That Thingie’s Jacked!
Posted Saturday, March 15th, 2008 by Dave Moyer
For those of you who don’t listen to the Gadgettes podcast at CNET, you should! Hosted by Molly Wood, Kelly Morrison and producer Jason Howell, they tackle the latest in gadget news each week.
In episode 80, after the end of the theme song, Jason included a blooper from the show in which all the hosts were laughing and discussing a new phrase that had come up: “Jack My Thingie”. They were shocked to find out that jackmythingie.com wasn’t registered yet, and I was shocked as well, as it was almost a week since the show was released, and usually things like these are snapped up by fans! Needless to say, I took care of that problem.
I sent them a voicemail notifying them that I had put jackmythingie.com on the web. Everyone loved it! Molly twittered: “Dude. Dave from Denver. You are my hero.”, and Jason went crazy! Molly said, “YOU HAVE TO GO THERE!” Jason called it the “best thing in the whole wide world”. I must admit I was very shocked and happily surprised to find that the most recent Gadgettes show, the “I Love You” episode, was “dedicated to Dave from Denver”. For about 2 minutes of the show, all three hosts went crazy about the site, commenting on how there was “nowhere to go but down from Dave from Denver”. I seriously love those guys. Go listen to the show (or at least the beginning) and you’ll know why.
What’s the point? Not only is it super cool, but one of the things that Molly mentioned was, “I want this to become a thing, like the biggest thing there ever was! A thingie!”. Throughout the segment, they encouraged listeners to Digg and StumbleUpon Jack My Thingie, and expressed how far they wanted it to go. After thinking about this for a while, I realized that this fit right in to one of my biggest theories about the internet and where it’s going. Jack My Thingie received nine Diggs within 8 hours, and got over 250 visitors in the first three hours since the podcast was released. JMT was also added to Reddit, StumbleUpon, and del.icio.us multiple times, all within 12 hours of the podcast’s posting.
This is a prime example of the transformation that media has when it comes to the web. You’ll never find anything quite like this happening on TV or the radio. Not only would the blooper that inspired jackmythingie.com never reach the public, but the website wouldn’t even exist, the people on the show wouldn’t have loved it, and it wouldn’t have received the welcome it did in that small amount of time. We’re in a new age of media, and this is a perfect example. Look forward to my first post in “The New Net” coming today, focusing on what I call passive vs. engaging media. And seriously- make Jack My Thingie a really big thingie.
The New Net: Introduction
Posted Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 by Dave Moyer
Starting today, and continuing till… (who knows when?) I’ll be writing about “The New Net” and how the internet has been, and is, evolving. I’ll also be talking about people, (very broad, I know) and how they are reacting to these changes. Here’s a little FAQ:
Q. What IS “The New Net?
A. “The New Net” is the term I’ve decided to use for the new internet in this series. This is very different from “Web 2.0″ and similar terms, as those are, in essence, buzz words that are now used as an adjective to describe sites, services, and companies. “So and so is a new Web 2.0 site that does such and such.” Phrases like this are very common today, but I’m writing on a much broader topic.
Q. What, specifically, are you going to be covering?
A. Here’s a little sample of the topics I’ll be writing about. This is just a small list, and topics are in no way limited to the following:
- Open Source, and how it’s changed the internet
- Design changes
- Domain names: what they used to mean, what they mean now
- Sticks in the Mud (those people who don’t want to change)
- The Blinded (those people who are completely unaware of changes)
- Who’s got a website: Then and now
Thanks for reading, and look forward to the first in this series very soon. If you have any topics that you think I should write about,
Gmail vs. Thunderbird, Outlook or Apple Mail: Gmail wins!
Posted Sunday, February 24th, 2008 by Dave Moyer
As many know, I recently switched to Thunderbird from Outlook for my email and have been loving it! Well, since then, I’ve seen lots of posts talking about Gmail, and how it’s the ultimate email client. I pretty much assumed it was the best webmail service out there, but nothing could beat the speed and usability of having an installed email app like Thunderbird or Outlook.
After seeing many Lifehacker posts and others saying that Gmail was even better than a local program, I decided to give it a try. I was already loving Gmail in the first twenty minutes! It allows for POP access, so you can access almost any other email account you have through Gmail, with the exception of Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, and you can even send mail through other accounts (this includes Yahoo! and Hotmail) without the use of SMTP. Most other programs, including Mail, Outlook and Thunderbird all use SMTP to send mail through the specific server. Gmail does things differently, sending messages through its own server, and making the “from” address whatever email you want it to be. It’s perfectly secure, though, as you need to verify you own that email before sending anything with a simple link or entering a code. This method is a definite plus as it’s faster than SMTP, and it gives those without SMTP relaying available the capability to send messages through Gmail.
So, I set up all my accounts, which was surprisingly simple. The first thing I noticed was how fast it was! Switching back and forth between messages and my inbox was almost immediate, even on a slow hotel connection! I also liked many of the features that you don’t find in other clients, such as a very nice search and the “quick reply” box at the bottom of a message. Gmail also has a very nice method for handling replies, almost like a message board or forum. Rather than seeing many rows of “RE:” in your inbox, Gmail groups messages into “conversations”. For instance, if I send an email to Beth Skinner with a change in the WordCast recording time, I won’t see RE: next to the subject when she replies. Instead, I’ll see something like “Beth (2)”. Gmail places the conversation at the top of my inbox, leaving me room for more messages. The more I reply, the conversation’s thread count increases, but it all stays within one entry in my inbox.
Another cool feature is the easy contact management. It’s got a 3 column layout to add and manage different contacts and groups. The whole Gmail UI is incredibly intuitive. The POP access works perfectly, and I have experienced no problems sending from other accounts. I made my regular email my default sending address, and it’s not had any problems! (The sending address can be changed when composing a message.) The filters work fine, and tagging (“labeling” in Gmail) works just like any other! All of these features, rolled into a webmail client that I can access anywhere and is faster than any installed program! Plus, it all works seamlessly with my Google Calendar (that’s another article), Google Docs, and more!
On top of all of this, I downloaded and installed the free Firefox extension by Gina [INSERT NAME] of Lifehacker, Better Gmail 2. It gave me even more cool features, like an alternate skins, message highlighting, default secure connections when accessing my mail, and setting Gmail as my default email client when I click on “mailto:” links when browsing.
Gmail is the definite winner in this battle, and I’d recommend it to anyone from zero to infinite experience with email. I don’t plan on going back to a local application anytime soon.
UPDATE: I’ve talked about the Gmail switch with many people, and nearly all with them have been skeptical. However, once they tried it out, they were loving it, just like I was. For instance, Kym Huynh wasn’t too keen on the idea, concerned about transferring messages. But once he tried it out, he was crazed about it, saying “I. Love. Gmail. Period!” Beth Skinner, once she switched, wrote, “I really hate having to admit this but my Web Kid was right, it’s a great product. (Plus it’s FREE!)” Bottom line: Just try it out, no matter how scared you may be.
Colorado Preserve America Youth Summit 2008
Posted Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 by Dave Moyer
I’m back on the road, this time not very far! I’m spending a few days in downtown Denver for this year’s Preserve America Colorado Youth Summit.
I was a VIP attendant at the first national Preserve America Youth Summit (2006) and have been involved in the planning and creation of both this year’s and last year’s Colorado Youth Summit, born in February 2007.
Of course, I’ll be twittering as I go and will be posting YouTube videos (I got it setup to work with my cell phone) to document a bit of the “behind the scenes” fun, though the clips be pretty dang short. Multimedia messaging does NOT allow for much sending space.
See you later!
