[liff] @SJKPDX, Now With Extra Added Facebook

3072.

I was finally allowed to shift my Twitter profile to the new Facebook-esque style. I did this because I love not being able to tell if I'm on one or the other, apparently.

Twitter me at @SJKPDX. 

The West Wide Web

2127.I am now using Firefox 3.5, and I'm well pleased. This is a good update. And, judging by the popularity, me and over eight millions worldwide rather agree.

Firefox never debuts without a little flash and style, and they've provided one in the form of the live download monitor at the location http://downloadstats.mozilla.com. The thing, which is really quite nifty, provides a graphical view (via a world map) and tabular view (below the map) which you can reconfigure on the fly as you like.

Two days ago, with I originally downloaded FF, I checked in on that. At the height of the download frenzy, here's three screenshots of that map. See if you can discern the story it seems to be telling:

That was the graphical state of the Firefox download world at approximately 1357 PDT on 30 June 2009. What is more remarkable than where Firefox is getting downloaded is where it isn't. I watched the little candles flicker in and own for several minutes, and I expected a big demand from the USA and Western Europe, but Asia (except for the occiasional flicker in Japan and the Phillippines), Oceania (save for the occaisional pip on the lower right margin of Australia) and Africa? Hardly anything. The European interest dropped off like a wall when the eye crossed the boundary into the heart of the old Warsaw Pact, it seems.

The most active continent behind NorthAm and Europe was South America, but it seemed, visually to be a rather feeble third-place. I just checked back on it at the time of this writing, and it looks much the same (though the rates have slowed down somewhat), and the countries at the top of the list have remained the USA, Germany, France, and Japan (the USA has the most FF downloads by far, with over 2 Millions).

Country-by-country downloads of FF as of 1305 PDT 2 July 2009.
The five top countries: USA, Germany, Japan, France, the UK.
Download frequency seems to drop precpitiously as you move down this list.
Screencaptured from http://downloadstats.mozilla.com.

I will say right up front here, as I do a little drilling-down, that I don't know if this says anything particular. Actually it probably says many cogent things, for instance, it seems to suggest that the world economy (if you take a preponderance of personal computers and users with time to download internet porn Firefox as congruent to wealth and prosperity, which doesn't seem an unreasonable thing to do) is still largely based in and driven by what we used to call the "First World"; you could see here the digital divide writ large amongst the nations of the world, you could see this as a diagram of what has and what doesn't have (and, certainly, great swaths of territory are empty because they are inclement to human life; still, there are areas that are comparativiely thick with humanity (central Africa, the eastern margin of South America, and notable, China and India) that one would think would be ablaze. But they aren't). I'm also not trying to ring anyone up for being unfair. We all not only generate but are subject to stresses that we sometimes don't understand. We are what we are and the world is what it is.

The point that I've kind of wound my way to is this: Even in this world where we can grab a webcam and virtually travel anywhere, we still live in a limited world, and the lens with which we view it seems to be skewed toward the developed West. This can be a good thing (if we understand that our view is, despite being what it is, is limited, and we work to keep this in mind) or a bad thing (if we use our view of the world being what we see over the WWW to be a confirmation of our bias that our Western society is necessarily (I cannot note strongly enough that operative term) is the acme of civilized development on this planet

Though the WWW and increasingly less expensive technology (software as well as hardware) we have a great lens that lets us see the world as our forebears not only couldn't, but couldn't imagine. But, paradoxically, it seems to hide at the same time it seems to reveal. What do you really know about the center of Asia, or the center of Africa, or southeast Asia? What you read on the Web, of course, which is largely found in the industrialized West.

It's a beautiful lens onto the world, the WWW is. I don't know how I got alon with out it. But, just like any advanced instrument, it must be used with care. We must be smart enough to know what it tells us, as well as what it doesnt.

Technorati Tags: WWW, World Wide Web, Firefox, Internet, trends, global society, global politics, punditry

The N Word

2122.In what is being hailed as an EPIC BRAND FAIL, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Russian petroleum combine, Gazprom have partnered to monetize Nigeria's (apparently) still-amazing petroleum reserves.

Regardless of what you think of Nigeria, Russia, corporate monoliths, or petroleum, this is a canny move from all sides. Ideally, the Russians will Get Paid™, Nigeria will get petroleum reserves further developed and also Get Paid™. Win-win.

But if you were putting together a combine such as this, what would you call it? Would you take the first syllable of "Nigeria" and the first syllable of "Gazprom" and make a new word out of it? No? That would make you a laughing stock and leave a lot of people scratching their heads, yes? Talk about a tin ear. And Twitter users worldwide laughing at you,  yes?

That is, amazingly what they actually did. The Partnership of NNPC and GAZPROM are to be called …

NIGAZ, which sounds similar to a word that a lot of english-speakers consider to be derogatory and offensive, is now being spread across the web as a memorable PR blunder. Users on Twitter are reported to have first highlighted the negative connotations of the word "Nigaz".

Although the origin of the name is obvious-- from the words "Nigeria" and "gaz" -- the word when written down has different connotations to English-speakers.

People are still wondering why the Nigerian govenment would allow such an offensive word to be used and also speculate that the Russians allowed or ignored it because the offensive word is still widely used in Russia.

Oh, my.

This reminds me of that time that Google launched Gmail without finding out that a British financial firm already had the name which is something they could have found out with … well … a web search.

No, we aren't making it up: here's the BBC (as pointed to by Slate) on it.

Technorati Tags: Brand FAIL, Brand EPIC FAIL, NiGaz, Gazprom

Running Firefox 3.5 FTW

2121.This user has downloaded Firefox 3.5 and I'm running it under Mac OS X 10.4.11 on a PowerMac G4. Really smooth so far.

What really strikes me at this point is the way Firefox has taken over the center spot in my web usage. Of all the browsers available to me, only the Firefox community offers the readily available tools to get the most out of my web life. I absolutely depend on the ScribeFire plugin to do my blogging, and the Fox has fewer problems with websites than any other browser that I use (I've used Opera and Safari – and both are nifty, but they don't have it all. And even Safari 4 has problems displaying some content that Firefox doesn't trouble with at all).

About the only thing I'd like to see in Firefox that it don't have now is a PDF plugin. Having it in the browser instead of downloading and opening Acrobat is so much nicer.

I'm just a small fish but I'd sure recommend downloading this. Don't miss out!

And dig the downloads in real-time here. Now approaching 2 Millions as this is being written.

Technorati Tags: Firefox, Firefox 3.5

Join The Campaign! Get Blellow Added To TweetDeck

2118.A few missives ago I waxed enthusiastic about Blellow, the new microblogging site for creatives and freelance professionals. I'll admit, I've rarely been as excited about something like this. It creates good community. What Twitter does for everyone, Blellow does for us designers.

I've helped inaugurate a drive to get addition of Blellow to the client app TweetDeck, and it's going rather smashingly. Blellow's good, but being able to view it in TweetDeck (which is the most popular Twitter desktop client) would be amazing. There are a lot of wired designers, there are a lot who use Twitter, and there are a lot who use TweetDeck. So far, that hypothesis is being born out; after less than a week of campaigning, the issue has garnered 101 votes and is the 64th ranked new feature request out of 3328 on the TweetDeck UserVoice forum.

If you believe in right, sunshine, spring showers, and kittehs, you need to help us vote this up! The page to vote is here; you can be anonymous if you want. Registration is possible. Please vote, and leave a friendly comment if you can.

Blellow has all the community and connections that you could want as a designer. This is a Good Thing!

The community is at http://www.bellow.com. I am ZehnKatzen there.

Technorati Tags: blellow, tweetdeck, twitter

Creatives? Designers? Get To Know Blellow

2111.For the last week or so I've been exploring the social web with Twitter. For a very long time I scoffed at it, but once I dipped my toe in I found it did something that nothing else in my life right now does: allows me to stay connected with people on my own terms – something working 3rd shift weekend and 10-hour days pretty much prevents you from doing. So for me, it's been a boon.

Twitter's "microblogging" paradigm needs no introduction here. Once on Twitter and into the swim of the social I was invited by an old ally, Pariah Burke, to a new microblogging service designed especially for creatives and independent designers called Blellow.

The site, http://www.blellow.com, is, if I had to sketch you a thumbnail, a sort of Twitter especially for creatives and freelancers (I prefer the word "independents"). Instead of asking you "What Are You Doing?", though, the question is "What Are You Working On?". Creatives are always working on something, trying to accomplish a goal, doing something for a client, or simply trying to find something out. Blellow hinges on a behavior that all creatives have in spades: the need to collaborate. With Blellow at your back, you always have a helping hand, because the other thing creatives can't stop doing is helping each other.

The biggest improvement that I value in Blellow so far is that the messages can be up to 300 characters, a little more than twice as long as the Twitter limit; 140 characters is just too little room for creatives to communicate in. The interface is intuitive; if you've used Twitter you already know the basics to get by on Blellow. Moreover, if someone has helped you out, you can give each other public pats on the back via Kudos; the number of Kudos you've collected are featured in a little badge on your thumbnail.

I'm enjoying Blellow quite a bit and wholeheartedly recommend it to others. The connections you make there are to quality people who enjoy collaboration, and what more could a creative need?

One of my self-appointed missions is to spread the word about Bellow.

Check it out!

(Updated 0954 Sat; Title fixed. It's too easy to type "bellow" when you mean "blellow!" Still! Go there!)

Technorati Tags: twitter, blellow, the social, social networking

If PacMan Were On Twitter

2100.Further documenting my suddent Twitter fling:

(Credit: TheNextWeb)

Technorati Tags: Twitter, PacMan, Retro Games, Mashups

Want To Be A Gmail Ninja?

2098.It's probably a hell of a lot easier than being an actual ninja, and since we're all using Gmail anyway (remember when you had to wangle an invitation? Sigh … good times, good times), some of these tips will be useful if you address Gmail in a browser window.

Find out by going to the Gmail blog.

Technorati Tags: Gmail, Gmail Tips

Looking For A Quick DIY HTML Resume?

2095.(also via Calvin at Mayhem Studios) Sometimes you just want to get your information up and out there. As someone who's trained in design I have certain disdain for the default, but even I know that there are some times when using a packaged solution is called for (lack of time, lack of funds, the desire to get-of-the-ground-and-get going).

So, for that eventuality, the Things That Are Brown design agency gives, free for the download, the SRT–The Sample Resume Template. The package is simplicity itself. One quick download will give you an HTML template file complete with and external CSS file. If you just replace the facts, you come up with a quick, tastefully-done, hit-the-high-points top-down resumé that can be uploaded to any host you can upload to.

Of course, being HTML means that you don't have to leave it that way. Its relatively basic HTML and CSS are, naturally, hackable, so if you enjoy the idea of this you can go back and edit it in a hot minute. Being basic HTML you can edit it with Dreamweaver … or with NotePad, TextEdit, TextWrangler, whatever.

So, hey, we can call this nifty. Did I mention it's free? Good on Things That Are Brown!

Technorati Tags: design, DIY Resources, DIY Promotion, self-promotion, graphic design, resumes

More Ways To Connect Than You Can Shake A Bit At

2087.So, after catching the Twitter virus, I got in a couple of more socials, and was stunned suddenly by the number of connections I had.

So, in an effort to corral the beast, I went looking for all my important connections, and I've listed my social network access points at the top of the sidebar over there. I have found, amazingly, that I'm connected to no less than six points of access to the noosphere that I consider of some importance. Here they are:

1. Twitter: I tweet as SJKPDX. My Twitter URL is http://www.twitter.com/SJKPDX.
2. Blellow: Blellow is like an evolved Twitter for creatives. http://www.bellow.com/zehnkatzen
3. LinkedIn: Needs no introduction. http://www.linkedin.com/in/zehnkatzen
4. Facebook: After getting my own fashionable Facebook username, I'm http://www.facebook.com/samueljohnklein
5. Ning: I maintain a presence there after a bout of NaBloPoMo: http://www.ning.com/samueljohnklein
6. Plaxo: Almost forgot this one! http://zehnkatzen.myplaxo.com/
   
7. And my preferred email address, which seems more charming by the day.

So there they all are.

Technorati Tags: liff, net liff, networking, Samuel John Klein, ZehnKatzen