David's Blog

One of the most underrated social networks in my opinion is Path. What makes this mobile-based network so unique is its emphasis on closeness and sharing details with your closest friends. With a friend limit of 50, you’re forced to pick your closest friends (or in my case, add the people you know who actually use the app). 

On Path you get to see friend’s check-ins, what music they’re listening to, a shared photo…even when they sleep and wake up (it’s actually not as creepy as it sounds). You can also purchase stickers to put on your profile which is sort of a cool feature (not that I’d pay real money to do that…well, not now, anyway…). Chatting with a friend is really easy and sharing a thought, photo, or check-in can be done across multiple networks (can connect to your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr accounts). And to top it all off, the application itself is beautifully designed.

Path, please make a Windows Phone application…please. Thanks.

Are any of you on Path? Why or why not? Let me know via the interwebs. 

Here’s the concise rundown:

1. It’s fast. Windows Phone’s UI is designed to get you where you want to be as quickly as possible. Live tiles allow for a unique glance-and-go experience that feels dynamic and alive. 

2. It’s feature-packed. The default applications on Windows Phone are deeply connected with the services you care about like Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Office, SkyDrive, and more. Bing serves as a “local scout” (finding what you want in a new city), voice command receiver, QR code reader, and more: not just a search engine. 

3. It’s socially-connected. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are deeply integrated into the OS, which makes sharing easy. Finding a friend’s recent status update is just a glance at their contact profile on your phone. 

4. It’s personable. Your Start Screen is entirely yours to customize, with varying tile sizes and an array of colors from which to choose. Your favorite apps and the people you care about are pinned right there.

5. It’s photo-friendly. Each Windows Phone device has a shutter hardware button on the side for instantly capturing a moment. Snapping a photo is just a button away no matter where you are. Not only do some Windows Phone devices take outstanding low-light photos, the lens features makes editing and adding filters to your pictures seamless.

Think that’s everything? There’s more. If you’re interested in the platform, tweet me (@davidvkimball) or visit windowsphone.com.

Hello my dear followers, this is a call to action. 

If you don’t already, you should make it a point to write every single day.

Now composing a Facebook status doesn’t quite count (but if you are particularly eloquent and employ a decent usage of correct grammar, I may make an exception), but it doesn’t have to be something big.

Start a blog! There’s tons of services out there. Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, and even Quora has its own blogging service now. Oh, and did I mention? All of these services are free.

If you’re not sure what to write about, just look around you! You might find something on your desk that starts a spark. Or think of a recent conversation you’ve had with someone: that’s generally what I do. Whatever gets you passionate, whatever you think you could give a lecture on, write about THAT! 

Writing is good for you for a multitude of reasons, but I enjoy it to get me thinking more critically about the topics I enjoy the most and engaging with others that share a passion for those topics. 

Would you consider writing daily? Well you should. I’ve really enjoyed it.

Need more inspiration? Let me help you get started by just asking, tweeting, or messaging me through another means. 

First off, as I mentioned in a previous post, hashtags are not pointless. They are tools that allow us to connect with other people.

That being said…I’m not sure hashtags - which are an open medium to connect with others - are entirely appropriate for a closed social network like Facebook. Assuming Facebook becomes more open, they /may/ become relevant, however. 

Since 2004 when it began, Facebook has been becoming increasingly more open and is now a lot more like Twitter than it was just a few years ago. 

As I’ve been using Facebook’s new Graph Search to track the “#Hashtags” topic, I’ve met other people discovering this new feature, and have engaged with them in interesting discussions. Already I’ve made some new connections and met new people.

I’m beginning to like it - a lot. And while I think Facebook and Twitter have fundamentally different uses, I actually like this change. Although I think I prefer keeping Facebook as a closed, intimately connected network and Twitter as an open, broadly connected network. But I can’t say for sure, yet.

What do you think about #Hashtags on Facebook? Let me know what you think. 

At Apple’s WWDC conference, Apple announced the newest version of their mobile platform, iOS. Jony Ive’s first work on the software end of iOS devices was finally revealed, and I must say…I…I’m not sure what to think.

Here’s the long and short of it: Imagine one of the Windows Phone-themed Android skins from the Google Play Store. It’s like that.

Apple’s new mobile OS UI in iOS7 features minimalism and a more clean, modern design. But unfortunately, the pastel-like icons kept their gradients and look awkward with the rest of the clean typography. The UX is different, too, as multiple layers means…translucency. 

A new feature is iOS’ “Control Center,” which is essentially a tray (like the Notification Center) where you can access various controls like WiFi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, etc. That’s cool. 

They’re integrated much-needed sharing features like quick sharing of photos (including AirDrop). Their new “moments” feature groups pictures in a way that makes it easy to navigate (no more scrolling down for hours trying to find that picture you took).

Multitasking has also been changed…hmm..that looks familiar (looking at you, WebOS). 

Anyway, these is just some of the info. What do YOU think about iOS 7? As for me, again….I don’t really know what to think about it. It’s like Flat UI meets translucency meets gradients and chalk…I don’t really know what to make of it. 

It will all come down to the UX. If the user experience is solid, I think iOS7 can be a success. But as far as the UI goes, I’m not entirely impressed. I think Apple could have done a bit better.

So as you can see from my previous post, I’ve learned quite a lot from #VloggerFair and my experience there as really inspired me to start vlogging on my own.

The level of engagement these vloggers get is powerful, and I’d love to share my experiences with you and vice-versa.

So the question: If I started vlogging, would YOU tune in? 

I’d mostly vlog about technology (relating to social media, mobile, Windows Phone, a lot of what I blog about on this site) and make some funny stuff, to. Would you subscribe? 

Let me know by replying to this post on Tumblr or sending me a tweet (@davidvkimball). 

I’ve spent the last several days in downtown Seattle at #VloggerFair. 

So far I’ve been able to meet Chris Pirillo, Justine Ezarik, Lamarr Wilson, Shay Carl, Joey Graceffa, Eli the Computer Guy and a dozen other YouTube stars. It’s amazing to see these people in person rather than just on a screen. During our conversations, I was waiting for a jumpcut to happen…but…it didn’t. 

Turns out Vloggers are real people just like you or me. And generally how they act in their videos…is how they act all the time (there are always exceptions).

I’ve learned several things from today’s meetup on how to be a successful Vlogger:

1. Be yourself. “If you’re doing something you don’t like, why would you expect 10,000 views to like it?” - is essentially what Shay Carl said. This means that, just because someone else is doing a particular kind of video doesn’t mean you should necessarily. Do videos that you WANT to do, because the authenticity is what people are looking for and they watch videos for YOU, no one else.

2. If you want to get big as a Vlogger, do a collaboration with another Vlogger. Lamarr Wilson said that he found YouTubers with similar fan-bases to his and did videos with them. Their followers found him and vice-versa. It benefited both people involved. 

3. If you’re getting big, don’t do it alone. Shooting, importing, editing, exporting, and uploading videos is a lot of work. If you’re planning on publishing content regularly, get a team and collaborate (especially if its very frequently). Doing it alone can too cumbersome. 

4. Some of the best tools to use for video editing: Final Cut Pro X (for OS X), Adobe Premier (OS X or Windows), or Sony Vegas Pro (Windows). These were recommendations from almost every Vlogger I heard speak. Chris Pirillo mentioned that he used to use iMovie but found rendering edited video on Final Cut was a smoother process and didn’t freeze. 

5. Understand there will be hate. Be realistic about that fact, but don’t let it get in the way of your work. Keep going, the positive comments will be even more worth it (I believe it was Lamarr that brought up this point). Also, do not respond to negative comments. Just engage with the positive ones.

6. Have FUN. Apparently, these tips are full of cliches. Shay Carl and quite a few others called themselves out for giving “cliche” advice but explained it was true nevertheless. If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing while vlogging, then there won’t be a drive to keep you going. 

I’m really enjoying myself at VloggerFair…and who knows, maybe I’ll start up a vlog of my own soon…?

Chris Pirillo is hosting a YouTube gathering in Seattle, WA comprised of a community of Vloggers. Pretty famous YouTube stars will be there, too like Justine Ezarik (iJustine), Shay Carl, Joey Graceffa and Lamarr Wilson.

I have the privilege of living in the Seattle area, so I jumped on this opportunity and purchased a ticket (you can too, here). I’m excited to meet these stars as well as connecting with fellow social media junkies and vloggers in the area. I might even begin vlogging myself!

Make sure to follow me on Twitter to get #VloggerFair updates! I’ll be posting pictures, videos and more from this exciting event. And of course, if you are in the Seattle area too, consider purchasing a ticket to go.

Afraid of getting scammed by a sketchy app (cough cough, Smurfs’ Village)? No fear, here are some simple instructions for how to disable in-app purchases. 

1.     Go to Settings

2.     Tap “General”

3.     Tap “Restrictions”

4.     Tap “Enable Restrictions” at the top

5.     Set a 4-digit passcode

6.     Set “In-App Purchases” to off”

Have fun, and remember, don’t get scammed. 

Or maybe a better question is, “Do you use email?” It seems like no one from this generation uses email actively anymore. Most people use social media to send messages to friends now.

Is email extinct, then? Various infographics would say otherwise. Email Marketing, for example, is still the most successful part of online marketing, even compared to social media. The only trend we’re seeing for-sure is a switch to mobile. This article projects that by 2014, mobile use will actually surpass desktop use (yes, that’s less than a year away). 

Now I seem to go against all the norms here, as not only do I use email daily (and love it, by the way) but I use it as my primary notification system. Not my iPad’s notification bar, not my Android’s notification tray, nor the notification area on my Windows Phone’s Me live tile. With Gmail I can use labels to categorize my mail as it comes in, and it filters before it even reaches my inbox. 

Not only that, but I still like to receive and messages from friends. That’s right, HOW IT USED TO BE USED. Of course it’s also helpful for conducting long-distance business negotiations and an email address looks more professional on a business card than a Facebook profile URL (At least, for now).

So how do you use email? Are you annoyed when you have to check it from time to time, or do you check it all? Let me know.

Here are some tools that are great in optimizing the speed of your PC.

1. CCleaner (Free)

This tool is the easiest way to cleanup junk files on your system that are left over from internet caches, hiding in the Recycle Bin, and other temporary files on your system. Easy and it works.

2. Speccy (Free)

Speccy gives you an at-a-glance view of your system specs, including your CPU, RAM, Motherboard, Graphics card, and more. It even gives you advanced info, such as CL clocks, cycles, temperature, physical memory usage, and more.

3. WinDirStat (Free)

This is a great tool for finding where the largest files are on your drive. Have you ever wondered why your disk drive was full and didn’t know where to look? WinDirStat is very helpful for finding large files and presents it in a visually-helpful way.

4. PerfectDisk ($29.99) or Defraggler (Free)

If you feel like paying for your disk to really be optimized, I recommend PerfectDisk. It deeply cleans and defragments your drives, far beyond the capabilities of the Windows defragmenting tool. If you’d like a free alternative, Defraggler works well, too.