Tech Notes

I’m a geek – have been most of my life (read my story here at my other site if you’re curious how I became a geek). I don’t even try to deny that. I’m just fascinated by technology (computers in particular) and am always reading about cool new gadgets, programs, web sites, and the like. It seems like people are often coming to me and saying, “Hey have you seen this site?” or “What do you know about [insert techie gadget here] that’s supposed to be coming out soon?” So as a part of making this the place I process out loud and share things with others, it just seemed right to begin sharing some of the things that are capturing my attention here. So in no particular order, here’s the first installment of Tech Notes – news and notes of all things geek in my world:

• Pinterest.com – I’m pretty late to the party on this one it seems, but I blame the fact that I’m a guy. This new invitation-only social networking site (let me know if you want an invitation) where you can “pin” things from the web you find interesting seems to have a pretty heavily female audience to date. The whole idea is that you find something you find interesting on the web (a recipe, arts and crafts ideas, decorating ideas, etc) and you “pin it” on your page. I’m still getting the hang of it, but it seems to have a lot of momentum. Which probably means Google or Facebook will buy it soon. 🙂 Kudos to my buddy Dan Snyder for this one.
• Pepperplate.com – My friend Jason Malec shared this one with me. It’s a website where you can add recipes (by clipping them from websites like foodnetwork.com or by adding your own recipes manually), create a menu plan for the week, and it will then generate a shopping list for you. This solves the problem of getting to the end of the day and saying, “What should we have for dinner?” and then having to figure out what you need, go to the store, and buy it. With a little planning Pepperplate helps you avoid that ordeal. One of the things I love is when technology integrates well – particularly between computers and mobile devices. This is where Pepperplate is strong. You add your recipes, decide when you want to make them, and it will generate a shopping list for you that you can then access through your (free) Pepperplate iPhone app. I haven’t really put this one into practice yet (I’m still collecting recipes to use) but am excited about the possibilities.
• Klout.com – Ever since I read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell years ago, I’ve been fascinated by how people influence one another. Why do trends start? Why do some bands get popular and others don’t even get noticed? Behind all the decisions we make is a network of people who influence us, people who connect us, and people who persuade us. Social networking makes it possible to observe and analyze these trends and see who influences whom. That’s where Klout.com comes in. Just connect Klout to your social network and it will give you a score of your influence – analyzing all your social network connections and who you motivate to action (to click on a link, to retweet a post on Twitter, to like something on Facebook, etc). Interesting stuff.