For those of you stuck under a rock or on Bing, you might have missed the release of Google Buzz. Google Buzz is another status report/micro-blogging system like Twitter but for Google. Google gives you no choice but to use Buzz if you have a Gmail account. You’ll have to privatize your Buzzes and Google Profile if you don’t want your Google information to be see by billions.

There really isn’t much to say about Google Buzz other than it’s a Twitter knock-off and it’s kind of annoying. I’ve been using it for a few days now and I’m following my friends (who never post anything) and some tech people. When someone Buzzes that is internet famous, their Buzzes are lost in a sea of comments… I have probably 5 new Buzzes but it takes me 20 minutes to scroll through the garbage to read those Buzzes. Plus, now there is a popularity contest going on with Buzzers to get the most followers… random people are trying to follow me and they’re all boring!! Just because you have 1,200 followers in the first week of the release of Google Buzz doesn’t mean you are interesting.

Oh yeah, did I mention you can link your Buzz account to Twitter… blah.

The only good things to come out of this mess is that your Buzzers can be public, so when you Google your name the Buzzes show in the searches. That’s about it. So, I say to you reader(s), harness your Google Profile and make it worth using Buzz.

My Google Buzzes

My Google Profile

Let me know what you think and I might change my mind about Google Buzz.

Now, Seesmic has just released a downloadable new app for Windows called Seesmic Look. This app is based on Windows’ Silverlight technology, so OS X users can not use this Application. So far, the app is very pretty but definitely geared toward the simple consumer and computer user. If you like advance searches and trend seeking, then this isn’t going to work every well. But this app looks great for the simple computer user to understand Twitter and the information out in the world. The great thing is that the a user won’t need a twitter account to use this application.

There are a few not-so-great things about Seesmic Look. The application is Windows only… I’m a OS X fanboy, so I won’t be using it very often. The interface is too flashy and load time is slow, and there is no advanced trend options. Lastly, the launch and app seems like a very large branding commercial for Microsoft and all the people on the “channel” area on the application.

We’ll see how this goes and the updates to come. Look through my past posts and there are better solutions for Twitter management like Gist, HootSuite, or Brizzly.

#1. HootSuite : In my past post about the web app, you will notice I have a real attraction to the User Interface. Its so easy to manage your Twitter account in the HootSuite interface by scrolling left and right and inputing your message. Also, there is a feature to watch keywords used by users on Twitter, this is great to keep track of trends.

#2. Ow.ly : This is a URL shortener for those long-pesky URLs. This also works with HootSuite to keep track of your click-throughs. What an excellent way of seeing what your followers like and dislike. Don’t be afraid of the URL shortener, its good.

#3. WeFollow : This is the best Twitter directory out right now. There are a few other directories that are good but not great. Sign up is easy: Username, Password, Keywords and submit. Now when someone searches a keyword on WeFollow your username will appear on the list. You are ranked by followers or influence. So, go and get noticed!

#4. Twitpic : Submit your pictures and share! This is an excellent geo-tracking web application that works like flickr but its just for Twitter. This also places a geo-tag on your photo so it can be found by region, city, or town.

#5. Friend or Fellow : Do you have trouble finding the people who you are following but they’re not following you? This is the web app that will easily make the list of people that are not following you, so you can either suggest that they follow you or you can remove them from your follow list. Twitter has a give/take etiquette and if you follow someone they should follow you back, but you can use Twitter how you want because I follow about 50 people that will probably never follow me back.

That is it! Let me know what you think of the list…

Don’t worry, all of the features you find on the feeds of Twitter or Facebook remain the same; the ‘Like’ button, ‘Comment’ section, ‘Retweet’… etc. So, using it is intuitive and easily. This is a simple feed manager with some added security and bonuses, unlike Gist which is a secure feed and email manager and much much more (Read more about Gist).

Here is a video explaining Brizzly:
A video introduction. Getting started with Brizzly.

Brizzly is very cool and I hope you enjoy managing your feed now! Let me know what you think about it.

Most (if not all) do exactly the same things as each other, its just a matter of choosing which brand or user interface you like the most. You will have options to start a new project or upload one that you already started, but the formats may or may not be compatible. You’ll have to test these for yourself:

All the apps are basically the same. Let me know which one you like the most!

These options range from free to subscription based services but the starting costs is much lower than the current costs of word-processing programs. These programs are compatible with your current documents and a couple will allow to save to different formats that you can export (download) to your computer. The documents that you create and edit are kept in your personal account on the site, so there is no worry of your computer crashing and losing all the informations because the information is on servers far away ready to be accessed. Most of these servers have 99.9% uptime, so don’t worry about servers crashing. You will need to have high-speed Internet to access these files and edit them but, as stated above, Internet is ubiquitous.

First, I’ll discuss my personal favorite , Google Docs. Now this was created by the search engine giant and maintained by the Google Corporation. OK, I am a Google fan boy, but they do offer great products and services. Google Docs is free to use and handles all Microsoft Word documents. They offer creation and editing of documents, excel sheets, presentations, and forms(Access). For the price of ‘FREE’ you can share the documents via email or Google accounts and also collaborate on documents. The document creation is basic and doesn’t offer advanced document creation like borders or graphic art, but it gets the job done. Try it out for yourself!

Next, let’s talk about the Adobe Acrobat web application, Acrobat.com. This is about the same as the Google Docs word processing by creating and editing new documents and offering the option to share and collaborate with other authors, but with Adobe Acrobat.com you can create PDFs. It is a subscription based service but Adobe offers PDF creation, web conferencing, presentation creation, form creation, but no excel sheets. It’s very clean and the collaboration factor is very image oriented, so it’s much prettier to look at for longer time. Try it for yourself!

Lastly, the big web application company Zoho offers great options. It’s not free after a set amount of users (or space) but you get access to a lot of other applications. Zoho has a great user interface for word processing and sharing is easy just like the other options, so it’s really based on preference. What sets Zoho apart is the other applications offered by Zoho can be accessed under one login. Some are free and some are subscription based, but its very worth it if you need the option of the whole complete package. The down side is that you will start paying sooner or later if you use the applications enough. So, if you need to word process, create reports, CRM, and add a Wiki to your work; then this is the place for you! Try it out!

Overall, each option offers their pros and cons for using the web application, and it’s really up to preference. If you want to carry you office your laptop bag with no worries of cost and losing information, then one of these options could be right for you!

Let me know what you think by email or leaving a comment. If there are other options that you want me to review or discuss just let me know.

Smart Phones have become ubiquitous all around the world. New phones and competing devices are popping up everywhere and new reports are being written on unreleased devices. These mobile devices have multiple uses to them; for example, the iPhone plays music, records video, emails, plays movies, twitters, facebooks….. oh yea it makes calls. Companies and innovators are trying to brainstorm the best idea for these smart phones and the best idea for 2010 has finally come to us. The company is called Square.

Square is not only trying to revolutionize the mobile device market but they are also revolutionizing Credit Card purchases. It’s not just a simple beautiful app and it’s not just a small easy to use attachment, it’s the whole package! Visual Math: New Application + New Attachment + “Web 2.0″ company = very large growth potential for the smart phones and mobile devices, alike.

Square is the brainchild of Jim McKelvey, and backed by Jack Doresy (co-founded of Twitter) and Khosla Ventures. Square is a small credit card reading device that plugs into your headphone jack. To make a purchase, the vendor will type in the amount and slide the card. The vendor then hands their mobile device to the customer who checks the total and signs their signature with their finger. Once that is complete, the vendor enters the email address of the customer and emails the receipt to the customer… and that’s it!

Rumor has it that Square will give the device away with purchase of the app and monthly subscription of services with no commission. This will benefit small business very much by creating a static price for easy expending!

Let me know what you think about this Square idea.

The solution I’ve found most accommodating is called Dropbox. This web application works beautifully when you need a program or file. All you have to do is upload the files you want to access later, into your personal Dropbox. You can keep the Dropbox private or share it! You’re probably wondering if you’ll have to go to your browser and click upload for every file. Well, no but only if you download the very small application. This application syncs with your computer and now you can drag and drop the files into the virtual folder that the Dropbox desktop application creates.

Now the magic happens! So, you go to a meeting and didn’t bring the laptop, but instead of not presenting all the information to the client or partner you can now swing by a printing store, library, or friends house and login to your Dropbox account and download and print the documents you forgot. Say you don’t have time to do that, we you can use their iPhone App to access the files or the client’s computer. It’s that easy.

I use Dropbox religiously and probably won’t stop. Check out the website for more info: http://www.dropbox.com