Do it. http://twitter.com/amedmunds

Continuing along with my current theme of managing your digital identity (or multiple identities if that’s more your style), I’ve realized that not everyone is aware that things could, well, be a little bit easier with the introduction of the right tools.

Consider the following situations and my proposed answers (comment if you have something to add that I forgot!)…

Situation #1: You work at a company that has a need to automate some of your backend efforts on twitter. Say you have an RSS feed, but don’t always have time to post new items.

Answer: Tie in your RSS feed with Twitter, so when a new item is posted, things “auto-tweet.” HootSuite does this in an easy-to-use and configure web interface that also allows you to set timetables for posting (gotta love auto-tweeting…)

Situation #2: You run a pod/lifecast called millennious podcasting and you could really use a way to manage both accounts, as you work a full-time job during the week and don’t always have that special “tweeting” time.

Answer: Updating from “web” all the time is a #twitterupdatefail. Legit. Check out one of the multiple desktop clients where you can tie in multiple accounts. Seesmic Desktop is a top one (cross-platform and ties in facebook too, with unlimited accounts), Nambu, Tweet Deck,

Situation #3: Facebook. Twitter. You want to update twitter status more often than your facebook status, but sometimes you want to update both simultaneously. (You’re just choosy and that’s ok!)

Answer: Selective Twitter updates via Facebook. Install this app on your facebook account, and a simple #fb at the END of your tweets will update your facebook status. easy enough, right?

Situation #4: You have multiple people updating a single twitter account and you need a way to manage it all. (aka tweeting for two or more, hehe)

Answer: Co-Tweet seems to be the app of choice for corporations (and from the screen shots it looks awesome), as it allows you to manage multiple authors in a single account (nobody likes duplication of efforts.) This article from Mashable gives a large list of alternative options.

**note: no one should be going to a third party site to shorten urls, upload photos… these are features available in tools listed above!!!! DONT SETTLE!

Sometimes I forget my headphones at the gym and so, I usually pick up Popular Science or some other techy/semi-geeky magazine.

Create an infrared effect in Photoshop

Anyway, I found something cool in the November edition of the magazine— infrared photography.

Infrared Photography blocks visible light and captures only the IR spctrum. When you use an IR filter, the result is  false-color or black-and-white images with a dreamlike or sometimes lurid appearance known as the “Wood Effect.”

It looks the coolest with trees because foliage reflects in the same way visible light is reflected from snow.

Since not all of us can buy or add an IR filter, us normal “point-and-shoot” camera people can use Photoshop to get this awesome effect by following the steps below:

Create an infrared image effect in Photoshop:

1. Open your image and save a copy as a TIFF or PSD.
2. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Black and White. Name the layer and click OK.
3. In the Black and White dialogue box, click the Preset arrow and choose Infrared. Adjust the slider bars until you get the look you like.
4. When you’re happy with your image, click OK then Layer>Flatten Image and save it.

For all you foodies and non-foodies out there…

I don’t know about ya’ll, but when I’m online looking for reviews, it gets frustrating when they are clearly fake or created by someone in the marketing or PR department. (Especially as a new “southern girl” and resident of Atlanta, I’m running into these issues).

According to a recent article posted on TechCrunch, OpenTable.com guarantees that all of the restaurant reviews are real. OT does this by distributing surveys to recent diners who made reservations through their system and were seated. (I wonder how the restaurants feel about this-good or bad reviews).

OpenTable provides guest management software for restaurants- which then interfaces with the online reservation system. Staff can add or change reservatios manually (syncs with internet reservations), track special requests, VIPs, allergies, cancellation and no-show histories as well as creating client databases (marketing and mailing lists).

If you’re looking for another great site for all-around reviews, check out Yelp.

For photography equipment, I like Digital Photography Review.

I recently discovered Coffee Geek, which reviews coffee makers for the coffee lover as well as how-tos.