Chris Pirillo » Community

L’eggo My Eggo!!

Chris — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:09:05 +0000

L’eggo My Eggo!! is a post from Chris Pirillo

Wait. Back up. Hold the phone. Rewind a moment. PAUSE! STOP!!!! What the hell is going on?! No more Eggos?! Someone has lost their freaking minds!!

Kellog’s has had to close their Atlanta plant – the second such closure in recent days due to operational issues. They claim to be working hard to re-stock all of the stores that carry their famous waffles. But for now… there is actually a shortage. Many thousands of people are going to have to go through painful withdrawals every morning! This, folks, is a crisis of epic proportions!

Breakfast without Eggos is like… macaroni without cheese… peanut butter without jelly… Bert without Ernie! It just doesn’t work. It’s not cool. It should be illegal!!! I think I need a paper bag. So this is what hyperventilating feels like!

How are you going to survive your Eggo withdrawal? Will you replace your old standby with something new, or simply starve every morning until they return to your grocer’s shelves?

Losing out on Eggo’s isn’t even the only newsworthy event that has been written about in our community today. People are talking about all kinds of things. I hope you haven’t missed any of them!

Even the downloads center has been busy today! We have a few excellent new Apps for you to check out!

How Can Companies Hire Social Media Directors?

Chris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:59:02 +0000

How Can Companies Hire Social Media Directors? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I came across an interesting link today while browsing Twitter. The author writes about how companies who are new to social media are failing miserably when it comes to writing job descriptions for their newly-created social media positions. He goes on to say he used to blame the companies themselves for writing poorly-constructed ads. Then, he realized that it isn’t the company’s fault at all. They don’t know what they’re doing, remember? They are new to this whole social media scene, and may not even know what it is they are looking FOR, exactly.

How would you suggest a company create a position for this, and market it? What should they look for? How should their ads be worded to be the most effective? I think that the social media experts in our community are the perfect place to get ideas flowing, and help these companies out!

What have you read today that sparked your imagination and interest, or made you stop and think? Make sure you share the links with the rest of us, so we don’t miss out!

Don’t miss our downloads center today! There are some excellent deals for both Windows and Mac people!

Create Your Own WordPress Themes

Chris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:30:29 +0000

Create Your Own WordPress Themes is a post from Chris Pirillo

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If you have a blog, you have a theme. Chances are, you downloaded a theme off the web somewhere. It’s okay that you don’t know how to code your own customized theme from scratch! Very few people are capable of doing this. You want your blog to say “YOU”, but you don’t want to pay a designer a ton of money to accomplish this. It’s a good thing Artisteer now makes it simple for you to create and customize your own WordPress theme with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Everything and anything you can think of that you might want to tweak in your layout can be done easily with Artisteer in just a few seconds. You don’t have to try to learn HTML or even CSS. All you have to be able to do is click your mouse buttons, and decide what look is right for you.

Move your gadgets to a different side. Change up your text with different colors and fonts. Heck, change the header or background image while you’re at it. Don’t like what you’re seeing? Psh! Just click a button and start completely over. It really is that easy.

Best of all, Artisteer doesn’t only work on WordPress. Create designs for web pages, Blogger Blogs, or make professional Joomla! and Drupal templates.

Artisteer is probably my favorite new discovery in a long time. I’m having so much fun that I’ve now created probably 30 different themes, just by playing around. The only limitation to this program is your own imagination. So… get creative!

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LeapFish Sponsors Tweet-a-Cause: Tweet to Send Ill Child to Disneyland

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:19:13 +0000

LeapFish Sponsors Tweet-a-Cause: Tweet to Send Ill Child to Disneyland is a post from Chris Pirillo

I remember going to Disneyland for the first time, but it wasn’t as a child. I was much, much older (and still as enchanted by what I saw there). Do you have any memories of going to Disneyland?

Jacob is a four-year old with Atresia who has always wanted to go – and you have a chance to help his wish come true with a simple tweet. LeapFish teamed up with the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation® to help Jacob get to Disneyland. Tweet-a-Cause gives Twitter users the power. That’s you!

So, LeapFish is making a donation per tweet sent to the Make-A-Wish Foundation until $10,000 has been raised. They’re inviting you to tweet to raise awareness for children who need your help. What do you need to tweet? Click This or copy / paste the following into your Twitter client:

Just tweeted to grant a child’s wish! #leapfish donates to #makeawish foundation for each tweet. http://bit.ly/3KgyQX

With any luck, we can use our small influence to make a big difference in Jacob’s life.

What Drives Your Productivity?

Chris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:08:57 +0000

What Drives Your Productivity? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Being sick has its advantages – ones I never knew about! I have had some sort of crazy virus for several days now. I admit to spending one entire day sleeping it off as best I could. I stayed out of my office for the most part, and knocked myself out with the medicines the doctor gave me. Since that day, I’ve spent as much time as possible doing nothing other than sitting in my office. Since that happens to be where I work… I’ve actually accomplished quite a lot! I haven’t felt like going anywhere really, or “doing” anything much.

I’ve managed to catch up on some reading I felt I was behind on. I have come up with some ideas for upcoming projects. And, I’ve even managed to croak out some geeky new videos for the YouTube channel. I’m ahead of myself on those, which is kind of cool. Usually, the things I record are uploaded immediately the next day. Now I have a bit of a “buffer”, in case there’s a day I am too busy with other things to record.

As backwards as it seems, being sick has made me more productive. What helps boost your “get things done” levels? Also – what do you spend the most time doing when you’re sick? Do you curl up in front of the tv, or read a book? Do you spend all of your time sleeping? Or, are you like me and plant yourself in front of the computer monitors?

Don’t forget to check out all of the hot new apps we have for you in our downloads center. Today you’ll find several things for Windows, as well as mobile devices!

Are You Ready for the Holidays?

Chris — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:28:33 +0000

Are You Ready for the Holidays? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and Christmas is but a few weeks away? I was aghast yesterday when I walked into a store that was playing Christmas carols… until I realized what the date was. Holy crap where did the year go? I haven’t even started to think about holiday shopping yet, never mind actually DOING any shopping.

After I had my little panic attack, I sat down to check out what was going on around out community. Low and behold… people are talking about the upcoming festivities. They’re figuring out what to cook with their turkeys, and what the hottest new gifts are for this year. Geez I’m way behind, aren’t I?

I was happy as hell to see that the holidays aren’t the only thing that people are chattering about. Thankfully, I found many interesting and informative blogs and threads on a huge variety of topics to keep me busy… and to get my mind back OFF of the holiday season. I’m just not ready quite yet!

Every day we bring you the newest and hottest software deals that we can find. Make sure you check back every day so that you don’t miss a single deal!

Do You Welcome Conversation from Rude People?

Chris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:14:37 +0000

Do You Welcome Conversation from Rude People? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Last night, I wrote here on my blog about people interrupting conversations, and asked for comments as to how to filter out “noise”. I’ve received several follow-up comments and emails today, and I appreciate them. I want to use some of them to facilitate even more discussion, so keep your eyes open for that in the coming days.

Kevin was one person who wrote in, talking about his disgust with people who are rude, and who try to force their opinions on him. He makes several very good points, and I wanted to share them with the community.

I read your recent article on how people often get involved in flaming other people’s online discussions, and thought about that for awhile.
On one hand, I am on your side totally because I like healthy debate and I respect that any other person has a right to an opinion. What I object to is when a person is influential in some way, and figures they can command changes that many of us mere mortals do not support or like.
When this happens, who is right… and who is wrong? The answer is that both camps are, because whatever they are discussing and supporting matters to them. One is not “wrong” because of something they believe in. Just because it is different than what I think or believe, does not mean that I feel a person is wrong.
People who add to discussions online often need to remember that much of what they say is a matter of personal opinion. So often, I don’t even see people bother to try and back up what they claim with any type of cold, hard facts or evidence. Unfortunately a lot of modern day computing is personal taste and I resent someone else trying to force their idea of what works for them down my throat.
I have made significant effort to try and work with Windows 7. I don’t like it very well, but I expect I will have little choice going forward. Sadly, the Windows 7 lovers are too busy trying to shove the product down my throat to stop and listen to what I have to say about the operating system. I am 58 years old, and have worked in IT for more than 30 years. I may be a plodder, but am also a survivor. I value the views and opinions I make through proper testing, solid analysis and a bit of “personal taste” thrown in for good measure.
The fact is that I don’t really like Windows 7. I find a few very large flaws with it for people who are used to XP. There is a problem with not properly upgrading from XP to Windows 7 that is not being addressed as far as I can see. There is no classic start bar feature as we would expect. There is also no repair/restore feature like XP had. These things are killer omissions for die-hard XP users.
When I attempt to talk to people who are touting Windows 7 as the next great product of all time, they don’t want to hear what I have to say. They don’t want any opinion that differs from their own. I get flamed for daring to speak out against the o/s in any way. It’s very annoying to have made an informed opinion, based on facts and evidence, only to be told to basically shut up and go away. My opinion doesn’t count to many people, simply because they feel they are right.
When will people wake up, and remember to respect other people’s views, and take the time to learn more themselves by welcoming opinions that are different than theirs?

Kevin is right. Too often these days, people don’t like to listen to things that are outside of their comfort zone. They don’t want to hear anything that goes against what they think is “right”.

What are your thoughts on this? Are you finding yourself up against a seemingly endless stream of negativity at every turn, or are there only a handful of us experiencing this?

Can Online Discussions Always Be Positive?

Chris — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:27:45 +0000

Can Online Discussions Always Be Positive? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I noticed a thread today on Geeks that is talking about how discussions always end up turning negative in some way. This got me to thinking about conversations I have all over the web – on Geeks, over at Lockergnome, here in my blog, and even on sites like Twitter. It seems no matter what you’re trying to talk about, someone is going to be negative in some way. The people in this particular thread are right – it truly is annoying.

I’m not talking about differing opinions. Those are great, and I welcome them. Hopefully, you like hearing them as well. Having different viewpoints on things allows us to stretch our minds in directions they may not have otherwise gone. It can make us look at things in a whole new way, from a completely different perspective.

The negativity I’m referring to is exactly as it sounds – negativity, for no reason other than to be rude/demeaning. You’ll be having a conversation that’s going along nicely, and some person pops their nose in and starts going off on a tangent about something that may or may not relate to your discussion. They may even be completely rude about it, or directly “attack” someone involved in the thread/post. I really hate that. What’s the point of it? Why must Internet trolls even exist? Can’t we just like shoot them out of a cannon or something?

Seriously, though, why does it seem so difficult these days to have a completely intelligent conversation with others without the fear of someone taking it down a road it should never go? What are your thoughts? Are you seeing more and more of this lately, and how do you get past it to continue your discussion? What else are you reading and/or participating in online that has your mind stretching?

We have several excellent new Apps and Programs available today in our downloads center for Windows Mobile operating systems, as well as for OS X!

When is Your Birthday?

Chris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:41:45 +0000

When is Your Birthday? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I noticed around the web that we have three community members celebrating birthdays today! Traci Toguchi, Frank Eliason and Drew Olanoff will all be blowing out candles today. Now, normally I’d say a simple “Happy Birthday!” and be done with it. However, realizing today is Drew’s birthday gave me pause, and made me think…

Six months ago, Drew completely sure what his future held. He was diagnosed with cancer back in May, and the fight began. He finished up his last Chemo treatment a week ago, and the doctors have given him the awesome news that his tumors are gone. He is free of that stupid disease, hopefully forever. He continues his fight against Cancer, with the support of many thousands of people… including Drew Carey. In order to help raise money for the Livestrong foundation, all you have to do is click that little “Follow” button on Drew Carey’s Twitter page. For every follower – up to one million – that Drew gets prior to midnight on New Year’s Eve, he will donate one more dollar. How cool is that?

Thinking about all of this, and Drew O’s birthday, kind of puts life into perspective a little, eh? It makes one remember to stop and be thankful for what we have… right here, right now. It makes us want to push ourselves a little harder to do the things we promised ourselves we would do. It makes us want to reach out and tell those we care about that we do, in fact, love them.

Cancer touches everyone. EVERYONE. In some way or another, your life will be affected by Cancer at some point. Even though Drew’s personal fight may have come to an end, the war has only begun. Keep doing your part in kicking Cancer’s ass, everyone. We won’t rest until we eradicate it for good.

Birthdays aren’t the only thing going on in our community today, as you know. All of you are busy posting and writing, sharing your thoughts and dreams. What have you read that was interesting or thought-provoking? If I missed something, please leave a follow-up comment and share it with the rest of us!

Today in our downloads center, we have several excellent apps for Windows. Be sure to check them out!

CNN Blogger Bunch: Windows 7 and Hulu Subscriptions

Chris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:30:26 +0000

CNN Blogger Bunch: Windows 7 and Hulu Subscriptions is a post from Chris Pirillo

I was recently featured on CNN live website, along with my buddies Pete Cashmore (from Mashable) and Brian Chen (from Wired). We had a great time discussing things like Windows 7 and the announcement of Hulu subscriptions. It’s an interesting roundtable from the three of us self-avowed “Mac” guys, who all have extensive Windows experience.

As I stated during the discussion, I believe the operating system is becoming irrelevant in the days where everyone logs in to their computer, and immediately opens a web browser.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel as we tune more and more into the Web that things such as actual operating systems will become more irrelevant?

What is Twitter Good For?

Chris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:28:56 +0000

What is Twitter Good For? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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An acquaintance of mine, Deb, made an interesting assertion at the [re]Think Hawaii conference last week. She suggested that Twitter is where conversations are happening. I suggested that that isn’t quite accurate.

As you very well know, I am on Twitter. However, I don’t use it to have conversations as some of you do. To me, trying to use Twitter to have a conversation is similar to using a screwdriver to pound a nail into a steel door. Sure, it’s a tool… but are you using that tool the way it was designed?

Twitter wasn’t designed for conversations. It’s difficult to track them. To go one level deep into an interaction is an exercise in futility. Have you ever gone to a person’s page, and seen ten tweets in a row, complete with several @msgs? It’s impossible to follow.

I say that if you want to have an actual conversation, I feel you should be doing so somewhere like FriendFeed or Facebook. That is easy to track. Twitter wasn’t built with threading in mind. It’s a great tool, don’t get me wrong. It’s just not a place to have conversations. Don’t use it in ways it was never meant to be used.

Sooner or later, I’m sure that Twitter will figure out a way to make it easy to follow threads and conversations. A one-to-one is done easily via a direct message… such as with IM or email.

I’m going on record as a person in the world of social media, and state outright that Twitter isn’t a good way to have a conversation. If someone @myself, I tend to follow up via email or DM if I want to reply to or address whatever it was. However, it’s very seldom that I try to interact with someone on a one-on-one basis on Twitter. I usually only share information that I think would be funny/interesting/informative to my community.

I could be wrong, of course. This is just my opinion. If you do disagree with me, you can say so on Twitter, or even here on my blog.

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Google Goes Sesame Street

Chris — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:57:19 +0000

Google Goes Sesame Street is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that Google is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street this week. A few days ago, Big Bird graced the famous search engine’s page. Next up was the Cookie Monster!! (Who doesn’t love cookies?). Today, I see Bert and Ernie smiling out at me. What’s up next? Will we see Elmo tomorrow? Personally, I vote for Grover. Grover was always my favorite.

While it’s whimsical and fun to remember our childhoods every time we load Google, some people are quite upset over this celebration. One of our community members “left” Google this week in disgust. He changed over to Bing as his search engine of choice, and vows to never return to Google. Why is he so upset? He feels it is a slap in the face to Americans that Google refuses to acknowledge the events of 9-11 with a remembrance on the site, while they embrace children’s television as though it were far more important than a day that shaped our history – and our country.

He makes a good point, you know. Of course 9-11 isn’t a day to “celebrate”. But who says that everything has to be a celebration? A simple but elegant tribute on September 11th on Google’s page would show that we haven’t forgotten. It would show that Google truly cares about the people they serve, and not just the numbers they rack up on a daily basis. It would show – much more so than Sesame Street does – that Google has humans running around in their offices somewhere.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel that Google is “right” in not commemorating the attack on America, instead favoring things like the anniversary of the Muppets? What else have you read or talked about today that might provoke a good debate or discussion? I know that there has been a lot going on in our community.

Don’t forget to take a few moments to check out all of the latest new software and app updates that we have found for you. You can get a lot of excellent titles at little to no cost!

Are There Any Drawbacks to Being a Geek?

Chris — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:58:57 +0000

Are There Any Drawbacks to Being a Geek? is a post from Chris Pirillo

My mouth hit the floor when I read the title of this thread earlier on Geeks. A drawback to being a Geek – what?! Are you kidding me? Being a Geek is the best possible thing to be. We have it all – brains, looks, girls… what more could we want? The looks, well, just because they are funny looks at times means nothing. It’s just part of the total package that makes us so amazingly perfect, right? And the girls – ahhh, the girls – we all know that Geek boys get all the girls, right? Wait, what? You have trouble finding a girlfriend? Well, perhaps if you showered more often, and stopped being so nervous around the fairer sex. Fine. The looks and the girls may be lacking. But we have the brains! And the brains get us the money! And the money gets us more Geeky gadgets! Who needs girls, anyway?

Ok, time to get serious here, my fellow Geeks. Do you actually feel there are drawbacks to being a Geek? I’m interested in hearing your answers. For me – life is good when you’re a Geek. I’m comfortable with who, what and how I am… and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I know that not everyone would agree, so let’s have it.

There are hundreds of excellent titles available at our downloads site, including games and other fun things to do!

What Technology has Shaped Your Life

Chris — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:33:00 +0000

What Technology has Shaped Your Life is a post from Chris Pirillo

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My cousin, Dr. Adrian Lamberti, is writing a book about technology, and wants your help. She and her co-author are putting together a book about technological history. It will look at watershed moments in communications technology, beginning with the advent of email and the World Wide Web back in the 90s. Take a listen to the video and hear the list they’ve already come up with. Then, leave a comment on the corresponding post in my blog with your ideas. Who knows? You may contribute to the book!

She also lists such things, such as MMORPGs, Google, Flickr, Twitter, blogging, Facebook, and MySpace. Also collaborative media such as Google Docs. They’ve even listed the iPhone and iPod Touch!

They are coming at this from one disciplines’ point of view. It will be radically different than what your list might be. What suggestions do you have for Adrian and her writing partner? What can you think of in the world of tech that has really impacted and/or changed your life?

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What Would You Do With a Million Dollars?

Chris — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:10:55 +0000

What Would You Do With a Million Dollars? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Over on Geeks today, people have been talking about what they’d do if they suddenly won a million dollars. It’s funny to read the answers, and touching as well. Many people would donate to charities, which I would do more of myself if I won that kind of money. I’d also invest plenty of it, in order to retire at an early age!

But we all know me, and we all know that I would be going on a massive Geeky shopping spree! There’s so many gadgets and USB gizmos out there that I don’t have yet!! Don’t lie – you know you’d be buying some, as well. So come on… tell us… what would you do if you had a cool million in your bank account?

I had a look through what’s new at our downloads site today. Holy cow there are some excellent pieces of software. Did you realize you can find everything from games to productivity software… for your Windows machine, your Mac AND your phone?

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.