“Users need to be less trusting of specific products, services, and companies having too much power over their technical lives, jobs, and workflows. … This is why it’s so important to keep as much of your data as possible in the most common, widespread, open-if-possible formats, in local files that you can move, copy, and back up yourself.”

It’s something I’ve been concerned with since cloud storage/services became big. I try to never settle on any service for too long, and work with API’s to make sure data is not locked-up with a particular service.

Unfortunately most people aren’t going to be this diligent and responsible about their data. Regular users (those that don’t know how to use an API, or even notice backup features) are usually not too concerned with what would happen if the service suddenly shut down.

But they should be. If you find yourself complaining that a service is being shut down, you probably have become too dependent on it and stopped exploring other things out there.

You should never stop exploring. The web is full of amazing things, and new things come along very frequently. There are always other/better ways to do things. Your interests, needs, lifestyle, and levels of commitment are always changing – and so should the services and companies you invest your time and money with.

Get involved with the right groups of people that are informed and enthusiastic about your areas of interest. Start your own content channel to express your own ideas and make smarter connections.

Users may not have any control over a service shutting down, but only you control your online/software/digital life.

It even has a version that captures motion and can trigger responding actions, such as sending a text message, updating Twitter (via IFTTT) – just about any web service you can think of.

At first I am thinking that this is scary. The web has officially taken over our lives.

But then I start thinking of the multitude of uses I could conjure up with this baby.

I’ll let you know if I actually pick one up and utilize it.

In general, regarding “household internet triggers,” I’d still like to be able to:

• Control the thermostat through an app or command.
• Receive an alert when the milk is running low or expired.

Pretty sure the WeMo can’t do that (yet).

So the protocol and software would fade to the background and allow transparent communication to occur. The infrastructure would handle the conversion from one medium to another.

Twitter kind of established this, and in 2007 I thought that was their focus (mashing different distribution systems into a single entity), but I’m not so sure anymore. They’ve gotten so popular I think less of them as a tech tool and now more so a marketing tool.

What intrigued me initially about Twitter’s ability to send and receive updates via web, SMS, instant-message, was that it blurred the lines of protocols so that we no longer had to be concerned about which software system we were using. As long as you could push a message onto the internet, it would be routed correctly. It made communication a lot easier.

I don’t know if we’re there yet today. Perhaps there is some app that attempts to achieve this and hasn’t made headlines to me yet.

And then I wonder if we even need to be there.

I definitely feel the web can be too technical, and controlled too much by mega-corporations who think they know what’s best for us – with how we want to communicate and express ourselves online.

All we really want to do is connect with one another, right?

So what difference does it make if we use SMS, email, Facebook, instant-message? Text is text.

The problem/question is – how does one effectively manage their social presence online without having to decide which vendor to be locked-in to, and still be able to discover new networks without completely alienating their core group of contacts?

Personally, I hate that I can’t leave certain social networks simply because my core group of contacts are there. Why is our social web presence dependent on which vendor we choose to maintain our profiles? Shouldn’t there be a more open format/protocol to publish a social feed, where anyone can easily connect to you outside of a specific vendor’s idea of what the social web should be?

Social networks don’t speak to each other (at least, not in a way that solves the fragmentation problem), so they are essentially little islands of functionality conjured up by the creator(s). We are limited to what the creators believe a social network should look like, and how it should behave.

What if there was a way to remain social but not be a part of any particular social network? To have a public profile but not require an account, or web server? To allow others to easily connect with you, without looking up your old email address, or hunting you down some other way?

Let’s face it – the larger Google, Facebook, and even Twitter become, the more it’s evident they are companies concerned with their bottom line, not with the growth and expansion of human relations through what is essentially still an open medium, the internet. They are simply trying to monetize their social network implementation (aka business).

What’s the answer? Is there a better way?

Opera Unite is kind of thinking along these lines, but it hasn’t really taken off since it’s release almost three years ago. The concept is to be social on the web, but not be a part of any social network. The problem is it requires using the Opera web browser, and it communicates with an Opera-controlled web server, meaning there is still vendor lock-in involved. What if Opera goes out of business? What happens to my social data?

Unfortunately, pretty much any channel that requires information passed around needs a centralized web server to handle this, and how do you achieve that without being locked-in to a certain company? Someone has to provide the infrastructure and resources.

The web may be open, but it’s still run by corporations, you still need an internet connection and a device, which all cost money.

I guess I am getting too abstract here.

This is actually my first introduction to Google Takeout, which at first sounded like a food service. :-)

I proceeded to obtain my Google Voice data (the only available service that I use regularly):

It looks like the export unpacks as individual HTML files, so it’s not the greatest for importing into another system, but still useful none-the-less.

I store a lot of data and information with my Google account. Not only emails, but uploaded files and other sensitive information. It makes sense then to lock my account down extra tight.

I already change my password every few months, but I’ve taken my Google account security a step further by enabling 2-step verification.

This involves an extra layer of verification before I can sign into my Google account using normal means, like a web browser. If I try to sign-in using a web browser I have never used (or never logged-in to Google with), a phone call is made to me with a verification code, which I use to complete the sign-in process.

I also connect to my Google account in other ways such as through IMAP, Chrome Sync, and PHP scripts. In these situations I need to establish another password (outside of my normal Google account password), which is unique for each application.

For example, I connect to my Google account using IMAP through Thunderbird. Instead of using my normal Google account password, I use a one-time password specific for Thunderbird. No other Google connections use this password. I also don’t need to remember it, because I can just re-generate a new one if I need to.

It goes like this for every device/application that I need to connect to my Google account with.

It’s a little extra work/hassle making that initial connection now, but I think it’s worth it for the extra security.

1. Is the Netflix service (DVD-by-mail and streaming) worth it to me, even with the new rate? Absolutely. It’s basically all I watch.
2. Have I had many problems in the past? Very rarely.

If you ask me, the price is still fair for the service provided. DVD-by-mail is extremely swift, and the streaming service is up 99% of the time. It looks great on my 46-inch, as well as my iPad.

I think us long-time Netflix subscribers have been getting by with highway robbery for a while now, and if this little price increase is what Netflix needs to keep running at top-notch performance, then I’m all for it.

To recap, I propped an unused netbook in my kitchen to act as a informational source while away from my physical internet devices (phone, tablet, laptop, etc). Rather than having to carry around a device from room-to-room in my house, and have to dig around the device OS to find the necessary apps, I now have everything on a single screen, which is always on with up-to-date information.

I’ve become addicted to this, because a couple weeks ago I had it disconnected for a day or so, and I felt a void – I was constantly looking up to find the weather, date, or other information, and it was not there.

When I first set this up, I only had the date, time, and weather showing. Now I have the following pieces of information:

• Date and time
• Today’s high and low temperatures
• Current temperature (degrees and description)
• Latest top news story from CNN.com
• Mine and my wife’s latest social network update (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
• My last inbound text message

That last one I just added today, and I think it’s going to be very handy. I’ve even wrote some logic that alerts any incoming SMS from the last 15 minutes with a red background:

This is nice when sitting on the couch from a good distance, I can quickly see if I have a text message waiting (without fumbling with my device constantly).

I still have a lot of ideas for other information to display:

• Grocery list
• Foursquare check-in’s
• Upcoming calendar events
• Shipping confirmations
• Food expiration reminders

The possibilities are truly endless.

I’m also considering another device for the living room area, something that will blend in well, and provide the same information for when I’m not in the kitchen.

The bulk of the work has been on the application, since I am developing a simple webpage to display in fullscreen mode:

It’s extremely basic right now. For starters, I just wanted the calendar day visible, as well as the current day’s high and low temperatures.

Remember, this display will be either in a corner, or perched up on something, so it needs to be readable from a good distance. I am not that concerned with the design of the webpage – I just want clearly readable information that can be noticed at a glance.

For the display hardware itself, I had an old netbook lying around that wasn’t getting use. The screen is a tad smaller than the iPad, but large enough to see from a short distance in my small kitchen. The netbook also has a monitor port, so I can connect a much larger monitor to it (after I buy it, of course – I don’t have one lying around).

Why this is useful to me

The calendar date is useful to me because I’m often checking expiration dates on food products in the fridge. I never seem to remember the actual calendar date, and none of my kitchen devices display the date – just the time (microwave, oven, coffee pot, etc).

Rather than looking for my mobile device (“where did I leave it last??”), or retreating to another room to look at a computer for the date, I can just quickly glance over to my kitchen internet display.

If you ask me, the kitchen is currently the least web/technical/connected room in the house, yet the most potential lies in this room for a good internet information service.

Regarding the weather, it’s probably obvious why this is useful, at a glance, but I should make one thing clear: when I’m at home, I’m less likely to carry around my mobile device – instead I typically set it down somewhere, and it stays there for a while. (Why carry it around from room to room?)

So an internet display, as I am describing, is useful because we need information at a glance, while in the house, not from our pockets. Even though there are many useful weather apps that exist for mobile devices, they are completely useless unless I have my device on me at all times.

Technical application details

Regarding the actual webpage I created, I have started with simply the current date, time, and the day’s high and low temperatures.
The current date and time is done using JavaScript (it obtains the date and time programmed into the computer), and the weather is obtained from two weather feeds:

• NOAA XML
• Yahoo RSS

I check NOAA first, and if there is a problem or no response is returned, I then try Yahoo. I check for an update every hour (the high and low temperatures change frequently on any given day) by running an Ajax call in combination with JavaScript’s setTimeout() function.

The idea is to never have to manually refresh the internet display – it should refresh on it’s own to provide a seamless viewing experience.

Future plans

The date, time, and weather may seem pretty dull, eh? I agree.

I have future plans to add many other data streams to my kitchen internet display:

• Last Foursquare check-in for my wife and I. (I’ll always know where she is, at a glance.)
• Last Facebook status update for my wife and I.
• Sports scores.
• Upcoming calendar events from Google Calendar.

The possibilities are endless, really.

Then

Not too long ago, publishing content on the web was reserved for technically-inclined and creatively-rich individuals, who either earned their living in jobs requiring such unique and cutting-edge talents, or pursued in their own time such endeavors.

The rest of us merely watched from the sidelines, as these individuals expressed themselves in a way many others could not.

The web was an exciting, new medium, and those publishing content were an elite minority.

It was easy to keep up with this minority, since it was a unique content channel, one that many individuals and organizations had yet to adopt.

Websites were typically updated from a stationary desktop or limited-range laptop computer, and such occurrences were reserved for quiet time at home (or during breaks at work), where thoughts could be formed clearly.

Sometimes a site was updated from another computer, in another network – taking advantage of the “internet.” What an amazing feeling that was.

Phones were not used to update the web – their sole purpose was to make calls. A computer was used for accessing the web. When you left your computer, you left the internet… and it was nice.

In those days, you reached for the internet – the internet did not reach for you.

Now

Anyone from my 8-year-old neice, to my 80-year-old grandfather can publish content, and interact online, using a multitude of devices and computers – often while conducting other routine tasks like driving, walking, or sitting in church. No activity or time-of-day is sacred anymore. Every possible waking moment is worthy of online activities such as a Facebook update.

Personal and corporate websites have been replaced with social network streams: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.

Devices make it easy to connect to the internet while on the go – you’re no longer tethered to a desk.

The internet streams movies, makes games social, and enhances just about any kind of digital content.

GPS services are becoming ubiquitous – most devices can broadcast your location alongside your published content.

Every type of product or service seems to have a corresponding online publication – from standard blogs/sites to social network forums.

Information dissemination

This, of course, has led to dissemination. Web content is so widespread, the “elite” category of online publications no longer exist.

Since anything and everyone can easily publish content online (some as their sole means of broadcast media), the minority has turned into the majority.

It’s no longer “specialized” to publish content online.

It’s therefore harder to pick and choose what sources of content to actively follow. Our tastes and preferences must become fine-tuned for this world of information overload.

Whereas ten years ago I’d think it was cool to receive email or SMS updates from my favorite retailer about special deals, today it’s just noise on top of everything else I consume.

Content of value always wins

Separating the noise from the content of value is the real challenge.

Those publishing content of value will eventually rise to the top. And those publishing noise will eventually be rooted out.

It’s one thing to use a new medium to publish content; it’s entirely another to use a new medium to abuse it’s exposure and widespread adoption.

Never in the history of time has the act of doing something won people over. It’s the value people obtain from your action that matters.