Even if you’re not into this genre, and admittedly, I’m hardly the target audience either – do you know how lucrative this market actually is? A few years ago, I got a book called “The Art of Romance Writing” as a gag gift, but am now seriously thinking of writing a racy novel and retiring on the inevitable movie deal.

1. End users need documentation.
2. Technical communicators look at the product with a user perspective.
3. Technical communicators help with quality assurance.
4. Having quality documentation reflects positively on your organization.
5. Documentation provides a record.
6. Documentation saves on support costs.
7. Technical writers have a versatile skill set.
8. Technical communicators’ information gathering gets the team to think critically.
9. Technical communicators are specifically trained.
10. Technical communicators lighten the load.
11. Technical communicators can provide training and support.

I agree with all these points. The only thing I’d add is that the audience for technical documentation can be far more diverse than just the end user. Engineers, marketing managers, stakeholders, product testers, and just about everybody involved needs the goodies. Documentation is important at all levels of the production cycle.

These days, however, telemarketers have it tough. Not only can they get fined for contravening the DNC list, but they have to contend with a new trend – these days most people have cell phones, not land lines. Sure, you could screen the call using Caller ID, but here’s something better: once you have the number of a telemarketer, program an entry in your directory. I use the moniker "Do Not Answer". I then set the customized ringer to "Do not ring". I haven’t had to speak to a telemarketer in five years. And because I’m feeling generous, I’ve decided to share my sacred list with you.

Now, bear in mind that this list is only valid if you live in Canada – and the 604 numbers are only valid for the Vancouver area. However, I’ve confirmed that all these numbers are telemarketers of the most heinous kind. Do yourself a favour and block ‘em all. So, here’s a little list of my own – a Do Not Answer list:

866-428-1656
800-837-9531
604-270-7289
416-915-7933
866-428-1469
800-566-8064
866-629-7707
866-701-8375
416-581-1076
877-666-6339

And if you haven’t signed up for the DNC list, what are you waiting for?

Lyndsey Amott, in an article on her website, stresses that industry knowledge should not be a primary deciding factor when mulling over suitable candidates. Her top three must-haves are:

1. design a document that looks good both on paper and on-line
2. design a document that can be updated easily
3. write instructions that are easy to understand

She goes on to say that the proof of a good writer lies in the way they organize their thoughts and that inexperienced writers shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed.

Technical writing consultant Jean Weber makes some good points in this article. She agrees that the writing is more important than the software or technical expertise. She advises companies to look for problem-solvers who keep digging until they find all the answers. But they should be somebody tactful, not abrasive.

Employers are always concerned with costs and staying on budget. If you can relay the value of creating relevant content in a specific context and to a specific audience, you’re on the right track. Remember that as a technical writer you’re the bridge between subject matter experts and the stakeholders, the marketers, and the end-users. Without you, knowledge could not be channeled into capital gain. 

So, if you find your head on the chopping block, start thinking like your employer and ask yourself why they should keep you around. The answer could just save your neck.

The song is called “New Soul” and was handpicked by Steve Jobs for the MacBook campaign. As a result, Naïm, a previously unknown French-Israeli singer, became the first Israeli solo artist ever to have a top ten hit in the United States.

The power of the tech industry to elevate an artist to stardom is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that a flagging music industry desperately needs.

Because of that catchy song, I listened to the rest of Naïm’s album and thought it was fantastic – her songs are kind of Norah Jonesy, except in Hebrew.

Another artist is getting lots of exposure from un unlikely source is Ingrid Michaelson, who also landed gigs in an Old Navy commercial and on TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill. Google has chosen her website to be a pioneer in their new service Friend Connect, an OpenSocial networking app that can run on any website (unlike the gated communities of Facebook and Myspace).

According to a press release appearing today on Google’s Press Center,

“…starting tonight, fans who visit Ingrid’s site can connect with their friends without having to leave the site. Visitors will be able to see comments by friends from their social networks, add music to their profiles, see who is attending concerts, and enjoy other features of the iLike application, all at Ingrid’s website.”

Hanging out with Ingrid on her website doesn’t mean you have to leave your preffered social networking haunt. Friends from sites like Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, Plaxo, and more can all interact via Friend Connect.

This kind of cross-pollination of web 2.0 technologies with the music industry can only be a huge boon for starving artists who need new ways to market their music. Companies like Apple and Google are setting great examples that I hope the rest of the tech industry will follow. 

Don’t you love the cheesy model car that gets picked up by the “giant” hand?

There is no denying that the iPod has become part of our popular culture. What started as a neat toy for Mac users blossomed into a fashion craze for young urban hipsters. These cool urbanites identified each other not with secret handshakes but by the white ear-buds that had become the icon for ‘coolness’. The rise of the iPod sub-culture has a grassroots foundation in the heart of the thriving metropolis – on gritty city streets, on crowded subway trains and in public places. The iPod fad proliferated in cities like New York, where people walk everywhere. Those little white ear-buds also started popping up everywhere and the iPod caught on like wildfire. Now car commuters are crying for a piece of coolness too. Auto manufacturers have heeded their cries – most new cars being put on the market today are iPod ready.

But with Apple pushing for dominant shares in every market, they are in danger of alienating their core group of users. Those street-smart iPod evangelists who started the whole viral marketing thing won’t think twice about ditching the pod for the next cool gadget that comes along (with the exception of hardcore Mac users, whose loyalty borders on stubbornness). Why?

The reason is simple – everybody has one.

There is no longer anything separating the cool from the uncool, the hip from the square, the geek from the flavour of the week. The line between urban chic and the vast hinterland outside of the urban centre has been eradicated. Now the straight-laced banker can bop to his iPod tunes in his BMW while he commutes to the city from the burbs. Now farmer Joe can till his field while listening to some twanging country and western on his nano. Does that sound like the kind of scene an urban hipster wants to be part of?

Your business card is a little piece of you that somebody carries around in their wallet. Long after the memory of your brief encounter with another has faded away, the business card remains as tangible evidence of the meeting. After a while it is all that remains of you – it is, in essence, you. The smooth grain of the paper stock, the gentle weight of it, the charming colours and the inviting copy. A piece of art.

Or is it? Seriously, aren’t people taking it a bit far? In their fervour to design the perfect business card, people sometimes forget that it’s the medium that constrains the message. Cards printed with the limited technology of the early twentieth century, for example, were simple black on white affairs. Does this mean that people would dismiss Winston Churchill as a boring old oaf just because he had a simple card? People in the 21st century are desperate to be unique. These days people willingly sacrifice simplicity and functionality to make cards out of plastic, metal, wood, you name it – just to stand out.

How much credence can one place in a professionally designed business card? Ultimately, doesn’t the card say more about the designer than the person who owns it?

In the very near future, all this may become redundant. After all, the purpose of a business card is to pass along your contact information. Can you imagine a future where all two people have to do is whip out their cellphones and instantly transmit all that info via a wifi connection between the two phones. In fact, why not go to a networking meeting and instantly download the contact info of everyone in the room, go and check out their websites, read their blogs and learn more about them than a ridiculous piece of cardboard will ever tell you.

That future isn’t so far off. I’m betting the ritual exchange of processed wood fibre is nearing extinction.