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How I Keep Track of Facebook Without Visiting Facebook

Facebook, Inc.
Image via Wikipedia

I can’t stand Facebook. It’s not really anything they did. It’s nothing personal. I just don’t really like going there. It wasn’t as bad before the site redesign, but they managed to do exactly what was necessary to make the interface more annoying and confusing. The redesign does have some redeeming qualities, but mostly it makes my head hurt.

My friends over on FriendFeed actually got me interested in using Facebook again. Not that they all love it or anything, but some of them do use it. After adding them as friends, I found I was actually getting comments on my status messages, people were throwing sheep at me, and I felt kinda bad that I wasn’t engaging them there.

Via SMS

I use a combination of methods for tracking what’s going on with my FB friends when I’m not there. The first method is via my mobile phone. I don’t have the web or a camera, but I do have text messaging. I went to my Account Settings->Mobile and activated Facebook Mobile. The default settings seem to work just fine.

Via IM

This part was a little trickier, but only because I had no clue how to do it at first. The solution was Notify.Me and I would have liked to link to the article where I read about it, but my ADD has since pushed that out of my mind for newer and shinier things. Notify.Me is definitely the primary method I use for keeping up…with Facebook.

Once you have signed up for Notify.Me, visit this tutorial on their Wiki. It details how to follow your Notifications and Friends’ Status updates. Depending on your friends, you may not want the status updates feed. It could possibly get annoying.

Via Email

Facebook recently lost everyone’s email notification settings. I think they did it on purpose to mess with us, but I can’t prove it. I don’t really use email to track things like Facebook because I don’t live in my email like some people do. I want my Facebook interactions to be immediate and not rely on me checking anything. Some people may find this option useful, though. You can configure this in Account Settings->Notifications.

You can also have Notify.Me send you email alerts if you prefer these over IM alerts.

Conclusion

This is just how I do it and, while I hope this setup works for you out of the box, keep in mind that you have a lot of options here. Play around with what feeds you track and which notification methods you use. If you do decide to tweak things or know of a way to improve this, leave a comment. I’d be interested in hearing about it.

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Why You Shouldn’t Ignore My Ads

Contextual advertising
Image by mirkoshanghai via Flickr

You may have noticed the ad block in the sidebar here. I think that has been pretty consistent since the beginning. What you may not realize is that all the ads on my site are actual endorsements. Wait…let’s back up…

On most blogs, you will probably find contextual advertising. Blocks of advertising that try to market things to you based on what the blogger has written about. The blogger makes money when people click these advertisements. The amount of traffic they bring to their blog has a direct effect on how much income they can generate.

I started to go with this standard approach, but something bothered me. I think of my blog as an extension of myself. I don’t like to promote or advertise people or companies or anything that I don’t actually believe in (at least a little, anyway). So, I ripped out the ads I had and started thinking of other ways to monetize my blog. I have to pay for it somehow, right?

What I ended up doing was selecting a few things that I actually benefit from. These are products and services that I use to increase the quality of my life. You may see programs I use to make money, products I use for my health and nutrition, and stuff that I just think is cool.

In any case, you can think of the advertising here as me giving you a direct referral. Don’t even think of them as ads. Let’s look at them as little windows into my life in addition to what you can learn from the actual content I write.

So, shake of the ad-blindness. I have taken time to promote things that have been useful to me, because I figure you may benefit as well. This is not a demand, just a little heads-up.

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What Do You Do When You Need iPod Repair?

4 GB blue iPod nano
Image via Wikipedia

It makes you happy. It makes you sad. It makes you reminisce. It gives you motivation. It reminds you of family and friends. It’s a huge part of your life and who you are, so what do you do when it goes away? What do you do when that piece of you dies? What happens when your iPod breaks?

Don’t act surprised, you know your iPod means the world to you. Whether it’s an iPod Nano, iPod Touch, or whatever random adjective or verb they’re throwing on the end of it this week, you need to know how to handle ipod repair. Now, I went to the apple website to inquire about how to handle this and the process seems kinda complicated. I’m also pretty sure that Apple would probably charge an arm and a leg for ipod repair, since they don’t really seem to be interested in making things all that affordable in the first place.

So, me being the do-it-yourself tech expert, I just went ahead and Google’d “ipod repair” and found a few different sites that help you fix your iPod. You can order a little kit that will help you fix it yourself, or you can simply mail your ipod in and have it repaired for you. Most sites say they fix it within a day and mail it right back. I also read that most problems with the ipod can be corrected simply by replacing the battery. Whatever the case may be, review your options before you spend too much money.

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5 Easy Ways to Explain Twitter Without the Geek Garbage

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...
Image via CrunchBase

It seems like a lot of us tech people find it hard to explain the tools we use on a regular basis. I don’t think the problem lies with how complex our tools are. The problem is that, as geeks, we usually make things too complicated. I’m definitely guilty of this and those close to me point it out all the time.

It’s like trying to explain what a computer does by starting with how microchips work. Who cares about all that? Normal people just want to know how something benefits them. How can it fit into their lives? Nobody cares how a microwave works, they just know it makes food hot. Nobody cares what HD really means, they just know it makes sports look really good and allows you to see how many people on TV actually wear make-up.

Now, here are 5 easy scenarios that you can use to explain Twitter to regular people:

1. It’s a way to let your friends know what you’re doing all at the same time

Let’s say you decide to have a little get-together. You could call all your friends individually, you could email them, you could even text each one. With Twitter, all you’d have to do is send one status update and all your friends will see it immediately. They could even respond to let you know they will be there.

None of this has to involve direct contact with a computer because Twitter supports SMS. You could be handling all the initial preparations right from your cell. No making fifty calls to give out directions, tell who to bring what or any of that mess.

2. It’s a way to ask your friends a question

You’re watching TV and you can’t remember the name of this actor, it’s driving you nuts. You’re pretty sure one of your friends knows, so you update your Twitter status:

Hey, anyone know the name of the black guy on House? Total brain fart.

Pretty soon, someone sends you a reply, reminding you that it’s Omar Epps.

3. It’s a way to share important news

You hear breaking news about a tornado sighting. Your kid’s team just won the playoff game. Kroger has 2-liter bottles of Coke 10 for a dollar. You just ate the tastiest mango you have ever had in your life! Whatever the scenario, you can let everyone know what’s going on immediately my sending out one simple update.

4. It’s a way to get important news

In the same way that you can quickly share news with others, you can get news updates. Not only can you get news updates from your friends, but you could actually follow CNN, MSNBC, BBC or maybe your local news network. Whatever you want to know about, there is probably a reliable source for it on Twitter and you can listen in and stay up-to-date.

5. It’s a way to strengthen relationships with those you care about

My family is pretty much scattered across the US. It’s even sometimes hard to stay in touch with local friends and family. Sometimes, you don’t have time to reach out and touch someone. You know you want to stay in contact, but maybe you don’t do small talk too well or you just don’t enjoy discussing the weather. Maybe you know people who gossip too much and you don’t want to deal with it, but you still want to stay close because they are your family.

Twitter allows you to maintain that connection with loved ones, without all the bells and whistles. You don’t have to talk to them directly to remain connected and stay in touch. You keep track of their updates, they keep track of yours. You maintain a bond with minimal effort. If you so choose to have a discussion, the option is always there. This may sound like an impersonal solution, but what’s the alternative? Falling out of touch with those you actually care about?

Conclusion

These are just a few examples to maybe spark a fire in your mind. Those of us familiar with social media tools often struggle to explain them. They don’t end up getting used by the general public because we can’t even tell the general public what the point is. It almost boils down to one of the most basic rules of sales:

Features tell, benefits sell

Stop trying to describe tech tools by gushing about how scalable they are, how clean the website is, what random tech blogger guy is behind it. Nobody cares about any of that. All they want to know is what will it do to increase the quality of their life.

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Sensational.com Helps You Lead a Healthier Life

Sensational.com is a site I recently came across that provides a wealth of information regarding health and fitness. They provide a a bunch of directories with up-to-the-minute information on health-related companies also talked about benefits of Tbal75 in fitness. You will also find product reviews on diet, weight-loss and fitness products, and some monster supplements deals. The site is pretty clean and the information appears to be solid.

I was able to use the Newark, NJ to find a few gyms, pharmacies, and health stores in my neighborhood where I could get kratom capsules and other supplements you can also get online. All I did was put in my zip code and the site did the rest.

Marc Lazare, D.D.S. is also a doctor so that you can get a rough idea of whether you’re overweight or not. Another cool thing I noticed was the product reviews, it seems they’re actually legit and not just sales letters. Take a look at the review on Detoxykall to see what I mean. And also check out the science based detox. It can help your body release stored heavy metals and chemical residues

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What’s Your Cigar?

Many people consider cigars to be a special treat. Connoisseurs and hobbyists alike enjoy a good cigar, possibly with a little port, as many other people would enjoy a fine and rich dessert. Great consideration and care is taken to make sure the temperature and humidity are just right so that the cigar matures properly and maintains it’s flavor. There are different brands such as Cohiba and Macanudo. You enjoy the cigar, savoring it, maybe even sampling different premium brands. Even some people that don’t actually partake of the cigars, still enjoy the smell.

Why am I talking about cigars? Well, cigars are a treat. The exclamation point at the end of a celebration. A way to reward yourself. A way to simply relax. We all need simple pleasures in our lives. If you keep pushing ahead day after day without ever rewarding yourself for all your hard work, you’d surely go mad. You can’t rely on the people you work for or those you work with to recognize your diligent efforts. At some point, you have to go ahead and pat yourself on the back. Give yourself a hug. Look yourself in the eye, and tell yourself you’ve done good.

Maybe you don’t like cigars. Maybe you like ice cream, wine, knitting, reading, bad reality TV shows, or FriendFeed. Whatever your guilty pleasures may be, don’t feel so guilty about them! You deserve to spoil yourself every once in a while.

So, what’s your cigar?

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Bookmarklet Key Bindings for Browsers

Once Google Chrome was released, I was attracted by it’s speed and agility. I was already tired of FireFox being so bloated with extensions anyway, so the fact that Chrome has none didn’t sway me. During the time I spent with Chrome, I amassed a collection of very useful bookmarklets. Most of them are covered in detail in 21 Bookmarklets to Fire Up Google Chrome.

I wanted to take things a step further, though. I had all the bookmarklets I needed to cause major damage, flooding, and general over-sharing, but I wanted to make it even easier to destroy my personal brand. This led me to create the Bookmarklet Bindings AutoHotKey script. All your favorite bookmarklets juts a key-short or chord away. Oh, and this script works for both FireFox and Chrome.

Bookmarklet Bindings Features

  • Win-v: paste-and-go
  • Win-alt-v: paste-and-go in a new tab
  • Ctrl-left/right: switch tabs in either direction
  • Ctrl-Alt-t: Twitter this
  • Ctrl-Alt-r: Tumble this
  • Ctrl-Alt-m: Gmail this
  • Ctrl-Alt-f: Share on FriendFeed
  • Ctrl-Alt-d: Diigo this
  • Ctrl-Alt-c: Clip this
  • Ctrl-Alt-p: Ping this
  • Ctrl-Alt-s: Share this

The script tries not to destroy whatever is currently in your clipboard.

Notes and Customizations

If you don’t like the default key-bindings or you would like to change what’s available, take a look at the source. It begins with a list of variables representing the various bookmarklets. The second section lists the shortcut keys, which you can easily modify.

For instance, the bookmarklet for Delicious is included in the script, but it isn’t used. You could replace Diigo with Delicious by changing the variable name later in the script.

I chose these specific bindings because they gave me the least amount of trouble and conflicts. If you use RoboForm shortcut keys, you may run into some issues. I simply disabled them in the Options dialog.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Feature requests? Feel free to contact me or simply leave a comment.

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A Plea to Fellow FriendFeeders

As many of you already know, I’m not a Twitter fan. There are many reasons why that is and none of them actually matter at this point because I have been trying to change my mind about it. You may have seen me around (@rahsheen). I decided that extending and remaining connected to my network of friends and associates online was far more important than any reason I had for avoiding Twitter.

Now, most of the people I have decided to follow on Twitter are people I was already subscribed to on FriendFeed, which is really my primary place of residence when it comes to online communities. Recently, FriendFeed added the ability to dump your stream directly into Twitter. This is the issue that me and you need to discuss.

Please, for the love of all that is geeky, stop dumping all of your FriendFeed stream into Twitter. Wait! Wait! Hear me out. Allow me to explain:

Twitter was not designed to be what it is today. It was to be something much simpler and people found more exciting ways to use it. We all know how that turned out. Now, FriendFeed has basically given each of it’s users a cannon to blast away at Twittter’s weak infrastructure and unsuspecting community. Most of those poor Tweeters have no clue what’s going on.

Back when I was active on IRC and dinosaurs roamed the earth, anyone who posted several messages in a row was considered to be flooding and would probably be booted from the channel, immediately. Now, if it’s impolite to flood an interactive live chat, why would it be ok to flood Twitter? You barely have the ability to scroll back.

We are burying everyone’s updates with truncated FriendFeed items.

Are you really adding value for your followers?

I just figured I would put this out there because I’ve seen a few people drop so many consecutive updates it looked like they were the only person I followed, and they weren’t even using Twitterfeed. Think about your strategy before you open the floodgates between services. Your audience will thank you for it.

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