Mark Cuban Crowdsources For New Dallas Mavs Jerseys

Steve Nash, Mark Cuban and Dirk Nowitzki in the old days. (Glenn James/ Getty).

On his blog recently, Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban wrote that he is looking for someone to create new jersey designs for his beloved Mavs for the 2015-26 season.

The idea that the ABC “Shark Tank” star is thinking outside the box and is offering regular people a chance to be part of NBA history is fantastic.

In simple terms, Crowdsourcing is basically  where you ask a bunch of people to help you  solve a problem.

So instead of asking  high-priced consultant to solve your problem, you put out there in the digital universe so anybody, anywhere can help you the find the solution.

 Kickstarter is a form crowdsourcing where regular folks helps people fund their projects. The Boston Bombing was another form of crowdsourcing as people sent their digital photos to the law enforcement to help them find the bombing suspects.

The fact the Mark Cuban is using crowdsourcing to help design his team’s jersey is pretty remarkable.

However there is a catche….no compensation.

Cuban said ” If you think its cool that the Mavs could possibly use your design and you will have eternal bragging rights , then post away. If we really like your design and you , I may even throw in some tickets.”

I think most professional designers would take a job like this pro-bono job for tickets, just because they probably  feel like the “bragging rights” alone could lead to more lucrative designing opportunities.

However, if you are regular basketball fan who likes designing, but is not  business savvy, watching your jersey sell millions, while you only have a few tickets to show for it, might be bitter-sweet.

Look, I’m a big Mark Cuban guy.

Ownership wise the NBA is actually stronger because he brought new ideas and enthusiasm to the league.

In fact,  I wish Cuban would bring this love to game to Cleveland to either buy the Indians or the Browns one day, (especially  if current Browns owner Jimmy Haslam can’t shake his rebate case with the IRS and the Feds).

However as much as I like Cuban and his crowdsourcing jersey idea , here’s hoping that the winner will get something in between a few tickets and the millions the jerseys will make a few years from now.

It would be the right thing to do as well as seal Mark Cuban’s legacy as one of the best, innovative  owners of all-time.

Which could  make him one of the best owners of all-time

Should companies/organizations compensate a person(s) if they crowdsource a problem that could make money?

Zoom H1 Makes Greater Urban Film Fest Podcast Sound Great!

 On the recent episode of the Digital Life with Kevin Lockett podcast, I hit the road and attended the  second annual Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival. 

GCUFF is yearly film fest in Cleveland, Ohio which features minority filmmakers as well as  films about people from different cultural backgrounds.

Another great thing about GCUFF is that they also have  a variety of  engaging, thought provoking  panel  discussions.

 I attended  two of the panels. One was creating a web series with the producers and cast from “Black & Sexy“  while the other was a discussion on animation and gaming 

Following the animation panel, I interviewed three of the panelist: directors Eric Matthews (MadWerkz Films) LeSean Thomas (Black Dynamite/ The Boondocks) and gaming specialist  Tamar Medina (formerly of EA Games) using  my Zoom H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder.

Now don’t be surprised by the slenderness  or the toy-like appearance of the of Zoom H1. For being a small recorder, it packs mean vocal punch!

All you do is press the red button and your automatically in digital journalism mode, (if you can find a wind muff for it,  is sounds even better).

I bought my H1 on Amazon last year for less than a  $100 and it hasn’t disappointed me yet. 

The H1 is also great if you are a filmmaker looking for a digital recorder on a budget.  

Now if you are filming something a bit sturdier, you might want to check into another Zoom recorder like the H6 , the Tascam DR-40 or other digital recorders including the Zoom H4N (right).

If not, just put a muff on your Zoom H1 Handy portable recorder and channel your inner J.J. Abrams.

You won’t be disappointed.  

Check out my H1 Zoom Handy recorder interview at Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival  on episode 5 of the Digital Life with  Kevin Lockett here . 

Find out more about the Greater Cleveland Urbaan Film Festival, go to Gcuff.org.

Talking BlogTalk Radio and 2013 NFL Draft with Aki Jones

I am a BIG NFL Draft guy.

Yes, I am that guy who buys the draft guys every year who sits in front of the TV, Thursday night, Friday night and most of Saturday watching seven days of the draft. I know what you’re saying:

“Wow that sexy guy is living  the life”,” I know, right?

But seriously, I am true draft junkie and when you throw in Twitter  in the mix, I constantly checking to see who might go where.

So on episode three of the Digital Life with Kevin Lockett podcast,  I decided to interview Aki Jones from the NFL Draft Bible.

The digital slant of our discussion is that Aki and the NFL Draft Bible has a Blogtalk Radio show and YouTube Channel where they interviews players.

When I first started researching podcasting, Blogtalk was something I strongly considered, but I decided to pre-tape my interviews instead of going live.

Blogtalk Radio is actually a pretty good platform for podcasting, but the you can only upload shows 30 minutes and under for the free service and my first few podcasts were about 40 minutes each (learning how to edit out interesting content is one of the toughest things about podcasting, but its getting easier).

But enough of me jabbering away!

Click on the podcast below and take a listen to Aki Jones and I discuss Blogtalk video, the diference between podcast interviews vs video ones and the NFL Draft prospects for my long suffering Cleveland Browns.

Enjoy!

 

How I Launched My Podcast Due to a Slight

(Listen here http://www.buzzsprout.com/10158/81157-digital-life-with-kevin-lockett-1-leah-haslage)

Last year this time I said it would be cool to launch a podcast.

I downloaded the free editing software Audacity.

I had my ideas for shows.

Then nothing happened…

Although I knew how to edit video, my only knowledge of editing audio was the big reel to reel tapes in college, I had no clue how to edit digital audio.

Plus, how should conduct my interview?

Skype, Blog Talk Radio or Google Hangout? I had no clue because I didn’t have any experience in any of them. I was lost, frustrated, confused…to quote Richard Gere in “An Officer and a Gentleman” ”I got no place else to go!”

I decided to put podcasting on the backburner, while focusing on helping shape more social media campaigns  creating more blogging content.

Flash forward to early 2013 where  on Facebook there was local guy who was doing some work on NPR nationally saying he was looking for a person to co-host his new podcast show.

The idea of podcasting was still in me. This could be my way in to learn podcasting by simply being a co-host first.

I contacted the guy on Facebook and sent him a link to a Google Hangout I did before the holidays with my Digital Akron partner Sage Lewis .

No response.

A few weeks later, he was again saying he was looking for a co-host.

I sent another message, but this time he responded. He said,  ”I got video and it was nice…but you’re not ready yet.”

Now I have heard this guy before and he’s pretty cool character, but its not like he was  Howard Stern, Michael Baisden or Garrison Keillor on the radio.

Although he had more experience than me, he was not better than me.

From that point on, my goal was to prove that guy wrong.

On my own with fire in my eyes, fingers and thumbs, I took a crash course of editing, music copyrights, podcast hosting as well come up with a solution out how to do interviews.

After staying up late nights, editing, saving, editing again, saving  and the re-editing, “The Digital Life of Kevin Lockett” podcast is finally here .

The show is everything that I love: pop culture, social media and talking to interesting people.

My first guest is TV20 Cleveland host and social media manager Leah Haslage  (you can read more about how Leah ended up as my first guest on my pop culture blog “Music is My Soul”).

Later on, I will  post my experiences on how I put the “Digital Life” podcast together, but today, I wanted to tell you my journey from how I pushed fear and doubt aside to flesh out a dream.

I went from a guy who had an idea but no podcast vision in 2012 to a guy who found his podcast vision in 2013 due to a slight.

I still might not be totally “ready yet” but I will be soon…very soon.

Follow The Digital Life with Kevin Lockett podcast on the following channels:

Podfeed

Blubrry

BuzzSprout

Souncloud

Digital Life Blog

Stitcher

I Will Be Less Scrooge-Like This Valentine’s Day

 

Bah Humbug!

Usually Christmas is the only time of year that you might hear this phrase, but for the past few years, I have I been using Ebenezer Scrooge’s iconic phrase to describe Valentine’s Day.

Don’t get me wrong I believe in love and all that jazz, but since the dating life has been more down and up over the past few years, I have grown into a true V’Day curmudgeon as I count down the hours until midnight February 15th, (Think of me as a combination of Nick from the “New Girl” with a dash of Dave Chappelle, when he left his show for Africa and you have my usual Valentine’s Day).

I was all set to go into yet another Scrooge-filled Valentine’s Day, when I saw a couple in the mall.

There was an older lady in her 80′s sitting by herself on one of the black wired benches, when a 80 something man in khakis wearing a green plaid shirt shuffled next to her and gave her some popcorn.

As he slowly steadied himself and plopped down in the seat next to her, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. As she continued munch away at the bag of popcorn which seemed increasingly bigger than her, a smile appeared on her face that made her seem more like a 15-year-old girl than woman in her 80′s

This is the essence of Valentine’s Day.

It’s not about the pressure to buy flowers, candy or some elaborate night at an expensive hotel.

It’s about person who is there for you when you are sick and you do the same when you give them your cold.

It’s about going to the game with you, when she has no idea who’s playing.

It’s about going to see chick flick with her, when you rather be playing Madden.

It’s about the couple who embraces each others issues and quirks, yet still has a good time with one another.

Dating back then seemed easier than it is today.

You met. You courted. You got hitched, then you work everything out.

Dating today seems a lot more complicated with too much criteria attached to it.

Do they have a home? What job do they have? How’s their credit score? Are they good in bed? How’s their body? Do they have swag? I don’t want to settle, etc.

Is criteria important when it comes to dating?

Yes, you should have standards and as well be attracted to the person you want to be with, but too often the criteria trumps compatibility and love is almost non-existent.

In many ways, relationships should be equal.

Sure, you might not like the same things all the time and economically, the scale might be different between the two, but there should always be plenty of fun, passion and support between the couple.

Being supportive during the good times and the bad is about as loving you can get and couples without passion and fun are basically roommates sharing the bills.

However, I am not totally blameless either as shyness has been a never-ending thorn in my dating side and in the past, I chose body type as a criteria over mental compatibility, which as first was cool, but rang hollow as the days and months progressed.

I think my curmudgeon feelings on Valentine’s Day had less to do with the heavily market, money making day than the seemingly daunting task of establishing a relationship that makes sense like old couple in the mall.

As I watched the gray-haired gent and his lady shuffle off together holding hands, they reminded me that compatibility does exist.

So this Valentine’s Day, I will try hard not embrace my inner Scrooge.

Instead I will eat a pack of my heart-shaped Little Debbie snack cakes from Wal-Mart, take a swig o f chocolate milk and remind myself that V’Day is actually a really cool day… I just have shuffle a little bit harder to learn the true essence of it next year.

What are you thoughts on dating today?

 

* Need some songs for Valentine’s Day? Check out my post “The Top 135 Songs for a Valentine’s Day Mixtape” on Soul88.com.

Set Goals with a Vision Board on Pinterest

Right before the new year, Cleveland media queen Leah Haslage and I were discussing goal setting.

I mentioned that I had written a list of goals on a white board that I see every morning.

Leah said she created a vision board, (which are images of things you would like to achieve).

I told her I made a vision board a few years ago, but being the impatient person that I am, it took a long time for some of those images to come true and it frustrated me.

I know, a vision doesn’t happen overnight, but Leah encouraged me to try again anyway.

As New Year’s came and went, Leah’s vision board idea was still on the back of my mind.

Yet, I couldn’t see myself going through the task finding images magazines and newspapers, cutting them out and tacking them on a cork board.

However, my thoughts on vision boards changed thanks to Anderson Cooper.

There was therapist was on his daytime talk show, who she was encouraging a woman to set goals for herself. As the segment ended she said, “you can even make a vision board on Pinterest”.

My eyes widened in an instant.

No more cutting and posting on a cork board and I can upload everything on Pinterest!

Now outside of a few social media jobs and my “Favorite Jheri Curls” board, I have done very little on Pinterest.

For brands like Home Depot and GQ Magazine, Pinterest is a great tool to promote products and it’s also a great way find images on your own interests, interior design, books ,fashion, etc.

However,  Pinterest and I have never really clicked on a regular basis…That is until the idea of the vision board came along, and I logged in for the first time in months!

As I sat there looking at my blank virtual board, I had no idea what to put on it.

Should I focus on short-term or long-term goals?

Should these images be realistic or something that seems out of reach out, but could actually happen one day?

I always had aspirations to visit New York City, so I found a picture of a NYC skyline and repinned.

My Pinterest vision board had officially started.

I then followed that up with images of my media heroes like Chris Rock, Charlie Rose and Howard Stern.

I was on my way.

Add an e-book here, a passport there, along with types of women I would like to date for good measure (don’t judge me) and I became a non-stop vision board making machine.

As I added my final images, which included quotes by Steve Jobs, Bob Dylan, Sandi Krawoski and Richard Branson, I realized that I had frantically posted 53 pins (images) within an hour! (Which is now 64 because I kept adding new images.)

This is not to say everything on my vision board will come true (except for you ladies) , but the process of creating the vision board gave me pictorial focus of what I could achieve.

In essence, vision boards are a great way to chart your goals on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

If you achieve a goal, take that image off and/or add another.

If you don’t achieve any, you could some images or add different ones to give you more motivation.

Even if you are skeptical of creating a vision board like I was in the beginning, just make a board of 5-10 images..but don’t look at it again until the end of year.

Once you logged back onto Pinterest at year’s end, you might be surprised by what you actually achieved.

All because you took a few minutes to post an image that turned a dream into a reality.

Check out my Pinterest Vision Board here.

If you create a vision board, leave your link in the comment section below

Connect with the Like-Minded at Conferences Like CES 2013

As I watch the live stream of the Consumer Electronics Show from the frozen tunda of Akron, Ohio, I ooh and ahh over the new gadgets are being presented daily from the very warm climate of Las Vegas.

I equate CES like the “Tech Tony Awards” as I watch performances of an expensive Broadway show I can’t afford in 2013, but one I will see in 2014, when the cost-effective the traveling company comes to town. CES 2013 is the same as whatever expensive gadget I see this week, will eventually end up in my itchy fingers within the next few years as the low-cost  knock-off the versions end up at Target, Amazon or Best Buy.

However, putting cost aside, I love seeing the energy of CES 2013.

 I enjoy seeing people in their own element, smiling, talking, and connecting in a space of like-minded individuals. It’s the same reaction, I get when I see fellow comic book geeks attending Comic-Con.  

Whenever you are in a circle of people who think like you do, you become more relaxed because you have found a tribe that understands you.

When you explain your thoughts on the future death of Peter Parker in Spiderman #700 or the “Smart Hub” on Samsung’s Smart TV’S, that glazed look you get at home from most people has now been now replaced by wide-eyed interest, head nods and the trading of information that you didn’t know existed.  

This is not to say that you will connect with everyone at a conference, but when you attend one that focuses on your specific profession or interest, you no longer feel like you are alone in the universe.

For people who are shy, this is a great self-esteem builder and for people who are business savvy, the networking could lead to great success. (Check out Susan Murphy‘s “More Advice for the Shy” on Chris Borgan’s blog.)

 In both cases, your life has been enriched by connecting those who think like you.

The only downside however is that instead of meeting at them at Starbuck’s next week you have to Tweet, Skype or Google Hangout with them to stay connected; but at least the connection was made.

So as I continue to watch the live stream CES 2013 on CNET and UStream , I will be thinking of two things:

1.)    How much I need to save to buy that 110-inch TV from Big Lots on Black Friday in 2014.

2.)    What conference I would like to attend, so I can connect with more people who think like I do.

Question: What conference(s) are you planning on attending or would like to attend in2013?