Likaholix: A Whole Lot of Liking Going On

Are you ready for a new kind of networking where you connect based on things you like?  It's called Likaholix, and it's becoming quite popular because most of us like to talk about the things we like.

Once you've registered (natch) you're ready to jump in.  First, you use the search box to find something you like.  It can be anything; books, movies, gadgets, furnishings, clothing, cars, whatever.  If you find the item is already liked by someone, you simply click a button that says "like this," fill in a comment about why you like it, and you're done.  You might also find that you are the first person to like an item.  If that's the case, you choose pictures and/or videos to represent the item on its listing page, make your comment, and create tags for it.

But wait, there's more!  There are other things you can do once you've got a few likes under your belt.  There are a lot of other people liking things on Likaholix too, and some of them like the things you like.  Guess what?  You can like the people who like the things you like.  You can even like the tags.  With all this liking going on, it's still possible to get stuck, so there is a recommendations button that comes up with some pretty good suggestions.

Likaholix also lets you share your likes on Facebook, Twitter, and Friendfeed...so you can expand your likes out into your web universe.  There's also a "status-centric" feature for those who have built up a reasonable stash of likes:  You can become a "tastemaker" when you have at least ten likes in a given topic, though you're limited to two separate topics for Tastemaker status.

If you like the idea of liking and being liked by others who like things...click on over to Likaholix now and start sharing. 

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Google Chrome Doesn't Replace My Mozilla Firefox; We'll Call it a Tie

Last year, I all but ditched Windows Internet Explorer for Mozilla Firefox (and the recent release of IE 8 has not made me reconsider). Being very happy with Firefox, I restrained myself from really investigating Google Chrome, though I kept informed on prevailing opinions in the tech community since before the Chrome Beta was released last autumn.

A few weeks ago, I decided the time was ripe to give Google Chrome a shot. I'm glad I did, because after putting it through my paces, I'm very impressed.

One of the most obvious (and now, recognizable) features of Chrome is the user interface. Clean and minimalistic icons, tabs, and integrated search/address bar make it very friendly to use. And this is coming from a guy who appreciates a bit of decoration, color, and lots of customization options. Speed and stability are two other areas where Google Chrome shines, which isn't surprising, since it's based on parts of Apple's Webkit (ask any Mac Geek what makes the Safari browser so awesome).

I won't give any more than this, so you'll just have to try Chrome for yourself. Download and installation is a breeze, and with a short learning curve, you'll be up and running pretty swiftly.

And no, I will not be ditching Mozilla's Firefox. I've already learned to work with both of them, usually in tandem.

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True To Form as a "Late Adopter," I Finally Joined Twitter: My Education and Thoughts

I joined Twitter Yesterday, and after finally taking the plunge I'm very glad I did.  

I put it off for so long because I didn't think it would be useful for me; I thought it's just a bunch of people posting inane updates that no one cares about.  Wrong.  Oh, there are plenty of people using it to keep others updated on the minutiae of their daily lives, but there are also many people using it as a powerful networking and information tool.

If you're not familiar with the workings, I'll give you the basics as I, a quick-study novice, understand them.

Twitter is what's known as a Microblogging service.  Once you set up an account and make your profile over the way you like it, you're ready to start finding people and letting them find you.  Aside from the folks whom you know as Twitter users, you're likely to find friends and acquaintances whose presence on the site surprises you.

Using Twitter's simple search tool, you should be able to find the people you want to connect to by their full name or Twitter username.  If that doesn't yield the desired results, you might send emails to folks you know, inviting them to connect to you.  

When you connect to someone on Twitter, it's called Following, and it's a 50/50 decision.  That means when you click to follow someone, they have the option of following you back or blocking you.  Following someone allows you to receive their updates on your Twitter home page.

Every update you post (limited to 140 characters) is called a Tweet, and the action of posting is referred to as Tweeting, though I've heard others call it Twittering.  There's a special kind of tweet known as @reply which allows you to publicly reply to someone's tweet.  This is done by beginning your reply tweet with @username, of course using the person's real username. 

There's also a direct messaging feature on Twitter which is only a two-way communication between people who are following each other; other than that it's one-way in the direction of the follower (meaning a follower cannot reply via direct message unless you follow them too).

Though I've only been with Twitter for a day, I'd like to give a little advice.  If you want to use it just to keep up with friends, follow celebrity gossip or popular current events, go crazy, follow as many people as you want.  If you want to use it as more of a business or semi/professional networking tool, use common sense when deciding who to follow, who to follow back, and who to block.  Twitter is not devoid of spam, and the more caution you use with your networking (even if it is just social) the better off and less annoyed you'll be.

By the way, you can follow me at twitter.com/jdsheline.

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