A few of my favorite quotes from the video are:

• The fear of losing trumps the excitement of victory for so many people
• Roll up on that business idea and make it happen.
• The worst feeling is being 50, 60, 80, 90 and having regrets that you didn’t swing the bat is the worst of them all!
• Our at bat is infort of us, take a swing

Google Doodle Happy Holidays Song Video

I say ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holidays’ to a person based on their appearance. Some call it profiling. I call it living on the edge.

— Andy Richter (@Andy_Richter) December 23, 2011

Kimberly Dillon @prettylittleceo is the founder of House of Mikko, @houseofmikko,where she manages Marketing and Product Strategy. She founded the company to address the challenges that women, specifically women of color face at the beauty counter. She has been featured in TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb, named by Huffington Post as one of 25 Female Tech Founders to watch, and is a member of Women 2.0.
She started her career as an IT Consultant with Accenture and has over 8 years of marketing experience in the digital and consumer space, including a stint at Procter & Gamble. She has 2 undergraduate degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from the University of Michigan. A lover of all things beauty, she won’t leave home with out eyeliner. Ever.

About TEDx?
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
At our TEDxBayArea events, TEDTalks videos and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connections in a small group setting.

Software developer, entrepreneur, and general geek, Chris is a vocal and omnipresent figure in Cambodia’s burgeoning hacker community. Chris has founded or partnered in several software startups which are proud to have built their products in Cambodia and sold them globally. Chris is an active member of the Barcamp movement, attending and speaking at events across the region, and is also a founding member of the up-and-coming Phnom Penh HackerSpace. Chris’s vision is for Cambodia’s software sector to leap-frog its neighbors by skipping IT outsourcing and moving straight to product-focused startups fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit that Cambodia has in abundance.

Hat Tip: Carla Mays from Building While Brown West Facebook Group

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

A big thanks to Mario Armstrong for inviting and hosting the event.

Vouch Demo Day Slide Deck:

Founded:
Wayne Sutton co-founded Vouch in July 2011.

What is Vouch?
Vouch is a unified platform that allows people to share recommendations of others in their networks.

The status of Vouch
I’m currently learning new programming languages to build, design and launch a beta version of Vouch by the end of first quarter 2012, along with preparing to work with the NewMe Accelerator 2012 class. I’m also working on my first book, which is about closing the digital divide.

While doing interviews about CNN’s upcoming Black In America 4 – Silicon Valley – The New Promised Land with Soledad O’Brien a few of the questions I’m often asked is what was it like living in the NewME Accelerator startup house, why go to Silicon Valley for the summer and what was it like living in Silicon Valley. It was also one of the questions that Soledad O’Brien ask me during one of our interviews.

One thing I don’t think many people know is that even though I currently live in Raleigh, NC that I’m originally from a small rural community called Teachey, NC. Yes, Teachey. According to Wikipedia in 2000, the census there were 245 people, 92 households, and 66 families residing in the town. Yes that’s the place I call home. It’s very country, I grew up cropping tobacco, working in the fields and the digital divide is very much a problem in that community even today much less growing up.

Although Raleigh, NC is a lot different from Teachey, NC there is nothing like the Silicon Valley community. Take a look at the video below of my interview with Soledad O’Brien as I talk about Silicon Valley vs Teachey, NC.

Reminder
Watch CNN Black In America 4 this Sunday 8pm EST on CNN and then go to your computer to watch the official after Black In America 4 online live video panel and discussion with Mario Armstrong called “Innovation Nation:Startup Success”. Join us in the live chat, google hangout and more as we’ll talk about Black In America 4, Silicon Valley and more. We’ll also take questions from the online audience. When tweeting about the online live broadcast use the hashtag #bialive. The Black In America 4 hashtag is #blackinamerica. For more information about the live broadcast visit: http://www.marioarmstrong.com/on-air/innovation-nation-the-official-live-webcast/

You can read the full transcript via TechCrunch

I want to talk about how we build things here, a little bit about the product, the work we do and the work we need to do. So, this is something I put on our Wiki a long time ago [shows slide], as one of our principles is to delight our users. But then I realized it’s more important to delight their users, which are their customers and payers. And the more we focus on that payer experience, the more we focus on really making that magical — and designing it. We win, our users win, and we get more users.

So, going back to a lot of Brian’s points, this is a big focus for us, we’re the only payments company in the world that’s concerned with design. We are all designers in this room, and that’s how we’re leading this company, through design.

So, how many of you have walked or driven across the Golden Gate Bridge? Almost everyone in the room. This is one of my favorite parts of living in San Francisco. This is astoundingly beautiful, and it’s not just beautiful because it looks pretty, it’s beautiful because of the challenge that everyone who built this bridge overcame.

So, if you go back and you look at how this bridge was built, this is what San Francisco looked like before the bridge. This was the Golden Gate. We called it the Golden Gate because San Francisco was known for gold rushes. People would come here, explore and risk everything they had to live in an environment where they might find gold, or might find work, or might open a store of some kind.

So, this is the Golden Gate, this is the fort, right on the point in the Presidio, and there’s this big divide between this fort and Marin, and a lot of people living in Tiburon and Sausalito would have to go all the way around the Bay, all the way up here to get around across the river, up by Richmond.

So, they needed something that was a little bit faster. The war was over, they weren’t using this fort much anymore, so, they decided to build a bridge. So, very simply they said we need to build a bridge here, and they got an architect. The architect had a vision, actually there are a few architects, but one person has incredibly taken credit for most of the work, which was recently rectified — it’s a fascinating Wikipedia article if you have the chance to read it.

So the architects designed this gorgeous bridge, but the problem with the Golden Gate is that this is an extremely tumultuous area, if you’ve ever sailed through this or taken a boat through this, the waves are immense. Or surfed through it, which is more dangerous. It’s a disaster, I mean all the weather of the Bay is being forced through this one single point. So, all these elements create this perfect storm of turbulence. It’s extremely deep in the middle and it’s an epic span, so this was not an easy challenge.

They got a bunch of amazing engineers, and they took it step by step and iterated and iterated and iterated. There was a lot of back and forth between the architects to make this beautiful opening into this gorgeous city that we live in. And what is possible? What is beautiful? What is possible? And that’s really what it comes down to … we want to design the beautiful and build the impossible.

And a lot of people think of design, when they hear the word design as visual, something that looks pretty. Design is not just visual, design is efficiency. Design is making something simple. Design is epic. Design is making it easy for a user to get from point A to point B.

Engineering is design. Every engineer in this room, every operator in this room, every customer service agent in this room, is a designer. Because you’re designing constantly the interaction that you have with your tools or with your users or with your customers, and you’re trying to bring efficiency and take all the thinking out of that process.

So, everything we do here is design. We always want to make the beautiful — to this point — Keith, two minutes before I was supposed to start this Town Square, told me, stop. I’ve got a mistake in my slides, I forgot to capitalize an “S”. I swear. That level of perfection is what we wanna achieve, because if we achieve that level of perfection — it’s gonna take a long time to do that, a lot of hours — but then our users see it immediately, without thinking. And that’s the important part. That’s what design is.

And look at this, this is gorgeous. I mean, just look at this bridge, it’s amazing what was achieved with resources they had in the time these folks had. Millions and millions of people go over this bridge, and one of the features of this bridge is it doesn’t fall down. Reliability is a feature. This is what Brian said earlier, availability, reliability, and staying up, that’s a feature and that’s a product, and it has to be well-designed and thought after and considered, and that’s what we’re doing.

I’ve often spoken to the editorial nature of what I think my job is, I think I’m just an editor, and I think every CEO is an editor. I think every leader in any company is an editor. Taking all of these ideas and you’re editing them down to one cohesive story, and in my case, my job is to edit the team, so we have a great team that can produce the great work and that means bringing people on and in some cases having to let people go. That means editing the support for the company, which means having money in the bank, or making money, and that means editing what the vision and the communication of the company is, so that’s internal and external, what we’re saying internally and what we’re saying to the world — that’s my job. And that’s what every person in this company is also doing. We have all these inputs, we have all these places that we could go — all these things that we could do — but we need to present one cohesive story to the world.

Brian said something very interesting to me a few weeks ago, he said, support and feedback is what our customers are telling us, and product is what we’re telling our customers. I think that’s an amazing, amazing statement. We have feedback loops, and then we speak something back, the product, this company, is what we’re telling the world.

So, on this point, ideas can come from anyone, and they can come anytime. So, we all have various directions that we want to take the company and sometimes those ideas come during a shower, sometimes they come when we’re walking, sometimes they come when we’re talking with other employees at the coffee store, and sometimes you just wanna build it — you just wanna get it done — and we want to support that.

If I want to go and create a screen saver that shows all the signatures that are coming into Square in realtime, and I’m gonna go spend the weekend doing that, and I’m gonna finish it to my satisfaction so that when I go back to the company and say look at what I did, this is amazing, this is beautiful and I’ve had a lot of fun building this. And instead of saying, you know, that’s cool but we didn’t do it as a team so let’s not use it right now. Instead, let’s figure out how to say, that’s awesome, now let’s figure out how to put it into production.

So, allowing folks to work on what they want and the strong ideas that they have at any point, and then figuring out how to build it into production, and speaking to that point of reliability as a feature. Ideas happen to individuals, they happen to groups, we should allow for all of it. We should take them all in and consider them. If we don’t act on an idea, then let’s put in on the shelf, don’t throw it away, just put it in the shelf, because we may use it later in a different way then what was originally intended. This gets us to become good storytellers, and that’s what we want to do. This is about the editorial.

As a lot of you know, this is one of my favorite magazines. [Shows The Economist] This magazine is very interesting. It’s actually a newspaper — out of London. If you look through this magazine, you’ll notice a few things. First, it has a beautiful unfolding. You open the first few pages, you get all the news around the world in brief, little, 140-character news bytes of what’s happening. You want to commit some more time, then you page through and you’ll see the briefings in half pages or pages, a little bit more on what’s going on in the world, about what you just read. If you want to commit even more to any direction or any topic that you find interesting, you can read the full articles, which are multiple pages. And then at the very back are the indicators, the economic indicators, of what various aspects of the economy are doing.

The other thing you notice about this is that there are no bylines at all, there are no names in here, not even the editor has a name, it’s The Economist, they’re building The Economist, they’re writing articles for The Economist.

The editor says, I want to write about Obama, and how he needs to step it up, it’s time. He gets 5 or 6 articles, edits them into one thing that he thinks, or she thinks, will sell the magazine and tell the best story, and that becomes the magazine. This is done with every single article that’s in the magazine. And effectively every single product and feature and aspect that we’re building to our company.

So, my point here is, this company is not going to be known by one person or by five people or by multiple people. It’s going to be known by the product that we put out. We, in the Valley, think that Steve Jobs is Apple. We see Apple and we think Steve Jobs. But the mainstream audience doesn’t know who the hell Steve Jobs is. They don’t really care. They know that the Nano works, they love it, and they want to buy the next one. They could care less what this old guy in the black turtle neck does. Square is not going to be known by me, it’s not going to be known as Keith’s company, it’s not gonna be known as any other individual’s company in here, it’s going to be known as Square.

That’s what we want people to care about, and that’s what we’re trying to push, we’re trying to push, we’re trying to push the products and the brand and our story above everything else. And if you ever see that not happening, then let’s fix it. Tell me about it, we’ll fix it. Kay will help.

So, building beautiful things, it’s not easy. You can give up easily. It’s not 9 to 5 job. This is a 9 to 5 bridge [shows new slide]. Everything about this bridge says do not cross me. First of all, I don’t trust that it’s going to stay up. It’s forcing me into these narrow lanes. It’s got this mile-per-hour limit. This does not inspire. This is not aspirational to anyone. This is not something I want to cross. This is not something I want to use. It’s not something that I look at and say, wow, that’s amazing, I mean wow, What the hell were they thinking?

And a lot of people in our industry, this is what they’re building. It’s terrible. This is the bridge I want to cross. [Shows Golden Gate] This is how I want to arrive at a destination. This is classy. This is limitless. This is inspiring. This is gorgeous. Every single aspect of this is gorgeous.

Think about all of the engineers and all of the architects and all of the people that drove rock to this bridge and their families and how happy and proud they are when they walk over this bridge and when they see this bridge in newspapers and they see it in movies and they are part of this bridge. That’s what we all want to feel. That’s what I want to feel, and I know everyone in this room wants to feel.

So, this is why design is important and this is why this coordination is important, and this is how we’re leading and building this company. So, your homework for the weekend is to cross this bridge, think about that, and then also think about how we take those lessons into doing what we want do, which is carry every single transaction in the world.

Hat Tip to @Tiffani for posting this link in Facebook

The NewMe Accelerator just completed it’s first full week of working with amazing mentors and speakers from the Silicon Valley. Closing out the week NewMe startups had a chance sit down for one on one sessions with well known Venture Capitalist Mitch Kapor @mkapor of Kapor Capital. Before the sessions begin Mitch talked to the NewMe Accelerator startups first class on how he learned about the accelerator, why the NewMe Accelerator is important to have in the Silicon Valley and what Kapor Capital looks for in startups when considering investing. Take a look at the video and notes below.

Why the NewMe Accelerator is important for the Silicon Valley?

The NewMe Accelerator is supported by generous sponsors, speakers, and mentors. Sponsors include: Interactive One, Google, Tagged, Gunderson Dettmer, Syncom Ventures, PepsiCo, Kapor Capital, Bronze Investments, Justin.tv, and e3 Innovation Fund.

This is just cool. Google I/O starts tomorrow and Google created an awesome countdown clock, along with the Android logo holding a QR Code sign that will take you to the Google I/O Android App or app site page.

To capture the awesomeness I recorded a screencast of the Google I/O page.

Scanning the QR Code with an iPhone took you to the Google I/O Android app page

Scanning the QR Code with an Android App took you to the app’s page in the Android App market.

Via Google I/O 2011. Tip> HackerNews

Wish I going to Google I/O … maybe next year! Are you?

Twitter has been on a winning streak recently showing their multimedia value due to the Royal Wedding and the death of OBL. Although being a geek / earlier adopter and being on Twitter since 2006 I still would have never guessed Twitter would be this big. In the early days of using Twitter it was a great tool to use at conferences, staying up to date with tech news and communicating with new and old friends.

Now Twitter has fully penetrated the living room via TV shows, news broadcast and commercials. To help the non geeks, TV producers and others who still after five years don’t see how to use or the value of Twitter, they created the The Best of Twitter TV youtube video to show TV Shows how to use Twitter…

Via YouTube – The Best of Twitter TV. Tip: Mashable

via YouTube – Apple – iPad 2 – TV Ad – If You Asked.

As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there’s a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a “filter bubble” and don’t get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy.

About Eli Pariser

Pioneering online organizer Eli Pariser is the author of “The Filter Bubble,” about how personalized search might be narrowing our worldview.

via Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles” | Video on TED.com.

Thanks Corvida for the tweet tip:

The offering, when it ships, sounds like it will be more compelling than Apple’s Facetime but less useful than independent mobile video chat apps like Tango that offer iPhone to Android video chat. A number of mobile video chat apps have been launched in just the past few weeks from Skype, Qik, Fring (now with group video calling on iPhone!) and others. But how long will we have to wait until Android users can video call iPhone owners without any more thought than voice calls require today? via

Android Joins the Mobile Video Chat Party but We’re Still in the Dark Ages | RWW

via: Video Chat on Your Android Phone – Official Google Mobile Blog.

Today google is hosting a webinar called “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users” at 11am PST/ 2pm EST (Registration link). Promoting the webinar google published a blog post with a lot of data showing how everything is going mobile. One stat not included in the text of the post but in the promotional video was that “79% of top advertisers don’t have a mobile optimized website” which is kinda of shocking to me. It’s 2011 and you know how big the mobile/smartphone market is, so what are you waiting for? Contact me if you need help.

Other important mobile data from the Smartphone user study shows mobile movement under way post:

• 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase, whether online, in-store, or on their phones
• 95% of smartphone users have looked for local information
• 72% use their smartphones while consuming other media, with a third while watching TV
• 88% of these users take action within a day, indicating these are immediate information needs
• 71% search on their phones because of an ad exposure, whether from traditional media (68%) to online ads (18%) to mobile ads (27%)

 

Here’s the google video providing more mobile data insights.

via Smartphone user study shows mobile movement under way – Google Mobile Ads Blog.

As you can see, it’s a genius mashup of using QR Codes and your printed resume to help you standout above the crowd. It’s smart and the video has already been viewed over 49,000 times. In Vimeo numbers that’s.. hate to say it but “viral”.  Not to get into the whole NFC technology vs Google Goggles vs Bar Codes vs QR Codes war, which really there is not one just silly marketing/tech blog ramblings.  This is why QR Codes are successful.  Note I did not say “winning” but successful. QR Codes are successful despite the fact that the common everyday internet/mobile user or business may not be aware of QR Codes or how to use them, a common everyday internet/mobile user or business can create a QR Code mobile marketing experience like the Victor Petit video above and see instant results of their efforts by the number of scans or the lack there of for marketing and/or  customer engagement.  Something the small business or you and I cannot do with NFC technology or Google Goggles at this time. Maybe in a few years but just not right now.

Have you seen other QR Code resume mashups like the Victor Petit video? Let me know in the comments.

via Inspired Use Of QR Code On CV | Mobile Inc and HackerNews.

Over the past year, team TriOut had an amazing opportunity to participate at various location based conference such as geom with some of the other location-based services like foursquare, gowalla and scvanger and at blogworld 2010 we launch version two of our iPhone app. With version two of our app we decided to open up TriOut for anyone to use in the world but still remain a hyper local focus. We also launched an API and a HTML5 version of TriOut.

In the first year of TriOut we have learned a lot and watch as the entire location space has evolved and continues to grow. One opportunity that opened to us was to make TriOut a white label platform in which we could build geo based mobile apps using the TriOut api for businesses, brands, universities and more. This led us to a conversation with NC State University to build a location-based social network for the school called “OnCampus”. We’ll have more news about OnCampus and how other schools can have their own location-based social network soon.

During SXSW 2011, I caught up with Robert Scoble for an update on TriOut and showed him a demo of OnCampus along with a sneak peak at TriOut version three iPhone app in the works. Take a look.

Thanks for the support, especially the local Triangle, NC community. We’re excited about the future of TriOut!

I first wrote about Yobongo back in early January when it was seeking more beta testers quietly sparking interest from location-based geeks. A lot has changes since then. Yobongo now has a new logo and is one of the most anticipated startups to open to launch for the general public to test along with being predicted as one of the breakout apps of SXSW 2011 on Quora and other news sites. I’ve been lucky enough to be one of the few East Coast beta testers of Yobongo and I must say the app is great.

Yobongo is founded by Caleb Elston and David Kasper. Caleb is former VP Of Product of Justin.tv and David is programming ninja. Yobongo’s goal is to make “it fun and easy to chat with people nearby on your iPhone“. By creating rooms based on your location, Yobongo will connect users to serendipitous conversations. For example lets say if you’re at a coffee shop, conference or university and launch Yobongo. Based on your location you would be “magically” placed in a room with other Yobongo users to start a conversation about what’s happening. From there you can leave the room and/or join other rooms or send private messages to have a private conversation with someone nearby. Yobongo is a chat app but with a slick and simple interface but has powerful functionality to live up to the hype and be used not only by early adopters but the everyday mobile users.

As Yobongo is prepping for public release they recently recorded a promotional video to show how you can “Yobongo”. Take a look.

There are still a lot of questions surrounding Yobongo as the two cofounder competes with other Location-Based Messaging Apps but between the current users and conversations I’ve seen in Yobongo so far I believe the app is a winner. For instance I’ve seen employees from Twitter, Zynga, foodspotting, groupon, along with bloggers and entrepreneurs such as Om, Robert Scoble, Louis Gray and Andrew Hyde using Yobongo. Just yesterday I had conversation with Boy Genius Report founder Jonathan Geller in Yobongo and conducted a short Yobongo interview as you can see below.

For Yobongo to succeed it will depend on the continued growth of mobile users starting off with the iPhone iOS platform, the social media/word of mouth buzz and early beta testers telling their friends. Yobongo cofounder Caleb Elston says “Yobongo’s goals is to create a stealer communication experience” and so far with Yobongo they have done just that.

Here are few more screenshots of Yobongo.

Yobongo is still in private beta but you can sign up for early beta at Yobongo.com.

After watching Yobongo commercial video, do you think you will use Yobongo?

Sean Walker – The Truth (Motivational Speech)

Tip: http://www.centernetworks.com/

I am a champion – the greatest speech ever [ENG SUB]

Tip: Peter Shankman

Jim Kukral Keynote at Affiliate Summit East 2010

Tip: Chris Brogan

Now go do something awesome!

If you are currently using Google’s Android OS on a tablet you’ll notice at times it’s not as slick or intuitive as a tablet OS should be especially one from Google. That’s because the current Android OS wasn’t really made for tablets. That will all change soon as Google is set to release Android 3.0 what is also known as Honeycomb.

A few days ago Google released a teaser video of the new tablet optimized Honeycomb/Android OS as the wave of tablet announcements are being made at CES this week running the new OS. Take a look.

Are you excited about new Honeycomb/Android powered tablets being announced at CES this week?

Update: Android 3.0 Honeycomb shown off in new series of videos via BGR

In comparison, watch Apple’s latest iPhone 4 Longer commercial. Just like Apple’s iPad commercials they are simple to the point and shows features that matter.

While looking at the Google Nexus S phone commercial I’m trying to relate the phone features, to the various colors of cuff jean (are those jams too) along with various actions the person is doing while holding the Nexus S phone. Google which is known for it’s simple search bar, should keep it simple when it comes to mobile phone videos IMHO.

A few weeks ago I was having a debate about what is a hipster, should I wear cuff jeans or not using instagram and twitter for feedback. After watching the Nexus S video I’m not sure if I want to touch a Nexus S because it’s looks like I’m not hipster enough to own one. But I don’t think Google is trying to sell the phone to my demographic anyway… #justsayin

I will say, the website for the Nexus S is clean and simple. Good job Google.

Tip: Watch Google’s Disorienting Hipster Ad For The Nexus S via businessinsider.com

Last week I was mailed a Samsung Galaxy Tab via @samsungmobileus to test and review mainly because of a tweet sent by @HarrietCammock asking would I recommend the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

My response at that time was from what I read about the Samsung Galaxy Tab it seems like a great device but I don’t think nothing can compete with the iPad do to the usability and the apps. Now after using the Samsung Galaxy Tab for a few days my opinion has changed. The Galaxy Tab being at 7 inches running Andriod 2.2 is a great device for reading, browsing the web, checking email and being productive on the go. In terms of the applications, it’s comes down to what is available on Apple’s iTunes app store vs Google’s growing Android Market place. There’s also the data coverage options and cost but I will leave that up to you and will stick to comparing the device.

I’m still getting use to the Samsung Galaxy Tab and will post more reviews about it over the next two weeks before I have to return the device to Samsung. In the mean time, here’s my Samsung Galaxy Tab unboxing video that makes my iPad sad.

Do you own a Samsung Galaxy Tab or another Android powered tablet? If so what are your favorite apps? Also if you have any questions about the Galaxy Tab let me know in the comments.

As we start to wrap up 2010, brands continue to experiment with technologies to bridge online, offline and mobile users to increase customer interactions. Last month Google along with T-Mobile, DIAGEO, Buick, Walt Disney Pictures, and Delta Airlines launched a new Google Goggles marketing experiment with the focus for people to explore the world using mobile devices. Here’s an excerpt from the announcement.

They have “Goggles-enabled” some of their print ads, movie posters and other media. When users take pictures of these with Google Goggles, they will be recognized by the app, and users will have the option of clicking-through directly to a mobile destination from the brand.

For a closer look at these specific campaigns, take a look at our video:

To read more about the Google Goggles marketing experiment read the blog post: Offline, meet online: a marketing experiment with Google Goggles

If you are not familiar with Google Goggles watch the Goggles video below from Google.

As some of you know I’m a big proponent of QR Codes over, Microsoft Tags, and even Google Goggles. Why? Because of the simplicity to create, measure and implement with your existing or new mobile marketing strategies. I’m not sure if or when Google will release a way for all businesses to use Google Goggles technologies in print ads or other marketing campaigns. Although I do see an advantage over using Google Googles being that if a mobile user scans a Goggle’s enabled print ad they may seen different content depending on the “goggled enabled” products in the ad versus a QR Code. For QR Codes it’s one scan then directed to mobile content of choice.

Have you scanned or seen Google Goggles marketing poster before?

Oprah also stated how she plays her favorite game on the iPad, which is Scrabble and you can now read the O magazine on the iPad as well.

What do you think? Is this the best iPad commercial of all time that’s really not an iPad commercial?

Via: TUAW

The INFLUENCERS video is 13:56 long but it’s worth viewing. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.

INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment.

The film attempts to understand the essence of influence, what makes a person influential without taking a statistical or metric approach.

Written and Directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, the film is a Polaroid snapshot of New York influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) who are shaping today’s pop culture.

“Influencers” belongs to the new generation of short films, webdocs, which combine the documentary style and the online experience.
influencersfilm.com
facebook.com/​influencersfilm

I’m almost at the point to where I hate the words “influence” or “influencer” but after watching this video, I’m cool with it again just as long as we don’t see anymore find the “influencers” projects in the near future.

A few takeaways I got from the video was:

• If you’re a startup or have a product you have to decide if you want to stay small and cool or go big and be liked by a lot of people
• Looking at trends how brands embrace cultures
• The concept of how brands are trying to reaching “influencers” online is out of control
• Become a mentor

What are some of your takeaways from the video?

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 14 through November 20, 2010, as National Entrepreneurship Week. I call upon all Americans to commemorate this week with appropriate programs and activities, and to celebrate November 19, 2010, as National Entrepreneurs’ Day.”

Over at the Grasshoppergroup blog they have a detailed history about National Entrepreneurs’ Week and various ways to support National Entrepreneurs’ Day. Here are a few:

• Thank. If you know an entrepreneur, thank them for the ways in which they’ve made an impact on our economy thus far; the simple act of giving thanks can strengthen a connection or start a new one. If you’re an entrepreneur yourself, thank the individuals who brought you to where you are today. This is what National Entrepreneurs’ Day is all about.
• Mentor. Perhaps there was someone who urged you to start your first business or helped you bring your first big idea to life; if so, they’ve played a part in making you the entrepreneur you are today. Return the favor and find an entrepreneur you can mentor through thick and thin.
• Give. Kiva is an organization that promotes micro lending to alleviate poverty around the world. With corporate and institutional partners from Google to Ashoka, you can feel confident that your donation is going to reach a deserving entrepreneur somewhere in the world, and that, in turn, your donation will serve as a catalyst for change (if you doubt this, might I remind you that anything is possible?).
• Pay it forward. You can help support fellow entrepreneurs by paying it forward with products, services, and/or your time. What’s easy for you may not be easy for another aspiring entrepreneur. Remember: a little help can go a long way.

Here’s an awesome video about how Entrepreneurs can change the world from team Grasshopper too.

As part of National Entrepreneurs’ Day at Designbox we offereed free coworking for the day.

If you’re an entrepreneur and/or working on your startup good luck and I wish you much success with your business ventures!

Just when you thought that maybe that the city of Cleveland has moved on after LeBron James decided to host the decision show and leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat a new YouTube video shows they’re still upset. This comes after LeBron’s Nike Rise Commercial and during a recent interview where King James said he would do things a little different if could do it all over again. Maybe it’s the Cleveland Cavaliers 1-3 start or it’s just the Nike Rise commercial where LeBron James is asking the question “What should I do?” But in the response video called Lebron James “Rise” Commercial & Cleveland’s Response a few Cleveland residents has some answers to LeBron question and to what he should have done.

The video is a mashup of the Nike Rise commercial with some very harsh words for LeBron calling him a quitter, traitor and a back stabber, ending with a quitness upside down Nike Logo and the statement playing from LeBron saying that his goal was to bring a NBA championship to Cleveland. All I have to say is Ouch! You can watch both videos below.

Lebron James “Rise” Commercial & Cleveland’s Response

LeBron James Nike Rise Commercial

YouTube just gave the city of Cleveland and old fans a voice. Now, what should LeBron James do?

We’ve shown you how you can see your friends recent activity of Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook. Now we’re going to share how you can use TriOut to check in with Foursquare and Gowalla. Here’s a screencast I took today at lunch showing it in action.

Now, to make things clear, I’ve checked into Jimmy John’s using TriOut, Foursquare and Gowalla before. If this were a new location which nobody has ever checked into, it would take a bit longer to associate the Foursquare and Gowalla locations. However, it’s still multiple times faster than any other solution out there.

Yesterday while in Boston for #geoM, I had a chance to visit Boston’s location-based startup SCVNGR for another #GEOchat live show. For the show I sat down with @NickHerbold SCVNGR’s Guru & Recruiter and went on a tour of their amazing office space. You can watch the live show below.

Here are some of the questions I asked with Nick Herbold @NickHerbold

1. Tell us about SCVNGR, when did it launch and how it’s different from other LBS
2. Who is SCVNGR target business (small, b2b, large brands) ? and users?
3. Your title says, SCVNGR guru and Seth is chief Ninja, you like to have fun with titles what are some of the other titles here at SCVNGR and your role with the company
4. With SCVNGR you’re focus is all about the game play, do you see that is the leading way to gain more users and why?
5. How would you describe SCVNGR ‘s brand/identity?
6. Will game play lead to mass adoption outside of the early adopters/geeks?
7. What do you think will make LBS in general more successful? Will it be the game play, more coupons/rewards or something else?
8. SCVNGR works with various museums and universities. Universities are an ideal target but why museums and what have some of the most popular museums in terms of activity?
9. Are there any unexpected/surprised use for SCVNGR that you didn’t think you would see people using the app for?
10. How has being one of the google venture backed companies played a role in the success of SCVNGR ?
11. If you could implement one feature to make SCVNGR better what would it be?
12. What has been the most requested feature people wanting to see from SCVNGR?
13. I was walking the other night and saw the SCVNGR window cling and play SCVNGR poster, how does a businesses go about receiving one of those?
14. What advice do you give businesses to help increase the amount of check-ins / (play SCVNGR)?
15. Seth said yesterday at #GEOm that SCVNGR is already making money, what’s SCVNGR revenue model?
16. What would be your number one reason you would tell someone to use SCVNGR over other LBS?

Thanks SCVNGR & Nick for the interview.

While going through my Google Reader this afternoon I came across the Geospatial Revolution Project by Penn State University. The project goal is to cover location mapping, GPS technology and how the world is using it today. For the project they’re releasing a four-part YouTube video series. I just watched episode one. It was very inspirational and educational on various ways GPS/location data can be used in crises situations. It was also a history lesson on GPS technology. Take a look below:

About the Geospatial Revolution Project from their website:

The Geospatial Revolution Project is an integrated public service media and outreach initiative about the world of digital mapping and how it is changing the way we think, behave, and interact.

The mission of the Geospatial Revolution Project is to expand public knowledge about the history, applications, related privacy and legal issues, and the potential future of location-based technologies.

Geospatial information influences nearly everything. Seamless layers of satellites, surveillance, and location-based technologies create a worldwide geographic knowledge base vital to solving myriad social and environmental problems in the interconnected global community.

Learn more about the Geospatial Revolution project the following ways:
Web: http://geospatialrevolution.psu.edu
Twitter: @geospatialrev
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/geospatialrev

Almost exactly one year ago today Kanye West went from one of the most admired hiphop artist and somewhat well liked to one of the most hated music artist of all time in one 15 second mistake. Mr. West drunk or not, caught up in the moment or not, influence by a Amber Rose or not, taking up for his little sister Beyonce or not will forever be linked to the MTV Awards and Taylor Swift. His “imma let you finish” became an instant internet meme and affected Kanye’s music sales, plans for a clothing line and future concert tours. Right after Kanye West made the mistake of interrupting Taylor Swift I wrote blog post titled MTV’s biggest dot: Could you fix Kanye West’s personal brand problem? were I list 7 suggestions.

Now we’re hours away from the one year anniversary of Kanye’s mistake at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009 and Kanye is schedule to preform this year during the 2010 awards. Some have said they’re tired of Kanye West and just want to move on but with Kanye’s recent use of “social media” from Twitter, Ustream and even on website I believe we’re going to see a lot more of Kanye in the next few days. Let’s take a look at how Kanye West uses social media, along with other offline events to “almost” restore his brand.

1. Kanye West preforms at Facebook HQ

2. Kanye West joins Twitter and share his life after the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and apologize to Taylor Swift. See a more detailed blog about Kanye’s tweets here via Techcrunch.

3. Kanye gives away free music via his website but you must enter your email address to download. (email marketing). He tweets the new song every Friday.

4. Kanye launches Ustream.TV channel (http://www.ustream.tv/KanyeWest) and talks with fans about his upcoming album.

5. The Kanye West blog: http://kanyewest.com/blog/
A few weeks ago Kanye was using his blog to list free music and show fan made videos. Now it’s under construction. I’m thinking we’ll see a new Kanye West blog launched tonight or tomorrow after the MTV Video Music awards.

6. Kanye West Power song used for the theme music of the Facebook Movie trailer called the Social Network.

7. Kanye West releases still motion Power video on Youtube and now has over 9,901,604 views.

Questions:

My Square Card reader arrived a few days ago and now I can swipe your credit card to accept mobile payments. After picking up my Square Card reader I decided to record an unboxing video. Things were going well, until I decided to swipe an actual credit card. Note you can only record an unboxing video one time. After a few tries I stopped the video and realized I didn’t have the card reader smashed all the way down. Regardless I now have the “power” to swipe credit cards and accept mobile payments.

As for reviews, the square card reader doesn’t work as well on my iPhone 4 as it does on my iPad for some reason. Also it seems you have to swipe the card at just the right speed for it to work. Besides that it works great. As more Square Card readers are shipped I get the feeling that Square will change offline commerce allowing millions of businesses and individuals to buy and sell goods via mobile credit card payments using the Square Card reader and software. Congrats to Jack and the team for innovation and delivering a great product.

Here’s my Square Card Reader Silent unboxing video

Square Background

In February 2009, Jim McKelvey wasn’t able to sell a piece of his glass art because he couldn’t accept a credit card as payment. Even though a majority of payments has moved to plastic cards, accepting payments from cards is still difficult, requiring long applications, expensive hardware, and an overly complex experience. Square was born a few days later right next to the old San Francisco US Mint.

Today the Square team is focused on bringing immediacy, transparency, and approachability to the world of payments: an inherently social interaction each of us participates in daily.

Feel free to stop by TriOut HQ at Design Box if you would like to see my Square Card reader in action. Have a great weekend.!

We’re excited about the BetaBox spaces services at Design Box to provide an opportunity for startups, entrepreneurs and those who are looking to escape the coffee shop or home office a place to work. Fellow Design Box member Jon Williams of shovemedia is so excited he’s launching a “What would you do with 30 days of free coworking” contest. Watch the contest video below and submit your ideas to shovemedia at gmail dot com.

The contest ends Friday, September 17 at 11:59 P.M. Good luck to everyone and for more information about coworking at Design Box visit our Work Here page or contact us at 919-834-3552 or email info at designbox dot us

Design Box
323 W Martin St
Raleigh, NC‎, 27601
Web: designbox.us
Ph: 919-834-3552
Email: info at designbox dot us
Twitter: @DBRaleigh

Google Maps Directions

As I stated in the iPad Eye of the Tiger video post, how amazing it would be if artist could use the iPad to preform shows instead if traditional music equipment. Well, it seems like that time has come and we’re only seeing the beginning of the iPad + live performances. Actually before the iPad Eye of the Tiger there was the iPad DJ.

If you missed the ipad + “Eye of the Tiger” music video check it out below.

Thanks to Mike who sent me the iPad Orchestra video.

Would you rather see a live show with traditional music equipment or with the iPad or it doesn’t matter just as long as they sound awesome?

Your thoughts?

Live chat

This is the sixth in a series of posts detailing the history, design and features of TriOut v2 for iPhone.

We’ve shown you two new ways to check in using TriOut version 2. First by using our new Check in Bar, and second by scanning a QR code. Today I’m going to show you our third and final new way to check in.

Back with version 1, we introduced the concept of pre-arrival check in. You could bring up a location in the app, tap on “Go Here” and send a tweet or update your facebook with a message “I’m on my way to…” with a link to the location. This was a great way to let your friends know where you’re going, and it still unmatched in the LBS space.

Today I’m gonna show you the natural progression of pre-arrival check in, Background Check In. Because iPhone iOS 4 allows for multi-tasking, we’re able to track your location even while you’re not using the app. This means that if you tell the app where you’re going, we can check you in automatically when you get there. Pretty crazy stuff.

Check out this video demo of my checking into my favorite coffee shop, 2 miles away.

As you can see, it actually checked me in while I pulled into the driveway. That’s within 100 meters of the front door, pretty good. We’ll be tweaking this in our beta to see if we can get it ever closer.

Privacy note: It’s important to mention that your location is never stored on our servers nor is this feature EVER turned on by default. You have to specifically tell us where you’re going and that you want us to check you in automatically to enable it. Once you reach your destination, location services are turned off and we check you in.

We take this privacy stuff seriously. You should too.

Yesterday I attended a Venture Capital Symposium hosted by Local Techwire that featured Mark Cuban @mcuban at the American Tobacco Complex, in Durham, NC. Other speakers included Mike Doernberg, CEO of ReverbNation, Rich Lee, Founder & CEO of Hosted Solutions, Aaron Houghton, Co-founder, iContact, Mitchell Mumma, Partner of Intersouth Partners. The speakers participated in a panel then Mark Cuban delivered a very entertaining, honest and thought provoking keynote to about 250 entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and local media. Mark’s keynote and the panel discussion was about the challenges of starting a company, sustaining one, how to hire smart, being successful and more. I jotted down a few notes throughout the event that you can read below.

Question: What are the challenges facing entrepreneurs today?
Panel Answer: Access to capital, access to talent, themselves, lack of focus
Entrepreneurs need to focus on what they need to do to be successful
Lack of focus
Mark Cuban: @mcuban – No obstacles; now is the best time ever to start a company. Start something you love.
It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur right now.
They can be successful because the talent.

Question: What is the most important trait you look for when you want to add someone to your team?
Mark Cuban: It depends on the job
Panel Answer: Look at the fit to see if they can work in the culture

Question:What role does luck to play in entrepreneur success?
Panel Answer:
Luck is the relevant to scale
You can fail 101 times and get it right one time and you’re an overnight success
You need to identity what you’re good at and be willing to change.
Take a finical accounting course

Poll asked to the panelist:
What kind of cell phone do you have in your pocket?
Mark Cuban: Sidekick for email & a Droid X
Other Panelist: iPhone, iPhone, blackberry
Do you Tweet? 2 yes and 2 no
Do you have an iPad? 3 yes and 1 no
Do you use Social Networking sites? Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
If you have to pick one technology that will impact consumers & entrepreneurs in the future what will it be?
Cloud computing/smartphone
Wireless bandwidth
Smart Grid Power Technology
Mobile Technology

Question:What advice would you have to a child picking a career in the future?
Don’t’ worry about what you do but who you work with. Do what’s important to you and build brand you first.

Video from Mark Cuban’s keynote via @WRAL

Mark Cuban Keynote Notes:

1st Rule for every company:
The best equity for every company is sweat equity.Most think the 1st thing to do is to raise money
Don’t think VC’s are the best thing, they are vulture capitalist
Don’t always look to raise money but look for ways not to raise money
Tech has become inexpensive
Think about how you’re going to cut your own cost & spend as little money as possible to start a business

Sales Cures All:
When you do a business, who is going to be the #1 sales person?
Develop a culture where everyone in the organize sales
It’s all about selling,
If you’re not comfortable selling your product, then who will?
You have to be the king or queen of sales
Have good customers service

Ideas:
The ideas are the easy part, everybody has one
The hard part is the preparation
Ask yourself who hard are you willing to work?
If you’re married you have a disadvantage,
Understand in your mind you have some challenges ahead

Don’t lie to yourself
It may be your idea but you may not the best person to do it

Learn how to kick your own a**
There’s not one business that another company someone has not said, I can do that better
Someone is always trying to do it better
Put yourself in your competitors shoes
Ask yourself, what would you do to kill what you have
You have to resale to your own customers every day
No customers wants to feel take advantage of
At the end of the day you don’t own your business, your customers do
If you don’t put your customers first, someone else will
Great customer service is like being a great lover.
But sometimes you have setbacks
There are going to times when things go wrong but you can’t let them freak you out! Learn and move forward.
If you’re not making mistakes you’re not trying
Come up with a list of elements that work for you.

Other:
Culture is important to your organization
The two people Mark learned the most about how to deal with the media was from Dennis Rodman & Paris Hilton.
Learn how to communicate with the media,
Media is always looking for a story.
Put yourself in the the shoes where the media needs you.
Understand what business you’re in
Think about what you really are selling!

You can see a few flickr photos from the event here and scan twitter via the #techwire hashtag.

It’s not an official movie but it’s pretty funny. Hat Tip to @zenaweist for the video.

What social networking site you would like Hollywood to make a movie about outside of Twitter and Facebook?

ipad + “Eye of the Tiger” from Jordan Hollender on Vimeo.

Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.
All instruments were played using ipad applications downloaded from itunes.
Scott Harris – musical production and arrangement
Starring Scott Harris, Harold O’Neal AKA Kid Jazz and Shea Butta
Directed by Jordan Hollender in collaboration with Diane Collins and Zbabam Productions
www.jordanhollender.com

Richard Bell / Jon Vachon: Gaffer / Grip
Bryan Lynde: Hair & Makeup
Alex Johnstone: Stylist
KM Camera and Studio Rental

Do you think we’ll see more bands use iPads for music videos and preforming at shows?

Do you like coffee? What do you think about the iPhone 4 video capabilities?

I’m glad the employee didn’t hang up or get mad or insult the puppet or we would probablly see a rush in blog post about bad customeor support and/or “Apple Employee hangs up on puppet” type post. But this is another example of good customer service by Apple and for anyone on how to handel weird/puppets phone calls.

I’m a big fan of FaceTime, as it’s one of the reason I stood in line for 4 1/2 hours to buy an iPhone 4. Here are a couple of screenshots testing FaceTime with @Jakrose and @evancarroll.

Hat Tip to @Tiffani for the Puppet video tweet and @Gizmodo for posting.

If a puppet calls you on FaceTime how would you react?

I first saw the tweet from @Andybeal about “red duck tape” and was like what in the world. So I clicked on it, taking me to the @Fastcompany article about using scotch tape on the iPhone 4 to fix the signal. Here’s the link: The $0.001 DIY iPhone 4 Antenna Fix. But I wanted video proof, so I found a video from chedacheese on @Youtube. Take a look at the video to learn how to use scotch tape to fix your iPhone 4 signal!

Apparently Mr. Steve Jobs sent an email saying to just hold the phone another way or buy a bumper case. I’m shaking my head at you Steve! You can read more about that on @Techcrunch “Steve Jobs Responds To The Antenna Issue: Hold It Different Or Use A Case”

Do you think Apple new about the signal problem and who’s adding scotch to their shinny new iPhone 4?

The @David_Ragan interview

How would you like to see NASCAR drivers use twitter/social media more?

Here are a few of the social media channels from the Mustang 1000 Lap Challenge event.

https://www.mustang1000lapchallenge.com
https://twitter.com/FordRacing
http://www.facebook.com/fordmustang
http://www.facebook.com/OfficialFordRacing
http://www.youtube.com/user/FordRacingInsideOval
http://Twitter.com/fordmustang

Take a look at the video below to see Jonathan Mehl ride along with me from Ford’s product development team as we discuss the Mustang’s MPG, driving around Bristol and the Mustang 1000 Lap Challenge.

Often I’ll Tweet how much I like Google Wave and then I’ll get a response like the one above or that people are trying to compare Google Wave to another social network such as Facebook or Twitter. Google Wave does have friends list/contacts and you could look at the inbox as a wall but I don’t think that’s the correct approach. At one point I remember saying that Google Wave could even replace email. I still think it could but for right now Google Wave is all about collaboration.

To help users learn how to get more out of Google Wave, Google created a series of getting started YouTube videos. Here are 5 how to use Google Wave Youtube videos if you’re new to Google Wave.

1. Meet Google Wave

2. Managing your inbox

3. Google Wave: 15 features

4. Replying to waves

5. Editing waves

Do you use Google Wave if so how? If not why not?

With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index. That means you can find fresher information than ever before—no matter when or where it was published.

Caffeine lets us index web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second. Caffeine takes up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage in one database and adds new information at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day. You would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information; if these were stacked end-to-end they would go for more than 40 miles.

What does Caffeine mean for SEO experts, bloggers, social media types and content creators? If means your inbound links are even more important along with what you post on your site can be found even faster with the new search index. It also means Google search results is closer to real time updated content and ranks it high in search results. I think …. Note I’m no SEO expert! Regardless it’s an important day for Google and only time will tell how the new search index will impact the search industry and the millions of search results.

Also check out the video from Matt Cutts @mattcutts on How Search Works:

What are your thoughts on Google’s new search index caffeine?

It seems so long ago but back in 2008 my good friend/partner Kipp Bodnar (@kbodnar32) and I launched a podcast called Talk Social News http://talksocialnews.com. The goal of the podcast was to cover all things technology, social media, startups and gadgets. Talk Social News started off being a once a week audio podcast then after SXSW 2009 Kipp and I went to a daily video podcast. During the length of the podcast we had a chance to interview a lot of industry leaders such as the following:

• Adam J. Wallace
• Louis Gray
• Thomas Cook
• Danny Burkes
• Erik Martin
• Geoff Livingston
• Angla Benton
• Joel Longtine
• Louis Gray
• Martin May
• MC Hammer
• Peter Shankman
• Tara Hunt

Here a few of my favorite past episodes:
Talk Social News debuts with Brightkite CTO interview On Location Based Applications
The interview,click to play: [audio:http://talksocialnews.com/audio/TalkSocialNews-001-Brightkite.mp3]

Talk Social News episode 17# MC Hammer, on social media, the music industry & twitter. Need we say more?
The interview: [audio:http://talksocialnews.com/audio/Talksocialnews-0017mchammer.mp3]

Talk Social News Episode 12: Talking Whuffi with Tara Hunt aka Missrogue, twitter for voting & twitter for terrorists?, Linkedin, Opera, and Windows 7
The interview: click to play: [audio:http://talksocialnews.com/audio/TalkSocialNews0012Tarahunt.mp3]

Talk Social News Episode 10:Evernote CEO, Phil Libin, what is a mophie iPhone juice pack and who’s failing on twitter.
The interview: click to play: [audio:http://talksocialnews.com/audio/TalkSocialNews0010evernote.mp3]

Talk Social News going daily with video blog, iPhone 3.0 rumors, exectweets, wefollow and your feedback

Loic Le Meur @Loic at #SXSW on @Seemic, Facebook, video comments and startups

Talk Social News Episode 21: Adam Wallace of Roger Smith Hotel talks social media in New York, plus cotweet, twickie, hulu vs boxe and facebook TOS noise
The interview: click to play: [audio:http://talksocialnews.com/audio/TalkSocialNews0021AdamWallacerogersmith.mp3]

I want to say thank you to everyone who supported Talk Social News over the years including our very first sponsor Ripple6 and all of our listeners and friends. A big thanks to Kipp Bodnar for co-hosting the show and pushing me along the way. It was a fun ride!

Since we stopped recording Talk Social News, I’ve been having an on and off again podcast here on SocialWayne.com but as of last week I’m back recording weekly episodes. You find SocialWayne podcast here: http://socialwayne.com/category/podcast/ and you can subscribe to to the show here on: iTunes; or subscribe to the podcast XML feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/socialwayne.

For more on the new version of Digg see: Exclusive Video And Screenshots Of Digg Version 4

I’ve been on Digg since 2006 but haven’t been a huge Digg users but I get the feeling that is about to change. You can find me on Digg here: http://digg.com/users/waynesutton

The video includes some of the pioneers of the internet and leaders who are shaping the future of the Internet. Some will call it Web 3.0 others the Semantic Web. Regardless the internet is changing and the question is will you be ready for it?

If you’re asking what is the Semantic Web, according to Wikipedia:

The Semantic Web is an evolving development of the World Wide Web in which the meaning (semantics) of information and services on the web is defined, making it possible for the web to “understand” and satisfy the requests of people and machines to use the web content.[1][2] It derives from World Wide Web Consortium director Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s vision of the Web as a universal medium for data, information, and knowledge exchange.

via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web

Enough text, check out the Web 3.0 video below.

My favorite quote from the video is near the end where Tim Berners-Lee says “It’s a platform…… the idea of it is that it’s not to promote one particular application”.

[Tip to Mitch Joel]

I just watch the “The Geek Shall inherit the earth” commercial by Connect a Million Minds on TV and immediately I “google” the name of the video.  Even though I don’t have kids and clearly not a kid I connected with the video in many ways. Here’s how:

1. It’s how I felt growing up during my high-school days… I’m talking about photoshop 1.0, Mac OS 9.5 & QuarkXpress. I’m old!
2. I often tell people I don’t do “marketing” but I understand people, relationships, gadgets/technology on the social web, so call me a geek not a marketing guy.
3. I believe in education and empowering kids to learn and be confident in their dreams/goals for entrepreneurship.
4. I love technology!

So what did my Google search results find me? The video was made for http://www.connectamillionminds.com From the Connect a Million Minds website:

In November 2009, Time Warner Cable launched Connect a Million Minds (CAMM), a philanthropic commitment of $100 million cash and in-kind donations. This five-year program was designed to inspire students to pursue learning opportunities and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Time Warner Cable announced its commitment to STEM in conjunction with the White House’s announcement of Educate to Innovate, President Obama’s plan for improving STEM opportunities for U.S. students. In his statement, President Obama highlighted the importance of public and private partnerships in addressing STEM readiness in American students, and singled out Time Warner Cable as a leader in the STEM space with its Connect a Million Minds program. According to national experts, the next generation of youth in the United States is not prepared to take on the challenges of the 21st century.

Although the video and program inspired , the last sentence above is just sad, “According to national experts, the next generation of youth in the United States is not prepared to take on the challenges of the 21st century?” Now as an grown-up geek I’m asking myself what can I do to help educate kids and build some rockets!

How can we help/inspire today’s youth to learn more about technology and be confident while doing so?

“We’re building rockets!”

From the YouTube video description:

These speed tests were filmed at actual web page rendering times. If you’re interested in the technical details, read on!
Equipment used:
- Computer: MacBook Pro laptop with Windows installed
- Monitor – 24″ Asus: We had to replace the standard fluorescent backlight with very large tungsten fixtures to funnel in more light to capture the screen. In addition, we flipped the monitor 180 degrees to eliminate a shadow from the driver board and set the system preferences on the computer to rotate 180 degrees. No special software was used in this process.
- 15Mbps Internet connection.
- Camera: Phantom v640 High Speed Camera at 1920 x 1080, films up to 2700 fps

Thanks!

I have more post on SAS Social Media Analytics product coming soon.

*Disclosure”SAS invited me to their SAS Global Forum user event as their guest to attend the launch of SAS Social Media Analytics. They paid my airfare, hotel and conference registration fees and gave me access to the product for evaluation.”

Today history was made when Triangle Segway held North Carolina’s first Segway Polo game at the City Plaza downtown Raleigh. I was fortune enough to take part and record some video footage. Take a look below and if you want take part in the next game contact Todd at Triangle Segway or come out and watch on April 24.

Here are a few photos from today’s historic event:

*Discalmer: This is not a sponsored post but I’m friends with the owners of Triangle Segway and they are awesome.

Have you rode a Segway or played Segway Polo before? If so tell me about your experience in the comments.

Thanks.

After watching the video let me know what you think about Apple’s iAD decision for geo targeting ads.

Do you agree?

Oh yeah, this is my first blog post from the iPad.

If had an iPad how would you use it?

Day 1: Video: 30 Days of YouTube Day 1: Does chatroulette have a brand problem?

So, are you buying an iPad?

One of the conversations I had while driving to SXSW and back with fellow NC friend and partner Ryan Boyles (@TheRab) was about YouTube producers, their production strategy and how much time he spent watching YouTube videos. We also talked about how some of the more popular “YouTubers” record their videos in one take and how simple it is to have an online video show.

Being that I just gave a talk called “Becoming Real-Time Video Blogger in 2010“ at SXSW I figured why not start a YouTube series. Therefore starting today, begins 30 Days of YouTube. During the 30 Days I’m going to chat about what’s hot on the social web, general tech news, events, my daily life and random video topics.

Today is the kick-off the video series and I’m chatting about the project and what’s hot in the video world, “chatroulette“. For more on chatroulette check out wikipedia if you’re afraid of playing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatroulette.

Enough of the text, here’s Day 1 of 30 Days of YouTube. Does chatroulette have a brand problem?

Here’s the first FourSquare music video called “Badges Like Us”

You can find me on FourSquare here: http://foursquare.com/user/waynesutton

One of the most anticpated talks I was looking forward to at SXSW was by Kristina Halvorson @halvorson called Content Strategy FTW . I first heard Kristina speak at FOWA a year ago and I knew she would “crush it” at SXSW. A few of my NC friends such as Kipp Bodnar, Jeff Cohen and Jim Tobin attended the session as well and “over heard” how I thought Kritian’s session would rock and she didn’t disappoint us. Jim even wrote a great recap of here session called:Content Strategy is Much More than Web Copywriting: More SxSW Notes.

During her session I sat on the front row with my Macbook Pro and a usb webcam to live stream her talk. It’s a little shaky but I think well worth a listen if you’re in the content strategy/blogging/writing for the web business. Below is the video and her slides from Content Strategy FTW session at SXSW.

The SXSW Video. FYI it’s via the lap cam.

Also check out Kristian’s book called Content Strategy http://www.contentstrategy.com

*Discloser: No this is not a sponsored post. I just recognize awesome when I see awesome.

During the Future15 Online Video section other speakers and friends presented on other video topics such as:

• Video Search Optimization Strategies To Grow Your Business – Bill Leake, Apogee Search
• Hyperlocal Focus: Growing A Vibrant Community Media Ecosystem – Bill Simmon, VCAM
• Just the Host: Web Video Divas Dish! – Amanda Congdon, Oxmour Entertainment Inc / Sometimesdaily LLC – Amanda Congdon
• Web Video: Can We Now Say Something Sucks? – Liz Shannon Miller, NewTeeVee – Liz Shannon Miller
• Attracting Big Sponsors With a Super-Niche Webshow, Freezer Burns, Gregory Ng

I lived streamed 3 out of the 5 presenters and will be posting some of their presentations and video from there talks too. After my talk Tod Plotki from Green Buzz Agency asked me what did I think about the role of video in corporate marketing. Here’s my video response below. Note: I think I was still nervous from the presentation

How do you see video being used in social web in the upcoming months?

How would you react if George Clooney signed something of yours?