Last week, I received my box set for the new Dave Matthews Band album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Great stuff, and well worth the price for the extra material that includes a picture book of late saxophonist, Leroi Moore. Today, I found the music video for the single, “Funny the Way It Is.” It borrows an interesting cinematic effect from “Eh Hee,” but that video was never officially released, and now I can’t figure out how I got it on my computer in the first place – probably a bonus track from iTunes. Even Bing couldn’t find it for me, which is the debut “decision engine” from Microsoft, my new home page, and bound to give Google a run for their money. The web site’s daily photo trivia is a welcome refreshment from Google’s sterile presentation, which struck simplicity gold when it appeared on the scene with its minimalistic layout. But web design has come a long way since then, and I predict Google will need to make some serious counter-moves to fend off Bing as a major player.
Some clarification on viewing Twidgets: if you followed the link to Vimeo in my last post, you were asked to create an account and/or log in. After that, you may have added me as a contact, which is good. This is only the first step, however, since I have to reciprocate by adding you as my contact before you will be able to see the video. I will promptly add anyone who adds me as their contact, and we’ll only need to do this once for you to see all subsequent episodes. Sorry for the confusion.
In other news, the Arctic Challenge kicks off today in Oslo. It is one of the most prestigious snowboarding competitions in the world, owned by Norwegian icon Terje Haakonsen and sponsored by Oakley. The weekend event will be internationally televised.
Filed under: Technology
I just found this story on Drudge. If you tried searching on Google today (or the middle of the night in the States), you might have noticed the problem. In case you use Gmail, the article reports that some users found legitimate messages redirected to their Spam folder.
The glitch doesn’t surprise me – those things happen. What blew me away was to read the company claiming: “There was a fault. We don’t know the nature of it yet. Everything has been solved. We are still making initial enquiries.” It may be a paradox to have Google flagging it’s own website as malicious, but to claim to have solved a bug they don’t yet understand is downright absurd and makes the New Microsoft look like a bird that can’t fly.
Filed under: Technology
I’m not in a financial position to be car shopping. Even if I was, I’m not sure I wouldn’t just choose to take the bus. But if I did decide to buy an automobile and had to make my decision based on advertising, my new vehicle would be an Audi. In case you haven’t seen their new commercials, a couple of them are on the company’s website. Make sure to turn the volume up, and be moved.
Filed under: Technology
When I first experienced the “New Facebook” released several weeks ago, I was as disappointed as everyone else. The thing I missed most was a distinction between the Feed and the Wall, which have been fused together. Besides that, I just didn’t like having to get used to something new. As a former software developer, however, I suspected that the Facebook team really did intend to make their product better, so I kept an open mind. After getting over the shock, I began to find a few things I liked:
First, the tool is more customizable. With a little effort, I can now see what I want to see and hide what I want to keep out of sight. For example, while I like to use Facebook as a way to see what folks are up to, I don’t always want to know. The old home page would give me updates for contacts I didn’t need to read about instead of showing stories from people I would rather keep track of. Now, by creating different lists of friends, I can follow only my best buddies or family members with the click of a button.
Second, although I still dislike the fusion of the Feed and Wall, I do like the ability to post on friends’ stories and see other users’ comments. This is easy to do with the New Facebook, but – going back to my first point – also very simple to turn off.
Finally, they tackled the problem of the application explosion. Remember the groups for protesters against a new Facebook application every day of the week? The Facebook team listened and came up with a good solution without eliminating the applications altogether. Now, people who want to play poker or make out with each other on Facebook can take it into the back room instead of forcing everyone else to watch it in broad daylight. This makes for a much cleaner profile page, and if you absolutely have to show people that you scored in Scrabulous, you can allow the game to post stories to your page or even give it it’s own tab on your profile. For those who still insist on a cluttered, annoying, hard-to-read profile, try this instead.
Filed under: Technology
Since I launched this blog a year ago, I have also started to read other blogs on a regular basis. I use a very simple tool that helps me do this so that I do not have to visit every blog just to see if there is a new post. Not only does it save me time, it also makes sure that I don’t miss news about my friend’s Ethiopian adoption or my cousin’s spontaneous trip to Morocco. There are many utilities available, but since I have a Google account, I use Google Reader. If you use the internet to keep up on friends and family but are not technically savvy, here is an easy step-by-step process to tracking your favorite blogs, using Reader as an example:
1) Create a Google account. All you need to do is enter your current email address and the password you would like to use on your new account (not your e-mail account password). If you use Gmail (Google e-mail), you already have a Google account and can skip this step. Otherwise, click here.
2) Once you have created your Google account, you need to log into Reader by clicking here. If you just created your Google account, you will already be logged in.
3) Now you are ready to create your personalized blog list. Click on “Add subscription” on the left-hand side to enter the URL of the blog you would like to track. You will be prompted to type in the address of the blog or website (such as http://timmyjimi.wordpress.com), and all new posts to that blog will then be displayed every time you view your Reader homepage. Repeat this step for each of your blogs.
4) To make it even more convenient, I have set my internet browser homepage to my Reader account. That way, every time I open the browser, I am guaranteed to see all new posts on any of the blogs I read.
Creating a Google account will also allow you to use other free Google services, such as Google Maps, but that is a tutorial for another day.
Tomorrow: More videos of Heather, the violin virtuoso.
