The CEO Game

• 24May

  El Presidente’s New Groove

  Technology, Web What is Your Opinion?

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hired 200 people to tweet for him.

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez must believe it’s about time he spreaded his influence over the web. Otherwise he would not have hired 200 people to manage his Twitter account. That’s right, two hundred. The man who only several months ago claimed that Twitter users are terrorists, is now one himself and by the looks of it he is taking the social network by a storm.

  

  Now On Twitter

  According to the BBC and additional sources, Chavez whose popularity is rising fast, has over a quarter of a million followers already, just could not handle the constant stream of messages, or tweets if you prefer, he was receiving and had to turn to help from the “pros”- a team of professional correspondants who specialize in public relations.

  However, while many celebrities, politicians and other public personas on Twitter have a bunch of people tweeting and posting stuff on their behalf as well as basically managing their accounts, 200 people doing these actions has to be one of the largest and most impressive dedicated teams (recorded that is). Perhaps even bigger than Barack Obama’s team or the Dalai Lama’s.

  So why the need for such an immerse team? Well, Presidente’ says that he has received over 50,000 messages since he’s created his account two weeks ago. At this rate, it is clear he can’t answer all of them alone and still have the time to be president. But setting up a Twitter account in order to spread his message doesn’t come as a surprise- Chavez has already daily speeches broadcast on all stations in Bolivia, but guess that was not enough.

  While It’s not hard to criticize Chavez who is basing his dictatorship slowly but surely, it took him only a short while to realize the power of Twitter and now he using it in full throttle- connecting with the people and spreading his influence. In spite of the fact that only 30 percent of Bolivians have an access to the web, it looks like many of them enjoy the opportunity to have the leader within reach (even if it isn’t him after all). Chavez claims only a low percent of the messages so far were critical, but he handled them swiftly. Guess that is just one more Twitter account Obama is going to stay clear of.

  Omer Shachnai

  The CEO Game.

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  Tags: Hugo Chavez, Social network, Twitter

• 16May

  Getting Your Dream Job In 6 Dollars

  Marketing Comments Off

  A New York resident has found an original way to address executives in the marketing industry and even get himself his dream job.

  Alec Brownstein, a New York resident that searched for a job in the marketing industry, had bought sponsored links, using Google’s Adwords , which valued in 6 US dollars. The advertisement had appeared on the first pages when people searched for the names of several marketing executives. So when those executive had searched their own name in Google, the first link they have seen was Brownstein’s message, asking for a job.

  Out of 5 executives, four of them had invited him for an interview, two had offered him a job, and today he is working in one of the leading advertising agencies in New York City.

  Ailon.

  The CEO Game.

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  Tags: Google Ads, Job Searching, Marketing

• 09May

  First Hotel to Offer In-Room iPads

  Economy 2 Comments

  Can’t get enough of the iPad? Now you can get it on your next vacation. The next time you hop off to the Britain, whether on a business trip or you just fancy making some quirky photos with the royal guards, you might want to consider booking a night at the Berkeley hotel in London. Why you ask? The luxury Londonian hotel is offering an iPad for guests staying in their master suites, for a mere £2,000 a night, which is a bit over 3,000$ US in case you wondered.

  

  The Berkeley hotel

  The Berkeley, a classic- yet contemporary hotel, located in the heart of Knightsbridge, which comes with recommendations by past clients such as Madonna and Mischa Barton, is bragging that as “the official UK launch of the iPad (is) still not upon us, you can be sure that our guests will be amongst the first to experience the delights of this new innovation”. The last weekend marked the introduction of Apple’s latest must-have device in all the hotel’s suites: the Berkeley, Conservatory and Chelsea suites. The iPads are offered for reading the daily newspapers as well as visiting the surrounding attractions as chosen by Berkeley’s concierge. They will also be pre-loaded with a range of games and videos. Guests will be shown how to use the iPad at check-in. The hotel says it plans its own apps by the end of the year.

  To be frank, it is actually not the first hotel to have iPads, but it is the first one to offer an in- room iPad service. This comes after another hotel chain, the InterContinental, started using iPads in the hotel lobbies all over the world (London, New York, Honk Kong and more) to give directions to nearby venues.

  As desperate as some Apple groupies may be to start messing around with the iPad, we do hope they realize that buying one, when they would be available worldwide, would work out cheaper than staying even for just one night at the Berkeley hotel- no matter how soft their pillows may be or its proximity to Harvey Nichols. Anyways, it was just about time somebody pulled the pad.

  Omer Shachnai

  The CEO Game.

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  Tags: Apple, Berkeley Hotel, iPad, tourism

• 05May

  Your Government and Google

  Technology 1 Comment

  Ever wondered just how many times your government has requested Google to remove content or to provide user information? Well, Google’s new Government Request tool does just that. The newly launched service shows exactly how many times, governments from around the world approached Google with these ’special’ requests and how often did Google comply. In the age where government censorship of the web is growing rapidly: from the blocking and filtering of sites, to court orders limiting access to information and legislation forcing companies to self-censor content. Here is a more transparent look around these government requests.

  

  Google

  It’s no surprise that Google, like other technology and telecommunications companies, regularly receives demands from government agencies from around the world to remove content from their services. However, data about these activities has never been broadly available and now it is out there for everyone to see. The figures which are currently shown, are based on information gathered during the second half of 2009. Google promises they will be updated every six months.

  Brazil is currently leading the board with almost 4000 requests, in both date and removal requests. However, experts suggest Brazil’s stats probably rank so high because of Orkut’s extraordinary dominance over there. Falling behind Brazil, you can find the US in the second place with over than 3500 data requests and 291 removal requests between July and December of last year, some 80% of which Google complied with. Germany, India and South Korea also rank high in removal requests with 188, 142, 64 accordingly. Amongst the top five in data requests you can find UK with 1100, India with 1050 and France with 850 requests.

  On the contrary, Canada made ‘only’ 41 requests for data and only 16 removals: 43.8% of removal requests fully or partially complied with (1 Blogger, 2 Groups by court order, 1 Web search, 12 YouTube). Israel had even less: 30 data requests, under 10 removal requests (20% of these complied with). China is also protruding country, in the sense that its details are the only ones not shown. Google said “Chinese officials consider censorship demands as state secrets, so we cannot disclose that information at this time”. Many countries were left out since they had too little requests to begin with.

  Google points out, the “vast majority” of these requests are for legitimate legal purposes, one obvious example is tracking child pornographers and additional online crooks such as con-artists, spammers and more. Despite of this, as more and more information “goes online”, the line between what is a legitimate request and what’s practically invasion of privacy, becomes more and more blurry. The Google tool doesn’t drill down any further (behind jurisdiction sums) into the numbers (some requests revolve several sites and there are some repeating requests) and in removal cases how often they were complied with, buy hey, it is a start. Many human rights activists hope this move, will lead governments to think before digging for people’s personal data or attempting to censor their opinions.

  To sum it up, Google said it best on their blog “we hope that this is just the first step toward increased transparency about these actions across the technology and communications industries”.

  Omer Shachnai

  The CEO Game.

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  Tags: Censorship, Google, Government, Search Engine

• 03May

  Did Obama Have an Affair?

  Uncategorized 1 Comment

  Obama- not only state affairs: Has President Barack Obama been cheating on his wife with Vera Baker? A celebrity gossip newspaper, claims it has got evidence that while running for senator, United States President, Barack Obama spent the night with one of his campaign’s aide. The “National Enquirer”, a yellow tabloid, which also revealed Senator John Edwards’ cheating scandal, is the one behind this shocking allegations. The publication claims that Obama and Baker, his former employee, stayed together in a hotel in Washington DC and that a “security video” could expose the whole thing.

  

  Barak Obama

  The woman standing in the midst of the scandal, is 36 years old, Vera Baker. According to the tabloid, she has raised millions in campaign contributions for Obama when he was running for the US Senate, in 2004 and they grew close ever since. While Vera Baker insists that nothing has happened between them, the Enquirer claims it has got two “incriminating” pieces of evidence- a video that proves that the two spent the night together and an anonymous limousine driver claiming he drove Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous with the President.

  The limo driver says he drove Baker “from a friend’s home in the DC area to the Hotel George where I learned later that Obama would be spending the night”. The driver also recalled “to the best of my knowledge she did not have a room at the hotel and she was not staying there so I thought that it was a bit odd”. He drove them around the city and finally he claims that around “10:30 pm, I drove them to the hotel and they went in together! My services for the evening were done”, and in addition “there was absolutely no indication she was going to leave the hotel that night”. They also claim the driver has been paid off to remain silent about that night.

  Moreover, the Enquirer claims “on-site hotel surveillance video camera footage could provide indisputable evidence. Investigators are working to obtain the tape”. “If the tape surfaces, it will explode the scandal”, they conclude. The paper says the driver’s “testimony” was independently corroborated by investigators and that they now believe that the couple spent the night together there, in spite of the fact that they didn’t see the tape at all. The paper also says political activists who oppose Obama are offering $1 million for information confirming the affair.

  As aforementioned, the National Enquirer previously exposed John Edwards’ scandal who cheated on his wife with Rielle Hunter. At the time people thought he got intentionally smeared, but look how that turned out. But, you are right, there is a difference between him (a second tier candidate running for presidency) and an actual President in office. Finally, we suggest not to believe the Obama tale, at least not without any real evidence. However, don’t think something like this can’t happen just because it is the President, remember, for a short while, American also gave Bill Clinton the benefit of the doubt.
  Omer Shachnai

  The CEO Game

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  Tags: Barak Obama

• 27Apr

  Hollywood Sign to be Turned into Hotel?

  Economy What is Your Opinion?

  Whether you have been to Los-Angeles or not, you are surely familiar with the city of angels’ famous landmark- the Hollywood sign. The sign has been standing for over 87 years since its debut as an advertisement in 1923. Unfortunately, the future of the sign, is not so clear and now the Hollywood sign is in danger. All the surrounding lands are up for grabs and luxurious houses may take the Hollywood hills over soon. The Hollywood Sign Trust, a non-profit organization is putting in effort to try and stop this but some other entrepreneurs have a different idea in mind: turn the sign into a hotel.

  The Hollywood Sign is located in the Hollywood Hills are of Mount Lee in L.A, California. The sign spells out the name of the area in 50 feet tall white letters stretching over 200 feet across. Although the sign is well known and recognized all over the world and has attracted its share of tourists over the years, some claim that the sign is not- “all that” and it is just plain painted plywood that looks huge and majestic on the silver screen, but in reality is quite small and miserable according to them. That is the reason why the Danish architect Christian Bay-Jorgensen, wants to turn this sign into what he thinks that everyone really wants- an hotel.

  Moreover, Bay-Jorgensen wants to transform the sign to a boutique hotel that will have the same shape. But he won’t stop there, his vision includes wrecking the entire sign and the surrounding area and building it from scratch only this time, double the size. He believes by doing this he will create a sizzling hot location which will bring in rich tourists and Hollywood celebs, located right at the heart of Tinsel town. Finally he thinks that his idea would make the sign better for everyone, since it will bring in more cash, create more workplaces, create the next best thing for L.A’s night scene, all while everyone else would be able to see it from a greater distance.

  However, it seems many people are not in favor of the new idea. They claim that making the landmark bigger, will ruin the view for everyone: it will block the sight from on top of the hills as well as create an ugly real estate monster, disproportional to its surroundings. Another group of people, object the creation of an hotel because in their minds, creating an hotel over the ruins of the sign, is another sign for the city’s gloominess and carelessness- turning everything into a matter of cash. In addition, environmental issues are also taken into consideration since creating such an ambitious project requires infrastructures (and a whole lot of them) which will destroy the surroundings and natural habitats of wild animals.

  Omer Shachnai

  The CEO Game.

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  Tags: Hollywood, Los Angeles, Real Estate

• 24Apr

  Facebook and Beyond

  Technology, Web 1 Comment

  On Facebook’s new move which just might change the Web as we know it.

  Facebook wants it all: the popular social network is expanding and seeks to take over the Web. As the first day of Facebook’s annual “f8″ developers conference got underway this Wednesday in San Francisco, Facebook revealed its plans to take over the entire Internet. The means: integrating its social networking service into all websites and deepening the connection between the Web itself to its users. In short: Facebook will be wherever you look, whenever you look. A revolution?

  

  Puts people at the center

  After making an entrance which is reserved only for rock stars, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg got down to the business of explaining what their plans are all about. He then rolled out a bunch of changes that are all apart of an “unavoidable evolution” in people’s interactions, activities, events and interests all folded into their online identities who follow them all across the Web.

  The crown jewel of the new Facebook platform is what Zuckerberg likes to call the “Open Graph”, “the most transformative thing we’ve ever done for the Web”, according to him. “Today, the Web exists as a series of unstructured links between pages,” said Zuckerberg, whose social network boasts more than 400 million users around the world. “The open graph puts people at the center of the Web”.

  The concept, is basically to map out user behavior across various corners of the Internet. He explained that this can be achieved by using information gathered from a user’s general online behavior. Thus creating “a smarter, personalized Web that gets better with every action taken”.

  He then gave the example of a Facebook user who clicks on a news story in CNN and then automatically sees which of their friends liked that piece. In addition, a Facebook member could visit Pandora (an online radio station) or ESPN online and instantly share “likes” or “dislikes” about the song being played or game news with their friends in Facebook. “Pandora will start playing music from bands you have liked all across the Web,” Zuckerberg said. It’s a revolution in the way we experience the Web, everything is interlinked and any page can become a de facto Facebook page.

  Moreover, Facebook vice president of engineering Mike Schroepfer believes the move could turn websites into digital age versions of “Cheers”, the old TV comedy show set in a bar where everyone knows each other. “It’s like Cheers, the bar where everyone knows your name,” Schroepfer announced.”People can have instantly social and personalized experiences everywhere they go”, Zuckerberg added.

  Facebook’s move is a strike at their competitors (like Web searching giant Google) who constantly fight for people’s attention and advertising bucks. Zuckerberg said that Facebook seeks to benefit by strengthening bonds people have to the social networking service. “The more people use Facebook the stronger the bond”, he added.

  Finally, the new tools have one downside- they could mean less and less people will visit the Facebook site itself. “How do we create a world where when we show up anywhere our friends are there?” Facebook vice president Chris Cox asked rhetorically. “Our answer is an open platform and to give these tools to developers”. A one which just might change the Web as we know it.

  Omer Shachnai

  The CEO Game

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  Tags: F8, Facebook, Internet, Mark Zuckerberg, Open Graph, Social Networks

• 20Apr

  Next iPhone Found Lost in a Bar

  Marketing, Technology What is Your Opinion?

  Another one of Apple’s notorious gimmicks or a spoof? A prototype of the new, yet to be released IPhone 4G had been found stranded alone in a bar in Redwood City (San Francisco Bay Area), California. It seems an Apple employee had forgotten the phone either accidentally or deliberately in the bar and Gizmodo, a trustworthy and familiar site was able to obtain it. According to Gizmodo, they have dissected the phone and found that all the internal parts and components were clearly labeled as Apple and not a knock off as many believed. So has Apple done it again?

  

  iPhone 4G

  The first analysis shows that the device contains new components. These new parts found, may suggest that the new IPhone is not just like the previous 3GS, only suited up with a new case, but more. So, without further ado, here are the big additions: A new front-facing camera (will probably enable video chat), an improved regular back-camera (they claim the lens is noticeably larger than the old one), camera flash- a feature many Apple groupies yearn for quite some time now.

  Moreover, the device has a slot for a Micro-SIM instead of a standard SIM (just like the one the new iPad uses), the guys at Gizmodo also claim the forgotten device has improve display (it’s unclear if it’s the 960×460 display thrown around before). In addition, there seems to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, on top of it, next to the headphones jack. The volume button has been splitted into two different buttons. The volume button as well as the mute and power buttons got a new metallic look.

  What’s changed? Well for starters, the back of the phone is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. An aluminum border going completely around the outside. Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution). The phone has a new drastically different exterior- a more “squared off” look. Now you have a thinner body, with no wasted space and lots of hard lines. The phone is 3 grams heavier too. The phone’s batter is 16% Larger, while other internal components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for it.

  Unfortunately, they claim the phone had been remotely disabled by Apple, so no one was able to test out the new features on it. Whether it is true or not, the entire story seems too good to be true anyways, and it would come as no surprise if it was just another one of those publicity stunts, Apple is so famous for. When connecting the phone to a computer it behaves exactly like an iPhone does when it is plugged, with the proper boot sequence and “connect to iTunes” restore functionality. Maybe a sign of its authenticity. However, the Firmware cannot be loaded, since it is tied to the device model, and in this case there is no firmware yet for the 4G.

  Why do they think it’s real? The people at Gizmodo said that after playing around with the phone for a week “the overall quality feels exactly like a finished final Apple phone—and after disassembling this unit, there is so much evidence stacked in its favor, that there’s very little possibility that it’s a fake. In fact, the possibility is almost none”. What the feeling like? “Freaking amazing. As a person who never really liked the round mound of a back in the 3GS, the sleeker, flatter, squarer design is super welcome. It feels sturdier than the 3GS, and much less plastic. The metal buttons give it a heftier feel—less of a toy—than all previous generations”.

  Currently, It is rumored Apple will officially announce on the IPhone 4G in June, so this “gag” could be getting close to a final retail model. Up until then it is all speculation on if this is real or not. If it is real, either Apple did it intentionally, or perhaps one of Apple’s employees could be looking for a new job. And what do we say? Out with the old and in with the new.

  Omer Shachnai

  The CEO Game

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  Tags: Apple, iPhone, Marketing, Mobile market

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