Teens Plugged In: Second Annual Teens in Tech Conference
Although I haven’t released too many blog posts in recent weeks, there sure is lots of cool stuff going on. One of the matters that I’ve been working on is a talk that I will be joining at a conference called Teens Plugged In: Second Annual Teens in Tech Conference. Here is an overview of the event:
Come join us in this teen-driven event, where we invite teens to share their insights into their “always connected” way of life. Teens are using technology to communicate like no generation before them – mobile text messaging, IM, MySpace pages, video cell phones and online video games, etc. Technology permeates their lives and their interests drive innovation in a significant way.
At the same time, in addition to spending money on technology, teens are emerging as innovators in the industry. These young entrepreneurs are changing our world-using fresh tech-savvy ideas to create new businesses and garnering the attention of investors in the process.
How are teens impacting the way technology is developed? How are these technologies scaling into businesses? And what about the teens themselves- are they creating companies? These are just some of the questions that will be addressed during this exceptional program.
This program is an exceptional opportunity to learn first hand from the teens themselves how they are driving the tech industry and what new ideas they’re working on to move the industry forward.
As of now, the agenda calls for me to be speaking during the “Teen Developer Panel” at 3:00 - 3:30 PM. Rishabh “Shooby” Kumar (@shooby on Twitter) will also be on the panel, along with two teen speakers. (Shooby and I both work at Qik.)
Here’s all of the information regarding the event:
- Location:
Hewlett-Packard - Auditorium
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304 (click link for directions) - Time (entire conference): 8:30am - 6:00pm May 13, 2008
- Price (Refreshments, Breakfast, Lunch, and Reception included):
- $25 Student Price - must show Student ID at the door. (Please conact Ksullivan@sdforum.org to receive the student rate.)
- $60 SDForum Members Price
- $75 Non-SDForum Members Price
It would be absolutely awesome if you could make it to the conference, but if you can’t, we are going to try to stream the event live on UStream.TV. Stay tuned for details.
Update:
We will be streaming the conference over on Ustream. Below is the stream. I don’t know when we are going to start, but keep your eyes out!
My MacHeist Bundle
After writing about the new MacHeist Bundle, Jonathan Davies left a very interesting comment:
I wasn’t to impressed with the bundle, I already have most of the apps with the last Mac Heist so I don’t have much of a need to get the retail package - but I am looking forward to the next MH.
What apps would you like to see, Daniel, in the next MH?
I did offer a response in a comment, but I’d like to elaborate on the subject much more.
Wouldn’t everyone like to see $3,000 USD Apps bundled together for $49 USD? C’mon now, who wouldn’t? Adobe CS3 being part of MacHeist Bundle is an amazing selling point. You combine applications and tools like these, and not only does this help MacHeist, but it of course helps Adobe.
MacUpdate is holding its own bundle, but of course, MacHeist is cheaper.
Here are some other apps I would like to see in the next MacHeist Bundle:
- VMWare Fussion — Get the best of both the Mac and PC worlds with VMware Fusion. With an intuitive Mac-native interface and a wide array of powerful features, VMware Fusion provides the most seamless way to run Windows applications on your Mac.
- Sound Studio 3 — The audio recording and editing application that I use for all my recording needs. Easy to use, and gets the job done. MacUpdate is selling this app in their bundle, but MacHeist would do better
- Final Cut Express from Apple — Apple’s powerful moviemaking package now supports the latest AVCHD cameras, features an open format Timeline, provides iMovie ’08 compatibility, and offers sophisticated effects and filters. I use this for movie editing, and I think its great!
This is just a brief list, but as you can see, MacHeist Bundle can definitely do some good with these applications. At this point, we can only wait and see what the MacHeist Team comes up with next.
What do you think should be in the next bundle? Let us know in a comment below.
Social Networking
This is a guest post by Spencer C. You can find more about Spencer on
his own blog, or you can
follow him on Twitter.
An Online Social Network, in my opinion, is a hosted service that connects individuals or groups of people. There are many pros and cons to the many social networks out there. Below are my opinions and reviews of various types of social networking platforms.
Microblogging
Microblogging-based social networks provide profiles that are designed to be updated very frequently, but without huge detail. One of the ones I use most is Twitter, which is probably the largest microblogging social network. The service lets you update through several different interfaces, including their web site, SMS, one of several instant messaging networks (although AIM is
regrettably not supported), or desktop applications like Twhirl and Snitter. You can keep up with family and friends with a click of a button. There are other “copycat” networks like this, with two examples being Pownce and Jaiku, but they
simply aren’t as popular as Twitter. (Editor’s note: the Editor (and the writer) is a huge Twitterholic - don’t end up with the addiction that he picked up thanks to Twitter!)
Profile-based Networks
This category is, by far and wide, the most popular, including sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Generally, one would put together a profile using the service’s tools, adding various levels of interactivity, and friends look at what other friends post to their friends profiles as well as their own. Typically, the main goals of these services are to help you create new friends, find old friends, and to express yourself online. Let’s take MySpace as an example. They have a search feature for finding old friends and options to find people with interests that are similar to yours. Extras from MySpace include a blogging feature and an instant messaging network.
There is much controversy over MySpace (although there’s much less in respect to other networks), mostly over people giving out too much information, like address, phone numbers, and other personal data. This data may be picked up by sex offenders, who pose a significant risk to users of social networks. If you think that there’s no danger involved with MySpace, and that all of the Dateline NBC stories are fakes and rarely happen. This is NOT so. In July 2007, the company found and deleted 29000 profiles belonging to registered sex offenders! Around 30 thousand profiles were sex offenders! Facebook is much safer in this regard, but there will always be a problem with safety in profile based systems.
Media Based
With networks like Last.fm, the connections lay around the media. People sign up for these services,
provide the service with data, like favorite movies or songs, and the network in turn finds people and groups
with matching interests. These sites help you find both new media (i.e.. new
songs and videos), and meet the people who produce them.
Group Based
These social networks are basically profile based systems that are made for a specific group of people. An example of this is MySpace Music.
They are based on profiles, but also include functionality like a music player
where you can buy an artist’s songs.
(Editor’s note: Sites like Ning allow
you to build your own social networks that focus on a specific niche and provide
services and resources relevant to that niche.)
There are, of course, many networks that I didn’t even mention, since the ones listed above are definitely the most notable. You can check out Wikipedia’s extensive community published list of social networking sites to find one that suits you.
Do you have your own opinions about social networking? Leave a comment and let your voice be heard!
MacHeist Bundle
The third iteration of the MacHeist Bundle is here, and even better than ever! In this bundle, you get twelve great apps at a deeply discounted price:
- Awaken
- Cha-Ching
- CoverSutra
- DEVONthink Personal
- iClip
- Overflow
- Wallet
- WriteRoom
- XSlimmer
- Enigmo
- Bugdom 2
- Nanosaur 2
You can get all of these great apps for just $49 USD! If you would like to support Apple Universe and Daniel’s Blog, use our affiliate link.
One Year of Podcasting, One Year of Connecting
On April 5th, 2007, Apple Universe was born. It was an idea that came to my head mainly because of Leo Laporte and his network of podcasts, TWiT, and also because of Douglas Bell. Douglas has a podcast called PreviewCast, which he recorded and edited an episode of live at my high school. I saw the work behind the scenes of podcasting, and wanted to start.
Now, one year later, Apple Universe is going strong. One hundred fifteen episodes have been released, and many more will be coming. I wanted to commemorate the first anniversary of Apple Universe. I also want to thank everyone who has ever helped Apple Universe. Your help is very appreciated. To all my listeners, thank you for listening, and helping make this such a good podcast. Thank you Robert Scoble who took me from a nobody, a random high school student, into a somebody, almost a celebrity of my demographic.
Thank you,
Daniel Brusilovsky
One Year of Blogging, One Year of Learning
On March 25th, 2007, Daniel’s Blog was created on WordPress.com. Much like the birth of my podcast, Apple Universe, this was meant to be at first an experiment. Robert Scoble inspired me to start blogging, and has since inspired me to publish new media, and go out and do the unexpected. Robert Scoble is not only an inspirational person in my life; he’s someone I really look up to. His work is extraordinary. Personally I don’t care that people hate his constant Twitter updates, but I like them.
Let’s fast-forward back to the present, about one year later. Danielbru.com thrives upon its own domain and hosting (free from the somewhat tight shackles of WordPress.com). Like in the case of Apple Universe, I’d to thank Robert Scoble so much for inspiring me to start blogging. If it wasn’t for Robert, you wouldn’t have known about me. Thank you to everyone who has ever read articles on or helped produce this blog.
Thank you everyone,
Daniel Brusilovsky
Time for a New Look
As anybody who visited the site recently can tell, DanielBru.com has gotten a new face, almost top to bottom. Previously, I was using the GlossyBlue theme designed by N.Design Studio, but now the blog is showing off the WP-Premium 1.0 by R.Bhavesh.
For the record, I did not work on customizing this theme alone. The awesome Matt Pippen, of Teen Media Productions, helped me along the way with CSS and PHP, and making the theme fit into the blog just beautifully.
But we’re not doen yet. Community, you’re involved in this too. Do you like the theme? Do you think that there’s anything else we can work on to make the blog look even better? Let me know by leaving a comment below, or through the contact form.
WordPress 2.5
WordPress is about to release version 2.5 into the wild (It just hit Release Candidate on the 17th). If you’ve been using WordPress.com or have peeked at the demo site you will know the biggest change coming to WordPress with this release.
My Beginnings in Blogging with WordPress
My original blog started at WordPress.com in April 2007, and I recently switched to my own self-hosted WordPress install in December 2007. With the re-launch of Apple Universe in February, I needed to get much more familiar with the platform, hence the switch.
At first, I was amazed at all the features like plug-ins, and user-installable themes. In my search for themes, I happened across iTheme, but at that point I didn’t know that Matthew Heidenreich would design an amazing theme for me. Once he was done, however, I was really blown away by his work.
WordPress 2.5 - Dashboard Design Refresh
Although older releases of WordPress were easy to use, WordPress 2.5 brings a fully refreshed administration system that makes things easier to understand than before. The “Publish Status” option is now prominently displayed at the very top of the right-hand sidebar. (Editor’s note: As I’m working through this post, I’m apppreciating the intelligent relocation of features more and more by the minute.)
The result is a new way of interacting with WordPress that will remain familiar to seasoned users while improving the experience for everyone.
The main tabs are functionally similar to older versions: on the left-hand side there are the Write, Manage, Design, and Comments links, (and, in my WP install, podPress), and on the right-hand side reside Settings, Plugins, and Users. However, links are now managed and created under the Manage tab, an alteration that brings back memories of the 2.0.x series releases.
The first major change that I noticed was the orange banner across the page, with a new super-emphasized “Write a New Post” button (and, directly adjacent to that button is one for creating a new page). Isn’t that the point of blogging? Generally, the first thought that comes to mind when I browsing to the Dashboard is writing a new post, and with WP 2.5 RC1, it’s clear that the WordPress team is aiming for this thought process. Blogging is the main objective; everything else merely enhances the experience.
Visual Editor Improvements
The WYSIWYG visual editor, a long time bane of many users existence, has been upgraded with support for TinyMCE 3. It includes a Full Screen mode for those that don’t like to be distracted when writing. I cannot speak a lot about this upgrade, as I don’t use WordPress’ visual editor, but the blogosphere has agreed that it’s a vast improvement over previous versions.
WordPress 2.5 RC1 is available for download. For a more in-depth review of the new features, Matt Mullenweg published a post on the WordPress Blog, and Aaron Brazell has an amazing outline of the new features, which inspired me to write up this article regarding WordPress 2.5.
Behringer HA400 Headphone Amp
Recently, I received a package in the mail from BSW USA, totally expectedly. As usual, I am very grateful for what was in the this package. But before I reveal the contents of the parcel, let me give you a little background on why the item in the package is of particular use to me.
Obviously, there were many things that I learned after holding the Apple Universe LIVE at Macworld 2008 event that I organized. The main lesson is that I need a bigger mixer, but right now that’s beside the point (and mixers are rather expensive). The matter being emphasized here is that guests at events like mine need to monitor themselves, usually through headphones. Monitoring helps speakers feel more confident about how they are speaking into the microphones (or, for example, singing, at a concert), which results in much better recordings. The problem: My mixer (Alesis MultiMix 8 USB) only has one headphone jack, so only one person (usually me 
) can monitor the mix at a time.
The solution: The Behringer HA400 Headphone Amp that I got from BSW. This small device is basically a pro-quality version of those headphone Y-splitters that everyone uses with their iPods. The headphone amp connects to one of the outputs of my mixer, and four sets of headphones connect to the deck-sized box. This way, if possible interviewees live close by, they could come to my “studio” and record here, and both provide and receive high quality audio, instead of burning bandwidth on Skype (of course, we can blame ComCast for that).
Another package will be coming later this week, with a lots more fun goodies and gadgets. All of this new gear is proudly donated, so thank you very much donars!
~Daniel
Video: STS-123 Shuttle Launch
One of my greatest friends, and one of the smartest people I have met in technology is Ben Higginbotham. Ben not only knows a lot of technology, and how things work, but about astronomy. Ben has been a huge fan of astronomy ever since I have met him.
Ben worked very hard on this hobby, and I felt that his work is well worth sharing with everyone. Ben live streamed on UStream.tv the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor! Here is the clip from Ben’s stream:
Ben has a blog up for his space podcast, called SpaceVidCast. Check it out!
