Sharon's Report

We Have Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:52:00 +0000

I thought I would be able to keep things quiet until I was completely unpacked, but somehow the cat got out of the bag! My new feed was found less than 24 hours after being "live" and although I'm happy about being found, I'm in my sweats eating pizza and it's moving day - and I have COMPANY!

So, what's a few more? Come on over and check out the new digs. Just please don't mind the moving boxes as it will take me a few more days to get settled and unpack the rest of the way. Oh, you don't mind a little pixel dust? Well come on over!

Here is my new address: http://www.techafina.com so please be sure to update your bookmarks and subscriptions: http://feeds.feedburner.com/techafina. And if you're too shy to stop by during the unpacking phase, please be sure to stop by sometime next week!

Image by Duval Guillaume

This Week in Review - Edition #2

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Some news from the Home Front! This week Sharon’s Report went through yet another design overhaul. What can I say, I’m indecisive! If you read site updates from your RSS Reader and haven’t been to the site in a while, this is a good time to check it out. Feel free to leave comments about the changes. And, since I'm STILL not sure if I like the design, if you do, or don't, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

In addition to the site redesign, I have now added a Contact Form page so I can be reached easily without sharing my email address with spammers. As a side-note, the workaround with Blogger to have extra “pages” on your blog is to simply create a new post, and link to that post. I used that method to create the contact form “page”, but back dated it to the end of July so it wouldn’t appear as a recent post. Unfortunately, FeedBurner still published it as a feed as though it were a new post (so that should help clear up any confusion you may have about receiving that odd feed)! Also, it's a Blogger tip for you if you just happen to be wondering how to do that, now you know how!

Now, without further ado, here are some great things moving and shaking around the ‘Net this week…

1. Cool Blog Find! TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home, is a site focused on ebooks of course, in all it’s related context. If you read anything in digital format you’ll want to check out this site.
2. As I admitted earlier this week, I am a proud owner of a new Kindle. With that in mind, I had to throw in a link for fellow Kindle owners! Check it out: Kindlerama, complete with Kindle Tips & Tricks, accessory reviews, and “how to" information.
3. Like random cool geeky blogs? Pixel Bits is definitely an "interesting" find. I may add this to my Blog Roll (if I ever set one up).
4. Haven't had enough Twitter yet? Want to find more interesting folks to follow near you, or with similar interests? TwitterPacks is a Wiki just for that purpose. I found several cool people to add to my Twitter Network and even added myself to the Dallas section. Wiki's can be quite handy...
5. This week my focus seems to have been on Security, so in keeping with that theme, here is a Beginner's Guide to OpenID Phishing. Like the site owners, I do not in ANY WAY condone phishing in any form, but it is important to know that this exists and be informed.
6. And, You're No One if You're Not on Twitter, because
"...if you haven't been bookmarked, retweeted and blogged, you might as well not have existed..." This is a seriously catchy tune by Ben Walker.

That takes care of this week, I hope you all have had a wonderful Holiday weekend!

OpenID: Benefits and Risks

noreply@blogger.com (David Rosen) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:05:00 +0000

By David Rosen

Last week we defined OpenID. This week we're going to talk about why you might choose (or not choose) to use OpenID.

As promised, let’s discuss the Benefits…

Simplified Login
Single Username and Password for multiple sites. You only have to authenticate to OpenID one time per session. Once you are logged into your OpenID account, OpenID can automatically log you in to the other websites that you visit.

Unique Web Identity
No more wondering if the post by "CowboysFan" on one website is by the same person as "CowboysFan" on another website. OpenID's are unique everywhere.

Information Management
OpenID servers have features such as “information profiles”, that let you control how much personal information each particular site has access to. Some sites might only get your name and email address, while you may allow others to automatically get your full contact information.

Decentralized
Anyone can run their own OpenID server. You're not tied down to any particular company or bound to a proprietary system.

Security
The websites which accept OpenID never get your log in information. That information is only shared with your OpenID server. There is also the benefit of user customizable security level. You can define your own login method (or methods) for OpenID:

Username and Password - just like normal
Getting an SMS message that requires you to reply
Choosing a sequence of pictures
Receiving a phone call on your cell and pressing a button to allow the authentication
Finger print scanner, USB Key, RSA tokens, etc...

As you can see, OpenID can make your online experience smoother and easier. It also provides social benefits, such as a unique identifier. Your online identity already spans multiple websites but it no longer has to span multiple names. You can be "you" everywhere. The security benefits of OpenID are nice, too. One of main reasons I use multiple passwords is that I don't want to use the same password for my Online Bank that I use for posting comments on a blog. If the blog was setup incorrectly, then my password could be stolen and used maliciously. With OpenID, neither the blog nor the bank would ever see my password to begin with.

Speaking of security, that brings us to the Risks:

All Your Eggs in One Basket?
If your OpenID account is compromised, you can say "Bye, bye Humpty Dumpty" because everything tied to it is now gone.

Unique Web Identity
Overheard in the breakroom, "Hey look! I just found Bob's OpenID posted on a personal ad at www.TranssexualNaziEskimos.com!"

Decentralized
Multiple points of failure: If your OpenID server has an outage, you can no longer log in to all the sites that use it.

Security
Phishing attacks now are a primary threat.

This list might be small, but the items on it are big. Some of the obvious solutions to the issues here break the features presented above. Don't like having all of your eggs in one basket? Just create multiple OpenID accounts. It's not the end of the world, but it does start to erode on a major selling point, the convenience factor. The most negative point here is Security. OpenID is a ripe target for phishers. "Phishing" is the process of attempting to trick users into just over their usernames and passwords, or other sensitive information. How? Come back next week for final segment of OpenID Explained, discussing the phishing risk in greater detail.

Read Any Good eBooks Lately?

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:05:00 +0000

I did it. I finally bit the bullet and bought an Amazon Kindle. The Kindle caught my interest when rumors first broke about it’s upcoming debut, and now that it has been available for several months I decided it was time to take another look.

If you are not familiar with the Kindle, it is an electronic reading device, but it has a special e-ink screen that make your eyes feel like they are reading from paper, not a lit screen. My BlackBerry makes a decent reading platform, but not a GREAT one. I enjoy reading in short spurts on it (as mentioned previously, I am seriously addicted to Viigo) – but the backlit screen is just not comfortable for extended periods of reading.

Moving toward a digital library is becoming easier as time goes by, as every day more and more books are being released in the digital format. Most Classics are free, and there is a large selection of ebooks available in a variety of formats. Although Kindle Books (purchased through Amazon) are tied to a single Amazon account, more than one device can be managed by an account to allow content sharing. This isn’t a perfect situation, as sharing only applies to books, not subscriptions such as blogs, magazines, or newspapers – and “Amazon Recommendations” will no longer be geared toward YOUR reading preferences. The slight problems aside, I am absolutely adoring my new Kindle, and I can say in earnest it really is as cool as everyone says it is. Reading on the Kindle feels equivalent to reading newsprint but ink smudges are a thing of the past.
If you are looking to add ebooks to your digital collection, here are a few links to get you started:

Happy Reading!
Image credits: Kindle by John Pastor, Books by Manu M

Welcome, and Thank You!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:19:00 +0000

I want to take a moment and point out that last night’s What is OpenID article was NOT written by me. If you read it quickly you may not have noticed that the name David Rosen is the name in the byline! Yes, I managed to convince my husband to be on occasional guest author here on Sharon’s Report, so please give him a hardy welcome and show your support! He has a follow up post in the works, and another article or two up his sleeve. Welcome Dave, and thank you for highlighting OpenID for us and kicking off some well needed focus to web security.

What is OpenID?

noreply@blogger.com (David Rosen) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:59:00 +0000

By David Rosen

If you have signed up for a new service recently, you may have noticed an option to use something called OpenID. You may have noticed that it is an option when you log in to Plaxo, LiveJournal, or WordPress. You may have heard that AOL and Yahoo are now OpenID providers. Many OpenID sites extol the virtues and benefits that come with it... "Only password to remember!" "Decentralized!" "Open Source!" "Establish your identity anywhere and everywhere!" But they all tend to explain only the benefits of OpenID rather than what it actually IS. Today we're going to answer the question, What is OpenID?

First a quick digression: What is authentication? Normally, to login to your account at a website, you first identify yourself with a username, and then you prove that you own it by providing a password. This process is "Authentication." It doesn't have anything to with your Plaxo contacts, your Blogger profile, or your Flickr pictures. Authentication is claiming that an identity is yours (username) and proving it (password).

There are many of ways to authenticate to a system besides usernames and passwords, you use some of them already. Need an example? Think about getting money from an ATM. First you claim who you are by providing your ATM Card. Next you prove it by entering the PIN (a 4-digit password).

There also methods of authentication that don't directly require passwords at all. In fact this occurs almost every time you sign up for a new account online. Say you're signing up for an account at Plaxo.com... At some point you claim that an email address (an identity) is yours, by entering it into the sign up form, and then you have to prove that it is indeed yours. How do you do that? By going to your email, logging in and receiving an email with a secret code to enter or a secret link to click. You have now authenticated your email identity without ever having to hand over your Gmail password to Plaxo. NOTE: Your email username and password were still required indirectly. You had to enter them to check your email, but your email password was never entered at Plaxo.com.

Now back to the real question: What is OpenID?
OpenID is just another method of authenticating yourself - one that is similar to the email registration example above, but more automated. With OpenID your identity is a Website rather than an Email address or a Username. You first claim that you own a website (an identity), and then you have to prove it. But, just like in the email registration example, you never directly hand over the username and password to your OpenID website. So how do you prove you own it? Same method as in the email example, you go to your OpenID and log in. But in this more automated version, the service you to want to use (Plaxo.com for example), automatically redirects you to your OpenID website. Then, instead of having to click a secret link or type in a secret code to prove you logged in, the OpenID website itself simply tells the requesting service (Plaxo) whether you passed or failed authentication.

Need a concrete example? Here is a simplified version of what happens when I want to log in to my Plaxo.com account:
Step 1. I go to Plaxo.com and choose the option to Sign in with OpenID
Step 2. I type in "https://dnszero.myopenid.com" and hit enter
Step 3. Plaxo sends me to my OpenId site (www.myopenid.com) to login
Step 4. I login at myOpenID.com
Step 5. myOpenID.com send me back to Plaxo.com, and tells Plaxo.com whether I passed or failed authentication

Still wondering what the benefit is here? It's two-fold: First, I can use dnszero.myopenid.com to log in everywhere that OpenID is accepted. No more having to remember 8 usernames and 6 passwords. Second, these websites that I log into never touch or even see my password. I don't have to worry that a flaw in one website's security will compromise my password (the same password I use to log in everywhere, in this case).
Pure bliss, right? Maybe, maybe not. Come back next week and we'll touch on some of the benefits and some of the major flaws.

Image Credit: Photo by Konrad Mostert

Twitter: See the Other Side of the Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Twitter previously had a function that allowed you to click on the profile of someone and see their replies. I’m not sure when that feature disappeared, but it leaves people at a loss when seeing only part of the conversation come through to their stream. That happens if they are following you, but not your friend who you just replied back to on Twitter.

The Replies tab was useful to clue you in on the other half of the conversation, if you were curious enough to take a look. Earlier today, I came across @Pistachio and noticed that she is using a GREAT work-around for Twitter’s missing feature! In her Bio, she has added a link to her replies on http://search.twitter.com. That’s fantastic! I immediately copied her methods and did the same for myself, and at the same time noticed a new search feature in action. The ability to use a “threaded view” was added to Twitter Search a few weeks ago but I didn’t pay too much attention to it at the time.

To see the beauty of the threaded views, take a look at this example. I do not know @danhounshell, and do not receive his Tweets. Therefore, I didn’t know what @JamesShaw was specifically replying to (aside from the fact that his Tweet makes sense, but let’s pretend it didn’t for the moment). Out of five Tweets, the only one I saw was the one that had my name (@SharnAtlanta) in it. Take a look at the screenshot below.

Now, when we click the “Show Conversation” link below the Tweet, we see the entire threaded conversation! I can now see:

And voila! You can now see BOTH sides of the conversation! I hope this features becomes a regular part of Twitter.com! In the meantime, be sure to bookmark Twitter Search for future reference and insight to those one-sided conversations.

Social Media, as Spoken Word

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:51:00 +0000

Thanks to this Tweet by LouisGray on Twitter this morning:

I was notified of a fantastic rendition of Social Media – as Spoken Word by Rasheen Porter. Rasheen, let me just say, you blew me away with this video.

For anyone not in loop with regard to Social Media, here are all the items Rasheen mentions (within ONE minute!) with the respective links.

SocialMedian: http://www.socialmedian.com/
Michael Arrington (of Tech Crunch): http://www.techcrunch.com/about-michael-arrington/
LouisGray: http://www.louisgray.com/
Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader/
StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/
Corvida: http://shegeeks.net/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/
FeedBurner: http://feedburner.com/
ReadBurner: http://www.readburner.com/
12 Seconds: http://12seconds.tv/
seesmic: http://seesmic.com/
Lijit: http://www.lijit.com/

What, you haven’t seen this video yet? Take a look: http://tinyurl.com/socialpoetry

Let Me Buy You a Coffee – From Across the Country

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:16:00 +0000

As someone who has co-workers all over the entire United States, I can honestly say, there is a GAP here waiting to be filled. Want to buy someone a beer from afar? Someone figured out there was a need for that and yes, I can buy you a beer right here, right now, from my home office over in Texas. However, I don’t exactly want to buy my co-workers BEER (it doesn’t exactly send the right message, you know?), I’d like to buy them a cup of coffee. A $20 gift card to Starbucks isn’t quite right either. If we worked in the same office I’d hop on over to your cube and say hey, that was awesome how you pulled through for me yesterday! Let me treat to you a cup of coffee, come on, you deserve a break.

So where is this service? Apparently waiting for YOU to create it (yes, YOU – I can break the fourth wall here). In the mean time, if you like my work, feel free to Buy Me a Beer!

Buzz Bites Buzzes with Caffeine

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:02:00 +0000

What follows here is a remarkable example of how to effectively use Web 2.0 to help market your product.

On Sunday, August 3rd, I published an entry explaining how little caffeine is really in Jolt gum. On Saturday, August 9th, I received a packet in the mail from Vroom Foods (wonderfully stamped “SERIOUSLY CAFFEINATED! CONTENTS” on the outside), containing FOUR samples of their Buzz Bites product.

Everything Vroom Foods did in this situation, they did properly. First, as someone unfamiliar with Vroom Foods, the stamp on the envelope quickly clued me in that this was NOT spam mail – this was a direct reply to the post I had published a few days prior. Second, enclosed along with the free samples was a personalized note explaining that she (the Business Development representative) had seen my blog entry about Jolt gum, and Third, I received not one free sample, but FOUR. Two tins of the Chocolate Energy Chews, and two tins of the Mint Chocolate Energy Chews were mine to sample in caffeinated delight.

Before sampling my newly received goodies, I noticed that on the product tin along with their comparison of a “chew” to an “energy drink” – they state the caffeine contact under their ingredient list. Yeah for Vroom Foods! Personally, I think the caffeine content of food and drinks should be required by the FDA, but it isn’t, so if you see it on a product it’s there because the company chose to make that information public.

Last but not least, Vroom Foods stated they have had the caffeine content tested by a third party, and sure enough, our friends over at Energy Fiend show that yes, Buzz Bites contains a WHOPPING 100 milligrams of caffeine!

I was eager to sample my new products, but also a little scared. 100 milligrams is a lot of caffeine! I expected a bitter product, something I wouldn’t necessarily enjoy chewing, and I was quite surprised to find the opposite. These aren’t something I would crave for taste alone, but they were definitely good enough to be consumed on a regular basis, making me sad they only sent 4 tins.

In addition to the free samples (of highly caffeinated candy no less), I was incredibly impressed with the manner in which I was contacted, as well as the speed. Vroom Foods is obviously keeping a close eye on what is said about their competition (or simply watching for mention of caffeine), and this is an example of how they just got free advertising out me by sending me something I might like. Two weeks ago I had not even heard of Buzz Bites, now they are something I would not only buy, but likely recommend. Now, I think I’m going to have to give their Foosh Energy Mints a try…

How to Customize Your Blogger Template

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:59:00 +0000

This past week I have been focused on customizing my Blogger Template, and I have to admit, I was shocked to find just HOW much information is available. Blogger can be tweaked to your own personal tastes and needs regardless of what it is you want it to do or how you want your site to appear.

One requirement to website development is having a non-production site that allows you to test changes without disturbing your “live” site. Although you can’t necessarily do this within your current blog, you can quickly and easily create a test blog that is private! In addition to making private test site, you want to make sure it isn’t being crawled by search engines, listed under your Blogger profile (but still visible to you in your Dashboard), and… well, let’s just say BloggerBuster did a great job of covering this from top to bottom and I highly recommend you take a look if you are planning a site overhaul.

One seemly apparent drawback to Blogger templates (provided by Blogger) is that they are ALL 2 column templates. The truth is, Blogger is so customizable that this isn’t necessarily a problem. You can find different Blogger templates in a variety of places and end up with a very non-Blogger-like site. You can even remove, or rather, hide the “Navbar” (that’s the bar across the top Blogger shows on your site by default) with 5 simple lines of code. I have turned mine on and off but I think I’m going to keep it since it doesn’t seem to interfere with my design.
As far as my personal choice for a template, I really liked the Minima Template for it’s simplicity in design, but wanted it to be 3 columns. I tried downloading versions that other people had created and found that they had tweaked too much and it was less like Minima than I wanted. I was then happy to find amazingly simple instructions on how to convert the template myself! To change Minima from 2 columns to 3, just follow some simple instructions from Tips for New Bloggers.

There are probably hundreds of Blogger resources available, but BloggerBuster and Tips for New Bloggers together truly make up your Swiss Army knife of Blogger goodness. Between the two of them, I have plenty of information to keep me busy improving my site for a long time to come.

This Week in Review - Edition #1

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:00:00 +0000

This week I came across some great finds that I want to share with my readers:

The Social Path, A blog by David Griner with a focus on Social Media
SheenOnline, A blog by Rahsheen Porter with a focus on Web 2.0, Social Media and a splash of GTD. I found several of his posts very inspiring!
Chris Brogan shared 20 free e-books about Social Media
Sarah Perez with ReadWriteWeb shared with us Three New AIR Apps to bring Facebook to your Desktop
The Paisano explained How to Export from Google Docs
If you have been trying to decide if Groundswell is for you, take a look at the free PDF excerpt (I really need to buy this book!)

That takes care of this week, I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!

Power on the Go

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:20:00 +0000

Now more than ever, we don't want to be caught on the go without power. Addictions run high with our phones and iPods given all that we can do with them, and the APC UPB10 Mobile Power Pack comes to the rescue. This is not a new product, but somehow, many people still don't know about this jewel. If you travel, this is a must have item. If you don't travel, it's just very handy to have around.

The actual power pack is very similar in size to my BlackBerry Curve, just a bit shorter and a tad slimmer. It weighs 3.4 ounces (again, less than my Curve) and is with me everywhere I go. Originally, it came with a Power Only USB cord (no data) and an AC Power Adapter (the wall plug). The Power Only USB is worthless to me because it doesn't make sense to carry TWO USB cords when you're on the go, and the point of this device is to be mobile. Instead, I carry a regular USB mini-retractable cord - and the power pack. The power pack can charge my phone for more than two cycles without needing to be recharged (perfect for a 2-3 day trip), AND, it can even charge my device, WHILE being recharged by my laptop. If I am carrying an iPod then I bring along the iPod power/sync cord along with my regular USB.

I originally purchased the power pack about a year and half ago at Sam's Club for around $50. The price is still hovering at $61 on Amazon, but you may be able to find it at another retailer for less. Either way, after a year and a half, I'm still toting this around and singing it's praises.
Be Mobile. Be Happy.

How much Caffeine is REALLY in Jolt gum?

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:12:00 +0000

Like most people in the tech community, I consider caffeine to be my friend. It helps me slog through my morning a little faster, and begin to think clearly hours before I would normally. Sometimes a beverage with caffeine just isn't handy, or maybe not readily available. Gum is almost always handy, and quite portable, so I decided to take a deeper look at Jolt Gum (which I blame completely on a random surf through ThinkGeek).

If you look at the web site for Jolt Gum, you will see the same statement that is on every package, "2 pcs of Jolt Gum = 1 Cup of Coffee." Well, after trying it, I wondered, did they mean Instant Coffee? I mean, I'm a coffee drinker...and 2 pieces of Jolt certainly doesn't, well, give me any kind of a "Jolt." I had remembered seeing a Caffeine count on ThinkGeek stating "each piece of gum is approximately 45 milligrams of caffeine!" and I LIKE ThinkGeek - they're cool over there, so I wanted to trust them - but I couldn't take their site as the full authority. I mean, a cup of coffee is often described as having approximately 45 milligrams of caffeine, so perhaps they were just rewording what is already stated on the package of Jolt Gum.

Unfortunately, according to Energy Fiend, Jolt Gum only contains 12.7 milligrams in each piece. That's very interesting, considering you can order a Grande Decaf of the Week from Starbucks and receive almost the exact same amount of Caffeine as in TWO pieces of Jolt Gum. Yes, a Starbucks Grande is 16oz, and their decaf of the week contains 25 milligrams of caffeine.

Not to rain on your parade, but if you are a fan of Penguin Mints, they too pull the same claim and fall short. They claim that "3 Penguins are the caffeine equivalent of 1 cola beverage," yet Energy Fiend again shows us the light and states that each mint only has 7 milligrams of caffeine. If you want to call Coke Classic a "cola" you would be looking at 34 milligrams of caffeine in a typical 12 ounce can. Honestly, you could just simply have a 6 oz. Dannon Coffee Yogurt and surpass them all with a whopping 36 milligrams of caffeine.

Now, if you really want to have some fun, you can see how much caffeine it would take to kill you - just pick your poison. Apparently, it would take more than 534 pieces of Jolt Gum to kill me by way of caffeine, and that's just way too much chewing.

Contact Me

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:52:00 +0000

Agendus for BlackBerry - Now Available in BETA

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:20:00 +0000

As of TODAY, you can now try out the Beta version of Agendus for BlackBerry. Because this is a Public Beta, you can snag it for $9.95 (the cost will increase to $19.95 once it is out of Beta, so if you plan to go for it, now is the time).
BUT, before you spend any money on Agendus, just keep in mind that Pocket Informant BlackBerry will release "in August 2008" for $19.95. BerryReview.com has some screenshots on their site of Pocket Informant if you'd like to take a look.

Personally, I'm torn between the two. I currently use PocketDay, paired with PocketDay Lists, and I'm ready to move on to something... well, better.

Any suggestions?

Why Twitter?

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:22:00 +0000

If you are not familiar with Twitter, it's one of the more popular "micro-blogging" applications around at the moment (both for positive as well as negative reasons, but I'll get to that later). For a wiki-rific explanation, Wikipedia explains Twitter very well and provides more insight to the application and it's use.

So, why use Twitter? I've been using Twitter since September of 2007 as my virtual hallway conversations, to replace a part of my work day that simply doesn't exist. I am a full time "remote" worker, collaborating with folks all over the US - but no one within 100 miles of me. Granted, I love working remotely, but there are some aspects of "traditional office life" that are useful and even appreciated. For me, Twitter fills that gap. Here is an example from my Twitter stream:Okay, so no, this wouldn't happen at a "real" office, but if I experienced something that I thought was funny (that wasn't appropriate to share with my conference call), I would probably tell the folks on the other side of my cube. So, instead, I tell my Twitterverse.

I find Twitter to be good company when I'm bored, people I can access with something in common if need be, or even just a sounding board when I need an opinion. When I wanted to research eye surgeons prior to having PRK, I asked for some insight on how to find out about a doctor's background. A friend of mine reached out to me after seeing my "Tweet" and gave me a link to the Texas Medical Board, and in essence, assisted in my decision in choosing a surgeon. Twitter can be all sorts of things to all sorts of people.

Now, Twitter hasn't been 100% perfect. Call it growing pains, call it mis-management, no matter what you call it, there are lots of people talking about it. I'm more leery about Twitter now than I had been months ago - will Twitter still exist in 6 months? Will I lose contact with the people on Twitter I have begun to know on a personal level? In the last month a new Twitter-like service has been born called Identi.ca. Identi.ca is similar, but different. One common theme among many people on Identi.ca is that they are fed up with Twitter, and ready to jump ship, almost. It's difficult to cut ties completely if you have an established network and don't want to leave your network behind. Many are doing what I am doing and cross-posting to both Identi.ca and Twitter at the same time - which allows us to grow our network at Identi.ca, and not leave our friends behind at Twitter.

Will both survive? Hopefully this isn't a "Neither can live while the other survives" kinda thing. Personally, I believe there is a place for BOTH services, and I look forward to watching Identi.ca grow, as I too continue to meet more folks there. It's kind of like moving into a new neighborhood, everyone is friendly and eager to meet their neighbors.

You can find me at either service at the following addresses:
http://twitter.com/SharnAtlanta
http://identi.ca/sharnatlanta

See you online!

The Digital Face of 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:42:00 +0000

Is 2008 the year of Social Networking? Sure, before 2008 we had MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook - but doesn't it seem like things really exploded this year like never before?

Now you can also be found on FriendFeed, Twitter, Identi.ca, Pownce, Tumblr, Plurk, Brightkite, and probably a few dozen more. A few days ago I learned about Kwippy, and today I just learned about a new one called Chi.mp that is currently in Alpha (because Beta just isn't good enough anymore).

This is a picture I linked to from my Tumblr page on January 3rd, 2008. I felt like this picture really said what the article title claimed "This Is How The Internet Is Describe In One Photo." Of course, now I can think of a lot of things missing from the photo. My perspective has changed quite a bit in 6 months, but then again, so has the scene of Social Media.

Do you have any opinions about where you think this is going, or how you feel about making your life a collection of data streams? I'd love to hear it!

Del.icio.us Will Soon Be Tastier!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:48:00 +0000

I don't know how long I have been hearing that Del.icio.us was going to finally have a face lift, but it's been a long time coming. Along with some new enhancements, the DOMAIN is now changing to simply Delicious.com, so no more worrying about where to place the silly dots. Currently there is an automatic redirect from the proper spelling to the dot-filled domain, so I would imagine once the change is in effect the reverse will be true as well.

Whether this is happy news for you, or simply just news - this is a good time to make sure you know either your login, password, or email your account is associated with. The strange thing is, where is the launch date in this "announcement"?

Leggo My Viigo

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:41:00 +0000

In all this iPhone madness, it seems time to shine some light on an amazing application for the BlackBerry. Viigo is an enhanced RSS reader, allowing you to choose from a selection of over 3,000 feeds (they call them "channels"), as well as any custom feeds, allowing you to follow the updates of any site you wish. There is a major overhaul to Viigo in the works under the name Project Tango, which includes the same RSS feed reader, plus the addition of Weather, Sports, and Entertainment. Audio & Podcasts will join the Beta line up in the future, but the current strength of this application is in the feeds. As you read you can email the article to yourself or others, click to view the web site, or even save it for continued reference (it will be replaced by newer feeds if you do not save it).

My personal favorite feeds to read on the go are: BerryReview.com, BlackBerry Cool, Cool Tools, MakeUseOf, and Mashable. I probably subscribe to at least 50 feeds, but I'd never admit to it!

To get a copy of Viigo, just go to http://getviigo.com/ or http://getviigo.com/beta from your mobile browser.

Viigo is my #1 most used application on my BlackBerry Curve. What is your favorite BlackBerry application?

So You Wanna Start a Blog...

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:34:00 +0000

You know you've got options, but you don't know what they are. Well, I'm going to try to make things a little easier for you and provide a breakdown of two of the big guns in town.

1. WordPress.com
a. free hosting available, or the option to host offsite
b. a decent selection of pre-designed templates that are somewhat customizable (via CSS)
c. the ability to edit CSS (NOT the HTML) at a cost of $15 per year

2. Blogger.com
a. free hosting available, or the option to host offsite
b. a decent selection of pre-designed templates that are very customizable
c. the ability to edit anything and everything! There isn't one piece of your web site that isn't configurable or customizable.

I spent several days struggling with WordPress, trying to customize a blog so it would have the features that I was looking for, but WordPress really makes this tough. Everything was a challenge. Aside from the limitations, there are quirks made of bad design that just make things overly difficult. Want to have a picture in the sidebar? In WordPress you actually need to begin a blog post, upload the picture, copy the URL it created - and only then can you can add it to the sidebar. To get it from this half-created post, you go back to your Design area, select Widgets, and add a TEXT widget (linking to the URL you just copied). Yes, to add any images to the sidebar, you have to step through several hoops that aren't logical. Why isn't there a Media Gallery?

After realizing it was important to me to have the ability to add some javascript widgets from MyBlogLog, I gave up on WordPress entirely. They don't allow ANY use of Javascript on your site (if you are hosting on their servers). If you host WordPress yourself, you are then able to edit the HTML as well as the CSS, and have a larger selection of templates from which to choose. So I do want to throw that out there (WordPress may actually be useful for some), but, I don't think the actual interface is any different and that is a big drawback. Their interface could use an entire redesign to make the blogging experience more useful, as well as enjoyable.

Blogger removes a lot of the limitations WordPress imposes, even if you go with hosting on their site. What took about two days in WordPress took me about an hour in Blogger, to reach a point where I was happy and ready to write. The design is user-friendly and logical. Everything works just as it should, and, you can do just about anything. You can even upload other Blogger templates (WordPress does not allow you to upload any other templates than what they provide). Want it your way? Go to Blogger...

Bridging the Gap Between Landline and Wireless

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:30:00 +0000

Recently I came across what appears to be a hybrid telephone! The Vtech 6110 slightly resembles a Treo or BlackBerry, but it isn't a cell phone. Since this is NOT a cell phone, it's very surprising to see a full Qwerty keyboard and mention of full IM and text messaging capabilities. Upon reading about this phone in Wired, I had to explore further...

As it turns out, this phone can act as a normal landline phone and use your home wireless (broadband) connection to allow you to IM and text message your buddies. You can even use it as a Voice over IP phone if you have cut the landline cord, making this a very flexible option.

Sounds great doesn't? Well, I must admit I was quite intrigued. So intrigued, I read the fine print and discovered what I consider to be major flaws for such a phone. If you're going to go as far as provide your customers with a semi-cell phone, you should go all the way and make sure it has syncing capabilities. The Vtech 6110 can store 50 addresses, which sounds great until you realize it is a stand-alone system. Who is willing to retype contact information that is already stored in at least three other places? Who would enter in all of their buddy contact information?

I began to wonder who exactly this phone is for, as it certainly isn't for the cell phone-enabled community. That's when I realized, this phone would be a great ALTERNATIVE for someone who isn't allowed a cell phone, such as a teenager - who can then text message and IM anyone they want (while at home) and not have to worry about additional charges or monthly fees. All in all this seems like a great idea, but with poor execution. What do you think, would you find something like this useful?

Lego iPhone Unboxing

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Rosen) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:05:00 +0000

These days there aren’t too many things cooler than a new iPhone, and it’s always fun to open new toys. Better yet, use OTHER toys to open your new toys!

Photo by ntr23