Disabling Google Buzz The Easy Way

I’ve been saying for a long time that “Don’t Be Evil” is a nice slogan, but in reality we all know what comes with tremendous amounts of data and information – tremendous power. Google may not be outright evil, but this centralization of all things G- and movement towards high speed fiber, cloud processing, etc., I just think that this article about disabling Google Buzz is useful. I did the silly tweaks that you could do before and was in the process of changing free email providers for personal use, but I am glad CNET points this addition to the settings tab within GMail. I would not have noticed.

I have been known to be a conspiracy theorist and really want to believe in the Loch Ness Monster, so I get where you are coming from if you shrug this off, but every time there is a new shiny gadget I am the first to want it. I had every Nextel phone that came out, as they came out for no real reason. Google Buzz is about as useful to me as Google Wave – but is extremely useful to data hoarders.

Anyhow, I found this on Twitter @andrea88 - I actually have the flu and just turned 36 so I am not doing much besides moping around today. Thanks, Andrea.

Thanks, be well. Don’t get this bug I have. Enjoy your dogs. Eat something bad for you. Be easy.

Best,

Josh

Metadata and Social Networking and Google – a quickie.

Metadata is data about data. It is data.

Social Networking is functionality regarding data about people.

Data is as data does.

What you do with that data is what matters, eh?

So what is Google doing with the data that they are capturing data in support of the Semantic Web? I am sure they will not tell me, but I still wonder, and still do not trust them.

Right now, there is an old “supervisor” of mine shaking his little head at that last comment.

And he is probably still using Chrome like the other cool kids. I wish I was a cool kid.

Best,

Josh

Facebook Badges

Have you ever seen anything so ugly? I am not talking about ME. I am different, but not ugly. Mom promised.

I am talking about the badge itself. Aren’t badges supposed to be something you want to show off? What is the idea of a badge if not to display something you are proud of?

In addition to the template below, there are two other versions:

1. horizontal (with scroll bar)
2. 2 column (where things are split in apparent random manners).

Also, I am curious as to the utility of this. Thoughts? Throw a badge on random pages and have someone join your fan page or whatnot? Because of course, a link isn’t groovy enough I guess and if people are fans, they sometimes need some coaxing to realize that they are, in fact, fans.

Enjoy the weekend.

Josh

screenr.com – plug and recommendation

Okay, I really try to not give plugs to projects that I know very little about, but I will make an exception in this case for a few reasons:

1. I know the lead developer, and he is top-notch. He is also a very solid dude, period. He is probably one of the only people that can make me believe it is possible to develop off of a vision alone. I owe him for that, because it is true.

2. It is actually a useful webapp.

If you tweet, twit, or user Twitter, there may be times where you want to display functionality either to your sales team, a potential lead, or a colleague.

Check out this twitter screencasting tool that is worth a mention if not 5 minutes of your time in case there is one time that this thing might be useful to you. I have already found an occasion to use it and as much as I wish I could claim I had something to do with it, that is not that case.

Best,

Josh

Announcing New Twitter Tool: findatweeter.com

I really wish I had more time to write about this, but I am both hurried and excited. When I am excited I either wet myself or blog. I will choose to blog since I am seeing a Client later today and do not have a clean pair of pants.

I am joking, obviously. I must have like 4 or 5 pairs of clean slacks and at least one pair of jeans.

Mike Miles is a developer whom I have had the pleasure of working with and managing (although he did not need much, if any real management and is one of those developers who just GETS IT). Together we came up with the idea of www.findatweeter.com and he did most of the hard work; he actually coded the thing while I fired off an initial brainstorming document (ouch), rudimentary architecture, Wish List items (oh boy…), and comments on what he had done. It worked out great, although when you actually like a developer you are working on a pet project with, you find yourself reluctant to make critique. At least, that is what they tell me.

Mike nailed it. The guy’s UI skills are awesome. Take a look. UX will be under constant redefinition, although I think we are looking pretty good as-is.

Anyhow, I am excited at what has been built and hope that you find it useful. You can plan and publish Events, locate people near you, basically do all the things that the *other* similar site does but better and with fewer annoyances. I do not like annoyances. Mike has a tolerance, or he would have stopped communication with me a long time ago.

If Mike knows this or not, the project was built using abstract kanban (TM). The board was in our minds, and tasks shifted position without sticky notes. We don’t need no stinkin’ sticky notes! We even blended phases into a singular process of “let’s get it done” and that, also, will soon be trademarked and certification in Get It Done Methodology A.K.A. Limber Development will be available via online course and Money Order (please do not put a name on it – only the dollar amount, which is yet to be determined).

Please enjoy: http://www.findatweeter.com and PLEASE send feedback to contact@findatweeter.com – I know both Mike and myself want this thing to rock and fill whatever void you feel in your Tweeting experience, extend your experience to places never before dreamed of… and if you send us something that would be a good addition, it WILL make it into the next release. Releases come quickly. Sometimes, too quickly. No, you should not read into that.

Thanks so much! Stay LIMBER!

Best,

Josh