Comments for The Inner-workings of the Merc Mind

Comment on Look who’s heard about MacMerc.TV by MacMerc.TV: TextExpander : MacMerc

MacMerc.TV: TextExpander : MacMerc — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:59:29 +0000

[...] photos I posted to my blog were taken for me as a favor by my friend and business partner Greg [...]

Comment on Adventures in Font Matching: Joss Whedon’s Firefly by RickMacMerc

RickMacMerc — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:43:54 +0000

Ah, yes. The font you're looking for there is a customized version of Friz Quadrata. They even used it on the "From the creator of 'Buffy' & 'Angel'" text at the top. The swooshy R and Y and the triangular cross bar on the E will have to be recreated by hand. The same font is used in much of the World of Warcraft screen text and is very similar to that used in the TV show The Prisoner

Comment on Adventures in Font Matching: Joss Whedon’s Firefly by Adam

Adam — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:17:11 +0000

Great work! I’ve been looking for this font but I can’t find it. it’s the one that says SERENITY on this photo -

http://editorial.sidereel.com/Images/Posts/serenity.jpg

Comment on Why I’m excited about the Apple iPad …and why I bought a Kindle DX by Dave Peterson

Dave Peterson — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:45:27 +0000

Delighted to hear that not only did you get a Kindle, but the DX. That’s my digital reading buddy of the moment. I have hopes for the iPad as a reader, but won’t know for a while whether it will make me set the DX aside. Your point about developers is something that’s been on my mind. People tripping over each other to downplay the iPad should think back to iPhone 1.0, before the App Store showed us what a multi-functional little computer it could be. At best, right now, people are thinking about iPhone apps on the iPad. I’m thinking about iPad apps and the possibilities are endless.

Comment on Starting out on Twitter by davepeterson (Dave Peterson)

davepeterson (Dave Peterson) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:28:40 +0000

New to Twitter? @RickMacMerc shares some getting started insights – http://blogs.macmerc.com/rick/2009/12/starting-out-on-twitter/

Comment on Starting out on Twitter by Tweets that mention Starting out on Twitter « The Inner-workings of the Merc Mind -- Topsy.com

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:28:48 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rick Yaeger, Dave Peterson. Dave Peterson said: New to Twitter? @RickMacMerc shares some getting started insights – http://blogs.macmerc.com/rick/2009/12/starting-out-on-twitter/ [...]

Comment on Starting out on Twitter by Dave Peterson

Dave Peterson — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:26:15 +0000

Another interesting Twitter truth: When someone you follow and enjoy on Twitter gives insights about Twitter, you will most likely find yourself nodding vigorously in agreement.

Comment on Don’t Twitlonger—get a blog by RickMacMerc

RickMacMerc — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:29:29 +0000

First, thank you so much for the comment.
I totally get what you’re saying as TwitLonger being the bridge between Twitter and a blog for times when email is something to be avoided. What I’ve been writing about lately has been mainly centered on using social media to build up exposure online and make a name for yourself…the personal branding thing. If that is a person’s focus, TwitLonger should be avoided. Avoided in the same way that tweeting what you’re having for lunch should be avoided: don’t make it a habit, but special occasions do arise where nothing else will do.
I think we’re in agreement really.

Comment on Don’t Twitlonger—get a blog by Stuart Gibson

Stuart Gibson — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:43:29 +0000

But here’s the thing. I made TwitLonger because the stuff I share on Twitter isn’t stuff I’d want archived in my blog. It’s usually throwaway stuff, or stuff that’s directed to a single person. Primarily, for me, it was a way to explain technical information, usually about CSS or PHP, with someone who I know only through Twitter. I’m not going to write a blog post about that, because that’s not what my blog is about. Think of it as the difference between Flickr and TwitPic. The stuff you put on TwitPic is silly, throwaway stuff that you’re probably not interested in keeping or having in your Flickr stream, which is usually reserved for photos you really like. The “geeks at a coffee shop” pictures are relevant only for the life of the tweet, you don’t want them on Flickr. Same with TwitLonger.

There are also a number of people who don’t want to maintain a blog, maybe don’t have enough to say that it’s worth the hassle of setting one up (and, let’s face it, there are already enough abandoned blogs out there). TwitLonger makes it really easy for them to, occasionally, go longform with their Twitter followers. This is made easier still when some of the most popular clients have support for TwitLonger built in and can pull the long tweets directly into the timeline without the need to open a web page. On mobile devices, especially, this is great as it cuts down on load times and doesn’t have to try and fit the whole page content on the small screen.

Now, you could argue that it gets misused, abused and overused, which I agree with, but I specifically ask people to think before using it (http://www.twitlonger.com/about#point). I *very* rarely use it myself, I made it to scratch an itch and I encourage people to avoid using it when they could express themselves in a more concise way and keep it under 140. Sometimes, though, just sometimes, TwitLonger is exactly what you need.

Comment on Don’t Twitlonger—get a blog by Josh Oiknine

Josh Oiknine — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:47:22 +0000

I get the idea of a tweet being 140 characters (SMS is 160) but these days if you want to send an SMS from your phone that is more then 160 characters long your phone will just send 2 message. Most people will be none the wiser.

I don’t see the need for a stand alone service to do this for twitter but i could see other places where if you did write a blog (or longer message) and wanted to post the first few words along with the title, 3rd party apps should do what twitlonger is doing and shorten it for you with a link back.