Geek

Generation M

In Geek, Technology, Weblogs on 31 May 2006 with Comments Off

I’m 33. That means I’m stuck somewhere in between Generation X and Y. Generation X was stereotyped as lazy postmodernists, too comfy with our liberal arts degrees to get off the couch and do anything. Generation Y was defined by being, um, younger than that.
Frankly, I never saw much connection between myself and those labels. [...]

The Importance of Creative Procrastination

In Design, Geek, Internet on 22 May 2006 with Comments Off

Coders and designers, we’re from different tribes. Name any issue and we’ll neatly divide into sides: form and function, information and experience, oil and water. Of course, no good website happens without both. So it’s worth noting when we find a piece of common ground on our own.
Exhibit A: Deane Barker, writing at Gadgetopia. He’s [...]

Back in Black

In Apple, Design, Geek, Technology on 18 May 2006 with Comments Off

My first laptop was a black Apple Powerbook G3, aka the WallStreet. I dragged the ten pound sucker across Europe in a backpack. I’ve had many computers before and since, but this was the one I pecked out stories on while riding trains through the European countryside, the one I fell asleep next to in [...]

Thanks a lot, Apple

In Apple, Geek, TV, Technology on 12 May 2006 with Comments Off

I’ve used Apple computers since high school. If it wasn’t for the Mac, I probably wouldn’t have wound up working for newspapers, getting into the web, moving to San Francisco, and living the life I have now. I’ve sung the Mac’s praises to friends and family for almost twenty years.
And now I know what, [...]

The Wisdom of Browse

In Design, Geek, Internet on 20 April 2006 with Comments Off

There’s some drama afoot lately as bloggers pick apart Digg’s user-controlled editorial system, looking for evidence of editors lurking in the darkness. But much of the conversation is overlooking a crucial nuance when it comes to authentic media and democratic editorial systems.
For the uninitiated, Digg is a tech news site, where the members post links [...]

Design for Selfishness

In Design, Folksonomy, Geek, Internet, Tags, Technorati on 11 April 2006 with Comments Off

In 1996, Paulina Borsook wrote a story that, frankly, really pissed me off. In “Cyberselfish,” published in Mother Jones and eventually turned into a book, she wrote about how new have-it-your-way technology was creating a generation of spoiled brats with computers.
I took umbrage. Not only was I a proud member of the generation she [...]

Death to User-Generated Content

In Blogging, Flickr, Geek, Internet, Journalism on 4 April 2006 with Comments Off

Dear internet,
Can I make a suggestion? Let’s all stop using the phrase “user-generated content.” I’m serious. It’s a despicable, terrible term. Let’s deconstruct it.
User: One who uses. Like, you know, a junkie.
Generated: Like a generator, engine. Like, you know, a robot.
Content: Something that fills a box. Like, you know, packing peanuts.
So what’s user-generated content? [...]

I Live in the Future

In Design, ETech, Geek, Internet, Powazek, Technorati on 23 March 2006 with Comments Off

So today I found myself at home, sitting on the couch, plugged into my laptop. I was talking to a gentleman in Australia, where it was already the next day, over the internet with Skype. We talked about the web, blogging, and community, while his daughter squealed in the background. He recorded the conversation and [...]

Dear Business Week

In Fray, Geek, Internet, Journalism on 18 March 2006 with Comments Off

Thanks for featuring Fray, my humble site, in the lead of your recent story, You Are What You Post. We always appreciate journalists taking the time to use a 5 year-old personal story contributed to our “obscure” literary site as a to peg to hang a fear-mongering, hysterical story on.
But it would have been nice [...]

Four Themes from skinnyCorp

In Conferences, Design, Flickr, Geek, Internet, SXSW on 15 March 2006 with Comments Off

Another one of my favorite sessions at SXSW Interactive 2006 was Zero-Advertising Brands, where we got to watch Maggie Mason talk to the guys from skinnyCorp, the makers of Threadless among other creative commerce/community hybrids.
One of my favorite things about talking to folks that really get the user-generated web, is that when they tell [...]