Last week, I was stuck working from home with the flu.
While stuck in isolation in my apartment (I did not want to subject my coworkers to this virus strain), I started to make a mental list of how the internet was helping and hindering my recovery:
Helping:
- Able to VPN into meetings and check email
- Unlimited entertainment with Hulu, Netflix and Internet-enabled TV
- Online ordering for Food delivery
- Ability to chat with friends without straining voice
Therefore, when I run across images like this (whereas this image was clearly not taken in the United States – given the image in the background) I am still jealous.
Coffee as art is something that I have great respect for.
Even a simple Google Images search for Coffee Art and Latte Art yields great results (and some super awesome photos and ideas).
Has anyone found a coffee bar that offers latte art? And if so, what did you order?
Do you ever think back to the days when you couldn’t just google, bing, or wolfram alpha an answer and have an instantaneous answer along with an infographic to back it up?
I was in a discussion yesterday regarding the concept of “Contemporary IT” and how it relates back to both our personal and professional lives. The conversation left a great number of questions open — What are our expectations for both our intranets as well as the internet? Do we expect the same things both at work and at home (use of mobile applications, hardware, software?) or are we happy with a sense of “theirs” and “mine?” Where are the new media boundaries?
Why? It’s a few things. If you haven’t realized, there’s that whole social netwoking and social media thing (maybe you’ve heard of it), coupled with the rise of smart phones, leading to the mobile application, (then the ipad, ahem) which has given us ways to harness information in ways only visionaries thought possible a decade ago.
Sure, I realize that the average user will have a much different perspective than a digital native who works in the IT function (ahem, yours truly), but what I do know is that both large and small companies alike are working to make the internets a better place for those of use who are cube-dwellers during the day and mac-addicts by night.
So I ask you, wise readers of the techyness –
In the words of a wise Liz Lemon, what’s your dealbreaker? How much new media and contemporary IT do you want in the office vs. at home?
[for more fun on what the internet used to look like, check out the wayback machine]
If you’re the kind of person who spends hours in PowerPoint every day… you probably know this scenario.
You have slides. They content. But what you don’t have is a photo that works. That flows. That matches the graphic your boss gave you.
Have a color you need to match?
Try multicolr search lab. Simply click on a color (or a combination of colors) from the chart, and photos that match are displayed. It’s simple. It’s awesome.
Looking for a visual answer to a phrase?
Compfight is your answer. Enter a phrase. Find answers.
What about browsing through large numbers of photos?
FlickrStorm, baby. Type in a word or phrase, and watch the thumbnails pop up. Click on them and they are displayed on the right hand panel, so you don’t lose your group of photos. Create a “tray” (lightbox) of favorite photos, then bulk download. This is a great way to develop a listing of photos you are looking at for a pitch.
I must be making a lot of PowerPoints lately, as they seem to be a topic of many of my blog posts….
Since Friday is International Foursquare Day (Get it — 4/16), I’d like to honor this special day with a few of my favorite YouTube videos on the subject.
Not up on the action? Luckily, there’s still time to find out if there is a Foursquare day event in YOUR city- check out the full listing here.
Want to plan something?
1) Check the list for current events in your city
2) Review Resources. Interested in planning something last minute? The site has a full list of resources on how to set up a successful event.
3). Add the event to the 4sqday page
4). Follow @4sqday and Tweet the event!
5). Post photos from the event to Flickr (following the hashtag strategy here)
Not just in a busy sense (well, that too), but also in a digital sense. We leave our footprint (Foursquare checkins, Facebook wall posts, Tweets, Blog posts, Comments, Yelp Reviews etc..) all over the ‘net. We share where we’ve been, where we’re going, what we did, ate, thought and felt with our friends, family and even complete strangers whom we’ve never met.
But, in reviewing a few photos that were posted by @GeorgeGSmithJr from a recent trip up north, all of the tweets and foursquare checkins fall in the shadows of some of the pictures he uploaded from the trip.
So my question is– we’re sharing our social lives online- but it all seems to fall short when you compare it to a picture.
I think this one’s my favorite, but check out his Flickr stream here for the rest (if you’re interested).
Miss Techyness is blogging to you live from sunny Key West, Florida — and so I’d like to share a warm “Happy Easter” greeting to all.
Regarding techyness levels here on the island, I’d have to say the foursquare use is pretty low, as I am continuously adding new venues — while simultaneously explaining to my 8 family members what exactly foursquare is and why I use it.
One venue that I added today (with plans to be mayor!) is bésame mucho. This wonderful store embodies everything I’d ever want in a real-life, physical store. And it’s more than just the name, which means “kiss me often” and comes from a 1940′s spanish song.
The store owner and I had a few techy conversations, first- regarding our love for florence and then regarding my “Keep Calm and Carry On” print purchase from sfgirlbybay on Etsy, and then about our favorite blogs, including sea of shoes and sfgirlbybay’s blog. I’m hoping she takes my advice and starts up a blog!
If you’re interested in the song that inspired the store name, check out the video below with bocelli singing (love it)
(a few lines from the song)
Bésame, bésame mucho,
Como si fuera esta noche la última vez.
Bésame, bésame mucho,
Que tengo miedo a perderte, perderte después.
This past Thursday evening, I was giving a presentation on how technology/the web has advanced since the “PC era” and how we got to this age of Twitter, Facebook, Cloud Computing and awesome mobile applications.
During this presentation, a member of the group asked me to explain what a mashup was (because it was on my slide) and thankfully I had a URL (padmapper.com) coupled with a funny story (the developer and I became email pen pals when I asked him to add a new city to the app so my friend could find an apartment) on hand — but it made me realize that to a majority of the population, it’s pretty confusing.
A Mashup combines multiple sources of information and displays it in a single web page or application. The easiest (and sometimes most useful!) example mashes together GoogleMaps and something else.
Plan a wine tour (saves a lot of Googling) with Wines and Times. Find where you live (or where you want to go) and see what’s around so you can start sniffing, swirling, and tasting some vino.
Track your package as it’s moves across the map. BoxOh: Type in your tracking number and watch your package travel from it’s origin to it’s destination (you!). Mashes together FedEx/UPS/USPS data and GoogleMaps.
Find Free Internet in your city with HotSpotr: Mashes together a list of free WiFi hotspots and displays over GoogleMaps.
Techyness turns 24, and celebrates it with a cross-country move.
I must have some sense of twisted sense of congratulatory celebration, as my moving date happens to fall on the same day as my 24th birthday.
Hopefully this move won’t include similar stories from my last move — movers who asked me if I wanted to “party” later or go hit up the bar across the street — #professionalismfail.
If you’d like to follow my move and the crazy stories that happen, you can see them come through on Twitter with the hashtag #alanasmove2010.
Which brings me to my next point – when you’re moving, and people come and take away all your stuff, what are you left with?
It’s you, your gadgets, and a suitcase – usually hanging out in a corner, like me.
We tend to trust people with many items that we own, but refuse to hand over the gadgetry. I know I’m one of those crazies going through security with two laptops.
