Blake Snow

writer-for-hire, content guy, bestselling author

Hi, I'm Blake.

I run this joint. Don’t know where to start? Let me show you around:

As seen on CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox, Wired, Yahoo!, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal

Is this really such a good idea?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE4Fcl7oGQc[/youtube]

Mixing camping with must-see TV?

Honestly, how much could this fan be “enjoying” a game of football on a three inch screen while camping, especially since he probably has 50″ HDTV at home? Grow a pair and pick one: Get away from it all in the great outdoors or stay home to watch a game you’re really interested in. Or if you must, DVR.

Seriously, what kind of sick society are we turning into? The equation is simple.

See also:

Think your clients are unreasonable? Imagine dealing with this on a daily basis

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pU1LoZeBYk[/youtube]

My brother-in-law works in a Manhattan commercial music studio, producing jingles and licensing original music for use in advertising. Apparently, he deals with this regularly. Favorite line: “That is insulting. We would go out of business if we agreed to terms like that.”

More proof that unrealistic buyers are everywhere. (Although I still think there is value in licensing consumer music in advertising, which this video seems to discredit in an effort to sell more commercial music. What’s more, if demand is this high for “rip off” commercial music, I imagine a supplying studio could really clean up.)

See also: I’m sorry we can’t make a deal. Please don’t heckle me.

Is email dead?

AOL Phoenix view_604x341No. Although no longer a hip technology, I think it will be around for several more decades.

America exports a lot of planes, medicinal machines, computers, cars, and plastic

I’m a little late on this (gulp, nine months late), but I found it interesting. From the U.S. Census Bureau, via Suite 101:

  1. Civilian aircraft including parts … US$74.7 billion, up 1% from 2008 (7.1% of total US exports)
  2. Medicinal, dental and pharmaceutical preparations … $46.1 billion, up 14.1% (4.4%)
  3. Semiconductors … $37.5 billion, down 26% (3.5%)
  4. Other industrial machines … $30.9 billion, down 19.1% (2.9%)
  5. Automotive parts and accessories … $30 billion, down 24.6% (2.8%)
  6. Telecommunications equipment … $28.7 billion, down 12.6% (2.7%)
  7. Passenger cars … $27.5 billion, down 44.5% (2.6%)
  8. Medicinal equipment … $26.9 billion, down 0.5% (2.5%)
  9. Electric apparatus … $26.1 billion, down 15.5% (2.5%)
  10. Plastic materials … $25.5 billion, down 19.3% (2.4%)
The biggest drop last year was in passenger cars, which went from being our third largest export in 2008 to our seventh. Ford is still awesome though.

See also: My new favorite commercial

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Seriously, how can this thing cost only $2.15?

HDMI cable cost only $2.15

I needed an extra HDMI cable for my living room. So I turned to where I always go for such things: Amazon.com.

When I found one for $2.15 with free shipping, I was skeptical. But the 4.5 star average user rating quickly quieted any concerns. After all, the item has been favorably reviewed a whopping 3,231 times on Amazon.

So I bought it.

The fairly advanced cable arrived today, after only a few days. The craftsmanship is middle grade. It works fine. It suits my needs, if not exceeds them given the ridiculously low price. So how the crap can someone make money selling this thing for only $2.15 with free shipping?

It can’t just be volume. It can’t just be cheap foreign labor.

In other words, if this little guy isn’t proof that the Chinese artificially deflate their currency, despite their booming economy, I don’t know what is. Booming economies, after all, have trusted currency. Trusted currency results in higher trading prices (i.e. historically high prices for Dollar and Pounds when compared to the rest of the world).

What’s a reasonable consumer to do when the global economy doesn’t play by the rules?

In China’s defense, the U.S. just printed 6 billion notes, which isn’t exactly playing by the rules. But at least our currency is rightfully trading at market prices. The Chinese’s, on the other hand, is still bottom of the barrel, even though its economy is similar in size and trusted almost as much as the American economy.

Something’s fishy, no?

In software terms, nothing says, “We didn’t think this through” more than “Super Admin”

Geeks only: Whenever you stumble upon the use of “Super Admin,” you can be sure of one thing: the software designer didn’t properly plan for multi-user access.

I saw this most recently today when considering the use of WordPress Network for an upcoming project. I’ve seen the term numerous times before, but always get a chuckle when seeing. In WordPress’ case, the creators originally designed the software to run only one website. When they decided to add functionality to manage multiple websites, they needed to add another administration layer on top. Hence the double use of admin.

Admittedly, I’ve designed short-sighted software before. But I’ve also done everything in my power to avoid using the age-old “super admin” naming convention. For WordPress, why not rename single-level administrators to “operator,” “manager,” or something less authoritative? If dead set on sticking with administrator, why not rename your top administrator to “master,” “commander,” “overlord” or something?

I realize “super admin” is universally understood by software geeks, myself included. But it sounds ridiculous, not to mention ad-hoc.

I love one-hit wonder royalty stories

Yahoo: Songwriter “Dirty Dancing” all the way to the bank

The New Jersey musician, whose first name is pronounced “Frankie,” co-wrote the film’s climactic anthem “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” a tune that helped turn a small coming-of-age tale into one of the biggest movies of all time.

Previte estimates that he gets quarterly checks of $10,000 to $30,000 for radio airplay, additional quarterly checks of $50,000 to $100,000 from the hit stage adaptation, and annual checks of $100,000-$125,000 when the song is used in commercials.

Awesome.

See also: Despite being 50 years old, my favorite jazz song makes $100k year

Kinect is the most impressive Microsoft product in 15 years

kinect

I’ve been playing with Kinect over the past few days, and I gotta say: It’s the most significant consumer product the company’s released since Windows 95. It’s not a home run—at least not yet. But it’s definitely a double stretching for a triple.

It’s also extraordinarily cool and brimming with promise. Continue reading…

Remember when pro basketball was awesome?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idA9Vym1F54[/youtube]

It was the ’80s or ’90s. It moved at a faster pace because officials actually let the players play, unlike today. And uh, as the above video shows, it was a lot more physical. Good times. (Thanks, Tim).

The road less traveled = better photography

CR

Photo: Blake Snow

Want better (not to mention more memorable) pictures of your landmark travels? Shoot original photos instead of the same, diluted ones everyone else always takes, says photographer Thom Hogan.

“A long time ago I noticed something interesting about my workshops: students took better pictures in Capitol Reef National Park and Escalante-Grand Staircase than they did in Arches National Park and Bryce National Park. I don’t mean technically better; I mean aesthetically better, unique, and more interesting than the ones I see taken at workshops of name parks. It took me a couple of years to figure out why, but it turns out to be one of those hidden dangers of photography (and art in general, actually): unintentional copycatism.”

In summary, it’s easier to take great photos of low-profile places than high-profile ones, because you’re less tempted to recreate the same picturesque shots as everyone else. (If it’s the latter that you want, postcards or desktop wallpapers do a better job.)

Consequently, when visiting your next classic American or International “name park” such as Grand Canyon, the above mentioned Arches, or Paris, “look for the shots that are yours,” counsels Hogan, which result in better-looking photos anyway.

In other words, just say “no” to cliche photography.

Proof that clever marketing can glam up dumb ideas

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjK-0dhdIg0[/youtube]

Because sitting through a two-hour moving on a single sofa is so hard these days. Or waiting for popcorn to pop while a movie is paused is excruciatingly slow.

DirecTV’s response: “We better make it easy for people to pause dramatic movie scenes between kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom TVs. It’s not like they’re going to want to stay engaged in said scenes anyway. Who are we to deny people continuous movies during potty breaks? Now let’s go sell this dumb idea! There’s a sucker born every minute!”

Multi-room viewing is retarded use of technology.

DISCLOSURE: I don’t subscribe to any TV service. (Over-air HD and Internet TV only).

My favorite scene from my favorite Kung Fu movie

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHKfmAGguRE[/youtube]

The film: Iron Monkey. The scene: “Gone with the wind.” While most people panic when wind takes hold of loose items, these two stay cool, react quickly, and gracefully prove they’re not exactly who they appear to be (i.e. doctors).

In case you didn’t know, Kung Fu movies are to the Chinese as comic book movies are to Americans. Both are awesome. But instead of childish names and muscly tights, Chinese superheroes are ninja fast and averse to gravity.

You won’t find a better quote on winning

rockybalboa“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!”—Rocky Balboa

Isn’t it exhilarating the first time you realize your kids know more than you do?

I know because it happened to me this week.

I was in the living room. My five year old was sitting beside her mother on the sofa. All of the sudden, I hear the former speaking in this foreign language. Not an idiom. Music notation! She was reading aloud music! Passing off her piano homework to her mother!

“My kid knows how to read music!!” I thought to myself. “Even I don’t know how to do that!!” (Yes, there were exclamation points after all of these sentences.)

I can only imagine what other things she’ll learn as she grows older — things I never did.

You have no idea how proud this makes me as a father. It makes me want to sing “We are the world” or something. What an awesome feeling.

MLIA

Why I love checking my email

psd-mouse-cursor-hand-pointer-iconI can’t for the life of me understand why so many people despise checking email. For me, it’s like getting little packages in the mail several times a day. Of course, that’s not the case if you fail to follow a few sanity rules. Mine are as follows:

  1. Only check your inbox from 9-5pm, M-F. Since quitting my data plan, I only check my inbox during work hours—never at night or on weekends. Since I’m batch processing email now, chances are I’ll come across exciting, fun, or otherwise encouraging emails a lot more than I would fielding menial messages one at a time, 24 hours a day. Admittedly, I’ve had to check email under work emergencies a few times this year. But I never clean my inbox during those times. I only target the time-sensitive message I’m looking for, so it’s not a problem.
  2. Use Gmail. No other email client can rival the auto spam protection of Gmail, which is constantly updated. Additionally, I’ve setup more than 30 custom filters to keep my inbox clean from no-response required emails. If you’re using the right tools and are judicious when giving out your email, spam shouldn’t be a problem.
  3. Use it as a sales tool. After “thank you” and “I love you,” “you’ve got a deal,” is the best expression in the English language. To hear it though, you always have to be trying to cut deals with prospect buyers, partners, and shareholders. Much of this should be done in person or over the phone. But when it makes sense, a lot of it can be done via email. Once you start doing that, you’ll quickly learn to love your inbox, as it’ll become an income generator, a money-maker.

Do you love your inbox?

Despite being 50 years old, my favorite jazz song makes $100k year

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs[/youtube]

That’s what I call perpetuity.

According to Spirited Men by Brian Doyle, Dave Brubeck’s classic cool jazz track Take Five makes a cool $100,000 a year in royalties. Imagine how much it made at its height in the early ’60s!? Yeah, baby!

Cooler still, the beneficiary of said royalties is none other than one of my favorite charities: The Red Cross. Song writer and Brubeck saxophonist Paul Desmond left the rights to the song to The Cross upon his death in 1977, as opposed to some deadbeat son like Will from About a Boy.

Bonus link: Radiohead vs. Dave Brubeck mashup in 5/4 (Thanks, Lexi Sara).

One year after canceling mobile data: 10 things I’ve learned

gp792536-00vliv01Update: As of 2013, data is now included with my cell phone plan. But thanks to my four year break from it, mobile data no longer interrupts my life like it use to. When used sparingly, it actually enhances it.  

A year ago this week, I canceled my data plan. The unexpected catalyst was an awesome trip to Montana. After being tied to my Blackberry for four years, here are 10 observations of “my rebirth” into mobile obscurity:

  1. My quality of life has improved while productivity has remained constant. By that I mean I get as much done as I did before, only now I enjoy a lot more personal time without work interfering. In many cases, that translates into greater productivity upon returning to work the next morning or after the weekend. Believe it or not.
  2. My relationship with my wife and children has improved. I recognize them more. I play with them more. With fewer alerts to interrupt us, it’s a lot more fun now.
  3. Email still waits for me on my computer. Continue reading…

These short-stories are funny. My life is average.

mlia t shirtSince quitting Facebook in May, I periodically visit My Life Is Average for a good chuckle. Here are some of my favorite recent stories:

  • Today, my brownie got detained in airport security. MLIA.
  • Today, I discovered you can reuse calendars every eleven years. Guess who is using their 1999 calendar this year? MLIA.
  • Today, I pushed a door that said pull. It opened. MLIA
  • About a week ago, I went to the optometrist. While the doctor was looking at my eye, he told me to “open wide.” He was talking about my eye, but I automatically opened my mouth as wide as I could. MLIA.
  • Today, I decided to make a grilled cheese sandwich in the toaster. Tomorrow, I’m getting a new toaster. MLIA
  • Today I found a book called “How to Read a Book.” MLIA
  • Today I was walking across the park and there were a bunch of teenagers. First kid smoking. Second kid smoking. Third kid smoking. Fourth kid was eating a apple. I think we know who the biggest rebel is. MLIA
  • Tomorrow, my school has a spirit day. The theme is “Gender-Bender,” where boys wear girls clothes and vice versa. My father, knowing nothing of this, comes downstairs to find me in a jean miniskirt, gray tank top, black leggings, trying to put my hair in a suitable girly fashion. We stare at each other awkwardly, and without saying a word, he turns and walks back upstairs, shaking his head. MLIA.
  • Today, I read last year 4,153,237 ppl got married. I don’t want to start any trouble, but shouldn’t that be an even number? MLIA
  • Today, my shoe laces came untied. I tied them back up and carried on. MLIA
  • Four years ago, when i was 18, i noticed at night that my front window is very reflective, so i was pretending to dive in slow motion and shoot, dual pistol style. Suddenly a really hot girl walked past and i was startled and fell over. Embarrassed i waited for a bit and then stood up. As i stoop up i saw her slowly shooting an imaginary rifle from behind a car. We then proceeded to do this for 10 minutes until she did an extremely dramatic death. She wasn’t getting up so i went outside to meet her. Once i got to where she was, there was nothing but a piece of paper with a mobile number on it. Today, we are getting married. MLIA

MLIA.

The history of rap

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW-fPBh6w7A[/youtube]

This is really well done. Fallon’s delivery is impressive, especially for a night show host. The Roots on backup are phenomenal. (Thanks, Mark)

20 business cliches that make you sound stupid

facepalmI went to lunch today with an old business school buddy. We always have a good time making fun of brainless ideas while trying to make a honest buck. Today, we ridiculed some of the following business cliches, which are beyond stale and should never be used; otherwise you’ll sound like everyone else and influence few:
Continue reading…

Survey: Americans don’t know much about religion

From the Associated Press:

A new survey of Americans’ knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths. Read more…

A self-fulling prophecy, at least in Christianity.

Tomatoes: “They’re like salty watermelons, man!”

tomato

Few things in life are better than a fresh tomato.

While discussing food this morning (it’s a hobby of mine), a friend exclaimed, “I can’t stand raw tomatoes.” He’s obviously crazy, so of course I chastised him with, “No way—they’re like salty watermelons, man!!!”

Admittedly, I haven’t always enjoyed tomatoes. In fact, I was ordering cheeseburgers sans tomato as recently as 18. That all changed a year later, however, after moving to Brazil. There, when they serve “salad,” it’s all tomato, doused in vinegar and oil. To not come off as a snobbish American, I reluctantly accepted said salad. In time, I grew to love the primary ingredient.

Now I eat tomatoes on anything and everything. Continue reading…

Why you should never overhaul a working website

g-logoEvery website should be updated regularly. Search engines like it. Readers like it. Your bottom line will like it.

But if you operate a working, established, or otherwise popular website (say at least 2,000 visitors per day), I would never recommend a major visual or mechanical overhaul. It pisses people off. And when that happens, loyal visitors flock to alternatives in mass exodus, as Digg users have done this month.

There are a couple of exceptions to this rule. If your website has a monopoly on information, you can do whatever you want, and readers will keep coming back. And if your website isn’t “working, established, or popular” to begin with, you only stand to gain from a major overhaul, provided it’s done by someone who knows what they’re doing (aka no flash, proper xhtml/css coding, a regular content plan, and most importantly, good usability).

What can you do then to improve or refresh established websites? My advice is to make subtle changes to your design and monitor your visitor’s behavior. If the change has no significant effect, or better, a measurable improvement, keep the change. If the change is off-puting to visitors, revert to the the previous version immediately and re-evaluate both your desire for change and your strategy.

I know this holds true on the few “popular” websites I publish. And if Digg is any indication, I know it holds true for mega websites as well.

May all your redesigns be well-received.

Best news story I’ve read in a long time

2 Muslims travel 13,000 miles across America, find an embracing nation

An excerpt: “After 13,000 miles, I think that America still exists, and I’m happy to know that it does,” said Tariq, a 23-year-old American of Pakistani descent. “It’s really made America feel like home to me in a way that I’ve never felt before. The America that we think about [as immigrants] is still actually there. I’ve seen it! And I’m seeing it still.”

Why college football coaches stuggle with health

Because they’re constantly chaperoning 120 players, “most of them 18-22 years of age,” reports the Associated Press:

Joker Phillips is 47 and in his first season as Kentucky’s head coach after 20 years as an assistant. He said he has made sure to keep good habits despite the demands of the job. “I still work out every day. I still get the same amount of sleep. I just think this game is important to me, but my family and personal health is more important,” he said. “I am a competitor and I do want to win, but I’m not going to let this game ruin my life.”

3 ways to spot when someone is lying

liarVia SmartBlog:

  • Nonverbal tells. Liars don’t rehearse their gestures, just their words. The cognitive load is already huge, so when they tell their story, they freeze their upper body, look down, lower their voice, and slow their breathing and blink rate. And they will exhibit a recognizable moment of relief when the interview is over. Interrogators will often end an interview prematurely just to look for that shift in posture and relaxation.
  • Verbal tells. People who are overly determined in their denial resort to non-contracted rather than relaxed language. “Did not” rather than “didn’t” They will use distancing language as in “ that woman” rather than someone’s name. They will often pepper their story with inappropriate detail as if to prove to you they are telling the truth. They will look you in the eye too much, as if to appear honest, when in fact most people telling the truth only look you in the eye a comfortable 60 % of the time.
  • Stories told in perfect chronological order. Try to get them to tell their story backwards. They can’t do it. Honest people remember stories in the order of emotional prominence. Liars tend to concoct a time-stamped story but they falter when asked to recount it differently.

Why big companies are drained of inspiration

The short answer: Since they’re coffers are already full, they’re complacent. And complacency is the enemy of inspiration.

In my case, once my “business reserve” (aka checking account) is at a comfortable level, I know I get complacent.

So to stay inspired, I guess I need to be more ambitious with how much money I’m chasing—rather than wait for when the heat is on.

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