I've Moved!
But it finally happened. I'm no longer blogging here.
Find me at my new blog address:
You can grab my new RSS feed here:
New Hello World RSS Feed
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
New Hello World RSS Feed
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Strange, strange world.
But do you have a digital child anywhere?
In follow up conversations with friends, we've dared to speculate as far as a Facebook app that will let you have digital children with your friends.
Well, guess what. In this wild wild web, no matter how bizarre the idea is, someone has either done it or is doing it right now.
Check out the Make A Baby app on Facebook.
It's a strange world, and it's getting stranger by the minute.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
UnconfWiki
I'd like to use it to test an idea I had since the last KinnerNet.
KinnerNet is an uncoference created by Yossi Vardi. As such, the conference schedule is created, in the spirit of most other uncoferences, using a big white board on which people post their sessions.
This works great. I love watching the dynamics of this - the initial empty white board, the first person stepping forward and nailing down a slot with an idea, the rapid evolution of schedule, the informal conflict resolution...
But being a software-kind-of-guy, I can't help but wonder - can this process supported by a software tool?
Should this process be supported by a tool?
Will this process benefit - or suffer - from being supported by a tool?
My current thoughts are that if such a tool is to be of benefit instead of a hindrance, it should be modeled along the spirit of uncoferences. It should be flexible enough to accommodate rapid changes and evolution of the schedule, put a lot of emphasis on the individual and individual responsibility, and put accountability ahead of security and permissions.
The physical aspect may also be important. There is a certain undeniable charm in being able to approach the board, wipe out a session and move it to another slot. Can a tool reproduce this kind of intimacy with the schedule? Or will it take the fun away?
What are your thoughts on this?
Monday, July 23, 2007
Exogeny #1
You have friends on Facebook, followers on Twitters and Contacts on Flickr. You go online to see what your friends are up to. You form new relationships and friendship online. But do you have a digital child anywhere?
Are you sure?
Mike Marcus, a 34 y/o photographer and digital artist is creating digital children:
This is the world we now live in. A world where both the virtual and physical are becoming equally real. Where relationships between people do not depend on physical presence or even the ability to speak the same language. Where ideas and concepts exist outside of the brain of the individual in the collective mind of society where we call them memes. It is a world where a digital child is a serious prospect. If people can have cyber sex then why not cyber offspring? (source)
From the exhibition literature:
"The name “Exogeny” refers to the cultural practice of intentionally breeding outside of one’s cultural or ethnic community. The series is heavily influenced by the artist’s own experiences growing up in a segregated and xenophobic religious community and, more recently, as a witness to racial tensions between Israeli citizens and Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. The collection aims to “exogenise” or metaphorically reach out to the wider community by digitally merging the artist’s own self-portrait with those of others. The resulting images form “digital child” portraits; beings who appear real in all ways but who never actually existed. Taken together, the work forms a distinct body, all tableaux resembling the artist in some way while retaining the features of the models. Some of the images appear to be obviously male while others are androgynous. The original models represent a mix of races, ages and personality types but the final works homogenise into a uniform collective that defies categorisation. (source)
Oh well. In its own weird way, this makes sense. For Mike, it's a statement and an experiment. Me, I know it's going to happen sooner than we think.
Check out Mike's Exogeny #1 exhibition, opening Aug 2nd.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Facebook - no RSS???
Yes, there is no RSS on Facebook.
Also, it's very much a walled garden. Its URLs are ugly, and its color scheme is boring. Borringgg.
And yet, it's the best social network I've used so far. In fact, I think their own description on the Facebook home page - a social utility - may be the best description for it.
Lifestreams are great, but the Facebook News Feed is carefully balanced, well thought of and a useful combined stream of most of the things I care about. And if there is something I care about which isn't supported yet by the News Feed (e.g. is outside the Facebook walled garden), you can count on someone creating a Facebook app that will add support for it.
With interaction models ranging from casual and lightweight ("poke is the new ping!", originally by Eran) all the way to personal messages, the social interaction rules defined and implemented by Facebook strike a good balance between sharing and privacy.
Of course, as wonderful as it is, Facebook wasn't really complete until now - but now that we introduced Yedda Questions & Answers for Facebook, I think we can safely call it perfect :)
P.S. Still, I'd love to have an RSS feed on my Facebook News Feed. Duh.
P.P.S. 
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Yahoo OMG it's HTML!
Super-large image + title thumbnails on the home page smoothly become a preview of the item when you click on them. Seems very effective - and certainly visually pleasing! (these super-large thumbnails also happen to be of the same size and design as the super-large ad banners that are interweaved between them).
But, not being too much into celebs gossip, what really caught my eye is that it's all (almost) good old HTML. (Almost) no flash. Nice!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Twitter my Yedda
Twitter is really growing on me.
So I am twice as happy to tell you about Twitter My Yedda.
You see, Yedda just learned to twitter. If you tell it to, it will automagically share with your twitter friends your questions (so that they can answer them), and your answers (so that they can see just how smart and helpful you are).
You can also tell Yedda to twitter your watched questions, the answers you like, and pretty much anything else you'd like it to.
It also does Twitter replies, so you can easily tell when the person who just answered your biggest question is also on Twitter.
If you're already on Yedda, set it up (it's really easy):
» Yedda > My Settings > Toolbox > Twitter
And if you're not on Yedda yet, hmpff!
Kudos to Eran for a wonderfully done mashup (and also for releasing the Twitter C# API!), and to the Twitter folks for being so helpful with this!
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