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Monday, May 25, 2015

BOSTON: DON'T TAX MY BEER

Bill Linehan and Frank Baker propose tax on all alcohol:
A Boston City Council hearing is slated Wednesday on a proposal from City Council President Bill Linehan and Councilor Frank Baker to levy a 2 percent tax on all alcohol sales, which they say would generate $20 million for substance 
abuse treatment and 
prevention programs.

More taxes are not the answer.

We've heard this before: Boston Councilors Seek New Tax On Alcohol:
“[In 2010], Massachusetts voters repealed the new sales tax on package store transactions. The [Massachusetts Restaurant Association] agrees with Governor [Charlie] Baker that we need to get past the common impulse to solve problems by imposing [tax] hikes on individuals and businesses,” the association said in a statement replying to the Boston tax plan."
DON'T TAX MY BEER



Disclosure: I'm a part owner of Lord Hobo Brewing Company.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Monday, May 18, 2015

Lord Hobo Brewing Company Update: Soon

Soon.



Follow LordHoboBrewing on Social Media
Follow us on social media for updates on our opening date, events we'll be attending, and distribution plans. Plus cool photos of the brewery, beer and people. Cheers!

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Facebook: /LordHoboBrewing

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Instagram: @LordHoboBrewing

Your Photo on a Custom Lay's Potato Chip Bag

Lay's has a promotion where they are accepting photo entries where Your Photo could be featured on a Custom Lay's Potato Chip Bag.



One thing that the marketing team missed is that they do not give you a copy of your photo as seen on the potato chip bag to share on social media after you upload your photo.



That would have been cool.

Maybe someone will create a Custom Lay's Potato Chip Bag bag generator?

Lay's is worried about people taking over the campaign with inapropriate images. In this AdAge article they talk about limiting custom bag images:
Lay's execs are counting on social media to increase the program's reach well beyond the owners of the 10,000 custom bags. For instance, Lay's will send a digital image to the consumer as soon as the bag is designed, hoping the user will share it broadly. When the bag is delivered, chances are people will boast about them again on their social networks -- at least that is the goal.

"I would say we are going to reach millions and millions of people very easily," Mr. Krishnan said. "Consumers want this two-way conversation," he added.

Of course, there is some risk that people could hijack the program with inappropriate images. To reduce that risk, Lay's will review every entry. "It has to be appropriate. It has to live up to building the brand equity," Mr. Krishnan said. The rigor required is "why it's very difficult to do these things in scale all year long," he said.
I've gotten no indication that I will be getting a custom bag design image to share on social media.

My entry:

Nantucket

Yes, you allow them to use your photo in any way that they want.
By uploading the Photo, I represent that the Photo does not infringe on any party’s intellectual property, privacy or other rights; and I irrevocably grant to Frito-Lay the unconditional and perpetual right to post, display, publish, use, adapt, edit and/or modify such Photo in its sole discretion.
Using Photoshop works, but it takes some time. ;-)



Update:

Just found this from WCHS, Want Your Face On A Bag Of Chips?:
The first 10,000 customers will get a bag of chips emblazoned with their own custom photo and caption.

Everyone else will get a digital version of their personalized bag of chips to share online.
That story went up last Thursday. I wonder how many people have uploaded photos?

Update 2:

I shared on twitter:



They featured on summer.Lays.com, with a direct link back to my tweet:



Update 3 (12:31) PM:

Got an email from Lay's with my custom chip bag image.


Image: Email


Image: Custom Bag

Looks like I have to copy the image and save it locally, then share to social media.

Would have been easier if there were CLICK TO SHARE buttons for twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Boston Water and Sewer Commission Has No Plans to Offer Automatic Bill Payments

I've been asking about getting automatic bill pay supported, for my Boston water bill, for years. Today I got an answer.

I don't understand the answer, but I got one.

Boston Water and Sewer Commission Has No Plans to Offer Automatic Bill Payments



Update:

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Flickr's New Camera Roll View is Magic

Flickr's new Camera Roll View has a new feature called Magic View.

With Magic View you can look at all of your photos that have a certain subject in them, like Animals, Plants, Cars, Trains, etc.

Here's a look at my Flickr Camera Roll where all the photos have a boat in them.

Pretty cool.

Thursday, May 07, 2015

How to Retweet a Tweet on Twitter

Twitter.com EXAMPLE

Original Tweet:



Click the retweet icon to retweet:





Optionally add a comment. Click 'Retweet'.



Here's how the retweeted tweet looks:



Notice that it maintains all the original content and a LINK back to the original tweet.

That way when someone sees the retweet, they can then click through to the original, where they can then REPLY, RETWEET, or FAVORITE it.

This is the neighborly way to retweet something.

Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Comcast Announces new Xfinity remote with voice control



From the press release:
Comcast today announced the consumer launch of its new remote control that allows customers to navigate tens of thousands of shows and movies on the X1 platform with their voice. The new Xfinity remote with voice control lets viewers search for networks, shows and movies; set DVR recordings; get recommendations; navigate Xfinity On Demand and more.

"Say it and see it. It’s that simple," said Sree Kotay, Comcast Cable’s Chief Software Architect. "We want viewers to get to the shows and movies they love quickly, and we’ve built a remote control that’s smart, fast and intuitive. You don’t have to learn a new language or speak like a robot. Just press the blue button, say what you want to watch and it appears on screen. It’s easy, just like watching TV should be."
I received this remote for review and have had it for a while now, and it's slick.

Now that I can talk to the remote like I can talk to my iPhone, it's a lot easier to do things. The only buttons I now use on my remote are the POWER, VOLUME, and CHANNEL buttons, and a few times the NUMERIC buttons.

IT LOOKS AND FEELS NICE

Here are some photos I took to compare the old remote and the new one:



View full size photos Xfinity remote with voice control on Flickr.

VOICE COMMANDS

The voice commands are surprisingly well understood. It's so good that I wanted to start asking the Xfinity remote Siri type questions.

Examples:
The Xfinity Remote with voice control recognizes thousands of common commands including things like:

Changing the channel: "Watch ESPN"

Searching for movies or shows: "The Walking Dead"

Browsing Xfinity On Demand: "Show me kids movies"

Setting a recording: "Record Saturday Night Live"

Finding sports teams, games and events: "When do the Red Sox play?"

HOW DOES IT WORK

Again, from the press release, this is good stuff:
...the remote records sound from a microphone when the Mic button is held down and then uses voice-over-RF4CE™ ZigBee® technology to compress and transmit that recording over a low bandwidth link to the X1 platform

ARCHIVED #MEERKAT VIDEO REVIEW



GET ONE

You can walk into a Comcast office to get an Xfinity remote with voice control if you have an X1 Entertainment Operating System with DVR service, or you can get one shipped to you and just pay shipping.

Certain restrictions apply. Subject to availability, and restricted to customers with X1 Entertainment Operating System with DVR service. Limited to one per household. Standard Shipping and Handling of $5.95 per order. One-time charge of $5.95 will appear on your bill statement within 1-2 billing cycles. Order will be shipped UPS and arrive within 3-5 business days.

Old iPhoto Library Unavailable for Import in New Max OS X Photos App

When I try to import my old iPhoto library in the new Photos App, the library is unavailable.

Help.