Be back soon!

Concentrating on World 1.0 for a while.

XKCD

eHarmony Settles Suit

Due to a lawsuit, net-dating site eHarmony is starting a site for single-sex matches called "Compatible Partners" using the same quiz that is on the eHarmony site. I suppose this is a good step. Nevertheless, eHarmony has always weirded me out in the first place, what with their creepy commercials.

If you want to be an Obama Staffer...

Be prepare to have your online history laid bare! Here is a copy of the questionnaire that all potential staffers have to answer. I imagine it would be quite difficult for the average 22 year old to complete.

Presidency 2.0

What is one of the more interesting aspects of the upcoming Obama administration which has certainly not been lost on the press is the use of new technologies to reach the public. Obama has now unveiled a transitional website, Change.gov. CNN feels that this web savvy may be one of the reasons that Obama so resolutely won the election (by reaching out via web to a younger, more-wired demographic, etc). I can't really debate that.

Obama's first 'Fireside chat' ala FDR is even up on YouTube now.

This Day in History...

...25 years ago Bill Gates announced Windows 1.0.

America 2.0

Linking the Onion

My eye was caught recently by affiliated links at the bottom of a Washington Post news article on the 2008 Election - the links were from the Onion. I would hope that most readers would realize the Onion was a parody newspaper - but one has to wonder.

R. I. P. Muxtape

Another music site bites the dust...

Netiquette and the Forward

I loathe e-mail forwards. You know the specific kind I am talking about - they come from only a subset of contacts and usually consist of inspirational quotes, off-color jokes or urban legends warning you about hypodermic needles in gas pumps (or something like that). They are the tacky 21st-century equivalent of chain letters, and yet they don't seem to be going away. The problem with forwards is that e-mails can be composed so effortlessly (and without any cost to the sender), so forward-happy individuals don't usually think twice before pushing "send."

To solve this inbox etiquette problem, the folks at StopForwardingUs have created a site where you can type in the e-mail address of the offending forwarder, and they will receive an anonymous e-mail telling them their forwarding habits are going astray.

Ingenious!