DaftPunk Connects with Widget…
French electronic group DaftPunk opted to use social networking tools to engage their fans and promote their new world tour via this widget here. Very good use of tools in a lifestyle practical way. Full disclosure: It turns me on to say widget in a social media kind of way. 
Snapfish, my friend…
Warning-this is totally unsolicited positive word of mouth praise for company I have no economic ties with.
Snapfish is an online photo service owned by Hewlett-Packard. I don’t use them that often because of having Flickr account and numerous blogs I can upload to. However, when my Mom starts bugging me about photos of my son… Well case in point I uploaded a dozen and received confirmation from nearest participating drug chain that they’d be ready by tomorrow evening her time. Called via Skype for preferential rate and made her happy. Then 10 minutes later I got a call from drug chain, in fact Walgreens(since they are doing the heavy lifting here) that they are already ready. Repeat cycle, call the Mom and…even happier mother. Thanks Snapfish, not only don’t you suck, you’re actually pretty good. 
Taiwan Blogger Meetup over Thai BBQ
Wow had a blast of a time with MJ (the Bushman), HuiChen, David R., Todd, Mike T., David E., Catherine, Andres, Karen, Carrie, John, Becky & Jerry. You can see video here. There are also links to some of their and blogposts on the event at that link too. Please check out their blogs and tell them the “A.Connector Guy” hooked you up.
A Blogger meetup…
Here in Planet Taiwan (my pet name for my home of the last 20 years or so) we don’t have tons of BarCamps, or PodCamps or other branded non-conferences or non-branded conferences or… In fact, I am happy to be meeting up with some local English language bloggers (that’s right sports fans-some people don’t read & write English unless they have to) in Hsinchu-Taiwan’s Silicon Valley and birthplace of much of the IPod and IPhone. It’s not a tech blogger thing, in fact most of the Taiwan expat bloggers write primarily on cultural and political observations. Two of the bloggers attending are Michael Turton(my chauffer for the trip :)) and Mike Klein the host. Should be a hoot.
Reflecting on the irony…
This morning I saw a link to a Time magazine article on the Radiohead In Dreams download/statement to music biz meme and it struck me. How ironic! 1) because me and tons of others had scooped Time magazine way in advance of their article coming out on thousands of blogs, and 2) because Time is in an equally precarious position as the record companies because of point 1. To top it off it was a real throw away piece not bringing anything new to the table and not even written in that engaging of a fashion. Never dreamed that we’d become the press…
Promote the Value…
Wow in the office way too early(not really getting exercise both physical and mental) but really having some good conversations with myself-yes, in my head not verbally. 
Perhaps this is my Jerry Maguire moment where I have a flash of insight after eating pizza the night before… Only thing is I work for myself, so it doesn’t matter what I think I won’t get fired.
Right, the point of the post-sometimes we get so busy being busy, using the tools the lingo, etc. that we forget the basics and the key points. I used to emphasize my value on my website and correspondences to prospective clients and have stopped doing that. It just dawned on me that I need to. Why? It is good marketing but even more important it is true. Me being in the production/development equation here is going to benefit the value-conscious customer because I’ll end up saving them much time in communication. In the time =money equation that is a good thing. Can’t and don’t want to compete purely on price-that is a losing game and a slippery slope. Price customers are like crack addicts and are never satisfied, always hungry. Sadly many playing the price game from the supply side are doing just that-playing a game. They bait and switch or low ball to get an order and then come back later when customer is in a bind and renegotiate prices, or agree to ridiculously low pricing and skimp on material and/or labor steps…
Make sure you find the value in what you do and let others know.
Last couple of weekends…
Wow, couldn’t think of better reasons than these… Last weekend had a cold which I caught either from son or getting drenched at outdoor Moon Festival party and then having fan blow on me. This weekend was a good sized typhoon (had 3 leaky rooms to prove it). I will probably get next AC Cast done and up within next couple of days. I have been making some good re-connections with old business associates on new business projects. Hope you have been connecting well in your lives? Stay tuned for more A.Connector goodness…
The Winner is…
A few weeks back Facebook and Twitter friend Derek mentioned that the next person(#400) on LinkedIn would win a copy of Seth Godin’s The Dip from him. Sure enough it was me and I just received book. Looks great and very timely too. Here is video response from me.
