USB Inventor Rock Star Commercial
I was reading an article this morning on CNN about Intel’s Ajay Bhatt, the dude that invented USB and I couldn’t help but remember the hilarious commercial that Intel ran w/ a guy playing him walking into the office and everyone going crazy, it was pure genius. Well, I decided to check YouTube this morning to see if that commercial was on there and wouldn’t you know it…
Seriously though, this is a pretty sharp dude. Have you ever stopped to think what life would be like w/out USB? The CNN article on Bhatt was really well written too, check it out. Oh, and if you thought USB 2.0 was fast, there is now USB 3.0 and it’s supposedly 10 times faster than it’s predecessor, which was 10 times faster than the original, or something like that…
The Hero Video
I have to thank my friend Kyle Keith from Jonesboro for turning me onto this one. Just a note, you might have to give it a few minutes to load completely, but I promise it’s worth the wait. The video reveals who the Hero of the entire world really is, and I couldn’t agree more…
By the way, if the video won’t load for you here, you can access the direct link here.
#RefreshCA Geo-Social Showdown
If you missed out on the January meeting of the Central Arkansas Refresh group where Nick Brewer from CJRW did a presentation on PODS CMS for Wordpress, you missed out on an awesome presentation. Nick did an awesome job presenting PODS, hopefully we will have his presentation slides and audio online for you to download in the very near future, he is working on them now.
When we opened the meeting I asked the group what they wanted to do for the next months meeting, since the conversations prior to opening the meeting that night were primarily about all of the Geo-Social apps that are on the market right now such as Gowalla, Foursquare, loopt, Brightkite, and Waze, I proposed that we have some sort of broad scope group discussion on these apps to discuss where we all see these apps going. I think we all agreed that this is the next wave of social media.
The idea that we came up with was that we could have different representatives from within our group kind of give a 5 minute overview of their favorite Geo-Social app and then we could open the floor to discuss these apps and how we can leverage them to meet our clients needs as well as our own moving forward from an industry perspective.
Now, here’s where I need some feedback:
- What does everyone think of this meeting layout?
- Do you have any format suggestions?
- If this is cool, then we will need volunteers to do 5 minute overviews of each product, here’s what we have so far in terms of volunteers: * Cotton Rohrscheib (Gowalla), Khara Cavaness (Yelp), ** Amy Bradley Hole (Foursquare), and Bryan Jones (Loopt). I guess that leaves us needing someone to do an overview of Brightkite and Waze, any takers?? @AkValley, @tsudo, @brantc ???
The meeting is scheduled for the last Tuesday in February, that falls on February 23, 2010, I think given the popularity of this topic we stand a chance of having another really good turnout, possibly rivaling our Google Wave discussion. The location will still be The Flying Saucer in Downtown Little Rock and will kick off around 6-6:30pm.
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* = I can easily speak on Waze too if someone wants to take Gowalla
** = She is awesome and was volunteered by the group. Hopefully we can convince her!!! 
Attention: Conway, Arkansas Twitter Community
The other night my wife and I attended the Little Rock Tweetup, also known as #LRTweetup. We had a blast connecting with people that we talk to on a daily basis inside the social network Twitter. The #LRTweetup was organized several months ago and have had several meetups at various establishments around Little Rock. They have even helped raise awareness to some very good causes such as Reach out and Read Arkansas and most recently Meet me Halfway, which brought into town Country Music Performer Jimmy Wayne.
The Little Rock Tweetup group meets on a pretty frequent basis if for no other reason than to have a drink and unwind with friends after a busy day. The calendar can be found online for #LRTweetup if you are interested in attending, it’s a great networking opportunity. The venues for each Tweetup change from meeting to meeting and from what I can tell the business owners that host these events see an obvious economical impact from having an influx of people converge on their establishments. To learn some more about the Little Rock Tweetup, click here…
Now, here is my question. Keith Crawford, one of the organizers of the event and one of my good friends asked me if I thought such a group would go over well in Conway. I told him that I wasn’t quite for sure if there was enough interest so I thought that I would put out this feeler post to see…
Would you be interested in being a part of the Conway, Arkansas Area Tweetup?
If so, please leave a comment below and let me know…
EP:003 – The Cotton Club
Tonight I recorded the 3rd edition of The Cotton Club Podcast. The topic for tonight’s show was the Apple iPad device. My guest for the show was Calvin Hill of Reflections by the Hill Photography, an avid Mac user, professional photographer, and programmer all rolled up into one really cool guy. We discussed the iPad and gave some of our thoughts based on what was released at the product announcement.
We also discussed some cool apps for the iPhone such as Waze and My6sense. This was a really fun show and we covered a lot of ground. Click on the play button below to listen, or subscribe to The Cotton Club in iTunes.
TheCottonClub-EP003 [29:42m]:
EP:002 – The Social Radar
Keith Crawford and I recorded Episode 2 tonight of The Social Radar podcast. Tonight Keith was gracious enough to allow me to start out the show w/ a rant of my own regarding Facebook’s lax privacy in regards to wall posts from applications to profile pages. This is something that I will never understand, especially realizing the cluttered path that MySpace went down to their demise.
We also discussed some Lifestreaming practices that are good for both individuals and businesses that utilize social media. Keith also offered up an awesome definition of Lifestreaming as opposed to what can be found in Wikipedia. After briefly touching on the hot topic of Geo-location / Geo-social applications we went right on into our weekly run down of our favorite new iPhone applications.
Again, we are still in the process of getting everything setup in iTunes for The Social Radar but we hope to have that very soon so that all of our loyal listeners can subscribe. In the meantime, here’s a brief overview of what we covered on tonight’s show:
In the second episode of The Social Radar Podcast, hosts Cotton Rohrscheib & Keith Crawford discuss a wide variety of topics related to Social Media including a rant by Cotton regarding Facebook’s recent lapse of privacy concerning applications posting to profiles, an awesome definition of Lifestreaming from Keith as well as a need that is not presently being met by todays geo-social applications. As usual the guys also run down some of their favorite iPhone applications to close out the show.
Click here to listen to this weeks show on The Social Radar podcast website…
Rumors About Microsoft Opening .PST Data Format
If you follow the information technology industry very close you might have heard some rumblings that Microsoft plans on opening up their proprietary PST data format documentation to developers under the OSP, or Open Specification Promise. The documentation they release will contain how data is stored, guidance for accessing the data, and how to navigate the folder hierarchy and how various objects are stored.
By allowing this data format to be made open, developers can now read, create and interoperate with data inside client or target .PST files. This is absolutely huge in my opinion, and I know that I don’t often compliment Microsoft for doing good things, but this is one case where I am applauding them. Microsoft Outlook, which utilizes the .PST data format is by far the industry leading business email client. Personally I have been using Microsoft Outlook since I left the farm, my entire business history is contained in my .PST file, that’s past appointments, archives, contacts, tasks, etc. It’s mind boggling to consider until you start looking at alternative solutions (and there really isn’t one on the market right now).
Regarding the move to open up the .PST Format here are some comments I found online at ARS Technica:
The company says that providing access to the documentation will facilitate interoperability by enabling customers and vendors to access their data in .PST files across a variety of platforms. Organizations that need to exchange key corporate data in and out of Outlook, upload to the cloud, or comply with corporate governance policies, will find this particularly useful.
On the one hand, this could improve Microsoft’s chances to make the .PST file format the unofficial standard in the area of e-mail data storage, while it’s equally possible that it could help Outlook and Exchange competitors make it easier for companies to switch away from Redmond’s products. Microsoft wants its message to be that this is a good move, as it will make the data more portable across various applications and platforms.
Rackspace recently published an interesting outlook on their blog too about the future:
Longer term, Outlook could become an apps platform where we see all sorts of third-party apps being developed that add value to the core feature-set of Microsoft Outlook, similar to what you see with Facebook Apps today but on your desktop. However, in order for this to play out, Microsoft will need to do more than just open up the storage format. They will have to also redesign Outlook with apps in mind so that apps can be easily developed and can feel like an integrated part of Outlook. They’ll also need to launch some sort of an “app store” model for third parties to distribute their apps, such as what has worked so successfully for Apple’s iPhone apps.
I also found a little bit more official post on bink.nu regarding this announcement, while I am not for certain if this announcement came directly from Microsoft or not, it sounds promising:
Data portability has become an increasing need for our customers and partners as more information is stored and shared in digital formats. One scenario that has come up recently is how to further improve platform-independent access to email, calendar, contacts, and other data generated by Microsoft Outlook.
On desktops, this data is stored in Outlook Personal Folders, in a format called a .pst file. Developers can already access the data stored in the .pst file, using Messaging API (MAPI) and the Outlook Object Model—a rich set of connections to all of the data stored by Outlook and Exchange Server—but only if Outlook is installed on the desktop.
In order to facilitate interoperability and enable customers and vendors to access the data in .pst files on a variety of platforms, we will be releasing documentation for the .pst file format. This will allow developers to read, create, and interoperate with the data in .pst files in server and client scenarios using the programming language and platform of their choice. The technical documentation will detail how the data is stored, along with guidance for accessing that data from other software applications. It also will highlight the structure of the .pst file, provide details like how to navigate the folder hierarchy, and explain how to access the individual data objects and properties.
This documentation is still in its early stages and work is ongoing. We are engaging directly with industry experts and interested customers to gather feedback on the quality of the technical documentation to ensure that it is clear and useful. When it is complete, it will be released under our Open Specification Promise, which will allow anyone to implement the .pst file format on any platform and in any tool, without concerns about patents, and without the need to contact Microsoft in any way.
I guess we will just have to wait and see how this unfolds. For me personally I will be setting up Google Alerts because I want to know the exact minute it happens.
Winter Doom 2010 – Frosty the Spiderman
We finally got enough snow in Conway to build a snowman today. My next door neighbor Calvin Hill and I, (along w/ his kids and a few other folks that decided to stop by and pitch in) build without a doubt the coolest snowman in Central Arkansas today! Meet Frosty the Spiderman…
The entire photo gallery from the day is already online at Picasa or you can view them here… You can tell by Frosty’s hair that he still has a warm place in his heart for 80’s hair bands…
Road Trip Using Waze (Updated)
Okay, so this past weekend my wife and I went on a road trip to see Bill Engvall in Texas with some friends. I blogged before we headed out that I was going to use Waze the entire trip, you can read that post here… For the most part I was extremely, extremely impressed w/ Waze during this trip. I did run into a few things that I wanted to mention though about the software.
Before I go into a lot of detail I want to reiterate again that for a free software app, Waze is probably the most impressive thing I have downloaded since owning my iPhone. This whole Geo-Social thing is just getting fired up with apps like Gowalla, Foursquare, and Loopt on the market, and each one getting stronger, I think we are all going to witness some amazing things in 2010 related to Geo-Social applications. Being that these apps are all new, it’s obvious that there are going to be some kinks, or bugs, here and there. In addition to bugs, there are some items of functionality that we might also want right now that are just going to take the developers a little bit of time to put in place, I am a software guy, I totally get it.
Initially I noticed that Waze allowed users to check in using Foursquare but not Gowalla. I would LOVE to see Gowalla added to the mix since it’s my primary Geo-Social app. I am sure that it’s just a matter of time before Gowalla support is added, it’s growing in popularity every day…
Trips Over 200 Miles…
When programming in our trip, we learned that presently Waze will only accommodate for trips under 200 miles. Since our trip was about 300 miles, we just picked a center location and programmed that in and hit the road. I am not for sure if I expected the audible turn by turn directions from a free application but it was certainly nice. I am not for certain but I think the voice on the app telling me which way to turn was a little bit easier to understand than the one on our Garmin. My wife and I debated the voices a few minutes, we had gotten used to our directions girl on the Garmin.
Outside 3G Coverage Areas…
I could hear the audible directions being cued or downloaded to my phone before they actually spoke. While we were in 3G areas it seemed that we got our turn by turn directions in a very timely manner, enough time to make our turns. Outside the 3G central Arkansas area, near the Texas line was a little bit different story however, we almost missed a turn for our off ramp because the audio came in at the last second and I had to cross two lanes of traffic.
Recalculating Routes after Detours…
Once I got into Texas I programmed in our final destination. As soon as our route was calculated I started driving. About halfway into the metro Tyler area we missed a turn and it took a little while for it to recalculate our route, and this was in 3G service area. I am not for sure if this was a fluke or not but I had to pull over and allow it a few minutes to get us back on track. The other times that I ventured off the pre-determined route I noticed that the recalculation time lagged here as well. I am sure that there is a lot involved with downloading, etc., but I bet that the folks at Waze improve this as time goes on. As far as outside the 3G area goes, I am not for sure if there is anything they can do on their end as programmers to adjust for that… and it’s understandable.
Reporting Traffic Jams and Speed Traps…
On more than one occasion we were able to locate speed traps before we happened upon them. We also in turn posted speed traps that we encountered a long the way, 6 of them to be exact. I really like this feature. We also reported some slower traffic areas on our way back.
Directions Near Louisiana…
We decided on our way back to detour through Shreveport, LA to visit some friends and watch the Saints game and enjoy a bowl of Duck Gumbo. As we got close to Shreveport we noticed that some of the turns the app was telling us to make simply weren’t there. This happened a few times, I am not for sure why this was the case, it could have been that the interstate system there is stacked one on top of the other, about 4 high, and maybe it saw us on one of the other roads, but it sure made for some confusion.
Once we got onto flat roads and made our exit everything started functioning normally again.
Reporting Wildlife on the Highway…
On our return trip, we traveled back roads into Hope, AR. On these back roads and even once we got on the Interstate we saw at least 100 deer grazing on the side of the road. Now, anyone that has traveled Arkansas for any length of time knows that this can be extremely hazardous. I think it would be cool if Waze added a section to their Report area that allowed you to report Wildlife hazards in the area so you could keep your eyes open.
In closing, I am still very impressed with this App and i hope to have Diann from Waze on The Cotton Club podcast one of these days very soon…
#LRTweetup, Meeting Jimmy Wayne & More…
My wife and I went to the Little Rock Tweetup tonight at Prost in the River Market. This was my first #LRTweetup and it was an awesome social experience. It was nice to put a face w/ the name avatar for a lot of the people I talk w/ on a daily basis. I even got to meet the lovely @KerriJack tonight who my wife and I really enjoyed speaking with.
As we were meandering (a word I learned this past week) and talking w/ some of our friends I noticed a guy across the room that looked familiar. I kept thinking to myself that I had seen this guy before and it wasn’t in the local circles. Finally as he was walking across the room it popped in my head, this dude is a singer, Jimmy Wayne… I knew that he was walking across the country to bring awareness to homeless teens in the nation, the project, http://meetmehalfway.jimmywayne.com/, is something that I was somewhat familiar with already. As we got to talking my wife and I both realized at the same time that okay, here is this dude, extremely talented, career shooting to the moon, just released a new album, and he has walked all the way to Little Rock from Nashville to raise awareness to homeless teens. Incredible. What a guy, I am still a bit overwhelmed by it all…
For those of you not familiar w/ Jimmy Wayne’s music, here you go… (you can see some more of his tunes on YouTube.)
I even snapped a few pics on my iPhone for posterity of Jimmy and I and my good friend Keith Crawford because I am a total goober! The lighting was a little dark inside so the pics turned out pretty dark. I am happy to have met this guy, incredible dude… You can follow his journey on Twitter at @jimmywayne.
Also, you can follow Jimmy’s travels by clicking here. Here’s a little information about his project that I snagged from his website:
On January 1, 2010, Jimmy Wayne launched his “Meet Me Halfway” campaign when he begins his solo walk halfway across America in Nashville, TN. Wayne’s intention is not only to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless, especially at risk children, teens and young adults, but also raise funds for organizations that benefit homeless youth, including HomeBase Youth Services, a Phoenix, AZ based organization that provides essentials for homeless young adults. Wayne will begin the walk at 10:00 a.m. CT on January 1st at Monroe Harding in Nashville, another organization that services at risk children and young adults. He plans to walk to Phoenix, AZ. [read more]
Last, but certainly not least, if you want to make a donation to support what he is doing, you can do so at one of these links:
- Update 10pm: I just saw on Twitter where Jimmy is camped out tonight in the parking lot at The Capital Hotel in Little Rock. I offered up a room tonight, but judging by tour bus in the background, I probably sounded like a goober. LOL
