Google Celebrates it’s 15th Birthday with Pinata

Google Celebrates it’s 15th Birthday

15 years ago, two Stanford Grads, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founded a little company called Google. Google Incorporated was established on September 7th, Google.com domain was registered on September 15th but the official birthday was formalized to September 27th. Don’t ask me why. With the goal of showing the best results through simplicity and speed, Google entered a fragmented market search engine lanscape. Now it owns more than 70% of the search market.

Search Engines in 1998

Quick name as many search engines you know! Are you aware that there are a lot of search engines out there? When Google first entered the market, it wasn’t just a matter of lucky timing, or being the sole engine that dominated the market. There were many Search Engine players at the time. So who were the search engine players in live and about in 1998?

Search Engines – Rest in Peace

  • Megellan (Born 1995 – RIP 2001) – Bought by Excite.
  • Infoseek (Born 1995 – RIP 2001) – Disney took over, became a portal. Still operates powered by Google.
  • Snap (Born 1997 – RIP 2001) – First launched by CNET in 1997. Became owned by NBC. Died as a portal.
  • Direct Hit (Born 1998 – RIP 2002) – Hot search engine. Purchased by Ask Jeeves, neglected and died.

Search Engines – Still Alive but Changed to Something Else

  • Lycos (Born 1994, Changed 1999) – Outsources to Alltheweb.
  • Webcrawler (Born 1994, Changed 2001) – Meta Search Engine. Gathers results from other engines. Purchased by AOL, then Excite.
  • Yahoo (Born 1994, Changed 2002) – Still one of the most popular search engines on the web.
  • Excite (Born 1995, Changed 2001) – Bought Magellan and Webcrawler.
  • HotBot (Born 1996, Changed 2002) – Owned by Inktomi, backed my Wired.
  • Ask Jeeves (Born 1998, Changed 2002) – now Ask.com.

Search Engines – Still Alive and Still a Search Engine

  • Altavista (Born 1995) – Google before Google. My personal engine of choice.
  • LookSmart (Born 1996) – Only search company that relies on humans to gather listings.
  • Overture (Born 1998) – Formerly known as Goto. Powers paid listings for MSN & Yahoo.
  • Alltheweb (Born 1999) – Popular Engine
  • Teoman (Born 2000) – Purchased by Ask Jeeves
  • Wisenut (Born 2001) – Purchased by Looksmart
  • AOL (Born 1997) – Powered by Google
  • MSN (Born 1998) – Powered by LookSmart & Inktomi)
  • Google (Born 1998) – King of Search

 

Google 15th Pinata Game

For a little fun, you can go to Google.com to see their interactive pinata game.
google 15th birthday doodle

Tried out the Pinata thing. High Score of 174. Beat that.
What was your high score?

For a little more geekier fun, type in “Google in 1998” for a little surprise easter egg.

 

Google 1998 Search Homepage

Yes, Google did not have a clean white look until 1999.

Enjoy

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FCC considering allowing F-Words & Nudity on Network Television

FCC to allow Profanity & Nudity on Network TV?

Federal Communications Commission FCC Logo

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it is considering dropping current broadcast decency standards that ban explicit profanity and “non-sexual” nudity. This means that if enacted, the new FCC policy would allow networks to use profanity and frontal female nudity regardless of viewing hours. This includes times when children may be watching.
You can read the full press release in this PDF.

What can I do to help stopt his?

The FCC will accept opinions and comments regarding this proposal during the month of April. I urge you to let you voice be heard. Moral & decency standards on television and in movies have degraded over the years. What is considered the norm of “acceptable” has shifted many notches for the worse. This would be a huge blow to those who want to protect their children (and themselves) from being exposed to profanity and nudity.

Current broadcast laws prohibit expletives and nudity, even if brief. Networks like NBC and FOX has worked to overturn it over the years, but the Supreme Court has upheld the law as constitutionally enforceable by the FCC. Thus it is ultimately FCC’s decision.

Step by Step instructions to Submit FCC comment

Submit your comments to the FCC during the month of April urging them to reject such changes and why it would be a horrible idea to remove such a crucial boundary of decency. You must make a formal comment via the FCC site.

Here are some instructions.

1. Go to this FCC FORM
2. Enter the code “13-86” in the “Proceeding Number” box and fill out the few remaining required fields.
3. Enter your comment in the text box provided and click “Continue.”
4. From there, review your comment and click “Confirm.”

Here is a sample comment you may submit via the American Family Association:

I oppose any changes to the current FCC indecency standards that would allow television and radio stations to broadcast expletives and nudity on the public airwaves, even if brief or “fleeting.”

The Supreme Court has confirmed the FCC’s authority to enforce policies regarding expletives and nudity, especially during times when children are likely to be watching or listening.

Relaxing the current policy would not serve the public interest and I urge the FCC to reject all proposals that would allow for the broadcast of expletives and nudity on FCC-licensed stations.

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Is Marketing why Samsung got so big this year?

Samsung Outspends Apple in Marketing

Apple iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 2

This past year there was a significant shift in the smartphone world. Samsung has vaulted up the charts and have become a huge player alongside Apple. With the launch of Apple iPhone, the smartphone industry was for a while a one big-player industry. As blackberries and palms faded into obscurity, there was Apple and everyone else.

Was their increased market share due to marketing?

Here’s a question: How much of that has been due to Samsung’s increased marketing spend? No one likes to think that just seeing more advertising is affecting them in anyway, but companies would not spend millions of dollars if there was no evidence of it working. I see Samsung ads everywhere I go. They’ve plastered billboards and their commercials are all over the media. Not long ago, Samsung was just another player, but now the attitude of most is that Samsung is very good alternative – perhaps the only real alternative to the iPhone.

Samsung made a strategic play to attack Apple directly in their ads as well as blanket media with their brand. Check out the new spend figures below. Samsung increased their advertising by 5x.

Samsung Apple Ad Spend

What do you think?

  • How much do you believe marketing played in the role of their increased brand awareness?
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How to use Content Marketing to Grow your Business

What is Content Marketing? How do I use it?

How do attract a steady stream of new users on my site?

How do I go about creating the kind of content that will attract users?

How do I use podcasts and videos to attract users?

Whether you are a big business owner, a start-up or an owner of blog you are trying to get off the ground, consider Content Marketing. As a personal owner of the site Clean Cut Media and a lover small business marketing tactics, I wanted to share a bit about Content Marketing.

This article below will help explain what content marketing is and how it could be a great strategy to grow your user base. It will also give a little preview of a new content marketing summit that is conveniently all-online and very cheap to attend. Let’s dig in.

Good Content will attract the users you want:

Today, businesses of all sizes are using content marketing to slay the competition, attract large followings of loyal customers and explode their business’ growth.

But when tiny Magnolia Hi-Fi started using content, the Internet wasn’t even around. Did that stop them? Heck no!

Magnolia used content marketing to grow from a small audio store to an $87 million brand.

Back then, they had just transitioned from a neighborhood greeting card and photography store to an audio specialty store. Competition was fierce and they didn’t even have a marketing plan. So they hired a salesman (who knew a lot about educating prospects with great information) to develop a solid profitable marketing plan.

The plan was to give prospective buyers something to focus on other than price – content.

They created a series of stereo buyer’s guides, which offered educational content that answered prospects’ questions about buying audio equipment. These were distributed as newspaper inserts (remember there was no Internet at the time!).

But the guides were quarterly and Magnolia needed to nurture their audience by keeping the story alive throughout the year. So they invested in weekly distribution channels and different content formats. As resources grew, they scaled content velocity to achieve broader distribution and broadcast frequency.

Within 18 months, the small, out-of-the-way store was joined by a huge store in Seattle’s high-traffic University District, followed by two more stores and finally expanding to Washington, Oregon and California.

In 2000, the father-son business sold to Best Buy for $87 million! Today, there are over 350 Magnolia Home Theater Locations in Best Buy stores throughout the U.S.

Here’s a question for you. You have all the advantages of the Internet, right? What’s stopping you from growing your business?

Content marketing is simply creating and sharing information that solves buyers’ problems or makes their lives easier. The result is that you build a platform that draws in ideal customers, increases your exposure and achieves sales growth for your business.

Content Marketing Statistics

Want to know how successful B2B marketers are using content marketing?

Here’s some research from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs with the latest findings:

  • 91% of B2B marketers are now using content marketing
  • 79% use content marketing for brand awareness, 74% for customer acquisition and 71% for lead generation
  • On average, B2B marketers are spending 33% of their marketing budgets on content marketing, which is up from 26% last year
  • 54% plan to increase their content marketing spending in 2013
  • Large companies use an average of 18 content marketing tactics while small companies use an average of 11 tactics

These numbers demonstrate the huge investment marketers are making in content marketing.

Don’t you think you should invest a little to learn more about content marketing this coming year?

Are you interested in learning how to create awesome blogs, podcasts, video, webinars and other forms of content to keep customers focused on your brand?

Social Media Examiner’s Content Success Summit 2013

Content Marketing Conference 2013One of the biggest challenges marketers face is not knowing if their tactics are effective (according to Content Marketing Institute).

In response to this challenge, Social Media Examiner is bringing together 22 of the world’s leading content marketing experts to present at the first-annual online Content Success Summit 2013.

It’s an online conference spread over an entire month to meet your busy schedule.

This conference is designed to help you build your own platformmarket your products and grow your business.

Content is what makes social work, and it is at the core of all that we do here at Social Media Examiner,” says Michael Stelzner, CEO and founder of Social Media Examiner. “We have one of the largest business blogs in the world and a successful podcast. This summit is about teaching people how to do exactly what Social Media Examiner has always been doing.”

Why a Content Marketing Summit Conference?

Content Success Summit is the first virtual conference created to help marketers figure out exactly how to build their platform. By attending this conference you will:

  • See how successful content producers operate and how you can achieve similar results
  • Learn how to grow a loyal following via blogging, video, podcasting, email marketing and webinars
  • Discover how to sell your products and services using content
  • Gain a leg up on your competitors, helping you stand out
  • Pick up new content marketing strategies that will bring you more exposure
  • Download the Content Marketing Summit 2013 Schedule

Designed to accommodate your schedule, the conference will be conveniently spread over a four-week period starting February 5, 2013.

You will receive recordings and transcripts of all live sessions. And because it is fully online, you can attend right from your home or office, thus eliminating long-distance travel expenses and hotel bills.

Content Marketing Presenters

Content Marketing Conference Speakers
I know, I know. Most of you are thinking, who in the world are these people! HA! They are awesome marketing professionals. Just trust me.

Our first Content Success Summit features the most experienced leaders in the industry. Many of them have written a book about content marketing or are founders of successful businesses fueled by content. Among them are:

  • Joe Pulizzi – founder of Content Marketing Institute and co-author of Get Content Get Customers
  • Ann Handley – chief content officer of MarketingProfs and co-author of Content Rules
  • Michael Hyatt – chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
  • Michael Stelzner – founder of Social Media Examiner and author of Launch
  • Amy Porterfield – co-author ofFacebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies
  • David Siteman Garland – founder of Rise to the Top and author of Smarter, Faster, Cheaper
  • Gini Dietrich – co-author of Marketing in the Round
  • Heidi Cohen – president of Riverside Marketing Strategies
  • Pat Flynn – founder of Smart Passive Income
  • Marcus Sheridan – founder of the popular blog, The Sales Lion
  • Mark Schaefer – author of Return on Influence
  • And many others!

Is This Content Conference Right for You?

Perhaps you’ve been focusing a lot on social media, but not much on content marketing. You’re wondering if you could learn something new that might be a game-changer for your business. Ask yourself the following:

  • Do I have a content marketing plan for 2013?
  • Are there some content tactics that I’m not aware of that could be useful for my business?
  • Could I use some advice to build my platform, market my products and grow my business using content?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, then sign up and learn from the leading content marketing authorities in the industry.

Content Marketing Seminars & Workshops Samples:

  • How to Create Social Videos that drive Traffic & Leads
  • 5 Tips for Creating Epic Content that Breaks through the Noise
  • Turning your Passions into Profits: How to Create Quality Courses that Sell
  • How to Grow a Loyal Audience of Listeners
  • How to Create Compelling Content with Expert Interviews
  • How to Start and Grow a Successful Podcast Show
  • 13 Insider Tips to Get Your Blog on Track to Succeed

Want to Save Money?

If you reserve your spot right now, you will save 50% ($300). Click here for details.
Also there is a 100% Money Back Guarantee so there is no risk. Awesome. Very important.

Content Marketing Summit 2013 Conference
Click on the Image Above to Get the Details. 100% Money Back Guarantee so no risk.

Over to You. Are you interested in learning how to create a content platform that will successfully grow your business? Please share your thoughts and comments in the box below.

UPDATE: HA! forgot to mention. Use this CONTENT MARKETING SUMMIT LINK and get $300 off. $297 for the entire summit! All that raving and no link!

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Can’t Sleep? It’s the iPad’s fault. Study says so.

iPad Use Affects Sleep Study

Blurring the lines between Work & Home – Mobile Style

BYOD: Bring your own device. More and more, professionals are using mobile devices and blurring the lines between work and home. With the booming popularity of iPhones, iPads, and the use of laptops in corporate settings, one study showed that the average American worker works nearly seven hours a week outside the office. 80% of professionals do some sort of work past the end of the workday. This involves anything from answering phone calls and answering emails. 60% of those who work after workhours said it helps them to stay organized and nearly half said they feel like they have no choice.

One way in this impacts our private lives is that it makes it more difficult for us to “switch off”. 31% of Americans say they have a hard time switching gears from work to home. 50% respond to emails in bed, 69% said they have to check email before going to bed, and 40% send work-related emails as late as ten at night. Then 68% of us start each morning by checking our emails. 50% check before getting out of bed.

Having Trouble Sleeping? Blame the iPad!… Maybe

A recent study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center, studied the impact of backlit devices such as the iPhone and iPad at on our production of Melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland that helps induce drowsiness and lower body temperature, both important to help us to fall sleep. The research shows that two ours of tablet use before bed can suppress melatonin production up to 22%. In English, that means tablet use is making it harder for us to fall asleep as it affects our ability to naturally get drowsy. It is also associated with increased risk for diabetes and obesity and some mental health disorders. The study was only done on 13 people so take it with a grain of salt, but it does bring up the question:

  • Do you use your iphone, ipad or other mobile devices before going to bed?
  • Do you feel it helps you sleep or only delays you going to bed?
  • Do you feel the urge to check email or facebook before you go to bed? When you wake up?

Share your thoughts!

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Colorado Theater Massacre – Who to Blame?

Gangster Squad Movie Trailer

The Blame of Colorado Theater Massacre

The Colorado Theater Massacre is such a tragic story. I am incredibly saddened by what happened and much prayers go out to the families and loved ones involved.

The alleged shooter is 24 year old James Holmes, who faces 142 criminal counts for shooting at a packed midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises. For whatever reason, motive still uncertain, he proceeded to open fire into the crowds leaving 12 dead and 58 injured.

In most circumstances as people try to make sense of this kind of senseless killing, our first instinct is to want to blame something or someone. Blame parents, blame media, blame society, blame gun-control or blame the individual who perpetrated it all. As usual, there are a lot of questions and lot of accusations, though surprisingly the outcry doesn’t seem to be as loud this time around.

Traditionally media is one of the biggest targets in the blame game. Considering this was at a movie theater, it seemed inevitable that a lot of blame would be casts on media’s influence on the young mind. However whether it is the immediate responsiveness of Warner Brothers, or perhaps of how ridiculously senseless the deed was – there seems to a lot less finger pointing over this event. Still the film industry is being very cautious and has properly shown sensitivity to what has happened by immediately taking action.

Warner Brothers Acts Quickly to Colorado

Warner Brothers, the studio who released “The Dark Knight Rises”, quickly removed the trailer for its upcoming film “Gangster Squad” which has been a trailer proceeding “The Dark Knight Rises.” This trailer features a climactic scene in which mob gangsters open fire into a movie theater. Good move. Warner Brothers also quickly removed the trailer from YouTube and other video sharing sites. It is also said that the studio plans to reshoot parts of the movie in dealing with this matter. The studio hasn’t been clear on how they plan to reedit the movie but it will be interesting to see to what extent they would go in response to this tragedy. Will they cut an important scene all together or make minor edits? Perhaps just tone it down? Either way it will cost Warner Brothers a pretty penny. They also stand to potentially lose money by pushing out the release date from September 7th to January 11th as well have already lost money canceling premieres several key global cities out of respect for the victims.

Warner Brothers also announced it was making a “substantial” undisclosed donation to the victims.

Hollywood is to Blame? Or Not?

Quotes from Hollywood:

“I think it’s a tragedy and to blame the movie business is incorrect and inappropriate…” – Geffen, Co-founder of DreamWorks

“I think it’s just an opportunistic scenario… I leave it to people who sit in rooms with diagrams and charts to try to correlate cause and effect. And I think hindsight is 20-20 and we’re not anywhere near hindsight. This is still fresh paint on the canvas of our culture and it remains to be seen. There’s a lot of healing to go on.” – Diane Lane, Actress

“If you are not raising your kids to have balance in life, that is one place we have to look at.” – Will.i.am, Recording Artist

In response to whether television companies should cut down on violence:
“We think about the images particularly that children see, and as we look at the programming that we design for our schedule — obviously, the programming that we produce is educational — but we think a lot about the images that particularly the most impressionable, and I would say that children are at the top of that list, are confronted with.” – Paula Kerger, PBS President

So Who do We Blame? What Do We Really Know?

I would hope that no one would argue that media has a huge influence on the way we, especially as children, view the world, view people, and the norms of society. Cursing, violence, how to treat other people, self-image, view of women, that life is all about one’s own happiness, that power is respected, that being cool or good looking is what matter, that living rich with comforts will bring happiness, that romantic love is the answer to all things – and so on.

I would imagine, it had some various affects on how this shooter viewed the world and the value of human life – but does that mean media is the only thing to blame for such a tragedy? No of course not. There are so many factors involved, that I wouldn’t even assume to know all that went into it. Perhaps parenting, perhaps influence of bad friends, perhaps he had a tragic past, didn’t have a father figure, grew up in a broken home, I do not know. The only thing I know is that it’s a scary thing that he became a person capable of such things. That as a baby he was no different than you and me – but there was something in him that thru circumstances and influences allowed him to do what he did. That is a scary thought and should really humble us to really be careful about what kind of things we allow ourselves (and our children) to be exposed to and the kind of things we listen to.

What are your thoughts?

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Top 10 Creative iPhone 5 Design Mockups

Most Creative iPhone 5 Design Mockups from around the Web

Here at Clean Cut Media, we love good art, good design, and awesome display of creativity. We’ve posted great 3D Chalk Art, Photography, Short Films and even good clean Commercials.

Apple has always been a leader in design and usability. As each new product nears it’s launch period, numerous design mockups and speculations start to appear around the web. The iPhone 5 is nearing it’s speculated launch date. See below some of the excellent mockups  “guessing” what Apple might do. I’ve ranked 10 different designs in my own personal top 10 based on 3 factors.

| creativity | realistic | awesomeness

How would you rank them?

#10 – The iPhone – Ciccarese

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - Ciccarese Design
My first thought was, wow very creative. It’s kind of, cute. Points for creativity. However this doesn’t seem like a next generation phone, rather just a copy of the mighty mouse. I believe this might have been mocked for a previous iphone release as well – thus the small screen. Clever though!

#9 – The iPhone – ADR

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - The New iPhone ADR
This phone is interesting. Love the huge screen. Give some creative points for the unique back and even having the home screen button being part of the touch interface. However the back is a bit awkward and the phone itself just screams droid.. or android.. as it mimics current designs.

#8 – The iPhone – LM

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - LM

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - LM 2

The iPhone LM is simple, beautiful and very realistic. If the next iPhone looked like this – it would seem realistic wouldn’t it? Sleek, more professional, and a wider screen. Apple are masters at making small tweaks that quickly makes older phone seem old and obsolete. Well Done. Realistic Points off the charts.

#7 – The iPhone – Full Screen

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - Full Screen

Simple and realistic. Having the screen reach end to end gives it a simple but unique difference from previous generations and helps it stand above the crowd. Also super thin. Nothing fancy here.

#6 – The iPhone – Full Screen Tempered

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - Tempered Edge

Same Idea but with tempered edges and no home button. The tempered edges helps distinguish the newer iPhone a little bit more without making huge adjustments.

#5 – The iPhone Pro Care – Bend it

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - iPhone Concept Bend

This certainly won’t happen for the iPhone 5. Awesome points yes! Creativity points yes! Realistic points negative! It seems awesome and cool but two problems. First the technology at the right price is just not there to produce something that will match Apple’s desired quality of execution. Secondly, people just aren’t ready for something like this. It’s a bit too novel especially the way it bends and how you would feel holding it in your hands. But very creative indeed.

#4 – The iPhone Plus

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - iPhone Plus

This design is simple. Bigger screen, thinner body, make it look sleek. It’s a great design and the thinness looks awesome. The problem? It better be made of the toughest material in the world because I would be afraid to break it in half accidentally.

#3 – The iPhone Pro

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - iPhone Pro

Ah yes. I am a big fan of the dark grey metallic back. It adds a touch that says this is the next generation and helps distinguish itself from past models. Very professional. I believe this mockup is for a phone that is significantly larger though, thus the icons are small, but you get the idea.

#2 – The Tear Drop iPhone

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - Tear Drop

Bonus creative points because of the unique teardrop shape as well as a stab at a different interface that just works. It looks very professional and simple. It has that “oomph” factor that makes previous iPhone seem obsolete and old. I love the switch to the dark metallic grey. I like that it is still very similar to the old design, but has that updated feel. I also love the idea of using that extra screen space for something other than just another row of apps. I’ll take it!

#1 – Iphone by Rames Studios

iPhone 5 Design Mockup - Rames Studios

It was a close race between #1 & #2, but more creative bonus points here for a completely new design and thinking through the specs including a 64gig flash drive and removable battery. Those specs alone would cause many to upgrade. The design isn’t revolutionary as the block look is already popular, but it is done in a simple, clean way. Great job!

Which One is Your Favorite?

  • Let us know in comments your thoughts on each of the designs! Like it? Hate it? 
  • How would you rank them?
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Social Media Success Summit 2012: Awesome Conference

Social Media Success Summit 2012 [Conference]

I know that many of the readers here on Clean Cut Media have strong interest in Social Media. Whether you are marketing professionals, business owners, or perhaps just curious on how Social Media is being used to reach various audiences, I would recommend you check out this Social Media Summit 2012.

Why this Social Media Conference?

  • No travel – All Online Webinars. Saves a lot of money!
  • Session Recordings – Miss a seminar? You can watch the recording. Or just watch at your convenience.
  • Ask Questions – It’s a great place to ask all the social media questions you’ve always had but never could get good answers for. The speakers here are all veterans of social media marketing, people who’ve found a lot of success. They can speak through experience.
  • Network & Private Forum – There is a private Linkedin group you can join where you can network with others in a similar boat as you and other professionals in the space. It’s also one of the best Q&A spaces. Everyone asks each other questions and opinions on social media and get immediate answers from real people in similar situations. It’s great. It’s a great resource.
  • Cheap & Money Back Guarantee – Conferences are usually $2,500-$3,500. It’s a hefty price to pay to learn. This conference is only $297 if you sign up before April 19th (Extended to April 20th!) (50% off!).  If I do the math… give me a second… that means if you sign up after that date, it’ll be $594! Still cheap, but not as cheap if you sign up NOW! Nothing to lose as you can just email them within the first 2 days if you rather get a refund. Full refund with no hassle. Nice.

Social Media Success Summit Conference 2012Need Another Good Reason to Attend Social Media Success Summit?

I personally attended the last two Facebook Success Summits. What I like about this conference (other than that super cheap price) is that the examples are more concrete, more catered to smaller businesses. Also you get great access to the speakers both during the webinar and the ample opportunity to connect with them through twitter afterwards. Also the Q&A section in the linkedin section is super helpful!

Sample Social Media Summit Webinar Topics

  • Google+ For Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything
  •  How to Grow Your Brand and Following with Facebook
  •  YouTube Marketing 2012: No Camera, Content or Audience? No Problem!
  •  Twitter Power Strategies: Essential Insights for Business Success
  •  How to Put Google+ to Work for Your Content and Your Business
  •  3 Simple Steps to Generating Massive Traffic with YouTube
  •  8 Steps to Managing a Social Media Crisis
  •  How Social Customer Service is Attracting New Customers and Increasing Sales
  •  How Big Brands are Using Blogs
  •  The Social Sale: How to Turn Fans and Followers into Customers
  •  No Fluff Social Media Measurement
  •  The Art of Story: How to Succeed with Blogging
  •  Pinterest: How Your Business Can Use Images to Drive Traffic

More Seminar Topics Here

Social Media Success Summit Conference 2012

  • Give it a try!: SIGN UP HERE
  • Tell us how it was and what you learned!
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Best April Fools Day Jokes Roundup 2012

April Fools Day Roundup

It has become commonplace for internet firms to get in the April Fools media fun. Last year we saw a few hilarious April Fools Jokes from Starbucks introducing the 128oz Plenta & 2oz Micra Sizes to Animal Translate by Google. Some companies like Google have confused consumers by introducing real products like Gmail on April Fools Day!

So what happened in 2012? Below are a few of the funnier ones from 2012. Enjoy.

Let us know what was your favorite and please share other good ones you’ve found on the web!

Google – 8 Bit NES Maps

Google-8-Bit-Maps-April-Fools

Google teamed up with square enix to added a button allowing users to view a 8 Bit NES style map as you would find it in old nintendo RPGs. Pretty fun to see what your home town looked like in an 8 bit world. Graphics have come a long way!

West Jet Introduces Child-Free Cabins! – Kargo Kids

WestJet - Kargo Kids April FoolsThis one is cute (can I say that as a man?)…

WestJet, Cananda’s low-cost airline introduced Kargo Kids! From the Horses Mouth:

“Kargo Kids is an exciting new program allowing guests to travel on select child-free flights, creating a quieter and more relaxing inflight experience, while children travel in a special VIP area of the aircraft”

What a great idea. it’s like having a play pen section with baby sitters. The question now is, why not MAKE THIS REAL!

Love the images of kids in the little cargo bins. Just watch it.

Google – Multitask in Chrome

Need to increase productivity? Forget browser tabs. What if you could click on multiple things all at once! Google Introduces Multitasking on Chrome, but not in the way you would have thought. Now you can control multiple cursors at once! Watch the video below. then try it out yourself!

Try Google Multi-Task Mode

The YouTube Collection on DVD

YouTube Collection DVDEver wish you had that YouTube video handy but didn’t have an internet connection? Well now you can order the YouTube Collection on DVD and watch your favorite YouTube videos online. What is in this collection you say? Every single YouTube video ever created. That’s right, it’s the biggest collection you have ever seen and since YouTube is growing like a man-child, the will continue to deliver dvds by the truckloads every week.

The YouTube Collection – Order Now

Sony VAIO Q – New Ultrabook – Amazing Small

All these Ultrabooks and Netbooks were bound to fail. Nothing can hold up to what Apple is doing these days. But this. This just might do it. Check out the new Sony VAIO Q. Amazingly small. It would make Steve Jobs proud. See the video below and be amazed. It’s a laptop literally at your fingertips.

Toshiba Announces “Shapes” Tablets – iPad Killer?

Toshiba Amore Heart TabletApple has been making all the news with their new iPhones and new iPads. All other companies have done is to copy iPhone & iPad designs and produce sad copy cats that are dead on arrival. In addition to the Sony introducing the VAIO Q, Toshiba has also been innovating to make the news waves. Finally an iPad killer worth talking about. Innovation at it’s finest. Check out the “Shapes” Tablets. It’s just the kind of thing you would have never thought of. Enjoy!

Come in Oblong, Rhombus & Amore. Available April 1st.

Get the Toshiba Shapes Tablets Now!

AdBlock introduces CatBlock

AdBlock has been a wonderful piece of add-on software to help block ads on the internet. I love this plug in and thus wrote an AdBlock review on it. But they outdid themselves this year. Introducing CatBlock. No, it doesn’t block Cats. Rather it replaces ADs with Cat images because you know, we can’t get enough of those cute furry things.

Warby Parker Presents, Glasses for Dogs

Sadly, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if this was real. Seeing dogs where clothing already is disturbing to me. Luckily, it’s not real, so it’s cute.

Warby Barker Canine Sunglasses April Fools

Power Ranger Fragrance

Already Pre-ordered the whole set. Since I am a man, looking forward the blue one.

Power Ranger Perfume April Fools

Google – Interplanetary Reporting in Google Analytics

Alright you analytical nerds. Already segmenting your data by demographics? By source? By engines? By location? No idea what I am talking about? It’s ok, you’ll still understand the joke.

Google has plans to expanded their features. Starting in the year 2030, you can know from what planet people are searching from. Is it true men are from mars and woman are from venus? Now you can find out. Google states it will start as far as the Andromeda Galaxy. Check out the screenshot below!

Google Analytics Interplanetary Reports

Official Google Interplanetary Reporting Announcement Post

CatBlock Details

Conan O’Brien Buys Mashable

Mashable is a very popular technology blog followed by millions of people including yours truly. Recently we got the exciting news that Conan O’Brien has officially bought Mashable and has Ousted CEO Pete Cashmore. Conan O’Brien is the new CEO and he promises great things.

Unfortunately several hours later and a couple videos later, Conan sadly resigned stating that he mistakenly actually bought a M.A.S.H sitcom fan site instead. Good while it lasted.

History of April Fools Day

Lastly, here is a fun video talking about the History of April Fools, or at least their best guesses.

April Fools 2012 – What was Your Favorite?

  • Pick your top 3 favorites in the poll below.
  • Share why in comments!
  • Know of other good ones? Let us know!
[poll id=”32″]
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Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sales Hits New Records

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sales Hit New Records

Online Shopping for Black Friday once again broke all previous records with sales of $816 million, up 26% compared to 2010. Even Thanksgiving Day (November 24th) which traditionally is a low sales day, saw a 18% increase in sales to $479 million.

Cyber Monday is estimated to have produced $1.25 billion dollars in sales (according to ComScore), up 22% from Cyber Monday 2010 which also was a record at the time. Last year we were stunned as Cyber Monday exceeded 1 Billion. However the sales continue to roll in. Other surveys conducted by IBM and eBay found even greater increases of 33% and 25% respectively. It’s final. Americans are spending more and more each year. Doesn’t matter if the economy is down, people will buy what they want.

Black Friday Sales Statistics at $816 Million

Black Friday Visits & Sales Statistics

Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target & Apple Leads the Way

Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and Apple were the top 5 most visited retailer properties during Black Friday. 50 million Americans were out and about, visiting retail stores to search for the best Black Friday deals. These visitors accounted for a 35% increase in visits versus 2010.

Black Friday ComScore RetailA source from Apple Retail has shared that Apple’s forecast for Black Friday was 4X the normal sales levels. However, by 7PM, Apple had already blown past those forecasts fueled through big ticket items like the iPad and MacBook Air sales.

Other Black Friday Sales & Visit Statistics

  • Mobile devices accounted for 14.3% of all online Black Friday traffic, up 5.6% and responsible for 9.8% of online sales.
  • Ecommerce sales were up 59% compared to last year.
  • Black Friday mentions on Facebook & Twitter was up 110%.

Cyber Monday Sales Statistics – Tops $1.25 Billion!

On Cyber Monday, the average American consumer spent $198.26, up 2.6% from 2010. That’s nearly $200 dollars a person folks. More than 1 in 10 people used a mobile device to do research while about 6.6% of sales took place on the mobile device itself. This is 3X compared to 2010.

Mind Boggling Numbers: What do you think?

  • Any of these statistics surprise you? Disturb you?
  •  Were you able to find anything good on Black Friday or Cyber Monday?
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Benefits of CommentLuv Premium: SEO & Community


The CommentLuv Plugin

Benefits of CommentLuv Premium: SEO & Community

First of all, I thank every one of you for visiting Clean Cut Media and double thanks to those who contribute to the discussion through commments! You are what makes this blog go and keeps me motivated to continue.

We are now testing out a new commenting system called CommentLuv Premium. It’s called CommentLuv because it shows “love” to those who leave comments by allowing them to leave a link back to one of their own blog entries. In theory (and through the testimony of many prominent bloggers), over time this should increase blog traffic as well as increase engagement on the site. It gives incentive for the “LURKERS” (people who read but never contribute) to actually leave a response. It also attracts bloggers from other blogs to come leave a comment. It also gives visitors incentive to “like” our facebook page or “+1” our content. (Go Like our facebook page!!)

CommentLuv Premium is an EXCELLENT piece of plugin. If you are a blogger, go to the link below and check it out. It’s on sale for a limited time!


The CommentLuv Plugin

LINK TO COMMENTLUV PREMIUM WEBSITE

The CONS of CommentLuv Premium Plugin

The only downside is that many visitors will now come simply to try to add their links, try to draw in visitors but most of all to get “link juice.” A link what? In the world of SEO (search engine optimization), a link to your site in essence gives your site a vote of confidence in the eyes of the search engines. It gives your site more credibility. When super simplified, Google assumes that if people are linking to your content, it is because they like it. Thus the more links you got, the better. The more links you have from STRONG sites with high “pagerank” (a score determined by Google), the better. Our site at the moment is a solid PR 4, so I expect a lot of spam from those seeking to get links to their site. Luckily CommentLuv has a great spam filter built in.

But because of this, some house rules that were always in place but thought I’d share…

Commentluv Comment House Rules

1) MODERATION: Every comment here is moderated. When you Comment, it’s put into moderation to be reviewed before going live.
2) NAME: You must leave a LEGITIMATE name. If you put in names of your products or particular keywords you want to stuff in there, it will not be approved. (ex. Brian = Good, Internet Games Online = Not Good)
3) URL: It must be a good, clean site. Get rich sites, inappropriate sites, arbitrage sites, or any site that I wouldn’t want any of our users to visit will be removed.
4) COMMENT: Hey SEO guys, it’s really easy to spot spammers. More than 1 URL link? Disapproved. Nonsensical Comment? Disapproved. Comments clearly written by some outsourced company who does not speak english? Disapproved. Keyword stuffing into comment? Disapproved. Any links to pharmacy products or get rich schemes? Disapproved. Comments that say absolutely nothing but “Good Post” “Informative post” coupled with a keyword stuffed URL? Disapproved.

Basically, leave a real name, a good comment and there is nothing to worry about.

Examples of Bad Comments

Might as well have our readers learn a little about commenting! Here are some examples of bad spam comments that is supposed to be “sneaky” but then on a second look is obviously random.

POST: Siri Humor 
Comment: “insightful, made me think a lot…”
Response: this is not a thought provoking article.. it’s a bunch of screenshots of hilarious siri responses to funny questions. This comment is obviously a canned answers pasted through automated bots or by cheap SEO services using cheap tricks to put up links.

POST: Sept 11, 2001 – Remembering 9/11
Comment: “You certainly understand how to keep a readers amused. Between your wit as well as your videos, I was nearly moved to start my own blog (well, almostHaHa!) Congrats. I truly loved what you needed to state, and more than that, the way you offered it. Too awesome!”
Response: First of all, this comment is so poorly written. This is written by someone outside of the country. Secondly this post was about 9/11, it was a very SERIOUS post. This comment is utterly inappropriate, but it makes sense because no one had read the article. Again just bot or a mindless comment eager to get a link.

More Fun Fake Blog Comments

Lot of these remind me of those non-sense sentences written in asian stationaries :). I left small commentaries on each one. Enjoy!

“No matter the ending is perfect or not, you cannot disappear from my world.”
– Yes… so true.. I think

“Hello, I just wanted to tell you, I disagree. Your post doesn’t make any sense.”
– So what did you disagree? You don’t make any sense…

“Very energetic post, I liked that bit. Will there be a part 2?”
– Energetic post.. nice

“Incredible quest there. What occurred after? Take care!”
– One quest is enough for me.

“This video post is really great, the echo quality and the picture feature of this video post is in fact amazing.”
– Especially when there is no videos in the post. Echo quality?

“Hurrah, that’s what I was exploring for, what a information! present here at this weblog, thanks admin of this web page.”
– “what a information”… what?! “weblog”… who says weblog?

“Hello, every time i used to check webpage posts here in the early hours in the break of day, for the reason that i enjoy to gain knowledge of more and more.”
– sounds like a bad parable..

“Hello to all, for the reason that I am genuinely eager of reading this web site’s post to be updated daily. It includes pleasant material.”
– omg

“I every time emailed this website post page to all my friends, for the reason that if like to read it next my contacts will too.”
– I every time think.. I understand, so I read it and so my contacts will understand and think a posting.

“Hi there, I want to subscribe for this blog to obtain most up-to-date updates, so where can i do it please assist.”
– This one is very sneaky!!! but it’s not legitimate.

Commentluv Premium Plugin“Hi there, after reading this awesome post i am too cheerful to share my familiarity here with friends.”
– Too cheerful to share your familiarity? Oh COME ON!

  • Anyone else has hilarious examples of comments left in your spam folder? Share below! (please remove all links and no inappropriate words)
  • How has your experience been with CommentLuv?

For bloggers interested in CommentLuv, Click the Image on Right.

 

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Hi, I am Siri, the Humble Killing Personal Assistant

Siri Logo iPhone 4S

iPhone Siri Questions

  • How do you feel about a machine talking to you?
  • Is this the beginning of the end?
  • Terminator or Matrix mean anything to you?

Siri the Humble Personal Assistant is Born

Apple recently released the iPhone 4S packed with a new Dual-core A5 chip, an excellent all new 8MP camera, an assistant named Siri, IOS5, iCloud, and… wait a what?!

Siri is your “humble personal assistant” as it or she… will tell you. It has been created to take in your commands as you would normally say it, and it supposedly adapts to your commands the longer you use it. So you could say something like “Tell my wife I’m running late” or “Remind me to call my doctor” or “Any good Korean restaurants around here?” and the it… she will tell you what you need to know, or do whatever you’d like. It’s pretty awesome and scary.

I am Siri, your Humble Personal, Killing, Assistant!

Terminator Siri iPhone
I am Siri, your Humble Personal, Killing, Assistant!

Just don’t use your phone to pass secrets, bank account numbers, social security numbers, and by all means don’t give it your twitter login. Who knows what that crazy Siri might do that may ruin your life (or the world) forever.

Siri does have a sense of humor though… I just hope it never starts to giggle… in the middle of the night.

Siri’s Humorous Responses

Siri - iPhone 4S - Love You
You Don't Love Me - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Murder
You Need Help Buddy - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Meaning of Life
Meaning of Life? Why Ask Me? - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Who is on First
Who is on First - That's Right! - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Temperature
Temperature? It does't Matter - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Oh Stop
Let's just be Friends - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Oh My God
I found you God - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Meaning of Life 2
Meaning of Life - Easy! - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Meaning of Life 3
Meaning of Life. App for That - Siri
Siri - iPhone 4S - Marriage
Can't Marry You. No Seriously - Siri

More Siri Freakiness to Come

Have many more where those came from. We will post more later.
For now enjoy! Vote in our Poll, and Comment below which one is your favorite!

[poll id=”29″]

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