My wife and I started a tradition several years ago of traveling to the Outer Banks of North Carolina during New Years.  This year was special because it was our 10 year anniversary from when we met.  The next to last day of our trip we drove down to Ocracoke Island and explored by driving on the beach.  We have traveled to several tropical islands while we have been together, but this has to be the most beautiful island I have ever experienced. This week’s Friday Flick is the sunset we experienced January, 2nd while at the southern point of Ocracoke Island.  Take a few minutes, relax, and enjoy this beautiful sunset.

BONUS: Check out more photos from our trip!

iTunes Match is quite possibly one of the best moves that Apple has made in the music realm. It is also one of the best uses of Apple’s new iCloud service.  If you are unfamiliar with iTunes Match, here is a quick summary of what it is:

iTunes Match is a feature of iTunes in the Cloud that allows you to access your entire personal music library from any computer with iTunes 10.5.1 or later installed or any iOS 5.0.1 or later device with an active Internet connection. iTunes Match requires an annual subscribtion of $24.99 a year. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of your subscription. Once you have subscribed to iTunes Match and matched or uploaded your eligible music, you will be able to access your music in iCloud directly from within your iTunes Music library, or the Music Player app on your iOS 5 device.

Also, if you are wondering about the specifics about iTunes Match, here ya’ go:

• iTunes Match is limited to 25,000 songs.
• iTunes Store purchases made with the same Apple ID being used for iTunes Match do not count towards the 25,000 song limit.
• Unmatched content will be uploaded as is; upload time varies depending on the amounts uploaded and local network speeds.
• Song files over 200 MB will not be uploaded to iCloud.
• Songs containing DRM (Digital Rights Management) will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud unless your computer is authorized for playback of that content.
• Songs purchased outside of the United States iTunes Store containing DRM (Digital Rights Management) will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud.
• Songs encoded in ALAC, WAV, or AIFF will be transcoded to a separate temporary AAC 256 kbps file locally, prior to uploading to iCloud. The original files will remain untouched.
• Songs encoded as AAC or MP3 with a bitrate lower than 96 kbps will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud.

To turn on iTunes Match

1. Simply download iTunes 10.5.1 or later
2. Choose Store > Turn On iTunes Match.
3. From the main screen, click “Subscribe for $24.99.”
   
4. Once you subscribe to the service, you will see the following screens:

Have you gotten iTunes Match yet?  If so, what do you think about it?  Comment below!

Recorded: October 28, 2011
It’s the all-Apple edition of “New Stuff”, where this month’s panel talks about the new iPhone 4S, the new iCloud strategy, and the life and death of Apple founder Steve Jobs.  The panel also speculates whether residing so close to the North Carolina Apple Data Center gives them any special “insight” into Mac rumors.

Show host Lee Yount (www.catawbacounty.gov) brings together a group of fellow “MESH-Heads” for this month’s episode, including MESH founders Mary-Margaret Baker and Alan Jackson (both from Jackson Group Interactive, www.jginteractive.com) and “Free Range Chicken Thinking” experts Houston Harris and Ryan Carroll (with Pixelspace,www.pixelspace.com).

Listen to the Show

This past Friday I had the opportunity to host the first episode of “New Stuff” on TheMESH.tv.

The MESH is a new media online network, designed to produce and deliver unique content to computers, mobile phones, iPods, iPads, and any other device connected to the Internet.  Just like a traditional television network, The MESH has a series of programs and “shows” on a variety of topics… the difference is you can watch or listen to what you want, when you want, and where you want.

On this episode of New Stuff Chad Austin of Chad Austin Marketing and Media Design (www.chadaustin.com), Terry Bledsoe, Chief Information Officer for Catawba County, North Carolina (www.catawbacountync.gov), and Alan Jackson with Jackson Group Interactive(www.jginteractive.com) joined me to talk about social media, technology, mobile devices and other gadgets!  The topics for this first episode include the current status of Google+, recent Facebook announcements, iPhone 5 rumors, and Google Wallet.+

Listen to the first episode here:

• iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/new-stuff/id467909880
• RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/new-stuff
• The Mesh – New Stuff Page: http://themesh.tv/new-stuff/

Tune in on 9/19-22/2011 at 1:pm EDT for the second annual Social Good Summit presented by Mashable, 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation, and sponsored by Ericsson.

Make sure to keep up with the latest developments at the event by following #socialgood on Twitter.

Twitter handles for partners and the sponsor of the event include:

@mashable
@unfoundation
@92y
@ericsson

[UPDATE] Agenda for Sessions: http://mashable.com/sgs/agenda/

I recently had the opportunity to speak about leveraging social media at the NCARD conference in Boone, NC.  This presentation was a mixture of how to create content in different social media channels as well as how Catawba County, NC is using social media to connect with citizens and visitors.  Enjoy!

I had the opportunity to be in the studio with Bert Lindsey this morning at WSVM 1490 V-Radio where we discussed how to leverage social media in a business.

If you missed it, you can check out the interview here: Radio Interview 6/22/2011

Resources from the show:

Facebook: http://www.facebook. com
Create a Facebook Business Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com
Foursquare:  http://www.foursquare.com

Bert Lindsey – Magical Music: http://www.magicaldj.com/
WSVM 1490 V-Radio:  http://www.1490vradio.com/

I live in in the foothills of North Carolina, Newton to be specific.  Recently, like much of the Southeastern United States have been struck with destructive severe weather in the form of high winds, hail, and tornadoes.  While many of you know that I monitor the weather and post watches/warnings as they come into Catawba County, I thought I would share some of my resources so that you can be better prepared as well, here they are:

Facebook - I post updates, links, etc. on my personal facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/leeyount

Twitter – I created a Twitter list named NCemergency (http://twitter.com/list/LeeYount/ncemergency) with several people, organizations, news, and government officials that tweet about emergency related items.

Hootsuite / Tweetdeck – I use both of these tools (depending on where I am and what device I am using) to follow different columns of Twitter and Facebook.  These are also great tools to use to search for hashtags.

Twitter Hashtags - Here are several (but not all) hashtags that I search when there is a severe weather event in North Carolina
(if you do not want to download or use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you can always do searches directly on Twitter at http://search.twitter.com/ although it is not the most effective way to use Twitter search)

• #ncwx – north carolina weather
• #nctornado – north carolina tornado
• #tornado – tornado
• #damage – damage
• #tornadowarning – tornado warnings
• #smem – social media emergency management

You can also combine search terms in Twitter like this:

• #NCTornado OR #tornado OR #damage OR #tornadowarning OR #shelter OR #wind OR tornado
• twitpic OR yfrog OR plixi OR twitgoo OR picktor OR mobypicture OR twitxr OR posterous #tornado

If you find yourself in need of assistance here are a couple of good resources:

• 911 – Always call 911 if you have an emergency.
• Find a Red Cross Shelter – If you need to leave your home because of an evacuation or if your home is damaged, find Red Cross shelter openings here.
• Red Cross Safe and Well – After a distster, let your family and loved ones know that you are OK by registering on this site.  You can also search for family or loved ones here.

How to be prepared / receive National Weather Service emergency alerts:

• TV/Local Radio – As long as you have power, stay tuned to your local news outlets / radio stations for National Weather Service emergency information.
• Weather Radio – Weather radios are a great tool to have to wake you up in the middle of the night when there is the threat of severe weather of an emergency situation in your area.
• SMS/Text Message – The Weather Channel provides text message emergency alerts for your area.  You can also choose what you want to be alerted of.
• There’s an app for that – Weather Alert USA is the name of the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch app that will alert you of emergency alerts in your area.  Here is the iTunes link: http://ow.ly/4IAcs web link:http://ow.ly/4IAct
• Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Store – Find and purchase several products including, but not limited to Weather radios, first aid kits, preparedness guides, and more.
• National Weather Service Severe Awareness Page – This is a great page with a lot of useful information, especially the Preparedness Guide.

The bottom line is stay safe and use common sense.  When severe weather is eminent, take the proper precautions to protect yourself and your family / loved ones.  Stay safe out there!

I recently had the opportunity to facilitate a session at the 2011 North Carolina City & County Communicators Conference in Fayetteville, NC.  The name of my session was Social Media – Shock and Awwww Awe.  This was the first time that I facilitated a team/workshop style session and it went great!  I was alloted 2 hours for my session so I wanted it to be fun as well as applicable.  Below is the presentation that we were working from.  Here are the note slides if you would like to download them: Note Slides

Ever wonder what it was like for a community to come together and realize that there needs to be a change…and then do something about it?

Start Something Here is a new site designed to present positive information about our region in a clear, concise, visually appealing manner. Our goal is to attract new businesses and people to our area.

One of the best things about this entire initiative is that no one entity owns this site, it is owned by the community.  The audience for this site is not for locals (right now), the audience is everyone but people in our area.  See, we recognize that the industries that used to be economic drivers in our community, furniture and textile are no longer here and are most likely not coming back due to the jobs being outsourced to other countries.  One of the things that we know how to do in this area is export goods and services and we are targeting people with industries, startups, or ideas that can achieve this goal.

It has 3 distinct sections, each with a different purpose:

• Live: This section deals with the perks of living in our area. It highlights agencies, arts, sports, shopping, healthcare and recreation, plus gives information about new events, our history, and our long term goals.
• Work: This section deals with the benefits of starting a business or working here.  It highlights resources, awards we have  won, manufacturing history, and our desire to diversify, along with information about new data centers and other high tech industries.
• Learn: This section is informational and deals with the different public, private, and continuing education resources available in the area.

We are actively looking for existing industries as well as startups to join our awesome area.  One of the goals is to export goods and services once again.  So with that in mind, what is your idea?  Do you know someone that has an idea?  Start something and start it here!  In the words of my good friend Houston, “Let’s have less talky talky and more doey doey”.

Check out Start Something Here at http://www.startsomethinghere.com 
There is also a Start Something Here Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/StartSomethingHere