From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

Finally, hot off the presses, great news! The Keith Parnell | Coffee with the CEO iPhone App is available in Apple’s App Store. Download the new app here.

Why would you want this app? From one place on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you can get the most current blog posts from my blog, tweets from Twitter, and videos from YouTube. Too cool.

Many thanks to the team at MotherApp for building my iPhone App!

Keith Parnell iPhone App Press Release:

About this Blog:

Keith is the Founder & CEO of JASE Group, a marketing and new media agency based in Norfolk, VA.

Keith is Co-Founder & CLO of NeedLocalHelp.com, an Internet start-up that specializes in local business services, local small business advertising, and providing the most comprehensive local search directories across the United States.

Keith is also Co-Founder and Co-Principal of New Media Conventions.

Keith is a speaker, writer and blogger at keithparnell.com. He frequently performs interactive talks and how-to sessions for companies, non-profit organizations, conferences and seminars. He is a knowledgeable and passionate speaker on a variety of topics including new media, online marketing, social media, inbound marketing strategies, brand management solutions, and successful advertising techniques.

Technology, marketing and social media are among Keith’s daily passions. He has a vast presence and personal network in the social media world with c. 25,000 followers and subscribers from his blogs, Twitter, JASEzone, Facebook, LinkedIn and FriendFeed networks.

Keith is a member of the Entrepreneurs Forum of Hampton Roads, the Hampton Roads Internet Marketing & Technology Group, the Williamsburg / Peninsula Internet Marketing Group, and the Virginia Opera Guild. Keith video blogs at CoffeeWithTheCEO.com.

About MotherApp BlogEngine:

MotherApp BlogEngine converts your blogs and tweets to a native iPhone app. It extends your reach to the mobile medium and provides a dedicated space for your audience to engage. MotherApp BlogEngine also generates additional stream of income through embedded advertisement. Visit http://www.motherapp.com/en/blogger/ for information and sign up for MotherApp BlogEngine.

About MotherApp:

We are the industry-leading provider of cross platform mobile applications. Our patent-pending MotherApp Engine turns one HTML source code into native apps on multiple mobile platforms, including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian. We improve time-to-market, while reducing development and support costs. Our customers today include world-class banks, carriers, financial press, retail, radio stations, tourism boards and ad agencies worldwide. For more details and press enquires, please visit: http://www.motherapp.com.

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Hard Times by Ray Charles.

Alright, my BlackBerry friends, where’s my business card reader app for my BlackBerry?!

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According to Net Applications via the Macintosh News Network, Internet surfers substantially prefer the Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Microsoft Windows: 92.52%
Apple Macintosh: 5.27%

Wow! If you listen to the propaganda machine called ‘Mac vs. PC’, the latest Apple advertising campaign, you would think Macintosh is in the game. Obviously they are not.

The point to this message is not to rub my Apple fanboi friends the wrong way but to ask that we all pay closer attention to doing our own research. Don’t take the insinuated word of a well-crafted advertising campaign.

What do you think? Did these numbers surprise you? Do you use Mac or Windows? Or both? By the way, we use both.

Photo credit: pixelzooi

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My Apple update popped up this morning wanting to upgrade the Bonjour and iTunes software programs. Nothing new there; everyone does that.

But what I was shocked at was the offer to install other software programs that I do not have. Granted I don’t want either Safari or MobileMe but I thought it was cool that they offered.

I have been an avid reader of and subscriber to Men’s Health magazine since the early 90’s. Yes, I’m that old. I also receive their daily newsletter to my inbox, which I value reading each morning with coffee.

Today’s news alert is about cholesterol and tips on lowering your cholesterol levels. So I though it my male-civic-duty to pass on this tidbit. I left their reference links in-tact. Enjoy.

Worried about your cholesterol level? Stop worrying. Start fixing it.

Change your bread spread—out with butter, in with olive oil: You’ll lower LDL (“bad” cholesterol) and raise HDL (“good”) for a double-dose of protection.

Eat the right nuts: Have a half-cup of pistachios every day, and you could lower your LDL by as much as 12 percent. Throw in this other nut for another snack, and the monounsaturated fats could flush even more bad cholesterol out of your body.

Keep the doctor away: An apple a day—seriously—can lower LDL by 8 percent. The soluble fiber inside scrubs arteries clean: There’s more in these breakfast foods. And apples aren’t the only fruit that can help—this berry can stimulate your liver to better break down fat and cholesterol.

One more: Lower your LDL by as much as 20 percent by having two servings of this protein source every week.

This weekend we were having issues with the wireless network at home. I think maybe the issue is the lack-of-strength reception from the airport card in the iBook but regardless we had a need to get the machine online while sitting at the dining room table.

Every Windows laptop I’ve had I’ve been able to tether my Pearl to it to use as a modem for the machine. But I hadn’t tried it with a Mac notebook.

I quickly searched (not Googled, Yahoo!’d) for “tether BlackBerry Pearl to iBook” and found Dave Taylor’s article titled “How do I use my Blackberry Pearl as a bluetooth modem with a Mac?” Perfect!

Thanks to Dave, I had the iBook online via the Pearl inside of 4 minutes. No issues. No problems following his instructions. No performance malfunctions through T-mobile. The iBook is online now when I need it.

Thanks RIM. As if this needed to be said, I fell in love with you all over again. BlackBerry is the perfect user device for any smartphone person.

Small business owners have a growing amount of resources on the Internet. I encourage you to search them out and read. There are tons of great info and tips out there so take advantage of the experiences of others.

Business.gov hails themselves as the official business link to the US government. They have information on starting a business, finance, licenses & permits, home-based businesses, non-profits, and much more.

The Small Business Administration is another resource that you should not miss.

What do Apple Computer, Hershey Chocolate, Mary Kay Cosmetics, and the Ford Motor Company have in common? They all started out as home based businesses. Over half of all U.S. businesses are based out of an owner’s home.

Secure Backups and Storage

AMI Partners recently produced survey results about home-based business, which of course falls into the small business world.

• There are over 16 million home-based businesses in the US. This is approximately 2/3 of all businesses in the US.
• Close to 15 million of these businesses have at least 1 personal computer.
• On average these businesses have 2 personal computers, 1 desktop and 1 notebook.
• Over 80% have a broadband Internet connection.
• All up, they spend close to $700 million each year on backup and storage solutions.

My point to these numbers is to remind you, as a small business owner, to not skimp on costs where the results could be catastrophic for your business. Backup your computers regularly so you can sleep soundly at night.

That’s a strong statement. Here it is again, all forms of media will be intangible in 5 years.

That was Steve Rubel’s prediction in the December 1st edition of Advertising Age (print magazine). Steve wagers that, “by January 2014 almost all forms of tangible media will be either in sharp decline or completely extinct in the U.S.”

Tangible media = newspapers, magazines, books, DVDs, boxed software, video games, etc.

He asks that we consider these points:

• The success of Amazon Kindle.
• Random House is making 15k books available online.
• Microsoft’s Xbox is open to user-generated games available online for download.
• Apple setting the tone through its iTunes store with downloadable iPhone and iPod Touch games.
• Netflix offering play-on-demand movies over the Internet.
• Christian Science Monitor closed its print copy and made all content available online regularly.

All forms of media will be intangible in 5 years? Steve makes some good points but not sure I can get behind this. Consider the Pew Research stats we published earlier this week that 35% of surveyed adults still get their news from newspapers. Those same adults are readers of books, readers of Time magazine and Sports Illustrated.

I agree the majority of media and communications are moving online. But not all and completely. Not in 5 years.

Back to Steve’s main point, what does this mean for advertising? It means that online marketing and ad firms like JASE are becoming more popular and in-demand. The expertise is substantially different than owned by conventional ad firms.

Social media and its extremities like gaming, reading and movies online are the focal points of the future and you’ll need a partner firm like JASE to ensure your stability and growth.