Steve Jobs, a friend, genius and a visionary

by Michal Wurm on October 6, 2011

The world was saddened to learn today that Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc., has passed away. He was 56 years old.

I have never met Steve Jobs. We never exchanged emails or spoke on the phone. But when I learned he passed away today I felt deeply sad as if I had lost a close friend.

I have followed Steve Jobs for many years, he was a true visionary,  an incredible business leader and an inspiration to many entrepreneurs.  I cheered Steve’s triumphs (Returning to Apple, MacIntosh, Mac OS X, MacBook, iPod, iPhone and the iPad), and admired Apple’s comeback under his lead.

Having worked with PCs for over 15 years during the 1990s and early 2000s and knowing them inside out, Apple Mac has been something I occasionally worked on but never intended on buying.  That was until I spent two months fixing my Windows based PC after which I had enough and bought my first iMac.  I never looked back and has been a huge Apple fan ever since.

It was Steve’s genius, passion, attention to detail and hard work that made Apple products successful.  Their devices are so easy and fun to use that now if you talk to an Apple product user, it’s as you were talking to Steve Jobs himself.  His passion seeps through Apple products to their users.

Steve has had a profound impact on the world we live in, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.

Thanks for the amazing products, inspiration, and life lessons Steve. Rest in piece.

To remember Steve Jobs, watch his famous 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University entitled “How To Live Before You Die:”

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Funny airline announcements

by Michal Wurm on October 5, 2011

We all need to have a bit of laugh sometime.  Today I’d like to share with you a few humorous airline PA announcements.  Since I have the honor to work as art director for Airways magazine, aviation and airline industry is something close to my heart. These transcripts are from airliners.net forum and I hope you find them as amusing as I did.  :-)

On landing the stewardess said, “Please be sure to take all your belongings. If you’re going to leave anything, please make sure it’s something we’d like to have.”

“There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane.”

“Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.”

After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced,
“Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted.”

From a Southwest Airlines employee: “Welcome aboard Southwest Flight XXX to YYY. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don’t know how to operate one, you probably shouldn’t be out in public unsupervised.”

In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child pick your favorite.

Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we’ll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Southwest Airlines.”

“Your seat cushions can be used for flotation; and, in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments.”

And from the pilot during his welcome message: “Delta airlines is pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the
industry. Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight!”

Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a particularly windy and bumpy day: During the final approach, the Captain was really having to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what’s left of our airplane to the gate!”

Another flight attendant’s comment on a less than perfect landing:
“We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal.”

A plane was taking off from Kennedy Airport. After it reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement over the intercom, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight Number 293, nonstop from New York to Los Angeles. The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back and relax – OH, MY GOD!” Silence followed and after a few minutes, the captain came back on the intercom and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so sorry if I scared you earlier; but, while I was talking, the flight attendant brought me a cup of coffee and spilled the hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!” A passenger in Coach said, “That’s nothing. He should see the back of mine!”

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Amazing internet statistics marketers should know

by Michal Wurm on August 8, 2011

Why should your business have an active online presence?    Here are a few amazing statistics I came across in the past year.  These numbers really speak for themselves, don’t you think?

80% of all small businesses use internet to conduct business activities.

Source:   OPEN: The Small Business Network

There are over 2 billion videos viewed every single day on YouTube.

That’s nearly double the prime-time audience of all three major US broadcast networks combined.
Source:    YouTube / Mashable.com

Average person spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube

Source:    YouTube / Mashable.com

There are over 750 million of users on Facebook.

If Facebook was a country it would be the third largest in the world, more than twice the population of entire United States.
Source:    Facebook

Offering  e-commerce functionality on your web site means it will be percieved as more credible by internet surfers.

Source:   WebCredibility.org

77% of all businesses believe that a web presence makes them more competitive.

Source:   OPEN: The Small Business Network

More and more consumers are  shifting their consumer spending from bricks and mortar stores to online stores.

Source:   eMarketer

Small businesses who use the internet have grown 46%  faster than those that do not.

Source:   American Business City Journals

Small businesses that blog get  55% more website visitors.

Source:  HubSpot.com

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How to link RSS feeds to Twitter or Facebook

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How to easily setup an RSS feed to post updates automatically to your Twitter account and Facebook pages or profile.

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Marketing superheroes: Valve & Steam Store

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My first post in “Marketing Superheroes” series – Steam Treasure Hunt is an extraordinary example of clever marketing and leveraging existing platform to increase sales and build brand awareness.

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Only a third of NZ businesses have a website

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Study shows New Zealand businesses have been slow in moving online, with only 34% owning a website and 20% selling products and services online.

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Four Tips for Email Newsletter Success

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Email newsletters are a great way to connect with your customers and a great marketing tool. But is your newsletter as effective as it could be?
Here are four tips on creating newsletters that your subscribers look forward to reading…

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Taking some time off

November 12, 2010

It’s been a colourful six months. I took some time off, went to Europe for a month where I had a great time with my folks. I visited seven countries in five weeks. My life will probably dramatically change, because of this trip. I took some great shots like the one of Europa Park here. [...]

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The ultimate Mac setup

April 17, 2010

This post describes why having an Apple / Mac setup is the easiest and most painless solution for business owners and entrepreneurs on a go.

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5 Awesome Social Media Infographics

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Do you want to know what social media will work best for your business? Here are five outstanding social media infographics that get the key data across in easy to understand format.

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