Yes, I believe we've met...

In the days of old, when one wanted to get a job, they had various avenues to pursue.   One of the easiest ways still exists, referrals.  One of the scariest, however, was that of a "cold call".  If you don't know what a "cold call" is, it is when you call a company without having any referral or connection to the company.  The company, "company x," has no idea who you are but you have the "cohenes" to call up the company and inquire whatever it is that you want to inquire about; i.e. a job.  Those days have faded, I feel, due to the rise of business networking sites such as LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a company which networks people in a similar manner as Facebook, but much more business oriented than "social casual."  The article,  ABC News: Will the Web Replace the Business Lunch? makes a good point that the internet is replacing the common practices of the past.  The web has set new paradigms for the employment process.  People have already had fufilling interactions before they ever meet, making it seem as they their first encounter is one prefaced with the statement, "Hey... yea, I believe we've met... we'll... [chuckle] I guess not really but..." etc etc etc.

I feel that this has both positive and negative attributes.  Let's start off easy; the positives.  The web allows the employer to get an unbiased (by tone or body language) opinion on an employee, similar to that of a college application.  This is easily accessible and can be viewed anytime, anywhere.  Moreover, the web makes it extremely to send in information or communicate instantly with a prospective employee/employer.  The negative side, however, comes from losing that personal touch.  An employer can learn a lot about a lot of people very quickly through the web, but you need face to face interaction, or at least vocal interaction, to get a truer sense of the person.  A prospect may seem perfect on paper, but if you don't hear confidence in their voice and they are going for a regional speaker position, thinks might not work out.

You get what I'm saying... what do you think?

Anytime, anywhere.

Online collaboration is a beautiful thing.  Thanks to the internet, we now have the ability to work with others at any time from anywhere, as long as there is an internet connection.  There are various web apps that allow this to happen.  One of the most famous is made by Google.  If this was done a couple of years ago, I would have just said "Google Docs," but they have expanded their online collaboration tools to a multitude of software.  Online collaboration spans from filling out a spreadsheet to making a slideshow presentation.

Apple computers is also trying to put online collaboration into the homes of its users.  With the release of the Leopard operating system this Friday (get pumped) upgrades to the current iChat will take place.  These upgrades include being able to remotely control the other persons computer THROUGH iCHAT (!, crazy!), share presentations within the chat convo, play movies live within the window, or even open an excel spreadsheet that is fully editable.

The future is here (by definition is kinda has to be ;)) and online collaboration is taking the world by storm.   People are starting to realize the power of working together anytime, anywhere.

p.s. for my web theories class last year, I worked on my final project paper through Google Docs with my partner and nothing has been easier.  It is an amazing theory and is amazing in practice.

Don't forget to bring the Google if you're going on a blind date...

Well well well... it is about time this topic came up. With social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and user-generated-content sites like Blogger and YouTube, it has become increasingly easier to get your name out on the web. This can be a good thing and a bad thing, depending on what you post - obviously.

Again, all of this fun posting and content on the web could, however, pose a danger to yourself if you are looking to get a job or perhaps a nice girl (and then have her parents Google you after they hear that you are dating their nice innocent daughter).

Thank the lord for companies that clean up your internet trail. Or, an easier way, is to watch yourself and what you post. Websites like Facebook have internet search options that will limit the availability of your information to the public through search engines like Google or Ask (Ask is a really good search engine btw).

It is scary to think about how much of one's own life is on the web. Like my title, before you go on a blind date you can feel like you've been married to the person for years if they have a blog or a part of a social networking site - you can just read up on them to lengths that might disgust you... crazy


Cover your tracks.

Can Ya Digg iT?

I am so happy I get to write a blog about Digg.com. Digg is a social news and social bookmarking site for the internet. It is a place where users choose the stories and then vote on what is important. These topics can range from a Ron Paul speech to a "noob" getting "pwned" in Halo 3.

Accompanying the website are one of the creators and his friend, Kevin (creator) and Alex (former TV Show co-host). They add so much to the website by adding personality in the video podcasts. All they do is drink while going over 2-5 stories and reading viewer emails.

Digg.com is a great site where communities develop. You can definitely notice the same people generating the best stories and commenting on stories. A great thing about this is that different communities sprout up under different topics, and some communities span the wide-range of options that is Digg.com.

Digg is all about good times with fun and interesting stories. It is the new way of getting news - scary but true. People are checking out Digg.com and other sites similar over BBC NEWS.com or CNN. I am a little scared as the stories from Digg are always one-sided and brief.

I love Digg, and I have been a user since the beginning... Can ya Digg it?

There is still nothing like a first life over a Second...

So this week's topic is the lovely game known as second life. for those who don't know what second life is, Second Life is:

Join a burgeoning new online society, shaped entirely by its residents. Here you can be or do anything. Explore an ever-changing 3D landscape. Meet new and exciting people. Create a masterpiece - or an empire. Second Life is yours - to imagine, invent, and inhabit.

• Explore a boundless world of surprise and adventure.
• Create anything you can imagine.
• Connect with new and exciting people.
• Compete for fame, fortune, or victory.

Whatever your goals, whatever you choose to do, your Second Life starts now.

So that was a lovely snippet from Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life (SL). In a nutshell, SL is a second world, a second life where everything can be built, changed, and adapted. SL took the world by storm.

More people have decided that a second life is better than a first than any other MMORPG save for WoW (World of Warcraft). Interestingly, though, SL has taken a significant downturn from it's once hay day of 'million dollar' subscribers (click here to learn more about the games' first millionaire). The world of Second Life is diminishing, and the ability to see that comes from looking at the number of active members versus the number of subscribers.

One of the major problems with SL is the very steep learning curve. I played a game called Star Wars Galaxies in 10th grade and the learning curve was fairly shallow and it when the game picked up people, they tended to stay because they became personally vested in their character - it was so easy to get started you could start progressing faster. SL doesn't have this benefit.

The other problem with SL is that there really is no objective. As I read a blog on the topic, I learned that SL actually isn't considered a MMORPG, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, but rather something called a Virtual Interactive Enviornment (VIE). With this comes my second reason as to why things aren't as interesting on SL as they are with other games:

Second Life (SL) is a game-like environment, but it does not really pose as a game, per se. It proposes to serve as a social platform. It is a virtual interactive environment (VIE), and it holds many similarities to a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Users login and assume control of digital puppets (avatars), and interact with one another. Users have control over their environments, and can purchase items such as clothing for their avatars. But there the gaming comparisons end. There are few other game-like objectives in SL: no levels to attain, no bosses to defeat.

With no real objective, things get boring really fast - especially when the graphics suck and the user interface is atrocious. So why did so many people sign up in the first place? I guess your first life has to be just as bad, or worse... but it's always good to remember... there is still nothing like a first life.