Boston Media Makers, The Final Mingle at Doyle's Cafe 10/20/19

It’s still hard to believe that Doyle’s is closing.

Thanks again to Gerry, Donna, Eileen, and the team who took care of us for the 11 years that we had Boston Media Makers meetings there on the first Sunday of every month.

For many years Carol and I stopped in for corned beef and cabbage.

It’s the type of place that we would search for when traveling around the world. A classic Irish bar with a lot of character. Sad to see it go.

Downton Abbey: The Exhibition will arrive in Boston on June 15, 2019

Downton Abbey: The Exhibition will arrive in Boston on June 15, 2019 for a strictly limited time.

Tickets
Starting at $35, seniors from 33.

Info
https://www.downtonexhibition.com

#downtonexhibition

Children ages 14 and under visit for free when accompanied by a paying adult.

Hours
10am to 6:00pm (last ticket sold at 4:30 pm)
Some Exceptions Apply.

Location
The Castle at Park Plaza
130 Columbus Ave, Boston
At the intersection of Stuart St, Arlington St, and Columbus Ave

Experience Kissimmee in Boston with a FREE Zipline Ride, Live Alligators, Crayola coloring, and airboat selfies

Experience Kissimmee is bringing a little bit of Florida sunshine to Boston!

Carol and I went to Experience Kissimmee's press preview and experienced a lot of firsts! On Carol's bucket list was riding on a zipline, COMPLETED. It was a great way to sample what a zipline is in a relatively low ride. I did it too and it was fun.

We also were able to take an airboat ride in Boston Harbor. The guys from Wild Florida were lots of fun and gave us an idea of what it would be like to take an airboat ride in the Everglades. What they didn't expect was getting stopped by the State Police for driving an airboat in Boston Harbor! Luckily the ride that was stopped wasn't our ride, and they were allowed to continue after confirming that they had permission to give the press rides as a preview for their event. The Boston Harbor needs something like this to open up the waterfront to more people. Regular rides along the waterfront would be a fun addition for the city. ;-)

Not on Carol's bucket list was meeting a live alligator and holding a painted dragon lizard from Gatorland Orlando, but she did that too. That will be a lot of fun for kids.

Here are the details on Experience Kissimmee's three day Boston Event:

Join Experience Kissimmee for some high-speed, high-flying fun in the heart of Boston. The Freezin’ Gator Zipline and other activities are FREE and open to the public!

WHEN:

Saturday, February 18- Monday, February 20, Open from 11 AM to 5 PM*
(*Come early! Lines may close before 5 PM if we are at capacity)

WHERE:

Rose Kennedy Greenway-Dewey Square
Located in front of South Station

WHAT:

- Ride on Gatorland's 250’ temporary zipline







- Meet LIVE alligators from Gatorland Orlando





- Color your world at the Crayola Experience Orlando coloring tent





- Take the ultimate selfie on an airboat with Wild Florida



- Enter to WIN a vacation to Kissimmee, FL and tons of other exciting prizes in our sweepstakes!

Restrictions:
-All riders will need to sign a waiver. (Kids under 18 will need parental consent.)
-Riders must weigh 75 pounds but no more than 250 pounds.
-No height restrictions.

If you feel generous, please bring a gently used coat to donate to a community charity. (A local charity will be announced real soon, stay tuned)!*

#ZipBoston

Night out at the Celtics

Greenway Water Feature

Note: Photos shot with Samsung #NX1 in AUTO mode. Buy on Amazon.com (affiliate link):



Disclosure: Samsung supplied the Samsung NX1 28.2 MP Wireless SMART Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm f/2.0-2.8 "S" Lens to me on loan to play with and requested a short write-up and/or photos shared with the #NX1 hashtag.

Boston Public Market

Note: Photos shot with Samsung #NX1 in AUTO mode. Buy on Amazon.com (affiliate link):


Disclosure: Samsung supplied the Samsung NX1 28.2 MP Wireless SMART Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm f/2.0-2.8 "S" Lens to me on loan to play with and requested a short write-up and/or photos shared with the #NX1 hashtag.

Boston Blizzard 2015 Live Video Stream

Havas Moves into Old Filene's Building

MakerBot Store Boston Grand Opening 11/21/13

Most photos taken with Samsung Galaxy Camera. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @SamsungMobileUS for the review unit.


Samsung Galaxy Camera EK-GC100 8GB White, Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean) 3G Unlocked HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 by Samsung from New Generation Products

A Look at Boston Mayoral Campaign Signs

Nice Boston Globe article looking at the Boston Mayoral campaign signs, but at BostonGlobe.com you can't see all the campaign signs.

I first saw the article online and wondered why all the signs weren't shown in the article. Then I saw the actual front page of the print newspaper, and there they all are.

The Newspaper and ePaper graphic should be online at BostonGlobe.com:


Image: BostonGlobe.com courtesy Boston Globe

What are the candidates’ signs really saying?:

Political yard signs have inundated Boston as 12 candidates scrap and scrape for votes in the most volatile mayor’s race in decades...

Front Page of the Newspaper via ePaper:


Image: Boston Globe ePaper Edition: Campaign Signs courtesy Boston Globe

My take:

Taking a look at the signs to see which candidates make it easy to find out more via a putting a URL on the sign. Also looking at which candidates are smart enough to leave off 'www.' in front of the URL.

Signs without a website URL: Consalvo, Conley, Yancey, Clemons

Signs with Website URL with 'www.': Barros, Walczak, Arroyo, Golar Richie, Walsh

Signs with Website URL without 'www.': Ross, Connolly

The charity: water Jerry Can Visits Boston

I carried a jerry can around Boston yesterday to my charity: water September campaign for India. Some women in India have to carry this 5 Gallon water container up to 3 miles every day for clean water. Filled, it's about 40 pounds.

Please donate to my charity: water September campaign to bring clean water to India.


It's easier to carry a Growler full of Harpoon beer.

Please donate to my charity: water September campaign to bring clean water to India.


These kids playing on the Make Way For Ducklings statues have no concerns about clean water.

Please donate to my charity: water September campaign to bring clean water to India.


charity: water jerry can visits the Swan Boats of Boston

Please donate to my charity: water September campaign to bring clean water to India.


Swan Boats.

Would be nice if people could sit and relax on a Swan Boat ride instead of walking 2-3 miles for clean water.

Please donate to my charity: water September campaign to bring clean water to India.

A Beautiful Night at Fenway Park to Watch the Red Sox Play Baseball

Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts

Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts - Boston.com, a photo by stevegarfield on Flickr.

Head over to Boston.com to see the full article, Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts, and check out the crazy scrolling.

Video Replay and Review: 'Boston Strong' benefit concert

Boston Globe Front Page:


There's a Video Replay of the 'Boston Strong' benefit concert, but guess what?

IT"S BUFFERING!



LOL.

So sad.

DONATE
To donate go to: www.onefundboston.org, call 1-855-617-FUND, or text BOSTON to 80108 to give $10.

Boston Globe: Why wasn’t the ‘Boston Strong’ benefit concert televised?

Y! Music: Benefit Concert Unites Americans In Love Of Boston, Hatred Of Dane Cook

Segments are starting to show up on YouTube:


May 30, 2013 @ Boston Strong -- New Kids On The Block's full set featuring Dropkick Murphys, Bell Biv Devoe, and Boyz II Men


Boston Strong Concert Finale - Aerosmith & NKOTB and more - 5/30/13

Recapping some of my highlights:

Lenny Clarke looked great and was So funny!



J Geils Band played some songs off they Blow Your Face Out Live album. Fun to see it live.



Here's Steven Wright:


Loved Joey Mac and New Kids.



Great to see Joey and Steven Tyler together at the end!



NKOTB!



The original JT!



Aerosmith rocked!





Boston was great too.



I enjoyed following along on the twitter #concert4boston hashtag throughout the night.
Lowlights:

Video stream for the first two hours was a disaster.

#Concert4Boston live stream failure is a good example of why there's still TV and Cable.

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) May 30, 2013

From the Boston Globe:

For the most part, the concert didn’t go so smoothly for those watching it outside the Garden.

The live web stream of the show crashed and viewers had nowhere else to turn because the concert was not televised. Some were able to find an audio stream, but well after the show had started.

“Nearly half a million people logged on to view the beginning of the show which lead to bandwidth related issues,” promoter Live Nation said in a statement.

No kidding.

Thanks to SiriusXM for have a crystal clear live audio stream.

Audio is the most important thing about video.

More updates later.

Your thoughts?

Elsewhere:

Dane Cook Gets Ripped For Blocking Out Boston Strong Concert Performance.

Cook explained on twitter:

Hey everyone sorry my set was not a part of the live stream or televised! I didn't want any of the new material to hit the airwaves yet!

— Dane Cook (@DaneCook) May 31, 2013

JERK.

.@LiveNationNE @tdgarden Can you explain why you had problems with the live stream and how it was resolved? Thanks. #concert4boston

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) May 31, 2013

Update:

Needham man helps fix #BostonStrong concert livestream: http://t.co/oSvZTAtBkM #Concert4Boston

— 7News (@7News) May 31, 2013

Firebrand Saints, Cambridge, MA

Firebrand Saints
ONE BROADWAY
CAMBRIDGE MA 02142

I had a great time this afternoon at Firebrand Saints. There was a nice breeze and shade provided by umbrellas over the outside picnic tables.


Outside Seating


Inside Seating

Fine beer selection including Ellie's Brown Ale. Yum!

Beer

What made the afternoon was this Grilled Tuna Nicoise Style. I mean, how can you go wrong with grilled tuna w/ haricot verts, toybox tomatoes, olives, and egg?



It was perfect. Service was friendly and prompt.

Just a great time.

Boston Strong: An Evening of Support and Celebration - LIVE STREAMING SITES

UPDATE:

CNN LIVE stream seems to be ok now for #concert4boston http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/cvplive/cvpstream1.html

UPDATE:
Listen to live audio stream here:

Live audio stream.

Watch video here with MUTE:

CNN.




Try http://livealliance.tv/

Working on the live streaming issues - we promise! Should be up and running in a few minutes. #Concert4Boston http://t.co/JaUNfqQB73

— Concert4Boston (@concert4boston) May 30, 2013

"Boston Strong: An Evening of Support and Celebration" Featuring: Aerosmith, James Taylor and New Kids on the Block, Dropkick Murphys, J. Geils Band, Boston, Godsmack, Extreme, Jason Aldean, Jimmy Buffett and Carole King, Dane Cook, Lenny Clarke and Steve Sweeney, Steven Wright.

WCVB
The concert will be live on WCVB.com starting at 7 p.m. Thursday.

DIRECT LINK TO WCVB Live Stream.

via WCVB

TD GARDEN
#Concert4Boston will be streaming LIVE on http://TDGarden.com

NECN
NECN.com will be live streaming too.

MIX 104.1
Mix 104.1 too.

CBS
CBS Boston.

iHeartRADIO
The event will be broadcast online on this page tonight at 7pm ET!

SIRIUS XM
#concert4boston will be broadcast live on #SiriusXM #RadioMargaritaville for those who can't be there.

DONATE
To donate go to: www.onefundboston.org, call 1-855-617-FUND, or text BOSTON to 80108 to give $10.

Also:

#RedSox fans: Help @davidortiz raise money for Boston Marathon victims by purchasing a custom bat from bigpapi.com #BostonStrong

— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) May 24, 2013

Converse Kicks Up One Fund Donations With Limited Edition Boston Chucks.

Live Broadcast TV Streaming to my iPad with AereoTV

Testing Aereo Boston: Live Broadcast TV Streaming Online to My Computer

I pre-registered for Aereo, so I've got exclusive access to Aereo before it becomes available to the general public in Boston.


Image: Aereo: Live TV Online

Aereo allows you to stream live TV to your computer.

This is something I've wanted for a while. You know when breaking news happens and twitter starts being filled with live reports? Many times, the best place to see what it happening is on live TV.

That means stepping away from the computer, and moving to a TV. It's a first world problem for sure.

But Aereo seems like it could be a solution for people without subscriptions to cable TV, or those that want to use their computer as a TV replacement. Existing solutions require the purchase of add on hardware tuners.

So here we go. Let's see what Aereo looks like.

SIGN UP
You have to sign up with a valid credit card which has a Boston billing address. That's straight forward.

Once signed up, the Aereo home screen shows up.


Image: Aereo: Home Screen

RECORDING
Oh look, it's SMASH! One of my favorite shows. I'll be sad to see it go. That's onw of the featured shows, and oh look, you can record it like a TiVo.

Let's try that.


Image: Aereo: RECORD a SHOW

My options are to Record:

- Jut this oncee
- Every New Episode
- All Episodes
- Cancel

Optionally, I can share to twitter.

Since this is the last episode ever, I'll choose Just this once, and I'll share to twitter.

Oh look, recording options.


Image: Aereo: RECORDING OPTIONS

Very nice. I'll just click SAVE.

Cool. Now it shows up as a scheduled recording.

Image: Aereo: RECORDINGS

I have a total of 20 hours of recording space at the $8/month subscription rate.

WATCHING LIVE
Now let's get back to watching live TV.

Let's watch that show about BBQ.


Image: Aereo: WATCH

OK, I'm watching Live.



No wait.

I'm watching Buffering... live.

This isn't so good.

Let's see if it clears up.


Image: Aereo: More buffering

Mmmm...


Image: Aereo: And more buffering

Coffee-crusted pork tenderloins! Sounds good, but the buffering makes this unwatchable.

Let me check the Support FAQ to see what's happening. Maybe it's getting slammed buy everyone from Boston trying it at the same time.

Here's my SpeedTest results:


Should have no bandwidth problems.

Let's try another channel.

How about Track and Field?


Image: Aereo: Track and Field

OK, now that's better. No buffering. HIGH quality and great sound.

Let's watch for a while.

No buffering now. This is working very well.

Now I'm watching I SPY on Retro TV. Hey, it's secret agent Bill Cosby!


Image: Aereo: I SPY

I didn't even know there was such a thing as Retro TV. ;-) Tonight on Retro TV, The Saint and Route 66. Nice.

Despite the initial buffering problems, everything is running smoothly now.

Do you have Aereo? What's your experience?

Update:

I'm back.

Golf is buffering.



Update II:

I'm back.

Golf isn't buffering.



Update III:

I'm back again.

I'm watching Martin and Lewis on #TheColgateComedyHour from the 1950's on @aereotv (It's a time machine!) bos.aereo.com/s9836

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) May 25, 2013

Oh this is great!

Read more: Aereo TV works on an iPad too.