I recently wrote about a man who is using technology to catalog and file every single memory and experience he has had. A new CNN article continues along these lines, reminding us that our memories are not foolproof but that technology can help us overcome this blind spot by remembering things for us. "Archives of your blog, Facebook or Twitter feed -- both in text and in pictures -- might reveal exactly what you ate on important occasions, the papers you were proud of and the outfits you wore."

But can these tools actually hurt us? We've all heard the old adage, "Use it or lose it," and this can apply to memory as well. A psychology professor at Dartmouth says, "The sedentary brain, just like the sedentary body, is going to atrophy."

There are techniques you can learn, consisting primarily of mnemonic devices, to associate faces with name, to remember lists and numbers. Although some of these, like Megamemory, fell into disrepute due to overpromotion - they still work to some degree.

Curt is the founder & CEO of a timesheet software company in Austin, Texas.

I was watching Marc Benioff from Salesforce.com launch Chatter (the social networking app for Salesforce.com).

No surprises here. The video features a scruffy Benioff on a James Bond slick stage in front of a presentation screen the size of an IMax screen. He works the audience like a rock star while a carefully orchestrated multimedia demo of Chatter unfolds behind him.

This is nothing unusual. This is how high tech has been doing business for years (other industries are just as guilty. But, I feel like picking on high tech today.).

Steve Ballmer from Microsoft does it.

Steve Jobs does it in a turtle neck.

Here's my open plea to the tech industry.

STOP!

Find a new way to unveil your products.

You are not rock stars. Mick Jagger is a rock star. Bono is a rock star. The Boss is a rock star.

You guys are really bright brainiac captains of industry who have bought your way into pretending you're a rock star with a lot of industry toadies enabling your fantasy.

There's something that looks slightly this side of meglomania about the CEO- focused launch presentation in front of a hand picked over- enthusiastic audience.

Find another way.

Where's the woman with the sledgehammer when you really do need her?

You'd be surprised just how many small to midsize businesses still don't leverage their marketing materials online. It's easy to let this one fall through the cracks. For a startup, there are so many other priorities in play just to keep things going.

Here's why you need to make this a priority, too:

1. More eyeballs. You can only press the flesh with so many or even hit so many clients through print, mail outs and trade shows. Those are all important channels, as well. But online proliferation has no borders.

2. They want video. Why read it when you can watch it. For example, a recent Eccolo Media survey of executives who influence technology buying decisions found a dramatic jump in preference for video just within the past twelve months. The same survey conducted in 2008 showed 28% of the respondents had used an online video to gather purchasing information. The 2009 survey showed that figure at 49%.

3. Buyers do their homework online. Decision makers and influencers still use trade magazines. But make no mistake, the Internet is the first stop when it comes to gathering information. Tracking down information about your company, products or services is part of the pre-sales process. White papers, videos, informational articles online, blogs, case studies, online newsletters and podcasts are all breadcrumbs that will lead potential customers to your sales department.

4. Access to free information is appreciated. Your marketing materials, of course, need to be more than a commercial for your company. Sponsor surveys, studies, research on specific topics and give it away. It will give your company credibility and position it as an authority.

Gartner analysts recently presented at the IT Symposium in Orlando, Florida, asserting that “information technology departments are overloaded, missing the consumerization wave, and failing to use new developments to cut their budgets.” There is also the idea that the following 5 “amplifying developments” that will upset the balance of power between users and IT professionals:

1. Software as a service
2. Open source
3. Cloud computing
4. Web 2.0
5. Consumerization

The reason for this is that technology is moving too fast, while “ IT organizations typically spend six to eight years from initial conceptualization through selling, planning, testing and implementation of the first release.”

Is it the case that IT shops are trying to prevent users from bringing in their own iPhones, Netbooks, and SaaS applications? If they're trying they're methods are ineffective from my vantage point.

Curt's company has software that helps the accidental project manager.

The New Oxford American Dictionary has this quaint tradition of naming its "Word of the Year" from its list of new entries for the upcoming edition.

Nevermind your 300 million members, Facebook. You have arrived after inspiring this year's winner: unfriend.

That is, as in to "unfriend" someone from your Facebook list of friends.

It's actually more like a shunning. Facebook has it set up, of course, so you can drop a friend from your list quietly without notification to the new persona non grata. The hope is that they won't notice the sudden absence of your wall postings, etc. from their live feed.

Facebook has become enormously popular and for those 300 million folks, enormously mainstreamed into daily life, very quickly.

It remains to be seen how social networking and social life will ultimately sync up.

Lingering mysteries include:

1. Longterm effects of mixing business and personal contacts.

2. Figuring out how many "friends" are too much or too little. I think there's a been a rush to "friend" without thinking just to build up lists. I anticipate "friend" layoffs at some point, when enough sticky professional and personal situations arise.

3. Is the new transparency, interpersonal transparency? Keeping our private lives, private, is getting increasingly difficult. At what point do we all just say "screw it"? Employers will just have to understand that their employees sometimes get drunk in the Bahamas with their old college buddies, some have alternative lifestyles, some make inappropriate jokes (but they know not to do it at the office) and some occasionally complain about you among their friends. With 300 million blurring the lines and going strong on Facebook, it seems inevitable that weeding out people for any of the above will eventually leave you with a very small talent pool.

Last year's word of the year, by the way, was "hypermiling". Hypermiling is action taken to improve gas mileage; like inflating your tires or empyting your trunk to lighten up the vehicle.

WebWorkerDaily has published an interesting post on resistance to collaboration technology and how to overcome it. This kind of technology has made life easier for so many of us, especially those who are spread out across the globe, but you cannot reap the benefits without first taking the plunge. The blog writer lists the following as reasons why collaboration technology is worth it, to help you convince those who are unsure:

* Cost – Travel, when not impossible, is often more expensive than videoconferencing or IMs.
* Convenience – Technology allows you to communicate at any time through Twitter, text messaging, email, IMs or calls.
* Workplace pressure – The more your colleagues embrace this technology, the harder it will be for the others to stubbornly resist.
* Productivity benefits – Studies show that this type of technology helps you to get more done.
* Support – Offer support to colleagues who might be uncomfortable trying it out.
* Personalization – People think that face-to-face is essential, but the truth is that they can often be more informal via chat, tweets, etc.

When I was a kid people dreamed of videophones. Witness Dick Tracy as just one example. Now that everyone has the capability built into their computer, why is it that nobody seems to use it?

Curt helps people improve business execution.

It's two weeks until Cyber Monday. E-tailers are you ready?

Cyber Monday is, of course, what is touted to be the busiest day of the year for online sales. It comes the Monday after Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving that kicks off the holiday shopping season at bricks and mortar stores).

With a sour economy, retailers are bracing themselves for lackluster holiday sales.

Here's where, you, the online seller, have a distinct advantage over your storefront counterparts:

1. You don't have to worry about overstocking or understocking inventory, especially if you use drop shipping.

2. You don't have to worry about hiring up a bunch of college students to staff your stores that don't earn their keep if business is slower than you hoped.

3. You aren't limited to the economic limits of your locale. Some cities and towns are clearly more harder hit than others. A one company town that loses its one company; well, you get the idea... Selling online gives you access to markets allover the world.

4. You can use your site analytics to make you more nimble responding to what's moving and what isn't.

5. You have more ways to nudge shoppers to close the deal; online promotions, e-mail coupons, Facebook, MySpace, Google ads, mobile marketing, etc. It beats the hell out of the hometown Wednesday circular.

Feel encouraged? You should.