socialADDICT

I know the news is soo last week and most people have already blogged about the Facebook redesign but I’m going to give my two cents anyway.

The news of the redesign came a few weeks ago from the Inside Facebook blog. I had actually seen the announcement through Twitter and checked it out for the first time last week. The design is nice and open - a bit confusing at first because I was looking to my side navigation for my groups, photos, friends, applications and now most of the activity is in the upper navigation. Ok I can deal with that. I don’t know if it’s through a default setting or what but my main profile page (wall) in the redesign is completely taken over by the mini-feed. You can of course click through the upper tabs for Info, Photos, Boxes, etc. but I personally don’t like viewing the mini-feed first thing…I already know what I’ve been doing in my account - I don’t need to be reminded.

One of the most obvious things to me in the redesign (remember I am a marketer) is the abundance of white space - ah hem - AD space. Cha Ching! Good for Facebook. I understand that people need to pay their bills and generate some kind of revenue - so good to see they’re thinking it through. Let’s hope the ads stay clean and neat like they have because I can’t stand another MySpace ad.

To get more in depth news and reasoning behind the redesign check out Facebook’s blog, Inside Facebook.

If you had 12 seconds what would you say? Well that’s exactly what 12seconds.tv wants to know. Conceived and developed by some fellow nerds in Santa Cruz, CA – 12seconds.tv gives you the opportunity to update what you’re doing through 12 second video clips.

In a nutshell …
Like how you update Twitter with small blurbs throughout the day, 12seconds is the best place online for video status updates. It’s a super easy way to share what you’re doing with your friends and family using short video clips. You can use your web cam or mobile phone. Show your friends where you are, share your thoughts, or tell them how you’re doing – 12 seconds at a time. Genius!

I am almost out of beta invites – but if you want to see if I have any left please comment below or dm me through Twitter and I’ll for sure try to hook you up.

I went up to SummerMash LA on Friday to kick it with Pete & his entourage of thousands. It was good times. The venue was a little disappointing - a lot of dirt/sand, grass and stones around so definitely wasn’t easy for a girl in 3″ heels to get around. But overall the atmosphere was laid back and people were extremely approachable and friendly. I met a few cool people - some from MySpace, Investing.com, ThisNext, Veoh and of course Pete Cashmore himself. Well, I guess you could say I “met” him - it was more of a ‘Jump in the picture with him and bail out’. It was actually thought it was really weird. All night Pete would just take pictures will people - like he was this robot of some sort just making rounds through the crowd, taking pictures, appointing his assistant to get your name so you’re tagged appropriately, and moving on. I guess that’s what you have to do when you’re the “Face” of the company, no?

All in all it was a nice party. It was executed very well, the people were great, the drinks & food were free and plentiful, and the pictures were better than ever!

Me & Pete Cashmore

Gema, Me & ChrisChrisChris

San Diego crew - @mattsurfs, @gwaveconsulting, @gemalynn,
@hugkennyloggins, & @sarahcarr84

So the iPhone 3G came out yesterday - yeah, like you didn’t already know. I, for one am not into the hype. I wouldn’t waste my time (or take off work) waiting in line all day to get one when I can enjoy it a couple weeks later if I decide to splurge. And after all that, most Apple buyers couldn’t download the latest 2.0 firmware because the App store couldn’t handle all the traffic - thus leading the Apple loving community crushed & royally pissed off. Bummer dude.

It was interesting to watch & read how the Twittersphere was handling the day and what was going on around the world the day the iPhone 3G arrived. People started out with excitement and anxiousness to get to the closest Apple store and wait in line and the mood was acceptance: “Yes I understand I’m going to have to wait in line, but Apple is totally worth it!”. Then it started to evolve into desperation and moodiness - “Why is this line taking so long?”, “Shit! I waited in this line for 2 hours and now I have to leave to get to work”, “I will pay you $100 for your front of the line spot!”. As new customers walked out of the Apple stores with a shiny new gadget in hand the people in line would watch them; eyes opened-wide, a slight burst of salivation and indescribable excitement like they were 7 years old again on Christmas Day.

As the day went on the rumble of the community got even more intense - the App store couldn’t handle the volume of traffic, completely broke down and people weren’t happy. Lashing out at Apple and AT&T, customers felt disappointment and let down. How could this happen? I am so loyal to this company and they can’t even get my phone activated right away. So many intense emotions ran through people’s minds.

Read more about the iBrick issue on Techcrunch.

Now that the first day of the launch is over I went back to Twitter to see how the community is handling their new gadgets. Seems like there are still some problems. Apps not working or super janky, some connectivity problems, etc.

Here’s a tweet from a local Twitterer (@MitchWagner) that best sums up today’s issues with the iPhone 3G’s Apps:

If you have a story to share please comment below. I’m curious to hear more about your experience yesterday. Cheers!

Hey all. I’m just hanging out tonight - me, my dog and my computer. I was just goofing around with my digital camera and brought me back to my MySpace days of dramatic default pictures. Nothing too exciting but I grabbed Malibu and we took a few pics together - yes we ARE vane!

p.s. The eye shimmer I’m wearing is called Julie Hewett in Goldie, in case you gals (and perhaps guys) out there wanna know!

Sazell let’s you take a “Snapshot” of the web by turning anything on the web into a small embeddable widget for your own personal Facebook, MySpace, blog, website, whatever. “Simply put, it is a platform which allows its users to share and discover any piece of information with their friends and families using a concise “visual snapshot”.” - Sazell Team

So after getting my private beta invite I immediately went to my favorite celebrity site, TMZ.com, to see what celebrity dirt I missed…apparently the poor economy means less activity in Hollywood. So I found a less than appealing story about how Pam Anderson is still flexible and did the splits during an interview with Kyle and Jackie O in Australia. Well I had to get your attention SOME how…

So it’s really easy - you download or drag the “Snap It!” button into your toolbar, find a story that you like on the web, “Snap It!”, the form is automatically filled out and generated and voala! My little embeddable, portable web snapshot is ready for me to distribute. Yay!

Pretty straight forward and easy to use. I really have no complaints, as of yet, I guess for the little that I’ve done in the site. However I do think the logo is a bit familiar - who else has used that primary colored logo before…? I’m sure it’ll come to me.

If you want an invite comment here or send me an email - I think I have a few I can share.

Earlier today Techcrunch announced that Gmail is introducing a new privacy feature that will allow users to keep status on the number of computers their Gmail account is open on. and in addition allow them to completely sign out remotely. Users can also view a log that shows IP addresses and type of access (Mobile, etc.) that most recently accessed the account.

This is great for people who accidentally forget to sign out of their work or any public computer. In a day when forged identity and access to personal data is so prevalent, I’m happy to see Gmail take an initiative to boost their security offerings to users.  It’s one of the best additions Gmail has had in a long time so thank you Google!

To read more about the Gmail security announcement check out Gmail’s blog post.

It’s not yet in my account but can’t wait until it is!

On Gmail blog: “Note: We are in the process of rolling this feature out to the latest version of Gmail, which is available for Firefox and Internet Explorer 7.”

Well, it’s July and all drivers in California know it’s the mark of the Hands Free Law - so no more phone to your ear while behind the wheel. But think of it this way; there are SO many other things you can now be doing while being hands free! Enjoy the video all!

The family trip this year fell nothing short of my expectations - warm weather & water, sunshine, explorations and booze! As my Mom kept saying (who loves wine): “No more cerveza! Where can I get a good bottle of wine around here?” Playa del Carmen, Mexico is a beautiful little tourist town about 40 miles south of Cancun and just a 20 minute ferry ride away from Cozumel. Even though it was more expensive then the Mexico towns I am used to, it was a clean and beautiful paradise anyone or family can enjoy.

Some great things we did while visiting included snorkeling in Cozumel, visiting the Mayan Ruins in Chichen Itza, day tripping to Cancun (Mexico public transportation FTW!), and laying at the beach drinking mojitos (pretty sure that ice was never filtered water - eek) and chomping down on endless pico de gallo. So is that why I got sick on this trip?!

Enjoy the pics and be jealous of the tan.