I hate to sound braggadocious, but can’t help myself from giving a shout-out congratulations to the Hammock Publishing corporate spelling bee team for annihilating the competition in tonight’s 14th Annual Corporate Spelling Bee, benefiting the Nashville Adult Literacy Council.

Fittingly, they went ahead on the word annihilate and won on the word braggadocio.*

A perennial power-house in the competition, this is the second time the team has brought home the first-place trophy — a very big one, as I recall. Nearly as intimidating as this year’s Titans O-Line are these Team Hammock spelling ninjas: Jamie (2-Cs-in-Zucchini) Roberts, Megan (MeganG) Goodchild and Bill (The Spellinator) Hudgins.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I have never come close to making the team.

*corrected from an earlier version.

Longtime readers of the rexblog know that I have a list of “All the Apple rumors you’ll ever need.” It comes in handy because I can say, simply, “That’s rumor #3″ when I read a “new” rumor about a “mutil-touch PDA 1.5 times the size of an iPhone and sporting an approximate 720×480 high-resolution display that comprises almost the entire surface of the unit. The device is further believed to leverage multi-touch concepts which have yet to gain widespread adoption in Apple’s existing multi-touch products — the iPhone and iPod touch — like drag-and-drop and copy-and-paste.”

As a long-time observer of Apple rumors, I’ll offer the following guesses: It will be larger than 1.5 times the size of an iPhone. And it will not be called a PDA and the brand “Newton” will not be applied to it or any product ever in the future of Apple Inc. — at least as long as Steve Jobs is there.

My guess: The product’s brand will use the word “nano,” as in MacBook nano, iMac nano, Mac nano. It will emphasize that it’s a small, touch-screen computer, not a large personal digital assistant.

Last guess: There will be a long line waiting for it on the day it comes out and I will be standing in it.

Chris Silver Smith posted a photo of a set of buildings that when viewed from a satellite, forms the shape of a swastika. It turned out that the buildings were part of a 40-year old Navy barracks complex. To change the appearance of the buildings on Google Maps, the Navy has approved $600,000 to modify walkways, landscaping and rooftop solar panels. According to the AP, “the Navy decided to alter the buildings’ shape following requests this year by Anti-Defamation League regional director Morris Casuto and U.S. Rep. Susan Davis.”

via: Search Engine Land.

Seth Godin quotes Michael Brooks, the publisher of Concrete Wave magazine. Among the nuggets:

“I am not publishing a magazine – I am helping to document and foster change within skateboarding. The magazine is part of a greater movement within skateboarding. Concrete Wave exists to spread specific ideas. The more people we can spread these ideas too, the more success we achieve…I am not merely building readers or subscribers – I am building a cult of supporters, each of whom will further support the cause and bring in more readers and subscribers.”

As I’ve said on this blog several times, the key to success in magazine publishing is to matter to the reader. And by “matter,” I mean be a magazine people can’t bring themselves to throw away. Brooks gets it, big time. Here’s a quote from a recent post on his blog:

“If information is free and you happen to be in the business of information (aka magazine publisher) then you better be offering up more than just information. Your magazine must not only reflect your readership, it must inspire them.

And, on the magazine’s website, perhaps the best-phrased goal I’ve ever read:

“Our goal is to publish a skate mag that is so good, you’ll want to put it in your will.”

I’ve never owned a skateboard in my life but he’s convinced me to subscribe.