internet

I haven't posted many blog entries or reviews here lately because I had been embedded in the mobile space. What does that mean? While not replacing desktop computing any time soon, the mobile platform (and for me that means iOS) has matured to the point now where I can be productive on it and create and process content on it and post it directly to the net. For example, shooting photography and video right on the iPhone, editing the media on it, and posting it on the net all without ever touching my desktop workstation computer.

First I want to say thanks to Mobli for featuring me among other fantastic people in their popular section both in the app and the website. It was an unexpected surprise.

This is just a quick note to all that I know many people have circled me on Google+ recently, many more than normal as of late (not that I am complaining). I haven't had a chance to keep on top of all the new additions, though I normally do try.

This past weekend I have seen the number of people circling me increase by five times I would say. I'm not sure why there has been such an influx lately. Especially since I haven't been on as much as I normally am in the last week or two.

The infographic below is from Followgram. It depicts some "fun facts" about Instagram. According to the note on the bottom of the infographic, Techcrunch and the Instagram blog is the source of the data in the graphic.

Having been on Instagram from just a week after they launched, I have seen how they have grown and matured as a social network. Most recently they announced that they have passed 7 million in users. It was only in June when they had hit 5 million. I remember each of these milestones as Instagram hit them. This infographic illustrates them as well other interesting facts.

It was more than five weeks ago that I first entered the new Google+ social networking platform as a "field beta tester." It certainly is hard to believe it has been that long already. This coming Monday or Tuesday will be six weeks since the initial beta launch of the service, but I guess as the old saying goes, "time flies when you're having fun."

I understood it was new when I started using it, but I don't think I knew that it was only one week after it launched when I took my first Instagram shot on my iPhone on that fateful Wednesday, 13 October 2010 (Instagram was launched the week before on the 6th). It seemed to be the natural successor to my Project 365 at the time. Indeed it was, but it has been so much more.

Instagram has just celebrated their 150th million photo shared via its service. They are seeing Instagrammers sharing photos at the rate of 15 photos per second. They have also seen incredible growth since launching with more than 7 million users now.

For those uninitiated, Instagram is a free app in the Apple App Store (currently only for iOS devices) which allows you to share your stories via photos and words. It is Twitter meets Flickr in a sense. Like Twitter, you follow people and people can follow you. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then it is thousand more than what you can convey in a 140 character tweet on Twitter.

By coincidence, I have been planning a series of Twitter-based articles titled, "You Are What You Tweet." It's also the name of this infographic below based on my Twitter activity, which is mostly accurate except replace the pack of cigarettes in hand (I don't smoke) with an iPhone. Also, I am quite sure I send more than 1.27 tweets a day. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that already. I also wonder how the "enthusiasm" and "interestingness" is determined. Finally, half of the topics listed are actually other Twitter users, perhaps it should had focused on the hashtags I use.

Torchwood is back and it's a miracle, a Miracle Day in fact, and so is Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi! Join us live on the net for a review of the first episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day - The New World on Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 4pm EDT on Talkshoe.

If you are a Podshock Supporting Subscriber you will be given preference in the queue of the live show and bumped up.

The last several days I have been testing and trying out the new social media platform, Google+ which is currently in limited beta by (no surprise) Google. Before you ask, Google had disabled invites for the time being due to overwhelming demand. So I have no invites to share at this point. That said, it seems that Google does open the barn door from time to time (unannounced). So you may be able to get in if you are lucky enough. (Many people have already requested an invite from me, when I can, I will try to give them to those friends and followers that have requested one from me.)

What is Google+? The easy answer is to say that it is Google's answer to Facebook. While that may be true on certain levels, it is its own social networking service built on existing Google technologies with others added. Some may use it instead of Facebook, others may use it in addition to Facebook, some may not use either. In my experience so far, it has a similar vibe to what Friendfeed was back in the day, just without the automatic feeds pumping into it.

You may be saying, "But what about Google's previous attempts of social networking, like Wave or Buzz?" I never thought of Wave so much as social networking, but more as a communication tool similar to email, but that is another matter. I believe Google has learned from those experiences and Google+ is something other, grander than what Wave was or Buzz is today.

In December 2010, I had the privilege of witnessing of the rare occurrence of a winter solstice lunar eclipse. I had documented it live over the net via my DSLR camera and iPhone. Since that time there have been several requests for copies or prints of the images, especially the montage images showing the progression of the eclipse.

You can now commemorate the winter solstice lunar eclipse of 2010 on various items from prints, to journals, mugs, tote bags, shirts, etc. They are all available for purchase here at the Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse 2010 Shop.

"It’s a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures," is how Burbn, Inc describes their free iOS app, Instagram.

Chiefly for the iPhone and the iPod touch (with camera), it can also be used on the iPad, just without the camera functionality, Instagram has really made an impact on how I and thousands of others take and share photos over the net.

Recently I have gotten glued to GetGlue. What is Glue or GetGlue? Before I explain, let me tell you how I came to discover and use GetGlue.

If you follow me on Twitter @LouisTrapani or the all so many other social media sites that I maintain a presence on, well, you know that I maintain some sort of presence on these various said services. Some I am engaged with more than others.

I had the honor of being invited to be a guest on the Random Time Lords podcast last week. Episode 27 was just recently released with Amber Spence and Steven Perez hosting.

As the name implies, the topics are fairly random and diverse. It is not a show solely devoted to covering Doctor Who, but of course it and Torchwood are spoken about. It covers the broad range of geekdom.

Preview the new Gallifreyan Embassy website 3.0 today! June marks the 24th anniversary of the Gallifreyan Embassy. As it heads into its 25th year, it will do it with a new website. Although much content from this existing site migrated on to it now, it is a completely new site from the ground up. Ambassadors will have to re-register on the new site. Existing accounts will need to be recreated.

The Gallifreyan Embassy website gets a facelift or rather regenerates with Gallifreyan Embassy 3.0 website.