No Bad Press

I think Penny Arcade pretty much sums it up right here. The link to the picture is the news post for the comic on Penny-Arcade's website.

And if you're late to the game:



then

The War of Attention

Getting software to work for you, the way you want it to.

That's really the goal of anyone who uses software or computers. And to be quite honest, when it comes down to it it's a question of what works for you. I still seem to be at this crossroads with my software solutions, not because of not having enough good choices, but having far too many.

Microsoft, Apple, and now Google all have great applications that beg for your use and attention. Microsoft, bringing functionality to the table, comes feature packed and allows you to do what you will, as long as it's all Microsoft. Same for Apple but the emphasis is not only features but user experience, at the cost of flexibility. And finally Google, where it has no real presence anywhere finds presence everywhere with it's incredibly amazing Email and Calendar services along with anything on the web one would need.

Microsoft's options are the least familiar to me, only because they don't matter much anymore to me. I hated Outlook for Email and Calendar and I have no idea what web services they offer to allow over the air syncing with calendars and contacts.

Apple, having inherited a niche following with high expectations and a panache for excellence in marrying user experience to computing do almost everything you'd want it's services to do. And swear up and down everything it can't are trivialities until they incorporate it into design. For me, I want my Email, Contacts, Calendars, and Documents to sync. When I make a change to one, I want a change to all on any device, connected or not. Apple's solution is an outstanding one called MobileMe. It does the sync of the first three, leaving my documents to the iDisk function where it acts like an open FTP server. (And not to forget web galleries for pictures)

Where it comes short is where Google steps in. Nothing tops Google Docs. Sure both iWork and even Office have amazing templates to do what you need and much more beautifully, but Google Docs, being online, is backed up - to the second - every 3 seconds. And not only to your computer but on their server. Same goes for email, photos, calendar. The downside is you have to be online (with Google Gears picking up the slack in offline mode). Also Google's RSS reader runs circles around Mail.app or Safari and works anywhere I log in. I also really hate Mail applications probably. I've always used webmail, and with Gmail being the best, there isn't really a contest there.

I can't decide. I guess that's the price I pay for wanting my cake and eat it too.

Remind you of Anyone?

It's Felicia Day, from The Guild.



Funny, no? If you're looking for the social commentary aspect of this post, its the fact that no matter what one company does, you can't artifically create a viral market. In fact I haven't seen a good one since ilovebees.

Note: watchtheguild.com link is broken until they up thier bandwidth or something.

Care to blog much?

So I'm deciding to be prolific because I have decided enough is enough. There are too many places to blog, and I can't keep them up. Aside from my own personal blog at screaminginrockets.com I have myspace, facebook, and now this silly site wants some of my literary blood. Are you kidding me? Do they think that us young folks desperately need a place to voice that we've never heard of a livejournal? Its angsty teenager the holy grail of advertising?

Even someone technologically inclined as I have trouble keeping up with friends and their posts. And God forbid they are using ATOM instead of RSS because I hate to say it but not many readers know the difference. Hell, not many people know what an RSS reader is let alone how to add a feed.

So fellow demographic, when is enough enough? Whats going to be the final digital hangout for our generation? Or are people going to finally figure out how to make their own .com on the cheap?

Garfield without Garfield

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb."

The Internet is for Porn

Lately I've been wondering the pluses and minuses about the internets effect on us. More specifically the underage of us. I started to wonder if I had kids, what in the hell I would do to prevent them from seeing what is invariably a weird hyper-distortion of reality. In fact, you could say the Internet is like a Reality Show of us. We sign on, say or state our opinions anonymously or play internet anonymously and be who we want to be, while we're drunk. This isn't the place for kids.

So that brings us back to the original point. What to do with the kiddywinkles? To be honest, unless you create another internet, you can't do much. You have to assume that every screen name is a predator in waiting, every website something that has some of the most offensive material. The best thing I guess is to monitor, communicate, and most of all participate.

Why Facebook is Just as Bad as Myspace

So here's the problem. I'm not exactly anti-web social. In fact more often then not I'm trying to tell people why its a cool idea to get in and get involved. That's not the problem, the problem is it's too inundated with so much bullshit. From ads to notifications about things that are nonsense, these social black holes create nothing but stress and popularity contests with its users. I feel kinda blessed actually that Myspace didn't get huge until after I graduated high school. High school kids don't understand the dangers of character assassination. And with these social networks, its easier then ever.

I guess what I like Myspace/Facebook for is because people are too lazy (present company included) to create a proper cool website about me. Well, I guess its the blog but no one loves to email or give their email. People love comments though, probably for the narcissism or something but in the end, it creates too man social pockets.

Back to my main point. Myspace used to blow because of it being incredibly slow, and a ton of scammers and spammers trying to get their 5 min of your time. Also was a haven for pedophiles. My favorite living comedian Demetri Martin said it best on a "Trendspotter" segment on The Daily Show. The downside is, there are a lot of sexual predators on Myspace, but on the plus side there are a lot of sexual prey. Now with Facebook letting anyone create an account (sell outs) and starting the whole "lets create an app lawl and spam it" motion....rest is never assured for people just wanting a digital presence.

The funniest thing is how Facebook monetize peoples stupidity. For a dollar I believe you can buy a digital e-peen booster for your friends and give them to you as gifts. These digital badges of shame show how many people "care" about you to give you said gifts. When the hell will you people wake up and realize you're being sheep. /sigh

I close with the thought of how much a necessary evil social networks become. Not only will they not go away, but more and more people seem to be joining them, becoming great targets for companies to do scary espionage research on you. Just know anything you post online can and will be read by all.

EDIT: The joystick that closely resembeles a pedophiles dream.

Sources and the Internet

There are few people in the internet that is worth it to read. Mark Cuban and his blog over at blogmaverick just talked about how blogs can form truth in a media that's turning away from journalism. If one blog reports it, then another reports on what that blog reports it, it must be true then, right? Well, unfortunately, there is a lot of that out there. Take a read over on his blog to get his take and the whole story.

Kinda makes me worried about reading print, just check your sources I guess.

Echo On the Internet

Washington Post's Peter Baker got robbed. He did the time and research for a well written article to all but have his by-line cut and a link at the bottom of the page that all but gives the Washington Post writer his due. The linking site, rawstory.com didn't deserve the 1200+ diggs. "This according to the Washington Post" and the link at the bottom doesn't absolve the fact that someone else's original research was being rebroadcasted.

I realize that a blog's purpose is to regurgitate the web for its own purpose, but at least give your constituency some level of opinion on the article instead of truncating it and posting. And grats on the Digg user for not having the brains to link the original article as it says in plain text on Digg's site when you submit an article (second bullet down).

I guess in the end what bugs me most is the lack of authorship on the web and seeing it get rewarded. You have people who blog under a company, people who do it like a pseudo job-hobby and seem to be doing well from it, and people who do it just to throw words out on the internet. Don't be the third category and just mince quotes into a new article. That is borderline disrespectful.

I'm all for voice on the internet, but if all you are is just a faint echo then what's the point?

What to do About Diggspam

This Gizmodo article talks about a policy thats been badly in need for some time now.

A new Digg policy here, out of respect for the Digg community.

-No big yellow Digg badges for articles unless they have original content, new reporting, treatment, or photos.

It's not fair when we get the Digg for someone else's work. Let's keep the signal-to-noise ratio high, dudes.

And btw, Digg user "Iwanttodiggthis," I appreciate you reading Gizmodo so closely, as you're clearly a supporter, but can you stop submitting almost every story we have? – Brian Lam

Whats good about this is that, unfortunately, it forces people into voting articles on Gizmodo that Gizmodo creates. Everyone wants eyeballs out there on the web and I'm a big proponent of self-policing, but diggers should stop posting to digg the aggregaters of content and do what the submission site says itself, post directly to the content. Granted, these smaller sites would more likely succumb to the diggeffect but they would also reap more benefit from the advertising dollars. Maybe, just maybe this idea will spread and keep blogspam off Digg.

Do No Evil (Again)

It appears that Google is once again creating controversy over something seemingly benign. Many web sources are saying how Google's new Street View is really just another way for the conglomerate to invade our privacy. And more annoyingly, link it to their now infamous phrase "Don't Be Evil". I've already written about what I think of the flak they get but it seems now that operating in China and gathering cookie data about searches isn't bad enough, there is this new-fangled Street View to worry about!

Please. If you're doing something illegal, inappropriate, or something in completely bad taste in plain sight of the road then who are you to complain. Did you know that when TV crews are filming in public places, they could immortalize you picking your nose in the background of the 6 o'clock news?

A comment on a random blog (this link, comment by "Dr.Zoinkelstein")

"It isn't shocking, but I challenge you to find a better solution for taking live photos of cities that can balance interests of consideration against those of practicality. Tell a neighborhood you are showing up to immortalize it (for a few months) and the advertising, slander, inappropriate nudity, etc... comes out of the wood works. In truth, they probably should exhibit some better manners in notifying sensitive places (abortions centers) about such things, but no one said that digitizing images was going to be antiseptic.

In any case, at the end of the day, Google is still providing pioneering free and useful services and is in my opinion, the most outrageously ethical corporation that has ever been in the fortune 500. It isn't a perfect corporation, and I will be curious to see if it can maintain its culture and ethics as it expands past 15, 20 and 30 thousand employees, but it is a cultural experiment in corporate and profit structure that usually meets with more condemnation than it deserves."

Should you not go to an abortion clinic because they have protesters (most of them do by the way) or the porno theatre because your likeness might be captured by a passing Google Street View cam (once every three months estimated)? I don't know, but living life like there is no surveillance or nosy people is a happier life then constantly being worried.

And at least you can request to remove an unflattering picture right on the page. Giving you a way out, even through they have legal ground to keep it up without your permission? Sounds very not-evil to me.

Technology Woes

I've never had a problem using technology as a means to an end to get what I need done. Web based email to check and keep up with friends and family, a modded Xbox for movie and music storage and server capability. A music player to listen to music and podcasts, keeping me sane at work. But there are a few advancements that I think we as a society could do without, and Twitter is a great example. Thankfully, only the technocrats know exactly what its for and use it often, but what it basically does is lets you give live up-to-the-minute updates about your thoughts to people who are subscribed to your twitter. You post to twitter by just sending a text message, or on their website, and it then texts everyone who has subscribed to you. But what practical application is there, really?

If my friends want to do something, they either text or call my cell. They all have cell phones. And while there is some voyeristic leanings with this service that makes it interesting, its not interesting enough to anyone what I think or feel any given minute. Myspace was useful only because it lets the luddites create a webpage and others easily find and link their webpage to yours. This is not new, just look at Geocities back in the day. In fact, the only difference between Geocities and Myspace, is that Geocities didn't have the foresight to make it easy for people to link to one another and post comments, show who is your friend, in house email system, free easy to use blog software. To their credit, they did their best to be a free website host, but imagine what if. Now, it seems, that the masses attracted to Myspace may leave it for the same reason they joined. Facebook, with their recent inclusion of people not neccessarily in college may be the 'next new thing', who knows.

All I know for a fact is my circle of friends doesn't really need to know what I'm doing at any given moment, its too impractical.

Army Blocks Youtube, Myspace, Fun Times

First thing is first. I don't know why this is so much a big deal. Yes, it sucks that our soldiers can't talk to people on Myspace (which in some circles is the only method of communication) but I don't think its censorship. Basically, not only is it a security risk but streaming Youtube is heavy on bandwidth uses. Is it fair? Not really. But my work doesn't even let me access my blog competely. Its not out of malice but basically they don't want our workers destroying the network with traffic thats not legit traffic but rather traffic that makes money. Same problem but on a worldwide, closed network.

I don't understand how this is censorship. Pretty much I just feel that its not out of reach of speculation that all of that traffic would cause congestion. People put so many pictures and movies that its even worse then Youtube on a good day.

In the end I guess it looks bad on the military again, and especially while they deserve it more often then not. I guess in my humble opinion, this time its unwarrented.

Link

How Very Meta of You

Consumption of news is changing by the minute this seems, but what seems interesting is what it means. I am by no means normal, but what I notice is that people are aggregating news more often. For example I use Google Reader to read things that I frequent on the web, but the downside is that doesn't lead to content discovery. For that I use StumbleUpon or Digg to find new things that other people think are cool, and continue the consumption. But all of that is very digital. I don't mind sitting in front of a computer staring at a screen, but reading a newspaper on the loo is equally as nice. One thing I can't get enough of is the podcasting scene. Granted, now I'm a Mac convert (really I'm OS agnostic, but anyway) so podcasting has always been an easy endeavor. Something else though that's important for the podcasting formula is that you have to be free to listen to it for an hour or so daily, whether in the car or what have you, and to that end sometimes NPR is way better at keeping you up-to-date.

In the end, I'm just amazed at the level of opinion there is to be had on the web. The very fact there is a blogosphere mystifies me. People commenting on peoples comments who read from a Digg thread about a rumor from someone else who twittered it from a convention floor. Seriously people, that's enough. When you Digg something about a post on BoingBoing which got it from oddball section of Reuters...at what point do we just buy a newspaper.

Disclaimer: If you don't understand what in the world is being said, don't worry at all. To be honest, its only important to the people involved and is probably an adult version of the fervor Myspace creates. The only reason why it gets interesting at all is again an easier way to digitally stalk someone. That being said, if you want to find my digital footprint, just google my pseudonym DeathscytheH64, which I imagine is infinitely easier to find out what I'm doing then finding my address and driving in front of my house.

Call for Help: Resurrected

Being a huge TechTV fan, when I read on Digg that Chris Pirillo had started a new pseudo call for help, I was instantly curious. Because really, every TechTV fan has at one point or another secretly wished that somehow all of those people could make a tech show and be paid as handsomely as any actor or actress who stars on the next CSI spin-off. Alas, however, this is not the case. But through following their expliots, I have come across some interesting tech for consuming the same content but in new and free options. My favorite examples are Diggnation, which is based on the social news website Kevin Rose created (by the way, my profile page is here) and This Week in Tech (or TWiT as its seen around the net), and now I've found another. Chris Pirillo Live, as its called, is vastly different then Diggnation's videocast or TWiT's podcast, but more akin to the word netcast then how Leo Laporte tried to coin the term (find out why podcast might be a hot term here). People open the page, and on it streams a live webcam with Chris Pirillo's happy mug on it as he answers questions from a chat room on the page. This chat room, when viewed as it was being dugg last night, quickly devolved into a melting pot of obscurity and internet slang. The good news though is that he promised that tomorrow would be different as there would be more serious people and not the entire Digg community, unmoderated.

That unmoderation and what Pirillo himself said was the most damning thing about Digg users in general. Their language and breadth of topics do not stray very far from the sort of racist and homophobic banter of Xbox Live on Halo 2. The majority of the questions were pretty much this:

Do you play Counter Strike: Source? No
Where did you go to school and what was your major? University of Iowa, Magna Cum Laude, English
Who is your hawt asian girlfriend? My wife Ponzi (Latthanapon Indharasophang), met on Match.com but use manyfishinthesea.com!
Do a barrel roll. (ytmnd reference)
Put a shoe on your head. (urban dictionary definition)
What car do you drive? (Didn't pay attention)
Do you play World of Warcraft? No
What do you do for a living? "This!" He exclaims.
Why are you acting like a tool? (laughter)

Welp, I'm holding Chris to his word and checking it out tonight whats in store. Not sure if I'll ask any questions but on thing is for sure...


...its gonna be entertaining.

Free Things You Should Know About

Ah the internet...
If there was any cool thing about the internet that wasn't being used enough it is podcasting (and videocasting). Imagine this. You are starting at your TV looking for things to watch. If you don't have TiVo (or your favorite digital TV recorder) you're stuck watching whatever comes by. Those of us blessed by having a TiVo-thingy know that you can watch your favorite shows anytime you want to, as long as it recorded it. What could be better then that? You can skip the commericals in recorded shows, rewind, save it forever. I'll tell you whats better. But first, some history.

Before there was any mention of I's or Pod's there was Red vs. Blue (RvB). RvB was a gamers kind of show, a Spy vs. Spy using the Halo universe as its stage and (mostly) without fail, would post a new webisode up for free, on the internet, with their own money for bandwidth. With iTunes leading the charge, there are venues where you could download these shows automatically for free. Let me tell you a day in the life for me.

I wake up, walk downstairs and immediately open iTunes. It starts downloading everything thats been updating for that day of things I listen to or watch on my video iPod. Podcasts, which are like blocks of audio shows that download like what I just described, and also whole shows on video. Most of whats from the old TechTv guys are now producing some of the best on the web. Dl.tv, Diggnation, Ctrl+Alt+Chicken, Meet the Press, etc are all shows that are available for free on download. And if you can make your way from the computer to TV, will be better then TiVo will ever be. §