i-Lights

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.

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.

Geek Brief: Yahoo Desperately Seeking Savior

Getting Mashed Up With The Twitter Experience

Twitterlights is an innovative feature of i-Lighter that saves and posts i-Lighted content to a twitter account with just a click of the mouse. I especially like how the feature simplifies the process of sharing content. I simply activate the i-Lighter bot on my toolbar, i-Light the content I want to save, post the tiny url to Twitterlights, and I'm done.

Ever since the two technologies teamed up to become one, The Light Stuff has reviewed other twitter mashups. New ones pop up on the landscape all the time. For fans of the micro-blogging platform, here are a few worth noting:

Tweetstats: Employing color-coded graphics to analyze frequency of twitter usage, the application breaks down personal data into months, days, and time of day. Charts show when a twitter member has been most active and when they don't have much to tweet. It also generates a tweet cloud tag displaying frequently used words and phrases. Not a rival of Google Analytics by any means, but easy to implement and analyze.

Comcast and Plaxo Pulse Merger Begins Integration of Old and New Media

While people like me weren't paying attention, cable giant Comcast Interactive Media acquired social network behemoth, Plaxo, innovator of Pulse technology. This is really exciting news for people attuned to Internet technology. Eventually, the rest of the population will have something to celebrate as well.

The beauty of Plaxo lies in its ability to synchronize different points of contact utilized online. By eliminating the need to check content in different locations, Plaxo provided a free service that was more or less unrivaled. The 3.0 version integrated content from information providers such as Google Calendar, Yahoo, Outlook, AOL, and LinkedIn, and provided different ways to access that content, say from a mobile phone and news feeds. Its launch more than a year ago brought the success of applications developed through social networking site Facebook to the next level. Before there was FriendFeed, Plaxo 3.0 kept members up to date and in touch with their contacts through content feeds without the time and effort normally attendant to email. This in turn helped grow the development of social media.

For a more thorough understanding of the original Plaxo technology, watch the video here.

SlideShare and Google Maps News

Last night, I attended a community function debuting a video created by a friend's daughter. Not much more than PowerPoint with live action shorts slipped in for good measure, the different visual techniques grabbed my eye. Transition devices, music layover, and other visual devices, all deftly arranged for maximum effect. For a 14-year old, it was a masterpiece. At the conclusion, the auditorium burst into applause as my friend beamed with pride.

Now, out of Silicon Valley comes news of funding worth $3 million for SlideShare. Described as a "YouTube for PowerPoint junkies," SlideShare is a niche network community where users tag and share PowerPoints, leave comments, and even mashup presentations with background music. SlideShare encourages people to get creative, join groups, and schedule events. Each PowerPoint has a set of statistics showing total views, shares, and embeds. These statistics help propel presentations to the homepage for additional exposure.

I personally like that you don't have to be a registered member to start uploading content. Worth having a look if you enjoy watching different PowerPoints, or use this type of presentation in your daily activities. Here's a featured slideshare covering today's news.

| View | Upload your own

Two More i-Lighter Time Saving Tips to Lighten Your Day

A passing thought entered my brain as I began typing today's article. Who are the people deriving the most benefit from their free i-Lighter accounts? Tech people? People who research online? People with certain lifestyles? Hobbyists? Stay at home soccer moms? Expressive writers?

Truthfully, i-Lighter is tremendously beneficial for anyone using the Internet. It's easy to download, set up, and quite easy to navigate after login. I use my account almost daily, highlighting articles of interest and sending them to my social networks with a simple click of the mouse. It's far easier to communicate my interests in this manner than to link back to these articles with an article of my own. The same holds true for pictures. No need to pirate and upload when i-Lighter easily lets me share.

Energy Savers, Computers for Seniors, and Homepage Art from Google

I'd been wondering about the latest logo design from Google.com. Yes, credit was given to artist Jeff Koons, but the display didn't exactly jump off the page and speak to French me. What were those brilliant shapes and colors signifying? Metallic castanets? Digital tulips? Balloon animals? What significance to a day in the life of an Internet addict?

Thankfully, I came across the answer rather quickly. With the introduction of iGoogle Artist Themes, the good folks from the Googleplex now provide a way to pimp out iGoogle homepages. The art is rich and varied, a nice touch for those who start their day with Google. Designs from famous artists like Anne Geddes, Alice Mak, Edward Monkton, and the band Coldplay are in large supply.

Having unraveled the mystery of the Google logo, I decided to look for other news that might be of interest to i-Lighter aficionados. No telling what might appeal to people, right?

Lighter Tips for Bloggers and the Art of Promotion

As the ever-expanding blogosphere enters a state of relative maturity, bloggers seem to be less concerned with the number of existing blogs.

Technorati, an aggregator of blog content and other social media, didn't issue a State of the Blogosphere report this year. Perhaps that's just as well. This shift in perception -- that numbers no longer matter -- signals an acceptance of blogs as legitimate medium, encouraging more people to publish and turn to blogs as a source of daily information. Companies are also hopping aboard the bandwagon, using blogs to inform their employees and the general public about company developments and related news.

Every week, this blog provides a tip or two for i-Lighter members. Today, those tips will be tailored to bloggers. Many of us, myself included, spend countless hours writing and maintaining blogs. I've come to learn some tricks of the i-Lighter trade by looking for ways to make my own blogging and promotion a bit easier.