I wanted to give a shout out to an LA startup that I feel is doing incredibly well – and they’ve killed it at the two events that they’ve been involved with. That startup is SquareShare, and they have some really cool technology. In a nutshell, SquareShare allows anyone to promote their offline content (think flyers, magazine & newspaper content) directly into the social online world (twitter, facebook, etc.) to facilitate meaningful conversations. They use QR codes, and have built technology that allows anyone with a smartphone to share items that have been tagged with one of their QR codes. A QR code is basically funky looking barcode that holds information inside it. When you scan the barcode, you unlock the contents and that’s where the magic begins.

Anyway, I just thought that I’d share some cool tech with everyone. I’ve embedded a squareshare code directly in this post. If you have a smartphone, please feel free to scan it and share it!

Check out the news on SquareShare and their success at the TechCrunch LA Meetup…

Thanks!

NOTE: Full Disclosure – I serve in an official capacity as an advisor to SquareShare.

This year my brother invited us to watch fireworks from high atop his office building – the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in Downtown San Diego. From the 33rd floor we could see both shows going on at the San Diego Bay, and we could also see the Coronado show off in the distance. It was great to spend some time with my family and friends – Ryan (younger brother), Cynthia, Gavin & Aiden; Garon (older brother) & Janet; and Mom & Will. My wife was in Portland rehearsing for the American Idol Tour, so I came down with my FreedomSpeaks business partner Kurt Daradics. All in all it was a great time. Cynthia made some incredible brownies for everyone – they were delish. Garon took some incredible photos, and I was able to get him to send me some of them. Enjoy!

Photo by Garon Kiesel

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For  millions, or tens of millions who watch American Idol only on television the Idols Live tour is an afterthought to the game.

My good friend, Kurt Daradics is putting on a smash hit of a holiday party (DFR 2008) this Thursday at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles, CA. It will definitely be the goto event of the holiday season, so get your tickets before it's sold out. Tickets and more information can be found on the Digital Family Reunion website. Let's end the this year with some great conversations!

http://www.digitalfamilyreunion.net

Be sure to stop by and say hello if you see me. If you don't know me, introduce yourself. See you all there!

Two days in a row for me? Wow, I really must be a on a roll. So I went to TwiistUp 4 last night. I had a good time, but I don’t think it was worth the money. I can’t help but think I was being ripped off the entire night. $8 for a beer, $15 for parking, and $50 for my ticket. What did I get? Nothing really. A few appetizers here and there. The least they could have done was give me a couple drink tickets for my $50. I would have been a lot happier. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all bad. I enjoy a party like the best of them, but the best parties are free. They had sponsors (and I’m sure they ponied up big time), so why did they make us all pay? Sounds like a scam to me.

I did get to meet a few interesting people, and it’s always good to see some familiar faces in the socal tech scene. Sean from Orgoo, Kurt from MOTM, Tyler from Mahalo, Efren and the TechZulu guys/gals, Allen from MySpace, and of course my friends Chris and Darren.

Here are some of highlights of my night:

• Adisn – An Interesting new Ad Network
• FreshBooks – A pretty cool app (quickbooks alternative) for independent consultants
• Orgoo – A really sexy app that aggregates your communication platforms (IM, email, etc.)

Oh yeah, I did get a tasty shake from a startup. Something to do with music. I can’t quite remember. But the shake was outstanding.