LINKEDIN: May I suggest that you might want to add more contacts to your LinkedIn profile?

Thursday, November 22, 2007

SHARED WITH ONE OF MY LINKEDIN CONTACTS

May I suggest that you might want to add more contacts to your LinkedIn profile?

LinkedIn is the “find” and “be found” site. But your profile has to be “real”. There are many suspicious profiles on LinkedIn. My taxonomy is: ghosts (abandoned), strawman (owned by a recruiter advertising a real someone and who will “toll booth” you to make contact), scarecrow (owned by a recruiter who will try to sell you a substitute), a zombie (an identity of potentially a real person setup by someone else for other purposes like expanding a contact list to look more popular), and an alter ego (a second profile to feature a different persona). One characteristic they all share is a single, or sparse, contact list. Your contact list is like that. If you’re not getting the results you want, that might be the reason.

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TECH SERVICE: GOOGLE is a complicated beast!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Just when I think I am at the top of my game, I find out how little I really grok!

Take the mighty GOOGLE for instance. It too can be a little schizophrenic!

For the longest time, I thought I was the one going nuts. When I would post on fellow blogger’s blog hosted at BLOGGER, now a GOOGLE minion, I’d try to use one of my funny email addresses tied to reinkefaceslife dot com like “The Big Turkey” for Dave Opton’s blog about job search.

(You know how I try to partition my life despite Gandhi’s admonition and GTD’s paradigm. Maybe I am the schizophrenic?)

So for the longest time, I when I’d want to make a comment at Dave’s blog — something truly insightful or witty imho — I’d tap out my comment and then try to authenticate to BLOGGER using my GOOGLE account. But, I always had trouble and eventual would take one of the other options.

Had similar problems, at the South Brunswick blog where I wanted to be “a libertarian in 08824”.

But authenticating to and signing in to Blogger was always a hassle. And, I attributed to a hidden Google cookie.

Being the naturally insistent jerk that you all know and love, and like pet with a quirk you see on America’s Funniest Videos, I kept trying. I wonder how many hours I’ve wasted banging my fingers on the keyboard just trying?

SO for the South Brunswick blog, I came up with a workaround. Before I’d post at BLOGGER, I’d log on and off and on again to GMAIL with “a libertarian in 08824”. Then, having cleared the “mythical GOOGLE cookie”, I could go an make my comment and BLOGGER would find my old “a libertarian in 08824” GMAIL signon cookie from the other FIREFOX tab and all would work perfectly.

(Note that this workaround reinforces my belief in the magical GOOGLE cookie that prevented my from using the BLOOGER “use your GOOGLE account” authentication mechanism.)

So I thought I was pretty smart!

So, now, I want to comment and use “The Big Turkey @ Reinke Faces Life” account to comment on a different BLOGGER blog. (It was going to be a wonderfully insightful and funny comment about cannibalism on Thanksgiving being unacceptable to the the big fat old turkey hisself. I thought it would be funny.) But, I could NOT authenticate to BLOGGER. (and, for it to be funny, it had to come from “The Big Turkey”!) So I tried my magic workaround. Which, of course, when needed would NOT work.

Now, I am faced with evidence. (Always, an annoying fact of life!) TBT @ RFL is working for email purposes cause I can see it in outlook. I KNOW the passwords for sure because ROBOFORM keeps all my passwords precisely! I can NOT authenticate to BLOGGER to make my comment. I can NOT authenticate to GMAIL to use my working email. I can not authenticate to GOOGLEACCOUNTS even though … hmmm.

Eureka!

TBT @ RFL is a GOOGLEAPPSFORDOMAINS account!

Remember back when Google announced APPSFORDOMAINS? You could turn any domain into a fully functional one for free. (Hey I admit I’m cheap, but I also like to try everything.) So, I put RFL on GAFD!

BUT, that’s not the same as having a GOOGLE ACCOUNT!

Cute.

GOOGLE is the one that’s schizophrenic.

By way of a test I created “yet another blogger” at rfl dot com. And, proved you can sign in to GMAIL or GOOGLEACCOUNT with it, but you can logon on to GMAIL via the GAFD interface. (How’s that for confusing!) And, even stranger, using that id you can create a GOOGLEACCOUNT with it.

(Now I have to go create GOOGLE ACCOUNTS for those email addresses in RFL that are in GAFD!)

So the moral of the story, is GOOGLE has some split personalities.

And, keep poking at something and eventually all will be revealed.

(But does it have to take so long and make me look so dumb?)

Happy tday.
from the big fat old turkey hisself

Turkey illustration

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TECH SOFTWARE: YAHOOMUSICJUKEBOX does an update when it wants too!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

It’s bad enough when a big giant takes over a software product. It’s bad enough when it insists it’s going to do stuff it’s way. It’s bad enough when it takes all the file associations for its own. But, today to listen to an MP3, it decides on doing a mandatory upgrade. No explanation; just goes off an does it. Never mind that I don’t have time for it now. Never mind that I may not necessarily want their “upgrade”. Never mind that it fires up YIM which I don’t want up. Argh! And, it wants a mandatory reboot. Double Argh!

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LINKEDIN: new concept “Network Drafting”

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

“Network Drafting” as defined as noticing that someone you trust in your network connects to another person, and you attempt to connect as well. You’re drafting in the sense that you follow their lead to improve your situation – drafting the race car or bicyclist in front of you.

— Steve Glaiser, Product Quality Executive Management

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TECH HARDWARE: Kindle is kindling

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071119/D8T114E00.html

***Begin Quote***

The Kindle device is shown in this photograph released by Amazon.com on Monday, Nov. 19, 2007. The $399 electronic book device will allow downloads of more than 90,000 book titles, blogs, magazines and newspapers.

***End Quote***

All I know is what I have read in the press.

$400!

Are you kidding me?

It should read the book to me, serve coffee, and do tricks.

Nahhh, I don’t think so.

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TECH SERVICE: links your listing to the profile portal page

Sunday, November 18, 2007

tiny

http://www.naymz.com/faqs.action?section=3

***Begin Quote***

How does Naymz work?

Naymz has built a proprietary technology which “speaks” to the advertising platforms of the search engines. Naymz relies on paid search advertising to post your personal listing. Paid search advertising is also know as “Sponsored Links” in Google, “Sponsor Results” on Yahoo, and “Sponsored Sites” on MSN Search. Naymz pays all variable fees charged by the engines directly, and subscribers pay Naymz a flat fee. Naymz automatically links your listing to the profile portal page which you create.

***End Quote***

Playing with it. Let’s see if it brings me that bix bux cxo job in 08824. ;-)

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TECH SERVICE: TRUFINA “truth be told”

Saturday, November 17, 2007

https://www.trufina.com

***Begin Quote***

What is a Trufina Identity Card?

Your Verified Trufina Identity Cards are customizable views of information about you that you share with others. Think of it as an electronic version of your driver’s license. Since it is customizable, you can restrict what verified information you show to others. Want to show your city but not your home address? Or prove your age to someone without revealing your full name? You can create multiple credentials for various situations, such as online dating, reputation management, or buying and selling goods through online auctions or classifieds. You control who sees which cards, and nobody can view your ID card without your permission.

***End Quote***

I’ve added a reputation service to my arsenal of tools. Why? People thought my recent networking email might have been spam or phish. Arghh!

Ask to see my identity at www.Trufina.com!

http://profile.trufina.com/reinkefj

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LINKEDIN: the first negative recommendation of anyone I think I have ever seen

Saturday, November 17, 2007

FROM AN EMAIL TO ONE OF MY LINKEDIN FIRST LEVEL CONTACTS

*** begin quote ***

Hi XXXXX: Well, it’s a quiet Sunday morning and I’m working on my current LinkedIn project “how live is my network”. I’ve been reviewing all my contacts to see if there are people I can help. (Yeah, I know “get a life”!) While I’m not “out” now, I could be. So prep is always in order. Pay it forward. I was looking at your LinkedIn profile and I was struck by the “recommendations” of YYYYYYYYYY. Yours is the first negative recommendation of anyone I think I have ever seen. (It kinda puts an interesting question about what does the word “recommendation” mean?) Is it a joke? If not, were you really that mad at him? Now I have no other agenda other than curiosity. As I said, never saw such before and just had to know more. If you have a moment and care to elaborate, I’d love to hear more. Of course, if there is anything I can do to help, please advise. Thanks, your “LinkedIn version of the Vulcan mind meld” mate fjohn

P.S.: I’m adjusting my tin foil hat so you’ll get better reception.

*** end quote ***

Seems like something that is very dangerous to do.

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LINKEDIN: May I suggest that you have your own domain?

Saturday, November 17, 2007

May I suggest that you have your own domain?

The common wisdom, or is that common whizdumb, is to own your own name as a domain name. I own “reinke.cc”. (I like saying “sea sea me at reinke.cc”!) I gives one quite a bit of control. And, it’s very cheap. I know three solutions at 15$/year using wordpressdotcom with gmail, 25$/year email only with 1and1, and 60$/year for domain + email + webspace also at 1and1. My point is not that you should use 1and1. I could care less. It’s that getting on to your own email is cheap and easy.

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LINKEDIN: May I suggest that you not use your employer’s email on LinkedIn?

Friday, November 16, 2007

May I suggest that you not use your employer’s email on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a great way to find people and be found. Unfortunately, in today’s economic climate, changing jobs is a fact of life. When I was on Wall Street, one would be walked out of the building and one’s email unceremoniously forwarded to one’s boss or “Human Resources”. That taught me NEVER to depend or use the boss’ email. So to, I’ve seen a lot of people — one of my very best contacts — lose access to their LinkedIn account. She’s forgotten her password and her corporate email is gone. Hence always I advise people to use a personal email on LinkedIn. I have some pretty specific opinions about what email to use, but suffice to say it’s NEVER the corporate email.

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Update: And, I saw that happen yesterday! :-(

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