The Dugout

Help Us Help You - Take Our Short Survey

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:44:00 -0500

Help Us Help You - Take Our Short Survey:

We set a goal at the beginning of 2010 to increase our efforts around our blog (The Dugout), http://dugout.businessbullpen.com, so that it can provide added value to our clients, partners, friends, and potential clients. A lot of the content on our blog thus far has been responses to questions we receive from clients.

But, we want to do more. I have constructed a 3 question survey that is anonymous. I would be grateful if you could take 3 minutes this Friday or weekend to fill it out so we can continue to improve our blog and use of social media to provide you with a valuable informational resource.

— Todd

Loosely organized initial thoughts on the iPad

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:21:00 -0500

Marco Arment, the Lead Developer of two of my favorite products, Tumblr and Instapaper, plus an all-around nice guy, wrote a great initial response to Apple’s iPad announcement yesterday. I respect Marco’s opinion probably more than anyone on this subject given his personal and professional experience with Apple products. This is a great read from all different perspectives.

Here are a few of my favorite points from Marco. First, on the fact that the product is not revolutionary (even though Apple’s marketing video tries to convince you that it truly is):

Nothing about the iPad is obviously revolutionary, but it didn’t need to be: the iPhone OS and iPhone hardware are already revolutionary.

Apple already reinvented John’s mobile computing and my input mechanics and novice usability in 2007 with the iPhone. We’ve had the truly magical and revolutionary product this entire time, but we take it for granted now, and we’ve forgotten how awesome it already is.

I think what frustrated me over the iPad announcement was the official marketing video. I perceived the first couple minutes of the video as an effort to get potential consumers to believe the iPad was revolutionary. Marco’s point is so dead on. Apple has already revolutionized mobile computing with the iPhone.

On the iPad’s portability, which I found to be the most interesting part of Marco’s article because I do not own a tablet or e-reader device like the Kindle.

Its portability is interesting and slightly problematic. Like a Kindle, you’ll bring it in a bag, not a pocket. It won’t always be with you, and one-handed operation will be impractical.

Compared to a laptop, the iPad will likely be a better device for content consumption and games, and an acceptable substitute for light productivity and entertainment. Laptops are mediocre for consumption, especially of long text.

It’s going to be clumsy and impractical to type on it with anything but your thumbs unless it’s resting on a flat surface, but your neck won’t allow you to sustain that for very long. Its keys are large, like a physical keyboard, but you likely won’t be using it as one. If my cardboard model is accurate, I suspect that it will be used mostly as a giant thumbs-only keyboard. This will be acceptable for writing brief emails and entering small text snippets, but I suspect nobody’s going to be writing nontrivial documents or blog posts without the external keyboard.

The iPad is almost the same size and weight as the Kindle DX, which I think is too large to use on a train unless you’re seated. (In addition to the difficulty and discomfort in holding the DX one-handed, doing so on a crowded train just looks ridiculous.) So the iPad is not going to be incredibly useful on the New York subway, but it’ll be great on commuter rail.

Marco goes on to write about who Apple is trying to target with the iPad, which was my main focus/question yesterday on Twitter.

There are many fewer potential iPad owners than potential (and current) iPhone owners. One basic reason is that it’s a lot more money (now). But nearly everyone can justify having a phone — the only question is which phone, and it’s easy for people to rationalize spending a bit more money for the really nice one. The same rationale applies to iPod Touch owners: they’re already buying a portable music player, and the iPod Touch is just the medium- to high-end choice.

But few people can justify having a tablet. One of the only reasons for a regular person to buy it is if it could replace their need for a laptop, but that’s not going to be the case for the vast majority of laptop buyers. Most laptop owners use it as their only computer, and there are very few buyers for whom an iPad, as we know it today, could serve in that role. (Does it require synchronization with iTunes out of the box before it becomes usable, like an iPhone?)

Launching a $500 tech device that very few people can justify purchasing, in a recession, isn’t going to lead to a ton of sales. Maybe it will sell at a similar rate to the MacBook Air. I don’t think it will be considered a failure, but I also don’t think it will ever be as big of a hit as the iPod, the iPhone, or the Mac.

Marco has already started working on the iPad version of Instapaper. His initial findings from a business and design perspective are interesting for those of us who work in technology.

I’d be thrilled if the iPad edition of Instapaper sold one-tenth as many copies as the iPhone edition, and I think that’s optimistic. Would you put in another 50-100% of development time to increase sales by 10%? (I’m going to, but that’s because I’m that kind of guy. I just spent months hacking the Kindle edition of Instapaper that’s used by almost nobody and makes almost no money, simply because I wanted to use it myself and I wanted it to be awesome.)

Tonight, I recompiled Instapaper as an iPad app. It took almost no work, and the app works in the simulator with complete functionality and very few visual bugs. (See? There was a reason to use proper autoresizing masks in your iPhone apps even if you didn’t think you’d ever need them.)

But everything except the reading screen looks ridiculous. To complete the proper iPadization of Instapaper, I’m going to need to redesign almost every screen and much of the navigational hierarchy, maintaining both editions in parallel for the indefinite future. That’s a lot of additional expense that most app developers, even those for whom “expense” is simply measured in their time, are unlikely to undertake.

As a result, and especially since the iPad is unlikely to be as financially compelling for development as the iPhone, I expect truly great iPad apps to be rare.

There is a lot more interesting commentary from Marco on the iPad, including the impact on the Kindle. I know some of you might already be sick and tired of hearing and reading about the iPad, but I encourage to give Marco’s article your undivided attention, preferably within Instapaper on the iPhone or Kindle.

Breaking: Photos of the iPad Mini!

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:45:25 -0500

Breaking: Photos of the iPad Mini!:

Just having some fun.

Enabling Email Subscriptions for Your Blog

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:39:00 -0500

We get a lot of requests to implement email subscriptions for blogs. It’s rather simple and once you do it once, it’s even easier to replicate on other websites. This article is designed to walk you through it.

First, your blog must output a RSS feed. 99.9% of blogs do, and if your blog does not, then it is time to switch blogging platforms. Figure out what your blog’s RSS URL is and copy it. For example, most RSS URL’s are either yourdomainname.com/rss or yourdomainname.com/feed.

Next, you need to open/have an account with Feedburner.com. Feedburner, which is owned and operated by Google, is the standard for enhancing the capabilities of your RSS feed.

Once you have logged into your Feedburner account, you will need to paste the RSS URL of your blog. For this example, I am using my personal website. (see screenshot below).

The next screen will then ask you to name your RSS feed, which can be anything you want, and name the last portion of your new Feedburner RSS URL (see screenshot below).

After you click the Next button, your new Feedburner RSS URL is active. The screen below should appear.

So, what does this mean? It means that your blog is now hooked up with Feedburner’s capabilities to extend your RSS feed in many ways. The next screen during the setup process is just one example. I recommend you check all of the options (they are free) to take advantage of the full potential of Feedburner (see screenshot below).

The feature though that you should immediately start using is Email Subscriptions. To enable email subscriptions, click on the Publicize tab. You will see Email Subscriptions in the left column menu. Click on the link and then click on the Activate button that is displayed (see screenshot below).

The next step is to copy the code that Feedburner supplies and insert it within your website. You can have the actual email address form on your site, or just a link to the form that is hosted by Feedburner. If you don’t know HTML very well, the subscription link code will be easier for you to insert without impacting other content or elements on your blog. For an example of the link, click on the Email link in the top left portion on this page.

You will definitely need to know HTML to customize the form code in any way. If that is something you need help with, then give us a ring or leave us a question in the comments.

After you have copied and inserted the code, now is time to review and/or modify your communications preferences. Click on the Communications Preferences link in the left column nav.

Review the information on the right side of this page. This is the confirmation email that is sent to people who have requested to subscribe. They must click the link in the email to confirm their subscription, which is standard practice for email subscriptions or newsletters.

Once you are pleased with the contents of this email, click on Email Branding in the left column nav. This page provides all of the controls to modify the look of your emails.

Finally, you need to set up your Delivery Options. Make sure you select the timezone that you live in, and then a delivery time. Feedburner emails go out once a day, and include links to all of the posts that were published in the previous 24 hours. Many people believe that scheduling your email to go out in the early morning is the ideal time slot because it will be one of the first items that will be read.

That’s it. You now have enabled email subscriptions for your blog. Leave us a comment if you are having trouble.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0500

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org:

The great people at Gibson Design Management of Charlottesville asked me to write a post about deciding whether you should use WordPress.com or a self-hosted WordPress instance for your website or blog.

Indie+Relief

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:37:56 -0500

Indie+Relief:

All proceeds made on January 20, 2010 will be donated to Haiti. You get great software, Haiti gets financial help in its time of crisis.

Buy any of the software on that page tomorrow (Wednesday) and the developers will donate the proceeds to charities for Haiti relief. (Huge thanks to Justin Williams and Garrett Murray for organizing this.)

I’m participating with Instapaper Pro and donating to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Of all of this great software, I already own and love Billable, MarsEdit, SubEthaEdit, and Tweetie, I’m definitely going to buy Acorn and Clipstart, and I’m eyeing PDFpen and Tickets. Look through the huge list — I bet there’s something you could use.

(via marco)

Don't Abuse Your Personal Social Media Brand

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:59:00 -0500

by Gary Cope

We all know one. A person on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn who abuses their status as your social media “friend” by inviting you to join Facebook fan pages every other day, sending out 500 Tweets before lunch, or even worse, sharing links to get-rich-quick schemes.

There are a couple of folks that I know in real life (IRL) and am also “friends” with on Facebook and/or Twitter. But lately, they’ve started to annoy me with their endless recommendations for fan pages and shameless self promotion. The whole thing cheapens the overall relationship and damaged their credibility.

One person in particular has become a shill, not a living breathing human being. Often times they promote worthy causes, but when I get several fan page recommendations a week, I start to tune you out.

Perhaps you are well recognized and have an established personal brand - great! Good for you. Don’t cheapen it by treating your social media friends and followers with disrespect.

Be a person. Be real. If all you do is pimp something or send invites to everyone on your friends list, that’s not how social media works. That’s how spammers work. It’s the fastest way to get un-friended and/or un-followed.

Gary Cope has more than 18 years of experience in communications including broadcast and print media, corporate communications, and online marketing. At Business Bullpen, Gary conducts search engine optimization (SEO) audits and implementation; consults with clients regarding their search marketing strategies; and develops social media plans designed to help clients take full advantage of online marketing.

You can follow Gary on Tumblr at garycope.tumblr.com or Twitter at twitter.com/garycope.

Let's TeuxDeux This

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:40:00 -0500

I’ve been trying out a new to-do list application named TeuxDeux. My background and most of my experience is in project management, so I’m drawn to evaluating task managers and to-do list applications and techniques. Most apps don’t have me at hello, but it was love at first sight with TeuxDeux. The simplistic UI drew me in.

If you haven’t picked up on this yet, TeuxDeux is a to-do list and not a task manager. Remember The Milk, Google Tasks, your moleskine notebook, sticky pad, or legal pad are its competitors. I like all those options, but never could sustain long term use with any of them for reasons that are more about me than them.

The screenshot above is all that TeuxDeux is, and that’s what is so great about it. Everything is on one screen. You add a task by typing it in within one of the text boxes under a date (the due date). That’s it. To-Do entered. You can drag tasks up and down on each list to set an order or prioritized list. What if you don’t have a due date? No problem! Drop it in the Someday list at the bottom of the screen. When you have completed a task, just click it again and the task will be crossed off, just like on your legal pad. You can also remove the completed task from your list completely with another click. Want to move a task to another date? Drag and drop. So easy! If a task takes more than a few words to describe, you can hover over it to see the complete description. Want to move ahead a day or several days? Just click the arrow on the right side of the page.

The thing I like the most about TeuxDeux (besides the design) is how it responds when a task due today is not completed. TeuxDeux moves the task to the next day’s list. I prefer that over having overdue tasks from dates in the past. A to-do list is one list of many tasks typically to be done over the course of one day. If I don’t get to everything that day, then it should be on the next day’s list and not stuck in the past, right? Why should I care that it is overdue? I only need it on my current list of things to do, so I can get it done the next day. That’s how I operate at least.

If you are in the market for a new way of keeping tabs on your to-dos, check it out TeuxDeux. An iPhone app is coming soon, which should seal the deal for me.

Tumblr's Blogging Community

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:40:00 -0500

This is the second of a three part series on why I use and love the blogging platform, Tumblr.

Tumblr has spent a lot of time on the community aspect of their platform and the benefits have paid off. Many people love Tumblr because of fellow Tumblrs, the Tumblr community. It’s a very similar experience for those who use and love Twitter because of the Twitter communities they follow and contribute to. Just like Twitter, you have the option to follow others on Tumblr. However, unlike Twitter, you don’t have to follow other Tumblr blogs to get value out of Tumblr since it is a blogging platform first. The architects of Tumblr smartly force everyone to use their Tumblr dashboard to publish their blog content. There are no well-known third party clients to do this work like there are for Twitter. Tumblr does have a bookmarklet and publish by email options, which enable posting outside of the dashboard, but even still the Tumblr dashboard is the center of the Tumblr universe. The focus of the Tumblr dashboard is just as much on blogging as it is the community.

As you can see above, the top of the dashboard contains links/icons for all of the blog post types (Text, Photo, etc.). You click one of those links and you are off posting the next item on your blog. But, the majority of the real estate on the dashboard is just below these links. The photo of the dog, from petswhowanttokillthemselves.com is one of the many Tumblr blogs that I follow. Additional content from all the other blogs I follow are displayed as you scroll down the page in the dashboard. So, the content of the blogs you follow clearly takes center stage on the dashboard.

Tumblr has done a fine job improving the overall interactivity of the dashboard over the years. You can watch YouTube videos from the blogs you follow, listen to music posted on other blogs, view photo galleries, and obviously read articles all within the dashboard. There is no need to go to the actual web address of any blog you follow (although sometimes you might get the itch to do so). In addition, Tumblr has the concept of likes, which is very similar to Facebook. You can like a post from a blog that you follow right within the dashboard. You can also share all of the posts you’ve liked with others. You can reblog a post. What is reblogging, you ask? It’s re-publishing someone else’s content on your own blog and giving the source proper credit (which includes a link back to the source). You can also add your own commentary within the reblog. It’s for this reason that Tumblr does not come with a commenting system. Reblogging gives Tumblr users the ability to comment on other posts, but doing so on their own blog. (Note: You can use third-party commenting tools, such as Disqus, on Tumblr blogs if you do want commenting).

All of these features have helped Tumblr build an avid community who love the platform. Of course, the features would not be useful if it wasn’t for the content that Tumblr users are producing. There are plenty of interesting and humorous Tumblr blogs out there, and many focus on one unique topic. I mentioned petswhowanttokillthemselves.com. This blog contains photos of pets who are “over-loved” by their owners, typically pets in outrageous outfits. The blog has been so successful that a book has been recently published. Tumblr is a great source of music. Some of my favorites include newspeedwayboogie.tumblr.com, fredwilson.vc, barefootjukebox.tumblr.com, trappedintime.me, tuneage.tumblr.com, and a music blog I helped to start, thebutterroom.com. There are also some great product blogs on Tumblr. Ron’s Evernote Tips, which provides (you guessed it) tips on the very popular note taking app is on Tumblr. Newsweek, yes the magazine, does a great job with their Tumblr blog by incorporating content from other Tumblr blogs that they follow. Twitter is on Tumblr. The social networking app has its “status” blog on Tumblr, which provides reports whenever there are technical issues with Twitter.

If you love photography and/or graphic design, there are plenty of great blogs to follow on Tumblr. Some of my favorites include ianbroyles.tumblr.com, lauraminer.com, readysettravel.tumblr.com, matthewbuchanan.name, blog.petervidani.com, and log.acryliccowboy.com.

There are also countless Tumblr blogs about sports teams, places, actors, artists, and anything else you can probably come up with. But my favorite Tumblr of all is baconbaconbacon.tumblr.com. Every day I get pictures and recipes of dishes that include the best food in the world, Bacon. I even found a cornbread stuffing recipe (which of course has bacon in it) that my Mom cooked for Thanksgiving.

As you can see, there are a variety of different blogs in the Tumblr community, and it’s why the platform is so great to use.

I will wrap up my series on Tumblr with an overview of the open API and Theme Garden. You can follow me on Tumblr at toddwickersty.com or follow this blog.

Behind the Tumblr Dashboard

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:40:00 -0500

Have you ever had to contact your hosting provider or Google or Yahoo! customer support? I have, and it’s not easy to get a quick answer. Best case scenario is that response time is hit or miss. Maybe you will receive a definitive answer in a couple hours or maybe it will be tomorrow.

While there is a wealth of information out there on public forums to help users of social media or bloggers who are trying to figure something out about their blogging platform, it’s still nice to communicate with someone directly if you have a problem that you cannot solve. This is one of the reasons why I really like Tumblr. They understand the importance of customer service. Long before I had met Tumblr’s Community Director, Marc LaFountain, I had taken notice of how quick he was in responding to my customer support emails. Then, I found out that Marc is the only person supporting the more than two million blogs using Tumblr. Impressive. Most Impressive. Tumblr consistently has provided me with the best online customer support experience. Marc is personable, professional, knowledgeable, concise, and as I wrote already, very responsive. If you are evaluating different blogging platforms, make sure you include customer support in your analysis. It should be at the top of your list because you will never know when you run into an issue and become dependent on the community that supports the platform or the organization that built it.

Months before I had even contacted Tumblr’s customer support staff of one, I had already traded several emails with the Lead Developer of Tumblr, Marco Arment. Marco agreed to do an interview for a blog I used to manage, and after that we shared a few emails about music since we appear to have similar tastes. Just like Marc, I was blown away by Marco’s responsiveness. I’m sure he receives a lot more email now than he did in 2007, so it’s possible I contacted him at a good time in Tumbr’s growth. But, earlier this year he took the time to meet with my business partner and I in New York to talk shop. We met for about an hour, but I felt he would have stayed longer if I didn’t wrap things up. He is a class act, and I hope to get an opportunity to speak with him again.

While I am a firm believer in the Tumblr product, it’s these “real life” interactions and experiences that make me a Tumblr cheerleader. It’s also why I believe Tumblr will continue to be very successful. They treat their community and customers like human beings and not numbers. As social media platforms mature, the technology and features will no longer be the primary reason for signing up. The platform’s community and customer interactions will become the key differentiator, and Tumblr is setting the standard.

Well, I'm a Tumblr

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:40:00 -0500

A couple years ago on a blog that no longer exists, I wrote a “Tumblr 101” post that seemed to be rather useful to others. Since that time, I continue to love the blogging/community engine that powers over 2 million blogs today.

What is Tumblr?

According to their website,
Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors, to your theme’s HTML.

By pure luck, I became an early adopter of Tumblr back in December 2007 so I do consider myself somewhat of an expert on the platform. I am also living proof that the quote above is no lie. If you are thinking about starting a blog and don’t want to worry about hosting, upgrades, plugins, theme compatibility, or widgets, then you should start with Tumblr.

As you may know, I am also a big fan of WordPress and my company does a fair share of WordPress consulting, implementations, and custom theme work. I believe strongly in using WordPress as a CMS for a full-blown website. However, if I were asked which platform to use for purely blogging, it would be a tough call. Either way, you can’t go wrong in my opinion.

Tumblr is very easy to use, and for many that’s all they need to make Tumblr their blogging platform of choice. For me, it’s about three other things:

1. The people behind the platform
2. The community
3. The Theme options and API

Over the next three days, I plan to dive into each topic in more depth. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a much better “Tumblr 101” overview than the one I wrote two years ago. It’s a presentation from Tumblr’s Community Director, Marc LaFountain. Marc spoke at Social Media Club Charlottesville in August. I encourage you to watch the video and give Tumblr a spin if you were planning to start a blog, regardless of the topic!

How To Add a Navigation Link to an External Site in WordPress

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:40:00 -0500

When I am building a WordPress site, I often times get a request to include a link in the navigation menu that goes to another site. I don’t recommend accomplishing this by hard-coding your navigation menu. It’s an easy way out, but doesn’t provide the most flexibility. All you need to do is create a simple WordPress page template and use a custom field to complete this while keeping your automated navigation menu in tact.

Let’s say your main navigation menu lists all of the WordPress pages that your site contains and you want to add a link in the navigation to your Facebook page. The first thing you need to do is create a new page template. If I have lost you already, you still might be able to tackle this without help. Just stay with me here.

1. Open your favorite web page editor, i.e. Dreamweaver or Notepad and create a new file.

2. Copy the code below and paste it into the new file.

3. Save the file as template_redirect.php (or whatever file you name you want to use, bu make sure the file extension is .php)

4. Place the new file in your theme directory and upload it to your test and/or production server.

There. You’ve created a page template. Now you need to learn how to use it.

When you are working with an existing page or creating a new one in WordPress, the new page template should appear in the Page Template dropdown as shown below.

Select the Redirect Page template. Then, add a new custom field as shown below.

Then, just to be safe, I always add some text to the page just in case the redirect does not work.

The title of page will appear in the navigation, and when you click on the link, it will redirect the user to the external site.

By going this route instead of hard-coding your navigation, you will be able to continue to add new pages or edit pages on your site, which will automatically be updated in your navigation.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment. I am happy to help!

Six Ways to Use Social Media

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:40:00 -0500

Last month I attended “Six Ways to Use Social Media”, a presentation by Marijean Jaggers, Vice President and social media specialist at reputation management firm Standing Partnership. Marijean is a social media star here in Charlottesville. In addition to her work and countless community-related projects and events, she anchors a “Blog of the Week” segment on CBS19 that highlights local blogs.

Marijean’s presentation from the event is below. It is a fantastic overview of social media and what you should be doing to get/stay engaged.

SMCCville Six Ways To Use Social Media

View more presentations from Standing Partnership.

Where To Spend Your iTunes Dollars

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:57:10 -0500

Here is a really good post for iPhone owners by one of our design partners out of Chicago.

trappedintime:

If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, or just got one for Christmas, you likely received a gift card for the iTunes store. I almost never buy music on iTunes, for a variety of factors, so I would almost always recommend spending your money on apps (especially right now, as many developers are offering end of year discounts).

I have a lot of apps (upward of 100) for my iPhone, so I thought I’d share some that I think are definitely worth buying.

1. AwesomeNote ($3.99)

I’ve always been disappointed with the bland notes application that comes with the iPhone. There’s no way to organize your notes, no way to customize the look or feel (I hate the default font and paper style), and it doesn’t sync well with your computer.

ToDo and note taking applications are very popular because of the void left by Apple’s default application. I’ve tried a variety of these type of applications, including Informant and Simple Note, but found AwesomeNote to do the job the best for my needs. Why? Well I don’t take and store notes on my iPhone specifically for work. Thus, I don’t need a ToDo app with note taking capabilities. Second, I’d prefer to keep my notes organized in folders so that I can quickly add new notes related to a category (see the screenshot above), which is why Simplenote is well, too simple.

AwesomeNote allows you to create folders, define the color of each folder, an applicable icon, and customize the style of the note - background, font size and color, a variety of easily customizable options depending on the subject matter. You can also choose various views in which notes within a folder display - i.e. thumbnails or list view. Additionally, you can use the app in either orientation - vertically or horizontally - and even lock the orientation if you prefer a particular view. The other great option is importing and exporting your notes to your Google or Evernote account. If you’re a Google Docs user, this makes a whole lot of sense.

For those who do prefer assigning due dates and using notes in a more task-oriented way, you can make your notes into ToDos with due dates and reminders!

2. Convert ($1.99)

Convert provides a very clean, intuitive interface to get a conversion from just about any set of units to another. Conversion units include area, energy, currency, force, computer, angle, speed, pressure, time, temperature, and typography. My favorite part of this app is the built-in calculator, which is similar to the default iPhone calculator. Essentially, you can replace one of your existing icons with this one and always have a handy reference at your fingertips!

3. Tweetie 2 ($2.99)

There are dozens of Twitter clients available for the iPhone. Some are free, some are a dollar, some are more. For the price, I can’t think of a more useful app, even for the not-so-interested Twitter user. The search features alone (particularly saved searches) allows you to keep on top of topics of interest to you. Tweetie 2 manages multiple accounts, integrates with various bookmarking and image hosting services, and features one of the nicest interfaces of any iPhone app on the market. For tumblr and Wordpress users, you can now also add your accounts to Tweetie 2 for a single source to find, navigate and share a variety of information.

4. Instapaper Pro ($4.99)

I hate bookmarking sites or articles that I know I won’t be interested in or need a few weeks from now, which is why Instapaper has taken a permanent spot on my bookmark bar. With Instapaper Pro, I can bring some unification to all of my browsing and bookmarking, wherever I’m at. While the free version does a decent job of this, the paid application allows me to better organize my bookmarked articles, which gives me more purpose when I try to navigate through my bookmarks after the fact.

For iPhone users the integration between Instapaper and NewsNetWire (I’ll cover that shortly) as well as Tweetie, make it a no-brainer.

5. CNN Mobile ($1.99)

CNN Mobile has one of the best iPhone interfaces I’ve come across. You can view stories in various categories in Cover Art mode for easy navigation, access videos and analysis wherever you’re at, and perhaps my favorite feature are push notifications of breaking news. It’s nice to know when something important happens if your attention is currently elsewhere. CNN also has a portion of the app dedicated to your current location with local news and weather that are very up to date.

6. Simplify Music 2 ($7.99)

I’ve detailed this app in a lot of depth, but the bottom line is that if you consider yourself a music connoisseur, or use the term “library”, this app is worth the money (even though they raised the price by $2). I currently have about 60,000 songs from my own computer accessible wherever I’m at, and the social networking aspect of it allows you to have up to 30 friends’ libraries accessible as well. With the right people, you could easily have access to a quarter million songs wherever you’ve got phone or Internet access.

7. NetNewsWire ($4.99)

If you use Google Reader, NetNewsWire for OS X, or FeedDemon for WIndows to manage your RSS feeds, this app is perfect for you. If you’re an Instapaper user, it’s especially useful. NNW allows you to sync your RSS feeds from your home computer with your iPhone, so you’re always up to date with what you have and haven’t read. Star items or send them to Instapaper for later reading, and organize and view by categories/folders defined by you. Great for picking out what you’ll read later in the day while you’re on your way to work.

8. Things ($9.99)

There are a plethora of task management/productivity applications available for the iPhone, but this one does it just right for me. Its interface is simple and clean, it syncs wirelessly over WiFi on your home network (assuming you use the equally impressive desktop version). Export ToDos straight to iCal, manage by project or client, set reminders for upcoming due dates. This has been one of my favorite apps from day one, even if the price tag does seem a bit hefty.

Free apps you should also consider downloading: Apple Remote, ESPN ScoreCenter, NYTimes, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, IMDB, iDisk, Dragon Dictation, DirecTV, Boxee Remote

Twitter to the Rescue

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:40:00 -0500

Do you use Twitter or do you make fun of others who do?

One glance at my site and you know that I do. However, I would not call myself a super user or even a super fan of Twitter. It has its good points and its bad points, and I will be using my blog to pick it apart over the months to come.

I’ll start with a positive example of Twitter first though. Here is a short true story of an experience I had this past summer in New York:

My trip home from New York on Saturday was delayed due to a power outage in Penn Station. There I was sitting in a dark train waiting to hear the next update over the loud speaker. What was I thinking? I whipped out my iPhone, opened my favorite twitter app (Tweetie), and searched on Penn Station. Within seconds, I became aware of a transformer fire in the station that knocked out the power. I saved the search in Tweetie, and watched updates come in real time, and then participated in the conversation by tweeting when we got power back. The more I use twitter, the more I realize how powerful this tool has become and will continue to become.

Twitter search is one of the most awesome tools on the web. You can find as close to real-time information on any subject. Even if you don’t have a twitter account or don’t like to tweet, you should be using twitter search if you need to find something out about a current event.

How To Order Your Page Navigation in WordPress

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:40:00 -0500

Unless you (or your WordPress developer/development team) has hard coded the page navigation on your website, you have the ability to change the order of your pages in your main and sub navigation menus through the WordPress admin. Hopefully your navigation menus were in the right order when your website was launched. If not or if you have to add pages, then you need to get familiar with the Order attribute.

The Order attribute is located in the Attributes section of a Page in the WordPress admin.

It can also be accessed via the Quick Edit link in your list of pages, which is how I like to use it.

Below the Order attribute in the WordPress admin itself, there is the following text:

Pages are usually ordered alphabetically, but you can put a number above to change the order pages appear in. (We know this is a little janky, it’ll be better in future releases.)

However, from my experience, this attribute and note is often missed. To change the order of your pages within the navigation menus, you change the value of the Order attribute. The lower the number, the higher it will appear in the navigation menu or the further left it will appear in the navigation menu (depends on your menu layout).

If you are working with multi-tiered navigation, I recommend using the Order attribute in a manner that will allow for growth. For example, if one section of your website has 5 pages and the last page listed in the navigation for that section is always going to be the last selection in the nav, set the Order attribute to 100 for that page. This way, new pages can easily be added and placed in the right spot of the navigation menu without having to change existing pages’ order attribute values.

If you have any question or nothing that I’ve typed here makes sense, leave me a question in the comments and I will get right back to you!

The 00s in a Nutshell (via auciello)

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:15:00 -0500

The 00s in a Nutshell

(via auciello)

Keeping up with RSS (or Feedreader Zero)

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:40:00 -0500

Do you subscribe to blogs and other websites’ RSS feeds?

Do you have problems keeping up with your favorite feeds?

Do you own a iPhone?

If you answered yes to all these questions, then hopefully this article will help.

If you don’t know what RSS means, then check out this explanation and start subscribing to some feeds (including this one!).

I am always seeking how to do more things on the iPhone (or insert your own mobile device here) that will decrease time on the MacBook or watching TV. Besides being more convenient, completing tasks on the iPhone typically take less time than on the computer. I’ve also noticed that shifting/adding some tasks to the iPhone have enabled me to actually get them done. Case in point: feed reading. Like most, I abused the “Mark All As Read” button in Google Reader for years. I tried to organize my feeds, but that didn’t work. I tried using Twitter instead of a feed reader to keep up with my favorite blogs and websites. It lacked the organization I had come to reply upon with Google Reader. I tried other feed readers, but nothing changed.

Then I gave Google Reader on the iPhone and Instapaper second chances. I had used both when I bought the first-gen iPhone back in ‘07, but not efficiently. All that has changed, now that I have finally worked out a routine. Many of us have some downtime in the morning before work. This could be on the subway or sipping your morning coffee at home while watching the Today show. For me, it’s my morning walk with Pokie (my dog). During those thirty minutes, I catch up on the emails, tumblr posts, twitter and facebook updates from overnight with plenty of time to tackle Google Reader. Once I find an article that I want to read, save to Instapaper and read later. Done. It takes about 5-10 minutes to scan all of my articles from the day and night before and I try not to open Google Reader again until the next morning. That’s the greatest benefit of my new process. I don’t have to check my feed reader more than once a day to stay on top of it.

While I spend the morning scanning Google Reader, I use the evening to enjoy Instapaper. Instapaper has truly become my 21st century newspaper. I read “it” every evening like my mother-in-law reads her Washington Post each night. If you have never heard of Instapaper, it is a web and iPhone app that enables you to save content on the web in order to save time and allow you to truly enjoy the content when you have the time to devote to it. Once an article or web page is saved to Instapaper, you don’t need an internet connection to access your saved content. In addition, all saved content is displayed in a consistent, easy-to-read format. All images and styles are stripped from the article so there is less distraction. You can always view the article in a web browser, which does require a connection, but I rarely do. The clean and stripped-down layout of Instapaper makes it easy on the eyes and simple to read every word of every article.

What it looks like reading an article in Instapaper on the iPhone

No more scanning articles when you stumble upon them, or missing out on great writing because the feed reader has 1000+ unread items. Find a routine to scan your latest articles, save for later, and then enjoy them when later happens.

While the tools are great, the key to success is finding a routine that works for you. Maybe you already have one. If you do, please share. I’m always seeking improvement. If not, hopefully this gives you some ideas to find one.

Managing Facebook Pages on the iPhone

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:40:00 -0500

Managing Facebook pages with the iPhone became a lot easier after the last major Facebook iPhone app release.

The easiest way to find your page or one of your favorite pages is to use the search bar.

Notice how there are three tabs/categories to narrow your search: Friends, Everyone, and Pages.

Once you land on your page, you can add it as a favorite to your dashboard by touching the arrow in the top right corner of the screen. After touching the arrow button, the dialogue box pictured below will appear.

Very much like the native iPhone home page, now your favorite page(s) can be found on a subsequent page in your dashboard.

The iPhone display for pages is clean and now equal to profiles. The picture below shows an example of two posts on the Business Bullpen wall. The top post is an imported note from our blog and the second is a post I created within the Facebook website.

Comments and likes are also enabled for pages in the iPhone app. By clicking on the notification on your wall (pictured above), the screen below will appear.

Not only does this individual post page display who liked the post or left a comment, but it also gives users an opportunity to leave a comment.

Posting to a page is possible now through the iPhone app. In the picture below, you’ll see that you can post text or an image.

In addition to the Wall, Facebook pages on the iPhone have an Info and Photos tab. The info tab is pictured below.

Within the info tab, clicking on the fans will display a list of your Facebook friends who are fans. It does not display a list of all your fans.

If you click on the street address within the info tab, Google maps will open. This is a fantastic integration.

Clicking on the website in the info tab launches the website within the Facebook app.

The photos tab displays the photo albums for the page, and then you can drill down into each album. This functionality and display should be very familiar to you if you have been using the last version of the Facebook iPhone app.

Last, but certainly not least, your posts will display in your news feed and fans’ news feeds. Here is how it looks in the new landscape mode.

From a personal standpoint, I’ve had my issues with Facebook, but I am getting over them and learning how to use the tool more effectively to drown out the noise. From a business standpoint, it continues to improve and for iPhone users, this latest version of the Facebook app is a huge benefit for those of us who are always on the go. What do you think?

Why Phisheads are Social Media Experts

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:40:00 -0500

Graham and I are big Phish fans. I go to see Phish for a lot of reasons, but one main reason is the Phish community. Regardless if you like or despise their music, Phish built their own social network long before social networking sites existed and it happened organically. When Phish returned this year after a 4+ year breakup, it was no surprise that their fans flocked to Twitter and easily made #phish a trending topic during the band’s first weekend of shows in early March. Phisheads didn’t use Twitter to report on what they were doing, but rather what was happening at each and every Phish show. Funny that Twitter changed it’s call to action from “What are you doing?” to “What’s Happening?” a couple weeks ago. To me, that’s a lot more powerful and interesting.

In the mid-90s as most of us discovered the internet, followers of the Grateful Dead and Phish used newsgroups, AOL chat rooms, static websites, and message boards to connect with each other. It wasn’t real time by any means, but connections were being made. These connections were made because fans were sharing content with one another for free. Long reviews of shows were written before blogs existed. Photos were posted and shared before Flickr and Picasa were ever dreamed of, and even more amazing was the tape/cd trading community.

I started trading tapes of Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, The Allman Brothers Band, and Phish concerts (or shows) in the early 1990s. I would pick up a few tapes from friends at college, but I also started trading with complete strangers via the good ole U.S. mail. And I wasn’t alone. Thousands of other Deadheads would do the same. Magazines like Dupree’s Diamond News and Richmond-based Unbroken Chain would have a classified section full of tape traders looking for new shows. I would then respond to traders by sending them a letter and my list of tapes. I would wait for a response. Sometimes I wouldn’t get one. However, often times I would. A trade would eventually be set up - sometimes multiple shows for multiple shows. It would take weeks to set up a trade, but once you made that connection, you would have a new “friend” to trade with.

In addition to trading, many people in the community would make tapes for “blanks and postage”. Those without tapes to trade would send blank tapes and a self addressed stamped mailer to those who did and copies would be made and sent back to help “newbies” start their collections. None of these acts were done for profit or personal gain. It was all about sharing and spreading the music throughout the community.

Does this concept of sharing information and content with complete strangers for the greater good sound familiar? It’s what Twitter and most other social networks are all about. Many people don’t get Twitter because they think it’s about sharing what you are doing every hour of the day with total strangers. Sure, you can use it for that. There is nothing wrong with doing so, but the power of Twitter comes from sharing information that others can appreciate and also spread throughout the community. Whether someone is tweeting about the amazing “Seven Below > Ghost” that was played at Albany last weekend or the @DailyProgress tweeting about avoiding a certain intersection because of a car accident, this information is valuable to a specific community.

I follow people on Twitter because they are part of a certain community that I enjoy. One community is the actual physical community I live in. Other communities are more aligned with my work, interests, causes, and family such as WordPress, entrepreneurship, social media, congenital heart defects, peanut allergies, my favorite band, my alma mater, and my favorite baseball team. As you can see, my followers are all over the board, but they are all part of a community that I belong to. If you like to follow a topic online via email newsletters or RSS feeds, but are not using Twitter, I encourage you to check it out and give it a try. Go to search.twitter.com and do a search for that topic and start following the search term and/or those people who tweet about that topic on a regular basis. But then give back. Share the information and content you find compelling. Contribute to the communities you love.

Us phisheads have been building communities by sharing content with “friends” for years, long before Mark Zuckerberg could even spell Facebook.