wooot.

Hey, look at the tweet, woot.

Thanks to (Mark @) Box.net for that fantastic news, I had a few mates say… “it’s a scam” but I laughed, can’t see that myself, after all, why would those smart buggers at box.net shoot themselves in the foot like that?

They did it for great publicity, not bad publicity, of course, it’s worked!

Seems twitter is not so useless after all!

That ONE tweet makes the whole few years Iv’e been on there worthwhile.

It certainly made my day/week/month getting that tweet.

A Samsung galaxy tab

I am looking forward to getting this prize and seeing what I can do with it, I do have a few ideas and also what I said in the tweet that won it, as seen in the tweet you see here… one other thing I can enjoy is ebooks, as good as a kindle really, (like kindles? look at the sidebar!) >> – as you can do more with it, I read alot, so this will be great at times when I am not doing anything, on the bus for example.

So, once I have it…

… I will do a review of it here, and depending on the set up, IE I imagine (fingers crossed) I get a box.net account loaded onto it too, which will be great for the all important files I can share with it, photos etc I can then do a double review… one of the product and one of what is loaded on there I find useful.

I have the free box.net account already I am sure.  I will share my experience with box.net’s great tools, I think it’s something I should have used before really but never had the chance to dive into it, that will change.

Box.net ?

What is Box.net? A file storage and sharing set up, it could even be used for FTP, which is what you use to upload files to a website etc.  Ideal for the blogs if needed.

Cloud storage as it’s called, IE nothing needs to be stored on your pc / lappy, which means you can access it on ANY device you use, a friends lappy for example, just log in and use, one good thing is you can use it for big files, sometimes files can be to big for email say, so you upload it to Box.net and share the link, ideal.

Obviously there are limits with the free accounts, which is worth having, but should you need more, or unlimited even then that is possible.

Android

Hearing good things about android and the many apps it has, I can utilise my google account on that so that will be handy, I am sure my amazing youngest son will also enjoy playing any games he finds on that, he just got a samsung android phone for his birthday, so I’m sure he already has a few in mind, to be honest when I saw that tweet, I thought it was a phone, so to see what the tab really was just excited me more.  A double woot if ya like!

I am sure some of you use android apps and may have some ideas for me?

Gotta laugh, a few words can make a picture!

A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say…

But what about adding words as well …

What a difference a few words can really make to a picture, it’s no wonder they get viral quickly and easily … the more innocent or innocuous the picture that better the words could fit.

Alot to be said for a Sense of humour

The above one cracked me up… enough for me to make it my desktop background for a while, always good to start the session off with a chuckle, or two. Whoever did this one spotted a good one.

It’s interesting the different roles humour plays in our live … for all of us differently, how we use humour etc. Funny shit… pardon the pun!

Bottom line is …

Without humour, what have you got?

Not a lot.

As they say, “you can either laugh or cry” which in a sense really nails it, not that it’s literally, IE, you probably won’t cry, but it’s the point it makes …

“Laughter is the best medicine” – as we’ve all heard too.

What’s interesting to me is that laughter is a pretty much a human trait … so it’s gotta be important.

Writing with a little of it matters, it seems to make some difference and yet it also gets some interesting response, going by two emails about the Missy magic post, one went as far as to say, you two need to get a room!

Just as a side-note -Thanks for that, but if you knew us then you’d know that is never going to happen, we are just weird with the humour… maybe just weird full stop. but another thing is I don’t think you could get a room big enough to fit her personality into and me, for too long!

It’s friendship, a funny thing – I have been learning surprising things about it all myself… more recently even too, some friendships with the opposite sex are worth far more than is the risk of losing, there is no value in that risk at all – say as in the case of me and missy! She would agree with that too… I experienced the cost of that myself with someone (NOT missy, silly!) a few weeks back, some know what I mean.  ;-)

Sometimes it just isn’t worth it …

Hey Missy… “Howdy” – if you are reading …

Never said nuffink!

I know, not funny… I’M serious…

Humour is a powerful thing …

I know it makes an amazing defence mechanism too … in several ways., it can shatter barriers, change the atmosphere, influence people and more importantly situations.

It can mask insecurities, whatever they may be.

The only problem is we all have unique humour, and humour is also geolocated too … meaning humour is influenced by where you grow up. It’s so clear when you see jokes that go right over peoples heads, sarcasm, irony, innuendos, etc, can be completely missed. Funny in itself! But unavoidable!

Have you heard about … ?

Yeah, probably… :rolleyes: and isn’t that saying something?

So, what are you putting out with your humour?

Get someone laughing, how does it make you feel? More importantly how does it make them feel? How much does it influence the way they feel about you?

After all, that’s yours, it’s unique, how is it playing out a role in your life? How do you share it? How do others “remember you” when you not with them?

It’s not funny you know, it’s worth thinking about.

It’s what really differentiate us from animals. Understanding humour is important, wouldn’t you say?

I like wit. Those who know me know what I mean.

Over to you …

My next secretary!

Well… had an interesting idea for a post from my friend Missy… My next secratary…

Now I have to get some crappy work in order to justify that!

Anyway… Missy… Ya famous now!

Full of ideas, nuttiness… but this was at least an interesting idea for a post.

Now… what would you say about the picture there?

“OMG… she is nice…” or something along those lines… Highly likely I bet!

Or if you are somewhat blind… maybe… “she is ok…” !!

In that case… you really should have gone to bloody specsavers man!!

The attraction factor

What makes us attractive, why do some people attract each other, is beauty skin deep … what makes something/someone attractive or worthy etc… what are the properties we should be looking for in other people we choose to surround ourselves with, in whatever capacity.

So many questions Missy!

Lets roll around together with that …

You seen her jugs??? …

What?

well, what was YOU expecting?

Men are shallow… ya right missy! Well apart from this blurk… as you say!

The truth is, we are all wired this way, you ladies too, that’s fact and no point fighting it, we would all do well to accept it.

But what an interesting thought process we started on facebook faceache, one that no doubt all of us think about at times… mostly when we are young, when we have no real idea as the lack of experience is telling.

It often takes us several relationships to know where you “fit in” IE, “she/he is out of my league” is often said, it’s an important factor in life too.

Who chooses where we fit?

We do… we work this out over the course of a few relationships, even though every relationship is unique it’s often that we find patterns, we all know that is a truth, some girls always go out with assholes, different assholes but assholes all the same… some guys always choose ditzy blondes, or fiery redheads… whatever!

Is beauty really skin deep?

In a word, YES on meeting… that is we make up that decision faster than we know… blink of an eye is all it takes most of the time, most men don’t know it, but it’s not just the beauty of the girl, it’s often the unconscious notion of have beautiful offspring, likewise women also take into consideration the gene factor… but more often than men, they are aware of it and more consciencley choose.

It’s not a coincidence that women usually instigate divorce after a longish marriage, the kids are grown somewhat… chances are the man is not attractive to them like they were… IE you got the gorgeous kids, so now you want to have an attraction for you… not for a genetic reason…  selfish reasons, yes but completely understandable.

What makes us attractive

100 men could look at the same gorgeous women and all find her attractive, yet all will find something different that’s attractive about them…

So many things make the difference with all of us, far too many to name, the truth is, it’s small things, we can see the beauty in everyone, it may be just a small thing that captures the eye, more often than not I find hands a big part of attractiveness, may seem odd, but hey ho I AM odd!

Nothing worse then seeing lovely ladies with manky hands, manky nails.. no thanks! They ain’t touching my… oh wait, let’s not go there!

With the ladies, 100 women could look at one good looking man and of them, 30% won’t even like him… the rest all to varying degrees for various reasons, some won’t even see him!

Ladies.. go into a bar filled with men and you will agree many of them men are almost invisible to you, yet with men, they scan the room different, they see all the women, then ignore most…

A bit of a difference there wouldn’t you say?

Many would say, Missy, you got stunning eyes, or a gorgeous smile… or cracking jugs…

Me, I say all of them lol… but I know you, I know what is the main factor with you… your personality, or more accurately, your crazy sense of humour… you drag the Kenny Everett out of everyone!

Why do certain people attract each other?

This largely in my mind depends on where you are in the circle of life, your age, if you have kids (their age too) the kind of things you like doing, all these circumstances effect it, without us even thinking about it at times but the question is a good one, certain people do attract certain people, that saying “opposites attract” must have some merit… Yin and Yang… Chalk and cheese… Missy and me.

Back off Missy!! Oh,  just a little bit, so I can gaze…

The key for me is, what is it you need from a relationship, that should be the bearing on who you attract, who can give you that…

Who can make you feel the way you need to feel, rather than want, as they are close but the results can be a gulf…

I can’t think of this as a cut and dry thing, we change, things change, what attracts us changes, what we see as attractive in others changes… nothing stays the same, ever! (apart from my youthful looks!)  :lol: …

What should we be looking for in other people

That depends on too many things, but there is one basic truth, you don’t… when you look for it, you never find it.

What I’d say is, what can you offer that others who you would like to attract will notice…

The stupid thing is attraction works like buses, nothing happens for a while, then two or three people start liking you… why?

Because people want what they can’t bloody have, that is why some people try “stealing” other peoples women, blokes, the chase all just to confirm to their own little minds that they can, regardless of the pain they cause others… they don’t care, sadly.

So, missy… what say you? Food for thought?

Does it answer any questions or thoughts you had?

All that from a bloody single bloke!!!

So Missy, forget the old ginger dipstick who hurt ya, when ya ready, give us a shout… I can grab me some Missy magic!

Walkabouts?

You know what they say about the path to success…

It’s paved with bloody obstacles…

The Stig!

Who better to teach you how to control a car the right way?

Imagine having a chance to drive around the top gear track with the elusive Stig?

Yet…

I’d have one distinct advantage over most people… I’d have to lipread him, so at least I’d get to see just who the elusive Stig is!

Bet they would make me sign a non-disclosure if I had the opportunity!

After all, I can’t lipread a bloody helmet!

The Nissan 370z is a car to learn proper driving skills in too, these days not many people have driven a rear wheel drive car, which are a lot more fun and very different to front wheel drive, you would get a chance to drive with 7 gears too, seems hard to believe when I started driving you were lucky to drive a car with a 5th gear!

This would be a top day to remember, a once in a lifetime opportunity, go check it out and see if it’s YOU that gets to be that lucky winner.

One thing that’s certain is driving on a track is so different to the road, the speed can be deceptive with the wide open spaces of a track.

Wouldn’t you love to try that out?

Taking a step back can give you a view you initially miss…Often too late… ;o)

No good blaming anything but lack or focus and foresight.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZcLWAmdco]

Amazing examples of the dancing which probably inspired Michael Jackson, though I have to say these guys seem to by so much better at it . ;o)

The guy on the round platform, who looks like he falls off is great.

Portland bill’s famous lighthouse. Shame you never hear the fog horn anymore, some great memories of hearing that while laying in bed at the house in Weston street as a kid.

Visitors can climb up the stairs inside the lighthouse and have a look at the spectacular view from the top, not sure about times and days, so if that interest you, best to check it out beforehand…nevertheless just being here will put a smile on your face … not to mention the sun on your back too.

Europe forced us to have new swings here, they are not even facing the right way anymore either…they are small compared to old ones we used to have here which faced south, the way I am facing taking this.

My son and my nieces, nephew all having fun here. Feel lucky to have grown up with this on our doorstep, and luckier our own kids have been able to enjoy summers out there too. Taking advantage of their nan and grandad having a beach hut out here. )

Googles new …

ave is exciting to see.

It really could change the web, Lars Rasmussen described it as simply … “Wave is what email would be if was invented today” … and the inspiration for this started in 2004.

Lars and his brother Jens along with Stephanie Hannon, all from the google office in Sydney, Australia have come up trumps with this in my eyes, you really need to watch the video to see it in action for it’s potential to make sense.

These are the guys who gave you google maps, which is succeeding very well and being used probably more than even they anticipated, I see it on photos, tweets, the social sites, blogs, search … everywhere.

Googles waving!

So I hadn’t got around to watching the wave video until recently, maybe you’ve already seen it, read about it somewhere, if not, although the video is over an hour it is worth watching. Even if you have no intention of using wave itself, it shows where the internet is really going from here.

Once you see it in action, you realise email and IM messaging (chat) seems to be so lame, old, stale and yet this so much more than simply email, IMessaging in a new form, almost everyone uses email and chat so that most likely includes you and this will change how you do it, should you use it when it’s available.

This is by far the biggest and best web innovation I have seen online, to be honest it blew me away watching it, the possibilities, the sheer usefulness of it, the “liveness” of it.

And yet it’s still in raw form, meaning it’s as basic as it will be the way you see it now, they stressed the point it was in it’s early stages a few times, yet there can only be improvements once all the smart developers start building things for it, like “add on” developers do so well with firefox, it’s users that make it what it is.

But for the rest of us who will simply use it, most will love it once it’s out there to use I think … maybe some will be late to try it, others will be onto it asap (I can’t wait!), whatever happens it will change the way the web is used.

It’s simply a new better way of communicating and in real time too, google is leading the way with wave as there really is nothing else to compare it to.

Use Gmail?

If you have a Gmail account, the look in wave (right click, new tab, window, for pics) will seem somewhat familiar, the left sidebar panel is where the navigation and friends show (google contacts), in the main page where your inbox would show in Gmail is where the collection of waves if you have more than one are show as a list.

Each wave when clicked on opens as whole on the right side of the main page and it’s in threaded form, but unlike threaded emails of text, waves can have anything added to it, pictures, links, whatever content you want to share. (check first pic)

Much like in Gmail, you can contact multiple people and have several responses all threaded together in one massage … unlike Gmail, with wave you can pick and choose which person sees what in the wave, while keeping it all in context. (first pic, right hand side) The people in that wave in the pic are shown on the top of the wave itself.

Get this … anytime in the Gmail, if I wanted to share an email with someone new I would send the whole message, they would see all of it and from all who responded but would have to sit and read it all as it is and make sense of it, even though its all out of context as a thread.

Not so in wave, they have this great feature called “playback” as you see on the button at the top on the pics, clicking this shows the new added person not only the whole thread in the wave, but how it happened, what got added where, when, what led to it, what was changed, the progress as it happened etc …

Like watching a rewind on a mixed video/sharepoint/doc/picalbum/IM !!

Powerful as a collaberation tool!

Powerful as a storyboard!

Powerful as a mastermind!

Then say that new person wanted to share something private with you, something regarding an idea about the wave which was best not being said in the wave for all to see, they could make a part private to type to you, they would leave the actual message in the wave keeping it in context … so only the two of you see it!

A hypothetical wave!

Many of my friends on facebook go on holidays, all at the same time quite often yet in different places. They normally post a status or two while on holiday, as well as add a picture album (or two!) to their profile to share with us all.

Let’s imagine three groups of four have all gone on holiday …

1. Four girls have gone to Ibiza (as you do!)

2. Two couples have gone to NZ … (lucky buggers!)

3. Four lads choose Tenerife. (No surprise there!)

The tags can help people find the “scattered over several (12) profiles” pictures and comments etc, yes I know, so fragmented, so awkward not to mention dealing with all the notifications when others comment!

Use a wave…

For ease we call the wave “summer hols 09″ which is simple to remember for all of them and others in the future.

Group 1 touchdown first… it’s late in the evening, they comment in the wave and post a pic of the scene from the bus / coach as it takes them to the hotel…

Others online (me!) at the same time can comment in the wave, the girls can reply without leaving the wave.

Next morning, group 2 hit the runway in NZ, on the way they send pics from the plane to the wave, commenting along with it, again anyone online at the time can reply in the wave, to a comment or about the picture.

The couple spot the girls pics and comments from the night before, they comment too.

Others join in as they find the wave.

Later the night the lad in group 3 fly out to Tenerife, three hours later they are hitting the hotel to drop their stuff off and then hitting the bars and clubs, they post a pic or two to the wave, they also comment on the other two groups things.

Luckily the girls are online…they start chatting to the lads, in real time. Others join in.

All this “experience sharing” in one wave, all in context of how the holidays unfolded.

An experience in real time of three holidays all happening at once!

After everyone is home, they can continue to share and comment on the wave about their experiences and more.

A few weeks later, a friend who has not been online much may ask about the holiday now it gets interesting, because instead of saying, yeah we posted pics to facebook and the comments…well you will spend days looking for them…you share the wave!

Earth day…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJXW11WpVaw]