hazy stars

WOMEN WHO DRINK = UGLY?

The Drug and Alcohol Service for London (DASL) is currently running a rather interesting anti-drinking campaign targeted towards women. DASL is a leading substance misuse charity in London that offers a broad range of services and programs for anyone affected by a drinking problem.

“Drug & Alcohol Service for London exists to respond to the needs of and educate the growing number of people experiencing alcohol and drug problems within different communities whilst aiming to reduce the impact of alcohol and drug misuse and its consequences.”




According to DASL, women are at more risk than men from alcohol because they are smaller and their bodies metabolize drink more slowly. This is explains why their current campaign is targeted so heavily towards women.

There is a section on the DASL bebo site that allows people to upload pictures of themselves and insert the number "alcohol units" consumed on average over the course of a week. The program then reconfigures the face and reveals the effects that the alcohol consumption has on appearance.

Being The Beer Wench and all, I think I will refrain from uploading my photo -- something tells me it won't be pretty.

This campaign strikes me as interesting. Whereas I understand a lifestyle riddled with smoking, drug use and alcohol consumption definitely takes a toll on one's body ... and appearance, there have been many studies promoting the health benefits of alcohol. I prefer to believe those!

GMAIL Redesigned

Are you sick of looking at Gmail rather unexciting and dull interface?

Lucky for Gmail, looks don't matter when it comes to being the best webmail service available. Known for its superior anti-spam technology, thread messages and general simplicity -- Gmail is quite possibly the most universally used webmail program on the market. Unfortunately for its users, it is pretty damn ugly.

Well, folks. Times they are a changing. Globex Designs has created revamped Gmail in its project called "Gmail Redesigned."

It was simple to download and took effect immediately. I am already extremely satisfied with my new Gmail layout. Check out the before and afters:

BEFORE



AFTER


What are you waiting for? GO GET IT!!! And while you are at it, get the redesign for GOOGLE as well!!!

The Grass Is Greener Here

All real estate is local. Despite negative news stories about the national real estate market, central Ohio's housing market remains healthy and stable. Experts applaud our housing affordability and emphasize that this is a great time to buy! Mortgage rates are at historic lows, there are plenty of homes of every style and price range on the market, and plenty of free resources are available to help educate those who want advice on homeownership.

According to The Columbus Board of Realtors, The Grass is Greener Here!

Here is the official announcement:

Columbus Board of REALTORS^® Tells the Public that “All Real Estate is Local” in 2008 Ad Campaign

The Columbus Board of REALTORS^® is supporting a public awareness campaign to help people in central Ohio understand that all real estate is local. Because this organization serves as the “voice for real estate,” we are taking it upon ourselves to inform home buyers and homeowners that our market remains extremely stable and affordable, thus making it a great time for most people in central Ohio to buy real estate.

Our goal: to paint a realistic picture of this market
Despite constant news about a national real estate crisis, the central Ohio housing market remains strong. Leading financial experts at Forbes Magazine, recently ranked the region as the third most stable housing market in the country, mortgage rates are at historic lows and free resources are available to help educate residents about housing. It is time for the facts about housing to be communicated to the general public in central Ohio with the goal of educating residents, strengthening confidence in the local economy, and spurring investment in central Ohio neighborhoods and communities.

Extremely important to the campaign are the free homebuyer education programs provided by Columbus Housing Partnership (CHP). In 2007 alone, this organization served more than 11,000 central Ohio residents who held the dream of homeownership. Click here for more information on CHP's homebuyer education programs.

In addition to our efforts, The National Association of REALTORS^® is continuing its year-long national campaign to communicate the good news about the value of homeownership. NAR will continue its heavy schedule of radio, TV, and print ads throughout 2008.

Ohio Web Leaders Conference

 

Ohio Web Marketing Group to Host Internet Marketing Conference

Columbus seminar to focus on tools and tactics to drive web site traffic, sales, leads and brand awareness

Columbus, OH May 12, 2008 – Leading online marketing experts will be gathering in Columbus on May 19th for an intense day of sessions, training and education, as the Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) hosts “Building a Roadmap for an Integrated Marketing Strategy”, the group announced today.

The event will be held from 8:30 am until 4 pm at the Northpointe Conference Centre. Registration for the event is available at OhioWebLeaders.com. 

The conference will focus on integrating online and traditional marketing campaigns to generate more sales, leads and awareness online through corporate websites.

“Ohio is home to a vibrant online marketing community,” said Bill Balderaz of Webbed Marketing, a Columbus-based Internet marketing agency one of the charter members of OWL. “Online marketing agencies, technology firms, software solution providers, web design firms, and other Internet marketing experts all call Ohio home,” he added. “This event is about bringing the online marketing community together to share knowledge with the larger marketing community.”

The one day session will feature six sessions covering a wide range of topics including web design, search engine marketing, blogging for businesses, viral marketing and search engine marketing.

“Our goal is to have marketing managers from around Ohio attend this event and leave with a solid roadmap to help them drive more business with their web sites,” said Tom Augustine, President of MindsOn Marketing, a marketing communications and web development agency. Augustine will be leading the web design session at the event.

“In one day, attendees will learn the basics for creating a solid integrated marketing campaign that uses both online and traditional tactics to drive visitors to their websites—and turn those visitors into sales and leads,” Augustine said.

The conference will also feature Columbus-based ClearSaleing, ClearSaleing helps Internet retailers and direct marketers improve the performance of their search engine marketing and any other form of online advertising and prove their results through a technology that measures and optimizes online advertising. The company was founded by Ohio entrepreneurs Mike Lanese and Randy Smith and former Google executive Adam Goldberg.

“ClearSaleing has great clients and partners here in Ohio,” Goldberg, who will be speaking at the event, said. “We’re excited to take part in this event. This event is brining some of the most innovative online marketing minds in Ohio together. I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”

The conference will feature a session on blogging for business by Jennifer Laycock, Editor of Search Engine Guide. Laycock, an internationally known speaker and blogger, specializes in common sense search engine marketing, viral marketing and customer outreach via social media and blogs. A former search marketing consultant and in-house trainer, Jennifer’s clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children. She has been the featured speaker at dozens of online marketing events around the world.

“We’re thrilled to have Jennifer Laycock featured at this event,” Balderaz said. “Her support is key in building a strong online marketing community in Ohio.”

Nihar Bihani, an organic search engine expert formerly with Columbus-based ECNext, will lead the day’s session on organic search optimization. Bihani has managed organic search engine optimization for some of the largest and most visited business web sites on the Internet, including Manta.com, which features more than 45 million company profiles and hosts more than 6 million visitors a month.

The conference will also feature a panel discussion with Ohio marketing managers who have successfully integrating online and traditional marketing to drive more business via the web.

“Integration is key,” said Amy Marshall of Webbed Marketing, who will be leading the panel with Randy James from MindsOn Marketing. “The most successful web sites attract visitors from multiple channels, including both traditional and online campaigns.”

“We’re excited to have attracted such an all-star line up to our first event in Ohio. We know that attendees will learn a lot from the experts who are in this world every day. At the end of the day, we want marketing executives to leave knowing they have a plan to drive more business from their websites,” Augustine said.

About Ohio Web Leaders

The Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) is an innovative group of marketing professionals located in Ohio who have a passion for helping businesses use the Web to drive their growth. By forming OWL and bringing similar professionals together with similar goals, we can learn and network with one another.

The mission of the Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) is to provide a platform for marketing professional to share effective Internet strategies that work to learn, integrate and understand how to utilize the Internet to grow their business. From building a compelling website to influencing target audiences online, Internet marketing strategies are quickly becoming a critical component to many businesses to drive their goals. And because the market is ever-changing with new ideas and technologies, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest online marketing trends and run your business. OWL wants to help marketing managers get access to the people and information they need to take advantage of the marketing opportunities using the Web...

Social Networking Traffic Down???

The market share of April US visits to a custom category of 57 of the leading social-networking websites increased 3% from March - but was down 16% from April 2007,  Hitwise reports. MySpace.com led in traffic, receiving 73.82% of the market share of US visits in April.

• Facebook ranked second by the market share of visits, with 14.80%, followed by MyYearbook, which received 1.33%.
• US traffic to MySpace and Bebo, among the top 5, decreased 5% and 13%, respectively, compared with April 2007.
• MyYearbook had the largest gain in market share in April 2008, increasing 475% compared with April 2007.
• Facebook and BlackPlanet followed, increasing 32 and 15%, respectively.

New and Returning Visitors

• Among the top five social networking websites by market share, MySpace received 95% of its visits from returning visitors in April.
• Facebook and MyYearbook.com followed with 93% and 90%, respectively, of traffic returning from within the previous 30 days.

Time Spent on Network

• In April, the average time spent among all social networking websites increased 73% compared with April 2007.
• Among the top five most-visited websites, MyYearbook led with users spending an average of 32 minutes and 54 seconds on the website.
• Facebook had the largest growth in average time spent, increasing 57% in April 2008, to 20 minutes and 52 seconds, from 13 minutes and 19 seconds in April 2007.

Hitwise, a subsidiary of Experian, has issued a social networking report, “The Impact of Social Networking in the US,” analyzing which industries are most affected by social networks and discussing changes in audience profile of social networking websites over the last year.

This data comes at quite a shock to me, considering my use of Social Networks has increased dramatically with in the past year. However, I also did experience a  significant job change -- from hands on work in a restaurant to mostly computer and internet based work. I approximate that my time spent on Social Networks has increased from 1-2 hours a day to 4-5 hours or more a day.

As for Facebook leading in overall growth, oh I believe it.

Green Vehicle Trends

Here are some really interesting vehicles that I've recently stumbled upon:

Myers Motors all-electric NmG (No More Gas) has a range of about 30 miles and can be fully recharged in six to eight hours on any standard 110-volt outlet. The fully enclosed, single-passenger vehicle sports two front wheels and a single drive wheel in the rear. (Source: Trendwatching)

 



























Designed in California and manufactured in India, GoinGreen's G-Wiz electric cars are a hit in London, where the company has sold over 1,000 units, making London the electric car capital of the world. (Source: Trendwatching)










The Nissan Pivo is a concept car by Nissan and is powered by a lithium-ion battery. The car is essentially a 360 degree rotating cabin on a chassis of 4 wheels, and hence eliminates the need for reversing and makes parking easier. The car's futuristic design incorporates large doors for easy access to the cabin and large windscreens and windows for high visibility. (Source: Wikipedia.)













The all-electric version of the Aptera is priced at about USD 27,000, and will go 120 miles on a charge. Its jet-shaped appearance is nothing short of, well, iconic ;-) (Source: Trendwatching)

As part of PlaNYC, the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission will implement new emissions and mileage standards for yellow taxicabs that will lead to a fully hybrid fleet by October 2012. The new standards will be phased in over a four-year period and will reduce the carbon emissions of New York City's taxicab and for-hire vehicle fleet by 50% over the next decade. According to the PlaNYC, "New York City's 13,000 taxi cabs will still be yellow on the outside, but soon they will be green on the inside.” Currently there are only 375 hybrid vehicles in the city's taxi fleet. (Source: Trendwatching)

Pretty damn cool, huh?

Columbus Startp Weekend

Columbus Startup Weekend

May 1, 2008 | by Ray Angel

The momentum of the group in Columbus has been in one word amazing.

The group of people working behind the scenes to make a Columbus weekend happen has been a great one. In just a mere matter of days we’ve went from just talking about making the weekend happen to having a location selected, some ideas already coming in, and a large number of people saying they want to attend.

I’m proud to announce today Startup Weekend Columbus will be taking place July 18-20th at the amazing Tech Columbus facility.

The level of enthusiasm in Columbus and the surrounding area has been overwhelming and the bloggers of the area have been talking about the real possibility of Columbus Startup Weekend for the past several weeks. People in the area even coordinated an effort to get votes out for the city and it worked.

I’ve never seen a city rise so fast in a mere matter of hours and the emails begin coming in about what it will take to get the city a Startup Weekend like this before.

The obvious drive and talent of those in the area means that this weekend will most certainly be a successful one.

The fact that the demand for this weekend was so high means that tickets will be selling very fast and that if you want to reserve your spot you’ll need to head over here and register fast. For the low price of $40 you’ll get your fair share of fun, learning, food, free schwag, and networking for an amazing price.

I am one of the individuals at the forefront of organizing and planning this event. Feel free to contact me for further information regarding involvement in Startup Weekend Columbus.

As you can read in the blog post, we have shown the most enthusiasm BY FAR when it comes to the cities that have been chosen for this event. Columbus has the potential to host the most successful Startup Weekend yet as well as receive some serious national attention.

Past Startup Weekends have been extremely successful at producing excellent startup companies as well as bringing the community together.

Tech Columbus will be hosting this event in their space.

We are currently seeking sponsors -- both small and large. Sponsors of $500 or more will be given time during the weekend to address the group as a whole. Examples of sponsorship also include hosting a meal for the group (catering lunch). We would like to tap into as many of the community resources as possible (buy all supplies and provisions from local establishments!)

We are also looking for local bands and DJs who would be interested in contributing to the entertainment aspect.

GO TEAM Columbus!!!

WOSU HELPS SENIORS

Most of the time, news is best straight from the "horse's mouth." Instead of trying to summarize the latest project of WOSU Public Media on my own, I have decided to pirate copy that has already been written.

Another great source for information on this project is a local blog entitled From This Side Of The Reflection Pond.

And now, DRUM ROLL please ...

WOSU Public Media, DTV and help for Seniors

WOSU Public Media is offering a special opportunity to help your neighbor prepare for the digital conversion that arrives on February 17, 2009.  In a nutshell, on that date the analog signal (or the over- the-air signal) will be replaced by a digital signal. Those folks still receiving television without the benefit of cable or satellite need to purchase a converter box that will translate the analog signal to a digital one.

We are asking the central Ohio community who has no need of the converter box coupons to go ahead and request those coupons from the NTIA.  The NTIA has told us we can collect the unused coupons and then purchase converter boxes from local electronic companies that we will then distribute to the elderly and shut-in community through two social service agencies:  the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging (COAAA) and LifeCare Alliance (a nonprofit home care service that provides health care at home for senior citizens, disabled and the homebound).  These agencies already go into the homes on a weekly
basis, they have relationships with their clients, and so they are the best ones to do the installation (we are training them how to install the boxes).  Our goal is to get these converter boxes into the hands
of the most at-risk population who may not be able to secure the boxes themselves.  WOSU staff will train the social workers of COAAA and LifeCare (who already go into the homes on a regular basis), and then those social workers will hook up the converter boxes for their clients.

Once you receive the coupons (and it takes about two months), you can drop them off at WOSU Public Media (2400 Olentangy River Road).  It is important that we move quickly on this because it does take a while to get the coupons, and there is a finite amount of money the government has set aside for this. BTW, when you apply for a coupon at dtv2009.gov, you get an online form page, and you check under TV
service that “All or some of the TVs in my house subscribe to one or more pay services….”

This project has received a warm reception throughout central Ohio, and it has also allowed us to get the digital conversion buzz going in the community.  The sooner we come together as a community to secure these boxes for our elderly neighbors the better:  we don’t want anyone left without television in February when so many depend upon it as a lifeline to the external world.  People are responding to this message very positively—and most people are thrilled to be able to help those in need.

I encourage everyone to check the site out and send it to friends.

ABOUT WOSU  Public Media
WOSU Public Media serves as a gateway to nonprofit educational and cultural resources in the Central Ohio community. Each week, 28,000 teachers and over 392,000 students receive our daily educational programming and services. WOSU TV/WPBO TV reaches an audience of nearly 500,000 viewers a week; Classical Music WOSU 89.7 brings the greatest in classical music to the homes and offices of over 95,000 listeners; WOSU NPR News, challenges the thoughts of more than 72,000 central Ohioans; and www.wosu.org draws more than 14,000 visitors a month to its pages. Finally, WOSU Public Media stands committed to playing an active role in our community, contributing to and serving the various needs of Central Ohio.

WOSU TV signed on the air in 1956, and our broadcasting community grew in 1974 with the addition of WPBO TV in Portsmouth. WOSU 89.7, has been broadcasting since 1949. WOSU 89.7 is the flagship of the five-station classics network, which includes WOSV, Mansfield (91.7); WOSP, Portsmouth (91.5); WOSE, Coshocton (91.1 & 89.5), and WOSB, Marion (91.1). WOSU NPR News, broadcasts public affairs programming and in-depth global news coverage.

Facebook In The Real World

I recently stumbled across a rather hilarious Bristish YouTube parody of Facebook.

Those who know me even remotely well, also know that I'm quite the Social Media geek. Facebook tops the list as my favorite social networking site. This is why I enjoy this video so much. Those of you not familiar with Facebook, will not appreciate the humor as much -- sorry for that.

Warning to all Facebook addicts: you may end up peeing your pants.

Chamber Launches Internship Site

Chamber launches ColumbusInternships.com

Provides training for businesses on hosting an intern

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Chamber has launched Columbusinternships.com, a free internship portal that seeks to increase the number of internships offered in the Columbus Region and strengthen the connection between the business and higher-education community.

 

“Our members tell us that workforce, specifically stopping brain drain, is a critical issue to their business today,” said Ty Marsh, president and CEO, Columbus Chamber. “The Columbus Chamber has developed strategies to attract and retain a talented workforce, which includes this effort to connect the business community to the 110,000 untapped assets in our community, our college and university student populations. Research shows that internships increase the likelihood that students will stay in our community following graduation.”

 

The Chamber worked with the region’s 20 colleges and universities to create this portal. ColumbusInternships.com provides a virtual marketplace for internships in the Columbus Region, in addition to answering frequently asked questions, dispelling common myths, and explaining why internships are integral for our future workforce.

 

In conjunction with the portal launch, the Chamber is hosting a training session for businesses interested in starting or improving their current internship program. The event will take place on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 3 p.m. at Columbus State Community College’s Center for Workforce Development, located at 1070 College Ave. Registration is available at www.columbus.org. The session is free to Chamber members and $25 for non-members.

 

“As is well-documented, our region boasts a young, well-educated, diverse workforce that is nearly 1 million strong,” Councilmember Charleta Tavares noted. “Research shows that connecting college students to meaningful internship opportunities increases the chance that they will stay in our community after graduation.”

 

Background: The Chamber's three-pronged approach to workforce development, known as Attract & Retain Talent, reaches college-age students, young professionals, and employers. The Columbus Chamber, in partnership with several private and public entities, has a strategy to increase the quantity and quality of our workforce to position the Columbus Region competitively in the global marketplace.

 

“How to Host an Intern” training is presented in partnership with Columbus State Community   College and Business First.

 

-END-

 

The Columbus Chamber, with nearly 2,700 area businesses and organizations, leads and supports economic growth and development for the Greater Columbus community.