A Little Backscratching From Crestron

Huge thanks to my friends at the Crestron blog for linking up my Marketnews coverage of their CEDIA Expo 2010 Press Event.

Crestron Connected: Photographs And Memories

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Congrats To The Top 25 Social Butterflies at CEDIA Expo 2010

Cindy Davis at the excellent site Custom CE Social went and crunched the metrics on Twitter usage at CEDIA Expo 2010 so you don't have to. The result: the Top 25 members of the Twitterati who were tweeting the show.

Custom CE Social: Top 25 Social Butterflies at #CEDIA10

Yours truly was #7.

Huge props to my good friend Johnny Mota, who was 3rd. And the rAVe [publications] team were an unstoppable force on the show floor, tweeting, taking pictures, and making videos like a seven-person multimedia army. They did an amazing job.

Most surprising of all was seeing Samsung take the 2nd spot. Frankly, most major CE brands haven't got a clue about how to leverage Twitter successfully: they still treat it like conventional advertising, using a megaphone to blare their message to people who aren't listening. Samsung gets it, and deserve props for their progressive approach.

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Some Bloggy Backscratching

I'd like to welcome Aaron Mielke's HomeTheaterLab to the What I'm Reading sidebar at Lee Distad's Professional Opinion. Mr. Mielke seems like a good guy, and his blog is devoted to common sense talk about getting the most out of your home theater experience.

Enjoy!

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A Little Cross-Border Bloggotage

Keen readers of Lee Distad's Professional Opinion (both of you) might be interested to know that we've been referenced in the blog of Harald Steindl of Austrian rep agency MOCOM Communication System GmbH. Harald was kind enough to agree to an interview that I used in my March 2010 Marketnews feature Contracting Out.

Steindl's AV Blog (Auf Deutsche)

Big thanks to Harald for his kind words for both my work and Marketnews magazine!

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Someone Worth Reading

New to the somewhat moribund list of blogs that are popular here at the Global Headquarters of Lee Distad's Professional Opinion is Stone Street Advisors, headed by the anonymous, but extremely clever and talented financial blogger known only as Anal-yst.

He (and I'm reasonably sure it's a he) has an impressive portfolio of commentary, including writing for The Atlantic. I've been following his work since 1-2 Knockout, and even way back when he was an anonymous member of the commentariat on the old Dealbreaker site.

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Junger Media Launches

Head on over to the new site of Junger Media, run by my good friend and colleague, Jason Unger. He's sharp as a tack, and knows a lot about online media.

For one thing, he refuses to call himself a Social Media Guru, and that's clearly a sign that he's got something to offer.

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enThrall Promotions Very Good At What They Do

Here at Lee Distad's Professional Opinion, we're not all about Shameless Self-Promotion.

Indeed, we will gladly Shamelessly Promote Other People too!

enThrall Promotions is an Edmonton Alberta-based PR firm owned and operated by veteran publicist Christopher Thrall, and old schoolmate of mine.

He's very smart, and knows what he's doing, so check out his company's website.

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Bloggotage About Gears Of War 2 And Video Game Politics

I'd been meaning to post these links for a little while now.

First, a cautionary blog post from Marketnews' editor Christine Persaud about striking a balance between life and gaming:

MarketnewsGadgetTalk: Gamers Go Crazy for Gears of War, But is it Too Much?

Next up, from my friend Stan Woo at BioWare and his personal blog And The Award For Worst Ninja Ever Goes To... a really well done three-part saga about the rise and fall of anti-video game crusader Jack Thompson.

Hiatus Update 1a: I Don't Know Jack

Hiatus Update 1b: I Don't Like Jack

Hiatus Update 1c: I Don't Mourn Jack

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PT Barnum Was Right

There really is one born every minute.

Over at FraudFiles Blog, forensic accountant Tracy Coenan's hobby of exposing the fundamental problems with MLM schemes always makes for interesting reading.

Almost as interesting, but far more tragic (in a humorous way) are the comments left by MLM shills that attempt to argue with her logic. Inevitably, they demonstrate a complete inability to think clearly, never mind articulate a coherent point of view. Witness the following debate points left by various MLM clowns from Amway/Quixtar, United First Financial, Primerica, MovaVie, et al. who've visted her site:

covered247 Says: 03 Nov 08 at 2:05 pm

by the way, I bank with Wachovia and they offer me $25 for every customer that I refer (recruit) to open an account with them…….hmmmmmmmmm guess the banks are Pyramid schems also. I’ve also noticed that the only one that makes all the money at my JOB is the CEO at my company, while the pions do all the hard work

Sean Says: 23 May 08 at 7:35 pm
Just one quick question, I’ve studied alot of fortune 500 companies, MLM’s, and so for. Every one of them is set up the same exact way. The guy at the top makes the most money.

Mone't Says: 21 Oct 08 at 3:38 pm

HEY SOMEONE HAS TO SERVE ME MY FRY’S RIGHT? LOL
BTW YOUR TELLING ME YOU DONT FORK MONEY OVER AT WORK? TAXES!! LOL OVER 400 A MONTH FOR MOST. ? LOL YOU OWN A BUSINESS RIGHT OW MUCH DID IT COST YOU? HOW MUCH ARE YOU “SHELLING OUT ” THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

Really, you could spend all day cataloguing boneheaded comments like that. Ms. Coenan has far more patience than I do, to actually respond politely to all the idiot comments left on her site.

It's amazing how many sockpuppets rely on ad hominems and syllogisms, yet can't spell them.

I've got a question: if all these schemes are such gateways to riches, where are all the MLM millionaires? Not the criminals who started the ball rolling, where are the people who built their fortune in one of these "business opportunities?"

That's easy, they don't exist.

As I commented on her site, I had a family member who was a lifelong rainbow chaser in MLM schemes. At family gatherings they fronted all the time about how great they were doing, and endlessly attempted to recruit.

When they passed away, I had to sort through their personal documents, much of which needed to be shredded as they were just old statements that weren’t relevant to the estate.

The only thing sadder than the staggering collection of “Overdue Account - Final Notice” credit card letters was the collection of years of monthly downline statements. On a good month they were pulling in $50-150 from whichever scheme they were mixed up in at the time, and spending 2-3x that or more on the mandatory product purchases.

That's a pretty sad testament of your life to leave behind, if you ask me.

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Some Quick Linkage

I'm pressed for time, but here's some links to a couple of things that caught my attention.

Clusterstock's John Carney ladles out some bad news about credit cards:

The Coming Credit Card Bust:

One of the worst kept secrets in the economy has been that consumer credit is overdue for it’s own subprime meltdown. After years of cheap credit that fueled a boom in consumer spending, credit card companies and retailers providing credit to customers are seeing a spike in defaults. They’re reacting by pulling back on available credit and raising rates, making consumers less able to pay bills by moving balances to the next card.

And on an entirely unrelated note, here's a thought provoking contrarian view of intellectual property from the Von Mises Institute:

Is Intellectual Property the Key to Success?

One of the greatest tragedies of intellectual property law is how it generates intellectual confusion among successful businesspeople. Many are under the impression, even when it is not true, that they owe their wealth to copyrights, trademarks, and patents and not necessarily to their business savvy.

Relating to the above, a friend of mine had this to say (tongue in cheek) about the Von Mises Institute:

“the Austrians? They're just boo hoo doom and gloomers babbling on about how fiat money and fractional reserve banking and the FDIC and government influence on financial markets will cause a catastrophy! Idiots”

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New Blogger On The Block

Say hello to my friend Phil Habib, proprietor of Phoenix AZ-based Iron City Barbell Club, Llc and Shape Of Success Fitness.

Putting In Effort: Three Cheers And A Tiger For Me

Exposure! Every businessman's (and woman's) favorite word. I'd be lying if I said I had no commercial interest in this blog. I run two fitness companies and I want to drive traffic (and sales) to both of them. Don't worry, I'm not going to be too overbearing about it. Why two companies? Isn't that a big pain in the butt? Well, it makes things a little more complicated, but in the long run it's a better idea. Each company serves a vastly different costomer base and is branded accordingly; one company trying to be all things to all people is rarely a good idea.

Phil's a good dude, and knows a thing or two about both physical fitness and business.

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Quote Of The Day

W.C. Varones Blog: Debate-watching thoughts

"I'd rather they run McCain's EKG on that ticker..."

-- Charlie McDanger, WC Varones' unindicted co-conspirator

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Another Dealbreaker icon moves on

It's true, it's damn true. Dealbreaker's Joe Wiesenthal is leavings the Opening Bell in order to get more sleep persue other ventures.

Dealbreaker: Opening Bell

Editor's Note: After some 2.5 years, this will be my last Opening Bell. One can only take so much sleep deprivation, after all. On the other hand, getting reminded and abused about typos never really gets old. Unfortunately I don't really have any advice or words of wisdom to leave you with, since I'm pretty tired.

As I said in the comments, Opening Bell has been an important part of my morning crawl for news for as long as hes been doing it, and I've always enjyed it, typos and all. Some mornings the typos were so egregious that I thought it was just part ofhis schtick.

Fans of business blogs should note that Mr. Weisenthal's excellent blog The Stalwart continues it's tradition of thoughtful bloggotage. Check it out.

*in his honor, and in tribute to 2.5 years of DB's Opening Bell, I left all the typos in this post uncorrected.

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Watching TV on DVD: Where will it end?

Marketnews' editor Christine Persaud has some thoughtful and amusing bloggotage about the enormous success of whole seasons of TV shows on DVD.

MarketnewsGadgetTalk: TV DVDs Taking Over Movies?

I've visited a few retailers over the past little while and noticed something strange: DVD box sets for TV shows are placed front and centre of the store, with new release movies few and far in between. Why?
Are TV shows on DVD becoming more popular? Is this a way to make them more popular in the wake of things like on-demand movies that could be cutting into DVD sales? Or perhaps it's just a sales tactic since the holiday season is slowly creeping up on us? After all, DVD box sets are fairly popular among the gift-giving crowd.

Like Christine points, out it's not just people buying up their favorite TV show once it's released on DVD. I know people who only watch television series when they're released on DVD.

In addition to the reasons she outlines for why people consume their TV shows in this way, I would suggest that once the producers figured out how successfully they could further market their content, they floodgates were open. It's well known that many theatrical films do better in the DVD market than in the theatres. I expect that the DVD market is equally generous to TV product, if not more so.

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The Epicurean Dealmaker's not happy, either

Since I'm being derivative today, here's a link to the latest screed by the impossible-to-excerpt Epicurean Dealmaker, whose fiscal perspicacity is matched only by his vitriol.

The Epicurean Dealmaker: Live and Let Die

These firms, and the people who run them and work for them, have been living by the sword for a long time. It would be no great American tragedy if some of them died by the sword today.

There's more, of course. A lot more. Don't hold back, TED, tell us how you really feel!

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Off topic: Sound nutritional advice

Since I'm hard at work on one of my projects, and today seems like a good day for brief but meanignful asides, here's a link to a post on a friend's blog that outlines sensible eating habits.

The SubLimeLime Blog: Navigating the Grocery Store

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The idiocy of the US Fed, the SEC and the rest of them

I'm working on a deadline for one of my print assignments, but I thought it would be salutary to stop in and post a few links of required reading on just what nonsense the SEC's short-selling ban, the Fed banking bailout, and all the other assorted anti-free-market tomfoolery actually is.

Dealbreaker: Short People Got No Reason To Live: Part II

Gary Weiss: 'Mind Blowing Stupidity' Update: Whither the Uptick Rule?

The Stalwart: Stand Firm

WC Varones: Shoot the messenger

1-2 Knockout: Welcome to Pakistan!


I can see it now, Some idiot in Washington is going to declare that “we had to destroy Wall Street in order to save it.”

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What I'm reading: A really great blog about booze

Serendipity (and Google search) can be a wonderful thing. I was looking for a picture of Boris Bold, the beer I had last night, and stumbled upon Liquor Log, a blog devoted to reviews of wine, beer and spirits.

What's really entertaining about Liquor Log's reviews, aside from the clarity of the reviews, is the author's willingness to try anything.* As a result, the reviews run the gamut from beverages that are high class to beverages that are no class. As a result, hilarity often ensues.

If you like great or not-so-great libations, check out Liquor Log.

*be sure to read the review of Lime Hydra Vodka Water.

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Arr! Have it been a whole yeargh already?

Shiver me timbers! I can't believe me ears, that this be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Arr, did we not just have this very celebration? If not, then why is all the rum gone?

Avast, ye scallywags, be sure to head on over to the blog of Cap'n Dyke, Lesbian Pirate Queen, where every day be talk like a pirate day!

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Let's see what's happening over at Dell

Anonymous tech/biz blogger Below The Crowd, makes a couple of interesting points in relation to Dell.

First, the idea of using order times as a bellwether for the state of the computer biz:

Below the Crowd: The Dell Indicator

The indicator is simple: If Dell (NasdaqGS:DELL) takes more than one week to complete a custom order on something with the parts fully in stock (per their website), business is pretty good. 4-7 days means business is OK, but not great. 1-3 days and it's pretty weak.

He makes some good points, although the downside is that if you seriously want to use this method to keep your thumb on the pulse of the computer business, you've got to buy a lot of computers.

Moving on, he then goes off on a tirade about what he deems disproportionately expensive memory upgrades:

For upgrading my system's puny 1GB 667Mhz memory to 4GB of 800MHz memory in 2 DIMMs Dell wants $550! Buying the same memory directly from Crucial costs $116. I saved a bit more by skipping the unnecessary ECC memory that Dell forces you into buying, and dropping my memory cost to under $100

Below the Crowd has a valid point, and I've noticed this when futzing with Dell's order configurator thingy. If customer service advocate RichardFromDELL is reading, I'd love to hear his perspective on this.

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