Today’s Buzzword: SocialMedia

I found this neat video on YouTube explaining the practical application of Social Media. Fantastic. I then performed what is now second nature to many netizens – and entered “Social Media” into Google and Wikipedia.

So what does Social Media really mean?

Here is a definition from Brian Solis posted on webpronews.com:

“Social media describes the online tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself, thus facilitating conversations and interaction online between groups of people. These tools include blogs, message boards, podcasts, micro blogs, lifestreams, bookmarks, networks, communities, wikis, and vlogs.

A few prominent examples of social media applications are Wikipedia (reference), MySpace and Facebook (social networking), Twitter and Jaikue (presence apps), YouTube (video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Upcoming (Events), Digg and Reddit (news aggregation), Flickr and Zooomr (photo sharing), Blogtv, Justin.tv, and Ustream (livecasting), Stickham, YourTrumanShow (episodic online video), Izimi and Pownce (media sharing), del.icio.us (bookmarking) and World of Warcraft (online gaming).”

http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/06/29/the-definition-of-social-media

What does Social Media REALLY mean?

It means I need to log on to multiple websites to access the thoughts of friends and people I follow – Do i log on to Friendster, or create a Myspace account, are all my friends on FaceBook? Do I need to set up an event and invite participants or do i create a tweet, maybe an email or a doodle mail. Social Media means I need to block and ignore mindless applications. I need to turn on privacy settings and stop FaceBook from giving away my personal details to third parties. I’m bombarded every second by inane photos of attention seeking females and their self portraits. Pokes, Zombies, Mafia Wars, Surveys, Quizzes, Applications, the list goes on. Links, Status updates, Polls, Email, Messenger conversations – my eyes are all abuzz!

We are spending more time online than ever before, we are connected all the time. Wired. In the Matrix. When will we wake up? And is this the destiny of the human race?

I believe its time to take my head out of the proverbial “cloud”.

Time to go for a walk and enjoy the fresh air and the nature that surrounds us.

Technology breeds Sporting Excellence

NationalPost.com

I’m a self confessed technologist and I’m also a competitive sportsperson. And in my very short time on this earth I’ve seen and been involved with different methods of preparation for sports. Methods that came about from the science of sport, the evolution of technology and human progress – striving to be the best that we can. Winning is more than just a gold medal at the Olympics, its a marketers dream and has created an entire industry in sports – look what Michael Jordan did for Nike.

The Arena X-Glide is a piece of technological wizardry, it is  made of polyurethane head-to-toe and makes swimmers more buoyant, more streamlined and provides muscle compression, giving swimmers an extra kick when they would normally tire at the end of a race. Not to mention shaving seconds off from their times.

The outrage caused at the recent World Swimming Championships is a direct result of technology’s impact on sport. Arena’s Hi Tech X-Glide swimsuits have enabled swimmers to break world records left, right and centre. Swimsuit technology is no stranger in the swimming ranks – why is it all of a sudden controversial? Is it because the “great” Michael Phelps was beaten by a relative unknown in the 200m freestyle final? Is this sour grapes?

The governing body for international swimming, known as FINA, has decided to ban full-body suits and set stricter standards for their composition. There have been calls that this swimsuit is no different to that of the effect of  performance enhancing drugs and the question has to be asked where do you draw the line?

Tiger Woods uses Titanium drivers in Golf – maybe he should boycott the PGA tour as well?

The World’s fastest man Usain Bolt wears Puma Sprinting spikes and apparel to compete on the track – does he now go back to barefeet.

15 Time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer uses dynamic shock absorbing polymer rackets from Wilson – does he go back to wooden rackets?

In my humble opinion, let technology lead us to sporting excellence. What is in the past is no doubt part of history and we are only limited by our imagination, to move forward and innovate.  After all, that’s the Olympic Motto – Citius, Altius, Fortius – Swifter, Higher, Stronger.

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• Swimming | Suit debate intensifies after Michael Phelps suffers loss (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Fake Reviews of Product and Services Online

Ive been doing some reading up recently online about the practice of “seeding” fake online testimonials to promote products amongst the grassroots online community.

I first noticed it when I would read reviews on tech product websites like cnet – where very many product reviews would also have someone who posted on the user review comment that the product was a perfect 10 or a near perfect 9 out of 10. This happened more often than not.

Has someone been doling out happy pills to all product reviewers?

I did some more investigation. I clicked on one user “jodean67″ after reading their review on cNet.  Jodean67′s review, not just a 2-3 sentence comment, read like a polished  product review of the nokia 6700 classic. But he/she did seem to refer to himself as “we” instead of “I”. Odd.

Jodean67 gave the phone a 10 out of 10, and said it was perfect. But to be fair, Jodean67 also put in the “con” category for the phone: “Finger prints” issue and “cheap” casing pouch. Definitely not big faults.

I did some more investigation. I clicked on the Jodean67′s user profile to see what kind of other posts they had done.

Result: 4 posts since 2006.

3 of the posts were on other Nokia phone models, and one on the Apple MacBook. Click here to go to the profile. All Jodean67′s user reviews were excellent.  Jodean67 also managed to post first to get prime real estate in only one other article (the Apple Macbook).

Jodean67 may very well get a new Nokia phone every year and may be the most positive person on the planet. On the other hand….Jodean67′s quick placements and lengthily writeups seem contrived and a wee bit suspicious. Jodean67, if you are reading this, happy for you to prove me otherwise and I apologise for any  slight.

A good article on fake online reviews can be found here.

Wishlist of features for the APPLE TABLET

Dear Apple,

I hear you have a tablet planned coming out in early first quarter 2010. Other people say even earlier.

Apple – please hear my pleas!

This is great news. Apparently the tablet will have a 10-inch screen, and I imagine it would behave like a big iphone. Rumour has it that it will also help rejuvenate album sales – meaning groups of songs, rather than “pick and download” the single song model we’ve become use to.  Hmmmm.  Also, that it will be able to challenge the Kindle as an eBook reader. ahhhhh.

Well, as a past user of the iPhone, 2 iPods and a iBook G4, I have squirrelled away a bit of a wishlist of features for the next big Apple product.

Please please can the Apple Tablet have the following:

-A Replaceable Battery: One of my bugbears with Apple products. C’mon Apple, stop enslaving us to a single device – and tieing us to the hassle of replacement products instead of replacement parts. Sheesh. Also, that the battery should be heat efficient, as I imagine any prolonged use may have to make us bring out the oven mitts…or worry about whether our sperm count may drop, with the placement on our laps.

-Non smudge/scratch screen: My iPhone screen was kind of scratch and smudge resistant but not entirely. Please, especially for a product with a bigger screen, ensure that an upgrade on this aspect has been taken care of.

-Ear Buds that do not break after 3 weeks: IF earbuds come with the Apple Tablet,  make sure that they are NOT more of the same that we get with the current iphone and iPods. THEY ARE HORRENDOUS. They do not sit well in the ear and of poor build. They stretch and the wire wanes and often the connection to the jack eventually gets torn out. Bad. If you really want to wow the market Apple, then give us wireless or even bluetooth headphones! I know this is a bit far fetched, but this is a wish list…

-Expandable memory/SD Card: Especially important when albums and viewing of media is involved.

-Have a external indicator/light which shows when there is Wi-Fi or 3G in range. Useful instead of constantly walking with our device in the air as if we were treasure hunting with our very own metal detectors…

-Come with a custom carry case and a accompanying stand: If this tablet is suppose to be portable, then help us keep it in good condition. Make it neoprene, svelted and equally design oriented…ditto for the stand, which should be light and svelte.

Do not be heavy. Be hefty, but decidely portable.

Be affordable and  don’t – DONT drop the price after 6mths. (The curse of the early adopter…!)

Yours truly, Clifford

PS – am interested to know how they are going to make albums exciting again…perhaps bonus imagery of sorts, tied to the download of the album and a cheaper pricing model?

Whats the difference between data & information?

Image via Wikipedia

Have you ever been worried when there was a glitch with your computer, and whether the data had been lost from your

computer?

OR whether there was a glitch with your computer and whether the information may have been lost from your hard drive?

HUH? Whats the difference?

I’ve noticed that data and information are two words which are often used interchangeably, so I decided to find out what each means. After some investigation, heres why the two are different. ..

Data often refers to numbers and statistics.

Information encapsulates the idea of data, plus more. Information is a collection of data and facts and is elaborates.

A person can conduct a survey and based on the results, compile and create a chart. People can interpret the data in the chart. The report that they write about the data from the chart can be considered to be information.