TECH411.ORG

By Jon M. Cohen – New Media Specialist

“What is Twitter?” My 65-year-old mother asks me? This question emerges after she is told that Elizabeth Taylor is on Twitter (A celebrity she is fond of). I look at my mother and just pretend she never asked the question and go on with my day. I think to myself; “Elizabeth Taylor is on Twitter, this may be a sign of the end of the world”. Yes, I do say that tongue in cheek, but the real significant point to take from this fact is that Twitter is getting big, real big and even for people who are so non-technology related (both in age and knowledge).

As for the masses, the average everyday person who is using Twitter and loving it we have seen a great step forward in how and what people can tweet about. Like traditional mass media that evolved from print to audio to video we see with the addition of video to the new Apple iPhone 3GS great changes are on the horizon. With the native ability to post video from the iPhone to YouTube, Mobile Me or share it with email or MMS it gives iPhone owners a lot of choices; but the missing parts to this equation in my view is the ability to share these rich media files with Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed. But like in most situations like this, when we see a gap in the technology we can find ways to fill the gap, thus with the iPhone SDK, developers have had a chance to create Apps that can help bridge the gap.

One Video App that I have had a chance to test out is an iPhone App called TweetReel. It is a simple and clean looking App that offers great functionality. Colin from TweetReel was kind enough to disclose to me that even though the App is launching July 7, 2009 and is a great way to share your videos and pictures from the iPhone; this will not stop the TweetReel development team to continue improving the App. He feels that TweetReel will see some great improvements from the soon to be released iPhone 3.1 software update.

From my testing, I have had good experiences with this App. The only issue that I have seen with this App is related to a short video I took and was posting it to my Twitter when a phone call came in, after the call the iPhone went back into the TweetReel App but was not able to keep video saved. My solution to the issue is to capture the video in the native camera app and then just use TweetReel to post the video to my Twitter feed. A simple and effective solution!

One of the nice features of TweetReel is the easy user account setup, and because TweetReel uses your Twitter name your followers have a consistent way of finding you. The price for TweetReel will be $0.99 on launch day (July 7, 2009) and then move up to $2.99. In my opinion this is a small price to pay to get this level of integration to Twitter. Some other future plans for TweetReel include the addition of Facebook, as well being able to save video (thus fixing my above stated issue).

I would highly suggest giving TweetReel a try; it is a great App that has a lot of value for anyone who likes to share video in his or her Twitter feed. My TweetReel, My Twitter

By Jon M. Cohen

As you might be aware of already, the new iPhone is set to launch on June 19th. 2009. With the release of this new hardware device we see a lot of new added features. But what about the little iPod Touch? Yes it does get the great 3.0 software upgrade that allows for many improvements, but does it really matter on the same outdated hardware? The answer is maybe. The real interesting thing to note is that Apple has posted on its website that the new 3.0 software upgrade for the iPod Touch with allow for stereo bluetooth connectivity a feature that has been long asked for by iPhone users. You may say big deal, the iPhone and the iPod Touch now with OS 3.0 have many great new features, but the real big deal is that the current iPod Touch does not have any bluetooth built in and thus a claim of bluetooth connectivity can only suggest that new hardware will be coming out soon.

With this expected hardware upgrade it would be wise of Apple to also include a camera. Only time will tell and if my guess is correct we will not need to wait very long to see this new iPod Touch.

Well, democracy is running wild around the world!

As the United States plans on lifting the embargo on Cuba, we see a move by Facebook to allow a democratic vote to set the “Terms of Service – the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Facebook Principles”. A move that is quite in contrast to the move that Facebook made about two months ago when they told all users that they own all the users content on the site. But why make such a huge 180-degree turn? Why let people vote? Can it really be democratic? These are only answers that time will tell, and the actions of Facebook in the next few months will really show the users and the world if they believe in democracy or if this is just a big hoax. 

Some interesting points to keep in mind are the following;

1. Will Facebook users even read the proposed changes document? It is to be assumed that most users of Facebook are not aware of the right that they have given to Facebook originally and further more don’t have the patients to read the suggested changes.

2. Will Facebook China be allowed to vote in a democratic election? Since China has not had a democratic vote politically for years, it can be assumed that the governing rulers will not want to allow such freedoms. As well all other non-democratic countries, will they have a chance to vote?

3. Will Facebook be opening themselves up to a world of unexpected user expectations by suggesting that they are now democratic? It would be assumed that by letting the users vote on this topic that Facebook users may now expect and want to vote on all other future changes since this precedent is being set.

It is a good move in my opinion to let users vote and get involved, I am not sure if I would say it is the best idea because once pandora’s box is opened it will be very difficult to close and now Facebook users will expect to vote all further changes. This might cause even greater push back against Facebook in years to come; as it can me assumed that Facebook will not want to release control.

By Jon M. Cohen

Loving Twitter is not a crime! Not using it to it’s potential is not a crime either, but it is a shame if you don’t really see all that Twitter can offer you. Unlike other social media websites Twitter has an API that is open and allows for developers to create applications that can be independent of the web browser. One fairly new application is TweetDeck, based on the amazingly versatile Adobe Air language. TweetDeck, still in Beta has a great deal of useful components to it. Of course you can do all the basic features that one would expect from a Twitter application. Functions like: posting a tweet, seeing friend’s timeline, and seeing direct messages. The things that really stands out for me with TweetDeck is the added features that come built in to this application.

Since TweetDeck is an Adobe Air based application it is easily installable on all three major software platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux).

Some of the most useful features in my opinion are “TwitScoop”, “Twitter Search”, “Stock Twits”, and “Groups” 

    * TwitScoop is in my opinion the most useful feature that TweetDeck offers. What you get with this feature is the ability to see what are the most popular buzzwords being posted on Twitter. So if you want to know the trends or the topics that the whole Internet community is talking about? Then the answer can be easily found with this feature.

    * Twitter Search is a powerful and very useful tool that will allow you to type in a keyword and then TweetDeck will create a section for you to see all the tweets about that keyword.

    * Stock Twits is just as you assume a tracker for your favorite symbols from any of the major exchanges. It is fast and easily customizable to the users preferences. All that is needed is to signup at the website and configure your portfolio.

    * Groups, this may seem like an expected feature for any Twitter application, and frankly it is common in some. But what TweetDeck does differently with its configuration and the power behind this feature is what sets it apart from all other competitors. With the groups feature you can choose which tweets you want to see while not seeing all the other people you follow. 

A few other nice parts about this application is the ability to pick the color scheme you want, as well the settings allow you to tweak the Twitter API on refresh rates. 

TweetDeck still has some room to grow and it is apparent that it is still in Beta. With that being said I would still highly recommend it for all Twitter users. In my opinion it is a must have application for all Twittter users. Get your own copy of TweetDeck here.

TweetDeck Full screenshot

By Jon M. Cohen

Data is important to most people, but when the idea of backup is discussed, many are always confused on how to backup their data correctly. In the next few paragraphs I will reveal 3 of the biggest mistakes people make based on my experience. 

When we look at today’s computers vs. computers in the past 5 years, we see that a lot has changed. From size and speed to price and storage, the greatest changes in what average consumers get on new computers are the size of hard disc drives. 5 years ago a 10 or 20 Gigabyte hard drive was standard. Most people didn’t have a second thought when it came to the amount of data that would be needed in the future. Over the last number of years we have seen an explosion of data. Now on average most consumers own at least some type of digital camera and portable music player. With the introduction of these devices the desire to create and download content is great. From downloading music files, videos, or creating photos of your friends and family; either way you slice it, one can agree that the need for large capacity hard drive should be top of mind today. 

The first thing people think is that one back up is enough. This is a mistake. I believe that if you don’t have it backed up on two separate pieces of media then you might as well not back up. Therefore, always have a backup of your backup. Sounds like common sense but too many people believe that one copy is enough.

The second point is not to trust that the computer or software is 100% foolproof. All computers have issues and all software has issues. This doesn’t mean that it won’t work all the time; it just means that sometime issues arise and when they occur you need to be prepared. The best way is to test your backup system at least once a month. Some simple ways of doing this are by looking at the files backed up and making sure they match the bit and file sizes that you have on the original computer. If you have an extra computer sitting around, you can try to reload your backup on that computer, but be aware it is a long process.

The third point to remember and try to avoid is keeping all your backups in the same location. I always suggest to people to have one of the backup copies of your home machine at your office or at a friend’s house and likewise keep a backup copy of your office data at your house. Some of the smartest choices are to use a fireproof safe to store the drive. As well, if you are going to keep it out in the open then a lock on the drive will detour someone from robbing you. 

Over the next number of years we know that one thing is for certain, the amount of data that we create or need to keep will increase, and it is more then reasonable to assume that this data will be ever more important and valuable to us; therefore, finding the right solution to backup your data is key. No matter what you decide to use to backup your important data just keep these three concepts at the top of your mind and try to not make the same mistake that so many others have made before. I leave you with this final thought; you can never have too many backups.