Spotted John Hodgman at LAX yesterday en route to NYC for the twitter conference. As much as I felt like a complete crazy person asking him to take a picture with me, there was no way I could pass up that opportunity. I mean seriously.. I’m just as much of a Mac as Justin Long is!!
It’s pretty crazy to think that the first I’m a Mac / PC ads started airing back in 2006 (iJustine was born in 2002)! Since then, these ads have been spoofed, praised and may or may not have revolutionized Apple’s TV campaigns.
Either way, thanks for letting me steal a photo, John! You’re kind of my hero.
(and yes, I do look tired because I was tired so save your comments :))
Who could pass up a spoof of Rockin’ Robin?! That song just SCREAMS twitter! I wrote this song a few months ago and then lost motivation to make the video. Finally, the night before I flew to NYC for the twitter conference going on this week, I decided it was a perfect time to do it!
A lot of you guys think I have some fancy studio, editors and a production team (that would be awesome).. but I don’t. I shot all of this with a little Canon SD 960, my Ikea green screen (blanket) and edited it all on Final Cut Pro on the plane yesterday (and all night and all morning).
For the standing parts since I didn’t have a big enough green screen, I had to turn it and my camera sideways and fix it in post — this my friends is what you call resourceful.
I like posting these behind the scenes tidbits because it’s encouraging to people who think you need to have all kinds of crazy equipment to start producing videos. You don’t! Just make sure you have good lighting and even better audio.. Oh, and a few editing skills.. that helps a little
Here is the segment on CNN Live yesterday with the “blogger bunch” — Chris Pirillo and Guy Kawasaki.
On this same topic of “too much technology”, I have a fun little project launching next week on the 17th that I did with Intel about mobile etiquette.
I’m really excited to launch these! I might be a bit biased, but they are pretty funny and I hope you’ll think so too! They also feature a comeback of eJustine!!
Twitter has finally launched a new “verified accounts” feature. This is for users to be sure that the person they are following is in fact who they say they are.
I’ve run into this issue many many times on twitter. The barrier to entry of creating an account and gaining followers is practically 0.
For example, someone thought it would be funny to take my account name, misspell it by one letter, mock my background, take my image and start spamming, following and saying mean things to those I often interact with online. Now, at a first glance of someone who is checking their @replies and mentions would immediately think that this was me — this is a problem. Especially seconds later when I get a call from a brand I’ve worked with asking why I said “that terrible thing” to them — HI. THAT WASN’T ME!!
…and what do you do if someone is doing this to you? Who do you call? There isn’t such thing as Twitbusters yet but I believe they are in talk with the Swinebusters.. so maybe soon.
Will verified accounts solve this issue? One thing that twitter isn’t very good at is communication with its users — which is surprising since it’s a communication platform. Unless you’re following people who work there or the actual twitter account, or know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone.. you might be left in the dark.
So, are verified accounts going to cause some confusion down the road when people who don’t get that verified label.. but are actually who they say they are? Are people only going to begin to trust verified accounts? How exactly do you get verified? Is anyone going to even notice that there is such a thing as verified accounts? What criteria goes into making sure you are the rightful owner of the account? This isn’t something that can really be automated so how many people will twitter need to employ to keep this up and make sure that everyone is happy?
Even though they have a blog, how many normal users go and check it for the latest updates on what’s happening on twitter? Probably not very many. At times I think twitter forgets about the common user and takes for granted its start as a site populated by the tech elite. Twitter has found their way into the mainstream world and not everyone is as quick to catch on to things as we (tech people) are.
Hash tags? @ replies? Followers?! How do you work this thing?!?? — this is usually what I hear from those who have just joined the service and have NO idea what’s going on
Above is a little video of the song I was referring to in the “how do you work this thing” quote — thanks to Ze Frank for that wonderful piece of classic internet goodness. He will forever be the God of video blogging.
Even MySpace utilizes Tom to send out little announcements to let people know about changes, issues and anything that is going on. I’m sure they don’t tell everything, but at least you’re in the know the second you log in!
NEED MORE OF THIS!!
One of my favorite things that was implemented into twitter awhile back were the little update boxes that allows more discovery of twitter apps and other twitter related sites that many people might not have heard of until now.
This space could also be utilized when there are some new updates on twitter or new features are added like verified accounts, recently account phishing scams and more. It’s not updated very often and it usually cycles through the same things all the time — twitter, put this to use already!
..and those were just a few of my thoughts — feel free to share yours on all things twitter.
I was so excited to get these cases from Plia Designs because they are probably one of the more unique iPhone cases that I’ve come across yet! One of my biggest complaints about iPhone cases is the quality — they just don’t feel nice even though you just dropped like $50 for the thing.
Now, the ones I’m reviewing aren’t the typical protective outer case, more like a mini-purse — so guys, these might not be for you but if you have a special lady in your life that has an iPhone… *hint hint*
This is probably my favorite little clutch because it’s super cute and has enough space for credit cards, money and iPhone (really, what else do you need?) — I was also able to cram a lipgloss in there too!
I was a little skeptical with this case at first because I’ve never really had a hardback case like this, but can definitely see the value in this little guy when traveling.. especially if it will save me from eating a smashed granola bar. This is definitely a very unique case that I am slowly loving more and more.
I’ve dubbed this “the case I’ve always wanted but didn’t know it” case.. but Plia calls it the Kangaroo Pouch. I fell in love with it instantly. If you love lots of color and shiny things (in addition to protecting your iPhone) then this is one for you!
** Disclosure — Yes, they did send me the cases to test.. and no, they did not pay me to write this entry — End Disclosure **
..and just like the rest of the world, Plia Designs is on twitter @pliadesigns — let them know if you like their stuff! xo
Woo! Just wanted to make a little celebration video on reaching 100,000 subscribers on youtube.. Now, I know it’s no where near sxephil’s 30485739845034985039485, but I can still try.
To celebrate, I posted a great clip from his Carls Jr video of me punching him in the face. I still need to post some behind the scenes clips from that epic event — will edit that RIGHT NOW and add it to this entry afterwards.
It’s been announced! The new iPhone 3GS (the “s” stands for speed) will be out June 19th so get ready everyone - copy & paste and video is here.
This video was shot at Pixel Corps today after our live show.
What else is new with the iPhone 3GS? Here are some highlights:
• Improved battery life up to 9 hours of internet surfing, 10 hours of video, 30 hours of audio, 12 hours of 2g talk-time, 5 hours of 3g talk-time.
• New camera! 3.0 megapixels, auto-focus, touch focus and video! API access for developers to create 3rd party applications.
• Camera switch lets you swap between photos and video mode 640×480 30FPS, VGA with audio, auto-focus, auto-white balance, auto-exposure, better low-light sensitivity as well, auto-macro — as close as 10cm away.
• Videos are stored in the library next to photos and are able to scrub and edit the footage.
• Share videos directly to YouTube, MobileMe, MMS, and email.
• Hold the home button for a second to access voice control interface. Make calls and play music.
• This is probably one of the coolest features for those who lose their iPhones all the time (like me) — Using mobileme, you’ll be able to send a text message to you phone, call it and ping it with sound to help you locate it. If that’s not enough, it’ll also give you GPS coordinates of where your phone is! If for some reason you can’t get to your phone quick enough and you don’t want someone to see what you’ve got in your phone (uh oh!) — there is an option to instant remote wipe all of the data so no one can start snooping on your secrets.
Yay for the new iPhone! Also another highlight of the keynote this morning is that the Macbooks got a facelift! The 13″ Macbook has now joined the Macbook Pro family:
• 13-inch. Starts at $1199 (upgraded with Firewire and an SD card)
• 15-inch. Starts at $1699
• 17-inch. Starts at $2499
Last, thanks to everyone who watched our live feed today!
What will be announced at WWDC today?! Many rumors from the new iPhone, Apple tablets and even the possibility of a healthier Steve Jobs gracing the stage.
All would be quite exciting.
I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.. stay tuned! I know Gollum is looking to update his precious!
