I’ve been blogging less over the past few months, but I’ve found myself gravitating to Twitter and Tumblr for quicker, more informal updates and finds.
This blog’s in need of an update, and it looks like I may eventually move it over to Tumblr entirely.
For the moment, though, I’ll keep up with all three. If you’re interested in what I’m up to, I hope you’ll follow me on Twitter and Tumblr!
A couple weeks ago, I tried finding out more about all the folks that were following me on twitter by asking them to introduce themselves. (Credit to Charlie for the idea.) It was awesome.
Stuck on a tarmac ahead of a 14 hour non-stop last week with nothing to do but wait, I wondered whether my twitter friends could come to my rescue with a joke or two to help me pass the time. Holy crap, did you ever!
I picked the number 5 randomly, so the fifth twitter wins: hilary. Let me know what you’d like and I’ll do my best to get it! :)
No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the local shortcode to work or verify my number while using AirTel in Delhi. After a whole lot of research, I gave up for the night and twittered my frustration.
Digging in deeper, I found that Twitter’s shortcode in India only works on some networks, and in some areas. Pretty frustrating that this info is nowhere on Twitter’s site, especially since some of the most popular carriers aren’t covered.
What finally worked
The international number +44 76248 01423. Apparently twitter changed it without updating their help pages. (I found out on Get Satisfaction.)
Cost
International txts cost 5 rupees each, which is 12-13 US cents.
Had the shortcode worked, it would have cost 3 rupees each, or 7.5 US cents
Normal local txts cost around 1 rupee, or 2.5 cents.
Other options
I found an Indian startup called Vakow! that’s building an SMS forwards service. They’ve got a Vakow-Twitter gateway that uses a local number to avoid shortcode and int’l fees. I might try this next.
Chittr is/was an India-local Twitter competitor. There’s posts about it online but the site’s currently redirecting elsewhere.
SMS GupShup is an Indian group SMS platform. The use case is similar to Twitter’s, except everyone belongs to specific groups instead of following people willy-nilly.
Recently, I did some research into Apple’s airline power adapter and their use on Continental planes for a trip to India that had me on a plane twice for 14-15 hours each time. I really wanted to be able to work during that time.
Much of what I found online was vague and inconclusive, but I decided to make some guesses and try it out anyway.
Here’s what I learned…
EmPower outlets supply up to 75 watts of DC power. You need a custom adapter to use it with your laptop. I think there are two kinds of plugs, and this plane used the newer, smaller one.
EmPower powers your laptop, but does not charge it. Even on a Macbook, which draws less power than a Macbook Pro. Leaving it plugged in while the laptop was sleeping seemed to charge it VERY slowly.
You can charge your iPhone while you’re using your computer. However, it’ll slowly tick down your battery. No big deal, as the iPhone charges pretty fast. But this basically means you’re using your laptop battery to charge your iPhone/iPod.
I read that some laptops will refuse to work with EmPower unless you take out the battery. I didn’t experience this.
Apple’s adapter costs $50. It’s decently well made and looks good. I’m sure it cost just a dollar or so to make, but for power for 29-30 hours of flight time, it was worth it to me.
Specific to my flight…
Continental flight 82 (CO82) does have power outlets on their planes in coach, but only in rows 16-23. Supposedly they fly a newer version of the 777-200 on this flight that has power in all rows, but customer service didn’t know anything about it.
The 777-200 Continental flies on this route has EmPower outlets (the newer version of the plane is supposed to have AC outlets, but again, I didn’t experience it.)
That’s what I asked Friday morning, and below is what I got back. All these wonderful strangers from all over the world (and a few familiar faces) writing in about their passions.
Something about twitter is exciting in the same way email was exciting 10 years back. It really does feel like the world just shrunk.
I don’t know whether twitter is supposed to be about connecting you with your friends, or with the world, but there’s a really exciting sense of energy here that’s inescapable.
stuboo @superamit - what a great idea. I’m Ryan Stewart (search your gmail). Changing careers now. Going to medical school this fall. Age = 3101:44 PM April 11, 2008from web
Yesterday we officially released our newest project over at Photojojo, the Time Capsule.
Today we hit 2,000 sign-ups.
When Photojojo launched almost two years ago, it took us 45 days to reach 4,000 subscribers. That was good. Seeing Time Capsule hit 2,000 in a tiny fraction of that time is really good.
If you’re new to the Time Capsule, I encourage you to check out the about page. As we create more and more media — photos, blog posts, twitters, tumblrs, etc. — services that can intelligently sift through that data and find you the stuff that matters most become incredibly useful. I think we’ll be doing more with this.
Brian Oberkirch asked me to help spread the word about BarCampNOLA. It’s a cause worth supporting.
From the wiki:
Let’s get a bunch of Gulf Coast geeks together and build something for someone who needs our help.
Maybe it’s time we do a BarCamp here in New Orleans. In addition to connecting digital folks, sharing what we know and what we’re working on… I’d like to find a struggling small business we could help immediately with a new site or enhanced Web services. Spend a weekend cranking as a team and launch the thing at the end of the weekend.
It’s coming up next weekend, and I think it’s a great idea. Attend or sponsor if you can, and if you’ve got a worthy project or know of one, let ‘em know.
Thanks times 60 million to everyone who’s spread the word and checked out he site. We love you, and we’re working on a lot of awesome new stuff for CS3 for you. Stay tuned.
A new project I’ve been working on with Darrell Silver, Erin Sparling, and Lee Semel launches today: CommandShift3.
It’s like Hot or Not, but for websites.
Started on a lark during a NYC Jelly session with Adam Varga, Darrell Silver, Dan Lurie, Erin Sparling, and Lee Semel, we’re really proud to open it up to the world today.
I’ve been experimenting with Facebook ads. Like Fred Wilson, I found I was getting very few pageviews and no clicks at all until I created this ad that started last night, and bumped my CPC bid from $0.10 to $0.15. Within a few minutes, it had 1000s of views and started seeing clicks.
In a couple hours, I’d reached reached 138 clicks ($10 worth). Then Facebook banished my ad, and I have no idea why.
Today the ad page updated to tell me my ad was in violation of Facebook’s Advertising Guidelines, sections 4, 5, and 6. It’s strange… you can see my ad in this screenshot, and I can’t really see how it’s in violation.
Here are sections 4, 5, and 6 of Facebook’s Ad Guidelines:
4. Grammar, spelling, and capitalization
Ad text must be in logical sentence form and contain grammatically correct spacing.
Ads must use correct spelling.
Ads may not include unnecessary capitalization (such as ‘FREE’). Acronyms may be capitalized.
Ads may not include excessive repetition.
5. Punctuation and symbols
The use of all symbols, numbers, or letters must adhere to the true meaning of the symbol.
Repeated and unnecessary punctuation or symbols is not permitted.
Symbols may not be used to substitute for letters (e.g., “$ave” instead of “save”).
6. Language and image content
Provocative images will not be accepted.
Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote adult content, including nudity, sexual terms and/or images of people in positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual.
Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene, or inappropriate language.
Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content.
With all the attention on 2.0 tech and RSS and the like, people tend to forget that for most people, even the leading-edge, email is still the killer app for the Internet.
I wanted to share this example of well-thought email usage on Meetup.com
Meetup already makes heavy use of email once you join a group (sometimes too heavy) but I love what they’re doing to encourage you to join and create groups that don’t even exist yet. This is such a smart way to increase engagement among the users they already have.
You indicate topical interest, and when a meetup starts within X miles of your location, they tell you about it. Even better, their “Pledges” increases your commitment to the group and the likelihood that you’ll attend the meetings and help promote and grow the group. Beautiful.
NYC-born Jelly’s been spreading right proper lately, with six events coming up in the next 6 days!
That includes Houston, TX (#1), Austin, TX (#2), Stockholm, Sweden (#2), New York City (#29), Boston (#2), and Cincinnati (#2). Whew!
Here’s the Jelly update email I just sent out, via Campaign Monitor, who’s sponsoring Jelly with free email lists for each city’s event. Thanks guys! (Thanks also to pbwiki, which sponsors with a premium wiki account.)
p.s. If anyone knows how we can get a copy of the Today show interview on Jelly on November 4th, please email me! (I haven’t seen it yet.)
His latest project is Photojojo. If you like photography, you will like Photojojo.
Before Photojojo, he was a founder of The Daily Jolt, an online community on 100 college campuses, helped create a non-profit called ChangeThis with Seth Godin, and brought the technology un-conference BarCamp to NYC. He also started a weekly casual coworking session called Jelly.
And he's consulted for companies such as Pearson, Apple, and Creative Good and co-authored The Big Moo, a WSJ best-seller, with Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Guy Kawasaki, Tom Peters, and others.
Yesterday we officially released our newest project over at Photojojo, the 
A new project I’ve been working on with Darrell Silver, Erin Sparling, and Lee Semel launches today: 
NYC-born 
