Blog for Massachusetts Technology Corporation

Writing a Social Media Press Release

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

A good article on the dynamics of writing a press release specifically for social media...

Back in the day, press releases were the primary means of communication between business enterprises and the media. However, the advancement of the internet has made the traditional format of a press release less effective as journalists, press members and readers crave small chunks of succinct details that incorporate social media, linking and multimedia to make it more digestible and relevant. Compare this to the multi-page press releases that dominated newsroom fax machines in the past and it’s pretty clear that the way information is assembled and received has changed.

If you’re used to traditional press release formats its evolution to social media press release (SMPR) won’t be too much of a challenge. Knowing what to include and how to format your SMPR will be a big help in securing media and blogger coverage for your brand’s news and happenings.

Myspace Revived with Social Messaging Makeover

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

MySpace is still alive, which may not be surprising, but the fact that it's alive and kicking is a bit of a shock: It's due to give a sleek revamp to its hideous profile pages, and has bought Threadbox to rejig its social messaging skills.

The news about a revamp to MySpace's profile pages first came via a tweet from a MySpace executive, but then MySpace confirmed it via a short statement: "We're testing a new look and feel of our site among users" it noted, adding that clients seemed to like the changes thus far. "As always, we're interested in hearing feedback from our community as we roll out enhancements to the user experience and look forward to sharing more details with you in the coming weeks" is a much more exciting phrase to read, though, as it points to a more thorough revamp en route.

The new changes seem to simplify and de-clutter the typical MySpace home page style, add in a Flickr gallery connection and some social networking functionality. It's all extremely welcome to those Netizens who find MySpace's current pages to be a visual disaster fit to terrify one's optic nerve into shutting off (I'm among this list) and it both adds a professional sheen, and brings MySpace more into line with Facebook's and Twitter's fairly strict control over how your data appears on their social networking systems.

See the entire article at Fast Company.

House strikes gift ban in effort to boost business

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Reversing course on a new law aimed at diminishing the influence on doctors of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, the House on Wednesday voted to strike the so-called gift ban law, which critics say has hurt commerce in the medical and restaurant industries.

An amendment to preserve the ban attracted 40 votes, with 108 against. The elimination of the gift ban was included in economic development legislation that cleared the House 145-4 and now needs to be reconciled with a Senate bill in a conference committee.

Critics of the ban said it was discouraging out-of-state interests from doing business in Massachusetts and said the ban had not led to demonstrable reductions in health-care costs. Supporters of the ban said the state had already heavily invested itself in implementing it and needed to give the law more time to work itself out. Ban supporters also said other states were pursuing similar bans and predicted the law could help reduce health-care costs and ensure that the interests of patients, not drug and device makers, are the top priority for physicians.

Speaking against the ban were Reps. Garrett Bradley, Brian Dempsey and Barry Finegold. Pushing to preserve the ban were Reps. Alice Wolf, Ruth Provost, Jason Lewis and Elizabeth Malia.

See the entire article at Mass High Tech.

Hospital CIOs confused over e-health records rollout standards

Thu, 1 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Eight out of 10 hospital CIOs recently surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said they're concerned they will not be able to demonstrate "meaningful use" of electronic health records (EHRs) -- and therefore won't qualify for federal reimbursements for rolling out the technology.

Ninety-four percent of CIOs in the survey released Tuesday said they are concerned they can't meet government requirements about how to report meaningful use of EHRs, and 92 percent are concerned about a lack of clarity in the criteria used by the government.

Last year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) set aside $36 billion to help hospitals and doctors purchase equipment to computerize patient medical records, but even the most sophisticated hospitals in the country are struggling to qualify for the payments, PwC's study indicated. Clinicians and hospitals that deploy the technology and prove that it meets a set of government "meaningful use" standards showing it's being effectively used can receive up to $44,000 per doctor in reimbursement funds beginning next year.

A 275-bed hospital, for example, would be eligible for about $6 million to defray IT costs.....

See the entire article at InfoWorld.

Massachusetts shows it's a leader in Health IT

Mon, 17 May 2010 04:00:00 GMT

As Massachusetts gets ready to deploy federal and state funds to set up a health information exchange (HIE) to link electronic medical records across the state, companies are clamoring to be a part of the action.

“There is definitely a gold rush out there,” said Marshall Votta, director of government affairs at Cambridge-based NaviNet Inc. The company, which is best-known for providing billing and administrative services, is expanding to add clinical data exchange to its arsenal. The company has offered its Web portal free to each of the 50 states, and its business model relies on payment from insurers per transaction, not providers...

...

...Massachusetts was awarded $11.5 million by the federal government to implement an HIE, but has not received the funds as of yet. The state must first file a completed plan for the HIE and officials at the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) said that they expect to issue RFPs to potential vendors in 2011. The state also has $12 million in state funds that were part of an original appropriation of $25 million two years ago. Budget cuts reduced that figure to $15 million, and so far $3 million has been spent to set up the administrative entity charged with establishing the statewide HIE, called the Massachusetts e-Health Institute. The state has until now been part of a partial exchange — that doctors pay to subscribe to — called the New England Health Exchange Network.

See the entire article at Mass High Tech.

MTC's Trainerquest unit a top-5 training provider in New England

Fri, 7 May 2010 04:00:00 GMT

MTC's TrainerQuest unit is listed as one of the largest IT Training Providers in New England by Mass High Tech. We've gotten here because of our focus on effective training development, delivery and e-learning services. Contact us today!

See the breakout of the largest IT Training Providers here.

Two N.E. health-care IT firms land stimulus funding

Wed, 5 May 2010 16:07:00 GMT

Health-care information technology efforts have won a $220 million shot in the arm from the Department of Health and Human Services, and a pair of New England companies have carved out a combined $28.7 million of that stimulus money. Rhode Island Quality Institute in Providence, R.I., was awarded $15.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems in Brewer, Maine, was given $12.75 million.

See entire article at Mass High Tech.

Have Sunshine Laws Left Companies in the Dark?

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:57:00 GMT

The federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act. State disclosure laws in Vermont and Massachusetts. More disclosure laws in possibly dozens of other states in the near future. It’s enough to make a compliance department throw up its hands and leave the hassle to a third party—which is exactly what many pharma companies are doing now or plan to do in the future, according to a new study conducted by Cegedim Dendrite.

The respondents—56 professionals working in the compliance departments at their respective pharma/biotech/medical device companies—expect that the farming out of this data collection will increase the cost of aggregate spend reporting and compliance over the next year. But most have little choice, as this wave of legislation seems to have caught them with their pants down.

See entire article at PharmExec.

MTC has created several apps that allow pharmaceutical and device companies to manage, track, report on, and process payments to medical professionals. Contact us today to see how we can help you

Dude, where's my phone?

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:54:00 GMT

Hold onto your hats (and phones) folks. This story has so many layers to it. Is this a real iPhone prototype? Would you have tried to find the real owner, or taken the $5,000? Most importantly, isn't all PR good PR?

Gizmodo says official letter from Apple proves the lost iPhone it paid $5,000 to obtain is the real deal. The iPhone 4G prototype -- at least, that's what Gizmodo assumes it is -- was reportedly found by an anonymous bar-goer.

See entire story at InfoWorld.

The Innovation Index touts Mass. as global R&D leader

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:00:00 GMT

This year’s Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy was released today, and in it the John Adams Innovation Institute for the first time compares the Bay State not only with other innovating states in the U.S., but with other countries. The result? Massachusetts leads the nation and the globe in patents per capita.

Massachusetts also sits in the top seat among all states and the leading R&D countries for the amount of research and development done as a percent of its gross domestic product, according to the institute, which is part of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. As it has for years, Massachusetts also ranks No. 1 in Small Business Innovation Research awards per capita, receiving $227 million in federal SBIR funds for proof-of-concept research and prototype development.

When it comes to fundraising, Massachusetts is holding its own against the rest of the nation. The Index shows that, while the rest of the country saw a 57 percent drop in the dollar amount raised by venture funds, Massachusetts companies saw only a 35 percent drop in the amount of funds distributed to them by VCs.

See entire article at Mass High Tech.

Is Java on its Last Legs?

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 13:30:00 GMT

An interesting article appeared in InfoWorld this week...

Jeet Kaul, Oracle's vice president for client software, thinks Java suffers from an image problem: It's attracting the wrong crowd. "I would like to see people with piercings doing Java programming," he said at last week's EclipseCon 2010 in Santa Clara, Calif. But if Kaul is hoping Java will once again attract youthful, cutting-edge developers, as it did when it debuted in 1995, he may be in for a long wait.

Java has evolved from a groundbreaking, revolutionary language platform to something closer to a modern-day version of Cobol. In just 15 years, it has moved beyond maturity into a silver-haired stage of staid dependability. Java offers stability, not agility; reliability, not innovation. It's the language of large, enterprise software projects, ones that link legacy systems and promise high availability.

Click here for full article at InfoWorld.

The Future of Health Care is Social

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:35:00 GMT

Health care is a personal issue that has become wholly public--as the national debate over reforming our system makes painfully clear. But what's often lost in the gun-toting Town Hall debates about the issue is a clear vision about how medicine could work in the future. In this feature article, frog design uses its people-centered design discipline to show how elegant health and life science technology solutions will one day become a natural part of our behavior and lifestyle.

See the entire article at Fast Company.

Is Google more powerful than the Obama administration?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:23:00 GMT

The spat between Google and the Chinese government has been rumbling along for weeks, but just now it's been elevated to "fist fight" status: The inevitable strongly-worded Chinese warning about "consequences" has arrived.

The warning came today from the Minister of Industry and IT, Li Yizhong, who was speaking to reporters at the annual National People's Congress meeting. Li was, of course, diplomatic about the matter and noted that the government does actually support Google in its efforts to "expand is business and market share in China."

But then the gloves came off: "If [Google] violates Chinese laws it would be unfriendly and irresponsible and [it] will definitely be responsible for the consequences." This is the most direct threat yet toward the global search engine giant, and highlights that the Chinese government is not going to budge one millimeter from its official legal position. If Google, for whatever reason, decides to stop censoring its search results which it currently does to comply with the strict Dark Ages-style active censorship laws the Chinese demand, then China will simply snip off access to Google, and really won't care about the matter.

See the entire article at InfoWorld.

Ex Sun Micrsosystems CEO isn't going silently

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:13:00 GMT

The former CEO of Sun Microsystems has taken to his personal blog, provocatively titled "What I couldn't say...," to dish some industry dirt and tell his side of the story about the demise of Sun. He has already hinted at plans to write a book, and a new post Tuesday suggests a tell-all tome could indeed be in the offing.

Read the entire article at InfoWorld.

IT adds 25,000-plus jobs so far in 2010

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

IT employment grew by 0.37 percent, or 14,000 jobs, in February, one of the strongest month-to-month gains since 2008, according to the TechServe Alliance, an IT services industry group that analyzes U.S. Labor Department unemployment data. In January, IT employment increased by 12,900 jobs, TechServe Alliance reported.

While IT employment still remains some 200,000 jobs below its 2008 peak of 4 million jobs, this statistical climb out of the hiring abyss is backed anecdotally. "I am seeing a lot more demand out there," said Scott Archibald, managing director of Bender Consulting, a Houston-based management consulting firm. "As a general trend, I would believe what the numbers are saying at this point."

See entire article at Infoworld.

Massachusetts Health IT is Rolling

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Massachusetts has pulled in $25.6 million in federal funding for work in health information technology, according to an announcement by Gov. Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation.

The funding will be divided so that $15 million supports electronic health records implementation and $10.6 million will be used for a secure health information network to be built in Massachusetts.

See full article at Mass High Tech.

TJX: What if it hadn't happened?

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Albert Gonzalez, the man accused of hacking into major retailers such as TJX Cos., Hannaford Brothers Co. Inc. and 7-Eleven plead guilty today in Boston district court. It's been a long-road for him to come to justice, and it makes us think about how things would be different had that "major" hack into TJX's servers not happened. How long would it have taken for something like PCI compliance to happen?

That singular event was the major catalyst behind PCI compliance and the need to secure data relating to credit cards. In many ways, it was an after-thought before.

From Mass High Tech:
Accused of conspiracy in the hacking attacks on payment systems supporting companies such as retailers TJX Cos., Hannaford Brothers Co. Inc. and 7-Eleven, Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, today pleaded guilty to the final charges against him in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Federal prosecutors said that Gonzalez, who allegedly controlled servers that gained access to the corporate servers and then gave information to hackers that would use malware to launch attacks on the victims, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy on an indictment issued in New Jersey, which involved breaches at Hannaford and Heartland Payment Systems. He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges brought in Boston and New York, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of a plea agreement, Gonzalez won’t seek a prison sentence of less than 17 years, and prosecutors won’t seek a term of more than 25 years.

The Department of Justice said that the co-conspirators stole tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers affecting more than 250 financial institutions.

Is your data lost in time?

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

I saw this incredible story about an innovative way to recover lost data. If your hard drive fails, put it in a freezer for an hour.

WHAT???!!!

Seems it works...

See the entire story at Infoworld.com.

Lawrence General Hospital: A beacon of e-health success

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Lawrence General Hospital's Dr. Neil Meehan credits an electronic system, ED PulseCheck, sold by Wakefield-based Picis Inc., with reducing ER wait times by more than 30 minutes. The technology has saved $600,000 this past year in transcription services for dictated ER medical records and brought in $5 million in additional revenue.

See full article at Mass High Tech.

What are the odds of a semantic web?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

A local Massachusetts company is putting down odds that they can make a go at it in the Semantic Web (sometimes referred to as Web 3.0):

What are the odds of being struck by lightning? Bitten by a rabid dog? Run down by a bus? Audited by the IRS?

Book of Odds Inc., a Boston company set to launch publicly tomorrow, is answering questions like these using semantic search — a technology long touted as ‘Web 3.0.’ On the semantic web — so the idea goes — search engines and applications will know what users are looking for, much in the same way humans understand one another based on context and other cues.

Instead of changing the face of computing technology, Book of Odds has a narrower goal: untangling the perplexing probabilities at the heart of human anxieties and dreams. For example, the odds of delivering twins are 1 in 31.1 — but how does that compare to something I can understand a little better?

See the full article at Mass High Tech.

Massachusetts Scavenger Hunt

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:44:00 GMT

The history of innovation in Massachusetts will be turned into a game on Oct. 9, in an effort to raise funds for Bay State charities. The game, a citywide scavenger hunt, will be driven by the technology behind Scvngr Inc. of Boston.

Information on the game, which kicks off at Boston City Hall Plaza at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, can be found at the new site for the game, www.questforinnovation.com, also developed by Scvngr. The game will run for two hours, and organizers are hoping to draw teams from companies and organizations that are part of the modern innovation economy.

See entire article at Mass High Tech.

Do-it-yourself health care can mean savings

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:59:00 GMT

In the national debate over health insurance reform, Republicans and Democrats appear to agree on one thing only: the country needs to reduce the cost of health care.

The effort at cheaper care has seen waves of high-tech ideas, from Internet-based medical exams to autonomous robot care devices in the home. But a handful of Boston-area companies and organizations have gotten more traction by applying a mundane principal of e-commerce: pass on tasks and responsibilities to the customer.

See full article on Mass High Tech.

Mass Tech Corp named to Inc. 5000 list of America's Fastest Growing Companies

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:50:00 GMT

Hold the presses. Stop the paperboy. Wake the kids. Call the neighbors.

MTC was named the Inc. 5000 list of America's Fastest Growing Private Companies. We're really proud of this achievement and based on the company we're keeping in this list, things aren't all doom and gloom in the economy.

Our Press Release

Is the Bubble Ready to Burst on Twitter?

Tue, 4 Aug 2009 15:04:00 GMT

With all of the press about Twitter, and its model squarely focused on advertising, marketing, voyeurism and immediate gratification, one has to wonder if the model can sustain itself.

A new service offered by Twitter allows sponsored tweets by selected advertisers, and (about time) Twitter has recently developed methods to combat the increasing amount of spam and junk found on the site and its distributed messages.

Unlike Facebook, we're still not sure if this is a real technology platform being developed, or another internet fad (remember ICQ?)...but the last year has brought an explosion in user traffic - monthly minutes of use grew 37-fold from April 2008 through May 2009 - and a growing role in disseminating news and organizing social and protest movements, from the streets of Tehran to a swimming pool in Huntingdon Valley (Philly.com).

Facebook: Who you know; Twitter: What you know

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:00:00 GMT

A recent study by TubeMogul found that users clicking onto videos links sent via Twitter spend significantly longer watching those videos than those arriving from Digg or Facebook.

With Facebook, you are more likely to know the person posting the link, but maybe your friends don’t post interesting links. Facebook video links get one minute and 14 seconds of viewing.

For video links shared via Twitter, however, users spend a full minute and 38 seconds watching them.

Why? Because Facebook focuses on who you know, while Twitter focuses what you know.

See full article on Social Media Today.

Microsoft and Yahoo Teaming Up to Take Down Google

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Microsoft and Yahoo struck a long-anticipated search deal Wednesday under which Microsoft's Bing search engine will power Yahoo's search site, and Yahoo will sell premium search advertising services for both companies.

...Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo sites, but Yahoo will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business, in particular its display advertising. In fact, each company will continue to maintain its own separate display ad business and sales force...

...Yahoo's sales force will have direct relationships with both companies' premium search advertisers, while the self-service ad platform for both companies will be Microsoft' AdCenter, which will continue to set prices for the automated auction process. Compensation for Yahoo will come through a revenue-sharing agreement based on traffic generated on Yahoo's network of owned and operated as well as affiliate sites...

It's been a long-awaited deal as both companies have struggled to default the 10,000 pound gorilla (Google) in both areas where it's king -- search and online advertising. Curious if this will work at all, since I recall both Yahoo and Microsoft trying this before.

So far, no one's been able to defeat Google. We'll see.

See full article on InfoWorld.

Digitas Expands Health Unit in Boston, London

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Digitas Health, a unit of digital marketing agency Digitas, has new offices in both Boston and London, the company said Monday. Digitas Health Boston will be located within Digitas’ Boston-based headquarters.

“The health care system worldwide is being revolutionized by digital channels that change the very nature of how pharmaceutical companies and brands relate to patients and doctors alike. As budgets shift rapidly to favor these new channels, our clients are pushing our work across borders at an increasing pace,” said David Kramer, CEO of Digitas Health, in a prepared written statement.

See full article on Boston Business Journal.

Skyscape bought by Physicians Interactive; moving HQ to Massachusetts

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:48:00 GMT

Marlborough MA-based Skyscape Inc. has been acquired by Physicians Interactive LLC of Illinois, a competitor in the delivery of medical information via mobile devices.

See full article at Mass High Tech.

Skyscape’s SmartLink technology is available on Palm OS, Palm Pre, BlackBerry, iPhone, Symbian S60, 3rd edition (Nokia), Windows Mobile and Windows powered desktop and Tablet PCs.

How much is mobile healthcare worth?

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:15:00 GMT

A recent article on Mass High Tech introduced a unique take on calculating value of healthcare dollars spent.

Oriol, who is dean of students at the Harvard Medical School and an obstetric anesthesiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is co-founder of the 17-year-old Family Van mobile health clinic in Boston. While mobile clinic staffers could talk anecdotally about how their programs have profoundly affected the lives of disenfranchised people, they had no hard data to prove how nontraditional programs could provide effective services for hard-to-reach populations and show how much money those services save...

...To prove the effectiveness of a mobile health program such as the Family Van, Oriol and her team developed an algorithm to calculate the ROI of a typical mobile clinic based on published data that quantifies the value of traditional prevention practices and the value of preventing unnecessary emergency department visits.

“Real data from real emergency room visits showed that an unnecessary emergency room visit cost the system $900,” said Oriol. “There are real costs associated with unnecessary emergency department visits that are often avoided through mobile health clinics.”

Full article on Mass High Tech: ROI algorithm calculates value of mobile health care

Microsoft Reveals SQL Azure Database Plans

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:14:00 GMT

Microsoft today unveiled pricing details for its Azure services platform, alongside the news they'll make its Azure public cloud platform available for free until its Professional Developers Conference in November.

A Summary:
» Windows Azure is a cloud OS that can be used to build applications.
» SQL Azure is a cloud-based relational database.
» SQL Azure is $9.99 for up to a 1 GB relational database, and $99.99 for up to a 10 GB relational database.
» Three subscription modules are available: consumption-based, subscription-based and available soon, volume pricing for existing enterprise customers who want to move into the cloud.

More information on Windows Azure and SQL Azure.

Massachusetts Takes Lead in Quest to Digitize Medical Practices

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:14:00 GMT

According to John Halamka, chief information officer at CareGroup Healthcare System, “The average use of EMRs in the US is between 2 and 20 percent. In Massachusetts, we’re somewhere between 30 and 50 percent, so we’ve had a fair degree of experience with what works and what doesn’t work.’’

Halamka is cochair of a committee that will help Blumenthal determine a sort of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for electronic medical records - essentially, what features do they need in order to be government-certified.

Full Article On Boston.Com: State helping to shape US efforts to digitize health records for all

Massachusetts won influence because Harvard economist David Cutler was the primary architect of candidate Barack Obama’s healthcare plan. “Cutler sort of dreamed up the idea of spending $50 billion or so on healthcare IT as part of Obama’s platform, when Obama wasn’t likely to win,’’ says David Williams, a consultant at MedPharma Partners in Boston. “That number became the basis for the dollars in the stimulus bill.’’

. . . .

“All of a sudden, doctors are talking about EMRs, and Barack Obama is giving them, essentially, a 20 percent-off sale price for the next four years,’’ says Jonathan Bush, chief executive of athenahealth. Athenahealth’s business today mainly involves helping doctors manage their billing and other back-office functions, but about 1,000 physician practices are using the publicly traded company’s EMR offering.

Will Myspace Survive

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:41:00 GMT

A recent eMarketer report says that ads are climbing at Facebook, at the expense of competitor Myspace.

Article on Business Week

U.S. advertising on social networks will drop 3%, to $1.1 billion, in 2009, led by a slump at MySpace, eMarketer says. At the same time, Facebook's ad revenue will grow 9.5%, to $230 million. MySpace's ad revenues are expected to fall more than 15%, to $495 million, and its share of the roughly $1 billion market for social network advertising will slip about 7 percentage points, to 43%. Facebook's will rise 2.3 percentage points, to 20.2%.

Over the next two years, the growing number of marketers flocking to Facebook will fuel an ad rebound, according to eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson. "In 2010, as we start to come out of the recession, Facebook has all its guns going, and marketers will be putting more social media in [their budgets] where it makes sense," she says.

While the United States accounts for the majority of ad spending on MySpace and Facebook, non-US spending is growing rapidly at Facebook, according to Williamson, who estimated that marketers will spend a total of $520 million to advertise on MySpace worldwide in 2009, down 14 percent from 2008. Worldwide spending on Facebook, by contrast, is expected to grow 20 percent to $300 million in 2009, she said.

Article on Washington Business Journal

The shift underscores a rough patch for MySpace, which just axed 30% of its workforce. And the site lost its lead over Facebook in U.S. visitors in June.

Facebook Fan Page: Turn Visitors into FB Fans

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:27:00 GMT

On Wednesday, Facebook introduced the Facebook social widget. It allows website owners users the ability to put a little piece of their Facebook profile (or one of their company or service pages) into their website.

You can configure it to:
- Show your Facebook fans/friends
- Read recent posts from your Facebook page
- Let visitors to your website become a Facebook fan with one-click.

This is what MTC's Fan Page would look like. It could be integrated right into our site:

MS Access and Outlook Connections

Wed, 8 Jul 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Database Journal recently published a series of articles/how-to's on how to extract data from Microsoft Outlook and send that data into a Microsoft Access database (as well as the reverse).

From Database Journal:
- Working With Outlook from Access
- From Access to Outlook

The steps do require some programming skills, but I've tried these steps and they work quite well. Could be useful if you want to connect your Outlook Inbox with a custom-made CRM system, or if you wanted Outlook to be automatically updated with calendar or contact items from a database.

Paperless health care? A hospital's long journey

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 04:36:00 GMT

By the best count, only 1.5 percent of the nation's roughly 6,000 hospitals use a comprehensive electronic record.

Even that statistic belies how hard it will be for health care to jettison its 19th-century filing system by 2014, the federal government's goal — despite the $19 billion that the economic stimulus package is providing to help doctors start. It took Children's seven hard years and more than $10 million to evolve a system that lets its doctors check on patients with a few mouse clicks from anywhere and use speedily up-to-date records in directing their care....

From Google News/AP: Paperless health care? A hospital's long journey.

...A study in the New England Journal of Medicine this spring named hospitals' top two reasons for not going digital."

When you walk into a hospital, you're like, 'Whoa, I'm back in the 1970s,'" said lead researcher Dr. Ashish Jha of the Harvard School of Public Health. Younger patients growing up with the speed of e-mail and now Twitter "are shocked."

It's not just the equipment's price tag. Administrators find the cash to buy new MRI machines or build new hospital wings, said Dr. David Blumenthal, the Obama administration's new health IT director.

Studies show electronic medical records, or EMRs, can greatly improve the quality of patient care and reduce errors. Children's has seen medication errors drop 45 percent since it started automating in 2002. But hospitals won't necessarily recoup their investment, because a patient who goes home sooner means lost revenue.

"Our health care system has not valued quality and efficiency," said Blumenthal.

So Congress added a stick to the carrot of the stimulus money: Health providers that aren't digital enough by 2015 will start losing Medicare dollars....

...Building an EMR doesn't just mean buying software and flipping a switch. It physically changes how doctors and nurses work, a disruption that Harvard's Jha sees as key to even tech-savvy doctors' resistance.

Open Source Meets Healthcare

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 00:27:00 GMT

From Forbes.com:David Whiles, CIO of Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas discusses how his hospital basically used free software available from the Veterans Administration to convert the hospital to electronic medical records. Initially shocked by the sticker price of a commercial EMR system ($18-$20 million at the time), they researched and implemented the VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) system, which for all intents and purposes...is available for FREE from the Federal Government.

Asked if there's a study that shows how much they've saved from an efficiency standpoint, his response was, "We've gone through a return on investment analysis. Our legacy systems went away. The money required for paper storage has gone down close to 100%. Electronic storage is a lot less expensive."

Privacy, Please

Mon, 6 Jul 2009 04:02:00 GMT

If you've been following the press on Social Media/Web 2.0, you'll know there are big changes in store for Facebook users.

Some of you are avid Facebook users, some are “considering it” and others hate the very thought of creating a Facebook profile. But we all know people who use Facebook. They might have information about us or pictures of us in their profiles. So, whether you use Facebook yourself or your friends have information about you online, now is the time to take some time/make an effort to maintain your privacy.

In the early 90s, when everyone was abuzz about the "World Wide Web" ...marketing people had a large impact on its development. Great thinkers knew that we could leverage technology to create a virtual marketplace. No doubt, it has worked wonderfully. We're now in the next wave of marketers exploiting technology: Web 2.0. The internet is a quick and easy way to mine vast amounts of marketing data. Soon, everything you post/share/upload, etc. will be available to marketing folks.

So, in my humble opinion two things need to happen (specifically about my information):
1. Decide what you want to share. Since it will all be visible, you need to decide what your "online persona" is going to be (it's got tremendous value professionally!!)
2. Know everything you can about protecting your privacy!

Sure, a lot of folks already know this. But I am writing this up because it's important to share this kind of information, especially with folks who are less aware (and especially those people who have information about me!).

Below are some links and instructions for protecting your own (AND YOUR FAMILY/FRIENDs’) privacy online.

Do you play games? Do the quizzes? Send cocktails and flowers? There's an app for that.
Facebook Authorized Applications

This link takes you to all of the "applications" that you've authorized for Facebook Developers. What does AUTHORIZE mean? It permits the Facebook application (and thus its developers) to go through your entire profile. It also permits full access to every one of your confirmed friends’ profiles. Conversely, if your friend authorizes a lot of applications, they are permitting those developers to see your entire profile if you’re their confirmed friend. Most applications should be removed. And, pay attention to your friends: if they take a lot of quizzes, play games and send gifts, you can be sure the people and companies behind those applications are looking at your profile content.

Take it one step further!
Check your Facebook privacy settings.

If you don't have this set (at least!) to the very minimum level of security, you're allowing any application your FRIENDS use to pull in your personal info, including your personal photos! Think about this the next time you want to do a quiz or send virtual gifts. When you authorize an application, you're authorizing that application to pull all of your (and your friends') information.

It might seem like I'm beating this to death, but take a look at the NYTimes article about Facebook privacy.

This article explains that Facebook is moving to make all of its content PUBLIC! Why? Because marketers and data miners are dying to get their hands on this slew of demographic and "emotional" data. It also means that anyone who "Googles" you will be able to find your profile and every personal detail you decide to share online.

And, while you’re at it …

Take some time and manage your privacy settings. You will want to set most of this to "only friends." Edit ALL of your application settings. Use the drop-down box and edit all settings.

Thanks for listening to me from my soapbox today. Please share this with others -- especially your Facebook "friends".

Thanks for reading!
Kiersten

What's Your Contingency Plan?

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 03:50:00 GMT

Today, a fire in Authorize.net's datacenter shut down their credit card processing capability.

Authorize.net is one of the largest credit card processors used by online website vendors, and without an ability to process credit cards these merchants can lose thousands of dollars per day in lost sales. Most news is sketchy, but a few comments on bulletin boards focus around the surprise there was no contingency plan in place. This is one of those examples that you don't realize you need a contingency until it happens!

As of noon ET, the payment gateway's site was down as well as their ability to process cards. Reports say they're targeting 1PM ET for their servers to be back up.

9 SEO Tips For Search Engine Optimization

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 05:18:00 GMT

One of the best articles I've seen on basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques with some great examples.

9 SEO Tips for Attractive Search Engine Friendly Web Design

- For the most part, meta tags are irrelevant
- Use links and anchor tags to your advantage
- Don't underestimate the value of great design
- Look at how the site will read without the benefit of Javascript and CSS
- Use hashmarks and bookmarks to your advantage
- Use SEO friendly Javascript
- Don't put your most important keyword-friendly content in Flash
- Use CSS image replacement to your advantage
- Don't forget about the navigation in your footers.

Are Open Source Databases Gaining Steam?

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 22:24:00 GMT

As a developer of databases using enterprise packages such as SQL Server, Oracle and (the once-upon-a-time open source) MySQL, I've seen databases claiming to be the death of behemoth databases. But with the inaugural get-together of the burgeoning NoSQL community as well as several of the largest websites using home-grown databases (Facebook and Amazon to name a few), I'm thinking this may just happen at some point.

Infoworld: Anti-database movement gains steam

Is this a good thing? Not sure. But I'm excited to see what happens and most importantly, how well these other tools will connect to my website!

Social Media For Your Company

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 05:00:00 GMT

A well-written article by Mass High Tech discussing the different social media options for your company.

Mass High Tech: Recipe for Social Media Success

An interesting tidbit of information I wasn't aware of: Twitter's largest demographic is 35-to-44 year olds. No wonder the huge potential seen by marketeers.

Physician Payments Sunshine Act Stalled in the Senate

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 04:00:00 GMT

PharmaTech reports that the Physician Payments Sunshine Act has stalled before the Senate Finance Committee and may or may not come to fruition in 2009.

From PharmaTech Magazine...

The Physician Payments Sunshine Act is still pending before the US Senate Committee on Finance, according to Jill Kozeny, communications director for Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “There are ongoing discussions about a possible bipartisan finance committee healthcare-reform bill,” Kozeny told Pharmaceutical Technology. “A comprehensive health bill may ultimately include the sunshine legislation, but there’s no agreement on an underlying proposal at this time,” Kozeny said.

If passed into law, the Act would require makers of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and biological drugs to publicly disclose their payments to doctors that exceed $100 during the calendar year. A registry of the payments would be posted online, and companies that knowingly failed to report the information would face penalties as great as $1 million. The Act would also require quarterly reports about physicians’ ownership or investment interests in manufacturers of drugs and devices.

MTC has worked with several clients to build web-based systems that log, capture and process payments for speaking engagements, preceptorships, proctors. These companies are in a great position should this Federal legislation ever pass, especially since some states (including Massachusetts) already require reporting of marketing-related payments to healthcare providers.

If you're a pharmaceutical company and make marketing-related payments to healthcare providers as speakers and experts:
Our experience from these states is that a very short time window exists from a bill's passing to the information reporting being required. If your organization doesn't have a system in place to capture and report on marketing-related payments to healthcare providers, you're likely to struggle to get one enacted in time.

We suggest you build it now as this bill most likely will pass at some point in the future.

Microsoft to Sell Razorfish Ad Agency

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Big news in the digital marketing and interactive space. Reports are swelling that Microsoft will be selling Razorfish Media, a brand many analysts once saw as Microsoft's future in social media.

From Forbes: Microsoft to Sell Razorfish

Rumors say that Publicis is considering the purchase.

Has Our Infatuation With Michael Jackson's Death Gone Overboard

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Interesting statistics were released following Michael Jackson's death:

- 30% of Twitter's volume was related to Michael Jackson's heart attack
- Yahoo set an all-time single daily high on the day of his death
- Facebook was the leading source of information about his passing
- Jackson’s Wikipedia page logged 1.8 million visitors on Saturday, compared to its daily average of just 20,000.

From Mashable

Facebook to Back-off on Privacy Settings

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In a surprise move, Facebook announced they'd be removing several well-known default privacy settings. These changes should be popular to marketers looking to mine information, but could risk alienating users who joined Facebook because of its strong privacy reputation.

From NY Times: Facebook removes default privacy settings

Since Facebook was launched, the following items could only be seen by "friends" by default:

- Status Messages
- Photos
- Videos

That's changing now. We'll wait to see the reaction by the public.

Media Executives Do Have a Conscience!

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 20:42:49 GMT

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
~ Henry Mencken

Thank God!

News Corp. has canceled plans to publish a controversial new book by O.J. Simpson titled, "If I Did It," and an accompanying Fox network television interview with the former football star, the company said on Monday.

News Corp. Chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch said in a statement that he and senior management decided that "this was an ill-considered project."

No kidding Rupert!

I've generally avoided being too critical of media executives since (1) I can choose what to watch; (2) Though we continually deny it, they generally give us what we ask for: voyeurism, drugs, violence, and sex (hey, I didn't say I was complaining).

But giving this guy the microphone was going one step too far, and I'm glad we won't have to see him on TV (at least for now).

I wonder if Bill O'Reilly's (the uber-objective "journalist") rant that he'd boycot any company that advertised on this show was the clincher.

Oh wait, doesn't he work for the same network? I'm sure he would've gladly given up his paycheck.

Yuh, right.

Hot Avatars, Virtual Worlds, Dick Daffodil

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:58:32 GMT

"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... you're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you." ~ Keanu Reeves, from The Matrix In my search for the answer to life, a friend of mine sent me to an interesting and relatively new virtual world on the web called SecondLife.com. Though it may sound out there, SecondLife has been creating quite a bit of buzz lately from marketers, advertisers and technology companies. With major investors such as Benchmark Capital, Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon.com) and Catamount Ventures, SecondLife alllows individuals to create virtual worlds where they can research, buy and sell products and services or seek out expertise. Sellers of these products and services can actually buy "land" through the use of currency called Linden Dollars. Major land owners include Toyota and IBM, among others. Toyota's Scion brand has moved much of their online advertising from MySpace (terming it too mainstream) and has begun experimenting with sales, marketing and even product development through SecondLife. There's even a sub-culture of developers that allow users to customize their online personalities through scripts and other add-ons. I created an account and downloaded the software, and unfortunately found my six month old IBM/Lenovo laptop didn't have a fast enough video card to support the software. Because of the significant technology requirements (32MB video card, which often isn't standard in a business computer), they may be ahead of their time and may not attract business users. Regardless, I still find the concept quite intriguing and it's just another example of how traditional command-and-control media is being pushed away in favor of user generated content, marketing and virtual communities on the web. If you're ever in the area, look me up under my online name: Dick Daffodil. It could be my chance at a second life.

Yahoo To Beam Digital Time Capsule Into Space

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 04:00:00 GMT

Yahoo has decided to beam a laser digital time capsule at an ancient pyramid in Mexico that includes images of top stories in 2006.

Click here for article at Information Week

Great. Just what we need...Martians are gonna love us when they see real-life pictures of "naughty" text messages from our government leaders.

Boom: Google Buys YouTube for $1.6B

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:00:00 GMT

So it finally happened: the website everyone has been talking about, and everyone's been trying to figure out how they'll make money...just made a lot of it.

Google Buys YouTube

In something that reminds of us one of the crazy stories of the late 90's, Google bought YouTube for $1.6B (US) and reminded us of how the digital media space is changing...FAST.

I mean, does this make me feel inadequate? They started this freakin' site a year and half ago, and have now sold it for $1.6B. Not a bad paycheck for a year's work!

My opinion? This Web 2.0 thing is the real deal. The delivery of media is changing rapidly, and outlets (TV networks, movie studios, etc.) are struggling to monetize content as the command-and-control method of advertising rapidly disappears. It's a bit of the Wild Wild West in the world of digital media.

Here's the big question: Will YouTube be the next big thing and will Google figure out how to monetize the traffic?

I have my doubts as we've only seen the tip of the iceberg in this space.