Archive for the ‘Software’ category

« Older Entries

Is FriendFeed Dead Yet?

March 7th, 2010

dead.jpgSince FriendFeed was acquired by Facebook last summer, there has not only been a large exodus of users from the site, but also an increasing volume of pronouncements that FriendFeed, if not already dead yet, is in fact dying rapidly. The major outage last week sent TechCrunch into a near-orgasmic state of proclaiming that, not only was FriendFeed dead, but that no one cared.

As a matter of fact, people do care whether FriendFeed lives or dies, and it is to serve that community of brilliant, innovative individuals that I created the site, Is FriendFeed dead yet?. Using a patent-pending “death checker” algorithm, plus some math, I am able to determine with a high degree of certainty whether or not FriendFeed is still alive. Now, with this site, you do not even need to visit FriendFeed.com to determine if it’s dead yet—you can do this entirely from my site.

Let me know if you’d like to donate to support its continued development.

» Read more: Is FriendFeed Dead Yet?

No comments »

Posted in Social Media, Software

Tags:

How to give a presentation

October 22nd, 2009

presentationYou’ve done the research, gathered the data, created your beautiful charts and graphs, maybe even added a video or a soundtrack. Now you have to take your precious PowerPoint or Keynote presentation and, well, present it. You can either shine like the consummate professional you are, or you can have all your hard work hidden behind a distracting facade of blunders and missteps. Here’s some of my top tips for making sure that the presentation goes smoothly.

Practice makes perfect

Actually, a better phrase is “Practice makes permanent, so always practice perfect.” It’s astonishing to me how often someone will give a presentation when it’s obvious that they haven’t looked at it in months, if at all. Nothing reduces your credibility quite like saying, “Huh, I didn’t know that,” when the slide of last quarter’s sales figures comes up on the screen. Always make sure you run through your slides in a rehearsal before you present, or otherwise you’ll look like a loon. A rehearsal, by the way, does not mean merely skimming through and reading silently; you actually need to plan on saying what you’re going to say in the presentation (see the next tip).

When you rehearse, you should pretend that you’re actually presenting; make sure you allow time for questions, and make sure that you know how long the presentation will take. You look like a fool if you are on slide 31 of 60 when you’ve reached the end of your allotted half-hour and there’s a crowd of people standing outside waiting to use the conference room. You should know, within 10%, exactly how long your presentation takes.

» Read more: How to give a presentation

No comments »

Posted in Business, Software

Google Voice and Number Portability

June 14th, 2009

If TechCrunch is right, and Google Voice will soon offer number portability, I’ll be there in a flash. The only reason I have Vonage at home is to keep my current number. If I could move it to Google Voice, I’d do that in a flash, and simply route it to either my or my wife’s cellphone depending upon who’s calling.

No comments »

Posted in Internet, Software

Tags:

TripIt clearly beats Dopplr

June 12th, 2009

Dopplr ExampleFor a while now, I’ve been using (or, rather, attempting to use) both TripIt and Dopplr for travel planning and sharing. I reported almost a year ago that I believed TripIt was substantially higher quality. I even had conversations online with representatives of both companies who tried to convince me to continue.

Sorry, but Dopplr sucks. It is as close to worthless as any website I’ve ever used, and could even potentially cause problems because it is so bad at travel data (like, for example, someone going to the wrong city to meet you).

Dopplr interpreted a Best Western hotel reservation as a trip to Western, Nebraska.

It interpreted a trip with a change of planes in Dallas as a trip to Dallas.

It interpreted a 15-day trip as a series of one-day trips, each day returning home after visiting the next city on the list.

TripIt provides such vastly superior service that I cannot in good conscience even recommend that someone give Dopplr a try. They’ve had at least a year to work on it, and it’s not getting better.

No comments »

Posted in Internet, Software

Tags:

Hulu comes to the desktop

May 29th, 2009

h10-image-1.jpg.jpegI’ll be honest—I haven’t really been a fan of Hulu until now. I was one of the original beta testers before the site opened, and I could just never get into it. Frankly, watching a TV show in a little window inside a web browser had a few problems:

  • The video screen was too small, and
  • Being in a web browser had all sorts of distractions, such as, umm, the Internet.

I used (and still use) videos purchased through iTunes quite frequently. In fact, I own an Apple TV and we use it all the time; since we’ve gotten it, we’ve nearly given up on DVDs. The quality is great; it works on the TV; and, even when viewing it on my computer, the full-screen view feels like I’m watching TV.

Yesterday, however, Hulu released Hulu Desktop, a “browser-free” tool to view video content from the Hulu website. And, I have to say, this changes everything for me. Since it’s now a standalone app, there are no more distractions from the web browser. It can run in full-screen mode, giving it a feel that’s much closer to real TV. And, it works with my Apple remote control, which means that I don’t have to be moving a mouse around to make everything work.

Is it perfect? Well, not quite. The video quality is still limited to that which is available over the web (in other words, mediocre). Apple TV, for example, allows me to purchase and view HD content in, well, HD. And it’s stunning. On the other hand, Hulu gives me instant access to an enormous library of TV shows and movies, and all for free (ok, I have to watch a few advertisements, but it’s still a better experience than television). It’s almost enough to make me lose the DVR—almost; I can lose the DVR once Hulu supports high-def video.

Hulu Desktop is available for both the Mac and Windows PCs.

No comments »

Posted in Software, Video

Tags: