I Hardwired my TiVo and Let it Choose DHCP Address

I had a problem connecting my TiVo Series 3 to my home network.

Error: No DHCP connection. 

It might have something to do with the power going out here for 12 hours.

I tried a lot of things and ended up unplugging EVERYTHING, and then physically connecting the TiVo to the Xfinity modem via a hub. I removed an intermediate WiFi device.

It worked.

Hard cable connection to a hub:

Over to a router:

Upstairs:

To the modem:

I donated to support The Brittany Fund and Compassion & Choices - Massachusetts

I donated to support Compassion & Choices - Massachusetts

Leeo Smart Alert™ Nightlight

Ireland's Brewery Tours: Carlow Brewing, Guinness, and Smithwicks

The Cliff House, A Seaside Resort in Ardmore, Ireland

Kilkenny, Ireland: A Church, a Castle, and a Bar.

We went to Waterford to see Crystal being made, but we just visited the store.

Two Stops in County Wicklow, Ireland: Avoca Handweavers and Powerscourt Waterfall

3 Ireland Whiskey Tours: Kilbeggan, Tulemore Dew, and Jameson

Two Great Dublin Hotels: The Westin and Contarf Castle

Traveling from Boston to Dublin: Aer Lingus and Hertz. 6 Tips for a Great Trip.

Havas Opens New Office in Boston's Burnham Building

Havas, which includes Havas Worldwide, Arnold and Havas Media, opened a new office in the old Filene's Building in Boston's Downtown Crossing. Havas employees around 800 people, who will help bring new life to the area. Here's my recap of their opening Burnham Bash party.

New Storytelling Tools: Hyperlapse and Snapchat

Boston Photo Walk with MarketingProfs

[Photos] Day One of the Marketing Profs B2B Marketing Forum 2014

Here are my photos from day one of the Marketing Profs B2B Marketing Forum 2014.

I Tw-Insta-Vined it. ;-)

Corning Museum of Glass

Rochester, New York: It's the Pittsford!

Our Seneca Lake Wine Trail Journey

Watkins Glenn State Park and Gorge Trail is Gorgeous

Ithaca, NY: Beer, Beer, Beer, Vegetarian, and Bagels

[Video] Love of the Hub: Steve Garfield

Love of the Hub: Steve Garfield from Good Natured Dog Productions on Vimeo.

Casey Neistat Explains Snapchat

Gregory Ng Quits Videoblogging

Freezer Burns

Wall Street Journal Best Selling Books: #4 Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

Wall Street Journal Best Selling Books: #4 Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

Congratulations Ann!

Buy on Amazon.com (Affiliate Link)

HARDCOVER:


Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

KINDLE:


Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

ChocoNillaPeanutButter Acorns

At the Amusement Park

Facebook is adding video view count

Post by Steve Garfield.

Testing: Embeding a Facebook post with Video

Post by FB Newswire.

Myers+Chang

My First Hyperlapse

Testing out Instagram's new Hyperlapse app.


Sped up 2X

Oh no!

Hyperlapse took over my camera and microphone!




Get it here: Introducing Hyperlapse from Instagram

Zaftig's Breakfast is So Good

Zaftig's breakfast is so good, they serve it all day long.


Inside the restaurant. There's also a small bar that you can sit at.

Brookline Location
335 Harvard St.
Brookline, MA 02446

Hours:
Sunday-Monday 8am to 9pm
Tuesday-Saturday 8am to 10pm.

Instaed of getting the typical eggs and toast breakfast, I went with the Zaftig's Combo. It's not on the Breakfast menu, it's under Starters.

ZAFTIG COMBO
All of our favorites! Cheese blintz, potato pancake, potato knish, sweet noodle kugel. 11.95

I love it.


Zaftig's Combo.



Video tour of Zaftig's Combo.


Here's a look at the crunchy and tasty Potato Pancakes.

At the register there are pastries and LARGE cookies!


Chocolate Chip Cookies $1.00

Havas Moves into Old Filene's Building

Cooperstown, NY: See, Stay, Eat, and Drink

They made a Poached Egg on Master Chef, So I tried it too.

Success!

Mercedes-Benz CLA250 Roadtrip Photos and Test Drive Highlights

After I did a video review of the Mercedes-Benz CLA250, courtesy of Mercedes-Benz of Burlington, they asked me if I wanted to take it for a longer test drive.

It was perfect timing since I was planning a road trip to the Finger Lakes in New York. So I accepted without any requirements on my part. They said it would be nice if I could share some photos along the way.

That, I took as a challenge.

ROADTRIP PHOTOS:

Here are some of my CLA250 photos from the trip. I'll be posting a review of all of our stops in a future post.

Taking off from the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline MA


I was excited when the MBUSA Instagram account Re-Instagramed this one!



COOPERSTOWN: OTESAGA RESORT


ITHICA: We Saw Lots of Corn


FINGER LAKES WINE: Glenora


CROTON on HUDSON


BECKETT, MA


BURLINGTON, MA
Turning in the car at the site of the future Mercedes-Benz of Burlington.



After spending 28 hours and 1,100 miles in the car, I can say that we loved everything about it.



TEST DRIVE HIGHLIGHTS:

- The CLA250 is fun to drive. Side view mirrors are BIG and helped see blind spots.
- Has great pick up from a stop, and goes really, really fast when you need to pass. ;-)
- Air conditioning was very good, with dual controls for each passenger.
- This test drive came with SiriusXM. I always enjoy that when I get it in a car.
- Bluetooth connectivity to my iPhone was easy to connect. Plays music seamlessly.
- The seats are very comfortable. After 1,110 miles in it, I have no back problems at all.
- Headlights were very bright on the Western Mass back roads, and the Mass Pike where it was very very dark.

Questions:

- When we were on the highway and a large truck blew past us, the car shook.
- There wasn't a spare tire in the CLA250. Do cars come with spare tires any more? Answer: AMG’s and CLA/GLA don’t have them. They usually have Extended Running tires.
- It took a while to figure out how to use the control knob for the multimedia display.
- We had trouble finding a good place for an the iPhone running the Waze navigation app. Would be nice if Apple CarPlay gets integrated in the 2015 CLA250. I'd give Apple Maps a try. Otherwise, an iPhone holder would need to be purchased.

Disclosure:
Thanks to Mercedes-Benz of Burlington partner, Craig Meece, from Allbrandautos.com, for arranging delivery and pick-up of the car. Craig is great. If you need help purchasing a Mercedes-Benz, or any make of car, contact Craig.

Thanks to the future Mercedes-Benz of Burlington for the test drive. Looking forward to a future partnership. Stay tuned.

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.



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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.

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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:

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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.

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Fenway Park and Boston Red Sox with #TeamLumia

Most photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520.

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Boston Craft Beer Tour With TeamLumia

Most photos taken with Nokia Lumia 1520.

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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.