It’s official. Everyone in the country has high speed Internet access now. How do I know that? Because my mom is getting it (tomorrow to be exact) and I’ve always known she would be the last person in the country with broadband access. She’s finally leaving the world of dial-up and as we were talking the other day I realized there’s a lot of stuff she’s going to want and/or need to do now that she’s got a good connection.

Here’s my list of ten things she’s going to need to do. (By the way, mom, when you read this I’ll walk you through it. This is just our list to get started.)

1. Download Firefox. Forget Internet Explorer as your web browser. Firefox is the way to go. It’s so much more stable than Explorer, has great add-ons, uses tabs for multiple pages (though the new Explorer actually does this now), and doesn’t make that clicking sound all the time.

2. Update your anti-virus software. If you already have an anti-virus program, make sure you’re running the latest version and set the auto update feature to update automatically. If not, you can use a free version of AVG to give you basic coverage.

3. Set up a Google account. Google is more than a search engine. Much more (with more on this below) but you’re going to want a Gmail account to get started even if you want to stick with your current email. Once you have that you’ll be able to fully utilize the world of Google (again, more on this below.) I’ll send you the Gmail invitation to get started.

4. Get a webcam. I have Logitech webcam but there are other good brands too. With free services like Skype, Tokbox, and ooVoo we’ll find one that works for us to connect via live video so you can talk with the grandchildren.

5. Download iTunes. This will become your music and download destination. You can listen to online radio stations, create playlists from CDs you have, download podcasts (I recommend you get mine first of course), and purchase new music. When you get an iPod we’ll talk more about this too.

6. Upgrade programs. It’s likely that you’re not running the latest version of Windows, so we’ll check that out along with your Adobe Reader version too. Even though you won’t use Explorer and Windows Media Player much we will make sure you’re up to date there as well.

7. Discover Google Maps. You’re going to love this…maybe. Be sure to look up your address first and check out the satellite view. Ok, now relax. It’s okay. Pretty cool, huh? It’s really helpful and once you’ve used it a few times you’ll be hooked on it for all future direction needs.

8. Discover iGoogle. We’ll be setting Google as your default homepage in Firefox and with that and your Google account you can customize your hompage to include several of the things here in this list plus news, weather, and many other things you might want to see right off the bat when you open your browser.

9. Discover Google Reader. I’ll explain RSS feeds and all that stuff when we talk…but all you want to know is that there’s a way for you to bring the content of blogs and many websites to you rather than going through your bookmarks to visit all of them. Google Reader can make that happen. Now you see why Google is more than a just a search engine (as noted in #3 above.)

10. Discover Wikipedia. Remember that Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedia set you got us when we were kids. This is like that but bigger and easier to find stuff. You personally can add to it too. You may find that you can provide some insight on American literature for instance, and you contribute by signing in. I’ll explain when we talk.

Any MicroExplosion readers have additional thoughts?

A few weeks ago Apple released a new series of products. The major headlines seemed to go to either the new iPod Touch and the price reduction in the iPhone. Though this news may have overshadowed the update/name change about the iPod Classic, the new iPod Nano, and iPod Shuffle colors (which was hardly news, but still…), I think we will look back at this product release and see that the most significant announcement was new Nano.

The new Nano now plays video and the prices are at a level that lowers the barriers to entry so virtually anyone to get a personalized video player. Apple clearly dominates the MP3 market and the new Nano solidifies them in personal video players. Sure, the screen is small (2 inches) and the Nano moniker seems a little less applicable with this short and stocky version, but it doesn’t matter. For $150 (4 GB) or $200 (8 GB) you get a video iPod.

So who should care about this? Well, video content creators to start. By January there will be loads of new and eager new Nano owners looking for good video content to fill their iPods. If you were ever thinking about starting a video blog/video podcast, now is the time more than ever. If you create video of any form and don’t allow people to subscribe to it, you’re about to miss out on a new wave of potentially interested people. Get some RSS feeds tied into your existing video and register with iTunes so people can subscribe.

If you have video that you sell, start promoting the heck out of it this fall. If you can bust up your video so it can be sold off in smaller parts, give that some consideration as well. Again, there’s going to be a new group of consumers for your content.

If your business is trying to find a new way to regularly engage existing clients, consider this option: this Christmas send your clients a Nano and start a weekly five minute video podcast from your organization. Have the first video podcast ready for subscription by the time the clients receive their gift and you’ll be giving them something with a high perceived value but also be handing them the vehicle to further you ability to connect with them. After all, now there’s a little video for everyone.

My friend Craig sends me links to new sites from time to time and recently he sent me two interesting new sites. The first is AllPeers, a file sharing site that let’s you distribute content with friends and family (essentially any group of people that you designate). The AllPeers tour gives you a great idea of how intuitive the interface is. This would be a great asset to churches that are sharing files with a group of members. I know many worship pastors have to get various audio tracks out to their volunteers on a regular basis and AllPeers looks like it could be a great way to get it in the hands of the people as quickly as possible.

Craig also referred me to Mogopop, a site that lets you create content that can be loaded onto your iPod or grab other people’s content for your iPod. There seem to be numerous possibilities for churches and ministries here. With nearly 90 million iPods in the hands of people like us, the opportunity to create iPod content for the people in your church may have never been more relevant. With Mogopop you could allow everything from the weekly announcements to volunteer schedules to be loaded onto iPods so the people at your church will have that information handy when they need it. If you find that a significant percentage of people in your church or ministry are iPod owners, you may need to check out how Mogopop could work for you.

I saw on Micro Persuasion that Apple is beginning to take legal action against organizations, websites and products that use the word “pod” in regard to podcasting. It appears that Apple wants to reign in the podcasting name and any unsanctioned use of “pod” that could be related to iPods or podcasting.

I must say I don’t really get this and am disappointed in Apple. Isn’t it the goal of any company to get their brand to a point that it is so ingrained into the culture that its product name becomes synonymous with the use of the product? Look at Xerox, Frisbee and Kleenex. For many people xerox is a verb for making copies, a frisbee is any recreational flying disc, and a kleenex is your best friend during cold and flu season. These brand names have transcended the actual products they originally represented and as such own the mindshare of their respective markets. We already know iPods are the leading MP3 players. In fact the word iPod has even begun to represent all MP3 players…and how could Apple not be pleased with that?

So let’s say Apple sufficiently cracks down on all this pod-speak. That means everyone will have to use another term to discuss the technology formerly known as podcasting except in the actual cases when you’re referring to the Apple products/technology. As this new word emerges it will undoubtedly push the “pod” to the background and the “casting” to the foreground. I don’t see how that helps Apple at all. They already have the “pod” product with the family of iPods, so by default they win every time someone uses the word “podcast” whether it’s intended to represent something specifically for iPods or not. In fact, this depodification may only clarify for some people that podcasting is not exclusive to iPods. While that’s a nice clarification for the uninitiated consumer, it doesn’t help Apple extend the reach of their brand.

In the end I think Apple may regret this course of action because it’s going to muddy the waters that they have clearly owned up to this point. It’s also going to be a PR problem because they have been the anti-corporation for so long and this is very corporate…it’s fearful and controlling and just very un-Apple of them.

I had a tough conversation recently. It was tough because I had to let a client make the wrong decision. In fact, I told them it was the wrong decision, and I was tactful, but they got the message. After my gentle protest and suggestion for taking another approach I was met with a resounding gong of silence (insert cricket sounds here) and it was then that I knew they were going to do it anyway. What is it? IT was banner ads.

The goal this client came to us with was to drive more traffic to their website but they already had decided they wanted to try to accomplish this with banner ads on a particular website they selected. After a few minutes of listening to them I just had to tell them that it isn’t generally a good idea and that there are better (and much cheaper) ways to go about it. As I mentioned above they wanted to do it anyway…and so they are…but here’s where we’re really going to test this…

In addition to the banner ads we’re going to put some video for this company’s same product on YouTube. We’ll be able to track the number of views and links from both areas and see what happens. I don’t quite know what they’re going to pay for a month of banner ads…but I know what they’re going to pay for the YouTube video…$0.00. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I’ll admit, I’ve got an issue with banner ads. I rank them right up there with the people who sell email lists that are usually just spam. Banner ads are the very reason I was interested in switching from Hotmail to Gmail a year or so ago (Gmail only has text ads). Banner ads just don’t work most of the time. They’re not a wise expense. An effective banner ad would have to be highly targeted on a very specific kind of site to even have a chance. For instance if Apple had a banner ad for an iPod accessory they’re going to have a good chance of getting some attention for the ad, but even then most people still ignore them. By and large banner ads are ignored and with all the effective (and free) web 2.0 options today like blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, video blogs, Wikipedia, etc. there are much better ways to go. Needless to say I’m excited to see how this little experiment turns out! In the end I expect the score to be: Banner ads - 0, Web - 2.0.

I saw an article on iLounge.com about the new iPod Nano’s little known capability…it can record audio. Apparently the iPods will ship with recording software built in. You can read the full iLounge coverage here. They also review some microphones that can be attached to the iPods.

This might be just the hook to get your church or ministry to start podcasting…or maybe it’s just the excuse you were needing to justify a new iPod.