Sep
29
2009
Image via Wikipedia
I just read an article about Gmail’s latest outage. It was the title that caught my eye: “Why you should be glad about Gmail failures.” As someone who is using Gmail, the title kind of got my proverbial goat. As it turns out, the article was less about boasting on Gmail’s failures and more about how Google has the opportunity to learn from its high profile mistakes. Although I still have my reservations about Google’s low profile issues, it does seem as if when problems hit in the public’s eye, lessons do get learned.
While reading this article, it reminded me of my many mistakes in blogging through the years. Some were fixed with a relative lack of difficulty while others I have yet to have the courage to find a fix. In this article I would like to be candid and share some of those mistakes and some of the fixes and changes I have enacted since.
(1) The topic
When I began blogging at the domain timmyjohnboy.com I was using it as a personal blog. The topic basically changed with my whims. I wrote about whatever I wanted to. This ended up being a mistake because I not only didn’t reach any goals for my blog, but the goals in and of themselves were vague.
This did not help Google Adsense serve relevant ads. It also did not help with SEO. Without a specific topic for the blog, I wasn’t doing so hot with the search engines.
Since then, I took the time to choose a topic I love enough and one with which I have passion and began to create content on that topic. Choosing a niche helped me participate in the conversation with others in similar niches. I was able to find people with similar interests. Although not perfect yet, my ranks have at least begun to grow. Google Adsense now comes across a bit less confused.
Is your blog more of a personal one, or does it revolve around a specific topic or niche?
(2) The Goals
When I began to blog, I really didn’t have much of a goal. It was more getting things off my chest. I did gain a love for writing and I did meet some interesting people. But I didn’t have real goals to meet by blogging.
Since then I have been blogging in order to do a few things, one of which is to strengthen my authority in my niche. This means that I am not only learning more about my niche, but I am also showing my own current aptitude. I am also working on my writing style. The more I write, the better I get at communicating. Although I have not quite arrived in the place where all my goals are met, I do have a reason for blogging and my goals are being achieved.
What are your goals for blogging?
(3) The Domain Name
The name actually came from a nick name my father gave me when I was young. Basically with a first name Tim and a middle name John and an apparent like for the Waltons as a television show, the name came together as TimJohnBoy or TimmyJohnBoy. I began using it online when I first started using webmail and I’ve been using it ever since.
I haven’t actually decided if this has been a bad choice for the domain name. On one hand, it really has nothing to do with technology, computers or the Internet. On the other hand, using my own name in the domain can aid in strengthening my name’s “brand” or “authority.” What I mean by this is that it can strengthen the tie between my name and the topic that I write about. For instance, although he may see his domain choice as being a mistake, it is difficult to hear John Chow’s name without thinking about the blogging about blogging niche, right?
You tell me, is my choice of domain name a mistake?
We all have made mistakes. It is only when we see what we can learn from them that we learn how to grow. Sometimes we CAN be glad about our failures!
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Sep
25
2009
In its latest versions, Firefox has begun sporting a new tool called Private Browsing. It’s really a great tool and it really has more than one use! Basically when you are in Private Browsing mode, Firefox will not remember the following:
- browser history,
- search history,
- download history,
- web form history,
- cookies, or
- temporary internet files
You’re basically browsing the Internet anonymously. Its really easy to do, just go to “TOOLS” and then “START PRIVATE BROWSING” (or CTRL-SHIFT-P) and you’re in.
Well, many people on the Internet seem to be highlighting one particular use for such an option and I just wanted to come out and say that there IS more than one use for it! Basically people are saying that it is a great way to cover your tracks if you have been browsing some less than desirable websites and you don’t want other people to see your browsing habits. That’s the nice version.
Let’s see if we can list some other uses or reasons we would want to use the Private Browsing feature in Firefox.
- Gift buying – Christmas is coming soon and it would be nice to shop online on the family computer without ruining the suprise, right?
- Online banking (and other financial stuff) – If you are using a computer that other people are using, keep your finances to yourself!
- Other personal sites (email, etc.) – Similarly, Private Browsing does just that, it keeps your personal interactions like email, etc. private
- Internet caches don’t build up – As you may know, as you browse the Internet, your browser saves files from website to aid in the reloading of the site the next time you visit the site. Well, these files can build up and eventually bog your computer down if you’re not careful. Private Browsing mode is another way to help here.
Can you think of some other uses for Private Browsing mode? Let us know in the comments!
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Sep
24
2009
If you are not familiar with it, Delicious.com is what is called a social bookmarking site. This means that users can save bookmarks on the site, organize them according to topics by using tags, and then share them with others. The interesting thing about Delicious.com is that as people bookmark and share sites they come across, those sites gain in popularity.
This post, however, was written to deal with the searching capabilities of Delicious.com and how they compare to the oh so famous search engine, Google.
It occurred to me the other day, while researching for another post I was working on, that perhaps there are more research options out there than Google. I then hit up good ol’ Delicious.com to see what I could find. The results, although not perfect, were surprisingly sufficient!
Basically, Delicious and Google base their search result listings on different things. If I am correct, Google’s search results are based upon “three distinct phases: spidering the web to find and read web pages, indexing the web pages found and responding to user queries to produce a set of ranked results.” (quoted from article entitled How Google produces relevant search results – Indexing and PageRank explained). Delicious on the other hand is based more on user bookmarking habits and user tagging.
All of this means that both sites come up with search results. The results are different and they are based on different things. The quality of your search experience will depend on the topic of the search and even the terms you choose to use in your search. I am hearing that Yahoo, using methods that Delicious uses, may be looking to change the way we search online. Hold onto your seats, we may be into another search engine battle!
What about you? Have you ever ventured off of the well-beaten Google search path and tried sites like Delicious for your searching needs? What site do you prefer? Let me know in the comments!
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Sep
16
2009
A Guest Post by Brett Barner of GodlySheep.com and @Godlysheep about Trillian Astra.
Instant Messaging (IM) clients are a dime-a-dozen nowadays. Though IMing seems so ’90s, it is still useful today. The big issue with IM clients is that unless you and all of your friends get together and decide universally what IM service you all want to use, you’re stuck having 4 different accounts. That, and you’re still using the screen name you came up with in high school (CreedFan4Eva) because you don’t want to take the time and effort to create and tell your friends of your new, more adult, screen name. This isn’t a problem for all your high school chums, but if you meet someone new, you cringe giving it out. That’s where Trillian Astra steps in, and then organizes even more.
Instant Messaging:
The founding function of Trillian Astra is its IM feature. It is it’s own IM network, but also supports other IM networks in case you venture away from just AIM. Here’s a list of the IM networks Trillian supports in addition to it’s own network: AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MySpace IM, Windows Live, and Yahoo!. Not only can you have multiple clients open at once, you can also have multiple screen names under the same client open at the same time. This comes in handy if you have different screen names for different reasons. (i.e. personal & professional). You can also set all your status as “Away”, “Invisible”, “Offline”, or “Online” with the click of one button. (or you can set them individually)
Trillian also offers video/audio support and file transfers. It supports Skype, which you can add as one of your services as well. You can use Skype as an IM service as well as a video and audio client. The downside of using Skype with Trillian is the amount of system resources it requires to run Skype alongside of Trillian. Trillian manages Skype, but if you’re concerned about processor speeds, Skype eats up a lot of your RAM, even when it’s just sitting there.
Email:
If you set up an AIM, Google Talk, Windows Live, or Yahoo! in Trillian, you will get the option of setting up the email notifier that is associated with those accounts. If you have another kind of email service, POP3 and IMAP. A small notification window will pop up in the bottom, right-hand corner of your screen to notify you of your incoming messages. Click on the link, and Trillian will whisk you away to the new message through your browser.
Social Networks:
If you’re hip to Facebook or Twitter, Trillian Astra’s got you covered. With Facebook, Trillian will notify you of people’s status changes, and profile updates. If you or a friend’s wall has been written on, it’ll let you know. If you receive a Facebook email, it’ll notify you of that as well. My favorite part of Trillian’s Facebook tool is that it also notifies you of your friend’s birthdays. This has helped me out since Facebook moved the birthday portion down on its homepage.
Trillian’s Twitter tool gives you up to you news feed of who you are following, direct messages, and you can tweet directly from the contact list with TinyURL support. Trillian also supports multiple Twitter accounts.
Trillian is typically running in my system tray and helps keep me up to date with it’s great, OS X Growlish, notifications. You can even have multiple accounts with Trillian. For example, my wife and I have our own accounts with saved personal settings. There are a lot more other features as well, with widgets and different skin settings.
Trillian Astra is free with the option of a pro version. Trillian is only available for Windows right now, but is close in development for Mac and iPhone users. There is also a web version that doesn’t require a download.
Screenshots:
Visit: Trillian.im
Sep
15
2009
Today I had the opportunity to interview Brett Barner, blogger from GodlySheep.com. Let me tell you a bit about what they’ve got going on over there!
GodlySheep.com is a blog with a goal of helping churches and individuals. Well… um… watch the interview and let Brett explain it!
You can check out GodlySheep.com and follow them on Twitter: @GodlySheep. Brett will also be a guest blogger on here every so often so keep yer eyes open for a fresh voice! He’s somewhat new to blogging but from what I’ve seen so far, he’s a great writer (as are the other writers on GodlySheep.com).
Brett, thanks for the interview and happy blogging!
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Sep
14
2009
OK, those of you who know me know that text messaging sometimes gets on my nerves. As you can tell from past articles, such as the one I wrote on the topic of texting while driving, I have a view that texting CAN be useless and even dangerous. Well, as it turns out, Google is beginning to force me to change my mind… to a point.
ALSO, if you know me, I do not have a data plan on my phone, neither do I have the need to, neither do I see the need to in the foreseeable future. Google is actually helping me in this area. As long as I have unlimited SMS, I can do many cool things without an expensive data plan.
You see, I just recently upgraded my phone to one of those “messaging” phones which has a quirty keypad making texting a whole lot easier. Having the ability now to actually type, I’ve been exploring what I can actually do with SMS besides the obvious corny messages between friend and family. Well, as it turns out, there are several ways that SMS can enhance the way you use Gmail and Google Calendars. I’m sure these tricks have been kicked around for awhile, but here is what I get out of it.
SMS and Gmail
There are a few ways that SMS can work with Gmail. I’ve figured them out by either messing around or by, you guessed it, Googling it!
- I can be notified via SMS when I get email. That, in and of itself is cool, you can do that with any email service, just forward email to (yournumber)@(your phone carrier, such as vtext for Verizon).com. With Verizon you can set up a nickname, too to cut out using your own number. With Gmail’s labels and filters, I can actually choose what kind of email to notify me about. For instance, I set up a filter to send all emails from my wife to my vtext email address. At this point, I am notified that I need to pick up milk, or whatever.
- I can use Gmail to take a note for me so I will remember it later when checking my email. I set up a filter to label all email with a phrase like “makeamemo” anywhere in the email with a label such as “MEMOS.” So now I can just send an SMS to my Gmail address and have a nifty list of memos to remember. Notice that I made sure it filters only email from my address so no mistaken mail gets plopped there. ALSO I made sure that the messages skip the inbox so that doesn’t get cluttered.
I am sure there is more I can do with Gmail and SMS. I am still learning. As I learn, I will share.
SMS and Google Calendars
Here are a couple of tricks I learned about Google Calendar and how SMS can enhance my use of it.
First you’ll want to set up your Google Calendar account to work with your cell phone. Just click settings and follow the instructions in the mobile setup section.
- I can have Google send me an SMS reminder of an appointment coming up. I am SO bad at remembering appointments, especially if they are made a long time in advance. Well, I could either mess with my phone’s calendar, which I’d rather not, OR I can have Google calendar remind me. With the flexibility and ease of use that Google Calendar provides, it seems an obvious choice.
- I can MAKE appointments on my Google Calendar via SMS! I think that is the coolest thing EVER! All I have to do is send a message to the number Google provides me (48368), make sure the date, time, and details are all in there, and bodda-bing! Google will then send a confirmation SMS making sure the date, time and details are recorded correctly so there’s no worries there. For more information, check out the post in Google’s help pages.
The idea here is that I don’t really need a data plan when I have SMS, and therefore I save money. I’m sure there are more ways that you can use SMS with Google’s services. Have you read my post about filtering and canned messages? I’m still looking to learn more so if you know of any more hacks or tricks I can use SMS for, let me know. AND, as usual, I will share with y’all what I learn!
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Sep
7
2009
- Image by aranarth via Flickr
This is one of “those” questions, I believe. If you’re looking at buying a computer, you may be asking yourself this question: new or used? I know there are many people with strong opinions that fall into both sides. I think this question can actually have a different answer depending on what your need is. Does that sound wishy-washy? Let me know AFTER reading the rest of the article!
I think there are two questions you can ask yourself to help you determine which direction you should go.
(1) How much experience do you have with computers?
I see this as an important question for several reasons. First of all, if you need a computer in order to learn some of the basics, such as surfing the web, doing email, writing papers, and perhaps uploading and sharing photos, then you may want to begin with something a little less expensive, at least until you learn enough and are able to use it to its fullest potential.
The trick here is to find someone you trust who will be able to find you a refurbished computer that, one, will last long enough that you get some use out of it, and two, will be good enough to suit your needs. The idea here is to get something you can train on, and THEN move up to a newer, more robust machine.
However, if you are more experienced, you probably, one, know what it is that you need, and two, be able to use it to its fullest already and may actually want something more robust.
(2) What do you need it for?
The needs really do determine what kind of computer to get. If all you need is something inexpensive that you can do school papers on, you’ll be wasting your time on the new gaming computer. All you really need is to be able to run a word processor and a printer (and perhaps the internet and email).
Now, if you are getting into graphics design, photo or video editing, gaming and/or game design, etc. etc., you’ll be needing something more. If you are needing a bit more than the basics, a newer model is probably for you.
Those are two major questions to ask yourself. You’ll also want to think about such things as finances, being, how much can you afford. You’ll also need to consider a few things when looking for a refurbished system:
(1) If you need it, get some help from someone you trust.
(2) Buy it from a place where you can test it out first. Ebay or Craigslist are probably not the best places for a newbie to buy a used system.
(3) Check to see what kind of wear and tear there is already. Signs of excessive use (or misuse) or signs of exposure to elements can indicate what kind of machine you are looking at. Look for crack and excessive scratching, staining, etc. and take them as signs you may want to find something else.
(4) Some places offer some sort of warranty. For instance, a good reputable refurbished computer salesman will offer a month’s warranty. You want to make sure you’re not getting a lemon.
As I said earlier, find someone you trust to help you because they can find a store THEY trust and you’re life will be SO much easier because of it. ALSO, if you have some more used computer buying tips, help us out in the comments!
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Sep
4
2009
Tonight I had the opportunity to have a little chat with Dave over at Wetoku.com (based in Seoul,South Korea) and I think you’ll be interested in some of the topics, including a few things coming down the pipes!
If you don’t know yet, Wetoku is a cool new web app which makes web-based video interviews easy and fun. Dave gave the readers of MakeUseOf.com (whom I’ve been writing for) invites into the private beta so check out my article: How to conduct video interviews with Wetoku. Here’s the interview:
Some of the topics discussed:
- Why Wetoku is a great idea
- Wetoku’s quality issues being dealt with
- Wetoku’s soon release from private beta
- Wetoku features being requested by users
- Wetoku features being worked on
- Features soon to be released to the masses
If you try out Wetoku for yourself, the folks over there would LOVE feedback, positive AND negative! They’re in beta which means they’re still working out kinks and YOU can help!
Oh, and if you’d like to do an interview with me, let me know (in comments here or head to the contact page)! I’m loving this “interview” thing!
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Sep
2
2009
Admittedly, I am new to the gmail scene.
I’ve always used Hotmail, even before Microsoft took them over. Yes, way back then. I have been hesitating, then hesitating, and even hesitating to move to another webmail service. There are many things I don’t like about Hotmail, but, hey, there are also many things to get used to somewhere else. For years I’ve had this struggle, until just recently.
I signed up for a gmail account quite some time ago, but I just never got into using it. Many parts of gmail are foreign to me, including the whole idea of labels instead of folders. It’s just one of those things. Gmail has kind of changed the whole email thing, to the point that sometimes it’s difficult to get into it. Well, recently I starting using gmail a bit more. I haven’t tossed out my Hotmail account just yet, but I’m tinkering, and I love tinkering! I hooked up my domain with Google apps so I can have my domain’s emails handled by gmail and I kinda like that. I hate using desktop-based email clients because I like being able to check my email from any browser anywhere. I also didn’t like some of the other options such as Squirlmail. SO, I starting messing with gmail once again.
Also, since beginning to write for MakeUseOf.com, I’ve had to use gmail for my @makeuseof email address, which is fine. All of this just keeps pointing me towards taking a real look at gmail. Well, while handling a large number of emails from MakeUseOf.com readers, I was able to learn a trick or two in order to handle the influx:
First off, I realized how easy it was to create a filter that would filter emails with specific words and give them a specific label.
This was really cool, because I had a lot of emails from people needing the same thing. This way I could glance at just the emails filtered 
for me. That was cool enough, but I can also do that with Hotmail. I’ve talked about filtering before, but gmail’s ease is overwhelming. The thing with Hotmail is that it uses folders. That means that a message is either in one folder or the other. That’s OK, but I’m beginning to prefer the flexibility of having the option to have the message show up in several places. In other words, with gmail I’m able to have a message tagged with several labels, helping me to organize them better. For instance, I can label all emails from a specific person with their name (or whatever) and also label all emails with a specific topic and messages from that person would show in both places. I like that.
I realized that I could add and delete labels at will.
I could even remove the “inbox” label and remove the clutter from my inbox. I think that the “archive” option does the same thing (removes the message from the inbox but still keeping the other tags, AND if there aren’t any, the messages will still show in search results – cool!).
I was extremely impressed with how easy it is to create and use canned messages.
If you find yourself replying with the same or similar message over and over again, you can save it and have it ready with the click of a button. Oh, boy did this feature make my day! In the situation with all of those emails from MakeUseOf readers, my job got A LOT easier! All it took to reply was to click reply, click the canned response I wanted, and click send! It sounds kind of impersonal, but in the situation it was quite necessary and it really wasn’t a big deal not responding personally.
Using filters WITH canned messages sealed the deal for me!
When I figured out that I could set up a filter, and have a canned response AUTOMATICALLY replied to the sender, I almost fell out of my seat! This means that I could have SEVERAL things going on, people emailing me asking for SEVERAL different things, and all I have to do is set up a few filters??? Now that takes the cake! And I love cake!
Anyways, I know gmail has been around for some time now, and that there is a possibility that some of the features are very well known, but I am still impressed! I’m ready to learn gmail! I’m also ready to learn how gmail can help ease the transition from other email providers. This should be fun.
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Tags: E-mail, E-mail address, E-mail client, gmail, google, hotmail, Microsoft, Webmail | 
Comments (2)
Comments (2) Aug
28
2009
- Image by youngdoo via Flickr
This time I wrangled my sister, Tracy to do some tests on wetoku, the REALLY neat (did you hear that David?) new service, wetoku. They were really nice enough to me to allow me to test some of the upcoming “Pro” features. Tonight we tested the difference in quality of the video settings (Normal=16kbps, High=32kbps, and Higher=66kbps). The first video is “Normal.”
If you notice, the video is pixelated. Even when we are not moving, the picture is a bit pixelated. When the video is seen in full screen mode, it’s almost like playing an old video game. Give no mind to the silly wagging of our heads. It’s just our way of testing motion!
The “High” setting is a lot better, in my opinion. There is minimal pixelation and even when enlarging the video, the picture is still fine.
During the test of the “Higher” setting, we experienced some blurring instead of pixelation. The video is still acceptable even for full screen. Personally I like the “High” setting. The minimal pixelation is not much of a trade off for the absence of the blurring. Just my opinion.
<object width=’512′ height=’224′ classid=’clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000′ codebase=’http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0′> <param name=’movie’ value=’http://wetoku.com/video/4qo2nfe5/player’ /> <param name=’FlashVars’ value=’bgcolor=FFFFFF&width=256&height=192′ /> <param name=’wmode’ value=’transparent’ /> <param name=’allowFullScreen’ value=’true’ /> <embed src=’http://wetoku.com/video/4qo2nfe5/player?bgcolor=FFFFFF&width=256&height=192′ quality=’high’ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ width=’512′ height=’224′ pluginspage=’http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer’ wmode=’transparent’ allowFullScreen=’true’> </embed> </object>
As far as my overall opinion so far, I thoroughly enjoy using wetoku and I think they are heading in an awesome (did you hear that one too, Dave?) direction! When I was told about some of the “pro” features coming out in private beta in October, it was plain to see that they are definitely listening to the public’s opinions. I’ve heard people ask for better video and, WHAMO! Better video! People have been asking about video editing abilities, well, rumor has it there’s another WHAMO coming! Also going to be tested is the ability to upload re-roll and post-roll video, custom watermark, and a customizable embeddable player.
There are a few things I’ve noticed so far that I think would be good to add, including multiple recordings per interview sitting (unless I missed something) and the ability to download the video for local safekeeping and for sharing on social video networks like YouTube.
They’re not done yet so keep cheering them on and keep giving them feedback! Good job so far wetoku!
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