Dane has spent years building his Simple Photo Minute brand. Many of you I’m sure are familiar with all the awesome things he’s done for the photo community. It’s time for us to give back!

He is being impolitely (and for shameful, petty reasons) forced to abandon the Simple Photo brand. He’s going to lose all the traffic and Google love that he’s managed to painstakingly accumulate over the years unless we all kick in to drive traffic to his new brands.

What used to be simplephotominute is now http://danesanders.net
What used to be simplephoto.tv is now http://cutframetv.com
What used to be simplephotobooth is now http://fotocabina.com
What used to be danesanders.com is still http://danesanders.com

If you can blog about it, please do. If you are unfamiliar with all the great stuff Dane contributes, then click on the links above. He’s a great guy with a great vision; if he weren’t Rebel Fish wouldn’t waste your precious time, or her precious blog, giving him kudos.

This is one time Rebel Fish wants everyone to swim in the same direction: towards Dane!

RF

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With all the hype around the iPhone (Rebel Fish will have hers on Friday the 29th), Microsoft is trying to get in on the multi-touch surface computing, too. This video about sums it up:

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From Kevin Swan’s post on OSP:

When you’re trying to compete as a photographer in a market, it’s pretty much true no matter what part of the country you’s in: don’t fight on a hill that’s occupied. I simply went to where other photographers weren’t and the market responded quickly.

It’s probably easier to display this principle with the KISS Wedding Book brand I recently launched. There are plenty (and I mean plenty) of album manufacturers in the market. When I looked to start a company in that field, it seemed pretty obvious where to go. Most the hills were occupied… Quality (owned by Queensberry. Incidentally, this is a retarded position to own as a company. You always want to be opposite of someone else in your positioning… who stands for NOT QUALITY?! hahah. But that’s another conversation…), speed, price, whatever. It was all owned. And, in fact, there are a bunch of companies stacked on each hill.

When I looked around, all the companies thrilled themselves by providing options. Everyone was crowding on that hill. Of course, as photographers, we’re overwhelmed by the ridiculous number of options now, and the companies all blur into one, disorienting company.

I looked over to the opposite of that hill: simplicity (freedom from options), and there were 0 companies on that hill. None. Zilch. So, we were able to create a brand that quickly distinguished itself in the marketplace. We spent very little money compared to what you’d have to spend to try to compete on a hill that’s already crowded, the word got out, people liked it, and they started ordering books. From concept to our first order: less than 60 days.

All that is to say, LOOK IN YOUR MARKET FOR THE OPEN SPACE. Don’t compete with someone else if they’re already known for something. “Me too, only better!” Never works. Don’t try to stand for everything in your business–you’ll end up standing for nothing. Pick a hill, stake your flag on it, and rock out!

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Rebel Fish discovered an even quicker way to do your Pick/Rejects in LR. If you press your capslock button, it will switch LR into hyper-mode! (Not official Adobe nomenclature, but Rebel Fish likes it.)

Now, when you hit P (for Pick), it automatically jumps to the next picture! If you hit U (for Unpick) or X (for reject), it does the same thing. One less keystroke (the arrow) or mouse click between you and being done with your selections. It also works for your star ratings or your color tagging.

Hope it helps!

RF

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Rebel Fish is a definite purveyor of productivity porn. She loves efficiency and enjoys wasting time studying how to be more efficient. Recently, she discovered a post at blog.pmarca.com. Rebel Fish vows to read it more often. You MUST read this post about productivity. Rebel Fish will grab a few highlights…

Each night before you go to bed, prepare a 3×5 index card with a short list of 3 to 5 things that you will do the next day.
And then, the next day, do those things.

Do email exactly twice a day — say, once first thing in the morning, and once at the end of the workday.
Allocated half an hour or whatever it takes, but otherwise, keep your email client shut and your email notifications turned off.

Don’t answer the phone.
Let it go to voicemail, and then every few hours, screen your voicemails and batch the return calls.

Only agree to new commitments when both your head and your heart say yes.

Do something you love.

As you’ve probably concluded by now, most of the tactics described in this post involve keeping oneself as free as possible to pursue one’s core interests, and dreams.

Here’s the link to the full post.

Rebel Fish is inspired and excited to add some of these new ideas to her system!

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When Kevin Swan, David Jay, and Nathan Holritz teamed up to cause some havoc at PPA, in February, no one could predict the viral nature of the video produced.

PC Advisor, in the UK, posted this article, listing the video as #7 of the Top 10 Tech Clips on YouTube:

“No. 7: Rogue remote user runs amok at Mac tradeshow

YouTube title: Fun with remotes…

YouTube description: Ever wondered if your MacBook Pro or iMac remote works on other people’s computers? Sure it does. Ever wondered how much fun you could have at a tradeshow? Sure you have…

Our description: This video, by pranksters David Jay, Kevin Swan and Nathan Holritz, almost has a Candid Camera feel to it. It’s fun to watch the reactions of the show attendees as their Macs seem to act on their own.

Click here

Computer World ran their own version of the top ten list, where they ranked the video at number 7 as well, saying:

No. 7: Rogue remote user runs amok at Mac trade show

YouTube title: Fun with remotes…

YouTube description: Ever wondered if your MacBook Pro or iMac remote works on other people’s computers? Sure it does. Ever wondered how much fun you could have at a tradeshow? Sure you have…

My description: This video, by pranksters David Jay, Kevin Swan and Nathan Holritz, almost has a Candid Camera feel to it. It’s fun to watch the reactions of the show attendees as their Macs seem to act on their own.

The story was even picked up in New Zealand, by Reseller News.

David Jay posted about the press as well.

Power to the New School.

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Just a quick note to let people know about Apple’s new Outlet Store

It appears you can save a good chunk of change for some hearty hardware.

RF

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