So, I’ve talked before about wanting to discuss the communities but not wanting to reveal information which isn’t exactly public.. Well, I’ve found a way to discuss this without an issue!

It’s called sadly.. Not logging in :) Yes, it is lame, but it works for me! So on to the communities!

At the high level it looks like this:

Which if you look around you’ll find a communities section with breakouts, Recent Content, NetApp TV and the top 5 discussions, documents and the latest poll!

Down a bit further (out of this section) you find Top participants, tags, recent blog posts and…. twitter!

So drilling down a bit we find this kind of stuff

This is a pretty straight-forward area, which provides indepth information for you to ask questions where you’ll get responses from both NetApp folks as well as other customers in the field with your same problem, questions or even solutions of their own!    We’re fortunate to have a number of followers (Internal/External) who monitor and moderate certain forums in order to provide their input into the types of things you’ll encounter out there!  The number of subjects is numerous and you’re always game to discuss any topic under the sun and get some good participation!

Occasionally, you’ll see new and updated Polls! Like this one:

It’s through polls like this where the user community can speak out about their configurations or situations to get a feel for what others happen to be doing.  In this particular poll it shows of the 15 respondants, 40% of them have NFS connectivity to VMware, which is certainly great for those considering NFS and were not sure who else was out there doing it.

And occasionally in the Recent area, you can get an exposure to just some of the types of questions being interactively asked – And who knows, I might even respond ;)

So be sure to check out those communities, check me out while out there as well! I’ll see all of the posts even if I’m not actively watching the site and my contact information is scattered there as well as the rest of the internets as a whole ;)

Take care getting your NetApp on and soon I will tell you how to do even more faster and easier with my other really cool planned things :)

Here is a new update to this post –

Please read this latest version of the best tool for this, viable as of Friday, August 20th, 2010

How to mass follow and unfollow on twitter FOR FREE?!?!?

Here is an update to this post – Be sure to check out this updated version for the >10k club!

How to mass follow and unfollow on twitter: over 10k club!

So you’re sitting there wondering “I wonder who is following me that I’m not following back!” or the more realistic question “Which of these folks that I’m following are not following me!”

Here is our good friend Friend or Follow!

It’s actually very simple to use.  Simply browse to their site, enter your name hit submit and you’re off!

Pet the bunny! :)

Then suddenly you’re brought to this wonderful page!

At that point, you can click on their names and decide if you want to continue following them or not.  It’s a useful way to see who it is that you are following who is not following you.   But the benefits don’t end there!

Simply by clicking on Fans, you’ll get a list of people who are following you, but YOU are not following back!

This happens to the best of us, or they’re spammers which haven’t been removed yet, in either case you can click on them and choose to follow or not!

Here is where it gets tricky.   Let’s say you chose to follow ‘x’ number of folks and they’re not reciprocating, and you decide “Alright, I’ve had enough of this!” I hear it more often than not.

Well, with Friend or Follow here, you can open up every page, perform your 3-4 clicks and remove them as friends.  Oh I forgot, I don’t have that kind of time and carpal tunnel, do you have another option?

Introducing Twitter Karma!

The security conscious folks abound will be concerned about using this as it does require you to enter your password (It will be performing calls on your behalf so that’s understandable that it needs credentials)

You need to be cautious when using this, if your API limit is close to being maxed as it may “appear” as though it’s not working.   Just try again in an hour if it’s not working as expected.

(Infact, merely connecting the first time is often enough to exceed your rate limit – Be warned)

Then simply change the “Show” field to “Only Following:”

Pop on down to the bottom and make your decision:

If you’re looking to drop everyone, do a “check all” and “Bulk Unfollow” and it’ll go through and unfollow them.

A bit of warning, this may take some time, so please be patient.  I find the best way to keep up on whether it is working (Because it goes into work mode the instant you click it: Would be to go to your twitter homepage, and watch the numbers increase/decrease appropriately.

One of the hardest parts for me to unfollow people is, I enjoy reading their conversations and interacting with them, regardless of whether they’re following me.  But Twitter Limits and other restrictions force you into these situations! :)

One of the nicest parts is it will show you when they “Last Updated” so you can feel better removing people who haven’t updated “Ever” or “not in a year” or so.

So remember, if you’re looking to mass follow, mass unfollow, or take any kind of mass actions (Or even just get a feeling of how unbalanced things may be)  – The two tools mentioned above will help you achieve that!

Be sure to be running the latest version of TweetDeck and Adobe Air also, just in general :)

And be sure to add me @cxi on Twitter and @cxi on 12seconds!

Raise your hand if you use Tweetdeck! Yes I know you do, we all do.

You ever sit there and wonder what that little   is up in the control section? A click on it will reveal much excitement to be had!

Simply clicking that little 12 will bring up this prompt: Asking you for your 12seconds.tv creds!

Then, get ready for it, because all of a sudden you have access to Video in Tweetdeck!

OMFG What is going on here? Why are there videos in Tweet Deck? This is actually kind of cool!

Hovering over it will prompt you to Play the clip, or click the arrow and Whoa! Wait a minute you can RT from here as well?!

RT cxi: 12seconds – http://12seconds.tv/channel/cxi/64782

#Playing in TweetDeck

It’ll grey out your background while it displays video! 

Okay, this all seems a bit weird.  I thought we could only interact with each other in 140 character segments (Less in a reply) but now we can suddenly interact in 12 second segments?    Sure, you might think 12 seconds doesn’t seem like a lot, You say I want more, I want 12 times 12 seconds to get my point across! But seriously, that’s Gross But seriously, you can say a lot in 12 seconds and this gets to that point.  The first time you’ll realize just how long of a time 12 seconds indeed is :)

*I won’t even mention the iPhone Application they announced on the 18th! ;*

How cool can this possibly be? Think about it.  It’s been integrated into Tweetdeck for how long now? And we’ve never even noticed it?  I think it’s time we take notice (Especially with the TweetDeck Holiday update coming Dec 24th! hooray! :))

As always you can find me on twitter at @cxi but you can also find me on 12seconds @cxi!

So get out there, give it a try, add me in my shaven and unshaven form and lets celebrate the 12 seconds of christmas together!

Bought any Picture Frames recently? They might be hacked! (Or vulnerable) If you’ve purchased the SPF-85H (From Amazon) or in general, you should be aware of this!  By the looks of it, “some” of the media have been delivered with the W32.Sality.AE worm on the install media! WTF?

Get your removal on if you’re affected!

Greetings from Amazon.com.
We have recently learned that Samsung has issued an alert affecting its SPF-85H 8-Inch Digital Photo Frame. Our records indicate that you have purchased one of the digital photo frames through the Amazon.com website and are therefore affected by this alert.
The alert involves the SPF-85H 8-Inch Digital Photo Frames w/1GB Internal Memory, designed to work with Windows-based PCs via a USB connector. They were sold between October and December 2008 for about $150.
The alert concerns discovery of the W32.Sality.AE worm on the installation disc SAMSUNG FRAME MANAGER XP VERSION 1.08, which is needed for using the SPF-85H as a USB monitor. If you are using Vista or a different version of Frame Manager, this issue does not affect you.
If your anti-virus software displays a Virus Alert after you have installed Samsung Frame Manger 1.08 using the installation CD, please perform the following procedure:
1. Quarantine or delete the W32.Sality.AE worm.
2. Uninstall the current version of Frame Manager 1.08 you installed from the install CD. (Click Start –> Settings –> ; Control Panel ->; Add or Remove Programs. Find and then click Frame Manager in the Add or Remove Programs dialog, and then click Remove.)
3. Download and install the updated version of Frame Manager XP 1.082 from the Samsung Download Center
4. After you install Samsung Frame Manager 1.082, reboot your computer to complete the process.
If these steps do not correct the problem, please call Samsung Service Hotline at 1.800.SAMSUNG (800-726-7864).
If you purchased this item as a gift for someone, please notify the recipient immediately and provide them with the information in the Samsung Alert concerning this issue.
We regret the inconvenience this alert has caused you but trust you will understand that the safety of our customers is our highest priority.
Thanks for shopping at Amazon.com.
Sincerely,
Customer Service
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/

Happy Holidays and keep yourself Malware free! Thanks to @silvakreuz for the heads up!

Sitting back, sipping your favorite Vitamin Water, or drinking straight from the tap.

Ever think that, a large population of the world don’t have the ability to realize the benefits of something like a tap?   Culturally, a majority of people don’t get enough water as it is on a daily basis when they HAVE the ability to free flowing water at their disposal.  

Think about the poor children and others who lack this luxury in any form of regularity.

We need to stand up and level the playing field for people in the world to be able to hold their own, take advantage of the things we have in bulk and the benefits we can pass down.

Projects like OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) and others have taken an effort in order to improve the lives of these children, though sadly these efforts apply intellectually to those who have had the opportunity to survive.

However, for those who haven’t quite survived via the luxuries we have such as Clean Food and Clean water (Note: I’m not even talking about Clean Air, lack of pollution, and a number of other high-risk type things – The same type of pollution which can cause corrosion of computing equipment in a ‘secured’ area) No,  I’m only asking about something which we can provide answers and solutions for.   Regular water, and regular food.

It doesn’t appear the US has taken this tact too seriously with the recent UN resolutions they voted against, leave it up to the nations to decide they say, instead of to the people.

There are solutions out there, but there need to be more, better solutions, which are available.

Water Preservation in the US does not trickle down to those who actually need the water (elsewhere) albeit in a drought our own decisions certainly impact us.   We need more efficiency in both the water we use and the water we waste.   Things will get better over time (~25 years) but we shouldn’t have to wait for solutions which are evident today.    Certainly I’m not asking for water regulators the likes of which Dune brought us (Though it’d be nice) considering the amount of water we as a species waste on our own, let alone while simply brushing our teeth or flushing the toilets.

This is not a call for you to change anything, because I’m not telling you how to make a difference, grin.   This is more of a question.   How much do you take food and water for granted?  How long could you go, and how intolerable would it be, if either of those were not in ready and clean supply?

Do you take food and water for granted?