On Wednesday, I’m scheduled to speak to a Meetup group here in Nashville. The talk will focus on how you can make yourself and your message heard, in a time when we’re seeing more noise than ever before.
It’s the idea of being a big fish in a little ocean.
But funny enough, when I do these things in Nashville, I find myself to be the invisible fish. Most of the people who attend have perhaps heard my name or read something that I wrote on TNW, but there’s a near 100...
Over on TechCrunch, Mike Arrington wrote something that I endorse wholeheartedly. He says that Cnet staffers should be leaving in droves over the fiasco surrounding the Hopper and now another product that they’ve been instructed that they can’t review.
We can soapbox all we want about this, and those of us who do have editorial independence might somehow look down our noses at those who don’t. But the harsh reality is the people who aren’t walking out are real people,...
It started with a question from my dear friend Jana. She was asking for thoughts on Quora Blogs, the company’s newly-released feature. My answer was this:
@janatrantow Your work, someone else’s platform.
— Brad @ The Next Web (@BradMcCarty) January 23, 2013
That’s the nutshell version. I’m highly against almost every single thing out there that wants you to contribute without giving you definitive, self-managed ownership of the content that you’ve added.
But...
I’m a veteran of the United States Army. I’d have chosen many of my female friends to be in combat beside me ahead of their male counterparts. Today that becomes a reality.
BREAKING: Panetta removes military ban on women in combat, opening thousands of front line positions.
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 23, 2013
But there’s a problem. As odd as it may sound, watch Demi Moore’s GI Jane for a rather parallel depiction to what I think will happen in these next...
There’s a lot to be said for being incredibly good at one thing. When someone fits that description, the results are stunning.
From the standpoint of being a competitor, I love it when our competition decides to attempt a thousand different verticals because I know (from experience) that they will ultimately fail.
From the standpoint of a potential user I loathe that behavior because I know (from experience) that they will ultimately fail.
It’s perfectly fine to locate that one...
Anand Lal Shimpi is smarter than me. Chances are he’s smarter than you too. His site, AnandTech, is inarguably the go-to source for in-depth, highly detailed reviews of new products and technologies.
I got to meet Anand last year at CES, and we had the chance to speak again this year. We were discussing the successes and failures of Microsoft when he dropped this bomb (which is not a direct quote, but as close as I can remember):
“Now imagine this. Let’s say that the next...
I was on a panel the other day, talking to a number of large companies about tech trends for 2013. But before the panel started, the moderator was chatting with those of us seated at the table. He asked where I lived, to which I replied “just south of Nashville.”
“How did you get that job, living in Nashville?”
Which job? The writing job that I used to have, or the Business Development job that I now carry? “Both”, he replied.
My immediate answer was one of...
Over the past couple of days, I’ve had the opportunity to play around with a BlackBerry 10 dev alpha device in advance of RIM’s unveiling of the OS later this month. Here’s a shocker – BB10 is very good.
I won’t go into a review, because I’ve been asked nicely to not do so. I have the device in hand for a specific purpose, and reviewing BB10 is not included in that. But what I will say is that RIM has taken some of the best parts of iOS, Windows Phone and...
Most advertisers have absolutely no idea how to actually reach customers with messages that matter.
Good writers understand exactly what information people want, and they know how to deliver it effectively.
I’d be the guy in between these two. Not ad sales. Not ad writing. But I’d be the guy who could work with both sides of the equation to produce effective messages.
If I was a consultant I’d help advertisers talk to people like people.
In case you missed the previous post, I’ve stopped visiting Facebook. I’m not deactivating my account, because I’m sure it will come in handy at some point. But I’m just not going to the site anymore.
One important thing that I’ve noticed is this – I wasted a ridiculous amount of time on a site that I couldn’t wait to leave. Since I’ve stopped visiting, I’ve actually noted that I have more time in my day.
That’s scary.
It’s...