MIB KUDOS

During a bit of career-related ego-surfing today, I found a very nice fan review of MEN IN BLACK, which made me smile :)

BRINGING LIFE TO YOUR ADDRESS BOOK

Wow, it looks like Plaxo is finally worth paying for.

I've used their sync services for a long time, but it never seemed useful as a web-based contact manager for me (mainly because most of their stuff was fairly Windows/Outlook-centric, although they've had a plugin for Mac for awhile, too). I also hated how users would use its mass-mail update service to send out spam whenever they changed a phone number.

But now, they've sort of abandoned that messy viral marketing and instead gone towards social networking. And if you're thinking, "holy crap, not another social networking site!?!?", then read this entry in Plaxo's very own corporate blog. It's different.

The new Plaxo is platform-independent and all Web2.0 snazzy, with a VERY usable online calendar and address book that can leverage and integrate your data into lots of other internet services -- via a new feature called Plaxo Pulse, which is sort of a catch-all for social networking, online maps, blogs, even VOIP, so you can have one online identity for all of the various, separate internet services you use -- based around one thing you already use every day, your personal calendar and address book.

It's organized around the idea of an "open social web" -- it's trying to be a neutral Switzerland to the otherwise strict closed-network propriety of all the other various services. Pretty ingenious.

For a full run-down, there's a great summary at Information Week.

It also integrates something into your address book called Jajah, a sort of "smart telephony" that gives you cheaper VOIP-like rates on your standard phone. You click a number in your address book you want to call, then choose which of your phone numbers you want to take the call with -- and then your phone rings (!), and Jajah connects you to your selected number, all at really cheap rates. Neat!

IT'S A START

So. Jason fidgetcub and I joined Weight Watchers.

Hey, if it could work for the crazy Jenny McCarthy and the hunkalicious Greg Grunberg...

The goal isn't to be skinny.

The goal is to not be so tired all the time... and to fend off my not-so-great heredity and genetics... and to be able to buy clothes that fit better... and to not make food the enemy anymore... and to finally just shut up and do something about it.