So over here at the DIFF we're pretty big fans of our hometown of Detroit.  Thus, we write about it a lot.  Its really just that we have so much pride in our city we can't seem to help ourselves. 

But let's be honest here for a second.  Detroit needs a bit of sprucing.  And like most cities that need some work, we have a lot of graffiti.  Now, I've always been a fan of graffiti - so long as its done with taste and art in mind.  Senseless tagging is just vandalism.  Anyway, I was reading an article from the Detroit News about this pretty famous street artist who, low and behold, made his way to our fine city.  As it turns out, Banksy (the famous street artist) gave us one of his creations on a wall of a building about to be torn down.  Unfortunately, there are some not so happy things going on as a result of that, but I'll let you read the detnews.com article to find all that out.

What I think is more interesting is the artist himself.  Banksy is apparently a very under the radar street artist from London whose works sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Pretty nice living, eh?  He paints meticulous depictions of people and adds in some social commentary to go along with it.  I went on over to his website and I must say, his work is kind of amazing.  What's even more cool, is that he lets you print out his work from his website to make your own BanksyGear. What?!?  Artists giving away their art?  With all of the arguments out there about sharing music and movies and fear of copywrite infringement, I was really surprised.  Not to mention, for us little people who can't imagine buying art for $100,000 or more, that's kind of a cool gift to pass on. 

So mosey on over to the banksy.co.uk website and take a peek.  Even if you aren't a fan of graffiti, you'll be impressed.  I especially like the one he did in Detroit.

Another installment for our Bizdom Biz Feature series. This time, we welcome PostEGram to the Quicken Loans family. Read on to learn more about this awesome new venture!

If you’re like millions of Americans, chances are you’re on Facebook. Furthermore, odds are you’re uploading lots of photographs.  About 2.5 Billion images are uploaded to Facebook every month. It seems as if it has never been easier to share your life in pictures with your family and friends, right?

Well it certainly is easy to connect on Facebook, but the truth is there may be someone special missing all those snapshots of school events, birthday parties and vacations—and that person is Grandma. Statistics show that about half of all Americans over the age of 65 do not have Internet access. So while you’re uploading images from your mobile phone, poor Grandma is looking in her mailbox looking for a letter from you.

That’s where PostEgram comes in. 

One of my favorite home & product design blogs, Design*Sponge has a recurring feature that I just LOVE.  It's called "Living In" and it utilizes some of the most notable films ever to grace the silver screen and showcases products that would allow you to convert your surroundings into their world.  Today they featured a quintessential film from my childhood, Stand By Me.  I love this movie and the inspiration boards she created using various screenshots made me swoon.  I want everything!  Well, except the blueberry pie...

FACT: The internet can often be an intimidating, overwhelming, scary and/or distracting place.  That’s why I love any tool that can make my e-life easier.  The more time I save searching for the perfect vintage teak chair the more time I can spend sitting in that very chair snuggling up to a vat of chocolate ice cream, watching Glee and gently weeping while I mouth the words to each song.

That’s why I LOVE crazedlist.org! 

Change is happening in Detroit, are you a part of it?

That was the theme of the first annual Future Midwest conference, held this past weekend in Royal Oak, Mich. Headlined by former Digg CEO and native Detroiter Jay Adelson, the conference focused on growing businesses and spurring local entrepreneurs by bringing together the best and brightest digital minds from across the country.

From digital marketing to PR and social media, Future Midwest addressed how technology can be used to lift Detroit and pave the way for its future. As the conference’s keynote speaker, Adelson framed a positive vision for Detroit and urged young creatives to seize their opportunity.

Ok Go, is a rock band that I have been in love with since first viewing their “Here It Goes Again” performance on the MTV Music Awards in 2007, which was done entirely on treadmills. It was amazing to say the least. Since then the band has produced and performed a series of outstanding videos for their songs.

However, none have been truly as amazing as the “Here It Goes Again” performance, until now. Ok Go has just released two videos to their latest hit song “This Too Shall Pass”. The first video is the official one and was filmed in a two story warehouse with a machine that was designed by the band and members of Synn Labs. The next video although unofficial, is just as amazing and was filmed live with the Notre Dame marching band. I have posted the first one below and have attached a link below to the second video. After watching both please comment to let me know which one you like better. Personally, it’s a tough call, but I think I like the official one with the machine. Either way the song is great!

To view the second “This Too Shall Pass” video click HERE or to see the “Here It Goes Again” video click HERE.

Everyone has morning rituals. Some people get up, stretch, have a cup of coffee, hop in the shower, brush their teeth, let the dogs out, etc. The first thing I do in the morning is check Woot.com.

My friend and former Quicken Loans team member Jarrett “Spiderman” Knyal introduced me to Woot about four years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. Maybe it’s an uber-geek personality that drives people like Jarrett and me to get so excited about a cult-like “deal-a-day” website or maybe it’s an online shopping addiction - who knows. Call it what you want, but you really can’t have too many Roombas (those nifty robotic vacuums that clean your floors, Jetsons-style).

Since my first Woot purchase (a Roomba, of course), I’ve amassed nearly 50 Woots (that’s what us in the “in crowd” call the daily Woot products), ranging from over a dozen t-shirts, countless screaming monkeys, a “bag of crap” (the most coveted of all Woot deals), two Dyson vacuum cleaners, a color laser printer, the greatest oven mitts I’ve ever owned, and of course, a marshmallow gun. There’s a special feeling when you arrive home from a long day at the office to discover a Woot box on your porch. It’s like one more little slice of happiness to round out the day.

Welcome to what we hope is the first of many posts to feature the launch of a new Bizdom U business. For those who don't know, Bizdom U is an entrepreneurial school in downtown Detroit from Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert.

You might remember us mentioning Guffly before - they're another Bizdom business which is about 6 months old.

So, without further ado, here is the first pitch to you, our dear DIFF readers from one of the newest Bizdom grads - Roger Williams of Launch Learning Group:

In these economic hard times chances are you know someone out of work or looking for a new career path. If so, a career in insurance may be right for them.  There is an unlimited income potential, flexible hours and it’s an industry that is still growing even in this economy.

To assist people in breaking into the insurance industry, my partner Antonella Solomon and I just launched our business out of Bizdom U to help prospective insurance agents acquire their license by training them to pass the State exam on the first try.  Our business, Launch Learning Group, has a new training model and we have broken the old mold of insurance training which is typically traditional, lecture based and boring.

Got an email from my Twitter friend Charlie Wollborg of Curve Detroit last week.

Now, Charlie knows the interwebz and Charlie knows (probably all of) Metro Detroit, so I take his emails very seriously.

Because he's a serious dude.

Not really. He's actually a really funny guy who loves bacon.

But he is a total wealth of knowledge.

Charlie was writing me about this neat competition going on for certain places to be included in a special collection of Street View for Google Maps.

From the GOOG:

Thank you to everyone who sent suggestions for locations they'd like to see photographed by the Street View trike. We were inundated by more than 25,000 great ideas!

Now it's your turn to cast the final vote to tell us which locations you'd most like to see on Google Maps.

Explore the finalists listed below and shown on the map, then cast your votes within each category. You can vote as many times as you like until the deadline at 11:59pm PST, Monday, November 30th.

We'll work closely with the relevant organizations to secure permission to collect images of privately-owned locations.

Michigan is lucky enough to be in 2 categories: Michigan State in University Campuses and the Detroit Zoo in Theme Parks & Zoos. All it takes is a click to help the Great Lakes state win. Go here to vote. Let's make Michigan The DIFF!

And I totally agree with this last sentiment from Charlie: "Twitter, Facebook, email, blog or carrier pigeon, help spread the word. This is a great positive PR opportunity for our state." Go vote & share!

If you haven't heard about the special Time Inc./CNN Money project about Detroit, it's definitely "time" you check it out. Their mission?

"It's a city in crisis – but with potential for a big comeback. Despite an ailing auto industry and the highest jobless rate in the nation, Detroiters are determined to make their hometown thrive once again. For the next year, CNNMoney will focus on that challenge."

One of their latest articles includes a feature of Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert and his vision for our company and our move to Detroit. It's called "Making Detroit a tech hub - One mogul's vision".

But in the video above, you'll see a glimpse of what needs to happen in Detroit to make it a place to attract even more businesses. Listen in as Randall Charlton (Executive Director, TechTown), Chanell Scott (QL friend and Co-Founder of Guffly) and Matt Cullen (President of the QL mothership aka Rockbridge Growth Equity) discuss the kinds of things entrepreneurs are looking to find when considering the Motor City.

What else do you think Detroit needs to attract successful businesses?

The invention of the iPhone seems to have spurred on a whole new world of possibilities.  Gone are the days where phones only capable of text and calling are good enough.  With smartphones now able to browse the internet like your computer, edit documents, and get you directions while showing all the traffic jams, what can a phone do next?

Augmented reality is a brilliant concept that connects reality and virtual reality to provide more information, faster, and more accurately.

More decorated cupcakes, iPhone style. I know, I know, I can't help it...

You’re busy. Juggling a million things everyday, and trying to not forget a single one as they’re all equally important. You’re also a tech savvy, world traveling, professional, blogger, parent, hotshot web designer and one cultured individual -- so naturally you have the iPhone to help you balance the crazy fast paced world you live in.

Well, just for you, here are the top 40 apps you cannot live without -- because we know not all apps were created equal, and the last thing you have time for is sorting through all the barely functioning ones. These are apps for people who love Ruby, for people who sleep with their Mac next to them, and for people who have memorized every inch of Photoshop. Enjoy.

A couple of months ago people were eyeballing Domino's Pizza with skepticism following a nasty scandal involving some really goss employees via an instantly viral Youtube video.

Following the first days of the scandal's erruption, Domino's debuted on Twitter to join in the million or so conversations about the topic, amid some snickers of "better late than never."

Today Dominos has redeemed itself in the social media space by unveiling their new buzz-worthy pizza tracking system via web cast amid flurries of diverse blog and microblog coverage. The ripples could be heard from Gizmodo to C-Net. They even tweeted a ten dollar coupon deal to their loyal twitter followers (for the first 499 respondents).

While the news didn't hit the trending topics like the more scandalous news of weeks before (bad news always travels fastest), it was still a great effort to showcase more positive developments about the company.

And let's not forget the tracker itself! Integration with Tivo and the creation of a new facebook app are just some of the ways Domino's is expressing it's devotion to cutting edge service!

Well done, Domino's! Surely your clever online marketing and innovation application of technology to pizza will win you some new fans.

But watch your back!

Not to be outdone, Pizza Hut announced free pizza rolls to its Facebook fans and Twitter followers to commemorate reaching one million Facebook fans, as well as the hiring of its first "Twintern" to maintain the @pizzahut Twitter account (much more appropriately named than the @DPZinfo account that curiously represents Domino's Twitter presense.)

Yes, it's a pizza war, but it's a fight that benefits pizza consumers across the nation! Enjoy!