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Bone Conducting Ski Goggles: Say It With Your Skull [Video]

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:00:00 PST

Microphones can't discriminate what they hear, which can lead to noisy conversations if you're careening down a snowy hill. But by picking up the vibrations in your skull while you talk, Buhel's new SpeakGoggle G33s promise to clearly decipher every word. More »

Cartoon: Firestorm!

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:00:00 PST

A while ago, I posted about one of the classic blunders in response to online criticism: deleting negative comments.

Let's add another mistake to that list: silence.

I'm not sure there's a force on earth that could have saved Susan G. Komen for the Cure from the social media firestorm that engulfed the organization this week. But lord knows their communications strategy didn't do them a lot of favors - starting with their initial silence.

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Whether the rationale is "Let's hope it blows over" or "We can't get internal consensus on a message, so let's not say anything" or "Legal suggests we shut up", silence does nothing to stop an online juggernaut from building. All it does is reinforce the impression of an organization's critics that it's out of touch with their concerns.

Back when the main communication vehicles were things like ads and news media, you could often take a good long time before pushing out a news release or sending a spokesperson out for a scrum. Not any more.

Two things can help if you find yourself in the Komen situation - especially if you need some time to gather the facts, reflect on your position and decide on your next move.

First, a crisis communication plan. Thinking about possible scenarios and developing a strategy for each one - including who responds, how and in what channel - means you don't have to do that thinking when your fight-or-flight mechanism is competing with your higher reasoning functions for attention.

And second, an honest temporizing response. Replying to people that you understand how important the issue is to them, and promising them a more complete response within a few hours or days, and then delivering on that promise with a sincere and direct reply, can give you and your colleagues the time to move beyond a reactive, defensive response to a more effective one.

What won't work is wishful thinking. Planning based on the assumption that nobody will notice what you've done - or that when they do, they'll give you the benefit of the doubt - is some of the best fuel a firestorm could ask for.

Find more fuel for your next social media firestorm at the complete Noise to Signal cartoon archive.

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3 Free iPhone Apps for Creating Your Own Stop-Motion Videos

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:26:28 PST

Stop-motion animation used to be a complicated, time-consuming process, but the emergence of easy, automated apps make it something creative that anyo…

Pauly Shore versus the Internet: Funny man takes on online video (interview)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:22:28 PST

Comedian Pauly Shore spent the month of January shilling for a web startup, YouToo, by participating in a contest on the site.

We asked him why he thought a partnership with the relatively unknown startup was a good idea.

“People …

Sh#t VCs Say: “Have You Ever Tried Kiteboarding?”

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:16:45 PST

Following in the tradition of "Shit Silicon Valley Says" and other Shit ______ Says memes, August Capital's David Hornick has made "Shit VCs Say."

There are some gems in here, including:

Six hidden buttons make the split keyboard on iPad even sweeter

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:16:02 PST

I’m a huge fan of the split keyboard that was added to the iPad on iOS 5. I have to credit a friend with predicting this addition several months before...

Khush Tries Teaching the World to Songify Live (Video)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:07:57 PST

What happens when you mash up a karoke machine with your iPhone? A cool new app.

What I learned from teaming up with Google

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:00:11 PST

When Mobify CEO Igor Faletski participated in a Google event, he didn't realize that the tech giant could teach him so much about running his startup more effectively. Here are the four lessons he learned and advice on how to put them into action.

European Playstation Network store broken following maintenance

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:55:12 PST

Following scheduled maintenance last week, the Playstation Network store in Europe, Australia and New Zealand is no longer working for many users. The problem, reported widely across the European Playstation forums, is that no content can be downloaded from the …

VBWeekly: IPO, IP-Schmo.

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:44:44 PST

This week we talk about the IPO heard ’round the world, that of Dutch antivirus outfit AVG.

Wait, that’s the IPO y’all were talking about, right?

Of course, we get into some of the nitty gritty gossip around the Facebook …