It's Not Just Black and White

While most people watch the Super Bowl for the football, I watch it for the commercials. Last year, the commercials were fairly disappointing, nothing really stuck out or caught my eye. This year, the commercials were better and had a lot more stories to tell. Doritos® came through as the funniest commercials of the game, Google aired their first commercial ever on TV, and I only noticed one repeat commercial. Not bad for three and a half hours of football!

Most people pay attention through the main portion of the commercial and move on by the time the commercial is ending and showing their contact information. While I didn’t watch the end of every commercial that was on, I noticed something different in a lot of commercials… their Social Media information. For companies to list just their website, I’m sure they draw traffic in after the game, but how about listing their Twitter name. It is no secret that Twitter was buzzing during the game with comments about the players, the plays, and even the commercials. Using a mobile version of Twitter it’s not hard to do a search for the name and click follow. Simple as that, a company could gain hundreds of new fans.

Social media icons are slowly popping up around websites where people can find a businesses full list of contact information. Yet it has been lacking on TV. Nine times out of ten I won’t visit a website that is mentioned on TV, but I’ve found that I follow a lot of businesses on Twitter simply because I know they post daily updates and it’s all in one place. With the mention of them on TV I can pick up my phone and add them to my account and receive updates immediately.

With the more frequent updates on their social media account, viewers are more likely to turn around and follow them on social media than visit their website everyday. In turn this will continue to force their brand name in the viewers eyes whether they realize it or not. It’s a smart move for all businesses who are running any form of ad on TV or even on YouTube. The more traffic the better; the more people see a brand the more likely they are to buy it. Ignoring the fact that some businesses will pay millions of dollars for a 30 second to 1 minute ad during the super bowl, it’s worth the extra time to turn around and add one extra bit of contact information in.  Adding that one extra bit of text with their Twitter username could turn a whole lot more profit than it took to edit the commercial and add the text.

If businesses are planning to create new commercials in the future I think it is a wise decision to add their Social Media information in there by default. They don’t need to list everything down to their MySpace page, but something as simple as @BusinessTwitterAccount could turn their business traffic around in ways they could only imagine.

Just in case you missed it, Apple has announced the iPad. Two days after its major release, there have been a variety of reviews. I’ve heard everything ranging from “it is pointless” to “When can I get it?” I’m in the middle on this new product.

I’ve never really been a fan of tablet computers; I never really saw the point of a tablet verses a normal laptop. I do not own an iPhone and I do not own an iPod touch. I love my iPod Classic and my Mac Book Pro. The one thing that I’ve hated since Apple released the iPhone, is that I do not have access to use the applications in the iTunes store. The iPad makes it possible to get not only the apps from the iTunes store but get additional apps that are not in the iTunes store.

I’m a person who’s all about traveling and being out and about. I love taking my computer with me, but at times it’s a lot to pull out when you’re in an airport or hanging out with friends at a local coffee shop. While a mobile phone serves the purpose of the instant email check or a Google search, I’m not about to write a blog entry on a phone. Additionally, as Rae Hoffman mentioned in her article, Preparing for the Age of Mobile, not all websites are mobile friendly. The iPad takes the iPhone and gives me a larger mobile device that will allow me to update my blog, use the iTunes app store, and visit websites that are not necessarily mobile friendly. Finally, I will not have to be required to pay a monthly fee if I don’t want to.

What about flash?
One of the biggest complaints about the iPad is that Apple is still not offering flash support. I don’t see a need for flash support within the iPad. It is not meant to fully replace a computer. Yes, it would be nice to be able to visit every single website out there, but you’re always going to run into compatibility issues with at least one website, no matter what browser you’re using. Very few websites I visit on a daily basis are flash based. Those that are, I’ll check on a computer.

Will it replace my Amazon Kindle?
While Apple is pushing the iPad as a new eReader, I will not let it replace my Kindle. One of the biggest reasons I chose to get a Kindle over any of the other eReaders is because of the screen. It is not a computer screen. I spend all day in front of a computer screen; if I want to curl up with a book, I want something that will be easy on my eyes. The Kindle is easy to read off of and it’s attached to my Amazon account. The iBook won’t be as easy to read off of since it will still be a computer screen. The eBook portion of it will not have the books I’ve already bought from Amazon. If I’m that desperate to read my Kindle books on an iPad… I’ll download the Kindle application.

Don’t you want the camera?
I have a digital camera that takes great pictures and my phone takes pictures. Is there a reason to have yet another device that takes pictures? Many people are complaining about not being able to use it for video conferencing. If I were going to use a device for video conferencing, I’d rather get my laptop out and use that. The memory is better, the web cam would be a better quality, and there’s not as high of a chance of it overheating. It also allows me to use other applications while doing the video conference.

In my opinion, the iPad is a great product that Apple has put out. It may or may not be the most competitive in every market but I think they definitely have a market out there that will make the iPad successful. Mobile browsing, no monthly subscription, and a keyboard big enough to write from… all are great reasons to buy an iPad in my book.

Twitter as a Personal Tool and a Resource

A friend and I have an on-going debate… what’s the point of Twitter? He is constantly telling me that there is no reason to use Twitter, it is worthless, and it is a waste of time… I told him I’m going to write a blog entry and prove to him there’s a point to using Twitter.

I joined twitter in May of 2008… I tweeted for one or two weeks and that was it. I used Facebook status updates a whole lot more and didn’t really see too much to Twitter. I came back to Twitter within the last year and realized how much more is out there. Twitter has grown from a personal status update to a whole library of data. If you follow some of the right people you can get more articles and blog entries than you could imagine.

A few examples:

Guy Kawasaki – Guy posts all sorts of content. Most of the articles he posts are ones that he has taken, done a short review of on his blog, and linked to the full article. The articles range from latest tech news to weird things people have done. His tweets aren’t personal by any means, but they give you a whole bunch of news and information in one place.

Lisa Barone – Lisa does a great job of mixing business and personal life on Twitter. Her tweets are hilarious to read, yet most of the time bring up very good points. She often shares interesting links to other articles and her own opinions as she writes for Outspoken Media.

Beebow – Lauren spends her days writing blogs for her company and sharing tons of information on Search Engine Optimization. Her tweets range from other SEO people to follow to articles and blog entries.

A day has not gone by in the last six or seven months where I have not found at least two articles from Twitter worth reading. Instead of having to Google a specific subject to find the information someone else starts up a discussion about it. Different subjects you might not have thought of can come up just by watching what people tweet. The more time I’ve spent on Twitter the more I’ve learned about social media, search engine optimization, and the benefits of using both to market a website.

Yes, Twitter can be used as a personal tool, but don’t turn away just because people are tweeting about what they ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Twitter can worth your time if you use it the right way.

In the midst of all of the devastation in Haiti, it was nice this week to hear of an amazing story that has come out of the earthquake to a friend of mine, K. I had to share the story and encourage everyone to donate, even a little bit to help rebuild!

K’s daughter has been in the adoption process for two years for a little boy, R, from Haiti. They’ve been working with the Three Angels orphanage in Haiti and all of the paperwork was done, they’ve just been waiting for a number of months for it to be processed through the state. K’s daughter has made many trips down to visit R and they’ve grown close and they were ready to bring him home.

Last week the world watched as Haiti crumbled after an earthquake shattered their world. Among those affected were over 300,000 orphans throughout Haiti. R was one of them. K began to send email updates to us letting us know that he was okay. With all the talk of the adoption papers being lost for so many of the orphans, the 26 kids at Three Angels were incredibly lucky… they had backup copies.

Over the last week we’ve been getting email updates from K about the status of R. Monday morning we got an email telling us that K’s daughter had an email to pack her bags, he would be in the USA soon, she would need to meet him in Florida. Last night at 5:00 another email came in saying K’s daughter was on her way to Florida as she typed the email, R was going to meet her there. The flights were donated by privately owned planes to bring the kids home.

Walking into Bible study this morning it was exciting to hear the news that R was united with his mom by midnight last night, and all 26 of the orphans from Three Angels were united with their families!

Red Cross is taking donations to help Haiti rebuild, and so is the Three Angels orphanage. They will be rebuilding to help a whole new group of kids find homes. Not trying to jump and force anyone to donate, but if you have a little bit of extra cash laying around… it is providing some wonderful opportunities and joy in the midst of all of the disaster.

The Blues and Purples Blanket

Looking back on 2009, I don’t feel like I accomplished a whole lot when it comes to knitting…. I took on two really big projects, my best friends wedding blanket and the Dr. Who Scarf. Between these projects I fell behind on a lot of other knitting I wanted to accomplish.

In the midst of all of the knitting I started a few different projects and very few of them were finished. 2010 is going to be a year of finishing…. I hope! My goal for 2010 is for every two projects I finish, I can start a new one. Why am I writing this in the blog? It will never get done if I don’t put it in writing. I really would like to get a good chunk of these done this year, but I know that I will not complete all of them without starting at least 10 or 15 new projects along the way!

I would love to say that in 2010 I’m only knitting for myself. I said as soon as I was done with Christmas presents that would be the case, and it lasted an entire day! For that, I just have a goal of finishing some of my current projects. So what is on this long list of things, you ask? Here is the current WIP* list.

Will all of these actually get finished in 2010? Probably not. I’d like to make a dent, especially in the blankets. All four of them will be amazing when they are done and I can’t wait to use them! On that note, I better go pick up a pair of needles.

Happy New Year!

* WIP  = Work in Progress

About a month ago a friend from work’s wife (Check out her blog: Mommy Trial and Error) asked me to knit a few hats for her sister. It was the perfect time to pick up the book “itty-bitty hats” by Susan B. Anderson, recommended to me by a friend from knitting. In short, I’m addicted to this book now. I knit up two hats for her out of a mix of Plymouth Dreambaby and Berroco Comfort. After the two hats were finished I just had to knit a third.

The first hat was the bunny tail hat. I knit it up in the brown to make it work for both boys and girls as it could be a bear or a bunny. The hat was knit fully out of the Dreambaby on size 6 needles. The size was for 0-6 months and came out adorable!

The second hat was the Stripey Stocking Cap. This was knit out of a mix of Dreambaby and Comfort on size 6 needles. I wasn’t sure how they would work since they are technically two different weights but they worked really well together. This was a 6-24 Month size hat.

The final hat that I’ve knit was for an cutie pie named Allie. The snowman was the name of the hat and once again, was knit out of a mix of Comfort and Dreambaby. She is six months old so the hat is the 6-18 month old size, hopefully should fit her through the winter. If nothing else, it fit her for Christmas!

Every family has at least one holiday tradition. I hope at least. While my family has a variety of traditions that range from when I was a kid to new ones formed in recent years. Every year there is a set of stockings that hangs above our fireplace with all of our names on them. My grandmother knit them all for us at some point or another. They don’t match in color, but they match in design. Each of our families has a set of them and each of the grand-kids got a stocking.

Since my grandmother passed away in 2001, the stockings had been put on hold. There hadn’t been any new kids to the family so it wasn’t a huge deal. A few years ago I asked my aunt and uncle if they knew what had happened to the stocking pattern. I was just getting into knitting and wanted to make sure we still had it somewhere. They were able to find it and mailed it off to me at college. While there wasn’t anyone to add, I had them for when we would need them.

In the last two years we have added two great-grand-kids to the family. My cousins welcomed a little girl and a little boy into the family. For Christmas this year I knit up their two stockings using Red Heart. They don’t match necessarily in color to some of the older ones, but they aren’t supposed to, each generation has a slightly different shade of colors and as the years go on they will fade to.

What are your holiday traditions?

Adrienne and Josiah’s Stockings: