eBook readers will kill this social convention.  eBooks keep your reading material fairly discreet.  The ability to engage people on their readings will become more difficult because it’s difficult to decipher which book they’re reading.

On the flip side; discreet reading might be a bit liberating.  The New York Times [within the same post] mentions book sales on edgy books going up when the jacket was switched to something less obvious [and more socially acceptable].

To eReaders [a toast]; for pioneering book reading freedom in public places.  Now were is that Karma-Sutra book?

On another note, I’m sure there will be plenty of Social Book sharing sites out there well before eReaders become the norm.  So don’t you worry about following someone else’s library.

I think this is wonderful.  Your information intake should not be dependent on others morals.  1 Point for eReaders and their contribution to freedom.

1. Facebook contacts sync with iPhone contacts
   1. Now all of my iPhone contacts have photos, woot!
   2. My iPhone is also synced with my Gmail contacts; Trifecta! (Facebook, Gmail and iPhone contacts are all synced)
   3. Quick link to contacts Facebook page via my contacts list, sweet
2. Reply to comments via Email
   1. No more having to travel to Facebook just to reply to a comment, that’s just nice.

Those are some super useful features that have me pretty much married to Facebook.  I’ve said too much.

It’s just such an enjoyable experience.  It’s the only mail application that I have ever seen do this.  Not even Gmail does this and that’s saying something.

Am I ready to take yet another big step and leave my oh-so-wonderful Verizon?  I’ll admit that the coming of the Blackberry Storm kept me in wishful-thinking mode and I was hoping that it was going to be my end all solution to my future mobile needs.  Sad to say the phone did not impress me either in person or online reviews.

iPhone seems like the next best choice, but my understanding is that it does everything extremely well except act as a phone.  Why call it an iPhone when it’s more of an iMobile (device).  I’ve also heard plenty of people complain about it’s weak battery life (only because of it’s robust plethora of apps).

The battery life dilemma can be resolved by getting a car charger and maybe an extra cord for work to recharge while you’re working hard (read: researching more about your iPhone).  Why Apple didn’t consider allowing for easy battery replacement is beyond me.

Stop and Stare as an ordinary man w/ his ordinary comfortable ways slowly converts to a new trendy technology on the basis of “it’s better.”  It’s not about purchasing a phone anymore.  It’s about purchasing something that will keep me connected by whatever means possible, have it be facebook, twitter, flickr, banking service, google maps, instant messaging, sms messaging, visual voicemails, feed readers, email clients, internet radio, everyday web browsing.

“He’s gone 10 hours straight, he’s like a machine … I know kung-fu.”  Communication is evolving and we should to.  Now which road do we take?  The text-based one, or the one w/ all the pretty visuals.  They do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but simple is safe.

Someone help me.

Who-da-whata?  Special attention to markup and links use to be your claim to fame in Google, but now marketing will take an even more drastic role on who’s on top (popularity contest anyone?)

Web Marketing is going to play a much bigger role on what’s hot and what’s not.  This isn’t a bad thing, it just means that the rules have changed.  Allowing humans to decide what’s good has lead to some great creations, iTunes Genius anyone?

Clarification

After a second-trip I can see how my summary can be misleading.  I’m not saying that your personalized results give you complete control of Google results.

Immediate realization; I’m saying that comments made on search results will  affect whether or not an end-user will choose to remove, keep, or promote a result from their end.

If the site is greatly promoted via web marketing (word of mouth) or what-have-you  this will affect how others choose to augment their results.

If you have no prior knowledge or simply haven’t chosen a side yet in regards to the result you’re looking at and the masses seem to agree that this result is more than valid, it’s safe to assume you might choose to click on this result as opposed to other not-so-popular results.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/searchwiki-make-search-your-own.html

In the future, it’s easy to imagine a world where Google uses end-user preferences and integrates them into their current algorithm.
http://searchengineland.com/google-searchwiki-launches-15561.php

In conclusion

We’re in the golden age of democracy and people’s opinions are becomming more and more transparent.  What’s important to consider is how your followers see you.

Experiment: Maybe I should just tape my mouth shut for a week and see what I learn.

I have never really worked with a Mac and it goes without saying (then why are you saying it?), that I’ve never owned one.

My desktop and notebook (both Sony’s) have recently slowly faded away.  My desktop makes more noise than our air conditioning unit and my notebook plays digital peek-a-boo with fast-action startup and shutdown ninja skills.

Horrible comparison starting point, but I remember quite well how my 2 powerhouse PC’s performed.  I’ve announced my purchasing endeavor for a new computer to my closest of friends and they’ve been the best at giving me their advice.

It amazes me to see how passionate all mac users are and I’m beginning to see why.  There were a couple of PC (non mac) defendants though … but small in comparison to those who use Macs.

People who defend PC’s are super-computer savvy, they know the directory structure and live by it.  I’ll admit I’m having some difficulty letting go as well.  It’s not to say that the directory structure (the organized folders) doesn’t exist on macs, it’s just hidden as if they’re trying to protect you from the scariness.

People who defend Mac’s are somewhat-computer savvy.  Those who don’t believe they have to know computers in their entirety to get their work done.  They thoughtlessly understand that it’s a medium by which they travel to get their goals accomplished and don’t live in the system but rather simply use the system to get things done.

Great, a clear difference.  So which one am I?  For the purposes of this post I’ll call the majority of Mac users laymen.  An analogy would be the difference between driving a car and knowing how to fix it.  People who own great cars usually know how to fix them.  Well it’s the same w/ computers.  Those who work in the world of design and development need to know more about the technology in order to utilize it.

So I’m a PC.  Wrong.  Apparently Macs have a lot more to offer to developers than meets the eye.  Macs are used by people I admire such as Google and 37 Signals (experts in the field of web development).

Last year Schipul sent me to the Google Conference and I was amazed at the number of developers and presenters with macs.  37 Signals a company who ideas I believe in religiously, claims they won’t hire anyone who doesn’t use a mac.  Technology Prejudice?

Now I realize I’m jumping all over the place.  There are huge differences between application engineers and web developer (web engineers).  Google doesn’t seem to know the difference, the majority of their peeps are referred to as software engineers and treat it all in the same.  This probably explains why their web applications behave so much like desktop applications.

All in all it seems evident that Macs have something to offer to both developers and the rest of the world.  I’ve owned my brand new, first ever Macbook Pro for 4 days now and can’t remember the last time I was more satisfied w/ my purchase.

Ok I lie, my Bose computer speakers are amazing, they don’t just play music, they sing to me with sound clarity that could best be described as holy and spiritual.

This post was written on my MacBook pro and my fingers are loving this creation station.  This post is not to announce my resignation of PC usage, it’s merely to say that I’ve walked through the Mac doorway and all I can say so far is Wow.

For a detailed review, visit Paul Stamatiou
http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/11/08/review-253ghz-apple-macbook-pro

I like my regular old Samsung phone, it has what I need … it’s a phone with text messaging.  That’s all I really use.

Enter Will.

He shows me twitterific, facebook, gmail, gtalk, google maps, google search, the easy voicemail system, and contacts section, oh and wordpress (blogging from your phone) oh my.

How dare he accidently sell me.  I use all of those things, and now I don’t have to be stuck at some desk in my home or office.

Ok, so he didn’t tell me about the wordpress thing, but still you get the point. It’s the thing I never knew I always wanted.

There is one thing and one thing only keeping me away and that’s the AT&T network.  Verizon rules, can you hear me now?  – Good.   

All I can say is “amazing.” It’s times like these that make me want to purchase an iPhone, just because the iPhone makes it so easy to use services like Twitter.

What is this that you’re saying, you don’t know what Twitter is? Well let me explain via this handy dandy oh-so-easy to watch video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

I’m a huge advocate of usability and if this doesn’t slap a guy across the face, you’re probably talking to the wrong guy. Help your man unlock you and buy something you’ll both enjoy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=utySPFH_HlA

Piclens is a nice little plugin that allows you to look at photos in a whole new way. Friends will go whoa, you will go I know and both of you will feel ahh after dragging and scrolling this baby for a couple of seconds.

Say farewell to clicking on that obligatory next button that you love so much.

If you get dizzy or nauseated easily I would recommend not downloading the plugin, it may be a little too 3d and smooth for your taste.

If you’ve ever wanted to look cool, (as if you were in some futuristic movie or cop movie) like where the hacker searches through a super-secret-world of photos, this just may be the thing you’ve been looking for.

Enjoy feeling cool, I know I am.