TheBusyBrain Blog!

GPS Pal Cup Holder Mount

TheBusyBrain — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:57:32 +0000

This evening I was researching some mounting accessories for a Portable Navigation Device / GPS unit, and discovered this wonderful little device known as the GPS PAL. In simple terms, it allows you to mount your GPS unit into the GPS PAL which then snuggly fits within standard sized cup holders.

One of the main reasons I find this so great is because the typical window suction cup style mount brackets are literally theft magnets! My local mall and neighborhoods have seen its fair share of opportunistic thiefs who see those window suction cup mounts as a sure bet that the car likely has a GPS, and possibly other electronics and gadgetry within! A gadget geek has many toys, and a mounting bracket in clear view is like a “WELCOME” sign!

I should also mention that portable GPS units are one of the most stolen electronic items of current day!

Having the mount down within your automobile also keeps the navigation unit out of the sun, which is a real problem especially here in the hot Florida sun!

As of the date of this post, the GPS PAL is available at Amazon for $19.98 - here

Or you can simply Click Here for an auto Google Search!

PriceAdvance - Automatic price comparisons PriceAdvance is a new, super useful money saving plugin for...

ApprovedBoxes.com - DTV for the Digitally Delayed!

TheBusyBrain — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:46:17 +0000

As you may be very well aware, in the United States, the long awaited digital television transition will officially occur on June 12, 2009. For most people this will have no effect, since a majority of households watch television through a cable or satellite provider. There is still a large segment of our population who does not have the financial means or technical capability of getting a digital provider, or digital television, and have been forced to watch television using the analog over-the-air signals. It almost seems counter intuitive to discuss this issue in a digital realm (online), but it is important to keep in mind that this could also affect a lot of people who use analog televisions on their boats, RV’s, or homes in remote destinations.

If you add up all the possibilities of people who could potentially be without television signal, it is astounding! Consequently the government has set aside an allotment of funds to be issued in the form of coupons to assist citizens in the purchase of converter boxes capable of converting digital television signals for use on their analog television. These coupons (limited to 2 per household) can be acquired by filling out a short form at DTV2009.gov. To prevent the abuse of the system, the coupons are only able to be redeemed upon the purchase of a specific list of Converter Boxes.

The list is relatively long, and can be a confusing and exhausting process of trying to locate a good box at an affordable price. *IN* steps the powers and convenience of the Internet, and ApprovedBoxes.com who has taken the time to list all of the approved boxes as well as links to various online retailers or “automatic google searches” to research all of the boxes quickly and conveniently.

I thought this was a novel idea and free service worthwhile of mention! Of course, it should also be mentioned that the site does generate its revenue based on the outbound affiliate (referral) links, but that has no cost detriment to you and I.

Are you ready for the DTV Transition!? Do you have thoughts of other potential, less obvious issues where the transition may affect? I’d love to hear your comments!

PriceAdvance - Automatic price comparisons PriceAdvance is a new, super useful money saving plugin for...
Do you shop online? Get Instant Discounts at thousands of sites! I tend to be a very frugal online shopper…...
Shopping Online - Smart Economic Shopping in a Difficult Economy During difficult economic times and inflated gas prices, many people...

My Radio Station Call-in Regarding Twitter Quitters

TheBusyBrain — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:11:34 +0000

Yesterday I took a few minutes to call in to a local, heavily syndicated radio show called the MJ Morning Show, who was talking about a recent article regarding Twitter’s poor attrition rate.

The article speaks of a recent Nielsen Survey which shows that nearly 60% of new users quit using Twitter after a month. I was compelled to call-in since I feel that many of these people will eventually come back. I personally think it is a natural part of the process that everyone goes through when they first use Twitter. If you don’t have and audience, and you feel that noone is listening, WHY TWEET!? Of course, I completely agree with that, and that is why the attrition rate is so high.

It’s a natural conundrum that any NORMAL (non-celebrity) person faces when they first start using Twitter.

This is another reason why Twitter started their “suggested users” recommendation engine several months ago, which gives new users a list of people they may want to follow. Unfortunately, because these “suggested users” are usually celebrities that already have hundreds-of-thousands (or millions) of followers, it is often a one-way street of communication where you are strictly listening to them, but they are not listening to you. That is where the downfall comes in! New users don’t have people listening to them!

Eventually, if these new users take the time to find their friends, find new friends, and acquire a substantial audience, they are much more inclined to express themselves and start to make real use of Twitter as a social platform.

I really think Twitter should add a few random users in their “suggested users” recommendation engine. Users who ALSO have very few followers that are MUCH more inclined to respond to each other, and generate conversation, therefore making Twitter more enticing to the new user.

Twitter? Are you listening?

Anyhow, on to the radio show call-in from yesterday! A few of my friends were anxious to hear it!

Here’s a link to the MP3 - My call-in starts a little past the half-way point. (You’ll recognize my call as the one where he addresses me by my name (Mike) and MJ and I start talking about cameras for a moment!)

Twitter for business is so yesterday. It’s all about finding Twitter Love I am sick and tired of all these people...
Did you lose a lot of followers today? Have no fear… Twitter still loves you! Today, Twitter will be rolling out a spam list removal...
Twitter’s Unintended Hidden Spam Engine - New Follower Direct Messages Building a strong and valuable following, and establishing friendships and...

Twitter’s Unscheduled Maintenance Screen

TheBusyBrain — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:41:01 +0000

For the first time, today I noticed a new (to me atleast!) error page which shows that Twitter is going through some growing pains. Since their planned site outage yesterday, many people are complaining of some very weird issues including a loss of many items including their Direct Messages, Avatar Images, and Background Images. It is actually such an issue that the problems have been the top trends on Twitter!
As Twitter continues to grow at an astounding rate, I think we will become just as accustomed to the “Unscheduled Maintenance” page as the ever-so-popular “Fail Whale” screen!
There is no doubt that the Twitter masterminds have some sort of less-obvious meaning behind this latest error page… What do you think?

The caterpillar leaves me at a loss for words! I want to call him “Harry”!

If you want Twitter’s original .PNG file image for any reason it can be found here.

Poll: Age Demographics of Twitter Users (Part 2) Exactly 3 months ago today, I created a poll [link]...
Did you lose a lot of followers today? Have no fear… Twitter still loves you! Today, Twitter will be rolling out a spam list removal...
Lots of Useful Twitter Related Services and Contacts One of the many things Twitter is great for...

Poll: Age Demographics of Twitter Users (Part 2)

TheBusyBrain — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:21:04 +0000

Exactly 3 months ago today, I created a poll [link] in an attempt to answer a very interesting question… What is the Average Age Demographic of Twitter Users?

This poll received a relatively healthy amount of participation (1,598 people) and continues to be a useful source of data which is featured in various media outlets to give people an idea of the average age of people using Twitter.

In the last 3 months, a very dramatic Northbound growth curve has occurred for Twitter causing me to wonder if these numbers are now beginning to skew! With the onslaught of Musicians, Actors, Television Personalities, and being spread worldwide in all means of media, there is no doubt that “the word” is out about Twitter!

With that being said, I would politely ask you to assist in participating, and spreading the word about this poll so we can once again establish a solid foundation on which to understand the average age of people using Twitter. The more that participate, the more accurate the numbers!

Please Retweet, and pass the word! @TheBusyBrain

UPDATE: Ladies… Please note that these results are completely anonymous!

UPDATE 2: You will get to see the results of the poll by participating! PLEASE select your age bracket, then click on “Vote”! The Results should appear immediately.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Poll will end automatically on April 12, 2009 at 8:00 PM EST

Poll: Age Demographics of Twitter Users While tweeting a thought I had moments ago about why...
POLL - Who won the 3rd “2008 Presidential Debate”? [UPDATE Oct. 16]: The poll is now over! Here are...
A Quick Public Service Announcement for Twitter Users NOTE: Please remember to see the updates at the end...

Audio Books - Are you “Reading” them?

TheBusyBrain — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:10:34 +0000

This evening I sent a tweet to fellow friends regarding a situation that my wife and I often dispute over regarding my obsession with Audo Books. I listen to 10 hours of “audio” per day, whether it be in the form of Audio Book, or Podcast. I thrive for information as many do!
My question was this…

When I LISTEN to an audio book (as I do VERY often), I consider it “READING” the book. My wife thinks I am delusional! Am I off-base? Or no?

I received over 100 tweets within minutes regarding this question, and quickly realized many people face the same question! I would love to use this post’s comments as a way of making those comments public and concrete for EVERYONE to see! I found some of the comments quite compelling!
So what do YOU think?

photo credit: Daniel Y. Go

Sony TMR-BT8iP Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter for iPod / iPhone Sony takes the iPod where Apple left out! The...

A list of TweetUp Sites - For you Twitter Addicts!

TheBusyBrain — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:13:03 +0000

This is just a quick post:

I was curious of what sites existed that could help a person or group create, promote, and coordinate a Tweetup from beginning to end. I must mention, a “TweetUp” is a Twitter Meetup. A face-to-face social meetup with fellow Twitter peers! I wonder if such a site existed simply because I had the thought recently to start a website that would do just this! Yeah, like hundreds of other URL’s I own, this was a quick decision, without much foresight. The URL I purchased was “TweetUpFinder.com” - Don’t waste your time, there is NOTHING there! But if there are any willing developers out there… Get in touch with me! We can work something out! I have TONS of ideas!

Anyhow, I decided to ask my very insightful followers and friends if they knew of any highly effective, popular, and active Tweetup sites.

Here’s the short list of the results I received, along with credits to the person(s) who supplied me with that info. Hopefully this short list comes in useful!

Meetup.com (Thank you to: @getsmartwomen & @rainbowhill) - Although Meetup.com is not specifically directed towards Twitter users, you can search for Twitter related meetups, which is essentially the same thing! This site located 2 Twitter related events upcoming in my area which is more than found on any of the other Tweetup sites.

t wtvite.com (Thank you to: @JustElle) - This seems to be the most efficient, effective, and easy to use of all the Tweetup sites I have seen. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be very active.

Tweetups.org (Thank you to: @AmandaRisi) - Tweetups.org seems to be the most official of the Tweetup sites I have found, yet unfortunately the most inactive, and difficult to navigate and use.

Tweetup.com - Currently Inactive or under development stages.

Enjoy! And maybe you will find TweetUpFinder.com at the top of this list soon!
If you have any other suggestions… PLEASE drop a comment below!!

Do you shop online? Get Instant Discounts at thousands of sites! I tend to be a very frugal online shopper…...
The Major Celebrities are TAKING OVER TWITTER! Here’s the List! It is very evident that the word of Twitter is...
SquareSpace.com - The EASIEST way to make a website… Period! SquareSpace.com is a website design and hosting service that allows...

Twitter’s Unintended Hidden Spam Engine - New Follower Direct Messages

TheBusyBrain — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:27:12 +0000

Building a strong and valuable following, and establishing friendships and relationships on Twitter is a fickle balance beam of trying to be informative and valuable to your fellow peers, while trying not to be overly annoying and overly verbose. I seem to have done this relatively well, with a strong growth path now quickly approaching 40,000 followers… But that is all a subject for another day.

I wanted to express my frustrations and realizations over something that has made a very valuable feature of Twitter virtually useless to me, and eventually many more! Most people who use Twitter may enjoy the ability to take advantage of Direct Messages or “DM’s” to express thoughts to a particular user in a more private 1-on-1 setting. Since Twitter is a public communication for all to see, DM’s allow you to communicate the less important TO ALL, yet pertinent TO ONE style of communication. The ten’s of thousands of my followers don’t want to know what one person should take for a head cold, nor do I want to waste their time by Tweeting that out to all of them. (That too, is another topic of discussion!)

Now comes the culprit of my issue… Third-party services that make use of Twitter, which allow you to Auto-Follow people that follow you, and consequently also send them a Direct Message (an Auto-Message) which you can customize. The most notable of these services being SocialToo.

Sure, it sounds great! And on the surface, it is a great feature! Why not let people know more about you via direct message when they follow you!? The Auto-Follow portion of this is great, and I will continue to use it! Reciprocating someones follow is one of many keys to maintaining a wholesome Twitter account. The problem is that many accounts on twitter are using the auto-message feature as a way to sell and push products in a spam-like force, or even simply to thank you for following them.

This is unfortunately filling my, and inevitably other users previously useful Direct Message inbox with ridiculous amounts of useless messages! Now I must wade through thousands of (currently 6,013) messages to see if I have any valuable communications. A real pain! I know of services like DM Deleter which will eliminate all of your DM’s, but I have some valuable information peppered within my DM’s that I want to keep!

As a test, I played around with the auto-message feature for a brief period, but it was rendered useless for me because of a limit set by Twitter that restricts us to only 50 outgoing DM’s per day. Early, each day, the auto-message feature used up all my outgoing DM tweets for a day. Which, in turn kills the ability for me to send any direct messages on my own at all!

These auto-messages are causing people like Loic Lemur (CEO at Seesmic.com), one of Business Week’s “25 Most Influential People on the Web” to rethink his Twitter persona. He recently reported on his blog that he unfollowed nearly all 23,000 of his followers partly because of this same issue. Hey Loic, I feel your pain! Over 1/3 MORE PAIN actually! But, have no fear folks, I’m not unfollowing anyone! I love the Full-on fire hose of Tweets on occasion! More often than I’d like to admit actually!

So, why am I posting this? It is an informative request! I wanted to describe the situation, then request that all Twitter Users disable the Auto-message portion of their Auto-follow feature add-on! Please! It is slowly killing a valuable feature of Twitter! I do understand that this is relative based on your Twitter numbers. For most Twitter users, this may not be a HUGE problem, but it is inevitable that you will face it to some limited degree. To delete a single Direct Message takes 2 clicks of the mouse! Frustrating!

[Update: Feb 24, 2009 - I wanted to add something here. I use the term "Spam" loosely to relate to any non-useful, bot-sent Direct Message. This could be something that someone is selling or pushing... OR simply a "Thank you for following me" message. Both, in bulk, are pointless and useless! Send a personal tweet or DM to thank them for the follow!]

Twitter Tip - Direct Message People That Are Not Following You! Have you ever noticed that you are not able to...
A Quick Public Service Announcement for Twitter Users NOTE: Please remember to see the updates at the end...
Twittad - The less invasive way to monetize from Twitter In the growing world of Twitter, many third-party Twitter services...

The Octuplet Mom was spotted Driving!

TheBusyBrain — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:45:09 +0000

Note: Follow commentary of the Octuplet Mom at Twitter Search! - Have your voice heard! Hashtag comments with #OctupletMom on Twitter!

Enjoy! @TheBusyBrain

No related posts.

The Major Celebrities are TAKING OVER TWITTER! Here’s the List!

TheBusyBrain — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:38:17 +0000

It is very evident that the word of Twitter is quickly growing among the Hollywood Elite! I wanted to create a list to help inform people of the growing collection of Celebrities that continue to embrace Twitter as a means of speaking to (and WITH) their fans.

Please add a comment below with any celebrities you find in the twitterverse wild and I will add them to the list! Although nearly impossible, I will attempt to upkeep this list and verify that fake accounts do not make the list. [Update: If you have seen a video, or if you are one of these celebrities listed below and would like to verify that the account is REAL, email me with a link to a video or something where THIS page OR the Twitter Username is mentioned in an interview, or some other convincing evidence and I will put "Verified" next to it! Maybe even tweet this page to the celebrity and see if they are willing to verify.]

Please Contribute and Retweet! The more people that know about it, the more useful the list will become! - @TheBusyBrain

Britney Spears - @britneyspears - VERIFIED

Lance Armstrong - @lancearmstrong

Al Gore - @algore

Shaquille O’Neal - @the_real_shaq

MC Hammer - @mchammer

Jimmy Fallon - @jimmyfallon

Ashton Kutcher - @aplusk - VERIFIED

Demi Moore - @mrskutcher - VERIFIED

Stephen Fry - @stephenfry - VERIFIED

Anderson Cooper - @andersoncooper

Tina Fey - @tinafey

LeVar Burton - @levarburton - VERIFIED

Arnold Schwarzenegger - @schwarzenegger

Stephen Colbert - @StephenColbert

William Shatner - @WilliamShatner

Snoop Dogg - @snoopdogg

Adam Curry - @adamcurry

Xzibit - @mrxtothaz

Imogen Heap - @imogenheap

Bjork - @bjork

Dave Matthews - @DaveJMatthews

Elijah Wood - @elijahwood

Maria Shriver - @mariashriver

Ewan McGregor - @EwanMcGregor

Taylor Swift - @tayswift

Paula Poundstone - @paulapoundstone

Shaun White - @Shaun_White

Brooke Hogan - @BrookeHogan

John Rich - @johnrich

Sebastian Bach - @sebastianbach

Janina Gavankar - @janinaz

Jane Fonda - @Janefonda

John Cabrera - @johncabrera

Fran Drescher - @frandrescher

Dr. Drew - @drdrew

Walt Mossberg - @waltmossberg

Lisa Loeb - @lisaloeb4real

Wil Wheaton - @wilw - VERIFIED

Erykah Badu - @fatbellybella

Solange Knowles - @solangeknowles

Michael Phelps - @Michael_Phelps

Brooke Burke - @brookeburke

Rick Sanchez - @ricksanchezcnn

John Cleese - @JohnCleese

Karl Rove - @KarlRove

Yoko Ono - @yokoono

John Mayer - @johncmayer

Borat - @Borat

Eli Manning - @elimanning

Coldplay - @coldplay

Johnathan Ross - @wossy - VERIFIED

Fred Durst - @freddurst - VERIFIED

Signs of a Web 2.0 Geek You Might Be a Web 2.0 Geek if… You find...
A list of TweetUp Sites - For you Twitter Addicts! This is just a quick post: I was curious of...