Mac opinion. Punditry. Whatever.

At New Media Expo in Las Vegas last month, I joined Chuck Joiner for a discussion of Social Media and its implications for corporations. We discussed whether or not corporations “get” Tweeting, blogging and other aspects of Social Media and whether it’s too late for those who don’t. As always, it was a lively and (I hope) interesting conversation. My apologies in advance for the fact that it’s a video interview.

You can watch the interview below or on Chuck’s MacVoices website.

Since I got my first iPhone two years ago, I’ve lightened my tech load considerably when I travel. For most short trips, I now leave my trusty MacBook Pro home — or at least in its bag. I can check email, surf the web, watch movies and even post articles to RandomMaccess from my iPhone.

Lightening is one thing, but going for almost a week without tech of any kind is quite another. Yet that’s the situation I faced on a recent scouting trip with my older son last month.

We traveled to Summerland Key, one of the western most of the Florida Keys. Warned by our island guides that there was no electricity or cell coverage anyway, we were informed that cellphones, iPods, etc were prohibited on the island. My digital SLR camera was the only thing with a battery I would be able to take. Other than that, the most advanced piece of technology I carried was my Leatherman multi-tool.

So how did I fare? Much better than I expected, actually. We were busy enough that I was never really all that tempted to post to Twitter or check email. It turns out that fishing, snorkeling, kayaking and preparing food are pretty good distractions from web surfing and iApps. And once I came to terms with the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to check in with my Lotus Notes account at the office, I was fine. The only time I was really conscious about not having my iPhone was when I wanted to use my Star Walk application to identify some of the constellations that were so brilliant in the night sky, and to use my iPhone as a camera — especially a video camera.

Albert Einstein once said “never memorize what you can look up in books.” With my iPhone and its near-ubiquitous connection to the web and all its vast resources, along with nine screens of applications, I can look up almost anything and so by extension, have to memorize almost nothing. That meant I had to rely on my memory and not my knot-tying app or my first aid app or even — Lord help me — Google. In the end, my two half hitches and taught line hitch held the hammock (my bed for the week) securely to our favorite gumbo limbo tree; we estimated the time from the sun’s position in the sky well enough to know when to start dinner; and we identified several constellations (and the Milky Way!) as we snorkeled in the dark night. All in all, I’m glad I traded the convenience of being able to look up a few things for the absence of distractions and temptations having the iPhone would have meant.

You can read more about my island adventure on my personal blog, and you can check out some of the pictures from the trip on the Troop 200 photo gallery.

If you’re reading this, it should come as no surprise whatsoever that I’m eagerly anticipating tomorrow’s Apple event where they’ll describe the upcoming 3.0 update to the iPhone software.

Here are a few of the things I’ll be looking for:

Read more

Chuck Joiner, of MacJury/MacNoteables/MacVoices fame, posted some video of the Macworld All-Star Band’s performance at Cirque du Mac 6.0 during this year’s Macworld Conference and Expo.

We’ve been doing this for eight or nine years now, and I’m always impressed by how the documentation of the event evolves as technology progresses. From postage-sized, choppy video of our first gig at New York’s “Cooler,” to the High Definition clips of 2009, it’s been a pretty amazing progression. And, it’s always cool for those of us in the band to have a look and listen from the audience’s perspective.

So thanks to Chuck for taking, editing and posting these clips, and of course, a big thanks to the guys in the band who consistently make this night my favorite experience at Macworld: Paul Kent, Dave Hamilton, Chris Breen, Bob LeVitus, Duane Straub and Bryan Chaffin.

The episode — along with links to other videos taken that night — is available on the MacVoices TV website.

I suppose it’s close enough to the show that I should let those interested know where I’ll be this year. From Tuesday through Thursday, I’ll be presenting a Macworld “Supersession” entitled “The Ultimate Mac Starter Class.” If you’re a reader of this site, you’re way overqualified to attend, but please pass the word on to anyone new to the Mac who might benefit from a little “compressed experience.”

On Wednesday night, I’ll be performing in the Macworld All-Star Band at “Cirque du Mac” at an undisclosed location. The party is free, but invitation only. Like the Mac The Knife parties it replaced, “if you have to ask about it, you can’t go.” Unless you see me, that is. I’ll have a limited number of tickets to hand out to people who are especially nice.

On Thursday night, I’ll be stopping by the “Mac Mingle 2009” party, at Jillian’s on 4th St. Host/Mac speaker and author Deb Shadovitz was nice enough to invite me and silly enough to think I was worth including on the list of “Mac Celebs” who are attending. If you see me there, please say hi.

Finally, it’s likely I’ll be participating in some MacJury panel discussions that are slated to take place during the show.

If you’re interested, you can check here for updates and additions.

Chuck Joiner managed to get the entire band together for an interview as part of his “Road to Macworld” series for the MacVoices podcast. To say it was a blast would be an understatement: this is something we’ve never done before and it was an incredibly fun session. I sure hope that comes across in the recording. We’re also giving away six pairs of tickets to sharp-eared listeners. I suspect they’ll all be gone by the time you read this, but hey — it’s worth a shot.

Thanks to Chuck and the band — Chris Breen, Paul Kent, Dave Hamilton, Bob LeVitus, Duane Straub and Bryan Chaffin — for a great time. It’s a genuine joy to be part of this group.

I camp.

I love camping and I do it whenever I can — usually between 15-20 nights per year. And while most of the hiking/camping community has been moving to internal frame backpacks, I remain an external guy. They’re easier to pack (and more forgiving when you do it “wrong”), better for hiking on well-established trails and much cheaper. But for all their benefits, they’ve become harder and harder to find. So I was very happy to find one of the best external packs around — the Jansport Carson — available once again after a long absence on Amazon.com.

To celebrate and get the word out, I’m posting the link below. Note that the RandomMaccess affiliate ID is embedded in the link. If you buy it through this link, I’ll get a small kickback, and your price remains unchanged.

Now get out there and do some camping!

Jansport Carson Backpack

From “Rock Norris” on Twitter:

“Re: Apple Cupertino HQ fire “Firefighters battled the blaze for 3 hrs.” (Note: 2 hrs were spent signing NDA’s)”

(via Shawn King)

I get quite a bit of comment spam on the postings here. Because of the way the site is set up, not much of it gets through. I’m frequently amused, though, at some of the tactics the spammers use to try to get their posts on the site. A lot have taken to pulling words or phrases from either the headline or article itself and complimenting it. I got a kick of how that formula worked for a posting about an Apple store opening in NJ — aka, “The Garden State.”

Hello webmaster Wow what a fantastic article about Garden State Parkway! Your keen insight into Garden State Parkway is informative and creative. I look forward to reading other articles you have. Thanks.

Nice try.

Via a post on Twitter, Rick LePage reports he has received word that Stan Flack, founder of popular Mac news sites MacCentral and MacMinute, has passed away. No other details are available at this time. MacCentral was one of the first major Mac news sites on the web until it was bought and its content incorporated into Macworld.com.

Stan had been ill several times over the past year or so, with MacMinute going on unexpected hiatus due to his medical problems. On June 18th of last year, he told his readers “Monday evening I was rushed to emergency and immediately placed in intensive care due to a serious medical issue.”

In November, Flack faced another unexpected surgery: “At least this time I had a brief warning and the opportunity to alert you as to my circumstances.” he wrote to his readers. “I will be back in the saddle as soon as humanly possible and things will be be back to normal.”

I’ll always remember Stan’s policy of not posting news on Veteran’s Day, instead posting “In Flanders Field,” a poem dedicated to the fallen soldiers of World War I. He was also the first person I know of to “decorate” his site’s logo, changing the stopwatch to an Easter egg or decorating it with a Santa hat. That playfulness and accessibility permeated Stan’s work.

I never had the pleasure of meeting Stan personally, but I was frequently inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit and the example he gave of how much one dedicated person could accomplish when he was doing something he loved. Stan and I shared some friends, and from their reaction to his passing, it’s obvious that he was a very special person.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Stan’s family.