I’m not rushing to relace my iPad2 based on the upgrades.  But I am fully prepared to be jealous of those who do get the new model.

Right now registration numbers are moderate, so I’m hoping that if you’ve wanted to hear one of these seminars before but couldn’t make it when I appeared in your county, you’ll take advantage of close proximity and head over to Lebanon County.

The location is the award-winning historic Inn 422, which is a victorian-era-estate bed and breakfast.  The inn-keepers have recorded the history on the Inn’s web site, and it is fascinating.  Here’s a hint:  it involves one of the wealthiest families in colonial-era America, a past president, forbidden love, and a suicide.  Intrigued?  I am too, but I hope not to have any encounters with the alleged ghost.

The pictures of the Inn indicate I’m in for a real feast for the eyes. 

Hope to see you there!

The video, entitled “Jimmy Fallon – Slow Jam The News with Barack Obama: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” is on YouTube.  The surprise appearance has the audience going wild.  But the slow jam in which Obama participates is a must see!

As someone who had to finance her own way through college, grad school and computer programming school, I understand the need to obtain affordable loans.  I hope that Obama’s efforts prevail on this initiative.  And bravo to him for enlightening U.S. citizens to the struggle, so that they can make their opinion heard.

My partner, Jennifer Ellis, is widely known for her expertise regarding social media use in the practice of law, social media marketing, and the intersection of technology and ethics for lawyers.  As a result, our firm does a considerable amount of consulting work related to all facets of social media.  We both monitor a great number of news sources to try to stay on top of this topic.  And we both blog and prevent seminars on this topic.

One source of information I read regularly is HR Hero.  They cover a myriad of human resource-related topics.  This is yet another business management area that remains fluid due to federal, state and sometimes local regulatory changes.  It’s important to stay on top of this in order to avoid liability.  A recent article entitled “Social Media Ownership: A Look at Three Cases” caught my attention because it reports on recent cases which touch both areas.

In Sasqua Group, Inc. v. Courtney, a 2010 New York district court case , the court decision makes it very difficult to protect client lists and other lists such as Facebook friends, as trade secrets.  Marketing professionals have long advised that the most valuable pieces of intellectual property a firm or company can develop are well-maintained marketing-related lists.  Clients.  Prospects.  Industry CEOs. All sorts of  lists.  But now that it’s so easy to develop sophisticated lists utilizing readily available tools and the internet, it’s hard to make a case that a list rises to the level of a protected trade secret.  At least according to this case.

In Eagle v. Morgan, pending in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the court will rule on a wide number of issues related to ownership of a LinkedIn page and its connections.  Does the company own the page, or the individual who establishes it?  If the company sells and the individual doesn’t work for the new company, can the new owner take the page over and continue to use it?  Was that part of the sale?

In PhoneDog v. Kravitz, which is pending in the Northern District of California, the court will be wrestling with the concept of putting a price tag on Twitter followers.  A proposed $2.50 per, according to the plaintiff.  With 17,000 followers at issue, a hefty $340,000 in damages is at stake.  Certainly not chump change.

These issues are just the tip of the iceberg.  They are important considerations for both your firm, as well as for your clients.  Certainly the evolving case law will take time to clarify and tame this new frontier.  But in the meanwhile, neither you nor your clients can afford to ignore or avoid the most significant paradigm shift in communications in decades.  So it’s important that you ensure your firm has a well-written computer, internet and social media use policy in place at your firm.  The last thing you want is to wind up becoming the plaintiff or defendant in the next encountered conflict over who owns what.

In November 2011, Congress enacted the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which increases aid for vet­erans in education and training, job counseling, transi­tion and placement, and disability programs. It also provides specific tax credits for hiring certain veterans. These tax incentives range from $2400 for hiring veterans who are unemployed for more than four weeks but less than six months, to $9600 for hiring veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been looking for a job for more than six months.

I was born and raised in Montgomery County, and I confess that I have always felt it is one of the best places to live in the nation. It offers great schools, beautiful and diverse homes, comprehensive municipal services, ample shopping and medical care, and lots of open space.  This area offers lovely and distinct four seasons.  Rolling hills and small mountains.  Fertile ground for planting.  Friendly people. Job opportunities.  And now that I am right on the border of historic Bucks County, which offers even more countryside, I have the best of both counties.  Plus I am close enough to dart in and out of (unhealthy?) Philadelphia within 45 minutes, to take advantage of cultural, entertainment, and dining opportunities.  So on second thought,  I won’t relocate after all.  Why should I?  I have the best of all worlds here.  But your conclusion may be different.

The study was conducted by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  You can review the rankings yourself here.  The rankings consider factors that affect people’s health within four categories: health behavior, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment. This year’s rankings include several new measures, such as how many fast-food restaurants are in a county and levels of physical inactivity among residents.

What could be better than venting? Well, as far as Greater Philadelphia businesses are concerned, maybe one thing — getting something free & valuable for it. Which brings us to a red-hot, cloud-based (and, take note, currently hiring) Unified Communications solutions provider named Alteva, which, to have a little fun—because, let’s face it, not every business story has to be as dry as chalk — has launched its My Phone Stinks essay contest.  One lucky company in the Greater Philadelphia area (including the following counties: Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester and Bucks, PA; Mercer, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem, NJ; and New Castle, DE), will get a high-tech makeover.  We’re talking a prize for one year that’s worth nearly $41,000 in cutting-edge equipment, installation fees and UC service simply by having an employee visit http://www.myphonestinks.com/ and submit an essay explaining why — no cursing, please! — your firm’s existing system is just nothing to phone home about.

Note that the value of the prize, as I found out when I explored the site, is based on the maximum number of telephones & licenses possible.  The reality is that the value is about $44/person/month.  But that includes a high-tech VoIP and Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint package, and unified messaging.  Not shabby at all.  Good luck!