Posts by matt

Adrian, Wilson and co. have launched Everyblock, a mashup of several information sources down to the block level for different cities (currently Chicago, New York and San Francisco). The site is very pretty, especially the maps, and as you would expect, there’s fun data hidden beneath every click. But it’s otherwise hard for me to evaluate how cool it is, since I don’t live in any of the included cities. How about it, residents?

Update: One surprise … no RSS feeds? (Except this one.)

Update 2: Rex reminds me … Poynter Online interview w/ Adrian (which is how I found out it launched).

I watched this ad three times. (NSFW, via Reddit.)

With ample and heartfelt apologies to Franklin Christenson Ware. (Bookslutty.)

There’s a giant eyeball monster in Super Paper Mario that tracks you in every direction as you move around a room and shoots laser beams at you. To defeat it, Mario has to flip into 3D mode and run around and around it until it tries to shoot, gets confused, and implodes.

Eyeball monster = media pundits. Mario = ’08 Presidential candidates. It’s fun to watch.

Oh, and btw: Speaking of life imitating Mario, Andy Towle’s right. The video for Janet Jackson’s new single “Feedback” is so Super Mario Galaxy.

Infocult points to a Texas bride who had her cake made in her own image.

“Astroturfing is a neologism for formal public relations campaigns in politics and advertising that seek to create the impression of being spontaneous, grassroots behavior.”

For example, say you founded a non-profit dedicated to vetting charity organizations and grading them on their effectiveness. Your org is attracting some high-profile attention, but you’re hankering for more. So you create accounts on a few well-trafficked websites. First, you pose as a naïf, adrift in a galaxy of charities, desperately seeking guidance. Then, under different accounts, you guide your little sockpuppet and any other interested parties right to your org. Step three, profit. Right?

Right, unless you attempt your ruse at the wrong site, where the users are savvy enough to see right through your act and call you on the mat. Now, your follies are on Digg and everywhere for all the world to see, and no amount of groveling will make amends. For shame.

I have to deal with minor astroturfing all the time on vita.mn (and pretty ridiculous astroturfing occasionally), and it’s always a forehead-slapper. It’s generally easy to spot, no matter how clever the offending party seems to think s/he is, and it cultivates a heaping mess of ill will. If you ever have the urge to misrepresent yourself online in a manner you think will advantage your company, don’t do it. You will be found out, and it will be very unpleasant. Your exploits may even be exposed in New York Magazine. Just remember this mantra — “Astroturfing makes an ass out of — never mind, just don’t do it.

Chris Anderson does a back-of-the-envelope carbon footprint calculation for an issue of Wired vs. the same issue online. The results surprised me. (Of course, it being Chris Anderson, it’s certainly not as back-of-the-envelope as it comes off; he drops some mad knowledge in the commentz.)

This Ask MetaFilter post from two years ago is like a short story unfolding in real time. I found the whole thing oddly moving — the initial account of what happened, the swelling chorus of encouragement from other users (each ostensibly nursing a silent grief of her own), and the resolution. For me, it echoed again this passage from Roth. Getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It

Over the past year, I have successfully acquired five Wiis at retail price; I felt this was notable enough for a blog post.

Wii #1: Purchased 11/06, for a vita.mn contest. Camped out in front of a Target in beautiful Red Wing, MN, at 4:45 a.m., behind Jan, Peter, Elaine, Philip and Sam, in front of a group of about 50. When we finally got the golden tickets (to come back and get a Wii), me and four of the others went to Denny’s while we waited for the store to open.

Wiis #2 & 3: Got a call one random Sunday afternoon in August from my coworker’s boyfriend, who saw some Wiis sitting on a shelf at Target. Drove to Target, picked up one for me and one for my nephews/niece.

Wiis #4 & 5: Purchased from Amazon mere seconds after receiving text messages from WiiAlerts.com. One is for a vita.mn contest, the other is for a friend’s wife to give to a friend for Christmas. Big ups to WiiAlerts; it totally works.

Needed: a term for when your phone makes calls to random entries in my address book on its own volition, usually as a byproduct of unintentional button-mashing. Somehow, my phone intuits the romance/dating-related entries and goes straight for them. It’s particularly enamored of one of my exes, which can be awkward. But not as awkward as the time it sent a discouraged suitor of mine five copies of a text message to a friend describing what I was going to wear that night.

I understand that keyboard lock (and probably looser jeans) would mostly solve this problem. But until I decide whether those are sacrifices I’m willing to make, I need something to describe this phenomenon. Ghost-dialing?