What is this Talking Photo Thing?

So, what is this talking photo thing anyway? Fotobabble participated in the recent VatorSplash event and in less than a minute per person, managed to capture photos and their voices from a number of vendors and attendees, most of which promoted their brand or shared a moment.

Fotobabble created a VatorSplash talking photo WALL where you can view and listen to a number of technology industry entrepreneurs. Below are just a few fotobabbles from the wall so you can get a quick idea of how it works.

Gagan from Udemy, this month's VatorSplash winner

Dan Smuckers from the infamous Smuckers family, promotes Smuckers jams

Jenn Lim promotes Hsieh's soon-to-be released book on Happiness

Voice + Photos: A Great Way to Add Engagement to Your Brand

At last night's VatorSplash event at San Francisco's Cafe du Nord, Fotobabble's Kamal Shah demos the talking photo iPhone app to the crew at Ask Your Target Market, showing them how easy it is not just to create a talking photo, but how to use it to build some awareness, buzz and customer engagement around your brand.

Social Media Hour: Brands, Marketing, Talking Photos, and Media

Fotobabble was on BlogTalkRadio's Social Media hour this week with Mercury News' Chris O'Brien and Kodak's Chief Marketing Officer Jeffrey Hayzlett.

Jeff talks about new his newly released book: The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing and Fotobabble's Kamal Shah talks about how brands can use talking photos to create compelling and engaging social media marketing campaigns.

Playing Around with Photos & Voice

Playing around with Fotobabble at the Technologizer event this past week (Web 2.0 Expo). Below, Patrick Houston, Renee Blodgett and Cathy Brooks. This was taken on an iPhone in a couple of seconds and voice was added in less than a minute.

The result? A talking photo, which can be embedded in a blog post (below), sent to friends via email, Twitter or Facebook. It's a fun way to express yourself and share that expression quickly. Adding emotion to a photo is a lot more interesting than a static photo with no energy at all.

Go Londoners - Add Voice to Those Static Photos of Yours.....

Client Fotobabble makes The Independent today. It's great that Brits now know how easy it is now to add voice to their static photos.

C'mon, Londoners......I am looking forward to seeing your creative fotobabbles. Create talking photos and get them up on the web, Facebook, Twitter and more and if you're proud of a particularly creative one, send us a note so we can highlight it.

Turn Your Static Photos Into Living, Talking Masterpieces

Turn Your Static Photos into Living, Talking Pasterpieces, says Netted. Give Fotobabble a try.

Joby's Gorillapods Have Some Fun Stories

Joby's CEO Forrest Baringer-Jones tells a group of 75+ lifestyle, food and technology bloggers at an event in San Francisco a number of compelling stories of how photographers around the world use Joby's Gorillapods, one of the coolest travel accessories I've come across in awhile.

The bloggers left with a "pod" in hand and while I can't deny I'm a happy camper, I did put in my request for purple ones. The entire team is fabulous and went above and beyond answering questions and their passion for their products were addictive.

Fotobabble's Talking Photos Admidst Major Consumer Brands at DNA Lounge

Below is Fotobabble's CEO Kamal Shah on the Swagapalooza stage demoing the various use cases of talking photos, which can be created within seconds directly from your web browser or from your iPhone -- and then quickly email to a friend, or upload to your Facebook or Twitter stream. In addition to using it for consumer use, Fotobabble can be used as a new social media marketing tool for brands.

Some of the tweeters I hung out with on-site included @baconhotsauce, @fogday, @lickmyspoon, @triplepundit, @maryvincent, @organicjar, @mfauscette, @Jeters, @cookingwithamy, @tomforemski, @scobelizer, @kshah, @fotobabble and the Swedes from Bambuser, who tout a streaming video product.

It's International Women's Day Girls

It's International Women's Day girls, so celebrate and honor all that we are: beautiful, elegant, intelligent, fun, adventurous, giving, healing, driven, creative, spiritual, connected, inspiring and thousands of other words that only each of us know, wear and own.

Eat some dark chocolate today. Dance as if no one is watching. Take a hike and pick a flower. Open a killer bottle of red wine or whatever it is that brings you into your zone.

This very beautiful slide show from Thomson Reuters below is inspiring and incredibly beautiful. Below are a few from the slide show.

Women stand behind clothes and bras used to block a road during a protest in Imphal, India

An actress from Dseu Renaissance de Pikine Theatre Group in Dakar, Senegal

Fat & Beautiful Beauty Pageant in Beersheba, Israel

Recruits from First Women Battalion of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)

Credit: Thomson Reuters. Stunning...thanks for the share.

Fotobabble Turns BILLIONS of Photos into TALKING Ones

There are tens of billions of static photos on the web, all without a voice or a sound. The Fotobabble guys think that's a crying shame.

Within seconds, you can voice-enable any photo -- on a PC, a Mac or your iPhone and instantaneously send out via Facebook, Twitter, email and more. MEET Fotobabble and be prepared to have some fun.

Client Fotobabble went live this morning which means you can try it out in a number of different situations. For example:

*How cool and fun would it be to have talking photo status updates within Twitter and Facebook?

*You can use Fotobabble to add life to photos you upload on Facebook – at home or while you’re on the road traveling.

*You can send talking greetings to Grandma from your kids at a birthday party she is missing, in real-time.

*Snap a picture and add your voice to tell your spouse about the perfect couch for the living room you just saw.

*Include your voice to a greeting card to give it personality and life.

*Send talking postcards or digital hellos from your iPhone taken on vacation.

*You could also become a citizen journalist and add commentary to a car accident you just witnessed.

*Add voice to an image taken in an emergency zone such as Haiti, to communicate the situation on the ground.

*You could add voice to images to provide instant scoop from a local news or sporting event.

*Imagine being on a safari and sending a photo to a friend - captioned with your voice - that truly captures the excitement you felt the moment you first saw a lion?

*Snap a picture while buying the perfect pair or shoes or handbag while in Paris and get out to friends around the world instantly.

Whether you want to add your voice to a photo stored on your computer, or on one just snapped with your iPhone, Fotobabble brings images to life that can be shared immediately with friends and family.

A quick data point: there are tens of billions of static photos on the web without a voice or sound. Three billion photos are uploaded to Facebook each month alone. Now, you can add some spice to them quickly and easily.

Free to use, it only takes seconds to create and share a “Fotobabble.” Simply upload a photo and record your voice directly through your computer’s microphone to create a talking photo. On your iPhone, after downloading the free Fotobabble app, select an existing photo or a snap a new one, hit record and you’re done. Whether using a computer or your iPhone, you can share talking photos via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or embed them into a blog or website.

And then, there's business uses and benefits. Businesses can create a talking photo to market or advertise a product, to more effectively engage with customers online, or to increase the number of visitors to their website, blog or Facebook page.

Since there is no software to download, Fotobabble supports PCs and Macs, as well as the iPhone, and makes it easy for people to create talking photos and to share them with a few close friends or with the whole world, in just a few button clicks.

Download the free iPhone App now and give it a whirl. They and I welcome your feedback and seeing your voice-enabled Fotobabbles all over the web. Let's collectively convert some of those billions of static photos into something fun, interesting, humorous, energizing, educational and of news value.