Archive - 2010
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.
March 13th
Connecticut Coffee Parties
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 03/13/2010 - 20:26Today was the official kickoff of Coffee Parties in the United States. Here in Connecticut, three coffee parties were listed on their website. One party was scheduled for 3 PM at Mocha Coffee House in Sandy Hook. Twenty-nine people signed up to attend this event. A second event was scheduled for 2 PM at Port Coffeehouse in Bridgeport. The third event was schedule at Fiddleheads Food Coop in New London at noon. Thirteen people signed up for this event. The locations were generally chosen as good places to have coffee and talk about politics and not necessarily because the owners of the venues were supporting the Coffee Party movement. Other people have discussed organizing coffee parties in other parts of the state and may do so at a later time.
Fiona, Kim and I decided to drive out to the Coffee Party in New London, since we had other things we wanted to be doing at that end of the state today. It was a fairly diverse crowd, bringing in people from Common Cause, CCAG, various peace and justice groups, people concerned about health care, and people who had really never been involved in politics other than simply voting. People went around the room, introduced themselves and spoke briefly about issues that matter to them. Kim spoke about the importance of making sure that the Connecticut Citizen’s Election Program is fixed so that it is maintained in our state, and others spoke about the importance of the national Fair Elections Now Act, and other acts before Congress to address the Citizen’s United ruling.
The group decided to stay in touch via email and to plan another gathering in the near future. Did you got to a coffee shop today? If so, how was it?
Update:
For more information check out the CT Coffee Party Website, Facebook Group, and Google Group.
March 12th
RIP: Greenwich DTC Chair and friend, Dave Roberson
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 13:05“In the end, we all die alone”. Last November, Greenwich Democratic Town Committee Chair Dave Roberson started off his tribute to his recently deceased father challenging this view. He spoke about those who cared for his father in his final hour and he spoke of his belief in that “great cloud of witnesses” that Saint Paul talks about.
Monday, Dave challenged that view again. The newspaper reports talked about a witness who saw Dave’s car veer off the road as he suffered an apparent heart attack. They talked about the EMTs that pulled Dave from the wreckage and tried in vain to save his life. They did not talk about the angels or the great cloud of witnesses that I am sure God sent to be with Dave as he moved from this world to the next. Perhaps some of my sleeplessness Monday night was not due to the stresses in my own life, but my spirit longing to be near an old friend as he moved on as well.
Dave had a lot of friends in politics. He was a cheerful, dedicated, hard worker. As I think about his life and the crowds that will gather to memorialize it, I remember a scene from the movie Norma Rae. In it, Reuben Warshowsky, a union organizer, talks about his own father’s death and those that came to the funeral
On October 4, 1970, my grandfather, Isaac Abraham Warshowsky, aged eighty-seven, died in his sleep in New York City. On the following Friday morning, his funeral was held. My mother and father attended, my two uncles from Brooklyn attended, my Aunt Minnie came up from Florida. Also present were eight hundred and sixty-two members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and Cloth, Hat and Cap Makers' Union. Also members of his family. In death as in life, they stood at his side. They had fought battles with him, bound the wounds of battle with him, had earned bread together and had broken it together. When they spoke, they spoke in one voice, and they were heard. They were black, they were white, they were Irish, they were Polish, they were Catholic, they were Jews, they were one. That's what a union is: one.
That is also what we, the friends of Dave Roberson are: one. We became his friend through politics, through church, or many other activities. We might not all share the same religious beliefs or political beliefs, but we share an important kinship, or friendship with Dave Roberson and hopefully that will spur all of us on, to work for a better country and a better world.
I will miss Dave.
Note: For those of you who have not seen Dave’s tribute to his father, I am including it below the fold.
Review: Facebook Fairytales
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 10:51We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so the only reading material around the house was either books we checked out of the local library or copies of Reader’s Digest. When my parents got divorced my mother headed off to college as part of her effort to build a new life for herself. She took a creative writing class and received a comment on her first paper that it read like a story from Reader’s Digest. My mother, not realizing this was intended as a put down, was very pleased.
Since those days, I’ve gone on to enjoy reading James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, and others that are a long way from my early literary explorations. Yet I still enjoy, from time to time, picking up a story that reads like it is from Reader’s Digest.
I read a lot of books about the nature of online social networking. Tara Hunt’s book The Whuffie Factor is one of the best books I’ve read about online social networking, especially for young sophisticated geeks living in silicon valley, silicon alley, or other places such people gather. Shel Israel’s book, Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods seems the best for older business people. Shiv Singh’s Social Media Marketing For Dummies is one of the best for marketers, and the best for the general population seems to be Leslie Poston’s Twitter for Dummies.
But if you want to find a book that truly captures the power of social media in a way that your beloved Reader’s Digest reading aunt who plays the church organ out in Kansas can understand, there is no better book than Emily Liebert’s Facebook Fairytales: Modern-Day Miracles to Inspire the Human Spirit. The stories read like Reader’s Digest stories, in a good way. They are simple, touching, well written stories about how people have used Facebook to connect with one another in special ways. They have stories about strangers becoming friends and helping one another through major life events. There are stories of adoption, organ donation and more.
So, if you are a young sophisticated geek living in a silicon region of our country and want to find a book which will communicate what is really important about what you do to your beloved aunt who is skeptical of all this online stuff, get her a copy of Facebook Fairytales. For that matter, if you are just an average reader who would like something simple and uplifting to balance out some of the bad news of the day, Facebook Fairytales might bring you a little joy as well.
As a final note, especially in terms of the latest government regulations about product endorsements: I have received copies of each of the books mentioned in this blog post by publicists looking for a good review. I actually receive many requests to review books, but I don’t like writing negative reviews, so I turn down many of the book review requests and only do occasional reviews of books that sound like I’m going to like them. That’s how I came to review Facebook Fairytales, and like the other books I’ve received to review, I’m pleased that it did not disappoint me.
