I recently started joining classes on Startup School and it is very good. They are using Adobe’s Connect Pro Meeting, so you get a video feed from the lecturer and you get to interact either by typing or speaking/asking questions. See you in class!

The fact that it’s better to have someone else say good things about you is quite well established. But I think this blog post illustrated the differences in a good way:

http://www.quicksprout.com/2007/10/24/the-difference-between-marketing-pr-advertising-and-personal-branding/