jtrigsby.com » Internet

The Web of Tomorrow?

jtrigsby — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:11:38 +0000

Ben Parr has an awesome post over on Mashable about What the Web of Tomorrow Will Look Like: 4 Big Trends to Watch. One of the things that makes it so totally awesome is that he agrees with me! Here are a couple of the highlights:

The Web Will Be Ubiquitous – Always connected, always on, fully integrated with the appliances that we use to manage our life. Finally!
(see more under Mobile Becomes King in my 6 Guaranteed Game Changing Predictions for 2010)

The PC Will Lose Its Dominance Over the Web – No need to rehash this one… I’ve written about it plenty! Check out Repent! Repent! The End of the Personal Computer Is Near

The Human-Computer Interface – Ben asserts that media centric interfaces will replace the good old keyboard and mouse. Things like voice to text and touch will eventually work well enough… in a decade or so! I’m not sure if you’d call that a pessimistic outlook but I think a decade is WAY too far away. I’ve said before the iPhone has changed everything and how we interact is no different. There’s an expectation for touch these days. The full court press is on and it will be a matter of months before we have usable alternatives to the keyboard and mouse… IMHO.

Finally, Social Media Will Be the Killer App – Have to say I totally agree Ben… and it always has been. Since Ray Tomlinson invented email all the way back in 1971, we’ve been using “the computer” to interact with other people. I mean after all… there are only so many recipes and checkbooks to manage, right? Sooner or later its all about interacting with others. In fact, most technological advances have derived their need by some form of human interaction. Telegraph, telephone, trains, planes… they all serve to facilitate human-to-human interaction.

Even though Ben and I disagree on a couple of the details, I think he’s right on about where we’re going over all. A lot of the things we’ve seen lately, devices like the iPhone, netbooks, and Apple’s new tablet, even applications like Twitter, Wave and fourSquare are really just enabling technologies. My frequent answer to those that don’t get Wave is that it won’t make sense until you have an application for it. Its a platform, an enabling technology that will make something else possible.

So, what do you think about these areas of tech development? Do we have it wrong? What else could be considered important?

And what about the enabling technologies? What did I miss.

Drop a comment and let us know what you think!

@jtrigsby

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Its Like Holding a Waterbed Over Your Head…

jtrigsby — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:11:10 +0000

Its a well documented fact that old media, newspapers especially, are spiraling downward toward oblivion but in the last two weeks we’ve seen a couple of bone-head plays that seem to indicate broadcast television, maybe even cable TV, is worried too! Two huge sports bodies have tried to ban social media from their games and venues, which IMHO, is like trying to hold a waterbed over you head. No matter where you put your hands, some other part is going to sag…you just can’t make it happen.

Two weeks ago the Southeastern Conference (the SEC) published a policy that prohibited any social media updated from a game site by anyone including players, coaches, and fans. Today we have news that the NFL bans any social media updates from players, coaches, even the media for 90 minutes prior to the game, during the game, and after the game till the post-game interviews are done.

Now on the one hand, this is pretty smart. The SEC and the NFL are looking out for their bread-and-butter…TV contracts. I mean who’s gonna rush home to watch a game if they can keep up-to-date via Twitter. We all know that these TV contracts are really big for college football and the NFL, and so protecting their product is a good thing.

On the other hand, even if we put aside the unenforceable nature of such policies for a minute, why would you want to stifle the creation of content about your brand? Those of us who frequent Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and the like know a simple truth that apparently the marketing folks at the SEC and NFL don’t. The more you or your brand is talked about, the more popular you become. Even if my head had been under a rock and I had no idea that Farve was going to un-retire again, a quick glance at the Twitter trends or Google Trends a few weeks ago would have tipped me off that something was going on.

So here are a couple of ideas for all you smarties at the SEC, NFL, and any other organization that wants to stifle social media.

1. Its unenforcable, stop trying! – How can a league like the NFL stop me from sitting in my living room 750 miles from Dallas and Twittering about the Cowboys, how the game is going, who just scored, who fumbled, etc. Sure, they can sue me… and the tens or hundreds of thousands of others doing exactly the same thing. That’s a really smart way to use those TV revenues!

2. Stop trying to hold the waterbed over your head. Put it down and lay on it! Don’t try to thwart your fans’ excitement for your brand, embrace it. Think of all those Twittering fans out there as 1,000+ free PR people plastering your brand all over the Internet. Now remind me… how much did that cost you? Heck, run a contest, see how can hashtag your team the most during a game. Give them free tickets next week. Be creative!

3. Don’t just act social…be social. We know you have Twitter and Facebook and MySpace accounts, so what. They’re not real, they’re “corporate.” You have to stop thinking of social media as another check list item and make it real. You did announcerless games many moons ago, why not try Twittering a game. Some of us that work on gamedays and can’t get streaming audio/video might just like that!

Yeah, I realize there are all kinds of issues associated with my suggestions and I still agree that protecting your brand is important. If you’d spend as much time working out these issues as you spent trying to keep us from doing what comes naturally, maybe this post wouldn’t be necessary! And maybe the best way to protect your brand is to engage with those enjoying (or hating, as the case may be) your brand, instead of sticking it in your pocket and only sharing it with those who write you big checks. After all, its all of us that make them able to write those checks in the first place!

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Repent! Repent! The End of the Personal Computer Is Near!

jtrigsby — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:33:00 +0000

Ok, so after a little title theatrics…here’s the real question. Is the rapid adoption of Cloud Computing sounding the death knell of the personal computer? I have a few definite opinions to go along with a whole litany of questions!

What is the Cloud and Why is it Appealing?
According to the complete compendium of human knowledge (aka Wikipedia), Cloud Computing is a concept that uses the Internet as delivery platform for applications and services hosted online. Probably the oldest example of the concept (although it was never called that back in the day) is Yahoo! Mail. The app resides on the server along with your data (email messages) and is easily accessible from any computer with a web browser (PC, Mac, Linux…doesn’t matter). Now there are countless companies offering “cloud” based services. Google is of course the biggest but hundreds of others are out there too.

The clear appeal of Cloud Computing is ease of access from anywhere and no installed software. It is the concept of no installed software that has the choir warming up for the funeral of the PC. If I can do everything I need to do from any browser, the “PC” is now just a platform for the browser…right?

Hang On a Sec…
While it sounds like a good theory, can it really be so? In his latest article on PCMAG.com, Lance Ulanoff has eight key questions for Google’s cloud specifically, and cloud computing generally. Some I agree with, some I don’t, but the point is really a cautionary one…don’t rush head long into adopting such a radical departure without at least a little forethought. There are bound to be downfalls with some of the concepts, companies will come and go, and what responsibility should the service provider have toward protecting your data? Then there is the ever present possibility that they’ll get hacked, or big brother might want a peek at your data. Lots of questions without answers…yet.

So What Does the Future Hold?
Wow, wouldn’t we all like to know the answer to that one! But here’s at least one possible outcome, heavily slanted toward my opinion (go figure!).

A move away from the dedicated, sitting in the corner, all-purpose personal computer to more task specific appliances. Case in point, Tivo. I quite accidentally stumbled over Tivo’s cool integration with Netflix. Movies viewed on demand from Netflix via my Tivo. Or if I can’t find anything good there, I can watch YouTube videos or rent a download from Amazon…all through the Tivo. Great example of a task specific appliance. Oh sure, the interface is pretty weak, but hey, its still young.

Need another one, ok. How about Skype, the web based IP based communication service? With their new unlimited use pricing structure ($2.95/month I think for unlimited calls to and from US based phone numbers!) now their hardware offerings are looking pretty appealing. Takes the place of you regular phone, even looks like a regular phone.

One more? Ok. Xbox. Now instead of installing games on my PC to take advantage of the cool things the PC can do, including playing over the Internet with my friends, just get an Xbox.

Are there problems with this theory, only one I can see. The interface!!! The keyboard & mouse have worked well for the dedicated use computer, but as anyone who has tried to compose an email on their cell phone / PDA can attest, it doesn’t work nearly as well away from the desktop. Will it be speech to text, gestures, sub-cutaneous implant behind the ear? Don’t know but I do know, sooner or later, it has to change.

And Now, For the Pretty Bow…
Just think about it. How natural does it seem that I have to sit in a designated place, using a specific device in order to take advantage of a service? Back in the early days of the telephone (all the way up to the mid-80′s or so…when they still were attached to the wall!), people had dedicated places to sit and use the phone. Heck, they even made pieces of furniture for that very purpose. How crazy does that sound to us now, just 20 years later? The same evolution of use is coming for the personal computer, in fact its already underway. So be open to adopting the enabling technologies, like Cloud Computing, that will be bringing this kind of thing into the realm of possibilities. Begin to watch for the ways the data & information we use in our daily life is now being (or could be) delivered through something other than the beige box sitting on the desk. Oh, and enjoy living through the transition! In 20 years or so you’ll be able to say, “I remember when you had to sit at your desk and hold the mouse to use the computer…”

And Now Its Your Turn…
Leave comments and let me know what you think about this topic. Ways you’ve already seen information delivery changed… or just tell me how full of crap you think I am (I may delete your comment but at least you’ll feel better!). No, really…what do ya think?

PS – After going back and re-reading this post, I did get a little far afoot from the cloud computing topic. Sorry, I was on a roll!

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Yes…You’re In the Right Place!

Thom — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:13:00 +0000

One of the simple truths of life is that people don’t like change, another truth is they are fascinated by it! So don’t be frightened, just read along!

It is funny how predictable people can be. Change one little thing in their otherwise stable routine and it completely derails them! Take for example, changing the template and layout for your blog. If you’ve been coming to the site to read the posts over the past week you will know that I’ve been working on changing up the blog to be a little more spacious and accommodating. (BTW, if you’ve only been reading via email or RSS, thanks for subscribing, and come to see the changes on Life In the Internet.)

And yet with the same amount of predictability we can enjoy seeing people drawn into the change…kinda like watching a train wreck (although I hope this change isn’t as bad as a train wreck!) (Actual train wreck footage below).

Change can be exciting, an opportunity to see and experience something new, not just the same old everyday thing. Some of us shrugged off the aversion to change a long time ago and look for the next thing to turn upside down. Others need to let their hair down just a bit and let go of the hand rail!

Which ever group you belong to, thanks for keeping up with Life In the Internet and pardon the mess while the deck is being shuffled. And feel free to leave a comment (good or bad) about what you think, what you like, what you’d like to see more of, and that crap you never want to see again! Come on…I know you’re out there, I look at the stats everyday!

And for those of you just dying to watch a train wreck…here ya go!

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How To Work In the Internet – Part 2

Thom — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:52:00 +0000

Just because you don’t have a brick and mortar store front doesn’t mean opening an on-line store is any easier!

Well, it’s time for part 2 in the series about how to live and, more importantly, work IN the Internet. Last time we talked about getting the basics covered, email, website, etc (see How To Work In the Internet – Part 1). And as promised, this time we’re going to go over eCommerce and making a little scratch with an on-line store!

Getting Started…the EASY way!

Without a doubt, the easiest way to get involved in eCommerce, or selling stuff on-line, is eBay! You can sell anything there, honestly! You can even sell your car online at eBay! Now I know many of you don’t want to sell that out of your garage, but I bet there is something in there you can let go of…isn’t there. Whether its your garage, closet, storage unit, where ever – go take a look around, pick something out, and sell it! Before you know it, your on-line, ecommerce empire is up and running!

The up-side to using eBay to get started is that you don’t have to build anything. The website, bidding engine, buy it now engine, PayPal (see below), they are already there and working. It’s easy. Oh, and most importantly, they have the traffic! No real need for you to try to drive potential shoppers to your site, eBay does plenty of that for you!

There are two downsides to eBay. First, there may be some “stigma” to “only selling on eBay” kind of like, “oh, you don’t have a store, you just do garage sales?” If that kind of thing bothers you then you should look elsewhere as soon as possible. Me, I don’t care. I’ve know plenty of wealthy folks who got that way selling junk at garage sales. This is no different except we’re doing it on-line.

The second downside to eBay is that they have to make their money too, and they do that off the seller. eBay charges a variety of fees when you list your product for sale, whether it sells or not. The charges are usually small but they obviously cut into your profit. For that reason you might want to upgrade to your own store.

Click & Mortar, sans Mortar

After you’ve sold a few items on eBay, you may want to consider upgrading to an Internet Storefront. There are several options to do this and again we’ll start with the easy one. Again, eBay has an offering for you, from beginner to expert, they’ve got you covered. You can use this link to find out just how easy it is to open a storefront on eBay.com . The type of store you choose will be dictated by how big a part of your income you want this to be.

As with regular eBay auctions, a regular eBay store is an easy way to get all your products on-line and up for sale. If you don’t have or don’t want to spend a lot of time on your Internet Storefront, this would be a good option for you. If you’re ready to go up against Wal-Mart and Target, then you will want your Own Web Store at Your Own Web Address!. ProStores – yet another eBay company – has what you need.

If the eBay store doesn’t sound appealing to you, how about another giant of the Internet, Yahoo!? They have several options to choose from and you can use this link to compare web hosting packages from Yahoo! (BTW, you may want to find out What the Crap is Microsoft Thinking? if you’re leaning toward the Yahoo! option. Still a good option, you just need to know.)

Show Me the Money!

No matter which method you choose the most important part of having an on-line store is getting paid! Most options offer you a variety of choices but two are leading the pack, PayPal and Google Checkout.

If you go the eBay route its almost a no brainer, go with PayPal! After all, it is an eBay company and integration is tight and secure. After you get your PayPal account setup, you can even get a PayPal Debit Card to have quick access to your proceeds!

If PayPal isn’t for you then there is always the monster of the Internet, Google. You can use this link to .

Both options here will require a little setup and they both exercise a great deal of security in dealing with handling your money. It will be a hassle but VERY MUCH worth it in the end. So suck it up and drive on!

And That’s About It

All that’s left is to choose your weapon, find something to sell, and get after it. Good Luck!

Do you have an online store? Leave a link in the comments below and we’ll come check it out (i.e. FREE ADVERTISING!) Have questions? Comment below and if I don’t have the answer, the community here will. Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe to the feed to keep on top of whats going on here on jtrigsby.com!

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What the Crap is Microsoft Thinking?

Thom — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:13:00 +0000

Why is the big M going to pay $44B for Y!? I don’t get it. They must have some really great intellectual property hidden away in the deep dark corners of their data centers somewhere. Please, help me understand why MS, who BTW already has a portal, search engine and email system, WANTS to buy Y!? I seriously don’t get it.

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Taking Charge of Your Online Life

Thom — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:38:00 +0000

One of the interesting changes underway now in the online world is the shift away from anonymity toward personification.

I’ve been online now since 1995 and one of the attractions to the Internet has always been the cloak of anonymity created by the screen and keyboard. You could say anything to anybody, claim to be anybody you want or look any way you want. Even live a life online that was totally separate and apart from the reality of your daily world. But the advent of web cams and social networking is gradually changing all that.

At the risk of dating myself here, it reminds me a lot of the movie Tron where a hacker is literally abducted into the world of a computer to live out (or die in) his virtual life. As social sites like MySpace, Facebook, Plaxo, and LinkedIn grow exponentially in popularity we are being forced to step out from behind the curtain and reveal more and more of ourselves. Don’t see the big deal? Many colleges and potential employers do because they are checking out their applicants online persona comparing it to the application. That “little fib” about your PhD on MySpace may have just cost you a job!

More than that though, all you have to do is look at how popular these sites are to see how desperately some people want to be known, not famous, just known. It’s almost sad.

Ok, so how does one go about managing this mess? Well, it’s not simple, maybe impossible, but here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Expect Someone To Connect the Dots

If you think you’ll be able to hide behind a different email address, think again. It may work against the casual observer, but if someone is really interested in finding out who is who, they WILL DO IT.

There Is No Expectation of Privacy On the Internet

Don’t write it, text it, email it, chat it, blog it, video it or otherwise commit anything to electronic “writing” that you don’t want someone to find out. It’s just too easy! Time after time (and hot video after hot video) we see a “private” message or video posted to the Internet for all to see. Before you snap that picture or click send…is this something you want other people to see? Think stolen camera or laptop!

Keep a Junk Mail Email Address

Email is free and plentiful in the Internet. Setup a free email address that you use to sign-up for website logins, newsletters, stuff like that. DO NOT use that address for your banking, credit cards, bill pay, etc. If you need to, setup another one for those chores and give it to no one. It’s not perfect, but it will GREATLY reduce spam and GREATLY reduce the likelihood of having your online identity stolen.

Common Sense Still Applies, Even In the Internet

Like my grandpa always said, “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” Why would Mr. Jambaba contact you randomly to receive his $1 million in cash? How reasonable does it sound that you won a contest you didn’t enter? THINK before you share!

Far From Complete

These are just a few of the many things I’ve learned over the past 18 years of connected living. There are many many more. Use common sense and treat every stranger online like you would if they walked up and knocked on your front door…at least that’s a good start! Do you have any good ideas? Share them with us in a comment below!

I wanted to take this opportunity to point out a new web presence I think you will all be interested in. GukuSabi is a new blog about stuff, kinda like Seinfeld, its a blog about nothin, but you’ll love it!

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UVMe Ready for Launch!

Thom — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:57:00 +0000

UVME.com (you vs me dot com) is ready for launch! Its a brand new on-line game platform that changes the way you will play games…forever!

UVME.com has been in beta for a little over a month now and they’re finally ready to launch the site into full production! I’ve been playing around with it for a couple of weeks and got in to do a little beta testing. The games are pretty similar to on-line games you’ve played before, with two big differences.

First, you can challenge your friends (or just find random players) to a game, even games like Arcade Ducks and Fruit Frenzy that you would normally think of as single player games. And now, for the really interesting part…

Of course you can always play for free but if you’re feeling really good about your skills, or just plain lucky, you can play for cash! That’s right! Challenge your opponent to a money game (as little as $1) and if you win, you’re in for some cash! How’s that for a deal, get paid to play games online!

Ok, so what are you waiting for? I don’t know…meet me over at UVME.com and let’s play!

Speaking of a good online MLM opportunity…

There are lots of ways to monetize your life and work at home with your homebased business. One of the best work at home jobs is network marketing and here is one to look at Aprenda Networkmarketing

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BloggingZoom Hacked!

Thom — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:17:00 +0000

Court and Vic must have hit a homerun with this one because now they’re under attack!

Thanks to Court for raising the flag that Bloggingzoom, has been HACKED! Clearly this means that the wise men have done something right and it’s gotten under somebody’s skin. If you go BloggingZoom.com right now, all you get is a white screen. They are working diligently to get it back up and running, but for now, we’re making sure the words gets around. Stay tuned for more details.

Big thanks to Desty for letting me know about BloggingZoom Hacked.

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How To Work In the Internet – Part 1

Thom — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:58:00 +0000

Life In the Internet is about living and working in the connected world. Ok, well how do you DO that?

I remember back in the 80′s business Utopia was the Paperless Office! Well that didn’t work out…yet. I was sifting through my Reader feeds this morning and made my way over to a couple of new blogs (well, new for me) that inspired me. First I found Skellie over at AnyWired.com. She had 30 Ideas to Help You Start Working Through the Web that I thought were very fab!! (Check out her article, you’ll notice some of her ideas as I move through this series) Thanks Skellie! While I was browsing her site, I found a 125 ad for Stephen over at Productivity in Context. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not even in the same league with Stephen when it comes to organization, but don’t let that stop you from checking out his blog.

Anyway, these two kinda got me thinking about HOW I do what I do and thought it might be a good idea to showcase some of the ways I work mainly in the connected world and leave very little residue behind in the UNconnected world. Here goes.

Start With The Basics

It might be a good idea to back-up just a bit and hit a little history. I’ve had the jtrigsby.com domain for many many moons now, I don’t even remember how long I’ve had it. The web portion of the domain has gone through several iterations, most of them requiring direct access to the server, FTP access, or something of the like. What a hassle. And then there is the email monster! Yuck!

I stumbled across Google Hosted Apps almost a year ago. Like a lot of things (like blogging) it took me a little while to figure out how to take advantage of this fab tool, but I finally got it. If you missed my story about Google Apps (The Latest Killer App!), Google Apps is a hosted application (meaning its all on-line, nothing on your computer) developed by Google. It provides users with email, calendar, web hosting, docs, spreadsheets, and presentations. And the best part is…IT IS FREE!

Needless to say, free is good!

So I signed up! Now, you are not required to have (or buy) your own domain name, it will work just fine using a Google sub-domain, but since I already had jtrigsby.com, I redirected it over to Google Hosted Apps and the rest was easy. I now get to use a private branded Google Mail app for all the mail sent to jtrigsby.com, have my own calendar, and my own document repository. All on-line, all free. What? You don’t see the big deal? Well let me tell you. My email, calendar, documents, spreadsheets, and presentations are now available from any computer with Internet access and I don’t have to deal with or manage server, connectivity, spam, or backup issues! In fact, I’ve got the world’s single largest hosted apps company doing all that for me…FOR FREE! Wow.

Now Google Apps has a web hosting feature, they even have a pretty slick little on-line web page editor. And yes, it is on-line so I could access it from anywhere, and did. I started my WebMoney series on the old site. I spent lots of time writing and editing the pages, saving drafts, etc, etc. Then the blogging light bulb clicked on (finally)! I spent weeks working on the traditional web site and it only took a couple of hours to move all that data over to Blogger…and that includes getting the blog setup and the domain name redirected!

So now I have email, calendar, docs, and a blog/website. The basics of my Internet Empire are in place. With this array of applications, all on-line and web based, I’m mobile and don’t have to carry anything with me to stay connected. As long as I can borrow a computer (dare I say even a Mac!) I can stay in touch, answer emails, and get a little work done. This is something that’s really important to me since I’m on the road a lot and away from my desk. It’s also pretty cool that I can setup a user account (the first 100 are FREE) for Vickie and share my calendar with her so she can see what I’ve got going on, where and when. How cool is that?!?

What tools do you use to stay connected? Are you still using a pc based email client like Outlook? Any tips? Be sure to leave a comment below and share all that you know with the rest of us.

Next time…Keeping Up A Social Life, Online!

Be sure to stay connected to Life In the Internet by subscribing to my feed. You’ll automatically get the latest and greatest…as soon as it’s published!

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