Archive for the ‘News’ Category

The Apple iPad will start shipping on April 3 and with it, a new media form.

John Makinson, CEO of Penguin Books, demonstrated the electronic books on Tuesday and I’m sure jaws dropped. The touch-based navigation and interactive elements make this a new breed of electronic book.

Related Buzzwords:
* Gamechanger
* Transmedia

Related Posts:
* First Look: How Penguin Will Reinvent Books With iPad (PaidContent.com)
* Apple iPad Coming to U.S. on April 3 (Mashable.com)
* Wired Magazing Goes Tablet
* Apple iPad Challenge. Are You Up To It?

[This is a follow-up post to "Foursquare Stalkers Go IRL."]

I usually don’t post my Foursquare location until after I leave. At dinner we decided to dine-in instead of takeout but by then the post was out and also over to Twitter.

As we waited for my salmon on brown rice plate, the cashier spoke my name into the microphone.

I never thought not to pick up the phone. Foursquare was fresh on my mind since I had recently written a blog post on PleaseRobMe.com, the stalker-enabler site.

As I went to the phone I figured someone was playing a prank and I would see this through. I didn’t recognize the voice on the phone that immediately started calling me “the biggest [insert homophobic language]“. There was nothing funny about that and the voice was even, as if he had done the same thing a dozen times earlier that night. I could tell from the stupid questions he was asking that he was trying to offend me, but still keep me on the line. I figured he was getting his jollies by recording the conversation so I hung up.

That evening I tried to figure out who it was and started closing up accounts and blocking people. My list grew longer and longer as I became more paranoid. Was it the PleaseRobMe guys, pissed because I linked to their Whois information on my blog post, exposing their address? Was it the Mayor of the place I visited, warning me off of his territory? I didn’t know.

The next morning I started some serious searching on Google and Twitter. Eventually I searched for “called me Foursquare” and found someone else who had the same thing happen to him. I kept digging and a reply to his tweet led to this PhoneLosers.com post. The site users had been stalking several people using Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook and posting about their exploits.

After looking through their site, I didn’t find my name on it so I couldn’t positively tell if they were the ones calling, but I was 99% sure. It was the same thing they did to the other guy. I figured the caller didn’t get enough satisfaction from my hanging up so he never posted to the site and went on to harass someone else.

Energy is very important to me. I’m very careful about the kind of energy I let into my life. After doing more research on the PhoneLosers site members, I saw some seriously creepy stuff so I left it and didn’t tweet about it or post about it for several days. It wasn’t until I told some people about it at a tweetup that I decided to review the site again.

They were now stalking dozens of people.

I felt bad that I hadn’t exposed the site earlier but I can’t do anything about the past. There is only the now and I’m acting now by working to close their juvenile operation.

I love our online community. I love playing in it and oversharing. And won’t let some loser site piss in my paddling pool without making waves of my own.

Related Posts
* Foursquare Stalkers Go IRL
* New Site Aims To Scare Foursquare Users – PleaseRobMe.com
* Are We All Asking to Be Robbed? (Mashable)

I posted this review of Steve Garfield’s book, “Get Seen: Online Video Secrets To Building your Business” to Amazon.com. In the spirit of my 2010 mantra “Own your own stuff”, I’m re-publishing my review here.

The Amazon.com Review

Get Seen is a MUST for anyone looking at doing online video. I’ve been following Steve Garfield’s work for almost two years now and couldn’t wait to pick up a copy of Get Seen and pour through it. This book doesn’t just talk about how important video will be, it shows you step-by-step how to use the tools. You learn practical tips, expert analysis on the best ways to use cameras, Web sites, and social media tools.

I highly recommend Get Seen and you owe it to yourself to also follow up and follow Steve’s blog, Twitter account, and other digital trails.

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Shameless Affiliate Link

Twitter has been giving my @jesseluna account the cold shoulder, not displaying tweets from others for over 8 hours. It’s 9:09AM Pacific Time and the last tweet update was at 35 minutes after midnight.

Apparently I’m not the only as The Next Web reports that many accounts have been affected. TheTwitter blog has not posted any information on this freeze out yet.

I can see Replies and tweets that use hashtags that I follow but that’s it. The Next Web also points out that you can see updated tweets using the Twitter Lists feature.

Hopefully Twitter can patch things up soon. Until this gets resolved, I’ll focus on conversing (not just reading posts or retweeting) then probably head over to Facebook to see what’s going on in the world.

Did your account freeze up? Did you jump to another social networking site? If so, which one?

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were decided upon by 191 countries in 2000. With only 5 years to go, 8 top filmmakers got together to mobilize others into action. They created 8 short videos which were compiled into the feature film “8.” Each of the short stories focuses on one of the MDGs which are:

1) Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
2) Achieving universal primary education
3) Promoting gender equality
4) Reducing child mortality
5) Improving maternal health
6) Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7) Ensuring environmental sustainability
8) Creating global partnerships for development

I spent a week at the United Nations in 2002 so I have a very personal connection to this mission and hope to become more involved.

You can find out more about the project by visiting NoTimeLeft.org and by viewing the videos on YouTube.

I was particularly taken with the way the global partnership and develpment video was created. The story was directed by Wim Wenders and is below.

Bank robber Willie Sutton was once asked, “Why do you rob banks?” His reply, “Because that’s where the money is.” The AP is taking the same approach and sending some of it’s Twitter links to Facebook, because that’s where millions of people are.

I think this will be a short term marketing strategy. And even today they started sending people back to the AP site. Using Facebook as an additional outpost is a good idea, but not as a center point.

If you have a domain, use it. That’s where the true riches are.

Related Posts:
* The AP Is Using Twitter To Send People To Facebook. Wait. What? – TechCrunch
* AP is Visionary: They See a “Siteless Web” – Steve Rubel Lifestream