If you watch video podcasts then you might be familiar with Mahalo Daily. It was a very good show and they covered a lot of really interesting topics. Their host Veronica Belmont left to join Revision3 so they are in search of a new host. They are doing it Idol style! They are down to the final six, here is what I think about each host, starting from least favorite to the one I think should be the winner.
Although she had a fun topic to cover she also did not seem that interested and looked like she was not having any fun at all.
Not a bad host, the topic of the video was not the best and she did not seem that interested in what she was doing.
The host was a lot more interested in what she was doing, but her topic was extremely boring.
She seemed like she was gasping for air in the opening segment, but the rest of the interview was very good.
Great host, great smile, does a great show, but not as excited as about what she is doing compared to some of the other hosts.
She seemed super excited and really enjoyed the show, if she can bring that much excitement to the show then you have a winner.
I’m sure by now most of you have heard of Twitter, it is very big now. I first mentioned twitter back in October of last year, then again in January when I was in Vegas, and finally in my article about social networks and their importance. So I have been using Twitter for quite some time, but recently it has really caught on. Even the root of all evil is using it. I really enjoy Twitter, I have found a ton of useful information on it and it makes it easy to see what my friends are up to.
What is Twitter?
Well in my eyes Twitter is a mico-blogging platform. Unlike a regular blog where you can write a long post on Twitter you are limited to 140 characters, so you need to make it short and sweet. Many people use it as an update system of what they are currently doing. Just like any other social networking platform you have friends which “follow” you. If someone is following you they get your updates. You can also reply to someone’s updates, it’s just like having a conversation. If you still don’t understand Twitter then here is a video that gives a better explanation than I did.
Why Do I Use It?
I first joined Twitter because many people in my favorite podcasts were using it and it gave me a way to keep updated on new shows and also what they were up to. Since Twitter has grown I follow a good amount of people now from friends to people I do business with. Even my old roommate from college uses Twitter, I hadn’t talked to him in a few years and now since he started following me on Twitter we have reconnected. My local news station even uses Twitter to send out news stories, so I don’t even have to watch the local news.
Twitter also allows you to have a conversation with someone you probably would never talk to. All of the big names are on there, Kevin Rose, Jason Calacanis, and Scoble. So it is a very good networking tool. Also to me it is very interesting to see what these people are up to. With things like TwitPic you are even able to post pictures directly to Twitter from your phone with ease.
From a marketing standpoint Twitter can be very useful too. Right now I have 180 followers, which is an audience to me. So if I post something new on ThinkComputers I can send out the link via Twitter and those 180 people will see it. I know 180 people is not a lot but many people have over 1,000 friends. The more followers you get the more powerful Twitter can be for you.
Twitter Apps
Twitter is web based so all you have to do is go to the website to see your friend’s updates and to post an update, but you don’t want to have to sit on the website and hit refresh every 5 minutes to see the updates. There are a ton of third party applications for Twitter, I have used a ton since I have been with Twitter for so long. The one that really stands out to me is twhirl. I wanted something that was visually appealing, but also very functional, twhirl is that. Built on the Adobe Air platform it works great, and gives me easy access to my friend’s updates and allows me to easily post an update without even having to go to the twitter website.
Now you might not be able to be at a computer at all times that is why Twitter allows you to send updates via mobile txt, but if you have an iPhone there is a great app called Mobile Twitter. It has TwitPic built in, so say you are out to dinner you can take a picture of your dinner use Mobile Twitter to post an update and upload the picture to TwitPic.
Follow Me!
If you want to know what I’m up to make sure you follow me on Twitter. I will be doing a follow up post on another really cool Twitter related project that I have been using lately.
That’s right Pens fan we are going to the Stanley Cup Finals! We have not been to the finals since 1992, for those who are bad at math that’s 16 years. Honestly after last years defeat in the first round of the playoffs I did not see us getting this far. And when Crosby got hurt the playoffs were even in doubt, but players like Malkin and Malone really stepped up. The team has really grown up since last year and has come together as a whole. Also the blockbuster trade bringing Hossa, Dupuis, and Gill over has really helped us out and solidified our team.
The excitement around Pittsburgh is crazy, it’s good to see people excited about hockey and not football. It seems everyone knows about the Steelers, but have no clue who the Penguins are. If you drive anywhere around Pittsburgh, you will see signs that say, “Let’s Go Pens” in windows of homes and business’s. Even bus’s have that on their digital signs that say the routes. If anyone wants a Gary Roberts for President poster you can print them out here.
I was lucky enough to get tickets for game 5 against Philadelphia and the atmosphere inside the arena was just insane. It was the loudest I’ve ever heard the arena before. The Pens just destroyed the Flyers 6-0. It was awesome counting down the last seconds of the game and seeing the Price of Wales trophy being brought out onto the ice. Hopefully I will be able to get tickets for one of the finals games, it will be even crazier.
We will be playing the Detroit Red Wings in the finals. They won the President’s Trophy for being the best team during the regular season. During the post season they had to go to six games against the Predators, they swept the Avalanche, and also had to go to six games against the Stars. The Penguins swept the Senators, went to 5 against the Rangers, and went to 5 against the Flyers. The Penguins have not played the Red Wings at all this year and we haven’t played a team like the Red Wings in the post season so this will be a very good series. The Red Wings will get home ice for the first 2 games, which could be a big factor in the series. My prediction is Penguins in 6. LET’S GO PENS!!!
As I have always said it is good to keep a daily task list. This way you know what you need to get done for that day. When you are running your own business it is very easy to get distracted and forget things that you need to get done for that day. Also it is helpful for many people to write weekly and monthly tasks down. This is a great idea, but it is useless if you lose the list or just have the list in your head. There are some ways to keep track of a daily task list.
Post-it’s
Writing your daily task list down is probably the first and easiest choice for someone. Make sure you write down you daily task list on something you can set in front of you. It is easy to get distracted so if you have something sitting in front of you it makes it easier to get back on task. What I usually do is once I write out the list I stick it on my monitor so it is right in front of me.
White Board
A white board is great for anyone’s home office. Not only can you write your daily tasks on there you can make other lists and even use it for brainstorming sessions. The only thing about a white board is that it is not right in front of you so it might not be as effective, but it is still a good choice.
Google Calendar
Physical task lists are good, but virtual ones on your computer and online are even better. Google Calendar is a great start. You can easily setup your daily tasks on there and since it is online you can access it anywhere. Another thing that is great about it is you can schedule by time too, so if you have a deadline you can write it in at a specific time.
Netvibes
I have talked about Netvibes before and it is probably my favorite of all things listed in this post. Netvibes is like a personal home page, so you can have task lists, RSS feeds, etc all on one page. I really like it because I have my daily, weekly, and monthly task lists on there and I also have lists of what products my reviewers have. It really helps me keep track of everything I need to get done. Just make sure you set it as your home page.
Post-It Software
If Google Calendar and Netvibes are a little to complicated for you then Post-It actually has their own Post-It software. It is just like a regular post-it note, but it sits on your desktop. Right now they have a 30 day trial, but there is an old free version on download.com. The only downfall of using this is that it is limited to your computer, whereas Google Calendar and Netvibes can be used with any computer with an internet connection.
As I said in my previous post I really enjoy what I do. One of the main reasons for that is that I get to check out a ton of really cool products each week. Here are 3 of the more interesting products I got in recently.
First up is the Lenovo Ideapad U110 11.1-inch laptop. I have been waiting to get this laptop since CES when it was first announced. It comes in black and red, we received the black version. The lid has a really cool design engraved into it. This laptop is perfect for blogging, with the dimensions of 10.8” x 7.7” x 0.88” it is very small and light. The system also features a LED backlit screen, 120GB SSD hard drive, and integrated webcam. For me the only thing that is missing is built in EVDO. The Ideapad retails for $1899.00.
I have been reviewing PC cases for the longest time, but only a few have really impressed me. Cooler Master was nice enough to send me one of their CSX cases. CSX is a new division of Cooler Master that will customize your PC case, laptop, iPod, and even DS. We received the Broodling case, which is a skull design on the very popular Cosmos 1000 case. This custom case retails for $999.
I’m sure a lot of you have seen the Asus Eee PC before. It is an extremely small laptop with limited capabilities, built on linux. It is very small with only a 7-inch screen, but as I said it is limited. We received the 2G Surf version which only has a 2GB SSD hard drive and 512mb of memory. As I said it is very small so it could be a great choice for a blogger who does not want to carry a large laptop, but the keyboard is much smaller than a regular laptop keyboard so it will take some time to get used to. The Eee PC 2G Surf retails for only $299.
Expect to see reviews of these products very soon on ThinkComputers. I will be making posts like this every week or every other week to let you know some of the cool stuff we have coming in at ThinkComputers.
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