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Where’s the Twitter-based event meetup application? I’ve not seen one, but until then here is a work-around that does some of the goodness. If you’re using Twitter on a mobile device and have a mobile feedreader, this is for you.

Even though many people I follow on twitter will be at the same events as me, there are always lots of folks who will be at conferences and meet ups I don’t know. I have found that Summize’s new Twitter search is a great way to get those folks into my Twitter stream - or at least follow them during the event using my mobile - provided they’ve tweeted at least once about the show or plans to attend.

The process couldn’t be easier.

1. Hit Summize.com and click on the “Twitter Search” link.

2. Add keywords related to your event. For SMX Social Media I added “SMX” because it was a nice short acronym I felt would capture most action related to this event. If anyone were tweeting about it, they’d include this. If you didn’t have such a convenient one, you may need to include the venue name, etc. (curious that there is no SMX Social twitter user we could all follow and send @’s to “where’s the party at?”. this would at least make backchatter more fun.)

3. After you search Summize, click on the upper-right side link for “Feed for this Query” link. For SMX Social Media I used this.

4. Drop that into your favorite mobile feedreader, such as google reader or newsgator go.

5. When you see people tweeting about the event, but haven’t yet met them, you can head over to twitter and follow them. This serves to get you into their Twitter stream and to let them know that you’re interested in meeting them.

Now, as event-related stuff happens, you’ll be in the loop and it’ll make socializing that much easier.

When you take pride in your work, it shows. Sometimes, it’s downright artistic. These guys take pride in the work. What’s more, almost nobody will ever see it. This is behind the scenes cabling that makes things like this website work. Anyone can pull wire, but only certain people can make it look like a masterpiece.

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another two photos after the break

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Coupons, YAY!

Before you dive in:

1) Coupons are fickle and the web moves fast. Some have date ranges. In general, the quicker you use them, the better.

2) I f they don’t work, I’m sorry but I cannot fix them. No need to contact me.

3) Before you “check out” make SURE you’ve applied the coupon and that the discount shows up!

4) I don’t get a % of sales or anything like that. This is just my way of thanking you for subscribing.

5) HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Scott Clark

COUPONS AFTER THE JUMP!!!

(All coupons expired)

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Well, I’ve started holiday shopping a bit today.  I came across these two amazing Steampunk Items and another sweet J Peterman authentic item that you have to see.  They are in very limited supply and will probably sell out before you start shopping, if you’re like most people.

Check this list of 11 things that will sell out before you start holiday shopping.

J Peterman Steampunky Cufflinks, Pubsigns and Gothic Clock.  

I consult for J Peterman sometimes, but first and foremost I’m and admirer and customer.  Their stuff always gets people gathered around it at parties.

Postscript: Please review the “issues” list at the bottom. Added Tips are AFTER the jump

My new eStarling Frame arrived from amazon.com. I had low expectations after trying the last version, and hearing about the first. For those of you saying “this is old news” keep in mind that this is a new, bigger 8″ 800×600 eStarling, not the low-res little one that Gizmodo reviewed back in May.

NEW COUPON CODE : ThinkGeek Has The eStarling Frame: Click Here to Get it.  Use Coupon Code RAMEN

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As the Holidays approach, shutters are going to be ‘a clickin’. Being able to spread smiles digitally is truly a magical use of web technology. Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles can all keep track of family members’ special moments effortlessly thanks a few tools, including FrameChannel.com. Geeks have long aggregated feeds from photo sources for display using special software, such as Yahoo Pipes and Greasemonkey Scripts, but getting Grandma to run through that is not always simple. But now at least one new tool, FrameChannel allows building a photo channel from multiple web sources for distribution to various display surfaces:

• One or more RSS feeds
• emailed photos
• manual uploads to framechannel

RSS feeds are by far the most powerful. Emailed photos can be handy (e.g. after a field trip. ask parents to send photos to you@framechannel.com and they’ll appear in this source.) Manual upload is slow and probably not best.

Let’s say you have a digital camera or hard-drive of photos that you’d like to distribute to friends and family members “live.” Here’s how to push the photos in a nutshell. (more…)

Dear Retailer who sells very nice gift items in Lexington Green. When I snap a photo of something, I’m not here to scam you.

I’m not the front for a big Chinese manufacturer who is about to knock off your stuff and put you out of business. I’m not planning out an elaborate “Mission Impossible”-style robbery.

My wife and I are multi-tasking. I need to send her a picture of something I like and see if she wants to swing by and look at it. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars in your store and you don’t need to break the delicate positive brand image I have of you with some petty “We don’t allow pictures in the store” rule. I explained what I was doing, nicely, but it didn’t matter.

It’s amazing that I’m even in the store - with as much as I buy online. Since it’s an artsy-store, I flip the tag over on the item I’m photographing. … yep, URL. I surf to the address, yep. photos. Get a clue. This small, unique retail shop is one example, but not a unique one, and it’s about to collide with new technologies for comparison shopping we discussed at SMX Local Mobile in Denver last week.

If this were a one-time situation, I’d blow it off. But it happens to others, who blog about it too. I’m pretty fast with my camera, just hold it up and snap a quick picture, so I’m not making a scene or asking people to move, etc. I guess I could get better at it. I’m also not there photographing every thing on the shelf. I’m the best type of interested customer.

Seth Godin was busted for photographing oreos, and had this to say:

The irony of the Stop & Shop approach is that the people who you don’t want taking pictures–snoopy journalists or competitors–can easily conceal their cameras and you’ll never know. But the raving fans, the bloggers, the folks twisted enough to want to take and flickrize their supermarket experiences are your friends.

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Well, it’s WiMax World Week in Chicago, and from news reports, the attendance has almost doubled. WiMax (802.16) is a technology that works a lot like Wi-Fi Wireless Networks but has much greater range since it uses empty frequencies to provide wireless Internet just about anywhere. WiMax speeds are 4Mbit/sec at their best right now. Sprint/Nextel is setting up a service with Clearwire that will cover 100 million people by the end of next year, and demos of WiMax seem to be going better and better.

Wimax World had some buzz about demos of new technology - mostly related to compatibility and backhaul issues. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the end-devices of course. I’ll go out on a limb to say if Apple produces a Newton 2, it will natively support WiMax, and that WiMax will drive a revolution in mobile device simplification (tablets, thin clients) as well as mobile application (video, dynamic news, conferencing.) Intel showed an integrated WiMax card on a laptop at WiMax World. One thing that Sprint said was that the costs of WiMax devices and services will be like using 3G, but they won’t give out SLAs.

WiMax deployments can’t come soon enough for Municiple Wi-Fi projects, because many seem to be sinking.

USA Today provided this list…

•Cincinnati shelved its plan last week for a citywide network because the market is too unstable.

•The Silicon Valley plan for free Wi-Fi is at risk after providers decided local governments must be “anchor tenants” for the service.

•Springfield, Ill., is looking for another partner after AT&T dropped Wi-Fi plans last month.

•St. Louis is trying to figure out how to power Wi-Fi transmitters on 1,700 street lights when they’re not illuminated without spending millions of dollars.

Until then I guess we’ll need to hover around hotspots.

 

Last year, eStarling came out with a clunker. Before that they came out with a joke. But today they announced a new 8-inch frame that looks quite nice in the photos and has a kick-a** feature set on paper. But if anyone read my post last November about eStarling’s deceptive and disappointing product launch, you could tell I was an unhappy camper. Well, almost a year has past, and I’m ready to give them another shot. Frankly, I need the RSS feature badly. Because that rocks. Big time. And anyway, we put up with Microsoft when they go through this kind of pattern, so why not eStarling. Anyhow. Big difference is that I *return* eStarlings for refunds when they suck.

Here are the features that make this thing one of the coolest gadgets (on paper) that I’ve lusted after for over a year now: (more…)

Ok, my Vtech ip8300 DECT6.0 infoPhone was supposed to be in my grubby little hands by April, and it STILL doesn’t seem to have shipped. This is the phone with Yahoo! Local built in making it, as far as I know, the first home phone that is directly affected by web marketing efforts. Well, you could argue that Google 411 is also* (speed dial #1 in my car - I love that service!)

I am also looking forward to seeing how the phone accepts news feeds. Hopefully it lets you use standard RSS and not some proprietary limited portal set. I’ll use Yahoo! Pipes to make a nice small RSS feed for family information (e.g. school closings, forecast, traffic) that we can glance at from any room in the house. GEEKY!

But first I have to get the damn thing in my HANDS. Where is it?????

Hurry VTech, my old home phones are dying!!!!

*Little known fact:Â With Google 411, once you find the thing you’re searching for, you can say “map it” and Google will send you a link to the map!