Recap Of The Pinterest Controversy

Tonight I  became a material witness in a Pinterest debate on Facebook started by Google’s Don Dodge, which ultimately ended up with a screenshot of my inbox on The Next Web. Don is Google’s Developer advocate, and I have a startup, so I befriended him on Facebook a while back. I jumped into the debate on his post with my screenshot.

To boil it down from my viewpoint, it appears that Pinterest, which has now been dubbed the fastest growing site in the history of the Internet, has been using some misleading email practices. What seems to be happening is that when one of your Facebook friends joins Pinterest, it automatically triggers an email to be sent to you saying that friend is now “following” you on Pinterest. My guess is to get you to come back to the site and follow that person, and ultimately spend more time on the site because I’m thinking: “Hey, more friends are on Pinterest! Sweet!” But what was found by Don Dodge, myself and many others, was that we never explicitly followed these people, yet emails were sent to friends saying that we did. It’s just misleading, and a breach of users’ trust. They seem to be trolling their users for lack of a better term.

Ultimately this ‘fakeout’ may be one of the mechanisms that has helped Pinterest grow so big so fast, and that’s why it really feels shady. Couple that with the other scandal that revealed them to be using affiliate link clickjacking for a revenue source on people’s product ‘pins’ and it starts feeling really shady to users who were in the dark even though it was in their Terms of Service. Maybe it’s not Zynga Scamville, Groupon IPO accounting, or Yelp! alleged extortion shady, but it looks bad nonetheless.

Now I want to say that I’m not a Pinterest hater. I see the appeal of the site even through the jokes about it being a site where you waste tons of time, that it only appeals to middle age, midwestern housewives blah, blah blah. The bottom line is that it’s a nice place or way to organize and share links about your interests. It’s feels like what Del.icio.us should have become, but with a better name, prettier design and a focus on sharing. It’s getting huge and driving alot of traffic to people’s sites. And that is great. But as Brad states in the TNW post, these SPAM, and linkjacking issues need to be addressed ASAP to make their users happy. I have not left Pinterest. I’ve only pinned a few things yet and really wanted to just check the site out. I have to know the new hot technology. But for now I have turned off  all email notifications on my end. But I do wonder if they’re still sending fake emails to my friends on my behalf?

Pinterest Emails
Pinterest emails from my inbox, clearly showing Don Dodge "following" me when he did no such thing. I doubt any of these people explicitly followed me.

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/02/10/pinterest-is-spamming-your-facebook-friends-email-with-fake-connection-requests/

There’s no doubt that what interest-aggregation site Pinterest has managed over the past few months is spectacular. Recently reaching the milestone of 10 million users, the site has …

How I Make My Own Great Coffee And Save Over $3200 Per Year Doing It

Morning Coffee Station: (L to R) Cuisinart Burr Mill Grinder & Coffee Maker With Thermal Carafe & Eight O'Clock French Roast Coffee

My Morning Coffee Station: Cuisinart Burr Mill Grinder*, Cuisinart 10 cup coffee Maker With Thermal Carafe* & Eight O’Clock French Roast Coffee*

Since being forced into adulthood a dozen or so years ago, I’ve grown into a foodie & home chef, a beer & wine enthusiast, and lastly: a coffee snob. For a few years of my adult life, I had no idea how to make a good cup of coffee. As a new hire at my first office job I made that awful Folgers/Maxwell House pre-ground crap out of a huge can. 10 scoops, into a paper filter into the Bunn office coffee machine + tap water = a consistently awful pot of Joe. After I started making some money I began frequenting coffee shops like Starbucks just about every day. I love the coffee at coffee houses as much as the millions of us who go to them daily, but about 6 years ago after realizing how much cash I was dropping at the coffee shop, I reasoned that since I can already cook pretty much anything, why not just learn how to make great coffee at home too? I’ve done plenty experimenting over the years and now confidently make coffee exactly the way I like it.

Equipment & Process

First you need proper equipment. As far as coffee makers are concerned, that’s always a debate among hardcore coffee fans. I use a Cuisinart automatic drip* style coffee maker, but you should use what you find suits you best, be it a manual drip pot, french press, percolator, or automatic drip machine like I use.  All of which can make great coffee, and have their benefits. Here is an excellent blog post I read recently by Tech Crunch founder Michael Arrington about “A Tech Guy’s Version Of The Perfect Cup Of Coffee“.

I agree with Mike’s solid advice and confess that I was blown away specifically by Philz & Blue Bottle, and also enjoyed Peet’s while visiting San Francisco last August. However unlike Mike I don’t have that sweet on demand hot water system, and I really like my auto drip coffee maker* as it is convenient, and the thermal carafe keeps our daily 10 cup pot of coffee (enough  for 2 people) hot for about 2-3 hours without using extra electricity for the warmer that can burn the pot, and ruin good coffee. I have gone through 2 drip coffee makers in 6 years. But as you’ll see, that up front cost is nothing compared to the cash you save by making your own coffee every day.

You need to grind the beans yourself and only do so right before you brew the coffee. If you buy it pre-ground, or grind up an entire bag at once to store, the coffee immediately starts getting stale and losing flavor. Grind as needed. Period. I’m also on my third grinder, which I picked up after Christmas. It is a Cuisinart and is my first burr mill grinder*. I’m very happy with it so far. It consistently grinds the coffee evenly and just the way I want it, is well made and these grinders are the style you see in most coffee houses. I will urge you to not even bother with regular blade style coffee grinders as they are inconsistent, messy, and break. I prefer to grind my coffee somewhere between fine and medium range. I like my coffee pretty strong, but not espresso strong. If you’re using a drip coffee maker like me, make sure you clean it regularly, change the water filter in the coffee maker when required, and always use cold, filtered water.

Coffee

After trying tons of different coffees of all price levels, bean variations, regions, brands, and roasts since starting home brewing, I have concluded that for me, and for the price, Eight O’Clock French Roast is some of the best coffee I’ve found to get my morning going. It’s legit and better than alot of different, more expensive coffees I’ve tested. Sure there are plenty of expensive varieties that are marginally better. But I like medium to dark roasts, and this one is right in my wheelhouse. I’m an Amazon Prime* member and as of this writing, I get a 36oz bag (size of 3 standard bags) delivered once a month for about $13 using Subscribe & Save. Amazon also has many other brands including Starbucks available for Subscribe & Save. I’ve gone Amazon crazy the last few years and save myself time and money by subscribing to regularly scheduled shipments of things I know I’m always going to need such as: paper towels, toilet paper, laundry & dish detergent, soap, shampoo, deodorant, garbage bags, razors, protein bars, dry cereals and more. In addition to free 2 day shipping there are also lots of other benefits to Amazon Prime*. Here is a great blog post by entrepreneur Jason Calacanis about “The Cult of Amazon Prime”

Cost Breakdown:

Total Equipment Investment: $123

  • Eight O’Clock French Roast Coffee 36oz*: $13 on Amazon Subscribe & Save delivered once per month, or a $15 one time purchase (free shipping to Amazon Prime members)
  • Cream, Sugar, Sweetener, Flavored Syrups, Paper Filters, etc.:  $20 per month

Total Monthly Expense: $33 per month

Compare to:

  • A Starbucks Venti Latte Every Day For 30 days: $150 (assuming $5 spent per day) X 2 people = $300!

My Total Savings :

  • $267 per month x 12 months = $3204 per year!

So after the initial investment of my coffee maker, filter and grinder,  I save approximately $267 per month or $3204 per year over a daily Starbucks (or similar) habit for myself and my wife. I could probably get the finest beans I could find and still save a ton of cash, but I think I’ve found a winner with my go to Eight O’Clock French Roast*. Now we do still go out for coffee from time to time and grab the occasional latte, cafe au lait, mocha, or macchiato, at a coffee shop if we’re on the road or have business meetings. But we usually work from home, make killer coffee and have no desire to hit up Starbucks.

So there you go. You just saved yourself up to $3200 a year on coffee with minimal sacrifice in quality.
(You’re welcome)

– Jeff

P.S. Please don’t end up like rockstar/coffee addict Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Them Crooked Vultures) here in “FRESH POTS!”

*Disclosure – These links are Amazon affiliate links (it will help pay for my coffee habit)
Pissed off Obama, Hipster Barista & Drink All the Coffee courtesy of http://troll.me

Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler Super Bowl Commercial And The Republican Troll Response

Chrysler won the  all important commercial Super Bowl last night with the stunning and inspirational two minute “Halftime In America” commercial starring Clint Eastwood. They have now gone two for two using the same formula and “Imported From Detroit” tagline that won the hearts and minds of Super Bowl viewers last year with a similar spot starring Detroit’s own native son Eminem (Click Here For Eminem Super Bowl Video).  Both commercials were great uplifting, chill inducing spots that convey a powerful message about recovery that most Americans want to believe.

Many noted Republicans have shit all over this commercial on the airwaves and various internets today by labeling it a pro Obama, pro auto industry bailout political campaign ad. Now of course anything pro America has to be construed by Republicans as pro Obama during an election year. Republicans are finding every way to paint the president as a failure. No matter what good has come out of the Obama administration, the Republicans will never give him a bit of credit. That’s just modern left/right politics in a presidential election cycle.

Fiat CEO Sergio Macchione  has even roundly rejected claims that the ad was political in any way, but was rather a universal positive message for all Americans about the US, Detroit and auto industry comebacks (Fiat is now Chrysler’s parent company after Daimler-Benz offloaded them in 2009 during the Chrysler bankruptcy). But the CEO’s claims have not kept the wolves at bay. Nor has the fact that Clint Eastwood donated his earnings from the commercial to charity. The right wing media is using  this anti bailout quote from Eastwood to attack and paint Eastwood as an Obama loving corporate sellout:

“We shouldn’t be bailing out the banks and car companies,” actor, director and Academy Award winner Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times in November 2011. “If a CEO can’t figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn’t be the CEO.” – Clint Eastwood

Sure this could be considered a contradiction. But the ad is not quite specifically about the success of the auto bailouts. It showed imagery of people from all over America recovering from recent hardships like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, BP oil spill, etc. Eastwood is an admitted Libertarian, but has said that he agreed with the message of the ad. And I for one believe that Clint Eastwood doesn’t do ANYTHING Clint Eastwood doesn’t want to do.

Also to be clear, the auto bailouts have proven to be a success. And to give credit where credit is due, the auto bailouts were initiated under Bush, but molded, negotiated and enacted by Obama as one of his first acts of business in an attempt to save millions of jobs. Both Chrysler and General Motors have paid the government bailout loans back, and the newly reorganized General Motors is now the biggest automaker in the World…again. The same success can’t be said for Bush’s TARP bank bailout plan. But I digress.

Regardless of your political leanings, this was a great commercial with a great message starring one of my favorite actors/directors of all time. Like many Americans, I was genuinely moved. Now the trolls need to STFU and stop ruining this like they ruin everything.

I shouldn’t have to remind anyone that it’s a bad idea to piss off Dirty Harry.

Dirty Harry

“Do you feel lucky? Well do ya…Punk?”

Now Even In The Automotive & Motorsports Niches…Print Media Is Dead

Nook Magazine
Nook Newsstand Billboard Ominously Perching Above Magazine Rack at Barnes & Noble

We all know traditional print media is dying, but I never thought it was so close to the end of the line until this week. My sister texted me that the product my Father has been working on for the last 3 years which we are about to launch (HammerHeadHousing.com) was featured in the latest issue of GM High Tech Performance. I had to head out for some errands anyway, so I figured I’d grab a copy while out and take some pictures of it for our website and facebook page. This task was easier said than done. Mind you I haven’t bought alot of magazines the last couple years as I am a web guy who knows all the popular car websites and I have an iPad. I live just outside of Nashville and went to a Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and Target in my neighborhood. I  finally broke down and went to a Barnes & Noble nearly a half hour away in Murfreesboro, TN and found no copies of this magazine.  They did confirm that the magazine shipped and would be there on Thursday. But I wanted it NOW!

Even though tons of newspapers and magazines are going out of business, in my experience the automotive & motorsports markets or niches traditionally lag behind the mainstream about 5 years.  Which I’ve always felt was odd in a sport or hobby that is so technical. But after my 2+ hour magazine hunt proved fruitless, I believe those 5 years are now up.  I finally just texted my sister to see if she would loan me the magazine for my photos. Basically my conclusion is that unless you are one of the top 2 or 3 most popular general automotive magazines, you’re no longer going to be on display at any mainstream stores. You HAVE to be subscriber, and advertiser supported and have a killer website to survive. The website is now more important than the print publication and if you really want to remain in the “Magazine” business you NEED to be in the iTunes, Nook & Kindle stores. It is no longer optional or up for debate.

My Industry Experience

As Internet director for the International Hot Rod Association from 2002-2010 I managed the web properties and took IHRA into the world of MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, and I even made sure @IHRA was the first Motorsports sanctioning body on Twitter. I took our bi-weekly publication Drag Review Magazine online at the end of 2007 using a print to web service called BlueToad. We still printed the magazine, but I really lobbied with management to take it online. After we started using BlueToad for the web magazine, the iPhone, Android phones, and of course the “revolutionary” “magical” iPad debuted and got traditional publications excited and talking about it as their savior. Shortly after IHRA started using BlueToad they had taken all of their customers’ publications and made them touch friendly for mobile devices. That was a huge plus.  BlueToad now also offers dedicated apps for publications to bring them into the iTunes appstore, Newsstand, and Android Market. I left the IHRA following the 2010 race season. Without getting too specific I do recall that the readership of the online version of Drag Review was fast closing in on the tipping point of surpassing the print version’s readership with a lot less overhead in both time and price.

In 2004 I also made a deal with motorsports classified site RacingJunk.com to move our classified ads from the magazine to the web before we lost that revenue stream like so many other publications did. Craigslist killed the easy money classified revenue stream in Newspapers and local “trader” type publications. RacingJunk is now a 24/7 global motorsports marketplace. Not only are classifieds dead, swap meets are dying too.  Racing Junk, it’s competitors and vibrant enthusiast  community sites (forums) have really put the hurt on classified ads and display ads in the automotive niches. Web banner advertising may require more clicks, but it is certainly measurable, and you can speak directly to your customers.

Silver Lining

Blogs, forums, Facebook and Twitter are here to stay.  YouTube and other online video options are fast replacing the traditional network and cable models. There is still a place for traditional print style publications, but that place is the iPad and Kindle. Everything is going mobile and away from the desktop. Smartphones & Tablets will become the dominant computing and media consumption environment for the masses. The disruption has already happened and right now we are heading into the next golden age of content. Anyone who wants to talk about their interests online, can do so and reach the entire world instantly and via a mobile device. Publishing has been permanently democratized.

The silver lining I see especially for the automotive, motorcycle, powersport, and motorsport enthusiast niches is that alot of the new professional and labor of love publications saw that the writing was on the wall a while ago and got a head start. There are big general automotive blogs like Autoblog & Jalopnik. In the niche space there are companies like PowerTV Media,  who has built a network of 8 sites (so far), and have a robust offering of online display and video advertising options for the performance and aftermarket industry. They also boast nearly 700,000 facebook fans for their properties, which really boosts their syndication. Also Bangshift.com is a bright spot for the future of hot rodding. There are a ton of other great enthusiast blogs, forums, and other websites that fill the needs formerly filled by print magazines. They have risen to power using great daily content, user generated content (comments, forum posts, photos, videos, etc.),  apps, online video, social media syndication, and truly measurable advertising systems.

Source Interlink Media (Formerly Primedia, Formerly Petersen), owner of GM High Tech Performance and almost every major print automotive publication, has been in the web game for a while now too, but I’m not convinced they have that technology first focus. It seems to still be about print subscriptions. But they have enough of a following and the power to switch gears to a technology first mindset, and could probably do very well.

Somebody, somewhere is handing over a manilla folder, and saying “well…. the internet is pissed”

Anonymous
"well...the internet is pissed

Hacker group Anonymous has DDoS’ed a bunch of media industry and government sites over the takedown of file locker site MegaUpload, and they are claiming it is their largest attack ever. I guess the US government doesn’t even need SOPA/PIPA to take down a site? This is crazy. Anonymous is  really making people think, and making the bad guys scared.

End Piracy, Not Liberty – Google (Plus my own rant)

This meme image of “Insanity Wolf” boils the SOPA debate down to its bare essentials. OF COURSE it’s a horrible idea to give media companies the option to legally block sites via DNS just because they say so. DNS is what makes the Internet work. Let’s not mess with that. The result of legislation against the open Internet will only create ever more underground activity known as darknets, and the media companies will never really kill piracy. They can only mitigate it. SOPA/PIPA is literally Pandora’s box for Internet freedom. The nuclear option if you will.

What happens when a company decides to invoke SOPA/PIPA on a technicality because of user created content on an up and coming competitor’s site? The door would be open for that to happen. We already have the digital millenium copyright act to protect copyright holders. But if media companies truly want people to stop pirating their content, they simply need to make it easier to get content online. Stop fighting Netflix at every turn. Put all your TV shows up on Hulu/Hulu Plus with no expiration dates, and no device blocking. Make your music available on Spotify, Rdio, Mog, Rhapsody, iTunes, Google, Amazon, etc. The market has spoken. People are willing to pay for content on the Internet, and even willing to endure commercials. Every day you don’t do this, you’re losing money and now you look like an asshole for supporting legislation that hampers the open Internet.

Thousands of sites including Wikipedia are going black today to protest, and show what the Internet could look like if SOPA/PIPA were enacted. It’s scary.

Please check out Google’s info on how to get involved in the fight along with a great infographic today you can find here:

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful
regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs
already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

Huntsman endorsed the guy he called “exactly what’s wrong with politics in America.” That’s exactly what’s wrong with politics in America. @LOLGOP

Huntsman endorsed the guy he called “exactly what’s wrong with politics in America.” That’s exactly what’s wrong with politics in America. — @LOLGOP