For the past few months I’ve held back from posting here. It’s a special place, and I really don’t want to just put up random posts. However, I have started a few other blogs in the meantime, where you can find me blogging somewhat regularly (especially compared to this!):
Life with Cerebellar Hypoplasia: My cat has this condition called Cerebellar Hypoplasia, which basically means his fine motor skills and coordination aren’t that great. I adore him, but kitties like him need extra patience, attention and an owner who knows a few tips and tricks for dealing with the condition. I post my suggestions, stories and notes about adoptable cats with his condition here.
Love it. Matt and Amanda plan their wedding: Now this one’s a bit more obvious. My best friend asked me to marry him in September, and this blog chronicles our adventures and choices together.
Matt and Amanda Go Paleo: This blog was my fiance’s idea. He’s trying a new diet for 40 days (I’m trying it too!) and we’re blogging our successes, failures and thoughts.
Anyway, thanks again for reading! Hope to be back soon.
Your brand is what you claim yourself to be. Your reputation is what others claim you to be.
I read that today, and it stuck with me.
Lately I’ve become more and more aware of companies, blogs (ha, perhaps my own since I let it starve for so long) and people who have brands and reputations that just don’t match. By that I mean that their reputation, or what I learn about them, isn’t of the same quality as their claimed brand. Too often an entity is claimed to be a leader or the best in a certain space or industry, and upon closer inspection, it’s just not true. And it doesn’t take a leader to realize it.
Sure that may be mean or cynical, but I think situations like that are becoming more obvious — and more of a concern. See, I think a good reputation can keep a brand strong. But too often it seems the brand’s fragile facade has a crumbling reputation inside. And you can’t hide something like that for long.
Anyway, it’s just a thought — and it makes me wonder what will happen to these entities in the future.
As of Feb. 25, Facebook Fan Page status updates should begin appearing in Google search results, according to Read Write Web. This means we’ll start to see updates from roughly 3 million fan pages, but not the updates from the 400 million profiles. What are your thoughts on this? Do you welcome Facebook updates in Google? Do you wish the profile updates would be included? Or is all of this unnecessary?
Phishing attacks have been happeningoften, so take care that you don’t click on certain links.
The trouble is that these links may be from friends on Twitter; some of the messages have said things like “This you????”
If you click on a phishing link, you’ll be prompted to log in again. It will appear to be Twitter, but if you look closely at the URL, you will see it is not Twitter.
If you’ve clicked on one of these links, change your Twitter password immediately. If you need more information, check out the Twitter Blog.
Facebook’s privacy controls has now come to Facebook Connect and other applications. It appears that every time you post something, you’re given the choice to share it with a specific group of friends. Read more.
Blackberry users—Amazon.com has released its new, free Kindle application for Blackberry, according to PCWorld. While you can access the 400,000-some digital books available, users cannot access newspapers, magazines and blogs like they can on the Kindle. What do you think? Will you use this new app? Do you have a Kindle?
I may be late to the party for this one, but I recently discovered Google Docs Templates. If you’re a fan (or not yet a fan) of Google Docs, these templates may inspire you to use them more often. Did you know they existed? Which ones do you/will you use?
If you’re a fan of RSS technology – and RSS readers – you’ll be happy to know that Google now allows you to subscribe to any page on the Web. All you need to do is type (yes, any) Web site’s URL into the “Add a subscription” field, and Google will subscribe to that page for you. What will happen? You’ll receive short messages anytime the page is updated. According to Mashable, Google’s working on improving these messages.
Apparently a number of big changes are coming to Digg, according to Mashable and Telegraph. The new version can be expected in the next few months, and according to Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, these changes could shock some people. The changes will focus on the navigation bar, Digg buttons and photos. Are you on Digg? What do you think about this news? What changes would you like to see?
The Associated Press has returned to Google News. Unfortunately, there aren’t any details on why Google News is now including AP articles, which had been absent for nearly a month. Read more. Do you care if Google indexes AP stories? Why or why not?
The past year has brought about many changes -- one, I'm no longer at the Chicago Tribune. After a great two years there, I've moved on to Creative Director at Consumer Media Network. I'm also no longer "acmaurer" technically, since I married my best friend in June '11. I'm now Amanda Woodhead, but between you, me and the Internet, I'll always be acmaurer. So thanks again for stopping by, and here's to some great conversations.
Want to find me on the Web? I'm acmaurer on most social news and networking sites.
PS, I doubt I have to say this, but this is my personal blog and doesn't reflect the opinion of my employer.
