SOMEWHAT FRANK

NIN Challenges Music Business Model, Biofuels Compared, Widget Format, Google Reader Sharing Notes, Twitter Tools & Avatars

Photo of the Week: This photo of tulips taken by Melissa Goodman would somewhat frankly make a nice gift for mom as I wish all the moms out there Happy Mother's Day.

SOMEWHAT FRANK Weekly Tidbits: 5.11.2008

Video: Lijit Breakfast & Rap

Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day as it acts as the foundation of your day. A few weeks ago Lijit Networks hosted a breakfast the morning after TECH cocktail DC 2. It at Busboys & Poets in Washington, D.C. and was a lot of fun. I got a chance to capture episode 24 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV.

Do Paper Greeting Cards Still Have A Place?

With Mother's Day and a bunch of birthdays coming up I have been thinking about the whole gifting process and more specifically paper greeting cards. I think there is still something nice about getting a paper card since it is an artifact but I have found that more of the total inventory of greeting card play music. I find it kind of annoying but it is tough to find a good card anymore. It seems that someone must be buying greeting cards that play music because they seem to be taking up a majority of the Hallmark greeting card rack these days. But with all the social interactions that technology has enabled from your cell phone messages to online e-cards to Facebook gifts that can be sent here is SOMEWHAT FRANK question for you:

Do Paper Greeting Cards Still Have A Place?

Give your SOMEWHAT FRANK opinion in the comments section below.

Photo Attribution: Bashar Al-Ba'noon

PicLens Offers 3D Browsing Now For YouTube

Now here is an interesting and innovative way to explore videos! Leveraging the CoolIris 3D browsing technology, PicLens is able to explore videos and photos via a wall of videos. PicLens allows users to search Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook and recently added the ability to search YouTube in this same 3D fashion - among others.

So next time you get bored with traditional search metaphors for videos or images you might want to install PicLens and search in 3D.

How Bad Is Your Twitter Addiction?

Twitter, like anything, can be a little addictive as we look to reach out and communicate with all our friends and followers. Xefer has pulled together an interesting mashup which leverages Yahoo Pipes and Google Chart API to plot the usage of twitter of a specific user. So of course, I had to plug the somewhatfrank twitter id in and chart it.

Give it a try here for your twitter username.

Xobni Social Mail Plugin Finally Goes Public

Xobni, the social email plugin for Outlook, which I highlighted previously has finally opened its doors as a public beta. I initially had some private beta invites that went very fast but I continued to receive inquiries. Now you can get your own copy of the latest Xobni product and test it out for yourself. These are also unconfirmed rumors that Microsoft is bidding to acquire Xobni so it would not be far fetched to think that Xobni could be integrated directly into Microsoft Outlook if the rumor becomes reality.

Microsoft Pulls Back Yahoo Offer, False Alarm Fuels PHP vs. Rails Debate, Online Personas, Social Wedding Planning & iVentures Launches

Photo of the Week: The new Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. hosted the Chicago Cubs last weekend I got a chance to see the "big headed" Presidents Race up close and took this shot.

SOMEWHAT FRANK Weekly Tidbits: 5.4.2008

Video: Touring America's First Startup

The United States is ultimately a startup so I thought that is might be fun to take advantage of living near the nations capitol and show off the main office of the executive branch - the White House. I was able to capture some of the sites and sounds of the White House as part of the spring tour which I found out about through their own use of technology via the White House RSS feeds and podcasts.

Forvo: An Online Pronunciations Dictionary

I am terrible at pronunciations. Forvo is an online resource that might be able to help by leveraging the wisdom of the crowds to collect and offer audio pronunciations of words. Currently, they offer 14,653 words 13,131 pronunciations in 182 languages.