Twitter Lists – Hot or Not?

November 1, 2009

beta This week the rest of the Twitterverse got a look at the long anticipated Lists feature. Despite the polite request by Twitter for the beta testers to keep it mum, rumors had naturally leaked about their existence. The careful systemwide rollout by the Twitter team heightened the anticipation and excitement as more and more users logged in to see that the new feature had been added to their account.

The technorati have been weighing in with mixed reviews. Some folks like Robert Scoble love the feature and others like Chris Brogan find it to be less than desirable.

In the next few days to weeks, there will be dozens of posts on Lists – because it really is a radical change in the functionality of Twitter and will continue to have ramifications the effects on the usage of the platform.

Of course, like any good GeekMommy, I’ve done my own tests, research and analysis. And like any other blogger out there, I’m ready and willing to overshare share my findings with you.

Pros and Cons

For the sake of clarity, I’m resorting to ye olde bulletpointed list. It seems that embedding analysis in long paragraphs tends to get the information skimmed and comments pop up that get stuck on misconceptions.

On the Plus Side

I find it good to look for the positives first. After all, tools are created to be useful, right? And if I’m being candid, this tool can be really useful. Used beneficially, I can see where it’s very appealing.

Sharing Great Resources – Lists make it easier for you to share good resources with someone who isn’t as familiar with the people you follow. If you’re a political wonk and know that 2 dozen people out of the thousands you follow already are the ones to read when it comes to current politics? Making a list for those who wouldn’t know which ones you’d suggest is an awesome tool

Filtering Your Own View – granted, most people who want or need viewing filters have already switched to a 3rd party application such as Tweetdeck, Tweetgrid or Seesmic that allows them to create groups. But this is built in Twitter integration. The benefit of which is that all of those 3rd party apps will have to incorporate the ability to view Lists, so you don’t have to rebuild your groups if you move from app to app. The groups will now be lists and only have to be built and maintained in one place.

Viewing Other Peoples’ Filters – Twitter used to have an awesome feature that you could view someone else’s twitterstream the way they saw it. Many of us used this as a good way to find new people to follow – you’d go to a user’s profile that you liked/respected/found interesting, click on the tab that let you see their stream and see what they saw. When that feature went aways it was a loss, because you could no longer put yourself in someone else’s seat. Now, with the ability to follow someone else’s public List, you can regain part of that functionality. Since Lists are currently limited to 500 members though, if the author of the List follows more than 500 people, at best, you can get a partial view. Still, if the List mirrored someone’s “preferred view” you might see what they look at most of the time in one of those apps like Tweetdeck.

No Commitment – presently, when you follow someone else’s list, you’re simply giving yourself a link to that view, not following any of the list members. Again, it’s more like clicking over to see someone else’s stream than actually adding people to yours. Sort of a try before you buy. You can always click to view the members of the List and follow or unfollow folks from there.

On the Minus Side

Noble Intentions Are Not the Norm – the potential for abuse/misuse of Lists is high. Let’s be candid, shall we? There will always be people who use something with the best of intentions and there will always be those who use it with the worst of intentions. If the beneficial uses outweigh the destructive ones? Then it’s a good idea. But relying upon people to not abuse something or use it for harm is naive. Let’s talk about how this feature can be abused, shall we?

: yes, this is a real troll lister

1) Negative Lists – it’s all well and good to find yourself on the “Really Smart People” list, it’s not exactly a joy to see your name on the “Stupid Egotistical Ass” list. Sure, we can say that people “shouldn’t care” or “should grow thicker skins” but ’shoulds’ and ‘ares’ are two different things. The truth is that most people are hurt when people say mean things about them. Especially in public. Worse yet? What if that list comes up on the first page of Google? Sure, it’s not supposed to mean anything really – but what happens when the HR person Googling your name comes up with a bunch of links to lists that are vile? Do you really think that impression won’t linger in the back of her mind?

2) Gaming Lists to Swindle the Unwary – for quite some time now, there has been an element on Twitter that has used high “followers” numbers to indicate to potential clients that they were some sort of “social media expert” and the unwary were not clued in to the number of tools that allowed people to ‘game’ that number using loopholes that allowed them to artificially inflate those numbers. Lists will be even easier to game. That the number of lists one is on is shown on a users profile page is a weakness that will be exploited. “I have over 50k followers and am on over 300 Lists for Social Media Experts” is a phrase that we can expect the unwary to hear as they are pitched by these “experts.” How can you game them? Far more easily than getting 50k followers. Each account is able to create up to 20 lists with up to 500 names on the list. Expect to see services that say “join this service and create 20 lists with names of other users and you will be on thousands of lists yourself shortly!” Yes, this will happen. Yes, the knowledgable will discount the influence of number of lists quickly. But just like people still think that number of followers means something as a metric, so too, they will look at number of lists as one.

Unintentional Hurt or Offense – Chris Brogan covered this thoroughly in his post so I’ll just outline it simply. I know that we’re all supposed to be emotionally secure adults, unaffected by inclusion or exclusion from being put on someone else’s Lists. I know that more than one person is going to comment about that below. But can we drop the pretense? Even the most secure, well adjusted person feels a little twinge of disappointment when s/he isn’t included by someone s/he respects and thinks values them back. Sure, I don’t care what a stranger on the Internet thinks of me – but I sure as heck do care what someone I respect and value thinks of me. If I don’t make your “really awesome cool people” List? I probably won’t say anything, because I’d rather pretend that it was accidental rather than intentional… because finding out that it wasn’t an oversight? That would hurt.
You know what? I don’t want to hurt or offend or exclude anyone I care for. And I know I would. I know that at some point, someone I care about would feel left out or disappointed. I don’t want to be “that gal” – the one who left a dear friend off of the list and didn’t find out until years later that she was hurt but didn’t want to say anything.

People Are Subjective, Not Objective – so you set out to make a list of “Thought Leaders” in your area. You’re adding people to your list when you realize that @UserX really should be on the list. S/he is generally considered a thought leader after all. But damn it all, you *hate* @UserX! You think s/he is a fraud. You just can’t bring yourself to endorse @UserX. What do you do? Pay lipservice to @UserX and add them? Or leave them off the list knowing full well that you are being less than honest with your list? Tough call, isn’t it. Emotions can and will play a factor in most peoples’ Lists.

Changing the Twitter Ecosphere – this one I know won’t make a lot of sense immediately, but it will in a couple of months. Lists will change the way people engage on Twitter – and probably not for the better. The ability to follow someone *else’s* list without actually having to commit to anything will change things in the long run. As a new user, I now no longer have to commit to following someone to see them regularly. I can follow a list they are on and read that list whenever I choose. Do you know I’m interested in what you are saying? No. Do I know you exist? Not necessarily. Currently, if you follow me, I get notified. I go and look at your twitterstream and decide if you’re real, not spamming me, and not offensive. If so? I follow you. Now, you follow a list that follows me. You might @ me, I might @ back – but if I click through to your stream and see you aren’t following me? The likelihood I’ll follow you is slim. Have we engaged? Do we have a relationship? Nope, not really. What will this do in the long run? Not sure exactly, but relatively sure that it’s not going to help me connect with new people. The value of Twitter for me has always been in connecting with people and I suspect that value is just about to be diminished.

Well That’s Most of My Story

So honestly, if you made it through all of that (wordier than I intended again) I think you might understand why I am opting out of the whole “List creation” experience. I certainly don’t think it’s “evil” – but I think the negatives outweigh the positives.

I kind of hate the fact that I’m going to have to monitor the Lists people put me on semi-regularly to see whether or not I have to block some trollish attempt to put me on a derogatory list. Every moment that I have to spend doing that is one that I don’t get to interact with people I want to on Twitter. But I’m also not going to wait until Twitter figures out how to monitor their own nifty feature to see that it’s not abused.

I appreciate if you love the positive aspects of Lists. I just hope you now appreciate that there are negative aspects which I doubt Twitter considered when they implemented the feature.

What did I miss? Something positive or negative that hasn’t come up yet?

Add to my perspective please. But if you’re just going to say “people shouldn’t be offended”? Yeah, don’t waste your time. I already addressed that above under Negative Lists.

Posted by GeekMommy | Filed Under Geek, Uncategorized, blogging, outbound linkage, social media, technology, twitter, web 2.0 | 20 Comments

And then there was silence… But now? Not so much!

September 17, 2009

Someone asked me the other day if I was a blogger.

I didn’t really know how to answer that. I mean, the last time I actually updated this blog was back in *cough* June.

It’s not that I didn’t think about writing. I did. I thought about it hard every night as I fell asleep exhausted. It turns out that being a full-time mom and working for a startup is harder than it sounds.

My daughter was home all summer and yet, there were still things that had to be done. So of course, something had to give — unfortunately, in my case it meant writing on my blog.

But my little Buttercup went back to school at the end of last month, so I really have no excuse not to get back into blogging. Except for that part where I’m still presently working for a startup. It’s amazing how “spare time” becomes “not a second to spare” in that case. I kind of forgot. But then, the last startup I worked for was pre-kidlet. Sheesh. A lifetime ago! That would’ve been 2001!! Whoa.

Still, there are some many things I do want to write about and share with y’all. So I’m going to have to just make the time, huh?

Much travel coming up. As usual? I’ll bring my camera and it will live in my suitcase. Good thing I’ve got an iphone now and can embed Whrrl stories in my blog!!

Whrrl ? Oh, you’ll see… they’re my favorite obsession of late. You know how I was talking about Twitter back in 2007 and y’all thought I was crazy? Yeah, well… if you’re not using Whrrl by 2011 I’ll be surprised.

Check it out. Pretty awesome. I think hey deserve a full write up of their own. Aha! Something to write about this weekend!

Ouch

February 18, 2009

I hate being sick. But even worse? I hate being sick sick.

I’m dying from a common cold right now – or at least, it feels like dying – lungs have hacking painful cough, sinuses are either aching or clogged with excess mucus production, voice keeps disappearing and throat is raw.

body shop That wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have the damn Fibro.

Sickness makes it flare. It’s gotten worse rather than better over the past several years. Sometimes, late at night when I realize just how many pills I have to take to even approximate normalcy any more it hits me… this isn’t going to go away, is it? They don’t know what it is, they only know how to dull down the symptoms. They can’t cure it… and it doesn’t get better over time, it either stays the same or gets worse. Mine got worse.

I find myself doing “pain checks” in my head silently.

Hands? pain? yes. Left worse than right tonight.
Arms? pain? not really. Pretty good tonight.
Shoulders? pain? yes. Achey. Pop when used.
Back? upper and lower both having issues.
Hips? nope – phew… surprising when the shoulders are bad
Legs? nope, not really…
Knees? mild or stabby – would be worse if the pressure were changing or I were standing Right worst than left tonight.
Ankles? nope, popping but no pain
Feet? cold as always… but no real pain comparatively
Oops – Head? yeah, left jaw under ear – sinuses – miraculously no headache at the moment. huh.

This kind of “systems check” happens several times a day. Only *once* in the past year was the answer to all of the checks “no, no pain” – was very strange. For a brief couple of hours, I wondered if maybe it was gone. Silly me.

I have no immune system to speak of any more. If it’s around? I get it. If I get it? I get it as long as and unpleasantly as possible.
Travel? Wipes me out like I were a 98 year old woman. I try to hide it. I live on pills and 5 Hour Energys and then pay for it afterwards when it’s safe. A full day down, sometimes 2.

In some effort to “fix” my pH imbalance I gave up red meat, soda, and coffee at the beginning of the year. I’ve been trying to eat healthier in general too. Haven’t broken the red meat/soda/coffee prohibition even once. Want to. Desperately want to. Want coffee fiercely. Can feel the difference in my body and wish I had strength to go entirely veg. I don’t. Chicken & fish have saved my sanity. Green Tea is my lifeline.

I want to be “normal” again. I want to wake up, not catalog which parts do or don’t hurt. Eat normal food. Have energy, no pain, be able to work out and lose weight and be healthy without having to take a handful of pills every day.

But right now? I’ll just be content if this frakking cold would go away.

Oh, and sleep, I could use some sleep.

Posted by GeekMommy | Filed Under Personal, Thought Burst, rubbish, technology, whining | 4 Comments

SSDD? No, Different Day, Different Stuff.

January 6, 2009

Yesterday I got up and hit the ground running. Today I got up and hit the ground. Face first. Metaphorically, of course. It’s just been one of those days so far, ya know?

I envy consistent people. They move along at a fairly even pace – awakening each day to the same process, facing the morning with some sort of well-practiced routine that gets them up, showered, dressed, and even exercised in some cases, long before they have to engage their brains and settle in for a day’s work.

Even in my days as a corporate denizen I was never any good at that. Some days I’d get up and through the necessary ablutions, have time for breakfast, coffee, and a perusal of the day’s news before heading out the door. Other days I’d be hard pressed to get out of bed without first making best friends with the snooze button too many times and then experiencing a harried flight outward just making it to work on time. Which pretty much describes every day of my education from kindergarten to college as well. Consistency has been a battle for me all of my life.

I’ve pondered at times why some of us are capable of incorporating such routines into our lives and why some of us are not. It’s one of those “2 types of people” dilemmas. I’ve noticed that those capable of doing it are almost always trying to convince those of us who aren’t that we could do it if only we “tried harder” or “got in the habit.” In fact, I think they suspect that we’re just not trying or it would come as easily to us as it does to them.

And yet, still I have no “consistent bedtime” nor “consistent morning routine” nor, for that matter, a consistent anything. We say humans are “creatures of habit” but I begin to wonder if it’s true for all of us. I don’t drive the same way to places I go routinely. I don’t break down my work day into smaller processes like so many ‘getting things done’ books say I should.

Not for lack of trying, mind you. I’m 42 years old… believe me, I’ve tried. It’s just that something in me just refuses to ‘buckle down and fly right.’

This often makes it difficult for me to interact with the “if it’s Tuesday, this must be casserole night” crowd. My lack of consistent routine or ability to implement one comes across to them as flakiness. In fact, I’ve used that term to describe myself many times because it’s just easier than saying “I’m not like you.”

riseabovetherest If you label someone as “inconsistent” it’s seldom a compliment. We try hard ourselves to come up with more flattering terms – ecclectic, eccentric, artistic, marching to the beat of a different drummer – but really? We’re just as baffled as to why we can’t do it as those who can are as to why we can’t.

I’ve been battling this for a long time now (based on starting kindergarten at age 5, I’ll go with around 37 years or so) and I think I’ve just had an epiphany of sorts for me. I need to quit trying to fit my little square self into that tempting round hole and try to figure out instead how to thrive as someone who will never have 2 days in a row that are the same (unless, of course, having 2 days in a row that are the same breaks the pattern, then it’s a given, right?)

So how does someone who is ‘consistently inconsistent’ turn that into an asset rather than a handicap? Well, I’m not sure yet. But I’m going to find out sometime this year and I’ll let you know. I’m done being down on myself for not being a ‘creature of habit’ – I’m ready to be a ‘creature of unpredictability’ with fabulous flair. Success doesn’t depend on fitting in, after all – it depends on rising above the crowd.

Posted by GeekMommy | Filed Under Personal, Thought Burst, Uncategorized, interpersonal dynamics, life lesson, technology, web 2.0 | 10 Comments

Please Leave a Message At the Sound of the Tone…

January 5, 2009

“Domo Origato, Mister Roboto…” – Styx

There’s been a bit of hubbub lately about automation on social networks like Twitter. Prominent folks have come out saying how anti-social it is to automate certain functions because it simulates engagement without actually being genuine.

I get dozens of automated Direct Messages (DMs) in my Twitter inbox daily that say something along the lines of “Thanks for following me! yadda-yadda-yadda…” After awhile I was on the band-wagon. “Don’t send me your auto-DMs! I don’t want your free e-book, or a link to your website! Be real!!!”

But I kept seeing these DMs despite the seemingly general sentiment against them. Then I realized something – those calling for the ‘end to the robots’ are also power-users. By power-users, I mean they’re folks who a) are followed by thousands of people and b) follow most of them back.

It’s that following back part that triggers these automated messages. Sent out from a variety of different services, the average user signs in once, sets up a generic “Thanks for following me! yadda-yadda-yadda…” message and doesn’t think twice about it afterwards.

So clearly, there’s a discrepency here: the usage/impression varies depending on how the user interacts on Twitter. If you follow less than one person a day, say maybe 5 a week, and only a couple of them send those messages – the annoyance factor is going to be far less.

That got me started thinking about automation in general. Since I had gotten behind on my own ‘followbacks’ in the month of December (to the tune of about 1500 people!) I turned to a friend of mine who really ‘gets’ thewhole automation thing – Jesse Stay [@jessestay] the creator of SocialToo.com.

The reason I contacted him was that I knew his service offered an option to “automatically follow back” those who followed me. I asked Jesse if that was “from the time I registered” or if there was a way I could retroactively follow all of those people whose notifications were sitting in my inbox, pushing it over 2,000 unread emails.

Jesse told me that he had been working on a premium option (now live) that allowed the user to run a ‘one time’ catch-up script. Was I game? Sure. Because at that kind of number, it would be easier for me to go back through them and unfollow people that I didn’t want to interact with than it would to a) open each email, b) click on the link to their twitter, c) click on the follow button (or not), d) go back to the email, close it and go on to the next. For fifteen-hundred-plus people. So Jesse ran the script for me. About 10 minutes later, what would’ve taken me hours was done.

Do other ‘power-users’ use this automated follow-back? I suspect so. There are some who probably do what I do and try to manually do it every day – but you know what? That’s a lot of time spent just going thru the notifications.

So is some automation good but other automation bad? My analysis? No. It’s how you use it that makes it effective or ineffective. To that end, I wanted to ask Jesse some questions about SocialToo.com and find out a bit more about what he’s done and why.

Here’s that Interview

GeekMommy: Jesse, I hope you don’t mind if I write about the fact that I turned to you for help with the automated following.

Jesse: That’s no problem – I’m probably going to turn that into a one-time payment, or possibly donation tonight or tomorrow as a new feature on the site if others would like that. I’m thinking maybe $15-$20 to turn that on once, but I may just make it a donation. (Note: the service is presently live at a one time fee of $5 on the SocialToo site ~GM)

GM: Your script took literally *days* off of my timeline for that. After the script ran, I went back through my following list and pared it down a bit based on whether or not people were following/engaging with me and also if they were spammy or scary – and I still had to go thru 348 pages of following folks on Twitter for that!

Jesse: I’m glad it could help. That’s why we started this – there were too many time-consuming tasks like that, and as Twitter grows that will only get worse.

GM: I really think that people are mistaking the tools for the issue. Anyone can use automation – but how they use it may or may not ‘work’ for someone else.

Jesse: Exactly. My goal is to try and satisfy those for automation, and those against automation, too. If you don’t like the auto-dms people send you, we’ll provide an option for that as well (I should note that I currently have a beta feature turned on for just my account that disables socialtoo-generated DMs from being sent to me.) Many, if not most people I hear from don’t mind them. Most of those people also aren’t following 4,000 people. We all have different circumstances, and should be able to control the way we use the service, and enhance the relationships we have as we use it.

GM: To me, the real issue with DMs is that they shouldn’t be tied to following. Just because I read your blog doesn’t mean I want to give you my home phone number too…. Likewise, just because I’d like you to have my home phone doesn’t mean I’m interested in reading your blog… The issue lies with Twitter, not with automation.

Jesse: Very true – I’ve got a post I’ve been meaning to write about this as well. Twitter relationships are broken. On Facebook, if I want to be your friend and follow your updates, you have to approve me doing so, and vice-versa. Once you approve me, there is a mutual relationship there, and both can know that they can see and follow each others updates if they choose. It’s built into the system. Then, Facebook has built in Friend lists and privacy filters to control what you want to see amongst those you have agreed to be friends with. Twitter gives no protection to users – relationships can be one-way, which IMO hurts the network. People can follow me but there’s no guarantee I’m listening, or even have the chance of listening down the road.

Then again, some people like that, and that’s how they use the service. There’s no wrong or right way to use the service – this is just my perception.

GM: That said, automation is a good tool used effectively. Ask anyone complaining about it if they have voicemail or not?

Jesse: Twitter itself is an automated tool – I don’t see people criticizing Twitter. These are all tools, and they’re built to give you flexibility to build the strongest relationships you can, and retain those relationships. I call it Relationship Metrics – the tracking of those you follow, and those that follow you, and finding ways to retain those followers and build strong relationships with them. The more people you can build a strong relationship with, the more “authoritative” (for lack of a better term) you can become.

GM: What made you decided to start SocialToo.com? Was it more a matter of wanting certain functions yourself and making them available for others, or of seeing people ask for something and fulfulling that niche? (or something else entirely!)

Jesse: It was a combination of the two. I don’t ever like to do things manually that could be automated. I was already manually following everyone who followed me on Twitter – I like to solidify the relationships of people that are interested in me. It’s just my policy, and it’s important to me. At the same time I wanted a way I could choose not to follow certain people. I believe it was Chris Pirillo [@chrispirillo] that mentioned he wanted a way to follow those that were following him on Twitter automatically, so I wrote a script for him to run on his servers (or Mac – not sure which). I ran the script for myself as well, and I built blacklisting functionality into it so I could exclude spammers and the like from being followed if I didn’t want to follow certain accounts.

Then, after following Guy Kawasaki [@guykawasaki], I noticed when he asked for the same functionality. I offered him my script, but quickly realized not everyone was going to be able to set up my script, and setting it up for them would require me asking for their Twitter credentials in person, which I really didn’t want to do. So I wrote a UI (user interface) around the script, put a database on the backend, and enabled it to support multiple users, allowing them to enter their own Twitter credentials in so I didn’t have to see them. And that was the beginning of SocialToo.com – I believe this was around April or May of this year.

Chris Pirillo also gave me some great advice as we were building it (along with Ponzi [@ponzarelli]) contributing to the auto-unfollow capability. Guy then later approached me with an idea about creating surveys you could Tweet to your friends, in similar manner to TwitPic, but for surveys and polls. I gave him some ownership of SocialToo, we built it out, and launched all features of SocialToo, officially to the public in November.

TechCrunch featured a survey Guy posted on our first day of launch, and we knew it was an instant hit. In just a month we have garnered near 5,000 subscribers on the service, and I expect that to at least triple in the next month.

GM: Do you foresee premium services down the line?

Jesse: Yes, we will be building on a Freemium model. The base features that are currently there should remain free. Our target market is small to even large businesses that want to better track the relationships of people that follow them on the social networks they belong to. We’re establishing a new concept I call “relationship metrics”, which tracks statistics around the relationships you create, along with another concept I call “relationship retainment”, helping you to retain the relationships you build. We’ll provide premium features on top of an already rich feature-set that will support these concepts.

GM: You managed a function for me by running a script that followed back for me over 1500 people in a matter of minutes – do you plan on offering something similar to users down the line? What about a script that does the opposite – unfollowing everyone for someone so that they could ’start over’ on their follow lists?

Jesse: Unfollowing *everyone* is a novel idea – I’ll think about that one, but I could certainly imagine that being a feature. To answer to the function we ran for you, the answer is yes, and hopefully in the next couple days. There is a chance that will be a one-time pay feature*, or perhaps at least a donation of some sort. We’re a completely bootstrapped company, so I’m very eager to start monetizing some of this! A family of 6 is not easy to support as an entrepreneur! (*again, this feature has been implemented since our interview, for a small one time fee of $5 ~GM)

GM: What are your plans for SocialToo.com in 2009?

Jesse: Expect some interesting partnerships with other products and services. I’m not going to say what right now, but we’re going to be launching some unique services that will make these partnerships much easier, and will provide a wealth of information for other products and services. Expect some interesting monetization strategies – in particular around the SocialSurveys themselves. There will always be a free option, very similar to what we provide now, but I have some ideas that could be win-win for our users and us as a company.

My hope is, as we become profitable, to hire several more people and build out the statistics much more than they are currently. I’d also like a much more solid and feature-rich Survey product. There will also be several new products released – remember, our goal is to be your “companion to the social web”. Whatever we can do to further complement your experience on the social networks you belong to, we’ll be working to do so.

Oh, and Twitter will not be our only focus. Very shortly, as soon as we solidify our focus around Twitter, we’ll be expanding features around the other networks we support (Facebook and Identi.ca), along with some new networks we haven’t yet announced. Keep an eye out for that, as I think that is what will make this service very powerful.

GM: How do you deal with people who are saying that “automation” or “robots” don’t have a place on Twitter?

Jesse: Those people are right, based on the way they use the service. People that don’t mind “automation” or “robots” are also right. Personally, I don’t enable auto-dm (except when I’m testing new features, which is happening currently) for my personal account [@JesseStay]. At the same time, I think it’s appropriate to auto-dm for our company’s @socialtoo account. We thank them for joining SocialToo and tell them how to contact us. I don’t think that’s any different than an auto-responder for new subscriptions to any new service. We’re just doing it through Twitter.

Some people have thousands of followers however. Getting a new auto-dm every minute gets annoying, especially when many of them are generic and meaningless. It’s my intention to provide solutions around this as well – our goal is to stay flexible enough to where we can satisfy the way multiple types of users use these Social Networks. For instance, I’m testing a feature right now which we may or may not release, in which you can opt to not receive SocialToo-generated auto-dms. That may or may not be released, but it shows that I am aware of the other opinion. We’re also working on better ways to make the auto-dms much more personal, and more real. For instance, I’ve found when you mention a person’s real name in the dm they are many times more likely to start conversation with you, and appreciate the message. People should have choices, depending on the way they use Twitter. At the same time we all have a responsibility to be responsible, and considerate of different types of users that may be overwhelmed by such features. There’s no wrong or right way to use these services.

There’s no wrong or right way to use these services… How many times have I said that? Yes, I have my preferences too – but in the end, telling someone else that how they use a service is “wrong” because it’s not how you do it? Is like telling them that they should like spinach because you do and they shouldn’t like kumquats because you don’t. Automation isn’t the end of the social aspect of networks like Twitter – used correctly, it’s something that just gets us to the socializing faster.

After talking to Jesse, I changed my policy. I now have an auto-DM set up – it says “Nice to meet you <<firstname>>. This *is* an automated message, but only to say I will check out your Twitter shortly” because I’m all about transparency. I’m not going to pretend it’s not an automated message – any more than I pretend that you’re talking to me when you reach my voicemail. But I do think it’s nice to acknowledge to someone that I’m not just going to ignore them just because I’m not online 24 hours a day.

Am I using the auto-follow feature of SocialToo right now? No, I’m back to my old methods of adding manually. Which means I need to quit writing this and get to back to my inbox. Thanks for reading (if you did) this lengthy post. I really think we’ll see people adapt to the automation tools the same way we have to voicemail and call-waiting… but until then, we may have to slog through a few unwanted DMs.

Posted by GeekMommy | Filed Under Geek, Uncategorized, business, outbound linkage, social media, software, technology, twitter, web 2.0 | 6 Comments

I Resolve…

January 1, 2009

It’s 2009. I meant to write this post in 2008.
I guess that’s got to go on the list of Resolutions for this year:

1. Get things done in a more timely manner…

Last year was amazing on a lot of levels for me. So many amazing people I’ve had the privilege to meet. So many amazing experiences I’ve had the good fortune to be a part of. I couldn’t have foreseen some of the events of 2008 in a million years before they happened and I’m still not quite sure I believe all of them have!

But this isn’t a ‘year in review post’ although perhaps it ought to be… It’s just that I had the chance to write about that stuff over the past twelve months. If I didn’t do it? It’s time to move on and get up to speed with 2009 instead of putting it off until I get the other done.

One of the things that made this blog so sparse last year was that I kept saying “oh I’ll post about such-and-such just as soon as I get X, Y, and Z done first.” Here’s one of those self-realizations: that just means that X, Y, Z and now A thru G aren’t getting posted in a timely manner either.

So while I’ve got a doozy of a post in the works for tomorrow and another one I want up right after that? I’m going to do this right this very moment.

I’m going to sit here and write out a preliminary list of my New Year’s Resolutions. Will it be comprehensive? No. Will it be well-fleshed out? No. Will it be here in case I do get around to adding to it or adding to the detail? You betcher boots.

In 2009 I Resolve to:

Get things done in a more timely manner. I told you this would be on here! I’ve had a horrid time the past six months or so with this. I just deleted a huge, long “too much information” paragraph with details about it. The short story? Moving from ‘procrastinates at times but gets things done’ to ‘can barely get through a day and get 1 out of 20 things on the to-do list done’ was the apparently-common side-effect of medication I have been on for health/pain issues over the past year. The worsening of which coincides directly with dosage changes. That will be changing. Pain + productivity and a sense of accomplishment is better to me than less pain + non-productivity and resulting depression.
Lose weight, get healthy, get fit – yeah, I know… way to lump huge goals into 6 words! But you really can’t separate them out. I can’t get fit & healthy without losing weight, I can’t lose weight without doing the other two. The three are mutually dependent in my book. Yes, I actually do have plans on how to achieve this. I’m just not going to detail them here. Changing my diet, exercising regularly, dealing with the side-effects and changing my medical approach? All parts of that. Which should help me more with the first goal too!
Set & achieve new career goals – can I be more vague? Yeah, I could. I could’ve left out “career.” I know what it means – I’m hoping I can post about some new developments very soon. I’m working on a few possible projects for this year that I think will enable me to both do what I love to do and benefit my clients and colleagues more regularly too. But some things need to come out in their own times.
Strike a better balance between branches of my life time & energywise. The social, work, and family aspects, specifically. Less Twitter, more blogging. Less internet for play, more family time. More internet for work, less play time. You know the routine!
Travel more. There are some places and events I will find ways to be at this year… they will enable me to learn, teach, share, grow, and spend time with others who have similar passions. But as much as I plan to ‘go more places’ I will remember that there’s no place like home.
Put my houses in order – all of them. The place I spend each day, my online homes, my spiritual homes, and my places in the hearts of those who love me and whom I love? I will nurture them and care for them this year – so that next year, this list is shorter in “big” things and longer in detail.

That said? Specific enough or not, it’s time to quit making lists and get cracking on crossing items off of them! Wish me luck – I’ll wish it back to you. Hopefully, what we both lack in luck, we can make up for in determination.

2009!!

picture source

Posted by GeekMommy | Filed Under Administrative, Personal, Thought Burst, Uncategorized, business, technology | 8 Comments

That’s The Way (Uh-huh, Uh-huh) I Like It – Part 3 of 3 Ford

October 28, 2008

Okay, now for the fun part. Well for me anyways! I get to tell you what I thought and what I learned that helped me to form my opinions about Ford and their new safety measures. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just pull up this milk-crate, climb up and get started.

I learned a lot in just 1/2 a day spent at Ford’s Dearborn Development Center. I’m sure for the professional journalists, it was sort of an ‘old hat’ routine. Come in, listen to presentation, test new stuff, interview key people – then go write article. They do it all the time and it showed by how comfortable they all were with the process.

For me? It was kind of a wonderland. I felt like the little kid who got to stay up late. I got to see inside this company I’ve known about all my life. I got to go on the bus to the super-secret place and see neat new stuff and get in cars and drive on the test track! Tell me that doesn’t sound like fun and I’ll tell you that you’re either a jaded automotive reporter or you’re just not getting it.

The really cool part was that the same enthusiasm I have above? It was also showing in the folks who work for Ford and took part in putting on this Media day.

From Sue Cischke (VP of Sustainability, Environment & Safety Group) and Paul Mascarenas (VP of Engineering) on down to folks like Jeffrey Laya (Safety Method Engineering Supervisor) who made me drive really fast toward a balloon car and then wait an unbearably long 2 seconds until the Collision Warning system alerted me to swerve around it, and Prashanth Shankar (Product Design Engineer) who managed to keep his lunch down and smile on his face the whole time he rode with us as we “drifted” in an out of lanes on the high-speed track to engage the Lane Departure Warning, the people at Ford were honestly and genuinely excited about this technology. It made it easy to get excited right along with them.

Prior to this day, I really wasn’t aware that Ford Motor Company has more 5-Star Safety Ratings than any other automaker. Seriously – it has the most top-rated safety picks of *any* automaker. Did you know that? Because honestly – if Alex Trebec had asked me on Jeopardy for $500 “this automaker has the highest number of models that have received top safety ratings” I’m not sure I would’ve come up with “What is Ford?” So I probably would’ve lost just due to that question. (But now I’m ready for it, so bring it on Alex! Just as soon as I brush up on my Geography & Opera again…)

Okay, all that Jeopardy-dreaming aside, the MyKey™ feature got the folks in the Center most excited. When they described what it did, I instantly understood why.

Yes, I know there are some who will think that the MyKey™ is “over-parenting” or maybe even bordering on “helicopter parenting” – but I don’t agree. Here’s why… because both of those phrases refer to parents who are trying to protect their precious offspring from any sort of harm or trauma. In this case? There’s more to think about than just your kids. When you put an unexperienced teenage driver behind the wheel of a car – you are handing him/her the keys to a deadly weapon.

Set aside (if you can) the fact that Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young adults ages 16 to 20 and let’s focus on the fact that better than 50% of all U.S. car crash fatalities last year occurred when the vehicle was traveling 55mph or higher. Better than half. And those fatalities? Yeah, they weren’t all from the car with the driver at fault. Some of them were just ordinary people in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. People and families just like you or me who were at the mercy of someone else in a multi-ton vehicle going really fast down the road.

Is it a good idea to limit the speed of a vehicle of an inexperienced driver? In my book, unequivocally yes. Then again, GeekDaddy and I have shared our “I don’t know how I walked away from those years alive” stories about youthful driving antics and stupid things we did behind the wheel of a car. So we acknowledge just how likely it is that Buttercup is going to grow up to take risks that could put not only her, but someone else’s child/spouse/parent on that fatalities list.

But we’re not going to tell her not to drive. It’s an important and useful skill. It’s hard to be vehicle-less in our society – and besides, we both love cars. So if Ford wants to help me make it safer for her to be out there? Well I’m thrilled. Yes, she’s a good 10 years away from that necessity… but it’s nice to know that other responsible parents will be out there making their kids safer too. Because I drive on the same roads as those inexperienced teen drivers and I’d like to come home alive too.

What it comes down to though is whether or not a parent will use it. There will always be parents who will and parents who won’t. We all parent in our own way and according to our own philosophies. But for those who will? Thanks Ford, for making it standard. Because safety shouldn’t come at a premium in my book when lives are on the line.

Still with me? Or am I getting too preachy up here on my soap box? Well, I’ll assume that some of you still are and cover the other safety features now.

Collision Warning with Brake Support – I totally could’ve used this to avert my last ‘accident’ a couple of years ago. The guy in the van in front of me kept stopping short for a couple of miles. I kept telling myself I ought to get out from behind him… But I wanted to stay in that lane for where I was going so I didn’t. We stopped at a red light. (I say we, because of course I had a very young Buttercup in the back seat strapped in her carseat at the time… shudder.) The light changed to green. The traffic (including the big white van in front of me) surged forward. I put my foot lightly on the gas, then glanced down. I swear it was a glance. But it was long enough for the guy in front of me to decide (once again) to slam on his brakes. Did he have a reason? No. Did the laws of physics care one whit about that? No.

If I had been driving a Ford equipped with Collision Warning with Brake Support, my glance would’ve turned into me stepping on my pre-primed brakes thanks to the light & sound alerts and swearing at Van-boy and hoping Buttercup didn’t pick up any of those words. Instead, we slammed into his very solid bumper going about 10-15mph. This resulted in some serious front-end work on my car and a ticket from a nice officer who gave me a break b/c he knew just what I was talking about with the short-stopping so he only cited me for ‘unsafe driving for the weather conditions.’ It could’ve been a lot worse. But it could’ve been avoided altogether if I’d been driving a Ford with this system. Definitely a thumbs up in my book.

Lane Departure Warning – this seems like it’s got a number of different potential markets. Elderly drivers in my neighborhood seem to have a penchant for drifting over into the next lane. But it’s not just the elderly who are often paying attention elsewhere or suffering from conditions that might make for lane-drifting. The first year of Buttercup’s life, GeekDaddy and I were suffering from a level of sleep deprivation previously unknown to either of us. To say that she was a poor sleeper would be akin to saying that War & Peace is ‘a bit long.’ We spent that first year (and part of the next) going through life as zombies. In particular, there were many days that driving to and from any place was more a matter of half-awake routine. Lane-drifting? I know we both did it. Would’ve been nice to have the warning!

But let me add a note here. When I say ‘drift’ I mean drift… as in ‘gently moving slowly from one lane into the next without really being aware of it.’ One of the gentlemen of the press – who shall remain utterly nameless out of respect – in my party of 3 with the esteemed aforementioned Mr. Prashanth Shankar driving around the high speed track to test out the alerts had a hard time with this concept. After an entire lap of him veering sharply from lane-to-lane and remaining unsuccessful in his attempts to set off the alert, I felt compelled to try and keep my breakfast down in the back seat by speaking up and telling him “drift! It’s drift! Not lunge! Think ‘talking to someone in the passenger seat and drifting over’ not ‘try to take out the pedestrian for 50 points!’”

Granted, I was a bit um, strident. But I was trying to keep my bagel & cantaloupe from redecorating the back seat. May I also mention that Stephanie Brinley of Auto Pacific has nerves of steel and a cast-iron stomach? She managed to look down and write her review of the systems from the back seat during all of this. That woman is amazing!

Anyhow, the point of this test wasn’t so much the camera-driven Lane Departure System as it was Ford asking for feedback on the types of alerts. In the end, we all agreed that it would be nice to have a series of options, the audio alert that came from the speaker side that was being drifted to, the seat vibration alert on the same leg, a combination of both, and the ability to turn it off. No one was particularly impressed with the steering column alerts. Mostly because they didn’t really serve to tell you which direction and partially because it felt more like something was wrong with the steering than an alert. In my case, the last alert would have been useless in Colorado in the winter – as it pretty much felt exactly like what driving down a snow-covered street feels like. But I liked the solution we all did. I’d even probably ante-up the extra money for it, given the chance.

Blind Spot Mirror – I didn’t get to test, so no opinion. It seems like it makes sense, but I’m aware there’s a number of aftermarket options like this… so unless it was standard, can’t see that I’d pay extra for it.

BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert – I loved this. But more for the parking lot functionality than anything else. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been parked between two huge Suburban Assault Vehicles and needed to back up out of a parking space “blind”. You slowly creep backwards, craning your neck, hoping that nothing is —-ZZZZZZZZZZOOOM!—- Suzy Suburbia in her haste to get to the nail salon goes whipping across, threatening to take out your bumper, your rear quarter panel, and any stray animals in the area. You jam your brakes on, the car lurches, you breathe a sigh of relief and start creeping out again.

With the Cross Traffic Alert? Long before Suzy gets even remotely close to you, a light goes on and an alert sounds, and you get an idea which side she’s trying to cut you off from. This would work just as well to keep Timmy the Paper Boy from trying to embed his bicycle in your wheelwell too. Or Buffy the neighbor-child from seeing if she can wedge her tricycle underneath your bumper.
The BLIS part? Where it tells you if someone is in your blindspot while driving? I’m torn. I think it’s really useful – but I’m sort of afraid that it would replace the tried and true “look over your shoulder first” method. It’s just sort of one more thing that can be helpful – if you’re the sort who would like the extra protection like I am.

I don’t know that I’d pay extra just for the blind-spot while driving alert, but bundeled with the ability to back up without having to worry about Suzy or Timmy or Buffy? Yeah, I’d probably go for it.

On the way back to the airport, I had a conversation with one of the writers from Wired’s GeekDad. We were discussing whether or not such technology makes people inherently lazier. Do we start trusting the technology rather than watching out for ourselves?

That’s a tough one.

I have friends who can’t get anywhere without their GPS navigators now… and no one seems to ever remember phone numbers because they’re stored in their phones. Do we come to rely on technology too much? Perhaps. But if the technology provides us with something that we clearly aren’t doing? Then I think it’s a good thing. So yeah. The odds are darn good that Buttercup’s first car will be a Ford if they keep pushing the safety technology envelope forward.

Thanks for letting me come play with the big guys for a day, Ford. But more? Thanks for making my world, and my family’s and friends’ world, safer all the time.

And just because I owe them a big shout out, Thank You to the following people at Ford for working so hard to make that day happen: Braine Bennie, Shuml Bhuva, Jim Buczkowksi, Sue Cischke, Sheryl Connelly, Jerry Engelman, Stephen Kozak, Jeffrey Laya, Michael Lopez, Paul Mascarenas, Thomas Miller, Matt Niesluchowski, Andy Sakisian, and Prashanth Shankar. But a huge thanks also to Zoe Siskos of Social Media Group and the best dressed man in Social Media, Scott Monty of Ford, for letting me have this opportunity.

Posted by GeekMommy | Filed Under Parenting, Product Reviews, ford, outbound linkage, technology | 7 Comments

Review – VTech KidiArt Studio

October 1, 2008

Last week, a very nice woman by the name of Kristin contacted me. She works at Edelman on the VTech account and was wondering if I was still interested in being part of VTech’s Demo Team.

When I was out at BlogHer this Summer, VTech had one of the most intriguing booths out there. They kept bringing out toys that I just knew I couldn’t go over and play with – because I’d end up buying every one for my darling daughter and also because I knew I’d feel guilty about it if I got to play with them and she didn’t. So I went over – made mental notes about what things were probably going to have to go on the Christmas list this year. Oh, and let them know that I’d love to be part of the VTech Demo Team given the chance.

What’s the VTech Demo Team? Basically, moms who will have a chance to test out VTech toys and share their experiences. It’s feedback for the VTech folks from real parents and their kids. In this case, it’s also information that I’m going to share with you, dear readers!

So when the box containing the VTech KidiArt Studio showed up on my doorstep last Friday? It was met with great anticipation! After all, this was definitely on the Christmas list… so a little Christmas in September wasn’t exactly unwelcome.

As you can see in the slide show, it was taken out of the box as quickly as possible. But due to my own state of illness on that day – it was left up to GeekDaddy and Buttercup to set it up and get it going. Which they did.

Then Buttercup proceeded to get obsessed by it for the next 4 days.

She played with it until the batteries died. She begged for new batteries. She played with it after the new batteries were in. She showed it to her best friend T when she came over for a play-date on Monday… and they played with it until the arguments about who should get the pen got beyond bearable and I sent them off to play something else.

So. You’re getting the idea already that this particular toy is getting a thumbs up, right?

It didn’t take Buttercup very long to figure out the interface. One of the things we do with new tech toys is just let her start playing with it. Yes, we keep the manual nearby – but if it’s too hard for her to figure out on her own? It’s losing points pretty quickly. Fortunately, it didn’t take her terribly long to figure it out. The icons are easy for a kindergartner to figure out – the pen & table interface is pretty easy to get used to as well.

She played with all of the various features. She seemed to understand it better than I did… Then again, I’m all for a toy that she gets well enough that I don’t have to help her to every little thing with.

Buttercup is the kind of kid who loves playing with Microsoft Paint on the computer for as long as she can – or any other program that has “graphic capabilities” – so I figured that she’d like having her own ‘electronic art studio’ and I was right. What I didn’t count on was that she’d want it to do more than it did. She was a little disappointed that “make your own movie” was really about doing stop-motion photography with clip-art. She’s gotten too used to livestreaming video I’m afraid. (Go figure.)

Okay, so to shorten this up a bit – let me put this in more of a bullet-point list for you.

Things We Liked

Easy to set up
Easy to use – even for an almost-6 year old who hasn’t read the directions
Lots of clip-art and different things the software allows for
Ability to expand (apparently – there are or will be other cartridges available for this – or so GeekDaddy tells me.)
Child-friendly environment – the sounds, little character voices, pictures and clip art provide a great atmosphere for kids.
Having the ability to plug it into either the TV (using S-video jacks) or the computer is a nice perk.
It continues to be interesting the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th day. Altogether too often, electronic toys lose their allure after about day 2 here. It’s only the good ones that stick around longer than that. This one has.

Things We Didn’t Like

The batteries rand out rather quickly, despite putting 8 fully charged ones into it on Friday, by Monday morning, they were drained. GeekDaddy tells me he thought there was some way to plug a power-supply into it, but one wasn’t provided… and the site seems to imply that batteries are required.
The camera isn’t the highest quality – and seems to have a strange delay that means that the picture is actually taken about 1 full second after the sound of the ‘click’ and the frame freezes… because when you see the actual picture, it’s not the same. Which is not good if you have a child who likes to squirm about right after the click.
The camera also seems to “flip” the picture when it’s pointed at the child. Images from the desk come out as shown – images taken of the seated child do a mirror-image flip.
The pen-drag interface isn’t as smooth as a mouse… so it takes a bit to “get it”. Buttercup picked it up after a bit, but Mom & Dad still have issues.
Lack of light source – the camera doesn’t have a flash, and it doesn’t do very well in low light. We had to open the windows and turn on extra lights to get decent pictures. A flash would be nice.

When it comes down to it, the plusses actually out-weigh the minuses. This is a fantastic educational toy as well as one that masquerades as pure entertainment from the kidlet’s point of view. It improves motor function and fine motor control, spatial relationships and shapes.

On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being “wouldn’t use it even if it was free” and 10 being “impossible to drag the kids away from it, plus an amazing deal for the price” I’d give the VTech KidiArt Studio an 8.5 – but only because of the lack of a power supply and the weirdness with the camera. All in all, we *do* have to drag Buttercup away from it – which is how I know the battery thing is an issue.

So yeah, it’s worth putting on your Christmas list if you have an artistically inclined 4 to 7 year old in your house. I firmly expect that Buttercup will still be playing with hers through then!

Administrative note: This review was not paid for. The VTech KidiArt Studio was provided by the company for my review and feedback. The company had no influence or input on what is contained in the product review above. All opinions expressed are those of the author and those attributed to others specifically named in the review.

Posted by GeekMommy | Filed Under Administrative, Product Reviews, VTech Demo Team, kindergarten, outbound linkage, technology, toys | 4 Comments

Are You Smarter Than an Editor?

September 15, 2008

It was irritating enough when Fox Television came out with Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and it became a hit with people who related to Jeff Foxworthy’s earlier comedy about rednecks… but I sort of expect better from magazine editors. So I was more than a little irked to find Disney’s new magazine “Wondertime” in my mail box with the cover showing a headline “Are You Smarter Than a 1st Grader? take (and fail) our quiz.”

I guess I just expect more of print editors than I do television producers. I mean “Are You Better Educated Than a 5th Grader?” isn’t going to draw the standard Fox prime time audience, now is it? Nor I suspect would “What Did You Forget Between 5th Grade and Now?”

But if you’re sending me a free, unsolicited magazine in the hopes that I’ll consider it a good enough source for parenting advice to later subscribe to it? You had better hire both writers and editors who understand that there’s a difference between “smarter than” and being able to recall facts that you learned by rote memorization when you were eleven (or six in the case of the 1st graders.)

Honestly. It’s bad enough that Fox has managed to convince such a large portion of the population that intelligence is directly correlated to what ‘factoids’ you remember from your elementary education years (yes, Jeopardy! did a good enough job of that for years without a misnomer) but they weren’t trying to sell me something. Yeah, I didn’t give their show sponsors high marks for choosing to advertise during that show either.

Personally, I know that I’m smarter than many a 5th grader – and 1st grader for that matter – but I also know that Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein were both that age once and their heirs are probably out there learning math right now. Hopefully, they are intelligent enough to be able to realize that a good education is priceless, but so is a good editor. Wondertime ought to consider hiring one.

Posted by GeekMommy | Filed Under Parenting, Product Reviews, Thought Burst, outbound linkage, rant, technology | 6 Comments

Technology Tuesday – The Contest

August 19, 2008

Sorry to get this one up so late – I know it’s already Wednesday on the East Coast and my friends in Singapore are coming up on their lunch hours… But hey, trust me. This one is worth the wait!

I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to play with the Flip Ultra video camera in order to write the review I want to write, so I figured that will have to wait until either Friday or next Tuesday. But I’m not going to keep you guys in further suspense as to the nature of the contest for the Flip Ultra that the nice folks at Pure Digital (in conjunction with the WalMart 11 Money Saving Moms project) sent me to give to one lucky reader of this blog! (Mostly because I’m sure a few of you would come after me if I put it off again!)

So. Here it is then. I was trying to figure out what made for a good contest.

If I just say “comment and I’ll randomly draw a number” then the guy who drops by here one time for 10 seconds stands as much chance of winning as those of you who have been hanging in there with me. Plus, I’d like this to be something fun for all of us.

So I’m about to start trying to post my vlogs here with my own Flip camera and it wouldn’t hurt to learn a bit more about what you guys like in that regard.

So here’s what you have to do to win – Leave a comment here. In the comment you need to put 2 links:

1) a link to an example of what you consider a GOOD vlog. Something you’d actually watch. Don’t just go to Google and put in ‘vlog’ and post the first thing you find – because I might just get clever and ask you a question like what the last line in the vlog was!

2) a link to someplace you’ve reposted the link for this contest – it can be your blog, it can be Twittered, or Plurked, or posted on Friend Feed or your favorite social network. Just post a link to where you’ve posted it so I can follow it back and verify (this means it has to be a public post!)

This should give me a good sample of vlogs you think are worth watching. And if you’re entering to get the Flip to start your own vlogging? it might help you figure out where to start too!

The contest ends Monday, August 25th at 11:59pm Mountain Time (my time zone) and I will then use random.org to generate a number that will correspond with the commentor who wins. (Comments without the two required links will be excluded from the numbering.)

I will announce the winner in the next Technology Tuesday post.

And just to whet your appetite? Here’s a picture of the one I opened – you’ll be receiving your own unopened box identical in nature! Yep, it’s a nice, sexy black Flip Ultra! Good Luck!