Facebook Changing - But Slowly

Lots of stories today about Facebook's modification to their "beacon" program, it looks like some of the changes are in place already....I submitted a new review no Yelp, and while it was subsequently sent to my Facebook profile without my explicit approval to do so...it did not get published to my news feed...instead, it showed up on my homepage as an item waiting for my approval....
a step in the right direction....

Thankful!

On this Thanksgiving holiday, i thought it could be appropriate to post about things I am thankful for....After thinking about it a little more, there was really one thing I felt warranted a post, vs. including a bunch of things.

It took Allison and I about 5 years to have our first child, Sam. And while now, that thought occupies just a 1/2 sentence in what I am sure will be an under-read blog post, it is hard to explain what those 5 years were actually like. The emotional impact, the physical pain (mostly for allison), and a series of ups and downs, too long to list here.

So what does this have to do with Thanksgiving? With my family now up to 3 kids, each now growing up a bit, Sam at 2 1/2 and Madison and Luke at 9 months, I wanted to thank our team of doctors, for all they have given me and my family.


First on this list is Dr. Zev Rosenwaks...If you ever want to know what I have in common with Celine Dion, it is this guy (he helped Celine have her baby). Its funny, cause this picture of him sums it up pretty well....The guy must be 60, but look at that head of hair! Sick. Apart from that though, this guy, who gets an (IMHO) undeserved reputation for poor bedside manner, is a passionate scientist, who really cares about changing his patients lives. He spoke to us while attending conferences, in the middle of giving interview with Katie Couric and most impressive...during his fast while he was in temple for Yom Kippur.


Glenn Schattman, who held Allison's hand on the night of March 6th when we lost our first baby, and also was responsible for our embryo transfer that lead to Sam's birth....We used to joke that Sam kind of looked like Dr. Schattman, but now that he's gotten older, not so much....Wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world...the guy is one of the leaders in the area of surgical robotics....



Isaac Kligman who was Dr. Rosenwak's right hand man, performed a couple of procedures for us along the long and bumpy way....A great scientist, and just a really nice guy. Isaac was also the doctor who performed the ultrasound on that crazy Sunday morning and told us that Allison was pregnant with quadruplets.



Allan Kessler, Allison's OB...I always told Allison that in another life, he and I would be good friends...The nicest doctor I've ever met, who blends caution and practicality into the care you receive...yes, he had Allison on bed rest for quite a while in both pregnancies, but 3 years later, who can complain?


These doctors were a part of our lives for years, and while I am extremely happy that I will never need their services again, they are great people, who I think about all the time....They have really changed my life and are deserving of a (not-so) public thank you.

As corn bread as it might sound, for me, really every day is Thanksgiving, and each day I walk into my house and see my 3 kids, I give thanks - sometimes out loud - sometimes to myself - but should dinner conversation turn to the now cliche "what are you thankful" for, i'll just point people to this post....

The Little Pie Company...

A couple of years back, I started picking up pies at "The Little Pie Company" on Wednesday before Thanksgiving for my team....This will be the third year I'll wait in line on 14th street to pick up their famous Sour Cream Apple Walnut pies....

If you happen to be at DoubleClick's New York Office today, stop on over....you won't want to miss it....

My Day of Diaper Changes

Video from this Weekend...

My wine cellar...

When I moved into my house, one of things we did was put a refrigerator in the garage to house stuff that we couldn't fit inside....I am an admitted Diet Coke addict, and over the last few months, the refrigerator in the garage has become the equiv of a wine cellar for me....always making sure we've got proper mix of caffeine / no caffeine, dr. pepper for special occasions, you get the idea...

Love ya baby!

The requests have been rolling in from tons of people (me) anxious to hear about some of the talent agents I worked with back at william morris, so here's the first in a really short series of posts that aims to quench that serious thirst.

Wma had a division that focused on what they called "adult contemporary". Old fogies, somewhat washed up artists who played casinos and private parties--in some cases they also generated a ton of cash--regis philbin was an adult contemporary client for example.

There was a pretty legendary agent named lee salomon who was credited with coining the "agenty" phrase "love ya baby". This guy was a sketch--a caricature of everything you thought about when you thought about talent agents. He wore expensive gaudy suits, a fur coat in the winter--and big ass cazal glasses which seemed to have diamonds on them. He was blingy before bling was thing.

He smoked cigarettes in his office and my job was to get him coffee, clean his ashtray, take dictation, whatever. The coolest thing about this guy, was that he couldn't even be bothered to learn my name. He just referred to me as "boy". It is amazing what time will change----cause at the time, i know i didn't find it very funny at all, but looking back on, it was hysterical.

Lee hung in there for about 50 years at the agency, and was eventually let go. that in itself was a legendary story, where lee was advised at his daughter's wedding that his services were no longer required

Cross Site Facebooking

Wrote a review this morning of a restaurant I went to in Boston....As i hit publish and went to close my browser, i saw that there was a pop up box that came up, and went away really quickly....you can see it here as it "runs away".

so the bottom line is that facebook has struck deals with a number of properties to track its users off their core facebook pages, and is publishing key events from those sites in your news feeds....while in this case, i don't have a problem with sharing this info, kind of seems like this should've been on an opt in basis, vs. opt out? no?

Can i see some ID?

went to sign up for a musician's page on facebook today, and was basically "carded".. they need me to upload to them a copy of my drivers license, passport or something else that would allow them not know it was me....

I need some time to process this one, but an internet first for me

My Solution to Writer's Strike - Hire a Spammer

I have a proposed solution to the writer's strike...a really simple one....There's a group of creative writers out there untethered by union regulations and hollywood-sized egos...these are the folks who bring us email spam....i found this one in my spam folder this morning...
i am very sure that the author of this note could easily craft episodes of "2 and a Half Men", or maybe even cross over to write a drama, like "CSI".

Facebook's Social Ads

So Facebook announced their Social Ads concept today...you can find info on the press conference and the concept all across the internet.....As you do that, you'll likely go to Google, type in a couple of keywords like "Facebook Press Conference" or something like that and the results will be returned accompanied by a text advertisement.....if i understand the Social Ads concept, the integration of advertising will be completely different in many ways, from how Google has monetized their inventory.

Facebook will use the news feeds function to allow its users to recommend brands and has also launched "Pages", which sounding similar to Myspace, will allow brands, products, etc.. to launch its own pages for users to interact with. Ads will also be targeted to users based on info in their profile...a no-brainer,and of all the items they announced, the one that sounds most in the interest of the facebook end user.

I have tried to come up with a POV on the announcement, and after thinking about it, will have to take a wait and see approach...On an emotional level, it feels wrong....i use Facebook, but do not anticipate myself recommending brands to others...Unlike the Google business model, which enhanced user experience (more targeted advertisements relevant to your search), this Facebook announcement, on the surface, will detract from end user experience, cause we don't come there to interact with brands, we come there to interact with people.

I understand that brand interaction is really key for marketers, but as a mass marketing strategy, I am not sold. As an example, I've used Yahoo's Avatars application for a few months, and while I am presenting with opportunities to create branded avatars each time i visit the site, up until today, when I tested out my pepsi avatar, haven't really felt compelled to associate myself with Pepsi in this way. (By the way, check out the picture when I set up my pepsi avatar, was served a Dr. Pepper Ad - Nice! )

Maybe I am not the target audience? Possibly, but again, there in lies a crack in the foundation of Facebook's revenue model....When my mom, my dad, my aunts and uncles searche google, they ALL see more relevant text ads as a result of Google's ad technology...If Facebook is banking on increased interactions with brands to bankroll their operation, I think there will be substantial challenges.

But, what do i know? Right? Time will tell...

Maybe its a typo?

I am in boston for a couple of days attending a conference and was looking for a place to grab something to eat...there's chili's within the hotel complex, so was going to walk over for dinner, but thought I'd check out the menu before I did....There was a link to nutritional info so i thought i would give it a quick read....the one item that caught my eye was the "Awesome Blossom", their answer to Outback's Blooming Onion I guess...

Check out the nutritional info on this bad boy...200 grams of fat, and 194 grams of carbs in 1 serving...Holy crap, and this is just an appetizer....So I am obviously going to head over there after I click "Publish Post" and see what all the hype is about....Something tells me it is probably pretty damn tasty.

Interesting week in Social Networking Space

Within the last week or so, the social networking space has changed drastically and a lot like in a game of school yard football, teams have been chosen for the ensuing battle for supremacy in the Social Networking arena.

If I have it right, Microsoft and Facebook are on one side, opting for a closed approach, meaning that participants can't take their data with them to other social networks, and that facebook app developers wouldn't be able to port their apps to other social networks.

On the other side, there's Open Social....A consortium of top social network players, (as well as companies we do not typically associate with Social Networking). Oracle, Salesforce, Linkedin, Friendster, Myspace, Flikster, RockYou, Slide and of course, Google. Through a collection of OpenSocial APIs, social networking apps can be shared across this consortium, enabling a supposed proliferation of web apps for end users.

So based on this, it seems the OpenSocial approach is one that will bring more functionality to end users. And ironically, the Facebook approach ends up seeming very closed, old school and Web 1.0 when it flies in the face of the blatantly wide ope OpenSocial.

The one thing that is not yet clear to me is how this OpenSocial initiative may approach the challeng of unique identifiers for folks in the social fabric. I am Brian Kane on linkedin, Brian Kane on Facebook, Brian Kane on orkut, etc... When do these get linked? Do they get linked? stay tuned...

My old sneakers

Lots of people have asked me recently about the sneakers i have owned in the past...so here it is, at long last, the blog post that answers all the questions...some of my old sneakers



An old fave...the magic johnson converse hightops..i LOVED these, and wish i never threw them out






Another gem, the original Air Jordans...so sweet, not to mention my orange chuck taylors that i bought right before i started at University of Miami (yeah, i know, not a very cool way to start freshman year)















Of course, the classic Adidas Superstars...my parents thought i was nuts when they needed to spend $40 on them and bring them up on visiting day during summer camp...

What has happened to Eminem?

Based on this video, it is safe to say that Eminem (and possibly triumph the dog too) are officially irrelevant.