Category Archives: senior lifestyle

Old Jews Telling Jewish Food Stories

Posted on by
4

Babka, Borscht, Chopped Liver, Knish, Farfel, Schmaltz,, Blintz, and Challah. There’s something about old-time Jewish food that makes everyone smile. You don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate the memories of sinking your teeth into one of these delectable, comfort treats.

20140604-233300-84780342.jpg
That’s the premise of a new coffee table book, my friend Aaron Rezny, is putting together with Jordan Schaps. Both are well-known photographers. The book features artistic photos of your favorite Jewish foods plus anecdotes from notable personalities.

Not everyone writing essays is Jewish. You just have to love the food. The two Jewish contributors who you will know are Joan Rivers and me. Oy vey, enough said.

What does this have to do with technology? Most of the communications for this book took place via email and texting. All of the requests, interviews, research, editing, and design was done online. Everyone worked independently and then pooled their efforts to achieve what Rezny and Schaps hope will be a keepsake. I will let you know when it goes on sale.

20140604-234849-85729576.jpg
My story features the Charlotte Russe. You remember that?

Pop-Up Tech Parties

Posted on by
Reply

20140603-231212-83532357.jpg

The tech industry may be full of nerds, but they sure know how to party. Eliot and I joined our good friend Robin Raskin and her friend Judy Tomlinson at a pop-up Tech Cocktail party in the Design District last night. This was the debut of the Miami’s showcase where 10 startups pitched their ideas to investors. Make sure you click on Robin’s link because she is one of the most remarkable women in tech. I’m going to do another blog post about her,

I’m also going to do another piece about Judy because she is an engineer who designs digital jewelry. As you know, there is a whole new industry called wearables. That means you wear technology in the form of a necklace, wristwatch, ring, pin, and other yet-to-be named accessories.

20140604-001237-757013.jpg
Robin and Judy

Both Robin and Judy were in Miami for a Boston Consulting gig and heard about the Tech Cocktail meetup in a local warehouse, so we went along with them. Tech Cocktail parties pop-up all over the country and their purpose is to promote local start-ups. We met some creative people at a few innovative companies that we will write about in the coming weeks.

Here are some photos from last night. It was pretty dark in there.

20140604-061031-22231858.jpg

20140604-061033-22233896.jpg

20140604-061029-22229511.jpg

20140604-061036-22236433.jpg

20140604-061027-22227570.jpg–

No Regrets

Posted on by
2

20140602-233307-84787646.jpg
Mindful.org/noregrets

Deathbed regrets. It was only a matter of time till I got to this topic. We are of the age when time matters. We only have a limited time to fulfill our dreams.

There is an article (now turned audio) that discusses the most common deathbed regrets people in their senior years do have.

This topic is being circulated around the Internet because the 20 and 30 year olds of today talk more about their bucket list more than we ever did. Good for them. I have some friends who only have one or two things completed. Thankfully, most have achieved more of their wish list than not.

I’m grateful to Umano, an audio app that reads articles from all over the world, that recently covered this topic. Click here to hear a critical care nurse talk about the regrets people have told her on their deathbeds. It’s any eye opener.

As long as we have our health, let’s work at having no regrets.

Starting Your Week With Two Amazing Videos

Posted on by
1

I had to share these two videos with you because they are absolutely amazing. It’s also amazing that you can hear about two events during a conversation and then find them on YouTube by just using the proper keywords. We live in such a different world than our parents. I wonder if they would have liked the Internet?

The first is a motorcycle race with an unbelievable ending. Don’t miss it. I think everyone lived. The second is a segment from the Ellen Show that is going to blow your mind. Get ready, set, click.

I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate my friends Gail (Goldman) and Eric Schneider on their Torah dedication today at the Chabad House. It was a wonderful ceremony. Mazel Tov and thank you for inviting us.

Times have changed. I loved when the Rabbi announced that the ceremony was about to start and now was the time to shutdown Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. He wanted everyone focused on the signing of the Torah. I thought to myself, “That’s a pretty hip Rabbi.”

20140602-002711-1631469.jpg

20140602-002710-1630734.jpg

Naming The Photo

Posted on by
Reply

20140531-225554-82554353.jpg
Here are the suggestions that I received to name Eliot’s photo. Thank you everyone. It was lovely of you to help. The Miami Herald ran the photo in today’s print edition. Your creative titles will help me pitch others.

20140531-225010-82210958.jpg
David Steven Simon—“Claudia Cloudinelli”

20140531-230122-82882796.jpg
Adrian Rice—–“Lipstick Sunset”

20140531-230345-83025031.jpg
Allan Caplan—“Simply,”Oh Shit”

20140531-230553-83153835.jpg
Giselle Wolf—“Oops, My Kneiglech Are Flying”

20140531-230802-83282909.jpg
Jeff Young—”Clouds Over Miami At Night By Hess”

20140531-231400-83640383.jpg
Eric Schneider—“Puff Daddy”

20140531-231654-83814572.jpg
Jonas Neilson—-“Miami Clouds Have Digestive Issues”

20140531-231829-83909110.jpg
Milo Hess—“Head In The Cloud”

20140531-233709-85029558.jpg
Audrey Sommer—“Miami Cloudburst”

20140531-233930-85170642.jpg
Barbara Mark Ross—”New Yorkers Taking Over Miami”

20140531-234119-85279052.jpg
Annette Nicoloff—“My Vortex”

20140531-235453-86093561.jpg
Steven Ekstract—”Return Of The Dragon”

Eliot’s Photos In The Miami Herald, Maybe

Posted on by
3

20140531-003216-1936756.jpg
Photo credit: Eliot Hess. Our condo view is becoming a watchtower for the Miami Herald. Eliot captured a fire consuming a local church..

I’m not sure how this story is going to end but the journey is so digital, I just had to tell it. I decided that today was going to be a productive one, so I started working at 7am. It’s now 11:55pm and I’m still at it. Of course, I took a few breaks. One for a swim, another to wish Phyllis Blagman, a childhood friend, a happy birthday. We talked for a hour.

20140531-004058-2458697.jpg
Photo credit: Eliot Hess. Look close. A rare moment for me.

Even though I worked intensely on several projects today, I promised myself I would email Eliot’s photo of the cloud that I wrote about yesterday and email it to several editors at the Miami Herald to see if they would publish it. I asked David Nieves at HWH PR to research some Miami Herald contacts. He gave me six names and I emailed the cloud photo to each of them.

I’m not a liberty to mention his name, but one of the top photo editors immediately responded, “That’s quite a spectacular cloud formation. I’ve seen such over the ocean, but not with a land horizon. When was the photo taken, and at what time? “

I promptly answered his questions and his response was, “We plan to use it inside the local section. Is it ok with you if I also offer the photo to our sister Spanish-language paper, El Nuevo Herald? We will credit Eliot Hess, as your requested.”

His next email said, “Hi, again. We could try to run this photo inside our Local section tmrw. It would’ve had a shot at the cover of that section, in color, had it not been from yesterday.I cannot pay you for this photo, but will credit: Eliot Hess.”

The lesson learned was that I waited too many hours before emailing the photo. It was considered immediate news. There is a slight chance it will make in tomorrow’s edition. I will report back.

The story doesn’t end there. Twenty-four hours after the cloud shot, Eliot looks out our windows again and spots a fire in the same location. This time we don’t waste a minute. We immediately email the photo (above) of the fire to the same editor.

Five minutes later he writes back, “Busy times from your balcony. The fire is consuming a church near Midtown, I’m told. We have a freelance photographer on scene… all I’ve got right now.”

Last email from Miami Herald editor, “Anyway, I would like to add Eliot’s photo to a gallery we are preparing on the fire for online. But, as before, this would have to be for credit only… OK with you’all? ”

I was busy talking to Phyllis so it was over an hour before I answered him.

Summary: I got caught snoozing, I should have known better. The digital world never sleeps. You have to be precise and current. Otherwise, you snooze you loose. I hope I didn’t lose.

Several hours later. It’s now 2:11am, May 31. I just found the fire story in the Herald. Very different from what the editor first thought. A person actually died. Eliot’s photo was used in the gallery next to the story. One of nine photos. Click here You’ll see it. He has a photo credit. Good night. May everyone be safe and sound.

What Would You Call This?

Posted on by
Reply

20140529-230051-82851674.jpg
Photo by Eliot Hess

We were just about to watch the tribute to Don Rickles on Spike TV that we DVR’d last night, when we thought we saw a tornado outside of our Miami condo window. It looked like a spiraling funnel.

Eliot ran for his camera. I wanted to run for the hills. We didn’t know what to expect. It may be difficult to identify in the photo above, but it looked like the formation was touching ground. Scary stuff.

After 15 minutes, it started to dissipate. Its 15 minutes of fame was exhilarating for us. The unknown made our hearts race and our imaginations run wild. Now looking at the photo, I see a woman.

I posted this on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I’m looking for a title for the photo in order to email it to online weather, travel, photo, environmental, and local Miami sites. If you think of something, let me know. Thank you.

Microsoft Translates Skype Conversations

Posted on by
1

20140529-000513-313664.jpg
Microsoft announced real-time translator at Re/code code conference in California

The big news today is that Microsoft will be introducing a real-time speech-to-speech translation feature on Skype by the end of this year. The announcement was made by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during an onstage interview at the Recode Code Conference in Palos Verdes, Calif.

Just so everyone who reads DigiDame understands, Microsoft owns Skype. Microsoft has been desperately looking for ways to bring back some of the glory it lost over the years to Google, Apple, and Yahoo. Adding a translation feature to Skype is a major milestone in the tech world.

To have the ability to talk to someone who doesn’t speak your same language is mind-boggling. Skype was always a tremendous asset because it allowed you to speak and see someone on the other side of the world. You also had the ability to text chat. The real-time language translation just makes Skype an invaluable personal and business tool.

Microsoft didn’t really explain how the language translator works. I think they want to perfect it first. I’m all for that. The minute this feature becomes available, I’m going to be first to use it.

Here are some of the things I want to do:

1-Call Nadia in Bologna, Italy. She is the wife of my friend Mel. She doesn’t speak a word of English. Every time we get together, Mel has to translate. I am sure he is filtering. We will finally be able to chat one-on-one.

2-I’m going to call foreign companies I always wanted to do business with. I want to talk to the highest officials. I want to talk to the leaders and give them my thoughts.

3-I want to so speak to authors, newspaper reporters, bloggers, and broadcasters in other countries. I always had to access these people through other PR people . I want to hear their opinions about politics, health, music, tech, and lifestyle first hand.

I am sure my language wish list is longer than that. This is just a starting point. I would love to hear your ideas as well.

A Laundry Gadget For The Upwardly Mobile

Posted on by
2


As many of you know, Eliot and I have been doing a lot of traveling in the last 12 years. We hope to continue our journeys until the money or bodies runs out, maybe both.

We learned a lot of tricks along the way to make our trips easier, like doing small loads of laundry every few days so we have plenty of underwear and t-shirts on hand.

Most of the time, I wash our clothes in hotel sinks. I’m assuming they’re clean, but who really knows. I recently heard of the The Scrubba wash bag, the only bag with hundreds of internal Scrubba nodules that efficiently clean your clothes in minutes. It’s a modern day washboard.

Scrubba wash bag weighs less than 5 oz. and folds to pocket-size, it is small enough to take anywhere.

Check out the two videos above for product demonstrations.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Posted on by
3

20140526-235359-86039911.jpg

20140526-235400-86040004.jpg
Illustration from New York Times.

Bad news for seniors who dislike texting. It looks like your fears may come true. It is very possible that your children and their children will forget how to write an English sentence now that new “sticker texting” is coming our way. This is taking emoticons (smiley faces) to a whole new level,

I’ve included a selection of stickers from the New York Times (above) to illustrate what they look like. Many mobile messaging companies are jumping into the sticker text business because there is a lot of money to be made in non-traditional texts. Start-ups, big brands, and investors are watching the message on-the-go business very carefully because it’s just being defined now. No one is sure what type of sayings and graphics will catch on. You can be the one to come up with the million dollar catch phrase.

The two biggest names in the sticker app business are “Line” in Tokyo and “WeChat” in China. They have humongous audiences. Line has signed up 430 million users and WeChat is not that far behind.

Industry analysts feel the competition for sticker texting is still wide open for the United States. No one has figured out what the American public wants or will accept. If someone comes up with a word or phrase that expresses a deep emotion or feeling, it can turn out to be the winning sticker. The more a sticker gets used, the more money the company will make.

One thing is for sure, stickers are already popular in printed form. The likelihood that it will move on to texting, is pretty much guaranteed.