Google gave me a little excitement this morning when I opened up Gmail. This morning Google started the beta for Priority Inbox, a new feature which prioritizes email it thinks is most important for you to read, and kicked things off with a little intro/feature video in the top of the menu bar as is typical for Google. What was particularly exciting was the fanfare I received when the browser opened my inbox. If you use Chrome to open Gmail, the video has a little “bug” which causes this video to automatically start behind the splash image that is shown by default. When you click the splash image, the actual movie will be playing underneath.
The movie plays with a fun ragtime jazz tune and once you stop it, it won’t start playing again. (I played the song twice.) Google seems to be working on this so it doesn’t happen, but why the hell not?! You shouldn’t have your volume that high in the office anyway! Oh, and the feature seems pretty cool, too! Make sure you check that out.
Thanks for the upbeat start, Google.
Some time ago, I was asked to put together a presentation on the differences and improvements of HTML5. I was very satisfied with the end result and thought it would be helpful to others, so I posted the work for others to use. This morning, I came across a fantastic slideshow that not only gives you a great synopsis of features and improvements, but does so in an HTML5-enabled website with working HTML5 examples inline!
Well, what are you waiting for?
http://slides.html5rocks.com
This resource was put together by the folks at Google and offer additional resources at the main site at http://www.html5rocks.com.
Government subsidies and federal regulations are being entertained by the FTC in an open discussion between the Luddites and the Progressors of news media. This discussion takes a concerning direction as the FTC makes some recommendations on how the govenment might “float” the industry until it can gets its act together. I understand the interest of supporting yet another of the foundational industries of our nation, but it’s intervention is supporting exactly the sort of middle-man distribution that needs to be demolished.
The news industry has been founded on the dissemination of information and (most of the time) facts. I am personally amazed that the industry: (a) has survived in a market where this core tenant has been repeatedly threatened for SO long, (b) does this while bringing very little of its own innovation to the table, and (c) so voraciously complains as their belts are tightened to the brink of starvation. I have little empathy. So it brings great pleasure to see Google, one of the leading news aggregators, bring a little sensibility into the discussion.
I caught this via a review posted at Buzz Machine who sheds a little light on the arguments presented. On the whole, I agree with their points. His review makes for a very interesting read, even if only to illustrate the painful situation News Media currently finds itself. (Thanks, Jeff!)
During a conversation regarding DRM and e-books (stemming from the recent release of the Nook client for Android phones which allows sharing your purchased ebooks with others), I was explaining my distaste for any lock-in technology and my desire for a utopian free-information model which motivates sincere effort rather than the product. Rather than paying for the final result of the effort, instead we focus on rewarding the effort itself. A marketplace which measures following, appreciation, and admiration for a thought or piece of prose. Call it dreaming, hopeful, or unrealistic but think of the number of Likes or Retweets you might generate in a typical day. We are already sharing our efforts and thoughts finding value and insight in small, consumable pieces. We pay for this information not with coins but with our attention and devotion; a currency which, as yet, isn’t very liquid or easily monetized at all.
Continue reading ‘The End of Distribution’
Not sure how many of you are aware of this phenomenon called Stack Overflow. A question-and-answer site built around programming has been hugely successful in building a strong community. It was so successful that the group behind Stack Overflow, has spawned two more sites based on the model. And wouldn’t you know that each have corresponding meta sites which discuss the details of their counterpart’s operation. (Confused? It gets better!)
Since their launch, each have grown and matured and have a found a very important itch to scratch. No, it wasn’t creating a programming helpdesk. They’ve found a model which can be repeated across an infinite number of topics. So they’ve automated the the core processes into a scaffold and built a self-organizing, self-spawning community called Area51.
Continue reading ‘How Stack Overflow Builds Communities’
