Earlier tonight, I posted here on my blog about what to do with your digital assets when you pass away. That’s quite thought-provoking, isn’t it? Think about it. I bet you have a Myspace or Facebook account. You probably have a Twitter account. I *hope* you have a Geeks account. You have email accounts. You have IM accounts. I have no idea what all other websites and forums you might belong to, as well. Face it – your life is online a lot more than you probably realize.

Thinking of our own mortality is not something we generally like to do. I know I don’t, and I’m willing to bet you don’t either. Sadly, it’s a fact of life… we will all die one day. Instead of putting something important off until a tomorrow that may never come, you should do something about it today. Check out that post, and the site that it talks about. Do yourself, your friends, your family and your social contacts a favor, and make the inevitable a little easier for them to manage.

I didn’t only read my own posts today, though. Of course I spent time going through our great community, seeing what all of you are up to. I love doing these roundups, where I can highlight some of the best that’s out there. Make sure you take time to check in on others… and post something great yourself, so that you can be featured next!

• Apple’s App banning policy – is there an App for that?
• How do you fix a budding community that has gone awry?
• Share your music and be your own DJ!
• What exactly is FeedMil?
• Have you ever deleted a Linux partition in Windows?
• Happy Cinco de Mayo – with excellent Mexican food and beer!
• Google has hired goats?!
• Is Oracle a threat to OpenOffice?
• Create your own Twitter clone.
• Create QR codes and barcodes with ease.
• Are parental controls needed for kids with iPhones?
• Are Smart Cars and a Smart Grid the answer to our energy woes?
• Time Warner wants Consumption-Based billing in their company.

• How Has Social Media Changed Your Life?
• Are YOU a Social Media Geek?
• Do you Network Socially Too Much?
• The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth
• Are You a Social Media Sweetheart?
• Are You a Victim of Wanderlust?
• You Need a Thick Skin to Participate Online
• Can a Company Take Social Networking too Far?
• Inspire Yourself in Twelve Seconds
• Walk Loud and Carry a Soft Stick

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Inevitably, we’re not going to be here at some point in time. Death comes to us all. In knowing our own mortality, we can enjoy life while we’re here. What happens to your online self when you pass on, though? I’ve had to deal with online friends who have passed away. Not only is it very upsetting emotionally – it also can be confusing. You still have them as contacts on all of your social sites. You know you should delete them – but you just can’t make yourself. So what should you do to help make this situation easier? What happens to “you” when you pass away?

There’s a service that a friend of mine has created that can help you handle all of this. Legacy Locker is a safe, secure repository for your digital property that lets you grant access to online assets for friends and loved ones in the event of death or disability.

Sign up for an account. This will then become the place that when you’re no longer around, your loved ones (whom you choose) can gain access to your accounts everywhere. They can then take control of your online life… either removing or archiving your content. They can carry out whatever wishes you have about the online content and life you have created.

I want to make sure everything is taken care of the way I want it when I pass on. I have created an account with Legacy Locker, and I have given access to two people that I trust completely to carry out those wishes.

If you click the sign up button, you’ll be taken to the pricing page. You can get a free account that allows you to give access to one person, and store only three assets. We all have a lot more than three! You can choose to pay a yearly subscription at about $30.00. Or… you can choose to pay a one-time fee of $299.00 – and have this service for life. Think about it… do the math… that’s a good deal.

It’s even better if you sign up and use coupon code chrispirillo. In that case, you’ll save $50.00!! That’s one heck of a deal.

If you haven’t taken a look at this yet, I really think that you should. You never know what can or will happen tomorrow.

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• How Much of Your Life is Online?
• Facing Death
• I Worked with James Kim

Both Anita and Marc have left us… and it’s just now starting to sink in. TheMacinjosh is one friend who responded to something I posted to YouTube the other day:

I just watched your video about your friends that recently passed away…and I can tell they obviously meant a lot to you, as they did to many others and I’m sorry to hear about the sad news. I have been thinking about how we all have to face death too, probably in another capacity though…and my thoughts have been brought on by anxiety issues I’ve had lately, but still…it’s been really bothering me. It’s just that I want to believe that our consciousness lives on somehow, but it’s really difficult to fathom what we even could experience after this life. I just hope I can find some sort of reassurance before my time comes, because to be honest I am scared, especially knowing that life is such a fragile thing and there really is no guarantee that we will all have each other the next day, or hour or whatever. I completely agree that we need to not take anyone for granted, whether we encounter people in real life or virtually.

This is the video he’s talking about:

I mentioned Marc and Gnomedex in my first post about his heart attack – and someone accused me of using the tradgedy as a way to plug the conference. Nothing could have been further from the truth, and I’ve read more than a few blogs about Marc’s passing which specifically reference meeting him at Gnomedex. Hey, that was the last time some of us saw him – myself included.

Leave it to Scoble to find one of my old Flickr photos – and this may very well be the only photo to ever have been taken with both Marc and Anita in it:

Take care, gang…

• How Much of Your Life is Online?
• How to Save Your Digital Assets When You Die
• I Worked with James Kim

I don’t have a lot of time right now, and there’s not much more I can add to the conversations already happening. Suffice it to say, I’m extremely saddened to hear the news of News.com“>James Kim’s passing. I was one of the few who had the EXTREMELY distinct pleasure to work with James at TechTV – and his “Lab Rats” segments were some of the best we did. I could always trust his advice, as he always seemed to know more than anybody else (in a day before Gizmodo and Engadget).

I’ve been scouring my archives to find a photo of us doing something together on Call for Help, but I can’t find one – and if anybody else has one, I’d certainly appreciate it.

What’s so ironic about this tragedy is that James, of all people, was the person most likely to have gadgets that could have saved him. I don’t mean that as a “shoulda, coulda, woulda” statement, mind you – just that I knew James was about as geeky as they came. If anything, I believe he’d want us to learn from his passing; Duncan posted a handful of fantastic tips, should you find yourself in a similar situation some day. Please read James and Kati’s Web site for all the latest official information, including where to send your donations.

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