Is just days away. Seriously!

I had originally set out to give instructions as to how to use Windows Movie Maker to show all the ‘PCers’ the easiest way to get video online. That is, I was going to do this even though I usually use Sony Vegas to edit and render my vids.

And then Lisa informed me via email that she isn’t able to render her video small enough (<100 MB) to be uploaded to YouTube. So, before I try to figure out the magic formula in Windows Movie Maker (I can hear you all laughing by the way), perhaps someone would like to recommend a web-based app that I can demo for all of the folks?

Has anyone tried Jumpcut? They have a cool little demo, here. If no one has a better suggestion, and the Windows app can’t make it happen, then maybe this is our tool. By the way, all we’re looking for is a suitable, easy-to-use editing/compression program.

Apologies again to Sean, who is also waiting patiently for my the rest of my series.

John of Obviousness.net tells us of his favourites, and I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time, so here’s mine:

Like John, I couldn’t get on without:

• Gmail- Email me for an invite: jordanbehan[at]gmail.com

• Bloglines- Although I hype Netvibes for its simplicity, I’ve been monitoring my favourite feeds in Bloglines since the beginning.

• Wordpress- She drives this site, and many client sites as well. And we love her. Code is Poetry, after all.

• YouTube- for the same reasons John gives. (Except the part about the kids) It’s the most widely used, and it has everything.

• Flickr- If you don’t love Flickr, then I’m not sure you and I can get along. Just kidding. Or not.

Also, I’m rather dependent upon:

• Basecamp- For project management, to do lists, etc.

• Pandora- So I can rock out while I work!

What are your favorites? The ones you just can’t live without…

Well, wouldn’t you know it? According to Read/WriteWeb, Yahoo spent a cool $10-12 million to acquire MyBlogLog, the latest social media web 2-point-whatever tool that all the cool kids are using.

I first mentioned MyBlogLog a few months back, and since then I’ve started to make use of the widgets, stats counters and even messaging that it offers. Fellow blogloggers, hello! For fun, why not click through to the site to have a look at your own smiling avatar in the sidebar? I love that feature, it reminds me of some of the cool people that come by to have a read, and it makes me feel happy. No, really. And if it sounds like I’m gushing over MBL, it’s because I am. I like it, almost as much as my brother likes MySpace. But not quite .

Update: Duh! Here’s me on MyBlogLog.

The surprising thing to me is how good Yahoo is at acquisitions. Such a big company, with such an epic history on the net (relatively, of course), and yet they still have the wisdom to secure great web services like Flickr and the former example; ones that actually have a certain amount of genuine cachet among the early-adopting-power-user set. And they’re not afraid of spending some dough to get them either. (Update: Later, in the shower, I realized how funny that line must sound, considering what Google paid for YouTube) So, although I was starting to think that Google would always provide me with all of the tools I needed for absolutely free, I find myself migrating away from the big G, and oddly content with a handful of Yahoo products. Have you used Upcoming.org lately? It’s wicked good (Italics represent poor impression of a Boston accent) for events and networking, in case you didn’t already know.

I don’t mean to sound as if I don’t still use about a half-dozen Google products that I am just “chuffed” with, (Google, I am heartily sorry if I have offended you…) I just can’t help but notice that Yahoo is always upping the coolness factor too.

On a related note, I just finished re-reading Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Revisited, and I’m starting to build operations manuals as to “How we do it here” at Tell Ten Friends. You know, just in case someone were to one day make me an offer of 10 mill or so to buy this here small but thriving firm.

I would want to keep the chair, of course.

I’ve added some new gems to my blogroll (”Stuff I Read,” in the right column). As always I only add things that I read on a regular basis, and that I’m keen to share with readers.

You might find yours in the list, but don’t be heartbroken if it’s not there…I have several others short-listed that may be added soon.

Enjoy!

Update: How could I forget Converstations, and Obviousness.net?

Or so says the headline that I lifted from a new white paper on SL written by the folks over at Social Signal. It’s a free download, follow the link in their post to give it a read for yourself, and discover what all the fuss is about.

Regarding the white paper, excerpted from Rob’s post:

It’s a PDF, about 450 kb in size. It’s also a pretty quick read, so it’s perfect as a crib sheet before your next chichi cocktail party, where you’ll be the one who doesn’t have to fake-nod-and-laugh their way through the inevitable Second Life conversation.

Give it a read, and take advantage of your one free avatar. Come and say hi to BadBad Leroy (Jim Croce fans, anyone?), if you happen to catch him at any marketing events in SL, or flying around Info Island trying to make sense of this new 3D world.

2007 is going to be a great year, I can just sense it.

For one thing, my sister moved to town, and that means more quality time with family, plus a consistent running partner to keep me in line while training for the Vancouver Marathon this May. Call that my New Year’s resolution, but longtime TTF readers will recall I committed to this several months ago, and after a (admittedly light) season of occasional runs here in Vancouver last year, I’m ready for the real deal this year. The big one. I can feel the burn already, and I’m still a bit “festive” from the wine at dinner. This should be interesting.

Also of note: I got a new camera (yeaaaaah!) from my wife for Christmas, an Olympus Evolt E-500. And I’m loving it. Two seconds out of the box and it took me right back to my days as a sports shooter, firing away like mad on my 35mm SLR hoping I got the puck (or soccer ball, etc.) in the frame. I’m back behind the lens again, and this time it’s not a betacam, DV or a video camera of any kind, but my beloved still photography. I missed it, so prepare for an increase in the number of shots coming through my feed (pardon the duplicate, in this case). But sentimentality aside, it will have great business applications as well. Add photography to the list of services available from your favorite boutique marketing firm

Still, since Vancouver has been a rainy mess (surprise!) the past few days, I haven’t been able to snap much of anything that’s ‘flickr worthy.’ So I’ve defaulted to the obvious cop-out in times like these, where the first shot has to tell a certain story…and so here is a shot of my new camera, by my new camera:

Did I mention how terrific Mrs. Behan is at giving Christmas presents?

Have a terrific and prosperous New Year, all. I’m back in the saddle, so posting should resume just as sporadic and inconsistent as ever. Cheers!

Roland is in the middle of an interesting SEO/content management debate, and I have to say I agree with him:

Yes, a static website is much better than no website. But with modern blogging software like WordPress and content management systems like Drupal, Joomla, Plone it’s easy to setup static pages as well as blogs and you then get all the advantages of blogs (ease of editing, RSS which leads to higher search engine rank) and traditional static websites. This means you have a system where anybody can update the content without needing a webmaster or FTP which means the site is more likely to be up to date unlike most static websites.

(self portrait by Roland)

He continues..

Technical people and web designers who recommend to clients to use static pages with FTP, Front Page, Dreamweaver, etc. are doing their clients a disservice! It’s 2006 not 1999!

Better to use WordPress (even though I work for a Drupal company I’ll continue to plug WordPress for blogs and simple static sites; use Drupal if you want a comprehensive web presence including a true community site) and just use its static web pages features and make the blog part invisible) than to use some custom or hand coded static site.

I couldn’t agree more. Perhaps it would be too blatantly self-promotional to remind everyone that if you need a site built with Wordpress…