Tom Hanks Debuts iPad Typewriter App

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Years ago, when our PR agency worked for Casio, we sent out a bunch of new digital watches to well known personalities, hoping to grab a photo op of one of them wearing the timepieces. Tom Hanks was one of the recipients. Several weeks after the watches were sent out, I received a personal thank you note from the super star.

Two things surprised me at the time. One was that the actor actually took the time to compose the note. The second, was that Tom Hanks had his own personalized stationery engraved with “THanks.” Get it? Tom Hanks used the T of his first name combined with his last name to spell out “thanks.”

I thought it was so clever that I stared at that note for years. It wasn’t until this morning that I realized there was something else that was very special about the document. It was written on a manual typewriter. I never thought much about it until I learned today that Mr. Hanks collects manuel typewriters. To celebrate his passion, he recently introduced an iPad app that functions as a typewriter.

Hanks wants to give iPad writers the feeling and sound of using a manual typewriter. He worked with hitscents.com to create the Hanx Writer app. Hanks claims the app “provides the ease and speed of an iPad with the sound and pace of a manual typewriter.”

Hanks is providing a free typewriter app for all, the Hanx Prime Select. USA Today did a comprehensive description of the upgrades.

Wearable Electronics Can Save Your Life

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I often hear negative comments from friends about the proliferation of mobile devices in our society today. People our age like to complain that wearable or mobile technology is the reason why there is a lack of social graces today among the younger set.

We have to understand that wearable technology is going to save more and.more of our lives. These little gizmos provide real time information that was never truly monitored before. One of the greatest achievements is that the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) has teamed up with Intel to collect real-time information on movement, tremors and sleep 24 hours a day.

Instead of frequent visits to the doctor’s office, the wearable monitors provide minute-to-minute data so medications can be better administered. The MJFF claims that, in many cases, Parkinson’s can be controlled if doctors could accurately determine what meds are needed when.

To get a personal account of what I am talking about, watch the above video.
Engadget, a tech site, ran a more in-depth story on this.

Apple Picking

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The fashion industry is about to have a major impact on the tech industry. As pointed out by Complex.com, the lifestyle and entertainment site, Apple has hired a number of high level executives in recent years to get the company ready for the next phase in their product lineup.

No one is sure what Apple’s next big move, is but check out the talent below for a clue.

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Image Business of Finance

Paul Deneve
Former CEO of Yves Saint Laurent
Now works on special projects with Tim Cook, Apple CEO.
Hired July, 2013

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Image Deep Apple

Enrique Atienza
Former CEO, Levi’s
Now Apple Director of Sales, West Coast
Hired April, 2013

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Image HighSnobiety

Ben Shaffer
Former Innovation Kitchen Studio Designer at Nike
Now Apple Product Designer of Wearable Technology
Hired September, 2013

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Image Business of Fashion

Angela Ahrendts
Former CEO Burberry
Now Apple Senior VP of Retail and Online
Hired October, 2013

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Image 2 Ocean Vibe

Patrick Pruniaux
Former VP of Sales at Tag Heuer
Now Involvement with Apple iWatch
Hired: July, 2014

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Image Titter

Musa Tariq
Former Director of Social Media at Nike
Now Apple Digital Marketing Director, Retail Chain.

This Is Not Hot Air

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I want to be sure that you are aware of what is happening on Kickstarter, the Crowdfunding site. If you have a creative idea that you want to raise money for, don’t waste too much of your time thinking it through.

Just post it on Kickstsrter as fast as you can and see if it has any traction. There is no secret formula why one project makes it and another fails. Very recently an entrepreneur wanted to raise money for making potato salad. He received $55,492 from 6,911 contributors.

That’s nothing compared to the money Bunch o Balloons raised over the last few days. This is a system to help you blow up a hundred water balloons in one minute. Pretty phenomenal. Sit down. This project raised $882,309 representing 20,770 contributors.

Elsa Peretti and Billy Joel

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The glamorous Elsa Peretti. Photo from the pages of Vanity Fair.

Don’t get excited. Billy Joel is not dating Elsa Peretti. He lives in New York and she lives in Sant Martí Vell, a tiny hamlet in Catalonia, north of Barcelona. Our generation calls that GU, graphically undesirable. For those of you who don’t know who Elsa Peretti is, let me introduce the 74-year old grand dame. Peretti is now celebrating her 40h anniversary as the most successful jewelry designer for Tiffany & Company. I wanted to feature her today because she is of the DigiDame era and she has led an unusual life.

I have been wearing Elsa’s signature gold heart for decades. I really didn’t know too much about her until Vanity Fair did a profile on Peretti in their August issue. I am not sure how many DigiDame readers get VF, so I decided to include a copy of the story here. It’s just so cool to be able to copy and paste the story for you. I love sharing,

So you can imagine how I felt when I saw Billy Joel on the web singing “Uptown Girl” at his Madison Square Garden concert to his ex-wife, Christie Brinkley, who was sitting in the front row. I knew instantly that I had to find it on YouTube and post it for all to see. It was so cool to recapture their relationship that took place 20 years ago, even if it was only for a few minutes. The duo recently got a bit closer after Brinkley wrote an emotional tribute on Instagram to her late ex-mother-in-law Rosalind Nyman Joel. who died a month or so ago.

Lastly, I want to say goodbye to Robin Williams, 63. In DigiDame years, that is way to young to die. We will miss you.

Future Electronics Will Be Paper Thin

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In the last day or two, a retired, but very prominent, member of the consumer electronics industry forwarded information to me about a substance called Graphene suggesting that I share it with you. The reason why Judy Fleming Stephenson felt I should post it is because she believes this will be one of the greatest innovations of all time.

Thank you Judy!

Here goes! The world of electronics will be going through a major transformation. All of our electronics in the future will get thinner and thinner thanks to Graphene. It is pure carbon in the form of a very thin, nearly transparent sheet, one atom thick. Future electronics will be paper thin.
Illustrated below.

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Wikipedia says Graphene is remarkably strong for its very low weight (100 times stronger than steel and it conducts heat and electricity with great efficiency.

If you watch the video above you will be among the first to see how Graphene will be used and what smartphones and tablets will look like a few years down the road.

Kids React To The Tech We Used

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Good morning Sunday. Click on the video above to see exactly how much time has gone by since we were youngsters. This is quite an eye opener.

It’s hard to believe that we have seen technology evolve so much over the years. We forget where we came from.
When I first watched the video, I was startled that the tech we used was so elementary. I blushed.

It just makes us think about what’s next. I want to see it all.

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The Queen Of Reservations

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I have the dubious distinction of being the Queen Of Reservations.

1-I was brought up in Queens

2-I eat out every night.

3-My name and phone number are registered on the computers in most NYC restaurants.

Many moons ago, I called all of the popular New York City restaurants to make a reservation under my name. Then I would eventually cancel the reservation but somehow my name would stay in the computer. Now when I call a popular restaurant to get a reservation during prime time, I get the royal treatment. The restaurants believe I am repeat business. All very clever.

Today you don’t have to work so hard to get into a popular restaurant between 7PM and 10PM. But you do have to pay for it. Resy is a new app that lets you pay an extra fee to book a table whenever you like. First you sign up. Then you pick a restaurant. You then have to pay a service charge so you are guaranteed a table. The fee is determined on-the-spot by the restaurant.

For the moment, Resy is only available in NYC with 20 participating restaurants. That number will grow every month and more cities will be added.

Money talks. No one goes away hungry.

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A New Type Of Food Delivery Service

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Sebastian,15-years old, showing off the striped bass he caught and cooked for our dinner party.

Most of you know that I don’t cook. Never made a meal. Okay, maybe a few times but never had a strong desire to cook until this past week. We were visiting friends in Provincetown, MA., where they host dinner parties all the time. In four days, we were invited to three dinners and two brunches. My girlfriend’s 15-year old son, Sebastian, even made dinner for us one night after he arrived home with the squid and striped bass he caught that day. I marveled at everyone’s creations and wondered why they cook and I don’t.

It’s probably because I’m too lazy or afraid of failing. Maybe both. This may be another false start, but I’m going to give it a try. I asked my girlfriend Dawn, to help me by suggesting very easy recipes for appetizers. She is going to email me one or two very simple ones to start. Now I worry about shopping for the ingredients. How would I ever know where to locate some of the unusual ones in the supermarket? I don’t want anyone to accompany me to the market. This is my project,

Surprise, surprise. I just heard about a new service that Fresh Direct, an online fresh food grocer, offers that can help me get started. Fresh Direct and Foodily, a leading social recipe network, have created Popcart, a technology that automatically takes a recipe and does the shopping for you. Yes, the website determines the ingredients needed and delivers them right to your door. When I Googled the service, I found a great explanation on Engadget.

The press release both companies issued said, “Popcart allows consumers to browse any recipe – across more than 150+ million food websites and blogs – and seamlessly integrates the ingredients right into a shopping cart.”

I was told by friends in the food industry, that many other food service companies, including supermarkets and specialty shops, will offer this service as well next year. Popcart for FreshDirect is now only available in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, and Delaware.

I promise that once I get the hang of it, I will do my own shopping. Till then, I need all the help I can get.

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It’s Not A Socket, It’s An Electrical Outlet

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I’m sitting in the guest bedroom in one of the most elegant homes in Provincetown, MA, better known as Ptown. I am visiting friends who have summered here for over a decade. I’m not suppose to brag, but their house has something most of us don’t have, and have learned to live without, ample electrical outlets.

You have never seen anything like this. My bedroom has eight pairs of electrical outlets. Each wall has two separate outlets, four places in total to plug in my electronic devices.

The first thing I did when I saw all of the available power, was to plug in every device I owned. Most of my digital equipment is stored in a plastic bag so this was a good chance to use them all at once.

I asked my friend why there were so many sockets in her house? She replied, “They’re called electrical outlets, not sockets.” DigiDame stands corrected. Then she explained that because she traveled so much and stayed at countless hotels, she was able to see the necessity for a multitude of outlets.

She noticed that most hotel rooms have a scarce number of electrical outlets. She promised herself that once her 1857 Ptown home was restored, every bedroom would get an generous number of outlets to accommodate the digital lifestyles of today.

I’m loving it. Finally, someone who understands the need to charge. Thank you pal.