This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University.
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.
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Continue reading about Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish, Steve Jobs
Author-Jeffrey Gitomer 2008
When I say “equity” what words come to mind? Most people think, “home,” or “home equity,” or some even “home equity loan.” Equity is the value difference between what you owe on something, and what that something is worth. A home, or a car, or a business.
There is also negative equity – you owe more that it’s worth. This is most prevalent in cars. It’s called being “upside down.”
How about “net worth?” What words come to mind? Most people think, “capital,” “money,” or “not enough.”
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Continue reading about Is it net worth or equity? The answer is both!
I’m going to kick off my first official Business News post with a bit on blogging and content. I’m a newbie at this gig, but I’ve been doing my home work and learning everything I can about Word Press, SEO, Site Linking, Social Media Formats, Content Development, and using them effectively.
I must say that one person’s blog I’ve found most useful and enlightening is that of Chris Brogan. The man is a machine! I don’t think he sleeps at all. Between his informational laden blog posts to his Twitter posts, the info comes at you faster than you can comprehend. In the short time I’ve been following Chris, I’ve learned more than from any other source. Basically, his info has filled in the gaps for me.
So, what does this have to do with blogging and content? Well, everything. Chris Brogan has “killer content” in his blog every day! That’s why his is one of the most respected blogs in the Social Media field!
Can everyone have “killer content?” Sure we can. Rather than retype some of the best ideas I’ve read, I’m going to give a link back to Chris’ site where you can read his take on content. I know I’m going to do my best to use his checklist each day.
What’s your content?
Google My Profile is something I stumbled across while reading Chris Brogan’s blog the other day. He stumbled across it too and had to tell the masses. It is well hidden within all of your Google settings and I still have not found a link to it…
Set up yours today! Why? Well, if you’re a Google user and have a Gmail account, you too can leverage this nice “free” piece of Internet promotional real estate. You can add links to your business web site, blog, LinkedIn, Face Book, the list is endless. Nice way to put one more bobber in the fish pond.
Here’s my link. You will see a link at the bottom to get your own once you log into your Gmail.
This little device is my current mobile unit. Though it is a tad overkill for most people, heck even for me, it does offer you the ability to carry a mini XP machine on your hip. I have it configured to retrieve my gmail and home email accounts, backups, GPS, geocaching, access my home server for file upload/download, remote access to my home PC and server, etc. The list can simply be endless.
The PPC-6800 is about to be outdone by HTC’s latest creation, the Touch, which has some limits but is a much sleeker piece.
To read up on the HTC Mogul or any other PDA or Pocket PC units available, follow the link below.
Yahoo and ComScore completed a research project to determine how many web sites people use on a regular basis. They found that on average people visited 85 sites per month. Out of those sites, people are “deeply engaged” with only 1.5 of them. What sites do you find yourself “deeply engaged” with?
I got to thinking about the sites in my FireFox tool bar. Also, I recently started to focus more on social networking i.e. LinkedIn, Twitter, Delicious, and my new career blog site. Here are the sites I find myself using pretty frequently.
- Google- Used Daily. What else can I say? It is the best search site out there. I use it Gmail for my centralized email account, search for my fav restaurant, and use it on my PPC-6800 phone.
- Netvibes- Used Daily. This favorite web page is my main RSS reader. I have my daily weather, news, Gmail, Twitter etc. Other tabs for technology, travel, and business. Great RSS reader with some good widgets.
- LinkedIn- Used Weekly. Great social networking site that that is centered around business and career related contacts. Excellent research tool too.
- Delicious- Although new to me, I’m already envisioning the value of this bookmarking site. Once it is built, Delicious will become an invaluable resource site for information.
- Twitter- Pretty new to me. I don’t yet see it as a potential social networking site. For me, I have very few friends that would bother using it each day. But I’m posting and watching some interesting people as I go along. Not sure if it will even make it to .01
Honestly now. Which sites are you deeply engaged with? Is it 1.5 or 10?
Continue reading about Which web sites are you deeply engaged with?
Blank Slate
The Moment Of Change
04.18.06, 6:00 PM E
Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins that may buy you just a moment of pleasure,
But then drag you for days like a broken man behind a farting camel.
-Hafiz (Ladinsky)
You have the power to reinvent yourself. The difficulty lies in the objectivity and honesty you need about a very subjective topic–yourself. You’re fairly objective about improving or upgrading things, like your car, or your stereo, or your golf clubs. Reinventing yourself requires a similar objective assessment of the most important thing of all. Your life. Buying a hybrid car, or a cutting-edge computer or communication system, or changing investment choices, or even trying out a nontraditional style of sexual relationship, are often unconscious substitutes for the inner signals urging you to change something about your life. It just seems easier to do something in the outer world. When you’re aware of inner messages about your life, there’s a far bigger payoff than any worldly thing or activity can return. You increase your options by being aware of the reasons you’re choosing what you do, but more importantly, you are able to distinguish between a moment of pleasure and a moment of quantum change. Reinventing yourself, in my book, is more than just possible, it’s a lifesaver.
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For over a month now, I’ve been working on the set up of my WordPress theme Amazing Grace by VladimirPrelovac. I looked at thousands of free templates, but none suited my needs and tastes. I stumbled upon Amazing Grace while reading another blog poster’s comments. As soon as I saw the theme I knew I could make it work at Paul J Roberts . com
Things I like about Amazing Grace
Here’s a site I use daily. It’s a customizable start page you set up with RSS links for any topic imaginable including your own favorite links, email, weather, etc. Because it’s web based, you can view it from anywhere or any pc you’re using. Even a mobile phone!
Here’s an excerpt from the Netvibes home page:
“Netvibes is a free web service that brings together your favorite media sources and online services. Everything that matters to you, blogs, news, weather, videos, photos, social networks, email and much more is automatically updated every time you visit your page.
The wizard is a tool to help you easily create your very own start page, Netvibes.
I love Netvibes. I have several page tabs set up with all my favorite content via RSS feeds. It has the usual flair of News, Weather, and Stock Quotes. But I also have feeds for my other accounts like: Twitter, Gmail, Monster dot com, LinkedIn, LifeHacker. Then I have tabs for business, technology, travel etc.
You can keep this dashboard open all day and view info as it rolls in. Keeping you in touch with your most needed information.
See it here: Netvibes
This thread will include business and industry news, articles and links to things I’ve found during my travels.
So stop by and see what new and intriguing things I’ve come across.
