Category Archives: technology

Hanukkah Texting

LevinsonHanukkah

I do so love my group texts with my kids. I meet their expectations by always having typos.

Tonight I was feeling a little sad that I had spaced out on the whole Hanukkah thing with the family. For some reason I did not juggle a celebration into the schedule for all of us. This is utterly ridiculous since it is the first time in 7 years that all 4 of us live in the same place. Just another example of my Rock of Gibraltar-ness cracking. Let’s face it, this has been going on since 2008, I don’t think I can stake any claim to supermom status anymore.

Whatever, I did a dive save tonight.

You have to love Danny’s response.

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Filed under danny, family, holidays, Jana, moms, technology, texting

Siri humor

manIt would appear Siri is slightly hard of hearing. Or at least MY Siri is. She never understands what I am asking for.

The other day I needed the phone number for my favorite doctor on the face of the earth, Dr. Samuel J. Mann. Since he pretty much saved – maybe not my life, but surely the quality of it – I considered him THE Man.

Apparently Siri does not. In fact this was all she could come up with:

“I don’t understand ‘Man’.”

Which stopped me for a moment. You know Siri, I can relate. I don’t really understand man either.

 

 

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Filed under absurdities, health, humor, siri, technology

Video on Instagram… Vinekiller?

video for instagram

Well, well, well. Bless their little monopolistic hearts, facebook has just blown up Vine with video for instagram. And as much as I want to say it sucks… I can’t.

Quick run-through:

  • iOS and Android – Good move but I personally don’t care. But it is huge.
  • 15 seconds vs 6 – Don’t care that much, this is like bar mitzvah videos to me, sometimes less is more. Brands will love it. Little 15 second spots all over town… great opp.
  • Editing – This is big. Not sure why it is not in their bullet screen above; this is a big feature. The Vine purists will say that capturing it in one take is the artform – it keeps it fresh, it keeps it real. I get that, but really? Bullshit, everyone likes to edit.
  • 13 custom filters – Yum and they had to do it. And filters by frame can be beautiful, or really tacky depending whose hands they are in like anything else. I admit I love filters but as an artist I am in that crowd that wears the #nofilter hashtag proudly whenever I can. Because, you know, ‘I went to art school, yo.” (and yes, I am way to old too say ‘yo’)
  • Cover frame – lovely, I like that I can pick the frame for the feed. And brands… this is huge for you.
  • Cinema – OMG, I actually can’t say anything bad about stabilization. (Seriously, who doesn’t aspire to stability? What? That is not what it means?) There is no need to take a Dramamine when watching these vids, they are crisp and beautiful (with only a moderate amount of drinking while shooting, I am assuming).

I am still a huge fan of looping and think it is what makes Vine so cool when used correctly, so I am not sure not including it was wise. But I am not sure if Vine will survive this. On the other hand, Vine is the new frontier and the younguns’ are getting sick of the facebook clutter.

What are your thoughts?

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Filed under carry a camera, communities, current events, design, facebook, home video, photography, product reviews, technology

iPhone 4S and the antics it spawned

If you ever met me you know I am a long-standing uber loyal MacUser. Not one of these OMG the new shiny/shiny is out I have to get me some sort of MacUser. I am the I have a Mac SE under my desk that I upgraded to a 52MG hard drive and thought I was all that sort of MacUser. (for my young readers, read the history of Apple)

So today, I am proud to announce I have finally left the ranks of dissatisfied Blackberry users and crossed over to the iPhone side. Of course it is love at first site. For the first time ever, I took my (fully charged) phone out of the box, synched it to my computer in under 3 minutes and went about my day.

No cursing.

No loss of data.

No hassles.

In celebration of this momentous event I have started a new blog:

RunOverYourBlackberry.com

No, I am not kidding. Here is a little screen shot.

I apologize to RIM for this. And honestly at the beginning I loved the Blackberry. But I probably hold the record for both more units needing to be replaced AND the most forced, pull-out-the-battery restarts in a day.

I am soliciting submissions from people on how they choose to express the grief they have had from their Blackberries. (video or photo).

So hop on over. And feel free to send in your submissions. Be creative and don’t be shy.

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Filed under blogging, humor, technology

Voice Texting

I am sorry, is this not the most absurd concept ever? Voice texting. Hello… if you are willing to talk into the phone, why don’t you just… TALK into the phone.

The theory behind this is to make texting safe while driving. So, in practice, the recipient does not want to chat, they still want to text. And in all fairness, the caller may also not want to chat either but they are driving and want to be safe.

I guess I just find the whole thing sort of silly. A contradiction of terms. I think the texting wave gets taken to a whole new level here.

I have to commend the development of the technology in the name of safety. But it makes me sort of sad that we have reached a point in communication evolution that makes a quick vocal check in undesirable. I get the convenience. It comes in handy for the times when you need to ‘talk’ to someone who perhaps is hard to get off the phone. And you know I am a major lover of technology, early adopter, geek of another color. But this one… leaves me cold.

What next?

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Filed under absurdities, humor, technology, Uncategorized

The ABCs of relaxing

Lately I have become a little obsessed with the instagram app on my ipod touch. I still suffer from iphone wannabeeism (waiting not so patiently for the Verzion iphone). But having the touch has allowed me to play with all the apps the other kids have. And when I say the other kids I mean the ones with AT&T iphones who suffer from another plight – that of the constantly dropping call.

Life is imperfect.

I am also one who has a hard time relaxing. When I have time off I tend to mark my days by accomplishments just the same. How many loads of laundry, how many meals cooked, items baked… see a pattern here?

Yesterday I folded and went for plain old feet up, read a book relaxing. I took the opp to document it and did not realize the titles of the books on the table until I looked at the photo today… Love and The Meaning of Life. Funny enough, The Art of Doing Nothing is also somewhere in that pile.

Perfect.

I think I might get used to doing nothing…

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Filed under art, carry a camera, photography, technology

Adkeeper.com, you had me at The Keep!

This one is huge. And I know you are all thinking that I am just about the hippest blogger in history that I am picking this one up just hours after the press release. Keep thinking that for now. Later I will tell you why I knew about this so soon.

So here is the deal, adkeeper.com is just what the name says. The ‘keeper’ gives you the ability to click on an online ad and save, or keep it (get it) for later when you want to engage. It lets you keep all the ads for products that you normally buy in one place. Start looking for the button at the top of this post on ads online and you can click it and start keeping. You can view the product demo here.

Simply put: you know how when you see an ad you are interested in online and then you refresh the page and you lose it and you’re really angry because they were offering a discount code for something you really wanted and you get really mad and stomp around the house, yell at your spouse and kick the dog. Well first of all, shame on you for kicking the dog and second you don’t have to worry about that anymore because now you can save it. (as far as yelling at your spouse, we all know that had nothing to do with the ad, so go resolve that please).

For you old schoolers, it’s like cutting out the ad, or offer, and putting it in a file for later. Like my mom.

To quote the CEO, Scott Kurnit (yes for all you web savvy souls out there – THAT Scott Kurnit… about.com Scott Kurnit):

For 15 years we’ve just had the IMPRESSION and the CLICK. Well, what about a KEEP? That’s it. A KEEP. Keep the ad for later, when I have the time, when I can engage.

Consumers in control. There’s an idea.

So, beginning today we’re offering a Keep Button™ for every ad and a Keeper™ to put them in. In their Keepers consumers can save, sort, sift, share, rank, review, click, print and buy. It’s “on my time advertising.”

For consumers, don’t get your panties in a knot about privacy. This is opt-in and permission based. And for you advertisers and media buyers out there, this is instantly measurable, on-demand advertising. Way coolio for everyone!

If you are still not quite clear on this check out this video. Or listen to what Scott has to say. His enthusiasm and history of how this idea came to be is infectious. And makes us all wonder, ‘Why did no one think of this before?’. It is actually so simple yet I believe this concept will revolutionize the online advertising business. Check out this super A-list Advisory Board – seems they think so too.

Ok, so full disclosure. I do not spend my Sunday nights looking for the hottest new thing to hit the interwebs. Ok, maybe I do… sometimes. But in this instance I knew about this because the babe of a COO, Todd Sloan, happens to be a dear friend.

Oh and Badger as well!

And since I have known about this for awhile and  he has not killed me yet, it is safe to say you can all trust me with your secrets.

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Filed under humor, social media, technology

Time to Cry Tuesday – Checking Out

I admit it. I am a connection junkie. I have a blackberry, a blog, accounts on facebook, foursquare, twitter and countless other ridiculous places I won’t admit. I post, share, ponder, like, friend, tweet, IM, BBM, text, and in my retro way I am known to send an occasional traditional snail mail thank-you note when old-fashioned sincerity is in order.

But this weekend I worked pretty hard at checking out. Nestled comfortably in the heart of the 6 million acre Adirondack Park, I stayed in a sleepy little town called… no, not Petticoat Junction. But pretty damn close. It is called North Creek. And it is a bustling metropolis compared to the town we were there to really visit, which is called Minerva.

Minerva… 12851. 28N. Say those three things to anyone who has been lucky enough to spend their summers at the sleep away camps in that town and a glazed look will come over their eyes. The air smells so sweet, the sky is that extra shade of blue, the lake tastes like nothing on this earth. The stillness of its mornings and the majesty of its sunsets are amongst the most beautiful experiences on earth.

But the true gift of this little jewel on earth is found in its lack of cell service. Yes, you read that correctly. I was thrilled to be technically untethered for a few days. And although North Creek prides itself in its relatively new hot spots, I can honestly say I tried my best to keep away from them as much as possible while I was in town. Sure I threw up some shots on facebook and even checked in on foursquare once just to see if there were venues that were listed, but for the most part…

I checked out.

And kids, I have to tell you, it didn’t suck. Somehow being there and letting go made me remember who I am on some level. Or perhaps it was who I want to be.

Again.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under camp, facebook, technology, Time to Cry Tuesdays, twitter, vacation

Sarcasm Meter?

Credit: dictionary.com

It seems from now on I can have a full and meaningful relationship with a computer. Everyone knows that my personality is lost on anyone without a true appreciation for sarcasm. It is amazing that my computer and I have had a relationship that has lasted this long.

According to this article on POPSCI.com SASI, a Semi-supervised Algorithm for Sarcasm Identification, can recognize sarcastic sentences in product reviews online with pretty astounding 77 percent precision.

Ok, so what they are saying now is that first there was voice recognition and now there is wise-ass recognition. I am trying to think of the real world need for this. Apparently this will help shopping sites make better recommendations based on the knowledge that when you say that a product sucks eggs you did not actually mean it was a vacuum cleaner for cleaning up a dropped carton of said eggs. It will actually get the yolk. (oh, jeez, sorry for that one) Or as those crazy kids at Popsci said “This isn’t all just so your Roomba gets the joke when you tell it it sucks.”  (apparently everyone is a comedian today).

Is everything about algorithms now? What happened to eye contact and intuitive behavior? Oh right, now there’s an app for that.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under absurdities, humor, technology

Stuff I Like (vol. 1 iGo Green Charger)

Ok, I don’t usually do this but since I called this post vol. 1 there is a good chance I may do it again. Or it might end at volume 1 and that will be it. I have never done product reviews and something tells me you guys don’t come here to talk about stuff you probably don’t need or want to buy.

But I am pretty sure everyone I know might want one of these. The iGo green charger rocks my geeky world.

Full disclosure, I got this in a swag bag at a great blogger brand event today, so no I did not buy it. But I will buy them for Gary and the kids so I will never have to hear those dreaded words when traveling again:

Damn, I forgot to charge my phone! (and then the temper tantrum that follows)

The cool thing about this charger is that when you plug it in to charge your phone it also charges an internal battery. You unplug it, take it with you and you can charge your phone later on without an outlet. Yes, that’s right, no running around searching for ‘juice’, kiddies. And that’s not all, it has 2 ports to charge more than one device at a time, has all sorts of changeable heads for different devices AND doesn’t just charge phones. You can charge your camera, GPS and bluetooth with this sucker.

Seriously, I love this. And the green factor is a nice touch. iGo has a whole line of chargers that are worth looking at.

A big thanks to Silicon Valley Moms Group (I write at 50-something moms blog in case you are blind and don’t see the bold following line at the end of all my posts), Bitdefender and their new Bitmoms community, and all the other brands who attended for a fabulous brand/blogger event. I learned so much from both the brands and the bloggers. And of course thank you to iGo for the charger.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog.For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under product reviews, technology