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I’m All A Twitter

Posted on April 30, 2008 Written by 5 Comments

So I signed up for this Twitter thing ages ago but wasn’t active at all.* I remember staring at the 140 character text box wondering just what I could enter there that anyone would be interested in.

img flicker 140

In the last couple of weeks I’ve come to a realization of sorts about Twitter though. Now I see the 140 character box as a challenge. Can I distill down my thoughts into a concise statement that fits into this box. Is it interesting? Does it provide any value to anyone who might read it?

But it isn’t what I enter in that text box that is the value, it’s what other folks enter. Folks that I know, folks who work for companies that provide services that I use, industry folks, fellow bloggers, and other interesting folks who might have interesting things to say.

Really though, Twitter is nothing more than a stream of thoughts, links, and other ramblings. Twitter is often the equivalent of the stuff I used to overhear cubicle neighbors chatting about. As a web worker, I often don’t have a lot of interaction with others. No chats by the coffee pot, no hallway encounters, even lunch is often a solo venture. Twitter isn’t life changing, it isn’t critical (although it can be), rather it’s noise that keeps me grounded and keeps me connected.

So if you’re interesting, leave your twitter name in the comments. If you think you might be interested in what I might have to say you can view my profile and follow me. I’m not as connected as some, but I am slowly assembling a good group of people to follow.

Is anyone else finding Twitter useful? How do you use it?

SB

* If you aren’t familiar with Twitter, watch this excellent video from Commoncraft

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MyThermos Goes Multilingual

Posted on December 19, 2007 Written by 2 Comments

The folks at Microsoft have released some very cool technology that does on the fly language translations. It is still currently in beta and part of their "Windows Live" series of products.

There are a couple of different interfaces for it. Here I just copied and pasted some text into the boxes, selected my language and it did the translation for me.

Live Translator

Hey – I didn’t know I could write in Italian!! [Read more...]

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Look What I Found On The Internet(s)

Posted on December 13, 2007 Written by 5 Comments

Recent things I’ve found in my internet travels:

Seasonshot – Ammunition made of seasoning. It kills and seasons. Has it really taken us this long to invent this. I am sort of embarassed by that.

Pastafarians – The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. You’ll either laugh, scratch your head in disbelief, or get really angry. Perhaps all of the above.

The Moby Equation – Find out just how badly your favorite artist is selling out. Brilliant!!

Rackmas – It’s The Holiday of Office Cheer. We would so be doing this if I still worked at Computershare.

Will Return Clock – A new take on the "Be Right Back" sign.

Sandy – A really handy web service / assistant. Works with email for reminders and notifications. I’m starting to find it really useful.

SB

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Pownce Invites

Posted on October 19, 2007 Written by 2 Comments

I imagine anyone who really wanted one has already figured out a way to get them, but I just got a bunch more Pownce invites if there is anyone out there who might still need one.

They sure don’t do me any good

SB

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Hiking The Organizational Trail With My Backpack

Posted on October 19, 2007 Written by 1 Comment

img carlin

Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That’s all, a little place for my stuff. That’s all I want, that’s all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know?

George Carlin

I am a big fan of web apps of all sorts and am always looking for my holy grail solution – the one that will induce the organizational nirvana that I am searching for, the singular "place for my stuff."

Until the day I find that, I’ll be using Backpack

[Read more...]

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Jango Personal Radio – Revisited

Posted on September 20, 2007 Written by 6 Comments

So since my last review, I have had a chance to play around with Jango some more. While it isn’t as social as I had hoped, once I adjusted my expectations accordingly, I am actually listening a bit more often.

The Good:

I am getting to like the "on demand" type functionality. For example, while listening to Traveling Wilburys just now on my Esoteric Thermos station, it showed me some Dylan songs that were "playing" on other stations. A quick click on "Don’t Think Twice…" and it fired right up. Very Nice.

Also, the app actually performs pretty well – very few bufffer dropouts or errors.

Other user stations can be pretty diverse. Allows me to rate stuff not playing on my stations.

The Bad:

Other user stations can be pretty diverse. I know that I just called this a good thing. Sometimes it is a bad thing too though.

My stations are still too limited. I have added songs, added artists, rated songs, etc.. but I still can only listen a relatively short time without hearing repeats.

I can’t find any indication if I have rated a song previously, and what that rating may have been. I also am pretty sure it is ignoring my "Never Play This Song Again" rating, something I use judiciously.

There is still no Gov’t Mule. I honestly can’t, in good conscience, recommend any music service with such a glaring omission.

I don’t know how to save or bookmark a station that I like. There must be a way but for the life of me, I just can’t do it. Brings up the bigger issue of general lack of documentation or an FAQ.

I can’t seem to give away my invites. I still have 7 left and although I get a lot of traffic to my Jango related posts, no one has asked for them.

I still think Jango shows promise. It has some rough edges but that is to be expected in a limited beta period. I would say give it a shot if you get the chance (and if you are among the first 7 to request such a chance in the comments, I’ll send along an invite)

SB

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TechFires – A New Gig

Posted on September 18, 2007 Written by 1 Comment

techfires

I’ve recently been asked to contribute content to a great new blog called TechFires. Featuring Rapid Fire Reviews of Hot Technology, it is a great place to keep up to date on the cool tech stuff we are finding, all presented to you in bite size chunks. A screenie, some basic info, a link out, and you’re done.

Response has been great so far, I’m honored to be a part of it.

SB

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Don’t Click This Link If You Hope To Accomplish Anything Today

Posted on September 18, 2007 Written by Leave a Comment

Jelly Battle is an oddly fascinating game by Logitech where you take control of a little Jelly Guy who jumps around the gameboard. Anticipate the movements of your Jelly enemies (jellimies?) and strike when you have the opportunity.

jellybattleThe nice thing is that games only take a few minutes. The bad thing is that those minutes can easily add up and turn into hours.

A nice tutorial is provided before you jump into multiplayer. Although you do have to register eventually, it’s just an email and there is no verification.

I didn’t heed the warnings and now I’m hooked. Look for Spike in game, but watch out, I’ll hit you with my purse if I get the chance.

SB

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Streamy – A First Look

Posted on September 9, 2007 Written by 2 Comments

Today I got the chance to try out web app Streamy. Streamy is being touted as a place to "Read, share and discuss the best stories on the Web"

streamy logo

Sound Familiar?

Honestly, I’m not much of a Digg guy. I do a daily scan for headlines but I don’t spend much time there. I often find the community a bit immature and I ignore the comments entirely. Since I often see Streamy referred to as a "Digg Killer", my interest wasn’t all that great.

Today however, I took a quick look at their video and did some quick reading on other blogs:

Jay’s – Streamy – The Brainfart Review

Fried CPU – Another Streamy Review

Streamy – We Aren’t Digg Killers

The overwhelming theme in all of these reviews, and indeed mine as well, is that Streamy isn’t Digg. I don’t want to duplicate what was said above too much – these guys really do a great job of covering the product – but I will give a basic overview. [Read more...]

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Jango Personal Radio – It’s No Echo

Posted on September 6, 2007 Written by 5 Comments

As you can probably tell, I’m sort of a psycho when it comes to music. I also am quite addicted to web apps. Put the two together and I’m there.

Back during the original dot.com boom, while working at a start up myself, a group of us started using a streaming audio service called Echo.

echoEcho was a great service and I was really sorry to see it go. A small web client presented you with a shared listening experience as everyone listening to a station was hearing the same thing in real time. The Skip and Don’t Skip buttons made it interactive. Everyone voted and majority ruled.

Integrated also was a built in chat or IM type service – discuss the songs being played or, like us, bitch about our jobs.

Easy rating of songs made for a really enjoyable experience and a rewards program for listening or recruiting earned me some nice prizes.

I think Echo was just ahead of the curve. I recall a deal was announced that would have moved them into online sales but it never materialized and Echo was silenced soon after.

Fast forward to now and I have still yet to find something that works as well.

While I have always been a big fan of last.fm, the listening experience is less than social. I can see what others are listening to, I can listen to their stations, but the listening experience is still a solo venture. The community aspect is growing but it is limited to the web site and is independent of the actual listening experience.

Pandora is a great service as well and produces a great listening experience. Again though, I can share a station or listen to another user’s station, there is no interactivity or shared experience.

Enter Jango: "Personal radio that learns from your taste and connects you to others who like what you like…

As you listen, your player will show other people listening to the same artist. You can "tune in" to the songs they’re listening to, chat or share your music with friends."

That sounds intriguing. [Read more...]

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