Discovering Bliss in Slow Motion High: A Song of Intentional Stillness - All AI Crafted By Kelly Eldridge Boesch

Original Artificial Intelligence art image lifted from "Slow Motion High" YouTube video. the firs time an image of  the "protagonist" fragile paper boat adrift on a vast sea, weightless and un-steered appears in the video that accompanies the song. A song that could stand alone through its well crafted lyrics. Image Credit: Kelly Eldridge Boesch via YouTube (2025)

Discovering Bliss in Slow Motion High: A Song of Intentional Stillness - All AI Crafted By Kelly Eldridge Boesch

Kelly! Now you've done it! Who queued in the Clarinet solo (First String performer in High School Band & Orchestra) to play in the break? What is the process you use to create the extraordinary music and lyrics - both very strong and can stand alone without the incredible AI images - honestly - PM me. I write and am very curious.

   

Surreal Scenes In Orange And Yellow - Slow Motion High - In this workflow I [Kelly Eldridge Boesch] used the same prompt as the video from a few days ago but all new images as style ref and got this completely different look these are really good on the eyes. Images made using #midjourney and animated with #VEO3. The song was made using @sunomusic. 

### Slow Motion High  

**Lyrics by Kelly Eldridge Boesch**

**Verse 1**  

I put my phone inside the drawer  

Don't need the signal anymore  

[Music]

The traffic noise is fading out  

I turn the chaos inside out  

The sun is hitting on the floor  

In a way it never did before  

I'm unwinding like a spool of thread  

Pulling the noise out of my head  

**Chorus**  

And I'm floating in a slow motion high  

Watching the heavy clouds rolling by  

I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be  

Just a paper boat upon the sea  

Yeah, the world is spinning way too fast  

But I made this little moment last  

I'm floating in a slow motion high  

Right here beneath the paper sky  

[Music]

**Verse 2**  

The dust is dancing in the beam  

It looks just like a laser stream  

My coffee cup is warm and still  

I'm sitting on the window sill  

I feel the gravity let go  

I'm moving soft, I'm moving slow  

The past is just a memory  

And the future hasn't talked to me  

**Chorus**  

And I'm floating in a slow motion high  

Watching the heavy clouds roll by  

I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be  

Just a paper boat upon the sea  

[Music]

Yeah, the world is spinning way too fast  

But I made this little moment last  

I'm floating in a slow motion high  

Right here beneath the paper sky  

Don't wake me up  

Don't shake the ground  

I like...

### Synopsis

In "Slow Motion High," Kelly Eldridge Boesch crafts a delicate anthem of deliberate disconnection, one that celebrates the quiet rebellion of stepping outside the relentless current of modern life. The narrator begins with a simple, almost ritual act - placing the phone in a drawer and sealing away the digital tether - allowing the external clamor of traffic and obligation to recede. What emerges is not emptiness but a richly textured stillness: sunlight spilling across the floor in unfamiliar patterns, dust moves performing their silent ballet in shafts of light, and the warm, unmoving presence of a coffee cup on the window sill. These ordinary details, observed without haste, become portals to transcendence.

The song's central metaphor - a "slow motion high" - captures a state of elevated calm, an altered consciousness achieved not through substances but through the radical choice to inhabit the present fully. Boesch portrays the protagonist as a fragile paper boat adrift on a vast sea, weightless and un-steered, yet precisely where it belongs beneath a fragile paper sky. Gravity loosens its grip, time dilates, and both past and future retreat into silence, leaving only the expansive now. This is mindfulness rendered poetic, a secular Sabbath in which the spinning world is acknowledged but refused entry.

Ultimately, "Slow Motion High" issues a gentle plea: "Don't wake me up. Don't shake the ground." It is a song that safeguards its fragile equilibrium, inviting the listener to linger in the suspended moment rather than rush toward resolution. In an era defined by acceleration and overload, Boesch offers a tender counter-spell - an invitation to float, to watch the clouds roll by, and to recognize that sometimes the highest state is simply being, unhurried and unapologetically still.

Technology Meets Communication - Symblogogy

 TAGS: #ai, #aiart, #aivideo, #aimusic, #suno, #aiimages, slow motion high, mindfulness music, digital detox, present moment, peaceful vibes, indie song, Kelly Eldridge Boesch, unplugging, calm anthem, floating in stillness, Symblogogy

President Trump Gives Virtual Remarks to World Economic Forum

A symbol to the world - Tour de Force

TuneIn & Changes For Changes Sake On ROKU Tile Application

A portal is only as good as the tile application that serves the portal. Such is the case with the changes at TuneIn on the ROKU portal. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via YouTube

TuneIn & Changes For Changes Sake On ROKU Tile Application

Changes are the nature of living life here in technology America, as anyone who has had to evolve through the landscape can attest, concerning access to information and entertainment in this digital age.

A point of order given the observations and experience achieved witnessing the changes (for appearent changes sake) with TuneIn in general, and through their tile application on ROKU personal Internet streaming and display device in specific, have the evolution of these changes defy user simplicity as well as strong brand recognition as protrayed through graphic representation.

Over this last year of 2018, the first indication a user became aware of changes in the wind at TuneIn was the change in its logo. The original logo was a stylized multi-colored "t" that looked almost person like, sometimes displayed alone without the text TuneIn next to it.  The new logo is a dual-color aqua-marine green and darkest blue (almost black) diaplay and has the word TUNE in one rectangular box with IN located in another reverse color square box off-set up from the previous rectangular box.

Funny thing about this change, MasterCard just announced that it will no longer display the words Master Card along with their dual circle multicolor design folks associate with the card company ... similar to what NIKE has done for years - a drive toward Corporate graphic  recognition and representation Swoosh as opposed to the word(s) Corporate logo recognition.

In general, as it relates to this brand recognition thing, given the pursuit of best practices was fleshed out just recently with the announcement by MasterCard (the personal spending through credit card company) to drop their name as an instrumental part of the logo in all future business messageing and advertising.

Original logo - colored circles with corporate name embedded. Image Credit Mastercard, Inc. us

This excerpted and edited from Wall Street Journal -

Mastercard Drops Its Name from Logo
Move asserts payment network’s place among brands that can go by symbol alone
By Nat Ives - Jan. 7, 2019

Mastercard Inc. is removing its name from its logo in most contexts, leaving the interlocking red and yellow circles to represent the brand on cards, in stores, at events and in advertising.

The move continues an effort to play down the “card” in “Mastercard” as new payment methods and technologies spread. It also places the company among a small group of marketers such as Apple, Nike and Target that have preferred to go by visual symbols alone.

Original logo - colored circles with corporate name embedded. Image Credit Mastercard, Inc. us

Mastercard conducted more than 20 months of world-wide research to make sure people could identify it from the logo even without text, according to Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard.

“You can never be arrogant and say ‘I’m iconic, and let me go ahead and drop my brand name,’” Mr. Rajamannar said.

t works for Mastercard but wouldn’t for many brands, said Debbie Millman, chair of the Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts. “The only brands that are able to do this have developed a logo with global recognition over decades,” she said in a text message. “It takes time, consistency and a good logo to begin with to be able to do this effectively.”

Marketers often want an abstract symbol to stand for their company, said Michael Bierut, partner at the design consulting firm Pentagram, which led the development of Mastercard’s new look. “People really want that Nike swoosh or Apple apple,” he said. “The trick is you can’t fast-forward that process, really.”

In addition to allowing for a broader business than cards, the new logo stands out better on portable digital devices, Mr. Bierut said. “You’re trying to optimize for a very small piece of real estate on a very small piece of glass,” he said. “It might not even be a mobile phone, it might even be a watch face. Having to work in a 10-letter name in that is kind of a monster.”
[Reference Here]

Original graphic representation logo. Image Credit: TuneIn

Last year, TuneIn decided to move away from this logic that Mastercard, who conducted research on for more than 20 months on a world-wide basis that people could identify the company from the logo alone, by dropping their already adopted iconic representation to a word embedded approach. With this recent move by a company with the resources as Mastercard, what TuneIn had done was to undo and dismantle a keel of a perfectly running Marketing and Public Relations ship.

Latest logo where the company name is embedded into the Rectangle/Square graphic. Image Credit TuneIn

Recently, TunIn has been playing with the programming interface it has created for access use with the Internet streaming player that on hooks up to their display device, ROKU. TuneIn changed the application interface/Tile upon wich one accesses the TuneIn provided service. The change was very disruptive and ... drastic in its "re-adoption" and use.

Xylophone, a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via Cosmo Music (2019)

This from an email sent to TuneIn by the publisher of Symblogogy -
additional comments not italicized

Your company has recently changed the application for use of your service on ROKU and it is a complete dissappointment from a user experience when compared with the application it replaced.

The first, and most annoying aspect, is that the tool seems to send an acknowledgement signal (on a random basis) to the ROKU and the ROKU answers back with its low-note acknowledgement xylophone style chime - it is a constant reminder of how bad this version of TunIn really is.

YES, the chime continues every minute to severel minute random intervals - it's as if the TuneIn tool is giving a "ping" to ROKU and, of course, ROKU respons the only way it knows how to. This needs to be done 100% in the background without the user being signaled that this Ping has taken place.

Second, when TuneIn put the change in motion, NONE of the saved presets were retained so a total re-program of the application had to be performed - the nature of how this saved programming is displayed and accessed makes using the tool much more difficult and less enjoyable than the previous application tool.

Third, the Search feature yeilds much less information choices and consequently is much less helpful to its use.

For Example - if one were to search for a specific live radio presentation, we'll use Red Eye Radio in this example, what the previous version of the interface program would yeild is a selection tile where, when chosen, would harvest the complete listing, in the form of choice tiles, of all the radio stations across the country that were airing the radio show at that time. The very cool benefit from this approach was that it delivered the show but by being able to choose a radio station outside of one's geography, it acted as an audio cultural travelogue. Very enriching and sublime to the searching listener.

In comparison, if one's experience with the previous application tool was a solid B pushing toward an A ... the new tool, at best, is a C pushing toward a D for overall useful and effective user experience.

Other negitives include the way the information that is displayed by the tool is more similiar to CRACKLE (layred for movies and video) as opposed to what TuneIn delivered before - a simple and faster scrool and click on the single specific catagory - in this case, programmed favorites only with very quick launching process (unlike the painful experience the tool goes through now).

To be honest, the newer tool just seems to have added clicks to get to where one wishes to end up, even after one has programmed the tool with "Favorites" ... especially if one or more of the favorites were a national radio program presentation with the lack of the additional information harvested by the previous version of the tool.

Recommendation? Go back to the previous tool and improve that approach for your desired intentions as opposed to the turn-off you currently use.

Thanks for listening.

Original graphic representation logo, white background. Image Credit: Android Plazza

RESPONSE FROM TuneIn -

Hello Edmund,

Thank you for contacting TuneIn with your feedback.

I want you to know that we truly appreciate your feedback about our Roku app update for this will help us further improve the feature of our app. I’ll be sure to bring it to the attention of the team for consideration for a future update.

Feel free to email us if you have further suggestions, feedback or concerns.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXX

TuneIn, Inc.

In this case, the changes to TuneIn put in play over this last full year has the company becoming less recogniseable and harder to use, at least with ROKU, while delivering an overall less benefical experience in terms of search and ease of choices yeilded to the end user.

Here, at Symblogogy, an old standard to live by ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it ... seems applicable with the changes in the automation to a process or method at TuneIn and it's hosting at the ROKU streaming portal.




TAGS: TuneIn, ROKU, acknowledgement chime, ping, search, tiles, Rectangle Square, stylised human t, logo, automation, choice, Symblogogy

Happy Easter - Where An Emoji Meme Gets A Rite Of Spring Makeover

Emojis come to be iconic when they establish themselves quickly and without much fanfare. This particular shape, with eyes and a smile, may have originally been created to represent chocolate ice cream, but was doomed from the start for many obvious reasons. Not the least of which is found in the coarseness of Social Media communications posturing. This arena has always been the Wild West. Image Credit: Emojipedia via Business Insider (2015)

Happy Easter - Where An Emoji Meme Gets A Rite-Of-Spring Makeover

YES! It was a peg wall full of hang tag packaging Pile Of Poo 3-D emojis marked as FILLABLE EGGS in an assortment of Easter Egg colors (thank the stars none were brown).

Banner labeling marked as "Fillable Eggs" just under a pair of bunny ears to the left side of the label. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Seasons and celebrations come and go throughout our lives. The ebb and flow of our family and social experiences allow us to have a life filled with the excitement of anticipation.

On a recent trip to a local 99 Cents Only Stores, the seasonal aisles, which were previously filled with the red and green colors of the Christmas season, sported the rich red of Valentines Day cards and decorations as well the beginnings of the muted pinks, blues, purples, greens and yellows of Easter.

Once confronted with these displays one is drawn to the typical fare such as cards, centerpieces, and candy gift enclosures of the season ... like eggs, fillable eggs.

Typical plastic eggs folks use to hide candy and gifts in during Easter. Image Credit: Busy Body Kids

Being early into the Easter season, heck, Fat Tuesday hasn't even taken place, the selection was not as robust as one might anticipate.

One hang tag packaging section was quite attention getting, in that, it featured something that was, at once, current in shape, but just a bit odd. This is not an everyday egg!

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Lest one think this might be inappropriate messaging for outside of the common Social Media platforms where we all may be exposed to this kind of light-hearted coarseness, consider that Apple Corporation has recently been airing a commercial in heavy rotation using a song by SOFI TUKKER titled Best Friend (click link) that features, momentarily, this same Pile Of Poo emoji.

Apple's Pile Of Poo emoji as it appears in Apple's commercial introducing the new iPhone X to the world. Image Credit: Apple Corporation via YouTube (2017)

One can almost imagine the discussions in the product planning boardrooms ... in China. Can anyone sense the disconnect here?

A glasses festooned face with a tooth style grin. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Then now, after the decision had been made to develop a product to be sold during the Easter celebration season in the West, the order goes down to the modeling department to create a mold that would be the right size, to be split in half, so that a parent, grandparent, friend would be able to insert an inclusion, a candy or other small object, for gifting purposes.

What goes on in the mind of a person with the engineering degree/training and crafts background to create such a thing so it would become ... a THING?

A laughing expression with drool coming out of one side. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Meeting after meeting, where the tests prove that this is now a product, until the next step where the other decisions have been made on differentiation, such as color(s), screened graphic faces, packaging considerations are applied.

A surprise "Oh!" expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Small groups of graphic designers come up with an assortment of face configurations. Each by each are approved and moved forward into the production process.

Faces include a surprise "Oh!" expression, a laughing expression with drool coming out of one side, a glasses festooned face with a tooth style grin similar to a Bugs Bunny (apologies to Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Mel Blanc) graphic, each coming to being approved and moved forward.

A squinty eyed, raspberry tongue expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Some of these screened faces are quite sophisticated requiring more than just one pass due to color and other considerations. Each face being applied, some with color first then the final pass of black.

A sad, "Woe is me!" style expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Each face having to go through a final inspection to make sure the registration of the application met minimum standards of graphic representation. Does the face impart the emotion it was originally designed to achieve?

A happy smile-faced wink expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Through all of the process of preparing the product for sale and ... profit. The culture continues to shape the environment socially and politically.

Here in America, we have been confronted just this past week with an account of communication and expression found in our political discourse that boiled down to just one word ... s***hole. This word, similar in meaning to fecal-cavity, was picked up and used during the course of one full day of broadcasting by a cable news service about 195 times.

The term was used to describe countries that clearly operated politically and culturally with a complete lack of standards in cleanliness, building codes and aspiration to become operating at a higher level of standard through individual, family, and political governance conviction.

A bookworm-style pile of poo in shock expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

This may be a clue how this product, which was designed, developed, and finally produced for sale to a needy public, ended up at a close-out lots merchandising king, the 99 Cent Only retail store chain.

A Mmmmm, yum, yum expression with tongue. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

All Symblogogy can surmise, with the production and sale of this rather odd display, once we bring these Pile Of Poo emoji memes home, fill them with treats to celebrate Easter, when given out and used as intended - does this act make us participants in a cultural rite-of-spring ... Turd-World Country?

Jus' askin'!



TAGS: Pile Of Poo, Emoji, Easter Egg, Easter, Egg, Rite-Of-Spring, SOFI TUKKER, Apple, iPhone X, Emojipedia, China, Shithole, 99 Cents Only Stores, Symblogogy

AutoSuit - A Techno Solution To The Well Dressed Man

Gay Giano’s business development director Matthew Lee stands at store front display wearing his latest 3D scanned suit for the well dressed man. Image Credit: Jonathan Wong via South China Morning Post

AutoSuit - A Techno Solution To The Well Dressed Man

This robotic tailor can place anyone in the perfect suit in less than 10 seconds.

Hong Kong-based Gay Giano 3D Tailor - Customers are asked to wear a tight-fitting tank top and step inside a changing room equipped with 14 infrared sensors - eight in the front and six at the back. The machine instructs the customer to stand at a certain spot and hold still while it does its work in under 10 seconds. The data, including not just measurements of length and circumference, but also angles, is instantaneously delivered to an app on the tablet. 

For tailors, the measurements taken of their customer are necessary to come out with a decent fit result. Without these 24 or so measures - each by each, one might come out with something slightly better than a blanket but that the customer would not accept.

In these days of innovation, when technology is present almost everywhere, tailoring now has become much easier and precise.

Business development director at Charmston Limited, Matthew Lee, said that the technology helps boost a trade that is struggling due to a shortage of fresh tailors entering the game. Lee said “There’s a huge disconnect between these traditional craftsmen or craftswomen and the next generation. There’s no one taking over. So we felt that, if that’s the case, it’s either a dying trade or we can revitalise it with technology that could enhance or keep a better record of their knowledge,”. Caption & Image Credit: The 3D Measurement Company

This 'robotic tailor' (scanner) is a breakthrough that in less than 10 seconds, one will get the perfect fit suit as this robotic tailor gives over 120 detailed measurements. All that is needed is the usual good cloth, a studied technician, and about six hours - voila ... appears the well dressed man.

The company uses 14 infrared sensors to scan a customer’s body and provide 120 precise measurements, but the 3D tech is more interested in keeping a firm record of this traditional craft, according to Gay Giano’s business development director Matthew Lee. Image Credit: Jonathan Wong via South China Morning Post

Gay Giano 3D Tailor is now working with an Israeli firm to develop software that will show a 3D pattern rendering of the suits within 15 minutes.

The store has been using and perfecting 3D measuring technology since it opened in November 2014. Its tailors are now working with the Israeli software company to create an accurate rendition of the fabrics used by taking into account the tension and weight of the materials to show the correct drape.

The company has invested US$100,000 on the scanning technology and the software needed to render the designs. It expects to introduce the software in the second quarter of this year.
[ht: South China Morning Post]



TAGS: robotic tailor, ten seconds, Hong Kong, Gay Giano, 3D Tailor, body scan, South China Morning Post, 3D Measurement Company, Symblogogy

Onagawa Town In Japan Home To Process Technology Danborghini

The president of the packaging company, Hideki Konno (holding Danborghini logo), said he hopes the street will attract many people and enliven both Onagawa and Ishinomaki. Image Credit: NHK World (2015)

Onagawa Town In Japan Home To Process Technology Danborghini

This week marked the revival of a shopping district in the northeastern Japanese town in Miyagi Prefecture devastated by the 2011 tsunami.  Onagawa Town was commemorated with an opening ceremony December 23rd, 2015.

A similar model Lamborghini in real life as it was parked on La Brea Avenue near Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, CA., December 23, 2015. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

The mayor of Onagawa Town, Yoshiaki Suda, gave a ceremonial speech on Wednesday to declare the central shopping thoroughfare open. A recent count put Onagawa's population at just under 7,000 inhabitants, down by more than 30 percent from pre-disaster levels. The decline is the steepest among municipalities affected by the tsunami, so this revival event was a significant marker in the region's comeback.

To mark the opening of this shopping street, a life-size cardboard replica of a Lamborghini Italian sports car was placed on display.

The model car (based on a Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4), referred to as the Danborghini, is the work of Konno Konpou packaging company in neighboring Ishinomaki City.

The car has been dubbed “Danborghini,” a portmanteau of Lamborghini and “danbo,” the Japanese word for a 3D cardboard character. The Danborghini weighs around 100 kilograms and took a six-member team six months to complete.

Cardboard tire being removed from the Danborghini. Tire detail complete with groove pattern reproduced by Konno Konpou Inc. staff. on right - Getty Images VIDEO HERE. Image Credit: Konpo75 via Twitter

This excerpted and edited from Asahi Shimbun -

Hot pink cardboard Lambo designed to bring out the crowds in Miyagi
By KENGO HIYOSHI/Asahi Shimbun Staff Writer - December 19, 2015 - ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture

Every last detail of the bright pink life-size Italian supercar Lamborghini going on show at a shopping mall near here was replicated ... in cardboard.

And, it may just serve as a tonic for survivors of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The cardboard Lambo will go on display from Dec. 23 at an outlet of packaging material firm Konno Konpou Inc., which created faux exotic car.

“We wanted to build a car we worship with our processing technology,” said Hideki Konno, the 43-year-old president of Konno Konpou, who led the project.

After the March 11 disaster, Konno Konpou offered free reinforced corrugated cardboard to shelters to be used as partitions to provide privacy to evacuees.

“Nearly five years have passed since the disaster,” Konno said. “It will be great if the re-created car can help draw a crowd (to the new shopping center).”
----
It uses 500 or so parts built with reinforced corrugated cardboard. For a faithful re-creation, Konno’s team refused to cut corners on even the tiniest details, such as parts of the engine and the car’s tires.

The team began the project about two and half years ago beginning with a small scale model. It then spent about six months on the life-size car, on which they toiled during slow work times.

The Danborghini can be seen at the shopping center in Onagawa, a town that was severely affected by the disaster triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake, like Ishinomaki and elsewhere in northeastern Japan.
[Reference Here]

Packaging cardboard processes applied to promotional display is a great way to attract attention and promote the capabilities of packaging technology in an effort to stimulate business ... on several levels.

“We started from the midst of sorrow and despair and completed the shopping street by bringing together the ideas of town residents,” Onagawa Mayor Yoshiaki Suda said at the opening ceremony for the street. “We want to maintain the bustle in the town.”

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Danborghini, Onagawa, Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Lamborghini,  Aventador, LP 700-4, The EDJE, Symblogogy, Yoshiaki Suda, NHK World, Konpo75

Connected Passivity And The Internet Of Things In A Symbology World

Need a barcode scanner? Then check out our CLZ Barry scanner app for iOS and Android: ** Scan barcodes using the built-in camera of your phone or tablet. ** Instantly transmit scanned barcodes to your desktop computer (Windows or Mac). ** Or: scan barcodes while offline, then send them all to your PC or Mac in one go. CLZ Barry is available for Android and iOS. Image Credit: Collectorz.com

 Connected Passivity And The Internet Of Things In A Symbology World

For a long time, barcode identification type symbols (linear barcodes, PDF417, 2-D/QR Codes, 3-D/PM Codes) have been an accepted way to keep track of the movement of objects, identifying content and pricing, and a really good way of processing transactions in a business environment for efficiency and profit.

Through the advent of radio signal enabled personal communications devices with a camera (computers, phones, smartphones, and etc.), businesses found many ways to reach out and grab the attention of consumers by connecting them to promotional and other functional ways to reach out to generate sales/brand loyalty in a connected environment.

When one combines the expansion of cloud services as a way to further connect people with the control and access to information of the world around them, this "Internet Of Things" TCPIP address environment is beginning to include ... well, everything active, and more importantly ... inactive.

This issue of inactive/passivity of an object may be part of the reason barcodes are among the top technologies considered necessary to enable the IoT, according to a survey commissioned by Zebra Technologies and conducted by Forrester Consulting.  Image Credit: Forrester Consulting via InformationWeek.com

This excerpted and edited from Information Week -

The Internet of (Passive) Things
IoT is not only about sensors, actuators, and connected thermostats - manufacturers need to incorporate all bar-coded products into their plans
By Lori MacVittie - 7/23/2014 | 09:06 AM - InformationWeek

As someone who suffers from celiac disease, I rely on all sorts of tricks to ensure I don't accidentally become "glutenized" (as my six-year-old calls it). One of those tools is an app on my iPhone that reads a barcode and then consults a database to determine whether or not the product in question is safe -- meaning it does not contain gluten.

The effectiveness of this app relies on two things: the people who maintain the barcode database, and the reliability of the information provided by the manufacturer. While it's not perfect because of the tenuous relationship between the two, the lag time involved in updating product information, and the confusion as to what constitutes "gluten-free" across the food industry, I generally listen to the app. If it indicates there might be gluten in a product, I don't buy it. Period.

Now, many folks won't consider this app and its backend process part of the Internet of Things. The products themselves are not in any way "connected" to the Internet or any mobile network, nor does the application communicate directly in any way with the products. I must manually scan the bar code to initiate communication between the app and its database (which lives somewhere "out there" on the Internet) to determine whether or not I should purchase a given product.

But just because it's not directly connected does not mean it's not a part of the big picture. The fact is, it isn't feasible to sensor- or Internet-enable everything. Food is clearly one of those categories that simply wouldn't be cost effective or realistic to connect directly to the Internet of Things. But that doesn't mean food -- and other consumables -- can't participate via other directly connected "things."
----
Barcodes, QR codes, or any kind of "code" imprinted on a product can certainly participate in the IoT, albeit in passive mode. That means they are not constantly active; they must be brought into the conversation through the use of some other connected device.

I call it passive tethering; you can call it what you will. Whatever the terminology, it's important to realize that the IoT will not be comprised solely of active, always-on "things." There will be hundreds of thousands of passively connected things that will ultimately change the way consumers act, make purchasing decisions, and go about their daily lives.

Producers that affix codes to products (that means, well, just about all of you) should consider that it is nigh impossible to prevent the participation of these products in the Internet of Things through mechanisms as described above, even if you wanted to. Third-party applications will find a way to leverage barcodes and other identifying data to provide value to consumers.
----
Ensuring consumers can access information from passively tagged products is far more difficult than providing links to actively participating products because you don't control the third-party applications or things through which consumers will seek it. That means you've got to ensure that those third-party applications or things have easy access to the data.

That's right, you've got to make that data accessible -- probably through an API.
----
The right API design will ensure you have visibility into queries regarding your product and, if you design it right, their purchasing requirements. That's valuable insight you can use to make marketing and production plans. It can help shape business decisions regarding whether or not a market exists for your product within a certain demographic or with specific health-related criteria.

The Internet of (Passive) Things is going to be just as influential and important to the future of business as its constantly connected counterpart. Ignore it at your peril.
[Reference Here]

No matter the specific reason a person may have to insist on timely information expanded through cloud based services, businesses who are pro-active in this expansion of the "Symbology" of things ... ALL THINGS ... will benefit over their competitors through increased contact with their target market.

Behold the power of expanding connectivity to passive items through resident symbology (linear barcodes, PDF417, 2-D/QR Codes, 3-D/PM Codes), as well as all things TCPIP addressed - Internet of Things!

Umbrella Public Relations Stunt Achieves World Record Claim

Umbrella display: Located within the volcanic region of exotic Hainan Island, Mission Hills Resort Hainan marks a magnificent addition to Hainan's tropical island paradise. Boasting an exceptional variety of world-class lifestyle, recreation and wellness facilities, the Resort is poised to be one of China's most sought-after leisure destinations. Caption and Image Credit: Mission Hills Resort Hainan

Umbrella Public Relations Stunt Achieves World Record Claim

Yesterday, at what has been billed as the world’s largest golf facility, Mission Hills Shenzhen, China, people holding umbrellas on the fairway of a picturesque golf link, claimed a world record by creating a “human” displayed QR Code.

Close-up detail. Image Credit: Mission Hills Resort Hainan

The QR Code was formed by nearly 2,000 staff carrying umbrellas and an aerial photograph was taken from a height of 270 feet so that the code could be used in Press Releases.

The purpose of this PR effort is designed to promote sustainable eco-tourism ... and in celebration of Mission Hills' 20th anniversary, the Group is giving away twenty 3 day / 2 night Romantic Premier Spa Suite Getaway packages at Mission Hills Haikou Resort on the tropical island of Hainan.

When users scan the QR Code, they will be directed to a campaign website to answer three simple questions related to sustainable eco-tourism. Those who complete the questions with the correct answers will be entered into the draw for a chance to win one of the Mission Hills Micro Holiday packages valued at US$2,600.
(ht: PR Newswire)

Say Hi to the world, 1,369 people love Taiwan, the arrangement of the world's largest human OR Code, hands in the air to empty footage Say Hi to let the world see Taiwan, to show the enthusiasm of the people of Taiwan. Caption and Image Credit: Wen Shiren Cultural Foundation and the Taiwan Foundation (taiwansayhi.com)

QR display detail - Wen i Taiwan ‧ wonderful movie tidbits Say Hi to the world activities Video posted January 16, 2013. Image Credit: Wen Shiren Cultural Foundation and the Taiwan Foundation (taiwansayhi.com)

This is not the first time people holding umbrellas stand in a predetermined pattern in order to form a QR Code upon which folks with camera/QR enabled smart phones could scan the code created and be directed to a website to qualify or buy something of value or interest. At the beginning of December last year, 1369 people raised black, white and blue umbrellas to form a QR Code directing people to a website that promotes Taiwan culture and tourism - http://www.taiwansayhi.com.
(ht: 2d)

... Symblogogy


** Article first published as Umbrella Public Relations Stunt Achieves World Record Claim on Technorati **

Nielson Names Toyota As 2012 Green Marketer Of The Year

It’s official. Toyota conducted a poll asking a simple question: what should the plural form of Prius be? After 1.8 million people cast their votes, a clear winner was chosen. So what exactly do you call more than one Prius (choices ranged from Priuses to Prium)? The answer is “Prii”(pronounced Pree-Eye).

Nielsen Awards Toyota As 2012 Automotive Green Marketer Of The Year

According to a recent Nielsen analysis of consumer awareness, TV advertising response, and social media buzz, Toyota Motor Corporation is the greenest auto marketer of 2012.

The automaker brought home the third annual Nielsen Automotive Green Marketer of the Year Award, which was presented this week (November 29, 2012) at the Los Angeles International Auto Show Press Days.

Toyota won by leveraging their effective Prius family ad campaigns as well as their social media events to vault to the top. More than half (53%) of respondents were aware of Toyota’s green marketing initiatives. In addition, Toyota’s campaigns helped cultivate their strong green enthusiast base which drove the most positive online sentiment among the nominees, surpassing the Auto Average by 64%.

Awareness graph. Image Credit: The Nielsen Company
 
The Nielsen Automotive Green Marketer of the Year Award recognizes the automotive manufacturing brand that made the greatest strides in gaining consumer awareness and positively shifting consumer perceptions for the automotive industry’s environmentally friendly marketing initiatives. Other finalists for the award included Ford, Honda, Chevrolet and Nissan.

Methodology

In order to determine the finalists and winner, Nielsen leveraged three research studies to incorporate awareness levels and perceptions across media types. The studies included:

• A custom survey of nearly 2,600 consumers’ cross-media awareness and perceptions of environmental messages by automotive brand
• Response data from 6 million viewers of national television advertising collected by Nielsen’s ad effectiveness measurements service, focusing on green automotive ads
• Measuring social media “buzz” sentiment within green-related discussion threads, based on over 115,000 social media messages

Auto manufacturers that ran any national TV ads with green themes between October 2011 and September 2012 were eligible for consideration.


** Article first published as Nielsen Awards Toyota as 2012 Automotive Green Marketer of the Year on Technorati **

General Motors Stockholders Vote To Change CEO Nov. 6, 2012

Mitt Romney at the North American Auto Show in 2008. Image Credit: theweek.com - Bryan Mitchell/Getty Images

General Motors Stockholders Vote To Change CEO Nov. 6, 2012

In an age of government takeovers and crony-capitalism, the citizens of the United States are uniquely connected as partners in business.

Today, a poor earnings/profit report was released just six days before a national election is scheduled to take place - the election for President of the United States.

The poor earnings/profit report was released by General Motors, which was taken through bankruptcy in a process that greatly damaged trust throughout the investor and business community ... a Federal Government takeover.

This action changed the ownership of one of the largest manufacturing enterprises in the world from one based on free enterprise to Government and organized employee Union ownership. General Motors reported a drop in profit of 12% and in most business environments this would be a great cause for concern.

As forced stock holders, every American citizen owns a piece of the company and the de facto CEO of the company is the President of the United States.  

This excerpted and edited from Businessweek -

GM 3Q profit falls 12 pct
By Tom Krisher - AP - October 31, 2012  

A turnaround in South America and a rosier outlook in Europe helped push General Motors shares up in premarket trading Wednesday, even though the company's third-quarter net profit fell 12 percent.  

GM said it earned $1.5 billion from July through September, down from $1.7 billion a year earlier, as European pretax losses widened and North American profits fell.  

But South America swung to a big profit and GM posted better-than-expected results internationally outside of China.
[Reference Here]

This Associate Press release reprinted in Businessweek, however rosy, hides the fact that if we, as stockholders, are dis-satisfied with the direction of earnings and profit at General Motors, we can change the CEO November 6, 2012.

We can keep a community organizer, lawyer, law school lecturer (not teacher or professor), and current 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama as the CEO of General Motors ...

 ... or we can vote for an incredibly successful businessman and turn-around specialist who was born into the family of CEO of American Motors - George Romney, CEO, 2002 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee - Salt Lake City Olympics, and the 70th Governor of Massachusetts ... Mitt Romney as CEO of General Motors.

The choice seems pretty easy ... what say you?    


** Article first published as General Motors Stockholder's Vote To Change CEO Nov. 6, 2012 on Technorati **  

Power To The Online People

Internet Buzz Words: Micro Blogging, Web 2.0, Technology, Connectivity, Social Networks, facebook, twitter, Marketing, Media. Image Credit: vpkillazz.com

 Power To The Online People

Where were you when news of the tsunami hit Japan in 2011?

 How about when Michael Jackson died?

Probably online, according to many experts who claim that social media has become the main media source for hundreds of millions of people. Not just in the U.S., either; Facebook alone has more than 900 million users spread across the globe as of 2012.

Other social media giants like Twitter have facilitated revolution against unjust leaders and warned people of impending natural disaster. In fact, so many people regularly interact online that if the Internet were a nation, it would exceed the Americas, Europe and the Middle East combined in population.

No wonder more than 13 million members of the online community used Reddit and other media platforms to protest SOPA, a proposed Internet censorship bill. Keep this graphic in mind next time you log on, because knowledge is power — and a little knowledge goes a long way in the Internet Age.

Power to all the people who communicate and become informed ... ONLINE!

[ht: graphic created by - Open-site.org]

New Media Communications Strategies For Small Business Awareness & Growth

From Facebook to Twitter, blogging, YouTube, LinkedIn, and more, discover the new principles of communication that apply across all networks and how these specific social networks work and their possible inherent uses for your organization. Caption & Image Credit: Saginaw Valley State University (svsu.edu)

New Media Communications Strategies For Small Business Awareness & Growth

Ever since the advent of Microsoft Windows in the mid-nineties, which made the computer as a mode of communication more accessible to most everyone, people have been trying to figure out how to leverage its communicative power to have their business interests grow. In other words ... How can one use New Media communications to make money and have their businesses grow to meet the needs of more potential customers?

The next layer that has developed over these last one and a half decades are programs that help people to connect with additional ease to share interests, ideas, information, and just plain communicate on a broader field more quickly. This layer is called social media, and when used properly, social media can help a growing business boost brand awareness, improve customer relations, garner market research, even bolster sales. As the number of people who use social media rises, many marketing experts believe it’s essential for even the smallest of companies to consider developing a strategy to utilize this resource.

The worst effort a small business can put forth in this arena is to enter the world of New Media communications without a focus or a plan upon which the small business can leverage its limited resources to take advantage of the many social media communications opportunities that exist. As always, a business desires to place in motion a plan that will have a great chance at success, otherwise, why bother ... just run an ad in the local paper which fewer people bother to purchase, let alone read.

Logging on to a computer just takes a few clicks to potentiality connect one with thousands of business contacts and customers ... in addition to setting up networking strategies, business owners can use social media to glean useful insights by reading comments made by customers, industry experts, even competitors.

THE BURGER WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING. Research shows that one cannot live on burgers alone. That's why we offer a wide selection of chicken sandwiches like the grilled or crispy Avocado Chicken Club. Think of it as a Smashburger's equally awesome partner in crime. Image Credit: Smashburger Master LLC

This excerpted and edited from the Tucson Citizen -

Small businesses use social media to grow
by Laura Petrecca on Feb. 16, 2012

Hamburger chain Smashburger has become a smash hit, growing from three Denver locations in 2007 to 150 outposts nationwide. And while its Angus-beef burgers and unique toppings have helped to propel its success, its secret sauce is social-media outreach.

Smashburger offers coupons and trivia contests for its 67,000 Facebook followers, replies to questions and complaints on its Twitter and Facebook profiles, and actively reaches out to bloggers who might write about the new Smashburger restaurants opening in their areas.

“The brand was really built on social media and PR strategies,” says Jeremy Morgan, senior vice president of marketing and consumer insights. “Social media is an opportunity for us to engage with consumers and have a conversation, which is different than paid media, when you’re just shouting through a bullhorn.”
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“Everybody should take a look at it,” says Dan Galbraith, owner of marketing support company Solutionist and a National Small Business Association board member.

“Whether they chose to jump into social media or not is a question that only they can answer,” he says, but all firms should at least explore how social media could work for them. “There’s a lot of good information floating out there,” he says.
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A time investment

It takes dedication to achieve social-media success.

“The common misconception about social media is that it’s free,” says Morgan. “Facebook and Twitter accounts are free, but for small business owners in particular, time comes at a premium.”

To keep from feeling overwhelmed, business owners should decide how much time they can dedicate to this burgeoning arena, says Galbraith. Some may need to hire social-media help.

Either way, business owners should first set goals, he says. For instance, an owner might want to increase store traffic by 20% by offering coupons via Facebook or another social-media site. Or a business-to-business company could plan to reconnect with 10 former clients and re-establish solid relationships in the next three months.

The goals should be clear-cut, but as many business owners have learned, the initial strategies might have to change.
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Consistency counts

While marketing experts advocate joining the social-media conversation, most say that doing it poorly — such as combining personal and professional updates or not posting information consistently — is worse than not doing it at all.

“Consumers won’t stick around, and you won’t get much traction,” says Morgan.

There are some basic social media tenets to keep in mind, says Sabina Ptacin, co-founder of ‘Preneur, which provides tools and resources for small businesses.

She first suggests that business owners “baby step it out,” to see what feels comfortable to them and is do-able. Those who can’t contribute on a daily basis might want to hold off on creating a public profile.

“You can’t post once a week and think it’s going to make an impact,” she says. “You need to constantly be contributing, definitely every day.”
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She counsels social-media users to think of it as circulating during a cocktail party.

“I always tell people to pretend that they’re at a party and (act) how they would behave,” she says. “No one wants to talk to the person who is always talking about themselves. … They want you to ask them questions and engage in conversations.”
[Reference Here]

A business should also understand that the communicative strata of social media is as varied as there are concepts and interests held by humans themselves. Most are aware of social platforms as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the like but many could gain from understanding other social communications platforms such as SodaHead, Pinterest, Google+, Stumble, as well as other syndicated message and image sharing environments.

A business must decide what niche(s) it speaks to, and can participate in upon which they can contribute so as to receive the benefits of engagement. A well placed pebble thrown into a pond sets up a communications wave that can reap incredible benefits ... social media environments are just well placed ponds for well placed communications pebbles.


** Article first published as New Media Communications Strategies For Small Business Awareness & Growth on Technorati **