Tag Archives: google

How to Network in a Web 2.0 World – Part 1

Posted on by John Rockefeller
TwitterFox - Firefox Twitter Plugin

TwitterFox – Firefox Twitter Plugin

As a web developer my job is more than just programming code. I’m required to cut up graphics, keep up-to-date with web standards (CSS, XHTML, et al.), and build a reputation for myself in a way that many other workers in many other jobs simply aren’t required to do.

There has always been a need for every worker in every industry to maintain a good level of professionalism and efficiency in order to gain a good referral when looking for future employment, but with web developers this is amplified.

Why?

Everything about the web is social; we chat online, send E-Mails, play online games, receive world news instantly, and have public profiles on any number of social networking services – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Orkut, and more.  There is competiton everywhere. Everyone is fighting each other for attention and recognition.

Who’s out there?

Computerworld suggests that 1 in 5 employers looks at prospective employees on social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, and others) to determine if that person would be a good fit for their company. With numbers like that, you cannot afford to be reckless with regards to your online persona.

What can you do?

This first part of this article is designed to get you up to speed on a few techniques and sites that will help you build an online persona that future employers, when searching for you, will find.

I got my first programming gig because my employer found me on Google. The same could happen to you. Let’s make sure what they see shows you in the most positive light possible.

The Basics

The most important things you can do when creating an online profile is ensuring that your data is always accurate, timely, and professional. Always imagine that your boss can see everything you put online — because he/she can! Never let data grow stale. Always be adding, updating, and building.

To start, there are three websites you will need to create an account on. Those three are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. We’ll go through each briefly, but I always recommend that some time is spent with each one to get used to the features it offers.

Facebook

Website: http://www.facebook.com/

Who hasn’t heard of Facebook? Unless you’ve been living under a technological rock for the past few years, you’ve at least heard of this service. Facebook is a website where over 90 million people have created profiles that allow them to share photos and contact details, network, and meet friends.  Put simply: If you’re not on Facebook, who are you?

LinkedIn

Website: http://www.linkedin.com/

LinkedIn is Facebook’s older, more experienced cousin. This site’s specific purpose is to build an online resume and accomplishments list that other people in your industry can use to search and find you. While Facebook is geared to a more personal audience, LinkedIn is strictly for professionals. Over 35 million people have built online profiles already and there are more joining each day. Chances are someone you know or work with is on this site.

As you build your profile, consider it an online resume.  This will help to give you an idea of what it should look like to someone reading it.

A neat feature that LinkedIn has is the ability to search your E-Mail contacts for people on LinkedIn that you might know. This saves you the hassle of trying to build an initial network. From there, you can be introduced to people that they know and so on, building your network even larger.

Twitter

Website: http://www.twitter.com/

Ah, Twitter. You’ll either love it or hate it. I personally dislike this service, but I find myself using it every day. It is a uniquely simple but completely addicting service. The idea is called ‘micro-blogging‘, meaning that you send brief (140 letters or less) updates of what you’re doing or thinking and people can respond.  The photo at the top-right of this article shows a typical Twitter experience.

As you continue to update the world to your thoughts and work, people will begin to ‘follow’ you and they will get your tweets (the term for each update you put out). In turn, you can ‘follow’ their tweets.

The biggest draw of Twitter is that you can find and communicate with very high-profile people you may never normally have access to. Some top CEOs and other big-wigs are on here. If you communicate often enough and start to gather a following, you can find yourself in a conversation with people you never thought possible!

This ends part one of “How to Network in a Web 2.0 World.” Continue onto Part 2.0.

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Helping The World = The Power of Ideas + Resources

Posted on by John Rockefeller

Google has launched a new initiative asking people for ideas on how to help as many people around the world as possible. The project is called “Project 10 to the 100th”. Users submit ideas, which are then reviewed by a small panel of experts. The ones that have the potential to help the most amount of people will have financial resources committed to them by Google.

Google is spending $10 million to help these projects get off the ground.  If you have a great idea that you think may help people lead better lives around the world, you’re encouraged to send it in! While you won’t be receiving a financial reward if your idea is picked, you will sleep well knowing your idea is being made for real and will help those in need.

There are 10 categories to choose from. From the official website:

  • Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
  • Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
  • Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
  • Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
  • Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
  • Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
  • Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
  • Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.

Submissions to the project are due October 20th, 2008. For more information, watch this video:

Links:
Project 10 to the 100
How It Works
Submit Your Idea
Submission Categories
Frequently Asked Questions

Google’s Chrome EULA Fixed (thank heavens!)

Posted on by John Rockefeller

Whew, that was a close one! I was worried that everything I’d ever created while using the Google Chrome browser was open for Google to use anywhere they or their partners wanted!

I mean, I love Google. But not that much :)

Regardless, here is the updated section 11 from their EULA:

“11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.”

That’s it. Yay! The changes in this updated EULA are retroactive, so everyone can rest easy.

Read about the original End-User License Agreement here.

Ways to Make Google Chrome Even Better

Posted on by John Rockefeller

If you’re on top of technology news, you’ve no doubt heard of Google Chrome. Recently released by Google to the happiness of geeks and internet surfers everywhere, this browser has the attributes of a real winner. Chrome is fast, intuitive, efficient, and unintrusive. I love it.

That being said, there are a number of things that could be done to improve the product and user experience, especially for Web Developers. These are in no particular order.

#1. “Open image in new tab” is not as good as the “View Image” function in Firefox.

About 5 to 10 times a day I right-click on an image and select “View Image” in Firefox. It’s a handy feature that seems to have been superseded by the “Open image in new tab” function in Chrome. If this functionality is to become the mainstay then I request that when you open an image in a new tab that the focus shifts to that new tab automatically. That way I can just close it when I’m done.

#2. (and for some this is a deal-breaker) The EULA.

Update: As of 09-04-2008 this has been remedied.

Who in their right mind wrote this thing? Because I used Google Chrome to write this very blog post does that now mean that this post can be used by Google or any of its corporate friends anywhere they want? Rubbish!

From the End User License Agreement:

“11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.”

How do you all feel about that?

For those that are interested, the full EULA is available here: http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html

#3. What’s my Pagerank?

After installing SearchStatus in Firefox I’ve become addicted to knowing what my Pagerank is for each page on my site. It’s really, really handy. Since this product is directly from Google, I figured it would include an option to show you the PageRank of every site you visit. But it doesn’t.

#4. Inspect Element on Hover

If you right-click anywhere on a webpage you are able to inspect the element located under your cursor. This is handy and works well, but after using Firebug and the Web Developer Extension for Firefox, I’ve become accustomed to this information being available dynamically on whatever element I hover my mouse over. As you hover your mouse over any element on a page with these extensions enabled, the information updates in real-time. It’d be nice to see that as well in this browser.

These are just first impressions, I’m interested in hearing how the rest of you feel about this shiny new browser from Google. Are there any features that you wish were included?