Wesley Faulkner

Just now saw myself on @MackCollier's blog about live #Blogchat

2011-12-18T17:35:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-18T11:49:00.001-08:00

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.

My second week into #MovemberATX 2011

2011-11-15T22:39:00.001-08:00

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:

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.

One week into #MovemberATX 2011

2011-11-09T22:11:00.001-08:00

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:

And here is a picture of the after:

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.

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.

The time has come! #MovemberATX 2011 day 1.

2011-11-01T11:34:00.001-07:00

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.

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.

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.

Discover Financial Services can suck a big one!

2011-10-31T14:25:00.001-07:00

Reasons we can share your personal information Does 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. Yes No
For our marketing purposes–
to offer our products and services to you Yes No
For joint marketing with other financial companies Yes No
For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes–
information about your transactions and experiences Yes No
For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes–
information about your creditworthiness Yes Yes
For our affiliates to market to you Yes Yes
For nonaffiliates to market to you Yes Yes
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.

via discovercard.com

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.

The Lithium-powered TRON Light-cycle

2011-10-25T11:30:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-19T14:08:00.001-07:00

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!

via xda-developers.com

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

Phoenix Jones back on patrol after his dramatic unveiling

2011-10-17T08:04:00.001-07:00

via komonews.com

Jameela Jamil talks about nails inc Magnetic nail polish - YouTube

2011-10-17T06:53:00.001-07:00

Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera - YouTube

2011-10-16T18:00:00.001-07:00

29 years old and hearing myself for the 1st time! - YouTube

2011-09-30T09:58:00.001-07:00

Red Bull Racing Shows Texas Some Real Horsepower - YouTube

2011-09-27T20:50:00.001-07:00

Have you seen this Facebook error?

2011-09-27T20:39:00.001-07:00

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.

People who don't follow the rules

2011-09-15T16:20:00.001-07:00

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.

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

2011-08-26T07:36:00.001-07:00

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.

via slashfilm.com

Get to Know Social Media Club - Fliptop

2011-08-22T15:41:00.001-07:00

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?

The 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.

via blog.fliptop.com

Have you seen that Cat vs Printer video? Did you want to know what the cat was thinking?

2011-08-16T14:16:00.001-07:00

CorduroyCat17 Vlog #003- Sneak Attack! (Corduroy Cat vs Printer) - YouTube

BMW Powered Twin-Rotor Hoverbike

2011-08-05T09:07:00.001-07:00

BMW Powered Twin-Rotor Hoverbike

Source Gear Patrol de Amos Kwon
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.

via ientangled.com

‪Japanese way of folding T-shirts!‬‏ - YouTube

2011-08-05T09:01:00.001-07:00

Weird Circle Bug in Google+

2011-07-14T10:45:00.001-07:00

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

Windows 7 Mac Transformation Pack

2011-07-12T13:49:00.001-07:00

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.

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

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

via nirmaltv.com

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

2011-06-30T07:42:00.001-07:00

By Sharif Sakr posted Jun 30th 2011 12:01AM

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.

via engadget.com

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

2011-06-04T17:36:00.001-07:00

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.

This reminds me of the old epic Michael Jackson videos - Beyoncé - Run The World (Girls)

2011-05-20T05:09:00.001-07:00

Awkward Moment in the Workplace (NSFW)

2011-05-18T09:36:00.001-07:00

Awkward Moment in the Workplace

via break.com

My Thoughts: Is receiving birthday well wishes via text message and social media channels acceptable?

2011-05-04T05:25:00.001-07:00

Heck yeah! Thanks for the effort. I'll take anything I can get, and will be grateful for it.

To Mama With Love

2011-05-03T09:00:00.001-07:00

Last week I was appoched by Stacey Monk to help her and Epic Change relaunch To Mama With Love. You will see me and many others across the web writing about theirs mothers in a Mother's Day tribute. I have posted mine her on my blog, but I also have letters from my sister and her husban on my heart space. While on the site please look at the other heart spaces that honors mamas everywhere & raises funds to invest in grassroots women changemakers, like Mama Lucy.

To: My Mom

From: Wesley Faulkner

There are many things that I am grateful to my mom for. That would take way too long to whittle down in one letter so I am going to focus on what she DIDN’T do.

Mom, thank you for not thinking any question that I asked was stupid, or not worth your time. No matter the subject or relevance, you always answered, told me where to find the answer, or we would learn the answer together.

Thank you for not comparing me to my sister Mona-Lisa, or anyone else for that matter. When my teachers asked why I wasn’t as good of a student as her, you defended me and reminded them that we were two different people, and each did things our own way. When I was jealous of the kids that were stronger, richer, or more popular, you reminded me that I was special in my own way. NOT to compare myself, but to love myself.

Thank you for never boxing me in with gender roles of the baggage of my lineage. I meet people all the time that are restricted, not by their potential, but by their own self defeatist attitude. You never told me what I couldn’t do. You never told me that I wasn’t smart enough, talented enough, or anything that was out of my control. You allowed me to grow into the person I am today, and I really like that guy.

More love for you than I can show,

Wesley

Pictures from #GameOnTexas

2011-04-12T19:20:00.001-07:00

Held at the AMD campus.

Pictures from #GameOnTexas

2011-04-12T19:13:00.001-07:00

This took place on the AMD campus in Austin, TX.

Twestival Goes Local for 2011 « WhatGives!? Do Something Good…

2011-03-23T07:07:00.001-07:00

by Marijane Miller

Gather ‘round, children and listen to the story of Twestival…

Funny how things still so new, seem as if they’ve been around forever. Facebook is only seven years old, Twitter is five, and Foursquare is a mere toddler at just two years old. Twestival is another of those “old favorites” that is here once again, Thursday, March 24^th. This “Twitter Festival” began with Amanda Rose and a few of her pals sitting in a London pub in 2008, and has since expanded to over 200 cities worldwide, and has raised over 1.2 million dollars – every penny going to charity.

For the third Twestival, over 150 communities are hosting their own local event. “Local” being the key word this year. While in the past, Twestival held local events in support of one global charity, this year each city selected a local charity to receive all money raised at their event. So the energy (and marketing tools) of a multi-national event are combined with the passion for a local cause – whether local means small town USA or big city China. Organizers have no doubt that this will be the best Twestival ever.

WhatGives!? spoke with several of those organizers and came away – as always – impressed with the dedication and unbridled enthusiasm they have for the event. Lead Organizer for Twestival Honolulu, Ryan Ozawa, says, “I’ve been obsessed with and an evangelist for Twitter since joining in 2006, but have always heard the complaints that it’s pointless or silly. Which it is. But when the opportunity presented itself to participate in something global to harness Twitter (and other platforms) to do some real good, I absolutely wanted to be involved.”

Renda Lutz from the Des Moines, IA, organizing committee believed from the beginning that Twitter was a great way to promote an event and a charity. “I know the impact that Twitter has in the community. I’ve seen businesses grow just by using Twitter as their primary – or only – social media outlet.” She added, “Twitter can help philanthropies be wiser in what they do and wiser in who they reach.”

Austin, TX, Lead Organizer Wesley Faulkner is also a member of the South by Southwest Advisory Board. Many believe Twitter was basically “born” at SxSW in March of 2007 when its usage exploded at the conference. This year’s SxSW just wrapped and Faulkner made sure Twestival supporters and sponsors noticed the power of social media at that event. “We can use that awareness and get people to engage locally,” he said. Faulkner and his team will keep the momentum going after the event by having best photo and best blog post contests. A great idea that is sure to keep donations going afterwards as well.

One aspect that has definitely expanded this year is how the message has been spread. Although Twitter will always be the force behind Twestival, organizers are using every tool in their social media utility belt as well as a few old-school methods to build the buzz. Facebook, texting, blogs, email, radio, webcasts, local television, and, dare we say it, newspapers have all played a part in promoting the event. In Rochester, NY, organizer Rich Pulvino points out that as old media becomes more interested in social media, it becomes more open to reporting social media events. “Local reporters are more interested, and we can gauge their interest better because we get to know their personalities on social media.” Plus, “old media” isn’t old anymore when “people are getting their news through social networks, but the source of the information is the newspaper,” says Pulvino.

The causes for Twestival Local are as diverse as the cities that support them. The YWCA, an inner-city preschool, a blood bank, and Meals on Wheels will benefit from the events we’ve mentioned here. All are organizations that resonate with their specific communities and generate a real desire to give. There’s also the added bonus of bringing new supporters to a local organization. Faulkner points out that their benefiting charity also uses social media so “they can leverage what we’re doing to support their fundraising campaign.”

Oh, and did we mention how much FUN a Twestival event is? There is food and drink and music and raffles and contests and all the general fun-ness that happens when great people get together. Honolulu’s Ozawa points out one of the best parts of their event is the way it reflects the incredible diversity of the Hawai’ian Islands. “Our first Twestival had a mix of rock and soul musicians, our second emphasized women artists, and this year we’ve probably got the most eclectic mix yet, from a soulful singer songwriter to a beatboxer, giving us a sound ranging from traditional Hawaiian to rap!”

Pulvino is convinced that there will be Twestival events in every city in the US within the next couple of years. “We get to do something that’s going on around the world that also has an impact on our community.” Lutz adds, “Twestival takes people off-line and brings them together for local philanthropy and to make a difference.”

So, for goodness’ sake, find a Twestival near you and GO! Or donate! Or, if there’s not one in your community, why not start planning for next year right now?!

via whatgives.com

Free eBook: SXSW Pokes

2011-03-20T20:27:00.001-07:00

Now, more than ever, we need to Poke the Box. We need to stop waiting for a road map and start drawing one instead. We need to start doing the work that we’re capable of, the work that matters.

This past weekend, I attended SXSW. Not only was it a blast but I met a lot of ambitious doers who are poking the box. People who are starting projects, making a ruckus, and taking what feels like a risk.

We’ve collected some of the best stories and organized them into an eBook called SXSW Pokes. You’ll find 50 inspiring stories about taking initiative from accomplished entrepreneurs and up-and-coming stars. Download the free eBook.

From advertising entrepreneur Cindy Gallop to tech founder Loic Le Meur, from best-selling author Gretchen Rubin to professional storyteller C.C. Chapman, from eFlirt expert Laurie Davis to professional wingman Thomas Edwards. The eBook also includes Jenny Blake, Laura Fitton, Nick Reese, Sean Ogle, Becky Johns, Andy Drish, Steve Garfield, Rob Wu, Clay Hebert, Melissa Pierce, Amber Naslund, AJ Leon, David Spinks, Carla Blumenthal, Ari Greenberg, Jay Goldman, Nick Seguin, and others.

I hope these stories will give you the inspiration you need to Go Go Go.

Here’s the deal: the eBook is free. Please download it, tweet it, and pass it along to your friends. Feel free to make up your own riff and share it on your blog too.

ps – shout out to Becky Johns and C.C. Chapman for contributing awesome SXSW photos to the eBook.

via thedominoproject.com

SXSW 2011 Blacks in Technology Weekend Recap | Black Web 2.0

2011-03-14T21:22:00.001-07:00

SXSW Interactive is a hotbed of inspiration and innovation drawing hundreds of influencers in the technology space. For African-American techies, the place to be in Austin this weekend was the SXSW Blacks in Technology weekend. With a primary focus of encouraging networking, BIT weekend also seeks to continue the discussion on the state of blacks in technology.

The weekend began with keynote speech from University of Texas professor, S. Craig Watkins. The author of ”The Young and The Digital,” Watkins discussed expanding the conversation of blacks in technology beyond being consumers.

“The questions today are less about access and more about the quality of our participation and engagement with technology and how we are empowering our kids into becoming the masters of their technology universe.

The following video has a few highlights from this weekend. Check it out and share your thoughts in the comments section.

via blackweb20.com

SXSW Pokes - SXSW Poker #11: Wesley Faulkner

2011-03-09T06:45:00.001-08:00

Poker #11: Wesley Faulkner

In 2008 I went to my first South By Southwest Interactive Festival. Not for fun, but for work. I was working for AMD at the time, and they wanted me there for tech support. I have been to several conventions and I only met one of two kinds of people, the techie or the talkie. I have always been both and felt like a rare anomaly till that day. I met person after person that were both extremely smart and could carry on a great conversation. I felt like a veil had been lifted to a whole new world of creative thinkers and doers.

From that moment on, my life has been changed. Feeding off the knowledge and conversations like a pack of locust, hopping between social media conferences, meet ups, and clubs, devouring all that I could. I have not missed a visit to SXSW ever since.

This year, 2011, I am not just an attendee, but also a member of the SXSW Advisory Board. As such I now have the power to shape and influence the very thing that has shaped my life. Since that spring in 2008 I have gone on to fully embrace Twitter, start my own blog, lead the first ever Austin Twestival Local and soon start my own company, WordRipple.

—

Wesley’s experience spans multiple facets of the technology industry, from manufacturing to product development. He currently works at AMD as a Product Development Engineer and is the Founder of WordRipple.

via sxswpokes.tumblr.com

I was honored that my story was chosen to be featured.

NASA scientist finds evidence of alien life

2011-03-05T22:00:00.001-08:00

We are not alone in the universe, says NASA astrobiologist Dr. Richard B. Hoover. And he has the extraterrestrial fossils to back it up.
Aliens exist, and we have proof.
That astonishingly awesome claim comes from Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, who says he has found conclusive evidence of alien life — fossils of bacteria found in an extremely rare class of meteorite called CI1 carbonaceous chondrites. (There are only nine such meteorites on planet Earth.) Hoover’s findings were published late Friday night in the Journal of Cosmology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
“I interpret it as indicating that life is more broadly distributed than restricted strictly to the planet earth,” Hoover, who has spent more than 10 years studying meteorites around the world, told FoxNews.com in an interview. “This field of study has just barely been touched — because quite frankly, a great many scientist would say that this is impossible.”
Hoover discovered the fossils by breaking apart the CI1 meteorite, and analyzing the exposed rock with a scanning-electron microscope and a field emission electron-scanning microscope, which allowed him to detect any fossil remains. What he found were fossils of micro-organisms, many of which he says are strikingly similar to those found on our own planet.
“The exciting thing is that they are in many cases recognizable and can be associated very closely with the generic species here on earth,” said Hoover. Some of the fossils, however, are quite odd. “There are some that are just very strange and don’t look like anything that I’ve been able to identify, and I’ve shown them to many other experts that have also come up stump.”
In order to satisfy the inevitable hoard of buzz-killing skeptics, Hoover’s study and evidence were made available to his peers in the scientific community in advance of the study’s publications, giving them a chance to thoroughly dissect his findings. Comments from those who decided to sift through the evidence will be published online, alongside the study.
“Given the controversial nature of his discovery, we have invited 100 experts and have issued a general invitation to over 5,000 scientists from the scientific community to review the paper and to offer their critical analysis,” writes Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics scientist Dr. Rudy Schild, who serves as the Journal of Cosmology’s editor-in-chief. “No other paper in the history of science has undergone such a thorough vetting, and never before in the history of science has the scientific community been given the opportunity to critically analyze an important research paper before it is published.”
Needless to say, if Hoover’s conclusions are found to be accurate, the implications for human life will be staggering. Here’s to hoping that he’s right.

via digitaltrends.com

LG Optimus 2X - The worlds first dual core phone

2011-03-05T08:19:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on posterous

The Happiness Box

2011-02-26T21:32:00.001-08:00

Last October Tony Hsieh and the Zappos crew came to Austin. When I heard that they were coming to Austin I was very happy and excited. So much so I posted the news on my blog. When the day came to listen to his speech I brought my friend Bobby, who had never heard of Zappos or their culture.

The talk was great, message wise, but Tony seemed exhausted. He was very low energy. Bobby even commented to me afterwards that for a guy talking about happiness, he didn't seem that happy. There was a book signing immediately after, so I bought a book and stood in line. I previously listed to the audio book, so I had to buy a hard copy.

When I go to Tony he was even more muted than when he was speaking. He didn't shake any hands because he had open wounds on his palms. There was a picture showing the extent of his injuries. It was pretty bad. Since he couldn't shake hands I asked for a hug and he reluctantly obliged. I then asked him if say any of the message I sent him. He had no clue what I was talking about. There was a very cute young lady standing next to him named Mimi. She chimed in and said that she was Tony on Facebook, and that she managed that account. I felt very deflated.

Now I question how much of the Tony Hsieh persona is real, and how much of it is marketing. Last month I got a gift box from the book tour.

Don't get me wrong, I think that the gifts were very nice. They even took the time to personalize them. The message still resonates with me, but the lack of authenticity still stings a little.

SXSW Interactive Austin Mixer = Huge Success | SXSW.com

2011-02-23T11:31:00.001-08:00

We were all geared up and ready to get back home deep in the heart of it all, and boy, the ATX did not disappoint! Special thanks to Josie Fluri and all the amazing folks at The Ghost Room. Even the room's resident revenant took it easy for the night and seemed to enjoy kicking back and relaxing with good folks as much as much as the rest of us. Of course, we couldn't have done it without help from our public relations partner, Porter Novelli. Big thanks to Lisa, Leslie, Meredith and the whole Porter Novelli crew that helped us make the night special!

The turnout of smart, engaging people went a long way toward setting a fun vibe. Many great connections were made that night and we hope that the SXSW Interactive event in March brings you many more. Feel free to let us know if you have any remaining questions after the Town Hall. Thanks to everyone who came out last night, and we look forward to seeing you all IRL again in March!

Top photo: Wesley Faulkner surrounded by Porter Novelli staff and friends, Middle photo: Porter Novelli rocks the check in table, Bottom photo: (L-R) Noah Kuttler, Jared Hall, Emily Grundstad, and Colin Gilmore mix and mingle. All photos by Tammy Lynn Gilmore.

Posted by tammy on 02/22/2011 in Interactive News

via sxsw.com

I had a ton of fun at the mixer and learned some new things at the town hall. Great event all the way around.

Researchers unveil first mm-scale computing system | Health Tech - CNET News

2011-02-23T05:40:00.001-08:00

University of Michigan computer scientists and engineers are at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco today presenting papers on two systems: a prototype implantable eye pressure monitor for glaucoma patients and a compact radio for wireless sensor networks.

This prototype implantable eye pressure monitor is 1 cubic millimeter.
(Credit: Greg Chen)

What makes their presentation so remarkable is that both systems involve what is believed to be the first complete millimeter-scale computing system.

The near-invisible package is just over 1 cubic millimeter in size and includes an ultra-low-power microprocessor, a thin-film battery, a solar cell, memory, a pressure sensor, and a wireless radio with an antenna.

"Millimeter-scale systems...have a host of new applications for monitoring our bodies, our environment, and our buildings," said Professor David Blaauw in a news release. "Because they're so small, you could manufacture hundreds of thousands on one wafer. There could be 10s to 100s of them per person, and it's this per capita increase that fuels the semiconductor industry's growth."

The team points to Bell's Law, formulated by computer engineer Gordon Bell in 1972, which says that a new class of smaller and cheaper computers is developed roughly every decade. This is considered to be a partial corollary to Moore's Law, established in 1970 and named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore (first names coincidental), which describes the now 50-plus-year trend that the number of transistors able to be placed on an integrated circuit doubles every two years.

The new system out of Michigan is being hailed as the first in a new class of millimeter-scale computing, and while the researchers are specifically targeting the medical side of body sensor networks, other potential applications include tracking such things as pollution, weapons, structural integrity, and more.

The eye pressure monitor is designed not only for direct implantation but also continuous tracking of glaucoma, a disease that can lead to blindness. It incorporates the team's third-gen Phoenix Processor, which combines an extreme sleep mode and a unique power-gating system for ultra-low-power usage (averaging 5.3 nanowatts).

The system wakes every 15 minutes to take measurements and relies on 10 hours of indoor light or 1.5 hours of sunlight every day for full battery recharging. The team says the device could be commercially available in the next several years.

The researchers are also working on a radio with an on-chip antenna using an advanced complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process that allows them to control the antenna's shape and size, and thus its response to electrical signals. Because of this control, they can do away with the bulky external crystals that keep time and select radio frequency bands for communication between two isolated devices, thereby drastically reducing the size of the radio system.

The university hopes to patent these tiny-yet-huge developments, and is looking for commercial partners to help bring the tech to market.

Elizabeth Armstrong Moore

via news.cnet.com

Networking Tip: The power of eye contact

2011-02-21T07:15:00.001-08:00

This is my next tip that has helped me not only in networking, but also in general self confidence. Engaging on an intimate level can turn an introduction from meeting someone, to knowing someone.

This tip is pretty advanced and will be very hard to do. If you do choose to embark on this challenge it will change how you look at the world and test the core of your self control. Maybe I make it seem like more than it is. Just look into the eyes of a stranger. It sounds simple, but it is extremely uncomfortable if not done correctly. You could come off as a creep staring someone down like a mental patient.

Let me pause for a second to talk about the power of a look. You can turn a virtual dial from fear to comfort with a look. Note how a person reacts to a look. If someone can't look you in the eye that they are either distrusting, shy, or are hiding something. If someone can sustain prolonged eye contact they are very confident, trusting, and/or open. Controlling the look and reading the "response" is more art than science, so expect some trial and error.

Before using this at a networking event, practice for a bit till you feel comfortable. Make sure you are alone when you try this so you can keep focus. For the sake of time I am only going to discuss what I call the power look. To perform the power look lock eyes with some one on the same path, but traveling the opposite direction. For instance walking down a hallway at work or down a aisle at the grocery store. You must do this when the subject is as far as possible, and you must never break this gaze. Think of it as a game of chicken or medieval jousting. As you can imagine, this gets really uncomfortable really quick, but stay the urge to look away. Your heart will start to pump harder. Your adrenaline response will kick in, but don't break. Society's pressures will most likely cause the other person to avert their eyes first. This is when you know you have won.

At this point you are probably thinking that I am off my rocker. You might even know me and can't recall me doing this to you when we first met. As weird as this sounds most people have no idea what I am doing, and wont ever remember me doing it. I have to admit that I am pretty good at it now that I have been doing this for years. What this technique does is tap into primal urges and basic instincts, like fight or flight. When you try this you will see what I mean.

What do you do after you "win" this fake game that the other person was unaware they were playing? Well one of two things will happen. After a person is defeated they will either keep their eyes in another direction until you two have passed, or curiosity will over take them and they will look up to see if you are still staring back at them. I would say about 80% the latter is the case. This is what you want. At that moment give that person a warm welcoming smile. Trust me, you will get a smile back almost every single time.

When you feel ready whip this move out at your next networking event. The only modification is that after the smile you introduce yourself. You will be amazed what kind of conversation you will have after. I have a few theories why this works so well, but I won't get into those here. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

I hope this tip helps when you attend your next networking event. What tips do you have? Does this help? Leave a comment and let me know.

Networking Tip: It's ok to be alone

2011-02-18T07:15:00.001-08:00

I love to go to networking events. It's what I do for fun really. I have, over the years, come up with a few tips that have helped me attend event after event with ease. I hope to share a new tip every so often.

This first tip seems strange, but it is crucial. One of the biggest hurdles to get motivated to go to an event is the fear of not knowing anyone there. Being in a foreign environment with a bunch of strangers can be a little unsettling. Just like a lion can smell fear, awkwardness gives off its own odor. Not being comfortable in ones space is not very welcoming. What you have to remember is that it is okay to be alone.

Personally I don't like to go to the movies or eat alone, but I wouldn't be a wreck if I had to. There are several tricks to overcome this problem. My favorite is to be hyper aware of the surroundings. Memorized the door, the floor, the light fixtures, the chairs; everything in the room. Act as if you will need to describe the scene to the police. This will relax you and engage your mind so you don't get board. It will also supply you with possible conversation starters.

I hope this tip helps when you attend your next networking event. What tips do you have? Does this help? Leave a comment and let me know.

Digital Savant Podcast #1: Wesley at SXSWi | Digital Savant

2011-02-13T20:47:00.001-08:00

Digital Savant Podcast #1: Wesley at SXSWi

By Omar L. Gallaga | Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 04:06 PM

Here goes!

This is my first attempt at a Digital Savant podcast. I have no idea if this will become a regular feature or what format it may take, but with the good graces of my editors, I’ve been allowed to give it a shot. Let me know what you think in the comments or e-mail me if you have tips, feedback or ideas for future audio segments. Be gentle: we did this in a single afternoon and tried to keep the editing and production very light and the length of the piece under 20 minutes.

In the clip, I chat with Wesley Faulkner, an Austin techie who is on the South by Southwest Interactive advisory board, about his experiences at the festival, how he navigates it and the best ways to get the most out of the experience. Wesley’s a friend, but he’s also well-known at the fest for seemingly being everywhere at once, making lots of connections and having a great time every year.

Other show notes from our chat:

SXSW Interactive website.
Plancast, a tool for the fest.
Sched.org, the venerable calendar site.
Hashable, a beta iPhone app.
The very dashing Pete Cashmore of Mashable.
Robert Scoble, a tech blogger we mention a few times.
Salt Lick, the place you don’t want to go unless you want to lose a day of the fest.
TechKaraoke 2011.

The best way to listen to the podcast is to download it in AAC format and play it in iTunes or Windows Media Player or on your podcast-compatible portable player to see images and embedded info. You can also download it in MP3 format. Both are about the same size, 8 MB.

AAC podcast format (8 MB).

MP3 format (8 MB).

We’ll try to get this and hopefully future episodes up on iTunes at some point.

via austin360.com

I was honored to join my friend Omar Gallaga on the first ever Digital Savant Podcast. He is awesome to listen to, so I hope to hear many more episodes in the future.

Contest Winners: How do you use your Klout for Good? 2nd Edition « Measuring Online Influence: The Official Klout Blog

2011-02-11T20:22:00.001-08:00

Contest Winners: How do you use your Klout for Good? 2nd Edition
February 11th, 2011 by Ashley Jacober

The results are in! Congratulation to @wesley83, @steeldryver, @davepeck, @saving4someday. We will be in touch to get you your free spot at the Social Media All-Star Double Header Webinar to Benefit My Mom.

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How do you use your Klout for Good? 2nd Edition

by Klout, 5 hours ago

Contest Winners

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We had a great response in the #KloutforGood contest, thanks to everyone who participated!

CONTEST: How do you use your #KloutforGood? 2nd Edition http://bit.ly/K4Good2

klout February 10, 2011 at 12:31

Check out how our four winners use their #Kloutforgood

Sweeping the contest was @wesley83

I use my influence to raise awareness about Twestival, and other great causes. #KloutforGood http://bit.ly/K4Good2

wesley83 February 10, 2011 at 14:14

@steeldryver is also helping out @JEFFin140's mom

I use my #KloutforGood by tweeting out when a friend like @JEFFin140 needs help http://bit.ly/K4Good2 #usguys

SteelDryver February 10, 2011 at 12:59

I use my #KloutforGood by tweeting about others, their successes & not my own! http://bit.ly/K4Good2

davepeck February 10, 2011 at 14:16

@saving4someday tweets to help kids

I use my #KloutforGood by tweeting abt gr8 ppl that help kids, like @Childhelp @Amber_Alert & @TavernDirect http://bit.ly/K4Good2

saving4someday February 10, 2011 at 13:08

Thank you again to everyone who participated! We hope you continue to share and discuss on how you are using your Klout for good.

via klout.com

My apperance on CNET's "The 404" Episode 080

2011-01-30T09:19:00.001-08:00

While doing a search for my name on YouTube I came across this old show. It was a great time. Those guys were so much fun.

Social Media Breakfast Austin TX • 1/12/11

2011-01-30T09:10:00.001-08:00

This was my talk at the SMB Austin prediction event. My predictions for 2010 can be found here: http://www.socialmediabreakfast.com/austin/2009/12/17/share-2010-social-media...

I got a little emotions in the middle of this speech and totally lost my train of thought. I had no idea that the memory of that day would affect me as much as it did. My mom was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I lost about 80% of my relatives that day in 2010.

So to cut to the chase, my prediction for 2011. I predict that charities will leverage their user/subscriber base to generate real dollars from companies that are also in the same space. Social media is a powerful bullhorn for nonprofits and the people that follow them. That same communication base can be harnessed for targeted marketing.

Spam from Amazon? Food Delivery Service Launched

2011-01-26T11:56:00.001-08:00

Hoping to expand its web cornucopia, the Financial Times reports Amazon is planning a home grocery delivery service. Between FreshDirect and other delivery services, competition's stiff, but there will never be too many ways to be fed by the internet.

A pilot program, AmazonTote, has already been rolled out in Seattle—offering "low-priced goods, such as health and beauty, babycare and groceries"—and all in a reusable, weatherproof bag, with no delivery fee. Heaven! With Amazon Prime, the site's become my high carbon footprint alternative to walking to the drug store for toothpaste, so this is really the next logical step. I look forward to a tote filled with popcorn and popsicles arriving at my door next time I'm feeling snacky. [Financial Times (sub required) via TechFlash]

via gizmodo.com

IBM Centennial Film: A century of achievements that have changed the world (Video)

2011-01-25T12:17:00.001-08:00

Great video if you can watch it all the way through.

Matrix 4 and 5 Rumors are Bogus! | Moviehole

2011-01-25T09:34:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we reported that Keanu Reeves allegedly showed up at a prestigious UK performing arts school to talk to it’s students about the art of ‘acting’ and, it seems, update everyone there on his future projects. One such project/s Reeves was said to have mentioned was a fourth and fifth “Matrix” film. According to the AICN scooper who tipped Harry Knowles off, Reeves had spoken to The Wachowski’s just before Christmas about the films – both of which would be shot in 3D.

But seems Harry got had.

Somewhat surprisingly – it wasn’t that hard to swallow the idea of Joel Silver and/or Warner Bros wanting to do 3D sequels one of it’s biggest ever films and consequently, franchises – EW spoke to Reeves reps who debunked the rumours of the “Matrix” sequels being in development. But there’s more, Reeves wasn’t even at the London International School of Performing Arts.
Screen Rant got in touch with the brass at the educational institution who confirmed that Reeves had not been a guest. “The Senior Administrator for the London International School of Performing Arts informed me that Keanu Reeves made no appearance there, assuming that’s the correct school”, says the site.

via moviehole.net

As Promised: Here is a picture of the license plate I saw today

2011-01-20T15:55:00.001-08:00

I love Office Space and obviously this guy does too. :)

How Klout plans to fight spammers

2011-01-15T23:15:00.001-08:00

Last November I found a flaw in the Klout service and wrote this blog post Can you trust Klout's accuracy. Since then I have been in touch with the CEO of Klout, Joe Fernandez. He was kind enough to grant me an interview. This interview is rather extensive so thank you in advance for taking the time to read it. As always, any feedback you might have for me is welcome in the comment section at the bottom.

Wesley: I have a couple of questions but before I get into those, do you want to talk about the changes, improvements that you've done to Klout since my original posting?

Joe: Yeah, definitely. We put ourselves out there and we want to be the standard and that's a lofty claim but, we make our scores out there in public so that people can give us feedback. And we look at it as positive that at least we're relevant enough for people to care and we've hired the team up around wanting to be the best and keep working on this.

In terms of your feedback specifically which was clearly spam accounts with high scores, that obviously doesn't make us look great and something we take extremely seriously. And it's a challenge, because there's so many variations on what a bot is and what a spammer is, that for us as a small team to handle and let alone even Twitter as a big team still struggles with it, but we're definitely somebody who has background from Myspace on the team and Myspace certainly is no stranger to spammers. We're building classifiers that look at behavior and we've come up with a bunch of things that we think help identify spammers more than even what we had before and we've been slowly rolling those out.

I wish from our conversation till now all that was in production but we have to do a lot of testing on our end that were not ‑‑ that the false positives are acceptable basically.

Wesley: And are you able to talk about any specifics on what you're doing to combat spammers or what's in the works or what you're testing?

Joe: We really rely on machine learning and so what we've been trying to do is dig through Klout and dig through Twitter more broadly and better, kind of see what spammers we can stumble on ourselves and throw down our classifications rules and took up more and more patterns of what Twitter spam looks like so that we can just get better at identifying it. If you're interested in more of a technical discussion I could definitely get one of our scientists to kind of talk about it.

And I would say kind of beginning of January to middle of January you'll start seeing much more of that actually hit production. We hope to even have an API that a thousand companies could make an API call and send us a name where we could tell them if we know it's a spam or not.

Letting other people leverage the work we're doing also.

Wesley: Well Twitter obviously has mechanisms to identify spam. There's a button that says this person's a spammer or report to spam and they also suspend accounts. Are you working with them directly to use or to leverage some systems that they have already in place so you're not reinventing the wheel, or what kind of relationship do you have with Twitter in general, I guess, to help make your process a little bit more efficient?

Joe: So it's funny and, we're actually in the same building as Twitter. They're just right above us, so we certainly know those guys and chat with them. We've talked to them about this in the past and it's an ongoing thing for them and an ongoing thing for us. We've had discussions and kind of got in some guidance but there's not an official working relationship where they're sharing their insights right now with us. And kind of the reason before was they were stretched really thin and so were we, so it's like intercompany collaboration isn't necessarily something from a formal process that anyone's very good at yet.

So we're ‑‑ we kind of, at least right now, are a little bit on our own here.

Wesley: Even with that, what about ‑‑ for instance, the issue that I had specifically. The account was actually suspended by Twitter but yet it was still up on Klout. Are you pinging the service more or do you have access to the back end to know when an account has been suspended? Is that part of your daily refresh? Since you're going through scores daily, is that something that you check for?

Joe: There are multiple different API feeds from Twitter. There's the kind of streaming API, which is just the message sent out and then there's the rest API to get social graph information.

And how our service works, we're taking the streaming API and we're looking at all the retweets and interaction, the path messages and content people create on a daily basis and calculating daily scores off that. But the problem is a suspended account is just not going to create new data, but there's no way for us to tell who didn't create new data because they have a suspended account or they're on vacation, without going and hitting the other API of Twitter. And we do that but it's on a rolling basis because they won't let us hit the whole user base every single day.

Wesley: Right, right. That's an internal restriction I know that they have.

Joe: Yeah, so we hit those accounts on a rolling basis and as we hit people, we get info on whether it's a suspended account or if the name has changed or all these different factors and then they get handled in some way.

Wesley: Uh‑huh.

Joe: It's always been actually one of our biggest challenges is cycling through that and so that's basically where the issue comes down to and I we're working with them and working internally to make that faster but that's just kind of why that issue is right now.

Wesley: So this is a little bit of an inside baseball question but what would be the restriction of having a business agreement with getting the firehose from Twitter? I know they have formal agreements with other companies to allow them to have access to the firehose. What is the restriction or what is the difficulty of getting that for Klout?

Joe: There's a lot. All I can say ‑‑ we have a ‑‑ there's an agreement which let's you actually not really talk about it. Basically if you're doing something valuable in the ecosystem and your business shows that there is a real need for that level of data, and most companies actually don't need that much data, they're very open to conversation and will try to work with you. Everyone's different and that they're actually pretty strict. If I was advising another company on how do I get access to the Twitter firehose, I would say if you're doing something that's got enough traction both in the market and are interesting enough and a benefit to the overall ecosystem, they'll talk to you but generally I think a lot of people think they need firehose access and they really don't.

Wesley: Okay.

Joe: Part of this access is actually like, in a lot of ways, a burden just because how much freaking data it is and it's like ‑‑

Wesley: It's basically replication on their database onto yours so I know that's a lot to deal with, but I can understand the restrictions there as imposed on both sides not just getting the access but handling it once you do. Going back to the previous statement about how accuracy is so important, I sent a message to Phil Hotchkiss who I believe is your chief product officer and I have yet to hear from him. Do you know if he has an official stance on what accuracy is and how your company plans on improving the product to increase accuracy?

Joe: Phil's much more intense around getting to the bottom of every single issue and has the team running reports and doing huge analysis to understand the impact of things and it's definitely brought a different level of importance around that to everyone's daily procedures. And now's the time because we are much more in the public spotlight and people expect that and, we wanted that so since he's come on, it's been great.

Phil: We are always trying to make our score better. Regarding your question about bots in particular, this is an area that we are focused on and we will soon be releasing a new algorithm designed to deal with bots. Interestingly, not all bot accounts are bad actors. Our research uncovered bot accounts that are intelligently designed to curate content that people find useful and that drive genuine action. People follow these accounts, re-tweet and comment on content that is bot generated and click on associated links. So the issue of bots is not as black and white as it may appear on the surface. We take the accuracy of our score very seriously and we will continually iterate our algorithm to combat bad actors in whatever form they take.

Wesley: Speaking of Klout and scores and reputation, by any chance do you monitor your own Klout score?

Joe: Yes. I check everyday. I check everyday mainly from a QA standpoint where I know my own data really well and I know how the algorithm works. I'll even complain that I had a big day yesterday, why did my score only go up this much ‑‑ so from that standpoint, I definitely monitor everyday and then just from a competitive standpoint in the office, you know, like if we go out to get a drink or something we try to make the guy with the lowest score pay or things like that. So it's fun from that standpoint too.

Wesley: I know in the past with some users who had high Klout scores ‑‑ I'm not sure if you still do it now ‑‑ that you would expose them to extra features. And I'm just kind of curious on what that magic number is that you expose those features to and what are those extra features?

Joe: Yeah, we haven't done that in a really long time. I can't remember the last time we did that, but we used to do it all the time. It would be interesting to bring that back now. I wonder how people would react.

In terms of what score it was, I don't know that we ever set one. We used it to roll out new features and to scale them in terms of feedback so it was kind of a sliding scale where I would start high and I would keep inching the bar down.
The reason we abandoned it was just an extra layer in getting stuff out and managing that process and we just wanted to move faster, so we just abandoned it.

Wesley: I can understand why that sounds like it's not very automated.

Joe: Yeah, you have to build controls to do it and then you've got to have admins handling it and then you have to message it and the changes we've made in the last, I don't know, six or eight months have been impactful enough that we wanted to get them out as quickly as possible to everyone possible.

In the new year we're spending time on two things; our accuracy and the second is really the way we look at the consumer site. It's what it is right now and I think people enjoy it, but we've never put the attention on it.

We've always had to spend so much of our time on the platform like how do we handle this much data versus how do we make it fun to play with and engaging and useful. So we were excited to circle back. There will be more features to Klout.com and it might make sense to do fun stuff and roll it out in interesting ways.

Wesley: Speaking of features and scores, if we move on to Klout perks, I've noticed that it seems like there is a layer of data that's not exposed to users but may be exposed to brands, and that's just me looking at it as an engineer.

Joe: Yeah.

Wesley: For instance, looking at the most recent Tangle promotion from Klout perks I noticed that some people with lower scores the perks were available but some people with higher scores, it wasn't available so I'm guessing there's an extra layer of data that was added into that. I was wondering if you could share a little bit about what kinds of data is not exposed and how you use that for your promotions.

Joe: So a couple of things. There's definitely data there, but we use the data. The brands actually don't pick who gets in and who doesn't, we do. The brands just trust us to get the best group of people to drive away on this, whatever the campaign is, but the things we look at are three factors.

One is geography, the Virgin one was a great example where Virgin came to us and they only wanted people in San Francisco, L.A., or Toronto so then we got all these messages from people pissed off because they had high Klout scores but they live in Boston or wherever and they just didn't fit the campaign. Disney actually picked cities that they wanted us to focus on. Everything always has this geographic layer and we need to probably message that better. We keep trying to figure that out.

But the second is, what type of person it is, like a conversationalist or a curator.

We do look a little bit at that more and more but like the New York Times somebody who's a curator who just shares lots of links, it doesn't really make sense to the Disney movie. We want people who are conversationalist or networker or specialists, people who talk. There's multiple ways to get to a score of 50, let's say. It could be because you share a lot of links and people love it, because you share really great content or because you engage in a lot of conversation. For perks, conversations are what are valuable so we use that for a layer of targeting.

And then the third thing is we do look at topics. Internally we have topic scores so, like the one with Audi right now and they want people influential about cars, design, technology, kind of things like that so your score might be like a 20 overall but when it comes to design, you're influential and you would be a perfect person for the Audi campaign.

And that's not shown on the site at all, but again we're putting more emphasis on the public site and we're excited to expose more of that. And the fact our ability to do that is what's got these brands really excited and why they're coming back and now doing multiple campaigns because of the quality of that data.

Wesley: Now you mention topic scores so how influential someone is on a specific topic and you also mentioned location in different regions. Do you have Klout scores for different regions? For instance, someone in Austin might be very influential in Austin but nationally not very influential, like especially if we're talking about, let's say, a local paper or a local blogger who only writes about local events. Is that a score that you keep track of at all?

Joe: So maybe ‑‑ and it's funny, we were just having a huge conservation about this yesterday where right now we'll look at your location and then your score might be 62 but that, for Austin, is super high. There's not a lot of people above that. What we don't do is re‑normalize the score so that you're a 62 across the world but 100 in Austin.

It's just like you're a 62 and that's high in Austin versus you're 100 in Austin and 62 ‑‑ and we were debating on what's the right way to handle that, like more scores are more confusing in some ways but it's also kind of cool. We're taking LinkedIn data and it would have your score for how influential you are in your company or from your school or in your town. There's lots of ways to layer this on and we're thinking of it in that way but how we construct that and kind of play that externally is still in progress.

Wesley: Okay. So it's under consideration basically.

Joe: Yeah, it's fun because we're right in the middle of it all. We have feedback from customers, feedback from brands, our own internal thinking and trying to mesh those together and make decisions. There are a lot of nights of beer and pizza in the office arguing about all the directions we could take. We get such great feedback from people like you and all these blogs but we also have to balance either puting out fires all day everyday or pushing towards the longer vision of making our service really important. So it's an interesting time. It's cool.

Wesley: Awesome. It sounds like a really good environment there and creativity and pushing that ball forward is what moves the whole company forward and something I admire actually but previously we were talking about tools, some that you have internally and some externally I'm curious what tools do you show the brands to help them increase their Klout score?

Joe: To help brands increase their Klout score? We really don't have much. We pretty much direct them to Klout.com. When we do the campaigns, we'll give the brand a report to show them how the campaign went and what happened and close the loop as much as possible there but I wouldn't say we have like a pro version of Klout that gives special insight at this point.

It's funny though. I think if you Google Klout phone number, my cell phone comes up. So I'll get these really crazy calls. A company called me the other day and said, we just got in our Twitter account; I want to run our first tweet by you to make sure it won't lower our Klout score. So brands and companies definitely want to know how to be more effective and have a better Klout score, but we haven't done a great job or really any job at coaching them.

Wesley: The reason why I ask is because on your website, when you click under the section for Klout for brands and business, it kind of gives that impression.

Joe: Yeah, I think there was an aspirational writing there.

Wesley: Okay, all right. And I was talking about ‑‑ speaking of brands, I was talking to a friend who works at a pretty big brand here. I was looking at his Twitter stream just a few minutes ago before our call and I notice that he sent out a message about Klout and it seems like there's back and forth between you and him. I gave him a call and I talked to him on the phone for a little bit and his question has to do with Klout members, people who have actually registered an account with Klout and non‑Klout members. He was curious that it seems to be people who register with Klout will have a higher Klout score than people who don't register with Klout. I was wondering if you can speak on whether that is true or not true.

Joe: It's hard to say because there's people that have high scores or low scores on both buckets, I suppose. What does happen is, people who are registered for Klout, they get processed more from the social graph side. Everyone get's the streaming processing the same amount but, we use like our REST rate limit more on the people who are registered because they're coming back to the site and interacting with it and to have a better experience.

What we have found in the past that there was some skewing of scores because we were just getting more information about those people so it wasn't necessarily that they're favorited, it's that the score is more accurate. We get more information about them and so we're constantly working to balance between good user experience and accurate scoring, and always leading towards accuracy but that's what they might be seeing.

Wesley: Speaking about Twitter, since a registered user has linked their Klout score to their Twitter account, do you factor in direct messages in your calculation of Klout? For instance, publicly I might not speak with someone who has an extremely high Klout score but back channel via DM, I might speak with them a lot. Does that factor at all into Klout calculations?

Joe: Not at all, and we talked about this a lot internally. I think it would be a great signal for us but just because we get access to DMs through Twitter we are always worried about how people would feel about us looking at their private DMs and just decided that it wasn't worth risking pissing people off. We thought through how the whole thing would be handled and we just haven't circle back.

Wesley: Okay. So that was just something that was a design decision after deliberation and at this point you just haven't revisited it yet.

Joe: Yeah, I think it can be done if it's handled on the front end where we let people opt in or opt out. In the past we have pinged our friends and had informal discussions, and deep discussions with you and get feedback from other people. It's a mix of people who want us to do it because they think it'll help their score versus people who don't want us to do it because that's their private messages. We just made that decision to not deal with it.

Wesley: Well, that's a safe choice. Going back to Twitter and other tools and registered members and not registered members, you mentioned previously that you're going to be rolling out a LinkedIn connection also?

Joe: Yeah, so you can see if you sign in and go to your dashboard, it'll prompt you to add LinkedIn and if you register now you get prompted for LinkedIn at sign-up. We have been doing that for several months, and with Facebook too before we rolled out the scores so it's in the data collection stage.

Wesley: Do you have some of the same API limitations with LinkedIn as you do with Twitter? Meaning that you have restriction to access certain types of profiles that the registration allows you to and that's the reason why you require people to not just register LinkedIn account but to attach to it?

Joe: Both LinkedIn and Facebook have way more speed bumps before you can get access to anyone's data. We need that permission granted and then there are limits on how much we can pull and it's definitely tougher but we're building the relationships with the companies there that we hope are going to open those doors a little wider, but the way we think of things here is we want to be the standard. We want to be very public facing, both to consumers and partners like Facebook and LinkedIn so we act somewhat conservatively in terms of always being a good ecosystem player where we want to limit the surprise of what they think we're doing as much as possible and we want our partners to know we were very careful around the terms and services and build personal relationships. That's why we moved into Twitter's building. You'll see some interesting news in the coming months that'll set these relationships in a little bit more context, we're just very conscious of those kinds of things.

Wesley: What would you say to someone who feels that they're very influential but they've never registered with Klout and they have a seemingly low Klout score than someone who may be less influential but have linked all their accounts through Klout, and has a higher score? What would your response to that person be about their score and the reason why it's lower?

Joe: There's here are definitely realities where there's scores that I see and I say, no way. This person's score should be either higher or lower and I'll send that right away to the data team and ask, why is this score so low or so high. We have a model based approach here so that stuff gets fed into the model and, whether the feedback's from me or anyone is great.

I know that the idea that your score is lower because you haven't hooked your Facebook and LinkedIn account could be confusing, I suppose, or even worse put into question the quality of what we're doing but unfortunately it's just the reality of where everything is. We haven't been beaten up too bad on that at this point and maybe it's coming but that's something that though we're working again like the relationships with those companies, the Facebook, the LinkedIn, the YouTubes, the Foursquare that those limitations are going to disappear over time and that's not a long period of time. There's definitely push on our side to make stuff better.

Those companies are coming to us now and they want us to crawl their data and will work with us to do special business relationships that don't box us in to having to making deals with every single person in the world.

Wesley: I've noticed that a lot of companies are coming on board and especially a lot of the client software with moderating the social space. I'm just curious as to for the data for Klout it seems primarily to be based on material that is sourced from that person. One example that was brought up that I saw that Oprah Winfrey has a relatively low Klout score and she's a very influential person. Do you happen to plan on bringing in offline data or data not exactly associated with their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profile to add up to the calculation to compute the Klout score?

Joe: Actually internally we call it the Warren Buffett problem where you put Warren Buffett's name in Klout and it's a zero but obviously he's super influential and we look dumb. We talk about it a lot and it's definitely something we plan to address I would say probably in the second quarter. Right now our focus is data issues we're dealing with now and perfecting that, but that's definitely second quarter next year when we'll get really serious about that.

Wesley: Well it sounds like the service is going to be evolving continuously in giant leaps over the next year or so, so I look forward to writing a year from now another story about how far Klout has come.

Joe: It's funny because in March/April of this year, we were basically three people and we're considerably more people than that now, but a lot of that work of all these new guys haven't even hit production yet and so there's this backlog of innovation that hasn't been seen outside our office yet.

We're continuing to really ramp up who we're bringing in and the way we think about this stuff and our own internal expectation and so I'm excited to see where we'll be in a few months. Our score is everywhere and we're trying to be the standard and we put ourselves out there. While we know it's not perfect and that it's a work in progress and we take heat for that. At the same time I think there's a lot of value in getting the feedback and being out there and so I just hope when we do get that chance for people to maybe not give us an easy pass right now but let us prove that we can keep growing.

Wesley: Well, just out of curiosity and with all the features you're rolling out, do you have anything planned, speaking of influencers, for South By Southwest specifically?

Joe: South By's the most fun week of the year and everyone always rolls a bunch of stuff out. I don't know specifically yet, but we have to do something cool and it's coming up so quick. We'll do something. I don't know whether it'll be an event or a product thing or a partnership but we'll definitely do something. I have no clue yet what that will be.

BD Horror News - Warner Premiere's 'Mortal Kombat' Tourney Goes Websides!

2011-01-15T16:49:00.001-08:00

So much for the proposed Mortal Kombat remake that Warner Bros. Pictures had hoped to get off the ground. Still, fans of the bloody battle are in for a treat as Bloody Disgusting learned that director Kevin Tancharoen - who directed the awesome online short - will return behind the camera for a 10-episode web series dedicated to the popular video game. Penned by Tancharoen, Todd Helbing, and Aaron Helbing, star Michael Jai White leads the cast as "Major Jackson 'Jax' Briggs. Shooting will take place in Vancouver this coming February. Contested expected to be cast are: Shang Tsung, Liu Kang, Sub Zero, Durak, Kabal, Kitana/Mileena and of course Scorpion. No release date is planned, and there's no word on that R-rated remake. The only plot details we could conjure up is that a few Earthlings will fight to save the planet from Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung, two Gods ruling over parallel universes, or something to that effect.
Source: Bloody Disgusting

via bloody-disgusting.com

Exclusive: AMD and Intel team up to create a new Acer desktop!

2011-01-14T12:57:00.001-08:00

This is actually a print error in today's Fry's ad.

LinkedIn + Facebook = BranchOut ?

2011-01-13T08:54:00.001-08:00

It's a fact that 80% of new jobs come through direct networking.

BranchOut helps you expand your career network to include absolutely everyone you know on Facebook. It's an incredibly powerful tool — but also a lot of fun to explore.

Every time a Facebook friend joins BranchOut, you see where they used to work, where they work now, and where their friends work. You'd be surprised how many connections you have at companies you've always wanted to work at — all through friends of friends. If you're looking for your dream job, these connections can open the door.

Not only that, you can help your friends get the jobs they want and make yourself look good while you do it. Have an open position you need to fill with the perfect candidate? Post it to our job board and take the guesswork out of hiring. Your friends can recommend people they know and trust.

BranchOut brings career networking to Facebook.

The BranchOut team is passionate about social media, online recruiting and building social applications that improve the lives of millions of users. And we should be since we have been doing that for the past decade.

The team is proud to say they're almost entirely Tickle alumni. A pioneer in social media and viral growth strategies, Tickle was the undisputed leader in online quizzes (from authoritative IQ tests to fun personality quizzes to career assessments). And it wasn't just top 20 Internet site with close to 200 million users and $40 million of annual revenue at its peak — Tickle was an incubator for other successful online business models such dating and photo sharing. After Tickle was acquired by Monster for over $100 million, Rick Marini, one of its co-founders, hand-picked a top-flight team — from over 80 Tickle employees — to continue innovating and they formed a new company called SuperFan.

SuperFan built multiple music- and entertainment-focused social networks and social games and ran a consulting tier called SuperFan Solutions which specialized in building social apps and games for world-class brands on the Facebook Open Graph. Top tier clients have included Universal Music Group, Sony Music, MTV, CBS, and Warner Bros Music. Our portfolio includes projects for Lady Gaga, Jersey Shore, LeBron James, Britney Spears, Linkin Park, Weezer, Dwight Howard, MTV's The Hills, and many more.

Although SuperFan was a profitable company with top-tier clients, the team looked to innovate again and launched BranchOut which leverages their decade of experience in social media (Tickle), online recruiting (Monster) and Facebook apps and social games (SuperFan). BranchOut is the culmination of that experience and the most exciting project they have ever worked on.

via branchout.com

FG SQUARED – Wesley Faulkner: Social Media Engineer

2011-01-09T13:53:00.001-08:00

Can you think of someone in your business or social circle that you’ve seen around for months, you’re not sure who they are, but you feel like you need to know them? Maybe you’re not sure if they are necessarily a future business contact, but you sense you need to introduce yourself just to find out who they are? Wesley Faulkner is that person you see everywhere where there is a gathering of techies or social media enthusiasts. He’s exactly the kind of talented individual who embodies the best of the Austin interactive community and someone I made sure that I got to know.

In my view, Wesley Faulkner stands out in the Austin community as one our most valued members. He’s an engineer for a major technology company in the city and he’s also a vital member of the group of creatives and techies that make Austin the great community that it is.

You’ll run into Wesley at meetings of the Social Media Club, the Social Media Breakfast, at the Kickball Tweetup, the Austin American Statesman tweetup and just about anywhere you’d find active members of the interactive community. Wesley is literally everywhere. We’ve teased each other that we are stalking each other because we cross paths so often.

Wesley’s bio on Twitter really captures what I think makes him a very important member of the Austin interactive community: “Tech enthusiast and social chameleon. I’m looking for friends not followers. Let’s chat and get to know each other. Search #GTKWW for more.”

Like a lot of us in the social media and interactive community, I have a host of favorite groups I participate in and places online and off where I tend to congregate with people who have similar interests to mine. It seems that I run into Wesley Faulkner almost everywhere I go; which makes me think I’m attending and joining the right groups. Mainly, though, I’m glad I made the effort to meet Wesley online and in person and to become his friend.

via fg2.com

I forgot about this post by Mike Chapman. Maybe I should resume my #GTKWW posts. What do you think?

Elizabeth Hasselbeck: Sarah Palin's Crosshairs Ad 'Despicable' (VIDEO)

2011-01-08T11:28:00.001-08:00

Sarah Palin's gun sight-riddled campaign map is so militant that it's even lost her the support of "The View" co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck, who called Palin's behavior "despicable."

After "View" co-host Joy Behar said the map, which features white and red gun sights drawn over districts whose Democratic representatives voted for health care, "looks like an al Qaeda Christmas card" Thursday, Hasselbeck -- who campaigned with Palin in 2008 -- spoke up in uncharacteristic agreement.

"This hasn't been a great week in terms of, I think, the Constitution and where it says that you're supposed to, you know, everybody is, has a mandate to have insurance. But I think the way some Republicans are handling this is nothing more than purely despicable," Hasselbeck said. "The names that are next to and being highlighted by those crosshairs -- I think it's an abuse of the Second Amendment. I also feel as though every single person on here is a mother, a father, a friend, a brother, a sister, and to take it to this level is -- it's disappointing to see this come from the Party, and I would hope that leaders like Sarah Palin would end this."

After some crosstalk from the other "View" co-hosts, Behar thanked Hasselbeck for repudiating the GOP's implicit support for the increasingly violent behavior directed towards Democrats. "John Boehner should take a page from your book," she said, pronouncing the House Minority Leader's name "Boner." "Republicans are not speaking out against this and you may be the first one to do it, and I salute you, my girl."

via huffingtonpost.com

The coolest table EVER! (Video)

2011-01-08T08:44:00.001-08:00

via dbfletcher.com

Austin Eavesdropper: Bleet-Up Videos!

2011-01-06T10:37:00.001-08:00

Bleet-Up Videos!

Check it out!
Our friends at Shoot Good Media made these awesome recap and concert videos for the Bleet-Up party last month at Whole Foods. Ahh ... memories.

via thataustingirl.blogspot.com

Viral Video Lands Homeless Man With "Golden Radio Voice" A Job Offer With Cleveland Cavaliers

2011-01-05T11:24:00.001-08:00

A homeless man with a "golden radio voice" turned into a viral sensation yesterday and has now received a full-time job offer and a house from the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to the New York Post.

Ted Williams, the soon-to-be former panhandler, reveals in the viral video that he went to school to develop his incredible radio voice before drugs and alcohol became a part of his life. He's clean now, however, and his hopes of radio and TV stations calling upon him for voiceover work have seem to come true.

The Ohio Credit Union League has also offered Williams $10,000 for his voice, says The Columbus Dispatch – whose videographer created the original video.

Check out Williams's great radio voice below:

And check out his new makeover here:

via businessinsider.com

I can't wait for Tron to start!

2010-12-16T20:13:00.001-08:00

Movie Trailer: Thor

2010-12-14T18:13:00.001-08:00

via hulu.com

Statesman Texas Social Media Awards 2011

2010-12-06T21:45:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the 3rd Annual Statesman Texas Social Media Awards

Do you know a social media rock star who lives in the Lone Star State? Make a nomination!

Nominate your favorite person, company or group, and we'll pick the Top 25 social media winners and throw a big bash for them in March (much bigger than in years' past). An overall winner will also be named at our awards party. All of our past winners came from public nominations, and it's no different this year. Check out the list of the 2009 and 2010 winners.

The nominations period will run through Jan. 12, 2011.

via statesman.com

Please do not vote for me, there are plenty of people other than me that could really use it.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Have you been wondering why I look like Rick James?

2010-11-29T18:02:00.001-08:00

This is my second year doing Movember. If you are not familiar with it, you can read about it here: http://us.movember.com/

Movember is a movement to raise money and awareness for men's health issues. Specifically prostate and testicular cancer. My team and I are chronicling our journey on our blog here: http://austinfightscancer.com and on twitter here: http://twitter.com/movemberteamaus

There is only two days left in the fundraiser and today is almost over. I have been a little slow in getting the word out, for that I am sorry. What you can do to help is donate just $1. I am only asking for $1 because I need more participation rather than the amount of the donation.

All it takes is a $1. Thank you again, and here is the link to donate:

http://us.movember.com/mospace/216027/

Q: How much of this video is CGI? (Spoiler Alert A: 100%)

2010-11-17T10:48:00.001-08:00

Alex Roman is some kind of wizard. I suspected it when I saw his jaw-dropping CGI mini-movie The Third & The Seventh, but after watching his new 100% computer generated commercial, there's simply no other explanation. My brain is goop.

In the comments of the Vimeo video, Roman explains:

Asking your questions; yep, it's all CG -same process as T&S- I tried to put some live-footage shots but i run out of time so CGI did the trick :P

Whole production was 2 and a half months for the initial concept to the final editing; two people: Juan & me.

While Hollywood CGI is getting more and more impressive every day, you can almost always tell that it's not real. Some microscopically incorrect movement will betray the artifice of the image, or the light won't play off something in quite the right way. That is not the case here. There was nothing in this clip that raised in me even a hiccup of doubt that I wasn't looking at the world which I inhabit. The real world. And this guy is sculpting it, by himself, on his computer. Nuts. [Vimeo

via gizmodo.com

Dress Your Lady in Tubes and Neon Water

2010-11-17T10:19:00.001-08:00

You could describe Charlie Bucket's Fluid Dress as "flowing," but not in the usual sense—it's a garment made from six hundred feet of knitted tubing, pumped with neon water that dances in a beautiful ballet. It's kinda unbelievable.

Of course that incredible choreography comes courtesy of a backpack-sized pump that has to be attached to the dress at all times, perhaps taking a bit away from the elegance of the ensemble. I imagine it might be hard to Foxtrot with an ectoplasm-pumping Proton Pack strapped to your back.

From the looks of things, Charlie's been working on the dress since June 2009, but seeing it in action it was definitely worth the effort. [Casual Profanity via BoingBoing]

via gizmodo.com

Spiderman: the magic of pencils

2010-11-15T20:51:00.001-08:00

via spiderman-ravi.blogspot.com

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Can you trust Klout's accuracy?

2010-11-14T19:35:00.001-08:00

For those of you not familiar with Klout, in short, it is a service that rates the influence and reach of someone in the social media space. Klout looks at Twitter and Facebook accounts, and will soon add LinkedIn to determine a user's Klout score.

There are several companies out there trying to quantify people so that companies know who to target to get the best results for their marketing efforts. A PR friend of mine directed me to a recent post from Peter Shankman (of HARO fame), who praises Klout on providing "real information." Real? Really? I'm just not convinced. But maybe it's me.

I knew that the system wasn't perfect, but the issue that really put things into focus for me was on October 29th when I went to Klout's homepage at http://klout.com and was presented the following image:
If you see the image in the square on the far right, with the name RYE_BREADY, it may look familiar. Anyone who has been on twitter for a while will recognize it as a spam bot.
I wanted to verify if this was indeed a spam bot, and how they were able to get such a high Klout score, so I clicked through. The profile link was here, but has been removed by Klout after they were made aware of its existence: http://klout.com/Rye_Bready I took some screenshots before it was removed.

Her stats are on the thin side. She also only has one badge. This gets even stranger, and also adds weight to my argument that this might be a spammer. I checked out her twitter profile.
That's right. It's suspended! Makes you kind of wonder about the scoring huh?

From speaking with other members that have a Klout account there are more discrepancies that add doubt as to the accuracy of the service. The "influenced by" and "influencer of" sections. Many people have told me that they are very wrong, if never updated. I for one have person in the "influenced by" section that I haven't had contact with in months. When I contacted support for assistance they where not able to resolve this error after three tries.

The mystery on how they get their scores and determine who influences who makes it impossible to verify or reproduce. The service and its algorithms are a black box. There is no way to tell where the service is, where it was, and if there are any improvements in the future.

Through a personal contact at Klout I was introduced to Megan Berry who is a Marketing Manager there. First off, I would like to say that Megan was extremely helpful and very responsive. She informed me that the problems with spam accounts is something that Klout is very aware of, and is a problem they are still trying to solve.

I am not sure exactly if the examples I have given above negates all the work that they have done to quantify clout, but it does show that they do have a way to go before their numbers can be fully trusted.
I hope that the people at Klout take their accuracy seriously. Phil Hotchkiss, the Chief Product Officer, has made accuracy his number one mission, but he has yet to reply to my inquires. If you have used Klout please share your experience in the comments below.

Special thanks to the following for all their help with this post:
@ckieff @aqiylah @MisoHungry @davidgiesberg @TheJenATX @luannsaid @gregarious

See and download the full gallery on posterous

My Movember catch-up post. Please help :)

2010-11-11T21:51:00.001-08:00

This is my second year doing Movember. If you are not familiar with it, you can read about it here: http://us.movember.com/

We are in our second week and I am way behind. I have been taking a picture each day, but haven't had the time to post them till today. As you can see the mustache is coming in nicely. Some of you helped me out last year and now I ask you again for your help. If you have it in you to donate please use the link below to give what you can.

For all my friends that have not given yet, I would love to have you involved.

All it takes is a $1. Thank you again, and here is the link to donate:

http://us.movember.com/mospace/216027/

Seriously folks. If you think $1 is not enough you're WRONG! Donate $1 and I'll love you forever.

TRON: LEGACY Official Trailer # 3

2010-11-09T10:26:00.001-08:00

Smokey Robinson Breaks Cracker Barrel Color Barrier With 'Now and Then' Album - Spinner

2010-11-02T09:08:00.001-07:00

Rick Diamond, Getty Images

Though commonly thought of as a Southern eating institution, Cracker Barrel has recently been offering up exclusive country music release to its customers -- until now. This week, legendary R&B singer Smokey Robinson becomes the first African-American artist to put out an album with the restaurant chain, which has faced plenty of charges of racism and discrimination over the years. Naturally, the feat that isn't lost on Robinson.
"I'm the first black artist they've ever done," Robinson tells Spinner. "It's like a milestone for me and for them. They're trying to dispel their image of being bigots and all that stuff. They've had that image and they're not really like that. I went to Nashville, which is their headquarters, and their employees and hiring practices are very diverse. But they started out being just a white thing. I don't know, back in the day when they first started out, they could've been prejudiced."

Cracker Barrel

Listen to Smokey's 'Now and Then' Free
For their first offering, Robinson put together an album called 'Now and Then,' which culls six tracks from his 2009 album, 'Time Flies When You're Having Fun,' as well as six recently recorded live renditions of classic Robinson tunes such as 'I Second That Emotion,' 'The Tracks of My Tears' and 'The Tears of a Clown.'
"When you're a singer, you voice is your instrument, and when you take care of yourself, everything else will fall in line," the 70-year-old Robinson explains of his longevity. "I run, I walk, I've always had a good diet all my life. I haven't eaten any pork or red meat since 1972."
Indeed, Robinson has been quite active over the last year. Check out his performance at Spinner's SXSW Soul Revue and you can see that it seems like he's probably passed on plenty of free biscuits and gravy offerings.

via spinner.com

To @LarryChiang, a direct complaint regarding the "Reverse VC Pitch Party" #reverseVC

2010-10-30T23:55:00.001-07:00

I went to Larry's Reverse VC Pitch Party at SXSW 2010. It was one of the worst events I have ever attended. The expectations for the event was set early, right on the registration page. http://www.eventbrite.com/event/543006146

VCs are here to charm you.
Normally, you pitch VCs. Well at this event the VCs will be pitching you. Think of it as Sadie Hawkins night for entrepreneurs.

From the quote above and the name of the event I thought, for some strange reason, that VCs would pitch me. If you don't know what a VC is check out this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital

In general the VCs invest in young companies with the hopes that when they grow up the companies will make them a lot of money. So really if all goes well it's a win-win situation, theoretically.

Now back to my experience. I paid close to $60 for my ticket for this event. Seeing as I wanted to get my money's worth I showed up about 20 minutes early. The Pitch Party was held in the back room of Roy's, a restaurant next to the Austin Convention Center. As I made my way to the back room I noticed Larry Chiang sitting in the restaurant with several women. I figured he was finishing up a dinner meeting before the party. At the registration desk there where two lovely ladies that help me sign in.

Neither of them knew what the agenda was for that night. That's because it was never given to them. I figured I was early and that Larry should be in shortly to give all of us the skinny. As I waited, more and more people showed up. We talked and we ate the food that was provided, but nothing other than that was going on. After 15 minutes after the start of the event I decided to talk with the registration desk again. There was no new information, but it was suggested that I speak with Larry, who was still sitting at his table in the restaurant.

I took their advice and walked up to the table. Here is what transpired.

Me: Larry I just have a quick question.

Larry: No! You had plenty of time to text me before this! This is my time now!

Me: I just wanted to know...

Larry: Give me a minute. Give me a minute! Give me a minute!!! GIVE ME A MINUTE!!!!

He was obviously going through something, so I walked away. I waited by the registration desk and gave him a minute. I waited another 15 minutes, and he never approached me. While I was waiting two women came out of the event and join me at the registration table. I over heard them talking. One wants to leave, and one wants to stay to see if any others will show up. That's what happened, one left and one stayed.

I chatted up the lady that stuck around. Turns out that she was one of the sponsors for the Reverse VC Pitch Party. She was part of a group that supports women entrepreneurs. She wanted to see if any more of her members would show up. She was not at all happy with how things were going. We discussed weither we should leave or stay. That's when I chose not to just sit back and take it. I was going to go back into that room and make VCs pitch me, and she was with me.

I came up with a plan. Walk up to the attendees and if they where a VC to go to the front of the room, and if they where an entrepreneur to go to the back of the room. That's just what I did, and told them that the pitching would start in 15 minutes. I was almost done with talking to everyone in the whole room when I felt someone grab my arm. It was Larry.

Larry: What are you doing?

Me: Organizing your event.

Larry: When you throw your own event then you can organize it. This is my party. VCs are telling me that they are going to have to start pitching. I told them that they wouldn't have to do anything.

Me: Well isn't that the point?

Larry: Either stop what you're doing now and we can be friends, or leave now.

Me: I came to have VCs pitch me, and that's what I want to happen.

Larry: Did you pay?

Me: Yes.

Larry: How much did you pay?

Me: I don't know, about $60.

Larry: I'll give you $100 to leave right now.

Me: Um... Okay.

Larry: Fine, here's $100. Now leave.

(He then grabs my arm again and pulls me towards the door)

(I wiggle free)

Me: Hey! You don't have to man-handle me. I said I'll leave.

Larry: Then leave.

(I start to work my way through the crowd, then I remeber my helper. I really need to tell her I'm leaving.)

Me: Oh, I need to tell...

Larry: No leave now!

(He puts his hand on my back and pushes)

Me: Okay, okay!

(We make it to the front desk. I lean over and say...)

Me: Thank you for all...

Larry: LEAVE!

(He grabs me, and now we are on our way through the resteraunt. A few feet from the front door, he jolts me to a stop.)

Larry: Let's take a picture.

(There was a photographer in the lobby and she takes a picture.)

Larry: Now that's what it looks like to be kicked out of my party.

I left. That was the first time I have ever been thrown out of a party. I was mad, but at least I got a story out of it, and made money at the same time. I moved on to the next party. I talked to some people later that night that knew Larry. I wanted to get their take on the guy. The person I talked to had some mixed feelings about him. He was described as really bad at times and great on other occasions.

The next day I was back in the Convention Center. I was in the hallway talking to one of the SXSW volenteers when around the corner Larry comes around.

Larry: Did you like that?

Me: Like what?

Larry: Me kicking you out of my party.

He then walked away. That was his last words to me. His Reverse VC Pitch Party was not as published. It was just an unstructured networking event in which he charged VCs, entrepreneurs, and took money from sponsors. To me, that sounds like a scam.

Thank you @Klout for the shirt

2010-10-29T14:52:00.001-07:00

Last month I was one of the winners of a twitter contest run by Klout. You can see the rest of the contestants that won here: http://wesleyfaulkner.com/the-winners-what-influence-means-to-you-the-o

I have had nothing but good experiences with Klout. They are very responsive via twitter and e-mail. If you don't already have a Klout account i would get one today. Sign up here: http://www.klout.com

Baby Works iPad Perfectly. Amazing Must Watch!

2010-10-29T07:26:00.001-07:00

Talk about a manufactured artist - This Rocking Lead Singer is a 3D Hologram (video) | Singularity Hub

2010-10-29T07:23:00.001-07:00

1972Share
Hatsune Miku isn't real, but her popularity is.

The internet is such a big place that sometimes I stumble onto huge trends that I’ve never even heard of before. Case in point: Hatsune Miku. She’s a Japanese pop diva who’s just started to play massive stadium concerts to sold out crowds. Her hair is blue, she dresses like Sailor Moon, and she’ll only appear in concerts via a 3D ‘hologram’. Oh, and did I forget to mention that she’s completely fictional? Created by Crypton Future Media, Hatsune Miku is a virtual singing avatar that you can purchase for your PC and program to play any song you create. She and her virtual colleagues have gone on limited tours in Japan and virtual avatar song writing is a growing trend all over the world. Surprising? Perhaps, but the thing that really blows me away is that I actually like her songs. Check out Hatsune Miku’s performance of Stargazer in the video below. Not bad for JPop.

Watching Miku sing live is pretty amazing. The 3D ‘hologram’ isn’t that impressive, it looks to be a modern version of the pepper’s ghost illusion we’ve seen before, but the crowd reaction is intense. I’ve been to concerts where the band’s fan base was considerably less enthusiastic. How must it feel to be a musician and see this virtual character getting way more love than you? Hatsune Miku and her ‘friends’ may only have played a few tours, but there’s little doubt that these guys are rock stars:

In order to create a character that sounds believably human, Crypton uses a real person’s voice as the basis for the avatar’s distinct singing style. The adaptation of someone’s singing voice into a character that a user can program to sing anything has lead to controversy. Real musicians have been loathe to step forward and submit their voices for fear that they’ll be replaced by a virtual copy of themselves. Instead of professional singers, Crypton has hired cartoon voice actors to provide the basis for their avatars. Miku is reportedly created from the voice of Saki Fujita.

The technology for Crypton’s Hatsune Miku program comes from Yamaha’s Vocaloid software which provides the means to create a realistic synthesized singing voice. You can hear samples of the raw Vocaloid synthesizer (which hasn’t been styled to fit any particular character like Hatsune Miku) on its website here. Miku and other avatars retail for ¥15,750 (~$193) and allow users to compose music and connect it to vocals note by note. You can share the songs you create via sites like Piapro (JP). Writing music for virtual avatars has become so popular that Crypton has established a music label, KarenT, and you can see many of the associated music videos for these songs on their YouTube channel.

It’s hard to quantify how large of an impact Vocaloid software is having on popular music. Yamaha doesn’t directly market the software itself, instead relying on licensed developers like Crypton (in Japan) and Zero-G (in the UK) to sell various products based on the technology. There are many sites like Piapro where users can share their work, and many simply skip forums and go straight to YouTube. There are various blogs and sites dedicated to discussing the Vocaloid phenomenon (I recommend you start with Vocaloidism), and there are karoake and music-composing video games featuring some of the most popular avatars.

It seems clear that virtual characters like Hatsune Miku are on the upward swing of their popularity. Crypton’s avatars have played several live concerts in the past year. Miku’s first ’solo’ performance took place on March 9th, and was titled Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39’s Giving Day – this is where the Stargazer performance was recorded. DVD and Blu-ray copies of the performance are set to be released globally, and there have been screenings of the concert in San Francisco and New York. The tour coincides with the release of the Hatsune Miku Project Diva video game from Sega.

Having just been introduced to the Vocaloid scene, I’m sort of in awe. Not by the quality of music – some of it is good, but mostly it’s pretty generic mainstream stuff. No, I’m impressed by the possibilities created by such virtual avatars. YouTube is already full of videos where users mix and match songs to various pieces of art, and remixing/sampling is a global music phenomenon. Now, these secondary source musicians have a whole other tool in their belt. They can have high quality virtual characters sing whatever they want. Modern technology is merging producers and consumers of art into a new being – the prosumer. Avatars like Hatsune Miku are accelerating that process, allowing us to generate more quality content on our own, and share that content with anyone via the web. In the future we will all be a part of this exchange of creative prosumerism. Ask not for whom the 3D hologram pop star sings – it sings for thee.

[image credit: Segabits]
[video credit: Miku39GivingDay]
[sources: AnimeNewsNetwork, Crypton, Vocaloidism]

via singularityhub.com

Finally!! A Look At Chris Evans In His CAPTAIN AMERICA Costume!! -- Ain't It Cool News

2010-10-28T10:12:00.001-07:00

The cover of this week's Entertainment Weekly brings us a look at Chris Evans as Captain America - in costume.

The images originates HERE, where EW previews what you can expect from their upcoming coverage.

via aintitcool.com

Walgreens Sells Android Tablet for $99 : AndroidSPIN

2010-10-27T10:01:00.001-07:00

Walgreens, the pharmacy that acts as a last minute shopping stop for Christmas, is now going to be known for selling a cheap Android tablet. Maylong, famous for their GPS units, has introduced the Maylong M-150 Android tablet. This tablet is only available for purchase online for a whopping $99 from Walgreens. The Android based tablet will have a 7 inch LCD resistive touch screen.

M-150 Specs

Android 1.6

Cpu ARM9(VM8505+)

Memory 256MB DDR

WIfi 802.11b/g

Display 800×480 pixels

Built in speakers

Sd card slot, not micro sd.

Weight 12oz.

For more information on the M-150 tablet, check out the Maylong Group website. Sources are saying this tablet will not see anything more than Android 1.6, but that is not for sure. If you are interested in more information please check out the source below.

Source Androidtablets.net

What do guys think, is it worth the $99 price tag or will it just be another gadget that collects dust?

via androidspin.com

Antoine Dodson's Commercial For A Sex Offender Tracker App.

2010-10-25T18:13:00.001-07:00

Synapse-Phones Introduces configure and build to order Android phones

2010-10-22T10:58:00.001-07:00

Synapse One

299,00including VAT

The Starting Specs are:

Operating System:

Android 2.2

Processor:

1Ghz

Display:

10.16cm, 4,0-inch SuperLCD multitouch-sensitive screen with 480x800 WVGA resolution

Speakerphone:

Three built-in microphones
(Telephone, camera and noise-reduction)

Sensors:

Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor
Accelerometer sensor
Compass

GPS:

AGPS

Buttons:

Four capacitive buttons under the screen
Power button
Two volume buttons on the left side
Camera button on the right side

Bluetooth:

2.1

Expansion Slot:

microSD memory card(SD 2.0 compatible)
Up to 32GB card support.

Body material:

Aluminium with ambientlight

In Box Content:

Main unit
Battery (as selected)
MicroUSB Cable
Charger (Voltage range/frequency: 100-240V AC, 50-60Hz)
RF Brochure
Product Safety & Warranty Statement
Quick Start Guide

3 years worldwide warranty
Shipping starts in the middle of Q1 2011.
We are shipping to the EU, U.S., Canada.
And now it is your turn to select the Hardware you want.

via synapse-phones.com

How it works

Step 1:

Think about for what you use your smartphone and what you will do with it. For example if you are someone who loves to take thousands of pictures, you can choose the 12MP camera and a xenon flash for taking pictures at night or under bad lighting conditions or if you want to store your whole music collection on your smartphone just choose a high amount of memory.

Step 2:

So now that you know what you want, go to "Configure/Preorder now" and select everything you need.

Step 3:

And this is our turn to build your smartphone and deliver it to you.

Kinect for Xbox 360 - The official launch TV ad campaign.

2010-10-22T09:45:00.001-07:00

Will the changes in Google Groups move people to Facebook Groups?

2010-10-22T09:09:00.001-07:00

Google Groups owners have received an email from Google today that details some changes that are going to happen in a few months. And sadly there are no feature additions -- they're all things that Groups will be phasing out.
So, starting in January 2011 you will no longer be able to create or edit customized welcome messages, pages or files. Such content already on your groups will become read-only. By February, these features will be turned off altogether.
Google has created an easy way for you to export all this content into a ZIP archive. You can do so by going to your pages or your files homepage on your groups and clicking Download all pages or Download all files.
As for alternatives, while you clearly won't be able to find one for customizing welcome messages, Google does recommend using Google Sites for page creation and Google Docs for file storage. Pages made in Google Sites and files uploaded to Docs can be shared with the members of your groups. While these solutions probably require a bit more work than the features that are in Groups today, and may not integrate as well with Groups, at least they're still under the Google umbrella -- if that's worth anything to you.

via downloadsquad.com

VA Textbook Claims Blacks Fought For South In Civil War. Source? The Internet. : NPR

2010-10-20T12:12:00.001-07:00

by JJ Sutherland

WILLIAM PHILPOTT/AP
The American Civil War Memorial. It carries the names of over 208,000 African American Civil War veterans. They fought for the Union.

A new Virginia textbook for 4th graders claims that "thousands" of African Americans fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, a claim that nearly all historians of the era reject. From the WP:

The issues first came to light after College of William & Mary historian Carol Sheriff opened her daughter's copy of "Our Virginia" and saw the reference to black Confederate soldiers.

"It's disconcerting that the next generation is being taught history based on an unfounded claim instead of accepted scholarship," Sheriff said. "It concerns me not just as a professional historian but as a parent."

The writer of "Our Virginia: Past and Present," Joy Masoff, defends her work. When questioned by the Post on her sources her publisher provided three web links. All of them citing work by Sons of Confederate Veterans, a Tennessee group that has long claimed Blacks fought for the South in large numbers. Their argument is really based in the idea that the war was not about slavery, but rather southerners defending their homes and way of life. Huh.

It is only one sentence in the book, "Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson." Every single historian contacted by the Post found the claims, well, repellent.

"It's more than just an arcane, off-the-wall problem," said David Blight, a professor at Yale University. "This isn't just about the legitimacy of the Confederacy, it's about the legitimacy of the emancipation itself."

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson of Princeton University said, "These Confederate heritage groups have been making this claim for years as a way of purging their cause of its association with slavery."

Now, I'm not saying the Internet doesn't know everything, but when you're writing a history textbook, checking your sources might be a good idea. I'm just saying.

Egads.

via npr.org

‘Diminished reality’ software removes objects from video in real time | KurzweilAI

2010-10-19T11:19:00.001-07:00

Diminished reality: before and after (Technische Universität Ilmenau)

Researchers at Technical University of Ilmenau in Germany have developed “diminished reality” software that can delete an object from live, full-motion video.

The software first reduces the resolution of the object, removes the image, and improves the result (similar to using a smudge tool in Photoshop), then incrementally increases the resolution, improving the result, until the original resolution is restored.

[+]
To remove an object from a video, just draw an enclosed loop around it (from video by Jan Herling)

It repeats that for each frame of the video in real time, delivering the final image in 40 ms.

Applications include city planning, interactive film and television, and engineering design. The software is initially available for Windows.

It will be introduced at the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) in Seoul, October 13 to 16.

Adapted from materials provided by Technische Universität Ilmenau

via kurzweilai.net

OpenPandora: The hand-held console emulator

2010-10-15T20:25:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the official website of the Pandora Handheld
The most powerful gaming handheld there is.

ARM® Cortex™-A8 600Mhz+ CPU running Linux
430-MHz TMS320C64x+™ DSP Core
PowerVR SGX OpenGL 2.0 ES compliant 3D hardware
800x480 4.3" 16.7 million colours touchscreen LCD
Wifi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth & High Speed USB 2.0 Host
Dual SDHC card slots & SVideo TV output
Dual Analogue and Digital gaming controls
43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad
Around 10+ Hours battery life

via openpandora.de

Official Google Blog: Google says Goodbye to: 1-800-GOOG-411

2010-10-08T14:30:00.001-07:00

Back in 2007 we launched 1-800-GOOG-411, a voice-powered directory assistance service that connects you quickly to businesses across the U.S. and Canada. On November 12, 2010, we will shut down the service.
GOOG-411 was the first speech recognition service from Google and helped provide a foundation for more ambitious services now available on smartphones, such as:
Voice Search - search Google by speaking instead of typing.
Voice Input - fill in any text field on Android by speaking instead of typing.
Voice Actions - control your Android phone with voice commands. For example, you can call any business quickly and easily just by saying its name.
Our success encouraged us to aim for more innovation. Thus, we’re putting all of our resources into speech-enabling the next generation of Google products and services across a multitude of languages.
If you don’t use a smartphone, and you’re trying to call a business, you can send a text message with the name and location of the business to 466453 ("GOOGLE") and we’ll text you the information, or on Gmail you can use the new phone-calling features to call any U.S. business free of charge. Also, if you don’t have the free voice search app pre-installed on your phone, you can download it here.
Thanks for all the calls, and keep an eye out for all the innovation to come.
Posted by The GOOG-411 Team

via googleblog.blogspot.com

AT&T’s early upgrade smartphone program detailed. Spoiler: they made it $125 more expensive « Boy Genius Report

2010-10-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

Here is what we have just found out… AT&T recently modified their early upgrade program for smartphones, and due to smartphones becoming “increasingly more sophisticated” — and the cost of the devices increasing — AT&T has increased their $75 early upgrade fee to $200. That means a BlackBerry Bold 9700 that would have cost you $275 will now cost you $399. Quick messaging and basic phones are not subjected to the new change. AT&T told employees that, “This change to our exception pricing is necessary to maintain our ability to provide customers with the best selection of devices and maintain our leadership in the Smartphone category.” And hey, with Verizon charging a $350 ETF for advanced devices, it was only a matter of time before AT&T started exploring their options.

via boygeniusreport.com

Cricket Changes the Game with Low-Cost High-End Android Phone

2010-10-06T10:37:00.001-07:00

Android phones come in two flavors: high-end and low-end. High-end phones usually end up with a price tag between US$500 and US$600 off-contract. If you want them cheaper you can generally get them subsidized when you contract with your carrier for two years. Generally that brings your price down to the US$150 to US$250 range.
Low-end phones can be had for around half the price of their high-end siblings.
On the larger carriers, that two year contract generally includes signing up for a data plan, which is likely going to cost you around US$50 to US$70 per month, plus voice, plus text, plus some "privilege of being their customer" fees.
Cricket, on the other hand, is a different kind of carrier. They don't force you into a contract, and they have a flat monthly cost. The catch? The phones aren't subsidized and the coverage isn't as broad as the larger carriers.
Regarding the phones, generally Cricket phones have been regarded as "cheap". They get the job done, but that's it. Why? People don't generally want to fork out a big chunk of change when they sign up for a phone -- apparently they'd rather have much more than that squeezed out of them over time.
What does this have to do with Android? According to Market Watch, Cricket is changing the game with their newly announced phone, powered by Android.
The phone in question is the Huawei Ascend, which is being touted as "the first low-cost Android device to hit the Smartphone market in the United States".
The Ascend will be available in mid-October for around US$149.99. That doesn't sound all that great until you realize that it's off-contract. You don't have to commit two years of your life to a carrier that you may end up hating. You're free to leave at any time. Additionally, your monthly bill will be astoundingly low: US$55, which gives you unlimited talk, text, 411 information, navigation, and unlimited 3G data.
The Ascend sports a 3.5" HVGA touch-screen, WiFi, 3.2MP camera, and runs on Android 2.1.
I've got to admit, I'm impressed.

via pocketnow.com

Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground | WPSD Local 6

2010-10-06T08:53:00.001-07:00

Reporter - Jason Hibbs
Photojournalist - Mark Owen

Story Created: Sep 29, 2010 at 10:34 PM CDT

Story Updated: Sep 30, 2010 at 12:31 AM CDT

OBION COUNTY, Tenn. - Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight.

A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.

The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.

Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.

The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck.

This fire went on for hours because garden hoses just wouldn't put it out. It wasn't until that fire spread to a neighbor's property, that anyone would respond.

Turns out, the neighbor had paid the fee.

"I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong," said Gene Cranick.

Because of that, not much is left of Cranick's house.

They called 911 several times, and initially the South Fulton Fire Department would not come.

The Cranicks told 9-1-1 they would pay firefighters, whatever the cost, to stop the fire before it spread to their house.

"When I called I told them that. My grandson had already called there and he thought that when I got here I could get something done, I couldn't," Paulette Cranick.

It was only when a neighbor's field caught fire, a neighbor who had paid the county fire service fee, that the department responded. Gene Cranick asked the fire chief to make an exception and save his home, the chief wouldn't.

We asked him why.

He wouldn't talk to us and called police to have us escorted off the property. Police never came but firefighters quickly left the scene. Meanwhile, the Cranick home continued to burn.

We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception.

"Anybody that's not in the city of South Fulton, it's a service we offer, either they accept it or they don't," Mayor David Crocker said.

Friends and neighbors said it's a cruel and dangerous city policy but the Cranicks don't blame the firefighters themselves. They blame the people in charge.

"They're doing their job," Paulette Cranick said of the firefighters. "They're doing what they are told to do. It's not their fault."

To give you an idea of just how intense the feelings got in this situation, soon after the fire department returned to the station, the Obion County Sheriff's Department said someone went there and assaulted one of the firefighters.

via wpsdlocal6.com

Samsung Intercept Hits Virgin Mobile Today for $249

2010-10-04T07:16:00.001-07:00

As expected, Virgin Mobile has dropped all the juicy price and release details for its first Android handset, the Samsung Intercept. First seen bearing the Sprint logo earlier this summer, the 3.2-megapixel, WQVGA Intercept is a landscape-oriented QWERTY slider that will retail for $250 (no contract subsidies on pre-paid networks, folks) on any of Virgin's three service bundles (all of which include unlimited text messages and data usage). Virgin's Samsung Intercept goes on sale today at Target locations around the country, and will roll out to other retailers throughout the remainder of the month.

via pocketnow.com

BlindType acquired by Google, Android typists grin uncontrollably -- Engadget

2010-10-01T18:08:00.001-07:00

The note's short and sweet, but it confirms that Google's buying spree is still on -- BlindType was just acquired by the Big G. If you'll recall, we were wowed back in July by the software's ability to predict words regardless of how text was inputted, and it seems as if a few bigwigs within Google were as well. It's unclear what Google's Android team plans to do with its newfound IP, but you shouldn't have to strain your imagination too hard to hazard a guess. As for the BlindType team? They're "excited to join Google, and look forward to the great opportunities for mobile innovation that lie ahead." Likewise, folks... likewise.

via engadget.com

Mary Carillo's Badminton Rant During Athens Olympics Is EPIC (VIDEO)

2010-10-01T17:44:00.001-07:00

In 2004, while anchoring the Summer Olympics in Athens, sportscaster Mary Carillo began explaining to the audience, during a break in the action, the differences between the badminton that families play in their backyard and the sport that the "bad boys of badminton play" at the professional level.

It's all rather innocuous until Carillo reaches the differences between the shuttlecocks that the two groups use. It's then that she experiences some kind of nightmarish shuttlecock flashback and the whole broadcast starts to unravel very quickly.

For Carillo, playing badminton with your family is not a fun summer activity in the yard. It's a horror show.

Someone's turned on the hose. Suddenly, badminton's a water sport. They're trying to get this thing down with the hose. And somehow, mothers from all over the neighborhood hear that badminton is being played at Mary's house; they're dropping off their kids -- they know it's an all day affair! They know it's going to involve 17 other sports. They're dropping off their other kids; they're leaving skid marks! Ok? You've got Colleen Clark in the tree, trying to get down a Sponge Bob Square Pants beach ball with a hockey stick. There's pool sticks flying through the air like javelins and you hear yourself saying somebody's going to poke an eye out. It just never ends!

The best thing about this is that the producers just let her ramble on and on as she loses her grip on reality. This is a rant for the ages.

WATCH: (via Kottke)

via huffingtonpost.com

I am a big fan of Mary Carillo. She is one of my favorite commentators of all time, but when I saw this I knew I had to post it. I feel that her personality makes all the difference in the world, and that's why she's awesome.

So United Airlines gets back to me... sort of

2010-09-26T12:43:00.001-07:00

After formally submitting my complaint on Monday afternoon, I finally got a criptic response from United Airlines Thursday night. I am at a loss to understand by what they mean by "good will appreciation online" or by "token of our appreciation". I have not heard from them till this correspondence nor have I received anything from them. I replied back asking for clarity and to address the bad customer service I received. Here is the letter:

Dear Mr. Faulkner,  Thank you for writing us about your flights from Denver to Austin on September 19 - 20, 2010.  We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us.  I am sorry your flight was cancelled.  United is committed to operating a reliable schedule for every customer with safety always being our number one concern.  We recognize how important it is to you to get to your destination on time, however daily operational challenges sometimes interfere with our schedules.  We've made significant improvement to our on-time performance, but still have work to do.  Your feedback will help us target further improvement to ensure you have a more pleasant travel experience the next time you fly.  I am happy you were able to retrieve good will appreciation online.  I hope you can use it to provide you with a chance to experience the service you deserve.    I trust this token of our appreciation will help to tangibly express our gratitude.  We hope to have the opportunity to serve you again in the near future.  Please fill out the survey where you can rate my individual performance. I value your feedback and hope that you walked away very satisfied with my service.  If I could have been better in handling your request, please reply and let me know what could have been done differently.  Regards,  Glen Sherif United Airlines Customer Relations

ThinkGeek :: Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutter

2010-09-24T08:18:00.001-07:00

Boldly cut pizza where no man has cut before!

Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new pizzas, to seek out new toppings and new cheeses, to boldy cut pizza where no man has cut before! Yes, this officially licensed Star Trek collectable is everything you hoped it would be. Laser etched stainless steel blade and solid metal construction make it perfect for battling Romulans in the neutral zone or precision pizza slicing.

You'll find that even though the prime mission of the Enterprise has now become very pizza centric, the chrome plated metal construction and padded gift box make the Enterprise pizza cutter a true Star Trek collectable. Plus it looks great on your desk even when not being used to cut your favorite cheese and sauce laden foods.

Product Features

Metal Pizza cutter in the form of the famous NCC-1701 Enterprise ship from Star Trek the original series

Officially licensed Star Trek collectable

Laser Etched Stainless steel blade with solid zinc-alloy chromium plated body

Exclusively designed and manufactured by ThinkGeek

Blade diameter: 4 inches

Total length including blade: 8.5 inches

Weight : 277 grams

Hand wash only

Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutter Video:

via thinkgeek.com

Mozilla Labs » Concept Series: Seabird – A Community-driven Mobile Phone Concept

2010-09-24T01:55:00.001-07:00

Since Mozilla Labs launched the Concept Series with an open call for participation we’ve had thousands of people join in, share ideas and develop concepts around Firefox, the Mozilla projects and the Open Web as a whole.

In response to our open call Billy May, in early 2009, produced a throw-away concept for an “Open Web Concept Phone”. Working directly off of that community feedback, Billy has since finished the exploration with his concept “Seabird”.

The following write-up is by Billy May and explores what an Open Web phone might look like:

Concept Series: Seabird

Also available in 3D on YouTube (cross-eyed/red-cyan/etc):

Overview

The Mozilla Seabird, part of the Mozilla Labs’ Concept Series, is an experiment in how users might interact with their mobile content as devices and technology advances. Drawing on insights culled from the Mozilla community through the project’s blog, a focus quickly developed around frustrating physical interactions. While mobile CPUs, connectivity and development platforms begin approaching that of desktops, the lagging ability to efficiently input information has grown ever more pronounced.

Interaction

The Seabird, then, introduces a few possibilities into how user interaction might evolve with the advancing motion capture and projector driven innovation in the market. First out, the Seabird imagines how a multiple use dongle might augment the crowded gestural interface with greater precision and direct manipulation of content in 3D space.

Pico Projector

With mobile phone companies such as Samsung, LG and Motorola moving towards display applications for projectors, the technology remains open for expanding user interaction and input at the same time. The Seabird, on just a flat surface, enables netbook-quality interaction by working with the projector’s angular distortion to deliver interface, rather than content. With the benefit of a dock, each projector works independently and delivers laptop levels of efficiency.

Design

The form development took its cues from various aerodynamic, avian and decidedly feminine forms. Its erect posture intends a sense of poise while its supine conformity to the hand reconciles that with the user’s desire for digital control. The curvature of the back also serves a functional role in elevating the projector lens elements when lying flat.

Seabird is a community-driven exploration and does not mean that Mozilla has plans to produce an OS or hardware at the moment. Find out more about Mozilla Firefox for Mobile here.

Download pictures in high resolution.

FAQ

Who created this project?

Seabird was created by Billy May, a Mozilla Labs community member who in early 2009 created an initial vision of what an Open Web mobile phone could look like. Seabird is Billy’s followup project in which he incorporated the feedback he received from the wider community on his first throw-away concept. To learn more about Billy May, please visit his homepage.

How does this relate to Mozilla / Mozilla Labs?

Billy is a community member in the Mozilla Labs community and created Seabird in his spare time. Seabird is not a Mozilla or Mozilla Labs project but part of the Mozilla Labs Concept Series. The Concept Series provides a place for the wider community to create and collaborate on projects which push the boundaries of the Web and the browser.

Does Mozilla have plans to produce a mobile phone?

No. Mozilla produces Firefox for Mobile, the popular Firefox browser for mobile phone systems such as Nokia Maemo and Android. You can find out more about Mozilla Firefox for Mobile here.

via mozillalabs.com

Hp Slate review - Prototype Model

2010-09-23T08:20:00.001-07:00

September 24 Registration Deadline is this Friday! | SXSW.com

2010-09-23T06:01:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that the early bird registration deadline is this Friday September 24, so register for a SXSW badge today before prices increase. By registering early you could save up to 40% on the walk up rate! Check out what you get with your Film, Music and Interactive registrations and see why registering by this Friday is such a great value!

Remember, a SXSW badge registration is the only way to make the most of SXSW week, with a wealth of panels, workshops, parties, and amazing networking opportunities. Additionally, register early and get the best selection of hotels.

Click here and well see you this March!

via sxsw.com

United Airlines has really bad customer service: clip4 (audio) #SOBCon

2010-09-22T21:31:00.001-07:00

This is a continuation of the post found here: http://wesleyfaulkner.com/united-airlines-has-really-bad-customer-servi-0

This is the last clip in the series. The cop escorts me back into the baggage claim area and I am given my hotel voucher and a food voucher.

Download now or listen on posterous

Clip4.wav (17915 KB)

At the time of the publication of this blog post I have yet to hear from United Airlines.

Since I know they are reading my posts I am going to propose possible resolutions that I will find acceptable.

Ensure me that the action of the employees are not acceptable and that they will be told so
Publish a code of conduct for all employees and the public to see
Review their social media policy and make it so that they acknowledge the complaints from their customers
Promise e-mail responses within 24 hours of receiving them

Maybe @UnitedAirlines hasn't seen my blog? They have, but choose not to respond.

2010-09-22T07:27:00.001-07:00

Here is a screen capture of my Google Analytics. It lists the internet service providers of every visitor of my blog. As you can clearly see United just breaks the top ten with 18 views.

Don’t call United Airlines with your travel complaints - Travel Tips - msnbc.com

2010-09-22T06:52:00.001-07:00

By Harriet Baskas Travel writer

msnbc.com contributor

updated 2/19/2009 11:08:30 AM ET

United Airlines is putting the kibosh on calling in with complaints .

Last week the airline confirmed that, come April, it will disconnect the phone line to a foreign call center contracted to field customer compliments and complaints. Customers with issues to discuss will still be able to call the airline’s general 800-number but, as anyone who’s tried navigating United’s (or any airline’s) automated phone tree knows, the focus there is on selling tickets and tweaking reservations.

From here on out, even if you get through to a live United Airlines agent, you’ll likely be told to send post-flight comments, good or bad, in old-fashioned letter form or via e-mail.

Why quit answering the phone?

United Airlines spokesperson Robin Urbanski says the company did research on the success of the feedback line and concluded that “people who e-mail or write us are more satisfied with our responses.”

However, many travelers, hospitality industry experts and folks in the field view the call-center closure as a cost-cutting measure and yet another step away from focusing on customer care.

In a tough economy, when keeping every customer you’ve got is more important than ever, United’s move puzzles folks like Zeke Adkins of Luggage Forward, a door-to-door luggage shipping company. “What is unclear to me is how this [research] led United to conclude that eliminating, rather than improving, their call centers would be the best strategic decision.”

Others suspect that as the economy worsens and budgets tighten, live customer-service centers will disappear elsewhere as well. But that’s doesn’t mean well-mannered travelers should stop giving feedback on service. We may just need to learn some new skills — and sharpen some old ones.

“It’s a skill that anyone can master and everyone should,” says Betsy Whitmore of Angie’s List, a Web site that invites consumers to rate and review companies and services. “Whether it’s travel, home improvement or restaurant service, not speaking up about bad or good service is a disservice to you and the company involved.”

Whitmore is right, says John Crotts, director of the hospitality and tourism management program at the College of Charleston. “Customers or guests who complain are a business’s best friend. They are telling you where your problems are and giving you the opportunity to correct mistakes, thereby keeping their loyalty.” His advice to travelers: “Speak up!”

How to give feedback
OK, we will. And if no one answers the phone, we’ll put our issues in writing using some of these tips from well-mannered, experienced travelers and experts in the field:

• Don’t yell. When writing your complaint letter, always keep your cool, says customer service consultant Esteban Kolsky. “While calling someone names in a letter may help you feel better, it does not improve your odds of getting what you want — it actually does the opposite.” Business travel expert Chris McGinnis agrees. “Write your emotion-packed ‘I'll never use you again’ letter first, then put it in a drawer and re-write it later.” He adds, “Keep things short and sweet. Include an ‘executive summary’ at the top of the letter, show the details below, but never, ever more than a single page.”

• Be specific. When complaining to an airline, Anne Banas of SmarterTravel.com says be clear about the details of your experience and very specific about what you want to happen. “Always ask for some form of compensation and attach an appropriate dollar figure. Of course, this is easy if your loss was tangible, but even if it is not, come up with a figure for inconvenience and hassle. Do you want a voucher for future travel? More frequent flyer miles? A check? An upgrade next time you travel?”

• Be realistic and fair. When sending feedback to a hotel, Lara Weiss of K Hotels suggests directing your note to the general manager of the property and copying the corporate office, if there is one. “Demanding a refund never works,” says Weiss, “because then you just look like you want your money back and don’t really care about the experience.” She says hotels would much rather offer you a free stay to come back and try them again but warns against writing a complaint to a hotel after you have already written a bad review on sites like TripAdvisor. “You will lose all opportunity because you’ve already done the damage.”

• Don’t over-dramatize. Guido Adelfio of Bethesda Travel Center shared the story of a client who fell in the hallway in a French hotel, chipped a tooth and complained when the hotel ignored his request for compensation. “The customer asked for dental bills, medical bills…, a refund of the airfare, a meal allowance, plus a fund for the inconvenience and discomfort,” says Adelfio. “Of course they didn't hear back. They’d asked for the sun, the moon and the stars, far beyond the damage suffered.”

• If you need to, go up the ladder. If you don’t get a response to your well-written complaint letter, it may be because the person reading it doesn’t have the authority to do anything about it. That’s when Kelli Grant, Senior Consumer Reporter at SmartMoney.com, suggests going up the ladder. “There’s a great Web site called Executive Bomb that helps you find executive e-mail addresses for a given company. This way, if your initial complaint falls on deaf ears, you can be sure the next try doesn’t.” And don’t forget that these days many company representatives can also be reached via Twitter, she says. “UPS, Bank of America, JetBlue and Comcast all have people you can reach out to via Twitter to help solve problems. It’s fast help, and usually pretty effective.”

On-the-ground strategies
If it’s really fast help you want, then Tom Murphy suggests learning how to resolve travel complaints in real time. Murphy is the Director of the Human Resiliency Institute at Fordham University in New York and has been helping teach airport and airline employees how to solve customer issues before they become written complaints.

He says the three key tools employees are taught to use — body language, tone of voice and words — can be used by travelers as well.

“If you can, approach a worker with an understanding of the stresses that person has on their job and let them do their job without getting in their face,” he says. “If you use body language and words that have respect, then you have a better chance of getting what you want.”

That approach works for experienced traveler and expert negotiator Ashley Grayson. “The secret is: Don't wait until you have to complain,” he says. “Act immediately to get the optimum solution from the person in front of you.”

Grayson is a literary agent who knows a thing or two about using words effectively. So he offers this opening line: “I’ve got this terrible problem that I hope you can help with. But if you can’t, let’s get someone who can."

Longtime public radio host Bill Radke, also an expert with words, has had luck resolving travel issues with this opening line: “I’m looking for a hero here.”

Radke says he suspects the line works because “people want their work to matter. So in just the right circumstances, when the other party knows you're getting red-taped or shafted” the person at the hotel front desk or airline counter “might just step in to be your hero.”

And in a world of cranky, unhappy travelers, if someone is asking for the moon, why not be their star?

Harriet Baskas writes msnbc.com's popular weekly column, The Well-Mannered Traveler. She is the author of the “Stuck at the Airport” blog, a contributor to National Public Radio and a columnist for USATODAY.com.

via msnbc.msn.com