lobbies for a new cause: challenging Christians to befriend non-Christians, and encouraging conservatives and liberals to interact. Her latest book, Reaching the Left from the Right: Talking About Social Issues with People Who Don't Think Like You (Beacon Hill), is one means to that end.

"The only way Christians can change society is by understanding our culture," she asserts, "and by becoming involved on a personal level.

excerpt: "Credible Christian," from Christianity Today

5 Ways to Make Valentine's Day Sizzle

Here are 5 tips to make your Valentine’s Day sizzle.

1. Don’t Buy a card. Anyone can buy a card… Why not be a little more creative and write your valentine a love letter poem. If you’re not a poet, a quick search on Google should get what you need. Take this opportunity to tell your valentine why you love them, what you find most attractive about them, and how much you appreciate your relationship.
2. Know what they like. Don’t just go out and buy the standard flowers and chocolate. That’s the lazy way out… Get your valentine a gift that will actually mean something to them on a personal level. What do they like to do? What kind of music do they like? What are they passionate about?
3. Rather that a gift, go on a special date. Again, think about something your valentine truly enjoys, dancing, dining out, or snuggling on the sofa to watch a great movie - a movie that your valentine wants to see.
4. Everyone loves a little suspense. Start building up to Valentine’s Day a little in advance. Hint about your plans or gift without giving too much away. This will let your valentine know that you’re thinking about them and that you’re really excited about this special day.
5. Think ‘romance’. Romance includes the words you say, your body language, and your surroundings. Make sure that your attention is 100% on your valentine, not the day’s events or latest sports scores. Get some candles, turn down the lights, and put on some romantic music to create a truly romantic atmosphere.

excerpt from : ASK Dan & Jennifer

Creativity

99% of the time, in my experience, the hard part about creativity isn't coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you've thought of.

The devil doesn't need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics.

from Seth Godin's Blog