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.

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.

I was able to use the site to find a few gyms, pharmacies, and health stores in my neighborhood. All I did was put in my zip code and the site did the rest. There is also a BMI calculator right on the front-page of the site 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.

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?

Leadership

It is very rare to find someone who is a true leader, this is why I’ve place this skill at the top of the list. If you can learn to be a good leader, everything else almost follows of it’s own accord. A leader is someone who has a focus and a vision. They are confident and able to stimulate others to accomplish goals. They inspire others to do their best. Leaders don’t rely on outside motivation. They also do what is right, regardless of if anyone is watching. Anyone can learn to be a leader and the first step in that direction is having confidence in yourself.

Sales and Marketing

These are two terms that have gaind a bad reputation over time. This is because a lot of salespeople and marketers have used the wrong techniques in the past to get the job done. Many have also run into unsavory characters who run scams under the guise of sales and marketing. With the proper sales training, you can learn to build long-term customer relationships and increase your numbers.

Whether you like it or not, you are always involved in a sale. It doesn’t matter what your business is or even if you’re in business or not. Every conversation ends with you selling someone, or them selling you. The best sales people can close you without you ever even realizing it. Marketing is closely tied in here because it simply involves getting your brand out there. If no one knows about you, you can’t make any sales.

Money Management

Finances are pretty boring. I’m not implying you need to be an expert in accounting to make money, but you definitely need to know how to make your money work for you. This could be as simple as being able to calculate how many pieces of business you need to do to stay in the black. Depending on the size of your business, you might even seek some corporate finance training to help make sure you’re profitable. There are too many people in business making no money simply because they don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to finances.

The End

Personal development is the key no matter what you want to do with yourself. If you have the ability, take some classes, find a learning coach or get a mentor. No matter what they say, it is always possible to increase your value to others. The knowledge is out there. Taking the steps to seek it out already puts you ahead of the game.

In your head, you repeat and review your strategy for making sure you hit all the items you need in this store so that you can move on to the next in the shortest amount of time. In your mind, you see a mental map of where your other family members are posted. Each also guarding a primary target from your list. Each going over a similar plan of attack to make sure you all leave with what you came for.

It’s Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and you are sick and tired of doing this crap every single year. What if you could find a way to stay home on Black Friday? What if there was a way that you could be alerted by email anytime a new black friday ad was published or maybe leaked?

What if you could sit in your PJ’s at home, eating Thanksgiving left-overs and taking advantage of all the hottest deals of the season at KB Toys, Sears, or wherever you like to shop? iBlackFriday.com claims to bring you the 2008 black friday ads weeks in advance. Have a look at the site. What have you got to lose?

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.

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.