KazzaDrask Media

Gossip and Tech Buzz: What People Are Talking about Online This Week, Jan 23-27

2012-01-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

Cher is not dead. The latest Twitter death hoax played out in rapid real time on Thursday night, only to be quickly proven false. The 65-year-old singer is alive and well and at home in Malibu, hanging with comedian Kathy Griffin and watching reruns of son Chaz on Dancing with the Stars. (Okay, so we made up that last part!)

It was a mixed week for women in politics, especially from those in states and countries beginning with the letter 'A'.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ-8) resigned her seat via a YouTube video. Giffords was severely wounded last year when she was shot in the head during a Tuscon shooting rampage. Her recovery thus far has been incredible, yet partial, and her moving video announcement was only eclipsed by her appearance on the House floor during President Obama's State of the Union address (more popularly known now as #SOTU). Obama and Giffords exchanged a long and swaying embrace - only the staunchest Tea Party members were able to keep their eyes dry.

A day later, President Obama flew to Arizona, only to be greeted by a finger-pointing Republican governor Jan Brewer. The photo posted 'round the online channels is drawing some unfortunate comparisons.

Meanwhile, in Australia, Prime Minister Julia Gillard required an avalanche of security to remove her from a glass restaurant where an angry mob of Aboriginal activists pounded on the windows. In the ensuing pandemonium, the PM lost a shoe. A Tumblr blog called Julia Gillard's Shoe is covering the saga.

Not be outdone by these lovely ladies, the GOP men running for president continued to make headlines. Newt Gingrich, in an effort to out-space alien opponent Ron Paul, promised that the US would not only colonize on the moon if he became president, we'd make it a state! Senator John Kerry (D-MA) showed up at #SOTU with two black eyes - reportedly from a couple of hockey pucks gone astray.

Beyond the political realm, people were talking about Pinterest - the new social media tool that has entered the Social Media Top 10, thus warranting you to check it out. Might be a good thing, since it was reported that Facebook can make you depressed. Silicon Valley got the sh*t people say treatment, with a video that quickly went viral and if you think Kim Dotcom is not a real person, think again.

We're talking about all this on Twitter, Facebook and even Google+, but we round it up for one-stop catching up over at the Online Media Roundup. Come on over and join the conversation!

More on Australian PM's Lost Shoe

2012-01-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

A Tumblr blog is born. Julia Gillard's Shoe. Why didn't we think of that!

Australian PM Julia Gillard Loses Shoe in Angry Mob Attack

2012-01-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

Australia's top two politicians were whisked away from an angry mob in Canberra during Australia Day festivities yesterday. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott were celebrating the national holiday in a swanky restaurant, sipping champagne when a group of some 200 people from the nearby Aboriginal tent embassy surrounded the premises and began chanting ''Shame'', ''Racist'' and ''Always was, will be, Aboriginal land'' while banging on the restaurant's the glass walls.

It's believed the protests were sparked by comments made by Abbott about ''moving on'' the Aboriginal tent embassy, which celebrated its 40th anniversary yesterday.

In the scramble by security to whisk the Prime Minister and Abbott to safety, Ms. Gillard lost a shoe. The protesters are now alternating between using it as a trophy (as shown in the video above) and/or hostage (as shown in this video) to get Gillard to meet with the new Aboriginal parliament.

Australia's relations with its Aboriginal citizens has been contentious, to say the least, since European settlers began arriving on the continent in the 1600s.

Additional sources for this story: http://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-day-shame-20120126-1qjt1.html#ixzz1kap80o79. KazzaDrask Media wrote about Australian politics and the election of Julia Gillard as the country's first woman prime minister in 2010. Click here for a recap about the fierce fight to rule the Land Down Under between Gillard and Abbott.

Video of the Week: Sh*t Silicon Valley Says

2012-01-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

In the sh*t people say and the YouTube video craze around it (Sh*t White Girls Say to Black Girls, Sh*t Girls Say to Gay Guys, Stuff PR People Say, etc.), this parody of Silicon Valley is a little late. In fact, if it was technology it would be the rotary dial phone to today's smart phones. But the Valley isn't necessarily known for its sense of humor, which is evident in the first string of comments denying that people who live and work there talk like this.

Since the Valley ate San Francisco, or the San Andreas fault line moved us closer together, I think I speak from experience when I say I've heard a few of these phrases. And, I'm guilty of a few myself. "It's like Instagram..." or "It's like Foursquare" and "I've already retweeted that...and reblogged it, too!"

Gossip and Tech Buzz: What People Are Talking about Online This Week, Jan 16-20

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

There was only really one story this week - wasn't there? SOPA - and how to stop it. The Stop Online Piracy Act and its bastard cousin PIPA (Protect IP Act) sound like something we would want. But in reality, they are something that Hollywood wants to protect foreign countries (um...China) from copying movies and selling them, thus keeping the Hollywood moguls from getting even richer.

Nothing wrong with that, really. But the way the legislation is written leaves a lot of room for interpreting what exactly constitutes "piracy" and "protecting IP". Read "SOPA and PIPA Explained - at Last!" or, if you're a more visual type, check out TheOatmeal.com's rendering of the big Internet balckout. You'll be up to speed in no time.

With the Internet on strike all day Wednesday, January 18 one might have feared those crazy Republican presidential contenders wouldn't have enough online time this week to out-whackjob one another. But, lo and behold, the minute the Internet blinked back to life, one of Newt Gingrich's ex-wives came forward to tell us how Newt asked her for an open marriage...and wanted to trade her in for a "Chevrolet." Ah, you can't make this stuff up!

Not to be outdone by celebrity chef Paula Deen's controversial diabetes type 2 diagnosis (that's what happens when you need a side of breadsticks to accompany your bacon cheese fries), Jersey Shore "star", Snooki took a photo of herself sans makeup.

And how was your week online? All these stories - and more - are curated over at the Online Media Roundup.

Photo courtesy of KazzaDrask Media.

SOPA and PIPA Explained - at Last!

2012-01-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

Did you spend January 18th in the dark? Did you sign petitions, attend a rally, keep a low profile online or do something to explain to someone why the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the lesser known PIPA (Protect IP Act) are a bad idea?

A lot of people did. In fact, the grassroots movement led by the tech industry - both big players and small - to halt these two pieces of legislation was so fierce, "more than 162 million people saw the protest message on Wikipedia, 18 senators have backed away from the proposed legislation, and 4.5 million people signed a petition against the acts."

In fact PC World also reports that "The New York Times called Wednesday's online activism, that also included messages of protest from Craigslist, Google and Mozilla, "a political coming of age for the tech industry."

Like we said above, the online activism was not limited to just the "big" players like Wikipedia, Mozilla, Wired, et al. Some small players like TheOatmeal.com came on strong - with this animated .gif you see playing here.

This should sort out what could happen if SOPA and PIPA in their current forms became law. Yes - the movie industry needs protection from their materials being blatantly pirated and sold for profit. But protections put in place for that multi-gazillion dollar industry should not be so full of holes that they can be turned around and applied to those who are freely expressing themselves on the Internet, using link backs and crediting original sources, like this.

So, share the love with a link, credit your sources, call your representatives in Congress and sign an online petition. Do what you can to keep the Internet free...and interesting.

Sources: TheOatmeal.com, PCWorld and Worthwhile (blog).

What Can You Do to Stop SOPA?

2012-01-17T19:40:00.000-08:00

Lots of sites are "going dark" tomorrow, January 18 and KazzaDrask Media will, too. Well, we're not exactly sure how to "go dark" with our limited blogging tools, but we won't post, tweet or Google. We'll even stay off Facebook for the day (now that's a commitment!).

With all this talk about the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill in Congress that is meant to stop foreign Internet sites from pirating copyrighted US materials off the Internet, it's easy to get confused. Surely, none of us want our materials stolen by a "rogue" overseas site or anyone else. But the way the current bill is written, there could be backlash against sites as big as Wikipedia and I Can Has Cheezburger or as small as say, KazzaDrask Media.

In the worst case scenario, SOPA could shut down your site for an infringement you may not even be aware of. Small businesses or self-employed bloggers would probably go out of business rather than try to keep up with regulations meant to protect them that could be ultimately be turned against them. A lot of bigger sites could find themselves in hot water and endless legal disputes that could severely harm their bottom lines as well. The ACLU sees this as a free speech issue.

How SOPA would affect you? - FAQs answered on CNET.com

Besides turning your site off for the day and/or doing your best to keep a low-profile online what else can you do to stop SOPA?

First, you can try to understand what SOPA is and share that information with as many people as possible. (See the FAQ link above). Then, if you support the work of the ACLU and their dogged protection of our first amendment rights, you can sign their petition. There is a Senate version of SOPA that is much better written than the current House version. Even President Obama opposes SOPA in its current form. Do what you can to stop SOPA and keep the Internet safe to express your opinions and freely share information. There is no place for censorship in the United States.

Gossip and Tech Buzz: What People Are Talking about Online This Week, Jan 9-13

2012-01-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

The only way you could have missed this week's most talked about event online was if every connection to the Internet you had access to imploded. Music divas and/or moguls (you be the judge) Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed baby girl Blue Ivy Carter. Online pandemonium ensued.

This was mostly due to the fact that the star couple basically took over all of Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital - we're not talking just the maternity ward. The baby arrived Saturday. By Monday morning, headlines shouted out that her name was already transposed (it's Blue Ivy, not Ivy Blue!), her parents were numerologist freaks obsessed with the number 4 (hey, isn't "IV" four in Roman numerals?) and this child that has come from the union of music industry royalty was the biggest birth news since, um...Jesus, or at least Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.

Comedian Joan Rivers (Joan_Rivers) probably tweeted it best, "Beyonce said that she delivered her baby naturally, which for her meant no wind machine or backup dancers."

Were people talking about anything else online this week? The hoopla around the arrival of Blue Ivy seemed to set a mood for using our devices to chatter about the trivial, from Rick Santorum's sweater vests and Mitt Romney's supposed career as a sinister businessman stock photo model to the Hostess bankruptcy filing (OMG! Are Twinkies really going out of business!?).

Last week's viral video sensation, "Shit White Girls Say to Black Girls" got spoofed at least twice - with the inevitable "Shit Girls Say to Gay Guys" and the PR-correct "Stuff PR People Say".

At the start of the week Denver Broncos' quarterback Tim Tebow (@TimTebow) set a Twitter record when football fans tweeted his playoff overtime touchdown pass at a rate of 9,420 TPS (tweets per second).

No stats are in yet for tweets immediately following the birth little Miss Blue Ivy Carter but we'll go out on a limb here and say she is the first baby born with a Klout score better than yours, mine or ours. And, how was your week online? All these stories - and more - are curated over at the Online Media Roundup.

Have You Friended Flipper Yet? Social Media Takes Its Cues from Dolphins, Other Animals

2012-01-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

Research from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Biological Sciences suggests the way we talk or share links on social networks mirrors the way animal groups, like dolphins, share information.

According to a story in Mashable.com, our activity on Facebook and Twitter is hardly a new phenomenon. Dolphins, whales, monkeys and hoofed animals have been sharing information among their networks like this for eons.

No - they are not posting links and liking status updates, per se. But if one animal influences the group to say, check out the waters near Fiji or chill on some greener pastures others will follow.

In short, one animal starts a conversation among their network, others follow and thus the network effect occurs, with more and more animals joining the party and extending it to their circles, and so on.

The same six-degrees-of-separation theory that got so many of us connected to friends of friends and colleagues of colleagues on Facebook and LinkedIn is technically the same type of behavior Flipper and friends depend on for survival. (Read more)

Source: Mashable.com

Gossip and Tech Buzz: What People Are Talking about Online this Week: January 2-6

2012-01-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

The online conversation this week diverged down two distinct paths: over-connection (with the Republican Party Iowa caucus) and dis-connection, with a 2012 trend out of the gate for more time offline.

Let's take the first, more distasteful path (why not?) and take a look at former Senator Rick Santorum. He seemingly came out of nowhere to come within 8 votes of toppling front-runner Mitt Romney in Iowa this Tuesday. This led to gay sex columnist Dan Savage's ultimate wet dream.

The notoriously homophobic Santorum once equated gay sex to something widely paraphrased as "man on dog". Savage ran a contest to nominate the most disgusting byproduct of anal sex and then ran it up the Google flag pole to the point that if you Google "Santorum" you will not get this lovely picture of the Senator we've posted here, but rather something that will make you go Ewwww! Despite pleas from Santorum to the Big G itself, Google claims there is nothing they can do about "Santorum's Google problem." The more people that search his name and then click on Dan Savage and friends' definition, the higher Santorum as anal sex byproduct goes. Try it.

Makes sense as to why the path offline is getting a lot of foot traffic this week. A story in the New York Times by Pico Iyer ("The Joy of Quiet") underscored all those New Year's resolutions about spending more time offline. It's given legs to catch phrases like "Internet sabbath" and "solitude is the new luxury." People are trying to log off for a whole day each weekend or are willing to pay premium dollars for a getaway with no TV or wi-fi. For those who can't go cold turkey, Mashable reviewed the top 6 apps for helping you break your online addiction. We hope they don't get in the way of you reading our Online Media Roundup, though!

What else are people talking about online this week? Overall, it was a slow week. A Steve Jobs action figure hit the market, a woman known as the Human Barbie was being roundly criticized for giving her 7-year-old daughter a gift certificate for liposuction (not valid until the girl is 16, btw), Facebook has been cited in up to one-third of UK divorce cases and Fidel Castro is still not dead (in spite of Twitter reports to the contrary).

How was your week online? Stay in the loop, join the conversation and catch up on all these stories and more at the Online Media Roundup.

Video of the Week: Shit White Girls Say...to Black Girls

2012-01-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

Chescaleigh encourages you to share and help educate! (Warning: Truth might hurt...once you stop laughing.)

KazzaDrask' Top 10 or 11 Posts of 2011

2011-12-30T07:53:00.000-08:00

Last year we had some fun at the end of the year looking back on which posts got the most hits during 2010. So, at the end of 2011 we thought we'd do it again.

Since the trend for these end of 2011 lists seems to be picking your top 11, rather than limiting yourself to just 10, we'll keep in step. We don't think Wayne and Garth will mind.

1) 21st Century Royal Wedding Ditches Commemorative Plate for App
2) Teena Marie, 1956-2010
3) German Girl Invites All of Facebook to Party
4) You're Invited: A Web 2.0 Christmas Story
5) Oporto Aussie Chicken Burgers Arrive in SoCal

6) Video of the Week: William Shatner's Deep-Fried Turkey Warning

7) New York Post Headline Truly Tit-allating

8) Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law

9) Startup Bus to SXSW Rides Again

10) New Zealand Now Staking Claim as Next Silicon Valley

11) Facebook Changes Its Format and the Bored Rebel

As an avid blogger, it's always interesting to look at the stats and see what's bringing in the traffic. I don't think people were looking for commemorative plates of William and Kate, but they were definitely looking for an app to keep up with the royal wedding. Not nearly as much as one would have thought was written about the passing of singer Teena Marie at the end of 2010. Having met her briefly and taken her photo provided a much needed source for those who wanted to know more about the Ivory Queen of Soul.

If a German girl could draw some 1,500 people to a party by posting it on Facebook one night, we could certainly draw that many to a blog post about the same over the course of 6 months. A Web 2.0 Christmas Story certainly peaked curiosity. Posts about Aussie chicken sandwiches and deep-fried turkeys got a fair amount of notice, making us think we can continue to dream about being a food blogger. Using the word "tit" in a blog post title probably didn't bring on the intended audience for a post about the death of Osama bin Laden.

Two projects by San Francisco-area activists - one in the LGBT rights movement, another in the startup community - gelled well with the same-sex marriage and hacker communities, respectively. Meanwhile, a trend of cities and occasionally entire countries claiming to be "the next Silicon Valley" was almost as big of a trend as these top 10 lists becoming top 11 lists. When New Zealand staked a claim, lots of people hit the post to find out why.

Finally, our honorable mention, #11 slot goes to a cartoon (one of the many) posted on Facebook over a format change in September. Interestingly, just 3 months later, Faecbook's next major change (Timeline) was an optional one. 2012 will tell how popular that option becomes - or does Google+ take over the world?

Happy New Year!

Hey, Where Did North Korea Get that Lincoln Contintental From?

2011-12-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

Watching the secret footage of the funeral of Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has an eerie Cold War feel to it. While the footage is certainly better than what James Bond might have shot with a camera embedded in a shoe or ball point pen, the snow, the huge military presence and the 1970s-era Lincoln Continentals are all reminders of the not-so-distant past.

The New York Times points out that it’s odd to see the body of Kim Jong-il transported on a vehicle made by his sworn enemy - the USA. Car aficionados were quick to pounce on the video and photos like this one with their opinions of make and model. Perhaps a 1975 or 1976 model, brought in through China - North Korea’s largest trading partner. (Read more at Backflashes)

(Photo credit: Associated Press)

Samoa Cancels Friday

2011-12-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

By making a shift to the opposite side of the International Dateline, the archipelago of Samoa will now join Australia and New Zealand in being a day ahead of the United States.

The change will be made by canceling Friday, December 30. Samoans will go to bed this Thursday night and wake up on Saturday morning, December 31. At the end of the day, Samoa will be the first place to welcome 2012 instead of one of the last.

According to CNN, Samoan prime minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi has said the shift to the eastern side of the dateline would put the Pacific island nation of some 180,000 people on the same footing as its key trading partners in New Zealand and Australia, taking advantage of those economies links to China and the Pacific Rim.

Currently, Samoa is 21 hours behind Australia and 23 behind New Zealand. Sunday in Samoa has been Monday in these two countries and Friday has been Saturday. With the dateline shift, Samoa will be 1 hour ahead of New Zealand and three ahead of Australia.

The dateline shift is not the first change Samoa has made to keep up with the Aussies and Kiwis. CNN reports that "Two years ago the government switched to driving on the left so that expat Samoans in Australia and New Zealand could send used cars home to their relatives."

Source: CNN International edition, "Samoa to go back to the future with dateline shift."

Nostalgic for the '90s? Dial Up Your Modem, Get Out Your CDs

2011-12-28T10:08:00.001-08:00

Last month I indulged in one of my guilty pleasures and bought a bunch of CDs at my local music store, which also happens to be the best music store in the world – Amoeba Music , the one on San Francisco’s Haight Street. For $28 (plus tax) you can get a pretty good haul at Amoeba, which specializes in selling and trading “previously owned” CDs, DVDs, videos and vinyl. That day I scored five discs – Booker Ervin (“The Freedom Book” - $1.99), Grant Green (“Idle Moments” - $3.99), Norah Jones (“Come Away with Me” - $9.99) and a compilation called “Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970” (a double album! - $11.99).

The usual routine is to come home and rip my new CDs to my iTunes account, but on that particular day I remembered we had this device hooked up to the big, flat screen in the living room. Once upon a time we played DVDs on this thing, before streaming came into our lives, and it could also play CDs - five of them as a matter of fact. I put the CDs in, pushed and punched a lot of buttons, and then I puttered around the house for the next four-plus hours listening to albums in their entirety. (Read the rest on OpenSalon.com)

No Fireplace? Spare the Air on Christmas Day? There's an App for That!

2011-12-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, we didn't have a fireplace. But we did have Channel 11, WPIX, which my father always had on at some point on Christmas Eve for the Yule Log.

Nothing was more cheesy than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "O Tannenbaum" over the crackles of the Yule Log. While the Yule Log blazed away - it never actually stopped blazing and became an ember, or smoldered along like a real fire would - the carols merrily carried on. Soon we would open presents, my parents would have a few eggnogs and someone would change the channel.

Now I live in California and I have a fireplace, but I hadn't thought of the Yule Log in years. Until last night. That's when I found out that San Francisco and the entire Bay Area would be under a Spare the Air lockdown for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Suddenly I wanted a fire for the holidays and couldn't believe I couldn't light one. Suddenly, I recalled those Christmases in Connecticut and the Yule Log and thought - there must be an app for that!

There is - in fact, there are several. I logged onto the iTunes store and found the iYuleLog for my iPad. It was free. While the audio choices that promised me a crackling fire, babbling brook or some original music by someone named Amber Snider didn't work, the various fire selections did. When we get tired of the traditional fireplace Yule Log tomorrow we can switch to a Napa ranch campfire or a wood burning stove (also both banned in real-life under the Spare the Air regulations).

Seasons Greetings!

A Very Divisadero Christmas

2011-12-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

From the Prosthetic Supply Store, Eddie's Cafe, dollar stores, nail salons, the Independent, the 76 station, Blue Jay Cafe, Thai Place II (does anyone know where Thai Place I is?) - the Divisadero Corridor in San Francisco is my 'hood and I love it, from Haight Street up to O'Farrell. Check it out!

Merry Haightmas

2011-12-23T15:32:00.001-08:00

Merry Haightmas, a set on Flickr.

Fun with my iPhone 4S and the Quick Lomo Pro app on a photo stroll through San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury.

Gossip and Tech Buzz: What People Are Talking about Online this Week: December 19-23

2011-12-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

What are people talking about online this week? Kim Jong-Il, the Dear Departed Leader of North Korea, who left this world for that big dictatorship in the sky last Saturday. By Tuesday there were at least two Tumblr microblogs competing on the social networks in the LOL department - "Kim Jong-Il Liked to Look at Things" and "Kim Jong-Il Dropping the Bass" (which superimposes the dictator in deejay booths around the globe). Check them out over at the Online Media Roundup, along with "Is Ryan Gosling Cuter than a Puppy?"

The Tumblr blog craze can mean one of two things - or both. It's the week before Christmas and while many people sit at their computers pretending to be working, they're really not and/or microblogging, and Tumblr in particular, has really caught on. It's not cited as one of the "Six Social Media Trends for 2012", but perhaps that's an oversight. Also not cited, but one we predict will continue to grow is "Video Chat Reshapes Domestic Rituals". A story in the New York Times highlighted a family celebrating Hanukkah together from three different locations. Pregnant women, however, are leading the trend - being honored at virtual baby showers, announcing the sex of their child to up to 27 family members online at once and even allowing grandparents to "virtual babysit" an older sibling while pregnant Mommy puts her feet up and lets Daddy make a run for some chicken soup.

What else are people talking about online this week?

American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert and his Finnish reality star boyfriend were arrested in a domestic dispute outside a Helsinki gay bar
Suri Cruise threw a tantrum in a New York City toy store and passersby duly recorded it on their cell phones
The 2012 Super Bowl will be live streamed - meaning anyone with a Verizon account can watch the big game on their cell phone when they're supposed to be working...or driving
Jon Bon Jovi was reported dead for about 5 minutes, only to be "out-hoaxed" by a viral video claiming Facebook was really part of the CIA
A Saudi Prince invested $300 million in Twitter, and
How the co-founder of FourSquare chills on Sundays is profiled in the New York Times - damn, he's cool.

How was your week? If it was any less exciting than this, then what are you waiting for? Head over to the Online Media Roundup and join the digital conversation.

Video of the Week: Facebook is Part of the CIA

2011-12-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

I know there are some people who actually believe this is true - but for those of you who don't, this video will make you wonder why not? Hundreds of millions of people uploading all sorts of personal information - especially those radical wing political views the CIA is so fond of.

Minimalism, Maybe?

2011-12-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

For awhile now I've been thinking about minimalism in website design. Thinking about it, of course, is the operative term - since by looking at my blog KazzaDrask Media you can see I haven't exactly implemented it yet.

But thinking about it is good. Earlier this year I started a Tumblr blog called Backflashes as a place to curate some classic photos from the latter half of the 20th century. The cool thing about Tumblr is you can change your design "theme" in about two seconds. All your content - photos, video, text - rolls over into the next design of your choice with a simple click. You could say changing your blog's style on Tumblr is an exercise in minimalism - even if you choose a crazy busy style with pink bells and orange whistles. For Backflashes, though, after many iterations, I've settled on one called LightGrid by Danny Garcia.

While a lot of people think minimalism on a web page is a couple words, a photo and lot of white space - there is a fine art to minimalism. For example, look at the Google home page (pictured here). How many times do you see that a day? You've probably never thought of it as an exercise in minimalistic web design, but now that it's presented in this context seems like you're staring into the very face of minimalism most of the time you're logged on.

I just read this piece by Delwin Campbell, "Minimalist Web Design: How Minimal is Too Minimal?" If you're thinking of going more minimal in 2012, this is a good place to start. And, then of course, playing around on Tumblr is a good place to get used to the "less is more" aesthetic. If it's not for you, there are hundreds of other designs with more pizzazz you can quickly change over to.

Finding the 'Next Silicon Valley'

2011-12-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

Tech trends in 2011 included cloud computing, seed accelerators and everything Apple, including the sad loss of the company’s co-founder, Steve Jobs in October. Another trend one surely couldn’t help noticing in 2011 that is likely to continue in 2012 is the endless proclamations that this city or that is “the next Silicon Valley.” In 2011, hubs both large, small and in between were at various times touted in the press as the next place where innovation and investment will come together in a magic potion and poof! – create the next Silicon Valley.

New York, Moscow, Berlin, Jakarta, Shanghai, Dunedin, Canberra and Chattanooga all came across the news feed this year as contenders for the next potential birthplace of a billion dollar startup (or two). Many were first mentioned on the website that has capitalised on the craze and seized the domain name The Next Silicon Valley.com. But just as quickly as one place pops up as “the next”, it is replaced by another. The phenomenon, says Viki Forrest, CEO of ANZA Technology Network, a business accelerator that works with companies migrating to the real Silicon Valley “only proves that the model here continues to be the standard that all other places with talented tech-savvy populations and those willing to take some risks want to emulate.” (Read more at Technology Spectator)

Why 2011 Sucked

2011-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

In many ways it’s hard to believe 2011 was just one measly year. It seems like several years, in fact, an entire decade flew by in less than the last 12 months. This is most likely attributed to our constantly evolving online culture and the general malaise accompanying it that goes something like this: if you didn’t log on yesterday you’ve already missed tomorrow.

If in the future anyone decides to look back on 2011, they’ll probably agree that on the whole, the year totally sucked. But here’s the thing, no one is going to look back on 2011 – most people are already halfway through 2012. For the time capsule, though, I contribute these reasons why 2011 sucked. (Read the rest on OpenSalon.com)

Gossip and Tech Buzz: What People Are Talking about Online this Week: December 12-16

2011-12-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

Big storiespeople are talking about online this week are the Facebook Timelinefeature. It had a quick preview earlier this year which mostly freaked peopleout. Now it’s back as an optional feature you can use to give your Wall amakeover – two columns, bigger photos, the choice of a “cover” – which would bethe coolest photo you’ve got. Early adopters seem to be travelers. If you’vegot a pic of you standing in front of the Taj Mahal, you’re probably going toget on board with Timeline faster than those whose best shots are of a dishspaghetti Bolognese they snapped in 2009.

Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens passed away lastnight. The famous atheist was best known for his print journalism, which heproduced reams of. A good recap of his career and his style - off the page,which ultimately was always reflected on the page, appeared on OpenSalon by MiguelaHolt y Roybal.

No surprise that Steve Jobs tops Barbara Walters’ list ofFascinating People for 2011. “Fascinating” is a big leap of a word to use todescribe the Kardashians though (who also made the list along with HermanCain). “Ridiculous” is a word that more readily comes to mind.

What else are people talking about online?

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico got viral attention withhis family’s absurd Christmas card
More than 1 million apps are now available for yourSmartPhone
Charlie Sheen accidentally tweeted his cell phone number to theworld (he was trying to send a direct message to Justin Beiber…’nuff said)
Technology is a fashion accessory, since fashion in the realsense hasn’t changed since 1992
“Tebowing” is a fad(you might want to have a photo of you Tebowing in front of the Taj Mahal foryour new Facebook Timeline)
McDonalds paid for a “sponsored tweet” for its Big Mac, whichbrought about an undesired slew of hashtags associating #BigMac with obesity, heartdisease and diabetes
Chelsea Clinton made her TV debut as a “journalist” –backlash was instantaneous

Catch up on these stories and more over at our Online Media Roundup.

Video of the Week: Michele Bachman vs. the 8-Year-Old

2011-12-09T07:33:00.000-08:00

Here's the one everyone is talking about this week. The 8-year-old South Carolina boy with a mom who happens to be gay goes up to anti-gay candidate Michele Bachman and tells her his mom "doesn't need fixing."

Bachman plays for the photo op when she can't hear what the little boy is saying at first, smiling, reaching out and telling him her "ears are too far away." When she gets the message she recoils - probably not so much from what the boy said, as much as "Damn! I've been set up!"

Ha ha.

There's no place for anti-gay crap (I won't even dignify it by calling it "rhetoric") in our politics. America's problems are much bigger than that. DOMA's on its death bed. The majority of Americans (including a majority of Roman Catholics) support equal rights, including marriage, for gay people. Yet - until those rights come, LGBT Americans may have to play a little dirty. You be the judge: nice mommy with a bright little boy who knows who Bachman is and what she stands for, or set up?

You're Invited - A Web 2.0 Christmas Story

2011-12-01T07:30:00.000-08:00

In the old days, before iPhones and Facebook, Google maps and email, people used to give parties. Especially around Christmas and, occasionally, Fourth of July. You got an invitation in the mail. Or, if it was your party, you sent one. You bought boxes of invitations at this place called a stationery store. A place you’d been going to with your mother since you could remember. It’s where she went to buy boxes of invitations and note paper and sympathy cards and fasteners and clips, adhesives and ink cartridges for those fancy pens she used – the ones that let her hold her place on the page while she guided though names and addresses on the envelopes of invitations. The simplest of names –

Mr. & Mrs. Phillip M. Popkins
the plainest of addresses –

19 Red Robin Lane

transformed into what looked like snippets from the Gettysburg Address.
Four Score Square. c/o the Lincolns.

This was before CostCo ran the little stationery store out of town. (Read more)

Video of the Week: William Shatner's Deep Fried Turkey Warning

2011-11-18T16:41:00.001-08:00

Apparently it's too late to call the Butterball Hotline if your arm catches on fire while deep frying your turkey this Thanksgiving. Here's the YouTuber everyone will be talking about around the table next Thursday starring actor William Shatner. Make sure you watch it in full. Then, stay one up on your brother-in-law by watching this video that shows real firemen putting out real fires caused by turkey deep fryers.

If you're on Twitter, the Shatner video has it's own hashtag (why not?). It's #ShatnerFryersClub.

Recapturing Youth Through Social Media

2011-11-16T15:53:00.000-08:00

I'm going to go out on a limb here - having just read this excellent piece by William Deresiewicz in the New York Times called "Generation Sell". I'm going to say that social media is a fountain of youth. And I don't mean in the way some people use it by posting photos of themselves taken 10 years ago.

No. Social media can actually make us think like we're 27. And, I don't mean "27 again" - because for most of us currently trying to recapture youth, that was a time when when we were hunkered down in Baby Boom, Gen Jones or Gen X thought. Even if social media existed back then, we'd be too self-absorbed, trying to keep up or just plain slacking to think outside the box about how it might help us be better people.

Deresiewicz, who is living in one of today's epicenter's of cool - Portland, Oregon - wrote "Generation Sell" as an exercise to define today's youth culture. You know who they are - little entrepreneurs who do everything from create billion dollar companies in their hoodies to those who sell homemade pickles at the farmer's market. Money isn't important. It doesn't matter if they have a lot or a little. The common bond they share is "social entrepreneurship". It's not about promoting their products - it's about promoting themselves and what they believe in - whether that is sharing your life online or your pickles with your community.

Those under 30 use social media "to create a product - to create a brand" and that product is them. They treat themselves like "little businesses, something to be managed and promoted." How fun! What if we all enjoyed doing that as much as Generation Sell does? We could indeed recapture youth through social media then. We could all be Generation Sell.

G'Day Mateys, iOS 5.0.1 Update Understands Australian

2011-11-15T16:59:00.000-08:00

Because any Aussie will tell you, Australian is indeed a language unto itself.

Apparently Siri and other voice recognition Apple tools were having trouble understanding the Australian dialect - which is quite distinct from the English spoken by so many others, including those bloody Yanks.

Hoping iOS 5.0.1 sorts out all those g'days and more.

Video of the Week: Lost Steve Jobs Interview, from 1995

2011-11-10T13:48:00.001-08:00

"The only problem with Microsoft is that they just have no taste." Steve Jobs.

Short excerpt from this presumably lost 70-minute interview which was originally part of a 1995 PBS special entitled "Triumph of the Nerds." Only 10 minutes of the interview has ever been aired. Now it is being repackaged as Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview. It will play at select Landmark Theatres on November 16 and 17. Additional plans for a digital release are also in the works.

Source: Mashable.

My Top 10 iPhone 3G Photos

2011-11-10T11:20:00.001-08:00

Let us remember, that once upon a time, 3 years or so yearsago, there was an Apple iPhone 3G that took pretty good pictures. It had awhopping 2 megapixels, no optical zoom, flash or autofocus, and did not supportvideo recording. In spite of those limitations, my iPhone 3G and I wereconstant companions, and when we encountered something where words would beeither too much – or not enough – we took a photo.

Now I’ve upgraded. It was time. In the nearly 3 years we hadtogether, camera phones have leaped dramatically in megapixels alone. The newiPhone 4S has 8 of them, and many other features (including this thing called “video”)that render the 3G sort of the Instamatic of the digital camera world.

But before we say goodbye and have a proper eco-friendlydisposal somewhere, I wanted to remember what digital phone photos looked likesay circa 2009. Out of hundreds faithfully backed up on my hard drive, I’vechosen my Top 10.

Click on the slideshow above to see in larger format, click here to read commentary.

Road Trippin' to BlogWorld Expo in Los Angeles

2011-11-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

Did I enjoy this year's BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Los Angeles as much as I enjoyed the road trip? Hmmmm. That's a tough one.

Stop reading about BlogWorld and visit a blog about road trips? Hell yeah! Go to On the Road (Trip).

Per usual at BlogWorld there was a ton of info to take in and process. Perhaps the biggest takeaway I took away this year is that blogging and new media are no longer all that "new" any more. The industry - and yes, it can indeed be called that - is certainly evolving, and maybe even growing up a bit. Sigh.

While I'm sure I'll make another post about the state of the State of the Blogosphere (as Technorati so aptly delivers the report by the very same name), this morning I let myself decompress a little and make some posts over at my On the Road (Trip) blog.

Did you know the average blogger has at least 3 blogs? Well - I do. And, throughout the course of BlogWorld I heard people lay claims to having as many as 30 blogs at one time!

Besides this blog and On the Road (Trip), I've also been resurrected a photo blog I have called Backflashes. Jury's still out on that one....

Status Update

2011-11-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

Going, Going...Gone by 2020

2011-10-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

Thinking about burning a bunch of CDs and DVDs for the future? How about buying yourself an 8-megapixel point and shoot camera? Or an e-reader? Save your dollars, folks. Yahoo!Shopping's Financially Fit column predicts seven gadgets that won't make it into the next decade.

Of course, if you're a collector of these types of things, you might want to hang on to them or stock up on eBay. You can display them next to your VCR, MP3 player and answering machine. (Read more)

Maslow's Turning Over in His Grave

2011-10-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

Good old Abe Maslow worked so hard trying to figure us humans out. He created his famous Hierarchy of Needs diagram in 1943 that has held up pretty well in those Intro to Psych classes over the decades.

But that was way before the Internet and its wily offspring Social Media begat the world of online culture in which we not only inhabit, according to the diagram on the right, we need in order to survive.

Before you say you don't - think about how Googling an allergic reaction to a bee sting has saved lives and Facebook has put us back in touch with people we thought we'd never see again (and never realized we missed in the first place). Who hasn't been safely led out of a jungle once or twice with their handy GPS on a SmartPhone?

Maslow died in 1970. He never saw this coming.

Image source: "Mary Meeker: Silicon Valley Innovation May Be Unprecedented" by Renee Blodgett, originally posted on WeBlogtheWorld; courtesy of Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers.

Thank You, Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

Apple founder, CEO and visionary Steve Jobs passed away yesterday after a long illness.

It's a sad day for all of us who grew up in the digital age. I first used a Macintosh computer in 1986 to lay out a magazine for a small publishing company I worked for in Westport, Connecticut - a pioneer in what was just starting to be called "desktop publishing".

As the years went on and I started my own business, Steve Jobs and his Apple products have never been far from reach. iPhones, iPods, iPads, iBooks. For the self-employed person, working out of a home office, Jobs' vision to make computers personal resonates deeply. The devices keep you connected and help bring balance to work and personal life. My iPad doubles as a conference call and communications command center when I'm working and a movie, music and social platform during downtime. Yes, sometimes work and play overlap, collide or just plain go together. That's life in the 21st century. That's the digital lifestyle Steve Jobs has enabled many of us to lead.

He has famously said (and this quote is being Facebook'd hard):

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Thank you, Steve Jobs for also reminding us that Silicon Valley gave us "The Whole Earth Catalog" as well as the microchip. For naming your company after a piece of fruit. For applying "taste" to your technologies. And for the "digital lifestyle" in which so many of us thrive. It has made all the difference.

Source: The New York Times: Steven P. Jobs, 1955-2011: Apple Visionary Redefined Digital Age.

Kickstarter Campaign to Raise $15K to Finish "Entry Denied" - A Film by Machu Latorre

2011-10-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

Kickstarter is a brilliant online tool to fund and follow creativity. Stepping up in a climate where grants for creative pursuits are getting harder to come by, Kickstarter encourages those who make music, film, art, technology, design, food, websites and more to take matters into their own hands and become their own fundraisers.

You post a project on the site and then launch a social media campaign via Facebook, Twitter etc. to raise monies needed to bring your project to the finish line. If you reach the financial goal you set at the beginning of your fundraising campaign, you win! Or, more realistically, you get the money pledged to you during your social media campaign. (Kickstarter only pays off when pre-set project goals are met. This eliminates under-funding projects and avoids any bad feelings from those who pledged money to a project they believe needs to be finished.)

For nearly 10 years, Machu Latorre, a Bay Area filmmaker, has been working on a documentary called Entry Denied. The process has involved diligently following three same-sex binational couples as they navigate the tumultuous U.S. immigration system and discriminatory laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). With a federal government that does not recognize same-sex marriages and a broken immigration system, gay and lesbian Americans with foreign partners have very few options of living together legally in the United States. In some instances, couples have been forced to live apart and rely on limited visas to spend time together. In the back of these couples' minds looms the very real threat that an overzealous immigration official can turn away the visiting spouse at the customs gate and stamp a passport with the words "Entry Denied." Machu hopes her film will raise heightened awareness about the struggles of same-sex binational couples and keep pressure on the Obama Administration, Congress and the Department of Homeland Security, among others to stop what Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-8) has repeatedly called "gratuitous cruelty."

Machu used Kickstarter to raise nearly $15,000 in 30 days - she has until October 8 to raise the last $210 needed to meet her goal. Why not be the one who puts Machu and Entry Denied over the top? Watch the trailer to the film featured above, and click here to find out more and make your donation.

Love in the Time of Social Media: Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore Tweet Away Divorce Rumors

2011-10-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

When superstars Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore married six years ago, the social media machine was just a glint in a few sly entrepreneurs' eyes. But a lot has changed since 2006.

Kutcher and Moore were both early adopters of giving us a peak at both the very cool and very mundane aspects of their lives via Twitter. He as aplusk and she as mrskutcher.

Now, it appears their storybook tabloid-hyped May-December relationship may be crumbling.

While print and online press from the Daily News to Perez Hilton have been covering rumors that the couple were estranged as far back as July, the rumor mill exploded last week when an alleged model went public about a one-night stand with Kutcher in a San Diego hotel room.

Celeb watchers and social media types alike have turned to the couples' Twitter accounts for signs of "truth in rumors". This week Kutcher tweeted things like,

"When you ASSUME to know that which you know nothing of you make an ASS out of U and ME"

and that he was listening to Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" on Spotify.

Meanwhile, Demi followers were left to wonder if the cryptic "I see through you...." tweet that linked to photo of Moore with her eyes closed had anything to do her calling Kutcher out on cheating and lying. Or was she just goofing on the media -- print, online and social?

One is left to wonder if Kutcher saw that particular tweet. Was it posted before or after he stopped following his wife on Twitter? Is there any truth to the blind item rumor that someone "just put in a formal request to (a social media) site to obtain her professional name as her handle and to copy all the data from her old account to her new account."

Image Credit: icpin.com

Facebook Changes Its Format and the Bored Rebel

2011-09-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

Just one of the graphics going around in the wake of this next round of changes to the Facebook format. I actually kind of like the changes. In particular the Twitter-like newsfeed in the right column, the new look of the photos your friends post and the ability to subscribe rather than "friend" the famous (or semi-famous or infamous). I also think the filtering capabilities have been improved.

LUMOBack: An App to Make You Sit Up Straight

2011-09-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

Do you sit at your desk way too long, cranking it out on the laptop? And, then when that's not enough, hunch up with your tablet or scrunch up with your smartphone?

Sounds like you'll be giving a new app called LUMOBack a try.

As the company's website says, "Poor posture is unattractive, and it's also not good for you." And if you don't already have it, you're probably well on the road to developing it. After all, "we are sitting most of our lives -- and in most cases, in anunhealthy way."

The LUMOBack app, which was unveiled at last week's DEMO conference, is still in development. It's more than a timer that you can set that will remind you to get take a break from our constant online culture. It actually consists of "thin, flexible and wireless sensor adhesives that you put on your skin. These LUMOback sensorsmonitor and measure your posture in real-time and when you are slouching, it sends you small gentle vibrations toyour lower back reminding you to sit up nice and straight."

Sound like something that's worth a try - especially if you already have preexisting back problems? Then sign up for the LUMOBack mailing list to keep updated on when the app will be ready.

Have You Been Brandwashed? Probably

2011-09-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

A new book by brand futurist Martin Lindstrom, Brandwashed, looks a little deeper at what we've always known to be the case. Those flowers placed at the entrance to the supermarket? That candy at the checkout? Yes - they've been placed there to make you buy them. But Brandwashed also explores the "seduction and priming" behind such placement. It cites Whole Foods Market as one of the biggest culprits in this game.

How does Whole Foods "seduce" you into buying items you don't need and paying way too much for them? Let us count the ways:

Freshly cut colorful flowers at the entrance way "primes" you to think "fresh" and "today" and wouldn't they say the same exact things if I bought a dozen Ecuadorean roses for my drab foyer? (The only way those flowers are remotely fresh, by the way, is if you've just purchased them at the Whole Foods in Quito.)
Scrawling the price of said flowers and fruits and vegetables on a "chalkboard". Designed to "seduce" you into thinking you're strolling the open air markets of Europe, where prices change depending on how many farmers brought endive and clementines in from the countryside this morning. Truth: These chalkboards have been mass produced right down to the scrawl (in set prices dictated at Whole Foods headquarters in Texas).
Hummus and cucumber-yogurt dip on ice. Another ploy to make you think so-fresh-it's-still-chillin'. To their credit, these items have probably been made recently -- as in the past week, not hour.
Spraying the fruits and vegetables with water. Safeway is just as guilty here, as are both of my neighborhood independently owned market. This practice can trace its roots to Europe (Denmark, in fact), but that doesn't make it right. Spraying (or in most cases "soaking") lettuce and peaches actually makes them rot faster than leaving them sitting in a crate on the sidewalk.
Speaking of crates -- nothing can "prime" you into thinking fresh more than a wooden crate full of melons or tomatoes. At Whole Foods, according to Brandwashed, these "crates" are actually "one humongous cardboard box with fissures cut carefully down the side that faces consumers (most likely by some industrial machinery at a factory in China) to make it appear as though this one giant cardboard box is made up of multiple stacked boxes." Think about it. "It's ingenious in its ability to evoke the image of Grapes of Wrath-era laborers piling box after box of fresh fruit into the store."
Have enough reasons to shop at a farmer's market yet? Just in case you need one more -- "the average apple you see in a supermarket is 14 months old." Yuck.

Source: Fast Company, "How Whole Foods 'Primes' You to Shop" by Martin Lindstrom, author of Brandwashed.

International Entrepreneurs to Meet with Tech Industry Leaders at Silicon Valley Connect 2011, September 29-30

2011-09-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Sizhao “Zao” Yang, Founder of MyMiniLife (sold to Zynga) and Creator of Farmville to Keynote

The Computer History Museum and Silicon Valley Bank will host Silicon Valley Connect 2011, September 29-30 in Mountain View and Santa Clara, CA. The conference, organized by the Chamber of Commerce International Consortium for Entrepreneurs (CCICE) and ANZA Technology Network, welcomes technology entrepreneurs from around the world seeking to explore and gain access to business opportunities in the world’s epicenter for innovation – Silicon Valley.

The conference is designed to fully immerse entrepreneurs in the business culture and practices of Silicon Valley. Panel discussions on Thursday, September 29 at the Computer History Museum will feature representatives from IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Oracle, Blaze Mobile and more. Topics will include corporate partnerships, channels and distributions, successful startups and localization issues.

A fireside chat with Sizhao “Zao” Yang, COO and Co-Founder of BetterWorks and Founder of MyMiniLife (sold to Zynga) and Creator of Farmville, conducted by Duncan Logan of Rocketspace will precede an evening cocktail event and networking. (Read more)

Keep Your Facebook Content Fresh: Five Tips to Stop Boring Your Friends

2011-09-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

I came across this piece the other day in Ragan's PR Daily for businesses using social media and how they can keep their Facebook page content fresh. Right on! Too many businesses are not using social media to its fullest capacity, or worse yet, not using it properly, if at all.

But when I read this piece, it occurred to me that most of us on Facebook who use it as a way to keep connected with friends and acquaintances could use these tips, too. Now that the novelty of using Facebook has worn off, people have stopped being naturally interesting and resorted to "going through the motions". Making posts for the sake of making posts and by default not engaging one another to participate in what is meant to be an active online community experience. Gone are the days when people were cute, clever or occasionally gave us something (usually unintentionally) that made our jaws drop.

Here, with apologies in advance to Ragan, are five tips to keep your personal Facebook content fresh and keep people from blocking you - or even more extreme - un-friending your boring and tedious a**.

1. Reward your friends - Businesses reward their fans with things like free t-shirts (bearing the brand logo, of course) or boxes of Oreos, six-packs of Pepsi. That's no skin off their bottom line. You can reward your friends in a similar way. Think about it: old couch on its way to the dump, college textbooks highlighted with markers and featuring your innermost doodles, a dusty old desktop or Jack LaLanne power juicer. Why not offer these things to your Facebook friends on a first come, first pick it up off my doorstep basis. A photo of said giveaway will undoubtedly increase comments.

2. Improvise - Or, in the case of friends vs. business pages, be impulsive! "Like" that link your ex-boss's ex-wife posted. Chime in on the commentary bandwagon a group from your high school graduating class is all over. Stop being a lurker - the equivalent of the nosy neighbor who watches life from behind the Venetian blinds. Contribute to your Facebook community.

3. Maintain a content mix - In this age of "we are all deejays" and like to think we can mix it up, heed to this advice. Mix it up on your Facebook page. Don't just post those pleas for jewels and zoo animals. Don't just whine about the painstaking rehabilitation following your big toe reconstructive surgery. And, please don't be a bore with your politics and your work. A mix of all of the above would still be dull - but at least it would keep us guessing on which dull twist your life might make next, and by contrast, make our lives seem more interesting.

4. Develop timely content - Unless you're one of those nostalgia buffs who keep us entertained with YouTube clips of random '70s horror flicks and Jackson 5 mashups, try to keep your posts in step with the current times. Comments and links to this week's GOP Presidential Hopeful Debate, good. Comments and links to last week's GOP Presidential Hopeful Debate, well...confusing. Same goes for commenting on friends' statuses and photos. Within 48 hours, ok. Two years later, creepy. Sure, we know we posted those photos of that wacky wine tasting weekend for all the world to see, but did we ever think someone would troll through them years later and actually let us know they did? Um, no.

5. Cover yourself live - Facebook's check-in feature is the least offensive way to keep us up-to-date with what you're doing now. In a simple, understated way, one can appear to be leading a charmed life when they are sipping cappuccinos at three in the afternoon or at the opening of a new art show at a funky little gallery in what used to be a bad part of town. As with every aspect of Facebook, though, sharing too much is worse than not sharing at all. Checking in at annual preventive health care screenings go beyond the bounds of good taste. Real-time back and forth with family over who forgot to take the chicken fricasse out of the freezer totally lame - unless of course there are photos showing us the fricasse all over the floor followed by your marital status changed to "Divorced".

Source: Ragan's PR Daily

Find a Friendly Toilet with CLOO'

2011-09-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

You knew it was coming - in this age of "an app for everything" CLOO' is an app that will help you find a clean, safe toilet to use when you're on the go and well, have to go. Or, more importantly, in this age of endless recession and wily entrepreneurship, why not make a buck off your toilet when you're not using it yourself.

CLOO' - which is shorthand for Community + Loo (the British slang equivalent for "john", "throne" and "seeing a man about a horse") plans to launch early next year. According to its website:

CLOO' is a community of registered users who choose to share their bathrooms and make city-living easier, while earning a small profit. Using social media connections, CLOO' shows what friends you have in common with the host, turning a stranger’s loo into a friend of a friend’s loo.

In exchange for listing your loo and allowing friends (and friends of friends) to use yours, a simple token payment can be exchanged from your "guest's" Smartphone to yours. Even better news than better days are coming next time you're in the big city and need a place to pee? CLOO' is hiring!

Source: Los Angeles Times technology blog.

The Internet: 1996 vs 2011

2011-09-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

Graphic courtesy of Online University.

Happy flashback! Remember the days when you used Webcrawler and Netscape to surf the web? Or how it used to take 30 seconds to download a page? Of course you don't! Most interesting stat: in 1996 we spent an average of 30 minutes a month online. Today we spend 27 hours a month online! Any more questions about where all our free time has gone?

UPDATE: Via Mashable - GoDaddy.com was not founded until 1997 and did not actually use the name GoDaddy.com until 1999. Ooops!

PHOTOS: ANZA TechNet August Networking Recap

2011-09-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

ANZA Technology Network brought mentors from the US and China to Adelaide and Melbourne last month to talk about global market opportunities for Australian entrepreneurs.

Photos by KazzaDrask Media.

Video of the Week: Vegemite Ad Featuring Darwin Ice Hockey Club

2011-09-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

A little something I brought back from Australia with me..."If they don't show up, we win."

The Other Sides of Sydney: 52 Suburbs Photo Exhibit

2011-08-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

Originally published on We Blog the World

Close your eyes and imagine Sydney, Australia. What comes to mind? For most it’s Bondi Beach, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the iconic opera house – images so commonly associated with Sydney’s magnificence one doesn’t need to have actually visited to conjure. But any Sydneysider (or frequent visitor) will tell you that Sydney (population 4.5 million) is a sprawling metropolis, made up of more than 600 suburbs (similar to the way Los Angeles is made up of neighborhoods, districts and incorporated cities).

Louise Hawson has conducted an extensive exploration of Sydney beyond its top sights, a blog project called “52 Suburbs” that has morphed into a photo exhibit at the Museum of Sydney through October 9.

Hawson has lived and worked in Sydney for 30 years, but had never really thought much about her local surrounds until she discovered digital photography, and went on a hunt to find inner beauty beneath, as she writes “the old and faded or revitalized and repurposed.” Sydney’s suburbs, with names as ordinary-sounding as Auburn, Eastwood, Penrith and Glebe are home more often than not to those who don’t resemble the latest Australian Olympic swimming champion or surf bunny, but more likely young and old, and immigrants from countless Asian and Middle Eastern countries celebrating a multitude of cultures. Hawson’s year-long (one suburb per week) blog project is part anthropological study. The photo exhibit has cleverly boiled the blog down to approximately 5 or 6 shots per ‘burb, often using diptychs to place seemingly dissimilar objects side-by side. A brick apartment block named “Utopia” next to an outdoor sea pool or multi-colored cakes next to an elderly woman’s hair being set in matching multi-colored rollers.

The people, the foods, the rituals exposed and juxtaposed showcase Sydney's ethnic, age and architectural diversity like no guidebook can. For those who can't get to Sydney in time to take in this exhibit, visit the 52 Suburbs blog. Not only will it change touristy perceptions of Australia’s largest city, it will change the way you look at your own backyard.

Opportunities Abound for Australian Companies to Commercialize Globally, but Will They Take the Risks?

2011-08-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Every year, Tech23 in Sydney showcases 23 of Australia’s leading innovations and brings the tech community together for a networking pow-wow of who’s who in the local ICT ecosystem. This year’s Tech23 date was easy to remember from the get-go, 23 August for a look at the latest innovations across 7 market verticals.

Quick picks among the 23 that we should eagerly anticipate outside of Oz are Bugherd, Cinergix, InterefereX, Specialist Link, ThereItIs.com, ZeroMail, StageBitz, Navisens, Filter Squad, Centryc and Roamz. These companies –though vastly different - offer a combination of bringing services and applications typically used by industry pros to consumers, presenting content visually and/or helping us sort through and manage massive amounts of content, improving communications in our hyperconnected environments and making our everyday experiences with social media more useful and fun. (You can read more about the 2011 Tech23 companies here.)

Once again, the Tech23 format of grouping like-minded technologies into presenting panels like cloud computing, enterprise software, mobile, social media and consumer web was a winner in maintaining audience focus and edge-of-the-seat anticipation for the next big thing across such a broad range of technologies. Where the format is worse for wear though is in the grueling 45-minute Q&A session by industry experts that follows each group’s presentations. Grueling perhaps more so for audience members used to Silicon Valley pitch slams and 30-second elevator pitches that can be “gonged” for being anything less than compelling.

Australia’s technology is world-class, but the endless droning by the experts goes against the grain of moving forward fast and getting a product to market. In fact, that is often a complaint about the innovations from Down Under. While many at Tech23 are market-ready and can more than hold their own on the world stage, few will make the leap in time to commercialize successfully. And in the interim, an entrepreneur from the US, China, Israel or Bulgaria will take the risk and beat the Aussies to market.

A plethora of prizes are awarded at Tech23, which is put on by SlatteryIT and supported by the New South Wales government. In addition to numerous cash prizes, meetings with people and organizations who can advise a company on global market strategies are given away. The entrepreneurs who won these prizes would be wise to investigate all opportunities.

A common refrain among the entrepreneurs who had already tested their products in the Australian market was that it was “just too soon” to take a trip to Silicon Valley or find out more about the enormous China consumer market. Sadly, by the time those words leave an entrepreneur’s lips, you can almost bet someone else will be doing what they’re doing. Not necessarily better, but faster.

An argument can be made for the Aussies that slow-and-steady wins the race. Maybe they can come along later and pick up the pieces where Yanks and others fail. Or maybe the less risk-averse entrepreneurs will have long scooped up their pile of cash and moved on to their next big thing.

Photo courtesy of KazzaDrask Media. Taken with an iPhone.

Silicon Valley Re-Staking Its Claim as Silicon Valley

2011-08-21T15:36:00.000-07:00

I've been in Australia most of the month promoting Silicon Valley (and its official extension into San Francisco) as still a great place for entrepreneurs to come to launch their startup.

This is a tough sell against the ongoing backdrop of the American recession and its ensuing mess still referred to here as the "GFC" (global financial crisis). It is not made any easier by the summer meltdown of the US stock market following weeks of idiotic Tea Party posturing that led to the US credit rating being downgraded for the first time ever.

Times are tough and have been tough all over since at least 2008, but I've never sensed that innovation and entrepreneurship were particularly affected in the Valley. A story in today's New York Times confirms that they are as primo as they've ever been for people with a good idea who need as little as $100,000 to get it off the ground, or much more than that to take it higher.

"In Silicon Valley, the Night Is Still Young" (New York Times, August 21, 2011) by Claire Cain Miller just made my job easier. It highlights the facts Silicon Valley has lost nothing in its ranking as the number one place to be for entrepreneurs with startup and early-stage technologies.

While it's safe to say that you probably *don't* have the next Facebook up your sleeve, at the very least you probably have something that can be planted and grown (for at least awhile) in the Valley's hopped up soil. Quick exits or getting a gig inside Facebook or one of the many other major players are side angles you'll be much better able to play if you're there for awhile, as opposed to staying here until "things sort out" in America.

Things may not "sort out" in America for a very long time, but Silicon Valley has weathered the GFC and all that has come after it. Good financial times or bad really make no difference here. When entrepreneurs stop taking risks, they stop being entrepreneurs. There's been no downgrade in the culture of taking risks in the Valley. (Read more)

New Zealand Now Staking Claims as Next Silicon Valley

2011-08-17T16:41:00.001-07:00

Australia, and Sydney in particular, has long been considered a contender as the "next Silicon Valley." It even has a popular online community known as Silicon Beach. There's been a good deal of debate that a place like Silicon Valley cannot be replicated. It is a once-in-modern-times occurrence where education, economics and lifestyle mixed in just the right amounts created an innovation super-power society. But that theory doesn't stop other regions from trying.

The latest place staking claims as the "next Silicon Valley" is New Zealand. As this story from ZDNet explains, four major cities in New Zealand - Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch - all have the "fine universities, which will supply the workers for any tech-based venture. All four score highly on culture and lifestyle/quality of life issues."

And, New Zealand, like Australia has a deeply rooted culture of innovation brought on by necessity of being located almost a day away from leading Western business hubs in the US and Europe. (Read more)

Bizarre Neck Bomb Plot Has Unfortunate US-Australia Link

2011-08-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

In a bizarre case that Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said resembles "a Hollywood script," an Australian man strapped what appeared to be a neck bomb to a Sydney teenager's neck and then fled to the home of his American ex-wife in Louisville.

Got all of that?

Nearly two weeks ago, Paul "Doug" Peters, allegedly broke into an upscale home in the Sydney suburb of Mosman and strapped what he claimed was a bomb around 18-year old Madeline Pulver's neck. The suspect then fled the scene, setting off a 10-hour ordeal involving scores of bomb technicians, negotiators and detectives - as well as a neighborhood evacuation - before the device was removed and it was determined to be a fake. The suspect left a note indicating he wanted money from the teenager's father, the wealthy CEO of an IT firm, William Pulver.

An immediate manhunt ensued that led New South Wales police across the pond to an equally upper-middle class suburb in Louisville, Kentucky, where Peters reportedly spent about 6 months out of the last two years living with his ex-wife and daughters.

Details are still coming in as to how and why Peters knew or knew of the Pulvers, but it's being speculated that Peters involvement with several Australian businesses could have led him into this bizarre plot to extort money from the family.

"This has been a baffling and frightening experience," said Pulver, who described his daughter as "a bright, happy young woman who for reasons we still don't understand had her life turned upside down going through this dreadful experience."

Source: The New York Times.
Image property of News.com.au.

More than 15 Minutes: Andy Warhol Statue on Display until October

2011-08-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

Originally published on We Blog the World

If you’ve always thought of the Union Square section of lower Manhattan as Andy Warhol territory, your pop culture sensibility has been confirmed in chrome, temporarily at least. On display from March this year until October 2, “The Andy Monument” by artist Rob Pruitt re-creates Warhol as a 10-foot tall 20th century icon, complete with Polaroid camera around his neck and Bloomingdale’s Medium Brown Bag in hand.

Passersby in the ‘70s and ‘80s often encountered the artist/publisher right outside his Factory (located in the Decker Building at 33 Union Square West/860 Broadway). He often stood on the street distributing copies of his latest issue of Interview magazine which he carried in the Bloomingdale’s bag. Polaroid was Warhol’s medium for snapping subjects that he would later immortalize in his famous silk screens.

For the artist who once said “In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes,” having a statue erected in his honor for just 6 months seems fitting. (Read the rest on We Blog the World)

Happy Birthday, Barack! Generation X Turns 50

2011-08-04T07:59:00.001-07:00

Originally published on OpenSalon.com

I’ve always been a bit of a trailblazer, a leader because I hate sitting around waiting for someone else to do something, a firstborn. That’s why I knew, from the first days of 1961 that I was of a different generation, not the one into which I was just born, but a new one. One that was just getting started - Generation X.

Argue with me if you must that I’m just another aging Baby Boomer clinging to the last shreds of my youth by pushing the start date of Generation X back a couple of years. But bear with me for a few paragraphs if you can. Gen-X is more a state of mind than something you need a birth certificate to be a part of. Its end date is defined by the launch of MTV, which was 1981, or 30 years ago this week. Unless you didn’t have cable until 1982, or maybe 1983.

By which time Barack Obama (and me) were in our early 20s. (Read the rest on OpenSalon.com)

Note: Photo taken by Lisa Jack. Reprinted in Time Magazine.

ANZA Technology Network to Bring US and China Experts Down Under

2011-08-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

Australian Entrepreneurs to Compete in G/SCORE Pitch Slams for Place in Guidewire Group’s Global Innovate!100

ANZA Technology Network will run a series of Pitch Slam events in Adelaide on 11 August, Melbourne on 15 August and Sydney on 25 August. Companies seeking to assess their global readiness to compete in the world’s two largest markets – the US and China – are encouraged to sign up to deliver a 5-minute pitch and get their G/SCORE.

Chris Shipley, CEO of Guidewire Group and developer of the G/SCORE, Andrew Collins, CEO of Mailman Group and Jennifer Zanich, serial Australian entrepreneur, will score the companies and provide insight into the current state of the US and China markets for Australian entrepreneurs. Shipley is one of the top US market analysts, having assessed more than 20,000 companies in the past two decades. Collins is an award-winning Australian entrepreneur who has successfully made inroads into the China market. Zanich is one of Australia’s best examples of repeat entrepreneurial success in the US market.

“Chris, Andrew and Jennifer bring a wealth of first-hand, in-market experience to these G/SCORE sessions,” said Viki Forrest, CEO of ANZA Technology Network.

“Australians are world class innovators from a very small market. It makes sense that aggressive startups and early-stage companies focus on one of these two large markets. The G/SCORE Pitch Slams will help companies determine which market is right for them and offer guidance on how to follow through.” (Read more)

Video of the Week: MTV Turns 30, Rebroadcasts Epic Launch

2011-08-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

Ah, those were the days. When radio came to your TV. Before video set out to kill radio stars only to have it turn ugly with reality stars ultimately killing the the music video - on TV at least. MTV launched (complete with space shuttle footage) a year ago this week. Where were you? Were you born yet? Did your parents have cable?

Photorankme Ranks Your Social Photo-Sharing Popularity

2011-07-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

Are you an avid social photo sharer? Do you own a mobile device with camera, a point and shoot and an SLR with a bunch of different lenses? And, do you often cart all three (or more) of these around, snapping photos and then uploading them to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr? Do you love Instagram?

Well, if you are answering yes to all (or most) of this, then you should go to Photorankme and get your social photo-sharing score (or rank).

This simple (and quick) little analytic asks you to plug in the social media photo sites/apps you use the most (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram). It quickly assesses how many photos you've posted, how many "likes" you've received, number of comments made and gives you a score of 1-100.

My ruby slipper photo (shown here) taken with my iPhone and posted to Facebook a couple of weeks ago when I was road tripping through Kansas (seriously) factored into my score of 50. A score I thought was pretty good. Turns out, though, that on my leaderboard I'm already ranked #2, after Robert Scoble (not a bad person to come in second place after, by the way). Of course, I haven't asked any of my other social media friends to play yet. If you want to compete with me on Photorankme - click here.

From Australia to Silicon Valley - Feature Story in Virgin Australia's July In-Flight Magazine

2011-07-27T11:40:00.001-07:00

ANZA Technology Network CEO Viki Forrest, Startup Bus founder Elias Bizannes and startup successes Andrew Lacy (Tapulous), Ryan Junee (Omnisio) and Mick Johnson (Whereoscope) are just some of the Aussies profiled in Joel Meares' "From Australia to Silicon Valley." (Note: After August 1, this issue is archived - see pages 114-115)

The piece appears in Voyeur, the in-flight magazine of Virgin Australia for July 2011.

For many years, Australians and New Zealanders have been coming to Silicon Valley. Known worldwide for their innovative spirit dating back to the Hills Hoist, Down Under entrepreneurs have naturally gravitated to technology.

The ANZA Technology Network was established in 2001 as a gateway to the US for many of these innovators and their early-stage companies. ANZA holds an annual Gateway to the US event to showcase many of Australia and New Zealand's latest breakthroughs in software, social media, cloud computing, clean tech, gaming and more.

Additionally, two Down Under entrepreneurs have recently purchased a building in the Valley's hottest sub-hub, South of Market San Francisco (SOMA). An exciting spin-off of Bizannes' Startup Bus, the Startup House is in the works for the space. Hermione Way of The Next Web talks with Bizannes and gives us a sneak video peak at the space.

Today We Are All Grassroots Activists

2011-07-26T11:30:00.001-07:00

Last night, President Obama addressed the nation. The country is facing a major fiscal meltdown and there's no use pointing fingers at which side is right or wrong. It's time for compromise. It's time for a bipartisan solution. It's time rich people paid their taxes, middle class people caught a break and poor people get a shot at what's left of the American Dream.

It's time to create jobs, too.

Polls across the board are showing that the American people think Washington is out of touch with reality. Obama called the negotiations that are leading the country to the brink of default a "partisan three-ring circus," and he urged Americans to call their elected Representatives and tell them how they feel about the situation.

"The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn't vote for a dysfunctional government. So I'm asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your Member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message."

Today, according to David Weigel of Slate.com, Americans are doing just that. Ringing Congressional phones off the hook urging elected officials (mostly Republicans, and in particular Tea Partiers) to sit down like adults and hammer out an agreement. Heeding the words of the President, many Americans today are calling Congress, being grassroots activists, some for the first time.

While democracy may be breaking down at the highest levels, it is alive and well at the grassroots.

On the Road (Trip): It's Complete!

2011-07-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

7,256 miles, 24 states, 30 days. Thousands of photos and tons of story ideas. That's what it was all about.

I created a Tumblr blog called On the Road (Trip) to compile my notes and photos. Please don't call the grammar police or the photography gestapo - this was more of an experiment on how to make a record for future projects, and sharing a little bit along the way. Enjoy! And, if you can - plan a road trip of your own. Other than walking, it's truly the best way to see a place.

Photo courtesy of my grandfather, Charles Rogowski, the original family shutterbug. That's me behind the wheel. Note keys in the ignition!

English Get Knickers in Knot Over Americanisms

2011-07-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

BBC News Magazine has asked a bunch of Brits (and a few Canadians) what they think are the most annoying "Americanisms" creeping into what's left of the "English" language.

They've compiled a list of 50, and the comments are surging with over 1,200 more beefs against Americanisms as well as "get over its" by Americans (and those who love us).

In the past decade or so we've seen the "dumbing down" of English in general not so much because proper grammar is a tedious business, but because the way we communicate with the written word has so dramatically changed. Overall, it's probably a miracle that we can still find time to speak to each other rather than bundle up that thought into a text or a tweet.

So, "reach out" and "touch base". "It is what it is," "24/7". "My bad" and "I'm good." Do you have an "issue" with that? (Read more)

Source: BBC News Magazine, "Americanisms: 50 of Your Most Noted Examples".

What I Missed While I Was Away? Google+

2011-07-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've just come back to work after a month away. It takes more than a day to clear all the emails (and that includes deleting 90% of them!). What was the biggest news in the online culture/social media world over the past month?

Clearly, Google+.

I've gotten some invitations to join some circles and hangouts and sparks. Which all seems pretty cool. Will it make life easier and/or more meaningful than all the bopping around I did between Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram to share nearly every mile of my 7,000+ mile roadtrip around the US with followers, friends, fans and family? We'll see.

Cartoon courtesy of JoyofTech.com via Mashable.

Road Trippin'

2011-07-08T14:33:00.002-07:00

I've been traveling across the USA since mid-June; having driven 3,947 miles from San Francisco to my parents' home in Connecticut. Now ready to drive back. Here's some of my favorite photos from the first leg of the trip. The southwest and Route 66, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville and New York City. Taking a more northern route back. What a country!

Say Goodbye to Trendiness...and Vegetarian Pork Bellies

2011-06-17T11:48:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you need a break from being so cool and hip and trendy all the time.

Living in San Francisco is hard work. You must wear a lot of black (preferably layers of it). You must have your hair cut asymmetrically so that it can withstand a constant wind-blown look. You must look at a lot of bad art and listen to music that you are not sure is actually very good. Your cocktails will always be infused. And when you encounter things on menus like “vegetarian pork bellies” you know it is time to get away. That’s why I’m leaving town for a road trip across America tomorrow.

Follow me (and my Dad) for the first half of our road trip as we hit up Bakersfield, Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Tulsa, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville and Roanoke on our way to Connecticut. I’m not so sure of my route back yet - but I know it will include stops in Ohio, Nebraska, Wyoming and Salt Lake City (“home of the tuna melt”). There’s not going to be a vegetarian pork belly in my life for the next 30 days. Bring it!

Photo: We'll be driving my 2002 Ford Ranger across country. She's been wanting to do this for a long time!

Vancouver is Burning: Locals Riot after Canucks Lose Stanley Cup

2011-06-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last month I spent a wonderful couple of days north of the border in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I wrote a short piece about what a wonderful city it is - and am working on a longer one.

Vancouver always seems very much like a part of the United States to me - except when it's not. Its silly one and two dollar coins ("loonies" and "toonies"), its temperatures in Celsius and its simple tolerance (gay marriage is legal there - as it is throughout Canada). I was as surprised as the next American who thinks of Vancouver only in the most civilized terms to see it erupt earlier this week in senseless violence after the home team (the Vancouver Canucks) lost hockey's Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins. Mobile devices using a variety of photo sharing tools let everyone know that Vancouver was burning and riots erupting in real team on Twitter.

Mashable has done a compilation of on-the-scene reporting done by locals, in this case, the pictures - which in true fashion are "worth a thousand words." This photo here was taken and posted by Lisa Johnson.

They do take their hockey seriously up there - so, like all fans of Vancouver, I'm hoping this type of behavior is just a one-off. (UPDATE: Apparently, though, it's not. Riots have occurred before in Vancouver and Montreal - similar to the kind of sports-fanatic rioting that is well known in the US.)

Sources: Mashable, ESPN Sports.

How the Internet Sees You: Personas Project

2011-06-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Personas is a component of the Metropath(ologies) exhibit, recently on display at the MIT Museum by the Sociable Media Group from the MIT Media Lab. It uses sophisticated natural language processing and the Internet to create a data portrait of one's aggregated online identity. In short, Personas shows you how the Internet sees you!

I just took my so-called "Personas" test (click here to take yours). I'd have to say it's pretty accurate considering I write about a lot of different topics. The only category that threw me was the "sports" category. I guess I've mentioned the New York Mets on more than one occasion (sorry) and I have promoted a couple of Aussie Rules football match meetups here in San Francisco. Heck, I even met an AFL'er once - and yes, I made a blog post about him....

Other categories that came up for me were: online, books, education, news, social, religious, art and medical (for many years I edited and wrote about medical and veterinary topics - an old piece of mine on a laser procedure for declawing cats is still out there).

Personas was created by Aaron Zinman, with help from Alex Dragulescu, Yannick Assogba and Judith Donath.

To find out how you look online, you just have to enter your name. An "algorithmic process created from a massive corpus of data" scours the web for information and attempts to characterize you to fit into a predetermined set of categories.

What you'll get is a groovy little color chart, like the one shown at the top of this post, that cites the categories you're most associated with online.

Stop the Double Talk: Out4Immigration Asks White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to Talk to His Boss

2011-06-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

On June 8th at the tail end of a White House press conference, Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about the ongoing deportations of same-sex spouses of Americans, specifically:

"In June 2009 the Department of Homeland Security issued a memorandum on deporting certain widows and widowers of U.S. citizens. At the time, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that, 'smart immigration policy balances strong enforcement practices with the common-sense practical solutions to complicated issues.' Yet, in May, asked about requests by advocates for a moratorium on deportation of foreign partners and same-sex binational relationships, similar to the 2009 moratorium, you said the President can’t just wave a wand and change the law. Can you explain the difference there?"

The answer from Mr. Carney? A) The President cannot wave a magic wand. B) That we need to work on comprehensive immigration reform and generate bipartisanship support for it sometime in the future, one day it will happen.

Imagine having plans for your life, your career, your family, your dreams — even your ability to go home to the one you love in the evening—hinge upon successful comprehensive immigration reform! It’s ludicrous to think any citizens would be faced with this, yet thousands of Americans and their families are.

While a court has struck down The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional, and the Justice Department agrees with that, one must wonder why no action has been taken to stop the deportations.

This equivocating at the highest branches of government MUST stop. Press Secretary Carney is the mouthpiece for this administration, and his answers are highly unsatisfactory to the estimated 54,000 couples whose partners are at risk of deportation.

The body of Out4Immigration's petition letter springboards from the words of Attorney Lavi Soloway, writing in response to the interchange described above. Out4Immigration has been saying for a long time that this is a community issue. As long as some of us are not free to choose where we want to live and who we want to commit our lives to, then no one is free. If we do not have the support of wider community, we allow injustice to perpetrate. Please sign this petition letter, and please share it widely. (Click here for petition link at Change.org.)

Video of the Week: In 20-Year Old Video, 9-Year Old Pays Tribute to Madonna

2011-06-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

ME AT NINE, PERFORMING TO MADONNA IN SUMMER '91! from Robert Jeffrey on Vimeo.

Going viral per Mashable, this unearthed video by one Robert Jeffrey, taped 20 years ago, shows the precocious 9-year-old lip synching to Madonna's "Vogue". Just posted by Mr. Jeffrey himself this morning, the video already has 144,000 hits. We've got three words for the one-time flamboyant Mr. Jeffrey who obviously has a sense of humor, "It Gets Better".

Talking Point Tips from Rep. Anthony Weiner

2011-06-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

It's the type of scandal that will become more and more common as online culture pervades. Important person uses everyday social and digital media tools - Twitter, Facebook, smartphone camera and email hookup - to send inappropriate words and images that recipient (who he or she has probably never met in person) then shows to the world.

Give the world's latest high profile "sexter" - the unfortunately named Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY-9) - credit for leading us to believe for at least a week that his social media accounts were hacked. Hey, it happens.

As this story breaks, he should also get bonus points for offering up these talking points to one of the women he sent crotch shots to from his Blackberry:

"The key is to have a short, thought out statement that tackles the top line questions and then refer people back to it," Weiner allegedly wrote. "Have a couple of iterations of: 'This is silly . . . . And then maybe insert some y'alls in there."

It's the y'alls that'll getcha...every time.

Source: Yahoo! News, "Anthony Weiner Faces Ethics Probe as More Accusers Emerge."

German Girl Invites All of Facebook to Party

2011-06-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

From AP via SFGate:

"A teenage girl in Germany who forgot to mark her birthday invitation as private on Facebook fled her own party when more than 1,500 guests showed up and around 100 police officers, some on horses, were needed to keep the crowd under control."

The moral of the story is "Better check your Facebook settings before posting a party invitation online."

Surprised this doesn't happen more often, after all, this girl is not alone in lacking a little Facebook savvy.

Read the rest and see a couple of cool photos at: SFGate. Of course people were snapping away on their mobile phones.

Help Senator Dianne Feinstein Get Up to Speed on Equality

2011-06-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

Much of Out4Immigration’s efforts over the years has been focused on securing equal immigration rights for same-sex binational couples. The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) is bill that seeks to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to add the words “and permanent partners” wherever one finds the word “spouse”, and has been our hope for righting this wrong. Binational couples, families, and their respective communities need to encourage members of the House and Senate to become cosponsors.

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California has repeatedly rebuffed requests by community members to cosponsor UAFA. Historically, the concerns she has stated include the contentiousness of issues related to same-sex marriage and immigration–especially voicing concerns about fraud, even though UAFA stipulates tough penalties in those instances, just as for heterosexual couples. On a larger point of immigration reform, she has expressed her preference to support comprehensive immigration reform, rather than piecemeal legislation like UAFA to deal with specific communities or issues. Out4Immigration and its supporters have taken issue with this stance of the Senator’s, believing this to be an issue more relevant to civil rights and equality than immigration—and thus an issue worthy of her support—not to mention the feeling it leaves behind that she does not get how injurious current laws are for many Americans and their families.

Feinstein’s intervention in 2009 on behalf of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado, a California couple with two sons, is exactly the response we would hope for from her in the face of the discrimination our families face. Sadly, when it comes to every other family affected by this issue, Senator Feinstein has shown little interest in making this issue a priority, even as many lives are torn apart by it.

In a recent interview with Frontiers Magazine, Senator Feinstein spoke about the need for DOMA repeal—and as some may be aware has authored the Respect for Marriage Act to that end—yet rejected family reunification for LGBT as relevant to that effort. Considering the years in which we have been appealing to Senator Feinstein through letters, phone calls, and meetings with aides to support UAFA, we found her lack of knowledge and awareness on this issue disheartening and disturbing—and grounds for this week’s petition letter calling on her to champion this issue at last as she works to seek the Respect for Marriage Act’s passage.

By treating one group as if they should wait for their civil rights, our elected representatives perpetuate conditions that give rise to inequality in our society. Demand better! Please sign this petition, and please share and promote however you can! (Click here to sign now -- you do not have to live in California to take part.)

Australia Channels California's Golden Age

2011-05-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

The Economist paints a golden picture of Australia these days, and says that if the country added a healthy dose of "self-belief" to its typically introverted way of thinking it could be the next California, in a special report.

"IMAGINE a country of about 25m people, democratic, tolerant, welcoming to immigrants, socially harmonious, politically stable and economically successful; good beaches too. It sounds like California 30 years ago, but it is not: it is Australia today."

The special report section covers Australia's rich natural resources, its ability to have avoided what it refers to as the GFC ("global financial crisis), the strength of its dollar, its model retirement (superannuation) system, its relationship with Asia (namely, China), its green game and the demographics of its population.

Overall, the report on Australia as the place to be is highly positive. Click here to read more (subscription required, but it's free).

Photo courtesy of Derek Bacon via The Economist.

Chris Shipley Talks about G/SCORE, Entrepreneurship and Startups' "Need for Speed"

2011-05-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

Last week, Chris Shipley, CEO of the Guidewire Group and creator of the G/SCORE talked to Startup America about entrepreneurship and the need for speed when launching a business, product or new feature. This week, startups in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide can hear Chris talk on these topics and more at a series of Australian networking events on "Super Angels, Superstars and the Super-Sized Myth of Silicon Valley". Click here for details. All events are free.

First Sunny Day in Vancouver? Head for Go Fish

2011-05-20T10:57:00.001-07:00

Indulge me, if you will. A personal piece, originally published on We Blog the World.

You can get here by foot from the city’s downtown or West End if you are feeling ambitious with a walk or bike ride over the Granville Street Bridge. Or, you can take the Aquabus or a water taxi to this tiny island locale in the middle of two hunks of Vancouver mainland. But however you cross False Creek on a sunny day simply have one goal in mind: lunch at Go Fish Ocean Emporium on a non-touristy bend of Granville Island.

In trying to pinpoint the exact location of this corrugated metal shack serving up freshly caught takes on the day’s catch – lightly battered halibut with hand cut chips destined to be doused with malt vinegar, teriyaki salmon sandwiches and oyster po’boys (or tacos!), I took a detour to Yelp after the fact to get an address (in ultimate hyperlocal fashion, Go Fish does not have a website). Good to know I was not alone in thinking Go Fish was a true off-the-beaten path find. Also good to discover that Go Fish is open six days a week year-round (closed Mondays).

Borrowing from Yelper “Carmina B”, she says to think of Go Fish as “a high-end, seafood food truck with a view.” I’d agree. The fishing boats are docking and selling scallops and British Columbia’s short-season spot prawns just down a nearby ramp, with the backdrop of the False Creek marina, glassy Vancouver highrises and beyond that, English Bay and the still-snow capped North Shore Mountains. You’d gladly sit on a curb with your take away balanced on your knees for this, but Go Fish does have plenty of tables, counter space and wooden benches that turnover in the 10- to 15-minute wait the friendly counter staff tell you to anticipate, as everything is cooked to order.

Apparently, a plastic tarp is pulled around Go Fish on less-than-perfect days, but the day we stumbled upon it – on our way to the Granville Island Public Market to shop for flowers – the sun was shining and the temperature was destined to hit a balmy 17 (Celsius, that is). I can’t vouch for the damp and rainy days Vancouver, a.k.a. “Rain City”, is known for. I have a feeling the food is just as good if the sun is nowhere in sight. But our day at Go Fish was a special one – that evening we were married back on the mainland, the sun still high in the sky as we inched toward summer, reflecting off the bay as the mountains and highrises circled in to give us a warm Canadian embrace.

Super Angels, Superstars and the Super-Sized Myth of Silicon Valley - Chris Shipley to Deliver Talk in Australia

2011-05-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

In Silicon Valley, Chris Shipley needs no introduction. She's been writing about, analyzing and advising startups and early-stage tech businesses for nearly 25 years. On the heels of her successful gig as the executive producer of the DEMO conferences for many years, she launched her own think-tank, the Guidewire Group with its own accelerator space Studio G. She and her team developed the G/SCORE a standardized method to assess a startup across 7 key business factors and allow entrepreneurs to benchmark their company against thousands of companies worldwide.

Chris will be G/SCORE'ing Australian startups starting next week in Sydney as part of ANZA TechNet's Pitch Slams Down Under, May 25-30. And, today - it has just been announced that Chris will give a brief talk at a series of networking events on why myths like "Get big or go home", "Fail fast", and "Don't invest in anyone over 30" are being perpetuated - and how much truth lies behind statements like these.

Silicon Valley entrepreneurship is fueled by hype cycles as much as by technical innovation or the quest for the "next big thing". Today we're approaching the peak of possibly the biggest - and most limiting - hype bubble yet: The Super Angel Bubble. The hype narrative goes like this: If you have a good idea and can attract the attention of the Super Angels, your business will be funded, promoted, built and flipped, and then you too can become a Super Angel.

Be a part of the conversation.

Networking, drinks and of course, Q&A with Chris will be part of these free events. Please register today by clicking on the respective links - Sydney, 25 May at ATP Innovations; Brisbane, 26 May at iLab; Adelaide, 30 May at Innovate SA.

Why Couldn't the CIA Find Osama bin Laden through an IP Address?

2011-05-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

We know you've been wondering why, in this high-tech day and age, were all the hyper-intelligent bells and whistles and secret decoder rings we have access to unable to find Osama bin Laden?

Simple. He wasn't hooked up to the Internet and lived his life offline. bin Laden communicated by thumb drive (e.g., flash memory sticks)- receiving and answering emails offline, transferring them to a thumb drive and giving them to a courier to take to an Internet cafe. It was a system that worked well for many years - but in the end, it still was the Internet that brought him down. Our intelligence forces suspicions were raised when a big house in a well-off neighborhood kept showing up on the grid without access to the online world. What self-respecting, upper-middle class citizen wouldn't have their house wired for 24/7 Facebooking, online shopping or a little live-streaming entertainment?

Apparently, bin Laden found a way around downloading his own porn - but in the end, his decision to remain disconnected did him in.

Source: VentureBeat: "Bin Laden relied on thumb drive couriers to evade email detection" by Dean Takahashi.

New York Post Headline Truly Tit-allating

2011-05-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

Tops Headless Body in Topless Bar

Imagine New Yorkers disappointment two weeks ago when Osama bin Laden was finally captured and killed. The city that waited nearly 10 years for justice to be done awoke on Monday morning, May 2, to the tepid New York Post headline "Got 'Em!" What!? No "Headless Body Found in Topless Bar" style blast that would keep people talking for decades to come (and possibly breathe much needed life back into the newspaper business).

Let's face it, we read headlines all day long online - all kinds of crazy things - but nothing sizzles and pops like a juicy (and occasional laughable) tabloid headline. This morning, New Yorkers and (by virtue of the Interwebs) the rest of us got our fix. Apparently, Osama bin Laden's condo was laden with porn DVDs. We'll let Mediaite tell you the rest. (Click here)

Hat tip to Mediaite for the story and the photo. Other notes: Yes, we know the "Headless Body found in Topless Bar" headline was in the New York Daily News, not the Post. We grew up in the New York Metro area - and can prove it. How? Well, what other baseball team goes by the nickname the "Amazin's" other than our beloved New York Mets!

DEPORTATION HALTED: "We Are Headed Back to the Trenches"

2011-05-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

"We Are Headed Back to the Trenches" - Josh Vandiver, husband of Henry Velandia after last Friday's temporary reprieve

By now you have heard the good news. In the deportation hearing heard 'round the world, Henry Velandia from Venezuela has been allowed to stay with his American husband Josh Vandiver, at least until December.

The Immigration Judge adjourned deportation proceedings against Henry on the grounds that the marriage-based green card petition filed by Josh was still pending and because of the potential implications of a move by Attorney General Eric Holder in a related case less than 24 hours earlier that may signal a shift in the Administration's interpretation of the law as it concerns same-sex binational couples.

Out4Immigration was proud to work alongside such amazing activists from groups like GetEQUAL, Courage Campaign, AllOut, Marriage Equality USA, Garden State Equality and the attorney who is leading the fight for same-sex binationals and equal immigration rights, Lavi Soloway of Stop the Deportations. This exciting combination of grassroots talent plus the voices of more than 20,000+ of you who signed petitions directed to President Obama, the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS, called the office of Secretary Janet Napolitano and kept the story alive 24/7 online and in print has changed the game. The new strategy is to keep the pressure on from all sides - administrative, judicial and legislative. (Read more)

Photo courtesy of GetEQUAL: Josh, left and Henry, right, in Newark, with Statue of Liberty in the background, shortly after Friday's hearing.

Stop the Deportation of Henry Velandia and All Spouses of LGBT Americans, Friday, May 6, Newark, NJ

2011-05-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

Out4Immigration urges everyone in the Newark, NJ area to come out to protest the deportation of Henry Velandia Friday, May 6 at 11am:

Department of Homeland Security/Newark Immigration Court – Peter Rodino Federal Building

970 Broad Street

Newark, New Jersey

Henry (shown here at the right) legally married Josh Vandiver (left), a US citizen in Connecticut last year. But because of DOMA our federal government does not recognize this marriage and is ready to deport Henry. This couple will literally be torn apart, Josh's husband taken from him and returned to his native Venezuela, banning them from being together again on U.S. soil for 10 years!

Sadly, Josh and Henry are not the only same-sex binational couple in this situation. We need to make our voices heard that separating loving and committed couples is unacceptable. President Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano can stop these deportations while we continue to work to pass legislation like the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), inclusive Comprehensive Immigration Reform and repeal DOMA. More details on Friday's action are on Facebook.

(Read about more actions you can take to help this couple and all same-sex binational couples being forced into deportation hearings, separations and exiles at the Out4Immigration blog.)

What Would You Do?

2011-05-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

Gina, a long-time Out4Immigration volunteer, speaks out and asks, "What would you do if your government denied you the right to live in your country with the person you love?" It's a stark look at the realities same-sex binational couples are forced to confront each day, while too many important people -- elected officials and those in charge of large organizations that collect a lot of money from the LGBT community and our supporters -- don't do all they can to end this gratuitous cruelty.

Laws like the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and our broken immigration system stand in the way of Gina being with the woman she loves. And she's not alone. Some 36,000 same-sex binational couples face deportation hearings, separations and hardships that are too numerous to list.

Watch and listen to Gina's story. Then, do something.

Imagine -- A World Without Facebook -- Single Grain Did

2011-05-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

[Source: Single Grain -- thanks for making it so easy to embed!]

Australian Startups Get Global-Ready with Guidewire Group’s G/SCORE

2011-05-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

ANZA Technology Network Partners with Leading Incubators in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide to Assess Commercialization Opportunities in New Markets

ANZA Technology Network and the Guidewire Group will be holding a series of Pitch Slam events at leading incubators in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide 25-30 May. Startups and early-stage companies seeking to assess their global readiness to commercialize in new markets like the US and China are encouraged to sign up to deliver a 5-minute pitch and get their G/SCORE.

The G/SCORE measures companies across seven key business factors designed to accurately and consistently assesses a company regardless of stage, market segment and geography. It identifies strengths and opportunities and allows companies to benchmark their business against thousands of others worldwide.

“The G/SCORE provides early-stage founders and CEOs with vital feedback that provides the focus and reinforcement they need to take their company to the next level,” said Chris Shipley, co-founder and CEO of the Guidewire Group and developer of the G/SCORE, who will personally score each company at this month’s Pitch Slam events.

Companies are charged $49 USD to participate and are asked to prepare a 5-minute pitch. Details about the events, which will be held at ATP Innovations in Sydney on 25 May, iLab in Brisbane on 26 May and Innovate SA in Adelaide on 30 May are available at www.anzatechnet.com. (Read more)

Video of the Week: Orly Taitz, Queen of the Birthers, MSNBC Smack Down

2011-04-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

This week, President Barack Obama, yet again proved he is an American citizen by providing the media with his "long form" birth certificate. "Birthers", however, an extreme fringe movement led by a Russian-born dentist named Orly Taitz, refuse to accept this as the final word that Obama was indeed born in the US to an American mother and African father. Lawrence O'Donnell from MSNBC seems to be channeling the late Morton Downey, Jr. circa 1988 (sans cigarette), but it's Orly who is ripe for a a Saturday Night Live parody this weekend.

Schweppes Commemorative Royal Wedding Tonic

2011-04-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Forget the commemorative plates, the apps, the virtual wedding card you can sign on Facebook to wish Prince William and the lovely Catherine (formerly known as "Kate") well.

With tomorrow's pending royal nuptials less than 24 hours away, whether you are caught up in the frenzy (or lack thereof) it will be Friday somewhere. And, what you need is a drink.

No one does G&T (that's gin & tonic, kids) better than the British. Now, if you can just get yourself to Harvey Nicks - or better yet - get them to ship you some commemorative Royal Wedding tonic water you'll be all set. Selling at £1.25 - it's a downright bargain compared to those old Charles and Diana plates still creeping around on eBay.

And, it's environmentally friendly, too. 100% recyclable -- or able to be relabeled for any other suitable occasion.

Uniting American Families Act Reintroduced with Record Support

2011-04-14T14:19:00.001-07:00

Media Contacts:
Amos Lim, Out4Immigration, 415-608-5526, amos@out4immigration.org
Kathy Drasky, Out4Immigration, 415-606-2085, kathy@out4immigration.org

Legislation and Letter from Congress Increases Demand for Protection of Same-Sex Binational Couples, Families from Discriminatory Immigration Law

Washington, DC — April 14, 2011 — The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) was reintroduced in the House and Senate today by long-time equal rights advocates Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-8) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The legislation is backed by 98 co-sponsors in the House and 18 in the Senate, a record for the bill on reintroduction. It has been introduced in every session of Congress since 2000.

The bill would add three words to existing US immigration law – “or permanent partner” – wherever the word spouse appears, facilitating the need for LGBT Americans to obtain green cards for their partners while they wait for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

“Thousands of committed same-sex couples are needlessly suffering because of unequal treatment under our immigration laws, and this is an outrage,” said Nadler. “Our Constitution guarantees that no class of people will be singled out for differential treatment — and LGBT Americans should not and must not be excluded from that guarantee.”

Adding a one-two punch to UAFA’s reintroduction is a letter from Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-16), the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice to stop denying LGBT green card applications and stop separating LGBT binational families. The letter was signed by 48 House members and adds weight to a similar letter sent last week by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and 11 of his colleagues requesting the same immediate remedy to what Rep. Nadler has repeatedly called “gratuitous cruelty.”

UAFA comes into the 112th Congress under a much different landscape than previous introductions of the bill. While Democrats no longer control the House and hold a slimmer majority in the Senate, support for same-sex binationals has grown since President Obama’s directive on February 23 that the federal government stop defending Section 3 of DOMA on the basis that the law – which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages – is unconstitutional.

No group is harder hit by DOMA than same-sex binational couples and their families, many who have been forced into exile or literally torn apart by immigration law that adheres to the DOMA decree that marriage is defined as “one man and one woman.” As a result, these couples, regardless of legal marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships are treated as “legal strangers”.

Efforts to slow down individual deportation proceedings targeting the foreign partner in these relationships have achieved some successes of late by delaying deportations on a case by case basis, in part due to the Obama administration determination that DOMA is unconstitutional. This administration's new DOMA position caused a major uproar last month when the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) seemed to suggest that it would hold green card applications filed by same-sex couples in abeyance until DOMA was repealed or struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Although USCIS reversed this decision within 36 hours, advocates for same-sex binational couples, like Out4Immigration, are petitioning USCIS, DHS, DOJ and the White House to restore the abeyance policy and implement a moratorium on deportations, urging an administrative fix until judicial and legislative actions can occur.

With advocacy engines now firing on all three branches of government – relief in some form for the heartbreak and injustice an estimated 36,000 same-sex binationals and their families incur has never seemed more possible. Out4Immigration urges more couples to come forward and tell their stories to continue to build and sustain the momentum. The all-volunteer, grassroots group can be contacted at info@out4immigration.org.

# # #
______________
For more information:
Uniting American Families Act Reintroduced in Congress: http:www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/pr_uafa_041411
Gay Immigration Battle Heats Up: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/04/14/Gay_Immigration_Battle_Heats_Up/
Dear USCIS: Don’t Go Back to Denying Green Cards to Loving, Same-Sex Couples: http://www.change.org/petitions/dear-uscis-dont-go-back-to-denying-green-cards-to-loving-same-sex-couples#?opt_new=t&opt_fb=t
Senators Kerry, Leahy, 10 Others Ask DOJ, DHS to Hold Same-Sex Binational Couples’ Immigration Petitions: http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2011/04/senators-kerry-leahy-10-others.html
Gay Immigrant Couples’ Future Remains Uncertain after Judge Postpones Deportation Hearing: http://news.feetintwoworlds.org/2011/04/04/future-for-gay-immigrant-couple-remains-uncertain-following-judges-postponement-of-deportation-hearing/

UAFA Tomorrow: Grassroots Actions You Can Take Today

2011-04-13T10:24:00.001-07:00

On April 14, Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Sen. Patrick Leahy will reintroduce the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) in the 112th Congress.

In the 111th Congress (2009-2010), UAFA had a record 161 co-sponsors in the House and Senate and received a hearing by the Senate Judicial Committee. While there is lots of talk that it will be difficult to get that many to sign on this time, Out4Immigration thinks differently. The game has changed significantly since the end of the 111th Congress. On February 23, 2011, President Obama signaled that the US government should stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court. This has opened a new, three-pronged strategy for same-sex binational couples to get the green cards we need to keep our families together in the US aimed at all three branches of government: executive, judicial and legislative.

Tomorrow UAFA joins the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) as two legislative paths to end our struggle for equal immigration rights for same-sex binationals.

Here's what you can do today to make sure UAFA is the number one story in the news this week:

1) Call your Representatives and urge them to be on the right side of history. Support UAFA. Phone numbers and a simple call script are here: http://immigrationequalityactionfund.org/blog/we_need_your_help_right_now/

2) Sign onto HRC's letter to Congress urging support of UAFA: https://secure3.convio.net/hrc/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifid=1089 (Sign it and circulate it via Facebook and Twitter).

3) Post a link to the Out4Immigration/Change.org petition to President Obama, the Department of Homeland Security and United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) that demands the Obama Administration and these agencies stop deporting our partners until we can amend the laws that stand in our way: http://www.change.org/petitions/dear-uscis-dont-go-back-to-denying-green-cards-to-loving-same-sex-couples#?opt_new=t&opt_fb=t

4) If you are a same-sex binational couple and have a blog, or know anyone in the http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifmedia (from blogging to national network news), contact them and tell them your story. Direct them to Out4Immigration's website for additional information. You can also call your local newspaper or write a Letter to the Editor or an Op-Ed. If you are a US citizen stand up and demand your right to stay in this country with the person you love!

5) In the DC area? Join GetEQUAL at Capitol Hill at 1pm, this Thursday, April 14. Rep. Jerrold Nadler will reintroduce UAFA and you can be on hand to make your voice heard. Gather at the House Triangle (on the southeast side of the U.S. Capitol, accessible via Independence Avenue.) Bring your signs, families and friends.

Video of the Week: Manhattan Apartment Just 90-Square Feet

2011-04-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

...and the rent is just $700 a month. Check it out. It may not inspire you to downsize your living space, but it will make you think about what you can live without.

Australian English Cracks onto OED

2011-04-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

While everybody (well, English majors at least) is talking about the latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) - LOL, OMG and the heart symbol, ♥ - few have noticed a couple of Australianisms have sneaked in.

In addition to the universal shortcuts made popular through tweeting, texting and IM'ing - "flat white," "tragic," and "yidaki" all received the approval of the English language tome of record.

Spending a lot of time Down Under, I've learned the fastest way to get a drinkable coffee is to order a flat white, which according to the OED is "a style of espresso drink with finely textured foamed milk".

You would indeed be "tragic" if you insisted on having your coffee the Starbucks way, and tried to get a cup of American-style black coffee and hunt around the cafe for a full bar stocked with multiple milk and soy choices, not too mention the powdered chocolate. For those unfamiliar with this sarcastic phrase, someone is referred to as tragic per the OED if they are a "boring or socially inept person, esp. one with an obsessive interest or hobby".

And for the record, a "yidaki" is "an Australian Aboriginal term for the musical instrument better known in English as a didgeridoo."

Source: OED Latest Update, March 2011.

Tasmanian Devil Needs a PR Makeover

2011-04-04T16:51:00.000-07:00

Paging Warner Brothers. Bugs Bunny's old nemesis the Tasmanian Devil has more problems than you think. In real life, the seldom-seen animal is "the size of a cocker spaniel, beady-eyed, standoffish and fond of displaying a mouthful of pointy teeth. Picture a skunk, with the jaws of an alligator and the charm of a weasel," according to the Los Angeles Times.

About a year ago, we reported that these animals were facing extinction due to a rare and ugly genetic disease (albeit one that held possible links to cancer treatment). The Los Angeles Times follows up saying that things could improve for the world's largest carnivorous marsupials if only the folks Down Under would embrace the devils in a more warm and fuzzy way. Perhaps then they'd get behind publicizing the need for help and support the eradication of devil facial tumour disease (DFTD), which causes tumors "to sprout around the devil's mouth, quickly morphing into bulbous red pustules that eventually take over the animal's entire face, leaving it unable to eat or drink." Afflicted animals ultimately starve to death.

Help is out there, but it is a matter of getting Aussies - and those who want to help save an endangered species - to take up the cause. One organization is called Devil Ark, which is dedicated to establishing and maintaining a population of healthy, genetically diverse Tasmanian devils.(Read more)

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Devil Ark and KazzaDrask Media.

"The Most Important Petition We've Ever Done"

2011-03-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

On Monday, same-sex binational couples and our supporters heard some incredible news from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) - moves were finally being made to recognize gay and lesbian citizens with foreign partners.

As most Americans know, if you marry someone from another country, your spouse immediately qualifies for a green card. The two of you can stay here legally, without any threats of separation, exile or deportation, and pursue what the Constitution guarantees - life, liberty and happiness. However, if you are in a same-sex relationship, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits your marriage from being recognized by the federal government, and thus, immigration.

When those of us who work to change this policy heard on Tuesday that the USCIS was going to continue to deny our relationships - we got angry. Out4Immigration teamed up with Change.org and put this petition out this morning.

As a grassroots group, Out4Immigration has put out numerous petitions and run a weekly campaign on Change.org throughout the 111th Congress seeking support for our relationships through the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). We have teamed up with our allies in the marriage equality movement to work to repeal DOMA. But never in the history of our 5-year-old organization have we been this incensed - and this adamant - to call out the federal government and demand, once and for all, that they do something to stop tearing apart loving and committed couples.

Please add your name to this call for justice for gay and lesbian American citizens with foreign partners and our families. Simply click on the widget above. Please circulate this petition through your social networks. To find out how you can be more involved, please visit www.out4immigration.org.

First Steps on Same-Sex Binationals Path to Green Cards

2011-03-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

Today’s breaking story in Newsweek that two USCIS districts—Washington, DC and Baltimore—have informed attorneys from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that cases in their districts involving the green card applications of married gay and lesbian couples would be put on hold is the second major step this year toward green cards for same-sex binationals. (The first step was the February 23 decision by the Obama Administration that Section 3 of DOMA was unconstitutional.) Prior to the DOMA decision, these applications were routinely dismissed and deportations were carried out because DOMA rendered same-sex married couples “legal strangers”.

What does the USCIS announcement really mean to you if you are a married same-sex binational couple? First, seek the advice of a competent and trusted immigration attorney. And, if you are uncomfortable with the advice you receive, get a second opinion – or even a third. The best place to start is with the law firm Masliah and Soloway, they are the founders of Immigration Equality, have co-authored the original PPIA legislation and now run the Stop the Deportations Project. Lavi Soloway has been the attorney for a number of the couples whose cases have recently been put on hold by immigration judges, who, following President Obama’s order to stop defending DOMA, have decided that they cannot make a ruling against a same-sex binational couple’s green card case without using DOMA to block it. As a result, the decisions in these cases have been delayed.

Second, note the key word here is “delayed”. The optimists among us like to believe DOMA will be gone by the end of the year. Pessimists think it will take 10 years and there will be numerous setbacks along the way. The reality is none of us know how long this will take, but if we look at any civil rights history, once a movement gains momentum, and that momentum becomes relentless, barriers tend to come down faster than expected. And that’s where all of us come in – whether we are a married same-sex binational couple supported by an immigration attorney’s advice to file the I-130, or a couple advised against marrying and/or filing right now, we need to tell our stories at every opportunity. (Read more)

Video of the Week: Google Goes Gaga

2011-03-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

Lady Gaga made the rounds in Silicon Valley this week with stops at Google and Twitter, two companies that have helped propel her career into the stratosphere. There is no denying the role that the leading search engine and social media play in any business, and Gaga is as much an enterprise as she is an entertainer. Google's YouTube played a subsidiary role, recording 54,000 fan questions for La Gaga to be asked during the interview. Obviously, only a few were put to the star by Marissa Mayer, Google VP of Consumer Products.

Source: VentureBeat.

UPDATE: Britney Spears Free Concert this Sunday in San Francisco, Moved to Bill Graham Auditorium Due to Rain

2011-03-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

BREAKING: UPDATE: Free concert moved indoors due to predicted bad weather. Free concert to be held at Bill Graham Auditorium. You must get tickets to attend ($3.50 service fee, limit 2 per person). Details are here: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2011/03

21st Century Royal Wedding Ditches Commemorative Plate for an App

2011-03-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, we dished up our royals about to say "I do" with a commemorative plate. But in case you doubted 1981 was a really, really long time ago, look no further than to your left at young Prince Charles and the late Lady Di, currently selling on a site called eBid for $3.25.

To commemorate next month's wedding of their son, Prince William to long-time sweetheart Kate Middleton, no crappy plate that won't appreciate will do. Instead, the nuptials for these next-gen royals will be celebrated with an app for your iPad from the Apple Store.

According to MSNBC, the app will "turn your iPad into a guide for the royal wedding," and be "arranged like a digital magazine...[to provide] access to a real-time feed of photos and articles. There are video features, a virtual guest book which you can sign, a feed of recent tweets about the royal couple, and plenty of interactive content."

The app will be available on April 9, just three weeks before the royal wedding on April 29. By then, of course, shortages should abate and you will doing your royal watch on your shiny new iPad 2.

Has Tweeting about How Cool You Are Jumped the Shark?

2011-03-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

Heeeeee-eeey, as the Fonz would say, Twitter is still cool, but sharing how cool you are all the time on Twitter - well, some of us are getting tired of it.

Today's New York Times has a story called On Twitter, 'What a Party!' Brings an Envious 'Enough Already!'

With another SXSWi (aka "spring break for geeks") now history, the story does a round up of annoying tweets from the festival where digital media types hang out side by side with folks from the film and music industries. Obviously this is a recipe for clogging up Twitter with Tweets about celebrity sightings and Twitpics of crowded clubs where folks are eight-deep at a bar trying to score a Shiner Bock. (I know, I was at SXSWi last year - when the rumor at the time was that the interactive part of the fest itself had jumped the shark.)

Sure, some of this is jealousy on the part of those of us who didn't make it down to Austin this year (or other events like TEDx and the World Economic Forum in Davos). All of these types of conferences were one-time places where gathering new information from industry thought leaders was the objective. We used to "live blog" these things in the mid-2000s to impart what we were learning back to friends and colleagues who might not be at the conference, or at another session. But 140-character Tweets have replaced lengthy real-time blog missives and that's the complaint.

It's a lot easier (and more attention-getting) to Tweet "And ... I’m eating a taco next to Danny DeVito. #sxsw" than to try and condense the key points of a keynote. And, like the Fonz and his Happy Days sitcom, for a couple of years, eating a taco next to Danny DeVito was very, very cool. But now it seems that the taco has donned a pair of water skis and is midair - jumping the shark.

Source: New York Times, On Twitter, 'What a Party!' Brings an Envious 'Enough Already!' by Amy Harmon.

Video of the Week: Rebecca Black Explained

2011-03-18T06:42:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you combine social media, a cheap synthesizer, easy-to-use (and affordable) video editing software and half a generation that thinks getting on American Idol means you have talent? Answer: An instant teeny popper named Rebecca Black with a viral YouTube video that vies for top trending honors with the Japan tsunami and earthquake for most important story of the week. Haven't seen that Rebecca Black video yet? Click here then - but if you want this latest phenomenon of online culture broken down for you, watch our pick for Video of the Week (above).

Note: Apparently this video violated some YouTube rules and has been yanked. We've found this alternative that explains the Rebecca Black phenomenon. Not as amusing, but every bit as informative.

When Twitter Accounts Collide...

2011-03-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

It's not uncommon for those of us in new media marketing to manage several Twitter accounts for various clients. Having been at it awhile, it's not that we're immune to mis-Tweets, it's just that we made our mistakes back in 2008 or 2009, before anyone really noticed. The most common problem is posting a tweet meant for one client to another client's account. That can be remedied by logging out of Twitter whenever you are done working for one client and re-logging in when you start work for the next, logging out after each Tweet and/or always making sure when you use TweetMeme or any other share device that what you are about to Tweet goes to the right account. (If you're not sure, don't click on the button!)

The possibility of colliding Twitter accounts gets more difficult to manage when more than one person from the company has permission to Tweet and/or you and those other company Tweet-ers also have your own personal Twitter accounts. While you, as a new media marketer, have trained yourself to manage multiple accounts and understand the essentials of brand promotion and messaging (even when that brand is you and the message is yours), it can be difficult to get clients to understand this game.

Two recent high-profile incidents are profiled in the New York Times today. Both Chrysler and Aflac have had to fire employees/spokespeople over crossing the line between personal beliefs and corporate brand. The Aflac case is an easy one to sort. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried has long provided the company with the voice of its mascot - the Aflac duck. Because of this nice payday Gottfried was receiving from Aflac, he had a responsibility to represent the company not only in its promotions, but also all the time. Whether this was written in his contract or merely implied by common sense, Gottfried was probably sensible enough to not get on stage and make untoward jokes about Aflac or its duck - but when he Tweeted jokes about last week's earthquake in Japan on his personal Twitter account he was fired. The jokes didn't mention Aflac (which has big business in Japan), but they were in poor taste. And whether people who follow Gottfried on Twitter immediately associate him with Aflac or not - that's beside the point. The point is, eventually someone out there in the Twitterverse will connect the dots. Spokesperson Gottfried made fun of a tragedy and if Aflac stood by and did nothing, then, in the minds of some customers at some point, Aflac is complicit in that behavior. Sayonara, Gilbert!

In the Chrysler case, an employee for a new media marketing firm Tweeted on the @Chryslerautos account:

“I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to drive.”

According to the New York Times, "between “to” and “drive” was a vulgarity."

This employee was fired, and Chrysler canned the marketing firm. Double-ouch.

We'll have to assume that this was not an accident of the employee confusing the corporate account with his/her own personal account or the case of a hapless comedian left alone with Twitter. Instead, this may have been more of a misguided attempt by the marketing firm to deliver what Chrysler had asked for to "promot[e] Detroit and its hard-working people."

Last time I checked, hard-working people had a sense of humor and probably would have found this funny (think Roseanne and Dan back in the day laughing if little Darlene or DJ posted this). But a tweet like this might have been more appropriate for the promoters of a local bowling alley or a sub shop - not a prestigious brand like Chrysler. In the Twitterverse this is known as a #fail. Forget the #winning.

Source: New York Times, "When the Marketing Reach of Social Media Backfires," by Stuart Elliott. Photo of Gilbert Gotfried and the Aflac duck, property of Justin Lane/European Pressphoto Agency.

Oporto Aussie Chicken Burgers Arrive in SoCal

2011-03-14T08:55:00.001-07:00

Cue up Men at Work's "Down Under", Oporto - an Aussie chicken burger chain that serves "Portuguese-style chicken sandwiches" has opened its first store in Rancho Cucamonga, a town with a silly enough name that if you didn't know better, you might assume it was located west of Woolagong or maybe north of Woolamaloo. The Australian-based chain that started at Sydney's Bondi Beach in 1986, plans to open two more shops in Southern California later this year.

Local SoCal press has taken the opportunity to claim Oporto has a cult following in Australia similar to In-and-Out Burger (hmmmm?), as well as to cast a pox on the bigoted Chick-fil-A chain that has plans open in Hollywood later this year. (Weight-conscious starlets will note that Oporto's chicken sandwiches are grilled, not deep-fried.)

The Oporto in America campaign is led by a former executive for the Del Taco chain, so there is some US-fast-food know-how at work. Invading the sacred ground near where the first McDonald's was launched, and the only nearby cult with more followers than In-and-Out is Scientology will certainly pose its challenges. Two things in Oporto's favor, though. (1) It will provide an Aussie brekkie sandwich featuring real Australian bacon. And (2) Portuguese-inspired sandos, or not, Oporto is authentically Australian - it is no Outback Steakhouse.

Sources: FastCasual.com and LA Weekly.

Castro Street Braces for Britney: Spears to Give Free San Francisco Concert on March 27

2011-03-11T07:36:00.001-08:00

In a desperate act to promote a flailing career and GaGa onto some gay love, or as local LGBT newspaper the Bay Area Reporter more kindly put it, "a publicity stunt," one-time teen pop sensation Britney Spears will give a free one-hour concert on San Francisco's Castro Street on March 27.

Rumors are flying around the old-fashioned way, hearsay on the streets and in local newspapers, as well as via social media regarding the time, the traffic and the reasons why. All signs point to a free show at Castro and 19th at 12 noon on a Sunday - just about the time the first pitchers of bottomless Bloody Marys and Mimosas have been consumed and you are overcome with the urge to dance.

Good Morning America is behind the Britney revival, neatly coinciding with the release of a new album (natch). The GMA crew will be in town shooting footage not only of local San Francisco treats like cable car rides and sourdough chowder bowls at Fisherman's Wharf, but specifically highlighting the "historic" Castro District - i.e., ground zero for gayness.

The Bay Area Reporter's coverage copped an interview with GMA producer Mark Robertson, who said, "On our show we know our viewers like to travel but can't always afford to do so. So we like to bring them places. In our mind, there is no more beautiful city than San Francisco and no more historic neighborhood than the Castro.... Britney said the Castro is a place she loves and she has a huge fan base in the Bay Area."

Here's hoping the BritBrit showcase does more than just give the girl's career a boostback. Let's hope that when GMA talks "historic" they also mean they'll give a little air time to the fact that those in the streets are second-class citizens even in the heart of this gay mecca. And, won't it be a great day when everyone at a Britney Spears concert has their equal rights?

Concert Update: Gates for the concert will open at 9 am on Sunday, March 27. Do not line up before this, the cops will ask you to move on. Do not be scammed. The concert is free. More details from the Bay Area Reporter at this link.

Sources: Bay Area Reporter and FunCheapSF.

Video of the Week: Transvestite Taco Brawl - Film at 11

2011-03-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

Allegedly two groups of drag queens got into a brawl at a Southern California taqueria this week over which group had the better bodies. Tortillas, heels and wigs flew in equal measure. No audio with this one, but if you cue up your favorite disco tune you'll feel just like you were there.

Courtesy of KTLA and Huffington Post.