Poison Tap Water is trending on Google…    And I am doing everything I can to see if I can get some of that. hahaha

Please ignore this….

Tanya Thompson / @thompsontanya commented about a device on Twitter this morning that caught my eye… It is the Withings / @Withings Wi-Fi connected scale, which uses network connectivity to log and track your weight loss (or gain) among other things.

You can view your trends with a web interface, and access the data with your iPhone. I believe something like this really could encourage you to lose some weight. Recently there have been news stories which cite studies about weight loss and the results indicate that those who use internet weight tracking actually do lose more weight and manage to maintain that loss better than those who do not.

The thing that bothers me is that it will Tweet out your weight once a week to Twitter. All I could think was exactly what it would be tweeting when I stepped on it… Something like, “HELP ME! This fat guy is smushing me!” is probably what it would have to say about me! Still, it is an interesting gadget and I would love to have it. Who knows, maybe I will order one. Follow me on Twitter to see what this thing has to say!

If you are reading this blog post, you probably know that I am pretty involved in Social Media. Some may say I am addicted to it!

I am active on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, Plaxo, and still have a MySpace account, though I don’t really use it that much. I haved tried out Google Buzz, FriendFeed, and several business only SM sites. (Heck, I have even checked out Chat Roulette and Omegle – but that is an entirely different story)

Out of all of these, one that I fail to see the value in for a computer service, repair and sales business like Homeland Secure IT is FourSquare. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I use it constantly, and get very frustrated when it isn’t working like I think it should. But I use it for personal purposes. If you have not played with FourSquare, it is a geolocation based social media “tool” that lets you “check-in” to a venue or location when you get there using your GPS equiped smartphone. Assume you go to Starbucks for a quick Dark Cherry Mocha Frapp – you “check-in” and now the whole world can see what you are doing.  You can brag to Twitter & Facebook that you have disposable income you can spend on yummy coffee.

Same thing goes for attractions like amusement parks, ball games, and stores like say, “Target”. If you check-in enough times, you become the “Mayor” of that venue!

Here is where the value of FourSquare comes in… Assume you check-in and become mayor of XYZ Sandwich Shop. You have been announcing this for a while, everytime you visit there. The whole world has seen you were there, giving free advertisement to XYZ! But, if XYZ is smart, they will reward you for your loyalty and offer a free sandwich when someone becomes Mayor, and maybe a free drink every time the Mayor visits after that. A very cheap price to pay for this type of advertising.

Many places, especially restaurants, will offer specials that popup when you check-in near their venue. These will show up as a “SPECIAL NEARBY – Check out the great ribs at ABC BBQ”, which can help bring new business into these places. And still other places will offer you a free entree when you visit several of their location. FourSquare itself offers “Badges” for accomplishing certain feats, such as checking into three Starbucks locations.

All that said, our business does not have foot traffic nor visitors, so offering a “Free Virus Cleanup” to a mayor would be silly. I believe I am the only person to check-in to our location in the months that I have been using it. But it does bring up a pet peeve of mine. Today I was ousted as Mayor of a local coffee shop – BY THE OWNER OF THE PLACE. Wow, that doesn’t do anything to help with loyalty. My suggestion to places that want to check-in themselves, create a second venue, call it XYZ Sandwich Shop STAFF, and let the staff go crazy checking in!

I would further suggest that business owners who can benefit from FourSquare’s power of (free) advertising, take advantage of it the way it was meant to be used. Offer Mayors a treat, some recognition, and encourage them to remain the mayor and others to try and oust the current mayor. 4sq is both a FUN, and a very useful business tool, when used properly.

BTW: If you can think of a way 4sq can be used to promote our computer repair business here in Greenville, and increase loyalty, well I’m all ears, but until that happens, I will be trying to take my place as mayor of every great business in the Upstate!  Watch out Mayors, I’m coming for you…   

BTW: Have fun, it is only a game!  (But seriously, I’m coming for you)…    Also check out other geolocational based SM tools / toys like Gowalla, Gypsii, BrightKite, Loopt, etc…

Today, at “High Noon” in Falls Park, a group of people, made up of men & women of all ages and from all walks of life, and even children, met up at the first “Flash Mob” that I am aware of in Greenville… To shoot each other with water guns! To the casual observer, immediately before noon, there was very little sign of anything significant taking place, just a group of people, who happened to be wearing Google’s colors of Red, Blue (The best one of course), Yellow and Green, to represent the color they liked best, or maybe the color of the letter they were in during the #GoogleOnMain event….

At “high noon”, cooler lids opened, and a fountain of Mentos activated Coke sprayed high into the air… Suddenly, the group pulled out (water) guns and began firing on each other! Some people had modest little water guns, others had fully automatic hydration systems shooting 25+ft. Then the bombing began! Water ballons were launched and many participants were instantly drenched with the barrage of ballons, again in the colors of Google’s famous logo.

Until the video is released, I can’t say for sure who won, but I have a feeling the Blue beat out of the rest =) (They may feel otherwise, but that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it)

The brainchild of Susan Sebotnick / @BitTyrant and Aaron Von Frank / @AaronVonFrank – they thought it up on Friday, made it happen today by using social media to alert a couple thousand people…   Due to the holiday, many were out of town though. Still, the turnout was terrific for Noon on a Monday!!!!

Some photos from James Akers Jr. / @JamesAkersJr are available here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=187731&id=507966821#!/photo.php?pid=4889169&id=507966821

Network surveillance camera giveaway

I present to you: July’s freaky fun thing from Homeland Secure IT…

We are going to give away a cool color WiFi IP surveillance camera!

These network security cameras are pretty nifty! They feature wireless 802.11b/g connectivity, or wired CAT-5 to your network, as well as full color via a 1/4″ CMOS sensor, with 640×480 resolution at 30fps (full motion). They support WEP and WPA encryption.

These babies can automatically email you a snapshot at the first sign of activity, so you can get it on your smart phone, or you can log in and watch the video feed live with a web browser or some mobile smart phones…  It comes with software to turn a computer into a DVR to record the video.

Oh, did I mention that it features infrared illumination so it can see it total darkness?  Yep… pretty cool!

All you have to do is to attach the little mount it comes with to a wall and then attach the camera to that, connect the power supply and your network cable, or you can program it to connect wirelessly to your network.

What’s the catch?  There is none…  Absolutely no purchase, no obligation to enter our giveaway, other than to get connected to us via our mailing lists or this blog.  On this blog you can look to the right, and enter your email address in the “Follow Me” section and then hit subscribe and you can sign up for our email mailing lists HERE.

We combine the subscription lists from the blog and our two mailing lists into one list and draw randomly, which creates a loophole that can work to someone’s benefit – If you are subscribed to all 3 places, you have 3 chances to win…

Legal mumbo-jumbo: This offer is void where prohibited. Winner must pick up prize at our office in Greenville SC, or make arrangements for it to be shipped at his/her expense.

We will select the winner on July 31st 2010 and announce it the following week via a blog post, social media, etc!

In the meantime, if you want to purchase one of these snazzy cameras, we sell them as well as a full line of security and surveillance cameras and DVRs, so shoot us an email at info@homelandsecureit.com or call us at 864-990-4748….

Homeland Secure IT has more fun giveaways coming!  We are going to be giving some silly stuff and some spiffy stuff away to those who are on our mailing lists…

You have to play the game to win… To play, you need only sign up for our mailing lists and/or subscribe to this blog. While everyone in the USA is eligible (except where prohibited by law) our mailing lists are primarily of interest to computer and technology enthusiasts, business owners, entrepreneurs, our clients & future clients of course, friends, family and individuals, mostly in and around the Greenville and Upstate South Carolina area. If you live outside of the local area and cannot pick up the cool stuff you win from our office, then you will be responsible for the shipping and handling costs.

WHAT CAN YOU WIN? Just what are we planning to give away to those who subscribe? In no particular order: A wireless network / IP surveillance camera complete with night vision, Trend Micro Anti-Virus, APC & Eaton UPS, free computer service & support, gift cards to various places around the Upstate and more! (Who knows, maybe a cool Android device, or netbook, etc)

We will announce the giveaways as we start them. The next one will be for July 2010.

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? Because we want to increase awareness of our products and services, but we also want to have fun and to give something back to those who support us!

HOW TO ENTER: On our blog simply enter your email address & click on the subscribe button on the right-hand side where it says “Follow Me” to subscribe to this blog, which will be emailed to you each day there is new content, or you can sign up for either one or all of our mailing lists. There are currently two mailing lists, the “NewsBytes” ML which has minimal traffic, no more than once per week, and the “Secure IT Alerts” mailing list, which has only postings that regard to security, such as vulnerabilities and patches – traffic varies on that list. (There is a form below)

HOW WE SELECT A WINNER: At the time of the drawings, ALL lists are combined together and a name is selected randomly using a random number generator to get a number that corresponds to a name on that list.

LOOPHOLE ALERT: There is one flaw that can be used in your favor… If you are on multiple lists and subscribed to the blog, your name is going to be in the list multiple times, increasing your chances of winning.

Sign up now using this form:

Whenever I see a creative video, I just can’t help myself, I have to share it with everyone. The OK Go’s “End Love” is just that type of video… OK Go have made a habit of creating original and exciting music videos. You don’t even have to like their music to enjoy the effort that went into it and the final product, though their music is pretty good too!

Click on the video player and go to YouTube to check out their other videos while you are at it.

We would be honored if you would help us get this cool graphic for use on our website and publications!

We are often told we offer the best computer repair, sales, service and support in Greenville and the Upstate, but the Greenville News is currently looking for people to participate in their poll for the “Best of the Upstate 2010″ and we would be honored if you would take a couple minutes of your time and vote…

Here is the link to the poll: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AM8P6RVZN

What’s in it for you??? You can win a $500 dollar Visa gift card just for voting in 10 categories!

The category that we fit into is #34 Computer Store/Service Provider…  We are not listed there, so you would have to write in: Homeland Secure IT, LLC

Please consider writing in or selecting these other great places:

#22 Bartender

Brad at Thaicoon Ricefire (We love this guy, super nice, and does a great job)

#28 Carpet Cleaners?

McAbee’s Custom Carpets (This is Pamela’s family owned business)

#34 Computer Store/Service Provider?

Homeland Secure IT, LLC  (US! Wouldn’t you know it!??!)

#45 Jewelry Store?

Julie’s Jewels & Gifts (Julie is awesome – she can get anything for you if she doesn’t have it, or she can have it made)

#50 Mexican Restaurant?

Cancun of Piedmont (This is a client of our’s… Best Mexican food in Piedmont. Oh wait, the ONLY Mexican food in Piedmont!)

Thank you for your support!!!!!!!!!!

The Best of the Upstate voting is going on, where you pick your favorite places in the Upstate, and those who are most popular win fame and fortune!  Okay, maybe not fame or fortune, but the winners do get a little publicity and recognition…

If you would like to participate go to: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AM8P6RVZN

You can win a $500 dollar Visa gift card just for voting in 10 categories!

You just fill out some information about yourself (if you want a chance at winning) then select the best places in the Upstate of SC!

Please consider writing in or selecting these places:

#22 Bartender

Brad at Thaicoon Ricefire (We love this guy, super nice, and does a great job)

#28 Carpet Cleaners?

McAbee’s Custom Carpets (This is Pamela’s family owned business)

#34 Computer Store/Service Provider?

Homeland Secure IT, LLC  (US! Wouldn’t you know it!??!)

#45 Jewelry Store?

Julie’s Jewels & Gifts (Julie is awesome – she can get anything for you if she doesn’t have it, or she can have it made)

#50 Mexican Restaurant?

Cancun of Piedmont (This is a client of our’s… Best Mexican food in Piedmont. Oh wait, the ONLY Mexican food in Piedmont!)

#55 Best NEW Upstate Business

Homeland Secure IT, LLC (Hey, it’s us again!)

Thanks again for your support of Homeland Secure IT, we really couldn’t do it without our awesome friends, family and clients!  Sure, we could still offer the best computer service, repair & network support in Greenville and the Upstate, but what would it matter without you!?!

Thank you so much for your help!  BTW: If you have a business you would like someone to vote on, please respond to this post…

John

And the Winner of the Cisco Flip MinoHD camcorder is

Now for the moment you have been waiting for…   Drum roll please…..

Well first I will explain what we were doing for those who don’t have a clue.

A few months ago, Homeland Secure IT entered a contest on Brickfish.com that was put on by Cisco…  It was called “Heros of the Human Network”, which had businesses and organizations put up a reason why they should win something from Cisco. We entered, and then posted that we had entered on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, and a few websites… We asked that everyone go vote for us, and they did.  Not only did they vote, they reposted our request, and though we didn’t win the 5 thousand dollars from Cisco, we won a Cisco Flip MinoHD  camcorder!!!!

We decided that since we already have a Flip, we would give it away to the same people who had supported us and helped us win it!

These are cool little cameras. Full 720p digital camcorder that you can slip in your pocket with built-in software to allow you to make quick edits and upload to your favorite site like YouTube.com. I have a lot of fun with mine, and the winner will also have fun with theirs I am sure!

To determine a winner, I took the list of people who are on our mailing list, and those who subscribe to this blog, and ran a random number generator to pick a number that corresponded to the list of subscribers. 15 was the lucky number!

Andrea Bennett was lucky number 15 and she has been notified via email.  Should Andrea not respond, we will just give it to someone else, but my money is on a quick response from her!

Thank you to everyone for playing along in our little game! Who knows, maybe we can do it again sometime soon!!!!   Have a great week…