Disqus - Latest Comments for paisano

Re: The Disciplined Mind.

paisano — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:39:35 -0000

Hi there. I enjoyed your Disciplined Mind share. I am so glad I found you because it really hit home. I've always been this jack of all trades and it's become frustrating these days because as you know technology keeps throwing new things at us at increasingly faster rates! I feel like a new age clown juggling all these digital bits and I know I will start dropping things! I need more discipline and an expertise...a niche is you will. But how to choose? Isn't that dull and boring after awhile? Hmmm.

Thanks again for sharing that passage.

Pai

Re: Out Riding Fences: Clash of the Storytellers.

paisano — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:12:08 -0000

I really liked this. I love writing and web 2.0 so this whole blog is like brain candy to me now!

As for the discussion about seeing an author's work in a visual presentation vs keeping it all within the imagination of the reader, it reminds me of something I read about Ric Ocasek from the cars, one of my favorite bands ever (despite their Boston roots!). He said he wrote songs that were meant to be heard in the car on the radio and hated music videos because he preferred to let his listeners and fans writer/direct and star in their own music videos in their head. Guess that's why he called the group The Cars too, huh?

I used to agree with Ocasek on that matter but now I've grown to love all forms of a story or song. I can still create my own imaginary version of any book I read even after seeing the bastardized Hollywood version of the yarn. The same with songs.
Pai

Re: The Creating Mind

paisano — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:23:54 -0000

Wonderful stuff. Totally agree with this one. Cultivation of creativity is critical! I've got all three of my young 'ens doing as much creative activities as possible. First, it's fun and second it's important for their development.

Hey, I'd love to share my thoughts on the NEA (www.nea.org) but that might create a flaming war on here! It always seems to bring up Maplethorpe's name and a defiled religious object for some reason!

Pai

Re: Out Riding Fences: Clash of the Storytellers.

paisano — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:23:43 -0000

@2Di4
That's so funny. I tweeted earlier that if Hemmingway were alive today that he'd love twitter because of its 140 character limit and its brevity. Also said Dickinson would prefer wordpress and Kerouack would've loved tumblr.

Re: running into a new year

paisano — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:53:43 -0000

Wonderful poem and message. I've always loved Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Lose this day loitering"

"Lose this day loitering; t'will be the same old story tomorrow,
and the next day more dilatory ...
Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting o'er lost days ...
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute!
What you can do or dream you can, begin it!
Courage has genius, power and magic in it!
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin it, and the work will be completed!"
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832)

I used it in my new year's resolution utter along with video clip from the "Dead Poet's Society" which always inspires me to no end! Carpe Diem, folks!

http://www.utterz.com/~u-NTAwMzI1Nw/utt.php#utt...

Pai

Re: It’s a Small (Social Media) World

paisano — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:10:01 -0000

C.C.
Excellent piece! I've always wondered about this as well but you articulated it all so much better than I would've!
It is indeed a micro-world when compared to the big picture but the good news is that it is growing rapidly.

Take a look at the top dogs with the largest "fan-base" or audience and even their numbers are tiny in the grand scheme of things. Jason Calacanis and his annoying Jason Nation is the fastest growing legion of followers on Twitter according to www.twitterholic.com at 17,369 followers. Still, 17k in an online world of millions?
The number one spot has that Obama guy at just over 20k but we all know he has millions of devoted followers in real life. Only 20 k of them are on twitter I guess.

I think all of these online communities will continue to grow and spread into every facet of life so expect our tiny world to expand exponentially with time.

Pai

Re: Writing for Good: Email Our Military

paisano — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:02:29 -0000

Excellent post! Summed it up perfectly! It's all about positivity and goodness. How can anyone be against that?
Sure, there's always the slim chance someone might say the wrong thing but over all it will be a wonderful service and memorable experience for all involved!

I support what eMom is doing fully. I think 99% of people do.

Pai

Re: New Media Malaise & ‘chatting’ in Twitter

paisano — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:24:20 -0000

Good stuff. So true about the number of followers does not make someone an expert or guru, per se.
Many of the "popular" twitterers on http://twitterholic.com merely want to promote their own brand (site/service), which is all right because we all do that to some degree. It's when the legions of lemmings start piling on their popularity train that it begins to bother me. I try to stay off those rides but I will take a peek from time to time and can't believe what self-serving dreck is served up to the masses who gobble it up as gospel because "the numbers don't lie". To hell they don't.
Look, I love it when good, generous and intelligent people acquire the large audience they've earned (i.e. chrisbrogan, guykawasaki, scobeleizer, heck even Loic "aren't I cute" Lemier!). I think they deserve it because they all have something in common: they add something of value to the conversation and the community. They actually care about having a conversation. They are all about inclusion, not exclusion. They never just take! They help others and never ask for anything in return. They also never pound their chests and boast about how big their collection of "followers" or "fans" are on twitter or facebook. They are classy and important to our experience. The others are just in it for ego boosts that I refuse to contribute to. Want a warning sign? Compare the ratio of followers to the number of people they follow.
Those numbers do not lie. There's no reason for someone to have over 10,000 followers but only care to follow 100 people. Reasons some give for this are many, but mostly it is "I only follow people I know in real life". Oh, ok. Good luck with that. How dull and boring. How selfish too.
How do you know what someone has to offer if you don't give even give them a chance? People like Guy and Brogan understand people and how it all works. We people are the social part in social media and social networking! It's about communication and that means a two way street. All of those meglomaniacs blessed with massive followings are totally wasting what could be a powerful and rewarding opportunity not just for themselves but for everyone in the community.
Need more examples? Just follow any of the following people who truly "get it" and see for yourself what social media and social networking is suposed to be all about: People!
chrisbrogan
scobeleizer
guykawasaki
loiclemeur
Jowyang
jeffpulver

Re: New Media Malaise & ‘chatting’ in Twitter

paisano — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:24:20 -0000

Re: The Last Lecture

paisano — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:36:34 -0000

Thanks guys. I kept hoping for a miracle or something. I was just going to do a search to see how he was doing because it'd been a while since I heard any news about Randy. Even though we all knew it was coming it's still such a painful shock.
God rest his soul and protect his family.

Re: Create Your Own Favicons

paisano — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:12:09 -0000

test

Re: Photoshop Express - Making Life Easier!

paisano — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:34:41 -0000

Very nice coverage. Been meaning to check it out. Looks very interesting. The price is right! :)

Re: 2007/06/27/wishpot/

paisano — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 19:04:36 -0000

I wish there werent so many wishlist sites!
I've used a bunch... www,thethingsIneed.com was good but its interface is so 1990s...
www.wishlist.com is better....but not web 2.0ish.
I like www.wishpot.com but www.boxedup.com is looking better! www.wisheus.com looks good too.

Re: 2008/01/08/dataportability/

paisano — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:18:01 -0000

This only helps OpenSocial, folks. By joining the same DataPortability group, FaceBook has in essence surrendered. Now, that doesn't mean they won't continue to try to fight OpenSocial, but this is the beginning of the end of their dominance of social apps. Developers would be stupid to build apps just for the facebook platform when they can build apps on OpenSocial for ALL websites. I predict FaceBook will someday embrace OpenSocial.

Re: 2008/01/15/vooeasy/

paisano — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:17:29 -0000

I'd like an invite pleez

Re: 2008/01/27/web-hot-or-not/

paisano — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:03:14 -0000

Hmmm, smells of http://killerstartups.com, no?
They share a new startup and we vote on it.
very interesting. Are they gonna have Lorenzo Lameass on there with a laser pointer hightlighting the weaknesses of the websites? I'm in if so!

Pai

Re: 2007/11/12/bookbump/

paisano — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:32:28 -0000

I wish it had more social networking/sharing features like shelfari though. Still, nice interface.

Pai

Re: 2008/03/09/wowowow/

paisano — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 04:58:31 -0000

A network for women? I thought it was going to http://www.oprah.com . heh.

Pai

Re: 2008/03/13/social-networking-statistics-2/

paisano — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:01:55 -0000

Wow. Now this explains why AOL would plunk down $850 for BEBO, a social network ranked 12th out of 21 and down -81%. Yea, it makes perfect sense.

/sarcasm

Baffled Pai

Re: 2008/03/13/social-networking-statistics-2/

paisano — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:02:27 -0000

typo...$850 would make sense, not $850 Million!

Re: 8 Resources for Message Boards 2.0

paisano — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:34:14 -0000

Great feedback! I really liked the invisionplus and SMF sites. I will add them to the master list of message boards that I will share online in a public document. I expect many more new players to appear on the scene and big changes in this space.

Pai

Re: 2008/08/06/rejaw/

paisano — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:08:26 -0000

Lol. Yea, I know what you mean. I do think I might have been a tad too nice about them, huh? I rarely do such a positive tooth-achy sweet review. I will do me best to balance it more. In hindsite I would've ripped them more, especially about the name of the site as EJRaven pointed out. It will be hard for the name to catch on like twitter/tweet. Even Plurk is more fun to say. I think a good name should be able to go from a noun to a verb.

Pai

Re: 8 Resources for Message Boards 2.0

paisano — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:22:13 -0000

@Ahmed
Sure thing. There are tons of cool plugins and addons for PhpBB but here are some.

This will show a bunch for wiki plugins such as MediaWiki and DokuWiki...among others.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=phpbb+...

Here's one for wordpress blog plugin
http://wpthemesplugin.com/intergrate-phpbb-and-...

if you want a plugin to fight spam then get this one
http://www.eadz.co.nz/blog/article/phpbb-akisme...

the list is endless...

Re: 2008/08/13/customer-service-resources/

paisano — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:15:57 -0000

Thanks Amanda. I would share that complaint about GetSatisfaction on their own feedback page. Valid complaint that is easily fixed. Would you be happy with OpenID support? I know I would be.

Thanks Kathlene! I hope more people involved with customer service get familiar with these tools. It'll be beneficial for us all.

@Fabrice
Nice site indeed. Thanks for sharing it!
We'll see how it does against the big boys that are getting all the attention now.

Re: 2008/08/13/customer-service-resources/

paisano — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:10:34 -0000

More good stuff. Thanks everyone. I was going to mention that major buyer feedback change by ebay but didn't because of length. Still, good to know there's a solution in place already.

@Dana
FixYa looks good too. Thanks for sharing!

Keep it coming...

Re: 2008/08/13/customer-service-resources/

paisano — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:11:39 -0000

Excellent feedback. I can see more value in UserVoice after all of this information. I do see that the best solution would be a hybrid of both as David Beach mentioned. I also like SuggestionBox.

Very interesting stuff.

Pai

Re: 2008/08/15/ways-to-get-your-head-in-the-game/

paisano — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:29:58 -0000

I like that faceyourmanga but it doesn't let you actually use your real photo or face. You just create a toon that most resembles you. Others do that too like IMVU so that's really another topic.

Thanks though

Pai

Re: 2008/08/15/irony-alert-social-media-introverts/

paisano — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:41:45 -0000

What an astute observation. I've always struggled with shyness and introversy but always find ways to overcome it. Social media/networking has helped many wallflowers blossom and for that I am eternally grateful. Think of all the fantastic personalities we would've missed out on if it weren't for these tools that allowed them to express themselves in a comfortably way. Ironically, as you pointed out, the very same media that provided shelter eventually forces you outside into the real world to meetups and parties and meetings. It's a wonderful irony that technology can make us all so sociable.

Good example is this MySpace member who was dragged kicking and screaming. Woody Allen. Thanks to Soon Yi, of course. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction...

Shy Pai

Re: 2008/08/16/the-twitting-point/

paisano — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:41:20 -0000

What a bunch of lemmings! Just cause Kevin Rose starts some silly viral campaign doesn't mean we all have to jump off the cliff together like mindless drones!

OK...whatever. Here's mine.

http://twitter.com/Paisano

p.s. http://IMVU.com and http://Meez.com do a better job than this manga.

Re: 2008/08/16/the-twitting-point/

paisano — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:18:00 -0000

Here's my pic with the Pete...
http://www.toondoo.com/View.toon?param=330960

Re: 2008/08/21/mozilla-best-firefox-3-extensions/

paisano — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:05:52 -0000

Sweet list. Going to try the ones I haven't yet.

Oh my favorite extension ever is Tab Mix Plus!
Firefox NEEDS this built in!!!

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/...

Note: Use the special version for FF 3.01

Re: 2008/08/22/tools-and-resources-for-inventors/

paisano — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:28:40 -0000

Excellent suggestions! I originally had Blender but their site was down for a while so I removed them. They're back up now it seems so it's a great tool to have, especially for the price! :)

Thanks Alicia..

keep them coming... I know there's more out there.

Re: 2008/08/26/socialu/

paisano — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:42:39 -0000

Yea, that was my first impression as well. "It's just a browser?" But if you dig deeper there's more to it. Look at the bottom and you will see a pop up panel that lets you comment on any page and share it or save it. I think SocialBrowse does that better by the way.

Go to the community and market pages at the top.
I had hoped they would've had a messaging aggregator to create this centralized social networking inbox like fuser.com does but no such luck.

If this came out before Flock or even the first browser with multiple tabs it would've been interesting. Being a desktop only app and no mobile access will hurt it too.

I think successful services need to speak several different different languages at the same time such as web, desktop and mobile platforms.

Re: 2008/08/26/socialu/

paisano — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:28:30 -0000

Here's a cool screencast from the nefarious DemoGirl in case you didn't want to install it but wanted to see what it looked like.
http://demogirl.com/2008/08/26/socialu-where-so...

Re: 2008/08/26/insights-into-the-marketability-of-tech-companies/

paisano — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:56:19 -0000

Impressive piece. Right on the money too (literally!). It's great advise for tech bloggers as well.

Re: 2008/08/26/openid-resources/

paisano — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:08:41 -0000

@Adam
Not a scam, lol. It was indeed designed to get people to use one ID though so you're half right. Hey, you're not alone in your skepticism. Security is the primary concern for this technology which is the main thing they work on all the time. OpenID 2.0 made great strides in this respect but they know there's still a long way to go in regards to strengthening security and even making the process even easier to use and quicker. ClickPass does a fantastic job with the process so check them out to see what the future could be for OpenID when it comes to simplicity.

This is exciting technology and part of the future that's here today. Yes, it's still an infant with lots of growing pains ahead but I feel that it will be well worth it for us all.

Pai

Re: 2008/08/22/tools-and-resources-for-inventors/

paisano — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:40:48 -0000

Here's a new site that came up. http://www.patents.com

Re: 2008/08/29/ubiquity-will-not-be-ubiquitous/

paisano — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:17:30 -0000

â€œearly adopter badge"? lol. Love it. Hey, you can take my â€œearly adopter badge" but you'll have to pry it from my cold dead hand! That's the new credo for the UBA (United Bloggers Association). Ok, no such ass. yet but perhaps someday!

I'm like you...not sure about Ubiq yet. Lots of interesting new concepts and features but the jury is still out on its long-term implication and potential for success.

Good stuff

Pai

Re: 2008/08/29/social-email-inbox-tools/

paisano — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:39:59 -0000

@Barbara
Thanks for that share. Looks good.

Re: 2008/09/01/research-tools/

paisano — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:59:39 -0000

@Dane
lol I knew someone would bring up Microsoft's OneNote. Personally, I like it a lot but I keep hoping it will become more web friendly like Zoho and Google notebooks. Here's a free online test drive. It's a unique product that's for sure.
http://www.runaware.com/microsoft/en-us/2007off...

Re: 2008/09/06/like-soft-porn-try-friendfeed-now/

paisano — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:44:33 -0000

Excellent wakeup call for everyone about being careful with their activities online. Remember what happened to that blogger who was testing grouptweets and unknowingly expose all of her direct messages on twitter? She had to delete her account until the problem was figured out.

Also, will Friendfeed face the same pressure to clean up their act that Yahoo did for the amount of filthy groups that proliferated that service? Ning has also been slammed because of their vast amount of adult-related social networks on their service.

In any event, that's more about censorship and appeasing the moral majority without aggravating the general public who wants the freedom to express themselves. The original point of this post is about self-policing and watching what you share with the world, even when you think it's private.
Just assume nothing is ever private.

Re: 2008/09/24/g1-iphone-linux-macos/

paisano — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:27:46 -0000

Good job Stan. I've been torn about which one to get but I think you've helped me make up my mind.
Thanks!

Pai

Re: 2008/09/26/al-gore-twitter/

paisano — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:12:32 -0000

It's a funny running joke that Al Gore invented the internet but it is true that he was the first big time politician to talk openly about the value of the "Information Super Highway" as he called it back then.

Also, little known fact, Gore almost purchased DIGG a couple years ago. Ask Kevin Rose and he'll admit it.
Al's been making serious money online for years.

Too bad he couldn't get someone to perfect an online voting booth in time. That would've taken care of all those hanging chads.

Re: 2008/09/26/al-gore-twitter/

paisano — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:58:06 -0000

@Saha
Yea that was eerie. We were just talking about Al Gore and the history of the internet.

Re: 2008/10/02/utterli-desktop-client/

paisano — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:53:54 -0000

@Jeff
I've been rethinking my stance on any desktop app these days. You're right about browsers being no big deal anymore to open. I think the only advantage that these desktop apps have over the browser is the ability to let you use a service offline in cache mode which then syncs whatever you've done once you're connected again. But let's be honest, with the proliferation of WIFI hotspots and AirCards how often are we actually "offline"? On a plane? In the desert?

Still, I guess we all like new toys. As I mentioned in the review, this is extremely new and raw so we need to cut them some slack. It's all part of the process of e-volution. First crawl, then baby steps, walk then run....then IPO....rince, lather, repeat... as the saying goes down the valley.

Pai

Re: 2008/10/05/permissiontv-2/

paisano — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:51:46 -0000

@skeptic
Guess your name says it all. No they didn't write it, wiseguy.
Sorry you didn't like it.

pai

Re: 2008/10/09/customize-your-browser/

paisano — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:41:54 -0000

@Brett
Hi. I toyed with the idea of including Flock (which I like by the way) but most of the things you can do to FireFox will work with Flock because it's built on FireFox. Perhaps someday we can focus on Flock and other socially aware browsers.
There are many other browsers we didn't include because they aren't used by that many folks.
I still use Maxthon on ocassion which Google purchased years ago but never did much with.

Pai

Re: 2008/10/27/aviary-launch/

paisano — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:32:19 -0000

@Tim
What an interesting idea. Hmmm. So you're proposing that Aviary could add some kind of freelancer integration service that connects members and their work with professional designers that could take their work and enhance it or complete it. Perhaps they can partner with guru.com or elance.com.
I do see that trend evolving though.

Pai

Re: 2008/11/28/how-to-convert-your-blog-into-a-podcast-on-itunes-for-free/

paisano — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:56:07 -0000

@Geneviere
I understand what you're saying. The realistic sound of the voice has improved drastically over the years but it still has a way to go, I agree. Still, the feedback I've gotten from those that really want/need this feature has been extremely positive. I think it's because they're used to the older technologies that sounded much more like robots than this one. Obviously, nothing beats the quality of real human voices. For that, you'll have to do a real podcast or use tools like Utterli.com which can publish your audio posts via cell phone automatically.

Pai

Re: 2008/12/06/best-browser-extensions-and-add-ons-to-install-in-google-chrome/

paisano — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:42:23 -0000

Well said. I agree totally. I love the speed and some other things like being able to type keywords for searches in the address bar...thus saving a step or too... but come on already!!! Show us the extensions!

So I wind up flipping back and forth between the two and even i.e. for some stuff...
sometimes Flock too... and Maxthon... but not safari or Opera anymore at all.

Re: 2008/12/12/twitter-brands/

paisano — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:01:18 -0000

Excellent topic! However, I hate to disagree with a fellow Mashable writer but I think Brands belong on Twitter and anywhere online as long as it doesn't become just noise and spam. If you start this form of censorship then where do you draw the line in the sand? I know a ton of PR and marketing types that are extremely noisy and spammy... do you ban them too? We all have the right to follow whom or WHAT we want to follow which is the beauty of twitter. We have the choice and the power to customize our stream the way we want. Personally, I don't follow any brands except perhaps a couple of things like Boxee. But it's good to know I could if I wanted to stay on top of anything like Starbucks or Netflix or whatever.

Here's a great example of a brand that gets it. Thanks to Ted Murphy
http://www.ted.me/pancheros-twitter-kinda/

Pai

Re: 2008/12/13/twitblogs/

paisano — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:06:38 -0000

Seems to be a trend. I've been using something similar called TwitWall.com which serves as something between Twitter and a blog post. Too much for a 140 character tweet and not enough substance to warrant a full fledged blog post. Here's a sample of my twitwall.
http://twitwall.com/view/?who=paisano

I think Twitter just needs to buy one of these guys and add the option. We would have the option to just read the 140-character tweet or click through to the longer message like TwitWall does.

Pai

Re: 2008/12/19/twitter-2008/

paisano — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:07:27 -0000

@Krista
Agree that the frozen pea fund was worth for sure but I believe that all started at the end of 2007 and carried over into 2008. Still, I love @SusanReynolds! Glad you brought it up.
Hey, I changed my Twitter avatar to a pea every Friday to become Pea-sano. :)

Re: 2008/12/19/twitter-2008/

paisano — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:12:49 -0000

@Sara
No way... George is there. Check again...
between Russert and Ledger

Re: 2008/12/19/twitter-2008/

paisano — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:10:04 -0000

@thom singer
Very true. SXSW08 was indeed a big story this past year for the reason you stated...it clearly demonstrated to all "outsiders" how powerful Twitter can be. It also showed that this power can be in a positive or as in this case in a negative manner. Eventually, the whole story was told but only after the Twitter maelstrom subsided.

Re: 2009/01/07/twtapps/

paisano — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:47:00 -0000

I've been using the twitter poll a lot lately. For example, this morning I created this one. http://twitter.com/Paisano/statuses/1101877200

I think it works great.

Pai

Re: HOW TO: Create Groups for Twitter

paisano — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:54:39 -0000

@Mark
Sorry to hear your take on mashable, this post and tweetdeck. Obviously you had a bad experience with Tweetdeck which is by far the most popular client for Twitter according to recent statistics. As far as questioning the honesty and integrity of anyone from Mashable, I have to disagree with you there. All of us do our best to share our most honest opinion about anything we're reviewing or recommending. This doesn't mean everyone will agree with our selections or opinions. Obviously, you disagree vehemently in this case which is fine. You have the right to do so. However, I hope you don't let these occasional differences of opinion prevent you from enjoying the useful information we feel that we provide on Mashable. Please continue to share your opinion whenever you don't agree - We want to hear the good and the bad (hopefully mostly good).

Pai

Re: http://gary.tumblr.com/post/78884958

paisano — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:46:51 -0000

BooYA! Great job paisan'. No one can argue with your logic nor your success! You eat your own dog food (what wine goes with Alpo by the way?) and we love that about you. I hope you don't forget us little people once you go hollywood full time! Please remember the tweetple who helped you climb that mountain. We know you will. ;)

Soon it'll be time for team green to get very mean!

Pai

Re: Gary Vaynerchuk - Big Picture Patch My happiness stems from a tool...

paisano — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:54:58 -0000

Thanks for sharingthe secrets to your massive success.
BPP lol...cute and easy to remember. I think it's the same thing as learning the fine art of focussing which is skill most of us need to work on all the time and suck at. A wise man told me point blank during chat that my biggest problem was "my ability to stay focussed". Ouch. He then shared an original quote that I will never forget, "The sun can warm a field of daisies or it can burn a hole thru 10 inch steel" wow. I think of that every day now as I start to meander and waste precious time on things that aren't part of my top priorities or goals in life, the things I need to stay focussed on! Who was this wise friend? Our very own Chris Brogan.

Good stuff, Gary. No one is more focussed than you are!

pai

Re: http://gary.tumblr.com/post/78887853

paisano — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:19:52 -0000

Gary,

Another powerful message that links well with the BPP!
You need to write a book about all this but it'd be better if it had these videos to catch the excitement.

Pai

Re: http://gary.tumblr.com/post/78889656

paisano — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:29:08 -0000

I feel your pain. I have over 100 mobile users all over the country with four different carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, verizon & Sprint) and I will get users with the same problem on all four networks! Same friggin' phone model, same area/region, vastly different experiences. Some LOVE AT&T, some LOVE Verizon (North East especially). Whatever.

I have noticed that the cells with WIFI such as the Blackberry Curve have been rock solid. We love how it switches to wifi automatically, thus saving minutes and getting better connection in most cases. All of the new models seem to have WIFI capability so that's very nice.

By the way, our mobile network grid isn't even in the top 10 in the world! What's up with that? Can you do something about that, GV?

Pai

Re: The Power of Comments

paisano — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:35:35 -0000

I am still wet behind the ears when it comes to being a blogger, but I've read blogs before they were even called blogs. I've also shared comments on website for many years so I also appreciated the opportunity to share my opinion on things.
Comments, as you well know, brings any blog alive and thus more "honest" and "authentic". What I mean by those terms is that the blogger's statements or theories are evaluated by others and thus either verified or rejected, providing different points of view, which only helps the reader and possibly even the author.
Commenting puts the social in the Social media and social networking.
I've always thought that blogs and wiki's should merge into a Bliki...allowing authors and readers to collaborate even more closely and effectively than either separate platforms.

Pai

Re: Twitter at Velocity

paisano — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:42:38 -0000

Chris,

Since you are too modest and humble to answer the question why people follow your tweets, I will do the honor.

I assume most people follow you because you provide mostly interesting and/or useful information. Point blank. It isn't just "brushing my teeth with my other hand as I type this" schlock! I just started following you last month and I look forward to a daily digital nugget from Chris every day.

Not blowing smoke or kissing tuccus...just being honest.

Pai

Re: Be Effective in Meetings and Use Social Media Tools

paisano — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:15:50 -0000

Good information and topic. I would like to add my two cents though. It's been my experience that most of the corporate environments that I've been involved with are extremely resistant when it comes to using any "outside" website or service.
There is this fear and concern from the executive level about potential security breeches or loss of intellectual property because we would in essense be "sharing" our data with an external resource. No matter how much time we (IT) invest to calm these fears and try to assure them that web 2.0 is not the devil, they remain skeptical to new ideas and services.

So, I am left with trying to make magic with Microsoft SharePoint server 2007. Imagine the dwarf Rumpelstiltskin spinning straw into gold.

Well, believe it or not, there are some excellent social media-like tools and features available in SharePoint 2007 that can make meetings much more productive even long after the meetings.

There's a new feature called Meeting Workspace that allows anyone in SharePoint to create an instant portal for an scheduled meeting. There are several templates to choose from depending on the type of meeting you are conducting. The most popular is the Decision Meeting Workspace that includes sections to share links to documents related to the meeting, Tasks and assignments made in the meeting, and a spot to record any decisions made in the meeting, sort of like taking minutes.

If Microsoft continues to enhance the social media/networking features of SharePoint, then they can really go far with it. It has already become a cottage industry for specialists who do nothing else but SharePoint installation, design and customization. I installed the six month trial myself because I'm crazy that way. :)

Sidenote: Microsoft is clever because they are linking other services to SharePoint such as their Project Server which uses SharePoint (Both use SQL server, cough...mo' money, mo' money).

The future? Microsoft's OfficeLive Workspace (sound familiar?) http://workspace.officelive.com
is nothing more than a web version of SharePoint's document library module. I can see them offering a full-blown www.MySharePoint.com social network somewhere down the road with web version of all office apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint (RentAnApp) that we subscribe to on a monthly or annual basis.

Pai

Re: Have the Data Wars Begun

paisano — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:47:26 -0000

First impression: Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Actually, the discussion of data ownership has been popping up on utterz lately.
Some of us want to be able to download and save at least a copy of whatever content we share on services like utterz which includes audio and video clips along with photo's and text.
Obviously, we already have the media that we upload and share online, but not the audio recordings which is the point of contention for many who would like to be able to have that audio file for their podcasts or other reasons.
Yes, there are recorders that can capture any streaming media, but they can be expensive and perhaps too much trouble for the average user.
There should be a simple Save As...or Download button on any media we create for services. After all, we are the authors of the material. Shouldn't we at least have the option to save a copy of OUR data?

Pai

Re: Programming for the Masses- Social Computing

paisano — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:19:26 -0000

I agree. Just look at what we're doing with mashups alone on popfly, pipes and dapper.
We're building the apps and languages of tomorrow today. Every new programming language is a derivative of another existing langauge. It is just the natural evolution of technology to change and mutate into new forms that (hopefully) take us to the next level.

This is why I am excited about OpenSocial whereas many are skeptical of Google's intentions. I think it's a good thing to have an open standard platform for development on the web. It will only help innovation and development time.

Pai

Re: Challenges of Social Media Types in the Workplace

paisano — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:55:59 -0000

It's a difficult position to be when you are the Systems Administrator and you love social media and social networking!!! Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place because I am the gatekeeper and I love both sides of the gate!
However, I must strike a delicate and painful balance when it comes to blocking access to certain sites and services. The company's interest and bottom line MUST come first.
I do make every effort I can to downplay the misinformation that executives are fed which generates a hysterical fear of web 2.0. Yes, it can be a horriffic productivity killer in the enterprise. Studies have shown shocking amounts of time lost per day when users check personal emails, visit social networks, chat, play games, blog!, etc. Still, there are a lot of positive and beneficial elements to it all for business. I try very hard to downplay the negatives of social networking because I want to bring the positives to my internal network. I keep trying to make SharePoint our social network. It ain't easy folks. I feel like Rumpelstiltskin trying to spin gold out of straw but it's getting there.

Paisano

Re: 5 Starter Moves- Should Blogging Go Next

paisano — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:46:12 -0000

I like this. Yes, blogging doesn't have to be the first step. I've found the wiki feature in the new SharePoint 2007 to be very effective in getting managers, departments and ultimately the suits (execs) to accept and embrace social media.
"That's it? Click edit?" Always brings a smile to my face. I then show them how we can use the blog to make annoucements like we did for current events on our intranet only this time much easier and quicker...and that means keeping everyone informed almost in realtime. Another smile.

I really liked the listening tips. The benefits are many. I will be doing that a lot. Thanks.

Pai

Re: Why Microsoft Buying Yahoo COULD Rock

paisano — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:24:44 -0000

I also think it can be a great thing for all of us if this happens. Yahoo needs a major change as does M$. Yahoo does many things better than Microsoft such as their mail, search, and even their bookmark/favorites! I tried to like live favorites but Microsoft has an insanely low limit to the number you can keep online! Yahoo bookmarks has handled thousands of bookmarks without a hitch and it allows you to share them too. Unlike google bookmarks, but I digress.

Yahoo pipes mixed with Microsoft's excellent popfly will be ultra cool! Mash the mashups!

Paihooligan

Re: Problems

paisano — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:51:33 -0000

I am a problem solver in sheep's clothing! I am in IT so I MUST not only resolve problems but also strive to PREVENT them from ever happening again, which is the fun part! I love searching for new tools and methods that will help repeating the problem or assist in resolving it as quickly as possible.

Someone asked me today why the new color laser stops working every so often and I just said "job security, my friend". Just kidding of course, but the point is things will break or go wrong and you are right, we need people who can clean up the mess. Still, it doesn't mean some of us can't do both.

I contend that you solve many more problems than you even realize with all of the "what if's" you've done and all the answers you've revealed. You're like the game of Jeopardy where you provide the answer first and then the question follows. Can we call you Alex Trebeck?

Pai

Re: The Value of Networks

paisano — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:07:18 -0000

I like the old and new network comparisons. It truly is amazing how much things have changed and continue to change.

As long as I've been in the computer game and as much as I've seen (I played PONG and LOVED IT!), I learn new wonderous things every day about the internet, new website, webapp, twitter and most of all about the people in my social network.

It's amazing how often things I've learned or read/heard from my "virtual" group of friends has helped me in the real world. It's so satisfying whenever I learn that I've actually helped someone out there with something I've shared or posted. Talk about give n' take. It's the seesaw of life.

I'm a veteran geek and yet a noob 2.0 and loving it.

Pai

Re: Ads or No

paisano — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:45:43 -0000

I think you should add ads for sure. As long as they are relevant to the theme of your blog. I see nothing wrong with it. The only problem I have with commercialization of blogs is when the blogger becomes obsessed with the monetization of their site and totally disregards what made their site so successful in the first place. I know that won't happen here, but I've seen it happen to many blogs that I've eventually had to unsubscribe from due to the constant attention and posts geared towards generating hits and income instead of why we went there in the first place.
So, I say go for it! You provide a valuable service to the online community and I know that you feel you get back so much from us but why not get some more compensation for your efforts? We all know that's not why you do this but that's even more reason why you deserve it. :)

pai

Re: Twitter Hooks Me Into Louis Gray

paisano — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:13:32 -0000

Awesome. But I don't think it just applies to twitter. It can be any of our online social media tools these days. Heck, it's why companies like WhyGoSolo will do well, connecting people who otherwise never would've met. It truly makes our big world not smaller but closer and more personal.

Thanks for sharing such a cool example of how the line between our virtual world and real world has begun to blur. Eventually, there will be no separation of online/offline experiences. Just look at the increasing numbers of meetups and get togethers all over the world.

Pai

Re: Buy a Domain for Email or at Least a Gmail Account

paisano — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:06:55 -0000

Good point. It's one of the reasons why I've been a member of Plaxo for so many years. It has always kept me and those contacts of mine that also use plaxo in sync whenever we change our contact information. The problem is that most people don't use plaxo, yet. I think google will be offering a similar address book auto sync feature soon. Everything will be centered around your OpenID and OpenSocial profile which updates your contact info with all your contacts. When will this happen? Maybe when the gPhone appears and monkeys fly out of my ... well, you know.
I know it will happen just don't know when.

Re: Keeping the Blogging Fires Burning

paisano — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:11:38 -0000

Perfect timing for this. Today was the first day that I didn't post a new blog entry since I started my blog in November because I started feeling like "who cares anyway".
I feel better now and inspired again. I am like you in that I have to blog because it's such a release for the flood of ideas and thoughts that flood my mind. I just need to stay focussed on my audience (however meager the numbers may be at this point).
I love using google docs to dump blog ideas and research info on the fly and even post straight from google docs to my blog when I complete a piece. I have over 100 blog posts started at different stages so I will never run out of ideas. I just need to keep the fires burning as you've discussed here. I need to keep relevent.
Thanks!

Pai

Re: Back in the Saddle

paisano — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:05:36 -0000

Great news! We've all been out of our routine without your blog. What a series of bad breaks. Glad it's all in the past now! Many lessons learned.
All the more important to perform backups before installing new plugins I guess. http://thepaisano.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/auto... works good for me.

Anyway, great to have ya back!

Pai

Re: Twitter as an Advisory Board

paisano — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:31:53 -0000

I said I wished Tivo would use social media tools and start a social network for its users. We could even share recorded shows (legally).

Re: Alltop- Encouraging the Mainstream

paisano — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:52:14 -0000

I love alltop too. I mean, Google Reader is my feedbag but there's something nicer about the way alltop lays things out. Quick glimpses of posts or tweets all on one page. Perfect for today's microwave society and information age riddled with attention deficet disorder. Bada bing, bada boom! Info in yo face.

I also love how open and receptive Guy is about new ideas and suggestions for new categories. For example, he created the virtual.alltop.com category rather quickly after I suggested such a topic. He launched his wiki and off we all went to submit the best feeds. The same for tv.alltop.com right now. It's impressive and exciting to know we can all be a part of this. Guy understands the power of community and making us all feel a part of the same family.

Pai
p.s. Being in the twitterati (twitter.alltop.com) really has nothing to do with how I feel about alltop because I loved it before I received the honor. But it sure doesn't hurt how I feel about it or Guy. :)

Re: How Do I Add FriendFeed Comments to My Blog

paisano — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:25:03 -0000

I love this example of how the online community can help one another! Fantastic. Wish there was a service that did this type of thing for all kinds of issues in real-time.
Click keyword with a problem or to help others and jump into the stream. Nice.

What about us wordpress.com bloggers? Can we do something like this too? Tired of all the restrictions from this version of wordpress. Need to get a domain and host my blog myself. I know!

Re: Tripwolf Launches a Nifty Travel Site

paisano — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:14:40 -0000

Nice concept. I am waiting for a trip/location service aggregator so I can merge all of them! Britekite, plazes, tripwolf, tripit, dopplr, etc. etc. :)

Re: Strip Malls for Personal Brands

paisano — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:52:17 -0000

Love this post and not just because I was mentioned. Heh heh. Seriously, great analogies by everyone!!!
Wow... talk about simile city! Nice stuff.

Need to read it all again. brb

Re: Do You Have To Touch Every Conversation

paisano — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:21:41 -0000

Wonderful topic. Ironic to see Seth nailing it in the comments when he doesn't even allow his readers to do the same on his blog. Not complaining, just saying it's funny. I kinda like the idea too but I personally enjoy some of the golden nuggets that readers leave in the comments, not just on my blog but in every blog. This blog has an extremely high rate of gold in the comments as Chris points out every time the comments provide better content than the original post.

As for picking and choosing which platform to select? I agree that it's a personal decision that each of us has the right to make. Some services rub me the wrong way but strokes others right in the sweet spot. and so it goes.

Personally, I love twitter but lately I've been drifting towards Friendfeed for several reasons. First, the realtime feature rocks (www.friendfeed.com/realtime). Second, they now allow you to pust any post in FF to Twitter so you can now have your cake and eat it too. You can still communicate with everyone on Twitter as well as every other network you belong to. It's the best of both worlds.

OK, some of you will say "I tried FF but it's like drinking from a firehose....it's too noisy....blah blah blah". Well, they've added more features that help you filter all of that data so you can control the flow any way you want. You can create lists to show the streams of anyone you want as well as rooms for groups or topics. Look here. http://screencast.com/t/2PzhDufH

So, for me, this works out great. I can keep in touch with many more friends and receive far more info with just ONE tool...one login. I also like the ability to post images and videos in the Friendfeed stream unlike the text only Twitter stream.

Good stuff once again in the comments.

Pai
http://friendfeed.com/paisano

Re: What's In a Name?

paisano — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:53:21 -0000

Excellent point. We are always labeling people and things. While the act itself isn't bad, it's when we put people or entire groups of people into boxes and store them on a shelf that it does potential harm or at the very least limits our experience.

I personally don't like filling out those online profiles like on twitter and social networks and even the about me pages on blogs. It's difficult to sum up who a person is on one page nevermind 160 characters.

Søren Kierkegaard said it best: "Once you label me you negate me."

Re: The Optional World

paisano — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:57:00 -0000

Right on the money. What we focus on, expands and intensifies. Life's too short to waste any time on things we do not love?

It would've been ironic had your new friend worked for K-Mart instead of Walmart considering all that happened recently during the holidays. Maybe he knew who you were and all about that promotion and wondered what you'd think of Walkmart? Nah.

Pai

Re: Guest Post- Why Cant We Be Friends

paisano — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:57:02 -0000

Excellent piece. I totally understand what you're talking about because I'm an I.T. professional who's also into all of this social media/social networking "stuff". That means I've been a part of that conversation from both sides. I understand the skepticism and concerns that we I.T. types must possess in order to protect the company and our sacred network but I also understand the social media is not satan's playground. Yes, there are security risks involved if a social media solution is implemented hastily, but that can be said for any king of new hardware or software. It just requires more thought, planning and work but the end results (I've found) are well worth it.

Enterprise 2.0 has been slow in evolution but it's happening. Even slow monolithic behemoths like Microsoft are accepting the role of social media and web 2.0 in the enterprise so they continue to add more of these tools to their products, including Sharepoint and now even Office. There are many other solutions too that are making their way deep into organizations such as ClearSpace from Jive Software. There are others as well.

Someday I.T. will not be as resistant to social media as they are today. The fact that there are so many more conversations is a major breakthrough when you consider that there was a time when such a discussion wasn't even a remote possibility. Progress can be a painfully slow march. Some things, especially those that are worth it, just take time.

Pai

Re: This Woman’s Work (She’s Having a Baby)

paisano — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:24:44 -0000

Thanks for the kind replies. So glad you both enjoyed the post and the movie.
I can't believe it's been 20 years since that came out. Yikes.

Pai

Re: Dear Jeff Bezos (one-week Kindle review)

paisano — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:44:54 -0000

I agree with everything Scoble has to say thus far about the Kindle's shortcomings. Sure, many readers will not miss the social networking features he mentioned but he is right that it should be there in these web 2.0 days. The ability to connect with other kindle users is a brilliant marketing and business tool! Robert is correct about the piles of money they are leaving on the table!
The UI is critical and it does appear to be flawed in many ways. Too bad Apple was not involved with its design. Steve Jobs would have come up with a much better book reader. (did I type that out loud? me, a windows lover? sheesh).
Keep the criticism coming, Robert! It will help them build a better product for all of us!!!
Thanks for the passion!

Pai

Re: Audience of Twittering Assholes

paisano — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:59:46 -0000

Excellent recap! So thorough and plenty of useful links too! Very exhaustive.

Re: Who was the most influential person on Twitter for you in 2008?

paisano — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:18:57 -0000

ChrisBrogan has been the biggest influence for me and many others. Some provide excellent information on twitter and in their blog but they don't personally interact or communicate with as many people as Chris does via direct messages, emails, chatting, phone calls and in person via meetups and such. Many preach from a mountaintop it seems while Chris is in the trenches with us all. Big difference.

Pai

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Re: The Last Lecture

paisano — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:36:34 -0000

Re: How To Use Greasemonkey Scripts In Google Chrome?

paisano — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:01:48 -0000

Good instructions. It works but it does something weird. The toolbar in Chrome disappears whenever I leave the initial screen/homepage. Not sure why.
It also loses all the settings I had setup for themes and my bookmarks.
When I remove the --enable-user-scripts --user-data-dir=c:\scripts everything is back to normal because it's accessing my regular user info. I wish there was a way to enable greasemonkey scripts without starting all over again. I tried pointing the c:\scripts folder to the location of my current setup but then the scripts don't work.
Why can't Google just give us a simple on/off option for this?