There are THREE episodes now

ITHACA, N.Y. — Jodange, a new online information analysis startup company based on technology invented by Cornell University’s computer scientists, recently launched its first product, “Top of Mind.” It uses breakthrough sentiment techniques developed by Claire Cardie, professor of computer science and information science at Cornell, and her working group. She is a world-renowned expert in the field of natural language understanding and intelligent-text processing.

”It’s been very exciting for me to see our research come to life in a real system that helps people to do their jobs. The Top of Mind system focuses on the analysis of subjective language, something that has been pretty much ignored by today’s search engines,” said Cardie.

This new analytics application is considered to be one of the most exciting inventions today as it provides a suite of opinion discovery tools. Users can custom track, filter and assess opinions in online information to evaluate influences on their customers, competitors and the ever-changing marketplace.

For instance, Jodange’s latest application is an iGoogle gadget that shows the most talked about S&P 500 companies and who the opinion makers of the top S&P 500 are during the last 24 hours. It is the first of these opinion assessment tools being released by Jodange and can be added to your Google homepage for free via Jodange’s Web site, <www.jodange.com <http://www.jodange.com> >.

“These filters will allow companies to create competitive advantages and new business strategies by using all this new information to support quicker, more accurate decision making,” said Larry Levy, Jodange’s co-founder and CEO. “I’m excited about the goal we’ve set for ourselves which is to capture all opinions found on the Web.”

Top of Mind is currently in evaluation with seven major global financial institutions as it draws on hundreds of thousands of documents tracking opinions and performances of the Fortune 1000 and S&P 500.

“Top of Mind may quickly become an addictive Web site. Now we can track who said what when, and what influence that person has,” noted Susan Feldman, vice president for search and discovery technologies at International Data Corporation (IDC). “For the online public, this could become a quick route to finding out the most influential source on any topic on the Web. It could let us all cut-to-the-chase quickly,”

Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise and Commercialization (CCTEC) managed the licensing of the original invention to Jodange, entitled “Opinion Summarization System,” which later became Top of Mind. CCTEC is the technology transfer office for Cornell’s innovations and supports Cornell’s land-grant mission by leveraging intellectual property to promote regional economic vitality.

For more information on Top of Mind, call (914) 595-1381. Contact the Cornell Press Relations Office at (607) 225-3024 to find out more about Cornell’s research on sentiment analysis and CCTEC’s licensing and patenting process, or to request an interview with Cardie.

We say Target®, you say bullseye. We say NBC, you say peacock. We say Mac®, you say apple. We say … ok, you get the point.

By now you’ve probably realized that, as a consumer, you’re surrounded by millions of logo designs and branding efforts. From the corner drug store to national retailers, logos matter and branding makes bank. Successful organizations of all shapes and sizes achieve top-of-mind awareness through cohesive design, colors, slogan and message.

But how to do it? Try implementing these tips today to yield a more successful tomorrow:

Consider the ‘why’ and ‘when’
Changing a logo or revamping your design is a crucial decision, one that should be executed with care. Instead of throwing caution to the wind and performing a design overhaul on a whim, consider the following assessment:

Has your company’s culture or clientele transformed dramatically since your last design and logo efforts were put into place?
Have focus groups, surveys or other reliable means of research concluded that your current design efforts aren’t achieving the desired outcome?
Have changes to your company’s services caused a drastically different feeling that you wish to convey? Does your logo look out-of-date? Does it say what you do? Have people stopped noticing it?

Only if you’ve answered “yes” to any of the above questions is it time to consider moving forward .

Leave it to planning, not chance

Kick off your efforts by holding a meeting involving key decision makers. Invite everyone to lunch to discuss where your company’s design presently sits. Give each attendee all your current marketing materials as a conversation starter to get the ball rolling.
Next, map out where you’d like to be. Have your logo, colors and tagline appeared identically in all mediums? Is there a consistent design applied to all marketing materials? If not, set distinct standards and guidelines for all future usages of any trademark elements.  Your logo designer should also do this for you.
During implementation, keep your audiences in mind.

Are you a small shop? Ask friends and family what they think. Check out your competition and see where you fit in the mix — remember to look online, too.

Spread the word

Once your design is set, share the news! Internally, give every staff member a “Design Care Package,” containing a logo standards and design manual with promotional examples that demonstrate the correct usage of the new guidelines.  Even if you’re not going through an entire design overhaul, you should be sending a heads-up to your customers to avoid any confusion.

Logo standards and design manuals can seem overwhelming if you’ve never used them before. Start with a Top 5 list of how to use your logo consistently throughout all your materials. (i.e. It should never be smaller than 1” in size. It should always be used with the tagline.)

Follow up for feedback
From minor layout and color tweaks to full-out design changes, most organizations can benefit from a little design refining or refreshing. And, although it may seem quite the feat to tackle at first, once you get the design ball rolling, the sky is the limit.

If you need a qualified logo designer who can also provide you with the guidelines, and help you implement a marketing campaign to get the word out to your customers, contact VentureWise for a consultation.

I laugh out loud every time I see the Tide “Talking Stain” commercial.

http://mytalkingstain.com/

I made one of the a certain CEO of one of my clients - hopefully he has a good sense of humor

Don’t know about you, but it seems I’ve been getting about 5 spams a day telling me in broken English to have a happy year and my family member sent me ecard. Here’s the whois on the bad guy:

(p.s. don’t go there and download anything).

happy2008toyou.com

Domain name: HAPPY2008TOYOU.COM
Name Server: ns.happy2008toyou.com 68.251.106.142
Name Server: ns10.happy2008toyou.com 89.35.121.187
Name Server: ns11.happy2008toyou.com 58.9.65.61
Name Server: ns12.happy2008toyou.com 222.209.139.28
Name Server: ns13.happy2008toyou.com 82.59.136.43
Name Server: ns2.happy2008toyou.com 68.36.252.81
Name Server: ns3.happy2008toyou.com 71.230.66.163
Name Server: ns4.happy2008toyou.com 68.61.185.117
Name Server: ns5.happy2008toyou.com 70.232.142.1
Name Server: ns6.happy2008toyou.com 66.75.86.71
Name Server: ns7.happy2008toyou.com 85.29.202.180
Name Server: ns8.happy2008toyou.com 86.139.75.35
Name Server: ns9.happy2008toyou.com 86.130.251.39
Creation Date: 2007.12.29
Updated Date: 2007.12.29
Expiration Date: 2008.12.29
Status: DELEGATED
Registrant ID: X05O1TC-RU
Registrant Name: Larry Claus
Registrant Organization: Larry Claus
Registrant Street1: 1874 str. office 923
Registrant City: Los-Angeles
Registrant State: CA
Registrant Postal Code: 320784
Registrant Country: US
Administrative Technical Contact
Contact ID: X05O1TC-RU
Contact Name: Larry Claus
Contact Organization: Larry Claus
Contact Street1: 1874 str. office 923
Contact City: Los-Angeles
Contact State: CA
Contact Postal Code: 320784
Contact Country: US
Contact Phone: 1 320 5216723
Contact E-mail: larryknower931@yahoo.com

Registrar: ANO Regional Network Information Center dba RU-CENTER
Last updated on 2008.01.01 03: 36: 27 MSK/MSD

The full list of domains we currently have is:

familypostcards2008.com
freshcards2008.com
happy2008toyou.com
happycards2008.com
happysantacards.com
hellosanta2008.com
hohoho2008.com
newyearcards2008.com
newyearwithlove.com
parentscards.com
postcards-2008.com
Santapcards.com
Santawishes2008.com

The filename downloaded is happy_2008.exe

Because this guy has been sending me happy new year e-mails over and over through unsuspecting bots-oh-I-mean-friends, I sent him one just now, my first official e-mail of 2008!

Samsung’s microsite, highlife.fr .  It uses Flash the right way - showcasing the products, and not flash for flash’s sake.  You find yourself longing to be in a Samsung world, filled with mostly unnecessary electronic gadgetry.  Or at least it does to me

This reminds me of good site for reviews and ratings on Mostly Unnecessary Electronic Gadgetry.  Retrevo.com is an online clearinghouse that offers reviews and ratings from thousands of expert and user reviews.

Wondering about where NOT to buy digital cameras and other electronics?  This site is a great place that weeds out all the shady shopping sites out there, like “bestpricecameras.com” (watch the “Product Reviews” section of this blog soon for my current horror story).  Sheddingsomelight.com was born from a few burned consumers, but actually tries to be as impartial as possible when describing the companies listed.  As well as revealing the many aliases of the same shyster companies, it sheds light on some of those shopping cart sites that always look reputable.  Beware, and do your homework!

NBC and Full Circle Entertainment are in the planning stages of a summer comedy based on the book “E”, by Matt Beaumont.

The reason this is breaking new ground isn’t that it is about an ad agency pitching to win business from one marketer and fighting to keep another whose account has gone into review. It is because it seems the network’s stance has changed from the traditional “off-limits” view on product placement for comedies and dramas -Full Circle Entertainment is searching for two advertisers for the prominent plot integrations. NBC refused product placement for its series “Las Vegas” in 2003 so as not to offend traditional advertisers, but now marketers are looking for ways to advertise on TV that DVR and time-shifters can’t skip over.

The original book’s characters are venal, bumbling, and very flawed - not the kind of that would be best to showcase valued brands, so the program’s producers will be viewing the brands as ‘pearls’, making the success of the characters.

I am looking forward to this comedy if it comes to fruition - its about time there was something for me on TV.

Egg.com, a UK credit card company now owned by CitiGroup, is axing its famous guinea pig ads it started running in 2005 (TV and print). If you didn’t already know, this was a great campaign, with kooky music, people dressed up in funny outfits and superimposed guinea pig heads.

Both creative and addicting, the idea was:
“Egg Money is so revolutionary we had to test it on guinea pigs and our TV commercials show you the outcome.”

Glassworks produced the videos, which can be seen on their site, but also this dude has the collected videos and magazine spreads available for download. Go on - you know you want to. These ads worked because people have an inherent distrust of actors on TV, but animals are innocent, right? And left in their ‘natural habitat’, the Egg card solved all their problems. Plus, the art direction was amazing - I mean not many people realize that guinea pigs don’t really have shoulders, but these guys were convincing. That can be attributed to this explanation given on Egg’s site:

The advert was filmed using actors wearing specially constructed guinea pig body suits with custom-made clothes. They were trained and choreographed by an expert in animal movement, to give them the correct body articulation associated with guinea pigs. The heads of real guinea pigs were filmed later, to match with the movements of the actors; these were then combined in post-production with the bodies.

What’s next for Egg? A dolphin named Raoul, jumping through a hoop to draw attention to Egg Card’s zero per cent offer with the strapline ‘You know where you are with Egg’.

I dunno. It doesn’t do anything for me. Reminds me of those old ‘Cadbury Bunny Audition’ commercials. There’s just no replacement that makes sense

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!