Since Google launched Google Buzz, I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around their strategy.    One of the first public (Buzzes? Buzzez? Buzz’s?)  I received was from Jeff Pulver, who posted a rather “wait and see” opinion on Buzz…

“Feeling a little buzz around me. It will be interesting to see how this platform evolves. Seems like another piece in the items which will help define the future of how we communicate using non-telephony platforms.” – Jeff Pulver via Buzz.

This prompted a flurry of other comments, including:

Joel Mark Witt - I’m loving Buzz. It is bringing the conversation to me… in my Gmail inbox … where I live most of the time.

geo GELLER - i am not sure this is not another distraction and too landlocked in email – its not twitter – its your email list which is nice but but but and further more hmmm

I commented on the similarity to FriendFeed and how I felt like my Gmail inbox was starting to become almost as forgotten as MySpace (or Orkut!)

Part of the conversation included a discussion of how people are linked up in Buzz.  Google apparently has been autoconnecting Buzz profiles to other Buzz users based on who’s already in your Google Contacts list and this is causing a bit of a stir in the privacy world…

WARNING: Google Buzz Has A Huge Privacy Flaw

Anyway…I agree with Jeff and certainly think  the Buzz has some growing to do.   It’s already much more user-friendly and easier to grasp than Google Wave (I wonder how many Waves there are about Buzz?).  Picasa provides photo sharing…Google chat is already integrated.  And if you integrate Google voice, then you have AudioBoo functionality as well.   Connect your Twitter and Facebook feeds, and suddenly Google is your social networking glue.  They should’ve called it Gluegle.

Buzz might just be Google’s secret back door into social networking.

Oh, and if you’re trying to figure out how to get started with Google Buzz….go here:  http://www.google.com/buzz

December 22 – Red Fox Lounge, Winter Park Florida
December 23 – Red Fox Lounge, Winter Park Florida
December 25 – Howl at the Moon, Orlando

This blog, Diggz.org was nominated for an Orbbie.  I’ve been working on diggz.org for about 10 years.

I mostly write about technology and business stuff, and pretty much I anything that interests me. I make no money from it…just do it for fun.

And awards.

Please vote  (one vote allowed per person per day, Free Orlandosentinel.com registration required)

Here’s the link:  Vote for Diggz.org!

You’ll feel extra good about it all day long.

Check out my recent posts about the man who founded Casselberry, Heath Care, and the best way to fight crime in Orlando.

Despite what a handful of lawmakers may say, the dispute between Google and AT&T over Google Voice is not so much about fairness or rural access as it is about steamy phone sex and piles of money.

These lawmakers, including Steve Buyer, an Indiana Republican and John Shimkus, an Illinois Republican — who have received a combined $200,000 from AT&T and Verizon over their careers, according to Opensecrets.org — have written to the FCC complaining that Google’s refusal to connect expensive rural calls is “ill conceived and unfair to our rural constituents.”

Technically, the dispute is over FCC regulations governing how long-distance and local phone companies pay each other for traffic that passes from national to local networks. Since Congress deregulated the telecommunications industry in 1996, much of this traffic comprises extremely lucrative sex chat lines, which the national carriers wind up paying for. AT&T has never been happy about that, and it’s now livid that Google Voice can avoid having to connect such calls — thus dodging this twisted fee scheme.

AT&T vs. Google Voice: Sex, money, the feds, and your phone bill — DailyFinance.

I’ll be playing again tonight 9/10/09 8:30pm at the Red Fox Lounge.

In case you missed last night…here’s some video…

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2134619

A few months back, Jeff Pulver, a friend and new media guru (amongst many many other things) was lamenting about Facebook’s 5000 friend limit.  Having nowhere near 5000 friends myself, I had no idea that Facebook limits you to 5000 friends.

To work around this limitation, Jeff created a “Fan” page for himself and the spillover Friend requests got funneled into the Fan page.   This got me to thinking about the concept of Friend and Fans.

I’ve noticed a new trend on Facebook…that third column you your main newsfeed page.  The one that usually starts with “Suggestions” and offers you to become fans or friends of new people or things.   You’ve seen them….”Become a fan of Laughing” was one I saw the other day.

Underneath the Suggestions you’ve got your Sponsored Ads.  You may have noticed that sometimes your Ads have fans too (perhaps friends of yours?).  These are simply implied endorsements.   This is where it gets tricky…and might be getting Facebook into some legal trouble.

Is there a distinction between being a Friend and a Fan?   Is Facebook using your “Friendship” or “Fandom” to help market products?  It’s all very gray, but Gawker thinks there may be more to it…

Gawker – Did Julia Allison Break the Law in Search of Facebook Fame? – julia allison.

I was really just testing one of the features of a WordPress plugin, “Press This”.  But the article is interesting, nonetheless….

In-flight confrontations can lead to terrorism charges – Los Angeles Times.

I’ve decided not to completely migrate my old blog over, but as I go though I’m picking out some choice bits to bring over. My sister got married over the weekend and so I’ve recently been blessed by a visit from my cousin David.   In honor of his visit, I thought I’d repost some of my old Cousin David emails and hopefully be able to post some new ones as well.

Diggz' Cousin David Circa 2009

This is the first one I originally posted Jun 22, 2004, in its entirety:

I have this cousin, David who sends me random emails from time to time (doesn’t everyone?).

Anyway David’s younger brother (and his best friend), Dan, passed away tragically a few years ago and David took it very hard, but his particular brand of sociopathicynisarcasm always makes me laugh. So I thought I’d share some of his recent emails. Of course, I’m doing this completely with his permission…I’ve got a signed and sworn affidavit thingy around here somewheres….

“So, i think i’ve figured out the root cause of all my cynicism.

At work today we had a small celebration for one ladies birthday, Cindy Parisse.

And, at the end of the day when everyone else had gone home, she and Susan Curtis and i were discussing presents, and i mentioned how you can tell when someone doesn’t really like the present they’ve received when they repeat the name of the gift.

For instance, if, as they open the present, the say “Oh, great! tube socks!”, it means they really don’t like it.

We then got on the topic of Christmas, and i told of how when i was about 10 years old, all i wanted was a sleeping bag.

I was desperate for a sleeping bag for some reason that now escapes me.

I told mom, i told dad. It was the only item on my list on the refrigerator.

I didn’t believe in Santa Claus, so when i sat on his lap, i said, “Just get me a sleeping bag, tell her,” as i pointed to mom.

So eventually, i find the sleeping bag up in a closet before christmas hidden with other presents. and i’m psyched.

“i can’t wait to get my sleeping bag”. la la la i’m happy and am so looking forward to the glorious day for 3 weeks.

So i come running down christmas morning and run straight to the sleeping bag oh so joyous, only to find that the tag says, “To Dan From Santa.”

So Cindy and Sue say, “ahhh,oh, that’s so sad.” and then ask if i ever got my sleeping bag. and i hadn’t really thought about it for years, but i never have received or owned a sleeping bag.

And then Cindy says,”That is sad , so sorry . But this is really gonna kill ya.

When i was a little girl, i bugged my dad for six months for this one specific present for Chrismas and i got it.”

The two of us ask – “Well, what was it?”

Cindy- “A Pony.”

We laughed like crazy.

This is the root of all my problems.

Not only did i not get my sleeping bag, and had to sit and watch someone else enjoy it’s wonderfulness,

but other kids were getting PONIES!!! yes! PONIES!!!!

Who was her father, rhett butler?? i never heard of such a thing.

i bet the pony had a sleeping bag.

just so funny”

So Pixelpipe is an iPhone application that makes it easier to get your pictures out of your phone an onto the web. You can configure it to upload to your Facebook, Picasa, Smugmug, Flickr, or any of several dozen other sites, (including WordPress blogs like this one).

It definitely has some limitations, however. For example, it didn’t actually upload the photos to my WordPress blog, it just created a post with links to the photos hosted on THEIR site. But, usually that’s sufficient. I also configured it to send the same 4 photos to my Google Picasa account and my Facebook account, which it did.

It didn’t actually do very well with the layout in WordPress, nor did it create a subject for the post, but I can always come in later (as I did with this post) and clean it up. I don’t think I’ll be using this tool to update WordPress directly very much. If they’re just going to link to the files, I’d rather use one of the WordPress Picasa Gallery tools and upload images there.  Anyway, if you’re interested check em out in the App Store, or at www.pixelpipe.com

Aside from the obvious, the part that got me about this story was that the pilot, after being confronted by passengers inside the airport terminal about the smell of alcohol on his breath, fled to a bathroom, changed out of his uniform, and tried to call in sick!

We’re not even allowed ON STAGE after drinking at Howl at the Moon. This guy was about to get behind the controls of an Orlando-bound 737 full of families headed to Disney World! He shouldn’t JUST be fired, he should be put in prison. Where’s my Precrime department???

Here’s the full article from Dallas News: Southwest Airlines puts pilot on leave after report of alcohol smell