Overall it is a great addition. However, I only see one real good use for it. Sometimes when you are driving, street signs can be hard to see. This can be especially true late at night in a poorly lit area. With this feature, you can get a look at the houses and landmarks surrounding the intersection. This will make it easier to recognize your turn on those easy to miss streets.

Google has provided some other great uses in this video. Some of them seem a little far fetched to me, but your millage may vary.

1. Turn on phone updates. - Twitter works best when you have easy access to it, and what better way then through your phone.  If you are like most humans, you constantly have your cell phone with you.  This provides the easiest access to Twitter.  Once you link up your phone, it will only take seconds to post (send texts to 40404).  The other bonus is that you will receive updates from your friends.  You can choose whose updates get sent to your phone and whose will remain on the web.
2. Follow, follow, follow. - Follow people.  Get your friends to join and follow them.  The fun doesn’t stop there.  It is completely acceptable to follow people you have never met.  You may not know the journalists who write your morning paper, yet you still read their articles.  If you think they post neat stuff then they probably deserve a follow.  I understand that some of you may not know many people on the internet, so here is a list to get you started.  Remember that you can always stop following people down the road with no hard feelings.  Add first and decide later.
   • Biz Stone - He is one of the co-founders of Twitter.  His tweets vary greatly.  It couldn’t hurt to start here.
   • Jack Dorsey - Another co-founder of Twitter.  Again, it couldn’t hurt.
   • Veronica Belmont - Co-host of tech podcast Tekzilla.  She has some real quality tweets.  I highly recommend following her.
   • Annette - It is true that this is my girlfriend, so I may be a little biased.  But, my friends tell me they enjoy her updates more than mine.
   • John Gruber - He generally posts interesting tweets.  Be warned, he posts a bit on the techy side.
   • Amy Jane Gruber - This is a must follow in my book.  Her tweets are absolutely hilarious.  They are so good that me and my girlfriend often discuss them.
   • Scott Simpson - Another must follow.  He posts a real grab bag of material.
   • Scott Beale - Writter of laughingsquid.com.  He often posts links to other sites.
   • Gary Vaynerchuk - If you are a fan of Wine Library TV, then I don’t really need to say more.  Careful, Gary tends to post a lot.
   • Dr. Tiki, Johnny Johnny, Lala - Fans of Tiki Bar TV will like these.
   • Alex Albrecht, Dan Trachtenburg, Jeff Cannata - These are the hosts of the Totally Rad Show.  Great guys all around and good to follow.  Oh and I couldn’t leave out Steve who mans the camera and has mad editing skills.
   • Me - You can always follow me.  If you like the content of this blog, then you may find my updates entertaining.
3. Relax and update. - Don’t hold back.  If something pops into your head then send it off.  Something that you think is mundane may just make someone’s day.  The more you update the better Twitter becomes.  Have fun with it.  This service is meant to provide a good time and if you let it, it can be a blast.

This should be more than enough to get you on your way.  I wish you the best of luck in this crazy internet world limited to 140 characters.  

Integration

One of the greatest features of Jott is its integration with other web services. One example is with the excellent to-do service Remember the Milk. With Jott, you can add items to your to-do list while on the go. Just call Jott and tell it to send your note to Remember the Milk.

If you want to take notes on the go, give Jott a try.

Awhile ago I heard about the site Lynda.com, which provides video tutorials covering a large range of subjects. The videos are led by some extremely talented professionals who really know their stuff. They peel back the various layers of the software, moving from the basics to more advanced techniques. The provide the viewer with numerous real world examples and teach tricks and shortcuts along the way.

Each subject (like Photoshop or Web Design) has multiple sets of videos that allow you to focus on specific topics and skills. Each set is then composed of many shorter videos that walk through the software. The short video format allows you to skip topics that you already know and cover a subject over many days. You can easily leave off on one video and pick up the next whenever you have time.

Lynda.com offers a couple free videos on every topic. However, to get the real benefit you should move up to the subscription plan for $25 a month. This is an outstanding price considering how much material is covered.

I am currently working through the Photoshop for Photographers and Creative Photographic Technique tutorials which are led by Chris Orwig. He does an excellent job of introducing ideas and techniques as well as reinforcing them throughout the trainings. If you have ever wanted to learn a piece of software I suggest giving lynda.com a look.

Photoshop Express integrates with Facebook, Photobucket, and Picasa. Now you can edit your photos on these services through Photoshop Express. It is all done within the comfort of the Photoshop Express interface. You get all the features just as if the photo was in Photoshop Express to begin with.

I would be even happier if it were integrated with flickr as well. Hopefully this is what the future brings.

First, you must be a pro member in order to enjoy these benefits.  Second, videos are limited to 90 sec and 150 mb.  These limitation are trying to prevent it from being a youtube clone.  Instead, it aims to help supplement your photos with self created video or “long photos”.

These videos can be played on your main page alongside your photos, or they can be viewed on their own page (just like photos).  You even have the ability to embed them elsewhere on the web, like your blog.

Some people may dislike the limitations that flickr has imposed.  I for one don’t mind them.  They did get in the way with my first video (which was 3 min long), but I feel that this will help keep the sub-par content out.  The limitations are similar to those that Twitter imposes.  On Twitter, it is 140 characters and on flickr it is 90 seconds.  The limitations should encourage people to edit their clips and only grab the best part, which would benefit everyone.  If you want to put your entire *insert event here* video online, there are plenty of other media distribution services.

Overall I think this is an excellent addition to flickr and hopefully we will see it grow and develop more in the future.  By the way, I love the sleek clean interface for the video controls.  I will be posting a video as soon as I can get it uploaded (probably in the morning) and you can check out my flickr site here.

EDIT: My video finished uploading sometime last night.  It was put together by my girlfriend.  You can find the video here (or below) and her flickr page here.

Popurls has some great features that help you digest news quickly. You can organize the site so that the topics that interest you most are at top while the rest remain near the bottom. You can also sort the page by either website, category, or even chronological order.

Another feature is a pop up news bubble. When you hover over a headline, a little bubble appears giving you a summary of the article. You can then choose to click and read the entire article. This helps save time so you can quickly find more information and more interesting articles.

What about RSS? Why use Popurls when you can get your news through a feed reader?

Popurls and RSS feeds both offer ways to read news but are not mutually exclusive. RSS readers are great for keeping a stockpile of articles and provides you with in depth reading from your favorite sites. RSS is akin to sitting down with a newspaper and reading the news for the day. Popurls, on the other hand, provide you a way to keep up on breaking news. Similar to turning on the TV to catch up on the day’s breaking news.

If you are interested in catching the breaking news head over to popurls.com. For an introduction to RSS, check out this post.

There are many great things about blogging.  It allows you to get your opinion out there and share information about the things you know.  You could tell stories or create works of fiction.  Maybe you will start a video or photo blog to share you newest masterpiece.  The possibilities are truly endless.  Hopefully now I have you wondering, where do I get started?

Where do you start?

The first step is to find a place to start your blog.  I recommend  Wordpress, but there are also other alternatives like Blogger, Typepad, and Live Journal.  All of these will give you a place to host your blog.  This is just a short list and there are many other options out there.  You can do some research upfront or just start digging in to one of these.  Be careful, most sites offer free plans, but some do have paid options.  I would recommend going the $0 route, at least for when you get started.  Down the road you can decide if the paid version is right for you.  Just remember that there are always alternatives that charge nothing.  Now you can head over to any of these sites and set up an account.

So you have a blog, now what?

Write.  Start out with whatever you feel needs to be said.  The first few posts may be on the rough side, but eventually you will find your voice.  The more you write, the more comfortable it will get.  After you get the writting down, you can look at the customization options.  Most of these services offer lots of ways to customize your blog so it fits you.  Remember to get the posts up first, then customize.  People will come to read your content, not to see the neat layout.  

A tip about writing.  Just start, it can be about anything.  As time goes on, you will probably close in on a topic.  Some people have a theme from the get go, but there is no harm in starting broad.  Write about whatever floats your boat.

Will anybody read it?

Don’t worry about statistics.  At first you will have one reader, and it will be you.  It takes time to develop a following.  People won’t find your site overnight.  If you keep writing, eventually people with the same interests will stumble upon your site.  Write for the content, not the views.  Your posts will be of higher quality and the views should naturally follow.  When you first start out I recommend letting your friends and family know about your blog.  Those closest to you will be more than happy to read your posts.  They will be intrigued to see what you have to say.

You should also get involved with other’s blogs.  If you like their blog, they might have the same interests as you.  Read and comment on their posts.  One day they might just return the favor.  Although this may increase your views, be cautious.  Have a genuine interest in their blog.  You wouldn’t want someone commenting on your posts just so you will read theirs.  Don’t worry about getting them to your site, it is more important to develop a relationship.

What are you waiting for?

These are the basics to blogging.  It is simply writing about something you know and/or care about.  Always remember that it is about the content, not the stats.  So get out there and enrich the community with your opinions, knowledge, and insight.  If you eventually feel that it isn’t for you, just stop.  Hopefully you will stick with it so that others can enjoy what you write.  If you do go out and start a blog, leave a comment on my site.  I love to see what others have started.

Photoshop Express provides users with 2GB of free storage where they can upload, organize, edit, and share photos.  Once uploaded, you can change the photo’s titles, captions, descriptions and other information.  The can also be organized into albums which can be shared with friends and family.

That is all neat, but the real power is the editing.  With Photoshop Express, you can edit any photo that you have uploaded.  There are tons of options ranging from cropping and saturation to hue adjustments.  When I say powerful, I am not implying that it is comparable to Photoshop CS3.  It isn’t anywhere near Photoshop and isn’t trying to be, but it is still great for what it is.

The interface is great.  In editing mode, you select the action you want to perform on the left hand side.  Then at the top, you can move a slider to change the adjustments.  Alternatively, there are a row of thumbnails above the slider showing the affect on the photo.  As you hover over these thumbnails, it demonstrates these affects on the actual photos instantly.  To apply the affect, just click on the thumbnail.  All of the editing in non-destructive and can be changed any time.

Photoshop Express will really shine with consumers.  There are many people who want to jazz up their photos but are scared off when it the answer is Photoshop.  Photoshop Express makes it insanely simple and cheap for these users to get in on the action.  Adobe has done a great job at providing these users with a place to store, edit, and share photos.

My feeling is that this will become Adobe’s gateway to future Photoshop purchases.  This will help get people’s feet wet and make them desire more power that Photoshop can deliver.  None the less, it is a great web application to have available for those quick and easy edits.  Oh, and did I mention that it’s free.

Here is a photo that I tweaked in Photoshop Express.

The original:

After a few enhancements:

Utilizing my creative license:

Twitter may not have photos and all the features that Facebook has, or does it. Sure it isn’t incorporated into Twitter, but I can just as easily link out to my flickr photos. Post up a tweet that says, “Had a great time at the Field Museum, here are some photos.” Now I have started to pull in some extra features. If you wanted even more fluidness, then go to Pownce. There you can get the photos integrated into the posts. You can also expand further on Twitter/Pownce. I continue to find great people to follow by looking at others. My girlfriend and I constantly update each other with who is posting interesting stuff.

In the end, Facebook needs to change up where it is headed. It needs to learn one important aspect of business, things change and you need to evolve with them. Facebook was the first step, before that you would have to take the time and ask each of your friends what they were doing or if they had listened to any interesting music lately. On Facebook you could just go to their profile and look it up instantaneously. Facebook brought you information quicker and easier. Now there are other services out there that improve upon that.

Not many people know about Twitter yet. I am talking about the general population, not the web geeks. Once more and more people learn about these services, you will see a large shift to instant information. It may not be Twitter, but it will share the instant characteristic. The point is that Facebook needs to evolve or they will see usage dive as people satisfy their hunger for information.

I was inspired by this video from Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. It really sparked my curiosity and opened my eyes to the speed of data transfer. I am not talking about your up/download speeds, I mean the speed in which you can get information about your friends.