Zane Perry's Blog » Blog

The internet today is a little confusing

Zane Perry — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:55:07 +0000

Do you ever find yourself struggling to figure out how to manage the torrent of new web services available out there? Probably not. I doubt you sit up at nights trying to figure out how to avoid using duplicate services for single purposes. Good news is I do. If your tired of trying to figure out what service to use for what task I prescribe using something similar to what I use. (I am very well aware that this is not the only way to do things online but I have found it has worked best for me.)

So without any further introduction, here is a Visio brainstorm of how I currently have my “Social Network” set up. This will likely change as new services come to be with better prices or products.

This chart is a little deceiving. The double sided arrows are misleading. The chart has a top down topology where items above “Feed” into the nodes below.

What are these services, why did I pick them, and How do I manage feeds?

Links (http://www.tumblr.com): When you find a picture, video or link online and you want to share quickly but don’t really feel like posting a long blog about it? You need a Tumblog. I use Tumblr because I believe it was one of the first Tumbleogs and from what I have experienced it works great.
Tumblr has two features I like:

1. A great “Share on Tumblr” bookmark. This makes adding a link to your Tumblr page as easy as pushing a bookmark button on your toolbar. Adding the button to your toolbar is easy too. Just login and click the “Goodies” link. Follow the instructions for the Bookmarklet.

2. RSS Feed importing. You can import any RSS subscriptions. To do so go to the Dashboard, Customize, Import feeds. This is how WordPress and Vimeo are imported on the chart above.

WordPress has a bookmarklet feature similar to tumblr but I like to separate quick posts from blog entries as I don’t want to ambush email subscribers with links that I find throughout the day. My tumblr page is http://zaneperry.tumblr.com/ and it currently serves as the default homepage for http://www.zaneperry.com. My Tumblr account automatically updates my twitter account.

Update: Here is a video I found demoing Tumblr http://vimeo.com/2864076
Blog (http://www.wordpress.org): I use WordPress, an open source blogging web application, which allows me to customize every detail and runs on my server. WordPress feeds my tumblr (described above) and Facebook.
Any blogging service that outputs an RSS feed (almost all do) will work. Alternatives to hosting your own blog arehttp://www.wordpress.com which is a free commercial version of WordPress and http://www.blogger.com. You are currently on my wordpress blog.
Video (http://www.vimeo.com/): There is an infinite variety of video sites out there to use. I am a fan of Vimeo’s simplicity, features and user base. Alternatives include Youtube (of course), ustream.tv, blip.tv, dailymotion.com and much much more. My vimeo account is at http://www.vimeo.com/zane
Photo (http://flickr.com): Flickr has managed to continue to be the best bang for your buck. $24.95 USD a year for infinite storage. Since I have over 24k pics (and growing) this was my only real option. Picasa Web Albums has the best photo manager features but prices start out at 10 GB for $20.00 USD a year. You can use Picasa Photo Manager to upload photo’s to Facebook and Flickr but you will not have the “autosync” features that Picasa Web and Picasa Photo Manager have. I use Picasa Web’s free 1GB of storage to host my most recent albums as it allows other users to download the entire album with the push of a button (again, using Picasa Photo Manager). If you have ever visited a close friend or family’s photo album and had to manually save every picture you liked you will respect this feature. My flickr account can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaneperry/. I have also created a shortcut to my sets at http://flickr.zaneperry.com/.
Facebook (http://facebook.com): Facebook is quickly becoming the best social network for friends and family out there. It quickly replaced MySpace as the #1 tool due to cleanliness and functionality. Many people today are still hooked on MySpace and refuse to make the change. Some people refuse to use either at all! I currently pull Tumblr, Flickr, digg (my digg page) and WordPress posts to Facebook using applications and Facebooks import feature. I feed Facebook Status updates to Twitter by using Facebooks MiniFeed (http://www.facebook.com/minifeed.php) and twitterfeed (http://twitterfeed.com/ which allows you to input any RSS feed to twitter. My Facebook profile is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=503638088.

Last but not least

Twitter (http://twitter.com): Twitter… What is this beast that is taking over everything from customer relations, to Police Dispatch! It took me over a year to figure it out. It’s founding use was to share information quickly with your friends or family (like a text message) but it has adapted a broader use of sharing quick information with the world. Many people notice the similarities between Facebook and Twitter. That is because Facebook is trying to adopt Twitters stream-like qualities. I have only recently begun adopting the tool but until more friends and family create users my use of it directly will be limited. You can find me on twitter @ZanePerry.

Well, thats it for now. I hope you found this article useful. Given the rate of change these days this graph will probably be completely different in a month. Tell me what you think, what you use and post any questions as a comment. I look forward to hearing from you.

Update 4/29/09:

In case you were wondering how to feed Facebook status update to twitter. Google twitterfeed and make an account. Then follow the following instructions to get your Status RSS feed.

In FB, go to your Inbox > Notifications page
At the bottom of the right column, thereâ€™s the link for the Notifications feedâ€¦ right click on it and copy the link
To test that it works, paste that URL into your browser and hit enter. (Youâ€™ll see your notifications feed show up)
In that URL, change ONLY the portion that stays â€œnotifications.phpâ€ to â€œstatus.phpâ€ and hit enter. You now have your status rss feed.
You can also replace â€œnotifications.phpâ€ with â€œnotes.phpâ€ to get your â€œnotesâ€ feed.

Blog updated again :) – Subscription Update Required!

Zane Perry — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:53:57 +0000

While helping Melissa Wise Barrick update her photographer blog I decided it was time to change my own blog theme as well. My old theme had too skinny of a format that constrained the photo and video size of what I could post and the side bar was too crowded with widgets.

I believe you will like the new design. I need to improve on the Banner images but the overall look is 10 times better in my opinion. For those of you interested I am now using the prophoto 2 WordPress theme. The Pro Photo theme creators allow two installation of their theme so Melissa and I decided to split the costs. The theme is more aimed at photographers but I think it works well for any purpose.

While installing and personalizing the new theme I learned of a email subscription service called feedburner that I believe will make subscribing to my site an exponentially better experience then it is now. I really, really, really, really hope you decide to renew your subscription by following the instructions below. It will take you no longer then 10 seconds to do.

If you would like to continue your subscription to my site please visit the following link and input your email address:

>>> Subscribe to Zane Perry’s Blog by Email <<<

I will be disabling the old subscription service April 1st so if you haven’t subscribed to the new service you will no longer receive email updates (boo hoo, I know!). There will always be a Subscribe form at the bottom of the new page so if you decide not to subscribe now and then change your mind in the future you can always re-subscribe. I have set my subscriptions to be sent at 7AM-9AM EST so people can check out my posts while at work and to allow me to catch any mistakes in posts before they are distributed. I hope this improves your experience.

Write a comment and let me know what you think. If you have any trouble subscribing feel free to send me an email or write a comment.

I look forward to writing more this Spring and hope you continue to read! More to come

Update: If you are interested in using the ProPhoto2 theme use referral code ZANEP588 and receive a $10 discount

Eat a Pita

Zane Perry — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:17:53 +0000

Karen and I just had an excellent Pita from Eat-A-Pita on Rt 17. I don’t think I have had a pita since Wendy’s stopped selling them (damn you Wendy!). I’m not sure if this store is a chain or not. If you ever see one I recommend you give it a try. Their Pita’s are great and the fries were delicious (they had vinegar and seasoning to put on your fries too which is nice). A little expensive ($18 something for the two of us) but worth it.

Post updated: I just read this post which previously said only “Karen and I just had an awesome Pita from Eat-A-Pita on 17. It was Awesome.” and was a little embarrassed. I guess I need to learn some more Adjectives . I have updated the post with a little more detail.

While having the ability to post from my phone is cool I think I will wait until I go on a trip to use it.

Here is a cool review of the program I used to make the post called WP to go.

Facebook zaneperry.com Blog Integration

Zane Perry — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:05:42 +0000

I just learned how to integrate my blog with Facebook using the facebook-connect wordpress plugin. Test it out and let me know if it works for you

Great way to keep in touch!

Zane Perry — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:12:38 +0000

Recently Karen and I were able to host our entire family for a weekend trip. Even J.P. and Allegra were able to come all the way from London! After spending some much needed family time in Charleston we all decided we needed to work harder on keeping in touch. During the trip Justin and I had discussed the need for our family to get a Video Conferencing solution set up so we could all see the new Baby when she arrives. After spending about a week of trial and error we were finally able to find a perfect solution. TokBox!

http://www.tokbox.com

TokBox is both a web application and a stand alone application (like AIM, MSN Messanger, Google Talk and Yahoo Chat). The stand alone application is great because you can leave it on enabling you to receive calls when you are at your computer and not visiting the tokbox webpage. Here is a screenshot of it in action.

TokBox enables you to easily leave video messages, start a video call and group video call with up to 6 people! This application is going to grow like wildfire. It is free and you can get it right now.

1. Register a user
2. At the bottom of your screen click the downloads button
3. Click the “Get it Now” button under “TokBox AIR Desktop Client” (works on both PC and Mac)

After the Desktop Client installs you are good to go. You have to signin to the webpage to manage things like uploading your picture and searching for friends. You can add me by signing in and typing Zane Perry in the search window found at the upper right of the page. My name will pop up and you just click the “Add Friend” button. Friend requests require approval so you are protected from strangers you don’t know.

Some notes I think users should know about,

1. To set up your camera and mic click settings, click on the camera that works, click next, click the audio that is visually receiving your voice (say “test” and you will see movement in the audio levels if you have a mic hooked up), click next and click done.
2. While chatting with someone there seems to be a bug when pasting a link (it sends html code and you can’t even copy and paste). I have sent them a message in there forum to notify them of this bug.
3. Adding more then one person to your video chat is as easy as dragging the name from your “Buddy List” to the video chat window.
4. If you use AIM, MSN Messanger, Yahoo or Google Talk your in luck. TokBox has built in integration. You can sign into all 4 with the client. You can even start video chats with users who do not have tokbox but I have not had a chance to test this function yet.
5. I would edit your mail settings. Your inbox gets full once you start playing with this. You can edit email settings by signing into the web page and clicking the account link.

I hope you found this information beneficial and hope to start video chatting with many of you soon! Keep in touch!

Facebook Picasa Upload Button

Zane Perry — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:26:25 +0000

Most of you know I have been using Flickr to share digital pics for a little over a year. I have used this account since May 2nd 2007 and have a registered user until May 2nd , 2010.

April 28, 2008 You bought yourself a 2 years Pro Account $47.99
May 2, 2007 You bought yourself a 1 year Pro Account $24.95

Total spent on Flickr – US $72.94

The only alternative photo sharing service that I compare to be competitive with Flickr (in terms of ease of use) is googles Picasa Web Albums. Unfortunately I have a little over 40GB of images and using google would cost me $75 a year.

10 GB ($20.00 USD per year)
40 GB ($75.00 USD per year)
150 GB ($250.00 USD per year)
400 GB ($500.00 USD per year)

I still use Googles Picasa to manage my collection on my personal computer and love the “Web Album” button. It makes sharing photo’s online (via Picasa’s web albums) as simple as pushing a button (with Flickr I have to drag and then push a button). For 90% of you I would recommend using Picasa for of ease of use. It has 1GB of free space for initial users and I don’t see many of you having more then 10 GB a year of photos (at $20.00 USD per year). If you are looking for advice and have a questions on either of these services leave me a comment and I will help you get started.

Enough about photo services, what is this blog about.

I recently found a Picasa Facebook Upload plugin that is AWESOME! Facebook should by no means be your primary image hosting site (neither should Myspace). Both compress all images uploaded to their servers. In short, you are only sharing low detail images. The reason I am excited is now I have a tool to use to upload to Facebook quickly enabling me to use Facebook’s “Face Tagging” feature.

Face Tagging is when you see a picture and identify people who are in it. It is very easy to use. You click the “Tag Photo” button and then put the cross hairs on someone you knows face. If that person is on Facebook you only need to type a few letters of the persons name and his name will shows up (assuming you are friends of course). Here is a screen shot of Photo Tagging in progress. In this example I am highlighting Nick Hester who unfortunately isn’t on Facebook

Whenever you are tagged in a picture on Facebook you can see it in a list on your account. Whenever you tag others they get notified. You can tag yourself and other people. Since Facebook is very popular service this feature will continue to grow. I enjoy having friends tag me on photo’s they took and like to be notified by Facebook when a new photo is tagged. All in all, Facebook has nailed “Social Digital Picture Networking”.

I will start uploading more photo’s to Facebook because of this new plugin. If you don’t yet have Facebook yet go and register. It’s about time. Download Picasa, get a Flickr/Picasa web album account and start sharing photo’s!

If you don’t have a Facebook user register one here Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
If you want to use Picasa to manage your images download here: http://picasa.google.com/
Facebook Picasa Upload Button Plugin: http://apps.facebook.com/picasauploader/

I will continue to use Flickr but keep an eye on Facebook. Hope to tag you in a photo soon

If you have Facebook add me as a Friend .

p.s. This article was written by the user of a PC. I know the Mac has some killer photo sharing applications.

Blog Comment Pictures & Friend Blog search

Zane Perry — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:28:07 +0000

Today I thought I would share a fun fact. Many blog’s nowadays have the ability to show a picture next to comments you make. All you have to do to make it work is register a user with Gravatar and upload a profile picture. My site uses it so register and upload your pic now: http://www.gravatar.com/

When you post a comment just use the email address you registered with Gravatar.

I am also interested in posting links to friends Blog’s, Tumblr‘s, Video’s (Vimeo, Youtube, Blip.tv, ustream.tv), or anything else you post online. If you post material online please add a comment with a link and I will add you to my “Friends” list.

Time to pick up Garrett from the Airport. He and Jillian are here for 5 days. He get’s in at 2pm EST.

http://stream.zaneperry.com

Zane Perry — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:31:13 +0000

I have been working on a project for a couple days now to set up a manner of “broadcasting” media or music over the Internet. Take a look, I put it at http://stream.zaneperry.com and added a link to it on my home page. While this does look pretty nerdy (what did you expect?)

Purpose: Collect music of local bands and share with others.
Plan:

Step 1: Open a stream to play music on (completed)
Step 2: Broadcast to friends and family that it is up. (in execution)
Step 3: People upload music to share (uncopyrighted music only. Music from a local band or a band you play in.
Step 4: Make it as simple as possible to use.
Step 4: Open a chat room for support

Click the button pictured above to open the chat window (most work networks block this feature ).

Upload, discuss and share music.

While I don’t expect you to think this is a Paradigm shift or anything I want to get your opinion. Take a look at it and leave a comment somewhere (even here) to tell me what you think. I have added a few features that I could think of but am open to suggestions.

Update: I collected a few bands music but don’t really have time to monitor a stream. I did learn quite a bit about sharing my desktop and will keep the link there for when I need to show friends how to do something on the computer. The music I did download is still available. Enjoy!

Email Test

Zane Perry — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:29:22 +0000

I apologize for the spam message but I want to test and see if my subscription email plugin is working as well as see who has subscribed to my blog. If you get this please send an email saying Hello!

Blog Email Function Fixed

Zane Perry — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:07:48 +0000

My blog apparently has been broken (probably for years). Anyway, if you register now you can receive email updates whenever I submit a new post.

http://www.zaneperry.com/wp/wp-admin/