coding for food

Believe or not - Twitter has gone mainstream. You may not think of that way - but it has. The words like "tweet", "twitter", tweets" have all become part of every day speech. However - the real reason why Twitter has been so big - is its presence in the mobile market. Facebook has always been considered like a "directory" of people, while Twitter is considered a tool for social discovery and social interaction. The ability to update your Twitter on your cell phone via a text message - makes a service that anyone could use. Add in the fact that smart phones like the iPhone, Blackberry, and Palm Pre are on the the rise - it almost feel like Mobile Phones and Twitter were meant for eachother. Constantly, I see Mashable and other technology and social media blog show different tools for interacting with Twitter through its API (another thing that Facebook has been relucant to do, due to the privacy). Recently - the most popular desktop client, TweetDeck, has released their first mobile verision allows uses to sync their groups right to their iPhone. This has been a revolutionary idea, and the first "good" Twitter application to organzie your friends in groups. On the other hand, before TweetDeck was released the most popular iPhone twitter client had to be the easy to use Tweetie. The simple design of Tweetie, and multiple account abilities, make it a easy pick for many users. However, the price tag of $2.99 had people look the other way.

In the age of "shorter is better" everyone is trying a better way to shorten things, protect things, and share things. First it was links - where users of the Twitter shortened their links so they could share with their friends in under 140 characters. But it didn't stop there - people wanted to shorten everything, and add the element that other URL Shortners couldn't accomlish - protect themselves from harmful links. So in turn , people wanted to shrink their email addresses, and share them with people on Twitter - but protect themselves aganist spam. Enter TinyMail.
TinyMail's Homepage
TinyMail is a great web application that lets you share your email address with the world, and know that it will be private. One of the biggest problems with email spam is that if you put your email on a blog or another site - internet robots, yes I said it, will search the entire internet for something@something.com. Once they find that email - they will add it their spam list. TinyMail put the protection back into your email account. No more will have to type your full email in a forum, chat, or Twitter. If you want to share your email with someone via Twitter, just type your email into the bar and click protect. You will be given a url short address, similar to TinyURL or Bit.ly, where you can share with the rest of the world. The email address is now in web form, so the recipent who wants to email you, can click on the link, enter into the image on thes screen, and your email is displayed. It's that simple. This whole process keeps your email safe from the bag guys as it ads the image verification to prevent a robot from trying to access that web address. Also - this protects you against spammers, as the email address on the public timeline of Twitter will not be a email address per say, but a web address and will not be added to public spam accounts. So if your looking to share your email address with someone but want the privacy and protection - TinyMail is for you.

Twitter. It's the talk of the town. Celebrities from Shaq to LeVar Burton share their daily routines with their loyal fans on this popular micro blogging platform.  Twitter has shown up many, many Media Network included Wall Street Journal, MSNBC and other networks stating that it's becoming the biggest internet fad since Facebook. It's supposed to connect us with people that have common interests and help corporations find new customers. Obviously if you attempt to improve the business transactions, you will be improving the current economy recession. But is it really doing that? I was watching Insider Edition last night, when they started talking about how Twitter might be getting out of hand. Actor Aston Kutcher was on the news because he posted a "tweet" of a picture his wife Demi Moore naked with the message "shh Don't Tell Wifey".  David Prager, an executive over a Revision3, a Internet TV site, had a his house broken into and he "tweeted"  and "livesteamed" the whole situation. They claim that Twitter has gone way outside the originally use of product. Personally, I don't think that Twitter has gotten out of hand - I feel that it actually enhances the experience.  Anyone out there can become a someone with Twitter. It increases the ability to share your stories with everyone. However, circling back to the topic, what is it's side effects? According to this story on, over 61% of all Twitters, actually Tweet during the American work day, Monday - Friday (9-5pm). I wasn't very surprised by this study because I know a lot of my friends are non-existent on Twitter during the weekends. To me, its makes perfect sense why this it the case. Most big time blogs normally post stories during the work, and most people view their Twitter feeds to get these stories during the week.  On the weekend, you have the paper and TV. At work - you don't have that ability. Twitter gets it you fast and easy. So you keep viewing your Twitter feed, and once you see the post you like, you want to comment on it - and just like that, the Twitter obsession begins.  Similar to Facebook - you log in into Twitter and see what is going on - and then you look up and 5 hours have passed and you have no idea how that happened. So is Twitter a productivity "decreaser"? Many people think that the goal of Twitter is to connect people who share common interests. For example, if someone sends a message on Twitter saying that are looking for "Organic Foods to buy", Whole Foods could contact them suggesting items in their story to buy. That small methodology continues and Whole Foods and the person build their social network. Other people think the power of Twitter is in it's search engine ability, via the acquisition of Summarize. If you want to find out what people think about a certain topic, just search it in to the box, and you'll find out. We have all heard the stories of the people who got fired from her job for posting Facebook status message, so you know that people have no problem speaking the truth. I mean even after these events occured, people just "tweet the truth". If you search "bored at work" on Twitter, you'll get thousands of results from people. Twitter even cost a person their job for saying that they would have to mull of the options of a long commute time or a higher salary.

Personally, I feel that it does decrease the productivity of employees. You get hooked on it - you can't stop. I find myself twittering useless information, not because I want to, just because I can't stop. It's very addictive.  When one of my friends Kelly, posted an interesting tweet today saying that an ecomonist saying that Twitter was the cause of economic collapse. I know your thinking - at first glance, I thought the same thing. "Twitter caused the RECESSION?! Seriously?" Of course, it wasn't the primary reason, but if you actually read the article, you'll find that it does hold some water.

I mean - the article is excellently written, but this graph above summarizes the entire story. The amount users on Twitter increase, the Dow Jones decreases - a lot. Twitter is a tool to be used for internal communication, however you try to use it, you will get distracted and perform less quality work. Less quality of work, fewer profits for the company. Fewer profits, fewer jobs, and so-on and so-on. The line between social networks and corporate use is starting to fade, but the way internal employees use their social networking isn't blurring at all.  Social networks in the corporate environment are to be used to communicate about work, but people are still using the social network features as they would at home. If a company incorporates an Instant Messaging client, people will talk to their co-workers about non-related work stuff - it's just the nature of the beast. But how should these companies use social networks? Through training, planning, and design. Find out ways to connect better INTERNALLY and not externally. When this has been accomplished, the way we think about social networks at "work" will change. It will become a part of the regular job, and build relationships between employees, instead of creating individual silos. So do I think Twitter is the main reason for the Recession? No - but it is causing some wear and tear on our society. The notion that people have be informed of every change in the world upon the second it occurs is wearing our productivity thin.  Some people claim that the Twitter/Facebook revolution is just a fad and will pass soon - but I beg to differ. Twitter is the Model-T of the 21st century - it's just the beginning.

Browsing the web these days, everywhere you go - you see some image of sex. Whether it's YouTube's most viewed videos, Google Search, or any other media outlet - an image of a partially dressed women, or an ad for a AdultFriend finder will be shown very frequently. Most people try to hide themselves from this crude content stating that is immoral, but in hindsight actually view these sites on a frequent basis. The internet used to be a goldmine of information ready at our finger tips where a child could learn about the World, but now it is turned into a landfill of pornography. What happened? Naturally, one would be correct to be assume that the phrase "Sex Sells" is 100% when it comes to Internet media. Take a spelling show and place a pretty attractive girl on it with a whole lot of cleavage and it instantly becomes an overnight hit. When I see this activity on the Internet, the first thing I think of is that all Internet users are probably male, and are just clicking for a good time. Because, we all make the stereotype that men enjoy pornography over women. Think about it - I would guess that 80% of all pornography on the Internet is advertised toward males. I mean, no offense to HotForWords or Tania but I seriously doubt that people view their videos for their content - I mean, I speak for myself and most other viewers. I honestly believe that 9 out of 10 guys would choose the product with a woman showing Cleavage than a product with a woman showing no cleavage. But according to research, there are more female internet users than men in a study completed in 2006. According to the report, the women outweigh the men 51.6% to 48.4%. So if Internet users are mainly Women, are we incorrect with our assumption about the stereotypes toward pornography? You may think that I am getting off topic here - but I promise you that it all comes full circle soon. My main point is the sex sells content more than any other advertising variable. Doesn't matter if you a women or man, seeing that contact turns you into Curious George and you want to see it. When it comes to sex on the Internet, it becomes "uni-sex", or appealing to everyone no matter what gender you are. The Internet acts like this invisiable shield where you can view things in private without people judging you. You could have NO talent what-so-ever, and your a girl who shows some skin, and you'll get viewership. For us men, we don't have this advantage - and we instantly loose. To the world - the people who create these videos and blog are portrayed as geeks, but once the geek is exposed as female, we jump faster than a bunny rabbit. If I never disclosed who I am, but instead said my name was Gregoria Avola and I was female tech geek - I guarantee that this blog would have tons of hits per day. People love the unusual, especially if it can be translated toward sex. So how sex changed the Internet? Well - the better question is how has the Internet changed sex? Sex has become more public and transparent through the adaption of Internet. Adult social networks are popping up like grass in the summer, while most Adult social networks are actually merging over to Facebook and Twitter. If you advertise that your site has "sex appeal" - people will start coming like a flock of sheep with no purpose. Does the content even matter anymore? I once heard a story that a attractive foreign woman started posting diaries in a non-English language and received over 1 million views. Most of the comments were English, so I am wondering if they even understood what she was saying. The Internet is a wonderful place to share and discover information about things you would never thought you would find. However, Sex has changed that. Sure you can find out the same information but it scattered through a web. I could write stories on blog that would interest you, but if I don't include the tag "sex" in this post, you might never have seen it.  So in closing, how has Sex changed the Internet? It redefined that essence what the Internet does, which is sharing information. Instead of sharing information, users are just attracted the part of the Internet that heightens their curiosity - the Sex.

So, if you have been living under a rock for the past few months, you've never heard of Twitter. Twitter has been growing at a increasing rate ever since the election when the inter-webs were flooded by twitter posts about the elections results. Now regards of if you don't know what Twitter is or not, you're probably asking your self - Why would I want to use it? Oh where do I begin... All great stories start at the beginning, so if your not new to Twitter, bare with me on this part. Twitter is basically a micro-blogging platform which is different than Wordpress or Blogspot because it limits your posts to 140 characters. In other words - Twitter is a social network similar to Facebook Status Messages without the profiles and are more public. Twitter begs you ask the simple question - "What are you doing?". Users who use Twitter can post an update saying that they just found a great coffee at a local shop or they found a pair of jeans that they liked in their size at the mall. The options are limitless, and basically Twitter can form a network of people that like certain things. Twitter fills in the gaps where emails and cell phones leave out. For example, you don't want to call you friend and tell them you just had a cup of coffee - its just not practical. You also wouldn't email someone to tell them you went to the park today - again not practical. Twitter makes it practical by giving the ability to post short blobs about our everyday activity. It doesn't require you write a novel on what you did, but condenses it to make it short and sweet for the world to see. Soon you'll be finding people that share the same interests as you and you'll build your social and your professional network. Look - social networks are here to stay - a great example of this is LinkedIn, which is the largest professional social network in the US right now. Some companies actually encourage you get sign up and sooner or later it will be a requirement. Now, I hear you already, you observant reader - "But I don't want people to know about my life 24/7, Twitter is very stalkerish!". I completely understand your point. Twitter can be deemed to most as a "stalker" tool inviting strangers to follower your updates that you have little or no connection with. For example, currently as of today (3/19), I have 44 followers on on my Twitter page, I probably know about 40% in real life.  To many that may seem like a invasion of privacy, but its actually the opposite. Twitter uses the status message of connecting us with people who share common interests. It makes the world transparent and brings us closer together as a community. Like it or not - we share a connection with everyone in the world - we are all human. That characteristic brings is together whether you like or not. So to bring all these thoughts back to the main subject of this post - I use Twitter to connect with the world. With Twitter, I am able to find out interesting websites, tech news, and most important people. The greatest asset to Twitter is not just the content, is the people that use it. Without their personality Twitter would just be another Facebook without the profiles. So why should you use it? Because, face it, your already interested. You keep you telling yourself and others that your not going to join because you have your Facebook and your MySpace, why do you need Twitter? Because Twitter is better than those other social network, because it doesn't require you to create over lavish MySpace profile pages, and enter in tons of personal data to Facebook - it just connects you with others based on what you input into it. Twitter's Search page is one of the best things about Twitter, because it shows you what people are talking about at all times of the day. When the iPhone 3.0 preview was unveiled, tons of Twitters joined in the conversation and you got a first hand look on how humans respond to certain situations.

So in closing, why should you use Twitter? Because it's your newspaper/word-of-mouth combintation of the 21st century. Plus, you can follow updates from Shaq. Who wouldn't want that?

Update: 3/19 - Yes, I really do need to proof read my blog posts. Thanks, Vinny

So while walking to work today - I thought to myself, what do I want to accomlish in my lifetime? After careful thought - I have no idea, and a lifetime is, hopefully, a very long time. However, on reconstruction of the question, I figured that I would be able to answer the question, "what do I want to accomlish with my life before I hit 30 years old?".  And with that - my mind starting to run with possibilities. Here is my bucketlist - the 30 years version.

Things I Want To Do Before I Hit 30 Years Old:

1.  Start or be in involved in a internet start-up.

2. Feel like I am physically fit every day.

3. Write a short story.

4. Develop something.

5. Go back to school and to get my MBA.

6. Teach a college class.

7. Become a mentor to someone.

8. Visit Apple Headquarters and/or attend a internet conference.

9.  Learning something new everyday.

10. Do everything on this list.

Everyone these days wants to loose weight. If you Google the term "Loose Weight" you get about 41 Million results. That's pretty crazy. What is crazier is if you got to Google UK site, and search only UK pages for the same term, you only get about 1.5 Million results. Why is this? Because in America, we are obsessed with loosing weight. According to independent research, a majority of  Male American lie in the 140 to 260 while women range between 100 to 250 pounds. Of course, these values are all dependent upon your current age. In Europe, these values are much less (however, recent research suggests that they may be on the rise). The reason for this is rise is based on the globalization of the "stuff" that made us over-weight in the US - fast food. As McDonald's, Burger King and other fast food restaurants expand to the other parts of the world, it takes America's problem with obesity with them. However this is not the topic of this blog, because my point is discussing the activity of loosing weight, not gaining it. Every New Year, more than 50% of people make Resolutions. While who knows how many of them actually break them within the first week, but I would guess it would be close to 60%. Most of those resolutions deal with loosing weight, because it "is the thing to do". However - we as a culture find it very hard to keep that pact and try to loose the weight because of many reasons.

• Results. Basically, if something doesn't happen overnight, we are less likely do that activity. You could be working out for a month, and see no benefit to your trials and tribulations. Of course, this varies. If you are extremely overweight - loosing that initial 20 pounds may go by fast, but the people who are the edge of being over-weight, find it extremely unsatisfying when they work-out for 1 month straight and see no physical results of their work. You might feel great, but your body might not be showing that.
• Costs. Nowadays, if you want to get in shape - you are going to have to shell out some cash. Especially in this time, that can be pretty daunting.  First thing everyone tries to do when they want to loose weight, is join a gym. You see - Gym's are smart. They know you are only going to use them until you get the physical change you are looking for or feel better about yourself. With this in mind - they take a page out of the cell phone provider's book and make you sign a 1 or 2 year agreement with every gym membership. This forces you to go the gym, which may be good, but it costs an arm and leg at the same time. Also, if you want to be 100% healthy, you will have to start changing your eating habits by shopping at organic foods stores and buying supplements that can put a hole in your wallet.
• Motivation. For us Americans - this might be the one big reason why people fail to loose the weight they want - Motivation. How many times have people said "I'm going to to go the gym today", and 5 hours later, they are still at the house and have not moved from watching re-runs of Seinfield on TBS. We would rather just relax than do actual work. Personally I find it hard to find the energy after working all day to come home and go to the gym. I'd rather just sit on the computer and read stories and find out about the days events then do that. It just an extremely bad habit to have, and people all over the world share that with me.

Relating back to my first post, if Gym incorporated the Google Methodology, it could help eliminate reason #2. Provide open-source membership. How does it work? Build a gym community - have them share and interact their success (and failure) stories. It will give hope, suggestions, and praise to other who share the same situation. You will build friendship and work-out buddies that can help you want to go to the gym. It would transform the gym away from being a place that you dread going to something that you look forward going to. Adding this social aspect the gym could help everyone loose some weight because it becomes fun and exciting. So what about the other reasons? How can I eliminate them through technology? Well, it's hard because they specifically deal with you as a person and don't rely on an control from someone else. For example, if you are obsessed with Orange Juice, your local grocery could control the access of it. You could buy it from another place, but that is out side the scope of this example. The idea is that, the authority to hold the product is outside of your control. When it comes to Motivation - all the authority and control is on you. You could use technology, like To-Do lists, or Work-Out mix to help motivate yourself. Self-rewards provide a good motivation booster than can help you complete your task. As for Results - using technology to track your progress through online various tools could help you "physically" see the results. You could share those results with your peers and talk about additions or subtractions based on their experience. Now you've added a social aspect to your results. The possibilities are endless. Technology can help you in ways that sometimes people don't even look at. It all relates back to the psychology of the person.When you find a way that works for you - it's easy to accomplish - because it becomes a routine for you. However - when you first set yourself out to do something, starting the activity can be as hard as lighting a fire in the rain. How do you start your fire?

So I was browsing the web this afternoon, and thought to myself - I wonder how hard is it to get a job at Google? I mean, I wasn't looking to get a job, but I figure its the Harvard of places to work - so they must get like 10,000 of applications per day, so it must be pretty hard to get a job there.  I started searching the web, looking for blogs or articles of people who had worked there and how they liked it. I couldn't find anything, surprisingly since I was searching on Google, however I did happen to stumble over some Google Interview questions.  Some of them are pretty interesting and are brain teasers, like I expected. So for fun to answer a few, using Google's ideals and methodologies as my teacher. Here is what I got:

Q. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

A: Nothing. Just charge for every ad that you put on the car window afterward that the person looks at. I call Price-Per-Look strategy.

Q: You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?

A: Use Google Maps to find the best driving/walking/transit routes.

Q: How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?

A:  Step 1, Open a Browser Window. Step 2, Type Google.com into the address bar. Step 3,  Type "How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?" into the search box. Step 4, Read results.

So yeah - I'm probably guaranteed never to get a job there with these answers. Oh well.

So between filming and editing for the Life At (Up To) 3G Speeds (LA3GS) show and my countless hours on Public Transportation on my way home, I've finished 2 books, in the last 3 weeks. That's pretty good for someone like me who doesn't really like books. The first book that I read, was the quickly book I've ever completed in a while. The book was called Bringing Down the House which was of course the book that inspired the movie 21. I loved that movie. Maybe it was because it gorgeous Kate Bosworth, which is more than likely the truth, but maybe it was the fact of the suspense and the thrilling story behind the story that kept me interested. For all those who likes the movie, the book is OUTSTANDING. It goes 10x farther and more in depth on the story. For those who do not remember, the movie is based on true events and same with the book. If I were to compare the book to the movie,  the movie would be like a piece of cake, while the book would be the huge sheet cake that the "movie" came from. It just a masterful piece of writing that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I finished in 3 days of about 8 hours of reading. 300+ pages. Done. If your in the mood get your brain thinking and follow an intense trail of suspense, pick up the book - its worth it. So my second book I've completed this month, is in a bit of different genre as it is a new book by fellow blogger Jeff Jarvis called "What Would Google Do?". The book is basically a re-engineering of Google's methodologies and business processes that has driven Google to the fastest growing company in the history of..companies growing? The book is written very well, and goes through all the major industries and how they can change their way their do their business and adapt to the "Google-way" to improve. Things that pop-up constantly in the book is Jarvis's #1 Law - "Give Control back to the People" - he states that by giving control back the consumer instead of hoarding it, people can use it and collaborate on product that you are servicing and make it better. A prime example he used is when Starbucks opened a website where customers could comment and suggest new ideas for the company. This is something that Google can do. I liked the book a lot, and found it very interesting to the geek inside of me. I blew through the first half of the book, but then started to slow down as I found myself seeing the same topics discussed over and over again. Don't get me wrong - the book was still amazing, but it really begged the question - Do similar industries need to be broken into different sections if they have the same change to Google's methodologies? By the end of the novel, I felt like I was one of the actors in the 1984 Apple Commerical, just repeating the Jarvis's first law over and over again in every industry. However, these common ideas helped drive home his other points about the industry and acted as a buffer. The way Google open's up the control of their products for API use and user enhancement is what makes them special. It was interesting to read when he talked about profitability, the "free is a business plan". Google does it and does it well. First attract the users, then think about the cost structure and how they can make money on Ads. This is a methodology that micro-blogging sensation Twitter.com has done. They have the millions of users, now its time to find out how to make money. Jeff says if you worry about the user base first, your product will be better and people will enjoy it as you focused on the innovation rather than just the profitability when making it. However - this does present the possibility of a backfire for users who could once obtain the software/product for free, and now once needs to pay - but if you were in Google's head - using AdWords would be the way to go to . In the Twitter example, if they started charging Business and Corporations for their accounts, and added Ads the side of the page (similar to Facebook) based on the tweets that you send and recieve - that could the be the real winner for Twitter. Jeff Jarvis did a fantastic job putting this book together, and made the read feel like I was reading it online in a blog forum. Sometimes I feel that he was "tooting" his horn a bit in some cases with his successes, but that is just what new media works these day - no problem there. Anyways if you are interested in checking out your industry can adpat the ideals and business processes of Google this is a great book to snuggle up to the fire with and read until you see blue, yellow, red and green.