Here’s some footage I shot of the fountain just outside the Palais des Congres this past Tuesday and Wednesday. I was there for the Next Generation in Gambling conference (organized by Clarion Gaming).

I know online gambling has a really bad rap on this side of the pond, but there were extremely smart and interesting people there who (I believe) have the common sense to look past that stereotype and judge each online gambling site on its individual merits.

One of the people I got to meet (and interview on video) was Chris Collins, the Director of Enterprise Business Systems at Second Life. Another one was Victor Palmer, the founder and President of CentSports.

Victor’s baby is actually one of the more innovative products I’ve seen in a while. It’s a web 2.0 take on an online sportsbook, complete with social functionality. Users can maintain friend lists, bet against each other, and publicly taunt one another for the bad bets they make.

Where it really differs, though, is that you cannot bet with your own money. Rather, they give you 10 cents when you register, and when you build it up to $20 or more, you get to cash out. It’s also this free money give-away that allows CentSports to get around the UIGEA which makes it pretty much impossible for an online gambling site to operate in the US.

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So ages ago I signed up for MyRagan, a social network aimed at communication professionals and that’s owned and operated by Ragan.com, which is a “publisher of corporate communications, public relations, and leadership development newsletters.” Even though I registered as a MyRagan user before I went to work for a failed social network, I was plenty skeptical about how viable this community was.Granted, they’re a vertical social network that’s going after a niche community, and that’s where future social networking opportunities are supposed to be, but I’m a cynical a**hole with a chip on my shoulder.

Eating My Foot

Well, as much of as I’m an a**hole, I know (1) a good resource when I see one, (2) when something’s done right, and (3) how to admit when I’ve underestimated the potential of something. In the last few months, I’ve been logging in to MyRagan more and more, and it’s been because of the regular emails they send to their users.

What’s so special about these emails? Well, for one, their subject lines are effective. But more importantly, their content is useful and targeted. (more…)

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Q: The biggest knock against Google is that it is a one-product company. how do you respond to that?

Schmidt: Google is a one-product company. It is called Google. We think about features, not products. People usually talk about text ads when they say that. While the vast majority of our revenues comes from text ads, there is no single large category of text ads or geography. It is well diversified. We serve text ads against content that is not searchable.

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I stumbled across this while Googling for “markets are not communities” (Twitter plea for help here). The only hit was for this page at Invertigo.org. They seem to be some kind of screenprinting co-op with leftist leanings, but I’m a capitalist with a job, so I don’t have time to look more into what they’re all about at the moment — and probably never will because I’m all about finding ways to make the economy we have work rather than finding ways in which it falls short (and then advocate throwing the baby out with the bath water).

I digress… The point is that this image reminds me of how Coca Cola has online reputation management problem — which, I guess, is a reminder of how all those tree-hugging pinkos are pretty adept at effectively leveraging social media and viral marketing. But hey, they are, after all, socialist.

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This is a clip that Jay Smooth produced after George Carlin died. When I heard the news about George it hit me hard. I had to leave my desk, take an elevator 22 stories down to the street where, and call my old man.

It was my old man who introduced me to George. He played me Occupation Foole when I was about 10 or 12. The potty mouth had my juvenile mind in stitches, but I knew there was a glimmer of genius to the man’s perspective on life.

I heard the news about George from a marketing blog. I was ashamed to be so out of the real world loop that I’d hear about the death of an American legend and personal hero from a marketing blog.

Worse was the realization that someone who I looked up to for what they did would look down on me for what I did. Just watch this clip that the marketing blog posted.

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Thanks to Michale Bailey for the clip

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