What is a Mashup, Anyway?

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.

Take pictures instead of listening to bad hold music.

[It's about that time when you may be on hold... trying to return that holiday gift, or even trying to figure out how it works. So, kids, this one's for you. ]

There’s nothing worse than being on hold.

Maybe you’re on your iphone/droid/blackberry (stranded without a headset) so you’re holding the thing to your hear for an hour, listening to some terrible music on repeat <— I’m THAT girl.

Maybe you’re at home on an old-school phone with a cord and can’t move from your current position (how did anyone ever do anything!?)

Or maybe you’re at work, trying to take care of some business while on your lunch break, and you’re still on hold and 1:00 is approaching rapidly.

Regardless of whatever situation you find yourself in, telephone “menus” are a true non-value added experience. Sometimes you hit the wrong button or find yourself in the wrong place.

Usually, if you want to get connected to a “human,” you hit 0… but this is not always the case, so I’ve used GetHuman for those key commands that will route you to a real life person (shocking I know, how did you ever live without it!!) For example, if you’re calling GE Money bank (shoutout) .. according to Get Human you would, “Press 1, then don’t press or say anything.”

Another example is PhoneTreeShortcuts.com, where you can find out the shortcuts for various phone menus. But something’s missing with these options…

When I first heard about fonolo, I misspelled it about three different times in Google, but I’m glad that I did. The site transcribes phone menus from many large companies, so you can scan them quickly.

Fonolo uses visual navigation to allow for the most user-friendly experience. You choose where you need to go, and fonolo will automatically dial the number, navigate their menu and then CALL YOUR PHONE. When you answer, you will be connected to your final destination. not bad.

According to Cnet, fonolo also allows you to record these calls (potentially for sending to the Better Business Bureau or other such organizations).

An added bonus– say you’ve been in a major argument with your credit card company (a good example in this economy) for secretly raising the interest rate on your card. This app lets you take notes and organize what happened when, and on what call. So, when that mean lady on the other line asks you for information (and secretly doesn’t think you know it). You’ll be there. ready.

Go show ‘em who’s boss, guys (and girls).

For July, I decided to put together a few of my top “crushes” out there on the ‘net.

1. Pete Cashmore. Mashable CEO

Maybe it’s the accent. Maybe it’s the fact that he started mashable.com (of which I am a fan).

For a fun video tribute to Pete, check of ValleyWag’s video where some photos are set to “I’m too Sexy.” truth.

If men of the scottish type, well, aren’t your type, check out this list of tech’s most eligible bachelors for a few additional options.

2. Google Voice.

After finally receiving an invitation to the awesomeness, life-changing mobile voice application that is Google Voice, let’s just say I have a major web app crush on it.

I’m just not sure lanesberry (my blackberry)is a fan. But my new google voice number has my name in it… #notfail

3. Fail Blog Videos

Once you watch one you really just can’t stop.

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!

There’s nothing more frustrating than going to a site and noticing that it’s down. Especially if there’s a great sale at J.Crew / your favorite online retailer and you can’t access it. It’s just frustrating.

Instead of continuously hitting F5 (refresh) or trying to get into the site in a brute force kind of way, you can leverage a more convenient method of a new site – Ding! It’s up!

This site is a free service that alerts you via text (SMS), twitter or email when a website goes down or when it comes back up.

I think this could also be a great integration opportunity for sites that have “technical difficulties” often but want a way to notify visitors when they’re back up and running. It’s just a nice way to say “hey, we’re back, come back!”

According to StatBrain, the site gets ~3,500 hits a day… but it’s still pretty new.

In honor of starting out a new workweek, I only felt it appropriate to write a post about one thing that makes our commutes a little more like this….

A new startup, TrafficJot, is one of the better anti-traffic sites that I’ve found on the ‘net thus far. Mainly because it relies on user collaboration– basically, from angry people like us.

If you’re stuck in traffic, you can notify TrafficJot by sending a quick email from your smartphone by following the suggested “trafficmail” template. (What would make it better is if there was an option to download/send the template from the website).

But what I like about the site is that it’s fairly easy to use and navigate (mainly because it’s built on top of Google Maps.) All you really have to do is type in your current (or destination) address, and traffic alerts are displayed on the screen.

I think that TraffitJot has some promise.

Sure, you may say, there are other traffic alert sites and mobile apps– Other options include:

TrafficGauge: Mobile apps cost ~$40/year, but maps accessed from your browser are free (widget downloads too!).

Traffic.com: Almost too simple of a URL to be viable, but it’s pretty good- comprehensive and clean. Not web 2.0-y, but has good information.

Netflix and I have been seeing each other for a long time. (We’re going on our 2 year anniversary.)

However, Netflix currently does not remember my past (renting habits.) Sure, Netflix sends e-mail updates on when your last rental was returned and also displays whats coming up next… but that’s where the options end (sorry).

My per rental cost is $1.66. My cost/movie (including Instant Watch) is $0.38. Not bad, eh?

As an analytical person, I like to see the “numbers.” Whats my return on investment? My average cost per movie? Give my (near) greenbelt certified brain some stats, here.

Then I found FeedFlix- an app that gives you visibility into your rental trends. Use it to find out how much each rental costs you and keep track of the average time you keep your DVDs.If you’re thinking of cancelling your netflix account, first run this tool (it literally takes 2 minutes to set up, if that!).

RWW writes that “Every Netflix user has an RSS feed that includes information about the movies in your queue, the movies you have out, and which you’ve reviewed or recommended. Feedflix parses those feeds and tracks your account activity to create some helpful data that can be used to get the most out of Netflix.” So, basically, Feedflix subscribes to your feed and consolidates/organizes the data into your own page :)

Since I’ve been analyzing my finances a bit more closely lately (I want to buy this black halo dress, mainly), Netflix isn’t something that is on it’s way out of my monthly budget (and not at risk, seeing how high my ROI is).

There’s nothing worse than being on hold.

Maybe you’re on your blackberry (stranded without a headset) so you’re holding the thing to your hear for an hour, listening to some terrible music on repeat <— I’m THAT girl.

Maybe you’re at home on an old-school phone with a cord and can’t move from your current position (how did anyone ever do anything!?)

Or maybe you’re at work, trying to take care of some business while on your lunch break, and you’re still on hold and 1:00 is approaching rapidly.

Regardless of whatever situation you find yourself in, telephone “menus” are a true non-value added experience. Sometimes you hit the wrong button or find yourself in the wrong place.

Usually, if you want to get connected to a “human,” you hit 0… but this is not always the case, so I’ve used GetHuman for those key commands that will route you to a real life person (shocking I know, how did you ever live without it!!) For example, if you’re calling GE Money bank (shoutout) .. according to Get Human you would, “Press 1, then don’t press or say anything.”

Another example is PhoneTreeShortcuts.com, where you can find out the shortcuts for various phone menus. But something’s missing with these options…

When I first heard about fonolo, I misspelled it about three different times in Google, but I’m glad that I did. The site transcribes phone menus from many large companies, so you can scan them quickly.

Fonolo uses visual navigation to allow for the most user-friendly experience. You choose where you need to go, and fonolo will automatically dial the number, navigate their menu and then CALL YOUR PHONE. When you answer, you will be connected to your final destination. not bad.

According to Cnet, fonolo is planning to let you record these calls (potentially for sending to the Better Business Bureau or other such organizations), although the feature is currently disabled.

An added bonus– say you’ve been in a major argument with your credit card company (a good example in this economy) for secretly raising the interest rate on your card. This app lets you take notes and organize what happened when, and on what call. So, when that mean lady on the other line asks you for information (and secretly doesn’t think you know it). You’ll be there. ready.

Go show ‘em who’s boss, guys (and girls).

I’m a loud talker. Especially at the office.

Let’s just say that my cube neighbor is a pretty cool guy for putting up with me and the amount of time I’m on the phone every day.

So, he came across an online application that solves one problem that hits his (productivity) bottom line– me.

It’s an ambient noise generator, available in white, pink, and brown noise. (Yes, there are different “colors” of noise, beyond white, according to wikipedia/science). Basically, the deal is that the color names are derived from a loose analogy between the spectrum of frequencies of sound wave present in the sound  and the equivalent spectrum of light wave frequencies. Basically, if the sound wave pattern of “blue noise” were translated into light waves, the resulting light would be blue, and so on.

My cube neighbor uses it because white noise (or pink or brown) helps to cut out background noise. You can also use it to fall asleep (just don’t fall asleep at your desk!)

It’s a (basically) normal Monday afternoon.

I’m hanging out at the Energy corporate headquarters in Atlanta, waiting for a few email responses, so I decide to get a head start on my weekly post for the GE IMLP Blog. (Mind you, my blog used to come up in the first results page in google for GE IMLP before the blog, but no hard feelings you know?)

Anyway, so I’m writing my post and trying to resize and crop some graphics. Sounds easy right? Well, I don’t have photoshop on my work laptop and my trusty macbook pro with the full adobe cs3 suite is back home (and missing me).

So, I start to Google around and find Picnik. Amazing. It’s basically love at webapp first sight. (Plus they are headquartered in downtown seattle… instant cool.) The picnik team is composed of some pretty cool guys- the CEO sold a previous application to Google.

For free, you can upload your images and edit them within your browser. No fancy or expensive editing software needed. Once your image is uploaded, you can crop it, add text, change it to a black & white photo, lower the resolution if you’re using the image on the web, render it as a different image type (jpg to gif if you’re interested), add a border… pretty awesome.

And it also integrates with your photos from facebook, myspace, and flikr. But don’t let the name “picnik” throw you off… no food here (sorry).