A Bit Eclectic » Service

Intuit to Acquire Mint for $170 Million

Shawn — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:00:24 +0000

Intuit To Acquire Mint For $170 Million – Tech Crunch:

Intuit will acquire the free online personal finance service Mint, we’ve confirmed from a source close to the deal, for around $170 million. The deal should be announced in the next few days.

This is excellent news. With the muscle and funding of Intuit, Mint can push further than it already has. I’m still waiting for Mint to support my small, local bank, while Quicken has had support all along.

How to Discover New and Interesting Music Online

Shawn — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:34:33 +0000

Ars Technica has posted a great article covering a few of the many music services available online. They start with the well known Pandora and move onto others that may be off the mainstream.

How to discover new and interesting music online – Ars Technica:

Everyone has faced this conundrum at one point or another: you’re sick and tired of the music in your library, but you can’t stand commercial radio. As a result, you haven’t been exposed to new music in quite a while. How do you find new things to listen to that you won’t hate? Or, even better, music that you might actually like?

Aside from the brute force approach—just listen to everything!—there are numerous ways to discover new music right at your fingertips that are a little more intuitive. Thanks to an explosion of online streaming services, you can often listen to a plethora of recommendations based on what you already like without even opening your wallet—at least until you’re ready to commit to downloading.

Too Little, Too Late

Shawn — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:45:04 +0000

tr.im is resurrecting their URL shortening service that they discontinued just2 days ago. tr.im was my service of choice, but this news won’t get me to switch back. They have destroyed the trust and I don’t doubt that they could shut down again.

I have moved over to my own URL shortening service which uses YOURLS software to run the back end. This gives me security that my links won’t disappear and I get to use a domain name of my choosing. YOURLS also has a great WordPress plugin that automatically posts these short URLs to Twitter whenever I publish a new blog post.

Facebook Acquires FriendFeed

Shawn — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:01:34 +0000

According to TechCrunch, Facebook acquires FriendFeed. I never really used FriendFeed and I rarely log into Facebook, but this little tidbit on the FriendFeed blog caught my attention:

We’re still figuring out our longer-term plans for the product with the Facebook team.

That was a response to questions about the future of the friendfeed.com. My guess is the service will eventually be rolled into Facebook and the standalone site will be no more. Facebook would not have acquired the company without a goal in mind, and the fact that FriendFeed won’t disclose it sends a pretty clear message. I doubt the Facebook executives have the buy know think later mentality that we sometimes see with Google.

Books Deleted Directly Off Kindle Devices

Twitter in Three Simple Concepts

Shawn — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:53:08 +0000

Use Twitter to:

Broadcast your status, opinions, jokes, and news.
Connect with friends, family, celebrities, authors, and politicians.
Follow live updates of current events and trends.

The power of Twitter is derived from its simplicity. It is a bare bones framework where you choose how to extract value. It is a tool to send text from point A to point B and that is as complicated as it gets. Unlike a blog or website, you don’t need to know code or worry about design. There is no initial cost (monetary or time), you just pick up and go.

The value is built on top of this foundation. Like all services, the value comes from the information that you extract. This information and value comes from the three points above.

I constantly get asked about Twitter. It is hard to give a concrete answer because it can be molded however you want. I doubt my friend would be interested in following nerdy figures like John Gruber (from Daring Fireball) or Bre Pettis (his blog). However, they might want regular new updates from the New York Times sent to their phone.

Everyone should take the time to experiment with Twitter Search. It will blow your mind if you have never looked at the current trends or followed a search term. Twitter Search taps into the power created by thousands of individuals posting updates. It is a real time feed of news, thoughts, opinions, and emotion. Sometimes it is easier to get product reviews from Twitter Search then stumbling around the web.

Twitter is a great way to stay connected with friends and family, if you can persuade them to join. It has become one of the main ways that my brothers and I have stayed connected since we left for college. My Mom is slowly working on getting her own account, the current plan is to sign up by spring break.

One of Twitter’s co-founders, Evan Williams, gave a talk at this year’s TED conference. What better way to grasp Twitter than to hear it from the horses mouth.

You can follow me on Twitter and even get A Bit Eclectic updates.

Google Maps: Street View Added to Driving Directions

Shawn — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:26:04 +0000

Here is a new feature I stumbled upon last night. Google Maps has added the street view feature to driving directions. Now you can get a glance at the route before you even get in the car. When you look up driving directions on Google Maps, a little camera icon will appear next to the streets. If you click on the icon the street view will pop up on the map. From here you can zoom in and pan around to get a good look at the surrounding area. If you don’t see the camera icon, street view may not be supported in your city.

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.

I Signed Up for Twitter, Now What?

Shawn — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:41:50 +0000

The Twitter following is growing larger everyday. It seems like more and more people that I know, both in person and through the internet, are joining. One of the biggest hurdles is keeping these people on long enough so they see the benefit. Here are some tips to make your trip with Twitter as enjoyable as possible.

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.
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.
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.

Jott – Voice to Text

Shawn — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:16:08 +0000

Jott is a great service that allows you to send messages simply by calling a number. The free service will transcribe your voice to text. You can then receive an email or go to jott.com to see your list. It is much faster to browse through a written list of items than listen to multiple voice notes. Jott also allows you to send notes to other people.

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.

Lynda.com, My Personal Trainer

Shawn — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:43:42 +0000

Recently I have had the urge to learn Photoshop. I have always seen it as a powerful yet untameable beast. I have tried fiddling with the software before and got nowhere. There were just too many features and I didn’t even know the basics.

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.

Hidden Refinements in Snow Leopard

Photoshop Express – Plays Well With Others

Shawn — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:08:23 +0000

Photoshop Express keeps gaining more and more respect in my book. Today I discovered its “social” aspect. Some of you may already know this, but it is still an outstanding feature.

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.

Winter Portrait