Aug
07

Jul
23

Spotify for Me

Spotify is my new obsession.  I’ve been on it nonstop for the past week ever since my invite.  I became a paying subscriber within 24 hours.  The thing I like most right now is that I’m listening to music that I haven’t thought about in years - and it’s fun.  I’m going back to the places where I first fell in love with music.  Last week I rediscovered Less Than Jake.  Know when the last time I listened to Less Than Jake was?  7th grade. At a concert with New Found Glory in a mosh-pit.  Wow. 

Then I put on some Jack Johnson and remembered the first song I learned on guitar, and the first time I played to an audience: Inaudible Melodies at a campfire at Camp Timberlane in the Summer of 2002.  It was a special moment.   

I’ve got the first jazz CD I ever owned in a playlist (Joshua Redman’s Beyond).  I remembered when my dad gave me that CD and it inspired me to pick up the tenor sax and join a jazz band.

And now I’ve got all my college favorites queued up: Animal Collective, The Avalanches, Sufjan Stevens, and the list goes on and on and on.  And all of these bands, and all of their songs are right there at my fingertips whenever I want.  And they all remind me of something and take me back to a place where I fell in love with them, or an obscure moment where I remember something that puts a smile on my face.  And they make me nostalgic, but happy because I remember why music played such a formidable role in my life.  And Spotify helps me relive that and keep it all going.  

Jul
05

Jul
04

Jun
28

Jun
27

“Social networks do best when they tap into one of the seven deadly sins. Facebook is ego. Zynga is sloth [laughter]. LinkedIn is greed. With Facebook, it’s vanity, and how people choose to present themselves to their friends. It’s the feeling of being connected. I like to emphasize the importance of the deep universal, psychological structure in people’s minds. Zynga is about fun. Fun is important. Fun is good. And to have the ability to do something fun for 10 or 15 minutes that’s right at your fingertips and involves your friends, well, that’s better than television in terms of social connectivity. With LinkedIn it’s taking control of your economic destiny and improving how you operate as a professional and how you can develop a competitive advantage. These are fundamentals for having a fulfilling quality of life.”

Venture Capitalist Reid Hoffman - WSJ.com (via mollybierman)

(via mollybierman)

Source The Wall Street Journal

Reblogged from mollybierman

Jun
24

Good News for GroupMe

HS Dude on train number one:
Do you know GroupMe?
HSDOT number two:
Yeah, it's awesome
HSDOT#1:
I'm in this GroupMe with Noelle and Amber. It sick; were on there all the time.

Source markcoatney

Reblogged from markcoatney

Jun
17

groupme: Neighborhood watch group uses GroupMe to stop crimes as they happen  This week, we received an amazing email from Bob in Detroit, who is using GroupMe with his neighborhood watch group to stop crimes as they happen before the police can even jump into action. We’re too amazed by this use case to try to summarize it any further, so we’re publishing it in its entirety. Please read his note: Crime. Drugs. Murders. Corruption. Homelessness. Crappy schools. Everything you’ve heard about Detroit is true. But there’s a lot you may not have heard about. Urban gardens. Bike culture. Green space development. A redeveloped riverfront. Growing neighborhoods. Arts. Music. Detroit’s a long way away from Shangri-la, but small pocket neighborhoods featuring low rent are attracting young professionals who want an urban experience. My small neighborhood, Hubbard Farms, consists of about 250 homes and has been consistently solid for over a century. That’s not to say we haven’t had to face up to typical urban issues on a weekly basis. Car theft and B&E’s [Ed.: breaking and entering] are common. The infamous Hotel Yorba, a pay-by-the-week rental behemoth, sits at one end of the neighborhood. This is the last chance for most of the people there to have a roof over their heads. Many are fine citizens. But once in a while, you get some meatball who makes or draws trouble. The neighborhood has a well-used listserv but email communication is not the best way to communicate emergencies. We wanted to reach each other faster, and GroupMe was our answer with group texting. Since March, we’ve been able to stop a home invasion, interrupt a car theft in progress, and snap a clear photograph of a vagrant chucking bricks through picture windows, all due to our ability to amass a large number of persons very quickly to the scene of the action. GroupMe has provided a sense of empowerment in our community. We always know we have dozens of eyes and ears on the street. And if there is trouble, we know our neighbors are just a text message away. Detroit has a long way to go, but with communities using technology that supports the more positive efforts, we are just that much closer to where we all want to see things go. Better. Bob Thanks, Bob. We’re humbled and inspired by your story. As always, we want to hear how you are using GroupMe in your everyday life. Send us an email at stories@groupme.com.  Photo via bbcworldservice on Flickr.

groupme:

Neighborhood watch group uses GroupMe to stop crimes as they happen 

This week, we received an amazing email from Bob in Detroit, who is using GroupMe with his neighborhood watch group to stop crimes as they happen before the police can even jump into action.

We’re too amazed by this use case to try to summarize it any further, so we’re publishing it in its entirety. Please read his note:

Crime. Drugs. Murders. Corruption. Homelessness. Crappy schools. Everything you’ve heard about Detroit is true.

But there’s a lot you may not have heard about. Urban gardens. Bike culture. Green space development. A redeveloped riverfront. Growing neighborhoods. Arts. Music. Detroit’s a long way away from Shangri-la, but small pocket neighborhoods featuring low rent are attracting young professionals who want an urban experience.

My small neighborhood, Hubbard Farms, consists of about 250 homes and has been consistently solid for over a century. That’s not to say we haven’t had to face up to typical urban issues on a weekly basis. Car theft and B&E’s [Ed.: breaking and entering] are common. The infamous Hotel Yorba, a pay-by-the-week rental behemoth, sits at one end of the neighborhood. This is the last chance for most of the people there to have a roof over their heads. Many are fine citizens. But once in a while, you get some meatball who makes or draws trouble.

The neighborhood has a well-used listserv but email communication is not the best way to communicate emergencies. We wanted to reach each other faster, and GroupMe was our answer with group texting.

Since March, we’ve been able to stop a home invasion, interrupt a car theft in progress, and snap a clear photograph of a vagrant chucking bricks through picture windows, all due to our ability to amass a large number of persons very quickly to the scene of the action.

GroupMe has provided a sense of empowerment in our community. We always know we have dozens of eyes and ears on the street. And if there is trouble, we know our neighbors are just a text message away. Detroit has a long way to go, but with communities using technology that supports the more positive efforts, we are just that much closer to where we all want to see things go. Better.

Bob

Thanks, Bob. We’re humbled and inspired by your story.

As always, we want to hear how you are using GroupMe in your everyday life. Send us an email at stories@groupme.com. 

Photo via bbcworldservice on Flickr.

Source groupme

Reblogged from groupme