facebook habits

that I wish I could apply to twitter

1. wall-to-wall (now "see friendship", which takes my facebook stalking to a more embarassing/creepy level) I wish I could look at the conversations between two people on twitter, either just over a short period of time, or the entire back and forth. this would be particularly awesome for companies if there was a permalink for the conversations they had fixing customers' problems. if you want to look at conversations, you can use bettween.com, but it's not exactly the same thing as having that ability within twitter.

2. "like". I love to like. liking is the new lol. sometimes I don't want to retweet something, but I do find it interesting or cool. maybe I want to say, hey man, like your tweet, even though I don't want it to be my tweet.

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why Apple doesn't need a recall.

Obviously, there will be no recall.

Free bumpers and cases for all! Apple's solution to Antenna-gate (the hugeeeeee problem that when you pushed really, really hard on this one part of the phone, it would drop calls!) was announced on Friday, and the responses have varied. Apple decided to give free bumpers and cases to all iPhone users In general, I think most tech bloggers felt like it was a good solution. But the other day, Robbert Scoble made a great podcast about why the whole thing has been blown so far out of proportion.

Look at it this way. The phone is $200. For $200, you get email, web, the best (and newest) apps (and no, "we'll be launching our droid version soon" does not mean the droid has caught up), a video camera, voice recorder, mp3 player, the fastest mobile OS on the market, a GPS, and a video-conferencing center. Oh yea, and a phone. Pretty good deal, I'd say.

So there is one flaw. Which you can fix. By holding it differently or buying a bumper (or getting one for free).

I read somewhere that there was no need for a recall, especially since people weren't having their phones blow up in their hands, and I thought that was a great way of framing it.

A dropped call is not dangerous. A dropped call is not a threat to national security. A dropped call isn't even sad. There's no use crying over spilled milk. Get over it and redial.

I don't have my new iPhone yet, so I can't even honestly tout how great it is. But I will say, my BlackBerry consistently takes 30 seconds to open a text message, and that is really annoying. I pretty much have to hard reset every other day. Plus the thing is broken, so I have to take the battery out, charge it on a separate BB, then put it back in my phone. Annoying? Yes.

Anyway, I think people are just being dramatic. Give me the phone, I'll take the crappy service and move on with my sleek, beautiful, web-app filled life.

P.S. the apps I'm most looking forward to are RunKeeper and TripIt!

Look what happens...

... when you read the directions.

In my forever love of Google, there have been two Google products I haven't been so hot on: Picasa and Blogger.

In general, the reason why I do love Google so much is because so much of how you use their products is intuitive, at least to me. Yes, I spend time poking around Google labs (too much time), so I know how to optimize it for myself, but I still can pretty much figure it out.

Lately, though, I've been reading more of the getting started guides. They're amazing! They tell you all the features and how to use them, even if they weren't originally clear to you! (Imagine that.) Before, I was somewhat considering trying to migrate over to WordPress from Blogger, but to be honest, now that I know how to use Blogger better, there is really no reason. Plus, I have the added benefit of sticking with my one account, which is by far my favorite Google feature. I even started using Picasa on my computer and posting public albums (visible on my website... 'cause I'm a G like that). Honestly, Picasa makes it so easy to order prints, I might actually start scrapbooking again!

Now I'd like to pause to acknowledge the fact that I have presented myself on the internet as a Google-obsessed, scrapbooking nerd. I embrace it. And anyway, with pictures like these, why wouldn't I scrapbook?

I guess what I've learned is: read the directions... and never give up on Google.

Google Voice slaps Apple... hehehe

well... kinda. and to be honest, this is probably old news to most tech-oriented people anyway. But seeing as Google Voice just opened up to anyone (I just got my number... text me!) it was pretty exciting to me, and I'm going to post about it anyway.

So a while back, there was a stinky stink about how Apple wouldn't let Google Voice have an app for the iPhone. The reason? Well, I think Forrest Gump might explain it as, "for no particular reason at all, they just felt like saying no." Plus, they're sortof frienemies, I guess. Seriously, ask anyone in the Apple store; they get all hot and bothered if you mention the feud, and claim that all is well between the two. I'd say it's pretty much today's Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey.

Anyway, Google decided to use its mad skillz to prove it was smarter than Apple, and in January of this year, they released a web-based version of Google Voice. Check out the video below.



Notice how the whole thing is done on an iPhone? Google made sure that Voice can be used very easily over iPhone's Safari, and although it doesn't have full app integration like it does on Droid and Blackberry, it is pretty close. You can still get calls and make calls through the phone, even if it does use your minutes. And you can make shortcuts to your home page for texting and reading voicemail.

current status: Google 1, Apple 0.

the ghost version of yourself is out there.

Check this out.

A guy made this video of himself.

Then ripped it and uploaded it 1,000 times. This is what is left. Pretty creepy, if you think about it.

There is a lot of talk these days about how much of ourselves is on the internet: twitter updates, Facebook privacy, location-based apps, etc., etc. People see the internet as the newest and best way to creatively and quickly interact with the people around them, and it is. But aside from the obvious and oft-discussed deterioration of genuine personal interaction via the interwebz, what is the nature of what we actually put out there? What is a "like"? What is a re-tweet?

It is clear that we manipulate what we put on the internet to alter peoples' perception of us. That is what drives everything we put out into the cyber-world, from our profile pictures to our status updates, or lack thereof, if you're one of those "too cool for status updates" facebook users. Maybe you don't twitter, maybe you twitter everything, maybe you blog about your area of expertise or your daily musings. It's conscious, in a way, and sometimes semi-conscious (heck, I still don't even know what I'm blogging about).

Until I saw this video, I never really considered the inherently digital nature of what I post to the internet.

Maybe what we put on the internet is impersonal because there is something more to it than just what we say. Or something less? What are, as canzona puts it, "the artifacts inherent in the video codec of both YouTube and the mp4 format I convert it to on my computer," when you take out the human component?

Maybe I just posted this blog post in an effort to make my digital self seem more pensive and intellectual.

if you give a cat a twitter...

... it will want an iPad to go with it.

Well, not really. But many new social media developments are bringing us closer and closer to what most people probably thought would never happen: having our animals talk back to us.

There is a new twitter application that allows you to tie a box-shaped device to your cat's collar, which will then send one of eleven automated tweets about its daily activities based on whether it is, well, eating. or sleeping. or eating. or sleeping.

As pointless as this type of technology may seem to such an avid dog lover as myself, it is still cool to know that we may actually be able to communicate in a new way with animals. Ever since gorillas learned sign language, it has fascinated me to think that my own little doggie has been trying to find a way to talk to me!

Now, before you send me to the looney bin, consider this: since the iPad came out, scientists have been experimenting with its use with dolphins. Apparently, scientists think that at some point they may be able to use touch-screen technologies to teach dolphins how to communicate their emotions. Call Ace Ventura. Free Willy come true.

So, will you be waiting in line for cat twitter? I'll be waiting for the dog app.