Category: GMG Tech Talk

Video- GMG PHOTO GEAR REVIEW- MAFROTTO MODOPOCKET

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

The Manfrotto Modopocket is the best bang for your photography improvement buck at only $16.50

GMG Tech Talk- Company Website Designers, Listen Up!

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Those of us that use smartphones would like to let you know that when you try to make your client’s website cute by displaying their telephone numbers with periods instead of dashes it makes smartphones unable to simply press that number and automatically dial the number for them.

It may seem trivial to someone who doesn’t use a smartphone but believe me that as older luddites who refuse to adopt new technologies die off and are replaced by younger users who seem born eager to adopt new technologies you as a website designer ought to be aware when you are designing your client’s web pages.

I’ve often thought this but Patty Knaggs from www.thecutbridge.com forwarded along a fantastic article which reminded me of this simple importance.

Here’s the article should you care to read about it-

You Need To Fix Your Email Signature Today

Update: The Gear You Should Buy- Pocket Camera The Canon Powershot s95:Gizmodo Agrees Calling It The Best Pocket Camera

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

I posted this about a month ago but am editing it because a gadget blog I visit daily just named it best Pocket Camera.

Here is their article that came out today September 1, 2011

http://gizmodo.com/5720794/battlemodo-the-best-point+and+shoot-cameras

The only thing is they say it is around $400 but I see the Powershot s95 on Amazon for $369 here

People ask me all the time what camera I would buy.  As a gadget information freak I feel like I’m pretty qualified to give advice in this arena so instead of answering this question over and over again in private emails I’m going to start a series of my personally approved items that I 100% endorse.  I’ll also give you the reasoning behind why I endorse the products.

The first product up is for a pocket camera.  many of you have read my thoughts on cameras and how important I feel it is to own a camera that you can comfortably carry with you without having to lug a cumbersome bag.

Before anyone should own a DSLR in my opinion, they should own a good pocket camera.

The canon powershot s95 is not like 99 percent of compact cameras in one hugely important aspect- It contains a sensor that is 88% larger than most compact camera sensors.  while most people ask about megapixels, what they don’t realize is that the size of a camera sensor is vastly more important to picture quality than the amount of megapixels packed onto a small sensor.

Photography is all about collecting light and recording it.  A larger sensor allows you to collect more light more efficiently so you get far superior results.

Here is an article in the new York Times from technology editor David Pogue-

A Love Letter to a Camera

Dear Canon S95,

I don’t often write love letters to gadgets. But you, you’re something special.

Truth is, I’ve been searching for someone like you for years.

The Canon S95 has a sensor with 88 percent more area than most pocket cameras’ sensors.The Canon S95 has a sensor with 88 percent more area than most pocket cameras’ sensors.

FDDP
The Times’s technology columnist, David Pogue, keeps you on top of the industry in his free, weekly e-mail newsletter.

See, I love the huge light sensor that’s inside an SLR. It can take sharp low-light shots without the flash. It can blur the background the way professionals do.

I just don’t like how an SLR is big and heavy and obtrusive.

What I’ve always wanted is a little camera with a big sensor. Is that so hard?

Apparently, yes. The problem is covering a rectangular sensor chip with a circle of light from the lens. Bigger sensor? You need a bigger camera. Those are the simple bylaws of physics.

But you, oh, cute little Canon PowerShot S95! I love that you’re a pocket camera, only 3.9 by 2.3 by 1.2 inches. I love your big, bright, three-inch screen, your built-in flash, your H.D.M.I. output for hi-def TV sets. I love that you turn on directly into Playback mode, without having to extend the lens.

I love the unique control ring around the dial, which I can quickly program to adjust whatever feature I want: focus, zoom, exposure, light sensitivity (ISO), aperture, even degree of color saturation (all the way to black-and-white).

I’ve had fun with your special modes, like the tilt-shift-lens simulator and fake fisheye.

I love the wink-driven self-timer. Yes, I set up the camera, walk into the scene, and then wink—the picture is taken two seconds later. Beats hunting around for a remote control. (Or I can ask you to wait two seconds after a new person—that would be me, joining the group—enters the frame.)

But above all, I love your enormous sensor. It’s 0.59 inches diagonally—88 percent more area than most pocket cameras’ sensors. And I love that you have an f/2.0 lens, a rarity among pocket cameras, meaning that you let in a lot more light.

And all of this means that you, little S95, can take amazing, sharp pictures in low light without the flash. Your designers have shrewdly dropped the ludicrous quest for more megapixels—you have 10 megapixels, just right—in favor of something that really matters, like better photos.

click here to read the entire article at The New York Times Website

So if you want to buy it, you can get a great deal on the Canon Powershot on Amazon here-

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My best technically difficult shot of 2010 was taken with this camera-

Here is a video demonstrating how great it is in low light (a true test of a camera’s sensor)

GMG Tech Talk- Google Plus, Google Circles

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

How many of you are actually using these services?

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When they first appeared around what seems like a couple of weeks ago lots of people were signing up and tech media were predicting that it was going to turn Facebook on it’s ear. ahem (Paul Morrison).

The numbers of people were signing up for the services were enormous as there are already a ton of people who use and trust Google products to begin with.   So the growth was probably from people saying sure, what the hell, I’ll give it a try and with the sheer number of Google users to begin with those numbers of new accounts when reported in the media are staggering.

Well Google products have a long history of success and I use many of them daily. Gmail, Google Calendar, Documents, Google Music and Google Listen among a few I use most every day.  There have been a few misses with products that may have been a little ahead of it’s time or too smart to catch on universally.  Among one that comes to mind was the collaborative tool Google Wave which promised real time online collaborations.  I used it once or twice and it was interesting but not enough folks caught on.  Kenny and I edit our podcast shownotes in Google docs sometimes simultaneously and Google Docs seems like it took a lot of things from Google wave and integrated them.

As tech savvy as I consider myself I still can’t get the hang of circles.  It may be just a little too slick and I just don’t have the energy to figure it all out right now.  So my intuition tells me that if I can’t figure it out in a snap that most grandmothers will say fuck it and not bother.  This is a huge difference between Facebook and Google Circles.  Facebook seems just super easy peasy lemon squeazy whereas Google Circles seems like people really need to sort a whole bunch of stuff out to make it manageable.

Google +?  I’ve clicked on that +1 button on a bunch of different sites including this one when there are things that I find interesting and I figure it will share that somewhere but I’ve yet to figure out where that +1 button is visible or who gets to see the post or page that I find interesting enough to click the +1 button for.  Again, I consider myself pretty much a 9.5 on the scale from 1-10 on the tech geek scale so for me not to understand it gives me a strong sense that a good majority of people don’t understand it either.

Maybe once my season slows down and once the winter doldrums set in I’ll have time to get more into it but I’m just not sure the masses will and isn’t that what Google wants to capture with it’s products-  the masses?

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GMG Tech Talk- Don’t Fall For The Megapixel Hype

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

It seems camera manufacturers are in a race to offer cameras with more and more megapixels.

Here is an excellent definition of megapixels and when they count and when they don’t-

Trying to Define Megapixels?

What is more important than megapixels is sensor size.  the sensor is what collects the light at the other end of your lens and the larger the sensor size the more light can be collected and presumably the better your photos will be.

Here is a sensor size chart-

from wikipedia–

 

Most point and shoot cameras today have sensors that are 1/2.3  APS-C sized sensors like the ones found on your average DSLR are much larger and image quality in low light situations are noticeably better. 

So when shopping for a camera you can go with a larger DSLR for the very best images or a smaller one with an above average sized sensor that will still fit in your pocket like the one I recommend, the Canon Powershot s95.  I think at $369 it is the very best combination of size/price/quality.

Do Not get lured in by megapixels when shopping for a camera.  the Mrs’ Nikon D40 only has 6 megapixels (very few compared to todays 12-18 megapixel cameras) but gets photos like these-

click picture for slide show

If you ever want a camera recommendation let me know and send me an email.  I’ll ask a few questions at to what you will be using it for and give you a recommendation.

goodmorninggloucester@yahoo.com

Recently on Mashable, highly respected tech blogger Charlie white writes about two cameras in which he pits head to head to decide which is best for a blogger.  I conclude that neither are great options.  Read the article for yourself and look for my comments at the end-

Nikon D5100 vs. Olympus E-P3: Which Camera Is Best For Bloggers? [REVIEW]

I say neither.

Gear Joey Loves- The Sony MDR-V6 Headphones

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

I can understand why portable earbuds are popular, because you can stick ‘em in your pocket and carry them every where you go.  I use them for travel but it doesn’t take too long for them to really irritate my ears.  They are uncomfortable, sound tinny as hell and the wires seem like they always become a tangled mess.

Do you remember back in the early eighties when they made real headphones?  The ones with the nice soft cushy ear pieces that slipped over your ear and delivered that high fidelity music to your ears?  Well there are a classic set of headphones that Sony still makes and they are currently on sale.  Normally they go for around $109 but right now they are on sale on amazon for $64.99 with free shipping.

When I tell you that for $64.99 you will rediscover the way music was supposed to be listened to the price seems negligible.

You can order them here

Here are some of the reviews from audiophiles-

111 of 118 people found the following review helpful.
5My favorite headphones
By M. Chabot
The Sony MDR-V6s were the first really good headphones I owned. After about 15 years of use, the foam padding was a bit run down. After doing the exhaustive search for the best headphones, I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD580s (I also own Etymotic ER-4Ps). Comparing the HD580 to my MDR-V6s, I would say that the MDR-V6s are better for two reasons. 1. The MDR-V6s are more comfortable to wear for long periods of time, and 2. The MDR-V6s have a telephone-like cord, which is easier to deal with than the straight HD580 cord. The sound quality was very good on both headphones, and about equal. I ended up buying new foam pads for my 15-year-old MDR-V6s, which made them feel like brand new headphones. I also bought a second pair of MDR-V6s, and shelved the HD580s for now.

Do not buy the MDR-600s by mistake. I have never used them, but I have read numerous reviews that state that the MDR-600s are inferior to the MDR-V6s. You can still buy the MDR-V6s, but they are harder to find. I bought mine at millionbuy because Amazon did not have them in stock. For some reason, the MDR-V6 product name at Amazon magically changed to MDR-600, even though it is an entirely different product. I am not sure why this happened.

121 of 130 people found the following review helpful.
5A Classic
By Bruce Caines
I can’t recall how long I’ve owned my MDR-V6 phones, but it’s easily been ten years. The sound is excellent, virtually uncolored, and unlike other top of the line headphones like Sennheiser’s (which are VERY nice and well over $150.00) these sound as good used with a portable CD player as with a well powered home system.

It was time to replace them since the cord is finally shorting too much to ignore any longer and my ears are always covered with black stuff and foam from the disintergrating earcups. I asked around and a colleague who is the audio technician on a popular TV show told me without hesitation, these are the ones to buy. It’s what he uses on the set and at home. I’m glad Sony still makes ’em. Maybe I should buy another pair for ten years down the road…

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Building Our 15 x 20 Foot Movie Screen Day 1 Planning

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Laying out the PVC and testing our theories,Ed Collard begin our journey. There’s no turning back!

Preliminary sketches and first day of partial testing-

GMG Gear Preview- KAYALU RAM Marine Grade Gear Locking Suction Camera Mount

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Ed and I preview the Kayalu RAM camera mount before putting it to the saltwater test, using it to film The Blackburn Challenge.

I recently bought a Kodak zx-3  Playsport waterproof video camera.  It was the camera that GMG contributor Adam Bolonsky used to tape this year’s Greasy Pole.  When I found out that the camera was only $77 it was an absolute no-brainer.

Last week I used it to film my ride to Gloucester in this video-

As you can see in the video there is a decent amount of camera shake with it being hand held.  I couldn’t use my Manfrotto Modopocket because that is made to sit on a flat surface.

So then I got to thinking about how much cool footage I could get if I outfitted one of my lobstermen with a saltwater resistant type camera and mount and I began my search.  With some advice from Adam Bolonsky I discovered the Kayalu RAM suction mount which uses heavy duty marine grade materials throughout.  A simple mount made from ordinary metal would be useless after it’s first use hitting saltwater.

We plan to use the Kaylau RAM saltwater camera mount with an 8 inch toughbar extension and the Kodak Playsport zx-3 to capture some footage attached to Ed’s Kayak for the Blackburn’s Challenge.

Here are some pictures-

I’m looking forward to seeing how it holds up. Look for our review post race. In teh meanwhile check out our preview here-

I put it on my Joey’s Approved Products page if you want to order one from Massachusetts based Kayalu

The Gear You Should Buy- The Bogen Manfrotto 797 ModoPocket Small Folding Camera Stand

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

The next recommendation I have is for a tiny collapsible camera stand made by Bogen Manfrotto which not only uses the standard screw but it folds up into itself flat so it keeps a pocketable compact camera pocketable even while having something that will keep the camera still in low light situations where you need to keep the shutter open for longer periods of time and a camera would be prone to taking a blurry shot due to movement while the camera’s shutter is open to allow more light in.

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When taking photos in plenty of light any camera will do, but when taking pictures in low light you need to take advantage of whatever tools you have at your disposal to reduce camera shake which can lead to blurry unusable photos.

modopocket

Of course you can use a flash but most photographers who want the most natural looking photos absolutely hate using a flash.

Here is an example of a photo taken with a flash-

DSC04918

and without-

DSC04919

Note how the colors are much more natural in the photo without the flash?  The results are  almost always more preferable to take a photo without using a flash.  The way one can accomplish this without having a pile of blurry unusable photos is by using a tripod, or some other means to stabilize your camera.

The reason I always tell people that the absolute number one best bang for your buck investment in camera gear is the Bogen Manfrotto Modopocket because it, unlike a tripod adds an insignificant amount of bulk to your compact camera while still being sturdy, well built and totally stabilizes your camera in low light conditions where you prefer not to use a flash. For $17 you will get incredible dividends on the quality of your photos.

You know all those early morning shots?  There is absolutely no way I could take those hand held. IMPOSSIBLE!

They either were taken using the modopocket or a tripod.  the main benefit of the modopocket being that it is always attached to my camera so I never miss an opportunity because I would need to set it up.  I simply unfold it from the base of my camera to which it always attached.

Here are some pictures taken with it-

You can see how I rested the camera with the modopocket attached right on the hand rail and set the timer to take the picture 2 seconds after I released the shutter as to avoid any camera shake at all.

here is a video I took with it, note how clear it is and stable without a any jittery movements which make video look crappy-

Here is a review I did on it after I bought it a couple of years ago (it hasn’t left my camera mount since I bought it)

Pros: Lightweight, Folds Small, Excellent Value, Good Stability, Great Design, Unfolds Quickly

Best Uses: Video, Macro Photography, Tight Quarters, Low Light, Travel, Night Shots, Portraits, Landscape/Scenery

Describe Yourself: Photo Enthusiast

I photo and vblog blog so having a portable camera at all times is critical. I can leave this attached to my Sony DSC H20 and still keep it in my pocket. For night time shots with long exposures it holds the camera securely. This is not to replace your full scale completely adjustable tripod but for the very little cost to be able to take macro shots in poorly lit areas or conduct impromptu interviews it is fantastic and must have IMO. I have an example of the unboxing and a video I took of it in my review here-https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2010/05/28/lobster-vs-crab-filmed-using-manfrotto-modopod/

You can buy it here for $17.05 which is almost half off it’s retail price.-

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QR Code To Subscribe To Good Morning Gloucester

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

If you have a smartphone you can scan the above image and it will bring you to the subscribe page.  (Free of course)

Try it, I promise a monster won’t jump out of the screen and bite you, lol

Magic!

GMG Intro From Eric Doody

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

While at Cape Ann TV there other day an intern offered to make a 3-d intro for us.
His name? Eric Doody
Here’s the debut-

Eric Writes-
Hello, I am a Motion Graphic Designer.
If anybody is looking for a Nice 3d Clean Intro/Promo
just email me.
jerickfilms@gmail.com

Cape Ann Twitter Folk and Joey’s List

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Here is a list of local twitter folk. (another attempt to pull our community kicking and screaming into the current century)

I’m determined damnit!

If you have tried twitter but just don’t get it, it may be because you may have set up an account and don’t follow anyone and no one was following you, in which case then twitter is basically useless.  That would be the equivalent of screaming in the forest and no one hearing you.

Start out by following the tweets of the people listed below. You enter them into your follow list and  then you can get an idea of what is going on around you.  Engage the people on this list if you have questions or want to give them props for a service or meal or activity they provided.  If you don’t already have a twitter account go here- http://twitter.com/ and get one for free.  Then add in the users you see below.  You will have a great idea of what is going on around you and when there is some type of emergency around town 9 times out of 10 you will get the answer on twitter before you will anywhere else.  That is if you are following a bunch of local folks.

My suggestion is to follow all of these people even though they might not seem to be in your particular line of work or seem to have the same interests as you.  To have only 3 or 4 people in your twitter universe is pretty pointless.  you can always unfollow people if their tweets are boring to you or obnoxious.

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@Joey_C  @DscvrGlstr   @WickedLocal  @Gloucester_MA  @CapeAnnsFinest @blue_shutters  @7SeasWhaleWatch   @EssexCruises  @MayorKirk @Woodmans_Essex  @AlchemyBistro  @captbillandsons @JoeB_Hemoglobin
@CapeAnnBrewing  @CapeAnnArtHaven  @minglewoodtav @TriAndDuit @melissaabbott @NSMusicTheatre @audreysflowers  @USCGNewEngland @NorthShoreDish  @WhaleCenter  @gpgloucester  @TheActiveDad @Paulinesgifts  @TSapienza  @schmap  @BostonArts  @masscultural @BeanLeafCafe  @freshnewengland  @DawnTheresa@HA TheatreWorks
@GDTnews  @MLayneCreative  @CovetedYarn  @DogBarGlo
@CapeAnnLanes  @MassWhales  @CapeAnnOnline @glazedceramics @FarmBarGrille  @RockportMusic  @SeaportGrille  @CapePondIce @CaptJoeLobster @EssexHeritage  @YankeeCapts @LaProv @againandagainbags  @BostonLogan @latfortythree  @CapeAnnCinema @HistoricNE @SEASIDECYCLE  @CapeAnnSymphony  @EssexMusicFest @VisitMA  @SchAdventure  @bostoncalendar  @PlacesMA @SamOnTravel
@HuffPostTravel @Braincandyproj TheCapeAnn EJCIII

BWilliamsStudio KgentileRoberts charlesdgb

rlsartsECGreenbeltStevenFletch @JMcElhenny @NorthShoreDish @@kidns @SamanthaRSPR @LocalGingerNS @heather_atwood @lilylinqs @mkpfilos89 ArtsGloucester @TheRovingHome @5thjoy @baitandtackle @2palaver @glosta @laurielufkin @MoneyMindfulnes @AliciaPensarosa @mbcf @vintagerockport @andreasoldier @abbielundberg @rlsarts @ryanpjm @Toodeloos @debclarkeglosta @kathleen01930 @capeannpainter

If anyone has been left out it is not by design.  This is basically a copy and paste job from the twitter list of Linn. let me know if you want to be added and I missed you and I’ll add you right in ASAP.  You can always unfollow people so my suggestion to you is to follow all of these people and if the tweets that they put out are of absolutely no interest to you simply unfollow them with the click of a button.

You can also very easily look at my list of local Cape Ann Twitter Folk here and simply go down the list and click on their names and then click follow- Joey’s Local Twitter List If you don’t see yourself on my local list tweet me and I’ll add you in.

GMG Tech Talk- Last Night’s Social Media Presentation At The Cape Ann

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Henry Allen has taken the space that used to house The Blackburn Tavern and turned it into a cultural activity center in which he has so much stuff going on it would make your head spin.  Henry’s deal is a whole ‘nother post- or ten posts.

Anyway in his space the Gloucester Destination Marketing organization led by Linn Parisi invited Art Haven director and good egg Dawn Gadow and I to come and give a presentation on Social media for tourism related business.

There was a good amount of people that showed up of all levels of sophistication as far as the web goes and how to use it but most of the folks that attended would probably admit that they are in the dark about how to use such things as twitter and Facebook to promote their business or organization.  After all that was why most showed up.

The key observation from the meeting to me was that the biggest obstacle for people getting started is some type of fear that they are going to somehow screw up and it is somehow too complicated.

Now I don’t know that I’m any kind of “Guru” on this stuff as Linn tabbed me in the promotional material but if anyone considers me somewhat competent at blogging or tweeting they should know that I only started three years ago.  Granted I am intensely committed to GMG and learning the ways to make it better and push the boundaries further but I didn’t know about any of this stuff three years ago.

You want to know how I got started?  I didn’t take a class or go to college in it.  I’m a dumb ass lobster dealer for Christ’s sake.  I just signed up for a free blog account on WordPress and filled in the blanks where they asked questions like username and password.  If there was something I got stuck on I didn’t call a help desk, I clicked on the support button that allows you to type in a question or keyword and they give you the answers.  Trial and error and tweaking and reading feedback and looking at statistics to see what worked and what didn’t.  It didn’t cost a dime initially.

So I started out the presentation talking about Trip Advisor and a story about how when we went to St Lucia we used Trip Advisor to determine what activities we were going to do on our vacation.  The number one thing listed in the area of St Lucia where we were staying was this Segway tour.  The Segway tour was lots of fun and at the end of it the tour guides reminded us a couple times very subtly that if we enjoyed ourselves to please leave a good review on Trip Advisor.  It was brilliant.  It cost the tour operators nothing, and it boosted their tour to the number one spot on an international widely used travel site-Trip Advisor.  You can’t pay for that type of positive exposure in the tourism industry.

The point was that all kinds of people are using social media to get their message out there and if you aren’t then your competition has a huge leg up on you.

I spoke about twitter but really Facebook is the monster right now.  It is taking over the way people communicate world wide.  The numbers are astounding.  Ideally if you own a business, you have a Facebook page where you upload photos or post specials or interesting stories about what is going on in your industry.  Then you link your Facebook page to your twitter account so every time you post to Facebook, the title and link back to your Facebook page gets listed on your twitter timeline.  Also when you post you should include keywords or hashtags so that search engines will pick up those areas of interest and like minded people or potential customers can find your information.

You don’t want to be perceived as spammy and just continually beat people over the head with products you are trying to sell.  Being somewhat funny helps and when you create a Facebook update or Tweet, try to think of the end user and make it worth their while to read what you are writing.  People love visuals.  Pictures can be taken with any new smartphone and uploaded directly to twitter or Facebook in mere seconds.

Here are examples I would use in each industry off the top of my head

Whale Watch-

every day the naturalist or captain takes a 20 second to 2 minute clip of whales breaching and uploads it to Facebook.  Your customers, people that love whales would have a reason to come back to your page every single day.  you will be present in their consciousness and when they are sitting around with their thumbs up their ass trying to figure out what to do in August because they’ve already been to the beach 30 times it might just click with them, hey, lets go on a whale watch.  I saw this cool video and every single day you get to see these real like monsters of the ocean just yards away from you.  Boom!  Sales!

Video gets uploaded to Facebook and linked to twitter account

Restaurants-

Daily specials, pictures of any new dishes and new seasonal menus posted to to Facebook with a direct automatic link to Twitter. See The Farm Bar and Grille, or Minglewood Tavern for very successful Social media campaigns.  The farm Bar and Grille has over 2200 Facebook followers.  That means every day when they talk about 35 cent wing night on Thursdays every one of those 2200 followers gets reminded.  Not to mention their twitter followers.  Now even if they only converted 10% of those people into customers isn’t that an incredible bang???

Deep Sea Fishing-

Every Trip a mate or Captain takes a photo of the largest fish caught that day with the person that caught it holding it up and post it to their Facebook page.  Believe me when I tell you that everyone loves to see their picture taken with a huge fish.  You hand a sheet of paper to each passenger as they leave the ship with your Facebook page web address and tell them to look for pictures from that day.  I am fucking telling you, you will have an incredible amount of people checking out your page from the customers and family members that they want to brag to all their friends about the huge fish they caught and forward the pictures to them.  Link the Facebook page to the twitter account for automatic updating.  If any unusual fish are caught highlight those.  If you have some regular funny customers do little video clips with them that are like testimonials as to what keeps bringing them back to your deep sea fishing operation.  also fishing reports as to what kinds of fish is being caught.

Artisans-

Any new works, several updates as to the work in various stages of completion.  Any art shows that the artist will be showing at or local events.  Links to twitter account automatically.

It was great to get to talk to these folks. I hope we made an impact as if you’ve been reading these pages you know I’m committed to getting people involved in promoting all the cool stuff going on in our city.  I told these fine folks that once they get themselves set up with accounts that I would highlight them here on these pages as an incentive to get off their ass and make that first step. So expect to see more promoting of local twitteratti soon.

You gotta start somewhere.  Take the leap into the Cape Ann Social media pond, the water’s just fine.

I know most people don’t give a crap about yarn but please listen to Robert talk about his success at local yarn shop Coveted Yarn which has a global reach and how social media has helped him gain instant sales for no money at all-

Please watch the video and if nothing else from the five minute mark when he talks about how big Facebook is for his business and how it has led to his recent expansion.

Social Media For Artists (and non-profits)

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

SocialMediaforArtistscard (1)

You know how I’m always banging the drum about twitter and social media and how any restaurant or hotel that doesn’t use it is being completely negligent to their business?  Well the same can be said for local artists and non-profits. If you aren’t engaging in some types of Social media you are being negligent to your sustainability as an artist who can support themselves through their art.

Like it or not the way people are getting their information is through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  There are content creators that would like nothing better than to help you spread the good word about what you’re organization is doing.

Organizations like the Artsmap, the Rocky Neck Art Colony newsletter, seARTS newsblast, GMG and others aggregate art related postings from the web and send them out to people that WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR LATEST VENTURE!

Here’s the thing- If you are not participating in at the very least Twitter and the 140 characters in which you can post a message about your latest art exhibit or newest project, then why should you expect anyone else to care?  Get off your ass, go to Jo-Ann and Barbara’s social media class, and be included in the online conversation that is going on around you and should involve your voice.

Kenny and I am planning to have a social media presentation for businesses and individuals some time soon but this event on the 12th focuses on Artists and non-profits.

Please do this for yourself- and in the words of Jerry Maguire,

“Help me help you” 

Learn how to get your voice out to the masses, make it easier for the Rainmakers to find out about your coolest new ventures and spread the word for you.  You may not realize it yet but even email is slowly being less and less used.  people are communicating more and more through Twitter, and Facebook.  Get on the train before your kids start talking about you like you are an old fogey that can’t figure this shit out.

Barbara writes-

Joey:
Jo-Ann and I are doing an Intro to Social Media Marketing for Artists (and non profits too) on February 12.at Ten Pound Studio.
Jo-Ann is doing an "arts map" preso at this.
I’m attaching a jpeg, the press release and
the link to artsgloucester site to purchase tickets (through mkat tix):
http://www.artsgloucester.com/bthevision/
Anything you could do to get the word out there would be appreciated. Thanks.

Drilling Down n The Perfect Set Of Favicons Part III

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

The previous set of favicons from part II

image

While Bill did a great job with the set of favicons produced above there was still some minor tweaking to create what would be in my mind the perfect set.

Firstly the yellow ones will not be used because as I said in part II blue is part of the GMG brand.

Secondly, I noticed that there is a blue  border around the favicons.  While that wouldn’t bother me, I noticed on my iPad that when Apple modifies icons for use as buttons on their screens that the rounded corners accentuate and make them look hacked as the borders appear and then disappear at the corners.

See a screen capture from my iPad to see what I mean-

image

It may be nit-pickey but if we’re going to live with it for a while don’t we want to do it right?

My email to Bill-

OK here’s the question Bill.  It seems but it just might be the way they get put on screen  that there is a black border around the edges.  When they get put onto an iPad or iPhone is it possible to rather nave no border and just the blue so when the devices round the corners you wouldn’t see those lines?
because in that case I would appreciate the larger ones blue with text bundles with the smaller ones without and actually I’m not sure if it was possible and I don’t want to be a total PITA but in the smaller ones take out the crooked black bar at the bottom all together and just have the blue background with the black silhouette of the seagull so that the seagull can be larger without the black crooked bar on the bottom.
So the smaller ones blue background with just the gull
the larger ones with the gull/crooked black bar on bottom with GMG text
again I want you to be perfectly honest and feel free to let me know if I’m asking too much.  I don’t want to be a PITA but i think I now understand the benefits of being able to bundle all these different style images for the different places they would reside.
oh and even if you dont feel like doing it, thanks, these have been interesting blog posts that I’ve been able to share with the readership (the process)

 

Here is the set Bill came up with based on my Pain in the Ass tweaking request-

gmg_Bay_Break_Icon_Set_Round_2_8bit

Bill writes-

Joe, you’re not a PITA, you’re a ROYAL PITA!  Seriously, though, if I wasn’t enjoying this I wouldn’t be doing it.

I think I understand what you are asking, so I made a new mock up.  The border edges have been removed.  Larger than 32×32 have the GMG text and the smaller versions are stripped out.  In the mock up you’ll notice the smaller icons have two versions.  One without the black band on the bottom and the other with it.  I did this because the ones without the band lowered the gull to the bottom edge of the image and it looked kind of funny to me [I’ve been tweaking these at a magnification of 500% so my perception of them is certainly skewed]. To raise the gull back up I had to add something for it to stand on.  I tried adding a column to represent a dock pillar, but it looked stupid at 16×16, so I opted for the flattened black band.  I just wanted you to have the opportunity to see the difference for the small ones and decide for yourself which one you prefer.

Also don’t forget this isn’t written in stone – and you can change for it in the future.  I was actually gonna suggest that you can add a set for each season with different color backgrounds behind the silhouette to represent the season: Spring=green, Summer=yellow, Fall=orange/red/brown, Winter=blue.

The aren’t technically icons yet, they’re just the mockups.  Once you’ve decided we’ll make them icons, bundle them into one icon, and test them out.  Testing is a whole other clusterf#!k.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
~Bill O’Connor
North Shore Kid

Social Media for Artists (and non-profits)

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Jo-Ann Castano presents-

Social Media for Artists

it’s all about engaging eyeballs (and iminds) get started with the basics …
use FACEBOOK PAGES to promote your work
use LINKEDIN to connect to colleagues, businesses and resources.
participate in the global art (and nonprofit) conversation on TWITTER…..
move your message on YOU TUBE

Ten Pound Studio . 1 Center Street . Gloucester MA – Saturday, February 12 1:00 – 3:30 p.m.

presented by
Barbara Oliver (integrated communications consultant)

with preso by
Jo-Ann Castano (artist, community cultural organizer)
on The Arts Map-Cape Ann Arts Directory

registration on line coming soon
fee: $50 (includes how-to handouts)

email bthevision@gmail.com for further info

Bring your laptop, WFI available and explore the possibilities of marketing your art or organization.

Drilling Down On The Perfect Set of Favicons With Bill O’Connor Part II

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

GMG_iconography8bit

Bill writes-

Joe,

Here’s a complete icon set in two flavors – yellow gradient background we’ll call ‘Sunrise’, and blue gradient background we’ll call ‘Daybreak’. Both icon sets are with lettering or without, and are rendered in the following sizes 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 64×64, and 72×72.  72×72 is ipad sized.

You can bundle a set into one icon file (favicon.ico) that will allow systems and browsers to determine the best fit – instead of the one-size-fits-all approach.  I would suggest an icon bundle of one color where you use smaller icons with no text (16×16 & 32×32) and the rest of the larger icons in the bundle would have the GMG lettering.  Sort of a best of both world scenario.

Thanks,
~Bill O’Connor
North Shore Kid

Bill has been going above and beyond in helping to create the perfect favicon set for us.

OK now I’m going to start talking a little technical-

In case you don’t know why there are the different sizes provided in the set of favicons Bill sent, it is because the different sizes are recognized by browsers for placement on your device.

For example- the smallest ones are used in your browsers’ addresss bar up above or if you bookmark GMG in your Bookmarks Toolbar, the smallest favicon goes there.  If you add GMG’s bookmark to your iPhone, iPod Touch or Android Phone’s home screen, then the medium sized favicon is recognized automatically and placed as a button on your mobile device.   If you save a bookmark to GMG on your iPad’s home screen it will save the larger image as the button you would press to go directly to our blog.  So for the smaller ones where you are never going to be able to read the text because they are so tiny you can put the seagull without the text but on the favicon which would display larger and the text would be legible, you can add the GMG lettering below the seagull.  The way this is accomplished is by creating a file which contains each version of the different size you would like into one .ico file.  From wikipedia-

The ICO file format is an image file format for icons in Microsoft Windows. .ICO files contain one or more small images at multiple sizes and color depths.

I’m pretty sure we can toss out the yellow ones.  Even though they look nice, I’m all about branding and having it recognizable and changing our theme to yellow seems treasonous.  Right now I like the idea of the larger favicons with the GMG text below the seagull and and the smaller ones without but there are a few things that I think we need to be tweaked for perfection.

In the quest for the perfect set of favicons for GMG look for part III tomorrow where I ask for some tweaking to the set of favicons Bill produced which are shown above.

The adventure continues…