It finally happened. My best technology related friend died. My internet surfing buddy died yesterday. My fledgling internet marketing partner croaked and left me without even saying goodbye to all of the good times we have had these last 3 years since we met. It was love at first sight back in November of 2007. When we touched for the first time, I knew he/she would change my life in such a way that I would never look back. Yep, my Apple MacBookPro hard drive died on me yesterday, leaving me helpless, sad and angry all at the same time.

My MacBookPro is the best piece of equipment I have ever used. I’m one of those Apple people who sing the praises and I absolutely hate most everything that is Windows related. I just like things to work, and for 3 years, my MacBook has worked flawlessly even though I have run it through the mill with everything I do on it.

The good and the bad of Apple
The first thing I did was to call my local Apple Store. I could not even get an appointment to take it in to visit a technician for 2 days! C’mon Mr. Jobs, this is totally unacceptable and sucks a big one. I could not even drop it off, I was told. I have a dead laptop and I could not be seen for 2 days. This is customer service at it’s worst.

Never Deal With People Who Sport New Age Names
I mention that I have spent a ton at the store and recently bought an iMac. It does me no good. I was not a VIP in their eyes. I felt like I might be in a little trouble when the girl I was speaking of told me her name was “Ocean”. I thought that if I told her my name was Rainbow, that we might connect on a different level but she asked me for my account info and she could easily see that I have the most common name ever given to a male born in the 50’s & 60’s. Just a regular ol’ Steve.

The Bad News
I tell Ocean that I have my receipts and that I bought a 3 year warranty for $349. I can hear her typing something and she confirms that I did buy a warranty, but gives me the bad news that I didn’t register the warranty online. She offers no additional help or advice. I’m getting pissed but I can’t raise my voice to someone named Ocean, it’s not in my nature. If it had been a dude named Solar, that would be a different story.

I called a friend of mine in South Carolina who takes his computers to an authorized Apple Service company and always speaks highly of them. He makes a call and tells me they would be happy to look at it today! Woo Hoo! I hop in my car and drive 100 miles and drop off my laptop.

The Good News
The technician at this company tells me to call Apple and try to register my warranty with someone. I felt like it was hopeless because I obviously did not follow the rules. I’ve never followed rules my entire life and it usually costs me way more than $349. I reluctantly call the number and a sweet little girl answers me with a heavy, but cute accent. I can barely understand her and I repeatedly ask her to repeat herself. This aggravates me to no end usually but she sounded so sweet, I felt she had to be a hottie on the other end and I just put up with it. That’s right, us guys put up with crap from attractive women or those we feel might be attractive on the other end of a phone line. Don’t blame us, God made us that way.

The End Of The Story
A guy comes on the phone with a normal run of the mill name of Jeff, and tells me that since I had never registered the warranty, he will give me a full refund or he will register it. Miss Ocean at the store, never mentioned this. I opted for the refund since the warranty runs out in November. Bottom line is that my repairs will cost me $60 out of pocket and I upgraded to a 500 gig hard drive. My faith in Apple was restored in a simple phone call. I did have to drive a couple hundred miles but I didn’t mind because I got to visit a friend I don’t see that often.

Morals of the story

• If someone with a new age name answers the phone when you are calling for service, hang up and keep calling back until someone with a conventional name answers.
• If she has a cute accent but you can’t understand her, just ask her to keep repeating herself while you imagine she’s a real hottie on the line. Eventually, she will give up and let someone else handle the call.
• Since I’m not an A-List Blogger, I can’t really tell you what puffy, pie in the sky lessons that are to be learned here. However, I do expect you to re-tweet this post 279 times.
• Mr. Jobs, please fix your stores.

I was nice, persistent and I never gave up even when I thought it was hopeless. I’ve called the Apple Store 3 times this morning to cancel my appointment and the line has been busy 3 times. I ate 2 fast food meals yesterday on the road. I had a Wendy’s Spicy Chicken sandwich for supper and I paid for it with a night of indigestion. That’s ok though, me and my MacBook got a thing going on.

2010 Bloggerlens.com

Would you like to add a new element of excitement and capture more viewer interest in your videos? Try using a green screen effect in your next video. If you do, here is what you will quickly discover…it’s quite easy to add new visually captivating effects to your videos by using a green screen background. It’s a lot of fun also. If you are involved in web video production at all, I think your mind will be filled with new creative ideas and how you can apply this technique. Today, I want to show you how I have used the green screen effect in the video below and give you some ideas on how to use a green screen for your own videos.

My Confession
My confession is that this is the first time I have ever used green screen myself. I’m always looking for ways to improve my online video production. Once you see what the green screen effect can have on your videos, I think you will want to give it a try. If I must say so myself, I think the video review below turned out pretty decent actually since it was my first attempt. If I can do it, so can you. Green screen can have so many uses in your videos. I believe that one of the main uses that I will be using green screen in the future is for product reviews. After viewing the video, what kind of ideas do you have for adding the green screen effect in your videos?

What is a green screen?
A green screen is simply a large piece of green fabric. That’s it, nothing special. Shoot your video by standing in front of a green screen and then when editing, replace the green behind you with whatever video element that you desire. You can place videos, special effects, or still photos in the background. The removal of the green is done with your video editing software.

Chromakey Green Screen
This is a fancy term for removing the green in the video. Once the green is gone, all that is left is a transparent, black background, ready for you to insert what ever element you wish. Most video editing programs will have a video filter that will allow you to remove the green screen background and replace it with your own images. I use final cut express to edit my videos. In final cut express, once your video is in the time line, just drop the chromakey filter on top of your video. Use the settings to fine tune and remove the green from all around you. It’s a very simple process that is all software based. Do it once, and you will become a pro. Chances are, the video editing program you are using now already contains green screen software.

Using a green screen
In one word, simple. My setup is very simple and you will be able to see it in the video. I give you several examples where I am standing in front of the green screen fabric and I replace the green with still photos and videos.

A professional green screen setup is surprisingly affordable. Good chroma key lighting, often referred as green screen lighting is essential. I set mine up in my office on a wall as you will see in the video.

In the video, I mention Allyn Hane from bloggerillustrated.net. He is my favorite video blogger and he recently did a series of videos on internet marketing where he used the green screen effect to teach his methods. You definitely want to visit his site to get more ideas and to learn about internet marketing from a Pro.

This featured green screen from amazon.com and light kit is a perfect setup for your home or studio. It features 2 7′ light stands with umbrellas. 2 light kits are important because if you use one light in front of you and one light to the side, it will eliminate shadows on the green screen and make it much easier for you to chromakey the green out of your video.

This affordable green screen kit also includes:
* Stands Extend to 8 feet height/Opens up to 10 ft wide
* 2 x 7ft light stands/2 x 105w daylight bulb
* 2 x AC light umbrella holders/2 x 32″ white umbrellas
* 3 x sectional cross bars/2 x 8 ft supporting stands with carrying case
* FREE carrying case for the background stand/1 x 10 X 20 ft Chroma Key green Muslin Backdrop

2010 Bloggerlens.com

This is a product review and video of the Switronix TL-50 video camera light. Lighting is such a crucial aspect of good video especially when you are shooting in low light situations. This light is currently on my wish list but I was so impressed with it, I wanted to share it with you now. I’m sure you will be impressed with this light after you watch the video.

This camcorder light is not a cheap accessory but how can one put a value on the video you shoot. Many moons ago I would shoot video of my children in low light situations because I didn’t know any better. I treasure those old videos now. When I watch them now, I’m disappointed in myself because some are quite grainy because of the low light. Technology has fixed that for us today. The TL 50 is an accessory that we can carry with us in our camera bag and always be ready to produce great quality video.

You can use this video light kit on cameras or video cameras. It is powered by it’s own power source and the LED’s can last for hours on a single charge.

2010 Switronix TL 50 Review

I made this video review of the Apple Mighty Mouse because it’s my all time favorite mouse and laptop accessory. I recommend the Mighty Mouse to everyone if they happen to use a bluetooth mouse. Let me say right now that you can use the mighty mouse if you use Mac or Windows. It’s not about the operating system, it’s about your equipments bluetooth capability. I have replaced all mouses that I use with the wireless mighty mouse and I will never go back to using the old ones. That’s good news for everyone, it’s mighty mouse for PC also.

I recently bought an iMac and it came with a wireless apple keyboard and the Apple Mighty Mouse. Once I put it into my hands, I was sold. When I fired up my iMac for the first time, the computer found it immediately and I started using it. The first thing I noticed was how well the mighty mouse fit in my hand. It was as if it were made for my hand. Apple engineers are brilliant. They make stuff that looks nice, works perfect and feels natural.

The second feature that I love is how this mouse scrolls. There are no roller balls, only a flat smooth surface that you gently stroke with your finger. The screen will scroll according to the speed in which you move your finger. Apple gives you a setup menu which allows you to perfectly customize how your mighty mouse works and responds to your input.

Battery power has not been an issue with me. I mostly use rechargeable batteries and this mighty mouse does not consume much battery power at all. You will not need any sort of a mouse pad to use this macintosh mouse. I simply lay mine directly on my desk. I certainly can’t recommend the mighty mouse without recommending the Apple Wireless Keyboard also.

This would make an awesome gift for Dad or a student getting ready to go off to college. Anyone who uses a mouse would be grateful to you if you made one of these a present.

2010 Bloggerlens.com

Recently I had the honor of being interviewed by Esther Brown from outside.in and featured in their “Bloggers We Love” section. Esther works as the community manager for outside.in. The interview focused on my work as a hyperlocal blogger.

Before we got started, I asked Esther if she would mind if I recorded our call to be used as a future podcast and she agreed. The interview lasted about 40 minutes and Esther was very thorough in her questions which indicated to me that she is quite knowledgeable about hyperlocal blogging.

If you are not familiar with outside.in, here is a description of what they do, straight from their website “About Page“.

Outside.in is the leading hyperlocal content and advertising platform used by millions of consumers and thousands of local bloggers and publishers each month.

Outside.in monitors all the news, blogs, and discussions on the web and dynamically maps them to more than 50,000 neighborhoods in the US. You can find “What’s Happening. Where You Are. Right Now.” on Outside.in’s main site (you’re here!). Publishers can use Outside.in for Publishers to create customized and curated hyperlocal news sections, and bloggers can submit their sites for distribution in the Outside.in Network.

In the podcast, I share some of the highlights of our conversation and my viewpoints about hyperlocal blogging. Part of our conversation topics are about how I got started, how I use video and my favorite social media platform I use to drive traffic to my site.

Thanks again to Esther Brown & outside.in for the interview.

2010 BloggerLens.com

Are you using your existing multimedia for effective SEO on your hyperlocal blog? Generally, I think we all fall somewhat short getting the most out of what we have. It can be a little tedious to SEO your hyperlocal blog but today I want to share some SEO Tips to generate traffic to your hyperlocal blog.

For this illustration I am optimizing for the term “Your Neighborhood Produce in Monroe, NC.” I will illustrate simple ways to do it that takes little effort and time on my part. I want this article to give me traffic for years to come. If I do a little extra, I’m pretty sure my efforts will pay off.

This is a real life example of what I have done to a particular article on my hyperlocal website in Monroe, NC, The Monroe Scoop.

I recently went out and shot a video of an event called Your Neighborhood Produce. I want to show you the ways I have used the video to give my article and site an SEO and traffic boost.

Hyperlocal Social Media

The first thing I did while editing the video was to take a short segment of the video and post it to the Monroe Scoop Facebook Page. I was editing the video anyway. I took an extra 3 minutes to post a snippet of the video. I wanted to generate some buzz for the article before I published it. Below is a screenshot of my Facebook Page.

The next thing I did was to take a snippet from the video I was editing and upload it to YouTube. This takes virtually no time whatsoever because I’m already sitting and editing my video. It takes just a few moments to grab a piece of the video and upload to YouTube to give your site and article the SEO boost for some long term traffic to your site.

Below are the 2 videos I uploaded. The first video was a short clip and the second video was the completed version. In the video description on YouTube, I linked out to my site in Monroe, NC. YouTube is awesome for the links and traffic. Hey, you already know that though.

The next thing I did was to grab a few screen shots from the video and upload them to my Flickr account. I use the handy Flickr uploader and it took a total of about 3 minutes to upload and tag 7 photos. I did this while I was still editing the original video. I have posted a couple of the photos below just to give you an example.

Since I’m showing you these photos, I will also put in “alt tags” on these photos and they will link back to my original article. Might as well do it since I’m writing about it, right? The links from Flickr are no-follow but they may send me some additional traffic based on searches. I made sure I placed appropriate tags on the photos.

The next thing I did was to grab the embed code from Flickr for my 7 photo slideshow. You can see that below. Your readers love photos, video and slideshows. Give them what they want, it’s easy and takes very little time to do a little something extra.

I hope you are still following along. Writing this article has taken a lot longer than what I actually did. Since I have more than one hyperlocal blog, I did a little extra work to send more links back to my original article. I placed a couple of the still photos in a new article. I placed the photo slideshow into the article on my second site.

Here is where I got a little fancy, I placed a screenshot of my video into the new article. It looks exactly like the video but instead will hyperlink back to the article on Monroe Scoop. This created even more links to the article and will also count toward my traffic. I’m hoping to get traffic to both sites because of this little maneuver. Below is the screenshot I used to send traffic back to the original article. If you click it, it will take you to the original article also.

I actually host my own videos on my own hosted server on my sites for the most part. I occasionally post a youtube embedded video when I’m pressed for time. YouTube is great for the links but I do not like how they stream video. I don’t think they operate on enough bandwidth and cause videos to stop and stutter.

I estimate it took me an extra 15 minutes of work to do what I have described above. It’s important that you use what media you have and turn it into multimedia. The SEO benefit for your hyperlocal blog will be long term and beneficial. There are SEO Experts out there that would do more and are much more talented than I am, but for the citizen journalist trying to get more out of your articles, these few extra steps will help immensely.

Of course I will also send out a few tweets to get visits to the site.

I have no idea when you, the reader, may stumble upon this article. Why don’t you test me out and type in Your Neighborhood Produce in Monroe, NC into Google and see how I did. If I’m not outranking the actual site, hopefully I’m just under it. I could certainly go after the top ranking with more links but that is not necessary for my purposes.

Give this a try the next time you are working on video or posting some photo’s on your hyperlocal blog. Try to get the most out of your multimedia.

My buddy Josh Whitford, from Unconventional Marketing was recently livestreaming on uStream about his new project, Who’s Got Room. By using his new website for booking motel rooms across the country, you will be able to snag some really good deals. I also know he’s working on an affiliate program where you and I can make a few bucks when we embed his widget on our sites.

A couple of things I’d like to point out. Josh really knows how to interact with his target audience. His livestream is just an example of how he uses multimedia and social media to connect with his audience. Josh is one of the most successful users of Twitter that I know. You can learn a lot from him by following him and observing how he uses Twitter.

Check out the video of his livestream. Follow Josh at @therealjosh on Twitter.

2010 bbloggerlens.com

This is a very limited review of this cool new Map My Ride App I downloaded today. I’ve been having some fun with my new iPhone and one of the Apps I downloaded was Map My Ride. It’s a free App that is GPS based on your iPhone internal GPS. I decided to take my mountain bike out this afternoon so I quickly downloaded the App just before I left the house. I headed toward the mountain bike trail and I had not yet even opened the App.

I wish I could give you a full review at this time but I can’t because I don’t yet know enough about it. It seemed to work pretty good for me today and I wanted to share with you because it has a cool feature with the WOW factor.

When I got back home and went online, it shows my route on the map. This particular ride I made today was 3.03 miles at a local mountain bike trail. Don’t laugh because today, I admit, was a weenie ride. It’s my first trip on the bike this year. My legs were rubber and my heart was wondering WTF was going on. I’ll slowly get myself back in mountain bike shape.

What I really liked was an option to show your ride from Google Earth. When you click it, it animates your ride from the satellite view. This was the WOW factor that captured my attention. I recorded it so you could see it in action. I thought it was bad-ass. If I learn more about it, I’ll be sure to share it with you.

2010 BloggerLens.com

This past week I went on a search for a new Smartphone and I’m ready to announce the winner. I was currently using a Blackberry Curve which I’ve had for well over a year. My cell service is with Verizon. I have been with them for ages and it just made sense to me to find something to my liking with Verizon. My buddy Josh over at Unconventional Marketing, recently went to a Droid. We were on a video call recently talking about it and he had downloaded the uStream LiveStream App and gave me a demo. Well, being a techno geek, this gave me an electronic version of what you would usually get with a Viagra pill. Bad-ass is all I can say.

What did I do? Yea, that’s right, I went to Verizon and picked me up a Droid by Motorola. Super cool phone. Does everything and was very fast. I bought the one with the slider keyboard. Started learning to use it and immediately discovered a problem. My fingers are too fat for the keyboard. I could not type without hitting the keys beside the one I was aiming for. I got totally frustrated and the next morning, it went back to Verizon. I was really bummed out about it because the phone has so many awesome features.

I went a few more days and after reviewing a bunch of info on the internet, I decide to give the Blackberry Storm 2 a try. Once again, I was digging this phone. The screen was large and awesome and there are a zillion apps for it. The screen actually depresses and clicks giving you a little feedback. Once again, Fat Finger Syndrome struck and I quickly lost my electronic erection for the Storm. I made yet another trip back to the Verizon Store where the clerks were now recognizing me and avoiding me. I turned it back in and they re-activated my little crappy Blackberry Curve. Note about the Blackberry Curve, you must be Edward Scissorhands and your eyes must function as high power telescopes to operate this square fish sandwich type phone. If you are over 12 years old and have fingertips that are larger than pencil lead, don’t buy one.

I left the Verizon store feeling bummed out because I didn’t see any phone that appealed to me. I was trying to stay with my original cellular carrier. After some comfort food, burger, fries and a small coke I told myself to just screw it and headed for the AT&T Store. I walked in like a man on a mission. Told the clerk I was there to buy an iPhone. This sales dude was sharp and I made his job easy. He ported my number over to AT&T and in about 30 minutes I walked out with an iPhone. I sat in my car and started playing with the phone and in less than 5 minutes I had completely fallen in love. I am an Apple Mac guy already and this device is truly amazing.

The winner is the Apple iPhone by such a staggering margin that I cannot even describe. I’ve been busy learning the phone and downloading apps. I feel like a kid with a new toy. Let me help all of you out who are considering a new Smartphone. Save yourself a lot of trouble experimenting. There is no comparison in my opinion. Apple invented the Smartphone and everyone else is playing catch up. If you have fat fingers like I do, you will be very pleased with the onscreen keyboard. I think even Josh wants one but does not have AT&T service in Fargo, ND. If you are searching, search no more.

2010 BloggerLens.com

Establishing yourself as part of the local media has it’s personal advantages. As time has progressed for me and my hyperlocal blogging efforts, I’m able to do things now, that a year and a half ago would not have been possible.

I write about a lot of things here on BloggerLens but my main job and focus in my real life are that as a citizen journalist in my hometown. The relationships that are possible when you become a hyperlocal blogger can certainly open doors and opportunities if you will only pursue. When you establish credibility in your local community as a citizen journalist or blogger, you will begin to see opportunities present themselves to you. Your site, social media presence and your content can take you a long way in this day and time.

I want to share with you today an event I was part of back in November. My local town sponsored the Warriors & Warbirds Airshow. I was invited to participate in a media flight with the T-28 Trojan Horsemen Flying Team. It was one of the biggest thrills of my life. The video below is my flight from start to finish, shot in HD with my Canon XH A1. I added very little music to this video as to capture the natural sounds of this flight. If you have never experienced close formation flying, you will be amazed at the skill of these pilots. I was required to wear a parachute during this flight. That get’s you to thinking a little and wondering if you made your last life insurance payment.

The benefits of being a citizen journalist are many. I hope you enjoy the video.

2010 BloggerLens.com