CABLE VERSUS DSL – WHICH FREEWAY IS FASTER?

Last week, I moved my family into our new home in Jefferson City. One of the first things that a tech geek like me had to do was decide on which high speed internet service provider would be the best choice in terms of price and bandwidth offered. My choices were Mediacom Cable Internet service and Century Link DSL service.

It was a tough decision, and I wish it were more clear-cut than it was. But after analyzing the pros and cons of both styles of broadband internet services, one company edged out the other.

In my previous house, my only option was a 1.5mb DSL service. It was horribly inadequate and rarely ran above 0.8mb in speed. But at my new home location, the fastest speed of DSL service was available. I could opt for 10mb service at $39 a month with one line, or even go for the new 20mb bonded line option at only $69 per month. Century Link’s main selling point was the fact that their broadband is not shared among a group of people in a neighborhood, as is the case with Mediacom’s cable internet service. The rated speed that is advertised is the speed you will get alone. This was a big plus. The only negative aspect I could see with the DSL option was the fact that 10mb could be approaching the limit of maximum future speed due to the smaller size of the phone lines which carry the signal.

Mediacom was offering a 12mb service bundled with extended cable for $59 per month, and $79 per month after the first year. This was an attractive price. But once again, the Internet is shared across a group of people in the neighborhood. With everyone using the Internet at the same time, speeds could be lowered depending on how much bandwidth was being downloaded. But the plus side of this was the fact that Mediacom’s highest rating was 2mb faster than the DSL package for one phone line, plus the company plans to raise the top speed to 15mb this fall at no additional charge.

This was a tough decision, but what tips the scale to the favor of the winner boils down to the greater upside potential of cable Internet access. Let’s face it… the “big fat wire” with the copper middle has more throughput potential than the thin telephone line. We are much closer to the maximum amount of data we can cram through existing infrastructure (all things being kept equal) for telephone lines than we are for cable wire.

Something else worth mentioning, the bandwidth speed draw down during peak times for a cable modem is not nearly as bad as what the phone company wants you to believe. As you can see from the picture above, my speed during a peak time today (around 7pm) was 8.3mb. At other times, I run at speeds 11 to 12mb. So clearly this is not a major issue.

I am absolutely excited to have my cable Internet access back again, and I will probably stick with it because it meets my needs. What are your main uses of your high speed Internet access, and which type of service do you subscribe to? What are the pros and cons that affected your decision, and how satisfied are you with the customer service you have received? Sound off below!

Carlton Flowers
Techno Geek

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TOSHIBA LIBRETTO W100 SET TO HIT MARKET IN AUGUST 2010

Is there anyone paying attention to what has transpired over the past few moths with the disappearance of the Microsoft Courier concept tablet device, and the mysterious appearance of the Toshiba Libretto W100? I find this to be very suspicious!

For months on end, we were teased by the prospect of the breakthrough Microsoft Courier (see my previous post and video) with its dual touch screens and proprietary Microsoft touch screen interface that was based on the Surface project. After much hullabaloo, Microsoft announced that they were dropping the project and postponing its introduction indefinitely. This was very distressing news to me.

I had my heart set on this device. This represented the only tablet concept that I would chose over the Apple iPad. I loved the idea of the dual screens, and all of the extras that you don’t get with an iPad. I also loved the concept of the “tuck” feature, whereas a user can transfer pictures and images from two different applications running on either screen by dragging and tucking that image into the fold. Some of the gestures featured on the Courier device, which come from the Surface, are not offered on even the iPad.The operating system was to feature Windows 7. It would have USB, a camera, a micro SD slot, and Adobe Flash capability, which represents a big draw to me as a PC user. All of these features had my mouth watering, and my piggy bank savings were growing in anticipation of an early 2011 release.

But lo and behold, the announcement came forth in late winter of 2010 that Microsoft was abandoning the project for no apparent reason. I was surprised that they would allow Apple, who surpassed them this year in market capitalization, to take center stage and dominate the new tablet market. To my shock, the new Toshiba Libretto W100 dual screen tablet concept was first reported in June of this year. It has striking similarity to the Courier tablet.

Even more surprising, they are planning on an August 2010 release. It has the same display dimensions and basic features of the Courier, all but the pointer device, and even runs on Microsoft Windows 7. Has anyone caught this but me? Are you as surprised as I am that the Courier, which was not due to enter the market until 2011, would come popping back on the scene, somewhat reincarnated, as the Toshiba Libretto? Is this the same device as the Courier, only more of a realistic production version and not vaporware concept?

I’d love to hear your comments if you know more about this than me. I’d also like to know your reaction, if you have been following the whole Microsoft Courier developments. The entry price of this device is supposed to be $1,099, and depending on features, could sell for $1400 on the higher end. This device, in my opinion, would be more useful to me as a heavy PC user who does not want to purchase a laptop or netbook. What are your thoughts? Comment below!

Carlton Flowers
Gadget Geek Supreme

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FORMAL BLOG POSTING VERSUS “GOING NATURAL”

I’ve been reading up on blog posting style. This weekend, I read a post on someone’s blog that basically said you should blog like you talk instead of being too formal. So that is what this post is going to be about, and it is not going to be written in my perfected polished style with proper diction and grammar!

The reason I’m considering this idea is due to the fact that I have hit the proverbial brick wall on blogging. I’ve been at this thing for about 18 months now, and my original goal was to pump out one quality article a week. That turned into one a month. Then I started unloading stuff that I normally make people pay for, and all it has gotten me is frustration, writer’s block, and a lack of income. So instead of trying to make the most blogalicious business blog with all of the finest most well-thought-out business advice and information, I think I’m just going to shoot my mouth off about the things I like, an not worry one bit about how polished and professional it ends up looking!

I started blogging to market myself as a keynote speaker and seminar trainer. I’ve been doing that for about 15 years, and figured this would be a great way to get the word out. I then took a huge liking to Twitter and social media marketing, and decided to change my whole focus as a speaker and trainer to marketing with social media. 18 months and thousands of hours of research later, I have not profited a dime. Sure, I sold 2 or 3 seminar products, and I did have a smashing Twitter Turbo seminar in St. Charles, but I had planned on touring the country on a monthly basis and really taking the training thing to the hilt.

What I have come to find out is that there really isn’t a huge demand for this as of yet. I have an outstanding product for businesses and professionals who want to annihilate the competition using social media, and it saves them countless hours in learning to do so. But the number of people out there who even have the appreciation to understand how good this information is, well, that’s a very small percentage. So what has this got to do with blogging in a natural voice? Well, I’ll tell you…

Up until now, I wanted to make each and every blog post a work of art. I wanted it to have the voice and tone of something you would find in Business Week, or the Wall Street Journal (am I flattering myself?). I didn’t want to let a single post slip through that did not keep me looking 100% professional, for fear that it could hurt my consulting prospects. But being that picky has gotten me nowhere fast. In order for a blog to really do some damage, you need to be posting daily, or at least 2 to 3 per week. And the content has to be top notch. Well that can be exhausting! The question you begin to ask yourself is, “how long am I going to do this free of charge with no feedback?”

I can’t afford to continue doing that. But at the same time, I am a firm believer in the “Go Giver” philosophy (read the book by Bob Burg & John David Mann). If you don’t pay your dues by giving to the community, you can’t expect to extract money from it any time soon. This is a law, not just a rule. So how does this reconcile itself with my issue? I think I have figured that out.

You have to give, blog, write, shoot videos, and do audios about something you LOVE. If it is not something you truly love, you will burn out. I thought I loved the whole idea of social media marketing, but it’s not my passion (I can’t believe I’m actually saying that). My passion is custom automobiles, electronics, gadgets, art, singing, public speaking, entertaining, music, and family. Those are the things that I need to be blogging about! But how in the world will I be able to create a blog that has any consistency when my passions are so widespread? The idea that came into my mind was this: Use social media marketing to promote and advance these areas of my life, and start to build a resume!

The end result is this… I think I would feel much better about my social media marketing advice if I were to speak from experience. If I can say, here’s a couple of businesses that I grew and built by using social media marketing techniques, and here is how you can do that too, I’d be in my groove. There are so many people trying to become marketing experts who have never owned a brick-and-mortar business, and they come a dime a dozen. I am a former business owner (I had 3 stores) and I am about to jump back into the business arena again. This time, I will use social media to promote my business.

In the mean time, I could be blogging about anything and everything that excites me, instead of making perfect well-thought-out polished blog posts once every month or two about social media marketing. It’s going to be hard for me to do this, and I’ll need encouragement. But if enough people tell me, “go off the cuff and tell it like it is, Carlton!” then I’m going to do it! Once I have a few success stories to share, then maybe it will be time to start making “serious” posts again. Until then, this blog could become much more entertaining…

;o)

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IPAD, IPHONE 4.0, ADOBE, & JAILBREAKING

In today’s video update, I want to talk about the iPad, iPhone 4.0, the ongoing battle between Adobe and Apple over Flash and the banning of Flash development tools on Apple devices, plus jailbreaking the iPhone. I really want to hear some of your input, both for and against, on the topic of jailbreaking an iPhone 3Gs with the current operating system. I don’t know whether or not it is truly beneficial since this could possibly lock you out of future operating system updates from Apple. I lean towards not jailbreaking, but I could be swayed to do this if the benefits far outweigh the risks. Chime in!

Carlton Flowers

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APPLE BRINGS BREAKTHROUGH DEVICE FOR A “BETTER INTERNET EXPERIENCE”

For the past several months, I have paid special attention to each and every video that has been released on the topic of the breakthrough internet device, the Apple iPad. Steve Jobs and company have put in several years worth of work developing a paradigm-shifting portable computing device that breaks all the rules of traditional PCs and laptops. The iPad, due to be released on April 3, 2010, will be the first device to tap the “tablet” computing market.

Billed as the perfect halfway product between a smart phone and a laptop, the iPad delivers a “better internet experience” by filtering out all substandard Adobe Flash based video content. Users don’t have to worry about 75% of all video content on the web, nor will they have to be bothered by the plethora of flash-based games and applications. iPad saves the day, and saves the user countless wasted hours of viewing and enjoyment.

The Apple development team has also insured that the iPad will force its users into a better internet experience by removing the bother of picture taking. We all know how many countless millions of hours that people waste uploading pictures to social media sites like Facebook and Flickr. Take that away, and you are left to a highly focused experience on worthwhile websites that count.

The developers also kept in mind that people are bothered by overly-technical devices that have too many plugs and slots. Instead of worrying about reading the instructions to several different peripherals and trying to figure out how to connect them, this streamlined device has made it easy for you by simply eliminating those confusing little plug-in thingies. Users can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they won’t have to figure out how to connect a keyboard, add an “SD Memory” card, or plug in a web cam. But for the advanced users and hackers that do understand the higher-level hardware functionality, they can purchase an extra cord for only $30 to take advantage of their superior peripheral understanding.

iPad is almost here. The excitement is at a high point. In a matter of days, we’ll be able to transition from dreaming to actually taking part in that “better internet experience”.

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist

FREE RESOURCE FOR BUSINESS OWNERS AND INTERNET MARKETERS!

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INSIDER ADVICE ON BUILDING A SOLID BASE OF TWITTER INFLUENCE

I’ve got a special treat for today’s podcast episode! You will actually be listening in on my follow-up advice for the first Twitter Turbo Seminar participants. I taught all of my best insider secrets to exploding your influence on Twitter and ramp up sales by building new potential clients. My goal for the participants is to help them become Twitter “Mavens”, or experts, commanding the respect and admiration of those in the Twitter community.

In this personal follow-up advisement session, we discuss the importance of becoming a Twitter Contributor and how to balance relationship building with business brand building.  It is a delicate balance.  We discuss how a steady frequency of Tweeting can make or break your ability to succeed in your Twitter marketing efforts, and an easy way to keep steady quality content posted to the Twittosphere. An advanced tactic of balancing the friend/follow ratio is explained, and how you can use worthless robot followers/spammers to your advantage. Listen in and get the inside scoop, but keep it a secret!

Questions are welcomed and so are comments. Post them in the section below, and let’s get the conversation started!

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist

Play Now:

 Building A Strong Twitter Influence [10:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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BANDING TOGETHER IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES THROUGH INFO EXCHANGE

We are in the midst of tough times, and I am planning on an information sharing podcast that will help business owners to make smart choices and analyze the market the best they can to survive until we break through to economic growth. While I help many Missouri manufacturers, contractors, suppliers, producers, and other businesses with technical regulatory assistance, I am often asked how other businesses are surviving and what my assessment is of this economy.

Many of the business owners want to know if there are any indications of a turnaround, or if the market as a whole has at least “bottomed out”. I always make it a point to ask the facilities that I am helping to share with me how they are doing financially, and how their sector is as a whole. I have spoken with people from a wide variety of sectors who have key knowledge from their experience that could help others assess their situations and also help them make future decisions.

The sharing of information in this manner among business owners is not common. However, when asked, I have found that many business owners and industry leaders are very excited about sharing this kind of information to help each other. What I have learned is that a particular bit of insight into what is going on within one niche or sector may be very vital and useful to those involved in related markets or even in completely different sectors. That is what motivated me to put this information together in a form that can be shared by many.

When times get tough, people are much more willing to stand together as a whole to help each other survive. During high economic times, sharing valuable information and market insight is often discouraged in order to protect one’s “trade secrets” or competitive advantage. That’s why I am so surprised and touched by the willingness to share on the part of the business owners that I have spoken to. This episode of the CZ Marketing Report will foreshadow some of the interviews and information that I will have for you in the coming months, and I truly believe that any business owner, no matter what sector they are in, will stand to benefit tremendously.

Post your comments about this episode below, and stay tuned for developments on the coming interviews.

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist
(573) 893-9498

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GETTING BACK TO THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF TWITTER MARKETING

In today’s podcast episode, I’ve decided that I need to get back to the basics of Twitter marketing for business owners and sales professionals. The night I recorded this podcast, I received about 25 new follows on Twitter from various marketers and business owners. 25 out of 25 of these new business followers were absolutely failing the test of grabbing my attention and engaging me. I saw so many basic violations of fundamental Twitter marketing, I decided I needed to devote an entire podcast to the basics of Twitter business marketing.

In this 10-minute podcast, I give several examples of some of the things you do NOT want to do if you are a business trying to make an impression on the Twitter community. When you violate some of these fundamental marketing rules, you turn people off. It can be hard, if not impossible, to reverse the effects of a negative first impression. With that in mind, it is very important for you to take heed to the advice given in this podcast if you are new to Twitter marketing. I hope you find this helpful, and as always, if you have any questions or would like to comment on the topic, you are welcomed to share your input and opinion on the blog post below!

For my local friends in Jefferson City and Columbia, Missouri, don’t forget about my free audio CD offer for February, 2010. I’m giving way copies of my social media marketing seminar CD entitled “The Seven Secrets of Revolutionizing Your Business Through Social Media Marketing” just for the asking. Contact me via Twitter or just give me a call to request your copy, and I will personally deliver it to your place of business. If you’d like, I will even shoot a video interview and feature your business on my blog!

Excited about your success in marketing,

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist
(573) 893-9498

Play Now:

 Standard Podcast [10:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AUDIO INSTRUCTIONAL CD OFFER!

For the rest of the month of February, 2010, I will be giving away a copy of my instructional audio CD entitled “The Seven Secrets of Revolutionizing Your Business Through Social Media” to any local Jefferson City, Columbia, or Central Missouri area businesses and sales professionals that ask! This audio instructional CD is valued at $29.95, and will help you charge up your marketing efforts using low to no-cost methods. You will not want to miss out on getting this information! The ideas, tips, and strategies presented are very simple to understand and even easier to implement. If you are a business owner, sales professional, organizational leader, or even elected official, this is something that you will have an immediate use for.

Here’s some of what you will learn in this 7-part program:

• the single most critical marketing factor that will cost you your business edge if you don’t pay attention to this marketing trend
• the undesirable result of not taking action if and when your competitors learn of these before you do, and what you must do to stay on top in your field
• how to hack down your advertising & marketing budget, and replace it with something that gets measurable results
• the low-cost and highly effective alternative to “grapeshot marketing”
• a new free service that the majority of households are now discovering and accessing while you continue to dump money into “Stonehenge Media” sources
• a new trend that most large businesses have not discovered that is becoming the most effective form of advertising and brand-building
• a new way to increase your exposure and add potential clients in rapid-fashion like never before

All you have to do to land this valuable information is to contact me via Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/carltonf) or by calling me at (573) 893-9498 and I will be glad to hand deliver a copy to your place of business. I will even post a picture on my blog and include your business name for added exposure! So don’t delay… once the special offer is over, I will have to charge the regular price to continue producing the CD’s. Contact me now, and I will look forward to seeing you at your place of business!

To your success,

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist
(573) 893-9498

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WILL THE RECESSION ELEVATE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN 2010?

“The Great Recession” has brought hard times to businesses in just about every sector, and has everyone re-thinking and re-prioritizing business expenses and operating strategies like never before. During economic “high times”, waste abounds. But during tough times, deep thought is put into every aspect of business. Couple this with the fact that we are seeing a trend where more and more people are moving away from television and traditional media, and we have a problem worth paying attention to. As a result, companies think twice before dumping the usual amount of cash into traditional media marketing and advertising.

Unless a certain traditional advertising method is tried and tested and producing positive results, it’s risky business to throw large amounts of cash at new untested marketing ideas. However, testing new concepts and ideas can now be done relatively free of cost through social media communities. And the good news? There’s a huge audience waiting on sites like Twitter and Facebook to participate in your marketing and advertising ideas.

High levels of participation can normally be achieved, and the success of testing the market in this manner is due to the insanely large percentage of people participating in social media communities. Just today, it has been reported that Facebook alone has registered 400 million users worldwide. This figure is up 50 million from the last estimate I read just one month ago. Another staggering statistic is the fact that 50% of the registered users check in on a daily basis. This creates an enormous opportunity for businesses.

The goal in advertising and marketing is to get your message and/or brand in front of as many people that you can, and to engage your audience accordingly. Common sense would tell you to take your message where the majority of the people are gathering and paying attention, which just happens to be Facebook and Twitter. Does it make sense to spend advertising dollars in a declining media market? Of course not. That’s why social media marketing is making more sense by the day.

That gets me to my main point. I see social media marketing becoming a cost control measure in the coming year as companies and agencies slash budgets vehemently to survive. Pulling money out of the declining traditional media outlets and doubling down on social media marketing is a complete common sense cost cutting strategy that we are already seeing, but you can bet your bottom dollar that it will become a strong trend in 2010.

Have you observed an increase in the use of social media for marketing purposes among small businesses, corporations and government agencies in your area? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist

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