‘Ello – Bye Bye Baby??

unsmiley

No, I am not leaving..  but in thinking back to the days of the Twitter Fail Whale…   wondering what we will all call the Inevitable Ello outages as they grow-  ByeBye Baby images anyone??

Ello Fail

‘Ello love

There are so many haters out there ranting on Ello right now, I thought I would do a short list of the things I am loving about it.

1.  New people, new discoveries, new creative inspiration. Sure, it is always nice to play with people you know in a new playground, but don’t you go to parties to meet new people? Examples of things I never would have found on my existing digital networks:

  1.  https://soundcloud.com/solarheavy/ellie-goulding-remix ( been background grooving all morning)
  2.  http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Deep-Sea-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00NLWVMA6/ref=zg_bsnr_886086_4#  ( downloaded it to read on the plane tomorrow)
  3. http://food.nationalgeographic.com/  ( OMG. just OMG.. barely started  to dig through this)
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6aV-fUnb1M ( a little political thought and action)
  5. https://ello.co/tnpuig ( food porn)
  6. http://www.victorbezrukov.com/ ( I have a passion for black and white photography)
  7. http://aidanmoher.com/blog/featured-article/2013/05/we-have-always-fought-challenging-the-women-cattle-and-slaves-narrative-by-kameron-hurley/ ( nicely written thought piece)
  8. https://ello.co/broessel/post/2UwRH3uBL3f2GRZu19nhLg ( poem for your day)
  9. https://dribbble.com/shots/1743529-Spiky-lines ( new artist)
  10. http://scholarsandrogues.com/2014/09/28/peter-handke-the-nobel-prize-and-the-weight-of-the-world/ ( the kind of reading I need to do more of… slow down and take time to really think)

And that is just before lunch.

The great thrill of a new network? Finding new people, new creations, new thoughts, new inspiration, new ideas.  Stop worrying about how to find what you already new and make a little noise, a little splash.  Your friends will find you..

Ello and thoughts on how art in the digital world have evolved.

When I first started on Twitter ( nearly 8 years ago), people poked fun at it for being a little navel gazing. Most of the folks tweet

ing were IT geeks, commenting on Twitter itself. That eventually changed, but it was true of most new online experiments that the early adopters werethe geeks grooving on the tech itself.
Back then, a lot of artists had a love/hate relationship with the net.  Artists were blogging, creating websites, hanging on LJ but also cursing the tech. Bandwidth was still not great and the dreams they had to share were a challenge to produce on the web. There were of course, many great websites pushing design and interaction boundaries but there were also lots of “still” galleries.
When G+ launched, there was an early influx of artists, especially photographers. To this day, some of the most vibrant virtual communities of photographers exists on G+. When I get the cycles( not often enough) I lurk and dream and become inspired.  By this point artists had become active all over the net and social media and while there were a lot of  IT geeks who were early adopters, there were also lots of creative folks ( artists, scientists, poets and storytellers) who flocked to a new tech looking for ways to connect, share their creations and become inspired.
And now, there is ello.
Ello is still in Beta. so I am not going to comment on bugs or missing features or

anything else tech related. Let’s give that 6 more months, But what I am revelling in is the fact that so many of the early adopters are artists. Not just photographers, whose digital works are reasonably easy to share on the net, but sculptors,painters, writers, journalists, filmographers, furniture makers, and workers in all media sharing their dreams and creations.  Yes, it is buggy and sometimes awkward, give them  a chance to build out an app. I  will continue to hang out there, enjoying the creative buzz.
If you check it out, I am @roguepuppet there, stop by and say ‘ello.

Fast Action

I could not resist playing around with the high speed setting on my camera as the sunlight faded and the fountain lights starting creating small geysers of colored water……

IMG_3750

The tablet in my life

A few weeks ago, woot was having a very good deal and I broke down and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab.  Although i am a huge gadget whore, I had successfully resisted the tablet craze, unable to explain to myself what gap it would fill. I have a netbook. I have a laptop, an android phone and an ipod touch. A tablet felt like an indulgence that was inexcusable.

The siren call of a really good deal broke through that barrier, and it has revolutionized my approach to mobile and living room computing. My netbook has been shelved. On the netbook, browsing was a constant frustration of infinite scrolling and windows that did not scroll and locked up the browser. About 40% of all online forms have a layout that fails on my netbook. I have not had this problem once on the galaxy. The biggest problem on the galaxy is that i get routed to the “mobile” version of a website, when i would sometimes prefer the regular version. I can see a growing need for  the android os to not always be designated as “mobile”.

I had serious reservations about the lack of a keyboard, I am 6 ft tall and do not have small fingers. Both my Htc Evo, which i love, and my ipod will give me sore arms and finger cramps if i use them for too long. The larger keyboard on the Galaxy pretty much resolves this problem and also significantly cuts back on typos. To switch it up, I also use a fat grip cosmonaut stylus, from a recent Kickstarter project.

The Galaxy is more than a sit and browse machine. With a bigger screen than my netbook, and Docs to Go installed, I recently used it during a work meeting to access some spreadsheets. I have used it for basic photo editing (I got an SD card adapter), and am in the middle of creating a christmas slideshow with the built in movie maker app. While it is not a workstation, I am finding it easier than ever to create web consumable content…and hey, it even broke me out of my not blogging rut!

The importance of business rule #1

I work in IT.
I am getting sick, watching our field grow a reputation slightly better than shifty used car salesmen. This is spreading like wildfire because people are forgetting business rule number one: Listen.

Here is a recent great example.
I got a call last night from my mom, who is about 700 miles away.
She was frustrated, exasperated and nearly ready to cry.
She was absolutely ready to throw her Roku box out the window.

My parents  are NOT technologically savvy.  Since my Dad’s vision is worse, he can not see wires and connectors to help.
My mom is usually a little scared she is going to break something and less than confident when it comes to technology. If you have done any tech support, you know the type. If you have not done tech support, you probably have a Dad or an Aunt or a Cousin like this.  Just like not everyone is comfortable playing softball, not everyone is comfortable with technology.

We got my parents a Roku two years ago because we loved it so much, and they have loved it too.
My dad is sight impaired, and they love that they can connect Flick.r and then my dad can see photos on the TV where they are large.  They do Netflix streaming ( at least for now) and a few other things on it.

So, what caused her to want to pitch the Roku they have loved? Tech Support who wanted to sell them things instead of solving a problem. And not just Roku Tech Support, Linksys and Verizon got in the game as well.

They wanted to show a friend some pictures from a recent trip. When they went to open Flic.kr, they got an error message that the network settings were not correct and it could not connect.

They called Roku support. Roku support ( who they could barely understand speaking), had them read them the error message and said- it must be your router call them.   They called the Linksys customer service people and Linksys customer support (who talked mostly jargon and tech terms, rather than simple english)  told them that they probably needed to reset a code in their Verizon DSL Router, when they got a storm it can cause problems. They tried to rest the code, but did not have access in the Verizon hardware. So, they called Verizon DSL, Verizon DSL told them it would cost 29.95 to have that code reset. At this point, my mother thought every time they got a storm, they were going to have to pay 29.95 to get a code rest to make their Roku work. The Verizon people assured her she could pay 59.99 and get 6 months of support instead.
Luckily, she looked at my dad and said ” we can buy a whole new Roku for only 79.99, I don’t know what to do- let’s eat dinner”. Then called me , very upset.

I LISTENED. Actually, when she got to “my Roku gets an error message trying to connect to the network”, I knew what to ask next- but I let her vent the whole painful story to get it out.
Then I asked ” Have you tried to reconnect the Roku in the Roku settings?”
She stopped in her tracks. They had had this working seamlessly for 2 years and had completely forgotten that there were any settings there.
I booted up my Roku quickly, so I could look while I talked, walked her through the menu selections to get there ( about 3 clicks) and the built in wizard took over, found their router and connected.  Less than 3 minutes and her Roku was fixed, no expense.

I have no problem with the fact that people need to make money.
But this is the second instance in less than a week that we have crossed paths with tech support that was more anxious to collect cash for things other than a needed fix, instead of listening to the customer and fixing the problem and creating a happy customer who would come back for more sales in the long term.

Granted,  my parent’s Roku is out of warranty. But if Roku had asked them “have you tried reconnecting from the settings menu ?” instead of pawning them off on Linksys, it would have short circuited 90 minutes of frustration. I would have been OK if when she said ” How do I do that?” they said, we are sorry you are out of warranty, that support costs. Then she would have called me and asked and we would have had it fixed.

If Linksys had said ” we do not support Roku, but let’s check your router” and taken her through standard troubleshooting ( the fact that the other two computers attached to the Linksys router still talked to the Verizon DSL and got on the internet fine should have indicated that there was no communication problem between the Linksys and Verizon), then politely sent her away, rather than sending her into DSL reconfigurations would have been fine.

Verizon had in their records that they had a tech at her house a couple of weeks ago, who adjusted their network. If they had said- we had a tech there recently disrupting your network, you might have to reconnect devices to make them work correctly. They do not have to be able to tell her how to do that, it is not their responsibility.  But immediately telling her the DSL could have issues in a storm and trying scare tactics to get subscription support pisses me off.

It upsets me both because they jerked around my mom, but also because it makes IT look bad. Pretty soon, being in IT will be a little like being a lawyer. That is a horrible shame. We have the opportunity to make things that make people’s lives fun, interesting, and even amazing.  Let’s not lose this to make a few 29.95 fees that don’t fix anything.

5 Tips for Businesses New to Social Media // In which, I step on my Social Media Assumptions and give Small Business owners a bit of advice…

Every once in a while, I am reminded what an incredible geek I am.

When you swim in the geek every day, it is so easy to forget that terms like QR Code, Foursquare, G+, Podcasting, mp3,twitter,square, facebook page creation, blogging and video conferencing ( to name just a few) are either complete greek or else sound frighteningly technically hard to do.

I believe it is important for businesses to be involved in their neighborhood in ways that improve the neighborhood. Since part of what I do is IT and Social Media Consulting, my neighborhood is both digital and physical, so here is a little give back – 5 quick tips about using Social Media for Business.

1) Social Media – all digital interactions that involve people to people communication and conversation. This happens in many places (or platforms) on the internet- Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa , Google+, Quora, Empire Avenue, Foursquare are just a few you might hear people talking about. In the digital world, this is the same as the beauty shop/barbershop chat, the back fence or front stoop chat, the “after church coffee” chat or a postcard from someone traveling that comes back home. The same sorts of things happen in both places- people share news, movie reviews, baby pictures,travel pictures, product and business recommendations,or insights and opinions on politics, economics, and philosophy ( to name just a few). Just like in real life, there are people you trust and love, people who gossip, people you respect, people who are blowhards and people you avoid. Remember- Social Media is conversation and engagement- it is the online way to spread word of mouth advertising.

2) Facebook– one of the current leading platforms ( or places) for social media exchanges, although it is not always loved by the people who use it ( ask me why and I can post more). Most of you probably have a Facebook Account. If you have a lively Facebook community near your brick and mortar, or you sell online and ship product, your Business should have a Facebook page as well. This is frighteningly easy to do. Simply go to your home page, click on “pages” in the left menu and then click on the “create a page” button that shows up on the top of the page. Warning- just having a page is no good at all, unless you post to it, check on it, respond to people on it and make connections with it. One of the easiest ways to do this is to go to your page, then click on the “use facebook as page” option on the right. Now go forth in Facebook land. Like other pages that are strategic connections, comment on other people’s things, be a lively and contributing presence and people will stumble across your page. [There is, obviously, tons more to be said about Facebook- you can contact me as a contractor if you want the full scoop or more hand holding]

3) Twitter– another social media platform, where the things you share are limited to 140 characters, but can be links to other things ( like youtube videos, pictures, blog posts, etc..). The nice thing about Twitter for businesses is that it is very easy to search and find people interested in the things you do, to “follow” them ( see the things they post) and respond back to start conversations. Twitter is all about conversations. This is NOT the place to broadcast only links to your press releases, details about your latest specials or your latest product releases. Those things are fine to include in the things you share, but remember this is a conversation- no onne likes listening to someone who only talks about themselves.

 

4) QR Codes. These are those funny looking square barcodes ( known as 2D or Matrix barcodes) that you are starting to see all around town. Big businesses and manufacturing have been using 2D barcodes for many years because they can hold more information than a regular barcode. Then someone got smart and turned them into a QR ( Quick Response)code that can used to show on the spot information. All phones that have a camera and run apps can get a free barcode scanner application ( most come already installed) that can be used to scan the QR Code and display the information. This information might be a link to a web page ( URL), some text( offer a discount or special sales promo), a link to other online services ( maps, Foursquare, youtube, yelp, etc..), contact information, a phone number, or to send an SMS (to your phone). If you have one of those phones, you can try this one and see what displays on your phone.

5) FourSquare. ( also known as 4Square). As a personal service, it has lovers and haters. Some people love to “check in” and broadcast all over the internet where they are and what they are doing and some people hate it.  But as long as there are lovers, becoming a place that people can check into makes good sense.  When users check in, they share that information with all their friends online. This means lots of other people are seeing them come to your business.  You also have the ability to offer specials through Fourquare, and when users check in anywhere, they see a list of all the specials nearby, potentially reminding them to come to your address as well.  You do not have to personally use the service, but you do have to have an account and log in at your business to make it a place. You  want to create an account and search to see if anyone has already added your place. If not, go to the store, log into foursquare and add the venue. Then go to your computer, find your new place and “claim this venue”.  Foursquare requires verification, which can be done via phone or email and then does a lot of hand holding once you tell it you want to claim a venue and you are off and running.

Hopefully those first 5 tips give you something to think about and act on and let you get started in Social Media for your business.

Infographics Made Simple: Visual.ly

I am completely loving the new infographics site, Visual.ly.

Not only is it a gallery, where graphic artists can upload, share, critique, etc.. ( finally taking digital art networking seriously) it also includes an online toolset for everyday folks to create cool infographics.

While the toolset is still limited (they say growth will happen quickly, )

I was pleased with the results of the Twitterizer tool:

is what it came up with for my personal Twitter account. I was most intrigued when it came up with a couple of my apparently “made up” words as frequent topics of interest. Other than that, it is not too far off base… pretty impressive for an under 5 minute process.

Heading to TED

Looks like blogger is back up and maybe stable just in time for TEDxBloomington.
We are.currently on the road dealing with Westfield construction traffic, but our brains are already in Wisdom of Play mode, as the CNC was running this am.

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She’s a Super Geek

I recently had a good friend get on a roll with spoofed song lyrics.. and out of it came this one for me.

Super Geek ( to the tune of Super Freak)

She’s a very techie girl
The kind that always stays connected
She will never let your spirits down
Once you get her off the net, ow girl

She likes the boys on the blog
She says that I’m her all-time favorite
When I make my move to her chat it’s the right time
She’s never hard to please, ow now

That girl is pretty wild now
The girl’s a super geek
The kind of girl you read about
In Tech Crunch magazine
That girl is always techie
The girl’s a super geek
I really love to tweet her
Just before we meet
She’s on-line, she’s on-line
That girl’s on-line with me, yeah

She’s a super geek, super geek
She’s super-geeky, yow
(everybody sing)
Super geek, super geek

She’s a very Facebook girl
(The kind of girl you want to poke)
From her wall down to her profile
Down to her faves, yeah
And she’ll wait for me at Best Buy with her girlfriends
In a lime Hum-vee
(Going back in Cyber-space)

Games not a bore to her, she says
“Room 256, I’ll be waiting”
When I get there she’s got Ti-vo, Wii, and X box
It’s such a geeky scene

That girl is really techie
The girl’s a super geek
The kind of girl you read about
In Tech Crunch magazine
That girl is pretty wild now
The girl’s a super geek
I really love to tweet her
Just before we meet
She’s on-line, she’s on-line
That girl’s on-line with me, yeah

She’s a super geek, super geek
She’s super-geeky, yow
Rick Astley sing!
Ohhhhh
Super geek, super geek
That girl’s a super geek
Ohhhhh

She’s a very techie girl
The kind that always stays connected
She will never let your spirits down
Once you get her off the net

Blow, Sergey!
(sax solo)

  —- mp