Dear Readers -

I’m posting this discussion in the hopes of engendering a conversation concerning the best practices for Email Etiquette.

Miss Manners didn’t cover this in her helpful little book, so we’re forced, to a certain degree, to make this up as we go along.

I am preoccupied with that area of Email Etiquette we call “Spam”. Here’s a quote from a post I found about email etiquette. This part is particularly concerned with spam:

“This is not only considered to be rude, but spamming is a major sin in the world of the Internet. Before you send anyone any sort of advertisements for your business, etc., you must first secure their permission.” http://bit.ly/awjmv5

Here is my personal definition of “Spam”.
Spam: v. to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately.

I hope you are inspired to share your thoughts on this subject. Thank you for your participation in the discussion. Your feedback is most appreciated.

Sincerely,
Brandon Pierce

So I finally got an iPhone. It took two years for me to decide. In that time a lot has changed. iPhone has evolved, and so too has the world around it.

“A computer in my pocket.”

That’s been the best description of the iPhone I’ve ever heard. And now that I have one, it has become even more so.

This post is, of course, provided by my iPhone!

In my humble opinion:

The Kindle is grossly overpriced and their digital books are overpriced as well. I can buy a netbook for the cost of a Kindle, and the netbook contains much more processing potential and power. With the advent of new, cheaper to produce technologies am I really so out of line to expect lower pricing? EBooks are not much less than the paper versions. Yet, delivery of the content costs a fraction of the price conventional books cost. And, this one is the kicker: there is no inventory issue attached. You deliver the ebooks as they are purchased, no unsold inventory to worry about.

The Kindle is an early adopter’s toy. But it is not a sustainable, long term solution. The profit model worries me because it does not deliver enough value added to the end consumer. Especially considering Amazon.com reached into hundreds of Kindle owners’ machines and removed their purchase of the ebook 1984. I understand the copyright of the book was in dispute, but what it showed is the books purchased are ultimately “loaned”, not owned.

Your comments are most welcome, and I’d love to hear your thoughts and replies.

Social Networking has begun to accelerate noticeably in the past few years. From ICARUS to Facebook, it’s a climb towards… well, what is it climbing towards? Total telepathic immersion?

I bet when you saw that title you thought this might be some sort of rambling, epic post. Or a deeper insight into something profound… Well, probably not. It’s more likely to be some meandering thought train that peters out sometime before it really even resolves.

Is the Singularity approaching? Will we suddenly have HoloDeck-like powers and morph and twist our surroundings into whatever we want? That’s not really part of this post either.

No, the sideways expressions are the strange language accents we now use in text based communications: emoticons.

It’s kind of like hand gesturing or eyebrow raising. It accents our instant-messaging, text-rich, communications. Without it we might not know someone was just poking fun.

And WTF is that expression of surprise, like LOL, it too accents. But, hell, if you are reading this you already know all that. I don’t have Followers that aren’t at least that initiated.

Live long and prosper.

Konarka Technologies, a startup based in Lowell, MA, has opened a mass production factory building solar power panels using organic polymers. Applied similarly to ink jet printers and photographic film, thus further lowering the cost of production.

This factory is part of our economy’s first steps towards a stable renewable energies sector. American jobs for Americans. It is anticipated the factory will produce yearly up to one gigawatt of power through the solar panels manufactured, the equivalent of one nuclear power plant.

Read the article now at TechnologyReview.com ->
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21574/

Learn more about Konarka Technologies ->
http://www.konarka.com/

I was late arriving at ConvergeSouth, located at A&T University – Greensboro, NC, but I heard the Robert Scoble talk. The best quote is shown below. His talk focused on the voice each of us has, the private broadcasting studio we each represent given the new accessible technology. Very good talk.

I do not understand why we continue to pursue such a ridiculous energy policy. Fossil fuels have only greater and greater costs to offer us.

Buy electric cars. It’s long overdue. And, no, that will not solve the whole problem, but it is a start towards a solution.

SeaGen (the subsidiary company of Marine Current Turbines), is the 1st to go commercial with tidal wave power generators. SeaGen just started the new installation at Strangford Lough, the largest inlet in the United Kingdom.

SeaGen have developed technology to install off the coast of Ireland for electricity production by harnessing ocean currents. This new installation, if successful, will be used throughout the coastal regions of the United Kingdom.

Source Article:
MIT’s Technology Review: First Tidal Power Generator

It seems obvious when you think about it. I mean, come on, play by play scrolling commentary on each of our lives: “What are you doing?” becomes “What is he/she doing?”. It encourages voyeurism, and that said, there are those that go exhibitionist.

Tweets are the small micro-BLOG uploads a user sends to their Twitter page, only 140 characters long. Following someone is when a user elects to subscribe to another user’s Tweets. An email announcement is sent to the user when he/she acquires a new Follower. Each user’s page displays the Followers and those that user is Following. A user can elect not to be on the public timeline, meaning they are hidden from everyone but their Followers. For subscribing to these private “tweeple” a request must be sent. It’s silly, and it’s fun. It also has a lot of obvious exploits.

As a platform for self expression Twitter holds tremendous potential. Users can micro-BLOG about anything. But some few have become quite popular, with as many as 11,489 subscribers (darthvader – as of 12:35AM August 18th, 2008, EST). These are not all messages of wisdom and hope, or education and learning, most are silly little play by plays of that user’s life. “I’m doing my laundry.” or “Just ate pizza with my sis.” The vast majority of Tweets are inane, boring out of context. Now ask yourself why would people want to read these? I find myself reading them… Why?

From a marketing perspective the number of Followers is an additional piece of hard data. The number of Followers is a built in metric for analyzing the user’s page Following,. In addition to the usual web metrics, such as page visits, unique visitors, etc. , the Follower is a locked in subscriber to that user’s platform of self expression. Much higher chance the Follower‘s eyeballs are on that user’s Tweets. I am surprised there isn’t a larger ad presence.

I could write a lot more on this subject. And later I likely will, but I want to publish it as is. I’ll leave you with one last bit:

Now back to the stalker…

Yeah, that creepy stranger that just added you last week. She has joined the ranks of your Followers. Her, the one you keep running into when you go to the coffee shop, that is that creepy new Follower, isn’t it? She must be on your schedule right? Or maybe its because she is reading your Tweets and unconsciously she craves coffee when you do. Her thumbnail is so small, you just don’t know. So you stop Tweeting about your coffee trips. You do Tweet about going to see the new Batman movie. Wasn’t that her about six people behind you in line? Are you paranoid? Is it all just coincidence? Maybe the new Follower isn’t even female…

Are you being Followed?

____________________

Suggested Reading:
CommonCraft: Twitter in Plain English
We’re Obvious (the creators of Twitter)
Twitter: Open for Sexual Stalking

http://www.commoncraft.com/

I stumbled onto this site when I was considering Twitter. It has very simple, straight forward videos that explain things sometimes thought to be too complex for simple language.

OK, my entry here is more complicated than this site. Just check it out.

Some of the topics include
RSS in Plain English
Wikis in Plain English
BLOGs in Plain English