Lifestreaming is a term that refers to the aggregation of various streams of content that a person creates on social media sites.
Between Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Blogs the content a person creates can be spread out in many separate places. The promise of lifestreaming is that you can pull together all of that silo-ed content into one stream that you can share with others. For people like me, an added benefit is that you can have a blog that doesn’t seem out-of-date.
The downside is that I haven’t found a great way to integrate all of that content on my Wordpress blog. I’ve added a lifestream page that pulls in most of the information but I haven’t been able to integrate that with my blog entries. So, I’ll keep playing with it and let you know what I find.
I’m using the Wordpress plug-in Lifestream right now.
Note: I had to upgrade my database from MySQL version 4 to version 5 to make it work. While’s it not a hard process it’s not something you’d want to do without a backup in case something goes wrong.
Posterous Logo
Posterous is a service that should appeal to people who want to post things online but don’t want to deal with the technical details. It works by simply emailing what you want to post to post@posterous.com. You don’t even need to create an account to get started, just email them. The contents of your email whether text, pictures, or a video are automatically uploaded to a page that is created for you. After your first email, you have the option to visit the site and customizing address and settings for your content. If your looking for an incredibly simple way to post content or blog on the web try Posterous.
My Posterous page: jamesvandyke.posterous.com
The Posterous Website
What to do when you need to know which font was used for a graphic? Well, if you’re short a typographist or font-spotter graphic designer you might try What the Font. It’s a free web service from myfonts.com who I’m guessing hopes you discover that the font you need is sold right on theirwebsite. So, if you ready for the certain to come pitch to buy something then give it a spin. At the least they have a few examples you can test it out on.
Visit What the Font.
David Pogue, technology columnist for the New York Times, has released a entertaining way to narrow down your choices before a tech purchase. This new tool called the “Pogue-O-Matic” basically just narrows your choices as you select the options you want. The treat comes as Mr. Pogue’s video commentary helps you choose which option is right for you. It’s not perfect and it only covers cameras, TVs and cell phones but it will help you understand the basics of which technologies are right for you.
Try the Pogue-O-Matic.
I found an interesting site today, downforeveryoneorjustme.com. If you’ve ever wondered if a website is really down or just singling you out this site tries to give you an answer.
After hearing about it for a year, I figured it was time to try Twitter. You can now find me at twitter.com/jamesvandyke.
Twitter is a mixture between ADD blogging and Instant messaging. You send “tweets” or messages of less than 140 characters via the website, IM client or third-party application. These tweets are logged on the twitter website.
The social aspect of Twitter is what makes it appealing though. You can choose to follow other Twitterers and receive all of the tweets they post. This allows you to keep up with the latest from your contacts without having to actively engage them in conversation. You can directly reply to other’s tweets which allows for conversations to take place.
While I’m not sure I truly understand the complete utility of Twitter yet, it’s interesting enough to try it for a few more days.
Unfortunately for one of my co-workers I found the site Wakerupper.com.
The site is designed to let you schedule a wake up call. However, it works for prank calls as well. Unlike some other call-back services, you’re not required to register the phone you want to contact. Plus, you can type in text that the site converts to a voice message for the call.
The site is free and doesn’t require you to sign but don’t expect it to be around for long.
James VanDyke is the author of this blog. During the work week you can find me in the E-Marketing team at SMU in Dallas where I create presentations and do assorted web stuff. I recently completed my MBA with a concentration in Marketing. At night, I hang out with my wife, read magazines and walk our dog Tigerman.