Its not that easy is it?.

Ive been using Threadsy a bit, its quite handy, but very busy.

To be fair, I am probably what they call a heavy user, however, there are people who make me look part-time.

So, I watch 5 Gmail accounts, 4 twitter accounts, 1 Facebook, 1 Basecamp project, 6 WordPress Blogs, and now I have a Google Wave account to try and figure out how to work with.

Then there are the background sites you sometimes use, Flickr, Digg, Delicio.us, online banking, the list goes on.

Fun, but only for a while, then you might well go mad with overloading.

So whats all this Google Wave about then ?

Google Wave Fiction… funny stuff… but will it be helpful ?

I am genuinely hoping that Wave is a lot more than some over-hyped geek-babble..  but im being realistic… even if it is, my life will stay pretty complicated.

I do this more often than I recognise. I used to find it very rewarding working with and teaching people who knew much less then me, and it made me think about what it was I was actually teaching them.

Working with the interweb is … just easy for me now. Mac, PC, Linux, HTML/CSS bugs, open source, doc types, user agents, bit-rates, it all makes sense to me.

So when I found these video posted by Google (via penn-olson), I was reminded that the world is full of people who know much less than I assume.

It is no surprise that Google are the people behind this PR / awareness stunt, they are battling to get into the Browser market, and, more importantly, they are aiming to deliver A LOT of media and services through the browser moving forward, to the point of which, the Chrome OS will feel a lot more like a browser than a traditional OS like Windows.

Here’s the spiffy little ‘info-mercial’ they knocked-up to help all those people unable to distinguish a website from a piece of software. (Do they really think any of them will find it ??)

So anyway….  nice of them to help everybody out…  – but, i doubt we will all be so keen to lose our desktops as Google hope…

In the meantime, be sure and choose the right browser for your needs…

*cough* Firefox FTW !

Since then a couple of things have popped onto the radar to further reinforce the fact that social media is a game changer.

In no particular order;

Brands in Public appeared late last week -  launched by Seth Godin,  a joint-founder of squidoo.com – and is well respected in the social media world. The site lets you take a look at how the online social media world views your brand via Tweets, blogs Youtube video and more. This is a more focused version of what Squidoo offers as a ‘lens’, but for brands.

Brands – big ones – are starting to care about how people talk about them online, and solutions and tools for addressing this are sprouting-up.

However, Lisa Barone, herself a well respected social media professional, doesn’t think its such a great idea as her blog-post – Seth Godin tries out brandjackin – sets-out.

Whichever side your on here, the fact is – there is a dialogue going on about how brands are managed in the social sphere.

Then, on friday, I was lucky to catch Owen Stevens, (via Altitude Recruitment – @lauramaddison), for a short talk about branding. Everything was going as it should untill he referenced the Erik Qualman Youtube video about social media (yes the one on the front of this site) in his presentation. It was great to hear someone standing in front of you say that ‘yes, you were doing the right thing’, and that it is worth persevering with trying to get clients and brands to adopt the platform/technology.

And then this morning, Dan Thornton of 140Char posted about Pistachio Consulting, and the Twitter ‘app’ guide they have produced. The thing here is that Pistachio consulting specialise in social media and micro-blogging platforms – good enough for me, that’s a bona-fide business…  and just to make sure, it has its own conferences – Social Media in Business Conference, London and Media140 – reaching right around the world.

So, just to clarify, brands are all over the social media web world, they have tools, are manged, businesses are run solely for this purpose, they have conferences – all around the world – and its gaining more and more momentum and exposure.

*nudge*

Time to talk to someone who knows about this sort of stuff ?

Another social media explanation video via Youtube.

Everyone will have their own take on this, but I see, Tv, internet and mobile as the three core platforms.
And in the last few years, we’ve seen the rise social media.

Social Media

I guess you could say that gaming presents a significant platform (XBox, Playstation Wii), but I wont, not today.

Its been happening for a while, Sky Tv will provide your internet, Orange will also give you a web connection, at home and mobile. Things have been converging for a while. Now it’s happening in the experience too – TV, web and mobile all share the same content, you decide what to consume and how.

Now, one of my current projects actively address’s the old ‘core’ three, mobile, tv and web, but im having issues convincing them that we need to place as much, if not more, focus on social media.

I wasnt sure myself, but ive found a couple of resources that have helped build a picture for me;

Socialnomics. This book was sent to me by one of my followers on twitter, there is a story and an idea, but thats another post. The book lays-bare the facts that we need to know to understand the power of social media. After-all if they can make someone President of the United States, it might have some power.

Next, I found this site. The slide and video below are from that site. They allude to this – we can measure the impact of social media, and therefore it is valid as a channel/platform.
(The slides are in-depth and not necessarily good for everyone, but they are correct. )

Social Media ROI by @brandbuilder from Kipp Bodnar on Vimeo.

Whats happening is new. Brands are communicating with customers in an entirely new way. And that’s all that matters.

The communication drives the change or solution that you need, be it greater revenues, smaller costs, better CRM or launching a new business.

The way you interact with customers through social media provides them with a personal service unlike anything they have had before.

And, importantly, the best thing about social media is – it finds the user/customer.

That’s why its as much of a channel as the long established TV, or the emerging mobile world. And to those who say social media and the internet are the same, let me make that assumption. They will be left behind.

Social media find its own users, by referral, by commenting, by subscribing, by becoming a fan, and much more. But you still have to get into the game, its not the same as having a website, or even a blog.

Video via the Socialnomics website.

Understand the power of social media before you write it off. It’s responsible the for USA having the first non-caucasian president. ever.

This is nothing odd, as ive watched most of the ASP events this year in the exact same way.

But in the corner of my eye for the last 5 days has been the little Hurley/Facebook logo from the corner, announcing that the expression session is going to be live on Facebook.

Curiosity got the better of me and I had to go check it out.

Hurley Logo

It turns out Hurley are pretty on-it in terms of Social Media and Networking…. and the Facebook site is just beginning.

http://www.facebook.com/Hurley

http://www.twitter.com/hurleylive

http://apps.facebook.com/hurleypro/?_fb_fromhash=4f8acfc4f79855cede6e234f91dca3f4

Between the event site, the fan pages, the live event on Facebook, and live updates via Twitter, there is plenty of info out there.

And the most interesting part is how Facebook has become a broadcast and event partner, standing side-by-side with Hurley to present the event. Considering the event winner’s purse was set at $105,000 – ensuring it set a new record – thats quite a big event to be hanging-out with, especially at home in Southern California.

Facebook is really storming-ahead, the lite.facebook site, the @replies functionality, its not Twitter that should be worried – its the market-place as we know it.

They are breaking new ground. We’ll watch as they advance..

Side-note;

If your really keen to get a varied social-media account of the Trestles event, you should check-out the Hobgoods – these guys have also got a good grasp on the Social Media world.

http://www.blog.thegoodss.com/hobgoods-227/

http://twitter.com/hobgoods

http://vimeo.com/user723842

and.. the ASP has a Youtube channel you can get the videos from…  here’s the Expression Session highlights.

Like a good tech-geek, you struggle-on and make the most from what you have, and dutifully, I’ve found some good advantages to having a camera in my pocket that’s connected to the web.

Recently, with a little inspiration, ive been taking more photos that i like with the camera and getting to know it better.

Work area - Swinhoe Industries - Taken with the iPhone

As you will read if you visit his site, Chase Jarvis is a photog. of the most epic proportions, shooting for the biggest names in the sports, leisure and tech world. He is especially well known for his use of his iPhone to post daily pictures that come under the category “Chase Jarvis takes better shots with an iPhone than I do with a Hasselblad“.

And as he says, “the best camera is the one that’s with you”.

But there are a few other tips, supplied by Chase, to make the photos coming off your iPhone that bit better, and I too have enjoyed the benefits of them.

Camerabag is a truly great app, having received huge accolade from a number of places, and ive used it on the shots in this post.

The doggie being shy.. (there is extra 'grey' on the base of this from the filter)

Hanging about - taken with iPhone - tweaked with Camerabag

I like them. The filters come out well generally and make the photos taken much more usable and distributable.

Chase Jarvis is a savvy guy, follow his blog if you take photos regularly, but he’s not only about photos. He has mastered the world of  Social Media, using it to connect with his audience and web users in a full-frontal attack.

He’s on twitter, he blogs – regularly, he posts RAW video posts to Youtube, he’s on Facebook, he podcasts (iTunes link)…

The guy has been posting from New Zealand for the last week whilst he’s been shooting a job. Its great to follow him and the crew and get the insights to how things happen.

Im still in the iPhone, alot, and with a selection of decent shots coming from the camera, im not hating using it anymore.

Go shoot something…

I picked-up the camera and walked out to take a few shots.

My setup was the Nikon D70 (yes, in know,its VERY old now) and a lovely 12-24 Tokina Wide-angle that ive had for a year or two, along with the obligatory tripod.

Im not going to go into the How’s, What’s and Why’s of HDR as Stammy does a way better job.

I took shots at different locations, but im going to focus on one composition to illustrate the process as an example of what HDR looks like for me

Here’s the three brackets shots and the final HDR version.

Under

On exposure

Over

The HDR

Now in reality, these shots dont do a very good job exploiting what HDR has to offer, they lack foreground detail and the natural landscape looks more hyper-real than a cityscape or urban setting.

But you ge the idea.

Once you have the thee exposures, you can sit and tweak away for hours and create a widely varied set of results.

What I’ve come to realise is – I’m not that big a fan of HDR. The over produced look of it is useful for a few occasions, but its not my cup of tea for most jobs. For example the subtle tonal variations of the sunset on the ‘On exposure’ shot are lost when the balance of the light in the rest fo the frame is changed – I know you could tweak away with this for hours, but I like the dark, moody feeling it brings to the table.

You need to figure these things out for yourself… go take it for a spin.

Facebook

Facebook, is by-far the most prominent of all the social networking sites, with the largest saturation and user-base for non-geeky internet types. The site is used by many for as wide a set of uses as you can imagine, with third-party apps, groups and causes flooding your home screen daily.

I personally use Facebook as a reference point for friends and family to keep me in touch with and available to people I might not email or call regularly.

Facebook as been constantly in the public eye for a host of reasons regarding security, privacy and even human rights, but this week I had a entirely new Facebook experience.

Its not uncommon for people to use online networking communities to gather research on individuals, but this is usually limited to the privacy rules set by the individual along with the relevant site, i.e. – you could use Facebook to research somebody, but only if they have privacy set so low that they want the outsied world to get a view of what they are doing.

Rarely, if ever, would you expect to have your details and information surveyed if you believe you have set all the correct measures in place to secure yourself.

Unless someone you know hands over THEIR login details to a third-party to allow them to profile and research you….  which is what happened to me.

Now, all joking aside, I dont have any dirt to be gleamed by hacking my Facebook account, and I wasn’t being hacked maliciously, nor where the perpetrators seeking to base a highly important career decision based on what they found. But they did circumvent one of the most basic privacy protection measures we all have – our own individual login details, and that blew a hole in my personal privacy the size of the Grand Canyon.

What im saying here is;

Dont under-estimate the control you have of your own privacy, and dont EVER give out your login and password details to ANYONE !

Between media scare-mongering and the onslaught of malicious hackers, its ever-more important to keep yourself secure online. Use each part of the internet for its intended purpose, research and find out about how the site or application works and then configure your own settings to meet your needs.

Dont let the technology get the better of you – its a tool there to aid in the achievement of something and used the correct way will provide huge benefits.

But use it safely and confidently.

Im going to start and get to grips with the best system for us with WordPress.

Seesmic

Seesmic allows you to post longer than clips than 12 Seconds. Integrates well with WordPress, allowing you to record and post from within the WP interface, this is then published in WP and posted to your Seesmic account and Twitter should you want it to.

12Seconds

Testing more vloging tools and methods on 12seconds.tv

This uses the 12seconds plugin and shortcode to grab my feed, but its not ;
[12suser username="swinhoe" size="fat"]

Youtube

As-yet no WP plugin to record direct from the admin UI.

Vimeo – does not allow recording and posting from webcam direct to the platform.

To summarise, and i may review this at any point, I think Seesmic is going to win here. Its built right into the WordPress UI, so you can blog from the admin of your site, and its pushed to the Seesmic site and Twitter automatically, and its not forced to be a mere 12 seconds.

Youtube is cool, and will have a greater level of exposure for the larger audience, but you can work with that to get them to your site or blog are negate the issue. But I’ll prefer to keep Youtube for edits and films.

12Seconds. Well, its ok, but its not very long, and the audio compression is awful as you’ll hear below…

NOOOOOO on 12seconds.tv

Addendum

The other way….
Test video blog – via the iSight and uploaded to WordPress.
This page http://support.wordpress.com/videos/, indicates that you can upload your own video into WordPress, these could easily be recorded from an iSight and posted straight to the server. However, this appears not to be working currently, if I find out more this post will be updated. (There is the drawback with this method that the video is only posted to the WP install and not to other social media platforms…).

One of my pet-projects at the moment is the information site for Beadnell Bay – http://www.beadnellbay.info.

On it Ive created a page specifically for the surf report that im providing for the area (http://www.beadnellbay.info/surf-check/), and Ive been looking for an efficient way of running the content.

Its really not that hard, you go to the beach, take a photo, go back to the office, upload the image to the web server, and hey-presto, you have a surf report. But, doing this every day will take up more tim than is ideal, and is very repetitive.

So how can we make the process more streamlined ? how can it be easier ?

I had tried a few ideas, and had searched for the best solution online, and the best I had come=up with was to use Yahoo Pipes to push the latest image from a Flickr group into the page. The pipe is here if you want a look -

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=tgsFay003hGYXDqQBR50VA.

However this is not really what I wanted. The images do not display large enough, and whilst its nice running it through Flickr, linking out to the set is not ideal.

Enter technology and the perfect solution.

Apple iPhone

Im already using my iPhone to take the photograph and push it to the Flickr group, so ideally I wanted was something as easy to use but with a btter web presentation.

Enter the right application, and a little bit of AJAX.

FTP Picture upload provides a simple and easy way to FTP any picture from your iPhone to the web server of your choice. With a little tweaking, it was up and running in 10 minutes and i had the right image on the server.

On the page I could now print the latest image as uploaded form my iPhone. Fantastic.

However the image being displayed could not be identified as recent. How where users to know that the shot was taken today ? or even this week ?

What I wanted was a script that could find out when the shot was taken and print that to the page, telling the users the image was recently updated.

JavaScript alone can not do this, but the helpful people at http://twitter.com/javascripthelp quickly pointed out that the XML Http Request can grab the Last Modified date from the header of any file on your server.

With that, I searched, found the right piece of JavaScript and then set it all in motion. (code is below).

The surf report image now displays, is enlargeable, and has the upload date and time printed next to it. And all automated via the iPhone.

Along with this, I post a text update via Twitter and you get a pretty decent surf report.

******************  Example Code ******************

<script type=”text/javascript”>

var xmlhttp=false;
try
{
xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject(“Msxml2.XMLHTTP”); /* for IE < 5 */
}
catch (e)
{
try
{
xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject(“Microsoft.XMLHTTP”);
}
catch (E)
{
xmlhttp = false;
}
}

/* mozilla & opera */
if (!xmlhttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest!=’undefined’)
{
xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
}

var upDated

function getUpdated(){

xmlhttp.open(“HEAD”, “MyPic.JPG”,true);
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function() {
if (xmlhttp.readyState==4) {
upDated = xmlhttp.getResponseHeader(“Last-Modified”);
document.getElementById(“theDate”).innerHTML = upDated;
}
}
xmlhttp.send(null)
}

</script>

</head>
<body onload=”getUpdated();return false;”>
<img src=”MyPic.JPG” alt=”MBP_box” width=”500″ />
<br/>Picture updated on – <p id=”theDate”>Updating…</p>