Happy Foursquare Day!!!
Today is 4/16 and that means its the new holiday Foursquare Day for all us fans of the service. In honor of the day there are events planned all over the country for people to get swarm badges, businesses having specials for users of Foursquare, and of course a badge to honor the day.
Foursquare Day is about demonstrating the power of social media. It started as an idea by a Tampa, FL Optometrist and quickly spread world-wide.
Foursquare Day is April 16th - because it is the 4th month, and the 4-squared day! (4/16) It’s also the first "Social Media holiday" and was officially endorsed byFoursquare.com (Twitter / Facebook).
Badge - In order to get the badge all you have to do is when you check in somewhere today just add the shout "Happy Foursquare Day!"
Events - There are events planned all over the country to celebrate the day. A good resource to check out is 4sqday.com to see what might be happening in your city or follow the hashtag 4sqday on twitter.
If you are in Kansas City like me there is an event planned down at Blanc Burgers to try and get the swarm badge. [info on KC event here]
Specials - I know there are business out there that are taking advantage of the day and putting specials out there I have heard that McDonalds is gonna be offering some specials as well as I know a local establishment here in Kansas City will be offering 25% off you order today.
I'm sure if you do some google searches or follow the hashtag you might be able to find some specials going on in your area as well.
Have fun everyone and as always don't forget to check in!!!
Mobile Local Social – Updates
I had recently mentioned that I was now doing some blogging for a local site called Mobile Local Social and I wanted to share some links to some stories I had posted over there recently.
This is a good chance to one see some stories I have found interesting and two check out the site which has some great bloggers and content.
Recent Posts:
Google Search : It’s Full Of Stars
The Daily Show And Colbert To Be Pulled From Hulu
PubSubHubBub Gets Real With WordPress
BuzzAware – App Directory For Google Buzz
The State Of The Internet
This is a pretty kool video with some great stats about the internet in 2009. It was created by Jesse Thomas. Enjoy!
JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.
[via mashable]
My New Blogging Gig with Mobile Local Social
So recently I was asked by another local blogger/social media ninja Travis Wright aka teedubya (on twitter) if I would be interested in doing some blogging for his new site Mobile Local Social which he was launching.
I thought about it for a bit and my thinking is hey its a great way to find other kool people out there as well as get my name/blogging out there even more on the interwebs so I agreed to do it and now I will be putting content up that I want to share with everyone that I find kool.
Wanna follow my posts then this is the link for you
http://mobilelocalsocial.com/author/jeffisageek/
Well I just wanted to let everyone know about my new gig over there and to check out the site as there is some good content over there.
Google Buzz Parody Video
Since last week when Google Buzz there has been a little press on it...just a little. Some love it, some hate it, some don't like the privacy aspects of it.
Now you can add parody videos to that list. Check this video that pokes some fun at the Google Buzz promo video. Enjoy! Oh and if you are not already make sure to follow me on Buzz.
[found via Thomas Hawk]
A Look At Hallmark’s Augmented Reality Greeting Cards
This morning at the SMCKC breakfast we got the chance to check out the kool new augmented reality greeting cards that Hallmark Cards is starting to put out.
Its a pretty kool technology that I have no doubt we are gonna see more and more of.
Here is a little video I put together to show the cards in action (not the easiest to operate two cams so bare with me hehe) - thanks to Kevin Cobb and Justin Goldsborough
Know Your Meme : Advice Dog
Its time for another meme history lesson with the service Know Your Meme. This time they are looking at the meme known as Advice Dog.
Now you know...and knowing is half the battle!! GI JOE!!!!
Got Feeds? Foursquare Does!
So today I found a tweet from Foursquare talking about ical feeds and it caught my interest...I am a sucker for feeds from services I use so I decided to check it out and jump over to foursqure.com/feeds.
What did I find there? Well I found Foursquare is offering an rss, kml, and ics file for me to grab my check in data.
The foursquare feeds system allows you to subscribe to RSS, KML and iCal feeds of your data. The feeds platform is still in development and is subject to change at any time (sorry!).
We've made the feeds available (using private token URLs) to make it easy for you to construct simple frontends like WordPress plugins and Dashboard widgets without having to use our regular API.
Pretty kool stuff if I say so. I grabbed the ical feed and now have all my checked in locations posted to my Google Calendar not sure its anything earth shattering but hey I like the fact that I can just do it.
I would love to find some WordPress widgets or something I could grab to maybe make a section on my blog of where I have checked in recently.
Very kool so go check it out and play around with the data. And hey if you are using it for something please let me know as I would love to check it out or hear about it.
My Top 5 Gadgets Of 2009 on KCTV5.com
So recently I was approached by Kurt Kloeblen of KCTV5 here in Kansas City about helping with those lists you always see at the end of the year listing the top this and the top that.
Being a geek of course Kurt was thinking of me for the top gadgets of 2009 and I was more then happy to give my thoughts.
Well today I found out my list had hit the site along with lists from some friends Zena Weist doing social media trends and Eric Merlin from the Scene-Stealers doing the top films of the year.
Here is my portion of the article....
TECH GADGETSJeff Smith is known throughout Kansas City and throughout the Web community as a popular blogger and a lover of all things tech -- hence his geek name, Jeffisageek. Smith took a look at the top gadgets and tech advances of 2009.
Here is Smith's Top 5:
1. Android Platform
Android is a mobile operating system that is running some of the popular phones currently on the market. You have the MyTouch with T-Mobile, the Droid from Verizon, and the Hero from Sprint, as well as many new phones being added monthly. Going into 2010, the Android market looks to get even hotter with Google recently announcing a pure Google phone called the Nexus One.
2. iPhone 3GS
While the iPhone has been around for a while, in 2009 Apple released an update that included things like copy and paste, video recording and MMS messaging. With tweaks like that and it being one of the most popular phones out there today, it is hard to keep it off of a top list for 2009.
3. Palm Pre
Now, I might be a bit biased on this one since I own a Palm Pre, but this phone brought us another mobile operating system in WebOS, as well as a phone that allowed you multi-tasking abilities and a great community for adding apps/tweaks provided by average users to enhance your mobile experience to your liking.
4. Kodak Zi8
With personal video taking off on the Web over the last few years, this little device brings a powerful punch with some nice goodies. With it you get to record in 1080p HD as well as an SD slot, which allows you up to 32 megs more storage. Very nice!
5. Kindle DX
For all you bookworms out there, this is a pretty sweet device. It's as thin as most magazines, allows you to store up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents, is WiFi-enabled and has a vast library of information available either for downloading or purchase, which for those of you who like to read, should be good for a few days at least.
Again I would like to thank KCTV5 for the chance to give my input and then sharing it with their readers and look forward to other opportunities like this in the future.
[Google] Wave Goodbye to 2009
A very kool video put together looking back at 2009 using Google Wave. Very well done.
I think I have enjoyed some of the entertainment uses of Google Wave over actually using it for projects and such so far.
Know Your Meme : Om Nom Nom
These days if you are gonna consider yourself and internet expert you gotta keep up with the memes that are out there on the interwebs and thanks to Know Your Meme you can stay in the loop of that new meme that is sweeping twitter, youtube, and your favorite blogs.
Are you familiar with Om Nom Nom? Well watch this video and consider yourself educated!
Whats New In WordPress 2.9
So WordPress 2.9 is now out in the wild and ready for all of us to use with our sites and blogs. I just updated my blog to the new version and everything seems to be running fine and dandy. So what is new with the new version?
Check out this little video for a rundown.
1. Global undo/”trash” feature, which means that if you accidentally delete a post or comment you can bring it back from the grave (i.e., the Trash). This also eliminates those annoying “are you sure” messages we used to have on every delete.
2. Built-in image editor allows you to crop, edit, rotate, flip, and scale your images to show them who’s boss. This is the first wave of our many planned media-handling improvements.
3. Batch plugin update and compatibility checking, which means you can update 10 plugins at once, versus having to do multiple clicks for each one, and we’re using the new compatibility data from the plugins directory to give you a better idea of whether your plugins are compatible with new releases of WordPress. This should take the fear and hassle out of upgrading.
4. Easier video embeds that allow you to just paste a URL on its own line and have it magically turn it into the proper embed code, with Oembed support for YouTube, Daily Motion, Blip.tv, Flickr, Hulu, Viddler, Qik, Revision3, Scribd, Google Video, Photobucket, PollDaddy, and WordPress.tv (and more in the next release).
So have you upgraded? Had any issues? Let us know.
Making The WordPress Upgrade A Piece Of Cake
So one thing I make sure I do is keep my current version of WordPress up to date to one make sure any security holes/issues are patched up as well as to take advantage of new features that help enhance my blogging experience.
Now with that said if you are not a guru when it comes to updating systems or wanna make sure you do everything right and now bork your blog then the WordPress Automatic upgrade is the plugin for you. It makes the upgrade process a piece of cake!
Wordpress automatic upgrade upgrades your wordpress installation by doing the following steps.
1. Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
2. Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
3. Downloads the latest files from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
4. Puts the site in maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
6. Upgrades wordpress files.
7. Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins.
This has been a valuable plugin I would highly recommend. Oh and hey they just released version 2.9 so now is your chance to try it out.
Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of ‘Friendster’ Civilization
This of course is a major discovery!!! fascinating.
A Day In The InterWebs
Found this kool image that kinda puts a day in the internet into perspective. [via 9gag]
GBoard – Keyboard For Your Gmail Account
Sometimes you find a little device that just seems kinda kool...for me that was the case when I saw the GBoard which brings keyboard shortcuts to a small device that plugs into a usb port and wam! You have the power of Gmail at your fingertips.
Now as a geek I of course have informed all my family that I am interested in one of these for Christmas so I should have one soon especially one that is only 20 bucks.
What Is Google Chrome OS?
So Google has announced the new Google Chrome OS. Do you wanna check it out on your machine? Or are you like what the heck is Google Chrome OS?
Some feel the Chrome OS will destroy the desktop and others have thoughts on Google controlling our OS.
So what do you think? Will you be using the new OS on your machines?
The Website That Deletes Itself
Very interesting concept.
For each unique visitor it receives, Temporary.cc deletes part of itself. These deletions change the way browsers understand the website's code and create a unique (de)generative piece after each new user. Because each unique visit produces a new composition through self-destruction, Temporary.cc can never be truly indexed, as any subsequent act of viewing could irreparably modifiy it.
Temporary.cc from zach gage on Vimeo.
YouTube Helps Media Use Citizen Journalism With YouTube Direct
YouTube recently announced YouTube Direct which they call “a new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.”
Here is a little video from YouTube talking about how the process works.
Key features of YouTube Direct include:
- Built on the YouTube API, this 100% open-source solution provides you with an easily-integrated audience engagement platform for your website
- The customizable interface allows you to tailor the look and feel of the tool precisely to your audience
- Visitors can answer your call for content by uploading their videos to YouTube via your site without leaving the page
- A moderation panel enables your editors to review and approve/reject all submitted videos, deciding which ones meet your organization's editorial criteria
- All videos approved by your editors include a link back to your site when viewed on YouTube
Seems pretty kool and a great tool for media outlets to use to help monitor and make sure the are grabbing good content from those out there wanting to share their information. I look forward to seeing this in action.
Posterous : “So Easy A Caveman Can Do It!”
So one of the kool new services out recently is the blogging and publishing service Posterous which takes blogging and makes it so simple that you can create a blog post, email it to the service, it is posted on their site, then it can be broadcast out to other services like facebook, twitter, friendfeed, and a handful of other services you use.
I use Posterous for two of my blogs Docking Bay 94 which i use to post videos, funny pictures, geeky stuff and then At The Movies With The Geek which is where I post movie trailers, posters, and my movie reviews.
Robert Scoble recently sat down with the founders of Posterous to get some insight on the service. the design, and of course the future of the service.
I also found a little screencast that goes through posting to the service and shows just how easy it is to use.
So there you have it...A little look into a simple yet very powerful service that keeps getting better and better. I think for someone like me the pushing out of my posts to all the other services I use is the huge selling point of using ther service. Posting a picture and having it blasted out to twitter, facebook, friendfeed, ect is huge! And it saves me from having to do multiple posts.
If you wanna follow the progress of Posterous you can follow their blog or you can follow them on twitter as well.
My #NaBloPoMo Update – Week 1
So last week I announced I was gonna take a crack at National Blog Posting Month which basically means for the month you put out one blog post a day. Well I am happy to announce that after a full week I am going strong with atleast 1 post a day!
I think it is a good exercise in just getting your brain thinking about blogging which like anything you try to do the mental side is a big part. I hope to continue through the month and beyond posting stuff up to the website. I enjoy doing it and hope you get some good stuff out of it as well.
Missed my posts this week? Here is a rundown of what I posted so check them out.......
Gonna Take A Stab At NaBloPoMo
Use Your Keyboard To Navigate Through Facebook
Your Invited To : The 2009 Trailer Show Extravaganza (Nov 5th, 2009)
Find Out Which “Friends” Are Dropping You On Facebook
My Palm Pre App Purchases
Browse Twitter Lists With List Browser
Listiti : Its Like Google Alerts For Twitter Lists
November SMCKC Breakfast
DOS Pillow – WANT!!!
Add Yahoo! (And Other) Messaging On Your Palm Pre
So there you have my posts....did you take a stab at #NaBloPoMo? How has it been going? Would love to hear from others.
Find Out Which “Friends” Are Dropping You On Facebook
So for today I bring you another in my greasemonkey script addicition that allows you to monitor which of your "friends" on Facebook are dropping you off their follows.
When the script detects that someone you used to be friends with is no longer one of your friends, a message will appear informing you about who it was and giving a link to their profile page.
The script checks by default once per hour when on Facebook, but this time can be increased through "Tools > Greasemonkey > User script commands... > Set time interval to check for removed friends...".
How it works is when someone unfollows you on Facebook you will be notified and then the script will then have yourself unfollow them as well. Then you can go back and follow them again. They can never get away!!!
[Note] I have not actually seen the script in action since as far as I know no one has unfollowed me yet 
[via]
Use Your Keyboard To Navigate Through Facebook
If you have followed me for sometime you know how much I like finding Greasemonkey scripts that improve a service or add some kool features (or take something away even). So today I found out about a new script that allows you to use letters on your keyboard to jump to different parts of Facebook.
Once you have the script installed you can jump to your photos, events, account, notes, ect ect with the push of a button. Here is a list of the 16 per setup options.
A – Edit application settings
B – Go to list of birthdays
C – Go to photos
D – Find friends
E – Go to your list of events
F – View the list of all your friends
G – Go to groups
H – Go to your home page
I – Go to the message Inbox
L – Go to your links page
M – Send a message
N – Go to your notes
P – Go to your profile page
S – Edit your account settings
T – Go to Notifications page
V – Edit your privacy settings
And if you want to add others it is pretty easy to configure the scipt to your needs. ReadRightWeb had a post on this same script and showed how easy it was to add your own options.
So there you have it another script to help you through this Facebook world...no its nothing earth shattering but for us geeks its a fun little tweak to play around with and hey maybe you are new to all this Greasemonkey stuff and have some questions? Feel free to hit me up sometime and I can help you get started with it all.
[via]
Gonna Take A Stab At NaBloPoMo
So I was doing my nightly scan of feeds and tweets when I saw this thing called #NaBloPoMo which stands for National Blog Posting Month. The premise is pretty easy basically you blog every day of the month (which is something I don't think I have ever done).
The whole thing started off as a goof based on National Novel Writing Month, the challenge of which is to try to write an entire novel during the month November. Not everyone can commit to an endeavor of such magnitude, though, and so National Blog Posting Month was born. However, after doing a November NaBlo for a couple of years in a row it seemed that a lot of people had found their momentum and wanted to keep going into December and beyond. So now NaBloPoMo is something you can drop into any month of the year, though November is still the biggest month, and is the only month when members donate prizes that are then given out randomly to other members who posted every day in November.
Should be fun to attempt and a good challenge. Are you interested in giving it a run with your blog like me? Be sure to check out the NaBloPoMo site and follow the hashtag #NaBloPoMo as well.
Good luck to everyone who is gonna give it a run and have fun with it!
Invite Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!!
Thats right folks (jeff)isageek.net is your source for invites today Sunday November 1st!! Its been awhile since I have done an invite post but I have some hot ones to give out to you the readers of my blog.
How this is gonna work is if you are interested in an invite shoot me an email with your email address, the service you would like an invite to. They will be first come, first serve so act fast!
Here is what I got for today :
Brizzly - 10 invites
Clicker - 5 invites (for this one just go to this link - First 5 get in)
Google Voice - 3 invites
and the big one.......
Google Wave - 12 invites
So there ya go. I will keep you posted with updates here of how many I have left. I am guessing the Google Wave invites will probably go like hot cakes.
Enjoy!
[update] Given out 3 Google Wave invites. Only 9 left!
[update] Only 4 Google Wave invites left!!! Plenty of Google Voice and Brizzly
[update] one Google Wave invite left...it could be you!!
[update] ok all the google wave invites are gone. if you have any feel free to post in the comments for everyone.
[update] still got brizzly, google voice, and clicker invites
Clicker : Your On Screen Guide To Whats Playing On The Web
So have you heard of the new service Clicker? Its basically looking to become the on screen guide of your computer and like a DVR where you can go see the new episodes of your favorite tv and web based shows (also music/movies). Seems like a pretty kool concept so check out the video below to get the demo they did at TechCrunch50.
Clicker is the ultimate guide to Internet television. As massive amounts of programming move online, consumers are entering a world of infinite choices, all on-demand. Great! Finding the show you want to watch? Painful.
Thousands of episodes from thousands of shows are housed on thousands of different sites, mixed amongst billions of random videos. Clicker culls all broadcast programming, and TV-quality Web originals, from these silos and delivers them in one seamless, organized experience so you can easily find, save, share and even contribute content for any show or episode online.
I have played around with the service a bit since getting my invite and I must say it is pretty nice. It makes grabbing the new episode of that show you like that is not easily found on hulu and gets it to you right away instead of having to click through one of the networks sites.
Would you like to check it out? I got 5 invites. Either shoot me and email with your email address or send me a DM and I will get them to the first 5 who ask.
The Google Story
I found this little video over at The Next Web that takes you through the story that is Google and how they have grown over the last 11 years.
Video went a little to fast for you or you want to see a little bit more info? Well google has their own interactive timeline you can check out as well.
[via]
What Is Google Wave [In Two Minutes]
So unless you have been away from the interweb the past few days you have probably heard Google Wave mentioned 1, 2, 3, 1000 times in about a 48 hour period. We have heard from people saying it is great...its sucks...i have invites...i am looking for invites or you may have even heard from people saying what the hell is Google Wave.
Well this video tries to explain a little in a little over 2 min
So there you have it. I myself have been checking it out and kinda getting a feel for the service and see what it can offer this geek [oh and I dont have any invites]
catch me on the interwebs:
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