Category Archives: Features

Foodies Unite! Presenting “Eatellia” A New Food Photo Network

Recently, I lamented about the ending of the Foodspotting App in a post that can be found HERE. I loved it at first since it was easy to use and help broadcast that which I was eating but over the most recent months it seemed like it was falling to the wayside. I’d learn that it was because it was heading towards its end thanks to a purchase by OpenTable and now its time to move on.

This post is to introduce our readers to an app that was learned about while trying to get all of our photos back from Foodspotting but more on that later. Foodies of the world, behold “EATELLIA” – a Social Network that appears to keep it simple and functional which is a win, win idea in my book. Take a look at my profile down below.

eatellia, social networking, foodie

So while you see there are some “700” or so photos in the profile, I’ve only been using Eatellia for a few days. I was able to still import almost all of my Foodspotting images into this account. Sadly, I think the window for that kind of old Foodspotting integration is closed but you can try. Speaking frankly, I am quite disappointed in the lack of communication from OpenTable to the Foodspotting user community about their accounts and images. With the technology available today, the means to access ones images and perhaps move onto a brand-new OT account should have been communicated. The failure to do so makes me feel that my personal information was just purchased by yet another medium and I will be making sure that there is no trace of me on OT for the time being. It’s not a network I think that I need but I digress.

So far Eatellia is a fun app for me to use and since I don’t really like posting food images on Instagram and pretty much abhor the use of Facebook for anything other than feeds to “The Chronicles” or PiercingMetal.com, think I will be continuing to utilize it. If I’m able to secure my press credentials for the Summer Fancy Food Show this year, you can count on my loading the account up with photos like you might recall seeing HERE. If you consider yourself a proper Foodie, then take that stuff off of the other socials and make them stand with something new. I’ve got their link down below for you to examine along with ones for both Yelp and OpenTable – the first so you can provide some value to the mix and the second to try and reclaim your Foodspotting stuff.

Relevant Links:
Eatellia: https://www.facebook.com/eatellia/
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/
OpenTable: https://www.opentable.com/

ReedPOP & NY Comic Con Announce “The Dates” For 2018

Hey there my dear readers, I just wanted to alert you to this bit of news about the upcoming 2018 NY Comic Con. It came to us not long ago from the folks over at ReedPOP and you’ll want to mark some of this stuff down for good measure as its important if you are a fan of this massive convention.

nycc 2018, reedpop, ny comic con 2018

Piercing Ken Thoughts: I am going to stress the importance of watching for the “Fan Verification” email because I’ve had a lot of important messages go to my Spam folder over the last few months. Considering that you need to be verified nowadays to attend this event you are NOT going to want to miss out on this one if you have a profile already. The registration for Industry Professionals and the Press is already open and I’ve just requested my credentials for the PiercingMetal Media site. As most of you more tenured readers know, I’ve been attending this convention since 2010 as a member of the press and have put together numerous posts about it. If this is news to you then by all means please click HERE to peruse them to your hearts content. You’re also going to want to click through to the websites down below since they will help to keep you informed on all of the information that you need about this years convention. See you next time.

Official Websites:
NY Comic Con
ReedPOP

“Good Morning America” Announces Its 2018 Summer Concert Series Lineup

Summer is almost here and that means its once again time to share the revealed performers for the Good Morning America “Summer Concert Series”. As you most likely know by now, the live music scene is something that I love and the offering up of free performances like this is quite incredible. These events begin in the coming weeks and as you will read below, start very early in the morning if you’d like to get a proper space. I’d suggest a dawn arrival and choose the most suitable gig for you as possible since you cannot use the same lateness excuse blaming the MTA so many times. Check out the concerts below and I will return at the close with additional thoughts.

good morning america summer concert series logo

Concert Schedule:
May 15 – Liam Payne and J Balvin (#LIAMonGMA, #JBALVINonGMA)
May 25 – Sting and Shaggy (#STINGonGMA, #SHAGGYonGMA)
June 1 – Halsey (#HALSEYonGMA)
June 8 – Ne-Yo (#NEYOonGMA)
June 15 – Pitbull (#PITBULLonGMA)
June 22 – Bebe Rexha (#BEBEREXHAonGMA)
June 29 – Florence + the Machine (#FLORENCEonGMA)
July 6 – G-Eazy (#GEAZYonGMA)
July 13 – Backstreet Boys (#BACKSTREETBOYSonGMA)
July 20 – Camila Cabello (#CAMILAonGMA)
July 27 – Fall Out Boy (#FALLOUTBOYonGMA)
August 3 – Kelsea Ballerini (#KELSEAonGMA)
August 10-The Chainsmokers9 (#CHAINSMOKERSonGMA)
August 17 – Leon Bridges* (#LEONBRIDGESonGMA) *This concert will be held in our Times Square studio.
August 24 – Luis Fonsi (#LUISFONSIonGMA)
August 31 – Alesso (#ALESSOonGMA)

How to Attend a Summer Concert:
All other concerts are free and open to the public and will take place on Fridays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET. Viewers interested in joining “GMA” in Central Park are encouraged to arrive at Rumsey Playfield via the 72nd Street entrance on Fifth Avenue at 6 a.m. when the park opens to the public. The Summer Concert Series returns for the eighth year to Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, home of City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage Festival.

Piercing Ken Thoughts: I’ll be listing all of these events on our handy dandy Events Calendar for sure so if you do NOT yet have that bookmarked as a favorite on your computer or mobile device please get to that ASAP. I want you to be up to date on the latest and greatest happenings in our region. Now as you can see, these events happen very early in the morning and I can only stress that acting fast and being there in as timely a fashion is in your best interests. Sadly there don’t seem to be any performances by artists I’d want to see for the purposes of my PiercingMetal.com adventures. So what do you readers think about these offerings? Will you be entering their giveaways to see one of the artists listed? Let me know down in the comments section below. Until we meet again.

Official Website: http://www.abcnews.com

Attention Fellow Foodies; Foodspotting Has Come To An End…..

Though it was never really my intention, I pretty much became a Foodie once I learned of the Foodspotting app and added its use to my regular contributions to the Yelp community. I had fallen behind in my submissions there based on life demands but when I logged in recently to catch up I learned the sad news about the app being shut down. Here is the official scoop on the matter.

“As you know, OpenTable acquired Foodspotting in 2013, not only for its amazing content, but also for its incredibly loyal and engaged community. Since then, you’ve been instrumental in how friends and experts alike discover the best dishes across the world, and for that, we just want to say thank you. But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. After much deliberation, we have chosen to discontinue the Foodspotting app and website in early May. If you’d like to keep all the photos you’ve captured over the years, we encourage everyone to take this opportunity to download your content. Click HERE for details”

What a shame right? Another Social Network bites the dust. I’ll miss this one quite a bit as I’ve been using it since I first chanced upon their booth at the NY Comic Con way back in 2011. I found it odd that they were pitching attendees of the massive geek event but despite that I thought they were interesting and I signed up. Fortunately, I snagged a couple of screenshots of my profile to forever remember my account status.

foodspotting, social networking, foodie

I also secured some expert level status based on certain contributions. There were a lot more than these based on the account but no real easy way to showcase them outside of the top four. Beer was one of them as was french fries but I am so trying to do less of that at this stage in my life. The pounds no longer go away just by will anymore. Sigh.

foodspotting, social networking, foodie

Since I began penning this notice, I learned that a new app has risen up to take the place of Foodspotting and this one is called Eatellia. Just click the name to be brought to their site. According to what one user posted on the Foodspotting Facebook Page, one can import all of their Foodspotting images into this app but I don’t see how that can be done now that Foodspotting isn’t even opening up on the mobile device or website. Goodbye Foodspotting, I really enjoyed your network and sharing foodie visuals with those who chose to enjoy them along with me. Hopefully this new Eatellia app will amount to something and I’m game to try it out since I really don’t like posting endless images to my personal Facebook Page. Since the Foodspotting app isn’t even responding anymore and the weblink brings you to OpenTable.com it’s safe to say that its a done deal. My use since 2011 finds me thinking that I was a very early adopter of this network and its pretty impressive to find it lasting almost eight years considering how quickly peoples attention span drifts. Closing up I’ve linked several of the socials that I am regularly posting on so by all means come “Like” or “Follow” us on them. The more the merrier I always say.

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Attention! Flickr To Be Acquired By SmugMug

Hey friends, I received this in an email the other day as someone who uses the photo service Flickr and figured I’d make a post about it to keep you in the loop if you are using it as well and if this message hit your Junk Mail folder.

The Announcement:
We’re excited to announce that Flickr has agreed to be acquired by SmugMug, the photography platform dedicated to visual storytellers. SmugMug has a long history of empowering people who love photography and who want to improve their craft, making them a perfect fit for Flickr and our creative community. With SmugMug, we’ll continue to focus on you, the Flickr members who inspire us all with your work.

Nothing will change immediately with regard to your Flickr account. You will still access Flickr with your current login credentials and you will have the same Flickr experience as you do now. We will continue to work to make your Flickr experience even better.
Continue reading Attention! Flickr To Be Acquired By SmugMug