It's May 1st and I am back from my month long hiatus from Facebook! Then I thought about it, and nobody really cares. In this video I explain the three reasons why no one really cares if you leave the world's most popular social networking site.

When I first finished college I thought I knew how to present: fire up a projector, give a few power point bulleted slides and then talk to those points. I was doing it wrong for  years-I recently read a book entitled the Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, and I was skeptical at first, but after reading it, I was convinced otherwise.  Presenting before an audience  should't be that difficult, but being a good and engaging presenter is,  and this book makes it easy for you to become a better presenter.

I was looking at a friends Facebook profile and they had this song entitled, "Find My Way to Love" on their profile.  It is such a great song by an artist named Chantae Cann and I was inspired to finish the last trailer for Jared and Anika's wedding. It always starts with a song.

Thanks to my friend, Bryant Taylor for sending me some test footage of the JVC GY-HM100U. I testing the editing with the camera and the native Final Cut Pro support.  The camera worked flawlessly in the edit session.   I exported the video using Compressor and it worked flawlessly.  To find out more about this camera visit the JVC web site here.

I wrote in an earlier blog post about audio for the Canon 5D MK II and Canon 7D and my audio set up. I did a brief tutorial on PluralEyes, by Singular Software and how you can use the software to sync audio from multiple camera sources and line up audio tracks, like I did for the video below.  I highly recommend this software as it cuts down on editing time/workflow.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="iPad"] [/caption] All the hoopla has passed now since Apple's iPad has been released.   I was very skeptical in my first review of the iPad, but I have changed my views. (Sigh) The iPad is like leather interior on a car, you don't need it, but it sure is nice if you have it. There are numerous reviews on the functionality and  specifications on the iPad so I figured I would review the key ways I use my iPad. 32 GB iPad Wi-Fi (I would  suggest to purchase the 3G though) Main uses: reading, surfing the web, email and creating short presentations, notes, and gaming. My favorite apps (in no particular order) Updated April 24, 2010 AirVideo -Some apps just solve issues and this one does it well. I have a lot of movies in .avi format and I didn't want to convert all of them to the .m4v format for the iPad now I don't need to copy your videos to the device just to watch them. Netflix-streaming movies right to your iPad and ordering DVD's from the app.  This has to be in my top 3 list off iPad apps. This is one of the main reasons to love the iPad. TweetDeck--I use this to access all of my twitter accounts on my desktop, iPhone and now it moves to my iPad.  Tweetie, I like you but for now TweetDeck has it. Keynote-I recently did a presentation and uses my iPad and it worked flawlessly.  Now if you are doing major presentations I wouldn't use this, but for a few slides it works very well.  I think the negative reviews are because people are expecting this to replace the keynote program on their laptop-  and its not, but another way to do some quick presentations. Goodreader--allows me to read and archive pdf's and transfer them back and forth to my Mac. It's a good utility app. NPR--I am a news junkie and this app looks beautiful and works flawlessly and you can catch up with all the news of the day. Pandora--free Radio, need I say more? Games Scrabble--I could play this all day, it's a great app on the iPhone and it gets better on the iPad. Asphalt 5-I usually don't like racing games, but this game holds my attention and keeps it going. iBooks--this app is what Steve Jobs debuted during his iPad keynote and it is very good, I just wish they had a better selection of books Kindle--this app is ok, and the selection of books from Amazon.com is amazing, but I guess you can't really compete with an book app on Apple's device. I am sure they are retooling this. For my kids Doodle Buddy--keeps them drawing and quiet, but the app is really good. Cat in the Hat--It reads the book to them and the graphics look so good. A few more apps that I want to mention are: WordBook XL-this app is very good especially if you like a good dictionary app and this one offers so much more. AirSharing HD-this app offers you to share documents between computers. Key vertical markets:

1. Photographers-show off your work and portfolios easily at client meetings and presentations. Here is an interesting article that states more possibilities.
2. Educators-Use it to download classic books and electronic textbooks.

Overall: This device isn't necessary, but it is a nice addition, if you have the extra cash from your tax return or other income you may want to consider getting it. All in all, however, the iPad is an advance in making more-sophisticated computing possible via a simple touch interface on a light device. Only time will tell if it’s a real challenger to the laptop and netbook.

Recently I have become a Starbucks fan- I know I  have come to the party late,  but when I was in Southern California last year, a friend turned me on to what is now my favorite drink-Caramel Macchiato.  One thing I like about Starbucks is the atmosphere-I seem to get accomplished there and my creative juices (no pun intended) seem to flow. I received an email blast from Starbucks touting their new iPhone app in which you can pay directly at certain locations (Target at the time of this writing) with your iPhone.  This peaked my curiosity and as a so-called "tech-guru" I had to try it out. I went into the local Target in Baltimore where I usually purchase my  Starbucks and it worked flawlessly.  The barista was shocked that it worked and of course folks in line behind me were blown away. Recently I watched a presentation by author and marketing guru Seth Godin called "Standing Out," he says in his talk "In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff." Usually, when I get e-mail offers, I ignore them, but this e-mail called me action-to actually go try the starbucks app. How do you stand out from a crowd? How do you make yourself or product/service different from others? A good friend , Dr. Carlton P. Byrd in Atlanta is a pastor of the fastest growing church in his denomination and he is under 40 years old! He stands out. Ordinary just won't do-there are just too many choices.  Stand out.