For those photography lovers out there that also want to shoot amazing video with great sound, I introduce to you, Magic Lantern. A fellow photography friend, Colin Swift, and I have been researching Magic Lantern for quite some time but we were a bit worried about what it could potentially do to our camera. We both own the powerful prosumer Canon T2i/550D. Magic Lantern is essentially a lightweight piece of software that you install on your SD card that you put in your camera. It doesn’t replace your DSRL’s software, but instead runs over top of it. Brilliant. I recently took the leap of faith and installed Magic Lantern on my camera. This is what I found… More…
Facebook Timeline
Changes in the tech industry are usually expected and mediocre. Some companies change frequently to show they are growing and adapting to users wants and needs. We see this so often in tech because its a competitive space that needs to change to stay current. When you’re a leader in your space, you need to stay on top, and do whatever it takes to stay there. Facebook has changed the way your profile looks a few times recently and they just came out with their new timeline view which went live yesterday. You can change your Facebook profile to the new timeline view now by visiting http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline. It’s set up so you can try it out and not publish it until Dec 23rd so give it a try. More…
OS X Lion
I finally updated my Macbook to OS X Lion. I debated updating for awhile now but finally pulled the trigger after asking a friend if all the bugs were worked out yet. I always have a hesitation to upgrading to a new OS because they are usually buggy until the first patch comes out. He gave me the thumbs up and soon as I ended my last project with a client, there was nothing else that could hold me back.
The neatest feature: The gestures using the trackpad is still new to me but I can already tell that I’m going ot save time from going app to app. A 4 finger swipe to the side and I move from Photoshop to Chrome in less than a second. Love it! More…
The iPhone 4S
I’ve been asked by several people how I like the new iPhone 4S and I haven’t brought myself to say one bad thing about it. A mobile device in my world is one of the most important pieces of equipement I own, so I didn’t take this decision lightly. I am constantly on the go and with a 24/7 hour career, being involved with many community clubs, and most importantly a family man, I need to have instant communication and organization in my hands at all times. A time saving mobile device has become a necessity to me in everyday living.
I’ve previously owned flip phones, my wife has a blackberry, (God bless her), and I’ve played with various android devices that many friends and colleagues use. The Blackberry was not even an option becasue they’ve fallen so far behind in innovating for their phones. If I just needed the phone for talking to people and checking email, I would definitely consider it because they are built like bricks and they are sturdy. I like the Android OS and it can accomplish pretty much anything the iOS can, but let me be clear when I say, Android is like a Chevy, and iOS is like driving a Cadillac. You can tell the difference by just driving it. More…
WordPress 3.1
So as many of you know I am a WordPress geek. I love it’s capabilities and I use it for every website I build, whether large or small. I read blogs about it everyday, I dig into the code everyday, you can basically say I am a WordPress junkie. I have to applaud the WordPress community for bringing it as far as it has to where it is today, version 3.1. I’m going to talk a bit about one of the minor updates that was included in 3.1, which is archives for custom post types. It may seem a bit geeky, but what this means for the CMS non-techy type is really a big deal. There’s a lot of documentation on what custom port types are, and you can simply do a Google search and you will be a guru on custom post types in a week. Again, one of the main reasons why I love WordPress; Documentation and resources at your fingertips. More…
Google Apps for Businesses
So this post is targeted at both the young entrepreneur who needs to keep things organized and the veteran businessman who wants to keep costs low and keep things simple. Google Apps has been a great tool for my small business, Memorywalk, and I can’t imagine what I would do without it. Google Apps is essentially a v areity of products that Google has put out to the public, free of charge, that can be accessed from the same account.
“Reliable, secure web-based office tools for any size business”
It is very simple to add people to share documents, calendars, and it’s a breeze to schedule appointments. Mind you, Google Apps has a ways to go, and does not compare to the robustness of a Microsoft suite set up on Exchange, but I will remind you, Google Apps is free.
The main tool you can use is Gmail or host your own domain for use of email. For example, if your domain was www.mj.com, you can set up your email addresses @mj.com into Gmail. With Gmail’s new labelling system you can create tons of folders to organize your email and even create filters to keep the clutter to a minimum. More…
Why Young Entrepreneurs ARE succeeding
I love talking entrepreneurship with people from all ages, and in many conversations at meetings or conferences I notice the older generation tends to think the younger is a bit arrogant. If they or “we” come off that way, then so be it, but all they want to do is help make companies grow and become better at what they do. Young leaders are simply willing to take the risk, strategize and take action in a “ALL IN” type of way. These same young leaders are not interested in selling anything to make money, they are interested in making something good, great. And when I say great, I mean talked about on TechCrunch and asked to be bought out by Google or Microsoft, and then say “NO”. One very recent example of this is from the company Groupon. Andrew Mason, CEO of Groupon, is now one person that I look up to immediately after watching the video posted below. Andrew posted this after one of the coupon’s that they sold on their site in Japan went terribly wrong. It’s moments like these where leadership from growing companies shows that they are here to make their company a success, not to simply sit behind a desk and ask people what to do.
Game Dynamics
If you can understand this post, you simply have the ability to consciously think about how you, I and the things we build shape the world we live in. Kind of deep eh? Game Dynamics can be simply put as techniques used by game designers to make games fun and addictive. If you haven’t noticed, your apart of an influence every day of your life by game dynamics. Don’t think so? Well do you use your credit card to get points? Yes, that’s game dynamics. Maybe entered yourself into a fantasy sports league? Have you fed your sheep on farmville lately? Maybe you’ve heard of video games like World of Warcraft or Call of Duty? Wonder why they are so addictive? Yes, that’s right, game dynamics. There are so many ways to level up, earn rewards, and also the ability to pursue accomplishments.
Ok, let’s go back to elementary school for a minute and think about how teachers used game dynamics to get us to try harder. Remember the star board or sticker board that had the names of the students with accomplishments next to them? Amazing how a little sticker would make us try so hard. As adults, those same fundamental processes still apply to our psyche and its one of the largest influencers in what we buy, spend our time on, and can even shape the community we interact with. When you sit back and think about it for a minute, game dynamics can have huge implicaitions on how we live our lives. More…