Category: Society

Society by Joe WilcoxOct 4, 200812:00 am

I’m Googled Now

In 1995, I registered domain editors.com. I loved that domain, but, alas, sold it a few years back for a small sum. Had I understood then where blogging was going, I wouldn’t have let go the domain. Idiot.

Anyway, the replacement domain is used strictly for e-mail. It has seen a few hosts, including Yahoo. The most recent one has an invalid SSL certificate going on a year now. I finally got sick of repeated warnings about security cert and made a major shift yesterday: Google.

I signed up for Google Apps, so that I could host the domain somewhere else for e-mail. What a bargain. Fifty bucks a year, with 25GB of storage and a bunch of other Google services hanging off the domain.

News Media by Joe WilcoxJun 25, 200812:00 am

Two Blogs Don’t Make a Right

Here’s an example of blogging as bad journalism and the problem with the viral Web.

Gizmodo has a short post (Aren’t they all?) about the monumental influence of Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg. I know Walt, so I was immediately interested in the item, time-stamped 8:23 a.m. EDT today.

Society by Joe WilcoxJun 24, 200812:00 am

Google-Facebook Swim Party

I meant to blog this on Saturday. I could have gone to a pool party using Facebook and Google Maps.

That’s what the Guardian says teens in the UK are doing. Uninvited. The meetup, or “dipping,” is coordinated using Google Maps to find outdoor swimming pools and Facebook (or other social networking services like Bebo) to set place and time; typically late night.

Society by Joe WilcoxJun 12, 200812:00 am

Google Attention Deficit Disorder

Nicolas Carr asks: “Is Google Making Us Stupid?.” My experience is the same as his, and more. My writing concentration has changed, too. Blogging is more difficult than, say, three years ago. There is too […]

The Arts by Joe WilcoxMay 22, 20089:15 pm

21 Accents

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k] She’s not English, but American—and amazing. Her accents go so oddly together.

News Media by Joe WilcoxMay 12, 20089:00 pm

The New Journalism

I had the below IM conversation with Nate Mook of Betanews after posting about PR blogging on my work blog. All times are Pacific (-8 GMT):

Joe says: (3:54:02 PM)
I couldn’t resist: http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/developer/net_35_sp1_changes_your_expression.html
Nate says: (3:57:30 PM)
Saw that
Nate says: (3:57:31 PM)
Good post
Nate says: (3:57:40 PM)
I’ve been thinking the same thing recently
Joe says: (3:57:47 PM)
I’m really bugged about this.
Joe says: (3:57:52 PM)
Ah, good for you.

Responsibility by Joe WilcoxMay 2, 20083:36 am

Mazda Does Right Thing

We couldn’t run the risk of damaging the brand name that Mazda worked so hard over the years to develop. Jeremy Barnes About the destruction of $100 million worth of cars.

The Arts by Joe WilcoxApr 4, 20088:21 pm

Can I Have a Napkin, Please?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkYZ6rbPU2M] Improv Everywhere brings music and mayhem to a Los Angeles shopping mall. Their performance and the food court go oh-so oddly together.

Society by Joe WilcoxMar 16, 20089:37 am

Let the Bears Eat Bear Stearns

I agree with Gretchen Morgenson, writing for the New York Times. The Fed shouldn’t bail out Bear Stearns. The fed crossed a line by keeping afloat a major architect of the housing debacle.

I wrote my first blog post about the housing bubble in August 2005, a year after deciding not to buy a home in the Washington, DC suburb of Bowie. It was already clear to me in summer 2004 that something akin to a repeat of the dot-com bubble was taking place in the housing market.

Had we bought in 2004, we would likely hold a mortgage that exceeds the house’s reduced value. We could never have moved to San Diego.

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 20, 20089:18 am

It’s Not Alaska, It’s an Adventure

Jean McDermott cracks me up. She’s got a wry, dry sense of humor. Maybe the humorless can’t survive Alaskan winters.

Today, Jean posted a picture of her freezer and, separately, commented on the weather: “A couple days ago we got 10 inches of snow in one night. People up here walked around just beaming. Finally! The bumps in the ski, snowmachine, mushing and skijore trails would finally be smoothed out. No more skidding around on dirt! Not only that, but it has warmed up to a positively balmy 20° ABOVE so everyone is having a bit of a respite from having to put on so much bleeding gear every time one goes outside!

Digital Lifestyle by Joe WilcoxJan 3, 20089:59 pm

Scoble Scrapes Friends’ Trust

Robert Scoble has been the talk of the Web today, for getting booted from Facebook. Robert is back on Facebook now, but he shouldn’t be. Facebook suspended the former Microsoft evangelist blogger for a terms-of-service violation. He used a testing Plaxo tool to mine, or “scrape,” information from about 5,000 of his contacts. [Editor’s note, April 4, 2017: Three Scobelizer posts gone; links removed.]

Apple by Joe WilcoxDec 30, 200710:14 pm

You Phone Home, I Hang Up

Tonight, I removed Adobe’s Lightroom 1.3 from my computer. Maybe that makes me part of the so-called “tinfoil” hat crowd. I’m deeply concerned about Adobe collecting information, in apparently disguised fashion, from users of its products.

I don’t buy Adobe’s excuses. Creative Suite 3 isn’t freeware. People buying the software can pay as much as $1,800 (street price), depending on CS3 version. Adobe feels free to mine information from these customers, without even asking their permission? Shame on Adobe. I would remove Acrobat and Flash, if so many Websites didn’t use the software. I’m mad!