20 September 2009

Giving Up On Kombucha

So, after trying it around 10 times, I am giving up on kombucha (also spelled komboucha).

The fermented tea, made from a polyculture of bacteria and yeast growing in a jar of black tea and sugar, first caught my attention when I noticed the rather large refrigerated display of a few brands at Whole Foods Market. With a wide variety of flavored options and a long list of health claims, I figured it was worth a try. I previously wrote about my experience with the GT's Raw Organic Komboucha Multi-Green flavor.

09 September 2009

Apple Announces Exciting New iPod Nano Model

WOW!!

Steve Jobs just announced the new iPod Nano model includes a video camera (to compete with the Flip Mino), a voice recorder, onboard speakers, Nike pedometer, FM radio receiver, bigger screen, CoverFlow navigation, all aluminum case available in multiple colors, and free of arsenic, BFR, mercury, and PVC.

Only $179 for 16GB, $149 for 8GB. Available today!

Whoa.

There's going to be lots more video cameras in people's hands soon.

06 September 2009

The Case Against Video Resumes: A Staffing Director's Perspective

In 2007, there was mainstream (TIME, USA Today, MSNBC) and recruiting industry (Cheezhead, ERE) media attention on the growing trend of video resumes. YouTube was exploding onto the scene and the job market was still hot. Some of the coverage was optimistic, while many expressed doubts about video resumes (Brazen Careerist, FastCompany, Freakonomics).

It's now two years later. The proliferation of built-in webcams, pocket camcorders (Apple, Flip, Sony), and the ubiquity of YouTube, as well as some specialty websites (HireVue, FaceHire, InterviewStudio, HitechResumes, eVesume, MYNE, RecruitTube, RezBuzz, VideoResumes, VideoResumeToolKit) makes it easier and cheaper than ever to create a video resume. More employers have PCs and networks that can handle video downloads and streaming than ever before. All the leading smartphone models have video playback capability. While we're gradually emerging from the bottom of an awful global recession, we are still deep inside a jobless recovery, with unemployment rates still climbing, motivating some people to find a way to stand out in the ultra-competitive job market.

Despite all these factors, I feel it's time to make the case against video resumes.

03 September 2009

Healthcare Reform Facebook Meme

So, starting late yesterday, and all through today, a whole bunch of people on Facebook posted on their status a message that seemed pretty popular:
No one should die because they cannot afford healthcare, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status.
After I saw it for the first few times, I thought it was an ok sentiment, but not one I would be echoing on my own Facebook status. Then, there seemed to be an onslaught of status updates with the same, or very similar messages. There were comments of support, and some other status messages serving a bit of a backlash sentiment.