It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Apple Store (my home, away from home)! The nearest one is about 45 minutes away, so I don’t go that often. I was meeting some friends for dinner last night at that area, so I had to stop by.

I’m a big fan of the colorful iPods posters and ads, but those of course aren’t new, so they’re not on display. But one thing I noticed is that they’re using iPad 2′s as a type of kiosk. There’s an iPad 2 mounted on the table next to each item which plays a video about the item. It’s a pretty cool idea and a great way to show off the iPad 2. (See them on the table behind me in the photo.)

Anyhow, as you can see, I look wayyyy too happy in that photo. That MacBook Air is quite adorable. ;)

Albert and I are heading back to the Islands — one of our favorite vacation spots! — and we would be greatly honored if you could accompany us for a lunch tweetup. We would love to meet all of our Hawaiian Twitter friends in person. Feel free to invite friends!

Last year we met a lot of amazing geeks, and we’d love to meet some more! Come join us for lunch and geeky chit chat. Last year we got into a discussion about gadgets. I think we’ll see a higher percentage of iPhones this year. ;) Maybe we’ll talk about favorite iPhone apps instead. :)

Date: Saturday, October 31, 2009

Time: 12:00pm – 2:00pm

Location:
Nico’s At Pier 38
1133 N Nimitz Hwy
Honolulu, HI

RSVP

For more information and RSVP, please see bit.ly/hulaween!

My Audio Invitation

Related Links and Posts

• RSVP for Hulaween Tweetup (Facebook)
• Honolulu Tweetup #1 (Nico’s – 2008)
• Honolulu Tweetup #2 (Longhi’s – 2008)

Neal Campbell – Daynah – Cali Lewis – Photo by Albertech.net

Another Blog World Expo has come and gone. This is actually my first Blog World Expo event, and I greatly enjoyed it. There were just so many amazing sessions taking place that it was very hard to choose which to go to. In addition to the panels, I met a lot of amazing people who are changing our world through social media and online tools.

I took a lot of notes that I need to review before writing a full article, so come back later for that! Here is a list of the panels and events that I attended:

Thursday

• Online Locally, Acting Globally – how social media lets us affect and organize the planet
• Chris Brogan’s Closing Keynote
• TechSet & Blogworld Afterhours Party

Friday

• State of the Blogosphere Address by Richard Jalichandra
• Keynote: The Death and Rebirth of Journalism
• Exhibit Hall
• The State of Technology and the Real Time Web
• Affiliate Marketing Blogging Secrets
• Making and Marketing an iPhone App
• Leo Laporte’s Closing Keynote
• The Beatles Love
• Blog World Opening Night Party

Saturday

• Keynote Address (The New Celebrity)
• Exhibit Hall
• Flash Animation
• Video Production Tips & Tricks
• Lunch & Fat Burger XXX Challenges

I can’t wait to attend next year’s event! Many thanks to iProng Magazine for sponsoring me for Blog World and New Media Expo!

Here are a few photos that have been uploaded:

• Blog World Expo – Day 1
• Blog World Expo – Day 2

BlogWorld & New Media Expo is the only trade show and conference created for the industry of blogging and new media. It will give participants the strategies, tools and technologies they need to stake their claim in the blogosphere.

It’s a great conference to learn from the industry’s top leaders. There’s so many great educational opportunities and all the panels look great, it’s hard to choose just one for each time slot! The conference will cover various areas of blogging, new media, and so much more!

If you have an iPhone, be sure to install the Blog World Expo Sched iPhone app. It will also sync with the schedule you created online. Here is my schedule. Also be sure to stop by the Exhibit Hall for sessions at WordCamp Las Vegas.

I will be attending as iProng Magazine’s correspondent. iProng Magazine is the publication for iPhone, iPod, music, podcasting, and social media lovers. There are many reviews of iPhone apps, iPod accessories, and interviews with musicians. Check it out if you haven’t already! Best of all, it’s free! Also, if you haven’t registered for BlogWorld yet, you can still get a 20% discount using the code IPRONGVIP. I’ll see you there!

Social Events

Also, here’s a list of social events after the conference that Ed Morita kindly put together for me. Thank you Ed!

Thursday

• TechSet Party at the Bellagio – YES
• Photo Walk, meet at the Bellagio fountain – Maybe
• Falls Mall Tweetup at Fat Tuesday’s – Maybe
• The America’s Got Talent Tweetup

Friday

• Blog World Opening Night Party at the Mirage – YES
• @AdventureGirl Tweetup at the Plazzo – Maybe

Saturday

• One Man’s Blog Photo Walk meet at the Convention Center Monorail
• Las Vegas Hilton Tweetup
• Grand Tweetup at the MGM Grand
• Karaoke Tweetup at Las Vegas Hilton

What is Twestival?
A Twestival or Twitter-Festival is a global series of events organized by volunteers around the world under short timescales, which bring people offline for a great cause. Twestival is run 100% by volunteers and independently from any not-for-profit; although the organizing teams do work closely to outline an achievable and measurable fundraising target. Twestival also sets out to identify key skills of volunteers and match these with the needs of the cause; particularly communications strategy, tech integration and social media training. Twestival Local takes place in cities around the world during September 10-15, 2009.

Twestival LA
Last February, Twestival LA raised close to $20,000 for charity:water in just one night and two weeks of planning! It was a night of music, comedy, fun, and meeting new friends, while raising money to help bring clean water to those who need it.

Twestival Local LA – Sunday, 9/13 at 6pm at Level 3 at Hollywood & Highland

Now we’re back, raising money and supporting two of our local organizations — CHRYSALIS and the LA Food Bank. And I’d like to invite you to our charity event!

What: Twestival Local LA

Where: Level 3 at Hollywood & Highland – 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA (Map)

When: Sunday, Sept. 13th, 2009, 6:00pm – 12am

Cost: $20, $50, $100 donations

Website: LA Twestival.com

Of course, our event will have to be LA-style! Fox LA’s Good Day LA reporter, Suzanne Marques, will be hosting Twestival LA event! There will also be live musical performances by Dr. Hollywood, The Truth, and Terrakroma as well as comedy show by Ben Gleib, Ben Morrison, Tom Womack, and Josh Wade! And if you enjoy video games, check out the GirlGamer Lounge. And don’t miss out on the amazing raffle prizes and silent auction! Some of the amazing things that will be raffled/auctioned off are Poken, original artwork by Natasha Wescoat, Fatburger, Wildcard T-Shirts, Singelringen, Gift Bags from MegsMakeup, Vonster Books, Yoga Gals, Piknic, and many more surprises! Be sure to check back at LATwestival.com for up-to-date details!

Our Causes:

• CHRYSALIS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping economically disadvantaged and homeless individuals become self-sufficient through employment opportunities. It currently helps more than 2,000 individuals a year change their lives through jobs.

• LA Regional Foodbank’s mission is to mobilize resources to fight hunger in our LA Community. Each dollar received by the food bank can actually provide four complete meals to those in need.

What is Twestival Local?

Comic-Con is where geeks meet annually to celebrate their passion for comics, science fiction, fantasy, and their inner-geekiness! Many dress up as their favorite comic book characters and pose in photos, getting a dose of the celebrity life for a weekend.

Comic-Con is also where many long-awaited special announcements are first heard, and I believe the best surprises this year came from The Guild panel. So what is The Guild? It’s an online comedy show about the online and offline lives of a guild (group of gamers). Whether you play games or not, it’s worth checking out. You’ll find yourself laughing at all the characters, because we all know people in real life that reminds us of each character!

The Guild panel was on Friday morning, and to my surprise, the line was wrapping around the hallway! Every seat in the room was taken, and many of the attendees stood against the back walls. The session was quite packed!

Kim Evey, The Guild co-producer, came out and announced the first surprise. A video started playing and the audience just went wild! It was The Guild music video called “Do you want to Date my Avatar?” written by Felicia Day and Jed Whedon. The characters were all dressed up in their avatar costumes and the dancing and acting was hilarious! When the video ended, the cast of The Guild – Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen, Jeff Lewis, Vincent Caso and Amy Okuda – walked out, all dressed up in their avatar costumes! They were welcomed by a standing ovation. It was an amazing entrance by an amazing group of people!

We also got a sneak peek at the first episode of Season 3. The story starts with the Guild waiting in line to purchase the next expansion pack for their game. Then suddenly, a rivalry guild called “Axis of Anarchy” shows up and cuts in front of them! To our surprise, the leader of the rivalry guild was none other than Wil Wheaton! Kim Evey then took the microphone and said in a sad tone, we really wanted to have Wil Wheaton at the panel.. and then her voice lifted and said, “and here he is!” You can only imagine how much happiness was in that room. Wil Wheaton is best known for his role as Westley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation and author of the book, “Just a Geek.”

As for the last surprise, there will be a “Guild” comic book written by Felicia Day and published by Dark Horse Comics! The Guild panel was probably the most exciting one that morning. You had the cast of The Guild and Felicia Day sitting in front of you, the writers of Dr. Horrible – Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen in the front row, and let’s not forget the new Guild cast member, Wil Wheaton – all in the same room. This was indeed a star-studded session! For more information about The Guild, see WatchTheGuild.com.

If you’re a super Twilight fan, you were probably waiting in line with the screaming girls on Wednesday night. But if you missed the panel, you may be just as happy to meet the cast of Twilight Parody from The Hillywood Show. They strolled around the convention center in their Twilight attire. The Hillywood Show makes parodies of various movies, but they’ll best known for their 9-minute version of Twilight. Whether you’re a Twilight fan or not, this video is worth checking out for a few laughs. Go to TheHillywoodShow.com for more information.

Other Comic-Con highlights included Joss Whedon taking the floor of the main room to talk about his upcoming projects, and of course Dollhouse. He mentioned that because of all the fans, Dollhouse will be returning for another season this Fall. During the panel, the audience was treated to a full unaired episode of Dollhouse, featuring Felicia Day! It’s not a typical role you’ll see her in, and Joss assured us that we’ll be seeing more of her in the next season. After the showing, we were greeted by Dollhouse stars Eliza Dushku, Fran Kranz, and Dichen Lachman.


Although there are many amazing panels to attend to, you can’t leave Comic-Con without stopping by the exhibit halls for a few hours. Booths from your favorite movies, webisodes, games, books, and of course, comics were tightly packed in the exhibit halls. And each one had special goodies to give away.

New to Comic-Con this year was the addition of their official iPhone app (iTunes link). Although many improvements can be made, this app proved to be very useful during the event. The first screen showed the countdown of when the exhibit hall opens/reopens. The “News” screen aggregates the news from their website. The “Programs” screen displays a list of events and panels, sorted by day and time. The search option made it easy to find events to attend to. After searching for your events, you can “add to favorites,” however, the option to “view favorites” was not available. Hopefully they’ll add this option by the next event. The “Exhibits” screen made it very easy to search and find your favorite exhibits. And lastly, the map made it convenient to find where exactly everything was.

If you plan to attend Comic-Con next year, here are a few tips:

• Don’t take everything handed to you. You’ll be carrying it all day, so be selective!
• Install the Comic-Con iPhone App. It’s very useful for looking up exhibits & events. (iTunes link)
• Prioritize your events before heading to the conference.
• Get in line early!
• Bring your own poster container(s).
• Bring a backpack or large bag to carry all your goodies.
• Bring water, drinks, and snacks.
• Wear good walking shoes because you’ll be standing or walking most of the day.
• Be prepared to stand in very long lines.
• Most of the popular sessions are happening in Ballroom 20 and H. If most of the sessions you want to see are in there, you might want to stay there for the rest of the day. The line to get in is about 3 miles long!
• Bring DVD covers, books, and anything you plan to have autographed!
• Of course, don’t leave home without a camera.
• Come with friends. It’s an experience that should be shared! Plus having someone to talk to in line would be nice as well.

There’s just so much to see and do at Comic-Con, and so very little time to do it in. If you’re interested in learning more about Comic-Con, see their official website.

Article was originally posted on iProng Magazine.

What is WordCamp you may ask? It’s a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. Attendees include the casual users, designers, plugin developers to the core WordPress developers. If you have the slightest interest in WordPress or even blogging, I highly suggest you attend!

The first WordCamp LA will be taking place on Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at Loyola Marymount University, which is very close to LAX airport for those of you coming from out of town.

Tickets are selling fast, so be sure to get yours soon! I’ll see you there!

Related Links

• WordCamp LA
• WordCamp.org
• WordCamp LA 2009 Facebook Event Page
• WordCamp SF
• My Experience at WordCamp SF

What do you get when you bring a lot of geeks to a club? The answer is a lot of craziness and tons of fun! It was a nice relaxing night after a stressful work week. I’m already looking forward to the next event. :)

If you are interested in these kinds of LA Tech events, please let me know and I’ll give you a heads up.

Read more on my personal blog: LA Tech Karaoke Party