Free Agent Musings: Archive

Twitter as a customer service tool

I havent written in a while. No excuses. Now is as good a time as any to start again. A friend and I have a running debate about how luxury doesnt translate well over the internet. A luxury brand’s retail store, if set up properly, is an experience. The design, music, service, etc are all meant to reinforce/promote the brand’s image. Over the web, however, there is little that a...

Jul 2nd

Employers cut 533K jobs in Nov., most in 34 years... →

Things get worse everyday. I almost want to start a website that only posts good news.

Dec 5th

An Apprenticeship Worth Applying For

Seth Godin is offering a 6 month apprenticeship for a few lucky candidates. If you don’t know much about Seth, I strongly encourage you to read his blog. Seth is a marketing genius, modern day philosopher and a successful businessman. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for anyone that gets into the program. I am applying for the position and think that you should to. If you end up...

Dec 4th

Nov 18th

Dreaming of World With No Catalogs

Today my mailbox was taken over by no less than 5 catalogs. I have opted out of some of these catalogs already using catalogchoice.org. these companies are insistent on reaching Alana and I, not realizing that they creating an ever increasing negative image in our minds. foolish. To date, I have tried opting out of 34 catalogs with catalogchoice.org. 15 have confirmed (although some still...

Nov 14th

Nov 2nd

Nov 1st

1 note

Oprah Spurs Kindle Sales

Just use twitter search to see how many people are saying that they got the kindle because Oprah endorsed it. It’s unreal. BTW - twitter search is a great tool to see if people are talking about your brand/product/startup/etc

Oct 26th

NYC Bus Ads Target by Block, Zip Code and Time of... →

Geo targeted advertising like this has so much promise. I get how huge the mobile market it, but I would rather have a big ad on a bus that is geotargeted over a tiny ad on small mobile screen.

Oct 24th

Google Upgrades Analytics Functions →

I’m looking forward to learning how to implement some of the new features

Oct 23rd

LinkedIn Debuts B2B Network →

I’m surprised they didn’t roll this out sooner. It almost feels a little behind the times. UGC is created everyday. Its a matter of parsing the content and analyzing it. If you can do that, you get insights into topics from users that havent been incentivized to participate. I dont work for a big company. Part of me wants to. First thing I do at my next gig will be to implement...

Oct 23rd

Barack Obama for president - Los Angeles Times →

Oct 18th

Oct 10th

NYC National Debt Clock runs out of digits -... →

Oct 10th

Google Me This

According to Google Trends, the hottest search term right now is “vice presidential debate time” Guess which of our candidates is bidding on this term? Neither (shocking) I would bid on this term, create an ad that favors Biden, and send searchers to an Obama/biden webpage that shows the debate times. On that page I would give channel info for CNN or MSNBC only. if I was in...

Oct 3rd

Fringe Advertising

At the start of each commercial break for the hit show Fringe, viewers see a note across the top of their screen saying that the show will return in 90 seconds. It is, to my knowledge, the only show that does this. I wonder if this has had any effect on commercial viewing habits. When i see that note, I think that 90 seconds isnt so bad and that it wouldnt be the worst thing to watch the...

Oct 2nd

Hack the Debate

Current.com has partnered with Twitter to show live debate related tweets on the current tv channel (channel 103 in NYC). I love the idea of interactive television and using twitter as a means of communication. People hate on twitter a lot, something i just dont understand. This really works for any live event. American Idol, for instance. Imagine Simon or Randy saying that, based on tweets...

Oct 2nd

Sep 25th

Marquise Williams - The Top Kindergarten Prospect... →

Marquise is an 8 year old basketball phenom who is using Youtube to promote his name. Looks like its working. Marquise is the lead story on ESPN’s NBA page.

Sep 25th

Patrick Ewing - Love Him or Hate Him but Always... →

Sep 6th

Watch

The republican flip flop

Sep 4th

Most amazing firefox download ever →

Aug 27th

Aug 24th

Pay Attention!

This was emailed to me today. I thought it was funny. A Real Story First-year students at Texas A&M’s Vet school were attending their first Anatomy class, with a real dead pig. They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a White sheet. The professor started the class by telling them, ‘In Veterinary Medicine it is necessary to have two important...

Aug 21st

Watch

Aug 17th

Is your site's value proposition/concept easy to...

It bothers me when I go to a webpage and cant figure out what the product/site/concept/idea is within 1 minute of previewing the site. Thousands of sites a day are constantly fighting for my attention and, if I give a site my attention, I expect that they know how to capitalize on it. If they dont, a lot of time & money on site development was just wasted because tomorrow a whole new slew of...

Aug 15th

1 note

Watch

One of the most painful sports injuries I have ever seen

Aug 13th

We Make the News →

A very good piece. Journalism is changing at the speed of light. Its nice to see that David Carr of the NY Times gets it.

Aug 11th

The Medium - Kanye on Keyboards →

Kanye’s mastery of social media is inspiring. The quote below comes directly from Kanye’s blog. “Oh and sidebar I don’t know if everyone has realized this yet but I don’t do interviews if there’s anything I wanna say I’ll say right here on my own blog.”

Aug 9th

Watch

Wolverine Movie - Preview Leaked at Comic Con

Jul 28th

Doesn't Sit Well With Me

“The rescue package was cobbled together on Saturday and Sunday during a series of telephone calls and meetings involving senior officials at the Treasury and the Federal Reserve.” - NY Times “Scramble Led to Rescue Plan On Mortgages” July 15 2008 It just doesnt sit well with me when a writer describes a potentially multi trillion dollar rescue package as being one...

Jul 15th

ebooks

Before I got the Kindle, I hated ebooks. I dont like reading long documents via adobe and dont enjoy printing them out to read either. This problem no longer exists in my life

Jul 14th

Iphone's appeal to the over 50 crowd

My parents both hate their current cellular flip phones and have ultimately decided to get the new iphone. It wasnt 3g, itunes, apps or the like that was the deal clincher for them. Instead, it was the large visual keyboard. As their eyesight gets worse, its harder and harder for them to see the keys on their cell phones. This made the blackberry a non starter and the iphone a clear winner. ...

Jul 11th

Rehearsal Dinner

Tonight was my rehearsal dinner and it was one of the best nights of my life. Its a blessing to have such an amazing group of friends and family in my life. Of course I was roasted - many careers, self help, hypochondriac, etc. But, jokes aside, a lot of touching things were said also and it made my year. I only have one friend that reads this tumblog and he is speaking tomorrow night. But in...

Jun 19th

addicted to the kindle

Its reached the point that if a book is not available on the kindle, i dont want to read it

Jun 16th

att is annoying

why is customer service closed on sundays?

Jun 15th

NBA Finals

The first 4 games of the finals have all started a 9 pm eastern time. These days I can barely stay awake past 11 pm, so that start time has been terrible for me. I was excited for today’s game because I assumed it would start around 4 pm. I was wrong. 9 pm again. ugh

Jun 15th

Jun 5th

Read my tumblr in french, italian, spanish,...

I added the google translate gadget to my tumblr. If any of my 8 or so followers want to read my musings in a foreign language, just scroll to the bottom of page and use the gadget to pick your language.

May 24th

May 14th

Financial Independence in 1 Second a Day or Less

Currently sitting at number five in the amazon best seller list, and number 1 in their business and investing books list, is a book called The One Minute Entrepreneur. I have not read the book but I am convinced that its success has everything to do with its title. So many people have dreams of making a lot of money doing as little work as possible and books with names like The One Minute...

May 11th

A new post on half-blog half-amazing

Check it out

May 9th

I saw Jake in Union Square. "jake! akje!"

I was walking in Union square early last week and i walked by Jake from Jake and Amir fame. It was kind of weird and kind of cool. alana and I watch Jake and Amir so much it almost like we know them. I came thisclose to yelling “jake!” in my best Amir voice but pussied out in the end. pathetic. i did call Alana after to tell her. Her reaction? “Jake!” Alana and I...

May 1st

My NBA Blog was Picked up by Yahoo! Sports!!!!!!!

I have an NBA themed blog called Half-Blog, Half-Amazing. Last night, I posted my thoughts on the disastrous Kidd trade. Today i checked my stats and i had a huge spike in traffic. Turns out i was picked up by the yahoo! sports NBA blog Ball Dont Lie. Check out the yahoo! post here.

Apr 30th

The New York Times shows some love to Eran Chen...

I previously wrote a mazel tov tumblog to Eran on the sucess of his new firm, ODA Architecture. This weekend the New York Times wrote a great review of 15 USW, Eran’s latest masterpiece. Check it out.

Apr 27th

The "Thanks" email

Do you like getting a reply email that only says “thanks” or would you rather just not get a reply?

Apr 22nd

Got a Kindle

Actually i just ordered a kindle and it arrives tomorrow. regardless, point is i am very excited. I like to read and recently have downloaded an e-book or two but havent been able to read them because i dont like reading books off my computer screen. Printing 300+ pages was also not an option.

Apr 22nd

Facebook Chat

I love it. i dont have AOL IM names for most of my facebook friends and facebook chat makes it even easier to communicate. really nice work

Apr 18th

Shalom My Friend! Congratulations Eran Chen

Congratulations to my good friend Eran Chen on the success of his new architectural firm ODA. I had the pleasure of working with Eran on the Jade and I can say without hesitation that he not only a supremely talented architect but also a genuinely good guy. His latest masterpiece? 15 USW (Union Square West) which was featured on the cover of todays NY Post Real Estate Pull Out.

Apr 11th