IT in the D

Episode 107 of our weekly live broadcast was an awesome combination of repeat guests and first-timers as we talked DevOps, career transition, an upcoming iOS developer bootcamp, the politics of networking groups and more... From our usual discussions about the latest news, events and information that have caught our eye out to our upcoming Pink Slip Party, our first segment was the usual round robin of conversation and topics. For segment two, we dove in with Jamie and Brian to talk about the upcoming DevOpsDays conference in November. Segment three focused in with Erika, Elyse and Chioke to talk about Girl Develop IT and an upcoming iOS developer bootcamp taking place at Grand Circus. Our fourth segment was back to the usual round table discussion format, about other stories we noticed, including one about a lawyer filing suits against technology networking groups started by and for women, and what the repercussions of that might be... DevOpsDays can be found at http://www.devopsdays.org/events/2015-detroit/ Girl Develop IT can be found at https://www.girldevelopit.com/chapters/detroit Grand Circus can be found at http://www.grandcircus.co/ Right Brain Networks is at http://www.rightbrainnetworks.com/ Detroit Labs is at http://www.detroitlabs.com/

For the first time since we moved to the new studio, we weren't completely overbooked and insanely packed with guests last night, which was a nice change of pace and allowed us to have some great conversations with Natalia from VizBe and Alexas from TEKSystems... VizBe is a company that's put together software to create electronic-based vision boards to help you achieve your goals by staying focused, being able to visualize what it is that you're working for and more.  We were lucky enough to get Natalia Petraszczuk, the company's founder.  They've got a lot of great things coming as well, and the chat led to why a company getting national attention chooses to stay in Detroit, things in the area of note, and beyond. Listen in, and check them out at http://vizbe.co/ TEKSystems is a national, even international, company with an office here in the metro Detroit area, and they've been coming to our events for some time now.  We were joined by Alexas Bihn, one of their recruiters, to talk about what they're seeing in the metro Detroit marketplace, their approach to hiring, what their needs are in the area at the moment, and a whole bunch more. Check their local office out at http://www.teksystems.com/locations/united-states/michigan/southfield, and look for them at upcoming events.

Another week, another great episode full of conversations with guests doing great things in and around the metro Detroit area. This time we were joined by Bamboo Detroit to talk about their co-working space downtown and an impending expansion, Newmind Group to talk about an event in September that they're putting on along with their core offerings, and Andrea from the Pontiac Public School District talking about technology in the world of public schools and her search for advice and help with a hackathon that she wants to pull together to help kids in the area... Like we always do, the first segment covered our upcoming events, local events around the area of note, and the news, items and stories that caught our eyes over the past week.  From the lawn mowing robot brought to you by the makes of the Roomba vacuum cleaner to the outstanding story of the troll on Target's facebook page that destroyed people hilariously, the return of the Godfather theme as Bob vented about U-Verse and our new business venture for an extreme snow removal company since you can now buy flamethrowers on the cheap and more, we had a lot of fun topics. Tonight also marked the first time we tried something new - we did the broadcast live through our own IT in the D stream while simulcasting through the Podcast Detroit stream.  It worked out really well, and so now there are more ways to listen live. In segment two, we talked with Andrea Zellner, a teacher in the Pontiac Public School System that's trying to figure her way around this whole "hackathon" concept in order to help out kids in the area. We talked about tech in the public school systems, what kinds of information are available, and what sort of help she's looking for.  If you're interested in helping, touch base with her at alzellner AT gmail DOT com. For segment three, we chatted with the folks from Newmind Group.  We covered their company's offerings from a managed services perspective and what they've got going on there, but we mostly chatted about their upcoming Build IT Together event on September 10th.  It's a little different than the events we do, in that there will be focused panel discussions during their morning events on a variety of topics as they move forward.  Check out Newmind Group at http://newmindgroup.com/ and the Build IT Together events at http://buildittogether.co/ Our fourth segment involved our old friends and repeat guests from Bamboo Detroit.  They're awfully busy these days, as they're preparing for a major expansion to a new location that will allow them to start offering a wide variety of new services like private offices and greatly increase their membership capacity.  Check them out and keep up to date with all of the goings on at http://bamboodetroit.com/ Again, the links for tonight's guests are: To chat about helping with the Pontiac Schools, hit alzellner AT gmail DOT com. Newmind Group can be found at http://newmindgroup.com/ Build IT Together is at http://buildittogether.co/ Bamboo Detroit is at http://bamboodetroit.com/ Podcast Detroit: https://www.facebook.com/PodcastDetroit As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD  On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD   

Episode 104 is in the history books, and we had a pretty decent set of conversations with our guests for the night about everything from secure storage, cloud vs local hosting, the information technology job market here in the metro Detroit area and this weekend's Windsor Comic Con happening across the river that you might want to check out... From how deleting your browsing history can get you nailed with an obstruction of justice charge to the ridiculous scariness of people in Colorado dying from the plague...yes...that plague...and on out to Hawaii banning non-compete agreements for IT workers and the impending fight the fireworks retailers are gearing up for over Chinese lanterns of all things and more, our opening segment covered the news and stories of the week that caught our eye.  We also chatted a bit about our upcoming event next week at Hopcat, our Pink Slip Party event next month at the Majestic...so listen in to make sure you're up to speed on everything going on. Our second segment dove in with one of core sponsors, Online Tech.  We had Yan Ness and Mike Klein, the co-CEOs of the company.  Yes, co-CEOs, which is an interesting approach in and of itself, but just barely scratches the surface of what Online Tech has going on.  From their approach to securing your data to providing a ton of white papers and resources to help you have the conversations you need to have about data security in your own organization, their site is a treasure trove of information about what they do and the industry as a whole.  Check them out at http://www.onlinetech.com/ In our third segment, we got to chat with long-time member of our group, consistent attendee at our events, and one of the best recruiters we've built a relationship with over the years, Andrea Kress.  She's with Lochbridge, one of the companies spun off of everything that went on with Compuware, so she's been around the block a few times and has some great insights to offer.  We chatted about the job market here in the metro Detroit area, tips and tricks for you to keep in mind while you're interviewing, what matters most to recruiters like her when it comes to evaluating candidates and more.  Check out Lochbridge at http://lochbridge.com/ In our fourth and final segment, we took a call from one of the organizers of this weekend's Windsor ComiCon.  With guests like Kevin Smith and a whole list of comic artists, film and tv guests, it's definitely worth taking a look at if you're looking to cross the border for a little fun this weekend.  Details can be found at http://windsorcomicon.com/ Then the usual banter and wrapping things up for the night, and episode 104 came to a close. Again, you can find tonight's guests at: Online Tech: http://www.onlinetech.com/ Lochbridge: http://lochbridge.com/ Windsor ComiCon: http://windsorcomicon.com/ Podcast Detroit: https://www.facebook.com/PodcastDetroit As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD  On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD 

No two ways about it, episode 103 of our live weekly podcast was a lot of fun.  With our guests from The Darton Group as well as VoxVii / The Rack Show, we had no shortage of laughter, fun, and even some interesting viewpoints on the metro Detroit information technology scene, the local employment market, what people might want/need to do a little more of during their job search and more.  More importantly, we managed to pull off our show even though we'd had a Podcast Detroit open house for several hours leading up to it... Just like we always do, our first segment dove into the events, news, and stories that caught our attention over the past week. From the (in our opinion) whackjobs opening a storefront downtown to sell t-shirts for the unbelievable price range of $150-198 (no, that's not a typo) to all of this week's fun and excitement with the Windows 10 release, and then of course a touch on Jared from Subway's scandal now involving a 16 year old girl and the sad reality of the report indicating that the University of Phoenix nationally has a 7.3% graduation rate...but a 19% student loan default rate...and it's even worse than that here in the metro Detroit area...we had plenty of topics to keep us going through the first segment and doubling back in the fourth.  We also touched on our upcoming events at Hopcat and The Majestic Theater, Podcast Detroit going through a major growth spurt and the open house we'd held right before our show started and more. Segment two was all about the Darton Group (who graciously forgave yesterday's typo), a company from down in Charlotte, North Carolina looking to expand their business here in the metro Detroit area.  Clint and Rochelle were great guests with a solid sense of humor...but also with a lot of business knowledge and a firm belief that networking is the way to go to find the right talent...so you know we like them a lot.  They also have some words of wisdom for you metro Detroit job seekers, so make sure you listen in, and check them out at http://dartongroup.com/ For our third segment, we hopped into chatting with Lucas and Corey, two thirds of the team behind VoxVii studios and The Rack Show.  We met these guys earlier in the year at the Midwest Media Expo, had a blast, have kept in touch, and it was time to have them in to talk about their video podcast, their intentions on getting back to "normal" podcasting, why you should check them out and more.  Always a lot of laughs with these guys...even if it did wind up resulting in a challenge for a tag team wrestling match throwdown to take place...   ...so listen into the chat, and catch them at https://www.facebook.com/therackshow Segment four, as always, was a wrap up of earlier topics and digging a little more into the week's stories.  Photos from the night and more below.   Check out tonight's guests: The Darton Group: http://dartongroup.com/ VoxVii Studios: https://www.facebook.com/VoxVii The Rack Show: https://www.facebook.com/therackshow Podcast Detroit: https://www.facebook.com/PodcastDetroit As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD  On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD 

Episode 102 of our weekly live podcast is in the rear view mirror now, and even though we lost TEKSystems due to an illness, we had some seriously great conversations with our guests from Comcast and SecurityMentor.  We also got some information out about our new podcast network that launched last week, our upcoming events, what's going on with Comcast these days, how to best get people engaged about security in a way that matters, a whole variety of security related topics and stories illustrating the chaos going on nowadays and much, much more... Like we always do, our first segment dove into the news, events and stories that caught our eye over the past week.  We chatted through the really nasty exploit that showed up on Chrysler vehicles in certain years, our theory about Hulk Hogan and why certain news broke recently, the ridiculousness of the response from AshleyMadison's parent company, where LifeLock has also recently failed people, more about the OPM breach, some hilarity from Palm Beach Country where some local marijuana enthusiasts clearly don't understand how Twitter works and more. For our second segment, we dove in with Dan Lohrmann, formerly the Chief Security Officer for the State of Michigan, now with SecurityMentor.  He has some outstanding insights to share regarding the chaos with cars getting hacked, what really goes into a data breach, how people can protect themselves, what the company does in order to teach best practices in a fun and engaging manner and more. In segment three, we chatted with Michelle Gilbert, VP of Public Relations for Comcast Cable Heartland Region.  From what Comcast is doing to improve customer relations out to what's on the horizon with Comcast's services, this was a pretty good discussion if you want to hear how the company some people love to hate actually has going on that might change your opinions.  Really great talk, and super grateful that she came on the air with us. Segment four was our usual wrap up of topics from earlier in the night, a few news items we hadn't touched on yet, and a little doubling back to make sure we hit all of the topics we wanted to hit. Check out SecurityMentor at http://www.securitymentor.com/ Hit up Comcast at http://www.Comcast.net As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD  On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD   

Despite the fact that we were completely exhausted from the activities starting Thursday and running through the weekend, our broadcast of Episode 101 of our live weekly podcast with Startup Weekend Detroit and Lawn Guru came together nicely with some great conversations, some information about our upcoming events, what our guests have going on in the area and more... As per usual, we started things off by talking the events of the past week that have caught our attention.  From our event this past Thursday at Blackfinn to our live broadcast from the Converge security conference that was a TON of fun and our first foray into recording live commentary for professional wrestling (long story...) on Saturday, and then of course we couldn't resist talking about what a fail Amazon's Prime Day event turned out to be, the Ashley Madison hack, cosplayers at San Diego Comic Con trying to charge people for taking pictures, the anniversary of the moon landing 46 years ago, why a 33 year old toy is causing some idiot parents to have heartburn, some whacky mayhem in Seattle with...odd things hanging from electric wires and more. Segment two was all about Startup Weekend Detroit, a place where in 54 hours, thoughts are turned into teams that develop ideas and launch a product.  One of the coaches, Scott Kloustin, joined us in-studio to tell us (and you) all about it.  Startup Weekend attendees’ backgrounds are roughly 50% technical (developers, coders, designers) and 50% business (marketing, finance, law). What unites all attendees is a common interest in entrepreneurship: whether a serial entrepreneur or new to the startup scene, every attendee is interested in working with a like-minded, motivated and skilled team to develop a product or business in one weekend. It's a really cool concept, and a great way to see if your idea has any merit to it, or to keep your skills sharp as a developer, or just to roll up your sleeves and dive in with others in the community.  Check them out at http://www.up.co/communities/usa/detroit/startup-weekend/4904 In our third segment, we chatted with a group of folks who have may just have something for you that'll free up some time on weekends...particularly brutally hot weekends like this past one where you really don't want to go outside but the grass needs mowing.  The guys from Lawn Guru have built an Uber-esque service for your lawn care and snow removal needs.  Download the app, see if any of their service providers are in your area, and if you make a request by 3pm, your lawn will be cut that day...weather permitting, of course, so don't hit them up during a thunderstorm expecting that they'll be there.  They've got a really cool concept going...and growing...so while they're predominantly running on the west side at this time, they're already talking with people and companies to expand their services further East.  Looking forward to having them in my neck of the woods.  Listen to how it all got started, and then check them out at http://lawnguru.co/ Segment four...well, remember how up above it got mentioned that we were exhausted?  Cards on table, it probably showed a bit during segment four.  As we recapped the night's discussions and tackled a few new topics like Amy Schumer's Star Wars based photo shoot...and Disney's reaction to it...it was definitely time to wind down and head home for the night. As always, thanks again to our guests for joining us, and we'll see you next week for episode 102 as we're joined by TEKSystems and the former CSO for the state of Michigan. Our guests from tonight's episode can be found at: Startup Weekend Detroit: http://www.up.co/communities/usa/detroit/startup-weekend/4904 Lawn Guru: http://lawnguru.co/ As always,

Wow.  Just...wow. Ever had a conversation with a guy who compromised bank security...in Beirut? How about someone who's managed to compromise physical security all over the world...just because scanning and getting into servers is...too boringly easy? Know anything about a group that's out there dedicated to teaching kids about computer security in a way they'll actually want to learn? Read and listen on, friends...read and listen on... We were asked to head down to Wayne State University to hang out at the Converge security conference taking place. A security conference?  Hackers?  Talking with us? Needless to say, we went. So we packed up the remote gear and headed on down for an afternoon of fascinating conversations. We kicked off by chatting with Wolfgang Goerlich, who was actually a guest on the very first episode of our podcast talking about this very conference two years ago.  He gave an overview of what Converge brought to attendees, as well as what BSides will have going on Saturday. So if you're wanting to play in a lockpick village, learn about hacking, security or a whole host of topics...there's still time to get down there for Saturday's sessions. Next, we chatted with Jayson Street and J0hnny Xm4s about an incredible range of topics.  Their own work in security testing, penetration physical and server security, some truly outstanding stories about things they've done in the course of their jobs and more.  We also talked networking, as J0hnny's putting efforts into trying to get more folks in the information security space to do some more in-person networking.  Getting out from behind the code and keyboards to do more interacting with others and building personal relationships as opposed to online. Seriously, if you never listen to anything else we put out here...you're going to want to listen to that 40 or so minutes of incredible stories and conversations. After a quick break, we dove in with Dave Schwartzberg (and his son Sam) of Hak4Kidz, a 501c3 non-profit that does something really cool - they teach kids to care about security and privacy by putting it in the context of games and other ways that make it something kids will actually want to learn.  With all of the focus on teaching kids tech, science, code, etc., something like this is a valuable addition to those spaces, and definitely deserves some more attention. Links from the broadcast: Converge: http://www.convergeconference.org/main/ BSides: http://www.securitybsides.com/w/page/92623290/BSidesDetroit15 Jayson Street: http://f0rb1dd3n.com/ J0hnny Xm4s: https://twitter.com/j0hnnyxm4s Hak4Kidz: http://hak4kidz.com/  

Episode 100: the night of bad puns, occupancy code violations, Bob being rendered speechless, mayhem with puppets and so, so much more.  Had a really great night for episode 100 of our live weekly podcast, and with a room full of lively guests, we definitely didn't have a lack of topics, voices, opinions or laughter for the occasion... We were joined by our guests Mark Larson from Falling Down Beer Company, David Lingholm and Garlin Gilchrest II from the city of Detroit, Karen Hubbard from The Corner with K-Hubb Show...and also from our old studio and now her own network, Billy from Social Coop Media, our buddy Jeff Haase, Jer and Patrick from Daily Detroit, and a few other stragglers who wandered in to join us. As always, our first segment was a roll through the events, news and information that caught our attention over the past week.  From the shrine to the dead raccoon on a sidewalk in Toronto to the mayhem taking out the New York Stock Exchange, United Airlines, missile batteries in Germany and a bunch of other things this week, we had a lot to talk about.  The continuing saga and spiral of Bill Cosby.  The idiot couple who thought having sex in public on a beach at 2:30 in the afternoon was a great idea.  Two separate incidents of people with selfie sticks getting struck by lightning.  All kinds of good stuff. For our second segment, we dove in with David Lingholm and Garlin Gilchrest II from the city of Detroit to talk about all of the cool stuff going on downtown.  From getting activity back in to the former shopping districts and less active neighborhoods to how an app has been helping them track service requests on potholes, manhole covers, broken lights, etc., to improve quality of life for the city's residents, it was a pretty interesting chat.  They both have great ambitions for what Detroit can be, and it's great that they're both on the inside working to make it happen. Mark from Falling Down Beer Company was front and center for our third segment.  From their new location opening up in Oxford later this year to an expansion from 8 to 20 taps at their original Warren location, they've got a TON going on.  Not that we're surprised, since this has been one of our favorite places and brands since they first came onto the scene, and we're sure they're going to do great things as they expand not only into new locations, but also into the wine and spirits lines of creation as well. Oh, and Jeff Haase had way too much fun with our Ruppits (they're puppets, but cooler) during this segment.  We barely kept ourselves from breaking out laughing. In our fourth and final segment, we hopped in with Karen Hubbard, our original Captain Soundboard and she of the Monday Night Meat Sticks quote from our intro.  She's been having almost as much fun as we have lately, with building out a new network, getting her own show fired back up after a hiatus, recently becoming single again and trying out the dating world...actually, come to think of it, she might actually have more going on than we do these days.  We also touched base with Billy Strawter of Social Coop Media, who always has something new and fun going on with his business as they're moving to a new space and looking to hire someone...like they always are these days. All that and more in episode 100, so give it a listen and laugh along with us. Our guests can be found at: Falling Down Beer Company: https://www.facebook.com/fallingdownbeer City of Detroit: http://www.detroitmi.gov/ Social Coop Media: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-COOP-Media-Detroit/ The Corner with K-Hubb: https://www.facebook.com/TheCornerWithKHubb Daily Detroit: https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyDetroit As always, we can be found:

We had some great guests in-studio with us for episode 99 of our weekly live podcast, with the conversation going from IT security and risk management all the way out to the maker-based economy, some cool charitable organizations you can get involved with to help others, and tons more.  Thanks to our guests Dan Gregory, Matt Thompson and Dave Glenn from CBI (Creative Breakthroughs Inc), as well as Daniel Dugan from E-Nable, for joining us and hanging out all night for the chats... Episode 99 was steeped in 1999-themed breaks and an intro, and thankfully that's the last episode we're doing this for and so we'll be back to the semi-regular mayhem from back before episode 80 happened starting next week.  Once the intro wrapped, it was time to dive into the news, events and items that grabbed our attention over the past week.  The chaos on Reddit.  A guy who's owned and used a domain for 16 years getting sued by a startup trying to claim infringement.  Our collective wondering why anyone does a Q&A session on Twitter since they never go well...and the recent ones with Bobby Jindal and the author of 50 Shades of Grey were no exceptions.  How we're all idiots because some guy recording himself playing video games made over 7 million dollars last year.  Facebook's social media experiment with the rainbow photo app.  A new 9% tax on streaming / cloud services...and what that might mean for Detroit.  All that and much, much more. Dave (left) and Matt (right) from CBI Big shout out to the folks at Ruppits for doing the puppets of us, by the way.  Go check them out at https://www.facebook.com/Ruppits For our second segment, we dove in with CBI (Creative Breakthroughs, Inc).  CBI manages IT risk and ensures your data is secure, compliant, and available. No matter your industry, their Subject Matter Experts, tailored assessments and custom solutions help safeguard your organization’s information.  For more than 20 years, their customers have come to rely on CBI as their trusted advisor to meet their unique needs with solutions from the best professionals in the industry.  We covered a whole bunch of topics with them from recent hacks to their impending move downtown. Give it a listen, and check them out at https://www.cbihome.com/ They're also hiring like mad, so check out their careers page at https://www.cbihome.com/careers They're also heavily involved with the upcoming Converge/BSides security conference downtown...and they announced a discount code that'll get you in the door free while supplies last. Use discount code CBICC2015GOLDSPONSORSHIP on the registration page at https://convergedet2015.busyconf.com/bookings/new Dan from CBI (left) and Daniel Dugan (right) Then we dove in with Daniel Dugan to talk about a whole bunch of topics.  E-nable, the place we met at Penguicon that does 3d printing of prosthetic limbs for children.  Detroit Maker Faire and all of the things you can expect to see at the Henry Ford.  The First Robotics group, and how they're helping get kids engaged in advanced projects. Needless to say, we had a lot of ground to cover and a whole bunch of interesting topics came up during the course of our chat. Segment four was our usual wrap up segment, doubling back on a few things from earlier in the night, as well as a few other news items that we didn't get to during the opening segment. That's all for this week.  Join us next week as we hit episode 100 and we're joined by some old friends to sit around, reminisce, and have a good time talking smack about our first 100 attempts to be somewhat humorous and relevant... Links from tonight's episode: SPONSORS Squarespace: get 10% off by going to www.squarespace.com and using code IT during checkout

We had a pretty full house for episode 98 of our weekly live podcast.  With Hatch Detroit in to talk about their $50,000 contest for the third year in a row to what Rocket Fiber has going on downtown and into the world of things downtown and a little mayhem with the Daily Detroit crew and some insight from Andrew The Man Expert that had us all rolling and unable to recover, it was just simply a blast of a night... The latest news and events that caught our attention, as well as our own event on Wednesday, July 1st kicked off the show. From ultra conservative religious southerners to Donald Trump, who's having the worst week?  Drones getting shot down.  Our insane weekend.  All kinds of whacky nonsense in this week's round up. This Wednesday, July 1st we'll be hitting The Whisky Parlor, which is on the 2nd floor of Grand Trunk downtown.  Can't wait to check it out, and we're really looking forward to seeing everyone there.  It's located at 608 Woodward Avenue, again up on the 2nd floor. 5pm start time.  No cover charge to get in.  No speeches.  No agenda.  No sales pitches.  Just networking with some of the best and brightest folks here in and around the metro Detroit information technology community. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. Details can be found here on the site - http://www.itinthed.com/meet/, on our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/ITinTheD, or in our Meetup group - http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ Segment two dove in with Vittoria from Hatch Detroit.  For the third year running, she joined us to talk about their great $50,000 contest for entrepreneurs downtown.  Lots of great information in here if you're looking to apply - what sorts of businesses they're looking for, tips and tricks on how to best get through the selection process, and a bunch more good data.  Applications are open now, so head on over to their website and get rolling: http://hatchdetroit.com/ Our third segment focused in on Marc Hudson from Rocket Fiber.  By now, you've surely heard about their efforts downtown to increase internet bandwidth and capacity...but you might not know about everything else they have going on with television, or how you can get your neighborhood / town on their list of places to investigate coming to, or their work with more than just the business district downtown.  Give it a listen, and then hit them up at http://www.rocketfiber.com/ Segment four was...well, it was sort of a free for all.  We had the Daily Detroit crew talking about some recent shenanigans.  Andrew the Man Expert chimed in with his wit, humor and views on everything going on throughout the night and more.  Just a blast of a segment, and it's been a long time since we've laughed that hard...but be warned, this is definitely a segment full of topics for the 18 and over crowd.  Catch Daily Detroit at http://www.dailydetroit.com/, and you can read some more of Andrew's wit and wisdom in articles like this one: http://www.brobible.com/life/article/douchebags-you-see-out-at-night/ As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD  On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD 

IT in the D was pleased to be a part of Social Media Day Detroit on Friday, June 26. Listen to the opening panel discussion during the VIP reception...which was originally supposed to be about new ways to use technology to solve some problems in Detroit, but wound up being a deeper discussion about what those problems are and how they impact people's lives... Some great folks were on the panel including: Guests of Honor: David Anderson, CoFounder at Bamboo Detroit Piper Carter, CoFounder at Detroit Digital Justice Coalition Jake Cohen, Partner at Detroit Venture Partners Michael Evans, Senior Developer at Loveland Technologies Edi Demaj, CoFounder at Rocket Fiber Jill Ford, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the City of Detroit Niles Heron, CoFounder at Michigan Funders Alicia Jones, CEO at Harmony Point ITC Alyssa R. Martina, CoFounder & CEO of Memloom Marlin Page, Founder at Sisters Code So give it a listen.

Episode 97 saw us joined by Sola Obayan of SMAMi.org to talk Social Media Day Detroit, Matt Roush to talk about the Engineering Society of Detroit and his own Tech Century tech blog, and Mike Brennan to talk about the latest goings on with MITechNews, and a whole lot more.  From cyber-bullying to social media best practices, this episode was a ton of fun... As always, things kicked off with our take on the news, stories and events that caught our eye over the past week.  We also took care of some of our own business as we chatted about our event last week at Blackfinn in Royal Oak and our event next week at the Whisky Bar downtown.  Then we dove in to talk about Pixar's latest film "Inside Out" and our conflicting takes on it, the suck that is QR codes and the harsh lesson that Heinz learned about using them in conjunction with domains that you forget to renew and get snatched up by people who don't exactly have your company's best interests at heart, AT&T getting slapped with an enormous fine over bandwidth throttling, a fake Facebook post that led to hundreds of people gathering at a church in Flint thinking they were there to find out about jobs at GM...but no such luck...and even more. We came back with segment two to talk with Matt Roush and Mike Brennan, two guys with a lot of history as journalists here in the area and elsewhere.  Mike runs MITechNews.com, our content partner behind the "News" tab up above and the "breaking news" widget in the right rail.  Matt's the Director of Communications and Public Relations for the Engineering Society of Detroit, but we've known him since his days of working at Crain's and then from the Great Lakes IT Report (GLITR) that showed up in our inbox for the longest time with news and information we paid attention to.  They've got some great perspectives on things here in the area, including the new Maker-based economy, 3d printing, tech in general and tons more.  It was great having them in, and we're looking forward to helping them launch their own show in the near future. For segment three, we dove in with Sola Obayan from SMAMi.org, the Social Media Association of Michigan, to talk about this Friday's Social Media Day Detroit event.  There's a VIP reception.  There are some great speakers.  There will be a ton of people in attendance that you want to meet and chat with.  Best of all, the main session from 7-10 is completely free of charge, and it's the one place in the planet where having a conversation while staring at your phone is not only tolerated, but expected.  Tickets are still available for the VIP reception portion of the evening as well...and rumor has it we'll be doing a live broadcast from the event with whatever guests we can collar as they walk by, so we're looking forward to seeing you there. Our fourth segment doubled back on a topic that we started getting into during our third segment but wanted to break to give it enough time for an actual talk about it - cyber bullying.  What it means in the world today, and why it's different than when those of us around the table were growing up. Then a little sappy sentimentality since it was Bob's anniversary, and his wife actually sat in with us for the night to hang and have some fun. That brought our latest broadcast to a close, and we couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Oh, and Matt hung out all night just so he could get put on the spot and drop a one-liner... Again, our guests can be found at: Matt Roush: http://technologycentury.com/ and http://ww2.esd.org/home.htm Mike Brennan: http://www.mitechnews.com/ Social Media Day Detroit: https://www.facebook.com/events/372049809658834/ Social Media Association of Michigan: http://www.SMAMi.org As always, we can be found:

Even widespread power outages couldn't stop Episode 96 of our weekly live podcast from happening.  We lost one guest due to the reschedule due to travel commitments, but we were joined by some really great guests for some fun discussions about everything from best practices with making and using video, an event next week that you should check out, a new dry cleaning service that'll pick up and deliver not just for you but for companies as well, as well as some stories and items around the city... As our 1996 based intro closed out, we got rolling with the latest news, events and items that have caught our eyes over the past week.  Naturally we talked a little bit about the power outage that caused us to roll on a Tuesday night instead of our usual Mondays.  Good times.  As noted, we lost one of our guests in the midst of the chaos due to travel requirements, but we'll have him back on as soon as his schedule permits. We chatted about our event tomorrow (Thursday) night over at Blackfinn.  As always, we'll be in the back room starting at 5pm, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone there. Details can be found here on the site - http://www.itinthed.com/meet/, on our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/ITinTheD, or in our Meetup group - http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ We talked about the (and we use this term loosely) "hacking" story coming out of Major League Baseball, the OPM breach that has an impact on anyone who's ever had a security clearance or any of their references, more fun and humor with Amazon product reviews and more. For segment two, we talked with Scott and Kris from Make Moore Media.  From working with Herman Moore of the Lions to our own "What Is IT in the D" video, these guys have done some great work since launching and we couldn't be happier for them.  A good series of conversations about best practices with video, what's realistic and what isn't, why "4k" is the buzzword causing migraines and more. Check them out at http://makemooremedia.com/ In our next segment, we talked with the guys from YumVillage about the Professional's Night Out - Detroit event taking place next week.  Kicking off its inaugural year, Professional's Night Out (PNO) will provide a semi-formal networking and dining experience for you, the entrepreneur, the working professional, the creative, the foodie. A first of its kind, 3-part indoor + outdoor event, PNO will exclusively bring super-achievers from across Detroit, together for the dual purpose of connecting and building with world-changing thinkers and innovators, as well as experiencing and enjoying some great eats and art. The evening will kick off with our Innovator's Meet & Greet, presented by Dreamers+Doers, which will run from 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m., followed up by our Dining With Doers Dinner Party, from 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. and close out the night with our Dessert Afterglow.  Check them out at http://www.pnodetroit.com/, and use discount code ITintheD to take $15 off the ticket price! Our last segment dove in with the guys from Dryv, a new Uber-esque dry-cleaning service that's just launching here in the area.  They come to your house, pick everything up, get it cleaned, and then bring it back to you...without killing you with a heavy price markup thanks to their model and volume based relationships.  They're also offering programs for companies and their employees, so you should definitely talk to your HR folks about a setting up a new office perk.  They're still building out their service areas, and you can help shape things by grabbing the app and signing up at http://dryv.com/detroit/, and best of all, they went ahead and setup an ITintheD discount code while we were on the air with them so you can get rolling on the cheap.  Check them out at http://dryv.com/detroit/ And just as a little bonus,

Episode 95...and on our fifth episode from the new studio, we had a pretty packed room with guests covering all sorts of topics.  Open data in the city of Detroit and an upcoming hackathon to find better ways to use it.  Updates from our friends at Detroit Beer Press about their latest issue.  A check in nearly two years later with Batch Brewing Company on how things are going downtown.  A look at the state of the Detroit tech scene from the eyes of someone still in school and breaking into the industry. Don't forget you can get 10% off Squarespace's offerings by using discount code IT during the checkout process: http://www.squarespace.com/, and you can try QuickBooks for self-employed tryselfemployed.com/it And so, so much more... After our 1995 themed intro came to a close, our opening segment kicked off with a recap of our last event and information about our upcoming events, the depressing information that both The Goonies and Ferris Bueller's Day Off are now both thirty years old, the hilarious (to us) story about a member of ISIS posting a selfie that led to an airstrike less than 24 hours later, a very concerning tale about how the Red Cross spent over $500 million in Haiti after the terrible earthquakes there...and yet somehow managed to only build six houses, Gamestop's purchase of ThinkGeek's parent company, our lovely new kegerator stocked with the Scurvy Dan Blood Orange IPA from Falling Down Beer Company and more. In our second segment, we dove in with our guests David Lingholm, the Director of Digital Media and Community Engagement for the City of Detroit, and Erin Sommerville, Media Relations Specialist for Automation Alley.  There's a hackathon coming up this weekend, #Hack4Detroit, that's looking to find some better uses for the massive amounts of data that the city has accumulated over the years, and there's some decent prize money for those who can help.  Designers, coders, and even just folks with ideas are welcome...but the signup cutoff is Wednesday, so hurry: http://www.automationalley.com/Events/Calendar/Event-Detail.aspx?uniqueid=16840 In segment three, we checked in with our friends Courtney Ochab, Ian Burk and Tony Barchok from Detroit Beer Press and Stephen Roginson of Batch Brewing Company.  Batch Brewing was on waaaaaaaaay back in episode 10 of our show when they were a finalist (and eventual winner!) of the Hatch Detroit competition in 2013, and they've come a long way since then.  Not only are they open, but they're in full swing with production of a number of great beers, have a solid kitchen, and have a monthly "feel good tap" where a portion of the proceeds go to a local organization.  Can't beat that. Detroit Beer Press isn't doing to shabby either, with their latest issue in breweries, distilleries and locations throughout the area...which hypothetically might include another IT in the D style rant.  Updates about their Howler Club Membership program and more await your ears. In our fourth and final segment (no, still no infamous fifth segments in the new studio as of yet), we talked with Kevin Hill, a local guy still in college at RIT, and working his way into the Detroit tech scene.  We met Kevin at our Hopcat event back in May, and absolutely had to have him join us in-studio to continue that conversation on air.  He's got some great perspectives on how things look from his point of view - what he sees going well, going wrong, what works, what doesn't, and just a great take on things in general. And that brought us to a close.  Tune in next week as we're joined by Right Brain Networks to talk about DevOps among other topics, Make Moore Media to talk film and production, and Yum Village to talk about their group's organization and event. Don't forget you can get 10% off Squarespace's offerings by using discount code IT during the checko...