Caffeinated Gonzo!

While poking around webware.com I came across this handy “Newbies Guide for Twitter.”  Ever the ADD afflicted personality, I have bounced around Twitter apps and services haphazardly and given quirk, even I managed to learn something from the guide.  Thanks to By Rafe Needleman for sharing this with us.

Who knew that the U.S. State Department would embrace twitter?   I half expected NASA to get on-board but the State Department?  Maybe this Twitter thing is catching on

It’s cheesy, it’s a waste of a good three minutes and it’s on MySpace. 

MySpace’s first attempt at original video programming is a 3 minute per episode production of “Roommates” a “video blog” featuring recently graduated college girls on the prowl and starring in their own reality show.  It’s boring drivel and the only redeeming thing I think it has going for it is that it is fake. 

I am sure that it will catch on… after all this Fall’s new television line up includes a new comedy series based on the equally cheesy 30 “Caveman” second television spots by Geico.  So why not put fake Reality TV on Myspace?

I can’t wait for MySpace to introduce the first in a series of inevitable Roommates inspired ringtones.  I am sure they too will be a big hit.  I am sure it won’t be long before I can hear them being played between commecials  every time I slip and turn on the Top 40 radio station in my car. 

My favorite web site of the moment is Pandora, a music 2.0 site featuring streaming music.  Streaming music over the Internet is (at least for now) commonplace.  What is different about this site is that registered users can build multiple personalized “radio” stations based on stated musical preferences, search criteria, and up or down votes  on musical choices presented on the fly by the service as you listen.

For examples of how this service works, check out two Pandora stations that I created:

Radio Hotel California featuring songs with a unique California vibe.

And R.E.M. Sleep Radio that began with R.E.M. classics and ends with ?? sweet dreams?

I’ve played with last.fm, have a great time discovering new bands and songs for my iPod on iLike, now I am finding myself addicted to Pandora.I would be in heaven if someone would take the best of the features of each of these services and mash them up together into one great package. Frankly, if this keeps up, and isn’t ruined my a nervous music industry, I will find it less and less desirable (or for that matter,necessary) to listen to tired old F.M. radio on my stereo.

Tiltomo is a development site working with visual image search algorithms. As of this writing they are currently beta testing their latest Visual Image Search Engine which compares the similarity & relationship between images to produce results.  The project’s test uses image databases culled from images uploaded to flickr.  The current tests include a search by theme, which is an analysis of subject, color and texture, and a seach by color and/or texture without relying on a common theme or subject. 

Retrievr is an interesting experiment in image search.  The experimental service currently allows you to search and explore through a subset of Flickr images by drawing a rough sketch or submitting an image for comparison. Judging by my short but sweet experimentation with the tool tells me that the ability to draw in detail is not as important as color selection.

For future reference: a list of digg-style applications maintained on 3spots blog.

I started playing around with del.icio.us when it first came out. The service has improved a lot since it’s early days and it certainly has become more popular. That being said, I can’t say that I am one of the services most frequent fliers. I find the service interesting and it’s fun to play with but I can’t say I have used it to it’s full potential yet.

Curious about improvements, and the potential for more from the del.icio.us team, I started reading their blog. It is obvious from even a little bit of reading that the team has a lot of ideas on the table.

I am still looking for a reason to use del.icio.us on a daily basis, and not as just another feature to crowd onto my blog. Perhaps with a little time and tinkering I will find the spark of what I am looking for that will turn this interesting little experience into a tool I cannot live without.

At the risk of adding more tools to what very well may be your already overflowing tool box, I offer up this link for finding more: The Absolutely Del.icio.us Tools Collection.

Anyone paying attention to the the state of the web these days knows that Web 2.0 sites are all the rage.  Frankly, they are all any one talks about when it comes to web site developments these days (outside of the sociological implications of MySpace) and for some this may be becoming a bit tiresome.  I know I have been a bit too guilty of talking too much about Web 2.0 myself.  All this talk is sure to kill the radio star, but in the mean time I will add one more person’s Top 10 list into the mix for people to explore.

Witness: Top 10 Web 2.0 Designs. From the mind and blog of one Cameron Olthuis. Enjoy reading ~ perhaps over a nice glass of wine if it’s your style.

I have been asked by more than one person lately what is the purpose of the tags at the bottom of weblog posts (like this one) and other web pages? Tags are a loose means of organizing content on the web and relating it back to other similar content.

Where does this concept of Tags or "tagging" on the Web come from? Tagging primarily centers around a concept called folksonomy. As described on Wikipedia:

A "folksonomy" is a collaboratively generated, open-ended labeling system that enables Internet users to categorize content such as Web pages, online photographs, and Web links. The freely chosen labels – called tags – help to improve search engine's effectiveness because content is categorized using a familiar, accessible, and shared vocabulary. The labeling process is called tagging. Two widely cited examples of websites using folksonomic tagging are Flickr and Del.icio.us.

Ripped straight from the pages of Wikipedia. Read more of their article on Folksonomy here.