Twitter: To Retweet, or not to Retweet, that is the question.

Loic Le Meur tweeted out a link to this very cool iPad Wall Mount, The Wallee.

How to fix your iPad on a wall via @billaut http://ping.fm/esbvsFri Aug 13 10:15:46 via Ping.fmLoic Le Meur
loic

RETWEET BUTTON
If I retweeted it using twitter retweet button, it would have looked like this:



Bad and Good
That works, but there are a few problems with it.

1. I wasn't happy with the wording of the original tweet.

2. I wanted to add a comment.

3. Retweets via twitter's inbuilt retweet mechanism still don't show up in the twitter timeline in some clients like tweetie for the Mac.

The good thing about using the retweet button is that the original tweet is preserved and not altered in any way. Retweets using this method are also tracked.

MANUAL RETWEET
If I manually retweeted it, this would allow me to add a comment in front of the tweet, while retaining the exact content of the original tweet. This involves copying and pasting the tweet, without leaving anything out or changing anything, into a new tweet, and adding an optional comment in front of the tweet, RT, and the original tweeters @name.

Note: Some people leave comments after a manual retweet, but need to give some indication that their comments are not part of the original tweet. There isn't really a standard way of doing this. It becomes confusing. | Good point!

Here's what that looks like:

Translation: How to mount your iPad on a wall. RT @loic How to fix your iPad on a wall via @billaut http://ping.fm/esbvsFri Aug 13 10:57:23 via webSteve Garfield
stevegarfield

VIA
I didn't want to do that though and decided to use via. This allows me to edit the contents of the original tweet.

Here's what it looks like:

How to mount your iPad on a wall http://ping.fm/esbvs via @loic @billaut Nice instructional videos too!Fri Aug 13 10:30:54 via Tweetie for MacSteve Garfield
stevegarfield

This way I can rewrite the tweet in any way I want, and add a comment, but still give credit to both the person who originally wrote it and the person that I saw tweet it.

How do you retweet?

Facebook's Post Link, YouTube Embed, and Description Problems

The Facebook "Post Link" feature at the top of the page is problematic.



Half the time I click it, nothing happens and I need to click it again.

Then, if I post a link to a YouTube video, the thumbnail gives no indication that a YouTube video is going to be embeded in the tweet.

Step 1: Click Post Link

Step 2: Enter URL in entry box

URL in Box

Step 3: Click Attach


Thumbnail image displayed and descriptive text is added.

Note 1:
There is no PLAY BUTTON in the thumbnail signifying that it's a video. Looks like an image thumbnail at this point.

Note 2:
ALL the text is entered into the description field.

Sometimes HTML code ends up in that description box and you'll want to delete it.

Secret tip: Click the text with your mouse and you can edit that text.

Enter optional text in the "Say something about this link..." box.

Step 4: Click Share
Here's what it looks like after you click the Share button.



See the PLAY BUTTON in the thumbnail? Would be nice to see that in the preview.

Here's this item on Facebook.

Twitter Movie Trailer : Rated Awesome

YouTube Description:

If Hollywood can make an overly dramatic film about the early years of Facebook, why can't we make an overly dramatic movie about Twitter? Or at least the trailer to that movie! Check out the exclusive (parody) trailer for "The Twit Network" right here on Rated Awesome!

Huge thanks to the Gregory Brothers for creating the "I can Tweet" song that plays in the background. Check out more of their stuff and download the full song here:

http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/o6tyzy [ mp3 Download Link]

Gregory Brothers Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/schmoyoho

Twitter's New Tweet Button is Going to Lead to Broken Links

I tweeted my last post using the Tweet Button.

Here's what it looks like on twitter:



When you mouse over the link, you'll see that it's actually a link to a shortened URL: http://t.co/QzpVyGb

If people retweet this post using the twitter's retweet function, the link will not break.

But, if people copy and paste the tweet, the link will break.

Like this:

Free Contact Cards from Kodak Gallery offonatangent.blogspot.com/2010/08/free-c… cc @KodakCB

The shortened link should be displayed in the tweet with something like a tool tip to display the full URL when you hover your mouse over the shortened link.

We're going to see lots of broken links on twitter.

Update 8/13/10:

Looks like twitter changed the display on the tweet, changing the URL to the shortened URL.

Free Contact Cards from Kodak Gallery http://t.co/QzpVyGb cc @KodakCBThu Aug 12 21:42:28 via Tweet ButtonSteve Garfield
stevegarfield

That's the same tweet as above, but now it has the shortened URL in it.

If they've changed to displaying the shortened URL everywhere, that's a good thing.

I'll keep an eye out.

Free Contact Cards from Kodak Gallery

Free Contact Cards from Kodak Gallery, originally uploaded by stevegarfield. CC BY-NC-SA

Just got my free contact cards from Kodak Gallery.

The cards have contact info on the back with "Kodak Gallery Get your free contact cards at kodakgallery.com" on the bottom.

Nice quality.

Direct link to FREE Kodak Gallery Contact Cards.

Ignore the fact that they're called "Mommy Cards." ;-)

Testing out the new Twitter Tweet Button

New Tweet Button Image

I'm testing out the new Twitter tweet button. The folks at twitter introduced the new tweet button on their blog: Pushing Our (Tweet) Button:

Today we’re launching the Tweet Button to make sharing simple. It lets you share links directly from the page you’re on. When you click on the Tweet Button, a Tweet box will appear -- pre-populated with a shortened link that points to the item that you’re sharing.

Here's how to make a new twitter tweet button for your site. When you click that link, you'll be taken to twitter and a page that generates code for you to place on your site.

Here are my results.

Here's what it looks like on a blog post:

Twitter Tweet Button

When you click it, it opens up a window with a tweet ready to go. You have a chance to edit it if you like.

Here's what the tweet pop up window looks like for the previous post on this blog.

Twitter Tweet Pop Up Window

Twitter automatically shortens the permalink to the blog post with twitter's own link shortener.

Click the "Tweet" button and you are sent to twitter.

The resulting tweet looks like this on twitter:

It's interesting that even though the URL was shortened in the pop up window, on the twitter website, the URL is displayed as expanded, BUT not expanded completely. That's a problem.

Twitter Breaks Links
When you hover over the displayed URL, offonatangent.blogspot.com/2010/08/jamaic…, you can see in your browser display bar, the shortened link, http://t.co/xwxqKra. I've duplicated this appearance here.

This will break though, when someone does not use the twitter RT function, and copies pastes the URL into a new tweet.

They'll then get something like this, offonatangent.blogspot.com/2010/08/jamaic…, which is broken.

Get ready to see a lot of broken links on RT's made by hand with copy and paste.

Here's what it looks like when I use the Embed Tweet bookmarklet to share it:

Testing out the new Twitter RT button. Off On A Tangent: Jamaica Pond Panorama from AutoStitch http://t.co/xwxqKra via @stevegarfieldThu Aug 12 15:49:43 via Tweet ButtonSteve Garfield
stevegarfield

Here's how it is displayed on the Mac twitter desktop app, Tweetie:

Tweet displayed with shortened URL.

Recommend People
There's a recommend people to follow feature that should be working, but I don't see it.  Do you?

Try it out and click the Tweet button below. :-)

Update:
Wordpress.com Twitter Tweet button.

Easy Set Up: Appearance/Extras/Show twitter "Tweet Button" on my posts.

Jamaica Pond Panorama from AutoStitch

Jamaica Pond Panorama from AutoStitch, originally uploaded by stevegarfield. CC BY-NC-SA

It was a moment where I thought, "the reflection on the pond is really nice this morning, and I have a camera on me that can capture it." I used the iPhone4, took three landscape shots and stitched them together on the phone with AutoStitch, then emailed into Flickr, which auto-posts to twitter.

The 2011 SXSW PanelPicker is live. Pick me, Pick me!

The 2011 SXSW PanelPicker:

The SXSW PanelPicker is an online system that allows the community to have a significant voice in programming Interactive, Film, and Music conference activities for SXSWeek 2011 (March 11-20).

Some interesting categories to look at:

User Generated Content, 20 sessions featuring:

Live Content and Interactivity Around Shared Streaming Events
Brad Hunstable, Ustream
Live video is becoming increasingly relevant in today's environment of real time, 24/7 information
User Generated Content Broadcasting, live streaming, streams

Celebrity Next Door: Gaining Exposure through Live Streaming
Philip Nelson, NewTek
Learn how portable live production tools can make you the next Internet sensation. Set up a producti...
User Generated Content live production, live streaming, Webcast

Online Video, 34 sessions featuring:

The Session Where We Actually Make a Video <-- That's mine. 
Steve Garfield, SteveGarfield.com
Along with the people formerly known as the audience, Steve Garfield will create an idea for a video... Online Video

VideoBlogging: Go from Amateur to Outstanding
Joseph Jaffe, Powered, Inc.
You have a video camera and a YouTube Channel – now what? This panel will be a “Master Class” ...
Online Video online video, video, Vlogging

Online Video for Business: Beyond Justin Bieber
Gary Lombardo, Brightcove
Online video has moved beyond the domain of media companies and into the hands of individual produce...
Online Video Entrepreneurism, marketing, online video

How to Get a Web Series Cult Following
Vanessa Pappas, Next New Networks
Original Web series viewership numbers now rival those of prime time cable television networks...
Online Video Viral Video, Web TV, YouTube

Anatomy of an Online Video Show
Ryan Vance, Revision3
Revision3 is the online video industry’s largest television network, creating and producing more t...
Online Video

Create is the New Consume

Create is the New Consume, originally uploaded by stevegarfield. CC BY-NC-ND Gapingvoid

From Hugh:
Another one of my "T-shirt" ideas. When I was a kid, media was not something you created, it was something that you consumed. Then the Internet came along and changed all of that, of course. We soon found out, creating is a lot more fun than consuming.

And this isn't just true for media. Making stuff is more fun than buying stuff. That's because there's love in making- you can put as much love into the process as you want- the only limitation is the human heart. Whereas with buying stuff- you can love it all you want, but it can't love you back.

The Internet has made the unleashing of creativity on a daily basis seem normal, not just the domain of freaks, hipsters and the privileged. And Thank God for that.

If you want to read a great book on this subject, I cannot recommend Clay Shirky's "Cognitive Surplus" highly enough. I hope you'll go check it out.

Hello From Hugh

Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl

Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

via [ Laughing Squid ]

Speedtest: Download 64.02 Mb/s Upload 8.59 Mb/s

Take the Speedtest.

What's yours?

Digital Dads at The Pulse Network

Digital Dads at The Pulse Network, originally uploaded by stevegarfield. CC BY-NC-SA

I visited The Pulse Network and got a look at CC Chapman's live Digital Dads show.

Link to an archive of this episode:
www.digitaldads.com/2010/08/katy-perry-gets-hot-sugarbabe...

The Pulse Network has a great setup.


Here's the producer using a Tricaster to bring in other content including twitter feedback and live Skype calls.


Here's one of the Social Media Stations for interaction with viewers in real-time with selected twitter posts sent to the producer to put on air.

If you were to build an interactive TV show on the web, what would it look like?

Get it Right, Twitter AND Twitpic: Transit Police Make Arrest Thanks To Twitter

WBZ reports, Transit Police Make Arrest Thanks To Twitter:

Transit Police are crediting the use of Twitter for a recent arrested they made.

Officers arrested Lawrence Maguire, 59, of Dorcester, late Friday night after he was reportedly touching himself inappropriately on a Red Line train Wednesday night.

Nay Khun was on that train and saw Maguire.

In an effort to report the crime he took a picture of Maguire and sent a message via Twitter, a social networking site that allows messages of up to 140 characters, to the MBTA.

On Khun's account, @Nykwil, he wrote: #mbta pervert on the 2nd car of the red line going to Braintree just passed Charles help me report him in hat.

He included the picture he took.

He didn't include the picture, he included a link to the picture.

WBZ isn't the only media outlet that is leaving out the fact that twitter doesn't host photos.

I can understand how it's an easier story to tell if they just report that twitter was used to report the crime, but when you write an article online, embed the tweet in it, and then exclude the link to the photo, you're leaving out the main part of the story.

Nay Khum SHARED A PHOTO.

Why leave out the link and replace it with, "He included the picture he took."

That's not right.

He included A LINK TO the picture he took. Here it is: http://twitpic.com/2bmpnc

See:

#mbta pervert on the 2nd car of the red line going to Braintree just passed Charles help me report him in hat http://twitpic.com/2bmpncWed Aug 04 21:31:44 via Twitter for iPhoneNay
Nykwil

Elsewhere:

Boston.com - MBTA aided by rider reports in arrests of two passengers:

O’Connor said a passenger near MaGuire posted a picture on Twitter that led to MaGuire.

Boston Herald - After Herald tip, MBTA turns to social media to help fight crime on trains:

“It feels good to do something good,” Khun told the Herald yesterday, adding that he did not think it would lead to an arrest so quickly. “You think to yourself, ‘This is the right thing to do.’ I hope that people see this as an example to speak up. Some people are too shy to say something or confront somebody in public. On Twitter it’s so much easier.”

That was his logic Wednesday when, instead of calling police, he posted a text alert and photo on the social networking site while riding over Longfellow Bridge.

Update:

He included the picture he took. = 32 Characters

http://twitpic.com/2bmpnc = 25 Charaters

More:

The Boston Channel -Twitter Leads To Sex Arrest:

BOSTON -- An alert rider on the Red Line used Twitter to help Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police capture a man believed to be exposing himself to riders earlier in the week.

Lawrence Maguire
Lawrence Maguire, 59, of Dorchester was arrested Friday after MBTA officials said a rider snapped a picture of him, then sent it around the social networking site with a warning message.

7 News - Tweet leads to arrest of alleged T flasher:

Nay Khun, a rider on the T, saw the alleged crime and posted about it on his Twitter account. He also posted a picture of McGuire.

CNN - Twitter photo helps nab suspected flasher:

An alert rider of the Boston area transit system helped nab an alleged flasher by posting a photo of the suspect on Twitter, according to the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority...
Khun immediately posted to his Twitter account a photo of the man, saying "pervert on the 2nd car of the red line ... help me report him."

NECN - Twitter update sparks MBTA arrest:

The 29-year-old relayed his concern the only way he felt comfortable: through his Twitter account, linking the photo and a message to the MBTA's profile.

Someone gets it almost perfectly right:

My Fox Boston includes text referring to a link to a picture AND includes an image of the full tweet. Too bad they didn't include a clickable URL in the transcription of the tweet, then they'd have gotten the story 100% right.

My Fox Boston - MBTA perv busted thanks to Twitter:

Nay Khun spotted the act, then took to Twitter. His Tweet read: "#mbta pervert on the 2nd car of the red line going to Braintree just passed Charles help me report him in hat." It also included this link to a picture of Maguire on the T.

Droid X: DO NOT Activate Face Down to Vibrate Mode

Do not activate "Face Down to Vibrate Mode," if you do, you won't be able to get ringtones back.

From Motorola:

My handset is not set to silent or vibrate, but my handset only vibrates now for incoming calls; I am trying to assign a ringtone to my handset, but it only vibrates.

If you activated either of your smart profile settings "Double tap to silence" or "Face down to vibrate" from the Sound and display settings menu, your audible ringtones might be come disabled and your handset will only vibrate.

This behavior will be corrected in an upcoming software release. If you activated the smart profile and your ringtones are no longer working, you can try this workaround or ultimately, you may will need to perform a factory data reset to clear your handset and restore factory defaut settings back to your phone.

First try a workaround before completing a factory data reset:
Make sure that the "Smart Profile: Face Down" feature is enabled.
Hold the phone face up in your palm.
Call yourself from another phone.
As the phone is vibrating, DO NOT ANSWER.
Still holding the phone, flip the phone face down as it vibrates.
Then, flip the phone back over so that it's facing up.
End the call from the phone you are calling from.
Leave phone face up and call yourself again. If it does not work on first attempt, try steps a few times before resetting the phone.
If the workaround did not restore your ringtone. Scroll down to bottom of FAQ for instructions on Factory Data Reset. The procedure will require you to sign back into Google and set-up your account over again. When your handset is back online, it is recommended to not activate the smart profile again until we have corrected the behavior.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Hello Moto?

Update:
Their factory reset instructions make me realize the Droid X has no backup! iPhone wins, and has ringtones.

Update here on how to fix no ringtone on Droid X.

[Video] I Blame Coco - Selfmachine

I Blame Coco - Selfmachine:


Filmed in an old swimming pool. Here's how they did it.

The Making Of:


Visit: I Blame Coco

Follow @IBlameCocoMusic on twitter.

via [ Hayden Black on Facebook ]

Le Typewriter (Episode 3) Photographed by Todd Bishop.

Le Typewriter (Episode 3) from Kyle Reiter on Vimeo.

I found this after Twitter suggested that I follow @RobSchrab. Smart twitter.

Beautiful photography by my friend Todd Bishop.

Droid X running Dock Simulator Enables Multimedia/Clock Mode Sideways

Droid X running Dock Simulator Sideways, originally uploaded by stevegarfield. CC BY-NC-SA

Dock Simulator by Daniel Velazco
www.appbrain.com/app/net.geekherd.dockenabler

Dock Simulator for Android
velazcod.blogspot.com/2010/01/dock-simulator-for-android....

When you buy a case for the Droid X, you can't fit the Droid into the Multimedia Dock.



The dock has a magnet that enables multimedia/clock mode.

The Dock Simulator app let's you simulate a dock.

I hear that 2.2 lets you run multimedia/clock mode without using a magnet.

I would hope so.

Weber 7525 Porcelain Enameled Grates

Weber 7525 Porcelain Enameled Grates, originally uploaded by stevegarfield. CC BY-NC-SA

I bought these replacement grates at Amazon.com after figuring out which ones to get at the Weber Grill replacement parts site. They show you pictures of their grills and help you narrow down which ones you need.



The replacement grates that I needed where a different model # than the ones that are in stock at Home Depot. Ordered on Tuesday, delivered on Thursday.

They look great. I won't show you how bad the old grates looked. ;-)

Tears For Fears LIVE at The Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas 7/30/10

I exchanged tweets with Curt Smith, lead singer of Tears for Fears, and he said that I could post clips from this concert on YouTube.

YouTube - Tears for Fears - Shout (live) http://bit.ly/cbDBtX cc @curtsmith Can I put clips of your Bahamas show on YouTube?Mon Aug 02 13:08:16 via bitlySteve Garfield
stevegarfield

@stevegarfield the more the merrier :)Mon Aug 02 14:05:56 via TweetDeckCurt Smith
curtsmith

My friend Rima writes about how Social Networking Connects Celebrities and Fans on her blog where she interviews me and mentions my connection with Jimmy Fallon and now Curt Smith.

Ad:

Joe Davidson's Grill Camp: Cooking Class

Carol and attend a morning session of Joe Davidson's Grill Camp Cooking Class. This was different from the Grill Camp competition.

This time, Joe gave us a hands on lesson on how to make a Margherita Pizza on the grill.


Carol at the grill under the big tent

After rolling out the supplied dough and putting oil on the grill, Carol browned one side of the pizza and then flipped it over to add the ingredients.


Carol adding toppings


Pizza with tomatoes and cheese


Finished pizza

It's Like a TopChef Quickfire Challenge: Joe Davidson's Grill Camp

Carol and I were at the Atlantis in the Bahamas for Oracle's Club Excellence. As part of the program, we were able to participate in Joe Davidson's Grill Camp.



There were 150 teams of 6 competing against each other. We were given three meals to complete: Fish, Hamburg and Vegetables.

Just like on Top Chef, where they run through Whole Foods Market, there was a store set up, and we were able to shop with a shopping list. It was up to use to create each dish and choose the ingredients that we wanted to use.

Here's Carol working at our station:



I was in charge of the fish dish. We spread Dijon mustard, olive oil and garlic on top of the fish. There were coolers with water and beer for us to drink all day. I grabbed a local beer, Sands, and added it to the pan we cooked the fish in. That kept it moist.

Here's what it looked like for presentation to the judges.



Teams went crazy with their presentation. Some found driftwood on the beach and carved "Oracle" into it. Very creative people.

Here's our second dish, mini hamburgers:



Our final dish was mixed vegetables.

It was a great time. 150 more teams competed on the second day. We didn't win, but had a blast.

How to upload a video to Facebook

Update 8/28/10:
Facebook Brought Back the Video Button.

It used to be easy to upload a video to Facebook, but they recently changed the user interface. Now it's hard.

I've taken a look at the facebook FAQ, How do I add videos to Facebook? and added images and further explanation.

It would be nice if they added a button next to Add Photos that said Add Videos, but until they do that, here's how to upload a video to facebook.

How to upload a video to Facebook:

Go to your profile by clicking 'your name" on the upper left of your facebook page.


Click your name to go to your profile page.

If you don't see a VIDEO tab, click the ">>" symbol.



Select the VIDEO menu item:



Click "+ Upload"



Choose a file to upload:

Please upload a file only if:
The video is under 1024 MB and under 20 minutes.
The video was made by you or your friends.
You or one of your friends appears in the video.

After the upload, enter a title and description and click "Save Info"


Title and Description Entry Page

Your video is now on Facebook.


Video Detail Page on Facebook

You can choose from the options on the video's page to share it.

EMBED
One thing you can do is embed the video elsewhere by clicking "Embed this Video."

Here's a video I uploaded to facebook and embedded here:



Note that the embedded video plays in standard resolution and can only be seen in HD on Facebook.

Ad:
Learn more about how to put video online in my book, Get Seen: