Let me start off by apologizing to all of our wonderful clients…

I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart that I will not be reachable today via phone. I am one of the most reachable people on the planet normally, just about 24 hours a day, but…

Today is TEDxGreenville and I just can’t miss it again. (Click on the link for more information about what TEDx is)…    Last year, I worked through it and missed out, but this year, I made a promise to myself to attend!

The line up look amazing:

The Schedule

After TEDxGreenville concludes, we will be heading over to XperienceGreenville, another simply amazing event that is going to help put Greenville on the map. We’re talking DJs, lasers, glow sticks, a few thousand people, aliens, ninjas. Consider it a family-friend rave!

If you want to follow the action on Twitter, follow #TEDxGreenville and #XperienceGVL

If you REALLY need me, call my office number, leave a voice mail, it will go to my cell phone and I will get back to you quickly. Or, send email, text message, etc. I’m taking a notebook and can provide the computer service you require if it is an emergency.  Scott should be around the office most of the day, and Greg is out there somewhere too…

Enjoy YOUR weekend, hope you get to do something as enlightening and entertaining as us!

If you have been paying attention, you know about the Social Story Conference put on by Trey Pennington here in Greenville today at the Warehouse Theatre (@WarehouseGVL). Pamela and I played hooky from work and attended it, feeling a bit naughty, like a kid skipping school!

The speakers were Tim TV, Sean Buvala, Amber Osborne (@MissDestructo), Rick Murray, Olivier Blanchard (@TheBrandBuilder), Trey Pennington (@TreyPennington), and moderated by Phil Yanov (@ThinkHammer).

The topic was “Building your social story”, and while social media was discussed a good bit, it was not the focus of the conference.

It was a total blast! Let’s do it again!  If you missed it you can travel to the next venue!  www.SocialStoryConference.com for more information about it.

I would like to thank the speakers for traveling to see us, especially @MissDestructo who is responsible for getting me into Four Square and has brightened many days with some words of wisdom! Also, to the staff at Bit Tyrant (Aaron Von Frank, Susan Sebotnick and Kat Hardaway), you guys did a bang up job, and your volunteers were awesome too.

Here’s what I am looking forward to this month in Greenville:

Trey Pennington (@TreyPennington) has created the “Social Story Conference” which is going to be in Greenville, SC on September 24th. Trey, along with some other awesome people will be speaking on the subject of social media and social stories.  In short, how businesses can, and do, connect with people and form relationships, rather than force-feeding marketing down a one-way pipeline.

If you want to learn more about how to connect with your customer base, how to share in their lives, and how your products or services are part of their lives then you should consider going. If you are just wanting to continue to “broadcast” your information in the hopes that someone is going to listen, then avoid this conference by all means. Let’s face it, if you are constantly blathering on twitter about the $29.99 special your company offers without ever taking the time to follow your followers or listen to what they have to say, you are going to be unfollowed or filtered, just like the annoying car dealership commercials are muted by TV viewers.

The line up of speakers for Greenville is exciting! In addition to Trey Pennington, we’ll get to hear from and connect with Amber Osborne (@MissDestructo), Tim TV, Sean Buvala (@StoryTeller), Olivier Blanchard (@TheBrandBuilder), and Rick Murray… The emcee will be Phil Yanov (@ThinkHammer).

This is not about the social media platform, it is independent of the transport mechanism. It’s not about Twitter, or Facebook, it’s about connections.

More information is on the Social Story Conference website at http://socialstoryconference.com/ and you can also follow the hash tag of #SocialStory on Twitter.

Homeland Secure IT is proud to help sponsor this event and we can’t wait to see you there!

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…

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:

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…

It seems like forever since the Google On Main event that made national and even international news. It didn’t stop with the amazing night of 2200+ people gathered at Falls Park in downtown Greenville SC with LED lightsticks, spelling out “Google” while aircraft flew overhead taking photos and video. Far from it.

Greenville has continued to make their desire for Google’s High Speed Fiber deployment known, through a Facebook fan page, untold numbers of blog postings and websites, face-to-face meetings, the official Greenville We Are Feeling Lucky website http://www.WeAreFeelingLucky.com and by voting in the questionable http://www.googlefiber.com/ voting page.

Well the UNOFFICIAL Google Fiber vote that was supposed to last until May 6th has now been extended another month, where there will be a death-match between the most popular cities I imagine. More information about that is available here: http://www.googlefiber.com/voting-challenge-round-2-begins-may-7/

The GoogleFiber.com site is very sketchy… The owner is from India apparently, and of course it IS an unofficial vote, and there has been cheating on the parts of individuals, as well as the exclusion of many people who wanted to vote while at work (They made it where you could not vote multiple times from the same IP, such as a corporate network uses)…

My two cents on this is – keep on voting, keep on supporting Greenville in any way you can. Also, post to Twitter with the tags of #LuckyGVL and #GoogleOnMain ANYTIME you have something positive to say about Greenville and technology.  Who knows, maybe we can catch the eye of Google and they too will decide that Greenville is the best place they could pick to deploy that tasty 1 Gbps high speed fiber network!

I have started a Race for the Cure team called G(o)(o)gle on Main, and invite you to join us in a 5k walk/run/race for the Cure! You can even join our team and SLEEP IN FOR THE CURE!!!!   If you cannot participate in the team, please make a contribution, even 5 or 10 dollars would be awesome. We are going to try to raise 5000 dollars.   That’s 1000 dollars a kilometer!

Help us run breast cancer out of town!

We saw where another local IT company, Plus Inc., has a number of their employees involved in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure that will take place in September and thought that was a great idea! In fact, two of us here donated to their goal… See, my wife’s mother is a 15 year breast cancer survivor, so this is near and dear to her heart and we couldn’t stop with just a contribution…

So we started a team for our company, and then it hit me, I was not thinking broad enough. We need to harness the power of a great event that took place a few weeks ago called “Google On Main”, and try to get the 2200+ people involved with that to join this awesome cause, so we have renamed our team from “Homeland Secure IT” to “G(o)(o)gle On Main” and have started telling people about it. Our goal is to raise 5000 dollars, which should be easy, right?

Why not join our team and participate in the walk/run/race? We would love to have the company and the inspiration for us to drag or fat bottoms 5k for this cause!

Okay, so you are lazy, you can actually “Sleep in for the Cure”… That’s right, you can contribute and select “Sleep in for the Cure” and while you sleep, your hard earned money is doing something useful!

The site to signup or support the Race for the Cure is:

http://scmountainstomidlands.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/GNV_SCMountainstoMidlandsAffiliate?team_id=132981&pg=team&fr_id=1792

More information about Google On Main is at http://www.WeAreFeelingLucky.com and you can follow #GoogleOnMain and #LuckyGVL on Twitter too.