Now that Google Buzz is out in the wild, your Google profile page deserves a little more attention.  So, what all have you done to spruce up your own profile page?  I’ll share with you some of the things I did to make this a much more informative page about me for Googlers to find.

First things first, you need to setup your Google profile page.  If you are logged into Google in any way (for example, with a Gmail account) this is fairly easy to do.  All you need to do is set it up at Google.com/profiles.

Once you fill out all the basic information, then you might want to start thinking about what pages you want to show up in the links section. 

To add custom links, just go to your Google profile page, click on Edit Profile, then scroll down to the Links section.  You should see several links Google knows about, that you have given it before – then you can also add your own.  I have added links to all my various web pages, and then my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace profiles.

Next, you should setup Google Buzz via your Gmail account.  Once you do, anything you post via Google buzz – you will automatically share on your Google profile page.

Feel free to visit my Google profile page if you need some inspiration.

Now there are a lot more various boxes and basic you can fill out via the Google profile page, but they are all pretty self explanatory.  With the tips I gave you here, you can use your Google profile page as a social landing page for your own work and also a better way to let people know who you are and what you do.

The last time I used the web site commenting service Disqus, I was really less than impressed.  Back in July 2009, I tried it and for lack of a better term, it was sloppy.  While the core of the system worked, it seems as if nobody there paid attention to detail.  However, everybody deserves a second shot.

Fast forward to about a week ago, when I decided to re-install Disqus again on Mitchelaneous.com, FirefoxFacts.com and WebHostingShow.com.  As a reminder, here are the flaws the system had before:

Now I’ll cut to the chase, and tell you why.  It seems that no matter how I tweaked around with WordPress, I could never get DISQUS to pick up on all my trackbacks and comments.  One or two a day would get stuck going to the internal WordPress comment engine (which is practically blocked from you after you install DISQUS).

Now, while this is still true, Disqus does a better job now at picking up all the comments, so none get missed.  If you have trouble with Disqus missing comments or trackbacks, try these steps out:

1. Login to your WordPress administrator section, and go to Settings > Discussions.
2. Be sure to leave these unchecked:
   + Users must be registered and logged in to comment
   + Automatically close comments on articles older than X days
   + Enable threaded (nested) comments X levels deep
   + Break comments into pages with X top level comments per page…
   + Anyone posts a comment
   + A comment is held for moderation
   + An admin must always approve the comment
   + Comment author must have a previously approved comment
3. Under “Comment Moderation” be sure to bump up the link number to something ridiculously high, like 200.  This way WordPress won’t try to moderate the incoming comments and will leave that job to Disqus.

Also, be sure to save your settings after making those changes. Ever since I made those changes, I have had no problems with WordPress and Disqus, and hopefully neither will you.

The real benefit in using Discus is it gives your commenters a way to login to comment via multiple different services. For example, you can now login using these services to comment right here on Mitchelaneous.com:

• Disqus
• Facebook
• Twitter
• OpenID
• Yahoo

I also really like the fact that in the usual “trackback” section, you can show people’s recent tweets about your pages too.  You can skim Digg, Twitter, and a number of other social web sites. I can also stay in touch with all of you better too because Disqus gives me one place to check out all the most recent comments from across all my blogs.

So Disqus, I take back the bad things I said about you.  Just keep up the great work, and I’ll be a happy fan boy.

I have spent a lot of my free time the last few months playing Fat Princess, a PlayStation Network game for the PlayStation 3.  Over time, you come to lean a few things you should do – and a few things you probably shouldn’t do, to keep the experience enjoyable.

Things to Remember in Fat Princess

Here are the things that you should do, or might come in handy:

• Work with your team, rather than going out on your own.  Pay attention to the map, and if there is anybody with a microphone – listen to how they are trying to organize.
• Unless there are bombs around, best to use the fire mage rather than the Ice mage – since it charges faster.
• The ice mage does come in handy when slowing down somebody with a princess, however don’t freeze the person holding the princess if somebody like a warrior is attacking them.  You’ll end up protecting the princess thief with your freezing on accident.
• Join a clan if you are seriously enjoying the game.  There are a lot of different groups out there that schedule different training games and battles between the clans.
• Watch and learn.  If your lucky enough, you might get put on a team with some experienced players – watch what they are doing, to find the best ways to play.

Don’t Do These Things in Fat Princess

Here are a few things you should stay away from doing, at all costs:

• Study up on some of the glitches people like to do, and usually suggest you don’t do.  If they don’t mention it in the game, some of them can be found on the PlayStation forums.
• If you have a microphone, you can ask and maybe advise on what should be done – but don’t be a little Fat Hitler.  Saying, “Build those damn doors, or I’m calling you out!” is just silly. Remember you are on a team.
• Speaking of microphones, keep your conversation at least kinda remotely related to the game.  Not even your friends care what you had for breakfast.
• Never give up!  Just because the countdown clock starts doesn’t mean all is lost.  I’ve seen many games where a save was made even in the last second.
• Don’t be that guy everybody hates.  Sure you might get your jollies out blowing up your own doors, or playing polka music at full blast over the microphone – but you’ll soon be muted or by yourself, as other players find another game without you.

I am by far not an authority on the game, I just enjoy playing.  If you have any suggestions on your own tips on what to do or what not to do, share them in the comments.

Fat Additonal Tips

Update – Just posted about this topic and article over at the Fat Princess forums for some more feedback, be sure to check out some more tips and suggestion here.

From neoitvaluocsol - Ice is so awesome if someone is trying to make a jump/wall climb.  I remember icing someone when they were tyring to make a jump in the top of coco cliffs and it made them fall off and die, or by that spot in hot sauce you freeze them and they can fall in the lava sometimes and not get back out haha.

From bblow_up – I like your point about using fire over ice, but I think you should mention that it also does more damage as well as knockback (which is great when you’re fighting on cliffsides and lava levels and whatnot).

Fat Resources

Here are a few more resources for you before I send you on your way:

• Fat Princess Strategy via the Titan Studios blog
• The Official Fat Princess PlayStation 3 forums

Also, I’ll toss in there – if anybody ever wants to play with me, my PlayStation Network ID is cheasym.  I’d love to run around and rescue the princess with any of you out there.

Once you load the tools up, you can pick from a number of different template designs, or browse through some of the most popular ones.  Then all you do is pick a color, change it – then move onto the next.  The entire thing is a very zen-like experience.  Well, it is if you were ever into coloring as a kid.

Here is a little ‘bit more about the tool from the developers:

Use themeleon to customize the way Twitter looks for you and how your profile looks to others. Use any of the more than 685,085 background patterns & 1,043,054 color palettes on COLOURlovers or customize any of the colors or patterns to get just the right design for you.

Here is what I was able to do with my own Twitter page after just a few minutes of playing with the Twitter design tools:

You know, you can always come tweet with me @mitchkeeler, anytime!

Go color your own Twitter page over at the Twitter Profile Designer, and leave me a comment if you are impressed!  Would love to see what design you come up with using this Twitter designer toolkit.

There are many services out there that offer widgets you can embed into your own web site layouts.  How do you know which ones are the best?  Well, I am not an expert. Since this is the Internet though, I can pretend.

Here are my top 10 favorite widget related web sites.

Widgetbox – Tons of free widgets to put on your site.

LinkWithin – Post related stories and thumbnails on your web site.

ShoutMix – Free shoutbox/tagboard chat widget.

Wowzio – A lot of random widgets to choose from here.

SpringWidgets – Web site tools for blogs and social networks.

YourMinis – Widgets for your blog, website, start page, and desktop!

Monitter – Real time live Twitter watch and badge creator.

Widgipedia – Your ultimate web site widget resource.

Widgiland – A social network based around awesome widget production.

FeedWind – The free online feed widget.

Know of another great place to grab online widgets or tools for your web site?  Drop in a comment and let us know.  I’m looking for the best of the best in online tools, embeddable items or fun sidebar distractions.

The new lists feature (that was added to Twitter a while back) has made it easier for you to share your favorite groups of people, and track their tweets.  What Listiti brings to the table is free e-mail alerts when somebody, on a predefined list, references a keyword you wish to follow.

For example, you have a large list of every web host on Twitter, and you wanted to be notified when one of them mentions the word, “coupon”.  You would tell Listiti that your list was located at mitchkeeler/webhosts, give them the keyword, “coupon” , and then hand over your e-mail address you wish to be notified at. 

For the people who create the lists, they also provide badges for you to use to promote the lists you have created.  Overall, Listiti brings a few beneficial features to this new Twitter feature, that the Twitter team does not provide by default. 

Here are just a few of my favorite “fails” from the web site:

• Fail is when you dress up as gangster and think you run the streets. The sad part is that you live in the suburbs in a nice house and your dads an engineer & mom’s a doctor.
• Fail is when your sitting in a class room and your teacher talks to you for 5 minutes , showing you the linux operating system….after 5 mins you up your hand and ask “Is that windows vista?”
• Fail is when an employee writes how much she hates work on Twitter and fails to notice that anyone can read those tweets and her boss (Me) is following her.

• Fail is when you have ur head phones on and ur blasting your music…but the reality is that your headphones are unplugged and everyone can listen to your music! Fail!
• Fail is when you think you’ve taken the dog out for enough walks during the day and go to bed unconcerned, only to wake up the next morning to an unpleasant package waiting on the bathroom floor.
• Fail is when your so cheap that you decide to buy a ink refill package, rather then a cartridge…so then you come home and you attempt to refill it manually, however you end up screwing it up and make a huge mess..then you end up going back to the store and you buy the original cartridge…FAILED:)

The idea here is to cheer you up, by reading through other people’s often hilarious mishaps and failures.  I know that might seem a ‘bit sick and twisted, but Simply Failed can be a really fun time.

Ok, first you are going to have to register and setup some accounts.  Do so at Ping.fm and TwitterFeed.com.   TwitterFeed.com will allow you to plug your RSS feeds into it to automatic sharing, and then you can plug your TwitterFeed.com account into Ping.fm – so it take your RSS posts, and shares them on the dozens of social network sites out there.

Where do the two mix together?

It all happens in step number one in setting up your feed at TwitterFeed.com.  Click on, “Show More Services” and select Ping.fm.

Now you should see a box where you can input your Ping.fm application key. To get your Ping.fm application key, login to your Ping.fm account, and under Services/Tools find the Application Keys link.

Now go back to TwitterFeed.com and finish setting up your feed.  Now, whenever a new item is posted to your RSS feed it will go to TwitterFeed.com, and then TwitterFeed.com takes it to Ping.fm to be published on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and many more services.

You can now share your new blog posts as soon as you publish them to your web site.

This has to be the trippiest use of Twitter I have seen yet.  TweetRad.io will let you listen to what others are tweeting about, using what they call “tweet-to-speech” technology.  Pick one of the options they have featured across the top of the page, tech, news, sports, funny, featured or search for any phrase then wait a few seconds.  Soon, your browser will be displaying and reading tweets out to you.

Not sure how useful this is, unless you need to read a lot of tweets and your hands aren’t free? Other than that though, it at least makes for a cool site to show off to your friends, or maybe even a way to hear what is popular in the morning while you check your e-mail, drink your coffee and mindlessly navigate around the Web, till you get fully awake.

Check it out over at TweetRad.io, then let me know what you think of it.

Once the shoutbox is added to your site, messages can be posted in it two different ways.  Your users can include the URL to the shoutbox in their tweet, and Jotabl will pick this up and place it in your shoutbox.  Users can also leave a message by signing into the box via Twitter, with the option to have the message tweeted for them.

You also can remove message and block certain Twitter users if they get too crazy with the shoutbox postings.  Now Jotabl doesn’t re-invent the Web, however it does provide a neat feedback interface for your users.  Give it a shot shout at jotable.com.