AlisaCooper.com » Web 2.0

Oye! Tech Can Be Frustrating

coop — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 06:00:18 +0000

So I decided I would “help a brotha out” by playing with some of the tools that @cogdog has compiled on his 50 Ways to Tell a Story wiki. I decided I would try the tools that didn’t have very many examples created, with the thought of helping @cogdog build his collection. Well, let me start by saying there is a reason some of the tools don’t have a lot of examples. I was about ready to shoot somebody.

I’m not known for my patience when playing with new Web 2.0 technologies. If I can’t figure it out within 5 minutes or within 5 minutes you’ve already pissed me off because of wonky behavior, I’m out of there. Heck, there are over 60 tools listed. I’ll just try another. I started with Joggle. After about 15 minutes and a mild hissy fit, I gave up. There’s a reason why “Dominoe” is the only story listed there. I’ll be nice and leave it at that. Next was ImageLoop. This site left me pining for more. I was able to produce a slideshow, but only after taking forever long to get an account. Kept saying my username was taken. I am the only “soul4real” so gimme my account! Had to settle for something else. All that trouble only to discover ImageLoop is just a basic slide show creation tool. So I load up pics from Flickr just so I can make a slide show like I could have made on Flickr. Nope. Not impressed.

So I decided that maybe I was in the wrong genre of storytelling tools. Maybe I should get out of the Slide show tools if I’m not impressed with slide show tools. Good idea. Timeline tools? Nah. Mixer tools? Now that sounds fun. Unfortunately I lost my focus on the first one and wandered off task. While I was checking out Vuvox, it reminded me of Shwup, yeah, yeah, I know – strange ass names. I just clicked over for a second, honest, to check something out. Thirty minutes later, Vuvox and “helping a brotha out” was forgotten, and I ended up with this.

So the point of the story is, I don’t really have anything to share with @cogdog, but I sure had fun playing last night.

Crack Spider Bitch – Playing in Seesmic

coop — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:11:07 +0000

I found a gem on Seesmic today. I got my invite via email after a long anxiously awaited few weeks… Okay, honestly I’d forgotten I even signed up to participate in their beta, actually it’s alpha, and couldn’t remember what it was. I quickly rediscovered that seesmic is a video site akin to a video version of Twitter. I got my webcam up and running and recorded a short sample. I set it up so my seesmic posts will also post on Twitter, kind of like this blog does.

Anyway, this isn’t a review or anything. I just wanted to share this funny video I saw today uploaded by rickdog:

Mind Map of Web 2.0 Stuff I Use Almost Everyday

coop — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 22:48:42 +0000

This post was inspired by a post over at TechCrunch – 2008: Web 2.0 Companies I Couldn’t Live Without. I read the blog title, but stopped short of reading the whole thing. I didn’t want Michael’s list to influence mine too much. I’ll finish reading his post once I’m done with my own. Then I can compare.

Sounds like fun, so here is my list of Web 2.0 sites, apps, plugins, etc. that I use almost everyday displayed in a Mindmeister mind map. Okay, to be more specific, I’ll say that I use all this “stuff” at least twice a week, if not everyday. Click the photo to see a bigger version.

Testing Out the Joe’s Goals Widget

coop — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:19:34 +0000

This will be a nice little widget once I actually start recording my activities. Just playing with it today. It is January 1st after all.

I’m a Superhero!

coop — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:40:18 +0000

Oh yeah baby! Wonder Coop is in the house!

Okay, I know. I have too much time on my hands. Actually I have very little, but I have this habit of procrastinating when the times get tight. This is how I proscratinate. I develop super heroes on the internet.

Want your own super hero? Check out HeroMaching version 2.5 on the UnderGroundOnline Beta site. It’s a great tool and fun to play with, but it could be so much better. The only way to save your creation is to do a screen capture. Today with all the social networking sites out there, you’d think you would be able to export to every known format possible.

So I was feeling like saving the world today with my whip. You have to smile about that.

How About a Little Music?

coop — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:43:28 +0000

Yeah, I know. Still procrastinating. It’s all Laura’s fault. I was minding my own beezewax (what ever that is), about to get to work, and she texted me about mp3tunes.com. I don’t know how I ended up at Last.fm after that, but here’s my playlist anyway.
Have a listen to my playlist.

Finally! A Way to Tame My Music

coop — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:43:37 +0000

Of course it might just take until I turn 50 before it uploads all 30gb of my music, but more on that later. I discovered Mp3tunes.com yesterday while reading my Google Reader feeds.

MP3tunes is a MSP (Music Service Provider), providing individuals a personal music locker with unlimited storage online, making it possible to access one’s music collection from any device. MP3tunes.com is the home of the Oboe Locker. MP3tunes also has an independent music store with music available for purchase at MP3tunes.com/store/.

I think Mashable had a post about online storage sites, ONLINE STORAGE: 80+ File Hosting and Sharing Sites. Anyway, I’ve been looking for something to help me control my out of control music collection. I have 4 computers I use pretty regularly: iMac, Macbook Pro, two Windows PCs, one at home and one at school. To add to this music collection mess, I have two kids and a partner who also love music. Cam has a laptop, but the boys have their on log ins on my home PC. So even though they are on the same computer, they have their own music files. So we have a total of 7 iTunes libraries and tons of music.

I know there are other methods for controlling this mess, and I’ve read several good articles about file servers and shared folders, but it was all too confusing to me. Now the way mp3tunes.com works sounds simple enough once it’s all set up. Getting to that point is a test of my patience however. It’s been about 2 1/2 hours just uploading 2Pac, and that’s only the first artist in my list of many. That’s slow, but it could be my computer and wireless connection. I’m sure it will be worth the wait. I can upload unlimited amounts of music and sync it with 3 computers for free. If it works, I can pay for an upgrade ($40 a year) to sync unlimited computers. The good thing about mp3tunes.com is once my music is uploaded, I can listen from any computer no matter where I am. You can even listen to your music on other devices:

A growing family of popular devices are already connected to the Music Locker: TiVo, Nokia phones and Internet tablets, the Logitech Squeezebox, and more.

I think this is great if you want to unlock your music from your computer. You can even download plugins to play your music on traditional media players like Winamp and iTunes. Not to mention this is a great backup solution for keeping your music safe. I can’t wait until I get it all uploaded. I may have to switch to a wired connection to get it all done. But when it is, no more wondering which computer to use to sync my iPod, looking for the most recent music downloads. They’ll all be the same! WooHoo!

Flickr Quickie for B

coop — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:11:53 +0000

I think I’m addicted to Jing now, and my friends are the beneficiary of this addiction. I mean how cool is it to be able to whip up a 5 minute screencast and have it posted online in less than 10 minutes? Pretty cool, if you ask me. So I’m getting requests now. It is a little challenging to keep them under 5 minutes though. This Flickr Quickie shows how to upload your photos and organize in Sets. I started to talk about groups but ran out of time. There is so much to do in Flickr, I’d have to create like 25 of these. Okay, so have a watch, and if you still don’t get it, let me know.

I am definitely going to have to buy this when my free trial runs out.

Watch Screencast: http://www.screencast.com/t/QvT4QK0Au

Giving Tangler a Try

coop — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:48:48 +0000

I created a short screencast to show my friends how to join my discussion on Tangler. I’m still playing around with it, but I’m pretty sure I want to use it with my students in the fall and maybe even my friends if they can stand it. It seems to be a good discussion forum, although it lacks threaded capabilities like most of the others I’ve used. Now if I could just find a threaded discussion Web 2.0 tool similar to LiveJournal, I’d be in heaven.

Click here to view screencast: http://tinyurl.com/2mw69v

What is Tangler?

Tangler is a discussion network. It’s like having all your discussion forums in one place, but better. It’s real-time so you can have a live conversation, and also lets you add in pictures and videos.