October 2007
As expected, Google has announced it’s newest venture: a social networking space. Contrary to things like Facebook, however, Google’s offering is completely open. I’m not sure what that will mean in practice, but I’m definitely looking forward to it. Some good reading here and here and here and here and here and here.
Logged into Gmail today to find IMAP service, a new contact manager, and just a more stable site. Looks like Gmail has been doing a lot to clean up these days.
Apparently, I’m not the only person in the world that spends over 50 hours a week working. Of course, we all know that crunch mode doesn’t work, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
I’ve been waiting for an invite to Hulu for a while, and still haven’t got one yet, so I’m a little upset about that. In the meantime, here is a good review of Hulu to check out while you wait for your invite. Check out the Hulu blog too.
If you live in Toronto, you use Facebook. That’s just the rule. Now, here’s a list of the 50 essential Toronto Facebook groups, courtesy of blogTO.
Cinema in Brief: Toronto Short Film Project →
A recent conversation I had reminded me of one thing that I may have forgotten in the past little while: film festivals are integral to increasing the exposure of short film in Canada, but equally important are the structures in place that make creating a short film possible. In that spirit, this month I went looking for some independent filmmakers to ask them about the challenges in crafting...
“The reality is that “average people” don’t create a lot of content — at least...”
– Scott Karp
There’s some fantastic daily entertainment over at The Superest. The rules are simple: Player 1 draws a character with a power. Player 2 then draws a character whose power cancels the power of that previous character. Repeat.
Working as a freelance PR writer and information strategist, there are few things that bother me more than writer’s block. Here are some tips from of Freelance Folder:
Write nothing but headlines.
Write ‘crap’ without feeling guilty.
Schedule regular time and show up, even if you think you can’t write.
Write about how you solved a problem.
Edit older articles.
Type out other...
More Twitter awesomeness: I’m getting new recipes in 140 characters or less by following Maureen’s Cookbook.
I’ve been attending quite a few conferences lately (just wrapped up the Euroventures Conference in Lisbon this weekend, and heading out to FOWD NYC and CYF6 next week) so this post by Scott Berkun on getting the most out of conferences is quite timely.
While I was out traveling, I completely missed this great post by Matt Haughey on how classical music is the future of the music industry. I’d have to say that I agree for the most part.
“The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year—or for...”
– PC World
With the World Series pretty much wrapped up, the Patriots being one of the greatest teams to ever play football, and Matt Ryan playing like he’s Doug Flutie and leading BC to the national championship, the only real question remaining is whether the Celtics can continue to make Boston proud and do well in the NBA this season.
According to one scientist, the human race will one day split into two separate species: an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures. Which totally means that unless I reproduce with someone that’s super-gorgeous, I’m dooming my offspring to the latter category.
The Happiness Project has a list of topics you should avoid if you don’t want to sound like a bore, and while I agree with most of them, here are a few more I’d like to add (from personal experience) to make the list more complete.
How much and why you hate your boss/coworker.
How drunk and wasted you got last weekend.
Details of your wedding plans (especially around single...
Tom Humberstone recently completed the 24-hour comics day exercise, and his comic about Crohn’s Disease really tugs at the heartstrings. A recommended read for everyone.
“I am extremely skeptical that Facebook could possibly live up to a $15 billion...”
– Sacha Peter
I’m on a bit of a typography kick lately, so I found this article on the font features in Leopard quite interesting. Check out the comments too, there’s some good stuff in there. In more typography-related links, be sure to check out this amazing video about typographic design featuring Steven Heller, Jonathan Hoefler, and Tobias Frere-Jones, and of course, the Elements of...
Can someone tell me if this movie is ever planning on opening in Toronto or London or any of the cities I routinely visit? Because I surely don’t want to miss it.
I know people have been talking about this for about 12-14 hours now, but the Gmail What’s New page has now officially announced IMAP support for Gmail. There’s a much longer post over on the Official Gmail Blog about the launch of IMAP, and for those of you who are curious as to how it all works, here’s some pretty extensive documentation.
It's a good time to be an Apple fan
A few quick thoughts before I head out to the airport for my work trip to Europe. As you are already aware, Apple’s market capitalization now exceeds that of Intel and IBM, and the Q4 2007 financial statement is more than positive when it comes to the company’s economic status.
I have already read several reports on how Apple got to this point, and why this is a good/bad thing...
My good buddy Chris Owens just alerted me to the fact that GMail is getting IMAP options, which is probably the most exciting news I’ve heard all day. Maybe all week.
The 7 Most Easily Escapable Movie Monsters
There are some monsters that I watch in the movies that freak me out to no end. Then there are others that seem so weak that I think I could take them out with one hand. Cracked.com has a list of the 7 most easily escapable movie monsters. Here’s a quick look:
Samara Morgan from The Ring
The Predator from Predator
Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The demon Pazuzu from...
I wasn’t an OiNK user, but today’s news of the popular music sharing website being taken down has been all over the internet. The most interesting piece of writing I’ve found on today’s developments has been from a musician (DJ Rapture) whose music was being shared on the site without his explicit permission. Rapture says:
“About a week after I shipped out orders...
Ever wanted someone to dance out your name? Now your dream is a reality.
WatchThis has got to be the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. And no, not just because I’m a huge fan of Bill Murray, but that’s part of it.
Did you know that Apple is the most valuable computer maker in the world? Us fanboys now have reason to rejoice!
“The point of “off the record” is to steer a journalist the right way...”
– Nelson Minar
I figured out the reason why I’m always so emotional: I just don’t get enough sleep. It’s true, science has proved it now.
I know I really shouldn’t be laughing about this, but this animated gif on how to commit suicide is pretty entertaining.
I’m a bit shocked that I haven’t read Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist before. Just going through some of the posts on the front page, I’ve already decided that it is one of the most interesting blogs I have read in a long while.
Is It Christmas? →
According to the Cross Border Shopping Calculator (thanks Michelle for the tip!) it is still cheaper for me to buy my new iMac here in Canada than out in the US.
Get Animated! at the NFB →
World Animation Day is coming up in six days, and for me, the excitement is palpable. After all, animated film happens to be one of my favorite things in the world, and on top of all of that, starting today, the National Film Board is launching week-long festivities in order to celebrate animation in our country.
“College is about learning theory (how to go beyond this place in time) and...”
– Greg Storey
The threat of the Writer’s Guild of America strike is now close to becoming a reality. What does that mean for us? Well, according to Time’s Rebecca Winters Keegan, here’s what we can expect from TV:
A heavy dose of reality and game shows
Late-night ad libs
The British Invasion
Developing newbies
Reruns
And here’s what we can expect from the film industry,...
The program for the 2008 LIFT Conference looks incredibly yummy. I’m making my plans to head over there…anyone else going?
“We started to click at the right time. When your team’s back is against...”
– Dustin Pedroia
“As more and more applications benefit from social interaction, connecting those...”
– Michael Sippey
This week’s Layer Tennis has been my favorite so far. Mainly because I think photography is much more fun than illustration, but also because I’ve been a fan of Chris Glass’ for years.
This wonderful post about the Zappos customer service makes me have hope about the future of corporations online.
11-1-07 →
No, it’s not some crazy movie by JJ Abrams: it’s the date of the new release of Tumblr.
Pogue’s got questions, and here are a few of them:
Why is Wi-Fi free at cheap hotels, but $14 a night at expensive ones?
What’s the real reason you have to turn off your laptop for takeoff?
How come there are still no viruses for Mac OS X? If it has 6 percent of the market, shouldn’t it have 6 percent of the viruses?
Laptops, cameras and cellphones have improved by a thousand percent...