Marketing

Hello Kitty and Playboy, two of the late twentieth century's most iconic brands, are both celebrating milestones this year and when the cat & bunny get together it's a Kodak, er, Leica moment.

For all those naysayers out there who couldn't help but caterwaul over Facebook's demise before the ink was even dry on it IPO opening, May 19, 2012 -- including myself [see "How Many Dumb F*cks Rocked Facebook's IPO Like It's 1999?"] -- our subesquent rude awakening was the world's largest social network fooled a good many of us.

Time is of the essence when running a small business -- particularly when each staff member [whether he or she is the founder or its sales agent] is often required to wear many hats, juggle multiple disciplines and multi-task on an ongoing-basis. Add travel and out-of-the-office business engagements to the mix...

Despite the fact Bitcoins were found to be the currency of choice for one online kingpin to conduct drug deals on the Deep Web, and despite the fact the current market rate for ONE Bitcoin has risen from $0.75 in 2011 to an astronomical $1000 today - does not mean you shouldn't know as much as possible about this decentralized virtual currency.

Valentine's Day is on the way and Japan's Lotteria fast food restaurants have got an extra-special unexpected sweet treat for you and your nom-nom-nomming significant other: fries with a side of chocolate dipping sauce!

For all those social media addicts out there who constantly chase the "numbers -- whether it be followers, friends or page views -- Google, in its inimical wisdom is here to tell you, popular videos are no longer a guarantee you will go viral on YouTube. In case you're not aware, with the 301 Freeze Rule, your video could be frozen in time, never to see any additional add-on ever again.

What comes to mind when one talks about disappearing text messaging? You know, the "now you see it, now you don't" type of communique that might have saved the career of one "what was he thinking" politician with the unfortunate name of Weiner.

OK, so a $3.2 billion acquisition is nothing to sneeze at! However, when your current stock price on the Nasdaq exchange is trading at $1148 per share, and your coffers are overflowing in excess of $57 billion in cash and marketable securities - $3.2 is more or less chump change. . .

Frito-Lay Japan has got THE snack for hungry gunslingers to nom on while trekking across the Waste Lands to the Dark Tower: Shrimp Mayonnaise Doritos! Sure the name's kinda dull but they're the closest thing to “Lobstrosity Doritos” you're gonna get.

In the foreseeable future, search on smartphones will allow for intuitive logic not just text-matching based on keywords. But what will our smartphones offer in the Web 3.0 world of Semantic Technology, Augmented Reality and the Internet of Things?

Usually one learns of a new innovation, invention, social media breakthroughs from techie news sites like Spot, AllThingsDigital. Mashable, and others.  Word traveling fast in real-time is then amplified by all the major social networks (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, for starters) and if it's really 'disruptive' it will begin to blanket our zeitgeist. This is then followed by the business trades and legacy publishers elaborating on the shiny new thing's various iterations over time.

While the blogosphere spawned thousands upon thousands of writers who in many instances lacked the opportunity to write for legacy publishers, ironically the major criticism levied against them came from those traditionalists. Traditionalists who critiqued bloggers as less worthy of acclaim because they were not vetted by the established press. Traditionalists, the likes of noted playwright Aaron Sorkin who agreed with Sarah Palin when their combined condescension labeled them, "pajama people."

Calbee's Corporation's Colonel Crispy potato chips are what you – you in Japan, that is – get when two food colossi join forces. Featuring the familiar folksy face of Colonel Harlan Sanders himself, Calbee's limited edition Colonel Crispy Potato Chips are flavored with the delicious essence of KFC Japan's original Colonel Crispy Chicken.

When the rock group, The Eagles first penned their iconic top-forty hit, "New Kid in Town," with lyrics that spoke to: "talk on the street. . . everybody's watching you," the year was 1976, predating the Internet by almost two decades. While spot-on prescient as to what was to come, surely Don Henley, Glenn Frey or Joe Walsh couldn't have known the level of surveillance that's blanketed the world we NOW live in...

Ranging anywhere from eight to sixteen feet in height, King Robota manufactures some amazing robots designed for corporate events and large entertainment venues.  But... how much of the robot is a robot?

It appears when Ben Mezrich penned his tell-all book about the early beginnings of Facebook and included the bon mots "money" and "betrayal" in its title, he had paved a path for another to follow. After all if one social network could be launched on greed and deception, couldn't others? Good ole Machiavellian ethics may be as old as time, but it appears to be the common denominator for both...

It's good to be the king, especially if you're England's Henry the Eighth in full-on turkey leg nomming mode. Now Burger King Japan is channeling good king Hank's festive side with the “King's Turkey Party Set”, a deluxe Christmas dinner for two featuring a pair of royally massive smoked turkey drumsticks!

Perhaps not as funny as the classic 1938 comedy sketch "Who's on First?" popularized by Abbott and Costello, but it does bring a smile to one's face when anybody is able to give Google a run for their money. Such is the case when the Northern American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) backed by Microsoft and Bing take on the Granddaddy of search engines in a face-off that pits one Santa Tracker against another.

“I have a dream...” of great savings! The stylized image of American civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. has begun appearing in ads for Chinese internet mall Taobao's upcoming Sales Day.