Fray CDs in Apple Store
Just a thought from 28 January 2004 about Apple, Fray, Geek.

Attention all you iTunes users! The two original Fray CDs (Fray Day 5 and Fray Cafe 3) are both now available in the Apple iTunes Music Store! Click these if you're among the iTunes-addled: Fray Day 5 and Fray Cafe 3. Buy and enjoy! Just don't tell Apple you can listen to all that and more in the Fray Audio Archive for free.

Orkut? Kaput!
Just a thought from 26 January 2004 about Geek.

Having a last name like "Powazek" makes a guy fairly sensitive to personal noun pronunciation difficulties. Still, with all the talk about Orkut going around the last few days, I've found myself trying to pronounce it correctly, just so, yaknow, the pets and the houseplants understand what I'm murmuring about.

Problem is, the word only conjured up one other word in my mind. You know how some words just remind you of other words for no good reason? Well, every time I read "Orkut" my brain said: "Kaput!"

Which led to some amusing internal conversations: Orkut? Kaput! Awooorcooot? Kapoooot!

Then I tried to log in to Orkut this morning, and guess what, it is kaput!

We've taken orkut.com offline as we implement some improvements and upgrades suggested by users. Since orkut is in the very early stages of development, it's likely to be up and down quite a bit during the coming months. None of the information you've entered will be deleted, and none of the connections you've made will be lost. And, if all goes well, you should see some significant improvements when we come back online.

I can't say it's unexpected. When my Orkut mailbox became stuffed with users sending messages to the entire userbase about how there's this bug that allows users to, well, send messages to the entire userbase, I knew that, Houston, we have a problem.

But the real problem with all of these social software services, as many others have said, is there's nothing to do once you've whipped out your friends list and seen who's is bigger. It's yet another variation on the old Gertrude Stein quote: There's no there there. Of course, she was talking about Oakland.

Investing in these services is work. It's work for me, and it's work for my friends who have to make that agonizing decision: Is Derek Powazek your friend? Yes or no, buddy, there is no in between.

And what do I get for all that work? The ability to send email to my friends? Heck, I had that already and I barely use it. The ability to know who my friend's friends are? This is San Francisco, we already know all of our friend's friends, and most of the time we want less connection with them, not more.

In the virtual community biz, there's always a thin line between creating avenues for connection where there's an actual human need, and being that annoying camp counselor with the clipboard and microphone, screaming, "Everybody now! Sing along!"

I used to be a camp song leader, so trust me when I say I know how annoying they are. Until these social software sites can fulfill a need I actually have, instead of one they have to convince me I have, they're just going to be another iteration of the messageboard fad.

Ribs
Just a thought from 23 January 2004 about .

Real life gets a little bit more like The Onion every day.

Are Democrats Stupid?
Just a thought from 19 January 2004 about .

Or is it just Iowa Democrats that are stupid?

It looks like the first Democratic caucus is going to Kerry. Kerry! The man is about as engaging as watching mold grow (no offense to any mold-studying readers).

Every time I see Kerry, I find myself looking for the bolts on his neck. I mean, really, if he wasn't assembled from dead bodies and brought to life with a lightning bolt by a mad scientist, I'm sure it was something else just as unnatural.

It's like the Democrats want to lose.

Update: Bryan's got a good point.

Go see Big Fish
Just a thought from 19 January 2004 about .

[Cross-posed from Storyblog because, really, I mean it.] If you're someone who likes great stories, if you're someone who's spent any time at all thinking about the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, and the thin, blurry line between truth and fiction ... heck, if you've got eyeballs that work, go see Big Fish. Don't read the reviews - just go. I can't remember the last time I was so touched by a movie, and I can't think of a single other movie that better captures the power of storytelling. Go see this movie. Trust me.

Hooray for Movable Type!
Just a thought from 15 January 2004 about Geek.

This is a geek heavy day, I know, but I had to add one more....

Movable Type 2.66 is out and it adds a few features designed to fight the rising tide of comment spam. (For the non-geeks, "comment spam" refers to evil people who use programs to post ads for their sites in the comments of Movable Type-powered sites. Mostly they do this to increase their page rank in Google, because Google smartly uses incoming links to determine the importance of a page. Anyway....)

A while back, I stepped up onto a soapbox and blamed Google for the plague of comment spam. I still believe it to be true, but I doubt Google will ever see it that way, so it's up to us to fix it. And fix it we shall.

The new version of MT includes some smart ways for the program to stop spammers. For example, how often does a human post 12 times in a second? Never. So why let any poster do so? This new version will put a stop to abusive comment spam bots.

But the feature I'm stoked about is now the links that authors add to their name in comments will not link directly to their sites. Instead, they'll redirect first, effectively eliminating the Google PageRank boost this kind of spam was giving to the spammers.

This shows, once again, that Ben and Mena aren't just making a great product, but they're looking out for the health of weblogs and the web in general. Bravo, guys. Bravo.

If you run a Movable Type-powered site with comments on, I urge you to upgrade now!

KnowSpam 200k
Just a thought from 15 January 2004 about Geek.

It's been under three months since my KnowSpam ticker hit 100k, and sometime last night it hit 200k. Since I hit the first 100k four months after I installed it, this means my spam intake has increased by about 25%. Whee.

Note
Just a thought from 14 January 2004 about .

I shamelessly pilfered the last two links from Stewart. I could never find such things on my own.

News flash: Geeks actually socialize!
Just a thought from 14 January 2004 about .

I'm just bookmarking this so that next time someone hits me with the ol' bowling-alone / computers-are-alienating spiel, I can print it out and hit them over the head with it.

CNN: New study shatters Internet 'geek' image
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- The typical Internet user -- far from being a geek -- shuns television and actively socializes with friends, a study on surfing habits said on Wednesday.

And the Slashdotters all said in unison: No duh!

Accents from places I've never been
Just a thought from 14 January 2004 about .

So this site has sound clips of people reading the following text in English, with accents from all over the world. I'm sure it's all academic and important, but I just like hearing the accents. And, after hearing it a few times, the text itself forms a kind of Zen koan.

Please call Stella.  Ask her to bring these things with her from the store:  Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob.  We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids.  She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

Be sure to listen to Ewe and Sicilian. Wonderful stuff.

Bonus LazyWeb idea! Someone should make a website where people could upload their own mp3 reading of this text and mark their location. Imagine a giant database of accents, down to the most minute difference. Personally, I can pick a Long Beach from an Orange County from a Hayward, can't you?

A new site
Just a thought from 11 January 2004 about Photos.

My photos now have a proper home. Please drop by Ephemera and see.

Unquote
Just a thought from 7 January 2004 about .

"A man is what he is; not what he was."

~ Yiddish proverb

More »

Apple's Revisionist History
Just a thought from 6 January 2004 about Apple, Geek, iPod.

Apple showed its classic 1984 Macintosh ad today at MacWorld San Francisco, but with a twist: they digitally grafted an iPod on to the runner. The result is strangely disturbing, both because they're revising their own history, and also because, well, isn't infiltrating a militaristic compound with a huge mallet while listening to music kinda dangerous?

She Said Yes
Just a thought from 2 January 2004 about Photos.

And then she said to me ...
Just a thought from 1 January 2004 about .

The world is new to us every morning – this is the universe's gift to us, and every person can be reborn each day.

Of course, some days are newer than others.