The Scrolls

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

What’s so great about social bookmarking anyway?

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “social bookmarking” and you’ve also heard about sites like Digg, Technorati, StumbleUpon or Delicious. Hell, “Digg” has even become a Web2.0 Invent-a-Verb in much the same way “Googling” has. But what exactly is social bookmarking?

At it’s most basic definition, social bookmarking is an easy way to say “Hey guys! Look at this cool site I found!” without having to individually message all of your contacts.

This also leaves it open to be a tool to keep up with your friends and family – to see what they’re doing online and what interests them.

Because social bookmark sites keep track of how many times a sites is bookmarked – or “Dugg” – social bookmarks are also tools used to gauge the popularity of articles, sites and blogs.

For instance, upon logging on to Digg, the index shows the most popular recently submitted links. From there, the visitor can see the most popular links in the last 24 hours, 7 says, year et cetera.

Similarly, Technorati‘s front page shows rising stories – though they are divided by whether they are news stories or blog posts (unless you’re logged in; then it shows updates from your favourite blogs as well as when your blogs last pinged – or alerted Technorati of – updates).

Both sites allow visitors to view bookmarks in a variety of categories from business to technology to politics to entertainment to lifestyle and beyond. Furthermore, users can browse by media type such as image or video.

Technorati‘s provisions for blog posts might make it a bit more popular among bloggers as often times, blog posts do not seem to fit within Digg‘s “news story” submission process.

Technorati‘s Blogger Central allows blog owners to “claim” their blogs and submit updates via RSS feeds which publish automatically to a profile page for their blog. From there, others can add the blog to their favourites. Technorati also searches for links to blogs – or “reactions” – which help determine its popularity. Blogger Central also has widgets for use on your desktop, in your browser or on your blog to keep you connected to Technorati all the time.

Digg seems to be a bit more advanced in that it has a friends system, allows comments on submissions and users can send their Diggs/submissions to friends via “shouts.”

However, Digg and Technorati are not the only 2 on the scene.

Del.icio.us is a popular, if much simpler site. Sign up, upload a copy of your bookmarks/favourite from your browser and via plug in or browser, you can add sites to your favourites list. Del.icio.us is big on tags which describe the type of content you’re uploading. Unlike Technorati or Digg, it’s more about traditional bookmarks than news stories or blog posts so pretty much everything feels at place here.

The Del.icio.us homepage shows hot stories and tags. Visitors can view submissions by popularity of recentness.

Upon logging in, visitors see all the bookmarks they have added to Del.icio.us as well as tags. “Your network” shows submissions from friends and “Links for you” are similar to Digg shouts in that your friends can specifically send a recommendation your way. Set up tags you’re interested in and new bookmarks with these tags will show up under “Subscriptions,” similar to Technorati‘s Watchlists.

StumbleUpon is another popular option for social bookmarking; however, that is not its sole purpose. SU is a browser add-on which allows people to recommend sites via categories/tags. Other users can set up a profile and indicate which topics are of interest to them; the stumble upon toolbar will then take the user to a random site based on these tags when. This is known as Stumbling.

Stumble Upon also lets visitors connect with friends to see what they’re browsing, view popular sites, and post to an on-site blog. SU also divides content by media type (videos, images), has a message system and even has groups for those of similar interests. Like Del.icio.us, tags are important in SU.

However, there are many more social bookmarking sites online. Some are general and some are geared toward a specific interest group. Check out Slashdot, Reddit, Newsvine, Bloglines and Yahoo!buzz.

Tired!

For whatever reason, this whole weekend, Ryan woke me up while I was in the middle of sleeping for no good reason. For instance, today he couldn’t sleep so he lays there and finally decides that his boredom might be cured by talking to me. So what does he do? He asks me if I am “awake.” Well, the funny thing about that is, no-I-wasn’t-thank-you-very-much but now that he’s spoken, I am and that makes me very unhappy. I not so kindly pointed out that his plan was unwise, grumped a bit until he left and went back to sleep.

Introducing..

Weekly WrapUp, an end-of-the-week meme! Tune in every Saturday for a set of questions to post to your blog!

I’m Here

It’s been a while, huh?

I haven’t been up to much, just haven’t been blogging here as frequently as I could and, probably, should be.

So what’s going on, hmm? Furniture window-shopping via the internet. Our entire bedroom set it loaner so, when we move, we’ll need to purchase that. Also coming out of our (or should I say “his”) wallet will be a coffee table and/or set, bookcase(s) and a desk for the computer Ryan wants. Soo, I’ve been checking out local stores and found something I really like but know I can’t get my heart set on it yet. -crosses fingers that I can have it though- This is all adding up to a lot of money, though!

We’ve been looking for cards and kind of disagrees. As a woman, I want something sturdy and practical and as a man boy, Ryan wants something flashy. We finally settled on the Hyundai Elantra and have been pricing them on CraigsList and Ebay motors for a used one. However, considering the recent oil discussions and gas prices, I thought it would be interesting to check our hybrid cars and the Saturn Aura and Toyota Prius both seem do-able. It all depends on price and availability, though. We’ll definitely have to take what we can find.

I’ve been frequently blogging over at Reviews by Cole and just gave it a little facelift – nothing too fancy; I just switched the header image and colours. I’ve been doing some opportunities for PayU2Blog - so far so good.

I’m also still considering school for the fall – just a couple of classes online. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how much I really want to go into funeral service which really is throwing me for a loop. I mean, what do I want to do with my life?!

We saw Indiana Jones tonight which was decent – not horrible but not great. It certainly was long! I wasn’t very fond of Shia’s character and I don’t really think he fit the role (which was weak to begin with) very well. Alas, Spielberg doesn’t care what I think!

PS, if you’re viewing this on LiveJournal, please bare with me. I’m still working out the kinks!

Follow Me!

That’s right, I’m now a member of Twitter so you can follow me! It’s just one of my many technological advances as of late.

I adjusted it so that site updates will appear on my Twitter so you should keep and eye open for that. You can also follow my site from any feed reader or add it to your iGoogle accounts. Click here or, if you’re using Firefox, click the RSS icon in the address bar. I know I don’t advertise the fact that I have a feed very well, but that will change with the next layout.

Twitter is a site which allows you to microblog, that is post a tiny entry about what’s going on in your world today. It’s similar to the “status” you can set on many sites and programs.

With that in mind, I’d like to say something that isn’t “micro.” It took me a long time to join Twitter. What finally site me off was a good friend joined and we weren’t in contact as much as I’d like so I thought it might be a good idea. (Ironically, now we’re talking almost daily!) However, my first thoughts were more along the line of “Oh great, another site. Do we really need this?”

No “we” don’t. If you want to know what’s going on with me you can stop by my blog (you’re here), visit my profiles on Myspace or MSN, check my MSN status or actually do something to talk to me like chat with me, e-mail me, IM me, or send me a private message one 1 of any number of sites of which I am a member. Hell, you could technically call or write me, too! Everyone whom I know online is signed up to at least 1 of those services, if not more (or all!) and the few people in my life who aren’t, are not likely to join Twitter.

So, honestly, no, Twitter is not necessary. It’s just another site to forget to update. It’s not another e-mail in my inbox (or junk folder). It’s just another account waiting to be forgotten. It’s just another way to avoid human contact.

I think the latter is my biggest issue. Twitter and, to some degree, Myspace and Facebook and every other “social” website on the heels of this Web2.0 “movement” feign that they exist to bring you together when all they do is make you feel like it. Honestly, these sites are all really good at bringing together all the people I can’t bring myself to talk to on a daily basis. And Twitter? Twitter goes on step further. It exists solely so you can check up on a person without asking them “Hey, Bob, how does it today?”

But, whatever. Bob, let me know on Twitter and I’ll follow you, okay?

Now for the more below. I’ve been feeling kinda techy what with my upgrade to Firefox 3 and search for Ryan’s super-gaming-computer that he’ll purchase sometimes-in-the-not-so-distant-future and all the time I’ve spent blogging (here and at Reviews by Cole) and doing blogging related endeavours like signing up for EntraCard.

I was a bit disappointed in Firefox, to begin with. Previously, I wasn’t using any sort of theme besides the default. I always have my Windows theme colours customized and this was enough for me. Everyone raved about how the new default theme for FF was so awesome and good looking but it looked awful for me! I can’t really lay my finger on the specific change. Needless to say, I’m not using a theme which doesn’t -quite- match my Windows theme and I’m a bit saddened.

Firefox also introduced a bunch of features – mostly revolving around bookmarks – that would have been nice had I had them 2 years ago but now that I’ve been making due and have become set in my browsing ways, adjusting to these might be more hassle than it’s worth.

I do think it has improved in performance, however. I’m still waiting for some of my add-ons to be upgraded so that I can use them. In the mean time, I found out that Twitterfox seems to be causing a lot of issues with Firefox 3 and I took the time to add a nifty little add on called AutoFill Forms which does exactly as it states; this is awesome for signing up for sites and using plug boards.

Not much to say about the computer shopping extra I think we’re going with this one I found at NewEgg. Coincidentally, I ran across a contest to win an awesome gaming computer from HubCanada; unfortunately it’s only for Canadian residents but if you are one, check it out.

This shopping definitely makes me want to do some more upgrading on my PC (DVD drive and more RAM) as well as get a Notebook (in red, that’s all I know that I want LOL) but that will have to wait.

Reviews by Cole is still going and, as for EntreCards, I’ll be posting about that service on my review blog shortly so stay tuned.

Judging a Book by its Cover

I know this is a little irrelevant now as we’re assuming Obama is our democratic candidate which, if true, is awesome for him but I’d noticed something of interest. I was perusing the political macros site, PunditKitchen, not too long ago and, of course, many of the macros focused on our presidential candidates: McCain who looks older than Grandpa Simpson, Clinton who has a vagina and Obama who is chocolate coloured.

Not surprisingly, Clinton and Obama were the most popular subjects as their now-defunct rivalry raged on. I noticed certain trends among these humourous images, trends that were slightly less subtle than Hillary’s breasts of Obama’s skin but interesting trends nonetheless.

Both candidates have a particular look in these macros and one could easily say that opponents would pick specific types of images to fuel their argument but I believe that there are simply an abundance of photos which show Obama and Clinton in stereotypical roles.

So what roles do I speak of?

In Clinton’s case, she often looks angry or irate, desperate, snobby and indignant. Obviously, much of this was due to her downhill battle, a battle she never expected to have to fight in the first place. Regardless of the reasons, it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It also doesn’t help that she is and looks older than Obama. I cannot blame her age, with it comes (hopefully) experience, wisdom and many good years. I applaud her for not being botoxed to hell (although I suspect there is some work done) and she generally keeps herself neat but there is no hiding the fact that she is no longer a young woman and, on top of these qualities she is broadcasting, this makes a very unflattering portrait, one which makes me dubious of Clinton as a person.

On the other hand, Obama rarely looks these things. If anything, Obama frequently looks happy and sometimes, yes, even silly. The latter is what I think some of those opposed to Obama would see the latter as a weakness to be exploited, but I disagree. To me, it’s comforting to see someone who spends time with his family and doesn’t act as though he’s above everyone else. If Obama sometimes falters, so what? We all do. This simply makes it easier to relate to him as a human, a man like everyone else. I continually have the feeling that Obama could be my neighbour, just another person I could rely on in a time of need, someone to be respected.

Now, one could argue that perhaps Obama is really a good liar, an actor that is worth million in Hollywood. I cannot, without any doubts, argue this. I don’t know. However, I suspect this isn’t the case and that is simply because of the frequency that he is smiling in photos. This man seems genuinely happy with himself and his position in life. Of course, it probably helps that he was winning and felt confident in his campaign, I cannot belittle that, but it seems like that it far from the only factor. Obama gave the impression that he would remain happy whether or not he claimed the candidacy.

I just can’t see someone who appears so content as a liar. Neither could I see someone so indignant as the president. However, as a team, they would be a powerhouse. Still, we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Continuing on the note of sexual health and information

I have been updating the sex information guide, adding information about marital aids such as sex toys. You can even find reviews (well, review for now) of products by yours truly (thanks to Vibrator.com!). I’ve just added a review for the BNaughty, a cute little egg that is pretty impressive! Here’s an excerpt.

The BNaughty comes in a sleek red and black box which matches the toy itself with a modern design featuring a woman in lingerie. The clean lines of the packaging are very mature and would be just as fitting on the packaging for consumer electronics, like an iPod. This slick box is a far improvement over the plastic blister-packaging of adult store “novelties” and gives the BNaughty the impression of being a legitimate product rather than something that should be hidden away.

Read more.