Talking with Ken Ruan about Taco Bell and Techno Failure

Harry Hawk and Ken Ruan talk about Taco Bell, Apps, subway system key cards, self driving cars, electric cars, and the Internet Of Things.. talking about how each of those inventions adds to the richness of our lives, and yet, can take away from us some of the freedoms we once had, or at worst, exposes us to some very long tail risks. A few times a year Harry and Ken fire up Skype and talk about some current issue in society... This sixty minute conversation is all focused on fast food, fast cars and technology failures. From a Taco Bell app that took an order when the store was closed, to a car that has a sensor problem that prevents the brakes from working we are surrounded by amazing technology that presents serious long term (aka long tail)risk.

This episode is a bit longer and a bit more rambling than typical but it's a real genuine conversation and we invite you to listen in. From ordering fast food from your smartphone to cars that brake for themselves or refuse to brake (when asked) our world is a more interesting and complex place. Do we have to accept that from time to time, our technology will have a momentary phase of frailty and abandoning it when we need it most?

Ken X. Ruan

Ken Ruan is a writer-editor-researcher-copywriter who views NYC through a pair of sociological lens. He is obsessed with visual design and advertisement composition. Constantly scrutinizing social class, status, law and the inconstancy of our digital age, he has written extensively about urban sociology, millennial angst and class and social status. He is excited to partner with Harry S. Hawk in exposing the shifting landscape of digital marketing.

Links:

Taco Bell

Tesla Motors

Jay Leno Shows a Ford Focus w/ a Ricardo HyBoost (video)

Ricardo (web site)

Woody Allen w/ Electric Car (Movie: Sleeper (not Bananas)

A link to a story about 3D Printing which Ken wanted you to see.

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Everette Taylor talks about online sales and growth hacking

Everette Taylor Jr. (@Everette) started marketing while he was 18 years old and attending college. He was an intern at United Way where old school marketing flourished. Everette helped them implement some digital marketing and with tangible results for United Way and his own personal brand.

It's clear that Everette's personal journey in college lead the way to his success. Everette was head of Growth at Growth Hackers and today is the CMO at StickerMule.com (@StickerMule). Everette talks more about growth hacking and about students and personal branding.

Everette's journey from student, to marketing expert really just follows his own passion, for learning, trying, experimenting and do more of what works and less of what doesn't.

Episode #16: Everette Taylor talks about online sales and growth hacking

Overtime Episode:

In this 20 minute episode we talk about everything from the companies he has worked with, the tools he uses, and the nuts and bolts of optimizing an ecommerce site. There is a 48 minute and 56 second Overtime episode for those who want to hear more of our talk. Everettte feels that all students need to work on their personal branding, it's not just about "getting famous" it's about finding jobs, and preparing for the work place of the future. Both Harry and Everette see that in the future many companies will seek to have their staff amplify their business via their employee's personal branding and personal "platform." Please subscribe on iTunes, or Stitcher Radio -- your honest review is appreciated. 

Tool Links (as mentioned by Everette)
Coming soon

LINKS:
Sticker Mule (Buy Stickers)
Button Frog (Button Maker)
Unity Over Self (Charity Fashion supporting Families with Autism.
MilliSense  (Marketing Company)
@Everette (Twitter Account)

Episode #16: (Download Link) 

Overtime: Bonus Conversations!

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Karen Freberg talks about crisis management, social media and personal branding

I talk with Dr. Karen Freberg who is an Asst. Prof. At University of Louisville  in strategic communications and an adjunct Prof. Online in the graduate Marketing Communications program at West Virginia University. Dr. Freberg is a well known expert on social media, PR, Communications and Crisis management.

I was excited to talk with Karen about the use of targeted social and socially curated published content as it applies to her area of expertise. We also talk about how she presents this topics to her students, and the surprise that a social media class isn't a cake walk but rather, for some students, “the hardest course they will take in College.”

I'm also interested in talking about how students can make use of social media tools for their personal branding, and her insights on the value of students engaging in the process of crisis management planning for their personal brands. Prof. Freberg has active research in public relations, reputation management, social media and crisis communications. We also talk about @DennisYu and how he has provided advise and has been a guest lecturer for Karen (listen to my FIR Interview w/ Dennis).

Are you student who is thinking about learning the "academic" side of social media? Are you an educator or corporate trainer who teaches social media? My entire interview and conversation ran about 75 minutes; I created a special 41 minute "edit" that just focuses on students who are learning social media.

This can be students who are in a communications program, learning about marketing, PR or advertising but it would also apply to students who are learning how to build social media into their profession. A great example is any student studying hospitality or tourism will need to include classes on social media marketing along with more traditional courses like hotel operations, and cost controls. 

Please checkout my special student "episode"100% focused on student use of social culled from Dr. Freberg and my discussion. To listen, click here.

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Cruising: 1970 Chevy Impala 350 Custom Coupe

Coupe of Pleasure

This one is blue; mine was Gray.. and probably has simplier rims, and no wheel well covers. .. and only a single exhaust. You can see the iconic "Notch" in the rear deck lid and if you can image, the rear and front of the car were of a similar length.. and there was plenty of room in that car to get into trouble. I got mine for $900 in 1977 with about 95,000 miles on it. That car took good care of me, and got me into and out of a lot of trouble from fire and ice, to snow, skiing and amazing full 360 degree skids.. I really learned how to pull myself out of a skid in that car.. let me tell YOU!

Many lessons were learned at the wheel of my custom coupe.

Which Car Is Mine?

It's hard to know (or really remember) what exact model (power train) I had. I recall the car had a 10.5:1 compression but there isn't anything in the specs at that size.. and I recall it was a 2 barrell carb so in the episode I have probally indicated the wrong engine configuration. I think this is the car I had -->> My Impala (1970) 350 Custom Coupe. Also I think I was wrong in the listed stop speed which seems to be 167 for 3rd gear; although this site claims a 112 top speed for one model (and 0-60 in 9.5 seconds). The most I ever did was 115 MPH... which was fast enough. This car is 3968 lbs whereas in the episode I note 4004 lbs.. either way with me the car weighted over 2 tons.

My car was more like this one -->

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