Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.  Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.  Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede.
Mauris et orci.

Today I successfully submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation for The Elements Unearthed project. It was actually sent in via their online FastLane system, which I’ve dealt with before, usually with frustration and panic as I try to submit right at 5:00 p.m. on the deadline day. I broke with long habit and actually got this submitted a day early and it was a much more pleasant experience this time.

If you’ve never been through the process of submitting a formal proposal to NSF from one of their solicitations, here’s how the process works. First, you have to find a program area and solicitation (call for proposals) that matches the goals and objectives of your project. NSF funds projects in many different categories; the one that best matches what I’m trying to do (improve science, technology, engineering, and math [STEM] education through student-created podcasts) is the Informal Science Education solicitation (NSF 09-553). There are particular requirements and steps to follow for this or any other NSF grant. Before anything else, it helps to work with an expert in research design and to clarify the exact goals and operational objectives (which must be measurable) you will be focusing on. NSF recommends using a logic or process flowchart model to think through the inputs, processes or activities, outputs (products), and outcomes of the project. Here’s the logic model I’ve worked up for this project:

Logic Model for The Elements Unearthed Project

Once that has all been worked out, you’re ready to actually start writing up a proposal. First, a preliminary proposal must be submitted and approved by NSF before the final proposal can be submitted. This I did on June 25, and of the 610 submissions, about 40% (approximately 240) were approved for final submission. Next, you must follow what the solicitation asks for in particular and what the General Proposal Guidelines say in general. This proposal needs an electronic cover sheet, a one-page project summary, a 15 page narrative description with bibliography, biographical sketches of the principle personnel, and a detailed budget with justification. In the past I tried to cut and paste text from a Word document; this time I converted all my files to .pdfs and merely linked them in, which was much easier. I also included diagrams and tables for the first time. Here is a diagram I created this week showing the relationships between quality and quantity of videos created as one moves from professional broadcast video to podcasting.

Comparing Quality, Quantity, and Professionalism for Podcasting

An obvious questions is, if I’ve had experience with this before, why didn’t I get the grant then and why do I think I’ll be successful this time? One of the best features of the NSF proposal process is that your projects are reviewed by at least three qualified experts who write up comments and suggestions. After doing the Letter of Intent (which is now a Preliminary Proposal – the solicitation was updated this year) and submitting the final proposal last year, the reviewers turned down my request mostly because I needed a better evaluation plan and broader project management. The basic idea was considered excellent and they all encouraged me to re-submit after improving those areas. I’ve now done so, at least as far as I can at this point (I’m still working out partnerships and the Advisory Committee) and my evaluation plan is much stronger than before.

If you would like to read the final full proposal, here is the Project Description in .pdf format:

Elements_Unearthed_ NSF_proposal_2009

I would appreciate any comments you might make or any support you might be able to give. This file also lists the expected completion dates of future podcast episodes.

Of the 240 or so that will submit final proposals, NSF expects to fund between 40 and 50 proposals. Mine is a Pathways Project, meaning it is a prototype project meant to eventually become a full-scale project. I proposed that we begin with 20 teams over two years, starting in 2010-11 with seven teams/sites in Utah, then spreading to 13 teams the next year in Utah, Colorado, and Nevada. I also proposed that each team work directly with personnel from local museums to utilize the museum’s expertise and to enhance the museum’s programs by providing finished video segments that can be used to attract visitors or for exhibits or even to sell in the gift shop to raise money. If you do the final math, 50 accepted out of 240 proposals is about a one in six chance. I’ve been successful with lower odds than that, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Unfortunately, the wait will be pretty long; it could be May before I know anything. In the meantime, I’m looking for other grants and sources of funding for this project, especially since I need money now to continue editing the videos and to set up new sites for this year.

But that’s one big load off my chest – for good or ill, I’ve clicked the submit button and it’s out of my hands. Now I can get back to editing. I proposed to have some episodes (about nine) completed by Jan. 1, when I will finally officially launch the iTunes site for this project. I am also looking at hosting the videos on Ourmedia or Libsyn since I won’t be able to use this blog for much video storage and traffic. I’ll also create YouTube versions of each episode, although I will have to break them up into <10 minute segments as I have already done with the Project Rationale video. After the initial nine episodes on Jan. 1, I will post additional episodes as I can get them finished on the first day of each month through May or June. I have enough materials to do about 30 episodes all told by then, so about five per month. That’s a lot of editing, and I’m also trying to make money from my other endeavors to keep food on the table and the mortgage paid. If I can get some grant money, I can focus on this project along.

We all have things we would do if we could because they are our passion. If we are extremely lucky, our passions also can become our careers and our jobs. If not, we have to work on them in-between trying to make ends meet. I’ve been luckier in this respect than most with past projects, and I know that I’ll be successful in this effort as well.

source: people.com

It’s true. She’s all grown up. Tiffani Thiessen and her husband of 4 years, artist and actor Brady Smith, are expecting their first baby next May, her rep told PEOPLE in an exclusive.

“We are over the moon!” the couple said in a statement. “It’s something we’ve wanted for a long time and we are thrilled that it’s actually happening.”

Thiessen, currently stars on USA’s drama White Collar and is best known for her work on Saved By the Bell and the original Beverly Hills 90210.

Everyone here at le•top wishes all the best to the happy couple!

Seit geraumer Zeit verwende ich ja das T-Mobile G1 (aka HTC Dream) als privates Phone und habe daher schon einige Zeit mit Android verbracht.

Hier die Apps, die ich verwende:

• Vorinstallierte Android Apps: Google Maps (auch als Öffi- und Fußweg-Planer!), Kalender, Email, Gmail, SMS, Google Talk, Chrome (Browser, Facebook nur über Browser), Musik (da braucht man einen HW-Adapter für Klingenstecker), Kamera, YouTube
• Andere häufig benutze Apps vom Android Market: Twidroid (twitter), Netcounter (Datenverbrauch), Battery Graph (Akkuverbrauch), OI Dateimanager (File-Explorer), Close Everything (schließt offene Apps), OI Notepad, WeatherBug, OI Einkaufsliste, Skype Lite Beta, Greed (Feedreader), AndNav2! (Navigationssytem, vgl TomTom), Text-To-Speech Library Extended (braucht man für AndNav2!), barcoo (Barcode Scanner), qik (Video aufnehmen und gleich online stellen), Shazam (Erkennen von Musik vom Lautsprecher)
• Widgets (auf Home-Screen): Brightness Toggle Widget, Headset Toggle Widget, Kalender
• Spiele: Labyrinth Lite, Bubble Burst Lite, FML (Fuck My Life, lustige Geschichen), Pacman, Sudoku Free, Tic Tac Toe, Slide Puzzle, Android Space Invaders etc.
  Leider gibt es auf iPhone einige Spiele, die ich im Android vermisse, z.B. Fastlane, Pocket God, Vooch, Zooma, Stoneloops, Peggle.
• System Apps vom Android Market: Camcorder, Compass, Bubble, JF Updater (Updaten auf andere Android-Firmeware-Versionen, geht nur bei gerootetem Android), Metal Detector, mp3tagger, Taschenlampe, APNdroid (ein und ausschalten der gesamten Netzwerkverbindung, im Ausland sinnvoll), Phonalyzr (Grafische Darstellung der Verwendung)

Wem das nicht reicht, marc (aka murdelta) hat auch eine kleine Liste mit Apps geschrieben, die er am Android Market entdeckt hat.

T-Mobile Pulse

Die Firmware verhält sich beim T-Mobile Pulse im Vergleich zum G1 sehr ähnlich. Ein paar kleine Features sind dazugekommen und die Icons für die Applikationen sehen etwas anders aus, aber im Wesentlichen ist alles beim Alten, sodass ich mich gut zurecht gefunden habe.

Leider hat uns T-Mobile dieses mal für die T-Mobile Pulse Testaktion (bei der G1 Aktion schon) kein Screenshot-Tool zur Verfügung gestellt, deswegen muss ich leider auf die Bilchen von anderen verweisen (siehe links).

Die Hardware ist sehr ansprechend, erinnert stark an das iPhone, weil es auch so rund ist und das Display etwas größer ist als das vom G1. Vom Gewicht her dürfte es sehr gleich sein. Die Anwendungen reagieren schnell, so wie ich es von anderen Android Phones auch gewöhnt bin.

Mein Eindruck vom T-Mobile Pulse hat sich zu meinem letzten Beitrag allerdings nicht verändert: Die herausschiebbare Tastatur fehlt mir sehr!

Die Software der Onscreen-Tastatur kann zwar durch andere Apps ersetzt werden, aber mir gehen die Tasten wirklich ab, da ich bei der Tippgeschwindigkeit sicher auf ein Drittel herunter gebremst werde. Mein mittlerweile gut trainiertes 10-Finger-auf-2-Daumen-System im Querformat ist durch ständiges Vertippen unbrauchbar geworden und zur iPhone-mäßigen ein-Zeigefinger-Tipperin fehlt mir irgendwie die Geduld – vor allem, seit ich weiß, dass es auch anders geht.

Daher bleibe ich vorerst beim G1 und freue mich schon auf Motorola Droid, ein Android Phone mit Android 2.0 (aka Eclair) und herausschiebbarer Tastatur, das in einigen Monaten kommen soll.

Riding around town on a bicycle, running errands the other day, and I came across an old, neglected car. Looked like a Mercury Montclair from 1964 — one of the cooler cars from my past (I think one of my uncles had a white one; probably Marian). One of the more distinctive roof lines, for sure. The “Mercury” song came to mind.

Do we still have musicians recording songs about cars? Alan Jackson had a hit with “Mercury Blues” in 1992 (originally written and recorded by KC Douglas in 1956 as “Mercury Boogie”). Ford Motor Co. bought the rights to the song, using it to sell Ford trucks afterward. I’ve always liked that song. Good for selling cars, too.

Proprietary songs/music/jingles are a fading art. Can you still sing the Schaefer Beer jingle? I can. Older folks, do you remember “see the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet?” By the way,  the Schaefer ads were :60 spots:

Other “car songs” inevitably come to mind, some more marketable than others. “Little G.T.O.” by Ronny and The Daytonas was translated into German and used by VW for their GTI (“Kleiner GTI”), which I thought was brilliant. The lyrics via Hemmings Auto Blogs (with translation):

Kleiner GTI / Little GTI
Du siehst prima aus / well, you look so fine
Ich liebe, dich zu fahren / How I love to drive you
Hol’ die leistrung ‘raus / Let the performance shine
Hör nur, wie er sich anlasst / Listen when I start it
Steck’ den schlussel ‘rein / Stick the key in the ignition
Er ist bereit zum start / And it’s ready to go
Wie er braust / How it zips
Wie er saust, GTI. / How it zooms, GTI.
Werde bargeld, sparen / I’ll save up some money
Kauf’ den GTI / Buy a GTI
er fahrt mit mir lassig / ’cause it drives so easy
An den andren vorbei, / past the other cars
Uberholt benzinfresser / Passes all the gas-hogs
Macht mir spass dabei / Makes me smile a while
Und jedermann sagt sich dann bloss, / And everyone thinks to themselves
“Kleiner wagen-du bist gross” / “Little car – you’re grand”
Er ist bereit zum start / It’s always ready to go
Wie er braust / How it zips
Wie er saust, GTI. / How it zooms, GTI.
Wah wah… wah wah wah wah wah….

The Dead Milkmen’s “Bitchin Camaro” was not used by Chevrolet in their marketing, for obvious reasons. Will they under Bob Lutz? You never know. He’s only 77, and he’s got an old Czech-built fighter jet he flies himself (or at he used to). He’s in charge of marketing at GM now and I think he’ll do a good job. I was reminded by an interview published in Business Week that he was running BMW marketing in Munich when they came up with “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” Not too shabby.

Here’s what he had to say about how marketing dollars were spent:

To spend $200 million on manufacturing, we have to get board approval, with top management involved from an early stage. Yet we spend billions on marketing and delegate that to too many people at the lowest levels. It’s insanity. Now, ideas on how to tell our story will be reviewed by me and often by Fritz [CEO Henderson]. We remade the global design process by going with our instincts, not consumer testing. This process will be analogous to that.

And I bet they had metrics, and lots of them. Focus on differentiating your brand, and the rest will fall into place. Use your experience. Jack Trout (who also picked up on the Lutz quote) wrote about it in Ad Age today:

Chief marketing officers have shorter tenures than NFL coaches. They rarely last two years before they are gone.

As BusinessWeek commented in an article on the subject, “the job is radioactive.” The article cited a well-known search company as stating that 70% of the companies don’t know what they’re looking for when they recruit a CMO.

In my estimation, Advertising Age had the answer to the short CMO tenure in an interesting piece of research on senior marketers. It was done by Anderson Analytics, which surveyed a group of 1,657 senior marketing executives (600 replied).

Anderson asked respondents to rank the marketing concepts they pay most attention to in their jobs. They spend the most time on customer satisfaction (88%), customer retention (86%), segmentation (83%), competitive intelligence (82%), brand loyalty (82%), search-engine optimization (81%), marketing ROI (80%), quality (79%), data mining (78%) and personalization (79%).

This is why CMOs are being fired left and right. On the list of things on which they are working, differentiation doesn’t even make the top 10. While they are worrying about customers or segmentation or ROI or search-engine optimization, their brands are sinking into a sea of commoditization.

If you think I’m overstating the problem of commoditization, let me give you some numbers. A research organization called Brand Keys has been tracking this problem via an analysis of 1,847 products and services in 75 categories. The results are frightening. On average, the study found that only 21% of all products and services examined had any points of differentiation that were meaningful to consumers. That’s nearly 10% less than in a benchmark study that was conducted in 2003.

To better understand this, take the automotive category. It has a reasonable percentage of differentiation, at 38%. That means you have a fair number of differentiated brands such as Toyota (reliability) or BMW (driving) or Volvo (safety) or Mercedes (prestige). It also means you have a large number of placeholders such as GM and Ford. The marketers at these companies are certainly not earning any respect.

Figuring out the right differentiating strategy is only the beginning. Marketing then has to convince the CEO and CFO that building or even maintaining a brand is a long-term process that requires patience and incremental change. You’ll have to avoid line extensions that undermine what the brand stands for in the mind. And Wall Street will be a problem you will have to get around, with its focus on quarterly and monthly results. With Mr. Lutz in charge, he is in a perfect position to do the convincing.

Bob Lutz is on the stick — with “a heightened state of awareness of the angle of attack at all times.”

Michael Bay. World’s worst director:

Transformers (2007),  The Island (2005),  Bad Boys II (2003),  Armageddon (1998),  The Rock (1996),  Bad Boys (1995)

McG. Stupid name. Stupid movies:

Terminator Salvation (2009), Chuck (2007), We Are Marshall (2006), Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Fastlane (2002). Charlie’s Angels (2000)

During the Melbourne International Film Festival, I invited the two worst directors in Hollywood around for a cup of tea to discuss their astounding lack of talent. What resulted was a no-hold’s barred verbal deathmatch………..and an understanding that celebrities are just like you and me. No, really.

Righteous: Hello girls………..play nice

McG: Hello Michael Bay

Michael Bay: Hello McG. Sorry I’m late, I just did a line of weapons grade plutonium before a got here. I’m ready to start editing Transformers 3.

McG : I am not sure who should be more scared.

Michael Bay: You should be you talentless cow fucker – I mean WTF, Terminator Salvation??. What a populist moronic masterstroke full of fail. Was your goal to leave no action movie cliche unturned?. Well done – clap, clap, clap – that was the sound of one hand clapping.

McG: For the purposes of pseudo or faux manliness, shut the fuck up. Whenever you open your mouth all I can hear is the script for Bad Boys 2

Michael Bay: You’re a dead pixel on the LCD screen of life – or Matthew McConnaughey in ‘We are Marshall” – take your pick, they’re both pretty bad.

McG: What does that even mean??. This coming from someone who directed ‘The Island’. You make as much sense as your movies. If you don’t shut up, I will bitch slap you so hard you’ll be like one of those Mr Blowies in a used car yard forecourt suddenly getting the air cut off.

Michael Bay: Stupid one day, redneck the next.

McG: What? I don’t understand anything you say.

Michael Bay: I’ll speak slowly, you are crap. Possibly not my most eloquent moment, but truthful nonetheless.

McG: I’m going to turn into a frog if I listen to you anymore.

Michael Bay: Why all the anger McG? Its OK to let someone in once in a while, just because the critics hate you doesn’t mean that somewhere out there, there isn’t a person who will appreciate you for what you are. Open yourself to the possibility. Let the scared, hurt little McG out. Its a big bad world, but there is someone who will show you its wonders, and that someone is just waiting for you. As a wise man once said – I think it was Ghandi – push out the jive, bring in the love.

McG: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I can’t stand it when you become philosophical. This whole argument stems from a comment I made two years ago about your lack of talent, and yet I’m not the least bit emotionally involved. You make me feel like Spock. Retard.

Michael Bay: You want to know the worst part? You’re a lousy sell-out, and your movies are embarrassing – particularly  Chuck & Fastlane. I saw a picture of you in the Hollywood Reporter, and I printed it out for my Enemies Wall. I really like the idea of an Enemies Wall, it’s very Richard Nixon. You know who else is on my Enemies Wall? No-one, you homo-lover!

McG: It’s OK. I’d be projecting my homosexual insecurities too if my name was Michael Benjamin Bay.

Michael Bay: Insecurities?. Did you feel a little insecure when Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle was described as having all the mediocrity of a horrible B-movie from the seventies, with a huge budget splattered on top?. Is it hard to find your creative voice when no-one is listening? You’re a dead man walking in this town McFool.

McG: Hartd toi breeeaathheee. Shakjing sooo mucgh. It’s OK, Peaches. Let it out. What did a wise man once say to me? “Hey… it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault you made Armaggedon Michael Bay”

Michael Bay: Big bad wolf, huff & puff, blow your house down…..and all that other shit.  At least I can write a script.

McG: Oh, yes, you are quite excellent at that. Let’s see…..rocking horse, prantal powder, pleated valance. There,  I finished your script for Transformers 3  for you. Hey, this non-sequitur game is fun. Is that how you write all your movies?

Michael Bay: This may be a difficult concept for you grasp since you aren’t a people pleaser – but my scripts are not random, although it may seem that way to dullards like you who are unable to untangle their complex linkages. That is why I have a career and you don’t. See how the universe works.

McG: Let me do my Michael Bay impression – “Once and for all people, I’m gonna tell you how good I am, so shut the fuck up and listen. I’m Michael Bay and ….well…shit, I’m so good, just so fucking good, hotter than a sweaty cunt”. Pussy cat. Mimosa. Elizabeth Taylor. Christmas Pudding. Quick, find a complex linkage so they all fit in Transformers 3. I’m a genius!!! I’m Michael Bay.

Michael Bay: By the way, what is prantal powder?. Do you put it on your bottom?

McG: You could put prantal powder on your bottom. You’d have to peel the Thai lady-boy off your peri-anal area first though.

Michael Bay: Rocking Horse?. Prantal Powder?. Pleated Valance?. You just looked around your bedroom and described it didn’t you. Who are you?. McGwynneth Paltrow?

McG: Should I be concerned about how much and how often you express vitriol towards women?

Michael Bay: This is the month for sexual healing – you should go and get some.

McG: You don’t seem happy unless you’re directing vicious and cruel threats at people.

Michael Bay: I’m not discounting there may be something valid in your analysis

McG: And for a 40-year-old shut-in you seem quite angry at times.

Michael Bay: 40 year old shut in? Is the needless name-calling and taunting still all part of your ‘McG-angst’? You don’t have to worry… back when you were born I’m sure it was quite normal to be named McG. It’s just an everyday boys name like Albert, or Winston, or Harold.

McG: With your caustic wit and cynicism Michael Bay, you truly are the voice of the disenchanted, disenfranchised Fight Club generation of twenty something males.

Michael Bay: Congratulations on straddling that great film divide between awful and horrible, McG. You’re to be applauded.

McG: I have only one thing to say to you – Terminator 5

Michael Bay: I can’t hear you, I’m stuffing cocaine in my ears. By the way, you know how you said my movies were non-sensical and other stupid stuff – well…………….NOT!. In fact, according to the dictionary – there’s a word for my very special style: daedal \DEE-duhl\, adjective: Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate……..yeah, I know dee-duhl doesn’t sound very cool, but the rest of it is bitching – that’s what us big budget blockbuster film makers say when shit is good.

McG: “You could try to ignore these people, or you could feel sorry, but where necessary you’ll just have to cling tight to each other and say “screw all these people”! ….Guess who’s coming to dinner 1967.

Michael Bay: Are you quoting the movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, or did someone actually say that to you in 1967?

McG: I am so depressed that I have to be in the same postcode as you.

Michael Bay: Do you want the XL My Chemical Romance t-shirt off my back and my trusty cum sock – would it make you feel better if you had a little of my success petal?

McG: No, I do not want your smelly My Chemical Romance t-shirt. No band has existed since Duran Duran was hungry like the wolf, so I have no idea what this Chemical thingy is that you speak of. And no, I do not want your cum sock. It is brown and smells of tea.

Michael Bay: Your affection for Duran Duran is admirable. It was probably a huge leap for you to step away from Backstreet Boys and embrace a new sound, well done.

McG: I could have sworn that you favourite band was Flock of Seagulls, I mean, the haircut and all. I just assumed.

Michael Bay: By the way, my cum-sock does not smell like tea…..

McG: Inane doesn’t even begin to describe you anymore. What the fuck am I doing with my life even talking to you.

Michael Bay: Felcher

McG: I think you need to look at your use of both the terms cum sock and feltcher and see if perhaps you could cut back a little. Don’t you worry about your reputation? Wait, I just re-watched Transformers. Oh that’s right, you have no reputation. What’s your next movie? Constructorcons? No no, Insecticons….that definitely sounds way cooler.

Michael Bay: I hate people who have a need to pull out every grade 12 word they learned to prove how obnoxious they are. Whatever you’ve done, I’ve done it more, I’ve done it better, I’ve done it more stylishly, and I will always take you down McG – down to Chinatown.

McG: I was promised a titanium suitcase full of money for Terminator 5.

Michael Bay: I don’t think I’m going to faint, but I’m going to sit down anyway.

McG: Goodbye Michael Bay

Michael Bay: Goodbye McG

And with that, the luvved up couple left – leaving me with the keen movie-making insight that to make truly awful big budget action movies, you have to have a mind like a tradesmans bum crack – narrow, dark and sweaty

Postscript to the meet-up: Michael Bay has Transformers 3 in development. McG has Terminator 5 in development……..oh lordy.

*Chutson and PJenner15 sat in on the meet-up and took notes by scratching in the dirt – but got distracted when they started playing with Michael Bay’s hair. I told them to stop because they would get a perm from touching it.

General Motors was one of the first companies with a CEO blog out of the starting gate when it launched Fastlane in January 2005. The blog has proved an invaluable way to get customer input and market research.

Perhaps because of the volume of comments they have tended not to respond to readers directly in the blog. Despite that, comments continue to stream in to the blog.  (It’s the kind of reach most of us can only dream of -well – me at least.)

I credit GM’s social media success in large part to Chris Barger, GM’s Director of Social Media. And Chris does actively respond to comments.

So when Fritz Henderson announced the new streamlined GM late last week, he began with a traditional news conference targeted at mainstream media. But he then followed that up with a 30 minute WebChat via the Fastlane blog, and a 30 minute live chat on Twitter, from the @gmblogs account. You can view the comments posted to both.

Well known social media thought leader David Meerman Scott, who was initially critical of GM’s digital marketing efforts, has since given it a  “thumbs up”.

• The drama beteween Tori Spelling (Donna, Beverly Hills 90210) and her mother Candy is still going on, according to PEOPLE.
• Spelling spoke with Extra about her views on the Gosselin family, and whether she’ll ever participate in Dancing with the Stars. (Ian Ziering [Steve, Beverly Hills 90210] and Jennie Garth [Kelly, Beverly Hills 90210] have already competed!)
• EW.com posted an adorable clip of Garth and husband Peter Facinelli (from Twilight and Nurse Jackie) on Cheslsea Lately back in February. (Also worth noting that Facinelli co-starred with Tiffani-Amber Thiessen [Valerie, Beverly Hills 90210] on the series Fastlane back in 2002!)
• Thiessen got a shout-out on last night’s Jimmy Fallon Show when “Zack Morris” made an appearance to discuss the proposed Saved by the Bell reunion.  Thiessen, who played Kelly Kapowski, hasn’t agreed to it yet.
• Jacksonville.com has an article on the “90210 effect”–the new trend of remaking once-popular television shows.
• The CW Source has a video interview with Shenae Grimes (Annie, 90210).
• The short-lived hook-up between Chuck (Ed Westwick) and Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) is up for “sex scene that made you want to throw out your TV” in the Tater Tops Awards.  (Ironically, the couple is still going strong in real life.  I’m just full of fun facts today!)
• Westwick told E! Online that the craziest rumor he’s heard about himself is that he is having weight troubles.
• Westwick, Leighton Meester (Blair, Gossip Girl) and Jackson Brundage (Jamie, One Tree Hill) are all included in SoapNet’s Our Favorite Overlooked Actors gallery.
• Autumn Reeser (Taylor, The O.C.) shared her wedding details with PEOPLE.com.

Yeah, its done, its here, and its off the hook !!
yall better download it, and hit us up on what yall think …

Young Dee Feat. Flame – Fastlane

Every once in a while a racing game will quickly climb the App Store charts and disappear soon thereafter. Me, being both curious and cheap, tend to download the lite/free versions of these games and give them a whirl. Considering that’s about how long my attention span for racing games last, it’s usually good if I don’t actually buy any of them. Here’s looking at you, Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D ($5.99) and Cro-Mag Rally ($.99).

There are two high-speed racing games that have lite versions out now that are worth comparing: Fastlane Street Racing Lite and Ferrari GT Evolution Lite. Tyler wrote a glowing review of Fastlane when it came out last year, and the review still rings true today. I have a great time with this game, so much so that I’ve had it on my iPhone for a couple months now. It handles really well, and the screen as a whole rotates when you turn the car, like in the picture above. What results is the best racing controls I’ve experienced yet.

By comparison, Ferrari GT Evolution Lite has the best graphics I’ve seen in an iPhone game yet. I know you hear that a lot, but this makes Hero of Sparta look like an SNES game by comparison. Unfortunately, it also has some of the worst controls I’ve experienced in a racing game. I spent my entire race reveling in the graphics during straight sections of track, while dreading upcoming turns that would mercilessly plow me into the side railings. Fun to look at, no fun to play. Apparently the full version of this game has multiplayer – which is great, just for the wrong game.

My conclusion? I actually shelled out $1.99 for the full version of Fastlane (currently on sale, Tyler paid $5.99 for it), despite the lessons I have already learned with buying other racing apps. I’ll probably keep the Ferrari game on my iPhone for a while to wow people with its graphics.

GM’s blog is call Fastlane, where there is one moderator that controls the blog. In the article titled A Study on Content and Management Style of Corporate Blogs the author talks about how since there are many employee’s, they each send what they want to post to the moderator, who then edits it before it is posted. This is called a centralized style the moderator decides if the post follows the companies policy of blog and then post it with the authors name. This style also helps keep a constant theme for the blog and makes the company more as a whole. GM’s blog has discussions with car buyers on issues, and products, using the blog is an efficient way to to build relationships with their stakeholders by eliminating the use of  traditional media. In Corporate Blogging Strategies of the Fortune 500 Companies it explained how GM has also started a smaller promotional blog more for a specialized group. This has not been as successful because there is low readership. Along with the fact there wasn’t a human voice and seen more as advertising. That is why the traditional blog with conversation has more feedback because the company is not trying to force their product on their consumers. So the success with GM is because they follow the criteria for a good blog by having a conversations with their constituents. I think that GM has a good start by having a blog where they value their consumers and discuss with them updates. However, I wonder if moderating the posts looks good.
GM Fastlane Blog

GM’s Stratagies:
One moderator to keep the blog unified.
Having conversations with their stakeholders
Not making the blog more of an advertisement

Let’s get this straight:

Tolls need to go up to increase revenues.  Totally unrelated, the antiquated FastLane system – which apparently needs to be upgraded – is overcharging 1% of the time?

That means the average daily commuter could be being overcharged at least twice a year.

[via Boston Herald]

Have you ever taken a drive? We mean a leisurely, Sunday-afternoon type drive; one where if it were a walk it’d be called a stroll, a loop around the streets your daily commute doesn’t take you. That type of thing. Do you know what we mean? Yeah, Fastlane Street Racing is the opposite of that. It’s the most realistic, console-like racer available on the iPhone, and it will either thrill or intimidate you, depending on what kind of gamer you are.

From the brushed-metal menus to the functional HUD, the entire product screams speed. For instance, you’ll breeze right through the perfunctory car and level select menus that seem to take forever in other games. Brake and gas pedal buttons flank the two bottom corners of the racing display; we found it best to keep our thumbs very close by. As in the best console racers, you’ll be pressing both at the same time quite frequently. In the unlikely event that you have time to glance at the top of the screen during a race, you’ll find compact race-status bar to let you know where you are in relation to the others. Fastlane is also super-efficient when it comes to load times and battery usage, which surprised us, given its high-fidelity graphics.

Look at that dynamic lighting.

The racing physics are wonderful. We found ourself brushing the brake and sailing through perfectly executed drifts, smashing our fingers on the gas during straightaways, and generally moving the iPhone much more than was probably necessary. Your car has real heft and speed, and all of it feels within your control. Learning how to take curves and maintain speed through bends will take a lot of work, but it’s a testament to the game that it’s a progress of your skill, and the depth here is a definite positive. Our mention of Gran Turismo isn’t accidental; everything from the pristine cars (they’re not damaged during races, and if you take a brake-heavy approach, a voice will chide you to race as if insurance premiums aren’t on your mind) to the required diligence calls to mind that PlayStation masterpiece.

In case we haven’t made it clear already, we’ll say it again: Fastlane Street Racing is a hard game. You will have to earn every one of your victories. The AI cars will take better lines than you will, they’ll nudge you out of and into turns, and they’ll cut you off mercilessly. The 12 unlockable courses are beautifully realized, but even the simplest are challenging. We loved the selection of 10 vehicles, and how they were ranked not only by speed, but also by balance and acceleration. Here’s it worth noting that while you can of course pick the overhead view to race (we suggest you do to keep an eye on your car), Fastlane also offers you the chance to skim along ground with an invigorating strapped-to-the-hood camera angle. It’s a fun way to tour the lovely tracks.

Fastlane’s presentation is technically masterful. The graphics have the best combination of frame rate and acuity of any racing game we’ve played on the iPhone. The action never seems to dip below an incredibly smooth 25 fps or so. We were also unexpectedly thrilled by the realistic engine noise. In other games, a high whine or a comically low rumble often stand in for the engine’s rev, so the purr of Fastlane’s supercars was music to our ears. Outside of the pitch-perfection of the sound effect, it’s useful to the player–it helps you keep tabs on speed, and thus turns and braking. The audio tracks are generic techno that’s best turned off, though you can select one of the few tracks if it catches your ear.

Overall, Fastlane Street Racing is a marvelous racing game that experienced gamers should love. The gameplay is rock solid, the courses are interesting and challenging, the cars are beautiful, and the sound effects are great. Nevertheless, we can’t recommend this to everyone. It requires a beady-eyed concentration that infrequent or less intense players may consider more work than play; the races are on the long side, and it takes real effort to even learn how to corner correctly. We would like to see the developer make a few concessions to less experienced players to improve the title’s accessibility.