Jeremy David » Web Culture

Fatblogging is the New Blogging

Jeremy David — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:01:49 +0000

It seems that everyone is jumping aboard the fat blogging bandwagon. Which is good! I think this showcases that members of blogging community can (an do) help eachother. It is very exciting to see a movement on the Internet that is focused on being healthy… so I thought I would take it to the extreme.

I would not describe myself as fat: I’m 6′2 and 170 pounds. To be honest, if I called myself fat I am pretty sure that many people would be offended. However, I used to be 225 pounds. A few days ago I was reading the new Vanity Fair and it contained a little insert titled “The Oscar Diet”. The magazine told its readers that if they wanted to fit into their Oscar Dress, they had to:

Limit caloric intake to 1200 calories per day
Do 40 minutes of cardio every morning
Weight train three times a week

Sounds like anorexia / bulimia to me, and I would not suggest that anyone follow those rules. But what the heck. Let’s see how I feel when I starve myself like mainstream popular culture is telling me to.

What’s The Deal With Second Life?

Jeremy David — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:01:15 +0000

I have been following the story of Second Life – a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents – and am confused.

I do not understand why people would want to play around in a virtual world that mimics their own. Video games make sense to me: in “real life” one cannot fight aliens in space or demons and monsters in a dungeon. I’ve never been a fan of sports games – but I understand that not many people have the opportunity to play in a professional Basketball or Hockey game. Even the SIMS (which I love) is different. In Second Life, someone built an Apple Store. Why?

What is the purpose of this game? How do you win? When does it end? Why would people spend real money on a house and clothes in a virtual world when they can do the same in the real world? Wouldn’t it be more fun to make dinner and watch a movie with some friends? Obviously I am missing something: there are currently 3,804,013 players, err, inhabitans. I don’t get it.

Or is this the new web? The future of the Internet? A taste of things to come? Instead of just visiting websites, are we going to interact with them in an online role playing game? Sounds pretty Matrix-esque to me.

Does someone out there feel like enlightening me? I would be interested to hear what you have to say.

How Open ID Will Make the Internet Better?

Jeremy David — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:58:57 +0000

Open ID is making headlines all over the blogosphere, but what exactly is it and how will it help you? If you check out openid.net, you’ll see their definition: OpenID is an open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity. In English, Open ID is a free, cross-platform way to authenticate a person’s online identity. Cross platform? Yeah – the same ID for all services that support it. In Plain English, Open ID will make signing up for services on the Internet easier because you will only have one name to remember.

I am really excited about this idea because I have multiple user names and logins, and unless I rely on Firefox’s password memory functions, I tend to forget which is which. Is my del.icio.us user name jeremydavid or wowjeremydaivd? Or is that my reddit account? I often forget. What irritates me even more is when I try to sign up for a new service only to find out jeremydavid is already taken, and I have to think of yet another login name. Open ID has the potential to solve all of these dilemmas. Fantastic.

Another positive aspect of this services is that there is no central company governing the IDs; there is no corporate gatekeeper of a super secret database that companies have to buy licenses for. It is open sourced and decentralized, meaning anyone from anywhere can use Open ID for free. Many companies are adopting this (AOL and Digg to name a few), and I am really excited to see how this evolves. I have a feeling this will be the next big thing on the Internet. Lets see if I am correct.

Who Gets My Dollar?

Jeremy David — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:11:08 +0000

I’m not going to lie. I’m cheap. I’ve grown up with the Internet and been conditioned that I can get basically anything I want for free on it. Music, movies, applications… anything. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at all of the places online that have converted me – turning me into a customer.

1. Dell

My computer was getting pretty rustic and I needed a new one, so I did a little search online. I was looking at OptiPlex computers, and noticed something a little funny. Dell was selling a 3.8 GHz computer for $800 below resale value. For some reason, they were not including the price of the processor into the computer. So I bought it, they honored the mistake price, and I got a pretty sweet deal. It looks like a below-market price was enough motivation to shell out $1000+ on computer hardware.

2. Apple

I have owned 3 iPods in my life. I bought my first one in first year (and may have starved myself and used food money towards it – but I trust you to keep that between us, ha ha). Two years later, I got bored and bought myself a new one. This year, I bought one of the new shuffles for when I go to the gym. iPods are a big part of my life, and I certainly consider these products well spent. I certainly have spent more on the iPods than I have on any music on them.

3. Godaddy

I am addicted to buying domain names. I get ideas for websites all the time, and the first thing I do – before I put any thought into the website – is buy the domain. I’ve owned at least 10… and never re-sold any of them. Godaddy has successfully converted me. In the past I even explored their other services, such as web hosting… but those didn’t last long. Their web hosting sucks.

4. Amazon.ca and Chapters.indigo.ca

I love buying books, and I used to be a huge fan of Amazon.com. Then one day I realized that returning stuff was a big hassle, and Chapters additional $1 is well worth the comfort knowing that if I have to return a product, all I have to do is go to the store. In terms of internet marketplaces, these are really the only places I go.

5. eBay

When I was 12 I was a big loser and played Magic The Gathering. Ha ha before you make fun of me, playing the game earned me a free trip to Berlin. Yup. All expenses paid. Anyway, the only thing I have ever bought on eBay was Magic Cards. I’m terrified that someone is going to rip me off, and I’ve heard horror stories of trying to claim that “buyers protection” thing. So I don’t use it.

6. Online Payments

From time to time I use the Internet to pay for things I do in “real life”. For example, next week I am going to Northern Voice and I paid my registration fees online. If I bought airline tickets, I would do it this way too. I also pay my bills online, but almost everyone does that now.

7. Couch Surfing

Couch Surfing is a community website where you find people around the world and sleep on their couches. This summer I am going traveling around the world and I plan on using this service. Because I am inevitably going to save hundreds of dollars, I thought I would support the project and pay the suggested $25 donation.

What about you? What services do you regularly give money to?

5 Changes That Would Make Me Use MySpace

Jeremy David — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:10:53 +0000

MySpace is the 6th most popular website in the world. It is the largest social network, and has millions and millions of users. It was just reported that its most recent advertising revenues exceeded 25 million dollars! Despite all those impressive statistics, I’ve never really been a fan on the site. However, if the site made these five little improvements, I would be converted. Forever.

1. Allow users import their gmail and hotmail contact lists, automatically adding friends that are already members and future members if they ever sign up… but never send out annoying “invitation” messages to them.

Apparently this service already exists, but I have been trying for the last few months to get it to work and I cannot. It really bothers me. I’ve tried Firefox, Internet Explorer, my hotmail account, my gmail account… I tried taking the special characters out of my passwords. I emailed MySpace several times and got no response. Nothing. It doesn’t work, and therefore does not exist.

Why is this such an important feature? Because MySpace is cliquey, and I feel like a big loser with my 23 friends. If I could import my address book I would have substantially more. Ha ha, if you are reading this and feel like upping my friend count, feel free to add me.

2. Create a new service I call “bridging”.

There are way too many social networks to keep track of. MySpace, FaceBook, blah blah blah. If MySpace wants to dominate the world even more, it should become the MeeBo of social networks. Let me “brdige” my MySpace and FaceBook. Make it really easy to ~~harvest~~ add my friends and feel more popular. Better yet, let me interact with my FaceBook friends through MySpace. Hey MySpace – check this out. FaceBook Developers are now letting you do some fancy API stuff.

3. Censorship

The primary reason MySpace really bothers me is that way too many of the profiles are tacky. Egregiously tacky. I’m a big fan of simple, consistent, elegant layouts (which is why I use FaceBook). I understand that the whole point of MySpace is to let people have their own space, but please – everyone has the right to be free from cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. Sometimes, when I am bombarded by people’s tacky profiles, I feel that my rights are infringed upon. Ha ha, I’m being a little facetious, but please give me the option of having a standard template that I can apply to everyone’s profiles so I do not have to be reminded of the Internet in 1994.

4. Mute

When I’m creeping for new friends, I like to open multiple profiles… but then I get this horrible churning sound as many songs are conglomerated into one terrible mess. And my computer gets slow and makes all sorts of whirling sounds. Give me the option to have all of those little sound players be muted by default. This should apply to videos as well.

5. Friend Finder

Sometimes, I just want new friends… but I’m just too lazy to find them. I think a revolutionary service MySpace could provide would be some sort of friend finding service. I type in my personality characteristics, what I like to do, where I live, the kind of person I would like to meet… and it links me up with the people I am looking for. It could even give me a computability measure. Hey Jeremy, Person X is 92% compatible! When new members join, it automatically searches for compatible people and sends them (and me) a little note. “You have a potential friend!” Fantastic! Sign me up!

75 Resources That Will Help You Write Better Content

Jeremy David — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:10:12 +0000

Good content is the foundation of a successful blog, so I compiled a list of 75 resources that will make you a better writer, editor, and proofreader. In no particular order: