SUBLIMINAL PIXELS LABS

I have been using FireFox exclusively for 4+years. I love everything about FireFox, the add-on’s, the themes and definitely the versatility. A year ago, I started playing around with the new Mozilla based social browser called Flock. Several versions later, I think I’m ready to make the switch to full time use of Flock for all social media related web browsing. Here is why I think you should to.

1) Built in Media Sharing

Flock has built in support for Photobucket, Flickr, Facebook, Piczo, Picasa, YouTube and more.
That makes it really, really easy to share everything from pictures to videos to links to text. Just Drag and Drop from the Media Bar or right-click to send to email or to a blog.
You can even carry photos, videos and text, wherever you go online, right on the Media Bar or on the Web Clipboard. This feature alone saves me so much time, allowing me to drag and drop media at will, making working online much easier. Another very cool feature is “Media Streams”, if you find someone who has media you like online - Just click on the the small star next to “Media Streams” to subscribe. You will then be notified every time they upload new media across various social sites like Flickr, Facebook, Youtube and others. You can also search photos and videos on Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Truveo or YouTube right from within Flock UI. Just click the arrow to scroll across the various search results across the Media Bar, without it affecting your tabs.

2) Built in Social Networking

Flock has built in support for LiveJournal, MySpace, FaceBook, Blogger, Delicious, Twitter and more. Once you configure ALL your social Network accounts, Flock automatically populates your People Bar with all your friends. This makes it a cinch to receive and share media with friends across various social networks. You can also drag and drop photos, videos and text from the web or the Media Bar to share with your friends in the sidebar. Flock will also notify you when any of your friends upload new media with an orange Media icon next to their profile on the People Sidebar. All you have to do is click on the logo, and the new media will automatically be loaded into the Media Bar or Web Clipboard.

3) Built In Blogging Support

Flock has a One Click built in blog post editor. You can drag and drop pictures, videos and text right onto it, and start editing your post within Flock. This is a feature I LOVE! The blog editor allows you to post to multiple blogs across multiple platforms, including self hosted blogs.The Flock blog editor has all the standard features of other popular free blog editors. Below are some of the blogging platforms supported by Flock.

Blogger
Blogsome
LiveJournal
Typepad
Wordpress
Xanga
Self Hosted Blogs
ATOM
MetaWeblog
Moveable Type

4) Built in RSS reader

Flock has a handy built in RSS reader right on the sidebar of the UI. It also has automatic RSS feed detection and a one click subscription button. If the site has a feed, Flock will tell you by highlighting the RSS button. The built in RSS reader works great to organize and share your feeds, just email to friend or blog it with just one click. As of today, I have not imported the mother-load of feeds to my Flock browser. I will do a follow up post, and let everyone know how that works out.

5) Enhanced Search and Bookmarking Functions

Flock has built-in one click search and bookmarking enhancements, which makes it simple to add, edit and manage favorites and bookmarks. Just click on the orange star on the UI to bring up the Favorites and Bookmarks Side Bar and categorize the current site.Click on the star twice to edit Favorites and Bookmarks It also has a great folders feature for categorization. Tags can also be used to find or organize sites with similar characteristics or in similar groupings. Another VERY helpful feature is the Live search results from various sources.
Live results are generated as you type from: Amazon, Craigslist, eBay , Favorites, Technorati, Wiki, Wink People, Yahoo, Ask, Google.

Since Flock is based on Mozilla/FireFox, it is compatible with most of the important add-ons and plugins. So far I have installed and tested the following Add-ons: Stumbleupon, Mixx Bookmarklet, GBookmarks and several others. For a full list visit this link:
To give Flock a try download here:

Disclaimer: Yes, I like Flick this much. I have no incentive or motive, other than wanting to share it with others.

Today as the Olympic Torch drama was unfolding in San Fransisco, CA  many of those who are passionate about Tibetan human rights issues, but not internet savvy, had to wait for reports on CNN, MSNBC or even worse the local news to be informed.

Others, with a bit more internet prowess, accessed the information via AP , Google News, You Tube or other forms of RSS feeds. But those of us active in the Twittersphere, were receiving updates in real time. Thanks to LaunghingSquid, we had not only Twitter updates, but also videos and pictures

It’s no wonder print is on that horrible decline. With information exchanging at this rabid pace, who the hell is willing to wait a whole day for news? I mean don’t get me wrong, I love to chill on Sundays with my coffee and my NYT. (Yes , I roll like that).

Check out some of the Tweets, Videos and Photos here

http://twitter.com/laughingsquid

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/sets/72157604458841560

I have to confess, I fiend for the Twit, I love Twitter, I can’t get enough of it!
That being the case, I have to ask myself ,what is that important on Twitter that I have to have it on a PermaTab on my Firefox browser?
It reminds me of watching MTV. I mean the old school MTV that actually played videos all day.There was something so hypnotic and addictive about sitting through those 25 shitty videos, to see that 1 kick ass Beastie Boys video. But even that got old really fast.

Twitter is the same to me, because half the stuff that is tweeted, I don’t really care about. Either, because it’s not relevant or because it is some abstract reference to an inside joke between friends that I just don’t get or care to get.
But this brings me to my point, We need to have a better way to organize our followers and friends.

I really hope with all the wonderful apps. on deck for Twitter, that someone can develop a way to categorize friends and followers. Possibly, something like Twitter channels or stations, based on interests. Or, If we had the option to group friends and followers by tag based categories and sub categories. Anything to allow us to tame the crazy beast, that’s taking over my life.

With the popularity of Twitter growing ,this is going to be become more and more of a need.