by Bob | Jul 30, 2013 | Local Tech Notes, Skeptic
The conference, which took place in Las Vegas in July, was fun, exciting and stimulating. Meeting James Randi and other skeptic heroes, attending a live recording of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast and just talking to so many nice folks was a thrill.
I also came away inspired to become more active in the skeptical community and, more important, to engage the larger world with new found strength, knowledge and resources. I am not a scientist, physician, philosopher or magician. I am not formally trained in critical thinking. But I don’t think that will restrain me from finding ways to do my small part to help improve the quality of thinking about the world.
Among the many surprises at TAM was learning of an existing group of Humboldt Skeptics on Facebook. I was at TAM with the Eye’s Keven Hoover and we had been thinking of forming some kind of local skeptics group but thought we might have trouble finding more than a half-dozen compatriots. Turns out there’s a whole bunch of us! But connecting with them will certainly encourage us to create this organization on some level and start bringing evidence based thinking out into the world through meetings, presentations and networking.
Skeptic Bloggers
As a web developer and blogger, I also plan to become more active on the Internet (not just on the walled garden of Facebook) by writing more on skeptical topics, helping to create web spaces for regional skeptical activity and using some of the new tools that other skeptic activists have been creating.
Here are some of the more interesting resources for skeptical activity that I plan to take advantage of and potentially participate in.
SkepTools: A blog dedicated to sharing skeptical tools and resources for skeptical activism.
Rbutr: Prounced ‘rebutter’ this web app “..aims to facilitate inter-website debate, guide users to rebuttals of dubious information, and indirectly influence our users so that they approach all online information with an increased level of skepticism and critical appraisal.” Essentially it links websites/pages with other websites/pages that offer contrary evidenced. You can find and post websites and their rebuttals.
So, I am making a commitment to do what I can. “Small Tasks. Big Consequences.”
Crowdsourcing Skepticism
Small Tasks, Big Consequences
by Bob | Jul 11, 2013 | Life notes, Local Tech Notes
I am six months from being 62 years old! How did this happen?
Trying to stay somewhat fit and looking forward to when ingestable or under skin monitoring implants I downloaded a free iOS tracking app called Moves.
It simply tracks your movement using geolocation it knows if your walking, running, I think biking. It counts your steps, calculates your speed and distance. Basically a souped up pedometer (have at it NSA).
But this simple tool of the quantified self works! It motivates me to run further, take more steps.
It move me. Fit bit next?
What gets you moving?
by Bob | Feb 27, 2013 | Local Tech Notes, SEO, Social Media
On February 26 I gave a brief presentation co-sponsored by North Coast Small Business Development Center and the Redwood Technology Consortium’s Internet Marketing Group. As the title suggests it was a high level overview of the current state of social media marketing and my opinions on what works and what doesn’t. The slideshow isn’t that informative, but here it is in any case. Links to resources mentioned are below.
Resources Mentioned
I think the core of my talk is the section on Content Marketing. That’s the new buzzword but for years the mantra has been Content is King and it’s essentially the same concept: Create valuable content whether it’s with a blog, newsletter, training videos, white papers, case studies, even testimonials. Embed that stuff in your site (good for SEO) and then post about those things on as many places and platforms as you can. Social Media Marketing should have 2 goals:
- Get people to market for you: If you provide value they will.
- Drive traffic to your site where you can control the experience (capture leads and/or conduct transactions).
I would love to hear your experiences with making social media marketing effective and efficient. And any great tools you discover along the way. Add your comments below! And as always, please share this post on your networks.
by Bob | Nov 21, 2012 | Local Tech Notes
A couple months ago I spent several hours searching for speakers for my iPad. I read lots of specs and product reviews on many websites. I was looking for the sweet spot where price, features and quality sound converge. In spite of the horrible brand name (iLuv, puhlease!) I settled on this model (you can see it, sort of on the left there – it’s black, holding a black iPad on a black desk – not the best photographic conditions).
Command Center
Here’s why I like these speakers:
- The sound is good. Not great, but enough of a boost in bass and richness that makes watching video more pleasurable.
- Portrait and Landscape. It easily rotates so you can read in portrait mode and watch video in landscape. This is a really, really, nice feature.
- Flexible: You can change the angle of the screen holder to suit your needs.
- Charges the iPad while you’re using it.
- Compact: It doesn’t take up much space on my admittedly crowded desk.
- Price: There were cheaper models that didn’t have the features. And there were some very expensive speakers that I’m sure would have had better sound, but also had none of the features I like about this one. Sweet spot.
The quibbles are minor:
- As I said, the sound is OK. But what can you expect at this price?
- It’s a little tricky getting the iPad on the stand.
- I doesn’t have the “feel” of a product that was built to last a long time. If feels a little flimsy. But I have had no problems with it after months of almost daily use.
- There’s a remote which I have never used and now can’t find. It comes with an app for the iPhone. I guess that’s not a quibble. I just thought I’d throw it in because it’s part of the package.
Anyway, I thought I’d share. Could be a great Christmas present for your iPad owning pals. Here’s the affiliate link if you’re interested:
by Bob | Jul 31, 2012 | Local Tech Notes, Social Media
Update: the app just received an upgrade with many improvements.
While sitting around waiting for a doctor appt. I decided to try out this WordPress app on my iPad. It’s quite simple to set up and connects with either a WordPress hosted or self-hosted site. this will be great for blogging on the run. Or while watching baseball. The one drawback I see is there is no way to insert an image. The editor has limited but adequate formatting tools and a way to insert a link without having to type link code. It also runs on the iPhone.
If you are a blogger using WordPress and have an iOS device, give it a try. It’s free, after all. What can you lose but a few minutes which, in my case, would have been largely wasted anyway?
OK! So I learned a few things:
- You can insert images by clicking on the Edit button on a saved post and then the image icon that appears at the bottom.
- You can edit pages as well as posts. So you could use the app to update any WP site. Not just a blog site.
- You can manage comments.
- You can get stats if you have the Jetpack plugin (or have you blog hosted at WordPress.com).
So anyway, it’s even better than I thought!
by Bob | Apr 11, 2012 | Local Tech Notes
I did a presentation for the Humboldt Internet Marketing Group/Redwood Technology Consortium, whatever it’s called (RTC/IMG? I dunno). This was a jam packed meeting and I only had a short amount of time. So this slideshow has only 15 slides. But I think it has some good material. I actually added some information that wasn’t in the live presentation.
I have been thinking about offering some workshops on specific topics. More in-depth, fee based. Maybe one focused on Twitter, one on Facebook and one on Google +. I’d be interested in knowing if there was interest out there in something like that, starting locally, here in Eureka. I would make it relatively low cost and high value.
The 2nd slide might need some explanation: I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I don’t think that feeling is uncommon. We love it because we can connect with people we otherwise wouldn’t have. But it opens the door to lots of wasted time. And if you are a business owner you can’t really avoid the potential of reaching a much bigger market than you could otherwise. Facebook offers a lot of potential. But it also changes the rules of the game all the time. For most of us, it’s a huge chore to keep up with let alone use the system to any benefit. That’s what that slide is about. And the link embedded in it is well worth the read.
