5 leadership lessons from the Dark Side.

Star Wars is for many of us the ultimate sci-fi fantasy. As the anticipation for Episode 7: The Force Awakens grows, it has also emerged as an unlikely source of leadership wisdom. Forbes magazine has outlined five key leadership pitfalls from the Galactic Empire: Darth Vader has made these mistakes so you don’t have to.

1. They consolidated power. Darth Vader and the Emperor were for all intents and purposes running the entire show. Not only was it probably asking a bit too much of them, but it means that defeating both of them at one time in one place was enough to bring down an entire galactic political system. Had power been shared more among people further down the management line, there would have been someone to keep things going. There is also no indication that a succession plan had been worked out. As Luke Skywalker warned them only hours before their demise: ‘Your overconfidence is your weakness’.

2. Ruling through fear. Vader wasn’t good at compromising. He would alter a deal and if challenged he would simply tell you to ‘pray I don’t alter it any further’. That kind of aggressive behaviour puts people off and leaves them working out of fear rather than motivation. Once people feel like they have no stake in what is going on, they tend to be less productive or, in Vader’s case, flat out rebel.

3. Zero tolerance for failure. Working for Vader must have been stressful. Failing to finish a simple task could get you killed. He would openly criticise employees for being ‘clumsy as they are stupid’. A good manager needs to solicit ideas and engage with their staff, giving them proper feedback. Accidents will happen. Sometimes you come out of hyperspace too close to your target and you need to adjust without losing your cool. If Vader had been more encouraging, commanders would not have been making decisions out of fear of repercussions, and they may have made more productive decisions, like intensifying forward firepower a little sooner, for example.

4. Single-minded obsession. Vader and the Emperor really only focused on crushing the Rebel Alliance, with turning Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side as a potential bonus. You don’t get the impression they were ever on any conference calls. It’s not much wonder that the Rebel Alliance had so many willing to join the cause, with the Empire not focusing on any practical day-to-day matters. The lack of flexibility in the Empire’s methods is also noteworthy. Their Imperial army seemed focused and designed solely for crushing the rebellion. In the end, a one-size-fits-all approach lead to an oversight in other threats, and their goals were dismantled by a tribe of Ewoks.

5. Failure to learn from mistakes. The Death Star is the kind of project that in the planning phases everyone must have applauded. The wireframes must have been incredibly impressive. In the end though, it only took one shot fired into a thermal exhaust port only two meters wide. Strangely, the Emperor decided not only to build the Death Star a second time, but to allow a design which included a new weak spot big enough to fly entire X-Wings through. Failure to learn from your mistakes can be extremely costly. Sometimes it is better to accept your idea wasn’t so brilliant and move on.

Source : http://bit.ly/1RibBnc

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Facebook says no to 'dislike' button but tests 'sad' and 'angry' ones

Facebook will begin testing a new feature allowing users in Ireland and Spain to express a range of emotions on posts starting on Friday (Oct 9) - but there will be no "dislike" button, the social network said

DUBLIN: Facebook will begin testing a new feature allowing users in Ireland and Spain to express a range of emotions on posts starting on Friday (Oct 9) - but there will be no "dislike" button, the social network said.

Facebook described the new "Reactions" options as an extension of the "like" button, to give people more ways to easily signal how they feel.

Users have for years pressed the world's leading online social network for a "dislike" button to complement the existing thumbs up one, which allows users to express they "like" a post.

"Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy," postedFacebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. "These are important moments where you need the power to share more than ever, and a 'Like' might not be the best way to express yourself."

During the trial, users in Ireland and Spain will be able to select six emotions, as well as the like button, as they consider how they feel about posts. The options for the trial are: "love," "yay," "wow," "haha," "sad," and "angry," and are similar to emojis used in text messaging. Each expression comes with a correspondingly themed emoji.

"Reactions gives you new ways to express love, awe, humour and sadness," Zuckerberg said. "It's not a dislike button, but it does give you the power to easily express sorrow and empathy - in addition to delight and warmth."

Chris Toss, Facebook product manager, said Reactions would give users greater ways of engaging with stories and content. "It's a much broader range of human emotions you can express," he told Irish national broadcaster RTE, speaking from California.

A spokesman had no information on the length of the trial or when it might be extended to Facebook users outside Ireland and Spain.

Toss also said the social network decided a "dislike" button would not add value to the site. "Liking" something on Facebook also plays a key role in the social network's algorithm, allowing users to see content they regularly engage with and enabling targeted advertising.

The new range of empathy buttons could eventually be used for similar purposes, but not during the trial, according to Toss. "If you're coming for humorous content and you're saying 'ha ha' to lots of funny cat videos, down the road we might use that to show you more cat videos, but as of the initial test you won't see any of that," Toss said.

Source : http://bit.ly/1Lpltef

5 ways to use GIFs to make your PR and marketing efforts soar

GIFs aren’t only for powerhouse social media users anymore.

Employing looping visuals lets PR pros and marketers say a thousand words—or more—in shorthand. When used wisely, GIFs are a great way to connect with your audience, increase views and make your brand more relatable to consumers.

Here are five ways you can jump on the GIF bandwagon:

1. Add a touch of sass to consumer interactions.

As Internet culture becomes more pervasive, brand managers are embracing new ways of reaching out to online audiences. In April, Ikea replied to consumers entirely through memes, and Chevy made headlines for its all-emoji press release.

However, brand managers can take things one step further and use GIFs to respond to consumers through Facebook, Twitter and even emails. Just make sure that your GIF use fits your brand’s voice.

2. Spice up social media posts.

As visuals grow in popularity, PR and marketing pros are looking to infographics, videos and more in order to attract eyeballs and hold followers’ attention.

GIFs can add life to tweets, Pinterest pins, Flipboard magazines, Instagram posts and Facebook content.

Though Facebook business pages do not have the option to post GIFs, Facebook profiles do—and it’s a service Facebook is considering rolling out to brand managers. The social network also recently announced that users could now employ GIFs as profile pictures. Savvy marketers could reach out to brand advocates with large Facebook followings in order to implement these features for a campaign.

If you’re looking for something more subtle than cat or reaction GIFs, use or create cinemagraphs. Several brands are using cinemagraphs to add flavor to Instagram posts.

3. Make stories—and emails—more interesting.

GIFs can boost your content marketing efforts by adding engaging elements to stories, newsletters and promotional emails.

Though you don’t have to emulate Buzzfeed, add GIFs to a how-to article or list of tips to attract (and keep) your audience’s attention. A story sprinkled with Olivia Pope GIFs or other popular figures can spike both views and shares.

GIFs can also pack a punch to an otherwise mundane marketing email or newsletter. Show off a campaign, contest or announcement, and your message will probably stick longer in readers’ minds.

4. Repurpose instructions and videos.

Looking to get more play from a list of instructions or a video you created for consumers or employees?

Turn them into GIFs and share across social media, in story roundups or email updates. About.me showed followers how to cook bacon perfectly to celebrate Twitter allowing GIFs in 2014.

Use gifs to turn any YouTube video—including your own—into a looping visual. The tool is easy to use: Pop in a YouTube URL, select the portion you’d like to make into a GIF. and download your finished project. We even immortalized one of our very own editors at Ragan Communications.

5. Show off your prowess with a collection.

Increase your Internet cred by curating the best GIFs through a Tumblr blog or Flipboard magazine.

You can also sign up for a Giphy account and mark your favorites from the website for future use, making it even easier to grab visuals for social media posts and stories. You might also create your own Giphy channel, which displays the GIFs you’ve uploaded to the website—including each GIF’s source information and tags.

By sharing your GIF collection with others, you not only offer followers fun and useful visuals, but you also let them know that your organization has its finger on the pulse of current trends.


Source : http://bit.ly/1L5ctrf

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The 20 great features in iOS 9

We've written our official review of iOS 9 and given you an overview of the operating system. "But Serenity," readers have asked, "What features are youactually using?" Hold tight, questioneers! I'm going to tell you in just a second.

I've been playing with iOS 9 since the very first beta. As such, I've had some time with the operating system to mess around with its well-touted keystone features and hidden tidbits—and to get bored with at least a few of them. The twenty features below are the favorites I'm still using, three months in—and the ones I expect to use many months after.

20. Making sketches in Notes

I've used Notes for years as a place to write down roller derby practice plans and strategies, but trying to explain drills to teammates with typed X and Os was... less than pleasant. Notes changes all that. Not only can I doodle when I'm bored, or build hypothetical interior design plans for our basement, but I can, at last, sketch out drills in a way that's not so ASCII-inspired. Thumbs up.

19. Zoom in on videos

Fairly straightforward, but a huge boon for (again) me and roller derby: iOS 9 brings pinch-to-zoom to videos. Want to see what someone's skates were doing? I can just pinch in on that section of frame and blow it up, and the video will continue playing. I've used this constantly during iOS 9's betas, and I'm so glad to see it made its way to release.

18. iCloud Photo Library now shows the size of your downloads and uploads

Since iCloud Photo Library's release, you've been able to track the upload/download status of photographs by scrolling to the bottom of the Photos tab. In iOS 9, you'll now see the actual size of those uploads, and how much has been synced. Love this. Very helpful for knowing how long my iPhone should stay on Wi-Fi when syncing images.

17. Siri's beep has gone vibration-only on iPhone

I love using Siri in secret-agent mode—AKA, pulling my iPhone up to my face and quietly whispering to it. Unfortunately, Siri's chattiness—even over my device's headset speaker—made it a little too noisy for public usage. I'm thrilled, then, that Siri's signature double-beep has been replaced (on the iPhone) with a double-vibrate; moreover, when you enable a Siri setting, you can even silence Apple's assistant from verbally chatting with you unless you're connected to a Bluetooth speaker. I've launched so many more apps using Siri at my local coffee shop, and every launch has been glorious.

16. Check your battery and your friends' whereabouts in Notification Center

Two notification glances I've been wanting for ages—battery and Find My Friends—show up in iOS 9. (Battery, unfortunately, requires a paired Apple Watch.) They're great. The Battery glance shows your current battery level, but also the level of any connected accessories. Super helpful! The Find My Friends glance gives you an abbreviated overview of your contacts, giving their current location (if available) along with a colorful "Miles/Kilometers away" bubble. Tap any contact, and you'll be whisked away to the app itself.

I love both of these glances, and use them constantly. Great system additions, and very happy to see them make it into iOS 9.

15. The Music app's "More" button doesn't suck

When the Music app launched with iOS 8.4, its More button was... lacking, to say the least. Not so much in features—the More button had plenty—but that lengthy list was less than aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. Now, tap the More button and you'll get a much more organized bar with very-obvious "tap to launch the album this song is from" miniature cover art, along with new buttons for favoriting and sharing. As a frequent Music user, this button is wonderful; I've been holding off talking about its wonderful powers for a few months now, so I'm delighted it's finally come to the general population.

14. Tap and hold the refresh button in Safari for content whitelisting and desktop sites

Safari's "Request Desktop Site" button is great—it premiered with iOS 8 and I've used it constantly to reload non-responsive design websites with terrible mobile options. But it was a little hard to find; you had to tap the search bar, then drag down the search list.

With iOS 9, Request Desktop Site (and its new iOS 9-exclusive companion, Reload Without Content Blockers) has moved behind a tap-and-hold on the refresh button in the toolbar. Far fewer taps in a much more convenient location. What's not to love?

13. The iPad's keyboard-as-trackpad

I am so mad that this didn't make it onto non-3D-Touch iPhone models for iOS 9's general release, but it's still a great feature for the iPad (and for the iPhone 6s/6s Plus). Rest two fingers on the iPad's keyboard when you have text content open, and it instantly becomes a trackpad for cursor input in your text. It's smart, dead simple to use, and makes the process of editing text on the iPad oh so much quicker.

12. Siri Suggestions in the Search screen

I didn't think I would use Siri Suggestions when Apple first pitched the feature on-stage at WWDC—it seemed too fiddly for my taste, and I rarely used the Search screen except when launching apps from hard-to-find folders. Boy, was I happy to be wrong. Siri Suggestions are pretty good for apps you want to be using or people you want to be texting, but where it actually shines is in Maps's Nearby integration. Using Yelp's database, Siri Suggestions tries to find you the best location for food or entertainment depending on your routine and time of day. I use it constantly to find and try out new food and coffee shops, and I'm having more fun using it every day.

11. Using Siri to turn off Low Power Mode and launch apps

While Siri's technically had app-launching capabilities for a few years now and Setting tweaks since iOS 8, Apple's voice assistant's new silent beeps and faster response time means that I can call up hard-to-find apps lickety split and turn Low Power Mode on or off with a simple voice command. The future is pretty cool.

10. The Shift Key works again

All hail our new lower-case keyboard overlords! While I probably would have preferred a return to the blue-highlighted Shift key of iOS versions past, switching the keyboard from upper-case to lower-case works about as well. This change has saved me from numerous typos and improper caps lock—especially when live-tweeting roller derby games! Apple Keyboards team, take a bow.

9. Content blockers are great

I know what you're all going to say. And before I get resounding cries of "hypocrite, you write for a site with ads!", let me explain. In general, I support paying for people who do good work, even if that means viewing advertising. But what I highly dislike is tapping a link from Twitter while on the go and spending 30 seconds for it to load—only for it to load with an ad interstitial that I can't dismiss for another 30 seconds. No funny cat slideshow is worth 60 seconds of loading time. Content blockers like Crystal give me the option to avoid waiting endlessly (and wasting my cellular data) for silly Twitter content. If I like what I see, I'll just tap-and-hold on Safari's refresh screen to bring up "Reload Without Content Blockers" and visit the site again.

There are also plenty of excellent content blockers that don't block the entire web, instead focusing on more specific targets. Hide and Seek, for example, shields your identity when using Google's search services, so it can't build a picture of who you are from your search terms.

8. Photos's smart folder for Screenshots

Forget selfies: The Screenshots smart folder is where it's at. I've been asking for an automatic search of your photos for any PNG-based screenshots since I started doing ebooks—it's just easier to find images that way—and while the Screenshots folder may not make a big deal to your average human, it's a thrill to have it on iOS 9 now. (The rest of you, enjoy a collection of your front-facing photos, labeled Selfies! That's cool too, I suppose.)

7. Notifications are sorted by date

Another long-standing peeve (are we getting into a pattern here?): In iOS versions gone by, trying to figure out what notifications were recent and which you needed to pay attention to was a chore if you attempted to use Notification Center. Notifications were grouped by app and organized poorly, which often meant buried GroupMe alerts and game requests. As of iOS 9, you can force Notification Center to display most recent notifications at the top—grouped by app or otherwise. I switched this over as soon as I could and have been using it every day. It's glorious.

6. Return to previous app

I'm a woman of habit, and with years of double-pressing the Home button to switch apps under my belt, I did not expect I'd easily switch over to using that little back button for the previously-viewed app in the upper left corner. And initially, I was right: I spent the first two betas steadfastly ignoring the shortcut. One weekend, however, I took the time to solely try and tap the Back link when switching between programs; after three days, I never looked back.

Return to previous app is so much faster in practice than double-pressing the Home button—even with the new multitasking screen. It's a smart little shortcut, and once I got used to actually tapping it, I wondered why I'd ever been stubborn about the Home button.

5. Low Power mode

There are few things I do with my iPhone more than drain its battery. I'm a heavy smartphone user—in large part because I'm almost always testing something for my job—and that often results in an iPhone with just 15 percent battery life going into the evening. So, I'm not kidding when I say that iOS 9's new Low Power mode has saved my bacon on numerous occasions during the last few months. Part of me is tempted to just keep it on any time I drop below 80 percent.

Low Power Mode is essentially one switch that turns off all extra battery-draining backgrounding on your iPhone; flip it (or tell Siri to do so), and instantly, your battery stops its deathly descent. It's saved me hours of battery life before, giving my iPhone a last extra gasp of life so that I could get it to a charger. Previously, I'd have used Airplane mode; instead, Low Power mode allows me to keep in touch with friends and colleagues and continue working without fear of my battery giving out at any second.

4. Car-triggered estimated driving directions in Maps

As someone who routinely drives several hours to get to practice in Boston, I adore estimated driving directions. I've used in the past (and still use) a great program called ETA that gives you live traffic estimations for your destinations, but there's nothing quite so satisfying as turning on your car and getting a "Traffic to Home is 80 minutes right now" alert with built-in driving directions on swipe.

It took a couple of weeks after installing my first beta to see my first Maps notification—the device needs to learn your routes before suggesting some to you—but was delighted when I finally did. It's such a painless way to see my route home, and getting that estimation allows me to decide whether I want to wait in the Boston area awhile (to let traffic die down), or immediately hop on the road (to take advantage of the lack of cars). I know people who drive a lot and don't like the alerts, and you can turn them off pretty easily from Settings > Notifications; for those of us who often go one place for long periods of time, however, these are a wonder and a joy. And they trigger on any car Bluetooth connection—you don't need a CarPlay receiver.

3. Maps search is good! Actually, honestly good!

I've loved the look of Maps since its release, but Apple's directions application has been... less than stellar in the past when it comes to actually finding points of interest and accurate directions. I won't say things are perfect in iOS 9—no mapping app can ever be perfect—but Maps has gotten tremendously better at directions, alerts, and telling me the best places to eat that are open for breakfast right now. It's using Yelp's recommendation engine along with a bunch of under-the-hood programming for its new Nearby search, and I've been constantly impressed with it. Contextual search is better, too; no longer will Maps send me to India if I just type in "Roll On". (It actually knows there's a skating rink in Massachusetts with that name, now.)

2. Find all saved passwords in Safari

Hip hip hooray: If you, for whatever reason, have multiple accounts on a single service, you can now see every stored password you own for that site. The Mac has had this for years, and 1Password on iOS has been making it fairly easy to view your stored passwords, but it feels different and special on your iPhone. It's a great feature for power users and social media managers alike, and I find myself using this pretty much every day.

1. Swipe to highlight images in Photos

There are few things I reserve a "Finally!" for. This is one of them.

Swiping across a group of photos to highlight them seemed like an obvious trick to me back in 2010, but it took until iOS 9 for Apple to implement the feature. I'm so very glad they have: It's such a nice way to select or deselect images, and it's much quicker than tap-tap-tapping your way to an AirDrop file.

Source : http://bit.ly/1NOodEc

Hackers have cracked Apple’s App Store.

Software developers in China were duped into downloading a fake version of Apple’s tool for creating apps for the iPhone and iPad. These developers used a tainted version of Xcode to create apps that contained malicious code.

Apple confirmed the breach and said it has removed apps from its App Store that were created with the counterfeit software tool.

“We are working with the developers to make sure they’re using the proper version of Xcode to rebuild their apps,”  said Apple spokesperson Christine Monaghan.

Some 40 apps are believed to have been discovered to contain the malicious code, including Tencent’s popular communications app WeChat*, the ride-hailing app Didi Kuaidi and a music app, according to Reuters and the New York Times.

Apple provides developers with secure tools for creating mobile apps, however some developers are believed to have a counterfeit version because it downloaded faster, according to a person familiar with the matter. These developers ignored warnings on their computers that they may be downloading malicious software.

The cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks, and security experts at the giant Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba identified the breach.

*Update  A Tencent spokesperson said the latest iOS version of WeChat v 6.2.6 fixes the issue.

Source : http://on.recode.net/1V5n0aw

How to Reach the Right Audience on Social Media for your book

In her fourth post in a five-part series for Digital Book World on social media marketing, Chris Syme stresses the importance of delivering relevant content in order to drive sales.

“Relevance is not about being cutting edge or participating in the latest fad,” Syme writes. “When it comes to social media, relevance is about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time through the right channel.”

“Attention spans today are shorter,” Syme continues, “and readers are more critical than ever. They are bombarded with so many messages that they quickly move on if you don’t hook them. If your content is relevant enough to make an emotional connection, though, you will have succeeded.”

To get all the ebook and digital publishing news you need every day in your inbox at 8:00 AM, sign up for the DBW Daily today!

Everything You Need to Know About Apple’s New Products (TechCrunch)
TechCrunch has a thorough recap of all the new Apple products—including new iPhones, new iPads and a brand new Apple TV—and features that were revealed at Tuesday’s massive event.

Some Authors Fearful of Reader Analytics (Porter Anderson)
In response to Jellybooks founder Andrew Rhomberg’s recent post on DBW about publishers’ fear of data, Porter Anderson thought that “taking that issue to authors would be a worthwhile exercise.” What were the results? “A lot of readers are fearful of data, just as publishers are.”

How Idea Adoption Works (Seth Godin)
Every important idea starts out on the fringe. It’s not obvious, proven or readily explained. And a tiny group of people—people who like the fringe—engage with it. The mistake idea merchants make is that they bring their fringe ideas to people who don’t like fringe ideas, instead of taking their time and working their way through the progression.

Understanding How Native Advertising Works (Digital Content Next)
Native advertising is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed. In simple terms, the advertisement looks like the content. There is probably no term getting greater play in the marketing space right now than native advertising, as even some of the largest media brands in the world are trying to figure out how to generate revenues from sponsored content. There could be a great opportunity for you to dip your toe into the sponsored content game, but it’s necessary to understand all the moving parts.

Anatomy of a Kindle Owner (Written Word)
Written Word Media created an infographic about Kindle owners’ consumer behavior: what they’re reading, how they discover books, whom they trust for book recommendations and where they’re talking about the books they’re reading.

Amazon Tests New Farmers Direct Service (Forbes) 
If Amazon and start-up partner Fresh Nation are successful with tests of their new Farmers Market Direct service, consumers across the country may soon be spared the joy of visiting their community-based bazaars. Many say logistics seem to be the biggest hurdle in the way of Amazon building a seamless program, but some are more optimistic. Said one executive quoted: “If Amazon is able to use their data to structure their pricing, merchandising and promotions to align with the value consumers place on local products, their partnership with Fresh Nation should flourish.”

Hachette Livre Partners with Knewton to Develop Adaptive Curricula (DBW)
Hachette Livre, the third-largest trade and educational publisher in the world, announced a partnership with adaptive learning company Knewton. The companies will create digital curricula to give students a more personal learning experience. Hachette Livre’s education publishing houses in France—Hachette Education, Hatier, Didier and Foucher—will use Knewton technology to create learning materials that dynamically adjust based on each student’s unique needs. The first Knewton-powered products will be available for the 2016 school year, with more titles to follow.

Source : http://bit.ly/1YbiVGj