Attention Age?

I read a blog article a while back that was talking about the 'information age' and how we are no longer that, but we are now the 'attention age'.

The attention age was explained as where we try to bring attention to ourselves. I agree with that statement. I especially see that on Twitter where it seems everyone is trying to drive traffic to their blog. I've even been (and am) a part of that. It then said that we are no longer the information age. Now wait a minute, no longer using the Internet for information? Ya right! That's one thing I love about the Internet is all the information there is out there. I love Twitter and rss because I can easily get information in an orderly fashion that deals only with topics I want to hear about.

But is that the case with everyone? I started to pay attention on Facebook and I came to this conslusion. We are the attention age. All these kids (even though they may be just as old, or just a little older then me) are only posting things that try to grab attention. Even adults were doing the same thing. My blog posts got a very low click rate, usually 10 or 11. Three of thise are from my family. I have over 400 friends, so that means 1 out of 40 people actually will take time to read something.

There are a couple of people, that are still in the information age. I would also consider myself to be one of those. Those people that I consider to still be part of the information age all seem to have one thing in common. They are all intelegent and seem to have a desire to learn. It seems that teens these days don't really have a desire to learn. School seems boring and useless to them. I believe information is power and we are looking at a future generation of bums. Now I may sound aragant right now, but I'm not trying to be.

Facebook has started to irritate me. Everyone is seeming to post stuff and not really interacting with other people. I mean, it's called social networking, but it seems people aren't bring social. That's why I like Twitter, it seems to be more social and the information age is still string over there.

That's another one of my rants. But I really want people to come back to the information age and become more social.

-Matthew Loberg

Guitar Hero

My brother and best friend really like this game. I, however, really don't like it. It may be fun to play, but it does not teach you to play guitar at all. I can play guitar, and I suck at this game. So skills don't transfer. Expert mode, I think, is actually harder then real guitar. Why not take that time you waste on the game and actually try to learn guitar. It's more useful too.

That's my rant. What are your thoughts?

-Matthew Loberg

One Simple Trick to Make You Sound Professional/Smart on Facebook/Twitter Part 2

Another really easy way, have a picture of YOU as your profile picture. Not a Pokemon, cash, or anything else. Have a picture of you. This not only makes you look professional, but doesn't keep your friends guessing who you are. You should also have you take up the majority of the scene, not just a little part.

One Simple Trick to Make You Sound Professional/Smart on Facebook/Twitter

Spell things correctly and make sense.

Saying things like "hu thinks i should get my hair dyed?" or "you shud put up sum pics from...". It makes you sound dumb.

Why I Think Facebook Fan Pages are Dumb (and Useful)

Let me clarify, I don't think all fan pages and groups are dumb, just the ones with no point. There are  points why I don't like them.

1. They are pointless
Do I really care that you have to press the lids from fast food restaurants? No. Why do I need to know that you called it Duck tape, not Duct tape? It makes you sound dumb. Now there are fan pages that I am completely fine with, like ones for companies that you like or products you like.

2. It clogs up your news feed.
I am one of those people that has to read everything on Facebook. I have to know what everyone is up to. Now you may think that as a little "stalker-ish", and maybe it is a little bit, but why do people post stuff? To let people know what they are thinking or doing. They aren't doing it for themselves. If they didn't want something to be on Facebook, they don't need to post it.
I am on Facebook probably way to much. It gets really annoying when you see the same fan page like 10 different times.

3. It's not the original use of Fan Pages
Fan pages were meant for companies and products. It's a way for companies to give information to people over Facebook. Example: I am a fan of WordPress. It is the platform that I use for my other blogs, and I love it. It is very actively developed, so there is a lot of news on new versions, bugs, etc. It does display that stuff on the blog's dashboard, but I don't always see that. On Facebook, it appears in my new feed, so I know when a new version is out or if there are bugs.

Fan pages are a way to get news out to people. What news does "Unless it's due tomorrow, I don't care" have to bring you? Nothing. So what do they post? A lot of the ones I have looked at, advertise items that usually have nothing to do with the fan page. Which isn't a bad idea if your trying to make some money, but that's really immature.

4. How often do people actually interact with the page after joining it?
Not at all. People just join it and then never look back. They don't use it for anything, besides the fact that it's fun or funny.

Even though I don't like pointless fan pages, there is one reason why I do like them. It provides a lot of information about a person.
Ok, so maybe I am a stalker, but I like knowing. Maybe it's one of the reasons why I like social media so much, because so much information is transfered. Knowing a lot, for me, makes me feel powerful. Knowing a lot about a person, makes me feel like I have power over them. I also like creeping people out (it's fun seeing the reaction). Example: One popular group is "I look down at my cell phone to avoid a person walking by". Probably everyone has done this, but if you tell me that you do it, then I am going to use that against you. If I am walking by and you look down at your cell phone, I am going to go over and talk to you, just because I know your avoiding me. Another group I like is "Continuing to argue, even though your wrong". I know people don't like to be wrong, but if your in that group, and I am arguing with you, I am going to use that against you to win the argument.

So what do you think of Fan Pages? Do you join a lot of Fan Pages?

What I am up to

This week was finals week for me, and I was incrediably busy. Even though I'm done with school for a couple weeks, I will be just as busy with some projects.

The first one are a couple site designs and redesigns. One that I have been at work on already, iswallinsstrawberryfarm.com. I've been the web master of this site for a couple of years and in the past I've used a couple of my designs, WordPress, and Joomla once. I want this site to be easily editable, so I have been forced to use a CMS. I am impressed with WordPress's ability to be an amazing CMS, but I can't find a good theme that goes with the site. So now I'm back to doing my own design. I am not a graphic designer, but I can put together a decent site. I tried designing it first in Photoshop, but I failed at it. I prefer png's and Fireworks. Anyway I got a pretty minimal design done. One thing I have been experimenting with in this site is the use of @font-face. It's not supported in all browsers (all the new ones have support for it), but because I it does not have a great design, I am focusing more of typography or fonts. So far it's turning out well and should be done in the next week.

Now I said that I need it to be easily editable, but how do you do that with HTML? It's called PageLime. It's a new tool that I found that let's people edit HTML documents like it's a CMS. Not be be geeky or anything, but all you have to do is sign up with them, know your FTP info, and insert class="editable" into where ever you want people to edit. It's pretty sweet. Backyard Studio partially uses it.

I am also redoing my site at www.mloberg.com. I don't know exactly what I'm doing with it, I've got like four ideas, but it should be up before the end of the year. I may move this blog over there, or I may keep it here. I don't know yet.

And I'm starting some new blogs. My last blog failed. My content and SEO sucked. But it was a great way for me to learn how to blog. The main blog I'm focusing on now is called Everyday Hacker. It's going to be a hacking/diy blog along with some general tech. I've also got other ideas, I just need some money to get the domain names I want. But here are some of the topics I'm looking at: Linux, blogging, music, photography, and more. I'm pretty excited about them. I hope to launch Everyday Hacker on January 1st or shortly after that. You can sign up for updates ateverdayhacker.com or if your on Twitter follow @everydayhacker.

I am also looking for people who would like to guest write. That is where you write a post for my blog. You get your name recognized and a link to anywhere you want. I am looking for articles on tech, music production/gear, and photography. If you are interested, please contact me. Email me, send me a message on Facebook, or a direct message on Twitter @mloberg.

The other big thing I'm working on is a film. I recently bought a Nikon D5000 after losing my video camera to a lake. Anyway, it is a DSLR, so it's an excellent photo camera, but it also has 720p HD video. I finally got to use it to make two entries for the Nikon Festival. I got some if my friends involved in one of them and they had a blast. In fact one of my friends suggested that we make a feature film. So we are. It is very loosely based off what we did for the Nikon Festival. We have a general script and we are working on script specifics and finding people to help with this film. Right now, I am the producer, writer, director, director of photography, lighting cheif, production designer, sound supervisor, composer, editor, special effects supervisor, and a lot more. I would like to get people involved, even if they know nothing about film. An amatuer film set would be the perfect place to learn. If you are interested please email casting at backyardstudio dot net. We will also be looking for actors, after we get the script finalized. Most of this will be filmed in Brainerd and the surronding area, but we are looking into doing some scenes in Minneapolis/St. Paul. More info will be coming soon. You can follow me and Backyard Studio on Twitter @backyard_studio, the Facebook fan page, or at Backyard's blog.

Procrastinating yet again

Hey friends. I am writing this post, while I should be working on my economics class. I really hate that class. And I'm really behind in it. It had no real due dates, but it had suggested due dates. When I found that out I completely put it off. Now I sit here having half of a semester to do in 24 hours, and I need to fit sleep and youth group in there somewhere.

Next semester, I won't procrastinate. I say that now, but I doubt that will happen.

I hope you are all having fun with your finals as well.

-Matt Loberg

P.S. I removed ads from this blog. This is meant for my friends and it was kind of rude of me to try to make money off you guys. I hope it provides a better reading for you.
I will also be trying to blog more. I have a ton of things I want to do, so it should keep me busy and give me content for this blog.

Finals Week...

It's finals week for me, well week and a half. Doing online your schedule isn't solid, so some classes have it this week some have it next. But I will be done with school this semester at 11:58PM this Wednesday.

I'm really not liking it. Some of my classes don't have a "deadline" for the work, so I have been able to procrastinate on it. Now I'm looking at what I have to get done, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Yet I'm blogging, still procrastinating on it. Facebook isn't helping much either... I feel like I'm the master at procrastination. And as master I say that all procrastinators have a meeting... tomorrow. Sorry lame joke. But seriously. I need to be done and go do some work...

Christmas Season

It's officially the start of the Christmas season. That means Christmas music on the radio, rushing to get gifts, celebrating with family. It's one of my favorite times, but at the same time, it's my least favorite.

One of my favorite things is 'modern' versions of Christmas songs. I really like Family Force 5's new album. I also like, and this is surprising, Relient K's Christmas albums. My favorite take on a Christmas song is August Burns Red Carol Of The Bells. I like it so much that I am putting together a cover to play at my Church's Christmas program. I hope that old people don't freak out.

One thing I don't like is all the rush. Christmas is supposed to be a time of celebration becuase our salvation came down. But it has turned way to commercialized.

Our Church is having a Christmas program in two weeks. Usually it's the big huge play with songs in between the scenes, but this year is a series of short skits, and some Christmas songs. It doesn't feel as hectic as usual, so I think that's a good thing. I am also in the program doing August Burns Red's Carol Of The Bells. I'm pretty excited about it, and sounds pretty sweet.

I hope the point of Christmas gets across stronger this year. It seems like with Church programs, it kinda gets dumbed down. I mean, if it weren't for Jesus coming down, we would all be screwed. But that gets lost with all the rush, presents, celebrating, snow, etc. I think we should slow down and just focus on the reason for the season.

-Matt Loberg

Getting In The Word

Does anyone else have days where for some reason you are just really ticked at everything but have no reason to be? I had one of those today. The day just sucked, but there was no reason it should have. I was just really angry at everything.

 I seem to have a lot of those days, but those days never seem to come on the days where I actually get in the Word. Getting in the Word daily seems to be one of the toughest things to do, but it shouldn't be. Especially for me, because I don't have to get up at a certain time or have things I need to do right away. Yet I have a hard "finding" time for it. But those days I do get in the word, I can really tell the difference. The whole day just seems to go well. And even if there are things that go wrong, I seem to be in a lot better mood.

Ruby On Rails

Last week I switched majors from Web Development to Computer Help Desk, and I am happy with my choice. The classes seem more interesting then the web classes. Even though I switched because I thought I hated programming, I have been busy learning more JavaScript, starting to learn Ruby, and Python. I guess I really don't hate programming, but I don't like deadlines on them. I really like that I can learn (or try to learn) something, but don't have to complete it if I don't like it. I also like that I can step back for a little bit, and then come back and tackle it.

I got interested in programming after LifeHacker posted an article on how to become a programmer. It talked about how the author, without really any knowledge, made this impressive site with Ruby On Rails. I had heard about RoR before, and it sounded really interesting, so I did some research, and I know know who to create a very basic Rails site. I am now looking into Ruby to better code for Rails.
I also looked into Python, and I'm not that interested in it. It requires very specific sytax, even spacing, and if it's not right, your stuck. I will still be looking into it because I have seen it run some amazing programs.

Apple App Process Angers iPhone Facebook Developer

Image by Joe Hewitt / JoeHewitt.com via CrunchBase

This is pretty big news on Twitter right now. It seems that Joe Hewitt, the guy behind the iPhone Facebook app, has quit developing for it. On TechCrunch they had an article on it, and he doesn't like how Apple approves apps for it's app store. There are many other articles about the hypocrisy that is the Apple App Store.


Hewitt believes in an open development, and that's why he is returning to web development. As for the Facebook app, he left it to another able developer.

Then a couple minutes ago, there were posts about Apple making changes to it approval process. They added a progress list for pending apps, and I guess have made it easier to get approved, or that's what I've read.

You know I love Apple products, and I am probably getting an iPhone soon, but seriously Apple? People have been sick of Apple's process, but Apple has done anything about it, then a major developer leaves, and Apple scrambles to try to fix it. I think that shows you Apple doesn't care about the average Joe (not Hewitt though!).

Where Did Motivation Go?

This week has been a boring and uneventful week. Along with nothing going on, I seem to have no to little motivation, especially with my classes.

On Tuesday, I had to take the MCA Writing Test. You usually take this your freshman year, but I never took it. In order to graduate, I have to pass it. It's not hard, considering I am taking a college comp class and I am doing pretty well in it. The bad part about having to take that test, is the fact that I had to take it with people that didn't pass it. That means kids that are rude and disruptive. It was a long two hours. I finally got done with it and then had to do some running around to get forms filled out so I can do PSEO next spring.

I am also running around trying to officially change my major so I can take classes for that major in the spring. I also need to write an essay by tomorrow.

I really don't want to do anything.

Motivation, please come find me.

-Matthew Loberg
www.mloberg.com

I'm Not The Programmer Type

Image via Wikipedia

As some of you may know, I am a PSEO student. That means I am still in high school (a senior), but I am going to a college. I am going to M State online and am doing a lot of Web Development classes. One thing that I have found (or re-found) is that I am not a Programmer. I hate coding, well some code. I am not a very good programmer. I get easily frustrated if something doesn't work and don't seem to remember specific things very well. I do not mind coding things like ActionScript or HTML and CSS, because they are easy to understand and seem to have some logic behind them. Unlike JavaScript, which confusing the heck out of me sometimes.

I am also not a designer. I have a hard time coming up with something new, and if I look at things for inspiration, I just seem to copy it.

I was going to be taking more Web Development courses next semester, but now I am starting to rethink it. I still want to go into something computer related, because I love working with computers, but nothing dealing with programming. The two things that I am looking at is Computer Help Desk or Networking.

Get An Apple Product For Free!

I know that the title might sound like a scam, but let me tell you, it's not. I found this legit site that gives away Apple products. They have things from an older iPod Shuffle, to Nanos, to an AppleTV, to iPhone and Touches, to MacBooks, and iMacs.

How does it work? You sign up, provide a valid email address. You then select a product. Each product has a number of "referrals" that you need to get in order to get the product. Then you fill out an offer. Some offers require you to pay something, others don't. If you don't want to fill out an offer, just get 3 more referrals, that's what I'm doing. Then you refer people to this site. When they sign up, you get one referral. When you reach the number of referrals you needed for the product you selected, they will send it to you.

When referring people, don't do it on forums or chats, that is against the Terms of Service and you risk losing your referrals and account. You can't have more then one account, even from the same house, and don't "refer" yourself. You will lose your account and any chance to make a new one.

I promise it is legit. Get going today and help me out by being a referral for me. - http://bit.ly/1IIbvl (it's shorten so I can track clicks)

Got My 30D Today!

I got my 30D today. A week and half after I bought it. When the doorbell rang, I don't think I ever went up the stairs that fast.The box that was in was huge and filled with broken Styrofoam peanut pieces. I finally got it out (and ended up with little Styrofoam pieces everywhere) and the 30D is big! It is a lot bigger then the XSi or even the 20D. I played around with it and it wouldn't auto-focus in Program, Shutter, Aperture, or Manual settings. It would focus in Auto and those types of settings, but I never use those settings. Finally I figured it out, you press a button to focus it. I am really liking the camera, and I haven't taken any pictures yet.

I have a telephoto lens, but I want to get a general lens. I also want to get an iPhone. I can't get these two things both right now, so I'm a little stuck. What do I get?

-Matt Loberg

Freelancing Complaint

I have been trying to make some money on the Internet. The first and most obvious thing I thought of was advertising. Google has an easy program called AdSense. I have been using it for 2 months and so far I have made $3! Problem is in order to get paid I have to get $100. My web site doesn't get enough traffic to earn enough money.

Makeuseof had an article on the top 10 things bored teens do online. Number 7 or so was make money. They had a couple ways to make money, most of them being writing. There was also one for programmers. There's a site that let's people post programming needs and then programmers bid on the project. It's a pretty cool idea and I made an account. A lot of the bids are public so everyone can see them. This is good and bad. Good for the buyer because the programmers are trying to bid lower then each other. Bad for the programmers because you have to bid so low to get a project.
There are these projects that want a completely hand-coded and designed site that looks professional. There are programmers that are bidding like $10 or $20. It's ridiculous! I don't want to do a web site for $10, that's a waste of time.

Maybe I'll I have to try my hand at writing.

-Matt Loberg

E Commerce

I am doing PSEO this year. That means that I am a high school student, but I take college classes, at a college. I am doing it online through Minnesota State Community and Technical College. I am taking a lot of web development classes. One of those classes is E Commerce.

As a student in Minnesota, one requirement to graduate is Economics, so I am taking an Economics class also from the college. The Economics class is pretty easy, even though I don't really understand money, business, and stuff like that, but my E Commerce class is tough, so tough that I was/am failing it. I have learned a lot more about business and economics from this class then my Economics class.

I hate my E Commerce class, especially this chapter we are on right now. We are learning about legal issues and I am bored and don't understand it.

As I was registering for next semester, I looked at a sample schedule for a web development major, and it turns out I wasn't supposed to take E Commerce until my final semester. Actually, almost all of my classes were supposed to be taken next year. It turns out that the classes and requirements are changing for this major because there has been changes in technologies used in web development. Because of the changes, it's going to take me longer to graduate.

That's enough of me ranting. I have to get back to my E Commerce...

-Matt Loberg

I Got A Canon 30D!

Today I got a Canon 30D at a really good price off eBay. I'm really excited about it. I think the interface on the D cameras are a lot better then that of the XSi. I talked about it in an earlier post.

Because I was able to save some money on the camera, I will soon be buying a new lens, which is about the cost of the camera.

I have been posting some of my photos on Facebook. I will soon be uploading them to Flickr and my own hosted Gallery, Now that I have a decent camera, I should be taking more pictures.

-Matt Loberg

Apple Magic Mouse

Apple released a new mouse today. It's called the Magic Mouse. It uses multi-touch technology like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and MacBooks use. It looks pretty sweet, I want one. Here is the link for it. - http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/

Hopefully it works better then the Mighty Mouse.

-Matt Loberg

Canon 30D

I decided today that I am getting a 30D instead of a 40D. The 40Ds are going for way more then I want to pay for them, and the 30D are considerably cheaper. I know that I was planning on getting a 40D for a while now, but the price made me look more closely into the differences between the 30D and 40D.

There isn't a lot of difference between the 30D and 40D. The biggest is the megapixel. The 30 has like an 8 megapixel while the 40 has 10. This really doesn't make any difference besides the fact that you can print it larger, but on a screen or printed smaller it's really hard to tell, and for a $250 price difference, the 8 megapixel will look just fine.

Another difference are some features that the 40 has that the 30 doesn't. One being wireless file transfer support. This was one thing I was looking at upgrading to eventually. I did some research and I guess it's kind of a joke. It doesn't work half the time and it's super expensive.

Another feature that the 40 has is dust cleaner/removal. This feature comes in the Rebel X models and is one that made me rethink my choice for a 30. You can pay to have your camera cleaned, but I've heard it's expensive, but if take care of your camera this shouldn't be an issue.

The 40 also has a higher buffer and can take more consecutive pictures. With the 40 you can take up to 75 pictures in jpeg quality simultaneously! Wow! You would never have to wait for the camera again. The FPS (frames per second) only increased to 7 from 5 (which is still pretty good).

I was still debating between the 30 and 40, then I thought about the extra money I would have if I got the 30D. I would be that much closer to a better lens! Which is almost more important than the body. I looked at the lens I was going to buy next and I would be extremely close to being able to buy it. So because of that fact I am going with the 30D.

Let's see if I can snatch one of eBay now.

-Matt Loberg

Another Way To Follow Me and My Adventures

I set up a Tumblr account. I don't know much about Tumblr, I thought it was a micro-blog service, but it seems like it could be used as a full-fledged blog. I'm going to use it as the first. A micro-blog is longer than a status update, but not long enough to be a blog post. I will mainly be posting thoughts there. So now you can stalk follow me another way. Though Twitter is probably the best way because I will usually post links to stuff I posted.

The link is mloberg.tumblr.com

I also changed the theme of my web site, go check it out and tell me what you think.

-Matt Loberg

Customize Your Blogger

I've gotten some questions on how you customize your Blogger theme. At first it may seem impossible to do, but it's not.

The first thing you need to do is find a template of theme. Here is a list of 120 popular ones http://www.instantshift.com/2009/03/09/120-best-free-blogger-templates-around/. You could also do a Google search for 'Blogger templates' or 'Blogger themes'.

Once you find one you like download it. If you like widgets, make sure there is a place for them. There are some themes that don't support widgets. All the ones I've seen are in a .zip file so unzip it. In there there should be a .xml file.

In Blogger go to the layout tab and click on 'Edit HTML'. If you have customized the theme you have at all download it. Click the browse and find the .xml file and click 'Upload'. A warning saying something about your current widgets being deleted, if your fine with that click 'Confirm and Save'. If the theme is correctly coded, everything should work just find. View your blog to see if you like it.

Add widgets to make it how you like it.

There you go! You have your own customized blog.

You probably will run into some issues, but that's usually the template's fault. Hope it works for you.

-Matt Loberg

Cameras

One thing that I like to do is take pictures. Photographs capture memories, show people what you saw, and can be amazing. Until recently I had always used a point-and-shoot camera. Two summers ago I was going to buy a Canon DSLR, but I got a speeding ticket and therefore didn't have enough money so I spent it on something else. In September I bought a Canon XSi. I had used a XSi a little bit during the summer and I kinda liked it. I was the photographer at Camp Lebanon for some family weeks and I used their Nikon D5000.

I got my XSi and started shooting with it and I didn't really like it. I don't really know what it was. It felt a little flimsy/weak and the picture quality wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I would rather shot with the Nikon. One weekend, my friend Guy Magno, who owns his own photography business in Minneapolis, let me use his Canon 5D MarkII and I loved it. He talked to me about my camera and said I should have got a Canon 30D. He had been using a 20D until recently and he said that was a good camera. The 30D was $150 cheaper then the XSi and was a better camera.

I tried selling my XSi on Craigslist and it wasn't going so well. I had a couple people that were interested, but none of them went through with the purchase. I finally got this lady down in the cities that was interested in my camera. On Monday I sold her my camera.

Now I need to figure out what I want. I have been looking at a 40D which is a step up from a 30D. It has some features that I would like and is more compatible with some cool accessories. I found a guy in Shakopee that is selling a 40D or a 50D. They are both very reasonable prices, but I don't know which one I want to get. The 50D is newer and has less use, but some reviews on Amazon say that the picture quality isn't as good as the 40D. Did that guy get a bad camera or is that with all 50D's? The 40D would be enough camera for me, but it has a fair amount of use, about a fifth of the average shutter life is gone and I plan on using it a lot. What should I do? I think I am leaning towards the 40D because it's less money and still a really good camera.

What are your thoughts?

-Matt Loberg

Welcome

Welcome to my personal blog. Here you can find my adventures, thoughts, rants, etc. If you are interested in photography or tech stuff you should check out my other blog at www.mloberg.com. There might be some photography and tech stuff here, but it will mostly be over there.

The title of my blog is a geek term. On Linux, if you want to install a program from the command line you would usually write sudo apt-get install name-of-program, this is the best original name I could think of. If you have any ideas please comment.

I am usually pretty inconsistent with posting stuff. I can go months without posting anything and then I'll have a couple posts in one day. I usually write something and then I don't like it so I'll delete it or put it in the drafts. I also don't like posting small, one or two paragraph, posts. I will try to get over that in this blog, maybe. Another thing you probably noticed is that some posts are just completely random (like this one). I also like to split my posts in to a lot of paragraphs to make it easier reading, but then again I sometimes just go and go on one subject and it's hard to split that up.

That's my blog and I hope you enjoy it.

-Matt Loberg