Twitter and Facebook, it seems, are increasingly places where people get their news. They’re fantastic ways to get and share news, stay updated on everything in your social circle, and make sure you’re on top of everything.
That’s why, gloriously, you can follow Digitizd on both of those networks! All of the sites (Digitizd, Digitizd Plus, and anything else that I’m definitely forgetting at the moment) are all piped into Twitter (follow @digitizd) and will soon all be available on Facebook (Like Digitizd here).
Also, I’m going to stop automatically linking to Digitizd posts from my personal Twitter account (@piercedavid). I want that account to be me, sharing things and having conversations, rather than getting overloaded with auto-generated links to this site. So, if that account is where you got your Digitizd updates, please follow @digitizd instead for all the updates you can handle.
So if you’re on Twitter or Facebook, and want to keep up with Digitizd, Follow or Like the site on those networks. Thanks so much for reading, staying involved, and making this place into the awesome community it’s become!
And now, back to other fun things.
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
I’ve moved a lot in the last few years – that’s part of the nature of being in college, I guess. But, this past week, my family moved completely for the first time in a while. That meant that for the first time in a while I was responsible not just for my computer, clothes and beer, but for moving everything.
Along the packing, moving and unpacking journey, I’ve learned a few things about how to make moving easier, more productive, and how to use moving to improve a few things. Moving’s a pain, but it definitely doesn’t have to be as bad as we make it.
At the same time, though, my moving experience hasn’t been nearly as good as it could have been. I’m going to be moving again in a few weeks (a story for another day), and I’m looking for your best tips as well. How do you make moving better, particularly using technology?
This is a guest post from Brennon at CampusBookRentals.com, a great place to find and rent textbooks.
What was supposed to be national “Quit Facebook Day” has come and gone, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled simpler privacy settings for his site. Despite some initial outrage about the privacy control free-for-all that happened in May, Facebook’s adoring audience has, by and large, stuck with Zuck.
So why now, are some privacy groups still demanding more changes? Last week, ten organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and Consumer Watchdog drafted an “Open Letter to Facebook” citing the issues they still see with the site. Facebook then responded with a “point-by-point” rebuttal addressing each of the organizations’ qualms.
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
So a few weeks ago, I wrote about new things at Digitizd – a couple of new sites, and new features. As it turns out, nearly every single one of those was a lie. They’ve all changed, taken on new forms, and in some cases gone away.
So, in order to keep you abreast of what’s going on, here is the Digitizd Universe.
Digitizd
Digitizd is the flagship site – it’s a place for looks at how to use technology, how technology is affecting our lives, and how to live in this crazy digital world. This site is priority #1, is growing like crazy, and won’t be changing much (except in incremental, awesome ways) in the near future.
Digitizd Plus
Posts on Digitizd tend to be longer and more in-depth, but there’s tons of cool stuff that doesn’t fit that bill. For all that – tips, tricks, tools, funny videos – there’s Digitizd Plus. Posts are short and frequent, and will help you get even more out of technology, bit by bit.
Digitizd Talk
Got a question about technology? Want to see a particular post on Digitizd? Can’t get your computer to work? Talk about it all at Digitizd Talk. I created a forum for three reasons. 1) Most people on forums are annoying and terrible. 2) Most forums look awful and are hard to wade through. 3) Most technology forums are so complicated and difficult that the average user can’t figure them out.
My hope is that Digitizd Talk becomes a simple, useful, navigable way to ask and answer tech questions. It’ll get as technical as we let it get, but will always be policed and moderated, keeping all the signal and killing all the noise.
The Roundup
Since there are a bunch of sites, and a lot of content floating around the Digitizd Universe, I’m going to be creating a weekly roundup that will go on this site, as well as be sent out as a weekly newsletter. It’ll be all the best stuff from Digitizd, and it’ll keep you from having to check around all the time to find the best content. That’s starting next week, so stay tuned.
Other things
There are a couple of other things in the pipeline right now (Gadgetizd is changing and taking on a life of its own, and Cultureist is about to get real life), but no formal announcements yet. More to come.
For now, poke around the Universe, and hopefully there’s something valuable here for you!
Now, contests and announcements over, we return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Well, now’s your chance. I’m hiring a few people over the next couple of weeks to do some writing, editing, ad selling, and more for Digitizd and a couple of other projects that are in the hopper. It doesn’t pay a lot (unless we get really good ad sales people), but I’ll fund your coffee habit a bit, write recommendations, gush about you to strangers, and anything else I can do.
Interested? Get more details here. Anyone can apply and get the gig, I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
Over the last year, the community around this site (and before, when it was The 2.0 Life) has evolved. The site is now one part techie, and one part technological novice – people coming to learn about and discover new technologies. That balance has been my hope for this site all along, and I’m thrilled that people are getting value from it.
In an effort to make Digitizd an even more useful place, and to connect new people with technology and help techies get more from it, I’m launching not one, not two, but three new arms of this site. (Well, four, but we’ll get there).
You’ll be able to find all the arms of the network in the nav bar of this site, and each one has its own unique brand of awesome. Digitizd Plus, a place for tips, tricks, and other bits of cool technology, has been up for a while, and now we’re adding to the family!
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
Forgive the rant.
There’s this funny trend happening on the Web the last few months. It started with people like Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and Patrick Rhone of Minimal Mac, both of whom have sites I read daily and love. Their basic hypothesis is this: we have too much unnecessary stuff, and it affects our lives negatively. So they preach “minimalism,” the systematic getting rid of the extraneous.
That idea, valiant as it is, has warped. As the trend of minimalism has caught on, the definition has changed, and the mantra has gone from being about getting rid of the unnecessary, to looking around your room and saying “what can I get rid of to show everyone how little I have?” Minimalism has given way to lessism.
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
Ever since The 2.0 Life became Digitizd, I’ve been thinking out the subtle tweaks of how to make this community even awesome-r than it has already become (completely thanks to you guys). A few subtle changes have been made, and there are some bigger ones coming down the road. To keep you up to date:
The logo
Isn’t the new logo awesome? I’m a huge, huge fan of it, and now have infinitely more appreciation for people with design skills, because I have, well, none. Luckily for me, Bronson Dunbar has those skills in spades. He’s a great designer, great to work with, and a really good guy. And, by the way, he’s for hire!
He’s also got this cool, new program called Project Assistant that makes tracking your time (critical for a freelancer, useful for anyone) immeasurably easier. He’s offering it for $5.99 (a great deal) until Jan. 31 – so get it before the price goes up! Definitely worth checking out – and if you need a designer, hit him up. Tell him I sent you.
Offshoots
It’s just occurring to me now that I started two small companion sites to Digitizd without telling any of you! Let’s remedy. First, there’s Digitizd+ – it’s full of tips, links, tricks, and tools I come across that are too small for a full post, but are still brimming with awesome.
Then, there’s Digitizd Required Reading, a running feed of articles, videos, and stories anyone who wants to live digitally ought to know about. Please feel free to send me tips or ideas for either one!
Sponsor Digitizd
Instead of running ads, as I’ve always done on my sites, I want to do something different. I hate ads that I don’t control, don’t care about, and can’t recommend personally. So here’s what I’m doing: I’m starting a sponsorship program! Instead of just letting someone sell ads for me, I’m going to be selling them personally, one week at a time.
Companies (vetted by me, and I won’t choose a single one I wouldn’t recommend to you all anyway) will be able to buy ad space, a “Thanks for sponsoring Digitizd” post, and the eyeballs of some smart, interested, curious readers. It’ll let me promote products I really like, and the money will let me start to devote more and more time to this site (and a few other projects in the pipeline…).
If you’re interested in sponsoring Digitizd, head on over to the Sponsorships page.
And, by the way, I’ll never be able to say this enough, but THANK YOU ALL for being part of this community, sticking around through the mess that was moving domain names, and making Digitizd such a fun and useful place! This site would’ve been long dead if it weren’t for you.
There’s more coming soon, and I’ll make sure you’re in the loop about it all! A lot of cool stuff is happening, I can’t wait to share it with you!
And now, we return to our regularly scheduled content.
