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Google+ Revitalizes Online Discussions

Bwana — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 19:01:21 +0000

Ever since FriendFeed was consumed by Facebook, online discussions have been dominated by Quora, Twitter and Facebook. Without getting into my opinions about those three services, let me say, I wasn’t motivated to have discussions using them. I really enjoyed the time I had with FriendFeed and the ease of contributing to a topic.

Enter Google+.

Google has been dabbling in social networking for quite some time and in my opinion, has been a bit out of focus. We’ve seen orkut, social bars, and of course Google Buzz, but we really haven’t seen a robust, solid solution. With Google+, I can say that Google is serious about making online discussions easily accessible. Google has made engagement with existing and new contacts about as easy as one could ask. I find myself more willing to talk about technology on Google+ than I ever did on Quora, Twitter and Facebook. That’s enough for me to consider Google+ as a success.

Is it perfect? I don’t think so. There are still a lot of issues to work out with the Circles implementation of managing information streams. The hangouts feature is somewhat unstable and prone to crash, while sparks is sort of just out there without a real underlining purpose. Google+ definitely has room to grow.

I’m happy to have a place on the web to have discussions much like the days of FriendFeed. Click here to view my Google+ profile.

Why You Should Try Raptr (Again)

Bwana — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:53:47 +0000

A while ago, I tried Raptr during the beta and I liked it since it combined gaming with the social web. Here’s my initial review from 2008:

It kind of fell off my radar since I was primarily using Xfire to track my gaming. I also had a problem with Adobe Air at the time since it was a memory hog. Since then, Adobe Air has improved a great deal (still pretty heavy) and Raptr has improved by leaps and bounds.

Some of the improvements I noticed right off are:

1. The site has grown tremendously and supports a lot more. Steam (achievements/history), Xfire (history), Playstation Network trophies and deeper integration into popular Flash games like Farmville.
2. The in-game overlay rivals Xfire. The new browser is actually quite snazzy. All it needs now is custom overlays and webcam support and Xfire is dead.
3. Many more customization options are available to make your profile your own. These come in the form of themes, twitter like status updates, and a small mini-blurb thing to introduce yourself to the community.
4. More granular tracking and snazzy flash applets to show who’s playing what… right now.
5. Overall better site design and easy to navigate.
6. The new iPhone app is actually quite decent and gives you Raptr on the go.

So if you tried Raptr back in 2008 like I did and it didn’t quite fit your needs, I suggest giving it another try now that they’ve been hard at work for the past 2 years. If you wish to add me, I’m Bwana on there at http://raptr.com/bwana

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Check Your Facebook Privacy With ReclaimPrivacy

Bwana — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:05:07 +0000

Today, Seshan of the ATB community pointed me to a great site which allows you to verify your Facebook privacy settings. Due to the recent changes, it’s nice to know if you got things right. Head over to ReclaimPrivacy.org and run the bookmarklet from Facebook’s site:

Very easy to run and quick. Check it out.

Guest Host On TPN Weekly Episode 3

Bwana — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:13:43 +0000

This week, I’m the guest host on the brand new podcast from the Techpodcast network called TPN Weekly. If you’re into podcasts, you really should subscribe to our show over there. We’ll be sampling new hosts every week so you can get a new flavor. I think it’s an awesome idea because you’ll get fresh content from a fresh host.

On this week’s show, I do a “social media special“. I talk for 25 minutes about Twitter, Facebook, Rejaw and FriendFeed. Here’s a video of my live taping from Saturday:

Also, here is the information for the Podcast if you wish to listen via audio (and subscribe):

I’ll update you all via Twitter when I’ll be hosting again. Enjoy!

My Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2008

Bwana — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 06:04:53 +0000

You know, I never thought I’d cling so much to a phone as much as I cling to the iPhone. When the iPhone was updated to version 2.0, I knew that it was going to make things worse. While many still believe the iPhone to be over hyped and not worth the time, money, and support, I firmly believe it has changed the smart phone market in a very short amount of time.

On the matter at hand. Here at the end of 2008, which iPhone applications were the most valuable players? Let’s count it down:

Brightkite (Free) – Brightkite for iPhone actually prompted me to sign up for a service that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. It allows you to check in to your friends network your various locations, provide status updates, and upload photos.

The combination of the iPhone interface, GPS, and camera make this app intuitive and fun to use. Thank goodness for Brightkite’s privacy options so I don’t have to let the world know where I am at any given moment. I am at http://brightkite.com/people/bwana
Qik (Jailbreak) – Qik is a big motivator for me to jailbreak (hack) my iPhone. Qik provides live streaming of video and audio from the iPhone much like Ustream.tv does for computers and webcams.

They have done a great job of utilizing the iPhone’s hardware to squeeze out a great streaming experience. It’s too bad that this application is not available on the iTunes App store, but several bloggers have received advanced copies of the app that doesn’t require a jailbreak and absolutely love it. I can’t wait until the masses can use it, but for now, I’m using it with a jailbroken iPhone. My Qik profile is at http://qik.com/bwana
Evernote (Free) – Evernote is a great way to stay organized and the iPhone version does not disappoint. From taking ordinary notes to voice reminders, I find this tool to be an absolute necessity to stay organized.

Given that it synchronizes with the cloud, I can create and edit artifacts on my iPhone and on the computer. This app is easily worth money, but the authors have made it free to the public.
Winterboard (Jailbreak) – One of my biggest gripes with the iPhone is the lack of customization options available out of the box. Since I’ve jailbroken my iPhone for Qik functionality, I am also able to customize backgrounds, icons, sounds, and applications using Winterboard.

This free application available in Cydia is a must have if you’ve jailbroken your iPhone. Often, I get asked, “How did you change that background?” or “How did you get that sound?”, and the answer always points to Winterboard.
Smiles ($2.99 Zen|Drop/$4.99 Combined) – I need to thank Chris Pirillo for introducing me to Smiles for the iPhone. Chris gave me the opportunity to review this game and I’ve been playing it almost every night since. Smiles is a matching/puzzle game that resembles Bejeweled on the surface but adds elements that differentiate it.

For one, you can use the iPhone’s accelerometer to change orientation in the game. This may sound like a visual preference, but it also serves as a strategy for certain game modes. I’ve reviewed Smiles on Bwana.TV, and I definitely believe it to be worth the $2.99/$4.99 price tag. Here’s my video review of Smiles for the iPhone:
Uno ($7.99) – I’ve played Uno since I could burp. Yes, it’s been that long. This game is just the epitome of fun. The rules are not difficult, the color based cards make it easy for the youngest kids to pick it up, and it’s hard to find someone who says they actually don’t like the game.

The iPhone version of Uno adds a multiplayer component to an already rich single player experience. Now you can play your friends over Wifi and the internet if they have an iPhone or iPod Touch. At $7.99, it may sound a bit expensive, but once you’ve played it, you’ll see right off that it’s a premium app for the iPhone. Here’s my video review of Uno for the iPhone
Facebook (Free) – Easily the most comprehensive, in-depth, social networking application for the iPhone today, Facebook takes it to a whole new level. As a light user of Facebook, I know that if I’m impressed with the features and functions of this app, that the regular users of Facebook will find it essential. It does it all.

If Facebook is your social network of choice, there’s no way you can do without viewing and uploading photos, updating your status, posting notes, approve/ignore requests, reading notifications, read and respond to messages, and even utilize Facebook chat. This app is a must have.
Pandora Radio (Free) – Do you listen to music? Then there’s no excuse why you shouldn’t have Pandora installed. Pandora uses technology from the Music Genome Project to create dynamic “radio stations” based on artists and songs that you like.

Want to hear similar music to a certain artist you like? Simply create a station based on that artist and Pandora plays a great selection of music that’s very similar to your artist and give you the ability the rate up or down songs. I love this app, and for a while I believed it to the best available for the iPhone. If you don’t have it installed, I don’t know what you’re waiting on.
Ocarina ($0.99) – To be blown away by this app is not only a pun, but an understatement. Ocarina turns your iPhone into a thousand+ year old instrument called the Ocarina. You may have heard of the Legend Of Zelda game, Ocarina of Time? Well yes, it’s pretty much that, but on your iPhone.

The folks over at Smule have done something I never thought was possible. They register the air you blow in the iPhone microphone and create music with fingerings on the touchscreen. There are many scales and pitches allowing you to create just about anything. Here is my latest video, where I play “Song of Storms” from the Legend of Zelda. This thing is truly incredible.

Smule is also holding a contest worth $1000, if you can create your own Ocarina video, so if you got the skills, enter today.
Google Reader (Web/Free) – If you read My Top 10 Websites of 2008, then you already know Google Reader is my MVP. Well things are the same on the iPhone. Although this is a web application, it doesn’t change my love for it. Google has refined Google Reader for iPhone so much that it seems like the most optimal way to read news on the web.

The interface is responsive, the controls are intuitive, and all the major functionality (star, note, share, email) for handling articles is right at your finger tips. Literally. Hands down, Google Reader for iPhone is the best iPhone app of 2008 for me, and I believe it’s a great choice.

So what are your favorite iPhone apps? Don’t be ashamed to express yourself in the comments.

Youtube HD vs Facebook HD: You Be The Judge

Bwana — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:54:27 +0000

Here are embeds of the same source video on Facebook and Youtube. You be the judge on which you prefer:

Facebook:

Youtube:

I’ve noticed the Youtube embed looks better in full screen than the Facebook embed. It looks like the Facebook embed is not even HD! Does Facebook allow HD embeds? It sure doesn’t look like it. If you click through to the original Facebook video and make it full screen, you’ll see it looks a lot better than the embed. Are our HD videos truly free from the walled garden of Facebook? I don’t know. Granted, the Youtube HD embed requires a hack to the embed string to watch in HD, it still should be noted that there isn’t a way to embed the Facebook HD at all. If there is, please let me know in the comments.

As it stands, the Youtube solution is more attractive to me at the moment since I want the HD experience outside of the Youtube site. Plus, the Youtube community destroys the Facebook video community. I’m not sure why Youtube or Facebook won’t make the HD embed option a main feature. If DailyMotion can do it, why can’t they?