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The Lightness of Twitter

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One of the things I’ve noticed about using Twitter is its “lightness.” Once you’re using Twitter’s microblogging service, you’re not tied to or heavily dependent on any particular Twitter client. You can use the default Twitter web interface, or you can try other web UIs that improve on Twitter shortfalls like Ginx.

There are Twitter clients for mobile platforms like Twitterriffic or Tweetie for the iPhone. And there are a ton of desktop clients such as Tweetdeck and Twhirl.

With all these various client apps, you can easily switch without losing much. Because Twitter is so light and specific in functionality, trying out various apps ain’t nothing (try changing email clients – what a pain). I’ve now switched to Twhril since it better manages multiple Twitter accounts, but I also use the Twitter web and Ginx web interfaces and Tweetie while mobile.

102.7 Da Bomb Going Away?

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Heard Rella of 102.7 Da Bomb say that after 8 years on the radio, Da Bomb was going away. Was in context of tough economic times but might also be a marketing trick/promotion. Did the station change owners? New name for the station?

More details on Monday at 7:00 with Sam Da Man.

Help with Twitter: Multiple Accounts

After twuating a bunch of Twitter names, I now have a problem of managing these various accounts. Most of these twuats aren’t frivolous. Some are experimental to see what local businesses can do with Twitter. Some are to introduce the power of social networking, and some are simply to protect a business’s twats from twuating.

So is there an easy way to monitor these various accounts for any possible conversations? Currently, I log into each account via the web to see if there are any @replies (direct messages work fine since they’re emailed). On the iPhone, Tweetie makes it convenient to quickly switch to different accounts, but I still need to manually make the switch.

It would be so much easier if the timelines of the various Twitter accounts could be aggregated into one “master” account. Logging into that one master account, I’d see the tweets and replies of that account but also all the @replies for all my other “sub” accounts. But that’s just one implementation. I’m sure there are others.

Any ideas?

Disappointing Dessert Finishes Off Top Chef

Top Chef Season 5’s finale featured the trio of Stefan, Carla, and Hosea going head to head, simply creating their best meals for the panel of judges. Stefan dominated his way to the finals, Carla picked up serious momentum, and Hosea had been steady all season.

But to finish off this season of Top Chef, it came down to a disappointing dessert – not the ones Stefan and Carla created but Hosea’s victory. Yes, Hosea won the title of Top Chef, yet it feels anti-climatic. Going into the finals, it was Stefan’s title to lose, but Carla was definitely in her groove in New Orleans. It just never seemed like Hosea had a chance. But what’s that saying again? “That’s why you play the game.”

Carla was immediately out of the running as soon as her souffle fell apart. She didn’t stick to her cooking style of love and soul and let too much of her sous chef, Casey, influence her dishes. The judges immediately recognized the non-Carla-ness of her dishes.

Stefan was unflappable the entire season. Even getting stuck preparing a surprise alligator soup for the first time, he pulled it off. His dessert was welcomed but didn’t impress which is more or less telltale of Stefan. He executes to perfection, knows what to do, but his dishes are, well, too jaded. He’s been there, he’s done that. So he can kill all the elimination challenges, but when left to his own free choice and creativity, he admitted he has difficulty. As a well experienced, life-long chef, I think Stefan forgot his deep down passion for cooking.

Which is why Hosea won. He felt like he had something to prove. All finalists said that but Hosea (and Carla) really felt that. With Carla faltering and Stefan producing solid but not soulful enough dishes, Hosea managed to create a balanced menu showing off consistency along with his passion.

Congratulations are in order for Hosea, but I must admit that I am disappointed with this dessert.

Larry Bird Is Still Ill

After watching this highlight reel of Legendary Larry Bird, he’s still an ill baller. Those funky moves and that all-seeing vision for some sick passes!

Music background is by Eminem with some profanity.

Will Ginx Groups Obfuscate Fandom?

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I’m digging the concept of Ginx groups to help filter tweets.  Basically, you establish a Twitter account and follow other Twitter users to form a “group.”  Now in Ginx, you follow that newly created user/group, and you’ll see  Tweets from all the followed members of that group.  Pretty ingenious!

So instead of you following Twitterers, you can follow the group that contains Twitter users you’re interested in.  So what’s the big deal?  Well, if you’re a Ginx user, you can use this Twitter group as a filter and hide the tweets from followed members of this group.  Why?  Well, I like AllTop and Guy Kawasaki, and did you know that he LOVES hockey!  I mean really loves hockey.  I mean really, really loves hockey.  I mean he loves hockey in an incredibad “MF-er, I’m going to cut my b@11s off, and die for hockey!” kind of way.  You get the point?  I know he loves hockey so sometimes I don’t want to see umpteen tweets that he loves hockey (or whatever new AllTop topic just launched) so instead of wading through these, I can simply hide them using Ginx groups.

So now I’m thinking, if Ginx groups catches on, will your count of followers need adjusting?  Instead of having individuals follow you, you might have a ton of groups following you, possibly reducing your overall followers.  Yet, each group might have a bunch of followers.  So how do you balance this out and not obfuscate your fandom?

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