What a tragedy. What was once one of the most important information portals on the internet, @BreakingNews, has now become a tepid news pump that dumps out stock MSNBC and AP news blurbs. How sad. I actually used to rely on the Twitter account for the hottest cuts of news from all over the world.

I can’t knock Michael van Poppel of BNO News for selling the account since I am guessing he made enough off the deal to be able to retire. It just means that I now have to go dig around for another reliable news source. When will management at big news orgs get wise to the fact that their methods aren’t working? A fire hose of information has just had its main valve shut off.

The only good I can see coming from the sale of @BreakingNews is that there is now an opportunity for some young gun to come along and out sling MSNBC. Amazing that one person can do what thousands can’t.

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This guy may be Hollywood but this is good content. Jared Leto’s band, 30 Seconds To Mars, has a great looking/sounding video out for their new song, Kings and Queens.

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I have been working on trimming down the number of automatic emails I receive and I have found that TrueRemove makes that process incredibly easy. TrueRemove is visible as a one-click opt out or ‘unsubscribe’ button at the bottom of those email notifications you once thought were a good idea.

Not long ago often your only option was to ‘manage your subscriptions’ which was a messy and time consuming process that usually left you subscribed to even more mailers. Now, participating organizations give you the option of severing your ties with one swift click. I now have a greater appreciation for those organizations that use TrueRemove and will seriously consider resubscribing if the need arises.

I have no idea who manages TrueRemove but I am guessing if you use mail services like MailChimp, Constant Contact or Emma it is a standard option. I certainly hope more organizations decide to give their readers that option. TrueRemove gives you the same control over email marketing that Adblock Plus has given you over online marketing.

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It is simple, clean, easy use to use and it produces high quality screencasts. Quicktime X is available as part of the Snow Leopard upgrade from Apple.

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(Via Reddit)

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Nice and clean. Great music. No over the top branding. Makes me want to go to the park. Nice work, Disney folks.

Via Boing Boing

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I recently came across the work of Liza de Guia. She is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn who specializes in producing videos about food and eateries in and around New York City. She’s made a number of films which she has posted on Vimeo.

One of Liza’s latest films is about a couple of restaurateurs from the Brooklyn area who have taken up beekeeping as a hobby. Please watch the film and then I’ll tell you why I think hiring Liza to shoot a film about your establishment is perhaps one of the best ways to advertise your craft.

The opening interview is perfect. It is funny, quick and provides a sets the tone for the rest of the piece. Throughout the 5+ minute video the music consistently matches the imagery. The individuals she interviews are funny, quirky and enjoyable to watch. It is obvious that Liza knows what she is doing and how to tell a story and that is what makes her work so valuable.

While having Liza tell your story if you are a beekeeper must be loads of fun it really doesn’t pay dividends. However, if you happen to be the General Managers and an Executive Chef of two Brooklyn eateries then having Liza tell your story can have seriously positive side effects. Roberta’s Pizza in Brooklyn and Frankies Spuntino in Brooklyn and Manhattan are both mentioned in the piece and while the video is basically about beekeeping you end Googling the two places pretty damn quick once the video is over.

What makes Liza so effective is that she understands that in order to be able to get people interested in a product you first have to find the story that surrounds it and work on telling it. Start by telling stories about the people, their human qualities and their quirks and whatever it is they are selling will appear that much more attractive. One of the most interesting people you will ever meet is Dan Machin, who is featured in Liza’s latest video, and if you watch it you will understand why I initially titled my post about it, ‘I Would Buy This Guy’s Veggies In A Heartbeat If I lived In Brooklyn’.

While I am big fan of Liza’s work I am more interested in what she represents. Liza is producing work that, I believe, represents the future of advertising. While her video was not intended to be a marketing piece I thought it was extremely effective at introducing an establishment by first casually introducing us to the people that work there. She has turned out a number of pieces that are more direct with their message but throughout all of them Liza succeeds in humanizing a business thereby making its product that much more desirable.

I am really not trying to pitch Liza here, I just think she has a lock on what works. Hopefully, we will begin to see more of these relaxed, informative and enjoyable videos that let us know about great eateries in New York City that some of us didn’t know were in existence. If you are unsure about whether or not you want to hire Liza and her camera (minimal overhead and a small footprint – another plus) consider that once your video is branded released into the wild it will take on a life of its own and continue to pollinate other sites on the web giving you maximum return. Give it a shot and see what happens – at least with Liza you know you will get a great product.

You can find all of Liza’s contact info here and the rest of her videos here.

Please be sure to leave a comment if you know of other people who are out there shooting fantastic material and deserve recognition. Another site to definitely check out if you are into food videos is Foodtease.com which is shot by two Canadians in Texas.

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I thought I would take a minute and do a little advertising for  Gelateria Fatamorgana, a small gelateria artisanale here in Rome. A friend and I had lunch today at a restaurant near Ostiense, one of the main train stations near the center of town, and afterwards we decided to stop by the shop which was only a few blocks away.

Photo: Gelateria Fatamorgana

Situated on Via Ostiense only a stones throw from the giant Pyramid of Cestius, Fatamorgana is a little hole in the wall that sells some of the most unique and delicious ‘ice cream’ I have ever tasted. You can easily miss the shop if you are not looking for it and if you don’t believe me take a look at this Google Map image:

Click on image for actual Google Map Streetview

It may look a little rugged from the outside but, as with all things in Italy, looks can be deceiving. Once you step inside you are presented with an array of ice creams that you never thought could exist. Originally founded by an actress, Fatamorgana specializes in highly unusual flavors. The three I had today (Kentucky, Panacea and Madagascar Chocolate) were absolutely incredible.

Via Ostiense 36/E (Piramide) - 00127 Rome

Kentucky is a blend of rich chocolate and real Kentucky pipe tobacco. It may sound disgusting but the taste was incredible. Panacea is a blend of almonds, fresh mint and ginseng. The mint tasted as if it had just been picked. Madagascar chocolate is made without sugar but amazingly there is still a sweetness to the rich, nearly black concoction. All batches are made in small quantities in a machine a few feet from where it is served by one incredibly friendly guy.

When in Rome be sure to do as the Romans do and stop by Fatamorgana on Via Ostiense. Esquire, The Sunday Times and Il Tempo have all written about this little gem so you don’t have to take just my word for it. It is easy to get to (here is a map) and if you are interested in learning more please be sure to visit their site.

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Adblock Plus: Save your time and traffic

For those of you who have never heard of Adblock Plus you would be wise to familiarize yourself with this simple little tool. Typically used as an Add-On with the Firefox browser, Adblock Plus strips ads from just about any site out there leaving you with just the content.

Most sites despise Adblock Plus as it cuts out advertising revenue. Daily Kos even has a front page plea asking users to either disable the extension while on the site or opt for a paid subscription so that they can keep paying their staff.

SUBSCRIBE! (or exclude from AdBlock)

If you use ad blocking software while viewing Daily Kos, you’re getting all the benefits of our site but we’re not getting any of the advertisement revenue associated with your visits. This site relies on ad revenue for daily operations: a decrease in the number of ads seen means a decrease in the funding available to run the site, to pay those that work on it, and to create improved site features.

We won’t stop you from using ad blocking software, but if you do use it we ask you to support Daily Kos another way: by purchasing a site subscription. A subscription is an inexpensive way to support the site that eliminates the advertisements without using ad blocking software.

Revenue generated from the subscriptions goes to the Daily Kos fellowship program, providing a steady income for bloggers and allowing them to concentrate full time on expanding the reach and influence of the netroots through a variety of projects.

By using ad blocking software, you may be hiding the site ads but you’re also reducing the site’s primary source of revenue. So if you must use one, please do your part to support the site and the people that bring it to you by purchasing a site subscription today.

While I can certainly sympathize with their plight I am not sure how successful they are with deterring the use of Adblock Plus. When you have to dedicate prime real estate to making sure that people don’t lessen the value of the rest of your site’s real estate I think it is clear you are fighting a losing battle. The value of online advertising is diminishing while the value of social media and the delivery of top notch content is increasing.

The Christian Science Monitor recently ran an article about Adblock Plus titled, “A block for those annoying online ads“, on a page that was full of online ads. One commenter rightly asked, “Hmm…I wonder how your advertisers that are investing their money to advertise on your site feel about this article.”

If a mainstream paper like the Christian Science Monitor is not concerned with running articles which highlight useful tools like Adblock Plus perhaps they know something we don’t. I wonder if the popular newspaper has decided that the traditional advertising models don’t pay all that much and that it is time to look for greener pastures? When I wrote about the sorry state of television advertising I knew I’d have to write this article as a follow-up piece. It is just too easy to, with the click of a button, wipe out advertising revenue for a site. While I have nothing to lose you, the advertiser, might want to take a second look at your marketing strategy.

Don’t dismiss Adblock Plus as a tool for the technically savvy. According to The Christian Science Monitor article the extension is the number one downloaded Firefox Add-On and averages 780,000 new downloads each week. That equates to a city with a population only slightly smaller than that of Los Angeles downloading the software each month. For advertisers that is certainly not a laughing matter. If you still think Adblock Plus is just too difficult to use and it is not worth the added effort take a look at this quick video:

When I worked in the deep field, in places like Africa and SE Asia, I had to use Adblock Plus so I wouldn’t crash the delicate satellite networks we used and so I could avoid having to pay $8/MB for massive amounts of unwanted bandwidth. I have never looked back and for me it is an invaluable tool. Pages load faster, they don’t hang, I am not subjected to the strobelike effect that so many ads now employ and, lastly, I can’t help but think that I am helping to do my part to ‘green’ the internet. By cutting back on ads you are not only decreasing bandwidth loads you are forcing advertisers to rethink their strategies and helping highlight the importance of high quality writers, photographers, videographers, etc. If you want to see where advertising is headed take a look at my previous post.

There will always be a need for effective advertising. Thankfully, with tools like Adblock Plus gaining in popularity advertisers will realize that they need to evolve to survive and that it is no longer about just getting your product in front of someone – now you actually need to start talking to them.

UPDATE: TechCrunch just posted a great article about another negative aspect of online advertising – the CPM.

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