Things to Feel Good About
My blog is still the first result in a Google search for "musepack blows".
Alter Ego Narrated Slideshow
New Scientist is hosting a narrated slideshow of some of the portraits from the upcoming book Alter Ego which presents photos of people and their in-game representations, or avatars. I like that the presentation covers a wide spectrum of what people get out of online gaming, from mere entertainment to rehabilitation and commerce.
I always enjoyed meeting interesting new people while playing World of Warcraft, and I personally "met" many people for whom the game provided a means to communicate and socialize in an environment where their disabilities had little or no impact.
In Case You Haven’t Felt Old Yet Today
Paul Ruebens (you know, Pee-Wee Herman) is 54 years old.
Bringo: Web Service to Skip Phone Systems
Bringo is a service that will skip through an automated phone system and then call you when it is connecting to a representative. Since I am relationally obligated to say that automated phone systems are only really hated because they suffer from rather endemic poor design I won't champion this service too much, but you have to admit it's a pretty cool idea. You select the service (they probably have static maps of the phone trees stored), provide a call back number and wait for Bringo to ring you back.
One does wonder, however, how they plan to make money out from this.
Congressional Food Stamp Challenge
A couple of Congresspeople are subsisting on food stamps for a week to experience what it's like for the working poor in the U.S. They have $21 to last them 7 days. That's the average amount of federal assistance a food stamp recipient gets a week. $3 a day.
As an added bonus, both of them are blogging about the experience so we can all read along. I think this is a really great exercise. It was also recently undertaken by Ted Kulongoski, the governor of Oregon.
Flickr Embroiled in Minor Web Scandal
There's a long, complicated story going on, with Flickr caught in the middle. A Flickr user found an online store selling their photos without permission and posted to Flickr about it. The thread reaches 450 comments before being removed by Flickr admins, which, of course, causes a Slashdot front page post.
Death threats, misunderstandings and cache. I love watching these little net dramas play out. When it's all said and done, I wonder how much this mess weighs, in kilobytes.
37signals Launches a Product Blog
The guys at 37signals have launched a blog devoted entirely to updates and information about their product line. I've been using Backpack for a while now and loving it. Loving it so much, in fact, that I want to start a consulting company just so I can have an excuse to use Basecamp to manage a project.
Maybe I'll sign up for the free version and just manage my CSI: Miami-watching schedule with it.
Matthowie’s “Fortuitous”
Matt Haughey's new blog Fortuitous is off to a great start. Matt's been able to turn his various online projects into a full-time job and he's started Fortuitious to write about his experiences running communities and a business online.