I remember one incident during this time of Facebook obliviousness when my mother had gone on a business trip to Washington D.C. I discovered on NPR that Washington had been rocked by a small earthquake and phoned my mom the next day wondering if she had experienced the quake. I listened to the descriptive words about her experience including overall confusion and mind racing thoughts about what the jolt could have been. Days later, my girlfriend informed me - being that they're friends on Facebook - that my mother had posted a status relating to her first earthquake experience. I realized that this was more than likely something I would have normally "liked" or commented on, and may not have picked up the phone to listen to her story. I then vowed to always remember that Facebook is a part of my life, not my life.

Why We Use Facebook

Think back to the beginning. The Dark Ages when teenagers were using MySpace and baby boomers were content with never seeing their college roommate again. How did we ever survive? And then out of the Internet-based clouds emerged a wonderful, less-spammy form of social networking tool called Facebook. First trapping college kids and eventually seducing the middle-aged, Facebook soon become the place to reminisce about the past, comment on the present and anticipate future connections.

Buy why do we use Facebook? How did Facebook become what it is today?

Social Influence

A possible theory that I agree with and a few information systems scholars have researched is the social psychological idea of social influence. As defined by sociologist Dr. Lisa Rashotte, social influence happens when a collective group of people make real changes to their lifestyle and behavior based on similarities of their peers. People tend to act similar or engage in similar activities as to those who they share similar "psychological principles." Basically, we use Facebook because our friends do.

This led me to ask the question, How many of us joined Facebook because of close friends? And how many of us complied?

A Support System

The second reason I believe people are so willing to use Facebook, and quite possibly the No. 1 reason for women, is the idea that Facebook acts as an extended support system. The idea here is that people use the status update feature of Facebook in order to openly disclose information about their daily life - good, bad or ugly - and willingly accept feedback from their peers. People create an open support group that consists of the people they choose to accept as their friends, and openly confide in this group by freely posting information about their lives. This encompasses such statuses as a hard day's work, a severe life transition or even the death of a loved one. In order for this support system to adequately function, the group must consist of supporters, those who comment on statuses, and advertisers, those who seek comfort from supporters.

Human Curiosity

The more natural explanation for why I believe people tend to use the social media sensation is the fact that humans are innately curious.

Throughout time, human beings have shown a substantial interest in the unknown.

Is the world flat? Is there a God? But a substantial amount of this natural thirst for knowledge has only been documented by the higher class, or individuals who have made a name for themselves. And now, I believe these inquisitive tendencies have reached a wider platform filled with a diverse group of people.

The Final Thought

After stepping out of the Facebook world for a month, I have come to realize it is a wonderful tool. It allows us to keep in touch with the ones we love (and the ones we don't), share multiple forms of media by the click of a button, and generally contributes to the promotion of a simplified convenience humans have come to enjoy.

But it's when we begin to take advantage of the convenience factor offered by the Internet and communication tools like Facebook, and let these tools become a part of our daily lives, we begin to develop a certain expectation of ourselves and others to use these tools as a substitute for more natural forms of communication. We then begin to forget how long it's been since we have truly talked to someone and become sucked-in to a world where computer screens replace faces and emoticons act as facial expressions.

We begin to forget about the soothing power of intonation and just how good it feels to sit down with someone over a cup of coffee. And it's when we begin to step outside of the world we call Facebook, we can truly appreciate what the real world has to offer.

But the hardest part about the first week of quitting the social media marvel that has captured more than 500 million users was the consistent realization that literally everyone around me was on Facebook.

Everywhere I'd go, computer screens would be proudly boasting the beloved social color scheme of Facebook-blue and Wall Post-white.

I could play I-Spy something red and flawlessly pinpoint who in the coffee shop needed to clear their Inbox and who needed to check their most recent friend requests. And during these moments of visual eavesdropping, I realized it's not just me who has the Facebook addiction, it's everyone.

Facebook anonymous?

Numerous stories and studies have been gradually surfacing all over the Web about the new wave of Facebook addicts. Such stories as a 2009 piece by CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen about a mother who ignores her 12-year-old daughter's cry for homework help because she is "sucked in" to the world of Facebook.

Another story mentioned a married woman requesting to be Facebook friends with a long lost boyfriend and eventually getting a divorce over an unpleasant wall post expressing discontent with her current husband.

The recently published Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research study reveals 57 percent of women ages 18-34 talk to more people online than face-to-face. These stories are slowly affirming the power Facebook has over the human brain and surfacing the potential repercussions of Facebook addiction.

The new grapevine

Week two of my journey was a little easier to manage than my previous week of hellish, disconnected torture. My mother rented a condo in Myrtle Beach for the weekend of July 4, so after work and classes on Thursday, I jetted across the great state of South Carolina and half of Georgia with my brother and my girlfriend and was looking forward to a weekend filled with sunshine, relaxation, and of course, no Facebook.

However, after arriving, I soon noticed family members discussing the daily Facebook News- a sight that would put Matt Lauer to shame - and quarantining those who had not seen the most recent tagged picture.

I remember thinking, "Could it be? Has Facebook replaced the weather as the new go-to conversation? Will it eventually be commonplace to pass a stranger in the fruit aisle at the grocery store and mutually exchange comments about Facebook's new privacy settings?"

What I noticed was that people seem to use Facebook as a jumping off point to lead into the next conversation. Whenever a moment was filled with a single ounce of awkwardness, Facebook seemed to swoop in and save the day. In a conversation among two or three, one friend would react to the moment of silence with an almost naturally conditioned remark about a mutual friend's status update, relationship change, or newly updated photo album, which would then lead into more in-depth dialogue. It's become the new grapevine.

The conversation of images

After the escape from reality that was the July 4 trip, I quickly settled back into my daily routine of school and work. A few automated days were filled with proposal writing and professor lecturing, when out of the blue I received an e-mail from my step-dad attached with seven or eight photos from July 4 weekend. To my disappointment, the photos were not enhanced with captions or comments.

Although these photos were beautified using the latest PhotoShop software complete with red-eye reduction, the photos seemed to stare at me blankly, radiating an almost lifeless aura.

I began to wonder why this was and realized I desired a specific kind of photo tweaking. The added pleasure only close friends can give by sharing silly thoughts or jokingly jealous commentary regarding one or two different images. The kind of alteration that brings new life to an image and new meaning to an album. The kind of social satisfaction only Facebook offers.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, August 15, 2010

Believe me, at first, I was a skeptic. Before committing to my decision, I began to ask the same questions that I ended up hearing from others over and over during my monthlong quest for Facebook freedom.

Questions like, "How am I ever going to live my life without this classically conditioned, seemingly essential form of communication?" "What will I do without being part of the collective 500 billion minutes spent on Facebook each month?" And of course, the question everyone should be ashamed of asking, but seems to do so quite openly and without much thought, "How will I talk to people?"

I decided the only way to find out the truth behind how life was lived without our beloved Facebook and to answer any and every question associated with life before the social media monster was to quit cold turkey.

In this and my next several columns, I'm going to share my journey spent kicking the Facebook habit.

The final farewell

As I sat at my desk over-thinking how to appropriately and tactfully postpone my relationship with my four-year-long companion, I thought about the relationship-enders we have all come to know and love - such delicately poetic lines as "It's not you, it's me," and "I love you, but I'm not in love with you." But these trite expressions simply were dishonest and disheartening for everyone involved and I wasn't about to go there. I then decided a simple send off using a feathered iconic creature named Twitter would be my weapon of choice.

So there I was. Staring at the question Facebook's arch nemesis, Twitter, is consistently wondering: What's Happening? Such a simple question. Such a life-changing answer. I supplied Twitter with my three words of valediction - Bye, Bye Facebook - and the one-question minded social fowl flew the message to my Facebook profile and informed my digital friends about my declaration of independence. Little did I know what was really about to happen and how much this uncomplicated farewell would complicate my life.

Scary revelation

There comes a time in every addict's life when he or she becomes separated from the continuous consumption of their self-destructive pleasure and fully realizes the nature of the addiction.

For me, the path to addict self-discovery arrived mere moments after leaving Facebook. I found myself habitually opening a new browser window every few minutes and typing in Facebook.com as though Pavlov himself had trained me to fill up every empty URL bar by literally typing the letter "F." I quickly realized I had become inherently conditioned to check Facebook and noted to myself, "not being able to access Facebook is like losing touch with everyone you know at the same time - unsettling isolation."

Day two only confirmed my feelings of confinement. My morning routine of lying in bed 15 minutes longer, skimming through fellow friends' 8 a.m. moans and groans as if discovering a similar thought would become the validation I needed to jolt me into the shower, had quickly vanished.

The social connection I craved upon waking up, which had become a staple in my "moment of morning justification," was no longer there. I only had myself.

In case you didn't know, the Athens-based Full Circle Real Estate Group is featured in the Great Homes and Destinations section of The New York Times.  The article showcases property values for homeowners under or around $210,000 in Wisconsin, Ohio, and of course, Georgia.  The article also includes some information about the charms of the Athens community, highlighting the farmers market and the minimal distances to an abundance of biking and walking trails.  

Full Circle Real Estate is brokerage firm that specializes in selling and leasing sustainable green properties.  They are using Boxkite Media's Real Estate Spool, which we custom-built for Full Circle and includes a database mailing list with HTML e-mail templates, a WYSIWYG blogging and page editing tool, and an intuitive listings management editor available in a single back-end environment. 

For more information about Full Circle Real Estate visit http://fullcircleathens.com/.

Feel free to check out the NYTimes article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/greathomesanddestinations/14gh-what.html?_r=3

Because of this monumental month of sports mayhem, I have scoured the Internet on behalf of those of you true Football hooligans out there who are sporting your favorite country's jersey under your daytime business costume, and have found what I believe to be the best places to stream, follow, and generally experience World Cup chaos on the net.

FIFA.com - The official website for the 2010 World Cup, FIFA.com, is thoroughly devoted to keeping Football fans in the know.  The website gives news, interviews, a calendar timeline of daily bouts, a point summary of teams organized by group, country-centralized pages, statistics on your favorite players, and video/photo highlights of games or events you may have missed. 

FIFA.com Widgets - The Fédération Internationale de Football Association also gives Football fiends the opportunity to customize a 2010 World Cup Widget based on league, and add the Widget to multiple Internet favorites like Facebook, Twitter, or iGoogle.  FIFA.com also offers Widgets for those fans who crave real-time updates year-round, with a World Rankings Widget and World Leagues Widget.  

ESPN3.com - The newly renovated ESPN3.com (previously ESPN360.com) gives World Cup Football fanatics the chance to watch day-to-day matches between their beloved countries.  The Entertainment Sports Programming Network's website displays information about every soccer game by date and time, news associated with personally picked teams, and also archives every game - just in case the early soccer bird missed the worm.  

FootieFox - Mozilla Firefox fans can easily download a football-focused extension to their browser, appropriately titled FootieFox.  The FootieFox extension is displayed at the bottom right hand of the Firefox screen and allows soccer studs to add leagues and/or teams to the extension based on preference.  The extension also offers customizable alarms for game time notifications, and even displays real-time alerts when a goal has been scored.  

South Africa 2010 for Google Chrome - Google Chrome devotees will also have the option to install a 2010 South Africa extension to their browser.  Simply go to https://chrome.google.com/extensions and search for FIFA World Cup.  The FIFA World Cup - South Africa 2010 option shows real-time World Cup news, offers Facebook and Twitter chatting capability, and sports the chance to watch live streams of the World Cup games.  

Twitter - Twitter.com/worldcup showcases a cleanly laid out web presence and asks the question, "What's happening?"  The Twitter World Cup Page shows the latest real-time tweets about the competition, lists a schedule of upcoming games, and offers favorite team selection by country with a country-centered upcoming matches section, as well as real-time conversational tweets associated with a selected country.  

And there you have it - Six of my favorite ways to experience the 2010 World Cup right from your computer.  

Caution:  If streaming at work, please refrain from removing your suit, sliding knees-first into your boss' office, and yelling GOAL at the top of your lungs.  This may be considered unprofessional behavior. 

 Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, June 20th.

What could be greater than the blissful calm offered by our favorite months of June, July and August?

Oh yeah, a new iPhone.

In case you don't spend practically every waking hour in front of a computer, searching for the latest tech drama to erupt in real time, you might not be aware of the past two month's iPhone drama. Here's the lowdown:

On March 18, an Apple software engineer was reportedly out celebrating his 27th birthday at Gourmet Haus Staudt, a German-style beer garden in Redwood City, Calif., and drunkenly misplaced a prototype fourth-generation iPhone - iPhone 4G for the tech-savvy. Someone at the beer garden then picked up the iPhone 4G and discourteously began wisping through the dazzling device. After no one claimed it, the mysterious boozer pocketed the phone and incoherently made his way home.

Upon waking up and regaining a sense of the world, the random thief realized this iPhone was no ordinary iPhone. He curiously examined the phone, inside and out, and determined this had to be a prototype for a newer version of the iPhone.

What's the next logical step you ask? Sell it on eBay, of course.

After a few weeks, the popular technology news blog, Gizmodo, purchased Apple's supposed newborn iPhone for a mere $5,000. Gizmodo eventually dismantled the gadget, published their findings, and netted 5.3 million page views upon releasing the news to the world. Ethical scrutiny then erupted all over the Internet, spawning numerous journalistic criticisms, as well as a police seizure of Gizmodo's computers and servers. Not to mention an irate Steve Jobs.

Now, as we stand in the aftermath of The Tale of the Lost iPhone 4G, the major rumor across the Internet is that Apple is finally going to announce the existence and release date of its newest smartphone - and soon.

On Monday, Apple is hosting the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in San Jose, Calif., which is a five-day, international colloquium dedicated to the advancement of Apple application development and a chance for Apple-junkies to poke fun at Bill Gates. And if past behavior is any indication of future action, Apple likely will reveal a major announcement to the iPhone hungry world, rumored to be the latest and greatest version of the iPhone: The iPhone 4G.

What can you expect to find on the newest model?

SPECS

For you video chatting devotees, the iPhone 4G is rumored to offer a front-facing video camera, eliminating the days of blindsided filmmaking. The renovated gizmo also will offer a larger back-facing camera lens, complimented by a practical and delectable camera-friendly flash. A smaller screen will be featured on the mobile companion, but the screen likely will display higher-resolution images, which are projected to be 960x640 pixels in size.

As for the physical presence, the fourth generation iPhone is said to be 3 grams heavier than its 3GS counterpart, come equipped with separate buttons for volume control, contain a 16 percent larger battery for longer battery life, and offer metallic power, volume, and mute buttons. The rounded, concave-esque appearance also has been altered, exhibiting a square-like exterior that would make Honda Element lovers proud.

So just think, if you're starting to feel the heat now, wait until Monday when the hottest smartphone on the market fires its way onto your wish list and eventually burns a hole in your pocket.

In case you haven't noticed, free-standing movie stores are slowly crumbling to their nemesis - The Digital Conquerer, or the Internet for the less dramatic.  It seems as though online kiosks like Netflix are becoming the preferred medium for movie mavens and are beginning to result in an epic defeat of their erected counterparts.

In the past year and a half, Netflix stock has dramatically increased from $22.98 per share in November 2008 to a May 2010 closing of $99.47.  This is largely in part to offering rental patrons a multitude of rental options, which cater to the American way of convenience and laziness.  By constructing a business plan that offers immediate online movie viewing,  DVD mailbox delivery, and video game lifestyle adherence with X-Box, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii movie streaming, Netflix feeds our hunger for instant gratification and minimal movement.

A slightly depressing glance at Blockbuster Video's stock numbers since November 2008 suggest the one time movie rental monarch has been dethroned.  The numbers show a steady decline from $1.19 per share to a current, debilitating presence of $0.35.  Blockbuster also announced they would be closing between 500 and 545 stores by the end of 2010.

Another soon-to-be defeated pile of bricks, Movie Gallery, has reported a shocking number of store closings since 2005.  At that time, Movie Gallery operated over 4,500 stores.  Now, the decaying, Internet-conquered rental chain predicts they will run 1,610 stores, after 805 store closings in 2010.  This could be in part due to the failed acquisition of Hollywood Video at the height of the company.

And what will happen when Neflix undeniably annihilates every single free-standing movie rental structure?

Older generations will tell stories of movie rental hardships, trudging through eight feet of snow, snowshoeing up two flurry filled mountains, just to rent their favorite romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock.  Younger generations will say "OMG, LOL!" because their digital friendly parents will be sharing these rental sagas via instant message - likely browsing through the New Release section of Netflix, or something similar.  And when this happens, the innocent, simple days of the Saturday night movie stroll will be only a memory.

Article first published as on Technorati.com.

Boxkite Media has launched the official website for The Amazon Continuum, an Amazon River-based research project focused on studying the effects of the Amazon River plume and how it contributes to climate change. 

Led by Dr. Patricia Yager of the University of Georgia Marine Biology Department, the internationally respected ANACONDAS and ROCA research teams needed a website to communicate to the public information about The Amazon Continuum project, with hopes of changing the public's view of the Amazon to include what Yager calls "the lungs of the Earth."

She states, "In this program, we investigate how the Amazon continuum and its associated carbon cycle extend hundreds of miles from the river to the open ocean and suggest that making such a connection is vital to understand regional and global human impacts and potential feedbacks to climate change."

Along with research information, Dr. Yager thought it would be beneficial and wonderful for the public to gain front-row access to the Amazon Continuum Project by sharing images, videos and thoughts while aboard the ship.  With this in mind, we designed The Amazon Continuum Project to support our intuitive content management system, which will permit researchers to blog about their Amazon experience, upload videos from the vessel, and simply share information findings by the click of a button.  

We hope you will follow The Amazon Continuum Project on their journey at www.AmazonContinuum.org.  

We custom-built the Combat Focus Shooting app while aiming at those interested in self-defense, with the goal to establish and ripen the skills necessary for surviving a dynamic critical incident.  These skills include increased awareness, competence, and gaining a natural sense of self while in a combat-focused situation. 

Staying true to the concepts of Balance of Speed and Precision, Combat Accuracy, The Warrior Expert Theory and overall Consistency Development, the Combat Focus Shooting App tests these concepts by throwing a user into a real-world, combat-centralized environment.  

Combat Focus Shooting also eliminates repetitive, predictable shooting drills by allowing a user to fully customize their combat adventure by selecting a variety of voice commands, numerous shooting intervals, and an assortment of combat duration times, offering a more realistic, combat-focused experience.

Other Features Include:

• Creating your own Balance of Speed and Precision drills at any time
• Customizing drills for any target type
• Customizing drills for your skill level
• Receiving command alerts via device speaker, headphones, and device vibration (if available)
• Saving custom drills for future use
• Keeping up with the latest news from the Combat Focus Shooting Instructor team

We also built a simple and elegant one-page website to highlight the features of the app and provide an overview of the Combat Focus philosophy.

Download Combat Focus Shooting for the iPhone and iPod Touch!

At Facebook's recent F8 developers conference in San Francisco, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will break through the confines of the single browser tab and disperse itself throughout the Internet, hoping to create what the mid-twenties mogul calls an "instantly social and personalized experience."  During his keynote address, Zuckerberg mentioned an array of changes Facebook is planning to implement - and already has.

The major change Facebook is envisioning for the future of the social-web is their Open Graph concept.  This user-exposing model exists with the hopes to stick all of your's and your friends' favorite web activities into one, user-driven web of information. The Open Graph will connect to popular sites like Yelp, CNN, and Pandora, and will inform you about restaurants your friends prefer, news stories your friends have shared, and which songs your friends are rocking out to.

To power this information-revealing Open Graph, websites will begin installing social plugins which instantly access your Facebook profile and display a News Feed-like stream of information relating to the website.  For example, when visiting CNN.com, the already installed plugin connects to your Facebook account and displays information about how fictitious Suzie shared a CNN link.  The plugin also displays a "Like" button for users if they desire to praise the news story with a digital thumbs-up.  

This information will be stored within CNN's website, displayed on the site to future visitors that you liked the article, and will link back to Facebook to notify your friends about your newly found article admiration.  

Along with this plugin, Facebook secured their fate of total Internet domination by announcing the development of a social bar.  The social bar is a full-length strip at the bottom of a site you are visiting which reveals Facebook friend activity streams, a "Like" button, profile pictures of friends who have visited the site before, and a Facebook Chat box so you can constantly stay connected.  

This all sounds cool and everything, but I don't really want to give external websites permission to access my Facebook account.  I just won't log into the plugins and my information will be kept private, right?  Wrong.

Staying true to their wonderful reputation of allowing users to manually opt-in to extrinsic services (sarcasm), Facebook has decided to silently force users to use these plugins by not notifying users and declaring these services as OPT-OUT.  This means most of the 400 million Facebook users (including yourself) are already opted-in to use the Open Graph service and are unknowingly and unwillingly giving "Facebook friendly" websites permission to access their personal information.  

I believe this "what you don't know, won't hurt you" attitude Mark Zuckerberg and friends are exhibiting while developing these falsely claimed better experiences for users could ultimately result in lack of user trust and the downfall of Facebook - That is, if the user becomes aware. Remember, Facebook is a user-driven website.  Without the users, there is nothing.  But because Facebook is volunteering it's 400 million users to opt-in to services like Open Graph, Facebook will undoubtedly become the communul nucleus of the social-web. 

If you don't want to be a part of Facebook's Open Graph, log in to your Facebook's Home Page and in the upper right hand corner click Account -> Privacy Settings -> Applications and Websites -> Instant Personalization (Edit Setting) -> and un-check the check box at the bottom.  

Please share this with your fellow Facebook users. 

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald Sunday, May 9th.

 If you have identified with at least one out of these three warning signs of Bike Fever, you may need to consult your favorite technological navigator, Google, to help you turn this feverish state into a year long quest for Twilight greatness. (Or maybe a leisurely ride for the less infected.) 

 Google has recently made it possible for all of us to turn these cycle-envy dreams into an everyday reality by introducing the latest feature to Google Maps: Biking Directions.  

 Teaming up with the Rails-to-Trails Conservatory (RTC), a nonprofit organization based in Washington DC whose mission it is to create a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines, Google Maps now offers access to over 12,000 bike trails and directions in more than 150 cities across America (Athens included).  

 How exactly does this work?

 Google's partnership with Rails-to-Trails has given Google Maps developers the means to establish an algorithm which utilizes RTC's trail knowledge.  These Google geniuses have come up with a formula that leads cyclists away from busy intersections whenever possible and places them on these traffic-free trails.  

 The corporate gurus have also anticipated our horizontal desire to avoid any road with a hill.  Based on a physical model of the amount of power our bodies have to exert given the slope of a hill, along with assuming the average values for mass and wind resistance, the sweat sparing Google virtuoso's designed the Biking Directions feature of Google Maps to anticipate the speed required to climb these hills, and pleasantly avoid them at all costs.

 But what if I want to go up the hills?

 For you customizable anarchists who die by the "My way or the highway" expression, Google gives you the option to select parts of the suggested bike route to personalize your ride.  For example, if you want to bike past the UGA Arch on the way to work, you can easily manipulate the proposed bike path simply by clicking and dragging the route to include Broad Street.  The path will then roll you past your favorite pillars of wisdom, justice, and moderation on your way to the office.

 What exactly do the directions look like?

 The directions appear three different eco-friendly looks: dark green, light green, and dotted green. 

 Dark Green - When you see the solid, dark green trail in your biking directions, you have found a path dedicated to bikers only.  Dark Green. Bike Clean. Picnics optional. 

 Light Green - The lighter green image of the biking directions signals the presence of a bike lane along the road.  Remember, Light means Slight [risk].  Helmets on please.

 Dotted Green - A dotted green path illuminates a pathway which indicates roads without bike lanes which are more suitable for cycling.  Dotted Green Can Be Mean.  Know your road signals and wear your helmet!

 So make sure you check with bike doctor Google before getting involved with any biking regiment.  Who knows?   It just might be the nudge you need to pedal forward your future Twilight aspirations. 

 Try it out for yourself at http://maps.google.com/biking. 

Originally published on Sunday, April 25th in the Athens Banner-Herald.

Spaghetti code, big balls of mud, and copy-and-paste programming. We've all seen it (and probably done it) before, and it ain't pretty.

So what do you do when you need to fend off God objects, infinitely intertwined GOTOs¹, highly-coupled code, or other anti-patterns? Design patterns to the rescue!

The Design Pattern

Design patterns serve as reference describing how to solve recurring problems in application design and software engineering. What you get is not a finished design or even completed code, but rather a handy template that can be adapted and reused in many different situations. In other words, a bunch of really smart people came up with solutions to a bunch of really common problems so that we would have the luxury of not having to recreate the wheel from scratch a bunch of times. By standing on the shoulders of giants, we can produce efficient, logical, and reusable code quickly and easily while avoiding many of the pitfalls that are common in the software industry.

Design patterns owe their beginning to Austrian architect Christopher Alexander, whose book Notes on the Synthesis of Form was required reading for computer science students in the '60s. His work is largely based on the theory that end-users are a more valuable resource for architecture (software design) than any architect (software engineer) could ever be.

A further rise in popularity of Design patterns can be attributed to the book Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, published by The Gang of Four in 1994.

Real World Example: The Singleton Pattern

We use the Singleton pattern frequently in our work. For instance, once a user is logged into a website, the application is responsible for remembering their information while they move around and interact with the site. The best way to do this is with a Singleton class:

class user extends model {
    private static $thisUser;
    
    public static function thisUser() {
        if(self::$thisUser != null) {
            return self::$thisUser;
        }
        else {
            if($obj = self::find($_SESSION['user_id'])) {
                self::$thisUser = $obj;
                return self::$thisUser;
            }
        }
        
        return false;
    }
}

This (simplified) bit of code checks to see if the object representing the current user has already been defined. If so, it simply returns that object.

If not, it uses a static method called find() (inherited from the base model class) to locate the row in the database that corresponds to the user, using the primary key stored in the session. Upon successful creation of the user object, it stores the object back into the static instance variable for later use.

In the rare event that something goes terribly wrong along the way, the method returns false to alert the calling class of the error.

The utility of the Singleton pattern in this instance (pun intended) is that it saves server resources by only requiring one database call and one memory allocation on any page that needs to know information about the user. Additionally, storing the user object in the user class itself and keeping its access level as private helps keep the application code clean and organized.

As with anything in the development realm, a little bit of a learning curve is involved in order to understand the best way to implement design patterns. After all, overuse or misuse of design patterns is another anti-pattern in and of itself!

It's time to overcome the misconceptions about Twitter being used by teenagers to post useless status updates about what they are having for dinner, and start realizing the four year old social media marvel is one of the largest, most widely used sources of information distribution ever created.  

Twitter gives you the ability to follow the latest happenings with health conscious President @BarackObama, scope out cheap travel deals and information by @traveldeals, and receive real-time news updates from the Athens Banner-Herald @onlineathens.  

And because I am a firm believer in Twitter and its capability to supply users with mass amounts of information, as well as promote local businesses, I have compiled a Best of Athens Twitter List for all you readers out there in hopes one day you will become what I like to call a true "Nit-Twit." 

DINING

DePalma's Downtown: @DePalmasDT - To bring out the fancy Italian in all of us, @DePalmasDT reserves you the best seats in town by showcasing almost daily updates about food and happy hour drink specials.  I guarantee you'll be saying Grazie by the end of this follow. 

Your Pie: @YourPie - Express Your Inner Pizza by tossing @YourPie on your Twitter list.  Sprinkling your Twitter feed with daily events, specials, and even free pizza giveaways to those who come up with the craziest topping combinations, @YourPie is fun and exciting addition for any Nit-Twit. 

Allen's Hamburgers: @AllensBurger - Get in touch with your true American and follow good ol' @AllensBurger.  Claiming to offer the best burgers in Athens, @AllensBurger reminds us to come on out for live music, $1 Pabst Blue Ribbon every day, and of course live viewing of major sports events. 

BEER

Terrapin Beer Co: @TerrapinBeerCo - Brewing up some much needed information for any beer geek, @TerrapinBeerCo reminds us about weekly tours, promotes beer powered food recipes, and grants VIP access to information about newly experimented brews - like the recent Capt'n Krunkles Black IPA.  

Trappeze Pub: @TrappezePub - Tapping any interest about trying imported, domestic, and local brews, @TrappezePub informs beer aficionado's about freshly tapped kegs, beer tasting specials and events, and the chance to receive free pours on holidays - like St. Patrick's Day's "First 100 Lucky Leprechauns" promotion.  

MUSIC

40 Watt: @40WattAthens - The world famous fabulous @40WattAthens music venue will light up any music junkie’s day.  @40WattAthens feeds your live music needs with daily updates about who's playing the club, where to get tickets for upcoming shows, and when your favorite band is coming to the Classic City.

GA Theatre: @GaTheatre - Although a year has passed since the tragic burning of Athens' historic theatre, the @GaTheatre remains alive and well and will be sure to fire up your Twitter list.  Offering followers information about local concerts, Athens music news, and events which help the rebuilding efforts, @GaTheatre is a must follow for any old, as well as new Athenian who is counting down the days until the theatre's rockin' return.  

New Earth Music Hall: @NewEarthMusic - Captivating social media music lovers, the new music venue in town,  @NewEarthMusic, consistently provides followers with insights into current music, photos from live concerts at the hall, and offers an occasional Twitter Ticket Trivia Challenge for the chance to win free concert tickets.  

Melting Point: @MeltingPointAth – Athens’ most intimate music venue, @MeltingPointAth, regularly reminds you about upcoming shows, who's playing that night, and frequent venue specials such as free admission with an instrument for Terrapin Bluegrass Tuesday's offering $2 pints of Terrapin brew.  

Oh, and in case you were wanting to Boxkite Media's latest Twit-ventures, feel free to add @boxkitemedia to your list.  Happy Tweeting!

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald Sunday, April 18th. 

After stepping through the doorway to salvation, we stealthily made our way through the mass crowd of iPatrons, and I spotted an open path leading directly to an unoccupied tablet.

"Go! Quickly! There's a path. I see it!" I exclaimed to my mother. I think I heard her jaw drop.

Immediately after wheeling Granny down the angelic avenue and clearing a space to allow myself to succumb to the iPower, I was ready. Standing in front of the iPad was elation. Holding it was ecstasy.

Using my experienced iPhone skills to navigate through the tablet, I joyfully wisped through the pages, touching any app I could get my finger on. The first, of course, was connecting to the Internet. I fed my Twitter addiction by tweeting on the surprisingly smooth touch enabled keyboard, informing my followers about my new found iLove. 

Next, my mom and I effortlessly composed an e-mail to my step-dad, letting him about our consideration of converting to the Apple religion. 

After announcing our iFath, we decided to explore the business apps offered in iWork series. Pages seemed to parallel MS World, Numbers computed well when compared to Excel, and Keynote presented a similar PowerPoint experience.

We then discovered the photo app. We lightly finger flipped through the preloaded pictures, smoothly zoomed in and out with our thumbs and pointer fingers, and genuinely enjoyed the high quality resolution the camera offered. 

Finally, we decided the true test of becoming an iDisciple was to find out if the eBook app lived up to the hype. Upon loading the app, I explained to my granny how the iPad is expected convert paperback lovers to digital bookworms. I then opened an eBook book, held the tablet in front of Granny, and asked her if this resembled a real paper book. She simply responded with, "This is wonderful." - And it was.

As our adventure came to an end, and we gave up our predestined place at the iHoly exhibit to the next drooling consumer, we decided a major negative to owning an iPad was the fact that we actually had to physically hold the device. One-handed typing and the potential for the tablet to easily slip through our fingertips would be a major downfall - literally. 

With all this being said, and my granny's wonderful approval, I think the iPad will actually last. Maybe I am still tranced by the iMagic, but with major companies backing the production, optimizing their websites to viewable specifically for iPad users, and already supplying apps to the App Store, I believe the iPad will eventually overcome the crucifying remarks from critics and eventually ascend into the hands of consumers worldwide. 

Originally published the front page of Technorati. 

What is this technological transformation tool you ask?  The lighter-than-air computer craze known as cloud computing.

Over the past few years, cloud computing has accumulated major interest among businesses and Internet technology patrons alike, and was recently chosen by CNN as one of the top web trends to watch in 2010.

What does cloud computing actually mean?

According to InfoWorld, the "cloud" in cloud computing essentially serves as a representation for the Internet.  The computing aspect of the puzzling phrase encompasses different areas which fall into a trio of service categories: Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service.   

Software as a Service, or SaaS, is an easily deployable software program offered over the Internet.  The SaaS model allows a business or user to subscribe to cloud-based software and work within the software while on the cloud.  SaaS eliminates the need to consistently update and maintain software, as well as provides rapid deployment and lower tech support costs. 

Platform as a Service, or PaaS, is an extension of the SaaS model, and gives a business the means to customize multiple applications which drive a business.  Platform as a Service offers real-time collaboration, easy deployment, and customizable user-interfaces. 

Last, but certainly not least, is the Infrastructure as a Service model of cloud computing, or IaaS for short.  Pushing software applications aside, IaaS service providers give businesses access to data centers, computer hardware, and server hosting capabilities.  By taking advantage of the IaaS model, start-up companies, as well as enterprises can keep their overhead costs to a minimum. 

Won't this cause your information to be vulnerable to infiltration by cloud-demons, both in the physical world and the cyber world?

One of largest concerns about cloud computing is, you guessed it, security.  While speaking at the annual RSA Security Conference in 2009, Cisco CEO John Chambers cautiously referred to cloud computing "a security nightmare." 

Craig Piercy, the director of the University of Georgia's Master of Internet Technology program, eases data concerns by saying "Giving an outside company the responsibility of storing and maintaining data is not new. It has been done for 20 to 30 years."   He goes on to mention that "Clouds are getting more secure all of the time, so that may not be a problem in the near future."

At the 2010 RSA Security Conference, Chambers' security woes were cured and Piercy's prediction was confirmed.  Kelly Higgins from DarkReading reports that Kirk Skaugen, a general manager of Intel's data center group, announced Intel’s new processing chip "Westmere" will effectively eliminate any concerns businesses may have when thinking about cloud life. 

But will cloud computing continue to hover over our computer or begin to float on into the land of lost technology?

I believe cloud computing is here to stay.  Cloud computing is granting small to medium sized businesses access to the technological resources they need to compete with the big boys; therefore sparking some much needed innovation, likely to make corporations sweat. 

By having the same access to data centers, server farms, and software platforms, cloud computing is helping to create a fair playing field. 

So be sure to check the forecast later in the year, because the phenomenon known as cloud computing is predicted to be hot, with a 100% chance of collaboration.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, April 4th.