TWKM Blog

I am fairly in-touch with what is going on in the world wide web with new products and services, I’m constantly hearing about the newest start-up via twitter and various blogs I read on a regular basis. 

These start-ups pop up so fast I have a hard time checking out all of the services and products I want to, but I still try.

Here’s The Problem

The problem with this is that I have an account on nearly every new social media and web 2.0 service that exists, and I rarely use any of them. I am taking services and trying to make them fit somewhere, rather looking at new services and seeing if they actually present me with any sort of value.

I have a blog (obviously) and I have a Twitter account, FriendFeed, Socialthing!, orkut (I think, I’ve never used it), Facebook, MySpace (never use it)… Well, you get the picture.  When I hear about something I sign up, check it out, and rarely do I ever return. I am the epitome of the ADD super-connected web service junkie with the attention span of a gnat.

Case in point: I heard about Tumblr, which is a great little micro-blogging service that I was able to find some application for within our company. It is simple to use, and allows me to post short messages with a nice interface excluding the clutter of a more feature-filled service like WordPress. It is all I needed to solve a problem and nothing more. 

I decided that I should start a Tumblelog personally as well. I created it and started posting alongside this blog. My justification was, “I will use this to flesh out my ideas before posting them to the blog. Posts to Tumblr will be more reflective and will be a spring-board for full blog posts.” My Tumblr account turned into a personal journal and I wasn’t comfortable with juicy details about me on the interwebs. Plus, I already write in a journal. Regardless, I didn’t need a separate blog to flesh out blog ideas in the first place, that’s what drafts are for.

Here’s The Solution (Not Earth-Shattering, Mind You)

I was looking at my Tumblelog today and thinking, “What was I thinking? What am I going to do with this?” and I realized that I need to stop signing up for everything that crosses my path if there is no specific, immediate application for it. If I don’t need it, I don’t need it.

This epiphany also applies to other areas of life as well; I don’t need a new car, a bigger house (just yet), a Mont Blanc pen, a Rado watch, etc. Mass-marketing has turned me into a consumer and I hate myself for it. I already have far more than I need or in some cases have any right to, so I’m going to try and tone it down a bit.

Starting with my infatuation with new web services that I don’t need.

The technological marvel that is called the iPhone was released in the US in June of 2007. Although it has been said that the iPhone was expected to be released in Canada during the fourth quarter of 2007 we have seen and heard nothing of it and it is now nearing the second quarter of 2008. What is the problem? (more…)

I have made a lot of progress with this blog considering I just installed WordPress yesterday after creating a custom design. After configuring WordPress (which was a snap!) I started on creating my first custom WordPress theme (which has also been pretty good considering it is my first). The bulk of the time spent on the theme was figuring out why my CSS was making the page look so crazy!

So now I’ve decided to take a short break from putting the final touches on my theme to write about something that has been on my mind for the past few hours. (more…)