Saturday, March 13th, 2010
Geo-location is a crowded market. It seems like every app these days includes geo-location data, whether it is needed or not.
Admittedly, I have an interest in geo-location. Shoot, my free time is consumed by it. The hot trend now is checking in at various locations. It’s valuable information for businesses, but right now other than futzing around, there isn’t much for the end user other than the kewlness factor.
Like all emerging markets, there’s a rush to win the early adopters. Will it be Gowalla, Foursquare, Brightkite, etc.?
There’s a new player entering the market. Good ol’ Jeremy Irish is putting Groundspeak right smack in the middle of all this with its new service Whibbit. Gotta love those premium memberships footing the growth into new markets, eh?
I’ll be interested in seeing how this is marketed. It appears Whibbit is going to expand into the asking questions end of things. While that appeals to some, I suspect it will not draw a heavy user base.
Posted in Technology | 1 Comment »
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
On Tuesday I saw Buzz show up in my Gmail account. Google had launched this the day following Pip.io launched. I have been critical of Pip.io. It has that new-fangled “clean” look that does absolutely nothing for me. More depressing is that Pip.io isn’t ready for prime time as there is nothing to do there. The hype, as it were, is all about privacy. By setting things more privately, one can reduce the noise in a stream. It’s reduced so much there is no stream. Right now Pip.io does not pull any items from other networks. It was launched too early.
So when Buzz showed up I wasn’t too impressed. Google did want me to load all my contacts. I refused as I do with every other service that wants my contacts. But during Blizzard v. 2.0 yesterday, I found everyone buzzing about Buzz. I investigated a little more. D’oh! It is important to get others in the stream. All of a sudden I saw FriendFeed before. I love FriendFeed but lost some of the passion after it was sold to Facebook. It’s only a matter of time before it goes away methinks. But I love the conversations over there. All of a sudden, those conversations were in Buzz. Awesome!
There’s some work left for Google here. It needs to implement the Google Reader keyboard shortcuts to maneuver through the stream (k and j). There is just too much going on to be holding the scroll bar. I am surprised it isn’t already there. Lots of folks are clamoring for lists a la Twitter. I do not employ lists, but I can see where that could be handy. Some of us have noticed the Twitter pull is slow. That’s a problem but easily fixed.
I would love the like and mute links to be at the top of the post. Like is at the bottom currently and mute is in a pop-out.
The biggest problem I am having are finding some folks. For instance, I don’t know Thomas Hawk’s Gmail address. How do I find him?
Buzz is kewl. Unlike Wave and some of Google’s other forays into social media, I think Buzz (albeit a silly name) will make it.
Update
Well, I figured out to find folks better.
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Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
I’m a “classic rock” kind of a guy, but The Who sounded really old the other night at the Super Bowl. I recall listening and recording their “final” show 28 years ago. “Hope I die before I get old” . . . Congratulations to the Saints! It was an entertaining game. The first quarter sure had signs of a blowout against a green team. That they came back as soundly as they did is truly a credit . . . Here’s the obligatory comment about the commercials: I didn’t watch them. I think I am immune to these things. I watched Gary Vaynerchuk’s comments about the commercials, but not the commercials themselves. So much for those advertising dollars . . . I posted road conditions the other day for Millville. How would they have been better seen? Perhaps I will run my Twitter stream through the blog again . . . Millville Public Library didn’t answer telephones Monday morning. Left a message that has yet to be returned. Called the Vineland branch and got service immediately . . . Made some red beans and rice. This place has smelled great all day . . . We followed it up with a tasty heart-shaped cheesecake. It’s Gert’s grandmother’s recipe. Wonderfully delicious! . . . Time for a change . . . Signed up for pip.io today. I don’t understand the buzz. Help me out if you do . . . If you need to believe in miracles, a man was found alive in the wreckage in Haiti, four weeks after the earthquake . . . According to Millville’s superintendent, one-third of all Millville High School students are suspended each year. Yikes! . . . And at VPS, 46% are suspended . . . Gov. Christie finally declared a state of emergency for southern NJ three days after the blizzard hit. The timing probably doesn’t matter, but I am not encouraged by all the photo-ops last weekend. As I noted on Sunday, Christie should not be using snow plows as props . . . Christie stated he worked with the BUP to restore power to those without it. The BUP only doles out money and ensures Nick Asselta has a cushy job. It’s Atlantic City Electric that can actually do something to restore power . . . My classroom recently participated with Art Goes to School. I love this program. It’s one of those programs I look forward to yearly. Excellent job. This year we analyzed Velazquez’s Las Meninas, Picasso’s Las Meninas, and Dali’s Portrait of Juan de Pareja Fixing a String of His Mandolin and how they are all related. Very kewl! . . .
Posted in Concerts, Culinary, Education, Entertainment, Football, New Jersey, Politics, Sports, Twitter | 1 Comment »
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
Today I registered at formspring.me. This is another interesting social media site. Random questions are posed to users who can respond. Folks can also submit specific questions for others to answer. You’ll note that there is a form on the sidebar here at eCache for you to submit questions. I find this an interesting mechanism. All formspring needs is a mechanism for a blogger to extract the data back out so I can mount it here. As it stands, I need to do copy-and-paste to get it here.
If you could make one person fall in love with you who would it be?
No one. Making someone fall in love conjures some sort of force. Who wants to force someone to love him? That flies in the face of what love is.
More important, however, is that all those who I would want to love me already do. I am blessed.
What’s the best gift you’ve ever given?
My children?
I haven’t a clue. I hope that I inspired someone through my actions. Perhaps showed someone the value of a life in Christ. I just do not know.
I have not kept a scorecard of gifts so I can rank them by value. That is not what gift giving is about from my end.
If you had to give up one favorite food, what would the most difficult?
Water? It is a staple of life and is in lots of stuff.
My friends and family know I am addicted to soda. While I would welcome giving it up, it hasn’t happened. The caffeine, which is what I am actually addicted to, is too desired. But I enjoy the delivery mechanism of soda too. Coffee doesn’t do it for me. I’ve tried, but have failed.
Perhaps it is time to become serious about this again.
What was your first paying job?
Technology, dog groomer assistant. When I was a boy, my folks hired me to help with their grooming business. I think I earned a nickel do a lot of work.
Later I was self-employed as a lawn mower.
But the first job I had for a real business where I was an employee was a dishwasher at the Crystal Room at the Atlas hotel in Cape May, NJ. It lasted one incredibly long shift until 1:00 a.m. when my folks sent my sister to return me home. I reeked of bleach.
We re-negotiated soon after and I ended up as a bus boy for the summer. I made very good money as a 14-yo. We had two 8-tracks for the sound system: The soundtrack to the Sound of Music and Barry Manilow’s Even Now. I bet I could sing both through lo all these years later word-for-word. 
If you could look like anybody, who would it be?
Silly. While no GQ coverboy here, I am happy with the way I look. I do not desire to look like other people. What good would that be? If we all looked the same, how would we distinguish between us?
Having said, a little more hair atop my head and a flatter stomach would not be unwelcomed. I just don’t need it to be Brad Pitt’s hair or Adrian Peterson’s abs.
What’s the oldest piece of clothing you still own and wear?
Hmmm . . . a couple years ago I did a thorough disposal of all those old clothes that were full of holes that I was still wearing. Among that lot was a Flyers jacket a girlfriend had given me in college. Gert was happy.
So my wardrobe is much more current than it used to be. I don’t know for a fact, but I have a purple sweater tat I have had for at least a decade. Gert washed it bleach once and there is a marvelous bleach stain on it now. I wear it as a layer when I go out geocaching when it’s cold.
I do have some suits from even longer, but I don’t wear them any longer. I wonder why that is. 
If you were stranded on a desert island, which one person would you bring with you?
My wife. I sure like it if the children were around too, but I suppose we could always create a few more if need be.
Would you rather be a famous musician or a famous actor?
Rock star! No doubt. The instant feedback from the work I could see being pretty kewl. Of course, I wouldn’t want to be famous at all given the loss of anonymity, privacy, etc., but if I had to select, making music is more interesting to me than play-acting.
Are you going to miss 2009?
No. 2009 was a good year, but I would rather be looking forward than backwards.
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