Sarah's Faves

Ready to let your geek flag fly on May 25? It’s a day to celebrate all that is geeky and nerdy in the world. It’s like your birthday, an Apple launch announcement, free bacon for lunch and a Star Wars marathon all rolled into one.

 What is Geek Pride Day?

An initiative to promote geek culture, celebrated on 25 May. The date was chosen as to commemorate the release of the first Star Wars film, A New Hope on 25 May 1977 (see Star Wars Day). In 1998 a guy named Tim McEachern started “The Geek Pride Festival” in Albany, New York. Next, the initiative was celebrated in Spain in 2006 as “Orgullo Friki” and spread around the world via the internet.

How can you celebrate? Look for Geek Pride Day activities on Plancast, order something from Think Geek to get a Geek Pride Day pin, or read a book in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) category.

*****BACON*****BACON*****BACON*****

Here on FAVES, we’re about to celebrate in true geek fashion. I’m giving away one, six-month membership to The Pig Next Door’s The Pig’s Heirloom Bacon Club*. This is bacon made from heritage breeds raised using sustainable methods (from farmers who care about flavor, not profit). As if you needed added incentive, right? Bacon delivered to your door each month. Boom!  

*Unfortunately, TPND only ships within the United States.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enjoy the day!

What are you FAVES? Share them with me for future posts, right here.

photo credit: miss_rogue via photo pin cc

Here it is my FAVE family, friends and colleagues, an announcement I’ve been waiting to share. It’s the chapter of life’s adventure myself, along with the Tracky team, are excited to share with you:

PR and social media consultant Sarah Evans (@PRsarahevans) announced (and tweeted) she’s joining Tracky, a Las Vegas-based startup, as the new Chief Evangelist and moving her family to the City of Lights.

Tracky is an open social collaboration tool that Evans believes has the potential to change the way we work together both online and off. This isn’t just press release kind of talk either. It’s already working for her. She’s fully embraced the product to do everything from changing the way she engages with audiences, receive pitches for her blog, Sarah’s Faves and even plan her family’s move to Vegas.

Evans originally joined Tracky’s advisory board and realized the HUGE potential of the product. She wanted a bigger role in the company and co-founders David (@davidgosse) and Jennifer (@jennifergosse) Gosse couldn’t say no to her puppy dog-like begging.

As Chief Evangelist, Evans’ role is a mashup of all her favorite things (which happen to be Tracky’s as well). She will continue blogging, speaking, attending tech events and consulting all over the country. When she’s in the fabulous Las Vegas office she’ll be in-house PR counsel and produce a new web show, Track Stars.

Want to send Sarah and the Tracky team your well wishes, jokes and quippy remarks? Use hashtag #ontracky.

As one of Evans’ best friends, Lindsey Brach said, “You would work for a company with a smiley face as their logo.” It’s true. Tracky makes meaningful connections and productive collaborations on a daily basis.

Need to get stuff done? You might enjoy Tracky. Go ahead and give it a try. We’re not the only ones who like it. They just won first place for “best web app” at Future Insights Live, judged by super smart peeps like Jason Calacanis — @jason.

At Tracky, we don’t want our community members to be humorless doer-drones; we want them to express themselves, be themselves, create a portfolio of projects that represents who they are, and feel empowered by the Tracky community to get amazing things done.

Tracky: Connect. Collaborate. Done.
Tracky is an online open social collaboration platform that encompasses to-do lists, live chat, calendars, task management, people and project discovery, social accountability, cloud-based storage and more.

On April 29, Kickstarter, the peer-to-peer crowdfunding site, celebrated their third birthday. Here’s wishing them many more successful years.

In a post reminiscing about the big launch, co-founder Yancy Strickler shares,

“In February 2009 we shared a closed alpha version of the site with friends. On Tuesday, April 28, 2009, the site went live. Perry launched the first project — Grace Jones Does Not Give a F$#% T-Shirt (Limited Edition) — and I was the first backer. Perry and I launched another project that day with our friend Claudia called New York Makes a Book.

The first successfully funded project was on May 3, 2009. It was called Drawing for Dollars and it raised $35 from three backers, Perry included. It was a start! Three projects were successfully funded that first week. As of this writing, there have been 21,922 successfully funded projects since.”

photo credit: SurprisePally via photo pin cc

Not sure what to get your geeky mom for Mother’s Day? Pssst. It’s Sunday, May 13. Check out my personal recommendations and make sure you remain your mom’s FAVE child.

Who can go wrong with a pair of Tom’s, especially when you know someone else benefits, too? These Classic Mother’s Day Canvas shoes will remind Mom of your adoration for the next 365 days (and beyond).

Pretty sure your mom will geek out over this simple, classic “geek ring.” And, for $10 it won’t break the bank. Look at you being all thrifty and thoughtful at the same time.

For the mustachio-loving mama, here’s a fun pajama set from Top Shop. If you participate in Movember, you may want to purchase this for next year’s festivities.

Really want to go all out? Buy mom my FAVE music system from Sonos. If it’s her first Sonos don’t forget to buy a bridge (or it won’t work). This is the music system we use in the Evans household. Granted the nice folks at Sonos gifted us the speakers, we were fans long before.

What was once butt dialing (i.e. cell phone in your back pocket) has now become baby dialing. The Fisher Price iPhone case lets you hand over your phone without fear. Although I can’t personally attest to it, the makers say the case protects from dribbles, drips, drools and teething.  There’s also free learning apps to go along with the case. It’s a can’t lose gift idea.

Love that geek chic look but don’t want to break the bank? Warby Parker has you covered. Every pair is $95 — including prescription lenses. For every pair of glasses purchased, the philanthropic folks at Warby Parker donates a pair to someone in need. That makes me feel good.

Computer key letter “M” + necklace = happy momma! Love this. This very green gift is a recycled keyboard letter mounted on a piece of shiny glass. Points to you for being so creative.

Who doesn’t want an auto folding stroller? As long as there’s no chance it folds up with Baby K in it, I wouldn’t balk at this gift. It’s luxury meets convenience in all the right ways. You can buy the Origami Auto Power Folding Stroller from Think Geek.

Don’t forget a special card! We moms love that stuff. If you’re not one for the homemade kind, this one will do (and then some). The word “Mothers” is spelled out using periodic table tiles. Awe!

How about hanging out at Walt Disney World with the Mashable team, business leaders and yours truly for MashableConnect May 3-5? I’ll be speaking (yeah!) and I have a discount code for you.

Pete Cashmore at last year's MashableConnect

Are you are attending (or thinking about attending) the upcoming MashableConnect? Come on. Not only will it be fun (I mean, it’s Disney World) but you’ll be part of an intense learning experience. Did that put you over the top? If you decide to attend, I’d love to meet up with you there. We’ll have a FAVES meetup.

MashableConnect 2012 is Thursday, May 3, through Saturday, May 5, at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World (Florida). This year’s theme is the Future of Digital and will explore the technologies and trends that are currently shaping our world and the next era of digital innovation. Speakers like, Klout’s Joe Fernandez, Storify’s Bert Herman and MTV’s Dermot McCormack will share their experiences, lessons learned and insights.

Featured Companies: American Express, Barneys New York, BBDO, CNN, Desigual, Discovery, DoSomething.org, ExactTarget, UN Foundation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Intridea, Klout, McCann, Healthcare Worldwide, Monster, MTV, National Geographic Society, Nationwide, Porter Novelli, Royal Holiday, Taco Bell, TED, Toronto International Film Festival, Unilever, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Victoria’s Secret, and Vitrue.

If you work as a/an: strategist, entrepreneur, creative or senior level marketer or brand leader this is a direct fit for you. I know in my own role as a consultant for brands that I’ll leave with a new grasp on the digital landscape.

I’m also inviting you because I’m speaking and I’d love to see some familiar faces. It also means I have a discount code to share.

If you can’t make it this year, you can forward this to anyone (e.g. clients, co-workers) who might be interested in attending. The discount code is an open invitation.

Use code sevansconnect for $250 off on the Eventbrite page.

I’ll be live tweeting the event with hashtag #MashCon. I’ll also share adventures of Baby K’s first Disney experience on Instagram.

(Photo courtesy of Mashable)

justWink is a greeting card app (iOS and Droid) that lets you personalize and send digital greeting cards from your smartphone to your FAVES by email, direct to their Facebook page or via SMS.

Finally! Hip and humorous digital cards that I actually want to send to my friends and family (instead of awkwardly avoiding them). Thanks to American Greetings, justWink is all you need. It’s free, fast and fun. I <3 alliteration.

You can choose from categories like birthday, thanks and, of course, St. Patrick’s Day. I know I lured you here with a St. Patrick’s Day headline, but you can also use their Reminders feature to log in with Facebook to set up reminders for your friends’ birthdays. Sweet!

Either go get the app or you can read the “how to” instructions below.

For iPhone.

For Droid.

Select a category, then sub category (if applicable) and then the card you want to send. To personalize the card, tap the ‘Personalize and send’ button at the bottom of the page. You will then be presented with an open view of the card where you can add a photo, a personal message and a signature.

To add a photo:

Select ‘Tap to Add Photo’. Select a photo from your photo album or take a new photo. The photo will then be placed within the card. You can resize and rotate your photo to fit in the preselected frame. When you are happy with the photo, hit the ‘Done’ button to move on. If you would like to change the photo, tap it for options to remove, edit or replace.

To add a personalized message:

Select ‘Tap to Add Message’. A keyboard will appear for you to type your message. The message will then appear in the card in a font specially chosen for that card. Tap the ‘Next’ button in the upper right to see your message in the card. Use the slider at the bottom of the page if you want to re-size the text. When happy with your message, hit the ‘Done’ button to move on.

To add a signature:

Select ‘Tap to Sign’. Use your finger to sign within the white box. Use the dots on the right to change the pen thickness before signing in the box. Tap the garbage can icon to try again if you’re not happy with your signature. When you are happy with it, tap ‘Done’ to see your signature in the card.

The person you’re sending the card to DOES NOT need to have a smartphone. You can also email, post to their Facebook wall or send via SMS text message.

Now go enjoy a cold glass of green beer or a frothy Shamrock Shake.

Dr. Seuss taught us all that even the smallest, apparently insignificant person has an important role to play. Today would have been his 108th birthday.

I almost began this post with, “There is nothing related to social and tech about this post…” And then, I stopped. That’s not entirely true. Dr. Seuss, or “Ted” to family and friends, is a major influencer of why I do what I do. Without him there might be no Sarah’s Faves. A shame, I know.

He has inspired me to:

• speak in rhyme some of the time;
• appreciate humor; and
• remember that every Grinch has a big heart hidden somewhere deep inside.

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You." #happybirthdaydrseuss

March 2, 2012 7:38 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@prsarahevans

Sarah Evans

Photo courtesy of Seussville

Monday, February 20, is Washington’s birthday or, as we know it, Presidents’ Day. Why not follow your FAVE POTUS and former POTUSes (does that work?) on Twitter?

Our current President of the United States: @BarackObama 

FUN ACTIVITY: Eat like the Obamas. Here’s a list of restaurants one or both have dined at from the Washington Post. Use Foursquare or Foodspotting to socially record your adventures.

FPOTUSOT – Former Presidents of  the United StatesTwitter

• @BillClintonNews
• @JFKLibrary
• @George_WBush

And these spoof  twitter accounts of dead Presidents:

• @John_Adams
• @Nixon_1960
• @PresHarryTruman
• @Pres_Lincoln,  @Mr_Lincoln, @Abe_Lincoln
• @GeoWashington
• @PresTRoosevelt
• @PresEisenhower
• @jfk_1960
• @ThomasJefferson

Can you name all of the former Presidents? Brush up on their names.
A bonus twitter feed,  @Presidentfacts sends daily tweets on fun facts and information about past Presidents.

 Do you know your history? 

Presidents’ Day is a federal holiday honoring George Washington was originally implemented by an Act of Congress in 1880 for government offices in the District of Columbia (20 Stat. 277) and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices (23 Stat. 516). As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday, February 22.^[1] On January 1, 1971, the federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.^[2] This date places it between February 15 and 21, which makes the name “Washington’s Birthday” in some sense a misnomer, since it never lands on Washington’s actual birthday, February 22.

photo credit: Zaxy via photopin cc
photo credit: Scott Ableman via photopin cc

It’s a day to celebrate love, chocolate and…branding? I love when brands get on board with special holidays and revamp their look–even if just for a day. Below are my FAVE FIVE from today.

1. Twylah
In a special e-blast today, the brand showed off a pink, red and heart-themed logo. Sweet.

2. Mailchimp
I was pleasantly surprised when I visited Mailchimp’s homepage today and was greeted with this:

Nothing says, “I care about you,” like a monkey in a beret and some smooches.

3. Google
I love Google Doodles. It’s become a fun morning tradition to see what the new Doodle is. This year they didn’t disappoint. You can see an animated logo and listen (or read closed captions) to Tony Bennett while getting your search on. Searching for ways to say “I love you” in different languages? I did, too.

4. Even the @RedCross is having some fun. You can send an eCard from their website.

5. I can’t forget good old, Gap. Where would I be without their constant e-blasts? I did like their Valentine’s Day clothing animation today. The clothes fold into a heart. Awe.

Have a brand with a Valentine’s Day look you love? Send it my way to ilovefaves@gmail.com.

Time is running out and the pressure is on. How will you show the ones you love that you do, in fact, love them this Valentine’s Day? If you don’t have time to get an IRL gift for everyone you love, here are a few ways to show the love digitally.

• Send an e-card. I honestly don’t mind getting a digital card. Maybe I’m weird but, I can’t STAND the wastefulness of print cards. In our house we throw away 99 percent of cards we receive (unless it’s for something extremely special). You can use someecards’ “most sent” cards if you really want to make someone chuckle, or you can make your own. Please don’t send an e-card from one of those “free” services where you get 1.4 million pop up ads before you can view the card.
• Free printables. Okay, so this isn’t technically a “digital” tool, but it does let you use a combo of your computer and IRL to brighten someone’s day. Simply print and post these free signs from Kind Over Matter. In fact, I might suggest adding a QR code with a tweetable message as well.
• From your iPhone. Use Howdy to create digital cards, complete with personalized photo, video and/or message options. Add in that cute pic of you stealing a smooch from your sweetie. Awe.
• From your iPhone to IRL. Apple’s own Cards app lets you create a card on your phone and then send it via snail mail to your loved ones. Choose from 21 letterpress designs add in a photo and text and boom, you’re done. How easy does it get?
• Create a digital slideshow with your computer or phone. Who doesn’t love a slideshow? The folks at Animoto make it SUPER SIMPLE to create a memorable Valentine’s Day gift. Here’s a link to their ready-made templates. You can also create one right from your iPhone.
• Open a Twitter account with @ilove_________
• Make a Tumblr dedicated to all the people you love. If you can keep it up, update it daily for the next 365 days. You overachiever.