Last week I traveled to the Midwest to Champaign, Illinois to speak to a group of entrepreneurs about building brands and social media as covered by the Champaign News Gazette and to host another TECH cocktail. The event was sponsored by Wolfram Research which is based in Champaign and has been creating products like Mathematica for over 20 years.

Wolfram Research recently received quite a bit of buzz on TechCrunch, GigaOm Network, ReadWriteWeb and Mashable among others for the launch of the consumer facing product called Wolfram Alpha. Wolfram Alpha is a the computational research engine that helps to find anwsers to questions that don't exist on the Web.

I got a chance to visit with Co-founder, scientist and author, Theodore Gray and discussed the lastest from Wolfram Research. He was a joy to talk to as his office was filled with a number unique items which all had an interesting scientific story behind them. Theodore also created periodictable.com and authored the book Mad Science - Experiments You Can Do At Home But Probably Shouldn't. Check out the video interview with Theodore Gray (above). It is episode 82 on the SOMEWHAT FRANK Video Adventures Podcast which is available on iTunes.

Two weeks ago I was able to take part in the 140 Conference hosted by Jeff Pulver in New York City. I was pleased to be among the characters at the event which brought together Twitter users from a number of different walks of life and geographic locations. While there were a number of highlights at the event I think my biggest takeaways were as follows:

• Twitter is about love as people share their thoughts and assemble an army of supporters online and off
• Twitter is the ultimate social recommendation feed reader and start page for many
• Twitter's text messaging capabilities make it a powerful tool for reporting and organizing groups while on the go - bypassing regular text messaging protocols
• Twitter is a connector, touching so many people in all walks of life

A number of my friends, followers and colleagues spoke at the event and while there are too many to mention in one article without vomiting the entire conference schedule. I thought I would share a few tidbits, photos and videos from the two day Twitter love fest. If you missed the event you can watch it streamed live on June 29th (Day 1) and June 30th (Day 2) starting at 11AM EST. The re-broadcast can be watched over at: http://140conf.com/watchit

I have to say I really enjoyed the Twitter and Journalism panel which was moderated by Robert Scoble and included Ann Curry and Ryan Osborn from the Today Show who won over a number of fans at the event while CNN's Rick Sanchez appeared to really offend people in person.

Twitter & Journalism Panel Discussion.

Ann Curry explains why Twitter works for Journalism.

Ann Curry takes a photo while Ryan Osborn from the Today Show looks on.

I got pulled into a private training session (thank you Chris Brogan!) as some well known Twitter users taught Sports Illustrated supermodel Melissa Haro how to use Twitter. 

This is how she put it (above).

Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, Melissa Haro learns all the various aspects of Twitter.

The Official 140conf "Melissa Haro Twitter Training Team" (photo above taken with Jen Consalvo's camera).

There are a number of nonprofit and social good campaigns that are leveraging Twitter from Twestival to #IBlameDrewsCancer. Twitter is a powerful tool for raising money. Twestival was an event created by Amanda Rose and thanks to Twitter and was held in over 200 cities which raised money for Charity Water. I Blame Drew's Cancer is Twitter driven cancer fundraising effort started by Twitter user Drew Olanoff who was just diagnosed with cancer. So if you are feeling angry or upset about something just tweet out #IBlameDrewsCancer and share whatever it is that is on your mind. For every tweet Drew has made it his mission to find a charitable dollar to match.

Drew Olanoff speaks about #IBlameDrewsCancer.

Gary Vaynerchuk spoke about how Twitter and other tools enable him to care more from anywhere and used the term "scalable caring." Gary even shared that he tweets out his AIM screen name to get a couple hundred fans to IM with him real-time. He likes the rush of real-time conversations with real people. Later that day, I got to show Gary just how much I cared by accompanying my friend Nate Westheimer to the taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, in which Gary shared his wine expertise with Jimmy.

Gary Vaynerchuk speaks at 140conf.

Scott Porad of I CAN HAS CHEEZEBURGER spoke about leveraging Twitter for social discovery. He highlighted Follow Fridays which was created to share your favorite Twitter users and expose them to others, by my friend Micah Baldwin. Twitter is open so people can find new friends and therefore offers a sea of discovery opportunities.

Diane Birch, a musician who has been leveraging Twitter to grow her fan base and share her music, offered some entertainment performing What is Love and you can watch one of her videos (below).

Also Sharon Glassman entertained us all with the geek nerd dork song, showing she is pretty talented on the fiddle.

Wyclef Jean and Chris Sacca entertained us all with their tales of Twitter use and how it is changing the way music is distributed and marketed.

Check out the discussion between Wyclef Jean and Chris Sacca on the video (below).

Congratulations to Jeff Pulver on pulling together the 140conf and I look forward to more good things to come as it continues to expand to other cities connecting a number of different Twitter groups online.

After making my second stop to the Apple Store in two days, I finally got my hands on an iPhone 3GS. My first attempt was unsuccessful because the AT&T network was down. So when I returned the next day, I decided to go with the white 32GB version since they were out of the black. I figured I could use the extra 16GB over my last iPhone 3G since I would most likely be taking advantage of the iPhone 3GS's video capabilities.

In order to purchase the iPhone 3GS I had to get yet another AT&T contract. This annoys me. The FCC needs to step in to stop the monopoly that Apple and AT&T have created by forcing all iPhone customers into an AT&T contract just to purchase a new iPhone. Consumers have no choice as they cannot fight of the beautiful songs of the Muses that play while starting into the touchscreen interface for a shiny new iPhone 3GS. Ok, I will get off my soapbox now, but I really think the FCC needs to do something.

Upon syncing up my new  iPhone, I was excited to test iPhone 3GS video camera so I recorded and edited a quick video using the 3GS. I think Flip should probably be a little concerned about the iPhone's video camera taking some of its piece of the mobile video camera pie, though there are still lots of people that will not have the 3GS. The Flip and other similar cameras also offer HD quality video which the iPhone does not so there is still value in having both but the gap between them is shrinking.

Aside from the new video camera, the iPhone 3GS also has a better still photo camera with auto focus and balance. So I performed a little photo test by taking a similar photo but using the touchscreen to focus on a different area.

Camera Test #1: In the first photo (below) I focused on the red ball in the retro Somewhat Frank logo sticker. Notice it is in focus and the brown wood table is in the background.

Camera Test #2: In the second photo (below) I focused on the brown wooden table under the retro Somewhat Frank sticker and you will notice that the iPhone 3GS blurs the rest of the photo but that part of the table is in focus, and you can see the wood grains.

So far I am extremely impressed with the new iPhone 3GS, especially the video camera and its ease of use. Also the still photo camera is pretty amazing as it offers touch screen auto focus and exposure. The compass is interesting too but I have to say, I don't recall the last time I carried a compass but hey if I am ever stranded at sea or lost, it could come in handy. I still have to play around with the software related feature upgrades but like the spotlight search a lot as it makes email searchable which is clutch when you get as much email as I do. Overall, I am very pleased with the new iPhone 3GS but would like to hear from you. What do you think about the iPhone 3GS?

How important is influence on the Web? My friend Micah Baldwin recently called Influence the New Hotness. I agree, Influence is hot and it is nothing new though the currency has changed. Just a few years back the most important currency was incoming links to your website, now it is real-time re-tweets via Twitter or "likes" on Facebook's news feed. The social tools today are enabling people to influence the Web via real-time communications.

With Twitter being a hot tool that is empowering people to influence others, I was curious to see just how influential I am on Twitter. Thanks to Filtrbox you can now answer that very question by simply entering your Twitter username and clicking submit. Filtrbox just launched the Twitter Influence Checker today and I got chance to give it a try. It turns out my Twitter account @frankgruber has a Twitter Influence score of 8 out for 10.

Filtrbox scores Twitter users on a 1-10 scale (10 being the highest) based on data available in the user's profile. They have created a simple algorithm that takes into account the number of friends, followers, posts and Twitter signup date. I assume there is probably some other secret sauce that also weighs in on the score. Filtrbox's Twitter influence scoring is also available via an API.

Filtrbox, a TechStars startup based in Boulder, Colorado, also offers a solid monitoring toolset that I reviewed previously as they demoed at TECH cocktail Boulder 1.

Check out your Twitter influence here.

Apple will soon be launching of the iPhone 3.0 operating system and part of the new system is a push alert notification feature as highlighted at WWDC 2009 this week. Push Notification is the system developed by Apple to remedy the fact that the iPhone won’t allow third party applications to run in the background due to security, battery life and performance concerns. Push notifications are will enable certain tasks (like IMs) that come to your phone even when that application isn’t running.

TechCrunch recently tested Push Notifications using AIM the new 3.0 iPhone software. Watch the video above to see Push Notification in action with AIM but please note the video makes it seem like there may be a delay between an IM sent and received, but it’s basically instantaneous.

Last week, thanks to the Intel Insider program, I journeyed to Taipei, Taiwan to attend Computex Taipei in my search for the perfect mobile Internet device or MID. In doing so I met up with Steve "Chippy" Paine from MID Moves and UMPC Portal and we explored the Intel mobility display at Computex. We look at a handful of mobile Internet devices all with the Intel Atom processor inside which included the Viliv S7, S5 and X70 EX, Clarion Mind, LLUON Mobbit, UMID mBook and Panasonic Toughbooks to determine which one we like the best.

My favorite MID that we highlight is probably the Viliv S7 (shown here) but I also like the UMID mBook and would love to do a head-to-head hands on comparison of just those two. But until then check out episode 80 on SOMEWHAT FRANK as we explore the mobile Internet devices of Computex Taipei 2009 (video above) and let me know which device you like the best.

I did not attend Apple's WWDC 2009 in person but thanks to the Web, I still could follow along as we all look for the new iPhone G3S, SDK 3.0, Macbook Pro and more. This is what I learned from following the chatter online:

Computers

• Launched 3 new Macbook Pro models at 13, 15 and 17 inches
• All have built in SD Cards
• The 13 inch version was formerly the Macbook
• Lowered the prices on the Macbook Air

OS X

• Finder was rewritten in Cocoa programming language
• Faster installs by 45%

Safari

• Safari 4 will ship today with faster Javascript than IE 8
• Separated out plugins so that the entire browser won't crash

Quicktime

• Launched Quicktime X with a new logo to boot
• Offers http streaming
• New user interface
• Offers ability to trim and share videos directly within QuickTime to iTunes, MobileMe or YouTube

Dock Expose

• If you click and hold any application icon on your dock it will just expose the windows associated with that particular program
• Drag and drop support allows you to drag a file to the a docked icon and all of your windows will line up, allowing you to drag the file directly to the right one

iPhone OS

• 1,000,000 SDK downloaded. 50,000 apps in store. 40,000,000 iPhones & iPod touches sold already
  
• New OS 3.0 available today with 100 new features on June 17th to all iPhone users for free and for $9.95 to iPod Touch users
  
• New OS supports cut, copy, paste, MMS support, landscape mode in all Apple applications
• Support for sending Photos, contacts, audio files, etc over the cell network
• MMS Support won't be available by AT&T till later this summer
• Spotlight: enables search across entire phone, contacts, apps and details within apps, etc.
• Tethering allowing users to share the Internet connection with with Mac/PC, USB or Bluetooth
• Parental controls introduced
• iTunes: Rent and purchase movies right from the phone!
• iTunesU also now available on the iPhone
• Safari Mobile: Performance upgrades, HTTP streaming audio/video, Autofill, HTML 5 support
• Find My iPhone: MobileMe Service launched that allows users to locate iPhone on a map then send wipe command to delete all items on the phone remotely
• In App Purchases: enables the purchase of content within applications
  
• Real-time data straight out of iPhone (i.e. medical alerts)
• Turn-by-turn navigation via TomTom GPS app on the iPhone
• Textbooks on the iPhone via Iceberg app on the iPhone
• ZipCar on the iPhone allows users to book and even unlock a car with the iPhone

iPhone 3GS

• iPhone 3Gs is for SPEED
• Photo Camera - 3.2 Megapixel auto focus - Has a new autofocus, tap to focus, autobalance, low light sensitivity, auto macro
• Video Camera - 30 frames per second with auto focus, exposure control, and more
• Videos are kept in your photo library and you EDIT videos on the phone!
• Videos can be auto share to iTunes, MobileMe and YouTube
• Voice control - make calls & play songs, playlists and play similar songs with the sound of your voice
• Digital Compass
• Accessibility settings - voice over, zoom in, invert colors and mono audio
• Nike Plus Support 
• Hardware encryption for business
• Better battery life
• Most environmentally friendly iPhone
• Priced for $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB in black and white
• Available June 19th

iPhone 3G

• Available now for $99

I watched live part of the WWDC UStream video streamed from an iPhone.

The issue of online identity has been an age old issue online as some users leverage the Web to manage multiple personas and online identities. Though there are initiatives like OpenID and OAuth that look to help remedy the situation, it still is somewhat difficult to verify true online identity. This opens the door to online identity impersonation. In many cases, someone creates a fake account to playfully mock another person which could be taken as the ultimate form of flattery. But in other cases the mocking can turn downright insulting. This seems to be the case with the fake Twitter account of St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa. He has also experienced a fake account of his own and he is not taking it lightly as he is suing Twitter over it. According to TechCrunch the suit was filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco seeking “unspecified damages.”

According to ESPN the following Tweet was made from a fake Tony La Russa account on April 19, 2009:

This is a pretty distasteful tweet as it references two St. Louis pitchers that tragically passed away (Darryl Kile in 2002 & Josh Hancock in 2007). Twitter reacted by taken down the fake account.

This is the second Twitter lawsuit (the first I recall was the Courtney Love Defamation Suit), but it could cause an avalanche of attention and potential copycat lawsuits. Online user generated content businesses should be ready to address such an issue as I am sure we have not seen the last of it.

Since fake accounts can be so destructive, I am wondering what Twitter or other sites should do to address things like this. I feel it is time for people to be real and even switched my twitter name to my real name as social Web has transformed into place of true identity. Should sites allow users to have multiple accounts unlinked to a true identity? By doing so this could cut down the number of fake accounts as they would need to be connected to a real identity thus adding a level of transparency. Is Twitter at fault here or should they put the blame on the user? 

Photo above by toadstool ring on Flickr

This morning I learned about a pretty slick new Linux open source project called Moblin. Moblin has been around for a couple of years now but the new 2.0 version is now in beta and today at Computex Taipei there was an executive summit (video below) which helped me wrap my head around the scope and direction of the project. Founded by Intel in July 2007, Moblin started as a project looking to enable a new class of devices based on the Intel Atom processor. With the 2.0 version, Intel has handed the keys over to the Linux Foundation to drive this project to the next level as an open source platform of mobile computing.

Moblin 2.0 offers an open platform that developers can build on and see instant gratification by plugging into the Moblin myzone dashboard. The platform and dashboard reminds me of the iPhone application platform but for slightly larger more powerful devices. The myzone dashboard that aggregator a bunch of widgets of information into a startpage experience that is anchored by a tool bar across the top. The dashboard includes social features by sharing a lifestream are which pulls in information from sites like Twitter, Last.fm and Flickr. It also offers a status message system that is said to push updates out to your various social sites that revolve around status updates. Moblin also positions your videos, photos, music and calendar on your startpage.

Moblin enables mobile internet devices to offer an open source platform that is tailored to the mobile experience rather than forcing a current industry solution onto a device with a smaller screen size. Why is this significant? It is important because Moblin creates an easy way for device makers to offer a robust, easy to use and mobile focused operating system so that they can focus on making devices. Many device makers in the mobile internet space currently either leverage existing software or create their own new operating system.

Mobile device critics that I talked to believe that Moblin is a great start but still needs some work to improve the overall user experience to make it a full operating systems. I even overheard someone say it looks like a pile of apps landing no where but overall the core is very good. Moblin is very young so I expect with this open source effort the critics will be silenced with time.

With the launch of Moblin 2.0, we are going to see more media phones, Voice-enabled internet and media-focused devices, like the Inventec MediaPhone with the Intel Atom processor inside shown in the photo taken by MID Moves (below).

Is the media phone too big to carry around as your only mobile phone? Or will people carry around a two devices?

Today, l’m traveling to Computex Taipei, the world’s largest computer exhibition in Asia and second largest in the world just behind CeBit in Germany. I’m traveling 18 hours to Taipei from Washington, D.C. stopping just once in Tokyo, Japan before heading on to the island of Taiwan as part of the Intel Insider program (a brand ambassador program) that I have been a part of for a year now. I will be attending a number of the Intel events in Taipei as well as meeting the Asia Pacific Intel representatives as I look to assist them as they get their own version of the Intel Insiders program started in Asia. I am honored to be attending such an important global industry event, as it offers a super opportunity to see lots of new shiny gadgets and devices. It also affords me an opportunity to dust off my somewhat virgin passport, getting some International ink along with cultural growth.

Since I have a lot of time in transit, I decided to use some of it reviewing two new Mobile Internet Devices, or MIDs, which I recently received: the Yukyung Viliv S5 and the BenQ S6. In this article I will share my perspectives on the two mobile Internet devices.

First, I gave the Yukyung Viliv S5 a try with its compact touch screen design and Intel Atom processor inside. It runs Windows XP, which surprised me as it booted up, as it looks just like a mini version of any XP PC experience. The device offers two USB port types and what appears to be some sort of memory drive that looked foreign to me. Since the device does not have an external keyboard I was curious to see how it handled data entry. This MID uses a horizontal touch screen keyboard that offers a vibration response to every key entry.  It also has a stylus and thumb mouse for more complex activities and function specific buttons for very basic ones. The keyboard was interesting as I used Microsoft Office to type up a few points about the device (which I incorporated into this paragraph). The keyboard covers half of your activity window and is semi-transparent which can cause some interesting overlapping issues, which then calls for the use of a stylus to realign the page by paging up and down. I was happy to see that the keyboard recognizes my fingernails, which cannot be said about the current Apple iPhone keyboard. The device connects to Wi-Fi and also offers 3G functionality but I am unsure exactly how the data plans for the device are structured. It does not appear to offer a built-in camera or web-cam which I think is something that it overlooked and is needed. Overall, I was impressed with the device since it offered the smallest PC functionality I have ever seen. Since the Viliv S5 is running Windows XP, a system that I am very familiar with, it improved my overall comfort level and the learning curve for mastering the device.

Second, I fired up the BenQ S6 Mobile Internet Device as it offers a similar design and form factor to that of the Viliv S5. The first thing I noticed with the BenQ S6 was that it does not run an operating system that I was familiar with. I thought the lack of a familiar OS might be to its disadvantage but instead found the operating system to be rather intuitive, with a quick learning curve as it uses simple images to distinguish the various activity options.

Since it is not running Windows XP, the BenQ S6 does not offer Microsoft Word. So to create a document I used RedFlag6, which had all the basic word processing functions and allows you to save files as Word documents. The BenQ only offered a USB port and not the traditional USB 2.0 port we are all familiar with so I saw that to be a strike against it but it does offer a MicroSD card which is standard in many mainstream mobile devices. The video and picture displaying components drew my attention and I found the photo slide show application to be very slick. For video playback, the device leveraged a Real Networks player, which is not my choice but still gets the job done. The BenQ offers a touch screen just like the Viliv but it seemed to be more responsive and the non-transparent keyboard enabled me to type more quickly. The device also offers both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity but once again I am unsure exactly how the data plans for the device are structured. I did not notice a video web-cam on the device, which could be a nice feature. Overall, I was also impressed with the BenQ S6 as I liked its keyboard and easy operating system. My only knock would have to be the lack of USB A connection port and lack of actual programs that can be run on a traditional PC, but I feel like BenQ is accounting for solutions to the basic needs of a mainstream audience very well.

I could not figure out how to do screen shot capture on either of the devices or I would have included more clear screen shots of the keyboards and other interesting features.

In comparing the two Mobile Internet Devices, the Yukyung Viliv S5 and the BenQ S6, I found pros and cons for both and would be happy to further address any specific questions you might have in the comments section of this article, below. If I had to pick a winner right now it would be very tough since they are both really similar but I think I am leaning towards the Viliv S5 since it offers me more options to do the same PC functions that I can do today on a normal PC with a standard USB port, Wi-Fi and 3G to boot. Though I did find the BenQ S6 to be quite enticing with it's easy to use interface which was built for a mobile device and wasn't forcing Windows XP native functions into a mobile device like the Viliv. So if you are not tied to Microsoft products then BenQ might be your best bet.

I just got back from an unbelievable experience in the Washington, D.C. technology scene as Washingtonian Magazine recently assembled a list of the 100 DC Tech Titans, and tonight gathered them to celebrate. The group is lead by innovators like Steve Case, Ted Leonsis and Vint Cerf among others and I was happy to be included as part of the group. It was brought to my attention that Ted Leonsis was overheard referring to Nick O'Neill, Jen Consalvo, myself and a few others as the "future of DC tech." It was a rather memorable, flattering and humbling moment as I got a chance to rub shoulders with some of the mothers and fathers of technology as we know it. I feel I still have a lot to offer to the advancement of technology so please stay tuned as I share the adventure on SOMEWHAT FRANK.

I had an enjoyable time at the event and thank Washingtonian Magazine and Garrett Graf for writing the 100 DC Tech Titan article. Also fellow "titan" Shashi Bellamkonda from Network Solutions had his camera and snapped these photos (below).

Nick O'Neill & I talking with AOL founder Steve Case & NHL Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis.

Nick O'Neill and I with Ted Leonsis (and Steve Case over my right shoulder).

Check out a few of the videos (below) I captured while attending the event.

Headed to the DC 100 Tech Titan Event from Frank Gruber on Qik.

Hanging at the DC 100 Tech Titan Event from Frank Gruber on Qik.

I have covered a number of start-up companies in my day as I offer my somewhat frank opinion, insight and candid perspective in my quest for new products and services or "shiny objects" as I like to call them. Two weekends ago, I got a chance to take another look at a different kind of start-up, one that goes by the name of ELEW (or ELEWW on Twitter). ELEW is powered by the thunderous energy of jazz pianist Eric Lewis as he has been innovating on jazz as we know it. Eric Lewis has created a new niche which takes alternative rock hits and brings them to the piano. But what makes Eric unique is that when he plays these tunes they sound like he is being accompanied by an orchestra.

So why is Eric Lewis so interesting? Eric's approach to jazz is an innovative one that reminds me of a start-up. Eric's disrupts the traditional jazz system in a way that could fuel some heated debates, similar to how start-ups can disrupt the flow of business as usual. Eric has also created a recognizable set-list which helps ensure people can relate to it. This is similar to the way successful startups often have a clear story that is easy to relate to. Eric has carved out a niche that did not previously exist, which reminds me of the way Twitter and other start-ups have created a need that users did not even know they had.

Since that late night private show at my NY hotel, Eric has been continuing to gain steam by playing at the TED Conference and Tribeca Film Festival among others. When Eric visited Washington, D.C. two weeks ago it was no surprise to me to hear that he was playing a show at the White House (below).

I got a chance to see Eric play a couple of shows while he was in DC. First, at HR 57 with his newly assembled band which I was also extremely impressed with which consists of a drummer/trombone player Kevin Cerovich, an electric violinist Matthew Szemela and a bass player Luis Faraklas Trevin.

Second, I got a chance to attend a private solo show at the home of a very well known national news correspondent. Both were amazing shows and I have included some photos and a few videos (above & below).

I expect ELEW to continue his innovative approach to jazz while consistently building his fan base in a grassroots nature. I will enjoy continuing to watch his popularity grow, just like I have watched Facebook, Twitter and others grow up and become mainstream.

*Eric Lewis photo (above) by Jen Consalvo.

What? Where? and When? That is precisely what you can find out when you visit When.com the fairly new hyper-local site created by AOL. When.com can help you to cut through the clutter and pinpoint restaurants, events and activities in your neighborhood. It also offers the ability to buy tickets and save on dining out with dining deal offers. When.com enables anyone to add an events to extend city event coverage. For example, check out the listing for TECH cocktail DC 5 in Washington, DC today. I recently got a chance to talk with Abha Dasgupta about When.com in episode 78 on SOMEWHAT FRANK adventures in personal technology. Also check out the full TECH cocktail DC 5 preview.

I found this video titled "Entrepreneurs Can Change The World" to be very inspiring as explains the power of entrepreneurship on society today. I hope you enjoy it. It was created by Grasshopper.com an "advanced phone service for entrepreneurs."

How does this video make you feel?