Three great tunes from Nada Surf for your Monday. See if that helps you out to the start of the work week.
Where do you draw the line with being social when it comes to social media?
I’m not mentioning this to be mean or rude, but there is something to be said about the sphere of social media that I and many others exist in and what it means to actually be social. It’s a tough line to walk, so let me explain a little.
In the realm of myspace, you add as many people as you possibly can. I never quite understood this mentality until I tried to build an account for RadioZoom and use it as a matter of promotion for the podcast. Pretty soon, promotional reps for various bands were adding me as friends and sending out mass messages of what their bands are doing. That’s a great mechanism for the network, but last time I checked, I have a very hard time making it to rock shows in North Carolina even though I’m on the guest list. I certainly appreciate the offer though.
The point I’m trying to make is that I have never met these people, and it’s fairly clear that they’ve never met me, nor do they know what I really do, where I’m located, and that I haven’t actually published an episode of RadioZoom in quite sometime.
Enter the realms of Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, and I have taken a very upfront, social approach from the onset of joining these networks. For the most part, I try to apply a one degree of separation before claiming someone as a contact or friend. Or to put it in simple English, I like to at least meet someone before I actually say that we’re a contact or friend.
It’s a simple matter of putting a face to the name. If I say that I know you in a social network setting, it makes much more sense to me to actually know you in a setting that goes beyond a connection between your terminal and mine.
And just to address the age old story of the person on the other end not being who they say they are, there is still some merit in that mindset. You can’t let that scare you though because how many times have you not believed something someone told you until you could prove the fact for yourself? It’s the same concept, and the episode of The Simpsons when Bart gets a credit card when he fills out the application as a joke is a bit of testament to that. If the credit company actually checked on this applicant, they would have known that “Santos L. Halper” was the family’s dog[wiki] and not an actual person.
Since moving to Vancouver, the world of the Internet has progressed from this nerdly world of ones and zeros and into a sphere of actual social settings where the computer is replaced with actual meetings and face to face conversations. Of course the convenient proximity I have to a major metropolitan area lends to this compared to others without such social resources, but it’s tough to just add someone to whatever social network because you know someone I know and yet we’ve never had any interaction whatsoever.
Now, yes, I do bend these self imposed rules from time to time because social interaction can derive in the sense of emails, Twitter @’s, Facebook messages, etc. This might happen because I find what you’re saying or doing to be worthwhile in terms of quality. However, if the quantity of what you are producing, in terms of content or contributions into the social sphere, lacks substance or is useless dribble, then that factors into things as well.
With so much to see, hear, read, and choose from, I simply need what’s worthwhile to me and my time. I know I can’t be the only one with these “rules”, so feel free to add your thoughts on this complicated topic below.
WordCamp Whistler 2009 – Date and registration
After much plotting, planning, wishing, hoping, and a few meetings, WordCamp Whistler 2009 is a full go for January 24, and registration is open for attending as well as speaker submissions.
If you have ever wanted to find out more about how to use WordPress, the mechanics that drives it, and how other people are using it, then this is a great opportunity to find out more.
With the venue booked, keynote secured, website and social media streams in place, we’re ready to officially announce WordCamp Whistler 2009.
This site is your official source for WCWhistler information. Check out the speaker page, add your own submission to become a speaker, find out more about sponsorship, and check back for blog updates. You can also follow the action with the RSS feed or by adding @WCWhistler on Twitter.
The official conference tag (for Flickr photos or blog posts) is wordcampwhistler09.
Browse the site, get all the info you need, ask some questions, and register through Eventbrite. There is a fee for this conference but since we’ll be in a world-class location with top notch speakers, we think it’s worth it (and we’ll even through in some lovely swag as well).
My snowboard boots are already by the door – right next to my laptop. I hope to see everyone there for this amazing weekend of WordPress geekery, networking, and good times. [wordcampwhistler]
Duane, Rebecca, and I have really tried hard to get this idea off the ground, and there is still much left to do before the date comes. Keep tabs on the WCWhistler website and subscribe to the RSS feed for all the latest news.
Western Union no longer issues U.S. money orders in Canada
As someone who still needs to send money back to the U.S. for the occasional bill here and there, I was extremely dissatisfied to find out that Money Mart, who operates mostly as a front for Western Union, no longer issues money orders in U.S. dollars as of today, December 1st. As far as I have been told, this is a nationwide policy in Canada now, and it’s a Western Union decision to no longer offer these types of transactions.
Insert commercial sounding statement here, but when I can’t get home from work in time to visit the bank, Money Mart is within easy reach on my way home. Obviously I’ll take them out of that equation from now on.
Still, there is part of me that wonders what the throngs of Craigslist and eBay buyers and sellers are going to do now that getting money orders have been made just a little less easier. There are alternatives, but if I was unhappy to hear this news, imagine what the average person will do when they are in a last minute rush to get that money they need when they are so desperately trying to get that payment in the mail so they don’t get negative feedback or lose the purchase entirely.
At the same time, Western Union’s current slogan on their website is, “reliable, fast and convenient”. Yeah, not so much anymore.
NHL Winter Classic is coming on New Years Day
There is so much about this commercial that gets me excited and gives me goosebumps all at the same time. Also makes me shed a tear for the late, great Harry Caray[wiki].
As much as I have come to despise the Red Wings, I’m totally pulling for the hometown team in this one. Outdoor game at Wrigley Field in the Windy City? How can you not cheer for the Blackhawks? Of course, I spent years searching for a team to capture my attention in the NHL, and all the years I spent growing up in the Midwest, Chicago never did it for me.
At least until now because everyone in Chicago should rejoice in the resurgence of that team. They are chalk full of some amazing, young talent, captained by a youngster from and the pride of New Westminster, B.C. (which we often pass through on a regular basis), Jonathon Toews. Additionally, WGN acquired the broadcast rights for both TV and radio beginning this year, so that really puts a lot in place to bring the Hawks back into the hearts of Chicago.
In my opinion, this is the best thing that could have happened to the Blackhawks franchise. As many folks in the area can tell you, the bigger task is to put the team back into the mindset of the city where the MLS Chicago Fire ranks higher in popularity than its original six NHL team, at least as of a year ago.
Kudos to Michael DiLorenzo on Twitter for sharing this one.
Computer Friends
Mad props to John Biehler for sharing this one with me. The sugar coated geekness of this video is one thing, but the tune is damn catchy. Crank up the bass on this for sure.
If you like this one, then check out Salad Wrap. These guys are clever.
The Belkin TuneTalk Stereo and the 4G iPod nano
When Rebecca and I went to Kansas City this past summer, something happened with my mobile recording setup. By something, I mean the whole setup vanished. The 2G iPod nano, Belkin TuneTalk Stereo, windscreen, the nearly five year old pair of ear buds, and a sneaky lapel microphone that I never had a chance to try on the line input of the TuneTalk.
Gone. Poof. No trace, and I swear it made it all the way back to Vancouver with us. Probably one of my absolute favorite pieces of mobile recording gear that I have ever come across and the staple of both RadioZoom and The Crazy Canucks podcasts when things went mobile. It was heartbreaking to give up the search and declare all lost, if not stolen.
As I mentioned previously, I was able to replace the iPod nano with the most recent release of the 4th generation model. That was a happy day to have that apart of my daily commutes again, and the backlog of podcasts is something I’m still listening through.
Rebecca went to work and contacted Belkin about our plight. The fact is that we have been very outspoken about their TuneTalk Stereo accessory for the iPod, and I still stand by everything I’ve said about it.
It is true that it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that many audiophiles would like to have. The only functionality that you have is to record in stereo or mono, but the recordings were done in 44.1Khz, uncompressed WAV files. In plain English, that’s really good, high quality audio. It’s perfect for mobile voice recording like interviews or on location for events, and I’ve mentioned this numerous times when people ask me about the gear I use or the various speaking engagements that I’ve been apart of, such as Northern Voice or Net Tuesday.
So we were very fortunate to have this package arrive in the mail about a month or so ago.
Thanks to Belkin, we have a replaced the lost TuneTalk Stereo. Even better, it works with the 4G iPod nano.
I have yet to make many ventures with the device and really test it out, but preliminary tests have been impressive. You can hear some evidence of it in episode #68 of The Crazy Canucks. Listen for the organ at the beginning and the “secret track” at the end to get some samples of some live audio I captured at GM Place.
With hope, a new episode of RadioZoom will roll out soon. With this second chance to do some great recording, I have to really see what I can do with this sucker.
Managing my bookmarks on Firefox over various computers
When you work on multiple computers as well as multiple platforms, the one thing that is a chore is keeping up with all of your bookmarks.
I’ve tried a variety of browsers and methods, and some have worked better than others. Firefox has become my mainstay of default browser, so I’ve gone through a few variations of what is possible with various add-ons and plugins you can get for it.
Let it be said that Google Browser Sync was one of the best plugins for bookmark sharing, period. Install it on your main computer, sync it, move to the next computer, install it there, and you basically had a mirrored setup. Sadly, Google killed the project when Firefox released version 3.0 of their browser, and I think there was a good reason for them doing so.
Simply put, you can do relatively the same thing with the Google Toolbar. It lacks the syncing aspect that made Google Sync very powerful, but you can install the toolbar on Internet Explorer as well. The management of your book marks is less intuitive, but it is nice when you are doing web development over various machines and browsers.
Recently, I discovered Foxmarks, another plugin for Firefox that replicates a lot of the functionality that I missed since the loss of Google Sync. For every bookmark you actually make inside of Firefox, whether it’s in the “Bookmarks” menu or in the “Bookmarks Toolbar”, those links will be synced to any other machine you have Foxmarks installed within Firefox, regardless if it’s Mac, Windows, or Linux. If you add or delete a bookmark, the same thing happens across the other installations.
I have to say that after using this service for over a month now, the functionality of it has been very pleasing. Even better is that Foxmarks currently has a beta version of their plugin in operation for Internet Explorer and Safari. I don’t have any experience with those versions, but the thought is very encouraging.
If you’ve been looking for a way to share bookmarks over multiple browsers or machines, then you have my recommendations over what works for me. And I have to say, it’s been working really well.
Northern Voice 2009: February 20-21 in Vancouver
Set the date and mark your calendars. Northern Voice is returning for 2009.
In 2005, the organizers of Canada’s first weblogging conference put on an event that was inexpensive, informal, and accessible to techies and newbies alike. From those humble beginnings Northern Voice has been transformed into… well, actually it’s still cheap, friendly and open to all.
Without question, the event has grown due to the overwhelming community response. It’s added a second self-organizing day known as Moose Camp. We expect a few more attendees this year, in part because our space is larger. But the core values remain the same — we have held the line on costs, we try to make the event family-friendly by offering space for parents to establish cooperative child-minding, and we do the main event on Saturday so non-professionals can attend.
And although it is a weblog conference, the range of topics may involve anything that webloggers are interested in… that is, just about anything. Previous years have had plenty of geekery mixed with panels on how blogging interacts with family life, education, travel, photography, community building and establishing professional profiles. Speakers range from the big names at the top of the Technorati rankings to first-time presenters with a passion to share.
I’m not sure if I will try my hand at presenting this year as last year’s session on Podcasting 101 could have been done much better. Life hasn’t slowed down enough to refine that presentation, but there are things I would certainly do differently if I did find the time to get something worthwhile put together.
Truthfully, it’s hard to teach podcasting in a thirty or sixty minute session, but I wouldn’t mind giving it another shot if the opportunity presented itself. Probably should get another episode of RadioZoom out as well, but The Crazy Canucks are certainly going strong.
I’m looking forward to another year of social media fun. It’ll be interesting to see what everyone is excited about, but Twitter was so two years ago.
What is gym etiquette anyway?
My first experience at working out in a gym environment was at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse[wiki]. In the midst of my awakening of understanding how to correct long standing health problems, this was my first, real experience at working out for personal health versus my short stint in my high school football program. To be honest, I think I’ve workout harder for my personal health than I ever did in the days when it meant being competitive, but that could just be a difference of time and mentality.
Regardless, there is one thing that you’ll find at any workout facility, and that is etiquette.
This shouldn’t prevent you from going to a gym or workout facility, but there are just some things that I’ve noticed over the past few months that consistently confound me.
Continue reading “What is gym etiquette anyway?”