My associate, John Gerzema, echos something I’ve been saying for a long time: old farts love, understand and use technology.

“Ninety percent of technology marketing targets 10 percent of the population: the young, the cool, the perceived digerati. A few niche companies address the senior market with products so simplified your cat could use them. What almost everyone misses is how the growth of mobile, social, and local applications is colliding with two decades of Internet acumen to create a new social phenomenon: the long tooth of technology.”

Take a read…as usual, John doesn’t disappoint.

The Geeks Are Graying

First, Accenture releases a study that shows Boomers adopting tech applications 20 times faster than Gen Y-ers. Now, we have a peek at what they want out of that technology. And since they’ll outspend the whipper-snappers by over $1 trillion in 2010, they’ll probably get it.

AARP and Microsoft conducted focus group dinners in 4 cities and produced a report that shows boomer technology habits are in a state of flux. That means they’re still looking for more and better. And THAT means opportunities in this rich market for smart technology marketers.

NY Times Article

Yep…according to one study, 3% percent of their sample of those 99 and older are on Twitter. And 1 out of 5 are active online.

That’s just one interesting fact found in a Chicago Trib article about techno boomers, those teaching their kids about living in the digital age. The reason? Boomers have more time and more money…and a burning desire to connect with the grandkids.

Quick, interesting read: Techno Boomers

Hate those long lists of Google results? Or if you use them, the tiny thumbnails beside a result?

Put your glasses down and try Spezify. It’s like my buddy over at Digital Curator said: if Google and CoolIris got together for a casual affair, the love child would look like this.

From PRNewswire:

VibrantNation.com, the online destination for women 50+, released new research that reveals that the niche they’ve termed “Vibrant Women” is the first generation of women in history whose social networks are continuing to expand at midlife and beyond. Defying the stereotype of increasing marginalization as they age, this study confirmed that not only are their networks growing, they are growing online.

The VibrantNation.com study of 1,000 Boomer women with household income greater than $75,000 showed:

— The personal networks of women 50+ are large and growing.

— They are in personal contact with at least 46 people each month.

— 65% share information online with others in their network.

— They are comfortable relying on referrals from strangers online if the source is knowledgeable/experienced. They rely on references on websites like Amazon.com (70%), eBay.com (54%) and TripAdvisor (27%).

— Vibrant Women are open to trying new brands and experiences, and are motivated to make particular purchase of goods and services by a variety of psycho-social factors including:

> Financial status (even with the recession, Vibrant Women continue to have discretionary income)

> Life stage transitions (such as the last child leaving home,
starting a business, losing a parent or spouse)

> Physical changes (menopause, aging, surviving breast cancer)

> New family roles (grandparent, caregiver)

> Social Awareness (travel and volunteer-work)

The online world is amazing, but just as in the offline world, it has its dangers which require commonsense cautions. One of which is “don’t hand your personal telephone number out to total strangers.”

Now, if you use Craig’slist or Ebay or any other site that requires telephone contact info, you can maintain your privacy with LetsCall.me. At sign-up you get a special vanity URL and the option to have it direct callers to whatever number you provide. People who have your URL and want to call you can simply enter in their phone number and it will call that number to connect them to yours. It also prevents them from blocking their caller ID info, which means you know who is calling.

You can also choose to reveal other info, like an email address, on your page. But that feature is pretty limited at this point. Still, this is a pretty smart way to protect your privacy, and it’s as easy as embedding or sending a URL link to those who want to call you.

LetsCall.me

That menubar clock a little small? Want an analog clock instead of digital?

Check out Vlad Studio’s Wallpaper Clock (Chameleon Clock for Windows.) It embeds a clock and the date in some of the coolest desktop wallpapers I’ve seen. This guy’s art is simply amazing, and ranges from whimsical to sophisticated, with holiday themes available as well. Most of the clocks/dates become part of the art, which makes the look even better.

On the mac, you get a menubar drop-down that lets you change the wallpaper at will and download more clocks. Works on multiple monitors as well, although it doesn’t stretch the image across both…you set a wallpaper for each. I haven’t tested the Windows version, but I assume it’s the same.

Best part? IT’S FREE!! If you donate $20, you get lifetime access to some special stuff but I did it just because this guy deserves the support. Give it a look…it’s kinda like wallpaper crack: one taste and you want more.

Vladstudio Wallpaper Clocks

What? Those young pups don’t believe what you’re telling them? Prove it: send them the evidence in a “snapshot” you took of the newspaper story. OK, so maybe they don’t know what a newspaper is, but it sure looks official. And you can always tell them it showed up on Dlisted.com first.

Newspaper Clipping Generator

Heather Draper, San Antonio Express-News

Adults of a certain age often begin to look for greater fulfillment and deeper meaning in life.

Me? I’m just trying to figure out my new cell phone.

Until last month, I’d survived with the most meager of wireless communication - you know, the phones that wireless providers give away with a two-year contract. But when the cheaper next-generation iPhone started generating buzz in June, this Luddite began to look with disdain at her poor, old cell phone. It’s little more than a tin can with a string, I convinced myself.

So I now own a BlackBerry. (It’s no iPhone, but it was cheaper with the plan I chose.) The phone has lots of bells and whistles, and joins a growing list of technology-related stuff I try to use but don’t fully understand - Wi-Fi, Facebook and Twitter to name a few.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yeah, this one will have a lot of people cheering. It’s an ad blocker for Safari called, umm, Safari AdBlock. (Where do they come up with this stuff???

There have been ad blockers for FireFox and other browsers for months, and I posted about them. And actually, this one has been out for awhile, but I haven’t posted about it because it was giving me problems. Looks like either Safari has grown into it or they’ve made peace with the new Safari code.

Here’s what your page looks like BEFORE AdBlock:

And here it is AFTER AdBlock:

Us adguys don’t like to see our work blocked, but us browsers likey likey.

Safari AdBlock

Yes, I’m on a jag…finding simple or at least clear explanations of some of the technology subjects we hear so much about. Here’s one about the Creative Commons license that replaces traditional copyright on so many web-based properties. It’s from Jon Phillips, Business and Community developer at Creative Commons.

BTW, this is embeded using Scribd, a new site that is purported to be the YouTube of documents. You can view the PowerPoint by clicking the arrows in the graphic above, as well as zoom, share and go to the original file. Check it out…pretty slick.

Creative Commons Overview

I admit, the attraction of Twitter is still beyond me. But at least this video lays out its appeal to the ultra-connected, minutia-obsessed crowd that as made it a “killer app” in many eyes.

The best thing about this video is that it lead me to CommonCraft, a site that specializes in simple explanations of a variety of subjects. Lee LeFever narrates and explains everything from blogs to zombies. The presentations all use the same charming paper cut-out technique and take a couple of minutes. Here are a couple of examples…

Wikis in Plain English

Social Networking in Plain English

Adobe launched Photoshop Express Online today, and I’m impressed.

It offers just about everything you need for quick image manipulation and has a host of connections and ways to share, post, embed and generally move photos around. You can upload from your drive (2gb storage free) or connect to other photo storage sites like Facebook and Photo Bucket and manipulate those photos.

Give it a shot…if nothing else, it’s fun!

Photoshop Express Site

NY Times article

More and more are free for ALL their capabilities. Here’s the latest round-up from Mashable.

7 Great Online Image Editing Apps

Want to give all your computer communications that old-school hand-written touch? Fontifier can do it for you?

Just fill out their template with your handwriting, scan it and upload it to them. Pay your $9 by credit card and, if Webware’s experience holds, you’ll have your new personal font almost instantly.

Pretty cool…I’m going to try it as soon as I get off the road. I’ll post my new font then.

Fontifier on Webware

PERSONAL NOTE: Sorry about the long lag between posts…I’m in travel hell right now with limited time to post. I promise to get better!!

All About Ning (DIY social networking)

Flock’s Future (social browser)

LinkBunch (like TinyURL)

Picnik (free online photo editor)

Blippr (like Twitter for reviews)

Ever want to send somebody a big file? Video, photos, whatever? If email kicks it out (too big) and FTP isn’t your thing (too complicated) then here’s what you need.

Senduit is as simple as it gets. Simply select the file with the browse button (yes, there is a 100mb limit,) select when you want it to expire (30 minutes to a week and then it’s gone) and hit the upload button. Senduit posts the file and gives you a unique URL address where it can be downloaded. Send that to your intended recipient via email and that’s it. They click on the link and downloading goodness ensues.

Best of all? It’s free. I mean, totally free.

It should come as no surprise that this bit of elegant capability comes from some of the same guys that brought you the Tumblr blogging service. More on that soon.

Give it a try…makes sharing ridiculously easy.

That’s what you’ll hear if you can score one of these before next holiday season.

On Valentine’s Day, Fisher-Price introduced Elmo Live. His mouth opens and closes as he speaks, he waves his arms, sits, stands, laughs, sings, tells stories…he’s, well, Live! Watch the video…pretty amazing technology.

Supposedly available the middle of October, but we’ll see. In the video, you can see that he’s being run on a cable from a computer. So, there’s still a lot of chip work to be done. But if I were you, I’d start looking for pre-order opportunities.

You wouldn’t want those other grandparents to beat you to it, would you??

I’m conflicted. I can’t decide whether I’m a consumer who loves Europe’s approach to protecting me from new technology misuse or a realistic businessman who views them as luddites who just don’t get it. Whichever, you’ve got to respect their willingness to take on tough questions.

Now, Germany’s data protection commissioner is defining an IP address as “personal data.” That means adherence to EU privacy laws, and that means big trouble for just about every major internet service. It could cripple search engines’ basic worth of returning relevant information. Or any site that uses geographic IP info as a primary sort for relevancy.

Something to keep an eye on. Maybe over a glass of French Burgundy.

IP is personal: Yahoo

Your IP address is private: Next Web

Lifehacker has a nice list of their favorite free apps and online services. They have a list of 20 categories of common computing tasks, with links.

Check it out: Lifehacker’s 2007 Guide to Free Software and Webapps

Remember when 30 was the magic number for distrust? Now, for copyright holders, it seems the opposite is true.

David Pogue, NY Times technology guru, has a really interesting column today about copying CDs or DVDs and file-sharing. It appears there is a major generational divide between older consumers who believe it is only OK under certain circumstances and a younger group that thinks it is OK under, well, ANY circumstance.

Even when presented with a clear-case scenario of stealing via file-sharing, only two people out of 500 college students saw it as wrong. Call it further evidence of moral decline. Call it another manifestation of the “entitlement” generation. Or simply call it what it is: disturbing.

I almost feel sorry for the RIAA…no, not really. They’re a bunch of jerks. But for the artists and creative people who need protection of their work, the road ahead will only get more complicated and adversarial between creators and consumers.

Looks like, in the future, you can’t trust to commonsense morality.

The Generational Divide in Copyright Morality

UPDATE: Apparently it’s not just a generational divide. There’s also a major difference based on what computing platform you use. 50% of mac users paid for music, while only 16% of PC users paid. Here’s the report.

And I don’t mean “ho” as in the Santa expression of mirth.

If you’re looking for a video game for the kids or grandkids (and that’s probably what they want this year,) it’s pretty easily to go astray. Many of the games heavily promoted are full of violence, sex and digitally-reproduced profanity. Frankly, many of them will make you choke on your eggnog.

CNET posted a list of naughty and nice games. It’s fairly limited, and many of the nice games will have older kids yawning while the naughty ones are the highest on those same kids’ wish lists. But it at least gives you a reference point for making a decision.

It reminds me of a Christmas long ago when an errant grandmother gave her grandson George Carlin’s “Seven Words” LP…and he played it for the family over dinner.

Now THAT was cool…

DOs and DON’Ts of Games

Clipmarks has introduced an interesting, if curious, new feature called Clipcast. You bookmark things you’ve been reading online, add them to an embeddable slide show and put them on your site for all to see what you’ve been doing. Works on Facebook, MySpace, etc. as well.

At first I really wondered why you’d want to do this. But then I remembered that I had just sent out an email to several friends who always bug me for interesting links. If I kept this updated, maybe I could save myself a few keystrokes.

Take a look at Clipmarks. Sometimes a bit clunky, but they’re trying to evolve the whole bookmark thing. I, for one, like what they’re doing. Just takes a little getting used to…like every new tool.

Google Docs, etc. are beginning to change the way users think about applications. Now, instead of an OS-dedicated application that runs from your desktop (and costs hundreds of dollars), you can do many of the same jobs online through your browser…regardless of the platform you use. That’s a good thing.

What hasn’t been so good is that many of the more advanced online apps can crash your browser. Or more common, a non-compliant site will crash it WHILE you’re doing something else in another window or tab. For instance, you’re writing in Google Docs and surf over to a site for reference…bang. The site crashes the browser and your doc goes away with it.

Mozilla Labs has an answer: Prism, the app formerly known as Webrunner. Prism lets you split out web applications from your browser and run them on the desktop. So, online apps become integrated into your desktop experience and can be launched, manipulated and used almost like any other app. Anything that runs in a modern standards-compliant browser works…which means java, flash, CSS and other popular technologies.

Want your email window open while you browse? Launch your Gmail app. Editing a photo while searching for clipart? Open your FotoFlexer app. Keeping tabs on your social buddies while on the company intranet? Launch your Facebook app. You get the idea.

You really have to try this to see the possibilities. Learn more about it and download Prism for mac, windows or linux here. Get a few more takes on Prism here, here and here.

On a mac? Get a mac-OS specific version called Fluid here.

There are almost countless default start pages out there. Most have the capability of being customized to the point of unreadability. And many of them try to present too much information on the page, when all I want is a directory.

Well, here’s one solution: Symbaloo. Like many earlier start pages, it’s really just a bunch of links but with a nice graphical interface. You can start with their suggested links, add from a directory of dozens of others they suggest, or add anything you want to link to. You can even add icons to your custom links.

Many of their supplied links open in a reduced box right there in the middle. So you can enter your search terms and then launch to a new page. Custom links can be set to a new page or the existing one.

You can also vary the size of the grid, and add additional desktops. You start with two desktops: one populated with many of their suggested search links, and one that is news and contains photos linked to current stories. One unfortunate thing: you can’t add news sources other than the ones they offer.

Regardless, I’m playing around with it as a start page. It’s clean, simple and might actually help me get rid of my monstrous bookmark bar…wouldn’t that be special???

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that this is a Flash interface, so it doesn’t work on my iPhone…bummer. Now THAT would have been useful!

Symbaloo

A Nice Lifehacker Review

Another from Webware

More traditional start pages