I’ve been waiting for this day. A contact manager slash CRM for friends, family, anything you could possibly want. I hope to use this to keep in touch with the many people in my life. Check it out: HighRiseHQ.com and the launch announcement here.
It seems to be that time again: Valentine’s Day. The holiday most of us are forced to celebrate unwillingly. Why don’t we feel as compelled, if not more, to celebrate the useful holidays like Arbor Day? (Thanks, R).
If you’re looking for an excellent conference to attend this year you’re pretty lucki you’re reading this. I’ve been helping Noah organize the premiere conference about the present and future of online network and communities. Odds are, if you’re reading this you’re familiar with websites like Facebook, HotorNot, and Threadless. This conference will have speakers and attendees representing each of them (and many more). Community Next will be held February 10th at Stanford University and the early bird prices is $195 ($20 for a limited number of students). More information and a discount code after the jump…
David Cohen from ColoradoStartups.com pointed to a neat tool today. It’s called me.dium and it’s a browser tool that tracks your surfing behavior and helps you determine relevant sites near you. While browsing you have the option of viewing your me.dium map. This map shows sites “near” you in terms of relevancy. The relevancy is determined by a number of things based on users’ surfing patterns (and a slew of other things, I’m sure). For example, the Wall Street Journal yields the map shown here.
As you can see, sites like USAToday, the NY Times and Washington Post show up as sites near your current page. If other users happened to be browsing these sites (or the one you’re on) you can actually communicate with them and add them as a ‘friend’.
I like this tool so far because it helps me draw connections that I (and others) might not otherwise make. Sites like StumbleUpon and digg are great but they require a human to make a conscious decision. I’d need to find something interesting or something relevant and go through some sort of process to flag that page. In me.diums case, it does all this for you.
Currently, me.dium is in private beta and constantly looking for feedback and improvements. I’ve only been surfing for a few hours but it’s a very interesting concept.. If you’d like to try it out (the more users, the better a tool like this works) then leave a comment telling me who you are, where you’re from, and how you first found my site. If you’re a CU student then you can just signup with your @colorado.edu address (me.dium is local to Boulder, CO).
Many conversations with my Dad prompt some interesting thought and topical discussion so I figured I’d elaborate and share my thoughts here. He emailed me earlier this week pointing to the new Amazon service, Unbox. Additionally, he linked to the iTunes movie store. Does this mean the end of Blockbuster?
I can’t help but get a little political for a minute. I was discussing the primaries with a friend today. This individual was spending a bunch of time researching different candidates, peering deep into their websites and analyzing their plans and how they fit this person’s own beliefs, values, etc. The act, although commendable, is fruitless.
My main problem at that point in the conversation was the fact that we’re going to base decisions on information on a candidates website. Ideas are awesome. Everyone has them. Heck, anyone can have a plan too because, lets be honest, a plan is simply a bunch of ideas organized by priority and/or time. But to then trust this people and simply assume (or extrapolate) the notion that they’ll then execute these ideas… well, that’s just silly.
For starters, politicians have plenty of time to come up with ‘ideas’ and ‘plans’ before they’re elected. They don’t have too many responsibilities to take up their free time so they spend it brainstorming (and campaigning for a little bit, sure). While this may or may not be true I can picture a guy in a suit sitting at home doodling on his notepad with a picture of melting ice caps and a big fan trying to keep them cool. Then there are those in congress that run for re-election and win it something like 94% of the time. Incumbency is going to kill this country for one simple reason: these people are already politicians and don’t have time to sit around and doodle. Instead they have to go to meetings, lunches, and play golf with other politicians. The brainstorming process halts once you’re sworn in. If there’s no time for doodling do you believe for a second there’d be any room for ‘executing’ those ‘ideas’ from earlier? I rest my case…
Once in a blue moon you’ll find someone who really cares to do their job. The only problem being: they’re a freaking nut case. The only people who want to get out there and make changes are those who shouldn’t be allowed to make changes in the first place (or children for that matter). As Jon Stewart put it: the country ends up being run by extremeists because moderates have shit to do. Seriously, congress is full of old, incompentent morons. Remember the series of tubes? As an employee of the backbone of the internet, nothing scares me more than the government right now.
“Teens are extremely socially aware, but favour participation through their consumption choices, because they believe corporations are more effective agents of change than governments.” Link via Noah
Spot on. In fact, I’d get into politics if it weren’t so damned.. well, political.
So at this point I clearly lack confidence in anyone or anything trying to get my vote. It’s going to take a lot to convince me that you’re not too busy or a passionate moron (or unethical, or an adulterer, or any other stereotype). But wait, it’s my duty to vote, right? I mean, that’s what I’ve been told since elementary school government class. I guess I don’t appreciate the argument that I need to vote simply because people in Africa can’t. Any kid who’s been told to finish their dinner because kids in China are starving know where I’m coming from here. As a kid the “you need to vote” lecture ranks up there with “sharing is good”, you don’t really question it…
Interestingly enough I can name one good reason to not vote: you have no economic interest. At least, that’s what Steven Levitt (Freakonomics) serves up.
Why would an economist be embarrassed to be seen at the voting booth? Because voting exacts a cost – in time, effort, lost productivity – with no discernible payoff except perhaps some vague sense of having done your “civic duty.” As the economist Patricia Funk wrote in a recent paper, “A rational individual should abstain from voting.” (NYTimes)
Fair enough. I’ve got another good reason: there’s no way you can really be informed enough to make a good decision. I don’t think any of us really understand all the issues enough to have an opinion one way or another (to make the best decision). This is why Scott calls himself a Ignorantselfishertarian. Then again, what are the most recent and pressing issues we need to tackle? The importance of same-sex marriage and it’s implications on society? Flag burning? Do I really need to spend time waiting in line to elect someone to vote on this crap?
I really like Scott Adams’ Pragmatic Party. I think the more realistic solution, though, is to wait a few more years for the ‘old guard’ to phase itself out of elected positions (in Castro fashion). Just imagine, in 10-20 years we’ll be dancing in the streets…
…if the country makes it that long.
Noah approached me with an interesting idea: No Gas Day.
It’s simple, try your best to not use gas on May 22nd. That’s the day Noah has chosen. I think that one day isn’t enough, think of it as January 1st: it’s a day to make a resolution. Starting May 22nd I resolve to use less gas. Not becuase I hate Exxon, not becuase I think it’s bad for the environment: it’s bad for me!
I’m spending an extra $10 to fill my tank than I did last year. I drive enough that I have to fill up every 2 or 3 weeks. Some simple math shows that I’m out over $250 each year because prices have shifted. Economics suggests I need to shift my demand (or supply, whichever way you see it) curve and use a bit less. It really can’t be too hard, I have a free bus pass for goodness sakes!
I’ve seen a few petitions and things spread around but this is different. This is a blog meme: something that we hope to pass around the internet through bloggers. If blogs are as powerful as they say they are then why wouldn’t something like this get noticed? I’m thinking social change here, not a “lets lower gas prices by collectively complaining.” I see this as an opportunity to start thinking differently about usage. So, why wouldn’t every blogger make a little post tagged “nogasday” and spread the idea?
Seriously, bloggers are (for the most part) very self-centered and are only interested in a) their taffic, b) their earnings, c) theirselves or any mixture of the three. Why else do you think I have the Feedburner button over on the right side of my site?
My point is this: I wish a few bloggers would see some value in spreading this idea. It’s not an attempt to get the government/oil companies/prices to change. It’s an attempt to get ourselves to change. Who deserves a break more than I do? I wish some people out there had some interesting conservation ideas/tips/stories.
Anyway, I’ll be very interested to see if a) enough people would be willing to post their thoughts about this and b) actively resolve to make some sort of change next week.
Here’s Noah’s original post (with very interesting comments) and here’s Derek’s post with buttons made available.
[tags]nogasday, gasoline, oil, prices, conservation[/tags]
For those of you looking for a new career look no furthur than sports medicine. It seems that the boomer generation has started to wear their own bodies down through exercise. Although exercise has become popularized and even touted for disease prevention a lot of people are now going in for all kinds of replacements. From the NYT: As McGowan said, “I might be pushing it, but if I’m going to have a health issue, I’d rather it be orthopedic in nature than cardiac.”
If you haven’t seen this political quiz yet I think you should give it a try. Put simply, 5 personal questions and 5 economic questions can determine your political orientation. Though, it’s not merely determining Red State/Blue State as many would love to think.
(Side Note: That’s the problem with the masses and politics. Things start turning into teams. Teams are great but teams also act irrationally. For example, I live in Colorado so I’m a huge Bronco’s fan. It doesn’t matter who plays, how they play, etc., Broncos will always be the best. I’m pretty sure I love them becuase I have that team pride having lived in the state. I’m not alone, everyone does it. CU is the best at being as un-classy at demonstrating this. Frankly, breaking people into white vs. black is an American thing. Americans think there’s the good and the bad side. Why did we go to Iraq? We were good, they were bad. Putting things into context like that means less thought. I’m sorry, but there is a middle ground. I’m convinced Americans don’t like to think).
Anyway, I’m a Centrist. I’ve never associated myself with one “side”… I can support different ideas in different situations. So then… what are you? Was it much more different than you thought it would be? Some people have been surprised…
[tags]politics, teams, sports, quiz[/tags]
I came across a neat site today, 25peeps.com. People get bored and like pictures, right? Well this site puts up a 5×5 grid of 25 people’s pictures and if you like what you see you click and visit their blog. I submitted my site.. I wonder how much traffic it’ll send.
