michael burns rosenthal http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com Most recent posts at michael burns rosenthal posterous.com Thu, 10 May 2012 09:55:00 -0700 Win an iPad 3 from Rocket Lawyer http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/129831019 http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/129831019
My company is looking for photos of real people of people. If you send your photo in, you get a chance to win an iPad. Everytime one of you, my friends, sends in a photo, I also get entered to win. If I win, I'll invite you over to play Angry Birds on it.

Follow the directions in the note below if you want to enter.

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Here's your chance to be famous!  My company will be featuring the faces of everyday people on our site and I think your face should be there.
All photos received by May 15th will be entered in a drawing to win a new iPad.

To enter your photo, all you need to do is:

1. Take a friendly photo of yourself from the shoulders up, looking right into the camera.
2. Email your photo to: mediamgr@rocketlawyer.com
3. Include your name, phone #, and where you live (City & State)

That's it!  

Thanks for your support!
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About Rocket Lawyer:

At Rocket Lawyer, we believe everyone deserves easy and affordable legal services. Since 2008 we've helped over 20 million families and small businesses find the best solutions to their legal matters -- so they can focus on what really matters. From free legal documents to discounted rates with outstanding attorneys, we're here to help every step of the way. For more information on Rocket Lawyer, please visithttp://www.rocketlawyer.com 

 

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Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:28:48 -0700 New iPhone audience http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/new-iphone-audience http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/new-iphone-audience

P55

With each new release, Apple attempts to reach a previously untapped audience. With the iPhone 4s an Siri it appears to be... Hitmen.

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Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:52:31 -0700 Steve Yegge: Hero or Hack? http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/steve-yegge-hero-or-hack http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/steve-yegge-hero-or-hack The vacuums and tubes of the internet are pumping overtime today to keep up with buzz regarding Steve Yegge's not so internal post to Google ranting about the companies lack of understanding about what makes a platform. He makes some salient points and compares the tech giant to another: Amazon. Steve paints an unflattering portrait of his former employer, Amazon and Bezos, but he admits even they understood the concept of "platform" and SOA. Something that Google just doesn't get, in his opinion.

Many have been quick to defend Steve as a hero who spoke truth to power. His "reply all" moment (Steve claims his post on Google+ was intended for an internal Google audience, but he accidentally marked his post public) exposes Google to scathing criticism regarding their current products and strategy. He calls out many of the employees and managers for being clueless in how Facebook is eating its lunch. Oddly, Google has also come out smelling like a rose for not removing Steve's post (he himself has removed it, but allowed others to keep it up).

A few however, have dismissed Steve as a hack whose rant not only slings mud at Google and Amazon, but Microsoft and Facebook as well. That he clearly stepped outside the normal channels of Google's command structure, which is rumored to be one of the most open for a company of its size, to make his claims. Also, that his written argument reads like the angry rambling of a man with one foot out the door. He maintains his commitment to the company, however, and claims the purest of motives. Either way you slice it, a fascinating read: http://bit.ly/nGsM5n.

What do you think: Hero or Hack?

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Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:21:00 -0700 A long strange work history... http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/a-long-strange-work-history http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/a-long-strange-work-history

When talking about my work history, people are amused when I explained that I went to work for a web agency start-up that went through a variety of mutations and eight years later we were running a NASCAR social network. The chronology goes something like this: the web agency started during the end of the dot-com boom and went out of business in 2001. We all went to work for our biggest customer, who then spun out the group into a new web agency, which merged with another one. While at this company we started a white label social tools company. We sold off the original web agency to focus on one of the social networks we launched - the NASCAR site. Two of us made the entire trip over the 8 year period.

I recently ran across and old colleague who I met when we were working at Macromedia. He left Macromedia to go to work for Atomz which was bought by WebSideStory which was renamed Visual Sciences and sold to Omniture which was then bought by Adobe which also bought Macromedia. He now works in the old Macromedia offices in SF.

Any one else got a story?

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Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:48:00 -0700 still here http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/still-here http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/still-here

i forgot this was here...

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Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:29:38 -0800 Great Friends http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/great-friends http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/great-friends There are certain times when you realize what great friends you have. Those who without hesitation will reach out to lend a hand with whatever you need. In today's economic times, people are falling back on those friendships more and more. I was reminded of this again today.

Earlier, I sent out a letter to the many of the people whose path I've crossed throughout the years. The letter explained that a new friend of my daughter's was sick with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. That her father had decided to join Team in Training and ride his bicycle in a 100 mile event this March to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To support him, his daughter and all people suffering from Leukemia, I am joining him on the ride. I reached out to my old friends to ask them to help us by making a donation. Emails and donations have been coming all day. One friend summed up the sentiment saying, "anything for you, dude."

I am touched and I am honored to know so many great people.

Happy Holidays.

-Mike

PS: If you would like to help us raise money, you can do so by following this link: http://bit.ly/gzKhpJ. You can also follow our exploits on the Ride for Roan Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/f66N1d.

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Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:59:09 -0800 Qwiki as Training Tool http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/qwiki-as-training-tool http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/qwiki-as-training-tool I have been playing around with Qwiki for a few weeks (http://www.qwiki.com/). It is a very interesting search tool that organizes the search results into an informational presentation that plays with a time line and text to voice which reads the content findings back to you. It is basically creating a linear presentation out of the non-linear web.

Each time I use it, I think what an amazing training presentation tool it would make. This could definitely become the front end to a self discovery training tool that linked to a learning management system. Rather than building linear training modules, trainers would just populate large wikis of information. This seems to be the next technological step in learner controlled education/training. I look forward to see how it is used once it comes out of Alpha.

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Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:11:39 -0700 Madlibs Pitching http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/madlibs-pitching http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/madlibs-pitching I love this guy (http://tcrn.ch/8YSZMQ). I can't tell you how many meetings I've sat in when people have used so much jargon it made your eyes swim. I found myself thinking like Joe Miller (Denzel's character) in Philadelphia, "explain it to me like I am a three year old," he told witnesses. If you can't explain what you or your company does in simple language, how do you expect anyone to buy your product or hire you?

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Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:48:31 -0700 Flying without a license http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/flying-without-a-license http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/flying-without-a-license NY Times reviews Keith Richards new book, "Life" (http://nyti.ms/bxKnkM). It is filled with the drama, acerbic commentary and chronicles of the most influential rock band ever (dream on Bono). In the end Kieth does get at why it is all worth it: There’s a certain moment when you realize that you’ve actually just left the planet for a bit and that nobody can touch you,” Mr. Richards writes. “You’re elevated because you’re with a bunch of guys that want to do the same thing as you. And when it works, baby, you’ve got wings.” You are, he says, “flying without a license.”

Flying without a license - poetic. How often do you get that feeling? That moment when you feel unattached to the earth, gravity has release you but for a moment. Can this really happen in a cubical in front of a keyboard...? Think not.

Thanks Kieth!

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Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:02:40 -0700 A Piece of String http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/a-piece-of-string http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/a-piece-of-string Last night a friend of E's came over for dinner. While I was preparing dinner, they  made a "kick me" sign (an age old favorite) and a more updated PC version that said "laugh at me". While attempting to tape these on Jenny and I, they kept busting out in laughter. Later at Dinner, I explained to them how the key to a good practical joke is in the "reveal" - that you can't give the joke away to early.

As an example, I told the about the classic practical joke called, "A Piece of String." The short version goes like this: A man is standing on a busy street corner in London holding a piece of string. He stops a gentleman and says, "Pardon me sir, I am surveying this building and I was hoping you might help me for a moment by holding this piece of string." The gentleman takes hold of the piece of string while our jokster takes the other end around the corner of the building where he stops a second gentleman and gives him the same line. He then walks away leaving the two gentleman standing there. For how long he doesn't know, but that is part of the beauty of the joke.

I had been thinking about the piece of string story the day before when I first read about and then saw videos regarding the new movie "I'm Still Here" starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Casey Affleck. Until a week ago it was a documentary based on Joaquin's decision to quit acting and become a rapper. As the cameras followed Joaquin, he starts to unravel in a major way. To the point of a now infamous appearance on Letterman. Well on the eave of the films nationwide release it was revealed that it was in fact a hoax. Not a documentary at all, but a two year, beyond the frame acting experiment.

For me, they have seriously changed the movie, and not in a good way (more Cohen than Kaufman). After playing a part on screen and in public for the better part of two years, they couldn't wait a few weeks until after the movie was in full release or better yet, not tell us at all. They had to let us all know it was a joke, "ha ha everyone". Affleck and Phoenix can justify their decision anyway they want, but in my eyes, they blew the reveal.

-m

Some interesting footnotes:
When discussing it with my cousins, they immediately concluded Joaquin did have a break down and that the "hoax idea" is a cover story.

After telling the kids the story of "A Piece of String", they replied "that's dumb, the whole idea is to laugh at your friends and then with them." Maybe it is generational.

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Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:39:20 -0700 My First Posterous Post http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/my-first-posterous-post http://michaelrosenthal.posterous.com/my-first-posterous-post After shying away from starting another blog, I have finally been forced by the dictates of my profession to start blathering online - usually, I wax moronic for private audiences.

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1199717/whos-this-guy.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4SOaTQkrJqXD Michael Rosenthal Mike Michael Rosenthal