CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-21 00:47:21 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I finally upgraded our various DVRs to the new "X1" platform from Comcast, and I must say I'm impressed.  It has a good bit of social integration, which I don't care about on my TV, but there's quite a lot to like:

Better picture
Not much, but instead of 1080i I can finally use 1080p.

Much faster interface
Everything just snaps up faster.  In particular, the On Demand features are way faster.  We didn't use OD very much before because it was so slow, but we might now.

More tuners
It's rare that two tuners are inadequate, but having four could be handy at times.

More storage
I think our old ones were 320GB, and these are 500GB each.

Search
The search feature is neat.  Just start typing with the numbers (like to switch channels) and it'll be searching withthe... more »

2013-05-20 20:46:38 (13 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Good FTP-based program for Android?

In the past few days I've had a few cases where quick access to a client via FTP from my phone/tablet would have been very helpful.  While most of our clients are on WordPress (and the WP app is solid), in both cases they had issues where WP wouldn't load and I needed to get into the files.

CodeAnywhere seems fairly solid, but they haven't updated the app in well over a year and I question how long they'll be around.

What's my best option for something like this?

2013-05-20 13:06:07 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Here are some of the techniques we use to keep our email inboxes at zero (or at least close to it).

2013-05-19 20:33:48 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Here are some of my favorite mobiles apps right now.  What are some of yours?

2013-05-18 18:32:45 (25 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

What new Android phone should I get?

Two important notes: I'm in the US, and I'm on Verizon, and neither of those are changing.

I have a Galaxy Nexus, and it's been awesome, but it's starting to show it's age.  New devices are much faster and have more memory, so the speed boost would be nice.  I assumed I/O would leave me with a clear answer, but not so much.  The Googlefied Galaxy S4 would be perfect, but it's apparently not coming to Verizon.

What's the word on unlocking/rooting the Verizon GS4?  If I could buy that phone and load a clean version of Android on it, that'd be ideal.  Does the fact that the clean one is coming out for tmobile/att mean that it's more likely that we'll see some custom roms for the Verizon GS4?

I really have no idea what direction to head, so I'm open to opinions.

2013-05-18 18:12:17 (10 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)

The new "auto awesome" feature on G+ pics is pretty sweet!  I took a handful in a row at my daughter's birthday party this morning, and they were automatically stitched together into this fun little gif.  Nice!

2013-05-18 00:15:22 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

I wasn't a big fan of the new "hangouts" app from Google when it came out a few days ago, but they're growing on me quickly!

Group Chat
It's not terribly different than Google Talk before, but it's easier to get into them.  I tend to think that they'll replace HipChat for our small team.

Mobile
The Android apps are a nice upgrade, but the iOS apps are huge (they didn't have a decent way to use Talk before).

Images
The ability to add images into the chat is great!  +Ali Green has already sent me a few via chat instead of needing to use email/dropbox to get a quick pic over to me.

Not always tied to Gmail/Chrome
It's a Chrome extension, but it essentially becomes an independent program once installed.  Refreshing Gmail doesn't kill the windows and you can "dock"the... more »

2013-05-17 17:06:51 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

These are pretty fun!

2013-05-06 18:21:59 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 12 +1s)

Very creative outdoor ad.

2013-04-24 13:24:55 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

I love seeing Swype finally arrive in Google Play.  Great keyboard!

2013-04-24 10:59:49 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

The release of Google Earth 7.1 brought with it a number of nice enhancements, including the new starry sky, but the best-looking might just be the new experimental “photorealistic atmosphere” option, seen here:

2013-04-17 23:16:36 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Any good passive, persistent group chat products for teams?

We're often tossing links to each other, quick questions, ideas, etc.  We do some via Hangouts (which we'll continue to do), but much of the rest ends up in emails and creates clutter.

I like the notes feature of Sqwiggle, where you can toss updates and links to the group:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/11/sqwiggle-makes-working-remotely-less-lonely-more-awesome/

Anything like that as a standalone product?  I say "persistent" in the title in that when I boot up fresh it still has our content from before and isn't a blank slate each time.  Google Wave almost did this, but it was a bit too robust.

Any ideas?

2013-04-17 21:13:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Sweet new update to the WordPress app on Android!

2013-04-17 20:18:36 (17 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Is their a purpose to putting a password on wifi and then posting the password everywhere?

This is a legit technical question. I've seen this a few places; wifi is password-protected, but the password is posted on large signs for everyone to see.  This has happened in large facilities where the signal wouldn't be reaching another business or anything like that.

Is there a security advantage to requiring users to log in?  Why not just remove the password restriction?

2013-04-15 16:54:41 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I'm super excited to announce my next full-day Atlanta "SEO Bootcamp for Small Business Owners" workshop - May 2, 2013 - http://jennymunn.com/seobootcamp. If you're a small business owner, WordPress web designer, social media marketer, freelancer, coach, PR pro, or other marketing service provider we'd love to have you. 

2013-04-14 14:27:22 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

A couple of fun Mario-related links this morning:

The Human Piano
http://churchm.ag/human-piano/

Creating an AI to (sort of) play Mario
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/14/nes-robot/

Good stuff!

2013-04-13 18:40:22 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

I felt like Pigpen mowing the lawn, with a cloud of dust (pollen) all around.  Blech.  Rain tomorrow?  Yes please!

2013-04-12 11:46:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Back in 2011 we showed you a new 3D social network called youbeQ. While development of the game continues (and they have additional new features coming soon), the team behind youbeQ has just unveiled a new site called the Geo3D Market.

2013-04-11 00:40:12 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Sweet!  About time these came out.

+Jason Cyr, go get one!

2013-04-08 12:51:54 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

WordPress version 3.6 is just around the corner, and here's what you can look forward to seeing in there.

2013-04-06 18:52:05 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

We had a fun morning at the "Color Run" down at the Atlanta Motor Speedway today.  It's a 5K "race" (not really timed) with color stations every few miles -- volunteers with bottles full of essentially colored baby powder.  We stayed relatively clean, but had a great time!

2013-03-27 00:31:11 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 9 +1s)

Slick tool to make great-looking (though rather simple) infographics from your Google Analytics data.

(via +Eric Flamm)

2013-03-22 11:10:02 (32 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

My thoughts on Google Keep

I wanted to try it for a few days before I posted anything, and so far so good -- but not all good.

It won't replace Evernote

Many comparisons are made between it and Evernote, which is fair, but the two aren't really that similar.  They both keep notes, of course, but Keep allows for much faster input on the go but is hard to stay organized.

Be wary of "spring cleaning"

As many have pointed out, it was foolish of them to release this right on the heels of the Google Reader shutdown.  In addition, they had an Evernote competitor years ago with Google Notebooks which was shut down.  Even if I were to think that Keep is the greatest thing ever, I'd be easing in very slowly.

Fast input/syncing is golden

With the widget you can drop in text notes, audiono... more »

2013-03-15 00:43:00 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

In preparing for WordCamp Atlanta 2013 tomorrow, I thought it'd be fun to see how many of the speakers for the event were on Google+.  I created this circle a while ago, but just updated it with a few more.  I believe all but one are on there (Joe Boydston being the lone holdout, if you're curious), with about half of them being at least semi-active

Ultimately, there are a handful that post regularly and are great to interact with, including +Cliff Seal +John Saddington +Wade Kwon +Evan Mullins +Lisa Richardson +Syed Balkhi  and +kimanzi constable. Really, just grab the full circle below and see who starts showing up in your feed.

The full circle is below, and I encourage you to add it if you plan on attending WordCamp Atlanta 2013 so you can get to know some of these awesome folks.

Hope to see some of you there tomorrow!

2013-03-05 14:47:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

h/t +Andy Mutton 

2013-03-02 15:59:13 (8 comments, 4 reshares, 9 +1s)

That's a bit scary.  They really need to get dual-factor authentication in place as soon as possible.

2013-02-28 17:14:13 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Finally, an official Android app for Asana!

2013-02-25 19:58:02 (5 comments, 5 reshares, 13 +1s)

The girls in my house have been playing this 25-second non-stop this afternoon.  I'll admit, it is kind of funny...

2013-02-20 12:44:24 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

SwiftKey 4 is finally here!  Looking forward to giving it a shot.

2013-02-19 20:46:33 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Wow, +Contactually is blowing me away

A few days ago I shared my struggle to find a suitable CRM.  It wasn't even the full CRM experience that I was looking for, but mostly the follow-up reminders.  ming.ly was pretty good, but seems to be a dead product (no blogs, tweets, etc for almost a year).  I found a few others, but quickly went to their twitter/blog to see how active they were and most were completely dormant.

I somehow stumbled across Contactually and I'm floored.  The product is very solid, but the support behind it is amazing.

Before I joined, I checked out their Twitter feed.  "last updated 6 minutes ago".  Nice.

I signed up and had some issues, so I did a live chat.  Question solved.

I had a few more questions, so I emailed them.  Got an answer the next day, along with a phone call to go into more detailand see ... more »

2013-02-18 02:56:22 (23 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Web developers: When adding an external link to your site, do you have it automatically open in a new window (target=_blank) or just let it go?

I tend to just let it go.  I figure that advanced users will pop it in a new window anyhow, and novice users won't have their back button break.  That said, most clients request that all external links open in a new window so that their site can stay open in the background.

What is your thought on this?

2013-02-18 02:53:59 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Making Asana work as a CRM

We've been again digging for a good CRM solution, and we're back to maybe just trying to get Asana to do the job for us.  There are a few ways to do it (separate workspace? separate project?), but here's where I've landed for now and I'm starting to build it out.  I'd love to get your thoughts on it.

1 -- No new workspace.
2 -- A new project called "CRM".
3 -- In it are tasks for various new clients we're working with.  That task contains notes, actions, contact info, etc.
4 -- If we've been working with a client for a while already, they should already have a project with their name on it.  In that case, we simply put an "INFO" task at the top of their project with this same kind of information.
5 -- When a lead becomes a client, or at least when we have tasks to complete forthe... more »

2013-02-18 02:42:13 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

In preparing for WordCamp Atlanta 2013, I thought it'd be fun to see how many of the speakers for the event were on Google+.  Of the 44 speakers, 43 of them are!  (Joe Boydston being the lone holdout, if you're curious).

Of those 43, 31 have posted at least once, meaning 12 of them have yet to post anything (or at least anything public).  Good numbers, but I'm surprised so many have joined and not posted at least once

Of the 31 that have posted, 18 have posted at least one item this year so far.

Ultimately, there are a handful that post regularly and are great to interact with, including +Cliff Seal +John Saddington +Wade Kwon +Evan Mullins +Lisa Richardson and +kimanzi constable.  Really, just grab the full circle below and see who starts showing up.

The full circle of 43 is below, and I encourage you to add it if you plan on attendingWordCamp ... more »

2013-02-17 12:36:01 (11 comments, 7 reshares, 24 +1s)

Here's a new goodie I noticed from Google Now.  It's showing me that Lee Brice is playing a concert in town because it's a "concert by artist that you've watched on YouTube".

Creepy, yet kinda cool...

2013-02-16 16:51:49 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

What do you do when your family wants to paint pottery and you have no artistic skill?

2013-02-14 22:04:25 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Ahh, lovely day!

2013-02-14 20:20:53 (19 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I'm looking for a good CRM package

We use Asana for tasks, Evernote for documentation/notes and Dropbox for files, and those work great.  However, our client status is kind of a hybrid of all three -- some "call steve next Tuesday" tasks in Asana, notes about the last call in Evernote, etc, and I worry that some potential clients may fall through the cracks.

We plan to keep using those products for their intended uses, so I don't need some 50-in-1 CRM product.  I really just want to be able to do three things:

1 -- Allow any of our staff to post a note about the client ("called on 2/14/13, talked about xx").
2 -- Notify us of reminders (the "call steve" kind of tasks).
3 -- Set up some kind of automatic ping every month or so.  If no new info was added for a client, notify us so that we can follow back up,ch... more »

2013-02-13 19:54:00 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

Ooh, sweet!

2013-02-08 21:48:41 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Fun surprise waiting on my desk when I got back home today. :)

2013-02-07 20:28:18 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

More Hangouts love for different bandwidth environments

Today we're excited to launch two new features that improve the Hangouts experience in areas with low and/or unreliable connectivity:

1) Bandwidth slider. At the top right of every hangout is a new slider that lets you adjust your bandwidth preferences in real-time. This makes it easier to keep hangouts going, even in areas with poor connectivity.

2) Audio-only mode. Choose this mode to send and receive audio only, and thus, significantly reduce your bandwidth requirements. Other participants will only see your profile picture, but they'll hear you loud and clear.

Both of these features are coming your way today but they're rolling out separately so you may see one before you see the other. Very soon both features will be available to everyone, so give 'em a try and let us know what you... more »

2013-02-01 21:28:23 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

So is this the shadiest marketing company ever, or what?  Check out the items for sale in their "store"...

2013-01-28 15:10:36 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

I use Ecwid quite a bit, so this seems to be a good sign of their long-term stability...

2013-01-24 23:49:13 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

WordPress 3.5.1 is here.  Time to update!

2013-01-23 13:06:27 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Here is a list of our favorite WordPress plugins right now.  What are some of your favorites?

2013-01-23 11:56:52 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

I love this analogy from +Chad Wittman regarding social ROI:

What’s the ROI on a glass of orange juice versus a glass of Coke Zero. Should I count calories? Maybe I should look at grams of sugar? Coke Zero is going to win that argument every time, but I know orange juice is the better choice. I understand that brands need to have an understanding of their ROI on social, but I think sometimes the brands that are obsessed with it lose sight of its actual value.

If you're going to try to compute ROI from your social efforts, be sure you're looking at the right metrics.

2013-01-16 13:02:01 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

Some slick updates to Google Analytics this morning.

2013-01-14 20:16:43 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

I doubt it will actually result in getting Ortiz removed from office, but I hope it reaches 25,000 so that the White House will at least need to respond to it.

2013-01-14 20:14:50 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

I've seen videos where people have "real life mario kart" before, but the use of technology behind this is quite impressive!

2013-01-13 23:53:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Had my first race today (5K) in my Lunas.  Slow, but felt great!  Excited to get back out there and start racking up the miles.

2013-01-13 21:39:29 (17 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

I typically choose to use my debit card when I'm buying something, in the interest of saving that business a few cents.  However, shady looking messages like the one below don't sit well with me.  Asking "is this a debit card" is a bs question intended to get more debit out of users instead of credit.

In those cases, I'll say "no" and make them pay the fees.  Ultimately, though, it's probably like those annoying pop-ups on websites to sign up for their newsletter -- irritating, but effective.