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sarahintampa

tampa girl talks tech

Is Faster Better? Or is it Just Faster?June 26

After last night’s news about Michael Jackson’s passing, everyone is once again praising the speed of the internet, blogs, and Twitter for trumping traditional media in delivering the news. Gossip site TMZ broke the news and it swirled around Twitter for hours before CNN would even confirm the story themselves. But was this another example of #CNNFail? I don’t think so. Here’s why:

You see, I actually watched the CNN coverage and it was good. They had the first interview with Jackson family spokesperson Brian Oxman who had just been inside UCLA Medical Center to see the family. He told the CNN reporter which family members were there, that they were crying, and who was still on their way to the hospital. In his emotional state, he railed against the people surrounding MJ during his life, calling them a bunch of enablers that supported Jackson’s prescription drug habit - even comparing Jackson’s issues to those of Anna Nicole Smith. His outrage seemed to confirm what rumor-mongers had been suspecting for years: a drug problem. Who knows what we’ll learn as this story continues to unfold.

Coming Soon to Your iPhone: Social Ads with Search Built InJune 3

Mobile advertising company AdMob is announcing today their latest innovation in advertising technology designed specifically for the iPhone. Starting in July, advertisers will be able to create new ad units that offer integrated social networking features, built in search, and more dynamic content which can be viewed without having to leave the ad unit.

Today, AdMob reaches 19 million unique iPhone and iPod Touch devices worldwide by serving ads both on sites and within applications, reports the company. Although they work with other platforms, they feel the iPhone holds a special importance. "We believe the iPhone is leading the industry forward," says Jason Spero, Vice President and General Manager, North America.

They wouldn’t be wrong in thinking that the iPhone is a revolutionary platform for advertising. We’ve already seen innovations like shakable and location-based ads - things that are just not possible with any other medium. To top it off, a study released only days ago showed that iPhone users were three times as likely to recall mobile ads as users of other platforms. That alone makes the iPhone the platform advertisers want to focus on.

With the new units coming this su

Why I Didn’t Get to See FriendFeed’s RedesignApril 6

Last week, while in San Francisco for the Web 2.0 Expo, I was invited to go check out the new version of FriendFeed. Not being from the area, and to be honest, not having time to figure out how far away the office was from the Expo, I didn’t even pull up the address for the meeting from my mobile phone until after the last session of the day, at which time I had just over half an hour to grab a cab.

As it turns out, FriendFeed was inviting me to come out to Mountain View where their offices are. They were not, as many other companies were during the Expo, coming to town themselves. And Mountain View was an hour away. By train.

This fact was terribly upsetting to me since I now only had half an hour to get there. Apparently, in order for me to have made it on time, I would have had to left the conference early…and missed some really good sessions!

The first thing I did was call to see if it was possible to arrive late. I was basically told that the event probably wouldn’t go that late and perhaps I shouldn’t waste my time. I expressed how disappointed I was considering that I don’t live in California and this was quite the opportunity – I was sorry to miss it.

I was then told that perhaps I could come the next day for lunch. I said that would be great – I would try to make arrangements and I would let them know either way. I immediately found a friend willing to give me a ride out there the next day, and promptly called them back.

Show Off Your FriendFeed Subscribers with a New WidgetMarch 23

Alan Cheslow, a FriendFeed fanatic whose entire personal web site is built around the service, has just created a new widget which FriendFeed fans are definitely going to love. Unlike the official FriendFeed widgets that show off your stats or your feed, this new widget shows off your friends instead.

The FFavatars widget is sort of like the friends block on Facebook, but one that’s filled with your FriendFeed subscribers. Since the FriendFeed API doesn’t directly implement a way to fetch your subscriber list, Alan worked around this issue by fetching your “subscribed to” list then checking to see if each of those friends were also subscribed back to you. The end result is a widget that only shows your mutual FriendFeed friendships.

Why Facebook is Failing MeFebruary 23

Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook as much as the next guy, but lately I can’t help but feel like it’s not living up to my needs. The problem? I want to use Facebook both professionally and personally. I want my one Facebook account to serve both my “real life” friends and those who have requested my friendship for the sole purpose of getting tech news.

Our Personal & Professional Lives Don’t Always Mix

These are two completely different sets of people. The one group wants to hear the latest information about Web 2.0 and new startups and the other group wants to know how Sophie is doing or what my weekend plans are.

Now, I don’t mind if my “tech” friends hear a little personal information about me but I can guarantee you that some of my real life friends do not care one bit about the tech information. In fact, my own husband said he might have to put me on his “show less of this person” list because my (Twitter-synchronized) updates were way too geeky for him. That, my friends, is a big Facebook fail.

I Hate My Options

I’ve