Visit foodconnect.com today and plan your next culinary event no matter where it is in North America. With hundreds of events already listed and more added all the time you are sure to find your next tasty adventure.

Do you produce a food or beverage event? Get listed on foodconnect.com for free! Promote your event with Social Media and sell your tickets online. Contact us to find out how.

Keep your eyes open for our re-launch of FoodConnect.com in the next couple months. Our new website is going to focus on all the culinary events going on in North America! Some of the events we will be covering are food festivals, culinary tours and cooking classes. If you are an event planner, upload your event to our calendar and drive more traffic. Need your event managed? have it powered by our EzTix system.

A recent update on Apple.com has left thousand anxious to download the new IOS expected to be ready this Fall. With over 200+ new features, it with out fail should be one of the most exciting updates yet. Just when you think they can't do any more, Apple comes up with innovative ideas that surprise us and excite us every time.

In my eyes, one of the best features that will bring Apple more business is the new feature called Imessage. Imessage works just like BBM (Blackberry Messenger). Blackberry users always say "they would switch but Iphone doesn't have BBM" - No more excuses now! Not only will it bring you all the features of BBM, it is easier and more intuitive. The Imessage also does not require PINS and simply adds them from your phonebook if the number is entered on your phone. It easily goes across all your Apple devices which allows you to continue conversations wherever, whenever! 

Some other features to look forward to:

• A new notification centre to keep track of all your notifications in one place
• A reminder system (much like a task list)
• Camera improvements such as being able to access your camera right from the home screen
• Photo Editing
• ICloud

And Much More. To check out a full list of updates, visit apples website by clicking here.

Being a Apple based company, we are very excited for the new release of this IOS!

USING EZTIX.CO

Some say being the first isn’t always a good idea and it does not help with your competitive advantage?

At EzTix, we disagree. We are the first to introduce our IPad Mobile Box Office solution in North America. For the past year, our EzTix’s partners have had the opportunity and enjoyment of utilizing our IPads to increase their on-site ticket sales and increase additional revenue from retail sales!

As expected other ticketing companies are now following! So while they start beta testing on their clients, EzTix’s partners have the privilege to take advantage of a proven ready to go formula to sell hundreds of thousands of tickets onsite through our EzTix’s IPad Mobile Box Office solution with minimal errors.

So like I said, at least we can say we were the first!  Try an already tested and perfected IPad Mobile Box Office solution  and, at the same time, feel great that you are not being tested on!

More information, feel free to call our toll-free number 18772484481, sales@eztix.co , or just tweet us @eztix.

USING EZTIX.CO

The smallest detail makes the biggest difference in the overall event experience for your customers!  

Imagine, you arrive at the door. The door person greets you and pulls out an IPOD TOUCH verification scanner.   What is your first thought? Cool right?

With one touch of a button your e-ticket with its secured bar code is validated and your ready to enjoy the rest of your evening!

The best feedback we receive from current EzTix Partners is the usefulness and efficiency of using a real wireless IPOD verification scanner.  Our scanners are the simplest way to prevent duplicated ticket fraud, and to reduce queuing time at the door.  Complimentary to the scanner is an EzTix online app that is pre set-up for you to track all critical ticket data in real-time.

With that said, I’d like to highlight some features you might not know about our wireless Ipod Scanners:

1. You can start going down the queue with the wireless ticket scanner and start validating –it’s that easy!

2. With a simple click of a button, a ticket can be validated within seconds.

3. The scanner will inform you if the ticket has already been used and the details of validation in REAL-TIME.

4. The scanners will track the status and upload all ticket details to your centralized web-portal for you to review literally anywhere.

5. Did your customer forget his ticket but has his ticket #? Within minutes, you can manually check and verify by ticket number.

We are proud to say we are the ONLY Event Ticketing company in North America using these real verification scanners! Give our Ipod scanners a try and see just how simple it is!

We are always available here if you have any questions at our toll free number 1 877 248 4481, sales@eztix.co, or just tweet us @eztix.

Looking for a fun event to attend this June?

Join us at Eat! Vancouver along with celebrity chefs, popular local restaurants, wineries, food and beverage manufacturers, cookbook authors, retailers, artisans, and many others from the culinary world! 

When is the event: 

Where:

Vancouver Convention Center, West Wing  (Map)

For more information on this event, please visit their website by clicking here.  We look forward to seeing you there!

>> BUY TICKETS NOW!

Google is proud to announce that on June 15th - They will launch their very first ever notebooks running the new operating system "Chrome OS".  You will be able to choose between a samsung machine or acer machine! Each company is releasing a model running the new OS.

 Some Features Included: 

• Boots In 8 Seconds
• Ability to connect from any where using WIFI or 3G. 
• Apps, Documents and settings are stored saftely a cloud
• For more features click here.

Interested in the chrome os? Get notified when it comes out by visiting their website and clicking "notify me!"

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Amazon on Tuesday launched the Amazon Cloud Drive, an Internet service that lets customers store music and other digital files on the company's servers and access them on computers, smartphones and other devices. Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) will give customers 5GB of Cloud Drive storage for free, and if users buy an MP3 album through Amazon, they'll be upgraded to 20GB of cloud storage for a year.

The Cloud Player works on PCs, Macs and Android devices. 98 EmailPrint The move means Amazon is officially "to the cloud" with music -- beating Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) years-long attempts to do the same. Analysts say that's because Apple and Google have been waiting for record labels to get on board with licensing agreements. Amazon decided to skip the niceties and simply take the plunge.

"For Amazon to try to sidestep all of this, the consequences are a big question mark," says Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer. "It's the first shot across the bow, which is refreshing, but you can smell the lawsuits coming."

Read the rest of this artcle at CCN.com >>

Source: http://money.cnn.com

I've never been much of a calorie counter and in fact haven’t put much thought into those pesky nutritional labels, until now.  Yes its true, FoodConnect offers this service to restaurants and we have a group of staff that analyze recipes but from a consumer standpoint I was clueless. I decided to empower myself with some research and thought I’d share.

What is a Nutritional Fact Label?

It is more then likely that once in our life we have all experienced the awful feeling of our computer crashing and loosing all our files, photos, memories, documents and more! This similar feeling was experienced by thousands of Google Gmail users at around 3:00pm, Sunday, February 28th. Users logged onto their email to find all their messages, contacts and other content had disappeared! Users were left in the unknown as to where their emails and many other communications had gone. Within a few hours, Google admitted to a slip in service that caused the frightening "Empty Inbox".

Google claims that only about 0.02% of its user base was affected - That being said, they do provide this service to about 193 million users, so that small percent can add up! The disruption was big enough to hit headlines all over the internet and have thousands of users speaking and complaining about the crash.

So What caused the problem tons of users asked? Google blog said "We released a storage software update that introduced the unexpected bug, which caused 0.02% of Gmail users to temporarily lose access to their email. When we discovered the problem, we immediately stopped the deployment of the new software and reverted to the old version." Some users were unhappy with the amount of time it took to restore the email service. However, The Google mail service has been reported to be fully solved and all users have got their data back! Phew!

We rely so much on technology and the services it offers - it is not doubt sometimes things are bound to break and need fixed.

To read googles full blog post on the issue, please click here.

As we approach April 2011, the world is now waiting on the Apple iPad 2! Rumours of production and release dates have spread and flooded websites everywhere. The iPad 2, which is based on the current model that was launched in April 2010, is expected to be released this coming April.

Sources are saying that we can except the iPad to be equipped with exciting new features that will only make us love it more!

Some rumours for the new features we expect to see include:

• 9.7-inch “retina” display much like the Iphone 4
• Front-facing camera and a built-in FaceTime video-phone app
• More support for AirPlay streaming USB ports

As nothing has been set in stone or confirmed yet by Apple itself, we are excited to see what the next iPad brings to the table.

This product was so successful the first time around that during the second quarter in 2010, Apple had sold 4.19 million iPads around the world.  How will the sales for the iPad 2 do? Will we be surprised with other features we haven't heard about?  We are just as curious as you!

The suspense will soon come to end, but until then - along with the rest of the World, we anxiously wait!

1. Social media will not save you. If you think that you can rely on it just because it's free, and everyone's talking about it, you're wrong. Social media is one part of the marketing pie. How large that slice is depends on your business and your objectives.
2. Do people want to know you? Think of it like a cocktail party. If you attend an event and your only interaction is with the bartender and your beloved blackberry, people will not notice you. However, if you mingle, listen to others, ask questions, shake some hands and hey, maybe even throw in a shimmy shake - you start to build a presence. In social media, you need to work the community just like you'd work a room.
3. "The power of Twitter is in your sharing, not your selling" (via @iconic88). If you're a constant self-promoter, people will not want to follow you. Follow others who are relevant to your industry, retweet their links, engage in conversations, share information of value. At the very least, have a 1:4 ratio (self promotion vs versus sharing other information that your followers will find value in).
4. Think before you tweet. Just because you have the power to publish at the click of a button does not mean you should pollute the social space with mindless chatter or endless self-promotion. Don't share what you ate for breakfast. And if you are responding to someone where the discussion would add no value to the rest of your followers, use a private direct message instead. Come across an interesting article related to your industry, a top ten list, or a shocking stat? Retweet away. People dig that.
5. Use photos - People like information that can be easily and quickly digested, and photos do just that. The right kind of photos, mind you. What do people like to see? If you are a hotel for example, perhaps you want to showcase photos of your fabulous rooftop pool, or maybe the vibrant bellhop uniforms that your hotel is known for. Or perhaps you can do a honeymoon series, where you take a photo of a just-married couple that's staying in the honeymoon suite and share the story of how they met (with their participation of course). The point I'm getting at is, post photos that are creative, and convey some sort of an interesting story. 

Bottom line, social media is one part of the marketing mix that can be an effective way of keeping in touch with your fans and connecting to your community and business industry. Lastly, if you're going to explore social media, make sure you set realistic expectations, and understand that it is an ongoing campaign, not a one-off promotion. Creating any sort of community requires frequent attention and time to grow. 

Source: Social Media Virgins by Amy Chan

Additional articles about Social Media - "Getting" Before Jumping on the Bandwagon by Amy Chan

We were pleased to hear the the Canadian government will overturn a decision by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commissions) that would impose usage based billing charges on the country's small internet service providers and eliminate unlimited internet packages.

Being an internet based company where we conduct all of our business online, this change would have effected us as well as our clients. The CRTC recently went under fire when they gave Bell the green light to charge their Ontario and Quebec customers with usage based pricing. Shortly after a petition emerged sparking attention by both the Liberal and NDP parties. Our fingers are crossed that this decision sticks!

Want to read more on these issues, check out these links:

• The Star - Ottawa to reverse CRTC Internet billing decision
• Open Media - Big Step Forward, But the Meter Continues....
• The Vancouver Sun - Harper Conservatives to quash CRTC decision killing unlimited Internet

On January 22nd the North American Celebrity Chef tour celebrated their first Hawaiian event in Kona at the Mauna Lani’s Canoe House restaurant. Foodies from across North America flocked to Hawaii to attend this one of a kind event.

Check out this video from the Hawaiian event staring Michael Simon and the other top personalities that attended the event:

www.bigislandvideonews.com/2011/01/24/video-celebrity-chefs-symon-waxman-get-cooking-on-hawaii/

FoodConnect Media is proud to be the ticketing provider for the Celebrity Chef Tour across North America. Like the Celibrity Chef Tour, EzTix event Ticketing, FoodConnect's ticketing devision, has strong focus on raising money for food related charities in your community.

Celebrity Chef Tour hosts events all over North America. To find the next event near you please check out CelebrityChefTour.com for more information and to buy tickets.

To find our more about EzTix Event Ticketing and our initiatives in your community, please visit EzTix.co.

It is virtually impossible to go a day without hearing about Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or other social networking sites. Various forms are popping up everywhere and social media has surpassed email usage being the 4th most popular online activity. It is used by 2/3 of the global Internet population yet some business owners resist it. Social media helps create a customer who then creates another and the effects can be viral! It is low cost and free on most occasions and can reach an audience that traditional marketing efforts can barely scrape. With that said it only works if a continuous two-way conversation occurs and constant communication is made with followers or friends. Think of it as your companies online brag book, coupon site, and information relator. Update it often but do not bombard. Be weary. It is habit forming so ensure you stay focused on the end result and not on how many friends/followers you have. Open a free account, try it for a month, and see the results.  We dare you.

Hello and welcome to our new Corporate Page!

We are excited to introduce a new and fresh look in addition to showcasing our business. We are here to assist you with numerous ways to improve your business: social media, e-mail marketing, web development, event ticketing, mobile sales solutions and nutritional analysis.  

We are very excited to have the new site live so you can enjoy and find out more information about all of our services. Our dedicated team member can answer any questions you may have!

Have a look around and if you have any questions please contact us at support@foodconnect.com!