Work on the Weblog

During the week of May 24 through May 31st AustinLifestyles.com, The Spring, BHI, and RegistrationAssistant are hosting a visitor from the Netherlands, Paul Geurts of MyNameisE.com. He is bringing the first prototypes of a social networking and business card connector to Austin, Texas.  If you’re around Austin next week and want a demo, call Paul at 512–699–4000 or email terry at spring dot net.

My Name is E

The E device can be used at conventions, trade shows, and meetings, in metropolitian areas like Austin and on college campuses like the University of Texas.  There are over 1.2 million conventions, trade shows and events in the US every year.

What is the E device? In its current incarnation, E is small white, sleek looking device much like an ipod nano or USB storage device. With E, you can share your contact information and social networks in one simple gesture.

Connector allows you to safely transfer an online business card and your set of social networks in a simple gesture like a fist pump or a high five. Tap two Connectors together and you’re connected. Synchonize Connector by using the built-in USB plug with your PC or Mac. It is ideal for networking at large events and conferences.

During the week that Paul Geurts is visiting Austin, we will be meeting with venture investors, potential partners, customers and forming a team to distribute and promote E throught the US and North America.

There is no setup with connector, it can be used immediately out of the box. It’s equipped with a lithium polymer battery which allows you to use it for 72 hours on a 2 hour charge. It holds two of your E Business Cards (one for personal and one for professional) and connects to RFID tags as well as other Connectors and iphones. It gives you intuitive feedback through LED lighting.  The RFID tag feature opens it up the world of “choice based advertising” and integrates these connections in to your social network activity stream.  It connects you to objects and to the environment as well as to people.

How in the world did I get on the same list as Cali Lewis? I don’t know but it’s amazing to be on a list of the “top 25 Texas Social Networkers” with her and 23 other amazing people. To whoever nominated me, thank you! It’s an honor to be on the same list as all these incredible social networkers.

The list was pared down from 125 nominees. The actual awards show where all the award winners will get *trophies* is on March 15 from 6 to 9 pm at Ballet Austin, 501 W 3rd St, with tickets going for $15.00.

These are the Texas Social Media Award Winners.

They winners are:

HENRY ADASO

• http://therapup.net
• http://twitter.com/rizoh
• http://digg.com/users/rizoh

JOSHUA BAER

• http://twitter.com/joshuabaer
• http://twitter.com/otherinbox
• http://austinpreneur.com/

PERRY BELCHER

• http://www.perrybelcher.com
• http://www.winningatsocialmedia.com
• http://twitter.com/perrybelcher

MIKE CHAPMAN

• http://twitter.com/MikeChapman
• http://budurl.com/aryu
• http://www.mlfnow.org/site/PageServer

J.R. COHEN

• http://www.thecoffeegroundz.com/
• http://twitter.com/coffeegroundz
• http://budurl.com/v5f7

MICHAEL COTE

• http://www.twitter.com/cote/
• http://www.peopleoverprocess.com/
• http://www.drunkandretired.com/

JENN DEERING DAVIS

• http://cheaptweet.com/
• http://appozitegeist.appozite.com/
• http://twitter.com/jdeeringdavis

SAM DECKER

• http://decker.typepad.com
• http://www.bazaarblog.com
• http://twitter.com/samdecker

LORI FALCON

• http://acowboyswife.com
• http://mywoodenspoon.com
• http://twitter.com/acowboyswife

KYLE FLAHERTY

• http://www.engageinpr.com
• http://www.breakingpointlabs.com
• http://twitter.com/kyleflaherty

MATT GLAZER

• http://www.BurntOrangeReport.com
• http://www.TexBlogPAC.org
• http://twitter.com/MattGlazer

LISA GODDARD

• http://twitter.com/lisa_goddard
• http://austinfoodbank.wordpress.com/
• http://budurl.com/znxe

MICHELLE GREER

• http://nerdaboutaustin.com
• http://www.michellesblog.net
• http://www.claimid.com/michellegreer

DAVID GUENTHNER

• http://budurl.com/l36q
• http://www.texaspolicy.com/policycast.php
• http://twitter.com/DavidGuenthner

KAMI HUYSE

• http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com
• http://twitter.com/kamichat
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/myprpro

CALI LEWIS

• http://www.geekbrief.tv
• http://www.twitter.com/calilewis
• http://facebook.calilewis.me

DAVID J. NEFF

• http://www.fispace.org
• http://www.sharinghope.tv
• http://www.daveiam.com

ERICA O’GRADY

• http://reinventingerica.com/
• http://twitter.com/ericaogrady
• http://peanutbuttermedia.com/

BRYAN PERSON

• http://BryanPerson.com/
• http://www.SocialMediaBreakfast.com/
• http://twitter.com/BryanPerson

CONNIE REECE

• http://budurl.com/wapo
• http://everydotconnects.com
• http://budurl.com/gpsv

BENN AND LANI ROSALES

• http://nmlab.com
• http://twitter.com/agentgenius
• http://twitter.com/laniar

DWIGHT SILVERMAN

• http://blogs.chron.com/techblog
• http://twitter.com/dsilverman
• http://www.chron.com/computing

AARON STROUT

• http://blog.stroutmeister.com
• http://twitter.com/aaronstrout
• http://brightkite.com/people/aaronstrout

PAUL TERRY WALHUS

• http://spring.net
• http://austincast.com/blog
• http://twitter.com/springnet

MICHAEL WILLIAMS

• http://williamsfortexas.blip.tv/
• http://twitter.com/michaelwilliams
• http://budurl.com/8y54

It’s a great list and I’m honored to be listed on it.  Michelle Greer has been really helpful to me and I hope I’ve been helpful to her.  She recently had the major role in pulling off the “Twestival” that raised 10 grand for world water causes.    I had the privilege of interviewing Cali Lewis as she breezed in and out of last year’s SXSW.  Below is that interview with Cali.

Michael Cote made the list, he really was the person that got me going on twitter and his “DrunkandRetired” podcast rocks, it’s the best podcast coming out of Austin, Texas.  Erica O’Grady is super, she really did an awesome job at the recent Mashable event in Austin and the Camp connected with it.  Last summer I got to co-moderate a session with Connie Reece at the SEMforSMB conference and did an hour long video with her on Youtube and all over with her on social networking.   Lani Rosales has given me a lot of great advice and she’s a riot.  I hope to get to know all the other award winners better, they’re an awesome group of people.

Resources

OrgSync, Inc

Charity: Water

Austin Twestival

Related Links

online communication

co-curricular management

Twestival is going to be held around the world on Thursday, March 12.  It is the biggest twitter festival ever and has been set up to support the billion plus people in the world without clean drinking water.  It’s a fundamental cause that needs your support.  The Austin event will be at Ace’s on 6^th Street at 8 pm on March 12.

Twestival resources are downloadable below, for the media and websites to spread the word about the event and charity: water, where all proceeds are being donated.

Please use the tag #twestival in blogs and other social media, so we can find your posts more easily, which will be tracked on Delicious – head here to see the latest coverage and what global sources are saying

Contact twestival@googlemail.com or @jazcummins for interviews, further quotes, etc.

Twestival is 100% volunteer organised, but we will try and get back to you as soon as we can.

Downloads

• About Twestival [42k pdf]
• charity: water media pack [110.2M zip] – charity: water videos, logos and pictures.
• Twestival badges [265k zip] – Badges in png format for websites to link to the Twestival site.
• Twestival global press release [67k pdf]
• Twestival media pack [3.2M zip] – Twestival logos in eps format and in a pdf document.

Resources

• charity: water event kit.

I’ve been twittering for a bit.  I tweeted @dvorak about his great podcasts and columns.  Have you seen http://channeldvorak.com?  If John get his son Arick to open source this, I’ll use it.  I’m already rocking and rolling with Arick’s other open source project which has something to do with Craigslist.  Sssshhh!

Lyn Bender just sent me a cryptic email about some kind of cryptic event Saturday morning.  If I can talk Dot in to going to Nia Saturday morning and do the ride share thing we might have a go.  It would be nice, Lynn, to have a localtion and maybe a couple of details.

Just got off the skype with rjnagy and he’s still resistant to twitter.  Doesn’t he know this is futile?

We had a great wordpress meetup recently at http://conjunctured.com with Any Skelton or skeltoac everywhere.

While I am typing this I am talking to a delightful Spring rep, Josey, from the Phillipines who just set up my pda phone which I’m going to use for a backup for my iphone.  She was really, really nice.  I wish all support calls were like this!

I’m building a “social network” for Austin, Texas and also working on a green home site.  If you want to beta test or have input on the Austin Social Network, go to http://austinlifestyles.com and sign up for the beta.  If you’re actually in Austin, Texas we’re going to have some cool events coming up for our beta testers like pizza parties, basketball games, guest speakers, presentations, etc. It’s going to be a hoot!

ptw out

 You’ll notice another widget in the lower right column of this blog, it’s scoutle and I recommend you check it out and add me as your friend so we can compare notes.  I found this in Louisvillian Tom Osborne’s profilactic mashup this morning.   As far as I can tell, this came out of the Netherlands and it’s designed to be a blog community.

This is where you can find me on Scoutle

I started a blog network for Austin, Texas also.  One member so far, me.

To quote Wicked Pretty, who has quite a following on Scoutle, “I particularly like the animated one, Scoutle. You have a little Scout (who you get to name and give a catchphrase) and he “wanders the internet” looking for people to match to your blog…I don’t really understand how it all works, so if you’re the kind . . . “

Is this the next big thing?  It could get pretty big from what I’ve seen.  If these guys hit it hard and listen to their community they’ve got a great start.

Here’s the description of Scoutle by the creators:

Scoutle is an automated social network for bloggers and functions as an ideal Guide for internet users to find a valuable blog, no matter the language, subject or location.

Scoutle helps you find, promote and connect blogs using an automated rating and matching system. Not only find a blog easily, but also know what a blog is worth and discover similar blogs.
Scoutle searches, matches, validates and values… You only need to find a blog or as a user, make sure your blog is and keeps interesting.

“Laid back”. That’s how Mashable top dog Pete Cashmore described Austin, Texas in an interview with AustinLifestyles at the Summermash party at Buffalo Billiards in the heart of Austin’s 6^th Street live music district.  Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins of Mashable described Austin as “comfortable and intimate, you had no problems striking up a conversation.” 

Mashable put together a list of Austin’s most important technology blogs and AustinCast.com – sister site of AustinLifestyles.com – wound up on that list in some pretty great company.

Here’s the list with a few excerpts from the blog entry at Mashable:

1. Austin 3.0 – A website designed to give the “younger Austin Geek a place to see what is going on in Austin.”
2. Austin Startup – Austin Startup is simply a news site that chronicles the goings ons and creation of new tech sector business in the Austin area.
3. AustinCast – This site is a frequently updated hub for video and audio interviews of local area movers and shakers in the technology scene. He’s published over 100 video interviews with the likes of Veronica Belmont, Pete Cashmore, Zadi Diaz, Cali Lewis, Lindsay Campbell, and Leah Culver as well as a number of local heroes to the Austin scene.
   
4. Austin360 – This is the official New Media offering from Austin’s reigning Old Media institution, the Austin-American Statesman.
5. GeekAustin – Probably one of Austin’s oldest tech blogs, LinearB’ and Orion have been chronicling the gaming, business and tech communities of Austin since 2000.
6. Michelle’s Blog - . . . she’s a very active leader and figurehead to the new, young Austin Tech community, and has her hands in just about everything.  Her personal blog reflects all the myriad of ventures she’s involved in there.
7. Josh Dilworth – Josh is over at PR group Porter Novelli, based in their Austin office. Amongst all his many work related projects like SXSW, he has quite visible presence amongst those in the online Semantic and AI community as well as an avid participant in a number of widely used social media tools. I was recently a guest on a podcast of his, Falken’s Maze.
8. John Erik Metcalf - John Erik Metcalf is a major figure in the Austin scene as well, as he’s a co-founder in one of the town’s two co-working spaces: Conjunctured
9. Social Media Club Austin – The site describes itself as “part think tank, part curiosity, all new media” and is a repository for all that is going on in the “business networking event” scene for the Austin area.
10. Some Assembly Required – a self-described “business development and networking blog” authored by Thom Singer.
11. The Jeff Beckham Weblog – Jeff is an Austin area blogger who focuses his posts on the evolution of media, specifically in relationship to how the Internet is forcing transformation on not just media industries but “the word itself.”
12. Door64 Blog – The blog for Door64, the forum and community portal for the Austin-area tech community.

If you an Austin area blogger and want to be added to the OPML file email Mark at Mashable to be included in the next version of the list.

Download Now! (OPML) (import this into your favorite feed reader)

Super Tuesday rocked the airwaves last night as  Hillary and Obama were in a near dead heat with Hillary racking up the big California prize.  Texas looms large now for the March 5^th primary with 228 delegates at stake and a scheduled Feb 28^th debate between Obama and Hillary.

It was interesting to see Huckabee and Mitt Romney lighting up big victory cigars and declaring victory while they were losing.

But the big winner last night was Google Maps teamed up with Twittervision.  This app filtered all the twitter posts that related to the election and posted them on a map of the world. 

Check it out.  It kept me in stitches all last night and was tit for tat more informative than CNN, MSNBC, Fox or any of the old media outlets.  New media was the clear winner in last nights Super Tuesday.

 You can also keep track of the election at @Politics (run by the Media Cynic) and at Politweets. There is also a list here of political candidates with Twitter accounts.

Google has also has added an Election news resource. In the meantime you can check the latest polls to see how pollsters like InsiderAdvantage, SurveyUSA, Zogby, Rasmussen and ARG predict the candidates are going to do today.

More coverage of the Google and Twitter mashup at TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Webware, Google LatLong, Lifehacker, SEO and Tech Daily, ReadWriteWeb, CatCubed and Twitter Blog. (via Techmeme)  

source for links is here at bloggersblog

Norman Mailer’s wife speaks at the Texas Book Festival just a few days before his death. His sixth and last wife, married in 1980, was Norris Church (née Barbara Davis), a former model turned writer. They had one son together, John Buffalo Mailer, and Mailer informally adopted Matthew Norris, her son by her first husband, Larry Norris.

Norris Church Mailer is the author of a previous novel, Windchill Summer. She was raised in Arkansas and now lives on Cape Cod. Her husband of thirty-one years, Norman Mailer, died just days after this talk.

Watch austintexas live video and chat on Justin.tv

We’re live streaming with a show on justin.tv/austintexas now.

We’re working with Redbud Sports in Austin, Texas and the plans are to bring you many athletes and sports events around Austin. Also, you can see our feed at austincast.com

Watch austintexas live video and chat on Justin.tv

We’re live streaming with a show on justin.tv/austintexas now.

We’re working with Redbud Sports in Austin, Texas and the plans are to bring you many athletes and sports events around Austin. Also, you can see our feed at austincast.com

Continuing today in my study of css, I found this great resource:

http://www.cssbasics.com/chapter_1_introduction_to_css.html

So I’m working through this and several other examples that I found on http://del.icio.us/tag/css of css tutorial and examples

I’m home today working on plans for the “slides project” and learning some new css techniques.  I’ve been going through all the examples on Stu Nicholls wonderful CSSplay website and “css art gallery”. (highly recommended)  Aside from being a unbuntu maven of last, I’m gravitating from system admin work to web standards compliant css, javascript, php, and ajax web development and design.

Paul Tarjan is our architect for the slides project, and he is evolving a whole new breed of searching for the site.  Right now, the ball is in Paul’s court and we’re waiting for his timetable so we’ll know when we can expect to see “Generation Five” of the slides sites.

This blog is more internal than external. It’s not intended to impress you with the coolest, edgiest news of the day or be self promotional. It’s primarily intended as a log book for our projects, much like the WorkontheWeb site itself. If you’re looking for that, I suggest you visit http://austincast.com/blog http://austinblogger.com/blog spring.net/blog and/or http://touroftexas.com/blog

This blog will be much more voluminous and filled with routine technical details and links to our projects. If you’re a developer, investor or partner on one of our projects, then you’ve come to the right place. This also applies if you’re one of the alpha or beta testers on the project, or just someone following our progress like a lot of the folks at the Imeem Slideshow Project chatroom and “meem” which has 99 members now (won’t you join imeem and become member 100 of the slideshow meem (chat room)?)