DesignWise Studios of Door County – Web Marketing, Inbound Advertising, Social Media, Website Design, Video, Facebook

Wikipedia defines the favicon as:

/ˈfævɪkɒn/ (short for Favorite icon), also known as a shortcut icon, Web site icon, URL icon, or bookmark icon, is a file containing one or more (animated gif) small, most commonly 16×16 pixels, associated with a particular Web site or Web page.

Various Web browsers provide different types of favicon support, but typically they display a page’s favicon in the browser’s address bar and next to the page’s name within the bookmarks. 

Browsers that support tabs, typically show a page’s favicon next to the page’s title on the tab, and site-specific browsers also use the favicon as a desktop icon.

If you are using WordPress CMS software, Arne Franken‘s version 4.0 of All In One Favicon plugin supports a wide range of favicon formats (including the PNG icon for Apple Touch) and provides for the selection of specific locations within the Website where different favicons may be displayed.

You can create static or animated favicons in several different formats to install into your Website or you can search and select from numerous online archives of free, shared favicons.  One of the best resources for both, is located at www.Favicon.cc.

Favicon generator

Favicon.ico not a recognized format in Photoshop? Here’s a free plugin to fix that.

“We now have a new nervous system on the planet, which is the social media and 5.7 billion cell phones. Facebook is the third largest nation in the world. We (three-quarters of the human species) can be connected without any of the gatekeepers stopping us at all. If used for the good, it can be the shift point on earth.” – Barbara Marx Hubbard (a prolific futurist, author and public speaker who is credited with the concepts of ‘The Synergy Engine’ and the ‘birthing’ of humanity.

On May 29, 2012 Google reported that 0.11 percent of the users of its Gmail service experienced login issues that lasted almost three hours. That figure may sound insignificant but it represents approximately 400,000 people for whom the “cloud” simply vanished. But then, it returned. Where and what is the cloud, you might ask?

Some describe the cloud as a metaphor for the Internet itself, defining a difference between the virtual and physical worlds. Others deny that point of view, seeing the cloud as a very real collection of hard-wired, external, physical devices that provide a means of communicating and storing information.

Whole Earth Catalog

When Stewart Brand spoke of the “hard-wiring of Planet Earth” as an “evolutionary process,” in the first edition of his Whole Earth Catalog in 1968, I had no idea that he was describing a day in the future when we would have instant communications and instant information retrieval from the cloud.

That’s because in 1968, personal information networks were only outbound, broadcasting media in one direction, from producer to consumer. In the 1980s, people started using personal computers and modems over the telephone lines to send and collect information. Two-way information-sharing networks started to evolve with the advent of online bulletin board systems (BBS) like The Well, a virtual community created by Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant in 1985. People began living a portion of their lives in the cloud.

In 1963 J.C.R. Licklider addressed his colleagues at ARPA as “…members and affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network,” in what some might describe as the first conception of what would eventually become the Internet. His published memos contain ideas regarding almost everything that the Internet has become, including cloud computing. The first uses of the actual term were in the late 1990s and by 1997 someone had actually tried, unsuccessfully to trademark it. In October 1997, cloud computing was discussed in an academic conference and described as a new “paradigm where the boundaries of computing will be determined by economic rationale rather than technical limits.”

In November 1997, the first newspaper article on the subject was published which quoted Reuven Cohen with describing the cloud as a metaphor for the Web in explaining to programmers, “It’s a rebranding of the Internet. That is why there is a raging debate. By virtue of being a metaphor, it’s open to different interpretations.”

Part of the debate is who should get credit for inventing the idea. The notion of network-based computing dates to the 1960s, but many believe the first use of “cloud computing” in its modern context occurred on August 9, 2006, when then Google CEO Eric Schmidt introduced the term to an industry conference.

“What’s interesting is that there is an emergent new model. I don’t think people have really understood how big this opportunity really is,” Schmidt said. “It starts with the premise that the data services and architecture should be on servers. We call it cloud computing – they should be in a ‘cloud’ somewhere.”

The term began to see wider use the following year, when companies including Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM started to tout their cloud-computing efforts as well. That was also when it first appeared in newspaper articles, such as a The New York Times report from November 15, 2007 that carried the headline “I.B.M. to Push ‘Cloud Computing,’ Using Data From Afar.” It described vague plans for “Internet-based supercomputing.”

The State of Cloud Computing (Video by Jess3)

In 2012, I sit before a screen in Fish Creek, Wisconsin and see an unfamiliar name, Namie Amuro. Instantly, I discover that she is a Japanese singer, once a member of the pop group Super Monkey’s 4. Seconds later, I am listening to her songs on Spotify. Because I now possess a free share in the commonwealth-of-information, I have access to the cloud… a complex, multi-media, digital network previously denied to many by social rank and geographic location. But global consciousness is rapidly evolving.

Paper catalogs and mail-order have become Amazonian e-commerce data silos, filled with customer accounts, sales and product data – instantly accessible from almost anywhere on Earth. Telephone books are as irrelevant as the nightly news and weather. It’s all accessible 24/7 in the palm of your hand.

The first hand-held calculator, invented by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments

In 1967, the most exotic electronica was a Texas Instruments handheld calculator that cost more than a $100 dollars and spit data out on a paper tape. Forty-plus years later, I am driving through my rural Wisconsin town, stop and take a photo of the harbor and I feel like sharing it. I write a comment and post it on-the-spot for my Facebook friends all over the world to see and comment on… using my handheld smartphone!

We may be thousands of miles apart and yet we remain intrinsically connected. The cloud I manifest is an infinite collection of circles, filled with information, shared by friends. And the cloud just keeps getting bigger, better, cheaper, faster, more robust – via ever smaller devices that blur the boundaries of a wired world.

“Hey You! Get Offa My Cloud! We are all Rolling Stones” first appeared in 2012, N.E.W Voices; Vol 1, No. 2 – A Literary Platform for Wisconsin Writers, pages 6-8.

Google’s Semantic Search algorithm will use the science of meaning within language, in hopes of producing more relevant search results, instead of a list of loosely-related keyword links.

Their newest forthcoming algorithm comes in anticipation of changes brought about by the increasing use of mobile device technology and most notably, Siri (Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface), a particular feature introduced by Apple which is now included in iOS 5 and available on the iPhone 4S.

Freebase explains, “The (Siri) application uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of web services. Apple claims that the software adapts to the user’s individual preferences over time and personalizes results, and performing tasks such as finding recommendations for nearby restaurants, or getting directions.”

Google is also blending in an optional social layer of results. If you are a logged-in Google user, then your Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are already displaying the additional social influence of Google’s +1 posts.

Try it! If you have a gmail account, open a browser, login and then search Google for a phrase. Then, open a different browser, without logging into your account and go straight to Google. Search for the same identical phrase and compare the net results.

You can turn this feature on and off at will but, the boundaries are blurring as mobile devices get smaller, smarter, social and ubiquitous. In order to respond accordingly Google is building what they call the Knowledge Graph because in so many ways, Google does not yet understand you, based on their simplistic keyword search algorithm …and they want to change that.

Words have much different implied meanings when you put them together, typically quite different than when indexed apart from each other… lake and Michigan, hot and dog, steering and wheel. This is the core of fundamental semantics that Google intends to deliver in their SERPs, more accurate answers to your questions. So, they are creating “entities” of artificial intelligence.

Lance Ulanoff explains, “In 2010, Google purchased Freebase, a community-built knowledge base packed with some 12 million canonical entities. Twelve million is a good start, but Google has, according to Fellow and SVP Amit Singhal, invested dramatically to ‘build a huge knowledge graph of interconnected entities and their attributes.’”

What does this mean to you, the content creator? It means that you must begin to write intelligent answers to questions being asked, if you expect to have greater search engine rank and relevance over pages that are simply filled with clever collections of keyword phrases.

Twitter is unveiling new design features that will include brand pages for supporting advertisers.

Everyone has been wondering how Twitter will begin to monetize its traffic volume. Promoted Tweets, Promoted Trends and Promoted Accounts are already a part of the Twitter business model. A promoted Twitter account is featured in search results and within the Who To Follow section, Twitter’s account recommendation engine that identifies similar accounts and followers to guide users to discover new businesses, content, and people on Twitter.

Soon, Twitter’s Enhanced Profile Pages will permit brands to display their logos more prominently, let them “pin” tweets to the top of their timelines and have selected tweets automatically expand to display YouTube clips or other content. These are just a few of the new features announced along with 21 initial beta brand partners launching Twitter Business Pages. Brand pages for nonprofits and individuals are on the way.

As small businesses become more familiar with new techniques of engagement using social media marketing tools, they are allocating more time to engage their target audiences. That’s the findings revealed in the latest November, 2011 report from marketing specialist Constant Contact. A full 81 percent reported using social media to market their businesses, up from 73 percent in the spring of 2011. Click for the Key Findings of this report.

Twitter is quickly regaining ground as usage surged in the last six months, from 60 percent in spring 2011 to 76 percent in November. Effectiveness scores also improved across certain key social media marketing channels in just six months, with 60 percent of those using Twitter finding it effective for marketing their business, up from 47 percent in spring 2011.

Infographic by Constant Contact

The following is a recent example of DesignWise Press Release copy writing services.

Below is the exact and complete message as delivered to targeted print and broadcast media contacts. We use our DesignWise Constant Contact email manager account to maintain a private media contact lists and to publish and distribute our PR. This permits us to track the open rate and the click-through links. Then, we report this back to our clients regarding the success of each campaign. The story is an example of creating authentic earned media, a method of advertising that I feel far outweighs purchased advertising in both cost and effectiveness.

PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release

November 14, 2011

Contact: Lori Manns
Phone: 920.615.4646
Lori@psychiclori.net
www.PsychicLori.net

Psychic Lori
133A S. Erie St.
DePere, WI, 54115

Gallery Readings with Psychic Lori in Milwaukee at the Brumder Mansion on Sunday, December 4

Psychic Medium, Lori Manns returns to Milwaukee’s “romantic” Brumder Mansion Theater on Sunday, December 4 for Gallery Readings from 7 – 9 pm.

Psychic Medium, Lori Manns

The first psychic experience that Lori Manns can recall took place at the age of five. She was in a classroom when she saw her Kindergarten teacher’s father standing next to her on the first day of school. She told her new teacher that a man was standing next to her and that he was trying to tell her that everything is OK. Lori did not realize who the man was at the time, and before her teacher could respond, they were interrupted by the School Principal.

Lori’s new teacher hurriedly left the room after speaking briefly with the Principal and did not return to the classroom for approximately 2 weeks. The next day, a substitute teacher explained that their regular teacher would be away for a time as her father had unexpectedly passed away the day before.

The next 30 years of Lori’s life was full of similar such experiences, comprised of her mediumship and psychic nuances. In her early 40s, she decided to begin refining her natural gifts of psychic awareness and spirit communications by enrolling at The Arthur Findlay College in London, number one metaphysical college in the world. There she was regarded as exceptionally intuitive.

Following that, she abandoned her “day” job and became a full-time professional psychic medium. Now, she travels all over the USA and Canada doing private readings, house parties, business conference appearances and guest spots on various broadcast media channels. Most recently she was in Milwaukee at the annual Brumder Mansion Halloween Hunt.

“We had such a wonderful and paranormal Halloween at the world-famous Brumder Mansion, that I have been asked to return for a series of Gallery Readings” says Psychic Lori. “While they call it romantic in the official guide, it’s almost effortless to dig deeper into the ‘historical’ aspect of the Brumder B&B to find out that it is considered to be one of the top paranormal hot spots in all of Wisconsin.”

According to Haunted Places to Go, “It has been established that there are at least three ghostly spirits in the mansion that are believed to be intelligent hauntings. This basically means that they are able to interact with the living. It is said that the spirits are welcoming, though if experienced firsthand, they may be a bit frightening, simply because they may catch you off guard.”

With that in mind, you are invited to stay the night in order to experience Brumder to the fullest by reserving one of their 6 beautiful suites. All of the rooms have fireplaces and are surprisingly reasonable, ranging from $89 – $169 per night – with 4 of the 6 suites having hot tubs. But, enjoying the accommodations is not a requirement in order to join Psychic Medium Lori Manns for Gallery Readings in Milwaukee at the Brumder Mansion. All are welcome, but seating is limited to approximately 50 persons. Tickets are $40 for the 2-hour session. Reservations are recommended and are easily secured  by calling the Brumder front desk at 414.342.9767.

Psychic Lori will also be providing half-hour and one-hour private readings (at $65 and $120 per person) by appointment before and after the Sunday Gallery Readings and again on Monday. Please, email Lori@psychiclori.net or phone: 920.615.4646 to secure your spot.

Brumder Mansion Bed & Breakfast is located at 3046 W. Wisconsin Avenue, a main street that runs from downtown Milwaukee, past Marquette University and runs parallel to I-94. Brumder Mansion is on the corner of North 31st and West Wisconsin, in the historic Concordia District. Call 414.342.9767 with questions, to RSVP for the Gallery Readings or for room reservations.

Contact Psychic Lori by email at Lori@psychiclori.net or phone: 920.615.4646.
Join in the conversation… www.facebook.com/PsychicLori.

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Word count: 635

High-res photos are available for download in 300 and 150 dpi Mac tiff format at:
http://www.psychiclori.net/press-photos/

On the morning after Door County’s windstorm, author Wayne Breitbarth was in Sturgeon Bay at Glas to present a dynamite lecture with step-by-step instructions on how to maximize LinkedIn for business… too bad only 4 people were able to get there to benefit!

The "LinkedIn Guru" Wayne Breitbarth

But, I was one of them and I came equipped to deal with the dilemma. With Wayne’s permission, I recorded the entire event on HD video and will share the highlights at our next Social Media Breakfast Door County event on Wednesday, October 19 in Ellison Bay at Brew Coffeehouse. Proprietor, Jennifer Lee is baking a coffee cake, which will be available at 9 am for a 1/2 hour of socializing. The presentation will begin at 9:30 am and will include large-screen projected videos and a discussion of Wayne’s 6 Power Tips for LinkedIn. The presentation was exceptional at Glas, and I look forward to sharing it with you.

A business leader himself, Wayne Breitbarth is an owner of M&M Office Interiors in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to his involvement in the office furniture business, he spent nearly twenty years in the automotive industry. Wayne is also the founder of Urban Promise, a youth mentoring program that brings together business professionals and high school students in Milwaukee Public Schools.

As a LinkedIn expert, he has inspired audiences at many of Milwaukee’s most prominent companies and organizations as well as nationally, at conventions, industry association events and corporate training sessions. Wayne’s diverse business experience, pragmatic teaching style, and infectious sense of humor have earned him the praise of the press, branding him as the “LinkedIn Guru.”

Wayne is continually asked to speak at Executive Agenda (EA), YPO and TEC meetings as well as CEO Roundtables, where his thirty years of experience as a business owner and manager enables him to help his peers understand how social media can benefit their companies.

“LinkedIn does many things really well, but based on my personal experiences, feedback from my audiences and my semiannual LinkedIn user surveys, the three things LinkedIn users find most beneficial are researching, networking and marketing,” says Breitbarth. “The moment we get our profile up, most of us old-school business folk want LinkedIn to produce lots of sales. Well, that’s probably not going to happen. On the other hand, those people who are spending time improving their researching, networking, and marketing techniques are certainly seeing an increase in their sales.”

Wayne has compiled his tactics in a new book, “The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-Start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search” (March 2011, Greenleaf Book Group). His book is a simple, user-friendly guide aimed at the experienced business professional who is either skeptical about LinkedIn or looking for ways to more effectively use this cutting-edge tool.

“Have a well-defined, documented strategy so you can measure your results or forget it. Your time would be better spent enjoying your favorite hobby or leisure activity,” says Breitbarth. “It doesn’t bother me when someone comes to my class and says, ‘Great, I get it now, but I don’t see how it will work for me; so I am going to pass.’ Bravo to that person. At least he is on to the next new idea or thought about how he is going to grow his network and business.”

Check out his book for yourself by downloading a free chapter at: www.powerformula.net.

“The combination of Wayne Breitbarth’s passion for the power of social networking and his real-world business experience, deep knowledge, mastery of LinkedIn and his skill as a trainer make the ‘The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success’ a real standout.” – Frank Martinelli, President of the Center for Public Skills Training.

You can email SMBDC founder, stephen.kastner@smbdc.com or call 920.256.9449 with questions on SMBDC’s monthly meetups taking place at various, random locations all around Door County. More information is available online at SMBDC.com and at www.facebook.com/SMBDC.

Click to RSVP if you want to and invite your Facebook Friends…

Steve Jobs, who never graduated from college, died at 56 years of age on Wednesday, October 5, 2011. Here he reflects on that part of his life, his career and his own mortality in a well-known commencement address at Stanford University in 2005.

So many people including myself, have such a huge debt of gratitude to this singular man.

Steve Jobs helped to shape this world by believing, “that you can’t connect the dots by looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Here is that memorable 15-minute speech courtesy of Stanford, and a transcript that you might like to follow posted below:

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then, I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. And so at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life’s gonna hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. And, don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about Death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and thankfully, I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It’s Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the Bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Social Media Breakfast Door County launches its second year of off-season training and informational gatherings with noted author and LinkedIn expert, Wayne Breitbarth at Glas Coffeehouse in Sturgeon Bay on Friday, September 30 from 9 – 10:30 am.

The "LinkedIn Guru" Wayne Breitbarth

Wayne Breitbarth has instructed more than 10,000 business people on how to effectively use LinkedIn, the professional networking site, since he began moonlighting as a trainer in early 2009. A business leader himself, Wayne Breitbarth is an owner of M&M Office Interiors in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to his involvement in the office furniture business, he spent nearly twenty years in the automotive industry. Wayne is also the founder of Urban Promise, a youth mentoring program that brings together business professionals and high school students in Milwaukee Public Schools.

As a LinkedIn expert, he has inspired audiences at many of Milwaukee’s most prominent companies and organizations as well as nationally, at conventions, industry association events and corporate training sessions. Wayne’s diverse business experience, pragmatic teaching style, and infectious sense of humor have earned him the praise of the press, branding him as the “LinkedIn Guru.”

Wayne is continually asked to speak at Executive Agenda (EA), YPO and TEC meetings as well as CEO Roundtables, where his thirty years of experience as a business owner and manager enables him to help his peers understand how social media can benefit their companies. On Friday, September 30 from 9 – 10:30 am the Social Media Breakfast Door County (SMBDC) group will feature Breitbarth, revealing his Power Formula for LinkedIn success and a few of his advanced LinkedIn techniques and strategies in Sturgeon Bay at Glas, the Green Coffeehouse. His diverse business experience also allows him to share real-life stories and illustrations as he educates, motivates and entertains audiences across the country. There is no charge to attend.

“LinkedIn does many things really well, but based on my personal experiences, feedback from my audiences and my semiannual LinkedIn user surveys, the three things LinkedIn users find most beneficial are researching, networking and marketing,” says Breitbarth. “The moment we get our profile up, most of us old-school business folk want LinkedIn to produce lots of sales. Well, that’s probably not going to happen. On the other hand, those people who are spending time improving their researching, networking, and marketing techniques are certainly seeing an increase in their sales.”

Wayne has compiled his tactics in a new book, “The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-Start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search” (March 2011, Greenleaf Book Group). His book is a simple, user-friendly guide aimed at the experienced business professional who is either skeptical about LinkedIn or looking for ways to more effectively use this cutting-edge tool.

“Have a well-defined, documented strategy so you can measure your results or forget it. Your time would be better spent enjoying your favorite hobby or leisure activity,” says Breitbarth. “It doesn’t bother me when someone comes to my class and says, ‘Great, I get it now, but I don’t see how it will work for me; so I am going to pass.’ Bravo to that person. At least he is on to the next new idea or thought about how he is going to grow his network and business.”

Check out his book for yourself by downloading a free chapter at: www.powerformula.net. He will have copies available at Glas for purchase and signing.

“The combination of Wayne Breitbarth’s passion for the power of social networking and his real-world business experience, deep knowledge, mastery of LinkedIn and his skill as a trainer make the ‘The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success’ a real standout.” – Frank Martinelli, President of the Center for Public Skills Training.

You can email SMBDC founder, stephen.kastner@smbdc.com or call 920.256.9449 with questions on SMBDC’s monthly meetups taking place at various, random locations all around Door County. More information is available online at SMBDC.com and at www.facebook.com/SMBDC.

In the following 36-minute video, Matt Mullenweg, shares a bit of history from WordPress’ evolution and then looks into its future in this year’s State of the Word address.

A survey was issued to the WordPress community, which resulted in more than 18,000 responses. Of that number, 2,800 make their living through WordPress, and consultants are charging an average of $58 per hour. This year, 22% of newly registered domains are running WordPress.

Towards the midpoint of the conversation, Matt talks about stamping out the Fauxgo (false WordPress logo). If you need to use an official WordPress logo, here is a great variety of official W logos.

As video continues to gain greater prominence, we are starting to build dedicated YouTube channels for clients as part of an overall social footprint campaign. Today YouTube announced the publication of YouTube Creator Playbook, a 70-page ebook that will be regularly updated…

DesignWise Studios of Door County Get a free copy of the new 70-page YouTube Creator Playbook helping you build your video audience online. They promise regular updates… very cool! 5 hours ago · Like · 2 comments

So, this post is serving a dual role: announcing the ebook and also testing this cool little tool called SocialDitto, that lets us embed Facebook posts and comments into the body of an article.