SOMEWHAT FRANK

The MBT Anti-Shoe Challenge

SOMEWHAT FRANK MBT Anti-Shoe Challenge from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

Having comfortable shoes is important so I was intrigued recently to find out about MBT, a Swiss company that has made some changes to your typical shoe paradigm by creating the "Anti-shoe." I recently got my hands on a pair and put them to the test to see what they were all about. I have heard they help cure back pain and also contribute to burning more calories so I wanted to try the MBT anti-shoes for myself. I snagged a pair of MBT Loafers and I shared my experiences as part of my latest SOMEWHAT FRANK adventure in a personal technology lifestyle episode 56 if you are counting at home. You can watch The MBT Anti-Shoe Challenge  in HD.

CrowdSpring Offers Lots Of Design Options

You may notice something looks a little different on SOMEWHAT FRANK these days. I decided after over three years of designing my own logos to have the design community take a shot at it. I had an idea of what I really wanted so I was just looking for a logo to be used with an photograph header taken by Washington, D.C. photographer Dakota Fine. If you are like me, you probably want to see a lot of design options and then pick the design you like the best. This is exactly what Chicago-based startup CrowdSpring offers by creating a crowdsourcing design marketplace. I first reviewed CrowdSpring when they launched back in May and showed off at TECH cocktail Chicago 8.

In this article I want to share my CrowdSpring experience as I launched a new SOMEWHAT FRANK design based on a logo design (in the up left corner of the site) received using the design community site.

Wattzon: A Personalized Energy Tracker

"It's gettin' hot in herre, so take off all your clothes." from the popular Nelly song, Hot In Herre

Rather than shed all your clothes you might want to first determine why it is getting so hot in here - on the planet Earth. Climate change is definitely something that has take center stage as the Earth is heating up. But we all can help to lessen our individual impact on climate change. Something as simple as unplugging your coffeemaker or toaster after use can help to save energy and reduce your negative impact on climate change. I find it is difficult to measure the various things I am doing to impact climate change. WattzOn recently launched to create tools to help us all determine our energy consumption.

TipJoy: Give People Props For Their Work

TipJoy is a product that makes it easy to give a website or a person a tip. We've all see those little tip jars at the coffee shop or local shop but TipJoy takes that concept online with real money. I am not saying you should give up on content whuffie points from Digg, Mixx and StumbleUpon but all I am saying is, you can now make a little money by placing a TipJoy widget on your site or on a Flickr photo and receive real tips for your work. Now that might bring you just a little joy. For example, if you like what you see on SOMEWHAT FRANK, you might want to leave a little spare change as a tip here - no pressure I'm just saying. :)

iList: A Social Classified Ad Marketplace

iList is aiming to be like the popular online classified site craigslist but with a social twist. It offers users the ability to post an item on iList that look better than your typical craigslist listing but that is not all. iList's strength lies in the ability to easily share that listing with a number of social sites like Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook. This distribution strategy is one that craigslist currently does not employ as it acts as a destination waiting for people to sift through and find items. iList's distribution approach could help it to grow virally though existing social communication channels.

Blip.fm: Twitter For Your Music

Blip.fm is "Twitter for music" as it offers a microblog platform for users with the ability to search, upload and share music. Your blip.fm stream is then playable. You can also discover music from other Blip.fm users and give them props if you like a song they played. 

GeoEye Office Visit & Tour Video

GeoEye Office Space Adventure from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

GeoEye, is a satellite imagery company that has been in the news quite a bit lately, as they launched GeoEye-1 on September 6, 2008 via a rocket into space. GeoEye-1 is the first commercial satellite offering high resolution imagery. GeoEye-1 is also the exclusive provider of imagery for Google Earth and Google Maps.

I recently got a chance to visit the GeoEye headquarters in Dulles/Sterling, Virginia to speak with Mark Brender, VP of Communications and Marketing at GeoEye. He showed me around the office as we discussed their recent successes and future objectives. This is episode 55 on SOMEWHAT FRANK in HD adventures in a personal technology lifestyle, this time looking down from space thru GeoEye.

21 Hour TECH cocktail Day

21 Hour TECH cocktail Day from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

I have been co-hosting TECH cocktail events in local technology communities for over two and a half years now. In that time I have hosted events in Boulder, Boston, D.C. and Chicago. Recently, we hosted our first event on a college campus by hitting the road and heading down to the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana for a "Big Ten Conference" style event which I mentioned previously. It was a lot of fun but it was a LONG day.

I captured our 21 hour day on video and you can follow us along as we woke up at 3:30 a.m. in the morning in Chicago and returned some 21 hours later. Follow along as episode 54 on SOMEWHAT FRANK shares our adventures in the video (above).

WiMAX Launches In Baltimore

It has been three years since I first discussed WiMAX technology and at that time it seemed to be generating quite the buzz. So I am pleased to have experienced WiMAX technology first hand today for the first time as Intel, Xohm and Sprint all teamed up to sponsor the WiMAX Baltimore launch event. The event consisted of a preview presentation and then offered a number of hands-on WiMAX experiences which included WiMAX on a boat, in a house and in an automobile. In case WiMAX is something new to you, it is simply wireless Internet with the speed of a broadband or DSL connection.

WIRED NextFest Looks Into The Future

What does the future hold? I am not a psychic but I recently attended the opening preview of the WIRED NextFest in Chicago as it looks to enable visitors to experience the future. It was a great event kicked off by a breakfast keynote by WIRED Editor in Chief, Chris Anderson. The event focused on innovations as exhibitors from across the country were on hand showing off their products. Check out the full list of exhibits. I captured the WIRED NextFest Experience as episode 53 on SOMEWHAT FRANK (below).

WIRED NextFest Looks Into The Future from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

Gary Vaynerchuk Woodstock Wine Event

Gary Vaynerchuk's Woodstock Wine Event from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

I recently visited my hometown of Woodstock, Illinois where I lived from birth till about age twenty as I welcomed wine expert Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. It was a super wine event sponsored by the Woodstock Fine Arts Association as part of the Creative Living After Dark series. I was happy to introduce him to the crowd at the historic Woodstock Opera House which has been around since 1886 and housed a number of popular acts including the movie Groundhog Day, Orson Welles and Paul Newman. Follow along as I captured the days festivities as episode 52 on SOMEWHAT FRANK.

Social Media Life Discussed at Interact2008

Social media is life. I lifecast my photos, videos, thoughts, music and more to share with the rest of the world via the Web and mobile devices. Yesterday, I sat on a super panel moderated by Jesse Thomas of Jess3 at the Interact2008 conference with: Ken Kaplan of Intel, Jim Long a cameraman for NBC, Rohit Bhargava of Ogilvy PR, Debbie Weil a corporate blogging expert and Nick O'Neill of Social Times. The panel anchored the first annual two day digital media and marketing conference. It was a lot of fun as we all shared our social media perspectives, advice and stories. We even had Q&A via Twitter by monitoring this Twitter Leaderboard. It doesn't get more "social media" powered than that.