CRM News: Must Read

The Business Case for Virtual Business, Part 2

Tuesday - June 30, 2009

There's no doubt some companies have succeeded in using virtual worlds for branding and interaction with their customers, whether through in-world stores, billboards or other means. Wells Fargo, for instance, has been operating its Stagecoach Island aimed at young customers for roughly four years and says it is pleased with the results. Yet branding and advertising seem to be about as far as externally facing efforts tend to go in virtual worlds; attempts to take the next step into sales -- for the most part -- don't seem to have met with much success. [More...]

So You Want to Start a Tech Business, Part 2

Thursday - June 25, 2009

Lacing a shoestring budget with enough green to get your startup up and running takes some finagling. Still, it can be done. If you can't find investor backing right now, then turn to alternative funding routes. You may want to start with your own hidden assets to find the cash you need. [More...]

Just Because I'm Paranoid Doesn't Mean My Mac Is Secure

Thursday - June 25, 2009

I was buying a fully loaded Mac to replace the 4-year-old Mac I had at home. Along with Microsoft Office for the Mac, I also wanted to buy a standard security AV and firewall application. The salesperson's response? Not necessary. I was sufficiently chastened by the $2,000-plus tab I had racked up that afternoon to let it go. But years of writing about online security had made me paranoid. [More...]

So You Want to Start a Tech Business, Part 1

Wednesday - June 24, 2009

Funny thing about economic disasters: They tend to spawn a bevy of new businesses. It's not that a recession is the best time for pie-in-the-sky thinking; rather, it's when pie-in-the-mouth issues become most pressing. "The tantalizing successes of some startups, coupled perhaps with the rise in unemployment, have more people pondering new ideas and new careers," said angel investor Doug Chertok. [More...]

The Business Case for Virtual Business, Part 1

Tuesday - June 23, 2009

It wasn't long after the launch of Linden Lab's Second Life back in 2003 that companies and organizations around the globe began to sit up and take notice. The prospect of millions of potential customers -- all flocking to the same destination and congregating there -- is enough to whet the appetite of even the most conservative and change-averse organization, after all. [More...]

Iran, Technology and Truth: Do You Care If Your Information Is False?

Monday - June 22, 2009

If you look at how people flock to Web sites that are obviously on the extreme right or left of an issue, or if you watch debates on abortion or gay marriage -- or even whether the sitting president has a clue -- don't you often get the sense that for many, believing they are right and putting down those who disagree is more important than actually being right? [More...]

Is Linux Suffering From Mono?

Monday - June 22, 2009

In the general population, "Mono" may be best known for infecting teenagers with the "kissing disease." On the Linux blogs, it's recently caused a different kind of anguish as geeks far and wide have debated whether it's infected Linux too. It's a different Mono, of course, but its effects -- or, at least, the discussion of them -- have been no less agonizing. [More...]

Iran Protests: The Whole World Is Watching, Flickring, Tweeting

Tuesday - June 16, 2009

"The whole world is watching" was one of the loudest rallying cries of Vietnam protesters gathered in the streets of Chicago outside the Democratic convention in 1968. Forty-one years later, the same slogan still applies and is even more relevant in the chaotic streets of Tehran. Thanks to social media technologies, the whole world is indeed watching Iranian citizens rise up against suspect presidential election results. [More...]

The Rise and Fall of Traditional Journalism, Part 5

Monday - June 15, 2009

When questions about the future of journalism come up, there are generally two driving concerns: what happens to the notion of "news" in an era of ubiquitous communications; and how you, as a writer, get paid. One of the great paradoxes of the information age is that as channels of distribution have proliferated, rates of pay for producing content for those channels have continued to fall. [More...]

It's Time to Push Back Against Twitter Backlash

Friday - May 29, 2009

It's a love-hate relationship right up there with dysfunctional parents du jour Jon and Kate; the media has a middle-school crush on Twitter, and the media is the first to say nasty things about Twitter while Twitter is in study hall. Some of its members are using a helluva lot more than 140 characters to do their damage. [More...]

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