And we’re here… where are we exactly?
Hello HDL’ers (Hard Drive Lifers)… long time no see.
Where have I been for almost a year-and-a-half?
Well, obviously neglecting this blog.
Let’s catch you up to speed, in quick bullet-point form , what’s been happening with my life:
- I’m still living feet from the Long Island Sound on the Connecticut shore. Tonight, a foot of snow is falling outside my window. Snowmaggedon is here — the second time in 3 weeks. What else do you expect from a Long Island winter?
- My generation of my family is now having children. My brother (3.5 yrs. my younger) and his wife had a son in July, and is dominating the “cuteness” arms race in our family. Let’s face it, you can’t out-cute a baby in a lion cub outfit. You just can’t!
- My turn comes in 3-5 weeks, as my wife and I have a daughter on the way in mid-February. God, please don’t let it snow like this then. There aren’t enough maternity sleighs to go around.
My role as a website editor and online community leader has morphed in the year and a half since I last posted. I am now managing more than 125 social media channels for the company I work for, and have more than 20 million Facebook fans and Twitter followers combined on those channels. Plus, I already have two Mashable Awards and a W3 Silver Award on the trophy shelf for campaigns we’ve run in 2010. And a partridge in a pear tree … who tweets as well!
What’s interesting … my love for social media that started on this blog back in Lancaster, Pa. as the Lancaster New Era’s first online journalist has now blossomed into my full-time career. I can’t get enough news and insight on Facebook, Twitter, and the whole social media marketing world as a whole.
While I started this blog to be a journalist’s observation of how the Internet and pop culture connect in daily life, I’m so far immersed in Internet culture now, it’s impossible to comment from an unbiased vantage point.
Also, my blog brand’s icon, Hard Drive Life, is almost obsolete. Seriously, who has a hard drive anymore? Almost every gadget uses flash memory drives to store data, and the whirring sound of hard drives have become scarcer.
Just looking around my apartment, I have 9 physical hard drives still in operation … 3 of which that could be classified as near-breakdown, making “death rattle” noises. And those are my backup drives!
So it’s time to re-commit the blog. I’m keeping the name HARD DRIVE LIFE (because, frankly, I own the URL … and the great Robert Scoble once proclaimed my blog to have “a great name” worthy of sponsorship. Still waiting for that call, Western Digital!!), but am now going to focus more on social media and pop culture.
Social Media is the future of society. It’s how will we will keep in touch with our family and friends, share our unique moments and life experiences, and get information on our favorite brands and entertainment.
So here begins my renewed attempt to make heads or tails of the social media world, from my little corner of it. I hope you enjoy the ride.
Pining for Apple’s Tablet and Apple TV upgrades
When will Apple unleash the Tablet Mac attack?
For what seems like ages now, Apple fans all over the world have waited with baited breath for the Holy Grail of iGadgets … the Apple Tablet Mac.
Rumors abound that the Apple Tablet will just be a 7-inch or 9-inch version of the popular iPhone, running the iPhone OS, not a version of Leopard or the new Snow Leopard.
The Financial Times says the unit is being rushed to production for Christmas ’09.
And PC World says the recently returned Steve Jobs is now overseeing the whole Tablet development himself.
But today, some light on the OS…
After taking a good look at the features of Apple’s new Snow Leopard OS, Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac finds a massive on-screen keyboard tucked away in the OS Control Panel. (see image)
More from Kahney:
Of course, it can’t be used as a real virtual keyboard until Apple introduces a touchscreen device. At the moment, it just records the keystrokes on your physical keyboard and shows the characters that will be typed when the Option key is held down, and so on.
Yeah, I know, this isn’t proof that Snow Leopard is designed for a touchscreen device — IE. the tablet everyone knows Apple is working on — but I got pretty excited when I saw it. It looks like a key touchscreen UI element to me.
More after the jump…
Update on Hard Drive Life
Hello y’all … It’s been ages!
So HardDriveLife.com is now back in the friendly confines of WordPress.com. Glad to be back for a while! I hope to be posting a little more as time goes on. It’s tough right now balancing my job and my podcasting work to sneak in tech updates, but I’ll try to be a little more assertive as the months progress.
I’m going to be tweaking things on the layout, and while I look for a new hosting home and designer, feel free to peruse the site’s archives and content.
Also, feel free to check out my podcast at http://BUCKETRemix.com. Publishes weekly.
Also, you can follow my tweets at http://www.twitter.com/HardDriveLife
Hey Corey, what happened to BUCKET?
UPDATE: BUCKET is BACK!! Go visit BUCKETRemix.com for more details!!
I just got an e-mail in my BUCKET show e-mail account with one word in it:
“Podfade”
It made me really sad.
It’s now been two months since the last episode of BUCKET, the Podcast Awards-nominated comedy podcast starring me and my co-host Jen.
After 59 episodes of the show, 7 episodes of the all-music BUCKET Blast, and a few Nowhereville Concert Series shows in Second Life, it’s been a big hole in my life to have the show gone. I formally didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to our listeners, since we did not do a formal final episode. I really regret that.
A lot has tried to fill that hole in my life … my increased work in my full-time career has helped keep me busy, and I’ve added a new part-time job to make a little extra moolah, but nothing I’ve done has been as personally fulfilling or exciting as doing BUCKET.
Over the past few months, I’ve tried to do a pilot of a new podcast based on life and pop culture on the Internet, based on the same themes this blog has followed over the past year, but nothing has worked or had the chemistry that my former co-host and I had. And the AKG Perception 200 microphone has remained cold since…
Someone in Second Life today asked me if BUCKET will ever start up again. Frankly, I don’t know.
If it does, I’d love to be part of it, and I would absolutely want Jen to be part of it too. It’s something that’s still deep down inside of us, and I would never say no to a “reunion” of the original BUCKET team. But then again, it takes two to tango (or do any other dance…except the Electric Slide, which takes a whole reception of people).
That same person in Second Life said, “Well, at least BUCKET went out on top.” And true that… it was on top in many ways. Thanks to Jen’s hard work on publicity and networking, we had tons of friends and group members, and it led to thousands of listeners each week. And I thought that we had some of our best episodes near the end of our run.
So, to sum up:
- BUCKET, is it over? Yes, for now.
- Would Corey come back to do BUCKET again? Yes, in a heartbeat.
- Do I miss BUCKET? Absolutely!
If you want to see a BUCKET reunion, send your e-mails to BUCKETpodcas(at)gmail.com. And until then, if it does, thank you all so much for being listeners of our piddly little comedy show. And as always… God willing … see you again soon.
Keepon keeps on rockin’!
Keepon is BACK! The little yellow robot that danced into our collective YouTube hearts earlier this year is back in a new music video from a variety of folks. Check it out below.
I’m cruising around the Internet Tuesday, and I see that the little podcast I co-host, called BUCKET, has been nominated as one of 10 comedy podcasts up for the 2007 Best Comedy Podcast award at the Podcast Awards Web site.
Wow, I’m honored! And surprised! Jen and I do our show from split locations — me from Stamford, Conn. and Jen from Nowhereville, Pa.
Surprisingly, we’ve kept our chemistry intact despite the space difference. And some say we’re still funny.
So, after talking with my co-host, we’ve decided to give out some “incentive” to encourage podcast listeners to vote in the Awards — even if you’re not voting for BUCKET.
Just vote for someone in the comedy category and win some cool prizes. Would a free iPod help?
I thought so! Keep reading…
Joining the iPhone media hysteria
You can just feel the breeze of the iPhone embargo being lifted!!! The first reviews of the Holy Grail-like product scheduled for June 29 are coming in:
First, it’s David Pogue from the New York Times. Here’s the video version below. Kudos to the NY Times for having fun with the hysteria.
Plus, here’s some reviews from other sources.
- The iPhone is Breakthrough Handheld Computer [WSJ]
- Apple’s iPhone isn’t perfect, but it’s worthy of the hype [USA Today]
- At Last, the iPhone. [Newsweek]
You’re probably wondering if I’m going out to get one. Well, I haven’t decided yet, quite frankly. The prospect of hanging out at the mall’s Apple Store for 7 hours or so is not so intriguing to me.
I’ve been keeping an eye on both the positive and negative stories so far. Engadget has taken the cake so far in making me want to wait a bit to get an iPhone, with a roundup of what the device is lacking in features … stuff like copy and pasting text, ringtone downloads and more. Of course, these can likely be added in firmware upgrades.
So, I’m on the fence for now. As much as I’d LOVE to have one of this hot tamales, I might just have to sit back at the Orange Julius stand and watch the commotion unfold. With glee.
Computer cats crack me up
Back in the old days (like in September), WordPress.com‘s No. 1 blog was almost always Robert Scoble’s tech goodness, Scobleizer.
Now WordPress.com has gone to the dogs cats. LOLcats to be more precise. I check out the funny cat site called I Can Has Chezeburger regularly.
Riddled with geek speak, obvious grammar errors and computer lingo, these captioned cats are sure to brighten your day.
But it’s not just cats … walruses also make the cut, while pining for their bucket of fish. I dig them, mostly because I co-host a podcast called BUCKET.
Go check them out! Also, go see the Houston Chronicle story about the cats (seen above) in this link.
Hey Corey, what’s the deal with your blog?
Some people have e-mailed me asking “what’s the deal” with Hard Drive Life, wondering why I’m not updating as frequently. So here’s a quick update on what’s going on.
Since the big move up here to Connecticut, I’ve been swamped with work at my new job, and my quest to build a new CSS template for this blog have stalled. I need to put a good weekend of work to get the updates done, but they should be coming shortly.
Also, this blog just topped 400,000 viewers in just under 8 months. Thanks so much to everyone who’s stopped by and checked out the site.
So what’s the plan, you might ask? I’m aiming for a site relaunch in mid-July, with the new layout and a new posting schedule. I want to be able to put up updates at least twice a day on various tech and pop culture topics.
Also, Hard Drive Life: The Podcast is aiming to debut in July. I’m working on the format now, and might have a co-host to introduce to you as well in a few weeks.
So that’s that, for now. I have added a new Facebook profile, so if you’re on that site, be sure to check me out. And of course, I’m still rocking Twitter here and here.
Zombies heart Apple Stores
I just watched “28 Days Later” on DVD, then I click on TechMeme and see that zombies flooded an Apple Store in San Francisco Friday night. Coincidence? I think not!
I knew it! The zombies are coming for our iPods!
This is a great story. Here’s more from CNET:
The event was titled “SF Zombie Mob 2007,” and it was organized by the gruesome-minded folks at eatbrains.com. It’s akin to a flash mob, though because the participants trek around the city after gathering, the Zombie Mob was closer in concept to the Critical Mass bicycle ride, which coincidentally was happening at the same time along the same street. In truth, it was a pretty polite affair: only passers-by who volunteered to become zombie-fied were, and no arrests took place.
It may be worth noting that the Westfield Mall and Disney security tried to bar the zombies from entering, but Apple store security did not. In fact, salespeople were jostling one another for a position where they could take the best photo of the zombies (or themselves with the zombies, or their brains being eaten by the zombies).
Another funny note: The Apple Store allowed the zombies into the store to browse, while the Disney store and the local mall denied the living dead. Which makes me wonder what the target demographic is for Apple’s gadgets and goodies. Hehe…
Hard Drive Life 