I’m still not convinced at the effectiveness of this service. Almost a year ago, Reuters in collaboration with Yahoo announced the Youwitness News platform. If you see a newsworthy event, you are asked to send the picture to YouWitness, either by emailing it to pics@reuters.com or visiting the YouWitness site. Reuters editors review the pictures [...]

REBLOGGED FROM KOTTKE.ORG

The design of the iPhone is such that all other mobile phones, including those released after the iPhone, look not only old but antiquated and even defective. IMO.
(link)

REBLOGGED FROM O’REILLY RADAR
By Brady Forrest

OpenAerialMap is a site for collecting, hosting, and mapping freely available aerial imagery. The project comes at a good time. There is increasing interest in DIY aerial imagery. DIY Drones is a community started by Chris Anderson for aerial imagery enthusiasts. Commercial venture Pict’Earth offer aerial imagery systems that includes [...]

I found this one on str8hiphop.com. These 50K diamond encrusted AF1s were presented to Outkast’s Antwan “Big Boi” Patton by Laced Up owner Ernel Dawkins and P&C Couture boutique owner Rita Patel. The sneaker was dipped covered in 11 carats of chocolate champagne diamonds from India. Ernel Dawkins was quoted as saying “When [...]

Neighbornode was a project I created for a class at ITP in early 2004. I spent just twelve weeks coming up with the idea, building it and launching it in New York’s East Village. When I put up the first router at my friend Mo’s apartment, I figured it would go up, I’d [...]

Nicholas Negroponte’s plan to get $100 laptop computers into the hands of the world’s poorest children has been derailed. For-profit companies threatened by the projected $100 price tag have forced the hand of brands such as Intel to provide other discounted laptops such as Intel’s Classmate laptop which currently goes for between $230 and $300. [...]

Google’s new beta version of its Google Maps for Mobile now includes location-based information that utilizes cell triangulation. Although, not as accurate as using GPS for location positioning, Google predicts that the new application can locate you within 500 or 5,000 meters. The application works with BlackBerry devices, some newer Motorola and Sony Ericsson devices [...]

[via trendcentral]
Recently launched in Japan, a new virtual world called Chipuya Town allows users to take their gaming on-the-go through the use of any Flash-enabled cell phone. Although it’s somewhat similar to popular virtual fictional world Second Life, it differs in that users create avatars which they use to walk around and interact with a [...]

Mobile post sent by jonnygoldstein using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

Mobile post sent by jonnygoldstein using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

more christmas present ideas…some cool products on sale on moss.com this week: a ring, a radio, and…an ice-stopper glass!check them out >

need a Christmas present idea?This cute photo hanger designed by +d’s Juuta Kan is really versatile. Use more than one to hang large prints!check out the site: http://www.plus-d.com/photo_hanger/from Core77 via mocoloco

When my Dell laptop finally gave up the ghost, I took the opportunity to switch back to the Mac. I had last used the Mac regularly back in 1993, in grad school at NYU, when it was a vertical box with a grey-toned monochrome monitor and a little smiley computer icon that greeted the user at start-up. I had never lost my affection for the Mac, but we drifted apart from each other as Windows captured the business user market and I, unfortunately, was a business user. We lost touch, the Mac and I, but I never forgot her. Recently…

ShiftSpace Commissions 10 grants of up to $2000, deadline: Feb 25th
[ — Please circulate widely between your friends, peers, students, blogs and lists — ]
November 5, 2007
Turbulence Commission: “The ShiftSpace Commissions Program” by Dan Phiffer and Mushon Zer-Aviv
http://turbulence.org/works/shiftspace
Turbulence has commissioned ShiftSpace and now ShiftSpace commissions you.
Ten development grants of up to $2,000 will be [...]

Button typography. Very bespoke. Similar to minimal type faces made from 5X7 grid or LCD calculator numerals, I had never seen, or thought possible for that matter, that all the letterforms would be possible. You can download the font as well.
via Michael Surtees’ very excellent DesignNotes

It may have been the cold. Or it may have been the passing of that last Holiday. Even the fading bitter-sweet fanfare of it’s passing. In rapt anticipation I was held all month, through countless distractions and wanderings. Head in the clouds is a drastic understatement. Like a bird, and the song, thanks Nelly.

And it was all of those things, all that I imagined and hoped.

However when I stepped back to reality, and oops gravity the realization had the crisp clarity of thin ice held up to the sun. In the cold air the ice melts in the light and through it can be seen the world, time and the rest, but then it’s gone never to return. Monday had me a bit out of sorts as I was in physically exhausted, by Tuesday that had more or less passed, though I am still fighting out of it. On Tuesday the emotional exhaustion set in.

Herein lies a fractal. A kaleidoscope of thoughts, feelings and experienced compressed into a flash, and the ice cracked. There are a million ways to die. One being falling through the ice. I applied for rent control in May and I have been in that process since, on monday I received notice that my application had been terminated. Which justifiably necessitated an appeal, because that had added my income for two years, which still wasn’t much, but more than their quota. Anyway, this brought to the surface a rather intense fear that I have and that is the difficulty that Manhattan can be. As the ping went to shore of the crack, I knew it was on it’s way.

So I began worrying about what is happening for the next two months, as I am not working, and there are no plans. I don’t have solid living arrangements, job or activities. This all could be heard in the twang of the ice. And then as the hours of night slipped slowly past. I began to think about what happens this summer, next year?

It came in seconds. Kind of like ice cracking. You hear the sound, it gets worse, and then it’s too late.

Jump forward about three hours and in a dream the floor turned to ice, and I heard the familiar. This time I fell in.

Just now setting up shop…
Planning on a meeting this weekend. Stay tuned for details.
If you would like to lend a hand in planning, blogging, or if you are a WordPress wizard (the blog software used to make this site) please email the address in the header… I will get mail at that address.
My goal is [...]

Yes, we finally have. I can say it officially. Sure, there’s still a TV and an ironing board in our old place, not to mention all the holes we still have to putty, but we won’t get to that stuff until we actually have to give the keys back.

We’ve been moving for the [...]

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Join a live conversation with two of the most fascinating people in social media today, Jim Long and Loic Le Meur, this Wednesday, Nov 28, at 9PM EST right here at jonnygoldstein.com.

Jim Long
[...]

In this audio piece, I talk about Jeff Pulver’s talk show, stepping up my game, and how Operator11 is making a big mistake by not letting their users know what is going on with their website problems. Their site (which I use to stream my live video talk shows, and in general, I love) has [...]

“The 1492nd dorkbot-nyc meeting will take place at 7pm on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at Location One in SoHo.” And I’ll be showing my stuff! Experimental Devices for Performance comes out out of it’s fall hiatus and rears it’s experimental head to the SoHo masses. I’ll be featured with the other [...]

In my post yesterday, I mentioned that the writers’ strike would give corporations an opportunity to explore alternative advertising approaches. A friend of mine responded to my post wondering if we were going to see a return to “the days…

NBC Universal and TiVo are two companies making television history. The two companies recently struck a deal that would create CLICKABLE ADVERTISEMENTS. From the NYTimes
“With proliferating media options and changing consumer behavior, our clients are asking for new ideas, better metrics, and more accountability,” Mike Pilot, president, NBC Universal Sales and Marketing, said in [...]

More here…Thank you Peter Miller.

Several people have asked me recently about my thoughts on Google’s recent release at the beginning of this month of Open Social, a set of common APIs for building social applications on the web. Since I have really been neglecting my blog over the last few months, I figured I would begin by discussing my (still quite undeveloped) thoughts on this project.

First, I think it is quite obvious that Open Social is an incredibly smart idea in theory. It is a set of three common APIs, defined by Google with input from partners, that allow developers to access core functions and information at social networks such as profile information, friends Information and social activities, things that would be found in Facebook’s news feed for example. It also allows developers lots of latitude with respect to how their applications are created instead of relying on a proprietary mark-up language the way Facebook does. Developers can use normal javascript and html and can even embed Flash elements. But the advantage of this approach is really its ability to provide developers with one way to reach users across multiple different platforms. Initial partners include LinkedIn, Ning, Hi5, Plaxo and Friendster with developers like Flixster, iLike, RockYou and Slide already developing applications.

The problem is, however, that in order for Open Social to integrate into a platform, the platform itself has to become a ‘host’. This means that instead of developers going where the critical mass of users are (i.e. facebook or myspace) they must wait for the platforms these users have already integrated their social activities into to come to them. This is not necessarily a problem if popular platforms open up to the project and many have. But what would be the advantage to the giants in social networking of doing so, particularly in the case of Facebook?

Since its release, many people have stated that this is a blatant attack on Facebook where it is the weakest, its quintessential closed nature. But it is its closed nature that has been attracting record numbers of users, particularly internationally. The integration of applications within this closed environment means that users have control over their information and social connections, while still bing able to easily utilize incredible amounts of functionality with a mouse click. And lets not forget that the adoption of applications is viral thanks to the news feed. Developers have the ability to tap into a huge user base that is already paying attention.

Now, I am not intending to sing Facebook’s praises unconditionally. Any developer knows that, while creating an app for the platform is quite simple, its restrictions and limitations are incredibly frustrating at times. It has also become frustrating to attempt to reach users across multiple platforms, having to learn different APIs or method of creating applications that will work in different situations. Open Social gets rid of this problem. It also gets rid of the need for developers to find hosting solutions for their applications, something that many of the more popular Facebook apps, such as iLike, had to struggle with in the beginning when their user base shot up exponentially overnight. It also takes a lot of the strain off of the platforms themselves. Imagine, for instance, how much of a project the Facebook Developer platform was for the in-house developers.

All in all, I think where Open Social will initially have the most success is with the less popular social networks and smaller developers who have good reason to participate since Google will be doing all the heavy lifting. But I don’t see this as being a Facebook killer, at least not in its present incarnation. While I am a firm believer that the future of social software is indeed moving towards a more open and less proprietary environment, Open Social is still relying on its success through integration with the proprietary. And the leaders in that field have very little incentive to join the band wagon. Developers of these kind of integrated applications, however, will naturally be excited to try out something new. But the bottom line is, developers flock to where the users are and the users are, for the time being, on Facebook and Myspace.

Portal is a game where you can place holes (er, portals!) in walls to create entrances and exits and jump from one space to another. It really plays with your sense of space, check out the demo on YouTube for a better description– it looks really chal…

I don’t have a TV so when I feel like watching something I turn to the internet. There are a few sites that have popped up lately and I’ll try to review them all. Vuze.com is probably one of the most promising ones I’ve seen. They have millions of user…

Notes to self while developing Game Park on uLocate’s WHERE.com platform for Tele Atlas Attendee Choice Awards at CES 2008.- Building my application in http://azones.com/gamepark/- Useful samples scripts at http://wherephone.com/samples/History: Hollyw…

The writers’ strike in Hollywood has generated a lot of interesting commentary, most of it (not surprisingly) applauding the chutzpah of the writers and chastising the fossilized studios for their shortsightedness. Two of the more interesting stories - this L.A….

The UK government’s backing of Virgin Money to buy Northern Rock carries with it the potential for a much needed shake-up in the marketing of financial services. Financial services firms these days focus on vague promises of “living richly” (as…

• swivel.com - combine open data sets to create custom graphs
• Infinite Sessions in Facebook
  
  or: How to create FB apps that appear to be dynamic (rather than refresh when user interacts w/ the app)
• Passing by
  
  Videos taken from a bus riders’ point of view.

Links for 2007-11-26 [del.icio.us]:

• swivel.com - combine open data sets to create custom graphs
• Infinite Sessions in Facebook
  or: How to create FB apps that appear to be dynamic (rather than refresh when user interacts w/ the app)
• Passing by
  Videos taken from a bus riders’ point of view.

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Ohhhhh Yeah, originally uploaded by pecanjackson.

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photo.jpg, originally uploaded by pecanjackson.

Yesterday’s WSJ had an article (subscription req.) about the powerful opportunity that small business entrepreneurs have to build their brands. Earlier this year, I was featured in an article on the same topic. It’s true that small businesses in today’s…