Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

We picked blueberries, then made a great cake.

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe at All Recipes

.

AD:
Using a KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer made this job easy.

Set Up: Hopbox one gallon home-brewing kit

I got my Hopbox one gallon home-brewing kit. I was happy to support them via Kickstarter.

Here's the Hopbox is set up in the basement. Seems like a good place for it.



I'm excited to get started.

Getting this kit reminds me of the little chemistry set I had as a kid.


Image: Antique Gilbert Chemistry Set via the artist Mary Ellen Long

Beer making is chemistry. ;-)

Microwave Corn in Husk. Pop it out.

Wet corn husk.

Microwave in husk for 6 minutes.

Chop off bottom of corn stalk.



Pop corn out.

It's hot. Be careful. Try again.



Pop corn out.

Zach Braff's Wish I Was Here Boston Backer Screening

How @CaseyNeistat is changing #vlogging with @Snapchat Stories

Snapchat Stories are going to be the next big thing in telling video stories.

@TechVoid Great post on @CaseyNeistat using @Snapchat to create a new form of vlogging.

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) July 3, 2014

I've been following Casey's experiments with Snapchat Stories and creating some of my own. My excitement around this reminds me of the early days of videoblogging.

Erik Hyrkas, of the Tech Void blog, says:

Snapchat Stories are the future of vlogging (video blogging), and internet-renowned filmmaker and adrenaline junkie Casey Neistat and I are here to tell you why.

Casey explains his use of Snapchat Stories here, and how they relate to his more 'professional' work.



What Casey describes IS what we were doing in the early days of videoblogging. Capturing moments and putting them together to tell a story.

SAVING SNAPCHAT STORIES
All my earlier Snapchat Stories are gone since Snapchat doesn't save anything.

Casey decided to SAVE his stories and post them to YouTube.

Here's one of Casey and his son Owen on the French Riviera:



He also adds a nice Intro and Outro.

I don't know how he's doing it. There are a few apps in the iPhone app store that let you save snaps and stories. I decided to save and post my most recent one to YouTube.

I used Reflector, on the Mac.

Note: LIKE their page on Facebook to get 15% off.

EDITING
After saving, I imported the video into FCP X and added an Intro and Outro.

The fun of Snapchat stories is that you don't have to edit. Your story is assembled as you add moments to it throughout the day.

I decided to edit this one for fun. I also modified the audio in one spot to make it louder. I enjoy editing. Not sure how many Snapchat Stories I'll save and post to YouTube.

What do you think the criteria should be?

While editing, it totally reminded me of the videos that I used to do with my wife, that we called, The Carol and Steve Show, especially this one, Burgers and Beans Part 1 and Part 2. ;-)

Here's my Snapchat Story from July 3rd.



SUBSCRIBE
Note: I posted it on my main YouTube channel. Subscribe. ;-0

FOLLOW ON SNAPCHAT
Follow 'CaseyNeistat' and me,'stevegarfield' on Snapchat to see our stories as they happen. Swipe right to see them, and then press and hold to see the story.

Try some yourself.

Snapchat is experimenting with allowing multiple people to add to the same story, with curation. That's going to be fun when it's more widely available.

UPDATE:

You CAN shoot LANDSCAPE video in snapchat. ;-)

Two Great Apps on the Lumia 1520: Netflix and HERE Drive+

I've had the Lumia 1520 for evaluation for a while now and two apps that stand out as my favorites are Netflix and HERE Drive+.



Netflix
I use Netflix to watch House of Cards while on the treadmill. The runtime of the show is about 52 minutes. Makes watching very enjoyable.

The specs on the display are: Display size: 6". Display resolution: Full HD (1920 x 1080).

Note: The volume controls on my SOL headphones did not work though. Check first to make sure your headphone is compatible.

Here Drive+
Here Drive+ comes from Nokia and is a great navigation app.

There are many voices to choose from. Surfer Dude was fun for a while, then I tried English (UK), and settled on English (US) because street names were announced. The display is big and bright, and navigation is easy to follow. I big bonus here.

Nokia Disclosure:

Photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @NokiaUS for the review unit.


Affiliate Link.

tech, nokia, lumia1520, microsoft, windows phone, review, teamlumia

Best #SMDay Boston Ever at @SamuelAdamsBeer

Massachusetts budget to allow for direct shipments of wine from out-of-state vineyards.

Massachusetts budget to allow for direct shipments of up to 12 cases of wine a year from out-of-state vineyards.

Massachusetts budget deal relies on casino licensing fees; bottle bill expansion dropped, setting up ballot campaign

Mercedes-Benz CLA Walk Around GIF

Mercedes_Benz CLA Walk Around GIF. Thanks @MBofBurlington for the test drive. ;-) #GifGrabber http://t.co/M7FrXuphPM

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) June 20, 2014

Testing new twitter GIF feature.

Used GifGrabber on Mac to create the GIF.

Happy #Brewlywed Day! 6/18/2004

Fisher&Paykel Makes a Counter Depth Refrigerator That Fits

Here's my wife Carol, doing her best Vanna White impression, showing you the refrigerator that we needed to replace.

@kenmore retiring this refrigerator. Sad to see it go. pic.twitter.com/X0uELUjc8t

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) June 9, 2014

I'm sad to see this member of the family go. We've been together for a long time! My Aunt Minnie bought us this Kenmore Coldspot refrigerator as a wedding gift. It was a very generous gift. My Aunt Minnie was a saver and she'd have been pleased that it lasted for such a long time.

FINDING A NEW REFRIGERATOR
Trying to find a replacement has been a chore.

This Kenmore refrigerator is counter depth, with a freezer on the bottom that has a door, and NOT a drawer. The cabinetry in this kitchen was built around the dimensions of this unit, so the new unit could only be so high and wide.

We shopped for a long time.

Many online search tools came up with Jenn-Air, but it wasn't clear that those units were inbuilt units with not stainless sides to them. In order to use one of those, we'd need to bring in a carpenter. Also, one of our friends told us to never buy Jenn-Air under any circumstances! The conflicted with other friends who recommended it.

We asked a lot of friends if they liked their refrigerator. NO ONE DID.

Some things we heard:

- Fridge sticks out to far. It's too deep.
- Fridge was too tall, Had to shave the cabinets to make it fit.
- Fridge broke numerous times.
- Fridge bottom drawer is inconvenient.

Many new refrigerators have drawers on the bottom. We like a door with shelves.

Many new refrigerators are wider than 33". 33" or less was our size.

SHOPPING
In the end, we wanted to visit a store to see the refrigerator in person. One one of my personal Facebook threads, asking for help, the CEO of Yale Appliance showed up, after being added into the conversation by a friend. THAT was cool.

We ended up visiting Yale Appliance a few times and finally found what could be the only refrigerator on the planet that fit our requirements.

Here it is:


Fisher&Paykel E522BRX4:

Height - incl. feet and hinge cap 67 1/8in
Width 31 1/8in
Depth - including handle 29in
Depth - door closed not including handle 28 1/8in

IT'S IN


THE BEER FITS


The LED lighting is nice and bright. There's lots of room for beer. A 1.5L bottle of wine will have to go on the door.

I had read reports that newer refrigerators are noisier than old ones. I tested the difference with a db meter and there's no difference.

I'm happy we finally made the decision. Really the only one. Hopefully, if you've got a similar space in your kitchen, this will help you decide what to do.

Photos from Nantucket

Nokia Disclosure:

Photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @NokiaUS for the review unit.


Affiliate Link.

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Create a Twitter Storm with Little Pork Chop

Sometimes when you are on twitter, you have more to say than 140 characters.

When that happens, you can write up a blog post and link to it, or you can break up your thoughts into multiple tweets.

Up until now, this has been a manual process. But, not any longer. Now there is 'Little Pork Chop' http://little.porkchop.io/



You just type in whatever you want to say, and Little Pork Chop chops it up and posts it for you.

1: Sometimes when you are on twitter, you have more to say than 140 characters.

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) June 7, 2014

2: When that happens, you can write up a blog post and link to it, or you can break up your thoughts into multiple tweets.

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) June 7, 2014

3: Up until now, this has been a manual process. But, not any longer. Now there is 'Little Pork Chop' http://t.co/TCuGzfWlGt

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) June 7, 2014

4: You just type in whatever you want to say, and Little Pork Chop chops it up and posts it for you.

— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) June 7, 2014

Staples Online $30 Coupon Not Valid In Store or for Epson Ink

FYI, The Staples Online $30 Coupon Not Valid In Store or for Epson Ink.



They came together so I made the mistake of not reading carefully.

Then I went into the store and brought ink to the register. I was told that you have to buy online to use the $30 coupon.

The $10 coupon was for in store use.

But, if you read the back of it, it doe not include Epson Ink.


Image: Fine Print

In the end, it's easier to buy online from Amazon.com.





Amazon Affiliate Links.

Update:

Staples tweeted me.

@stevegarfield Please DM us your contact info along with the ink model #, we can help you out. ^RP

— Staples US (@Staples) June 6, 2014

I DM'd them.

[Video] Boston's Tom Scholz: One In A Million

[Video] Boston's Tom Scholz takes us behind the scenes for a one-of-a-kind tour of his studio and his life.

[Video] Mercedes Benz CLA Review

TESTING

1. Golf Clubs
2. Garage
3. Coffee Cups (2)
4. Driving and Comfort
5. Looks

Thanks to Bernie Moreno of Mercedez-Benz of Burlington and Craig Meece of All Brand Autos for arranging the test drive.

Read more about how this test drive happened:

Buying a car. I just want someone to care.

Update to this: I now have a financial interest in the Mercedez-Benz of Burlington dealership! I'm working with them to make the car buying experience better for everyone.

Hollywood Must Stop Making Monster Movies. It's Horrific!

It always amazes me when huge CGI monsters appear to annihilate a city in apocalyptic movies these days.

When watching these blockbusters in the theatre, it's sometimes asphyxiating. It leaves me with a bad feeling. Heading out to the lobby for a drink of water is just a Band-Aid solution. What's really needed is a big time break. Putting the brakes on the whole situation, like an “X” car, at a red light will help deter the cataclysmic and catastrophic effects of being closed in a dark theatre.

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger (mission STS-51-L) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight. It was chaotic. Curt Cobain could have written a song that condemns the Corvair-like crippling design of critical systems, making the shuttle a dangerous deathtrap. It was debilitating for loved ones.

One does not need to see some monster decapitating someone is a movie to understand that there's a defect in the Hollywood movie making process. The defective plot lines and bombs producers choose to detonate, disemboweling they depict, enfeebling the viewers is evil. Seeing someone be eviscerated, buildings being made to explode promotes a failed and flawed movie making process.

Genocide is too strong a word, ghastly, grenadelike, grisly, and gruesome might be better choices. The Hindenburg disaster showed us that hobbling the design process could lead to horrific outcomes. An impaling, inferno, of Kevorkianesque death would be preferable to the lacerating, life-threatening, potential safety implications.

When you are in a theatre and see maiming, malicious behavior, and mangling by, maniacal, mutilating anti-heroes never before seen on screen it leads to a potentially-disfiguring, powder keg, problem seeded into the theatre goers mind.

Don't get me started on the over use of a rolling sarcophagus (tomb or coffin) in film.

This has got to stop for the safety, safety related consequences, and serious implications that it presents.

Spontaneous combustion is startling and suffocating leading to suicidal, terrifying thoughts of Titanic proportions.

Please, don't let unstable directors turn into widow-maker writers of words or phrases with a biblical connotation, you’re toast it this continues.

Based on The 69 Words You Can’t Use at GM:

always, annihilate, apocalyptic, asphyxiating, bad, Band-Aid, big time, brakes like an “X” car, cataclysmic, catastrophic, Challenger, chaotic, Cobain, condemns, Corvair-like, crippling, critical, dangerous, deathtrap, debilitating, decapitating, defect, defective, detonate, disemboweling, enfeebling, evil, eviscerated, explode, failed, flawed, genocide, ghastly, grenadelike, grisly, gruesome, Hindenburg, Hobbling, Horrific, impaling, inferno, Kevorkianesque, lacerating, life-threatening, maiming, malicious, mangling, maniacal, mutilating, never, potentially-disfiguring, powder keg, problem, rolling sarcophagus (tomb or coffin), safety, safety related, serious, spontaneous combustion, startling, suffocating, suicidal, terrifying, Titanic, unstable, widow-maker, words or phrases with a biblical connotation, you’re toast

Review: Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor with Flexball™ Technology

Buy on Amazon.com: Gillette Fusion Proglide Manual Men's Razor With Flexball Handle Technology With 2 Razor Blade Refills

Disclosure: Review Unit, Amazon Affiliate

Buying a car. I just want someone to care.

I'm thinking about buying a new car.

One that I'm interested in is the new Mercedes Benz CLA.

Casey Neistat's video make it look like a fun car.



I contacted my local Mercedes dealer asking for a test drive.

I exchanged emails, and they told me that they'd contact me when the CLA was available.

I got a few, "Are you still interested?" emails over time. Auto generated.

Then I never heard back about the test drive.

When I heard the car was available, I emailed in again, and got back email address not found.

So I contacted the dealer, and found out that the internet rep had left.

That's a failure of their marketing system.

I'm STUCK IN THE FUNNEL.

So they assigned me to someone else.

They were not so bright. I emailed asking what happened to the last rep and what models support Apple's CarPlay.

They replied:

She is no longer with the dealership and decided to explore different options... I am not sure what CarPlay is? Is it some sort of iPhone app?

If I was that rep, I'd know what CarPlay was. And if I didn't I'd GOOGLE IT!

Then that rep left.

Then they assigned me to someone else, and they keep bothering me with automated emails, and phone calls that sound like they are from someone who just woke up with a hangover.

I emailed telling them not to contact me anymore.

I gave up.

Then I saw a tweet this AM after I tweeted about seeing a CLA on the street.



A new Mercedes Dealer is coming to Boston.

So I contacted the new dealer's president, on twitter, who's dealership isn't even going to be in Massachusetts until next year.

He tweeted back right away!



That's great service.

UPDATE:

I'm getting a CLA delivered to my house for a test drive on Friday.



That makes me happy.

Update:

I got a test drive.

[Video] Mercedes Benz CLA Review.

[Video] Wish I Was Here Trailer

Watch my trailer for the movie I helped get made, Wish I Was Here with Zach Braff!

Samuel Adams Brewery - Nano Brewery Tour

Nokia Disclosure:

Photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @NokiaUS for the review unit.

Affiliate Link.

tech, nokia, lumia1520, microsoft, windows phone, review, teamlumia

Dunkin' Donuts Mobile® App on Windows Phone?

I'm reviewing the Microsoft Nokia Lumia 1520 Windows Phone.

One thing it does not have is the Dunkin' Donuts Mobile® App.



I like to use that app to pay for coffee in the morning with my regular phone, an iPhone. But I'm exclusively testing out the Nokia Lumia 1520 to see if can do everything I'm used to doing with my iPhone. Well, it can't run the Dunkin' Donuts Mobile® App, but there is a workaround.

Bring up your payment screen on your iPhone or Android device, and take a screenshot. Then email that to your Windows Phone.


Image: Payment page with QR code. Don't use this QR code.

Then save that image.

I saved it under favorites.

Then when paying, have them scan the QR code on that image. I tested it today and it worked fine.

Note: It's also a good way to pay on iPhone or Android when the Dunkin' Donuts Mobile® App fails to open or load the card.

Nokia Disclosure:

Thanks @NokiaUS for the Nokia Lumia 1520 review unit.


Affiliate Link.

tech, nokia, lumia1520, microsoft, windows phone, review, teamlumia

Samuel Adams Introduces Growlers at the Boston Brewery

Nokia Disclosure:

Photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @NokiaUS for the review unit.

Affiliate Link.

tech, nokia, lumia1520, microsoft, windows phone, review, teamlumia

Downtown Crossing Boston Home Tour

Microsoft Nokia Lumia 1520 Review. It's not an iPhone, but it's not an iPhone!

Microsoft Nokia was nice enough to invite me to a three day experience in the Boston area to get to know the Lumia 1520, phone as part of Team Lumia. In return for participating, they asked that I share any content created over the three days with the hashtag #TeamLumia.




LUMIA 1520 SCREEN

I've had my 1520 for a while, so I didn't need much guidance, but I enjoyed learning about new to me features when appropriate. Like a suggestion to try a panorama while at Fenway Park. A perfect time and place to try that feature out.


FENWAY PARK PANORAMA

You tap the screen to start the panorama,a nd hold still, then a little circle shows you where to move the camera too to take the next shot. Very slick.

I also used the feature after the event at the Museum of Fine Arts for a concert.



Also, although I did not shoot much video, learning about the (4) microphone came in handy after the event, when I had the opportunity to shoot a video of a live band. Impressive.



So after using it for a few days, here are the Pros and Cons:

---

PROS

SIZE
I really like the size of the Lumnia 1520. So easy to read and bright.

LIVE TILES
Live tiles is a very cool feature, allowing you to see in real time, updates to the underlying apps, like stock quotes.


LIVE TILES ON HOME SCREEN

PINNING TO THE HOME PAGE
You can pin from inside of an app, so for example, in twitter, I can PIN one of my twitter lists to the home page, and go directly to that section of twitter, instead of having to click around to get there.

BATTERY LIFE
The battery life is MUCH better than the iPhone.

HERE DRIVE APP
The driving directions app is very nice. You've got lots of voices to choose from including a Surfer Dude that was fun, for a while.



CAMERA
The camera is very good. I used the Nokia Camera app in automatic mode and got some great shots. Nokia Camera also has manual mode which lets you control exposure to fix, for example, a bright backlight.

COLOR POP
Built in to Nokia Camera is the Color Pop feature. It turns your color photo black and white, then you touch whatever parts of the image where you want the color to be visible. This is fun.


Perrier

AUTO


MANUAL


INSTAGRAM SELFIES
Instagram selfies are not mirrored when saved. I problem that Instagram refuses to fix on iOS.

---

CONS

The Cursor
When you put your finger down to insert the cursor, it flies in ABOVE the text. That's not right.

MENUS
In some apps, like Nokia Camera, to get to a feature you have to drill down menu options. One example is switching to a selfie camera. Takes too many steps. It's easily fixed though.

NOKIA CAMERA
After you take a photo, you can't get to edit mode. You have to go to your camera roll to open up another app to edit with, like Nokia Creative Studio.



NOKIA CREATIVE STUDIO
In the BLUR tool, the focus object and radial+tilt shift difference between the object infocus and the background is too severe. There needs to be an adjustable gradient. Instagram had this same problem at first.


Image: focus object and radial+tilt shift

STOP BEFORE:

Image: Stop Sign shot in manual mode

STOP AFTER:

Image: Stop Sign edited with radial+tilt shift. Needs finer gradient.

THE CASE
The case I was using, puts the selfie camera at the bottom left, while the camera control is at the top right. That's not ergonomic.

iPHOTO
In order to import into iPhoto, I have to use the Windows App. iPhoto knows that I connect a phone, but it never recognizes it.

NO YOUTUBE CAPTURE
My favorite shoot, edit, and upload program right now is YouTube Capture. Wish it was here.

---

I had to answer a few questions after the experience. Here are a couple:

Are you more likely to recommend Nokia Lumia to your friends and family as a result of your exposure to the product?

Yes. I would say that the 1520 is a smartphone that I could recommend. I'm still going to review it vs the iPhone some more, and though it is lacking in some apps, since the event, I've forwarded my iPhone to the 1520 and have been using it exclusively. For someone who is not tied to the APPLE environment, it could be a good choice. Especially for those with poor eyesight. My iPhone seems SO small now.

Based upon your experience with your Nokia Lumia at this event, how likely are you to switch to a Lumia phone?

I've used the iPhone for so long, I've invested in a wealth of apps that I enjoy using. Especially photo apps. the Lumia has some nice alternatives, better in some instances too, but I need to take a closer look at what photo apps I really love.

Also, NOKIA doesn't have a Dunkin Donut Perks Mobile App on Windows phone. That could be a deal breaker! ;-)

When you see 'Available on the APP Store', for iPhone and 'Get it on Google Play', for Android, it makes you wonder how many more apps are not available for Windows Phone.

---

Nokia Disclosure:

Photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @NokiaUS for the review unit.

Affiliate Link.

tech, nokia, lumia1520, microsoft, windows phone, review, teamlumia

[Video] St. Lucia play ELEVATE at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston via RadioBDC

I was lucky to be able to see St. Lucia play an acoustic show at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston courtesy of RadioBDC.

The entrance to the Museum gives an indication of what's inside:



This guy is cool:



I've seen him in LA. I think he flew here.



My friend Julie Kramer from Radio BDC introduced the band:



Panorama:



St. Lucia plays ELEVATE at Museum of Fine Arts:



After the show I looked around and visited the Quilt Exhibit.



I like when a museum is nice and lets you take photos without a flash. Note: I had to turn off flash focus assist. ;-)

QUILTS:





Watch more St. Lucia video from MFA: RadioBDC Presents: The MFA Sessions with St. Lucia

Nokia Disclosure:

Photos and video taken with Nokia Lumia 1520. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @NokiaUS for the review unit.



Affiliate Link.

tech, nokia, lumia1520, microsoft, windows phone, review

Select Photos from My #TeamLumia Experience in Boston with the Nokia 1520

BEER BOTTLES


CITGO


CRANBERRY JUICE


THE OLD SPOT


SALEM OMEN CANDLES


SALEM WITCHES' CANDLES


Samantha Stevens Statue in Salem Massachusetts.


BLUE vs. GREEN


Nokia Disclosure:

Photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @NokiaUS for the review unit.

Buy Nokia Lumia 1520 on Amazon.com.

Affiliate Link.

Seriously? Can a stupid yellow looking Philips LED light bulb throw bright white light?

Call me a skeptic on this one.

I've made it a goal to change out all the lights in my house to LED. I've been doing a great job. I've got some cool LED bedroom side table lights and floor lamps. I've also got some nice outdoor Philips LED flood lights.


Philips A21 Bulb

But when I took a look at these Philips A21 Bulbs, they are described as throwing off a "Warm White Light," but hen you look at them, they're YELLOW.

How could this work?

I decided to replace one CFL with an LED as a test.


THE TEST: CFL vs LED


Bulb in lamp looking all yellow.

BEFORE with CFL:


AFTER with LED:


In daylight.

Wow.

I'm impressed.

Here's what the Philips LED looks like when it's turned on, no more yellow:


Life Based on Three Hours/Day: 22.8 Years.

Buy on Amazon:

Affiliate link


Nokia Disclosure:

Photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520. CC BY-NC-SA Thanks @NokiaUS for the review unit.

Photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520.

Affiliate Link.

tech, nokia, lumia1520, microsoft, windows phone, review

NYC has 3 new Breathers

Breather, Peace and quiet, On Demand.

NYC has three new Breathers.



Our Rock Plaza Breathers are in the heart of Midtown. There are great views directly across the street to Rockefeller Plaza, home of the Today Show. Grab a break in the middle of the work day, kick your feet up after some sightseeing, or host a meeting, interview or audition.

As always, all our Breathers are centrally located and easy to access. Every Breather has free WiFi, is safe, quiet and cozy. And remember, your first hour is on us!




Book Rock Plaza 1



Book Rock Plaza 2



Book Rock Plaza 3

Disclosure: I'm an investor.

Touring Salem, Massachusetts with with #TeamLumia

Most photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520.

Affiliate Link.

Fenway Park and Boston Red Sox with #TeamLumia

Most photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520.

Affiliate Link.

Boston Craft Beer Tour With TeamLumia

Most photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520.

Affiliate Link.

How to add a three-second intro to your YouTube videos

Here's how.

Upload a video, that's 3 seconds or less long, as unlisted.

Then go to your InVideo Programming page.

CLICK add a branding video.



SELECT a video that's under 3 seconds long from those presented.



CLICK SAVE.

APPLY to videos uploaded after a specific date, OR to all videos.



CLICK update.

YouTube will then post a message saying: "Applying bumper. This may take some time to apply to all videos."

Then as it starts working another message pops up:

"Branding intros are currently being processed on 2 videos. Please wait for processing to complete before selecting a different branding intro."

PROCESSING:

Here you can see it processing on my two most recent video uploads.



Here's my example video:



Note: Based on the htime it takes to process, it looks like the intro is actually edited in to the source video, and then re-encoded for web display, vs. being implemented in a playlist mode where intros could be swapped out more quickly.

Learn more at Boost your channel’s recognition using new intro videos.

Stocking Jamaica Pond

Wegmans Chestnut Hill MA is Open!

Chris Brogan has a new book: The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators

I just bought Chris Brogan's new book The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators, because I like him, and enjoy his weekly newsletters.

Buy The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators
on Amazon.com:



Disclosure: Affiliate

The new boston.com seems to be ad supported.

Boston.com | Boston, MA news, breaking news, sports, video.

PRESS RELEASE:

Boston.com Unveils Redesigned Website

New site is faster and easier to navigate, features more visual elements for immersive storytelling
Boston (April 18, 2014) – Boston.com has unveiled a redesigned website for desktop and mobile platforms that is more responsive and easier to navigate. The mobile redesign launched last month and the desktop redesign launched in beta this week.

The new Boston.com features an elegant black and white design that is crisp and modern, with a continually updated stream of news and feature stories that focus on all things Boston.

The new site incorporates more visual elements – photos, video and graphics – to deliver news and tell stories in ways that readers have come to expect today. Boston.com content will also be easier to navigate and share from a mobile device with its responsive design that adjusts the content to your screen.

"Since it launched in 1995, Boston.com has become one of the largest regional news websites in the country, and we want it to continue to be as vibrant and dynamic as the community serves," said Andrew Perlmutter, Boston Globe Media executive vice president. “We are refining the site to improve the reader experience, making it as easy and enjoyable as possible to discover, experience, and share our content.”

The newly enhanced Boston.com will remain free for readers and will continue to appeal to those looking for a wide-ranging online experience that includes: breaking news and sports coverage; award-winning photography; entertainment and business updates; travel tips and features; lifestyle blogs; and local job and real estate listings.


About Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC
Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC provides news and information, entertainment, opinion and analysis through its multimedia properties. BGMP includes the Boston Globe, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com, Telegram.com and Globe Direct.
###
Copyright © 2014 Elevate Communications, All rights reserved.

Accept credit cards and other payment options through PayPal

I accept credit cards and other payment options through PayPal.




Make it clear that you accept credit cards, other payment options, AND PayPal with a logo from the PayPal Logo Center.

Makerbot's Bre Pettis on CNBC

Makerbot CEO Bre Pettis on CNBC.





Images Courtesy CNBC.

Disclosure: I'm an investor.

Update from on the set:

On @squawkstreet this morning on @cnbc w/ @bre @MakerBotAcademy #3DPrinting pic.twitter.com/uZRUEMc9rA

— MakerBot (@makerbot) April 16, 2014

I Can Get More Power. Comcast Increases Download Speeds.

Good news everyone. Comcast Increases Download Speed.

Press Release: Comcast Increases Internet Speeds for 13th Time in 12 Years:

Comcast today announced it has increased the speeds of two of its Xfinity Internet tiers in the Northeast, at no additional cost to customers. The increase marks the 13th time in the past 12 years that Comcast has increased its speeds...

In the Northeast, the Xfinity Internet Blast tier now offers speeds of up to 105 Mbps (formerly 50 Mbps), and the Xfinity Extreme 105 tier offers speeds up to 150 Mbps (formerly 105 Mbps). This is the second time in two years that Comcast has doubled its Blast tier.

The new speed tiers will be available to customers in the vast majority of Comcast’s Northeast Division, which includes 14 Northeastern states from Maine through Virginia and the District of Columbia. To get access, most customers will just re-start their modems. Some customers may need to upgrade their modems to receive the increased speeds.

I just ran Speedtest and here are my speeds.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Thanks.

Restart your modems. ;-)

A New Lightbulb: Philips SlimStyle LED

This bulb is really bright.

Some reviewers on Amazon.com mentioned noise, but I don't hear it.

Goodbye fluorescent. I'm going ALL LED.



Philips 433227 10.5-watt Slim Style Dimmable A19 LED Light Bulb, Soft White

Finally. Knights of Badassdom Available April 1, 2014

Red Band Trailer:


Plot Summary:

KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM follows three best friends (Peter Dinklage, Steve Zahn and Ryan Kwanten) and dedicated LARPers (Live Action Role Players) as they take to the woods to reenact a dungeons and dragons-like scenario fresh out of the mythical Middle Ages. Trouble arises after they unwittingly conjure up some serious evil in the form of a blood-lusting Succubus, from the pits of hell.

Fantasy and reality collide on the Fields of Evermore in an all-out epic battle of make-believe wizards, demons and assorted mythical creatures. Their courage and friendship is put to the test as they attempt to vanquish the evil they have summoned. Will the group prove to simply be foam sword-wielding LARPers, or true “Knights of Badassdom?”

The cast includes Peter Dinklage, Ryan Kwanten, Steve Zahn. Summer Glau and some fun cameos.



Peter Dinklage was VERY funny in this.

I loved Summer Glau in The Terminator, and it was fun to see her in this, including the times she used some swords.

It's a comedy horror story, and fans of The Walking Dead should enjoy it.

The time flew by when I watched it. Lots of humor, suspense, and gore.

Official Site.

Available on iTunes.

Buy or Stream on Amazon.com:

Types of Online Video You Should Be Creating Today

Types of Online Video You Should Be Creating Today
Jose Castillo interviews Steve Garfield and Jeff Cutler about online video content.

Steve Garfield's WZBC Airchecks from Early 2000's

IMAGE: Steve IS A DJ Blog Header

Just saw Shakira on the Today Show with Carson Daly and he shared a photo of them together from 14 years ago.

This pic of @CarsonDaly and @shakira was taken 14 years ago! #orangeroom pic.twitter.com/CTnDUopZc0

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 26, 2014

12 years ago, I was a DJ on WZBC. I looked back at my blog from back then, Steve is a DJ, where I kept playlists, to see if I had a record of playing Shakira.

I remember a caller calling in to tell me about her. I probably didn't have her record in the studio, but I still remember that call.

I saw that I had some archived audio, but it was hosted on .mac and that is no longer with us, but the Internet Archive Wayback Machine had saved a copy of my radio archives from back then.

If you are interested, here are some sound checks of me as a DJ on WZBC.

15 Authors That Mean Something To Me

I just did that '15 authors that mean something to me' meme. Here are my 15 (+2) that I thought of later and a brief reason why I chose them.

Stephen Covey
7 Habits of Highly Effective People is one of the most influential books that I've ever read.



Three of his habits guide me through life.

1. - Seek First to Understand.

2. - Begin with the end in mind

3. - Think Win Win

Stephen King
I read many of his books. What intrigued me was his detailed descriptions of real life and locations. The Stand is one of my favorite books ever.




Dr. Wayne Dyer
Very inspirational to read, Your Erroneous Zones, in High School. One thing I took away from him was to do what you love. The other, "Worry is a worthless emotion.



Isaac Asimov
Loved his books as a kid.

Daniel Pink
One book of Dan's that I can relate to is The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.




Richard Nelson Bolles
What Color Is Your Parachute?

Richard Saul Wurman
His travel guides got me through Hawaii, Paris and London.




George S. Odiorne
My professor in college. He invented Management By Objectives. I loved the class so much, I became a TA for him. One thing he taught me was how to teach. Invaluable.

L. Ron Hubbard
Love Battlefield Earth.


Then I got into the Misson Earth series. Still haven't finished it. ;-)

Joanne Chang
One of the best cookbooks ever to teach you how to bake.



Mark Bittman
How to Cook Everything, a great cookbook. I met Mark when I was working at WFNX and he was a guest on the show.



Nina Simonds
I worked with Nina to film, edit and produce her videoblog series, Spices of Life. I learned a lot about Asian cooking from Nina.



Scott Berkun
The Myths of Innovation is a great book.




Michael Wohl
When I started editing in Final Cut Pro, Michael's book taught me a lot.




Walter Murch
I learned a lot about video editing from this book.




Plus Bonus Authors:

Douglas Adams
Loved Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.



The game too.

Tom Clancy
I used to carry his huge books to my health club to read while riding a stationary bike.

Samuel Adams Nitro Stout

Samuel Adams Nitro Stout is in limited test release and is delicious!

I was able to try it on the best day of the year, to try a new beer, St. Patrick's Day.


Brendan Behan

At Brendan Behan Pub in Jamaica Plain, I stopped in to have a Guinness.

While drinking a nice cold one, I met Rachelle Bose from Samuel Adams who asked if I wanted to try out a new Samuel Adams Nitro Stout.

Yes I would.



It was delicious with the standard chocolate/coffee notes you would expect. ;-)

It's in limited release in a few bars in the Boston and NYC area.

Bonus: Live Irish music was playing.