The notorious blogger - Dooce

The blog I had to check the last few weeks was Dooce.com, the website of Heather B. Armstrong, now officially earning her living as a professional blogger.

She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two daughters, her life dedicated entirely to her blog now: taking and editing photos, jotting down thoughts, writing posts, and answering to readers' replies without end. In the 'About' section of her site she tells us about herself, where she was raised and how she ended up in the blogging business, emphasising big time that it's not like hanging around all day in your PJ's doing nothing. What she does is basically the same thing any office worker spends his days with, only she has the advantage (or is it rather a nightmare?) of working from home.

The blog was launched in 2001 in Los Angeles as a rather personal one. The next year saw the incident when Armstrong was fired from her job as a graphic designer because she published satirical stories about her collegues and workplace. Nevertheless, she continued blogging, and, probably partly because of her being 'dooced' - a term born out of her misfortune - she started to gain hundreds of new followers. By 2005 she had enough income from the ads on the site that her husband could quit his job and join in with her, taking responsibility for the marketing part of the business.

The blog itself mainly consists of entries about Armstrong's family and dogs, little funny anecdotes from their lives; but she regularly posts some of her favourite tweets she encounters daily, and uploads nice pictures she finds while looking around.

So.. why so many followers? Firstly, because there's always something fresh to read. She posts at least once each day, and there are also these 'Daily Photo' and 'Daily Style' sections which she usually remembers to refresh about every other day as well. Her writing style is quite unique and funny, it's very easy to read, and although you may not get every little detail if you are not a regular reader, there is always something amusing and entertaining, even touching in her stories. She also posts all kinds of advice to the readers, be it about healthy diets, depression, or the kind of lamp you should buy from Ikea.

It's always nice to read about people you know and like, and it can also be fun to share your very thoughts with the world... but I'm not sure I could do it for a living. Working from home definitely can make you go mad, and after a time you can't not post when you know that thousands of people are waiting for your next story. Well, whatever our stance in this matter, it's a fact that Armstrong does a good job entertaining her audience. The only question is when (if at all) she'll get flipping bored with it and start something real with her life.

Blog-post

The website I chose to observe carefully for the last weeks is called TMZ. First of all, I would not really call it a blog, it is actually a celebrity news website. The letters stand for thirty-mile zone, referring to the most central area of movie making in Los Angeles. The website debuted in November 2005, and has provided the most fascinating details about our favourite celebrities’ life since.

That's the standard.

It was almost impossible to read through all the articles because first, they have about one million new articles a day, second, I don’t know half of the celebs presented on the blog. It’s a shame but I’m quite undereducated in this topic and honestly, I don’t really want to extend my knowledge.

I would compare this blog to the Hungarian Blikk which is not exactly a compliment and although you can find a few almost interesting posts, it is rather meaningless and sometimes even vicious gossiping all the time. I know that peeking into famous people’s life can be fascinating for millions, but come on, why would anybody read a whole article about how sweaty Mila Kunis was when she came out from the gym (okay, I know the boys would disagree here) or how American reality show participants beat up their exes?!

All in all, it was not the best choice for me and I did not fall in love with it but TMZ definitely does a good job with digging up the dirt and if you want to stop thinking and just relax your mind for an hour, this is the perfect website to read but be careful not to be stuck there longer, it can be dangerous for your brain.

Sleepy morning...

No matter how rare it is, I overslept this morning. I just got up, and realised that I missed my train. Anyway, here is a must see movie for the lot of ya!

Dead blog - Blog P.I.

I chose to follow Blog P.I. Wait, following it is quite a strong word, considering its more than one year long post-draught. Still, let’s see what I could find out.

Blog P.I. is (was?) a fairly exciting blog about the uses of Internet in U.S. politics, with Web 2.0 in its main focus. The blog is mainly written by William Beutler, an Internet analyst, and as it is said on the ‘about’ page, he tries to base his posts on observation and reason instead of opinion.

The last couple of posts weren’t really commented, that might have been the reason for the stop. Also, Beutler has now a blog on Wikipedia, apparently still running. Actually, the last post of Blog P.I. (January 2011) is about his new blog’s TV appearance; one of the intentions with this post was probably to inform his former followers where they can read from him now.

By having a look at the posts before the above mentioned last one, we can probably sense the style of the blog. One post is about Austan Goolsbee, who has videos on YouTube about Obama’s economic policies and other possibilities. Goolsbee became successful immediately with his videos, and had a recent one uploaded not long before the post was written. The post contains two Goolsbee-videos, so the reader can see who is he/she reading about. The post before this is about Sean Parker and how he’s defended by whom, while the one before that is about social media.

I haven’t gone too many posts back, but the most recent post were written irregularly and with a long time passing between them. That’s definitely not the way to keep a blog successful. There are no problems with the design or the content in my opinion, but there wasn’t enough attention paid to the blog by the contributor(s)… And that’s how a blog can just fade away.

Homework post: Kottke.org

The blog I had to follow in the past week or so is Jason Kottke's kottke.org, a site that a guy living in New York City uses to share all the funny and/or interesting things he finds online.

Exactly what it says on the tin.

Sounds so soulful, don't you agree?

In 2010, American Express launched “UNSTAGED: An Original Series from American Express” in partnership with VEVO and YouTube with the aim to bring concert and home entertainment experiences to new heights.

UNSTAGED features some of the most respected artists of the music industry playing at legendary venues across the United States, employs iconic figures of the film industry to direct the live streams and uses digital and social media such as twitter and YouTube to connect the audience to the live shows in order to create an unforgettable concert experience. Users are able to control and influence their viewing experience by sending in song requests or choosing between the director’s cam and alternative cameras from the backstage or the audience’s point of view.

In September, the 4 time Grammy Award winning hip hop and soul band The Roots and 9 time Grammy Award recipient singer-songwriter John Legend started off the UNSTAGED experience by taking the stage in Hell’s Kitchen’s infamous music venue, the Terminal 5 and giving a special one-off live-streamed performance directed by none other than the legendary Spike Lee.

The show was put on the same week when The Roots’ and Legend’s joint collaboration R&B/soul record, Wake Up! was released. Heavily inspired by the US presidential election of 2008, John Legend, one of the classiest male singers of our time and future Hall of Fame The Roots revive the politically engaged soul music of the 1960s and 70s. Mind you, this record is not just a simple imitation, it attempts to capture the spirit of change and raise awareness to social issues which are still relevant as of today. Timeless soul, suave, raw raps, stomping bass and drums. Magnificent.

In addition to the excerpts from Wake Up!, songs from John Legend’s own work and The Roots’ previous record entitled How I Got Over were played as well. Astonishingly, of course.

I am probably not as much of a concert-buff as most of you are, but this was one of the greatest music experiences of my life. Without a doubt, The Roots and Mr. Legend put on a hell of a show.

The whole performance was available on YouTube for quite a long time, but it has been deleted or made private for no logical reason. Fortunately, the clips are still there so I created a PLAYLIST for you guys. It is definitely worth watching.

Perhaps, you wonder why I am writing about a concert from 2 years ago on a Monday night. I have a legitimate explanation. Right now, my man Shawn Corey Carter better known as Jay-Z a.k.a. Jigga, a.k.a. The Greates of All Time, a.k.a. Young Hov is about to go on stage at SXSW, in Austin, TX and put on a show which will be aired live on YouTube in the very same format. I had this idea that while I am waiting for Hov, I’m going to write this post about this UNSTAGED concert presented in the very same format. Meanwhile I'm listening to Wake Up! and some Jay-Z tunes of course.

P.S.: Unfortunately, the show is streamed in the US only. Middle finger up. Too bad I asked him to perform Can't Knock the Hustle via twitter. Viewers can decide which songs shall be performed. Alright, NY Knicks @ Chicago Bulls then.

P.S.: My beloved Knicks lost. Two middle fingers up.

have fun, be creative

While busy online communicating, let's take a break and draw a stickman! :) This is an inspiring little game that will surely give wings to your creativity, just be careful about the animals sticking around :D And don't forget to check the gallery under 'menu' to see fantastic pieces of art other people created. Have fun!

QR code

Probably, most of you have already heard about QR codes. However, if you belong to those who haven’t, then here is a blog entry for YOU.

In the last couple of weeks, I bumped into these little (or not that little) signs basically everywhere and I had no idea about their function. I saw them on the last page of leaflets, on the bottom corner of posters/billboards on the streets or in the underground stops. I even saw one - in extra large size - on the side of a house. So, I became curious what they could be good for. 

First of all, let’s make this acronym clear for everybody. ‘QR Code’ is the short version of Quick Response Code. These codes are similar to a simple barcode that you can see on packages and labels of every single product in shops. The difference between a QR code and a barcode – besides their appearance – is the capacity of information they can hold and share. As for the exterior, a barcode is a linear one-dimensional code and its capability goes up to 20 numerical digits, whereas a QR code is two-dimensional matrix barcode that is able to store thousands of alphanumeric characters of data.

They look like this:

QR code

The code was invented in Japan in 1994. Originally, it was designed for automotive industry (for Toyota’s subsidiary, Denso Wave) but nowadays they are used worldwide  in consumer advertising and packaging.

Now, let’s have a closer look how they work. To read a QR code, you need to have a camera-enabled smartphone. If you’ve already had one, then you only need to download a QR code reader that is able to scan a code like that. (You can download one from the website of i-nigma or kaywa). From this point, the whole process is just a piece of cake. You enter your ‘camera function’, let your QR reader scan the code and hop! you are on the advertiser’s website immediately. Once, the code is on your phone, you can have the latest information straight from the horse’s mouth. You can obtain relevant details about the given business or get the direction to there. Or you can find an URL link which you can click on to see a movie trailer. In other cases, you can get a coupon which is consumable in shops. The list is endless.

A card company, for instance, uses QR codes in business:

You can use QR codes in a number of ways. Here is a video for brainstorming:

And now, probably you get some ideas what for you would use a QR code. Then, this is the time, I guess, to generate your own code. You can do that using kaywa again or studying a bit closer Google’s tool here. 

Ok, so now you can easily grow your own business! ;) Go ahead!! 

PLN

PLN is the new buzzword in social media, it stands for : Professional Learning Network.

People who are eager to learn and train themselves even outside of university courses, degrees, and conferences, participate in professional online discussions. They are looking for like-minded professionals and engage in conversations about professional issues, events, trends, etc. They do it by following colleagues on Twitter, friending them on Facebook, or maybe sharing a beer with them in a pub if they are lucky enough to live in the same city.

Read this article on How Twitter can be used for professional development. Feel free to comment.

Let's put a smile on that face!

As next week's topic is going to be Twitter, I thought I'd warm you guys up by sharing one of my favourite Twitter accounts/profiles/whatevers.

Here it is!

It's very informative, register and follow now!

tl;dr

This has been a quite fine day,
I just got home now,
Hope this entry is not long.

Shameless pimping

Our sweet darling newborn, also the subject of our wonderful future joint case study and presentation, both with my good friend and colleague, Miss Ági Csóka. May I present you:

TÁSKARÁDIÓ

a new Hungarian music blog with great tuneage and amazing visuals

Find us on Facebook!

Another type of text message

We've discussed the language of text messages and how they differ from normal language, however, there is a special type of text message that requires an even more sophisticated encoding system, and this is the drunk text message.Here is a collection of messages sent after or during hard day's nights (attention! not always delicate and sophisticated), and here is the Hungarian version which I'm sure you have all heard of.