Social Network

"This has got to be the weirdest day of my life... well, so far." – Mikey, Look Who’s Talking, Tristar Pictures (1989)

If you're a parent, you have to wonder how a kid can start out knowing zip…zero…nada and in the blink of an eye, they're rocket surgeons!

Our son was always handy for managing the VCR, but now that everything is online who cares?

Today's youngsters – the iGen (interconnected) – don't know what a VCR is or video tape! They're born wired…always on.

Instead of being propped up in front of a TV, they're online.

It's estimated that 40 percent of US children under 12 will go online at least monthly this year.

Nearly half will do so by 2015.Read more

We're so proud of some of the fine people in the online world. You were one of the first in line at the Apple store to get an iPhone. First again to get an iPad. Probably have your order in for a Mac Air. You've put them to great use with your personal and company Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube pages. You've got your own blog that "someone" reads. You Twitter constantly – in the office, in the bathroom, on a night out, yes even when you get lucky. No wonder you have so many followers (they used to be known as stalkers but whatever floats your boat).

Looking around for new arenas to mine it's only natural that marketing, communications people were some of the first to claim their corner of the Cloud. Truth is IT folks don't like you very much. You're not doing them any favors by using your own devices for business because they have a tough enough job protecting the company's IP (intellectual property). Your device is just a partially unlocked door to the company's family jewels…and yours.

Let's start with the brutal basics…your passwords probably suck!Read more

Have you ever posted something that came back to bite you, like extreme political views, racy pictures, or complaints about your boss? If you did, you're not alone, and until now, foolish posts were all your own and only viewed by friends in your social media network and maybe the random high school classmate you decided to friend, the one you barely remember. But what if everyone could see these blunders and more? What if your profile and interests were broadcast to a wider audience?

As you know, recent changes to Facebook's default privacy settings are slipping user's profile info to search engines, and newly proposed features are stirring up controversy in Congress as well as creating privacy concerns amongst users. Retrevo's research earlier this year suggests that people were already getting themselves into trouble by hastily posting content that they find themselves regretting later. Facebook's new privacy settings aren't going to help.Read more

The big discussion on the impact of social media these days seems to be focused on privacy and how much is left when everything gets posted to Facebook, Twitter and the like. But there are still ways to keep your friends and colleagues informed about your activities without taking significant personal safety risks. Here are ten important things NOT to do with social media, in an effort to keep you, your friends and family safe. Most are common sense, but it can be easy to forget when juggling tasks.

Just remember: when in doubt, don't post.

10. Don't blast to the world that you'll be traveling. If you take a trip, just post about the event while you're there and maybe report back with more detail when you return; or if you must post that you're at a conference or live tweet from that, make sure to tweet about your house-sitter too.Read more

Tread Carefully – The industry has made it through a really tough year, and things are getting better; but you'll have to remain alert and move with care. If it were easy, anyone could do it. Source – Comstock Images

Forecasts are a lot like New Year resolutions – a lot of wishful thinking and the idea that you're going to make it; but boy, is the other guy/gal going to be in trouble.

As 12 really sucky months wind down, everyone tries to make sense of the chaos…and the opportunities. Talk to the entertainment people (HW, SW, content) and they're ready for the challenge. Talk to the mobile folks and you'd swear that no one is ever going to be home. Talk to the computer people and it's all business and play. Talk to the cloud folks and you'd swear you never have to touch the ground…ever. Talk to the storage gurus and they're building stuff to stuff your stuff. Read more

"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." – Raul, Die Another Day (MGM – 2002)

Our kids do nearly everything on their smartphones or netbooks. Because we're slightly retarded, they use email for us. For everyone else -- friends, schoolmates, relationships -- they max out all of the capabilities, features and benefits of today's Web 2.0 social media. They simply look at us and repeat Graves's words, "I have to live my dreams."

They aren't alone! A recent article in the WS Journal noted that gazillions of people have chosen to communicate faster (IMing), do it more quickly (texting), do it in a more focused/collaborative manner (wikis, SharePoint, etc.), do it every time they turn around (Twitter). And they are able to do it to almost instantly while reaching a wider audience (Facebook, LinkedIn, other social networking sites). They can tailor their reach with specific content (Flickr, YouTube) and just communicate in the way they want to communicate. Whether it's on their smartphone or netbook, they are connected with someone…anyone.Read more

Everybody's talking about Twitter now - Oprah, Ashton, Obama - so it seems the 140 character social media phenomenon is here to stay. In response to the hype, over 100 various applications and widgets for Twitter have been developed, so our attempt here is to introduce some of the best.

As Esther Schindler wrote in her earlier article on Twitter, "Twitter is like hanging out in a very cool restaurant that's frequented by interesting people." Twitter can be a great tool for news junkies, media hounds, bloggers and anyone who just wants to keep tabs on what's going on in the world. However, trolling through the sea of feeds can be tricky, so the first thing to master is Twitter Search. Read more

"Well, I'm gonna' get out of bed every morning... breath in and out all day long. Then, after a while I won't have to remind myself to get out of bed every morning and breathe in and out." – Sam Baldwin, Sleepless in Seattle (Tristar – 1993)

Hopping out of bed, checking voicemail, checking our email, checking a few gotta' see Web sites, having a cup of coffee is the fairly typical start of most people's day around the globe, around the calendar.

Two billion plus computers, four billion plus plus mobile devices, a gazillion (and growing) Web sites, blogs, social nets and instant in-touch services have shrunk the world--and the clock--to fit nicely in our screen(s). Read more