Mark Houston Smith

Kindle Paperwhite Review

markhsmith — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:52:08 +0000

I just received my new Kindle Paperwhite. My old Kindle e-ink screen crapped out on me (see picture below). The e-ink broken display shows part of the screensaver and part of the standard message to plug-in your Kindle. Bottom line: It was unusable and my 1-year warranty ran out. Amazon will give you a small discount [...]

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How to Blog a Book

markhsmith — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 20:04:04 +0000

Book Review: How to Blog a Book by Nina Amir Today’s author must be an entrepreneur. It’s not enough to write a book and then hope that someone will discover it, buy it, and read it. Getting your book written is only a small fraction of building an author’s platform. How to Blog a Book, [...]

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Platform: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World

markhsmith — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:55:02 +0000

Platform: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt is a great resource for building a platform that will help promote your product, service, or yourself. Hyatt uses his own blog, www.MichaelHyatt.com, his books and his speaking engagements as examples of products that can be promoted by a solid Platform. Hyatt has an email list [...]

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Will Starbucks Replace Cash?

markhsmith — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 05:28:27 +0000

I love receiving a Starbucks gift card. It’s a special treat to buy a coffee for “free” and I am thankful to the giver as I enjoy my drink. But, did you ever think how Starbucks gift card system works behind the scenes? Gift cards are a huge business for Starbucks: Starbucks and their affiliate [...]

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5000 Instagram followers in 6 weeks

markhsmith — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 04:07:53 +0000

My 24-year old son, Andrew, (@Phacebook) has over 5,000 Instagram followers that he’s grown in the past 6 weeks. I found this out while we were discussing social media over a nice glass of beer. Me: What do you think about my idea of launching a how-to video website to help people figure out how to [...]

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Magazines are Dead. Long Live Magazines

markhsmith — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 22:51:15 +0000

The last print edition of Windows IT Pro (formerly Windows NT Magazine) arrived in my mailbox in April 2012. It was the end of an era. Like so many technology magazines, Windows IT Pro has become digital only. I founded Windows NT Magazine in September 1995, so this was my baby. We had a 17-year run as [...]

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Can a phone call change your life?

markhsmith — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 02:26:13 +0000

“There’s been an accident,” he said. ”Malori is not breathing.” That phone call 10 years ago (June 30, 2002) changed our lives forever. My 17-year old daughter, Malori, and 9 other missionaries were riding in a 15-passenger van when all of the sudden, the left rear tire of the van de-treaded. The van rolled three [...]

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Spark

markhsmith — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:20:20 +0000

In 2008, I worked on a concept called the Spark Humanitarian Suite in partnership with World Vision International. The goal of “Spark” was to capture the high-level requirements for a modern Humanitarian IT System and explain it to a diverse audience using multi-media in 10 minutes. The Spark presentation covers fundraising to field-management for a typical [...]

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Better than Cash

markhsmith — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:03:52 +0000

According to the February 2012 USAID blog titled, “We must do better than cash,” USAID is planning to use it’s $22B/year aid “footprint” to motivate it’s grantees to transition away from cash-based development to innovative mobile payment solutions. Based on USAID’s observations in Kenya, Haiti, Mexico and Brazil, USAID believes that their implementing partners will [...]

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Megacommunities

markhsmith — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:15:27 +0000

Megacommunities, by Mark Gerencser, et al. (a book review with key points posted by Mark Smith) The problems facing the world are so large that no one sector–business, government or non-profit–can solve the problems by themselves. According to the authors, what is needed is a megacommunity. A megacommunity is a public sphere in which organizations [...]

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