jessestay, Author at Stay N Alive - Page 91 of 105

Author: jessestay

Supporting School Vouchers the Social Way

Posted on by jessestay

I know a lot of you bloggers out there are pro-school vouchers. If not, blog about it and link to me! Utah is about to have one of the most heated votes in the history of the state, as it gets ready to allow residents to vote for or against School Vouchers. “Referendum 1” it is called, and if you vote for it, you are for school vouchers.

What are school vouchers? Of course the details haven’t fully been worked out yet, but ideally school vouchers allow those sending their children to Private Schools and paying for school out of their own pocket to collect a “voucher”. Ideally, if you to receive a $3000 voucher that voucher would allow the possibility of paying as little as $100/month to send your child to Private school. Suddenly, a lot more people will be able to afford private school, encouraging more private schools to form to take advantage of this, encouraging competition among private schools and public schools alike. Classrooms will be smaller, and as such, education will be better and more focused for the children we care for.

Why are people against school vouchers? A lot of teachers, due to the smaller class sizes in the public schools, will be forced out of their jobs if they aren’t doing a good job. Because of this, the Teacher’s Unions are stepping up to protect those teachers that maybe aren’t cutting it, and are on the chopping block, were school vouchers to be handed out. Teachers would be forced to actually work and compete for their skills – only the best teachers would be able to stay. This sounds great for our kids, doesn’t it? It doesn’t sound so great for the teachers that are at risk, which is why the Teachers Unions are spending so much money to fight against it and tell us it’s “bad for Utah families”.

As bloggers, geeks, and people who understand the digital world, we have a responsibility here. If you are for or against vouchers, you need to speak up. You need to spread the word online and get it out in full force! Only we have such a capability to spread the truth to such a massive audience. We are the social web and we have a responsibility to start the chains to get the word out!

So I’m publishing a few links for you pro-voucher bloggers out there. This affects even those outside Utah. If vouchers succeed, other states in the Union will be looking towards Utah to see how successful they are here. If you are outside Utah, donate to this cause! Here are some links you should share with your friends and sign up for yourselves:

http://www.votefor1.com/ – the official “pro-vouchers” site

http://www.choiceineducation.org/ – Parents for Choice in Education, the supporters of VoteFor1

http://www.utahtaxpayers.org/

http://www.childrenfirstutah.org/

http://www.citizensfortaxfairness.org/x_home.asp

And of course, my Facebook “Causes” cause (join and spread to your Facebook Friends!): http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/23050?recruiter_id=6882383

So, if you’re a blogger, blog about this! If you’re on Twitter, Twitter your feelings – twitter this blog entry! Jaiku – Jaiku it! Add the Causes app above and send it to all your friends. This affects everyone, and everyone will be affected eventually. We have a responsibility as Social experts and users to utilize these great tools to pass on the word!

Could Google Launch the gPhone November 5?

Posted on by jessestay

Scoble and Mike Arrington have both talked about Google launching “the Social Network of all Social Networks” on November 5. Recently, Google bought the Twitter-like status service Jaiku, which has mobile capabilities of sending updates of what you are doing via cell phone and finding out what your friends are doing. Rumors have also been flying of a gPhone to be released some time soon, perhaps end of this year of beginning of next year.

I’m going to go out on a limb here. Google needs to compete with Facebook – Facebook is definitely a threat. Now here’s the idea – what if Google’s killer social network wasn’t just a web network, but instead centralized on their gPhone, and that was what they were debuting on November 5? Add to that the rumors that they will be opening that platform, that would confirm the idea that their “new” platform would be completely open. I have heard rumors that Google developed Google Maps back in the day, just to be on the cell phone eventually. What if the incorporation of Google Maps, GPS, knowing where you are, and what your friends are doing and where they are, based on cell phone usage Jaiku provides all will be part of Google’s social network of all social networks – the gPhone? Regardless of whether they actually launch the gPhone on November 5 or not, Google’s got a nice piece of competition on their hands as soon as the gPhone is released.

Twitter Launches Facebook Status Updates

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I noticed yesterday that Twitter has officially launched the ability to update Facebook through your updates on Twitter. You just click on the Twitter app within Facebook, and you’ll see a link that says, “Want Twitter to update your Facebook status? Click here.” Click on that, the message will still be there (they say they’re working on that), but all your Twitter updates will now go to your Facebook status as well. Any Twitter replies (with @username in them) stay on Twitter and do not go to Facebook, resolving my previous concern.

UPDATE: Twitter doesn’t ignore just any post with an @username in it. The post has to start with @username for Twitter to ignore the post. I’d love to see it just ignore anything with @username, since Facebook friends won’t know who @username is anyway.

How Apple Can Beat the Hackers and Please Their Customers at the Same Time

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Apple – are you listening? I’ve got a tip for you that I’m pretty sure could very well be a solution to all your woes. Ars Technica today released new information about Apple’s new SDK and how they will continue to be web based. The article mentions the updates will be “released soon”. I actually like this idea – I see the future of operating systems as web-based, and Apple IMO is on the right track, making the AJAX SDK much more similar to what you could do with a normal SDK.

Apple – you’re on to something here with this update to be released soon after the last update – stay agile! Steve Jobs mentioned fighting the iPhone hackers was a “cat and mouse game.” He then followed it with, “I don’t know if we’re the cat or the mouse”. Apple – the object is to stay the mouse, constantly having to be chased by the cat. So long as you’re the mouse, the hackers will never keep up.

How do you become the mouse? Constantly release updates, faster than the hackers can keep up! Release new feature after new feature. Keep giving your customers more – they’re hungry for it! I guarantee you Apple, if you can keep your customers satisfied with lots and lots of new, cool stuff, they’ll ignore that their phones can’t be hacked until that stupid relationship you have with AT&T expires and you can truly allow your phone on multiple networks.

New Wave of Citizen Journalism on Twitter

Posted on by jessestay

Are you in Utah? Do you like getting the latest news, as it happens? Do you like giving back to society?

Well I may have something for you. I’d like to announce the new Twitter Bot, “SLCNews”. The way it works is if you see news happening in your area, you generally can report the news much faster than a News reporter who has to get to the scene. Citizens are usually the first reporters on the scene of a major event, yet the reporters always get the credit. With this Twitter bot, if you see news happening in your area, report it by direct messaging the Twitter user slc news, followed by a short amount of text describing the event happening. All people following the user slcnews will then get Twitter updates (usually on their cell phones) that share with them the news happening. The idea is if enough people pitch in, your news will be much more on time, much more accurate, and very on the scene. I can see this meshing with Twittergrams, links to Flickr photos, etc. all from your cell phone (on your cell phone, all you have to do to send a message to slcnews is to send a text message to 40404 that says “d slcnews accident on I-80” or whatever the news that is happening).

So if you’re on Twitter and live in Utah, please do your part to the community and follow SLCNews! If you’re not on Twitter yet, please click on the link above and join! If there were ever a reason to join Twitter, this is that reason! If you like this and don’t live in Utah, let me know and maybe I’ll add your city next.

Facebook to Release a Passport-like Common Logon?

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With yesterday’s announcement of the statusUpdate API call in Facebook, my thoughts have been going wild on what this means. This was clearly done for Twitter and other status update sites out there. I can also see some cool uses for it in other applications too.

One thing this does hint at, whether Facebook is thinking about it or not, is the possibility of a common logon system similar to Microsoft’s Passport or OpenID. The next step Facebook should take is open their authentication system up in the API. Currently, you can get a user logged into Facebook via the API. Facebook now needs to package this and market it as a complete solution to sites like Twitter to get them to base their user profiles off of Facebook profiles. I would prefer this method personally, as I only need to update my profile in one place (Facebook), and then I can use Twitter for all my other status needs.

Facebook Releases Status Updates via the API

Posted on by jessestay

Finally! The moment has come! Soon you’ll be able to just update Twitter and magically your Facebook profile will update to what your current Twitter status is. This is big news, and great for Twitter, as now users can focus their updates in Twitter, what it was made for, and not worry about updating in a million places.

I have yet to see the feature on the Twitter app, but it was only released yesterday, so I expect to see it soon. The only main disadvantage I see to the feature is now when you send @so-and-so your Facebook friends won’t really know what you’re talking about. Do I see an acquisition down the road by Facebook?

Jesse Stay is a Utah Facebook Developer and Consultant

Posted on by jessestay

Well, I’ve officially made the plunge! As of today I have announced my resignation at UnitedHealth Group and will very soon be completely self-employed, working on your business’s projects full time under my consulting business, Stay N’ Alive Productions. If you have a project of any caliber, I am giving short-term (that could become long-term) contracts first priority, but will consider anything.

I mentioned previously about my friend Thom Allen being a Facebook developer. Well, I’ve let him have the limelight for long enough and now it’s my turn! I am a Utah Facebook Developer. I currently have 4 applications written, one with near 10,000 users and growing. I also have been doing Facebook consulting since almost the launch of the Facebook platform. I have taught classes on Facebook and am definitely your man if you need some consulting or projects based on the Facebook platform.

So if you need any work, give me a ring via the GrandCentral “Call Me” button down on the right of this page and we can work on a bid or estimate for consulting work. You can also read through this blog to understand what I know and how I can help you. Feel free to blog or Twitter about me as well! I need all the help I can get to get this off the ground!

Thom Allen is a Utah Facebook Developer

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I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile, and I’m really glad Thom blogged about it today. I’d like to introduce you to Thom Allen. Thom’s a great programmer and a good friend of mine that I met through the blogosphere and Twitter. Thom actually lives just down the road from me practically.

Thom reminded me the other day that he too is a Facebook Developer and is open to new projects. Thom’s very capable and I’m sure would do well for your next Facebook project. So if you need a Facebook Developer (I’m pretty booked right now, but hey contact me too!), Thom would be a great choice to get the job done.

If you are a Utah Facebook Developer and would like me to feature you on the site, give me a ring!

Public Schools the Demise of the LDS Church?

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Okay I missed my Sunday school topic for yesterday so hopefully this makes up for it. Forgive me if I go on a little political rant here. I was thinking about going over “Mormons Exposed”, but Laura Moncur beat me to it. So I came across another ridiculous piece of “Mormon News” today.

It appears the Mormon-oriented “Sutherland Institute” is publishing advertising in the Deseret News and Tribune blaming the need for School Vouchers in Utah on helping to save The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Now I’m a huge fan of School Vouchers, but why did they have to go there? There may be some truth to what they are saying but the fact is there’s so much truth and statistics out there supporting School Vouchers that we don’t need to make up half-truths to argue the point. I mean their “truths” sound quite similar to the anti-Mormon rhetoric that us Mormons try to fight on a day-to-day basis! Sutherland Institute, I suggest an apology and sticking to full truths rather than a blame campaign.

You see, school vouchers, while I’m not aware of an actual school voucher program in the U.S., have statistics behind them to prove they will work. If you look at the test scores, student to teacher ratios, and overall college graduate ratio of Private Schools to Public Schools, you’ll find that despite what the critics say, Private Schools and competition works! The funny thing is the very conservatives that are for Capitalism and small government are the ones pushing the scare tactics on this new bill. You’ll see a lot of critical statements with absolutely no statistics to them – look up the statistics yourself and you’ll find record after record proving vouchers will be a good thing for the people of Utah. Also notice who’s backing the anti-voucher groups – you’ll find that most of them are Teachers Unions, the very people that want to protect the bad teachers we already have in the Utah public school system and keep competition from forcing them out!

So before voting for this referendum, I strongly suggest you do your research – Vouchers are good! Government needs to stay small! Oh, and to the Sutherland Institute, stick to the statistics!