Bringing it all Together

So over the years, I've amassed social network accounts on every corner of the internet. That was the easy part. Keeping up with friend lists and requests and updates... well, not so much. I'm inherently lazy and don't like to spend much of my time actually browsing the sites. They're just presence, a place where people can see what's up. So hey, rather than pop around logging into all these sites just to see if something's new, why not bring that information to a central location?

Jubilation! We can save time while we waste time more efficiently!

Through the magic of most social networks' open nature, it's totally possible. And I've got a handful of solutions that may just work for you.

First off, the multiple protocol IM client Digsby supports the big social networks - Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn. Not only that, but you probably already use an IM client of some sort. Why not replace it with one that does more? As I mentioned months ago, Digsby is one of my favorite clients thanks to its sleek presentation. It's only gotten better with time, and chances are your computer will take less of a performance hit running this compared to the dedicated clients like Live Messenger.

Number two in the social media integration circuit is Skimmer. While it connects to a smaller number of services, it has probably the sweetest visual layout thanks to its Adobe Air heritage. It's a joy to click around in, and an excellent example of what modern application design can do.

So there's a couple applications for you, one that replaces and extends an IM client you probably already use, and one that stands alone but makes for a visually pleasing experience. Both are worth a spin. But truthfully, as of late, I'm working with neither of these. No, today's hands-down winner is a little web browser called Flock.

I tend to run hot and cold on my web browsing experience. Either I load up with so many extensions that my computer grinds to a halt, or I work with something perfectly stripped down and spartan (hello Chrome). Set just a little further towards extension-mania, Flock is 'The Social Web Browser'. Basically built on top of Mozilla's efforts, it adds a sidebar to manage logins and feeds from a staggering number of Social networks. Flock collects all these feeds and displays them in one coherent, searchable, sortable stream.

We're not just talking about the major networks and status updates, either. Flock has a built-in uploader for Picasa and Photobucket, and a blog editor compatible in Blogger, Livejournal, and Typepad. It's also fully extensible and compatible with the majority of Firefox addons already out there. And the performance, despite all of this, is just fine.

So that's how I'm currently keeping up with the world at large. How about you? Where and how do you aggregate your myriad updates? Pop a link in the comments.

Confessions of a Retired Web Designer

Well hey, been a while since my last visit to the desk. Yes, I already covered the main topics I was looking to as far as integration is concerned, and not much has changed since then in my day to day media and web-app life.

So what I'm going to talk about right this moment is "webmastering". Those who know me, know I used to be a self proclaimed web-guy. I would design sites, usually to the specs of a middleman of some sort, and then be forever tied to that site's identity. Emails come in, I pop on to do some quick updates, and before you know it there goes my day, going back and forth with minuscule changes. I used to burn out very quickly on these projects.

See, if you make a static website for someone you're stuck managing that site unless, by some miracle, that someone also knows how to make and edit sites. And chances are, if they hired you to do it for them, they don't have that ability. There's a lot of people who make good money off this model. They don't burn out, because they know they're raking in the dough from their non-technical clientelle. The site is their hostage, and they can charge anything they like because, face it, the field is a shark pond.

Now, I've been off web design for quite a while. In the meantime, social media happened. Everything on the web is dynamic, and knowing how to slap together a little HTML doesn't really do much anymore. I used to work at the very lowest level of websites, obsessing over code, testing pages in multiple browsers. Heck, I taught myself PHP at one point so I could build a content management system from scratch. It's great to have that sort of technical knowledge, sure, but nowadays it just doesn't make sense to work that hard.

Today, a web-guy has to work smart. And a big part of that means empowering people. And this is where my new recommendation comes into play.

I've been aware of a little place called Squarespace for quite a while. The first time I played with it I vowed I'd never muck around in code again. When people come to me for design projects, I just point them there instead. You can do it yourself, and the results are even more professional than anything a two bit web-guy like me can do. So hey, if you're thinking of farming out a web project, do yourself a favor and try Squarespace first. You get two-weeks to tweak your site to spec before you even have to commit any cash.

I got my last project started on Squarespace, and I'm watching to see how it works out now that the owner's able to log in and make changes themselves. As things progress I'll probably be sharing some of my findings here concerning the cool things we've been able to do with the service.

The Internet is My New PDA

Remember what a pain it used to be to bring your data with you? I'm talking about contacts and calendars. You were often stuck depending on what calendar your original data lived in, what applications you used, and what mobile devices you had. I remember having a calendar on my iPod Touch, which I synced into Outlook, which I shared through Office Online only so I could resubscribe to it in Windows Live. My contacts were an amalgam of actual information I'd put in, and a bunch of junk from my IM program. And while I love all my online peeps, I don't have addresses or phone numbers for most of them and don't need them mucking up my real-people contact list. And every time I pared it down on the iPod, it would get repopulated unless I decided not to sync addresses in the first place. After a while I did just abandon syncing, and whenever my iPod got wiped I just cut my losses and started fresh.

So the solution, for me, came with the advent of Google Sync. The service lets your data live on the ever-accessible Google cloud, and it can sync from pretty much anything, including my iPod. So I made the jump to Google, separating my real-life contacts from my online friends over on Live. The awesome sauce comes in where some of my coworkers also use the service, and we can share our schedules among ourselves. There's no effort to it at all. We just enter it all on our respective devices, and it's synced everywhere immediately. I no longer use an application on my computer for this information, since the only purpose until now had been to act as a pass-along to get it online. In the end, I've found the perfect, no muss solution to keep my data available anytime, anywhere.

Go ahead and check out Google's sync features. They just may make life easier for you. And hey, if you have your own system for spreading your delicious data jelly across the toast of your digital lifestyle, go ahead and drop a globule in the comments.

The Songbird Integration Gauntlet

As a music player, I gravitated to Songbird a short while ago. Based on Mozilla's work, it isn't exceptionally special on the surface. It plays and manages music just like iTunes and Windows Media Player. But when you start playing with addons, it becomes a very powerful, integrated app. It's like the second coming of Winamp, except the addons are more useful rather than just neat. Here's how Songbird fits into my digital life.

First, and included by default in the player, is Last.fm integration. This social music discovery service tracks what you listen to and offers streaming radio based on yours or your friends tastes. In addition to simple scrobbling, you can further add some of the functionality of the standalone Last.fm app.

Second is the Now Playing addon. This lets Live Messenger and other IM programs display your current song in your status. Additionally, you can send your current track to Twitter. The next step, and we're all hoping for this, is tapping into Blip.fm as well to make those tweets clickable and listenable.

Next up is SongSnarl. This makes use of the Snarl notification system, which holds a special little place in my heart. All Snarl does is display sleek popup notifications that replace Windows' myriad balloons and toast slices. Thing is, Snarl does it really, really well. Songsnarl taps in and will show you track information when a new song starts. Great for shuffling music when you have the player window hidden.

Finally, for iPhone and iPod Touch owners, there's a Songbird remote app. Pretty much identical to the iTunes remote, you can control playback and with the paid version, browse your library from your touch device.

So all that I'm missing right now is syncing to my iPod - Songbird supports any previous model but these newfangled devices are as of yet locked down and inaccessible to the program. Other than that, it's pretty much responsible for all my auditory needs.

And so, what media player fuels your personal soundtrack? What killer features or integration keeps you locked in? By all means, rock out in the comments.

Evernote Remembers Stuff So You Don't Have To

So I've been terrible with information over the years. I can manage an address book and a calendar, which are simple and structured, but when it comes to just random things I need to remember, good luck. You're looking at torn off bits of paper, post-it notes all over, and more often than not I'll be throwing away whatever it is that I just wrote down within minutes of using it. Basically I'm a goldfish with a pen.

How can the wonderful world of computers help? Well taking a bare bones approach gives me tiny notepad files all over my desktop, which I delete within minutes of using. Digital goldfish with a digital pen. Not helpful. I want to file stuff away and forget it until I need it. I don't need to see it unless I want it, and I don't want the temptation to clean house on my computer-assisted memory.

I transitioned to Microsoft OneNote some time ago for a solution and threw quite a bit of information in it, but I spent more tine organizing data and playing around than actually using it. The program has a very pretty and powerful interface, which is more distracting than useful. That, and the information's locked away in these files I can't access without OneNote. I can't guarantee I'll be at my desk when I need something. I need data that moves with me.

My new solution? Evernote! This handy little app exists on the Internet, on your desktop, and on your mobile device. You can sync all your data, access it anywhere, and enter new notes whenever and wherever you like. That gives it the green light for my integration-centric lifestyle. Finally, it's just data that I can put down or retrieve whenever I need to. No organization, no management, just completely optional tags and a search function. And that's perfect for me.

Do you use Evernote or a similar application to aid your memory? What's your system? Sound off in the comments and tell me all about it!

Supercharge your Network with OpenDNS

Quick bit of networking 101 for ya; DNS, or Domain Name Service. That's what's responsible for taking your human-readable web addresses and translating them into computer-readable IP addresses. It's the phone book of the internet. In most cases, your Internet provider runs a DNS server that does this for you. It's probably competent, but there's so much more that can be done. Enter OpenDNS.

OpenDNS is a free service that replaces your default DNS servers. In addition to increased reliability, they also actively fail to resolve URLs for known malware hotbeds, providing an extra layer of security. All this happens as soon as you change to their servers. Setting up an account with OpenDNS allows you to associate your network's IP address with customizable settings. Pop your own logo on the "did-you-mean" pages and create URL shortcuts, like having "mail" forward to your webmail provider of choice. And for the micromanager, you can keep tabs on your network usage with the OpenDNS dashboard. If you've got family to protect you can block adult content, social networking sites, gambling sites or other illegal activity pretty easily. I prefer this to net-nanny software on the computer side which can be slow and usually easy to bypass.

I've been using OpenDNS for a few years now, and the built in security has been keeping me out of the dark corners of the internet with no effort at all. Overall it's an excellent service, super quick to setup, and highly recommended.

RSS Your Appetite with Snackr

Here's a quick pick for you. I was marvelling with a co-worker recently about how awesome RSS is. Brilliant little technology, scraping headlines from websites and delivering them to wherever you like. As a person who avoids actually going to websites whenever possible, RSS is the tool that fuels my bite sized reading.

There are a handful of built in RSS readers in your OS, probably a sidebar gadget or a functionality of your web browser or email client. Maybe you have RSS feeds going to your home page. That's all well and good. Myself, I've got Snackr.

Snackr is an Adobe Air app, simple and elegent in execution, and more powerful than your average reader. News items scroll by your desktop like a stock ticker. Images are included, and when something strikes your fancy you can just click and it pops up its own little window with the article inside. You still have a View Post button to visit the website if you really want, but you can get a whole lot of reading done without leaving your desktop.

The feature that really makes Snackr shine is its upcoming integration with Google Reader. You need to download the beta build for this. Now you can have the same feeds on multiple machines, synced up with the reader website for reading on the go. Best of all, when you mark something as read, or star it for quick retrieval, that also syncs across. All told, that one killer feature makes this my favorite reader yet.

Go ahead and check Snackr out, see if you like it. If you have an RSS solution that works for you, feel free to leave a link in the comments and I'll check it out.