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So, this is a weird one but fun nonetheless.  Izea was kind enough to send me a little Thanksgiving postie pack this week.

In the free, bright green box which I found on my doorstep was a bottle of Jones Tofurkey & Gravy Soda and a special Thanksgiving Turkey…. hat.

I’m a big Jones Soda fan and have been for a long time, of course I got a little excited about my gift.

Of course one of the first things I did with the (already cooked) Turkey Hat was get it to the fire station because I knew the guys there would get a kick out of it (see the pictures  of Bobby and Dan sporting this season’s #1 Fashion accessory).

The Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda is.. interesting.. to say the least. I’ll admit that it doesn’t look terribly appetizing. In fact it looks somewhat like dirty dishwater but I’m brave enough to give it a try, and try it I did.

It actually wasn’t bad, it didn’t taste like I thought it would. There isn’t a bad smell to it and to me, it tastes more orangey than anything.

I could drink the whole bottle. It might take me a while but I’d drink it.  I know it would go down well at the Fire Station though, even if just for the novelty factor. Whether it ends up being drunk or not it’s one of those things that is…. cool… just to own.

Why you’d need a vegetarian option in Soda, I’m not entirely sure but it’s nice that it’s out there.

Have you tried the Tofurkey and Gravy Soda? Do you like Tofurkey in general?

Oh, by the way, just in case you were wondering – the fortune in the bottle cap is “You are going to have a very comfortable old age.”

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.

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(ARA) – Google the words “meaningful work” and you’ll find more than 1.6 million hits, ranging from tips for finding a job you can believe in, to how to find meaning in the job you already have. Perhaps it’s another side effect of the recession, but it seems that for many Americans, making money isn’t enough anymore; it’s just as important to make a difference.

Crowdsourcing is one way anyone can take part in making a difference. The concept employs the power of technology to harness the collective creativity of a large group of diverse people. One company with an innovative Web site is taking crowdsourcing to the next level, allowing anyone with skills and interest to participate in solving a range of creative challenges in exchange for the opportunity to earn cash awards.

Corporations and non-profits referred to as “Seekers” come to Innocentive.com to post “Challenges” – unique professional, academic and research problems for which they are seeking a solution. Each Challenge contest offers a cash award for solutions chosen from all those submitted. Anyone can create a free account to become a “Solver” and offer his or her unique solution to a challenge.

While the money – with some awards ranging all the way to seven figures – is obviously welcome, most solvers aren’t participating for the cash, says Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of InnoCentive. “Our solvers tell us they do it because they think they can make a difference, and they enjoy the challenge of applying their skills to create a solution for a unique, challenging problem,” Spradlin says.

Past Challenges have ranged from creating branding ideas for male grooming products to finding a biomarker for the progression of Lou Gehrig’s disease to how to address water problems in developing countries. Cash awards offered range from $1,000 to $1 million. Seeker organizations include corporate giants Avery Dennison, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Procter & Gamble and Solvay, while non-profit Seekers include the Rockefeller Foundation, GlobalGiving, The Oil Spill Recovery Institute and Prize4Life.

To date, 539 Challenges have been awarded prize money totaling nearly $5 million. Solvers may be required to relinquish the intellectual property rights of their ideas to the challenger upon being named a winner.

So far, many of the challenges have been scientific in nature, but InnoCentive’s client base is quickly expanding into other disciplines. Marketers are already using the site’s crowdsourcing power to solve their unique problems. “The Innocentive challenge model could be used to solve virtually any business problem,” Spradlin says.

To learn more about becoming an InnoCentive seeker or solver, visit their Web site at www.innocentive.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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Pittsburgh has a very, very strong Blogging and Social Media Community and we all seize any opportunity to hang out.

The Blogfest events, run by PghBloggers.org are always fun events and worth going to.  I plan on being there (mind you, I always plan on being there – it rarely works out though).

WHAT: Pittsburgh Blogfest 19
WHEN: FRIDAY, November 20, 2009, 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM and beyond
WHERE: Finnegan’s Wake (near PNC Park, 20 General Robinson St., North Shore, 412-325-2601), in the Pub Room
WHO: All local bloggers, podcasters, and social media folk

Read more here

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Twitter is many things to many people. For the better part of 2009, Twitter was a kaleidoscope of exploration, experimentation and entertainment for me. But on October 21, 2009, I made two new discoveries through Twitter:

1. Twitter is a valuable tool to connect with companies who are listening.


2. Hyatt Hotels is listening.

While staying at the Hyatt Regency Cincinnati, I encountered an impressive associate answering the in-room dining phone at 6am (literally the moment they opened). I was greeted by an energetic, friendly and attentive young man named Maurice. He was so pleasant, professional and personable that after hanging up with him, I decided to call him back to get his last name, telling him I was going to post on Twitter how he provided me with outstanding service. To my surprise, he enthusiastically told me HE was on Twitter. (My experience on Twitter up until that point had been with adults, techies, sales/marketing folks and spammers – not young hotel employees. Learning that Maurice was on Twitter made this effort even more rewarding.) I tweeted:

Later that day, by searching Twitter for his name, Maurice found the tweet and replied to me:

To which, I replied back:

THEN, to my even greater surprise, Hyatt replied:

The exchange concluded with my retweet of Hyatt’s tweet (cc’ing Maurice) and then my follow up tweet summarizing the result of this outreach:

This was a first for me. Many times I’ve enjoyed stellar service at an establishment with the good intention of writing a letter to management about it. (I’m of the opinion that customers do far too much complaining and far too little praising, thus I often have the inclination – and the sporadic follow-through – to point the spotlight on those who shine.) In this case, I had the same good intention coupled with the same lack of time or commitment to sit down and write a letter. However, I had my cell phone, and in less than a minute with less than 140 characters I was able to proclaim my customer satisfaction to the world (well – to the small fraction of my followers who might catch my tweet and any interested parties searching for words in my tweet). When @HyattCareers responded, I was thrilled! My good intention was converted to intended result because Hyatt was listening AND responsive.

With Twitter I’ve met, connected with and come to appreciate some rather incredible people. While spam and sales pitches periodically interrupt my stream, on October 21, 2009, I discovered the power of Twitter as a quick and easy tool for converging a corporation, its customers and its employees. This three-way encounter was new, unconventional and rewarding; all parties benefitted, leaving the experience satisfied. Ménage à trois Twitter style. What more could you ask for?

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Google added a couple of new chat ‘status’ icons to their buddy list indicators.

Currently a Google Labs option, the new indicators tell you whether your buddies are using Android devices to log onto their messenger.

My question is – when are we going to see different colored Apples in our buddy lists?!?

See more on the Gmail Blog

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I can’t sing, not at all. I applaud those who can.
I like to think that I can spot people who can sing. Sadly, I think there are those people in the charts and in the public eye who don’t necessarily have the talent they’re credited with.
On the flip side, there are many, many people the World over, who can sing and can very well. There are those who don’t know the people you need to to get a song in the charts or have a certain look for a certain taste etc. etc.

There are a lot of wonderful voices going unheard.

In comes PopStation. PopStation is an online music and entertainment experience. PopStation gives people like you and I (well, mostly you) the chance to sing your way into the charts and maybe into an album deal.

The beauty of PopStation is that it’s al community driven. There are no biased judges, panels or companies judging you – it’s your peers (the people who are listening to the music) who decide.

PopStation releases it’s original songs regularly, during the week. Monday – Hip Hop & R&B, Tuesday – Country, Wednesday – Pop, Thursday – Pop.  The PopStation community is encouraged to personalize the songs in practice rooms before they’re entered into a contest to be voted.

PopStation is launching a competition called “The Big Deal”.
Every three months a #1 Voted artist will win “The Big Deal”. The winner and a guest will be sent on an all expenses paid trip to New York City, Hotel, Luxury car, and a recording studio!
While in New York you’ll spend 2 days   in a recording studio with a professional team recording your very own album.

After it has been produced the final product will be featured on PopStation for the entire World to listen to.

This is a great way to get into the industry… assuming you have the talent.

Visit PopStation here
See the contest rules here
Learn more about the prizes here

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Popstation. All opinions are 100% mine.

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I don’t know if you noticed or not but we added a couple of new features to the blog recently, one of which is FollowMe.

FollowMe is a Wordpress plugin that adds a slick button to the side of your blog, hopefully encouraging visitors to follow you on Twitter.

It’s really easy to install and pretty customizable. You can change the button colors, whether it says “Follow me” or “Follow Us” on it. You ca change the picture and the graphic (to a point) too.

See the Plugin Site here

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It may be rather strange looking but the Bugatti Diva Coffee Maker is quite the piece of kitchen equipment.

This stylish machine features a 15-bar pump for a perfect foamy cappuccino.

The conical shape ensures that the heat stays at the top of the unit, warming your cups and keeping them dry.

Doesn’t come cheap though at £543

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