Olive Juice

Services for recommending restaurants & bars are all well and great – hear from prior patrons the pros and cons of atmosphere, menu items and customer service of a venue.

But what about sanitation and health code?

Most often, the public is unaware of a potential health code violation at their restaurant-of-choice. A new service however, DontEat.at, will alert visitors via text if they have “checked in” to a NYC location at risk of said violation.

What? Want a paper mask of your face? WELL THEN! Converse has it covered. Let’s trade heads for the day, shall we?

Snap a photo, print the mask, and cut/assemble as instructed.

Actually, the other way around (but that title in reverse didn’t have quite the same ring to it).

Microsoft is launching its Project Natal in October, an immersive controller-free gaming system. By kicking, twisting, shaking, jumping, voice commands, and hand gestures, you are the controller.

A few years back I developed a Pong-game using Processing, which tracked arm movements to control 2 paddles. And if you’ve ever worked with gesture recognition, facial recognition or voice recognition you’ll realize what they’re doing with Project Natal is no small feat. “The skeletal mapping technology shown at E3 2009 was capable of simultaneously tracking up to four users for motion analysis [nice!], with a feature extraction of 48 skeletal points on a human body [no-sah!?!] at a frame rate of 30 hertz [...sold!]. Depending on the person’s distance from the sensor, Project Natal is capable of tracking models that can identify individual fingers. [Finally computer vision that knows when you're flipping it off] ” (wikipedia).

If this launches with a Limbo game, I’m so in.

Don’t pretend you’re omitted from this happenstance. You’re writing an email including a recent design comp, or partnership agreement, or screenshot, or family photo, what have you. You’re detailing the contents of said-attachment, excited and anxious to finish the mailer and get to your next to-do of the day. You remind yourself, mid-writing, “Don’t forget to attach it before clicking send”, and your mind responds “C’mon, I won’t, give me more credit than that”. Finally you finish the last sentence, type “Regards, Best, Your Schnookems, Sincerely” and your name. And send.

Ah! Forgot the attachment. Forehead slap (repeat thrice). You thence compose a new one-liner email stating “Sorry, forgot to attach.” and send your file, as the previously excited productive feeling turns to shame and remorse.

Alas, GMail saved me from such a fiasco this afternoon, as it will many more in the future, with it’s new feature so appropriately called “Forgotten Attachment Detector”.

Dear GMail Engineers and Inventors - Thank you kindly for this feature.

Regards, Yours Forever Truly, Sara

Friday afternoon I decided to check out CoLab, downtown Orlando’s co-working space since 2008. With memberships starting at $49/month, the space offers working stations for individuals and suites for larger groups. They also host various events each month, including screenwriters meetups, Refresh Orlando and “learning lunches” every other Friday.  There’s also the OmLab right upstairs, a studio for yoga/massage/acupuncture.

Last Friday the free learning lunch was sponsored by Doterati, and featured a presentation with Director of Interactive Strategy Murray Izenwasser from Biztegra, Inc. Murray discussed doing “social media right”, particularly focusing on the masses of Facebook fans (e.g. 104k active fans of the color Purple), Tweeting can work for any industry and taking advantage of the SEO opportunities via YouTube videos.

If you’re in the Orlando area, check out CoLab as well as Doterati to get in the event loop & connect with like-minded members (e.g. TweetUp this Tuesday, BarCamp April 3)

Do you have a killer product concept and are ready to finally make it a reality? 2010 might be your year to build it out, launch a company, and change the world.

Betaspring – a mentorship-driven startup accelerator for technology and design entrepreneurs – is opening up applications for it’s 2010 summer program. They bring the best entrepreneurial teams from around the world to Providence, RI, for an intensive twelve week program.

As Co-Founder of Olive Interactive, LLC. (DandyID andClaim.io), headquartered in Providence – and a Rhode Island native – I can personally attest for our vibrant community of technologists, artists, business leaders and innovators…

(Click here for the full article on Girls In Tech)

This is the most useful AND chic iPhone app I’ve seen come to market yet. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll need to download it immediately.

My problem: I have a fabulous collection of clothes, shoes, and accessories. Boo hoo? Well, I’m also so disorganized that it takes an hour to find an item, altogether forget what I have, or just opt for whatever hanger pops out first.

StyleBook is your closet manager and style assistant application and sure to be your staple in living fabulously. Watch the Demo video, and check out their blog for photo tips and feature highlights.

I’ll have to budget out a rainy Saturday afternoon to upload wardrobe photos – but I’ll never unknowingly make a repeat-purchase again!

Putting together a memoir can be a daunting undertaking – but what about a micro version? Six words to be exact.

It all Changed in an Instant

“It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure” features 1,000 Six-Word Memoirs by Sarah Silverman, Malcolm Gladwell, Frank McCourt, Art Spiegelman, Junot Diaz, Gay Talese, Amy Tan—and hundreds of never-before published writers.

Alzheimer’s: meeting new people every day.
Phil Skversky

Met wife at her bachelorette party.
Eddie Matz

Family portrait: everyone smiles but me.
Ian Baaske

Maybe it’s the East Coaster in me, I’ve always been a fan of quick, concise, non-fiction reading material. You’ll laugh, cry, squirm, and then rack your brain trying to summarize your own life story using 6 words. Don’t forget about Mac data recovery.

This book reminds me of personal favorite by Po Bronson, titled “What Should I Do with My Life“. Pay no mind to the cover screaming Self-Help and put your ego aside – it contains phenomenally inspiring stories of people having underwent major shifts in their career – and life. NPR features a 9-minute segment of such stories, which Bronson describes as the best introduction he can give to the book – so check it out.

Happy to be home, sad to have left, feeling a sense of calm and collectiveness, feeling sore yoga legs and kayaking shoulders.

I returned this afternoon from my first visit at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, in the Berkshires. I went for 2 1/2 days, mid-week, as a happy-birthday-to-me retreat. The center offers a variety of workshops and training year long, but I went for an R+R personal retreat.

R+R visits are all inclusive: meals, workshops, classes, activities, and lodging. 

After careful consideration I chose dormitory lodging, knowing I’d be bunking beds with up to 19 other people, but was up for the challenge and it was the cheapest option. Alas, I came prepared with two sets of ear plugs and three variations of sleeping masks. To my surprise, I didn’t need them! Everyone was so impressively silent by 10pm each night – and since we were up by dawn, no light blocking mask was needed. 

The premises had everything you need, and surrounded by beautiful, lush mountains and serene Lake Mahkeenac. The food was also spectacular, largely  vegan/vegetarian cuisine.

I was lucky enough to hear that some of the chef’s recipes are available online, so allow me to spread the good word – http://www.kripalu.org/article/270. Try the Millet Cauliflower Mash!

For 2 nights check-in was Monday at 2:30, check out was by noon Wednesday (but you can stay the full day). The daily schedule is something like this: 6:30am yoga, breakfast, workshop (for chakras or Ayurveda health, for example), guided hike, lunch, yoga dance, guided kayaking, dinner, cooking class. One can partake in any, none, or all of the workshops/classes/activities. I spent half my day in those, and the other writing, meditating, sauna/whirlpool, or walking outdoor paths. I also learned my dosha is predominantly Pitta, that women vegetarians should consume anchovies and oysters to supplement their iron (I am not a vegetarian, but good to know!), and I really, really should steer clear of artificial sweeteners (no more diet pepsi!), will check out Stevia instead. Further nutritional reading recommendation was The China Study, by Dr. T. Colin Campbell.

I attempted to avoid technology, thus didn’t take any photos – but below is one I found to be quite capturing of our view – from Flickr user StephanK. All in all a great trip, but a few tips for next time: 1) people actual bring their laptops, not saying you should but it’s acceptable, 2) bring an extra pillow (for the dorm), 3) RSVP ASAP for kayaking trips, they are in serious demand (there’s a waiting list for the waiting list!).

DandyID’s WordPress plugin is now available, compliments of talented developer [and perhaps our biggest fan] Neil Simon. The plugin places a linked list of your online services into your WP blog sidebar. First you’ll need a DandyID account and supply your identities – then download the plugin and follow the installation instructions: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/dandyid-services/ – Mac undelete.

Enjoy!