First off, don’t assume that Twitter is amazing simply because the media is saying it. Twitter is very cool, but you have to be following the right people in order to see the “cool” factor.

The first time you sign up for a Twitter account, you’ll be presented with a list of “suggested” Twitterers (tweeple? tweeps?). This list is really only made up of celebrities and internet personalities. These people either tweet a lot and have a city full of followers (literally, some have over a million followers), or they’re just very well known in the non-Twitter world and have transferred their fame to Twitter. You may see these people, recognize a few, and go “Okay, so now what?” Well that’s a very good question. If you listen to what Twitter tells you and follow these folks, you’ll probably have a lot of very shallow tweets to read, with a few exceptions. There won’t be a lot of substance, but you’ll definitely have a lot of noise. The first thing this does is confuse people, because once you’re done reading the few tweets that actually interest you from these celebs, you’re done. You’re now sitting on your Twitter screen waiting for things to happen, because the media makes it seem like Twitter is constantly in motion. Twitter is constantly in motion, but if you’re not following the right people, you’ll never know it!

Let’s start with some good Tweeple to follow (I’ll switch to using “Tweeple” so you can learn some Twitter-lingo on the fly)…

I’ll be listing these people in no particular order, hopefully with a decent reason for you to follow them. I’ll link to their Twitter profile so you can easily check ‘em out and decide for yourself. Pick and choose, because one of the nicer things about Twitter is that you can choose who to listen to.

• @zaibatsu
  Reg Saddler seems like he never leaves the Twittersphere. He’s constantly updating with cool new stuff to read, websites to check out, and people to follow. He’s also REALLY nice, and very interactive!
• @murnahan
  Mark Aaron Murnahan, A Web Guy. It may not sound like much of a title, but he’s more like “THE Web Guy.” He updates all the time about new trends, awesome articles, and his blog is definitely worth reading. He’s another one of those nice guys, and he’s equally as interactive as @zaibatsu.
• @BuzzEdition
  Susan posts a lot of interesting updates about trends, social media (Twitter, FB, etc), and more. I visit about 1 in 3 of her tweeted links.
• @Sheamus
  His blog is “twittercism.com”, ‘nuff said, right? He blogs about Twitter, Social Media, new trends (and the irony that goes with ‘em) and more! I often find myself nodding in agreement when reading his opinions.
• @the_gman
  An SEO guy! (He’s actually pretty huge.) Fun tweets about web tips, Twitter trends, and random hilarity! He just now linked to the Team America theme song. Hah!
• @chrispirillo
  Chris is a well-known all-around geek. He doesn’t update as often as some, but his updates are usually worth checking out.
• @mattcuts
  The Matt Cutts, from Google! Matt’s a neat guy, his updates are often insights into what Google might be doing next, or how they do things. Definitely worth following since he’s the closest thing to a real person you’ll get from Google.
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Alright I just noticed that most of the people I’m following are geeks, perhaps that says something about me… Let’s try this again.

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• @mrskutcher
  Demi Moore! She tweets about herself and Ashton, her spirituality, global issues, and fun stuff.
• @mchammer
  The Real M.C. Hammer, you know… “Stop, Hammer Time!” He’s the real deal, and he’s not afraid to tweet it. Hammer tweets about his life and the people he meets.
• @cnnbrk
  CNN’s breaking news. Fun fact: This used to be an unofficial Twitter account run by a random guy, until CNN bought it off him. That sort of thing is rare though, Trademark law makes sure of that.
• @BarackObama and @whitehouse
  President Obama’s staff tweet for him about national issues, global issues, current events, and more.
• @lancearmstrong
  Lance Armstrong (you know, Tour De France and all that) tweets about the races, the fellow racers, his family, and more!

There are a lot more people you might enjoy following, but honestly I can’t list them all as I’d be here for weeks on end. The best way to find new interesting people is to watch for ReTweets (when someone posts someone else’s tweet in recognition of a good idea, link, etc). Usually the person being ReTweeted is worth checking out. Also, keep an eye out on Fridays for the #followfriday hashtag. Tweeple will use that to recommend other tweeps you should be following.

Now you’ve got your collection of tweeple to follow and you’re reading updates all the time. You’re stuck in Twitter for at least an hour or two a week, maybe as bad as a few hours a day (I’m that bad) so what’s the next step? Tweeting! If you feel you want to let people know what’s up, go ahead and tweet something interesting. Or just tweet what you’re having for breakfast. It’s totally up to you!

There are a few easy ways to gain recognition (if that’s what you care about)… ReTweeting what others post is a good way to get noticed, especially by the person you’re promoting. Using hashtags is also a good way to get noticed because it’s an easy way to search for things on the twitter site. Trends right now: #nhlplayoffs, #swineflu, etc. If your tweet is on a specific topic, you can use a hashtag to point it out in a standardized way, which just might get you noticed.

I said I’d tell you why I tweet, but if you’ve read this far you probably already know. I’m on Twitter because I absolutely love the insane amount of knowledge I absorb through the people I’m following, and because I enjoy throwing stuff back out there to the Twitter community. I use my tweeple as a sounding board for ideas, and I let them know about things I find interesting. Who knows, maybe they appreciate that!

I suppose this post wouldn’t be complete without at least one shameless plug… I’m on Twitter as @l0gic. Follow me and see what you’ve been missing!

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If you’ve not heard of Glenn Murray’s eBook titled “SEO Secrets” then you’re either living in a cave on pluto (which is no longer a planet, remember) or you’re just missing out! Glenn’s book is amazingly well written and very informative. I dare say, it’s probably the best SEO ebook out there. Glenn’s also on twitter, so why not check him out while you read about his book?

If you’ve gotten this far, you’re either interested in my review of the ebook or the ebook is no longer available for free so you’re hoping I can help you.

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Let’s get on with the review!

After the first few pages I was already hooked. No bull, seriously. The introduction explains what you’ll be getting into, how it’ll be explained, and how to find out more information about the topics that are covered.

From there we read along procedurally (as explained in the intro) so that everything logically follows everything else. There’s no jumping all over the place with random tangents and ideas, everything’s contained in sections. So far all I’m saying (in big words) is that the writing style is spectacular.

The tips and explanations are clear, accurate, and well thought out. He follows through on topics that need clarification, and alerts you when you can gloss over something.

All the way through from the first to the last chapter, Glenn gives an expert’s view of how to optimize your website to climb up the search engine results. In the latest version of this eBook, he really hits upon some topics that everyone with a website should be aware of. He delves into some great web2.0 stuff, such as how to optimize a WordPress site, making use of newer social media like Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc.

I only have one negative review for the book… okay, two, but one’s silly:

1. Some topics can be a bit complex, and though he gives you a glossary and a bibliography, you may still need to do some extra reading to fully understand the ideas presented.
2. I want more. (This is the silly one.)

So now you’re asking where you can get this book, right?

Click here to view more details about the book and how to purchase it.

Now, go forth and OPTIMIZE!

I’m literally going to attempt to use all the information in the book on my sites from now on. I will be using it for reference whenever I can keep it handy. It’s already made it onto my iPhone, and that’s coveted space.

Good Luck!

-Lee

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I’d removed my credit card from my iTunes account because I mostly buy free apps. The few times when I buy apps that cost, I’ll manually re-add my credit card. My reasoning is that clicking the “Buy” button is way too easy in the App Store and thus I wasn’t about to risk overspending.

Attempting to purchase TouchGrind in the iTunes App Store resulted in no luck. iTunes wanted my credit card, or no go. I didn’t understand… Apple already had my $50 gift card, why did they still want my credit card? After a few more unsuccessful tries, I went googling. My first hits surprised me.

The forums claimed:

You can’t buy apps with gift cards in Canada!

What? You’ve got to be kidding. I decided to go straight to the source, and pulled up Apple’s Terms of Sale for Canada.

Sure enough, Apple’s Terms of Sale strictly (and ridiculously) state:

iTunes Cards may not be used to purchase software, games, or apps.

Apple iTunes Store Terms of Sale (Canada)

Take note: Reading the back of the iTunes Gift Card, and the packaging that came with it revealed nothing about this. They left out this vital piece of information. Coincidence?

Normally, I’d let something like this go. Wait, who am I kidding? No I wouldn’t! So I submitted an email request to iTunes Store support…

I redeemed an iTunes Gift Card for $50. After a very grueling process of attempting to purchase some iTunes Store Apps for my iPhone, I read the terms of sale to find that according to your policy, iTunes Gift Cards cannot be used to purchase software, games, or apps.

I don’t use iTunes otherwise to purchase music, movies, etc. I will NOT be using it to purchase music, movies, etc.

Why am I not able to purchase apps/games using this $50 credit? Is it strictly a Canadian thing, and if so, why?

As you can probably infer, this request was written while I was understandably upset. Here’s the response I received today:

Dear Lee,
I hope this message reaches you in good spirits, my name is [name censored] and I’ll be more than happy to assist you with the problem you’re having. Thank you for contacting Apple about the App Store. We’re glad you’re interested in this new offering.

I’m sorry, but you will not be able to purchase games or applications with store credit or an iTunes Gift Card in Canada. Customers residing in Canada may only purchase games and applications using a credit card. I’m not sure why this is, I heard that its some kind of law in Canada preventing anybody living there, from purchasing games or apps with store credit.

Hope to hear from you soon! Have a great rest of the day!

Sincerely,
[name censored]
iTunes Store Customer Support 
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/

Yes, he actually said he didn’t know why this policy was in place.

Is Canada so backwards that we’re not allowed to purchase software or games with store credit? That evil store credit! Tearing families apart! Sacrificing small animals! Promoting unsafe sex! … Riiiiight.

I’ve emailed them back and I’ll follow up with another post once I receive another response. Way to go, Apple! Let’s hear it for your awesome policies and clueless support staff!

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Link

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Someone, or some company, apparently took offense to Revision3 using Bittorrent to distribute its own slate of shows. Who could that be?

A bit of address translation, and we’d discovered our nemesis. But instead of some shadowy underground criminal syndicate, the packets were coming from right in our home state of California. In fact, we traced the vast majority of those packets to a public company called Artistdirect (ARTD.OB). Once we were able to get their internet provider on the line, they verified that yes, indeed, that internet address belonged to a subsidiary of Artist Direct, called MediaDefender.

Now why would MediaDefender be trying to put Revision3 out of business? Heck, we’re one of the biggest defenders of media around. So I stopped by their website and found that MediaDefender provides “anti-piracy solutions in the emerging Internet-Piracy-Prevention industry.” The company aims to “stop the spread of illegally traded copyrighted material over the internet and peer-to-peer networks.”

Who pays MediaDefender to disrupt peer to peer networks? I don’t know who’s ponying up today, but in the past their clients have included Sony, Universal Music, and the central industry groups for both music and movies – the RIAA and MPAA. According to an article by Ars Technica, the company uses “its array of 2,000 servers and a 9GBps dedicated connection to propagate fake files and launch denial of service attacks against distributors.” Another Ars Technica story claims that MediaDefender used a similar denial of service attack to bring down a group critical of its actions.

So I picked up the phone and tried to get in touch with ArtistDirect interim CEO Dimitri Villard. I eventually had a fascinating phone call with both Dimitri Villard and Ben Grodsky, Vice President of Operations at Media Defender.

First, they willingly admitted to abusing Revision3’s network, over a period of months, by injecting a broad array of torrents into our tracking server.

Second, and here’s where the chain of events come into focus, although not the motive. We’d noticed some unauthorized use of our tracking server, and took steps to de-authorize torrents pointing to non-Revision3 files. That, as it turns out, was exactly the wrong thing to do. MediaDefender’s servers, at that point, initiated a flood of SYN packets attempting to reconnect to the files stored on our server. And that torrential cascade of “Hi”s brought down our network.

There’s lots more in the original article but what you’ve read so far is really what happened. MediaDefender are nothing more than thugs working for the highest bidder. A “legit” company trying to stop internet piracy … how? Ah right, by executing Denial of Service attacks and distributing fake torrents of copyrighted material. Sounds pretty subversive… In fact, it doesn’t sound “legit” at all. Rev3 lost a lot of revenue that weekend, so let’s hope MediaDefender will pay. According to Rev3, they’ve got the FBI involved.

I’m trying to get this news out because everyone needs to be aware. It’s not alright for companies to use illegal means, no matter who they’re fighting, and it shouldn’t be condoned simply because the company has the backing of large government-supported groups. Don’t brush this off, tell your friends. Write, call, and email your Government!

Link1, Link2

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From mashable.com

For now, you get a bar chart representing the percentage of your audience in different age groups, and a pie chart showing the breakdown of gender. You can then filter that data by country or for a specific time frame. Additionally, YouTube has rolled out aggregate data, so you can see the combined demographics for all of your videos. The data is all anonymous.

Link

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The long-awaited court decision stemmed from San Francisco’s highly publicized same-sex weddings, which in 2004 helped spur a conservative backlash in a presidential election year and a national dialogue over gay rights.

….Today’s ruling by the Republican-dominated court affects more than 100,000 same-sex couples in the state, about a quarter of whom have children, according to U.S. census figures.

Link to the Article, Link to the official documents.

In my opinion, this is great. California has set an exemplary precedent, now let’s get the conservative states to open their minds a bit.

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According to the website:

To drive the world’s cleanest car is no longer wishful thinking. The Air Car is the first affordable and accessible clean car. It brings us our dream: to drive pollution-free and free of fuel dependency. By Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, the Air Car is classified as a “zero pollution car”, as there are no emissions from the tailpipe.

So how does it work?

Since the Air Car is running exclusively on compressed air, it emits only air – zero pollution. The air expelled from the tail pipe is actually cleaner than the air used to fill the tank. This is because before compression, the air is run through carbon filters to eliminate dirt, dust, humidity, and other urban Air impurities that could hamper the engine’s performance.

Well that’s great, but is it really possible to power a car solely with compressed air? Not quite, says the website.

At speeds over 35mph the Air Car uses small amounts of fuel–either gasoline, propane, ethanol or bio fuels–to heat air inside a heating chamber as it enters the engine. This process produces emissions of only 0.158lbs of CO2 per mile. That is up to 4 times less than the average vehicle and 2 times less than the cleanest vehicle available today. (Toyota Prius 07 Emissions: 0.34 lbs of CO2 per mile. Source: www.hybridcars.com)

That’s still pretty good, though. I’m impressed and amazed that this technology is so close at hand. We’re really at the cutting edge now. (Thanks to my Twitter feed [and whoever tweeted this] for the lead!)

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I was humbly minding my own business when an acquaintance posted a link to an article on Gizmodo. I like Gizmodo, so normally I wouldn’t hesitate to blindly follow a link to a Gizmodo article. This time, though, I guess I just don’t know what to think.

http://gizmodo.com/350091/cheeseburger-in-a-can-is-both-the-best-and-worst-thing-ive-ever-seen

A cheeseburger in a can. I just don’t think I could eat one of these. I wouldn’t mind ordering one though. The manufacturer is in Germany, perhaps that’s a clue as to why this “interesting” canned food was conceived.

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My name is Lee Ingram and I’ve been riding your buses for many years, over a decade now. In fact, I was riding back when B.C. Transit was the acting transit authority. I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about transit in the lower mainland. I know the fares, I have my ticket/pass ready when I board, and I’m courteous and respectful to your staff and fellow passengers. Let’s just say I’m definitely on the ball when it comes to “Transit Etiquette.”

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I have a complaint. Recently you introduced 3-door boarding for your 98 B-Line buses (Richmond/Vancouver) and that in itself is great. My complaint does not lie with that service, as I find it rather useful to board at the rear doors if I’ve already prepaid or validated my fare. My complaint is directed towards your transit security (“Transit Cops”) who check fares fairly often. Since the 98 B-Line now supports 3-door boarding, I’ve had my fare checked more often than I think is necessary. Many riders on the 98 B-Line board the bus early on in Richmond and exit the bus downtown. Your transit security checked my fare twice today between when I boarded and when I arrived at my destination. I realize that you may be losing money due to people entering through the rear doors and not paying their fare, but for those of us who do pay our fares it’s an inconvenience at the least.

My suggestion is to have your transit security communicate better and choose one location to check fares. Perhaps only at airport station, or 70th avenue seeing as that’s the zone 1/2 boundary. Having transit security check fares twice or three times per bus, per trip, is irritating and it probably eats up time that security could be using to deal with other issues, like vandalism. I’m suggesting this because the 98 B-Line is a bit special when it comes to the riders, mostly because many people stay on for the entire route (myself included) and therefore we’re subjected to at least two fare-checks a trip.

Please, give your riders a bit of credit and courtesy. Reduce the amount of fare-checks on the 98 B-Line. We’re not all free-loaders, most of us pay our fare.

Sincerely,
Lee Ingram

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