SOMEWHAT FRANK

SOMEWHAT FRANK 2008 In Review

It has been a rather eventful 2008, with a number of great memories. I just wanted to take a second to thank everyone that made it such a great year. Check out some of the most popular items of 2008 (below). Thanks for another great year. I look forward to bringing you more SOMEWHAT FRANK adventures in personal technology in 2009.

15 Most Popular Items of 2008 (according to Google Analytics):

1.) 2008 Web 2.0 & Tech Conference Calendar
2.) My Bolt Bus Travel Experience to NYC
3.) Rocking SXSW: An Epic Wine Event
4.) skinnyCorp Threadless Office Visit
5.) Sharing the JoyEngine Community
6.) Cool Globes & Ideas For A Cooler Planet
7.) A Look Inside Lijit Networks
8.) Sarah Lacy Book Tour Hits DC
9.) GeoEye Office Visit & Tour
10.) CrowdSpring Offers Lots Of Design Options
11.) Social Media & My Somewhat Obsession With The Shiny Objects Of The Web
12.) The TECH cocktail Song
13.) Snapily 3D Animated Business Cards
14.) Somewhat Frank Meets NonSociety
15.) Taking the MBT Anti-Shoe Challenge

Happy New Year!

Setting Up Roku for On-Demand Netflix To Your TV

Roku For Netflix To Your TV On-Demand from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

For a holiday gift this year, I gave out a couple of Roku gift packages which included the Roku Netflix Player. The Roku Netflix Player enables a Netflix user with unlimited videos (currently $8.99 a month subscription) to watch videos on-demand to the TV. Users can choose from the selection of over 12,000 videos that currently are released to watch instantly on the Web. Roku even has new firmware to handle HD videos. To help with the adoption of the new gadget I decided to set it up and documented it in episode 60 on SOMEWHAT FRANK (wow-wooh-eee, can you believe I did 61 SOMEWHAT FRANK video adventure episodes this year!?!). Tune in as I share in the adventure of setting up the Roku for the first time in the video (above).If you have setup a Roku share your experiences in the comments section, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the device and the easy of use.

A SOMEWHAT (Bearded) FRANK Christmas 2008

With temperatures going below zero the past week in Chicago I decided to start growing a beard to stay warm as I traveled from the Nation's Capital to the Midwest to visit family for the holidays. I spent Christmas with my family in the snowy Chicagoland. Now everyone celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus differently so I just wanted to share a few videos from my holiday experience. Sharing is caring.

Somewhat Frank Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas

So you haven't been doing your holiday shopping or you are totally at a loss as to what to get for that tech savvy friend or family member? To help you out I have created a list of holiday gift ideas. Of course, if you are ordering some of these products you had better do it as soon as possible to have them in time for giving. Printing out a picture of the gift to share as sort of an IOU while the gift is shipped could also work but just isn't the same as the real thing. If you feel like the holidays have crept up on you, you are not alone. We actually all had 5 less days this year between Thanksgiving and and the Christmas holiday. This article should give you a few last minute holiday gift ideas.

Aviary Unleashes the Birds With Public Beta

Today I was pleased to see that Worth 1000 the New York based startup has launched Aviary the suite of online design tools I previously previewed into  public beta. Aviary's public launch offers a refreshed look from that of the private beta and currently consists of Peacock (visual laboratory), Phoenix (image editor) and Toucan (color swatches). Aviary also offers an upgraded version which includes Raven (vector editor) and Talon (screen capture) for only $9.99 a month. This is a pretty powerful set of online tools for designers and artists.

Connecting With Google Friend Connect

Google Friend Connect debuted this past spring as it rolled out to a few different sites as part of a private beta program. The idea is pretty simple as it offers an easy way to connect with people on your site via a Google Gadget thus bringing community to a previously community-less site. I like to call it adding a party to a page. Wait a minute this seems like deja vu! Back in November 2006 MyBlogLog offered a similar widget that could be added to your site to help connect everyone in the blogosphere. MyBlogLog was quickly scooped up by Yahoo and has been slowly rolling out new features.

With Facebook starting to allow sites to add Facebook Connect which allows Facebook users to sign in on 3rd party sites and post comments which are then published back to Facebook, Google finally launched Friend Connect publicly just a few weeks ago. I just added Google Friend Connect to SOMEWHAT FRANK. So now SOMEWHAT FRANK readers can connect on the site (see the right rail).

Social Media & My Somewhat Obsession With The Shiny Objects of the Web @ SIPA in Las Vegas

Yesterday I kicked off the Specialized Information Publishers Association (SIPA) in Vegas conference with a keynote discussing social media and my somewhat obsession with the shiny new objects of the Web. I shared my thoughts, antidotes and social media stories in hopes to help both explain and motivate the crowd into taking action. I also mentioned a number of products that I like to use and refer to as "shiny objects of the Web."

After barely sleeping at all last night due to the Vegas oxygen rich air and just sheer excitement about the speaking event I was pretty pumped up and tried to wake up the crowd with a number of little ditties including singing Wheels on the Bus go round and round, sharing some fun stories and having everyone scream OPRAH at the top of their lungs! It was a BLAST! Below is some instant feedback I got via Twitter from one of the attendees.

Be sure to check out the video (below) for clips from the address. Finally, you might find the extensive list of "shiny objects" in the lower portion of this post to be extremely useful. Bookmark it, share it or print it out and put it on the refrigerator or make it into a paper airplane but most importantly have fun while doing it. Social media is life.

Social Media & My Somewhat Obsession With Shiny Objects from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

What does social media mean (to you)?

Today I am posing you with a challenge. Social media has made it possible for me to share my life online. Therefore I feel my life is social media. Or, social media is life. But I am only one person or cog in this social media wheel and in true social media fashion I wanted to find out your take on social media. What does social media mean to you? I have posted a very quick video above sharing my take on social media, now it is your turn. Watch the video then go to the video on YouTube and drop a video (or text comment) response finishing the sentence:

Social media is _________.

I hope that this video thread can become the most comprehensive definition of social media we have seen to date so join the conversation and post your video response today.

Syncplicity Pledges To Sync Files Everywhere

If you have a number of computers and are constantly switching between them you might run into a situation where you cannot keep straight which computer you are saving files to. Syncplicity looks to help solve this problem by creating an application that installs on one computer and syncs all your documents, photos, and music by backing them up online with remote access and history.

If you install it on additional computers it will synchronize your files so that you have access to all your files across all your computers. Currently the product is available for PC users with a Mac version in the works. I cannot wait to check out as it sounds like a great complimentary service to MobileMe as it helps to bring your files with you and it even backs up and sync your photos from Facebook and your Google Docs. 

Computer Startup Focuses On Saving Energy

Computer Startup Focuses On Saving Energy from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

You may not realize it but your desktop computer is probably a energy hog. Laptops usually are more energy efficient due to their small size and need to save battery power while on the go but desktop computers do not have these same interests. I recently met the founders of a computer startup looking to address the energy saving desktop niche by creating a couple of different computers that save a considerable amount of energy lessening it footprint on the environment.

I recently got a chance to talk with a startup from Raleigh, North Carolina called Burr Technologies. Co-founder Aaron Milano tells the Burr Technologies story and shows off its line of energy saving computers on episode 60 on SOMEWHAT FRANK in the video above.

WeAddUp.com Draws Attention To Green Causes

WeAddUp.com Draws Attention To Green Causes from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

Carpooling, sharing a shower or buying a hybrid are all causes that could help stop climate change. We Add Up is a company looking to help draw attention to ways to help stop climate change by creating products (mainly tee shirts) tied to a pledge to take action. Each person that makes a pledge for a particular cause is assigned a unique number and it is printed on your tee shirt, tote or other product. The number represents the number of people currently supporting a cause. I reviewed We Add Up previously back in May 2008 but I recently got a chance to talk with We Add Up Co-founder Jill Palermo (of the mother daughter duo) in episode 59 on SOMEWHAT FRANK. You can watch the two minute video interview as Jill explains WeAddUp (above).