SOMEWHAT FRANK

Wolfram Alpha Co-Founder Interview

Last week I traveled to the Midwest to Champaign, Illinois to speak to a group of entrepreneurs about building brands and social media as covered by the Champaign News Gazette and to host another TECH cocktail. The event was sponsored by Wolfram Research which is based in Champaign and has been creating products like Mathematica for over 20 years.

Wolfram Research recently received quite a bit of buzz on TechCrunch, GigaOm Network, ReadWriteWeb and Mashable among others for the launch of the consumer facing product called Wolfram Alpha. Wolfram Alpha is a the computational research engine that helps to find anwsers to questions that don't exist on the Web.

I got a chance to visit with Co-founder, scientist and author, Theodore Gray and discussed the lastest from Wolfram Research. He was a joy to talk to as his office was filled with a number unique items which all had an interesting scientific story behind them. Theodore also created periodictable.com and authored the book Mad Science - Experiments You Can Do At Home But Probably Shouldn't. Check out the video interview with Theodore Gray (above). It is episode 82 on the SOMEWHAT FRANK Video Adventures Podcast which is available on iTunes.

Talking Start-ups, Bootstrapping & Lifestreaming

It was a pleasure as always to get a chance to sync up with Greg "The Trend Junkie" Cangialosi the CEO of Baltimore-based Blue Sky Factory in San Francisco today. I had him swing by to do his Thursday afternoon live show BlueSkyFactory.tv from the Bebo office.

We discussed a number of topics including start-ups, shiny objects of the Web, bootstrapping, entrepreneurship, building community anywhere, TECH cocktail, SOMEWHAT FRANK and my recent work at AOL as part of the People Network group which includes AIM, Bebo, ICQ and Socialthing and life-streaming products. We are also were joined by Jean-Paul Cozzatti the Development / Product Engineering Lead at Bebo to talk about the updates for Bebo that went live this past December and February as well as a hint as to what is to come in the coming months.

Tune into the video above to watch episode #7 of Blue Sky Factory TV (above).

Plinky Through Those Personal Blogging Lulls

Plinky launched this past week to offer a microblogging platform for your personal blog. Plinky was founded by Jason Shellen, a former engineer of blog platform Blogger, to help "cure writer's block" Plinky prompts its users to answer a question a day to keep the personal blog content flowing.

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.

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. :)

Sharing My Love For Shiny Objects In Orlando

I love startups. I love social media. And I love "shiny new objects" as I refer to the new products on the Web. I am in Orlando, Florida today and spoke at BlogOrlando this morning all these "shiny objects" of the Web. I have share some of the shiny new objects I mentioned today in my session - because sharing is caring. :) You can watch the session as it was recorded and streamed live. 

Video: Somewhat Frank Meets NonSociety

Yesterday, I was in New York City and got a chance to meet up with Meghan Asha, one of the co-founders of NonSociety, a new online media play that lifestreams niche verticals (fashion, style and tech). NonSociety is a group venture with Julia Allison and Kate Rambin.

We took a walk in the park and got to chatting about startups, technology, electric cars, pets and even encountered a rather distracting making out session. Check out video episode 46 on SOMEWHAT FRANK with Meghan Asha (below).

SOMEWHAT FRANK Meets NonSociety's Meghan Asha from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

Video: Talking Blogs & Book Writing With "Blog Mother" Amanda Watlington

A "blog mother" is a person that inspired you to start a blog. For me, it is was a session which covered blogging led by Amanda Watlington and Jeremy Zawondny which inspired me to start Somewhat Frank, and the rest is history. I ran into Amanda while hosting TECH cocktail Boston 2 a few weeks ago who I had not seen since ad:tech Chicago back in the summer of 2006.

I was able to sit down with Amanda Watlington and chat with her for a bit about search,blogging and the book writing process for episode 38 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV. Check out the video (below) as I chat with my "blog mother" Amanda Watlington.

Thanks to David Dalka for filming the episode.

Video: Inside Intel As An Intel Insider

I got a chance to visit Intel this week as I was selected to the "Intel Insider" advisory board as the leading microprocessor chip maker anchored in Silicon Valley looks  to make some changes in the way they reach out to their customers. What does this mean? It means that Intel has embraced social media and has pulled in a dozen bloggers, video bloggers and social media/community experts to pick there brains on Intel's brand strategy. It means I will have the scoop on products and new developments at Intel. As an Intel Insider I will be a part of the conversations related to leveraging social media at Intel and lend some brand association for my own personal brand to Intel.

Why would I become an Intel Insider? First, I think it is a great experience and should be a lot of fun. Second, I want to be in the know on the latest Intel advancements and technology so I can offer it up to SOMEWHAT FRANK readers. Additionally, Intel will be supplying me with a MacBook Air which they worked with Apple to ensure an Intel chip would fit inside the slim notebook.

Intel Insiders from left: Frank Gruber, Chris Heuer, Brian Solis, Sarah Austin, Christian Perry, Justine Ezarik, Ken E Kaplan, Adriana Gascoingne, JD Lasica

Video: Why I Love Blogging

I recently spoke at BlogPotomac about social media and my love for bright shiny objects. At the event I talked with SearchMarketingGurus.com's Li Evans about why I love blogging. Check out the video (below) and find out why.

Why do you love blogging?

Social Media & Love For Bright Shiny Objects

I spoke yesterday as the post-lunch keynote at BlogPotomac at the State Theater in Falls Church, Virginia. It was a lot of fun and was streamed live on the Web so I actually had family members watching along in Chicago - gotta love technology.

I spoke about my social media life and how it has helped get me where I am today. I also spoke about my love for products or "bright, shiny objects" as I refer to them. I did a brain dump of all the products and services I used routinely. I listed services I use at least once a week. I like to share because sharing is caring - so I wanted to share the list of products with you (below).

Photo thanks to Josh Hallet from hyhu.

Social Media & Blogging Presentation

I just spoke at the Social Rockstar Workshop at Busboys & Poets in Washington, D.C. about Social Media & Blogging. It was a great conversation and thank you to everyone that attended. I have uploaded to docstoc the online document sharing site for anyone that would like to take a look at the presentation.

I got some social media feedback from some of the attendees here and here.

Social Media & Blogging - Get more documents

NIN Challenges Music Business Model, Biofuels Compared, Widget Format, Google Reader Sharing Notes, Twitter Tools & Avatars

Photo of the Week: This photo of tulips taken by Melissa Goodman would somewhat frankly make a nice gift for mom as I wish all the moms out there Happy Mother's Day.

SOMEWHAT FRANK Weekly Tidbits: 5.11.2008

Six Apart Improves Offering, Building Real Businesses Anywhere, Hubble Photos, Startpages Trend Social & TECH cocktail DC 2

Photo of the Week: This photos was taken at TECH cocktail DC 2 on Thursday evening in Washington D.C. you can check out the full TECH cocktail DC 2 Photo set.

SOMEWHAT FRANK Weekly Tidbits: 4.27.2008

Outbrain Launches Content Ratings Widget

Taking a page out the Netflix and Amazon playbook, outbrain, a New York-based startup, officially launched yesterday to offer a ratings and recommendations widget for content. With outbrain bloggers, news, media, magazines, rss readers and other publishers/aggregators can add a rating and personalized content recommendation widget to their blogs and sites easily and free.