One of the often overlooked aspects of social media is that it can often be seen a pointer for developing and emerging trends.

Just one day after CNET reported on Hollywood’s frustration at YouTube’s copyright feet dragging, Google announces that they are ready to begin testing their video fingerprinting tool.

TimeWarner and Disney have signed on for the test, which they hope will help to identify copyrighted content and prevent illegal uploads of the content.

Compounding YouTube’s recent rows with copyright holders, YouTube’s biggest backdoor competitor, MySpace, announced a pilot program developed with Audible Magic to block copyrighted video from being posited in the community.

Of all computer problems, the unresponsive hang is the most annoying and most difficult to trace. There’s no crash, no panic: everything just stops dead.

Do you believe in magic?

Enjoy placing the digital bling on your blog with Google Gadgets, previously available only for the Desktop and Personalized Homepage.

DataDirect announced Release 3 of its XML product Stylus Studio, following Altova’s Release 3 of its XML Suite Version 2006.

During my Q&A with Stuart MacDonald at Mesh I talked about The Magic “T” of Marketing.

Technorati CEO David Sifry discusses “The Magic Middle” in the second installation of his State of the Blogosphere update.

Q: A key investor in my business has suggested that I hire a consultant to do a SWOT Analysis to help plan for the future. I try not to argue with my investors, but I’m not so sure I need to have this done. What do you think? — Laurie B.

When Walt Disney said “It all started with a mouse,” he didn’t mean the optical type with a scroll wheel.

The “Magic Sysrequest key” is Alt (left or right Alt key) and Sysrq (up there under Print Screen, next to F12 on most keyboards). To use it, you need to have it enabled in your kernel (CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ).

Is there a ‘magical’ way to exponentially grow your business?

Yesterday I received a phone call from an acquaintance that I’ve met once or twice but haven’t seen in over a year. She wanted to let me know that she was referring me to a client of hers who needed help with his Web site copy. Although I hadn’t thought about her in months, she mentioned that she’d received a postcard from me for the past two quarters – and that’s why she instantly thought of my services when her client voiced his need. Although it wasn’t really magic, it sure felt like it. That’s the magic of keep-in-touch marketing – people remember you and feel like they know you, and eventually, they often give you business or refer others to you.

About once a week we get asked if we use SSL certificates. The answer may come as a surprise to our e-commerce friends, considering that we process hundreds of credit card transactions every month.

1) Tell your potential customers in your ad copy that you will donate a percentage of their purchase price to a specific charity. This will show them you really care about people. They may just buy your product so their money will go to the charity. For example, you could say, “I will donate .75 cents from each order to the (name) Foundation.”

We’re all looking for a magic key to marketing, something that will finally take the frustration out of failed attempts, unreturned phone calls and prospective clients that don’t seem to “get it”.

I still have a vivid memory of the exact moment that I caught my very first glimpse of that banner ad! It said that I could Get Paid to Surf the Web!!! I immediately knew it wasn’t going to take me very long to be bringing in a steady income!!!!

ALACAZAM! HOKUS POKUS! PRESTOCHANGO!
No, not those four magic words. Granted, they might coax a rabbit out of a hat, but they won’t do a thing for you if you’re trying to get a business off the ground.

You have heard this word before. It is what you dream about as a marketer. This is the key that would put the magic in your marketing results. Can you guess what that word is?

When it comes to being influential with people, my good friend David Barron likes to say “inside of rapport, anything is possible… Outside of rapport little is possible.” While David goes into much more depth on Rapport in the Foundations of Persuasion, I wanted to spend some time on this topic today.

“I’m looking for a program that will make me enough money so that I can quit my job. I need about $2,000 a week. I have to give a month’s notice at work. Will I be making that with your program by then?”

“I just lost my job and I need to make a lot of money fast to pay off my debts. How quickly can I make $35,000?”

“I’m new to the internet. Can I really make $200 a day with your program?”