Chicago | Chief Business Futurist Blog

Posted on June 1, 2007June 18, 2016 by David Dalka — 6 Comments

6 Reasons Google Did Not Need To Acquire Feedburner

Congrats to all the people I know at Chicago based Feedburner on the now official Google acquisition, but in all reality this deal didn’t have to happen! Let’s see why…

1. Google had already acquired the color orange when they bought Blogger!

2. Feedburner’s symbol is fire, which some folks relate to hell. If you believe this, Google will actually be acquiring evil.

3. Eric Olson of Feedburner (along with Frank Gruber and others) organizes Techcocktail, a tech community quarterly networking party in Chicago. Google could come to Chicago and throw a party all by themselves!

4. Google already had all of Feedburner’s IP because Rick Klau, VP of Publisher Services uses Gmail and Google Docs & Spreadsheets for all business deals! (Second source: talk at ABA TECHshow2007)

5. Google already has had adsense for feeds for a long, long time.

6. Once Google has access to the keys of legitimate RSS sources it will be able to determine the original source blog if it is using a Feedburner feed. When combined with Google Blog Search, Google could likely better control splogs in it’s blog search index which will reduce (MFA) made for Adsense site revenue!

Hey what is done is done though, I hope that funding for many more Chicago startups is now available!

Posted on May 28, 2007December 31, 2009 by David Dalka — 1 Comment

Happy Memorial Day 2007

It’s not just a day for a BBQ with your friends. It’s a day to remember and thank those who gave their fellow U.S. citizens the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms which we enjoy today.

I’d ask that you please honor their memory by fully familiarizing yourself with the candidates running for President in 2008. Not based on mainstream media or historical political dogma, but instead based on your own independent study of the issues of our times so that you may make an informed decision and participate in our Republic. Think for yourself, then discuss with your neighbors. It is what I’m doing as an undecided voter. It is my opinion that this is the best way you can honor these fallen soldiers which will hopefully ensure a bright future for our country. Thank you.

Based on Wikipedia, these are the announced and likely candidates:

Candidates for the Democratic Party:
Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York
Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
Former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska
Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
Potential candidates:
Retired General Wesley Clark of Arkansas
Former Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee

Candidates for the Republican Party:
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas
Former Governor Jim Gilmore of Virginia
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York
Former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas
Representative Duncan Hunter of California
Senator John McCain of Arizona
Representative Ron Paul of Texas
Former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts
Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado
Former Governor Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin
Potential candidates:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia
Former Senator and actor Fred Thompson of Tennessee

Candidates for the Constituton Party:
James Gilchrist of California
Dale Thompson of Kentucky

Candidates for the Green Party:
Elaine Brown of Georgia
Kat Swift, co-chair of Texas Green Party
Alan Augustson of Chicago, Illinois
Kent Mesplay, California Delegate to the Green National Committee
Potential candidates:
Ralph Nader of Connecticut
Former Representative Cynthia McKinney of Georgia
Rebecca Rotzler of New York

Candidates for the Libertarian Party:
Mike Jingozian of Oregon
Bob Jackson of Michigan
Steve Kubby of California
George Phillies of Massachusetts
Christine Smith of Colorado
Potential candidates:
Barry Hess of Arizona
Robert W. Milnes of New Jersey
Wayne Allyn Root of Nevada
Kent McManigal of Pennsylvania

Candidates running as Independents:
Dustin R. Gray of Pennsylvania
James H. Mccall of Ohio
Donald K. Allen of Ohio
Steve Adams of Kentucky
David Koch of Utah
John Taylor Bowles of South Carolina
Potential candidates:
Francis Playfair of Louisiana
David J. Masters of North Carolina
Jeff Shapiro of Indiana
Rumored candidates:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City
Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska

Posted on May 20, 2007April 22, 2015 by David Dalka — 2 Comments

Cicada Emergence Map for Brood XIII Chicago and Lake County 2007

The Cicadas are coming! This neat, interactive map put together by the Lake County Forest Preserve District allows you to report the amount of cicadas in your area!

This is a great example of a government agency collecting data through user generated content. The site is also nice link bait and will draw traffic and awareness of the Lake County Forest Preserve. This is also a good usage of an unique event to draw attention and awareness to the entity as a whole.

Posted on May 20, 2007November 27, 2013 by David Dalka — 20 Comments

Marshall Field’s

You will recall that last year, Federated Department Stores, now Macy’s, changed the name of Marshall Field’s to Macy’s. Now that flagship State Street store is well on it’s way to failing. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone was trying to buy it from them right now to start it anew. When history examines this, it will see lessons of branding and hospitality.

According to the Chicago Tribune, a press conference after its (Macy’s) annual meeting here Friday, Federated’s chief financial officer, Karen Hoguet, said former Field’s stores are performing no worse or better than the roughly 400 regional department stores Federated acquired from St. Louis-based May Department Stores Co. in 2005 and converted to Macy’s. But there is an exception: the Chicago store on State Street. The landmark store, long a tourist destination, is “doing badly,” Hoguet said, without providing specific performance data.

After listening to Danny Meyer yesterday (see post below) I can’t help but noticing this wasn’t about a store, it was about hospitality, word of mouth and networking and the way people felt during that customer experience. A recent post on Marshall Field’s – fieldsfanschicago.org message board (which is amazingly still getting strong traffic – you may recall I stated I thought this issue had blogsphere legs back in September) says it best:

“I miss shopping in Marshall Field’s because Field’s IS Chicago. For me shopping at Field’s was an adventure because Field’s was more than a store…it was an institution which made people feel special just being there amongst the special merchandise that only Field’s could offer and the sales people made even the transactions memorable because of the way they wrapped items, hard and soft, in white tissue paper sealed with a green MF sticker before generously pulling out a large MF forest green shopping bag in which to place my purchases. That was ‘the frosting on the cake’.”

“But you know what I r-e-a-l-l-y notice at commuter train stations, on North Michigan Avenue, on State Street and in the Chicagoland shopping centers, at O’Hare and Midway and at other airports around the country???? I miss seeing people, by the dozens and dozens carrying the distinctive green Marshall Field’s sturdy shopping bags with the handles! The absence is so barrenly striking. You readily KNEW they were either FROM Chicago or had a fun shopping trip as a tourist and were going back home. You just do not find people carrying macy’s plastic sacks anywhere it seems, she added. Why should they?! Macy’s is everywhere, and therefore not special at all. It is all so sad.”

Do you hear this Mr. Lundgren?

Another reader posted in reply to the many clearance items at the store now…

“Customers want the stores converted back to Marshall Field’s not Marshalls.”

In a related matter, Macy’s has new problems due to accusations of a former LA Times reporter.

Posted on May 15, 2007December 31, 2009 by David Dalka — 13 Comments

Happy First Blog Birthday

One year ago today, I started and made my first post on this blog! More importantly, I started an international and quite unpredictable journey of connectedness, friendship acquisition, learning, assumption questioning and personal growth that still amazes me on a daily basis by it’s power to transform my life and the people around me in positive and forceful ways. I’ve had people that I’ve never met provide introductions to people that have changed my life in ways I could not have imagined and have had acts of kindness and generosity that are simply too numerous to list.

In this first year, I’ve teethed, bruised myself and made some mistakes! In the next year, I hope to start walking as I progress from my crawling phase.

Sometimes people ask me what my goals are for this blog. In the short-term, they are career oriented as I am seeking a leadership position in a transformative, growth company, in the long term they about doing everything I can to make the world a better experience for everyone.

So my primary goals are:

1) Using my financial services, Internet and high growth company experiences and competencies to become one of the world’s leaders in mobile search and monetization. It is my belief that over time the lines between financial services, search and social networks will blur in ways that will amaze the world.

2) Use the Peter Drucker principles and quotes I live to help craft and execute elite experiences for those who interact with the companies I’ve serve in the future.

3) Build a transformative relationships in everyday life, as a business keynote speaker at conferences and within the blogosphere.

I thank you for your love and support during this first year and I look forward to the year to come being even better. Give yourself a round of well deserved applause and tell your friends and neighbors what a good job you’ve done supporting me! See you soon. Thanks again!

Posted on May 15, 2007March 21, 2016 by David Dalka — 3 Comments

Interesting Techmeme Visitors That Came to Read MyBlogLog News

There were interesting visitors that stopped by to read my MyBlogLog post! I thought you might like to learn about some of them.

First I wanted to report that this Techmeme only event had an average visitor page view of 3.23 yesterday.

Several months back, I had a major Digg event (Chicago Comcasted) had an average visitor page view of 2.35.

The MyBlogLog post had significantly lower page views overall, but had many other fresh posts written and indication of higher engagement. While you could draw other assumptions here, I’d rather wait to see some other data.

Below is a random sampling of some of the interesting readers that visited the site during the event:

Takuya Misawa, a Japanese Social Entrepreneur

Blog Potato, a site that is trying to build the world’s largest blogroll (feel free to sign up!)

Chris at 10e20, who envisioned a possible version of the rebranding back in January.

Cameron Barrett, someone who has had a blog dating back to 1997 at the urging of Dave Winer.

Stewart Mader, writer of Using Wiki in Education, which is a neat resource.

Loren Baker from Search Engine Journal, who whipped up a great post of his own on MyBlogLog (Always good to see you Loren!)

Roybn Tippins, who originally shared the MyBlogLog info with 100 people.

Ian Kennedy, who writes a blog called Flashpoint – he apparently shares my financial services background from his days at Lehman Brothers and currently works for Yahoo!

Chad Dickerson, who runs the Yahoo! Developer Network seems like a naturally networking and fun guy!

Mark Fulton, who among other things is an authority on domain name investments.

Jacob Share, owner of Jobmob.

Eric Berlin, the Online Media Cultist.

Patrick Schaber, The Lonely Marketer

Dan a “slacker” from Australia who authors The Wrong Advices.

The folks at the Weblog Tools Collection.

Brie from A New Wave of Thinking.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to get to know you all on a deeper level as time goes by. Please feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed if you have not already done so. Thanks! See you soon.