Technology on wheels: Select San Francisco’s Muni buses now feature Wi-Fi and touch screen maps noting the schedules of connecting and intersecting lines.

I like the idea - and hopefully it will be simple enough for travelers to use and figure out, saving time for both visitors as well as commuters.

Some critics say it’s money being spent in the wrong places - and that the touch screens and various on-board technologies will be targets for vandalism. Hopefully this won’t happen. ok won’t happen to a level where it wasn’t worth the installation.

It would also save energy for some if the screens had an option for “Spare some change?” And then the screen could display the many variations of “Sorry man, No.”

“This is a smart bus in every way, shape and form,” Newsom said. “You can download music, you can play video games. It’s a bus where you are connected. It’s constantly generating information about your connection to the rest of the Muni system.”

The bus, part of Muni’s hybrid electric bus fleet, is painted green and black with a picture of Mother Earth and an electronic display panel boasting “270 tons of CO{-2} saved” and other “green” messages. But what really makes the bus different is inside.

SF Gate article. More at Cisco at www.theconnectedbus.com

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My regular readers might notice it’s been a little less divisive here as of late. I have no idea yet which presidential candidate will provide me a better America, and there’s only so much you can say about Mike Huckabee, “religious” political action groups, and other such nonsense. Plus Vinny over at Insignificant Thoughts has been dishing out some heavy political commentary lately, and even if I disagree on some takes I enjoy reading his stir of issues.

Last year I posted a short brief on Karla Comfort’s trek across America in her airbrushed Hummer - in support of our troops. In my post I wrote that a Hummer is a universal symbol of U.S. greed and excess, and seen as integrally tied to oil in the middle east macro view. To use it as a rolling MEMORIAL is ridiculous. What’s wrong with a Harley? On par with the rest of the U.S. populace my comments were split 50/50, half agreeing with the ridiculous irony and the other half calling me an unpatriotic jerk.

I received an email this week from Barbara, who like this commenter who mistook me for Neighborhood Flix, thought I was Karla Comfort. Karla’s presence, and her Hummer, is being requested at the Roseville California Springtime Extravaganza. With another airbrushed Hummer mom believe it or not.

Now - since this fell into my lap, I have to say I don’t feel tributes to our fallen servicemen and women have any place at county fairs - sharing space among window companies, RV and spa dealers, funnel cone stands, and radio station tents. If this was a true old timey county fair with local crafts and the 4H club selling chickens that might be different, but I don’t think those even exist anymore. At least not in central California. Now these events are simply conduits for local advertising - and I don’t find them a respectful venue for the most solemn of tributes.

I don’t feel that memorials should be relegated to city parks and Veteran’s Day parades, but they shouldn’t be an afterthought pocketed into other events. And most of all not used to bring in traffic as a promotional gimmick. My uncle, (my dad’s older brother,) died following injuries sustained in a WW2 plane crash. Portraits of him in his gunnery bubble and in his fatigues at his base hang in my living room. I’d be mortified if I ever saw his face on a Hummer, or on a balloon at a county fair.

Being a good net citizen I attempted to give the organizer Karla’s actual site and contact info, but damned if I could find it among the right-wing blogs supporting her. I did send Barbara a note saying that I wasn’t Karla, so if need be they can get in touch. If anyone is attending the Roseville Springtime Extravaganza please send me an update…

Speaking of respectfully disagreeing; last summer I wrote about why seven year Jason Rinkel should abstain from getting a medical assistance dog for his type 1 diabetes. This story was the best of local news sap, but like most local TV news stories it faded away quickly. I detailed my experiences as a type 1 diabetic, and wrote about why an assistance dog would PREVENT Jason from living a normal life, which is perfectly possible with diabetes.

Jason’s older brother Mark was nice enough to post a note thanking me for plugging his site, even if I think the idea is completely unnecessary. Turns out Jason and Mark DID raise enough money, and are getting their dog in a few weeks. I suggested to Mark that he and his brother start a blog about how their new companion works out in relation to Jason’s diabetes. I truly am interested in how well this ($25,000) dog functions with Jason’s diabetes.

Even though I still disagree with the medical necessity of using a dog for blood sugar detection I think that Jason is extremely fortunate to to have Mark as an older brother - and I wish them the best.

My original post, and Jason and Mark’s site at pawsoflife.net.

One more: Read the current Bus Radio discussion and ensuing comments, then read Katy’s comment at #14. No adult should ever dismiss the views and opinions of the younger generation, when Katy’s clear and logical points far outshine the verbal chaos and cluttered prose spewed out by the parents that also commented. The chasm of clarity is astounding.

Weekend dispatch complete. It’s a sunny 55 degrees here in Denver and I’m off to go biking.

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It’s not often you come across intelligent humor writing. It’s less frequent to find a sharp witted blog that makes you laugh out loud. Most bloggers attempting to be funny are simply referencing and pointing out ironic or hypocritical situations in popular culture and the news. But to deconstruct something down to the smallest detail and make it satirical not only takes a humorous eye but intelligence as well.

Joe Mathlete has been writing “Marmaduke Explained” for two years. In his blog he takes Brad Anderson’s banal one panel comic and adds his outlook and take on the usually asinine situation. In addition he notes the constant dated and cultural references which stagnate about eight to 20 years behind. If I may respectfully reprint one post - here’s his take on the above comic:

Marmaduke decided to take a nap on the couch that his owner-man was napping on, and as there is room for only one of them, Owner-Man obviously had to go. Owner-Girl pulls out a pop-culture reference seven years past its prime in an attempt to lighten the mood and lessen her father’s embarrassment at once again being on the receiving end of domestic abuse from a house pet.

His summaries, although brief, are as biting as The Onion. And it goes without saying that his take on Marmaduke is far more hilarious than the actual comic itself. He also sells shirts and bumper stickers declaring: “Marmaduke is an Asshole”

Go read it right now at marmadukeexplained.blogspot.com I can promise it will be an excellent way to spend the next hour of your life.

by James Van Dellen

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The latest blogs, sites, and threads I’ve found interesting and read more than once over the past week…

Retro to Go - Vintage and retro gear, products, and general nostalgia.

This Week in Denver - Denver events blog featuring art, lectures, food, films and much more.  I’ll definitely be suggesting this excellent looking site to travelers looking for Denver info.

Obsessive Consumption - Modern design blog of accomplished artist Kate Bingaman-Burt. Cute drawings, sharp wit, and a keen eye.

The Impulsive Buy - Hawaii resident reviews supermarket food and fast food products. Wit, dry humor, often disgusting (real) photos. And you’re paying to eat that?

Global Voices Online - News, commentary, and discussion from corners of the globe that aren’t always featured on the evening news.

TuneTribe - download obscure and hard to find MP3s. No sign up fee. Nice alternative to Last.fm

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It’s Sunday, so most likely you’re not at work. For that reason I’ll share this week’s NSFW content! NSFW means Not Safe for Work. Eventually this moniker will take hold without necessitating explanation. But for now it’s just as annoying as Rachael Ray constantly blurting “now add some EVOO: That’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil.” Yup, if you have to explain it every time you should probably just skip the acronym.

Daniel Rhatigan, aka Ultra Sparky, is an accomplished graphic designer and artist, and what drew me to his site was his “Poseable Thumbs” series. As Daniel describes: An exercise in homoerotic imagery that technically isn’t real porn, but very mature themes of a flagrantly, shamelessly homosexual nature. Maybe they’re funny, maybe they’re porn, maybe they’re art, or maybe they’re a little bit of all that. You can figure that out for yourself.

It’s crass, crude, reinforces hedonistic gay stereotypes, and is hilarious. Daniel also has some other artwork and good posts on his blog, and shares my admiration for small prefab houses.

More NSFW you ask? Here’s the latest addition to my iPod: DJ Jose Nunez’s unclean mix of “Bilingual.”

And for those not into tiny gay leather characters and thumping club beats here’s the latest on Christina Kirchner, Argentina’s (almost) new Peronist president.

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I’m a day late getting in on “Blog Action Day,” and failed to write about anything green related yesterday as mandated by the blogosphere lords. But my regular day was in fact mostly green. I biked to work as usual, shopped local, watched a Netflix movie, (if that’s considered green,) and drank some green tea after dinner.

We hear lots of chatter about green products and companies. A LOT of chatter. In the past year the green theme has nascented into an avalanche which seemed to land mostly on the desks of marketing strategists. I don’t blame anyone for being burned out on the green scene: I see green labels at the supermarket, I can purchase carbon offsets when flying, and Mr. TV constantly tells me to “be green.” However every time I see a “green” promotion in retail or online my skepto-dar immediately cranks up and I wonder if in fact the money brought in from the green marketing collection plate is even making it to the green causes they promote.

Maybe I’m annoyed people treat the theme of environmentalism like a new scarf. Or those stupid oversize sunglasses that are so popular for some reason. It’s akin to your favorite band hitting it big, and you fervently reminding me “Hey I was with them when they were playing at…” You get the point. I’ve never mulched or torched a Hummer, but overall I think I’ve always BEEN pretty green.

With so many companies promoting “greenery” I fear eventually consumers will become tired of the theme, companies will shuffle on to the next trend, and the label “green” will once again be relegated to a pejorative for extreme environmentalists living in trees.

I’m FOR environmental awareness. I encourage people to maintain a reasonable environmental footprint. But that goes beyond retail and marketing. For those truly green it’s interwoven into your identity so tight that you don’t consciously THINK “green” with every purchase you make. Hal Taussig, founder of “Untours,” is a perfect example of this. He doesn’t need to concern himself with trendy green purchases because the entire philosophical umbrella of which he lives is life shows concern for personal and ecological sustainability. And I doubt he pontificates it daily.

I ask using Taussig’s example: Do you really need to juggle carbon offsets and weigh farmer over supermarkets if the MAJORITY of your life is already lived in the green? Personally I enjoy biking as a viable transportation method because it’s efficient and healthy. I shop local because it’s convenient and less time consuming, and our household has one car because it saves a ton of money. My motive in those choices isn’t to label myself green. It’s to maintain a simple, manageable, and enjoyable life. Fortunately these decisions end up being green. That however is a dangerous message for companies selling the “green” game, because part of being green is to eschew excess consumption and materialism. (Ok now I’ll disclose I own the Roomba and two iPods.)

Being “green” is more than just buying paper towels labeled green (in a plastic wrapper picturing the earth from space.) It’s about the sum of your individual choices. Your collective life is the denominator of what’s considered “green” or not. Should certain companies even market themselves as environmentally friendly when the products they design can never be considered green in the first place? How can a magazine even consider itself green, when as noted in the Cause Related Marketing blog the entire concept of a magazine - paper, printers, and trucks - is the complete antithesis of what being green is about?

I find it ridiculous for someone to search out green toilet paper when they have a three or four person family living in a 3,500 square foot house with five bathrooms to stock said TP in. It’s as nonsensical as slapping a lemon yellow “for the troops” stickers on a shiny black Escalade.

We live in a competitive and consumptive society. We’re told daily to purchase products we don’t need in order to solve problems we don’t have. The blog “marketing green” even examines and details strategies and methods of selling green. Green products follow the logic and money trail down another avenue of marketing. A company can’t say the REAL green message of “Don’t buy our junk – you don’t need it.” But those that are a different shade of green are astute at making smart consumer choices, limiting their consumption, and refraining from stockpiling their homes with unnecessary cheap plastic crap.

I’m a critic of our country’s suburban design, lack of accessible neighborhoods outside cities, the over reliance of cars for simple community transportation, and the quicksand pits of credit card debt that people gamble wade into. To me these larger concerns often override the efforts to be green on a small scale, and until the issue of larger than life consumption is addressed I’m not too concerned with “White Google versus Black Google.”

When thinking “green” forget about what’s on the store shelf. Examine your consumption, material drives, and balance your needs versus your wants. Scaling down in life, spending less, and making conscious consumer choices beyond whether it’s “green” or not will by proxy make you a greener person. That’s the ultimate green statement. But don’t tell the marketers.

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I often peruse the site Lifehacker.com   It’s a site devoted to computer tips, tricks, the office environment, gadgetry, health, and collections of articles to make your work and home life more productive.  Sometimes the posts are a tad simplistic, but overall it’s fun to read, and it’s popularity results in many comments and discussions.

A recent topic was “Show us your go-bag,”  in which readers sent in photos of their briefcases, messenger bags, man purses, or other totes.   We see how our online friends organize their stuff, what they carry, and what tech gear they use.  This fun and healthy voyeuristic topic resulted in two more “Show us your go-bags” and a follow up “Show us your desktop.”

However I think we’re straining a bit with today’s “Show us your system tray” post, but hey it’s Friday. So in the same spirit I propose Lifehacker take over my idea of “Show us your keyboard leavin’s.”  

Simply put:  Turn over your keyboard, give it a good two or three “THUNKS” then take a picture of your desk.  We want to see it!  The staples, paperclips, sunflower seeds, donut crumbs, toothpicks, cereal crumbs, and fingernails too. 

I do my best to maintain a tidy and clean workspace, but like most folks when something falls into the deep crevices between R, T, and F, you just move on and forget the expedition to retrieve it.

I’ll start this glorious and disgusting endeavor. Of course my beige desk doesn’t lend well to contrast, so I scraped them onto a blank white paper.   Guess who snacked on Golden Grahams this morning?  Let’s see yours!

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My small advanced Spanish language group, which meets weekly, at times tends to flow like a mismatched crowd wave during a baseball game.  We’ve been together for about two years and have a great time together every week poring over history books, heavy grammar, or some weeks just hitting the pinot grigio – but our level of interest, schedules, and other life activities of any five members logically influence the amount of time we’ll put into our studies at any given period.

Wanting to listen to something other than my stale iPod rotation I paid a long overdue visit to “Notes in Spanish.”  Notes in Spanish is a site run by Madrid couple Ben Curtis and Marina Diez.  They began their podcasts in 2005, and post about one a month.  They have a beginner, intermediate, and advanced level.  Their friendly demeanor is delightfully enjoyable and easy listen to.  Their grammar is perfect, and their charm and wit shines through their voices.  I feel like I’m sitting at a street cafe chatting and participating in the conversation with these two lovebirds.  A fun recent podcast is “Zafiros” where Ben recants his trip to Thailand and getting hustled to buy fake sapphires.

Their podcasts are free, and they supplement them with comprehensive worksheets downloadable for a small cost.  Their forum at Notes from Spain is quite active too.

Ben Curtis has a book about moving to and living in Spain, titled “Errant in Iberia”.   Also they have a sister site “Notes from Spain“, a site about daily life, living, and working in Spain.   Take an internet trip with Ben and Maria to Madrid at notesinspanish.com   or notesfromspain.com.   From their site:

Ben…
Ben has lived and worked in Madrid since 1998. He is a travel broadcaster and editor, and has previously worked in Spain as a bilingual translator and teacher. Recent projects include work on Fodor´s Spain Gold Guide, the BBC’s Olive Magazine, podcasting from Spain, India and Thailand for Lonely Planet, researching the Home and Abroad Madrid Guide, and appearing on Classic FM. He has also written in Spanish for Solo Moto 30, a Spanish motorbike magazine.

Marina…
Marina, a true Madrileña, originally worked as an IT consultant for international tech. companies, and now works full time on Notes from Spain and Notes in Spanish. As well as being the Spanish speaking expert behind our Spanish podcasts, her love of Spanish Cuisine provides the inspiration for our Cuisine from Spain programs.

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On the subject of Spanish, I came across this irony on the Topix message board. 

This rant, titled “Speak English, YOUR in American Now“ by “JediMasterWendy” of Tuscon (’sup babe, another curz lite?) highlights everything that’s wrong with the uneducated touting unabashed nationalism.

Cultures shift, societies change, industries and populations rise and fall based on economics and global change.  No borders whether physical or political will prevent the drive of people to make a better life for themselves.  I don’t feel threatened by it, nor does it bother me.   Yes immigrants need to documents themselves and follow proper paperwork laws, not only for tax reasons but for THEIR benefit of avoiding mistreatment by employers, landlords, and others in a position to take advantage of them.  But while the Southwest U.S. bitches about Mex’cans takin’ ‘er jobs, midwest cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and other rust belt enclaves have high unemployment, abandoned factories, and hosts of miscellaneous social problems.  We blame immigrants for taking jobs and using our resources, yet we’ve allowed companies to abandoned cities and move THEMSELVES out of the U.S. for THEIR benefit.  We allow it, and lap up the low prices like dogs.

Somehow I don’t think the gardener outside the big mansion I bike pass every day is the biggest threat to the existence of the U.S. 

Whoa careful there Wendy, you almost fell off the barstool.  Isn’t that your 7th one?  Let’s call it a night.  Ok one more round and that’s it.   What’s that?  Jose Cuervo?  Hey you know Cuervo is from…  Ah fuck it.   One for me too!    

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I wrote about Andrew and Joshua earlier this summer. My two favorite, and as far as I’m concerned the two most entertaining bloggers, (love ‘em or hate ‘em,) are currently gallivanting about cheery London in search of things to criticize. I haven’t checked their blog in a while and was delighted to find that Joshua has added many more posts about his early experiences with BF Andrew in HIS new blog, Joshua and Andrew. They should just keep ONE blog with two authors, (hey Caleb you never post,) and it wouldn’t hurt to learn the “more” tag either, but whatever. If you’re new you should spend a few hours, (or as much as you can handle,) reading Andrew’s blog posts, with recent entries about his summer and family’s trip to the lake feeding each other strawberries on checkered picnic tarps.

What makes the escapades of Andrew, Joshua, and family so entertaining aren’t only their “proud provincialism” as of my previous commenters wrote but also that we have no photos and no further knowledge of this family. And who needs it? It would ruin the fun. A few have commented this MUST be parody, but whether the “Van” family is real or not, it simply tickles me that this entire family, (including Joshua who is now completely enveloped in them,) can be so insular in themselves and so certain in their disparaging comments of art, music, culture, cities, and other subjects that fall completely under the realm of “subjective.” All that’s needed to complete these verbal paintings are the “help” scuttling in and out with cakes covered in glass domes. (Hey “Let them eat cake” is right!) They actually do all of their own cooking, as Joshua highlights in one of his “first experiences” posts:

After he had had his bowl of berries, Mr. Van thought he could go for a little melon, too. After Mrs. Van had had her plate of melon, she thought she could go for a bowl of berries, too. After Lizbeth had had her bowl of berries, she thought she could go for a little melon, too. After Alec had had his bowl of banana-nut-honey, he thought he could go for a bowl of berries, too. I, after my bowl of banana-nut-honey, thought I should do some berries, too, just to stay in the swing of things with everyone else. Andrew made himself a berry bowl, too, to eat along with me and Alec as we ate ours.

Lest you worry the exasperating drawn out details aren’t saved exclusively for dining recollections here’s another smarmy exchange:

Before we left the kitchen, Andrew hugged and kissed his mother and said good night, and she hugged and kissed him back. He hugged his father and said good night, and his father hugged him back. He hugged Alec and said good night, and Alec hugged him back and tussled his hair. He hugged and kissed Lizbeth and said good night, and she hugged and kissed him back. What did they do to me as I said good night? I said good night to Andrew’s father, and he put his hand on my shoulder and said ‘Good night, Joshua.” I said good night to Alec and he tussled my hair and said “Good night, pardner”. I said good night to Lizbeth and she pecked me on the cheek and said “Good night. Sleep well.” I said good night to Andrew’s mother and she put her hand on my shoulder and said “Have a good night, Joshua.”

And the funniest observation came via e-mail from another A&J fan. This still makes me laugh out loud: I just can’t believe that on his parents’ recent return from Denver he didn’t make them two stuffed chickens. This family eats more stuffed chickens in a month than I have eaten in my life. At Thanksgiving they must stuff the turkey with stuffed chickens. (more…)

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I’ve been happily exploring Maps For Us today. Do you love maps, charts, and diagrams of, well, everything? Of course you do. And so do I. Who doesn’t like to hunker down at the library on a rainy Saturday afternoon poring through old maps. Now expanding on my thrilling hobby, the site Mapsforus.org maps travel places like coffee houses in Amsterdam, various underground and metro lines, and other cityscape related maps. But what makes them fun in such a dry way is their serious documentation of such obscure charts as “Map of Halcyon Masonic Lodge No. 498 in Cleveland,” or “Neo-Copernican Map of Chronological Cosmology”

Check them out at mapsforus.org. There’s more maps than you can shake a rolled up map at!

Pictured below: “Map of the Evergreen State Fair - Monroe, WA” and “Birding Hotspots of Guatemala”

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I saw Eric Durchholz’s promo on the Gawker artists list.  Durchholz is a Nashville artist who primarily works in photography and 3D images.  His upcoming show “gameboys” gives homage to the overlooked segment of gamers:  gay guys.

For Durchholz, gaming is sexy. He considers himself a hardcore gamer. “I don’t watch much television, nor do I read many books. I do play a lot of games and most of my gay friends play games and I wanted to reflect some of that culture into my work. Most people are shocked to hear that gay guys play games. In my world, gaming and gay go hand in hand and I realize that not everyone sees that way. Hopefully this exhibit can help change the perception that just straight teenage males play games and some games with specifically gay content will start to be developed.”

Durchholz has published a full coffee table book titled 3dboys, and also heads up Concrete7, a small group of Nashville artists who, as explained on their site, “make cool stuff.”

Gameboys shows for two weeks beginning October 2nd at Tribe Nashville,  1517 Church Street, Nashville.

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At first I thought this was another Google spelling error.  Given the other instances I’ve noticed and occasionally posted over the past year, such as this and this, I wouldn’t be surprised if Google hasn’t fired their atrocious proofer yet.

But then I realized it’s too clumsily worded to be a mistake.  It’s a joke by Google News.  Is it funny?   I don’t go to a major news collection site to be entertained.  In that regard I find it inappropriate, irritating, and stupid.  Not that I’m against sick humor.  I still break the ice at parties with a good Challenger joke.  But when I want to read serious stories I don’t want witty quips.

In further research this headline was actually taken from this more irreverent Register article - in which Google borrowed the headline for the rotation of this story.  But still, for an enormous news aggregator I don’t want crass and tacky puns.   That’s exactly why I READ the news rather than watching it on local TV. 

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I was e-mailed the link to Clark and Michael this morning.  Michael Cera is the 19 year old actor who played “George Michael” on Arrested Development.  If you haven’t seen Arrested Development put it in your Netflix que already.  The subtle humor, weighted references, and physical comedy are top notch.  And of course it’s been said over and over this show deserved to continue much longer than the three seasons it aired on FOX.

Michael Cera and Clark Duke have created a series of webisodes documenting their fictitious life of pitching projects and attempting to climb the ladder of Hollywood.  They play the part of many people I’ve met while living in L.A. for five years:  Overly confident screenwriters who are certain their scripts and “projects” merit the highest of attention.  Between meetings with agents they engage in the most mundane of daily activities.  I love the scenes set at the laundromat.

There are 10 episodes so far.  I love the “Perfect Strangers” type opening.  Clark Duke’s cocky attitude combined with Michael Cera’s nervous adolescent appearance and hilarious facial mannerisms make these two a hilarious comedic duo.

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This is a highly interesting and excellent debate about Web 2.0 and the explosion of self published critics, musicians, and musers at large.  More importantly it’s about the general public, as in US, being able to FIND these people and exchange thoughts and ideas with them.

Andrew Keen, author of “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture,” argues that the web is filled to the brim with useless noise, and says to let the professional critics disseminate our daily stockpile of news and entertainment.  David Weinberger argues that within the noise and chaos of Web 2.0 there ARE talented individuals worth acknowledging, and while they may not be recognized in any field whatsoever - their information is as valuable as a newspaper critic.

Andrew Keen makes some excellent points, but I tend to side with Weinberger .  Gen X and Y are savvy, smart, and know how to filter through the mountain of shit in order to find what they want online.  And they know when crap is crap.  No one is arguing Will Ferrell’s landlord video is anything close to with Citizen Kane.  No one is suggesting that because a million videos of dancing hamster exist that we as a society are eschewing Shakespear.  On the net there are consistent gems of logic, reason, and dissent worth reading.  For example a favorite site of mine, The Consumerist, let’s customers put companies on trial for their misdoings.  Like the local TV station’s “Troublefinder”, only EVERYONE can do it.  I especially like Weinberger’s response to “Let the professionals guide us”

The mainstream media’s business model does not aim at nurturing talent. It aims at moving units. It therefore does exactly what you complain the Web does: It panders to the market. If you want to see the “democratization” of talent you fear, just look at a Top 40 chart…

It’s a lengthy exchange but worth a read.  I copied the original article below as the link will expire shortly.  p.s. Support net neutrality!

Wall Street Journal Article Below:

The Good, the Bad, And the ‘Web 2.0′
July 18, 2007

The explosion of blogs, social networks and video-sharing sites has allowed any Internet user to become a journalist or filmmaker or music star. But is this democratization of information — often called Web 2.0 — the future of the Internet or a looming disaster? The Wall Street Journal’s Jamin Brophy-Warren invited the authors of two recent high-profile books on the subject to debate. Andrew Keen, who wrote “The Cult of the Amateur,” argues the Web has become overwhelmed with useless noise. David Weinberger, author of “Everything is Miscellaneous,” argues that Web 2.0 tools let users filter out irrelevant (or inaccurate) information. A condensed version of their discussion, carried out over email, is below. (You can read the full text here.)

Andrew Keen is author of “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture.” He is an Internet entrepreneur who founded Audiocafe.com in 1995 and worked at several Silicon Valley start-ups. He is the founder and CEO of afterTV LLC, a consulting firm, and writes a blog here. 

David Weinberger is author of “Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder” and co-author of “Cluetrain Manifesto.” He worked as a marketing consultant and executive at several tech companies, including Interleaf and Open Text. He is a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center and writes blogs here and here.

Mr. Keen begins: So what, exactly, is Web 2.0? It is the radical democratization of media which is enabling anyone to publish anything on the Internet. Mainstream media’s traditional audience has become Web 2.0’s empowered author. Web 2.0 transforms all of us — from 90-year-old grandmothers to eight-year-old third graders — into digital writers, music artists, movie makers and journalists. Web 2.0 is YouTube, the blogosphere, Wikipedia, MySpace or Facebook. Web 2.0 is YOU! (Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2006).

What do you think? Has the Internet become overrun with useless noise? Or does Web 2.0 give citizens access to a depth of information never available before? Join the discussion.Is Web 2.0 a dream or a nightmare? Is it a remix of Disney’s “Cinderella” or of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”? Have we — as empowered conversationalists in the global citizen media community — woken up with the golden slipper of our ugly sister (aka: mainstream media) on our dainty little foot? Or have we — as authors-formerly-know-as-the-audience — woken up as giant cockroaches doomed to eternally stare at our hideous selves in the mirror of Web 2.0?

(more…)

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From Gizmodo.com   Some pictures of the Google street fleet.   These Chevy Colbalts’s have 360 cameras mounted on the roof, and will cruise down neighborhoods and arterials while snapping pictures in every direction.

So far only primary streets in major cities have been photographed, (with much controversy at first.) Personally I’m all for it. I’m guarded about my privacy. I check my credit reports, keep a separate mailbox address, but photography on public streets isn’t a violation. It’s the same whether you’re snapping a photo of a local landmark for yourself and Grandma to see, or sharing it with the entire planet.

The fact I can “walk down” major cities right from my desk is cool. It’s what the internet was made for.  Just like the commercials for communications companies that idealistically show a classroom in middle America sharing lesson plans with kids in Japan.

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If you’ve never heard Alaska Senator Ted Steven’s “Series of Tubes” rant last year head over to YouTube and search it.  Even though Senator Stevens understands the simple concepts, he explains the logic and chain in a completely incorrect manner - and even though he’s probably a nice guy, his manner of speaking is abrasive and belligerent, akin to your old coot neighbor yelling at you to get off his lawn.

“I just the other day got an internet sent my by staff, but it got tangled up with all the commercial internet things.”

Now The consumerist posted this recent CSPAN audio clip of Ted Stevens inquiring about whether or not his land line can share a phone number for home, internet, and VOIP.  I have no idea who is answering his demanding questions, but I admire his patience.  Especially when Senator Stevens says he wants to ride his motorcycle while using wireless.

“Why shouldn’t I be able to say ah by just a little switch on my phone at home as wire I’m goin’ off the wireless I wanna use this as I ride my motorcycle.”

I hope he’s paying his grandson well to keep his Hewlett Packard in tip-top shape.  Take a listen:  

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