Posts Tagged ‘Review’

When I heard Beth Kanter and Allison Fine had created a book for non-profits,The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change, I had to pick up a copy. I’ve been following Beth on Twitter (@kanter) for a year and a half and had the opportunity to chat with her at the Twitterville launch party a year ago.

The Networked Nonprofit does an excellent job explaining the “What?” behind social media for non-profits. What is social media? How does it apply to non-profits and what is the larger picture?

It’s easy to get caught up in the technology and tools aspect of social networking. The Networked Nonprofit lays out an easy to understand view of the Web 2.0 environment without forcing readers to jump over technological jargon barriers.

Social media is all about networking, something non-profits understand very well. The book builds off of that familiar concept and uses it as a scaffold to approach topics like online engagement, transparency, and crowdsourcing.

I strongly believe that The Networked Nonprofit belongs on the nightstand of every non-profit manager and anyone looking to support non-profits.

You can order a copy or a set of The Networked Nonprofits books via Amazon (affiliate link below).

Photo Credit: Noah Sussman – License

Twitter recently rolled out its new iPad mobile application.  Go to the App Store to get the latest version.  Here’s a review of 5 cool features.

1. The application is made for the iPad. The previous application was just the iPhone version.

2. See multiple “views” on one screen. The new app allows you to see snippets of more than one view at a time.  This is basically a visual “breadcrumb.”  Unfortunately, there are a couple of instances when things get “stuck” and it is difficult to close the active panel.

3. Article/image previews on tweets. Click on an item in your timeline and see the tweet with the article preview below.  This saves a click and gives you a good idea if you want to continue and read the  article.

With the release of Flipboard, there has been a movement towards visual browsing of  tweets.  This is a great next step for Twitter.

4. “Faux” attachments on tweets. Twitter still doesn’t allow for attachments but this “Attachments” screen simulates that action.  On a new tweet, click on the paper clip and you get access to your iPad photo album.  The Twitter app ties in third-party image hosting companies to accomplish the faux attachments.

5. Integration with services.  The app also allows users to connect to third-party services like Posterous for image and video posting.  Video posting?  Apparently the Twitter app is ahead of the iPad development curve and is already listing different video services.

I was surprised by the way the app “knew” how to select my Posterous account since  I never use Posterous on the iPad.

Review

The new Twitter for iPad app is a great step in the right direction – it uses the iPad’s space intelligently and it incorporates preview features like rich desktop apps.  I tested some of the “gestures” mentioned in the Twitter blog post but they weren’t intuitive so they’ve got some work to do there.  All in all, it’s a must download.

Did you see any other great features?  Overall, do you like what Twitter has done?

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

One of my themes for 2010 is Own Your Content. In that light, I’m sharing the Amazon.com review I did of Aaron Brazell’s WordPress Bible.

Here is the text of my Amazon review for the WordPress Bible:

I’ve been developing Web sites for over 12 years and jumped into WordPress design about two years ago.

This book will help me super charge my development. Having come from a .Net developing background, I’ve only been tweaking PHP code and using software to create 80% of my new theme code. This book will give me the tools to further explore the code and learn how to do things from scratch.

In addition, the WordPress Bible provides great sets of “cheat sheets” to help figure out some of the complexities of theme layouts, the dreaded loop, and other structures.

I’ve also been Alpha testing the WordPress 3.0 code and the contents of the book are still highly relevant. In fact, I’ve never used the WordPress MU functionality but will take the tips and information in this book to help direct me on the 3.0 multi-site setup which is still being developed.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in taking their blogs to the next level and for WordPress designers and developers. I can’t wait to use the book to get under the hood of my next project and super charge that sucker.

* Direct link to my Amazon Review Feel free to “Like” it or leave a comment there.
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As you decide where to spend your hard-earned money, I recommend the WordPress Bible for WordPress developers and theme designers. WordPress beginners (non-developers) might have trouble understanding it so you should browse through the book before buying it.

I would have liked to have seen more information on adding video to blogs since I’m a lifestreamer and do a lot of video. But photo bloggers will be happy since the book does have a special section for them.

I tweeted a link to this image on Posterous when I went to purchase the WordPress Bible. Despite Chuck Norris’s will, I only purchased the WP Bible. :)

Shameless Affiliate link so you can buy a copy or three:

(Note/reminder: The Chuck Norris book is not included, although it really wants to be)

Well I did it, I finally joined the legions of people who have rushed out to see Avatar. There’s been more buzz on Twitter about this film than any other in ’09.

I shot this super brief video in the theater, before the screening:

[Filmed using my iPhone 3Gs, posted directly to YouTube, then manually tweeted to Twitter]

In the following video, I give my initial reactions to the film. What do you think? Is this film a game-changer or is it just another step towards tech innovation? Leave a comment here or on YouTube.

Also, if you did your own review, leave a link!

[Recorded using YouTube's recorder off of my laptop's built-in web cam and an external microphone.]

Related Link:
* Why You Need To See Avatar (post by @smashadv, mentioned in the video)