New companies are always popping in North Carolina, or moving here and thriving on the diverse, talented and highly educated workforce found in the state’s urban centers. But on May 8, North Carolinians will vote on an a constitutional amendment that would harm many of our talented citizens, as well as our state’s reputation as a entrepreneurial hotbed.

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Looking for a recipe on Pinterest? Hope you like processed pork products, because the majority of pins you’ll find in the Pinterest “recipe” search is straight up spam. (more…)

Readers of conservative and liberal blogs appear to inhabit diametrically opposed realities, our recent survey of blog readers indicates.

Compared with conservative blog readers, readers of liberal blogs are 13 times more likely to be “very concerned” about climate change. Liberal blog readers are nearly 6 times more likely to rely on newspapers versus conservative blog readers. Liberal blog readers are also 1.9 times more optimistic about making a major purchase in today’s economy.

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It’s not too late for one more cup.

• Tom and Lorenzo – Mad Style: Far Away Places
  AMC’s Mad Men is known for its era-perfect costumes and scenery. But how else does the show use visual cues to move the story along?
• The Agonist – Probably Not the Way to Earn Respect
  North Korea’s latest missile may have been a dud, but that doesn’t keep the isolated nation from making vague threats.
• Laughing Squid – Barack Obama and Jimmy Fallon Team Up to Slow Jam the News
  Barack Obama: President. Candidate. Soul singer.
• FastCompany – Who’s Next: Pinterest Designer Sahil Lavingia And His New E-Commerce Site Gumroad
  The teenager behind Pinterest’s popular design is all grown up and ready to change the way we shop.
• AdVerve – McD’s Goes Revolutionary Red
  Just in case you like your manifesto served with a side of food puns.

photo by flickr user 7-how-7

I was watching TV at my sister’s house when another commercial for another NEW Android phone aired. “Which one do you have?” she asked me.

“Uh… Droid.. um…” I had to take apart my giant case to remember which HOT NEW model I had gotten just a few months back. And then it hit me. “iPhone users don’t have this problem.”

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Hi, I’m Kelly, and I have an email addiction. How do I know? Because I meet every single one of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) standards for addiction (explained lay-people terms here). This is the definition used by doctors, people! And I bet you have one, too. Take a little quiz and find out: (more…)

“Most readers hearing the news will not assume it was a deadlock. They’ll just figure it was a bum year for fiction,” wrote author Ann Patchett in her New York Times piece, “And the Winner Isn’t …”

Readers, authors, publishers and book sellers have been fuming over this week over the absence of a prize in the fiction category, the first Pulitzer fiction snub since 1977. In addition to confusing and putting off readers, the lack of a fiction prize vexes authors and eliminates the built-in promotional push publishers rely on.

Since the Pulitzer Committee has let us down, we’re asking the real influentials of the blogosphere to weigh in.  Head over to our poll on Facebook and let us know who should have won.

photo by flickr user quinnanya.

As the media landscape becomes more fragmented, blogs are human hubs for sharing insights, gossip and news. For the last 10 years, we’ve helped thousands of advertisers connect to the readers of these influential hubs. As much as we like to tell the success stories of our advertisers, we prefer to hear their stories first hand.

Author Kia Heavey recently found herself on a blog called Bookworm Room after following a link from another book blog. (more…)

Now serving 5 fresh articles and videos to enjoy while you wait for the caffeine to kick in.

• GOOD – Beyond Zipcar: Can Carpooling 2.0 Remake American Commutes?
  Will a European carpooling site successfully tap into the “largest network of empty seats on the planet?”
• AdPulp – Moms Get The Hero Treatement, Just In Time For The Olympics
   Proctor and Gamble celebrates you, moms… of Olympic Athletes.
• The Book Smugglers – Book Review: The Book of the Maidservant
  If you’re a fan of historical YA fiction, then we have a book for you. Everyone else, move along.
• Digital Inspiration – View Instagram Photos without the Apps
  Because you want to show your mother what this “Instaphoto thingy” is that everyone’s talking about without explaining how a smartphone works.
• The Daily What. – Early Bird Special
  Look out, Casey Neistat, this guy can run around the world, too. And without fancy Nike dollars!

Photo by flickr user betta_design

Two years ago, Coke abandoned efforts to build its own social infrastructure “in favor of approaching customers at the places they already hang out, like Facebook and YouTube.” Meanwhile, Pepsi was reallocating cash from Super Bowl spots to its philanthropical crowd-sourcing campaign, The Refresh Project. (more…)