ask us. we know.

Training stats. Stat!

2008-01-28T10:40:00.000-05:00

A reader asks: Do you know or can you point me in the direction to get information regarding money spent on employee training? Basically I just want numbers like "the top companies spend $x per employee per year on training" or "for a midsized company you can expect to spend x."

Yes, I can.

The article below is from a new report (released in Feb) looks good. The attachment is interesting. Let me know if you want anything else!

This is older, but worth a glance:

Corporate Learning Budgets Rising, But Salary Spending Remains Flat, Says Bersin and Associates February 15, 2007

The corporate learning market continues to grow, with company budget increases averaging 7 percent, according to the Bersin and Associates' 2007 Corporate Learning Factbook. Total training spending grew from $51.1 billion in 2005 to $55.8 billion in 2006; spending on products and services grew from $13.5 billion in 2005 to $15.8 billion in 2006. While budgets have increased, salary spending over the last four years has remained relatively flat.

In 2005, 73 cents of every training dollar went to payroll expenses; in 2006, payroll expenses were 65 cents of every dollar.

Other findings from the study include:

Learning technologies are widely used by companies of all sizes.
Almost 60% of respondents use virtual classroom technologies, 40% have learning management systems, 25 to 30% use application simulation and rapid e-learning tools, and 14% use learning content management systems.
The average spending per learner is $1,273. The highest spending sector is technology ($2,763) and the lowest is retail ($519).
When it comes to learning programs, sales training and management/supervisory training are the program priorities for most learning organizations.
Outsourcing continues to grow, with highest planned increases in custom content development and LMS hosting.

Bersin & Associates claims the study is the most detailed and up-to-date view of corporate learning and development available. Said Karen O'Leonard, research director for the study, "Our rigorous research methodology, combined with the extensive survey database we have built over the last few years, gives us a unique ability to quantify key metrics and provide fact-supported analysis of important trends."

Time spent listening.

2008-01-03T14:48:00.000-05:00

A reader asks: What's the average time spent on listening to radio per day among people 25-34? Has it decreased over the past 5 years?

Yes, it has. But not as dramatically as you might think. Check this out:

Time spent listening overall has decreased by 3 hours and 15 minutes per week in the past 10 years. That is a lot. But the past 5 years have slowed, with a loss of just over an hour. So the biggest changes in total listening was from 1997 through 2002.

In looking at the demographic of most interest to our reader (thanks for sending such a great question, by the way!), we've compiled the data from years of Arbitron reports. Note that 2002 is missing. The trends look a lot like the above chart - steady decreases. Notice also, that men consistently listen more than women. (click on the chart and it gets nice & big!)

Who uses the public libraries?

2008-01-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

A loyal reader asks: Does anyone go to the library anymore?

Oh reader! As huge library fans, we hope so.

Here's what we learned.

Pew Internet (we love those guys!) just came out with a new study. Evidently, of the 53 percent of U.S. adults who said they visited a library in 2007, Gen Y-ers (18-30 year olds) are the biggest users. Shocking. The study said that compared to the older folks, Gen Y members were the most likely to use libraries for problem-solving information and in general patronage for any purpose. And these young adults also say most frequently that they will use libraries in the future.

This is a good sign for libraries.

Read the study. You'll see that computers are a huge part of the library experience these days. No big surprise. But still, we at Scherer Cybrarian love libraries and were excited to see that the trends are positive. (Note: Our local library is always packed. So anecdotally, we felt good about this already!)

Another dataset to consider:

The first annual report on the State of America’s Libraries, the American Library Association says:

Almost 90% of Americans are satisfied with their public libraries. Most agree that public libraries are under-funded and need more support.
Libraries are keeping up with the times—and with the public's needs.
Libraries are experiencing great local support and are growing and adding services and enhancements, including serious connectivity. State funding has decreased, and the public support has made the difference.
1.8 billion visitors checked out more than 2 billion items from U.S. libraries in fiscal year 2004.
Circulation and participation at American public libraries continue to rise.
Almost 2/3 of Americans have a library card.

Shop on.

2007-12-10T15:44:00.000-05:00

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?

Zippity Doodah.

2007-11-12T17:01:00.000-05:00

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%

And in comparison...

2007-10-31T13:43:00.001-04:00

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

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.

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.

See back issues and sign up for the Shopper Report RSS by going here.

ID Fraud

2007-10-17T11:10:00.000-04:00

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.

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.

I can't understand a word they type!

2007-09-30T17:48:00.000-04:00

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

Rock on.

2007-09-14T17:53:00.000-04:00

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.

What's in it for me?

2007-08-27T11:23:00.000-04:00

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.

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.

Map it, Danno.

2007-08-02T18:06:00.000-04:00

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!

15-Love

2007-07-11T14:32:00.000-04:00

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:

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

MRI+ is free to registered users.

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.

And there you have it. A list of publications with tennis on the edcal or in the publication profile along with circulation, and other information.

Of course, you still need someone to apply some judgment, but it's a great start.

Functional exercise.

2007-06-19T11:37:00.000-04:00

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:

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 :)

Achoo!

2007-06-12T14:32:00.000-04:00

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!

Polling power.

2007-05-30T21:46:00.000-04:00

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!

I can't get no...

2007-05-15T11:19:00.000-04:00

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.

Bits & Bytes.

2007-05-01T15:54:00.000-04:00

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!

Are birds social?

2007-04-18T14:40:00.000-04:00

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?

Blog stats.

2007-04-04T11:57:00.000-04:00

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):

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.

We believe that there are substantially more than 57 million blogs. A year ago, The Blog Herald said there were 200 million. Wow. But there are few new reports about this and, frankly, it's just so hard to get accurate statistics when it changes by the minute and there is no one way to count.

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.

Visuals.

2007-03-21T12:04:00.000-04:00

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!

Hair.

2007-03-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

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....)

Like Steve.

2007-02-19T19:51:00.000-05:00

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!

Find Blogs.

2007-02-04T14:48:00.000-05:00

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!

CEO Bloggers.

2007-01-23T12:26:00.001-05:00

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.

Stump the researcher. Part 5.

2007-01-09T21:07:00.000-05:00

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.

ASSETS OF HEDGE FUNDS, 1950-2006 (1)($ billions)
(1) All data are for January.Source: Hennessee Group LLC.

Retail.

2006-12-13T11:46:00.000-05:00

Our reader asked:

A reader asks: For a strategy meeting, I want to find the top retail chains. I think I have a great idea how to market my client's product, but need to compile a list of partners to consider. What criteria should I use and how can I make a list?

The National Retail Federation compiles an annual list of the hottest retailers. You can check it out here. It show where the headquarters are, 2 years of revenue (and the change), 2 years of earnings (and the change) and 2 years of units (and the change). Looks like a great start!

Good luck.

Compare.

2006-11-29T10:21:00.000-05:00

FruCall
This is way cool. Want to be sure you're getting a good deal when you're shopping? Stop by and register at FruCall. When you spot an item you like, call 1-888-363-7822 (you have a cell phone, right?) . Type the UPC of the product you're interested in and Frucall will tell you the best online prices for that item. If you like the online price better, you can buy it directly from the online merchant while you're on the phone. Or buy it later, if you'd rather. Your info is stored so you can check it at home later - and you can even leave yourself "voicenotes."

Pronto
This is a very comprehensive product search - Pronto has a terrific product selection on the web so you can find the lowest prices every time you shop online.

ShopLocal
Find the best deals to buy Online and at your Local stores.

Dealcatcher
Coupons, compare prices, deals.

Manly men.

2006-11-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

Manly Men, Oil Platforms, and Breaking Stereotypes from Harvard Business Review piqued my interest. And not just because Andrew used to work offshore on rigs!

"You're a Neanderthal" has new meaning.

2006-11-20T20:53:00.000-05:00

I heard about this on NPR the other day. Call me a geek (everyone else does)... but I thought it was simply fascinating!

Humans, Neanderthals closer on family tree: But it's the differences in DNA that excite scientists most

Zamzar

2006-11-20T14:00:00.000-05:00

Prepare to be amazed. Zamzar is so cool!

This is a free online conversion tool for four categories of file formats - Document, Image, Music and Video Formats. You can see the exact conversion types on offer here, but this is more extensive than anything we've found.

And did we mention it's free?

Hola, Mi Amigo

2006-11-14T13:24:00.000-05:00

Hola, Mi Amigo is a great demographic article in ClickZ today by Peter Lerma. Read it for additional insight into the Hispanic market online...

Stump the researcher. Part 1.

2006-11-08T10:31:00.000-05:00

A loyal reader asks:

Who buys gift cards and why? Have we just become gift-giving slackers and this is the easy way out? Do we buy them even for our closest friends (those people we are supposed to know well enough to select something personal) or do we use them for the obligation gift to the nephew we haven’t seen in 4 years and have no idea what he’s into or what size he might be? Do people really like getting them (freedom to pick out what I really want) or hate them (now I have to go shopping AGAIN). How do we feel about knowing how much someone spent on us? Didn’t we used to be psycho about making sure the price tag was removed before we wrapped? Does it feel like holidays and birthdays are just financial transactions where we exchange cash?

Tough one, loyal reader.

We are shocked to report that the research shows that the primary reason people buy gift cards is that the recipients WANT gift cards. Frankly, I'm shocked. If I didn't read it myself, I'd say that the true motivation for buying gift cards is plain old laziness. (Sorry to any gift card clients we may have!)

Now some of the research:

Excerpted from: BigResearch

“The popularity of gift cards is soaring among consumers of all ages,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch. “Once seen as a quick solution to a last minute present, gift cards have moved to the forefront as a holiday favorite to both give and receive.”

From Deloitte Consumer Holiday Survey

While gift cards are especially popular among shoppers over age 65 and those with incomes of more than $100,000, on average, respondents reported they planned to buy 4.7 cards each. These same respondents reported holding 2.3 cards unused from last year.

From Radio Advertising Bureau, Gift Cards Climb to the Top of the List

Once upon a time, gift cards were a last resort for people who didn't know what to buy. According to a new survey conducted by Stored Value Systems, a national leader in electronic gift card programs, that is no longer the case. The results of a national web survey of adults conducted at the end of February revealed that eight in 10 said they would rather receive a gift card to their favorite retailer than any other kind of gift."We've been doing surveys and watching gift cards grow in popularity for years," said Bob Skiba, SVS executive vice president and general manager. "Cards are so appreciated that many people specifically ask for gift cards to their favorite store or restaurant." Survey highlights include: -

76 percent of adults purchased gift cards in the 2005 holiday season.
91 percent of adults who had received holiday gift cards had redeemed them before the end of February 2006.
Three-quarters of recipients made sure they used up the card completely.
Eight in 10 people would rather get a gift card to a favorite retailer than any other kind of gift.
More than one-half of respondents say that they always or often add their own money when making a purchase with a gift card.
Of those purchasing holiday gift cards, two-thirds bought them in early December.
68 percent of adults prefer or bought gift cards with an appropriate holiday design.
Eight respondents in 10 say that they spend more (33 percent) or the same amount (47 percent) on a gift card than they would on an alternate gift.
Those who received gift cards during the 2005 holiday season were given an average of 2.6 cards, with an average value of $42.32.

"There were some fascinating insights that emerged in the survey," Skiba said. "Most people -- 91 percent -- had redeemed their gift cards before the end of February, which shows how quickly cards are used. "We were interested in some of the new distribution channels for people receiving cards, such as their availability at gift card malls, at the retailer's website, or as incentives and gifts from employers. We are also seeing that gift card usage is expanding into other areas beyond the traditional winter holiday gift for friends and family. Special events and holidays like Valentine's Day, weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries are times when our culture exchanges gifts, so it is only natural that consumers use those occasions to offer a loved one a gift card."

H2O

2006-10-26T09:33:00.000-04:00

Great article about bottled water from AlterNet: The Bottled Water Lie. Between this and the articles I've read about the huge costs associated with all those bottles - recycled and thrown away, I wonder if rethinking our water makes sense....

Stop bleeding.

2006-10-12T10:24:00.000-04:00

Researchers at MIT have created a liquid that stops bleeding in any tissue in a matter of seconds, according to Chemistry World. The discovery has the potential to revolutionize surgery and emergency medicine.

Pour-on nanotechnology stops bleeding in seconds

Spam + Blogs = Trouble

2006-09-07T15:12:00.000-04:00

From the September 2006 Wired Magaine comes a fascinating article about Spam + Blogs = Trouble

Another great use for email.

2006-09-05T18:48:00.000-04:00

RadioShack Uses E-Mail to Fire Employees -- How'd you like to get this email? "The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."

Way to go, Radio Shack.

Be mindful.

2006-08-18T11:05:00.000-04:00

I found a new blog that I like. A lot. Creating Passionate Users. My favorite post so far is:

Your Brain on Multitasking. Kathy Sierra writes:

If you want to get more done, be mindful.
If you want to have more time, be mindful.
Mindful means one thing at a time.

The post is great. The blog? Okay, a little geeky and tech, but I like it. Check it out.

Top places to live.

2006-07-18T10:31:00.000-04:00

Check out Money Magazine's just-released list of top places in the country to live - Columbia/Ellicott City is #4. We knew we liked it here.

Thanks to Buffy for the pointer!

Verticals.

2006-07-05T19:48:00.000-04:00

Guide to Vertical Marketing is quite the find. For each industry spotlighted, they offer a case study of how one marketer succeeded in reaching that vertical market as well as an overview of trends, projections and challenges facing the industry. And to help you better reach your target audience, each Vertical Insight also includes tables that list the top publications, websites trade shows and events. It's pretty groovy. Check it out!

Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?

2006-06-15T07:32:00.000-04:00

Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?, a brand new book by Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg (along with Lisa Davis) just went on sale. I plan to get a copy this week - and Michele Miller's Wonderbranding says (and she's always right!) that this is a must read.

Michele writes:

"Plain and simple, it's all about persuading customers to do business with you when they ignore marketing. And this team of authors does a heck of a job. Read an excerpt from the book here.
In the book, you'll learn:

How the customer's buying process works in a cross-channel, new media-driven marketplace
Why customers respond differently today than they used to
How to use the Web to generate persuasive momentum across multiple channels
How the various touch-points within a business affect each other
How to guide prospects through the buying process at every customer touch-points
How personality traits influence customer behavior online and offline
How to anticipate the different angles from which customers approach your business
How to identify and provide meaningful answers to your customers' questions at each stage of their buying process
How to begin implementing Persuasion Architecture™ techniques for your business

...You can also read reviews from folks like Seth Godin, Jeffrey Gitomer and Roy H. Williams..."

So I'm all over it!

straight from Knowledge@Wharton

2006-06-15T07:09:00.000-04:00

Companies That Use Combative Advertising May End Up with a Black Eye

John Zhang has a message for Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless or, for that matter, any company that uses its ads to attack a competitor. Instead of luring away your competitor's customers, you may just be hurting yourself. Zhang, a Wharton marketing professor, has found that combative ads -- the sort of comparative spots that beer makers, particularly Anheuser-Busch and Miller, are famed for -- may backfire. Instead of pulling consumers to an advertiser, they may just make people indifferent to all offerings in a product category. "Combative advertising, a characteristic of mature markets, is defined as advertising that shifts consumer preferences toward the advertising firm but does not expand the category demand," Zhang says in his research paper titled, "A Theory of Combative Advertising."

Invisibility cloak.

2006-06-01T07:01:00.000-04:00

Remember Harry Potter had a cloak that made him invisible? Impossible. Or not? Listen to this NPR story...

Hello?

2006-05-30T11:09:00.000-04:00

From the Wireless Report: JD Power and Associates recently surveyed over 18,000 cellphone users. The results? Most users just want to be able to make a phonecall rather than taking pictures, playing games, or text messaging. Less than 20 percent play games or take pictures.

Email Overload

2006-05-27T07:17:00.000-04:00

Imagine an entire blog dedicated to email overload. Sound boring and repetitive to me. But it's not! Itzy Sabo writes useful and practical information on the subject. My favorite post of late is:

How to turn a smart person into an idiot, in one easy
step

I've talked about the effects of overload on the quality of work, and
here are some great quotes that seem to agree:

Idiotic Workload
"You can turn a smart person into an idiot just by
overworking him"

Prof. Peter Capelli, The Wharton School, University of
Pennsylvania [via Fortune]

And there's more.

Read more here.

Need an IP address?

2006-05-18T07:34:00.000-04:00

According to a new Frost & Sullivan report, as discussed in We're Running Out of IP Addresses, we have about four to seven years before there are no more IP addresses left.

By the glass.

2006-05-11T14:58:00.000-04:00

Evidently, the trend in dining is to purchase wine by the glass. Read Paying the price to avoid the bottle...

Gamers.

2006-05-09T12:36:00.000-04:00

I have been involved in the gaming business since the late 80's. Much has changed. A closer look at gaming trends. This article, based on an AP-AOL Survey discusses attitudes about gaming by various demographic groups. Interesting stuff!

They know where you live

2006-04-11T14:49:00.000-04:00

A recent story in BusinessWeek is worth a look for two reasons. It discusses the rise of local search, and the growing ability of SMBs to use some of the powerful tools being offered by the major search engines including local targeting.

Consider these statistics:

A November, 2005, survey by Boston's Yankee Group found that more than 30% of businesses with 20 to 99 employees and 40% of those with 2 to 19 staffers were using local search engine advertising.
About 55% of consumers used a search engine to find information about a local business last year, up from 47% in 2003, according to Kelsey Group.

One of the tools being used by these businesses to optimize their ad spending is the use of local search. In this case, advertisers can select a radius around a city, and then only display ads (and be charged for clicks) to searchers within that radius. The technology used to locate searchers is called geolocation. Basically, the technology works by associating IP addresses with specific geographic locations, with the result that the search engine you use knows where your computer is located, and can display ads of local businesses.

Get Human.

2006-04-04T09:45:00.000-04:00

Get Human

Don’t you hate it when you call a company and you are forced to spend what seems like an eternity on the phone with their phone system? Even Citicard now has TV commercials announcing that you can speak with a “live” customer service person.

Get Human can save you a lot of time and frustration. It provides tips on ways to bypass the phone systems of many major companies so that you can quickly reach a human being. This website is a great resource that definitely belongs in your Bookmark file.

Thanks to my virtual assistant (the best ever :) for this post!

Prometa.

2006-03-30T13:58:00.000-05:00

ACTOR WHO DIED OF OVERDOSE STARS IN ADDICTION TREATMENT ADS

I find this fascinating. The foundation run by Chris Farley's family gave permission for his photo to be used for this new addiciton treatment protocol's ads. His brother is even the voice-over.

Google Finance.

2006-03-22T13:28:00.000-05:00

Yes (yawn, yawn) another Google product -- Google Finance. As annoying as it might be, the fact is that they keep doing it right. So check it out.

It is in Beta stage at this point (which Google product is NOT in Beta?)

You can search with a company name, stock symbol or even with a general term. I searched for "advertising agency" and it showed 175 results and listed the biggies right there.

I tried Applebee's (my Dad's favorite!) and found:

Market Data
News
Company Facts (revenue, profit, etc.)
Site links: News Releases, Financial Information, Corporate History/Profile, Products/Services, Employment Opportunities
Company Financials Quarterly and Annual Income Statement
Balance Sheet
Competitors
Analyst Estimates
SEC Filings
Major Holders
Discussion Group
Options
Research Reports
Events
Comparison Charts
Company Summary
Management Info
Blog Posts (wow!)

It's well-organized and has real depth. This is a great place to start for getting consolidated information on companies.

Great job, Google. Again.

Science search.

2006-03-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

We know a lot of search engines, as I'm sure you'd imagine! So when someone sends me something new, it's very exciting. A world renowned medical writer sent me this:

Scirus is the most comprehensive science-specific search engine on the Internet. Driven by the latest search engine technology, Scirus searches over 250 million science-specific Web pages, enabling you to quickly:

• Pinpoint scientific, scholarly, technical and medical data on the Web.
• Find the latest reports, peer-reviewed articles, patents, pre prints and journals that other search engines miss.
• Offer unique functionalities designed for scientists and researchers.

Definitely worth a look. Very cool.

Marketing to women.

2006-03-19T06:46:00.000-05:00

I've long followed WonderBranding at terrific blog by Michele Miller about Marketing to Women. And I have been reading Andrea Learned for ages. It's an interest of mine and, with some large clients that have very female target audiences, it's important to keep up. This morning (awfully early on a Sunday, I might add!) I followed a link from WonderBranding to Holly Buchanan's How to Shatter Stereotypes and Understand What She Really Wants. Great stuff here. Read back a bit to some editorial about research findings discussing women online. I love when people challenge the conclusions of a study in the media. So often, the data are barely the basis of the publicity....

Global warming.

2006-03-14T12:55:00.000-05:00

Following two recent studies on changes to Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, NASA is touting a survey that it says confirms “climate warming is changing how much water remains locked in Earth’s largest storehouses of ice and snow.”

“If the trends we’re seeing continue and climate warming continues as predicted, the polar ice sheets could change dramatically. The Greenland ice sheet could be facing an irreversible decline by the end of the century,” says the lead author Jay Zwally.

The full article is worth a read.

The unbanked....

2006-03-05T14:11:00.000-05:00

More than 10 million U.S. consumers do not use a bank. I find that shocking. Scarborough just released a report about these unbanked folks and their use of credit cards. Almost 1/4 of them do use credit cards, it seems. One might ask how they pay for the charges...with cash? Money orders?

African American Buying Power Soaring

2006-02-23T17:42:00.000-05:00

In today's Adweek, it is reported that the economic power of African American consumers will grow to $1 trillion by 2010. Read the article here.

Happy birthday.

2006-02-22T08:38:00.000-05:00

This article from the Center for Media Research reports on the new Media Audit - which tells us that the number of men and women age 50 and over has increased from 44.6 million to 51.1 million in the past five years. AND that 10,000 people a day turn 50. Read the article for some other interesting tidbits....

Criminals.

2006-02-21T07:35:00.000-05:00

I had to share this one. Study Claims Unattractive People More Likely to Commit Crime.

Bean counters and propeller heads

2006-02-20T20:31:00.000-05:00

We've gone and done it. How many of us made fun of the pocket protector set when we were in school -- y'know, the accounting and engineering (sorry Andrew) majors.

Well, a new survey commissioned by staffing giant Manpower reports that 40% of 33,000 employers in 23 countries surveyed are facing critical shortages in "talent" in the areas of sales, accounting and engineering.

While experienced sales professionals have always been on a company's wish list, the shortage in qualified accounting and engineering professionals now, according to Manpower's CEO, could hurt industries worldwide for decades to come. Manpower believes these findings to the point that they have begun to highlight staffing services in these technical areas.

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Unless of course they are carrying a Texas Instrument calculator in both holsters and the stetson is sporting a propeller.

Boomers in the news.

2006-02-20T08:54:00.000-05:00

Craig, Andrew and I are all Baby Boomers. Some might call us Generation Jones-ers, but we're definitially at the tail end of the Boomers. Of course, I am the youngest of the three (sorry, boys)....

So reading this article made me feel ancient! I mean, really! Lift chairs go mainstream, in time for Boomers.

But this speaks to an interesting marketing phenomenon that we've been seeing and, in my opinion, is going to explode. Making aging look better.

Women Are Smarter

2006-02-16T10:28:00.000-05:00

You know the song -

It ain't me
It's the people that say
Men are leading the women astray
But I say, it's the women today
Smarter than the man in every way

Well, I came across an article that reinforces this. (Sorry, guys)

It says that all around the U.S., educational statistics show huge academic gap between boys and girls. Boys are falling behind girls as early as elementary school. Even as they get older, they're losing out in academic skills compared to females. Girls outnumber boys on school honor rolls.

Years ago, there were stats that showed that girls were not succeeding in school because science and math were not being encouraged for girls. So what can be done to help the boys? I mean, really, all those smart girls are going to need some smart boys to date!

EAPs

2006-02-09T12:35:00.000-05:00

A Canadian study of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) shows some not particularly suprising results. But doesn't it seem wrong that this is tracked? I thought all this stuff was private....

"Employees in their thirties were the most likely to access EAP formarital-relationship issues. In fact almost one-quarter ofthem access counselling services to resolve relationship issues."
The report also showed that 22 per cent of men who accessed EAP services did so to specifically explore issues related to their personal relationships.

Surprisingly, only 17 per cent of women who accessed EAP services did so for the same problem. This means, that despite the traditional stereotyping, men are willing to express concerns and to work at resolving serious relationship issues. [Or it means that women feel more threatened in the workplace and don't feel safe discussing these issues with EAP.] The report also uncovered the fact that more supervisors and managers(20% of them) accessed EAP for marital/relationship discord than other employees (18% of them). [does this surprise you? not me!]

Specifically:
- Male supervisors and managers under 40 years of age, with fewer years of service, access EAP for relationship problems more often than the average employee (39% versus 24% of average employees).
- Female supervisors and managers between 30 and 49 years of age, working full-time and with fewer years of service, access EAP for relationship problems more often than the average employee (31% versus 24% of average employees).

Newspapers live on...

2006-02-07T08:42:00.000-05:00

Media Consumption Study Reveals Newspapers More Engaging Than TV, Radio, Web -- with all the worry I hear about the decline of the newspaper, this study brings up an interesting point...we spend uninterupted time with the newspaper. What other medium can you say that about?

Does your city have a brand?

2006-02-02T15:21:00.000-05:00

The Super Bowl always seems to be a fountainhead for, well, beer. But occasionally, the furor over the game sparks something worthy of high brow debate. Witness this lead to a Reuters story by Steve Keating from February 2:

When the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks meet in Super Bowl XL on Sunday it will be a clash of American styles and cultures, blue collar verses white collar. Computer nerds verses steel workers. Lining up at one end of Ford Field will be the Seahawks, the team with trendy teal uniforms from the rainy north west famous for gourmet coffee and home for billionaire computer geeks. At the other end, the Steelers, the four-times Super Bowl champions with the black helmets and a gritty reputation forged from the local mills and coal mines.

Do cities have "brands?" Does the location of your business carry brand cache with it, for better or worse?

Study: Playing Certain Games Reduce Pain

2006-01-30T11:11:00.000-05:00

This article in Gamasutra discusses a study by researchers at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia showing that certain types of video games, namely sports and fighting titles, can do a lot to distract players from feeling pain. The study, called Effects of Video Game Play Types on Pain Threshold and Tolerance, will be presented at the 2006 Undergraduate Research Day in Charleston, West Virginia.

What did you say?

2006-01-28T16:48:00.000-05:00

Experts worry that portable music devices are being played too loudly, resulting in damage to listeners' ears... read all about it in today's Chicago Tribune.

(My mother warned me about this!)

Circulation.

2006-01-26T10:47:00.000-05:00

Wow. You probably have read about the web site that tracks the geographical circulation of money. Well now there is speculation that it could offer new insights into predicting the spread of infectious diseases like bird flu. Cool.

Scientists follow the money to predict epidemics

Photos.

2006-01-24T14:06:00.000-05:00

Consumers Will Snap 228 Billion Images on Camera Phones by 2010, Says InfoTrends/CAP Ventures - published today in The Industry Analyst Reporter. Maybe we should branch out into the photographic paper business....

ask us. we know.

2006-01-21T17:13:00.000-05:00

Here at Scherer Cybrarian, we pride ourselves in knowing lots of stuff. What we don't know, we can usually find out. This blog will be an assortment of great research tools we want to share and interesting (at least to us!) facts and information that we come across in our researchy travels. If you have questions you'd like us to try to answer, send us email! No promises (unless you'd like to be a paying client & then go to Scherer Cybrarian and give us a call!

Scherer Cybrarian Services Resource List

2005-01-01T12:37:00.000-05:00

Updated July 2007

All Around Useful Search Engines

We have found these search engines to be the best places to start looking for your information.

Fast

· Most pages indexed

· Use “Exact” for great results if you know what you’re looking for

AltaVista

Good for Boolean searching

· Advanced search can limit dates.

Google

· Our favorite search engine

· Saves a copy of the page that you can view if the original is not available

· Has the ability to find similar pages

Dogpile

· Searches 10 to 14 other search engines

· No collation

· Good starting point for determining word choices

Ask.com

· Remarkably effective at finding expert sites, clearinghouses of information on a subject that can give you lists of links to use in research.

WiseNut

· Trying to outpace Google in the sheer number of Web pages that it has checked.

Clusty

· It is a meta search engine, which means it takes a question and puts it to a series of other search engines.

· Clusty organizes the results into a usable list with subject categories.

Highbeam

· Saves queries for future use.

· Opens a window for each search engine

· Searches Web, News, Discussion Groups, Multimedia, Companies & Organizations and Careers. Or choose just a few!

Directory-Type Sites

Yahoo

About

Beaucoup

This site lists over 1,200 search engines, directories and indices. It conveniently has links to major company web sites.

Industry Specific

CorporateInformation

Industry Research Desk

Hoovers

Business.com

Techtarget

Gary Price’s List of Lists

Industry Benchmarks

Advertising & Media

We subscribe to hundreds of industry specific newsletters. In advertising and media, these are among our favorites:

Moreover Marketing News, send a blank e-mail

Moreover Cyberculture News, send a blank e-mail

Adrants

AdRag

Stuart Elliott (NY Times)

Directories

PR Outlet/Journalist directory

Agency Compile

American Ad Agencies

Larry Chase’s Search Engine for Marketers

Tools for Market Research

Marketing Hub

Marketing to Women

World Advertising Resource Center

AAAA

Know This GREAT directory of advertising and marketing information

Branding & Strategy

Building Brands

Slogan Analysis & Brainstorming

Change This

Company / Industry

Hoovers

· Company profiles, stock information, etc.

· Subscribers get more detail – officers, etc.

Business.com

Manta

Corporate Information

Annual Report Gallery

This easy to use site brings you not only annual reports from global companies for free, but also broker research reports from over 200 U.S. and Canadian brokerage houses. Report abstracts can be viewed and full reports ordered online. When searching for broker reports, you can search for reports from a particular brokerage.

Competitive Intelligence Resource Index

This site offers a variety of resources for the business intelligence professional. It contains links grouped by the kind of information they provide (statistics, news, company information, etc), as well as information on publications and professional associations.

Kompass

Check here for international companies not covered in Hoover’s. This free database has basic contact information on 1.5 million global companies plus 600,000 trade and brand names. Its searchable directories cover nearly 30 industries. There are also directories for trade associations, diplomatic representatives, and for identifying companies and institutes involved in product research.

US Business Reporter http://www.activemedia-guide.com/index.htm

Statistical Abstract of the United States

EXISTING REPORTS

ABI (tech)

News Specific

DogPile

· Choose news search

NewsHub

· Set up preferences – it provides top headlines from selected publications

AltaVista News

First Headline

· Great local sources

RocketNews

· Indexes for 5 days – VERY current events

News.com

Search general publications, business publications and general news categories

Google News

Now with archive search

WebLogs (Blogs)

· Shows popularity of web sites including searches and blogs

Blog Search Engine

Google Blog Search

What Are Other People Saying?

There are many places to stay involved in the industry, get the news first, and “hear” people in the business discuss what’s hot.

E-mail Discussions

Often called “listservs” discussions between groups of people with similar interests who are all on a distribution list to see messages from all.

Tilenet

· Find discussion groups and usenet groups

Topica

· Find discussion groups/mailing lists

Yahoo Groups

Newsletters, Magazines

· Also called e-zines

· Specific, e-mail delivered newsletters

· Many collate news from industry sources and discuss hot topics

NewJour

· Find electronic journals and newsletters

Publist

· Find paid and free journals – printed and electronic

Magportal

· Searches hundreds of print and electronic publications.

Find Articles

· Searches more than 300 magazines and journals.

Trade Pubs

On-line Forums

· Also called bulletin boards, newsgroups

· Find out what people are “saying” about your client in these casual settings.

Yahoo Message Boards

Highbeam

· Searches Web, News, Discussion Groups, Multimedia, Companies & Organizations and Careers. Or choose just a few!

· Search 6 online forum sites at once

Google Groups/ previously Deja.com

· You can search postings by date, author, content, group and more.

Delphi Forums

MSN Groups

Opinion Sites

Find out what consumers think of a product or service.

epinions

Planet Feedback

Using Automated Tools

These tools are also known as Bots or Intelligent Agents. Get news, updates, changes to web sites delivered to your e-mail. This is not category information, rather it’s personalized to exactly what you want to track by keyword search.

Newsbots

Yahoo! News Alerts

· Click on NewsAlerts – top right hand corner

· Register

· Set up alerts for client, competitor, industry

· Set e-mails to “as they happen”

· Have e-mail forwarded to your business account

Factiva

· Subscription required

· Additional cost for Custom Clips

Google Alerts

Newsmax

Updated pages

TracerLock

· TracerLock can monitor search engines, usenet groups and more for you and notify you by e-mail when a new instance of a search term is found. For example, if you tell TracerLock to monitor search engines for the phrase "Scherer Cybrarian," TracerLock will e-mail you when new pages appear on the web containing the word "Scherer Cybrarian."

Change Detection (so you can let YOUR users know if YOUR website changes!)

.NET Alerts

Local Information

RSS Readers

Netnewswire (Mac)