Scenes from Austin, Texas

Texas State Capital BuildingIf you guys recall, I was in Austin a week or so ago, and I took some photos that I personally enjoy, so figured I’d share them with you guys. Feel free to let me know what you think. Especially if there are any you really like.

Personally, I think a couple of these are good enough to serve as desktop wallpapers if you are so inclined to want a Texas wallpaper.
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Yee-haw! For the State Fair of Texas

Cali Lewis enjoying a corn dog at the State Fair of TexasLast Sunday Elie, Jad, my wife and I joined Cali Lewis, Neal Campbell, Dave and Kat Curlee, and a bunch of other folks at the State Fair of Texas for a GeekBrief.TV filled day of goofing off.

The weather was very nice, with a nice breeze and a perfectly blue sky (even though it rained the very next day). In addition to munching down on every sort of State Fair food you can imagine, we also watched concerts, checked out the auto show, saw a home technology exhibit at the Women’s pavilion and much, much more.

It was fun making some new friends, and hanging out with the gang for a nice day of absolutely no responsibility (I don’t get those very often right now). So here are about a hundred photos I took during the day. Enjoy!
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WordCamp Dallas 2008: Jacob Santos on WordPress Testing

Jacob SantosJacob Santos gave a lecture at WordCamp Dallas on WordPress testing in which he makes a strong argument for destructive testing of WordPress as a means to improvement.

When you think of a project like WordPress that powers millions of blogs, it’s hard to imagine all of the infinite ways that people will test the software and find ways to break it. But Jacob makes a case for automating the testing in order to have consistency and to find bugs much quicker than by simply releasing the code to the real world and watching what happens.
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WordCamp Dallas 2008: Panel – The Business of Blogging

matt-mullenweg-on-business-of-bloggingI had the honor and privilege of moderating a power packed panel at WordCamp Dallas comprised of Matt Mullenweg, Mark Ghosh, Liz Strauss and Aaron Brazell on the topic “The Business of Blogging”.

The panelists discussed how businesses of any size might better incorporate blogging and other forms of new media into their marketing and product development plans.
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WordCamp Dallas 2008: Chris Smith on SEO for Bloggers

Chris SmithNext in the lineup of WordCamp Dallas speakers is Chris Smith, Lead GravityStream Strategist at Netconcepts, who lectured on Search Engine Optimization for Bloggers.

Chris has five patents pending for his work on local search and presentation technologies, and his specialization centers around natural search optimization.

Incidentally, there are two more WordCamp Videos still to come, so for my regular readers who are not into blogging… it’s almost over and we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled silliness soon!
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WordCamp Dallas 2008: Jonathan Bailey – How to Prevent, Detect and Stop Content Theft

Jonathan BaileyJonathan Bailey, of Plagiarism Today, gave a fantastic lecture at WordCamp Dallas 2008 in Frisco, TX entitled “How to Prevent, Detect and Stop Content Theft” which was a fantastic discussion about things you can to protect your content.

Oh, and you can also hear Jonathan over on the WordPress Podcast, which he co-hosts along with Charles Stricklin.

By the way, for my non-blogging readers, I’m almost done with the WordCamp videos… so we’ll be getting back to the regular silliness very soon. Please stand by!
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WordCamp Dallas 2008: Aaron Brazell on WordPress FAQs

Aaron Brazell lectures at WordCampAt WordCamp Dallas 2008, held in Frisco, Texas this year, Aaron Brazell gave a lecture on WordPress Frequently Asked Questions. If you are a WordPress blogger, you do not want to miss this lecture!

Once again, special thanks to Mayor Mike Simpson and the entire City Council for allowing the event to be held in the Council Chambers. And also to Tom Kraemer, the City’s AV Manager who worked tirelessly all weekend to record and catalog all of the WordCamp videos.

And don’t forget to spread the link love to our generous sponsors without whom this event simply wouldn’t have been possible:

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WordCamp Dallas 2008: Liz Strauss – Cmon, Lets Talk!

Liz StraussLiz Strauss is a recognized authority on the topic of building online communities, so it was only fitting that she give a lecture called, “C’mon, Let’s Talk! Building Influence and Interaction with Blogging” at WordCamp Dallas this year.

Her site Successful and Outstanding Bloggers is a must read, so make sure you drive by and learn a thing or 100!

Incidentally, in case I didn’t mention it enough recently. Many thanks to Tom Kraemer, the City of Frisco’s AV Manager who worked tirelessly all weekend to record all of these WordCamp videos.
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WordCamp Dallas 2008: Lorelle VanFossen – WordPress Power Tips

Lorelle VanFossenI’m pleased to be able to present the Queen of WordPress, Lorelle VanFossen! This presentation is from WordCamp 2008 and Lorelle gives her WordPress Power Tips!

If you haven’t read Lorelle on WordPress and you’re a blogger… well you’re missing out. And you should also check out her Camera on the Road site to keep up with wherever in the heck she is right at this moment!
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