Filed under: Kids, Productivity

If you’ve a lot of studying to do, StudyProf FlashCards might be the buddy you’ve been looking for. The program, which has a free trial version available, grants you to create flashcards in a relatively easy environment. Give your card a title and an image or audio then virtually flip the card and place the information you’re trying to learn on the back.

After making a set of cards you can file them in your card box and retrieve them and replay them, slideshow style with simple mouse clicks.

If you’re studying something specific, StudyProf creators, Felling Software Development, has also created the Flashcard Archive to make it easier to download precreated sets of flashcards (though only the English to German flashcards are currently available).

Studying is never a lot of fun, but at least if your typing is better than your handwriting StudyProf gives you an substitute method to get the job done.

[Via download.com]

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Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Business of sports

This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See how we rank the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I remember watching O.J. Simpson in Hertz (NYSE:HTZ) ads dash through the airport on my television screen as a spunky old woman yelled “go, O.J., go.” It seems like these spots were always featured during breaks of favorite ABC Television shows “Charlie’s Angels”, “The Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island.” I even imitated O.J. when I went to the airport, much to the horror of my parents. I thought that, next to Television private eye Jim Rockford, Simpson was the coolest guy in the world.

Of course, no one realized at the time that Simpson’s nice-guy image was an act. When he led police on his infamous low-speed chase through the freeways of Southern California, people saw O.J. running again — this time from the law, under suspicion for the murder of his wife and waiter Ron Goldman. Again, people thought about Hertz. When he was acquitted, people thought about Hertz. For people my age (40), O.J. and Hertz will be forever linked. That’s the power of branding.

About the only thing O.J, is endorsing these days is plastic football helmets and old photos of himself, which is the root of his current legal troubles in Las Vegas. People are less interested in him in that world. At least one sports memorabilia dealer has his O.J. Simpson-autographed merchandise on sale.

To be fair, Hertz severed its ties to Simpson when allegations of domestic abuse first surfaced in 1992. Since then, advertisers do a much more thorough background check on their celebrities before hiring them to tell us how we should spend our discretionary income. We’re a nation of sheep. The problem is that we as Americans continue to look to our celebrities before making important decisions, which is a pity.

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Filed under: Marketing and advertising

This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See how we rank the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

The clich

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Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Business of sports

This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See how we rank the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

By guest blogger Mike Brewster:

Former women’s number one Martina Hingis hung up her tennis shoes for good last year after testing positive for cocaine in a post-match drug test — within the hallowed confines of the All England Club Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (that’s Wimbledon to you and me, pal), no less.

At one point Hingis’ career was on a Chris Evert/Martina Navratilova-type trajectory, but got derailed by a slew of injuries that started in the late 1990s. The main culprit was a chronic foot problem she always maintained was caused by defective sneakers from her Italian sports apparel sponsor, Sergio Tacchini.

In 2001, Hingis filed a $40 million lawsuit against the company, claiming that the sneakers, which she wore from 1996 through 1999 as part of a $5.6 million endorsement deal, “were unsuitable for competition.” Sergio Tacchini fired Hingis that same year as its main celebrity endorser.

Even though the Manhattan Supreme Court dismissed the suit in November 2002, the company never really recovered. The brand that once clothed John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras filed for bankruptcy last year, and just last month its remaining assets were purchased by Hong Kong businessman Billy Ngok. And as we all know, these days nothing says “quality athletic shoes” like Chinese manufacturing.

Read the entire series

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Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Business of sports

This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See how we rank the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

By guest blogger Mike Brewster:

Former women’s number one Martina Hingis hung up her tennis shoes for good last year after testing positive for cocaine in a post-match drug test — within the hallowed confines of the All England Club Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (that’s Wimbledon to you and me, pal), no less.

At one point Hingis’ career was on a Chris Evert/Martina Navratilova-type trajectory, but got derailed by a slew of injuries that started in the late 1990s. The main culprit was a chronic foot problem she always maintained was caused by defective sneakers from her Italian sports apparel sponsor, Sergio Tacchini.

In 2001, Hingis filed a $40 million lawsuit against the company, claiming that the sneakers, which she wore from 1996 through 1999 as part of a $5.6 million endorsement deal, “were unsuitable for competition.” Sergio Tacchini fired Hingis that same year as its main celebrity endorser.

Even though the Manhattan Supreme Court dismissed the suit in November 2002, the company never really recovered. The brand that once clothed John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras filed for bankruptcy last year, and just last month its remaining assets were bought by Hong Kong businessman Billy Ngok. And as we all know, these days nothing says “quality athletic shoes” like Chinese manufacturing.

Read the entire series

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Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Marketing and advertising, News Corp’B’ (NWS)

The Associated Press reported Monday that popular online communications website Facebook is set for a new upgrade and redesign to allow users to add items on “Walls” more easily, while the “Wall” feature will incorporate functions previously found in “Mini-Feed’s.” Facebook is currently in heavy competition with News Corp. (NYSE: NWS)’s MySpace networking site as both “vie to become the central hub of on the internet communications” by removing “clutter” and making the sites easier the navigate.

Part of the update comes as users have made less and less drastic changes to their profiles, instead adding single images or changing their statuses. Facebook is also aiming to reduce the size of profiles loaded with various applications that also appear on users “Mini-Feeds” and “Walls”. Users will also be able to delete items from those functions, but no new information about on the web behavior previously unavailable will suddenly appear, according to Facebook developers and executives.

Privacy concerns remains a staple and touchy issue for Facebook, since the Feeds appeared some users have called for there removal since information and activities is broadcast in a manner that limits discretion. Facebook also came under fire when some applications shared information about buying habits and product features to external sources, but since then those applications have had on-off features added.

As a user of both Facebook and MySpace, personal experience and the ease of using Facebook often leads me to visit that site more often than MySpace, but the overwhelming data and applications on some users profiles does make it hard to navigate at times. Perhaps the new upgrade will alleviate these pains and give the site a cleaner, swifter appearance.

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