March 2nd, 2010 — 12:50pm
1. Tweet anything about “Get more followers”
If you advertise “get more followers” you can be sure that you will only get more followers that are just like you – trying to get more followers. There is no substance in that.
Case in point: @pyra_bang
2. Tweet links that go to any sort of multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing, don’t get me started. Aside from that though, you can’t expect to get sales out of impersonal follow-at-random strategy. At least learn about hashtags, trending, and other social media tools that can help direct you toward people with money that don’t know how to spend it on good things. First tip: Search hashtags for #ispendmoneyondumbstuff
3. Have links that go anywhere other than where they say they will
Dirty tricks. Enough said.
4. No tweets
Either fill in your bio blurb or at least put an inaugural “Trying out this twitter thing” tweet
5. Duplicate your own tweets
We all have accidents or program glitches that duplicate posts something. But when I see:
XYZ is the best new supplement on the market
XYZ is the best new supplement on the market
XYZ is the best new supplement on the market
… ad nauseam, then I know that you’re a loser.
(This includes when you go to someones twitter page and see an @reply to 20 people with the same message)
6. Retweet your own tweets
see #5, it’s the same thing, really… thinly veiled Einstein.
7. Tweet at a “relevance ratio” higher than once every 15 minutes.
“Relevance Ratio” allows for more than the 1 tweet/15 mins from someone that tweets about things worth reading… or stuff that’s funny.
8. Every tweet is a link.
If I wanted to just “browse the internet” I have a BROWSER to do that. Get with the times, I don’t want just links, I want YOUR TAKE on the links. Sum up a story in 140 characters for me. To me twitter is a way to get EVEN FASTER information on the lightning speed internet.
9. Have an auto-responder Direct Message that sounds like a used-car salesman when I follow you.
“Thanks for following! I think we’ll be able to find you something to buy via my tweets very soon!” OR “Thanks for the follow! DM me any time if you have questions I can help answer!” – If you’re using an auto-responder when people follow you, chances are you don’t have time (or won’t take time) to respond to messages or mentions.
10. Chain many tweets together to encompass one thought.
They limited it to 140 characters for a reason… and that reason was not so you can see how many tweets you can overlap onto. If you can’t say it in one tweet – consider blogging! They go great hand-in-hand.
Comment » | Technology, Ten Steps, how-to
February 18th, 2010 — 4:23pm
I wanted to do did a blog post and show some of the screens of my new Sprint HTC Hero phone. After a few failed attempts to get a good picture of it using my camera, I decided to look for a way to get a screen capture. I found out that you have to “root” your phone to be able to capture screen shots from it. So I went through that process.
This is the short list, “for advanced users,” you might say. This is simply for “rooting” only, not flashing ROMs.
Detailed How-To
Rooting my Sprint HTC Hero
Get Android SDK
- [FILE] http://developer.android.com/sdk/download.html?v=android-sdk_r04-windows.zip
- [LINK] http://developer.android.com/sdk/1.6_r1/index.html
Get proper ADB drivers
- [FILE] http://www.anddev.org/download.php?id=449
- [LINK] http://www.anddev.org/debugging-installing_apps_on_the_g1_windows_driver-t3236.html
Setup ADB
- [PROCESS] http://theunlockr.com/2009/10/06/how-to-set-up-adb-usb-drivers-for-android-devices/
- [ADVANCED]
- Start > Run > cmd
- cd\
- cd AndroidSDK\tools\ (or where ever your AndroidSDK directory is)
- adb devices
- if a serial number shows – you’re good
Got PicMe App for Screen Capture
- Takes it via PC (USB hookup)
- Creates an IP address to view live or static feed of your screen


Comment » | Gadgets, Technology, how-to
February 18th, 2010 — 3:21pm
I’m going to try to keep this page updated a touch… every so often. I wanted to give everyone out there a comprehensive review and breakdown of my HTC Hero. I’ll try to keep it to the point and organized so you can find the information you’re looking for.
I welcome any questions you may have, especially if you are looking at buying one.
 Click to Enlarge |
There’s a lot you can do as far as customizing the 7 home screens with your own style and productivity tools. This is my home screen, the “1st String Team”, if you will. Has the stuff I access and use most.
Clock
As much as I liked the big clock that the Hero is shown with in all the media photos, I felt like it was taking up more space than I wanted it too. As a good widget should, it offered configurations for smaller sizes and formats. So I shrank’er down.
Weather
The weather widget is great, nice interface, slick graphics. Punch in your city and you’re golden. Also offers several different sizes to suit your home screen layout.
Smooth Calendar
Here is where I had to go with a different app than the native app offered by HTC, but that’s the beauty of the Android Market. Smooth Calendar still had a nice interface (important to me), but allowed for showing more than one event at a time. I keep my calendars pretty full, so only being able to see the immediate next item was very confining.
Apps
Android Market
Facebook Update: Replaced by gTasks
Peep (Twitter)
People (Contacts List)
Messages (Text)
Gmail Update: Using Gmail Unread Count Widget. Native icon didn’t show this
Browser Update: Replaced by Gowalla
Camera |
Cons
Sometimes it reacts slowly
I’ve been having a lot of problems with the battery just completely draining out on minimal use after only 15 minutes or so.
Picmail sometimes gives me a “Media size exceeded” and I have to go back and retake the picture (if I’m able to) on a small resolution
Apps & Functionality
Text messaging
Easily the thing I use the most. I thought the touchscreen would really hinder my texting abilities (especially speed), but the word-prediction and auto-correct work REALLY well. So usually I’m still pretty quick on the draw with texting. I will say this though, it’s not quite the same as having a more tactile 10-key. I can’t text without looking nearly as well while I’m driving now. So text messages take a lot longer.
Android Google Connection
I wish that my gmail account was my main email account. Android automatically syncs with your gmail contacts. I’m still working out the merging of duplicate entries and getting everything sorted out properly, but it’s amazing
Update: Got all my old numbers & other email account contacts synced to my Gmail account and, thus, my phone!
Facebook Connection / Import
Connect contact profile pic and birthday
Update: Used a program by @koush to sync my Facebook Friends info with my Google contacts automatically.
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gTasks
Google Task List works like a charm |
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Gowalla (m.gowalla.com)
With the native Android app coming soon, the mobile web version of Gowalla has been working great! It’s such a fun game that you can play in a moment when you arrive somewhere or make a day of it. They’re very responsive to their users and always working on new functionality and fun additions.
Be Gowalla friends with me!
Update: Gowalla BETA App is out |
Coming Soon! |
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Backgrounds
Phenomenal app for backgrounds. Well categorized, easy to set your background, high quality designs and photos. Top notch, really. |
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Facebook
It’s ok… actually, no, it’s crap. Aside from the fact that I don’t use facebook a lot these days, you can’t click on links in this version of facebook. So you’ll get notifications about being tagged in a photo, but you can’t click to see the photos! Dumb. |
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Peep
It’s usually pretty slow, but it works. I’m open to other options.
Update: I’m trying TweetCaster, but not sure if it’s much better. I wish TweetDeck would just make an Android App |
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Monkey Kick Off |
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Shot |
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Brain Genius Deluxe |
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GeoQuiz |
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Thanks to Cyrket for the images and barcodes.
Comment » | Gadgets, Technology