Tag Archive for 'software'

How Blackbird Can Save Itself

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

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

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.

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Evernote: A Lyricist’s Best Friend

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When it comes to writing down my song/poem or comic ideas, I’ll always have a pen and pad by my side. It’s the tools of the trade and I do carry them with me @ all times. All emcees and poets got to have this. My tools, however, are additions to the pen and pad. It’s my computer and a cell phone.

To store all my little ramblings, I use a note-taking database program called Evernote. It’s the same software that I reviewed sometime ago and I would like to share with you exactly what I use it for. Here are a few examples I hope you’ll enjoy.

Comic Script Ideas and Musical One Liners

Striply Drama (which is being re-release sometime this year) is based on my everyday happenings. And trust me, everyday some thing new pops up. So, I always have Evernote open. When something happens and I’m near a computer, I enter the idea quick for later use. But what about when I’m away from the computer? I would use my cell phone and send a text to my Evernote account online. Or if I need to do it quickly, I’ll call up Jott and send the note there. That’s faster than typing and not to mention I get to work on my speech skills. :) This is also great for capturing those one liners.

When looking for my lines and ideas later, I just sync the Evernote on my desktop. I got so many ideas capture, I doubt the world will ever see them all.

Improving My Vocabulary and Capturing Quotes

I do not really have a great vocabulary and admire people who always manages to find the right word. So, when they say something I would like to recall later, that gets typed up or entered into the system as well. If I’m not by the computer, I’ll just use my Jott or my texting.

And nothing beats recalling real life uses of words. Review these on a daily basis and it’s better than picking up a vocabulary book!

The Open Mic Event Flyers and Business Cards

I got a flyer for an Open Mic. And yet, I don’t want to carry it. So, instead, I’ll take a picture and send it to my Evernote account. Since it recognizes words in images, I will have no problems when I look up “Open Mics”.

I can also do this with business cards. Rather do that than being a packrat.

Blog Entries

Hmmm… another “anti-Al Sharpton” testimony on the web. I’m actually collecting notes on these. I’ll just copy this to my Evernote for later. Since I use my computer offline when writing at times, I’ll be able to recall the notes, along with images if I choose to use them. This is a much better way to capture notes than saving the web page.

(FYI: The Sharpton article will be posted sometime this month)

Novels and Short Stories

I love writing novels. However, I don’t really have the time to write them. So, I use Evernote to store characters, construction ideas and brainstorming. After a while, parts of it get written, little by little. And it will be ready when I’m ready.

Writing My Poem/Songs… When I’m Not Near My Laptop.

I’m writing down a great idea… but it seems something is missing. Oh, yeah… I wrote something for this song before. I could wait until I get home to finish it up… but I want to finish it right now while it’s fresh! Since I got it on Evernote and since I got access to the mobile version, I’ll just log on and find what is it I was trying to recall. There, now I’ll be able to finish this up.

So, there you have it. A few ideas of how to use Evernote. If you would like to find out how to use Evernote on your computer and mobile phone, check out their website. It’s a closed beta… however, I do got some invites, so if you want one, just leave a comment. Just do me a favor and put your e-mail address in the e-mail and say you would like one.

Evernote 3: My External Brain [Software Review]

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When I introduced “Productive Tactics”, I wanted to make articles about productive software and ways to help reader be more productive. So, I decided to take a break from my usual posts and review my current piece of software, Evernote 3 aka Evernote Beta.

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