Student's Guide to Tech

Internet Devices

2008-12-23T11:41:00.001-08:00

Around August, I bought an iPod Touch. After returning it several times because of the new model, I began to use it. Ok, so I didn’t just use it. I USED it. Everyday, every class, all the time. When I was bored during class, there was always a nice portal into the internet waiting for me in my pocket. No matter where I was at my school, I could check my email, IM my friends, and post updates to Twitter. To this day I still use my iPod touch continuously, checking email and the like.

But what does a Internet Device really need? I use my iPod way more for its browsing capabilities rather than its music player. There was a survey that showed that most iPhone users used the browser much more often than the actual phone. That leads me to conclude:

1) A Good Internet Device Doesn’t Need a Bunch of Extra Stuff.

Now this doesn’t mean that it can’t be a combination of things. I’d rather have a iPod Touch than carry around a Internet Tablet and a iPod. I’m just saying that it doesn’t need to have a lot of extra stuff. Many people would be fine with just having something with a web browser.

Another thing I’ve noticed about my iPod Touch is the fact that I don’t use it to its full capacity. I hardly play games, watch videos, and the like, which is what Apple is trying to promote the iTouch as, a gaming platform. (“The Funnest iPod Ever.”) Not only does this further the fact that you don’t need a bunch of extra stuff, it also shows that:

2) A Good Internet Device doesn’t need to cost a lot

I reach this point because it doesn’t take a lot to have a touch screen device that simply has a browser on it with a wifi chip. Meaning that it shouldn’t cost a lot.

Not only would a low cost Internet Device be very easy to make/use, it would also kickstart more people using the mobile internet. If a $100 device allowed you access to your RSS Feeds, Email, Contacts, and more anywhere there is a Wifi hotspot, I think a lot of people would be willing to buy it over the iPhone. Especially people that bought/want to buy the iPhone for its Mobile Web capabilities, but hardly ever use the phone.

Thanks for listening!

Many Devices - The Wrong One

2008-09-14T21:41:00.001-07:00

So right now, I am stuck between using primarily my computer and my new iPod Touch for a lot of my tasks. Things like Email and using Google Reader just seem a lot nicer while using the iPod Touch. But then I spend a lot of time going into Safari, opening up Google Reader, finding the entry, or typing the email, that I begin to realize that "This would be a lot faster if I just used the damn computer."

One of the things that is very addicting about Apple's iPod is a very simple to use interface, that almost makes you want to use it for things that would be a lot easier to do on the regular, nice big sized monitor. I think I'm drawn to the Apple Interface more because there isn't anything in the way. There isn't a crud load of ads and white space. Everything is taken up to the very last pixels, which makes me like it a lot better.

Because you now have these fast internet connections and big browsers, websites try to take up that real estate using ads, or worse they forget about it and leave a lot of white space.

What I would like is for websites to be more put together. I'd like websites to use my entire browser for stuff that I want. Maybe make the fonts bigger, maybe not have all those side graphics, but take up that real-estate on my 1680x1080 widescreen. I'm loading your website and wasting my time to view what you are putting out, at least make it worth my while. I hate sites that the entire site is a fixed box in the center and each side will just be filled with the background color, the content being the same size.

Chapter 1 : Laconica Servers

2008-09-05T18:10:00.001-07:00

You have all seen Twitter, and some of you, maybe even most of you are using Twitter. You have a lot of followers, you tweet a lot, you might even have it hooked up to your phone? But what happens when it goes down? What happens when you want to switch to another Twitter-Like service? What is a Laconica Server?

Laconica Servers
A Laconica server is open-source Twitter Server that interacts with other Laconica Servers. Each small community, that can be based around a single topic, has its own members and public feed. When you want to follow your friend on another community, you are able to because the servers are 'federated' and can talk to each other. Don't get it? Maybe this will help...

How a Laconica Server works.

So, for the most part, it is the same core functionality as Twitter. You can send messages up to 140 characters, you can send @replies, and you can follow people. (Private/Direct Messages are not supported yet) The API for all of the function Twitter offers is built in. XMPP for use with Jabber and Google Talk is built in. For the most part it is the same experience, and now with both Spaz and Twhirl supporting Laconica Servers, plus the added benefit of SMS built-in, I don't see any reasons not to use it.

So what are the benefits?

Because the entire project is open source, that means that things like 'Track' are completely available to users. 3rd Parties can expand on the Laconica servers and make features that a particular community wants. Also, these servers thrive on being able to have smaller groups of people to create more interesting conversation. In my 3-4 weeks of using the TwitArmy Laconica server (army.twit.tv), I can follow the Public Timeline instead having to filter things and use the home feed. Not only does this create more interesting discussion, but servers don't go down due to a high amount of viewers.

So what does this mean for the future?

While currently this is currently not the most used technology, it can mean big things in the future. Being able to expand on a growing community of people micro-blogging about what they are interested about can mean that you can, using track, instantly follow conversations that you are interested about. No matter what server you are on, you can connect with people from other communities. It means that we can break down the walls of Twitter and hopefully other micro-blogging services to make something even greater than it is. Its like email on steroids!

So, I hope that after reading this paragraph, you now know more than you did 5 minutes ago. I really do hope that this technology can expand into a giant web of communities all having great conversations about the world we live in. Because (from the Discovery Commerical) "The World is just awesome!"

Im Back!!!

2008-09-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

I'm back all. I just got back from a long summer and am ready to get blogging agian. If you still subscribe to me and are interested in the blog, good for you! This year we are going to hit up subjects like the iPod Touch and applications, Google Chrome, that was released this Tuesday, and so much more. I got some cool new toys for blogging (Firefox Ubiquity), and that fasted browser ever(Chrome). So hop on board for another wild adventure as we go into the 2008-2009 Edition of "Student's Guide to Tech'

Google: The Next Social Search Engine?

2008-07-18T15:17:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a little. My mind has been pre-occupied by a project I am working on. But more on that in a future date.

Techcrunch recently released a video of the closed beta Google Social Search. This incorporates likes, buries, and comments all into your search results. You can view both your likes/dislikes, and everyone's 'edits'.

I think that if something like this goes live to the world, it will introduce a large amount of people to a new way of using the Internet. Not a lot of people use social platforms that are really helpful when you are trying to find the most credible websites. I especially think it is a good idea because you don't necessarily have to look at everyone's edits. If you'd like to just use the feature on your own searches, its perfectly usable that way.

Social Searching really helps to rank websites in order of where you really go. Its really easy to glance at the websites most people visit, and find most helpful with social search, and you can always ignore them and simply look at the regular search results you would find.

Thats All! I hope to be doing the podcast some more in the next 1-2 weeks when Falko returns from his trip to Germany. Then he will probably join me weekly on Skype!

Gmail + GDocs = Virus Protection?

2008-07-07T17:27:00.001-07:00

So.. I was just wandering through my Google Mail account where I found I had a few new email's in my spam box. I decided to take a peak at them considering I knew not to open attachments and not to download anything. I found a nice email that said 'You can get 5,000$ a week by doing nothing'! Knowing this was a complete joke, I read on. It was a bunch of B.S. of how there was no experience needed at all to make tons of money. At the bottom it read, to find out more ... wait for it... 'Open this HTML File!' I knew immediately that the HTML file somehow was intending to harm my computer. But .. still being curious, I opened it inside of Google Documents. Of course, all it said was:

To view FULL DETAILS please click on Information Bar and Allow Blocked Content in your browser. Thank you.

Well, that was the gag. But the part that I loved as that by using a website that went in and actually read the letter for me, and converted it into plain text, I was completely immune to any hidden viruses it had inside of the documents. Its like a second computer that simply reads the file! It doesn't execute anything to try to make it work, it doesn't download extra things to give the .html file some added functionality. I think sometimes we just need something that does a certain functionality without trying to compromise to get something to work.

Youtube User Data being handed over to Viacom

2008-07-03T11:15:00.001-07:00

So, I welcome all of you here to the beginning of the end. Please take a seat and enjoy our journey into one of the very invasive privacy concerns circling around the Internet. I speak of none other than the current court case going between Viacom and Google. Possibly ran by one of the most moronic judges of all time Louis L. Stanton. Recently there has been a court order by Judge Stanton forcing Google to hand over YouTube User Data containing usernames and Videos those users have watched.

Appalling? Yes.

In an article written by Michael Arrington of Techcrunch, it was pointed out in the title that the "Judge Protects YouTube’s Source Code, Throws Users To The Wolves". Viacom was also asking for the YouTube source code. For some reason, Viacom needed this information to, as written in an article at CNet, "proving Viacom's claim against Google that YouTube is a hotbed of pirated video content, the sources said."

One of the points I find interesting that in order to prove the YouTube is a "hotbed of pirated video content", Viacom needed to see the source code of YouTube. From my point of view, the source code has nothing to do with the type of videos users post on YouTube.

Now, I do have to mention that all of this information is to be used solely for the purpose of proving YouTube's mass amount of pirated content. So any fear of you being sued by Viacom for looking at that MTV music video can be put at ease.

"Whoever wins this case and whatever issues come up, this will go to a court of appeals. It will be a powerful precedent."

- DeLong

Twitter vs. Friendfeed

2008-07-01T07:36:00.001-07:00

If any of you are following me on Twitter or Friendfeed, you will have seen my multiple comments, posts, arguments, rants maybe, about the fact that Friendfeed, is not, isn't planning on being, and won't be a viable replacement for, Twitter. Well, most of those arguments are very true. I'll relay them to you right here.

Friendfeed =/= Twitter

Just incase you didn't catch on at first, the '=/=' means 'does not equal'. One of the big mistakes a lot of people are making is that they think Friendfeed is a viable replacement for Twitter, when in whole Friendfeed is a very different service. Twitter is a status updating website that allows you to both put updates as to what you are currently doing, and you can start a conversation with anyone account in Twitter simply by putting @username in one of your tweets. Friendfeed however is a medium for getting content, and it sits alongside a commenting system. Friendfeed takes content from sites and makes a single feed out of it, that friends can then comment/'like'.

Friendfeed is not the 'New' Twitter

One of the big reasons that people switch over is that they think that Friendfeed is a viable replacement for Twitter. Yes it has API integration with Twhirl making it able to have for the most part the same interface, and yes, you can put out messages of what you are doing by simply using the 'Share' form. But there are a number of things that Friendfeed doesn't have. The first and more obvious one is right not it doesn't have SMS. Really, that is a small problem because it will probably be put into an update soon enough, if FF developers can find a good format of what to put into the SMS Messages. Honestly, if Friendfeed is based around links, which it is, there isn't really a reason to receive SMS messages from Friendfeed because it would require you to visit a webpage as well.

Thats problem one, the second problem is as I mentioned above, there is no @reply feature. This is a bigger problem because if FriendFeed continues down the line of being a sharing site, there is really no need to implement a @reply feature. That really creates a problem, because there isn't a way to on Friendfeed, direct a message to someone. There is no private messages either, which might be more foreseeable in the future.

Friendfeed relies on Twitter to work.

As Louis Gray pointed out, think of Friendfeed as a pizza. The pizza is there to deliver it and the toppings to your mouth. All of the different websites Friendfeed uses to make itself useful are toppings. The pizza doesn't work well without them. Friendfeed relies more on people using Twitter than it relies on people using Friendfeed, because unless you decide to use the 'Share' link for all of your content, the only way it can retrieve items for people to comment and 'like' is if you allow it access to the 3rd party applications that you use.

Now, not everyone necessarily agrees on toppings. I might use twitter, you might use brightkite. The important part is that you use something to create content and get it onto Friendfeed. That way we can comment/link/'like'/share/etc.

Whatever you use, use it!

I am not trying to become a complete advocate for using Twitter. The fact is that it does have its problems. This giant rant is just specifically pointed to the fact that Twitter =/= Friendfeed. But, whatever you use, whether it be Brightkite, Tumblr, or even Google Talk Status Updates (lol). Make sure that you use it a lot, and keep creating content.

Stu2Tech Podcast

2008-06-27T08:14:00.001-07:00

I am finally starting to focus a little on my 'Stu2tech' podcast. Me and my friend Falko will be talking about events often everyweek. I say often because it is highly possibly that we will do more than 1 or 2 podcasts a week over the summer. You can join us in our Skype recording if you like, just send an email to chacha102@gmail.com.

Oh, Here your beta invites to Ping.fm

2008-06-24T09:24:00.001-07:00

Just incase you want to try this new services, the beta code invites is letmeping. Have fun pinging!

Ping.fm

2008-06-24T09:22:00.001-07:00

So, Today I discovered this great new service called Ping.fm. What it does is allow you to post to groups of social networks based on what they are like, IE: Status Updates, Blogging, Micro-Blogging, etc. I really like the fact that I can have all of my Blog posts go to all my blogs, and that I can just as easily send an update that goes to Twitter, Pownce, Tumblr and More. Plus I can have services that have ALL of my content. It really changes the web from having specific services, to instead, just having content. It doesn't matter the medium that you get it, It just matters that you get it.

This is a Test Post

2008-06-24T09:17:00.001-07:00

What does this Do?

Google Analytics

2008-06-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

Google Analytics is one of those cool tools that just give the mass amount of information Webmasters are looking for. It easy to set up and definitely deserves a try from anyone who wants to do any kind of website.

One of the cool features is the fact that Google Analytics uses many very rich charts that are interactive. If you are on the time line and you select a point on the graph at say March 15th, you will go to that day specifically. For every chart there is also a table of data below it for people who would rather see a table of data.

Besides that, Google can pinpoint where people are in the world and map it out so you can view whwere your hits are coming from. You cans et up goal pages to see how many people start at your home page. Go to page x, then page y, and finally land on page z. This is helpful for marketers and sellers because it can allow you to see how a customer got to the checkout page of product x.

Overall, I am very impressed with Google Analytics. It works flawlesslly with Adwords so you can buy the correct keywords, and is very accurate. http://www.google.com/analytics anayltics for more info

Boycott the Associated Press

2008-06-16T06:54:00.001-07:00

Go here to sign a petition boycotting the Associated Press after they came up with their new regulations on blogs. read more (unassociatedpress.net) | digg story
--
So, AP (Associated Press) recently set a new lists of regulations for blogger to use, basically saying that you can only quote what we want you to, and if you don't we are going to Sue you. More information from Techcrunch Here. I've provided a shameless plug to a website promoting the boycott of Associated Press.

It gets really sad when companies have a go this low to allow for their business model to prevail. The internet and the communities on it are all changing, and paid content is one of the buisness models that just aren't going to fit into this changing world.

Do you think this is a reason to stop using AP? Or am I just overreacting? Post it in the comments

Comments - Blog Posts in Response to other Blog Posts

2008-06-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

Comments can be blog posts

This person has it exactly right, (as I mentioned on Twitter). Comments are just as important as blog posts, because they basically are blog posts, just responding to an article. A good commenter spend just as much time forming their comments as a good blogger spends forming their articles, and both can contain great information. I think that news aggregators should allow comments to also be listed, and that you should be able to have all of you comments you write anywhere on your blog, with a link to the article you are writing about. I defiantly think if we could find all of people's comments on their blog, it would help centeralize their content.

It’s Friday

2008-06-13T19:00:00.001-07:00

It’s Friday

Posted using ShareThis

Pricey Pricey

2008-06-09T13:23:00.001-07:00

Yes, one of the big announcements was the fact that the new price for the 3G iPhone will be $199, but if you look at what you are really paying for, its really not that cheap. Buying a $30/month unlimited data plan along with a $39.99/month voice plan, over your 2 year contract, you spend:

$959.76 in Voice

$720 in Edge Data

$399 for the phone

Giving a grand total of $2,078.76 for a Regular iPhone

For a 3G iPhone,

$959.76 in Voice

$1080 in 3G Data

$199 for the phone

Giving a grand total of $2238.76 for a 3G iPhone

So incase you were wondering, unless you do not get a 3G Data plan, you will be spending more on a 3G iPhone than a Regular iPhone

3G iPhone

2008-06-09T13:13:00.001-07:00

Probably the best announcement at the entire conference, and the most anticipated, was the news of the new 3G iPhone.

Now for people who are new to this kind of technology, 3G is a faster wireless network for cell phones. And because it is so much faster, it allows for faster downloads of web pages, and music.

The battery life for the 3G iPhone has been increased, flaunting a 300 hour standby time, 5 to 6 hours of browsing the we, 7 hours of video, and 24 hours of audio. Unfortunately, the 3G feature reduces the talk time greatly, giving only 5 hours of talk on 3G, and 10 on non-3G

iPhone Applications

2008-06-09T12:40:00.001-07:00

The next thing announced by Apple is the great new applications that will be featured on the iPhone. Apple really is trying to push the apps it has on it to be able to be used in any environment.

A few of the apps:

Typepad: A new blogging software that allows you to blog right from your iPhone. It only can post pictures, but it allows you to add titles, categories, and text. Anything else would probably be to annoying to use on a phone anyway.

iCall: Allows you to use VOIP on your iPhone. It will allow you to switch to a VoIP network during calls so that you can save minutes when you are at home, or another place with WiFi.

Whrrl: Last app I am going to mention is a mobile social network that allows people to rate different businesses with your pals.

Also, plenty of new games were released onto the iPhone...

Games for the iPhone

2008-06-09T10:56:00.001-07:00

The games for the iPhone would allow for a whole new generation of mobile gaming. It allows you to change the layout of the game and buttons completely. It would allow you to take the same function that made Wii so popular, in the palm of your hand everywhere. And because of the accelerometer, it has the ability to allow movement to control games. Unfortunately, this means people on subways driving their iPhone Game.

Online Apple Stores Officially Down

2008-06-09T09:38:00.001-07:00

Yes, just like I predicted, the Online Apple stores have gone down with a message that they are currently updating. What could they Possibly be announcing today that would cause them to be updating?

Twitter is down, On the most important conference of the year

2008-06-09T09:14:00.001-07:00

Recently, Twitter has said that Twitter would be completely up for the year's WWDC Conference, and early on, they have failed. Currently, Twitter is down to my Twhirl client, and many others are also complaining about Twitter's Down Syndrome (Literally .... 'Down' syndrome). So, we have now found out that Twitter can't keep its servers up even when they promise to. Expect a giant ranting post on Techcrunch about the failure of Twitter. Now What?

Online Apple Stores Go Down

2008-06-09T08:55:00.001-07:00

via Engadget

All Online Apple Stores across the entire world have officially gone down. This can only mean that they want no spoilers for the upcoming announcements for the new Apple Product(s). In my opinion, this can only mean that the stores are going under maintenance to be ready for the overflow of sales from the announcement today.

Currently, the Online Stores are back up, but who knows how long that may last. Nothing new on the site though, so they will probably go down again to put the new product's page up.

WWDC

2008-06-09T08:50:00.001-07:00

So, what will happen today at WWDC? Im not listening to any spoilers, I am not looking at anything except the live coverage from Techcrunch, and the commentary from Leo Laporte and his friends at twitlive.com

My thoughts will all go up here, and expect quite a few posts by the end of the day. Afterwards, I'll get a follow up post linking to all of the WWDC hoopla and links to video from different sites.

Have Fun!

Openness Part 1: Interface Enhancements

2008-06-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

One of my next rant's with openness is the fact that most website's that have custom built User Interfaces, really could be changed to suit the user's needs more. IE: More pleasant looking, easier to navigate, quick links to important pages, etc. I really think one of the next steps is going to be either building your page in a way that is easy for 3rd Party Apps to place enhancements in, or to allow User Customized UI's to be submitted, and then let the user choose what they want to use. Certain websites are going to be used very often if a user can easily do what they want and enjoy using the application.