Twitter – Page 2 – Geoff Fox: My Permanent Record

Have Blogs Lost Their Reason For Being?

Some people see the little links I put on Facebook leading back to posts like this and never think to click! I’ve had people click the Facebook “like” button or even post a Facebook comment within seconds, long before anyone could have read my thoughts.

Before I click of the button which allows a new entry on this blog a page appears loaded with stats. It shows how many people have read and commented and how many pages I’ve published. I’m a few short of 4,400 pages tonight. Scary.

When this blog began there was no Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr. Blogging was new and cool. Hey, I was once new and cool! Tempus fugit.

A question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately: Have Blogs Lost Their Reason For Being?

Nearly every day I struggle whether to put something here or on Twitter or Facebook. It’s a tough choice. Sometimes I divvy things up but it seems so arbitrary.

In the 140 character universe these entries are too long. Often my subjects are too complex. Does anyone need to spend four or five minutes learning what Geoff thought?

I’ve considered shutting this bad boy down. The only thing keeping me from doing that is here I’m master of my own domain–literally, not in the Seinfeld sense. I do own this domain! And of course I hold onto the archives.

Posts on social media are transitory–here today, gone tomorrow. I like that incorrect guesses I made seven years ago are still here.

So the blog stays… at least for now. I continue to consider my options.

Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter have their advantages, but are they really better?

The Dismemberment Of Privacy

If you’re using Twitter on a mobile device with built-in GPS capabilities there’s an excellent chance Twitter knows where you are!

More and more as you enter the Internet you lose anonymity. Unless you really work hard to cover your tracks its likely companies know lots about you based on what you do online. They don’t need to know your name to effectively sell to you. Often they do anyway.

Recently I coded a Twitter search request&#185 to send me a stream of every tweet within 15 miles of here. Twitter still doesn’t know where most people are, but the number they do know grows each day.

If you’re using Twitter on a mobile device with built-in GPS capabilities there’s an excellent chance Twitter knows where you are!

Advertisers want to know too. Geolocation has immense potential to unlock local markets for national salesforces.

Geolocation’s power is so obvious the mere thought must be intoxicating to Google and Yahoo! and the others who will take advantage. Tragically they’ll be selling ads in competition with my employer. It will be a tough fight.

Generally, Twitter users follow people. By following you filter the tweets you see. Twitterers you don’t follow are invisible to you. There’s a whole twitisphere you mostly don’t see.

By screening for location alone the bias of selection is removed. If Twitter knows a tweet originates near me I see it.

The 15 mile localized tweetstream is a weird collection! It is good and bad and in between.

What I do is cyber eavesdropping. I admit it. Often I’m deep inside the lives of people I’d otherwise never come in contact with. Like a fly on the wall they have no idea I’m reading.

I’m not the only one intercepting these communiques. They’re too valuable not to be commercially mined.

Revealing and personal tweets often come encoded with the latitude and longitude of the user! Click on a tweet and connect to a map with the location of the person who sent it! I can’t imagine the people who make these tweets even suspect this is happening. They are naifs!

The potential for abuse is incredibly high.

This morsel of wisdom floated through the Internet over the weekend.

“If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.”

Beware! In the end the companies which profit from this data will make the decisions on what’s fair use. You will have little say.

&#185 – * geocode:41.39529,-72.897635,15mi

How To Sound Old

You don’t have to be on Facebook or Twitter. You do have to respect the new social media for the mere fact you have viewers and potential viewers who think it’s valuable.

I read some quotes today from a well respected anchor on a program with national reach. Who she is isn’t as important as what she said.

“I don’t have Facebook, and I don’t tweet. I don’t know what all this tweeting is about,”

You don’t have to be on Facebook or Twitter. Much of what goes on on both is insipid. You do have to respect social media for the mere fact viewers and potential viewers think it’s valuable. Being dismissive or disrespectful of your audience’s likes is seldom the road to success!

It’s no secret I hope people who read my blog or are friends with me on Facebook will also watch me on TV. I’m glad to open this personal connection. It’s valuable on a variety of levels.

A zillion years ago when I worked in Florida I watched a guy (probably a few decades younger than I am now) who seemed to be going through the motions. I was around 20. It upset me.

I made a commitment back then: never be him.

If you don’t keep up as the environment which surrounds you changes you’re just going through the motions. Who wants that?

Explosion In Middletown

The house shook from an explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown. That’s around 20 miles from here. Their website says it’s “in construction”:

Around 11:30 this morning my house shuddered. We’ve been hit by flying branches in storms. This was different. There was no sound, just a compression shock. I got out of bed and headed downstairs.

Helaine was on the sofa. She perceived it differently from me. She said we should check the house. I opened the door and saw nothing. We went to the basement and garage. Nothing again.

The house shook from an explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown. That’s around 20 miles from here. Their website says it’s “in construction”:

620 MW – Siemens-Combined Cycle, ISO & FERC 345kV Interconnect Approved –Pipeline Delivered – Dual Fuel – Gas & Oil Fired – Water Cooled

Helaine said the shake reminded her of an explosion while we were in Buffalo.

An untrained worker was moving a propane tank with a forklift. The tank fell and the valve sheared off. The propane, being heavier than air, spread out along the ground.

From Wikipedia:

The North Division Street explosion was a powerful explosion on December 27, 1983 in a warehouse at the intersection of North Division and Grosvenor Streets in Buffalo, New York. The building contained an illegal 500-gallon propane tank whose valve was broken off while it was being moved and the building was evacuated. The propane started to leak and eventually reached an open flame. The tank exploded, killing all five firefighters assigned to Ladder 5 and two civilians; and damaging a dozen city blocks and causing millions of dollars of damage in fire equipment.

When it happened Helaine thought a car had run into our house! Within thirty seconds of her calling me at the TV station every phone in the place was ringing.

Right now I’m listening to emergency responders on an Internet delivered scanner channel. There’s lots of activity which seems well coordinated. There’s talk of victims and casuaties. It’s horrific.

I wanted to make sure Ann Nyberg knew about this. By the time I called her she was already at the station helping with our coverage. Stories unfold much more quickly now than in ’83. I’ve posted on Twitter and Facebook and the replies have been coming at a steady pace.

This is a tragedy.

I’m Getting Set To Change My Blog

Each of these steps is tiny, but none of them is particularly well documented. If anything’s been left out I won’t know until it’s failed!

Without getting too terribly geeky my blog runs on Movabletype. That’s a software package which puts my typed words into the visual format you see. Moveabletype has served me well, but the trend in blogs (and other similar sites) is toward WordPress.

Simply put WP is supported by a huge community of developers and MT is not. That means WordPress can do lots of tricks this blog can’t do right now. In a Twitter, Facebook, search engine optimized age some of the tricks are pretty important.

There is a feature in WordPress to actually import a Movabletype blog like this one…. hold on… I’m laughing hysterically. You really don’t think it’s that easy, do you? I mean there is that feature. It almost works!

Others have blazed this path before me and dropped breadcrumbs along the way. I’ve been in arcane files located on a distant server changing “\n” to “\n \n.” I’ve created files to remind my server which version of software it needs to run.

Each of these steps is tiny, but none of them is particularly well documented. If anything’s been left out I won’t know until it’s failed!

The blog’s server will move too. Right now it’s hosted by a company in Chicago. It will probably reside on the Pennsylvania servers of a German company when I’m through. That should be invisible to you.

With all this the look of the blog will change. Though it has to change a little it’ll probably change a lot. There may be fewer full stories on the home page but more summaries and links. Maybe a better way to show photos? I’m mulling the decisions.

It needs to look nice while not pissing you (my readers) off.

I’m thinking of designing the theme myself from scratch. The more I look the more that seems doable. Most folks choose to use a pre-designed theme.

More than I can chew? Possibly.

I’m fixated on typography. Some blogs look so pretty because of the way they use type–how it’s spaced and formatted for headlines, quotes and lists. I’ve been searching for advice on this particular nuance but have come up short so far.

I’m open to suggestions. It’s like a fresh sheet of paper has been laid before me. It’s geekily exciting.

The process should take a few days… by which I mean a few weeks… so probably by late March… 2011.

My State Of The Blog Address

Over the years my traffic has gone up and down. It was highest just before I was struck by a hacker and lost my Google mojo.

Earlier today I got an email from someone who just discovered this blog. He couldn’t sleep and aimlessly went from page-to-page. He joins the 73,807 visitors in 2009 who came here 165,558 times and viewed 297,223 pages! My page counter currently reads 2,120,588 pages served since I began.

Over the years traffic has gone up and down. It was highest just before I was struck by a hacker and lost my Google mojo. Google has reinstated me to their index, but the traffic has never quite recovered though it’s getting close, again.

All of these statistics are possible because of Google. There’s a little piece of code on every page which connects to Google Analytics. GA quantifies everything that’s going on.

There was a time I was making a few bucks a day&#185 from the blog. Now it’s a few pennies. That’s Google related too-Google AdSense.

Posting my blog entries to Twitter and Facebook has made a difference. I know most readers don’t read every entry I write, but from time-to-time there’s something that catches social networking eyes and traffic spikes.

The blog is read around-the-world though over 2/3 come from the United States. Foreign viewers tend to come for something specific, stop by and never return. Connecticut provides the most readers. As far as I remember I have never mentioned this blog on-the-air.

I was REALLY sick… doctor to your hotel room sick… and didn’t post October 22, 2006. That’s probably the last day I missed. An unwritten rule demands a post every day. Often there’s more than one.

Each entry is written and rewritten. Seriously, everything is rewritten. Mistakes still get in. Helaine is my best editor, though she continues to refuse my offer to let her make the corrections on her own.

Writing this blog is the most disciplined part of my life. Until I began I had no idea how much one could enjoy writing.

&#185 – Before you poo poo a few bucks a day, over the year it added up to hundreds of dollars, which paid for the web hosting with a little left over for coffee.

It’s The Best Toy Ever

The iPhone is transformational technology. It will change your life.

“It’s the best toy ever,” was what my secretive friend in the San Fernando Valley said right after he got his iPhone. He kept saying it and saying it and saying it until I too broke down. You know what? He was right.

I complained originally about the keyboard and inconsistencies regarding when or which apps allow you to turn the screen to the landscape position. Still true. Horrendous battery life. Also true. I have chargers or cables at home, work and in the car.

The iPhone is transformational technology. It will change your life.

More than likely what I’m saying also applies to the new phones running the Android operating system, like the Droid and the soon to be unveiled (but already widely seen) phone from Google itself!

If you just count hours I used the iPhone more when I first got it . Now I go for value and utility. I answer email and check Facebook and Twitter. I don’t update my blog with it… well I did once and it wasn’t fun!

I have added apps. I’ve added enough that every once in a while I clean things out and reclaim a little space.

I have been blown away by some of these little programs like the amazing ReelDirector video editor. That was $4.99 well spent! Everyone is astounded I can shoot and edit video in the phone and the quality is very good.

Tonight my friend Bob showed me Glympse, which will allow a friend to track you for a set period of time. If I was driving to your house I’d send a private url which would allow you to track me and know when I’d be there.

Sometimes I use the iPhone instead of my car radio to listen to shows on NPR. I flew cross country using it to watch movies. I keep France24, a 24-hour English language all-news TV network from France, as my live TV demo–though I seldom actually watch it otherwise.

Yes, it’s a phone. It’s also a computer which leverages special hardware, like a GPS receiver, compass, accelerometer and touch screen. That makes it a computer that knows exactly where it is and what’s nearby.

Every time a new app arrives the phone does a little more. That’s not going away any time soon.

Apple is a little controlling. I wish I could see a little more of the inner digital workings.

I’m sure my California friend is reading this and taking some satisfaction that he ‘made the sale.’

A Little Poker Talk

I am playing to win against big league pitching though the amount won or lost is really inconsequential. I’m not betting my 401-K here.

If you read my tweets on Twitter or follow me on Facebook you’ve seen a bunch of quick messages about playing poker. It is an understatement to say I enjoy the game.

I’m OK at it. Not bad. Not great. There are plenty who play better than I do.

Playing poker in Las Vegas has always been enjoyable because the best players are here&#185. I am playing to win against big league pitching.

The amount won or lost is really unimportant. I’m not betting my 401-K here. This is not a life changing experience. I like the action and play at stakes that are interesting without being dangerous.

My goal for this trip was to play ‘tight aggressive.’ That means I only play quality hands and play them for what they are. I do very little sneaking around–very little bluffing. If I’ve got a hand I raise it. If I don’t or the value of the hand I’m holding diminishes I fold.

These are cards, not children. I have no mortal bond to support them!

My goal is to prevent folks with bad cards from seeing a cheap flop (poker talk–don’t worry) and catching cards to beat me. That’s where the aggression comes in. Good hands are raised aggressively.

And like I said, if my cards have been counterfeited (other cards showing to make mine worth less) I’m outta there.

I have played six cash game sessions on this trip. So far I have come out ahead all six times.

There’s certainly some luck there, but I’m playing well. In poker playing well means playing disciplined. I am proud of keeping to my plan.

Staying disciplined is easier said than done. After all, any time you fold you’re sitting doing nothing, just watching. I must resist the temptation.

Though I’ve won six cash sessions I did bust out in a tournament my first day. I’ll be playing that same tourney in just a few minutes.

Tournament action is different than cash. You’re less able to sit and wait because the cost of just sitting (blinds) is continually rising. On top of that only the top 10% or so get paid. The vast majority playing tonight will lose.

My aim tonight is to play tough and survive.

&#185 – The best players are here, but Internet play on average is probably a little better than Vegas live play.

Roxie Misses Stef And Helaine (Me Too)

At the moment I wish I was dog’s best friend.

Roxie misses the girls. They’re off on a two concert weekend tour. Since noon yesterday I’ve been in charge.

I left for work around 3:00 PM leaving Roxie in her ~~crate~~ gated community. Cheryl came by twice in the evening to walk her and give some human companionship. I took over again at midnight.

Within thirty seconds of walking in the house Roxie was singing to me from upstairs. She wanted out. When I pulled the latch and swung open the door it was like a jailbreak!

She took care of her business, finished her kibbles and had a little water.

I took her with me as I went to change. This was an unusual time and place for her. As I went to the closet she sprinted down the hall to Stef’s bedroom coming back with a pair of thick woolen socks.

It was adorable to see her jogging down the hallway with the sockball in her teeth though larger than her head!

We’re really not dogproofed upstairs so I closed the doors and continued my late night preps.

Roxie usually sleeps with Stef. She often burrows deep under the covers ending up near Stef’s feet.

When Stef has been away Roxie has slept with Helaine and me. She was having none of this last night!

She jumped off the bed–a terrible thing for a short legged, long backed doxie. Then she began doing wind sprints through the bedroom. Low to the ground like a dragster, she reaches top speed almost immediately.

It’s tough to catch Roxie when she doesn’t want to be caught. That little doggie is fast!

Long story short, Roxie ended up spending the night in Stef’s bedroom in the crate. Not my fondest wish, but my hands were tied. She just wasn’t interested in spending quality time with me and she couldn’t be trusted on her own.

Even this afternoon there’s something up. We went outside, but she did nothing. Her tail was down–a sign she wasn’t comfortable. I posted to Twitter:

“Somethng’s up with Roxie. At the moment I suspect the only way to get her to piddle would be to leave her alone on the carpet.”

It’s obvious she misses Helaine and Stef. They are her primary care givers. She’s showing it as a dog shows things. That’s sad. Hopefully she’ll relax over the next 24 hours.

At the moment I wish I was dog’s best friend.

Not A Good Day On The Internet

Today it is running so slowly I suspect my host has substituted a Commodore64 as the server!

It’s not a good techno day. I woke up to six emails. That’s too few–by far. What’s up with that? I’m sure in a few days, or weeks, I’ll hear from those whose emails aren’t getting here.

Maybe the mail problem is related to my website. Today it is running so slowly I suspect my host has substituted a Commodore64 as the server!

The attached image shows three numbers in the upper right corner. These show the server load. Anything greater than one means processes are queued. It sets up the Internet equivalent of twiddling your thumbs. Numbers is the mid-20s are scarily bad.

For most simple operations this slowdown isn’t obvious. However, when you use my database, like to leave a comment or search for an older entry, the website goes into suspended animation&#185!

It’s very frustrating because I know people abandon comments when the website isn’t responsive.

I’m not alone with grief today. Twitter seems to be down for the count. The latest tweets I can view are now three hours old.

Actually, a very few tweets must be getting through which is allowing the trending topics page to be dominated by the word, “frozen,” as is “Twitter is frozen.”

The Twitter status blog states:

Timeline delays this morning 1 hour ago

We are currently investigating a problem causing many users’ timelines to be delayed. We will update with status here shortly.

Twitter is amazing. I can’t remember any other web based service that’s had as many issues and are still widely used. How long can they dodge the bullet?

&#185 – This just in from my hosting company:

Greetings

There was another user overloading mysql on the server. I have created an abuse report and suspended this user.

The load on the server has since dropped. This should resolve the issue.

Thanks,

Nate.S

Level 2 Tech Support

Should I Care About Letterman? I Do

It was obvious the audience was also caught off guard. They didn’t seem to get the drift of what he was saying.

“I’m glad you folks are here tonight, and I’m glad you folks are in such a pleasant mood, because I have a story I’d like to tell you and the home viewers as well.” – David Letterman

I rushed home and quickly turned on the TV. I wanted to watch David Letterman’s mea culpa. I am not proud this was must see TV.

A few quick notes. The Letterman extortion story exploded because of the Internet and social media. It wasn’t long after Letterman’s audience exited the Ed Sullivan Theater that the twittering began. Though Letterman was mum the accused perp’s name surfaced by 11:00p and his CBS News affiliation a few minutes later.

Social media led mainstream media by a mile. The Washington Post/CNN’s Howard Kurtz is a perfect example of the new pecking order.

“Weird: I tweeted, Anderson Cooper’s person saw it, seconds later I’m phoning in to CNN on the Letterman affair(s). Talk about Twitter power” – Howard Kurtz via Twitter

I’m a big Letterman fan and have been for nearly 30 years. I watched his confession tonight–that’s what it was.

I knew Dave was a flawed man, but this wasn’t a flaw I’d expected. My assumption was his shortcomings were beyond his control. This decidedly is not.

It was obvious the audience was caught off guard. There was no context so they originally felt Dave was setting up some bit. They didn’t get the drift of what he was saying. More than once there was awkward silence as they grasped to understand what was unfolding. They would have benefited by being pre-tweeted.

I wish I knew if tonight’s revelations would affect my ongoing viewing or even my opinion of Letterman in general. Though disappointing, these affairs of his aren’t at the Polanski level nor what suspect was Michael Jackson’s dysfunctional worst. I still enjoy Woody Allen movies and he’s been pretty skeevy as an adult.

I am conflicted. My opinion will certainly be swayed by the opinions of others.

Why should I care anyway? But I do.

There Are Too Many Places To Receive Messages

Can’t we go back to messaging by email or at least messaging in one place?

In the beginning when there was online communications but little Internet connection each online computer service had its own email within its own little community. If you were on The Source and I was a CompuServe member (71310,71) we couldn’t email each other!

I know. That sounds ridiculous today. Over time the web was born, everyone got interconnected and things were better.

Most people who’ve been on the ‘net any length of time have more than one email address. I’m not quite sure why this is nearly universal–but it is. We all have our favorite or most used address. There are always others.

Through GMail I have been able to consolidate all my email accounts so they’re received in one place. Write me at geofffox.com or my work email or any number of URLs I own and I’ll see your message via Gmail.

This was a very good system and I was very happy. But now it’s all changing. Once again we’re heading to numerous discreet messaging systems that don’t see each other.

Every day I have to check for messages on Facebook and replies on Twitter. I also get text messages and BlackBerry Messenger messages on my phone. I even use AOL IM a little. None of these interface (or do so easily) with plain old email.

Too many places to check, It’s just not productive. Wasn’t the goal to connect?

Helaine’s Tweets

She is fun to read because these short snippets really come from deep within her.

Helaine is on Twitter. Sorry–won’t give up her ID without a court order. Her tweets are protected (and to back that up there’s a padlock icon next to them)!

She is fun to read because these short snippets come from deep within. Close your eyes and you hear them in her voice!

I’ll give you a little taste… not too much.

Labor Day in CT = it’s almost Winter. How many days ’til Spring?

Just Shop Vac’d the garage. Love the vac, hate the spiders! The basement is next. Another day. Enough excitement for one day.

Just saw “Julie and Julia.” Sweet movie, made me hungry, Meryl Streep is amazing. I don’t like French food, so we went to IHOP.:)

I told her she should blog!

The New Twitter Plugin I Just Installed

It’s officially a digitally incestuous world!

I just stumbled upon this little plugin which will tweet all my blog postings to my Twitter account… which then dumps it into my Facebook account.

It’s officially a digitally incestuous world!

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