At Christmas, a good friend gave me a day calendar that has somewhat offbeat sites for each day. Some are long gone - such is the web - some are truly odd. This one is interesting - it’s based on artificial intelligence (I must like it because I have none of my own). Pick a movie, an author or a book, or music and enter it in this site. It will map other works or artists that are similar and you can follow the trail of authors or music, learning of new groups or new books to try. The music one is like a visual verion of Pandora without the music. The books & authors one was fascinating - I put in an author I liked and wham! there was a whole cloud of names, many familiar favorites, and many new ones.

Former Nashvillian and Hootervillian, ariedana is starting something rather cool on Twitter.

So, through a series of very interesting series of Twitter discussions about it, I’ve formulated this rough sort of plan.

1. If you’re on Twitter, and if you or someone else on Twitter or someone close to you is going through illness, death, painful life changes or any of the sort of things that make you feel really alone sometimes, post about it to Twitter and hashtag it #spreadthelove.
2. If you see the Tweet, take the name into your heart somehow. Some of us would want to say a quick prayer for the person, others might have their own prayer rituals or circles to participate in, or just simply thinking some good thoughts and “sending” energy through your own means.

Some of you are completely atheistic and may think any of this sort of thing is complete hogwash. That’s your right to believe, and this is not intended to turn Twitter into some huge religious prayer gathering. It’s just a chance for us all to care for each other as the family that some of us have become a part of. All I ask myself is for you to not mock our faith and beliefs and not turn it into something that’s met with expressions of annoyance or mistrust.

Because this is intended to be a positive community effort to do one thing — care. No money is involved at all. This is not intended to be a means for anyone to ask for money or help. Any attempts to do so would invite abuse, and that would ruin the action.

Ariedana used to work at WKRN and is now in Huntsville.

It is of the good.

The Nashvillest is pretty darned groovy if you ask me.

Ceeelcee pontificates about life in the new age.

I was listening to “This American Life” last weekend, (yeah I’ve got a yellow-dog liberal streak down my back, screw you, righties!) and David Rakoff told the story about Vinny Ricardo, who was found dead in his New York apartment after mummifying for over a year. Tragically, with the television on.

It got me to thinking, I pay all my bills via electronic transfer. My doctor and my dentist know that I’m responsible enough to make my own appointments on a regular schedule. The folks where I work know that I’d just as soon disappear to my cabin in Sewanee some day forever anyway and catch up on forty years worth of reading and bird watching.

He goes on to say, if you don’t hear from him on Twitter or on his blog, check up on him in case he’s deceased.

Lovely thoughts this a.m.

The next Nashville Geek Tweet-up is scheduled for Thursday, May 22nd, at Flying Saucer. We’ll be there from 7:00 - 10:00 pm. Everyone is welcome, especially those who are looking to meet others in the social networking spectrum. RSVP in the Facebook Event, or in the comments of the post on studio nashvegas.

Come one. Come all. 

Jim at the FBI Memos talks twitter.

Now, email is old school. Adults send three emails for every text. With teens, it is the other way around. Young consumers play by their own set of multi-tasking, micro-messaging rules. And most marketers are failing at getting any message through to them. In a world they completely don’t understand, marketers just assume more is better, and they increase the frequency of their old school messages. This is a generation that can do homework, chat on Facebook, keep up with Twitter and text messaging, all at the same time. According to a 2007 study by MTV and Microsoft, 14-24 year olds have an average of 53 people they consider friends. Multi-tasking is all they’ve ever known. They can filter the noise out.

From former Nashvillian Brittney Gilbert.

Then: “Blogging will be the death of legitimate, long-form journalism.”

Now: “Twitter will be the death of legitimate, long-form blogging.”

Then: “I would never have a blog.”

Now: “I would never have a Twitter.”

She’s right.

Twitter is interesting to me. I’ve seen more news broken on Twitter that sometimes takes up to an hour to make it to mainstream news sites.

The Uncle also weighs in.

Smiley isn’t smiling too much about the new way that the City Paper is distributing their news.

I thought I would keep reading it online, especially since they claimed they would have their comics on the website. Nope. It’s two new crappy comics and a link to a site where you can pay to view old B.C. strips.

What I really miss is the copy that would invariably be folded up and stuffed between the wall and the bathroom stall door.  The articles were edited to be exactly one dump long.  I’m not gonna carry a laptop into the sh**ter with me.

Chalk me up as a reader who apparently wasn’t ready to make the leap away from the print edition.

A way with words CeeElCee has there about bathroom reading but also sage advice to news outlets?

Do you guys like it? Hate it? Think it’s good cat box filler? Think it’s inspired? Opening doors to new media? Not enough comics?

What say you?

Got Techno-Junk? Get rid of it this Saturday! Via the Nashvillians LiveJournal community comes this info:

WHAT: Dell Computer Recycling Event

WHEN: Saturday, April 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

WHERE: Dell Nashville Campus, near Nashville International Airport Two Dell Parkway (intersection of Donelson Pike & Murfreesboro Rd.)

COST: Free of Charge

ITEMS TO BE RECYCLED: Any make or model of computers and related equipment, including desktops, laptops, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards and mice. Gaming consoles and mobile entertainment devices are also accepted.

ITEMS NOT ACCEPTED: Televisions, stereo equipment, cell phones, appliances, etc.

OTHER INSTRUCTIONS: Participants should remove all data from their computer’s hard drive and any removable media such as disks, PC cards, flash drives, CD-ROMs. Drop off is free. The first 1,200 participants will receive a tree sapling ready for planting.

Hey–a free tree! And a great place to unload that old 286 and CRT monitor collecting dust in the garage.

Michael at Chez Bez is heaping some lovin’ on Google’s Street View.  Here he takes a peek at a house he used to live in.

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Michael also made a trip to a neighborhood record store (but in person, not online though I’ll bet you can find it online): Grimey’s New & Preloved Music.

I walked past the fellow music lovers, found Caitlin’s CD, and paid my five bucks (worth every penny). Before leaving to finish my errands, I stuck around to hear Matthew Ryan sing a few songs. Every part of me was happy in the moment.

I want to go now… it reminds me a lot of the old Cut Corner Records in Lexington, Ky.

A couple of days ago Internet users who have AT&T (formerly BellSouth) as their ISP found themselves without Internet access. For some, like myself, it lasted roughly an hour. For others, the outage went on for several hours interrupting business and personal communications. And I will admit, I was a bit “freaked out” when I discovered that my Internet connection was gone. What will I do? How will I communicate with the outside world? I panicked, ever so slightly, then proceeded to make sausage cheese balls since my primary way of coping with stress is through eating. And when my Internet access was restored? All was once again “right” with the world.

Pathetic. I know.

But what’s even more disturbing is this statement from an article on Yahoo! about Internet addiction:

Meanwhile, mind docs say the problem is growing, now possibly affecting up to 10 percent of Internet users. Recent studies are surprising, indicating the problem is worst not among game-obsessed teens, but rather among middle-aged women who stay at home, constantly on the computer as a way of connecting to the outside world. (emphasis mine)

No, I’m not middle-aged (yet) but I guess I’ll just have to come clean right here and now.

Hello. I’m Malia. And I’m a Internetaholic.

So to “get out” more and actually physically connect with the outside world, I’d like to propose a road trip.

Crossville anyone?

(h/t Suburban Turmoil)

Adobe has launched a new web-based service: Photoshop Express. It’s an online version of their design industry standard photography editing and image creation/editing software available for everyone (with a broadband connection). They give you 2GB of online storage free. The URL is https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html

A. C. Kleinheider, formerly of Volunteer Voters (is there a need to link to a defunct site?) has been hired to blog by The Nashville Post. Congratulations, Adam.

H/T Newscoma

The war is imminent. Soon an entire community is going to divide up based on color and start fighting. There is nothing we can do to avoid it, so we might as well join in.

No, I am not talking about the race war that nut jobs talk about. I am talking about Color Wars on Twitter. Fishwreck Chuck is talking about it too:

At approximately 11:05 am CT yesterday, zefrank sent the following tweet:
“Good Morning! As you can see, i am now a member of the blue team!”

And then all hell broke loose

If you are on Twitter then you may want to go ahead and pick a team. (see Chuck’s post for more details) If you are not on Twitter then this will likely reinforce your opinion that Twitter is a completely useless waste of time (and who would I be to disagree).

Remember a few months back, when I first showed up around here, and I posted a long rant about how iTunes should add a subscription service to its offerings?

At the time, I encountered a lot of resistance from people who felt it was imperative that they “own” their music and not run the risk of “losing it” if they can’t afford the monthly “rent.” All I ever advocated was that an “all your ears can eat” service be offered on iTunes in ADDITION to a “pay-per-download” model.

Now it seems that Mr. Jobs has finally heard my plea. There are all kinds of reports in the tech press today that negotiations are now afoot for just such an eventuality. Now, what I’m reading is that Apple wants to add some nominal fee — like $20 per — to the price of its iPods and iPhones; if that’s a one-time charge, it seems ludicrous to me — it should be that much per month, in perpetuity, for whoever wants to pay it. I for one would gladly shell out $20/month, if it means that for the cost of 2 CDs, I can listen to as many new releases as I want to. There are lots of things I’d like to hear, but not so much that I want to buy outright. This way, if I hear something and it knocks me out, I’ve always got the option of buying a copy for my own collection.

I sure hope the negotiations bear fruit. –PS

Cal Evans has announced that the time for telecommuting has arrived:

The technology exists to allow almost all office workers to work remotely. Before they were purchased by Sun, MySQL had 70% of it’s workforce distributed around the world, working at their own locations. Telecommuting is no longer a perk to be negotiated for; it should be common sense. It’s not a right but it is a clue for smart workers looking to switch jobs. Companies that do not immediately tout their telecommute policy are companies mired in the 70’s and 80’s.

I’ve said it before and I know I will say it again, if a manager doesn’t feel that they can get their job done with a distributed team, that is a failing of the manager. If you are in charge of a manager who won’t let employees telecommute because they feel they will lose control, fire the manager, get someone in who can actually do the job.

I get to telecommute a fair amount and it has been a part of almost every job I have had in the past 8 years. In my experience telecommuting works better when I am passionate about the work I am doing.

What about you? Do you telecommute?

I heard about this new website on Good Morning America, this morning. It’s WOWOWOW.com and it was founded by some really amazing and frankly, powerful, women in our country. There are CEOs, writers, the co-founder of Sesame Street, news reporters, entrepreneurs, actors, and so on. It has a “blog” sort of feel in that there are posts that can be commented on. The posts are authored by the site’s founders and guests contributors. My favorite feature is the “Question of the Day” where a question is posed and many of the site’s founders submit their answers, then readers can answer the question as well or comment on what others have written.

It think it’s a very intriguing concept to have these well known women put their ideas and opinions out there in a very accessible way. My hope is that they will stay committed to this site and not let it get stale or overrun with the same people posting and commenting all the time. Go check it out and tell me what you think!

This is a perfect explanation of Twitter, and why so many of us enjoy it.


Special thanks to Sleepy Dad via Newscoma who got it from fishwreck! How’s that for hat tips all around?

I have read a lot of explanations before from bloggers who drop off on posting, but this made me laugh out loud this morning:

1. I have a job already, and in exchange for doing that job I get this stuff called “money.” I can tell you with a relative degree of certainty that money pretty much rocks. That’s what allows me to buy booze, and never underestimate the importance of that. When this website starts paying me in vodka you will see dedication the likes of which you’ve never witnessed before. Until then a girl’s got to prioritize.

2. I rather enjoy spending time with my spouse, which is pretty much why I married him. That and his enormous schlong.

There are more hilarious excuses over at Sparkles Plenty.

Rex Hammock has made it easy to follow what’s going on in Austin at SXSW this weekend here.

And Dave Delaney is tweeting like a madman out there.

If you want to know more at SXSW, go here.

Any other Nashvillians/Tennesseans in Austin? If so, leave it in the comments and let us know what’s going on.

I wanted to let you know that I took Nashville is Talking off of the MCB aggregator this morning because with their shiny new format, their feed had become basically an aggregator into our aggregator.

We love our friends over at NiT, so it’s nothing personal whatsoever…

Go take a gander at their new format!

Then, y’all be sure and come back here now, ya hear?

Update: Christian has fixed the feed to where it now only features his “Noteworthy” posts, so I have added NiT back to the aggregator.

MCB contributor and guru Kate O’ is quoted about her day job and how web home page layout can be telling in serving customers

The way customers respond to online page layouts has a lot to do with their affinity for certain types of magazines, according to a case study conducted by online magazine subscription destination Magazines.com.

With this sort of target-based marketing, information like this can be helpful not only in commercial endeavors but also in finding what people are seeking on non-commercial sites.

Pretty cool.

A Nashvillian, who doesn’t have a blog that I can find, was named reader of the day on Pop Candy this morning. Her name is Bryn C.

It got me wondering about the different kinds of way we communicate. Many newspapers are utilizing online media in different ways by, of course, including their own mini-blogs. The Tennessean does this as well. 

Obviously, it allows people to get published on a mainstream media entity. But it also gives more ownership to readers. And I can’t help but think it’s perplexing for traditional media addressing the concerns of how new media actually operates with citizen participation.

I guess my question is are you a part of an online media community that hosts your blog? Pop Candy, which I think is extremely innovative and fun, spotlights their readers pretty regularly which is extremely clever. In watching media, it’s interesting to see how all of this is going to play out when mixing traditional media and the organic nature of some online communities such as Nashville is Talking, MCB, Volunteer Voters, No Silence Here, Tennessee Free, TennViews or KnoxvilleTalks (granted Volunteer Voters, Knoxville Talks and Nashville is Talking are owned and operated by television stations but have one primary author/administrator. And there are many more communities but these are just a few.)

On another note, I wonder if new media has anything to do with this?

Megan G. takes Rush Limbaugh to task over this:

So it’s not so much the fact that Limbaugh thinks he’s so important that when he has a problem he can just expect Steve Jobs to respond to him (and seriously, when is the last time you had a problem with Windows–ok, if you use it then you probably had a problem 5 mins. ago–and expected Bill Gates to even know how to fix it? Got car trouble? Why, call on the CEO of course!) that bugs me. It’s the bullshi**ing he does in his plea.

For example:

“You know, I’m a big Mac guy. I love Macs, and I’ve got four Mac Pros. They’re the top-of-the-line Mac Pros, maxed out…”

Seriously? Because when a Mac Pro is actually “maxed out,” it costs roughly $24,000. So Limbaugh has four $24,000 machines for personal use? He spent about $100,000 on these machines and his sales rep/Apple store/wherever-the-fudge-he-bought-them is just ignoring him? Really? Because when I worked for Apple, we helped people who didn’t even buy their machines from us. FOR FREE.

I love it when techy-folks cry foul. (Megan is much more techy than I am. Is techy a word?)

Rex Hammock tries to explain Twitter which is virtually impossible to do, but he does a pretty good job of it.

Like the Internet itself, Twitter is hard to explain because it doesn’t really have a point. And it has too many points. Here’s what I mean: All it does is provide a common-place to relay short messages to a group of people who agree to receive your messages. Here’s the second part of what i mean: When you stop thinking those short messages aren’t limited to “I’m about to get on the elevator” but can be eye-witness accounts of breaking news stories or bursts of business-critical intelligence, or warnings that a gun-man is loose on campus, or shared conversations about political debates you and your friends are watching on TV, the possibilities of what can be done using Twitter becomes amazingly confusing — I think in a good way.

I find that Twitter is pretty effective in getting a message out fast (an example would be morning traffic or breaking news), it can be silly and it can be annoying at times as is life. It also can promote your blog.

How does one describe Twitter? Go read Rex’s post and it might give you some insight about it all.