13 more great Twitters to follow

Well the original 13 Twitter accounts you NEED to follow was so popular (and contraversial – “why wasn’t I on your list when XYZ was?”) I figured – You know what? I actually do follow a heap of really cool folks, so without further ado, lets get into it.

Shel Israel

Silicon Valley insider who writes for fancy magazines (think Fast Company) and interviews people from around the world. Great tweets to follow, usually very well written & informative
» Follow shelisrael

Chris Saad

Chris is a web2.0 junkie, passionate about data portability & calls himself a futurist. I find Chris’s tweets to be generally light and funny with gems of wealth hidden amoungst them.
» Follow chrissaad

Christine Lu

LA based, Chinese tweeter Christine is not afraid to speak her mind, I really enjoy the fresh honesty behind Christine’s tweets. Sometimes light, sometimes deep but always worth reading
» Follow christinelu

David Feng

Probably my favourite Tweeter right now, David is another Chinese tweeter. David works creating a wiki of subways and his tweets are full of subway tidbits. David is also a web junkie & his tweets often contain links to really great content.
» Follow davidfeng

Allen Stern

Unhappy to be left off my last list, Allen is a real hardcase. His twitter account is under the name of his popular CenterNetworks – but it’s more of an outlet for him to build relationships. Great tweets, nice guy & CenterNetworks isn’t half bad either (he he)
» Follow centernetworks

Matt Cutts

Matt (Mr Google) Cutts is THE person to follow if you are into SEO, SEM, Google etc. He works for Google…actually no, he’s the FACE of Google – especially when it comes to talking about search systems. Tweets are good with lots of links.
» Follow mattcutts

Kris Colvin

Kris is a user interface & brand designer and she shares through twitter some great insights, links and funny stories. She calls herself a mischief maker & that does flow through her tweets at times – good fun though
» Follow kriscolvin

Bryan Thatcher

Bryan’s tweets have slowed down a bit, but that makes him all the more worth while to follow. As founder & CEO of two web2.0 companies Bryan has his finger on the cutting edge & his tweets range from web tech to photography (his other passion)
» Follow bryanthatcher

The Domestic Diva

Mums & Dads need to follow The Domestic Diva – how she finds time running her home & tweeting I’ll never know. Her tweets are full of life, fun, adventures & she answers tweets – it’s that personal touch!
» Follow thedomesticdiva

Evan (CEO of mimoco)

With a twitter name “mimobot” you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a bot doing branding. But no, this is Evan the CEO & yes he tweets. What’s more is he often gives stuff away. How many CEO’s you know do that?
» Follow mimobot

Loic Le Meur

Loic is the fella behind seesmic.com among other things. He tweets his journey and shares along the way some great tips & interacts with users of websites. He’s into Kite Surfing too, so that’s pretty much reason alone to follow him right?
» Follow loic

Plan Garden

Plangarden is the Twitter account for the fella behind plangarden.com. With tweets about gardening, planting and plants the advice is always very solid. Of course for me the season are round the wrong way – but still a potato is a potato right?
» Follow plangarden

(MediaTemple)

This probably only applies if you host with (MT) however I love the fact that at the end of twitter is someone from (MT) – their twitter response time is fantastic & they always seem so friendly. This is how a brand should use Twitter – interact with your customers!
» Follow mediatemple

Okay one more for good measure ey? Hands up if you like COFFEE – I know I sure do, I love the smell, the flavour and I love how getting the milk right can make all the difference in the world.

Jason Coffee

Jason is a coffee nut in the nuttiest sense of the word nut. He runs a blog dedicated to the art of coffee, tasting, brewing etc & his tweets are full of great fun and flavour. He runs frequent giveaways – including coffee machines! Totally worth following for any coffee fan
» Follow coffeecupnews

Did I miss someone?

Did I miss you off the list, do you think someone else deserves to be on the list? Feel free to add a link to your twitter profile in the comments (you have 21 days from the date of this post – then comments close) and tell people why they should follow you.

Top 5 Avatar Generators

Avatars are everywhere now, from your Twitter profile pic, to Skype, Gravatar to Facebook. If you don’t have one you want one, if you have one no doubt you like to update it every now and then.

I recently had to recreate my avatar for my Twitter profile (oo00_Mr_K_00oo), and I whipped open Google to try and find a generator I had used before – well do you think I could find it?

So I spent a bit of time this morning hunting around for what I thought were the best Avatar Generators I could find.

With out further ado, allow me to present the top 5 Avatar Generators (in no particular order):

1) The Simpsionizer

Starting out with everyones favourite, the Simpsons. The Simpsionizer asks you to upload a picture of yourself from which the site will then create a new version of you so you look like a member of the Simpsons Cast. It’s fun but I didn’t have any pics handy so didn’t really try it.

It does look heavily sponsored by Burger King, so you have to look past all the BK stuff branded al over it.

» Visit Simpsonizeme to create your avatar

2) Face your Manga

If you don’t know what Manga is, then this probably isn’t the avatar generator for you. This is the generator I often use as the range of options to add to your character is extensive enough to allow you to craft a face that kinda looks like you.

Easy to use, this system has the ability to create boy or girl avatars, and it has a fun range of backgrounds for your avatar to rest against.

Once complete the site will email the PNG file avatar to you so you can use it on your many profiles. This generator supports multiple languages

» Visit Face your Manga to create your avatar

3) Noble Avatar

I’ve included this in here for no other reason other than it’s not flash based. Most of the online character creators use Flash – it’s a good tool for this sort of thing.

Noble Avatar uses a Java Applet, meaning you have to download it, but hey, if you don’t have Flash then this could be the way to go.

The characters look good, and it seems to be pretty powerful and being a Java Applet it should run in any browser.

» Visit NobleAvatar to create your avatar

4) South Park

Okay, we couldn’t include the Simpsons without including that other irreverent cartoon, South Park.

This Avatar creator is really well created with a lot of care and attention going into it. Very simple to use, you can craft an avatar based one and existing South Park character. You start off with one of their characters, complete with face, and then begin to customise.

You’ll have heaps of fun with this one, and end up with a full character for use in your profiles.

» Visit South Park to create your avatar

5) Mess Dude

Mess Dude is a load of fun, it had me smiling the whole time I was playing with it, I think it’s just that goofy as look on your characters face as you work with him.

This generator is one of my favourites, with heaps of options to craft the perfect character for you. Change so many aspects from eyes to tattoos even give your character things to hold onto and places to visit – like London.

» Visit Mess Dude to create your avatar

So there you have it, 5 really great avatar generators, but you know what. There is just one more I’d like to share with you.

BONUS: Unique

Unique is one of those sites that makes you go “Oh Wow”. Created by the guys at Raster Boy Unique is so well created, with such incredible attention to detail, all aspects of this generator have had some TLC, and it shows.

Create a boy, or girl, massive range of options from eyes to hats, and more you’ll never run out of options to add to your character. You can even add these cute little pets to your character – hmm I think I’m going to have to make a new one soon!

I HIGHLY recommend you check out Unique for your next avatar – hell, Unique is a reason to go and CHANGE your avatar.

» Visit Unique to create your avatar

Ouch

Daddy (me) decided that Mummy needed a break from bub, so he bundled bub into the buggy and headed off for a 20min walk around the block.

After completing the first 2 roads, Daddy decided he might veer right instead of left and swing past the supermarket. Feeling mighty proud of himself for getting the bread & OJ he thought “I think Mummy could do with a decent break from bub” and so he proceeded to walk the long way back to the road connecting their block.

Bub and Dad arrived at the intersection leading back up to the block the house is on. Dad looked at the time and decided Mummy needed more time, after all only 30 mins had passed. He carried on instead of heading home, down to the lovely track that follows the stream (just over there he points knowing you can’t see that).

[...]

Magic Denty

Muks posted a story yesterday about an ‘incident’ with their boiler deciding to spit water everywhere. To her rescue came ‘Magic Denty’ the superhero, who fixed the boiler with his magic hands and devices.

So I thought to myself – every superhero needs a shield, something they can adorn to their cape. I had a spare 20mins at work this morning, so whipped into photoshop to create the official “Denty Shield”.

[...]

5 things I learnt from Deadliest Catch

“Mamma always said you’ll never learn nuthin’ from TV”, well mum was wrong. Deadliest Catch is a show on Discovery Channel following the crab fishermen of the Bering Sea, a show that has taught me at least 5 things about life, work and humor.

1. My job is a walk in the park compared to these guys
2. I don’t like crab
3. When ice forms around you, break it off
4. If you thought being a fisherman was hard, try being a camera man
5. Life might be tough, but you can still laugh

Right now I’m watching the behind the scenes, showing us what the camera crew have to do to shot the show. These guys are just plain insane, but I have a new respect for the entire crew.

Biggest lesson?
No matter what shit your life throws at you, remember to take time to have some fun and laugh.