Courtney will be receiving all of the fantastic prizes from our sponsors: IZEA, PokenGirl, BenSpark.com, XShot, UPrinting.com, and of course, Raging Tech.

Also, there are two coupon codes still left: RTXSHOT for a discount on XShots, and RAGINGPOKEN for a discount on Pokens from PokenGirl.com.

“MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — In a move that is likely to be seen as an attack on yet another industry, Google on Wednesday introduced a free navigation system for mobile phones that offers turn-by-turn directions.”

The new version of Google Maps for mobile phones will be released with a new turn-by-turn directions feature that may put them in direct competition with companies like TomTom and Garmin, whose devices dominate the GPS gadget market for the time being. What will the new app cost? Absolutely nothing for the consumer, it will still be a free service like most of Google’s offerings. Is Google worried?

“After the briefing, Mr. Schmidt said he was not concerned that the new service would create new enemies for Google. ‘As long as you are on the side of consumers, you’ll be fine,’ he said.”

TomTom released an app for the iPhone recently that debuted at $100, according to the article. That’s just ridiculous – one hundred bucks for an iPhone app? That’s only going to reach a few customers – but I can see how they’d be afraid a cheap app would discourage iPhone owners from purchasing a regular TomTom device for their vehicle. Will the new Google Maps application make it to the App Store? I don’t see Apple easily letting it go by without serious scrutiny, but at the same time – my friend Nathan brought up a good point, that Apple has often released built-in software that killed off need for paid apps, so why not? Unless Apple signed a non-compete with TomTom, I can see Google Maps not only making it to the App Store but sending TomTom into obsolescence.

Would you pay $100 for a TomTom app for your iPhone? If you haven’t already, would you jailbreak your iPhone to get the new features?

Microsoft has released the latest version of the Windows Operating System, called simply “Windows 7″ – or as I like to call it “Windows Do-over.” 7 is everything that Vista was missing. I’ve been using it for a few months now, and I prefer it over Vista AND XP. The version I’ve been using is the beta of the Ultimate edition, but Microsoft sent me a copy of the finalized Windows 7 in what they call the “Signature Edition” – it has Steve Ballmer’s signature on it, not Gates.

The party is at 8pm tonight at my house – if you are in the Western North Carolina area, send me an email at rt@ragingtech.com and I’ll get you directions. It’s BYOB and bring a snack to share, also your host likes Diet Coke and Ruffles chips with ranch dip. Just FYI.

You’ve seen them – the Facebook / MySpace / Twitter’d self-portraits taken at arm’s length with a best-guess aiming to get you and one or two or even three other people all trying to crowd into the photo. What else are you going to do? Give your camera to a stranger? Leave your camera on a ledge with the self-timer so you can be in the photo too? Take turns? All of these options are completely ridculous.

Enter the XShot: Savior of the Hard-to-Get Photo

This video (it loops, so hit pause when you’re done) on ABC news explains exactly what the XShot is and how it works:

From XShot’s website (http://www.xshotpix.com/):

“You deserve to be in the picture too!

The XShot camera extender includes you in the pictures that you take! No more awkward photos from doing the single-arm stretch. With the XShot you can capture a full background instead of just faces. Because the XShot extends over 3 feet, you can have up to 10 people in the picture! The XShot closes to 9 inches for easy transport. Durable metal and only weighs 5 ounces!

The XShot is also great for making films and video diaries. Since the camera is pointing at you, you are always in the frame. Smile!”

Cool Ways People Use the XShot

Over on Flickr there’s an XShot photostream with albums of people using the XShot to get above-the-crowd shots at concerts and public gatherings, group portraits with themselves in the picture (and a lot of the background, too), and photos like this one below of the new XShot iPhone case (coming out soon!) attached to the XShot:

Follow @XShot on Twitter and enter my contest to win one of your very own (along with tons of other great “Blogger Costume” prizes)! Or if you can’t wait until after Midnight on Halloween, head on over to XShot’s site and use promo code RTXSHOT to save $5 off your very own XShot!

Per FTC regulations, I’m required to disclose that I already have my own XShot (and it’s FANTASTIC) that I won in another contest, but XShot was kind enough to donate an XShot camera extender to my contest to give away for promotion. All information above I am either in complete agreement with or is my own original opinion

You may have noticed a while back that I had a guest post from Chris Brogan about Trust Agents on my blog that said it was powered by Sponzai and said “Now just what in the hell is a Sponzai?” Don’t worry, I did too. Just a few weeks ago at IZEAFest, I was introduced to IZEA’s new property called Sponzai.

How Does It Work?

Basically, the system works a lot like other IZEA properties – you sign up, get paired with opportunities that match your blog’s topics that you set, and you approve or disapprove of any opportunities made for you. In this particular case, the sponsors who sign up with Sponzai are able to hire bloggers across the world to let them do guest posts on their blog.

Now your guest post can’t just be a huge load or a sales pitch, or bloggers will reject your offer. You have to offer some real meat, contribute to the conversation already going on. But what this does is open up for that blog’s readers to start a conversation with an advertiser or a business, and that’s where lasting relationships are made. Today, you can’t just put something in the reader’s face and expect them to buy it based on first look alone. In this economy, people need to trust the product and company they’re buying into or they’ll take their money elsewhere. Impulse buys still exist, but you can bet if you burn them they won’t be back.

Reach New Communities

Sponzai is a unique way to get your message out there in front of a community that believes in gurus and local heroes. Many top bloggers (and lesser known bloggers, too) are on Sponzai right now waiting to give you a chance to hook up with their audience. If you’re a blogger, Sponzai is a great opportunity to additionally monetize your blog. Plus, you never stop being the gatekeeper between the advertiser or sponsor and the community you influence. Nothing ever goes on your blog without your approval, and you are the one who puts up each individual guest post. It’s easy, there’s not a huge requirement to be successful – just sign up and check back often for opportunities.

Win Free Sponzai Credits

IZEA is also sponsoring my Halloween “Blogger Costume” contest by offering up $100 of Sponzai credit to the winner. If you find 20 blogs whose prices are set at $5, you can guest post across all of those audiences and drive traffic and sales to your web site or blog! If you’re a blogger, this is a great way to establish some credibility as an expert in your area. So be sure to enter the contest today – it’s pretty easy to do, and the more ways you enter the more likely you are to win!

Follow @Sponzai on Twitter and sign-up (as a blogger or sponsor, or both!) at http://www.sponzai.com/

Halloween is one of the most fun and crazy holidays of the entire year! I can’t believe how much planning goes into some people’s Halloween costumes. I have several friends who from the day after Halloween start planning their costume for the next year. The creativity, the ghoulishness of it all – and the celebration of the horrifying and the terrific all make Halloween a great time in the fall.

What if… you were to dress up for Halloween as a blogger? What kinds of things would you wear? What accessories would you bring with you that would let people know: Hey, I’m blogging this. ?

Halloween is just 15 days away, folks – and to celebrate, I’ve teamed up with sponsors who are friends to bloggers everywhere to bring you my ultimate Halloween “Blogger Costume” Giveaway contest! For the next 15 days, you’ll have lots of ways to enter to win this freaking fantastic “Blogger Costume” that I’ve been putting together since IZEAFest!

The Skinny

Your “Blogger Costume” is going to include:

• $100 worth of Sponzai sponsor credit towards guest posts courtesy of IZEA
• An XShot camera extender from XShot
• Two (2) Pokens courtesy of Poken Girl
• 500 high-quality business cards courtesy of UPrinting.com
• A BenSpark.com water bottle courtesy of Drew from BenSpark.com
• 10 hours of Technology Concierge Service and a copy of Crush It! by Gary V, courtesy of Raging Tech

How to Win:

• 10 Entries: Make a YouTube / Vimeo video and tell us in at least 30 seconds but no more than 2 minutes who your favorite blogger is and why you’d want to be them for Halloween! Be sure to comment here with the link and tag your video with the following keywords:
  ragingtech, xshot, izea, blogger costume, uprinting, poken, twitter-yourusernamehere
  
• 5 Entries Each: Write a blog post (approximately 250 words or more) about one of our sponsors with a link back to the sponsor’s web site, and a link to this contest so your readers have a chance to win, too! (Make sure we can contact you, leave a comment with the link)
• 3 Entries: Sign up on SocialSpark.com (an IZEA property) to meet advertisers and other bloggers in a social networking community. Friend me, Raging Tech for your contest entry to count. Also look for opportunities by some of our sponsors (like XShot) that can earn you extra money! After you’ve signed up, be sure to join the “I’m Not a Famous Blogger” Insiders crew!
• 3 Entries: Sign up for Sponsored Tweets (another IZEA property) using this link and start making money (ethically) with your Twitter account. All sponsored tweets are disclosed with a hashtag to indicate they are sponsored.

• 2 Entries: Leave a comment below about how you would use 500 business cards from UPrinting.com.

• 1 Entry: Tweet a photo of yourself holding up a sign with the name of your favorite blog or blogger (blog her?) and be sure to mention @XShot and @ragingtech in your tweet.
• 1 Entry: Leave a comment to let us know who you’re going to give the second Poken to, and why.

More ways to win will be announced in the next 15 days. Keep checking back and follow @ragingtech on Twitter for updates.

For the Win (Fine Print and such):

The winner of this freakin’ fantastic EPIC Halloween “Blogger Costume” giveaway will be selected on October 31st, Halloween night from an Excel spreadsheet I’m going to compile of all your entries, then I will use Random.org and select a winner. The winner will be announced by midnight here on Raging Tech in the form of a blog post. Some prizes will be delivered electronically, the rest by USPS to valid deliverable mailing addresses. Winner will have 24 hours (Midnight at the end of Sunday) to respond or a new winner will be selected. I am obligated by new FTC regulations to declare that PokenGirl gave me an extra Poken to keep and review, and UPrinting.com provided me with 250 business cards to hold this giveaway but I contributed my 250 to the contest. No other sponsors provided me personally with compensation for this giveaway.

Enter to WIN your ultimate “blogger costume” from Raging Tech before Midnight, October 31st 2009!

Today, I decided to upgrade my Toast 9 Titanium software to the latest release 9.0.5. I always dread these updates as you never know if your currently functioning application will still function after you’re done. But still, I forge ahead.

After downloading the latest update and unzipping, I received a message “There may be a problem with this disk image. Do you still want to open?” I pressed on.

When I dragged the update to the application folder, I received a message that I did not have access rights to make this change. Well, I do. There are no other users of my laptop. And now Toast Titanium was missing from the applications because it deleted the old one. The main reason I bought Toast was for the TiVoToGo function to transfer recordings from my TiVo to my mac.

After several unsuccessful attempts to fix this, I had to delete the entire Toast 9 Titanium folder in my applications and start again. I got my original Toast 9 install disc, and installed it. Then I downloaded the update again. I got the same error message “There may be a problem with this disk image. Do you still want to open?” Again, I said yes. But this time, it installed correctly. However, there was no TiVoToGo in the menu anymore. There may have been a few sighs and expletives at this point.

Finally, I went to the Roxio site and did a search on “TiVoToGo” and was directed to this page where I learned that since the Snow Leopard upgrade, TiVoToGo is no longer working as a part of Toast 9. Good news is they have a stand-alone solution. I provided my CD Key and was able to download this new TiVoToGo and now we are back up and running.

It really should be easier than this!

EDIT: Slideshow removed for bandwidth on my home page See the Flickr photo set link above to see my IZEAFest photos.

Ruff hosted us for some grilled food and beer. I made some burgers, and there were also various sausages and mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.

So far I really like the WordPress for Blackberry client. I can easily do comments, posts, pages, all from my phone. Its still in beta but at least its made by Automattic, the makers of WordPress. I’ll do a more thorough review later, but this is a pretty good first test.

Anyone else using WordPress for Blackberry? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

I want to thank IZEA and Ted Murphy and Ashley and Carri and the Insiders and everyone else who worked hard to put this whole event together. I know people paid money to attend, but we got so much more out of being there. Thanks to Connie Roberts for giving me a ticket and getting me in to this incredible event. Thanks to Drew Bennett for connecting me with Buck Rogers, and Buck for splitting a room with me at a hotel without knowing me first. Thanks to Laura Savageau, Ben, and Sean for keeping me company throughout the weekend when there were breaks and fun things to do. Thanks to the two hot girls from Ice Bar Orlando for dancing with me and spanking my butt. Awesome. And Thanks to Heather in BC for hooking me up with a lot of neat people like Michael from XShot.

The most important thing I wanted to say to all of you: Thank You for turning business relationships and partnerships into lasting, hopefully life-long friendships.

And one final Thank You to Mr. and Mrs. Chris Reece, AKA my Mom and her new husband, my bonus dad. I know if my dad were alive he would join with you in your support of me – and I am so thankful that you believe in me enough to help me go to IZEAFest this year. I love you guys.

More IZEAFest pictures and fun to come as I find time to catch up and organize everything I brought home with me, including Sea World photos! Oh, and I got sick on my 12 hour drive home. It took 12 hours because I stopped and slept at a Rest Area in Columbia for 2 hours. I’m home safe now, and still pretty stoked about where this blog is headed.

• Lots of people who are “internet famous” at least to me, are now my friends. And that’s cool. It makes them less intimidating to talk to, for sure.
• I did a lot of silly stuff both at the conference sessions and at the Ice Bar, and now people know who I am – which is weird to me.
• Women seem to like me. It’s great for my self-confidence. I’m not sure if these women were drunk or not, but I’ll take what I can get.
• I danced last night at the ice bar and now my legs are sooo sore.
• Today was great – lots of awesome sessions. Technosailor, Chris Brogan, and others spoke. I also got to stand up and mock Boogie Man (at TellingDaddy.com) by singing “Boogie Man” in front of everyone at the conference. I then asked my question about how I want to build meaningful relationships with advertisers, not just one-off engagements and received excellent feedback from advertisers.
• I forgot my ID tonight at Howl at the Moon and couldn’t get in. I went back to the hotel and it wasn’t there either. Apparently it fell out of my pocket in the car. Also, locked room keys in hotel. Got that fixed.
• Had fun dancing and singing at Howl-at-the-Moon. It’s a really, really fun place. We had VIP section preferences and I got lots of drink tickets from Ted Murphy. Since I was DDing, I gave them all away to make friends.
• I jumped into or took my own photos with me and just about everyone I met.

I’ve got an idea for an interesting contest that I will announce as soon as I can confirm all the sponsors. It’ll be a Halloween giveaway, so keep an eye out.

Buck called up Drew (from BenSpark.com) and we met him and his wife and a few others (including Dina from Market Leverage) at B.B. King’s for an outstanding meal. I had gumbo and bacon cheese fries, and a Crown and Diet Coke. Dina and Market Leverage were nice enough to pay for the entire meal, so thanks to them! It was really awesome to meet Drew and his wife and kid Eva. Dina is a babe – I kind of wished I’d entered the contest they had a while back to win a date with her.

A little later gathering for Howl-o-Scream, John Raser bought me a Guinness and we made introductions and ended up sitting together on the bus talking. His dad owns the Limu Corporation and John is a professional golfer. I also finally got to meet Heather in BC, Aaron Brazell (Technosailor), and briefly exchanged pleasantries with Chris Brogan. Murray Newlands – previously interviewed here – he’s a nut but a fun guy to sit around and listen to him talk.

Howl-o-scream was a blast. We got the bus driver for our bus to pull the bus over at a Seven-Eleven food mart for a beer run. Half the people went inside and grabbed booze of various varieties and got back on the bus. A lot of people had been drinking most of the afternoon. We ended up being the “party bus” – which was really fun but mostly just silly.

Howl-o-scream is themed around a vampire family, with a mistress as its head. I’m not sure about the entire story, but the ladies playing vampires and undead sorority girls were FANTASTIC. The horror houses were not all that scary – something about knowing you’re at a theme park and they’re actors who can’t touch you makes it ridiculous. But since the ladies were attractive, I certainly did not mind watching their performances. I got my picture taken with two of the undead sorority girls, I will post most of my photos collectively when I get home.

I had time total to ride two coasters – the Kumba and the Sheikra (spelling?) – both of which were floorless suspended coasters that sent you really high into the air and then gave you a hang, and then a sudden drop and a lot of flinging and fast turns and upside down loops and a few cool tunnels. I would have ridden them over and over again – those are my favorite kinds of coasters.

Through the park I mostly hung out with 3 other “posties” – and I’m sorry I don’t recall all of your names, but I will edit this later when we have name tags on this weekend. We went through the lines at the rides really quickly, and had a good time laughing it up between rides. I talked to one guy about my project management degree, and my blog, and we talked about how in this group we’re all pretty much self-taught – there’s really not a school we could have attended to learn the things that we know. I say hanging out with all these people while they’re drinking is the best way to learn the real secrets of the trade!

A long return bus ride, but still more booze to be had (collected, I didn’t drink any more but I put them in my hotel fridge for later). Finally got back to the hotel, met Buck and then drove back to our room at the Comfort Inn. Now I’m just relaxing and hoping I can fall asleep soon. It’s 2:00am, and from the buzz on Twitter, I’d say a lot of the other “posties” are having the same problem.

In the beginning of my 11 hour car trip, I started to drive as the light turned green, and a little old lady plowed her white car into the front of my beautiful black Dodge Caliber. I braked and swerved, but she still hit me. I seemed to get off lucky with a minor paint swap on my front bumper, while it appears her entire front bumper is about to come off.

I’m okay – she’s okay too. The cars were both drivable, I had a witness, so the sweet old lady was faulted and given a ticket. Most of the rest of my trip was uneventful, but my nerves were shot. My neck also got a little stiff, but I finally made it to the Orlando International Airport to pick up Buck Daddy, my roommate for IZEAFest. Got him and then we went to check in to the hotel. After checking in, we got some beer and headed back to the room.

So far it’s been fun talking to Buck about blogging and different people we know through Twitter and blogging and who all’s going to be here that we are keen on meeting in person. Tomorrow, I put together my surprise treat for IZEA Fest peeps that come and find me on Friday morning. Here’s a hint: they’re DELICIOUS. After that, nothing else planned until we go to Busch Gardens in Tampa tomorrow evening! My plan is to relax and not do much unless someone already here wants to hang out before Busch Gardens. Just DM me on Twitter (@ragingtech) if you wanna do something Thursday before Howl-o-Scream.

My college cohort Levi cued me in to a deal a company called Dreamhost was having for their birthday celebration, then their 7th year of operation. I signed up for their “Crazy Domain Insane” package for a year for just $7.77! The yearly plan was $119, but my first year was going to be just a little under 8 bucks. For that I got a huge amount of space to store my web site, unlimited domains and subdomains, and all the web site technologies I needed to do fun things with my blog and various other web sites. My friend Levi’s site was speedy and reliable and from the service description I got all the bells and whistles of PHP, CGI, MySQL, Ruby on Rails, cron jobs, and more. Plus they had a nifty one-click installer thing that let me install WordPress and more without a lot of annoying FTP and permissions work.

That was December 21st, 2004. 5 years later, and I’m still a happy Dreamhost customer. Now they offer one-click installs in both “easy mode” (they manage what plugins, themes, and etc. are available for you) and “advanced mode” (you’re more or less in control). You get easy integration of your domain with Google Apps for Your Domain services like G-mail, Calendar, and Docs. You can easily install a blog, shopping cart, family tree software, online courseware systems, forums / bulletin boards, and more without much effort at all. New accounts get UNLIMITED storage and UNLIMITED Bandwidth for playing! Plus Quicktime streaming services and your own Jabber server!

Even if you don’t need all of that, you don’t have to use it – the basic web hosting abilities of Dreamhost to do even simple sites can’t be beat for the price during their birthday sale – over 92% off their yearly hosting price – use Promo Code “777″ when signing up to get the special price of $9.24 for one whole year of web hosting! Be sure to mention dave.myers@ragingtech.com referred you when signing up, I’d appreciate it.

Birthday sale ends TOMORROW at midnight PST, so get on it before the offer is GONE for this year!