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Ok.com – The Perfect Movie Resource for Parents (Read This for a Free Kindle Fire!)

Posted on July 31, 2013 by jessestay

My friends at Ok.com have given me a Kindle Fire to give away to one of my readers in the Staymates community on Facebook. All you need to do is join Ok.com, share this article with your friends, and join the Staymates Facebook group. I’ll take it from there! See below for details…

As a parent it is impossible for me to stay on top of what’s ok, and what’s not ok for my children to watch when it comes to movies. I love movies – they teach creativity and culture and history and get my mind thinking in ways it is not used to. However, some of these movies, while great for me may not be good for my 13 year old. And what may be good for my 13 year old may not be good for my 8 year old. That’s where Ok.com comes in – it’s a resource for families to know, and contribute to what ages are most appropriate for each film you watch. It’s a crowd-sourced age-engine (yes, I invented that term) for your family.

The site is extremely simple. Visiting the site at first, you can see the most popular movies at the time, and what the average age appropriateness for that movie is. Immediately you can start making decisions on the movies you want to go see as a family, or which ones you might just want to save for that date with a loved one later in the week.

You can contribute yourself as well. To get started, just click the sign in or join buttons, and log in with your Facebook profile (they also support a native login, but I think the experience is better through Facebook). Click on the movie you want to rate, and select the age range for what you think is appropriate. It also gives you the ability to add your own review, and see the reviews of your Facebook friends if you’ve attached a Facebook account.

In the upper-right, there is a “recommendations” button that will give suggestions based on the movies your friends have rated favorably. This is a great place to, at a glance, find out which movies will be best for you and your family.

I’ve found that, at a glance Ok.com is a terrific resource for when I want to know which of my kids can watch a movie. At the same time, there are times I want to know if I really should be watching it as well – if it’s rated for adults, I can quickly check the reviews and see if it meets my own standards for movie watching or not. If you have a family like me, or just want to make sure the movies you watch are living up to your own standards, this site is the best site out there for an all-in-one rating on the movies you watch. Go check it out now!

One more thing: Ok.com has offered a Kindle Fire for me to give away to one lucky reader! Between now and this Saturday at 11:59pm MDT, just follow these steps to be entered:

Join Ok.com
Share this post (the URL to this blog post must be in your post!) on Facebook or Twitter or Google+
Request to join my StayMates Facebook Group at http://facebook.com/groups/staymates – I’ll approve each request as soon as I’m available!

I’ll do a post asking for everyone to post their Ok.com profile IDs and the URL for the post they shared in the StayMates Facebook group shortly – once you’ve completed the tasks you’re entered for the prize! Feel free to use the image above as you share online!

Disclosure: I am receiving no compensation for this post – just free stuff for my readers! I did work for the owners of Ok.com for a brief time, but currently have no relationship with the company. I’m doing this just to help them out and because I think it’s a really cool product!

Why I Returned My New Macbook Air and Replaced it With a Chromebook

Posted on July 13, 2013 by jessestay

As we enter the era of the server in your pocket, our habits of computer use are going to change. They already are. As I’m buying new products (I don’t get free stuff like some bloggers ;-)), I’m finding the things that used to be important in products just aren’t any more. The elements of the hardware ecosystem we each live in are constantly changing, and so are their importance in our lives. Yesterday I packed up the Macbook Air I bought last week and was so excited about, headed over to Best Buy, and returned it.

The thing is, I don’t hate my Macbook Air. I still love Mac products. They’re solid. They’re beautiful. The experience is smooth. The problem I kept coming back to however was for the price I paid (about $1300 with tax), the experience I was getting just wasn’t worth it. For that price I got the ability to run desktop apps like Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite, but the experience was sub-par for what I paid.

As I visited the store, I actually tried out numerous other notebooks and tablet hybrids. The Macbook Pro – a little more expensive, better specs, but not much better, and from my past experience it still is no workhorse machine compared to the standalone desktop workstation I have at home. It’s also a bit heavy for my preferences.

I looked at the Microsoft Surface Pro (I didn’t like the RT, per my earlier review) – I was closest to buying this one. I also looked at a few other tablet/laptop hybrids, including the Lenovo Yoga and another one from Dell. The thing I kept coming back to though was that the only thing I really gained from a traditional desktop OS like Windows 8 or OS X was Microsoft Office, and the ability to record my Youtube movies and edit my photography.

I thought long and hard about those positives. For Microsoft Office, if I really need to do any editing that I can’t do in Google Docs (my publishers, including Pluralsight, all use Microsoft products for their templates), or even if I need to use Exchange and Outlook for some reason, Microsoft now has online products for that which support what I need fairly well. Even without that, I have a Windows 8 desktop at home that already has significant power to it (I built it myself), and I can run all of those at home, as well as do all my editing.

Trying to edit on a notebook or tablet, no matter what experience, I’ve never had a good experience, and that includes my Retina Macbook Pro that I had in a previous life. Notebooks just weren’t built for heavy publishing, video, photo, or audio editing capabilities. Heavily fortified workstations were built for this, and I’m willing to take that work home when it needs to be done. In fact, I may even switch to the new MacPro at some point to do this.

Which brings me to the Chromebook decision. For $250 (I got the Samsung model 303C12), I get a decent machine with almost the same specs as my old Macbook Air. It focuses solely on the web, allows me to add a SIM card for constant internet connection if I want to (I just use my cell phone connection for that), and comes with a 3 year warranty if anything ever goes wrong. Apple only gives me 1 year! Oh, and did I mention the $250 price tag? I’ll also add that so far, the battery life on this thing, even with the newest Macbook Air model, far out-paces my previous Macbook Air before dying (that’s because it only needs to connect to the web!).

Will Chromebook be for everyone? Remember, I also have a workstation at home that I’ll be using for my recording, editing and publishing tasks that the Chromebook can’t cover. It doesn’t solve everything. Also, my wife still has her Macbook Air if I ever need a Mac for something. So I have a fallback unlike others.

However, if you don’t need to do serious photo editing, don’t need to do serious video editing (Google has solutions for both of these through Youtube and Google+ if you’re more amateur), and don’t have specific publishing needs (remember, even Microsoft has online versions of Office as well as Exchange, so even this isn’t necessary), this machine is just perfect. And for someone like me that just needs a machine “that works” as I go out on the road, this Chromebook is amazing, and only 1/20 the cost of the Macbook Air! I can proudly say so far that this is the best notebook I’ve ever owned. And for only $250 you should try it too.

With New API, Twitter Attempts to Kill Autofollow Apps

Posted on June 21, 2013 by jessestay

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Just this last week Twitter retired their long-lived 1.0 API for developers. This API was the first “versioned” release, a breath of fresh air in many ways for developers that were tired of API updates breaking their code. On June 11th, Twitter forced all devs to upgrade to their 1.1 API however, breaking many developers’ apps in the process (mine included). What hasn’t been said yet is that autofollow apps (apps that automatically follow people that follow you) seem to be out of luck with this new update, and no word yet from Twitter.

The problem with 1.1 lies in a new set of rate limits. Developers are allowed to make a certain number of calls per API method, meaning each method can only be called a certain number of times within a given time frame. This, I’m sure, is freeing up all kinds of resources and money on Twitter’s servers.

However, for apps relying on regular updates to a person’s social graph (their followers or friends), this reeks havoc on those apps. The rate limit currently for just getting the ids of a single user is 15 API calls per 15 minutes. Here’s the problem: you have to make a single API call for every 5,000 friends or followers that user has. Twitter’s API requires apps to “page” through a user’s friends and followers 5,000 at a time. This is great if a user has under 75,000 friends, but once you make that API call over 15 times to get a user’s friends, you’re stuck waiting another 15 minutes to get the rest of their friends. Now imagine if that user or brand has over 100,000 friends or followers! Or what about over 1 million! It’s impossible for an app that is trying to evaluate a person’s social graph to always know a person’s followers or friends in that rate limit, rendering apps like auto-follow, or even simple social graph analytics, impossible.

When you think about it, this might make sense per Twitter’s current business model. For users and brands with over 75,000 followers, I’m willing to bet Twitter would love to have them as customers. Many of those can afford an account rep that can take care of custom requests. In addition, Twitter now has their own analytics to track a user’s social graph growth over time. So maybe Twitter is discouraging these types of apps. I’m fine with that as long as they are open about it.

If this is the direction Twitter is going, I have to say I’m used to it. To be honest I haven’t been putting much effort into my own service that has focused on the social graph of Twitter users, SocialToo, because of it. In many ways it has just become another “hole” filler in Twitter’s API history. As a developer though, this is certainly discouraging, and even further driving me away from Twitter’s developer platform.

I hope I’m wrong. I’ve asked in the Twitter developer forums with no answer yet. Is there another solution I’m missing? Let me know in the comments and I’ll do another post showing how to do it.

Announcing the 2nd Edition of I’m On Facebook–Now What??? (Plus a Free Webinar by Me!)

Posted on June 21, 2013 by jessestay

I’m proud to announce the launch of my newest book, the 2nd Edition of I’m on Facebook–Now What??? along with a big launch event on Thursday, June 27th that is completely free! Jason Alba, my original co-author of my first book, I’m on Facebook–Now What??? and I brought in a new co-author, Rachel Melia to help us with this edition, and we’re re-targeting it towards marketers this time! Completely up-to-date, this edition will show marketers everything I know, Rachel knows, and Jason knows to build the best Facebook marketing strategy to your business. And we’re kicking it off with a big launch webinar where we’re going to dump all our knowledge about Facebook into a full 1 and a half hours (and you’ll win free stuff in the process)!

This book has been a long work-in-progress. We wanted to get it in perfect shape for you, and I think in just the easy-to-read 160 pages you’ll get a jam-packed reading session with all sorts of tips on your Facebook marketing strategy you never thought of before. I need your help though.

We’re going to kick this off with a big, hour and a half webinar on Thursday, June 27th. I’m really excited for my topic, which I’ve never shared publicly before – I guarantee your ad strategy will improve 100-fold with the tips I’ll share in the 30 minutes I have! In addition, you’ll have 2 jam-packed sessions from Jason and Rachel on Facebook Marketing as well as managing professional relationships on Facebook. This is actually the first webinar I’ve played a part in organizing so if it goes well maybe I’ll do more! I want you to sign up for the webinar, in order to celebrate the event with us. Go do it now!

When you sign up you’ll be entered and automatically be in the running for 3 signed copies (that’s the autograph of all 3 of us!) of I’m on Facebook–Now What??? 2nd Edition. I’ll also throw in 3 signed copies (the description only says 1, but I’m throwing in 2 more) of my latest For Dummies Book, Google+ Marketing For Dummies. Who knows – maybe we’ll throw in a few other things if the turnout is good enough!

So with this post I ask 3 things from you and you’ll have the opportunity to win some pretty cool stuff!:

Go sign up for the webinar now and be entered for 1 of 3 signed copies of I’m on Facebook–Now What??? 2nd Edition (if you buy it now it will be one to give away to a friend!) and 1 of 3 signed copies of Google+ Marketing For Dummies – sign up here: http://stay.am/iofbnwwebinar
Go buy I’m on Facebook–Now What??? 2nd Edition over on Amazon! If you send me a copy of your receipt (jesse@staynalive.com) I’ll enter you in the drawing for one of 3 $50 Amazon Gift Certificates! Order it here: http://stay.am/fbbook2
Leave an honest review on the book! I do mean honest! I don’t care what review you leave, but if you leave something send me your Amazon name and I’ll add 2 additional entries to the $50 Gift Certificate entry.

I’m really excited for this book launch. I hope this book provides you the value and knowledge I’ve gained in the years I’ve been working with Facebook as a platform, both as a developer, and as a marketer. Please participate in this launch celebration with me, and share it with all your friends, lists, and groups! I hope to see you in the webinar on Thursday!

The Fight for #Conversation – Will There be a Migration From Twitter?

Posted on June 14, 2013 by jessestay

There’s no doubt that Facebook launching hashtags is a big thing, especially for marketers, but I think for users too. Now you can add a simple keyword prefaced by a pound sign (#) to any post or comment and immediately let others click and see the entire conversation around that particular keyword. This is really what defined Twitter – it was the ability to have organized conversations through hashtags that made Twitter a breeding ground for conversation.

Now Facebook launches hashtags, bringing the same breeding ground for larger conversations to a massive, billion+ active user network and now you’ve got a serious conversation on your hands. To me, this makes Facebook 10 times more valuable than Twitter in terms of the larger conversation, and it really makes me wonder – will people have as much motivation to use Twitter as they get used to hashtags on Facebook?

On Twitter I know of many that use hashtags to start large conversations and bring attention to a particular topic. Occasionally these conversations trend and other users chime in. While Facebook doesn’t yet have trending terms, they are rumored to be launching those soon. What happens when these larger conversations move over to Facebook where a majority of the “local” conversations are happening? Will people have reason to use Twitter any more? If I were Twitter I’d be worried when both Facebook and Google (through Google+) are offering this feature. Twitter’s competition is just too big.

Add to hashtags the other features Facebook provides, namely:

Privacy controls
Rich, embedded images
The inclusion of your closest family and friends in the conversation (that may be a plus or minus)
Events
Threaded comments
No character limit

The list goes on… I think you’ll see more and more people using Facebook for these conversations and ending their use of Twitter. I always hesitate to declare “the death” of anything. I do think Twitter should be concerned though, and I hope they continue to define themselves and staying away from the areas Facebook clearly has the upper hand in. The conversation, through hashtags, especially now, is definitely one of those.

Are you a big Twitter user? Now that Facebook supports hashtags will you use Twitter as much as you used to? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

How to View the Stream of Any Facebook Hashtag

Posted on June 14, 2013 by jessestay

Yesterday Facebook announced that they were finally launching the support of hashtags, a format currently supported on Twitter and Google+. This means any time you include a pound sign (#) followed by a keyword of any sort (try #throughglass for a fun view), it will turn into a link in your Facebook status update or Page post and people can click on it to view all public statuses and statuses they have permission to see on Facebook with that hashtag. There’s a shortcut to view these streams of public conversation though. To see the stream of any hashtag, just put https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/ followed by the keyword you want to follow in the URL bar of your browser.

Try https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/throughglass or https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/fail for a few fun examples of this. Facebook has made access to the public streams for hashtags extraordinarily simple.

I’ve heard from quite a few that hashtag streams only appear in a popover on your Facebook stream. It is true that when you click on a hashtag in your stream it does this – that’s so you don’t have to leave your existing stream to see what any given individual is saying on a topic. However, Facebook has also allowed you to right-click on the link for a hashtag, copy the URL, and paste it into your browser’s URL window and view the stream in a full feed on Facebook.

This now makes me wonder – are we close to an API for developers on this feature? If Facebook is already providing a UI around a single page, supported by a single URL for each hashtag, it would seem it would be extremely simple for them to put all that in JSON format for developers to access and start to consume in their apps. I’ve tried seeing if Graph API might support this by turning https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/throughglass into https://graph.facebook.com/hashtag/throughglass but it returns an error. It would also make a lot of sense as part of their search API, however, trying https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=throughglass&type=hashtag also doesn’t work.

I imagine it’s just a matter of time for an API to come out as a result of this. In the meantime, try out the URL method I shared above and see what streams you can follow. Which streams are your favorites?

Image courtesy http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/what-hashtags-means-for-facebook/

Some Google Glass Explorers Getting "Mysterious Package" as Early As Tomorrow

Posted on June 12, 2013 by jessestay

In the Google Glass community one Google Glass Explorer posted a rather interesting note today:

“I just got a notification from UPS that I have a package sent by Google X to be delivered on Weds. Anyone get something similar? I didn’t see any posts about it. It looks very similar to the original random package for the GRID paperweights.

I already got my Glass about a month ago from pickup at LA so I’m pretty sure it’s not that. IO Explorer but didn’t go to Foundry.”

This note was followed by confirmation by several other Glass Explorers saying they got the same. It appears that some Google Glass Explorers (I have not gotten a notification) are getting notifications from UPS saying that they are getting a package from Google X, the group at Google that originally started Google Glass.

I have wondered what types of “surprises” Google might have in store for those that forked over so much money for the devices. Could Explorers get free versions of the new Glass product? Could they be getting another plaque similar to the piece of Glass with their number on it which they got at Google I/O? Could Glass Explorers be first in the running for new Google products?

Google has been known to ship products for trial to select groups of people. I got a Logitech Revue with Google TV on it this way. Google has also shipped out Chromebooks to developers to try out in the past. I’m curious if Google could be doing the same with Glass Explorers.

It will be interesting to watch and see what the Explorers end up getting. I’ll either post here, or on my Twitter feed at Twitter.com/Jesse when these Glass Explorers find out! If you’re part of the community you can go follow the conversation here.

UPDATE: Abraham Williams on Google+ is saying his is scheduled for delivery tomorrow, and it’s about the weight of a Nexus 4. A white edition?

UPDATE #2: I just got my notification from UPS – see a screenshot over on Google+: https://plus.google.com/107833107845497630206/posts/GSAffmYKyew

#ifihadglass I Would Make Sure I Could Pay for it First

Posted on June 7, 2013 by jessestay

With the gradual notification of the 8,000 or so #ifihadglass applicants for Google Glass recently, I thought I’d come out and say it – make sure you can cover your costs before you book a plane ticket, fly to Mountainview (or New York City), and pay your $1500 to get Google Glass. The truth is, alone, Google Glass just isn’t worth the $1500. If you’re not a developer, or your company isn’t paying for them, or if you’re not building a business out of them, they’re just not worth it.

It appears I’m not alone. Joanna Stern of ABC News agrees with me – be sure to check out her review – her experience reflects mine almost exactly. Even Robert Scoble has said the same. The thing is both of those Glass users have gotten their money’s worth out of Google Glass so it makes sense for them to keep it. I’m building a business out of mine – you’ll notice I’m building apps for Glass now (if you’re a news org, contact me – I’d love to license you my software). I’m writing about it. I’ll likely end up consulting others on Google Glass. If none of that were the case, I’d likely end up returning my Glass, or trying to sell it on Ebay (no one says you can’t sell the Glass box and give Glass away for free 😉 ).

I see stories of people, right here in Utah, really excited to get their #ifihadglass purchase. What I don’t think these people realize is that they’re going to have to not only pay the $1500 to get Glass, but also pay to travel out to one of the pickup locations to get it. Google is not shipping Glass to these “winners” like they did the Google I/O attendees like myself. And for a $300 ticket on top of the $1500 plus over $100 in tax you end up paying for them trust me, most of them won’t get their money’s worth out of the device.

If you are a developer and want to build apps for Glass, this is a great purchase – only Glass owners can develop for Glass and this gives you a head start at being one of the first out the door with apps for Glass. If you’re an entrepreneur with an idea that would make your business $2,000 richer by having Glass, go for it. If you have a business plan for the device – it’s totally worth it.

But if you just want to be “one of the first”, or just try it out, or get a chance to visit Google campus, trust me – you’ll be disappointed and mad at Google for making you spend all that money. Glass will likely sell for under $600 I predict – wait for that. Or come find me and I’ll let you try mine out.

For anyone but those with a business plan, Glass just isn’t ready for public consumption, and that’s a good thing. This means by the time you get it, you’ll truly have a tool that gives you a better view of this world. Glass is an amazing technology, but I’m afraid in its current state and price, the public will see through it.

When Moore’s Law Meets Life Expectancy

Posted on June 5, 2013 by jessestay

In a world of servers in your pocket, wearable computers, and devices that track your health over time, technology is not only affecting our culture, but our physical lives as well. I predict in our lifetimes we’ll see a healthier and more productive generation arise as a result of these devices. Our own lives will get healthier and healthier as a result of technology that tracks elements of our personal health which would traditionally lower our life expectancy.

Just like our own knowledge grows as the world around us appears to us in real-time, our own health will improve as well. With the ability to respond in real time to fluctuations in our health, we can catch things that traditionally would not have been caught until our bodies had become weakened.

It is very likely that, compared to our parents, our lives may extend up to 50% beyond the life they had. When you compare our parents to theirs, life expectancy is already higher. Imagine what happens when you throw technology and real-time information into the mix. There is a real chance you and I will live really long lives!

My Fitbit tracker and Aria scale notice my activity and weight over time, and alert me how to become healthier. We see devices such as the Tricorder that is being funded on Indiegogo, a very real technology that tracks blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, and a number of other major health factors that if not caught quickly could significantly affect other elements of our health. More and more of these devices are going to come in our lives and they’re only going to get smarter. The Star Trek future we always dreamed of really isn’t that far off!

In hardware, there is a law, Moore’s law, which suggests that year after year, the number of transistors integrated circuits doubles, allowing us to do twice as much as the period before. What happens when this technology begins to affect our health? Call this new law whatever you want to name it, but I’m going to suggest the same will happen with life expectancy in our lifetime.

I predict generation after generation life expectancy will double by the time my generation passes away. Knowledge is power. Not just that, but knowledge is life when applied to health and our bodies. The more computers are able to interact, automate, and read ourselves, the healthier we will become and the longer we will live.

It’s quite exciting to think of it that way, and I think it’s a very real possibility we’ll see this happen in our lifetimes. So get used to living much longer than you planned. Build up that savings. Live healthy now so you can survive to that era. Make the world a better place, not just for your children, but because there’s a good chance you’ll be there too!