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Good Cause: How I made an iTunes Store Haiti Earthquake Relief Donation

January 19th, 2010

It has been hard not to hear and see tragic news of the natural disaster that has hit the island of Haiti. Since I live in South Florida, I have a good number of Haitian friends, co-workers, and mutual acquaintances. But since Hurricane Katrina I have been a bit sketchy about which relief organization to donate my money. So when I got an email about the option to donate to the American Red Cross through the iTunes store, I became curious and donated. If you’ve purchased anything from the iTunes store since the this tragedy struck Haiti on January 12, then you’re already well ahead on being able to easily donate to a good cause in under 3 minutes. :)

1. Basically you go to iTunes and click on the button for American Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief Donation (which you can do here by clicking “Earthquake Relief”).


2. Next you can choose the amount that you would like starting from as little as $5.00 to $200.00 dollars.

3. To pay the amount of your chosen donation all you have to do is log in the same way you would when purchasing an app, song, album or movie from the iTunes Store.

4. Confirm your purchase.

5. And voila! You are all done giving a moment of your effort, time and a portion of your hard-earned money to what will benefit a people in need right now.

Apple, Journal, Mac News , , , ,

Ommwriter: Beta (Version2)

January 1st, 2010

The long and short of the app is that it is a minimalist text edit tool that eliminates all windows, menus, etc with an ambient background and music (all of which can be changed or turned off if you so choose). I, for one, am the chief among all those that get distracted by the internet, my fun Mac apps, twitter, the book of faces, and other stuff I want but can’t afford. I’ve downloaded the application and it suites my needs.

Important FYI
The Beta v.2 is out and it allows auto-save (every 3 minutes) and word count. God knows how important these two things are for people. One more thing, it allows you to save your text document in Ommwriter format or a text file. ‘Nough said, right? You love it already! K great, go download it here.

Background Info
Ommwriter came to my attention when it popped up in my twitter stream courtesy of Brent Spore of iboughtamac.com and I find it to be absolutely amazing. It’s a free Mac-ONLY program (sorry PC owners, but keep hope alive) that was developed by Herraiz Soto & Co, a digital creative agency, based in Barcelona, Spain.

Not convinced? Here watch and love it!

Apple, Applicaitons, Geek, Mac News , , ,

AllTop: CNBC to run two Mac documentaries

December 31st, 2009

This popped up in my twitter stream and had to re-blog it rather than just retweet it. You’re welcome!

CNBC is copping a Mac attitude to start the year. It’s running two Mac documentaries next week. First, Welcome to Macintosh shows on 1/4 at 9:30pm ET. This is a trailer from it.

Then the next day, CNBC starts broadcasting MacHEADS. The dates and times (all ET) are:

  1. Tuesday, 1/5 at 10pm
  2. Wednesday, 1/6 at 1am
  3. Thursday, 1/7 at 9pm
  4. Friday, 1/8, at 12am
  5. Saturday, 1/9 at 7pm
  6. Sunday, 1/10 at 10pm

You should watch both for extra credit

Source: AllTop.com

Apple, Business, Cool Videos, Geek, Mac News , , ,

AdweekMedia: 2000s Best and Brightest in Branding, Marketing, Media and Agency

December 14th, 2009

AdweekMedia_-Best-of-the-2000s
from Adweek Media’s bestofthe2000s.com

Adweekmedia has named “the best and the brightest in the branding, marketing, media and agency world in 33 categories.”

But before you read on, I must point out Apple garnered five categories from Adweek Media. Take a look at these and tell me if you think that these are rightfully deserved categories.

Apple’s “Get a Mac” Ad Campaign – Campaign of the Decade
mac-sad-song

“Silhouettes” – Out-Of-Home Ad of the Decade
apple-silhpuette

Steve Jobs – Marketer of the Year
steve-jobs

Apple – Brand of the Decade
applestore

iPod – Product of the Decade
ipod-touch-pic

As for the rest of the categories, some of the people and companies that were chosen by Adweek are not surprising.

Enjoy!

MEDIA COMPANY OF THE DECADE & DIGITAL COMPANY OF THE DECADE
Google

Sergey Brin and Larry Page surely didn’t realize it when Google launched in 1998, but the two had founded the most powerful direct-response marketing vehicle ever created (people tell Google they want specific stuff and Google delivers ads offering that stuff).

MEDIA EXECUTIVE OF THE DECADE
Rupert Murdoch

Murdoch is the last of the great media moguls, and while he’s 78 years old, the entrepreneur may well be at the height of his powers

MEDIA ENTREPRENEURS OF THE DECADE
Larry Page & Sergey Brin

Here’s what really changed about media in the past decade: The fastest growing, most dynamic, disruptive and arguably most important media company of the 2000s produced absolutely no content of its own. Not a single article. No hit series. Google, founded at the end of the prior decade by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, is an engineering endeavor through and through.

TV SHOW OF THE DECADE
The Sopranos

When The Sopranos debuted on Jan. 10, 1999, it was as if creator David Chase were telling the nation that the very best things were finished, and that American life from that moment forward would be informed by a dull longing for the irretrievable past.

BROADCAST NETWORK OF THE DECADE
CBS

The strength and consistency of the most watched network, CBS, shows it can be done, year after year, thanks to its steady diet of scripted comedies and dramas, top-notch reality, and the granddaddy of newsmagazines, 60 Minutes.

CABLE NETWORK OF THE DECADE
Disney Channel

Hannah Montana. High School Musical. The Jonas Brothers. These inescapably popular names would most certainly not grace the pop-culture lexicon were it not for the marketing (some might say evil) genius at Disney Channel.

MAGAZINE OF THE DECADE
Wired

Wired survived the storm by capturing a broader readership with an editorial mix spanning technology, business, science, entertainment and culture—in essence becoming the chronicler of the technology surge that’s changed all our lives this decade.

RADIO PERSONALITY OF THE DECADE
Rush Limbaugh

Love him (as his “dittohead” fans do) or hate him (as every liberal does), no radio host or personality comes close to Rush Limbaugh in size of audience or volume of political discourse. The man manages to stay in the headlines no matter who’s in the White House or who’s gunning for him.

WEB SITE OF THE DECADE
YouTube

YouTube helped make it remarkably easy to post video online, and even easier to stream. Plus, clips could suddenly be embedded on any site across the Web. Super syndication—now a core digital media strategy for many content companies—was born.

BLOG OF THE DECADE
Gawker

Gawker burst onto the scene in 2002 as a new kind of publication. It defiantly skipped magazine prose in favor of Internet snark, obsessively needling the New York-centric media world.

COMMERCIAL OF THE DECADE
Honda, “Grrr”

An unlikely mix of cute animals frolicking in a CGI Eden, flying diesel engines and the gravel-on-velvet voice of Garrison Keillor, the spot won a slew of awards in 2005. It gets ours for the best of the decade, period.

SUPER BOWL SPOT OF THE DECADE
Coca-Cola, “It’s Mine”

Normally, a fight on New York City’s streets isn’t this funny—let alone heartwarming. But the theme is just one of the chances taken by Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., in creating Coke’s 2008 Super Bowl ad, “It’s Mine.”

CAMPAIGN OF THE DECADE
Apple, “Get a Mac”

Apple always diverged from the “speeds and feeds” ads associated with the computer category, but the brand really defined itself with the 2006 launch of the “Get a Mac” campaign. That series of 60-plus ads brought some humanity into the equation by turning the machines into live-action cartoons.

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR OF THE DECADE
Daniel Kleinman

The special-effects savvy director Daniel Kleinman, an expert teller of weird but beautiful stories, has a career characterized by a collection of offbeat gems.

PRINT AD OF THE DECADE
NBA, “There Can Only Be One”

In 2008, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners dunked the tradition of freeze-frame action shots customarily used in NBA marketing by replacing it with an image at once emotional and iconic: the human face.

OUT-OF-HOME AD OF THE DECADE
Apple, “Silhouettes”

You’d have thought Andy Warhol did them—and why not? In the end, the work was nearly as iconic. Perennially at work on new ways to brand Apple’s products, TBWA\Media Arts Lab took the wraps off of “Silhouettes” in 2003. It didn’t just brand the iPod—it immortalized it.

DIGITAL CAMPAIGN OF THE DECADE
Nike Plus

If there was a knock against Nike Plus from the ad world, it was what it wasn’t: an ad. Which was, of course, the point. Nike Plus takes “Just do it” and actually helps runners get it done.

AGENCY OF THE DECADE
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

Retooled into a potent force for the digital age, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners is a true master of all trades, deserving to be called the decade’s best.

SMALL AGENCY OF THE DECADE
Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners

When John Butler, Mike Shine and Greg Stern left Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to open their own shop across the bay, they were warned that no one would ever take them seriously. 16 years later, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners is thriving with $30 million in revenue and 150 staffers.

AGENCY EXECUTIVES OF THE DECADE
Jeff Goodby & Rich Silverstein

Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, co-chairmen and creative directors of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, have been setting creative standards since they opened their award-winning San Francisco agency in 1983.

AGENCY CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF THE DECADE
Alex Bogusky

While his methods are alternately revered and reviled in the industry, few would disagree that the Crispin Porter + Bogusky co-chairman is the one man who most shaped creative trends in advertising over the past decade.

MULTICULTURAL AGENCY OF THE DECADE
GlobalHue

The agency’s successful investment in demographic research following the 2000 U.S. Census helped fuel the shop’s growth into the largest, smartest multicultural agency in the U.S. with revenue of $83 million in 2008.

DIGITAL AGENCY OF THE DECADE
R/GA

R/GA founder and CEO Bob Greenberg has a fortune-teller’s knack for seeing what’s around the corner. R/GA has been at the forefront of the top developments in interactive marketing and, along the way, has developed an agency model melding creativity and technology that’s the envy of the industry.

MEDIA AGENCY OF THE DECADE
Starcom MediaVest Group

The Publicis-owned shop started the decade as the AdweekMedia’s first Media Agency of the Year, an award bestowed after the organization— technically two shops that operate separately but also collaborate on key accounts such as Procter & Gamble—won General Motors’ landmark $2.9 billion planning assignment. Huge wins from Kraft, Coca-Cola and Mars followed.

MEDIA AGENCY EXECUTIVE OF THE DECADE
Irwin Gotlieb

Alternately known as the “king of advertising” or the “Zen master” for the skills and influence he brings to bear on the media agency business, Irwin Gotlieb, CEO of WPP’s GroupM, has been a media innovator throughout his career, now spanning some four decades.

MARKETER OF THE DECADE
Steve Jobs

Visionary, iconoclastic and fearless, Steve Jobs the marketer is inseparable from Steve Jobs the personality. His inimitable blend of competitive skill and design savvy hasn’t just saved a fading brand, it’s recast two businesses that used to have nothing to do with computers: music and mobile phones.

MARKETING INNOVATION OF THE DECADE
Viral Videos

For advertising, the watershed moment came in 2004, when the “Subservient Chicken” video for Burger King’s TenderCrisp chicken sandwich got hundreds of millions of visits. Here, for the first time, was an ad created for the Internet with a reach far beyond what TV could offer—and all at a fraction of broadcast’s high prices.

BRAND OF THE DECADE
Apple

In terms of politics and world events, this has been a wild decade, but on the marketing front, one thing has remained constant: Apple’s emotional connection to consumers, who reward it with an almost cult-like loyalty.

PRODUCT OF THE DECADE
iPod

To date, more than 220 million iPods have been sold worldwide. The success is all the more amazing because Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player—it redefined it.

PROMOTION OF THE DECADE
BMW Films

In 2001, BMW was searching for a new way to get the word out about its kick-ass cars. But instead of just running commercials, its then-agency Fallon proposed creating five Hollywood-style minifeatures, then airing them only online. Soon, branded entertainment became an industry buzzword, but no one ever topped BMW, which was first and did it best.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT OF THE DECADE
Coca-Cola/‘American Idol’

With its 20 million-plus viewers, American Idol wasn’t just a successful program, it was a phenomenon. At the center of the action was Coca-Cola, which got straight commercial time plus other perks like a Coke-red waiting room for contestants.

DIGITAL DEVICE/PLATFORM OF THE DECADE
Facebook

Just as Google wasn’t the first search engine, Facebook didn’t invent the social network, but rather improved upon it in such a way that it became the de facto standard. By decade’s end, Facebook was at the forefront of the evolution of online advertising.

Apple, Business, Mac News , , , , , , , ,

Apple Geniuses Now Fix Cracked iPhones On The Spot

July 7th, 2009

Cracked iPhone Glass

Update: Matt McCormick commented on this post and informed me that Apple still doesn’t replace the glass for free with a warranty since this news broke. I normally check three other reliable news sources before posting alleged facts from other bloggers. In this case, I didn’t follow my normal routine and I may have mis-read. Always, you should do your own research no matter how authoritative or not a source may be. In short, my bad! lol! In the meantime, I am updating this from my iPhone while running house errands and will look deeper into this when I get back home.

Original Post

I am glad to say that this has never happened to me. But wthat does not go without admitting that I have had a previous iPhone 2G with a very apparent split between the metal lining and the metal casing. Sand and all got in it, but I digress.

According to the Apple Blog, you can now get your warranty-less cracked iPhone glass fixed for a whopping $199 bucks. Conversely, if you do have a warranty, then you’re in luck, as you’ll get the glass front replaced for free. Personally, I don’t think this is a bad deal!

Thoughts? Leave a comment!

Apple, Mac News, Tech, iPhone , , , , , , , , ,

MacRumors.com: iPhone Video Recording Interface

April 8th, 2009

Click to read the article on MacRumors.com!

If you’re a frequent reader of macrumors.com then you are already aware of the buzz about video capabilities on the iPhone 3G. And further I want to briefly dart right into a tangent to say that the number of iFanboy (Mac addict…) blogs (…with a blog) that parrot the news–information that anyone can easily retrieve from large Apple news and tech sites–are a dime a dozen (the sheer number of i-what’s-his-face’s and Mac-who’s-a-what’s-it’s is staggering, with me included). For this reason, I do not like re-blogging Apple news, save when it’s just something that absolutely suits my interests and furthers my agenda on this blog. It’s just trite, pretentious, boring and a waste of time to repeat that information (but if that is what you expected from me all this time, then you’ve got the wrong iPerson’s blog. Sorry).

Having said all that, this is a piece of news that I think is worth talking about for one primary reason: the possibilities this feature may open up for existing and future apps that will hit the iTunes App Store. Moreover, this could also mean that apps like Flixwagon, Qik, and the jailbreak version of the Ustream.tv app can come out of jailbreak exile and share official and “legal” standing with other App store products (all of the former are live mobile video broadcasting applications by the way). The significance of this is immense in my mind considering how much I enjoy sharing photos to begin with through apps like Facebook, Brightkite and Tweetie via my iPhone with both online and personal friends. Lifestreaming my content and what I’m about with friends and family is just important to me and that’s why this stands in the realm of significant news on this blog.

As you can see below, MacRumors has provided a photo of what they described as silencing doubt about this new feature:

Notice the Camera-Video toggle switch on the right-hand side. Awesome!

A new finding, however, should put to rest any doubts about whether or not Apple is planning to include video recording in future iPhones. This screenshot, which was discovered in the latest iPhone 3.0 beta, shows the interface Apple will provide for video recording…

The interface shows the normal iPhone camera interface but with a switch on the bottom right which toggles between still camera photography and video recording. The video recording is not presently functional in iPhone 3.0 beta, and the interface is not accessible by default. Only when configuration files were modified telling the firmware that a Video Camera was present will this interface appear.



This is big stuff and I think Apple will be better for it, even after two long years of a video-less capability on the iPhone.

  1. Because the iPhone 2G (first iPhone) is built for the ultra slow Edge network via AT&T.
  2. The iPhone 3G had/has (I speculate) quick battery drain issues due to the power required for the 3G network.

All in all the iPhone, at long last, may be shaping up to be what I believe all people were expecting it to be at it’s initial introduction to the world: the ultimate mobile phone. Yeah, there are some seriously formidable matches out there, but arguably it has not been eclipsed by any device to my knowledge.

Stay synced!

Apple, Mac News, Mobile, iPhone, iPhone Apps