I love my iPhone. Well, most of the time I love it. And I carry it with me everywhere. I check email, get on Facebook, play games, write blog posts and of course take pictures…lots of pictures. And frequently I post them to my Facebook profile to share with my friends. Little did I know until today that I am endangering myself and my family by posting those pictures from my iPhone. The same Geo-tracking feature that allows us to check in on Foursquare and Facebook Places is attaching itself to my photos.

Take a look at this video -

I changed my settings as soon as I finished watching the video. Be sure you do too.

Have you seen those crazy little square boxes on websites and catalogs and wondered “what in the world” they are?  Me too!  They are QR Codes or Quick Response codes.

According to PCMag.com the definition of QR Code is:

A two-dimensional matrix bar code that is used to identify products. It can store up to 4,296 alphanumeric or 7,089 numeric characters. Depending on the level of error correction applied, it can restore from seven to 30% of the missing data.  Read the rest of the definition at PCMag.com.

So basically it’s a new code that businesses use to help their customer locate them.  Mobile phone users can snap a picture of the code and be taken to a specific product or service or to the businesses website.  On my iPhone, I installed the QR App and when I access the app, it automatically brings up my phone’s camera for me to snap a picture and then uses the code to take me to the site that the code is directing me to.  It’s pretty cool!

You can also get a custom QR code for your business at Google Places.   It is a great way to show off your website or products in advertisements, catalogs, flyers or emails.

Here is my code for Tasting The Internet -

Give it a try, take a picture and see what happens.  But remember you might need a special application to make it work on your phone.

Did you think I died?  Or maybe retired to an exotic island?  I can’t believe it has been SO long since I have posted on the blog.  You know how life sometimes grabs ahold of you and won’t let go?  Well, that has been happening to me for the past two months.

I feel like I have been in a submarine and we are just now surfacing!

What have I been doing for the last two months?   Glad you asked!  Here’s a little update on me and at the end of the post is a cool new web-based photo editing tool I just found that I wanted to share with you.  Yep, it’s free…

In October our family welcomed a new member, Connor Bryant Brooks (our 5th grandchild) was born on October 11th and he is just perfect.  Of course, he’s now two months old and get’s cuter every day!  He is going to call me Mimi and I just love getting those little baby kisses from him. 

Also in October my husband and I purchased a new business.  (right, like I’m not busy enough helping all of you with social media!)  It’s a custom imprint business and we can put your name, logo, sports team or whatever on just about anything you can think of.  We print t-shirts, sports team uniforms, caps, clocks, pictures frames…you name and we can do it.  This was suppose to be my hubby’s business, but I’ve been helping a lot with all the management pieces and marketing.  (psst..look for a Fan Page coming soon with weekly specials!)  Here’s the website if you want to take a look  http://theimprintdoctor.com

And now for the photo editing tool, it’s called Citrify.  There are lots of standard editing features like taking the red-eye out, smoothing blemishes and color contrasting.  Some of the ones I like are wrinkle remover and teeth whitening!  It’s like a little “mini-spa” photo editor and you can use it free. 

Thanks for staying with me during my absence.  I hope to be back on track with some great social media tips and tools (and other stuff) going forward.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and finding that right image can sometimes be crucial. Whether you’re illustrating a book or reporting on a breaking news event, capturing the essence of written words in one picture can be difficult. It’s easy enough to go to Google and type in what you need, but just because you find something on Google Images, doesn’t mean you can use it. Google pulls photos from various websites, and many of these photos are copyrighted and belong to someone else, who may not appreciate you taking their photos and “borrowing” them for your blog. Since not everyone has access to a professional photographer and a studio, does this mean you can’t have photos on your site at all? Of course not, as there are many options for bloggers and webmasters to acquire images for their sites.

Free

The best things in life are free, right? Perhaps. There are sites out there like MorgueFile.com, that provides images (some from professional photographers) for free. Public domain images are another source for free photos. These images are basically pictures whose copyrights have lapsed or expired, because their original owners have not opted to renew their licenses. Keep in mind that, unless the author specified that his or her work is “public domain”, in the United States, copyrights can remain in effect for up to 120 years.

Other options are works published under the Creative Commons (CC) License. Creative Commons is a non-profit organization created specifically for artists to be able to share their works with others for free, without the need for lawyers and legal documents. Depending on the terms of the licenses, a work can be used for various purposes. The most liberal licenses allow you to modify and distribute their photos for any purpose, but most will ask for the very least: a) attribution (giving credit to the original artist) and/or b) non-commercial use (you can’t make money off the image.) While this may seem like a good idea, if your website makes money or if you have Adsense on your blog, you may not be able to use images with CC licenses.

Commercial/Paid

If you’re planning to have a very specialized, high-end website that will make you thousands of dollars a month, then there’s no need to skimp on photography! Many artists and photographers sell their images (or their services) for a fee, and you can be guaranteed you’ll have a one-of-a-kind picture.

However, for most people this may not be the case. There are websites out there that own images (or allow people to sell their images) at affordable prices. Royalty-free images are the most common among these and can be quite inexpensive. When you purchase royalty-free images, you can use it for an unlimited amount of time, make as many copies as you need (and as often as you want) and the images can be distributed all over the world. Best of all, the images can be suitable for all mediums – whether you need high-resolution billboard photos or small, web-safe graphics.

One such website is Fotolia, where they offer royalty-free images for as little as $0.75 per image! There are millions of pictures available today, so head over to Fotolia now and find that perfect image!

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At the end of 2008, I had an opportunity to read many blog posts from Internet experts making their predictions for 2009 and guess what was at the top of their list: Social Media Marketing. It is anticipated that Social Media will grow at unprecedented rates in 2009 and beyond as more and more businesses seek to leverage this powerful new marketing channel.

A further prediction is that Social Media Marketing Services will be in very high demand through 2009! Most businesses either lack the time or expertise to effectively carry out all the necessary Social Media Marketing Activities and will be seeking to delegate these tasks to skilled Social Media Marketing Specialists.

VAClassroom.com has recently released a high calibre 7 module training program based on the seven hottest Social Media Marketing Services requested by businesses today including:

- Social Media Strategy and Action Planning
- Social Networking Profile Set-up and Management
- Facebook Marketing
- Twitter Marketing
- Online Video Marketing
- Online Reputation Management
- Social Media Content Distribution

The Social Media Marketing Specialist Training Program offers a self-directed training system for Virtual Assistants and Online Professional seeking to offer these in-demand services to their new and existing client base, or anyone looking for more knowledge of Social Media Marketing. The program features 8 modules, 30 videos, an interactive and supportive learning community, comprehensive resource guides, assignments and a Social Media Marketing Specialist Certification.

Claim your seat now Social Media Marketing Training and don’t miss out on one of the most important training opportunities you will take this year.

Did I read that correctly? WordPress is so big now that that have their own TV show?

Well, not really, they have developed an online learning center called wordpress.tv

It’s chocked full of tutorials for both self-hosted and WordPress.com sites. They call it “a visual resource for all things WordPress!”

I LOVE that. I’m a visual person and I learn much quicker if I can see it done rather that read how to do it.

So grab a snickers and a soda and watch wordpress.tv.