Aug 062014
 
Rear Corner Sunshade Repair on an E39 M5

This past weekend I repaired a small but annoying issue on my 2002 BMW M5. The rear corner sunshade on the driver side had cracked and lost all tension, leaving the shade flopping loose. Not the most serious of issues that could crop up on this car by a long shot. But it looked sloppy […]

Jul 272014
 
Helping Another BMW SULEV Owner

I’ve been publishing Work, Wine and Wheels articles since 2008. I started the site in part to acquire the hands-on skills necessary as the nature of communications work changed dramatically.  I counsel clients on how to become online publishers, so I needed to learn how to do it myself. The site has been very successful […]

Jul 242014
 
Making Your Client an Influencer

For most StoryTech Consulting clients, the objective of their content marketing campaign is revenue growth. This is achieved through using the content to enable key account management and prospect nurturing. That said, as I’ve written previously a well executed content marketing program delivers a number of other important marketing benefits. A powerful validation of this […]

Jul 162014
 
Cleaning the Cold Air Intake on My E36 M3

Last weekend I did an easy but important piece of DIY maintenance. I removed, cleaned and reoiled the Conforti cold air intake (CAI) on my 1999 BMW M3. Two years ago I had to replace the foam filter as part of a full DIY tuneup. I needed to replace it because I never cleaned it, […]

Jul 092014
 
How Easy Should Content Marketing Be?

There was big news in the world of content marketing last week. Content marketing software company NewsCred and content distribution company Outbrain announced a partnership. Here’s a good read on the new alliance from the New York Post. You don’t have to be an expert in content marketing to understand this move. The biggest source […]

Jul 022014
 
The Benefits of Content Marketing

Recently I was describing to a friend what I do for StoryTech Consulting clients, and she was very interested. She asked that I list all the benefits of a well executed content marketing strategy, for her to share with colleagues. I pulled the list together and sent it. And then I thought — “hey, that […]

Jun 252014
 
E39 M5 Summer Checkup

This past weekend I gave my 2002 E39 M5 a thorough inspection. I also changed the oil and swapped the tires side to side to even out the wear. All the fluids were changed last year, so I knew I was in good shape on that front. I’ve now owned the car for over three […]

Jun 232014
 
Niagara Falls Wines

My latest WashingtonExec column published today. I was in Canada earlier this month and had a chance to visit some vineyards on the Niagara peninsula. Vineyards reviewed are Peller Estates, Trius Vineyards and Inniskillin. None of these three offered a red that I found impressive, but there were some very enjoyable Rieslings and ice wines. […]

Jun 182014
 
Living in the Age of DDoS

The Internet has never been a more dangerous place to do business, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are the main reason why. That’s according to recent research published by two players in the online security space, Arbor Networks and VeriSign. Arbor Networks calls the past 18 months the “hockey stick era” for DDoS […]

Jun 072014
 
BMW Sales Continue to Rise in May

The numbers are in and BMW’s sales in the U.S. continued to climb in May. Sales were up 17.3 percent May to May, with 29,602 units sold. For the first five months of 2014, sales are up 12.2 percent. The overall trend is the same, but some things have changed since I wrote about BMW’s […]

May 312014
 
Meeker Charts the Internet, 2014 Edition

Mary Meeker is a name familiar to anyone who has charted the rise of the Internet from the 1990’s on. Back then she was an analyst at Morgan Stanley and made her reputation by seeing early the transformative potential of the Internet explosion, while avoiding the overly frothy (and occasionally illegal) boosterism of other analyts. […]

May 192014
 
Replacing BMW HID Headlight Bulbs

This weekend I replaced the High Intensity Discharge (HID, also known as Xenon) headlight bulbs in my 2002 M5. My old bulbs still worked, but my amazing wife had bought me replacement bulbs reputed to be the best on the market. She purchased them from TheRetroFitSource, a great resource for auto lighting needs. The bulbs […]