Pebble in the box

I finally got my Pebble!

Pebble is a “smart watch” launched by the most successful Kickstarter Campaign to date. I was one of the first backers, so have been looking forward to playing with this thing for over a year. I had to wait even longer than some people because I’m a fan of color and chose the red version. Most people chose black (yawn), so I had to wait until all the black watches were made shipped until they got around to the color ones. Late last week my patience was rewarded and my watch finally showed up!

It came in a nice, compact box with the watch, rubber watch band, and the custom charging cable. It reminded me of the efficient packaging Amazon uses on their Kindles. Simple, clean, and effective. I had it up and working in about a minute.

Why use a smart watch?

Google Glass gets a lot of press, but I really have no interest in it. I have no desire to document every second of my day, and I don’t need to constantly be connected online. I simply want seamless, easy access to the information and tools I have, which is why Pebble appealed to me.

Pebble is a nice looking watch that connects to my iPhone via Bluetooth and acts as a convienient extra screen and mini-remote control from my phone. Nice and simple. Check out the Pebble Kickstarter video for more details.

If my phone is in my pocket or bag and I get a call, the caller-id shows up on my Pebble and I can press a button to answer or ignore the call. If I get a text message I can look at Pebble to read it. I can control my iTunes app and change my music if my phone is out of reach. Those are just the basic features so far. The people who make the watch have created an software developer’s kit (SDK) that will let developers write their own apps to take advantage of the watch.

Pebble also lets you load custom watch faces onto the display, which is a minor but fun feature. There is already a website full of custom Pebble faces you can add to your phone. I’m hoping that sort of community creation starts hitting apps soon and gives me all sorts of things to tinker with.

Running with Pebble

Pebble with RunKeeper

One of the first third-party apps to support Pebble is the popular RunKeeper fitness app. I already use RunKeeper for tracking my cardio, so even though my back was a little sore I decided to take it out for a run and see how the new integration worked.

The RunKeeper app saw my Pebble, which lit up with my run time, distance, and current pace. Since this was the first major app to support Pebble I was prepared for a little tinkering to get it to work, but was happy to find it worked seamlessly. The display on my wrist was much handier than trying to see the screen in the armband, or use the voice over status. I think it will be even more useful when I get back to regular runs and want to check my pace over different intervals.

My only gripe is that it doesn’t allow me to change the song that’s playing while running, which is a shame. Fortunately I’ve already cultivated a few good playlists for running that don’t need much editing.

Verdict: Fun but still limited

Right now it is a fun toy, but without a lot of apps out there yet it is hard to say if it is a game changer. If I had to bet, I would say that Pebble will likely become a handy convenience in a lot of small areas rather than a killer must-have accessory.

Lots of other companies are rumored to be looking into smart watches after seeing how red-hot the Pebble Kickstarter became. Unless you love being an early adopter or like toys, I’d say wait until the Fall and see which apps are available for the Pebble and which other smart watches hit the market.

Pebble Smart Watch: $150 at GetPebble.com

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a virtual currency that exists only online. It has an exchange rate like a regular currency so you can purchase them, trade them for goods, and do most of the things you can do with traditional money. Instead of being printed on paper or minted in metal, a bitcoin exists as a set of very complex algorithms that is virtually impossible to fake or forge. You may see pictures of “bitcoins”, but these are either just models or special coins that refer back to the virtual coins.

Bitcoin was created in 2009, and has been use ever since. It’s gained enormous popularity recently with investors in Cyprus grabbing Bitcoins to get their wealth out of the financial mess their country is in. The result has driven the value of Bitcoins from around $15 at the start of 2013 to over $200 as of this moment.  If you look at the bitcoin value over the past few months it’s easy to see why people are buzzing. It’s serious enough that there are sites that track the Bitcoin exchange rate, and there is over one billion dollars worth of bitcoins currently in circulation.

What can you buy with Bitcoin?

Purchasing things has been tricky, but it is getting easier. You can use third party sites to convert them to things like Amazon gift cards, and there is a growing list of places that accept bitcoins directly.

One of the first purchases via bitcoin was in 2010 when someone paid 10,000 bitcoins for a pizza. It was mainly done to prove it was possible to use bitcoins as “real money,” but people like to point out that at the current value that was a $1,000,000 pizza!

Having more places accept bitcoins is one of the biggest things bitcoin supporters push for, so expect this to keep growing.

Why do people like Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is not backed by a Government, and is controlled by a decentralized system of computers to prevent any one group from manipulating it. The way bitcoins come into existence was determined when the system was first made, and only about 21 million of them will ever exist . It’s similar to gold in that at some point there just isn’t more gold being mined, and the value is determined by what people will pay for it.

Supporters claim no Government can regulate bitcoins or devalue them by printing more (like they do with their own money), there is no tax on bitcoins (just a transfer fee), and it is very, very anonymous. These all make bitcoins a popular tool for people engaging in activities they do not want the Government to track. If bitcoin keeps its popularity, though, I will just about guarantee Governments will start getting involved in some form, and it will be interesting to watch.

How can I get a bitcoin?

To get a bitcoin you need a virtual wallet. One choice is to download bitcoin wallet software you can run on your computer. The advantage to this approach is that it is more secure, but if you lose your computer or the file, you’re out of luck. There is no bank to go back to who will fix it for you. The other choice is to register for a virtual bitcoin wallet online. The advantage here is access from anywhere, and you’re not tied to one computer. The downside is that these sites are the subject of malicious attacks and if they disappear so can your bitcoins.

Bitcoin’s popularity has already spawned hundreds of conversations in governments, magazines, and businesses around how currency works in a digital age. The Royal Canadian Mint even has their own digital currency project called MintChip now.

Will bitcoin be an interesting bubble or change the face of currency? It’s way too early to tell, but either way will be amazing to watch.

Let’s see… random connecting with people, looking for good food, a chance to show off Phoenix? I was made for this like cheese for mice! I gave them a call and swamped them with ideas for places to eat, drink, shop, and visit, and a nice list of people they could meet with.

It turned out these fine people were Courtney and Matt from Breakfast With Strangers from Portland, Oregon. After getting married they launched a Kickstarter to help fund a trip around the US to have breakfast with interesting people everywhere they stopped. They had a rough travel plan, but mostly it was they two of them driving back and forth across the country in their van, the USS Pancake, and throwing out open invitations to the wind.

You can hear their thoughts on their trip and they people they met in this video they did with AOL. My favorite part is at the end where they talk about the most important thing they learned:

In Phoenix they ended up breakfasting with the most wonderful Jenny Poon and her husband, Odeen, at Matt’s Big Breakfast. Apparently they had dined at many IHOPs across the US and I could not, would not, let that happen in Phoenix.

I met up with Courtney and Matt later that night for drinks at OHSO Nanobrewery to show off some Arizona craft beer, and I ended up being dubbed the Breakfast With Strangers Moment of the Day back on December 6th, which was rather nice of them.

Now they’re working on a book of their adventures, and I’m looking forward to hearing the things they learned along the way as much as the people they met. You can follow their future exploits on their blog or on their Facebook page.

I love their entire project, but my favorite aspect is how they trusted themselves and others to put it together as they went. They could have scripted this out from Oregon before they left, but they would have met the majority of the amazing people they did, like Barry, the curator of the National Mustard Museum. As they said in the video, the happiest people they met were ones who took risks.

Plan less and see where the world takes you, but always eat a tasty breakfast.

First Time Attending SXSW

Most of my advice from last year’s A Beginner’s Guide To SXSW still stands, except for the links to the specific tools and forums. My top three tips would be:

1. Wear Comfy Shoes – Seriously, you are going to be on your feet constantly. Bring something you’re comfortable putting some miles on.

2. Pick People Over Panels – There are great sessions there, but always take a chance to make a connection with an interesting person doing something fascinating. The friends and good connections I’ve made there outweigh the memorable panels.

And the third tip that almost nobody ever listens to:

3. Go To Panels You Don’t Know Much About – Everybody’s first reaction is to look at the schedule and pick panels in their core area. Then you’ll go, learn a little bit, and be underwhelmed. Why go all the way to this convention to talk about the things you talk about all day long? Go to LEARN! Find panels where you have just enough of an inkling what the topic is to be interested, but still feel a bit like a fish out of water. This will expand your view of the world and your list of connections. Catch up on your own industry in recaps when you get home.

For another great list of tips, check out Andrew Hyde’s 2013 SXSW Guide.

Indie Authors Attending SXSW

It looks like the schedule of indie and digital publishing sessions out there is just as scattered as last year, but we have a list of 5 Tips For Indie Authors at SXSW posted over on Google+. It’s a good list, especially the tip about leaving your books at home. Seriously, just don’t even bring them.

Check out the list and let us know if there are any sessions or technologies you’re excited to see.

Unusual Gifts for Geeks

Here are the different items features in the segment, and links to their sites:

Hoodie Laptop/iPad Sleeve
A gift to help your techie significant other keep their gear safe, warm, and stylish. Made from hoodies in all sorts of colors, they’re soft, stylish, unusual, and a pretty safe little case!

Speak No Evil Bowtie
Very odd bow tie, pretty much guaranteed to be something they don’t already have. And beyond just being uniquely stylish, there is a microchip in it that contains the world’s wisdom! If there is a zombie uprising, your loved one with have Army field manuals, language books, and the entire contents of Wikipedia in their bow tie. Also showed off two keychains from the same company, made from recycled computer parts.

iPico mobile project for iPhone
Snaps right onto your iPhone to let you project video or pictures on the wall. Make your date more romantic with some background pictures of your time together, or just to add some ambiance.

StickNFind
Bluetooth powered ultra small location stickers. You can use your smartphone like a radar to track down any of these stickers hidden around. Use them to set up a scavenger hunt around your house leading to gifts or other surprises you have planned.

I’m posting this a bit late for anyone in panic mode for a gift idea for Valentine’s Day this year, but I find you can get extra bonus points for doing something nice for your geek sweetheart (Geekheart?) any day of the year.

Oh, and I’m not paid for promoting any of these things, but I did keep a hoodie cover because they look cool, and one of the tech keychains because, hey, I’m not getting caught unawares when the zombies come!

This isn’t the first short-video service to hit the internet, but its tight relationship with Twitter may mean this the one that finally catches on.

How Vine works

It couldn’t get much simpler. You see your camera window on your phone, and just touch your screen to record. Lift your finger and it stops. This allows you to switch perspective or move around to cram as much as possible into your six-second video.

Yes, going off Twitter’s philosophy that shorter is better, six-seconds is all you get. Once you’ve recorded that much video you can share it out to the Vine network (which looks a little like Instagram), or onto Twitter or Facebook. The videos include sound, though it is sometimes off by default depending on where people watch it. It also loops endlessly, which can seem a little strange at first.

You can see how easy (and fun) it is to play with Vine in a video spot I did on a local TV station. Normally the do not get nearly this excited about the things I talk about, but Kristin Anderson made a Vine video live while we talked.

Right now the Vine app is free for the iPhone, but an Android app is coming soon. I also fully expect it to be integrated into the core Twitter app before too long.

How are people using Vine?

Vine started with lots of silly videos of people desks, but things escalated quickly. There are the usual videos of dogs and food, but the format makes it easy to play with things like stop animation. People are also playing with the looping effect, creating eternally playing little scenes and music.

Some companies and brands are using Vine, like NBC News, but these are just early adopters playing around. It’s too early to tell if this will catch on with companies or be a passing fad.

On the other end of the spectrum it didn’t take long for people to start recording porn on Vine. Vine fought back by limiting pornographic search terms, but just like every other image and video sharing site on the internet, porn will always be lurking somewhere.

Most interestingly to me (so far), is the site Vinepeek, which allows you to watch random, streaming Vines from around the world. It’s a weird, hypnotic, addictive site that lets you hop into stranger’s lives for six seconds at a time. Did I mention addictive? Yeah, watch at your own risk.

What’s next for Vine?

Their next steps will be getting clients out for Android, and developing the Vine community. I’d expect that community to start looking increasingly like Instagram as they make it easier to find friends, find new views, and explore. Ultimately the Vine community may end up combining with your Twitter followers if the Vine and Twitter apps combine into one.

What will really be telling is whether Vine keeps their dead simple interface or not. People are already asking for the ability to upload videos from your phone, Instagram-like filters, video time beyond six seconds, and lots more. The features Vine adds (or rejects) at this early stage could go a long way to shaping how many people really use Vine as part of how they share their lives, versus just a cute toy they play with and drop.

Personally, I’m looking forward to some creative people using the format in interesting ways. I like that Vine has it’s own style, and I don’t want it just becoming a mini YouTube. We shall see.

Filling out the Dream Board

A few months ago I was asked to come in and speak to a Socially Engaged Practice class at Arizona State University (ASU) about flashmobs and engaging the public. I’m an ASU alum, but rarely visit campus so had no idea what to expect. It ended up going quite excellently.

In my first trip to their class I explained a lot of the things I do around town, and (more importantly) the value I see in unexpected engagement and connections.

Engaging people on the fly, whether for a flashmob, advertising campaign, or art project, opens you up to outcomes that you could never foresee if everything was scripted. Rewards come with taking risks.

The class batted ideas around, and I returned for a follow-up session to answer questions and be a sounding board for some of their crazier plans. As always it came down to the balance of time, money, and what risks people wanted to take.

Spreading Good Deeds

Their resulting project was dubbed “Mission: Possible”, a crusade to get ASU students to smile and blow off a little stress during finals week. Class members would try to engage students walking across campus by complimenting them, giving them a high-five, or helping them out somehow. They would then hand out a “Good Deeds” flier that encouraged the recipient to pay it forward, and included a few ideas to get them started.

They also had some roaming singers, and people who lowered compliments to surprised students on a string from high overhead, and a giant board on Hayden Lawn where people could write what they wanted to accomplish before graduation (check out their answers). They worked for about an hour engaging strangers and encouraging them to participate.

Joys and Perils of Public Engagement

ASU Lives Flashmob Crew

It was fun watching them work, and watching them get a big dose of both the up and downsides of trying to engage the public. They made lots of people smile, filled their board with student dreams, and brightened the day for a lot of people. They also learned how hard it can be to connect with a stranger, as some people weaved and dodged any attempt to connect. There also were, as always, a few jerks who tried to disrupt things or deface the board.

With engagements like this you always need to look at the net result, and that was a definite success. The class had fun doing it, lots of people walking by got an unexpected smile, and I got a free t-shirt out of it.

I hope more than anything else they learned the fun that comes from doing the unexpected, and I see them all trying things like this on their own in the future.

The best things happen when you shake things up a little.

That’s part of what has made Instagram such an enormously popular web service, passing Twitter in the number of daily mobile users and (according to Mark Zuckerberg) having more than 100 million users overall. That demand is why Zuckerberg + Facebook purchased Instagram for about $715 million.

Up until now, Instagram has been a mobile-only service. You could see Instagram pictures shared to Facebook or Twitter, but not someone’s entire gallery. That’s now changed with the rollout of Instagram Profiles, which allow you to see someone’s entire Insagram collection. Is it a coincidence it looks a bit like the Facebook cover photo? Doubtful.

If you want to see the profiles in action, check out the above video that I did with Fox 10 here in Phoenix. We look at what some brands are doing on Facebook, and touch on the whole filter/no-filter debate. You can also take peek at my peculiar Instagram page.

GREE booth driving game by Pop Culture Geek

Companies are trying to change the way you drive, but this time they’re not using shock videos and pages of statistics. They’re making driving a game, and people are happy to play.

The idea here is something often called “gamification“, where you bring game-like elements to normally mundane tasks. A extremely popular example is Foursquare, where checking in at a location can earn you badges, achievements (discounts!), and even a title (Mayor).

People are competitive, and turning things into a game, even a simple one, can cause people to change their behaviors in remarkable ways. I know people who come totally unglued over losing a Foursquare mayorship, while a new badge can make their day.

Navigating traffic with Waze

Gamification on the road is getting some critical mass in a driving app called Waze (pronounces “ways”). On the surface Waze looks like just another mapping application, but it goes deeper. When you run Waze you’re also sharing information on your speed and location back to the application, which helps everyone else plan better routes. If you’re going 20 mph on the freeway, Waze knows traffic is backed up and will change recommendations accordingly.

It turns everyone using Waze into a traffic reporter, and the more people reporting the better Waze gets. But what if people already know how to get from Point A to Point B? Why should they bother to run Waze anyway? Because you get points, of course! Points for just racking up miles with Waze turned on, and also for reporting traffic accidents, road construction, or even (ahem) sneakily hidden police cars.

As you rack up points you can customize the Waze icon that others see on their maps, and other small things. The net result is that the more fun it is to use Waze, the more Waze benefits by becoming a more valuable tool. And if you save more time off your commute, everybody wins.

The video is from an interview I did with the Fox Morning Show in Phoenix on Waze, which shows the app in action. Waze is available for iPhone, Android, and Windows phones.

Prius tricks you into saving gas

I’m currently driving around a Prius as part of a promotional campaign here in Phoenix, and it’s interesting how it encourages you to save as much gas as possible.

There is an obvious ploy where you can enter in the price of gas into the dashboard, and it will just calculate exactly how much each trip just cost you in fuel. A bit heavy handed for my taste, but still a behavior changer.

More interesting to me was the display that shows real time how your engine is using power, and what mpg you’re getting. If your indicator goes out of “ECO” mode all the way to the right in the “PWR” section, then you’re burning more gas than normal. On the other hand, if you’re being extra good then the bar actually goes to the left into the “CHG” indicator, which means you’re recharging the Prius’ batteries. You can see how far along you are there by the handy battery icon.

Almost immediately after we got our Priuses, one of the other bloggers posted how many mpg he was getting, and how he was changing his driving habits to increase it. A few of us posted our own mpg and a mini competition started. That’s when I realized this was a baby video game trying to change my driving behavior, and it was working!

Why? Because how you drive a Prius contributes directly to your gas mileage. Fast starts and stops do poorly, while smooth acceleration and coasting will drive it up. The more gas I save the more I’m going to talk about it, and the better rep the Prius will have for efficiency, so Toyota has a good reason to encourage drivers to be as efficient as possible. Sneaky.

Is it worth playing?

Overall, I’m not a huge fan of gamification. I’m tired of badges and achievements for every silly thing that happens online. But it can have some interesting applications once all the hype dies down, and encouraging collaborative traffic management and individual gas savings both seem worth playing along.

Compare and Contrast by an Unstrained Eye

I love to help people share ideas.

I have my hands in a million different pies, which seems random to many people I know, but it really boils down to a passion for helping people look at the world in a new way.

It’s human nature to build silos around ourselves and our view of the world. Even if we try otherwise, we simply don’t know what we don’t know. By bringing a little chaos into the mix, and sharing in unexpected ways, you can change peoples lives.

It’s one of the reasons I was first drawn to social media. I’m not a marketer, and really the m-word tends to just make my brain hurt. I simply love the pure, disruptive, meritocratic way social media tools let people communicate. If you’ve got something interesting to say, you can be loud – you can go viral – and the whole world will hear you.

It’s also why I’m drawn to digital publishing. Once upon a time you needed a “publishing deal” to be a successful author. Now you have self-published authors selling thousands (millions, in some cases) of copies of ebooks and I don’t even know what a traditional “publishing deal” looks like anymore.

The whole industry is transforming, and the tools are in the authors’ hands to publish their own ebooks if they’re willing to do the work. Nothing is keeping them off the stage any longer.

How do I publish an ebook?

The trick is helping writers with good content navigate these new waters. I’ve been collaborating with podcaster and author, Evo Terra, on a project called ePublish Unum to offer information and classes for authors.

If you write, you have content. If you have content, we can guide you through getting it published on Amazon.com. The Quick and the Read is a six-week, on-line digital publishing course designed to provide authors with professional guidance through the process of editing, creating a cover, writing effective copy, formatting their book for Kindles, and getting it into the marketplace… while avoiding pitfalls along the way.

If you’re waiting to finish your novel before you publish something, you may want to reconsider. There is a huge demand for short work, so if you have 10,000 words committed, check out The Quick and the Read. If you’re unsure what might make a good ebook, check our list of ideas.

Roll up your sleeves, shake things up, and get yourself published!