One of the largest consumption of my time, next to delivering Internet solutions to my clients, is following the news and trends in the Internet space. It is tough to keep up with all that is new, some of those things more relevant or interesting than others. Twitter has been in the headlines since the recent South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. I won’t rehash what Twitter is, and fellow Chicagoan Andy Wibbels wrote this good overview of Twitter.

To me, the fact that someone will care about what I am doing right now, the core of Twitter, is as much fascinating as it is odd. However, when I hear of new services or gizmos such as Twitter, I tend to think of more practical implications. Perhaps knowing what I have been doing all day, at the end of the day, would help in accounting for my time? And in addition to logging what I am doing, could I also log what I just did or notes on something I need to do? Could an application like this replace scraps of paper and sticky notes all over my desk?

Twitter has inspired me in this regard. But I won’t be using the application itself, as I don’t want the world to know what I have been doing all day. A small enhancement to an existing custom Web application could just do the trick. I’ll let you know how this plays out.

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Many times we instinctively do something that, if we take a step back and observe ourselves, we didn’t realize we do. I found when I go to search the Web for some topics, the first place I go is Wikipedia and not Google. I have Wikipedia in the search engines in Firefox, so it is as easy for me to search Wikipedia as it is for me to search Google using the Google search bar. The picture below shows my Firefox setup.

So what am I searching on Wikipedia? Proper nouns – names, cities, companies and even some words I need the definition for are what I am entering in the search box to the right. If I am looking for a technical solution, then I am most always searching Google.

A few things come to mind as a result of this search. I am not viewing any ads on Wikipedia that in some cases may give me a link more relevant to what I may be seeking. I am also relying on the editors of Wikipedia to provide me information. But am I taking anything I see on either search as gospel? Of course not!

What are you using to search, and for what?

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As other bloggers have commented over the past few days on how they read blogs, I have decided to chime in, as well as make a public declaration not only of how I read them, but how many I will read.

Google Reader is my feed reader of choice. I say "feed" as I subscribe to feeds that are not necessarily blogs, such as the news headlines from Web sites. It has worked well for me, both on my PC and my Treo 680. I browse through all of the new feeds in a big list, and do not use any of the other features, including folders. This is acceptable to me as I have a variety of feeds, both business and personal, and going through the list and reading the mix is a good break in the day for me.

Last week I decided to keep the number of feeds I subscribe to fewer than 200. I have found that I don’t put too much thought into a blog or Web site when I subscribe to the feed. If I happen upon the site for whatever reason and find some useful information, I will just subscribe. It is not until I subscribe that I see what the feed gives me. If the content is no longer relevant to me, duplicate of something else I am reading or if there are too many posts, I will unsubscribe.

Two hundred has actually been the cap I have been using all along, noticing it when I manage my feeds. Do you have a magic number for your feeds?

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In the event you haven’t heard already, this Saturday night in the US we switch into Daylight Savings Time (DST), earlier than in the past. This law was passed last year to conserve energy, with the thinking that the more natural light you have, the less energy you consume. Of course our technically-challenged legislators did not take into consideration other costs, including software changes to ensure all is running after the change.

I have run Windows Update on all of my PCs and got the DST patches. Weeks ago I saw on MobileBurn.com that Palm issued a patch for my Treo 680 and patched it then. Interestingly I just got the email directly from Palm this past week – so much for their concern for their customers. And of course I am ready to run around the homestead to change all of the manual clocks.

Are you all patched and ready? I believe I am. Then there are the vendors and merchants that I do business with and only a handful have emailed me to tell me they are ready. A couple of vendors are in Arizona, the only state that does not abide by DST – lucky them.

As the time change is at 2 am on Sunday, the impact should be minimal to me, and I will have time to run tests. Hopefully Monday morning is not a challenge for your and businesses. And hopefully all airline software is in check, otherwise my friend will have a hard time flying back to Europe on Sunday night.

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Recently I bought my aunt a new mobile phone. When I had asked her if she used her previous phone, she said no, as it was too bulky and the buttons were not the most intuitive to her. My aunt can be considered a senior citizen – she may not be tech savvy, but she is extremely worldly and knows the value of a mobile phone, she just had problems using it.

The phone I selected for her was a Motorola model that was a clamshell phone with large buttons. I gave her the new phone already programmed with every number she would need in it. She liked the smaller size and larger buttons. Though she has it mostly for emergencies, she now carries and uses this phone.

You don’t have to do too many Web searches to find content on devices of all ilk that are unusable. For phones, at least in the US, the emphasis seems to be on "cool and hip" rather than more intuitive, robust functionality. Sure, I am pushing 40, but look around the world and see what they’re using in Europe and Asia. And don’t even ask me the difference between a RAZR and KRZR!

Two new phones have emerged – one in the US and one in Europe – that meet the needs of the growing older population using mobile phones. GreatCall has come out with two models of their Jitterbug phone, one with large number buttons, and another without numbers, but has text buttons for making emergency calls. Each phone is US$147.00, however you have to buy their mobile service plan, as they share the short-sidedness of other phone manufacturers and don’t sell the phone unlocked.

Another phone is coming from Austria’s Emporia Telecom. Its EmporiaLife model has a large screen and just 4 buttons on the surface with a full number pad that can slide out. They are not being sold yet, but my guess is that I will be able to get an unlocked version when they do.

Thanks to John Wall of The M Show for clueing me into the Emporia, which led me to the Jitterbug. He refers to them as a "geezer phone" in his latest edition... and the term geezer is one that could easily fit him or I!

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