Tweeting

There’s a new service out there now called Twitter.  This thing is like IM on crack and I love it!  I’m going to try and explain it, but you can find a much better job of this at Webware.
Think of it this way.  IM let’s you talk with one person at a time on your list.  Some let you group folks together, but you have to do so each time you want to talk to everyone.  There’s also no record to look back on and hardly any relationship outside of having a list of friends.

Twitter is like sending an IM to the world.  Or to every friend on your life if that’s what you want.  Or just to one.  It’s up to you with each message and you can specify it in the message.  It’s the ultimate in Web 2.0 and it’s incredibly simple.  What’s more is you can use your phone, an IM client, or the web site to send messages and/or receive them from people you are following.  The possibilities for group communication in realtime over any distance (this is a global service, after all) is mind-boggling.  From organizing a group outing for lunch to keeping track of people at a conference for meetups or whatever, this is the tool to use.  And it’s fun.

I’ve added the RSS feed of my tweets at the top right just above my link blog. You can also see other Twitterers in your area using TwitterMap.

The Machine is Us

I better it’s even more mind-blowing with beer.

I’m About To

Start with a dad singing a song to his daughter after she had a bad day.  The daughter (or someone) posts the song on the web.  A video podcaster picks up the song and asks for remixes from his fans while they also search for the dad to ask him if they can remix it.  Then he asks for a music video from his fas.  Then he sends the music video to the dad.

The Internet is grand.

Here’s the video.

[Not Safe for Work if you work in a place where a minor swear word that's all over television isn't allowed.]

Cancelling Verizon

I’ve been having trouble paying my bills for the land line that I used to have with Verizon. Not for lack of funds. They just never got the payment that cleared my bank account. Three months in a row.

So I cancelled the service, particularly since I never used my land line.

Earlier this week, I received a final bill stating that I still owed them for the missing months of payment. I ignored it knowing that they, in fact, owed me about $40 for the overpayments I made trying to make up the mysteriously missing payments.

In a final spastic death throw, my account was finally reconciled today with Verizon sending me the $40 or so I had over paid. The treat was that instead of sending this to my current address, they sent it to my prior address on file (remember, the first final bill came to my current address). Luckily, the people who live at my previous address are friends and co-workers, so I got my mail pretty quickly.

What gives? Were they hoping I wouldn’t get the check by sending it to an old address?

Tech Support

What Your Walls will Do in Ten Years

[via]

Megapixel Mythology

Anyone looking to buy a digital camera should read this article (NY Times).

My camera is a mere 2.0 Megapixels and I’ve always gotten great compliments on my photos.  I like to think that I take interesting shots.  Granted, I can’t print them larger than 8×10 without some interesting effects and cropping reduces the print size considerably.  But I rarely print photos anyway.

That said, I do look forward to getting a new camera someday, but not for megapixels.  I want lenses.  Telephoto, wideangle, fish-eye, you name it.  And flashes so I can do some semi-professional portraits.  And a house that I can set up a room to store all this equipment in.  And a maid to keep it clean.  And…no…that’s about it.

The other interesting thing about this article is how comments to an original post set up a new experiment.  That’s very Mythbusters of them.  Speaking of which, maybe they’d like to take this one on, too?

Winning the HD “War”

Whether you know it or not, there is a new format war raging between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD that would take me back to the days of VHS versus Betamax if I remembered them clearly.

While I like the specs on the HD-DVD format better (plus I’m annoyed with Sony as a corporation in general and they give us Blu-Ray), I really don’t think either format will last long.

Here’s why.

There’s no format war to win if there are no discs to buy.  Only services to compete over which you choose to pay for a download.  And what’s more is that you won’t necessarily be limited to the one you choose first and, most likely, won’t have to buy special equipment for each service.  You’ll just have a computer connected to your TV just like many have a DVR.  In fact, this computer will double as your DVR, too.

It’s a bright future for entertainment.  Assuming we don’t fully deplete our natural resources or succumb to global warming by then.

Wii Post

I’m posting this from my Wii!
They have just released a trial version of the Opera web browser to use and it looks very nice.
I don’t expect that I will post much from here, but it’s pretty cool.

Visualization of Relief

Take a minute and give a buck. This is the Darfur Wall.  A sort of memorial/donation board.

What I really like about this is that it shows you the difference that you are making in a slight more tangible way.  The number you clicked on lights up very nicely.  While still somber, it’s easier to feel like a small contribution really did go the long way people talk about them going.