There are many, many great iPhone 4 reviews piling up, so I’ll spare you another one. But I am getting asked one question over and over again: folks want to know if they should dump their new Droid Incredible and formerly new iPhone 3Gs for Apple’s shiny new toy. You’ll find my answer over at HerNashville.com

I will add here at FlackRabbit that from the public relations practitioner perspective, the iPhone 4 and devices like it could allow us to use use new media to tell our clients’ stories in a much more nimble and timely way.

For instance, I think it’s freakishly cool that you could shoot quality video of a client event, edit it with iMovie, add a caption and relevant key words, and then upload it to YouTube–all from your iPhone 4. If you don’t have time to get back to your desk between meetings, it’s okay. And your client will think you’ve cloned yourself. Read More…

In the June issue of Her Nashville Magazine, I offer up my favorite tech toys for your summer travels and sun worship. Here’s a teaser:

Get Inspiron-ed
Hitting the road with the fam, but still desperate to check Facebook and your online bank account balance? Dell’s itty bitty Inspiron Mini is the perfect solution. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an Apple gal. I’d love nothing more than for you to run out and spend $599 on an iPad, but I’d DIE if ever I found out you took The Precious anywhere near water. Or sand. Or your fifth piña colada. So, the more practical alternative is the Inspiron Mini; it’s only $279 and surfs and sends like a champ. This way, when your toddler puts her sticky little paws all over it, your boyfriend sits on it, or your girlfriend accidentally drops it in the lake, you’ll be sad, but you won’t spiral into a murderous rage. See? It’ll keep you connected AND out of prison. Sweet!

READ MORE.

And speaking of the iPad, Team Newman remains conflicted about adopting one into our technology family. I’ll keep you posted on our progress. While you wait for a resolution, you can read all the past Chic Geek columns here! Read More…

My lone comment on the Apple iPad is here at my Her Nashville blog.

Sorry, folks. It’s not pithy, just the truth. I was listening to Joe and Dave chat about the iPad over beer this weekend; I think they are right: we’ll need to get our hands on it before we can really talk about what we think it’s gonna change/kill/replace/enhance/improve. Until we’ve experienced it first-hand, it’s all just talk. Read More…

Creepy ATMs a plenty

Even though our beloved iPhones and their data connections have been rendered virtually useless for three days because folks at AT&T can’t find a signal to save our lives, Team Newman managed to find our way around Austin, consuming many a free beverage on Day 3.

A few observations:

1. Austin = ATMs. It’s very odd, but about every 20 feet you stumble upon a creepy, if not sketchy, ATM. See photo.
2. Every restaurant serves some sort of taco.
3. Cupcakes are the official dessert of Austin.
4. This year’s SX has more non-Apple products than I’ve seen in years past. It also has more Apple-haters. And they REALLY don’t like Steve Jobs.
5. 5 p.m. sessions are well attended when it’s freakin’ cold in Texas.
6. Men at SX look at you like you are a freak if you are a woman WITHOUT pink/green/blue hair.
7. Geeks like black hooded sweatshirts.
8. Geeks like girls with blue hair.
9. I’m so happy I’m one who enjoys learning new stuff.
10. Although we are glad we are here, with so many folks live blogging and Twittering what they are learning at SXSW, you really don’t have to be here to feel like you are here. But if you don’t come to SX in person, you can’t drink the free beer. So, there’s that.
11. AT&T is royally screwed. I feel sorry for them, actually. After an unacceptable (and stupid) failure like this, these geeks are gonna be all over the Palm Pre.
12. The new Sierra Mist with grapefruit is actually pretty good with vodka.

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Back in the day, I used to judge one’s geek savvy on her ability to capture a relevant image from the web and insert it into a blog post.  “Dang, that’s cool. How the heck do you just grab a screen shot of anything you want like that?” I always assumed these pixel posting peeps were using PhotoShop or some other photo editing tool. I mean, I always knew how to grab a screen shot, but how to cut one part out of that image was a foreign concept. And there were many, many times I just wanted to show people one specific thing – not the WHOLE thing.

Then, about four months ago, I discovered Apple Shift 4. My life will never be the same. Truly. I’m like a blogging rockstar now. And when I say “I discovered” it, I mean Dave told me to try it one day with an accompanying look that said, “Apple Shift 4 – duh.”

To be clear, I was like the last Mac user on Earth who didn’t know about this magic potion for image saving. If you Google “Apple Shift 4″ you’ll find 515,000 results. But I also know that many of you folks are Mac newbies and might not be married to a geek; therefore, you may not have been told about this yet.

So here’s how you use Apple Shift 4 on your Mac laptop and instantly add 50 Geek Points to your resume:

1. Find something on the internet you want to save as a jpeg
2. Press Apple (see above), Shift and the number 4
3. You’ll notice a little cross hair icon pop up
4. Hold down the mouse button with one hand and size the parameters with the other
   
5. When you have “drawn” your image area, release the mouse button
   
6. If your volume is turned up you’ll hear a camera shutter sound (cute! I know!)
7. That image is now saved to your desktop and is ready for your use!
   

Here’s a sample of one I just snagged from the Her Nashville masthead:

It’s totally empowering, right?! Now, go forth and capture!

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Holy crap this is bad. Team Newman’s favorite line: “Microsoft, huh? So it’s easy to use?”

Hat Tip: TechCrunch, which observed the following minor detail:

Whoever made the video thought they could fool everyone by covering up the Apple logo and the rest of the laptop with stickers. Or maybe they knew that would be the only way anybody would bother to watch the video.

My questions:

1. Are they serious?
2. Were they trying to be funny?
3. Did the PR/Ad firm that helped produce this “viral” marketing video get fired yet?
4. Is hubby correct when he says that I am actually doing what they want folks to do, which is talk about their Songsmith product on our blogs?
5. Did they REALLY think no one would notice that’s a 17 inch MacBook she’s using?

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So me and the hubbster are going to Bar Camp Nashville tomorrow. I’m looking forward to attending WordPress 101, PR 2.0, New Media for Change and, of course, Make Google Your Bitch.

Bar Camp is free. There will be a plethora of Nashville Geeks, beer and Apple products. I’m excited to meet in person folks that I’ve only Twittered with up until now. This is also why I’m excited about our trip to Austin’s South by Southwest Interactive in March.

Are you attending Bar Camp? If you need more info, here’s the boilerplate:

BarCamp Nashville is an open-source gathering of technology enthusiasts who come together for one weekend to share what they know and learn what they don???t. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.