SOMEWHAT FRANK

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.

Science & Engineering Converge On Atlanta

If you are down in Atlanta, Georgia today and tomorrow you might want to swing into the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair which is taking place. The worlds best young scientists, including many Georgia students will all be on hand showing off their technology and engineering masterpieces. Check out the video below for a quick preview.

Kirix Strata: Web Browse Your Data

At the heart of just about every web application is a database. Getting at and manipulating that data is often done through SQL statements which involve a level of database understanding. Kirix, a Chicago-based startup, is looking to help change that by exposing your data in a Web browser experience with the launch tomorrow of Strata. Strata is a powerful set of tools that enables anyone to access, browse and manipulate data from a Web browser.

Diigo v3: Improves Social Bookmarking

Diigo, a Reno, Nevada based startup I previously covered when it launched Web Slides, just launched version 3.0 which offers an integration of a number of social bookmarking and research services that create a powerful set of community tools.

What is new with Diigo v3? The Diigo v3 launch includes a completely new user interface and code base, hundreds of new features and most notably a tightly integrated social networking with knowledge-sharing. This improvement puts Diigo in direct competition with delicious and other web 2.0 social bookmarking products.

flauntR: An Online Photo Editing Alternative

I use Flickr just about everyday to store and manage my photos. I was happy to see Flickr add photo editing tools by integrating with online photo editing software, Picnik. On thing irks me about the integration though is the fact that as a Flickr premium user I still DO NOT have full access to all of Picnik's offerings from within Flickr itself. I really feel that as part of the partnership and integration Flickr should have reconciled which users are premium Flickr users and done a revenue share to enable them full access to Picnik. That said, I have been on the lookout for an comparable alternative to Picnik for more sophisticated photo edits and updates to save me the hassle of firing up Adobe Photoshop. I recently found flauntR, a free online photo editing site create by India-based DeviceDriven, which offers a number of similar photo editing features.

Welcome to Flickr Library of Congress

The Library of Congress just informed me of a new project they have undertaken with, Web 2.0 photo community, Flickr. In addition to posting photos on its own the Library of Congress website they have decided to also start putting historic photo sets on Flickr for all the world to see. The Library of Congress is looking to show off its photos to a larger photo centric community. With some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on Flickr. Wow!

Video: We Are The Web

The Web has connected and empowered humans - but what does the Web look like? Today, thanks to my friend Jesse Thomas, I found Space Collective.org which is a cross-media information and entertainment channel for post-ideological, non-partisan, forward thinking terrestrials. That's a mouthful. Basically, Space Collective has created a number of videos, channels and projects devoted covering a number of space related topics. I wanted to showcase a video called" We Are The Web" which helps to visualize the Web.

Apple Movie Rentals, American Content Producer Trend, Facebook Translations, Kayak Sidestep Analysis & 2007 Logo Design Trends

Photo of the Week: 'Tis the season for some holiday lights and this home with over 200,000 lights was quite the site. Thanks to Terren for snapping this photo and pointing out this tacky lights tour video on YouTube.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 12.30.2007

23andMe DNA Testing A Privacy Concern?

I think we would all rest more assured if we had a clearer picture of our health outlook. If we could better understand the makeup of our DNA we would be clearer on what hand we have been dealt by our ancestors. 23andMe, a Silicon Valley-based startup that launched in mid-November, looks to make it easy to get a clearer picture by offering at-home DNA tests kits.

Google Aims To Save The Planet: Surprised?

Google announced today that they will be looking to get into trying to save the planet by announcing a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. I happy to see Google is taking such a stance and it makes me wonder what will Google do next. In the last week alone Google has announced they are making broadband switches, going to be offering a TV-related product soon, releasing a mobile phone platform soon and a  Google Magazine was even spotted in print in China among other products and endeavors. It is a pretty amazing to think that a single text box search engine could come to create such a diverse list of products.

I Need A Medic! A Health 2.0 Round-up

False alarm, I don't need a medic but sometimes I have medical questions, like what is "Steakhouse Syndrome", "Chronic Pain" or "Blurred Vision." Of course you can check out Web MD or HealthLine but there are a few new medical searches that offer more of  a Web 2.0 approach. This article will examine a number of the new health and medical sites on the Web.

Gooruze Online Marketing Community

If you are an online marketer you might be looking for a place to connect and share ideas with other marketers. Gooruze was recently launched to offer a ranked advice community for online marketing professionals.

Car Buying: Online To The Drive Home

After driving a used Toyota Avalon for the last few years, I finally figured out what vehicle I wanted  to buy and made the move on Sunday at Infiniti of Tyson's Corner. I am now a proud owner of an Infiniti FX35 (shown below). This article will summarize some of the online resources I used to purchase my new vehicle.

Anymails: Visualize Your Email Inbox

I have written several times about my love/hate relationship with email. So I am definitely on the lookout for email management applications and I just came across something interesting. Anymails, a project created by Carolin Horn as part of her thesis, allows you to visualize your received emails as microbes. The objective of this Flash-based project is to offer the user another type of email experience. Unfortunately, it only currently works on a Mac.

FixYa A Free Gadget & Consumer Electronic Product Support Community

Do you have questions about your latest gadget purchase? If so you can always take a look the instruction manual that came with that particular product. However, you still might have questions which is where FixYa comes in. FixYa offers free tech support and technical help for gadgets, electronic equipment and consumer products. 

FixYa aggregates support information from its community of users who share their experiences of technical problems and solutions. FixYa offers a rating system for support content which allows its users to find the best solution for every problem and even solve new problems. FixYa's knowledgebase is based on real users' experience rather than on information by the manufacturer.

FixYa could come in handy for iPhone related questions. For example, find out  the best way to send an SMS message to multiple recipients via the iPhone. Or better yet, I'd love to figure out how to get my enterprise email flowing into my iPhone.

Interestingly, community members can also earn money for answering other users technical questions. If a user solves a premium problem they can get up to $5.00 for the solution. Additionally, users can provide live chat assistance and receive up to $15.00 for a solution.

Bottom-line: FixYa provides free community supported tech support and technical help for gadgets and consumer electronic equipment and products.