Monthly Archive for December, 2008

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A Little News Here and New Posts Coming Soon?

Published on December 19, 2008 in Internal Dialog/Site News. Closed

What’s up? First off, I have not really been focusing on posts, simply for a few reasons.

  1. I was recovering from an injury that I had before moving to my new place in Westchester. I’ve since recovered, but…
  2. … I started slipping due to the injury and…
  3. … I grown an addiction to Twitter.

Before I started talking on Twitter, I’ve been trying to upstart some other long term projects. And while I was injuried, I decided to use Twitter to talk things out. It was fun, interesting and quick.  However, I’ve grown so addicted to it that even after my injury, I kind of forgotten that I have other responsblities besides making money, like promises I promise myself that I would keep.

While the previous posts about Blackbird were posted, it was just being passionate about something. But now, I’ve grown back to my lazy ways. In other words, “the little hater” has struck once again, and this time, it decided that I must make something super special. Except, I don’t know what. I feel like with the tech posts I’ve been posting as of late, I’m pushing myself to become a hip-hop tech blogger, except that I don’t want to be just a hip-hop tech blogger, not a black blogger and now, I’m kind of lost.

So, instead of shutting down my brain, I decided to ask, what do you want to hear from me?

I got a few ideas that I will posting soon, especially the stuff about Twitter. But what would you like to see me write about? Leave a comment, or hit me up in my contact form, twitter me a message, send me a myspace message or give me a phone call (if you know my number). Give me an idea and let me know how to contact you so you’ll know when/if I use it.

Lastly, if you have anything to suggest for “dramatics”, you can send me a message via the channels I send you. You’ll get credit if I use your submission.

If you don’t know what “dramatics” are, it’s simple: I’m looking for video clips or photos that are hip-hop (or black culture) related that don’t require a lot of explanation, just watch the “drama” unfolds.

Oh, and I updated Wordpress to 2.7. The good news is I get better backend management.

Now, if you excuse me, I got to go to the gym…

How Blackbird Can Save Itself

Published on December 15, 2008 in New Media & Software and Social Commentary. Comments Tags: , , .

introducing_small The Blackbird Browser was only released last week Monday, but it burned the Internet Highway with cries of “segregation” from both blacks and non-blacks. 40A, the company behind the browser, is a class example of how not to make the news.

The one thing that is true about the Internet is that behind an anonymous name, people can be themselves. For example, a link for a parody site came out. Calling itself “Whitebird”, it’s a mini-website parody, pointing to Apple’s Safari Browser. The more Ed Young (co-founder of Blackbird) tries to calm down people, the more of an uproar it causes. So, I decided to give some suggestions on how Blackbird can save itself from itself.

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The Blackbird Debate – Radio and Video

Published on December 12, 2008 in Social Commentary. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

I done an Interview on the Techno Color Radio Show, a new Podcast series on Blog Talk Radio. They talked with 40A’s Ed Young. My interest on Blackbird and testing it prompted one of the Twitter peeps (@iluvblackwomen) to ask me on his show to debate the subject.

So, here’s my take on the subject. Please note that I’m not the world’s greatest speaker and I’ll openly admit that. While I did prep for my interview, execution clearly shows I’m not ready for interviews. Toastmasters, here I come!

 

At the same time, I did found this video clip, finally putting a face to Ed Young. Since the browser was launched on Monday, he’s been speaking and defending Blackbird, not from the technological standpoint, but from standpoint where he should have a right to produce this type of browser. He sounds a bit naive about the web and how it works.


BlackBird and the "Colorblind" Web from Brian Lehrer Live on Vimeo.

Angela, who appeared in the video, not only talked about her stance on Blackbird and Rushmore Drive, she also talked posted up a blog post on her blog, Black Web 2.0 as well as Tech Crunch about the very issue that Blackbird “sang” up.

My post, which focuses on the browser’s features, is not against a black browser, but more of how it should help our community. Just because something is “black” does not mean I will recommend it.

Blackbird Browser: It’s Really Not THAT Special

Published on December 12, 2008 in New Media & Software and Social Commentary. Comments Tags: , , .

Edited 12/12/08 4:55 PM – Just to provide some corrections: This is a product that is currently in “Beta”, or not ready to be release to the public. I may revisit this browser in the future. Other than minor corrections to make this post accurate, my overall views of this software remains unchanged.

Edited 12/12/08 8:47 PM – I decided to include Rushmore Drive as an alternative search engine for Black Search.

Blackbird-2DoGoodChannel2A few days ago, I heard of a project called “Blackbird”, a Windows (only) browser powered with Mozilla’s Firefox. At first, I thought “cool”. I’m always willing to support black companies as long as they bring innovation. I feel that there is a need to serve the black community and help our people to use the web to their advantage. However, with "niche market targeting” comes cries of “segregation”. There’s also a lot of controversy over this browser when it’s starting to become a topic of interest and most of these reports are from people who did not even use the browser. So, I took it upon myself to use it as part of my everyday operations and write up a post. However, upon using it, I see some things the web activist side of me that says “WHOA! PAUSE!”

(In my best Barack Obama impression) Now let’s be clear. I’m all for niche browsers. Flock is a social networking browser, powered by Mozilla and puts focus on Social Networking sites. Songbird is a music player backed up with Mozilla’s technology as well. Notice that the two examples I used are innovated and serves a different type of crowd. On a technology side, these browsers improve the web experience. So, when I’m looking at this browser (or any other piece of software/web applications, web sites and so on), I’m looking at the bigger picture and asking this question: does it add value to my life and the life of my those around me? The answer I came up with is 10% yes, and 90% No. Let’s get to the “why yes” part.

Continue reading ‘Blackbird Browser: It’s Really Not THAT Special’