Profilactic Mashup - eng1ne

twitter: Basic Instructions: How to Choose a Gift for Someone You Don't Know Well http://ff.im/-5pJ7

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:23:15 GMT

eng1ne: Basic Instructions: How to Choose a Gift for Someone You Don't Know Well http://ff.im/-5pJ7

Last.fm: Weezer – Undone (The Sweater Song)

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:12:52 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Weezer

Last.fm: William Orbit – Fire and Mercy

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:07:45 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/William+Orbit

Last.fm: Cyndi Lauper – 10 - I Drove All Night

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:03:37 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Cyndi+Lauper

Last.fm: Emma Bunton – Life In Mono

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:58:56 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Emma+Bunton

Last.fm: The Beatles – From Me To You

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:52:38 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles

Last.fm: Gary Numan – A Prayer for the Unborn (Gray Mix)

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:48:54 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Gary+Numan

Last.fm: Andreas Vollenweider – Hippolyte

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:47:47 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Andreas+Vollenweider

Last.fm: The Beatles – Gnik Nus

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:45:56 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles

Last.fm: The Beatles – It's All Too Much

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:39:55 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles

Last.fm: Morcheeba – Summertime (feat. Hubert Laws)

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:33:06 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Morcheeba

Google Reader: Contxts : Cause Business Cards Are So Yesterday

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:57:05 GMT

As I have started going to more and more tech conferences I have watched everyone hand out their business cards with their contact information and I have to say some of them are really kool (i.e. moo cards) but I always thought wouldnt it be kool to have a way to send my information that would be on my card via my phone in real time? not have to purchase new cards all the time? know that that person is just not gonna toss my card and never see it again?

If you are thinking like me the Contxts is the service for you. With Contxts you use your phone to send your contact information straight from your phone to whoever you are conversing with or others can text to the service and get your contact information at anytime. Some of the benefits of Contxts would be….

- Exchange all of your professional information with a single text message
- Keep all of your professional contacts organized in one place
- It’s eco-friendly (txt messages don’t kill polar bears)
- Rid yourself of “old school” business cards
- Link with other professionals

How does contxts work? Well there are two ways you can use the service via sms text message

From your phone, you txt “send 3034759204” to 50500 (where 3034759204 is your recipients 10 digit number)
Your recipient will receive all of your contact information.

Your contact txts “username” to 50500 on their phone
You will receive a request confirmation (unless you have it turned off). Upon accepting, your contact will receive your information

To try out Contxts text ‘jeffisageek’ to 50500 and you will get my information.

Google Reader: Coraline Trailer

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:06:53 GMT

Coraline, a movie based on Neil Gaiman’s novella of the same name is the story a young girl (Dakota Fanning) who unlocks a mysterious door in her new home in Ashland, Oregon, and enters into an adventure in a parallel reality. On the surface, this other world eerily mimics her own life—though much more fantastical. In it, Coraline encounters such off-kilter inhabitants as the morbidly funny Miss Forcible (Jennifer Saunders) and Miss Spink (Dawn French), and a counterfeit mother—who attempts to keep her. Ultimately, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home.

Kids flick, but the reuniting of French and Saunders may make it appealing to adults as well. Coraline comes out February 2009.

No Related Post

Google Reader: Spammers Trying To Regain Control Over Cut Off Spam Bots

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:32:00 GMT

Last week, there was a lot of attention over the shutdown of McColo, a hosting company that was apparently used by a huge number of spammers to control some of the largest zombie botnets out there. While we were initially skeptical of just how big an impact this had (the press and some antispammers have "cried wolf" way too many times in the past on the impact of shutting down certain spam operations), the evidence in the days that followed suggested, indeed, that an awful lot of the world's spam was controlled via McColo. The Washington Post, which kicked off the shutdown by presenting evidence of McColo's spam connections to its upstream providers, is now digging deeper into how the whole operation worked.

Burying the lede a bit, the article notes that McColo actually came back online briefly this past weekend, and apparently spammers very quickly worked to transfer data to Russian servers while trying to update various botnets to take commands from those servers, rather than the cut off McColo servers. There's some speculation that McColo tried to time the reconnect to weekend hours when most working stiffs wouldn't notice. However, Swedish telco TeliaSonera, who provided the connection (thanks to an old agreement the two firms had) pulled the plug within hours of being notified.

It's also worth noting that McColo hasn't made any public statements since this whole situation came about, which certainly raises questions about how much the folks who ran the company knew about how their network was being used. Even though it sounds like spammers may not have been able to regain full control over their botnets, it seems likely that they did regain some control, and spam levels are likely to get back to where they were in rather short order.

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Google Reader: Yahoo! Glue Finally Comes to the US and It's Awesome

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:31:02 GMT

This May Yahoo! started testing an "all in one" search product called Yahoo Glue in India. It's a really cool service that tonight becomes available to US users of Yahoo.

Yahoo! Glue search results include web search, images, news, blog search, Wikipedia and YouTube videos. That's right - in the India version at least Yahoo! displayed search results from both Google's YouTube and Google Blogsearch. The end result - all these links on one page - is pretty awesome.

Sponsor

The Indian version prioritized pages relevant to India, which is interesting, but a little unhelpful to those outside of India. Tonight's roll out will include a version that prioritizes US relevance and uses an algorithm to determine which media type is most relevant to a particular search. That type's widget will appear highest on the page. Starting at 6:30 PM PST tonight you should be able to give it a spin and let us know what you think at Glue.Yahoo.com.

Discuss

Google Reader: Making Gmail Your Gateway to the Web

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:14:41 GMT

Photo Credit: Adapted from Gateway Arch by docdevore

For the past five years my browser home page has been set to either Google.com or iGoogle. (I briefly flirted with the New York Times as my default but have integrated their feeds everywhere else.) This week I switched it to Gmail. With all of the features they have been adding lately, particularly through their Labs, Gmail is unquestionably my virtual Swiss Army Knife. It is not only my communications hub. It is my knowledge base and to some degree my feed reader. Some say it is becoming an enterprise dashboard - it is. It is my gateway to the web. (Note they added themes today!)

In this post I outline some recent ways I have tweaked my Gmail Personal Nerve Center by connecting Gmail with other web services. (Other posts on Gmail are here.)

Search the Web from Gmail

Gmail's search capabilities are top-notch. It's a big reason why I store tons of articles, factoids and even documents there. However, it's easy to miss the little button that says "Search the Web." These days I begin most of my web queries from Gmail. I even get a head start using their advanced keywords. (For example I type in new york weather when I want to know what the temperature is.) This will become even more useful once Gmail adds its SMS features later this month. Once that's back up you should be able to use it with Google SMS and get back search results via IM.

Update and Track Your Social Networks via IM

I am slowly in the process of trying to shift more of my communications out of email towards social software and IM. (More on this topic soon.) Still, I want an easily accessible record of all of these streams. So I am using Gmail much of the time to post to these services and also receive updates.

If you set up Ping.fm you can update all the major social networks via Gmail Chat. I post to Twitter via Ping.fm. I receive back replies by subscribing to a Twitter search feed for @steverubel via IM via notify.me. In addition, I receive Facebook alerts also by running my feed through notify.me. You can find your Facebook feed here. (You can also IM Friendfeed and Yammer directly and receive updates back from them too, which I do.)

Subscribe to High Priority Feeds and Alerts

I love Google Reader but I also like to be able to subscribe to some of my feeds via Gmail so that they are archived in a single place online and offline (via IMAP). However, I want to make this easily managed. So, I put all of my high priority feeds in Google Reader into a folder, make this folder public and then subscribe to the feed in Newsgator Online. Newsgator offers POP delivery so I have Gmail automatically fetch this account, scoop up the feeds, filter/archive them and tag them with the label "Feeds."

Track the Day's News with Gmail Clips

I am a news junkie and like to stay in the know. Gmail makes this a snap with Gmail Web Clips. I have pretty much standardized on the New York Times as my source of choice. In addition, I like to be able to track Techmeme too as well as all the news on the Presidential transition. So I have added a bunch of feeds to Clips including one from the awesome Times Topics site that stream into Gmail via a nice handy little news ticker.

Use Gmail as a Writing Tool

Sometimes writing can be intimidating, but it doesn't need to be. I like to start my writing in Gmail and then move it into other services where I can do more. For example, I wrote this blog post in Gmail and then sent it directly to TypePad. I also start documents here and then email them into Google Docs for additional tweaking (eg word counts, etc.). Finally I have a huge swipe file of articles and ideas stored in Gmail for inspiration and reference (for more on this concept see this great post from Write to Done). LifeClever offers some more thoughts here on using email for writing. See my other Gmail posts for how to use the service for storing ideas.

Build Links in Gmail to All Your Other Services

Finally, last but not least, when I do need to access other services they are all a click away in Gmail. I have added the Google Calendar and Google Docs gadgets to my sidebar. I store my To Do List in Google Docs so it's usually the top item in the gadget. In addition, I store my bookmarks in Gmail by exporting them to HTML and sending the page to myself using Ubiquity, which I pull up using Gmail Quick Links. Also, the links at the top of the page put me a click away to secure https versions of some of Google's other big services.

I keep adding to my system as Google rolls out features, but to me Gmail is my gateway to the web and the one web site I could never be without. Gmail turns five in the spring and I amazed how they continue to make it even more awesome once you start to really tweak it to your needs.

Google Reader: Blog Your Google Shared Items

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:14:53 GMT

Do you use Google Reader? Do you like to share your items? Do You Blog? If you answered yes to all of these then you might be interested in the following Wordpress plugin.

Shared Items Post allows you to create a blog post based on the settings you chose to your blog of choice to share with your readers.

[example post from last night]

I thought this sounded like something I might be interested in so I loaded it up and now I will see how things go and whether I go ahead and keep it….but for now its a new feature here on the blog.

Its really easy to setup and here are some of the different setttings available to you:

* Post scheduling - by day, week or month, and time of day
* Post formatting - you have complete control over the layout of post from the plugin admin panel
* Post settings - set the author, category, and tags

Google Reader: 15 Secrets of FriendFeed's Power Users

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:30:15 GMT

By Daniel J. Pritchett of SharingAtWork.com (FriendFeed/Twitter)

The FriendFeed social network is a powerful resource. With it you can connect to some brilliant people and learn new things as they learn them. Converse with interesting people around the world around similar interests. Stream together separate news sources into a single place and then kick off some great discussions about them. Read on for fifteen ways that other users are making FriendFeed a more valuable tool for all of us.

1. Promote other people's shares with likes and comments. Robert Scoble does a great job of directing his tens of thousands of readers to worthy content via his Comments+Likes page as well as his Google Reader shared items.

2. Promote other users' profiles to get them broader exposure Mike Fruchter puts out a regular series of "FriendFeed users to follow" on his blog.

3. Run an excellent room. Zee moderates some hugely active rooms like Startup Success and Apps. Hutch Carpenter created a different style of room: The Enterprise 2.0 Room doesn't have much user interaction but it splices together E2.0 news from a variety of sources like Twitter and Delicious.

4. Share videos. Not everyone is here to read blog posts and text blurbs. Rahsheen does a great job of publishing personal and humorous videos on a regular basis.

5. Cross-link as much as possible. If a related discussion springs up elsewhere on the internet, cross-link the posts so that people picking up one part of a thread can join in the conversation.

6. Build a well-liked FriendFeed add-on. Benjamin Golub's FFtoGo was so well received that Ben got a job at FriendFeed!

7. Pictures get attention, so post directly to FriendFeed when possible . This can include repurposing Google Reader shares. Take a look at these pictures to see how much more activity my native FriendFeed posts get than my RSS imported posts.

8. Stream in your other social media profiles when appropriate. If you use FriendFeed often enough you'll find yourself crafting your Tweets and your Google Reader shares with FriendFeed in mind. "How will this share display on FriendFeed? How can I make sure FF readers know what this link is about and why they should click on it?"

9. Advertise FF and your stream outside of FF. Zee has made his FriendFeed profile the centerpiece of his personal homepage. Louis Gray has his FriendFeed profile in a sidebar widget on his site. Get your own widget on the FriendFeed tools page.

10. Bring a good mix of content. Some of us tend to focus our FriendFeed activities around a particular niche that interests us. Others take a wider approach and share wonderful things from all over the internet. Check out Mona Nomura, Cee Bee, and Mo Kargas.

11. Share the things that make you unique. I love the fact that FriendFeed has a lot of librarians like Jill who are ready to jump in whenever I post a misguided thought on information science.

12. Tend your shares. Respond to comments on your posts and the posts you've commented on. Keep the conversation going and you'll add lots of value to the community.

13. Bump someone else's post rather than creating a duplicate. You've just read a great blog post and you want to share it with the FriendFeed community like the selfless poster you are. Before linking it directly, why not search and see who else has posted this? This is a great opportunity for you to "Like" an existing post and then add a useful comment of your own. Doing this will probably find you a few new worthy people to follow. Example: GMail's new Themes feature got a lot of simultaneous reactions. You can take your pick of posts on this topic and join an in-progress conversation.

14. Give a hat tip to the source that brought you any re-shares. This is good practice for any medium. Sometimes I'll find a good link on someone else's blog but then share the original article with a comment like "thanks Ted for finding this" and a link to Ted's related post.

15. Contribute to the FriendFeed Feedback Room. Anyone can do this and it's a great way to help the FF community. You'll be impressed at the quick responses of the FF staff.

More, more more!
Contributors are discovering new ways to interact with FriendFeed every day. Why not leave a comment describing your most valued FriendFeed practices?

Read more by Daniel Pritchett at SharingAtWork.com.

More: louisgray.com | RSS | FriendFeed | E-mail | Cell: 408 646.2759

twitter: 2 new comments today on "A VC" and more http://bit.ly/Hcft

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:05:03 GMT

eng1ne: 2 new comments today on "A VC" and more http://bit.ly/Hcft

Google Reader: New Gmail Themes!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:22:47 GMT

Yes, that’s right — no more boring Gmail! If your account has them (apparently they haven’t fully rolled out yet) you’ll find the new themes under Settings > Themes.

The best part so far is that the Gmail UI itself is a little cleaner no matter which theme you choose, very nice!

If you don’t see them in your account yet the Official Announcement has a larger sample pic.

I’m using the Mountains theme right now, but there is more than one I like. Which do you prefer?

Hat tip: Techcrunch, RRW

Profilactic Mashup - eng1ne

twitter: Basic Instructions: How to Choose a Gift for Someone You Don't Know Well http://ff.im/-5pJ7

Last.fm: Weezer – Undone (The Sweater Song)

Last.fm: William Orbit – Fire and Mercy

Last.fm: Cyndi Lauper – 10 - I Drove All Night

Last.fm: Emma Bunton – Life In Mono

Last.fm: The Beatles – From Me To You

Last.fm: Gary Numan – A Prayer for the Unborn (Gray Mix)

Last.fm: Andreas Vollenweider – Hippolyte

Last.fm: The Beatles – Gnik Nus

Last.fm: The Beatles – It's All Too Much

Last.fm: Morcheeba – Summertime (feat. Hubert Laws)

Google Reader: Contxts : Cause Business Cards Are So Yesterday

Google Reader: Coraline Trailer

Related Posts

Google Reader: Spammers Trying To Regain Control Over Cut Off Spam Bots

Google Reader: Yahoo! Glue Finally Comes to the US and It's Awesome

Google Reader: Making Gmail Your Gateway to the Web

Google Reader: Blog Your Google Shared Items

Google Reader: 15 Secrets of FriendFeed's Power Users

twitter: 2 new comments today on "A VC" and more http://bit.ly/Hcft

Google Reader: New Gmail Themes!