One step towards organizing the online photo mess

Here's my view: the online organization of photos is a mess. I didn't say it was bad, I just think it is disorganized with no standards or structure, and it confuses me.

A long time ago, I stopped uploading photos to Facebook because I feel that it's cumbersome, and it reduces the quality of my photos.

Now, there are zillions of websites in which you can store your favorite photos, but finding the right one is a headache for me, because I like easy-to-use quality standards, and I like knowing that what I'm using is the best for me.

Somebody needs to write a short and easy-to-read book on photo sites, and how people should design and use them.

One thing that makes me feel better about this issue is new innovations in online photo organization, such as geotagging, which is helping Microsoft keep its head above the water.

Google Earth is really cool because its a big map, and it's easy to use. Many online photo services are not easy to use. Solution? Put photos on a map. This is geotagging.

Hopefully someday I can get my own photography in the right place on the web. I am confident that soon this will be easier to do.

Thanks for reading.

My second video project

Personalities of The Collegian
by Johnathon R. Nelson

A guilty pleasure.

In a typical day as a freshman in college, I would spend about 4 hours in class, 1 hour studying, 1 hour eating, and around 5 hours playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

It was (and still is) nothing to brag about to mom or the girlfriend.

What intrigues me about the "GTA" game series is the wide contrast of reviews that it gets. People hate it and people love it. Its controversial, yes, I'll admit that my pastor would probably disapprove of my playing it.

I both love and hate it.

I've been video-game-free for about 2 years now. I went cold-turkey when I moved out of the dorms. Nowadays, my PS2 gets to play the Deadwood series from HBO.

Farhaad Manjoo's article about the new "GTA IV" illustrates the point very well. The GTA games are very well designed and produced, and therefore people will play them without a guilty conscience. They don't play them because they are violent or controversial, they play them because they look cool, and because they are simply fun to play. If somebody made a really cool video game about anything that looked cool and was really fun to play, I would probably play it.

Rockstar pushes the limits with these games for attention, not to simply be obnoxious and offensive. It is up to the gamers to decide what is right and what is wrong in the real world, where it really matters.

Thanks for reading.

A beer finder for NYC, what about BRKGS?

I found this interesting article on CNET about a new web service that finds your favorite beer on tap. For beer lovers, this is heaven on the internet. The catch: it's only for New York City. Don't get me wrong - I think this is a very cool thing. It looks simple to use, and I can see it expanding very quickly beyond NYC's city limits.

I want this for Brookings, S.D., not only for myself but for my good friend, The College Connoisseur, who bases his weekly column on beer reviews. This service would facilitate the progressive enjoyment of all things brewy in Brookings, and it would also make The College Connoisseur's job much easier, as the list of specialty beers in Brookings is quite abbreviated in comparison with larger urban areas.

I'll admit, I am no expert on beer - I simply drink what tastes good. If you want to learn about beer, visit The College Connoisseur.

All in all, I think that websites like this are among the most useful for internet users. They are simple, easy to use, and provide a good purposeful service.

Drink responsibly. Don't drink and drive.

Thanks for reading.

The internet is too big.

Back in the post-Cold War days, the internet was created for national security. Now, as any newborn can tell you, it is something way beyond nukes from Russia.

I read this interesting article from TechCrunch about the way we should be searching the web in the future. The growth of the internet obviously has big implications, but instead of waiting for more idiots to take up space with terabytes of porn, why don't we do something? We, as a united world of web users (I know, scary, huh?) need to (prepare for preachyness) decide what we really need on the internet so that it doesn't get too expansive for our own purposes.

I'll be honest. I really don't know that much about the urgency of this subject, but I, like everybody else, do not want to see the lights go out on the internet someday. I like watching videos of a random dude's cat on a ping pong table.

Make Dilbert say what you've always wanted to hear (or . . . read)

Just like many SDSU Journalism students, I've spent several collective hours reading my free copies of the Argus Leader before class in Yeager Hall. Depending on how busy or un-entertained I am, I read the comics.

Some of them are moderately funny, some are not at all.

Now, Scott Adams, the mastermind of the Dilbert comic strip, has put the creativity in everybody's hands. You can go to www.dilbert.com and check out the customizable previously-published strips, and put your own lines in the bubbles.

This article by Farhaad Manjoo discusses some of the benefits to making your own customized Dilbert strip.

Dilbert.com has now made it to my favorites list on Firefox, and now I can make the comics in my free newspaper worth the price of admission. Now only if I could think of something witty to say.

The reason that I am blogging about this is because I think it is a step in an interesting direction. People like customizing things - I customized this blog page and enjoyed the crap out of it.

Perhaps Dilbert's new online feature will open some doors for people to explore their creativity and to have fun on the internet, which is good.

Thanks for reading.

Famous people: be careful what you say...

I say a lot of stupid things. So do politicians, actors, and famous people that shouldn't be famous. Now, what they say will stick around for everybody to Google.

The sensation of foot-in-mouth is familiar to several politicians and celebrities, and thanks to Google's new gadget, it will become even more intense and prolonged.

The "News" tab at the top of the Google search engine is very useful. I would recommend it to anybody doing research. Now, that tab features quotes at the top of the list of search results.

Public figures will now have to actually consider what they say before they say it, as to not look like an idiot on the internet as well.

I find this interesting because the example on the linked article shows none other than internet-dominating Barack Obama's famous quote about conservatives in Pennsylvania. With a web-presence now comes a web-consciousness and web-libraryofeverythingdumbthatyousaid.

If you've reached this point in this blog post, I salute you for your tolerance of boring subjects. Despite its rather mind-numbing description, the quote search thingy on Google will be really useful for writers, reference-seekers, and college students.

This is one small step in Google's journey to make the world as convenient as it can be, and thus make every student, including myself, lose the skills for good old-fashioned, pain-in-the-butt research.

Obama dominates on the web: Should we really be suprised?

This article affirms all of my assumptions.

Obama is beating the crap out of Hillary on the web, big time. But my question is: is this really news? I've been hearing and reading articles since January about how Obama has more face time and YouTube time than any of the candidates. The people that did this study are only shedding light on something that is already known. Obama dominates the web, now lets see how he does in Pennsylvania, where he made some foot-in-mouth remarks concerning small town voters.

Here's my view.
Since I am from a small town, and also addicted to the internet, I feel my political ego being torn apart by Obama. What the crap am I supposed to think about this guy?

Honestly, I like him. I know its weird, I'm a Republican right? Yep, a very frustrated one. The whole "Change We Can Believe In" is really cool to me, but I really need to brush up on Obama's plan for my country. So as soon as I do that, I'll let you know what I think.

Thanks for reading.

My first video project

Facebook Scrabble can wait. Seriously.

One of my fondest memories as a child was sitting at a dining room table across from my Grandmother waving her arms in celebration as she layed down a triple-word 20-letter article of her vocabulary on the Scrabble board.

This article on CNET informs us that Scrabble will now be on Facebook. First of all, if you have enough time to sit at your Facebook page and play an entire game of Scrabble, you might need to see a physician.

People in the U.S. and Canada are very upset because the Facebook app will not be provided in North America.

Why? Hasboro is throwing legal jargain at Facebook while another app called "Scrabulous" waits in fear of being eliminated.

Why are people upset? They apparently don't have anything better to do with their lives.

My thoughts: If you really truly want to enjoy Scrabble, play it with your grandmother.

Thanks for reading.

I almost downloaded Safari on my Dell. I'm glad I didn't.

Last week, as I was perusing some podcasts on iTunes, I got a pop-up. It actually scared the crap out of me at first, because I had just renewed my Norton Antivirus stuff with some pop-up blocker/anti-phisher/bad-thing-dominator, and I was surprised to see something come up.

At first, I was like "WTF, Safari for Windows?" but then I realized that Apple is slowly taking over the world, so it made sense.

I didn't download it.

Ever since I started using Firefox, first on my Dell at home and then on the computers on campus, I realized that it was superior to Safari. So, I don't even use the Saf on Mac, why would I want it on my Dell?

Anyway, I'm very grateful that I closed that pop-up because apparently there are all kinds of problems with Safari for Windows.

As with any kind of attempt at cross-compatibility, there is some drama going on between Apple and PC.

I'll keep my Firefox.

Thanks for reading.

TechCrunch is having a party that I probably won't go to

Holy moly.

Since I've started making posts on here, most of them have been based on or responses to articles on TechCrunch.com.

I hear today that they're having a second annual TechCrunch50 in September 2008.

What is it? To the layman, it's a geek fest.

The event is a celebration of the beginning of 50 new products or services (online or tech related) invented by anybody.

This sounds like an interesting event to me, maybe I'll buy some tickets and fly my butt out there. Oh wait, nevermind.

E-Mail is Slowing the World Down

E-mail is old news, and the world needs to move on. Every time I check my Hotmail accounts, I feel like I'm hyper-warping back to 1998.

This article has some interesting views on the matter.

The author explains why companies are being slowed down by e-mail. I've experience the problem. There you are, just arriving at your computer, ready to dig in, and then your inbox pops up with a billion e-mails. Perhaps you can't even get through them all in one day. Where is the limit, and is there a better way to communicate in a business environment?

I'm not sure. I think there are potential alternatives to e-mail, but I'm not sure exactly how they can be implemented. College students are addicted to instant-messaging, Facebook, and texting, and they are also the future, so maybe that is the tide of technology.

As my generation settles into the corporate world, I foresee changes. These new things include more constant connectivity, not only with the internet but subsequently with one's job. With these changes, we'll still have a billion e-mails every day, but at least you'll get to answer them before you get to work (but did you actually leave work?).