Rackspace Studios, SFO: Mapping the World with Space Tag, and Having Fun While We're at It

I went through Robert Scoble's YouTube page and found a podcast episode of his on an app called Space Tag. He spoke to Gil Devora, Co-Founder and CEO of Shop Cloud, Ltd. The Space Tag app is launched in Android and iOS. I found it interesting how you can go to certain public places and the app gathers information by recognizing the surrounding.

In the following picture, Gil Devora came by earlier and left a picture saying "Waiting to meet Robert Scoble" and you can see how many people start leaving notes replying to what he did.

Just like Facebok, Twitter, Google +, etc. if there is a lot of information within 50 meters, it will give you the newest information 1st and work backwards. Right now, they opened it for everyone. Everyone can see everyone because of web content, but at a later stage, one will only be able to see friends by either Facebook Connect or by your address book, etc. and they can leave notes to 1 person, a group, or Facebook friends, possibly leave notes to only Google+ friends or acquaintances if that's what they use. This app is excellent at museums. One would see a lot of notes left by other people and they can leave notes. This app is great at festivals, concerts, and as you'll see in the following video, the app being used while shopping, at restaurants, etc.

The volume of this video is really low, you would have to crank the volume. What I did was I put Closed Captions on so I can read it. Watch the video:

TED Talks: The key to success is Grit.

I found this TED Talks to be interesting about the key to success: The Key To Success? Grit by Angela Lee Duckworth It didn't seem to be so much IQ but what she said "grit". What they need to understand students' learning is not from IQ, but from a motivational perspective, from a psychological perspective. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future day in day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that reality. Grit is living life like it is a marathon, not a sprint. Talent doesn't make you grit. So far the best idea of building grit is "growth mind set". This is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, that it can change with effort. I learned that failure is not a permanent condition. We have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.

Watch the video.

Applebee’s and Starbucks using social media

Corporations like Applebee’s and Starbucks both use Facebook and Twitter. They use the services that way users of both Facebook and Twitter can follow up on them. Many users use Facebook, but don’t use Twitter, and sometimes vice versa. If they want to follow on the latest news about Applebee’s, Starbucks, or other popular restaurants or coffee places, using both social media sites is a great way that they can follow them. Applebee’s and Starbucks each use the same cover photo for both of them.

Their audience is their patrons who love to patronize them. Some food and beverage corporations provide relationships from Facebook by linking onto other sites with Apps. On Applebee’s Facebook Apps, they do have a link to their Twitter and Pintrest Apps, along with E-Club Join and Buy Gift Cards. Starbucks, however, don’t have a link to Twitter on their Apps from Facebook, but they do have a link to their Pintrest Apps, the other apps being International and Open Jobs. So many bigger corporations are also using Pintrest. Some companies do use Google+ as well. Applebee’s and Starbucks are both on Google+. Starbucks appears to have a few Google+ accounts. Applebee’s has a Google+ account with a different cover photo, many followers, but I didn’t see anything posted. While corporations might use Google+, the major social media sites that restaurants and coffee places use to be the most efficient in posting about specials on appetizers or dinners or coffee flavors are Facebook and Twitter. Pintrest and Instagram, I believe, fall in being used a lot more than Google+, but not as popular as Facebook and Twitter. Applebee's, which is the country’s 10th largest chain by sale, planned to boost engagement with its “neighborhood” and generate some social media buzz by turning over its Instagram feed to its customers for 12 months. So some restaurant and beverage chains use Instagram as well. Applebee’s do have localized Facebook pages for individual Applebee’s locations. Starbucks have a separate page called Starbucks Frappuccino only for that drink, which may or may not have an affiliation with the official Starbucks Facebook page.

In addition to a Starbucks Coffee account on Twitter, which appears to be the official Starbucks Twitter account to follow, there is also Twitter an account called Starbucks News and an account for Starbucks Rewards, as well as for Starbucks in other countries like the UK and Canada. And of course, Applebee’s and Starbucks do have on their official Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, a link to their .com websites. On http://www.applebees.com/ they have a section that says “JOIN THE CONVERSATION” with icons linking to Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest, Twitter, and YouTube.

So that is how .com websites can be helpful to their website views, that they can also link to their social media pages, follow on Twitter, Like on Facebook, and post their comments. On http://www.starbucks.com/ however I didn’t see a link to any social media sites. While Starbucks are giving their social media followers their official website, they don’t have links provided on their website to follow them on social media sites, but the webmaster may someday change that. I didn’t see Google+ as one of the icons on Applebee’s website. Although Google is one of the top companies now for their search engine, Chrome browser, Drive and Docs, and Chromebook laptops, they are behind on their social media. While Facebook and Twitter aren’t really competitors because they serve different purposes, Google+ is faced with Facebook as a competitor, and that is why a company like Applebee’s as well as other companies and organizations don’t provide the Google + icon on their websites so their audience can also join the conversation on Google +. Instagram and Pintrest seem to be used more than Google + though and applebees.com is a great example. The Applebee’s webmaster could have added the Google + icon, but they wanted to get the most important social media sites there and Google + may not have crossed their minds. Twitter does have a link to Google + included. So who’s to say how social media might change and Google + might get as popular as Facebook in years to come. That is how Applebee’s and Starbucks are using social media.

Link used:
Applebee's new marketing strategy

Why I am at MATC

I did get a degree in Programmer/Analyst a while back and returned to freshen up on the programming classes like Visual Basic, C, C++, Java, SQL, and take classes that weren't offered before like JavaScript, E-Commerce. I took both Mobile App classes already, Android and iPhone. I completed the IT-Computer Support Specialist major in 2012 which is more about the computer itself. I got into the new major they just started, IT-Software and Web Development. In both my C# classes, my classmates were talking about the Social Networking class, I never had to take it, but now with a new major, I have to take it. I can't wait until the Web 1 and Web 2 classes and I plan to get this degree in May 2016.

I've been working at CapTel for 5 years doing telephone captioning. I actually found that job through MATC's Wisconsin TechConnect website. I hope to find a job in the field I am going for either through TechConnect, or now even Linkedin.