Thursday, May 14, 2009

Online Communities
Fitness Singles

Are you a fitness fanatic? Do you triumph in triathlons? Melt over manicured muscles? Are you coming home alone every night after a killer workout and saying to yourself "Man, if only I could crash on the couch in exhaustion with someone else just like me"? Fitness Singles has heard your request and has arrived on the scene, and according to recent trends, search traffic for this site is on the rise.

Dating sites are about as old as the internet itself, and to me this site doesn't seem to present anything new and out of the ordinary. At this advanced stage in the internet dating scene we begin to see the emergence of dating sites for very real, very scary, and very specific interest groups. In comparison to these, it's about damn time the body builders got on board.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Computers & Electronics
Keyboard Cat


While some sit and esoterically contemplate and discuss the meaning of our existence, others may be combining their skills and passions to create beautiful works of art. Some may be working tirelessly on their professions, dreaming of the day their small business will finally thrive, and others post crap like Keyboard Cat on Youtube. Whenever I think that we as a society make progress towards cultural and intellectual betterment, it's shit like Keyboard Cat that send my positivity plummeting back towards Earth like a meteor. FML. Despite all the glory and praise Youtube may have received for breaking the conventions of broadcasting, it today serves as a reminder to all of us that for every person that listens to a Fireside Chat by FDR, 1000 more watch Charlie the Unicorn.


Monday, May 11, 2009

Internet
Wolfram Alpha

Soon to be launched this month is a new search engine that seems to be getting a lot of press. Wolfram Research, the company that brought you Mathematica contests that its product is not in competition with Google in terms of search, but provides services of an altogether separate sort.

Tech-savvy folk that are fluent in technobabble will be able to feed it certain queries, such as "when will there be another total solar eclipse in burma" and Wolfram's search engine will decypher the question, gather the data, and display it (hopefully) in a clear, understandable way.

What's unknown at this point is how single services sites like www.islostnewthisweek.com expect to compete.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Internet
Geocities



Yahoo has announced that it will be shutting off the lights on Geocities, a website which offers free websites to all. To some Geocities represents the pure, unhindered, wistful spirit of the internet. To others, it stands for all that is evil and wrong on the internet. As a freelance web designer, it set a prescident in terms of design and information architecture expectations that basically retarded the industry's ability to grow for years. Was it expressive in terms of an abstract art form and did it provide sociological insight? Sure. Was it fucking terrible as well? Yes. Good riddance, Geocities.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Computers & Electronics
Ubuntu 9.04 - "Jaunty Jackelope"

Somewhere in the damp, dusky corners of parent's basements, members of the Linux community joyously cry out in unison as Ubuntu 9.04 blinks its eyes and cautiously takes its first timid steps in the world of computing.

Initial distributions of Linux were anything but qualified for mass consumption by the mainstream, but recent versions especially distributions of Ubuntu, have become incredibly easy to install & operate. Should any suspicious critic counter with the argument of "Ah yes, but what about driver support? Surely Linux drivers are laughable at best," slap them. Devices made for your computer are increasingly offering Linux drivers.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Business
西部医药 - Western Medicine

Latest data from Google suggests that there's a huge upswing in the number of inquiries from China regarding Western Medicine. Could it be that a certain number of Chinese citizens are increasingly growing sick of pin pricks, herbal remidies, and astrological predictions? Possibly. Is this a reactionary surge in response to recent information regarding swine influenza? Possibly. Do I have any idea what I'm talking about? Absolutely not.
Telecommunications
The Nokia 1100

Nokia 1100
Why is a 6 year old phone without SMS, a calendar, alarm clock, music player, panini grill, or projector capabilities of interest to so many these days? It turns out that certain models of the Nokia 1100, one of the best selling cellphones in history (sorry Apple,) can also be used to commit bank fraud.

Several savvy hackers have found a way to allow this phone to receive text messages from other numbers, allowing them to intercept account information and passwords from their unsuspecting victims.

Lesson to be learned: When a nice Nigerian prince is kind enough to allow you to hold onto his massive fortune while he escapes the country, don't send your bank account information to him via SMS! It may be intercepted by OTHER thieves in Eastern Europe.