New photo contest: Winter Fun in My State

Let all your members know that their high-school age children, relatives and friends can enter a photo and possibly win $100 (and a chance for $1,000) in the new contest theme: Winter Fun in My State.

Voting is still active in CUNA's current C-Note photo contest: What I Like to Do for Free. The last chance to vote is Monday December 31 at 11:59 pm. You may vote once every 24 hours from a computer or computer network.

Yes—children and relatives of credit union staff are eligible to enter in all C- Note photo contests.

Sign up for weekly e-mail Send Rena Crispin the following information for each person who will receive the weekly email: name, title, credit union, e-mail address and phone number. Do this whether you've received it in the past, or not.

What’s new in Googolplex!

If you would like to receive a weekly "What’s new in Googolplex" e-mail, please let us know. This is a "by-request" only mailing.

What you get: A one-line description and link to the one, two or three items that went live that Friday in Googolplex.

We’re throwing out the old list for the weekly e-mail, so do this whether or not you’ve received it in the past. We will determine the need and value of continuing the weekly e-mail based on your response.

The weekly "what’s new" e-mail is not the same as the one you are reading right now, which is your monthly subscriber e-mail. The monthly e-mail comes as part of your subscription to Googolplex.

Background: Up until October 8th of this year, many Googolplex subscribers received a weekly e-mail with the subject line: "What’s new in Googolplex." It was sent by request only, so not all of you received it. The weekly "what’s new" e-mail is not the same as the one you are reading right now, which is your monthly subscriber e-mail. The monthly e-mail comes as part of your subscription to Googolplex.

Because the weekly "what’s new" e-mail was sent from a private cuna.com address, the mailing list has gotten out of hand. So we’re scrapping the old list and starting all over!

Coming early in 2008: The new AJ's!

We’re finishing up the final touches on the design for the new AJ's, and will put it on the web surgeon’s table over the next few months. Here’s a preview of the front page design.

New look, new features:

• Controlled messaging. Youth may click and drag words, symbols and text messages from a menu to leave messages for their friends, anywhere on the site! Your traffic increases as they invite their friends to join their "league of heroes." To comply with the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) regulations for this age group, we will not collect any personal information.
• Cash prizes. Youth who create their own instant poll question with four choices may enter it for a chance to win two "Jacksons," ($40). This feature will require parental approval.
• Customization. Youth can now log in with their own screen name, request notification when new stories and games go live, save their favorites, create their own "hero" by designing their icon, and leave comments on individual stories. The commenting feature is fully monitored.
• Design the ongoing comic series: Kid Kred. You remember "The Kid," from the quarterly newsletters. Marty Kelly, mastermind of the Googolplex games, has taken Kid out of the newsletters and onto the web! Once every two months Marty will give youth a cliffhanger ending. AJ's readers will vote to determine the direction of the next episodes.

Instant poll results – Your Time*

When it comes to spending time online, only 11% say they spent their online time shopping. Interactive games and communicating with friends take up the majority of their online time. Help your youth members take a realistic look at their online time by sharing the C-Note story, Game of Life.

Here are the results of last month’s Instant Poll question:

Your Time
Q: Among the following choices, how do you spend the majority of your time online?

a. Interactive activities, such as games b. Communicating with friends through a site such as MySpace c. Communicating with friends by e-mail d. Researching homework e. Shopping and buying stuff

32% 16% 22% 19% 11%

Instant Poll Questions capture your high school members’ attention. On which issues would you like to learn more about what they think? Use your imagination and send your poll questions with possible responses to Rena Crispin.

* Instant Poll results reflect an unscientific sampling of Googolplex readers.

Know what's coming: Stories and games that teach and entertain
January, February, and March 2008 lineup in Googolplex.

Give youth print and online newsletters!
Every quarter we send you enough ready-to-print pages to create three full newsletters – one for elementary-school, middle-school, and high-school level readers. We provide newsletters in high resolution for print, and low resolution for e-mail or online viewing.

These lively newsletter pages give your young members previews of stories, activities and comics for the coming three months. Use them to direct young readers to your credit union web site, so they can see what’s new in 5-Spot, AJ's and C-Note.

IMPORTANT: You add your credit union logo and mailing information. You can print and distribute them, and also make them available as a link on your web site. Got that creative bug? Add your own stories, art, more pages, or customize in other ways - it’s up to you!

Here’s what you get:

• Complete newsletter pages (in high resolution PDF and JPEG formats) for elementary through high school students. The newsletters feature comics, activities and teasers about stories and games for the coming three months.
• All of those same newsletter pages in low-resolution PDF format for online and e-mail use.

Here’s how you get it:
To retrieve the ready-to-print, ready-to-view newsletter pages each quarter, log in to your Googolplex Set-up and Promotion page, select the pages you need, and download them free of charge.

Don’t Waste Your Subscription
Whenever you change your credit union web address or logo, check your Googolplex customization. Make sure your links and credit union logo are what you want them to be by logging in to you Googolplex Set-up and Promotion page.

If you have technical or subscription questions, or need help in setting up your password, please call Barb Bender, 800-356-9655, ext. 4090.

If you have questions, comments or ideas for Googolplex editorial content, please
e-mail Rena Crispin or call 800-356-9655, ext 4258.

We respect your privacy. If you'd rather not receive future e-mails on Googolplex, reply to this message with "unsubscribe" in the subject line or click here to opt out.

This e-mail was sent on behalf of Credit Union National Association (CUNA),
5710 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53705.