Twittervision and the world-wide cake…

Twittervision and the world-wide cake meme

A few days ago I was witness to something quite unique. The spread of a meme across the world. It was the world wide spread of an idea, and it took less than a minute to go worldwide, and carried on for ten minutes before dying out. The meme? I want some cake. The medium? Twitter, or to be more exact, Twittervision. It was a simple statement by somebody, I can’t quite remember where, I think it was France, to the effect that they were hungry and would quite like some cake. That was replied to by someone in England, and it was then picked up in other countries by other people. Soon, practically everyone was talking about cake. I wanted cake myself. Now, imagine that idea is something like a real product that you want to publicize. Or an idea that you want to spread. You could have GLOBAL influence within a minute or so. Think about that, that’s something you couldn’t have had even a year ago, even with blogs. Instant global reach with instant global feedback. The global conversation has begun, in near realtime. Will an idea catch on? Try it in Twittervision, and see. If you are ignored, your idea was crap. If it sticks, you have a winner.

microsoft onenote 2007

Microsoft OneNote 2007 is a fantastic application designed for taking notes wherever you have your laptop. It’s more freeform than Microsoft Word, allowing you to keep stuff in multiple notebooks, sections and pages. And each of the pages will allow you to add or edit stuff at any point in the page. This could be a fantastic creative tool, as good if not better than some mind-mapping software for keeping notes.

The pages are saved automatically as you type. Things you paste in are scanned and indexed, even photos that contain text are indexed. You can also add audio stuff, and that gets run through the pattern recogniser and indexed too. I am going to investigate keeping mind maps in OneNote, as well as other freeform notes. I will report back when I have used it for a few days. It does seem to be fairly comprehensive, it’s just a matter of seeing if it’s too freeform.

 

By the way, taking screen shots into OneNote is easy too:

As the above shot of Google Talk shows, with imified running with my Twitter updates coming in. You can also work on notes collaboratively with other people, and you can all edit a note at the same time. Of course for this to happen you are going to need a shared drive or in my case SharePoint. I assume you could do it with Microsoft Office Groove too, but I haven’t tested that yet.

scoble – taking week off in support of kathy sierra

Taking the week off « Scobleizer – Tech Geek Blogger

Robert Scoble, someone who I admire as a tech blogger, has decided to stop blogging for a week in support, or protest, of what has happened to Kathy Sierra. Kathy writes the well-regarded Creating Passionate Users blog, which is an intelligently thought out, well reasoned and – well, not controversial blog. I have often read her blog and it has really good ideas about how to create effective, user friendly, online applications. So far so good. But a few months ago she started to get “lampooned” on another website. Actually it was more than that, it was bullying. The people who were carrying this out denied any wrongdoing, and still reckon that they were doing it for fun. But I have seen some of the stuff involved, and its not funny. Then to top it all she received a “death threat” email and postings to her blog. That was what pushed it all over the edge. She cancelled a speaking appointment at an upcoming conference, and has announced that she is to stop blogging. That is bad enough, but a trip to her website will confirm that she has a lot of support, but also some dangerous people who are also leaving really, and I mean really, abusive comments. She feels under attack, and vulnerable. I think that it is unacceptable for her to have to feel this way, no matter what the other protagonists may say in their defence.

The whole affair, besides making Robert Scoble stop blogging, and that is a major event in itself, has made the blogging community stop and think. If it can happen to Kathy, can it happen to me? After all you really dont get anyone more inoffensive and personable than Kathy. I dont know her personally, but you only need to read the back articles to see that she doesnt go out and try to make enemies, far from it. It is a power thing I guess, with the people doing the attacking jealous of the fact that she is an intelligent and successful woman. I have read the defenses, and they dont add up.

I have been a victim of bullying, and it is unpleasant, and it is often difficult to prove to others. But we should always listen when such allegations are made, be sensitive to the person who is being bullied, and try to help them. And that often also applies to the people doing the bullying. They do it for a reason, usually something lacking in themselves is to blame. They need help too, although its often hard to feel compassion for them at the time. The developments in the past week are disturbing and mean that anyone who has an online presence where they express their opinion, on any subject, needs to stop and think carefully about what they say, to whom and why. That cannot be good for freedom of speech.

posting from imified

This is quite good. I am posting this from with google chat using a tool called imified. Imified allows you to connect to all kinds of services, and control them from within your instant messenger. Like send a blog entry, like this. I’m not sure on the maximum length so I’d better keep it short for now. Oh, and you can send and retrive Twitter posts through this too…

mindmeister mind mapping

Thanks to Larry Hendrick, I had a better chance to look at MindMeister, the online mind mapping software. Now I am not an expert in this space, which I understand has grown considerably in the last few years. Certainly looking at the Mind Mapping Software Blog there are a lot of products out there and they vary widely in quality and usability.

Now as I say I am not an expert at mind mapping software but have been using mind mapping myself for many years, mostly by (gasp) drawing them. But for me the best software is the one that doesn’t get in the way of the process, and allows you to flow quickly without thinking too much, as they gets in the way of the mind mapping process. I am a bit of a purist in this matter too, as I always want my on screen mind maps to match as closely as possible what I would draw, so for me that means words sat actually on the connecting lines, not in blobs at the end of it. The idea is the connection, so it should sit on the line. Some software in my opinion misses the point a bit, and has the idea in a blob at the end of a stick. That is not really a mind map, just a glorified flattened organizational chart! MindMeister however seems to have got that right, and is fairly unobtrusive in use, which fits in with my other requirement.

Would I use mind mapping software on its own? Probably not, as the whole point of mind mapping for me is the immediacy, and reaching for the PC to do it does seem to add an extra process. But MindMeister isn’t bad, and as its still in Beta means that there may be more feature added later. MindMeister is in private beta at the moment, but you can get an invitation if from me if you want one, just let me know.

mind mapping with bubbl.us

Jason Clarke at Download Squad has a good article about two new online mind mapping applications, MindMeister and bubble.us. Mind mapping software is very useful to the creative process, as you probably know, but also usually very expensive as I am sure you also know.

Read Jason’s article then go and have a look at the two different sites. You can get stuck in at bubble.us without even registering, although you need to register to save anything. MindMeister is still in private beta, so you cant test it, although they will let you sign up for their newsletter, woot! Do these people not get it?

UPDATE: Thanks to Larry Hendrick, I now have some invitations to the beta of MindMeister. If you want an invite let me know and I will send you one. I will do a more in depth review of this, plus some other mind mapping software, soon.

vista vs macbook

Well, my experiences of both types of laptop this week has left me reeling. Where do I start? Let’s start with the Mac, a MacBook with OSX preloaded. The MacBook was a joy to look at, very well finished with a glossy white sheen that looked and felt good in the hand. And light. On opening the thing had obviously been placed in suspension, and it just started. It found my network and was ready to use. The interface, OSX, with its one button for the mouse, threw me for a few minutes as I am VERY used to Windows with a two button mouse with a scroll wheel. But within a few minutes it was ok and I was off and running. If you thought Windows was intuitive then you haven’t used a Mac lately.

Everything worked as you think it should. From the perfectly designed email client to the built in iLife apps. Want a picture from here over there in that app? Drag it and drop it. And it’s there. It has been well thought out, and designed to be easy to use for a person. Not a USER, but a PERSON. All of the “dialogue” boxes are made to explain everything in plain English, or close enough. It’s as though this machine has been carefully planned at thought about, and you can tell. A real pleasure to use, and the kids liked it too. Now the Vista Laptop, an HP Compaq nc8430. When I say Vista it had Windows XP on it so I had to load on Vista first. After picking this laptop up once and carrying it somewhere once I would have to say that I will not move it too often again. Man this thing is heavy. A beast. The case that came with it is HEAVIER that the MacBook. Think about that for a second, the case is heavier on its own than the entire MacBook. With the HP laptop inside it was heavy, and the strap dug into my neck. I couldn’t carry it very far. And its black, not a nice black, but that aggressive corporate laptop black. So – I have to set up Vista. I will spare you that, but it’s been the last 24 hours or so of configuration after the Vista install that has been frustrating and well, just plain annoying. I wanted to thump the laptop, and I never got cross once with the Mac. What’s with the keyboard? I’m typing, and suddenly the cursor jumps to another part of my document and starts typing there. Why? Who knows. It’s happened twice since I started typing this. And the dialogue boxes that pop up when you click on anything (the keyboard thingy just happened a third time!) not just once but two or three times. What is with that? Please – go away. And take the HP laptop with you.

The HP laptop is just not designed for people, it’s designed for USERS. And corporate users at that, so it comes with everything that corporate customers have wanted, ever. There’s a fingerprint scanner on the front, so that I can be checked. Whats wrong with a password, you asked me enough times for it. And Vista just isn’t designed for ordinary people, it’s designed for USERS, those mythical people who will won’t mind sitting down for 24 hours configuring a PC so that they can start to use it. HP, Microsoft, hire some designers!

UPDATE: There is an update here… 

red nose day creative challenge

As it’s Comic Relief (Red Nose Day) here in the UK on Friday, which aims to raise money for various charities both here in the Uk and in other countries, I hereby issue the “Red Nose Day Challenge.” What I want you to do is get out there with your cameraphone, digital camera or film camera, and capture the colour red. Doesn’t matter if its a point of red in a sea of grey, or a massive area of red. Just get out there and get the images. When you’ve got enough, you need to string the images together and then write a story about the series of events that is unfolding. That can be made up or real. It’s up to you. Just get out there and get something red and then write about it in some way. If you are feeling particularly philanthropic, send some money the the Comic Relief people. Its what the day is really about anyway.

twitter it

It sounds like some kind of nervous disease. It could also be interpreted as rather geeky. Actually its neither and both at the same time. A quick trip to http://twitter.com will let you into the secret of what it is. Those of you who have been using the internet since day one might recognise it for what I think it is – a new paradigm in the IT industry, hey! You dont get those too often bud! But that is what it is. A new model for communication. Its like a cross between blogging lite and instant messaging. But with a word limit that is as infuriating as it is liberating. Every post becomes, by necessity, like a haiku. You cant post more than 140 characters for each Twitteration, so you are forced to either post two posts or keep it short. I prefer the latter so its a process of of thinking VERY carefully about that throwaway post. It’s easy to post to Twitter, but I would suggest that although it is easy, the character limit does enforce a certain discipline on you.

As I write I am watching Twitters coming in from people who are at SXSW, this information is bang up to date. This is stuff that might take another 12 hours to make it into a blog. It’s blogging as it happens, like blogging was a year or two ago when people weren’t afraid to just post what they thought at that time. Since then blogging has become more like the mainstream media, with “A” list bloggers afraid to upset their loyal userbases or the whole industry of blog watchers who make their living by commenting on what the “A” listers say. But Twitter feels more fun, like it used to be. I am sure that it will inevitably descend into the mess that is blogging. But at the moment its a fresh new frontier. Come and join us at http://twitter.com/p2_gilbert.

this is a post from google docs

Believe it or not, you can now post to your blog from within Google Docs & Spreadsheets. It all seems to work too. Considering that the last post was from Word 2007, which has fantastic support for blogging built-in, it does seem that the days of specialist blogging tools will soon be over. I do prefer the interface that Word gives you, as you get a visual representation of how your post will look when it’s published, but Google Docs is free, and available anywhere you have a browser. Now I know you can post to WordPress from anywhere with its own built-in tools, but its nice to be able to work on stuff and then upload it when you’re ready.