How to Use Twitter with the Ubiquity Firefox Extension

A prototype of the Ubiquity extension for Firefox was released today. This is still version 0.1 so things do not work perfectly. The potential for this is enormous and the Internet has been buzzing about it all day.

It is my understanding that Ubiquity basically allows you to mashup various components of the web via a command line interface that is integrated with the browser. As the video outlines, if you want to make a lunch appointment with your friend via Gmail (it does not currently work with other email clients) you can insert a map to the location, a review of the restaurant, and add the appointment to your google calendar from within the body of the email using the extension. Prior to this, you would need to add links to these various objects by opening news tabs and cutting and pasting the information.

Please watch the video for a better explanation of how it works.

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2 out of 2 Commenters Recommend Subscribe to Comments Plugin for Wordpress

What? Not everyone likes and dislikes the same things that I do?

I tend to forget that my likes and dislikes are not the same as others’. I made the mistake of not offering an option on my site because it isn’t something that I would use. I’m not going to classify this as excessive pride. Instead, I’m going to look at it as caring about my own needs rather that the needs of my readers. And this is a mistake, potentially a big one.

Last week I discussed commentful, which I use for tracking comments that I leave on other sites. I asked what other people use to track comments. Both Scam and Trisha said that they like to subscribe to comments via email and use that feature when the plugin is installed.

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Stuff This in Your RSS - Open Culture - 8/26/08

Are you looking for online cultural and educational media? Open Culture sifts through online videos, podcasts and courses and links to the best media out there. The project is maintained by Dan Colman and Ed Finn of Stanford University but the site is not affiliated with Stanford.

Recent finds include; the best podcasts for the weekend, a free electronic copy of The World Without Us, and the best films on Hulu.

The site also has a section called Essentials, which links to their special sections. Included are Podcast Library, Life Changing Books and Intelligent YouTube.

So, as much fun as the Steve Austin vs Sasquatch clip is on YouTube, on Open Culture you can find the best media to educate and improve yourself.

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OpenCulture

photo credit: colodio

Command Line Part 2 - Deleting Files

About a month ago I wrote an article about why the command line was still useful. This morning I ran into a problem that once again proved the command line’s worth to me.

I was trying to delete an old website backup that was in the .zip format. When I tried to delete it, Windows gave me an error saying that the file could not be deleted because it was already in use. Since it was a zip file, there was no way it could be in use unless it was actually open. The file was not running so I couldn’t figure out why Windows wouldn’t allow me to delete it. I still don’t know why I was getting the error message but I was able to delete the file using the command line.

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(Anti) Social-Lists 8/24/08

Back to School, Twitter, Backing Up and Monty Python all make up an electic selection for this week’s (Anti) Social-List.

• Back to School Season - Keep Family a Priority - Parents are scrambling to get their kids ready for the upcoming school year. SimpleMom discusses ways to stay organized with back to school and throughout the school year. I can appreciate the tips as I have managed to keep myself organized but am not as diligent at keeping track of my daughter’s schedule.
• And Now for Something Completely Different - Mark Dykeman provides the links to John Cleese’s social media presence. You can now follow John Cleese on Twitter.
• Top 10 Fashion Mistakes - Vered, of MomGrind, lists the top fashion mistakes. This lists includes some great photos and the comments are a lot of fun.
• The Care and Feeding of World Changers - Chris Guillebeau talks about reading and how important it is to make time to do so. The article and comments also includes reading suggestions.
• So You Compost, Drive a Hybrid, Wear Recycled Boots and Eat a Lot of Hummus, But Are You Green Enough? - Environmentalists often wonder if they are really doing enough and question all of their choices. This article looks at that problem.
• 7 Rules to Reclaim Ownership of Your Mind - Jonathan Mead provides ways to not let your mind be ruled by others. I especially like #1 and #4. No, I’m not going to tell you what they are. Go read the article.
• 7 Tips for New Twitter Users - I really agree with #1, provide a photo of yourself. I feel more connected when I know what the other users look like. And, no, don’t use a photo of your 20 year old niece.
• New Poll: How Do You Back Up Your Websites? I enjoyed the suggestions in the comments of this poll because I have been thinking about this topic and wrote an article about it recently. If you aren’t backing up your site, please start now.

Full of Things to Say? Track Your Comments with Commentful

I never used to leave comments on blogs. I lacked the confidence. I didn’t think I had anything to contribute. Since I started this site, I have made a point to leave comments. Now, I enjoy the interaction with others. Well, usually. The most enjoyable sites to comment on are one’s where the author responds and appreciates her community.

As I started commenting more, I found it difficult to keep track of where I had commented. Sometimes I would ask a question and then forget to return and see if there was a response. I’ve tried a couple of solutions to this and am currently using commentful by blogflux.

I am intrigued by Disqus, especially since the new Wordpress plugin which syncs Disqus with Wordpress, but am hesitant to install it. For example, they had an outage last night, which affected comments. At least when I am in complete control I only have to worry about the stability of my web host, which, after 5 great years has not been so good lately.

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Quick and Easy Flickr Slideshows for your Blog

Flickr has released a new and improved version of their fullscreen slideshow. The slideshow is available from almost every page including search results. Flickr videos can be played from within the slideshow and the slideshow will automatically pause while you are watching the video.

The best feature is the ability to embed a slideshow on a website. On Flickr, start a slideshow based on a search or a photostream, click on the Share button on the top right and a box will open with the link to the slideshow and the embed code. Copy the code and paste it onto your site.

Anyone who has been reading this site regularly knows that I love elephants. I did a quick search on the term elephant and created this slideshow to embed in this post.

I’m curious as to how others would use this feature. As a way to showcase their design work? Showoff their kids? Display a video game collection? Show their weight loss over time? Please let me know your ideas in the comments. And if you’ve created a slideshow, please leave the link - I love seeing people’s photos and discovering creative ideas.

found via (Flickr Blog)