Good tutorial on sharing Mac folders with xp users in Mac 10.5.

I’m one of those who straddles the windows/mac os x fence.  Linux/FreeBSD are in there too, but that’s another matter entirely.

Network shares are a little clunky in Windows all by itself, but there’s a wrench thrown in when you get Mac in the mix.  Then add VMWare.  VMWare has a whole host/sharing scenario on its own, and I was under the impression that a share through VMWare might be exposed to the remainder of the network, but no go.

The direct share via Mac worked wonderfully.  Easy to activate through Settings panel, immdediate visibility on the network.  Sweet.

First U.S. Rehab Center for
Internet Addiction
Opens Its Doors.

Excellent post and the video that inspired it.  How much time have you spent on the internet?  Probably too much.  See the list of 10 signs of addiction–you might be surprised at how many you can answer yes to.

The young man featured in the CNN video on the Mashable page was pretty matter-of-fact about his issue.  It was a somber sight though, this young man with such talent–it appears that he’s getting back to what he loved in “real life”.

It reminds me that there’s other important stuff off of this grid.  Much of my work is on computer and on line, so it’s difficult to flat out break away sometimes.  All the more harder to do so anyway.  Hard or not, it’s necessary.  At issue is balance.  You do the work here that’s needed.  The internet has sucked so much attention away from television and more traditional media outlets, but big media’s getting into the fray to provide more content here.  So it’s more tempting to stick around and find the gossip, the tv shows, the sensationalism.

Recovery starts when you know you need it.  Sometimes others let you know.  Regardless of how you found out, take the path.  Prioritize and establish–or re-establish–that balance.

GReactions

I am going through the motions with gReactions right now.  Put it on FireFox 3.5.2, MBP OS x.

The install was smooth.  Mozilla provided precautionary words before download.  Did due diligence.   I do not see any customization capability yet.  That would be nice.  The font is so small it’s just about impossible to read.  Getting a size option on that would be welcome, or at least a bit larger font.  The timeliness of the responses, the dialogue, appears to be instantaneous–the scraping process would be a hoot to check out.  I’m going to get to know that a bit better.

Tracking the sources of the comments is klugy.  These days as well, it seems difficult to find the real source of items–you might need to navigate through a couple of third party syndications before you get to the original post/reaction.  A very high order would be real time refreshing, i.e., a FriendFeed within the results.  I didn’t see how that could be done here–a refresh within Google Reader would either make the item you’re looking at disappear, and or the entire feed would refresh to the most recent item.  The topic gets drowned in all the updated content.

You can filter the responses by the syndication source, this is a useful feature.

Overall it’s a great.  Hey, it’s viewed as Alpha, version 0.1.c.  I’m keeping it in GR.  Can’t wait to see and install updates.

Real time web blowing my mind.  I wonder what the world will be like after this.  It’s already after this, and another million pages and entries and blog posts and tweets and retweets have been created.  I’m not offering hard numbers here, just a personal reaction as a tail end baby boomer who was born way before the information age barely kicked in (or at least the mainstreaming of it).

We are getting it all as it happens–but what are we getting?  Once again, and most importantly, we have to look at a trust issue.  In what comes across our radar, our content, interest, what do we act upon?  Do we consider our sources?  How and where do we filter the data?  Can we really call it information yet?  Assertions are made, but for the most part, they’re fields in RSS streams.  The have not been assessed, we don’t know their true value yet.  Caveat emptor and good luck sorting through it.

Had the greatest of laughs just now. Cheley is going to be late for an appointment, she had to send a text to that effect to my land line. To hear a computer say “Looks like it’s gonna be 12:30″ is priceless. Made my day! Oh yeah, I’m hard to please.

Wow, this could actually be something bigger–a recording of priceless utterances from autoreaders…. anyone know who’s done it before?  Examples?

SEARCH SHOWDOWN: Microsoft’s Plan to Win the Search War.

Solid article here from Mashable. Bing looks like the sharpest offering yet, and there is some pretty creative widgetizing going on. The idea of the API community being strong is key here.

The idea of getting users to switch, that will take a mighty virtual wind.  But with their history and war chest, it’s possible.  There’s determination here.

One of my reasons to hang with iGoogle — the Motivational Quotes gadget.  And this just popped in from Jim Henson:

“When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope still is to leave the world a little bit better for my having been here. It’s a wonderful life and I love it.”

The gadget stays at the top left, and this is one of the great reasons why.  I’d love to share the gadget more easily.  Hopefully that will improve.  And with words like Henson’s, we need more of this sharing, big time.

Site Comparison of google.com (rank #1), facebook.com (#3) | Compete.

Methinks it’s a comin’. The FriendFeed grab, with ex-googlers, imho could make the difference. Synergies abound. Having just taken a look at the new *promoted*  igoogle social gadgets offerings–which didn’t seem friendly at all to me , I see Facebook gaining further ground.  I’ll keep trying these igoogle gadgets I suppose, but it’s not a warm and fuzzy to me.  I’ve always felt a blockage of some sort in the flow of things.  However, the interface is so awesome I’ll continue to visit often.

However busy and dictated Facebook seems, it’s engaging and exciting. There’s something for everyone in there. And although at the moment you can’t seem to quite skin it the way you want, if you go in and focus on what you’re in there for, you can get it done.    Facebook killed it.  I mean killed it in a killer way.   And overall, for such a universe of applications it’s organized superbly.  I just checked out the Facebook search capability through a Robert Scoble/Jesse Stay rebleet of this from Gary Vaynerchuk , and it looked pretty darned promising.

The web is social, search is becoming social, this whole web is a dialogue.  I think everyone’s got the memo, but I’m not sure who’s taking the best action right now.  Well, I think Facebook’s got it.  Facebook stands as the grandest UI in the middle of ‘em all.  It’s got advertising but thus far the advertising is not obnoxious.  It calls attention to itself but doesn’t force you to leave.  It’s relatively easy to use.  Developers are all over it.  It’s only going to become a fiercer competitor–in search, in social media, in syndication, in content, in overall 21st century bad-assedness.

Oh, did I forget yahoo?  MS?  Oh, sorry. : )  Maybe in a later post, tweet, rant, song, or mashup.  The web’s an app, and it’s got a few users here and there.  Maybe it’ll catch on.

Why iGoogle’s ‘Social Gadgets’ Should Kill Facebook — Datamation.com.

Mike Elgan writes:

iGoogle as a social networking site sits directly between MySpace and Facebook in the area of customizability. It’s more customizable than stodgy, boring Facebook, but less customizable than garish, horrid MySpace.

Strong words, yes.  I somewhat agree with them. I haven’t seen iGoogle yet as social media, more personal homepage. But a clear transformation has been happening; I for one am excited about it.

We have application classes to work with–and understanding them is going to be of assistance in our attempt to accomplish things at any given time.  I’ve noticed more noise in regard to this.  It’s a great question to ask.  Social Networking, Social Media, Personal Home Page, News Reader, Portal, and so on.   At this point, out of all sites and all application types, my home is Google Reader.  I’ve got my sources and I’ve categorized them into groups.  No fuss, no gimmicks.  Just stories and opinions.  This is where morning coffee happens.  Information as far as I see it.  And I chose it over iGoogle–but I’m at iGoogle before long.  I’ve got a Google Reader widget in iGoogle (as well as a twitter gadget and a weather gadget and 20 other of those 60,000), but the widget in too clunky in iGoogle to really get a grip on it.   So I’ll get over to it in a tabbed window and switch around a bit.

We’ll see how iGoogle transforms. It seems with widgets these days, an introvert’s index.html could turn into a social networking site.  Cut and paste some code.  Get some FaceBook connect implementation happening and then promote it.

I’ll be checking out those new igoogle gadgets for sure. I have been an iGoogle user for quite a while now and have preferred iGoogle over FaceBook and MySpace. With the $ at stake, changes are going to be taking place in nanoseconds.  Oh yeah, and good luck killing FaceBook.

Have you ever talked to your own brain?  “Good morning, brain.  How are you today?  Are your synapses firing off well?  Have you lost many cells today?”  My brain and I had a decent conversation this morning.  Of course our own self-talk is endless.  Some are better at ignoring it than others, and some are better at leveraging it than others.  In that big bell curve of brain utilization, I’m not sure where I’d be–average I guess.  Smack down the middle.

Not long after waking, I put pen to paper.  My goal is to do this daily, out of principle, out of desire to maintain sanity of some sort.  Years ago my friend Ron told me about The Artist’s Way, a Julia Cameron book which has guided many to more fruitful creative lives.  Cameron wrote about Morning Pages–it’s non-negotiable.  Get up and write three pages of long hand.  Not computer.  Your hand to the paper.  It’s a different kind of connection.  Back in ‘97 or so, I did this every day for a year.  I now do them sporadically–but when I do get in the groove, things become clearer.  I feel calmer, more creative, more accomplished.

Brainstorming is a factor in The Artist’s Way and so many other endeavors and disciplines, it’s a factor in all areas of our lives.  As I do with many things, I subconsciously grab onto the idea of brainstorming and how to improve it–it’s part of my fabric.  So how, where and why? 

How To Brainstorm — simple, isn’t it?  I believe it is.  The hardest part about is simply doing it.  We do brainstorm all the time, we just don’t stop and realize it.  It’s what your brain does.  OK, you can just let your brain wander all day and let its work entirely pass you by.  Or you can capture it.  Capturing it and using it can make all the difference.  It can be your starting a poem, a love letter, a song, a web site, an invention, or a business.

Start with a letter, a word, a number, and emotion, anything.  Start with or without a goal.  Nothing is wrong.  No judgment, no critic.  You are free, let your mind wander freely.  Circle a thought or concept, then branch out from it, move as quickly as you can.  Let the thoughts spread out, blossom, grow.  It is easy.  Create now, and quickly.  Review later.

Here are some quick & nasty ideas on where to brainstorm:

• Got a napkin?  Start drawing, writing, and so on.  Hopefully you’ve got a pen with you.  If you don’t, borrow one, steal one, beg for one.  If you don’t, well, you can prick your finger and write it in red…
• Notebooks, loose paper, calendars,
• WALLS.  My friend Lisa wrote song ideas on walls.  Shoot, I wrote on the wall when I was a kid.  Big trouble there. 
• Your Fridge.  Use Magnetic Poetry.  You can get some killer word collisions here.  It’s fun too.
• Mind Mapping software.  Freemind is a great one.  More on that later.
•  In the car – ok, be safe with this one.  There are laws against texting
• In any room, chatroom, anyplace–in a collaborative manner
• Your PDA, digital recorder – go ahead, shout it out, or use the notes feature or better yet, even FreeMind has some pda apps.  And who knows what the iPhone’s got.

So why brainstorm?  Because you can!  It can be the launching point toward somewhere marvelous.  It can take you from where you are.  Stagnant?  Brainstorm on how the hell to get moving.  Get down your dreams, wishes, shopping lists, gripes, anything.  Use it to ultimately get better orgainzed–you generate ideas, then later you order them.  Use it to better connect with yourself and others.  It’s a guaranteed move forward. 

We are so much in receive mode, or in such an automatic response mode.  How great it is to capture what our mind creates , shake things up and interact with it differently, and have a way to look at what you create through different eyes.  This is priceless.  It’s entertaining as well.

So let it bloom!

As part of my journey into the day, and after I wrote some longhand in a very handsome journal my wife bought me, I went to review one of my FreeMind maps.  It’s on songwriting.  The map is growing rapidly.  Within that map, you can move around ideas, up or down in the structure.  I moved something around having to do with audience, and soon enough, the map got so large it was next to impossible to navigate. 

Frustration.  Ever get that?  FreeMind Freaking, in abundance, in my face.  I hit help, I tried moving round, reviewing documentation, going online, calling a medium, anything and everything–even looking at exporting and reimporting.  I didn’t see the famous “repair” button or menu item anyplace.  But no luck.  Pulled some hair out because I couldn’t find the trick.  Some of the documentation is in a MindMap itself!

But then, it appeared before my eyes in problem resolution glory: Format / Reset Position.  I didn’t know quite how to phrase it–I was looking for auto arrange or the sort.  But once I hit that menu item, poof.  Back in business.

My FreeMind song map is one that I’m using to further my understanding of songwriting–by analyzing structure, charts, techniques.  I visit it as often as I can.  Links are embedded–both to web and local directories.  Within this map I can brainstorm as well as organize and adjust later.  A perfect way to get into whole brain thinking.

It’s all part of a desire to stay active, to have a better life, to look back on more accomplishments, dreams built.  And I will say maybe a bit of it came from brainstorming and branching from there–with plans, follow up, execution, persistence.

It is and will be joyful.