1. Spice them up.

Right now, let’s be honest, they look sort of dweeby. I think they could use a little styling.

2. Listen to Daft Punk all the time.

I’m sorry, is there a better soundtrack for feeling like you’re in THE FUTURE?

3. Have a headache, probably.

Listen, I’ve had glasses since the fourth grade. My vision is TERRIBLE. It’s pretty unlikely that they’ll ever make prescription Glass, and I can’t imagine having your eyes go in and out of focus all day is fun for your brain space, so, I’ll take one pair of the grey Google Glass and a lifetime supply of Aleve.

4. Never drink alone again.

Two words: Google Hangout.

5. Lie about drinking alone.

Hey, it’s Friday. Other people might be busy and unable to get to a computer. But the bartender can’t see what’s going on behind that weird tiny screen. Tell him you’re at a bachelorette party. Another gin and tonic, please, good sir.

6. Blame Glass for clumsiness.

“Sorry, Glass told me to walk in the direction of this doorway.”

7. Destroy EVERYONE at pub trivia.

No phones, no computers. It’ll be AT LEAST a year before they feel inclined to say “No Google Glass.” Reap those bartab benefits, friends.

8. I don’t really drink that much.

Lots of these involve alcohol. I thought I’d take this moment to tell you that I’m actually not much of a drinker, but…

9. If I was, we could have an intervention over Google Glass.

Boom.

10. Accidentally share all my secrets.

“Glass, is it normal for (insert embarrassing medical question here).”

11. Does it have headphones?

This isn’t a thing I would do with them, just genuinely wondering if there’s a sound component. If not…

12. Add headphones.

I could watch music videos at the same time, which would probably lead to an increase in dance walking.

13. Lose them somewhere.

Let’s be honest. The only reason I haven’t lost my regular glasses is because I ACTIVELY need them to see. There’s a pretty good chance I’d have a really great sneeze, fling off my Google Glass and they’d be gone forever.

You’d have to be blinder than the Congress Bridge bats to not notice that there are big changes underway in Austin. But for a city with “Keep Austin Weird” as its rally cry, is this change for the better? Or are we instead, making Austin commercial?

Recently, the well-known (and well-loved) food trucks located on South Congress all had to pack-up and leave the spot that they’ve called home for more than 5 years. Despite attempts to keep the trucks as part of the familiar landscape of South Congress, the land was never their own and now a hotel will be erected on the site instead.

But SoCo isn’t the only neighborhood in Austin that’s changing its identity as the city becomes more popular. Some statistics estimate that Austin is growing by 172 people every day. And as Austin grows in population, the city is being developed to accommodate not only the numbers, but the desire to keep up to date and modern.

This will soon be seen as the Rainey Street area starts to go under some noticeable changes. What was once an alternate to the 6^th street nightlife in Austin will be have a completely different look and feel than the small, cozy bars we are accustomed to. Its bars are slowly closing their doors to make way for more condos and residential units.

Even the Alamo Drafthouse and the Broken Spoke– business’ arguably as Austin as they come – aren’t immune to the changes. For over a year, heavy construction at the separate homes of the South Lamar Drafthouse and (farther South) Broken Spoke have made what looks now to be little more than giant construction sites and holes in the ground. And while we’ll get to keep those two loved institutions at their original locations, we’ll soon start to see high-end boutiques, (even more) condos, and office spaces crop up around them.

A city as well loved as Austin – by locals and visitors alike – was bound to step into bigger shoes sooner or later. On the one hand, one could argue that it’s good for the city – it’s creating improvements that will generate more unique and celebrated spots like Barley Swine or Uchi. Not to mention the boost popular shopping areas can offer to the local economy. And in some cases I’ll agree that improvements were needed. But will big hotels and condos and higher end boutiques really allow Austin to maintain the charm, quirk and uniqueness that has defined the city over the past however-many decades? Only time will tell, but I for one think we’re becoming a little less weird. And even if it was inevitable, it still makes me a little more sad.

In 2012, the United States Census reported a 16.7% of total population to be of Hispanic or Latino origin. This number surpasses the percentage of African American population, which was reported at 13.1%. As such, the significance of this particular population segment for advertisers continues to gain importance and the Hispanic segment is becoming less of a minority. In recent days, the Austin Advertising Federation held their Hispanic Marketing Symposium aimed at exploring the latest trends of this important market segment.

One of the big challenges with the Hispanic population is that they come from many different countries which have unique and individual customs, traditions, and even unique variations of the Spanish language. This causes them to have different motivations, different perceptions, and different reactions to the same message. Pride in their culture and roots is very important for Hispanics. Therefore, if an advertiser tailors a message to people from Mexican descent, those people of Puerto Rican, Argentinean, Colombian, etc.. descent might not react as well to the message and might even perceive as if they are being ignored by the advertiser or might become offended. Therefore, advertisers need to account for the emotional side of the audience, learn what their “passion points” are, and target them accordingly.

At the same time, as Hispanics become more and more an integral part of the overall American culture and general market, especially as the second and subsequent generations come along, many of them expect to be considered part of the general market. This is a trend African Americans have already experienced and continue to experience. So even though there are still ads and messages out there specifically targeting African Americans, we have seen a steady increase of inclusion of this segment in every-day, general market messages. Thus we have the face of the All State Insurance, the original Old Spice man, and so forth being African American individuals speaking to a general market audience. This trend will be repeated for Hispanics and, at some level, it already is. Consider the “most interesting man in the world” campaign. Even though he is a blue-eyed white looking guy (lots of Hispanics fall outside of the traditional physical appearance stereotype they seem to be subject to), he speaks to the Anglo population by suggesting they can become more interesting if they get a little dose of exotic. Dos Equis, being a Mexican brand, suggests these exotic traits that make people interesting might very well come from that Hispanic touch. At the same time, Hispanics feel identified with the “cool” tag of “being exotic” because of their origins.

The main challenge seems to be how to find the right mix between crafting a message that is Hispanic-inclusive as part of the general market message, or creating a message that is specifically targeted to Hispanics of all countries. Certainly, not an easy decision…

I brought Toshie, my laptop from 1992 (pictured below), in to work today. It’s been fun to see my coworkers “ooh” and “aah” over how antiquated it is. But it just brings back good memories for me. Granted it’s heavy, has a roller ball instead of a track pad and has a little over 4,000 K of memory on it. But it still works and it’s one of my treasured items.

I’ve been playing around with computers since, well, junior high. So what, you might say. However, this was in the 1980s when personal computers were not all that common. I was lucky to grow up in a household that always looked forward to the next new element in technology. We were the first family on the block to have Pong and Atari. I was about 12 years old when Dad and I took apart our first home computer because it stopped working, attempted to fix it and put it back together. And it worked! That was my first tech high.

Fast forward a few years later. I took one of the first DOS programming classes that my high school offered. And the first lesson I learned in programming still holds true to this day: Programs will do what you tell them to do—nothing more, nothing less. I learned that lesson the hard way when my pinball game that I programmed shot the balls the wrong way. And I am remembering it as I learn new coding languages.

When it came time for me to go to college, Dad asked me if I wanted a word processor or a new thing called a laptop. He pushed for me to go for the laptop and to always search out the new. So I agreed. For four years, I wrote college papers and short stories on Toshie. I had my first instant message conversation on Toshie.

Fast forward to 2013. Our mobile phones have operating systems. We heave enraged birds at bewildered green pigs on a variety of devices. We are writing and inspecting code for digital ads for tablets. I am still excited and always get the giggles when I open a box to a brand-new computer/smartphone/tablet/phablet, etc. I’ve been waiting all day to hear the news coming out from the Xbox reveal and to see what I’ll be thinking of buying next.

It’s been a crazy-fun 21 years since I first opened my Macintosh Powerbook 165c and named it Toshie. Those 21 years have been filled with wonderful technological advances that have helped create ideas and shaped our present. What will the next 21 years hold? And will we looking at the pictures of today’s technologies on “remember when” Twitter and FB posts, all the while thinking, “Oh, yeah. I remember that I actually had to touch the screen to make a call?”

Pinky swear, Marissa? Yes, that was in fact the sub-headline in the official press release yesterday morning when Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced that it has reached deep – oh so very deep – into its pockets for $1.1 billion (CA$H MONEY) to acquire Tumblr and its 100 million+ blogs. The deal will make Tumblr founder and (high school dropout) CEO David Karp, 26, a multimillionaire.

Tumblr is a community of creators and Yahoo needs Tumblr to remain pure, and to keep the core users happy. Mayer has promised to let Tumblr operate independently. That means it won’t be painting the platform purple and adding links to all of Yahoo’s media properties. Karp will stay at Yahoo for four years at least and retain a lot of control over the service, much in the same way Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom does at Facebook.

Here are a few initial thoughts on the acquisition:

- According to Quantcast, Tumblr had 184 million unique visitors, and 12.1 billion pageviews last month. While Tumblr started as a desktop-based service, its mobile offering has ramped up quickly in the last few years. ComScore says that a quarter of the service’s U.S. visitors now come from mobile devices. While revenue has been minimal, Tumblr hasn’t been focused on revenue. They’ve been focused on users and product, which is just what Yahoo needs most.

- Mayer said that the company hopes to bring some of the exciting content on Tumblr to Yahoo. How that will be done is unclear, but you could see how Yahoo might highlight some popular or partner Tumblr posts on Yahoo’s homepage ($$$). This move undoubtedly enhances the offerings Yahoo can deliver to advertisers.

- We’re all shifting our attention to mobile devices, and we’ve adopted the “stream” as our preferred method of content discovery and consumption. Tumblr was built as an activity stream, so stream-based ads makes sense for Yahoo’s display ad business. Yahoo actually rolled out “Stream Ads” on its own site earlier this month and has been shifting its home page and other content sections to a stream like interface. That stream doesn’t work so well with standard display. But it’s great for native units, which Tumblr conveniently features.

Whenever a scrappy startup sells out to an established player, users go up in arms and battle cries go out. All in all, I think this is a win for Yahoo – as long as they don’t screw it up. Hopefully in the end, it’s a win for users.

By Shannon McMillan

Beginning in February 2013 I attended the Texas Photo Roundup, LA Fotoworks and the Palm Springs Photo Festival. It’s been two weeks since I returned from my last photo review/photo festival so, it is time to compile all that I have experienced and cherished. Photography is my passion, and every time I’m able to focus on the medium I get motivated and inspired all over again. Participation is also motivation because I’ve seen the most amazing work, met the most amazing individuals and reunited with colleagues (now friends) from past events. Plus, it’s a great way to finally put a face to a name, and means networking with other agencies (JWT, Carmichael Lynch), art producers (Kaia Hemming, Sandy Boss Febbo, Bonnie Butler Brown), photo editors (Leslie Baldwin, Texas Monthly) and photo reps (Norman Maslov, Marianne Campbell, Mollie Jannasch), and find those “emerging” photographers (see list below). Most importantly, I’ve found it to be my opportunity to help educate and guide younger photographers who are diving into a very competitive industry.

The reviews are very much like what I pictured speed dating would be like; 1-on-1 every 20 minutes, and to be frank: you may or may not like what you see or who you meet. The photographers pick their reviewers; however, participants like myself have no idea who we’ll be speed dating with. What’s great is that the photographers have a chance to meet with a handful of influential photo professionals in a short period of time without the hassle of running around town or city to city. It also gives the reviewers a chance to meet with photographers beyond their website and phone calls. I personally like meeting photographers in person because it gives me a sense of personality, who we as an agency could potentially be collaborating with, and if they’re a good fit for possibly a long relationship.

Between the three reviews, I found a growing trend of photographers doing stills and video, and as an agency we are doing more and more integrated shoots– and so are producers. If you’re on the fence about attending, the benefits are seeing a small glimpse of emerging photographers, provides exposure for GSD&M, and keeps us up-to-date on current trends in the industry.

Below are a few of the photographers I found captivating. Not all were commercial photographers. Some had a story to tell that I felt was worth passing on. If you want my complete list, please feel free to send me an email.

Click the photos above to enlarge.

Melissa Pierschbacher

(Winner of the 2013 PSPF Portfolio Review)

http://www.melissapierschbacher.com

Melissa is a young photographer out of Atlanta in which she shoots most of her sets in her unfinished basement. She has funded and produced (including casting and set design) all the work seen on her site.

Alison Turner

http://www.alisonturnerphoto.com

(Winner of the 2013 PSPF Slide Show)

David Stubbs

http://www.davidstubbs.com

I liked David’s demeanor. He was relaxed, resourceful, works with a small crew and shoots video.

Photo Journalist Ashley Gilbertson

http://www.ashleygilbertson.com

“Bedrooms of the Fallen”

Matthew Brush

http://matthewbrush.com

Michael Starghill

http://www.michaelstarghill.com

Jess & Cass

http://redstonepictures.com

Jana Cruder

http://www.janacruderphoto.com

Derek Israelsen

http://www.derekisraelsen.com

Jo Ann Santangelo

http://www.joannsantangelo.com

Kimberly Davis

http://www.kimberlydavisphotography.com

Jennifer Boomer

http://www.jenniferboomer.com

James Whitlow Delano

http://www.jameswhitlowdelano.com

As if space and astronauts weren’t cool enough already, Commander Chris Hadfield has gone and made them infinitely cooler.

Since December 2012, Commander Hadfield has broadened our knowledge of life in space far beyond what we’ve learned from watching Apollo 13 and eating astronaut “ice cream.” The tech savvy Canadian astronaut has spent the last five months not only doing – er – space things at the International Space Station, but on his (gravity) free time has become a bona fide star of social media.

On twitter he’s exchanged tweets with William Shatner, George Takei and other Star Trek actors (among others). He has a popular Tumblr blog filled with amazing photos he’s taken from space (presumably to make us all feel silly about our Tumblr blogs with not-so-amazing cat gifs). On Reddit, he hosted one of the top AMA (ask me anything) threads of all time. But perhaps the place he’s gained the most notoriety is YouTube.

Via the Canadian Space Agency channel, he’s posted dozens of videos to answer pressing questions from those of us grounded on Earth; things like how eyesight is affected in space, how they sleep, and how they brush their teeth. And just a few days ago, he responded to a request to record a version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”.

Perhaps the most poignant version of the song to date, it’s garnered over 7 million views online and the seal of approval from Mr. Bowie himself. The lyrics and melody of the song are already moving, but paired with views of the Commander moving solo throughout his ship with Earth as his backdrop, it becomes a significant and stunning tribute.

One of his most quotable quotes he said during his Reddit AMA was, “Every decision you make…turns you into who you are.” I guess that means he simply decided to be awesome.

Images courtesy of NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

On May 14, 2013, student innovators, academics and corporations got together at the Dell Social Innovation Challenge Awards at Austin Music Hall to demonstrate what the powers of positive thinking and purpose with a healthy side of inspiration can accomplish. This was truly a celebration of student innovation with lively music, good food and beverages and a raffle for prizes given by some of the sponsors. And I must admit, it was a great venue to meet others as everyone was talking about who and what their driving inspirations are to make this world a better place.

First, here are the staggering numbers:
Over 25,000 student teams have applied in the seven years of the Dell Social Innovation Challenge.
Five teams were finalists for the awards. That’s out of 2,600 projects that were sent in this year.
$350,000 was awarded last night to various projects.

Next, the truly inspirational:
Karen Quintos, CMO of Dell Inc.; our co-founder and chairman, Roy Spence; and Blake Mycoskie, founder and Chief Giver of Toms shoes were among the speakers of the night who shared the stories of their companies and gave advice to the young entrepreneurs. They also all touched on the fact that big things start from small seeds. If you think you can’t do something because you’re only one, then think again and think bigger.

Quintos told us that every student has the power to change the world. And that is a LOT of positive change. Spence said that entrepreneurs represent the spirit, passion and drive of the future. He also said that having a purpose with true passion is being brave enough to jump first and learning to fly on the way down. Mycoskie informed us that giving is the most gratifying experience of his life.

Each of the five finalists gave a 90-second speech informing the audience of their projects. All were excited to spread the word of not only why what they are doing is important to them, but also how their projects would help to make the world a better place. The grand prize was awarded to Solar Conduction Dryer for their approach to help improve the economic condition of the Indian farmer population by solar processing of agricultural products.

I walked away with a wonderful sense of purpose. I took notes throughout the night of my projects that I had hoped to start when I attended college and how those might be presented now. I woke up in the middle of the night with the hope that I had passed on seeds of great vision to my students in my almost 11 years of teaching at the high school and college levels. A few speakers touched on this when they vocalized the importance of teaching social awareness and never giving up on your dreams to the next generation of students.

So what are you passionate about and how are you going to help change the world?

Image courtesy of @DellSocialInnov.

About a lifetime ago (read: January) I cashed in some saved up Karma and won an 11-day trip courtesy of the Travel Channel. I wish I could give more insight as to why my boyfriend and I were chosen, but I have no idea. To date my best guess is that they were intimidated by our height and feared the wrath of an army of giants if we weren’t chosen (I’m 5’10’’, my boyfriend’s 6’6’’).

Obviously – that must be it.

Going into the trip, we knew next to nothing about what we would be doing. What we did know was that we were going to be filmed for an episode of Trip Flip. We knew the host was a crazy, funny, fun-loving guy named Bert Kreischer (fun fact! The move Van Wilder was based on his life story). And finally we knew we were going to be starting in Miami.

Needless to say, packing was a nightmare – especially for a compulsive over-packer like me. I mean, HOW DO YOU PACK WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING OR WHERE YOU MIGHT BE GOING?

But two weeks after we won the vacation, we were on a plane en route to Miami. I kept a journal on the trip and it was almost filled cover-to-cover with the things that we got to see and do. I’ll spare you the long version and simply say that it was an amazing, jam-packed 11 days.

First in Miami and then on a 7-day Carnival Cruise to Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. Throughout the trip we got to play Jai Alai, hang out with Grammy winner Emilio Estefan (you may be more acquainted with his wife – Gloria), go power snorkeling with a barracuda named Ashley, and get pampered like fancy-pants McGoos on the cruise. And eat and drink. Oh my god did we eat and drink.

About four months have passed since the trip and we STILL can’t believe it’s happened. (But – I’ve pinched myself MULTIPLE times and unless I’m in some crazy Matrix-like coma in another reality – the trip really did happen.) And finally, we’ll get to see our trip through the eyes of the camera and the magic of TV editing. If you want to tune in, it airs at 7 PM CST on the Travel Channel this Sunday, May 5^th. (That’s Cinco de Mayo – so be sure to have your margaritas handy!)

Think about the most popular kid you went to school with — they were memorable because they were a great athlete/musician/artist/schmoozer. They did things that made everyone either love them or hate them. It’s not about being everyone’s friend. They stood out in a way that makes you still remember them years later.

In Why It’s Better For Your Career to Be Loathed Than Liked via Forbes, marketers like Erika Napoletano and Saul Colt give insight on how they’ve made a business for themselves on getting noticed and staying far away from the middle of the road. Saul explains, “I never worry about my stunts alienating people because my strategy has always been to be the best in the world at a highly desirable skill and create stuff no one has seen before with amazing results for the people I work with/for.” There’s no time for modesty, shame or pride when you are trying to make a splash.

When it comes to being a brand, it’s harder to earn the superlative title of “best” or “most.” Competition is tough and taking risks is…risky. But with great risk, comes great reward. Here a few of my favorite examples of brands that made me take notice.

Notice me, literally.

Movember makes a scene every year when they convince the men in our lives to grow a mustache and raise money for men’s health issues. When it comes to mustaches, you either into ‘em or not. And when you see a formerly clean-shaven face with a new stash, it starts conversation. You’ll donate, you’ll listen and you’ll maybe even pay them a compliment. Suddenly, everyone’s talking about the art of the mustache, men’s health and Movember.

Pick a side.

The choice to sport a mustache might be polarizing in style, but the cause is rarely questioned. But brands like Chick-fil-A and Oreo have made a bold choice to get noticed by picking a side on a polarizing social issue. Personally, I don’t think gay marriage, chicken sandwiches and Oreos make for a logical combination, but both brands chose to share their opinion publicly. They were honest about who they are as a company and how they felt. It was humanizing for the brands. Both spurred major debate and they were part of conversation in a big way.

As Oscar Wilde says, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Which side would you rather be on?

Let your freak flag fly.

Of course, I am biased on this one because Southwest Airlines is our client, but fly Southwest Airlines just once and there’s no denying the personality of the brand. From singing/rapping/joke-telling flight attendants to the executive chairman and president dressing up as the Addams family, it’s why you love Southwest. They surprised people by not charging for bags when everyone else was making more money off their customers. They don’t even charge you for changing your flight. They are different. In a competitive industry, they’ve created brand loyalty and made people enjoy flying again by being incredibly different than the rest.

Image courtesy of SWAMedia

Drawing attention to yourself, picking a side or daring to be different is meaningless if you can’t back it up. All of the examples prove that these brands are comfortable with who they are, what they offer and what they want to do. They are willing to risk not being liked and that’s what makes people like them even more.