Here I offer a tip on how you can stick with and be successful at your New Year’s resolution.
Happy New Years.
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Cheryl wrote a nice little post about 30 some odd free apps to do most anything you need to do. Most of which I use. Although I thought it was worth mentioning a few more. Not all are free though.
So here are my iPhone apps I really can’t live without. In no particular order. (paid apps are noted with a $)
Redlaser $ – Scan a barcode using your iPhone camera and it will search for the product online so you can see if you’re getting a good deal or not.
TrackThis $ – Enter a tracking number and this little app will tell you every move your packages make.
TechFuse $ – RSS mashup f all the best tech blogs out there. TUAW, Engadget, Gizmodo, Mashable, Tech Crunch and a dozen others.
CNN $ – It doesn’t get any better for a news app. Complete with live video streams.
10TV on the Go FREE – This is brand new and its the first central Ohio news source to hit the app store.
Toodledo $ – Keep track of your todo’s. The website version has a free version and the app is only a couple bucks.
Drop Box – The best online file storage on your iPhone.
Rock Band $ – The best game to come to the iPhone IMO.
Bump FREE – BUMP lets you quickly exchange contact info with someone that also has an iPhone and the BUMP app installed. I usually don’t bump on the first meeting but this makes it too easy.
WebMD FREE – Now you can diagnose your symptoms earlier so you can go see your doctor and get healthy.
IMDB FREE – Internet Movie DataBase. This one is brand new but as much as I use IMDB.com this has got to be good.
Did I miss anything?
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By now I’m sure you are aware of Twitter and maybe you are using the micro-blogging service to post what you are doing right now or what you ate for lunch. Over the last year every major news and media outlet has jumped on the Twitter wagon to pump out their consent as well as used it to communicate with their followers. The first time I heard CNN say. “lets check out our tweets to see what people are saying right now” I knew he game had changed. The ability to communicate instantly with anyone anywhere is huge.
Additionally, every marketing, public relations and big mouth in the world is touting how to make money and promote your business and brand using social media.
So since I am a big mouth, I felt it proper that I tell you some of the cool ways I use Twitter and social media. Some of which were accidentally.
Troubleshooting
After upgrading my Firefox browser, Silver Light content no longer worked. So I tweeted. “Upgraded FireFox now Silver Light is broke.” Within a half hour a Microsoft tech tweeted back. “We have a fix for your problem.” and provided a link to get the patch.
Getting Answers
Recently I was shopping at a local electronics store and was having trouble deciding to buy Rock Band or Band Hero. So again went to Twitter and asked. “Rockband or Band Hero? Why? Are the instruments compatible?” Before I even left the store I had 3 replies with good reasons to choose one over the other.
Bartering
I’ve lived in Columbus pretty much my whole life and had never been to the memorial tournament. So I decided to see if I could offer my services in exchange for a couple passes to the tournament. Posted to Twitter and FaceBook: “Help with your blog in exchange for Memorial Tournament passes.” The next day one of my Twitter friends said she would love to get help setting up a blog and a little training for some passes.
Discount Offer
(This one actually happened unexpectedly.) A local news reporter Tweeted the she wasn’t feeling well and thinks she might be getting a cold. I tweeted back that as soon as I have symptoms of a cold I use Zicam. The Zicam Twitter account replies to me saying. “@blantonious Could have said it better ourselves. Coupon? and a link to an online coupon.”
Using Search
When something big is happening that I want to keep up with I use the Twitter search at search.twitter.com. To take it a step further you can use the advance search to narrow down tweets that are local to the event. So if I want to hear the latest announcements from Mac World. I would search keyword MacWorld and limit it to within 20 miles of San Francisco CA.
Find the hard to get Christmas items
This is just like that last one but thought it was appropriate for the time of year. Search for a phrase like “We have Zhu Zhu” (thats the hard to find robot hamster this Christmas season. Then limit the search to your area using the advance search at search.twitter.com
You can also take out the location part and do a broader search and see if anyone is selling them online.
Meet people to partner with
I don’t know exactly how this all transpired but over the last couple years I have met several people to work on different projects and partnerships with. My blog Greatest City of All is a multi-author blog consisting of myself and 6 others (Kelly Gingery, Cheryl Harrison, Michele Savoldi, Tiffany Eckhardt, Megan Hoffman, Anna Harper-Hess) all of which I met on Twitter. I am also co-producing a web show, FlickChick.TV with Kelly Gingery, also met on Twitter. I am co-organizer of WordCamp Columbus and PodCamp Ohio with Alvin Borromeo that I met on Twitter. And finally I am involved in TasteCasting founded by Dan Harris whom I met on Twitter. TasteCasting is a social media PR group that helps restaurants get word out about their establishments.
Build your Resume
In addition to tweeting about what you’re doing you can also send updates from Twitter to your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn just added the ability to send selective Tweets to your LinkedIn profile. So now when I Tweet about something I am working on personally or professionally I add #in at the end of the update and it automagically updates my LinkedIn status so my professional contacts see what I am doing.
**Updated**
Finding great recipes
Have another to add. This morning I posted on Twitter: “Need a couple of over the top recipes for Thanksgiving side dishes. Suggestions?” A few hours later I have about a dozen great ideas people sent to me. Hard part is going to be deciding which ones to make.
Ok so those are some ways I use Twitter and social media. What am I missing? Do you have some other cool things you use Twitter for? Leave a comment and let us know about it.
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Recently I started a new project with a friend to create a new Web Show called FlickChickTV. Kelly Gingery is the Flick Chick and shares her thoughts on new movies and DVD’s coming out each week. She goes to movie screenings each week and gives her take on the latest blockbusters.
So rather than just do an audio podcast we felt it would be better to do a video web show and eventually a video podcast so we can add visuals and clips to her 5 minute or less talks. So we grabbed our Flip video cameras and started shooting footage. We quickly realized that despite the good quality of the Flip Video, we were going to need something much better to make this show pop. Video quality and audio quality needs to be top notch. So I started down the road to finding a nice prosumer video camera.
First I gathered what features I had to have.
- True High Def 1080P resolution
- The ability to plug in a external mic
- Internal memory or a media type that was small and affordable
- Easy to import video footage to editing software
Here is what I came up with.
Canon VIXIA HFS10 HD Dual Flash Memory with 32 GB Internal Memory and 10x Optical Zoom
This camera has all the features that I wanted and then some. It shoots video in 1080p at either 24 or 30 frames per second. Has 10x optical zoom, 32GB internal Memory with the ability to use secondary SD card slot. There is also a mini advance shoe to plug in either a light or shotgun mic. You can take still photos at 8 mega pixels. Outputs include USB, HDMI and component. USB makes it easy to import videos right from your camera into your computers editing software for post production.
Before purchasing this camera the reviews I read were all positive. People love the small size and ease of use as well as being feature rich. The quality is said to be comparable to a pro camera costing 2 or 3 times more. If your in the market for a good camera and have about $1000 to spend you might want to take a look at this little beauty.
Since I am still new to producing web video I’ll post more cool stuff I learn to help others out with their video production. Maybe we can learn from one another.
Be sure to take a look at the videos we shoot at FlickChickTV in the very near future.
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Taking pictures on the iPhone is one of the coolest things about the iPhone. Not because its the only “camera Phone” on the market. But because it actually takes really nice photos. Even on my 1st generation iPhone with its 2 megapixel camera and not digital focus feature, the pictures were of great quality. Now I’ve traded up for a 3rd generation 3gs model with a 3 megapixel camera.
As cool as the iPhone camera is, there are always ways to make it better. Here are some of my favorite iPhone photo apps that I like and maybe you will too.
Camera Bag
CameraBag is the first iPhone photo app I got. In fact I think it was one of the first to show up in the iTunes Store.
The app allows you to place 1 of 7 filters on a photo to give it a new look from the original photo. In my opinion it takes an alright picture and makes it pop.
Camera Plus
Camera Plus adds 2 features that will probably show up in the coming years. Zoom and Flash. Both are done digitally but the results are decent for being software based. The zoom allows you to control it by using a slider to get that perfect distance up to 4x. The flash it a simulated flash that brightens the picture and also does a decent job doing it. You can also zoom on a focal point by simply tapping the area on the screen you would like to zoom in.
Photo Funia
Just like the name implies, Photo Funia for the iPhone is a fun app to add some pizzaz to your photos.
Want your picture on a billboard? Maybe you’d like to see what you look like as a body builder? Select from dozens of effects to change your photos from boring to sensational. Then share them with your friends on your favorite social networking site.
PhotoShop
When it comes to enhancing your digital pictures Adobe Photoshop is the go to program. In fact the word “photoshopped” has become a verb on the internet when it comes to altered images.
Now you can have the great power of Photoshop on your iPhone. And . . . it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. In fact the iPhone Photoshop app is free. That’s right free.
Best of all, unlike its big brother the Photoshop iPhone app is intuitive and easy to use. Some of the great features include crop, rotate, flip, Exposure, saturation, tint, black and white, Sketch, soft focus and about 8 effects to make your photos pop. If you only want to bother with one photo app on your iPhone, this is the one you want.
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I am going to be doing a little experiment with my blog. Since I have really neglected it for several months and readership has decreased significantly I am going to go through a month long reboot. What I mean is that I am going to take a month to sort of revamp the blog with some things I have wanted to write about for a while and tweak the look and feel using Thesis.
I haven’t decided exactly how often I will post an article but I can tell you that it won’t be daily. I am thinking more along the lines of 2 posts per week. The goal is to not put out a ton of stuff but write a couple of quality posts per week. Hopefully I can live up to that.
What gave me the idea to do this is Darren Rowse’s Build a Better Blog course. He is offering the course for 1/2 price until September 24th. I decided to get it and go and purchased myself a copy of it. So far it looks pretty good. Anyway enough about that. If you haven’t already done so, go ahead and subscribe to the feed and come along on this new journey and tell me what you think.
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So from time to time I like to use my blog to vent and get your opinion on things. So today I’m gonna do both.
So on Saturday I needed to 25A 12V DC continuous power supply. I know not your typical power thing to buy, but I needed it for testing my carputer that I’m building and other projects that I like to play around with that require a 12volt power source. There is only one place around me to get this kind of stuff and that is of course Radio shack. There are several in the area but instead of just driving around I do the sensible thing and check the website to see which one has it in stock. I find a location on the other side of town and decide to make the trip and and pick it up.
So I get to the store and tell one of the sales guys what it is I’m looking for. He takes me to the wall of power adapters which mostly consist of portable device chargers and inverters for autos. I explain it a little better and tell him we could look it up on the website which shows that they have it in stock. So we head to the computer look up the item and then he realizes that they do have one.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The sales guy tells me that they have the item in stock but they are using it in their GPS display. He also says that he can’t sell it to me. I said but you have it in your inventory as being available and you apparently really do have it. He tells me that they told them to use it in the display and to leave it in the inventory. So my first thought is, what a crock of shit. If you have it and its an item for sale, you should sell it to me and get yourself another one for your GPS display. Its just bad business and I will now be buying my unit from someone else online.
What do you think? Am I wrong? Should they at least take it off the inventory if they don’t actually have it to sell?
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Before I wrote up my review and spoiled everyone’s fun, I wanted to wait for the movie to actually come out and give everyone a chance to go see it. Which after a $76.5 million weekend I take it a bunch of you did just that. So now for the review.
Lucky for me, I got to see it before you! My Friend Kelly, whom I know from Twitter @kellygingery and TasteCasting invited me to go to a screening last Wednesday with a group of other Twitter friends. Those in attendance were @jujuburd @CherylHarrison @DemetriusHall @clancybevington @rehcmh and Mike Gingery. Kelly also wrote up a review on her Movie Lovers Only blog, well worth a read.
So before I get into it I will tell you I give this Star Trek a solid A, and very close to an A+. Didn’t give it an A+ because I like to think I’m more critical than just passing out A+’s like they’re free. 
Also it leaves room for improvement in the next installment.
The movie starts out knee deep, in a deep space battle which is a great way to start a movie if you ask me. Whenever there is conflict and we (humans) are getting our ass handed to us, you have a feeling of wanting, dare I say needing, some payback. So after we get our butts kicked by the intergalactic death metal band that lost their instruments, along come baby Kirk and Spock. One turns out to be a genius and the other a troubled youth with killer instincts and a gift for fighting. The thing that bonds the two is one got picked on too much as a kid and the other didn’t have a good father figure. So they both end up with a huge chip on their shoulder and ready to kick some ass.
The great thing about this movie is the prequel aspect. You already know the story of Star Trek and love the characters. So when a new character is introduced you get all giddy and excited. Makes you want to start clapping and cheering for absolutely no reason. At least that’s how I felt. The characters of Bones McCoy and Scotty are perfect. Bones has they same swagger and demeanor as the original and Scotty still appears to be a drunk Irishman that can make the Enterprise do anything he wants with some ingenious misconfiguration of the ships systems. And of course they both come equipped with their signature lines.
Damnit man, I’m a Doctor and I’m giving you all she’s got Captain.
The movie was 2 hours 5 minutes, but I wouldn’t have been mad if it was 3 hours. It movies very quick. I was amazed at the speed in which they can deploy the entire star fleet and get them to a battle. But they again I was stationed on Submarines and it takes weeks to get anywhere. In fact things happen so quickly that you can graduate from boot camp (or the Star Fleet equivalent) and end up commanding your own ship by dinner time.
So if your looking for a good movie to go checkout I would highly recommend this version of Star Trek. Oh and its directed by J.J. Abrams. (Alias, Lost, Mission Impossible 4, Cloverfield) Which I’m sure will get more than a few people to come see it, that could care less about Star Trek.
I look forward to your thoughts on the movie.
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I know. I have been down this road before. But I am going to go down it again. I really just need to get over a hump and loose the initial weight and start living a more healthy lifestyle. The more I stretch and exercise the easier this is gonna be. The difference is this time I am gonna take as many people with me as I can. Either joining me or giving me encouragement (keeping on my ass) to meet my goals.
The idea is to cut out some of my best friends and replace them with new ones. Bud Light, fast food and lots or carbs, you have all been there for me but I need a little less of you in my life. So who will be my new BFF’s? Well naming them all would take some time so here is a sample. Grilled, Chicken, Salmon and Steak with green veggies like mixed greens, broccoli and string bean for starters. Good old H2O will be around in large amounts. And plenty of fiber.
Exercise will start with cardio and quick high rep session of 100 rep workout and Tabata. This will blast my metabolism and keep it running.
But my biggest secret weapon will be the encouragement from all of you. So hit me up on FaveBook and/or Twitter and keep sending me messages to keep eating right and exercising. Apparently I also have a coach on Twitter www.twitter.com/jasonscoach that you can join forces with and keep me honest.
Best Strong! Be Fit!
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Katzinger’s deli invited the CbusTasters to a wine and cheese tasting last Thursday. It was an amazing educational treat where I discovered how much I am missing out on the finer things in life. You’d usually fine me at something like their Meat Madness and Beer tasting being help on Wednesday March 25. Although I was pleasantly surprise with the complex flavors of all the cheeses we sampled and how its even better when paired with a nice wine.
Here are the pairings we sampled at the event.
1. La Tur from Piedmont, Italy – a bloomy-surface-ripened cheese paired with Il Follo “Cuvee Rustot” Brut Procecco, NV from Italy
2. Cave Aged Gruyere – a semi-hard cheese paired with 2006 The Furst Riesling from France
3. Serena, Three Sisters – a hard cheese paired with 2007 Mason “Pomelo” Savignon Blanc from Napa Valley (definitely my favorite)
4. Grayson, Meadow Creek Farms – a washed-rind paired with 2007 Eola Hills Pinot Noir from Oregon
5. Cashel Blue, Neal’s Yard – a blue cheese paired with 2007 Reginato “Celestina” from Argentina
The Grayson was my personal favorite from the group, so I splurged and bought a little chunk to take home. Next time I go to Katzingers I need to get one of their delectable sandwiches, voted best sandwiches in Columbus 2 years in a row by Alive.
If you’ve never been to Katzinger’s Deli and your in or around Columbus, you should definitely make the trip over. The friendly staff will make sure yu get what you need.
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Being Cheryl