First-Ever Nationwide Pro-Marijuana TV Ad Campaign Is Launch

First-Ever Nationwide Pro-Marijuana TV Ad Campaign Is Launched in Conjunction with ‘4/20′

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Brain Gain: The underground world of “neuroenhancing” drugs

"A young man I’ll call Alex recently graduated from Harvard. As a history major, Alex wrote about a dozen papers a semester. He also ran a student organization, for which he often worked more than 40 hours a week; when he wasn’t on the job, he had classes. Weeknights were devoted to all the schoolwork that he couldn’t finish during the day, and..."

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Professor Stephen Hawking 'very ill' in Cambridge hospital

Professor Hawking, who works at the university, is undergoing tests at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.

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IBM’s 'Racetrack' Computer Memory Could Be 100 Times Faster

Soon your computer and electronic gadgets could be much smaller, faster, cheaper, more reliable and even greener thanks to a new form of computer memory technology called racetrack.

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Van Jones: Oaklander and Obama's Green Jobs Czar on CNN's Larry King Tonight

 

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Van Jones, President Obama's new "Special Advisor For Green Jobs Enterprise and Innovation" who I have featured in our "Oakland Focus" blog and videos several times and I last talked to as he closed his account at Gold's Gym in Oakland where he was a member for years, is the guest on CNN's "Larry King" show tonight starting at 6 PM PST, 9 PM EST but CNN runs a "loop" so if you missed Van at 6 PM or 9 PM respectively, you can catch him again later in the evening and the video on CNN.com two days later. (I hope.)

Mr. Jones is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, "The Green Collar Economy" and the co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland. Over his career as activist and author, Jones has tirelessly fought for alternatives to violence and incarceration.

In her tribute to Jones, Rosemary Pritzker wrote:

Van Jones has been making waves for over 10 years as a human rights activist. In recent years he tried to point out the environment/human rights connection, but didn’t receive attention from the upper echelons with decision-making power, such as the United States government and the Clinton Global Initiative, until just a few months ago. For decades environmentalism was seen as crunchy, dirty, and based on restriction of everything from fun to taste. But lately there’s been a major shift, bringing green into the mainstream, or, as Van says, “eco-freak” became “eco-chic”.

Van, as they say, has "captured the Zeitgeist" of late, but has managed to remain the same person. Always polite and nice to everyone.

Here's a video interview I conducted with Jones last year as he was introducing his book:



Check out Van on CNN tonight. He deserves all of the good fortune he's received.

Reaction to Susan Boyle

This is from YouTuber coolness748:

Hello! We respect Susan Boyle , she is an awesome and great singer. Are these real tears here?? not quite, though watching her sing for the first time did cause watery eyes..(Remember video is in Comedy) Thank You all.

Ad:Tech SF - Digital Marketing's Must-Attend Event In San Francisco

 

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YouTube, Metacafe, Blip.tv and Sclipo

When we first established Sports Business Simulations, we launched the new site on June 22, 2003 and got just three unique visitors all day long.  I had the stupid idea that if you build it -- the website with sim games -- they will come.  I realized within one day I was totally wrong.

In my quest to find answers to improve our traffic I discovered for myself an event that I at first wasn't sure I should go to, but then was glad I did.  That event was Ad-Tech, which takes place Tuesday through Thursday of this week at Moscone Center West..

Where Web 2.0 conferences are more about glitz and gitter and parties, Ad-Tech is more about nuts-and-bolts website marketing and promotion.  It's where you find affiliate marketers and shopping cart software makers and website ad creators actively trying to find a fit with you and your web business.

I'm not taking anything away from Web 2.0, which is a fantastic networking event, but Ad-Tech is a place to do deals for your web business that can help you in some way.  But if it's your first Ad-Tech and you don't have an understanding of what digital marketing is or how to separate the good vendors from the "ok" ones, I have some advice for you.

Just take the time to go to the keynotes speeches, look around, and get to know the vendors.  Get a bag and stuff it with material.  And learn who wants to deal with you and who acts like you're gum shoe.  I'm serious, because that happened to me two years ago.  One company that places ads on websites like mine just made me stand around waiting for five minutes (think about it) to talk to someone; when they finally realized I was an Internet site builder and operator and not the Roto-Roter man, they talked to me, and even then they didn't take me seriously.

"Well, we only deal with people who have blogs and websites", the rep said.   No kidding.  You can imagine where it went from there.  After all, why would he assume I don't have a blog or a website, rather than a lot of them?

Huh? 

Now I was dressed business casual so no problem there, right?  And here's where the matter of race could come into play, right?  Because what logical reason would anyone have for ignoring me?  None. Then they would say, "you're playing the race card" to which I would respond, "racism is a form of rejection without reason other than skin color; what logical reason did you have for rejecting me" -- in fact, that's what happened.  (Hey, women go through this crap, too!) I gave them a piece of my mind and then walked away.  I found another ad placement company to work with.

That's the beauty of Ad-Tech and a good reason why you should "kick the tires" of the personalities first.  Learn who you want to deal with and don't want to deal with.  If that example I gave happens to you, don't argue as I did, just walk away.  

The other good reason to check out Ad-Tech SF is just to learn what the state of the art of thinking in digital media is.  This year's event looks exciting, as Jimmy Whales, the founder of Wikipedia will speak at a keynote adress, as well Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, and Jason Kilar the CEO of Hulu (an awesome site).  There's also the AdSense Publisher Forum on Wednesday, which is an event for all of my friends who I tell "You've got to sign up for Google AdSense" so they can place ads on their blogs. 

Also, go to as many parties as you can.  For example there the "Advertising 2.0" party Tuesday night at the "W" Hotel, who's lobby is the "in" place to hang for the tech community at these events.  And there's the Affiliate Summit Beer Garden, which is a must, because affiliate marketers are without a doubt the most fun folks in the digital media industry.  You'll find many of them are from places like Vegas or Florida, or Colorado, and are an interesting mix of "smart" and "party", which makes their events smart parties to attend.  But to be sure, according to the AdTech folks there's the ad:tech SFAMA Mixer, Digital Social Media Networking and Oldtimers Foundation parties to check out, too.

To sign up, just click here: Facebook Invite Page 


So, go to Ad-Tech SF and follow my instructions, I guarantee you'll have a blast and learn a lot.

As for me, I had to travel to Atlanta for family matters so I will not be able to attend but in order to blog about it, I've asked my friend Molly Fuller, the founder of the cooking class company "Hands On Gourmet", to go in my place and use Twitter to tweet what she sees and her impressions.  That material will be used for my blog.  It will be great to get her view of Ad-Tech as a first-timer.