To write this column each week, I straddle two worlds. The world of technology blogs and Internet culture, where new products are launched every day and fads come and go, and the world that many of you live in, where it can take a while for the next YouTube or Facebook to cross your radar screen.
To bridge that gap, I'm going to tell you about two things that are hot online right now: Twitter and Mint. If nothing else, knowing about these services will impress your techie friends at parties. Twitter (twitter.com) is a free service that lets users give family, friends and co-workers a minute-by-minute update on what the users are doing. To use Twitter, you create an account and answer the question "What are you doing?" to update your status. You can answer that question via cell-phone text message, instant message or the Web.
Updates or "tweets" are limited to 140 characters each and you can choose if you want your updates visible to the world.
Once you send an update, it is sent to everyone who is "following" you on Twitter. You choose the people you want to follow and the way you want to receive their tweets -- by text message, instant message or only as an update to your online Twitter page.
Twitter also lets you send a message directly to another person that only the two of you can see.
Twitter updates can make you laugh, tell you something you didn't know, or just fill you in on what your friends are up to.
Here are some recent updates from some of my Twitter friends:
"32 minutes to find a parking spot at UCF -- how are there not riots about this. Unreal! Late for a meeting now"
"Seated in the dentist chair. Can hear drill in other office. Sweaty palms plus iPhone = bad. You are all here for this weak moment."
"Who wants to see a movie tonight? Call me"
Here at the Orlando Sentinel, we've used Twitter to send out updates during shuttle launches.
At first blush, Twitter may seem like a waste of time and it sometimes can be. But I've found it can be more effective at reaching people and organizing social outings than sending an e-mail, making a phone call or sending a text message.
Just this week I used Twitter to set up phone interviews with two people I had never met before. I also used the service to make sure I didn't arrive at a bar before the people I was meeting.
But Kayla Fleming, 23, said she's starting to grow bored with Twitter. When she signed up in February, she was sending out updates every hour. In recent weeks, she's slowed down to about one update a day.
"If you really wanted it to be useful in your life, you'd have to limit yourself to only the people you know," said Ms. Fleming, the vice president of an Orlando Web-hosting company. "I have more than 400 people on my list."
Bloggers are also buzzing about Mint (mint.com ), the company that beat out about 700 other companies for first prize at the recent TechCrunch40 startup competition in California.
Mint is one of several free online tools to manage your money, but what makes it stand out is how easy it is to use. Unlike other sites, you don't have to download your bank account activity and upload it to Mint. All you have to do is enter the login and password information for your online financial institutions and Mint automatically connects to each institution and downloads your account activity each night.
Mint uses the same level of security as online banking Web sites and doesn't require you to disclose your name, address, phone number or Social Security number.
Once your account transactions are loaded in, Mint displays charts and bar graphs based on your spending habits. It tells you if you are spending more than usual in a particular area, shows your most frequent merchants and suggests how you might save more by switching to another credit card or service provider.
Another great feature is that you can have Mint send you an e-mail or cell-phone text message to remind you to pay your credit card bill or warn you if your account balances drop below a certain point.
First Published: October 6, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
