Raw Inspiration - October 30, 2007

This past Sunday, I took my scooter out for a little jaunt across San Francisco. Specifically, I wanted to go check out this area of town where a haunted house used to be. Booo!!! It was gone.

I continued my excursion into the Dog Patch neighborhood of SF. It’s pretty sketchy. A bunch of old warehouses, torn up streets, graffiti murals everywhere, and a bunch of lowly bars. Oh yeah, it’s also the place where my car turned up after it got stolen.

Anyways, I had a good time exploring. Check my Flickr feed to see some of the photos.

Towards the end of my trip, I stopped off at Building Resources, which is a kind of junkyard for artists/do-it-yourselfers. It has all sorts of crazy stuff from slabs of granite, old plaster moldings, sea glass, old window frames, fireplaces, etc.

It’s a great place to walk around in to get some inspiration. I suggest SFers go visit! Here are a couple pics.

Go Green for Green - October 29, 2007

I’m so incredibly tired of hearing and reading about companies saying these like “Be Green”, “Go Green”, “Get Green”, etc.

It’s all garbage (no pun intended). I have no actual factual evidence to back this up, but I would say 90% of them aren’t actually doing anything different than what they were doing 10 years ago. Since being environmentally hip was the honorably humanistic thing to do, everyone and their mother says they are “green” in some way, shape, or form.

I mean come on, is a car company actually “green”? The answer is no. From what I remember, gas still produces greenhouse gases.

Long story short, I came across this new catch phrase that has been around a while. For whatever reason, no writer or news reporter has really re-embraced this great phrase to describe the current trend to “go green”.

According to SourceWatch, “greenwashing” is defined as the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government, a politician or even a non-government organization to create a pro-environmental image, sell a product or a policy, or to try and rehabilitate their standing with the public and decision makers after being embroiled in controversy.

I couldn’t think of a better word to describe the bogus claims all the companies out there are making. Can someone start this up again?

The Idea I Wish I Thought Of - October 22, 2007

I freaking love pancakes and waffles. If you don't, your life is that much less happy. Once on National Pancake Day (sponsored by iHop), I ate eight pancakes, three eggs, four pieces of sausage, and a chicken friend steak. (Insert toilet and pepto bismol here)

Anyways, pancaked are awesome, but making them is kinda lame. You've got to mix all this sticky stuff together, and if it gets dripped onto anything and dries it's like glue.

So, enter the big idea (thanks Donny Deutsche). Damn I wish I thought of this.

http://www.batterblaster.com/

Innovation Has Its Downsides - October 19, 2007

Keith Richards

Eddie Van Halen

Steve Tyler

Cher

Gene Simmons

Bob Dylan

Evolution of Online Video Content – October 16, 2007

In case you have been putting your head in doorway and repeatedly slamming it shut on your head, you’ve probably noticed there’s a fair share of video online. Maybe it’s the video you watched that your friend IM’ed you of a cat grabbing onto a fan and being flung onto the wall, or it’s the hours upon hours you wasted at work looking for that music video from Germany on YouTube.

The point is online video will probably/eventually take over cable T.V. Why? Well, easy, the content is getting better and better all the time. Instead of spending days trying to find that perfect dark comedy video clip to send to your Facebook goth group, you can simply check out Waverly Films (they even have a YouTube page!!! OMG !!!) . Looking to pee your pants laughing, check out Funny or Die. Or maybe, the plethora of real world type T.V. shows aren’t enough for you, Justin TV is waiting for you! Dare I mention the endless porn videos?

Long story short, there has been a major evolution in the terms of quality, quantity, and location of good online video content. Find what you want, when you want it. YouTube might have been the “first” to market, but can they stave off all these niche content sites?

Oh yeah, is it just me, or is the inevitable free wireless, booming smartphone/iPhone population, and products like iTV going to affect when and where we watch stuff too? Once that happens, the need for things like a cable box is going to be no more…simply log-on, surf, and watch.

R.I.P Business 2.0 - October 16, 2007

This magazine, which was founded nearly a decade ago, is being given the kaput by parent company Time Magazine.

Last Issue of Biz 2.0

I’ve got to say, I’m pretty pissed off. Business 2.0 was one of my favorite magazines. I looked forward to issues every month. Sometimes I would cry if it didn’t come on time.

The magazine was all about covering new and emerging companies that (hopefully) were going to rock our world. It was a great source of inspiration to me, and I’m going to miss it.

R.I.P. Business 2.0!!!!!!!!!!!

Burning Man Decompression - October 10, 2007

wow, very wow. I really enjoyed the hookah bar in the sky, and then there was the polar bear....this was the reason for the lack of posting

Disrupting Online Dating - October 5, 2007

So, you want to find the love of your life.

You tried the friend of a friend thing, then you went on those set-ups Mom and Dad arranged, and finally you made the jump to the online world of dating. You thought match.com and eharmony.com would be your best bet, only to find that you have to fill out endless questionnaires, and trying to write quirky and funny emails to potential dates is tiring and relentless.

Enter online video speed dating. Cut the B.S. of trying to swoon someone over the net, and get down to the nitty gritty of talking with someone face to face via an online video feed. You’ve got 3 minutes to make an impression.

Is their voice something you can stand? Are their mannerisms sexy or just plain annoying? Do their jokes suck? AND….Are the pictures they post actually representative of what they look like? These are just a few of the many grueling questions you can find out by simply logging online and talking to someone over the net.

Disruptive? Yes!

Animals at War - October 5, 2007

If only I had a nickel for ever time I saw a unicorn fighting a technologically modified dolphin

Lego Beer Song

Beer!

Big Brother - October 1, 2007

I forgot how the eyes of big brother a.k.a. Google are constantly upon us. I recently decided to look into my web history that Google tracks. I found it to be really disturbing. Not only does it go back about four months, but it tells me all the search queries I have entered since then. Oh yeah, it also tracks the pictures and videos I’ve looked at too.

It even does an analysis to show you your top queries, sites, and clicks, as well as when you do most of your searching. Yeah, it freaks me out!

BUT….the good news is that it doesn’t catch everything, AND these “top” queries and sites are completely wrong. I think I might have been to www.nwa.com (Northwest Airlines) once in my entire life, yet somehow it’s my 2nd most visited site.