News, Twitter v. Facebook and a new kid on the block - AudioBoo

As previously mentioned in my Analytics for this month, there are exciting new developments for LucasWeatherby.com and the Social Networking community.

First, I would like to mention and recall the blog on Facebook v. Twitter I posted just a couple of weeks ago. I did intend on keeping a 'trial period' going with the idea of keeping status updates separate on both for some time, but with the advent of AudioBoo, I have decided to forego the experiment.

AudioBoo is new on the scene, the new kid on the block. Like Twitter, it is a micro-blog, but with a difference. Like podcasts, AudioBoo allows you to record your voice - up to 3 minutes to say what you want. Short, snappy, and you get to share your thoughts, jokes, news with the world. It's already seen it's importance in the latest G20 developments, just like it's Twitter cousin.

The power of aggregation, I think, is a very powerful tool that I think trumps any traditionalist, purist argument of different uses for Twitter/Facebook statuses. Now, with AudioBoo, you might want to share things that just come across better in voice. I've also come to the conclusion that 'yes', while it can be annoying on Facebook to see someone post lots of statuses, when you play a game, do a quiz, comment on a friend's page - just quite anything comes up in your "News Feed" like it would on your Twitter wall. That being said, I can't see why things I might choose to speak of in the AudioBoo scene or share in the Twitter community, Facebook people might not want to see that as well. It is the choice of the supposed friends, afterall. And yes, I have friends blocked from seeing my statuses who I might not want to see my 'status updates', which I see as a more networking use; whether this be recalling song lyrics or general wonderments or amazings on my status without going into 'touchy-feely' emotion types. There is a place for that, I feel.

Your closest friends are the ones on your phone, who you can SMS, email, and call, or send private messages via Facebook - so why broadcast something that's intimately personal as some do? That is my justification for bringing the aggregation back.

You can find my AudioBoo here, but you will soon, I hope find links on LucasWeatherby.com to playback my 'Boo's' on the webpage.

Finally some exciting news. I have considered with fellow bloggers the use of a 'branded' blog name, to give it a bit of zest, but personality as well. So from this day forth, the blog will be known as Lucas 3:16, an idea and a biblical reference of course, given my roots - but also reminds me when I used to watch WWE (WWF), and `Stone Cold' Steve Austin and his famous 'Austin 3:16' catchphrase.

To complement this, I have changed my authorship name again from 'Lord John Marbury' to 'Lucas 3:16', to encourage readership to my blog rather than something so random.

This is all a bit boring, of course, but I find a sense of fun in these things.

The future's bright.

The future's AudioBoo.

10 Reasons why I love the Mac over Windows

Before I give my top ten reasons why, I just want to share a bit of why I'm posting this blog.

For two days now, I've been fidgeting and enjoying my new MacBook whilst watching Friends on DVD - amazing I am already onto Season 2... And I have to say with something like a Mac, it certainly makes you forget everything for a while...!

If some readers are wondering where there isn't a post every day now, I urge you to SUBSCRIBE to this blog by RSS to your reader (see links to the right), or BOOKMARK this website and just check periodically.

Thank You.

10 Reasons [no particular order of importance :-)]

1. Those inbuilt Mac applications - Disk Utility, Stickies, Spotlight etc.
2. How much easier it works with those Mac gadgets of yours like iPods and iPhones.
3. The fact that you can have Windows XP/Vista on your system AS WELL - surely a sticking point.
4. The coolness of the webcameras with the Mac and the coolness of the effects!
5. The smoothness of OSX (Mac Operating System) over Windows' dire, dire Vista incomparison.
6. Applications for the Mac are just better - think Pages, GarageBand, Last.fm.
7. Games look cooler on the Mac - Football Manager is my personal choice.
8. The superiorness of the trackpadon a MacBook to a conventional Windows laptop - you can do cool things on it with all 4 fingers on the pad at once.
9. The 'cool factor' of being on the Mac in a dark room with the Apple glowing into the darkness.
10. That after two days, I'm also posting how I've become a convert, and I've barely yet scratched the surface. Already though I want to erase everything Bill Gates and Windows from my mind and replace it with Steve Jobs and Mac!

Blast from the past - Visual Voicemail on iPhone gone crazy!

Can somebody tell me how this is at all possible? My visual voicemail is exploding with the following:





To make it even more strange, these voicemail are dated 1st January, 1970!:





How on earth is this possible?

Is it Dr Who?

Someone messaging me through time? Across the space-time continuum?
From an alternate reality?

The funny thing is these messages don't play either.

I wonder what it is?!

-- Post From My iPhone

Tru. that...

Why is Truphone better than Fring?


I've been using Fring for quite some time on my mobile because it lets me connect to MSN. Yahoo and Skype all at once. It's good for that, but all too often lately I've been getting crashes.

So I looked for alternatives - obviously still w anting to use Skype - but then I found a better alternative: Truphone. It's cheaper than Skype and you don't need to be in a Wifi zone to make a call through it, as they trick the phone networks into routing it through a local number.

Altogether as well, the interface looks much nicer and Truphone is even adding Skype capabaility and other instant messaging networks soon as well.

Fring has now been relegated to the last home screen on my phone, my "useless apps" page. I could just 'delete it' but it might come in handy. So far I've not had a single problem with Truphone, and the voice connection is much, much better than Skype as well.

A Sabbatical, A Challenge

Part of it is advice given to me, but I think I'm going give it a full, serious go and give Facebook and MySpace a complete rest (no status updates or checking it), and only going on if I'm emailed a message.

Weirdly enough, it constitutes a challenge since I'm addicted to technology and the computer.

But hopefully I will come out of the feeling fresh. And in the meantime, I can earn some serious gamerpoints on the 360 and get playing MGO on the PS3.

Win, win.

Tomorrow is a big day, seeing the lecturer for my course at the University of Manchester about that appaling essay result, apparently my sources tell me the marker has been noticed for dropping unnecessary marks. So Hopefully, here goes! And maybe my trip to University will be more productive than today where I was there for all of 20 minutes to hand in some paper.

Commutiung is ridiculous! (Stay Tuned for more...) I'm off to paint the town blue...