What is RSS?

I got "into" computers around 2003ish. And I was like 10. By like 2004ish I'd discovered the internet see before that I was programming (very basic stuff) in like C++(my brother was at the time majoring in computer science.)I'd been playing halo with him since like 2001ish. So I had a small halo site in the end of 2003, hosted on freewebs. By 2004 I'd learned HTML and made it better. Yada-yada, late '04 I was doing small PHP stuff and I'd added an RSS button to my site. I had no idea what RSS was. In fact I found out like--a couple-a-weeks ago. I've always considered myself "up" on the new tech, but RSS never clicked with me (until then.)

Once I found out what it was and it seemed much simpler to me than my current routine(which I still--as I'm sure many people do.) Every morning, I go to all the blogs and sites I read. Simple as that, they're all bookmarked and I go to each one and check for updates. Now honestly I sort of enjoy it, it's part of my routine, and aside from wasted time I haven't found any issues with it. Well, there was one. David Tejada "The Annual Report Photographer" when I book marked his site I must have been looking at a post rather than the home page. I went for literally 2 months with no updates thinking, this guy was cool--what's his problem? So on vacation in vermont, I fired up my aunt's laptop to check my blogs. And Wait, like 30 new posts? I then realized what happened. Aside from that and wasted time I've found no issues with "the old way." Recently, several people have told me it's time to go to RSS. So for the next week (today is August 12) so until (August 19th)I will be using an RSS reader. On the 19th I will be finishing this post and giving my experience.

It's August 26 right now. I didn't have the time to wrap up my experience until now, but hey--a few extra days testing can't hurt right? Initially I found it very difficult to adapt to not going to each website and checking. For the first week I forced myself to not actually go to the websites I had subscribed to, heck, I even moved my typical bookmarks off the toolbar into the menu. I use "iGoogle" as my homepage, and having the 5 most recent news items from my blogs there, and not going to them in my typical manor saved a lot of time. In fact, I found myself with about 10 minutes extra every morning (so Logically I made the showers longer.) After the first week I restored all my bookmarks to the toolbar. Then for the remainder of my "research" time I was using both methods. I'd check my RSS reader in the morning, lunch, etc. Whenever I was at my homepage. When I got bored, I'd go to the websites and read old posts for inspiration.

The Verdict: If you're not using RSS yet, start. It will save time in your day, and (kind of) make life easier (I say kind of because easier is an overstatement.) I plan on keeping an RSS reader on my "iGoogle" and using a combo of RSS and manual checking. I am and RSS convert.

What is Twitter?

I am by no means and expert qualified to answer the question what is twitter, After all--I didn't invent it. But I can share what twitter is to me, and how it can be applied in a number of ways. According to the "Twitter in Plain English" Twitter is a way to keep in touch between blog posts and emails. "What are you doing?" is a question often asked when you are talking with people. But you
wont call up friends just to say what you're doing and they wont call you asking. When you get started on twitter, you're going to search for some friends, and click follow. So they'll make updates and you'll see these on your twitter page. After you follow a few people you'll find you've learned a lot of new things about them. Then you'll start writing your own updates. A lot of people (even one who've been using it for a long time) tend to make pointless updates like "I'm having a ham sandwich", Well Frankly, no one cares. something like "Just got a gig photographing a wedding" might be more interesting to people. You can also message people by typing d and then their username (e.g. "D JacobOConnell your message here".) @replies are cool too, if you want to mention something to someone, and you want everyone to see it you @reply them. It's done by typing @username. When I was on the photo walk with my friend Bobby I twittered "At the photowalk with @bk_math" then people could click and go to Bobby's twitter. Re-tweeting is for when someone you're follwing tweets something so awesome you want to share it and credit the original tweeter. You do this by typing something like RT @username and then what they said. So if Bobby tweets a great quote say then I'd tweet RT @bk_math "quote here". Thats a very general intro for how indivduals can use twitter. Just try it out, you'll learn as you use it.

Businesses and companies with twitter?

Vista Print is a great printing company, and when I first heard about them the prices seemed way to cheap. I tweeted "Anyone use Vista Print, do you guys like it?" and Vista Print has a twitter So a few minutes later I got "@JacobOConnell If you want to give us a try, visit www.vistaprint.com/twitter for deep discounts" (and they probably use some software that reads tweets with "Vista Print" in them and replies) I woke up this morning (day after this was posted) to a tweet from Vista Print: "@jacoboconnell Great post yesterday. All of our Tweets are done by a person not a bot." All I can say about that is wow. There's a company that really cares their customers think. As soon as I order my new business cards from there I'll be sure to write about the experience."

My school uses twitter as well (I update it) We update when there's sporting events with scores, blog posts, new videos, and snow days. Anyone following can get those updates sent to their cellphone.

Still Lost?
There's a sweet video on youtube: "Twitter in Plain English"

So try it out! I'd like to recommend a free program for windows/mac and iphone called TweetDeck.

{Graphic Credit: Matt Hamm (on Flickr)}

30 Things; 60 Days

To-do lists are often procrastination techniques. You don't have to do then right away because you won't forget them, because they're written down. And just accept it that people are lazy. I've picked 30 tasks to complete this summer. This isn't a to-do, it's a must-do list. I've made some of the tasks futile, simple, some ridiculous.The ridiculous ones will probably only get half done, but I might be okay with that. I have around 60 days to get it all done, that sounds simple, one thing every 2 days, but there's a few that are a bit more long term than that. Okay, red items are not done, and green are finished. Let's get started.

1. Make a list of 30 things to do in 60 days
2. Refurbish an old bicycle
3. Get a job
4. Bike 300 miles
5. Take 5000 photographs
6. Sell a piece of art (my art)
7. Work as an Art Director for a film, theater production, or photo shoot
8. Learn a new word everyday
9. Build a photo/video studio
10. Give a speech
11. Read 5 books
12. Learn a new language (a bit of one)
13. Learn more Spanish
14. Run once a week
15. Climb 5 mountains (maybe 1 high peak)
16. Shoot film. (photography)
17. Watch Slumdog Millionaire
    
18. Give advice
19. Cook a full 3+ course meal
20. Get my License
21. Go backpacking
22. Kayak once every two weeks
23. Learn to read music and play (keyboard) again
24. Meet famous people
25. Travel
26. Learn photoshop
27. Help someone else learn photoshop
28. Make a photo how-to tutorial thing.
29. Have a great summer
30. Complete items 1-30 on this list

Other things I'd like to do include, blogging once a week--but that's not a requirement.

Photoshop--the downside to understanding it

Photoshop is a great tool, and I'd be lost with out it. I started using photoshop a few years ago, and learned a LOT in the last year. As awesome is knowing how to make cool logos (such as the one pictured to the left is) it has also killed how I perceive graphics. To a normal person who doesn't know anything about logo/graphic design that looks cool. They think it looks glossy, and they see the cool gloss. I see a rounded rectangle, with the bottom thingy jutting out. I see a 't' that is all colored the same as the dark blue and it has an inner shadow of white on the bottom. I also see a shape created with the pen tool, that goes over the top half of the 't' that's filled with white and has a blend mode of something like screen on, and it's got an opactiy of like 32% (thats an esitmate, probalby lower.)

The lesson--if you enjoy glossy cool looking logos, don't learn how to use photoshop.

First Entry...

I'm not quite sure how to start this blog off. With my photography blog (here) I just dove right in, but here I think I need to introduce myself, and make my intentions clear.

As mentioned over in my profile, I'm a student--in the public education system. That said, I am a huge critic of education (public and private) in America. I feel that being in the system I know the flaws and strong points maybe a little better than someone who hasn't been in a desk in a school since the Nuns used rulers to discipline children.

Building on education, my school, just opened two years ago. The Institute of Technology is a project that has been in the works probably since the 90's, and it just opened last 2007. It has similar traits to Central High, which existed until it closed in 1976. I am highly critical of my own school, mainly because I experience it everyday. It's not a bad school, in fact, there's a smart bunch of kids. Prior to the school opening in 2007, I had the opportunity to work at a local university with 15 other kid's (from my school). We worked with the Public Relations Department at SU, under Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Coplin. At the moment I am not going to write much more about that experience, but I'm sure it'll be mentioned in the future on the blog.

I have a keen interest in photography. As mentioned above, I have a photography blog over at http://jakeoconnell.blogspot.com. Not going to talk more about that at the moment either.

Also as mentioned over in the profile section, I've got a huge interest in becoming a physician when I get older. I also hope to write a lot about that.

Jake