I’m sure you’ve heard of Pinterest by now if not just ask your web crawling nerd friends they’ll tell you all about it.

1 minute into using Penterest

1 minute into using Pinterest and seeing shots from all around the world I was was drawn into the beautiful photography.  I look at a lot of stock photo sites and Flickr.  But some of these images are just stunning, for some reason I’ve never seen anything like these photos.  These photos are not just images of great looking places but products, and DYI projects I’ve never seen before.

Okay I’m off track, that will happen a LOT when you start using Pinterest.

1 minute into using Penterest I was mesmerized by the amazing photography of far away places. Then I saw this thing that I thought I could do that.  I have one of those things if I just get a some paint and glue I could…  sorry

1 minute into using Penterest I was mesmerized by the amazing photography of far away places.  I kept thinking I want to go to there and there and there….

PICK – CLICK – TRIP

Then I thought this would make a GREAT travel website!  Here’s how it would work.

1. Pick the PICs of far away places.
2. CLICK the Buy Button
3. GO!

The website does the rest.

Other possible features:

• Running Total ( but that might scare people )
• Distance You’ll Travel Meter
• How many stamps you’ll get on your passport
• Path Designer so you can see where your trek will take you.
• Comfort Level Meter, in case you’re a timid person and don’t want to go to far off the reservation.
• Bucket List, you know for future trips.

Plane ticket, lodging, passports reminders, tours, mail holding and stopping the Sunday paper. Whatever it takes to get you going to make that an experience of a lifetime the site would just take care of it. It could happen within 3 click or 5 at the worst. Then you go in and noodle it if you really want too. Plus every picture you take while on that trip. Right! Ends up on Pinterest to sell more trips.

Stick that in your board Pinterest.

Thanks Dianna for sharing this site with me!

With a little more work this, or something like this could be a very useful tool in recording crime scenes.

Just think once a careful walk through had been done and a few key measurements made not only could your recreate the crime scene. You could then easily lay out the geometry of gun fights, mark evidence and leave interactive notes. Even years later after a building might have been destroyed, you could walk through scene again and again combing over evidence that might have once been over looked.

I hope someone is working on this…

I never thought doodling was a waste of time, now I know why.

Look I made a USB Stick! Big Deal right? Well let me explain. I’ve been thinking about this device for a while and while it might look like a simple USB stick it’s not. It’s really a panic switch.

I think about this panic switch every time I hear about something bad happening to a child or a woman. This panic switch is on my mind a lot because of the 8 year old that was murdered while he was walking home by himself for the first time.  My heart goes out to the family.

The idea here is this is a call for help. Sure you can give your kids a cell phone but I’m not sure they will always be able to use it plus it might be pretty obvious to anyone doing some harm to someone they are making a call for help.  Think of it as that secret button the banker pushes when the bad bank robbers burst in.

This looks like a harmless USB stick. But once the switch is pulled this device would call all the programmed phone numbers, start broadcasting it’s location, sniffing for wifi, and listen in on it’s surroundings.

Features:

• Built in Mic
• GPS
• WiFi Sniffer
• Auto-dialer
• Average looking USB Stick

The Cradle:
The Panic Switch is married to the Cradle via Bluetooth and only that device can reprogram or disable it.  It’s not really a USB stick and can’t be connected to anything other than that cradle.

It’s a panic switch that you don’t even have to think about it’s just one action and you’ve let the world know you are in trouble.  I’ve thought about this device for a long time and the idea of how cool it could look, or what the shape would be.  The more I thought about it it the more I realized it shouldn’t be something that stands out.  It shouldn’t give itself away as a safety device or a panic switch.  If the bad guy knows you have it they might take it away from you.  I wish cell phone companies would offer a device like this to parents at a low price point of about 59 bucks.  Seems like something that could be done.  What do you think?

Lucky me! I got a chance to meet Mary Potts and see some of her photography at the Lake Street Art Fair. I have to say I love what she’s doing!  It’s great when you look at her photos you’ll see the same person doing several things.  It’s like she’s telling a story about the family in one big collage.

Check out her website The Family Collage and think about hiring her to do your next family portrait!

Her blog is also worth checking out.  Fun stuff Mary!

Thanks for letting me take you’re picture!

Don’t know about you but as an artist I always wonder who draws the pictures on blackboards and signage at your favorite hang outs. Today at Starbucks it was Amanda and she was kind enough to let me set up my Kodak Zi8 and video her while she worked. So here’s a quick look at how some of that art gets made. Nice job! It’s always fun to see someone working their craft.

Pardon the bumpy camera. It’s so small people didn’t see it sitting there.

Thanks Amanda and the DM of Starbucks for letting me shoot it. Just another reason I enjoy doing some of my creative thinking at Starbucks!

When I was grocery shopping the other day. I was watching an employee struggling with all the carts he had to gather up outside in the snowy weather.

I thought it would be cool if he had robot that could gather those things up…

Then I thought. Maybe it would be better if the carts could find their own way home.

As a teen I spent so much at Radio Shack they offered me a job. I learned a lot about customer interaction and building a reputation. One of the most important lessons I learn back in 1986 was my first “Long Tail”.   I wish I would have understood the importance of that day back then.

I think back to what the 80’s brought us, that miracle technology that now fits into our pockets. That’s right the cell phone.  Some of you might not remember back then they were as big as cinder blocks and weighed as much.  It would have been hard at first to have envisioned what they would become.

So what does “The Long Tail” have to do with Radio Shack?  While my Manager spent the entire day working on a big sale. Know this, one cell phone back then that was a big sale. About $1500 worth. Not to mention the cell service, installation and all the add ons! Well, while my Boss was working on that sale he kept taunting me with the idea he was going to break the sales record that day. While I toiled away on the writing sales tickets for capacitors, solder and blank tapes and the occasional free battery, he was full of pride at what this sale was going to bring him.

Here’s where the “The Long Tail” comes in. While we sat there counting the days sales I had a very large number of tickets way more than usual. The whole time the boss was entering the data the taunts became less and less as those tickets started adding up…  Well…

Clicking away he soon realized that I beat him by about 20 dollars. I know that’s not a lot but by the end of the day I had made more connections with people and moved more items. While he spent the entire day with that one costumer. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. You have to nurture those good customers and hold their hands sometimes. That’s what keeps them coming back for the big ticket items.

But while I thought it was cool that I sold more, it didn’t really make an impression on me till about a 2 years ago when I read Chris Anderson’s book “The Long Tail” and I started using iTunes extensively to start consuming media that really focused on my interests.

As an artist and sometimes filmmaker I very much see the importance of this lesson. Back then in 1986 it was much harder for me to try to make an impression. I had to work the entire room to make things happen. That was very time intensive and a lot of hard work. But today it’s not that hard to work the room or the world for that matter. What’s hard is making a good or dare I say great product. But it’s not hard to get it out there at least not anymore. The more you can get out the more you will learn about making a great product.  This can be anything, photography, e-books, cartoons, films, webseries, insert name of your product here _____________.

To get my films out there back then I had to go through the system of gate keepers.  Now the system is wide open for content creators of all kinds any kinds.

One of my missions with this blog will be to convince other people like me, artists, filmmakers and the like to forget about the system. Sure it would be great if they see your talents and some how bring you into the fold. But I say forget it those day are fading away.

I had recently picked up an issue of IndeSlate. Which is a great magazine about the Independent Filmmaker.  I enjoy reading it. What I don’t like reading is story after story of filmmakers holding on to their films for years. I’m not talking 1 or 2 but 5 or 6 waiting for that right studio deal.  I got news for you it might not ever come but it’s well within your power to make it on your own with blogs, re-cutting your film to be a webshow, digital distribution through Amazon, Jaman or Hulu.  Soon it will be TIVO, Boxxy, your wifi enabled BluRay player. It doesn’t mean you will automatically or instantly make an impression with an audience.  But it’s got to be beater than setting in a box somewhere waiting for that right deal and run the risk of no one ever seeing it.

The time you took looking for investors, distributors and the right deal you could be looking for an audience. Today those are your investors.  They are the ones that will keep coming back to buy your product.  Just like the relationships I built when I worked at The Shack. Those people came back.  Back then customer services meant something if you know how to treat people.  It’s the same with audiences.

What are you waiting for now?

If you want some FREE advice and ideas I suggest you go here and download the audio book you’ll find in the right hand margin entitled what else?  FREE

The next big innovation in footwear, custom soles. That way you can make an impression where ever you go.

This was a neat treat while in Key West I spent a few minutes sitting on Ernest Hemingway’s porch and sketching in my Moleskine. Which if you know the lore or read the history that comes with every Moleskine you’ll know why this might be an interesting experience.

On this trip I trying to sketch a little more than I normally do.

It was a nice day in Florida to draw.