Moyea FLV Player
If you’ve ever tried to view a local .flv file with the default Macromedia configuration, you know that you simply get an empty flash player window. Whether you just want to preview an .flv prior to uploading it to your server, or you like to collect .flvs off of the web for local archiving and viewing, this is a great solution. After installing it, I set Windows to associate the .flv file extension, and from there it’s great. This is the best one I’ve found thus far. Other apps such as Riva do enable local playback, but lack features such as window resizing and full screen viewing, as well as the ability to save snapshots. VLC will play a local .flv file, but it will not scrub the timeline.

Notepad++
One of the most obnoxious things about Notepad is the lack of multiple undos. Notepad++ is an excellent Notepad replacement that features syntax-highlighting, line numbers, a tabbed interface and much more. You can completely customize all the code formatting for different types of files within the the Style Configurator. Don’t let the lizards scare you away! This one is a must-have.

XP Powertoy Calculator
Microsoft has released PowerToys for years. They’re basically OS tweaks developed by Microsoft that don’t ship with Windows. One that I have found to be very useful for common tasks is the PowerToy Calculator. After installation, I typically have it switched to the ‘Numerical Calc’ view. It’s much more friendly and feature-rich than the default calculator.

Royale Noir
This is an ‘unreleased’ Microsoft Theme for Windows XP that surfaced on the web well over a year ago. I have been using this for quite a while now, but I often run across people who have yet to hear about it. This has a black color scheme, and it is a variant of the ‘Energy Blue’ Royale theme that Microsoft released with Windows MCE 2005. Microsoft later released a theme to accompany their Zune media player. It is widely assumed that Royal Noir was a beta of the Zune theme. They are indeed a bit different and I definitely prefer Royale Noir.

This is a follow up to a previous post, but the DataPortability Workgroup has gained some momentum in the past week or so garnering support across the web. This video was just released and does a good job explaining the importance of the DataPortability movement.But why does this matter to marketing folks? Well, for one it means that there a fewer barriers to creating a one on one dialog with our audiences. We have created countless websites where users had to set up accounts and spend time coping over personal info that they have already filled out 100 times before. This sort of standard will help us eliminate the need for our customers to re-enter a lot of information, making it more likely that they will utilize whatever personalization features our sites may offer. In addition, it allows us to create social networking components to a site without having to create a whole social networking architecture. A standardized data platform will allow us to spend less time building the foundation, and more time building functionality that leverages data in a more useful and engaging customer experience.

And speaking as a consumer myself… if I don’t have to fill out another user id / password creation form again it will be too soon.

Tune in to our live internet TV station! (This is a test of Mogulus Studio - Live Internet Video Broadcasting)

We’ll have some fun with this technology for sure. You can edit the video feed on the fly with predetermined storyboards composed of YouTube clips, recorded video and yes… live video.

More to come on this.

Tune in to our live internet TV station! (This is a test of Mogulus Studio - Live Internet Video Broadcasting)

Over the past few years we have seen a huge rise in the amount of information people are sharing on the web. Social Networks, photo sharing websites, blogs, etc… have all provided mechanisms for us to share information with ease. Unfortunately, the management of all our information and relationships still exists in silos. You have to update your blog, your LinkedIn profile, your Facebook profile, your Flickr account, Etc. You have relationships with friends, family, and co-workers that overlap in a Venn diagram that resembles the third symbol from Zoso. Frankly, managing this mess takes too much darn time.

Tools to help manage your social graph are popping up, but what the world needs is a set of standards that puts structure around the sharing of data. RSS is not enough. We need standards for describing relationships, authentication, identity, messaging, and more. We have talked at our shop about this time and time again but I recently came across the website Dataportability.org that is dedicated to Standardized Data Portability. The site lists a number of standards movements with links to some helpful resources and initiatives.

These sorts of initiatives will help us as consumers and as marketers. I’d encourage everyone to check them out.

UPDATE - For anyone that has followed Scoble’s temporary exile from Facebook, he announced today that Facebook has joined the Dataportability.org Workgroup. The optimist in me in rejoicing. The pessimist says “Big deal… tell me when I can export my data.”