The only real threat that these products have/had is actually Apple itself. Either Apple will kill it internally (Newton) or will create something bigger and better that will replace it’s own product.

So even though I enjoyed the Droid commercials – it all sounded a bit familiar (recently with the “iPod killer” Zune) – which come on, who knows someone that has one and has got you so excited you had to have one?

Companies may try and copy, add new functionality that people want…but when it comes down to it, there is just something about those Apple products…

Have a great weekend!

Tonight – much like other nights this year – just as I think I am going to get ahead by closing out as many unread messages as possible – more come in. While writing these two paragraphs – I got 3 new messages from clients.

I do not know what will happen. Will those of us who are still working…and working at this crazy pace burn out or will businesses start to see the burn out coming and actually start hiring again?

In this recession – I have found that it is not that there is less work to do – there are just fewer people that are doing it…and those people are doing the jobs of 2-3 people. What will happen…who knows, but for now it looks like I am just better off stopping work so I can get some relaxation in for the day.

News never seems to fail my low expectations of it. There is always some gimmick or tricky slogan like “balloon boy” (which unfortunately he will be referred to for the rest of his life) and little or no real content. (in my opinion of course)

Obviously I am not a news professional and will not pretend to think I know what sells (ratings) – but I will say I wish the news took 10 minutes out of each hour broadcast to focus on a story of hope instead of the gimmicky drama. Perhaps we could then all pull together and become more in the know about the important things in life.

I remember a year or so ago – the actors on Guiding Light actually went around and worked with Habitat for Humanity and then showed clips of them working on the project – it was really cool – not to mention very kind.

Perhaps if we learned/saw more about some of the good things going on around us, we would be more aware of ways to help, organize, and make a difference…even by doing something small.

So where am I – I am in America no doubt, fed up with the media and hopeful our generation will make a difference!

So many people still do not get Twitter so here is my take:

I was forced to get a Facebook account in order to work on an API project for a client. After a few months of using it for then personal stuff – I got completely sick of all the garbage. “X person played Y game”, “Z bought you a drink”, etc. For some people that is great – and fun…just not for me. I did walk away thinking – “I really like the way I can keep up with certain people (family, friends, etc) when they update their status. I also did not like the fact that all of your content is “stuck” in Facebook. Let’s say you get tired of Facebook – all your photos, updates, etc are not exportable. You lose everything you put in there.

It was nice finding out what my sister was up to, what cool new restaurant my cousin tried, or what some of my friends were doing last weekend. I found myself staying in better touch both using Facebook, as well as actually calling them to talk about what they were up to.

From there – I looked into Twitter and started using that for increased interaction with the people I really cared about hearing about/viewing their quick pictures, etc. Basically – you get status updates from people you care about. It is not what most people think either “I am getting coffee”, “I am walking to work”. Some people do write those updates, but if you start following someone or actually use Twitter – you will see most people actually write something interesting. Using Twitter – I keep in contact with friends/family, and interact with people I normally would never interact with and enjoy getting to see first hand photos from some of my favorite TV personalities, have conversations with family, and learn about new stuff from people I choose to follow. Basically – I get the best of Facebook (the status updates) minus the garbage I hated…and on top of that, everything is exportable – and can flow right into my personal blog. This way – if I decide in a few months/years Twitter is not for me, I can dump it and keep my content.

Not sold? Hey – it is not for everyone. But it is pretty cool to get a timeline of what you thought was interesting/important at the time and then look back on it at a later date. You can make what you want out of it and for me…it has been interesting, I have learned a lot, and I enjoy making new connections!

http://www.twitter.com/thejappler

I am going to be making some changes here over the next few days – to really make this more interesting, relevant, and more fun for me to post/share information.

Thanks for your patience – and I hope this will become a blog you look forward to reading again.

Chicago is a fantastic town with all kinds of gems that people who have never been here don’t have any clue about and it is a bit sad to me that the world will not see our city for what it really is (our lakefront, great neighborhoods, amazing food, nice people, clean streets, world class architecture, etc).

Perhaps it was not meant to be, but man…I was really looking forward to it!