Steve Hart's Blog

Pinterest.com, the next social platform

stevekhart — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:27:29 +0000

So, think of Facebook without the status and only sharing photos. Sounds lame, right? It’s not. Pinterest.com happens to be the hottest growing social platform. Over the past 6 months, Pinterest has become the premier site for women. While it is not exclusive to the female persuasion, it is currently dominated by them.

From Pinterest…Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

The concept is easy and addictive. Looking from the outside in, you’d say “I don’t get it”. Once you’re in, your hooked. You create categories of pinboards for your interests. Then you browse through pinterest.com for things you like. You can add your own original content, or add a browser extension that creates a “Pin-it” link. Once you see something on the web you like, “Pin-it”.

They’ve taken the Google+ signup strategy – make the site exclusive, you’re put on a waiting list, and they allow Pinterest users to send out invites. Once signed up, you’re asked about your likes. Pinterest matches you up with a group of like users that you must un-follow or they’re automatically added to your account. Not a bad way to start.

I contend that the “Share it” features on webistes will soon include Pinterest along with Facebook and Twitter.

The hot topics on Pinterest today: Baking, Fashion, Beauty, Style, Quotes, Wish lists, Travel and Crafts. I setup my Pinterest boards with testosterone filled categories: Sports, Cars, Technology. Give it a look http://pinterest.com/stevekhart/ As a professional in the industry, I have to try everything. Welcome to Pinterest.

Time’s Top 50 Sites of 2011

stevekhart — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:54:28 +0000

Here are a few of my favorites from their list:

Here’s Time Magazine’s top 50 websites for 2011 sorted by category.

Music & Video

Family & Kids

Sports

News & Info

Financial & Productivity

Shopping & Travel

Health & Fitness

Social Media

Games

Education

Got an iPad for Christmas – 15 Must Have Free iPad Apps

stevekhart — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:44:12 +0000

It seems like everyone got an iPad for Christmas this year. Here’s my list of must have free iPad apps in no particular order:

1) Facebook This is a must have for any Facebook user. The iPad layout makes it easy to use and follow your friends.

2) Yelp Looking for a good place to take your car, go out to eat, or any local business, then Yelp is your must have app. Yelp provides user reviews and details about the business.

3) Flixter (from you iPad)

Going to the movies, then you can’t live without Flixster. The Flixster app gives you all the box office movies in your area. You can set your favorite theaters for the ones close to your home. The Rotten Tomato rating and users reviews will help you in selecting the best movies.

4) Skype With the addition of FaceTime from Apple, Skype has become less important. It is still in my top list of apps for its text and video chat features. Remember, not everyone has FaceTime and FaceTime only works when connected to WiFI. Give Skype a try.

5) Calculator Pro A simple but useful tool.

6) Stop Watch Another Simple but useful tool

7) Pandora For the best in personalized internet radio on your iPad.

8) Zite Best news reader customized to your reading habits.

9) HBO GO If you’re an HBO customer, get all the HBO shows directly on your iPad.

10) Zillow The best in real estate monitoring and shopping. Housing, apartments, and land. Make use of the advanced filtering to power up this app.

12) Words with Friends If you like Scrabble, and who doesn’t, then connect with fellow Scrabblers and play Words with Friends.

13) News app A shameless plug for the Orange County Register.

14) Find My iPad It will happen and you’ll be glad you have this app.

15) Any game Come on, have a little fun. There are a lot of motion sensor games that will give you a new appreciation of the capabilities of the iPad.

For the developer or techie here are a few others

1) Testflight Tesing iOS apps, then this is your test partner.

2) UUID Viewer UUID Viewer is a simple app to allow access to your iOS device information that is most often needed to allow your device to be added as a development item

3) DropBox With a free Dropbox account and the Dropbox app for the iPad, you can export and import files easily via Wi-Fi and 3G access.

Send A Personalized Phone Call From Santa Claus

stevekhart — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:02:06 +0000

Here’s a fun Christmas treat. Have Santa call someone. It’s free.

To have a personal message sent to that special someone, use this website: http://www.sendacallfromsanta.com .You can personalize your message to be traditional, or get a little funky with some the the pre-canned message options. Either way, its pretty funny.

Your message can be sent to a phone number, email address, or share it on Facebook or Twitter.

Here’s a sample:

Brought to you by Google Voice services.

Republic Wireless $19 unlimited cell phone plan

stevekhart — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 02:07:07 +0000

There’s a new cell phone service provider in the market – Republic Wireless. What set’s this provide a part form the rest is the all inclusive cheap rate. The catch is you must be accepted for membership.

Republic Wireless is counting on you to be connected to a third party WiFi service most of the time and that you’re not a heavy phone user. If you exceed either of these requirements, you could be kicked out of the program.

From Yahoo News: The company keeps costs down by routing as much of its network activity as possible over wifi internet connections, which are better equipped to handle data-intensive activities like streaming music and movies with no additional cost, assuming you don’t max out your home bandwidth limits. This gives the carrier’s 3G networks a little bandwidth breathing room, which translates into the $19 deal. As for traditional 3G mobile data, the carrier borrows Sprint’s network.

Republic Wireless uses a system called the Cellular Usage Index (CUI) to determine if you qualify for their service. If you don’t use you’re phone too much, you’re the ideal customer. Heavy users who eat up mobile bandwidth can be kicked out of the program after multiple warnings. The average cell phone user would probably qualify for their service.

The only drawback is they have one handset, a modified version of the LG Optimus running Android 2.3. The phone will cost you $199.

Their beta program is currently full, but check it out at http://www.republicwireless.com/join

Apple Confirms Steve Jobs Death

stevekhart — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 23:55:54 +0000

The iPhone 4s Debut

stevekhart — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:42:37 +0000

Facebook Video Chat is Here

stevekhart — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:07:09 +0000

In giant step towards improving communications and the value of their product, Facebook launched a new video chat service. This new chat service is provided to Facebook via Skype. You may ask why Skype? We’ll Microsoft purchased Skype a few months back and Microsoft is a heavy investor in Facebook…you connect the dots.

You may ask, how do I use the new Facebook video chat? The new Facebook service is easy to use if you already have a web camera. Go to Facebook’s chat feature as you would text chat. In the chat menu bar you’ll see their new video icon. Click it The first time you use the video chat service, you’ll be asked to download and install an EXE file. Do so, without it it won’t work.

Here’s the issue I have with Skype, and now Facebook; there is no way to tell if the person you are wanting to video chat with has a webcam. On Google’s video chat tool, they tell you is someone in your contact list is web cam enabled. It would be a great feature to have in Skype and Facebook.

I would expect future enhancements to add mutli-user video chat capabilities.

If any of my Facebook friends see me online, give it a try. In the meantime, check out Facebook’s video chat page.

Social Media Day – June 30th in Orange County

stevekhart — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:32:26 +0000

June 30th is social media day across the world. Mashable is sponsoring events “to celebrate the social revolution and all of the technological advancements and societal changes it has brought upon us” (via www.gosocialnow.com). Freedom Communications’ flagship newspaper will be hosting a Social Media Day meetup in Orange County at the Orange County Register. You can find more information about this event at Orange County Register Social Media Day Event. Last year’s event was the 3rd largest meetup.

This free event in Orange county will be from 3pm – 6pm and include guest speakers as well as 9 food trucks.

Hope to see you there.

Amazon Terminates Associates Program for CA Residents

stevekhart — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:16:55 +0000

I don’t make much money through my Amazon Associates Program, but I have put some work into setting it up. In one fail swoop, Jerry Brown has canned my dreams of fortunes.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the law Wednesday night that will require Amazon.com Inc. and others to collect taxes on goods sold through their Websites. In turn (and in protest), Amazon terminated affiliate agreements all it’s California residents using their program. Below is the email from Amazon notifying me of the termination:

Hello,

Unfortunately, Governor Brown has signed into law the bill that we emailed you about earlier today. As a result of this, contracts with all California residents participating in the Amazon Associates Program are terminated effective today, June 29, 2011. Those California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com,MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned before today will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To avoid confusion, we would like to clarify that this development will only impact our ability to offer the Associates Program to California residents and will not affect your ability to purchase fromAmazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.

We have enjoyed working with you and other California-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to California residents. As mentioned before, we are continuing to work on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.

Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

Amazon has cut off affiliates in Arkansas, Connecticut and Illinois where similar laws were implemented. Amazon is fighting the New York law. We’ll see if this set a precedent for other states to follow.