February 2009
1 post
How Can Web Tech Help Enterprises with Innovation...
The times are changing and I’m a firm believer in the idea that technology plays a (largely) positive role in this. ReadWriteWeb agrees with me: The innovator’s dilemma, according to Christensen, affects companies whose success and capabilities can actually become obstacles in the face of changing markets and technologies. There is no more important an issue on the agenda of top...
December 2008
1 post
I Don't Believe In Originality
For example, I’ve been trying to find the words to connect the misunderstood world of rap/hip-hop to what it truly is at it’s most basic form: poetry. I found a blog post by Hitchcock Blonde that accurately paints the picture (IMO): Poetry was invented to be conjured on the tongue. All those nomadic bards, minstrels, skalds, rhapsodes, udgatars, griots, ashiks, ozans and dengbejs...
November 2008
6 posts
NPR's Best Album's of 2008
Over the years, I’ve learned to trust NPR’s list of top albums of the year, mainly because most of my nominees make it too. This year is no different and December 8 seems so far away right now.
With all that said, if you’re looking for good music for the rest of the year (and for a good part of the next), NPR’s the place to be IMHO.
What 10 would you recommend? And why?...
The Power of Not Talking
I read a book a few months ago, Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear by Frank Luntz. Apart from the fact that he loves how much everyone hates him, it’s made me more aware of words and how important they are in communicating ideas, problems, concepts. Whatever. Another excellent example would be the Tower of Babel. There are very many different versions...
My Poor (wannabe) Blog
I swear I’m lurking around here somewhere (twitter’s where all my actions been happening lately). There’s some other stuff cooking too. LIke Calgoo, “the best calender service in the world”, until I ran into 30boxes and now I have to get them to duke it out.Posted by email from Be Useful (posterous) | Comment »
Analyzing the Election
USA Today has a cool tool for analyzing the results of the election. This is your chance to fold & unfold every delicious (or bitter) moment of Nov 4th by geographic location, wallet size, number of gray hair, or whatever else the infornographic mind desires.
Posted by email from Be Useful (posterous) | Comment »
Journalists & Tech | Food for the Start-up Mind
It’s been frustrating to see journalism fight technology and I’ve always thought that most journalists didn’t care too much about it. This morning I ran into two blog posts that confirm just how wrong I’ve been: The first was Amy Graham’s post Working With Journalists: What’s in it for Geeks?:
This discussion got me thinking: Right now, it’s becoming...
World Wide Words: Other sites of interest
I’ve always found words to be a fascinating human tool. We use it everyday but we never really think about it because it’s just there. Like air or water. I’ve been coming across a lot of word related websites and I’m loving it: Worldwide words has a nice list of word related websites. I like Buzz Whack, the Language Log and Lake Superior University’s Banished...
October 2008
13 posts
Why Open Source?
I read an article in BusinessWeek on Google’s Android that’s been irking me since I read it. Now I think know why. As someone who appreciates good ideas, I’m a fan of both Apple & Google. I’m also a beta testing addict who knows nothing about code so the idea of buggy software that’s usable by ordinary people makes me as giddy as a 6 year old running after the ice...
6 tags
#5: I Could Die Here And No One Would Ever Know
Inc. Magazine’s Top 10 Signs You’re Ready to Leave Your Home Office (via Thought Balloons)
Posted by email from Be Useful (posterous) | Comment »
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us (Book Tour with...
It’s late notice, which is way better than none. If you have a message you care about, this is a chance to hear all about how to be a useful part of the movement: Today, you have an opportunity – a chance to make a difference and to lead others while doing it. It’s easier, more fun and more profitable than you think. But, only if you choose to lead instead of follow…
On Tuesday,...
This is my kind of guy
Fascinating story about the kind of people that make the world go round from the Chicago Tribune Blogger gets off ground with 787 . The kind that stays up until 4 a.m. sometimes poring over god knows what and hustling on the Internet to feed his curiousity: Using media such as Twitter, he broadcast photos and commentary in real time from the plane’s assembly lines, to Boeing’s...
They That Innovate Shall Live
Jeff Bezos was ranked #4 on BusinessWeek’s 25 Most Influential People on the Web:
…Bezos effectively hushed critics who worried that the company was spending too much on technology and shipping discounts. Now, the company he founded 14 years ago is firmly focused on exactly the kind of new ventures that Bezos relishes. This is the same Bezos & Amazon that started before, and...
Looking at PostLater: http://ping.fm/Eb6Ex Bloggers rejoice #status
Yoono’s new project is live, but no one’s talking until Monday. All of a sudden, I can’t wait for Monday: http://ping.fm/rzgaj
You know it’s close to the end of the year when “Best of” lists for 2008 are gradually starting to pop up all over
7 tags
Hack the Debate // Current + Twitter
This morning, I found out that my dream had come true: a way to watch events and get a feel for what other people are thinking in real time. Current TV and Twitter are starting us off with the final Presidential debate:
We will broadcast as many of your debate tweets as possible right over the candidates, in real time, on our live broadcast.
Now if I could only stream it on a big, fat tv screen...
World Fast Against Malaria is this Friday. Anyone else joining? http://ping.fm/diKiG
What Color is the Social Web?
The issue of race is starting to get old (at least I hope it eventually will), but it is a good question to consider for the sake of discussion. Beth’s Blog has a head start on the topic of the online color landscape that’s opened my eyes to a very new dimension of the Internet. The question I was asked had to do with the demographics of social media. How many people of color...
Ping.fm beta desktop test: How passing strange, for I have traveled far,
And never have I heard tell of this What.
What language speak they in the land of What?
It's OK Not To Agree
- Desi Di Nardo (from The Way I See It # 293 on my coffee cup this morning):
The way I see it Isn’t necessarily The way you see it Or the way it is Or ought to be What’s more important Is that we’re all Looking for it And a way to see it
September 2008
5 posts
This is a Test
I just setup a new account at posterous.com, and this is a test to see if it synched with the tumblr , twitter and plurk accounts.
You can also read the first post here . FWIW, I think it’s worth skimming over at the very least. While you’re at it, tell a friend or two. Or all of them.
Cheers!Posted by email from Be’s posterous | Comment »
Penis Envy and Working Together
From the page: “a network of cooperating tools, each doing one thing well.” That, I believe, is key to developing almost any idea and getting it to work well all the way through. This blog post lays out a good case for that cause.
MicroHoo: corporate penis envy? - O’Reilly Radar
6 tags
Do the Things You Need to Do With Gmail & Google...
Many people also love Gmail and Gcal as two of their online tools of choice - they’re simple tools that get the job done fast, wherever and whenever you need them. If you count yourself among this group, here’s a guide for using the Gmail/Gcal combination as your online information center.
How to Make Gmail/Gcal Rock Your Tasks - Stepcase Lifehack
- I’m getting into the habit of using...
9 tags
How is the Next Big Thing to be Handled?
From The Next Big Thing by Dave Winer:
Here’s a challenging question. If age is such a killer, why is today’s Steve Jobs doing so incredibly well, where the young Steve Jobs shipped a loser (Lisa), then an almost loser (Mac) which was saved over his objections (he had some very wrong ideas about users and stubbornly held to them) and then was either fired or quit in a rage (depending...
“Today there was a comic book in my mail, sent by Google and drawn by no less...”
– Google Chrome, Google’s Browser Project- Lots of great features on this one.
This will definitely be a good one.
August 2008
9 posts
6 tags
We're all lying to ourselves. He didn't.
Dave Freeman, the author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die, fell down and died. Hopefully we all now realize we’re all hypocrites:
“According to Mr Teplica, his friend’s mantra was: ‘You should live every day like it would be your last. There’s not many people who do.’”
from: Author of ‘100 Things to Do Before You Die’ is killed in fall-...
With love from the guys at Wordpress:
We’re fans of Twitter around here, in fact many Automatticians have accounts, but while the format appealed to us it really just whetted our appetite for something more, like a way for each of us to share short messages about what we’re doing or working on internally, or private messages between groups of folks.
I think the potential in this is evident and...
5 tags
“A team of British researchers found a while ago that profanity at work can help...”
– Profanity works: Everything in it’s right place will work well. As in life, so with four letter words and french.
2 tags
“Second, proper practice is working on the hard stuff. Go problems are broken out...”
– The Power of Proper Practice- We grew up with the “practice makes perfect” mantra drilled into our heads until we forgot what it really meant or why it was important. This is that reminder you’ve been looking for.
For others, this is the explanation you never got.
5 tags
“The way we get to live forever is through memories stored in the hearts and...”
– From my Starbucks coffee cup this morning (The Way I See It #292)
“The bottom line is that content is king. It will always be king. And there can...”
– The First Rule of Social Media Club is… | Max Gladwell
Max Gladwell hits the spot on social media’s proper place in the market. It’s amazing how many people don’t get it and if you meet people like them, please send them to Max Gladwell for a good dressing down on social...
“Time is a vital constituent of life… so time saving activities are life saving....”
– 25 Sharp Cuts of Time Saving Wisdom
“The social web has filled our websites with too much third-party clutter as we...”
– A very clever technique to enhance the user browsing experience by using their browsing history to determine the social tools they utilize (so you can present them with the best bookmarking/sharing/subscription option)…Impressive IMHO
“Sure, this avalanche of trends, insights and new business ideas may cause...”
– Want to be a better trend watcher? Our top 5 tips