Archive - Mar 2010
March 17th
What Kind of World Do You Want? - Learning to Fall
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 13:28Last night, I received a Facebook invitiation from Dan Navarro to a Cyber Listening & Viewing Party to Raise ALS Awareness!. Dan Navarro and Eric Lowen are fantastic musicians that Kim and I have often heard at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
Six years ago, today, Eric Lowen was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Over the years, we watched him go from walking with a cane, to riding around in the mud of Falcon Ridge in a wheel chair and finally, no longer performing with Dan or being able to physically attend Falcon Ridge.
Through all of it, he has continued to be an inspiration to all of us and wrote a great song, ‘Learning to Fall’. There is a video of Eric and his friends performing this song a couple of years ago that was set up as a fundraiser. So, today, take a moment off from the celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day and watch Learning to Fall. Then, join the Cyber Listening & Viewing Party to Raise ALS Awareness event on Facebook and spread the word.
Thanks.
Wordless Wednesday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 08:02
March 16th
Spring Email Inbox Cleaning
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 08:58Everyday, I struggle to get through the constant stream of incoming emails. Last year, I received over 13,500 emails that I never got a chance to read. So far, this year, I’ve managed to keep my inbox close to zero. To do this, I scan some emails quite quickly. Generally, I try to delete those that don’t need saving, and filing the rest to appropriate files. Some emails get left in the inbox as something I need to respond to or write about, and some even get flagged for special attention.
Yet even with that, there are a lot of emails that should get special attention, that I am just unlikely to get to. This month, there are currently 111 read emails in my inbox that deserve some sort of attention. 43 have been specially flagged. There are 188 emails in my inbox from last month, with 86 of them specially flagged. Many are things that I want to highlight on my blog or perhaps work up a story on, yet many will not get their full stories.
So, it is time for spring cleaning. This blog post will note some of the things that I’m watching, but may never get a chance to explore as closely as I would like.
March 15th
LoKast: A Disposal Social Network?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 03/15/2010 - 09:06Today at SxSW, NearVerse is launching their iPhone app, LoKast. The application lets people locally share content from their iPhones, iPod Touches, or iPads. There are plans to go cross platform in the future after some of their other applications get launched.
LoKast looks like a really cool app. In a press release, they about swapping demo CDs or video reels and how with LoKast you can do it easily from your iPhone. It uses a combination of WiFi and Bluetooth so that you can swap content even when the 3G network is swamped. It seems like the great tool for artists touting their wares at SxSW, but it seems like it has a lot of other interesting potentials.
The video that they have produced for the launch makes it look like the tool for parties, or networking events. I could easily see some gathering where everyone is LoKasting their pitches; speed networking or speed dating on iPhone steroids.
Beyond that, I’ve been to movie theatres that share video clips via Bluetooth. I’ve never gotten it to work, but LoKast could end up being a nicer way to do it. For that matter, there are a lot of interesting ways this could be used for other types of marketing; just imagine a local grocery store that LoKasts specials – You could add the Green Giant to your disposal network.
Yet there are other features that don’t get talked about quite as much. For example, they have shared browsing. Instead of trying to get everyone to look over your shoulder as you browse a specific site, with LoKast, it appears as if everyone could pick up your signal and watch the websites you’re visiting on their own iPhones.
The press release says they think LoKast will be this year’s breakout mobile app. We’ll see. It depends on how quickly they can get people load the app and spread the word. I know that if I were at SxSW this year and I was carrying an iPhone, I’d want LoKast on it. Instead, I’ll have to wait until they get it on the Nokia N900 and I can use it at some other venue, like a Podcamp or Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
March 14th
A Light Blogging Weekend
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/14/2010 - 16:52Perhaps it is the weather, we’ve had lots of wind and rain over the past couple days. Perhaps it is from grieving the death of Dave Roberson. Perhaps, some of it is fighting some sort of cold; I’ve been tired, achy and congested. Whatever it is, I’ve been very low energy and haven’t managed to do as much blogging over this weekend as I otherwise would have. On top of that, my internet connection has been particularly slow this weekend, so I haven’t been able to visit as many other blogs as I would like.
We will see what the coming week is like. I’m supposed to speak to two different groups about using Drupal. I’m supposed to go to a planning meeting. I should try to make it to the Board of Education meeting and of course, Wednesday is St. Patrick’s Day. Next weekend, is the rescheduled Hebron Maple Festival, a memorial service and a speaking engagement.
So, the list of blog stories waiting to be written continues to grow. More later.
