The Social Nerdia Show! Episode #11 is now available for streaming below, on blogtalkradio, or as a podcast on iTunes.

In this episode, @jestebanc, @somerlea, and @jonsterp talk about recent Tech News (Microsoft + Yahoo! “partnership”, Blekko stealth search engine getting a 3rd round of financing, Blip.TV increasing its distribution, and the new Twitter homepage ), as well as some Not-So Tech / Pop Culture News (Wedding viral video, Visa’s crazy profits, Twilight characters getting swapped and what is supposed to be a kid-friendly Twilight MMO videogame).

We also wondered about why there are so many Fast & Furious movies (what’s up with that?) and upcoming movie releases coming out on August 7th: GI Joe, Julie & Julia, and most importantly.. Adam.

Finally, we talked about the Randomized Topic of the Day (Cash for Clunkers Program gets suspended). We chose the topic this time but we promise to talk about whatever YOU want to talk about next week. Just send us your thoughts to socialnerdia@gmail.com or leave us a voice message by calling 720-6NE-RDIA.

By now most people know that Microsoft has finally scored the deal it’s been wanting for quite a while. I’m guessing CEO Steve Ballmer still gets a little annoyed when thinking about all the trouble and time he wasted trying to get Yahoo! to give in. Then again, maybe things would’ve gone horribly wrong if Yahoo! had accepted what now sounds like a crazy initial offer.

The fact is that Yahoo! was so concerned with how much they could get out of Microsoft (or maybe how cool they would be by playing difficult) that they lost track of their purpose.

Yes, Yahoo!’s purpose in life was search. That’s how I know about them. That’s how you found out about them. Ok, to be fair, maybe some folks that still use Yahoo! Mail don’t realize this, but they probably only recently made the switch from AOL, so that doesn’t really count.

For most people on this Earth of ours, Yahoo! used to be a synonym for search engine.

Well, no longer. And with that, Yahoo! proves that they not only lost the #1 position many years ago, but that they also didn’t realize just how important search was. I mean, if they cared about search, they would’ve done something about it, right?

Wrong. Yahoo! was so concerned with becoming a portal, becoming the source for movie information (I admit it, Yahoo! movies is pretty good), capturing screenshots of Geocities and Flickr (instead of enhancing them), and wondering if red or purple is cuter, etc. that they totally forgot about the reason for their very existence. (more…)

Kara Andrade is the lead project coordinator of HablaHonduras, a web site that allows people in Honduras to voice their thoughts via the web, SMS, email, and Twitter. But HablaHonduras is not just a lot of noise about a small country in Central America.

Consisting of 80% original content and 20% aggregated content, and with almost a month of being in existence, the site has become both a platform and a destination for what’s happening in Honduras amidst confusing and historical times. HablaHonduras is about citizen journalism today and what it could become.

After immigrating as a child from Guatemala with her mother, Kara grew up in the United States and lived in over 20 states. From a young age she thrived on challenges and became fascinated with innovation. “People misunderstand innovation.. innovation is like ‘astucia’, which literally translates to astuteness.. thinking in a way that is so on the spot with the needs that you have, that you find the angle, you find the right answer,” Kara told me.

Kara has done a lot of work with public health, her “first career” and still one of her many passions, but “it was so difficult to create change.” While she still believes that public health can be very powerful, Kara is today a journalist and multimedia reporter who seeks for ways to make a difference.

Kara’s desire to create change might be her primary reason for getting involved with unique projects like HablaHonduras. (more…)

In this 5th video episode of Random Tuesdays, I ponder on how Whole Foods makes us all better people. If you’ve never been to a Whole Foods, you should go. If you have been to one, but don’t think it makes you a better person, you should try going one more time. Regardless of who you are and where you’re coming from, you should check out the video below.

Oh and don’t forget to check in again next week for some more Tuesday randomness.

The Social Nerdia Show! Episode #9 is now available for streaming below, on blogtalkradio, or as a podcast on iTunes.

In this episode, co-hosts @jestebanc and @somerlea are joined by @jonsterp to talk about recent Tech News (Amazappos aka “Amazon and Zappos seating on a tree…”, Barnes & Noble’s eReader, Google phones home from the Moon), as well as some Not-So Tech / Pop Culture News (ESPN star on video becomes virus, Paula Abdul vs American Idol, and Burton’s creepy Alice in Wonderland).

We also discuss ski slopes in the middle of Texas, The Governator’s knife video and “exclusive” 25-Hour Gyms, and upcoming movie releases (comedians in “Funny People” and graphic dolphins in “The Cove”).

Oh, and of course.. The Randomized Topic of the Day (Yahoo! re-design is full of Social-Nerdia-Purple so we might surprise them with a red re-design of our own! Take that Yahoo!).

Thanks again for listening and until next time.

I will never forget Page Mill, the first WYSIWG HTML editor software I ever used (back in the mid 90′s). It was how I was introduced to a little company called Adobe, and I’ve been a fan ever since. From Dreamweaver to InDesign, I cannot imagine a computer without Adobe’s software. With the introduction of the robust, comprehensive, and very user/business-friendly Acrobat.com, I have become even more excited about the future of Adobe and its role in online collaboration.

I had the privilege of talking with Erik Larson on The Social Nerdia Show! yesterday. Erik is the Sr. Director of Marketing and Product Management for Adobe’s Acrobat.com. You can listen to our conversation in its entirety on the BTR player above or by subscribing to our podcast (iTunes).

My first question was around collaboration, and Erik told me that mega trends driving collaboration include the way in which people are interacting online in a much more real-time basis than ever before and how this is changing the way we work. He explained that email wasn’t built thinking about the internet and that ”the way of interacting socially in your personal life can translate into business.”

Erik spends his time not only strategizing about the future of Acrobat.com, but also conversing with people on Twitter, blogs, and elsewhere online. Some of the comments people make online actually fit into the bigger picture. “I can use those quotes from Twitter and show them to our CEO,” Erik told me.

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