Believe it or not, Nintendo started in 1889 in Kyoto, Japan. As a nineteenth-century company, Nintendo produced “flower cards” used to play a number of different Japanese card games.

My colleagues in Japan used to play them with me on the bullet train between Tokyo and Osaka.

Not too many years ago they still had dining cars on that run…very nice after a long day of meeting in Osaka they would drink, eat curry rice and play Nintendo cards on the trip home.

Only after trying several other business ventures Nintendo eventually entered the video game industry.

Carbohydrates, such as pasta and breads produce insulin in the blood stream, which in turn makes a chemical called tryptophan, which in turn produces serotonin. Serotonin puts the breaks on stress and tension and produces a calming effect.

When you eat some pasta for example, it calms your nerves and your mind becomes more focused. To achieve this effect, however, don’t combine these foods with protein-laden ones, because the process will be blocked.

If this is the case why are we Italians so high strung? We eat pasta or pizza virtually everyday. Imagine if we don’t get our pasta or pizza fix.

Teris turns 25 this month…yikes, I have been playing it that long?

In 1984, Russian mathematician Alexey Pajitnov was playing with one of his favorite puzzles when he had an inspiration: How about creating a computer version?

Pajitnov wrote the program in his spare time, simplifying the idea to make it easier for those of us who aren’t math geniuses.

He used shapes made of four squares hence “Tetris,” which comes from the Greek word for four, “Tetra.”

In the game, players must position and stack blocky shapes to fill a grid without leaving spaces in between. Successfully completed sections disappear. The more sections the player completes without reaching the top, the higher the score. The faster players accomplish this, the higher their score.

Steadily, the game worked its way around the world. Millions of people found themselves glued to their computers and game players, hearts racing and screaming in frustration, all over getting a simple horizontal line of digital squares to disappear.

More than 125 million Tetris products have been sold, and Guinness World Records’ 2009 Gamers’ Edition book ranked Tetris No. 2 on its list of the top 50 video games of all time, behind Super Mario Kart.

One very unlucky German teenager was struck by a meteorite this week, but survived to tell the tale.

Details are sketchy, but according to Telegraph.co.uk, as 14-year-old Gerrit Blank walked home from school, the red-hot object fell out of the sky, hit his hand, and crashed into the ground, leaving a foot-wide crater.

“At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand. Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder,” he told Telegraph.co.uk. “The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.”

Meteorite strikes on humans and human structures are rare but not unknown. The last time there was a confirmed strike on a human was in 1954, when Ann Hodges, an Alabama housewife got smacked in the hip by a ricocheting space rock. Sadly, Hodges, a renter, got sued by her landlady for possession of the meteor. The famous rock was considered very valuable, and was anticipated to fetch $20,000 at auction, which would equate to several hundred thousand dollars today.

Less than a year after Hodges, another Alabama housewife, Mrs. W. Douglas Beardon, just missed getting crushed in her yard by a meteorite “humming like a vacuum cleaner.”

Close calls have been noted throughout history. For example, villagers watched in amazement as a large meteorite hit near the town of Ensisheim in 1492, and a meteorite smashed into Michelle Knapp’s parked car in Peekskill, New York, just a few weeks short of 500 years later.

A broad 1991 study of meteorite strikes on structures and near humans found that they are relatively common. The authors tabulated 69 strikes on human infrastructure since 1790, including 57 in the 20th century. They also counted 25 near misses of human beings.

Apple’s iPhone and other smart phones are generally good for the big guys at Google: And of course anything that get more people using the internet from their phones and using the most dominant search engine is going to one day make Google make their mark in mobile advertising…that is, as long as it’s not cutting down on the amount of time they use the web and Google on their computers.)

But Apple’s iPhone App Store is not as good for Google. While Google has a tiny business displaying in-app ads, the rest of the movement toward mobile apps and app stores is currently bad for Google. Why?

Time spent in apps is competing with and replacing time spent on the mobile web.

There are some Google display ads in iPhone apps, but no direct line to Google Search or search ads, where Google stands to make the most money. (The good news is that Google doesn’t make much money yet from the mobile web, so this isn’t immediately disruptive.)

Time spent in apps is competing with and replacing time spent on the real web.

This is probably the scariest scenario for Google. If I am sitting on my couch playing iPhone games or reading an article in Instapaper Pro instead of goofing around on the web on my laptop that is potentially real lost revenue for Google.

Similarly, even if I’m using my iPhone’s web browser, using the mobile web and Google search, Google is probably not monetizing those searches nearly as well as they do on the computer.

Users are learning to go to an app to find the information they need as opposed to going to Google or the web.

For example, if I want a restaurant review, I don’t go to Google to type in the name of the restaurant. I go to the Yelp app. Or Urbanspoon. Or whatever. Either way, no Google there.

The App Store search engine built into every iPhone is becoming a very important search engine.
One billion apps downloaded means hundreds of millions or billions of searches conducted. Google doesn’t power it or sell ads there.

The upshot for now is that mobile advertising, especially in iPhone apps, is still too small to matter to Google. Instead, even a small improvement to Google’s main search advertising business would be more lucrative to the company than spending that effort on iPhone ads.

But eventually, it’s possible that the mobile web and mobile apps will be important enough for a significant amount of Google’s attention. At which point they’ll either have to roll out an awesome ad model the way they did for web searches or buy one of the leading mobile advertising companies.

And yes, Google does publish some iPhone apps of its own. But on the iPhone, the most important Google-powered apps Maps and YouTube are built by Apple, and don’t include any ads today.

Creative Anti-Smoking Ads Around the World
Who would smoke if the packs had these images on them like they do in Brazil!!!?

I usually write about high tech, interactive and even mobile marketing methods of reaching a consumer but today I will go back and take a new look at the art of personal correspondence.

Direct mail volume is down. Big traditional mailers are departing the scene. Costs are up. And a postal rate hike was on May 11th. But highly targeted and personalized direct mail can be an effective break-thru media during this spiraling recession.

Here’s why…

We are all inundated with opt-in and spam e-mail.

There’s no more magic, no anticipation and damn few new tricks to surprise us. E-mail has become institutionalized and with broad scale acceptance and use come response rate plateaus.

Nobody gets personal mail any more.

Of the 199.4 billion pieces of mail that the post office delivers less than 3.8 percent is actual personal relevant human-to-human content. Mail is an underused channel to connect directly with people, even though our mailboxes are full of stuff.

The clear implication is that if you write somebody a personal letter , one that looks, feels and smells like a personal letter not an ad in an envelope using personal, individualized information, you have a shot a genuinely touching and communicating with a customer or prospect. It’s a rare chance to capitalize on the unexpected.

Refined creative tactics exist.

Direct mail creatives have tested and refined an array of techniques to optimize opens and response (the twin moments of truth). We have a corpus of knowledge on the size, shape, texture, color, fonts, forms of address, key words, tone and which authorial voice to use in which circumstances to address which audiences. The trick is to blend this expertise with purchase history or behavioral data to create a compelling, relevant, personal, maybe even intimate form of communication. The technology to do this, and still make it look private, individual and personal, is widely available.

Mail enables small batch laser targeting.

While the big volume mailers and carpet bombers are cutting back and scrambling to survive, returning to the basic letter format gives marketers a perfect platform for targeting and testing. Even with a medium that costs 10 times more than e-mail, even small firms can afford to word process and mail hundreds or thousands of carefully selected and targeted names. Whether the focus is acquisition, retention, loyalty or usage stimulation a personal letter can cost effectively move the needle.

There’s a first mover advantage to be had.

Because so many direct marketers are bombing customers and prospects with self-mailers, double-sided postcards, snap-packs, letter packages that scream “I’m an ad” on the envelope, coupons, flyers, catalogs, circulars, postcards, faux invitations, faux greeting cards, faux bills, faux official documents and all kinds of other printed SPAM, the personal letter won’t work if everybody does it. The victory will go to the first mover who does it right because it will be so different and unexpected.

You can leverage remembered joy.

As children we all were surprised and delighted by something special that came to us in the mail from someone special far away. The memory and the feelings of that moment are stored and carried around by millions of people. A well-crafted personal letter taps the reservoir of good will and belief that these memories represent. Mail, more than pixels, carry embedded emotions. These impulses and sentiments can be directed your way.

I just did a very quick calculation and I am sure this concept will stir quite a lot of debate but it would solve the economic crisis tomorrow.

Instead of the 30 plus billion dollars we gave to GM before they slid into bankruptcy we could have given everyone in the USA 1 million dollars with the stipulation that they bought an American automobile.

Yikes that is one-tenth the cost and it would get the economy off of life support as well as save GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Is this a naïve solution? Or is the solution so simple the geniuses in Washington could be overlooking the obvious?

Doh!!!! I missed it!

Giveaways have become a standard feature of nearly any big fast-food push, especially of late, but Dunkin’ Donuts’ doughnut handout yesterday was unusual.

Dunkin’ Donuts is capping off a six-week, $10 million campaign with a massive doughnut giveaway and the big reveal on a consumer-generated-doughnut contest. As part of Dunkin’s celebration of National Doughnut Day, consumers can have a free doughnut of their choice all day — with purchase of a beverage.

The caveat is significant. The chain hasn’t done a big campaign for its namesake product in more than a decade. Dunkin’s iconic “Fred the Baker” proclaimed it was “Time to make the doughnuts” from 1982 to 1997. Since then, the chain has focused on its coffee, which has developed a feverishly loyal following and makes up 60% of its $5.5 billion in sales. Doughnuts make up 20% of annual sales

For a retailer such as Dunkin’, coffee makes sense, said Darren Tristano, exec VP of Technomic, a research and consulting firm for restaurants and food suppliers. Not only does it raise check averages and operating margins, it also gets more repeat consumption during the day.

“If you were to look at the number of occasions when consumers order coffee and nothing else, you have an incredible, untapped opportunity,” he said.

But the doughnut promotion gives Dunkin’ a way to differentiate itself in an increasingly cutthroat category. “You don’t see doughnuts at McDonald’s. Krispy Kreme is a competitor, but Starbucks isn’t serving them,” Mr. Tristano said. “It serves as a great reminder to come in for a coffee, and by the way, we have the best doughnuts.” Besides, as a sweet, under-a-buck treat, doughnuts seem like an easy recession sales pitch.

Jeff Hager of Hoover, Ala., created the winning “Toffee Your Coffee” doughnut. It was selected from 130,000 submissions and ultimately 12 finalists. It’s a glazed, sour-cream-cake doughnut with Heath Bar crumbles. Mr. Hager wins $12,000, and his doughnut will be sold at Dunkin’ beginning this fall. I could not enter as I worked on the promotion but the toffee Doughnut is really a great entry not sure I could have beaten it with my German Chocolate Cake entry!

Other finalists included a variety of over-the-top creations, such as a bananas-Foster-filled doughnut topped with shredded coconut; a chocolate-mint Bavarian-cream-filled doughnut with white icing and blue and green sprinkles; and a chocolate cake stick filled with marshmallow, topped with chocolate icing, Hershey’s cinnamon and vanilla shavings.

“From office meetings to Sunday get-togethers, doughnuts are one of those foods that lift people’s spirits and bring genuine delight to any situation,” Frances Allen, Dunkin’s brand-marketing officer, said in a statement. “And now more than ever, Americans are seeking those small moments of happiness. We hope our free-doughnut offer will create an opportunity for people to celebrate doughnuts and bring some extra happiness to their day.”

Obama harnessed the grass-roots power of the Web to get elected. How will he use that power now?

Barack Obama is the first major politician who really “gets” the Internet. Obama used it to build an army. And now, that army of digital kids expects to stick around and help him govern.

Crowd-sourced online brainstorming sessions? Web sites where regular folks hash out policy ideas and vote yea or nay online?

A new government computer infrastructure that lets people get a look into the workings of Washington, including where the money flows and how decisions get made?

“This was not just an election—this was a social movement,” says Don Tapscott, author of “Grown Up Digital,” which chronicles the lives of 20-somethings raised on computers and the Web. “I’m convinced,” Tapscott says, “that we’re in the early days of fundamental change in the nature of democracy itself.”

Call it Government 2.0. Instead of a one-way system in which government hands down laws and provides services to citizens, why not use the Internet to let citizens, corporations and civil organizations work together with elected officials to develop solutions?