I Am A Homeowner

The key is on my desk right now! Not sure when we're gonna move in just yet but probably some time next month.

Spell with Flickr

This is so neat! Type something in and it will be spelled with photographs of letters from Flickr.

Jen Garrett Got New Glasses

Which reminds me. I'm supposed to get new glasses but I have been slacking.

Build Your Own House Plans

Smallblueprinter.com: "Design your house plan blueprints online with smallblueprinter, then take a 3D walkthrough your design, check out an isometric view and print out your plan. Its free and easy to use." This is neat!

Open, Social, Email

Here's a crazy idea. What if someone created a web-based email application that removed all expectations of privacy? In other words, you just email as you normally would except that it's all out there in the public; exposed. People using this service would most likely self-edit, I'll admit that.

Nevertheless, it would be interesting. You'd get to know people by tuning in to their communications with others and you might tag or mark certain emails as favorites, etc. It'd be like blogging, dating, message boards, and more all rolled into one without any extra effort because all you're doing is email. Wacky.

How to Make Shiny Dorodango

1. Pack some mud into your hand, and squeeze out the water while forming a sphere.
2. Add some dry dirt to the outside and continue to gently shape the mud into a sphere.
3. When the mass dries, pack it solid with your hands, and rub the surface until a smooth film begins to appear.
4. Rub your hands against the ground, patting and rubbing the fine, powdery dirt onto the sphere. Continue this for two hours.
5. Seal the ball in a plastic bag for three or four hours. Upon removing the sphere, repeat step 4, and then once again seal the sphere in a plastic bag.
6. Remove the ball from the bag, and if it is no longer wet, polish it with a cloth until it shines.

From: Trends in Japan

Patriot Search

Patriot Search: "Help the government by making your search activity public."

New Blog Prize

The 2006 Lulu Blooker Prize for Blooks: "The Lulu Blooker Prize is the world's first literary prize devoted to 'blooks': books based on blogs or websites."

Get Your Own Search Engine Then

Mercury News: "The government contends it needs the Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches ... The government indicated that other, unspecified search engines have agreed to release the information ..."

My Del.icio.us

New links are not loading in the sidebar. Something is amiss. Update: I replaced the JSON code with the regular javascript link roll code and now it's working but not as nice.

Speaking of Yes or No

I had an idea a couple weeks ago for a site that would take advantage of the wisdom of your personal crowd. (I experimented with Ning.com to create: YesOrNo but it didn't turn out quite right.) The idea was to create a way for people to loop in their friends when trying to make a major life decision. So you post a question and then email all your friends to visit the page and vote yes or no. Once the votes are tallied you have your group answer to do with what you will. I'd use it!

Idea for Netflix: Yes or No?

Super simple movie reviews built into the paper mailer. Did you like this movie: Yes or No? Just check a box or punch out a perforated circle. Match the answer to the address and update my user account online. This will result in a higher rate of reviews which means more accurate suggestions and other related benefits. Do it!

Blogger's WYSIWYG AdSense Integration

If you don't already have AdSense running on your blog or if you're not a big fan of messing with your template HTML then you may be interested in Blogger's WYSIWYG AdSense tool for blogs. See what the ads will look like and then click save.

Moon Rocks in Mountain View

We ate lunch in Mountain View yesterday and afterwards took a wrong turn and ended up at NASA Ames. So we went in and watched the slide show and saw some moon rocks. We were supposed to go to a movie but we saw some moon rocks and old-fashioned space ships. Whatevah.

Steve Jobs to Start A Blog?

In this Newsweek article Steve Jobs sorta says he might start a blog:

NW: Your new iLife software has a blogging application. When will you start your own blog?
SJ: (Laughs.) After I get a few days of rest.

Steve seems like a busy guy. He should consider starting with an easy del.icio.us bookmarklet. Speaking of bookmarklets, Safari should sport a built in blogthis functionality.

We Are Iran

AlterNet: Iran, Blogging Against the Regime: "A new book showcases Iran's burgeoning blog world -- a vibrant 75,000-member community struggling for free expression in the face of a militant Islamic regime." Amazon link.

The House

If all goes well between now and the closing, then we're buying this little modern house in Berkeley and moving in next month. It's cozy and nestled into the hilly part of the city but still only a few blocks from downtown so we can hit Cha-ya on a regular basis. I've been watching Bob Vila-type shows and wishing I owned a home for what seems like my whole life. Needless to say, I'm psyched!

X-Ray of A Powerbook

Bee Movie (2007)

Bee Movie (2007): "Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld), a bee who has just graduated from college, is disillusioned at his lone career choice: making honey. On a special trip outside the hive, Barry's life is saved by Vanessa (Zellweger), a florist in New York City. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans actually eat honey, and subsequently decides to sue us."

Working Hard

Or harldy working? I had a free pass to Macworld but also lots of work at Odeo. For me, work is weird because I'd be designing how I want these types of things to work even if it wasn't my job. Shh! Don't tell. Hiring Tim recently has resulted in new techniques which result in hyper productive behavior which actually makes me feel great at day's end. So great in fact that the current Google stock is merely a number to me an nothing more. Holy Shite does that say $471.63!? Must. Not. Calculate. Abandoned. Options.

Del.icio.us Is Easier

I started collecting links with Del.icio.us (see the sidebar) and it is so easy to rock out the links compared to updating the blog. Maybe I should bring back the Flickr stream and switch around the way things are presented based on how often I contribute. Hmm. Ooh. I also have to smush them all together with Feedburner.

New Maps Hack

Time travel via Google Maps.

Taking the Apple Out of Podcasting

Creative makes an iPod like device that you can use to listen to "podcasts."

Creative takes the Apple out of Podcasts: "Podcasts, short for Personal On Demand broadCast, are audio files you can download into any MP3 player or computer. These audio files are broadcasted over the Internet automatically to subscribers of specific podcast channels."

They Should Have Called It JASON

Introducing JSON: "JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language, Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition - December 1999. JSON is a text format that is completely language independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages, including C, C , C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others. These properties make JSON an ideal data-interchange language."

That Would Be Neat!

Microsoft Rumor: "There are some rumors circulating that Steve Ballmer is about to step aside at Microsoft as its day to day operations head to make room for another president.

Bill Clinton."

Roll Your Own MMORPG

Game Platform: "The Kaneva Game PlatformTM is a comprehensive solution designed for end-to-end MMO game development for FPS and RPG titles. "

Search By Sketch

Retrievr lets you sketch something and find Flickr images that look like what you sketched. It's a very cool thing. If they hooked it into Yahoo and Google images you'd have even more results.