What happens to email after you die
After my death, I will thee five gigs of spam, two gigs of love emails, 10 gigs of Twitter mafia invites, and no gigs of embarassing personal emails.
Well, perhaps this is what many of us would hope. The reality is, after we die, the fate of our emails—surely the digital weight of mountains—largely depends on company policy, according to news.com.au.
Here a taste of what they found:
Hotmail - Your email is chucked after 270 days of disuse. Sound to me like you don't even have to be dead. You could be on extended vacation. In the event of death, Microsoft grants thine email to thy next of kin. The closest relative can access the email, however, only if they prove their identity and produce a death certificate.
Gmail - As with Microsoft, relatives will need a death certificate and proof of identity—but they also need to prove relationship with an email exchange.
Facebook - Facebook will actually help family members turn the loved one's profile into a virtual, interactive shrine of sorts. Admin locks down the profile, so no one can get it and other sensitive information, such as statuses, get taken down. Facebook will also help family choose how the profile looks without letting anyone else into the account. Alternatively, if the family wishes, Facebook will also close the profile page.
Curious about what happens to your Yahoo and MySpace accounts? Read the full article.
If this interests you, you also might like tidbits on media law.
Guys find ultra-skinny chicks less attractive
Bad news for all the ladies who chomped on carrots and chicken broth for dinner: new research out of England reveals that young men prefer "normal" sized women. Not that any woman should ever make their dietary decisions based on what arouses college-aged dudes, but there's a slight comfort in knowing you have a leg up on the Size 00s of the world.
Researchers asked male students at St. Andrews University to rate the attractiveness and health of female faces and found that women with an average weight rated as the most attractive and healthy. The project's supervisor, Professor David Perrett, commented on the findings, saying, "In our study, people in the normal weight range were judged healthier and more attractive than under or overweight individuals. This sends a strong message to all the girls out there who believe you have to be underweight to be attractive."
Healthy is hot!
All the health news you can use.
10 signs that religion has turned evil
Daniel B. Clendenin has published a list of ten warning signs that religion has turned evil. For example, "fanatical claims of absolute truth," "identifying the Gospel with nationalistic ideologies," and "blind obedience to totalitarian, charismatic, and authoritarian leaders." Heavy, important reading if you're interested in religion.
More on Religion, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islamism, and Judaism.
Why Twitter and Facebook aren't enough
Do you think you only need a Twitter account and Facebook page? If you do, Joel Postman (and I) think you're wrong. Said Postman: "Twitter is excellent for distribution, but if you're going to communicate original ideas, you'll need a blog (or something similar)." He then goes on to cite seven reasons why Twitter and Facebook are insufficient.
My use of Twitter reflects Postman's beliefs on steroids. I use Twitter to drive traffic to Holykaw and to Alltop. I rarely use Twitter as the location of content.
Stay on top of Blogging.
8 cool phones not available in the US...yet
If you think your iPhone is the coolest gadget since the Walkman, then your little gadget-loving heart might break a bit when you see eight cool phones that you can't yet get your hands on. PC World collected the the details on the most geeked out and unattainable cells that will have you browsing airfares to London and Tokyo, where lucky cell users have their pick of the latest in mobile technology. The full list (plus pictures) features everything from a 007-esque watch phone to a sleek, ultra-wide phone from LG.
Ring! Ring! Ring! Tons of mobile news worth calling about.
MySpace + Facebook = MyFace?
What would happen if MySpace and Facebook merged? Click if you're feeling courageous.
We'd have a whole new strain of social media gurus. :-)
An abundance of social media tips at your fingertips.
How to get projects done
Four project managers from General Motors, Nokia, Method, and Facebook explain the lessons that they've learned about getting things done. In a related post, three project managers from the Colorado State Patrol, Heathrow airport, and Synovus explain how they got things done too. All in all, two very good articles about project management.
Even more Project Management information.
How to align the 4 Ps of marketing with social media
Chris Brogan wrote a great piece where he aligned the traditional, Phil-Kotler four Ps of marketing with social media. The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion.
You should also read how Phil Kotler explains all of Marketing 3.0 in one slide.
Here's how to stay on top of Marketing.
How Apple locks and loads you
Dan Tynan of PCWorld explains five bad ways that Apple locks you in as a customer—as if that's a bad thing? :-) The five include: iPod/iTunes, iPhone/App Store, Macs and Mac OS, unwanted applications during an install, and your Nike running shoes. I think that these are clever methods that other companies should not only envy but emulate.
News for the Apple fanboy.
China's latest military recruitment posters
Sparkly rainbows and unicorns can't build a strong military (unless you're creating an army of middle school girls), so the Chinese government took a stronger approach with some pretty powerful recruitment propaganda posters.
Tons of interesting news out of China.
Tell your mommy friends: Important stroller recall
Yikes, this is horrifying! About a million Maclaren strollers are being recalled due to a design flaw that amputates children's fingers, says the AP. Please check your stollers and tell the neighborhood daddys.
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Looking for mommy blogs? We've got them all in one place.
Music + Math = Popular songs in graph form
The Huffington Post has provided even more proof that math can be fun. Sure, it's not Tuesday afternoon Happy Hour fun, but it's definitely more enjoyable than pretty much anything you ever did in English class. Following up on the giggles provided by Funniest Venn Diagrams, Huff Po readers have now tackled the challenge of putting popular songs into graph, diagram and flowchart form.
What song would you like to see math-itized?
Rocking and rolling music news and happenings.
Chocolate milk can reduce inflammation (and it tastes great too!)
It's a known fact that red wine aids in reducing inflammation. But for those of you who haven't yet aquired a taste for the fermented beverage - chocolate milk does the trick too!
A new study suggests that regularly consuming skim milk (complete with cocoa) can reduce inflammation, which can potentially slow or prevent the effects of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the arteries.
To learn more about this interesting study, head over to the full NY Times article.
More on health.
Crazy creative ads in XL size
Advertising comes in all shapes and sizes, occasionally showing up in a size so large, it nearly swallows up an entire building. Take a gander at some of the most clever advertising campaigns using buildings and try to think up ways to makeover that boring aluminum siding on your house to make it the coolest duplex on the street.
Oodles of advertising tidbits.
Great headlines drive traffic
In the super fast moving Twitter conversation, headlines that read like a Peanuts teacher's voice get lost amongst mundane cat updates and pyramid schemes. To stand out and grab click-through traffic, you need to whip up headlines that make people curious. The Buzz Bin features five sure-fire tips to make your headlines go from "meh" to "wowzers."
1) Opt for the active verb.
2) Pack in the sass.
3) Don't mislead.
4) Less is more.
5) Cliffhangers
Check out a full description of each tip for a real lesson on great headline writing.
Tons of SEO tips and tricks.
Get rid of acne by eating chocolate?
How many times have you attributed a pimple to a chocolate bar that you ate? Now a company is looking to rid chocolate of its blemish-inducing stigma by serving it up as a cure for acne. Acne Care chocolate bars, which will hit Australian shelves soon, are supposed to deliver antioxidants and micro-nutrients that help clear your skin.
According to Frutels (the candybar cure company), if you eat anywhere from two to five of these bars a day, you'll experience dramatic results within just two weeks. Clearing skin from within is great, but beauty and health are also about what you eat. With chocolate, you may clear up your acne, but you might gain some weight.
On the other hand, greater body mass might make the acne less visible because it's spread out over a larger area... We found this story at Acne.alltop.
World's tiniest mother pregnant--with baby #3
At just 2-feet 4-inches, Stacey Herald was told getting pregnant would kill her. Two kids later, she's four weeks away from delivering baby number three. And she and her husband and planing for more.
The 36-year-old Kentucky woman has a condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which has prevented her full growth. To read more about how she survived in spite of the circumstances, read the Telegraph's full story.
All the Internet's pregnancy tips in one place.
Why pursuing innovation fails
Adam Hartung provided a great analysis of why the pursuit of innovation usually fails inside established companies. If you work for a company that has made innovation a priority, I'm sure you can relate to thoughts like these:
For all their brainstorming exercises and "open innovation" programs, they mostly just come up with reformulations of existing products, new pricing plans and basic updates—the same old things just a little cheaper, faster or better.
Businesses ask their "strategic customers" where to innovate and get little advice. Those customers are usually strategic only in that they are large, not because they have any particular market insight. They too just want more, better and cheaper, which are hardly recommendations for true innovation.
Innovation budgets are determined only after budgets are already in place for defending the "core business." The core business isn't usually doing so well, but it gets first call on resources because management feels it needs to defend what already exists.
Holy kaw, does he call a spade a spade or what? Definitely worth reading and (anonymously) forwarding inside your company! I can hardly wait for Adam's next installment when he will explain what to do about this.
More help for Innovators.
Sesame Street music remixes
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Forty years ago, a little show called "Sesame Street" debuted on PBS. Since then, millions of children have learned countless lessons with the help of fuzzy Muppets and grooving music. URLesque took a trip back to the Street via the old internets and collected eight of the best covers, mash-ups and remixes of Sesame tunes. Revisit your googly-eyed childhood pals by checking out all eight ditties.
Life lesson of the day: Muppets can put a smile on even the grumpiest of faces.
Oodles of kids news.
Inspiring! A draft of a leadership curriculum for 7th graders
I don't think it's ever too young to start learning leadership skills. That's why I was so pumped when I found on Flickr what seems to be a plan for teaching leadership to 7th graders. It's ambitious but concrete. Check it out:
In 5th grade, I took a mandatory course on peer mediation—and it changed my life. It forced me from an early age to see conflict as compromise and disagreement as opportunity. It also taught me lifelong lessons, such as the power of active listening and empathy. This early awareness has definitely helped me in both personal and professional situations in my adult life. Even if I don't always handle all situations perfectly, I think I approach them better than I would have without this class.
An ambitious curriculum like the one above would do the same for these young people. A fair number of thought leaders, such as Ashoka's Bill Drayton, are calling for more empowerment of young people. Just because they are young doesn't mean they can't do great things, and we should help them reach their full potential, if they desire it. I'm not sure how this lesson plan worked out, but it certainly inspires me. I hope it went well! We could definitely be learning similar lessons as adults.
Here's the original Flickr post.
News, tips and articles to power your leadership here.
Incredible images from Afghanistan
As consumers of the news, we've been so bombarded with stories hailing from the Middle East, that we've likely been desensitized to them, at least to some degree - over the past years. But, as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. So take a moment to see, rather than hear - and check out Daylife.com's incredible collection of images from Afghanistan.
Learn more about Afghanistan.
Why America's election day is on a Tuesday in November
Every four years, on the first Tuesday of November, Americans line up to vote in their federal election (or they should, anyway). This day and age, that seems like an arbitrary time to hold an election, but it makes sense in the context of its inception in the 1800's.
At this time in an agrarian society, the harvest would have been concluded, and the harshest winter weather would have not yet arrived. So in consideration to those who had to travel to a polling place, the beginning of November made sense. Also, on the first Wednesday in December, the electors for the electoral college were to meet in the individual states - and, according to federal law at the time, the election 9which would choose the electors) had to occur within a thirty-four day period before that day.
Why the Tuesday? Because most citizens had to travel to a polling station, they allowed for a day's worth of travel (Monday), while avoiding travel on the Sunday Sabbath.
To learn more about the origin of the American federal election date, read the full article.
About.com has an answer to pretty much any question!
TIME photographer's memories from the fall of the Berlin Wall
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Twenty years ago today, the wall that divided East and West Berlin for over 28 years came tumbling down, marking the end of the Cold War. TIME magazine photographer Anthony Suau covered the historic event, snapping photos that have emerged as iconic reminders of that memorable day in November 1989.
Alle besten nachrichten aus Deutschland.
4 reasons you want Rupert Murdoch to wall off News Corp. from Google
Harry McCracken has come up with four very good reasons that he wants Rupert Murdoch to wall off News Corp. sites from Google. My favorite reason is:
Watching other people gamble is constructive. If the Murdoch paywall flops as spectacularly as most folks think it will, it'll be a useful confirmation that everybody was right in the first place. If it's disappointing, but less so than everyone expects, that's useful information, too. And if it somehow pays off, other media sites can claim they knew it would all along, and rush to imitate the News Corp. approach.
Be sure to read Harry's other three reasons.
More coverage of Journalism.
LinkedIn and Twitter link up to make Reese's pieces
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So the big news is that Twitter and LinkedIn are now linked up. I sure couldn't find any info about this until a buddy sent me to this blog post. Regarding this video, I swear Reid was asleep when the the video started. And did they not have two microphones?
Creative coffee mugs and teacups
What can make your morning caffeine fix even more delightful? Well, other than chocolate cake for breakfast. How about a smile with every sip? Toxel has collected images of the 14 coolest coffee mugs that will have you quickly ditching the "World's Greatest Golfer" mug and that cup you stole from IHOP.
A hot gulp of coffee news.
Consumer experiences: more influential than an ad campaign (and cheaper!)
After completely changing the face of journalism, web 2.0 is now eliminating the need for and effectiveness of traditional advertising.
According to a new report, digital brand experiences are having an inordinate sway on consumer purchasing habits and brand affinity. What's more, sixty-five percent of U.S. consumers report a digital experience changing their perception about a brand (either positively or negatively). Brands that were born digital, like Google and Amazon, pioneered this type of experiental advertising. And now it's time for other companies to follow suit (if they want to keep up).
Some traditionally-minded companies are already succeeding in these ventures. Nike, for instance, has an online running community, were like-minded users can connect. They also ran a really cool Livestrong Chalkbot that enabled users to submit an text message that would be digitally painted on the route of the Tour de France.
To learn more about the experiental advertising and other traditional companies are making the shift with wonderful reseults, read on.
More on Advertising Age and advertising.
Rick Astley and the world's first iPhone virus
Rick Astley is never gonna give you up, let you down or gonna run around and desert you. He may, however, share an infection with you. Don't worry, it's not the clap or anything--get your mind out of the gutter. No no, Astley is an involuntary part of the world's first iPhone virus.
A 21-year-old hacker from Australia claims to be the first person to infect the iPhone and he chose a cheeky way to show the Apple gadget's shaky security. The virus spreads between phones via calls and the only real damage is swapping out the infected device's wallpaper to a picture of 80s pop star Astley.
If you see Astley's smirking face on your iPhone (and don't want it there), just swap out your password and say bay-bye to Rick with the delete button.
Ring, ring, ring...it's all sorts of iPhone news (sans Rick Astley).
Trains: Buffett's $26B bet on the next big thing
If the US economy had an official cheerleader squad, we would no doubt see Warren Buffett hurrahing from the top of the pyramid. The Oracle of Omaha has dropped $26.3 billion to purchase Burlington Northern Santa Fe, effectively betting on the railroad industry as the "next big thing."
For many Americans, railroads seem like a booming industry of yesteryear, but Buffett views the industry as a more green and efficient alternative to gus-guzzling semis for transporting goods. The billionaire businessman did his homework before handing over big bucks too, rattling off facts in an interview with USA Today. Buffett notes that Burlington Northern Santa Fe can move a ton of goods 470 miles using only one gallon of diesel and that each train can take 280 trucks off already-clogged US highways.
Buffett looks at the deal as a sensible long-term investment and believes it will produce "steady and certain growth" throughout coming decades.
What do you think about Buffett's big billion dollar bet?
Make a solid investment in finance news.
Michael Jackson's 1 million dollar funeral
At least he went out in style. Because the King of Pop's funeral turned out to be expeeeensive, says People.com. With the grand total of funeral costs coming to $1 million, the little things added up. And by little, we mean totally extravagant.
According to People:
- $35,000 - the suit Michael was burried in
- $3,682 - framing of a photograph of Michael next to his casket
- $1,975 - wardrobe costs for the family
- $11,716 - invitations/programs
If only money bought peace. Rest in peace, Michael.
A page just for Michael Jackson.
