I spent yesterday wandering round the Natural History Museum; obviously they have not yet cuaght up with prevailing trends in the US as evolution was the only thoery discussed throughout. It’s interesting seeing the different halls and stages in development of the museum. In the older section, it’s full of panoramas, stuffed animals displayed in […]
Round Up
More stuff. Blake Ross has an irony-laden take on Airport Secuity which rings some bells; especially with the the apparent lack of care I often see in various airports; there’s lot’s of people doing the job, just few looking like they care about it. The lady at the entrance to the security line asks to […]
Promise TV
PromiseTV, as seen at OpenTech, is gathering steam and, in conjunction with the BBC, looking at open-sourcing the project. I’d love this – it means that I may have been able to watch Lost which premiered this week in the UK and by all accounts was brilliant.
Evolutionary Design
I can’t help but notice the current education debate in the US regarding the teaching of evolutionary theory vs ‘intelligent design’; the first being development based primarily on small selection pressures with an element of randomisation and the second based on the premise that something, somewhere had a hand in guiding the development of life, […]
Stop and Think
If today was your last day, did you do somethng you’d be happy with? A thoughtful post from Evelyn Rodriguez about making sure your life is worth living.
WiFi Service
I read Doc Searls post about free wifi/connectivity the other day. I stayed at a Marriott with free connection but currently I’m in a W hotel which charges $17 dollars for 24 hours connection. Expensive, but the company is paying! However, this evening I got a call from the hotel Customer Services performing a satisfaction […]
Round Up
Some stuff that caught my eye today. Via Adverblog, a Renault Megane ad video that is unlikely to make primetime TV. It definitely takes to an extreme the use of scantily clad women to advertise cars. An unusual defence against the purchase of beer for someone who is underage – that the Miller Genuine Draft […]
Ever changing face of English
The second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English is published this week, with a raft of new words. Of interest are some of the following definitions; – chugger – a person who approaches passers-by in the street asking for donations or subscriptions to a particular charity. – offshoring – the practice of basing some […]
Podcasting: Bubble or Mainstream
No-one is sure. At the same time as the term “Podcast” (digital recording of a radio broadcast made available on the internet for downloading to a personal audio player) enters the Oxford Dictionary of English, its demise is already being predicted. Forrester Research Analyst Ted Schadler is expecting a boom and then a long tail […]
While away a few moment
A couple of sites via Adverblog to waste a few moments at work. The first is from Snickers (and I still always say Marathon in my head), a site with a daily changing game or interesting flash peice. The second is from Virgin Atlantic Australia, a amusing little game to let you know how all […]
Spam Blogs
Dave Sifry has posted his report on spam and fake blogs. This has less numbers than the previous updates and is is more a decription piece, with details of the varuous types of spamming and a summary of the kinds of actions that have been done and what is planned. What is clear is that […]
State of the Blogosphere
I’ve read the Comcast report, I’ve also read Jason Colacanis’s challenge to the figures. WIth a finding that 30% of the US internet population, close to 50 million people, have visited a blog (even if they do not realise it’s a blog) then it has to have interest to the monetizers if the internet, especially […]
Overload
I take 2 days with limited time and minimal access to the web and there’s far too much to read. But it looks like AOL start an interesting sweepstake in the US tomorrow, giving away $20k in gold bars, $75k in cash and a 2003 Hummer, all of which were seized from spammers following court […]
TV Ads are dead?
Hugh again challenges traditional marketing for big brands, but instead of suggesting ‘new media’ as an alterntive thinks there is no hope for such brands. In the multi-billion dollar suicide pact between clients and television and the earlier post about letting big media stay focused on what they think works why others just get on […]
MSN Filter
Must say the MSN Filter leaves me a little underwhelmed. I’m not sure exactly what it is trying to do, the interface/portal just feels a little staid and the lack of personalisation (ie who writes) is annoying. If you look there are posts about who is doing what, but nothing jumps out at you. Interstingly, […]
Link Bias
Danah Boyd has written about link bias using a random smaple. Although she says that her conclusions are not firm enough to be called findings, they provide good indicators into some online behaviours. Looking at the Technorati 100, many of which are group blogs, often with some financial incentive she concludes that regardless of the […]
Airports
I actually managed to get a massage at the Spa in the airport lounge; with that and the champagne I was all set up for the flight. Pity about the hours delay sitting on the tarmac at the other end when they couldn’t find somewhere to park. Meanwhile, here’s Fruitstock, a free festival in Regent’s […]
Blogging in the Times
India Knight has a piece in the Sunday Times today about the rise of blogs. As with many of the articles in the press this week, despite a mention of an Iraqi blogger Sallam Pax, it focuses in gossip and online diaries, not the multitude of other uses that can be found. I guess it’s […]
Ranking algorithms
Mary Hodder has blogged her starting point for a new kind of ranking, an effort to measure the social relationships across blogs and posts. There’s a lot of information and suggestions in the post; some of the things suggested may not be possible, but at this is a start.
The rise of tagging
In part 3 of Sifry’s review of the blogosphere, he reviews tagging, which really started taking off at the beginning of the year. Key points: one third of posts are tagged about 12000 new tags are created daily, espeically in languages other than English. I’m expecting the former number to increase and the latter to […]