nick5hoe.com

I know my son, Jax, is going to ask me this question someday.

How do I know? Because I just dug those suckers out from the cupboard above the fridge last night!

What’s even crazier is that only one of those are NEW. That’s right- I recycled all of the other new ones the moment they showed up on my doorstep. And the ONLY reason I kept that one new book was because of the pretty sweet coupons in it- but that one is gone now too because I realized I could just take the coupons out and save my cupboards the space. (I actually tweeted about how I’m going to use these this year here.)
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Head on over to ChurchDrop.com and check out my post about an interesting evangelism app! (It’ll be worth it, I promise!)

I was just over at ChurchCrunch reading through the open thread comments about how Google’s latest addition to Gmail, Buzz, is or isn’t the stuff for ministry.

While I’m still withholding the jury on this one while I let it sink in and really take some time to check it out, a lot of people have already written it off. Calling Buzz “noise“, “more noise“, and “the coolest new technology that I won’t be using.“.

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Product Manager Peter Deng explains the ins and outs of the redesign, as well as the reasoning behind it. Spoiler alert- it’s for a better UI (user interface) experience.
Here’s the video from Mashable’s Ben Parr:

More features after the jump!
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The release of the new homepage for Facebook has begun recently, and if yours hasn’t shifted yet, don’t worry, it will. Facebook has simplified the homepage to make it more user friendly. The same information is there, just in less space- something needed with the popularity of netbooks, and with the iPad on the horizon.

1. New requests, messages, and notifications are grouped together by the logo (clicking on the logo will take you to the home page as well). If you’re wondering what I’m talking about- they’re the shadowed icons to the right of the logo.

2. News Feed: The News Feed now includes the ability to update your status, as well as Top News (the most popular happenings among your friends, be it comments, becoming a fan, or joining a group) and Most Recent (what’s happening now- the live update). Formerly these were were labeled View News Feed and View Live Feed respectively.

3. Account drop-down. This is where all the buttons that used to be on the top bar went to. Edit Friends, Account Settings, Privacy Settings, Application Settings, Credits Balance, Help Center, and Logout now live here.

4. Bookmarks. If you didn’t even know these existed before, don’t worry too much about it (they used to be on the bottom left, opposite the chat box).

5. Friends Online. This is a new feature. The friends that will show up here are the ones you interact with the most on Facebook- be it messages, chat or wall posts- the rest of your online friends are viewable in chat.

6. Chat. Almost the same as before- the drag and drop feature has been removed, so you’ll just have to add friends to lists by typing.

Like it, love it, hate it?

You might be saying to yourself, but wait- don’t you already have a site?

Yes.

Then why this new one?

I have my own business now- and I thought it was time to get my own real website- not just a decent blog.

And with that, NickShoe.org begins.

~NickShoe

Ok- so I’ve been busy!

On with the shininess!

Ode to Wordpress
By NickShoe

Wordpress, oh Wordpress…
You push me to success.
I do not fear your code,
I embrace what others may loathe.

Easy as a button,
It’s almost like doin’ nothin’.
~Fin~

THAT’S RIGHT! WORDPRESS is being featured this week- why? BECAUSE IT’S MY FREAKIN’ BLOG, THAT’S WHY!

And because it’s so great! For example, check out my portfolio site that I put up BEFORE 10AM this morning! While it’s not even near finished, the basics are there- and that’s the important part.

Wordpress truly is plug and play. And when teamed with Dreamhost things really get cooking.

There are TWO options when it comes to Wordpress. Wordpress.com is free, but there are limits to free. Wordpress.org breaks the glass ceiling of blogging- something I really like!

Here’s the run-down:
What ➲ Wordpress
Cost ➲ FREE! (for Wordpress.com hosting; to sign up a site on Wordpress.org’s platform, you need to get some hosting and domain registration. I recommend Dreamhost because I use it!)
Where to get it ➲ Wordpress.com or Wordpress.org
Shininess ➲ 4.75 out of 5
My Recommendation ➲ Absofreakinlutely!
Got a Shiny Object for SHiNY FRiDAY!? Let me know about it!!
~NickShoe

OK- so I missed a couple weeks. Last week- no excuse. Week before, I blame Carlos Whittaker and Holiday Hotness. But enough with the blame.

IT’S SHINY FRIDAY!

There was a lot of stuff that happened this week in the world of Social Media. (Incidentally, I’ve added that category over there ➲.)
So it was a toss up between Google Chrome for Mac and the Hoot Suite app for iPhone (iTunes link). And since I pimped an iPhone app last time, and since Hoot Suite just came out yesterday, I went with Google Chrome for Mac.

I had been using Firefox as my default browser, and had heard the musings of Chrome by Windows users. So when it was released this week I downloaded it. Granted- it’s beta, but so far I’ve been impressed.

Features that I’ve found especially useful are those like the “Inspect Element” option when you secondary click on a particular part of a page. This is great for me as I hone my skills in web design, to see how a particular part of a page is coded out. Whereas before, it was trying to find the specific spot in the entire page source.

Another feature that is just cool is the “Search-from-the-address-bar-feature”. I know it sounds big, but it really is simple. You can either enter a url in the url bar or just type key words or whatever you’re searching for. It virtually eliminates those annoying “non-existant” pages that come up with a search punched into an url field.

I’m on the fence about the password-keychain feature, but I haven’t really dove into it that much to pass too much judgement on it. Here’s the run-down:
What ➲ Google Chrome for Mac
Cost ➲ FREE!
Where to get it ➲ Google
Shininess ➲ 4 out of 5
My Recommendation ➲ A must have for every Mac user. (unless you’re an unfortunate soul that thinks Safari still has it)

Got a Shiny Object for SHiNY FRiDAY!? Let me know about it!
~NickShoe

I often joke with others about my uncanny ability to be distracted by shiny objects. Some say I’m ADD. I say those people just can’t think as fast as I can.

Or I say that I don’t have ADD, I have ADOS- Attention Deficit Oooooh Shiny….

Either way, shiny stuff is SWEET! And for me the shiniest stuff is centered in the tech market. Apps, software, hardware, Macs, everything at Brookstone- all of it makes me want to forget about everything else and just go head-long into it’s oblivion.

BUT.
I can’t do that. So I’d like to take Fridays to tell you, all 3 of you, about my latest Shiny Object- the thing that has me so entranced that my gorgeous wife has to smack me on the back of the head to answer her question of whether or not I fed the dog.

First up for SHINY FRIDAY:

The North Face Snow Report App

This is by far the most in-depth snow report app I’ve found. And the price is pretty sweet too. I really think they thought of everything with this one. A super-customizable and intuitive interface allows you to not only get the latest snow-casts from your favorite mountain, but also includes such great bonuses as webcam links and actual weather forecasts (complete with radar).
Other features include a Locate function to help users get driving directions utilizing Google Maps, and a Trail Maps function that gives you details about the lay of the resort you’ve chosen.
This app was originally released last December and Version 2.0 only gets better. With 24, 48 and 72 hour snowfall totals you’ll always have the latest conditions. And you can tell everyone about it with the resort-specific Twitter feed that lets you post tweets directly form the app!

I’m going to give this Shiny Object a 4.5 out of 5 Shininess Rating, with the hope that it will only get better with more interface and user capabilities.

What ➲ The North Face Snow Report App
Cost ➲ FREE!
Where to get it ➲ iTunes App Store
Shininess ➲ 4.5 out of 5
NickShoe’s Recommendation ➲ Are you kidding me? It’s $FREE.99! Go get it!

Got a Shiny Object for SHINY FRIDAY!? Let me know about!

~NickShoe

With the boom- no SONIC BOOM- of social networking/media the question begs to be answered.

It’s not all of life, but it is a significant part. Don’t agree?

Watch this:

If you are still holding out, stop. Get on facebook. Get on twitter. If you don’t like it, give it more time. If you still don’t like it, that’s cool, at least you gave it effort (not tried).

~NickShoe