Andrew Z in the Morning

Last Friday Andrew Z asked me to come back into the Star 105 studio to take part in a Phototwine event.  We created an event in the app and gave out the code on the morning show and asked the listeners to send in their photos.  We also took photos in the studio for all of the listeners to view.  We then told them that we would pick our favorites, post them on our Facebook page, and whoever received the most likes would win a Burger Bar 419 gift card.  The response was overwhelming!  Here were the finalists!  We received 155 photos to the gallery and liked these 5 the most.Then something happened that was unexpected.  Our Facebook page suddenly reached over 5000 people.  That was crazy.  We also had almost 300 likes on the photos.  But the one that received the most likes was the top left with over 200!  Congrats!

 

   

With that kind of reach we really put Burger Bar 419 in front of a lot of people.  I am not totally sure but I think we also received over 50 likes during the small contest.  Then half way through the contest I found out Facebook has crazy strict contest rules and I was not actually able to un the contest on my page.  Well needless to say I wont be doing that again.  But it was a fun experiment and I truly saw the power of Facebook and how something goes viral.  Enjoy the rest of the photos!

  

Start Up Toledo

I went to Toledo Start Up weekend for what I thought was going to be a very productive weekend.  However I found out quickly that was not going to be the case.   The event was held at the University of Toledo and was for the development of a start up business.  There were no guarantees of what was to come out of the weekend other than a great experience and networking of who's in the Toledo Tech Industry.  Well that part was true.  I met great people with great organizations.  Many thanks goes out to Sally NG of Clarity, all of the guys @ Givt, and the dudes from Seed.  What a great group of people I met.

Ok, now for the not so fun stuff.  Like I said above, I was looking forward to being very productive and was crazy excited for the weekend.  How I saw it was you were to pitch an idea, get people behind it that want to work on it, and away you go.  Great speakers, pizza (duh, winning), and a quick pitch session to get everybody excited.  I'm pumped, here we go, the rules of the pitch.  Rule #1.  You can not pitch anything you have previously worked on...............What the fuck am I doing here!  I have been working on Phototwine for almost a year but need to make it better, move it to other platforms, and try to optimize it for the iPad.  I need help!  I was looking for smart people to join me.  Thankfully, a friend of mine that was there told me to stick around for the experience.  I quickly thought of another problem that needed to be solved but did not care to solve it but pitched it anyway just for the experience.  Go figure, I came in second out of 25.  Great, now I feel obligated to stay now.

The next day I dragged myself back in at 2:30 pm.  The coordinators asked me how it went, so I told them. For those who do not know me, I do not mix my words.  However they were great and asked me what my idea was going to be.  Unbelievably, the whole group of professionals sat down with me and hammered out some great ideas for hours.  I did not feel worthy.  Ended up being a great experience even though I was disqualified from the competition.  The people I met in Toledo Start up weekend were wonderful and would not trade it for the world.  There is something to be said about not quitting!  And thankfully I did not.  And before I forget, Congrats to everyone who participated and a big shout out to Fueled, this years winners.

Olloclip

Olloclip has been a go to for my iphoneography.  On our recent trip to New York the olloclip received the most comments.  Even more than why the whole family was all wearing the same shirts.  However we did get a lot of funny looks from a city that has great fashion.  It is not like Cedar Point where every other family is wearing the same shirt.  We also took loads of great photos with the olloclip.  The olloclip is a handy accessory for your iPhone that easily clips over the camera.  One lens is a fish eye, another is a wide angle, and the the third is when you screw off the wide angle lens for a cool macro lens.  Check out the cool photo we took at the High Line Park of a grasshopper.                                                                                      
During our visit to New York we also visited the 9/11 memorial and were able to capture lots of cool photos with the olloclip.  While your iPhones camera is very good there are limitations that the olloclip can over come.  We never would have captured the whole footprint of the Twin Towers with the iPhones camera on its own.  We definitely recommend the olloclip and think you should be able to pick up the 3 in one lens from the Apple store, Best Buy, or Amazon.com for about $60.00.  to find out more check out the olloclip website.  http://www.olloclip.com/#.

Cant make the event on time.....Phototwine!

My sister was recently married but we were not fortunate enough to make the trip to Glendale Az.  We were really bummed we could not make it.  However we were still in the testing phase for the app when their wedding took place. During that time we found another use for Phototwine that we were not expecting.  Even though we could not make the trip we were able to enjoy the wedding from over 2000 miles away.  in addition to viewing, we were also able to participate.   As you can see from the photo to the left we made signs to show our love.  We watched as the photos came into Phototwine and were able to view the live feed from the their wonderful day.  As we were testing we found this fun way Phototwine could be used just by accident.  When we were brainstorming we never once thought about this functionality.  We added several photos to there feed that my family was able to enjoy and will forever be a part of their wedding day.  This could also work for class or family reunions in the same way.  You get to see your old classmates or family you have not seen in years.  Check out the rest of the photos from one of their galleries they created on their wedding day.

GreatApps.com

Greatapps.com just picked up phototwine!  We are currently on there home page and will be displayed on their website for a year with banner ads and as a spotlight app.  Pick up Phototwine today by clicking on the link, finding Phototwine, and download it for free!

Jimmy Buffet Party!

We had a lot of fun at Brandywine Country Club's Jimmy Buffet Party.  Thanks so much to Dawn Ulrey for promoting Phototwine!  We were able to get 13 users participating in this event which made it very successful.  What a beautiful night with the great band Suburban Legend!  Click on the links to like them on Facebook!