1. Make sure the meeting has an agenda (and each person knows what is on the agenda).
2. Set a time limit, most meetings should be under 30 minutes.
3. Make sure you are talking to the decision maker; if not don’t waste your time.
4. Have a leader. If you’re meeting with a client or partner, make sure you decide who will lead the talking from your team.

Here’s a quick tip. When you are scheduling a meeting and deciding on what time works for both sides, send a simple message that says: “So, what’s on the agenda for this meeting?”

If the answer is “nothing, just wanted to talk” or some variation of that, the meeting is most likely a waste of time. Of course, sometimes you need to have a friendly meeting just to develop the relationship. In that case, just make sure you’re aware of the opportunity cost.

Most companies today understand and are beginning to include social media in their marketing campaigns. And it’s not only the big companies, small mom and pop stores are also beginning to utilize social media in their marketing efforts. But, the marketing power of social media is just the tip of the iceberg. The real point and the reason that social media marketing works is because information is so easily spread. Information used to be controlled by various sources, be it government, companies, or even groups of people. With social media it is so easy to spread information that information cannot be controlled anymore, it spreads virally and seems to have a mind of its own.

Companies in particular need to be aware of this on many fronts. 10 years ago a simple action like a company sending a “cease and desist” letter was only known by the sending and receiving company (+ law firms), and maybe a few friends of each party. Today that letter can republished on hundreds of blogs, tweeted by hundreds of users, and read by thousands of consumers.

Case in point, HardOCP just announced the finding of counterfeit intel processors in shipments from newegg, which received them from the supplier D&H Distributing. D&H responded by sending HardOCP a nasty cease and desist letter to take down HardOCP’s post that named D&H as the supplier of the counterfeit processors (among other ridiculous demands, like a public apology). Before social media this act would have gone unnoticed, but instead this has been picked up on twitter, various news aggregators, and several popular blogs. What started off as a bit of bad PR for D&H became a pretty big PR nightmare for them, simply because of the cease and desist letter. Without that letter the story isn’t as interesting (though it was still getting a good amount of attention, again thanks to social media), but blogs and individuals love any story with the theme “big, wealthy company threatens the little guy”.

In this case, D&H is doing what they know and are used to: controlling media and information flow by threat of legal action. And this backfired on them. Instead of having HardOCP take down their post, the post is getting more attention. In essence D&H is losing control to a mass of angry individuals. That is only possible because of social media. And companies should be aware and be very careful to realize that any move they make is being closely scrutinized by their consumers – and the unhappy ones can get pretty vocal with the help of social media.

The presentation is shown below. It can be downloaded here.

Pinch Media – Free Legal Forms

So, let me try to set the record straight. If you are already a software engineer, than it might actually be that simple for you. Like the article says you need to get a mac, learn objective-c and start hacking away. For anyone who knows any programming language, picking up objective-c and learning the ins and outs of the iPhone SDK is a few weeks/months worth of time. Not that bad, especially since engineers love learning new things and challenging themselves.

But this article does a massive disservice to current iPhone developers by suggesting that iPhone development is easy and trivial. It’s not. Joe Schmoe can’t just get a mac, learn objective-c, and launch the next iPhone app hit. It’s simply not that easy. The reason that the iShoot developer was able to learn objective-c so quickly was that he was already a software engineer (working for Sun).

Most (if not all) software engineers have a BS, Masters, or PhD in some computer related engineering discipline. It’s there that they learn programming languages, software development, software design, and a bunch of other things. These can be learned on your own, but its much easier to pick these up while at school.

So of course a highly skilled software developer was able to write a successful iPhone app in his spare time. But this doesn’t mean that anybody can do it. Any person that claims otherwise is simply being dishonest or doesn’t know any better.

There is a ton of competition in the App Store with hundreds of applications being launched every day. So even if you can create an iPhone app, there is no guarantee that your app will be a hit.

If you’re Joe Schmoe and you’re tired of your day job and you want to hit it big by writing an iPhone app, go right ahead and give it a shot – just be aware that it won’t be easy and unlike some articles suggest there’s no 8 step process to making $22,000 in a day.

This article (published on Haaretz) is frightening and reminds me of pre-1934 German thinking.

What are people thinking?

Poll: 31% of Europeans blame Jews for global financial crisis
By Natasha Mozgavaya, Haaretz Correspsondents and Haaretz Service

A recent survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League found that anti-Semitic attitudes in seven European countries have worsened due to the global financial crisis and Israel’s military actions against the Palestinians.

Some 31 percent of adults polled blame Jews in the financial industry for the economic meltdown, while 58 percent of respondents admitted that their opinion of Jews has worsened due to their criticism of Israel.

The ADL, a Jewish-American organization polled 3,500 adults – 500 each in Austria, France, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom – between December 1, 2008 and January 13, 2009.

According to the survey, 40 percent of polled Europeans believe that Jews have an over-abundance of power in the business world. More than half of the respondents in Hungary, Spain and Poland agreed with this statement. These numbers were 7 percent higher in Hungary, 6 percent higher in Poland and 5 percent higher in France than those recorded in the ADL’s 2007 survey.

Nearly half of the respondents in each of the countries said that Jews were more loyal to Israel than to their home country. Twenty-three percent said that their opinion of Jews was influenced by Israel’s military and political activities.

Another 44 percent of respondents said it was “probably true” that Jews reference the Holocaust too much, while 23% said that they still blame Jews for the death of Jesus.

“This poll confirms that anti-Semitism remains alive and well in the minds of many Europeans,” said Abe Foxman, the National Director of Anti-Defamation League. “In the wake of the global financial crisis, the strong belief of excessive Jewish influence on business and finance is especially worrisome.”

Late last year, the ADL reported a major upsurge in the number of anti-Semitic postings on the Internet relating to the financial crisis engulfing the United States.

The Jewish-American organization cited hundreds of posts regarding the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers and other institutions affected by the subprime mortgage crisis.

The messages railed against Jews in general, with some charging that Jews control the U.S. government and finance as part of a “Jew world order” and therefore are to blame for the economic turmoil.

The arrest of Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff, who allegedly swindled $50 billion from investors, prompted an outpouring of anti-Semitic comments on mainstream and extremist Web sites, according to the ADL.

The ADL said some of the posts on the highly trafficked sites spread conspiracy theories about Jews stealing money to benefit Israel and suggest that, “Only Jews could perpetrate a fraud on such a scale.”

These and other anti-Jewish tropes about Jews and money have appeared on popular blogs devoted to finance, in comment sections of mainstream news outlets and in banter among users of Internet discussion groups, according to the ADL.

“Jews are always a convenient scapegoat in times of crisis, but the Madoff scandal and the fact that so many of the defrauded investors are Jewish has created a perfect storm for the anti-Semites,” Foxman said last year, following news of the Internet hate messages.

Reprinted from a The Israel Project email communication (who reprinted it with permission of Maariv, originally published January 25, 2009).

Hello, 

While the world watches the ruins in Gaza, you return to your home which remains standing. However, I am sure that it is clear to you that someone was in your home while you were away. 

I am that someone. 

I spent long hours imagining how you would react when you walked into your home. How you would feel when you understood that IDF soldiers had slept on your mattresses and used your blankets to keep warm.

I knew that it would make you angry and sad and that you would feel this violation of the most intimate areas of your life by those defined as your enemies, with stinging humiliation. I am convinced that you hate me with unbridled hatred, and you do not have even the tiniest desire to hear what I have to say. At the same time, it is important for me to say the following in the hope that there is even the minutest chance that you will hear me.

I spent many days in your home. You and your family’s presence was felt in every corner. I saw your family portraits on the wall, and I thought of my family. I saw your wife’s perfume bottles on the bureau, and I thought of my wife. I saw your children’s toys and their English language schoolbooks. I saw your personal computer and how you set up the modem and wireless phone next to the screen, just as I do.  

I wanted you to know that despite the immense disorder you found in your house that was created during a search for explosives and tunnels (which were indeed found in other homes), we did our best to treat your possessions with respect. When I moved the computer table, I disconnected the cables and lay them down neatly on the floor, as I would do with my own computer. I even covered the computer from dust with a piece of cloth. I tried to put back the clothes that fell when we moved the closet although not the same as you would have done, but at least in such a way that nothing would get lost.  

I know that the devastation, the bullet holes in your walls and the destruction of those homes near you place my descriptions in a ridiculous light. Still, I need you to understand me, us, and hope that you will channel your anger and criticism to the right places.  

I decided to write you this letter specifically because I stayed in your home.

I can surmise that you are intelligent and educated and there are those in your household that are university students. Your children learn English, and you are connected to the Internet. You are not ignorant; you know what is going on around you.  

Therefore, I am sure you know that Quassam rockets were launched from your neighborhood into Israeli towns and cities.  

How could you see these weekly launches and not think that one day we would say “enough”?! Did you ever consider that it is perhaps wrong to launch rockets at innocent civilians trying to lead a normal life, much like you? How long did you think we would sit back without reacting? 

I can hear you saying “it’s not me, it’s Hamas”. My intuition tells me you are not their most avid supporter. If you look closely at the sad reality in which your people live, and you do not try to deceive yourself or make excuses about “occupation”, you must certainly reach the conclusion that the Hamas is your real enemy.  

The reality is so simple, even a seven year old can understand: Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip, removing military bases and its citizens from Gush Katif. Nonetheless, we continued to provide you with electricity, water, and goods (and this I know very well as during my reserve duty I guarded the border crossings more than once, and witnessed hundreds of trucks full of goods entering a blockade-free Gaza every day).  

Despite all this, for reasons that cannot be understood and with a lack of any rational logic, Hamas launched missiles on Israeli towns. For three years we clenched our teeth and restrained ourselves. In the end, we could not take it anymore and entered the Gaza strip, into your neighborhood, in order to remove those who want to kill us. A reality that is painful but very easy to explain.  

As soon as you agree with me that Hamas is your enemy and because of them, your people are miserable, you will also understand that the change must come from within. I am acutely aware of the fact that what I say is easier to write than to do, but I do not see any other way. You, who are connected to the world and concerned about your children’s education, must lead, together with your friends, a civil uprising against Hamas.  

I swear to you, that if the citizens of Gaza were busy paving roads, building schools, opening factories and cultural institutions instead of dwelling in self pity, arms smuggling and nurturing a hatred to your Israeli neighbors, your homes would not be in ruins right now. If your leaders were not corrupt and motivated by hatred, your home would not have been harmed. If someone would have stood up and shouted that there is no point in launching missiles on innocent civilians, I would not have to stand in your kitchen as a soldier.

You don’t have money, you tell me? You have more than you can imagine.

Even before Hamas took control of Gaza, during the time of Yasser Arafat, millions if not billions of dollars donated by the world community to the Palestinians was used for purchasing arms or taken directly to your leaders bank accounts. Gulf States, the emirates – your brothers, your flesh and blood, are some of the richest nations in the world. If there was even a small feeling of solidarity between Arab nations, if these nations had but the smallest interest in reconstructing the Palestinian people – your situation would be very different.  

You must be familiar with Singapore. The land mass there is not much larger than the Gaza strip, it is considered the second most populated country in the world. Yet, Singapore is a successful, prospering, and well managed country. Why not the same for you?  

My friend, I would like to call you by name, but I will not do so publicly. I want you to know that I am 100% at peace with what my country did, what my army did, and what I did. However, I feel your pain. I am sorry for the destruction you are finding in your neighborhood at this moment. On a personal level, I did what I could to minimize the damage to your home as much as possible.  

In my opinion, we have a lot more in common than you might imagine. I am a civilian, not a soldier, and in my private life I have nothing to do with the military. However, I have an obligation to leave my home, put on a uniform, and protect my family every time we are attacked. I have no desire to be in your home wearing a uniform again and I would be more than happy to sit with you as a guest on your beautiful balcony, drinking sweet tea seasoned with the sage growing in your garden.  

The only person who could make that dream a reality is you. Take responsibility for yourself, your family, your people, and start to take control of your destiny. How? I do not know. Maybe there is something to be learned from the Jewish people who rose up from the most destructive human tragedy of the 20th century, and instead of sinking into self-pity, built a flourishing and prospering country. It is possible, and it is in your hands. I am ready to be there to provide a shoulder of support and help to you.

But only you can move the wheels of history. 

Regards, 

Yishai (Reserve Soldier)

It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be … This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking. — Isaac Asimov

This is a topic that I have been contemplating for long time, and have finally forced myself to write about it.

We as a country have focused internally for so long. Our politics are reflections of our culture and society, our policies a reflection of our reality, idealism, and naiveness. For some we are a great nation. Yet, we can do better and we must do better. It is not enough to restore trust to our government, it is not enough to elect a black man president, it is not enough to pull our troops out of Iraq and restore our image around the world.

We are and have been at a point of our civilization where humanity has the power to destroy itself. It is the simple nature of history that we have been fighting each other as far back as we can go. And now we have a bomb capable of splitting atoms, an incredible scientific achievement so telling of our nature. We are in the middle of a cultural battle between the “civilized west” and the radical muslim extremists. We are in an economic stagnation, a result of our own greed.

Obama was elected into office with a message of change, hope, and idealism. And yet, if you really think Obama offers more of the same. Nothing revolutionary has happened, and a revolution (cultural not military) is exactly what we need. We are the most powerful nation on Earth, our universities are homes to some of the greatest minds of our world. And the best we can do is focus inward to fight muslim fundamentalists? Argue about torture tactics and abortion? Every civilization has faced attacks from within and from abroad, we are no different. But we cannot let these attacks define who we are. America is now defined not by its greatness, wealth, and power but by wars and critics.

Culturally, scientifically, and politically we are so far ahead of most of the rest of the world (forgive my arrogance). And that is the source our strength and weakness.

I don’t believe we have the luxury of waiting for the rest of the world to play catch up. We must progress our civilization ourselves. It is our duty and honor.

I think some have almost got it right. Many foundations and charities do incredible things around the world. They feed starving children, help free slaves, and stop genocide. But we will always have those problems. There are always outliers.

This image released by NASA and made by the Spitzer Space Telescope shows a glowing stellar nursery. The infrared image was obtained by Spitzer's infrared array camera. The Spitzer Space Telescope was named after the late Dr. Lyman Spitzer, Jr., one of the 20th century's most influential scientists, who in the mid-1940s first proposed placing telescopes in space. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL/CALTECH)

I believe our next step is to colonize space.

It is sad that a statement like that, which only forty years ago would have been applauded and supported, is now laughed at and considered impossible, a luxury we no longer have.

I have the exact opposite belief, wars like Iraq and Afghanistan are a luxury we no longer have.

Yes, we can help starving children and women who are raped in muslim-based regimes. And we have been doing so. But we can also move our civilization forward, a better cause which would have the side-effect of pushing countries and people to improve themselves – without our help.

The greatest thing we can do is not give developing countries more money and food, but incentive to move forward by themselves. I don’t believe that there is one nation that cannot solve it’s internal problems given enough motivation by its people.

We talk about the hope that Obama brings. Imagine the hope that colonizing space will bring. For too long man has stared at the stars wishing. Our nation is great enough, powerful enough, to make our dreams reality.

Take that trillion dollar stimulus package and invest it into NASA with the mission of having a permanent base of a few hundred people on Mars in thirty years. And expand that to a city with thousands within 50 years. Unrealistic? Maybe. But we humans have a knack for accomplishing amazing things.

If you take this proposal seriously as I offer it seriously, the details are not that unrealistic. And the side-effect of new job openings and technological, medical, and scientific advances that would be made in this effort alone would be worth it – especially now, in this economy.

It is about time we lived up to our potential and left our mark in the universe.

Technology is change too.

Posted via email from Alex Kaminski’s posterous

As a business owner, you need to take a step back and listen objectively to the feedback you receive from your friends, co-founders, employees, and customers. Because unlike you, they haven’t spent the last couple of months over-thinking and over-analyzing your business, they will be more objective and not bring emotional baggage to the table. 

For example, just because you’ve always imagined your startup’s website with a pink color scheme, doesn’t make it the best choice. Often, because you’ve spent so much time thinking about your website and it’s pink color scheme you change priorities or direction to fit that pink color scheme. For instance, you may even decide to change your target demographic to be women so that it more closely fits with your color scheme. 

You can’t let your features or emotion affect your business decision making. Just because you like the color pink and have only looked at your project through the lens of having a pink color scheme, doesn’t make it the right choice. Often, it makes it the wrong choice. You need to listen to your friends, co-founders, and advisors when they tell you that they think the pink color choice is wrong. Even though, in your mind, you’ve already morphed your project to fit this pink color scheme, you’ve made a mistake in not thinking about alternatives and in making your project fit a color scheme instead of making the color scheme fit your project. 

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs were able to recognize some weakness in their business model, strategy, or product and were willing to change direction. A great example is PayPal whose founders original business was in wirelessly transmitting money from one PDA to another via infrared. Even though they spent weeks and months believing in this concept, they were able to recognize that the future was in transmitting money via the internet and not via infrared PDAs. It was this flexibility and willingness to listen to their customers that helped them be successful. 

So, although entrepreneurs are known for taking risks and sticking to their guns with great success, realize that it is a fine line between success and failure. Be open to outside criticism and don’t let your “features” become the master. Remember, a project is made up of features, but features do not create a project.