fresh buzz

Energy Watch: The Bloom Box

2010-02-24T05:23:00.000-08:00

Bloom Energy, a Silicon Valley start-up, has revealed a new fuel cell technology capable of providing energy two-thirds cleaner than that produced by traditional coal-fired facilities.

60 Minutes has a piece on the new Bloom Energy "Bloom Box" here:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Tech Herald has their write-up here.

Rick Snyder Airs First Television Commercial In Michigan Governor's Race

2010-02-07T16:48:00.001-08:00

b-fresh consulting is proud to be a part of the team that is helping Rick Snyder run for Governor in Michigan.

Rick's first television ad, "One Tough Nerd", went live on Super Bowl Sunday and was created by Fred Davis of Strategic Perception Inc.

"Technological Lock-In", Does Facebook Have It?

2010-01-27T05:59:00.000-08:00

Reuters:

The brief history of the Internet is littered with the ghosts of Websites that people have abandoned in their relentless pursuit of something newer, faster, better and cooler.

Tech-savvy Ravasio, a 21-year-old UCLA student designing her undergraduate degree around the Internet's impact on society and communication, is irked by changes privately owned Facebook has made.

But for now, she says, Facebook is keeping her allegiance because of a concept called "technological lock-in." In other words, the site has become an essential part of her life.

"I think Facebook is the most valuable Internet commodity in existence, more so than Google, because they are positioning themselves to be our online identity via Facebook connect," Ravasio said.

"It's your real name, it's your real friends, and assuming they manage to navigate the privacy quagmire, they're poised to become your universal login," she said. "I would almost argue that Facebook is the new mobile phone. It's the new thing you need to keep in touch, almost a requirement of modern social life."

"Almost a requirement of modern social life".

We agree. Which is why we believe that Facebook, with its 350 million users worldwide, has "technological lock-in", and is why we encourage all our clients to have a (well branded) presence on the social networking giant.

b-fresh's Sarah Crawford Elected Vice Chairman Of The Manchester Republican Committee

2010-01-21T12:19:00.001-08:00

Congratulations Sarah!

From the official Manchester Republican Committee press release:

Manchester Republican Committee Elects New Board Of Directors

Manchester, NH -- Today, the Manchester Republican Committee announced its new board of directors. The board was elected last night by Manchester Republicans.

Chairman: Cliff Hurst, Director of Business Development, Hurst & DeGraffenried Wealth Management

1st Vice Chairman: Sarah Crawford, Founder, b-fresh consulting, LLC

2nd Vice Chairman: Jean Esslinger, Vice-President, Legacy Financial Solutions, Inc.

Secretary: Kristy Roney, Minority Policy Director, NH State Senate

Treasurer: John Castelot, Financial Planner, Northeast Planning Assoc.

“I ran because I want to help Manchester’s best qualified citizens seek elected office on the Republican ticket,” Cliff Hurst, the new Committee Chairman said. “This board is committed to working with all Manchester residents to create a positive political environment that will benefit the great city we all live in.”

The new Manchester Republican Committee’s vision statement is as follows:

• To work together with all residents of the City of Manchester to create a positive political environment.

• To grow the Manchester Republican Committee’s membership by implementing an inclusive atmosphere that encourages new ideas and fresh energy.

• To promote our new Mayor Ted Gatsas and his plan for a brighter Manchester.

• To encourage our best qualified citizens to seek political office and to be a resource for them on the campaign trail.

Manchester Republican Committee meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 6:30pm. For more information, please contact Cliff Hurst at 603-289-2697 or visit www.manchestergop.com

iTablet/iSlate Finally? See You In San Francisco On January 27th!

2010-01-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

Apple will announce a major new product later this month in San Fransisco.

While we wait, tech blogs are ready to explode under the weight of all the speculation. And proving once again that Apple is a master at brand hype.

h/t DeviceMag for the picture.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-18T11:30:00.001-08:00

How Time Inc. Views The Future Of Magazines

2009-12-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

Pretty cool.

Now all that needs to happen is Apple has to actually create their mythical tablet.

60 Minutes Report On Cyber Attacks On Corporate And Government Infrastructure

2009-11-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

This piece ran last Sunday (11/1/09):

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The End Result Of A Decade's Worth Of Work...

2009-11-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

...is finally hanging properly in b-fresh's office

Many thanks to Rowland Studio for the framing, they do great work.

ICYMI: Snyder's Michigan Gubernatorial Website "Clean, Concise, Bold"

2009-10-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

Dome Magazine reviews the Phase 1 campaign website of b-fresh client Rick Snyder. Please check their review out here.

b-fresh currently assists Rick's gubernatorial campaign with new media strategy and online brand management.

Our partners in the design/build of Rick's Phase 1 site were Branded Legion and Mint Reaction. Both firms do terrific work and we are pleased to be able to partner with them on a variety of projects.

Helping The New Hampshire State GOP Better Harness Social Media Technology

2009-09-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

b-fresh's Sarah Crawford and Chris Stewart give a presentation about online branding and messaging to New Hampshire Republican Town Chairs at St. Anselm College this past Saturday.

We would like to thank the New Hampshire Republican Party for the opportunity. We had a lot of fun.

Fresh Marketing Concept

2009-09-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is going into the coffee and croissant business.

At least until they've finished launching their new product line.

According to the blog Tech Crunch:

Microsoft is close to opening retail stores in several major cities across the planet, but in Paris they’re doing something special in anticipation of the real shops and the imminent launch of the Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft France has surprised inhabitants and visitors of the French capital with the public preparation of a genuine coffee shop / cafe situated in the heart of the city (47 Boulevard Sebastopol).

The Windows Cafe, which will only be open to the public for a couple of weeks starting October 22nd, will boast a number of Microsoft products that visitors can play around with (Xbox, mobile devices and more) but they will not be able to purchase anything there besides snacks and drinks.

Bottoms up!

b-fresh's 4 Golden Rules For Breaking Through And Surviving A Customer's Email Bankruptcy

2009-09-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

Tech reporter Mike Arrington - who is pinged constantly by everyone from the "man on the street" to Fortune 500 companies - complains that there are too many ways to communicate:

The wonderful thing about email is that it’s asynchronous, meaning you don’t need to deal with it when it is first received. For me and many others, instant messaging is basically the same – I may respond to an IM instantly, or 24 hours later. The recipient generally understands that a response might be delayed, and doesn’t take offense. Facebook messages, Twitter and cell phone text messages all have similar benefits.

But the benefits of the new ways we communicate also mean there’s a lot more of it. The volume of communication requests for most people today are far, far beyond what they can handle. Few people today respond to every communication they receive. And an increasing number don’t even claim to be able to read every communication they receive, let alone respond.

I routinely declare email bankruptcy and simply delete my entire inbox. But even so, I currently have 2,433 unread emails in my inbox. Plus another 721 in my Facebook inbox. and about thirty skype message windows open with unanswered messages. It goes without saying, of course, that my cell phone voicemail box is also full (I like the fact that new messages can’t be left there, so I have little incentive to clear it out).

So, how do you get the digitally overwhelmed to pay attention to what you have to say?

Follow b-fresh's 4 Golden Rules:

1. Know exactly what you are trying to say.

2. Say it well.

3. Know exactly who you are trying to communicate with.

4. Communicate it well using the correct digital content delivery system.

Robot Workers Become More Sophisticated

2009-09-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Fascinating. And note how the system that controls the robots "learns" and upgrades itself over time.

Unfortunately For The U.S. Government You Can't (really) Control "The Internet"

2009-08-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

And while Congress attempts to craft legislation that gives the President emergency powers to "control the internet", the reality is that it's not possible. The "internet" is just too big for any state actor (or group of state actors) to effectively control.

Can Congress figure out a way to regulate certain parts of the internet? Sure.

But "control" the whole shooting match? No way.

Just ask China why it's impossible to do.

Twitter's 140 Characters Now Know Where You Are, And Can Show The Whole World

2009-08-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Via Twitter's blog:

We're gearing up to launch a new feature which makes Twitter truly location-aware. A new API will allow developers to add latitude and longitude to any tweet. Folks will need to activate this new feature by choice because it will be off by default and the exact location data won't be stored for an extended period of time. However, if people do opt-in to sharing location on a tweet-by-tweet basis, compelling context will be added to each burst of information.

For example, with accurate, tweet-level location data you could switch from reading the tweets of accounts you follow to reading tweets from anyone in your neighborhood or city—whether you follow them or not. It's easy to imagine how this might be interesting at an event like a concert or even something more dramatic like an earthquake. There will likely be many use cases we haven't even thought of yet which is part of what makes this so exciting.

A brave new world indeed.

Love Mac Computers? Read This.

2009-08-17T11:41:00.001-07:00

The 4,000 word Steve Jobs profile that Apple initially tried to kill.

Fascinating.

Late Summer Fun

2009-08-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

This got a few chuckles around the office today:

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village

Businessman Mark Cuban Blogs On How News Corp Should Sell Online Content

2009-08-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

Mark Cuban attempts to crack one of the most vexing problems facing media companies today - How to effectively sell content online:

So what should you do to sell your online content ?

The first thing you have to do is realize that internet consumers are only fine with paying for content when the following two criteria are met:

1. It is easy to buy.

2. It is easy for any consumer to assign a “perceived value” to the content and you charge less than that amount.

2a. Remind yourself that just because you assign a specific value, doesn’t mean the consumer will. Case in point are newspaper sites. Consumers might adamantly believe that your writers are better than AP writers. They might believe that your site uncovers news that MSNBC.com doesn’t, Unfortunately for you, because it’s all free to this point, they aren’t saying to themselves “wow, the only way I have EVER been able to get this is news is by paying $2.99 a week and now I can get it from Fox for only $ 2 per month. It’s not going to happen. Instead, it will be “I like the NY Post. I love Page Six. But I’m not going to pay to get what I have always gotten online for free. Not going to happen.

So what Fox, and any media conglomerate has to do is find DIGITAL or INCREDIBLY HIGH MARGIN products that have a perceived value to the consumer, that you can bundle with your online content.

Let me give you an example.

You could offer a “Newsjunkies Subscription” that includes:

a. Access to every Newscorp news website from around the world (excluding the wall street journal). From the NYPost to the UK’s Sunday Times, Sun and more.

b. Your choice of any 2 books from our Harpers Collins collection. That’s right. Pick any 2, from our Best Sellers list, or from the special list we have put together specifically for newsjunkies like you. Its your choice if you want them in hardback, paperback or e-book format.

c. A subscription to our news magazine, The Weekly Standard. The choice is yours whether you would like it delivered to your emailbox, printed and mailed to you or both !

d. A $99 credit at a special edition of The Fox Store that we put together exclusively for our News Junkie Subscribers. You can pick from newly released to DVD movies or from our classics. Its up to you !

So to summarize. In addition to Fox websites from around the world, a $ 79 dollar annual value, you get:

2 books from our Harper Collins collection, with a value of up to $79.

a subscription to the Weekly Standard, worth up to $ 64 (in a deal with its new owner)

a special $99 credit at The Fox Store where you can pick from an amazing selection of movies and tv shows.

For a total value of $ 321.

Because our Fox News Junkie Subscribers are critically important to us, we are offering this special package for a limited time only. This amazing package can be yours for the low low price of only…

$ 9.95 per month with a minimum commitment of 15 months !

Read his whole post here.

b-fresh's 100th Post Is Used To Announce The Launch Of The Rick Snyder For Governor Campaign Website In Michigan

2009-07-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

b-fresh is proud to announce the launch of Rick Snyder's Phase 1 Core Website in Michigan.

Please click here to see this b-fresh project and to support Rick as he runs for Governor to reinvent Michigan.

We would like to publicly thank our partners on this project - Branded Legion and Mint Reaction. They are awesome. And about as far "outside-the-Beltway" as you can get.

(that's a good thing).

Please check back for updates on this project. The best is yet to come!

b-fresh Raises $150.00 For The Prouty 10k

2009-07-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

b-fresh partner Sarah Crawford returns bright eyed and bushy tailed from her run in The Prouty 10k to benefit The Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital.

Chris Stewart, who also participated in the 10k, had already collapsed by the time this photo was taken.

Congratulations to all the runners, walkers and bikers who participated in this year's event!

Going Mainstream: Jim Lehrer's NewsHour Examines "Cloud Computing"

2009-07-10T07:38:00.001-07:00

Audio file here.

Well worth a listen.

Google To Launch PC Operating System

2009-07-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

The Microsoft v. Google fistfight just went to the next level.

The Financial Times has the details here.

b-fresh consulting LLC Celebrates 1 Year Anniversary!

2009-07-02T04:30:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to us.

And thank you so much to those of you who believed in us from the very beginning. Sarah and I could not have done this without your help.

Here's to many more great years ahead!

www.facebook.com/bfreshconsulting

2009-06-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

b-fresh scores what it needs in the 2nd great Facebook username land rush.