Originally published on bub.blicio.us

As I shared my recent concert experience via Twitter (and this blog and YouTube) this past weekend, I wondered if anyone would be interested in hearing about it the next day since all the good bits were already published. For being a new media lover, I’m old school by nature and it took some conditioning to share any personal details online but have I crossed that line and become an oversharer?

Occasionally, we all cross the line between “informative” and “too much information” but before social media, those moments were quickly forgotten only to be retold as a funny story between friends. Not anymore, we are living more and more public lives and sharing our personal information on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

I was recently introduced to a blog that chronicles social media oversharing, Oversharers.com. The posts range from funny to gross to NSFW (you have been warned). The blog is a great example that no matter who you are or where you post, remember that your audience may not be limited to your friends and loved ones. So take this as a pre-Halloween cautionary tale, before you describe the revenge your stomach takes on you for your over indulgence in candy corn, think about how much you don’t want that information to appear on this blog the next day.

If only there were an Oversharers Anonymous…

Originally published on bub.blicio.us

On Saturday, I had the fortune of attending and being back stage at the Bridge School Benefit Concert in Mountain View, CA. Before jumping into the concert, I want to share a bit more about the Bridge School and the impact that this benefit has on the students.

The annual concert, now in it’s 23rd year, is the primary source of funding for the Bridge School. The school was founded in 1986 and opened to students in 1987 and my brother, Peter Schlegel, was a member of the inaugural class. Founded by Pegi Young and Jim Forderer, the school was created to meet the needs of kids with severe speech and physical impairments. A group that is marginalized more often than not, the focus on these kids prepares them to lead fulfilling lives.

The concert itself was an amazing musical experience. This year, the show featured Neil Young, No Doubt, Chris Martin (of Coldplay), Jimmy Buffet, Sheryl Crow, Monsters of Folk, Fleet Foxes, Wolfmother and Gavin Rossdale. Adam Sandler is scheduled to perform in place of Jimmy Buffet during the Sunday show. What’s unique about this benefit is that the artists all perform acoustic sets.

No Doubt was by far my favorite performer of the day. Students from the school are seated on the stage behind the artists, which presents a challenge for the musicians, performing for both the kids and the audience at Shoreline Amphitheater. Gwen Stefani and her band were the most successful with that by singing to both the kids and the audience throughout the set. Chris Martin was also amazing. As a solo performer, singing Coldplay songs, he had the unique challenge of using just his voice and a piano to woo the 20,000 or so people in the audience. He did it beautifully and was joined by a violin-playing friend of his after the first song. He was funny, making jokes about his bad choice in hat (which had a “where’s Waldo?” feel) and sharing an incredible musical performance.

Earlier in the evening, Jimmy Buffet took the stage with his happy island music and all had a good time dancing to songs like “Margaritaville”. Sheryl Crow shared an emotional set featuring a lullaby she composed for her son. Monsters of Folk and Fleet Foxes were new bands to me but both impressed the crowd, making the most of the acoustic sets. I was a little late so I missed Wolfmother and Gavin Rossdale but I heard good reviews from the people around me.

This is the one show I look forward to every year. The tickets seem a little pricey but you always get your money worth and it’s all for a good cause. I realize that this post has absolutely nothing to do with social media but is an event that I want to share with the community, especially bay area based people who may be interested in attending next year.

To learn more about the Bridge School, please visit: http://www.bridgeschool.org/

To check out the videos I recorded at the concert head over to my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/schlegelsteph

Originally published on bub.blicio.us

Augmented reality has quickly become the next big thing in the tech world. Everyone is writing about, talking about it or making videos about it. The technology is super cool (for lack of better words) and has a vast amount of practical applications.

Mark Gibbs of ComputerWorld defines Augmented Reality as “the technique of inserting virtual objects into real-time video to create the illusion that the virtual objects are part of the scene. To do this requires analyzing the video to determine the geometry of the scene, warping and modifying the virtual object (or objects) to conform to the scene’s perspective and other attributes, and then rendering the virtual object(s) in their required positions on the display.”

Augmented Reality is such an interesting concept and is best understood through video (check this out, originally posted on Jermiah Owyang’s blog, Web Strategies). Take a look at the video and imagine what that could be like; it’s impressive. Having that level of information at your finger tips is amazing and opens up a whole new world of experiences including a few questionable side effect, like the chances of having your phone stolen right out of your hands. I’m a little jaded by the recent iPhone thefts that have occurred in my home town, San Francisco.

After the “cool” effect wears off, I’m curious what the reality will be about the security of augmented reality. With your phone knowing every move you make and even which direction you’re facing, what will need to be done in order to keep that information private? Those who know me well know thats security is one of the first topics that I ask about when a new technology emerges. Location-based applications still make me a little nervous because of the security side of that conversation.

Although a hot topic, the reality of augmented reality is that it’s a ways down the road before it becomes the standard. I’m curious to see where the conversation about the security of augmented reality will lead and what types of privacy solutions will be available.

Image courtesy of http://www.markstechnologynews.com

Originally published on bub.blicio.us

I’m a bit of a magazine collector. I’ve been told that I’m single handedly keeping the magazine industry alive with my ridiculous number of subscriptions. Although the mailman might have been exaggerating with that one, I am a print magazine loyalist and rarely read the online versions of those magazines. I wait anxiously each month for my copy of InStyle, Glamour, Wired, Fast Company and a few other favorites and am still mourning the first casualty of my subscription list, Jane Magazine (folded back in 2007).

A few days ago, the latest issue of Wired arrived so I threw it in my handbag and went to a nearby coffee shop to read a little before getting my hair cut and colored. This is something I love to do but don’t always carve out the time to get done. Coffee in hand, I sat at one of the outside tables, open up the magazine and soak up the wonderful San Francisco weather (surprisingly warm for October).

I read my magazines starting from the back so I quickly arrive at page 146 and start reading a story about Twitter and it starts to feel oddly familiar. The article, although it dives into other topics related to the company, opens with a discussion about “Project ReTweet” which was announced back in mid-August. Obviously no longer breaking news in the November issue of this publication, my 140 character attention span moved on to another article that felt a little fresher.

This quickly brought me back to a subject I’ve been talking about quite a bit lately, are we really looking at the death of print publications or is that just a side effect of the death of the attention span? I believe that it’s the later mixed with the need for instant gratification. Twitter provides a remedy; quick news before it’s even classified as news while monthly magazines provide more thorough and developed stories that arrive long after the topic has moved from breaking news to the archives. Is one better than the other? No, I think we need both. This means that every now and again we all need to step away from the computer or mobile device and get a cup of coffee (or other beverage of choice) and enjoy a magazine or newspaper. It’s good for the industry and it’s good for the attention span.