18th August 2006 - A Friday installment of things to make you go hmmmm
So the internet has rumbled along for another few weeks and if I hear one more person mention YouTube or MySpace I think I’m going to scream. When GMTV fill a five minute slot discussing the wonders of video upload you know its time to move to a new site, but just before we all do here are some more things to occupy a minute or two…
Ok, I know most of you have already seen this, but its so good it really has to be included on this week’s email. Allegedly done in a single take, here is the only good use ever invented for running machines
http://www.videobomb.com/posts/show/3484
This week on YouTube, in amongst the girlfriends and boyfriends bitching about each other, and teenagers in Croydon wiring up roundabouts to motorbike engines, there is something really rather special. This guy has fast become a legend. He’s had hundreds of thousands of views of his videos in the last week and many thousands of comments. Here is an elderly man who says that YouTube has changed his life. His videos are full of stories about the war and his youth, and general observations on what’s going on in the world. Is he too good to be true?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_YMigZmUuk
For more of his pieces check out “Telling It All” parts 1 to 6
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=geriatric1927
On a different topic entirely, a number of sites recently seem to be full of consecutive pictures of people taken over a number of years. Take a look at these two fascinating examples below
http://zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55YYaJIrmzo
Ever wanted to use a video from YouTube in a presentation, or put something from Google Video on your ipod? Well now you can – here is a site where you paste the url you want, and it will download the video to your machine
http://feelingtea.com/decode/google/
Ok, enough of YouTube for another few weeks, here are some other interesting things to take a look at:
For general trendwatching, there are many great sites out there, one of the best being The Coolhunter. One of the categories it specialises in is advertising, and there are some seriously clever international ads featured in this section.
http://www.thecoolhunter.net/ads/
This next is something that I remember from a number of years ago, but not sure how many people have used it. Basically you type yourself a message and it will mail it to you at a later specified date. Could be useful as a car insurance renewal reminder, or for people’s birthdays, but how about writing something and sending it to yourself in 5 or 10 years time. Providing your email address stays the same (hotmail, gmail etc…) it could be pretty amazing to receive something from your former self
http://www.futureme.org/
Remember the days before everyone banged on about social networking? At that time the big buzz was all about recommendation, with reviews, ratings and “if you like this” technology. Since Amazon in the US started selling groceries, the functionality for books has extended to more everyday products. As you can imagine this has allowed for some bizarre reviews - some serious, some just plain taking the piss. Check out the user reviews of milk!
Amazon
Travel remains one of my web passions and with hundreds of sites to support my addiction I’ve included some examples ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.
This site shows you all the good and bad seats on just about every airline imaginable. Choose your airline on the left and the type of plane you are due to travel on, and hover over the layout – online seat selection on BA just got a whole load more competitive
http://www.seatguru.com/
So now for the ridiculous. Airlinemeals.net is a contender for one of the most comprehensive and random sites ever devised. Basically it has pictures of airlines meals from just about every airline in the world (Air Vanuatu anyone??) and reviews by passengers. From eulogies about Concorde lunches to eyewatering gems about dinner on Ethiopian Air “Not bad taste for Ethiopian Airlines, but the salad & cake was SUCK”, it’s a hilarious way to while away a few minutes. (Make sure you also check out the “special meals” “crew meals” “meals in movies” and “behind the scenes” areas). Priceless
http://www.airlinemeals.net/indexMeals.html
In the last week I got a new Sony Ericsson Cybershot phone. Aside from being a great phone with incredible photo ability, it does something that has completely changed my view on the potential of mobile. As soon as you take a picture with it you are presented with a “blog this” option. By clicking on it, it immediately created a “mobile blog” space for me online and uploaded both the image and associated text. The whole thing probably deserves a standalone demo if any of you are interested, but it completely changes the relationship between mobile and web and allows me to have an online space updated from anywhere in the world with no need for internet cafes or the like and with the ability for people to leave comments and for me to access it at a PC or on a mobile. The genius with the whole thing is its profound simplicity and accessibility. Here is my VERY unexciting blog so far to give you an idea of the manifestation of this new behaviour that many believe is set to be the next shift in new media.
http://mobileblach.blogspot.com/
So how do I discover some of the gems I pass on to you? Aside from sites I’ve talked about previously like Delicious, I recently discovered a wonderful new tool. Stumble Upon ads a toolbar to your screen. You define categories you are interested in (such as travel, literature, bizarre etc…) and each time you click on the “stumble” button, it generates a site that someone has recommended within that category. You also have a thumbs up and thumbs down button to help it learn what you like, and this also allows you to recommend new sites and pages for it to serve to others with just one click. It does involve a quick download, but I massively recommend giving it a go. If you find links you like through it, pass them on (no one has recommended anything to me yet) and enjoy stumbling around the web at your leisure.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
Ok, I know most of you have already seen this, but its so good it really has to be included on this week’s email. Allegedly done in a single take, here is the only good use ever invented for running machines
http://www.videobomb.com/posts/show/3484
This week on YouTube, in amongst the girlfriends and boyfriends bitching about each other, and teenagers in Croydon wiring up roundabouts to motorbike engines, there is something really rather special. This guy has fast become a legend. He’s had hundreds of thousands of views of his videos in the last week and many thousands of comments. Here is an elderly man who says that YouTube has changed his life. His videos are full of stories about the war and his youth, and general observations on what’s going on in the world. Is he too good to be true?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_YMigZmUuk
For more of his pieces check out “Telling It All” parts 1 to 6
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=geriatric1927
On a different topic entirely, a number of sites recently seem to be full of consecutive pictures of people taken over a number of years. Take a look at these two fascinating examples below
http://zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55YYaJIrmzo
Ever wanted to use a video from YouTube in a presentation, or put something from Google Video on your ipod? Well now you can – here is a site where you paste the url you want, and it will download the video to your machine
http://feelingtea.com/decode/google/
Ok, enough of YouTube for another few weeks, here are some other interesting things to take a look at:
For general trendwatching, there are many great sites out there, one of the best being The Coolhunter. One of the categories it specialises in is advertising, and there are some seriously clever international ads featured in this section.
http://www.thecoolhunter.net/ads/
This next is something that I remember from a number of years ago, but not sure how many people have used it. Basically you type yourself a message and it will mail it to you at a later specified date. Could be useful as a car insurance renewal reminder, or for people’s birthdays, but how about writing something and sending it to yourself in 5 or 10 years time. Providing your email address stays the same (hotmail, gmail etc…) it could be pretty amazing to receive something from your former self
http://www.futureme.org/
Remember the days before everyone banged on about social networking? At that time the big buzz was all about recommendation, with reviews, ratings and “if you like this” technology. Since Amazon in the US started selling groceries, the functionality for books has extended to more everyday products. As you can imagine this has allowed for some bizarre reviews - some serious, some just plain taking the piss. Check out the user reviews of milk!
Amazon
Travel remains one of my web passions and with hundreds of sites to support my addiction I’ve included some examples ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.
This site shows you all the good and bad seats on just about every airline imaginable. Choose your airline on the left and the type of plane you are due to travel on, and hover over the layout – online seat selection on BA just got a whole load more competitive
http://www.seatguru.com/
So now for the ridiculous. Airlinemeals.net is a contender for one of the most comprehensive and random sites ever devised. Basically it has pictures of airlines meals from just about every airline in the world (Air Vanuatu anyone??) and reviews by passengers. From eulogies about Concorde lunches to eyewatering gems about dinner on Ethiopian Air “Not bad taste for Ethiopian Airlines, but the salad & cake was SUCK”, it’s a hilarious way to while away a few minutes. (Make sure you also check out the “special meals” “crew meals” “meals in movies” and “behind the scenes” areas). Priceless
http://www.airlinemeals.net/indexMeals.html
In the last week I got a new Sony Ericsson Cybershot phone. Aside from being a great phone with incredible photo ability, it does something that has completely changed my view on the potential of mobile. As soon as you take a picture with it you are presented with a “blog this” option. By clicking on it, it immediately created a “mobile blog” space for me online and uploaded both the image and associated text. The whole thing probably deserves a standalone demo if any of you are interested, but it completely changes the relationship between mobile and web and allows me to have an online space updated from anywhere in the world with no need for internet cafes or the like and with the ability for people to leave comments and for me to access it at a PC or on a mobile. The genius with the whole thing is its profound simplicity and accessibility. Here is my VERY unexciting blog so far to give you an idea of the manifestation of this new behaviour that many believe is set to be the next shift in new media.
http://mobileblach.blogspot.com/
So how do I discover some of the gems I pass on to you? Aside from sites I’ve talked about previously like Delicious, I recently discovered a wonderful new tool. Stumble Upon ads a toolbar to your screen. You define categories you are interested in (such as travel, literature, bizarre etc…) and each time you click on the “stumble” button, it generates a site that someone has recommended within that category. You also have a thumbs up and thumbs down button to help it learn what you like, and this also allows you to recommend new sites and pages for it to serve to others with just one click. It does involve a quick download, but I massively recommend giving it a go. If you find links you like through it, pass them on (no one has recommended anything to me yet) and enjoy stumbling around the web at your leisure.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
posted by Blach at 9:19 AM
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