What's this all about then? It's a blog. We get that. How is reading this blog going to change your life, you may ask yourself. It isn't... or at least it shouldn't. One goal of this blog is to examine how web based communications and connections can be used as a tool to enhance, not replace, traditional face to face information exchanges.
So why bother with all of this? Are there not countless blogs, books, videos, and other media out there doing exactly this? I am sure there are, in fact I know there are. And hopefully, this experiment will help me to explore and utilize those references to create new ways to tie together information across a multitude of formats.
One day, when discussing technology adoption rates, a close mentor told me “You have to think of everything in terms of your Grandmother. If she 1) Owns it and 2) Uses it, then it is officially mainstream.” I always keep this in the back of my head when developing new product offerings, projects, or other technology driven deliveries, and it is good advise, especially if the project is targeted beyond the 18 – 34 crowd.
With that in mind, what can this possibly do with browser plug-ins? One word. Security. Many less tech savvy people are running old computers, with old operating systems, old browsers, with modern and new threats. This is not just Grandmothers, but Grandfathers, Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, etc, in reality, anyone you know that may not be up to speed with newer technology. These are the people that click on the ads that say “You have won, click here” and click links on email that tell them to supply their bank account numbers. These are people that you, the “tech guru” of their life, need to step in and say “Hey (family member), why don’t I help make your computer more secure?”
Now there are several things that you can do for them; approve the 412 updates that are “ready” for their computer, set them up with a cloud based email service, upgrade their browser, etc. However, many of these may take a lot more time that you have to spend (but I do it anyway of course), so here are 3 things you can do to help that family member or friend out (I promise, we are getting to WOT, hang on).
Turn on automatic updates (that way they should self install on their own)
Install a modern browser and make it their default, Firefox or Chrome work well for this and are quick installs.
Install Web of Trust
So what is Web of Trust (WOT). WOT is the safe surfing tool for every member of your family. WOT’s traffic-light style rating system can be explained to and understood by almost anyone:
Green = Safe
Yellow =Caution
Red = Stop
The WOT add-on shows you which websites you can trust for safe surfing, shopping and searching on the web. It is easy-to-use, fast and completely free. See the video below for a brief overview:
So go be a good friend or family member, and help further secure someones computer. For more information, see the WOT website, or go to the plug-in page for WOT inside your browser.
Web Geek's Guide to Google Chrome
:: AmazonMAKE THE MOST OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST NEW BROWSER, GOOGLE CHROME! Finally, there's a web browser for today's Internet, and today's user: you!
Firefox For Dummies
:: AmazonFirefox For Dummies gives you the inside scoop on the exciting new browser from the Web wizard that got it started. The book's author, Blake
Just started using Blip.fm, what a cool service. While I really like the idea behind Twitter, I personally don’t use it a whole lot for outputting expression, I am more of a a watcher to see what other peole are doing. However, with Blip.fm, I find it much easier to be interactive with others. It may be my affinity for music, but I like being able to share moods, memories, thoughts, whatever, tied to particular music. It’s like adding a soundtrack to my life, which I find fun.
The interface is nice, much like Twitter, with some added info on each blip (song artist and name). As other “DJ’s” that you have subscribed to blip their music, it comes up on your page, and you can re-blip, add it to your favorites, or just wait until your player gets to the song they blipped, and starts playing it.
The two other music services I use are Pandora and Last.fm. If you were to make a line graph with the left side being music and the right side being social, these three services would line up something like this:
Social Music Graph
I think this is the ideal position for someone who loves music, but wants to explore and share it more via social networking. Listen to my Blip.fm station today and try it for yourself!
Finally back to working on stover/logic, made some changes and updates. One of the new features installed is CommentLuv, a pretty cool way to connect people between blogs. Here is an excerpt from the author, Andy Bailey’s blog
The CommentLuv WordPress Plugin will visit the feed of the comment author and attempt to scrape the last post they made and display it under their comment, this way you can encourage people to join in the discussion of your posts and give something back straight away.
The plugin looks for a feed at the site given in the URL field of the commentform, if you have an auto find feed then it should find it.
The plugin retrieves your last post at the time of the comment being entered and appends the extra text just before the comment gets saved to the database, this way it doesn’t put any extra load on the database or server other than the effort required add another 60 or so characters to the comment content.
Over the last three months, this blog has fallen mostly silent. The original goals I set out for this site ended up being a little too focused to hold my interest, and there are many other things that did not fit within the original context of stover/logic that I write about, or comment on on a regular basis. So, without too much fanfare, I am going to expand the mission of this site to encompass pretty much anything that comes across my desk / into my head, take a look at everything in stover/logic at some point in the future, and determine then if there is a pattern of information that can define what this blog is actually about.
Over the next few weeks, I am going to be updating the site with new features, new topics, and new information. Probally the same design, as I like this template, and I did not have to do much work on it to get it where it is. Thanks to PowerTheme for creating such an easy to use, simple theme.
ugh! @digg the new site may not be well accepted but at least get the servers to handle the load (guess if we can't use it, can't complain)09:20:27 PM September 01, 2010from web
