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How can large organizations harness the power of AI for content creation while simultaneously mitigating the risks that come with exponentially scaling content volume and velocity? Agility requires adaptation to new ways of working as well as adapting governance and oversight processes to maintain brand integrity and manage risk in the new paradigm that AI has helped to create. It also requires the ability to quickly react and adjust content strategies in response to real-time performance data and market shifts. This episode is brought to you by Markup AI. AI can create content, but Markup AI's Content Guardian AgentsSM perfect your content. Markup AI instantly scans, scores, and rewrites any content to enforce your standards for brand voice, terminology, and compliance, giving you the confidence you need to scale your use of AI. Learn more at www.markup.ai. Today, we're going to talk about navigating the exciting but often treacherous landscape of AI-driven content creation. The sheer volume of content being generated presents unprecedented challenges for maintaining quality, consistency, and brand integrity. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Matt Blumberg, CEO at Markup AI. About Matt Blumberg Matt is the CEO of Markup AI and has more than 30 years of leadership in scaling global disruptive technology businesses. Matt is passionate about the power of language — being precise with it, using it to move people, and ensuring brands maintain a consistent voice with it — and he is equally passionate about the power of technology to change lives for the better. Before launching Markup AI, Matt successfully launched and led brands and companies including Acrolinx, MovieFone.com division of 777-FILM (acquired by AOL), Return Path (#2 on Fortune Magazine's “Best Companies to Work for” list and later acquired by PSG/Validity), the nonprofit Path Forward, and Bolster, a disruptive platform for executive search in the tech industry. Additionally, Matt is the author of a blog (Startup CEO), a podcast (The Daily Bolster), and three acclaimed books on startup leadership (Startup CEO, Startup CXO, and Startup Boards), further underscoring his expertise and commitment to innovation. Matt is based in New York City. Matt Blumberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blumbergmatt/ Resources Markup AI: https://markup.ai/ The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Register now for Sitecore Symposium, November 3-5 in Orlando Florida. Use code SYM25-2Media10 to receive 10% off. Go here for more: https://symposium.sitecore.com/ Don't Miss MAICON 2025, October 14-16 in Cleveland - the event bringing together the brights minds and leading voices in AI. Use Code AGILE150 for $150 off registration. Go here to register: https://bit.ly/agile150 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
Dave and Chuck the Freak talk about the strangest national social media holiday we’ve ever heard of, how Americans have become the #1 target for scammers, the latest way Meta will be collecting your data for targeted ads, what happened after police busted into the wrong house to arrest a shrimp thief, an update on the gator found in Detroit, an old lady who has run every day for decades, concerns with selling alcohol at self-checkout in sports arenas, why Tyrese Gibson is facing charges, a guy who built his own Star Wars droids, why a woman trashed a Little Caesar’s, a guy who was able to track down his stolen luggage with his AirTags, why people are being told not to try the Raman challenge, a Russian guy who was filmed having sex with a woman on the back of a moving pickup truck, what a mayor was filmed doing that lead to his resignation, a 22-year-old who enrolled in a high school, DoorDash’s delivery robots, AOL has officially shut down their dialup service and more! This episode of Dave & Chuck is brought to you in part by Profluent http://bit.ly/4fhEq5l
Allie Galloway, Senior Director, Global Events and Experiential Marketing at Yahoo, joins Amanda Ma, CEO and Founder of Innovate Marketing Group, to talk about designing memorable brand activations, leading inspired teams, and staying ahead in experiential marketing. Tune in now and get inspired to reimagine your next event.About the guest:As a Director of Events on the Yahoo Events and Experiential team, Allie Galloway is a passionate and energetic leader with a career built around elevating global brand experiences that drive revenue growth and foster brand affinity. Allie was named to BizBash 500: 2021's Most Influential Event Professionals & Event Marketers' 35 Under 35 Experiential Marketing's Next Generation in 2018. Most recently, she was a finalist for The Drum Awards B2B for Best Internal Company Event: 2021 For the Win Sales Conference and Most Innovative or Creative Use of Content: Yahoo's New Kind of NewFront, and won Best Reimagined Event Experience for BizBash Event Style Awards 2020 for her work on Build It: WFH Edition. From building multi-million dollar conferences to producing XR videos, Allie's experience spans a wide range of events in the entertainment and technology industries. Before joining AOL in 2015, Allie worked for Sony Music Entertainment, creating bespoke meet & greet and intimate live performance sessions for A-list talent across the Southwest. Allie received her BA in Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach, and resides in Boulder, CO with her husband, two children, and golden retriever.Follow Allie on LinkedIn!EventUp is brought to you by Innovate Marketing Group. An award-winning Corporate Event and Experiential Marketing Agency based in Los Angeles, California. Creating Nationwide Immersive Event Experiences to help brands connect with people. Learn more here!At Innovate Marketing Group, we've curated a collection of free resources designed to help you elevate your events and marketing efforts. Whether you're planning a company retreat or navigating the latest event trends, our tools, reports, and checklists are here to support your success and keep you at the forefront of innovation. Access them here!Follow us!Find us on LinkedIn and Instagram and catch our latest episodes on the EventUp Podcast!
In this episode of TechMagic, hosts Cathy Hackl and Lee Kebler unpack the week's biggest tech stories, from OpenAI's latest announcements and Sora's deepfake potential to Meta's sold-out Ray-Ban smart glasses. They explore how AI integrations with platforms like Coursera, Canva, and Zillow could reshape how we access and trust information. The hosts also dive into the implications of skyrocketing AI startup valuations and reflect on the end of AOL dial-up, closing a chapter in internet history. Balancing enthusiasm with caution, they challenge listeners to consider the ethical, social, and creative consequences of an increasingly AI-driven world.Come for the tech and stay for the magic!Episode Highlights:The Privacy Implications of AI Video Generation – Cathy Hackl's hands-on test of OpenAI's Sora exposes major privacy challenges around biometric data and deepfake creation. By simply reading numbers and moving one's head, users can generate hyper-realistic videos of themselves or others, without consent. While visuals are striking, voice replication remains flawed. Cathy and Lee caution that such tools blur ethical lines, raising urgent questions about consent, authenticity, and data ownership in creative AI adoption.OpenAI's Vision for Information Control – Lee Kebler dissects OpenAI's ambition to centralise online experiences through deep integrations with Coursera, Canva, and Zillow. By keeping users inside ChatGPT's ecosystem, OpenAI could redefine how information flows, but at a cost. Cathy and Lee warn that algorithmic filtering may restrict perspective diversity, amplify bias, and erode the open web's foundational freedom. Their advice: diversify digital sources to maintain balanced, transparent information access.The Rise of Consumer AR Hardware – Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses sell-out reveals the next leap in wearable adoption. Cathy and Lee analyse how fashion-forward design, practical utility, and accessible pricing have made AR more approachable. Positioned between novelty and necessity, these wearables hint at future accessibility, productivity, and communication uses. They stress that long-term success will depend on ergonomic design, battery life, and balancing innovation with real-world wearability.The AI Investment Bubble Warning Signs – Cathy and Lee discuss mounting worries from industry giants like Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos about inflated AI valuations. Unlike past bubbles driven by retail hype, today's surge stems from institutional overconfidence and misunderstanding of AI fundamentals. Many investors conflate general AI with LLMs, fuelling unrealistic expectations. Key Discussion Topics:00:00 Intro: Welcome to Tech Magic with Cathy Hackl and Lee Kebler01:44 Testing OpenAI's Sora: Deep Fake Capabilities and Privacy Concerns15:02 OpenAI's Dev Day: Impressive Tools and Integration Announcements18:09 The Dark Side of AI Integration: Information Control and Filter Bubbles25:23 Apple's Vision Pro Updates and Meta's Ray-Ban Success32:41 Farewell to AOL: The End of Dial-Up Internet Era34:17 AI Startup Valuations: Warning Signs of a Tech Bubble38:05 Final Thoughts: Music Recommendations and Show Wrap-Up Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
OpenAI has had another big week. The Sora AI social media app is going viral. Does anyone have an invite to send? They also had their Dev Day and are announcing numerous tie-ins, including Etsy, Shopify, and Spotify. Their Jony Ive physical product? We'll have to wait on that. We discuss all of that, plus lots of other tech news to get caught up on, and some tips and picks to help you tech better! Watch on YouTube! - Notnerd.com and Notpicks.com INTRO (00:00) New iPhones see ‘stronger than expected' demand with one exception (02:25) We used to talk a lot about apps, but there is just so many now (06:30) MAIN TOPIC: Sora, Shopping, and Spotify from OpenAI (08:30) Weird Sora 2 videos from the new viral AI app ChatGPT can now interact with multiple apps, including Spotify, Canva, and Figma Everything OpenAI announced at DevDay 2025: Agent Kit, Apps SDK, ChatGPT, and more OpenAI's first device with Jony Ive could be delayed due to 'technical issues' DAVE'S PRO-TIP OF THE WEEK: SongShift is now built into Apple Music (19:05) JUST THE HEADLINES: (27:05) Scientists grow mini human brains to power computers Japan is running out of its favorite beer after ransomware attack AI is not killing jobs, US study finds Lufthansa to cut 4,000 jobs as airline turns to AI to boost efficiency MLB approves robot umpires for 2026 as part of challenge system LimeWire acquires Fyre Festival Flying cars crash into each other at Chinese air show TAKES: A bullet crashed the internet in Texas (32:25) Tigers-Red Sox clash on Apple TV+ will feature live game footage on new iPhone 17 Pro (34:00) Yahoo nears deal to sell AOL to Italy's Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, sources say (37:05) Amazon Prime Big Deal Days (39:20) BONUS ODD TAKE: https://offline.church/ (43:10) PICKS OF THE WEEK: Dave: Samsung EVO Select microSDMemory Card + Adapter, 512GB microSDXC, Up-to 160 MB/s, 4K UHD, UHS-I, C10, U3, V30, A2, for Mobile Phone, Smartphones, Nintendo-Switch, and Tablets (47:55) Nate: Ergonomic Office Chair with Tilt-Lock, Home Office Desk Chair with Auto Lumbar Support, High Back Mesh Desk Chair with Adjustable Headrest, Swivel Task Chair or Study Room Bedroom,Light Gray (50:45) RAMAZON PURCHASE OF THE WEEK (56:20)
As AI-generated clip content upends trust and creativity, this week's panel members join forces to unravel whether we're facing a cultural disaster or just the next leap forward (and what anyone online needs to watch out for next). Is the world ready for AI-generated video slop flooding the internet, legal headaches over deepfakes, and million-dollar tech maneuvering? Sora 2 is here We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late Yahoo nears deal to sell AOL to Italy's Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, sources say One in five Americans now regularly get news on TikTok, up sharply from 2020 YouTube Bends the Knee Apple removes ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE officer sightings, from the App Store; AG Pam Bondi says the DOJ requested its removal ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: 'We Are Determined to Fight This' How ICE Is Using Your Data — and What You Can Do About It | KQED CISA, the key law that helps the federal government guard against cyber threats to US critical systems, expired when the government shut down ByteDance to Maintain Control Of TikTok's U.S. Advertising, E-Commerce German government must reject chat control Swiss government looks to undercut privacy tech, stoking fears of mass surveillance Swiss voters back electronic identity cards in close vote Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses Microsoft revamps Xbox Game Pass plans and hikes Ultimate to $29.99 a month No suds for you! Asahi brewery attack leaves Japanese drinkers dry Revenge of the nerds: Inside the Microsoft Excel UK Championships Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Patrick Beja, Georgia Dow, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT zscaler.com/security spaceship.com/twit miro.com
As AI-generated clip content upends trust and creativity, this week's panel members join forces to unravel whether we're facing a cultural disaster or just the next leap forward (and what anyone online needs to watch out for next). Is the world ready for AI-generated video slop flooding the internet, legal headaches over deepfakes, and million-dollar tech maneuvering? Sora 2 is here We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late Yahoo nears deal to sell AOL to Italy's Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, sources say One in five Americans now regularly get news on TikTok, up sharply from 2020 YouTube Bends the Knee Apple removes ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE officer sightings, from the App Store; AG Pam Bondi says the DOJ requested its removal ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: 'We Are Determined to Fight This' How ICE Is Using Your Data — and What You Can Do About It | KQED CISA, the key law that helps the federal government guard against cyber threats to US critical systems, expired when the government shut down ByteDance to Maintain Control Of TikTok's U.S. Advertising, E-Commerce German government must reject chat control Swiss government looks to undercut privacy tech, stoking fears of mass surveillance Swiss voters back electronic identity cards in close vote Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses Microsoft revamps Xbox Game Pass plans and hikes Ultimate to $29.99 a month No suds for you! Asahi brewery attack leaves Japanese drinkers dry Revenge of the nerds: Inside the Microsoft Excel UK Championships Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Patrick Beja, Georgia Dow, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT zscaler.com/security spaceship.com/twit miro.com
As AI-generated clip content upends trust and creativity, this week's panel members join forces to unravel whether we're facing a cultural disaster or just the next leap forward (and what anyone online needs to watch out for next). Is the world ready for AI-generated video slop flooding the internet, legal headaches over deepfakes, and million-dollar tech maneuvering? Sora 2 is here We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late Yahoo nears deal to sell AOL to Italy's Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, sources say One in five Americans now regularly get news on TikTok, up sharply from 2020 YouTube Bends the Knee Apple removes ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE officer sightings, from the App Store; AG Pam Bondi says the DOJ requested its removal ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: 'We Are Determined to Fight This' How ICE Is Using Your Data — and What You Can Do About It | KQED CISA, the key law that helps the federal government guard against cyber threats to US critical systems, expired when the government shut down ByteDance to Maintain Control Of TikTok's U.S. Advertising, E-Commerce German government must reject chat control Swiss government looks to undercut privacy tech, stoking fears of mass surveillance Swiss voters back electronic identity cards in close vote Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses Microsoft revamps Xbox Game Pass plans and hikes Ultimate to $29.99 a month No suds for you! Asahi brewery attack leaves Japanese drinkers dry Revenge of the nerds: Inside the Microsoft Excel UK Championships Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Patrick Beja, Georgia Dow, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT zscaler.com/security spaceship.com/twit miro.com
As AI-generated clip content upends trust and creativity, this week's panel members join forces to unravel whether we're facing a cultural disaster or just the next leap forward (and what anyone online needs to watch out for next). Is the world ready for AI-generated video slop flooding the internet, legal headaches over deepfakes, and million-dollar tech maneuvering? Sora 2 is here We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late Yahoo nears deal to sell AOL to Italy's Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, sources say One in five Americans now regularly get news on TikTok, up sharply from 2020 YouTube Bends the Knee Apple removes ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE officer sightings, from the App Store; AG Pam Bondi says the DOJ requested its removal ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: 'We Are Determined to Fight This' How ICE Is Using Your Data — and What You Can Do About It | KQED CISA, the key law that helps the federal government guard against cyber threats to US critical systems, expired when the government shut down ByteDance to Maintain Control Of TikTok's U.S. Advertising, E-Commerce German government must reject chat control Swiss government looks to undercut privacy tech, stoking fears of mass surveillance Swiss voters back electronic identity cards in close vote Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses Microsoft revamps Xbox Game Pass plans and hikes Ultimate to $29.99 a month No suds for you! Asahi brewery attack leaves Japanese drinkers dry Revenge of the nerds: Inside the Microsoft Excel UK Championships Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Patrick Beja, Georgia Dow, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT zscaler.com/security spaceship.com/twit miro.com
It’s Monday in America, time for The World’s Greatest Political Podcast: THE LEFT SHOW! This week JM Bell and Tiffany say goodbye to AOL, say hello to the 82nd Airborne, secret UFO bases, and Diddy gets bad news. So much bad news from Trump and the gang, No Fatties or Beardos, and when Saudi Arabia […]
As AI-generated clip content upends trust and creativity, this week's panel members join forces to unravel whether we're facing a cultural disaster or just the next leap forward (and what anyone online needs to watch out for next). Is the world ready for AI-generated video slop flooding the internet, legal headaches over deepfakes, and million-dollar tech maneuvering? Sora 2 is here We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late Yahoo nears deal to sell AOL to Italy's Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, sources say One in five Americans now regularly get news on TikTok, up sharply from 2020 YouTube Bends the Knee Apple removes ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE officer sightings, from the App Store; AG Pam Bondi says the DOJ requested its removal ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: 'We Are Determined to Fight This' How ICE Is Using Your Data — and What You Can Do About It | KQED CISA, the key law that helps the federal government guard against cyber threats to US critical systems, expired when the government shut down ByteDance to Maintain Control Of TikTok's U.S. Advertising, E-Commerce German government must reject chat control Swiss government looks to undercut privacy tech, stoking fears of mass surveillance Swiss voters back electronic identity cards in close vote Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses Microsoft revamps Xbox Game Pass plans and hikes Ultimate to $29.99 a month No suds for you! Asahi brewery attack leaves Japanese drinkers dry Revenge of the nerds: Inside the Microsoft Excel UK Championships Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Patrick Beja, Georgia Dow, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT zscaler.com/security spaceship.com/twit miro.com
This week, we highlight the stocks of WBD, Disney, Roku, Paramount, Apple, Fubo, and others, which have all increased by at least 25% over the past six months, with WBD leading the way at 112%. We detail all the latest news related to Peacock, Max, FOX, Fubo, Disney, Versant, Prime Video, the NBA, and YouTube TV, as well as rumors that Yahoo is in advanced talks to sell AOL to Bending Spoons. Finally, we discuss some tips and tricks for increasing exposure on LinkedIn, including recent best practices from the company regarding content focus, length, reposts and new analytic metrics.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media
Transgender for everybody! Everything is computer! We’re in a silly, tangent filled mood for this one! Every week Bridget recaps the tech news stories you might have missed, so you don't have to. This week she's joined by TANGOTI producer Joey Patt. Elon Musk calls for a Netflix Boycott, but we're not linking to him and you can't make us. Misinformation/disinformation leads to US couples’ divorces, breakups: https://news.illinois.edu/misinformation-disinformation-leads-to-us-couples-divorces-breakups/ AOL’s dial up internet takes its last bow, marking the end of an era https://apnews.com/article/aol-dial-up-internet-shuts-down-08162912737f2fb221f10ba87ce5fc41 Ted Cruz blocks privacy protections: https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/30/ted-cruz-blocks-bill-that-would-extend-privacy-protections-to-all-americans/?utm_campaign=social&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=organicSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The founder of Friend joins the pod for an interview… And announces he's making a Friend AI movie.Taco Bell and Salt & Straw resurrected the Choco Taco… It's a new playbook for collabs.Electric cars sales hit a record last Q… but it reminds us of the cannabis industry.Plus, AOL is getting sold… and your screen name is its most valuable asset.Check out the full interview with Avi Schiffman on our Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Vote for The Best Idea Yet to win “Best Business Podcast”: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2025/shows/genre/business$YUM $TSLA $METANEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today's top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
90 Day Gays: A 90 Day Fiancé Podcast with Matt Marr & Jake Anthony
The boys discuss the demise of AOL dial-up, as well as the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show announcement and Robert Irwin on “Dancing with the Stars” --- October is GAPING with exclusive content y'all! JOIN RealityGays+ + Patreon https://www.patreon.com/RealityGays or + Supercast https://realitygaysmulti.supercast.com/ + Apple Subscriptions https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reality-gays-with-mattie-and-poodle/id1477555097 +Watch us on video www.youtube.com/@RealityGays To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
AOL hangs up the dial-up internet service (and sound) that defined an era - https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2025/09/30/aol-dial-up-internet-service-ending/86419561007/New research: humans peak between 55 and 60, not 20s - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gilles-gignac-0b4a0611a_humans-peak-in-midlife-a-combined-cognitive-activity-7377134932768247808-LXSoAmerica's Most Dog-Friendly City Has Had Enough - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/america-s-most-dog-friendly-city-has-had-enough/ar-AA1NEJPfFrom October 3–5, The Animal Foundation is joining shelters across the country for Mars Global Adoption Weekend. Every animal in our care will have their adoption fee waived, thanks to the generous support of Mars, Adopt A Pet Shelter Plus, and PEDIGREE Foundation - https://animalfoundation.com/event/mars-global-adoption-weekend/Cargill Unveils New “State of Steak” Report, Revealing What Diners Really Want from Steak in Foodservice - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250929859289/en/Cargill-Unveils-New-State-of-Steak-Report-Revealing-What-Diners-Really-Want-from-Steak-in-FoodserviceIn Motion Design Recalls Evermore Surprise Eggs Due to Risk of Serious Injury; Violates Federal Lead Content Ban - https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2026/In-Motion-Design-Recalls-Evermore-Surprise-Eggs-Due-to-Risk-of-Serious-Injury-Violates-Federal-Lead-Content-BanMarilyn Manson once punched Andy Dick in the throat, according to actor Seth Green, who recapped the incident during a recent podcast appearance - https://loudwire.com/seth-green-marilyn-manson-story/FailsRobbery suspect caught when he walked behind TV crew doing a news segment about him - https://thetab.com/2025/09/30/robbery-suspect-caught-when-he-walked-behind-tv-crew-doing-a-news-segment-about-himA Springfield teenager is facing a felony charge after police say he caused significant damage to multiple vehicles in a Missouri State University freshman parking lot in late August -Teen's claim he was nabbed, shot by 'Hispanic' men sparked outrage. It was a hoax - https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/teens-claim-nabbed-shot-hispanic-020851569.htmlC8 Corvette Driver Arrested for 107-MPH Sprint, Police Say, Claimed He Was Late for a Haircut - https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a68113641/c8-corvette-driver-arrested-107-mph-haircut-super-speeder/Police Say Driver Without License Went 124 mph at 3 a.m. Because He Needed To Use the Bathroom - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/police-say-driver-without-license-went-124-mph-at-3-am-because-he-needed-to-use-the-bathroom/ar-AA1NGFsyMississippi man shows up drunk to bail out pal arrested for DUI, gets his own DUI month later then dies in jail cell - https://www.msn.com/en-us/crime/general/mississippi-man-shows-up-drunk-to-bail-out-pal-arrested-for-dui-gets-his-own-dui-month-later-then-dies-in-jail-cell/ar-AA1NtNG4A husband and wife were both arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) in separate incidents on the same night, within just two hours of each other, Portsmouth police reported - https://undercoverist.org/kaila-mcgreal-matthew-wheeler-arrested-for-dui-same-night/Follow The Rizzuto Show @rizzshow on all your favorite social media, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and more. Connect with The Rizzuto Show online at 1057thepoint.com/rizzSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
It's time to examine the Apple Watch Ultra 3 in real-world usage, plus there's much more about the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and Apple is keeping Snoopy while adding Bad Bunny to the Super Bowl.Contact your hosts:@williamgallagher_ on Threads@WGallagher on TwitterWilliam's 58keys on YouTubeWilliam Gallagher on email@hillithreads on Threads@Hillitech on TwitterWes on BlueskyWes Hilliard on emailSponsored by:MasterClass: Get 15% off annual memberships at MasterClass.comSquare: To learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up toin your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out square.com/go/appleinsider.Claude by Anthropic: Get 50% off your first three months of Claude Pro at Claude.ai/appleinsiderLinks from the Show:All Affinity apps are now free for the iPad - for nowNew in iOS 26 beta 5: Camera and Mail toggles, Apple Watch display leak, moreYou had mail: AOL finally discontinues dial-up Internet serviceiPhone 17 Pro Max review: redefining 'Pro' with a new coat of paintApple Watch Ultra 3 review: Iterative update, but still excellent hardwareApple Watch SE 3 review: Boring, but the one to buyM5 iPad Pro may have been completely leaked before Apple launchFCC mistakenly leaks confidential iPhone 16e schematicsSamsung's president has all but confirmed a 2026 iPhone Fold releaseM5 MacBook Pro & iPad Pro model numbers leaked by FCCFCC references non-existent Apple Vision Pro in testing documentsApple shifts priorities from lighter Apple Vision Pro to smart glassesAmazon throws Alexa at everything in sight, from Kindles to doorbellsLG's UltraFine 6K Thunderbolt 5 monitor will set you back $1,999Bad Bunny to headline Apple's 2025 Super Bowl half-time showSnoopy to stay with Apple TV+ until 2030Mei SemonesLaufeyDar WilliamsMary Chapin CarpenterFrancisca ValenzuelaSupport the show:Support the show on Patreon or Apple Podcasts to get ad-free episodes every week, access to our private Discord channel, and early release of the show! We would also appreciate a 5-star rating and review in Apple PodcastsMore AppleInsider podcastsTune in to our HomeKit Insider podcast covering the latest news, products, apps and everything HomeKit related. Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or just search for HomeKit Insider wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe and listen to our AppleInsider Daily podcast for the latest Apple news Monday through Friday. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.Those interested in sponsoring the show can reach out to us at: advertising@appleinsider.com (00:00) - Intro and Affinity (05:09) - You Had Mail (07:55) - iPhone 17 Pro Max (14:30) - Apple Watch UIltra 3 (23:55) - Leaks are back (52:56) - Amazon (59:02) - LG UltraFine 6K (01:02:01) - Bad Bunny (01:08:21) - Peanuts ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Mark discusses the Obamas hanging out on Steven Spielberg's yacht; people in Chicago are complaining about the Obama Presidential library; Putin's calling up 135,000 more soldiers to go to Ukraine; LI pizza place fighting back against bad customers; 7-11 starting in-store dining and offering fresher food; AOL getting rid of dial-up Internet service; US test scores for kids are at all-time lows; major changes at NBC and MSNBC; luxury housing market in NYC is going crazy, bucking national trends in real state and the downsides to Ozempic. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark discusses the Obamas hanging out on Steven Spielberg's yacht; people in Chicago are complaining about the Obama Presidential library; Putin's calling up 135,000 more soldiers to go to Ukraine; LI pizza place fighting back against bad customers; 7-11 starting in-store dining and offering fresher food; AOL getting rid of dial-up Internet service; US test scores for kids are at all-time lows; major changes at NBC and MSNBC; luxury housing market in NYC is going crazy, bucking national trends in real state and the downsides to Ozempic.
This week, we dig into the latest DORA report and OpenAI's big product updates. Plus, some hot takes on airline status and the Eurostar. Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode (https://www.youtube.com/live/urU5sn8Ufl8?si=WNrIuP_uXbhIg4gq) 540 (https://www.youtube.com/live/urU5sn8Ufl8?si=WNrIuP_uXbhIg4gq) Runner-up Titles Just plug in an iPhone Be helpful, not helpless Rundown Announcing the 2025 DORA Report | Google Cloud Blog (https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-the-2025-dora-report/) OpenAI Agentic Commerce (https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/) (https://openai.com/sora/) The New Sora App (https://openai.com/sora/) Introducing ChatGPT Pulse (https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-pulse/) Relevant to your Interests Intel and Apple hold investment talks, no deal in sight - 9to5Mac (https://9to5mac.com/2025/09/24/intel-and-apple-hold-investment-talks-no-deal-in-sight/) Ed Zitron is mad as hell (https://www.ft.com/content/4c8d6420-d088-4660-8973-c4996cd990fb) TikTok will stay: Trump signs executive order to keep app in the US (https://siliconangle.com/2025/09/25/tiktok-will-stay-trump-signs-executive-order-keep-app-us/) 10+ Hidden Features in iOS 26 (https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-26-hidden-features/) Splunk .conf25: Forging a Data Foundation for Cisco's AgenticOps Vision (https://futurumgroup.com/insights/splunk-conf25-forging-a-data-foundation-for-ciscos-agenticops-vision/) JFrog SwampUp 2025: The Agentic Development Era Emerges From The Swamp (https://www.forrester.com/blogs/jfrog-swampup-2025-the-agentic-development-era-emerges-from-the-swamp/) RIP, AOL dial-up: Take a walk down memory lane to 5 other now-defunct tech icons that defined millennials' youths (https://www.aol.com/rip-aol-dial-walk-down-063119808.html) Logitech launches MX Master 4 flagship productivity mouse – the best mouse we've tested adds haptic feedback, circular Action Ring shortcuts (https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/gaming-mice/logitech-launches-mx-master-4-flagship-productivity-mouse-the-best-mouse-weve-tested-adds-haptic-feedback-circular-action-ring-shortcuts) Charlie Javice Sentenced to 85 Months in Prison for Fraud (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/business/charlie-javice-sentence.html) Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to step aside (https://www.axios.com/2025/09/30/spotify-ceo-daniel-ek) Cloudscape - Cloudscape Design System (https://cloudscape.design/) Cursor CLI (https://cursor.com/cli) Introducing Claude Sonnet 4.5 (https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-sonnet-4-5) Cursor CLI (https://cursor.com/cli) Introducing Claude Sonnet 4.5 (https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-sonnet-4-5) GitHub Copilot CLI is now in public preview (https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-25-github-copilot-cli-is-now-in-public-preview/) Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover (https://joel.drapper.me/p/rubygems-takeover/) How Ruby Went Off the Rails (https://www.404media.co/how-ruby-went-off-the-rails/) Open source to closed doors: RubyGems control fight erupts (https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/25/open_source_to_closed_doors/) Platform Engineering and AI - Two Buzzwords Finally Meet! | Michael Cote (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jL3xp3LmQw) Nonsense Build-A-Bear Stock Outperforms Nvidia (https://theonion.com/build-a-bear-stock-outperforms-nvidia/) (The Onion) Conferences CF Day EU (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/cloud-foundry-day-europe/), Coté speaking, Frankfurt, October 7th, 2025. AI for the Rest of Us (https://aifortherestofus.live/london-2025), Coté speaking, October 15th-16th, London. Use code SDT20 for 20% off. Wiz Wizdom Conferences (https://www.wiz.io/wizdom), NYC November 3-5, London November 17-19 SREDay Amsterdam (https://sreday.com/2025-amsterdam-q4/), Coté speaking, November 7th. SDT News & Community Join our Slack community (https://softwaredefinedtalk.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-1hn55iv5d-UTfN7mVX1D9D5ExRt3ZJYQ#/shared-invite/email) Email the show: questions@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:questions@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Free stickers: Email your address to stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Follow us on social media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/softwaredeftalk), Threads (https://www.threads.net/@softwaredefinedtalk), Mastodon (https://hachyderm.io/@softwaredefinedtalk), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/software-defined-talk/), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/softwaredefinedtalk.com) Watch us on: Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/sdtpodcast), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi3OJPV6h9tp-hbsGBLGsDQ/featured), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/softwaredefinedtalk/), TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@softwaredefinedtalk) Book offer: Use code SDT for $20 off "Digital WTF" by Coté (https://leanpub.com/digitalwtf/c/sdt) Sponsor the show (https://www.softwaredefinedtalk.com/ads): ads@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:ads@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Recommendations Brandon: Black Rabbit (https://www.netflix.com/title/81630027) Coté: Sune, Hackney, London (https://www.sune.restaurant). 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Frankie Val welcomes special guest Gary Buechler of Nerdrotic for a deep, freewheeling conversation that spans ancient civilizations, culture wars, and Hollywood's decline. From Gobekli Tepe to UFO lore, the two dive into how history is rewritten, mysteries are buried, and why academia resists new discoveries. They connect this suppression of truth to the same ideological forces infecting pop culture, breaking down how storytelling, fandoms, and media have been hijacked. Along the way, they share laughs over AOL memories, strange “games we play,” and even debates about cheese, baseball, and desert-island survival. With sharp insights and plenty of humor, this episode blends mystery, history, and cultural commentary in classic Quite Frankly fashion.
This Week's Topics: Backlash for nursery hackers Lack of safe online spaces affects mental health AOL shuts down dial-up service Episode's chat: https://britishtechnetwork.com/chat/view.php?dt=2025-10-02 Guests: Jeff Gamet, Patrice Brend'amour, Ian Grant, Tom Ferry […]
This Week's Topics: Backlash for nursery hackers Lack of safe online spaces affects mental health AOL shuts down dial-up service Episode's chat: https://britishtechnetwork.com/chat/view.php?dt=2025-10-02 Guests: Jeff Gamet, Patrice Brend'amour, Ian Grant, Tom Ferry […]
Dave and Chuck the Freak talk about the strangest national social media holiday we've ever heard of, how Americans have become the #1 target for scammers, the latest way Meta will be collecting your data for targeted ads, what happened after police busted into the wrong house to arrest a shrimp thief, an update on the gator found in Detroit, an old lady who has run every day for decades, concerns with selling alcohol at self-checkout in sports arenas, why Tyrese Gibson is facing charges, a guy who built his own Star Wars droids, why a woman trashed a Little Caesar's, a guy who was able to track down his stolen luggage with his AirTags, why people are being told not to try the Raman challenge, a Russian guy who was filmed having sex with a woman on the back of a moving pickup truck, what a mayor was filmed doing that lead to his resignation, a 22-year-old who enrolled in a high school, DoorDash's delivery robots, AOL has officially shut down their dialup service and more! This episode of Dave & Chuck is brought to you in part by Profluent http://bit.ly/4fhEq5l See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
More fallout from the Sora explosion, including my take on using it. OpenAI is now officially the biggest startup in the galaxy. We now know what Mira Murati's new startup is building. The Brave browser is hitting some impressive user milestones. And why are young people flocking back to… checks notes… AOL? OpenAI's Sora 2 Copyright Infringement Machine Features Nazi SpongeBobs and Criminal Pikachus (404Media) OpenAI Valuation Reaches $500 Billion, Topping Musk's SpaceX (Bloomberg) Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses (Bloomberg) Mira Murati's Stealth AI Lab Launches Its First Product (Wired) Google Translate Rival DeepL Explores US IPO (Bloomberg) Brave Now Has Over 100 Million Users (Thurott) Exclusive: Yahoo nears deal to sell AOL to Italy's Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion, sources say (Reuters) https://sora.chatgpt.com/profile/brianmccul Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As the federal government shutdown enters its second day with no resolution in sight, Joe Kernen and Becky Quick speak with CNBC's Emily Wilkins about the ongoing negotiations between Democrats and Republicans and whether there is any chance of reaching common ground to pass a budget. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent then joins to discuss the latest developments, including the economic impact of the shutdown, key sticking points in negotiations, the search for the next Fed chair, and the state of U.S. trade talks. Plus, CNBC's Sharon Epperson breaks down upcoming tax changes for charitable donations, and Yahoo nears a deal to sell AOL. Emily Wilkins - 05:08Sec. Scott Bessent - 20:10Sharon Epperson - 39:21 Emily Wilkins, @emrwilkinsSec. Scott Bessent, @SecScottBessentSharon Epperson, @sharon_eppersonJoe Kernen, @JoeSquawk Becky Quick, @BeckyQuickKatie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Columnist and film critic Richard Roeper joins Bob Sirott to talk about the Cubs’ three afternoon games and how people seem to prefer the earlier start time. They also discuss the history of the AOL dial-up service and why it was recently discontinued.
It's the end of an era. AOL has officially ended its dial up internet service after 35 years. What does AOL stand for?
The government has shut down. Everybody panic! Democrats aren't handling President Trump's trolling very well. Inspiring speech from War Secretary Pete Hegseth aimed at transforming the U.S. military. Goodbye, AOL dialup internet! It's WNBA Finals time! MLB playoffs have started. Corn dog recall! AI "actress" Tilly Norwood headed to the big screen? Introducing the Mass Shooting Flowchart. Has NASA been to the moon? Glenn Beck's awesome Buzz Aldrin story. Introducing TrumpRx! LDS church raising money for the Michigan shooter's family. BLM vs. Soros. Define "two-spirit." Cartel leader admits that President Trump has made criminal enterprise much more difficult. Signs of America being conquered by Islam. Supreme Court to hear the case about a Christian baker. 00:00 Pat Gray UNLEASHED! 00:14 Government Shutdown is HERE! 02:32 John Kennedy on Stupid Democrats 06:06 Maxine Waters on Healthcare for Illegals 08:46 FLASHBACK: Chuck Schumer on Illegals in America Back in 1996 11:15 Hakeem Jeffries is Upset at Trump 12:31 Trump 2028 Gifts 13:39 Teresa Fernandez is Upset at Trump's Meme 15:42 Pete Hegseth says "No More DEI" 19:52 Military Physical Standards are Back! 24:06 Pete Hegseth's Message to America's Enemies 26:42 Pete Hegseth's Final Message to Generals 30:20 Chewing the Fat 52:58 Did we Actually Go to the Moon? 1:00:44 Glenn Beck had Dinner with Buzz Aldrin 1:12:09 Another Update on the Michigan Church Shooting 1:13:57 BLM Going After George Soros 1:17:52 Josh Hawley Grills Biden's Director of Gun Violence 1:23:24 Cartel Officials are Upset with Trump 1:26:17 Houston is Being Overrun by Muslims 1:27:30 A Mosque Inside of DFW Airport?! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We have two guests coming on the show tonight to talk about trends in American Education that just may be signaling a lasting and revolutionary shift in culture: Cheryl Daley (CherylDaley.com) & Barbie Rivera (BarbieRivera.com). This will flow into similar shake-ups in standards for the Military set forth by Secretary Hegseth this week, as well as a little time to reminisce about the golden days of AOL, as today is the day that Dial-up connection to the former Internet giant is laid to rest. Unleash Your Brain w/ Keto Brainz Nootropic Promo code FRANKLY: https://tinyurl.com/2cess6y7 BPC-157 Peptides: https://mindthymitochondria.com/ Sponsor The Show and Get VIP Perks: https://www.quitefrankly.tv/sponsor One-Time Tip: http://www.paypal.me/QuiteFranklyLive Elevation Blend Coffee & Official QF Mugs: https://www.coffeerevolution.shop/category/quite-frankly Official QF Apparel: https://tinyurl.com/f3kbkr4s Send Holiday cards, Letters, and other small gifts, to the Quite Frankly P.O. Box! Quite Frankly 222 Purchase Street, #105 Rye, NY, 10580 Tip w/ Crypto: BTC: bc1q97w5aazjf7pjjl50n42kdmj9pqyn5zndwh3lng XRP: rnES2vQV6d2jLpavzf7y97XD4AfK1MjePu Leave a Voice Mail: https://www.speakpipe.com/QuiteFrankly Quite Frankly Socials: Twitter/X: @QuiteFranklyTV Instagram: @QuiteFranklyOfficial Discord Chat: https://discord.gg/u5RutUcSMJ GUILDED Chat: https://tinyurl.com/kzrk6nxa Official Forum: https://tinyurl.com/k89p88s8 Telegram: https://t.me/quitefranklytv Truth: https://tinyurl.com/5n8x9s6f GETTR: https://tinyurl.com/2fprkyn4 MINDS: https://tinyurl.com/4p84d3cx Gab: https://tinyurl.com/mr42m2au Streaming Live On: QuiteFrankly.tv (Powered by Foxhole) Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/yc2cn395 BitChute: https://tinyurl.com/46dfca5c Rumble: https://tinyurl.com/yeytwwyz Kick: https://kick.com/quitefranklytv Audio On Demand: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/301gcES iTunes: http://apple.co/2dMURMq Amazon: https://amzn.to/3afgEXZ SoundCloud: https://tinyurl.com/yc44m474
6pm: Trump Tells Generals the Military Will Be Used to Fight ‘Enemy Within’ // Hegseth on “the Highest Male Standard Only” in Military // Trump Says Government Shutdown Likely as No Last-Minute Deal Emerges // What will happen if there’s a government shutdown at day’s end // // This Day In History: 1918 - Philadelphia parade exposes thousands to Spanish flu // With a final screech, AOL's dial-up service goes silent today
4pm: Trump Tells Generals the Military Will Be Used to Fight ‘Enemy Within’ // Hegseth on “the Highest Male Standard Only” in Military // Trump Says Government Shutdown Likely as No Last-Minute Deal Emerges // What will happen if there’s a government shutdown at day’s end // O’Keefe Media Group Records Epstein Investigator Claiming Trump Covered Up Files // A Man Is Threatening To Release Speaker Mike Johnson's GRINDR Profile And IP Address Unless He Swears-In Adelita Grijalva // With a final screech, AOL's dial-up service goes silent today
The government is partially shut down after President Trump and Congress were unable to reach a deal. AOL has official shut down their dial up internet. DoorDash is testing a delivery driver robot named Dot.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This podcast was recorded in late August 2025. Much has occurred since then, both in Minnesota and nationally, and listeners are asked to consider the episode's treatment of politics and current events in the context of the time in which it was recorded.Steve Grove is the publisher and CEO of the Minnesota Star Tribune. For many years, he had been a high-flying executive in Silicon Valley, working for firms like Google and YouTube. Then in 2018, he and his wife — who worked for a venture capital firm investing in startups outside of the coasts along with AOL founder Steve Case and now-Vice President JD Vance — decided to return to Minnesota, where Grove had grown up. His recent book, How I Found Myself in the Midwest: A Memoir of Reinvention, is about leaving the global hub of innovation for what's often disparaged as “flyover country.” It's also a story of recommitting to civic and political involvement, as Grove went to work for Minnesota governor (and future Democratic vice-presidential nominee) Tim Walz as head of the state's departments of economic and workforce development. He was in this role when the pandemic struck the state, making him the principal liaison with a business community struggling to cope with restrictions meant to stem the spread of COVID.In this podcast conversation, Grove discusses his personal experience of moving from Silicon Valley back to Minnesota, the benefits and tradeoffs of relocating there, and what he learned from having moved between the worlds of high tech, government, and publishing. He describes his experiences with finding both resistance and innovation in state and local government, and the perspective that gave him on Elon Musk's DOGE attempt to reinvent government along Silicon Valley lines. (Grove believes that “If you're going to reboot government in a more powerful way, starting local has a lot better shot than starting national.”) He discusses the challenges of heading the Safe Reopening Group during the pandemic, which he frankly characterizes as a “deeply uncomfortable exercise in social engineering.” And he also describes his work since 2023 in attempting to reimagine the venerable Star Tribune at a time of severe challenges for print journalism and the news media more generally.
In this episode of The Product Experience, Lily Smith speaks with Sahil Jain, co-founder and CEO of Samepage.ai, about one of product management's hardest challenges: keeping teams aligned. From his early career at Yahoo and AOL to founding multiple startups, Sahil shares lessons on building products that tackle “unsolvable” problems like communication and alignment. He explains why shared understanding matters more than speed, how product managers can become better storytellers, and why early-stage startups should obsess over just a handful of teams before chasing scale.Chapters0:00 – Why alignment is so hard1:14 – Sahil's unconventional career path4:00 – First foray into startups at AOL and beyond6:50 – Founding AdStage and lessons from raising early capital9:00 – Moving into product leadership after acquisition12:53 – On delusion, motivation, and tackling “unsolvable” problems16:34 – Starting Samepage.ai and the problem of information asymmetry22:43 – Validating the problem and testing prototypes27:22 – Why product managers are the perfect early adopters29:20 – The first 10 obsessed teams: startup focus34:00 – Neurodivergence, communication, and shared understanding36:43 – From Claude Shannon to storytelling: frameworks for better communication39:59 – Lessons from Duolingo on multimodal learning41:19 – Where to find Samepage.aiFeatured Links: Follow Sahil on LinkedIn | Samepage.ai | 'What we learned at Industry conference - day one' feature by Louron Pratt at Mind the ProductOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.
Writers, directors, and creatives — want to turn your vision into bold, unforgettable stories? Don't miss this live conversation with Kim “Kimmie P” Callaway, an award-winning writer-director whose work blends humor, heart, and social impact.For over a decade, Kim has written and directed original web series, sketches, music videos, and commercials for major networks and brands including Amazon, Verizon, Ring, AOL, and HuffPost Comedy. Her commercial directing has earned her 4 Telly Awards.She's the founder of Pillowfight!! Productions, a boutique company focused on visually striking, socially conscious comedy. Her latest short film, Mildred 4 a Million — starring the legendary Marla Gibbs — is currently on the festival circuit, winning Best Comedy Short at Worldfest Houston and screening at Raindance, Dances with Films, BraveMaker, and the SAG-AFTRA Showcase.Originally from Houston with deep creative roots in New Orleans, Kim brings sharp wit and soulful storytelling to every project — along with a background in theater, TV production, and a little Texas Hold'Em.Watch the weekly LIVE stream on BraveMaker YouTube.Follow BraveMaker on social media:InstagramTikTok#BraveMaker #BraveMakerPodcast #KimCallaway #KimmieP #WriteDirectFilm #WomenInFilm #IndieFilm #FilmFest #BraveMakerFilmFest #AmazonStudios
This Morning, the end of AOL, [BN]'s Jay Skurski & Luke Russert join us today to talk Bills, and we take a trip down to The Villages Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X. Listen to past episodes on 97Rock. Follow the Show on Apple, Spotify or Amazon MusicSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Justin Timberlake BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Justin Timberlake's past week has been marked by a deeply personal revelation that could reshape the next chapter of his career. In a heartfelt Instagram statement posted July 31 as reported by AOL, Timberlake publicly disclosed that he has been diagnosed with Lyme disease—a condition he described as relentlessly debilitating and which he'd kept private while powering through his massive world tour. He insisted that his announcement was not for sympathy but to clear up speculation swirling around his recent live performances, where fans and critics alike had noted a marked drop in his energy and vocal presence. According to Timberlake, the symptoms—including nerve pain and crushing fatigue—were at times so severe he considered calling off the remainder of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour, which wrapped recently after a string of festival appearances.The announcement also sent ripples through the music world for another reason. According to an exclusive from Q92 Radio, the much-rumored NSYNC reunion tour has been put on indefinite hold following Timberlake's diagnosis—with sources confirming the group decided there's no path forward without a fully healthy Justin front and center. This is not the first time illness has disrupted Justin's high-profile commitments; Rolling Stone noted a canceled London concert at the last minute earlier this year, and an Ohio tour finale scrapped just twelve minutes before showtime, both events that fueled fan frustration and social media speculation about his health.While Timberlake's Instagram post drew a flood of support from fans and stars alike, it also prompted an outpouring on platforms like X and Instagram, with hashtags like #WeLoveYouJT and #TimberlakeStrong trending for several days. Despite the setback, the singer took care to thank everyone involved in his touring machine—especially his wife Jessica Biel and their two sons—and left the door ajar about whether he'll ever return to the stage on a major scale. Social media chatter continues to speculate on possible short-term projects or TV appearances, but as of now, no new music or acting ventures have been formally announced.On the business front, Timberlake's empire appears as robust as ever. The Tradable just highlighted his net worth reaching between 350 and 400 million dollars, buoyed by a massive catalog sale to Hipgnosis, ongoing real estate holdings, and his roles in both the liquor and fashion worlds. In the landscape of biographical significance, there's no denying this week's Lyme disease disclosure could represent a career inflection point for Justin Timberlake.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
The snap, crackle, and pop of aging joints might not be what we expected in our forties, but as we navigate this season of life, we're finding both humor and wisdom in the journey. Jess opens up about her recent knee replacement surgery and the humbling experience of buying a raised toilet seat and walking with a cane before she hit 50. Meanwhile, Steph shares her transition to progressive lenses and how her once-perfect vision took a sudden nosedive after 40. Together, we laugh about bodies that make Rice Krispies sounds when we stand up and how our children are both mortified and fascinated by these new developments.But amid the physical challenges, we're discovering unexpected gifts. Our conversations with our Gen Z children have revealed important lessons about work-life balance and setting healthy boundaries—concepts our generation wasn't always taught to prioritize. We're learning to honor our limitations, like recognizing when our "social battery" is depleted or acknowledging that sometimes, when the sun goes down at 5 PM, we're just done for the day.We take a nostalgic trip through technologies that have faded away, from encyclopedias sold door-to-door to mix tapes and AOL's iconic "You've got mail." These shared memories connect us to our past while reminding us how much we've adapted through the years.While aging isn't always graceful (and certainly isn't for the weak), we're embracing this season with gratitude, perspective, and plenty of laughter. After all, what's the alternative? Join us for this honest, heartfelt conversation about finding joy in life's changing seasons.
Bad Bunny has been dominating headlines this week after closing out his historic 30-show residency, “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí,” at Puerto Rico's Coliseo de Puerto Rico. According to ABC News and Hot 97, the September 20th finale was a high-energy spectacle watched not only by thousands in the arena but by millions more globally, thanks to an Amazon Music live stream that broke viewership records and became Amazon Music's most-watched live stream ever. The concert was a massive celebration of Puerto Rican pride, featuring surprise guests like Mark Anthony for a moving duet of the Puerto Rican anthem, and NBA superstar LeBron James making appearances. The residency saw throngs of fans, watch parties across the island, and became an event that transcended music, symbolizing Bad Bunny's cultural impact; as Hot 97 put it, “everybody watching became Puerto Rican” in those magic moments.In tandem with the residency finale, Bad Bunny served up a surprise for his listeners by dropping his new single, “Alambre Púa.” AOL reports that he debuted the track as the opening song for each of the final three residency shows, and then released it on Monday. The single marks his first new music since January's “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” Even months after its release, the album remains strong on charts, holding a Top 10 spot and continuing to fuel demand for his live performances.Despite fans worldwide clamoring for more, there's one notable omission in Bad Bunny's upcoming world tour—he won't be stopping in the United States. IQ Magazine reveals Bad Bunny's candid reason: concerns about ICE raids and a desire to keep both fans and his team safe. This decision has generated widespread discussion on social media, with Puerto Rican and Latin American fans expressing both pride and disappointment.Beyond music, Bad Bunny's star continues to rise. Variety notes he's gearing up for a major film appearance in Adam Sandler's “Happy Gilmore 2,” set to premiere in July. On the entertainment front, Hot 97 confirms his return to Saturday Night Live as a host this coming season—his third time in the role—underscoring how his influence stretches into TV and film. This multi-talented approach is fueling speculation, as discussed on Hot 97, about just how far Bad Bunny's career could go, prompting playful conversation about him possibly becoming president given his unprecedented popularity and philanthropic work.Speaking of philanthropy, Bad Bunny's partnership with Amazon announced during the residency will provide ongoing investment in Puerto Rico's education, technology, agriculture, and economic development, mostly through his Good Bunny Foundation, aligning star power with community impact.Social media all week has been glowing with highlights from the residency, clips of the emotional anthem performance, and fans gushing over “Alambre Púa.” The phrase “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” itself trended for days, mirroring Bad Bunny's declaration of love for his home.Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to come back next week for more updates on Bad Bunny as his world tour plans unfold, new music drops, and more surprises. This has been a Quiet Please production. For more, check out Quiet Please Dot A I.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Justin Bieber BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Justin Bieber surged back to headline status this week with confirmation that he will lead the 2026 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival—the first time he has anchored the iconic festival solo and, according to Rolling Stone and Billboard, the result of a record-breaking deal that reportedly nets Bieber over $10 million, the highest payday in Coachella history. Notably, he personally negotiated the terms with promoter Goldenvoice, bypassing agents and taking direct control of his touring business. Industry insiders described the move as groundbreaking and emblematic of Bieber's drive for creative and business autonomy. Bieber made waves on social media with a black-and-white visualizer for his new track Speed Demon, filmed on the Coachella grounds, fueling enormous fan anticipation. His post captioned “see u in April” lit up X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, with countless fans counting down to his major comeback after a four-year hiatus driven by past health issues and tour cancellations. His new album, Swag II, released September 5, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and serves as the foundation for his renewed presence; paired with last year's Swag I, the two make up a blockbuster 44-track rollout that Def Jam and Republic Collective executives credited Bieber as leading with “100 percent creative freedom.” Industry debates continue about whether Swag II is a standalone album or part of an extended release—a testament to Bieber's ongoing evolution and ownership of his work. On the celebrity front, Bieber found himself in the whirlwind of pop culture chatter after his ex Selena Gomez married music producer Benny Blanco in California. While Gomez walked down the aisle, Bieber appeared on social media sporting his new basketball apparel brand, Skyler, and playing in a pickup game. Fan comments swirled, oscillating between sentimental reminders of Gomez's wedding and praise for Bieber's focus on his business and artistic pursuits.Meanwhile, his household profile received an intriguing shift as wife Hailey Bieber's beauty brand Rhode was acquired by e.l.f. Beauty for $1 billion, making headlines in The Hollywood Reporter and AOL. While the exact ownership stake has not been disclosed publicly, estimates place Hailey's post-sale net worth at $300 million, now eclipsing Justin's reported $200 million. Hailey will remain brand chief creative officer, aiming to push Rhode's innovation even further.Justin Bieber's recent activities—masterminding his own touring deals, unleashing chart-topping new music, and living under a household of growing entrepreneurial clout—underscore what appears to be a pivotal period of reinvention. Both his business acumen and creative independence have become storylines of long-term significance, drawing industry attention, fan excitement, and a new wave of headlines sure to be replayed with greater resonance as the countdown to Coachella continues.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Mr. Beast Biography Flash a weekly Biography.This week in the world of Mr. Beast, or Jimmy Donaldson, has been a whirlwind of activity, spectacle, and even some hard pivots from controversy. The most headline-grabbing—yet ultimately tongue-in-cheek—event that set social media ablaze involved football. In a video that quickly amassed millions of views, Mr. Beast claimed he had bought the NFL, appearing alongside commissioner Roger Goodell to announce dramatic changes to the league. The spectacle turned out to be a tongue-in-cheek publicity stunt to announce that YouTube would exclusively stream Friday's matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs for free, and was never about Donaldson buying the actual league, which is still individually owned by its 32 teams as explained in The Independent US and confirmed by Bloomberg. Fans and sports journalists everywhere had a field day, and it undoubtedly put Mr. Beast further in the spotlight for digital media's growing influence in legacy sports.Meanwhile, Donaldson's reputation as a philanthropic figure remained strong, as he announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of fraudsters who conned Erik Bergman, cofounder of Catena Media, out of $1.25 million in crypto. The scam, which began after Bergman donated $1 million to Mr. Beast's Team Water campaign, highlights the risks top influencers face as impersonators create sophisticated social media and messaging hoaxes. Donaldson took to social media to amplify the search for the perpetrators, shining a spotlight on crypto fraud and leveraging his massive global following, as reported by NEXT.io and MaltaCEOs.Not all the headlines were golden: Mr. Beast's data collection practices have attracted scrutiny from the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU), which flagged his YouTube content for potentially collecting children's data without proper parental consent, an alleged violation of federal privacy laws like COPPA. Cybernews notes that his Feastables chocolate bar sweepstakes also drew criticism for insufficient transparency in entry methods and age verification, indicating the regulatory stakes for creators of Donaldson's size, especially with a large child audience.The entrepreneurial engine that is Mr. Beast kept roaring, even as past contestants on his Amazon series Beast Games filed a lawsuit alleging unfair production practices, which put his operations under a microscope, according to AOL. However, Donaldson has yet to publicly address the suit or issue any new statements as of this recording, and there have been no further updates on the matter in the past 24 hours.All told, Donaldson continues to push the boundaries of what an internet creator can do—whether by turning the NFL on its head, hunting down scammers, or navigating the regulatory maze of modern influencer business. That's it for today's Mr. Beast Biography Flash. Thanks for listening, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update on Mr. Beast's latest moves. Search the term “Biography Flash” for more great biographies and behind-the-scenes stories.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/4mMClBvThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Dolly Parton BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Dolly Parton has been front and center in both headlines and hearts over the past week, even as she balanced personal moments and a packed professional schedule. According to Parade, Dolly sat down with Reba McEntire for a warmly candid TalkShopLive interview released September 25, where she reminisced with poignant humor about her late husband Carl Dean, who passed away six months ago. Dolly recalled a rare moment when Carl, who famously shunned the spotlight throughout their six-decade marriage, joined her for an impromptu performance at the Kentucky State Fair. She described the memory as “so out of character for him” and laughed about how the prank unraveled onstage—with Dolly even jokingly telling security she didn't know him, until her road manager intervened.A major headline from AOL announced Dolly's Las Vegas return later this year: she's set for six shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in December, marking her first extended residency there in 32 years. “To say I'm excited would be an understatement,” Dolly said in her statement, making clear her enthusiasm for reconnecting with fans in Vegas. The concerts, appropriately titled “Dolly: Live in Las Vegas,” promise seven decades of hits and a setlist fans have dreamt about, along with VIP packages for some up-close Dolly moments. This run coincides with the National Finals Rodeo, turning Vegas into a true Parton-palooza.Meanwhile, Dolly has not just been performing—she's been the subject of a musical about her life, “Dolly: A True Original Musical,” which opened in Nashville in January and is reportedly eyeing Broadway, according to Playbill and AOL. For fans of orchestral music, her multimedia production “Threads: My Songs in Symphony” continues its national tour, bringing Dolly's classics to the concert stage with a symphonic twist—in fact, she headlined in Indianapolis on September 20.The week was not without health-related speculations. People and IMDb reported that Dolly missed the highly anticipated announcement for Dollywood's newest ride due to kidney stone recovery, causing a ripple of concern among fans. Dolly addressed her absence cheerfully in a video message, promising she was with everyone “in spirit” and expected to be back in action soon.Book lovers, mark November 11 on your calendar. “Star of the Show: My Life on Stage”—Dolly's third photographic memoir—drops soon. Reba McEntire called Dolly “her hero” during their livestreamed chat, raving about Dolly's generosity, wit, and authenticity. The pair traded decades of stories, reinforcing their mutual admiration in a conversation that felt like a masterclass on both friendship and show business.Social media buzz has been lively, too. Dolly's enduring impact was referenced in a viral tweet picked up by HuffPost Women, joking about how “it's getting harder and harder to tumble out of bed, stumble into my kitchen to pour a cup of ambition every day,” a playful nod to her “9 to 5” lyrics that perfectly captures her crossover into everyday pop culture.So whether she's sparking Vegas fever, sharing deeply personal stories, celebrating her own journey in new artistic ways, or trending in meme form, Dolly Parton remains a force whose every move resonates far beyond country music. Onward with rhinestones, resilience, and remarkable grace—this week's Dolly headlines are, as always, pure gold.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Sit back and relax but pay attention to my conversation with Gee Ranasinha. Gee lives in the Northeast part of France. As he puts it, his marketing experience goes back to the “days of dial-up internet and AOL CDs”. During our conversation Gee tells us how he progressed from working with film, (do you know what that is?), to now working with the most advanced digital and other technological systems. He is the CEO of his own marketing company KEXINO. He talks a bit about what makes a good marketing firm and why some companies are more successful than others. He says, for example, that most companies do the same things as every other company. While labels and logos may be different, if you cover up the logos the messages and ways to provide them are the same. The successful firms have learned to distinguish themselves by being different in some manner. He practices what he preaches right down to the name of his company, KEXINO. He will tell us where the company name came from. You will see why I says he practices what he preaches. Gee gives us a great history of a lot of marketing efforts and initiatives. If you are at all involved with working to make yourself or your company successful marketing wise, then what Gee has to say will be especially relevant to you. This is one of those episodes that is worth hearing more than once. About the Guest: Gee has been in marketing since the days of dial-up internet and AOL CDs. Today, he's the CEO of KEXINO, a marketing agency and behavioral science practice for small to medium-sized businesses. Over the past 17 years KEXINO has helped over 400 startups and small businesses in around 20 countries grow awareness, reputation, trust - and sales. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute Of Marketing, Gee is also Visiting Professor at two business schools, teaching Marketing and Behavioral Science to final-year MBA students. Outside of work Gee loves to cook, listens to music on a ridiculously expensive hi-fi, and plays jazz piano very badly. Ways to connect with Gee: KEXINO website: https://kexino.com LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ranasinha YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Kexino Instagram: https://instagram.com/wearekexino TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@kexino Threads: https://www.threads.net/@wearekexino BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/kexino.com About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:16 Well and a gracious hello to you, wherever you may be, you are now listening to an episode of unstoppable mindset. I am your host, Mike or Michael. I don't really care which hingson and our guest today is Gee Ranasinha, who is a person who is very heavily involved in doing marketing and so on. Gee has been marketing for a long time, and reading his bio, he talks about being in marketing since the days of dial up and AOL and CDs. I remember the first time I tried to subscribe to AOL. It was a floppy disk. But anyway, that's okay. The bottom line is that does go back many, many years. That's when we had Rs 232 cables and modems. Now people probably don't mostly know what they are unless they're technically involved and they're all built into the technology that we use. But that's another history lesson for later. So Gee, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here. This should be a fun subject and thing to talk about. Gee Ranasinha ** 02:27 Well, thank you very much for inviting me, Michael, I do. I do appreciate it. Michael Hingson ** 02:31 Well, I'm looking forward to it and getting a chance to talk. And love to hear some of your your old stories about marketing, as well as the new ones, and of course, what lessons we learned from the old ones that helped in the new ones. And of course, I suspect there'll also be a lot of situations where we didn't learn the lessons that we should have, which is another story, right? Gee Ranasinha ** 02:50 Yeah, history does tend to repeat itself, unfortunately, and Michael Hingson ** 02:55 that usually happens because we don't pay attention to the lessons. Gee Ranasinha ** 02:59 Yeah, yeah, we, we, I think we think we know better. But I mean, it's, it's, it's funny, because, you know, if you look at other other industries, you know, if, if you want to be an architect, right, you would certainly look back to the works of, you know, Le Corbusier or Frank Lloyd Wright or Renzo Piano, or, you know, some of the great architects, and you would look back on their work, look how they did it. And you would, you know, turn back the the annals of history to to see what had gone before. But for some reason, in our industry, in marketing, we we don't think we can learn from the lessons that our erstwhile peers have had in the past, and we've so as a result, we tend to sort of rename things that have gone before, so that the newer generation of marketers will actually pay attention to them. So we give things new names. But actually, if you, if you scratch the surface and look a little bit deeper. It's actually nothing new at all. And I don't quite know why that is. I think people think that they know better than the people who've gone before them, because of the technology, because you know so much of the execution the promotion side of marketing is technology based. They I'm guessing that people don't see a relevance to what happened in the past because of the technology aspect being different, right? But what I contend is that the the essence. Of marketing is about understanding human behavior and their reactions to particular inputs, impulses, right? Um, in which case, we have plenty to learn from the people who've you know, who've walked in our in the walk this path before, and we should be a little bit, maybe a little bit more humble and open minded into accepting that we don't know everything, and we maybe don't even know what we don't know. Michael Hingson ** 05:36 I always remember back in what was it, 1982 or 1983 we had a situation here in the United States where somebody planted some poison in a bottle of Tylenol in a drug store. I remember that, yeah, and within a day, the president of the company came out and said, This is what we're going to do to deal with it, including taking all the bottles of all the pills off the shelves until we check them over and make sure everyone is clean and so on. And he got right out in front of it. And I've seen so many examples since of relatively similar kinds of crises, and nobody takes a step to take a firm stand about how we're going to handle it, which is really strange, because clearly what he did really should have taught us all a lesson. Tylenol hasn't gone away, the company hasn't gone away, and the lesson should be that there is relevance in getting out in front of it and having a plan. Now I don't know whether he or anyone really had a plan in case something happened. I've never heard that, but still whatever he got right out in front of it and addressed it. And I just really wish more marketing people, when there is a crisis, would do more of that to instill confidence in consumers. Gee Ranasinha ** 07:07 He did the right thing, right? He did, he did what you or I would have done, or we would like to think we would have done in this place, right? I, I'm, I'm guessing it was probably, not the favorite course of action, if this had been debated at board stroke shareholder level. But like I said, he he did what we all think we would have done in his place. He did the right thing. And I think that there are many instances today, more instances today than maybe in the past, where the actions of an individual they are. An individual has more freedom of expression in the past than they've had in the in the present, and they don't have to mind their P's and Q's as much. I mean, sure we know we're still talking about profit making organizations. You know, we're living in a pseudo capitalist, Neo liberal society. But surely we're still there still needs to be some kind of humanity at the end of this, right? You know, reputations take years, decades, sometimes, to build, and they can be knocked down very quickly, right, right? There's so I think some somebody, somebody, somebody a lot older and wiser than me, well, certainly wiser older. Said a brand's reputation was like a tree. It takes ages to grow, but can be knocked down very quickly, and there are plenty. You know, history is littered with examples of of organizations who haven't done the right thing. Speaker 1 ** 09:16 Well, the Yeah, go ahead. No, go ahead. Tell me Michael Hingson ** 09:20 the I observed this actually not too long ago, on a podcast, this whole discussion to someone, and they made an interesting point, which I think is probably relevant, which is, today we have a different environment, because we have social media. We have so many things, where communications go so quickly, and we we see so many people putting out information right or wrong, conspiracy or not, about anything and everything that comes up, that it causes people maybe to hesitate a little bit more to. Truly study what they want to say, because everyone's going to pick up on it. But at the same time, and I appreciate that at the same time, I think there are basic marketing principles. And as you point out, and as you're well aware, there is such a thing as human behavior, and while people want instant gratification, and they want to know right now what happened 20 minutes ago. The reality is we're not necessarily going to get that. The media doesn't help because they want to put everything out and get the story. But still, the reality is human nature is human nature, and ultimately, Truth will win out. And what we need to do is to really work more toward making sure that that happens. Gee Ranasinha ** 10:48 I, I actually don't agree with that. Okay, in in, you know, in the, in the with the greatest respect, firstly, I think, I think as a cop out to use social media, information channels, news cycles, that sort of thing, because, if anything, because of the pace of the news cycle and The, you know, the fire hose of social media today, me, we're in a better position to say what we mean and not regret it, because it's forgotten it 20 minutes. Yeah, so it works, it's, it's an argument for what we're talking about not, not against Michael Hingson ** 11:41 it, yeah. I agree. Yeah, go ahead, Gee Ranasinha ** 11:45 yeah. And the second thing you said, truth will out. And I think truth does not without and there are plenty of people who continue to spout out misinformation and disinformation, yeah, constantly at every level of corporate at a corporate level, at a political level, at a geopolitical level, or at a local level, right? I don't want to sort of go down that rabbit hole, right, but there are, there are plenty of misquotes, myths, truths, which are never, never withdrawn and never counted, never excused and live out there in the ether, in perpetuity. Michael Hingson ** 12:35 Yeah, it's true, but I also think that in the end, while some people continue to put their inaccurate information out, I think there are also others who have taken the time, or do take the time they put out more relevant information, and probably in the long run, more people buy into that than to misinformation. I'm not going to say it's a perfect world, but I think more often than not, enough positive information comes out that people eventually get more of the right answer than all the yammering and bad information. But it may take time. Gee Ranasinha ** 13:18 I would love to believe that, Mike, I really would maybe I'm just too cynical, right? Michael Hingson ** 13:27 I hear you, I hear you, and you know, I don't know I could be just as wrong. I mean, in the United States today, we've got a government with people who are definitely talking about things and saying things that most of us have always felt are untrue, but unfortunately, they're being said and pushed in such a way that more people are not opposing them. And how quickly that will change remains to be seen. And for all I know, and I think, for all I know, maybe some of what they're saying might be right, but we'll see. Gee Ranasinha ** 14:05 I think that's the issue. I mean, I, as I said, I don't really want to jump down that politics rabbit hole, but no, not really. I think, you know, the issue is, if you say a lie enough times, people believe it. Yeah, right, yeah. And the fact that nobody's fact checking this stuff, I'm like, I said. I'm not. I'm not singling out politics. I'm singling out messaging in its widest in its widest interpretation, right, false messaging of any sort, if left unchecked. Yeah. Correct. I think the people who know an alternative reality or know that it's a lie know that it's an untruth by not publicly facts checking it, by not calling these. People out are complicit in spreading the lie. Michael Hingson ** 15:03 Yeah, well, I think that's true, and you're right. It doesn't matter whether it's politics. It doesn't matter whether it's well, whatever it is, it's anything. And I think there's one of the beauties of of our country, your country. And I didn't explain at the beginning that G is in the you said, northwest part of France, right? Northeast, northeast, well, east, west, northeast part Gee Ranasinha ** 15:29 of Yeah, well, near enough, you know, if you go, if you go, if you go east, far enough times you get, you get to West Anyway, don't you? Well, you get back where you started. Or maybe you don't, I don't know if, depends who you listen Michael Hingson ** 15:39 to, right? If the Earth is flat. Well, even the Flat Earthers have had explanations for why the earth is flat and people don't fall off, but that's okay, but yeah, so northeast part of France and and I hear, I hear what you're saying, and I think it's important that people have the freedom to be able to fact check, and I, and I hope, as we grow more people will find the value of that, but that in all aspects, but that remains to be seen. Gee Ranasinha ** 16:14 Well, I think especially in you know, perversely, now that we have the ability to check the veracity of a piece of information a lot easier, right? Almost in real time. Yeah. I think the fact that we can means that we don't, you know, you probably know the quote by what was his name? Edwin Burke, who may or may not have said that, you know, evil triumphs when good men do nothing or something like that. Along that sort of lines, some people say that he didn't say that. He did say, it doesn't matter who said it, right? It's a great quote. It's a great quote. It's a great quote. And that's what I mean about being complicit, just by the fact of not calling this stuff out, feeds the fire. Yeah, to the to the point where it becomes and especially, I'm talking with people who maybe are a little bit younger and haven't and are more likely to believe what they see on screens of whatever size, simply because it's in the public domain, um, whereas The older strokes more cynical of us may may question a lot more of what's thrown in front of our eyes. So I think all of us have a responsibility, which I don't think all of us understand the power that we yield or we're afraid to or afraid to? Yeah, absolutely. Michael Hingson ** 18:08 So tell me a little about kind of the early Gee growing up and so on, and how you got into this whole idea and arena of marketing and so on. Gee Ranasinha ** 18:18 Well before this, I was the CMO of a software company. I was there for seven years, and before that, I was working for a company in London, working with in the print and publishing industries. So I've been around media for most of my working life, and after, after being at the software company for seven years, sort of hit a little bit of a ceiling, really. I mean, the company was a small company, and it could only grow at a certain rate, and so I wasn't really being challenged anymore. I had to wait a little bit until the company could fill the bigger shoes that had been given, if you like. You know, I mean growing pains. It's very common for companies of all sizes to go through this sort of thing. So to be honest, I probably was treading water a bit too long. But you know, you get you get complacent, don't you, you get comfortable in in the, you know the corporate job, and you know a salary at the at the end of every month, and you know corporate travel and company BMWs and expense accounts and all of that sort of trappings. And you know, I, I fell for all of that. You. Um, but I finally realized that something needed to happen. So at the end of 2007 beginning of 2008 Me and a couple of colleagues decided to start the agency, which, as you will remember, 2008 was not exactly the best time to start a marketing agency. Good time to start any agency, Michael Hingson ** 20:29 to be honest. The other hand, there were a lot of opportunities. But yeah, I hear you. Well, yeah, Gee Ranasinha ** 20:34 glass half full. Glass half empty, right? Yeah. But you know, luckily, with with a number of very, very supportive clients in those early days, you know, we weathered the post recession? Yeah, slow down. And 17 and a half years later, here we are. We've now. We started off with three. We were three. We're now 19. We're in nine countries. Nine of us were in the US. The rest are in Europe, South Africa, Japan, and two people in Australia. That's that, that's, that's who we are. So, you know, we're a a team of marketing, creative and business development specialists, and we work with startups and small businesses primarily in the US, even though we're based all over the place, and we combine marketing strategy, proper strategy, with a thing called behavioral science, which works with organizations to increase their awareness, their reputation, their trust, and most of all, of course, sales Right? Because sales is name of the game. Sales is what it's all about. So yeah, I'd say probably 80, 90% of our clients are in the US and, well, certainly North America anyway, and it's all sorts of industries, all sorts of sizes. We've we've got, we certainly had in the past. You know, solopreneur type businesses, small businesses and larger businesses, up to around 40 to 50 mil to revenue that sort of size, anything bigger they usually have, usually got, you know, quite well, working teams within the organization. So we're, you know, the amount of effective contribution that we can add to that is, it's obviously going to be as a percentage, much lower. So it's, it's, it's really for that, that smaller sized profile of organization, and it's not sort of limited by particular industry or category. We've, you know, we work with all sorts. We've worked in sports, healthcare, FinTech, medical, professional services, software, publishing, all sorts, right across the board. Michael Hingson ** 23:34 What got you started in marketing in the beginning, you you know you were like everyone else. You were a kid and you grew up and so on. What? What really made you decide that this was the kind of career you wanted? Gee Ranasinha ** 23:46 Marketing wasn't my first career. I've had a few others in the past. I actually started off my first first company, and I founded, way back when was a media production company. I was a professional photographer, advertising photographer, working with advertising agencies as well as direct corporate commissions. This is in the days of film. This was way before digital image capture. Michael Hingson ** 24:20 So this is going back to what the 1980s Gee Ranasinha ** 24:23 it's going to late 80s to early 90s. Yeah, and I was working with eight by 10 and four by five view cameras, sometimes called plate cameras. It was mainly studio stuff. I was happier in the studio that we did location stuff as well. But studio was where I was happiest because I could control everything. I suppose I'm on control freak at the end of the day. So I can control every highlight, every nuance, every every part of the equation. And. And and that's where I started. And then after doing that for a while, I came I got involved with professional quality digital image capture. Is very, very it is very, very beginning. And was instrumental in the the adoption of digital image capture for larger print and publishing catalog fashion houses who were looking for a way to streamline that production process, where, obviously, up until then, the processing of film had been a bottleneck, right? You couldn't, you couldn't process film any quicker than the film needed to be processed, right the the e6 process, which was the the term for using a bunch of chemicals to create slides, die, positives, transparencies. I think it used to take like 36 minutes plus drying time. So there was a, you know, close to an hour wait between shooting and actually seeing what what the result was. And that time frame could not be reduced up until that point in time, the quality of digital image capture systems wasn't really all of that, certainly wasn't a close approximation to what you could get with with film at The time, until a number of manufacturers working with chip manufacturers, were able to increase the dynamic range and the the total nuances that you could capture on digital Of course, the problem at that time was we were talking about what, what were, What today is not particularly large, but was at the time in terms of file sizes, and the computers of the day would be struggling to deal with images of that high quality, so It was always a game of catch up between the image capture hardware and the computer hardware needed to to view and manipulate the image and by manipulate it was more more manipulation in terms of optimizing the digital file for reproduction in print, because obviously that was the primary carrier of, yeah, of the information. It was for use in some kind of printed medium. It wasn't like we were doing very much with with email or websites or anything else in the in the early 90s. So the conversion process to optimize a digital image captured file, to give the best possible tonal reproduction on printed material has always been a little bit of a black art, even when we when we were digitizing transparency films, going to digital image capture made things a lot more predictable, but it also increased the computational power needed, number one, but also for photographers to actually understand a little bit more about the photo mechanical print process, and there were very few photographers who understood both, both sides of the fence. So I spent a lot of time being a pom pom girl. Basically Mike. I was, I was, I was waving the pom poms and preaching large about the benefits of digital image capture and how and educating the industries, various in photographic industries, about, you know, possible best practices. There weren't any sort of standards in place at the time, Michael Hingson ** 29:41 and it took a while for people to really buy into that they weren't visionary enough to understand what you were saying. I bet Gee Ranasinha ** 29:48 Well, we were also taught very few were enough, and there were two reasons. One of them was financially based, because. We were talking about a ton of money, yeah, to do this properly, we were talking about a ton of money. Just the image capture system would easily cost you 50 grand. And this, you know this, this was in the days when 50 grand was a lot of money, Michael Hingson ** 30:18 yeah, well, I remember my first jobs out of college were working with Ray Kurzweil, who developed Omni font, optical character recognition system. Oh, my goodness me, I did not know that. And the first machine that he put out for general use, called the Kurzweil data entry machine, was only $125,000 it worked. It still took a while to make it to truly do what it needed to do, but still it was. It was the first machine, and a lot of people just didn't buy into it. It took a while to get people to see the value of why digitizing printed material was so relevant, some lawyers, Some law firms, some banks and so on, caught on, and as people realized what it would do, then they got interested. But yeah, it was very expensive, Gee Ranasinha ** 31:14 very expensive. And I think the other reason for the reticence is just nature, to be honest. Mike, I mean, you know, as as people, as human beings, most of us are averse to change, right? Because change is an unknown, and we don't like unknowns. We like predictability. We like knowing that when we get up in the morning, the sun's gonna come up and we're gonna go through our our usual routine, and so when something comes along that up ends the status quo to the point where we need to come up with adopting new behaviors that's very uncomfortable for many people. And you know, the adoption of digitization in, you know, any industry, I think, in everybody who's worked in any particular industry has has plenty of anecdotal evidence to show how people would consciously or unconsciously dragging their feet to adopt that change because they were happier doing stuff that they knew, Michael Hingson ** 32:32 who went out of their comfort zone, right? Gee Ranasinha ** 32:35 Absolutely, it's natural, it's, it's, it's who we are as as as human beings, who most of us are as human beings with, obviously, we're talking about the middle of the bell curve here. I mean, there are plenty of wackos on either side just go out and do stuff, right? And, you know those, you know, some of those get, you know, locked up with in straight jackets. But the other ones tend to, sort of, you know, create true innovation and push things forward. Michael Hingson ** 33:04 Steve Jobs, even Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, good examples of some of the people who did things that most people didn't think could be done. Gee Ranasinha ** 33:18 You know, the true innovation always happens at the periphery, but we tend to over emphasize the median. We know we try to make averages of everything, yeah, but averages aren't what moves the needle, right? No. And you know Britain, you know, for even for marketing, obviously, that's very much, very, very much my sort of thing. Um, most organizations, most business owners, certainly most marketing managers, find comfort in in executing their marketing in ways in which they are comfortable, in ways which are somewhat expected within the industry. But the problem is, it doesn't get you noticed. It doesn't get you attention. If you're in the middle, right? You know the worst, the worst place to walk on the in the street is in the middle of the road right, pick a side, but don't walk in the middle. 34:27 Not a good idea yet. Gee Ranasinha ** 34:30 That's our our job is to is to, number one, generate attention, because there's no way we can communicate a message unless we have someone's attention. Everything starts from the attention side of things. Now there are very, you know, various ways that we can attract attention, but attention needs to come and needs to come from somewhere. And you know the definite. Of creating attention is to to create some kind of visual, audio, or combination of the two, experience which is somewhat outside of the norm, and create some kind of emotional response that our brains want to pay attention to, right? Want to notice? Because if you're not noticed, then there's no it doesn't matter how great your product is, doesn't matter how wonderful your customer service is, or it's available in 27 colors, or it's free delivery, or what you know, all the rest of it doesn't matter, because you know, unless people know who you are, what you do, who it's for, and why they should give a crap, then you know anything else you do after that Time is is moot, is irrelevant. Michael Hingson ** 36:00 I read an interesting email this morning from someone who was talking about why speakers don't tend to be as successful as they should be. And this person talked about you could have the greatest speech in the world. You could be Michael Hingson ** 36:17 talking and getting standing ovations and so on, but you're not getting a lot of speaking engagements, and his comment was the reason you're not is that your talk isn't necessarily relevant. I thought that was interesting. I think there's some things to be said for relevance, but I think it's also that you're not helping to get people to think and realize that being different and getting people to think and value that is more important than we tend to want to recognize as well. Gee Ranasinha ** 36:59 I would, I would, I would wholeheartedly agree relevance is a very important component. But, you know, I maintain that it starts with attention. Yeah, relevance, I think, within the speaking world, I yes, there's so much we can do with relevance by by coming at a subject matter topic from a totally different perspective. Yeah, right. You know, just because you have the same message as 100 other competitors doesn't mean they have to say something in the same way, right? And so even if the core message is similar, the way that we choose to present that can be, you know, 100 101 different ways. And I think that is something that we forget, and I think that's one of the reasons why so much of the marketing that we see today is ignored. Yeah, you know, there's a there's a marketing Well, I wouldn't say the marketing model. There's a communication model, okay? Sales model actually called Ada, Ida, a, I D, A, okay. So even if you've not, not worked in sales or marketing at all, if you've even seen the film Glengarry Glynn Ross, or the play that it was based on. It's actually playing in New York City at the moment. I believe, yeah, a, I D, A, which is tracking the customer experience in four steps. So the idea is you have awareness, interest, desire and action, right? A, I, D, A, and it's understanding that there are four steps to getting to the position of negotiating the deal with a prospective buyer, but number one starts with awareness. You know they need, they need to be aware that you exist and nobody's going to buy from you if they don't know who you are. They need to know who they need to know who you are before they'll buy from you. Right then obviously needs to be an interest a product market fit what you're selling is something that they could conceivably use in terms of solving a particular problem that they perceive as having the desire. Why should they buy from you, as opposed to somebody else? Why do they. Need to buy your product, as opposed to a competitive product, and then finally, action, right? So that's what we might call sales, activation or performance marketing, or, you know, sales in the old terms, right? As they would say in that film, it's getting the getting the buyer to sign on the line that is dotted. But all of this stuff starts with attention and when we're not doing a very good job, I think as a mark, as an industry, we used to be really good at it, but I think we've taken our eye off the ball somewhat, and hoped that technology would fill in the gaps of our incompetence at being able to, excuse me, being able to shape the way that we market to customers, to buyers, in ways which create the memory structures in the brain to a sufficiently acute level so that when they are in The position to buy something, they think of us, as well as probably a number a handful of other suitors that solve their problem. And this is why, I think this is the reason why, because of the over reliance of technology, I mean, this is the reason why so much of our marketing fails to generate interest, sales to generate the tangible business results that are expected of it. Because we're, we're marketing by bullet point. We're expecting buyers to buy off a fact sheet. We've, we've exercised the creativity out of the equation. And we're and, and we were just producing this vacuous, generic vanilla Michael Hingson ** 42:12 musach, yeah, if you Gee Ranasinha ** 42:14 like, Okay, I mean, again, you know, think of any particular industry, you can see this. It's pretty much endemic. You can have two totally different organizations selling something purportedly solving the same problem. And you can look at two pieces of you can look at a piece of marketing from each company. And if you covered up the logo of each person of each company's marketing output, 10 will get you five that what's actually contained in the messaging is as equally valid for company A as it is for Company B, and that's a real problem. Michael Hingson ** 43:00 It's not getting anyone's attention or creating awareness. Gee Ranasinha ** 43:03 It's not creating attention or awareness. And worse, it's creating a level of confusion in the buyer's mind. Because we're we're looking for comparisons, we're looking at a way to make an educated decision compared to something else, and if we can't see why product A is miles ahead in our minds of Company B or product B, what often happens is rather than make a wrong decision, because we can't clearly differentiate the pros and cons between the two products, what we end up doing is nothing. We walk away. We don't buy anything, because we can't see a clear winner, which impacts company A and company B, if not the entire industry. And then they turn around and say, Oh, well, nobody's buying. Why? Why? Why is our industry lagging behind so many others? It's because we're just on autopilot, creating this, this nonsense, this generic sea of sameness in terms of communication, which we just don't seem to have a grip on the fundamental understanding of how people buy stuff anymore. We used to Yeah, up and up and up until probably the 90s. We used to know all this stuff. We used to know how get people going, how to stand out, how to create differentiated messaging, how to understand. Or what levers we could pull to better invoke an emotional reaction in the minds of the target buying audience that we're looking to attract. And then for some for, you know the if we plotted these things around two curves, you know, the point at which these curves would cross would probably be the adoption of technology, Michael Hingson ** 45:29 whereas we came to reproduce the same thing in different ways, but you're still producing the same thing. The technology has limited our imagination, and we don't use re imaginations the way we used to. Gee Ranasinha ** 45:43 We we've we're using, we're using technology as a proxy for reach. And getting in front of 1000 eyeballs or a million eyeballs or 100 million eyeballs doesn't necessarily mean any of those eyeballs are fit in the ideal customer profile we're looking to attract. Right? More doesn't mean better, and what what we're doing is we're trying to use technology to to fill in the gaps, but technology doesn't understand stuff like human emotion, right, and buying drivers and contextual messaging, right? Because all of this stuff human behavior is totally contextual, right? I will, I will come up with a and I'm sure you're the same thing. You will have a particular point of view about something one day and the next, the very next day, or even the very next hour, you could have a totally different viewpoint on a particular topic, maybe because you've had more information, or just maybe for the for the hell of it, right? We know we are we are not logical, rational, pragmatic machines that always choose the best in inverted commas solution to our issue. Michael Hingson ** 47:23 Do you think AI will help any of this? Gee Ranasinha ** 47:29 I think AI will help in terms of the fact that it will show how little we know about human behavior, and so will force forward thinking, innovative marketers to understand the only thing that matters, which is what's going on between the ears of the people we're trying to attract. I think AI is already showing us what we don't know, not what we know, Michael Hingson ** 48:04 right? And it's still going to be up to us to do something about that and use AI as a tool to help possibly create some of what needs to be done. But it still requires our thought processes ultimately, to make that happen, Gee Ranasinha ** 48:23 AI can't create. All AI can do is remix what has already been in existence, right? Ai doesn't create what AI does. The thing is, we're using AI for the wrong stuff. AI is really good at a ton of things, and it sucks big time at a load of other things. But for some reason, we want to throw all our efforts in trying to make it better at the things it's not good at, rather than use it at the things that it's really, really good Michael Hingson ** 49:04 at, such as, Gee Ranasinha ** 49:08 such as interpreting large data sets, Creating models of financial models, marketing models, marketing matrix, matrices, spotting, spotting trends in data, large, huge, like huge models of data, which no human being could really, in reality, Make any head in the tail of finding underlying commonalities in in the data to be able to create from that, to be able to draw out real, useful insights on that data to create new. New messaging, innovative products, services that we haven't thought of before because we haven't been able to see the wood for the trees, 50:13 if you like, yeah, right Gee Ranasinha ** 50:17 for that sort of stuff, for the grunt work, for the automation. You know, do this, then do this, and all of that sort of stuff, A, B, testing, programmatic stuff, all of that stuff, banner ads and, you know, modifying banner all of that stuff is just basic grunt work that nobody needs, needs to do, wants to do, right? Give it all to AI it. Most AI is doing it, most of it anyway. We just never called it AI. You know, we've been doing it for 25 years. We just called it software in those days, right? But it's the same. It's the same goddamn thing. Is what we were doing, right? Let it do all of that stuff, because it's far better. And let's focus on the stuff that it can't do. Let's find out about what levers we need to pull at an emotional level to create messaging that better resonates in the minds of our buyers. That's what we need to do. Ai can't do that stuff right. Michael Hingson ** 51:16 Where I think AI is is helpful today, as opposed to just software in the past, is that it has been taught how better to interact with those who use it, to be able to take questions and do more with it, with them than it used to be able to do, but we still have to come up with the problems or the issues that we wanted to solve, and to do it right, we have to give it a fair amount of information which, which still means we've got to be deeply involved in the process. Gee Ranasinha ** 51:53 I mean, where it's great. I mean, if we're looking at, you know, Text, type, work, right, right, or I, or ideas or possibilities, or actually understanding the wider consideration set of a particular problem is that the hardest thing is, when you're staring at a blank piece of paper, isn't it? Right? We don't need that's the hardest thing, right? So we don't need to stare at a blank sheet anymore with a flashing cursor, right? You know, we can engage in a pseudo conversation that we need to take into consideration that this conversation is taking place based upon previous, existing ideas. So the chance that we'll get something fresh and original is very, very small. And as you just mentioned, you know, the quality of the prompt is everything. Get the prompt wrong and without enough granularity, details, specificity, whatever else you get just a huge piece of crap, don't you? Right? So in other words, having a better understanding of how we as humans make decisions actually improves our prompting ability, right, right? Michael Hingson ** 53:12 And I think AI, it is not creative, but I think that AI can spew is probably the wrong word, but AI can put out things that, if we think about it, will cause us to do the creating that we want, but it's still going to be assets involved in doing that. Gee Ranasinha ** 53:35 The problem is, and what we're seeing, certainly in the last couple of months, maybe even longer, maybe I just haven't noticed. It is just we were, you know, there's this old saying, you know, just because you can doesn't mean you should, right? I just see an absolute tsunami of vacuous, generic nonsense being spouted out across all types of channels, digital and otherwise, but mainly digital, all of it AI generated. Sometimes it's images, sometimes it's videos, sometimes it's both, sometimes it's text, whatever. But we we're adding to the noise instead of adding to the signal. So the inevitable result of all of this is going to be numbness. We're going to becoming different to marketing of all sorts, the good stuff as well as the bad. You're going to be it's we're just gonna get numb. So it's going to make the attention stuff. That's why I've been banging on about attention all this time, right? It's gonna, it's, yeah, there's, see, there is a method to my madness here. So the the point is that creation and maintaining. Attention is going to be even harder than it would have been before. Yeah, and, and we, you know, we're getting to the point where, you know, you've got agentic AI, where you've got agents talking to other agents and going around in this feedback loop. But we're not, we're not, we're not creating any emotional engagement from a, from a from a buyer perspective, from a user perspective, yes, it all looks great. And as a, as an exercise in technology, it's fantastic. So wonderful, right? But how has it increased sales? That's what I want to know has has it reduced or altered the cost of acquiring a customer and maintaining that customer relationship, because that's where the rubber hits the road. That's all that matters. I don't care whether it's a technological masterpiece, right, but if it hasn't sold anything, and actual sales, I'm not talking about likes and comments and retweets and all of that crap, because that's vanity metrics. Is nonsense Michael Hingson ** 56:11 signing a contract. It's, you know, Gee Ranasinha ** 56:16 there needs to be as an exchange of money at some point in time. Yeah, right. Is that happening? And I contend that it's not. And I think there are loads of people, loads of business owners, who are throwing money at this in the vain hope they you know that basically they're playing the numbers. They just need one horse to come in, 100 to one to be able to justify what they've spent on all of this stuff, right? Yeah, but I think those odds are getting longer and longer as each month goes, yeah. Well, you I think there's going to be an inevitable backlash back to stuff that actually resonates with people at a human level, at an emotional level, a psychological level, it has to Michael Hingson ** 57:08 you started your marketing company 17 and a half years ago, caxino. Where'd that name come from? Gee Ranasinha ** 57:18 From nothing? Okay, it doesn't mean anything I needed. I needed to have something which number one, that the domain was available. Of course, I needed to have something which was short, something that didn't mean, you know, something incongruous in another language and and so after a lot of to ing and fro ing, there were two schools of thought. At the beginning, we didn't know whether to go with something abstract, like caxino or something which was, you know, based based upon the the butting up of two existing words you know, like you see, you know, so many times, you know, big red table, or, you know, whatever. So we did, we decided to go with something abstract, so that we weren't encumbered by language. Michael Hingson ** 58:22 You practiced what you preach pretty much. You're different, yeah, but why don't you call it? You don't refer to it as a digital marketing agency. Why is that? Gee Ranasinha ** 58:34 No, I don't see us as a digital marketing agency, because digital marketing is not all we do. And not only that, I think, Well, I think there's, there's a number of reasons. Number one, I think we're using the word digital is, is a curveball. Firstly, because everything that we do is digital, right? Everything is already digital. Print is digital, TV is digital, billboards are digital. So saying digital is like saying electrical, electrical marketing agency, it makes as much sense to be honest. So that's number one. But I think the bigger issue is that by categorizing a marketing agency as being a digital marketing agency does a disservice to its work and indeed its outlook, because The object is not to be digital in your marketing, it's to do marketing in a digital world, which are two very different positions, okay? Because digital, the way that we're talking about it, is not a attributive noun, and it's certainly not an adjective. You. In the context that we're talking about it, digital is a channel. It's simply one way of getting in front of our audience. But it's not the only way of getting in front of our audience. Okay? So, yeah, along with many other reputable agencies, we happen to use the most appropriate channel of communication that makes sense to address a particular target audience group, and that's it. Okay, if that's digital, great. If that's walking down the street with an A frame with something written on the front of it, that's also great, okay, but it's, it's, it's not about it's not about the channel. It's about you being in the places where our target target audience group expects us to be. And so that's why I don't think of us as a digital marketing agency, because digital is only part of what we do, right? And we do many other things. And also, I think it puts it, it puts blinkers on things right? Because if you know, supposing, supposing you go to a Facebook marketing agency, of which there are many. Now, if you go to a Facebook marketing agency and you say, Okay, I want to do some ads. Where should I advertise? What are they going to tell you? Right, maybe Facebook, right? So there's, there's a thing called Maslow's hammer. Okay, in Maslow, as in the hierarchy, the Hierarchy of Needs Maslow. Okay to say, Maslow. He came up with this idea of Maslow's hammer. It's also known as the law of the instrument. And basically what it means, we can distill it down, is, if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail, okay? And what that means is, you're looking to solve any problem that comes along by the tools that you have in your toolbox, regardless of whether that's the best way of moving forward, which I think is a very short term and myopic view. So that's why we we don't like to think of ourselves as the marketing agency, because there are many other there are many ways of solving a particular problem, and it doesn't necessarily have to be Michael Hingson ** 1:02:50 digital, Gee Ranasinha ** 1:02:51 digital or promotional or, you know, it's, it's like, you know, are we a video marketing agency? No. Does that mean we don't do video, not at all. Of course, we do it, right? We're not an AI marketing agency, right? In the same way, okay, when we're not a we're not a YouTube marketing agency, Michael Hingson ** 1:03:11 you're a marketing agency. We're a marketing agency, right? What are some of the biggest mistakes that small businesses make when it comes to marketing? Gee Ranasinha ** 1:03:21 I think the single biggest mistake, and I speak to business owners pretty much on a daily basis, right? I think the single biggest issue that comes up again and again and again is something which I call self diagnosis, which is the business owner, approaches the marketing agency, or even digital marketing agency, approaches the marketing agency, and says, You know what, I need you to do this for me. Whatever that this is, okay. So you know, maybe it's some digital ads, maybe it's some videos, maybe it's a website, maybe it's a whatever. It doesn't matter what it is, but basically, the business owner is coming to us, coming to the marketing agency, dictating what the tactic is to be, which presumes a number of things, not least, that they think they have come to the conclusion that this particular tactic is going to solve their marketing problem based upon usually waving a wet finger in the air, yeah, or they've seen a YouTube video or something, okay, it's not based on any marketing knowledge experience or education, because, with the greatest respect, these people do not have any marketing knowledge experience. Into education, right? And why would they? Because they're running a business, right? They don't, you know, they it doesn't mean that they've had to do this marketing stuff. So they're, they're, they're presuming that a particular tactic is going to solve a business problem, a marketing tactic is going to solve a business problem. And so what what happens is the the particular tactic is is executed. Nothing changes revenue wise. And so the business owner says, well, that marketing agency was crap. Let's go to another marketing agency and ask them to do something else. So it's playing pin the tail on the donkey. Really, just trying stuff and hoping so. The point is that. The point is that if you're going to pay somebody who does this for a living, the idea that you know more than they do is already setting the relationship on a uneven kill, right? Yeah, you know, if I, if I go, if I go and see my doctor, and I say, and I wake up in the morning and I've got a pain in my chest, and I thinking, oh my goodness, I go and see the doctor, right? So on the way to the doctor's office, I do the worst thing possible, which is go on the internet and say, Okay, what does pain in my chest mean? Right? And I go into the doctor's office, and I sit down and I say, Okay, I've got a pain in my chest, doctor, that means I've got angina. Can you give me some heart medication, please? What's the doctor gonna tell you? Doctor's gonna tell you, shut the hell up. Yeah, I'm the doctor in the office. I'm the actually, where's, Where's, where's your medical degree doesn't exist, does it? No, and Michael Hingson ** 1:07:00 just because you have a broken rib, we're not going to talk about that. Are we right? Gee Ranasinha ** 1:07:04 So, What? What? So what's the doctor going to do? The doctor is going to ask you a bunch of questions, right? What did you do the last couple of days? Right? What did you eat? Did you go to the gym and over exert yourself? What's your history? Do you is there a history of heart disease in the family, you know, maybe there's is going to he or she is going to take some blood, maybe they're going to run a few other sort of tests. They're going to do a diagnosis, and at the end of this diagnosis, the doctor is going to come back to you and say, You know what? So, based upon all the questions that you've kindly answered, and based upon the blood work and all these other tests and scans we've done, it turns out that the the pain in your chest is nothing to do with angina. The reason you got a pain in the chest is because you had some spicy food last night. So you don't have you don't have Anjali, you have gas. Yeah, right, right, so I prescribe you a couple of packs of Tums. Yeah, sorted, right. And that's the point. The point is the doctor knows what he or she is doing, and you have to have confidence in that particular medical practitioner to diagnose the issue and prescribe a solution to that issue, right? Your job is not to say what you think is wrong with you at this stage of the conversation. Your job is to tell me where it hurts. That's it right now, I'll come back to you with a list of things which I think we need to do to move forward. Now you can go and get a second opinion, just like at a doctor's office. You may think I'm full of crap, which is absolutely your prerogative. Or you may say, I know better than you. I'm going to do my own thing, which, again, it's your time Absolutely. But if it all goes to crap, you can't turn around and say, well, if only this person had said this, or, you know, If only, if only, if only, and play the victim, because that's also just not going to wash. And I see this time and time and time again. You know, we've tried, well, we've tried a number of different agencies, and none of them have been able to help us. And then you sort of dig a bit deeper, and it's because they're never allowed to do what they're supposed to do, because they've always been second guessed. Yeah, that is probably the single biggest issue that I see coming up again and again and again with small business in market now, if and if it's a question of not having faith in that. Uh, agency, then you shouldn't have been employed. You shouldn't have that agency in the first place. Michael Hingson ** 1:10:05 Get a second opinion. Gee Ranasinha ** 1:10:07 You know, not all, not all agencies are great, just like not all plumbers are great. Not all mechanics are great. Same thing, right? It takes time to find the good ones, right? Um, but just because you found a bad one, because I don't know they were cheap, or they were local, or they were whatever, you know, whatever, whatever criteria you tend to use to base your decision upon, right? You can't, you can't criticize what they did if you didn't allow them to do what they were actually being paid to do. Michael Hingson ** 1:10:47 Well, speaking of that, if people want to reach out to you, how do they do that? Gee Ranasinha ** 1:10:53 Best way to get hold of me. Gee is on LinkedIn. I spend most of my time on LinkedIn. I post twice a week. I post videos about some of the sorts of things that we've been talking about today, and they're only sort of 60 seconds long, 90 seconds long. It's not sort of taking up anybody's time very much. You can find me there. Would you believe, Mike, there is only 1g runner scene on LinkedIn. Can you imagine fortuitous? How fortuitous is Michael Hingson ** 1:11:27 that? Yeah, really, and G is spelled G, E, and how do you spell your last name? Gee Ranasinha ** 1:11:33 You could eat. I'm sure all of this still, the stuff will be put in. It will, but I just figured it we could. But yeah. G, renasina, you can find me there. Otherwise, obviously you can find us on Kexino, k, e, X, I, N, o.com, which is the website, and there's plenty of information there textual information, there are videos, there are articles, there are all sorts of bits and pieces that you can find more about us Michael Hingson ** 1:12:04 there. Well, this has been absolutely wonderful, and I really appreciate you taking more than an hour to chat with us today. And I hope this was fun, and I hope that people will appreciate it and will reach out to you and value what we've discussed. I think it's been great love to hear from all of you out there. Please feel free to email me. Michael H, i@accessibe.com so that's m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, and love to hear from you wherever you're listening. Please give us a five star rating. We value those ratings very highly, and we'd love to to to hear and see you rate us and get your thoughts. If you know of anyone else who might be a good guest for unstoppable mindset. Gu as well, we'd sure appreciate your referring them to us. Introduce us. We're always looking for more people to to chat with, so please do that and again, gee, I just want to thank you one more time for being here. This has been great, Gee Ranasinha ** 1:13:02 absolute pleasure, delighted to be invited. Michael Hingson ** 1:13:10 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. 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In Season 2, Episode 5, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh are going back in time (apologies to Huey Lewis and the News) to the 1990s and examining companies that were iconic then and trying to find new ground today. But we start with coffee mugs - our most vintage mugs. A coffee mug can make coffee better, or ruin it, or bring back memories. The vessel may not be more important than what's in it, but it's up there. And this is our first, but perhaps not our last, Miss Piggy reference. Episode page with video and more Before we delve into AOL finally ending its dial-up service, we take a deep dive into Starbucks' new CEO and his efforts to revive the brand. Both the substance and the approach to decision-making matter here. On the approach, making too many decisions at the top can undermine those you're asking to make their decisions, but the right decisions in the right way can break things loose or shift your culture. However, this also raises the question of what Starbucks customers value and how to consistently deliver that value. There are many systematic barriers put in the way of baristas trying to deliver value. Will Starbucks and its CEO remove those barriers and find value? We will see (or at least their customers will). We wrap up sharing our experiences with jazz flutist Frank Wess and the new movie "Spinal Tap II." Links From the Show: MiiR carafe - via Amazon WSJ on Starbucks' efforts to reestablish its customer value And their efforts to get baristas to smile AOL shuts down dial-up The Machine That Changed The World MACI Improvement Nerds Podcast with Mark Jazz artist Frank Wess on Spotify Spinal Tap II: The End Continues Podcast feed at LeanCoffeeTalk.com or jflinch.com/leancoffeetalk Please review us and follow! Please review us and follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!
CannCon and Alpha Warrior kick off the show with sharp banter before diving into Trump's fiery posts on government shutdown brinkmanship and Democrat spending demands. The discussion shifts to viral videos of pregnant women taking Tylenol “to own Trump,” sparking an in-depth look at research linking acetaminophen, glutathione depletion, vaccines, and autism. The hosts react to expert testimony, memes from Dr. Peter McCullough, and personal stories, underscoring how mainstream narratives cover for Big Pharma. They also break down Dr. Ben Carson's surprising return as National Nutrition Advisor, what Antifa's internal funding and structure reveal about its “non-organization,” and Marco Rubio's comments on foreign aid that expose deeper laundering schemes. With updates on the ICE facility shooting, James Comey's looming indictment, John Bolton's AOL email scandal, and Trump's “paper tiger” remarks on Russia, the episode blends hard news, health revelations, and trademark Badlands energy.
Meanwhile… A wellness retreat in Michigan offers adult hula hooping workshops, the maker of Ozempic is cutting thousands of staffers, and the familiar sound of AOL's dial-up internet service will soon go silent. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, Clay brings back David Gardner to discuss his new book, Rule Breaker Investing. Throughout David's investing career, he seemed to have taken all of Buffett's rules to investing and thrown them out the window. In this episode, he shares his unique rule-breaking framework, providing you with the guidance and the gumption to win at investing by finding and owning the best companies of the future. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 04:50 - Why David decided to ignore Buffett's value investing principles and discover his own way to invest. 08:21 - Why he decided to break Buffett's number one rule of investing. 11:01 - The story of David's early investment in AOL, which rose by over 150x. 21:04 - Why David neglects the phrase, “long-term investor.” 28:36 - The six traits of rule breaker stocks and the six habits of the rule breaker investor. 40:11 - Why David prefers to buy stocks that professional commenters say are overvalued. 49:46 - Why the best companies are so good they almost seem to be cheating and don't play by traditional rules. 01:00:42 - What conscious capitalism is and how it enables all parties in business to win. 01:27:49 - His Rule Breaker stock picks for 2025. Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join Clay and a select group of passionate value investors for a retreat in Big Sky, Montana. Learn more here. Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members. David Gardner's book: Rule Breaker Investing. David's company: The Motley Fool. Matt Ridley's book: The Rational Optimist. John Macket's book: Conscious Capitalism. Related Episode: TIP385: Breaking the Rules w/ David Gardner. Follow David on LinkedIn & X. Follow Clay on LinkedIn & X. Related books mentioned in the podcast. Ad-free episodes on our Premium Feed. NEW TO THE SHOW? Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, The Intrinsic Value Newsletter. Check out our We Study Billionaires Starter Packs. Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance Tool. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: Simple Mining HardBlock AnchorWatch Human Rights Foundation Linkedin Talent Solutions Vanta Unchained Onramp Netsuite Shopify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm
INTRO (00:23): Kathleen opens the show drinking a Crossroads Cream Ale from Terre Haute Brewing Company. She reviews her weekend in Indiana, performing shows in Terre Haute and at Caesars Southern Indiana and eating shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo's in Indy. TOUR NEWS: See Kathleen live on her “Day Drinking Tour.” COURT NEWS (16:25): Kathleen shares news announcing that Jelly Roll met Pope Leo at the Vatican, Tom Brady is causing ripples in the NFL, and Taylor Swift allegedly arrived at the Chiefs vs Eagles game behind bulletproof glass. TASTING MENU (1:46): Kathleen samples Broad Ripple Chip Co. Sweet & Spicy chips, Monastery Baked Goods Ranch Prayer Pretzels, and Lay's Loaded Nacho chips. UPDATES (21:12): Kathleen shares updates on Red Lobster's reinvention of Endless Shrimp, Bill Belichick's girlfriend is denied trademarks, The Wizard of Oz saves the Sphere, Prince Harry kneels to King Charles, and Coachella's 2026 lineup has been released. HOLY SHIT THEY FOUND IT (46:20): Kathleen reveals that a tree kangaroo has reappeared in New Guinea after vanishing for 90 years. FRONT PAGE PUB NEWS ( ): Kathleen shares articles on a cruise ship passenger who jumped off a ship to avoid a gambling debt, AOL is discontinuing dial-up internet service, Mariah Carey makes a major Christmas announcement, John Daly sets a new PGA record, rare pink dolphins are spotted in Louisiana, Finland is introducing a four-day work week, defiant nuns flee their care home, Celebrity Cruises is launching new river ships in 2027, Amazon rolls out Zoox driverless taxis in Vegas, fireflies are disappearing, and Girl Scouts are releasing a new cookie flavor in 2026. SAINT OF THE WEEK (1:20:33): Kathleen reads about St. Anastasia of Sirmium, patron saint of martyrs, weavers, widows and those suffering from poison. WHAT ARE WE WATCHING (40:22): Kathleen recommends watching “The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets” on Peacock. FEEL GOOD STORY (1:14:14): Kathleen reads highlights of Michael Jordan's latest free medical clinic opening in North Carolina, and lost cat Charlie ran away from home and traveled 30 miles to get to his favorite pub.