JustinLL

That Party Is Over

JustinLL — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:45:05 +0000

It’s been a good two weeks, having my brother home and all. Logged a lot of family time and ate a month’s worth of home cooking in a very short amount of time. (Dad and Mom make sure little brother gets many of his favorite meals. We probably all gained a little weight, but it’s well worth it.) Included two separate turkey dinners and a Tacos de Lengua feast last Saturday. Which is to say, a lot of faces at the dinner table to show love. I appreciate all them making time. I’m thankful for that. Much thanks to the parents, too!

Now, after my brother’s two week vacation, I need to rest. You can bet we were busy late nearly every night visiting the local spots. (Sorry, no pictures. My camera never came out of its bag.) I wasn’t on vacation so I had the joy of waking early to make my way to work. I’m going to have a nap then see about paying my fine with the County library. Seems I lost track of something.

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Tweeting With The Stars

JustinLL — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:55:15 +0000

It isn’t as exciting as it sounds, but @britneyspears and @THE_REAL_SHAQ have made their respective ways to the twitter stream. Shaq seems to be doing his own tweeting, while Britney occasionally chimes-in between those tweets entered by her PR team. Which is to say that Shaq seems to be enjoying the Twitterverse , while Team Britney is working a piece of her marketing campaign . Shaq is more entertaining.

My bigger interest with their twitter presence is who they choose to follow. Is it just fans? Is there any interest in the tech world? Are there other folks from their industries jumping on the twitter wagon? (Managers, Agents, PR Firms, etc.) Are they following and reading my tweets? Should I let Shaq know I’m a Kings fan and still upset about the 2002 Western Conference Finals?

Currently @britneyspears has a follow/following of 1,555/9,010 and @THE_REAL_SHAQ is showing 270/10,108. (Should note that Britney appeared about a month and a half earlier, yet she trails in followers.) And while these are relatively impressive numbers, they are nowhere near the likes of @ijustine 1,562/27,066, @Scobleizer 20,978/39,808, or @JasonCalacanis 48,114/40,983. (I was surprised to see his numbers. Where did he find an additional 7,000+ people to follow?) All their numbers are ridiculous when I consider my own 171/182 ratio. I can barely keep up with reading them, let alone find time to reply.

Perhaps more Hollywood celebrities will pop into the world of Tweeting. It’ll be interesting to see the potential number of followers they’ll bring with them. Can TwitterLand survive another growth spurt or are we looking at a bunch more fail whales in 2009 as the service tries to go mainstream?

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A Week’s Worth Of 50-Word Posts

JustinLL — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:01:54 +0000

It’s tough when you know you’re not going to allow for the necessary word count to fully explain a thought or idea, but it’s a fun challenge to say as much as possible, as clearly as possible, in a limited space. The most attractive piece being the lack of pressure to completely fill the empty space. Being tied to a maximum amount of words, created a more inviting environment for jotting quick thoughts. I guess that’s the intent of micro blogging, except you only have a 140 characters, which isn’t quite enough to get 50 words.

A couple of the posts were worse off than the rest (There were only four or five, right?). My Book Meme post not only left off Leah Culver’s Book Meme post , but should have instructed the reader to post the sentence in his own blog; a result of my shrinking the instructions to leave room for my own comment at the bottom of the post. There just wasn’t space to say all I wanted. Anyhow, a Book Meme search is pretty neat.

The second suffering post was that of my Google’s no good at social media post, and shouldn’t bother with acquiring Twitter. Clearly, a point of view that requires a bit of elaboration supporting the claim. Which is to say, that it’s work to write a full entry for such a topic. I’ve put it on my follow-up list, and it involves things like Orkut, Lively, and PicasaWeb. We’ll get there, don’t worry.

I enjoyed it. It was an interesting exercise. I had a handful of short posts I meant to write, but never got around to (as usual). I’ll now be less concerned with my word counts, be they more or fewer.

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FCC, Google On White Space Goodness

JustinLL — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:01:47 +0000

"A billion WiFi devices this year." –Larry Page. Soon we’ll swicth that WiFi for White Space, allowing for farther, faster transfers. (Think unlimited mobile-to-mobile video chat.) The Google Public Policy Blog posted an interview with Kevin Martin (FCC) and Larry Page (Google) . Check it out.

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Book Meme

JustinLL — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:01:31 +0000

Only then she seemed to remember and with sudden abstraction she signalled for a taxi - Tender Is the Night , F. Scott Fitzgerald

- Grab the nearest book.
- Open it to page 56.
- Post the fifth sentence with these instructions.

Coincidentally, my bookmark has been on page 56 for two weeks. Weird or Lazy?

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No Twitter For Google

JustinLL — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:45:33 +0000

It doesn’t make sense for Google to buy Twitter. While it might be a great micro-blogging platform, it doesn’t bring much to the table. Not the way blogger did, which was a reasonable acquisition at the time. It may be that Google pwns Twitter , but Google generally sucks at social media.

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Now Accepting Applications In Free Verse

JustinLL — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:08:51 +0000

Applying for a job that has nothing to do with creative writing, you’re asked to write a poem in 60 words or less describing your last job? A quick housing haiku might do.

Windows In The Living Room

we all need housing,
where families live and grow –
expect more than walls

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Keeping It Real…Short

JustinLL — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:58:09 +0000

I’m thinking I’ll do this all week, even though the suggestion to post a "50-word-or-less blog entry " was a one-time deal. I’m always going on about brevity and being concise yet I wander and ramble when I write, so this is a good exercise — an exercise in editing, eliminating wordiness.

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Show ‘Em Stumble Love — StumbleUpon

JustinLL — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:00:19 +0000

StumbleUpon is more than just a time-wasting browser add-on to discovering the web. It can also be used to promote interesting or entertaining pages. You needn’t install the toolbar if the page you’re viewing provides a link. So, show the love and Stumble; a close second to leaving a comment.

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AT&T Buys Free WiFi Hot Spots

JustinLL — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:30:09 +0000

This morning, AT&T announced that it will buy Waypoint, Inc . to the tune of $275 million (all cash, baby) thereby expanding AT&T’s network of free WiFi hot spots across the US. A response to the increased number of WiFi enabled smart phones hitting the market and the continued cost burden to the 3G network, which is losing AT&T money

AT&T’s 3G network has been hit hard with loads of people using iPhones, Blackberries, and other smart phones for data and voice, as opposed to just voice. This inundation of data use (to browse Facebook, check email, Twitter, or upload photos and stream video) has forced AT&T to realize the value of opening a free WiFi networked infrastructure. AT&T customers carrying a WiFi enabled hand held can jump onto one of AT&T’s hot spots, which they just expanded by 10,000 locations by agreeing to purchase Waypoint, Inc., and surf the web at WiFi speeds which are much faster than 3G speeds. Hopefully, this will reduce the burden to the 3G network and save AT&T some money.

The major hindrance being that WiFi has a relatively limited range, so unless you’re sitting in the coffee house, at the McDonald’s, or near enough to any of the other now 20,000 US locations, you’re probably not going to offload too much of the 3G burden. Although, maybe a little less burden is just enough to keep 3G working for now. At least until 4G comes along.

The added Waypoint locations also benefit AT&T’s DSL subscribers, who can use their WiFi enabled laptops at any of these hot spots.

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