NorthStarNerd.Org

Follow Marketing via LinkedIn

LinkedIn announced a very cool new feature today, the ability to follow companies. Why is this important? Imagine if you could learn quickly when a company in which you have a business interest hires, promotes, or changes their profile ... in addition what if you could learn about people who are leaving a company? Sometimes knowing that people are leaving is more important than learning about new hires. I hope you understand the importance of this move. Facebook is for your personal friends network, but LinkedIn is how you should be managing your professional presence.

If you're been a reader of NorthstarNerd.Org for some time (i.e. this blog), you realize I'm high on the potential of LinkedIn. Recently I reviewed and posted a tutorial about their focused advertising capability. I still love Google and all their services, but LinkedIn is becoming Twitter + Facebook + Career + Search + Advertising. The demographics they have about any given company's professional workforce is astounding ... and is a very, very valuable asset. Here are the LinkedIn profiles for three organizations I follow:

• NASA Langley Research Center
• MIT
• Yammer

Click to maximize the image given below. If you follow a company via LinkedIn, this kind of information will show up in a special section of your network updates. The image is from my own LinkedIn network updates.

Found a Penny!

I never keep pennies anymore, but today was different ... the wheat stared up at me, 1936! That little penny has been out there for 74 years ... soon to be 3/4 of a century. 

In the Winter, I won't even stoop over to pick up a copper, but today was different. Although it should not be that exciting, I was thrilled! Life's little pleasures!

Ski Cam Man is becoming Bike Cam Man

In early August, my son Carl and I will bike the BWCA Superior Tour (our own ride, not part of a larger effort). This bike tour is 350 miles through the Minnesota northwoods including the North Shore of Lake Superior.  It became obvious that I needed to learn how to use my Go Pro Ski Cam in conjunction with my bicycle. While you might think wearing a camera while biking would be simple, the solution was not straight forward. Here is what I learned yesterday before I took these photos this evening.

1. A handlebar direct mount of the camera did not work. The camera receives too much vibration from the road. It's amazing how much the body works as a shock absorber without ever realizing it!

2. A helmet mount did not work for the camera. With all the looking around, and checking of side streets it was dizzying to use this setup.

3. The best solution was a chest mounted camera. While one can see my arms in many pictures, if I stand up in the saddle for a video or still photos, I can eliminate the all encompassing arms.

Here is my first test run / photo set. It was part of a 20 mile bike ride. It was actually quite comfortable to wear the camera (i.e. did not restrict my breathing during heavy exercise). Link here for my Ski Cam Man photos.

Fair Use, Hitler and the Google

Fair use of digital content is important. If we don't allow producers to make a reasonable return on their investment, new material will not be generated, but producers need to learn how to use and benefit from the new age media. Learn more about this issue by listening to NPR's interview of Stanford's Professor Larry Lessig.

This morning I learned that all my favorite Adolf Hitler parodies will soon disappear from YouTube. Thanks Google. You're willing to take a stand on Chinese censorship but not fair use of DRM (digital rights management). PC World has a great article about this latest move by Constantin Films and YouTube. In the meantime, enjoy this parody.

Hitler, as "Downfall producer" orders a DMCA takedown from Brad Templeton on Vimeo.

GreatNews RSS Feed Reader

Back in 2006, I reviewed and posted a tutorial I had created about the GreatNews RSS Feed Reader. Well, after a three year hiatus Curio Studio has released a new version of GreatNews which is available without charge. While the user interface, hasn't changed much, it now officially supports Windows 7 and includes other internal improvements. As far as I'm concerned, GreatNews is still one of the best feed readers around, and you can't beat the price! My tutorial is still a great way to learn RSS and start having the filtered web come to you. If you've never utilized RSS (Really Simple Syndication) on your computer, read some of my posts from the RSS Category of this blog.