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Coincidences in Life

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You ever wonder about events that occur in your life and the timing of them? Sometimes, you gotta wonder if there’s some deeper meaning to it all or if truly is purely coincidental?

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Yes, Apple Stores Are Overcrowded

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Both you and I know the Hawaii retail Apple Stores are crowded, especially the Ala Moana location. I mean where else in the mall are kids going to take PhotoBooth pictures of themselves?

This past Saturday, the crowds were so much that the fire marshall decreed a limit on number of shoppers inside the Ala Moana Apple Store. Employees had to maintain a queue for shoppers just to enter the store, similar to what you see on the first day of product releases.

So here I was wanting to make a return but faced with a 15-minute wait, I’ll try again another day.

Still Fighting Site Stability

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I’ve been trying to improve the stability of Pulpconnection, but it’s still suffering downtime more or less every time I publish a post. Usually a restart of the server fixes the problem, but that really isn’t a satisfactory solution.

So I disabled a few more plugins (which were supposed to improve performance) and am removing the Hello Bar javascript code.

Who’s Adding a Lytro to their Photo Gear?

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Now this is cool. The Lytro is a camera that doesn’t care about focus when snapping a pic. You can focus your image after it’s captured. I don’t know how it works, but it is really a point and shoot camera. Check out the interactive sample below. Click on different parts of the image to change focus.

The Secret of Social Media Success

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I attended the Social Media Summit Hawaii 2011 and gleaned the secret of social media success. Do you want to know what the secret is? Do you? Are you ready for it?

Okay, here goes. The secret of social media success is hard work.

What?! That’s it? That’s what you learned from a day-long seminar with social media elite you ask? Well, yes, but not in those exact words.

In this post, I am not going to recap topic sessions. You can harvest the power of Twitter for that by searching for the hashtag of #SMSHI (or #HISMS). Mari Smith taught the audience How to Build a Large, Loyal, and Profitable Network, Erin Blaskie explained how companies can outsource their social media, NEENZ provided her insights about building communities, Mike Prasad presented self-experienced case studies, and Yancy Unequivocally Jim convinced the audience to create viral presentations. These sessions I attended were filled with tips and insights, but one underlying lesson resonated from each speaker and each topic – you have to invest hard work to realize success.

Hard work includes discipline. Do you reach out to your social media communities every day, every week, every month? NEENZ does.

Hard work includes consistency. Are you consistently listening to your clients, customers, and audience and consistently using their feedback? Mari Smith implores you to do so.

Hard work includes organization. Do you use a project management system such as Basecamp to organize your social media replies and conversations? Erin Blaskie recommends it.

Hard work includes dedication of time. Do you spend 60-80 hours of work and research to create a one-hour presentation slide deck? Yancey Unequivocally Jim of Empowered Presentations does.

Hard work includes being methodical. Do you dissect your target audience into focused seed groups? That’s what Mike Prasad did for Kogi BBQ and sold over $2M of $2 fusion tacos.

So success doesn’t hinge upon the social media tools, tips, or resources. The differentiator is the hard work you bring, and that my friends is the secret of social media success.

Thanks to the Social Media Club Hawaii for organizing a great event!

Bonus

About the tools and resources mentioned during the Summit? Here are a few I jotted down:

Double Bonus

Here are just a few random shots taken from the event and venue.

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Darn, Not on Sale

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I don’t recall trying this seasonal coffee creamer, but it’s not on sale so I’ll have to wait to sample Coffee-mate’s Warm Cinnamon Sugar Cookie.

Coffeemate Warm Cinnamon Sugar Cookie Creamer
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Starbucks Pick Catering to Kids and Parents

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Have you noticed a few of the recent Starbucks Pick of the Week have catered towards kids (and their parents)? This past week’s Pick is The Monster at the End of this Book, an interactive app from Sesame Street.

I wonder what Starbucks rationale is for this offering? Getting kids hooked on Starbucks at an early age? Giving parents an excuse to stop by for some lattes and of course, to pick up the free Sesame Street app?

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Why Do I Have This?

Rummaging through some old stuff, I found this poster of Whitesnake’s David Coverdale. Why, oh why, do I have this?

Whitesnake's David Coverdale

But since we’re on the topic of Whitesnake, let’s reminisce with “Here I Go Again.”

Thank Goodness for Derek Hough!

I have a confession. This Dancing with the Stars junkie had not watched a single episode from Season 13. I barely even know who the contestants are. Heck, other than Ron Artest, I don’t know who’s been eliminated already.

So there I was in Week 4, watching my very first show, and I admit most of the stars were okay. The dances were serviceable, and the judges scores were forgiving. Then came the masterful mancrush known as Derek Hough with partner Ricki Lake. They danced a difficult tango set to the challenging theme music from Psycho.

From this performance, I remembered what attracted me to this show. From the setup to the dancing to the conclusion, this was all “wow!” And two scores of 10 this early in the season validates the excellence of this performance. The DWTS producers must be thankful Derek Hough is back on the ballroom floor. Now, only if he can endure his recent shoulder injury…

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