My Windows 8 Phone – App Review {#HolidaySwap}

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Holiday Swap

It’s week 3 of my Microsoft Canada, Holiday Swap adventure! My last post took you through my first impression with the Nokia Lumia 920 and now I’m ready to talk about my experience with some of the apps that I’ve been working with. As a blogger, the social media and camera apps are the ones I use most, so I will stick mostly to those.

TWITTER

Let’s start with my home away from home: Twitter! You don’t send 22,000 tweets in 10 months without a good smartphone app, am I right? Then again, most people don’t do that anyway… Unfortunately for the Windows phones, the standard Twitter application is not very good at all. Low functionality, trouble sending tweets and the inability to link multiple accounts make this app almost unusable.

Luckily for the Windows Phone there are some great third party Twitter apps, with my favourite of the bunch being the Rowi app. I actually like the Rowi product better than the iPhone Twitter app I was used to. It has a fully customizable home screen that lets you check things like trending topics, your retweeted tweets and all the standard options. It also allows you to link to multiple accounts and makes it easy to switch between them. Essentially, Rowi saved the day for Twitter and the Windows Phone.

FACEBOOK

I have mixed feelings about the standard Facebook app. I like the way it looks but the functionality could be a lot better. It’s quite possible that I just haven’t learned all the in’s and out’s yet but just like the Twitter app, I have already found an alternative that I like better, so I’m not too worried about it.

That alternative is the Facebook Touch Pro app. It looks just like the Facebook we know and love, plus it has all the functionality you’d expect. If I have one complaint, it’s that clicking the notifications doesn’t always work, but those instances are few and far between.

CAMERA APPS

It’s funny, 2 weeks ago I was sad that there was no Instagram option for the Windows Phone. Then Instagram lost a good chunk of their subscribers because of their cryptic new terms of service. That’s where Fhotoroom comes in. Fhotoroom is the Windows equivalent to Instagram and even has more editing options for your photos. It also allows you to share the photo with your favourite social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook & Flickr.

Another app I like is the Smart Shoot feature. This one snaps 5 pictures in succession and then allows you to edit the photos together to create the best one shot. It’s perfect for people with fidgety kids or for those who have blinky eye syndrome!

Just like every other smartphone on the market, there are hundreds of apps for your camera needs but these are just a couple of my favourites.

NOKIA CITY LENS

I’m going to close out my review with my favourite app on the Nokia Lumia 920. It’s called City Lens and I am in love with it’s capabilities. At first it felt like a novelty app but now that I have been using it, I am amazed at how useful it is. You simply go into the app and either choose from one of the options (Food, Lodging, etc) or type in a location and then hold the phone up and it geo-locates the nearest place.

City Lens

From there, you simply click the option you want and it takes you to the GPS directions screen. It’s perfect for when you are in a city or area that you are not familiar with and I highly recommend it.

And that, my friends, are just a few of the apps I am using on a daily basis. As you may have noticed, it’s not all roses but for every downside, there seems to be a great alternative. Overall I am still enjoying the Nokia Lumia 920 and am loving the camera/video quality and features more and more each day.

Cheers!

Disclosure: The Nokia Lumia Windows phone was provided to me by Microsoft Canada in order to facilitate this review as part of the #HolidaySwap challenge. I will also be receiving compensation in exchange for my posts related to the review of this phone, however all opinions on this blog are my own.

Social Media Commerce For Dummies {Review}

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9781118297933 cover.indd

I’m taking part in a program featuring the “For Dummies” books and my first book was entitled “Social Media Commerce For Dummies”. In the year that I have been blogging, I have developed a passion for learning about everything social media, so this was a logical next step.

About The Book

Social media commerce is a booming industry. By using social networks in the context of e-commerce transactions, brands large and small are making their products more available and more convenient for customers. This one-of-a-kind guide introduces you to social media commerce and explains how you can use social media to provide better customer service, collect payments online, and build your customer base. Online marketing expert Marsha Collier helps you determine where you have the best opportunity to reach your market, which sites you should integrate with, and much more.

I’ve always been a big fan of the “For Dummies” series, even though they call me a Dummy with each new book I read. Admittedly, I didn’t get through this entire book yet because, well, I just don’t read all that fast and I haven’t received my “Conquering ADD for Dummies” book yet. What I have read, however, is more than enough to make me want to get through to the end of it.

My favourite part of the book so far has been the “Casting and Catching Customers” chapter. It’s not easy to stand out in a crowded social media scene and this chapter teaches you not only how to find people in your demographic but also how to get them coming back for more. It also helps with tips on building your Facebook page, which we all know can be a challenge these days.

With things such as blogging, podcasts, video and social media advice included, this Social Media Commerce book has been an excellent tool for me to use in looking at the next step in my online development. I definitely recommend it for anyone looking to monetize their web space or for businesses looking to take the next step.

For more information on the book and where to get a copy, you can visit the “Social Media Commerce For Dummies” Info page. You can also catch up with the “For Dummies” franchise on Facebook and Twitter.

This is the part where you’d expect me to throw out some cheesy one liner like, “You’d be a dummy not to buy this book!” or “What are you waiting for, Dummy? Go get it!” Don’t worry; I won’t do that to you…

Cheers!

To Wrap, or Not To Wrap: That Is The Question

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I recently posted on my Facebook Page, asking advice about whether or not you wrap the presents from Santa Claus. I had never heard of not wrapping them but the thought of cutting 6-7 presents off the wrapping table was intriguing to me.

I think the most comments I have ever received on a Facebook post was around 16, so when this one hit 70, I knew that it was a topic that needed further exploration. From reading through the comments, I also realized that there were no official operating procedures when it comes to Santa’s gifts. I tried to reach Santa but was told that he was too busy to comment. Understandable at this time of year.

We have always wrapped the presents from Santa in a special wrapping paper and will most likely continue this tradition, but I really enjoyed reading through all the different opinions on the subject. I even liked the ones that criticized me for posting about how Santa Claus may not be really real because their kids might walk behind them and see their computer screen! I’m sure it was done in jest.

Here’s a quick “wrap-up” of some of the responses I received. Pun intended.

* No presents from Santa, only stockings.
* Wrapped, with Santa’s gifts having different paper.
* Presents from Santa not wrapped and bundled together in a specific spot.
* Big items unwrapped, all others wrapped.
* Santa’s elves are tired and lazy, so Mommy and Daddy wrap them.

Now it’s your turn! Does Santa wrap the presents he leaves for your kids, or are they left unwrapped for them to enjoy right away?

Cheers!

Restoring My Faith In Humanity

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Tim Hortons

I’m not sure, in my lifetime, that I have felt as emotionally drained as I do right now. Between family illnesses, lack of sleep and what happened in Connecticut last week, I haven’t been able to find a lot of room for happy thoughts. Just as I began to sink into hibernation, I received an email from the PR department at Tim Hortons.

The last thing I was looking for was to start working on a new project. My plate was already pretty full and I have to keep reminding myself that blogging is a hobby and not my real job. Before I opened the email, I had already located my standard, copy and paste, “Thanks but I can’t accept any new projects at this time” response. Luckily, I read the email because what they were proposing was the exact thing I needed at that very moment.

They were offering to send me 50 – $5 gift cards for their Random Cups of Kindness promotion, that I was allowed to hand out to whoever I saw fit. I accepted immediately and waited with anticipation for the cards to arrive. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to distribute the cards and as it turns out, the experience was a lot more uplifting than I could have imagined.

I began my adventure by leaving two cards at the Tim Hortons drive-thru, for the next two cars in line. The person at the window looked at me like I was nuts but by the end of the week; they were expecting me and knew the drill. I never saw any of the recipients of the gift cards but I was encouraged by how happy it made the employees inside the store. I was determined to not let my pneumonia slow down my mission and soldiered on. I surprised parents and teachers at my son’s school. I visited a couple stores that I constantly get excellent customer service from and surprised them with special gifts. I handed them out to people who looked like they hadn’t smiled in a long time and I even gave one to Santa Claus at the mall, because, well, Santa needs love too!

Just watching the smiles on people’s faces as I handed them the cards would have been enough for me to enjoy the experience, but hearing comments like “I really needed this” and “You really have made my day”, pushed the experience over the top. Oddly enough, my favourite part of the campaign came when my daughter fell and cut her mouth, which sent us to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Don’t worry, she is fine and didn’t require any stitches, but it gave me the chance to hand out gift cards to parents of sick kids and also to some of the wonderful staff at CHEO. This was the point where I really started getting emotional about what I had been fortunate enough to be a part of.

It might sound silly and exaggerated, and I’ll never be able to accurately capture my feelings in words but this experience has really changed me. It’s changed the way I interpret what is important in my life versus what is unnecessary extras. Giving is important. Making people smile is important. Helping others is important and family is the most important of them all. Money and feuds and impatience and anger are not important, they are just distractions from what we should really be focusing on.

I realize that Tim Hortons’ “Random Cups of Kindness” was a marketing campaign designed to create a buzz for the brand, but whether they realized it or not, they have touched some people’s lives at a time when it was most important to do so. There was no compensation for this campaign, nor was any expected. I wasn’t required to write, tweet, speak or do anything else but hand out the cards and bring smiles to people’s faces, which I gladly did.

I want to say Thank You to Tim Hortons for including me in this amazing promotion and for restoring my faith in the good things that people are capable of doing for each other. They were only $5 gift cards but I am a different person for having done it. If more big companies did what you have just done, the world would be a better place, even if only a little bit better.

Happy Holidays Everyone! I am wishing nothing but the best for all of you in the New Year!

Chris

No Words.

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I hadn’t planned on writing anything. I figured there was enough of it on TV and the internet, that adding in my thoughts and feelings would be inconsequential and unnecessary. Thing is, I can’t stop thinking about it, so I’m going to write it down anyway. I don’t need anyone to read this or comment on it, I just need to get it off my chest, for myself.

Something my wife will attest to, is that I am not someone who puts his emotions out on display, to a fault in most cases. I’m not a heartless monster by any means; I just choose to keep my feelings to myself a lot of the time, instead of burdening others with them.

After what has happened in China and Connecticut this week, I’m finding it hard to fight off the emotions that are swirling around in my mind. We’re talking about young children here. Babies even. How do you get those thoughts out of your head and carry on with your day to day life?

I feel so selfish to still be tearing up over it because it’s not like I lost anything in either one of those incidents. I’m not one of the parents of those young children, who have to learn to deal with that kind of loss. I don’t have to explain to my child why a maniac tried to hurt them and their friends and teachers. Yet anytime I see the images of the injured or the names of the children or the heroic teachers, I break out in tears and feel an overwhelming amount of sadness. They were only babies. They had whole lives to fulfill.

I understand the circle of life but this certainly doesn’t seem like it should be a part of it. Nobody should have to go through the pain and suffering these families are going to have to deal with in the months and years to come. I’m so sorry to everyone affected. I’m sorry that there is nothing I can do to help. There are no words or dollar amounts that are going to fix anything that has happened, although I will happily offer both.

I don’t know what it’s going to take to make this type of tragedy stop. Whether it’s stricter gun laws, better care for the mentally ill, less violent television or some other explanation, a discussion needs to take place, but that’s not why I’m writing this. I just hope that we are able to figure it out before it happens again, as it always seems to.

I don’t even know how to end this because there’s so much more I want to say. I just really want to express my sincere condolences to all the families affected by these tragedies and to let them know that they are in my thoughts and in my heart. There is a change that needs to happen but that change will not be a madman changing the way I view my world. I still have hope that good will prevail.

Life is too short. Be kind to each other. Help those in need. Say “I Love You”, often.

Together We Can Accomplish Anything

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There is strength in numbers. Take my hand and we will face the world together.

Here’s A Double Shot Of Business Awesome!

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I’ve always appreciated excellent service and ethical, client centered business practices. That said, it wasn’t until I went to one of the presentations for Scott Stratten’s, “Book of Business Awesome”, that I truly understood the value of sharing some of the everyday, cool things that some businesses do for us, as consumers. I want to share one of those stories today.

While wasting my life away doing blog research on Facebook recently, I noticed a status update from my friends at Mabel’s Labels. It was a letter from one of their customers, that read as follows:

“Dear Mabel, Last week my car got broken into. Sadly our GPS and my son’s hockey bag were taken. I was sad to tell my son about it. It takes a lot of time effort and money to gather all the items for hockey equipment. My husband and my son decided to go to a second hand store called Play it Again Sports to find some new equipment. When my son tried on a neck guard, what does he see: Yes! his name on it with your label. He points this out to the store owner and tells him the story of the loss. They were able to find all his equipment and they returned it without charge. To top it all off, the store owner caught the thief on his video camera, gave us a copy and we were able to give it to the police.”

Pretty awesome, right? I realize that by returning the boy’s equipment, “free of charge”, the owner did the right thing and probably what was expected of him, but this is where I get to add an extra dash of awesome to the story. You see, I help run a charity called, The Gil Read Memorial Foundation, named after my father. Our goal is to provide monetary assistance to children who can’t afford to compete in sports. This includes equipment, registration and other costs associated with playing a sport.

When I approached Play It Again Sports about becoming our official supplier of sports equipment for the charity, not only did they agree immediately but they also offered a generous discount to all the families we sent in. I can’t say enough good things about this company and the people they have working there. On top of all of that, their Regional Manager, Rob Lavoie, was an integral member of our Movember team that helped raise over $12,400 this past month.

Keep up the excellent work, guys! You make our community a better place to live and I appreciate it! I’d also like to thank the awesome people at Mabel’s Labels for sharing this story. It’s nice to read about the positive, inspirational stuff every now and then. Plus, you know, your labels are awesome and clearly help catch criminals!

Cheers!

How About Another Dose Of #AwesomeDads

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After a great response to last week’s Awesome Dads post, I’ve decided to keep it going as long as I keep getting photos submitted. I’m also working on a design for the main photo, so it doesn’t look like I’m implying how awesome I am from week to week, haha.

My goal is to feature Awesome Dads doing awesome things with their kids. Whether it’s hitting the slopes, helping with homework or snuggling them back to health, I want to showcase the changing face of Dad. That said, here are this week’s Awesome Dads!

 

 

Here’s Oren Miller from the blog, Blogger Father. This isn’t the first time he’s appeared on my site and the write up I did on him for Dad Blogs Exposed will tell you more than I could write now. To follow Oren’s journey, you can check him out on his Facebook Page! Thanks, Oren!

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Mike Reynolds from the blog, Puzzling Posts. I don’t really know how else to describe Mike, except to say that he is one of the really great ones. I’m not talking just Dadding here either. He just seems to be a genuinely kind person and I’m happy to have met him and his family. Of note, Mike just single-handedly raised over $1800 for our recent Movember campaign. Not an easy feat. You can catch him on Twitter at @PuzzlingPostDad.

 

 

 

 

This is Kevin, who I only know as @KevinSky on Twitter. The best thing about pictures is that you don’t need to know somebody to appreciate them and I love that Dad and Grandpa are present in this amazingly patriotic shot.

 

 

 

 

Here is a photo of Chris, helping his daughter learn how to swim. This one strikes a chord for me because it’s one of my favourite things to do with my kids. It’s great when you can capture pride in a picture!

 

 

 

 

 

Last but certainly not least, meet Ryan Sanders from The National Fatherhood Initiative. This photo has me missing our Expos and even more so because he’s cheering for the team that they left for. Ryan has also been kind enough to offer me a guest post on his blog and I’m grateful for the opportunity. You can also follow him on their Facebook Page.

That’s it for this week! Thanks to all the Dads and wives who submitted pictures. They were all great! If you’d like to submit your great Dad pics, please send them to [email protected], along with their name and a link, if any, to your site. Til we meet again!

Cheers!

12,474 Reasons Why This Was A Movember To Remember!

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Every once in a while, something happens that inspires you and reminds you that there is still a lot of good left in the world. Usually it comes in the form of a random act of kindness or something you would see on Ellen. That occurrence, for me at least, happened with my participation in the most recent Movember campaign.

When I decided to put a Movember team together, I thought it would be a fun way to get together with a bunch of friends, to grow our crazy moustaches and to raise awareness and a little bit of money for the cause. The original goal of $2,000 seemed lofty at the time, especially considering the state of the economy and the sheer number of causes out there around the Christmas season.

The series of events that followed completely changed the way I look at a lot of things. Not only did we smash our $2,000 goal before we even started growing the moustaches, but I was inspired by the willingness of the participants to want to make a difference. I quickly realized that this wasn’t about the moustaches. It was about supporting something that we believed in, that we as men are affected by, on a daily basis.

I saw people going the extra mile to make that difference. From selling personalized short stories and MoTies to giving away awesome Movember gear and sharing some very personal stories, this group of guys (and one MoSista) continued to surprise me at every turn. I’ve been a part of a lot of fundraising campaigns and had never seen a dedication like this.

Then there were the donors. It seemed like every time I mentioned that we were close to a milestone, someone would swoop in and proudly declare that they wanted to be the ones to get us there. Most of the time these were people that I had never met and had only interacted with a couple of times on social media. To these people, I say a huge heartfelt Thank You!

We even had corporate donors. They owed me nothing and I have little to offer in return, yet they still offered what they could to help support our journey. Whether it was a cash donation or products to give away at our closing party, I am endlessly grateful for their contributions and will not be forgetting it anytime soon. I want to give a shout out to those companies and hope they know how much we appreciate them. They are:

PlaSmart, Logs End Inc, Burnbrae Farms, Tag Along Toys, Elm Hill Kids, Play It Again Sports, Cloak and Curio, Fathead, Adult Essentials, Sarah J’s Cupcakes, Parent Tested Parent Approved & The Short and Sweet Kitchen.

If you are looking to buy from and work with good people, these are some of those very good people and I highly recommend all of them!

In closing, I really just want to say Thank You to everyone who had a part in helping us raise $12,474! It took me awhile to realize that this was actually a big deal and if you had said that we’d raise that total at the start, I would have laughed pretty hard. I’m very proud to have been a member of this team. It has inspired me and opened my eyes to what is possible when you put in the work.

I leave you with one of the coolest things I saw this Movember. Here is the MoCake that was made for our closing party, by Andrea from The Short & Sweet Kitchen. Pure Awesomeness!