Archive for the ‘The Focus’ Category

I use Twitter a lot. I wanted to stay informed, especially from friends. I decided to port all direct messages to my cell phone. That way I didn’t have to install a Twitter client. At first that was great - I could respond to people I need to talk to.

That has all changed with the Twitterbot.

Now, if I “Follow” the wrong person, I get a direct message:

Thanks for following me. I hope to talk to you, but in the meantime: here is a free gift hllp://i.am.spamming/you.

I am not impressed - In fact, I am downright annoyed. You want to get unfollowed by me? Then all you have to do is send me a bot like that. I’ll unfollow you in a heartbeat.

I don’t mind @replies. But the direct replies are the ones that go to the cell phone too. I am glad someone is trying to open communication, but this is redicuous.

So what can be done to change this?

Twitter could block directly direct messages - Maybe set up a blocker to direct messages until the two have conversed or a 30 day grace period has passed. Maybe even an

“Allow this person to DM you” option. Just because I want to follow them doesn’t mean I want them to spam me.

DM Karma - If your Karma is below a certain level, you cannot DM anyone.

In the meantime, I am going to have to turn off the option to SMS me for direct messages. I guess what was a good thing last year might not be so much this.

It’s a fact - you have more germs on your computer keyboard and mouse than on your household toilet. We’re talking thousands of germs as oppose to only a few from a toilet. So when it comes to Swine Flu, do we have to worry about cleaning these items?

It is spring cleaning for me anyway - I reorganize and take care of items that I don’t normally touch on a weekly basis. Of course, with planning on moving, that also adds to the fun.

I keep my keyboard pretty clean. A can of air to blast out any dust, food or other items that get in between the keys. A handi-wipe to take care of the surface of the items - especially when I see dirt buildup on the devices.
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“No one gets left behind! No one gets left behind! Outstanding soldier!” Frank (Steve Carell) – Little Miss Sunshine (20th Century Fox – 2006)

There are slightly more than six billion people on the planet.Not everyone is connected as those folks in the Silicon Valley areas of the world.We have about 15 +/- percent of the adults who work on systems/devices, creating stuff, collaborating, sharing content/information and even blend the devices into their social networks and entertain.

They buy newer/better/more devices every 3-6 months.

Then we have another 15 +/- percent who use the basic mobile device applications – email, phone, photo/video exchange, use the web for productivity and creativity.They upgrade or add devices every 6-12 months.

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Remember when you surfed the web and came across a Geocities page that basically was a mess and completely unreadable? There are a few MySpace pages out there with the same problem. Vincent Flanders has been talking about Web Pages that Suck for the last 13 years about those issues.

Over the years we have really evolved on website design. If you look at the Wayback Machine, you can see how sites like Yahoo, Microsoft and Google evolved. Heck, they have to: with newer web technologies, we have to be concerned about how the site looks, because that affects viewership. New sites show up daily that could easily start taking away traffic.

Nowadays with scripting, CSS, Ajax, Flash and a whole lot more, we run into a whole bunch of new issues. One browser would look awesome and the other would be discombobulated. Browsershots has the ability for you to look at your website through a whole list of browsers on multiple OS platforms. There are browsers out there that I didn’t even know of!

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I have been reading on Conficker for a while now. It’s basically a worm that uses your computer to spread itself. The newest variant is feared to wreak havoc come Wed, April 1st. But if it does, how much damage are we really talking about?

First of all, lets throw it out on the table: if you have your Anti-virus and Windows updated, then totally scanned your PC, you should be good to go. If your Anti-Virus hasn’t been updated in a while (Some IT people feel they are impervious to getting a virus. Silly people), then update now.

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I have a friend. He is looking for a new computer, but is not sure whether he wants a PC or Mac. Since I have lived in both worlds, I could tell him the pros and cons for both. However, I am a techie. I suggest a computer based on my techie knowledge.

We both agreed that he wanted a “Everyday” opinion. We went out to the coffee shops and talked with the people and the computers they used.  Some have it for work, others either got their computers as gifts. Those that did buy their own computer got the info from another IT person.

There was one that did use Consumer Reports to choose his computer. He was happy with his machine and it weighed in on my friends decision. But he wanted a lot more.

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Avast thinks Hulu is a Malicious Site

I went to Hulu this afternoon to catch up on my HEROES. I didn’t get to see it on Monday, so I knew that I could go up there and watch the show without issue. Or COULD I?

Turns out Avast won’t have it. It is blocking the SWF from playing and saying “Malicious Code”. Tried a few times in Firefox and IE. Every show or movie I try to play comes up with the same thing.

Here’s the kicker - neither Avast nor the Event viewer is showing any more info. In fact, it’s not even logging the event!

Could this be a malicious code? Could it be that Avasts’ database is off? Maybe Hulu changed some stuff to thwart Boxee from going through the RSS backdoor?

Well, there is a way around that. I went to NBC.com and watched the episode. I hope it’s not a real issue on Hulu…

**Update - Avast has posted an update to allow the Hulu SWF through. There was still no Event log on what it blocked**

For a while now, I have been really critical about Yahoo and their business practice. The drop in stock, the internal fighting - followed by the new CEO and 1 month later, nothing to really talk about. If I was an investor, I would be up in arms.

The other day, Yahoo finally showed something positive. In this post, Yahoo is going to bridge the search with advertisements. What does that mean? The ads will finally coincide with the content on the page. That might bring more clickthrough and more revenue options for not only Yahoo, but also the webmaster that hosts the ads.

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The original article on the station:WKOW - ‘Woman blames Dell for missing online classes’. Maybe an antagonizing title as it brought many Dell and Ubuntu users online to blast the TV station and the woman. And why did Ubuntu users do this? Well - this person wanted Windows instead of Ubuntu.

The story starts out where the Abbie wanted a laptop for her studies. She bought one from Dell for $1100. The machine came loaded with Ubuntu - which Abbie hadn’t heard about until that point. When she called Dell, they told her that Ubuntu is a great OS and will work well for her.

For Abbie, she is not in tune with the computer world as much as a lot of other people are. And rightfully so - I don’t normally rebuild cars, so I don’t know what parts I should use - I don’t build houses, but I (as everyone else) will rent and own houses. For Abbie, she needs a computer that will work when she turns it on, and Ubuntu wasn’t doing that.

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In Part 1, we looked at last years predictions. The numbers weren’t too shabby. This year, we’ve expanded the list to anyone that wanted to contribute. And Contributions I did get. 250 of them.

I spent most of Friday night and subsequent morning filtering the list to a couple pages worth of information. We have CEO’s, CTO’s, Marketers, Podcasters and even a Psychic helping us with this years list.

Of course at the end of the list I will be adding my 2 cents worth for 2009 on Page 2.  So without any further ado, let’s get started.

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*Personal Note: If you like this article, Please DIGG it. Thanks!

There have already been Apps refused on the Apple iPhone store simply because of questionable content. Last week, a new App - iBoob - was the latest application to get axed. The program was simple. Shake the iPhone and watch the chest shake.

While this app really is no different than watching an 80’s movie on Comedy Central, Apple has pretty much set the guidelines for their store that, if you don’t follow, you get booted. Then again, they pretty much said they will nix ANY application without explanation.

Nonetheless, these apps will still try to find their niche in the Store. They will get booted - which in turn - Apple will continue to get bad press. Then Android’s store will come along and although they have a kill switch too, they might just be a little more liberal with the applications they allow.

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