First one ever that does not take place entirely on screen. Not bad, but I didn’t like the glare coming off that sock. Also, the band-aid on my finger (I stabbed myself with the screwdriver in the video) is kind of gross. Full post here.

I’ve been focusing a lot on the web stuff since September, so I’ve been overdue for a new video. Full post here.

Not that I’ve stopped blogging, in fact I’m writing more than ever on my technology learning blog, thoughtshots. The goal of thoughshots and its accompanying YouTube channel is to present really well made instructional content for newbies. There’s loads (and I mean loads) of information about technology on the web. The problem that I’ve noticed is that very little of it is focused on teaching you how to solve a problem or do something with that technology – there’s far more content (probably because it’s more easy to monetize) that is focused on reviews, previews, and spyshots of the latest gadget. When there is content that shows you how to do something, it’s usually a post on some obscure forum, or a video by a 14 year old who starts every sentence with “uhh.. this is pretty cool.”

Not that I’m hating on fourms or 14 year olds making tech videos, but sometimes when you want to know how to do something, you don’t necessarily want to spend an afternoon wading through them. When there is really great technology learning content, it’s generally held back behind a paywall or a registration – some of the best examples of these come from lynda.com, Don McCallister’s Screencasts Online, and the Goodwill’s GCFLearnFree.org. These sites offer incredibly in-depth content on certain technology topics, but hold them back from the casual knowledge-seeker (I should be clear that these sites have been an inspiration for this project, so I’m not hating on them, either).

So how does thoughtshots solve these problems?

It’s free. I’ve got ads on the site in the hopes that I can one day monetize it, but I do not plan on ever charging anyone to look at any of the content produced for this site.

It provides just-in-time training. So if you type a technology related problem into your favorite search engine, it’s my hope that thoughtshots will have a solution for you within a few minutes (obviously a very long term goal).

It won’t waste your time. This means no unnecessary information, and things are kept brief. Also, there’s no lengthy time commitment – you won’t have to wade through a graduate course’s worth of material to get what you need.

It’s not intimidating. I’m focused on helping the beginner, so I’ll be going through things in detail and keeping it jargon-free.

It’s not annoying. My videos are “ah” and “um” free. The site is free of popup and click through advertising.

Also, I’ve really gotten into reading every single thing that Cory Doctorow has ever written. Eventually, I’m certain to mine some of the wonderfully weird and amazing things that he brings up in his books for this blog.

Getting really annoyed, however, always seems to inspire something for this blog, and it’s no different this Sunday morning. My employer recently distributed some really nice coffeemugs to everyone in the company. Normally, “really nice” is not a word combination I’d use to describe a coffeemug, but this one earns it due to its extra big handle that affords room for 4 of my fingers as I hold it.

The only problem is, I can’t train myself to actually use all 4 fingers. Since 99% of all the coffeemugs I have ever used have been designed for only 3 of my fingers, I instinctively grab this one in the same way. It’s uncomfortable as hell, and I am made aware of this mug’s (supposedly) accomodating design everytime I reach for it.

Even though the designer of this coffeemug has intended a comfortable, (dare I say) luxurious beverage experience for thier end user, it fails miserably because the user has developed an adaptation for living without it that simply cannot be unlearned.

Maybe when human evolution has gifted us a sixth finger, I’ll be okay. For now I’ll just have to use this mug for a pen holder.

The messy style is a bit of a change of pace for me, but it’s in line with my idea of this blog as a dumping ground for projects and ideas.

We were limited to still photos and audio, so there wasn’t a whole lot I could do with it motion wise. I didn’t base it on any particular source, but rather drew on a lot of my job interview experiences (most of which I’d like to forget).

This was part of a suite of job search instruction materials that can be found here.