Geoffrey Brown's Blog

Check out this @ElectrikRed video clip: UR Friend Lover

2009-06-29T15:58:00.001-07:00

Twenty-Six Twitter Tools To Track Tweets

2009-02-10T09:46:00.001-08:00

As is becoming painfully obvious to my co-workers, friends, family, and anyone within a 15 foot radius of this Twitter-holic...I have a HEALTHY obsession. These two articles, written by David Erickson and Brian Solis are great resources to get you entirely up to speed on Twitter. Would you believe that there are already rules and etiquette surrounding the 140 character micro blogging tool?

Twenty-Six Twitter Tools To Track Tweets

Finding the Tweet Spot - Top Tips for Building Twitter Relationships

Social Media at the Super Bowl

2009-02-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

I just posted a blog entry for the Social Media Club Los Angeles titled "Social Media at the Super Bowl".

This is the first blog entry I've done for SMCLA. Please head over and let me know what you think!

http://www.socialmediaclub.la

Our next meeting will be early March.

Super Bowl Commercials

2009-02-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Hulu.com, you can watch all of the Super Bowl commercials right here. They will update as soon as they air on the actual live broadcast.

Please go ahead and watch them. Then head on over to http://socialtoo.com/survey/view/1221 and take the survey. If you are on Twitter (and you should be by now), you can real-time comment on the ads by adding the #superbowlads hashtag to your post.

You can do your ad research and background info checking over here at Mahalo.com

What We Watch on TV

2009-01-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

In an effort to break a three month writer's block, I'm posting an entry about what we have on our DVR. Nielsen Media, I'm here if you're interested. To give this post structure, I'll follow the "Top Ten" format.

10. Top Chef
I love this show. It would be my top show if this were a bachelor's DVR. But, it's not and therefore there are 9 other shows in front of it on the pecking order. Ironically, we seem to always eat something really bland on the night we watch this show. It makes the food on the screen seem that much more enticing. My favorite Top Chef contestant of all time: Hung. Watching him dismember chickens was liquid gold.

9. The Real Housewives of Orange County/New York/Atlanta
Train wreck. That's the only way to describe this show. In O.C., it's silicone and botox mixed with greed and lack of parenting skills. In NYC, it seems to be long vacations, big shopping budgets, and skimpy Speedos mixed with poor parenting skills. Atlanta deserves a separate post of its own...let's just say that those "ladies" could benefit from a heavy does of some Emily Post and, true to form, the kids seemed to raise themselves.

8. Numb3rs
Kate thinks the lead actor, David Krumholtz, is the bees knees. All I know is that he looks like my friend Bobby Cuza. The plots are interesting enough, and they try to be kind of Tom Clancy with a mixture of numbers, science, and criminology. It just seems really forced.

7. Criminal Minds
Once again, watching this show as a couple reminds me of the fact that Kate has a "thing" for Agent Gibson. The show consistently delivers a balanced diet of cerebral and visceral crime drama. I'll forgive it the occasional cut corner when it comes to plot or special effect in the interest of the greater story line...an FBI unit that follows psychotic or serial killers. Extra points for
Mandy Patinkin ("Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father...prepare to die.")

6. CSI: New York
It's pretty much the CSI formula. Crime Drama + beautiful agents + Encyclopedia Brown sized capers. The big difference here is the lighting. Whereas Vegas has dark lighting, CSI: Miami has neon lighting, New York has "dramatic lighting" which also seems dark to me. On the CSI scale, I put it ahead of Miami, behind Vegas.

5. Gossip Girl
Blake Lively...Yowza! I think there are other actors and actresses in this show. I'm not really sure about much else. I like the way it uses mobile technology to show how the kids spread information and rumors about one another. Now, if I coud just get my mobile content placed on this show...

4.CSI: Las Vegas
The O.G. DNA tracking, crime scene investigation, murder scene depicting, drama series. I will never forget picking this up on Netflix, back when Kate and I were dating... We'd watch CSI: Las Vegas DVDs for hours on end, just soaking it all up. This series is just, plain, good. We'll miss Grissom.

3. Sesame Street
Timeless. I watched it. Jimmy watches it. Mary Kate watches it. I love how they work in the celebrity guest stars. Current fav: "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" by Aaron Neville.

2. Caillou
At first, I hated this bratty kid. All I new was that if I turned it on, Jimmy would sit mesmerized for 30 minutes as this little French Canadian bald boy would bitch and moan about his day to day activities. Pretty soon, I was hooked and found myself liking little Caillou. It doesn't hurt that his parents are clearly hippies. Mom rocks the one-piece and clearly doesn't wear a bra. Go Caillou's mommy! Caillou's daddy clearly loses his keys and wallet about as often as I do, which is daily. I'm starting to feel a connection here...

1. Thomas the Train
According to Quicken, Thomas the Train ranks somewhere between "rent" and "college loans" on my monthly expenses. As goes Jimmy's obsession, so goes our DVR. 'Nuff said. Thomas grew on me. I'm beginning to really get into the stories and the narration. Favorite engine: Silly Billy.

Honorable Mention:
- Miss America
- Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders
- Jon and Kate Plus 8
- Real World
- The Hills
- The City
- The Secret Life of the American Teenager
- 90210

What we LOVED and wish there were more episodes of:
- Arrested Development
- The Wire

Stuff we used to record, but don't anymore:
- Jeopardy
- CSI: Miami

What we're not watching, but that I hear about ALL THE TIME:
- Heroes
- Lost

Coral Von Zumwalt Takes Great Pictures

2008-11-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

Coral Von Zumwalt (a.k.a. Coral Thompson) is an AMAZING photographer. She's also Kate's bestest friend ever. Everyone should have a talented professional photographer as a friend. Go to: www.coralvonzumwalt.com photography and see what else she can do!

Mogreet Widget v4.0 - Improved!

2008-11-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

This is a test of the Mogreet Widget v4.0. We're hoping to improve on a few glitches with streaming video. One of the tests is to embed the widget into a blog. This embed code comes from clicking on "embed" on the widget.

The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan

2008-11-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

This article by Mashable has a number of compelling and FREE to use social media ideas. What isn't free: The amount of time it takes to pour content into them and to be actively using all of them. Seriously, we need a shakedown on the number of social media outlets out there so that we can focus traffic into a few key ones.
The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan

The best tool mentioned in the article is this one: http://usernamecheck.com/. It allows you to check user name status across a number of top sites.

Mogreet Grabs $5 Million For Mobile Video Messaging Platform

2008-11-06T10:46:00.001-08:00

Mogreet Grabs $5 Million For Mobile Video Messaging Platform

Posted using ShareThis

This is such a HUGE announcement for Mogreet! A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped Mogreet get to this milestone. This vote of confidence in our product speaks volumes, especially during a tough financial climate for startups.

I think it's only appropriate to really convey my excitement for this with a mogreet:

Obama: Yes We Can!

2008-11-04T22:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight's election is such a huge moment in the history of the United States of America. Congratulations to Barack Obama and all who helped make his campaign a success. In honor of his acceptance speech, send this Mogreet to everyone you know. Use promo code: geoff to send it for free.

35+ Sites Made for Web Savvy Families

2008-11-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

This list just came to me via Twitter from Mashable:
35+ Sites Made for Web Savvy Families

I haven't had a chance to click through to all of them yet, but I'm surprised to find that we're not using any of them...yet.

Here's how we do things:
Calendar - Google Calendar
Photos - Picassa & Ofoto
Videos - Nothing yet...pile of DV tapes.
Finances - BofA, Excel
Family Communication - Email, Vonage, Skype
Family Tree - Family Tree Maker

Nothing shocking here...

We did, however, do a stint with: http://www.trixietracker.com/ on our firstborn to track feedings, sleep, bm, etc... It was amazing! Graphs, iPhone App, everything a stathead could want for tracking his baby.

BabyCenter.com is also great! Even for a dad...

Simon Says

2008-10-28T00:07:00.000-07:00

Interactive designer Paul Neave of Neave.com brings us an all-time classic game: Simon.

Simon made by Neave Games

I also had a blast staring at his "strobe" installation that does some really tiresome things to the muscles in my eyes. When you look away from the screen, regular objects appear to be melting like an LSD trip. This is especially effective after a long day of halogen tanning in front of a monitor.

Wheeeeeeee

2008-10-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

Kate took this photo of me tossing Mary Kate up in the air. It was right after the two kids refused to smile for our very first yuppie family photo session down at the beach. I insisted that we dress up in 100% denim and go out into the waves for the shot, but Kate persuaded me to go with the denim and collared shirt look with the sweet lay down knees crossed reclining look. Jimmy was a total pill and refused to do anything more than glare. Awesome.

Can you spot Jimmy in this photo? I'll give you a hint. Follow Mary Kate's shadow...

Mobile Video Messaging: Halloween Mogreets!

2008-10-24T16:55:00.001-07:00

This Halloween, I plan to send my friends a Halloween greeting directly to their mobile phone. Check out Mogreet.com today and do the same!

Lance Bass Mogreet is AWESOME

2008-07-23T17:17:00.001-07:00

Mogreet Steve Rudolf Caddy Widget in da House!

2008-07-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Mogreet Mini Widget Testing

2008-07-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

Mogreet Mini Widget

2008-07-08T23:02:00.001-07:00

allowNetworking='internal' height='263' width='333'
data='http://www.mogreet.com/swfs/666/widget_mini_3.swf'>name='allowScriptAccess' value='never' />value='internal' />value='http://www.mogreet.com/swfs/666/widget_mini_3.swf' />src='http://www.mogreet.com/swfs/666/widget_mini_3.swf' bgcolor=#99CC33
WIDTH=333 HEIGHT=263
TYPE='application/x-shockwave-flash'>

2008-06-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day - Mogreet!

2008-06-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

Mary Kate Walks!

2008-05-31T09:34:00.001-07:00

Videos of the Family

2008-05-07T16:37:00.001-07:00

Breakfast w/the Kids

2008-05-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

A few mornings ago, the kids and I started the day in the usual way: Jimmy wakes up saying, "Mommy...Daddy...Moooooommmmmyyyyy....Daaaaaddddddyyy". After a few minutes of this, I usually roll out of bed all groggy and sleepy-eyed. As soon as I open the door, I hear, "Hi Daddy!" from Jimmy. One time he even said, "Party!" out of the clear blue.

After a quick diaper change, we head into the office and get Mary Kate. One thing is constant about Mary Kate's wake-up routine: the smile. She smiles as big as her face will allow when we enter the room to get her. With both kids in my arms, we head for the kitchen, fill up our babas (daddy's is hot...careful) and head for the living room to shake off the cobwebs.

This picture catches up to us after the babas and right as we sit down to eat some oatmeal, chopped up strawberries and blackberries, and possibly some baby food for MK. I setup the shot using lighting from the wooden-slotted windowshades and used the -10 second timer. I can't believe I got both kids to look right at the lens for the shot.

Here's to great wake ups!