Current Tech Blog

I’ve decided to embark on the experiment of disabling most of my social network sync/forwarding/cross-post settings and just funneling everything through Posterous. The main idea is to create a single pipeline through which all content is routed, and Posterous is a great service to do so, as long as you’re comfortable giving that service a lot of power.

Several heavy social network using friends have recommended Posterous to me already, but I’ve always felt turned off by the email part. I know email’s convenient and ubiquitous and for the most part accepted by the entire world, but it’s my least favorite place to hang out these days (ok, my voicemail inbox is worse, but barely). I pretty much hate checking my Gmail… a wasteland of starred items that I starred to remind myself to come back to, but never did, and now they make me feel bad about myself every time I log in.

But I digress. Using Posterous isn’t about hanging out in my inbox, it’s simply about using the email protocol to post pretty much anything to anywhere: text, photos, videos, etc., to blogs, Facebook profiles/pages, Twitter, etc. I can access my email with my computer or my mobile phone, and I always have one or both of them on me at all times. The service is a lot more robust than how I’m explaining it, so if you’re befuddled I recommend you read the Posterous FAQ for a very thorough walk-through.

Essentially I’m disabling cross-posting Del.icio.us links to Tumblr, blip.fm posts to Friendfeed, Flickr photos to Facebook, Facebook status updates to OMG I CAN’T KEEP TRACK OF ALL MY CROSS-POSTING ANYMORE, DID IT ORIGINATE IN MY LAST.FM SETTINGS OR MY TWITTER OAUTH, I NEED TO START OVER. See? I’ve gone crazy. So I’m linking all my online accounts to Posterous only, and I’m going to use the Posterous email protocol to send my content exactly where I want. I like experiments! This will be fun!

Here’s how it works:

• *I want to post a photo to Flickr: flickr@myaccount.posterous.com
• *I want to post the same photo to Flickr and Friendfeed: flickr+friendfeed@myaccount.posterous.com
• *I want to post the same piece of content to every service I’ve linked to Posterous: post@myaccount.posterous.com
• *I want to post something to my Posterous account, but not to any of my linked services: posterous@myaccount.posterous.com

And so on.

Now, because I really do belong to a ton of social networks that I use regularly, completely switching up my sharing methods is a little complicated, and I’ve already run into a few stumpers. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to share any little tricks I figure out along the way with all of you that 1) might already be baffling you, or 2) you may come across eventually if you decide to use Posterous the way I’m using it.

My first issue arose when I posted a Photo Booth pic from my computer to Flickr via Posterous email:

As you can see, the subject line of my email posted perfectly as my Flickr photo title, but notice how my Flickr “description” is some lame promotional Posterous code and not what I wrote in the body of that email (it was about my stylish pajama bottoms)? No hard feelings Posterous, I know that’s how you’re getting the word out and all, but… no thanks. I already wrote my own Flickr photo description in the body of the email I sent, and that’s all I want to see.

How to fix it:

In your Flickr account advanced settings on Posterous, you see how Posterous auto-populates your Flickr photo’s description with their own footer, which makes perfect sense. They’re not hiding anything or being devious, and I was able to achieve what I wanted simply by replacing their default code with this:

Now, when I send an email to flickr@myaccount.posterous.com, whatever I post in the subject line will convert to my Flickr title, and whatever I post in the body of my email along with my attached photo will become my Flickr description! It will be as if I uploaded through Flickr directly. Nobody will know. Easy as pumpkin pie, right? (Obviously you can screw around with the codes to get your own desired effect).

More Posterous tips as I discover them along the path of my little experiment. If you use Posterous and have any tricks of your own, please share them with the rest of us. This effer took me all morning.

Yeah, just watch the video and you’ll see what all my fuss is about.

The transcripts only get worse from there, btw. I used my own voice thinking somehow it would work more accurately? Yeeeeeah NO.

The link to my full story on current.com/tech is here.

Once you get done laughing at my misfortune, you might like to watch me create an award from thin air and present it to a deserving website. I DON’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP, PEOPLE.

Social networks are getting more creative as new sites come up with unique angles to connect people (and get attention). I took a look at two fun new services that you might like, especially if you’re sick of Twitter and Facebook! Enjoy:

Here’s my full story on Current Tech, with links.

By the way, I should point out that both Twitter and Facebook are evolving as social networks, too. Here’s my tutorial on how Facebook’s new tagging feature works, and a recent video on all the apps you can try to make Twitter more useful. I’m an equal opportunity social networker! Or something.

You can also subscribe to my Current Tech videos on iTunes!

There are three reasons why this is my best blog post ever:

1. Twitter Apps – they’re taking over the planet, not even kidding
2. A slight “more cowbell” reference
3. OMG TWITTER APPS

Sorry, something’s wrong with me today. But I hope you enjoyed my latest Current Tech video! Here’s my full story and website links.

By the way, the green cardigan I’m wearing? Retails for $198 and I got it for free. Watch my shopping tricks video to find out how I did it!

You can also subscribe to my Current Tech videos on iTunes!

People either love shopping or they hate shopping. But it’s something that has to be done, and both sides always appreciate a hassle-free (or at the very least, hassle-light) shopping experience, right? Today’s Current Tech video explores a couple of your best online options.

Here’s my full story, with links, at Current Tech.

By the way, I fall into the “shopaholic” category, which oh-so-coincidentally has contributed to some major money woes. Help me Current Tech community, you’re my only hope.

You can also subscribe to my Current Tech videos on iTunes!

Hey friends! Sarah here. Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve written. Since moving over to the Tech department from News, I’ve been spending a lot of time watching the kinds of stories being posted, who’s posting them, and how often. And we’ve got a great little community here, but it needs to grow. Every day I see interesting, helpful, even scandalous tech-centric stories all over the web that never end up being submitted to Current.com/tech, and I can’t really figure out why. But I do know that the answer isn’t to just do it myself, because we’re a team here! Speaking of teams, have you followed the @currenttech twitter account yet?

So… I have some fun interactive ideas for all of us here, and I hope to be able to tell you about some of them in detail very soon. In the meantime, I want to ask a question that I know you can all answer pretty easily. You can list your answers the comments section, or even better, make a video response on the story page! Ready?

Q: What are your current top three go-to tech sites online? (Be honest! Oh, and absolutely no Twitter allowed.)

My three:

Techmeme – Great snapshot into the big news headlines, trends, etc.

Mashable – One of my favorites for social network news, new/cool services or apps, and a good community.

Lifehacker – Everyday Windows/Mac/gadget/life tips and hacks. Always helpful and often really awesome!

Hopefully we can get some good ideas from each other. I know I always appreciate knowing where folks are getting their tech fixes. Thanks in advance.

Hello Current Tech community!

Sarah Lane here, your brand-spanking-new Tech channel producer! I wanted to introduce myself to you all and tell you how excited I am about running the show over here. Obviously this is no one-woman show, as I’m only as strong as my community (that’s you!). I hope we can all work together to make the Tech channel a fun, informative, kickass place to hang out and share great content with each other.

A little background on me and how I got here: I come from a television background and have been producing/hosting/writing in the tech arena for many years (here’s my personal bio…wrote it mahself!!!)  I joined Current in February as the Online Producer for News, which was a great experience and gave me powerful insight into how the Current community interacts around here. When the opportunity came up to take the reigns on the Tech channel, I jumped at the chance, since I’m really a supernerd at heart (erm, that bio again).

I have a lot of work to do around here, this I know. I’ve already got the passion, so making this channel a must-visit place for you every day is going to be a lot of fun. You guys ready?

Your new (or old, even better) friend,

Sarah