Cool F'ree Tool from Slide.com: FunPix makes it easy to tell a story in comic-format

At first glance this tool may seem childish. A parlor-trick in the home we call the internet. But there are several business applications that you can claim as an excuse to try it. Good thing too, because it turns out FunPix is one of those guilty pleasures. Very fun and easy to use.

Here's a 'funpixed' photo of my family and I this summer, celebrating my Dad's 70th. The captions will mean nothing to you unless you read Taiwanese, a feat unto itself especially when I tell you Taiwanese is an oral language and on the endangered languages list. Suffice to say though, the photo is a source of great hilarity to my Taiwanese family and the students of conversational Taiwanese that we're gathering together, and will likely become the backbone for a printed text.

You can also use Funpix for:

• presentation slides
• direct mail advertisements - excellent for attention-getting postcards, especially
• seasonal greeting cards that highlight your own coaching wisdom
• tailored inter-session messages for printing by clients who respond well to printed reminders
• power of intention or dream boards
• spicing up your blog photos, newsletter articles, and more...

If nothing else, send the link right now to your favorite graphic designer. You can bet they'll be happy to keep it in mind for your next website design. Say, what else will you use this tool for? Comment below to share yours...

"Andrea, I always know we're onto something big when you say something and I hate your guts."

LOL, love that honesty, C! Your courage and growth are inspiring and it is a true a privilege to be your coach.

Side note to anyone considering hiring a coach, maybe even for the first time: Laughing happens often in great coaching sessions because the truth (especially our own) is usually pretty funny.

[More coaching quotes like at right, here.]

Talk about your visionaries! Scott Adams is using his Dilbert blog as a place to collect prank ideas for April Fool's Day.

I think this is destined to become an entry at Wikipedia.

An excerpt:

"One of the best practical jokes ever played on me took me years to figure out. I still don’t know who did it, but it was a beauty. It won’t work if your victim has caller ID, unless maybe you block your number.

Call the phone that won’t be answered, then use three-way calling to call the phone that will be answered. When the target answers, say nothing but connect the three-way call. He’ll hear his own answering machine at home telling him to leave a message.

Trust me when I say this will freak a person out. It took me about five years to figure out how my home answering machine called me at the office."

Which of course could be taken a step further with coaching calls...

Find the dial-in numbers for a conference call being held at the same time as the one you're leading. Best if the other call is on a topic that contradicts, such as one of Andy's Secret Skeptic calls patched into a serious 'Law of Attraction' call, etc.

Instead of announcing the beginning of the call as you normally would, three-way call in the other call. (Note: If they're using this prank too, who knows whose material will end up being taught on what calls...)

Back to Scott's post - from a Microwave Use Tracking Form, text-messaging LOW BATT to pagers - to dozens upon dozens of laughing-so-hard-I'm-crying prank ideas, this post and its attendant comments are the must-read item of April 1, 2007. Or at least 10 minutes of it is. ;-)

Yes the links are real. But here are two warnings anyway:

#1: Some of the prank ideas submitted by commenters are pranks in and of themselves, but of course.

#2: Definitely a ginormous time waster. Sorry.

P.S. I wonder what Google.com will look like April 1?

Update 4/2/2007:

Alas, neither the Hollywood sign nor the Google Logo changed, but here is a little something fool-ish from Google on another channel.