Collector or Curator? Becoming a Social Connoisseur

It used to be that you were a wine or art collector to be considered a connoisseur. These curators of their personal taste and beauty would search for pieces that fit a collection they would be proud to show off to their friends. Picking what went into their collection wasn’t easy, because it had to fit a certain rule set to showcase the very best. The very act of curating was an art form unto itself. True discerning curators never just share their physical objects; They share the stories behind them, about why each object was hand picked and the personal connection they had with the object that makes each share come alive. Continue reading...

7 Ways to Generate Great Ideas

What makes the difference between a good idea and a great idea? Good ideas come along all the time and help people solve minor problems in work and daily life. Great ideas appear a little less frequently and require a little more work to execute. Great ideas aren't necessarily the result of highly-paid think tanks or drug-induced vision quests in the desert. Often they are unexpected moments of inspiration that help keep the napkin companies in business. Continue reading...

Create A Digital User Experience Your Audience Will Sing & Shout About!

Did you know that 90% of people keep their phone within arm’s reach at all times?

How do you capture the hearts and minds of customers who are bouncing between three or more devices and a PC? How do you capture their heart differently online than you would offline? How do you get them to stand up out of their chair and sing and shout about how much they love you and your brand? Continue reading...

Cross-Border Online Shopping: The Multi-Billion Dollar Oppourtunity

Paypal just released a new report for Nielsen that looks at today’s cross-border selling as a modern version of the old Spice Routes – bringing culture and commerce to all parts of the globe.

They analyzed activity in six major markets and found that there are 94 million consumers who regularly buy directly from an overseas vendor. They say those deals will add up to $105 billion US dollars.  They expect this number to rise to US$307 billion with 130 million cross-border online shoppers by 2018. Continue reading...

Four Ways to Create Exceptional Content for Customers

The Delta safety video is a great example of why good marketing spreads on the internet. It’s customer-focused content that entertains, tells a story, and provides an exceptional customer experience. Continue reading...

The New Marketing Mix : 4 Different Ps

The original Marketing Mix was introduced sixty five years ago. It was a framework for considering how to grow a business and gain market share. The mix consisted of four Ps, price, product, promotion, and place, a list of ingredients that every marketer must pay attention to in order to ensure that their product succeeded in the market.

Over the years extra Ps were added. Ries and Trout gave us positioning at a time when more and more products were being brought to market. Positioning started with the product, but it wasn’t what you did to the product that mattered. Positioning was all about what you did to the “mind of the prospect”. Advertisers looked for positions their clients could own or “holes in the marketplace”.

“The basic approach to positioning is not to create something new and different, but to manipulate what’s already up there in the mind.“ —Ries & Trout  Continue reading...

Kopi Hijau Turunkan Berat Badan

Sejak Dr Oz bercerita tentang kehebatan kopi hijau pada akhir tahun 2012, permintaan terhadap produk ini naik secara mendadak di USA. Produk ini cukup berkesan bagi tujuan penurunan berat badan. Ia juga bermanfaat buat pesakit jantung dan penghidap kencing manis. Bahan paling menonjol dalam ekstrak kopi hijau ini adalah asid chlorogenik; sejenis antioksidan semulajadi yang mampu melawan aktiviti radikal bebas dan menurunkan kadar glukos dalam darah. Ia juga pada masa yang sama melambatkan proses penuaan, melancarkan perjalanan darah dan membaikpulih otot-otot.

Kini permintaan terhadap produk berasaskan kopi hijau sudah melebihi dari produksi. Ini kerana banyak testimoni hebat lagi berkesan tersebar secara lisan mahupun melalui blog-blog dan juga diskusi dimedia sosial. Nampaknya permintaan terhadap produk berasaskan kopi hijau ini sangat menggalakkan. Malahan bunga kopi itu sendiri boleh menghasilkan ekstrak bunga asid chlorogenik yang mengandungi bahan aktif sesuai untuk anti-virus dan anti-bakteria.  

Melalui perkembangan menarik ini, pokok kopi dan buahnya sangat diperlukan oleh rakyat Malaysia masa kini terutama kepada pesakit kencing manis dan buat mereka yang obes kerana kadar peningkatan obesiti di negara ini kian membimbangkan. Apapun jangan sesekali makan kopi hijau yang maung itu kerana kadar kefain yang tinggi di dalamnya boleh menyebabkan banyak kesan sampingan. Memakan kopi hijau yang mentah itu sangat merbahaya. Kita berharap sangat agar ada universiti di Malaysia seperti UKM dapat menerajui penghasilan produk kopi hijau ini secara komersial untuk pasaran tempatan.

Content Curation: How To Use Content Marketing Without Being A Creator

There is a creation myth that we often hear when it comes to content marketing. It tells us that in order to provide value with the content we produce, we need to create answers to questions. We need to create continually updated events, articles, videos, or images. Create, create, create. But creation is hard. Not everyone is a great writer. No one is born with the ability for powerful photographic composition. And despite more and more tools making previously complex tasks like video editing easier, simplicity of creation doesn’t lead to proliferation of talent. Continue reading...

Image source CLICK HERE

7 Marketing Trends You Should Not Ignore

Marketing has been democratised.

The capability to use marketing tools and technology without having to beg or pay for attention is unprecedented. It’s a time where you can now build your own crowd to market and sell to without paying the mass media gate keepers.

That’s social media.

The social media networks are at your disposal and with the right tactics and software you can create brand awareness and access to influencers and decision makers in boardrooms across the world. Continue reading...

The Hot New Career Of Idea Entrepreneur: What It Is And How To Become One

When Frenchwoman Mireille Guiliano was a girl, she spent a year abroad in the United States, during which time she gained so much weight, that her father, upon her return, greeted her by saying she looked like, “un sac de patates,” or, a bag of potatoes. After putting on even more pounds in her first semester of college, a doctor set her on the right path by having her eat seasonal foods in moderation, and to focus on the pleasure of eating.

Later, she became a spokesperson, executive and CEO for champagne maker Clicquot, and people would always ask her how she could make food and wine the center of her life and yet remain thin. The answer — that French women don’t get fat — eventually became the subject of her New York Times number-one bestseller by the same name. That idea also launched her into a new career — a type that John Butman, in his new book, “Breaking Out: How to Build Influence in a World of Competing Ideas,” calls the “idea entrepreneur.” Continue reading...

Collaboration: Apps that work alone to come together

Working together as a team at different times, in different locations, on different bits of digital kit - a trend that has gathered momentum particularly in the last couple of years. Continue reading..

For image source CLICK HERE

People Don’t Buy What You Do, But Why You Do It

Why do you do what you do? Have you thought about that recently? Whether you are an entrepreneur, an employee, or even a charity worker, it’s important to regularly asses what motivates you in business. It’s not only important for you and your company. It’s important for your customers. Because as Simon Sinek says: People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Continue reading...

Back link image sources CLICK HERE

A Love Note to Entrepreneurs

Think Outside!

"We learn not in school but in life." ~Seneca

“Branding” Simplified

What is “Branding”?

Branding is about promoting yourself.  Dunkin Donuts is a brand.  McDonald’s is a brand.  Walmart is a brand. Of course, these are large corporations with big marketing budgets.   When people start out online, they are not sure who they want to be or what their brand is.  There is no question as to what the answer is : yourself. Continue reading...

Back link image sources, CLICK HERE.

Youtility

The difference between helping and selling is just two letters. But those two letters are critically important to the success of business today.

Youtility is marketing so useful, people would pay for it. It's a new marketing model for the age of information overload. Continue reading...

Coffee or Tea – Which is the Better Cup?

Is there really a controversy over which is better here? If you base the answer on the results of  various researches and experiments conducted for both beverages for the past years, the one clear conclusion that can be establish is that both are beneficial to your health. Just avoid adding sugar and cream though.Let us first look to the compositions that make each drink healthy. 

The main reason why drinking tea is definitely good for you is that the fresh  leaves from where the beverage came from is a great source of phytochemicals known as catechins and such substance possess powerful antioxidant properties. According to studies tea is one of the highest sources of antioxidants and the many research conducted particularly on green tea are suggesting that drinking this beverage properly and regularly may help lower the risk of certain cancers like breast and ovarian, as well as the risk for heart disease. Continue reading...

Content Curation for Everyone

Robin Good is one of the leading voices on content curation, and he got there by curating content. A bit meta? Sure. But he can show his secrets to you.

Discover how to become the new Google by learning how to find, organize and publish the very best content and resources in your specific niche / industry. Continue reading for upcoming online classes

Google Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum

At Google we believe in the power of education and the promise of technology to improve the lives of students and educators -- leading the way for a new generation of learning in the classroom and beyond.

But no matter what subject you teach, it is important for your students to know how to think critically and evaluate online sources, understand how to protect themselves from online threats from bullies to scammers, and to think before they share and be good digital citizens.

Google has partnered with child safety experts at iKeepSafe, and also worked with educators themselves to develop lessons that will work in the classroom, are appropriate for kids, and incorporate some of the best advice and tips that Google's security team has to offer. Continue reading...

10 Health Benefits of Soursop

If you haven’t tasted soursop, then you don’t know what you’re missing. Its heart-shaped green spiky exterior may probably don’t look appetizing. But when you eat its luscious creamy white flesh, your taste buds will feast on the delicious combination of strawberry and pineapple with sour citrus notes contrasting with an underlying rich flavor reminiscent of coconut or banana. In the Philippines, it is believed to be good against internal parasites. But whether it’s effective or not, the many nutrients its loaded with has so many health promoting goodness to offer. Continue reading...

Click HERE for more information and read the back links.

Minuman Kesihatan Berasaskan Buah Durian Belanda

Jus Annona dihasilkan menggunakan 100% pati buah durian belanda dan digabungkan dengan buah delima, kurma, kolagen, glutathione dan madu. 

Bahan utama untuk Teh Annona pula adalah daun durian belanda. Ia juga mengandungi campuran teh hijau, halia, serbuk kulit kayu manis dan daun lidah buaya.

Layari laman web asal DI SINI.

Wealth Dynamics: The Fastest Way For Entrepreneurs to Find Their Flow...

Wealth Dynamics is the only personality test that tells you exactly what strategy you should follow to build wealth. Successful entrepreneurs focus only where they are strong and unsuccessful entrepreneurs try and do it all themselves. These are the eight ways to create wealth:

1. The Creator - Builds innovative products. 
Examples: Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Richard Branson

2. The Star - Builds an influential brand. 
Examples: Oprah, Paul Newman, Bill Clinton

3. The Supporter - Builds high performance teams. 
Examples: Steve Ballmer, Jack Welch

4. The Deal Maker - Brings deals together. 
Examples: Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch

5. The Trader - Buying and selling commodities. 
Examples: George Soros

6. The Accumulator - Buying and holding assets. 
Examples: Warren Buffet, Paul Allen

7. The Lord - Controlling cashflow producing assets. 
Examples: Lakshmi Mital, Ingavar Kamprad

8. The Mechanic - Creating a duplicatable system. 
Examples: Michael Dell, Ray Krock

Find out your wealth profile HERE!!

Online + face-to-face = Blended Learning

Blended learning gets talked about a lot in today’s educational circles. But what is it? And why is everyone talking about it?

Appropriately, blended learning was used to teach about blended learning – meaning the session was a combination of face-to-face class time with online components. Continue reading...

Want to Be a Creative Leader? Look to the Garden

I love to cook almost as much as I love to eat. When making a meal, the spontaneity of grabbing fresh herbs and other homegrown ingredients from the garden is an essential part of the whole process. Over the years, I’ve given a lot of thought to what gardening, design, and creative leadership have in common.

Gardening is generative, iterative, and user-centered When designers in our Chicago studio first planted a roof garden, they noticed people were picking and eating the strawberries and tomatoes and leaving the eggplants and tomatillos to rot on the vine. They soon realized that planting a work garden for 60 busy people is very different from planting a home garden for a family of four. Project deadlines simply took priority over cooking, so any plants that took extra steps to prepare were ignored. The next year, the designers planted a “Grab and Go Garden” that contained only fruits and vegetables that could be eaten straight away. This time, more plants were eaten, less were wasted. A good garden, like good design, needs to meet the needs of its users. Continue reading...

The Co-Creative Economy

Here's how we will build ourselves and the brands we support in this new co-creative economy:

1. Co-leadership Redefined. In traditional thinking, a leader is established and the community builds toward that leadership. In the new co-created economy, we need to un-learn leadership as one and establish leadership as many [Tweetable]. Quite frankly, it's the biggest shift I see coming in the future.

2. Mind the End. Have you ever written a blog, developed a paper, designed a home page or authored something of substance only to wonder when it was truly finished? Imagine building an output of something as a community only to realize there is no perfect finish line. Define what success is upfront, then the rest can take on a life of its own.

3. Level the Playing Field. Not everyone has a social Klout score higher than 60, or 6-digit followers on twitter. This means nothing to a community of people who share a common interest. Co-creation by people who share a common interest, an open mind and lots of passion will always produce something extraordinary.  Continue reading...

Sony Xperia Z Ultra pictures and hands-on

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra has been unveiled, bringing with it a huge 6.4-inch full HD 1920 x 1080 display, as well all the connectivity features and functions you’d expect from a premium smartphone.

At only about half an inch smaller than many of the tablets on the market, the most striking thing about the Xperia Z Ultra is how skinny it is. You're not faced with holding a huge fat slab to your face when it comes to making a call, instead it's only 6.5mm thick, so it doesn’t feel quite as awkward as you might expect.

Sony Mobile's "omnibalance" design is reflected here as it is in the Sony Xperia Z and the Sony Xperia Tablet Z and the new device looks impressive. There are plenty of 7-inch tablets that you might discount having set eyes on the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, and lifting the 212g device reinforces this: although it’s weighty in smartphone terms, it isn’t chunky. Continue reading...

256 Year Old Chinese Herbalist Li Ching-Yuen, Holistic Medicine, and 15 Character Traits That Cause Diseases

According to the official records, herbalist Li Ching-Yuen was born in China in 1677 (although he himself claimed that he was born in 1736). Throughout his long life, he constantly practiced herbalism and martial arts. In 1930, the New York Times newspaper printed an article in which they published official Chinese government documents that were uncovered. These documents, dating back to 1827, contained official congratulations on Li Ching-Yuen's 150th birthday. Later documents, dating back to 1877, contained official congratulations on his 200th birthday. How did he do that?

Li Ching-Yuen expressed his longevity formula in one sentence: "Retain a calm heart, sit like a turtle, walk swiftly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog". Continue reading...

25 Inspiring Quotes From Experts Shaping the Future of Marketing

Compiled below are advice from three different experts who are at the forefront of marketing today. Flip through the SlideShare for 25 inspiring quotes from statistician Nate Silver, best-selling author Seth Godin, and charity: water Founder Scott Harrison. Continue reading...

50 Ways to Energize Your Social Community & Audiences

Are you breathing life into your social media communities and audiences or are you taking it away? Are you inspiring and energizing your community members to do more, be more and simply be better at what they do?

Are you serving up great and valuable content that serves as energy to yoursocial media communities, blog readers and audience when they feel zapped? Or are you the one zapping them and bringing them down?

Continue reading...

Lift to heaven – a new radical innovation

The first industrial revolution was to a large extent about new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes. The third industrial revolution that we are living through now is also to some extent about innovative new materials.

Apple´s MacBook computers are made with a shell of aluminium, Sony VAIO notebooks are made with a shell of carbon fibre. When you hold a MacBook it is sturdy and feels solid. When you hold a carbon fibre notebook it is flexible and can bend slightly. Therein lies the secret to carbon fibres strength.

Carbon fibre is, exactly what it sounds like, fibre made of carbon. But, these fibres are only a base. Carbon fibre is a material consisting of very thin cords of carbon atoms. When bound together with plastic polymer resin a composite material is formed that is both strong and lightweight. Continue reading...

Don’t aim for business as usual – take a moonshot

Innovation is the lifeblood of technology companies – and increasingly, of any business seeking to prosper in today’s digital world.  The web is a hugely powerful platform for sharing and implementing ideas, and has changed society and business forever. Online, anyone with an idea can be an entrepreneur; small ideas can reach and sometimes change the world. To stay at the forefront of innovation you need to stay at the forefront of the web.

E-commerce is to many the most visible shift and has created great opportunities, for small and medium businesses especially. Economic studies found that across Europe small businesses using the web are growing 4-8 times faster than those that don’t, and exports make up twice as much of their sales. Continue reading...

29 Ways to Stay Creative

Google Drive Gets 18 New Languages

Life gets a bit easier when your Google products work well together—whether that’s inserting a Drive file into an email or sharing a photo from Drive on Google+. As this experience becomes more seamless, separate storage doesn’t make as much sense anymore. So instead of having 10 GB for Gmail and another 5 GB for Drive and Google+ Photos, you’ll now get 15 GB of unified storage for free to use as you like between Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos. Continue reading...

Recently, Google has added support for 18 new languages to its Google Drive web app suite. Besides Drive itself, this includes Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.

The newly supported languages are Afrikaans, Amharic, Basque, Chinese (Hong Kong), Estonian, French (Canada), Galician, Icelandic, Khmer, Lao, Malaysian, Nepali, Persian, Sinhalese, Spanish (Latin America), Swahili, Urdu and Zulu.

With these 18 languages, Google Drive now supports 65 languages in total. Continue reading...

Mining For Internet Gold: Bitcoin

The new completely virtual currency first came about in 2009 when the idea was described by some one with the pseudonymous name of  Satoshi Nakomoto. Bitcoin is like an online commodity that can be used as a currency, the difference with this currency is that it is not backed up by anything of real value (gold, energy) but is simply like an online token that has value that is ascribed to and of itself.

The Bitcoin is created more or less out of ‘thin-air’, that is it is not linked to anything that has use or value. It is created by an open-source, peer-to-peer method where by, your computer combines with others to apply ‘computing power’ to the ‘mining’ of Bitcoins. The Bitcoins are created in a way, which insures there will never be more than 21 million in existence at any one time, locking down their finite quality and meaning they should never be devalued. Continue reading...

If you click on the following link, scroll down until you see the same image below, you will be able to read several other articles on Bitcoin. It is bundled as a collage. Click on each image and you will be directed to the original link (bottom right). Lots of information on this controversial topic.

Samsung ATIV Q Windows Laptop / Android Tablet

Positioned as a best of both worlds solution, the ATIV Q is a very compelling proposition packed with a myriad of features that are designed to make using it and, most importantly, switching between modes as seamless as possible. You can even install Android apps with Windows’ Start menu. Continue reading...

Stay Cool!

"Take hold of your own life. See that the whole existence is celebrating. These trees are not serious, these birds are not serious. The rivers and the oceans are wild, and everywhere there is fun, everywhere there is joy and delight. Watch existence, listen to the existence and become part of it." ~Osho

Samsung Made A Few Big Product Announcements Today

Samsung added three new products to its lineup today: the Ativ Q and Ativ 3 tablets and the Galaxy NX camera. Each is a unique take on their respective product categories.

The Samsung Ativ Q is a hybrid Windows 8/Android device with a hinge that allows for use as a laptop, tablet, and something in between, much like Acer's Aspire R line of devices. 

Continue reading...

Read more reviews on Samsung ATIV Tab 3 and Samsung Galaxy NX mirrorless camera.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review & Walkthrough

What is Google Glass?

Google Glass is an attempt to free data from desktop computers and portable devices like phones and tablets, and place it right in front of your eyes.

Essentially, Google Glass is a camera, display, touchpad, battery and microphone built into spectacle frames so that you can perch a display in your field of vision, film, take pictures, search and translate on the go. Continue reading...

The image below also represents a few other interesting articles on Google Glass. You can explore them here.

Why Israel is a Startup Nation

Some call it a miracle. Others an enigma of the culture. But the statistics surrounding the amount of high-tech startups that are conceived in Israel is astounding. A small country, with roughly 7.6 million people, has approximately 4,800 startup companies and attracts far more venture capital per person than any other country in the world. Dubbed as The Startup Nation, Israel outweighs the United States in venture capital investment per person, totaling $170 per person compared to $70 per person in the US. Not too bad for a country that was established 65 years ago. Continue reading...

More articles on related topic of Big Data.

Nokia Lumia 920 Reviews

Incredibly, over four billion people now have mobile phones, making the camera phone the most widely used type of camera in history. Nokia’s been at the forefront of this photographic revolution for over a decade and since 2008 it has been the world’s largest manufacturer of digital cameras. No surprise, then, that the Nokia Lumia 920 has one the finest smartphone cameras on the planet. We love ours, but what do the Internet’s best tech blogs think? Continue reading...

Yes, Credit Cards Are Making You a Bad Person

The cashless society -- a world where physical money is practically obsolete -- has, in just a few years, gone from a utopian dream to something like an inevitability. In Sweden, a national effort is underway to take the country cashless within two decades. Throughout Africa, it's perfectly common for merchants to accept money through mobile phones by having buyers transfer a specific amount of money to a specific number associated with the merchant.  Continue reading...

• If you want to buy this ebook on how to deal with your credit card debt, click HERE.
• If you see a business opportunity on this deep issue of personal financial crisis, join us HERE.

Will Social Spur Sales for This Mom's Small Business?

A colicky baby turned Syazrina Ismail into an entrepreneur. It all started during the first few months of her eldest son's life. Ismail couldn't put him down for very long, which turned her into a sleep-deprived zombie. "He would sleep on his tummy," she says. "Gassy boy. The only way to get him to sleep longer was to carry him upright." Continue reading...

The image below is curated via Clipzine and to find out more on JumpSac Baby Slings, you can visit the website here , the Facebook Page and also on Pinterest.

Kala Senja...

Image from Clipzine and owned by Nazman Mizan.

Why The Garden of Evening Mists should win the 2012 Booker Prize

Claire Armitstead argues that Tan Twan Eng's second novel, The Garden of Evening Mists, should win this year's Booker prize. It sees Yun Ling, sole survivor of a Japanese labour camp, become apprentice to imperial gardener Aritomo. Not yet a widely known novelist, his second novel is nonetheless his second appearance as a Booker nominee.

The Garden of Evening Mists

Images are curated on ClipZine. Find out what others say about this interesting novel by reading the reviews here and also here.