leahbrier.com

Just a quick shout out to my brother for his new project Percolate. In addition to it being an awesome site, filling a niche that I didn’t know needed filling until this idea started coming to fruition, it’s my big brother and as hard as this is to admit, he’s a pretty impressive dude.

(Note: Gratuitous familial promotion to follow)
Just a little from today’s Fast Company article:

…Brier’s espresso sipping is apropos for a different reason.(Had to add that simply because I think it’s funny — especially when out of context!) The Barbarian Group veteran, founder of Brand Tags, andNo. 59 on Fast Company‘s Most Creative People list is taking me through his new startup, Percolate, which, as Brier explains, is all about coffee.

Percolate, currently in its “double secret alpha” version, is a blogging platform that provides curated content for you to write about. The service taps into your RSS and Twitter feeds, culls content based on your interests–the stuff that “percolates up”–and then offers you the ability to share your thoughts on the subject with friends.

I’m proud to say I am a full fledged convert to the world of Chrome. Between the amazing search history and how easy it is to import bookmarks, firefox is long gone. And let’s be honest, I am a sucker for their commercials (check this one too)!

To splurge or not to splurge, that is the question. I have been spending more time in bed then I’d like to because of my back and I’m tempted to purchase an iPad to making working from bed a little easier. Is it worth it?

It’s my birthday and I can’t sleep — story of my life! Call me crazy, but this seemed like the perfect time to do what I had to do — read my horoscope. The scary part? Some of it really resonates me and sounds like me, while some is complete hooey. Who cares though, this is what birthdays are about!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY also goes out to my brother from another mother Jeff Hughes, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Dempsey, Orlando Bloom and Connie Lui‘s brother!

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Sun in Capricorn, Moon in Pisces

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Your astrological combination indicates a quiet, undemonstrative individual. You are retiring by nature and prefer domestic activities. A somewhat passive person, you require a stronger force or person to move you out of your state of psychological inertia. Much about you is concentrated and inner-directed.

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You seek integrity of self. You make a good friend and confidant, for you never reveal a secret that has been told to you. But you don’t allow friends and associates to penetrate beneath your outermost mask. You deal well with people in unfortunate positions, because they arouse the compassion inherent in your Moon influence. Under favorable circumstances, your psychic and mystic tendencies could be awakened. The key to a more harmonious existence lies in using your organizing ability to establish a more active life. You possess a high degree of innate ambition and perseverance.

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Read the rest of this entry »

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My brother wrote this in May 2009, when Twitter was getting picked up at a frantic pace and questions of its usefulness and legitimacy where everywhere, and on everyone’s tongue.

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“A few weeks ago my grandma asked me about Twitter (for whatever it’s worth) and over the last few months both my parents have gotten accounts. In thinking about this, it’s kind of a perfect platform for parents looking to keep up with their adult children. I realized in a conversation this morning that the answer to the common Twitter question, “who cares what I ate for breakfast?” is your mom. She wants to know that you stubbed your toe, ate a hamburger and went back and forth to Atlanta yesterday (the last actually happened). It’s exactly this sort of information that keeps you close to your loved ones (though obviously more detail would be nice, but that can always be provided in your other interactions).”

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This really is true. (Please Note: I don’t love admitting Noah is ever right but, when the brother is right he deserves credit!) There are times where my tweets are specifically directed to keep my mother in the loop. When I know I can’t call, or haven’t spoken to her for some time, a quick 140 character tweet perfectly satiates her need for an update. It’s also great because it means having to give less back story when I finally get a chance to catch her up!

This past weekend, cooped up at home, I got to watch one of my favorite movies, Keeping the Faith with Edward Norton, Ben Stiller and Jenna Elfman. It may be a predictable love story, but I just love the characters — it’s a walking punch line about a when a Priest and Rabbi and a leggy blonde fall into a love triangle!

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But the movie made me think about something else that is a very subtle story line in the overall plot. Jenna Elfman’s character is a workaholic who is attached, both physically and mentally, to her cellphone. At one point, while her phone is hidden inconspicuously in a garter under her dress, she declares, “You don’t understand. I have a relationship with my phone, we have a chemistry together, I can’t explain it.”

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IT’S TRUE! I get a lot of grief from people, friends and family, about my teeny, tiny obsession with my phone, but I do have a relationship with it — it’s a sweet and loving and reciprocal relationship at that. I give my phone the charging time it needs and it gives me access to everything and everyone I need.

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Note: Mediated-communication rant beginning!

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I am no less connected to my friends and family due to my infatuation with my blackberry, in fact I am more connected. I am able to respond to emails instantaneously, call anytime and from anywhere (within reason, thanks to At&T). I don’t believe that mediated communication of any sort, including cellphones, email, instant messenger, etc. are distancing us from each other. We need to simply embrace the fact that the medium in which we are communicating has changed, but the message hasn’t. Perhaps now that mediated communication is so ubiquitous, the message is more important than the medium — TAKE THAT MARSHALL MCCLUHAN! And once we begin to understand that we can start working on things like properly evoking emotions in written emails and texts and stopping making excuses about that flaw.

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Note: Mediated-communication rant ended!

After being sick all of last week and literally not leaving my apartment, I had zero interest in looking presentable.  So, I was faced with quite a challenge yesterday and this morning with the daunting task of blow drying my hair.  While this is a daily occurence, I am usually not aware of just how long it takes, how detailed I am, and how monotonous it is to stand bent over with a blow dryer in one hand and the world’s largest round brush in the other…

(This isn’t the point of the story, but it is amazing what girls are willing to go through to look like they haven’t rolled out of bed — where guys on the other hand look cooler and hipper the dirtier they look!)

Anyway, while drying, I was suddenly very deep in thought about how I use my phone applications to check my favorite social networks and social media sites more then I check them online.  I tweet from my blackberry, respond to facebook invites, and check Yelp requests on my phone all the time, sometimes even while sitting at my desk — in front of a computer.  I am not the first to do this, and people have been talking about social networks in the celluar world for awhile, but I am not convinced the applications are at their best, and I’m not happy.

I started college at the height of the Facebook boom, and used to be mildly obsessed with it.  Now I am weening myself off, but I still think it has some very important features.  Birthdays and pictures are two elements missing from the application and it frustrates me to no end that I feel like I have to get on a computer every couple of days just to make sure I didn’t miss any birthdays and to check in with pictures — I know I can use the mobile site, but what’s the point if I already have an application?

Then there’s the lack of ease while using Twitterberry.  Other than DMs and @replies, the application doesn’t make adding URLs or pictures easy, and it certainly doesn’t have a hashtags, retweet or even a fully functioning follow/leave component.  And let’s not even get into the fact that there is no Yelp or friendfeed application designed for the blackberry!

While there are monetized options for using such sites on your phone, which may be very well worth the cost, I would think in the changing landscape that social media exists in, it would behoove networks to start rethinking their mobile presence and look to consumers for suggestions on how to better design their applications.  Or maybe it’s just me and I needed to rant!  And if that’s the case, and I do miss writing on your wall for your birthday, now you know why, and I’m sorry!  But if anyone out there is looking for some consultation for better social media applications, I am your girl and I’m here to chat!