Gather Weekly: pot politics, social media, spending galore

This week's Gather articles (12/5-12/11):


Web

• Google launches real-time search feature (video)

Economy

• Obama on jobs creation, new stimulus: US must "spend our way out of this recession"
• Millions may lose benefits as Congress debates unemployment extension
• Obama may support using TARP funds to pay for jobs bill
• Cash for Caulkers could rebate up to $12,000 per home

Politics

• Coakley, Brown win primaries for MA Senate seat
• Senate Dems agree to drop public option from health care bill
• Senate vote on abortion amendment to health care bill expected today
• New Jersey is next gay marriage battleground
• House passes huge $447 billion omnibus spending bill

Social Media

• Hate Facebook? Sick of social media? Check out Seppukoo
• Social media wish list: 5 Twitter feature requests for 2010
• Facebook for business: 5 tips to increase fan engagement

Money

• 9 top international retirement destinations from Mint.com
• Twitter stock investing app StockTwits closes $3 million series B round of funding
• Is a falling dollar good or bad for you?

Marijuana legalization (yes this deserves its own category this week)

• Cannabis in the capital? Omnibus bill allows for medical marijuana legalization in D.C.
• Denver's Ganja Gourmet to provide culinary cannabis

Science

• Hot air in climate change debate: 2000s warmest decade ever

Hate Facebook? Sick of social media? Check out Seppukoo

Tongue-in-cheek anti-social network Seppukoo seeks to provide social media-haters with a way to display their disdain for the explosive social-technology phenomenon. The site offers users a way . . . more

TweetDeck v0.32: killer app for Twitter users

TweetDeck, one of the most popular desktop and mobile apps for Twitter, had a major release recently with version 0.32. With this version of TweetDeck you get:

• Integration with LinkedIn. Cross-update your status and track connections, group activity, and more through a LinkedIn network updates column. This is a nice complement to the excellent Facebook integration TweetDeck already had (MySpace as well, but who cares about that?)
• Twitter lists integration. This replaces the Groups feature that TweetDeck had been using for a while - sort of a proto-Twitter list in its own right.
  
• Full retweet integration that gives you the option of the old editable retweets or the new Twitter style of retweet.
• Very nice update of notifications: a box with actual tweets pops up, allowing you to view new tweets on top of the window of any app you're currently using without calling up the main TweetDeck window.
• Integration with Twitter's geo-location API. Tweets using the geotag feature (coordinates of the tweeter's location) have a red map pin icon - click on it to open a map right in TweetDeck. Very cool.

Do you use TweetDeck? What's your preferred Twitter application?

Check out what's new in TweetDeck v0.32 or watch the video:

Blogging for fun and profit: become a Gather Socialwriter and earn $

Gather is expanding their Socialwriter program. Socialwriters are Gather members who post about current trending topics to increase awareness of the Gather social network and promote discussion around these "water cooler" topics of the day.

I've been a Gather Socialwriter since the program went through its experimental phase in September, and it has been very successful for both us as writers and for increasing traffic to Gather. It's an enjoyable and rewarding program.

This is a great opportunity for people who:

• Enjoy blogging
• Would like some part-time additional income
• Are retired
• Work from home
• Are students
  

Blog about whatever interests you, within the confines of popular topics. Pay is based on page views for content, with bonuses for certain levels. Earn up to $500 per month.

If you are interested in learning more, leave a comment or email me: mrhe25@gmail.com.

2009 Word of the Year: Unfriend

"Unfriend" was selected by the New Oxford American Dictionary as the Word of the Year for 2009 . unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking . . . more

Exposure: Gather.com

Over 120,000 people viewed something I wrote last month over at Gather.com. That is simply astounding.

This has been a rewarding experience over the past couple months in several ways. As one of the first "experimental" Gather Socialwriters I've been able to see how the program has grown and evolved. I've "met" some great people and I've been exposed to a ton of ideas and points of view that otherwise wouldn't have been on my radar screen. (I also make a bit of money blogging - what a country!)

Check out Gather.com if you haven't yet - it's a social network centered more on news, original content, and discussion than other networks out there.

Boston Bloggers Meeting!

I was able to attend the second installment of the Boston Bloggers meeting this weekend at Deep Ellum in Allston. I hadn't been there before - cool spot with good food and a great beer selection, including a cask-conditioned ale on tap (reminded me of Merrie Olde Englande). They also mix up a downright tasty mint julep.

We had an excellent turnout, including the authors of (not sure about who wants to remain anonymous in the Blogosphere so we'll just go with blog titles):

in development
everyone loves a boston girl.
We are not Martha
The JQ Lounge
Skrinkering Hearts
Cave Cibum (best blog name I've seen in a long time btw - also of Consider the Daffodil)
she's only waiting on the next best thing.
transient travels

It was great fun to meet a bunch of people whom I'd (probably) otherwise never meet. The internets is amazing! We all "met" through the Twenty Something Bloggers Ning Network. Pretty cool. If you're a Boston-area blogger and you're interested in the next meeting, holla at me. Or someone up above. Very cool peeps in the Hub (not a shocker there).

There's a pic floating around somewhere...whose camera was that?

Strong Start in 2008!

This January was the best month yet for Chez MRhé in its year-long existence. In terms of site traffic as well as number of posts, this past month was the tops. 66 posts bested my previous of 47; a significant increase. Certainly the impetus for this increase is due in large part to Blog365, a great idea and great social network on Ning that provides me with a daily deadline to post something. But beyond that, I think in general I am enjoying this little spot for myself here in the Blogosphere, I'm enjoying the readership and commentary, and it's an interesting hobby. It's just an all-out love-fest here at Chez MRhé!

So thanks for reading and keep coming back, because I plan on continuing to astound and delight in 2008!

Cheers,
MRhé

Happy New Year!

Ah, 2007. We hardly knew ye.

Happy 2008 everybody! First order of business is my joining the Blog365 social network on Ning. The idea? Simple - blog at least once a day in 2008. This should be interesting.



The thing is, I had 359 entries in 2007, so volume-wise I'm right on target. Just need to enforce the daily frequency. So we should have a good number and frequency of posts here at Chez MRhé in 2008! (Quality remains to be seen.)

Join us!