Pinterest – A Place to Pin all of your Interests!

Ever wanted a way to catalog your favorite things? Whether it be books, movies, inspirational pieces, fashion, or your precious hobbies, Pinterest may just be what you’re looking for! Catalog all the things you love in a beautiful and visual way.

You’ll love this new site call Pinterest! Read more about it on WebBeat.TV

Follow me on Pinterest.

The New Twitter

Looks like I may to redesign my page to fit the New Twitter better. It looks nice. I really love the top bar because all the things I want to get to are right there. But the right column is a bit too wide for me. I like to have my browser narrow so I can work on other things while reading Twitter. The part that I love the most are the messages. The redesign is wonderful! It makes sending and finding old DMs much easier. The new “send a tweet” feature is nice too. The pop up reminds me of an iPad app interface.

Overall, I like the redesign. Still keeping it simple by adding subtle changes. Thanks Twitter!

iPhone App Review: FoodSpotting

Now be honest, when you see a beautiful dessert, can you refrain from snapping a photo of it? If you watch the Food Network, or just enjoy food in general, this community is just for you! It’s called FoodSpotting — a fun social network with food-snapping users who share their daily dishes through photos and reviews.

The website is fun to browse, but it’s much more fun to share your eateries while you’re on location. That’s why there’s a fun iPhone app for that! There are 5 major functions on the iPhone app — Browse, Find, Spot, Guides, and Profile. Let’s step through each one.

Browse. This is a photographic way to see all the foods around you! The app uses the gps to find photos of food taken near your current location. This makes it easier to find restaurants if you see something you like. The photos are displayed in a fun slideshow of postage stamps that you can swipe back and forth. See a food item you like? Tap on it to see the person’s review, their review, and the location of where you can get it. You can also tag the photo with “Want It,” “Nom it”, add in your own photo, or even leave a comment for the foodspotter.

Find. This option displays a list of restaurants that are near your current location. Click on a restaurant and view photos of the dishes taken there along with their reviews. Click on the photos for more options (similar to the Browse feature) — “Want it,” “Nom it,”, leave a comment for the foodspotter, and more.

Spot. This function is what makes the app. When you’re at a restaurant or eatery and your food comes out, click on “Spot.” It’ll prompt you to select or take a new photo of your dish. Once you pick an option to add a photo, also select the restaurant location and type of food on the top. After, click on “Add sighting” and your food photo would automatically be uploaded on the site for all to see and nom! You also have the option to connect to your Facebook, Twitter, and/or Foursquare accounts when uploading.

Guides. If you follow the Food Network and/or the Travel Channel, you’ll love this feature. Let’s say for example, you enjoy the restaurants Anthony Bourdain visits. You can follow one of his city guides on Foodspotting and it’ll list restaurants he visited in that city. You can then eat everything he ate! Add your own photos to complete the guide. Other guides include ones created by Zagat, Top Chef, Food Network, Travel Channel, 7×7 Magazine, and many more.

Profile. This section displays your Foodspotting user profile. The first page displays your recent activities, foods your spotted, foods you wanted, guides you’re following, and how many people you follow. Tap on the options to drill down deeper.

Overall, Foodspotting is a great app to really tie the Foodspotting community together. It makes it much easier to share, rate, and leave comments on food photos while on the go! So sign up, have fun and Bon Appetite! I want to see what you eat!

FoodSpotting for the iPhone is available for free in the iTunes App Store.

Website Screenshot

iPhone App Screenshots

iPhone App Review: Qik Live

Name: Qik Live (iTunes)
Written By: Qik.com
Category: Photography
Price: Free

Size: 3.3 MB
Requirements: iPhone
Version: 4.40
Rate: 4 out of 5 Stars

It’s been a long wait, but now it’s finally available in the iTunes app store! Qik Live debuted on December 24th, 2009 – just in time to capture those special holiday moments! Qik Live is a live video streaming app that allows you to share pieces of everyday life experiences with your friends and family as they happen via your cellphone / iPhone.

Creating a video is quite easy. If you’re a first time Qik user, a short registration page will show up when you launch the app. It’ll ask you to create a new username, password, and if you want your location to show when you stream. The latter option can be changed when you start streaming or in the settings options.

Once you fill out the form, you’re ready to start streaming live video! Click on the red button at the bottom and your video is live! You can also record an offline video if you like. And the video will be uploaded when your toggle the online button. The Qik app has two parts to it. The top display is what’s being recorded in your video. The bottom display is where your live audience can chat with you.

To change the video options, tap on the video display. Options include Mute, Toggle chat, Set permissions (Public or Private video), Edit video details, Share Video, and Send email.

In the “Share Video” option, you can post your video onto various social networks including Facebook, Twitter, 12seconds.tv, Brightcove, YouTube, Tumblr, or your contacts. To activate these social networks, you must first log onto Qik.com and add in the credentials. The newest share option is the ability to “add contact.” You can select contacts from your addressbook and an email will be sent to your friends/families telling them where the link to your Qik video is.

More options are available when you log into the Qik.com website. You can update your settings and add additional social network options to your account. For example, you can set your account to send an automatic tweet when you start streaming, or have your video uploaded to 12seconds, or YouTube by default.

The user interface is beautifully done and the app is very user-friendly. The are a few minor improvements that I’d like to see on the Qik Live iPhone app though. I would love a landscape mode where the chat overlays the video and the record button is on the side. Holding the iPhone sideways seems more natural to me because it’s similar to holding a camera.

In addition to the mobile app on various mobile platforms, Qik also comes to the desktop called Qik-in-Touch. Qik-in-Touch is a desktop air app that will notify people of when live videos happen. It’s very fun to see what your family and friends are up to, the moment it happens, right on your desktop!

Although Qik Live is new to the iTunes App Store, it has been supported on various phones. See the supported phones page for more information.

Some things to remember before using Qik are:

1. Recording videos with the app uses up a lot of battery power.
2. Set your privacy settings accordingly.
3. You can connect with your audience and talk to them over Qik.
4. There are multiple ways of using Qik – have fun, be creative, and enjoy!

Overall, Qik is a great app that lets you experience what your friends and family are doing no matter where you are. That way you never miss an important moment again. Qik Live for the iPhone is freely available in the iTunes App Store.

Screenshots

Social Networks: How to Integrate Them

This blog post is in response to a question someone at a University asked me:

Question: I have set-up/configured our Facebook, Twitter, and Blog this week. We are in the process of posting content to each, but I was hoping you could go over a few things with me. Mainly, how to integrate the 3 so that we don’t have to constantly update all 3 sites? And also, based on your experience, are there any general settings in each dealing with user interactivity that we should enable/disable?

Answer: I would first start with integrating Twitter into Facebook, instead of the other way around. The reason is because I think students are more familiar with the Facebook interface than Twitter.

How to make your Facebook posts go to Twitter

1. In a browser, log into Twitter.
2. In another tab in the browser, go to Facebook.com/Twitter. You will see your Facebook page and a button that says “Link to Twitter.”
3. Click on the “Link to Twitter” button
4. It’ll take you back to Twitter, prompting “An application would like to connect to your account.”
5. Click on “Allow.”

Read more

Did You Know 4.0

This is another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. I really enjoyed it because it’s filled with all sorts of statistics from the new media generation and technology shift.

This is another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com.

Content by XPLANE, The Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Laura Bestler. Design and development by XPLANE, http://www.xplane.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @xplane

Shelfari

Shelfari has been one of my favorite websites in the past few months. I’m so thankful that my friend Mike invited me. It’s another book social network, but what makes this one different is the amazing user interface. I absolutely love seeing the book covers on an actual shelf. Adding books, reviews, and discussions are quite easy as well. Join the community so we can recommend books to each other. ;)

Here are some IT-related books that I read/want to read:

I enjoy reading books with topics in sci-fi, fantasy, technology, social media, library 2.0, and scrapbooking. Come join me on Shelfari. I’m also on GoodReads and LibraryThing if you prefer those book social networks.

gdgt Launched!

There’s one thing that you need to know about me if you don’t already — I LOVE GADGETS. I’m a total gadget geek and I’m sure a lot of you are as well. I had two friends call me “Mary Poppins” recently because I was pulling all sorts of random gadgets out of my purse. I’ll take it as a compliment since she’s quite a lovely lady. :)

So what can make me more happier than having a new shiny toy to play with? Joining a social network built around a community of shiny gadgets of course! I joined gdgt today and absolutely love the concept and community. The website is run by Ryan Block and Peter Rojas — two amazing gadget gurus, along with with the rest of the gdgt team!

So how does it work? My friend Veronica will tell you how!

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First Look at Google Wave

This is my first look at Google Wave. My account was activated today, and I’m quite thrilled to try it out. I’ll post more as figure out things. For now, this is my first screenshot.

(Bigger Version)

First impression, it looks like an email client, but it’s not. I wanted to change my profile photo, so I clicked on the blank square in the “Contacts” section and it gave me a link to change my photo. This link takes me to my sandbox gmail settings. After more clicking, it takes me to my sandbox Gmail account. It looks like email isn’t integrated into Google Wave interface (yet?) besides having the two accounts linked up.

Read more

Favorite iPhone Apps

A few days ago, I tweeted:

daynah: What are your favorite apps on the iPhone/iPod Touch? Name 3-5 and @daynah me. Thanks! :)

I wanted to find out what were your top iPhone/iPod Touch apps. If you don’t count Mail and Safari, my top 5 favorite iPhone/iPod Touch apps are Twitterfon, Brightkite, Dizzy Bee 2, Chop Sushi, and iHeartRadio. Ok, I’m sneaking one more in — Facebook because it makes poking people easy! Ha!

Thank you for all the great responses! I really appreciate it. I was gathering data for the next issue of iProng Magazine. Check out tomorrow’s issue for the top 100 iPhone Apps. Here are the responses I got:

pzomb: @daynah NIN:Access, Tweetie and Tap Tap Revolution 2

cloud79: @daynah Daylite, FlightControl, TapDial, Birdhouse, fourquare, Analytics

ctmagnus: @daynah Tweetie, Facebook, Evernote, Remember The Milk, NightCamera

claycarnill: @daynah tweetie, idracula, Tumblr, google, and scoops.

bilalnaseer: @daynah My 5 Fav. #iPhone #Applications are: ‘Pandora’, ‘USA Today’, ‘Beejive IM’, ‘Kindle’ & ‘Things’. Yours?

NctrnlBst: @daynah twitterfon, shazam, BrightKite, showtimes, remote.

Trakix: @daynah Twitterfon, FlightControl, Facebook, Leaf Trombone, Air Mouse

phraktyl: @daynah Scrabble and Tweetie are the two I use most. I’d use location-based apps, but iPod Touch doesn’t have GSP. :(

mia_sarx: @daynah evernote, chess with friends, to do list, stanza

jobber99: @daynah paid: scrabble, Oregon trail

jobber99: @daynah free: twitterfon, facebook, midomi

jobber99: @daynah jailbroken: cydia, cycorder, winterboard

allanxpress: @daynah twitterfon. cubes lits. tap tap. last.fm. tap defense. knots. enigmo. cube runner. dactyl. ahh so many lol

delta224: @daynah Tweetie, Facebook, Kanji Flip, Safari and Mail. ;D

loumacuser: @daynah linkedin. Twettie. Bloomburg

spamboy: @daynah iPhone apps: TwitterFon, Remember the Milk, RepairPal

core: @daynah: My favorite iPhone apps: #tweetie, #tumblr, #byline, #zenbe, #cambio, #inquisitor

Twouble with Twitters

This is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day. It’s an animation about Twitter.. It shows how non-Twitters see us Twitter-addicts. ;)

“Did you get my tweets? I just twoted all over the place!” Funny!

Thanks @cloud79 for sending it to me!

Original animation on _Current

New Facebook Design

Facebook changed their design again and I really like it. The main focal point is now the status update, which does remind me of Twitter. I believe this new change will help create more conversations though. Having the groups on the left is very nice. Now I can separate status updates by groups which is one thing that twitter is missing.

There’s a lot of data on the right side that it seems a bit cluttered. But it doesn’t bother me too much. I like to glance at it to see what’s new. I would prefer the “pokes” to be moved up though. They seem lost being so far at the bottom.

So I’ve played with Facebook user profiles, events, and groups. But I haven’t played with the Facebook pages option yet. So I decided to create a Fan page to test it out. It’s close to a user profile except it’s missing a lot of options like adding other apps/boxes. I can’t seem to find the “add a link” option anymore either. I do like the
Discussions option! It’s a great place if you want to ask me tech questions and such. And this social network seems to be more manageable than a Ning website. So if you’d like to interact with me, please add me here on facebook. Thanks!

Skittles and Social Media

The new Skittles.com redesign is an interesting approach to creating a website. It take social media to the extreme!

Every link you click on leads you to popular social media website. The products page now points to their Wikipedia, their media page takes you to YouTube and Flickr, Chatter takes you to a Skittles Twitter search, and Friends take you to Facebook.

The longer I sit and watch the Twitter search page refresh itself, the more I think this is a bad idea. Any mention of the word “Skittles” on Twitter gets displayed on the website. And since this is a candy company, I think it should be more geared towards children more right?

The website does ask you for your birthdate before you can enter the website. I put in a date that would make me 5 years-old. Since I’m too young, the only thing that gets displayed is “No Way, Jose. Unfortunately you aren’t eligible to visit the site” yet, the Twitter stream still refreshes in the background! A simple fix to this is to display the YouTube page or something else instead. But honestly, I think they’re targeting the wrong audience for their website..

Although Twitter is slowly hitting the mainstream, not everyone knows what Twitter is yet. So the new website would appear quite confusing for a majority of visitors.

Read more:
Skittles Site Receives an Extreme Social Makeover (Thanks for the link @mayhemstudios!)

Skittles – Taste the Revolution? (Thanks for the link @djsteen!)

Preview of iPhone App BrightKite

BrightKite is one of my favorite social networks. I’ve been using it mainly as a photolog of the different places I visit. And I’m excited to see that it’s coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch! Watch the demo below:

Brightkite for the iPhone from Brightkite on Vimeo.

BrightKite Video Demo, BrightKite Official Blog, Brightkite iPhone app preview, invites, video in action By David Chartier

Flickr’s New Layout

I logged into Flickr and saw that they’ve been working on a new layout. I activated it and I do love it. It looks like they moved the photos to the left, but also added an option to show/hide that group of photos. I like how the change is subtle.. doesn’t require learning a new interface. ;)

The Guild

I just realized I never blogged about my favorite webisode! After seeing Mahalo Daily’s report on Comic-Con, I discovered an actress named Felicia Day who did a webisode series called The Guild.

I watched episode 10 one night and loved it. I ended up staying up the rest of the night to watch all 10 episodes! Totally loved it! The characters reminded me so much of my close friends!

The Guild is a independent sitcom webisode about a group of online gamers. It is written for gamers, about gamers by a gamer. Episodes vary from 3-6 minutes in length, and follow the Guild members’ lives online and offline.

“The Guild” is the winner of the YouTube and Yahoo 2007 Video Awards for Best Web Series, as well as recipient of the SXSW/On Networks 2007 Greenlight Award for Best Series.

Here are all 10 episodes. Let me know if you enjoyed it as much as me!
Season 1 – Watch all 10 Webisodes!

Source: Watch the Guild | YouTube | Viddler

Facebook Improvements

I really like Facebook’s new Hint popups. They’re the little yellow boxes all around the web interface. I know a lot of my friends had trouble getting use to the Facebook layout, so I hope these help!

And I do love how the Applications Menu moved down to the lower left. Reminds me of Windows, and apps are much easier to get to. You can rearrange them by clicking on the icons and drag-and-drop, just like the Windows Toolbar!

Embed Photos on FriendFeed

How to share anything on the web from Dan Hsiao on Vimeo.

I just learned how to embed photos on your FriendFeed posts! The more I learn about FriendFeed, the more I’m addicted to it. :)

Step 1: Login and set up the bookmarklet. (There are different instructions for different browsers.)

Step 2: When you are on a webpage you like to share, click on the bookmarklet. As you are adding a comment, you can hover over images on your webpage to include it on your post. You can include up to 3 images.

Delicious Update

I’m loving the new Delicious website! Even the domain name is easier to spell. ;) I use to google my own site because I couldn’t figure out where all the periods went. haha But I’m very happy with this new website upgrade. It’s about time. There’s been other bookmarking websites, but this is the one I always come back to.

I only bookmark technology websites, so if you’re interested in that, be sure to add me to your network!

Thanks for the video link, Kevin!

Libraries after an Earthquake

A surprising thing happened at work today. We were hit by a semi-big earthquake earlier in the morning. I know I should be use to earthquakes by now, but this one was hard and kept rolling! It must have been the longest 20 seconds of my life.

But not to worry. The SERVERS are all alright! ;)

My first reaction was to duck and cover under my desk. When the rolling stopped, I tweeted. Yes I know. How geeky huh? Hey, twitter gets you the news as it happens! I was a quite shaken up. I then noticed a flood of tweets about the earthquake, one being iJustine, who just happened to be in LA, and feeling an earthquake for the very first time. Us Californians really know how to welcome someone!

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