1. First, download the app from their homepage: nambu.com.

2. Install it & set up your Twitter account.

The app should look something like this after installation. (Bling!)

3. Next, toggle the view style in the top left corner of the window. I prefer the view below.

Alternate view (Nambu for Mac)

4. If you subscribe or follow any lists, click Lists in the left menu. Above the tweets you’ll see a handy dropdown menu to follow a particular list

You can follow Lists quite handily in the Nambu app for Mac.

The app’s most unique offering is its mute feature. Right click any person to put them on mute. You can also mute specific hashtags like #worldcup or #USA, if for some reason you’re not into sports.

I’d like to call-out a few recent items from Grant:

1. A prototype for an HTML5-based Video player. It’s great to think that we’re only a year or so away from offering video without the use of Flash or Silverlight plugins. On a related note, at the end of January Google announced that they would no longer support IE 6 for Google Docs or Google Sites.

2. Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain’s design work. Jesse did some top-notch work for the redesign of Campaign Monitor in 2008-09.

3. The CGI work of Alex Roman (via IS050)

Grant is featured on my “Best of” list on Twitter — that list is always evolving, but I will quickly say that he would be the last person I’d remove from the list. Lastly, after all of the linkage above, you will more than likely appreciate his office space.

Grant Blakeman's office (photo by Grant)

Some call it a knapsack. Others call it a satchel. And though your girlfriend may ask to borrow it for a position in her trusty purse rotation, hopefully you’ll never have to talk friends down from calling your latest purchase your new murse. Regardless of title — let’s face it, men — we have evolved. And all of those gadgets we’ve been toting around for the last few years need a home.

On Monday afternoon, I trekked out into the wild in search of such a bag. For those living in the Kansas City area, I recommend any purchase of this variety from the folks at Backwoods in Overland Park. I quickly found and purchased an all-black Patagonia Single Shot ($50 USD) with its signature feature: an infallible recycled seat belt shoulder strap. Nothing says earth-friendly like recycled seat belt. Apparently this particular bag (read: purse) is also owned by my friend Blakely, which fully confirms that my new purchase is eligible for any sort of duties in future girlfriend purse rotation. You can view additional color options for the Single Shot on Zappos.com.

Backwoods had two additional noteworthy man-bags on hand: the Patagonia Atom bag ($60 USD) and the Osprey Flip ($69 USD). For any serious shopper, both should strongly be considered.

I have evolved. Meet my new shoulder bag, the Patagonia Single Shot.

Note: an easy-access velcro flap. To the right, my Banana Republic sunglasses.

So let’s cut to the details. I figured it only appropriate to impart a full manifest of items that could be traveling around with me in the near future:

iPod. After months of getting acclimated to my Touch, I’ve finally cemented how I use the device. Four apps come to mind: Tweetie 2, 2Do Lite, LifeChurch.tv’s Bible and the Apple-engineered Notes. Tweetie 2 is the only paid app in that list, but all of them are worth it. As for my music, the last month of music listening has included The Sailor Sequence and MuteMath’s Armistice record. I’ve listened to those tracks continually. While doing any sort of writing or thinking, I absolutely need access to Sigur Ros and their side project Jónsi & Alex. Some others I would recommend, if you find yourself purchasing any new tunes in the near future: Ray Lamontagne, Sandra McCracken.

iPod wall charger.

Sandwich. PB&J or tuna salad are acceptable.

Camera. For me, my new Holga 120N, a Christmas present from my brother.

Latteland coffee sleeve. This is a great idea from a Kansas City coffee shop chain – a cardboard coffee sleeve that you’re to re-use as your punch card. I’ve had mine for nearly a year but always forget it in my car. Now it’ll be on my person at all times.

Sunglasses. You can find a good pair of shades in a lot of locations, but I found mine on sale last spring at Banana Republic. After seeing the Book of Eli last Wednesday, I believe Denzel UV-ray protection (pre- or post-apocalypse) is a good idea.

All of this? On my person?!? Unbelievable! Men should've thought of this decades ago!

Car & house keys. Nothing says, “Imma climb mountains in my free-time” quite like wielding one’s keys on a carabiner. And though the $1.00 version of such you bought while checking out at the local hardware store surely couldn’t suffice for mountain climbs, your friends won’t know any better so long as you don’t tell them. Conclusion: carabiners are the new pink are the new black.

Kleenex. For each of those late-winter sniffles you just can’t seem to shake. Which brings us to our next item…

Cough drops. Halls menthols will do, but for serious throat soreness, Ricola’s Honey Lemon drops are my cough drop of choice. What with marketing words like “natural” and “herb” on the package, these are sure to convince your friends that you belong in a hippy commune and clear up that cold all the same.

Possibly candy. But don't tell your mom I said that.

Journal and not just any pen. A man-bag of any kind is best suited for trips to local coffee shops. Where else would you carry all of this stuff? The grocery store??! Ridiculous! For anyone frequenting a coffee shop, you can’t possibly forget a handy-dandy journal.

I’ve been writing in a journal for roughly eight years and I’ve been writing with my pen of choice — the Pilot G207 — since my senior year in high school biology class. At some point that year, I woke up one day to realize that I’d been wasting my life finishing those lab reports with inferior writing utensils. Ever since, nothing but this pen will do. There are few pens quite like the G207; what I mean to say is that the folks at Pilot have really outdone themselves. I’d like to think the ‘G’ stands for gangsta, but something tells me it’s a subtle reference to the gel ink that each of these unbelievable inventions contain.

The Pilot G207.

College basketball fans can liken my Pilot G207 obsession to Digger Phelps's matching highlighter/tie wardrobe on ESPN.

Pocket knife. MacGyver made it through most all of his seven seasons on ABC without the use of a pocket knife, but for the less-resourceful, a Swiss Army knife can provide both utility and protection. If you, the reader, attempt to steal any of the above items from my satchel, I’m not afraid to use afforementioned knife in self-defense.

Editor’s note: the author of this blog does not endorse violence. And he won’t bring any sort of weaponry to the work place.

Okay guys, which items have I forgotten? What items and gadgets are you carrying around this spring? Please elaborate. And ladies, help us out!!

For those who rave about Last.fm and Pandora, Grooveshark is better.

Last.fm and Pandora are the two heavily-used online streaming music libraries, but these sites merely deliver music suggestions based on the listener’s favorite artists and genres. These services were around well before the release of iTunes Genius mixes, but the suggestion algorithms are similar in principal: “You tell us what you prefer and we’ll play things like it.”

And that’s where Grooveshark is different. And better. Grooveshark plays any song you want on-demand. Unlimited plays. No membership required. For free. Rhapsody and Napster offer the same service for a monthly fee. I’ve been using this free online streaming music player for roughly two months now as a compliment to my iTunes library. I recall trying the too-good-to-be-true service for about a week before tweeting it into the lives of my friends and followers.

Streaming music at work or home? Use Grooveshark.

-David Carr, New York Times | full story: Why Twitter Will Endure

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Related: Today I found the design team at Twitter has a business account.

Applications that help people get things done. (developed by 37Signals)

Read the interview here.

Here’s a few things you may need to know about Lists on Twitter:

• Any user can create a List.

When celebrities create Lists they add hype to the site. Who is Al Gore Listing? Am I on Timberlake’s List?

• Lists can be public or private.

• Any user can follow your List, assuming it’s public.

• You can follow someone on a List and you don’t have to follow them as an individual.

• Lists is now a key stat.

On your profile page, Twitter calls out the number of users followed by you, the number of users following you and the number of times you’ve been listed. @johncmayer has been Listed 2,393 times thus far. ________ How will this effect the culture of follows and unfollows? Think about it. It’s very offensive if someone removes you as a ‘friend’ on Facebook. And yet it’s only somewhat disturbing if someone unfollows you on Twitter. Language is everything. Lists are more about the topic at hand (photographers, illustrators, non-profits could all be Lists) and less about egos and personalities. I think this could make the unfollow even less offensive. A power user will follow and unfollow users for their meaningfulness. I think this will put casual users on the fast-track to using the site more. As soon as the network of Twitter applications absorb Lists into their own features, we’ll be able to fully enjoy this new feature. For now, we must use it on the site itself.

Do you have Lists yet? What do you think? How will Lists change the site? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

A List in action, on the site.

My profile, with my Lists at right.

A listing of my Lists

________
To follow the development of Twitter’s List beta, simply follow @nk, a Twitter staffer and lead developer for the feature. Developers, you can also keep tabs on official API changes by following @twitterapi. To sample my Lists, go here: http://twitter.com/bergrbergr/lists

8-bit graphics. Mono-internal speaker sound. Heck. Yes. Play “Canabalt” now.

Such an announcement allows us to dream a little bit. So what if Google played the role of leader in building and supporting national Fiber Optic? Here’s a few things we can observe about our friends in Mountain View.

1) Google enjoys working directly with consumers. As it relates to your monthly Internet bill, there would be no middle man. Although there are several Cable and mobile companies playing the role of ISP in the market, the hope is that these service providers (uVerse, Verizon/FiOS) would compete with Google within certain regions and neighborhoods across the United States. Since Google is of a second business plan, much speculation could be done as to where Google would be allowed to compete. More than likely, they would be allowed alongside Cable providers, but not alongside other Fiber providers.

2) Google provides national/global services for free. If neighborhoods received service directly from Google, it could come at a greatly-reduced price from current market alternatives. But how will Google respond to FCC regulation? This is a company that loves to provide services for the world. Have they ever been told their software isn’t allowed in certain zip codes? Google Street View and Google Voice rolled out over time, but never has the FCC controlled the release of Google software. The game will change for hardware.

3) Google cares about consumers. Whether or not it’s genuine interest in the lives of the little guy, they seem to make decisions in the best interest of the republic. Adwords enabled small business owners to bid for the same ad space that corporatations bid for. A company can never lose with this sort of business strategy. It could be said that Microsoft operates directly for a bottom line; they cut programs and developments for the greater interest of staying on-budget. Cable companies refuse to rethink their business plans.

A Google-provided Internet would service the health of the market. Head over to Google Moderator to join in the FCC conversation.

The site offers unlimited music streaming on-demand. Any song, any time for $12.95 per month. However, I did find some functional problems in how their site acquires customers. Let’s take a look.

Signing up for a service should never be more important than the service itself.

The site makes for a great customer acquisition effort – no user will miss the FREE 7-day trial offer – but what is the service being offered? What artists are available in the 7 million song library?

The layout puts a big expectation on the user to search to find the content that the service offers. Browsing from the home page is an after-thought, as it well below-the-fold, buried in the site's footer.

Browsing music is only available after using the search box. Does this really help users find what they're looking for?

It’s quite unclear as to what exactly users are signing up for because a very small portion of the layout has been dedicated to content – the search box. Ideally, users should be given the right to browse and search. Browsing content triggers a user response to search. For instance, if a user sees a Raconteurs‘ album while browsing, that may remind her to search for albums from Jack White’s other project The White Stripes. As users of the web, we’ve traditionally been spoiled with the right to both search and browse. This is especially true for entertainment content. Whether it’s Amazon, the iTunes Store or Netflix, we’re accustomed to browsing and searching for our favorite books, music and movies. This probably ties back to the fact that as humans, we’re visual people who make purchasing decisions online just as we would while walking the aisles at Target. All this to say, browsing content should be at the foreground of any user experience online and should not be secondary function that falls out of search.

Solution: Napster’s content should be the primary incentive which drives its users to sign up for a new account, not a glossy orange button. Put popular albums and content in the foreground of the home page, while dedicating some of the best screen real-estate (not all of it) to customer sign-up.

Never ask a user to register for a paid service, without first communicating price.

It is tough to understand Napster’s pricing structure without first signing up for a $12.95 per month account. I have to assume that the monthly price does not include unlimited music downloads, but only unlimited streaming on-demand. That brings us to question which sort of customer is better: a long-term customer who is happy with the music service and its pricing from the start or a short-term customer who is surprised or frustrated by additional fees only to abandon membership in their second month.

Be clear about the price of downloads from the start of a customer relationship.

$12.95 per month isn't necessarily a scary price point. How would users react if this was given more importance in the layout?

Solution: Communicate price points for downloads and streaming content from the start of a customer relationship.

____
¹ More Americans buy music online, fewer buy CDs http://en.kioskea.net/

Hopefully more Google features will be released that make this blog super-dope.

Twitter would become the second product that Google has purchased from the brains and hearts of Evan Williams (@ev) and Biz Stone (@biz), as the folks in Mountain View acquired Blogger in February 2003.

At the time, Google released major improvements to Blogger’s core functionality and security, but innovation has now slowed on the product. UI improvements made within the past six months target Blogger’s community structure. While these features are in the spirit of good intention, they don’t make sense to me as I read, write and share with my friends on Blogger.

I am a big fan of Google. Before the Goog folks arrived on the Internet, providing top-tier products, software and services for free was an idea unheard of. I bookmark my friend’s houses and apartments with Google Maps. I continue to await a 2nd-Gen Android phone. I’ve used GMail for 4 years and love organizing my inbox the GMail way. I manage my monthly budget from Google Docs and I take 3 in 5 Google products for the test drive that they deserve.

I see Twitter and their 30-some employees as an agile up-and-comer with a stream-lined plan for innovation. To develop the Twitter product, features and brand on their own would be in their community’s best interest. Google would slow them down. I would highly resist Google’s acquisition of Twitter.

Read more: A complete list of Google acquisitions (Wikipedia)

7. RSS.
I find syndications overwhelming — as if RSS is like checking email, where everything must be read.

6. Watching CNN.
I don’t watch Fox News, MSNBC or Kansas City’s local news in the evenings. I don’t watch Larry King on CNN — I merely consume the headlines via news anchors when watching CNN. In fact, most of my TV time is dedicated to The Office, LOST, SportsCenter and football/basketball/baseball games.

5. Browsing CNNPolitics.com.
I love their info-graphics and layout design. Also another reason to skip RSS.

4. Browsing Google News.
Google News is news for the people. Anyone writer or news service can push their article to the top of the food chain, so long as it’s something people are searching for and eager to hear about. If you’ve reported it online from the offices of your small-town weekly gazzette and made use of the right keywords, you’ll find yourself at the top of Google News. The key takeaway is that you don’t have to write for the Washington Post to make Google News. In the end, it’s another great way that small town papers can stay afloat these days.

3. Friend, family member or co-workers.
Most of these come from college friends via an article/link or in conversation.

2. Browsing the NYTimes.com.
I reward them, yet again, for great layout design.

1. Twitter.
I click through for headlines, news stories and other random-yet-current factoids via those I’m following. My follow list includes about a dozen personal friends, Lance Armstrong, Shaq, Rainn Wilson and Al Gore (among others).

I make it very hard for advertisers to reach me by way of traditional broadcast mediums. What will the future ad model become? How are you consuming the news?

With first glance, it’s awesome. I’m watching National Geographic (my new fave) — yeah, like the tv channel — on my macbook. Forget youtube, viddler and vimeo. Joost is where its at.