Kaskade Fire & Ice – 5 Stars?
After one day on the market, Kaskade’s Fire & Ice has an average rating of 5 stars from 732 ratings in iTunes. Ten bucks for twenty tracks. Can they really be that good?
Yes, they can. Fiery beats juxtaposed to chilled trance. Nice.
Kicks at Disneyland Are Bright and Bold
If you’re going to visit Disneyland any time soon, be sure to bring your brightest and boldest pair of shoes you own. Don’t worry, you won’t stick out. In fact, you’ll merely fit in with the rest of the masses.
What did I see during a recent visit to Mickey’s hood? Many Nike running shoes, primarily from the Lunar and the Free family. And like I mentioned, these were bright, but their vibe resonated with the Happiest Place on Earth theme. Of course, Michael Jordan’s jumpman silhouette was easily found from Jumpman-branded shoes to retro Jordans to contemporary Jordans. What surprised me was the plentiful presence of Reebok’s ZigTech. Creative colors combined with the telltale wavy sole make Zigs easy to spot. Bravo to Reebok!
So of course, inspired by these bright and bold kicks, I was in the game to pick up a new pair. And you know there’s a Nike Factory Outlet at the Block at Orange just a few minutes away from Disneyland right? So what do you think happened when I spied some Nike TR Vapor Trainers with Hyperfuse technology? Sure they’re half a size smaller than normal, but at only $50, it was a must buy!
Test Post Now with More Memory
After pruning of plugins and removing some javascript code, I still couldn’t stabilize Pulpconnection. I bumped the the allocated RAM even more as suggested by DreamHost techs.
Now to see if more memory (and a higher monthly bill) helps solve these site outages.
Coincidences in Life
You ever wonder about events that occur in your life and the timing of them? Sometimes, you gotta wonder if there’s some deeper meaning to it all or if truly is purely coincidental?
Yes, Apple Stores Are Overcrowded
Both you and I know the Hawaii retail Apple Stores are crowded, especially the Ala Moana location. I mean where else in the mall are kids going to take PhotoBooth pictures of themselves?
This past Saturday, the crowds were so much that the fire marshall decreed a limit on number of shoppers inside the Ala Moana Apple Store. Employees had to maintain a queue for shoppers just to enter the store, similar to what you see on the first day of product releases.
So here I was wanting to make a return but faced with a 15-minute wait, I’ll try again another day.
See the Heart?
I was actually taking a “blind” picture of the sun and noticed the heart shape created by the clouds. Completely lucky.
Still Fighting Site Stability
I’ve been trying to improve the stability of Pulpconnection, but it’s still suffering downtime more or less every time I publish a post. Usually a restart of the server fixes the problem, but that really isn’t a satisfactory solution.
So I disabled a few more plugins (which were supposed to improve performance) and am removing the Hello Bar javascript code.
Who’s Adding a Lytro to their Photo Gear?
Now this is cool. The Lytro is a camera that doesn’t care about focus when snapping a pic. You can focus your image after it’s captured. I don’t know how it works, but it is really a point and shoot camera. Check out the interactive sample below. Click on different parts of the image to change focus.
The Secret of Social Media Success
I attended the Social Media Summit Hawaii 2011 and gleaned the secret of social media success. Do you want to know what the secret is? Do you? Are you ready for it?
Okay, here goes. The secret of social media success is hard work.
What?! That’s it? That’s what you learned from a day-long seminar with social media elite you ask? Well, yes, but not in those exact words.
In this post, I am not going to recap topic sessions. You can harvest the power of Twitter for that by searching for the hashtag of #SMSHI (or #HISMS). Mari Smith taught the audience How to Build a Large, Loyal, and Profitable Network, Erin Blaskie explained how companies can outsource their social media, NEENZ provided her insights about building communities, Mike Prasad presented self-experienced case studies, and Yancy Unequivocally Jim convinced the audience to create viral presentations. These sessions I attended were filled with tips and insights, but one underlying lesson resonated from each speaker and each topic – you have to invest hard work to realize success.
Hard work includes discipline. Do you reach out to your social media communities every day, every week, every month? NEENZ does.
Hard work includes consistency. Are you consistently listening to your clients, customers, and audience and consistently using their feedback? Mari Smith implores you to do so.
Hard work includes organization. Do you use a project management system such as Basecamp to organize your social media replies and conversations? Erin Blaskie recommends it.
Hard work includes dedication of time. Do you spend 60-80 hours of work and research to create a one-hour presentation slide deck? Yancey Unequivocally Jim of Empowered Presentations does.
Hard work includes being methodical. Do you dissect your target audience into focused seed groups? That’s what Mike Prasad did for Kogi BBQ and sold over $2M of $2 fusion tacos.
So success doesn’t hinge upon the social media tools, tips, or resources. The differentiator is the hard work you bring, and that my friends is the secret of social media success.
Thanks to the Social Media Club Hawaii for organizing a great event!
Bonus
About the tools and resources mentioned during the Summit? Here are a few I jotted down:
- kurrently.com – a real-time search engine for Facebook and Twitter
- twellow.com – a directory for Twitter
- noteandpoint.com – a gallery of killer slide decks
- fotolia.com – low cost online images
- Apple Keynote – you too can create the World’s Best Presentation for 2010 🙂
- arkli.com – manage a social campaign
Double Bonus
Here are just a few random shots taken from the event and venue.
Darn, Not on Sale
I don’t recall trying this seasonal coffee creamer, but it’s not on sale so I’ll have to wait to sample Coffee-mate’s Warm Cinnamon Sugar Cookie.
Starbucks Pick Catering to Kids and Parents
Have you noticed a few of the recent Starbucks Pick of the Week have catered towards kids (and their parents)? This past week’s Pick is The Monster at the End of this Book, an interactive app from Sesame Street.
I wonder what Starbucks rationale is for this offering? Getting kids hooked on Starbucks at an early age? Giving parents an excuse to stop by for some lattes and of course, to pick up the free Sesame Street app?