LikeALittle.com allows users to post tweet-like flirtatious updates about nearby people. The site is already posting updates from users at over 450 college campuses, has over 25,000 Facebook “Likes,” and has brought in millions of page views.

LikeALittle only allows the posting of positive messages to keep the positive karma going on. It’s a flirting site, not a bashing site. The site is also anonymous and every user is assigned a fruit name. If the user leaves then returns, they are assigned a new fruit username.

Here are real examples of recent posts from the Stanford University area (I’m using Stanford in this example especially because the co-founder, Evan Reas, is a Stanford grad):

At Stanford University: Female, Black hair
What to do when you like a girl, and you’re pretty sure she feels something too, but she recently started going out with someone else?

That post received 10 comments including this one:

Apple says: Or just wait a bit…things around here don’t last long… Unless they do.

I was curious to see what the buzz was on LikeALittle so I did a search over “LikeALittle” on Twitter and found seemingly mixed opinions such as:

“#likealittle website gives me the creeps…yet somehow i’m addicted?”

“Okay so this whole likealittle website thing literally FREAKS me out. SO weird and freaky and desparate…”

“LikeALittle is the greatest thing to ever happen to this campus. I’m in heaven.”

“someone wrote a likealittle about me #flattered”

The Future of LikeALittle.com

LikeALittle is still ramping up in terms of its userbase. If you visit a campus page and scroll down a bit, you’ll see items that are several days or weeks old. It reminds me of Foursquare in its early days.

Like Facebook, keeping activity on a campus by campus basis will be difficult as the number of users increase. People who are not in college will want to use the service to get flirty with folks at their local cafes and libraries.

Right now, the site has a “Keep your posts complimentary and positive” policy. As more users find LikeALittle, it will be more difficult to manage the tone of the posted comments.

Flirty vs. Creepy

What do you think, is the LikeALittle.com concept fun and flirty or creepy? Drop a comment and share with the other readers.

An historic blizzard in blasting the Northeast and is shutting down air travel, affecting emergency vehicle response rates, and forcing many to stay indoors.

In classic social media style, Twitter users respond by tagging blizzard related tweets with #Snowpacalyse and #Snomageddon hashtags.

Some tweets are light-hearted:

Other tweets are serious requests for assistance:

Two Twitter Superstars, Cory Booker and 50 Cent have very different approaches to dealing with the resulting blizzard crisis.

CORY BOOKER – Public Service
Newark’s mayor, Cory Booker (@corybooker), is using Twitter as a sort of radio dispatch system to connect Newark citizens with updates on snow plow activity and to help with emergency services. With over 1 Million Twitter followers, much of the Twittersphere is seeing him in action and the media is taking notes.

Mayor Booker actually rolled up his sleeves and went out to dig people out.

50 CENT – A Lesson on Hustling
In a smaller scale shoveling endeavor, multi platinum rapper 50 Cent (@50Cent) shoveled his way out of his Connecticut home then said he intended to go into the shoveling business.

50 Cent later told his 3.7 Million Twitter followers that he was scaling up his shoveling operation and had hired 3 kids to help with door to door sales.

Whether or not 50 Cent was really charging and hiring people for his ad hoc business or just having some fun with his followers remains to be seen. But his tweet stream does provide a lesson on how to flex one’s hustle muscle.

Final Thoughts

I can personally relate to both Snowmageddon approaches. On the one hand, I’m all about public service and helping others in times of need. Cory Booker is definitely one of my role models. On the other hand, as a someone building my own consulting business, I appreciate 50 Cent’s startup hustle mentality.

I think that the snow fall and our response to it is a larger metaphor for strategies on how we’ll approach the new year. Will we work collaboratively and negotiate our way through the recession, job loss, and home price collapse or will we focus on our own personal islands?

Related Articles
* Mayor Hacks Snowmageddon With Epic Tweets- Wired Magazine
* 50 Cent Shovels Snow for Money After Northeast Blizzard – Billboard.com

Photo credits
* 50 Cent on Plixi
* @douglasingram on Twitpic
* @AgingBackwards on Twitpic
* @hijofrizbe on Twitpic

When I first saw Shel Israel’s (@shelisrael) tweet and the iTunes store description off of his link, I was skeptical, as was Shel. Visual translations via an iPhone app?

Word Lens is the real thing.

I just conducted a quick test on the iPhone app.

On-screen text message:

iPhone screenshot of the Word Lens translation:

The application has a “Pause” button which takes a still of the translation. In still mode, the translated words become hyperlinks which allows the user to click through to see the translation of the specific word.

How much is this app?

The actual Word Lens application is free and it comes with a Word Reverse and Word Erase tools.

The English-to-Spanish and the Spanish-to-English translation engines are $4.99 each. To access those libraries, you click on the white oval at the top of the screen (it will read “Demo:Reverse Words”) and you are taken to a Languages screen which shows the installed items and the “Available to Download” items.

VIDEO: Word Lens in action – Santa Paula, CA

I photographed the “Smile at the camera” sign at the La Unica bakery then showed the owner how it worked. She was amazed by the translations.

Notes

* I’d rate the translation accuracy around 70-80%.

* The app doesn’t work very well with full pages of text but it will parse through and try to translate what it can.

* The app doesn’t have Spanish regional settings so it won’t know whether to translate “potatoes” to “papas” or to “patatas.” There are hundreds of such words that vary in usage from country to country.

* According to the iTunes listing, the requirements are:
– Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPod touch (4th generation). Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Is the Word Lens application a game changer in the translation world or is this just another app?

Due to a number of factors, a great number of people (friends, supporters, participants) cannot make it this weekend to San Luis Obispo. But we still expect a very good group, so we have decided to hold a big meetup in town and postpone the formal event for early 2011 when more people can make it.

Come join the Latino2 speakers and organizers and Central Coast leaders to discuss the formal launch of LATISM 2012 and help us plan the Spring event.

Lunch is on us at the Native Lounge in San Luis Obispo — a truly unique dining experience — and the conversation will be good. We’ll meet at 2PM and stay as late as we have a crowd.

I’d like to personally thank everyone who has been so supportive of the Latino2 conference and the LATISM 2012 Initiative. I look forward to meeting with you at the tweetup and discussing how we can build this into a bigger event.

Tweet-up information

Native Lounge – San Luis Obispo
1023 Chorro Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3222

Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010 – from 2pm to 4pm (or later, as long as we have a crowd)

Lunch is on us!

Sincerely,

Latino2 producers and LATISM,
Jose Huitron @josehuitron
Giovanni Rodriguez @giorodriguez
Jesse Luna @jesseluna

Photo Credit: rx_kamakshi on Flickr – License

Generating a “group picture” of your Twitter followers makes for a great visual for your Twitter background or for blog graphics.

I just ran into at tool called Twitter Mosaic which allows you to see either your followers or your friends (those you follow that follow you back).

It looks like the tool only captures about 100 followers then tiles them. So if you’re following a gazillion people then they won’t all show up.

You can also create a coffee mug or T-shirt or other products using the tool. I like the additional message on the shirt, “Are you following me?” Well are you?

Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) is proud to announce San Luis Obispo as the second stop on the Latino2 California Tour.

Come join us on December 4, 2010, at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo. California’s Central Coast is the birth place of “La Causa”, the Latino civil rights movement. The conference will focus on the theme “Community and Collaboration in Central California: Then and Now.”

• REGISTER for the Latino2 conference (FREE)
• Tune into Latino2 conference details on the official site

Getting Excited?

The video below is a compilation from the first Tour stop in Los Angeles. Many thanks to Gina Ruiz (@ginaruiz on Twitter) and Deldelp Medina (@deldelp) for sharing pictures and videos!

Picture credit: lastorset on Flickr

I won’t be attending Blog World Expo this year, unfortunately. But I still remember the fun I had last year. Part of that fun was going to see the amazing Cirque Du Soleil show, O.

Cirque kindly provided tickets in exchange for mention of the show. I tweeted, posted pictures to my Twitter feed, and captured lots of video and Las Vegas pictures. However, an iPhone gremlin showed up on returning from Las Vegas and all my pictures and videos were lost. Yes, they stayed in Vegas. The two images on this post were stored on TwitPic so I was able to resuscitate them.

I’ve had the opportunity to see some amazing shows in my life but had always wanted to see Cirque. I was a bit of a gymnast/climbing monkey in junior high and have always been fascinated by documentaries on Cirque and its members. The cast’s strength, stamina, and grace is awe inspiring.

The ticket prices was in the $200 range so it’s definitely an investment. But if you’re in Las Vegas and have seeing Cirque on your Bucket List, I definitely recommend watching O at the Bellagio while it’s still available. You won’t be sorry.

In case you’re wondering, you are not supposed to take photos during the show but the performers encouraged it before the curtains opened so I captured the image of the two performers with the inner tube. And, there is a great art gallery at the entrance to the show where photos are prohibited but I didn’t read the sign until after I took and posted this photo below so enjoy!

Kevin Pollak (@kevinPollak on Twitter) made me bust up laughing at how he played the interviewee in this bit..oh, wait, it was really supposed to be an interview?

Alan Weinkrantz (@alanweinkrantz on Twitter) plays the “straight man” in this interview snippet at the 140 Conference in Hollywood. The 140 Conference is a unique collection of Twitter related presenters (“characters”) who present on an eclectic set of topics – everything from online psychics to personal online stories to global social media campaigns by major networks.

You can catch Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show here.

I had a great time, met tons of online friends, and enjoyed this interview.

Do you have any favorite 140 Conference moments?

Apple released the iPhone IOS4 software update late on June 21, 2010. The update took well over an hour to download and then sync up with the iPhone but it was well worth it.

Among the many new features, the new IOS4 update allows for the iPhone to work with wireless Bluetooth keyboards. I took the new feature for a ride and started blogging.

Did you find any other cool features in the IOS4 update? Drop a Comment below and share.

Apple unveiled its new iPhone 4 device today during the WWDC Conference.

The features that made me most giddy as a vlogger and iPhone nut are:

Front Facing Video Camera + LED

The front facing video camera allows for video phone calls, what Apple is calling “FaceTime.” Not the greatest name, but a great feature. Apple also finally added an LED light that works as a flash for photos and as a light for video. Awesome!

Hmm, I have visions of live streaming interviews on the go. Let’s get on it, developers!

Three-Axis Gyroscope

The coupling of the three-axis gyroscope with the accelerometer will lead to amazing new gaming applications. This combination will also help take Augmented Reality to new heights. By combining the two technologies, the iPhone will have six degrees of freedom.

The “Gyroscopes and Accelerometers Compared” video on the InvenSense site does a good job explaining how the gyroscope + accelerometer work together.

These were the two main features that made me swoon.

Which features are you looking forward to? Leave a comment and let’s keep the conversation going.

Related articles:

• Apple Announces iPhone 4 with Retina Display, HD Video Recording, More – MacRumors
• Apple iPhone 4 site, including product highlight video