A Bravia New World: Turning “Movie Night” Into “Review Me” Night! | Dad-O-Matic

via dadomatic.com

I love Animoto and used it to create the above video for my review of the Sony Bravia XBR9 40 TV and Sony BDP-S560 Blu-ray Disc player as part of the Sony DigiDad Project. Please check out the full story and review at www.dadomatic.com.

Posted via web from Kiss My SASS!

It Doesn't Take A Village When You ARE The Village!

Becky McCray was one of my early Twitter friends and for over two years we have not only enjoyed many online exchanges but we have actually had the pleasure of meeting in the "real world" a few times. Becky is truly a delightful person and she has built a solid following and a great name for herself as a Small Business expert with her popular "Small Biz Survival" blog. Here is the part I find incredibly cool:

Becky lives in Alva, Oklahoma, population 4,848.

Becky also lives in Twitterville, and HER population there is 4,852.

That's right, Becky's personal "community" on Twitter is now larger than the entire population of the town she lives in. Every Tweet Becky sends out has the potential to inform, entertain or influence an audience that is larger than her entire home town. MUCH larger if you consider the power of re-tweeting.

Now, perhaps this is not as eye-popping as I am making it sound. Surely Ashton Kutcher can make the same claim as the 3,373,626 Twittizens that follow him far exceeds the population of Ketchum, Idaho, where I believe he often resides (population 3,234). However, Becky McCray is not one-half of a globally know Hollywood couple. Becky is a small town, small business owner, who, without Social Media, could not have dreamed of having the circle of influence and reach she now commands. Becky is one of us!

I suspect that many of the residents of Alva, Oklahoma live their whole lives without leaving and certainly without interacting with thousands of folks from cities and countries all over the world. "Social Media" has given Becky (and all of us) the opportunity to broaden our horizons and enrich our lives through a bigger community... one that has no borders and no boundaries - only bits and bytes and great people like Becky McCray to make it interesting!

It doesn't take a village... WE are the village!

Photo Credit: (cc) Shashi Bellamkonda Social Media Swami Network Solutions

Taking pride in a dying art...

"They say it is a dying art, but its not dead 'till the guys like me are gone..."

That's what he said as he brought my well worn shoes back to near new brilliance.  He has been working the same spot in Fort Lauderdale airport, Terminal 2, for 16 years.  He works hard, 12 hour days, and he takes incredible pride in his art and skill, polishing, waxing and buffing with a professional air and flair worthy of a master tradesman.  In truth, hands flying by, brushing with rhythm and reason, his shining shines as only a great performance can.

Rather than applaud, I thanked him and happily handed him twice the stated fee, as had the gentleman before me, and as I was confident his next customer would as well.

It is easy to admire, appreciate and reward someone who takes such pride and pleasure in what they do.  Note to self: don't forget that!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!

Images from "Fuerza Bruta" (Brute Force) at the Arsht Center in Miami last night...

Last night I saw "FUERZA BRUTA," an inspiring and entertaining cross between live theater and a rave club. I took about 70 pictures on my phone during the intense, interactive evening. Here are a few of them. If you have a chance to see "FUERZA BRUTA" (and are not claustrophobic) I highly recommend it!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!

A Brief History of Smartphones (And the battle that ensued)

I was dumbfounded by the great turnout for "The Battle of the Smartphones" panel at the August meeting of MoMo Miami (Mobile Monday Miami). More than 60 Mobile minded Miami-ans (and folks from other South Florida locales) gathered at the DoubleTree Coconut Grove hotel for a healthy discussion of the merits (and demerits) of mobile app development for the dominant Smartphone platforms (Symbian/S60, Blackberry, Windows Mobile (now Windows Phone), iPhone, Android and WebOS). Moderated by Miami Herald Tech Reporter Bridget Carey our panel consisted of some impressive and experienced mobile developers representing most of the primary platforms. Michael Tangeman has a good overview of the panel at the MoMo Miami blog.

I introduced the panel with a short presentation on "A Brief History of Smartphones (As Told From The Recollections of a Self-Proclaimed Gadget Geek)" Irina Patterson caught most of it in the video below. As I mentioned at the beginning (not on the video) my "Brief History" presentation is not necessarily historically or chronologically accurate, but rather it is how I remember things, based on my own experiences with the MANY devices I have owned and used over the years. In addition to the video below, you can see the actual flash presentation here.




See the "slides" here.