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01-07-09

See Apple’s New Green Laptops!

By that I mean “environment-friendly”:

When we designed the new MacBook, our designers and engineers set a goal of making not only the greenest notebook Apple ever produced, but the greenest family of notebooks. So every new MacBook has been built using materials that are highly recyclable and free of many of the harmful substances present in other computers.

Apple is branding the new laptop as it’s greenest ever. See the big ad from CrunchGear:

A laptop fit for GreenPeace.

This new marketing push is truly unique and remarkable. How many other laptops companies can claim to be very environment-friendly? This goes beyond the criticisms that Apple encountered on it’s recycling policies. They have directly addressed the issue and made a ‘green’ product.

This new announcement, along with the new DRM-free iTunes store, keeps apple waayyy ahead of it’s competition.

Brilliant.

01-05-09

The Secret To Real Happiness Is…

Growth.

After 34 years of existence in this world, I’ve concluded that to be happy, people should grow.

What do I mean?

We’re like plants, you see. Plants follow the sun. They unfurl their leaves and welcome the energies that enable them to live and move beyond their present place. This comes naturally to all living things. To us humans, however, our OVER-THINKING occasionally hinders us from realizing our true nature. We philosophize too much. We think too much about life and its vicissitudes –so much so that we fail to act. We fail to grow. We fail to move beyond where we are.

That’s the danger of over-thinking.

Happiness, I believe, comes from continuous action and motion. We must keep reaching for our personal Sun. If moved into the darkness, our joy will come from the creeping journey into the light. Once we’ve reached the light, we’ll celebrate.

Then we repeat the cycle all over again.

If we greet the new puzzles that beckon us, analyze and synthesize the thoughts the trouble us, do whatever we can to solve issues, we become one with our true nature. The joy is there - in living and acting out our hypotheses. In finding the solution to the problem.

Just think about how athletes perfect their sport. They practice everyday. Eventually they get to feel “the zone.” When they get to that zone, everything else seems like a blur and the athlete becomes totally focused. It seems he/she can only do all right. Eventually, something ruins their perfect game. A competition comes or the rules change. This becomes a new challenge to overcome. The athlete then strives to again find his ‘zone’. He is happy.

In one seminar I was in, the facilitator said. “We never truly end the cycle of learning and growth. We do it until we die.”

If we accept this continuous cycle of change, we’ll be happier. We then move from THINKING about the LIFE we want to actually LIVING IT.

One of the best tag lines ever conceived was from Nike, the shoe company:

Just do it.

In this year, 2009, I ask everyone to come along and enjoy your life.

Solve problems. Keep moving.

Grow. Live free.

Have fun while you’re at it. Enjoy the moments that come by.

Live life.

I know I am.

12-31-08

How Do You Measure Your 2008?

Measure in love?

Get’s me teary-eyed every time. Happy new year everyone!

12-29-08

How NOT To Play ‘Spin Doctor’ on Blogs [The Pangandaman Golf-Mauling Incident]

Did you hear about the Nasser Pangandaman Golfing Mauling incident?

The son of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and several persons beat up a 14-year-old boy and his father at a golf course in Antipolo on Friday, the victims complained Saturday.

From the blog of the Bambee De La Paz (daughter of adult ‘victim’):

At around 1:30 PM today, at Valley Golf and Country Club, Antipolo City, Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr., Mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur, his father, Secretary Nasser Pangandaman of the Department of Agrarian Reform, and company, beat my defenseless 56-year-old dad and my 14-year-old brother to a pulp because of some stupid misunderstanding on the golf course.

It’s causing a big ruckus around the Philippine blogosphere.

Just a day after a golf club mauling incident was reported, dozens of blogs are denouncing alleged perpetrators who happen to be high-ranking government officials.

What’s interesting is how the spin doctors (the politician’s Public Image team) are trying to turn the opinion of the masses.

It’s fascinating, for instance, how some ‘bloggers’ redirect the issue from the Mauling incident to an EVERYONE VS MINDANAO issue:

I also do hope that there will be more Mindanaoans who will be blogging soon, just to help also clean our Island’s name. When people who hails from Mindanao are involved in fights or controversies like this, chances are.. there will be some who will say or think of us here in Mindanao as being war freaks.

See what’s happening here? There is a bit of misdirection/redirection going on. There is also an ‘appeal to emotion’ tactic that seems to be applied. Check out the comments on Filipino Voices:

hinatyin nalang natin sino manalo in the ends.. wala rin namn kayong magagawa kasi puro paninira, at dpat hindi na pumupunta si dela paz sa mga golf club..his nothng!wala rin kayong karapatan para e put down mga taga mindanao kc kung tutuusin mas may pera at mas galante sila and hindi puro salita lang… ala ko rin namn isa lang ang gumagawa ng blog dito! nakakaawa ka namn!

Doubt is being instilled on the issue. Then there is a perception of Authority that is being impressed by the commenter:

Below is a true and actual narration of the incident that happened last December 26, 2008 at the Valley Golf Club, Antipolo, Rizal.
On December 26, 2008 at around 11:00am, our group composed of Rene Maglanque, Sec. Nasser Panagandaman, Arnel Estacio and Atty. Faisal …

You can read the entire comment - which suspiciously looks like a well-crafted press release item.

Ahh, how technology, blogging and live commenting can bring out the creativity in People eh? Whether or not this issue-deflection is intentional or not, it is a rather lame argument.

Unfortunately for OLD-school politicians and PR firms, the Internet is a vastly different ballgame (at least for now). A different set of Persuasion and Influence techniques must be adopted.

For one thing - the politicians may be the power-brokers off line. Online, however, bloggers with large RSS numbers (subscribers) rule. The voices that influence the blogosphere are not the same people on Newspapers and on government positions.

Warlordism doesn’t apply here.

UPDATED:

Looks like this is the real PR site being spun:

So far, in the internet and news on televisions I’ve only heard dela paz side. Let’s not drop into conclusions and lets also hear the other side of the story which I myself think is much more relevant. There are many inconsistencies in dela paz’ stories that makes it even harder to believe them.

The dela Paz siblings should be banned from jungolf & all golf courses. They were a flight of two when the club prohibited it bacause it was a holiday…

They had to use multiply for this.

Yolynne is a true Mindanaoan and a ‘legitimate’ person (not a doctor but a teacher - see below).

Thanks to Ade for the head’s up.

12-28-08

Elves Can Make You Memorable (Just Like OfficeMax)

Check out this video on Making Yourself an Elf, a website sponsored by OfficeMax:

You prepare a photo of yourself, upload it to the site, and send the funny video to friends. Officemax did this and guess what their numbers were. A follow-up survey conducted by OfficeMax found (from MarketingProfs.com):

• 63% of participants who shop for office supplies at least 10 times per year were aware of Elf Yourself.
• 95% of those who visited Elf Yourself claimed they would likely visit Elf Yourself again in 2008.
• More than one-third of those who visited Elf Yourself said the site influenced their decision to visit OfficeMax, and about one-third of visitors said the site improved their perception of OfficeMax.

Why do things like this work? There is a subliminal effect of brands to us. It’s similar to how religion and rituals affect us. Sending this funny little custom-electronic greeting card is now a Christmas ritual. Doing this repetitively forms some sort of anchor in our brain. Without realizing it, we remember the brand when we perform or see the ritual.

More proof? Here’s another example (excerpt from the book - BUYOLOGY):

Cigarette warnings-whether they informed smokers they were at risk of contracting emphysema, heart disease, or a host of other chronic conditions-had in fact stimulated an area of the smokers’ brains called the nucleus accumbens, otherwise known as “the craving spot.”

Smoking is basically a habit. Cigarette warnings tended to actually stimulate smoking rather than prevent it. Why? Smoker’s brains have associated the smoking experience even with the WARNINGS against it. What happens? You want to smoke more. The smoking ritual has been anchored even to NO-SMOKING campaigns.

It’s like telling someone “Don’t think SMOKING.” What an utter failure that would be.

Because Elfyourself.com is so intertwined with OfficeMax. “Don’t elf yourself” is almost akin to “Don’t think OfficeMax.”

You’d only find that out if you test it. OfficeMax had around 20 different websites before they found the right winning and memorable formula.

For more info, I recommend you listen to the audio book version of the Buyology:

Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy

(I’m strongly into Audiobooks now. You should try it.)