2011 is down for the count!
In early 2011 I started this blog and talked about how I wanted to see a shuttle launch - and I made it to one! Definitely one of the highlights of my life.
I'm looking forward to the new year and what I can accomplish. Positive thoughts!
NPR recently allowed anyone to stream a full copy of the Roots “Udun” album a week or so before release. Being a huge a Roots fan, I plugged in my ear buds and listened intently over the work computer and felt underwhelmed. I listened to the stream again over the iPod and it didn’t change my opinion. It wasn’t a bad album, but definitely seemed too avant grade and lacked the overall feeling that I’d expect from a Roots album. While I appreciated what they were trying to do, the tracks felt stale.
When the album officially launched on Dec 6th, I played it while driving to work. Driving with the music surrounding me at an extremely loud level enabled me to appreciate what the Roots accomplished on this record. This a concert. A concerto of the desperado. This is a live show with a concept dictating not only the song sequencing, but the up and down emotions of each song. And it’s something that you can’t feel when you’re listening over a computer and on a portable device. You need to FEEL it.
The next time that you get a new album (am I the only one that still does?), make sure that you listen to it in an environment that immerses you in the moment. Yes, this usually means ditching your iOS and android devices – don’t be ashamed! As much as your overpriced Beats by Dre headphones with the sound turned up to 11 may achieve the same effect of a car stereo, you just may wander into the street into the path of a crazy Black man in a Honda Civic.
Greetings from outer space, nerds! Wait, how can I call you nerds if I'm a bigger alien nerd that found his way to Earth? Hmm ...
I wrote an article for MediaTapper about my experiences with NASA's social networking community, as well as my experience viewing the final shuttle launch of the space program. Here's a sample:
NASA continues its excellent leveraging of social networking platforms by recently launching a Google+ page. NASA’s Twitter account has proven very popular to space geeks such as myself and others. We are connected on various social networks such as Google+, Facebook and Twitter, and the information flows freely. There are people that clearly know more than me, but not once have I felt talked down to. It’s truly an example of how technology can help to bring like-minded people together.
To read more, please click here.
Tech comes out every day. The early adopters among us will grab new products only to dismiss them when the next hot thing comes out. My advice? SLOW DOWN a bit and enjoy what you have!.
I'm a victim of this when it comes to the iPhone and the iPad. I always sell the old version and get the new version, even if the feature set isn't quite justifiable. I've seen this most recently with my incremental upgrade from the iPhone 4 to the 4S. In retrospect, the 4 was perfectly fine for me - why didn't I stay with it? I'm missing out on forming the same relationship that haberdasher with my Double Dragon Tiger electronic game from the late 80s? My TI-83 calculator from 95? My minidisc player from 2000?
Podcasts that cover tech tend to suffer the most. They tend to be practically disposable, even ones that are incredibly funny and / or interesting. One of the most fascinating sites I've run into on the net is Previous Pod, a site that reviews old episodes of the Engadget podcast. I follow any of the former Engadget editors at The Verge, and it's interesting to go back in time to see their views on products that have since become obsolete, such as the Palm Pre.
Is it that current tech is made with this disposal culture in mind, so that they only last a few years (I'm looking at you, Dell Computer)? Or is it that we are throwing out perfectly good products for little reason? Whatever the reason is, SLOW DOWN!
I've maintained several website personas over the years, but eventually as I got older, I decided to start using my real name online. Now why would I do this? To control my message.
More and more interactions occurr online, and tying those interactions to my real life persona is crucial for networking. I like to be able to say that my website, Twitter account, and other social networks are united under my name. It adds a sense of legitimacy and it also makes me accountable to what I'm putting out their online.
By publishing my content under my name, I'm also owning my search results. If you do a Google search on my name, you'll get content that I've created. Because it's not limited to just my professional work, it makes me a well-rounded person and shows that I am more than my resume. Of course there's that one MySpace model who also shares my name, but hey, that's just one result :)
Jeff Jarvis has recently written a book, Public Parts, that talks about this concept. He believes that embracing publicness is a strong asset in this Internet connected world. It helps us maintain what we really want to be private because the public information will dominate any search results, leaving the private information as secured as it can be. It's never 100% secure - if someone wants your information, they'll get it - but by embracing a public persona, this means that you can control it to the best of your ability.
It might be weird, and it's definitely not for everyone, but try using your name a little more on the Internet. You might be surprised at the results. I mean, y'all love me right?
