Technology for North Chamber Leadership Lab

Thank you for allowing me to present to such a wonderful audience. Below, you’ll find the apps we discussed during the presentation. Feel free to reach out with any questions. If you liked the Google Glass song in the video, you can listen here:

Tripit (Free | $49/year) – Send Tripit your confirmation emails for your hotel, transportation, flights and even Eventbrite emails to build out an itinerary in the app that pushes to your calendar. Upgrade to Tripit Pro for $49 per year and get notified to price drops in airfare, flight delays and cancellations.

Cardmunch (Free) – Stop collecting business cards. Use Cardmunch by Linkedin to take a photo of the card, have it scanned in, matched with Linkedin and spit back to you for quick saving to your iPhone.

Linkedin Contacts (Free) – Are you interested in sorting through your Linkedin contacts and having their data updated in your phone when they move or getting notified of an anniversary? Check out the free Linkedin Contacts app.

Scout (Free | $24.99/year) – Scout is a GPS navigation app that not only does GPS but ties into your calendar and will if you want to be routed to your next appointment with one swipe. The $24.99 price will upgrade the app with downloadable maps so you know where you’re going, even without service.

Square (Free | 2.75% per swipe) – If you’re looking for a fast and easy way to collect credit card payments for goods and services, check out Square. It’s dead simple to use and you’re charged a flat fee of 2.75% with a monthly option if you do a higher volume.

Clear ($2.99) – Clear is a simple list application that is beautiful. It’s quick and spectacular as a keeper for your top 3 daily priorities.

Concur (Free) – If you need an app to track expenses, file expense reports, expense mileage and approve reports.

Foursquare (Free) – Foursquare might be a location based game, but it also has turned into a fierce competitor to Yelp, providing insightful tips. Locals will leave messages to try items that are off menu or the secret passcode to a speakeasy.

Contact Monkey (Free) – Sometimes you don’t want to carry around business cards or you’re fresh out. Create a Contact Monkey and add it to your signature in your email address. For extra ease, use http://bit.ly to create a short link.

Over ($1.99) – Have a little fun with Over, where you can add gorgeous type to your pretty pictures. Does it have anything to do with work? Not really. But you deserve to have a little fun in your life, don’t you?

One last thing…baby modeling.

Samsung Imagelogger AND Thirteen Photos from San Francisco

At a Starbucks in North San Antonio I get an email that Samsung is looking for 25 people to be Imageloggers, people who are interested in shooting with their new smart camera, the NX300, for a few months. Who would say no?

A few weeks later, my shiny NX300 arrives. The camera came out of the gates with great reviews. I have an appreciation for large sensors in small bodies. Samsung’s latest has an APS-C sensor, similar to a Canon Rebel or a Nikon D3100 with a crossfit physique – it’s lighter and compact, but equally powerful. Your full suite of PSAM settings are there, too. The wifi feature on the camera lets you pair it with your iPhone or Android, then use the app to offload the photos wirelessly. You can also use the app on your phone to fire the shutter remotely. They’ll be your finest looking selfies EVAR! Ladies, refrain from using this in the car with your seatbelt on. Duckface? Also a no-no. If you prefer, use the apps on the camera to send photos directly to Facebook or Picasa.

In a month, I shot photos of the San Antonio Magazine White Party, the Kopecky Family Band concert, Cayucas concert and Pearl Brewery as well as our 4th Annual Beer Ice Cream meetup at Freetail Brewing. Again, an invitation arrived. Would I be interested in joining a small team of global photographers in San Francisco to shoot the sights in the city and the surrounding area. I screamed. Not like a girl. Not like when I’m being attacked by birds, but a real scream. A good one. Very manly. LOOK, I DON’T NEED TO EXPLAIN MY SCREAMS TO YOU, OK?

In San Francisco we saw some of the most breathtaking and fun shots. The planning of the event was spectacular. The accomplished photographers came from California, NYC, Italy and Korea. Samsung cruised us around all day. I mean ALL DAY. We photographed Union Square, the Ferry Building, Bay Bridge, cable cars, took a bay tour around Golden Gate and Alcatraz. I got the bejeebus scared out of me by the crazy bushman at Fisherman’s Wharf…while I was looking for him. *shakes head in shame* Were we done? Heck no! We went to the marina for America’s Cup, Lombard Street and Russian Hill, I had a chai latte as big as my oversized skull, celebrated our late 80’s excitement at the Painted Ladies made famous by the Tanner family on Full House – HAVE MERCY! Done? NOPE. *takes a deep breath* Golden Gate Bridge, Portrero Skate Park, Castro where ROY G. BIV lives, got psychedelic at Haight-Ashbury, the beach, Fort Funston for freaky flying fun with hang gliding fanatics, MOAR Golden Gate, a crazy Korean dinner with soju where I was told “I’m going to make you an atomic drink.” Is it time to rest? No way, bro. Let’s go to see Fine Arts, visit Sonoma and the raceway, stroll in Sausalito and wrap it up with a baseball game at AT&T Park with an urban UFO bubbleboat, to boot.

This team knows two speeds – sleep and turbo. It was amazing and an absolute joy to spend time with such talented, smart, funny, sharing and kind people. A gigantic thank you to the team at Samsung (proper and extended), the photographers that came from near and far who changed me for the better and the staff that put up with my goofing off. Enjoy the photos below from the adventure. If you’re interested in seeing more, look for the following hashtags on social media – #samsungnx300 #nx300 #imagelogger The other photographers are world class shooters and humans.

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung Imagelogger SF | July 2013

Samsung provided the NX300 camera and travel, Joby provided the GorillaPod, 3 Way Camera Strap and UltraFit Sling Strap for Men.

Thirteen Photos from New York City

July was packed with travel. Part of the adventure was visiting New York City and getting to escape to Delaware for a wedding – who knew that was still a place? During my travels, I encountered fearless squirrels, the globally famous Lydia Leavitt, Instagram phenomenon husband and wife team Tim and Staci Landis and the sights of The High Line, a former train track turned park. Oh and that rooftop shot of the Empire State Building? I had to sneak out a window onto a ledge to shoot it. Hat tip to Joby and Samsung for providing the GorillaPod that held my trusty NX300 steady!

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

NYC & Delaware | July 2013

Underwater iPhone 5 Case Photo Comparison – Seidio, LifeProof, OtterBox

As more manufacturers crank out durable cases, the designs become confusing to differentiate. Here’s a side-by-side size comparison between the three. I don’t have any user experience regarding audio quality nor durability. These photos are strictly to show off the rugged good looks of the Seidio OBEX, LifeProof fre and OtterBox Armor Series and help you see the size differences. All the photos are clickable for super-sized fun.

Cases - Front
 

Cases - Back
 

Cases - Top (stack)
 

Cases - Bottom
 

Cases - Right
 

Cases - Left
 

Cases - Top (separate)
 

Cases - Bottom (separate)

The links above are my Amazon affiliate links. OtterBox provided the case, while the Seidio and LifeProof were prizes from CES.

Thirteen Photos from the Kopecky Family Band Concert

Kopecky Family Band is a talented bunch of musicians from Nashville. I had my first experience with them during SXSW 2013 when they were part of the line up with Delta Spirit. Squarely in front of Kelsey Kopecky, she let me play her bells on one of their last songs. It was an amazing experience and they’ve carried a special place in my heart since then. When my C3 Concerts newsletter arrived, they had a contest to win tickets to see them play inside at Stubb’s. Of course, I entered. Thankfully, I won tickets! The same day, Samsung delivered their new Samsung NX300 mirrorless camera. I’ve been selected with 24 other photographers and bloggers around the country to shoot with this camera as a part of their Imageloggers program. You’ll be seeing an official announcement soon. Here are my first photos with the NX300. A wildly large thank you to Samsung for selecting me, C3 for having me win tickets and Kopecky Family Band for being as charming as ever.

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

Kopecky Family Band

The rest of the photos are available below:

How to be a Horrible Grandmother on Twitter

miles
Twitter can be a tough place. Hashtags are hard, @ replies make life challenging and it’s possible to tweet the wrong person. @avonsassy has reached new heights of confusion by mixing me up with her grandmother, who is apparently caring for her dog. No amount of logic or photo including my bearded face will keep this teen from her pup.

Here’s the story of how I was mistaken for her grandmother, and a horrible one at that. @avonsassy provides some colorful language, so if that’s an issue at work, use Pocket and read it later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, my friends start seeing the silliness and are responding, too…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My pal, @rjamestaylor, wraps up the story with a pretty bow…