Remember my post back in August about how it’s time to say goodbye to free WI-Fi in coffeehouses, in airports, etc? I have never been more sure of something in my life – Today, I’ll prove it. I’m on the 6:20am Amtrak from NYC to Boston right now. For a brief moment, I switched off my Sprint EVO 4G, and am using Amtrak’s free WiFi to prove a point. I also installed a little Add-on to Firefox (I usually use Chrome, I switched to Firefox for this experiment,) called Firesheep. If you haven’t heard of Firesheep, prepare to be really, really frightened. I’m not a true tech geek, so please forgive me if I don’t totally speak Geek. Essentially, FireSheep [...]

While in San Francisco last week, I had a spectacular opportunity to have lunch with Philip Hotchkiss, Joe Fernandez,, and Ash Rust, the three heads of one of the hottest social media companies currently out there, Klout. For those living under a half-mile of earth for the past 69 days, Klout is making quite a stir lately, as the company that’s assigning each user of social media (Twitter, Facebook, and the like) a “score” to determine their influence in the online world. The more you engage, the more people find you interesting enough to respond, repost, or retweet your information, the higher your Klout score will go. Essentially, Klout is using various algorithms to determine your relevant worth in the [...]

Walking back from running errands just now on this Saturday afternoon, I came across three Seniors at West Point, from Left to right, Andrew, Phil, and Gary. They had cammo backpacks on their backs, and they looked tired, so I had to ask what they were doing. “Well sir, we’re walking from West Point, where we go to school, to Ground Zero to pay our respects.” I asked them how long they’d been walking, “About 22 hours” was the answer. I asked them if they were going to do anything when they got there. “We have an American flag we’d like to hang on one of the fences if we’re permitted to.” View Larger Map I asked them why they [...]

Talk about a fun day! I was offered a chance to drive the new Chevy Volt, an electric car with a battery range of 50 miles and a gas range of upwards of 400 miles, from Los Angeles to San Diego, a gorgeous drive down the Pacific Coast Highway (when it’s not pouring) thanks to the awesome people at General Motors. I jumped at the chance – When else would I get a chance to drive a car before it hits the market? I was also fortunate enough to drive with a gentleman I met today for the first time and with whom I immediately became best friends – Ed Ugel, author of the new book “I’m With Fatty,” a [...]

I got an email from someone two days ago from the shankman.com contact page – and true to what I preach, I responded – Me – no one else. (Took me a day, but I did.) This person simply asked, “How do you cultivate the seemingly endless energy you have to constantly meet new people and grow your network like you say you do?” I thought about it for a while – And it bothered me – Because I couldn’t come up with an answer immediately – I don’t think I’m full of energy – Quite the opposite – I see myself as constantly tired. As much business travel as I do, always up early for training for this stupid [...]