Tim Can't Reid

This morning though, somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd cup of coffee, I decided I need to communicate a few things I’ve come across in 2010 that I’m really enjoying. Not any good, juicy gossip, just some internet trends, software and hardware related things. And maybe some other junk. If you’re not already bored to tears, please read on.

THE INTERNET

As I mentioned, the internet continues to evolve into something we couldn’t have imagined 10 years ago. But yet, so much of it has stayed the same. I’ve always contended its 4 main uses are 1) Information, 2) Communication, 3) Education, and 4) Masturbation. The four “shuns”, if you will. I doubt that will ever change. And all things considered, I think that’s a good thing.

HARDWARE

A trend I see that I find interesting is the way we consume our four shuns now. We don’t sit in front of huge, noisy, beige-box desktop computers for hours at a time anymore. Well, some of us don’t anyway, unless our jobs require us to do so. At work though, the four shuns don’t really come into play. In fact, I could add a fifth shun — “Content Creation”. We still have a huge need for the beige box with enough power to run the Adobe Creative Suite and a web browser. In my line of work, that will probably never change.

I’ve been using Apple notebooks as my main computers for several years now. Any laptop would probably do, but I prefer Macs. Putting the Mac versus Windows battle aside, I’d say that ANY laptop these days has enough computing power for the average power user. I do EVERYTHING on my old PowerBooks. Yes, I dream about having a new 27-inch iMac, but I’ve yet to see an absolute NEED for one (but who would argue it wouldn’t be the shit!).

I was surprised to see how well the small form-factor netbooks were received in the last couple years. They have just enough power to run a web browser and an email client (okay, maybe a little more than that), but yet every Starbucks you sit down in, you see at least a couple of them, if not more. Amazing. All of a sudden, a 13 or 15-inch laptop has become somewhat of a “dinosaur”. Except, of course, for me. I can’t imagine trying to open, much less run, Photoshop or Final Cut on a Dell Mini-10v. It’s painful enough on a machine with ENOUGH power. Hmm. Is there such a thing as “enough power” in a computer?

But now there’s the iPhone, Blackberry, and all the Android and Windows based smart-phones hot on its ass. For simple communication like email, chat, Facebook and Twitter, they are an obvious choice for the average person. Personally, I could care less about their ability to make voice calls. Who actually needs to “speak” on their mobile phone? Personally, I’d much rather text than talk, but maybe that’s just me. I think I’m that way because it royally irritates the shit out of me to be around people with a fucking cellphone glued to their ear in the line at the grocery store or gas station, yacking away loud enough for anyone within 50 feet to hear, when they should be paying attention to what the fuck they’re doing. Fucking ass-wipes — and don’t EVEN get me started on the douche-bags-on-the-phone in their cars. That’s a whole different story.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

First, I’ve never done Facebook. No reason, I just never saw the need. Twitter has been good to me and I like it. I’ve been a Twitter user since December of 2007. Certainly not the first to the platform, but earlier than lots of people. I gotta say, I like Twitter, but it was a lot more useful before Oprah, Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears found it. After them, the corporations trying to figure out how to monetize it sorta pissed me off. Because everyone knows, it’s no good if you can’t monetize it. Then the TV news reporters began using it as a replacement for feet-on-the-ground journalism. Not necessarily a bad thing, but pretty convenient for them. No matter, all things aside, I still like the Twitterz and will continue to use it.

That being said, I just joined a social network today called Fabulis that sounds interesting. It’s a social network for gay men — but not a hook-up thing — more of a “real” social thing. Nothing like the Grinder app for iPhone. According to the fabulis blog, it’s a place to find out about happenings in your area that your friends are talking about or going to.

“Founded in 2010, fabulis.com is the network that helps gay men and their friends discover where to go, what to do, and who to meet.
fabulis is headquarted in New York, NY and has development operations in Pune, India, and Deinze, Belgium.”

It sounds a little like UpComing.org, only for gays. Fabulis currently has 15,896+ users, counting me. Like UpComing, you can post events and comment on them with other users. I’m looking forward to finding something gay to do now that I’m a member. Wish me luck.

I guess I’m avoiding the main point. Currently you can only sign up for Fabulis if you have a Facebook account. My guess is that they are using parts of Facebook’s API to make this work, but I really dont know. So, dear friends, I am not only a new user on Fabulis, but after all these years I have finally broken down and created a Facebook account. I already have three friends. Which is odd, since I haven’t even uploaded a profile picture. Oh well, send me a request and I’ll friend you, too. I enjoy the attention.

Last, I must recommend you check out the Fabulis blog. They’ve done a great job of documenting this startup from the very beginning. Lots of video interviews, user submitted videos (telling “Why I’m Fabulis”), and lots of slide-shows. I spent a good two hours there and only got about 5 pages into it. Entertaining and educational. I really wanna see this project grow.

Okay, that is all for now. Hopefully it won’t take me another four months to post something here. Just in case it does, I apologize in advance.