The 10 Desktop Apps I Still Use Most And Why

July 31, 2009 2 Comments

As most regular readers and friends know, I do as much as I can using web applications. I do this mostly to allow myself to use (almost) any computer at any time and still be able to accomplish most of my work. Despite this, there ARE still some desktop apps I’m using regularly. I’ve been tracking my app usage for the last few weeks and want to share the apps I am still using. In the interest of keeping this accurate, I’m leaving off the ‘run in the background’ apps (Like anti-virus software) as well as web browsers (though my default, Chrome, takes top spot). So… What’s holding me back from a complete web-based life?

  1. Notepad – Despite dozens of web alternatives, I can’t seem to shake this one. I blame the muscle-memory [Win + r] [n][o][Enter] keyboard shortcut for this. I mostly use it as a quick place to jott down a note while on the phone – or as a quick pastebin of sorts when programming. As a side note, I SAVE very few (if anything) in it – instead, it’s copied to a web document, email or other tool.
  2. Seesmic Desktop – There are piles of web-based Twitter clients, but nothing (yet) that seems to do what Seesmic can for me. This is one that I’m always actively seeking a replacement for and am ready and willing to give up as soon as the perfect web version comes along.
  3. RealVNC – There are several computers in the house, some of which don’t even have keyboards, mice or monitors hooked up.  This lets me control them from my laptop. Kinda like having three computers in one.
  4. VLC Media Player – My default media player for any movie or music file. It’s kinda broken and won’t let me seek to a new position in AVI files… but oh well. I play files using web-based players where possible, but it it has to be a download (or is coming from local storage of some sort), it gets played here.
  5. iTunes – Pretty obvious one. My music library + iPod Touch and Shuffle syncing. I also manage playlists here to sync to the Blackberry Pearl.
  6. Windows Media Player – This one only makes the list because my VLC player is broken and sometimes I want/need to skip ahead in a file. I’ll someday fix VLC and this can vanish again.
  7. CDBurnerXP – I’ve been burning a lot of backups of files and data from some of the hard drives to CD or DVD recently and this freeware burning app makes that nice and easy.
  8. VirtualBox – As I play with more and more web apps, I’m also playing with a lot of netbook OSes. This free virtual machine lets me do so without having to install anything permanent to the drive and dual-, triple- or quad-boot.
  9. Adobe Fireworks – Another one that SHOULD be off the list and isn’t – only because I haven’t had enough time to learn my way through Aviary.
  10. Filezilla - To get things ONTO the cloud. With WordPress having core and plugin upgrades along with  plugin and theme installs all built into wp-admin, I’m guessing this will soon likely only be used for audio/video/image media and file permissions.

That’s it! For the most part, the stuff I’m using locally is stuff that can’t go on the web – But I want to know what you think? Did any of these surprise you?

Filed Under Methods, Webapps

Programing Note

July 30, 2009 1 Comment

Howdy!

Just a quick one letting you know about a planned change around here. While the blog has – since it started – simply been a place for personal thoughts and musings with a slight twist involving new media, I’m getting ready to start posting a lot more often – and the posts will begin having all sorts of flavours to them. I’ll still be posting (probably more often) my thoughts on things going on in the new media (and probably the larger technology) space, but I’ll be adding a lot of posts on WordPress news/themes/plugins/etc, webapps, social networking and so on.

I encourage you to stick around for a while to get a taste of what’s to come. :)

Filed Under Site Announcements

When Good Intent Goes Horribly Wrong

July 28, 2009 Leave a Comment

Let me start by mentioning quickly that I’ve been spending a little time cleaning things up around the site. Just little things, mostly – fine-tuning the sidebar and footer, doing a review of plugins, re-arranging categories, integrating Google Search. That kind of thing. As part of this minor refresh, I decided I’d finally jump ship and add one of the comment systems I’d heard so much about. When you look at this kind of thing, you quickly find that you only have two real choices: Disqus – a system used on dozens of my friends blogs, that I own a t-shirt for already, and have seen nothing but praise for; and IntenseDebate – a system that seems to be far less widely known despite being owned by Automattic. This was an INCREDIBLY hard decision, but eventually my allegiance to the WordPress team won out.

After signing up for and installing IntenseDebate, I had to import my comments from my database to theirs. No problem. I was told that my blog was queued and could be for several hours. Fine. I made myself lunch and returned to find that my import had started (yay!) but that I was at 0%. So I went grocery shopping. Then did some housework. Then made dinner. No change. So I finally turned to Google. Turns out I’m not alone. A search at their GetSatisfaction page reveals piles of threads – very few listed as resolved – and while users are trying to help each other – it didn’t look like the company was around much (I’ll get back to this). I submitted a help request through the website, and went back to trying to figure it out on my own.

Let The Troubles Begin

After several hours of effort I, in frustration, uninstalled the plugin. At the recomendation of the web in general, I also removed the database entries (By hand) and went back to local comments. This seemed like a step backwards to me so after verifying that local comments did indeed work, I re-installed it. Then I removed and re-installed it again. And again. And again using the IntenseDebate Clear Database plugin. Then again. Then – in the interest of experimentation, I removed it and installed Disqus. It was up and running (and working!) in 15 minutes. I sighed. My allegiance to WP shined through, though, and I removed Disqus, and gave ID a few more tries. Nothing seemed to work.

Around 7:20pm, I sent a tweet that read “Having some major problems getting ID set up. Sent a support request no reply. Maybe Twitter help?”. I directed it both at @IntenseDebate and @mkoenig – the only employee who seemed to be active on GS. After not hearing anything for an hour or so, I gave up – left the plugin installed, just in case, and moved on to other things. Eventually, I fell asleep on the couch next to my laptop. Several hours later I was awoken by Seesmic telling me I had a reply. It was from @mkoenig, and came in around 12:45 am. It was now 12:51 am and he was asking me to email him. My email (just a super-quick, lets-get-a-conversation-started-while-you’re-at-your-desk email) was sent at 12:54 am. I waited. Then kept waiting. And waited some more. This post is going live around 4:10 am. I have yet to hear back from them.

Greener Grass – 3 Tips For IntenseDebate

I know it sound like I’m ranting – I am. And I know it probably looks like I’m jumping the gun on wanting this to work – I’m probably doing that too. But I’m frustrated. My beef here, too, doesn’t fall with the fact that it’s still not working on my site – though that would be awesome – but rather with the support I’ve received. I’ve done years of customer service, several of which were online for a startup, so I’d like to reach out and offer some advice to ID here.

  1. I love that you’ve got people on GetSatisfaction. I think it’s an awesome way to connect with your users. But if you’re going to be on there – use it to it’s full potential. There should be lots of threads being marked as resolved, comments from USERS being promoted as solutions, and employees clearly listed and interacting. And this Auston guy – who seems like he was the GS guy – appears to no longer be with you. Or, at least he doesn’t have the employee tag. His ID profile still says he’s a developer for you, so I’m not too sure.
  2. You should be ALL OVER Twitter. Yes, I used caps and bolded that. Sure, you’ve got @IntenseDebate locked down and it looks like @mkoenig is using his personal account for support. But the ‘official’ account is announcements-only and Michael’s has DAYS between tweets. A handful of searches reveals lots of people looking for ID help – not all of which are being addressed – and even more are simply venting. Some generic searches and the competitor reveals lots of outreach possibility too. You’re a community-focused product, Twitter should be KEY for you.
  3. You seem to be lacking follow-through. When I finally did hear from someone (Who told me to email – something I’d already tried), I heard nothing back… Despite replying in mere minutes. I don’t mind waiting until the morning for a reply – but that expectation should have been set. Twitter is INSTANT and moves fast – and I replied both with a tweet and an email pretty quick. If you didn’t intend to reply until the morning, your tweet should have read “@tommyvallier sorry for the delay. please email me at info@intensedebate.com – I’ll check it in the morning.”. If you did intend to reply tonight and got distracted, busy or fell asleep, that sucks. In either case, it’s a screw-up.

Customer service – ESPECIALLY online, can really turn around and bit you in the behind. While I’m probably the last guy in the world to be complaining and passing along a ‘how-to’ (considering my current employment status), I’m hoping this strikes a chord with someone. I probably, too, should throw in the towel here too and just switch to Discus (Who I’m half expecting to find this post before anyone at ID the this point)… But I’m going to give it another shot. What can I say – I’m a sucker for punishment.

Filed Under Customer Service, Rambles, Social Media, WordPress

Resume Redux

July 26, 2009 Leave a Comment

This post is short and an almost direct copy/paste – please forgive me, I’m at the cottage until tomorrow. I’ll have something original then.

I’ve always found the standard, single-page, single-sided resumé to be rather… dull. All you ever get is a single cover letter, and then one page to explain your skills, knowledge, history and… well… everything.

This two-page setup hardly gives an applicant the chance to show the employer anything about them. Because of the lack of space, their personality, their creativity… and even relevant skills end up forgotten. Most people compensate by having several versions of their cover letter and resumé so that they can select the right pair for any given job application. But even in these scenarios things are ignored – it’s just a different set of ignored items depending on which resumé/cover letter pair is used.

When I decided it was time to return to the working world after a year of freelancing, this standard setup just didn’t seem to fit me anymore.

So I decided to look up “resumé” and what it meant. It turns out that the official definition says nothing about length, letters or even medium! All it is, it seems, is a written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experiences. Well – that’s pretty easy.

So I decided to do something a little… different with mine. I launched it with a domain name and a WordPress install. At the time of writing, I’m seeking work in customer service or evangelism marketing. Stop on by You Should Hire Tommy, and take a look at the interactive resumé. I’d love your feedback.

Oh! And spread the word! :)

Filed Under Personal, Projects

Digg Advertising Gone Mad

July 23, 2009 1 Comment

So, I woke up this morning and, after getting a coffee, opened my browser. One of my first hits of the day is always Digg – just to check out what’s on the front page. But this morning I was greeted with a monster of an ad as seen in the top half of the image below. Now, it did slide away after 10-15 seconds (I wasn’t counting), but not before I could grab a screenshot of it.

[Read more...]

Filed Under Rambles
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