I’ve been blogging for nearly eight years now. I first started because I wanted to share my experiences as I studied abroad. I wrote as often as I could while I was in Europe, wanting to capture every memory as vividly as possible. I started with a simple goal and saw it through. As a result I have thirty-one posts from that summer through which I can relive some fantastic adventures.

I love to blog because I love to write. Essay or tweet, notepad or napkin, hidden in a journal or for all the world to see; it doesn’t matter. And I want to do whatever I can to become a better writer. Consistency will go a long way but I don’t believe it’s enough simply to hammer out some words and hit publish. So to that end I’ve made a few blogging goals for the year ahead.

Continue Reading…

I’ve had Facebook Timeline for a couple months now as a beta tester. I interact with Facebook as a user and web developer. So, in other words, I’ve had the chance to see Timeline inside and out. Here are some initial thoughts and, as the title suggests, they are very preliminary.

The Good

There are a few things I really like about the new profile setup. It’s great to be able to designate certain content as Featured content, to show users which content you’ve added (or that others have added) to your Timeline is most important to you. This is something you used to be able to do on your profile several iterations ago, and it’s nice to see it added back again.

Facebook has made it super easy to navigate from one time period to another, without which this change would have driven me crazy. So, even if you don’t like the change, at least it’s fairly easy to use.

I even like the new profile cover, the huge image at the top of your Timeline, though I wish you could select a photo you’ve been tagged in instead of just the ones you’ve uploaded.

Continue Reading…

This is one of those apps that doesn’t get much attention but I think it should. Back in August Facebook released an app for iPhone and Android called Messenger. It is a dedicated app for the Facebook messaging system. Maybe you’re wondering why anyone would possibly want an app that could perform only one feature, especially when each of these platforms has a perfectly good app that is fully featured.

Here’s the main reason I really like this app: I don’t have to enter into the rest of the Facebook universe to check my Facebook messages. Messenger will not show you if you have any other notifications awaiting your attention. This is a great thing! How many times have you gone into Facebook just to check a message, only to find that there was lots of other activity that “needed” your attention? Yeah, all the time, right? This app lets you communicate back and forth with friends without risk of distraction.
Continue Reading…

If you find the Facebook Ticker to be information overload you can easily hide it using an ad-blocking browser extension. Below are step-by-step instructions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari users. (Once I find a Windows 7 PC I will add instructions for IE.)

What You’ll Need

• Chrome + Adblock Plus; or
• Firefox + Adblock Plus; or
• Safari + Adblock

Normally an ad blocking extension is used strictly to block advertisements, but it can actually be used to filter out all sorts of page elements.

Continue Reading…

Today Apple released OS X Lion, the latest iteration of its operating system (version 10.7 to be exact). Much of what Lion brings to the table was inspired by iOS. This version of OS X seems like a bit of a change in direction by Apple, whereas Snow Leopard (version 10.6) was merely a refinement of Leopard (version 10.5, which itself was change in direction as well). I’m interested to see how much I’ll like the new Mac experience.

The truly unique aspect of this OS is the way the upgrade is purchased. All upgrades will be available only via download through the Mac App Store. I don’t think I like the fact that to reinstall OS X from scratch I’ll first need to install Snow Leopard. However, I intend to try out these instructions on how to burn a Lion boot disc as described by The Unofficial Apple Blog, so maybe it won’t be such a big deal for me after all.

My personal Mac might not receive the update for a while. I want to wipe my computer and start from scratch, which will be a bit of an undertaking. I have an up-to-date Time Machine backup but I’m also going to give SuperDuper a try for a little extra insurance. (I also have a Mozy offsite backup of my data and most of my day-to-day files are saved in Dropbox.)

I highly recommend reading this review of Lion by Shawn Blanc (@shawnblanc). Of course, there’s always Apple’s OS X Lion page for the official list of features.

Do me a favor. Buy Lion via this link. It’s an affiliate link, so I’ll get a small kickback if you use it to purchase the OS (about $1 per purchase).

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: Affiliate Marketing Links http://cmp.ly/5