So we have a winner, number 26, Rocco Capra! Actually you all won. I spoke with New Leaf Publishing about offering the Kindle version to all the entrants, and I am pleased to announce you will be receiving a copy (expect an email from me with details from New Leaf in the next few days) . If you don’t have a Kindle you can get a free app from Amazon for your PC, Mac, Android, iPhone, iPad,BlackBerry or Windows 7 Phone here. I really enjoyed the stories people told and I hope to comment back to most of them this week. Here is a short screencast showing how I picked the winner. Again thanks to Scott Williams for showing me the method. Thanks again for participating and have a great New Year!
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Win a free Kindle with Eric Alexander’s The Summit included
There is really so much I want to say about Eric Alexander’s Book “The Summit”. It is one of those books that you want to read slowly over a few weeks and a short blog post seems out-of-place. For me it was more of a devotional, and actually a book I will probably keep by my bed and process slowly again. Eric’s writing is unpolished and authentic. I felt as if he was sitting there telling each story in person. Eric has led many expeditions, over his career as a climber and outdoor guide, including several with people of various physical disabilities. However, after reading his accounts about these people, the word hero seems more appropriate than the word disabled.
The bulk of the book retells stories of Eric’s climbing the Seven Summits, bookended by the beginning and then the summiting of Everest by Eric and his blind climbing partner Erik Weihenmayer. If you have ever been told you could not do something, The Summit will inspire you to shed all that binds and climb your own Everest.
As a novice climber, I was fascinated by the stories of so many high altitude adventures. One chapter describes Eric and Erik’s climbing Russia’s Mt. Elbrus, and then skiing off the summit in a 9,000 foot run. Descending any alpine peak is a challenge, even when done the conventional way. There are so many stories like this that Eric’s faith in the impossible truly is driven home.
The Giveaway:
At first I had planned to give a copy of the book away with this post, but for a while I have wanted to give something special away. So I decided to make it a new wifi Kindle. The Kindle will have The Summit installed.
Here are the details on how to win: (some methods are borrowed from Scott Williams)
1. Leave a comment here stating that you would like to win the Kindle with the Summit installed. Feel free to share a story of your own overcoming an impossible adventure. The story is not required to be an entry though. To be able to be entered you need to leave a comment on this post or I won’t be able to find you.
2. Post a message on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn with these specifics.
-On Twitter: This url http://bit.ly/f5jMt4Â mention Eric’s twitter name: @highersummits the term #thesummit, and that you have entered to win the kindle with The Summit installed.
-On Facebook: Mention the Higher summits page url http://bit.ly/f5jMt4 http://www.facebook.com/highersummits, this url and that you have entered to win the kindle with The Summit installed.
-On Linked: Mention Eric’s site http://www.highersummits.com/ this url http://bit.ly/f5jMt4 and that you have entered to win the kindle with The Summit installed.
Also, If you are not on any of the above mentioned (this is my favorite of Scott’s ) please state that in your comment here. I would love to interact with you and find out why.
3. Watch the book trailer here or on youtube and share with your friends.
Note: Winners will be selected from the comments on Flurrycreations.com/theblog. Please only leave one comment per person. I will randomly choose one name to win the Kindle, from those that followed the steps mentioned above by 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time 12/27/10. I will then announce the winner here and ship the Kindle Thursday December 30th. Good luck and thanks for reading! Â Also, Merry Christmas!
Deleting Online
Will we get sued? Will someone not do business with us? Will we upset someone?
These are valid questions. They will go through your mind before and after you post a youtube video that is at the edge of what your company might deem acceptable, or you post a tweet or a blog title that is slightly critical of another brand. They are fear driven questions and ones that are great to ask. I wrote last year about filtering your online content. But acting on those questions can be just as dangerous. Do it enough and others on your team will begin to filter out great content. You may never know what things they would have done because they will have that doubt in the back of their mind. Will my post be the one that makes the boss boil? Will I be the target of legal action?
Being cautious is good but not at the expense of creative freedom or reasonable expression. Set standards and then be clear about them. Hire people you trust and then let them create.
I found this great quote from Amber Naslund of Radian6 on twitter the other day “If you don’t trust your employees to communicate with good judgment, you have a hiring problem, not a social media problem”
After re-posting it online I was surprised by the different comments people made, especially on facebook. Â I hope some of them repost here.
Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness Delivers
A few months back I received an advance copy of Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness. I try to only read books that come highly recommended by someone I trust or written by individuals I respect in the business world. There are just too many books being written to try and wade through the junk to find the gold. Delivering Happiness is gold. I have been a fan of the Zappos.com phenomenal growth and customer service but most of all I have been captivated by the company culture that has evolved there under Tony’s leadership since 1999. People that work for Tony are happy. They are constantly improving their expertise as well as developing personal and professional goals.
During my visit to the Zappos headquarters in January, I was continually wondering what makes this place tick. In Delivering Happiness Tony lays out both his own professional adventure from the time he sold his first news letter “The Gobler” in middle school (which was a miserable failure), to describing what elements lead to the Zappos success today. What really stood out to me in the book was Tony’s transparency, his willingness to share both his mistakes and achievements. From the disclaimer early on that he is not a gifted writer and his apology to his High School English teacher for the grammar errors, Tony sets the tone of the book at the outset as an honest story of entrepreneurial adventure and a lifetime pursuit of the science of happiness. Just as Dan Pink argues in Drive: the Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, Tony states that the true ingredients to a company’s success are mutual respect and strong core values.
Later this week I’ll be offering a full video highlight of the book with Chris Nordyke. For now though, go out and grab a copy of Delivering Happiness. It will not disappoint.
iPad experience for community leaders: Better with each new discovery
Having ordered my iPad to be delivered sometime after April 12th and not at all thrilled to be standing in lines, I had settled into a the comfortable state of monitoring iPad news and seeing friends and others report on the device the first day of release. I was surprised to receive a call from my friend Chris Nordyke, who was standing in our local town’s Mac Store looking at a stack of stocked iPads. There were no lines and no hassles. With a quick cancel of my apple.com order, I was on my way to the store. My Saturday turned into a fun and interactive day, talking and sharing details with other friends who had purchased the device.
Like many, I have been researching the iPad on it’s rumor filled journey to debut. As a web technology and community professional, I have been looking forward to the iPad to supplement my other productivity tools. I was not prepared for what the iPad would offer. To break it down, I use a home and office desktop pc for heavy computing. I have a 6 year old laptop that is reliable, but seriously hobbled due to a short battery life. It will soon be obsolete as Microsoft slowly pushes xp out of commission. My mobile devices are an HTC Eris and an Apple iTouch. Out of all the devices I probably use the iTouch the most to monitor and engage with the non-profit and business communities I am involved with. The apps I use handle everything I need to stay productive and connected. What it lacked was a good word processor and a media reader/viewer of decent size. Basically I was pleased with the iTouch. While traveling or away from my desk it was my device of choice. So I knew that the iPad would supply the same excellent experience as my iTouch, but I was not prepared to be as impressed as I am.
Having the same capabilities on a larger scale would have been enough for me. But it goes way beyond that. The inclusion of a built in microphone allows voice recognition software use (see my list of apps mentioned below) and phone services like Skype. On the iTouch you need the proprietary headphone and mic combo from Apple. Some have complained that it is difficult to type on the device, but I am finding it easy. In fact I am writing this blog on it. The Twitter app that I have come to love on the iTouch is even better in the iPad version. Beyond that, all the the other apps that I use are all slowly releasing iPad version that integrate it’s great functions.
Last, the iPad is just a pleasure to use. It’s rich video and built in stereo speaker make it a great mobile media device. And while games were fun on the itouch, they are mind blowing on the the iPad. It is going to take a while for many apps to catch up to releasing HD versions (there are currently 1,000), but I believe the experience will only get better. (most iPhone/iTouch apps play in a small screen version of their native resolution and can be expanded to the full screen with degraded resolution with a 2x button)
Some have said it is foolish to buy a first generation Apple device, citing the far from great first version of the first iPhone. But really this device feels like it has had a thorough testing and quality evaluation. Like I said before, Apple scored by just building off of it’s senior sibling the iTouch. Yes improvements will come with 2nd and 3rd generations, but it has taken me 6 years for my current mobile computer’s use to run it’s course.
Here is a list of a few of the outstanding apps I have found. What has been your first impressions? I’d love to hear them as well as any great apps discovered.
And yes there are a few things that are a bit annoying, but the fact that it took 3 days to bump into them I don’t think they will be deal breakers for most (no flash support, copy and past between a few apps does not seem to work, and no video camera built in).
Pages- (incredible word processor)
Twittelator Pad (power user Twitter app)
Dropbox (Syncs files with your pc and laptop)
Dragon Dictation (a surprisingly accurate dictation app)
Marvel (Visually stunning comic app)
