I've found sometimes in order to appreciate what we have in this world of technology, that it's good to go low-tech from time to time. I'm very lucky to live in Northern Virginia, not because it's a fantastic place, but because it has a lot of history. I've made it a point to get out and visit several of the historic houses in the area, to see what people did, try to imagine sitting in these houses of luxury with no air conditioning, no electricity, no cellphones, and no internet (shudder).
I recently visited George Mason's house in Lorton Virginia. It isn't the best of the historic mansions (it is very nice though and in a beautiful area), but George Mason was an important part of US history (His Virginia Constitution was the basis of the US Constitution). In looking at his house it was interesting to realize the bricks were made locally (on site actually), the wood work was done by hand, work was done by master and apprentice (this is an interesting concept that is somewhat lost lately, well unless you get a good manager who can tutor you). In the case of Mason's house the woodwork was done by an indentured servant. It was great to see how the houses were built to allow ventilation, how extra bedrooms existed for surprise visitors (you could have a visitor for a dinner that gets stuck there due to weather or dark, these people didn't travel by car, it was either by horse, foot or boat).
I enjoy seeing these places, in the past year I've been to the Sully Plantation, Stratford Plantation, Kenmore Plantation, etc... All have been fantastic and show how people lived without technology. Even more interesting is what people of those days considered as high tech.
I also enjoy going to places where I don't need technology (or more importantly, CAN'T use technology). When I went to Boulder Utah it was fantastic, no cell service, no internet, nothing but outside, very nice. I was able to turn everything off (I haven't been for years, I hope they haven't "fixed" it). What's funny is the second I turned my phone on (because I could get coverage) it rang. I enjoyed going to Zambia, Africa for the same reason. I could get internet access in Zambia, but it wasn't consistent and sometimes it was more of a trouble to get things connected than it was to live in no technology bliss.
I suggest that while all this technology is fantastic, fun to play with, excellent to take apart, etc... That people take time to experience life without technology. It'll open your eyes, either show you how lucky you are, or possibly help you find a work around to an every day issue that you have been ignoring due to your technology crutch. If nothing else it will definitely help you change your perspective of what you have in your everyday world.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Google or Government and Privacy
Everyone is concerned about the Government, Credit Agencies, Spammers, Phishers, etc.. gaining too much information on their personal behavior, but very few seem to be too concerned about Google gaining too much information about them. Google is in a strange business of trading information for services for cash. How they do it is they give you fantastic free services, such as:
1) Gmail
2) Google Analytics
3) Google Voice
4) Blogger
5) Medical Records
6) Google Maps
7) WiFi Service
8) The list goes on and on
Now they are getting into Phones and recently I heard they want to outfit houses with meter readers. They must have been foaming at the mouth to get Twitter, but I understand Twitter has dumped them (now Apple is courting Twitter, I hope it doesn't go to Apple, they build great machines and OS, but seem to have lousy user applications).
Google monetizes this by selling the information for their advertising network, with more information they will become a warehouse for all info on everyone. I'm sure they obfuscate the information, so it's difficult to determine where it came from, but I'm also sure somewhere in the bowels of Google's empire is EVERY email that I've sent via GMail that has ALL my information in it.
There are a few concerns I have about all this information being centralized. The first is what sort of security measures are there around my information. This leads to, what does Google do with this information, they might not sell it now, but will they in the future. Google stores ALL of your information, including emails and websites visited. To me this is somewhat scary. Everyone looks at Microsoft as being evil, but Microsoft isn't into gathering all kinds of information on people, they want to dominate software and operating systems, I see Google as being the company to keep an eye on.
Now having said that, I do use plenty of Google properties for my online work. Why? Well because they are good, Google understands how to develop a good web application (or purchase established web applications). I'm getting careful about what I give Google, but as Google grows I'm not sure I'll be able to continue this.
1) Gmail
2) Google Analytics
3) Google Voice
4) Blogger
5) Medical Records
6) Google Maps
7) WiFi Service
8) The list goes on and on
Now they are getting into Phones and recently I heard they want to outfit houses with meter readers. They must have been foaming at the mouth to get Twitter, but I understand Twitter has dumped them (now Apple is courting Twitter, I hope it doesn't go to Apple, they build great machines and OS, but seem to have lousy user applications).
Google monetizes this by selling the information for their advertising network, with more information they will become a warehouse for all info on everyone. I'm sure they obfuscate the information, so it's difficult to determine where it came from, but I'm also sure somewhere in the bowels of Google's empire is EVERY email that I've sent via GMail that has ALL my information in it.
There are a few concerns I have about all this information being centralized. The first is what sort of security measures are there around my information. This leads to, what does Google do with this information, they might not sell it now, but will they in the future. Google stores ALL of your information, including emails and websites visited. To me this is somewhat scary. Everyone looks at Microsoft as being evil, but Microsoft isn't into gathering all kinds of information on people, they want to dominate software and operating systems, I see Google as being the company to keep an eye on.
Now having said that, I do use plenty of Google properties for my online work. Why? Well because they are good, Google understands how to develop a good web application (or purchase established web applications). I'm getting careful about what I give Google, but as Google grows I'm not sure I'll be able to continue this.
Monday, May 4, 2009
SEO/Accessibility Convergence
A few months ago I was studying Accessibility (508 Compliance) for a series of websites, it was a real eye opener (no pun intended), many of the assumptions that I've made over the years regarding websites and their usage by people who are visually impaired were mostly incorrect, much of this was wiped out by watching one person use JAWS on a website. Many of the DIV elements and CSS that have been applied have been all for the visual gratification. I took a website and removed the styles, removed the images and JavaScript and was left with a site that was unusable. This is how a screen reader sees the site, without all the bells and whistles, to give the screen reader clues as to what is going on, you need to have Headings (h1, h2, h3, .....), yeah I know these elements have default styles associated with them, well remove the default styles with CSS, and apply new styles. More can be found about accessibilty on the W3C website.
Now you're asking, well that's cool, what does this have to do with SEO, well it seems that spiders, such as googlebot, are also blind, they can't determine hierarchy or importance from styles, they need hierarchy placed in the data to help determine what is going on in the data. If you code your sites for Accessibility, you'll most likely do very well in SEO scores. For SEO there are other items you'll want to add to your data, items such as meta tagging for description and keywords.
Be careful though not to try to use what are called "black hat" tactics with your website, this would be using keyword stuffing and link aggregation to help improve your scores, this will most likely cause your sites to be removed from the search index. Anything that you can read behind the scenes should also be visible one the page. If you have audio or video, then descriptions of the video and audio will help your score and your accessibility.
Overall both can be achieved with common sense, they aren't that difficult, they don't need experts, they do need planning and some marketing sense for your websites. Any developer can handle the technical pieces (it isn't that technical at all). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Now you're asking, well that's cool, what does this have to do with SEO, well it seems that spiders, such as googlebot, are also blind, they can't determine hierarchy or importance from styles, they need hierarchy placed in the data to help determine what is going on in the data. If you code your sites for Accessibility, you'll most likely do very well in SEO scores. For SEO there are other items you'll want to add to your data, items such as meta tagging for description and keywords.
Be careful though not to try to use what are called "black hat" tactics with your website, this would be using keyword stuffing and link aggregation to help improve your scores, this will most likely cause your sites to be removed from the search index. Anything that you can read behind the scenes should also be visible one the page. If you have audio or video, then descriptions of the video and audio will help your score and your accessibility.
Overall both can be achieved with common sense, they aren't that difficult, they don't need experts, they do need planning and some marketing sense for your websites. Any developer can handle the technical pieces (it isn't that technical at all). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Social Networking Virutal vs Reality
I got into playing with social networking as a way to educate myself. Being the observant person that I am I started to notice some trends. I've been talking about some of them with an online friend "C.W." who believes that treating an online Friend as you would a real friend is foolish, but after a while I think "C.W." is starting to have a different opinion of the matter. I've been toying with writing something about this in my mind, but then I saw the posting from The Bottled Leopard (who I don't know, but seems to be a very bright woman, you should check out her postings) and it kicked my ideas into the front of my head, well I guess to my fingers since I'm typing this.
I've been "playing" with the social networking site Twinkle for the past couple of months
(actually for us old farts Twinkle is very much like CompuServe and Delphi back in the early 1990's, though no chat rooms in Twinkle). It's been interesting to see it grow from people just talking locally, to people talking all over the world. I've made "friends" and "enemies", I've had people attack me for no other reason than they are bored and I've had people try to seduce me for the same reason (not really into either virtually to be honest). For someone like me it's an interesting arena to play in because I'm a people person and I'm told I'm a natural flirt (I don't mean to do it honestly, it just happens, I think it's because I'm nice to people).
I've run into several kinds of people here, this isn't a complete list, but given my vast back ground in psychology, this is what I came up with (my vast background was a class in high school I think, but it was such a long time ago I consider myself an expert now, I can tell people that I've studied psychology for over 20 years, it's more than that, but I'm not telling my age without being asked nicely first):
Shock and Awe - These are people who will say something, anything to get a reaction from the crowd watching. It can be sexual, it can be mean, it can be a joke. I can do this very well myself, but I found over time it became boring. I prefer dealing with people vs shocking them. I've had a few people try to pick fights with me in shock and awe, they don't realize that it doesn't bother me and that I don't get flustered easy (it also helps that I'm relatively bright and much smarter than the people who do the stupid stuff).
People Persons - This is me, though with all the other people out there pretending to be someone else, it's tough to get people to believe that you actually want to be their friend, hold a conversation that doesn't involve body parts or foul language. In this role I've become counselor to several younger people (between 18 and 35), I've let others know that if they see something odd that I'm there to assist if needed. I've sat and listened to the kids tell me about their lives, most of them are good, but many are bad. When I see this I think it's a shame that the parents aren't more involved with their up bringing.
Hookups - I've had a couple of people start to proposition me online, but once they realize I'm there to be friends, they back off. My female friends online seem to be getting many offers, some have been shared with me and I find it a bit hilarious. I've had several friends have people want to meet them offline, for several reasons I see this as a bad idea. I'll get into it more below.
Casual Users - There are people who just post what their doing, they might respond to a question, most likely they will ignore you. They see this as an extension of Twitter and micro-blogging (which is it's intended use), not a chat room (which is what it's become).
Practical Jokesters - I like these the best, there is one guy on the site, who I've spoken with. He's a software developer, but he pretends to be someone who's very big in his business and very important. He posts one-sided conversations with himself, even making up names to respond to. It's interesting to see, not sure what his goal is other than making the extreme upper class look foolish, I'm not sure if he's doing that, but he's very entertaining.
Virtual vs Reality
I went into this swearing that I wouldn't break the line between the two, but as I've gotten to know people I see this line blurring some. Some of the people are great to meet on the phone or via email, other's I don't want to meet via either method, rather just have a virtual friend. I'm still not sure about meeting anyone in person, I think I would have to really get to know the person first or meet in a group. I try to leave all my PII (Personally Identifiable Information) out of any conversations, people email me at an address I've set up just for this kind of traffic (not that I have a lot, but as soon as people realize I know about computers, I start getting questions). I share what I do and my first name, but that's it. I have some "friends" who've shared too much information with me and with others, I really hope that doesn't come back and bite them.
I have developed virtual friendships that are very much like real friendships. We have fun together, chatting, but we also share our troubles, dreams and successes, we also have fights and make up. I would be as upset if anything bad happened to a virtual friend as I would if something happened to one in real life. The psychology behind this has got to be fascinating.
Everyone, myself included, is a little bit more attractive online, the reason behind this is that we don't drag a lot of our everyday baggage along with us. We can be who we think we are, instead of who we really are. No one has an accent (OK the people in the UK definitely have an accent when they type, not sure how they do that), and the few people I've spoken with on the phone all have accents, and they've all commented on my accent (I guess it's a little Southern, I know I should have told you before hand, so you could have read this with a Southern accent to start with, but I swear it isn't that pronounced).
Warnings
I see a lot of young people on here doing and saying very scary things. If I were a parent, actually I am a parent, I wouldn't let my child anywhere near these applications. These applications are not for the young, period, even if it was a site with other young children I would question letting my child use it without supervision. They also aren't for the easily embarrassed or upset. I see many people who loose their lid and start "flaming" everyone and everything, they would be better off with a beer watching TV. There are also people who go out and provoke fights, they'll call you names, etc... Best to ignore them, if you can't, then you should be elsewhere.
Also note if someones too perfect, too pretty, too willing to do what you want, too nice, they might not be what or who you think they are. Be very careful with perfection, people are flawed.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think these sites are interesting places to kill time, they can be extremely addictive. Be very careful about who you make friends with, people will try to make you believe something they aren't, including guys pretending to be women. Do not let your children on these sites and don't post anything that your mother or pastor would be upset in seeing. They are a good place to have fun, but realize that's all it is. The friends you need to vet carefully, but over time you 'll be able to tell friends from foe.
I've been "playing" with the social networking site Twinkle for the past couple of months
(actually for us old farts Twinkle is very much like CompuServe and Delphi back in the early 1990's, though no chat rooms in Twinkle). It's been interesting to see it grow from people just talking locally, to people talking all over the world. I've made "friends" and "enemies", I've had people attack me for no other reason than they are bored and I've had people try to seduce me for the same reason (not really into either virtually to be honest). For someone like me it's an interesting arena to play in because I'm a people person and I'm told I'm a natural flirt (I don't mean to do it honestly, it just happens, I think it's because I'm nice to people).I've run into several kinds of people here, this isn't a complete list, but given my vast back ground in psychology, this is what I came up with (my vast background was a class in high school I think, but it was such a long time ago I consider myself an expert now, I can tell people that I've studied psychology for over 20 years, it's more than that, but I'm not telling my age without being asked nicely first):
Shock and Awe - These are people who will say something, anything to get a reaction from the crowd watching. It can be sexual, it can be mean, it can be a joke. I can do this very well myself, but I found over time it became boring. I prefer dealing with people vs shocking them. I've had a few people try to pick fights with me in shock and awe, they don't realize that it doesn't bother me and that I don't get flustered easy (it also helps that I'm relatively bright and much smarter than the people who do the stupid stuff).
People Persons - This is me, though with all the other people out there pretending to be someone else, it's tough to get people to believe that you actually want to be their friend, hold a conversation that doesn't involve body parts or foul language. In this role I've become counselor to several younger people (between 18 and 35), I've let others know that if they see something odd that I'm there to assist if needed. I've sat and listened to the kids tell me about their lives, most of them are good, but many are bad. When I see this I think it's a shame that the parents aren't more involved with their up bringing.
Hookups - I've had a couple of people start to proposition me online, but once they realize I'm there to be friends, they back off. My female friends online seem to be getting many offers, some have been shared with me and I find it a bit hilarious. I've had several friends have people want to meet them offline, for several reasons I see this as a bad idea. I'll get into it more below.
Casual Users - There are people who just post what their doing, they might respond to a question, most likely they will ignore you. They see this as an extension of Twitter and micro-blogging (which is it's intended use), not a chat room (which is what it's become).
Practical Jokesters - I like these the best, there is one guy on the site, who I've spoken with. He's a software developer, but he pretends to be someone who's very big in his business and very important. He posts one-sided conversations with himself, even making up names to respond to. It's interesting to see, not sure what his goal is other than making the extreme upper class look foolish, I'm not sure if he's doing that, but he's very entertaining.
Virtual vs Reality
I went into this swearing that I wouldn't break the line between the two, but as I've gotten to know people I see this line blurring some. Some of the people are great to meet on the phone or via email, other's I don't want to meet via either method, rather just have a virtual friend. I'm still not sure about meeting anyone in person, I think I would have to really get to know the person first or meet in a group. I try to leave all my PII (Personally Identifiable Information) out of any conversations, people email me at an address I've set up just for this kind of traffic (not that I have a lot, but as soon as people realize I know about computers, I start getting questions). I share what I do and my first name, but that's it. I have some "friends" who've shared too much information with me and with others, I really hope that doesn't come back and bite them.
I have developed virtual friendships that are very much like real friendships. We have fun together, chatting, but we also share our troubles, dreams and successes, we also have fights and make up. I would be as upset if anything bad happened to a virtual friend as I would if something happened to one in real life. The psychology behind this has got to be fascinating.
Everyone, myself included, is a little bit more attractive online, the reason behind this is that we don't drag a lot of our everyday baggage along with us. We can be who we think we are, instead of who we really are. No one has an accent (OK the people in the UK definitely have an accent when they type, not sure how they do that), and the few people I've spoken with on the phone all have accents, and they've all commented on my accent (I guess it's a little Southern, I know I should have told you before hand, so you could have read this with a Southern accent to start with, but I swear it isn't that pronounced).
Warnings
I see a lot of young people on here doing and saying very scary things. If I were a parent, actually I am a parent, I wouldn't let my child anywhere near these applications. These applications are not for the young, period, even if it was a site with other young children I would question letting my child use it without supervision. They also aren't for the easily embarrassed or upset. I see many people who loose their lid and start "flaming" everyone and everything, they would be better off with a beer watching TV. There are also people who go out and provoke fights, they'll call you names, etc... Best to ignore them, if you can't, then you should be elsewhere.
Also note if someones too perfect, too pretty, too willing to do what you want, too nice, they might not be what or who you think they are. Be very careful with perfection, people are flawed.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think these sites are interesting places to kill time, they can be extremely addictive. Be very careful about who you make friends with, people will try to make you believe something they aren't, including guys pretending to be women. Do not let your children on these sites and don't post anything that your mother or pastor would be upset in seeing. They are a good place to have fun, but realize that's all it is. The friends you need to vet carefully, but over time you 'll be able to tell friends from foe.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Browser Wars :)
It looks like with the new release of Chrome we have a new set of browser wars to contend with. These kind of excite me and scare me at the same time. It's great to see competition, nothing will push someone like Microsoft to do something more than to see their turf being walked on. I've heard people say Chrome is better than other browsers, I'm not sure about that, I'm sure it's better in some areas and worse in others. We also had a release of Firefox, the upgrade to Firefox was simple enough (I was impressed with how it kept my current session state when I upgraded), and now we have rumors of MSIE 8.0 coming out soon. Again it's great to see competition, but I'm wary of rocky times ahead.
Compatibility Issues
What's going to most likely happen is that each of the developers of major browsers
- MSIE
- Firefox
- Safari
- Chrome
will have interpreted the standards differently (either by accident or on purpose), this difference will cause fits for developers I'm sure. In the end the developers will need to code to the least common denominator within each browser and develop pages that need to be overly simplified. In the old days between Netscape and MSIE this posed huge issue, since Netscape wasn't as robust in it's language as MSIE. The two also had different interpretations of the HTML code itself, which required you to shove browser sniffing javascript to tell you what to show to the browser (major hack).
I guess the question that needs to be figured out is will any of the changes implemented actually be usable given the incompatibility questions. I think the answer is yes over time.
Chrome Privacy Mode
This is the mode that all cheating spouses and kids wanted. It allows you to go online and not 
collect any cookies or leave any digital finger prints behind as to what you are doing. Of course this is pushed as a privacy addition to keep third parties from tracking your path, but if that's the case why not just build that into the browser directly? With Chrome it pops up a new window with a sneaky little spy in the corner. This is cute, I just wonder how much it will preserve your privacy? I mean unless you start going through a proxy server then the server you hit will have your IP address and be able to gain some information about you from that (My iTouch can get pretty close to the location of my house via my IP address). Of course Google and others really want you to go through a proxy server, that way they have ALL your information for their own uses. People look at Microsoft as being big and evil, I'm looking at Google as being the scary person on the block, they are gathering tons of information about people, from searching, browsing and email, it's scary actually. The information has supposedly been scrubbed for PII (Personally Identifiable Information), but it's still out there.
collect any cookies or leave any digital finger prints behind as to what you are doing. Of course this is pushed as a privacy addition to keep third parties from tracking your path, but if that's the case why not just build that into the browser directly? With Chrome it pops up a new window with a sneaky little spy in the corner. This is cute, I just wonder how much it will preserve your privacy? I mean unless you start going through a proxy server then the server you hit will have your IP address and be able to gain some information about you from that (My iTouch can get pretty close to the location of my house via my IP address). Of course Google and others really want you to go through a proxy server, that way they have ALL your information for their own uses. People look at Microsoft as being big and evil, I'm looking at Google as being the scary person on the block, they are gathering tons of information about people, from searching, browsing and email, it's scary actually. The information has supposedly been scrubbed for PII (Personally Identifiable Information), but it's still out there.Also keep in mind that any website you visit will still keep complete logs on you, if you login, then privacy mode is no longer valid, since they have all your information stored on their servers anyway.
Overall
I've strayed some from my path haven't I? Overall I think tools like Chrome are great, but I'm concerned about compatibility issues and if these battles will cause greater heartache on both the consumer and the developer. No doubt in my mind that Chrome will become the darling of many peoples eyes, if for no other reason than it's a tool developed by Google.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Social Networking
I'm still playing with Social Networking, both on my iTouch/iPhone and on my computer with tools such as blogger, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace etc... One of the tools I've mentioned before is Twinkle, Twinkle is a chat room for lack of better world, I'm sure they'll come up with a glorious title saying it's a Web 2.0 empowered application using the 3G iPhone network, but in reality it's less functional than what I was using with CompuServe and Delphi back in the early 1990's (I'm getting old, but I'm also getting wiser ;)).
One of the interesting features with the iPhone is that it has a very nice camera, it also is GPS enabled, this allows a person to send a picture of what's going on near them, and for you to see about where they are at. The other day I started seeing pictures of a tornado running through Parker Colorado, about an hour after that I saw similar pictures on CNN. Think about it, these people scooped CNN on a news story, pretty impressive if you ask me. I've seen similar issues, I've seen reports of a heavy storm coming through the area, and people talking about damage, I've seen people around the country talk at the same time about how a movie (the same movie) stopped just before the end (of course this is because the theater is receiving a stream of the movie via satellite or web and the stream died). If I had the resources I'd write a program to sit and sniff twitter traffic to see what's going on in the world.
There are sad portions on this also, I've run into a number of people with relationship issues that are either having bad problems or just need to be cheered up. I'm always trying to be helpful, but not everyone wants help, and I've made it clear that anyone can come to me for assistance. I've also seen several bullies online, some have tried to pick fights with me, but I'm old enough where I don't blow up like they want me to (this of course drives them nuts, they want reaction, I don't think most people realize the best way to beat a bully is to ignore them).
I've also heard a bunch of issues with stalking going on, I've gotten a few requests for information that I ignore, it's mostly the women who are getting stalked and asking for things that they shouldn't be asked for (am I the last Gentleman online?). I do follow a couple of kids from time to time, because they seem so young and I feel they need adult supervision, I'm very happy to see that they are keeping their public noses clean (hopefully nothing is going on in the private area). Many of these kids need something other to do then being handed an iPhone and told to go keep busy.
I've been able to discuss politics with different people from around the world, see how people outside the US see the US (it isn't great right now). This morning I got on and one of my "friends", he lives in Florida, was getting torn apart by someone else. Despite I don't agree with my "friend's" politics, I didn't take kindly to anyone attacking him, so I stepped in and mentioned that he was a good guy and should be treated that way. Also this morning another one of my "friends" got laid off, she's in London, it seems that there are a lot of layoffs going on in that area now, the financial issues of the US are catching up to them. I've been able to make friends with people, old and young, who I might possibly have made friends with before (anyone who knows me will tell you that I absolutely love everyone). As I'm writing this I just learned that another "friend" in Georgia has just quit a job, she's going to bury her pain in donuts this morning.
The great parts about this? I was mentioning to someone in the public area how my mother had passed away in December of 2003, almost instantly I had several people expressing their condolences, I was touched to see so many people in the world care. I think a couple of us started crying as we discussed our parents (OK I cried, but that's what I do, it was a very manly cry though ;)).
I have been able to listen into people and get some great ideas from them (I wish I had a lot of research and development money right now, I'm sure I could make it a lot more with a few of the ideas I currently have). I'm also surprised about how many people don't know what Web 2.0 is or Social Networking, they have this idea that Twinkle, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc... are all the same thing, but they aren't, they are all different and all have their own niche. Maybe I should write a book about all this?
One of the interesting features with the iPhone is that it has a very nice camera, it also is GPS enabled, this allows a person to send a picture of what's going on near them, and for you to see about where they are at. The other day I started seeing pictures of a tornado running through Parker Colorado, about an hour after that I saw similar pictures on CNN. Think about it, these people scooped CNN on a news story, pretty impressive if you ask me. I've seen similar issues, I've seen reports of a heavy storm coming through the area, and people talking about damage, I've seen people around the country talk at the same time about how a movie (the same movie) stopped just before the end (of course this is because the theater is receiving a stream of the movie via satellite or web and the stream died). If I had the resources I'd write a program to sit and sniff twitter traffic to see what's going on in the world.
There are sad portions on this also, I've run into a number of people with relationship issues that are either having bad problems or just need to be cheered up. I'm always trying to be helpful, but not everyone wants help, and I've made it clear that anyone can come to me for assistance. I've also seen several bullies online, some have tried to pick fights with me, but I'm old enough where I don't blow up like they want me to (this of course drives them nuts, they want reaction, I don't think most people realize the best way to beat a bully is to ignore them).
I've also heard a bunch of issues with stalking going on, I've gotten a few requests for information that I ignore, it's mostly the women who are getting stalked and asking for things that they shouldn't be asked for (am I the last Gentleman online?). I do follow a couple of kids from time to time, because they seem so young and I feel they need adult supervision, I'm very happy to see that they are keeping their public noses clean (hopefully nothing is going on in the private area). Many of these kids need something other to do then being handed an iPhone and told to go keep busy.
I've been able to discuss politics with different people from around the world, see how people outside the US see the US (it isn't great right now). This morning I got on and one of my "friends", he lives in Florida, was getting torn apart by someone else. Despite I don't agree with my "friend's" politics, I didn't take kindly to anyone attacking him, so I stepped in and mentioned that he was a good guy and should be treated that way. Also this morning another one of my "friends" got laid off, she's in London, it seems that there are a lot of layoffs going on in that area now, the financial issues of the US are catching up to them. I've been able to make friends with people, old and young, who I might possibly have made friends with before (anyone who knows me will tell you that I absolutely love everyone). As I'm writing this I just learned that another "friend" in Georgia has just quit a job, she's going to bury her pain in donuts this morning.
The great parts about this? I was mentioning to someone in the public area how my mother had passed away in December of 2003, almost instantly I had several people expressing their condolences, I was touched to see so many people in the world care. I think a couple of us started crying as we discussed our parents (OK I cried, but that's what I do, it was a very manly cry though ;)).
I have been able to listen into people and get some great ideas from them (I wish I had a lot of research and development money right now, I'm sure I could make it a lot more with a few of the ideas I currently have). I'm also surprised about how many people don't know what Web 2.0 is or Social Networking, they have this idea that Twinkle, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc... are all the same thing, but they aren't, they are all different and all have their own niche. Maybe I should write a book about all this?
Monday, August 18, 2008
Phone Technology
I'm not sure if I've impressed myself or become some behind in technology that I don't realized I've been passed up. I have had the same cell phone for over 2 years now, I can't believe this, I can even get $100 off a new phone from my service provider if I upgrade now, but I'm not doing it, well at least not yet.
I am currently using a Motorola Q, this is a good phone for receiving email, but horrible for using the web or viewing attachments (my iTouch does attachments much cleaner than the Q). What am I waiting for? A real phone on my network, the iPhone would do the trick, except it's using the AT&T network, AT&T is horrible in my neighborhood and my current provider, Verizon, has a great network, but sub-standard phones. What am I looking at in a phone, well it's simple:
I am currently using a Motorola Q, this is a good phone for receiving email, but horrible for using the web or viewing attachments (my iTouch does attachments much cleaner than the Q). What am I waiting for? A real phone on my network, the iPhone would do the trick, except it's using the AT&T network, AT&T is horrible in my neighborhood and my current provider, Verizon, has a great network, but sub-standard phones. What am I looking at in a phone, well it's simple:
- Great Network - Reliable and fast
- Email - Needs to support multiple IMAP accounts and the phone needs to talk directly to my email servers and not use something like Apple's Me network (I don't like the idea of one group gathering all my email, it's kind of creepy if you ask me).
- Sync with Outlook, this should be a no brainer for ANYONE creating a phone, most people use Outlook.
- Internet Access
- Decent and configurable profiles, so I can quickly switch to silent mode, and it should automatically switch to headset mode. It would also be nice to have the phone have a separate profile for when it was charging or attached to your computer.
- Bluetooth, people shouldn't be building phones without bluetooth.
- MP3, this is a must for any decent phone lately, it's good to have so you don't have to carry multiple devices.
- Expansion Card.
- Fantastic Battery Life (I have great battery life on my Q, but I've purchased a huge battery for it, on trips I also carry two other batteries, just in case).
- Nice screen, my iTouch has a fantastic screen, still small, but usable.
- Finally the ability to tether the phone to a laptop.
What I'm finding is 3 types of phones, your standard cell phone, a "feature" phone and a smart phone. I understand the standard cell phone, many people just want a phone, they don't need bells and whistles. I understand the "smart" phone, which is what I have above, but I don't understand the "feature" phone, which shoves features into the phone, but leaves out the functionality.
Possible Phones:
I want a full screen phone, like the iPhone, what I currently have the option for is a LG Dare, which looks like a fantastic phone, but it doesn't pass the email test, you need to log into a service to view your email, this is a security issue and inconvenient if you want to go through your email while you don't have service, email should be downloaded to the phone. My next possible phone is the Blackberry Thunder, but I have been reading very poor reviews of it (Verizon really shot themselves when they didn't deal with Apple). Until I can find a phone that is worth a new 2-year contract I'll be sticking with my good old reliable Motorola Q (now watch it die on me ;)).
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