Bill Gates vs. Mother Theresa

Captain Dilbert, a.k.a. Scott Adams, has an excellent post comparing Bill Gates and Mother Theresa, both of whom have been known to do the odd humanitarian thing.

They both devoted their lives to doing what they were into, and influenced lots of people. Somehow if I decided to go fishing for the rest of my life, I doubt it would count as humanitarian or influential - I must be a lesser human!

I'm not taking sides, although I will comment that good deeds speak for themselves and "holyness" is a useless abstract concept to me.

I haven't written about Mother Theresa before, but I have compared Bill Gates to The Pope (another famous Catholic person like Mother Theresa) and Ghandi here in If You're so Smart Why Aren't you Rich?

Happy New Year and we now return you to your regularly scheduled blog!

Pass the Champagne please.

Book Endorsements

I've written about book endorsements and how they are typically done here. The following were done differently!

I laughed when I saw the following book endorsement:

"Take Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy, Bill Bernbach and Mark Twain. Combine their brains and shave their heads. What's left? Seth Godin."

Jay Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing

What a great endorsement, especially for a guy whose totally bald head is purposely a part of his brand!

While my book endorsements don't comment on my hairstyle - and my hair could easily be picked on (hint: hairstyle ranges from shaved clean like Seth to closer to hippie), I'm pretty humbled at what people have had to say about my book. The two gentlemen listed below have far more experience writing and do it much better. No I didn't pay them - but maybe I should! :)

"Blogging for Business will do for blogging what Peter Drucker's Effective Executive did for managerial culture. All marketing personnel, CEOs, and aspiring CEOs will rely on this book for generations to come."

Gene J. Koprowski
Columnist
United Press International

"If you've ever wondered, 'What'’s the buzz about blogs?,' look no further than the book at hand. Blogging for Business is a textbook on the who, what, how, and why of blogs. Read now."

Mark Hughes, CEO/Author
Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk About Your Stuff

Hey guys, you sure you read the right book? :)

Seriously, major thanks! And also thanks to the others who wrote endorsements - this post is already over-the-top in self promotion so I can't list you all, but here's one last one.

"This is a truly amusing diatribe; Ted's writing doesn't suck bigtime anymore. Some of it is even logical!"

John Raleigh, Raleigh Design

Blog access in China

This or may not be a coincidence, but MANMAN consultant Chris Jones, while on a recent Asian trip, mentioned that he couldn't access The Ted Rap "when in China, but . . . in Hong Kong it works fine," and there have been lots of reports on blog censorship in China.

For example, see this interesting Sydney Morning Herald article.

Now why China would chose to censor me I wouldn't know, and yes, I do know Hong Kong is part of China, but in many ways that's just a technical detail.

Coincidence, or not?

Diebold voting machines hacked

I was just looking at Voting Machines Can Be Hacked, Diebold CEO Resigns, a webpage on wanttoknow.info that someone forwarded to me.

This is full of nonsense and sensationalism! It's not worth anyone wasting their time on.

I am no Diebold fan, but stating that someone who had access to a Diebold could "hack it" is ludicrous. "Access" is the key word. Anything can be hacked once you have direct "access." Consider this as a basic principle of security! Someone gets access and the game is over - you lose.

Even forgetting computers, voting machines and the like, paper ballets can be "hacked" if you have direct access - for example if they are sitting in from of you!

The election official's comment about there being no paper trail hence it is unreliable, is equally ridiculous. He might as well be making expert commentary on molecular biology or brain surgery - he is obviously not trained nor qualified to comment on these or on data security issues. A paper trail is no more guarantee of accountability, reliability, or accuracy than a crystal ball.

Diebold machines have problems - there is no doubt. There are some basic principles of security that are violated in their programming. It's unfortunately not surprising either as security is almost always an afterthought in any computer programming.

Professionally speaking, that part of the Website, although perhaps well intentioned, is a "load of crap!" It's so bad that I'm not going to waste my time looking at any more of the Web site - they have no credibility left.

I've been quoted where???

Well, you just never know what to expect in the blogosphere.

I have the quote of the week in a gay male pornographic blog that features black men.

This is surprising because:

1) I'm not black
2) I'm not gay
3) They don't even have a naked picture of me -- unless it's a baby picture they got from my mother :)

The quote came from this recent UPI article by Gene Koprowski and you can see it below:

"I feel I know and trust the podcasters I listen to weekly. Podcasts are also cheaper to produce than broadcast radio shows and can be used to target very narrow market niches, like Democratic activists, counter-cultural groups and pornography fans."

-- Ted Demopoulos, author and speaker, on the mainstream-ization of podcasting.


In the (hopefully joking) words of my Fearless PR Leader Dan Janal (prleads.com),

"Sometimes, you find your niche.
Sometimes your niche finds you! "

I'm not linking to it as it would be inappropriate from here - I'm neither anti-porn nor a homophobe nor a racist (although I am glad to be me - a heterosexual clothed white boy).

Maybe I should be honored? In truth, I don't know what to think, although I certainly don't mind! If you're reading, thank you!

Blogging Software: ready for prime time? NO!

I'm grumpy because almost EVERY piece of blogging software I've been using lately has had serious problems.

Blogging is not a toy - serious companies like IBM, General Motors, Microsoft, and a few hundred (thousand?) others use and depend on it. Sorry, most of it just doesn't make the grade today - neither robust nor reliable.

First TypePad has an 18 hour catastrophe (I have blogs hosted by TypePad).

Then FeedBlitz, which I use for email subscriptions, has apparently not been allowing new users to subscribe to The Ted Rap for a couple of months. (kudos to FeedBlitz for immediately responding to my email - like within a couple minutes even though it's almost midnight!)

I moved to FeedBlitz from Bloglet because it's entirely unsupported and unreliable. Monsur Hossain, Mr. Bloglet, just doesn't care - his emails bounce, and even if you track him down like I did he doesn't respond.

"Fixing" (hopefully) FeedBlitz for The Ted Rap involved updating my Blogger.com template. I had to try SEVEN times until it succeeded! (I use Blogger.com for The Ted Rap).

Blogging Software: ready for prime time? Apparently NO :(

(hats off to FeedBurner - not only do you not suck, but you work reliably and well! And FeedBlitz for immediately responding - a class act, maybe it was my error?)

Strategy+Business China's Five Surprises

I found Strategy+Business' recent article, China's Five Surprises, to be fascinating (free registration required for access).

It reinforced what I have experienced, but most importantly never mentally or otherwise distilled into distinct or concrete categorizations before.

As regular readers may know, I've spent serious time in parts of China, briefed Chinese government officials on computer security (while the US Navy was blockading Chinese wargames a bit too near Taiwan - 'twas tense), and have roughly a startup and a half in Hong Kong/China right now. As a side note, naive Cantonese friends once dubbed me an honorary "Chinaman" after a very late night of eating and drinking in Kowloon :)

The five surprises, without much commentary from me - see the article for details:

The "Why not me?"” attitude towards success

Fearless experimenting in business and technology

China'’s "“brain gain"” - when you're hot, you can attract many of the best

The formerly patronage-based economy - no longer the way it is

China's overseas ambitions and connections

Blogging for Business available for pre-order from Amazon

Blogging for Business available for pre-order from Amazon! I'm surprised they have it listed so soon, as I was told January 3rd. It's interesting that they have no image yet - there may be some slight color tweaking going on at my publishers art department.

It's starting to feel real - until now the book has seemed pretty abstract to me, something that existed only as a bunch of words in MS Word.

It's a bit preliminary, but will ship in about a month, hence the term "preorder." Book is written and goes to the printer in a few days.

Patricia Fripp recommends authors read their own books - as by the time they get printed they've probably forgotten what they written :) I'll put it on my list.

Preorder Blogging for Business

Anonymous Blogs are often Not!

Late last night while drinking and surfing -- errr, doing Internet research for my book, I came across a very interesting "anonymous" blog. It was anonymous in that there was little indication of who the author was other than a pseudonym: no indication of location, age, sex, etc. It was a very new blog and didn't even contain a single post yet.

It was interesting as I knew immediately whose blog it was - my teenage niece's. There wasn't any one thing that gave it away, but I just knew. It was obvious to me.

Anonymous bloggers have had their identities discovered by spouses, bosses, boy/girlfriends, and others - often with disastrous results. More than one anonymous blogger has been fired when it was obvious who was speaking ill of their boss or company. Anonymous blogs that weren't have signaled the end of relationships and marriages.

It's hard to be anonymous when the whole world is watching - someone will figure it out.

Self Destruct Text Messages

Text Messaging is extremely popular, and has even replaced e-mail as a preferred form of communication in many cases (a lot of young people think e-mail is an old outdated technology).

'Mission Impossible' style Text Messaging is now available from Stealth Text. With this paid service, Text Messages disappear after being read.

Remember "This tape will self-destruct in five seconds" from the classic TV Show Mission Impossible? Now we've got it for Text Messages.

At 44, I'm too old to use Text Messaging :), but I can see lots of uses for Stealth Text - critical corporate communications, keeping messages from your extra-marital lovers private, just plain keeping secrets and privacy, and playing spy!

Privacy is Good.

Internet - Organized Crime moves slowly to Cybercrime

Max Blumberg has an interesting post on "Internet Security: A New Level of Threat." (see his May 17, 2005 post - his permalinks seem to be broken)

He believes "Like any big business, organized crime is slow to change. It is run by conservative bosses who concentrate on traditional revenue streams such as drug trafficking and prostitution."

This makes sense, and resonates with my belief that internet crime is the playground of smaller entrepreneurial criminals. Some may be organized for sure, but most do not fit the mold of old-style traditional "Organized Crime."

The Internet really helps level the playing field for entrepreneurs and businessman, be they legit or crooks!

Information Technology: China now tops US as #1 exporter

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report puts China as the #1 exporter of IT goods, topping the United States. In 2004, China was at US$180 billion and the US at US$149 billion.

The figures do include mobile phones and digital cameras, so it's not quite as surprising as it sounds. The report itself refers to "information and communications technology goods," although the title mentions "information technology goods."

I'm not surprised, but I am surprised that it has happened already.

Note that it's easy to misinterpret the report. I wouldn't consider mobile phones and digital cameras as IT, and the title doesn't make their inclusion clear. Still surprising though!

First heard about from this Computer World article - I don't exactly hang out on the OECD website :)

Blogging for Business Back Cover

I've just gotten the "cover copy" for my book Blogging for Business. Authors don't write this themselves! Since it is often what sells the book it's closer to advertising than anything else.

Looks OK - hey, they even spelled my name right!

Blog Your Way to Business Success

Why do 20 to 40 million Weblogs, or blogs, serve as an outlet for an estimated 32 million readers worldwide? And why do these numbers continue to skyrocket?

In Blogging for Business, authors Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos tell you exactly how and why more companies are incorporating blogs into their business strategies. This smart new guide helps you engage in the global conversation by creating and maintaining blogs to generate heightened awareness and greater customer mindshare.

In Blogging for Business, the authors reveal why businesses should embrace blogging :

· How to tap into the power of blogs
· How blogs are different from e-zines, Web sites, and message boards
· Why businesses need to monitor blogs that discuss their products and services
· How to use an internal corporate blog as an effective knowledge sharing tool
· Future iterations of blogging, such as podcasts and vlogs
· Legal considerations associated with blogging
· And more!

Worldwide corporations from EDS and IBM to General Motors and Sprint are leveraging the myriad applications of blogs for product marketing, customer affinity programs, public relations, and internal communications. Packed with top-notch recommendations from two pros, Blogging for Business demonstrates that blogs offer a competitive advantage that businesses cannot afford to overlook.

Shel Holtz is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, whose clients have included Pepsi, Barclays Global Investors, The World Bank, and Intel. A blogger and podcaster, Holtz speaks regularly at the International Association of Business Communicators Conference (IABC) and the Ragan Corporate Communications Conference.

Ted Demopoulos has more than 25 years of experience in high technology, including 15 years as an independent consultant serving blue chip clients such as Cisco Systems, The Department of Defense, IBM, Hong Kong Telecom, and the UK Post Office. An early adopter of blogging, he has closely followed the development of the blogosphere for many years.

Santa Claus starts Blogging!

Bloggers are all down on "Character Blogs," blogs allegedly written by fictional characters like "Captain Morgan" of Captain Morgan's Rum and others. (The Captain Morgon blog didn't last long!)

However bloggers, myself included, are often full of themselves. Bloggers make up a minority of the Blogosphere - blog readers make up the majority, and they are not quite as uptight.

When Santa Claus, in the words of comedy duo Cheech and Chong, "The Dude with the hair on his jaws," asked me to start a blog for him I couldn't say no. Despite the fact that bloggers will castigate me, I had to do it. I also put Amazon ads for Christmas presents on it, and hope to generate some revenue for the less fortunate, and maybe if I make a lot of money even buy the Elves some caviar and wine (they are party animals during the offseason, i.e. immediately after Christmas). Or maybe some Mad Dog 20-20.

So visit SantaBlog.org, do your Amazon shopping there, and maybe I can donate a few bucks to the less fortunate.

In any case, I'm having fun. Christmas is especially fun when you have little kids like I do!

Ebay's Fraud Team Fooled by Phishing Hoax

Richi Jennings recently got an email with the subject "Christmas is Coming on ebay.co.uk," which directed him to the Web site Ebaychristmas.net. He was asked to enter his eBay username/password AND the username/password for his e-mail account.

Sure looks like a Plishing attack to me! It did to Jennings too, who writes the Computerworld IT Blogwatch column.

He contacted eBay and was told it was "an official e-mail message sent to you on behalf of eBay.” Not being a idiot, although he felt eBay thought he was, he emailed them back and was promptly ignored.

Of course he was right, and eBay looks pretty stupid, moronic, and insensitive now. Just think what I’d call them if I didn’t like them! Mistakes happen, but this is pretty obviously a Phishing attack. They asked for not only his eBay info, but also his email login info - alarm bells were clanging loudly!!!

More details in Computerworld.

And the story continues at Rich's blog here. Thanks to Richi for letting me know.

Blogging For Business Book Blog

I'm writing at the new Blogging for Business Book blog as well. Come visit!

I started the blog very recently - still a work in progress - and coauthor Shel Holtz and I will be posting there regularly.

I'll be posting here as always, and the Book Blog will concentrate on Blogs and other "web 2.0" stuff like podcasts and vidcasts/vlogs and their uses in business.

Topics will include:

Starting/creating maintaining blogs
Making money from blogs
Using blogs for internal communications
Marketing, Branding, Positioning, etc. with blogs
Publicizing/building readership for blogs
Legal issues and problems with blogs
and a lot more

As far as the book goes, it's on track for February (really, late January) release and hopefully will be available from Amazon soon. I'll post a description and the "Cover Copy" soon.

Book Review: Guerrilla Marketing for Writers

101 Weapons for Selling Your Work, by Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman, Michael Larsen

This book is both fun to read and full of practical advice! Described as a “what to do” as opposed to a “how to do book,” it really explains the importance of marketing for authors as well as many ideas for “what to do.” So what is “guerilla marketing?” I’d say marketing intelligently and inexpensively, instead of just throwing money at it.

It’s no surprise to authors or anyone that has done some research that authors are responsible for making their book sell. It doesn’t matter whether you have a big name publisher or are self-published, you need to promote and market your book. One of the biggest parts of my book proposal for Blogging for Business was on marketing/promotion and certainly a good part of why the publisher liked it.

Also, a book is not a be all and end all. It won’t make you rich. It probably won’t even make you much money from book sales, but the “expert status” gained, sales of additional services (consulting, speaking, etc.), and related information products can make it very worthwhile. Guerilla Marketing explains this all in a simple to comprehend and digest format.

The “weapons” are really in two categories, at least in my mind. Things to do, such as press releases, webcasts, email signatures, surveys, strategic allegiances, media kits, and things to motivate and think about, such as your enthusiasm, your professionalism, etc. I found both categories useful. Obviously not everyone will find all the weapons appropriate for them, but certainly enough to make spending the time being amused while reading this book worthwhile.

I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, and it’s sitting on my nightstand. Every night or two, I reread a section and get more value, and practical ideas. That’s the ultimate complement for a book like this.

Buy "Guerrilla Marketing for Writers : 100 Weapons to Help You Sell Your Work" from Amazon

If interested in getting published and what it takes, Rick's Author 101 may be just the ticket. Visit the Author 101 Website for more information. You can also download Rick's free Million Dollar Rolodex here.