Jason Thibeault's Blog: From My Pen, page 75

Looking to Get a Business Funded? You Might Be Too Late.

Although there are always options for funding out there, heavy investment into startups usually happens in waves. We saw it in the dot-com era (erroneously, I might add). And we have most recently seen it over the past 6-9 months. But like any rush in the investment market, there is inevitably a slow-down and eventual correction (especially on valuations spurred by investors “placing bets” on the next big thing).

Mark Suster over at TechCrunch posted a fantastic blog piece about his reflection...

Putting Digital First

In my role at Limelight Networks as the Sr. Director of Marketing Strategy, I have been deeply involved recently in the company’s significant market pivot around digital presence management. As I participated in an internal assessment of our own digital presence (which I have been blogging about on the Limelight website) and had conversations with smart people, I came to realize what makes a successful digital presence.

And it might not be what you think.

As companies foray into the digital eco...

How-To: Tips for Using Twitter

At a loss on how to maximize your Twitter usage? The slideshow below provides some great, helpful tips on making the most of your 140-character conversations.

Twitter Tips for Everyone View more presentations from Luca Filigheddu

Really? You Want your Room Lit by the Silhouette of Armageddon?

I guess this is an example of art imitating life? I wonder why they didn’t just name it the Hiroshima lamp.

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Just in case you want to buy it: http://www.shapeways.com/model/287682/. Although no refunds for horrific doomsday nightmares.

/facepalm

Visual: A History of Crayola Crayon Colors

It’s always cool to see the history of things we take for granted: like Crayola Crayon colors. It’s amazing to see how the original colors (just 8 in 1903) expanded with so many different varieties and shades. It would be interesting to understand the reasoning behind this expansion. Did we think we needed more colors? Or simply did the technology improve that allowed for better color separation? Click on the picture to launch an interactive, clickable picture at datapointed.

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What is True Innovation?

I think that everyone has a sense of what innovation is. It’s imagining something new. It’s repurposing something in a novel way. But I also think that innovation has changed over the years thanks to the rapid-pace of technological advancement. Not only is it easier to “innovate” but it’s easier to bring that to market. In fact, I would argue that we live in a constant state of innovation.

But that’s my contention with the word. It’s lost much of the power of its original meaning.

And then I ca...

Review: Hands-on With SketchMee for Mac

SketchMee for Mac, launched in January of this year, is a fantastic application for rendering photos as “sketches” using a combination of pencil and chalk.

SketchMee has a very simple interface that makes using the software enjoyable and rewarding.

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After “dragging and dropping” a photo onto the canvas (the dotted-border placeholder in the settings panel is where you can drag a picture from anywhere),

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the default sketch settings are applied immediately.

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Then, using the available presets (the “Appl...

Developer Platform Mashup?

As application platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and others continue to open themselves to developer integration, it will become increasingly difficult for developers to keep track of everything as the applications they build bolt onto multiple services.

http://gigaom.com/2011/06/29/twitter-to-launch-site-for-platform-developers/

Although I applaud Twitter for doing this, someone needs to build a solution that consolidates these developer platforms into a single offering so t...

How-To: Publishing a Magazine to the iPad

The iPad. It’s nirvana for a magazine publisher. But not everyone has big budgets and lots of money to spend on converting a print magazine to an iPad application. Thankfully, MagAppZine, can accomplish that for you. Although it’s not incredibly cheap, they will put together a branded iPad app that includes social media? The price? About $2500 for the app but then you also get charged (one time fee) for each magazine that you offer through the app. The downside? You share 25% of all revenue (...

Managing the Cloud

Although the cloud is exciting and will become incredibly relevant to end-users as the household device ecosystem continues to expand (PC, phones, TVs, gaming consoles, handhelds, tablets, etc.), managing everything across lots of different services will be a major barrier to consumers employing the cloud for their personal media. Real is attempting to solve that problem with Unifi:

http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2011/06/realnetworks-rolls-out-cloud-unifi.html

Although currently only availabl...