Nerd Stalker

Picture Credit: PARO Happy New Year everyone! As you know, I follow Asia/Japan tech trends. I was watching an NHK World journalistic piece on robotic therapy for Dementia using a baby seal called PARO and wanted to investigate this trend more.  Interestingly, there is a sizable debate amongst medical professionals and sociologists on whether robots like PARO can replace the human element versus aiding health professionals caring for patients. 

listen to ‘Thoughts on the Behance acquisition by adobe’ on Audioboo

When you work for startups, sometimes the compensation package is just salary and lacks the needed health benefits that is well afforded by larger companies. Enter BayPoint Benefits. We sat down with Brian Hassan who is the co-founder of BayPoint Benefits. BayPoint Benefits helps startups provide health care benefit packages for employees but also the much needed HR support that is often only affordable by companies 50 people and above. We discuss his company's approach towards valuable benefits distribution and Brian's take on how "Obama-care" will not make a difference to startups.

We were honored to interview again,  Mark W Schaefer , author of a great book about Influence - "Return on Influence." This book explains what the seven tenants of influence is in the digital era and how Klout has turned regular people into product influencers. Listen to some great insights and backstories of the book from Mark.

Adolfo and SocialGreg's Picks Google winter cleaning http://is.gd/81P2jS Google: We Don't Plan to Build Apps for WinPho8 bit.ly/12aM0o1 via @Gizmodo Google Maps on ios, MS surface sales, ms surface costs more than ipad to build Employers: More Employees With Personal Mobile Devices Means More Problems In The Workplace bit.ly/Vi0zjk via @NealSchaffer Speed Round: Schmidt defends Google’s tax avoidance strategy, says sheltering profits is perfectly legal and robots taking jobs is okay. THE END OF SMARTPHONES: Here's A Computer Screen On A Contact Lens bit.ly/S6eayT via @SAI Enigma hero Alan Turing should be pardoned, leading scientists claim http://is.gd/rS81j7  Delta App Faces California Suit bit.ly/SDrbgb via @allthingsd Nerd Stalker Tips of the Week: Fantastical http://flexibits.com/ Best Android Apps for your new Android Phone  http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-android-apps/ Events: MacWorld http://www.macworldiworld.com/ Jan 31 - ...

Our social guys Greg Viloria ( @SocialGreg ) and Sean Charles ( @SocialMediaSean ) give the weekly updates from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest. In this episode, they talk about Twitter's API battle with Kred, FBs lighten's the Zynga Anchor, LinkedIn wants to tell you what skills your need and more.  Links to the Backstories of Social Time Social Speed Round Pinterest to Amazon: no pinning for you on Black Friday Facebook Moving Away From Voting Scheme  / Facebook Is About To Send One Billion Emails Global Pages Launch on Facebook – Should Brands Make the Switch? Twitter Is Giving $100 In Free Advertising To 10,000 Small Businesses Pinterest pins hopes for broader appeal on holiday marketing push - "30 Days of Pinspiration"  Twitter rolled out new image search functionality, competition w/Instagram intensifies The Social Time TV Main Stories Twitter Kred creator PeopleBrowsr fires back at ...

This week we focus on a popular topic-Job recruitment. We were fortunate to sit down and interview  Joanna Riley Weidenmiller of The One-Page Proposal Company . The One-Page Proposal Company changes the landscape for both job-seekers and job recruiters. Their enterprise tool is based on Patrick G. Riley's popular and best selling book in US, Japan, Korea and China called the " One Page Proposa l." Joanna explains the motivation behind the One-Page Proposal Tool and how they help both companies and job seekers alike.

Nerd Stalker's Techweek Update Picks of the Week  Download MP3

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am sure by the time you see this you will be well into your Thanksgiving meal.  If you haven't started, hold off on the pictures. We interviewed Hidetaka Fukushima , co-founder and International Business Developer of a popular food spotting app - SnapDish . Food spotting is taking pictures of your dishes or food you love to eat and sharing it with your friends. Check out the interview about this Japanese start-up and Hidetaka's insights into being a Japanese startup.

Our social guys Greg Viloria ( @SocialGreg ) and Sean Charles ( @SocialMediaSean ) give the weekly updates from Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. In this episode, they talk about Twitter's PW reset issues and Interactive Photos, FB's nested comments, Google + Hangouts with your favorite athletes and more. 

Adolfo Foronda of Nerd Stalker interviews Tech Hive's Carlos Rondela. Carlos talks about his entertainment/gaming tech history and his new Kickstarter campaign for " Everybody Game ". Carlos calls Everybody Game, "Pee-Wee's Playhouse meets a video game arcade. A web series about a fantastical arcade where everybody stops by to play games and chat". I've already contributed to his awesome endeavor you should consider doing the same, theres only a few days left so go contribute now . UPDATE: Congrats to Carlos Everybody Game has been fully funded on kickstarter.

Transmedia seems to be a hot topic here in SF. We caught up with Robert Pratten , co-founder of Transmedia Storytelling Ltd. in a London cafe in between meetings. Robert talks about their product -- Conducttr. Conducttr allows brands and branding agencies to do unique engagement through transmedia storytelling . Robert discusses his love for film and his passion for transmedia storytelling.

We interview founders, Alceo Marti and Miro Leko from a startup from Croatia called Gluu.me . Did you say Croatia? Yes, Croatia. Like most entrepreneurs, Alceo and Miro are just trying to solve a problem. According to a survey conducted by Concept Metrics in May of this year, people belong to an average of 1.8 social networks.  Gluu.me takes the "Fifedom" nature of the big social networks and tries to fuse them together to get a more richer experience for the social network users. Alceo and Miro also discuss the Croatian infrastructure that supports startups like theirs.

In the next episode of Social Time, our social guys Greg Viloria (@SocialGreg) and Sean Charles (@SocialMediaSean) take on the Social Photo Giants. In this episode, they compare the social photo giants - Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. What's your favorite?

listen to ‘Can and should great web based apps offer desktop apps?’ on Audioboo

We talk with Shahram Seydin-Noor , Co-Founder and CEO of GraphDive  - a social analytics and interest graphing company. Shahram has a colorful background from a high tech lawyer at Wilson-Sonsini to an investment banker at Goldman-Sachs. He brought previous start-up experience at Nextbio where he was the CFO to start-up his own venture with his technical co-founder Sina Sohangir . Listen to Shahram as he discusses GraphDive's vision of helping websites serve users better and his thoughts on start-ups.

listen to ‘Will a disaster like hurricane Sandy finally get start ups to take server location seriously?’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Johnny Ives taking over design will be Huge for Apple’ on Audioboo Thoughts on why you should be exited about whats to come now that Johnny Ive is in charge of all things design at Apple.

Our SocialGreg sits down with Authors Jason Miles and Karen Lacey on their recently released book called "Pinterest Power". This is a quick-start guide to increase the reach of your products and brand using Pinterest - the hottest, fastest-growing social media site. Jason and Karen explains the motivation behind the book and talks some backstories about the book.

Download MP3 Apple Mini and Announcements / Microsoft Surface and Announcements Sorry, Microsoft Surface Users: No Google Search App For You http://is.gd/oWD080 With cash reserves dwindling, Nokia looks to raise $1 billion from bonds bit.ly/QYpy9F French media finds way to make money off of Google - make it a law bit.ly/S4oy5h via @arstechnica Uber Co-founder Garrett Camp's BlackJet is Uber for Private Planes http://dthin.gs/Rch66R Speed Round:  Waze Is The Only App To Gain Meaningful Marketshare After Apple Maps Fail, Onavo Finds http://tcrn.ch/QLm1eJ Amazon Pushes Kindle To Kindergarten Kids in U.S. bit.ly/RJVS4k via @FastCompany Get a copy of the entire Web bit.ly/R7DMoR FCC Updates Small-Business Tool for Fighting Cyber Threats bit.ly/Pki5aa via @SocialGreg @EntMagazine Tips of the Week: Chrome extension blocks political Facebook, Twitter messages with pictures of kittens. bit.ly/PSMsnX Our interview of @markwschaefer - Author of the best selling ...

We were honored to interview, Mark W Schaefer , author of the best selling Twitter book, "The Tao of Twitter". His book is not only a primer on how to use Twitter but his "zen" philosophy on how to turn it into a real business connection powerhouse. In this interview, Mark was a real quote machine.

A few weeks ago, we were introduced to a startup in the Silicon Prairie called ActiveGrade. Active Grade is based on Standards-based grading where students are compared to an achievable standard instead of the typical bell-shaped curve. We had a chance to interview Michal Eynon-Lynch, co-founder and Director of Outreach for ActiveGrade to chat about standards-based grading and how their product, ActiveGrade helps students and teachers achieve a new learning paradigm.

listen to ‘The Lean Startup author Eric Ries talks Success Theatre #failcon’ on Audioboo listen to ‘Listen to The Lean Startup author eric ries at #failcon’ on Audioboo - Adolfo Foronda

listen to ‘Great advice from author Scott Berkun #failcon’ on Audioboo - Adolfo Foronda

listen to ‘Gina Bianchini talks Ning lessons learned #failcon’ on Audioboo listen to ‘More audio advice with Gina Bianchini of Mighty Bell #failcon’ on Audioboo - Adolfo Foronda

listen to ‘Groupon talks stock price and coding #failcon’ on Audioboo -Adolfo Foronda Brief audio from Failcon with Suneel Gupta of Groupon.

listen to ‘Chip Conley CEO of Joie De Vivre hotel #failcon’ on Audioboo - Adolfo Foronda

Adolfo Foronda- Interview with Hugo Fiennes CEO and Founder of Electric Imp at Maker Faire San Mateo. Seems like a simple enough idea make a chip that that talks to the web, can be put in any device, and allow developers to customize it. Holy cow is this a disrupting idea, I can't wait to play with one.

Another week and another Social Time Episode. Sean Charles (aka @SocialMediaSean) and Nerd Stalker's Greg Viloria (aka @SocialGreg) discusses social media relavant topics for the week that caught their eye - Addiction to Social Media, Twitter and Video, Google+ goes enterprise and more.  

What a great place to interview a film-maker but in a green screen room at the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking . We caught up with Sawyer Steele of the Moxie Institute , writer and editor of the Sundance premiered and film-festival award winning movie  " Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology   " at the Transbay Film Festival. He discusses how they have brought the movie all over the world and how they create tools to encourage discussions around films are captured. Sawyer also discusses disruptive film distribution and the SF film-making scene. His insights are really inspiring.

I have always wanted to do a LEGO piece. The Nerd Stalker gang just got word from our friends at btrax of a special guest attending the Global Mobile Internet Conference starting tomorrow- October 19-20. President Obama. Well, almost.

by Adolfo Foronda - Nerd Stalker Maker Faire interview with Matt Johnson of Bare Conductive , makers of the electrically conductive paint for makers of all ages. With Bare Conductive products you can learn how to draw paper circuits or paint physical interactive projects, oh the possibilities.

listen to ‘The Space Jump Was Not For Science’ on Audioboo -Adolfo Foronda A brief talk about my thoughts on the Red Bull Stratos "Space" Jump.

Don't we all struggle going full digital? Sometimes a pen/pencil in hand and jotting down a note on a piece of paper just feels better, more convenient and seems faster. An Japanese App company, called Metamoji ,  reached out to the Nerd Stalker gang and gave us a spin with their app for the iPad called Note Anytime . This App allows note taking on the iPad. Note Anytime is an app that gives the user a feel of writing on paper.

So, what does a 10-year-old who loves pizza and movies do? He becomes a movie critic. At the Transbay Festival this weekend, we had the pleasure to sit down with a quite remarkable young man - Gal Balaban. This 10-year-old operates single-handedly operates a film critic blog called Film Toppings . Now, film makers, don't get freaked out by the picture above because this film critic makes some very in-depth analysis of films he reviews.

We were pleased to interview, Daron Ker, film director and director of " Rice Field of Dreams " the story of the Cambodian National Baseball Team. Baseball in Cambodia? Daron discusses his trip back to his home country and what it felt to do a film about baseball in Cambodia. His film will have a showing at the inaugural Transbay Festival  in San Francisco on Saturday, October 13 at 2pm.

listen to ‘Smart Phones Are Not The Future’ on Audioboo - Adolfo Foronda

Download MP3 Nerd Stalkers Techweek Picks: Two Networks, One Company: T-Mobile Explains Why Its MetroPCS Deal Can Work http://bit.ly/TaCxVP via @AllThingsD Supreme Court case will decide whether you own your stuff http://bit.ly/TaLkXX Nissan TeRRA concept car packs a detachable tablet dashboard bit.ly/SH16Q8 via @ubergizmo Android users outraged over Motorola's broken promise - CNET News http://cnet.co/TaN5V2 RadioShack Accused of Selling Porn-Filled Phones bit.ly/OFivaE via @tecca Zynga's OMGPOP aquisition torched nearly $500,000 per day http://tnw.co/PiNrxt Speed Round: Apple's Lightning to 30-Pin Adapter Begins Shipping - Mac Rumors http://bit.ly/Pjp2rG Nissan Takes Wraps Off Driverless Car Concept bit.ly/OFiYtx via @brandchannelhub The bubble that wasn’t: what happened to ‘people discovery’ apps? | The Verge http://vrge.co/PiMNjC Raspberry Pi: Broadcom teaches kids coding in an hour bit.ly/PcBF7M via @ZDNet Nerd Stalker Tips of the Week: T...

Exciting times at Nerd Stalker. We just added another podcast extending our reach to Social Media. Our Nerd Stalker staff writer, Greg Viloria, aka @SocialGreg, and Sean Charles, aka @SocialMediaSean, are hosts to our new weekly podcast - Social Time. They will be doing their podcast/vidcast via a Google+ hangout.

Adolfo Foronda- It was my honor to attend the 2012 Mac Expo in Petaluma, CA, amazing people, speakers and more. Take a listen to my recap. listen to ‘Mac Expo 2012 recap’ on Audioboo See the "Go Paperless" resources  here . See the "Get Roaring with Mountain Lion" notes and links  here . Thanks, Adolfo

Download MP3 This week’s Nerd Stalker Techweek Podcast Picks: WebOS opens up at last http://is.gd/zc4EgK (:25) LOL can land your dumb ass in Jail http://bit.ly/Py4tTW via @techdirt (3:58) Instagram surpasses Twitter in daily active mobile users in U.S. http://is.gd/JcYy6O (7:10) Tim Cook admits Apple 'fell short' on iOS 6 Maps, suggests third-party alternatives http://bit.ly/QZFR7f (10:43) Amazon.com Planning Online Wine Sales http://is.gd/o38f5d (16:12) Calif. Gov. signs law banning employers from asking job applicants for Facebook passwords http://bit.ly/QxVchJ (18:01)

Our Nerd Stalker staffwriter, Greg Viloria (aka @SocialGreg), was honored to sit down with Guy Kawasaki to discuss the release of his new book "What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us". Guy explains the motivation for the book, why he is just passionate about Google+ and why you should be too.

listen to ‘Recap of adobe #createtheweb announcements’ on Audioboo

We interviewed Graham McFarland , CEO and founder of Cinegif , an Austin based startup focused on bringing a new animated GIF to the market called Cinegifs. Cinegifs are small, professional quality clips that can make the "digital world a more interesting place." Graham explains where Cinegifs are being used and what services are more Gif friendly than others.

We caught up with Bruce Carlisle , President and Co-founder of Conference Hound between his conference jaunts and startup work. Conference Hound provides conference attendees a way to find conferences in their favorite citys and to provide event organizers a path for promotion in this greater than $200 Billion industry. In this interview, Bruce talks about the problem they are solving and some of the creative ways that Conference Hound is trying to take a piece of that multi-billion dollar conference industry.

Download MP3 This week’s Nerd Stalker Techweek Podcast Picks: Apple blown away by incredible iPhone 5 demand http://is.gd/gXfN7v (:27) Apple Lightning Adaptor Kills iPod Out on BMW, Mini Models bit.ly/PkpF0k via @wired (1:47) Another win for Apple: ITC says iPhone, iPad don’t violate Samsung patents http://is.gd/SWCkc0 (4:51) Son develops visual-based, Kinect-powered email system for stroke-stricken mother bit.ly/P6vWwt via @geekwire (5:49) Google Just Dropped an Android-Shaped Bomb on China http://tnw.co/Sp2QaG (7:42) IDF 2012: Intel sticks with Ultrabook goals, targets low-power Haswell at convertibles bit.ly/NohRg0 via @ZDNet (12:53) Speed Round: (Google Apps Says Goodbye To Internet Explorer 8, Pulls Support For the Browser http://ht.ly/dKWj2  (17:27) Judge Approves E-Book Price-Fixing Settlement bit.ly/PkgoFq via @allthingsd (18:43) An iPhone Case for the Sharks and the Jets http://bit.ly/QPaf5P  (19:33) Amazon relents, agrees to ditch Kindle...

Adolfo Foronda interviews Cass Phillipps about her fantastic one day event called Failcon. Cassandra has been a startup event producer for over five years, producing and managing conferences like FailCon, SF MusicTech Summit, Inside Social Apps, Unleashed Conference, and many more. She works with clients to insure each has a high-quality and profitable event, connecting them with the best partners, sponsors, and speakers for their topics. FailCon is a one-day conference for technology entrepreneurs, investors, developers and designers to study their own and others' failures and prepare for success on Oct. 22. Register at http://failcon2012.eventbrite.com/ and get 10% by using the code "nerdstalker".

We caught up with Christina Hug of YouNoodle to discuss how their platform and services help entrepreneurs. We discuss their new entrepreneur community platform, their YouNoodle Camp and their SaaS platform for Competition Management called Podium . Meet the YouNoodle Community YouNoodle released last week their new user interface for connecting with other entrepreneurs. Christina explains the rationale of YouNoodle's community building which is all about sharing, connecting and getting discovered.  Bootcamp for Budding Entrepreneurs In this segment, Christina explains how YouNoodle prepares entrepreneurs around the world for success through their YouNoodle Camp . She has a great success story of entrepreneurs who connected from very diverse backgrounds. Competition Management Tool Eases Hacker Event Pains Christina talks about YouNoodle's Podium  which helps manage competitions that have multiple judges and multiple participants. Some big...