SOMEWHAT FRANK

Vote me the next Panasonic Living in HD Insider

I am excited to be a finalist in the Panasonic Living in HD Insider program. What this means is that I am only one step away from being the next Panasonic Living in HD Insider! But I am going to need the help of my readers and community to help make this possible. Check out my video entry I submitted for the contest (below).

Here are a few ways you can help:

1. Vote for me here!
2. Help spread the word by copying the message below and set it on your status on Twitter and Facebook: I just voted for @FrankGruber for #LiHDInsider and you should too here: http://bit.ly/3TnfUB
3. Grab this code (below) and put it one you blog or other sites to help spread the word:

Oh and if I do become a Panasonic Living in HD Insider I get to give away one Lumix G1 SLR camera. So help me make it any you can get a chance to win too. Thanks so much for your help!

Experiencing History In DC

Today in Washington, DC, I was able to attend the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. Though the festivities were streamed live via CNN and Facebook with commentary from my friends I decided I needed to experience this historic event in person. So I jumped on the Metro and made my way to the National Mall. In doing so I captured a number of images and videos which will serve as lasting memories of this historic day. The Internet connections via the wireless towers in the DC area were brought to a crawl so it was tough to stream videos from the Mall but I captured what I could with both Flixwagon and Qik. I also posted my Inauguration photos on Flickr.

Enjoy the videos below from my Inauguration experience:

Walking down 18th Street to the National Mall for the Inauguration

Watching the Inauguration from the National Mall

Obama Speaks

NYC Breakfast: Social Web Tech Discussions

I was in the Big Apple today so I decided to do a little breakfast meetup/tweetup event this morning. The event was open to anyone and we had a handful of folks brave the blizzard-like snow storm this morning to meetup. Aside from Comfort Diner in Chelsea having some very sturdy coffee mugs and solid waffles, bacon and eggs the breakfast discussions were very thoughtful and interesting.

The breakfast was made up of the following @innonate, @ceonyc, @noreaster, @msg, Ian Costello and myself (@somewhatfrank) and we did a couple of live streamed videos (via Flixwagon) about lifestreaming, backup, chat and other products and services. Oh we also explained how awesome Mom's are! If you were unable to attend please check out the two videos (below).

NYC Breakfast Intros & Shoutouts

NYC Breakfast Lifestreaming, Backup & Chat Discussion

Thank you to everyone that came out to have some breakfast and give their somewhat frank opinions about social media and technology while I was in NYC!

My CES 2009 Experience Recap

Last week, I previewed my trip to the Consumer Electronics Show as I had just touched down and was getting ready to experience my first CES. Well, I am back from CES and to be totally frank, all I can say is "Wow, that was a good time!" Unfortunately, it took me until today to decompress and get enough sleep to be able to spill details about all that I experienced last week at CES. First things first, a big thank you Intel for sponsoring my trip out to CES as an Intel Insider. It was an unbelievable experience.

So how did the party I co-hosted at CES on Thursday night go? I would have to say it was a success but you can see for yourself by checking out some of the photos taken by Brian Solis (this set of photos & photo below)

Wm. Marc Salsberry also took some super pictures (this set of photos & photo below).

We had the entire Sportsbook Bar & Grill at the Palazzo which was formerly the 40/40 Club owned by hip hop star Jay Z, so as you can imagine we felt like kings in the palace of a hip hop legend. It was pretty amazing and the attendees were top-notch. I never thought as a corn-fed Northern Illinois sixth grader attending a junior high sock hop wearing what I equated to MC Hammer "hammer pants" (which are rather baggy pants) that I would years later host a CES kickoff party in Vegas that MC Hammer would attend. I guess you just don't think about stuff like that as a 6th grader growing up in a small town. Oh and we both wore regular pants to the event.

 

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.

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.

AngelSoft: Aggregates 400 Angel Investors

If you are an entrepreneur looking for a little funding to get your startup going there are a number of incubator programs that I have covered previously like Y Combinator, TechStars and LaunchBox Digital that could help get you started. But if you have already participated in an incubator or you are looking for a little more than what an incubator can offer you might want to look for an angel investor. If you do not know an angel investor you might be out of luck but there is a new company looking to help connect angel investors with startups and visa versa. Angelsoft, a New York-based company, looks to aggregate angel investors into one site that can then browsed by entreprenuers in need. With Angelsoft entrepreneurs are able to browse over 400 angel investment groups and early-stage venture capital funds and apply for financing using a single common application.

Video: Foodzie Web Gourmet Food Marketplace

Are you a foodie? If you love food you might want to watch episode 40 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV as it explores the new gourmet food marketplace called Foodzie. Foodzie looks to make it easy for gourmet food producers to sell their products online similar to how Etsy creates a marketplace for handmade goods. Foodies should love it as it offers a brand new channel for buying gourmet food. Foodzie is based in Boulder and was founded as part of the 2008 TechStars incubator program by Emily Olson, Nik Bauman and Rob LaFave.

I had a chance to meetup with the Foodzie team recently and talk with them about their new food product marketplace. Check out the video with Foodzie (below).

Me.dium Social Search Shows Off What's Hot

Ever wonder what sites and services are hot on the Web at any given time? I do. Me.dium, a Boulder, Colorado-based search startup, also has had that question on its mind as it recently launched a social search product called Me.dium Social Search. Me.dium has been known for its social toolbar products for the past few years but taken its learnings and social data and created an social search product based on real-time social activity on the Web.

MyDropBin: Gives Online Storage Control

Online storage has been something that I have been a little skeptical of over the past few years as certain storage sites have come and gone leaving users without access to their stuff. With solving this problem in mind, DC area blogger Jimmy Gardner decided to write up some specs and financed the creation of a new set of online tools. MyDropBin was launched to help users save and share stuff online. 

Video: JamLegend Offers An Online Guitar Hero

It seems like just yesterday that I talked to Andrew Lee at the Lijit breakfast that followed the last TECH cocktail DC event. Andrew explained how he was looking to create a free online alternative to the popular music video games Rock Band and Guitar Hero as part of the 2008 LaunchBox Digital incubator program. I have to admit I was a little skeptical of that becoming reality in just a summer. But Andrew and his team made me eat my words a few weeks ago when they demonstrated JamLegend at LaunchBox Digital.

I was able to capture a few video clips with JamLegend and have compiled them into an episode 39 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV. Check out the video (below) which shows off JamLegend and stars myself, Andrew Lee and the JamLegend team of Ryan Wilson and Arjun Lall, as well as well as cameos from Jimmy Gardner and Nick O'Neill.

JamLegend LaunchBox Digital Preview 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.

TechStars 2008 Demo Day & TECH cocktail

Think you want to start a new company and need a little funding and guidance? You might want to check into an incubator program. I recently covered Y Combinator and LaunchBox Digital as they each launched a dozen startup. Today I was in Boulder, Colorado as TechStars 2008 Investor and Demo day as it launched its second years worth of startups.

TechStars was founded last year by David Cohen, Brad Feld, David Brown and Jared Polis and helped produce some great new startups in its first year. I previously visited the TechStars office last time I was in Boulder. Today I wanted to give you a preview of the startups that presented.

Make Money Selling Your Photos With Photrade

When design firms are looking for images for projects, they typically go to Getty or other more traditional stock photo sites. When bloggers need an image, they use their own  or likely go straight to Google or Flickr.  If all goes well, they find an image they can use legally.  In other cases.... well, let's just say there are a lot of pictures being used today that violate the owner's copyright. Photrade, a new site still in private beta, is set on protecting photographer's rights while changing the way bloggers and online publishers find images in hopes of creating a win-win environment for the publishers and photographers alike.

Yep, It's True, AOL To Acquire SocialThing

A few weeks ago Mike Arrington gave me a call asking me if, my employer, AOL, had acquired SocialThing. Though it struck very close to home, I had to bite my tongue since the deal had not yet closed and did not comment on the matter. Now that is has been officially released, I can. It is true, AOL has entered into an agreement to acquire SocialThing, the Boulder, Colorado based social aggregating lifestream startup. The terms are not disclosed and the acquisition is still subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.

I met founders Matt "indiekid" Galligan, Ben Brightwell and the team as they demo'ed at TECH cocktail Boulder on March 6th. Matt is originally from Illinois, like I am, and moved to Boulder to create SocialThing as part of the TechStars incubator program. I got a preview of the SocialThing private beta at TECH cocktail (shown in the video below) which was a few days before they launched at SXSW Interactive and were written up favorably on TechCrunch as being easier to use than FriendFeed. I was impressed by what this startup had created as it offered a wrapper for all your social activities making it easy to post to multiple networks at once. SocialThing is integrated with 13 social media properties including Facebook, Twitter, Digg and Flickr and is currently still in private beta.