I was most interested in having Jon on DishyMix to talk about "the day in the life" of a leading tech journo. His beat, social media, the Silicon Valley power players (like Google, Y! et al) and cyber crime are a fascinating stew in the world of what's happening right this second.

Jon wrote, "Zero Day Threat," which I assumed to be a geek boy's technovella. Wrong! This book is fascinating. I would have NEVER thought to read it if Jon wasn't coming on the show. I got hooked in.

Jon and his co-author, Byron Acohido, also a USA Today reporter, did an amazing job exploding the heinous business of cybercrime. You go in the gutter with Canadian meth addicts and their dumpster-diving, mail stealing abuses all the way to Russian data theft cells and warehouses full of laptops and electric guitars. You learn about mules and re-shippers, the skimmers and botnets and all the amazing online and offline criminal activities that now comprise a $200 billion, lemme say that again, a two hundred billion dollar business that rivals money-laundering and drugs!

Why are banks are enabling this crime? How do the scams work? What can you do to protect yourself? Jon lays out the best precautions with sage advice.

And it wouldn't be a DishyMix if we didn't talk about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Jon's favorite book, "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" covers the 70's in Hollywood. From urine-flinging (yes, pee) to porn stars to LSD-fueled swan dives and psychotherapy sessions in hot tubs, this book chronicles what Jon believes is the best era in movie-making.

This is a not-to-be-missed episode beautifully balances mind expansion with silliness and a soupçon of cautionary tales. Join in to get the vibe of this legendary tech reporter, Jon Swartz.

Charlene finally explains her oft-quoted prediction that "in the future, social media will be like air." Go with us to "Charlene Land" and hear how open social interoperability and theubiquityof her social graph will change her life (and yours) for the better. If you are in corporate America and need to address social media, this interview will give you direction. Groundswell helps corporations artfully solidify a rational strategy for social media engagement based on their customers' profile and their corporate mission.

Find out what emotional motivations cause you to participate in social media. Are you fueled by the hope that your altruistic impulses will pay off Karmically? Are you in need of validation? Do you have theprurientimpulse to seek other's exhibitionism for your personal pleasure? Or are you succumbing to social pressure from your friends?

You'll enjoy seeing not only where you fit in the emotionallandscapeof social media, but where you fit on the ladder of participation. This is what Forrester calls the Social Technographics Profiles. And there's a tool on the Groundswell bloghttp://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.htmlthat you can use to understand the profile of your customer base so you can choose the right applications and technologies to satisfy your business needs. Find out: are you a spectator, a joiner, a collector, a critic or a creator? Can you be more than one? Yes! It's a categorization, not a segmentation. And Charlene gives us the secret to getting audiences to become active contributors. Charlene reveals the "Holy Grail" -- "What drives participation?"

Charlene and her co-author, Josh Bernoff have done an amazing job leveraging the blogger community for book reviews. Suz "retweets" a question from Jeffrey Philips of OVO and the Working Smarter blog review where Jeffrey asks "What are larger firms, who have concerns aboutdisaggregated, third party solutions run by very small firms that may not be able to demonstrate longevity or the ability to manage critical,sensitivecommunications links to customers?" Charlene solves the question handily and it's great advice for any corporation who knows that they MUST get involved in the groundswell but is concerned about HOW to do it.

It wouldn't be DishyMix if we didn't get to know more about this "Woman to Watch" (according to AdAge) and her personal life. Hear about her favorite book (which Suz' likens to "business porn"), her secret, decadent pleasure and more on this actionable and entertainingepisode. And, please forward this episode of DishyMix to one friend! (You'll hear why in the show.)

John Battelle, considered an essential figure of the digital world, is an entrepreneur, journalist, blogger, author andtrulymasterful interviewer. Susan puts John in the "guest chair" for this two part series. John goes into detail about how the web has "infected the world," he shares his tips for being a master emcee, he explains what the Conversational Analysis Toolbox can do for marketers, and gives us a sneak preview into his ideas for the sequelto his highly-acclaimed first book "The Search." John also offers the cure for social networking fatigue and shares his sadness at the "enervation of Yahoo!" And that's just part one of a two part DishyMix!

John answers DishyMix listener questions from Steve Patrizi of LinkedIn; Tom Hespos of Underscore Marketing; Mario Faria of Accenture; Scot McLernon of Upstream Group's Habitat, Dominique of eCairne, Des McDonnell of Farille and Steve Bustin, a top Internet Revenue Consultant.

The questions range from "How successful have you been in building conversation between advertisers and blog readers?" to "How should B2B marketers use conversational marketing?" to "How will advertisers benefit from using social networking as a channel to reach customers and prospects?" to "What's your perspective on the plethora of social network offerings?" and "Are you gonna go for the Yahoo! CEO position?"

John takes these questions in stride, gives pithy and actionable answers and still delivers key insights and strategic technological considerations you may have never even pondered, like the idea of opening Google's search algorithm -- creating a completely open search index and using "the force of many" entrepreneurs to create better forms of search.

Then look through the Battelle filter to find out what some of the most interesting Web 2.0 trends are, including "using the web as a platform for good," genomics,outer-space, health and world poverty. This wide-ranging interview will give you a lot to consider and it will make you feel great to be part of this industry.

If you like this juicy show, please forward this episode to a couple of friends and help Suz' double her listener base by the end of the year.

John Battelle, considered an essential figure of the digital world, is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Federated Media Publishing. Hear John talk about being an entrepreneur, journalist, blogger, author and scaler of mountains. Susan puts John in the "guest chair" for this two part series.Make sure you hear part one, which is just as informed, thoughtful and entertaining.

John answers DishyMix listener questions from Steve Bustin, Advertising Revenue Consultant; Shea Park of AdSpark.com; Brian Cowley of Ad Infuse; Michael Crosson of InsWeb; and Steven Comfort of YuMe.

Find out what excites and dissappoints John about Google's current business strategy. He gives his solution to information overload, video search and the mobile marketing opportunity. John reveals the true costs of video blogging. And listeners find out if John has plans to buy Technorati or relaunch Industry Standard. He also shares his going forward strategy for Federated Media now that he's raised a C Round ($50 million on a $200 million pre) from Oak Investment Partners. This is his "dry powder" and now he has plenty of it.

At the end, Suz gets personal as John talks listeners through what it's like to go with him on a run up Mt. Tamalpais in Marin Valley, CA. He does this every day to shed toxins and stay fit. And he takes us to Bonnaroo in Tennessee, a music festival that he converted into a new project called Crowd Fire to support Outside Lands, a sort of Bonnaroo West in San Francisco August 22nd-24th. Crowd Fire is a "digital campfire" where attendees can aggregate their Tweets, Flickr streams, You Tube videos and other assets from an event in a group environment. Can't wait to see how that looks!

If you like this amazing interview with John, please forward this episode to a couple of friends and help support Suz' goal to double her listener base by the end of the year.

Are you faceless? Take a quiz from Rohit's new book, "Personality Not Included." You can rate the personality of your brand, determine areas of weakness and get techniques to shore it up.

According to Rohit, authenticity is only part of the story -- it's personality that is the macrotrend. Does your brand have a "backstory?" Are you leveraging your "accidental spokesperson?" Learn techniques on this episode to bring your company's personality to life, including "Useful," "Sensory," "Insider," and "Participatory" marketing strategies.

Full of analogies from Innocent Drinks in the UK to Mr Lucky's in Vegas to FlyerTalk from Starwood, you'll get specific ideas you can meld to your brand to deepen your customer's connection and experience and with which you can seduce your prospects more effectively.

Rohit, blogger, speaker and coiner of the concept "Social Media Optimization (SMO)," shares his favorite read, "The Alchemist," his top picks for most amazing people in the Web 2.0 world and a bit of his history.

Best of all, you can customize your "Masters of Personality" diploma from the "University of Authenticity" to decorate your office with some sassiness in documentation and showcase YOUR personality! Free certificate download when you listen to this episode.

Ori will change the way you think about the way you think. Sway is an insightful book on a personal and professional level. In this interview, Ori regales us with story after story of "typical irrational behavior" and artfully applies it to:

1) Insight for marketers into purchase psychology.

2) How to leverage the power of beauty.

3) How to hire the right person, not just the person you like.

4) How to find and work with a winning therapist.

5) Managing your VC as an entrepreneur.

6) Incentivizing employees for pleasure vs. altruism.

7) Becoming an expert in challenging authority in your organization.

8) The 4 personality types it takes to make good decisions.

This fast paced and entertaining interview will help you overcome "the diagnosis bias," "loss aversion," "value attribution," "commitment issues" and the "chameleon effect." You are suffering from many of these scenarios in your daily life right now. Listening to this show and reading sway will help you overcome your biases, become a more rational decision-maker and have more success in your career and your personal life.

Powerful insights, packaged in a fun conversation make this a must listen episode of DishyMix.

Peter Shankman turned a Facebook group into the hottest PR service ever - HelpAReporter.com. This service connects reporters to sources via social media, easing the friction between the PR and journo world. It's free. And you should subscribe. Who doesn't want free press coverage opportunities in your email inbox every day?

Hear Peter's story about how he "invented" his Profnet killer. And hear how he channels his ADHD into creativity on behalf of his clients at GeekFactory, his NY PR firm. A clever man, Peter has shared his strategies for creating and implementing PR stunts, for which he's professionally famous. His book, "Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them," is chock full of great examples and practice "how-t's." Peter's DishyMix advice comes in three easy bullet points. First, break out of the norm when you're brainstorming. Second, start with the outcome when planning a PR stunt. Finally, know part of the process is that you must befriend the "stoppers." Peter tells us how to effectively evoke great creative ideas and then get traction with a PR stunt that drives business strategically.

This food-loving, angst-ridden Jewish boy from NY embues his blog, Twitters and email messages with personality galore. He follows Rohit Bhargava's (author of "Personality Not Included) advice to get beyond authenticity to personality. Embue he does. All kinds of antics are a normal part of this triathalete, sky diver, stunt puller's life and he shares them freely. That's why he's engendered such a fan base. Because he is raucous, opinionated, self-deprecating and fun, fun, fun. From the moment this interview starts you'll be chuckling along as Suz and Peter make lots of fun of his newest moniker, "Hottest Male Blogger," awarded the day the episode was recorded.

You'll learn. You'll laugh. Oh, and call your mother.

Meet Alex Bogusky, darling of the advertising world. He's loved not just because he's cuter than Jackson Browne. Or because he's cooler than Laird Hamilton. But because his campaigns have simultaneously delighted us while screwing with our minds. From The BK Subservient Chicken to Mini "Transformers" to Virgin Atlantic's Jetrosexuals campaign, Alex and his more than 900 employees have consistently captivated us and raised the bar by artfully combining publicity with branding.

Hear Alex deny awareness about the YouTube satires that poke fun of him. (I don't believe it for a second!) He gives opinions about "the death of TV" and how to use social media. He waxes poetic about the importance of account people in making campaigns pay off and how to hire and care for people with "imagination."

He talks about the lure of P.T. Barnum's marketing strategies and how a stuffed, pygmy elephant became the company's mascot. And Suz must know...what is the ratio of smutty requests (I know you are thinking of a few ideas right now) for the Subservient Chicken vs. sweet requests like "River Dance" or "flap your wings?" Find out on the show and get the Easter Egg command to make something unusual get revealed in the Chicken clip on my blog at http://DishyMix.com.

After being on the cover of Fast Company, all DishyMix listeners wanted to know about the Microsoft account status. But listeners went beyond asking questions about making Microsoft cool and gave their opinions about how to manage the opportunity - now that CP+B has a tidy $300 million to work with... Find out what everyone is asking -- and what Alex plans to do to "coolify Microsoft."

This is a relaxed yet insightful interview with a man who has done as much to change the face of advertising as those Mad Men from the '60s. And he's giving away CP+B swag to DishyMix listeners. Do you want a Hoopla bike shirt? Listen in to hear how you can get the goods.

Meet Mary Brown, Partner, Strategy and Insight at JWT BOOM, and expert in the Baby Boomer generation. Mary has co-authored (with Carol Orsborn) the definitive book on Boomers called "BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer - The Baby Boomer Woman." On this episode, she closes the gap on what we collectively know about Boomers with the latest research and insight into this all-powerful demographic.

LiveWire: The Summit is an annual Boomer marketing conference that JWT BOOM (a subsidiary of J. Walter Thompson) produces annually. On DishyMix, she updates us on the key takeaways from some of the most interesting presentations at the recent event. Find out what Gene Cohen, behavioral scientist has to say about "Mirror Mirror on the Wall, What is Aging After All?" Jonathan Pontell's insights into the Generation Jones cohort and Richard Adler's "Boomer's the Next 30 Years" also give us some new data to consider.

Mary talks about new Boomer findings, generational influences, the continued importance of understanding lifestage events and how to craft your message to archetypal Boomer segments: Conventional, Transitional and Aspirational profiles.

We talk about Seasoned Sexuality, the new blossoming Boomer woman, as well as the Boomer's search for meaning, significance and contribution and how that can be leveraged with brands, services and the appropriate positioning.

Get more detail with the ThirdAge/JWT BOOM study: "Boomers and Social Networking" and a Boomer Trends Study "Boomers: The Next 20 Years Map of Future Landscape Affecting Boomers" by the Institute for the Future in the Related Links on the right side of this page.

Pete Blackshaw has a new book out, numerous blogs and he's tracking the online reputations and conversations of some of the world's biggest brands. Listen as Pete lays out the "3 Truths" for flourishing in marketing today. Customers want the emotional gratification of being heard, and it's our job to support that need. Pete gives us ways we can both listen and respond to our customers as consumer and b2b companies.

Once you hear Pete talk you'll be hooked. He's elegantly articulate. His turn of phrase is a delight. We range from Talk Triggers and Complaint Icebergs to Brand Association Maps and Expression Platforms. Pete gives great examples of "passionista communities" and promises his favorite list of consumer-generated and community experts for the DishyMix blog. As always, Suz reads the book so you don't have to. Just get all the goodness from Pete's book," Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running a Business in Today's Consumer-Driven World" by listening to this show.

And it wouldn't be DishyMix without those personal questions. Get to know Pete's dreams including what his bigger life plans may be and if he could clone himself, what Pete would do with twice the time.