Steve Jobs Taking Time from Apple

As a big fan of Steve Jobs' innovation and Apple Inc., I found the personal release he recently sent out to the public very moving. I wish him all the best in his recovery towards the road to health.

Photo Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald

As I found through Crenk, you can see Jobs' letter below:

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

The Best Green Jobs

As a young professional, my job not only excites me but I also feel grateful. I (like many of you) know friends and family members getting ready to enter the work force, getting laid off, or searching for a job. Either of the three can be daunting, but don't have to be ridden with despair.

I recently stumbled upon Fast Company's article on Ten Best Green Jobs for the Next Decade and thought each one to be relevant as they fill a legitimate need. So considering a job change? Looking to sustain our environment? You might want to think twice about these positions...

Photo Credit: Fenner School of Environment

Farmer: Related careers: urban gardener; farmers market and CSA coordinator; artisanal cheesemakers; and other food producers.

Forrester: Companies/organizations: "The Nature Conservancy; New Forests Inc."

Solar Power Installer: Companies: "Akeena Solar; Sungevity; Sunpower; Full list at SEIA.org."

Energy Efficiency Builder: Schools: "Arizona State University School of Architecture: Energy Performance Climate-Responsive Architecture; University of Michigan: Alfred A. Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning; The Earth Institute at Columbia University."

Wind Turbine Fabricator: "According to the American Wind Energy Association, the industry currently employs some 50,000 Americans and added 10,000 new jobs in 2007."

Conservation Biologist: Schools: "Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington and the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University. At the small College of the Atlantic every student gets his or her degree in human ecology; it's been called the most sustainable college or university in the world."

Green MBA and entrepreneur (a personal favorite): Schools: "Stanford School of Business; San Francisco's Presidio School of Management; Leeds School of Business; University of Colorado at Boulder -- Deming Center for Entrepreneurship; the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Wash."

Recycler: Companies: "Rumpke; Greenstar North America."

Sustainability Systems Developer: Companies: "IBM, V2Green, WindLogics."

Urban Planner: Schools: "Penn Institute for Urban Research; Harvard: Department of Urban Planning and Design; Portland State University: Nohad A Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning."

Welcome to YouTube, Congress

Starting today, Monday the 12th, YouTube teamed up with Congress in order to help give a glimpse of life in Capitol Hill to people across the United States. Two Web pages are unveiled, one is for the House and one for the Senate. It's unique in that each lawmaker is able to create their own personal, video channel on the site. The site is even equipped with a map of the United States, so if you don't know your elected officials you can select your State.

Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube says, "People out there don't really know what senators and congressmen do on a daily basis," as he talks about how the YouTube channel will give the public a sense of what they're doing. I agree, because although we hear or see the final result we aren't able to always watch the innerworkings of what goes on with our representatives to reach the end goal. What do they do each day? I wonder this often and now I hope to interact more on a personal level, instead of writing a letter they may never read.

Financially, YouTube doesn't expect to grow from the channels, as they won't be carrying advertisements. However, if popularity grows so will YouTube's audience base.

Each member of Congress will have control over his or her channel. These pages plan to highlight members on a rotating basis and host events, like community chats where constituents will be able to interact with their representatives. I hope this project brings more transparency to the government while also offering more accessibility to Congress.

“New media technologies help facilitate timely dialogue between representatives and their constituents, and this will only strengthen our democracy,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement released by her office. To learn more about the project watch this video:

Who Would You Sacrifice For a Whopper?

I think it's safe to say Burger King has taken the leap. They've gone viral, they're doing the whole social media thang. Seeing as I rarely ever eat fast food and I've never had a Whopper, the Whopper Virgin, Subservient Chicken and the most recent Whopper Sacrifice doesn't directly affect me, but I think it's still worth discussing. Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CPB) and Toronto-based Refresh Partners are both responsible for the campaign and CPB is local here in Boulder, so it hits close to home. Not to mention that around the blogosphere it has been a hot topic for discussion.

The Whopper Sacrifice goes like this: Install the Facebook Application in your profile, delete 10 "fair-weather web friendships," and Burger King gives you a free Whopper. I will also note that everyone will know who you wanted to "watch burn" and "sacrifice" because they appear in your Facebook feed. Oops.

According to the site, as of right now, already 73,462 friends have been sacrificed. It's safe to say that number keeps exponentially growing. I think the app is interactive enough that people are enjoying talking about it, musing over who they would sacrifice and free stuff always gets people going!

And for the record, if it was Chipotle I WOULD sacrifice 10 friends.

So here's the big question, would you sacrifice 10 friends for a free Whopper? Have you? What's the consensus?

Note: You must live in the U.S. in order to be eligible to receive your free Whopper.

Our Perception of Beauty Through Technology

Dove-Evolution

Although this project is older, I recently stumbled through it again and thought a re-post was necessary. Poignant. No wonder women have body issues...

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto
Co-CCOs: Nancy Vonk & Janet Kestin
ACD/Writer/Art Director: Tim Piper
Production Company: Reginald Pike
Director: Yael Staav
Music: Vapor Music, Toronto

Crowded Ink's Twitter Mug

I'm a geek. I'm also a big fan of SWAG. So when the holiday season rolled around and I stumbled across CrowdedInk's Friends Twitter Mug on (gasp) Twitter, I immediately thought of my geeky counterpart, @fullyadam and knew the gift had to be his. Plus, I liked their tag line, "We put friends on your stuff like ev-ery-day."

Here's the scoop: you enter whichever Twitter name you're giving the mug to, next each image of their Twitter friends is generated onto the mug. Then you're able to check out how it looks with multiple viewing options and you can customize it to add text or move around where all the pictures are placed. If you're satisfied (you will be), you check out through Zazzle, and you purchase your personalized Twitterati mug for only $14.00. My mug arrived in about 5 business days and I have to say through their Twitter Handle @CrowdedInk and personalized e-mails I received their customer service is fantastic!

So think of Valentine's day around the corner for your geeky lover or upcoming birthdays, then think about CrowdedInk and their special, personalized gift. See photos below.

15 Blog Reads for 2009

As the new year rolled around I began to clean out my RSS feeds by deleting the blogs I don't find useful, while adding new, fresh innovative thinkers to my list.

My iGoogle RSS reader (not a fan of tabs on the left)

Through my work at Lijit, I deal with hundreds of blogs each week so I stumble across quite a lot which helps me build my personal reading list of blogs. With that being said, I've created a nice list of some new (and old) favorites worth sharing:

1) Conversation Agent: Not only do I like Valeria because of her Italian heritage ;) but her powerful writing and voice helps build communities through marketing, public relations and communications.

2) HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog: I love these Cambridge, Massachusetts based Internet Marketing guru's and I think they do an excellent job on their corporate blog. In addition, one of my favorite Friday afternoon pastimes is to watch HubSpot TV at 4 PM EST with @mvolpe and @karenrubin for new marketing tips of the week.

3) Silicon Alley Insider: "Digital business, live." They're the pulse Silicon Valley where I find the latest tech and new media news.

4) Media Savvy Leader, David Henderson: "Veteran communications strategist, author, online publisher, adjunct professor, and Emmy Award winning former CBS Network News correspondent." David covers topics from Twitter to national leadership.

5) Chip Chick: As a chick in tech, sometimes its hard to get a voice in through the male dominated field. Chip chick fills a need by covering tech and gadgets from a girl's perspective.

6) Techipedia: Tamar Weinberg is a "social media consultant and tech geek at heart." Whoever dubs themselves as a geek is fine by me, I feel the affinity Tamar and thanks for all the geeky tech reviews!

7) Drew's Marketing Minute: A fellow Iowan and 'top dog at McLellan Marketing Group' Drew regularly writes about blogging, marketing and branding. I also like his extensive agency background, which he often writes about.

8) Altitude Branding: "Altitude is a social media and marketing firm founded by Amber Naslund," and she blogs about branding, social media and the buzz around that scene.

9) Max Gladwell: Rob at Max Gladwell combines two of my favorite topics: social media and green living. Worth reading in these times...

10) Technosailor: Lead Editor, Aaron Brazell is not only my friend, but he has a great blog with multiple contributors where "technology and real life merge." Tune in with @technosailor and his new media and tech updates, he's on top of it.

11) Web Urbanist: I had to include a design and art blog on this list. WU features "urban street art, abandoned places and amazing designs" I don't know where they find their material, but each day something new and fantastic is featured. I'm always pleasantly surprised and artistically inspired.

12) Lawrence Lessig: No surprise here. Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society. His insights on web 2.0, politics, technology and news are trustworthy and valid.

13) Non-Profit Marketing, Nancy E. Schwartz: Nancy covers the non-fluff truth around ideas, tactics and tips for nonprofit communicators "on helping their organizations succeed through effective marketing." Having worked at a non-profit for the past two years, they're dear to my heart and I think this blog would benefit anyone in the field.

14) Personal Branding Blog, Dan Schawbel: Dan is truly an expert on building your personal brand. Along with me (and some fresh young bloggers), he is part of the Young Professional blog network. I appreciate his regular posts, filled with relevant branding information and tools to help you or your business grow.

15) Amateur Traveler Blog: I had to end on this note: "Travel for the love of it." The Amateur Traveler, by Chris Christensen features travel resources, tips, stories, videos and ideas. It is also a companion site for the Amateur Traveler podcast. Ever since I got on my first overseas plane when I was 2 years-old I've had the travel bug and if my feet aren't movin', at least I can read Amateur Traveler.

I hope you've enjoyed my list. It's eclectic and maybe you already read some of them. If not, scope them out. I promise they're worth it. What are your favorite blogs for 2009? Please share.