DADvocate Header Design
As I mentioned in my post The DADvocate Project Branding Contest – Win a free Twitter Background! I wanted to open up this branding process to the DADvocate community at large and and gain some feedback. Admittedly I also want to give my designer some exposure since I think she is AWESOME. So please leave some comments about your thoughts and you’ll have the opportunity to win a free twitter background designed by Havana. Check out her web site Kokographix.com
The design process starts with the interview:
Havana Interview – The DADvocate Project Branding from Kevin Metzger on Vimeo.
After the interview Havana spent some time drawling and brainstorming with me so she could be sure we were thinking along the same lines.
DADvocate Header Design Brainstorming Part 1 from Kevin Metzger on Vimeo.
One of neatest things about this process was her introduction of children into the design during her creative process. It was something I would never have thought of but I really like how she worked it in. What do you think?
DADvocate Header Design Brainstorming Part 1 from Kevin Metzger on Vimeo.
There is a third page of work shown here which i hav not posted video for.
All this work resulted in the four following ideas. What do you like about them? what would you change?
Housing Economy Views and News 2/8/2010 – Bob Zartarian
How sad, less than two weeks of focusing on Job creation and were already back to Health Care Reform, something that has mistakenly had the limelight for a year. We’re also back to Tea Parties, the KSM trials and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that dilute the focus on Job creation. Important no doubt but not the priority that Job creation can and must be.
If the economy was strong we could deal with issues we WANT to tackle but they are unnecessarily taking the emphasis away from the NEED to create Jobs. As a country we need to distinguish between Needs and Wants. I’m fine with Reforming Health Care and debating those other issues but they are WANTS and not NEEDS (yes, there is already a way for the uninsured to get health care).
The statistical anomaly that recently brought down the unemployment rate at the same time as unemployment rose must be ignored. What we should be more concerned about are the tax cuts that will be allowed to expire at year end and the elimination of the program to buy Mortgage Backed Securities by the Federal Reserve in less than two months. The Congress and the administration must increase demand which will ultimately put people to work. Forget targeted stimulus – it has no lasting effect and is rife with waste and abuse. There are plenty of examples from the past year to prove that. Stop the plan to take more taxes from the American people. It may create a double dip recession.
The solution: reduce payroll taxes, reduce corporate taxes, eliminate capital gains taxes, keep the “Bush” tax cuts, eliminate the “death” tax and watch the economy “SNAP” back. Tax revenues will rise, we’ll be able to balance the budget and pay down the deficit and the country will recover. Let’s strengthen the employer class, put people to work and then address our WANTS.
Bob Zartarian - These views are strictly my own
Remote Control Your Computer
Remote Control Image
I recently found LogMeIn.com. This is a wonderful free remote control services that allows you to remotely control either a Mac or PC. It even works with smartphones. You can actually control your PC or Mac through a smartphone. This is a truly incredible service and if you are a small business and have used GoToMyPC this service can save you $30/month.
They also offer paid services such as tech support, virtual networking and an advanced version of remote control that allows you to transfer files and use remote resources to print copy past etc. It’s all very cool. Check it out! It’s free and Freeing.
I just might be an Apple FanBoy
Okay maybe I’m just a tech geek but I want an iPad. I love apple and have even before the release of the Mac. My first computer was an Apple IIC and was this amazing thing that if manipulated properly allowed me to write my own games.
Today the iMac we own renewed my interest in computing and is still allowing me to define my own games. The release of the iPad will take defining your own game even further. You can now take the game with you. As a blogger and tech enthusiast I love the product.
As a blogger and tech enthusiast I wonder why a few things were left out: Here is what I would have liked to see in addition to the incredible technology that is there. I want an iSight built-in on both sides so I can do video or video chat. I want the computer to do flash – this is a common technology used on many web sites and for many video presentations. I want the iPad to run more than one application at a time. And I want the iPad to be able to make and receive calls with a blue tooth headset and voice commands.
All the above said I think it turns out that the tweet I sent out on Tuesday before anyone else was saying it is going to turn out to be true “Somehow I think Steve Jobs speech tomorrow will be more impactful than the State of the Union !” For some reason I was thinking the State of the Union Speech was Tuesday.
The reason I think I’m right is because we have seen, even with some missing pieces, the introduction of a complete change in computing!
Savvy Cyber Kids – An Interview
DADvocate – Internet Discussions from Kevin Metzger on Vimeo.
This is a video interview with Security Expert Ben Halpert. Ben has two daughters and a son on the way. When his first daughter was born he began thinking about the security risks for being on line with children and how and when that conversation should start to take place. Ben decided that we are probably reaching out to children too late in life to begin this conversation. Much like teaching your children to say please or thank you Internet behavior conversation needs to start when your children are young and still listen to you.
Ben has started the Non Profit Savvy Cyber Kids. This organization is dedicated to providing resources to parents and teachers that will help them in educating their children on internet safety. Currently Ben has a number of resources available on his site including:
- A Parent Child Agreement – Rules for Online Safety
- Adult Caregiver/Parent Checklist
- SafeOnline 101 Presentation
- Finally Ben has a children’s book that is still in the works but expected to be published later this spring.
To access all this information and keep up with Ben go to benhalpert.com
I’d also like to thank Jeff Sass for inspiring this interview with his post Having that conversation with your kids. You can find more on Jeff Sass at JefferySass.com
Response to Reeking of Desperation
An interesting question was raised by Julian Smith about how people spend their time acting desperate to get seen by the big names in Social Marketing. I formatted the following response but then realized it was more the length of a blog then a comment so here it is.
9 months ago I started my blog MySpellingSucs.com – an unedited discussion of my dyslexia and ADD and my daughters Cerebral Palsy. I started it just to start writing something and do it consistently. I wanted to just say what I felt and do it the way I wanted to. I was tired of listening to fast easy money crowd who really didn’t know what they were talking about and I just wanted to do it my way. I write about how I have learned from my children and parenting, specific issues on CP, and I occasionally interview or write about inspirational folks with disabilities. I love writing there and it has brough me great pleasure as well as some recognition. I was awarded 2009 East Cobber Father of the year and this happened when my readership was only from my local network of friends.
Then about 6 months ago I started getting involved in community – twitter, expanding Facebook and LinkedIn, commenting on other blogs and that kind of thing. I found more readers coming to my site and then I really started getting interested in and attaching to people who were leading this revolution. Julien – Yourself included.
After a few months I found myself backing away from the “Guru’s” and focusing in the “Second Tier.” I do this because they have more time they are just as educated and have as many new and innovative ideas and they communicate more. I know the “Guru’s/First Tier” used to communicate with their audience as much as the “Second Tier” now does but the “Guru’s” don’t have the time to communicate with new folks as much as they would like and they need to keep their loyal audiences loyal so they communicate with as many as possible and are diligent about communicating with the folks that have helped them along the way.
It’s been in working with this “Second Tier” of bloggers that I have found I have the most pleasure and have begun to get the most recognition from the Guru’s. It makes sense.
In any community you want Gate Keepers. A Gate Keeper helps you know who the good and who the bad are when you don’t have the time to figure it out yourself. If the people I trust vet you and say your good than I’ll (as the guru) take a little additional time to find out more about who you are.
I guess what I’m saying is I like the idea of being yourself. That may have something to do with connecting with the crowd but do it your way and find the folks you enjoy communicating with.
This was originally going to be a comment in response to the blog post Reeking of Desperation but was too long. Julien thanks for the inspiration.
Not on Save the Ta-Tas or National Brest Cancer Awareness Foundation
I’ve been on the net for a while now, you know since it’s inception, and I’m wondering if the nets best prank has been played on Facebook or if there really is a brest cancer awareness campaign going on right now. Currently women on Facebook are telling what collor bra they are wearing. I went out to http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/ and http://www.savethetatas.com/ but neither site has any information on the home page. Here’s the thing. If they haven’t started this campaign then they should be out there tonight jumping on it and figuring out how to use it regardless of whether it was the best idea to begin with because it has caught on like wildfire.
If someone knows the origin of this event please educate me because I’d love to know. By the way my favorite color I’ve seen so far “HOT Nude” sounds intriguing.
Post for Sponzai
Whatever hatred saves the number.
Flip – Awesome Product
I recently got my flip which I absolutely love. It’s so easy to use and I have captured much of my kids that I otherwise would not have. I need to remember to bring the camera around more often because it has been a blast. I don’t know what exactly it is about the flip but it completely changes the way I look at video.
Importing and uploading videos has been a blast too. The flip software has taught me the value of cropping clips and has made it easy to upload videos.
While I do absolutely love this product there is one thing I don’t like about the software, I can’t tag my videos when loading to Youtube and yet the flip automatically tags the video with FlipShare. I think this is a significant flaw in the software. They should provide me the option of tagging the video and allow me to choose if I’ll add the FlipShare tag. Asked I will, but as long as I’m not being asked I’ll go up to YouTube and remove the tag since I have to add my own up there anyway.
All the same I think the camera and import software are incredibly easy to use a great value and worth buying unless your some kind of videophile. I’m not so it suites me fine.
Hey Flip let me know if you change the software so I can upgrade.
Oh Yeah I wrote this review instead of video as my one boycot against the Flip because of the software design. Otherwise I recommend buying it.
Merry Christmas
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