Wouldn’t you know that not even 30 minutes from the time I tweeted my find, I was contacted directly by one of our readers? He offered to loan me a USB device that can read the slides and digitize them into .JPG format. This way, I can share the images with my family, post some of the non-personal historical ones online and carry around any that are near and dear to me. The offer to borrow a digitizer isn’t the first time I’ve had a reader try to lend a hand either. I can’t count how many times folks have offered to loan me a netbook, notebook, camera lens and various other bits of gear. Each is a kind and generous offer.

That’s what makes jkOnTheRun what it is — it’s not what James and I write, nor what we do —  it’s the camaraderie and community that offers the real value. It’s the readers that make this site what it is each and every day and for that, I’m sincerely grateful!

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I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin’s father, and he was a sweet man. It’s obvious that Kevin didn’t fall far from the tree and if you’d ever met his father you’d understand why Kevin is a great guy. My meeting Kevin’s father was just like meeting Kevin himself, first over Skype and later in person; he was a nice man and very proud of the work that Kevin does here.  He told me that with a big smile on his face.

You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers, Kevin. Be there for them so that you all may get through this together. I’ll keep things going here but know that this is just a gadget blog and not important in the overall scheme of things. Your family is what really matters and may you all get through this together. My heart is heavy for you and Barb and your kids.  Peace be with you my friend.

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• A 2011 Green IT Forecast
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• BrainKeeper: Collaboration that works
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• Mozy: Back up your photos, music, and files with Mozy for as low as $4.34 per month.
• Voxel: Mix & Match CDN and Hosting Bandwidth — only from Voxel.

Here are details on several resources you can get for free.

Microsoft’s Translator Widget is enabled through a small HTML script available here. It offers a pull-down menu to allow users to translate a web page into several languages. The widget is seen above.

On the OStatic blog, we recently ran a two-part series of posts from Brian McConnell, of Worldwide Lexicon and Der Mundo. Brian is an expert on web site translation tools and best practices.

You can find his input on best practices for translation in this post.  In this second post, he covers various tools and services available for translation, including the free and open-source tools gettext and Pootle. His input is very good if you’re interested in reaching a wider audience online through translation. “By combining technology, people and a few shortcuts, it is possible to build sites, blogs and web apps that are accessible in many languages,” he writes. “If you’re clever about it, you can do quite a bit at little cost, but it’s important to understand what’s feasible and not.”

Brian’s site Der Mundo is a collection of resources for social translations. “It enables people to read, create and share translations for their favorite web sites, blogs and news feeds,” Brian says. Check out much more in his series found above.

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Here is the first of a series of short interviews with a variety of web working types, starting with venture capitalist and co-founder of Alltop, Guy Kawasaki, who reveals his favorite web app: the “ultimate marketing tool for Twitter.”

What’s Your Favorite App, Guy Kawasaki? from WebWorkerDaily on Vimeo.

You can find Guy Kawasaki on Twitter: @guykawasaki.
Stay tuned for links to upcoming video sound bites from SXSW by following us at @webworkerdaily.

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Record and search voice notes on your Windows Mobile phone – Our friends over at jkOnTheRun alert us to the very cool Microsoft Recite preview.

Looking for stock photos? Mike at Two Guys Tech says Get Free Images at Free Range Stock. Give a listen to their weekly podcast while you’re there.

Bring idea management and collaboration for your team with Kindling.

When taking questions after a presentation or on a panel, Michael Wade explains why it’s important to Let Your Answers Be Wise and Brief on Execupundit.

@sbbuzz, the weekly Twitter tech talks I mentioned earlier have been a great success. If you’ve missed the buzz, you can still catch a summary of the Feb. 10th Edition.

Ben Barden, developer of the Injader CMS asks entrepreneurs: How Committed Are You?

What interesting finds do you have in your cache? Share them in the comments.

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My Web Portfolio is a Facebook application that’s designed to help web designers at least strut their stuff on the popular social network. Just as the name implies, it allows you to build and share a portfolio of your web sites and share them with other Facebook users.

Once you add the My Web Portfolio application to your FB account, you can access the dashboard, where you can see a random featured website, and the most popular, largest, and most recently added designs from users. Currently, My Web Portfolio has 40 users, which is a farily large number considering it’s only recently been launched.

Right away, you probably noticed a significant drawback of the application, namely that it is a Facebook application. That means that, in order to take full advantage of the service, users have to add the application to their own profile. You can still show off by adding the My Websites tab to your profile, though.

For me, the main advantage of the app doesn’t actually reside with its usefulness as a promotional tool. Instead, I like it for its ability to inspire and provide a space where ideas can be shared. As a web designer community with a focus on actual products, it has a lot of potential. Whatever your motivation, it’s free easy to set up, so there’s not much arguing against adding it to your existing toolset.

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The SDK and the success of the App Store have combined to create an emerging professional category, that of iPhone application developer.

According to oDesk, a technology outsourcer billing itself as the “leading marketplace and global IT platform for outsourcing technology jobs to certified, freelance, Apple iPhone developers”, demand has risen for iPhone-related positions from 30 to upwards of 140 jobs per month over the past six months.

While the numbers are drawn from internal oDesk records only, such a steep increase is unlikely to be an isolated phenomenon. Nor is oDesk’s sample pool a limited one, since they have representation in over 100 countries worldwide, including major markets like the U.S. and China.

Though some of the growth followed immediately after the announcement of the iPhone SDK availability, the most significant growth came after last July, when the App Store officially opened for business. No doubt the impressive download numbers that continue to come out of Cupertino are beginning to catch the attention of the wait-and-see corporate crowd.

If the numbers are a good representation of a wider trend, then there are a few things to take away from this rapid growth.

First, it might indicate the specific nature of Apple’s recent educational initiatives. As the marketplace becomes more discerning, accreditation will be more important to potential employers. Considering Apple’s pick for the Apple U job, they are clearly getting serious about academic laurels, and a new field hungry for certification is a good reason to do so.

Second, expect to see a lot more movie and product tie-ins like the Dark Knight’s Jokering-app, and the recently released Bolt-related game from Disney. For companies, hiring freelancers to develop a quick iPhone application is a cheap way to heighten brand awareness.

Finally, expect more conflict over intellectual property. Stringers and freelancers always bring in issues of confidentiatility and proprietary information, and with so many in the fray, the iPint/iBeer situation is unlikely to be just a one-off.

The question now is whether the demand for developers continues to grow, or plateaus and shrinks once the App Store loses its novelty value or competitors like BlackBerry and Google gain ground.

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• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
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AppLoop, a new venture by Eric Kerr and Ashwani Kumar, aims to help me and others like me create iPhone apps while leaving intact my ignorance and my tendency towards sloth. The web-based generator takes any RSS feed and converts it into a native iPhone application, complete with offline storage so it’s not just a glorified web app. They even handle submitting the app and updates to the app store, and provide analytics. Functionality beyond RSS is expected to be forthcoming in paid versions of the AppLoop.

But is it a good thing that I can make a web app? I admitted just now that whatever I’d make would be not very useful. How many more apps do we need that bring little to the table and add even more confusion to the tangled wilderness that is the App Store? Not to mention the fact that lowering the bar on what it takes to make an app will lead to serious backups in the App Store approval process, possibly delaying applications that bring us things we actually want, like MMS.

On the other hand, sites like ours can quickly and easily produce a handy way to deliver our content to readers in a customizable, convenient format. There are plenty of sites that offer useful content but who aren’t interested in or don’t have time to produce a dedicated app for iPhone users.

A double-edged blade like this is definitely bound to cause a stir in the iPhone development community, regardless of how people end up using it. Will we be seeing any apps from TAB readers courtesy of AppLoop? Check out the video below for a closer look at what the generator does.

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Hired by copyright holders to find illegal copies of content on the web, BayTSP gathers and generates an astounding amount of data. It has indexed nearly 87 million videos uploaded that have racked up over 260 billion video views. BayTSP knows data such as what content is being pirated, how often, how many people watched, and how much potential money was lost.

During a visit this week, the secretive company let me film just a peek of some of the data is collects 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But it’s become clear to BayTSP CEO Mark Ishikawa that the “real money” lies elsewhere, and can be found within these numbers.

On the marketing research front, BayTSP knows which bits from movies and TV shows people are most interested in by looking at which clips gets posted to UGC sites and are most popular. Content owners can then pick up on what’s hot and tailor a show or develop marketing programs based on that info. Since BayTSP has a digital fingerprint of a movie early on in the process, it can gauge buzz and excitement by watching for any activity from a movie’s pre-theatrical release through its release on DVD.

BayTSP then wants to take all this data one step further and get into the ad game. Because BayTSP knows when, where and how long people are watching clips, it believes it can help video sites better target ads (and charge higher CPMs). Ishikawa said his company would look to monetize this tactic by taking a cut of the ad buys.

BayTSP isn’t alone in this field. YouTube has its own fingerprinting tool and recently recommended Nexicon as a copyright manager to help content owners target advertising and monetize clips uploaded to the video site. Additionally, BayTSP has competitive pressures from video search companies like VideoSurf and Divvio, who want to use their technology to better target contextual ads for online videos.

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Valkommen To IKEA (www.easytoassemble.tv) – The best bloopers are here

The series is created by and stars Illeana Douglas (To Die For), and will feature appearances by Jeff Goldblum, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr. and Justine Bateman (who must be killing time before her own web series kicks off production). Each episode will have a star learning about different aspects of the IKEA experience (think Allen wrenches and Swedish meatballs).

While there is a spoof teaser trailer up now, the series starts in earnest on Sept. 22nd. There will be 10 episodes in total, with a new, three-minute episode each week at easytoassemble.tv, as well as on Metacafe, YouTube, Revver and other distribution outlets.

Loads of companies are getting into the branded web video game (Johnson & Johnson, Holiday Inn Express), but if done well, the playful nature of IKEA could carry make Assemble entertaining while making you forget it’s a commercial.

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Aside from that, with some quiet rest and recovery Barb should be near 100% next week. Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers… challenging times like this truly bring out the best in this community!

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And today, NewTeeVee Station provides the web community with a valuable public service. After all, everyone knows about lonelygirl15 — but how many people actually know what the show was all about? With the end of the series last Friday, the time felt right to sit down and discover the mysteries of this iconic program — in order to retell the entire story in exactly 300 words. Why was the titular lonelygirl so important to the powers that be? And what fate befell her friends? Find out here!

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