A loyal reader asks: I admit it, I haven't finished my holiday shopping. (And don't tell me you did. I don't want to hear it.) How can I figure out what to get?
Oh reader, where have you been? Social networking has made the art of finding the perfect gift oh, so much easier. Check out these great networks:
ShopWiki is another community based wiki - all about products. It’s a good resource for quick background and price information on a wide-range of items. Prepare to waste some time here! It's fun to explore...
Crowdstorm is where you make better-informed purchase decisions based on the crowd's advice and recommendations.
ThisNext is real recommendations from real people.
Kaboodle is a social shopping community where people discover, recommend and share products. Kaboodle's powerful shopping tools allow people to organize their shopping through lists, discover new things from people with similar style, get discounts on popular products and find best prices. It works because it has over 2 million monthly visitors!
Etsy is a social marketplace for handmade items. The selection of items and active community contribute well to the overall shopping experience. Check it out for unique handmade art, jewelery and much more.
Wishpot allows you to easily create product wish-lists and share them with the community. Add items while you surf. Shop from the site. Really cool is the mobile integration so you can add items to your list from your cell phone, or take a photo of an item and add it that way.
Buzzilions is one of our favorites. It's a a shopping review site based on reviews real buyers. It's easy and intuitive. We like the search engine and the tag-like method for drilling down.
Osoyou has personalized product suggestions and other elements of social shopping. Drag and Drop stuff. Explore. It's fun. It's still pretty new, but we like it.
And if you just want a deal, check out:
Woot
Woot provides you with one product daily for sale, and people in the forums participate in active feedback and comparisons using the available product allowing you to make educated shopping decisions. The active community contributes to your shopping experience.
And Wendy swears by her RETAILMENOT extention on her Firefox. It shows whether there are coupons for any shopping site she comes to. Cool, huh?
12.10.2007
11.12.2007
Zippity Doodah.
A loyal reader asks: I'm working on a plan for a client and want to find the areas in Kansas with the highest percentage of married people. All I can think to do is pull those boring datafiles from the Census and that gives me a headache! Any suggestions?
No problem. This is easy peasy...
Just go to Skinny Zips and choose your criteria. The state and the married bullet. You have other choices too. And check out the site for more ZIP CODE FUN!
Top ZIP codes for selected area based on percent of population over the age of 15 which is currently married.
66734 FARLINGTON 88.50%
67128 RAGO 88%
67670 STUTTGART 87.20%
66930 AGENDA 86.60%
67639 GLADE 85.30%
66970 WEBBER 85.10%
66932 ATHOL 82.70%
67743 LEVANT 81.50%
67656 OGALLAH 79.80%
67868 PIERCEVILLE 79.50%
67041 ELBING 79.50%
66014 CENTERVILLE 79.40%
66221 SHAWNEE MISSION 79%
66220 SHAWNEE MISSION 79%
66438 HOME 78.60%
67351 LIBERTY 78.50%
66746 HEPLER 78.30%
66838 BURDICK 78.10%
67028 COATS 77.80%
66218 SHAWNEE MISSION 77.40%
67458 LONGFORD 77.40%
66226 SHAWNEE MISSION 77.30%
66224 SHAWNEE MISSION 77.10%
66077 POTTER 76.50%
66079 RANTOUL 76.20%
67205 WICHITA 76%
67235 WICHITA 75.80%
67134 SAWYER 75.70%
66775 STARK 75.70%
67065 ISABEL 75.50%
66223 SHAWNEE MISSION 75.20%
67882 WRIGHT 75.10%
67512 ALDEN 75%
67664 PRAIRIE VIEW 74.90%
67230 WICHITA 74.80%
67120 PECK 74.60%
66429 GRANTVILLE 74.50%
67522 BUHLER 74.20%
66543 VASSAR 74.20%
66409 BERRYTON 74%
74 FORT LEAVENWORTH 73.80%
67102 MAPLE CITY 73.80%
67647 LONG ISLAND 73.80%
66610 TOPEKA 73.70%
67422 BENNINGTON 73.60%
66008 BENDENA 73.50%
66515 MORRILL 73.50%
67341 DENNIS 73.20%
67520 BISON 73.20%
67144 TOWANDA 73.10%
67021 BYERS 73%
66085 STILWELL 73%
67112 NASHVILLE 72.90%
66618 TOPEKA 72.80%
66546 WAKARUSA 72.80%
66963 RANDALL 72.80%
67510 ABBYVILLE 72.70%
66412 BREMEN 72.60%
66939 COURTLAND 72.60%
67658 PARADISE 72.50%
67737 GRAINFIELD 72.50%
67745 MC DONALD 72.40%
67215 WICHITA 72.30%
66432 HAVENSVILLE 72.30%
67342 EDNA 72.20%
67073 LEHIGH 72.10%
67491 WINDOM 72.10%
66209 SHAWNEE MISSION 72.10%
66953 LINN 72.10%
67953 RICHFIEL 72%
67474 PORTIS 72%
66741 GARLAND 71.90%
66872 WHITE CITY 71.80%
67867 MONTEZUMA 71.70%
67857 KENDALL 71.70%
67122 PIEDMONT 71.70%
66541 SUMMERFIELD 71.70%
67416 ASSARIA 71.60%
66440 HOYT 71.50%
67066 IUKA 71.50%
67106 MILTON 71.40%
66524 OVERBROOK 71.40%
67150 WALDRON 71.40%
66514 MILFORD 71.20%
66070 OZAWKIE 71.20%
67626 BUNKER HILL 71.20%
67870 SATANTA 71.10%
67017 BENTON 71.10%
67673 WALDO 71.10%
67659 PENOKEE 71.10%
66842 CASSODAY 71%
67344 ELK CITY 71%
67838 DEERFIELD 70.90%
66516 NETAWAKA 70.90%
66617 TOPEKA 70.90%
67752 QUINTER 70.90%
67151 WALTON 70.80%
66840 BURNS 70.80%
67111 MURDOCK 70.80%
66507 MAPLE HILL 70.80%
No problem. This is easy peasy...
Just go to Skinny Zips and choose your criteria. The state and the married bullet. You have other choices too. And check out the site for more ZIP CODE FUN!
Top ZIP codes for selected area based on percent of population over the age of 15 which is currently married.
66734 FARLINGTON 88.50%
67128 RAGO 88%
67670 STUTTGART 87.20%
66930 AGENDA 86.60%
67639 GLADE 85.30%
66970 WEBBER 85.10%
66932 ATHOL 82.70%
67743 LEVANT 81.50%
67656 OGALLAH 79.80%
67868 PIERCEVILLE 79.50%
67041 ELBING 79.50%
66014 CENTERVILLE 79.40%
66221 SHAWNEE MISSION 79%
66220 SHAWNEE MISSION 79%
66438 HOME 78.60%
67351 LIBERTY 78.50%
66746 HEPLER 78.30%
66838 BURDICK 78.10%
67028 COATS 77.80%
66218 SHAWNEE MISSION 77.40%
67458 LONGFORD 77.40%
66226 SHAWNEE MISSION 77.30%
66224 SHAWNEE MISSION 77.10%
66077 POTTER 76.50%
66079 RANTOUL 76.20%
67205 WICHITA 76%
67235 WICHITA 75.80%
67134 SAWYER 75.70%
66775 STARK 75.70%
67065 ISABEL 75.50%
66223 SHAWNEE MISSION 75.20%
67882 WRIGHT 75.10%
67512 ALDEN 75%
67664 PRAIRIE VIEW 74.90%
67230 WICHITA 74.80%
67120 PECK 74.60%
66429 GRANTVILLE 74.50%
67522 BUHLER 74.20%
66543 VASSAR 74.20%
66409 BERRYTON 74%
74 FORT LEAVENWORTH 73.80%
67102 MAPLE CITY 73.80%
67647 LONG ISLAND 73.80%
66610 TOPEKA 73.70%
67422 BENNINGTON 73.60%
66008 BENDENA 73.50%
66515 MORRILL 73.50%
67341 DENNIS 73.20%
67520 BISON 73.20%
67144 TOWANDA 73.10%
67021 BYERS 73%
66085 STILWELL 73%
67112 NASHVILLE 72.90%
66618 TOPEKA 72.80%
66546 WAKARUSA 72.80%
66963 RANDALL 72.80%
67510 ABBYVILLE 72.70%
66412 BREMEN 72.60%
66939 COURTLAND 72.60%
67658 PARADISE 72.50%
67737 GRAINFIELD 72.50%
67745 MC DONALD 72.40%
67215 WICHITA 72.30%
66432 HAVENSVILLE 72.30%
67342 EDNA 72.20%
67073 LEHIGH 72.10%
67491 WINDOM 72.10%
66209 SHAWNEE MISSION 72.10%
66953 LINN 72.10%
67953 RICHFIEL 72%
67474 PORTIS 72%
66741 GARLAND 71.90%
66872 WHITE CITY 71.80%
67867 MONTEZUMA 71.70%
67857 KENDALL 71.70%
67122 PIEDMONT 71.70%
66541 SUMMERFIELD 71.70%
67416 ASSARIA 71.60%
66440 HOYT 71.50%
67066 IUKA 71.50%
67106 MILTON 71.40%
66524 OVERBROOK 71.40%
67150 WALDRON 71.40%
66514 MILFORD 71.20%
66070 OZAWKIE 71.20%
67626 BUNKER HILL 71.20%
67870 SATANTA 71.10%
67017 BENTON 71.10%
67673 WALDO 71.10%
67659 PENOKEE 71.10%
66842 CASSODAY 71%
67344 ELK CITY 71%
67838 DEERFIELD 70.90%
66516 NETAWAKA 70.90%
66617 TOPEKA 70.90%
67752 QUINTER 70.90%
67151 WALTON 70.80%
66840 BURNS 70.80%
67111 MURDOCK 70.80%
66507 MAPLE HILL 70.80%
10.31.2007
And in comparison...
A loyal reader asks: What do you think of Rachel Ray? Is she a force of good or evil?
We love the answer from the July-August 2007 Shopper Report
by Mona Doyle
We love the answer from the July-August 2007 Shopper Report
by Mona Doyle
Rachael Ray is empowering some shoppers to cook with more freedom and have more fun than they have had in some time. Watching her facilitates a certain amount of abandon in mixing flavors and using hunches and appetites to direct kitchen behavior.See back issues and sign up for the Shopper Report RSS by going here.
What she is doing is changing cooking from tedious work to play! With apologies to the memory of Julia Child, there are similarities in their empowerment of women in the kitchen. Julia empowered women to understand how difficult recipes worked and gave them the freedom to try them, understand them, and depart from them and still turn out wonderful foods. Rachael Ray communicates the pleasure of cooking from your head and your stores, your fridge, and your pantry. Some retailers are playing into this, helping their shoppers be better cooks by providing "ingredients for your next inspiration"--I'm quoting myself there, but that is what I see happening, with sauces and mixes that are almost magical in their ability to help consumers create wonderful smells and tastes with a dollop of X and a few spoons of Y.
Wegmans does an especially good job of this with products like "Mirepoix" which it offers in several package and chunk sizes. Mirepoix is nothing more, or less, than diced onions, carrots, and celery--a combination which forms the basis of much French cooking. Add a package to a can of soup or sauce and create wonderful flavor and an aroma that equals fresh bread in the oven.
* "I think Rachael Ray is bringing fun back into cooking."
* "I don't think she is making people more casual about cooking, but getting more folks into cooking because she makes it casual."
* "I am a huge fan of hers, and simply put ......... she is easy to relate to, because she is NOT a chef, and has a spirit about cooking, and a reality about cooking that brings the 'ease' of creating a 30-minute meal (I am not that quick) to the table that is delicious and eye appealing. Her meals are made with a common household kitchen flare, and ingredients accessible at any and all local markets. No gourmet here."
* "I think her show is proving that you can have a decent meal on the table in 30 minutes or less. With so many women working these days, this show has a great impact on those of us that put in a full day working."
* "She IS fun and casual. My feeling is that she is not too uptight about it and should be helping people, especially a person newly on his or her own."
Full bibliography for this article: Mona Doyle "Rachael Ray's impact". Shopper Report, The. July-August 2007. FindArticles.com. 31 Oct. 2007.
10.17.2007
ID Fraud
A loyal reader asks: How big is identity fraud online, what are the trends, and should I be concerned?
There is a lot of info out there on this. But here's a great synopsis by the nice folks at ITFacts.
Should you be concerned? Of course! Be careful. Purchase from reputable companies. Protect your information. Install a firewall if you don't have one already. Change your passwords regularly. Don't use obvious passwords. Be smart. One great service we use is one-time credit card numbers. They've been around for a while - but many people don't know about them.
There is a lot of info out there on this. But here's a great synopsis by the nice folks at ITFacts.
3.7% of Americans were victims of identity fraud in 2006
Approximately 500,000 fewer adults in the United States fell victim to identity fraud in 2006 than in 2005. Of America's overall adult population, 3.7% were victims, as compared to 4.0% in 2005. This demonstrates a continued year-over-year decrease since data was first collected in 2003 when 4.7% of the adult population was victimized. In terms of total dollars, identity fraud in 2007's report dropped by an estimated 12% over the previous year, from $55.7 bln to $49.3 bln. New account fraud dropped from 1.5% of all respondents in 2006 to one% in 2007. When fraudulent accounts are opened, many victims caught the fraud more quickly utilizing online channels, such as the viewing of statements, resulting in average fraud amounts dropping from more than $10,000 in 2006 to $7,260 on average in 2007.
The overall adult population of the United States reported a fraud rate of 3.7%. Younger adults between 18 and 24 reported a much greater incident rate of 5.3%. Additionally, more than half of these victims reported knowing their perpetrators, which could include friends, neighbors or in-home employees, as compared to just 23% of overall respondents, Javelin says
***So consumers are getting smarter, financial institutions and others are improving their services in this realm. Overall, things are getting better.Should you be concerned? Of course! Be careful. Purchase from reputable companies. Protect your information. Install a firewall if you don't have one already. Change your passwords regularly. Don't use obvious passwords. Be smart. One great service we use is one-time credit card numbers. They've been around for a while - but many people don't know about them.
9.30.2007
I can't understand a word they type!
A loyal reader asks: I try reading over my daughter's shoulder when she's texting (when did THAT become a verb?) and I have to plea ignorance. I don't know what she's writing. Why does she care about Point of Sale materials? Is she working for an ad agency behind my back?
You need to catch up. And quick. POS means 'parent over shoulder' so you are busted. We understand your need to know what's going on! There are great directories of text abbreviations, but our favorite is this search at No Slang.
Prepare to be shocked (and amused) when you check out these directories:
Net Lingo
Lingo2Word
Chat Slang and Acronyms
You need to catch up. And quick. POS means 'parent over shoulder' so you are busted. We understand your need to know what's going on! There are great directories of text abbreviations, but our favorite is this search at No Slang.
Prepare to be shocked (and amused) when you check out these directories:
Net Lingo
Lingo2Word
Chat Slang and Acronyms
9.14.2007
Rock on.
A loyal reader asks: My kid is off to college and tells me she can download music free. And it's legal. Sounds fishy to me.
Stealing music is a serious crime. But your daughter might be on the up-and-up. Read on.
Hitting the bigtime on college campuses - Ruckus\. Ruckus Network, Inc., the provider of a multimedia network that supplies free and legal music downloads specifically for college students. The website is...
LOUD!
Okay, that's our age talking. But seriously...
On member campuses, students can access the Ruckus service anytime – on or off campus – to enjoy the full-featured music service. They can access the first, college-only service that blends social networking features with a massive and continuously expanding library of free, legal and safe music downloads. Ruckus has already proven successful at more than 120 colleges and universities across the country, including Brown University, Duke University, Georgia Tech, Indiana University, North Carolina State, Princeton University, University of California-Berkeley, the University of Denver, Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania.
I'm sure there is no ulterior motives here. Righhhhttt......
But still.
Stealing music is a serious crime. But your daughter might be on the up-and-up. Read on.
Hitting the bigtime on college campuses - Ruckus\. Ruckus Network, Inc., the provider of a multimedia network that supplies free and legal music downloads specifically for college students. The website is...
LOUD!
Okay, that's our age talking. But seriously...
On member campuses, students can access the Ruckus service anytime – on or off campus – to enjoy the full-featured music service. They can access the first, college-only service that blends social networking features with a massive and continuously expanding library of free, legal and safe music downloads. Ruckus has already proven successful at more than 120 colleges and universities across the country, including Brown University, Duke University, Georgia Tech, Indiana University, North Carolina State, Princeton University, University of California-Berkeley, the University of Denver, Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania.
I'm sure there is no ulterior motives here. Righhhhttt......
But still.
8.27.2007
What's in it for me?
A loyal reader asks: I have a young staff. I would love to find something to reward and motivate them. But all the incentive programs I know about are, shall I say, stodgy?
The times they are a changing, loyal reader.
Check out Snowfly.
Intriguing.
The times they are a changing, loyal reader.
Check out Snowfly.
When employees meet crucial business goals, their reward is two-fold: the opportunity to play a game and the chance to win big. Every play is a guaranteed winner. When given the option to play the game or settle for a predetermined number of points, employees choose to play each time. They can then redeem earned points for prizes they actually want, such as an item from the Internet, a gift card, a day off from work or any other prize the company wants to offer. With Snowfly, you give your employees the right rewards, in the right way, for the right reasons, so your company will receive the right results.
Intriguing.
8.02.2007
Map it, Danno.
A loyal reader asks: I keep hearing that there are neat mapping tools online. I want to see some! I want to customize, collaborate, plan! Whatcha got for me?Oh reader, we love maps. Read on.
One of our favorite resources, Mashable, recently published this amazing list. We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
CUSTOMIZABLE AND COLLABORATIVE MAPS
Click2Map.com - Create custom Google Maps, manage your markers, publish and share your creations.
ClustrMaps.com - Get a visual representation of all the visitors to your website.
Geotag it - Add geo tags to Flickr and Del.icio.us posts and see where other links and photos come from.
MapBuilder.net - Uses Google Maps to help you build a custom tagged map you can add to your own website.
Mapicurious.com - Mark vacation spots, restaurants, bars, just about any place you would recommend.
Mappr.com - Another site allowing you to geo tag your Flickr photos to allow people to see them on a map.
Maptales.com - Tales of trips and more sorted on to a Google Map.
Maptrot.com - Create maps of interesting locales such as Route 66 or major sports stadiums, share them with the world.
Mkmap.com - Collaborative map that allows users to add things such as transit services and restaurants.
OpenStreetMap.org - A user editable map of the world to be worked on in collaboration.
Pixagogo.com - Add your own photos to a Google Map, give people a real feel for your neighborhood or vacation.
Planiglobe.com - Customize a map and download PostScript and Illustrator versions.
Quikmaps.com - Doodle on a Google Map, pass it around, embed in your site, or download it to your GPS.
Tagmaps - A way to visualize text on geographic maps, then can be used on your site.
Traffic.com - Check out traffic for your area on a map.
Trippermap.com - Tag your Flickr photos with a location; they get added to a flash based map for your website.
Useamap.com - Helps you publish a map for your event, provides a short url for easy use.
Wayfaring.com - Create and share maps, explore ones made by others.
Wayki.com - Tag locations and share with others, explore tags others have left.
YourGMap.com - Customizable and embeddable Google Maps with content you choose.
TRANSIT MAPPING
goDCgo.com - Look up Washington DC-specific information such as traffic, special events and car pooling.
IamCaltrain.com - Interactive map of the San Francisco metro area trains.
onNYturf.com - Interactive subway map of New York City.
Seattle Bus Monster - Plan your bus routes in the Seattle, WA area.
SUBJECT SPECIFIC MAPPING (not all are interactive, some are just some neat specialized maps!*)
DaylightMap.com - See where the sun is shining currently on this map.
Feedmap.net - Add a geo-code to your blog so people can look blogs up by location. You can also browse for areas that would interest you.
FlightAware.com - See how many planes are currently in the air and where they are.
Gruvr.com - Place to look up local music and add tour info.
HealthMap.org - A global disease outbreak map. For general interest or to suggest places you may wish to avoid.
Hotpotr.com - Map of Wi-Fi cafes and hotspots.
Incident1.com - Interactive map of 911 calls from around the United States.
Mailboxmap.com - Enter an address, get the locations of USPS mailboxes nearby.
Map-Runner.com - You can create a run route and assign a difficulty rating and a safety rating; it will be available to all runners using map runner, and they can rate it.
MapMyRun.com - Plot out your running course, indicate where water and bathrooms are, calculate your workout. They also have MapMyHike.com, MapMyRide.com, MapMyTri.com, and MapMyWalk.com.
MappyHour.com - Click anywhere on the map to display nearby bars and their happy hour specials.
MapWii.com - Enter your Wii number and see other players online to setup games all from a geographic map.
Moremap.com - Uses Google Maps as a basis to show earthquake activity, traffic reports, radio stations, and numerous other functions.
Platial.com - Add content from video, photos, stories, feeds and add it to your website.
PublicRoutes.com - A global map of mass-transit systems.
SignalMap.com - Find or add your own reports on cell strength to various locations and by carrier.
Tornado Paths - Visual history of tornado paths on a map.
VirtualVideoMap.com - Shows a Google Map with YouTube videos sorted by locations.
POPULAR MAPPING SERVICES
Ask.com Maps - Ask.com’s driving directions solution.
Google Mars - Google’s interactive map of the fourth planet of our solar system, Mars.
Google Maps - Get directions, look up your house with satellite photos. The basis of many websites.
Mapquest.com - Look up local businesses, get driving directions.
Poly9 FreeEarth - A free, online interactive 3D globe with various layers you can apply.
Windows Live Local - Microsoft’s entrant in to the mapping game.
Worldmapper - Maps of the world resized based on various subjects such as land mass and population.
Yahoo! Local Maps - Get driving directions, find businesses and much more.
Again, credit for that amazing list goes to Mashable. If you don't subscribe, you should!7.11.2007
15-Love
A loyal reader asks: I have a client in the tennis business. They want me to find national publications with tennis subject matter on their editorial calendars. I've done some Google searching, but I feel like I'm drowning in irrelevant results. HELP ME!
Score 1 for us. We have a great idea.
Check out MRI+, a free database of magazine planning information run by Mediamark Research.
MRI+ is a free digital library of competitive data that serves as an electronic information link between planners and the publishers of major consumer and business publications.
MRI+ consolidates the databases planners use to evaluate magazines at one site:
So here's what you do.
Of course, you still need someone to apply some judgment, but it's a great start.
Score 1 for us. We have a great idea.
Check out MRI+, a free database of magazine planning information run by Mediamark Research.
MRI+ is a free digital library of competitive data that serves as an electronic information link between planners and the publishers of major consumer and business publications.
MRI+ consolidates the databases planners use to evaluate magazines at one site:
- Top-line data from the Survey of the American Consumer™
- ABC Circulation Reports
- Advertising Expenditures
- Editorial profiles and calendars
- Subscriber Studies
- Links to Publisher sites
So here's what you do.
- Log in.
- Go to New Search.
- Select Consumer Publications in part 1.
- Select Profile and Editorial Calendars in part 2.
- Select contains and type 'tennis' in the keyword box.
- Click on search.
Of course, you still need someone to apply some judgment, but it's a great start.
6.19.2007
Functional exercise.
A loyal reader asks: I have been looking for resources on Functional Exercise lately. Sure I've found some. But most of them make me sign up for stuff or lead me to other sites. It's annoying. Help!
For those, like me, who don't know what Functional Exercise, GoAnimal defines it like this:
Speaking of GoAnimal, it has a nice list of exercises.....see them here. You'll find hover steps, skating steps, touch low/reach high, partner-resist core squats and more.
About.com again does a great job. See Best Ab Exercises and Core Exercises
Physical Therapy Connections has a nice list of exercises to try with very clear directions.
Getfitsource. Sure, they sell products. But they have some great videos and workouts here for download - fa-ree!
I'm tired just thinking about it all.
Good luck :)
For those, like me, who don't know what Functional Exercise, GoAnimal defines it like this:
Technically speaking, a functional exercise is multi-joint and multi-plane; this is the definition favored by physical therapists. More broadly, a functional exercise is one that is relevant to real-world challenges. An exercise is considered functional when it prepares us for some movement challenge that we are actually likely to encounter.Thanks for asking....
Speaking of GoAnimal, it has a nice list of exercises.....see them here. You'll find hover steps, skating steps, touch low/reach high, partner-resist core squats and more.
About.com again does a great job. See Best Ab Exercises and Core Exercises
Physical Therapy Connections has a nice list of exercises to try with very clear directions.
Getfitsource. Sure, they sell products. But they have some great videos and workouts here for download - fa-ree!
I'm tired just thinking about it all.
Good luck :)
6.12.2007
Achoo!
A loyal reader asks: With all this talk about TB, I'm starting to feel a little paranoid - I mean sick. How can I find out what's going around in my neighborhood?
Glad you asked.
There's a new application called Who is Sick? It's kind of neat. A little creepy? Maybe.
"Who Is Sick was started in 2006 with a mission to provide current and local sickness information to the public - without the hassle of dealing with hospitals or doctors. With a strong belief in the power of people and a faith that user generated content can be extremely valuable, our team set out to create an entirely new system for tracking and monitoring sickness information."
All of a sudden, I feel a little under the weather.
The system needs to be more populated. I put in my sniffle symptoms and now it looks like an epidemic in my zip code!
Glad you asked.
There's a new application called Who is Sick? It's kind of neat. A little creepy? Maybe.
"Who Is Sick was started in 2006 with a mission to provide current and local sickness information to the public - without the hassle of dealing with hospitals or doctors. With a strong belief in the power of people and a faith that user generated content can be extremely valuable, our team set out to create an entirely new system for tracking and monitoring sickness information."
All of a sudden, I feel a little under the weather.
The system needs to be more populated. I put in my sniffle symptoms and now it looks like an epidemic in my zip code!
5.30.2007
Polling power.
A reader asks: I frequently have the need to get input from my large and very geographically dispersed team. When I send an email out, I get all these answers in different formats and, frankly, it's a pain in the neck. Any suggestions?
Why yes, thanks for asking!
You can poll your team (or customers or anyone!) without typing a single line of code. Some popular polling tools are Polldaddy, Quibblo, and Zoho Polls. All easy and all well-reviewed!
Still, our favorite is Wufoo. Wufoo is a very simple way to build amazing online forms. When you design a form with Wufoo, it automatically builds the database, backend and scripts needed to make collecting and understanding your data easy, fast and fun. You can send it by email or send the link. Seriously, this is easy.
Happy polling!
Why yes, thanks for asking!
You can poll your team (or customers or anyone!) without typing a single line of code. Some popular polling tools are Polldaddy, Quibblo, and Zoho Polls. All easy and all well-reviewed!
Still, our favorite is Wufoo. Wufoo is a very simple way to build amazing online forms. When you design a form with Wufoo, it automatically builds the database, backend and scripts needed to make collecting and understanding your data easy, fast and fun. You can send it by email or send the link. Seriously, this is easy.
Happy polling!
5.15.2007
I can't get no...
A reader asks: I remember several years ago reading about some measure of customer satifaction by industry. Do you know what I'm talking about and if it still exists?
Yes, as a matter of fact, we do.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has been around since the mid-90's. They report scores on a 0-100 scale at the national level and produce indexes for 10 economic sectors, 43 industries (including e-commerce and e-business) and more than 200 companies and federal or local government agencies. In addition to the company-level satisfaction scores, ACSI produces scores for the causes and consequences of customer satisfaction and their relationships. The measured companies, industries, and sectors are broadly representative of the U.S. economy serving American households.
See industry scores here.
Yes, as a matter of fact, we do.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has been around since the mid-90's. They report scores on a 0-100 scale at the national level and produce indexes for 10 economic sectors, 43 industries (including e-commerce and e-business) and more than 200 companies and federal or local government agencies. In addition to the company-level satisfaction scores, ACSI produces scores for the causes and consequences of customer satisfaction and their relationships. The measured companies, industries, and sectors are broadly representative of the U.S. economy serving American households.
See industry scores here.
5.01.2007
Bits & Bytes.
A reader asks:
Bits, bytes. I've never had the nerve to ask anyone what they really are. But since this is anonymous, what are they?
We're glad you asked.
Coincidently, we just read The Expanding Digital Universe, a March 2007 white paper by IDC. Excerpts below are pulled straight from there... So they get credit for the answer. We just get credit for knowing where to find it.
WHAT ARE BITS AND BYTES?
A "bit" is the smallest unit of information that can be stored in a computer, and consists of either a 1 or 0 (or on/off state). All computer calculations are in bits. A "byte" is a collection of 8 bits. Bytes are convenient because, when converted to computer code, they can represent 256 characters, such as numbers or letters. So a byte is 8 times larger than a bit. Common aggregations for bytes come in multiples of 1,000, such as kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and so on. The progression is as follows:
Bit (b) 1 or 0
Byte (B) 8 bits
Kilobyte (KB) 1,000 bytes
Megabyte (MB) 1,000 KB
Gigabyte (GB) 1,000 MB
Terabyte (TB) 1,000, GB
Petabyte (PB) 1,000 TB
Exabyte (EB) 1,000 PB
Zettabyte (ZB) 1,000 EB
This seems simple enough, except sometimes multiples of bytes are considered as powers of 2, since the original machine language only has two states, 1 or 0. A kilobyte would then be 210 bytes, or 1,024 bytes. A megabyte would be 220 bytes, or 1,024 kilobytes, and so on.
For the sake of simplicity, in all calculations for this research we used the decimal system we mentioned first.
And now that you have that under your belt, check this out:
• In 2006, the amount of digital information created, captured, and replicated was 1,288 x 1018 bits. In computer parlance, that's 161 exabytes or 161 billion gigabytes. This is about 3 million times the information in all the books ever written.
• Between 2006 and 2010, the information added annually to the digital universe will increase more than six fold from 161 exabytes to 988 exabytes.
Jinkies. Those are some big numbers. See you again for the next Stump the Researcher!
Bits, bytes. I've never had the nerve to ask anyone what they really are. But since this is anonymous, what are they?
We're glad you asked.
Coincidently, we just read The Expanding Digital Universe, a March 2007 white paper by IDC. Excerpts below are pulled straight from there... So they get credit for the answer. We just get credit for knowing where to find it.
WHAT ARE BITS AND BYTES?
A "bit" is the smallest unit of information that can be stored in a computer, and consists of either a 1 or 0 (or on/off state). All computer calculations are in bits. A "byte" is a collection of 8 bits. Bytes are convenient because, when converted to computer code, they can represent 256 characters, such as numbers or letters. So a byte is 8 times larger than a bit. Common aggregations for bytes come in multiples of 1,000, such as kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and so on. The progression is as follows:
Bit (b) 1 or 0
Byte (B) 8 bits
Kilobyte (KB) 1,000 bytes
Megabyte (MB) 1,000 KB
Gigabyte (GB) 1,000 MB
Terabyte (TB) 1,000, GB
Petabyte (PB) 1,000 TB
Exabyte (EB) 1,000 PB
Zettabyte (ZB) 1,000 EB
This seems simple enough, except sometimes multiples of bytes are considered as powers of 2, since the original machine language only has two states, 1 or 0. A kilobyte would then be 210 bytes, or 1,024 bytes. A megabyte would be 220 bytes, or 1,024 kilobytes, and so on.
For the sake of simplicity, in all calculations for this research we used the decimal system we mentioned first.
And now that you have that under your belt, check this out:
• In 2006, the amount of digital information created, captured, and replicated was 1,288 x 1018 bits. In computer parlance, that's 161 exabytes or 161 billion gigabytes. This is about 3 million times the information in all the books ever written.
• Between 2006 and 2010, the information added annually to the digital universe will increase more than six fold from 161 exabytes to 988 exabytes.
Jinkies. Those are some big numbers. See you again for the next Stump the Researcher!
4.18.2007
Are birds social?
A reader asks: I am fascinated by all these social networking sites. How can I find a network where I can 'hang out' with other bird-watching enthusiasts?
We don't suppose you mean The Orioles, huh? Thought not. Read on for the answer...
_______________________________________
This Field Guide: Birds of the World group on Flickr has over 3,000 members and over 33,000 photos and substantial discussion. There are strict rules -- this is serious business.
You can submit your birding info, analyze your personal birding info, and analyze other public birding info in eBird. Registration is required.
Perhaps a teeny bit off topic, but really interesting: BirdJam is a company that integrates bird watching with iPods. With BirdJam, any North American bird song can be found within 15 seconds from the easily-accessed playlists organized by habitat and family. Call me a geek (okay, you didn't really have to do that) but I think that's really cool.
And sure, there are forums all over the place - like on Birder's World, for example.
Can't find the kind of network you want? Make your own! (listen carefully - this is really, really neato...)
You can create a full social network that you can customize and brand as your own. It's true. Check out Ning. It has a full suite of capabilities for photos, videos, discussions, blogs, privacy settings... you name it, Ning has it.
We can think of some really great ways to use this tool... anyone want to join a research social network?
We don't suppose you mean The Orioles, huh? Thought not. Read on for the answer...
_______________________________________
This Field Guide: Birds of the World group on Flickr has over 3,000 members and over 33,000 photos and substantial discussion. There are strict rules -- this is serious business.
You can submit your birding info, analyze your personal birding info, and analyze other public birding info in eBird. Registration is required.
Perhaps a teeny bit off topic, but really interesting: BirdJam is a company that integrates bird watching with iPods. With BirdJam, any North American bird song can be found within 15 seconds from the easily-accessed playlists organized by habitat and family. Call me a geek (okay, you didn't really have to do that) but I think that's really cool.
And sure, there are forums all over the place - like on Birder's World, for example.
Can't find the kind of network you want? Make your own! (listen carefully - this is really, really neato...)
You can create a full social network that you can customize and brand as your own. It's true. Check out Ning. It has a full suite of capabilities for photos, videos, discussions, blogs, privacy settings... you name it, Ning has it.
We can think of some really great ways to use this tool... anyone want to join a research social network?
4.04.2007
Blog stats.
A reader asks: I hear a lot about how many blogs there are – one stat said a new blog every ½ second or some such number. But how many blogs are ACTIVE and how many get started and stall out? Also, while you’re at it, is there any way of ranking a blog’s “goodness”. Like some sort of ranking? And if so, what is that ranking based on? Man, I’m FULL of questions!
You ARE full of questions! Or something... (hee hee)
Here goes:
Steve Rubel pointed out a report recently from Microsoft. It says that almost 75% of Blogger's blogs are Spam Blogs or splogs. Yikes. That is a lot. And while the methodology is disputed by some, there is no arguing that there are a lot them - splogs, that is.
According to David Sifry (founder of Technorati) last October (new report in new format coming soon):
How to find the good ones? Well, Technorati has a good tool. You do the search and then choose how much authority you want to filter by -- little, none, a lot -- and it narrows the search. We've found it to be very useful.
Or you could ask us. We'll help you find the relevant blogs you need. The best way we've found is to use great search techniques to narrow and then read, read, read.
You ARE full of questions! Or something... (hee hee)
Here goes:
Steve Rubel pointed out a report recently from Microsoft. It says that almost 75% of Blogger's blogs are Spam Blogs or splogs. Yikes. That is a lot. And while the methodology is disputed by some, there is no arguing that there are a lot them - splogs, that is.
According to David Sifry (founder of Technorati) last October (new report in new format coming soon):
- Technorati is now tracking more than 57 Million blogs.
- Spam-, splog- and sping-fighting efforts at Technorati are paying dividends in terms of the reduction of garbage in our indexes, even if it does seem to impact overall growth rates.
- Today, the blogosphere is doubling in size approximately every 230 days.
- About 100,000 new weblogs were created each day, again down slightly quarter-over-quarter but probably due in part to spam fighting efforts.
- About 4% of new splogs get past Technorati's filters, even if it is only for a few hours or days.
- There is a strong correlation between the aging and post frequency of blogs and their authority and Technorati ranking.
- The globalization of the blogosphere continues. Our data appears to show both English and Spanish languages are a more universal blog language than the other two most dominant language, Japanese and Chinese, which seem to be more regionally localized.
- Coincident with a rise in blog posts about escalating Middle East tensions throughout the summer and fall, Farsi has moved into the top 10 languages of the blogosphere, indicating that blogging continues to play a critical role in debates about the important issues of our times.
How to find the good ones? Well, Technorati has a good tool. You do the search and then choose how much authority you want to filter by -- little, none, a lot -- and it narrows the search. We've found it to be very useful.
Or you could ask us. We'll help you find the relevant blogs you need. The best way we've found is to use great search techniques to narrow and then read, read, read.
3.21.2007
Visuals.
A reader asks: I'm not a visual guy. But I need to create charts and visuals to make my concepts clearer for my presentations. Like I said, this does not come easy to me. I've seen Ven Diagrams, Pyramids, Flow Charts. But are there others?
Answer: Are there ever!
We recently found about the coolest collection ever.
Check out the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods.
Let it load. It takes a minute. Then run your cursor over each part of the table. You'll see a neato flash window with an example of the visualization method. It gave us some great ideas and we bet it will do the same for you.
A few are:
Radar Chart
Scatterplot
Concentric Circles
Cognitive Mapping
Tree
Metro Map
Histogram
Continuum
Magic Quadrant
Failure Tree
Value Chain
S-Cycle
Well, you get the picture!
Answer: Are there ever!
We recently found about the coolest collection ever.
Check out the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods.
Let it load. It takes a minute. Then run your cursor over each part of the table. You'll see a neato flash window with an example of the visualization method. It gave us some great ideas and we bet it will do the same for you.
A few are:
Radar Chart
Scatterplot
Concentric Circles
Cognitive Mapping
Tree
Metro Map
Histogram
Continuum
Magic Quadrant
Failure Tree
Value Chain
S-Cycle
Well, you get the picture!
3.06.2007
Hair.
A reader asks: I've been pondering hair. It’s so weird, hair is. Dead protein. That’s all it is. Do you know how much money is spent each year trying to get you to spend your paycheck on products to make your dead protein look better? Me either. But I bet it is a lot. How about a ballpark figure here?
First of all, ad spending on hair care products is expected top $1 billion this year, according to Advertising Age. That’s a lot of advertising.
U.S. Shampoo sales were up 0.7% to $620.3 million for the 52 weeks ending Sept. 10, according to Information Resources Inc., Chicago. Meanwhile, sales of conditioner were up 3.5% in supermarkets to $360.3 million for the same period.
My favorite quote from the research “Hair care was flat for a while” okay, I thought it was funny.
One more piece of info:
According to IRI, hairspray sales in the US were about $367 million last year and US gel and mousse sales were $581 million.
Add them all together? It's almost $2 billion a year. And this doesn't include hair color. That's $2 billion on its own.
(And AdAge estimates the ENTIRE hair market at $8 billion, but that includes unmeasured channels, which always makes me go hmmmm....)
First of all, ad spending on hair care products is expected top $1 billion this year, according to Advertising Age. That’s a lot of advertising.
U.S. Shampoo sales were up 0.7% to $620.3 million for the 52 weeks ending Sept. 10, according to Information Resources Inc., Chicago. Meanwhile, sales of conditioner were up 3.5% in supermarkets to $360.3 million for the same period.
My favorite quote from the research “Hair care was flat for a while” okay, I thought it was funny.
One more piece of info:
According to IRI, hairspray sales in the US were about $367 million last year and US gel and mousse sales were $581 million.
Add them all together? It's almost $2 billion a year. And this doesn't include hair color. That's $2 billion on its own.
(And AdAge estimates the ENTIRE hair market at $8 billion, but that includes unmeasured channels, which always makes me go hmmmm....)
2.19.2007
Like Steve.
A reader asks: I was following a blog on Carepages where this guy had some pithy quote from pop culture almost every day. No one remembers all those lines! How can I be as cool as Steve?
Oh, reader. You probably can't be quite as cool as he is. But here are some suggestions...
Check out Quotegeek. Very fun.
We ran a search on HOPE. Found these (among others...)
Red: Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.
Movies > The Shawshank Redemption
Gloria: Joanie, you are now a world-class hopeless romantic.Joan Wilder: No, hopeful. Hopeful romantic.
Movies > Romancing the Stone
Man can't help hoping even if he is a scientist. He can only hope more accurately.
Love Against Hate
Personalities > Karl Menninger
For you patient searchers (you know who you are!) try Fagan Finder's Quote Search. Here there are 20 or 30 different quote search engines to try! It's hard to imagine you won't find something good here.
We're always looking for great research quotes. We know. It's not the most fascinating subject to everyone. So as an experiment, we tried some of the engines...
From Quotez
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
Wernher von Braun
From Board of Wisdom
one of our all time favorites (you may have heard this from us before!)
Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from many, it's research.
Wilson Mizner
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
From Said What
Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.
David Ogilvy
Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.
Marston Bates
And if you're more in the mood for a good cliche, check out Cliche Finder.
Until next time!
Oh, reader. You probably can't be quite as cool as he is. But here are some suggestions...
Check out Quotegeek. Very fun.
We ran a search on HOPE. Found these (among others...)
Red: Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.
Movies > The Shawshank Redemption
Gloria: Joanie, you are now a world-class hopeless romantic.Joan Wilder: No, hopeful. Hopeful romantic.
Movies > Romancing the Stone
Man can't help hoping even if he is a scientist. He can only hope more accurately.
Love Against Hate
Personalities > Karl Menninger
For you patient searchers (you know who you are!) try Fagan Finder's Quote Search. Here there are 20 or 30 different quote search engines to try! It's hard to imagine you won't find something good here.
We're always looking for great research quotes. We know. It's not the most fascinating subject to everyone. So as an experiment, we tried some of the engines...
From Quotez
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
Wernher von Braun
From Board of Wisdom
one of our all time favorites (you may have heard this from us before!)
Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from many, it's research.
Wilson Mizner
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
From Said What
Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.
David Ogilvy
Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.
Marston Bates
And if you're more in the mood for a good cliche, check out Cliche Finder.
Until next time!
2.04.2007
Find Blogs.
A reader (okay fine, Wendy's mother) asked:You're always telling me that there are blogs that I'd want to read. How do you expect me to find them?I want to read about genealogy.
One easy way to find some starting points is to use the Google Blogsearch. For this, I typed in genealogy and the top results were:
Genealogy and How - Daily blog of online genealogy records and databases
Genealogy Blog - Genealogy on the Internet :: Today and Everyday
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter - The DAILY newsletter for genealogy consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether the vendors like it or not! Check...
RssGenealogy.com - Latest Genealogy News - One source for all the latest genealogy news
The Genealogy Guys Podcast - George G. Morgan and Drew Smith discuss genealogy! Their podcast is the longest-running, continuous genealogy podcast
Then, when you start reading the first one, Genealogy and How, you'll see the blogroll is:
Dick Eastman
GenealogyBlog
GenealogyToday
RSS Genealogy
About Genealogy
Olive Tree
The Paper Trail
Ancestors at Rest
Family Bibles
Canadian Lib Genie
Family & Local Histories
Interment.net Blog
Death Records Blog
If you go to RSS Genealogy, you'll find 63 feeds. Wow.
You get the picture. What takes time is figuring out which ones matter. Which are worth reading. But if you pick a trail and follow it, you are bound to find some interesting and worthwhile sites.
There are other ways to go about this, as well. You can find articles in trade publications, consumer magazines...even newspapers...that talk about respected blogs.
What you'll find is that in any category, there are blogs that are linked to most often. These are worth checking out, for sure.
You can go to Alexa and see what the traffic is for specific blogs. If it's wildly popular, check it out.
(And of course, there are many blog search engines and directories! So don't get too tied down to Google. Some swear by Technorati, some Blogdigger. And some really interesting metasearches like Talk Digger. I bet we revisit that one soon - it's really neat.)
So go crazy! And try not to get too distracted by all the interesting things you find off-topic!
One easy way to find some starting points is to use the Google Blogsearch. For this, I typed in genealogy and the top results were:
Genealogy and How - Daily blog of online genealogy records and databases
Genealogy Blog - Genealogy on the Internet :: Today and Everyday
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter - The DAILY newsletter for genealogy consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether the vendors like it or not! Check...
RssGenealogy.com - Latest Genealogy News - One source for all the latest genealogy news
The Genealogy Guys Podcast - George G. Morgan and Drew Smith discuss genealogy! Their podcast is the longest-running, continuous genealogy podcast
Then, when you start reading the first one, Genealogy and How, you'll see the blogroll is:
Dick Eastman
GenealogyBlog
GenealogyToday
RSS Genealogy
About Genealogy
Olive Tree
The Paper Trail
Ancestors at Rest
Family Bibles
Canadian Lib Genie
Family & Local Histories
Interment.net Blog
Death Records Blog
If you go to RSS Genealogy, you'll find 63 feeds. Wow.
You get the picture. What takes time is figuring out which ones matter. Which are worth reading. But if you pick a trail and follow it, you are bound to find some interesting and worthwhile sites.
There are other ways to go about this, as well. You can find articles in trade publications, consumer magazines...even newspapers...that talk about respected blogs.
What you'll find is that in any category, there are blogs that are linked to most often. These are worth checking out, for sure.
You can go to Alexa and see what the traffic is for specific blogs. If it's wildly popular, check it out.
(And of course, there are many blog search engines and directories! So don't get too tied down to Google. Some swear by Technorati, some Blogdigger. And some really interesting metasearches like Talk Digger. I bet we revisit that one soon - it's really neat.)
So go crazy! And try not to get too distracted by all the interesting things you find off-topic!
1.23.2007
CEO Bloggers.
A reader asks: I've been reading about CEO's and blogging. Like this article BusinessWeek a few months back; but also tidbits in some of my daily reading. So how can I find out which CEOs really are blogging?
One great place to start is The NewPR/Wiki's CEO Blog List. Listed by country, this list is constantly updated.
You can check out the CEO Blog Watch blog.....
The Fortune 500 Business Blog Wiki... or the Fortune 500 Blog Project.
One great place to start is The NewPR/Wiki's CEO Blog List. Listed by country, this list is constantly updated.
You can check out the CEO Blog Watch blog.....
The Fortune 500 Business Blog Wiki... or the Fortune 500 Blog Project.
1.09.2007
Stump the researcher. Part 5.
A loyal reader asks: I know I should know what they are, but what the heck are hedge funds? I keep hearing that the growth is huge. Yeah, tell me about that too.
So glad you asked.
We have a great source for these types of questions - financial trends and the like.
The Financial Services Fact Book 2007 Make a note of it. You'll need this one day. Don't worry, though. If you forget, you can always ask us...
This from the Fact Book:
Hedge funds are private investment pools subject to the terms of investment agreements between the sponsors of, and investors in, the hedge fund. While mutual funds typically have a minimum opening investment of about $1,000, hedge fund investors are often required to have a minimum investment of $1 million.
So glad you asked.
We have a great source for these types of questions - financial trends and the like.
The Financial Services Fact Book 2007 Make a note of it. You'll need this one day. Don't worry, though. If you forget, you can always ask us...
This from the Fact Book:
Hedge funds are private investment pools subject to the terms of investment agreements between the sponsors of, and investors in, the hedge fund. While mutual funds typically have a minimum opening investment of about $1,000, hedge fund investors are often required to have a minimum investment of $1 million.
ASSETS OF HEDGE FUNDS, 1950-2006 (1)($ billions)
(1) All data are for January.Source: Hennessee Group LLC.
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