IT in the D

The 90s continue as we hit episode 94 of our live weekly broadcast. We were joined by Major General Amy Courter of Youngsoft (and, obviously, the military), Emily Alber of Mack Avenue Media, and Jeremiah from Daily Detroit. A great show, filled with some good information, some laughs, and the usual mayhem you've come to expect... The first segment, as always, kicked off with the week's stories, news and events that happened to catch our eyes. From the IRS hack that's left hundreds of thousands of people vulnerable to people renting cars so they can be Uber drivers, out to the lady who dropped off an Apple 1 at a recycling center with clearly no clue what she had and the freaking rumors about a freaking remake of Big Trouble in Little China... ...yeah, that might have caused a rant. In our second segment, we dove in with repeat guest Major General Amy Courter, who in addition to her military experience is also a Senior Vice President at Youngsoft.  We talked about her work at Youngsoft, the markets that they play in, and the specialties that they've cut out for themselves...but we also talked about the challenges facing our military veterans when they return from deployment and the transition back into the workforce.  Definitely a lot of good thoughts and opinions in here.  You can catch Youngsoft's job openings at http://www.youngsoft.com/careers Next up, we spoke with Emily Alber of Mack Avenue Media.  She's the fire behind a new social media consultancy that's really taking off.  Her clients include a non-profit that's helping youths downtown through boxing and tutoring (http://downtownyouthboxing.org/), a building that was once upon a time a pickle factory looking for new life as an event space like the art exhibit currently being hosted (http://www.dashboardcoop.org/detroitboomboom/) and others.  Go give her a like on Facebook over at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mack-Avenue-Media/686032238165255 Segment four was a good chat, as always, with Jeremiah of Daily Detroit.  From the policy conference on Mackinac Island last week to some cool open data stuff happening downtown (that you'll hear more about on our show next week), Jer's always got his finger on the pulse of what's going on around downtown, and Daily Detroit does a great job of covering what matters without the fluff and nonsense that so many other publications resort to these days... ...which is why he's been on our show more than once or twice. That's all for this week.  Tune in tomorrow (Wednesday) night for a little live broadcast from our networking event at Stray Cat Lounge on the 2nd anniversary of our first show, and we'll also be back live on Monday night with more guests and fun for your ears. Again, you can find our guests at: Youngsoft: http://www.youngsoft.com/careers Mack Avenue Media: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mack-Avenue-Media/686032238165255 Daily Detroit: http://www.dailydetroit.com/ 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   

Our third episode from the new studio is in the rear view mirror, and it marked the return of two very important things: beer from Falling Down Beer Company and the cheesy hotel front desk bell, both of which we've missed terribly. Joined by our guests from Social Coop Media, Long Neck Strangler and Mess Bucket Comics, we covered a whole gamut of topics for your listening pleasure... We originally had a couple of other guests scheduled for tonight's broadcast, but whacky mayhem ensued and so we drafted some folks into hanging out with us to keep the conversation flowing. A few hacks highlighted the early conversation - Starbucks has a problem with their gift cards, Adult Friend Finder got themselves breached and millions of rather sensitive and potentially embarrassing user details are out in the wild and already being used to blackmail people, some rather unpleasant items from the worlds of Twitter and Google Maps when it comes to overt racism, the return of Clearly Canadian, a few more items that make us feel all too old as Empire Strikes Back turns 35 and Real Genius turns 30, and a really miserable chain of events at a 16th birthday party.  All that and more got covered during our first segment. In segment two, we dove in with Billy Strawter of Social Coop Media.  In his first appearance at the new studio, we chatted through cringe-worthy social media fails, a new client that they've recently landed, some basics for a company or an individual looking to maximize their social media capabilities and more.  It's always a great chat when we have Billy in, and this time was no exception.  Check them out at http://socialcoopmedia.com/ For our third segment, we dove in with Kevin from Long Neck Strangler and Dom from Mess Bucket Comics to talk about all sorts of topics - Kevin's take on the local music scene, some great tours he's been a part of, some cautionary tales he's witnessed along the way, and some more catching up with Dom from Motor City Comic Con, running a comic business, and how social media plays and interacts with their various endeavors and operations. As always, our final segment recapped some of our earlier topics, covered a few things that we missed in the opening segment, and wrapped things up with our guests for the night. Tune in next week as we're joined by repeat guest Major General Amy Courter, and newcomer Emily Alber of Mack Avenue Media. Again, find our guests at: Social Coop Media: http://socialcoopmedia.com/ Long Neck Strangler: https://www.facebook.com/longneck.strangler Mess Bucket Comics: http://messbucketcomics.com/index2.html 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 92, our second broadcast from the new studio, is live and ready to make you laugh at our exhaustion and ridiculousness.  We were joined by our friends from Motor City Geek and Mess Bucket Comics to talk about our collective experiences at Motor City Comic Con this past weekend and more. So listen in as we kick off with our 1992 flavored intro and get rolling... Joined by Austin and Rob from Motor City Geek, Dom from Mess Bucket Comics and our new regular Nuri, we settled in and got rolling. From AOL getting bought to the FTC stepping in on Radio Shack's proposal to sell their customer data during their bankruptcy proceedings, there were quite a few events and articles that caught our eyes this past week.  We also talking about our upcoming event tomorrow (Thursday) night at Blackfinn, some minor details about the weekend's activities and more. Our second segment dove right into Motor City Comic Con head on with our friends from Motor City Geek.  The artists, the media guests, the after parties...oh my, the after parties...we definitely had a lot to talk about. If you're not familiar with Motor City Geek, you should be.  They're deeply engaged in trying to bring to the surface just about any facet of being a geek you can think of.  From comics to cosplay, from LAN parties to LARPing, they've got something about for you.  Check them out at http://motorcitygeek.com/ Segment three dove in with Dom from Mess Bucket Comics, who's been a guest on our show before and we always have a great time with...including at some of those aforementioned after parties. Dom's got a couple of graphic novels out currently, with the third on the way, and he's also involved in an annual charity hockey event that does some really cool stuff for a local cause in Detroit.  Check him out at http://messbucketcomics.com/index2.html Our fourth segment included a live, on-air taste test of...shudder...vegan jerky (we don't understand how that works either), as well as doubling back on some earlier topics and just wrapping things up for the night. Episode 92: Motor City Comic Con Recap with Motor City Geek and Mess Bucket Comics 5/18/2015 air date Motor City Geek can be found at http://motorcitygeek.com/ Mess Bucket Comics can be found at http://messbucketcomics.com/index2.html 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 

The first episode of our weekly live broadcast from our new studio is ready to invade your ears. We talked connected car, mobility, Motor City Comic Con, the latest issue of Detroit Beer Press and more with our guests for this momentous night... We were joined by our guests from Mobile Comply (Elaina Farnsworth), Detroit Beer Press (Ian Burk), and our friends Nuri Gocay and Katie Marrosso to round things out. Our 1991 themed intro came to a close, and we went live. Naturally, we spent most of the opening segment talking about this weekend's event: Motor City Comic Con.  Yes, we're heading to Motor City Comic Con again this year, press passes in hand...and this time we're armed with a fully functional remote broadcasting unit.  Be afraid...be very afraid.  Odds are better than even that, at some point, we'll have had a few drinks and be unable to resist pulling out the gear and going live with whoever happens to be on hand.  Could be great, could be terrible...guess we'll find out as we go.  I can't imagine that you're not already familiar with Motor City Comic Con, but just in case, here's their site with the details: https://www.motorcitycomiccon.com/ For our second segment, we talked with Elaina Farnsworth of Mobile Comply.  Elaina's been on our show several times in the past, and it's always a great conversation.  She also has an event on Thursday night at the Townsend in Birmingham that you should be seriously planning on attending.  Check that out at http://info.mobilecomply.com/connext-may-2015/  From connected cars to mobility training to what challenges and opportunities exist in the mobile space as the tech evolves, she's always got some great insight.  Mobile Comply is an international leader in mobile training and curriculum development. Their training and certifications are recognized worldwide for excellence in mobile connectivity, mobile development, application security and connected vehicle. Mobile Comply specializes in mobile implementation, related policy and regulations, how to deploy mobile devices, mobile applications, and proper security practices. In addition, Mobile Comply partners with organizations to develop customized educational content and business strategies. Check them out at http://mobilecomply.com/, and again, their event Thursday night is at http://info.mobilecomply.com/connext-may-2015/ The randomness of conversations continued as we chatted with Ian from Detroit Beer Press.  They've got a new issue out in bars, breweries and distilleries around the area you should get your hands on...and not just because we have another article in this month's issue...though that's obviously a good reason.  We chatted through booze, beer, and all sorts of random mayhem with Ian.  Definitely a good chat, and check them out at http://www.detroitbeerpress.com/ For our fourth and final segment, we simply doubled back on some earlier topics, kept chatting with our guests, and wrapped up for the night. Not a bad way to kick things off at the new studio. Again, check out Mobile Comply at http://mobilecomply.com/, and their event Thursday night is at http://info.mobilecomply.com/connext-may-2015/ Give a look at Detroit Beer Press at http://www.detroitbeerpress.com/ And odds are good we'll see you at Motor City Comic Con this weekend: https://www.motorcitycomiccon.com/ 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 

With all of the chaos and excitement going on with our new studio, this one took a little bit to get out. Our apologies about that, but episode 90 marks a major milestone for us, and so we hope you enjoy it.  Self.Conference, women in technology, making a career change into I.T. ...all that and more. Episode 90 was a major milestone because it's the last time we're broadcasting from the Raw Radio X studio...starting this coming Monday night (May 11), we'll be broadcasting out of our own studio, and so how you listen live to us is changing.  It was an epic episode because we were joined by a whole bunch of awesome people who helped us wrap up our time at RRX properly, and covered some awesome topics along the way... Did I mention great guests? We had awesome guests. Nuri Gocay's been on the show a few times recently, and well, we like having him and his insights around.  Erika Carlson's been on our show a number of times over the past two years, and we simply can't get enough of her.  Elyse Lopez Turner is also a repeat offender, but this was her first time joining us after making a career transition from Marketing to Developer.  Kate Catlin has also been on the show with us before, and it's always a blast having her around.  Amber Conville was the only first-timer, but she handled herself awesomely in her debut. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: for those who listen live, this was our last broadcast out of the Raw Radio X studio.  Starting Monday, May 11th (this Monday), we will be broadcasting out of our FREAKING BRAND NEW STUDIO above Activ8 gaming in Ferndale. You can now listen to us live right here on our site. If you listen via TuneIn, you'll have to search for "IT in the D" as a station stream, because yes...we have our own station stream now.  We're very excited about this - look for a full announcement shortly. All of that and more can be found at http://www.itinthed.com/listen/how-to-listen/ Our first segment, as always, was about news, events, and though it's a bit dated at the moment, we chatted about our event this past Wednesday night at Hopcat.  It went really well, but it's in the past now, so keep an eye on our Events page to join us at a future event: http://www.itinthed.com/meet/  It was "Star Wars Day", so of course we talked Star Wars.  The new Avengers movie.  Stuff around the area and so much more. Segment two was all about Erika, Amber, and Self.Conference, an event taking place at the end of the month that you should absolutely make time for...and not just because they were cool enough to provide a discount code for our members and listeners.  Self.conference is a mix of fantastic tech presentations and insightful soft talks in fabulous downtown Detroit. They're filling two whole days at the end of May with mobile, web, hardware, software, process, and team talks to help you expand your knowledge, meet other technically-minded folk, and immerse yourself in Detroit's tech renaissance.  Check the event out at http://selfconference.org/, and you can use discount code "itinthed" or just follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/selfconference-2015-tickets-15432000529?discount=itinthed We talked with Elyse about her career transition from being a part of a marketing department to becoming a developer.  So, for those of you who think that simply can't be done...listen to what she has to say, because she's done it.  We've known Elyse for years, and it's been great seeing her make this transition and how much she's enjoying her new roles, challenges and opportunities.  Even though she hasn't updated her blog in about four months (yes, that's a dig), you can read about her journey at https://curlersandcode.wordpress.com/ Then we grilled Kate a little bit because she's leaving us and heading out west,

Well...we've had smoother running episodes, that's for sure...but Episode 89 of our live weekly broadcast is in the books. We were plagued by technical difficulties this time around for some reason, so please excuse some of the rough cuts during conversations.  We did the best we could getting everything cleaned up as best as we could for our guests from Pure Storage and Nuri from Penguicon.  We lost two entire segments, managed to talk Nuri into hanging out to try another run at segment three that came off...mostly okay, but cuts out rather abruptly.  So as a bonus to try and make it a little better, we're including the recording we did live at Penguicon... Our 1989 intro wrapped and as always we dove into the news, stories and events that caught our eye over the previous week. The latest social media mafia hit on a restaurant...that involved someone Bob knows.  Cameras around the downtown area and why they may or may not be legally placed.  Facebook's storage of updates that you erase before you post and tons more.  The really, really stupid thing that Starbucks is doing for Mother's Day and more. For segment two, we focused in with our guests Rich and Jarrod from Pure Storage.  Pure Storage has a simple mission: to enable the widespread adoption of flash in the enterprise data center. They're a team of some of the brightest minds in storage, flash memory and related technical industries. Founded on principles of teamwork and knowledge sharing, they focus on producing an exceptional result while they transform the landscape of the enterprise storage market (and have some fun along the way).  Long story short, they're doing some very cool stuff that can improve your system's response times, dramatically decrease your costs, and make your life a lot easier in general...so you should probably check them out: http://www.purestorage.com/ Then some serious whacky mayhem started, and so we lost a whole lot of our third segment, and Nuri was gracious enough to hang out and record it all over again with us, so you'll have to forgive some of the awkward transitions.   We recapped everything that happened at Penguicon over this past weekend. You can read more about Penguicon here: http://www.penguicon.org/ You can read Bob's recap of his experiences at http://www.itinthed.com/17044/2015-penguicon-review-part-1-the-sales-guy-learns-something/ You can read Dave's take on it at http://www.itinthed.com/17054/2015-penguicon-review-part-2-the-geek-goes-home/ ...and because of all of the chaos that had happened up through that point, we just called it a night.  So, as a little bit of a bonus to help ease the pain a bit, we've included a (heavily edited) live recording we did at Penguicon on Saturday night.  We'd been drinking, we were a little loopy, and we got some audience participation...so it's mostly like our normal shows...but with an audience. Check out Pure Storage at http://www.purestorage.com/ You can read more about Penguicon here: http://www.penguicon.org/ You can read Bob's recap of his experiences at http://www.itinthed.com/17044/2015-penguicon-review-part-1-the-sales-guy-learns-something/ You can read Dave's take on it at http://www.itinthed.com/17054/2015-penguicon-review-part-2-the-geek-goes-home/ 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     

1988 was a good year for movies and music, and episode 88 of our live weekly broadcast wasn't too shabby either. Joined by our guests from The Center for Michigan, as well as our friends from Penguicon and the Agile and Beyond conference, a great time, some fun chats and a whole lot of information about things going on around the area including this weekend and the end of the month and all sorts of good stuff for your career and professional life. We may or may not survive the weekend, so let's get to some details just in case we need bail money... Our 1988 themed intro came to a wrap, and the conversations got underway. Naturally, we had to talk about the insane number of trailers dropping from Hollywood including Star Wars, Mad Max, Batman vs Superman, Fantastic Four, Jurassic Park and the rest.  Bob's binge-watching of Daredevil and a chat about Netflix's original programming in general.  The awkward friend request. All the news, stories and items that caught our eye over the past week that you ought to know about. Then we dove in with Molly and Amber from The Center for Michigan.  The Center for Michigan is a “think-and-do” tank founded by former newspaper publisher and University of Michigan Regent Phil Power in early 2006.  A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, The Center’s objective is to make Michigan a better place by by encouraging greater understanding and involvement in policy issues among the state’s citizens and making sure their voices are regularly heard.  We do this by regularly by calling forth citizen views, amplifying those views and projecting them into the halls of power.  You can find out more about them at http://thecenterformichigan.net/ Click below to participate in any of the Center for Michigan’s online community conversations: College Value & Affordability Career Navigation Challenges to Upward Mobility And if it’s useful, here is the link to find and register for in-person community conversations: http://bit.ly/ConvoCalendar For our third segment, we hopped in with the guys who are likely going to be at least partially responsible for our demise this weekend, Scott and Nuri from Penguicon.  It's going to be a phenomenal time this weekend at The Westin in Southfield, with more than 500 hours of programming crammed into Friday night through Sunday, including a few panels and presentations that we'll be a part of and running ourselves. Imagine your happy place... ...a happy place where all geeky interests are represented, explored, and respected. A place with hackers, makers, foodies, open source software junkies, anime buffs, and science fiction fans of all ages and backgrounds come together in a hotel for a weekend and totally blow the roof off.  We go to panels, get free food and beer in our Hospitality Suite, go to ridiculously awesome room parties, and just hang out.  It's more than a thousand of your new best friends.  Check it out at http://www.penguicon.org/ and come play with us this weekend. Last but not least, we chatted with Tom and Jason about the Agile and Beyond conference taking place at the end of April.  Agile and Beyond 2015 is a Two-day conference in the heart of innovation in Dearborn, MI. Now in it's 6th year, Agile and Beyond brings together a eclectic mix of engineers, designers, product owners and executives for world-class workshops and talks focused on Agile and Lean processes and beyond. Get everything you need to know at http://agileandbeyond.com/2015/ And that brought episode 88 of our weekly broadcasts to a close. Tune in next week as we're joined by the folks from our core sponsor, Pure Storage, and it may or may not be someone's birthday. Again, our guests for this week's episode can be foun...

Another weekly live broadcast has come and gone, and another great time was had by all. For our 87th episode, we were joined by one of our core sponsors, Quantum Storage, as well as our friends from Motor City Geek.  And of course the intro and breaks were all 1987 themed as the 80s episodes continue.  We talked a little tech, we talked a little geek, we talked a little cosplay, and we laughed a lot while having all of those conversations and more... As the mics went live at 9pm, our 1987 themed intro kicked things off with some clips from the movies and shows from the year as a good blast from the past. After that, it was time for the news and stories that caught our eye over the past week.  It was a bad week to be a curious kid with a computer, as there were stories about a high school kid in Monroe who figured out how to run a DDOS against his school system's cloud-based network and a middle school kid who "hacked" (and I use the term very, very loosely) into his teacher's computer and swapped out the background image.  Comcast whining about DirectTV's Rob Lowe ads...and also refusing to stop charging a 66 year old man who had his house burn down.  All kinds of fun stuff, including a reminder about our upcoming event on Thursday night over at Blackfinn. In segment two, we hopped into what Quantum Storage has going on with guests Andrew Mortemore and Lynn Wenzel.  From storage to disaster recovery to audit and compliance, Quantum has a lot of solutions to a lot of problems facing businesses today.  Really good chat about everything that they've got going on these days, with some good insight into how to handle some of those tougher issues staring a lot of us in the face in today's world. Check them out at http://www.quantum.com/ For our third segment, Austin Benedict and Rob Lewis came up to the mics to talk about Motor City Geek among other things.  We first met these guys at Motor City Comic Con last year, and we ran into them again at Midwest Media Expo this past weekend and had an absolute blast...so it was perfect to get them into the studio right after the weekend came to a close for a recap of the weekend's events.  From cosplay to Live Action Role Playing (LARP) and all the other facets of the geek world that we saw and experienced this weekend, it was a fun recap and we're definitely going to have them back in soon to talk more. Check them out at http://motorcitygeek.com/  They had a great video recap put together of the weekend you should check out: In the fourth and final segment (no, no segment five this week), we doubled back on some earlier topics and wrapped things up for the night. See you Thursday night in the back room of Blackfinn, and we'll be back Monday night with some more great guests and conversations. Once again, this week's guests: Quantum can be found at http://www.quantum.com/ Motor City Geek can be found online at http://motorcitygeek.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/motorcitygeek 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 86 is in the archives, and it was a really fun show. Joined by our guests talking about an art show this weekend downtown (When Visions Collide 2), a social media conference / retreat this weekend in Frankenmuth (the Social Media Association of Michigan's Social Media Retreat), IT recruiting here in the area (Brightwing), and all things Detroit (Daily Detroit) ...we had one hell of a range of topics and a whole lot of fun this time around...to the point where we even had to break into one of our infamous fifth segments... After our 1986-themed intro wrapped up, the mics went live and we were off and running.  From tunnels that ran from the Playboy mansion to the homes of several celebrities to ISIS encroaching on the real-life Tatooine, all of the fun and excitement around Opening Day downtown, Bob's annoyance with the latest Android operating system update and more, as always, our first segment covered the news and events that have caught our eye. We also gave a quick recap of our event last week at Firebird Tavern, along with our upcoming event next week at Blackfinn in Royal Oak, so listen in for some details on those. For our second segment, we dove in with Leanne Rumsey, who's putting together When Visions Collide 2, an art show taking place downtown at the Tangent Art Gallery on Saturday night. There's going to be a wide range of artists covering everything from paintings to charcoals to stained glass and more there, and every piece that's there is going to be for sale.  So whether you're looking for something for your home, your office, a cool gift, or just something cool to do on Saturday night, this definitely sounds like something you should be planning on checking out. The event has more than doubled in size since last year, so there's bound to be a little something for everyone and anyone...and odds are good we'll see you there if you go. For details and more information, check out their Facebook event listing over at https://www.facebook.com/events/877890205566523/ Next up, we chatted with Sola Obayan.  We've known Sola for a number of years, from when she organized a social media panel on using social media to find a job back in 2012 that we took part in, and it was great to have her in to chat about the Social Media Association of Michigan. They've got a great event taking place this weekend (Friday through Sunday) in Frankenmuth that you social media types among our readers and listeners are going to want to be at. While they'll have tracks there for the beginners, the event is really geared towards people with some experience under their belts who are looking to deep-dive on case studies, best practices, and some heavier topics. With some great speakers covering a whole range of topics, if you're in this career track, then this is where you want to be this weekend...and good news, you can snag a 50% off discount for the next two days if you want to go.  Listen in, and then hit their event page at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-media-conference-retreat-in-frankenmuth-michigan-tickets-14708201627 (and view that image there to see what you're looking for), or their website at http://www.smami.org/ for more information. Another 1986-soaked break later, and we were back with Russ Dotson from Brightwing for our fourth segment. As those of you who have been around for a while know, Russ was a guest on our very first episode, called in while he was deployed overseas, popped in while he was back stateside, was a crucial part in getting our Support the Troops events setup and running, and has been around the group for quite some time. We chatted about settling back in to civilian life now that he's back home for good and diving back into the all too fun world of information technolog...

Better Off Dead. Breakfast Club. Back to the Future. Commando. European Vacation. Fletch. Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Goonies. Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon. Real Genius. Rocky 4. Desperately Seeking Susan (remember when Madonna was hot?). Teen Wolf. Tuff Turf. Weird Science. Spies Like Us. Just One of the Guys. Moonlighting...yeah, 1985 was a great year, and episode 85 of our weekly broadcast wasn't too shabby either. With our guests from the Detroit Craftsman Guild and Solstice Consulting Group, we had a whole bunch of good things to talk about... We started off with the news, stories and events that caught our eye over the past week after our 1985 flavored intro wrapped up.  We chatted about the remade version of Poltergeist that's hitting theaters next month, the return of the X-Files, Walking Dead's season finale, how if you ever shopped at Radio Shack you need to be paying attention since they're selling all of their collected customer data over the years during their bankruptcy liquidation, how a couple wound up driving off a bridge that had been closed since 2009 because their GPS told them to, the prisoner in Europe that got access to a phone and faked his own release letter via email to the prison...and it worked...and so, so much more. We're testing out with a new sponsor again this week, so here's this week's offer to go try out. Guys, we all shave, and razors and replacement blades can be ridiculously expensive. So when Harry's reached out and wanted to give things a shot with us, they sent us each a starter kit to check out...and, well, we're talking about them, and you know us, so that says it all right there.  Solid products, great pricing, and we even have a discount code for you to make their prices even better.  Hit https://www.harrys.com/, check out their starter sets - that start at only $15, mind you - and then use code ITintheD at checkout to take $5 off. After a flashback music break, we hopped in with James York.  He teaches classes over at Grand Circus when he's not at his day job over at Lochbridge, and does a whole bunch of other stuff, but we specifically had him him to chat about his work with the Detroit Craftsman Guild.  If you're not familiar with them, they're an offshoot of the excellent Craftsman Guild in Ann Arbor, and the goal is creating a technology-agnostic user group for local Detroit software professionals who want to stay current in an industry in which there's no way to stay totally current. The current plan is to have a healthy mix of hard and soft talks (tech vs. dev practices) as well as hands-on coding events from time to time.  They meet up on the third Tuesday of every month over at Detroit Labs, and it sounds like they've definitely got something going on that's worth checking out.  Give them a look at http://www.meetup.com/Detroit-Craftsman-Guild/ We had a "couple skate" music break, and then we dove in with a guy who wears a lot of hats due to his varied interests, Steven Acho.  He's the managing director of Solstice Consulting Group, a recruiting company that takes a different approach than many others.  He's a musician with more than 3,000,000 downloads of his music.  He's an author who's written a book titled Why Technology Recruiting is Broken and What to do about it.  Needless to say, we had a great chat with Steve.  We talked about what Solstice Consulting Group does differently and their views on hiring talent and firing clients.  Lots of great stuff.  Follow up and check him out at http://www.steveacho.com/, grab his book at http://www.amazon.com/Technology-Recruiting-Broken-What-about-ebook/dp/B00U80A7I2/, and click on over to Solstice Consulting Group at http://www.scg360.com/ For our fourth and final segment, we doubled back on some of our earlier topics and wrapped up with our guests for the night.

Duran Duran.  The NeverEnding Story.  Transformers. 1984 was a good year, and so it's of little surprise that episode 84 of our weekly live broadcast was a blast. With our guests from Falling Down Beer Company, RhinoCoders and Startup Weekend Pontiac in-studio with us, we had a wide variety of topics to handle...to the point where it even took us into a fifth segment to get through it all... We kicked off this episode with another retrospective intro, and then dove into our usual round of guest introductions, followed by the stories that have caught our eye this past week. Oh and hey, get a free audio book by hitting http://www.Audible.com/ITintheD The end of Internet Explorer.  Sending money via Facebook Messenger.  The Nain Rouge events downtown over the weekend.  Slow Roll wanting people to buy memberships.  The amazing number of apps in the Apple store that haven't had a single download.  Our new favorite gag gift to send to people. After a break, we dove in with Matt and Jon from RhinoCoders.  RhinoCoders immerses the young people of Metropolitan Detroit into the world of interactive architecture by providing them with a digital foundation from which to grow, through a series of fun and interactive tracks taught by web developers from SapientNitro Detroit. Students discover the latest cutting-edge technologies, learn how to code efficiently, develop stunning websites and create engaging apps.  Students build a clean, professional-looking website based off their favorite animal, utilizing the latest web standards and best practices in the HTML, CSS, JavaScript coding languages.  Their classes are only three weeks long, and they've got another round starting soon.  Check them out at http://www.rhinocoders.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rhinocoders Another flashback of some tunes from 1984 later, and segment three was all about Startup Weekend: Pontiac.  We chatted with the organizers, Crystal and Amos, about their event this weekend.  Over the span of 54 hours, you'll get immersed in what it takes to get to a minimum viable product, and you can come at it from just about any angle you want.  Are you a business person with an idea...but no tech skills or design capabilities?  They need you.  Can you sling code, and want to help get something off the ground?  They need you.  Got some design skills that can help make something look slick and clean? They need you.  Get on over to check them out at https://www.facebook.com/startupweekendpontiac and dive in! For segment four, we chatted with one of our favorite people...and not just because we get beer from him...Mark from Falling Down Beer Company.  Their second anniversary event is this weekend, and you should absolutely plan on attending.  From 9am to 11am, they've got a reservations-only brunch going on that, knowing their kitchen, is going to knock your socks off.  Starting at 11am, the doors open to the public, and they'll have 14 taps running with a wide variety of brews available, food, entertainment, they'll be raffling off gift cards, growler fills, and a bunch of other stuff.  Plan on being there.  Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/fallingdownbeer And as mentioned up in the intro, we had to keep things rolling into a fifth segment because we had so much to cover.  We hadn't even talked about our Pink Slip Party last week at The Majestic, or that we're doubling down on events starting in April with an event on Wednesday, April 1st over at Firebird Tavern downtown. So listen to this week's episode, and we'll see you next week. RhinoCoders can be found at http://www.rhinocoders.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/rhinocoders Startup Weekend Pontiac can be found at https://www.facebook.com/startupweekendpontiac

Our flashback to 1983 with episode 83 of our live, weekly broadcast has come and gone, and it was definitely a lot of fun. We were joined in-studio by a couple of recurring guests on our show, Steve Gaura from Arrow Strategies and Billy Strawter of Social Coop Media Detroit.  We talked about our Pink Slip Party this Thursday night, what Arrow's seeing in the jobs market, why companies build all of these splintered apps and more... Once our 1983 themed intro wrapped up, we dove into the news, events and stories that have caught our eyes over the past week. From our impending Pink Slip Party to us doubling down on events in April and throughout the rest of the year, we handled a little business first and foremost. Then we dove into the fun news that everything you say to Siri is recorded, packaged, sent back to the Apple mothership and sold off.  So that's awesome.  The new Hello Barbie dolls doing the exact same thing to your kids.  Hertz putting spycams in their rental cars...even if they say they haven't activated them.  Super PI day that happened this past Saturday.  And, of course, much more. In segment two, we dropped in with Steve Gaura from Arrow Strategies to talk about why they've been a sponsor of our Pink Slip Party events ever since...well, ever since we first started accepting sponsors, actually.  We talked about what they'll be looking for Thursday night, a recruiter's take on what you should expect, how you should act, and what you should be looking for at the event.  How to best prepare yourself and handle the interactions with everyone, and a good bit more.  Arrow Strategies can be found at http://arrowstrategies.com/, or, of course, at our event Thursday night. Our third segment dove in with Billy Strawter of Social Coop Media.  It's always great having Billy in, because he's one of the few people that can actually make us understand social media topics without wanting to kill people.  We had some great chats about why companies are building so many splintered apps these days...and the rather annoying trend of apps that aren't happy doing one thing really well, and find themselves sucking when they try to be all things to all people.  They handle clients all over the country, but especially if you're here in the metro Detroit area and trying to get a grip on your social media strategy and make sense of all the nonsense going on these days...we can't possibly recommend Billy and Social Coop Media enough to you.  Go check them out at http://socialcoopmedia.com/ As we always do, our fourth segment doubled back on some earlier topics to amplify things a bit, we covered a few more news stories from the past week, and then wrapped things up for the night. Come join us live and in person Thursday night at The Majestic Theater - looking forward to seeing everyone there! Arrow Strategies can be found at http://arrowstrategies.com/ Social Coop Media can be found at http://socialcoopmedia.com/ 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 82 of our weekly live broadcast is in the history books, and we had a lot of fun with our guests. We were joined by Corey from Midwest Media Expo and Terry from 313Dlove to talk about their respective events coming up in the next month, as well as two of our group's members, Ian and Darshan, to get their take on those events, our own upcoming events and more... In case you weren't listening live last night, you still have time to win a free lifetime membership to the Detroit Beer Press howler club.  All you have to do is be the first one to post a comment here that identifies all of the movies and TV shows from 1982 that the clips came from during our intro! Once said intro wrapped up, as always, we dove into quick introductions of everyone, and then hopped right into the news, events and stories that caught our eye from this past week.  We talked about Mt Everest basically being a chemical war zone due to all of the human waste left behind (yes, that means exactly what you think it means), Curt Schilling tracking down the guys who were harassing his daughter on twitter, the Rock Band video game making a comeback onto new platforms, why we're all apparently old and out of it since we don't understand how Snapchat can possibly be a threat to TV and more. In our second segment, we dove in with Corey from Midwest Media Expo.  For just $45 (and that pricing ends TODAY, people...so if you want it, go get it!) you get access to the entire weekend's events, autographs from the special guests and more.  That's right - no extra charge for autographs, special sessions, or anything else.  What a novel freaking concept.  The World Cosplay Summit will be taking place as a part of that weekend's activities, gaming tournaments and much, much more.  The Midwest Media Expo is a popular culture event similar to most Comic Conventions. Instead of focusing on only comics, the Midwest Media Expo is a celebration of all popular media, including: Animation, Television, Film, Literature, Video Games, Tabletop Gaming, Comics, and Internet Culture. The Midwest Media Expo will bring a unique all-ages blend of interactive events, celebrity guest panels, and live musical performances to Downtown Detroit.  Find them online at http://www.midwestmediaexpo.com/, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MidwestMediaExpo Segment three has us chatting about an event this Friday as Terry talked about the 313Dlove event.  From a trending topic on Twitter to a movement that will one day see March 13 a city-wide holiday, they focus on positive change.  There's a march taking place in the morning, followed by a programming track at the Charles H Wright Museum of African American History.  Find out more on their site - http://313dlove.com/ - or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/313DLove Our fourth and final segment doubled back on some earlier topics, covered a few more items that we hadn't gotten to, and then wrapped things up for the night. Join us next week as we've got Steve from Arrow Strategies and Billy Strawter from Social Coop Media Detroit with us in-studio as we talk about our Pink Slip Party that Thursday night and more. Midwest Media Expo can be found at at http://www.midwestmediaexpo.com/, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MidwestMediaExp 313Dlove can be found at http://313dlove.com/ - or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/313DLove 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 81 of our weekly broadcast is in the rear view mirror, and it was definitely a good one. We were joined in-studio by two of the ladies behind ComiqueCon to discuss their November event, the owner of The Detroit Bus Company to talk about their recent dust-up with a production house as well as their efforts to keep Detroit's youth safe and able to access programs, and the writer behind Folkteller to talk a little Detroit folklore and history in the context of their stories, graphic novel, and in-progress film version... Hey, did you hear Spock died?  In case you went Amish for a few days, Leonard Nimoy died, and so of course we chatted about that for a few.  Our Pink Slip Party event is just a couple of weeks away, and in just a week we're down to only one sponsor slot left open.  We talked about a need that our friends over at Penguicon have that will help them work miracles for some local children, so you should go read about that here.  The opening of Buffalo Wild Wings in Royal Oak...and people standing in line in the freezing weather for basically nothing.  Uber's data breach and the guy who got hit with a $452 fare over an 11 mile, 30 minute ride.  That stupid dress that took over the internet for a few days.  Net neutrality and the internet being classified as a utility.  So, so much more. After a break, we came back with Sharon and Chelsea from Comiquecon, an event being put on in November focused on female creators, authors, artists and panels.  It's taking place on Saturday, November 7 at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, and since they're still in the planning stages, there's plenty of time for you to get involved.  They're looking for sponsors, ideas for panels, volunteers, presenters and more.  Tickets haven't been released yet, but they made a few announcements last night as to some guests who have been booked for appearances at their event, so listen in and hear what they've got going on. In segment three, we chatted with Andy Didorisi of The Detroit Bus Company on a couple of different topics.  We invited him in originally because of a bit of whacky mayhem that went down regarding a tv program that apparently took the liberty of stealing a video he was a part of...and if that wasn't bad enough, they bundled it into their own work and completely misrepresented his story.  Even better, he didn't know about it until he started getting calls and texts from people watching it.  But then, even though we initially brought him in to chat about that, as we did a little pre-show research, we discovered that his company does some very cool things, including ensuring that school kids who don't have access to after school programs due to a lack of transportation availability are able to get where they need to go to have the opportunities to learn and grow.  Which, as it turns out, isn't cheap at all to do.  They received a grant to get them rolling (pardon the pun) last year, but this year it's on them to raise a hefty chunk of the cash required to keep this program alive, and so they've got an IndieGogo campaign running to raise the money they need.  There are worse things you can do with your money, so go give it a look and donate. For our last segment, we brought Joseph Bastien of Folkteller into the mix to discuss his Nain Rouge story, graphic novel and movie in the works.  For those unfamiliar with the urban legend / folklore of Nain Rouge, the story goes that there's a red dwarf who shows up when bad things are about to happen in Detroit, dating as far back as 1701.  There are events that have cropped up around the story in recent years, beers have been named after it by local breweries, and it's a rather interesting story and bit of legend for the area.  This was an interesting chat, going through the process of a writer trying to get his story more easily accessible to today's readers,

A fun episode, even if we were riddled with technical issues, which sort of explains why this episode is a little bit late getting out.  Sorry about that. We were joined in-studio by one of our sponsors, W3R, as well as our friends over at Daily Detroit, for a whole bunch of conversations and chats about the state of things here in Detroit, the latest news and info floating around worth noting, the BIGGEST NEWS EVER IN DETROIT...and much more... In our first segment, we talked about the little problem Lenovo has with some pre-loaded software that isn't necessarily what users were expecting, the fact that we're finally in the 80s and some of the landmark moments from 1980 that were worth remembering, our article in the latest issue of Detroit Beer Press, our upcoming events and more. Next up...well, next up we had some technical issues with the broadcast and so things got a little fluky, but eventually we dove in with W3R about an event of their own they had in the works, what they see in and around the area and the industry, the sort of jobs they're hiring for and more.  Check out everything W3R has going on at http://www.w3r.com/ With Daily Detroit, we talked about some shenanigans going on with a couple local media outlets and a power player around town, whether or not the announcement about fiber coming to Detroit is actually going to matter for your typical resident and a whole bunch of fun topics...well, because it's always a blast when we dive in with that crew.  Check them out at http://www.dailydetroit.com/ In our final segment, we did as we usually do.  We doubled back on some earlier topics, caught a few things that we missed in the earlier segment, and then wrapped things up for the night. Catch W3R at http://www.w3r.com/ Read Daily Detroit at http://www.dailydetroit.com/ 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