Friday, November 18, 2011

I just got more cowbell in my life! (Big News)

Some of you may have heard, but consider this my official announcement. I am now the Digital Strategist for Snoball!

For years I have had a passion for social. If you know me this is no surprise to you, I'm sure. My involvement in social giving and all my hard work has paid off big time. I am still settling into my new role, but I didn't get here on my own and I am still going to need a lot of help along the way.

Here at Snoball we are still young and we have a lot to learn. I want to make sure that I keep an open line of communication and be as engaging as possible. This is where you come in. Take a look at the site at http://snoball.com and let me know what you think. Sign up for an account, put in your favorite charity and I'll share that with the team. If you work with, or for a nonprofit I especially want to hear from you. 

Here is a short video describing the concept of Snoball:

Once again, thank you all for everything. Your love and support has carried me to the career of my dreams, and for that I am eternally grateful. I also want to thank my former manager David Huebel, director Frank Gorishek, and all my co-workers at AMD. I love and miss you all.

 

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

My second week into #MovemberATX 2011

Today is the start of week two of Movember. That means it is time for another shave. Here is a updated picture of the Mo:

20111115_214829

As you can see, my stache is starting to fill in. Now you see how I am doing on the hair side, let's take a look at how much money I have raised. Right now I have $54 in my bank, and before you point out that the total is exactly the same as last week, I would say you're right. I have not gotten one $1 in donations in over a week. I must be doing something wrong. If you are reading this right now, please just give me a dollar. One dollar is all I ask. Please and thank you.

This is my third year being on Team Austin, and every year they do an awesome job. I hope that this year I am able to do my small part to help the cause. If you are in Austin, there are a ton of events scheduled. Check out the Facebook page and the Twitter account to stay current on all the happenings. You can also track other members of the team by the hash tag #MovemberATX.

Once again, I would love your help. Please donate what you can and check out myprogress at: http://mobro.co/wesley83

If you would like to know more about the Movember Movement you can find out more here.

 

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

One week into #MovemberATX 2011

Yesterday marked the end of the first week of Movember.That means it is time for a shave. I know people shave everyday, but that's not me. My sensitive skin can't take the blade that often. Here is a picture of the before:

20111109_170238

And here is a picture of the after:

20111109_172603
You can see my baby stache if you look really, really, close. It's hard for me to grow hair and I look ridiculous when I try. This is all for a good cause. Speaking of donations* I would like to take the ime to thank those who have contributed to the cause of men's health.

  • Ashlynn Kemp
  • Liz Bradford
  • Heather Strout

I think that it's funny that all my donations are from women. I think it is out of pure pity. Please make a donation of any amount. Right now I have $54 in my bank and would love to double it before the end of the week.

This is my third year being on Team Austin, and every year they do an awesome job. I hope that this year I am able to do my small part to help the cause. If you are in Austin, there are a ton of events scheduled. Check out the Facebook page and the Twitter account to stay current on all the happenings. You can also track other members of the team by the hash tag #MovemberATX.

Once again, I would love your help. Please donate what you can and check out my progress at: http://mobro.co/wesley83

 

If you would like to know more about the Movember Movement you can find out more here.

 

*I know I wasn't even talking about donations earlier, but I couldn't think of a good transition.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The time has come! #MovemberATX 2011 day 1.

Today is the first day of Movember. If you haven't heard of Movember, it is obviously a combination of the word Mo, which is short for mustache, and November. The goal is to raise awareness and funds for male health issues, such as prostate and testicular cancer.

How is this done you may ask? Well in my case, I scare you a little by shaving my face bald. No more goatee, no more beard. I will be slowly growing a mustache for the whole month and will be asking for your support. Please make a donation of any amount. Right now I have $1 in my bank and would love to double it before the end of the day.

Here is my before pic. I took it at 5am in my bathroom this morning. I hope that explains the sleepy/pissed look I am giving off.

2011-11-01_05

I was up that early to catch a flight. Lucky me, I was invited to some secret Ford event in Dearborn, Michigan. So super secret that at right now as I sit in my hotel room I have no idea what the agenda is. Now that you have seen the before, brace yourself for the after.

2011-11-01_11
This is my third year being on Team Austin, and every year they do an awesome job. I hope that this year I am able to do my small part to help the cause. If you are in Austin, there are a ton of events scheduled. Check out the Facebook page and the Twitter account to stay current on all the happenings. You can also track other members of the team by the hash tag #MovemberATX.

Once again, I would love your help. Please donate what you can and check out my progress at: http://mobro.co/wesley83

 

If you would like to know more about the Movember Movement you can find out more here.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Monday, October 31, 2011

Discover Financial Services can suck a big one!

Reasons we can share your personal informationDoes Discover Bank share?Can you limit this sharing?
For our everyday purposes–
such as to process your transactions, maintain your
account(s), respond to court orders and legal investigations,
or report to credit bureaus.
YesNo
For our marketing purposes–
to offer our products and services to you
YesNo
For joint marketing with other financial companiesYesNo
For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes–
information about your transactions and experiences
YesNo
For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes–
information about your creditworthiness
YesYes
For our affiliates to market to youYesYes
For nonaffiliates to market to youYesYes
To limit our sharing• Call 1-800-225-5202 – our menu will prompt you through your choices

Please note:

If you are a new customer, we can begin sharing your information 30 days from the date we sent this notice. When you are no longer our customer, we continue to share your information as described in this notice.

However, you can contact us at any time to limit our sharing.

I got an email saying that there was a notice for me. In said notice I saw this chart placed at the bottom. I see that there are things that Discover will share to others about me. I also see that there is a small number of items I can opt out of by calling the number 1-800-225-5202. I just called that number and it get some robot asking me what number I want to dial, wtf?

I am already on Discover's website, why can I not just uncheck a box? They really want to make it hard for people to opt-out of sharing valuable personal information.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Own the XDA Banner from the Big Android BBQ! | xda-developers

Want to own the big and beautiful XDA banner from the Big Android BBQ? It’s signed by hundred of XDA members, and is perfect for hanging on a wall and showing your love for the site. It’s also quite massive, at five by three feet. We decided to do a charity auction for the banner on eBay. All proceeds will benefit the One Laptop per Child project, which has the goal of empowering underprivileged children through education. A very good cause, indeed. The auction on eBay will last ten days, and the highest bidder will have the banner sent to them, for free. Happy bidding. Click on to see a video of the banner!

You can see my name in the "d" in xda. :)

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Red Bull Racing Shows Texas Some Real Horsepower - YouTube

Have you seen this Facebook error?

Facebook_error
I got this error when I "Liked" a friends post from the side crawl. I hope that this is not the first of may errors with the new interface.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Thursday, September 15, 2011

People who don't follow the rules

Right now I am on a flight from Atlanta to Austin and I am reminded how bothered I am by people who don't follow the rules. I understand that no one is perfect and we skirt the rules from time to time. Personally I know that I speed occasionally and forget to use my signal every now and again, but even though I break the rules there is always a consideration of others that overrides what "I" want.
On this flight I have the misfortune of sitting next to someone that disregards the rules. Before we departed Atlanta he ignored orders to turn off his cell phone and iPad. He asked to go to the bathroom while we taxied to the runway. Now as I sit next to him, he air drums away at whatever music he is listening to on his noise canceling headphones. Arms flailing aside he doesn't seem that atypical from other traveler I have flown with in the past.
He isn't trying to be mean or rude, he just is. This reminds me of the saying that hate isn't the opposite of love, it's apathy. Most people don't piss you off because they want to, it's because they don't think. They don't think of how what they do affects others. They don't care if they are making your job harder for selfish reasons. They live in their own world where there is only one person that matters, and it's not you or me.
That's all for now. I just had to get that off my chest before an Air Marshall is needed to tackle me for slapping a man repeatedly for "no reason". I'll just sit here and bid my time for the next air drum session so that I can steal a peice of the arm rest he is monopolizing.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Friday, August 26, 2011

Must Watch: ‘Portal: No Escape’ | /Film

Portal: No Escape is a must see for everyone, but especially video game fans. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who has been directing commercials for the last few years, slowly working towards his feature film directorial debut. In May, he directed a horror short film “More Than You Can Chew” for Black Box TV, which got a bunch of people in Hollywood talking. Dan surprise premiered a new short film at Comic-Con, which was met with a standing ovation by the almost packed crowd. The film brings a grounded realism to this sci-fi concept, which is rarely seen in video game movie adaptations. Watch Portal: No Escape now embedded after the jump.

Trivia:

  • ?The movie stars Danielle Rayne, who has been working on tv for the last two decades, including a regular stint on All My Children.
  • If the strong female action character reminds you of Sarah Conner, it isn’t a coincidence — Rayne played Conner in the Terminator 2: 3D show at Universal Studios Hollywood.
  • Some of you might recognize director Dan Trachtenberg from his appearances on the /Filmcast. More people know Dan from his highly successful internet television show the Totally Rad Show.
  • Diggnation/TRS host Alex Albrecht has a cameo as one of the masked guards.
  • The film is scored by Mike Zarin, who is probably best known as the composer of the first Inception trailer (listen here). While Zack Hemsey gets most of the credit with his trailer song “Mind Hiest”, Zarin was the composer responsible for the now infamous “BRRRRRRRAAAAAWWWWRWRRRMRMRMMRMRMMMMM!!!” which not only the other Inception trailers built upon, but went on to influence Hans Zimmer’s approach for score for the film.
  • Dan’s brother David Trachtenberg edited the short. David has edited episodes of HBO’s “Funny or Die Presents…” and is cureently working on the upcoming Will Ferrell/Gael García Bernal comedy Casa de mi Padre.
  • Visual Effects Supervisor Jon Chesson has worked on the television series V, True Blood, Falling Skies and the upcoming film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Monday, August 22, 2011

Get to Know Social Media Club - Fliptop

Do you have a passion for social media unlike any other? Can you barely go by a given day without thinking of new ways to market yourself on Twitter? Do you spend most of your day scouring posts about Facebook and blogging tips?

Then it sounds like the Social Media Club is the place for you.

Social Media Club was founded in 2006 by two social media lovers just like you. Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells saw the rapidly changing face of online communication and knew there was plenty of discussion to be had if folks like them were to stay on top of it. So they formed the club, which rapidly grew to boast over 200 chapters on six continents.

What is Social Media Club All About?

Social Media ClubThe world of social media is always changing. And in a field so dependent on conversation, it’s natural that there is a means to propagate these talks. And Social Media Club is simply a way for like-minded individuals to figure out what the future of social media will be while discussing the finer points of today’s world.

It also naturally has pulled in some heavyweights of the industry.  Like Kellye Crane, of Solo PR Pro and co-chair of the Atlanta chapter.  Kellye has over 20 years of PR experience, 15 of those as an independent consultant working with Coca-Cola, IBM, and Microsoft, and is frequently listed as one of the top 100 PR Pros on Twitter.  Wesley Faulkner, of WordRipple, is on the board of the Austin chapter of Social Media Club and on the Advisory board of SXSW Interactive. Wesley’s experience spans multiple facets of the technology industry, from manufacturing to product development.

“Social Media Club was my haven when I first entered the world of social media.” Shared Wesley, “Just like start-ups have incubators, Social Media Club is a great place to learn. It makes the novice a leader and turns the good into greats. Many of the people in the industry can be traced back to a chapter of Social Media Club. The club doesn’t just help individuals. As the co-chair of nonprofit outreach we are currently working with A Glimmer of Hope to strengthen their social media presence. Their work touches countless women and children in Ethiopia. With new communication channels they are able to get their message across more efficiently, reach more donors, and help more people.”

Why You Should Join Social Media Club

The tagline for Social Media Club is “If you get it, share it.” We’re all in this together, so there’s no need to hoard and stuff away important bits of information, tips, and resources.  That’s what the club is all about – not feeling so alone as you’re surrounded by hundreds of digital colleagues and friends!

The ways such information is shared between members varies. For one, they have their own wiki, the Social Media Club Wiki. This is an online database of all the information gathered over the years, constantly updated to stay current. Another, is that social media professionals involved with the Club can “adopt” a blogger – they show them the ropes and some tips and tricks – they mentor one another.

On top of such innovative programs, members of the club enjoy updates on upcoming events, a total guide to all social media speakers throughout the world, listings of social media jobs, and even a book store. Between educating new bloggers, members write blogs for the site under different categories, including chapter news and social media education.

If you’d like more information on Social Media Club, visit their website and check out your local chapter. You’ll likely find a meet-up scheduled for the near future and slip right in the social media groove.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Friday, August 5, 2011

BMW Powered Twin-Rotor Hoverbike

BMW Powered Twin-Rotor Hoverbike

Every once in a while something comes along so crazy, so unearthly cool, we have to shout it from the rooftops. Today just happens to be that once in a while, so feast your eyes on the BMW boxer engine powered Hoverbike. Framed around an 1,170cc 4-stroke BMW boxer engine that powers the twin rotors, the Hoverbike was the brainchild of Australian inventor, Chris Malloy. Malloy claims that the Hoverbike’s thrust to weight ratio should enable it to elevate to 10,000 feet and reach a speed of 173 mph (this begs the need for a good parachute and industrial strength body armor). Yowza. The rest of the Hoverbike is a Kevlar reinforced carbon fiber and foam core frame and exotic Tasmanian oak propellers. All controls are handlebar mounted, including speed, pitch, turning, vertical and horizontal travel. Using most of his hard earned funds to build this atomic salad shooter, Mr. Malloy is looking for investors and fluid dynamics engineers to bring his dream to production. In the meantime, we’ll be holding out hope for a test drive flight. To see more photos of the prototype he’s developed so far, keep reading on the next page.





Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

‪Japanese way of folding T-shirts!‬‏ - YouTube

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Weird Circle Bug in Google+

I don't know why the totals on these two pages don't agree, but they are wildly different.

 

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Windows 7 Mac Transformation Pack


If you are a fan of look and feel of Mac OSX, then you can now get the same style on Windows 7 and Vista using Snow Transformation Pack. This transformation pack is a freeware which automatically replaces the system files in Windows and installs icons, wallpapers, screensavers, sounds and login screens, shutdown dialog box, and many other UI components which are very similar to Mac OSX and makes Windows 7 looks like a Mac.

We installed this pack on our Windows 7 PC and here are some of the screenshots.

1. Installation: For installing, you need to disable UAC in Windows. There are three modes of installation as shown in the second screenshot.

Snow TP

Mode of install

Install STP

2. After Installation: Reboot the PC to get the new look and style of Mac OSX

Snow Transformation Pack

Mac transformation pack

Windows 7 transformation pack

Features of Snow Transformation Pack;

  • Add applications to emulate Snow Leopard features like Dock, Spaces, Shadow, etc.
  • Change default logon screen background to default Snow Leopard wallpaper
  • Change system branding logo to Snow Leopard
  • Change system configuration such as taskbar position to look close to Snow Leopard
  • Change system icons and graphics to Snow Leopard
  • Change system theme to Snow Leopard

Important:

The application modifies system files and icons, so create a system restore point before installing the application.

Download Snow Transformation Pack

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Thursday, June 30, 2011

IBM develops 'instantaneous' memory, 100x faster than flash -- Engadget

You've got to hand it to IBM's engineers. They drag themselves into work after their company's 100th birthday party, pop a few Alka-Seltzers and then promptly announce yet another seismic invention. This time it's a new kind of phase change memory (PCM) that reads and writes 100 times faster than flash, stays reliable for millions of write-cycles (as opposed to just thousands with flash), and is cheap enough to be used in anything from enterprise-level servers all the way down to mobile phones. PCM is based on a special alloy that can be nudged into different physical states, or phases, by controlled bursts of electricity. In the past, the technology suffered from the tendency of one of the states to relax and increase its electrical resistance over time, leading to read errors. Another limitation was that each alloy cell could only store a single bit of data. But IBM employees burn through problems like these on their cigarette breaks: not only is their latest variant more reliable, it can also store four data bits per cell, which means we can expect a data storage "paradigm shift" within the next five years. Combine this with Intel's promised 50Gbps interconnect, which has a similar ETA, and data will start flowing faster than booze from an open bar on the boss's tab. There's more detailed science in the PR after the break, if you have a clear head.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Ford's Social Media Event Before The 2011 Austin Auto Show #FordAustin

From time to time I get invited to go to events where companies want to tap into social media. They usually do this to produce buzz about an event, product, or service. I always feel compelled to write something up when I go to these events so others can see a bit of what it feels like to be catered to. Most of the time it's an awesome experience. Some of the time, it can just be confusing. It's always interesting to see how others treat others when they want to influence them. My aim is to place as much media into these posts as possible, so you can see as much as I see.

I will also include a review of the event. Think of me as a social media critic. I will break down and highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is just as much for the people that read my blog and for the people that throw these functions so that they can learn, and improve. I hope this will also train me to pay more attention to the people in charge and leading the event, and not just on the message they are trying to give me. I am a natural translator, so I forget a lot of what people say, but retain what they meant.

This event is brought to you by Ford. It was separated into four distinct parts.

  • Meet-up at the Austin Convention Center
  • Escort to the show floor
  • Escort from the show floor to the Cedar Door (pub)
  • Test drives given right outside the Cedar Door

 

Meet-up at the Austin Convention Center

 

The Good:

I really like the diverse group of bloggers they brought together. Some of us have never met and I knew a few people from other circles that haven't met before ever. Some of us even followed each other but haven't met outside of twitter. That was awesome.

The Bad:

When I arrived there was no one to greet me. I wasn't even sure I was in the right place. There wasn't any signage at all. I walked up to people in the room and asked what they were there for to reassure me that I was in the right place.

The Ugly:

If you look through the pictures above you will notice the nice lady in purple. She was sitting at a desk right by the entrance and looked very official. When I asked her if I needed to sign in or anything, she had no idea what I was talking about and her expression matched her confusion. She wasn't overly rude, but it was not at all welcoming.


Escort to the show floor

 

via @RealAustin

 

via @be3d

 

via @joeymcgirr

 

 

The Good:

We were given free reign of the whole show floor, not just the Ford exhibit area. There were plenty of people on hand if we had any questions, but they didn't hover over us. Hank, the interactive robot, was awesome. Even if you discount the novelty of a talking robot, the operator knew their stuff. Hank was very knowledgeable about the Ford product and social media culture. The sound effects, commentary, and interaction were all top notch.

The Bad:

I wish we were given a short tour of the layout. There were a lot of things to see, and not all of it was self explanatory. Ford has a lot of models in their catalog so the cars that were there, were there for a reason. I wish I knew why they brought what they did and what went into that decision.

The Ugly:

We didn't really know how long we had to look at everything. There was a timeline given in the email invite, but that wasn't followed from the start. When it was time to leave it felt very abrupt. If we were given something like 15 minutes heads up that would have been so much better.

Escort from the show floor to the Cedar Door (pub)

 

via @LynGraft

 

 

The Good:

When we got to Cedar Door there was a private room waiting for us. The staff was great and we got excellent service. There was ample room to either stand and talk or sit and eat.

The Bad:

The food wasn't ready when we got there. Some of us came strait from work and then spent a fair amount of time at the convention center. That's a long time without food and I heard some complaints about that from the other bloggers. When we entered the private area we were not greeted or directed. I found the name tags at the bar and some blank forms next to them. I had to ask what the forms were for. There was a PR rep sitting at the bar. Her name was Lisa. She told me that it was a waiver form for the test drive.

The Ugly:

Towards the end of the night Lisa came by the table where I was sitting and asked if anyone wanted anymore drink tickets, and held out some tickets she had in her hand. She was visibly intoxicated. I said I wanted a ticket. She immediately yanked the tickets back and dangled it above me. She said she would only give me a ticket if I tweeted out the hash tag #FordAustin right then and there. This was totally demeaning and pissed me off. I felt like a trained seal forced to do tricks for some cold dead fish. I told her that I was no longer interested and returned to my conversation. What also made me feel devalued was the twitter contest around the hash tag. The person that sent out the 100th tweet with the hash tag #FordAustin won a prize. That person was me, and I won. The grand prize was a t-shirt. Guess what? We all got t-shirts. Way to make a guy feel special.


Test drives given right outside the Cedar Door

 

 

The Good:

We had three vehicles to choose from; the Explorer, Fusion, and Fiesta. Even with there only being three cars there was little to no wait to get into a car. We were allowed to go where ever we wanted, and how fast we wanted. The PR rep that came with me wasn't able to answer all the technical questions I asked, but he was smart enough to bring backup. He had a car salesman from a local dealership ride along and he knew his stuff. He was able to answer all my questions and show me some stuff that I would never think of asking. The awesome part, he didn't try to sell me a car!

The Bad:

The test drives really should have come before the free drinks. I am not much of a drinker, so this wasn't an issue for me.

The Ugly:

Nothing really ugly here. Good execution on the test drives.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Blog