This thing is WAY moved...

Yeah it moved a long time ago. All posts have been transferred to my NEW Wordpress-powered blog hosted on my own webspace. Go there now:

luminary blur

Opera 9.5 alpha Tomorrow

Everyone's getting excited about the upcoming release of Opera 9.5 alpha (codename Kestrel) tomorrow. Well, at least I am. I came across this video and I wanted to mirror it here. It highlights a few of the great new features in Opera 9.5. I'm especially interested in the bookmark integration with My Opera. Supposedly Firefox can do this (with an extension or out of the box, I'm not sure) but as an Opera user I'm glad it's finally made its way to Opera 9.5. Enjoy the video, and Happy Opera 9.5 day tomorrow!

Pella Trip

Just got back from my most recent trip to Pella, IA last night. Here are two slideshows of the photos I took.

Tumblr Activity, Remixed Feed

There's been a lot of activity going on at my tumblelog graciously provided by Tumblr (benhinc.tumblr.com). My tumblelog posts really don't feed anywhere but Jaiku (which I don't use). I typically try to post a Pownce link about them so at least someone knows they're there. Pownce feeds to Twitter so whatever you check you'll find out.

All of the above are also fed into the sidebar of this very blog. And of course all of the have RSS feeds that you can subscribe to.

I have also "mixed" my Blogger blog using RSS Mixer. The standard feed is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/bhinc

The mixed page is:

http://www.rssmixer.com/bens_journal

There you can do a variety of things, such as download an Apple widget of the blog, put it on your own webpage, or view it easily on an iPhone.

Enjoy!

Having fun with nanoblogging

This post ties me with my second-highest number of posts in any given month so far this year (4) but it's not just for record-setting purposes.

I love nanoblogging and all of its forms. It's great to be able to shoot off a thought on Pownce or Twitter (or both). Even Tumblr has its place for more advanced thoughts, especially those that include an image or quote. Plus, Tumblr gets all of the tweets which includes all of the pownces. What a party!

So many of my non-tech friends ask me: why? Who reads the crap you write? The honest answer is this: I don't care. I write nanoblog and microblog and macroblog posts for my own edification. Sometimes it's helpful to work out a thought in words. Sometimes I just need to clear my head. Either way, it's healthy and hey, maybe along the way the things I've learned might help someone else. Considering that I'm a teacher by training but a banker in practice, this at least gives me the opportunity to educate.

Angel on the Bed

Slideshow

Just realized you can now embed Picasa albums as slideshows. How cool.

Playing With Angel

Doing things the "Mac" way: A Skitch mini-review

Uploaded with Skitch!

I had a discussion earlier today with a friend of mine who is a die-hard Windows user and occasional Microsoft fanboy/Apple basher. You know, the kind who buys a Zune or Sansa just because it isn't made by Apple. We were talking about Skitch, a cool little app that I was just "invited" to beta test. What is Skitch? Essentially it's a whiz-bang annotation tool that allows you to add text, lines, shapes, and arrows to a screen or webcam capture (see the sample skitch above). I've heard a lot of good things about Skitch so far, especially from Merlin Mann, so I was overjoyed when I was allowed to download it. I even stayed up extra late just to play around with it a bit. Indeed, I was so excited that I saved the overview of Skitch (available in Skitch's help) as a Quicktime file and e-mailed it to my friend. I also sent him a few of my early skitches (see my tumblelog for these) to show him what I'd been doing with the program. I was sure he'd be as impressed with it as I was.

He wasn't. First response: "It's like Paint on Windows. I've had that for years." My response: dumbfounded. How could he even be comparing Skitch to Microsoft Paint? I asked him to elaborate. "I can take a picture with my webcam, save it, open it in Paint, and draw on it. Then I can save it again, and do whatever I want with it." Ok, I thought. I can see he is not getting this.

"But Skitch can do it all in one program." I thought I had won him over - yes, you could perform the same functions in Windows and get the same end result. But it was not as easy, and by no means as slick. I thought I had him for sure. Then comes the kicker:

"I don't see the point of it. I don't think I would have any use for it." And that was where it ended. How could I argue with that? If you don't need a program, why use it? I let the conversation stew all day and then while at work it hit me. I have discovered what I feel may be the fundamental difference between Windows users and Mac users. And it all comes down to one thing: my thoughtful rebuttal to his final comment. What do I think the point of Skitch is and what do I use it for?

It's only been a day so I'm not sure if I'll be using Skitch a year from now - I'll say that much right from the start. I think I've already hit on what the point of Skitch is in my introduction - annotation. But why do I need to annotate? And what? This part almost stumped me until I arrived at this: I don't need Skitch, Skitch needs me. I have never had the need to annotate a screenshot or webcam capture before nor have I ever attempted the procedure. Why? Because the old way of doing it - the Windows way - is a difficult, multi-step process that requires multiple saves and several programs. Why would anyone want to do this on Windows with tools like the "PrtScn" key and MS Paint? You could draw a picture of what your trying to say quicker. Skitch is useful because it's there - because it does something that heretofore had been difficult and time consuming. Yes, I might not have a need for Skitch, but because I have Skitch I will find ways that it will work for me. In essence, I am more productive because of Skitch because I am doing something that I would have never considered doing before.

I think my take on Skitch can be applied to the whole OS X experience. OS X is an operating system just like Windows and I will not deny that there are strengths that are inherent to both platforms. But OS X's true strength is its ability to reveal a level of productivity that Windows can only dream of. I do things with OS X that I had never done before on my Windows machine - not because I couldn't do them but because it was either difficult or not readily available. And I'm sure if you would have asked me back then if some of the things I do now were "useful" or had a "point" I would have said no.

Skitch is a fun, easy-to-use app. Do I need its functionality in my daily life? No, not in the least. Do I need to annotate screenshots and webcam captures? Not at all. Will I do these things now because I can? You bet.

iPhoneChat - iChat for iPhone in JavaScript

These little iPhone apps keep coming and some of them are really interesting. It is truly amazing what you can do with AJAX and a little ingenuity these days.



read more | digg story

Facebook, Twitter, et al.

It's been a while since I've done a substantial post to my "real" blog (that is, not a miniblog or a microblog). Funny enough, though, that my thoughts on Facebook also relate to Tumblr and Twitter as well as the whole "Web 2.0" phenomenon in general.

First, Facebook. I've been on and off Facebook for a while, first discovering it in early 2004 shortly after its founding as a way to keep in touch with my former classmates at the University of Oklahoma. At the time I didn't "get it" so I let the account fade away. Later I re-registered because I'd been locked out of the original account due to the fact that I no longer had access to my ou.edu e-mail address. I was surprised to find out that this is against their terms of use and that I should've just e-mailed them about my situation and they would have fixed it for me. Nevertheless, my original account was disabled so I had to rebuild my friends from scratch. This ended up being not too big of a deal for me since it allowed me to "rediscover" Facebook as I went along. I grew to like it more and more but now with the release of "Facebook Applications," I don't see any reason why Facebook shouldn't be my - or anyone's for that matter - primary network. The advantages over Myspace are too many to count, perhaps the number one being that Facebook limits what you can do with your profile as far as customization is concerned. Some may see this as a drawback but I'd wager that no one can say that they've never been to a poorly templated Myspace page. I'm sure I'm also to blame for this as who could resist the tempation to decorate if it's offered to you? Facebook doesn't offer this but they do allow you to arrange the components of your profile which is a handy way to keep what's important to you at the top where it's easily visible. I've just started exploring the available applications (I'm way more liberal than I thought I was, for example) and I'm especially excited to see how the Twitter application works.

Ah, Twitter. The day I discovered Twitter (I'm not sure if it was Leo Laporte or Buzz Out Loud that tipped me off to it first) I jumped in to it head-first. I thought the mobile aspect of it was great until I had two months of cell phone bills with text message overages. For some reason I thought that my plan included 250 outgoing messages and unlimited incoming messages when in fact the 250 number included all messages. This prompted me to turn off the mobile updates but I still enjoy the ability to post an update via my cell once in a while. What's really cool about Twitter - like Facebook - is the open API. This allowed for lots of cool 3rd-party extras, including the most awesome Twittervision and the excellent Twitterific. Posting via a Jabber-enabled chat client (Google Talk, Adium, etc.) was great too - when it worked. Despite the bugs I was hooked from the start and still am. My overall post volume has gone down over time and when I do post it seems to come in fits and starts. Somehow, though, the idea of having three types of blogs - macro, mini, and micro - is on one hand extreme overkill and on the other infinitely satisfying. Sometimes I have a thought or an announcement that needs immediate broadcasting - Twitter solves this for me. Sometimes I see links, stories, videos, photos, etc. that I find interesting and Tumblr makes it very easy to post these in an intuitive and seamless way. And when I really want to sit down and type something out - like this post - Blogger fills the bill nicely.

Speaking of Tumblr...the premiere miniblogging service, at least in my eyes. Like Jaiku, Tumblr lets you import posts from just about any feed you like. So, I have my Blogger posts go there as well as my Picasa Web Albums updates, my Google Reader shared links, and my del.icio.us bookmarks. I'm about to add my Twitter feed to that list so that Tumblr can serve as a repository for nearly everything I do online. What I like about Tumblr is its simplicity which is most evident in its lack of a commenting system. Sure, Tumblr has added the ability to have "friends" as every Web 2.0 site seems to be required to do. But Tumblr's friends are non-intrusive - the only thing that happens is that your friends posts show up in your Tumblr Dashboard. Sure, you could put your friends Tumblr feeds into your favorite feed reader and get the same effect but for some reason it's nice to keep everything Tumblr-related on Tumblr. Google Reader is for my news and Tumblr is for my...fun? I mention Jaiku because after the Great Laporte Exodus from Twitter I headed over to Jaiku like a good little lemming and felt...overwhelmed. Three types of blogs doesn't bother me but hundreds of comments to read through does. Sometimes a thought should be just that - a thought.

The last piece of my Web 2.0 missive is on video. Once upon a time (like what, last year?) YouTube and Google Video were what web-based video was. Uploaded user generated content - what could be cooler? The answer: LIVE user-generated content. This is where Ustream.tv comes in. I know for sure that I learned about Ustream from Leo Laporte and I owe him a debt of gratitude. I also owe a bit to Skype which prompted me to purchase a webcam for video calls. While I ended up not using the webcam much for Skype it has become very useful for my forays into the world of live webcasting. As Leo says, if you would've told me last year that I'd be streaming live onto the internet for all to see form the comfort of my living room I would've called you crazy. The future is here and while I'm not streaming at the moment (transcoding video takes a lot of processor power as it is), the ability to do so at any time is extremely powerful. All one has to do is consider the ramifications of this ability on communications in general and you can get the idea of how big this is. One to one video (e.g. Skype) is cool but one-to-many opens a whole new world of possibilities. Impromptu TV shows, presentations, heck whole new business models could spring out of this ability. It will be interesting to see where Ustream goes from here. I'm sure they have more up their sleeves.

The question all of this Facebook-Twitter-Tumblr-Ustream talk inevitably raises is: what will I be writing about next year? What's the next step? What new idea will someone dream up to revolutionize communications once again? I'm not one to predict so I'll leave those questions for you and me to ponder over the next 12 months. In the meantime I'll be anxiously awaiting WWDC - only 11 days to go!

Live Video

You may have noticed my new live video stream located in the upper right corner of the page. I'm going to try to stream live whenever I'm at the computer. Also I've got some videos that are archived on the ustream.tv site. Click here to go to my page. Every time I make a recorded video I also post it on my tumblelog (benhinc.tumblr.com) so it will also appear in the tumblr feed in the sidebar of this blog. Here is my latest just for good measure.

Back Online

Finally got my internet back yesterday (after a week offline) so I've been busy downloading/reading/catching up on podcasts/vidcasts. It's hard to really know how much you miss something until you go a week without it. Oh TWiT, MacBreak Weekly, Windows Weekly, Buzz Out Loud, etc....what would I do without you?

Quickly: New Additions

Some new "parts" of the blog I wanted to point out. First, the sidebar. I have done a little reorganization and have decided to make a valiant attempt to centralize everything here. The original centralization effort was focused on my page on Google Pages, but considering that that is somewhat more difficult to update than Blogger, I have focused on this instead. Also, Blogger's ability to add feeds to the sidebar makes it extremely easy for things to auto-update. So, now there is a sidebar section for my photo albums which will always list my latest uploads to Picasa Web whether I remember to update Blogger or not (nice!). I also have my Tumblr feed in the sidebar so you can see my latest tumblelog posts. All posts here also get imported into Tumblr. Finally I have added a widget that gives my status in Twitter.

Save Internet Radio! Petition

Save Internet Radio! Petition

Bent Rim = Flat Tire

What luck I've been having. The check engine light is still on and now I have a flat.

American Idol Reaction

Yeah, I'm that...well, whatever word you want to use. Anyway, I think I can sum up tonight's eliminations with one thought: Antonella and Sanjaya need to go home. Now. I can't believe that either of them is still around. Antonella seems to be the most blatantly artificial contestant on the show this year. She is a weak singer yet always manages to act superior. She is the exact opposite of the awesome Melinda Doolittle, who is my current favorite. And poor Sanjaya...he's an okay singer, I guess, but he just seems so awkward. And what was with the whispering thing on Tuesday? I could barely hear the guy. With that said, I'm sad to see Nick and Leslie go. I think they both had something unique to bring to the competition and I vastly prefer them to Antonella and Sanjaya. You know what? Maybe people just like their goofy names...

And while I'm on the topic, here's my top three of the final ten guys and girls. Note that they are unranked.

Top Three Guys:

• Blake Lewis - Blake would be a unique choice. Not the strongest singer by far, Blake can throw down the beat-boxing, which is pretty cool all by itself. Also, Blake seems to somehow exude cool without it seeming at all forced or awkward. A definite plus.
• Chris Richardson - A safer choice than Blake because I think he might have more mainstream appeal due to his strengths in hip-hop and R&B music. But, unlike Blake, sometimes his "cool" can seem just a bit forced. But, he's definitely better at it than Elliott Yamin who always managed to look awkward.
• Phil Stacey - The safest choice of the guys by far. He has a strong voice and wide appeal because he seems so...normal. His military background is especially poignant at a time of war. So, in essence, what Simon calls "boring" I call "moldable." That's right, Phil can become whatever the record label wants him to be.

Top Three Girls:

• Melinda Doolittle - Let's be honest: this girl can blow. I've already admitted that I think she's the frontrunner, or at least has a very very good chance to win. Simon is absolutely right about her in that her attitude is so refreshing. She is so unpretentious that's she's almost meek. The other girls probably run all over her...until she opens her mouth.
• Lakisha Jones - She's the new Mandisa, and while I liked Mandisa, I like Lakisha even better. Maybe it's because she isn't lugging all that "gospel choir" baggage around with her. Or maybe she is and we just don't know about it yet. Time will tell, but for now she has an awesome voice.
• Gina Glocksen - The dark horse front runner. I'm not sure what draws me to Gina. It may be her alliterative name, the fact that she's a local girl (from Naperville, IL), I'm not sure. But I think she has a big voice and a different style about her that is refreshing. She's also not pretentious either - she seems pretty confident about herself and her abilities but not overly so.

What do you think? Leave a comment if you disagree with my selections!

Talk about a short attention span...

Yeah, so, remember that podcast thing I'd been talking about? Yeah, I don't either. OK, to be honest, I'm really really interested in doing something like a podcast, but the amount of time it takes is kind of daunting. Preparation, recording, post production, posting, etc. That's a lot of work. So, I've decided (for now) to put my "work" into other pursuits.

Introducing...WikiPets. Yes, it's a wiki. Yes, it's about pets. Isn't that cool? Like any other wiki in the world, anyone can contribute and boy do I need it! Three incomplete articles just isn't going to cut it. So if you're a pet lover or just happen to know a lot about pets, sign up and start writing. I'll be here if you need any help. My name on the site is, appropriately enough, Wikipets.

WikiPets

Angel Sleeping

Angel in Her Two Flat

Angel & Her Toys

Here's my latest video creation starring my little girl, Angel.

Enjoy!!!