Pamela Poole

life as a lipstick geek

September 2, 2010 • 8:33 pm 0

I’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’

OK, I just flipped real quick through the last, I dunno, 90 or so posts on Mashable, which I picked because it’s more or less representative of most of the blogs that cover what’s new and exciting on the Web, and because it was sitting there, in my Reader, kind of in the middle, with 245 posts unread, begging for attention. It could have happened to anybody.

I’m just an Internet entrepreneur/evangelist having a little crisis of faith. But I can’t possibly be the only one who’s noticed that the Emperor has no clothes…

QR Codes Help Consumers Shop for Wine. Point your gadget at the wine bottle. Watch a video about the wine. Move on to next bottle of wine. And the next. Vacillate. Get annoyed. Ask the guy what goes good with seafood.

HOW TO: Get Started with HTML5 Boilerplate. Now HTML5 is exciting, no question. (Go and enter your zip code in the interactive film The Wilderness Downtown. Arcade Fire soundtrack. Pure awesome.)

Google Responds to Steve Jobs’s Android Activation Jab. Bitch fight.

A Facebook-Based Online Store Just for Students. A “genius idea” with “lifestyle brands” targeting college kids. Nausea.

Pay for Starbucks Coffee with Your BlackBerry. Starbucks and Blackberry sitting in a tree, S-U-C-K-I-N-G.

Twitter Launches Official iPad App. Duh.

Facebook Places Gets a Romantic Twist with MeetMoi Integration. Don’t just go to a bar and pick up a girl. Find all the girls in bars nearby through Facebook and simultaneously flirt with them all online first. Pick the one who seems drunkest and then go nail her. Don’t have to buy her as many drinks or wait as long that way. Dontcha love location apps?

HOW TO: Follow the US Open with Social Media. Watching tennis on Twitter. Happy happy joy joy.

Apple Introduces “Ping” Music Social Network and iTunes 10. Was interested for 30 seconds. Utterly lame, unless you’re about nothing but buying stuff on iTunes. Ping Is the Last Nail in the Coffin for MySpace. Nope. Because MySpace at least has… Hit it boys! Personality (walk) Personality (talk) Personality (charm) Personality (love) Personality…

FCC Questions Key Aspects of Google and Verizon’s Net Neutrality Proposal. Important. So is generally keeping an eye on the one site to rule them all one site to find them one site to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. Google to Power AOL Search for the Next 5 Years. See?

To Unfriend or Not to Unfriend: That Is the Facebook Question. Are we still talking about this?

Justin.tv’s Android App Lets You Broadcast Live Video Anytime, Anywhere. Great. More naked weirdos live.

Old Digg Crushes New Digg in Reader Vote. New version of Digg. Users like the old version better. Duh.

Windows Phone 7 Ready for Release. Microsoft sells phones too? Must be crap.

Filmmaker Raises More than $34,000 for Pirate Bay Documentary. Could be interes…zzzzzzzzzzzz

Target to Sell Facebook Credits as Gift Cards in Stores. Fall of Western Civilization. (Boycott Target, they donated $150K to a far-right gubernatorial candidate, superbly executed flashmob in protest (video).)

4 Tips for Writing SEO-Friendly Blog Posts. Are we still talking about this?

FashionStake “allows consumers to help fund and shape designers’ collections before they’re produced.” Yeah, we know what happens when the fat part of the bell curve gets involved.

Crowdsourced literary magazine. See above. Watch literature become pulp overnight. Without adding water!

Gowalla Feature Defines Place Popularity by Experience, Not Checkins. “This ice cream made me come” might get my attention. Otherwise, spare me. (Please God, no more location crap.)

Sexual Assault Case Against WikiLeaks Founder Reopened. So what’s new about either yet another twisted fuck or yet another CIA plot?

Madden NFL Makes Its Debut on Facebook. It’s not a game, it’s an experience. And it leverages.

Facebook’s Latest Patent Targets Search Behaviors. Are we still surprised?

Digg Crowns Former Amazon Exec New CEO. More Internet executive incest. Inbreeding is bad.

Meet the First Plant That Requires Facebook Fans to Survive. Now that’s cute! Almost tempted to reopen my Facebook account just to friend this tamagotchi.

Real-Time Analytics Provider Chartbeat Raises $3M from All-Star Investors. $3M for fucking stats. Ppfffthh.

Japanese Resort Caters to Men with Virtual Girlfriends. It’s people like you who make everybody think we’re all freaks.

10 Useful iPhone Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks. List Post. Check your brain at the door.

Announcing the UN Week Digital Media Lounge. The UN getting all digital. Almost compensates for the losers with the hologirlfriends. And there are thought leaders in there somewhere.

Twitter Temporarily Turns Off “Who to Follow”. OH NOOOOOOOO! What will become of us???

5 Fun FarmVille Accessories. Fall of Western Civilization.

HOW TO: Incorporate Your Startup at the Right Time. There are already 2 million articles about this (no, really), but thanks on behalf of the millions who are too lazy to Google when to incorporate startup.

Somebrand’s LCD TV goes 3D. Somebrand gets a tablet of their own. New Apple TV does more stuff. Apple makes your iPhone work like your Xbox. Somebrand’s making fancy new earbuds. Someapp updates business data in real time. Somebrand puts out a scratchproof/shockproof Android phone. Somebrand improves its e-reader touch screen. Somebrand cuts prices on its low-end e-readers…

If you can still get excited about all this, they’re hiring at Mashable: We’re Hiring! 50+ Job Vacancies in Social Media, Web Design, and More. Go ahead. Make my day.

Filed under: web life, web trends

May 16, 2010 • 10:56 am 1

Unliking Facebook

In the US, 25% of the web pages viewed are within Facebook. (That’s just so beyond sad.) This may partially explain why, when I told Facebook people I was leaving the site because I thought it was an unscrupulous and untrustworhy company (and asked them to connect with me on LinkedIn till something better came along), one of them, an educated woman, said “I am not sure what facebook is doing that you are troubled by, but do share!” and another one, who considers herself a web entrepreneur, just asked “Why are you leaving facebook?”

Upon reflection, I was surprised that I was surprised that people had no idea that Facebook has, from Day One, been subject to scrutiny and criticism for its morally questionable actions, blatant fuck-ups and lack of respect for users and their personal information. Of course (lightbulb)! Ordinary people don’t read about the Internet, they just jump right in and use it. And Facebook banks on that kind of lemming-ness.

Read the entire post on frogblog.

Filed under: apps, social media, web life, web trends

March 30, 2010 • 4:47 pm 0

Mystery date

I was always slightly bummed that I never got a chance to try speed dating. The concept intrigued me on so many levels. Seems like it would be great blog fodder and a blast in general.

But I found a workaround. I’ll be trying an alternative version of it in April through SeedNetworking, which sets up speed dates between entrepreneurs who need developers and devs who are looking for projects. Seven minutes max per “date,” 30 developers, 30 entrepreneurs.

I am so looking forward to this. I have no illusions that I’ll find the partner and CTO of my dreams, although stranger things have happened. If nothing else, it’ll be a chance to talk to devs who are completely unfamiliar with my project and see what about it piques their interest and where I lose them (interest and comprehension). Plus you get so deep into your own fantasy universe when you’re trying to create a startup that you need to explain it to the uninitiated every now and then to see if they think you’re in total lala land. If they do, then you reassess. It’ll be a challenge and a social experiment. I love both.

SeedNetworking on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed under: tech events, web trends ,

March 22, 2010 • 11:20 am 0

Token girls

There’s a huge wave that Internet people are paddling like fools to catch right now. It’s the “women are starting to realize they’re under-represented in tech and startups, so we’d better start to care or at least pretend we do” wave. Some effects of this wave include a rise in women-in-tech organizations and an effort by tech event organizers to give women more visibility.

It’s great to see that tech events are giving women a little limelight of their own. I’m going to an event soon that has given women their very own panel! And they’ve called it “Women’s Panel.” Kind of like Women’s Room. But with the latter, there’s little doubt about who uses it or for what. But what about this mysterious Panel…?

Read the rest of this article on frogblog.

Filed under: tech events, web life, web trends , ,

March 13, 2010 • 3:56 pm 0

Oversharing has never been so easy

My latest article on WebWorkerDaily is about how quick and painless it is to use Posterous to share the treasures you find on the Web across your many online social apps. Using the Posterous bookmarklet, you can send goodies to all your social apps at once, or pick and choose where you want things to go in literally a minute or two.

But although Posterous makes it easy for you to spread your Internet finds around, this doesn’t appear to be its primary goal. I have reason to believe that the people behind the app don’t want you to use it solely as a personal “cloud,” even though that’s how I suggest it be used in my article. The fact that all the content you send to your various social sites also appears on a Posterous site tells me that Posterous wants to be a blog unto itself and a stand-alone element of your online presence. Plenty of people do use it that way.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: apps, social media, web trends , ,

March 5, 2010 • 1:10 pm 0

When you want to join the reindeer games…

Do you think there’s room on the Internet for startups that aren’t the product of a programmer’s brain? I do. But some things need to change. Way back in 2008, Bernard Lunn of ReadWriteWeb wrote about his vision for the near future of the Web in a brilliant three-part series in which he said:

The Main Street Web is about people who don’t care about technology or media, they just use it. Above all it is about really simple business models that work in the physical world as well as online world. The Main Street Web will empower small business and level the playing field with big business.

He talked mostly about how usage would become more mainstream, but in my article, You Can’t Launch the Next Generation of Internet Startups Without Women, I suggest that startup founders with viable ideas are likely to start coming from the mainstream too, and that they might be better able to meet the needs and address the interests of an ageing and increasingly diverse population of Internet users.

It’s time for the puppet masters to start looking at paper projects again, like they did in the old days. The way publishing houses look at manuscripts.

Filed under: web life, web trends ,

February 16, 2010 • 7:31 pm 0

Brought to you by the letters “E” and “S”

I’m not wild about list posts. Apparently I’m the only one, because I’ve never heard anybody else complain about them, and blogs great and small are overflowing with “ten ways to [whatever]” posts. They’re generally quite popular, too.

Frankly, I think they’re a symptom of laziness on the part of writers and readers alike. But I do have to admit that with all the info we have to process these days, they’re sometimes better than nothing. It’s true that, as Umberto Eco (who loves lists, BTW, and is no slouch) says, they “make infinity comprehensible.” I guess people can always dig deeper into a subject if they want something they can sink their teeth into. I wonder how many do.

Anyway, you gotta do what you gotta do, and I’ve been known to write a list post or two in my day. In fact, the last two I wrote for Web Worker Daily were just that: 5 Japanese words that start with S, and 3 words uttered by Mel Gibson that start with E (and might help you get a content strategy, which you should do).

Filed under: language, tech writing, web trends , , , , , ,

November 17, 2009 • 3:20 pm 0

You need a plan

Do you have a content strategy for your own social media presence? If you’re a professional, you probably should. Too many small business/startup blogs and Twitter feeds are too inwardly focused, all about features and updates or the founder’s views and activities.

I give some tips for getting a plan and making your content valuable in my Web Worker Daily article Taking Content Strategy Personally.

Content Strategy Forum 2010 — 15-16 April

Don’t know what content strategy is? Find out in Paris next April at Content Strategy Forum 2010, “for anyone who develops, manages, or delivers content within their own organization or for their clients: user experience designers, information architects, business analysts, technical writers, web project managers, documentation managers, translators, web marketers, practicing content strategists, and those looking to break into the field.”

Filed under: social media, tech events, web life, web trends , ,

October 27, 2009 • 9:59 am 0

Most people haven’t been assimilated. Yet.

Why am I always so shocked when I meet people who, for example, don’t know what Twitter is? (And this happened the other day in Paris, not the Amazon rainforest…) Sometimes we Internet types need a reality check.

Here’s a post I wrote for Web Worker Daily just as a reminder that there are lots of people who live mostly in the brick & mortar universe. There are more of them, in fact, than there are of us:

Filed under: web life, web trends

August 29, 2009 • 12:51 pm 0

What does the Web say about you?

Everybody seems to have at least two cents to contribute to the apparently endless discussion of online identity (or personal branding, or e-reputation, or whatever you want to call it). I have plenty to say about it too; I even give talks on the topic. And since personal branding was the theme on Web Worker Daily last month, I contributed two articles that you might find interesting. Or not. But I do talk about Big Bird and pastries in an attempt to keep you from being too bored…

Filed under: social media, web life, web trends , ,

July 27, 2009 • 3:09 pm 0

What will the Web be when it grows up?

…I’ve spent a few years with my finger on the racing pulse of the Web and I’ll tell you what. There’s a whole lot of crap out there. There are so many utterly ridiculous concepts that have managed to find programmers and investors, so many brain-wasters helping to speed along the decline and fall of Western civilization… We could be doing so much better. It can get depressing sometimes. But the reality is just this, and it will never change:

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, web life, web trends , ,

June 21, 2009 • 8:39 am 0

On days like this I love my work

dico

It was sheer delight translating Claire Ulrich’s article Les Censeurs du Net, originally published in Le Monde 2.

In Internet history, 1994-2004 was the era of the pioneers. 2004-2007 was the era of the merchants. Now we’re entering the era of the bullies. Everywhere in the world, sites are going dark, arrests are increasing, more people are going to prison. The Web just celebrated its 20th birthday. Nobody used to take it seriously, but those days are gone. Read the rest…

Almost as much fun as translating her lyrical Plus belle, ma vie en ligne for Kiva (not available on line, but I will send you a PDF if you wish).

Filed under: language, translation, web trends

April 5, 2009 • 1:50 pm 1

Personal branding: be a bakery

bakery2

I was at the E-reputation barcamp held at La Cantine yesterday, where I  attended a session on personal branding given by Fadhila Brahimi. In Fadhila’s session, I was primarily interested in the questions, hopes and fears of the other attendees, so that I could address them in future talks and posts about online identity and personal branding myself. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: tech events, web life, web trends , , ,

March 31, 2009 • 1:33 pm 2

Twitter: one size does not fit all

francotwitter3

You must get separate personal and business Twitter accounts. Stop being lazy and do it now. Stan Berteloot, Marketing Director at KDS, gave the same bit of advice during his talk, “Follow Me on Twitter” at the STC France annual conference, where I gave a keynote address recently. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: apps, social media, tech events, web life, web trends , , , , , ,

February 23, 2009 • 7:29 am 0

Twitter: the artificial sweetener

Is the secret to Twitter’s success a generation’s need for constant validation? Read my post Aspartame for the brain on frogblog, and Owen Thomas’s I Tweet, Therefore I Am on Valleywag Gawker.

Filed under: apps, web life, web trends ,

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