Tech Tuesday - Snapchat

What do you know about Snapchat? I've barely paid attention to this app, but have heard that loads of teenagers love it, so I've kind of steered clear.  After having my share of selfies from ALT it's hardly something I see myself using. So what is this app? You take a picture, draw whatever you want on it, send it to a friend and voila, they have 10 seconds to view "before this picture will self destruct."

So why the appeal of Snapchat? I like the Fly or Die segment on Techcrunch about this app. As they said, teenagers are separating their Virtual and Real selves. These kids have grown up on Facebook, their Virtual self.  Images here are permanent, so the pressure to look cool and really care about every image is high, same goes with liking things that you really don't necessarily like, but you do it to look cool. I know you have teenagers following you on Instagram and they will like ANYTHING you post.

As for Snapchat, this is the Real self. With the less pressure to create a lasting image, Snapchat images apparently disappear in 10 seconds. You can snap your everyday life, with seemingly no consequences. Call me a skeptic, but do we remember Monica Lewinsky and her emails, nothing really EVER disappears online. Plus with all the recent problems, even today with snapchat going down for 30 minutes, and images sent out, but never received by user, then WHERE ARE THEY GOING? Also mentioned over and over again is there truly concern that sexting will be an issue on Snapchat with this 10 second "destructable" image?

I think there is a caution for these kids on social media and their selfies especially when you start hash-tagging the death out of them with things like #amIsexy #doyouwanttodateme, etc. Look at the pool of images your putting yourself in, do you really want to be associated with those people, do you really want that attention? I think it's best to look at the root of the issue with these kids and for parents to be balanced about it. Give them freedom in small doses, slowing release the spring, but be informed and aware of the dangers of social media.

Now enough of that soapbox.  What's the deal with the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler joke at the Golden Globes this month?

“A lot of nominated shows this year are actually on Netflix. House of Cards. Orange Is the New Black. Enjoy it while it lasts, Netflix. Because you’re not going to be feeling so smug in a couple of years when Snapchat is up here accepting Best Drama.”

Is it that Hollywood and Silicon Valley are converging? Is it that Netflix won it's first ever Golden Globe? For Netflix they started off delivering content already made, now their in the business of creating original content and getting awarded for it on the way. This is why Netflix will last as opposed to the bygone era of Blockbuster.

Will Snapchat start creating original Emmy/Oscar winning content? Will the movie only be 10 seconds long?  Let's watch carefully and see how this convergence works itself out.

So are you Snapchatting, is that even the right word? Or maybe your kids are, what do you think?  Would love to hear a dialog about this.

Tech Tuesday

For me, Vine did it first with 6 second videos and then Instagram introduced videos.  Which do you prefer for making your videos on social media? I haven't decided yet. I liked Vine when it was first introduced, it challenged me to come up with something engaging that only took 6 seconds. What I found hard was getting the videos uploaded and I didn't like that I had to create it in the Vine application. Same issues with Instagram. However, on one of Instagram's latest updates I see you can make your video elsewhere and upload it.

Today I opened a Vimeo account and uploaded my Instagram video above. Song courtesy of my car radio playing Imagine Dragons "Radioactive." Quite a few of you like that song and well you'll really dig the acapella group Pentatonix version, shot on location in the Salton Sea featuring violinist Lindsey Stirling. It's on YouTube, do you use You Tube for your video social channel or prefer another one?

In all my classes I've taken on social media, blogging, web development, everyone says the same thing, "content is king" but I say "video content is king." I've seen lots of different types of content on sites and video get's the best results. My only issues is when to watch them. Sometimes I prefer the silent videos with full messages that I can watch at anytime without disturbing people. I do seriously forget that there is audio when I've attempted to make my own videos, so this is a good alternative for me, otherwise you have me or SB talking in the back about some nonsense or singing some dumb song while we work.

The stop motion videos I've seen on Instagram blow my mind on what is possible. You should check out this one: @rachleryle she is awesome.

There are also a few video series I love made by some great bloggers out there. Mostly they are for parents and kids, but well I'm a kid at heart so I qualify.

Olive Us is fantastic way to show positive aspects of your family and is so creative. This series just got picked up on uLive.com, you can watch here.

The other is a new PBS Parents series called Adventures in Learning, here's the one on Stargazing, love this and can't wait to do this myself.

So what do you use for making and sharing videos? Have you gone big and hired production companies. Two I'd like to work with are Tiger in a Jar and Dark Rye which is producing content for Whole Foods magazine. A few weeks ago I posted this video, from Dark Rye and I still love it:

Tech Tuesday

For this months Tech Tuesday, or maybe you'll call it a non-tech Tuesday, I want to highlight what we did before we all had a computer in our hands when we travel.

About 20 years ago I went to Italy with 4 friends.  I traveled with two girlfriends and we made plans to meet up with our guy friends in Rome. Back then, maybe people had pagers, certainly cell phones were not prevalent in the US. I do remember seeing a few very Chic Italians with cell phones, but only a few. 

We were young, traveling off-season (March) and flying by the seat of our pants so we made NO hotel reservations anywhere. Instead we decided to look thru our Let's Go Italy book and decide what hotel we'd meet at when we arrived in Rome. You see we flew into Milan, went our separate ways and agreed that mid-way thru our trip, we'd meet in Rome at "such and such" hotel, with NO reservation. 

Of course when we got to Rome and called the hotel there were NO rooms left. Are you getting the idea, with all the NO's. So I went down the list of hotels in our travel guide, and in my broken Italian found one that had a room for us three girls. I'll tell you about the adventure getting there in another post. When we arrived we asked if there was a room for our friends, and yes there was, so we asked them to hold it for them.

Now, how to tell our friends that we changed hotels and have a room for them.  What would you have done? No cell phone, no contact number for where they were staying, no idea when they were arriving, we only agreed on the day and place, not the time.

We decided to go to the hotel where we said we'd meet and try to speak to the owner and let them know to tell our friends where we are. Once we got to the hotel, we couldn't find a door or entrance, we saw a buzzer and buzzed several times. No one answered.  Across the street was a cafe, we ate, drank cappuccino and waited and waited. After being fully caffeinated, we devised a new plan.

Remember no cell phones. "Let's write a note." We laughed at ourselves, because there was no alternative and we thought this was really silly and probably wouldn't work. However, we found a place on the building near the buzzer and left it. This was a busy street, mopeds zooming by, people walking up and down, cafes, tourist, you name it. Our thought, "hope the note stays put." It looked something like this (original note is long gone): 

 Then, well...we went on tour thru Rome. Walked to the Colosseum, that's me above, with my manual camera, some 20 years ago. I still have and love that camera.  We left the boys fate to the Note and had ourselves a grand time. Saw a Vogue fashion shoot, wandered around the Colosseum, dodged the crazy Italian drivers and enjoyed our first day in Rome.

Later that day, when we arrived back to the Hotel the owners were so excited, "the boys are here!" they yelled. We were really surprised, we went running to their room and had to know how they found us. "We saw the NOTE!" We shared our travel tales and rejoiced that all had worked out well. Without the technology we have today we still found a way to make sure we communicated, even if it was the old-fashioned way.

How did we ever get by without our phones? We rely on them so much, I call my husband when we get separated at Costco, "where are you"? Do you remember what you use to do? I have to say these adventures make me smile as we didn't have any alternatives back then. Not every outcome turns out well, but you can always chalk it up to a tale you will have to tell.

Today when I travel in-country it's easy with my phone service in most areas. But only 3 years ago when I went to the UK and France, I didn't have an iPhone, only a Blackberry and my texting was non-existent, email and phone calls were limited, it was only for work. Today it's so expensive to get your phone to work internationally I'm not sure I'd even try. I really like to be disconnected from it all. Though I know I'd be all over Instagram, so I'd probably have to work something out or go into serious withdrawals.

This weekend we'll be camping and I already know we'll have no phone service and I'm kind of looking forward to that.  What do you do during travel, especially internationally, do you take your phones or unplug? Would love to hear.

Tech Tuesday

Before I get into my technology post, I wanted to let my small amount of readers know I have to take a bit of a break from this space. My husband and I have been involved in some volunteer work the past couple of weeks that requires our full attention. I'll be back to a more regular schedule in a few weeks.

In the meantime, my tech Tuesday is about Podcasts. I have to say I'm slightly addicted to these. When I walk to do my errands or just go for a bit of real exercise I drown out the noises of the street and dive into one of my favorite podcasts. If you listen to podcasts on your iPhone, you'll have to download the Podcast app from the App store (looks like the image to the right) and download that to your phone. It's free as are all the podcasts I feature below.  If you have an Android phone you'll need to download a podcast app to listen or subscribe to them, Mashable has 5 they recommend, a few are free the rest you have to pay for. You can either listen to individual podcasts you like or subscribe to one you know you'll listen to often. It should automatically download the new ones when you click on the app. However, I had subscribe to one podcast, but find I'm not listening to it that often so it doesn't download the news until you start catching up. When I'm at home I listen to the podcasts on my computer thru my MacBook on iTunes. Whatever works for you,  just give them a chance.

Here are a few of my favorites:

As every hipster in LA and probably NY already knows This American Life is a great way to start listening in podcasts. Ira Glass is a great story teller and brings to the plate amazing fictional and true life tales. They are usually told in three acts.  Sometimes these are first person stories. David Sedaris is a regular guest, and well he makes me literally laugh out loud, his story about music lessons brought me to laughter tears. Occasionally, This American Life host a live Radio Show, I have yet to get to one, but listening to them is the next best thing. My favorite one was the story about Tig Notora running into Taylor Dayne, you'll laugh your head off as did the audience and Ira always narrates what we can see so you feel like your still there.

I am an avid History fan, always loved it and still do.  This is a great podcast hosted by Holly Frey and Tracy Wilson called Stuff You Missed in History Class. They take a historical subject, do the research and present the facts.  Sometimes blowing the doors wide open on the myths.  My favorite history lesson so far was the two part series Loving vs. Virginia, a fascinating true story about the laws on interracial marriage in the United States, this case went all the way up to the Supreme Court and forever changed the laws in the United States, though some states have taken longer to get these antiquated laws off their books.

RadioLab is new to me, but so many of my friends really love this show.  They take a subject and patch together people, music, culture, stories and experiences around that subject. I've enjoyed the podcasts so far, still trying to pick out a favorite.  

As everyone who reads this blogs knows, food is a topic I chat about frequently. Over the past year I've found myself working from home and closer to a farmers market that I can walk to every Wednesday. I frequently listen to this podcast, Last Chance Foods on my iPhone while I walk to the market. It contains information on seasonal produce that's at your local farmers market, what's about to go out of  along with some great stories from local farmers on their produce.

So far my favorite episode has been Last Chance Food: Chicken to Eggs.  Everyone I follow in the blogasphere have chickens. Small houses to large acres, chickens are cool. I laugh because 17 years ago when I first got married all my husband wanted was chickens. Seriously, chickens in our 3x9 patio was not going to happen, I chalked it up to his Latin roots and my lack of appreciation, plus a few close calls with chickens in New Mexico didn't make me a believer. Now that I eat eggs pretty much everyday, this so wouldn't be a bad thing to have, plus Martha has great Araucana Chickens that hatch the amazing blue eggs, who wouldn't want one of those for breakfast. We still have a 3x9 patio, but maybe one day we'll have a bigger space for chickens.

This podcast, Stuff You Should Know, can be on just about any subject from the duckbill platypuses to how marriage works, how coffins work and how fair trade works. Josh and Chuck host this and it's a similar format as Stuff You Missed in History Class. This podcast reminds me we can never be bored of learning there is so much stuff out there to try to understand if you even care. The key is balance, sometimes we can get information overload and have no idea what to do with it.  Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy...maybe.

My friend Deborah of My Life at Playtime recently introduced me to this podcast, called The Moth. Thse are first person stories told in front of a live audience, that range from 15 - 20 minutes. In fact in Santa Monica at Zanzibar tonight they are recording a live broadcast, I think it's not to late to buy tickets. Writers and story tellers alike tell true life tales that are fascinating and fun to listen to especially with a live audience reaction. It becomes a shared experience with strangers and the story teller. I think I'd like to add this to my bucket list of things I would like to do, once in my life.

Studio 360 is hosted by Kurt Anderson.  Each week he focuses on pop culture and the arts. Sometimes it's a book, movie or music or all three. So far my favorites have been about the American Icons: The Great Gatsby. There are great story/interviews with different actors, it's a much more relaxed setting, which brings some good insights into the art crafts.

While these are my current favorites, don't be limited to these, they are just suggestions. One of my friends loves podcasts on cars and another on photography. There are so plenty of options out there, just enjoy!

Tech Tuesday

So have you ever had to teach a non-tech person how to use a smart phone or a tablet?

If you haven't, be prepared. Many, many, years ago my husband's granny got a computer, she was in her 80's and was bound and determined to learn it.  Oh the joys of SB's visits and trying to explain simple tasks to her, he's a patient man, but he had limits. Finally she gave up, she had decided it wasn't worth trying anymore.​

Well recently my mom (not in her 80's) decided to get indoctrinated into the world of Apple. First with an iPhone 4S. Trying to explain to her how this works, was hilarious, and then she got the iPad. Oh, the joys.​ Let me start off by saying my moms old phone(s) were just flip phones, old Motorola or Samsung.

I say phones because she has a knack for putting them in the "warsh" that's her way of saying "wash." And then there was the time it slipped out of her pocket and fell in the toilet. Seriously, she's a SMART woman, college educated even, but these little mishaps make me shudder. If there is a body of water around her phone will find it. When she said she wanted an iPhone all I could see was a $200 piece of equipment sitting in the loo. Not ideal.​

First off I had to show her Face-time, since she lives in the boonies of New Mexico and cell service isn't great, she kept putting the phone up to her ear to hear me.  All I could see was a giant eyeball and the rim of her glasses.

Me: Mom, are you putting the phone next to your ear?​

Mom: Yes, so I can hear you. But why can't I see you?​

Me: Uuh you have to pull the phone in front or you?​

Mom: ooooh....

​Then last night she emails me from her new iPad at midnight her time, she wants to chat about how to use her new iPad. I said I'd call her today and walk her thru some basics.

After trying to explain to her which icon to push I realized the simplest way was to Face-time her on our iPhones and put it over my iPad to help her learn out to do this. Seriously there is nothing like face to face meetings, I so wish I was sitting there with her, because trying to explain how to bookmark a website she goes to and put the icon on her homepage screen was like trying to solve for world peace.​

Then I want to know which kind of tablet she got.

Me: Did you get a mini or original?

Mom: The big one, take a look (puts phone over the iPad).

Me: All I can see is your hand.

Mom: Oh here. (moves the phone all over the place)

Me: Mom, all I see is the ceiling now, what did you press on your phone?​

Mom: I don't know.​

Me: See the camera icon on the lower right side with the arrow, push that.​

Mom: oooooooh, I wondered why I couldn't see you.​

Seriously....thankfully me and my mom have a sense of humor because at the end of our conversation I just broke down and laughed with her. I can't wait till I have to explain Instagram to her, she will SOOOO not get it.

One last conversation.​

Mom: I ordered a phone cover and an iPad case, you know I'm clumsy so I'm kind of afraid to use my iPad.​

Me: Mom, you need to bubble wrap that bad boy in waterproof material.​

Mom: Laughing I KNOW!!!​ I got me a waterproof one.

Oh the joys of new technology, we so take for granted that we know how to use this stuff. Our kids are growing up with technology. I didn't learn how to use a computer till I was a senior in high-school and that was basic DOS programming.

I love a good story, share your technology tales and did you show someone how to use a smart phone, tablet, Mac, or PC. How did that work out for you?

Most of all be patient and be ready to laugh, we all had to start somewhere.