Quick Tip! – Myspace IM

If you are anything like me, then you use social networking sites throughout the day everyday.  I still use and love Myspace.  In fact, along with Facebook, I have an instance of Myspace logged in and open almost 24/7.  I use Myspace IM, and find it to be a great tool for communicating with others.

Here is a quick tip.  If you stay logged in for long periods of time, and use Myspace IM, you may want to sign out every now and then.  Most of the time, Myspace will get to a point where I have timed out, and it logs itself out for me.  Other times, however, I notice that the IM feature becomes very sluggish, and may not provide accurate information, like who is online at that moment.  Logging out, then back in usually resolves this problem.

Quick, easy, and useful, at least that what I hope you get from this tip.  You have any tips to pass along? If so, leave a comment bellow, or shoot me an email: dan@danielvining.com

Follow Drew, LIVESTRONG!

@DrewFromTV

I know this is not a new topic, but I feel like everyone needs to be reminded.  Drew Carey, popular from his 90s hit sitcom “The Drew Carey Show”, and as the current host of “The Price is Right” is spear heading an initiative to raise money for Lance Armstrong’s L I V E S T R O N G Foundation.  The way that Carey is going about doing this is pretty interesting.  He has committed to donate 1 dollar for every Twitter follower he has up to 1 million dollars/followers.

As of October 25th, Carey has 114+ thousand followers.  That is just a drop in the hat compared to the millions that other users, like new American Idol judge Ellen Degeneres have.  We, the geek community at large, can do a lot to help this cause reach it’s goal.  Let us be the grass roots Twitter effort to encourage others to pledge to this cause.

Being a part of this cause if free.  Drew has committed the dollars for you, so all you have to do is take action, and follow him on Twitter.  Follow http://www.twitter.com/drewfromtv and spread the word by adding him to one of your lists (if you have that feature) and mentioning the cause to your friends, co-workers, fellow bloggers, and of course, Follow Friday.

Sure, 1 million dollars is just a small drop in the bucket, but 100,000 dollars barely makes a ripple.  We have until the end of the year to get this done, so let’s do it!

Follow Friday #2

Follow Friday #2, September 11, 2009 @danielvining

What if you didn’t know who to follow on Twitter? Would you randomly start following people? Would you follow people you see mentioned by those you already follow? Most likely you would ask your friends for recommendations since you can trust that your friends will suggest people who are worth following. Which is exactly how FollowFriday began.  Full Story on MASHABLE >>

I will follow anyone that is interesting, has intellegent things to say, and doesn’t revolve around SPAMing me (there is a difference between promotion and SPAMing).  This week’s Follow Friday picks are a mix of new followers, new twitters I am following and old tweople that have peaked my interest this week.

Enjoy and follow me too! @danielvining

Follow Friday #FF @SwtVibr4nt@koalamattress @sarayeong @rosenz@portcitybeer @xavlur @NavalMuseum@brizzly @EverywhereTrip@virgiliocorrado

CoverCast: Rascal Flatts “What hurts the most” by Drew Davis

CoverCast is a project I am working on in my spare time that blends my love of music with social networking, netcasting, and blogging.  Here is a taste of the type of videos you will find when CoverCast.com rolls out in the near future.  Comments and discussion are very welcome.  Enjoy!

“What hurts the most”

Rascal Flatts

Performed by Drew Davis

YouTube

CoverCast: Rascal Flatts "What hurts the most" by Drew Davis

CoverCast is a project I am working on in my spare time that blends my love of music with social networking, netcasting, and blogging.  Here is a taste of the type of videos you will find when CoverCast.com rolls out in the near future.  Comments and discussion are very welcome.  Enjoy!

“What hurts the most”

Rascal Flatts

Performed by Drew Davis

YouTube

Schmownce

Do you remember Pownce?  It was a social networking micro blogging site similar to Twitter, but more like Twitter on steriods.  It was a start-up of Kevin Rose, creator of Digg, and in my opinion, was pretty cool.  Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.  After only about a year of existance, the site was bought by a company called SixApart, they are the people behind VOX, Movable Type and Type Pad.  Once bought by them, we lost the twitter that would let you post videos, music and more.

At I thought it was gone.  Turns out a group of people, fans of Pownce, created a replica site with all of the same features and named it Schmownce.  I just created an account, and am still feeling my way through things, but thought I would throw up this post to hopefully entice a few more people to sign up.  I will meander around the site for a while to see if it will catch on with me.

In the process of finding out about Schmownce, I also took the time to start up a VOX account to at least reserve my name for later use.  You can check out nothing at danielvining.vox.com

Installations Galore

I installed Flock, AIM, and Instant Bird today.  Among all the work I have been doing on danielvining.com, today I also installed AIM for the first time since at least 2006.  I grew really tired of all the junk associated with AOL in general, so I dropped the service.  I currently find myself in a position where having this service will provide yet another means of contact to friends, relatives, and my online community friends.

Since I do have multiple service accounts, I am experimenting with an all-in-0ne chat client for the first time.  I choose Instant Bird to start, but I will most likely try out a few different clients until I find the best one for my needs.  My needs are simple.  One client program that can accomodate my Yahoo, AIM, Skype, IRC, and G-Talk accounts.  I don’t expect that I will be able to totally meet those requirements, but I am going to try.  The possibility of having one program take the place of four or five is enough to keep me searching.  Suggestions are welcome.

Finally today, well actually a couple days ago, I installed the Flock web browser.  I started exploring this interesting browser based on the Mozilla engine.  So far, I am a little over whelmed by this alternative take at social aggregation.  It is going to take a lot more time and exploration before I can decide if I like it over any of the others.  My current browser of choice in Google Chrome.  Perhaps the reason for this Chrome’s simplicity.  It has plenty of features for me, including being able to save a shortcut as an application.

I installed these programs to better help me communicate with anyone on the internet.  My bet is that the more old fashion means of communication will still stay in the foreground.  Telephone, Email, and IRC.  Only time will tell if I will decide to use an agrigator to condense the many perspectives I get from using the many different programs, but I am willing to give it a try.

New Addiction: Facebook

Well, try as I might, I could not help but to fall into the massive void that is Facebook.  I know, I know.  I am very late in the game, yet that doesn’t change the fact that I am now addicted to this service.  

I was an early adopter to Myspace, Facebook’s rival in the social networking game, back in 2005.  Within my Myspace profile, I grew a better understanding of HTML, got my fix on adding as many friends as I could, and kept in touch with friends in both my hometown of Pensacola, FL  and the place that I called home for five years, Minot, ND.  As 2005 drew into 2006, and 2007, I became a bit over saturated by Myspace.  By 2008 it had become the place where I would watch people continue on with their lives, while at the same time I started to respond less and less.  I was tired of Myspace.

Jump to now, 2009, and I have found new life in social networking, through Facebook.  It started with wanting to create a more professional social net presence that I felt Myspace could not provide.  Facebook for me has begun to overtake Myspace as my number one most visited site thus far this year.  I keep a Facebook page open all the time, and constantly check my email to see if there are any new updates.  Never a big fan of Myspace Apps, I don’t see myself changing that on Facebook.  There do seem to be more apps that truly cater to networking.  Although I don’t like how hard it can be to find new friends on Facebook, I feel that overall the user experience on this social network is safer.  

I don’t know if this new “addiction” will last as long as Myspace did, but I do know that I am enjoying this service now.  It is a huge tool that has let me reconnect with a ton of old friends, and expand into new relationships in both my personal and professional life.

Today I spent a good deal of time catchi…

Today I spent a good deal of time catching up with some dear friends from my past on Facebook. It was a good feeling to say hello to some people that I haven’t talked to in a long time. I also spent some time editing my Facebook account. I also worked on my Linked In online resume, and my paper resume. Not bad for a Friday.