i-Lights

i-Lighting and cruising

I was making a presentation about our new launch (have a little patience but it will be worth the wait) and one of the attendees asked me how i-Lighter could help him get his life under control- a point I had made. I logged into my personal web viewer and after seeing the wealth of information I had saved and organized, everything from work research, my travel confirmations, articles I want to read at some point to recipes, gifts I want to buy, books  I want to read and plans for my upcoming cruise, he 'got it'.

I read numerous articles, blogs, feeds daily and I am constantly impressed at the cutting edge companies that pop up every day. Too much for most, not enough for some. But how many do we use? And how many do we need? And how do they actually help us?

i-Lighter was designed to be a useful, practical tool that helps you save, organize, share, retrieve and actually use web content. A good friend is taking a well deserved cruise this summer. She will be traveling with her family  nd is the one (there's always one in a crowd) who is doing the planning. Having never cruised before , she sought information from  travel blogs and community forums including Cruise Critic, Trip Adviser and Kim's Cruise Tips. She i-Lighted cruise ships, potential destinations, ports of calls, etc, setting up folders for each. She assembled what she likes and sent them to her friends with iNotes explaining what she had found. And that was only the beginning. She set up folders for each Port of Call and saved her research on restaurants, special places of interest, where to find the best bargains and made sure the reservations and confirmations were there. Other family members emailed sent her their findings and after months of planning all their collective research was saved and neatly organized in her i-Lighter account.

Airlines lose luggage, travelers forget their lists and guidebooks can be outdated. My hard working friend has i-Lighter. Her reservations, confirmations, plans and tips are always a click away. That is an example of a tool that actually helps. 

i-Lighter continues to improve and expand. In the last few months, we have re-launched i-lighter 2.0, redesigned the web viewer, added 'send to blog', added a MAC version, went up as a Firefox extension, added twitterlights and kept working to improve speed and performance. And the most exciting extension since we launched i-Lighter is in final testing stages. Anyone who wants to help us beta test, please email us at feedback@i-Lighter.com. And remember- keep i-Lighting!

Finding My Way, Series Finale

This series was supposed to be a weekly Friday feature at The Light Stuff. But, like the short-lived Internet series, Quarter Life, this feature has been cancelled.

Well, that's a wrap. Thanks for tuning in.

But seriously, The Light Stuff is a blog for people who have made or are considering making i-Lighter a permanent part of their Internet experience. Those of you who already know what a great product i-Lighter is, I'm not going to waste my time preaching to the choir. I-Lighter is THE tool for teachers, librarians, journalists, hobbyists, researchers, cooks, why, i-Lighter is the perfect free tool for just about anyone who surfs the web and wants to save their online content to files that can be accessed from anywhere. End of story.

To those of you who are still on the fence about downloading i-Lighter...I don't understand your hesitation, but I respect your right to hesitate. And maybe, eventually, you'll come around.

New Niche Networks Include One for Beer Lovers

A trip to Venice Beach, California reveals some unusual sights. A man dancing to the beat of boardwalk bongos, eyes closed and cradling a new puppy. Another who talks to himself while rolling out a collection of brightly colored crystals. Palm readers, fortune tellers, and an "Ask Zoltan" carnival game add color and mystique.

People have a need to gather, to see and be seen. We can't all hop on a plane and journey to the Pacific Ocean. But we can use the Internet as a central meeting place, joining social networks to connect with like-minded people. As part of The Light Stuff's continuing niche social network series, here are some more sites with unusual social themes.

Free Beta Testing of Adobe Creative Suite and Photoshop

Investing in software is like putting a ring on the finger of technology you used to date. After a free download or testing on a friend's computer, an actual purchase or upgrade says you're ready to make a commitment. You're comfortable with its features and at some point you may walk down the aisle, using your new purchase to the exclusion of all others.

In return, the smart software doesn't rest on its laurels. Like i-Lighter, which continues to roll out new features and develop new partnerships, it periodically reinvents itself, adding new features and capabilities. It knows that growing stale in the face of brutal competition is like a kiss of  death. These days, competitors pop out of the woodwork like water bugs in a damp basement.

Attacking Google Becomes a National Past Time

Just as Google goes universal and boasts a respectable stock price, a pallor of gloom hangs over the Googleplex.

Let's start with litigation filed on March 13, 2007 by Viacom, Inc. and its related entities against Google and its subsidiary, YouTube. The suit charges Google with copyright infringement for broadcasting clips of Viacom cash cows such as SpongeBob Square Pants and South Park. It also requests more than $1 billion in damages.

In a Motion to Dismiss filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Google responded by claiming strict adherence to requirements of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. According to Google's Motion, that provision allows hosting of copyrighted content originating elsewhere provided the host site responds properly to claims of infringement. Google claims it has. Although it may have successfully framed the argument as "chilling access to the Internet," serious intellectual property rights are at stake. Further erosion of copyright protections could have a chilling effect on creative expression. As seen from last year's Writers Strike, artists won't create new content without proper compensation.

In Observance of the Memorial Day Holiday

Today, Americans celebrate Memorial Day, a national holiday since 1868. A day of remembrance for fallen war heroes, traditional observance includes visiting cemeteries and memorials, flying flags at half staff until noon, pausing for a moment of silence, listening to a rendition of "Taps," and pledging aid to disabled veterans, and the widows and orphans of our fallen soldiers.

These days, many people celebrate with parades down main street, a thank you to war veterans, and environmentally friendly backyard barbeques. Some will go out for pizza, while others will focus on more strenuous tasks. As mentioned last week, i-Lighter is an easy way to collect Memorial Day celebration ideas anywhere from the web, then organize them into an account. Files then can be accessed from any computer with the proper login ID and password. Pretty cool for free.

This Memorial Day, I plan to spend time raising the flag, observing a moment of silence, relaxing with friends and family, organizing computer files, and readying myself for a trip out west. You will still find me here posting articles, but beginning Tuesday, they'll be emanating from sunny California. I also plan to celebrate by spotlighting members who mention Twitterlights.

You may have thought I've forgotten Member Spotlight Day, what with all this hoopla for fallen soldiers and related Memorial Day matters. But indeed no, I have not. In fact, today I'm trying a slightly different format.

Finding My Way: Season I, Episode 1

Finding My Way is a new weekly installment of The Light Stuff. Set in Washington, D.C. and the adjacent suburbs of Maryland, the fictional storyline follows the exploits of 20-year old college student, Arden Wraps, as he juggles the demands of a new internship at a tech startup with his educational obligations at The University of Maryland.

Nervous? You bet I'm nervous. I've been nervous since the day I was born. The guys at my dorm constantly give me grief over it, saying I take things way too seriously, and that I should spend more time with a beer in one hand and a co-ed in the other. One of them actually said that I give off the scent of dweeb so why bother. Can you believe that? The scent of dweeb.

What do I care? They don't know me. They're a bunch of losers anyway, most of them. Well, not Bitz. He's actually a decent sort. Bitz doesn't try to get one over on me all the time like those losers. He's different. An excellent rommate, really. I couldn't get over how nice he was this morning. I would have thought after my alarm accidentally went off at 5:00 instead of 7:00 a.m. that the clock would have been toast. But not with good old Bitz. He just threw a shoe at me, rolled over, and went right back sleep. Could have been a real moron about the whole thing, really and then where would I be? Certainly not on the redline headed downtown.

Ahh, the first day of my new internship. I'm petrified. I mean, I beat out thirty-five other contenders for this spot, thirty frigg'n five! That's some chicken salad. The truth is, I would have paid them for this spot. I still can't believe Nobler Fineson picked me, inconsequential small time nothing, Arden Wraps, to join their tech startup. This is really going to be a good summer. I can already feel it in my bones.

Boomj Just Got Better and Travelers Have a New Social Network

More niche social networks are emerging online. The subject has become somewhat of its own niche here at The Light Stuff. Like a social media watchdog, I've decided to devote more time to this fascinating topic, reporting related news and providing reviews at least one time each week.

Boomj is a social networking and ecommerce site attracting the 41-64 year old sector with family friendly content and world and lifestyle news. Now boasting over 78 million members, the site recently entered into a strategic partnership with AmericanLife TV Network.  The Network provides classic and original television programming like "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" and "Welcome Back, Kotter." The programs can be found online as well as their independently owned cable channel. The partnership looks like a perfect marriage in that both sites are dedicated to a certain age group that prefer tamer viewing content.

The Sci Fi Channel, long regarded as a niche network, is expanding the focus of its programming. Rather than run only mainstream network castoffs, their new President, Dave Howe, is developing original programs and promoting older content that ask viewers, "What if?" Its corporate parent, NBC Universal, is expanding the market into Russia. Like similar foreign markets, Sci Fi will tailor its content to suit local tastes.

Tips and Tools for a Most Del.icio.us Experience

Every day, each of us has a list of tasks to perform. They may not be written down, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Go to work, bring in the mail, take out the garbage, check email. It's the routine tasks that fill up each day, often without our conscious awareness. We do these things because we have to, because they would never get done without us.

What if each of us could develop a system, a way to organize and streamline our every day tasks? That would lighten the load, free up downtime, and give us more time to engage in optional activities. Imagine a leisurely morning stroll, then meeting friends for coffee. Or taking an hour to enjoy a massage. People tell me they'd like to spend more time with their families. With proper time management, all of these things are possible.

Likewise, to avoid wasting time on the Internet, everyone needs an efficient work system, a way to kill two birds with one stone. Finding the right tools, the right system, the right routine can involve a lot of trial and error. So, while I'm not an expert on the subject of tips and tools, I'm decent at finding other people's words of wisdom. I have to be. Otherwise I'd never get anything done.

Celebrate Memorial Day With These Fun Ideas

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but where I come from, it's raining like crazy and cold. Unusual weather for the week before Memorial Day. All of this time, I thought the planet was suffering from Global Warming. Turns out Global Cooling is to blame.

In anticipation of the big weekend, today's site review focuses on activity ideas, history of the holiday, and other Memorial Day related articles. I'm hoping they'll inspire each of us to do something special in honor of our fallen heroes, something more than browse yards sales and host barbecues. Why not use i-Lighter to collect and organize related articles of your own? It's the perfect free tool for Memorial Day preparation. Here's some ideas to help get you started.

The Ojai Post provides water and fire safety tips for anyone planning to camp or spend time outdoors. These safety gems are applicable outside the forest too, say in a backyard pool, or neighborhood cooking pit. I never realized the hot exhaust of a car could ignite grass. Ours has been so soggy and wet, only a herd of cattle could get it to burn.