So I bought into the hype (what else was I supposed to do?) and spent half an hour watching the clock tick down at facebook.com/username.. confident that I would be able to claim my spot as the number 1 sherwin on the internets. After all, I already own the much coveted twitter.com/sherwin.

I sat and waited, following the events as the unfolded on the Mashable chat.. half expecting Facebook to implode under the load of a billion page refreshes. Fortunately it didn’t.. and from the goings on at the countdown I found that my countdown timer was running slightly slower. This is understandable, but I suspect that this was what sealed my fate as not being able to claim the spot of #1 Sherwin on the internet.

Because of this 1 second delay, another Sherwin swooped in and claimed the username I had been eagerly waiting for since the announcement was made more than a week ago.

So now I’m facebook.com/sherwinhuang or facebook.com/sherwin.huang or facebook.com/sherwin-huang take your pick.

Not too bad I guess! At least I’m not sherwinhuang28912317

Tried to install the WordPress Lifestream plugin, but I got an error message. Since the upgrade to WordPress 2.7, I’ve found myself faced with a variety of memory errors such as this one with a number of plugins, and even when publishing:

“Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 16777216 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 311296 bytes) in /*/*/*/*/*/wp-content/plugins/lifestream/lib/simplepie.inc on line 4152″

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With integration of profiles with personal blogs, it’s kind of a toss up between Google and Facebook. It looks really easy and I like how it appears to be so customisable. I’ll need to do more research into this, but  I’ll implement this as soon as I can find the free time. Then again, someone might beat me to it and build an awesome WordPress plugin so I won’t have to do a thing.

via Mashable

More at the Facebook Developer Site

WordPress 2.7 is a very different beast from it’s predecessors.

Well there are changes to the front end, like a more advanced comments system and I’m sure a countless number of little enhancements, but front ends are the domain of the visitor and theme developers. Let’s look at WordPress from the perspective of a user. After all, us bloggers are the ones who will end up most affected by these updates.
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We’re seeing a lot of networks make their data publicly available through APIs: Twitter, Flickr, Brightkite and the lot all allow people to use and manipulate data as well as in some cases insert data, effectively allowing people to use their service without even having to visit their site. Data that would otherwise have been isolated and network-centric has now become freely available to all. After all, data doesn’t like to be lonely either.
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I guess people have been thinking it, but it’s a great opportunity for a select few to get exposure using social media.

I followed with great interest on Twitter, people who may or may not be on the ground updating on the situation in #Mumbai. One particular user from India was updating every other minute, giving live commentary which were summaries of what he had seen live on television. I know this because he was considerate enough to cite his sources. In between commentary, he was exchanging his opinions with other Twitter users as well. Clearly some people got up and paid attention to him. I know I did.

So if you’re lucky enough to latch on to an emerging story, and have access to somewhat privileged information like that fellow’s live Indian TV broadcasts, it’s a good opportunity for just about anyone to play the part of citizen journalist. Even if you’re not really there that’s alright. There’s 15 minutes of fame (maybe more) in relaying information to the rest of the world.

And how about the now world famous Vinu? His images captured during early hours of the attack have propelled him into the limelight. Nobody noticed that the earlier images on Flickr didn’t bear his watermark. He was in the right place at the right time (maybe not so right), and he was able to ride the wave of search queries. Perhaps we’ll see ads on his blog soon.

The fact is that everyone likes a catastrophe as long as it’s not happening to them. Katrina, Sichuan, etc etc. These things capture hits, and if you’re quick, clever or amoral enough, there is much profit to be made from harnessing the internet in the wake of such events.

Who knows? I might get a few hits off this post as well.

This video is probably worth studying.

It seems to have all the elements of an effective viral video. I wonder if Ben Stiller had a look at this?

There is even a Tropic Thunder mockumentary!