This, friends, is one amazing iPod docking station with speakers. It uses tube amplification, which is pretty old-school, but I absolutely love the merger between old and new.

iPod Tube Speakers from Dice (iTPA-220)

I mentioned something like it from Hammacher Schlemmer way back in the day, but that bad boy costs $4k. I’m way more apt to spend the money on that Dice system above considering it’s about the price of a used iPhone right now. That’s good stuff right there.

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ePhoto: Wordpress Photo Gallery Theme

This is by far one of the more beautiful themes I’ve seen.  That being so, it’s not free.  But at $19.95, it’s cheaper than most other themes I’ve seen, even non-photo related.  The nice part about purchasing a theme (like this one) is the support that comes along with it.  For those of you who are new to using WordPress and custom themes and plugins, support can be a major time-saver.

Anyway, the theme itself is very well done.  It shows off your beautiful photography with a nifty photo slider at the top.

You can find this one at Elegant Themes.

Next Gen Gallery: Wordpress Photo Gallery Plugin

NextGen Photo Gallery Plugin

The NextGen Wordpress Plugin is one amazing plugin.  This one is free, and it’s been downloaded over a million times.  The screenshot doesn’t do it justice as it works with just about any theme you use.  It’s highly configurable and includes a few things to make it pretty like rounded corners, mirrored effects for your photos, and lightbox effects.  This one is worth checking out if you already have a theme you like an just want to integrate a new way to display your photos.

You can find this plugin at the Wordpress Codex.

Black Canvas: Wordpress Photo Gallery Theme

StudioPress created this beautiful Pro Theme called Black Canvas. It, similar to ePhoto, is designed with the professional photographer in mind.  This theme highlights one photo on the front page with a subset of photos below it.  It includes an RSS feed, your company information in the footer, thumbnail photos, and the ability to track statistics using Google Analytics.  This one also includes lifetime support from Studio Press and some tutorials on how to configure it.

You can find this photography theme at StudioPress.

PhotoBlog: WPZOOM

I found this one after I had already written the post, but I think it’s pretty decent looking too. This theme also includes a slideshow, but also has a “favorites” feature, which looks pretty good. It also has links to social media sites and a few different types of themes inside one. Also, WPZOOM has a few widgets that they produced themselves and include in all their themes. Last but not least, this photo blog theme has auto-cropping and gravatar support.

You can find PhotoBlog over at WPZOOM.

More?

I just took a few minutes to look around and see if I could find some good photo themes and plugins. These are the best I came up with, but if you know others that I should have here, please say so in the comments.

Update: I did just fine a whole slew of good looking themes at Theme Forest. I’ve used a few themes from them and I generally find them very good. I highly recommend them for great prices on very professional themes.

Happy photo-blogging!

Disclaimer: Yes, I will make some money from a few of the sites I listed here if you purchase from them. Yes, I do actually like the sites I’m promoting here, and yes, I would be happy to promote non-paid themes and plugins too.. but only if they are good. I’m a fan of quality.

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Serendipity. n. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

We are indebted to the English author Horace Walpole for the word serendipity, which he coined in one of the 3,000 or more letters on which his literary reputation primarily rests. In a letter of January 28, 1754, Walpole says that “this discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word.” Walpole formed the word on an old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip. He explained that this name was part of the title of “a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of….”

The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

One of the great things in life is serendipity. I love it. It’s much like emotion in that it’s hard to categorize, difficult to understand, and benefits our well-being consistently. Serendipity sounds like it’s accidental in itself, but if you look at the definition again, you’ll notice that it’s an aptitude, not an accident. In my language and my world, an “aptitude” begs for a system to be made out of it. Or, if nothing else, a pattern can emerge from it.

In a long and entertaining discussion with Steffan Antonas about the use cases of social media and specifically Twitter, we came to the same conclusion. There are many ways to use these new tools, but one of the biggest benefits is the serendipity which results.

Steffan has been able to meet some amazing people and hear some fantastic stories from people who he probably never would have met if it weren’t for social media. He’s talked with intriguing people in completely different countries on subject matters that could easily turn into best selling books. He’s made money by simply being available and talking about things that interest him with people who want his knowledge.

I’ve had similar experiences. When I meet new people in San Diego, often I hear the question, “Wait.. are you the Nate Ritter who did that thing with Twitter and the fires?”. Of course I have to give all the credit for that publicity to serendipity. I’ve also gained financial advantage simply by being known and giving away advice. It’s not simply being nice that creates that gain.

Now, since I like serendipity and finding patterns, and because serendipity has something to do an aptitude for positive “accidents”, I naturally want to put myself in the best possible position where a positive accident might occur. Call it probability if you want. In the past few years, Twitter has been a great place to be when it comes to the probability for positive accidents to occur. I’ve enjoyed the fruits of simply using social media, talking to others, and giving and receiving advice. It’s led to a greater amount of serendipity, and it wasn’t by accident.

However – and this is a big “however” – since the day the Hollywood celebrities started making Twitter popular, there has been a serendipity drain. In short, Twitter’s usefulness has changed. It’s turned from a useful communication tool into a popularity contest and publishing platform. I never wanted another publishing platform and I’ve come to believe the reason the “early adopters” abandon popularized things is because it’s usefulness changed. It’s not about purity. It’s not about being cool. For us geeks, it’s about utility. Masses of people, network effects and such, change the usefulness of a particular tool or service and it’s not always for the better.

So as Steffan and I talked over our fabulous mexican food, beers, and margaritas, we came to the realization that the serendipity we’ve experienced using Twitter has been few and far between lately.

In a moment of brilliance, we both decided to make today, Tuesday October 13th, Unfollow Tuesday. Today, we’re both purging who we follow on Twitter. We’re taking our Twitter experience into a different realm, the one we use Facebook for – friends. Because Twitter’s no longer helping us find those positive accidents, we figured we ought to simply use it as a different tool.

Steffan has the statistics to prove this next thought, but bare with me. We (social media early adopters) know that the number of followers means absolutely nothing. It’s not how many people are supposedly following you that counts. What matters is whether or not they listen and care about what you say (which usually includes conversation) and the serendipity which results. So, if you want to track a statistic, track how many people click on the links you post. Even better, track who clicks on the links you post. Track who you’ve had conversations with and what those topics were. Track follow up actions after you’ve posted something (and who did them).

Those are all difficult things to track right now, but you need to know who the people are who care about what you’re talking about. Only then will Twitter’s serendipity come back. Only then will the usefulness return.

So as I write this lengthy post, I can’t help but think that if you’ve made it this far, taking the time to read my thoughts, you’re probably the kind of person I want to know. You’re probably the kind of person who I would get along with. You’re probably not just another social media marketer. And if that sounds like you, I invite you to jump in on this conversation and let me know what you think. Let’s make this a two way street.

All the other people out there on Twitter who read the first 3 words and scanned the rest of the post to see how long it was… you people I’ll be unfollowing today. Unless you’re entertaining to me, a friend of mine (I have friends who are bored by these long posts too), or we have valuable things to share with each other, the probability for serendipity with you is too low for me to spend time on.

Today, Steffan and I are hereby invoking the Serendipity Pareto Principle with Twitter.

Cheers.

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However, there are a few people I’ve been lucky enough to be introduced to and happy to call friends who I’ve estimated are about 5 years ahead of their time.  These people affect my decisions. They affect my opinions. They affect my beliefs of where things are headed.

So, you want to know who these people are?  Here’s one of them.  Chris Messina (aka Factory Joe).  I’m including his most recent talk on identity below.  If you believe I’m even partially smart, and you want to be smarter than me, you need to be listening to what this guy says.  Listen. Absorb. Think. Create.

Identity is the Platform from Chris Messina on Vimeo.

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Photo credit: Eneas on Flickr

“Honestly,” she says to me, “there is absolutely no market for stated income loans anymore.”

These were the words I was afraid of, was warned about, and didn’t believe. I wasn’t easily turned away.

“Why? What’s the difference between a stated income loan and a full doc loan… is that right? Is it called ‘full doc’?” I asked.

The woman on the other end of the phone didn’t realize that while I was talking to her I was looking up the big, unusual words I hadn’t had defined to my satisfaction via Google. See, I’m a self-employed Web Chef which gives me the distinct honor of being able to spend my time when and where I want. That sounds great right? Hold that thought because right now – on this phone call – my time was best spent looking up definitions to real estate and lending terminology so that I could continue this word battle.

The woman continues. “Yes, you’re right. ‘Full doc’ means that you have documentation like W-2’s, bank statements, and 1040 tax records that prove that you make what you are telling us, the lender.”

“I see,” I said. “So, this is what’s interesting to me. The government gives us – the self employed and the small business – incentives to start and run these businesses, effectively hiring over 80% of the workforce of America. One of the biggest incentives we get is the ability to claim deductions, which effectively lowers our taxable income. But what you’re telling me is that because my taxable income is essentially in the poverty bracket (and yet, I might add that we rent in one of the more expensive areas of one of the more expensive downtown cities in the nation), that we can’t get a loan?”

Without hesitation, as if she’s heard this hundreds of times before, she answers “Yes, that’s correct.”

Much to my dismay, I’m losing the battle, so I try a more direct approach. I tell her how much we rent for and ask her if we could get a loan where the mortgage would work out exactly the same as our rent. I explain, as if she’s never rented before, that we’ve been paying this amount monthly for a year already, so there’s no way we are unable to afford the amount. At that price, we should surely be able to afford the the nice condo we were looking at. In the most simple terms I then say “Look, we will either be paying this amount in rent, or we can buy a condo and give you the money each month.”

Her response was more than informative. “The unfortunate thing is that because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now government entities, essentially, their new policies are simply not to accept stated income loans. Now, normally, we’d give you the loan and then to free up the cash that we’ve just lent out we’d sell that loan to Fannie or Freddie. That gives us some money back to be able to keep lending. Now, the secondary market for loans is gone. The problem is … ”

… Let me just stop here. This is where I believe she went schizo on me and missed where the blame should have squarely been placed. Ok, let’s continue….

“The problem is,” she says, “so many people lied on their stated income mortgages and then all these people fell into defaulting on their loans, that Fannie and Freddie are effectively not buying these types of loans anymore.”

Ok, I have to interject again. If you haven’t seen this video on how all this economic situation really came about, I highly recommend watching it. If you’ve seen it or you don’t believe a word she just said, then feel free to continue right along. For those of you who need some fiscal education, watch this:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Now, I was sunk.

Of course I couldn’t argue with her about who started this whole mess (ahem *cough cough* the lenders *achoo*), because that surely won’t help me get the loan I wanted. But, if that’s the way she wants to spin it, fine. Whatever, let’s move on.

Recap

Many people love to blame the current economic situation (consumerism being down, people losing their jobs, housing and lending industries creeping, etc) on the housing bubble. Now, I’m all for reading fine print – I know, call me a geek, I’m used to it – but most of the people out there aren’t like that. They do what people tell them to do, especially ones who seem to know more than they do about a particular domain. Thus, perhaps a ton of people did lie on their stated income returns even though they had W-2’s, 1040’s and bank statements to prove that they didn’t make enough to pay for a house, a car, their alimony and child support and that 61 inch TV they just bought from Best Buy. I mean hey, perhaps they did have income coming in some other way right Mr. or Mrs. Lender? Let’s just believe them and sign that loan document so you can collect a big fat commission check. Great.

So what’s the problem with all of this? Let’s do a quick summary:

• The loan officer: walks away with a big fat commission check because they got a loan signed. Who cares if they could actually afford it?
• The bank: Well, they got stuck with the bill when Fannie and Freddie stopped buying loans that had a massive risk attached to them, so they got screwed at the end of it. But, while the loans were being signed and sold, they were happy-go-lucky. It’s only because they got caught holding the red hot potato that they’re failing now.
• The W-2 employee who bought a house: Well, it sucks for them because now they have to walk away from a house that’s worth half (or less) of what they originally (stupidly) signed a loan for. Even if they did it because the loan officer convinced them, they’re back where they were before – renting with no intention to buy in the near future. If they did want to get a house now though, they could just break out their W-2 and 1040, show they still have a job and cut back on their crazy spending habits and debt, and go buy a house (again) without blinking (this time, the right way).
• The self-employed person who didn’t buy when the market was hot but is now ready to get in when it’s reasonably priced: Oh these guys? They get completely screwed. Yea, screwed. We’ve been running a legal, profitable business for 15 years on tax benefits that stimulate the economy. We hire employees and contractors and spend money only when we have it because that’s called cash flow and business people know this term inside out. We’re the ones who get screwed.

Now this is the part of the story I call “Getting Frustrated”

Now that I’ve pointed more fingers than I possess, I’d like to offer some possible solutions. Solutions which I have absolutely no faith will be adopted in my lifetime. But, I hate coming to the table and just complaining. So here they are:

Option 1: Only allow people to do stated income loans who are not W-2 employees of any companies and yet do meet certain minimum revenue minimums for at least a year. This way, you’re keeping out the people who simply misstate their income (the so-called “liars” the lender mentioned), as well as those who obviously don’t make the amount of money they should to qualify for a loan.

Option 2: Allow, nay, certify via a CPA, the backing out of certain deductions that the IRS allows small businesses to take such as home office space, utilities, office equipment, and food and entertainment budgets. These are absolutely used for business, but they are also used in a personal context (ie a room in the home dedicated to business, eating, drinking, traveling, and more). Being able to certifiably back those expenses out would have easily given us the ability to quality for a loan – as a documented fact.

Option 3: This is the easiest. If someone is able to afford, let’s say $1500 per month in rent for a year, and nothing has changed in the last 2 months, there is absolutely no reason why that person shouldn’t be able to afford a $1500 mortgage (including PMI and taxes). That easily qualifies them for $230k+ house even with almost no money down. Proving your rent should be just as much considered full documentation as a 1040. Not accepting a 3rd party’s certification (and even their tax records if necessary), is simply asinine.

… Now, I hate leaving an article with the word “asinine.” So, go ahead, tell me your thoughts on the matter. Whatcha got?

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Matt Langdon - The Hero Workshop

Matt Langdon is the founder, creator, and visionary of the Hero Workshop, a fascinating project-turned-organization who’s aim is “to show young people that by doing the little things every day they can become heroes. Far from having to perform miraculous deeds, they are provided with an attainable goal.”

I’ve asked Matt to write a post for this blog because (a) he’s a fantastic guy doing fantastic work and deserves every bit of credibility and press he can get on this subject and (b) projects like this are typically underfunded, under-noticed, and talked about less than they should be. These things and people need to be at the forefront of entrepreneurs minds. Entrepreneurship does not equal monetary capitalism. This is true innovation and vision – something both established and up and coming entrepreneurs could learn a thing or two about.

Listen to this man’s vision. Join with him if you feel so led. Hanging out with people like this is like learning and being in the shadow of giants (in a great way).

There are too many heroes in the world.

You won’t hear that complaint too often. But I’ve had enough of the guitar heroes, comeback heroes, 4th quarter heroes, and 9/11 heroes. The mass media world has stolen the word from the real heroes and I want to give it back to them. I do want the world to be filled with heroes, but not the heroes they provide us.

What is a hero anyway? Lovelace said it best in ‘Happy Feet’: “Mumble Happy Feet, I’m going to be telling your story long after you’re gone.” Heroes are the people whose stories we keep telling. We tell those stories because they contain lessons for us; lessons to help us be better people. Now, obviously this doesn’t exclusively define heroes because we tell villain’s stories for the same reason – lessons.

There are three things that define a hero and give us reason to keep telling their stories. They must take action for the greater good, and accept any risk involved. Doing only two of them makes them altruistic, a daredevil, or a philosopher.

Taking action is obvious. If you don’t do anything you’re a bystander. The bystander is the enemy of the hero – not the villain. When the hero sees something that disrupts their internal value system, they act to rectify the situation. The bystander shakes their head, or thinks someone else will do something, or figures the risk is to great. The bystander lets the bad thing happen. We see bystanders in the school yards and office buildings allowing bullying to thrive. In fact, we see them enable bullying. Bystanders are common and that’s why we celebrate heroes – they’re not.

I’m not talking about any old action though. It’s not sinking a last minute basket or scoring a hattrick. It’s not getting to the final of a reality TV show. It’s not escaping certain death or surviving cancer. The hero acts for the good of others. This act may benefit the hero in the end, but that benefit is not the reason. Again, the action comes from a disruption of what the hero sees as right.

So far I’ve defined an altruistic person. Risk is where the nice person becomes a hero. Sacrifice fits here too. This risk or sacrifice needs to be perceived. There’s no heroism in being struck by lightning while you were helping get a cat out of a tree. That’s just bad luck.

With all three ingredients, we have a hero. The hero doesn’t need to be famous and the act doesn’t need to be enormous. The girl who offers help to a bullied boy by befriending him risks alienation or bullying. The coworker who calls out the derogatory language risks losing friends at work or facing ridicule – “I mean, who really thinks calling something gay is harmful?” Corazon Aquino was a hero to millions, but she’s just as important as the girl at school who is a hero to one scared little boy. Each story will continue to be told for the lessons they contain.

Frequently we attach the word hero to other types of situations. Our aunt who inspired us by surviving cancer is an inspiration, not a hero. The majority of the people who died on 9/11 were victims, not heroes. Our favorite singer or athlete is talented, not heroic.

So let’s take the word back from the news channels, newspapers, and magazines. Let’s bestow it on those that deserve it, whether big or small. Let’s make them feel proud and when we find ourselves in a situation that needs a hero, maybe we’ll be ready to act for the good of others despite the risk.

***********************

The Hero Workshop

The Hero Workshop
- Finding The Hero Inside

http://thejanuscenter.com/heroworkshop

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The series they’ve been doing for quite some time now is one I refer to often. It’s essentially called the “Plain English” series in my book. They do the tough job of taking difficult to understand technological words, concepts, and software and break it down into … well, plain English – a language that normal human beings (well, normal for those of us who speak English already) understand.

For starters, let’s take the idea of a Wiki. Where the heck did that word come from? Wiki. Say it a few times and instead of being frustrated, I guarantee you’ll start to laugh at yourself.

But what is a wiki anyway?

This is the perfect example of where Lee and Sashi’s Plain English series comes into play. They’ve created a video for you to explain this very thing. I’m simply going to include it here, but I highly suggest that you go and visit their site (CommonCraft.com) to get more information on other things that you can learn about in plain English besides wikis.

Enjoy

Wikis in Plain English from Project MyShare on Vimeo.

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The Iran elections have changed the face of media and government control by a huge margin, and I think we’ve all understood that shift. To bring it closer to home, tonight I watched the following video – a live streaming video from @nrek that explained the hostage situation on 8th and Beech streets in downtown San Diego tonight.

Helicopters weren’t even on the scene until hours later, but we knew just about everything that was going on long before it was reported.

Here’s the video (albeit of course not as professional as a traditional journalist would produce, but still informational). Well done Enrique. Thanks for spreading the news and being on the cutting edge for those of us who watched tonight.

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And without much ado, I would like to present to you a bunch of great WordPress photo gallery themes. Some cost money (usually the best ones), and some don’t. I’m not going to put the prices on here because I expect they’ll probably change over time. But, I highly recommend taking a close look at each of these photo gallery themes for WordPress. These are some of the best:

Modularity Wordpress photo gallery theme

Download

Wordpress Photo Gallery Theme - Modularity

This theme is super-slick. It flaunts a simple layout but a whack of options behind the scenes. The theme options include the following:

• Built in full-screen HD video player
• Optional homepage slideshow
• Optional homepage Mac-style image slider gallery
• Optional homepage Magazine-style post layout
• Optional homepage blog-style layout
• A theme options page where you can define background, text, link colors, contact info, site tracking code and more
• A homepage settings page where you can choose which apps show up on your homepage layout
• SEO-optimised titles and alt tags
• Four widgetized areas
• Click-down navigation for a compact, minimalist masthead
• Built-in multimedia custom field support
• Automatic thumbnail generation. No need to manage thumbnails using custom fields

Aperture – A WooTheme Photo Gallery for WordPress Photographers

Download

Aperture - A WooTheme Photo Gallery Theme for WordPress

This is a great theme by WooThemes, who does some amazing stuff. I’ve actually purchased themes from WooThemes and been very impressed with the quality, so I expect if you’re a photographer looking for some kind of Wordpress gallery, you should find a good set of options there.

BlackCanvas – A StudioPress Photographer’s WordPress Theme

Download

BlackCanvas - Wordpress for Photographers

StudioPress themes come with the following features:

• Widget-Ready
• Theme Options Page
• Ready for Advertising
• Comment Functionality
• Developed for Localization
• PSD Files Included
• Lifetime Support
• WordPress & Theme Tutorials
• Approved Designers

I’ll stop here for today, but if you like this kind of post, please say so in the comments and I’ll be happy to keep giving some great themes (whether it’s for WordPress photo galleries or perhaps other WordPress genres of themes). You name it.

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Please, add your awesome Father’s Day gift ideas in the comments and I’ll probably add them to this post if I think the’re cool and/or unique enough.

The great list of Gift Ideas for your Pops on Father’s Day

Happy Father's Day! (image credit davef3138)

1. A family photo put on canvas for wall art *
2. A steak dinner, delivered to his door *
3. A gift card to a wine club for the wine drinker
4. Sightseeing tour for the adventure-seeking dad
5. Eco-friendly, recycled golf balls
6. Tailgating swing-out grill
7. A new cell phone (for free)
8. Wall art for your dad’s office
9. A mini tennis court for the driveway
10. Personalized golf balls from Schwetty Balls (not even kidding)
11. T-shirts and other stuff from Old Guys Rule
12. Other funny t-shirts
13. Laptop or travel bag for the father on the move
14. Old fashioned shaving stuff for the dad who likes it done the old fashioned way.
15. For the geeky dad, geek gadgets and gifts (Use coupon code: DEALNEWS and this link for free FedEx shipping)
16. Poker supplies for your dad’s weekly poker games
17. Make your own father’s day card, calendar, poster, or book for him (free 5×5 photo book via this link)

Honestly, I wish I had a child so I could get a few of these as presents on a day that’s 6 months away from my birthday. That would be sweet. Some of the gifts are pretty typical, but others would be an awesome gift to give your dad. Remember, it’s not too far away… might want to start looking just a little early this year, otherwise you’ll end up getting him that same ‘ol generic tie.

What other great Father’s Day gifts can you think of? What are you going to do for your dad on Father’s day?

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