Bwana.org

Writer’s Block? Maybe

Bwana — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:48:03 +0000

You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged in a while. If you didn’t, then it’s true. My last blog post is from December 2009. That’s last year man! I’ve been lacking motivation to do new media all around. The only schedule I’ve been keeping up with is my audio podcast, Bwana.org Radio. My videos have decreased tremendously since I sold my Canon Powershot TX1 (no more closeup videos since). I tried an experiment with Story of the Day which got decent response, but I’m not sure if I want to continue with it.

I wouldn’t necessarily call it writer’s block. It’s more like content creator’s block. I’m in the process of evaluating if I should continue in the way things are or change things up to meet my new demands in life. Either way, something’s got to change.

It’s just deciding what.

No related posts.

Warning: Your Console May Soon Get Viruses

Bwana — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:12:31 +0000

Yeah, I’m serious.

Community member, Seshan, shared with us on the Bwana.org Forum a disturbing trend that’s occurring within the popular game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Apparently, on the Xbox 360, there is a troubling glitch:

The Modern Warfare 2 Mods in this video are taken on the Xbox360. You can see we are able to have unlimited ammo, call in super airdrops, and we also have unlimited ammo on the AC130. Before anyone asks, yes these do work in ranked games and at this point we will not be allowing users to know how its done. This due to the damage it will cause to the game. This is more of a wake up call to Infinity Ward letting them know both Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 have been exploited.

The glitch itself is not harmful, but it’s ability is. It self replicates. If you are part of a match that enables this exploit, all future matches you host, will have the same exploit. That, my friends, is the very definition of a virus. Now this particular exploit doesn’t do any permanent damage as most have reported a full power-off will rid you of the “virus”.

This ability is troubling.

Infinity Ward uses matchmaking technology called IWNet. I recently found a similar issue with the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 which found a possible trojan via IWNet. This was later found to be a false positive, but again, this capability is troubling. No game server should offer the ability to drop trojans or allow self replicating glitches. This is bad. This means that your “safe” gaming console could be exploited like any other computer on the internets.

The reason why parents don’t hesitate to give their children consoles is because of this perceived protection against malware. The gaming console is looked at like a VCR or a toaster: It cannot be harmed remotely. Well, those days are gone. Thanks to Infinity Ward, we are seeing the beginnings of a possible new playground for malicious hackers.

Next up: Norton for Xbox 360!!

Create A Kiosk This Thanksgiving With Chrome OS

Bwana — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:15:10 +0000

Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday, ever.

Seriously.

Family gets together and fellowships together and gives thanks to God. It’s a beautiful thing. During these times, family tends to utilize technology as well. Often I bring my laptops and let my siblings, nieces, and nephews use them. I notice they primarily use the web browser to check their email, facebook, myspace or whatever. Yesterday, I saw an article about a USB bootable version of Chrome OS and immediately I thought: “Wow, this could be handy on Thanksgiving”.

Instead of worrying about where people are surfing, if there’s any malware or spyware being downloaded, you can let them use your computer with peace of mind with Chrome OS. The premise is simple:

Install Chrome OS on USB
Plug USB drive into laptop/computer and boot
Smile at your worry free, web browser only kiosk

It’s a self-contained image with one purpose: web surfing. If you fit this category, I recommend you download and install the Chrome OS USB image and give it a try. I understand Chrome OS has glitches here and there, but I think this is something worth trying. (translation: It may not work perfectly on your machine)

As a side note, I’m considering creating a dummy google account just for this purpose. Let me know your thoughts.

It’s A Firesale! Everything Must Go!

Bwana — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:28:51 +0000

Just kidding.

But seriously, I’m selling a bunch of stuff so I can raise enough funds to upgrade my main PC to a powerhouse that is able to do High definition (HD) videos, HD live streaming, and expand my other projects.

Here’s the list:

My current PC [pics] (Specs: AMD FX57, ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe Motherboard, Dual Nvidia 7800GTX (SLI), 75GB 10k RPM Raptor Hard Drives + 250GB 7200 HD, 2GB RAM, Neon lights, Liquid cooled) – This is Cyberpower PC custom built PC that I purchased in 2005 and it runs great today. It plays every game I throw at it, however, I currently need something more powerful for my high definition goals. Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, and Operating System not included. Asking for $500 USD Or Best Offer (OBO)
HP Mini 1035NR [specs] [pic] w/ 2GB RAM – This is my little baby I’m sad to see it go, but sacrifices must be made. I’ll have to make due with my iPhone. Asking $250 USD OBO
Canon Powershot TX1 720p Camera [specs] – This is the camera I use for my 200+ Youtube videos (most of which are in high definition). It’s a great little camera, and I’m sad to part with it, but I can utilize my Canon HV20 for most of the same tasks and I need to cash for a new PC. Asking $120 USD OBO
Canon Digital Rebel XT DSLR 8MP Camera BODY [specs] – What started as an (expensive) hobby has fallen to the wayside. Sacrifices must be made. Goodbye Photography Asking $300 USD OBO
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens [specs] – My super lens. This thing is AWESOME. It takes great wide angle shots both indoors and out. It’s a “red stripe” lens so it’s pretty hefty. My most expensive piece of photography equipment. Asking $400 OBO
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens [specs] – The bestest, cheapest lens you’ll find for a Canon DSLR. Great for beginning photographers. It takes great photos. Asking $30 OBO

All items are operational and I use them today. All sales are final and items will be sold as-is. No refunds. (Sorry, I’m so strict, but some people want to scam)

Timing is critical. I need to get these sold ASAP. I’m willing to utilize Paypal for all transactions, but if things don’t move fast, I’ll be forced to give eBay all my money to sell this stuff. Contact me via Twitter @reply (use #bwanasale hashtag please) or send me an email (bwana at bwana dot org) with your offer. I’ll do my best to update this page with new information as it becomes available.

Upon payment, I’ll ship the items to you via UPS ground. I’m willing to ship international if you are willing to help with shipping costs. Let’s get this stuff sold!!

Current offers spreadsheet [Will be updated live]

Google Sidewiki Shakes Up The Web

Bwana — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:59:35 +0000

No one likes losing control.

Hence the backlash to Google’s new Sidewiki product. Sidewiki is described as follows:

Google Sidewiki is a browser sidebar that lets you contribute and read information alongside any web page.

Sounds familiar? Well there are several sites out there which allow you to “annotate the web” such as Diigo. You may recall 10 years ago the nasty backlash over ThirdVoice due to spamming problems with their service. This, and other concerns have the web’s experts up in arms.

Here are some choice reactions from folks on the web:

Dave Winer writes:

Anyway, the web is all an illusion created out of 1s and 0s traveling over wires and air waves. You can reduce it down to any level you like, and at some level anything will seem unobjectionable. Yet we do have rules that allow us to get along with each other.

Phil, how would you feel if my router, through which your words pass, changed your words to something I liked better? Or added a message for one of your competitors? Or pictures of horrible things being done to innocent people? It’s my router. Don’t tread on me.

You might say — well then I won’t pass my words through your router. And then you would understand how I feel about what Google is doing. I wouldn’t mind it at all if it were opt-in for the author.

Robert Scoble posts on Twitter:

@ChrisSaad you don’t get the problem with Google’s Sidewiki: it’s not that I can’t see the content. It’s that I don’t control it.

Leo Laporte seems bit more optimistic on FriendFeed:

At least there’s an API so services like Disqus and Echo can – in theory – fold the sidewiki back into the comments. I’ve been very happy with Echo’s ability to gather all the activity about a blog post back into the comments. The Third Voice is going to happen thanks to sites like this and Twitter whether we like it or not. We just need to be able to capture and save the content.

Jeremiah Owyang believes it’s time to rethink our mindsets. He believes corporate websites now belong to the customer and companies should adapt:

Shift your thinking: recognize that you don’t own your corporate website –your customers do. Accept the mindshift that your job is to not only serve up product and corporate content but to also be a platform and enabler for customers to discuss, share, and make suggestions to how you should improve what you offer.

All are interesting perspectives on this topic, and it shows how big of a deal this new product is. What does Bwana think?

Well, I believe there are two basic perspectives:

From a user perspective, it’s an easy way to leave feedback on any website.
From a content provider’s perspective, it’s yet another feedback loop that needs to be maintained.

As Robert Scoble stated, he wants more control over the comments left in Sidewiki. Google does provide a “Report abuse” link for every comment, but who knows how efficient it is? It’s a valid concern. Many of us are content providers and tend to see it from this angle first and foremost.

We think: SPAM.

If Google’s Gmail spam magic is ported to this somehow, then maybe we’ll be able to maintain our feedback loops effectively. If things get out of control, Google will likely be forced to shut the whole thing down. As Leo Laporte stated, the API provided may make things manageable and easy to utilize as developers create plugins and widgets. If companies like Backtype utilize the API and aggregate comments, then I think it’ll make content providers a little happier. Time will tell.

End users, however, have an effective way of leaving feedback globally. No need to worry about commenting engines, accounts and the like. If you’re a part of the Google universe (i.e. utilizing Google profiles) then it fits right in since your SideWiki comments are aggregated there complete with an RSS feed. (See mine here) I’ve played with it for a few hours and I can already see the convenience (other than the Google Toolbar requirement, but a workaround is here)

I’m going to keep using Google Sidewiki for a few more days and see how things go. As for the content on my site, maybe I’ll get a sense of how well Google’s abuse features work if someone were to abuse it. Leave your comments in Sidewiki for this post if you like, or go old school and comment below.

PS3 Slim Jolts The Sony Camp

Bwana — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:44:23 +0000

Who would have thought we’d ever be uttering the words “Sony is making a comeback”? 5 years ago, we would have been laughed at.

Hard.

But this is our current reality: Nintendo is still winning in overall sales, Microsoft is second, and Sony is in third. Sony’s position is actually better than most perceive, but the competitive nature in human beings tend to ignore some of the supporting facts. I digress.

Recently Sony pleased the gaming community by announcing a much anticipated $100 price drop and a brand new, “PS3 Slim” model. Some analysts believed this wouldn’t change a thing in their warped scope of the console race, but like always, I took a “let’s wait and see” approach.

It’s been a few days and some of the sales estimates have been released:

999% sales increase (Week over Week) in the UK
150,000 units sold in Japan (1500% increase week over week) – Launch number was 90,000

Judging by the large percentage increases, it’s easy to assume that sales were pitiful to begin with, or lots of people were waiting for a price drop on the PS3. Either way, Sony is in a better position than before.

It’s not just sales, but Sony has launched a very successful new marketing campaign. The slogan of “It Only Does Everything” is sticking with gamers whether they like it or not. The witty advertisements are not only making the Sony faithful sigh with relief, but they’re also attracting the “curious” gamer crowd. These guys are thinking, “I wonder how those PS3 exclusives are”, “I wonder if I’ll like Blu-ray”, “Will my friends get one if I get one?” (Yes, there are kids who ask that last question, believe it or not)

It’s amazing what proper marketing and successful sales figures does to the public perception: Yesterday, I streamed gameplay of a popular PS3 exclusive game called Killzone 2. As users came and watched, I saw a lot of statements like:

“Wow, I’d get a PS3 for this”
“How much does it cost?”
“What does that/this/that do?”
“This is better than CoD4 ever was” [Yes, that's an actual quote]

Before the price drop/new SKU, I would see this:

“PS3 Sucks”
“No one plays online on KZ2″
“It’s a dead game”
“PS3 Sucks, I feel sorry for you guys”

I could go on and on. I still get these kinds of negative comments, but much less than before.

Public perception definitely influences opinions of the PS3. People who bashed the Playstation 3 before, are now looking closer at upcoming exclusives like “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” (My Game of the Year prediction), “MAG“, “Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack In Time“, and “Heavy Rain“. Playstation Network exclusives like “Fat Princess” are also drawing a lot of attention (See my review here)

What does all this mean in the end? No one really knows. The fact is this: The PS3 is gaining incredible momentum and is shaping up to be the big shake-up story in the console war. I only wish my friends list weren’t full so I could play with all the new PS3 owners out there.

RSS Cloud Is Exciting News

Bwana — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:59:58 +0000

I’ve always been a big fan of real-time information on the internet. Ever since the early days of IRC and Usenet, I would prefer IRC since the entire experience was live and real-time. Usenet and forums had the delay factor.

Yesterday, I read about the decision Wordpress made to support RSS Cloud. What is RSS Cloud? It’s essentially modifications to the existing RSS specification to enable real-time publishing via RSS feeds. That’s my take on it anyways. That means if you use a supported RSS reader like Dave Winer’s River2 or Lazyfeed, you’ll receive a “instant” notification when a RSS cloud supported blog is updated.

This blog is supported by PubSubHubbub via Feedburner, but I’ve installed the Wordpress RSS Cloud plugin anyways.

Why is all this exciting?

Those who claim RSS is dead don’t realize their newfound love for Twitter would be moot if it were not for RSS. Breaking news on Twitter comes from two main sources in my mind: websites and personal experience. For tech news, I doubt there is much personal experience for news unless there’s a conference or an event. Most juicy, 0-day news comes from websites. These websites often have a… wait for it… RSS feed. The race to post tech news first on Twitter usually stems from who can refresh their RSS reader the fastest.

This is exciting because RSS has been empowered to update us all in real-time and have less dependence on others reposting and retweeting stuff they found first. Tools like LazyFeed are leading the way in this charge and more will come thanks to open standards.

RSS is hardly dead, it’s becoming more useful.

Twitter Trending Topics: Are They Useful?

Bwana — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:46:55 +0000

The usefulness of Twitter trending topics has declined for me personally. All too often, I see people trying to “game” or “manipulate” the system to gain popularity. To me, the whole thing is null and void if it is contrived. Now that Twitter has brought these terms to the forefront, it seems the quest to make “the list” has a renewed purpose. I asked my Twitter followers if they utilized Twitter trends and here’s what they said:

Bwana: How many of you utilize Twitter trending topics? [I don't]

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:30:00 +0000 2009

wanyal: Not me.

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:30:44 +0000 2009

mattbebich: I don't even look at them

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:31:03 +0000 2009

tchachra: They are useless since they provide no valuable information…its usually people just trying to get followers.

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:32:22 +0000 2009

EricJD: I don't use them either. Usually when I do glance at them, I'm thinking to myself, “why in the world is that a trending topic?”

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:32:47 +0000 2009

Seshan: I don't. president #iranelection Bill Clinton Wal-Mart AT&T Google Voice White House Jay-Z

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:34:46 +0000 2009

shardayyy: I utilize the trending topics this way http://twitter.com/shardayyy/status/3129450085

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:34:48 +0000 2009

iPhoneMacUser: I do not

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:36:58 +0000 2009

muchobueno: i do.

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:41:17 +0000 2009

applemacprofan: i dont.

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:42:40 +0000 2009

cluteman: Trending topics aren't fun anymore with spam and “Why is ____ trending?” tweets.

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:53:54 +0000 2009

D_Ames: “How many of you utilize Twitter trending topics? [I don't]” Me neither! For the same reason I don't follow Ashton Kutcher.

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 19:55:52 +0000 2009

dcfemella: I don't, but I have been thinking more and more that maybe I should.

about 21 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 20:04:31 +0000 2009

jcdeuce: i have not used the trending topic search

about 20 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 20:50:19 +0000 2009

lhuxley: I never do, maybe sometimes if its a movie or something but normally its just crap.

about 20 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 21:00:08 +0000 2009

rfrontuto: I take a look at the trending topics every so often, but I don't use them on a regular basis.

about 18 hours ago

Tue Aug 04 23:22:16 +0000 2009

This begs the question: “How can we easily get value out of Twitter’s data?” It’s hard to say now that Twitter has officially become a spam platform. I’m looking for new and innovative ways to quickly find nuggets of info from Twitter. Each time, I’m led back to FriendFeed.

Yes, you knew it was coming.

It’s no secret that tweets supply a great deal of FriendFeed’s potent database. I’ve found that FriendFeed’s real-time search, plus the community, provide a great way to quickly get value out of Twitter’s data:

The above search considers all tweets in FriendFeed and only shows those which have the word “disagree” in the comments. It’s a juicy search I set the like and comment thresholds to 2, but that’s easily adjustable.

Now, you might be thinking “You have to be on FriendFeed in order for your tweets to be considered“. This is true, but I’d rather have a subset of Twitter’s database on FriendFeed, than Twitter’s full database with a lackluster search and spammy trending terms. The data is richer.

The downside of this? There is no date or language filtering. In some cases, you have to wade through languages you don’t know and sometimes older posts which you’ve already read. As you can see from the results, some of the results are older than desired. The point of Twitter trends (at least to me) is to get a snapshot of what’s happening now. So while I have a make-shift solution to get the valuable data from Twitter, it’s not a replacement for an effective trends search.

So what do you use? How do you get value out of Twitter’s data? Let me know. You can find me on Twitter as @Bwana.

Killzone 2 Pwnz My Weekend

Bwana — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:02:29 +0000

This weekend, I put in a good amount of hours playing Killzone 2 on PS3. This was mostly due to the new DLC (which I don’t have yet) and Guerilla Game’s (GG) double experience points announcement. I’ve been having blast, but there is a glaring bug with their double xp weekend: it only works if you win the match. Killzone elitists are quick to respond “well, just win”, but I hope GG lets us know about their little snafu. As for Killzone 2 itself, I’ve unlocked all classes up to Saboteur and have pretty much gotten used to the unique controls (yes they are unique and don’t “stink” as a lot of haters claim) There’s a great deal more to the game than meets the eye, and if you’re on the fence about purchasing it, the multiplayer component alone is worth the purchase.

Before I went on this gaming tyrade, I asked my Twitter friends what they were playing, here are their responses:

Bwana: What video game are you currently playing? Me? I'm playing Killzone 2 for PS3.

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:00:27 +0000 2009

Bowlerguy92: MLB 09 The Show on the PS3 obviously, after another game or so I will be moving to NCAA Football 10 also on the #ps3

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:01:16 +0000 2009

wanyal: Red Faction: Guerilla on 360

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:01:27 +0000 2009

jcm28x: gears of war 2 on the xbox 360.

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:06 +0000 2009

FoamyFalcon: L4D on pc

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:30 +0000 2009

krisguy: Call of Duty: World at War for 360

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:41 +0000 2009

zackw29379: Battlefield: Bad Company for xbox 360

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:56 +0000 2009

Darkness383: street fighter 4

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:59 +0000 2009

_funkyboy: paper toss on the iPhone.

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:04:04 +0000 2009

danohart: I stick with Call Of Duty 4 until Modern Warfare 2 comes out. On the PC of course

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:05:37 +0000 2009

aaronmcdonald: im currently on Ghostbusters & now gone back to Uncharted too! Loving hanging out with pete,ray, winston & egon tho!

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:06:35 +0000 2009

petern: Killzone 2 and Super Stardust HD. PSN: kermit_swe

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:11:19 +0000 2009

premonition: fight night round 4 for me

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:18:34 +0000 2009

M4rck: Fight Night Round

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:18:38 +0000 2009

kev151: littlebigplanet

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:27:18 +0000 2009

RadioMacGuru: I decided to go for an oldie but a goodie: MGS3. I got frustrated with the series on 1st go round, I figure I'd give it another try

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:27:26 +0000 2009

Chillash: Fifa 09; ps3

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:33:23 +0000 2009

Jason_Diaz: SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:37:15 +0000 2009

markkemp: Am playing Resistance: Fall of Man (in preparation to play Resistance 2). Hanging out for CoD: Modern Warfare 2 though

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:39:33 +0000 2009

TekJunkie09: battlefield1943 thanx to you

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:52:28 +0000 2009

Bxdaddy93: IM PLAYING BATTLEFIELD 1943 FOR XBOX 360 AT THE MOMENT. IM WAITING FOR THE LAUNCH OF NFL MADDEN 2010 NEXT MONTH.

about 5 days ago

Wed Jul 22 00:17:33 +0000 2009

dphyfer: I'm still on Gears of War for xbox 360. I hear Fight Night is sick!

about 5 days ago

Wed Jul 22 00:22:55 +0000 2009

lopez79: Call of duty W@W for ps3 & UFC

about 5 days ago

Wed Jul 22 00:55:31 +0000 2009

ChrisCAL96: GTA IV for PS3.

about 5 days ago

Wed Jul 22 02:16:06 +0000 2009

CoGMysterio: Gears of War 1 on the Xbox 360

about 4 days ago

Wed Jul 22 03:08:41 +0000 2009

Gregz0r: It's all about PS3 Fight Night Round 4 at the moment.

about 4 days ago

Wed Jul 22 05:58:25 +0000 2009

AppleIphoneMan: I'm currently playing UFC Undisputed 2009, Killzone, Call Of Duty 4 and 5. Waiting For Call Of Duty 6!! Add my PSN KylerRodgers

about 4 days ago

Wed Jul 22 17:04:18 +0000 2009

Taurus_500: i loooooooove killzone 2! i got the platinum trophy! :p right now im playin fight night round 4.

about 4 days ago

Wed Jul 22 19:43:42 +0000 2009

What about you? What are you currently playing and why? Have fun whatever it is!

BingTweets Mashes Up Twitter Trends And Search Results

Bwana — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:37:05 +0000

Microsoft and Federated Media have partnered to create an interesting mashup called BingTweets. This site is in beta and offers a hands free experience on the latest trending topics on the web. After seeing this, I have a bit more respect for the efforts Microsoft is putting behind Bing and can only wonder how and if Google will respond.

BingTweets pulls in trends from Twitter and filters into categories such as “Popular Now,” “People,” “Places” and “Products” enabling easier navigation of the ever changing trends on the Web. You can also fire off a search on any topic of your choosing to see the related search results from Bing and Twitter discussion.

I have the site open in a dedicated tab right now and am happy with the choice of trends, tweets and search results. It has a great animation option which moves between topics on its own and gives you a taste of everything.

I like this.

It’s not perfect, but it gives us a glimpse of how real-time can intertwine with traditional search. I commend Microsoft and Federated Media on a bold approach towards the real-time web.

FriendFeed Still Reigns As Conversation King

Bwana — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:12:09 +0000

Today, I found yet another reason why I prefer discussing tech topics on FriendFeed over another popular social site, Twitter.

FriendFeed’s search is a big reason why you should move your Twitter conversations there. The above example shows the value in retaining search data. Twitter search only goes back a few days (I don’t know how many exactly, but it’s not that much) while FriendFeed retains much more data.

If you find yourself in need of data retrieval, I hope your data resides on FriendFeed. So how do you take advantage of this? It’s actually quite simple. You simply post a new FriendFeed entry and “CC Twitter”.

This will broadcast your your new topic to all your Twitter followers, and invite them to join the conversation on FriendFeed with a link. Some people hate this because they have to click through and go to yet another web page. Part of me understands this frustration in this “right now, do it yesterday” atmosphere, but the payoff is tremendous. Not only do you get a rich, single threaded conversation out of the deal, but the contents will be searchable a year from now. You can’t say the same about Twitter.

Robert Scoble has championed this technique for quite some time and is getting a lot of ridicule from his massive Twitter follower list. I believe he has a valid point. Your data is lost on Twitter, it isn’t on FriendFeed. It’s that simple.

What do you think? Comment here or on FriendFeed and it’ll all show up

Will Apple Kill Palm’s Hype “Pre”maturely?

Bwana — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:21:13 +0000

Pun intended.

So Palm had it’s big day yesterday (June 6th) with their release of the Palm Pre and early reports are that they had a good day in terms of sales. Most stores were sold out by noon and others followed later in the day. Early reviews of the Palm Pre are generally positive and the community is rallying behind Palm in a big way.

We’ve also had some controversy surrounding the Pre already! First, we found out that the Palm Pre is recognized as an iPod in iTunes for synchronization. A lot of us don’t think Apple will like this, especially since a lot of former Apple engineers worked on this phone. Some high profile technology experts have gotten into it surrounding ethics and integrity surrounding receiving review units. Right or wrong, Palm gets free press out of all of this.

Press is good, until you’re faced with an Apple keynote. Even though it’s a Steve Job-less keynote (maybe), tomorrow’s kickoff of Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) is expected to bring a lot of fresh technology news. Now if Apple didn’t have a particular phone in their lineup, I think Palm wouldn’t have to worry about the possible buzz kill surrounding the Pre. But alas, we have a confirmed release of iPhone 3.0 software (either tomorrow or later this month) and a ton of rumors surrounding new iPhone hardware.

Photo courtesy of Gear Live

On top of all the coolness that’s coming from the iPhone’s software revision, we’re hearing rumors about the new iPhone hardware that include:

Video recording capability
Front and rear camera
Larger Capacity (32GB)

You gotta love the rumor mill before these Apple events. They almost have the ability to kill Palm’s hype on their own. Palm has their hands full. Apple still has the mind share on the “cool” smartphone market, but I believe Palm has what it takes to steal some of it. A new Apple phone 2 days after your release could be insurmountable.

Will tomorrow’s announcements squash Palm’s buzz? We will have to wait and see. I can’t wait.

Join our discussions on the iPhone on FriendFeed.

Why Are You Still Following Me?

Bwana — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:15:33 +0000

It boggles the mind.

I use social networks to share what I like. Sometimes people like what they see or hear and they decide to keep up with me. I post news links, blog posts, video posts, podcast posts, general thoughts, rambles, LOL cats, tech deals, and even the newest shiny social network tool. By doing all this, people follow me. They follow me on Twitter, they follow me on FriendFeed, they follow my blogs, and they follow my shows.

Periodically, I’ll increase my output on a topic I like such as sports, video games, and that newest shiny social network tool. This is what I get in return:

“Bwana, why are you posting so much?”
“Bwana, do you realize, you’ve posted 6 links in the last hour?”
“Bwana, are you going to go on and on about the nfl/nba/ncaa again?”
“Bwana, please stop tweeting so much”
“Bwana, would you stop talking about football so much”
“Bwana, please stop flooding my stream”
“Bwana, enough with the ________ links, we get it already!”

If I post something that annoys, bothers, or irks you, then why in the world are you still following me? Why do you put up with it? Think about it. If I were walking down the street with you following me and I decide to fart continuously for 3 hours, wouldn’t you get out of the way? Farts stink man! Move! If you don’t leave, you’re choosing to inhale the wondrous foul fumes of my farts. I say farts because apparently it’s something you don’t want to be around.

There’s the door ——–>

This is my thinking with the uproar about the Spymaster craze on Twitter. The almighty Leo Laporte decided to call me out on This Week In Tech, basically fingering me as “one of those Spymaster spammers”. I replied on the on the TWiT FriendFeed thread “Don’t worry Leo, I toned down my tweet settings quite a bit” But then, I got to thinking: I’m not tweeting that much and even if I was, why won’t he just unfollow me?

Spymaster is a game.
It’s fun.
People like it.

It utilizes the social reach of Twitter to encourage game play amongst friends and strangers. I did a review on EatWillGrow for iPhone which allows you to Tweet your high score, and it’s an effective mechanism to challenge someone. It’s the same principle here. Gamers like to talk trash. Gamers like to share their experiences with friends and strangers. Gamers are not afraid to tell you about a game they love.

I’m a gamer. I game. I play games. I play games with other people. I want to share some spymaster experiences with people on Twitter. If that annoys you, please, by all means, UNFOLLOW ME! Get from behind me! Stop reading what I do! Please! You can choose to unfollow the Bwana Spymaster spammer and be free from the “spam”.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Leo for calling me out in front of his listeners. I respect his opinion on the matter. I actually hope he unfollowed me on Twitter (and hid me on FriendFeed) as a result of my “spam”. If he didn’t, then I got to wonder why he puts up with it.

In case you’re wondering,I’ve posted a total of 11 spymaster tweets over the span of 2 days. Twitter search: “from:Bwana #spymaster”

I know, it’s brutal. I also post my video game activity using Raptr and GamerDNA. Spymaster shouldn’t be a huge change. Don’t blame me because Twitter’s filtering sucks. You got two choices: 1. Put up with it 2. Unfollow.

If you want the short version of this blog post: I don’t care what you think. It does annoy me when you complain [loudly] about what you don’t want to hear. It makes me want to unfollow you so I don’t have to put up with the complaining. Why won’t you just leave?

It’s your opinion for a reason, not mine. I’m not going to change what I do because you don’t like it. Get over it. Get over yourselves and take action. Unfollow, block, do whatever you feel is needed and you won’t hurt my feelings one bit. Yes, I said it.

Now, it’s time to assassinate some of these wanna-be spies.

*** Update: You can opt-out of Spymaster invites if your “friends” are blasting you with them. (Again, why are you following them again?)

Thanks Atomic Powered!

Bwana — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:36:56 +0000

It’s that time! I would say again, but this is the first time I’ve done it here on Bwana.org. I want to thank our very first advertising sponsor, Atomic Powered. Atomic Powered offers a variety of iPhone applications, some of which I have reviewed. Here is my review of Quake Info for iPhone/iPod Touch in case you missed it:

Check out their other apps when you get the chance. Thanks Atomic Powered for helping me pay the bills!

From Ustream To Justin.TV Pro

Bwana — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:01:52 +0000

Having come from Ustream.TV, I found Justin.TV to be a different live streaming experience than what I was used to. Thanks to the help of seasoned users such as jrblaze, I was able to create a decent channel of my own. I used Justin.TV in the past, but I felt loyal to Ustream since they integrated IRC so well. Since Ustream has dumped IRC and I continue to have issues with them, I decided to go Justin.TV for a while and see how things pan out.

I’ve been impressed so far.

It isn’t the feature set (which is impressive) that intrigues me, but it’s the stability. On Ustream, I couldn’t go a week without issue. My stream would crash, lose connectivity, or fail in the middle of a crucial recording. I haven’t had one issue on Justin.TV yet. Not one. This is why when I heard about Justin.TV pro accounts, I decided to try it for a month. These guys have put together great technology that seems to work very well. I’ll gladly give them $10 based on the couple of weeks of stable usage I’ve gotten out of the deal.

I know the main features pro accounts gives you is less ads, gifts, and an attention grabbing “pro” tag in chat, (the attention is not always good) but my main motivation behind buying a pro account was to thank Justin.TV for easing the pain that Ustream.TV has caused me. I love Ustream, and the guys over there are great, but I consistently had issues that I don’t have at Justin.TV with the same exact hardware. I’m hoping Ustream works out their issues, because I’d love to return, but for now, I’m happily streaming at Justin.TV as a pro user. Come by and check me out. I’m going to give the Pro account a month to see how it all works out and I’ll decide on whether I want to keep it after then. For now, I’m a happy camper over at Justin.TV.