In this issue, we're going to talk about the power of collaboration, sharing, and networking worldwide. One cool thing about the Internet is that it truly makes the world a smaller place. I now have friends all around the world and communicate with them often. I would never have imagined this 23 years ago when I purchased my first computer. There are tons of definitions for what Web 2.0 is. I see Web 2.0 as a progression from Web 1.0 - from Email/Instant Messaging/Static Website Design to Blogging/Social Networking Sites/Business Networking Sites/Sharing of Photos and Niche Sharing. We'll see examples of each. Today, I just scratch the surface of what's available. Check out my web tour - for lots more Web 2.0 exploration.

Helpful Website

Glide Mobile New Generation Operating System In researching for this and the next Ezine (focus on mobile computing), I came across this fascinating site/program/operating system. This could prove to be the single best application I've seen in the past 5-10 years. Even better than an iPhone! It's a desktop/online operating system with all the tools you need built in, including chat, email, music, photo editing, documents & spreadsheets, website publisher, address book, presentations, videos, calendaring and more. The amazing thing is that it supports Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, plus with the 3.0 version you can also access devices running Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Palm OS, and Symbian OSes, as well as the iPhone and future devices sporting the upcoming Google-backed Android platform.

What is our most popular service these days? I thought you'd never ask!

It's remote backup service. We work one/one with you, the computer user, to solve your immediate computer issues - NOW! We're building quite the reputation for living up to our name - "In The Moment." After our first on-site visit, where we tune up your computer to the way it was when you first got it, we install special software so we can access your computer from our desktops. No more "waiting for a tech" to come by. No more tight scheduling. You just call us when you have a problem and usually within 4-8 business hours, we'll be at your side, virtually, fixing your computer from our office to your office/home anywhere in the world. We cut down the time you've spent in the past calling a country outside the US with a person on the other end reading a script. We know what we're doing - and can assist you with your Wireless Network, your Internet Connection, your Treo, your BlackBerry, a Crashed Hard Drive, or any other type of technological issue. As you know, "We Relieve Technology Stress." Call us today at 408.732.8500 for educated, non-scripted tech support. Of course, we still provide excellent onsite computer repair and training in your home, home office or small business. This will NEVER change.

Web 2.0

Facebook / Myspace / YouTube / Meetup / Flickr / Twitter MySpace started primarily as a fun place for kids to play around - download different wallpapers - share photos - gossip about each other and meet in the real world. It has slowly but surely morphed into a very commercial site filled with ads - enough to strangle the average person. It's definitely become "the" destination for musicians, and more and more business professionals are having a presence on MySpace. Although, tons of kids (and adults, I might add) still see the space as a form of self-expression. People's pages get pretty wild here. Facebook Slowly but surely, Facebook seems to be taking over Rupert Murdoch's ad-filled MySpace. Facebook started out as a very closed, tightly-knit social network for college students.  They then opened the door to certain corporations. Now it's open for all! They also have this cool development platform where people develop cute little products that you can have fun with and occasionally they try to sell you stuff. You can give your friends a hug, then a beer! The pages are all uniform and IMHO (In my humble opinion) a lot easier to read (Did I just say that? Am I getting old?). You still get lots of creativity since Facebook opened up their operating system for people to write fun applications. In Facebook, I belong to several business-oriented groups. YouTube Started by 3 wild and crazy guys who used to work at Paypal - Chad, Steve and Jawad. They figured America's Funniest Home Videos was such a smash, why not create it for the Internet (okay, so I made that part up - but my guess is that this is part of their inspiration). Basically, it's a great place to post any video you shoot with your digicam or videocam. It's a fun place to waste lots of time. It's also a great place to get educational advice on stuff like how you can enjoy a cat.  Check out my Blog (www.clydesblog.net)  for some fun cat and other videos. A new development on the You Tube Site is that there is a button to click to get a higher quality stream on YouTube so everyone doesn't look like they're in a fishbowl. Of course, as with all these sites, you add favorites, you add friends and then you share your videos with your friends. Meetup An interesting concept. People in certain geographic areas have interests, one of the people rises above the rest, lays out some cash, and decides to lead a group. As of this writing there are 44,156 groups throughout the world. Some of the popular topics: Atheists, Chihuahua, Poker, Pug and Writers. Up and coming meetups: Anti Federal Marriage Amendment, Any Woman for Peace, Elvis Week and Ninja. In addition to having my own Meetup Group, I belong to several other Meetup Groups. I'm looking forward to going to the Four Hour Work Week Group! Flickr Photos are fun. They're even more fun when you get to share them with the world on Flickr. Since Flickr was purchased by Yahoo 2 years ago, you can use your Yahoo! account to share and to purchase photos. Twitter For those of you who just can't share enough of your life with people, there's Twitter. Any thought, any action, any gleam in your eye - as soon as you have it, twitter about it. You text message it, you email it, you blog it . . . you can even chat it right into your Twitter page. Then your friends and family know your every move. Spooky, eh? Check me out at Facebook (search for me) & MySpace and, oh yes, I have a MeetUp Group - Bay Area Musicals!

Partner Spotlight - Online Backup

You have insurance for your car, your residence, and your health - why not have some for your computer? I know, I know. It's such a pain in the asparagus to backup your data. It's not sexy, it's not fun, and it's sure not easy. Wait - it IS easy! Imagine losing all your business information from your notebook by having it stolen. What if someone comes into your office, steals your server, all the backup tapes, the backup drive and all the workstations. What now? How 'bout you awake to a fire and you have to get out of the house - now! Are you going to unplug your desktop computer in your haste? Probably not. The best way, in my mind, is to backup online. Click on any of the links in this email to take you directly to a service that - for less than a movie ticket per month - will backup your hard drive's data, photos, videos, and music. If you only have a small amount of data, it's free. The data is heavily encrypted and uses the same security they use at banks. As long as you keep your user name and password away from prying eyes, your data is safe. It's saved many of my clients data in some bad situations!! Did you know the average life span of a hard drive is only 3-5 years? I'm talking Windows PC and Mac users. BTW, this service runs on both the Windows (2000, XP and Vista) and Mac OSX (10.4 and above) platforms. Mozy for Mac is officially released. Get a 15% discount on one- and two-year subscriptions with promotional code MACMOZY now through Thursday, May 8.  Check out the rest of my Partners on my site.

Social Networking - Niche Sharing

Shelfari / Yelp / Del.icio.us / Tripit One of the newer social sites (new to me at least) where you keep track of your trips. Trippy, eh? The cool thing I first noticed on this site was the "early check in" buttons for my flight when I entered an itinerary for my upcoming Vancouver trip. Although I know how to get there, this just made it so much easier. I also like the fact that once I build up a friends list, I'll be able to get/give suggestions for cool places to go while on vacation. Hey, you can see when I'm going and coming back from Vancouver last week! Shelfari An awesome place to show what books you own, will own, are reading, and have read. I have 75 books on the list and counting!! I'm also in a cool Business Book Group and we share books on the Shelfari site. Yelp Have you Yelped me yet? Have you ever gone to a new city/state and you want to know what the locals think about the food? Your computer stops working and you want to find a great tech ;-)? You want bagels and you want them just like NY bagels, but you can't since you don't live there, so you try to find the closest thing? How 'bout an emergency haircut or mani/pedi? What about the best sports bar? All these and more can be found at Yelp! Make sure you stop by my site and drop me a line. Try typing in "Computer Repair" in "Sunnyvale, CA". Del.icio.us Bookmarks, Links, Favorites - whatever you call them, they're the places you like to go on the web/Internet. Start an account and you'll have your bookmarks anywhere there's a computer. Has great search functionality and exporting as well. I have a ton of them and counting. It's so easy to search, you don't even need to keep them in order. Of course, they're good for you - they're good for the whole planet. By default, you share them with everyone on Del.icio.us. Trick to getting there - type in delicious.com. What do you know, I'm on Shelfari and Yelp, too!

Coming next month

Business Social Networking & More!!