Top 100 San Francisco Twitter Users

Here's a list of top 100 Twitter users in San Francisco. We Blog the World made the list. Rock on!! Thanks to Evan Carmichael for putting together the list over on his blog.

	#1) @jack - Jack Dorsey
	#2) @biz - Biz Stone
	#3) @Veronica - Veronica Belmont
	#4) @mrdannyglover - Danny Glover
	#5) @Ustream - Ustream
	#6) @kevinrose - Kevin Rose
	#7) @GavinNewsom - Gavin Newsom
	#8) @goldman - Jason Goldman
	#9) @travelbargains - Travel Deals
	#10) @MythBusters - MythBusters Official
	#11) @dickc - dick costolo
	#12) @gadgetlab - Gadget Lab
	#13) @karaswisher - Kara Swisher
	#14) @wefollow - wefollow
	#15) @twitter_de - Twitter auf Deutsch
	#16) @wiredscience - WIRED Science
	#17) @donttrythis - Adam Savage
	#18) @GuyFieri - Guy Fieri
	#19) @Metallica - Metallica
	#20) @TwitCause - TwitCause
	#21) @mingyeow - Ming Yeow Ng
	#22) @RoomtoRead - Room to Read
	#23) @BrianWilson38 - Brian Wilson
	#24) @iheartquotes - i heart quotes
	#25) @Kiva - Kiva
	#26) @IGN - IGN
	#27) @klout - Klout
	#28) @grantimahara - Grant Imahara
	#29) @Twitvid - Twitvid
	#30) @TylerFlorence - Tyler Florence
	#31) @jess - Jessica Verrilli
	#32) @zynga - Zynga
	#33) @Kjer - Kjerstin Erickson
	#34) @womensprosoccer - Women's Pro Soccer
	#35) @davemorin - Dave Morin
	#36) @delbius - delbius
	#37) @Samasource - Samasource
	#38) @1bog - 1 Block Off the Grid
	#39) @dougw - Doug Williams
	#40) @jennadawn - jenna
	#41) @humphryslocombe - humphryslocombe
	#42) @aspirationtech - Aspiratio
	#43) @WeBlogtheWorld - Travel,Ideas,Culture
	#44) @rsarver - Ryan Sarver
	#45) @jkalucki - John Kalucki
	#46) @rk - Ryan King
	#47) @mrtall - Andy Lorek
	#48) @JoinTheFlock - Join The Flock
	#49) @abdur - Abdur Chowdhury
	#50) @bs - Britt Selvitell
	#51) @starwars - Star Wars
	#52) @stop - Doug Bowman
	#53) @anm - Alex McCauley
	#54) @Macworld - Macworld
	#55) @kevinthau - Kevin Thau
	#56) @kanendosei - Kanen Flowers
	#57) @Fresh - Davon Scooter Hill
	#58) @balletrusse - Maria Kochetkova
	#59) @todsacerdoti - Tod Sacerdoti
	#60) @CNETNews - CNET News
	#61) @abduzeedo - Abduzeedo
	#62) @briansolis - Brian Solis
	#63) @digg_updates - Digg_Updates
	#64) @TheKevinButler - Kevin Butler
	#65) @SocialMedia411 - Social Media News
	#66) @drkiki - Dr. Kiki Sanford
	#67) @pcworld - PCWorld
	#68) @Techmeme - Techmeme
	#69) @onlyinsf - Only in SF
	#70) @tyleroakley - Tyler Oakle
	#71) @djshadow - DJ Shadow
	#72) @github - GitHub
	#73) @californiabeat - California beat
	#74) @thirstyapp - Michael Abehsera
	#75) @willsmith - Will Smith
	#76) @Revision3 - Revision3
	#77) @summertomato - Darya Pino
	#78) @petecashmore - Pete Cashmore
	#79) @00joe - Joe Royall
	#80) @Hameed_Hemmat - Hameed Hemmat
	#81) @crystal - crystal
	#82) @Focus - Focus
	#83) @couponlovin - Coupon Lovin'
	#84) @dlprager - David Prager
	#85) @k - Kevin Cheng
	#86) @pud - Philip Kaplan
	#87) @fANNEtweetworld - Lifestyle
	#88) @mickhagen - Mick Hagen
	#89) @EcoGlam - EcoGlam
	#90) @Sfkeiko - Keiko Marutani
	#91) @Jvascellaro - Jessica Vascellaro
	#92) @sumaya - Sumaya Kazi
	#93) @patrickklepek - Patrick Klepek
	#94) @Maggie - Maggie Mason
	#95) @noah - noah glass
	#96) @TammyCamp - Tammy Camp
	#97) @narendra - Narendra Rocherolle
	#98) @c - Coley Chen
	#99) @emilychang - Emily Chang
	#100) @Trace_Cohen - Trace Cohen

 

 

Fotobabble for Websites, Facebook Timeline & New iPhone App Release

Fotobabble announced three new updates this week: Fotobabble for Websites, Fotobabble for Timeline and a new iPhone App release.   

Fotobabble for Websites is a new application that for the first time lets an organization run photo and audio-driven campaigns and promotions directly from any website. Through the visual impact of photos, the emotion of voice and the power of social media, brands and businesses can increase web traffic and audience engagement.

Everloop.com, the leading online social site for kids and tweens, selected Fotobabble for Websites to power its INSPIRE contest with international pop star Greyson Chance. Kids were invited to take a photo of what inspires them, add their voice, and enter to win an iPad and autographed posters.

Fotobabble for Timeline is the only Facebook application that engages fans with the visual impact of photos and emotion of voice. Easy to install, brand and customize, the app lets organizations launch creative Facebook marketing contests and campaigns.

Fotobabble features such as photo contests and voting; "like-gating" with Talking Photos; customized photo galleries; and more are now fully Timeline compatible. 

Creating Talking Photos with Fotobabble’s iPhone App allows you to make iPhone photos bolder and more beautiful with just a couple of simple clicks. Powerful effects, filters, cropping tools and more help you create Talking Photos that you’ll want to share with everyone. 

• Effects – Choose from ten gorgeous effects ranging from vivid color to washed-out retro.
• Filters – Enhance, adjust, and perfect your photos with one-click editing tools.
• Cropping and rotate tools – Flip, crop, and rotate your photos to position them however you want to.
• More – Fix red-eye, brighten or saturate your photos and more. 

When a Friend is Diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer...

Roughly three months ago, I learned that a dear friend was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. He's Chinese American, in his early fifties, fit, in great physical shape and doesn't smoke. If you track cancer stats, personal quantifiers are important. I keep asking myself, how can someone who doesn't smoke, has never smoked and has never been the victim of second-hand smoke be given such a potential death sentence?

I went to visit him for the first time this past week. He is local to the San Francisco Bay Area but I met him back East when I lived in Boston where he was teaching and our connection was pretty much immediate.

He was teaching a dance class, I was taking it and while the cultures I most gravitate to tend to be in Europe, Southern Africa and parts of South America, not necessarily in that order, his 'very Chinese' way of teaching made so much more sense to me that anyone else I had taken lessons from, which was well over a dozen at the time.

He was a very effective teacher though many people in the class would struggle at first to understand the less traditional analogies he'd throw into the mix. He would say things like: "imagine your partner is a grocery shopping cart that you're pushing up and down the aisles" OR, "think of a rock or a boulder you've had to hold 'up' when you were ten. How did you hold it up? With force and struggle or could you imagine another way?"

OR, if you've ever waited on tables, how did you hold a large tray to get the maximum connection so you knew the plates and glasses on top of it were secure?" OR, "imagine a chicken in your backyard who's fast and yet you need to build rapport with him, what would you do? Fast or slow and why?"

He just had that way. AND, he taught with such passion and humor. To dance with him was and is nothing less than pure joy. When you're done dancing with him, what's left in your immediate and long term memory bank is gratitude.

And now, at such a young age, he has lung cancer. He's not my partner, my son, or my father but like so many others he has touched along the way, he has brought an incredible amount of joy into my life. Everytime we get together, I learn something from him.

Like me, he's an intuitive, so he reads people quickly although sometimes people can tell he's reading them. I love knowing that someone is taking the time to figure my shit out on the fly -- it means they're taking the time and that you're interesting enough to figure out -- yet, it can make some people uncomfortable.

Ever notice that sometimes when you're most uncomfortable with a situation or person, you might be on the brink of learning something deeper about yourself or the world around you?

Don't read this post as a tribute to someone who is on his way out, but one that is throwing out a strong intention and statement that says, regardless of what labels are put on us, by ourselves or by others, we have the option to change them....even when we've been given a severe warning about our health and well being.

If there's anyone who can beat Stage 4, it's my friend. It doesn't mean that the odds are not against him, but what it does mean is that intention and attitude matters, from others around him and from himself, which he thankfully seems to have. He spoke of gratitude and the fact that he doesn't expect the universe to grant him a free ticket if he doesn't step up to the plate and do the work. In other words, he's doing everything that he can in his power to increase his odds of survival, of bouncing back, and becoming strong enough again to participate in the world again in a more present and vibrant way than ever before.

A double Scorpio, he thinks about the world in a different way.  As a friend assessed fairly quickly, "you just look at people carefully, spend a lot of time and analyze them and then quietly think, "that's an interesting unusual way of being a human being." I had to laugh because there was so much truth to it. He laughed too and said, "can I use that?"

When we lived back east, I remember that he slept on my couch for nearly a week after showing up a house party and helping with the dishes. We were both going through relationship break-ups at the time and while we were both 15 pounds lighter because of it, he reminded me every day that the universe has a plan, not to fight it, but to embrace it and when we come out on the other side, we'll be ten times stronger and smarter than we were before.

Years later, he worked at Esalen, a holistic retreat center on the west coast, so I visited him there for a week. Everyone walked around naked and ate nothing but tofu and broccoli. Classes were freeform, hot tubs at night were overflowing with people and conversation and the stars spoke their peace in the wee hours of the morning while the moon shone bright.  

Because he had a roommate and space was tight, we slept on a thin mat outside under the stars every night. While we gazed up at the stars, we shared our life intentions and our pains and fears, and whenever something didn't feel aligned even if it was slight, he threw it back to me letting me know where it was 'off.'

By aligned, I'm referring to a decision we make in our lives that isn't aligned with who we truly are. It's in this place we get into trouble, both in our personal and professional lives.

Working with clients, I often see a company start to go south when I sense a misalignment with the CEO or senior executive, and then, it's only a matter of time before a major pivot needs to happen, they run out of money or have a dramatic management change.

There in the dark night with the mystical light from the moon, I probably asked him, "what do you mean by that?" a hundred times, digging deeper into each explanation until the 'meaning' was pure, with all the onions peeled back. In that place, the truth was unveiled.

During our recent visit, he talked about the first thing that went through his mind when the doctors told him he had Stage 4 Lung Cancer. They said they were shocked at how composed he was and he laughed when he told us the story saying that they didn't see the flying glass hit the walls when they left the room. Of course that didn't happen; his positive outlook is incredible as he talked about living in a reality world versus a fantasy one and how important it is when you do hear bad news, since it forces you to do everything in your power with all the facts at hand, to turn things around. In other words, there's no point hiding behind the truth. Isn't that the case for everything we do in our lives?

He said, "I knew I needed to get my life together, figure out a plan even though I had no idea where to start." After our 3+ hour visit, we were standing by the car and he said, "a close friend emailed my brother and told him to find a good Hospice unit quickly to make him comfortable for the rest of his short life." He said he felt offended (the word he used) but then later realized it wasn't that she wanted him to die but it was the best way she knew how to deal with her own internal pain.  

Most of us have a hard time with sickness and death. You hear a friend has stage 4 cancer and then what?  The first thing is often denial. My immediate thought when I heard the news was #1) NO, this can't be true. This can't possibly be true. I don't want this to be true. How can it be true? Why is it true? It's not fair that its true. WTF that its true? Then, #2) who do I know in my circles with the most knowledge in this area who can increase his likelihood of survival? What do I need to do to mobilize things?  

He didn't tell anyone the news for two days although he realized he needed to act quickly. He also knew that whatever he did in life moving forward, he couldn't harm a thing or do a wrongful thing. He used very granular examples: "I can't even harm a beetle, fly or spider." It was an odd analogy but I get it. How could you not be more present than you've ever been in your life when you're cherishing every moment of every day?

He spends his days cutting up recycled paper and getting creative with bottles that have been thrown away. Collages and origami. He also slaps his body to wake it up and move the chi, anything and everything that has become stagnant. Behind the knees, between the forearm and shoulder where the arm bends, the back of the feet, the bottom of feet and the top of feet, the top of the hand, then the legs and upper arms.

He never said woe is me during our visit. He laughed, was grateful and is taking an active approach to his illness. I left feeling sad knowing that he's in this place and going through so much pain, yet I also left feeling inspired, knowing that he feels that whatever happens, there's a reason for it, a reason beyond what he can see today. He has hope and talks about sleeping on my couch again and hanging out in a garden or by the ocean in a future time, where we explore the sun, the moon, the solar system and our intentions all at the same time.

And as I made my way home, tears coming down my face, I also smiled thinking about all the joy he continues to bring to the world. And, every day since seeing him, I send intentions out to the universe that those days will be longer than the number of days we think there "should be" with a Stage 4 label. Intention can't cure a disease, but it can help healing and bring a sense of peace as someone makes their way towards recovery.

So, when a friend gets a diagnosis and the news reaches your ears, go to a place of hope, not fear and despair, go to a place of love and gratitude not hate and bitterness, go to a place of intention and abundance, not deprivation and loss, for it is in those unspoken walls of intention and love that our friends stand the best possible chance.

Photo Credits: candle: Alternate Economy blog, Stars at night from Babblefrommyhead Blog, Beam of light from Global Intelligencer Blog, 

Learning About the Magic of Lighting with Rick Friedman

If you have never done a photo workshop, and are remotely interested in photography, then you should figure out what you want or need to learn and set aside some time for a few workshops and classes. Why do one if you're not a pro or planning to be one?

Easy...workshops give you access to the best photographers in the world (aka the instructors) and people who are the most passionate about photography you'll likely run across (aka the attendees).

Rick Friedman is a well known photographer based in Boston who I met and worked with about 15 years ago. Although I've known of and respected his work for a long time, I've never done one of his workshops and the timing couldn't have been better. Rick's magic sauce? Among other things, lighting.

Lighting isn't an easy thing to master. If anything, I find the thought of dealing with flash more stressful than actually dealing with it. While mastering the art of lighting takes time and understanding it can be complex, once you dive in, you realize that you can get up to speed fairly quickly with the basics and Rick is an excellent instructor to get you there.

He did a series of workshops on the west coast recently: San Francisco, Los Angeles and the San Diego area. 

While Rick is primarily a Nikon shooter, we had plenty of equipment and toys that worked on both Nikons and Canons and as most people know, I'm a huge Canon fan and am never far from my trusty Canon 7D.

His workshops are designed for wedding photographers, portrait photographers, photojournalists and serious amateurs who want to improve their knowledge of lighting. He started with a single light and a single piece of advice: "Look for the element you can't control and set your exposure for that unknown element," which btw, is often the sky. Read the ambian light first and proceed from there.

The strobe gets set to TTL because if you shoot on shutter priority, then you'll always be shooting wide open. You want to use a strobe to fill in the shadows on someone's face even if there's a lot of light. You can see this again and again with so many failed portrait shots we've all done in our lives.

We then moved onto Infrared remote controls which apparently don't work as well in bright sunlight and pocket wizards, which gives you a lot more flexibility. If money isn't an issue, go for the Pocket Wizards TT5s, because they can be used as both a transmitter and a receiver. (here's the one for Canon and here's the one for Nikon).   

We tested out different light modifiers, using grip equipment, adding colors to images using Rogue's photographic gels and something they also make called a Rogue Grid Set. Frankly, next to the Rogue Flashbenders (they come in small and large sizes), I thought the Grid set was the coolest thing I used all day. 

The Grid set also reduces light or rather diffuses it. It features stacking honeycomb grids that provide 16 degree, 25 degree, and 45 degree spot lighting control.

This means that photographers can choose among three different size grid spots using this small, lightweight system. Love love love it.

Since I didn't have much time with the product during the seminar, what I'm most eager to try in more depth is the use of the color gels inside the grid and testing them out in both indoor and outdoor settings (notice the purple one inside the grid in the photo -- more after I have had a chance to try it out).

Remember that I travel a lot, so bags need to get packed and moved frequently from place to place, so it's important for me that my equipment is flexible, small and lightweight. It also has to solve a problem I have often when I shoot.

Bringing along a flash isn't a high priority at the best of times, since I often end up with additional glare, shiny foreheads and harsh effects on people's faces. Flashbenders diffuse the harshness in a similar way that photo softboxes do however they're smaller in size and faster to set up. (this is key for me). And, while I may have the time to set up a reflector (California Sunbounce model is a decent one), more often than not, I won't have time to fuss. That said, I do have a reflector (the Calumet model), since they're useful to have on hand for a studio shoot and when you have more time.

If you have the space, the money and the time to fuss, then you'd probably want a Dynalite in your collection, but know that it takes a little training to use them effectively and they're over $1K to purchase. If you're going to do more studio shooting on a regular basis however, then I'd encourage you to check them out. (we got some pretty fabulous results using one in the Calumet studio, which is where the workshop was held).

Of course if you're Rick, you're used to carrying things around and sometimes in this business, a reflector just becomes a natural extension of you from time-to-time.

Below, we are practicing shooting on the set we created for testing out various lighting methods.

And seeing different effects using beauty dishes, Calumet Softboxes versus the California Sunbounce model, versus something as simple and minor as adding some black cinefoil into the process. 

Matte Black Cinefoil is essentially nothing more than a matte black aluminum material that virtually soaks up light. It is ideal for masking light leaks and/or eliminating unwanted reflections and can also be molded to form barndoors, flags and other configurations.  

You can of course overdue it with the colored gels but a girl has gotta play until she figures out exactly what kind of effect she ultimately wants to end up with...

Other small photo toys that can assist in the process are the ExpoImaging ExpoDisc which helps analyze color, and the X-Rite Color Checker Passport.

I love Sepia, antique black and white and every variation in between, but if you're going to go dreamy and soft, you may as well add a tint of color.

Photo walk anyone? Our days were perfect.

Below is our team photo, the one we created on the fly after a little imagination and modification. Since we were in San Francisco's Mission district, adding a l'il graffiti backdrop seemed like the right thing to do which means that we required a lot less time to get the lighting perfect than the "Vermont" class who chose the inside of a New England barn for their shot.

If it doesn't look like we're having fun, then look again!

Above group shot by Rick Friedman. For more info on his workshops, check out his site and Facebook page.