Are Seven

The punk rock days of the internet

As we struggle to come up with a less-cheesy word for “Web 2.0”, I think that it’s almost accurate to say we’re in the punk rock days of the internet. With blogs and Twitter and all others, there’s a much greater emphasis towards doing over optimizing. Rather than making sure that everything’s perfect, you get it done and put it out, as evidenced by the video released by Google the other day announcing FriendConnect which was pretty sloppy and error-filled, but was seen by millions.

Okay, maybe it’s more like punk rock in 1979 as opposed to 1977, but still…it’s a trend that values the importance of creativity born of desire both instead of an in reaction to the slow, posessive, conservative approach.

If I had the guts, this would be my new avatar for everything

Jakob Nielsen has it so very, very wrong

I like Jakob Nielsen and his advice on website usability has gone a long way for me in my professional career, but this bit from his most recent newsletter is so incredibly wrong:

Facebook and the current generation of social networks are trying to replicate the walled garden strategy that failed ten years ago. It’ll fail again.

I’m not sure how he could miss the glaring differences between the sites of ten years ago, where “walled garden” meant making sure that no one left the site for any reason ever.  But Facebook is totally different.  There are tons of applications from other sites all over Facebook.  Yes, it’s all contained on one site, but it’s not walled in anywhere near the same way that sites ten years ago were.  Nielsen just ends up sounding kind of…ancient. 

Accidental sound creation

I was listening to some techno jam as I got ready for work this morning, and an ambulance went by with sirens blazing…and it sounded really, really great.

Of course, I hope no one was seriously injured.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

…isn’t Win Butler Canadian?

Arcade Fire’s Win Butler Disses Hillary, Backs Obama