Sam Harrelson

Sam's Personal Stream of Life 
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technology

 

The New Lost Generation of pseudo-Minimalists

Go read the whole Internet-Age Writing Class Syllabus...
"Instant messaging. Twittering. Facebook updates. These 21st-century literary genres are defining a new "Lost Generation" of minimalists who would much rather watch Lost on their iPhones than toil over long-winded articles and short stories. Students will acquire the tools needed to make their tweets glimmer with a complete lack of forethought, their Facebook updates ring with self-importance, and their blog entries shimmer with literary pithiness. All without the restraints of writing in complete sentences. w00t! w00t! Throughout the course, a further paring down of the Hemingway/Stein school of minimalism will be emphasized, limiting the superfluous use of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, gerunds, and other literary pitfalls..."

Students must have completed at least two of the following.

ENG: 232WR—Advanced Tweeting: The Elements of Droll
LIT: 223—Early-21st-Century Literature: 140 Characters or Less
ENG: 102—Staring Blankly at Handheld Devices While Others Are Talking
ENG: 30—Advanced Blog and Book Skimming
ENG: 231WR—Facebook Wall Alliteration and Assonance
LIT: 202—The Literary Merits of Lolcats
LIT: 209—Internet-Age Surrealistic Narcissism and Self-Absorption

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/4/20lanham.html

Sent from my iPhone

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Filed under  //   education   facebook   learning   mobile   technology   twitter   web2.0  

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I Wish All My Asheville Friends Were Using Gowalla

I finally got around to installing Gowalla on my iPhone (since Asheville isn't cool enough to be a trendy FourSquare city yet).  

Gowalla could be an amazing little application and feels a great deal like Twitter did when I first started using the service in 2006 and saw the potential but couldn't get anyone besides SF geeks to use the service. 

So, if you're in Asheville (or not) join up so we can make great use of Gowalla locally.

And once you do join up, friend me up.

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Filed under  //   gowalla   iphone   location   mobile   technology   twitter   web2.0  

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Apple Tablet or Google Phone?

The company has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January, according to people familiar with the plans.

Apple is expected to use the venue to make a major product announcement on Tuesday, January 26th. Both YBCA and Apple declined to comment.

January is going to be an expensive month for lots of gadget geeks if Apple does start selling the famously-rumored Tablet at this announcement.

Maybe they'll hold off until a June sell to give the early adopters time to pay off credit card bills (or maybe Google will offer the Nexus One for free in exchange for creepy targeted advertising?).

With CES, the GPhone and now the Apple event, January is shaping up to be a big month.

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Filed under  //   advertising   apple   gadgets   Google   iphone   technology  

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Google DNS vs OpenDNS

20091216-emcbi1i87kbf5jhyj8efjh1yn.jpg

While I'm in the changing mode... 

After using the excellent NameBench program for DNS speed benchmarking, I've decided to switch from Google DNS to OpenDNS for the time being (based on speed and customization options). I'm sure Google DNS will up the ante eventually, but OpenDNS is a better product and service for the time being.

I've had an OpenDNS account for a long while and used them fairly exclusively for a few months.

It's good to be back.

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Filed under  //   dns   Google   opendns   technology   web2.0   webfinger  

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After Years of Self-Hosting, It's Come to Posterous

I've finally done it.

I've moved my personal blog, the very epitome of my online identity, over to a hosted service.  I've been using Posterous since the Summer '08 and I've been increasingly impressed with its feature set, ability to stay agile and focus on remaining simple while still implementing new features and backend pieces of flair.  

I resisted moving to a hosted solution for my personal domain even after I've moved my data, my email, my calendar, my RSS reading, etc over to hosted solutions (mostly Google).  I view this as a symbolic move of cost and attention cutting in order that I may focus on the important things.

It's good to be here.

Thank you, Posterous. 

Now don't screw up :)

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Filed under  //   blogging   Posterous   technology   web2.0  

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WriteRoom is My Fav App

I'm in absolute love with WriteRoom on the iPhone. I'm not really sure how I ever got along without this app.

In just a month or so, it has rocketed it's way onto my iPhone's prestigious first page of apps and solidly found a place in my work/thinkflow. Being able to quickly jot down todo's, compose posts, compile ideas and have them automagically sync up to the web in a fairly secure format makes me glad to have an iPhone (a feeling that comes and goes these days).

Since my school laptop is locked down and I can't install any apps, I rely a great deal on the mobile and web experience. WriteRoom is a great workaround for me on so many levels.

So, thank you, WriteRoom.  You rock.

Just needed to share that.

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Filed under  //   GTD   iphone   teaching   technology   web2.0   WriteRoom  

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Bye Bye Windows

I love the smell of a fresh Ubuntu installation in the morning (on my MSi Wind netbook)...

via the excellent Unetbootin program: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Now go and do likewise.

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Filed under  //   linux   MSi Wind   netbooks   technology   ubuntu   unetbootin   windows xp  

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Fantastic: The Idiot's guide to Webfinger



I'm excited about the future of web identification. This is the blueprint for sure.

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Filed under  //   Google   identity   oauth   openid   technology   twitter   webfinger  

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I wonder how anyone uses GMail or GReader without keystrokes...

Seriously folks, J and K. 

Start there.

It'll change your life.

I'm constantly amazed when I talk to "long time" GMail (or more rarely but more encouraging) Google Reader users who don't use the J or K or "tab + send" or the plethora of keyboard shortcuts that make these platforms SO much more valuable and intuitive.

I'm beginning to suspect that GMail is still behind Hotmail and Yahoo Mail in terms of adoption because folks haven't discovered J/K, Shift+1, Shift+3, Y, E, etc... 

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Filed under  //   GMail   Google   google reader   technology   web2.0  

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Dear @Evernote, I Want to Use your Service But This is Unacceptable

Over and over tonight (strong wifi):

Looks like I'm sticking with Basecamp.
 
 
Sent from my iPhone

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Filed under  //   37signals   backpack   evernote   technology   web2.0  

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