If you are a regular reader of Solution Watch, you have probably noticed a drop in activity the last couple months. Well, it’s time for that to change. I am excited to announce that Solution Watch now has some new writers! Please welcome Tim Benzinger and Matt Wilson to the site.

You may have seen their names come up here before. They are the same fellas that I work with everyday at Parallel, a creative studio that we started half a year ago. Tim also happens to be my brother (identical twins) and Matt is my best friend. When I told the guys that I’ve been struggling with Solution Watch lately, they stepped up and asked if they can help. So, we are going to give it a shot and see how things go.

This is a big change for me and its been a goal of mine since day one to have multiple writers on Solution Watch. I just didn’t expect it to be the guys that I work with everyday! But, I’m glad it turned out this way. The three of us are very close, so I can trust them, and we can work together in person. We all still have our day jobs at Parallel, of course, but I’m hoping that things will be more consistent on Solution Watch and more quality content can get delivered to you with the three of us writing.

So, who are these guys anyway?

Tim is a graphic designer who claims himself to be “a problem solving, graphic designing, visually communicating kind of guy.” He’s also turned into quite the businessman since the start of Parallel. Ever since the age of ten, he would dream of starting a design studio and run things how he felt a business should be run. By the time of high school graduation, Tim already had a growing list of clients and knew what he wanted to do with his life. During his first year of college, he took a leap into his next venture and started his own clothing label. And I kid you not, we have a whole screen-printing setup in our basement; conveyer belt and everything. He’s now twenty years of age and can easily say that he loves what he does. He also hopes to start his own blog soon about design and business.

Matt is a designer, a writer, and a very talented music composer that has been a friend of mine for around nine years now. Like Tim and I, Matt has been involved with computers most of his life and started designing at an early age. He also enjoys gaming and learning new music. Possibly one of his best qualities that Tim and I have noticed is his high interest in learning new things and how fast he can pick up on things. He could start learning something new today and already have a good understanding the next day. Today, he attends college studying digital media and works with Tim and I during the week at Parallel.

Expect to see a post from Matt in the next couple hours and some changes around the site. I’m also going to be redoing the about section of Solution Watch (finally) in a couple days and you will be able to find Tim’s and Matt’s bios in there. You will also be able to pull up each of our bios and latests posts by clicking on our names at the top of a post. Lastly, thank you to all my readers for making Solution Watch what it is today. It will be exciting to see where things go from here.

Squirl is a new site designed for passionate collectors that want to share collections on the web and meet people with similar interests. What I like most about it is that Squirl allows collectors to add any type of collection to their acount unlike similar sites that limit you to specific products, such as Listal with DVDs, books, music, and games. It essentially allows you to create a digital copy of your collections so you can share them with others rather then risk sharing the real thing. Collectors also get a profile in which friends and family can view to browse your collections. Let’s take a look.

To start things off, Squirl provides you with a free account and a public address. The free account allows up to 200 items and three collections, and if you need more, you may upgrade to a plus plan providing 5,000 items with unlimited collections at $10 per year (price recently changed and used to be $24.95/yr). Once you’ve got an account setup, login to access your Squirl Home where you can view recent messages and comments from collectors, keep up with friends, and look at featured collections from other collectors in the Squirl community. You can also browse your collections on the right side of the site where you will find recent collections, additions, and tags that you have added.

Before I go on to creating collections and adding to a collection, let’s take a look at a collections so you have an idea of what can be accomplished. You will find basic information about the collection and collector on the left and see a list of items in the collection on the right. Collection items are nicely presented and can be viewed either as a list or matrix of images. You will also find that when in the list view, hovering over an item will popup a box, using Ajax, allowing you to learn more about the item. One thing I did not see when viewing a collection though is a list or cloud of tags. I feel this is an important feature to add as it makes it easier to find what you are looking for. We organize our collection items with tags, so why not use them? It would also be beneficial to list tags in the item popups helping viewers find related items.

One of Squirl’s strong points is with creating and managing collections. The way it works is simple and makes for a very flexible system. You start by creating your collection filling in a name and description as well as basic view and privacy options. Then select “Add Item” and pick one of Squirl’s 30 item categories from the list. Here is where the flexibility of the system kicks in. Depending on the category selected for your item, Squirl will bring up a page customized to fit your items needs. For example, selecting the category, “Movie,” will show that you can either search Amazon and instantly add the movie or manually enter the details in a form relating to movies requesting title, director, cast, and so on. Or say you selected the category, “Stamps.” Squirl will show a page allowing you to manually enter the stamp details asking for its name, catalog number, date issued, and more. I feel this is a great concept and it really makes adding items to your collections quick and painless.

On the social end, Squirl allows collectors to find and interact with other collectors and invite friends and family to view their profiles. I don’t feel Squirl’s aim was to become the next best social networking site, but it provides some basic functionality including adding of friends, sending messages to collectors, and commenting on collections. I can also browse through all collections, find a collector with similar interests, and add them as a friend so we can connect and discuss our hobby.

Overall, I had fun using Squirl and found it to be a great service for bringing collections to the web. Its system is quite flexible allowing collectors to add items of any kind to their account and being able to network with other collectors is a great way for friends and family to share. I felt the interface was a little confusing at times and lacked some features, such as tag clouds in collections, but nothing major. Also, Squirl is just a fun site to browse. I had a great time searching through all of the collections looking at rare stamps, autographs from famous people, and things of that nature.

If you’re interested, check out my Squirl profile where you can find my DVD collection that I’m working on (I know… boring, but that’s all I’ve got). I’d love to see your collections too if you have any.

More on Squirl at CNET and Postbubble.

VideoJug, launched into public beta two days ago, is a site with the aim of creating a place where you can find and share advice, wisdom and know-how through video. If you are a visual learner, you will love VideoJug. VideoJug is like a video-handbook to life where VideoJug and its users create and share informative and helpful videos that teach how to perform certain tasks. You can learn everything from tying a tie to eating sushi, and the best part is, it’s fun! If you have a question, VideoJug aims to have the answer.

The way it works is simple, and unlike your average video sharing site, users are not the only source of videos. This is because VideoJug has actually set out to create thousands of instructional videos that teach you how to perform tasks part of our everyday lives. Users can also contribute to the website by recording their own instructional videos and uploading them for others to learn from. You can find videos on cooking, house repair, technology, health, and more. Also, I found that the VideoJug created movies aren’t just basic home videos showing you how to do something. They are actually very well made and professional videos performed by real experts. Take the foods category for example. You will find that some of the videos take you to real restaurants and have chefs actually take you through step by step. Pretty impressive.

VideoJug has all the basic video sharing features and more. Users can upload and tag videos as well as search, rate, and comment on videos. VideoJug also provides viewers with in-video captions that inform you on what to do as the video plays. Users can even pull up text versions that go along with the video, so if you missed something or want to refer to instruction later, you can print them out. For example, this video that teaches you how to tie a tie will show you captions as you watch the video as well as provide full instructions in the text version. VideoJug also allows its users to download any video to their iPod, mobile phone, and PSP so you can learn on the go.

All in all, I like what VideoJug is doing. I’ve always loved learning by video online and now its easier then ever. The videos created by VideoJug are very well made and enjoyable to watch, but I can’t say the same for user submitted videos because I have not found any yet! I’m not sure if this is just because they are new, but I hope to see some soon as I’m interested in how that will work. I also feel that VideoJug is missing some important elements here and there that are common in video sharing sites, such as tag clouds. I also had a hard time navigating every once in a while. For example, in the members area, I could not find an upload button. But, overall, I enjoyed using the service. Lastly, for those of you interested, VideoJug’s business model is to simply serve advertisements and sponsorships spots on the site to remain a free service. Now, back to learning how to golf ;-).

Introducing the new Solution Watch!

Please, do not take the following quote too seriously. It is a unique shorthand my brother, Tim Benzinger, enjoys using when sending an email to me that I have ironically learned to understand.

“Brian website have. Designed Tim by have good. Look good. Feel good. Good. I have site now. You have site now. Together, we have site now. Viva site.”
- Tim Benzinger

It is hard to believe that the person that wrote the above words, my brother, has actually created this new design of Solution Watch. The words are from the contents of an email he had sent me upon completing the final concept of the new design. Over the years, Tim has developed this shorthand that very few can understand. I am unfortunately one of them. To help you understand, let me translate it for you:

“Brian website have” actually means that this is the new design for the Solution Watch website. “Designed Tim by have good” is how Tim says, I have designed a site I am sure your readers will love. “Look good. Feel good. Good” means, the site was designed to look good, but also function well. Lastly, he writes, “I have site now. You have site now. Together, we have site now. Viva site.” What he is really trying to say is, long live Solution Watch! You now have a site that I hope everyone will enjoy.

As Tim has said, I do hope everyone likes the new design. Once the design was completed, I used my weekend coding it in Web Standards and them created it into a custom WordPress theme. With this release, it really is a breathe of fresh air for me as the old design was really starting to get on my nerve. The old design wasn’t user friendly, rough on the eyes at times, and didn’t provide the flexibility I was wanting. That’s what I get for whipping it up so quick 10 months ago. I feel this new design solves all of the problems that I had with the old design and more. You will notice the layout is wider, high in contrast, involves more white space, and the wide right column allowed me to fit more content and respects in the sidebar.

Side Notes

Side Notes is a new feature that I am excited to release as well with this new version of Solution Watch. Side Notes will act as a small link blog and just an area that I can make small mentions about something. I can’t wait to get started on it because one of the problems I have is that I feel I have set my own “guidelines” when writing and sometimes things I want to mention don’t meet these “guidelines.” So, I present you, Side Notes, a place I can mention other services, things on my mind, and just overall news that I probably wouldn’t normally write here at Solution Watch. You may grab the Side Notes RSS feed if you’d like to keep track of them, but I am not including it directly in the normal feed because I understand some may not like the mix of posts and side notes.

Full-Text Feeds

While on the topic of RSS feeds, if you are a subscriber, you have probably noticed that Solution Watch now runs full-text feeds. It took a while of convincing to do, but I have finally went through with it after receiving numerous requests. I have always had these two feelings with full-text feeds: Why make my feeds full-text when I know the content can be easily stolen and when I would prefer subscribers to visit my site instead of viewing the content through a feed reader? Well, my feelings have changed and I can say that it really has only been of benefit so far. So, I thank my readers for requesting this and also Scoble for mentioning some benefits of full-text.

Miscellaneous Updates

There have also been various improvements around the site in comparison to the last. First, you will find that the commenting area is now clean and organized, seperating the comments from the trackbacks. At times, things got a bit cluttered and reading actual user commentary just became a task when mixed up with the trackbacks. Also, I have added coComment integration to the site so if you are a member of coComment, it will automatically run and fill in the proper information for the post. Another new feature is the “Extra” tab on the headings of posts. You will find that when you click it, a new box will appear displaying related posts and method of bookmarking to various social bookmarking services (may add more sometime soon).

Designed by PARALLEL?

Glad you asked! You will find that it states “Designed by PARALLEL” in the footer and find logo in the right column. You probably wondering why it says this when I clearly stated above that Tim Benzinger is responsible for the design, so let me explain. Parallel is actually a new creative company that my brother and I, along with a friend, are starting. We specializing in design, usability, and development for websites, print, identity design, and content management. We have been planning on starting this company for years now and the time has finally come. We’ve got big plans for our company, so expect to hear from us again! By the way, if you are in need of some work, head on over to the temporary site and pass us an email.

Thank You and Enjoy!

The past 10 months of Solution Watch’s existence has been excellent and I thank all of you (and the startup companies for giving me something to write about!). I’ve got a lot planned for the future of Solution Watch, so stick around! Also, just a quick thanks to Media Temple for being the best hosting provider I could ever hope for. I switched over from my old host to a dedicated server at Media Temple a few months back and I couldn’t be happier. That about concludes it! Thanks everyone and I hope you like this refresh of Solution Watch!

Ever buy some kind of product to find that it doesn’t work? Or maybe you just couldn’t understand how to get it to work? A while back, I purchased an iPod and assumed I knew what I was doing, installed it onto my computer wrong, resulting in an error. Luckily, one of my friends had experienced the same problem and helped me get through it. My friend knew how to help because of experience and this is exactly what I believe Fixya, a new product support site, has realized. They found that sometimes, manuals just don’t help and that the manufacturer sites just may not provide enough support. So, what does help? User feedback with experience. Users can relate to a problem that you may experience with a product and easily point out what the issue may be and how to fix it. This is very interesting, especially because support is user generated, and until I came across the service, I had not realized how much I depended on others to help me solve product related issues because they have had experience with the product. Now, I don’t have to bug them! I can just search for support or simply ask and receive.

(Directs to external site Product: Information)

Basically, Fixya is a product support site that relies on users to submit feedback to those in need of help. Fixya also states that a lot of support information provided also comes from various sources on the Internet, although it does not say which sources they use. But, on top of receiving feedback from people like you and viewing aggregated support material, you can also easily find information about the product itself like specifications and original product manuals (in HTML format). You may also search on the product if you can’t find the information you are looking for.

(Directs to external site: Problem Page)

So, lets say you purchased something and it isn’t working. Simply go to Fixya, search for the item or select it from their directory of products. On the product information page, you will see an area for troubleshooting, more specifically, the “Most common problems” area of the page. See if anyone else has had the problem before and if someone has answered the problem. If you find one relating to your issue, go to the problem page and you will be presented with the problem in detail and a solution (if any) in a blog or discussion-board type format. Each solution that is shown will be user submitted, which I found to actually be more helpful then real product support documents. But what if you can’t find the answer to your problem? Easy, signup to Fixya for free, find your product, submit your problem, and hope you get some helpful feedback from other users. If a solution does end up solving your problem, or even if it doesn’t, be sure to take advantage of the rating system because it will help other Fixya users find the best solution for them by the ratings on feedback.

That about covers it, for the most part. I found Fixya to be very informative and helpful. Simple in concept, but seems to work rather well. I feel it is a lot easier to solve problems based on user experience rather then relying on a product manual. There have been numerous times that I have come across a problem on Fixya that I have wondered about myself and when reading the solutions made me think, “Oh, wow. That makes sense.” But there have also been times when I’ve come across solutions that are of no help with users saying, “Yeah,” or something pointless as a reply. I have expected this though because solutions are user generated and is not something unusual to see. This is also a reason why you should rate the feedback you read because it will help maintain the quality of solutions for problems. Overall, Fixya is a simple way to find a problem with a product and get user feedback to help solve the problem. I found it to be very helpful, maybe you will too.

View Fixya (via Mashable)