Web

Yeah, Yeah... Been Gone Again

Yeah, I know... Yet another long period of time has passed since my last entry. I've been involved in many different events and activities since Dec. 9. There was a little holiday called Christmas, then New Year's and of course working towards adopting a child. Lots of paperwork, classes and other necessary work that has to be done before we can even begin the process of adopting. More on that in a future entry. I've also had my time consumed by a little device called the iPhone. Yes, for Christmas my wife got me that one gift I just had to have but wasn't going to buy for myself. Apple Inc.'s well known iPhone. You've seen the ads. You've heard the hype. You've seen the news and maybe read a review or two. I'm here to tell you.... BELIEVE EVERY POSITIVE WORD. It isn't a perfect phone, but it is far more perfect than any mobile phone I've ever used or owned. It's actually better than any phone I've every used before. More on the iPhone to come later as well.

I've been busy, VERY BUSY, at work. I arrive each day around 8:00 and leave each day around 6:00 or 6:30. Long days that go at an incredibly fast pace. My company operates in 33 markets now, crossing every time zone in the country. Since most of our major clients are either medical or financial, our clients are fast paced operations as well. Since I am the Manager of Customer Service as well as one of the chief operation managers, I stay busy answering questions, researching problems and approving actions. I love every minute, even if I'm often exhausted by days end. I don't blog much about work, and I don't see that changing. Work is work, all that needs to really be known is that I enjoy my job and the responsibilities that come with my position.

This post is short and a bit "all over the place," but I promise to try and make at least one entry a week. That's not much is it, one post a week?

Twitter - Twit - Twit

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You might have noticed on the Kellysworld.net home page there is now a small grey box that has some personal message from me. That message is provided by Twitter, an interesting mixture of instant messaging, blogging and SMS. As other's can explain this cool service better than I, please see below for the Twitter description as provided by one of my favorite web sites, Wikipedia:

"Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific. Twitter was founded in March 2006 by San Francisco start-up company Obvious Corp.

Image-Twitter
Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application. For SMS, currently three gateway numbers are available: short codes for the USA and Canada and a UK number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.

Due to Twitter's success, a large number of sites imitating its concept have sprung up around the world, offering country-specific services (e.g. frazr) or combining the micro-blogging facilities with other ideas, such as filesharing(e.g. Pownce). In May, 2007, one source counted as many as 111 such "Twitter-lookalikes" internationally."

Twitter - Twit - Twit

Screenshot_1

You might have noticed on the Kellysworld.net home page there is now a small grey box that has some personal message from me. That message is provided by Twitter, an interesting mixture of instant messaging, blogging and SMS. As other's can explain this cool service better than I, please see below for the Twitter description as provided by one of my favorite web sites, Wikipedia:

"Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific. Twitter was founded in March 2006 by San Francisco start-up company Obvious Corp.

Image-Twitter
Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application. For SMS, currently three gateway numbers are available: short codes for the USA and Canada and a UK number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.

Due to Twitter's success, a large number of sites imitating its concept have sprung up around the world, offering country-specific services (e.g. frazr) or combining the micro-blogging facilities with other ideas, such as filesharing(e.g. Pownce). In May, 2007, one source counted as many as 111 such "Twitter-lookalikes" internationally."

Could Apple Be Planning Movie Rentals???

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I was reading an article on MacRumors I saw a posting that showed this image of an iTunes support page dropdown that included the following (click on image):

  • DidNotReceiveMovie-RentalMovie
  • AccidentalPurchase-RentalMovie
  • ContentQuality-RentalMovie
  • DuplicatePurchase-RentalMovie
  • WrongVErsion-RentalMovie
  • BadMetadata-RentalMovie
  • Other-RentalMovie
There have been rumors that movie rentals were coming to iTunes. While Steve Jobs seems dead set against a subscription model for music (I agree with this stance), a rental plan for movies makes sense. The rumor is that you could rent the movie for 30 days for $2.99 and be able to move it to one other device (i.e., iPod, AppleTV, iPhone, etc...).

Read the MacRumors article

Tracy's Web Galleries

Tracy's Web Gallery

Tracy has created a couple of web galleries using .Mac and iLife '08. I have to admit, they are pretty amazing tools. The look of the galleries is simply fantastic.

They may not as be as functional as Flickr, nor have the same amount of inexpensive storage; but Apple graphical and design prowess are undeniable. When viewing photos you have several different views: Grid, Mosaic, Carousel and the ubiquitous slideshow. In "Grid" and "Mosaic" you can reize all the photos on the fly, with Grid being the default mode and Mosaic probably being the mode folks will enjoy the most for finding the photos they want to see. Then there are the two modes best for just watching photos, "Carousel" and "Slideshow."

Slideshow works exactly as you might expect, with play and pause. The look is fantastic. Then in Carousel you view the photos from left to right with the photos zooming into view; as if you were scanning through them on your desk. It's a view you have seen in photo programs, but not much on the web.

The entire album gives you a great deal of ability to customize your view, more so than Flickr or any other photo website. So check out Tracy's photos and enjoy the exceptional "Apple Experience."

Links to her web galleries are below:
Photography - Architecture
Photography - Nature
Photography - People

Website for Carlos - First Year

Tracy has created a website just for Carlos Jr. It's dedicated to his first year, and his very first birthday. I might also mention that this is really Tracy's first website. Visit "About Being Born." The site has a video that I created recently in honor of his first birthday, plus many, many photos.

Let Tracy know what you think of her creation by dropping line. Click here to e-mail Tracy. I'm sure we will be seeing many more web pages in the near future!

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Jessica & Chris - Wedding Shower

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This evening Tracy and I attended the Couple Wedding Shower for Jessica and Chris. Their wedding is in a few short weeks, that's right my best friend and my brother are getting married only weeks apart; and a few thousand miles. The theme of the wedding shower was "Beach Party" and Chris' parents really did a great job. The food was great, the games fun and the atmosphere just like it should be; warm and friendly.

I brought my camera along and just felt compelled to take photos. I love photography and just don't take enough photos, although Tracy would probably disagree with that statement. Tonight I got a few good shots, of course I took nearly 300 pictures. I'v haven't culled through them yet, but did quickly choose about 30 or so that I liked and put them up on Flickr. The link is below, if you are interested in seeing them.

Photos of Wedding Shower

Eternal Magic - Magical Issues

If you happen to visit EternalMagic.net you might notice that the contact page and the gallery are missing. That's for two separate reasons.

The contact page was removed because I have begun getting a great deal of junk e-mail from that page. Apparently EternalMagic has been struck by the bane of the internet, web crawlers that use forms like my contact page to sell the wares and ideas of some moron hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. May they swim in the swill they create.

The other problem is an outgrowth of that problem, combined with the simple fact that I will have to resource the photos in my web authoring software. My software ties directly into iPhoto, but I don't use iPhoto anymore; a change that took place only in the past few months. On KellysWorld I've been working on moving my photos into a more archival friendly and web friendly format.

While the contact form probably won't return, the galleries will. I have no plan to remove the website anytime soon; although I don't see any updates to it of any major degree. It's a part of our wedding, a part of our history.