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Views expressed in Content do not neCessarily refleCt the Views of the publisher or the printed blog inC.
printed with expliCit permission from eaCh Content proVider
WEEK OF M 18, 2009
new york edition Vol 1 no 15
LiKE thE intErnEt, OnLy FLaMMabLE
TM
nEW yOrK
C mcV |.c/q5v 
advErtisinginsidE this issuE:
Sell Your TwiTTer Name for CaShSTaYiNG PoSiTiVe iN aN eCoNomiCDePreSSioNTwiTTer will NoT fiX Your Car
grEEn tEch
a-roD iS SeriouS abouTDeNTal hYGieNe
b
dell bee
| 5/1/09 |
deppl.om/273k
You didn’t think the
NY Daily News
would give up all their secrets did you? Sure, theyleaked plenty o juicy details rom “A-Rod:” The Book yesterday, but there’s more where thatcame rom.The dierence between yesterday’s revelations and today’s are that this batch o “bombshells” actually makes Alex Rodriguez look like a stand up guy. For starters, he brushes histeeth ater every game. What’s not to admire about that? Yes, he made a clubhouse attendantput the toothpaste on his toothbrush or him, but that’s just a time-saving measure.The book also claims that A-Rod used to brag about “wild nights with strippers,” whichsounds like every locker room (or oce conerence room, or that matter) that I’ve ever beenin, and that he would make awkward passes at teammates’ wives and girlriends. Hey, i you’regoing to be a swinger you’ve got to take a ew swings and misses, am I right? 
The News
also reiterates the tired story that Rodriguez is “obsessed” with Derek Jeter. Whoisn’t!? Approaching women in clubs and asking them i you’re more attractive than the Jeet Dogis an excellent way to gauge your standing in the world. You have to set the bar or yoursel.Besides, who else is he going to look up to? Doug Mientkiewicz? (Who by the way, was ahigh school teammate o A-Rod’s and says the steroid accusations are bunk. Actually, maybe he’snot a bad role model either.)
PhOtOs
l f | .c/v358q
New York CiTY To eXPerimeNTwiTh hYbriD CoP CarS
b
sepe Mkle
| 5/4/09 |
Kk tepl.om/j36z
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberghave announced that the city’s police department will add 40 Nissan Altima Hybrids to its feet.This is the rst time the city will have used hybrids as patrol vehicles.Twenty o the vehicles will be unmarked, two will be disguised as taxis in an anticrimefeet, and the rest will get the blue and white paint that’s typical o patrol cars. That may notseem like much in a feet o 3,000 patrol cars, but the 40 hybrids will serve as a pilot program.Ater a year, their perormance will be evaluated to see i the city will add more.At a cost o $25,391 per vehicle or the department, the Altima Hybrid – which is onlysold in seven states – will cost the city about $1,500 more than a Ford Crown Victoria or ChevyImpala, the current patrol vehicles, but the department expects to make up the dierence inuel savings. With a top speed o 113 mph, the hybrids are also slower, but patrol vehicles aremeant or the stop-and-go trac o a city, not high-speed chases.O course, we expect comments on why New York City isn’t buying American cars, butMayor Bloomberg made special note that the Altima Hybrid is built in the U.S., while both theCrown Vic and the Impala are built in Canada.
PhOtOs
ic o | .c/69
 
The PrinTed Blog is PrinTed By John s. swiT Co., inC. www.JohnswiTPrinT.Com (847) 465-3000
2
AdverTising
staying positive in aneconomic depression
b
dba Cack B
| 4/21/09 |
oPen  b Aca exptpb.c/13b0 
“It is hard to stay positive when it eels like the whole world is against me.”I just hung up the phone with a riend who is in industrial sales. Times are tough and salesare down. How do you keep the aith when every meeting, phone call and proposal ends with a“sounds good, but not right now.”Do you remember the 1958 movie
The Blob
? Steve McQueen starred in this B-rated sci-movie in which an alien lie orm - The Blob - consumes everything in its path. Nothing is sae.Every nook and cranny is touched by the growing alien jelly.Our current economic crisis reminds me o the blob. Nothing is sae. Every person,business, community and amily is being aected by the economy. How do we stay positivewhen it eels like nothing will ever be normal again?I nd mysel telling my pre-teen that we can’t buy that DVD right now, but maybe wecan borrow it rom the library. Families are gathering around the dinner table sharing a homecooked meal when they would have dined out.And some high school students graduating next month that have dreamed o headingdirectly to college in the all - are putting those dreams temporarily on hold.How do you stay positive?
 Is the world against you?
Recognize that although it eels like the world is against youwhen customers choose to delay a purchase or reuse to sign your proposal - that they aren’tagainst YOU - they are just ocused on THEM. We are all circling the wagons. Protecting ourresources in case things get worse. It isn’t a slam against you as much as it is an act o sel preservation. 
What happened to selling smarter?
In the past it was better to invest your time andresources on the customer who made a big purchase; better to sell one $10,000 contract than 10- $1,000 products. It is time to reverse that thinking. People are more inclined to spend $1,000than a larger amount. Look at your products and services - what can you sell a la carte? Whatsmaller services do you oer that customers can easily aord and see the benet o? Put yourocus there. In today’s market it is better to spend the time selling 10 - $1,000 items than toNOT sell one $10,000 service!
 Did you orget about this little item?
When I worked or Pearle Vision we knew rompast years that December was our worst month o sales. People orgo an eyeglass purchase orthemselves in avor o a present or a loved one. One year we decided to see i we could breakthe mold. We realized that we had over 40 items that retailed or less than $10. We neverocused on them. We never mentioned them and consequently we rarely sold them. ThatDecember we turned the spotlight on our little known accessory items and sales went throughthe roo. Do you have a smaller product or service that you rarely oer because it seems toosmall? Today would be a good day to dust it o and showcase it to your customers. 
Is it contagious?
Attitudes are contagious. I you hang out with business associates,vendors and peers who spend their time moaning and groaning about the economy - prettysoon you’ll join right in. Ater all, you have lots to complain about so why not weigh in withyour woes? Traveling back again to the movies - remember Hayley Mills in the 1960 movie
 Pollyanna
? You couldn’t nd a more negative, bitter population, but enter one spunky, glass-hal-ull girl and pretty soon the sun is shining and people are singing a happy song. I youcan’t be that positive infuence on others than nd someone who is and let their positive spiritrub o. You’ve heard o “ake it ’til you make it?” Slap a smile on your ace and look or thegood in this economic crisis. Remember the old joke o the kid happily shoveling manure:“with all this stu, there must be a pony in there somewhere.” 
When was the last time you learned something new? 
There is nothing more stimulatingthan learning something new. Something or your business, something or your own personaldevelopment or something just or un; look or the opportunity to gain new knowledge. Yourlocal library is the perect place to start. Most classes are ree and the venue is right in your ownbackyard. Visit the Libweb directory or a listing o libraries in your area. About.com oers aContinuing Education site or the non-traditional learner - that’s us - work by day, amily bynight and continuing education in the cracks. Check it out.Bottom line - the current state o our economy isn’t a nightmare we are going to wakerom, it is our daily lie. So i we plan on getting out o bed and acing it head on - we need toarm ourselves with a positive outlook, a realistic approach to business and surround ourselveswith those who will encourage and support rather than depress and defate.What tricks are you using to ace each new day? Share them here. We can all use a littlepositive advice. Speaking o positive advice, check out Lie Organizers’ article “21 Days to aPositive Attitude Habit.”
Business And inAnCe
ChAnge your CrediT CArd due dATes
b
J wa
| 5/5/09 |
Bpt  aca Ppttpb.c/426p
This morning, I gave you ve good reasons why you should go to paperless statements andI’m here to lay down another useul tip. Did you know that you can get the due date on yourcredit card statements changed just by asking politely? I don’t know how credit card companiespick a due date but it invariably never matches each other or your paycheck - now you can xthat with one phone call.
How To Change Your Due Date
Flip over your card, call the customer service number, and get yoursel to a representative. Onceyou’re there and done veriying your identity, simply ask to adjust your payment due date. It’sthat simple. 
Each credit card will handle this dierently and some won’t let you change the date atall.
I just got o the phone with a Citi representative and she was very helpul. She warned methat the due date foats within a 3 day window, so you you have to ask or a particular week (1stweek, 2nd week, etc.), and it can take up to two billing cycles to take eect.When it takes eect, it will make that billing cycle slightly longer. Money hackers willrecognize that this gives you a slightly longer grace period or the billing cycle when your datechanges, unortunately that reprieve is short-lived.This little tip might solve some temporary cashfow problems but i you’re in serioustrouble, shufing around the due dates won’t help.Have you done this beore? I you have experience with other issuers, please let me know!
iling or underemPloymenT
b
T wt
| 4/30/09 |
nt  t uptpb.c/qj8p7
So the cool thing about reelancing is the ability to collect unemployment. It’s a humblingprocess, getting in line (well waiting on the phone, but i you can’t get through then getting inline), and going through all your jobs in the past 18 months that no longer exist. So humblingin act that you’d think the bitter people at call centers would be a little more considerate, butno. I they can’t hear you because you’re on a cell phone (honestly, how many people reallyhave landlines these days?), they will give you attitude. Like hello, it’s your JOB to have goodphone etiquette. Don’t be a douche bag. And then the best part is when they say “oh based onyour work history you have to call this other state instead.” Who cares that I just wasted like30 minutes on the phone with you? Now I have to go waste another 45 on the phone with adierent state.I must say, though. I got INCREDIBLY lucky today. I got through to both CA and NJ andwas even able to start the process o paperwork. It’s so intense though, all the “i you’re lyingthe government will essentially murder you” (hyperbole). But I mean what i I’m not lying?I just answer the question incorrectly because I think I’m right? It’s like lling out insuranceorms. Instead o saying you will die i you lie, can’t they just say, “please answer to the best o your ability and you won’t be penalized i you misunderstand something?”Being UNEMPLOYED sucks. No getting around it. BUT like so many people haveexperienced, I’m hoping to go through the same thing o getting a job as soon as I receive mypaperwork. Like the paperwork is some sort o good luck charm or getting a job. It’d be prettycool i I could just foat on to the next thing, with blessing and luck rom the governator.
AdverTisingPhoTos
Want to teLL oUr readers aBoUt yoUr BUsiness? oUr ads arecHeap and Hyper-LocaL. to see ad rates and HoW advertisingWitH tHe printed BLog WiLL HeLp yoUr BUsiness, Writeadvertising@tHeprintedBLog.com.
r s M | .cm/05v
 
Views expressed in Content do not neCessarily releCt the Views o the publisher or the printed blog inC.
3
star trek revieW
b
Ja C
| 4/24/09 |
gztpb.c/62k0
Star Trek will disappoint no one.As the lights dimmed and the amiliarStar Trek Federation logo slid on screen, theemotion o all those hours o watching NextGeneration reruns as a kid came sloshing backinto my brain, dripping out o my eyes astears o pure happiness. I expect that it wasessentially the same emotion Star Wars anselt during the opening credits o 
Episode 1
,but without the massive letdown aterwards.(Ha ha, suckers.)But yes, to answer your question, there’sKirk, there’s Spock, and there’s everyone youexpect (even Pike!). Not all o the same mannerisms are there, but i you wanted to see the oldactors you’d go watch the rst six movies again. This implies that Kirk doesn’t do a two-hourShatner impression, which is, o course, good news. Instead, he plays Kirk as an intelligent,brash, but riendly youngster that has condence oozing out o every torpedo tube. And thenew Spock is more Sylar than Spock, to be honest; though the rest o the casting is essentiallyspot on.So long as you go into the movie expecting a “Star Trek” movie, in that there’s space andaliens and action and shooting and torpedoes and pew pew pew, you’ll come out happy. Themovie is targeted enough toward the mainstream in that someone with zero Trek experiencewould enjoy it. Director J.J. Abrams also gives enough shout outs to old time staples thattrekkers will be giddy at the slight nods and anservice that say, in essence, “thank you orsupporting us all these years, now here’s something you asked or.”Think o it like
Casino Royale
was to the James Bond ranchise: ewer gadgets, more actionand an incredibly pugilistic lead. And lens fares. Lots, and lots, and lots o lens fares.Kirk’s Enterprise has never looked better. These guys took the original ship, combined itwith some designs o the Enterprise-B, then mashed it up with Picard’s Enterprise-E and thenadded a dash o ‘60s non-Trek Sci Fi. The set design, however, is almost all touchscreen (likeTNG), but with a tremendously updated UI. I’d hate to call it Apple-y, but there’s lots o glassand slick white nishes. Retro this is not—you’ll barely be able to equate the bridge to theoriginal’s, other than the act that the players are all sitting in the right places. Why Bonescanoodles in the bridge so much instead o where he’s supposed to be is still beyond me.And the plot? The plot makes as much sense as any other Star Trek movie. There’s even avery good explanation o why this movie is the way it is, which is the most I can say about that.This is what Star Trek needs right now. Ater writing on Next Generation, Ron Moore wenton (about a decade later) to reimagine Battlestar Galactica, a relatively realistic show (topic-wise)that just happened to be set in space. Sci Fi ans have moved on rom the utopian, and whatmany accused as sterile, connes o TNG to a grittier, less kempt uture.That’s not to say Star Trek is now gritty—it’s just more...modern. And more sexy. Like whenyou upgrade rom a six piece KFC meal to a 12 piece bucket: you’re going to get more breast andthigh.It also doesn’t have any crap about the Prime Directive or any undertones about race thatTOS and TNG dealt with, but it is a very good “restart” o the ranchise. With this lm as thebase, I cannot wait to see where the ranchise goes rom here.Bonus: there’s a our-issue
Star Trek: Countdown
comic series that prequels the movie.Though, you might want to wait until ater you watch to read, since it gives away a ew plotpoints. To tell you more would be to spoil too much. It’s too much even to tell you what KINDo ans would like the comic. You can download the rst one or your iPhone.
movie reviewPhoTos
s b |.cm/v7j K w | .cm/cq831
seLL yoUr tWitter name forcasH WitH tWeexcHange
b
Pt Ca
| 5/1/09 |
maabtpb.c/7z
How much is your Twitter username worth? $300? $400? $1000?With only a limited number o Twitter names available and many o the good ones alreadytaken, it was perhaps inevitable that a market would spring up or Twitter username sales.That was the thought that occurred to Craig Agrano, one o the ounders o thecrowdsourcing site VOIS.com: today he’s launching an atermarket or Twitter names atTweexchange.com. (Incidentally, Agrano claims to have hired a developer or the projectthrough the VOIS service itsel or under $1000.)It’s an inevitable idea, and one that raises the question, “what am I buying?” since theTwitter names are still owned by Twitter. But you might also wonder i the brands with thebiggest wallets would make use o such a service: i you’re Walmart and your Twitter name istaken, you go direct to Twitter or the user who took it.It’s more likely, then, that Tweexchange will become a market or individual’s names andgeneric terms. To do so, however, it’ll need to get enough attention to reach a critical mass o high quality usernames.We just hope that putting a price on Twitter usernames doesn’t lead people to hoardthousands in the hope they might sell them later: alas, it seems this is exactly what mighthappen.
TeCh
11 essenTiAl iPhone APPs or A roAd TriP
b
B Pa
| 4/18/09 |
maab!tpb.c/q8cj 
Whether you’re driving 20 miles or 2000, being able to nd gas, grab a bite to eat, keepup with the news or check the map or your location are all essential to a good journey on theroad. With the right iPhone apps, you can avoiding sticky situations like running out o gas orgetting lost miles rom home.Recently, I drove across the country (Chicago to San Francisco) and got to experience theuseulness o iPhone apps on the road. From nding the nearest gas station to learning aboutthe local scene, the iPhone was integral to my journey. The ollowing are 11 o the most useuliPhone apps i you plan to embark on a road trip, or even just a drive across town:
iPhone apps or fnding things
 
1. MapsBuddy:
MapsBuddy is a popular application that makes searching on Google Mapseasy. MapsBuddy provides quick shortcuts or nding gas stations, restaurants, post oces, andeverything you’ll need or the road. 
2. SimulTravel GPS:
I you’re looking or a hotel or the night, a great app is SimulTravelGPS - it locates hotels near your location in a snap and provides prices and detailed inormationon each hotel. 
3. Urbanspoon:
Looking or ood nearby? Then Urbanspoon is your best bet. Urbanspoonhelps you nd great restaurants based on your cravings. The key to its useulness during roadtravel is its ability to show you restaurants nearby, no matter where you are. 
4. Yelp:
Yelp, the popular reviews-based social network, is also an iPhone app. It will detectyour current location and give you reviews o hotels, restaurants, and even gas stations nearby. 
5. Where To?:
Another great app or nding things, Where To helps you nd placeso interest (i.e. zoos, spas, shopping centers). It does cost $2.99, but is worth it just or the“Surprise Me!” eature, which will help you pick where you want to stop i the group or amilycan’t decide.
iPhone apps or inormation on the road
 
6. Road Trip:
The most comprehensive road travel app o them all, Road Trip allows youto track mileage, uel prices, graph out trip expenses, and even export the data to CSV. It costs$4.99, but there is also Road Trip LITE, which is ree. 
7. The Weather Channel:
The weather can change in a snap, and thus you need to beprepared with knowledge. Although the iPhone has a standard weather app, The WeatherChannel will provide you with weather conditions or your exact location, as well as radar mapsand long-term orecasts. 
8. WifTrack:
I you’re on the road, there are things that you’ll need to do that requireInternet on your computer. But why pay or Wi-Fi when it can be ound or ree? WiTrackhelps determine the strength o WiFi hotspots and helps you nd the ones that don’t requireyou to pay. This app costs $0.99, so an alternative is Free Wi-Fi, which has less eatures anddierent unctionality, but saves you a dollar.
Miscellaneous Useul Applications
 
9. Road Trip Fun:
I you’re bringing kids on the road, you need an easy way to entertainthem. How about some games? Road Trip Games provides simple explanations or dozens o classic road games like I Spy and Where’s the Alphabet? 
10. Flashlight:
I you’re stopped at night and need to nd something in the car, you’regoing to need a fashlight. This ree app turns your phone into a fashlight (there are many coloroptions, too), and it could come in handy. 
11. Tweetie:
I you’re a Twitter addict like me, having Twitter on the road is essential orkeeping up with the latest news, trends, and memes. Tweetie is not only great or the roadbecause o its easy-to-use interace, but because o its integration with TwitPic, so you can sendyour riends and amily pictures o you on the road. It also has a location eature or nearbytweeters i you’re in the mood or an impromptu tweetup.
PhoTos
got sometHing to say? sUBmit yoUr BLog for pUBLicationto BLoggers@tHeprintedBLog.com. We Won’t give yoU money (actUaLLy, We WiLL, BUt it’s not mUcH, yet), BUt We WiLL give yoUa sWeet HtmL Badge.
CMcV | .cm/qm5v
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