Xbox Live Game Room Trailer
Hey Readers!
I don't know what the issue was earlier tonight at the Microsoft CES Keynote about having the stream blocked when the Halo Reach and Game Room trailers were shown but for those that wanted to check out Game Room which looks to be really awesome, I have found the video for you and here it is. If, for some reason, the video does not load, here is the official link:
Microsoft CES Keynote Live Blog
- 7:55 PM globalgeeknews - Hello everybody! Are you ready for the Microsoft CES Keynote?
- 7:57 PM globalgeeknews - Here we go!
- 7:57 PM globalgeeknews - Somebody is kicking things off but the audio is so low that I didn't get it turned up in time to hear the name.
- 7:58 PM globalgeeknews - Whoever this guy is, he says that CES is a turning point that will spur the economy.
- 7:58 PM globalgeeknews - He is now talking about the record number of exhibitors at CES this year
- 7:59 PM globalgeeknews - Steve Ballmer has just been introduced but he hasn't come out yet.
- 8:00 PM globalgeeknews - They are running down Ballmer's resume
- 8:01 PM globalgeeknews - Here comes Steve!
- 8:01 PM globalgeeknews - Steve is wearing a very red sweater.
- 8:02 PM globalgeeknews - He is showing a video now
- 8:03 PM globalgeeknews - The video seems to be about how technology has changed our lives
- 8:04 PM globalgeeknews - I missed the name but the guy in the video I believe is from Saturday Night Live.
- 8:04 PM globalgeeknews - The video is supposed to be funny...
- 8:05 PM globalgeeknews - Could whoever is in charge of the audio stream crank up the volume a couple dozen notches? I can barely here it!
- 8:05 PM globalgeeknews - Back to Ballmer
- 8:06 PM globalgeeknews - We are going to be talking about the changing computer, tv and cloud services
- 8:07 PM globalgeeknews - Bing! Bing! Bing! I think we have a new meme
- 8:08 PM globalgeeknews - Steve is talking a bit about how technology is reaching people all over the world. There are about 1 billion people online today and it will be 4 billion in the fairly near future
- 8:08 PM globalgeeknews - It looks like it is time to talk Xbox
- 8:09 PM globalgeeknews - Don't forget to tell your friends and family about this live blog if they would be interested in this event!
- 8:09 PM globalgeeknews - He is talking about some of the things that have come to Xbox and have been announced in the past year
- 8:09 PM globalgeeknews - There are 39 million Xbox 360s that have been sold and over 500 million games sold.
- 8:10 PM globalgeeknews - Time to talk a bit about Bing and its growth
- 8:11 PM globalgeeknews - Talking a bit about Bing Maps and how silverlight contributes to it
- 8:12 PM globalgeeknews - Bing will be the default search engine and home page of HP machines in the future
- 8:12 PM globalgeeknews - Ford Sync will have a new look which we will hear about more at the Ford keynote tomorrow
- 8:13 PM globalgeeknews - Now talking a little bit about various other things they are doing in the auto industry.
- 8:13 PM globalgeeknews - Now time to talk Zune HD
- 8:13 PM globalgeeknews - Steve says it is getting rave reviews and the Zune Marketplace is now available in 18 countries
- 8:14 PM globalgeeknews - Now to talk mobile
- 8:15 PM globalgeeknews - He is now showing the new HD 2 phone available on T-mobile in the near future but they will be saving any Windows Mobile stuff for the World Mobile Congress month.
- 8:15 PM globalgeeknews - Now time to talk Windows 7...
- 8:15 PM globalgeeknews - He is talking about the goals of Win 7 as far as user experience and things like battery life
- 8:16 PM globalgeeknews - Windows 7 involved 3,000 engineers, 50,000 partners and 8 million beta testers.
- 8:17 PM globalgeeknews - NPD says windows pc sales jumped nearly 50% the week it launched.
- 8:17 PM globalgeeknews - Crap, audio dropped out!
- 8:17 PM globalgeeknews - Now its back
- 8:17 PM globalgeeknews - Windows 7 is the fastest selling OS in history which is how he measures success.
- 8:18 PM globalgeeknews - 94% of new users are satisfied with Win 7 according to a "recent survey"
- 8:18 PM globalgeeknews - 3 million PCs shipped in 2009.
- 8:18 PM globalgeeknews - PC sales are expected to jump by 12% in 2010
- 8:18 PM globalgeeknews - audio dropped out again
- 8:19 PM globalgeeknews - and it is back
- 8:19 PM globalgeeknews - Now Steve is talking a little about how there is a Windows 7 PC for everybody
- 8:20 PM globalgeeknews - Developers are using the new technologies in Windows 7 to improve existing products or create new ones.
- 8:20 PM globalgeeknews - Finally, the audio has been turned up! Now if only it was in more than just the right channel...
- 8:21 PM globalgeeknews - Sounds like it is demo time!
- 8:21 PM globalgeeknews - A windows team member that goes by the name Ryan is now on stage to demo some hardware and software with Win 7
- 8:22 PM globalgeeknews - To begin, we are talking about all-in-one PCs
- 8:22 PM globalgeeknews - I hope this will pick up soon, I am about to fall asleep
- 8:23 PM globalgeeknews - Showing off Dell's Adamo. Wow, it is fast on sleep wakeup!
- 8:24 PM globalgeeknews - They are showing off some gaming machines. They have my full attention now.
- 8:24 PM globalgeeknews - Direct X 11 coming to laptop in the next couple weeks
- 8:25 PM globalgeeknews - They are showing off a new ASUS laptop that does 3D gaming. Glasses required.
- 8:26 PM globalgeeknews - The audio is fixed. Yay!
- 8:27 PM globalgeeknews - They had a pc in a tv to show off but when the power failed, it blew the tube. TVs still use tubes?!
- 8:27 PM globalgeeknews - Time to show how student life is improved by Windows 7
- 8:28 PM globalgeeknews - Showing off some Bleeo e-book reading software that looks really nice.
- 8:28 PM globalgeeknews - The software can do interactive ebooks which is great for education
- 8:28 PM globalgeeknews - Video can be played inside of the e-books
- 8:29 PM globalgeeknews - There is also speech to text
- 8:29 PM globalgeeknews - Now time to talk students using presentations and what tools are available to them.
- 8:30 PM globalgeeknews - Showing off some collaborative features of Windows Live and Office 2010.
- 8:30 PM globalgeeknews - They are working on the same presentation at the same time. I wish I had this stuff in school
- 8:31 PM globalgeeknews - Ballmer says he is slow at typing.
- 8:31 PM globalgeeknews - Apparently although they are working on the same document, the changes are not real time and it will ask you to sync with the other person when changes have been made.
- 8:33 PM globalgeeknews - Showing an interesting tie between video and Bing Maps. Seems interesting although I am not sure I really understand it
- 8:33 PM globalgeeknews - Wow, weather effects on Bing's version of Street View
- 8:34 PM globalgeeknews - I can't say I really care if it appears to be snowing when I am looking at street view...
- 8:35 PM globalgeeknews - With CableCard, they have something that will allow you to record 4 HD tv shows at the same time. I have just crapped myself.
- 8:36 PM globalgeeknews - Now they are showing that running a PC on tv that you can use all of Windows 7 on a TV
- 8:36 PM globalgeeknews - We are now going inside Windows Media Center
- 8:37 PM globalgeeknews - Developers and content providers can create their own awesome experience in Windows Media Center
- 8:38 PM globalgeeknews - Showing some other videos in WMC
- 8:39 PM globalgeeknews - Time to talk about Microsoft Media Room, something I have never heard of
- 8:39 PM globalgeeknews - Apparently it is software that has a paid tv service.
- 8:40 PM globalgeeknews - I really need to look into this Media Room thing. Apparently many companies use or offer it.
- 8:40 PM globalgeeknews - AT&T is going to be bringing Media Room features to Xbox Live for U-Verse subscribers.
- 8:41 PM globalgeeknews - Talking a little bit more about Media Room.
- 8:42 PM globalgeeknews - They are showing a movie store with it. I am not sure I grasp how this works.
- 8:43 PM globalgeeknews - Now Ballmer seems to have taken back over to talk some more
- 8:44 PM globalgeeknews - They are now showing off some "slate" PCs (aka tablets)
- 8:44 PM globalgeeknews - They are touch centric devices that look to be about the size of a Kindle or a little bigger.
- 8:45 PM globalgeeknews - They are showing a prototype of an HP slate pc coming later this year
- 8:45 PM globalgeeknews - They are now showing a promo video for it.
- 8:46 PM globalgeeknews - It is running the Kindle software to show how well it works as an e-book reader. I want. No mention of a price.
- 8:47 PM globalgeeknews - Showing another SNL type video like at the beginning of the keynote. Time to take a nap...
- 8:48 PM globalgeeknews - Still playing the video...
- 8:49 PM globalgeeknews - Robby Bock is now on stage
- 8:49 PM globalgeeknews - Ballmer is gone at least for now
- 8:49 PM globalgeeknews - He is here to talk about entertainment as a whole
- 8:50 PM globalgeeknews - So far he is saying nothing really important
- 8:50 PM globalgeeknews - It looks like we are going to talk Xbox first
- 8:52 PM globalgeeknews - 2010 is going to be a landmark year for Xbox customers because of Xbox exclusive games like Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Modern Warfare 2 expansion packs
- 8:52 PM globalgeeknews - More games are being listed like Fable 3 and Crackdown 2
- 8:53 PM globalgeeknews - They are going to introduce a new type of game this year, the psychological adventure thriller
- 8:53 PM globalgeeknews - Talking a bit about the Alan Wake game which will be told in downloadable episodes.
- 8:53 PM globalgeeknews - HALO!
- 8:54 PM globalgeeknews - Waiting to hear what the Halo announcement is...
- 8:54 PM globalgeeknews - Nevermind, it is just Halo Reach that was announced at E3 last year.
- 8:55 PM globalgeeknews - WTF! The streaming has been suspended to respect the intellectual property being demonstrated on stage. This SUCKS!
- 8:56 PM globalgeeknews - I don't know who had the bright idea to do this suspension of streaming for Halo Reach IP reasons or whatever, but they need to be fired immediately.
- 8:56 PM globalgeeknews - Waiting for the stream to return...
- 8:56 PM globalgeeknews - Listening to some elevator music...
- 8:57 PM globalgeeknews - And now we are back. Everybody sounds really excited but I have no idea what they are so excited about.
- 8:58 PM globalgeeknews - I will be blogging my thoughts on this event tomorrow and Microsoft will be getting MAJOR flak for that. Now back to Xbox Live...
- 8:58 PM globalgeeknews - 20 million Xbox Live members. Last week a new member was added every second.
- 8:59 PM globalgeeknews - They are now talking about the Twitter and Facebook integration on Xbox Live.
- 8:59 PM globalgeeknews - 20,000 friendships are make on Facebook through Xbox Live every day. Impressive.
- 9:00 PM globalgeeknews - Showing the instant streaming on Xbox Live.
- 9:00 PM globalgeeknews - I want to thank everybody who has joined us so far for the live blog.
- 9:00 PM globalgeeknews - Talking about Zune on Xbox Live
- 9:01 PM globalgeeknews - If you buy a video on the Zune portion of Xbox Live, you can play the video on your PC or Zune HD.
- 9:02 PM globalgeeknews - They are talking about some new thing called Game Room. Starting this spring, you can play over 30 classic arcade games from atari and many others. I love this!
- 9:03 PM globalgeeknews - More intellectual property streaming suspension BS for a demo of the Game Room feature.
- 9:03 PM globalgeeknews - A new set of arcade games will be released every week with over 1000 games coming by the end of the year. Wow!
- 9:03 PM globalgeeknews - we are back btw
- 9:04 PM globalgeeknews - I will be at Microsoft in a couple weeks and I will give them major crap for the streaming suspension crap and talk to them more about announcements they are making today.
- 9:04 PM globalgeeknews - Now he is talking about a natural user interface.
- 9:05 PM globalgeeknews - Talking a bit about how R&D works at MS
- 9:05 PM globalgeeknews - Time to talk Project Natal
- 9:06 PM globalgeeknews - We are now seeing a video from the Project Natal team.
- 9:07 PM globalgeeknews - Nothing really new in the video, just a little history about Natal and a little about how it works
- 9:08 PM globalgeeknews - The video is ending...
- 9:09 PM globalgeeknews - Project Natal will ship by this holiday! Christmas season 2010!
- 9:09 PM globalgeeknews - It will work with an existing Xbox 360
- 9:10 PM globalgeeknews - It sounds like we are wrapping up the entertainment portion of the keynote
- 9:11 PM globalgeeknews - Robby is leaving the stage...
- 9:11 PM globalgeeknews - Don't forget to check out the latest episode of the Global Geek News Podcast at www.globalgeeknews.com
- 9:11 PM globalgeeknews - Waiting for the next person to come on stage
- 9:12 PM globalgeeknews - um, was that it? I think the Keynote might be over. Looking for confirmation...
- 9:12 PM globalgeeknews - Ok, the keynote is over
- 9:13 PM globalgeeknews - Thanks everybody for tuning in to our live blog tonight and we hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to check back for more coverage tomorrow and make sure to listen to and subscribe to the Global Geek News Podcast at www.globalgeeknews.com
- 9:14 PM globalgeeknews - We will have more CES coverage right here on the Global Geek News Blog, www.globalgeeknews.com Have a great night and follow @globalgeeknews on Twitter!
Top 10 Geek Gifts for the 2009 Holiday Season
Greetings everybody!
It is that time of year again, with a little over a month left before Christmas, it is time to start figuring out what you are going to buy! The big question is what are you going to get that geek in your life? I have compiled another list again this year of great geek gifts to get that geek in your life assuming they don't already have them. Here we go!
#10. Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt
Are you so good at Rock Band and Guitar Hero that you want to take your act on the road? You can do something like that with this awesome electronic rock guitar shirt. With this shirt, you can let everybody enjoy your awesome guitar skills! The shirt comes with a mini-amp that you can clip on your belt that will allow you to tweak your sound and crank up the music so that you make sure that everybody can hear you. ThinkGeek is selling this awesome shirt for $29.99.
Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt
#9. Kill-A-Watt Graphic Timer
Are you or your loved one concerned about the safety of your electronic devices and just how much energy you are using? If so, than this Kill-A-Watt Graphic Timer is for you. Not only will it protect you from voltage spikes, but it will also protect your precious appliances and gadgets from over current, over voltage and even under voltage. This device will not only let you measure your power usage down to the minute, but you can program it to function at different times for up to 7 days. There are a number of other features, but if you are looking to track your energy usage to help cut down on your electric bill or just want to protect your appliances and gadgets, you should definitely check out the Kill-A-Watt Graphic Timer from ThinkGeek at the reasonable price of $69.99. If you can use it to save on electricity or protect your appliances, this wonderful meter could easily pay for itself over time.
Kill-A-Watt Graphic Timer
#8. The Laptopper Portable Shelf
Have you ever been sitting in your car outside of a coffee shop using their wifi? Kind of uncomfortable isn't it? Well now you have a place to comfortably set your laptop while you are surfing the net. This portable shelf will slip on your steering wheel or even over a headrest to give you a place to set any laptop 17" and smaller as well as whatever other gadgets you may be using. Whether you just want to watch a movie or participating in a wardriving competition, at $14.99, the Laptopper Portable Shelf from ThinkGeek is great for anybody!
The Laptopper Portable Shelf
#7. Rovio - WiFi Roaming Bot
O Rovio, Rovio, where for art thou Rovio? Are you looking to keep an eye on your home while you are away on vacation or just want to check up on that new babysitter? If so, the wifi connected Rovio is just for you! This cool little robot is equipped with a webcam, microphone and speakers. You can control Rovio manually or set up way-points to monitor your house. Rovio can be controlled from any internet connection around the world. What is really impressive is that you can control it with a PC, Mac, an iPhone and even your PS3! The Rovio also has built in LEDs to light its way in poorly lit areas. At $229.99 from ThinkGeek, Rovio seems reasonably priced, especially considering the fact that it has a base station it returns to for charging similar to the Roomba.
Rovio - WiFi Roaming Bot
#6. Grab-It Pack Gadget Holster
I don't know about you, but I am always looking for ways to carry more gadgets with me. I have been made fun of on numerous occasions for having my pockets so stuffed full of stuff that you would suspect I just robbed an electronics store. Now you can carry more items and get more strange looks than ever before with the Grab-It Pack Gadget Holster! Strap this around your waist and legs and you will turn a lot of heads when people see just how many gadgets you can carry! ThinkGeek sells the Grab-It Pack Gadget Holster for $24.99.
Grab-It Gadget Holster
#5. Scottevest Quantum Jacket
Maybe the Grab-It Gadget Holder isn't quite your style or maybe it doesn't have enough pockets to put stuff in, so why not try Scottevest's Quantum Jacket! Not only does this jacket look far less goofy, but it is also breathable and water resistant! Did we mention this jacket has an amazing 28 pockets?! Just think how many gadgets you can carry with you from phones to mp3 players to portable gaming devices when you have 28 pockets to store them in? Just think how much fun you could have have going through airport security when you have to empty out 28 pockets! Don't forget, this jacket has their patented Personal Area Network (PAN) to manage your earbud wires! If you head over to Scottevest, you can get this jacket for $250, but can you really put a price on carrying 28 pockets worth of gadgets while staying warm and looking good all at the same time?
Scottevest's Quantum Jacket
#4. Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router
Have you ever wanted to say that you are the proud owner of the world's smallest wireless N router? Now you can! This tiny wireless N router from TRENDnet will make sure you can transfer data across your wireless enabled devices quickly and easily. A product like this is great if you are stuck in a hotel with crappy wifi that you can only get if you are standing on the toilet with your arm stretched out like a fountain. Just fire this up where you can get the signal and you instantly have a good enough signal that you can get anywhere in the hotel room. For $79.99 from ThinkGeek, the TRENDnet Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router might just be the best router for the road warrior in your life.
TRENDnet Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router
#3. Ironkey Military Strength Flash Drives
How important is the security of the files you move around? Do you carry your financial documents on a thumb drive so you can have access to them anywhere? What about confidential plans from work? Now you can rest easy because with an Ironkey USB drive because you won't have to worry about your data falling into the wrong hands again! With hardware encryption, the tough looking Ironkey can stand strong against both virtual and physical attacks. These drives have so much encryption and security on them thanks to a built-in encryption chip, even the military is using them in Afghanistan! The only way to access the information on the drive is with the password and if somebody tries to hack into it and enters the wrong password 10 times, the encryption chip self destructs and makes the drive useless and nobody will ever be able to get your data. If security is what really matters to you, you can't go wrong with an Ironkey Military Strength Flash Drive. ThinkGeek sells a 1GB model for $69.99 and a 4GB model for $139.99. Although they aren't cheap, you should ask yourself just how much your data is worth.
Ironkey USB drive
#2. Motorola Droid
My, how far we have come in a year. Last year's list included T-Mobile's G1 Android phone and this year, we have a vastly improved Motorola phone by the name of Droid for Verizon customers. With a 5-megapixel camera, turn by turn directions, a physical and virtual keyboard as well as turn by turn directions just to name a few of the features, many are calling this an iPhone killer or at least as good as the iPhone. With over 10,000 applications available on the Android Marketplace, now is a great time to be looking into getting the Droid on what many consider to be the best wireless network in the US. If you are in the market for a new phone and don't want to suffer the hell of the AT&T network just to have something as nice as an iPhone, check out the Motorola Droid which you can get from LetsTalk.com for $150.
Motorola Droid
#1. Mimo Mini USB Monitor
Not a day goes by that I think to myself, "Gee, I could be much more productive if I had room for a second monitor." Now I can and I won't need a new desk and power strip to get it! Any of the Mimo mini USB monitors might give you just the extra amount of screen you need to be extra productive without taking up as much room on your desk as a full sized monitor. These monitors are powered by a USB cable so you don't have to worry about trying to get a bigger power strip to plug a second monitor into or a new graphics card that can support a second monitor. Now you can keep email or whatever you want open on a smaller, secondary monitor while you work on your main screen so you can see when you get that important email you have been waiting for. Did I mention there is a touchscreen model? If you are into the touchscreen movement and want a monitor you can physically interact with, for a little higher price, you can have just that! You might have a hard time putting a price on productivity, but ThinkGeek managed put put a price on it, and depending on which of the three models you get, the Mimo Mini USB Monitor will cost you between $129.99-229.99.
Mimo Mini USB Monitor
Did we miss something? What geek items are on your Christmas list?
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Sun Microsystems announces it plans to cut 3000 jobs
Greetings Readers!
In a sign of bad news for Sun, Reuters is reporting that they have announced they will cut 3,000 jobs or about 10% of their workforce over the next 12 months in attempt to cut their losses. The cuts will be taking place across the globe.
Why are they cutting so many jobs? They are blaming it on the European anti-trust regulators. According to Larry Ellison, Sun is losing around $100 million a month because of uncertainty caused by the in-dept investigation from European anti-trust regulators into their deal with Oracle. Sun claims that their competitors, IBM and HP are taking advantage of the situation and poaching Sun's customers.
The job cuts are expected to save them between $75 million to $125 million over the next few quarters, this coming after they cut between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs last year.
Sun clearly has major problems and it feels like they are trying to come up with any excuse they can as to why they are having problems but the fault is their own. If you have a company that has a product that satisfies their customers and makes them happy, there would be no reason for them to switch to a competitor just because of a little uncertainty, or at least not until there was a solid indicator as to how the situation would turn out. If you provide a great product and great service, a true customer would stick with you.
Sun has had problems for a long time anyway, posting a $2.2 billion loss last year alone. If Sun hopes to stop the bleeding of both money and employees, they need to focus on their product and how to make it so much better than their competition, nobody in their right mind would make the jump to a competing product. This will certainly require some consolidation and maybe even cutting loose of some products like MySQL, but their needs to be a core focus and that will reap great rewards. Sun needs to refocus if it hopes to remain relevant before they are purchased by Oracle and if they want to bring any value to Oracle when the deal finally goes through.
Jott Kills Its Free Services, Saddens Users Everywhere
Greetings Readers!
Moments ago, I just got an email from the raved about service Jott. In the email, it stated that Jott Basic and other free services such as its much acclaimed speech-to-text will no longer be free starting February 2, 2009. This also includes Jott Notepad for the iPhone.
I had had a Jott account for sometime but have only used the service once. I never think about it when I need to take a note, I just type out a note in my Blackberry. I know a number of people that use it and love it since its a free service. Unfortunately the free service is about to die.
According to Jott, the reason for the change is because of the economy. The poor economic climate has caused them to focus 100% on profitibablity which means ending the free service that they made themselves known with. They say that they had planned on doing a ad supported version but it is not viable right now and that it would ruin the user experience. I tend to agree with them on everything. Providing the service that they do is hard to keep free in these times and for a service such as Jott, I think it is worth the money if you use the service. I also am not a fan of the ad supported model. I follow the idea of Ken Rutkowski in that start-ups should have 5 ways of making money and the primary way should never be advertising.
While it is sad to see the free service go, the Pro subscription is only $3.95/mo so it is still a very affordable service if you use it often. For those that want to upgrade, they put details in their announcement as well as some codes for 10% off an annual subscription. If you haven't tried it, I recommend checking out the service while it is still free to find out if the pro account will benefit you.
-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
TweetDeck, the Best Twitter Client Yet!
Greetings Readers!
For those of you who dont follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/pcnerd37) last night I was introduced to a new Twitter client called TweetDeck (Thanks TheWebPixie!). Not being a huge fan of desktop Twitter applications, I was a bit skeptical. While I do use Twirl every once in a while, generally speaking I have always prefered the web interface combined with an auto-refresh plugin for firefox. Starting today, that has all changed.
TweetDeck
TweetDeck is a database driven Twitter client built on the Adobe Air platform. It is built to allow you to better manage your experience. You can now create topic or group specific columns to more easily follow all the great things happening on Twitter. You start out with a column for all your tweets, one for all your replies and another for all the direct messages you have recieved in the past 48 hours, but you can add many more columns! With the program being built on a local database, it also allows for better offline capabilities. The database is also searchable! You can search for words or phrases that have shown up in you twitter stream in the past 48 hours instantly! Not only does it search locally, but you can set it to search Summize as well! Before there is any confusion, the default is 48 hours which is the maximum, but you can certainly go to far less than that if you choose. When you create new groups or columns, it is populated with what is already in the database rather than having to wait for it to fill up with new tweets. While the database aspect of this alone is enough to make it the next killer Twitter application, there is much more that makes this program a must for any hardcore Twitter user.
The support for easy and quick replies and direct messages is there like every good Twitter client should have, but where it really stands out in basic functionality is a button for retweeting. Now, you can retweet with a single button! Gone are the days of using copy and paste to retweet one of the people you follow. TweetDeck also has a built in URL shortener which uses any of five different URL shortening services. It also has several resizing buttons to further customize your display. The ability to move columns around is nice as well. It also detects the number of allowed API updates and sets itself to refresh at the allowed rate, which is also nice.
That said, there are a couple of things that aren't so great about this application. To start the list, the self adjusting refresh rate that I just mentioned is just as much a flaw as it is a great feature. Since you are unable to adjust the refresh rate yourself, if you wanted to run the application or multiple twitter applications on different computers or at different locations, you will find it very difficult as TweetDeck is already using your max number of API requests. Next, by clicking the replies and direct messages buttons more than once, you will end up with multiple columns filled with the same thing, which is just plain useless. Also, rather than columns being created when you need them, they remain there at all times but in a blank state until used. It doesn't make sense being able to scroll to a bunch of blank columns. Those are some of my primary gripes with the software, but there are a number of features that other Twitter applications have that TweetDeck lacks.
Although I hear it is in the works, there are no pop-up notifications at this time. According to their voting feedback system, this is by far the most requested feature. You are also unable to minimize it to they system tray. This is a feature I greatly value as I value my taskbar space which usually has at least a half dozen things open on it at all times. At this time, there is no support for Twitpic, but I hear that is in the works as well. I would also like to see drag and drop functionality for adding to groups, an idea the creator seems to really like as well. Showing new messages as soon as they are sent is missing but has been added to the list of things to implement. There is also no way to favorite tweets at this time, but again it is in the works.
While this is without a doubt the most useful Twitter application I have come across so far, it does have some drawbacks and a number of missing features although that is to be expected in a version numberd 0.152b (beta). Once some of the more requested and common functionality such as notifications gets implimented, this will, without a doubt, be the best Twitter application out there. The grouping and database idea behind the project would do wonders for services such as FriendFeed. If you want to keep up with the latest TweetDeck developments, check out their blog.
-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
I have been BANNED from Digg.com!
Greetings Readers!
I have some rather suprising news for you today. I have been banned from Digg.com! For those who don't know what happend, I will catch you up to speed before I post all correspondence that I had with Digg support.
Last week I made a wrote one of my insightful blog posts about Cisco's predictions on internet traffic in 2013. It happened that a similar blog post from Om Malik made it to the front page of Digg about the same story. To give Digg readers another view, I posted my link into the comments on I believe it was Thursday. Due to my inability to link properly, I only got a single person to visit my blog from posting the link in the comments. Saturday morning I woke up and went to Digg a story that I saw on my Digg RSS feed to find that my account was invalid. I did some searching to find that all signs of my existence on Digg had been completely removed. Being completely confused as to what was going on, I contacted Digg support only to find out I was banned. The following is all of the emails exchanged between myself and Digg support with a few thoughts thrown in. At the end is my thoughts on the whole issue and I will discuss it further on the next Global Geek News podcast.
Support,
This morning I woke up to find myself logged out of Digg when I went to Digg this story: http://digg.com/space/Giant_Tsunami_on_the_Sun_Captured_By_NASA_s_STERO_Spacecraft
Figuring Firefox just deleted my cookies as it does on occasion, I went to login only to have the strange error claiming my account, pcnerd37 is invalid. Can you shed any light on what is going on? Thanks for your help!Sincerely,
Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
Digg's Response:
Thanks for getting in touch with us at Digg.com regarding your account.
Your account was reported to us for abusive activity in comments. Specifically, spamming Digg comments with your blog "Global Geek News has a great blog post about this story, www.globalgeeknews.com/blog"
As explicitly stated in the Digg.com Terms of Service located at http://digg.com/tos section 5.1 USER CONDUCT:
5.1 By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to use the Services: to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other Digg users;
Also, note that in our Terms of Service, we reserve the right to, “Digg may remove any Content and Digg accounts at any time for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such Content), or for no reason at all.”We are willing to unban your account once we receive notification from you that you have reviewed the Digg.com Terms of Service and re-affirm your agreement to those terms.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any further questions.
Thank you,
-The Digg Support Team.
Ok, so I screwed up in two ways on the linking, not only did it not link but I apparently forgot to link to the direct article, but with the story remaining the top post on the blog, the main blog link will still take them to the right story.
Digg Support Team,
I have reviewed your terms of service, which I have always agreed to, and find the complaint without merit. The link which I failed to copy correctly, leaving off the part to the direct article (oops), was for more information on the post in which the comment was left. As a service to my fellow Digg users, I attempted to post a link to a blog post where more information on the dugg story could be found. It was not intended in any way to be "spam". If you want to get real technical about it, since I left off the http://, it was not even hyperlinked in the comments.
The Terms of Service section you quoted me seems to lack application here as I was not trying to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other digg users. I was merely trying to give them a link for more information on the story which I believe to be in the spirit of Digg. Furthermore, I find actions taking against me were overkill. The appropriate response would be to delete the post and send a warning email, not delete or ban the account. Banning would be understandable if it was a case of repeated "abuse". I would suggest it is time to review your policies for interacting with loyal Digg users.
Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I will be podcasting and blogging about this experience on Global Geek News.
Sincerely,
Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
Digg needs to better define the terms such as "abuse" that it uses in its terms of service to help avoid confusion. Everything else here is fairly self explanatory.
Digg's Response:
Hi Jeremy,
In addition to section 5.1 on the Terms of Use, we would also like to specifically direct your attention to section 5.7 which states that you agree not to use the Services:
to submit stories or comments linking to affiliate programs, multi-level marketing schemes, *sites/blogs repurposing existing stories* (source hops), or off-topic content;
Also, the Digg FAQ directly addresses this policy as well:
Is it ok to put my website link as a signature in comments?
No, it is not okay to advertise anything of any kind in the comments section. We ask that, as a story commenter, you keep your comments on-topic to the story you're currently on. Any irrelevant links, spam, etc. could result in an account ban for the offending user.-Digg Support
Digg is trying to pull relevant policies out of its butt, but they aren't doing a very good job as shown in my response email.
Digg Support,
Thanks for your response. As far as your Section 5.7, had I posted the correct link that I meant to (again, oops), It would clearly not be repurposing the story any more than the Digg story which was just a repurposing of a release from Cisco. In regards to your FAQ, there are two main things. First, It states IRRELEVANT links! The intended link, which I will include was not irrelevant. Second, asking and requiring are two different things. Asking implies a courtesy, not a necessity. If you are going to quote it, please reword it to say what you mean. Last, I noticed you completely avoided the issue about how you deal with these situations and Digg users. I find this very curious as most companies that care about their users would have a clear and consumer centric policy when it comes to dealing with users. It is best to keep in mind that it is the users that keep you in business and relations with them should be as plesant as possible. If you look at product surveys, people believe that a large part of product satisfaction is customer service, something that Digg needs to work on. The Townhalls are a great step in the right direction but not enough to create a great user experience with the company.
Again, I would like to reiterate that I have no problem with your terms of service other than some poor wording, but attempting to scew it to a situation it does not apply is simply childish. I would like to give you the opportunity to publicly address these issues, especially how you deal with users on your site on the Global Geek News podcast. I do not have an exact time yet, but I will be bringing up these issues and believe it is only fair and in everyones best interest if I invite a representative of Digg onto the show to state their case and join in on the discussion. If you would be interested, let me know and I will set everything up.
Here is the link to the story that I meant to put in the comment but didnt realize until after the edit period was over that the link was incorrect: http://globalgeeknews.com/blog/?p=39
Sincerely,
Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
They seem to be having a hard time explaining themselves so I give them the opportunity to explain themselves and have a civilized discussion on my podcast. As it appears in the end, they don't have enough interest to respond to that request. Thy didn't respond after this email ripping into them, so I figured its time to email them to see what is going on.
Digg Support,
What am I to assume from the fact that you did not return my last email? I have stated I have no problem with your terms of service, yet I am still banned. Why? Unless I hear otherwise, I will assume your lack of a response means that you realized you have screwed up but aren't willing to admit it. When it becomes apparent that this email conversation is over, that is when I will post my blog about this experience. My offer allowing somebody from Digg to come on the podcast to discuss various issues including its policies for interacting with users and how it defines its terms of service is still open. We typically record live on Thursdays if somebody would be interested in joining us. I finalize all show guests by Wednesday night, so you have until then to make arrangements to be on the podcast if you choose. Whether or not you are there, this will be discussed and I feel it is better for digg to be upfront and deal with this issue in an intelligent and civilized manner. If you choose not to take that path, I wish you luck with the bad publicity that results from the podcast and blog. I look forward to futher communications to resolve this issue in a way that can satisfy both parties.
Sincerely,
Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
I again ask Digg to have somebody on the podcast to talk about these issues but they still don't respond to the idea.
Digg's Response:
Hello Jeremy,
Sorry we didn't get back t you sooner. We have unbanned your account. Please note, however, that your account will remain under review, and any violation of Digg’s Terms of Service may result in a permanent ban of your account.
For more information, please see http://digg.com/faq and http://digg.com/tos.
--Digg Support
Getting unbanned is a partial victory. Since this was the last email they sent to me, I have no idea how long I will will "remain under review." There are still many other issues that need addressed but at least I can now Digg stories and leave comments (Not that I couldn't as I do have multiple accounts).
Digg Support,
Thanks for getting back to me. I greatly appreciate being unbanned from my favorite social news website. How long will my account remain under review? All of my points from my previous two emails still stand including my invitation to be on my podcast. Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
That is basically everything that has transpired as of this time as it appears they don't want to email me back or appear on the podcast. There are still some major issues here, mainly revolving around how Digg interacts with its users. Banning users with no warning and only giving the error "Invalid Account" is not how to deal with users. If that wasn't bad enough, their pathetic attempts to hide behind their "Terms of Service" and "FAQ" is laughable. Unless there is a huge demand, I will reserve further comment for the next Global Geek News podcast since this is already an extremely long post. If anybody from Digg reads this, the invitation to be on the podcast is still open but you don't have much time to respond! While I am not yet calling for a boycott of digg as I am still a loyal Digg fan, I will say becareful and when you have to deal with Digg, demand a higher level of customer relations than this pathic thing they have now!
Stay tuned for the podcast where I will talk about this in greater detail!
-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
Cisco Forecasts Increase in Internet Traffic. Hello Captain Obvious!
Greetings Readers!
This only comes as a shock to people living under a rock, but according to Cisco, internet traffic is going to increase! Their estimates show that by the year 2012, global internet traffic will reach half a zetabyte! For those who aren't geeky enough to know your bytes, a zetabyte is 1 trillion gigabytes, or around 250 billion dvds worth of data. That is a lot of data!
I will give you one guess why the traffic is going to be increasing by 46% annually. If you guessed anything other than video, you clearly don't check out enough blogs and podcasts. Internet video traffic increased from 12% of global internet traffic in 2006 to 22% in 2007. They predict that it will account for 90% of global internet traffic by 2012. IPTV is included in that figure as well as video transfered via Peer-2-Peer networks. The only other interesting figure in this prediction is that mobile traffic will double every year between 2008 and 2012.
None of these figures should come as a surprise to anybody. With the popularity of viral video sites and streaming video sites growing in leaps and bounds, it doesn't take much of an imagination to see that video traffic will account for 90% of internet data in 2012. This news is floating around the internet, even hitting the front page of Digg like this is shocking information when its not a difficult prediction to make. A zetabyte is a new word for many people but that doesn't change the story any. While this might be worth a small mention, there are more newsworthy things than an obvious story like this.
The only part of the prediction that I take issue with is the mobile data figure. This figure is entirely dependent on mobile carriers. What mobile carriers charge for data services and the availability of mobile data services are the determining factors here. If carriers increase charges or don't continue to expand their networks, this figure will never be reached. Adoption of devices like the iPhone will help realize this figure but it still ultimately depends on the carriers. Time will tell if this figure turns out to be accurate, but I'm not betting on it.
With predictions like this, it is worth asking, how with ISPs cope with this increase in traffic? If we are having issues with companies like Comcast and their network management practices now, what will they be like in 2012 when a half a zetabyte is crossing the tubes every year? This is a discussion for another post or podcast, but I will leave you to ponder that question.
-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
How to Create a Personal Brand
Welcome back readers!
Yesterday I covered the topic of why you should have a personal brand, and now that you know you need a personal brand, I will discuss how to create one.
There are three main things to remember when creating a personal brand: Is it unique, easy to remember, and does it say something about you?
Lets start of with finding a unique name. While it was easier to create a unique name in the earlier days of the internet when there were fewer people and identities on the web, that doesn't mean its impossible to create a unique name without having to resort to a huge string of meaningless numbers at the end if the name. Creating a name by which you are known, or personal brand will typically require some creativity. You need to pick a name that if you Google it, is not clearly used by somebody else. It is also very important to create something fairly short that is not complicated so that people can easily remember it.
Making a name that people can recall at any time is a very important part of having a personal brand. This is why a long string of numbers after a name that is likely not unique is a bad idea. People will have a hard time remembering a long string of numbers compared to a catchy name. In the years that I have had the name pcnerd37, I have found that in general conversation on forums and in chatrooms, people generally leave off the numbers when they address me. They will also do the same with you if you choose a name with numbers. If you must have something with a number in it, make sure that if people leave off the number, you can still be easily identified through the various search engines.
Lastly, it is a good idea to have the name say something about you as an individual. While using some random name may be cool in some social circles, having a name that says something about you without people knowing who you are can be crucial to growing an audience online. When I came up with the name pcnerd, it is something that is very descriptive of who I am. When people throw my name around in general conversation, they may not be familiar with my work, but they can get a general idea of who I am from just knowing my name. Finding a name that is descriptive of your personality can often give the name an unique quality while allowing people to have a sense of who you are without knowing anything about you, which can get your foot in the door in many situations.
These are just some general guidelines for creating a personal brand that is unique to you, but it is certainly not a comprehensive guide. There are some things that go without saying when creating a personal brand such as do not use offensive language or symbolism, especially if you are looking for a wide audience. Keep in mind that people of all ages and positions could be looking up your name and you don't want to turn them off to you because of your personal brand as it could cost you many great opportunities in life.
Don't forget to come back tomorrow when I talk about how to exploit and maintain your personal brand. Don't forget to leave comments on the posts as they can be beneficial to everybody when discussing a topic such as this.
-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray
Do you have a Personal Brand?
Welcome back readers!
Today we will continue our look at personal branding and answer the question, 'Do you have a personal brand?'
As a brief summary of yesterday's post, a personal brand is a unique name that sets you apart from everybody else even though they may have the same given name as you.
Now that the summary is out of the way, lets talk about todays topic regarding personal branding. How common is your name? Do you have a 'John Smith' kind of popular name, or is your name a bit more unique like a Gary Vaynerchuk? If you have a popular name, chances are you wont have any hope of creating a personal brand out of your own name. If you have a more unique name like Gary Vaynerchuk, you have a better chance of being able to turn your given name into a personal brand.
The next important question is how do people that have likely never met you know you? What I mean by this, is do you have a nickname that either you gave yourself or that others have given you that is unique to you? If your answer to this is yes, you might have a personal brand. Is the name that you have something that people who have never met you in real life an identify with your or can Google you by and find you without having their results diluted with many other people? If so, you have a personal brand.
I will use myself as an example. As many of you know, my name is Jeremy Bray. Despite the many things I do online, if you Google my name, you likely wont find me very easily. The last time I did a vanity search, I didn't show up for the first 3 or 4 pages. The reason for this is that there appears to be an Australian cricket player with a higher name value than myself because of his celebrity. When I did a Google search on my main internet name, pcnerd37, I got thousands of results which were unique to me. Since I have been using the name pcnerd37 for many years, the name has become unique to me and can be found all over the internet. Pcnerd37 is my personal brand, a name by which anybody could find me and could identify any of my creations with. This unique name not only inspires giggles at conferences, but it is also my most powerful marketing asset. Having something that can uniquely identify me is a very powerful tool when I want to market a project.
Do you have a name like myself that can be Googled and easily found? If so, you have a personal brand, a powerful marketing tool that if used effectively, can propel you to great popularity and many opportunities both on and off the internet.
Come back tomorrow when I will address the next question in my series on personal branding, 'Why should you have a personal brand?'
Jeremy “pcnerd37” Bray
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