I’ve added a new feature to the site and it is the Disqus commenting system. Disqus, pronounced “discuss”, is a replacement commenting system for websites using content management systems like Wordpress. When installed, Disqus takes over the comments area of your site giving it some added functionality. One of the coolest things about it is when you sign up for a Disqus account your comments posted on any site that uses the system will show up on your profile page on the Disqus site. It gives you an identity across sites and in itself becomes a platform for your ideas.

Not too long ago, Facebook Connect was instituted to allow commenters to use the sytem with their Facebook credentials. Now it’s not required for you to sign up on the Disqus site accumulating yet another user name and password for a site. When you leave a comment, your Facebook profile picture is used and you’re done. Other sites are using Facebook Connect in their own commenting systems which is both smart and convenient.

Ultimately, one of Disqus’s best features is to allow you to export your comments back out of the system in the event you don’t want to use the service any longer. Since comments on posts can be some of the best content on ones site, this is a welcome thing indeed. Find out more about Disqus at www.disqus.com.

written by JM

There are a few new additions to the portfolio page. Tell your friends.

written by JM

Last week was the 2009 Macworld Conference and Expo. I had intended to say a few words about it before the show started, mainly focused on what would be announced… or what wouldn’t be. Let me disclose that I have never been to a Macworld although I have always wanted to attend. I miss out on the spectacle but these days you can learn all you need to about what is available from going online.

Macworld 2010?

As the Mac faithful no doubt know, 2009 will be last time Apple attends the expo. This has many believing, me included, that this also means the death of the expo. After all, history has shown us that when Apple isn’t an exhibitor the show quickly dies. When the summer expo was moved from New York to Boston, Apple pulled out. The summer show ended after the following year. Rightly so, exhibitors are nervous about an Apple-less expo. Will the attendees still show with no promise of new Apple goodies? I certainly hope so. Even from afar, I get the flavor of what Macworld Expo is all about. It’s the one place that everyday consumers of Apple products and accessories can gather together and meet face-to-face with each other and the makers of their favorite products. It’s too soon to tell what the implications will be. As a note to exhibitors AND attendees, DON’T LET MACWORLD DIE!!! It will be my goal to attend in 2010.

CES

Rumors started before the expo was over that CES (Consumer Electronics Show) would offer a Mac section and that they were trying to lure expo exhibitors to their show. That may happen but I know for sure that can never take the place of what the expo offers to Mac users. There is an identity that Macworld holds that can’t be had by folding it in or adding it to another show.

What Next?

2010 will no doubt bring a different expo with somewhat of an altered focus. It will be smaller in terms of footprint with a bent on learning. If it does go by the wayside, something similar may be reborn in the creation of much smaller shows in different parts of the country like the unconferences or podcamps that have come about in the last few years. Whatever the case, things won’t likely be the same again.

written by JM

I have eaten my words and joined Facebook. There. You happy?

I suppose it was only a matter of time. You see, even woefully uncool people like this and this in my life have been on for a while and give me a hard time about it. I maintain though that I am right in that I could totally waste a lot of time on Facebook or whatever. The value however becomes more and more evident when you see it become part of how some of us do business and gather information.

So there you are. Have a good laugh. But if I sit here for hours on end and don’t eat or shower…let it be on your heads!

written by JM