It’s finally time for me to bite the bullet and pull together an answer to Heidi Cool’s practical question: how has blogging impacted your work? When she tagged me in May, andydesoto.com was merely two months old, and, to be honest, I didn’t know what to say. Over the last few months, though, my familiarity with and respect for the medium has grown by leaps and bounds. Reading .eduGuru Kyle James’ own response to the meme was the push I needed to respond to this question myself. Here’s my answer.
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Posts tagged as:
google reader
Reading better, writing better, working better?
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iPhone or no phone?
It’s late and it’s a holiday, but this bizarre post (and equally bizarre parody) inspired me to write a tiny bit about the 3G iPhone that’s coming out exactly a week from today, on July 11. I know there’s plenty of press out there already about the device, but it never hurts to put a personal slant on things and also weigh in with readers.
A bit of backstory: when the first-generation 2G iPhone was announced, I nabbed a 16GB iPod Touch. I’m not kidding when I say the gadget dramatically changed the way I went about everyday life on a college campus. Since Wi-Fi is basically ubiquitous on the William & Mary grounds, constant connectivity afforded by the Touch was able to untether me from desktops, libraries, and even my old and clunky IBM notebook.
Particularly crucial were the following:
- being able to check e-mail from anywhere on campus
- the beautiful Facebook iPhone page helping me keep in touch with friends
- Google Reader for complete print and online media replacement
With the 3G phone, these pros would be enhanced even further. Connectivity away from Wi-Fi hotspots, gadget consolidation with my blocky LG phone, and a decent camera to boot– the whole package proves extremely appealing. Plus, the iPhone’s one of the premiere gadgets with which to engage in the latest social media, always a favorite when waiting for class to start.
The downside, of course: the price. Even the smallest plan and a paltry 200 text messages a month costs a prohibitive $75/month, which may be manageable for a businessman but not so much so for your average college student. Plus, many folks just aren’t wowed by the feature set. Says Raj Dandekar,
“Still no video recording, no MMS, no stereo Bluetooth for listening to music, no Bluetooth file transfer, no removable battery, no expandable memory, no tethering to a laptop to use as a 3G modem, no copy ‘n’ paste, 3rd party application support stinks…”
This laundry list of letdowns is enough to give even the most dedicated gadgeteer pause.
As for me, I’m still up in the air. An old coworker of mine and good friend is now working at a local Apple store, and I’d love a chance to see him. The question remains: is my chance to do so next Friday, or at some indeterminable date down the road?
What do you think?
(Need some more info on the soon-to-be-released gadget? Hit up local Williamsburg blogger Brett Peters’ site and read what he has to say. Informative yet still easy to digest!)
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Other social networks to try besides Facebook
My blog feed passes by a captive audience of my Facebook friends every time I publish a new post. To many of us, Facebook is the first social network we became involved in and it’s the one we stay most active in, too. However, it doesn’t necessarily need to be this way; there are plenty of other social networks and utilities out there that provide great opportunities, as well. This post is intended for friends that might be unfamiliar with some of the other networks out there, but if you’re a seasoned pro, please chime in and add your own thoughts too!
If you enjoy keeping up with your friends and discovering new websites, videos, and photos through Facebook, here’s a list of four other networks you might like to take a look at. I’ve written up a short description of each and rated them, on a one to five scale, on ease of use, time commitment, and community friendliness from the perspective of a Facebook user.
One of the most popular networks out there, Twitter is essentially a distilled Facebook Status that continually asks the question, “What are you doing?” Twitter users answer this question in a variety of ways and in varying detail, ranging from giving simple descriptions of what was for dinner to transmitting the text of an entire novel. This utility might not seem too groundbreaking at first, but, as most of the community can attest to, it gets addictive, fast. Sign up for an account, update every once in a while, and get some friends on the service, and you’ll start spending much less time on Facebook.
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