Desperate Freelancer

Sometimes you are searching for the meaning of a word, and the dictionary brings little help. Why ? Because it's not visual enough. Because you don't get enough information about how to use the word the proper way. Or just because you don't know phonetics signs and thus don't understand how to spell the word.

That's why a team of language nuts created Wordia. This service is a video-dictionary, where people can upload videos presenting definitions of words they like.

And as every new web service nowadays, it comes with its community tools : you can comment videos, see user's profiles and so on..

Here is a few sample of some video-meanings :

Beer :

Doodle :

Discombobulate :

Fermata :

That's also great service indeed because it can help us to get a new understanding of words we already know. It can enliven words and languages, which is, for a guy like me for whom English is not his mother tongue, quite useful.

The only hindrance I can foresee is in its model : everything is based on the contribution of folks that have words, meanings, definitions on their mind they absolutely want to share. So, it will be long till some dude decides to put a video about "chicken", "salad" or "Histiocytosis"

However, I think we could have a lot of fun with this kind of Wikipedia with videos. For example, we could try to improve the dictionary with definition and meanings that are more accurate than the existing ones.

The new financial crisis now jeopardizes the high tech industry. With the global credit crunch, investors are becoming even more careful and cautious with the cash they have no more. Startups and co are being warned to reduce burn rate and to plan to write a serious business model.

And inevitably, layoffs are popping out from the wood.

Like in the big drama of the years 2000, it seems that everyone is longing for the moment we can count the bodys. And Techcrunch is tracking them already. Pandora, Zillok, Seesmic, Hi5 and many others I have never heard about (and I will never have a clue of what they could be doing) are on the ranks of the good pupils.

So where are we going here ? What to do if you are working in the high-tech/internet industry and fear to be downsized ?

I don't know much about this sector but I know a lot about jobs, as I have been through a lot of experiences (good and bad) myself. Here my 5 cents of advice :

1. Pretend to be the best at your job

Even if your company is experiencing hard times, the managers will be reluctant to get rid of good folks. So do your best to stay on the top of the board of employees of the month.

What if you aren't that good, what if you doubt ? Just start a facebook group with a lot of clients and partners to mutually send you congratulation emails for the good work you have done.

If questioned about your efficiency, you just have to show your boss a pick of these emails. He will be impressed for sure.

2. Change jobs as often as you can

If you manage to change jobs faster than the crisis spread you could stay alive all along the crunch, and let it pass over you like if you were in the eye of the cyclone.

Send CVs everywhere. Target start ups that have still a lot of cash in bank, or start ups that have not understood the situation yet.

3. Hire offshore dudes to do your job

If you are able to get someone in India or elsewhere doing your work for half your wages, you can get more extra time to search new or better paid job. Hire two and you could even make profits doing 2 jobs in the same time with little involvement.

And if you get laid off, you would be able to take revenge on someone. Not very morally clean but at least it can alleviate some pain.

4. Buy you company's stocks

For the bravest among the braves, it's time to make good deals. Go see your managers and ask if you can invest in their business. Frightened by the hard times coming, you will be able to get a discount while they see this extra cash as a mean to survive. And you will suddenly place yourself at the bottom of the list of potentially "fireable" folks.

The risk of course is that your cash won't be enough to maintain the company afloat, and you will lose everything : investment and job.

After Vodka, back to wine. Actually in France, there is a big buzz about a new Wine, called "vin de merde" which means "Shit Wine", "crap wine" or very bad Wine.

This provocation has been set up by the owner of a restaurant called Jean-Marc Speziale, who decided to make such a joke in order to fight against "clichés" associated with Languedoc's Wines. These Wines are often accused to be low quality products in comparison to "Bordeaux" or "Bourgognes". Calling his wine with such a provocative name is a way for him to change popular belief and to make people understand that Wines from Languedoc have not to be jealous of their most famous brothers. It's a paradoxical manner for sure, but the point seems to be made.

The Wine itself sounds good, melting Red Syrah and Black Grenache, hand-harvested and bottled in the pure French tradition. Jean-Marc Speziale has been also helped by an enologist friend. So in the end, this "Shit Wine" has everything to be more qualitative and tasty that its label pretends.

Up to now, 5 000 bottles have already been sold since July this Year in only 10 retail stores. Moreover the Wine is begin to experience a wide success in the media.. success that will certainly lead to a new production and maybe a wider distribution.

What to think of such an initiative ?

Maybe that Wine in France has became such a competitive market that you are now compelled to sort to such marketing formulas to stand out from the crowd. You have to make "coups" and provocations to be noticed among the very huge amount of brands, producers and actors of this sector.

Though, what is true in France begins to become true also worldwide, since California, Australia, Chile and so on, are starting to raise quite honorable products (from Foreigner's tastes I mean) in their homeland.

Giving strange, funny, bizarre labels or names to products is a new trend that I am afraid we are going to see a lot more nowadays.

In the Wine field you already have "Fat Bastard" or "Cheap Red Wine" that used this artifice to get in every wine stores.

So, I am longing to see such innovations in others market such as Perfume (Slurry Fragrance ?) or Hi-tech (Bugs-full PC ?)...

As you may not know, vodka is my new hobby. After having experienced the fantastic realms of wine for decades, I am now introducting myself in the unsetting worlds of this russian beverage. And it's awesome.

So I decided to share a little bit of my exploration with you.

Vodka means little water. And you may learn a lot about vodka here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka

But what you won't be able to discover in such sources of information is the powerful influence of vodka on mankind. Several brands of vodka truly changed the world.

Let's see some examples :

Absolut Vodka : Absolut is one of the most famous brand of vodka. It's one of the most flavoured vodka with many tastes available such as lemon, pepper or red bean... Absolut with its incredible ad campains, based on the bottle shape, did change the face of advertising in the world. You all have seen theses ads with "Absolut someting" and the shape of the bottle in it.

Suddenly, it was possible to make creative advertising in the long run, and not just one-shot ad. It may sound odd but thanks to Absolute ads many advertisers, who were depressed by the diminishing role of advertising, got back to work. As a consequence, many people got back to TV and magazines. Great isn't it ?

Smirnoff : Smirnoff is among the best symbols of the victory of US capitalism against Soviet Communism. Smirnoff was a pure product of Russia, but his founder was deprived of its distillery during the October Revolution. After some years of errancy in Europe, the brand finally moved to the United States where it experienced a great success. Smirnoff featured in many James Bond movies, being one of the components of 007's favorite drink : vodka martini. These appearances had for sure been increasing the popularity of Vodka in the US. Thanks to Smirnoff, vodka is now the most drinked spirit in the US, far ahead from Bourbon whiskey, this old corn stuff, just good enough for grannies and red-necks.

Zubrowka : this polish vodka had surely been the source of inspiration of Lech Walesa while founding solidarnosc and introducing the way to secession of satellite states from the USSR. Because it contains bison grass which contains Coumarin, which is a toxin that provokes loss of appetite and at high rates a kind of rage of freedom among bisons and grazing animals .. and surely did the same to the former electrical technician.

Thanks to Zubrowka, Poland is now a free country.. and a lot of others east European countries as well.

Grey goose : Grey Goose has changed the world in its manner too. Grey Goose is a vodka now manufactured in Cognac, France !! It did change the Face of the region of Cognac showing that alcohol industry can renew from a new fashionable product while traditional stuff are declining. It did change the world of consumption because this marketing case do prove that marketing gurus can make people believe anything.. even the most stupid things. Such as :

This vodka is mainly bought in the US, where French label is seen as a proof of quality... in vodka. Ah ah.

Moreover, the pricing strategy made the impression in the consumer mind that it was a high quality brand... while we all know that vodkas are kinda the same stuff.

Kalashnikov vodka : This new brand has its name inspired of the famous weapon that definitely change the world more than once. For sure, it will have a great success and lead many groups of activists, that would feel forced to buy this beverage in their vindicative attitude, to become more accurate and wise in their using of their weapons. Good Job, John !

Well. Vodka did great for mankind. It will go on for years and centuries, I'm sure. Though sometimes, it could harm a little bit, as you may see in the example below :