tech blog 46 items | updated Apr 5 2010

Ever since I started working at Current I've been badgering the powers that be to let me do a show of some kind. And either they've finally recognized my sheer creative genius, or they're just tired of saying no. Doesn't really matter, because I've won!

It's true, my friends. "Current.ly with Sarah Lane" is coming to the Current webwaves soon, and I couldn't be more excited. It'll be a live streaming, interactive, weekly show covering everything that's new and cool in technology and the web. The premise is simple: I digest this stuff all day every day and I know most of you do too, so why don't we all share and discuss what we love together?

Here's the thing - even though I got my very own show (hurrah!!) greenlit,  it won't be easy for me. I won't have a team of producers working behind the scenes. In fact, I won't even have ONE SINGLE producer to help me out. Having worked on a variety of tech-based TV and web shows over the years, I know that having a solid team that works together well is crucial to creating solid programming that the audience will enjoy. But this project is literally going to be a one-woman-show, from start to finish. Honestly, I'm a little intimidated by the whole thing. And that's why I'll need all of you to help me pick good content and guests each week. Are you up for the challenge? You better be, because I can't do it alone. :)

"Current.ly with Sarah Lane" will be going live in a few weeks, so I hope to start picking your collective brains now. What kinds of segments do you want to see? Who do you want me to invite onto the show, and what kinds of questions should I ask them? What type of content are you tired of seeing on tech shows? Anything overdone and stale that I should avoid? Be honest, because your frankness will only help me. I promise I'm listening.

In the meantime, start voting on every Current Tech story if you aren't already. Is it a good addition to the channel?  Vote it up. Does it suck? Vote it down. Your input will weigh heavily on the types of stories I cover each week, and my choices will come directly from the Current Tech community itself. Don't see an important story anywhere on the channel? Submit a story yourself, tag it "Tech", and keep Current Tech up-to-date and relevant!

Like I said, I'm really excited and optimistic about "Current.ly with Sarah Lane", but I can't do it alone. So let 'er rip and let's make great show we all can be proud of.

Thanks, and see you online!

Sarah

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I'm one of those lucky people who have an iPhone. It's a 3G, and I got it as an unexpected Christmas gift from an extremely generous friend in December 08, which means it's still nice and pretty and mostly unscratched. It also means that I'm well under the minimum time period with my AT&T plan to be able to get a new iPhone 3G S for under $499.

When I first realized that the subsidized 3G S price did not apply to me and that I would not be upgrading any time soon, I was totally pissed, as were many other folks. I'm a valued customer, and this is how you repay me? Then I read a few articles that explained what was really going on, and I decided to change my attitude. I already have a really great phone (which in my case was free of charge, for eff's sake), and besides, I *do* get to enjoy iPhone's 3.0 software, which starting pushing out to all iPhone users today.

Here's a rundown of pretty much EVERYTHING you can do with 3.0. It's a very thorough list and definitely worth reading in detail. I'm having a blast trying all the new features out on my v3. It's just like a new phone! Well, if I ignore the scratches.

But here's one of the coolest new features of all: push notificiation service for apps. At first I couldn't find any official literature on it at all... turns out it's just buried inside the developer center. So, what does this mean for users like me? Well, let's say I don't have the AIM app launched. Before today, nobody would be able to IM me until I had the app launched, and if I left the app, I'd be cut off again. Now, developers of the AIM app have the opportunity to "push" out a notification to me that I've received an IM, even if the app isn't open. That's huge!

From Apple:

There are a number of ways to send a push notification. Send a message with text that lets the user launch your app. Trigger audible alerts with your own custom sounds. Add a numbered badge to your app icon when it’s important to let the user know how many things are waiting for them.

Mind you, as far as I know the AIM app isn't doing this yet, but I sure hope they do soon. I'm excited to see who else incorporates push notifications into their options menu. For now, here's a preliminary list of apps that have. Know of any others?

This morning, I read the following statement from Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, taken from his longer "ramble" at the official NIN forums and linked to via his Twitter stream:

I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because at the end of the day it's now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result. Idiots rule.

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His is a common and frustrating conclusion so many of us seem to come to after submersing ourselves in online communities for any prolonged length of time.

Why are people such jerks? Really... I want to know.

I've been following Trent's work (can I call him Trent? I'm going to call him Trent) since I was in high school. You could say I'm a really, really big fan. And I wholly admit that within the past year I've gotten a much different (shockingly, at times) impression of what kind of person he is from reading his tweets and keeping up with his activities through nin.com. Yes, Trent is a real person who is clearly not living a live-action version of his music's lyrics. He's in love, for example, and he gushes about his fiancee regularly. He's been sober for eight years. He raises money for people who need it. He makes geeky references. He makes jokes. He lashes out at people who upset him. He seems like a pretty normal, stand-up guy, not a reflection of his stage persona. Not anymore anyway, if that was ever the case.

And yet, like so many of us before him, Trent feels defeated by the internet troll brigade. Because that's what happens when you spend enough time online and develop a following. People relish in the anonymity of modern communication and behave badly. Honestly, I don't know anyone with any web/tech notoriety who hasn't experienced this. Women have it particularly rough IMO, but obviously anyone can be a target.... especially if they're famous, good looking, or have something interesting to say.

But I don't think idiots rule, and it's disappointing to hear that someone I've admired and respected for a long time feels that way, because I too am very much a part of this community. Negative people just... stand out. I can get 45 positive comments on a blog post, and the 46th comment that points out how ugly or fat or stupid I am (just recently, someone publicly tweeted that my mere existence was too much for her) will ruin my day. I'm just used to it now. Which is totally backward and sucky, by the way. Nobody should have to get used to that. It's like being beat up, all the time.

So.. why are people such jerks? Why do this to each other? Why ruin anyone's day? Why scare away a really cool guy like Trent Reznor from BEING ONE OF US?

Really... I want to know.

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