My latest on the Computerworld Tool Talk Blog:

TextExpander is one of the most useful tools available for the Mac. It allows you to generate a list of text abbreviations which, when typed, automatically expand into words, phrases, paragraphs or whole pages of text. The upgrade released this week adds significant new capabilities, although some of the new features are still unreliable.

TextExpander runs in the background, and watches your keyboard. To use it, just type.

The best way to describe how TextExpander works is to describe how I use it. When I type the abbreviation "mmw," TextExpander types out my name. I use that as a short e-mail signature. "cwsig" is the signature I use for correspondence relating to this blog. I have a couple of other e-mail signatures I use for various other roles I play, all accessible by typing abbreviations I created and customized with TextExpander.

TextExpander isn't just for e-mail signatures. If I type "hhipaa" it spells out "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)." And "palblogtag" spells out the last paragraph I use on every single blog I post to a particular corporate Web site.

Read the rest: Updated TextExpander makes typing on the Mac even faster

Seems like the iPad might be awkward to hold no matter how you position it. It'll be too heavy to hold in one hand, you can't operate it if you hold it in two hands, and it will be impractical to use for long periods in your lap.

Will the iPad be too difficult to use in any position? That's one of several questions emerging as iPad availability looms closer.

Will the iPad be hard to use?

Lee Mathews, writing at Download Squad, analyzes the first iPad commercial, which aired Sunday night at the Oscars, and asks, "So why is everyone in the iPad commercial sitting down?"

Everybody in the commercial is sitting, and holding the iPad in their lap, Mathews notes, and speculates that the iPad is hard to use any other way. It's too big and heavy to be held in one hand, he says.

Read the rest of my post on the Computerworld Tool Talk Blog: Apple's iPad: Awkward to use in any position? And other questions

If the Great Recession has taught marketers anything, it's that measuring what's working—or not working—is essential to wringing value from Web sites and online marketing efforts. Marketers increasingly are relying on Web analytics to help them move beyond simple brand-building to turn Web traffic into relationships, leads and sales.

Some companies are fine-tuning their Web analytics to focus on measuring which activities generate sales leads. They then use the information they gather to make design changes to their Web sites.

Indium Corp., for example, is focused on monitoring how the Web drives sales leads. “I don't get paid on click-through rate or bounce rate,” said Rick Short, director of marketing communications for the supplier of electronics assembly components. “I get paid when people buy something. So I focus on generating bona fide, opt-in leads—period.”

That's not to say that Indium ignores standard Web statistics such as page views, site visits, bounce rates and average time on site. It uses that information to help determine what content on the site is best engaging visitors and driving them to register and contact the company. “I'm a businessman; I'm here to sell,” Short said.

Read the rest of my article at BtoB Magazine: Analytics help marketers adapt their Web sites to customer behavior

Also: Align measurement with visitor goals, business objective

Citrix Systems uses Web analytics to boost business results

It seems obvious that the upcoming Apple iPad is a computer, but many people -- both Apple supporters and haters -- seem to feel passionately that it's not a computer. So what is it?

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a "computer" as "a programmable, usually electronic device, that can store, retrieve, and process data." That certainly matches the description of the iPad, the iPhone, and other smartphones, as well as video game consoles, and programmable Hewlett-Packard pocket calculators that came out in the 1970s.

But some seem to get worked up denying that it's a computer. That's true of both the device's defenders and detractors.

Read the rest on the Computerworld Tool Talk blog: Apple's iPad: Is it a computer?

I got a pitch this afternoon from a PR person wanting me to do a story that I wasn't interested in.

I started to reply in e-mail. I struggled to articulate the reasons why I wasn't interested. Then, I imagined the PR person coming up with responses.

Eventually, the imaginary PR person in my head convinced me to do the story.

Apple's iPad goes on sale April 3, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to get one then. If the past is any guide, Apple stores could sell out early on. Will they? That's one of several intriguing questions still remaining about the iPad.

Will there be shortages?

Maybe, says my colleague Gregg Keizer: "Apple's iPad: Will It Sell?" Prior to Apple announcing an April 3 availability date for the iPad on Friday, Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams said production problems would limit the number of units available at launch to 300,000.

Wall Street analyst Brian Marshall of BroadPoint AmTech said the iPad will "definitely" sell out in hours.

The company had trouble keeping up with demand for both the iPhone 3G in 2008, and the 3GS last year. It took Apple about six weeks to fully stock its stores with the iPhone 3G.

Read the rest at the Computerworld Tool Talk Blog: Apple's iPad: Will there be shortages, and other questions

It'll work while I sleep, and exercise my body, while pooping, washing, brushing teeth, and inputting meds and fiber. Where can I get one of those?

Apple announced this morning that the iPad will be available in the US Saturday, April 3 for Wi-Fi models and late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models.

April 3! That's almost a month away! You're killing me, Apple!

Read the rest on the Computerworld Tool Talk Blog: Apple announces iPad availability: April 3

If you can't wait for an Apple iPad, there are a couple of ways you can get your hands on one: You can become an employee of an Apple Store, or stage a Mission: Impossible-style break-in of the Wall Street Journal headquarters.

PCWorld reports that Apple Store employees will get access to iPads March 10, with commercials starting to air March 15.

And the Wall Street Journal reported that it has an iPad right now, which Apple checks up on nightly. The Journal quoted Rupert Murdoch, CEO and chairman of News Corp. which owns the newspaper.

Read the rest on the Computerworld Tool Talk blog: How to get an iPad before they go on sale

Adagio Teas is a small online retailer with just 20 employees, but they can teach retailing giants some tricks about using blogger outreach, Twitter, and other social media to connect with customers.

I talked with Ilya Kreymerman about how the gourmet tea retailer uses social media. Social media manager is just a small part of Kreymerman's duties. He's also head of technology and Web marketing for the company.

One of the things that most impressed me about Adagio is that they put a note in my next tea shipment when I blogged about them previously. Nobody else has ever done that. I buy a lot of online retail, I've been doing it a long time, I blog about my experiences occasionally, and nobody's ever sent me a note like that before. It shows they're paying attention to their customers (one of whom happens to be a tech blogger -- me).

Kreymerman explained that Adagio has the capability to individual customers' accounts. My blog said that I'd placed an order with them earlier that day, so he called up my account, flagged it, and wrote the note to put in my order.

Read the rest on the Computerworld Tool Talk Blog: A conversation with Adagio Teas' social media manager

I've been a little bitter lately. I turn on the news and see the Great Recession, natural disasters, war, and government deadlock. It's not a great moment for America, or for Western Civilization in general. Indeed, sometimes it's easy to think that America and the West are well past their prime and have been declining for a while.

Then I see something like this on Boing Boing: "Roger Ebert gets his voice back: 'Uncanny. A good feeling.'"

Film critic Roger Ebert has been unable to speak audibly for four years, since he received drastic surgery to treat his cancer. He's been quite articulate though, at RogerEbert.com, on his blog, Roger Ebert's Journal and on Twitter at @EBERTCHICAGO. He passes handwritten notes, and gestures with his hands.

Read the rest on the Computerworld Tool Talk blog: On Roger Ebert, and taking a moment to be thankful

This is short notice, I know, but at 1 pm Pacific time today I'll be a guest of Smarter Technology, talking about the 2005 science-fiction novel Accelerando, by Charles Stross Accelerando details an effervescent and moving vision of the future in which human and machine intelligences join and compete in surprising ways to remake everything. We'll talk about Stross's vision of the near future and its implications for Internet policy, law, culture, and virtual worlds.

The host is my friend and former colleague John Jainschigg, of Ziff Davis Enterprise.

You can catch the event in Second Life or on the Web.

More info on the Smarter Technology Web site.

I got off to a bad start with eVoice. After I wrote my hands-on review of the Google Voice mobile Web app, I got an e-mail from representatives of j2 Global Communications asking me to take a look at a competing product, which was (a) Just like Google Voice, but (b) Older.

So what? I said. Nobody cares how old the service is. Google isn't exactly some young fly-by-night startup.

Then, the j2 rep spoke the magic words: Tech support.

"You offer actual tech support?" I thought. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

Read the rest on the Computerworld Tool Talk blog: eVoice: Like Google Voice, with more for business

One of my favorite iPhone apps got a recent update. Instapaper is a tool to help you download library of interesting articles from the Web that you can read at leisure.

It works like this:

I start every day by scanning the tech news. Most days, there's nothing big happening. Microsoft hasn't ditched Windows for Linux, Steve Jobs hasn't resigned from Apple to become a Buddhist monk.

Read the rest at the Computerworld Tool Tallk blog: Instapaper, iPhone app for reading, gets update

Adagio Tea, a small online retailer of gourmet teas, makes innovative use of Twitter and other social media to drive sales and cement relationships with customers. They're a tiny company, but they do a couple of tricks that I haven't seen done anywhere else.

To induce customers to sign up for Adagio's Twitter account, @adagioteas, the company has set up a process to automatically send direct messages on the status of a shipment. To receive direct messages, a Twitter user has to be following the sender account. Adagio hopes that even after your tea shipment arrives, you'll continue to follow @adagioteas and receive occasional marketing messages.

Read the rest on the Computerworld Tool Talk blog: Adagio Tea: Steeped in social media, no unicorns and rainbows

Illiterate? Guess whose fault.

Twitter could be getting ready to launch an ad platform in two to three weeks, according to reports. It will need to strike a delicate balance, delivering users' attention to advertisers without driving the users away.

Anamitra Banerji, head of product management and monetization at Twitter, told the blog MediaPost that "we are working on an ad platform, but it's only in the test phase," according to a report published earlier this week.("Twitter Ad Platform 'Imminent'")

"People are constantly talking and engaging with brands, sharing their feedback," Banerji said during a panel discussion at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, MediaPost reported. "What if brands start to participate?"

Seth Goldstein, CEO and co-founder of socialmedia.com, who led the panel, asked whether Twitter was "likely in the next month or so [to] offer Twitter owned and operated ads, perhaps?" Banerji said, "That's right."

Twitter may launch its ad platform at the South by Southwest conference which starts March 12, according to GigaOm. ("Twitter to Launch Ad Platform Soon")

Read the rest on the Computerworld Tool Talk Blog: Can Twitter offer ads without driving away customers?

There are fewer mysteries introduced this season. Oh, there's quite a lot of unexplained new business: The tower, the mirrors, the hippies in the temple. But there isn't the same sense that the writers are dropping clues which, if we just assembled them right, would tell us what's going on. They're just unexplained business.

With one big exception: What is the relationship between the alternate-2004 timeline in Los Angeles, and the 2007 timeline on the island? There seems to be a connection. The characters on the island bump into each other in L.A. There are weird things going on which seem connected to the island. The two I remember involve Jack: His below-the-collar shaving cut in the season opener, and his mysterious appendectomy scar last night. At first, he didn't remember getting an appendectomy. And I think he was lying when he pretended his mother had reminded him -- I think he still didn't remember it.

Also: Jack has a son in this timeline.

The character stories in 2004-LA seem to be about their exorcising their personal demons. Locke is still together with his girlfriend, they're on their way to getting married, and he seems to be reconciled to his father. Jack has a son, and he's reconciling with the boy.

I think island-Jack was right about being a bad father. He was whiny and needy. Children don't need whiny, needy, clingy parents. They need parents to be strong.

Claire has replaced Rousseau. She knew that fake-Locke wasn't really Locke, but she also referred to her father. Does that mean Christian Shepherd's ghost is the real thing? It does appear ghosts are real in Lost.