Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
We begin today with a fun fact: when you drive, the thing you should do is drive. Not text, not read emails, not read Atlas Shrugged, not brush your teeth while doing your makeup. Crazy, right? Yet, somehow, I’ve seen all these things being done while the driver hurtles at unnatural speeds toward large objects both moving and inanimate.
There’s a balance to be struck somewhere between single-tasking on the road, and ultimate productivity. The balance, I think, is technology. There are a bunch of applications and services out there that will let you get done the things you need to get done, all while keeping your eyes and (most of) your focus on the road.
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other social networks all have similar problems. Their practicality is hard to see (So I write about what I’m doing. Then magic happens, and I’m breaking news.), you need lots of people to use it, it feels like a huge time-suck, and they have some tough barriers to entry.
Here’s something that’s not hard to see the practicality of: social networking for things you’re doing. By “doing,” in this case, I mean what you’re watching, reading, listening to or playing. You tell the network what you’re doing, and it recommends more things for you to do, tells your friends what you’re into, and lets everyone curate their own list of favorite entertainment.
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.
This post is by a new contributor to Digitizd, Bobby Grasberger. Bobby and I went to school together (and never met), and now live in the same city (and haven’t met). We’ll fix that soon. Look out for more from Bobby in the near future, and follow him on Twitter. (Also, quick aside: Bobby’s opinions are his own, and in no way represent those of the company he works for, R/GA, or its clients.)
Nobody carries cash anymore.
If you do, more power to you – but it’s not ubiquitous enough to count on these days. Credit and debit cards are great for places that accept them, and most stores and organizations do. Most people though, don’t. Every time you want to get paid back by your buddy who didn’t have cash for dinner, pay your roommate for rent or split the check at dinner, you’re trying to pay an individual.
You could use cash or check, but then someone has to either run to the ATM (and pay for crazy fees with no record of where the money is spent) or pay by check (whenever you have your checkbook with you – and hopefully you’ll remember to write the “who, when, why and how much” in your checkbook register). There’s a better way.
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
Just for fun, I tracked the other day how I communicate with people. Not how I interact with people, or “socialize,” but how I carry on a direct, one-to-one conversation with someone. The results were a little ridiculous: I used Facebook Chat, Twitter messages and replies, AIM, Gmail Chat, text messages, phone calls, Skype, and even the chat within Words with Friends, a Scrabble game I play with my girlfriend.
That’s totally backwards. Instead of making communication easier and simpler, it’s turned into a siloed, time-intensive experience that involves tons of inboxes, different means and methods of communication, multiple devices, and a lot of effort I don’t want to have to give.
So I humbly propose an alternative. Instead of the nine things I use (and the at-least-that-many you probably do too), let’s use one system that can handle 99% of our communication: Google Voice.
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.
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
Update #2: We have a winner! It’s Andrew Shipe, @ShipeSmash on Twitter. Andrew, hit me up – david at digitizd dot com – with your address. All others, sorry you didn’t win! If you really want the a63 (and you should), enter at any of these sites:
- Gear Live June 27 – July 1
- Bright Side of News June 28 – July 2
- ActiveWin June 29 – July 3
- Daddy Forever July 1 – July 5
- Geek News Central July 2 – July 6
- ClintonFitch.com July 3 – July 7
- Absolutely Windows July 5 – July 9
- PlanetAMD64 July 6 – July 10
- Women Home Business July 7 – July 11
- MediaBlab.com July 8 – July 12
- TwentiesLife July 9 – July 13
Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.
(Before we get going, just a heads up: sometime this week, you’re going to have a chance to win this computer, and all the awesomeness that comes with it. Read the review, and stick around this week to find out how!)
A couple of months ago, Lenovo (working with a great company called Ivy Worldwide) sent me a computer to try, evaluate, and tell you about. The ThinkCentre a63 is designed with small-business owners in mind, and since I in fact own a business (this thing called Digitizd – ever heard of it?) I’m a good person to take a look at it. They sent me the desktop tower and two monitors, and told me to have at it.
For the most part, I’m extremely impressed with this machine. There are a few things I’m not a fan of (I’ll get to those in a second), but for the most part it’s a smart, simple, inexpensive machine that would work perfectly in most settings, particularly small business.Why do I say that, you ask? Good question: let’s dig in.
