Passion2Publish

AND THE WINNER IS....... (cue dramatic music)

This is my first little blog contest, simple prize, simple instructions and simple rules, but let's hope someone goes home crying, otherwise there's no 'sport' in it.

A brave six entered into the contest......

Frustrated with the Google Webmaster Tool

Dear Google,

I love your tools. I'm one of those crazy googlers with a blogger account, a packed Calendar, a stuffed Reader, a couple Coop engines, I use the Docs and Spreadsheets, I send out invites to all my friends describing the wonders of Gmail, I've listed my company in the local business center, I run Analytics on all of my sites, I've got Talk installed and actually USE it -- these are all products I've tested out, liked, used repeatedly and even have become a strong advocate for. But there's one product out there that drives me absolutely crazy..........

Comment and Win a $25 Gift Certficate to Amazon.com

Just a heads-up, you've got only two days left to submit a comment here and enter to win a $25 Gift Certificate to Amazon.com. I'll announce the winner here on Friday afternoon and contact the winning party!

Google Phone Rumors Put to Rest

(via The Sidney Morning Herald)

After much speculation from the blogosphere, Google's South-East Asia managing director of sales and operations, Richard Kimber, yesterday echoed the sentiments of Google's chief internet evangelist, Vinton Cerf, that building a google phone would be a dramatic shift in the company's strategic focus.

The Agony of Second Place

If the lessons my high school tennis coach attempted to impart upon me, with that one grotesquely throbbing vein, have any bearing on matters outside green concrete rectangles -- then today is a sad day in Bud world. But in the slight chance youth athletics somehow skew reality, placing all importance on 'first' and none on second, then it's kind of a cool day. A geeky cool, but cool nonetheless.

I've taken second place, runner up, in the latest TechBrew.net contest. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride....

"Poetry, Bud.  Poetry."

19 Common Web Design Mistakes

Josiah Cole is good people. His list of 19 Things NOT to Do When Building a Website is just angst-ridden enough to make good link-bait. And it's all spot-on.

"4. If your website is ALL Flash, FIRE your web development company, and if you made it, add it to your portfolio under “Useless web projects I’ve done” and start over."

If I were going to add a no. 20, it would be "No text-dumps, make content easily digestible, and use bullet points." Of course, to make his list I'd need some capitalization and the odd expletive.

What a blog can do for your company

(Via Church of the Customer)

Bill Owen over at the Southwest Airlines blog gives us a great example of how companies can benefit from blogs. With any new technology, we often immediately cling to its technological sophistication or its 'cool' factor, which is exactly what turns off your company's CFO. Cool isn't easily amortized, and don't let web 2.0 fool you, it's not a number you can add to your balance sheet. Repeat after me, "But blogs can increase our customer intelligence and responsiveness -- and when hasn't that been good for our company?"

Don't be afraid of a conversation with your customer -- yes, it may hurt your feelings, but they're full of really useful information. Blogs are a powerful communication tool -- and it's the two-way communication feature that really makes the difference. Just in case you're interested, check out a great post over at SEOMoz on Why Corporate Blogging Fails.

EXCLUSIVE: Google Phone Pictures Leaked?

The killer product has arrived! Sure, the iPhone seemed like the MUST-HAVE product of 2007, until today! Touch screen? duh. MP3 player? Duh. GPS? DUH. Web browser? DUH! Camera? DUHHH! Phone? ...oh.

Everything the iPhone will be, and MORE! Only the Google team could deliver this level of user interface! See the photo after the jump! (no black turtle neck or inspirational introduction required)

My Media Consumption Diet

I'm capitalizing on a rising meme out there regarding where and how I consume media started by Jeremiah Owyang. Basically, it's a list of what forms of information I use and how I use them.

USA Today, You're Welcome...

Maybe you've heard the news, here, or here that USA Today has redesigned its site with community contribution in mind. I'm all for giving credit where credit is due -- that's why I think a little news organization by the name of 'USA Today' owes someone (me) a big thank you. Obviously this blog has a larger audience than I thought, because the good people at USA Today took my post on Fostering Community Creates Value to heart.

I'm torn, because on one hand, yes, they took the time to read the full post (and it was long, so kudos to them for their attention span) and implemented many of my recommendations, including comments, personal profiles, sharing, etc. but on the other hand, I really can't help but think I'm due some portion of their new revenue.... USA Today, the ball's in your court.