RaffyJohn.com Rocks In My Head

Twistori > Summerize > Twitter

Twistori presents a flow of common emotions that people twit about on Twitter, pulled via Summerize. What is funny is how removed the viewer is from an emotion that started so intimately.

Created by Amy Hoy and Thomas Fuchs.

Via http://www.youtube.com/user/boingboingtv

I’ve never been scared of security or identity theft issues before, but this just seems way too easy.

…at least to see where they could lead.

Sure ads suck, but I think marketers will eventually come around and realize what a good ad can be and do for every party.

It is not about doing the same thing that has been done for 75+ years. Twitter offers some really unique advertisement opportunities that could benefit both the users and advertiser. Simple contextual ads would be boring and pointless, other than driving a bit of revenue for Twitter.

(Thought spawned by Twitter Testing Advertising In Twitter Streams)

Imagine taking a snapshot with your camera phone, cropping it, tagging it, maybe even adding a bubble quote, then being able to send it to all your friends without using any built-in software or having to install a 3rd party app - Every piece of software you use can live elsewhere and you can jump around from tool to tool as you see fit.

This is an idea that I was getting at when I wrote The Browser is Dead. The browser is helping remove the need for software to live locally on our systems.

BXP makes a great point:

“The beauty of browsers, though, is that as the Web evolves, the interface stays the same. Remember when browsers were just HTTP viewers? Now browsers can run applications and display dynamic content.” - BXP (The Browser is Dead #comment-69)

It is not only that browsers have changed, but that web servers have changed. Connect-ability is more important than any specific technology or platform. What needs to happen in order for browsers to become better than an OS?

Browsing the internet on my blackberry via an EDGE network is slow. It’s damn slow. But I love it! It actually helps me get more done!

Because of the speed restrictions I think about and question every link I encounter. It is like the anti-stumbleupon. I am more considerate when reading articles and blogs, making them much more enjoyable.

In turn, I actually read more, gather more information in full as I am not skipping, guzzling information, hoarding it as fast as I forget it.

I just get in and get out.

Michael Arrington on TechCrunch writes:

For most early adopters (and all Mac users), the browser is increasingly the only operating system that matters anyway. Windows isn’t really that relevant any more just because of the increasing utility of online applications like Google Docs, which competes with Microsoft Office. - Gartner Says Vista Will Collapse. And That’s Why The Yahoo Deal Must Happen

With the increasing popularity of widgets over the last few years, I honestly believed that the browser was at and end, it had hit a wall. There are even Firefox plug-ins that allow the browser to NOT act like a browser.

The problem is in the general thinking of the OS, as a platform for apps to run. By definition this is true. That’s all it is.

Why the browser is so popular is that it is a tangible interface to the internet. People got the “pamphlet” pitch back when the internet first entered the publics’ conscience.

It is going to take a young mind, someone who sees the OS as something completely different, to bring its next iteration. Not simply as a serving tray for apps.

I think it’s less “the OS is dead” and more that the OS needs to be re-thought. (Windows is ‘collapsing,’ Gartner analysts warn)

Finding newly created folders is cumbersome. Finding re-named folders and files is a pain. File and keyboard actions are not carried across all tools, such as the save dialog. Files are re-associated to different apps too presumptuously. There is also a real lack of built-in file and folder actions.

These are the things I do everyday, not just once in awhile headaches.

Of course, the act of renaming filenames is fantastic.

Great interview with Steve Wozniak:
Steve Wozniak on Apple, Steve Jobs and the Value of a Good Prank

Woz on Artificial Intelligence:

Could you build a robot that could make a cup of coffee?

First, people say, “Well, that sounds simple.” And the answer is: It’ll never happen.

You could come into my house and you might be able to make a cup of coffee. I could go into your house and I might be able to make a cup of coffee. Think of all the steps a computer would have to analyze — walking through your house, trying to figure out where a kitchen might be. If you have a coffee machine, figuring how it fits together. We’d know to open a drawer and look for a filter, because we’ve used coffee machines. We’ve lived a human life.

[Can] a computer create art? You could write programs that make music that sounds okay — it uses the right notes or the right scales — but it wouldn’t be great art. Because you have to judge it. How could a computer judge art — even a painting — if it’s never experienced the human feeling of a breeze on a beach?

You’d almost have to have a robot that grows up. Maybe it could live life a little faster than a human. But it would have to go through a lot of steps we go through to have the same feelings of what’s important in the world. - Knowledge@Wharton

So, do you give up? Nah. It’s probably way to much fun for the people trying to figure these problems out.

I wonder what the most common blog spam comment is. I get quite a few of each of these everyday:

“Useful site. Thank you!!”

“Good site. Thanks!”

“Good advice!”

Plus several of variations of these.

Good thing Akismet rocks!

My mobile phone is directly connected to my world, the things around me and can access the world at large. I can take video, find movie times, chat with someone in China and share photos. There are definitely pains involved, speed being the most grueling, but that is to be solved. The question I have been thinking about lately is, what else can our handhelds do for us? What is in store for the future?

One thing I’d love to be able to do is order from local businesses, like restaurants, for pickup or delivery. If I could order some Panang Curry from my mobile right now, I would; Get a reply back with the order details, delivery wait time, what I owe etc., I’d be ecstatic! Maybe even a history of my ordering that could build a sort of “My Guide to Chicago” list.

How about custom city pages, based on the places you and your friends have been. Remembering that patisserie in Paris your friend told you about would be a non issue. With my mobile device linked to his, I’d be attached to the parts of his world he is willing to let me in on. Mobile devices make it easier get our conscience out - Perfect for frequent travelers.

Is the mobile phone a new frontier? A place where new leaders will emerge? Or, will the Internet simply be picked up and placed on the mobile devices?

To put it another way, will handhelds simply be a redundant representation of our PCs or is the mobile space ripe for endless entrepreneurial adventures?

I think mobile devices will offer much more than a new interface on top of what we know. We will see apps we never thought possible and solutions to problems we never realized we had.