I just wanted to take this oppurtunity to thank mGarret for linking up to this site. Michael Garret is a contributing editor for Profy.com, a web 2.0 focused blog that seems to be gaining in popularity everyday. Michael is also the Senior Guide for Mahalo, a human powered search engine. As you can already tell, this guy is in the heart of the 2.0 world so if you enjoy the content on my site, be sure to check out his own blog at http://mgarrett.xeroclix.com/
This is actually a few months old but it’s news to me. DezinerFolio has released 131 Web 2.0 based Photoshop Layer Styles. The layer styles give designers a head start when it comes time to create slick, new Web 2.0 based graphics. The layer styles were created using Adobe Photoshop CS2. I’m not sure if the layer style is backwards compatible or not. If you get the file to work with anything before CS2, be sure to let us know.
The following image is a preview of the various types of styles that are found in this style pack. Click on the image to visit the download area. Thanks to NavDeep for putting this together.
Here is an interesting site I came across the other day. It’s quickly being referred to as the internet suggestion box. SHOULDdoTHIS resembles Twitter with unique spin on the micro-blogging idea.
This is one of the few services I have come across that supports logging in by using my OpenID user account, which made creating a registered account a breeze. I wish more sites would include this type of login access. In my opinion, OpenID will play a big role in creating a unified login across multiple sites. So the more sites that support OpenID, the better.
While Twitter provides an avenue for you to tell the world ‘What Are You Doing?‘ SHOULDdoTHIS allows you to give your opinion as to what should be done, and who it should be done by. For example, in the ‘Someone Field‘ I typed in EA. In the ‘do something great field‘ I typed in ‘Should release one last major patch to Battlefield 2‘. Unlike the 140 character limit found on other micro-blogging services, there doesn’t appear to be any limit to the amount of text that can be placed within the ‘Do Something Great‘ field. After I clicked the submit button, my suggestion was published to my account where users can do a number of different things.
On the right hand side of the site, users can choose whether or not the suggestion is likely or unlikely to happen. Underneath of that, users can guesstimate when the suggestion will take place. Suggestions can be tagged but as I was browsing around, the tags feature didn’t appear to be used by quite a few people. Just like Twitter, each user has an RSS feed attached to their account. After adding a suggestion, there is a text area which appears at the bottom of the post which lets users give a detailed explanation as to their suggestion. I believe this is a nice touch as quite a few suggestions can not be explained in a short amount of detail.
Everyone has an opinion, and this service let’s you get your opinion out in the open. If Robotcoop releases a public API for SHOULDdoTHIS, I see no reason as to why sites and services, especially those with actual products wouldn’t use something like this as a suggestion box. SHOULDdoTHIS is not a Twitter clone as I feel the service has taken the micro-blogging idea and put a very nice twist to it. Considering there are sponsored ads that appear on user account pages, this site already has a monetization model, but if they charged a price to use their service for commercial use, I think they would do very well.
If you sign up and give the service a try, let me know what YOU think.
SiteScrutiny.com is a brand new blog dedicated to reviewing and sharing some of the coolest, most useful sites on the net. Some of his latest reviews include Preezo, Open Source Web Design, and Agatra.
SiteScrutiny is maintained by John Kolbert, the webmaster of Simply-Basic.com which on an unrelated note, has a very nice looking design. As I provide you with a ton of crap in my reviews, John writes about the goods and discards the crap. His articles are to the point and contain insightful opinions, not to mention the design surrounding the content is easy on the eyes.
This blog is in it’s infancy, but it’s already looking good. Remember John, if you blog it, they will come. So SiteScrutiny, welcome to my Up and Coming section in my FeedReader.
Slikstr.com has an opening available in their NYC office for a Creative Outreach Director. What that person is in charge of doing is beyond me, but it sounds important. Instead of posting a job opening on Monster.com, Slikstr has published a YouTube video asking whomever wants to apply to send them a video response which would be their resume. Here ya go.
So what the heck is Slikstr?
Slikstr is the worlds first user created company. They are creating the next generation of Web 2.0 technologies by directly reaching out to their users and basing much of their decision making on “the wisdom of crowds”. They recently closed a first round of private equity funding and they are developing their website for beta testing later this year. The company is headquartered in New York City and is privately held.
Sounds to me like this could be one heck an online Web 2.0 reality show. Here is a YouTube video response from someone who is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, hoping to get the job.
While watching the first video, did you feel as if it was shot sometime during the 80s? It seemed like a pretty cheesy looking job opening advertisement. For the woman who wants the job, do you think she’ll get it? If she does, will you be watching her generated video content?
Yappd, the non Twitter Killer has responded to my support email. In my email, I asked them how to add images to Yappd postings. Here is what they replied to me with.
The way you add pictures right now is only by cell phone through picture message. Early next week we will add photos upload from the website.
You read it here first folks. Next week, Yappd will allow users to send images along with their posts. I don’t want to bag on Yappd anymore than I already have, (see my review Yappd Reviewed – Non Twitter Killer ) But this feature should of been released with the service on day 1. However, I’d say thanks to Yappd for responding to my email.
Jjot has pushed out a new version of their lightning fast, note taking software. The new version now has a visual indicator which lets you know if your note is publicly shared, or not. You can now ‘pop-out‘ notes to their own browsing window for easier note taking.
Have you ever wanted to edit just one note, in its own window, and not have your entire Jjot noteboard open in your browser? Well, now you can. Just click the menu in the title bar of your note, and select the new option “pop-out.” Your note will then open in its own window. You can edit it and maximize it like usual, and it will save itself every few seconds. Feel free to close your main Jjot noteboard in your browser if you want to; the popped-out note will stay open.
If you have no idea what JJot is, be sure to check out my full fledged review, Jjot Review – Take Notes In A Flash
Theres been an interesting conversation going on within the comments section of a piece of news that I clipped the other day. I clipped a section of a WinExtra article titled, New media isn’t as big as it thinks it is In this article, Steven points out that new media is still in it’s infancy. So much so, that anyone outside of the early adopters crowd most likely doesn’t have a clue as to what RSS is, let alone Vlogging, twittering ect.
The fact is that this whole new media thing is still so much in its infancy that trying to explain what RSS feeds are let alone how to use them to Auntie May who thinks that the Internet is Google is incredibly hard to do in plain English.
Then you throw things like podcasts and vlogging into the mix and you start seeing a whole bunch of deer caught in the headlight looks.
I tend to agree with your points Steven. Thanks to your article, another conversation was started centered around the question, How would I explain RSS to someone?
Alanocu started it off with his response: I have been asked that same question about RSS and it’s not easily explained. The benefit is often not completely understood.
Tidbit2 had this to say: I find the best way to describe these technologies is just say what you can do with them. I don’t understand all the technical details but I use them and learn from what other people explain on the net
juliapatriciaroy followed up with: The only way I can explain RSS in a way that understandable is if I can sit someone down in front of my computer and show them how I use it and how easy it is. I bet it will be another year, even more, before people really start to pick it up. Frustrating, it such an easier way to consume information.
Let’s not let the conversation about this topic end here. Please leave a comment, telling us how you would explain RSS to someone such as your Grandma, Aunt or someone who is less, than web 2.0 savvy. As for myself, I would simply send them a link to Web 2.0 In Video Format and instruct them to watch the easily digestible RSS video. If the video doesn’t work, there may be no hope.
When I came home from work today at 5:00AM Est, I noticed that Skype was having some issues logging me into my account. Apparently, these issues are still ongoing according to an update posted on Skype.com
Hello everyone,
Apologies for the delay, but we can now update you on the Skype sign-on issue. As we continue to work hard at resolving the problem, we wanted to dispel some of the concerns that you may have. The Skype system has not crashed or been victim of a cyber attack. We love our customers too much to let that happen. This problem occurred because of a deficiency in an algorithm within Skype networking software. This controls the interaction between the user’s own Skype client and the rest of the Skype network.
Rest assured that everyone at Skype is working around the clock — from Tallinn to Luxembourg to San Jose — to resume normal service as quickly as possible.
I know Skype has had this problem for at least 12 hours now and I wonder how many folks are starting to flip out.
As mentioned on AppScout and TechCrunch, Yappd is a Twitter like service which gives users the additional privilege of posting an image along with their Yappd message. Lets take a tour of this service to see if it’s the new Twitter.
Yappd is a brand new company founded by three individuals, Brendan Lim, Brent Collier, and Andrew Tilt. The two founders, Brendan and Brent, both are Software Engineers that decided that it was important to let your friends quickly see what you’re doing. Also, to develop it quickly, the two founders decided to develop Yappd using Ruby on Rails.
The signup process for Yappd is fairly straightforward. What is required to create an account? A first name, last name, preferred username, email address, and preferred password. The standard mojo.
Once you log into your Yappd account, the first thing you’ll most likely notice is the Twitter/Jaiku like text area where you can type in your message. Notice how many characters Yappd gives you, 150. Thats right, 10 more characters than what those other guys offer to help you get your point across!
Your watch list, or what is more commonly known as your friends list, is located on the left hand side of your user page. Once you add someone to your watch list, you can watch what they Yapp about from your user account page. One of these days, one of these services are going to use the word STALK as a way to add and monitor friends. At any rate, the Yappd layout is pretty similar to Twitter and Jaiku as all three use Tabs as a way to distinguish between your own messages, your friends messages, and all messages.
Yappd provides a few different ways of posting messages. You can either yapp by email, website, or phone. If you want to yapp by phone, all you have to do is send a text or picture message to yapp@yappd.com. Your yapp will be posted within 1-2 minutes. You can yapp by e-mail the very same way you yapp by phone. Just shoot off your yapps to yapp@yappd.com. Your yapp will be posted within 1-2 minutes. What about the cost, associated with using your phone to yapp? Yappd does not charge you any fee to yapp by phone. You will, however, get charged, the normal rate for a text or picture message from your mobile phone carrier.
A feature almost not worth mentioning is the REMIND ME feature, which if enabled in your privacy settings allows other Yappd users to essentially poke you. This feature is suppose to remind users that they haven’t Yappd in awhile. This small feature reminds me of the POKEing going on in the world of Facebook, just on a smaller scale. I’m glad that Yappd decided to make this a user enabled or disabled feature as I’m sure most folks would not have to be reminded that they are neglecting to Yapp.
Now, I realize the title for this article highlights the fact that in some way shape or form, you can add images to your Yapp messages. I have to admit, I can’t figure out how to perform this function of the service. I have sent an email, asking their support team how this feature works and how it’s defined. I am beginning to think that you can only add images to your Yapp account through a camera enabled mobile phone but until they reply to my email, it’s anyones guess. I tried visiting their HELP section but honestly, it didn’t really HELP me.
With Twitter and Jaiku being considered established leaders within their niche (micro-blogging) , I am pretty disappointed to see a service such as Yappd come online without at least, if not more, functionality and features than their competition. I don’t understand why companies who want to enter this space don’t end up taking what’s already available and taking it to the next level. Instead, these companies come online and they look like barebone versions of their competition.
Yappd, has no way of allowing you to direct message your friends, doesn’t have an XML or RSS feed of your own messages, no way to customize the look of your Yappd page, no way to embed your Yappd status or messages into your blog or some other website, no clear concise documentation which would really make the help section, the HELP section and is missing even more features from both Jaiku, Twitter and Pownce that I care to mention.
This is the kind of crap that gives credence to the ongoing debate on whether or not, we are in a Web 2.0 bubble. I will withhold my thoughts and feelings as that is another blog post for another day, but if any of you Yappd guys read this, please as soon as possible, make your site something worth switching too. I’d love to see a blog post from Yappd that explains their vision and where they plan on taking this service as I’ve already seen one of their employees Yapp about how they plan to be around for the long term. I’m sorry, but unless you guys do something revolutionary or at the very least ‘catch up’ there won’t be a long term.
Thoughts and Insanity From Jeff 