MySpace, MTV team up for one-on-one presidential dialogues

In an appeal to the coveted youth vote in the upcoming presidential elections, MySpace and MTV announced Thursday that they have joined forces for a series of "one-on-one dialogues" with all the major candidates from both political parties--televised and Webcast events in which presidential hopefuls will answer questions from MySpace members & MTV. This follows the YouTube televised debates and is just one of many online events and activities that we'll be seeing in this election cycle. "Web 2.0" is about a two-way exchange of information and ideas; that's what is at the core of the social networking and user-generated content phenomenon. Using the power of social networks, the web is broadening the political canvas. There will always be a place for knocking on doors, eating at diners, and touring the country in a bus. But today's candidates have new tools that spread through individual's online networks of family and friends and these tools are proving to be very powerful. Even if we haven't all figured out how best to use them!

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Make Life Easier: Create PDF Files For Free

Need to create a PDF file but don't want to pay for the full version of Acrobat? Not to worry. The kind folks at Mashable have put together a list of free tools you can use. I downloaded PDF 995 and it's working great for me. There is a slightly annoying box that pops up when you create a PDF that asks if you want to sign up for the paid version but it's easy enough to get rid of.

read more: PDF Toolbox: 40+ Tools to Rip, Mix and Burn PDFs

Marketing to Women—We've Come a Long Way Baby... (Maybe)

Women control 80% (or more) of consumer spending. As this article points out, we're the "Chief Purchasing Officers" in the household. If you've known me for any length of time, you know that I've long railed against the lack of good female-focused ads. When was the last time a car commercial talked to me? I mean, I could care less about rack and pinion steering (not even sure if I'm spelling that correctly) or torque or horsepower. I -- and most women -- want to know about safety, and yes, where the damn cup holder is. Marketers have gotten better over the years (I love what Dove is doing), but they're about to hit another wall: marketing to boomer women. These women were part of the women's revolution. Many worked outside of the home. They're entering their 50's, 60's, and 70's with an entirely different attitude than previous generations. And are those of us in advertising talking to them? Nope. Of course not. Cuz that would make too much sense.

read more: Marketing to Women—We've Come a Long Way Baby... (Maybe) - Articles by Marketing Profs

Digitize Your Life

Ever wonder how to get old VHS tapes into a digital format? Or the best way to digitize all your important personal documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, life insurance papers, etc.)? This little article from the NY Times gives you tips and specific products to use to digitize nearly anything important to you: music, videos, photos, or documents.

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Go Green

If you haven't thought about a green marketing strategy, it might be time. Companies that promote their green strategies generate good will among their customers . . . and good will begets good word-of-mouth and word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool there is. But where to start? Maybe this list of green resources will help.

GREEN LIVING TOOLBOX: 80+ Green Sites: "http://mashable.com/2007/08/14/green-toolbox/"

YouTube Tries to Depose Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert

The "truthiness" is out! The two comedians are apparently being dragged into the copyright fight between their employer and Google. Entertainment conglomerate Viacom, the company behind Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and The Colbert Report filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google last year, alleging that Google and YouTube encourages users to pirate copyright material. Now Google wants to depose Stewart and Colbert on their behalf. There's a lot of legal wrangling (of course) and who knows if it'll happen or if we'll get to hear about it, but that'd be one legal proceeding I'd like to sit in on! The online video industry is wrestling with copyright issues much in the same way the music industry wrestled with this issue with Napster and file-sharing. Lots of different opinions, lots of different approaches, no clear idea on how any of this will shake out, which is one reason why people are watching this high-profile case so closely.

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With One Historic Swing, Extra Media Exposure

Because of the controversy surrounding him, Barry Bonds isn't likely to get any major endorsement deals but that doesn't mean advertisers don't want a piece of him. Rumor has it that prices on signs in the outfield were marked up in anticipation of his breaking the record. Footage of his 756th home run breaking Hank Aaron's 33-year-old record gave a few lucky marketers long-lasting exposure. Clips of that moment will be played, replayed, analyzed, scrutinized, and eventually, memorialized. And in the background, as the ball whizzes past, viewers will see Charles Schwab, Bank of America and Diamond Walnuts.

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Make Life Easier: Talk to a Real Human

Sometimes, it's frustrating to get nothing but Voice Mail Jails when calling a company. Worth bookmarking, this tool gives you the numbers and prompts to get to a real person. Hope this makes your life easier!

Talk to a Real Person Cheat Sheet

Get Your Free Net Phone Calls Here

If you've ever considered using a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone and making all your calls over the Internet, this article is a must-read. The author covers all the major services (such as Skype and Vonage) and explains the pros and cons of each. If you can handle some of the inherent restrictions, this may be a great way to save LOTS on your office phone bill. Anybody out there using any of these services? I'd love to hear about your experiences. I just started using T-Mobile's Hot Spot phone as my primary office phone (I use it as a work phone and not a cell phone) and it's mostly been reliable. I have had some complaints about my voice dropping in and out, so the jury's still out on whether or not this will be my primary phone.

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Is Business 2.0 safe for now?

Earlier, we reported on efforts to save the popular magazine Business 2.0 from being shut down by its corporate overlords (Time, Inc.). A Facebook group was created which now has over 2,000 members including Business 2.0's publisher, Josh Quittner. I joined the group and emailed Josh, asking what we could do. He wrote me to keep the faith, stating that Time knew what it wanted to do (and it seemed they did not want to sell). As of this posting, it looks like they may have changed their minds and are keeping the magazine alive at least through the October issue while they consider offers. Fingers crossed.
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