Category: Geek Stuff

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Brain Buster Geek Stuff

What a 21st Century Record Label Looks Like

I attended the WebInno event tonight over at the Royal Sonesta just across the river from Boston in Cambridge. Besides getting a chance to catch up with Andrew Bourland and Christopher Carleton, I got to see some interesting new web apps. I geeked out on RSS and OPML with Mike Kowalchik of Grazr, but that stretched my brain too far and now I have to process that for a day or two before talking about it.

The other main course was Calabash Music which was demoed by Brad Powell. They focus on World Music, and the interesting thing was that they have a mini player that bands can host on their own site which has both a playlist and integrated purchasing mechanism. You can listen to the tunes, and click to purchase the track. He mentioned that they already have a deal going with National Geographic (who hosts their podcasts with LibSyn). Very cool stuff, sort of a CD Baby without the CDs. Is this the record label of tomorrow?

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Daily Life Geek Stuff

Where to check out new Web Stuff in Boston

I found out about the Web Innovators Group through Brian Owen of Masthead Venture Partners at the Nantucket Conference back in the spring. The latest meeting is tonight so I’ll fill you in on anything cool. If you are in the Boston area just go over to their Wiki and sign up.

I may even grab some audio for The M Show.

Categories
Geek Stuff Graphic Design Productivity Booster The Marketeer

Browse Fonts, Preview Fonts, Manage Fonts, Ahhhh

I’ve spent the past 5 years looking for a font browser. Like any other Ronin Marketeer, I have a portable hard drive of digital tools that I’ve gathered. It includes some insane amount of fonts now over 10,000. Yesterday I again hit a point where I was so frustrated that I decided to take a time out to see if there were any tools out there.

I found Suitcase by Extensis. This gift from the gods allows you to grab a folder and it will build a library, complete with samples to view of all the fonts in the subfolders. I’m doing the 30-day trial but unless it does something ridiculuous I’ll be a new customer in no time

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Geek Stuff SalesForce.com SEO and Paid Search The Marketeer

What is The Google OneBox

I have been watching the Google OneBox and there was an article about it in today’s Search Engine Watch. I’d give a direct link but it’s a paid subscription service (and well worth it).

The OneBox is the space above the first entry of organic results (results on the left side of the screen). A couple of months ago I started noticing paid ads show up there and now they are putting maps, movie times, and book recommendations up there. My gut tells me we’ll probably see video up there very soon too.

One weird thing – it only appears to show up the first time, if you refresh a page you are on it’s gone.

In other big news I got notice that SalesForce.com is getting scheduled maintenence around Jan. 15 to get the first ’07 upgrade. This will have integrated Google paid search, but you can get that already if you dig for it.

Shoutouts to Christopher Penn for his ninja search info and Bryan Person for helping me get the feeds straight.

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Podcasting The Marketeer

M Show Sunday

It’s Sunday and that means The M Show gets recorded… A very slow week with the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states, but a few intersting things like the OJ project being scuttled and a statement that The Boston Globe is not for sale.

Steve Rubel had an interesting post on widgets – components that designers can add to webpages. Relevant as I contine with my initiation into WordPress…

Take a listen on Monday Morning!

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Geek Stuff Productivity Buster

Burden of a Geek

Happy Thanksgiving!

The blog has arrived. I really wanted to go with “Adventures in Marketing” but the URL was gone and it didn’t sound that cool, and wasn’t too search engine friendly. After much thought I am excited to announce Ronin Marketeer!

Ok… you’d think I could turn the spinometer down for at least a day like today… guess not.

I am deep in my holiday tradition of providing tech support for my relatives while I’m at home. Adam Curry once said something along the lines of “As a geek it’s your duty to keep your friends and families machines going”, and I’ve always kind of liked that line. Perhaps describing it as a duty makes it sound more romantic than getting the spyware gunk out of the machines my nephews have played with.

That said, I’m thankful for family, friends and all the blessings I have. This is going to be another exciting year and I’m looking forward to seeing how many people we can bring along on the ride. Enjoy the turkey!

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Geek Stuff Podcasting Productivity Buster The Marketeer

The Marketeer at Podcamp Pittsburgh

I got to meet the most famous videobloggers of all time… The stars of TikiBarTV
podcamp pittsburgh