End Noise

This may screw up my site's format, but here is the new top nav from amazon. The copy does a good job of showing there are more stores than the active one.

Prototype McSweeney's List

Rejected Running Gags from the Dave Chappelle Show

'I'm a Web Services Consultant, Bitch!'

'I'm Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Bitch!'

'I'm a member of the Society of Actuaries, Bitch'

'I'm Courtney Thorne-Smith, Bitch!'

http://www.google.com/help/features.html#number

With the Google number tracking feature it really does highlight everything that can be done with just a simple text box. It really is amazing. Google is great because they make the complex simple and they also assume that the user is smart enough to understand the power of google.

One of the neat things about Google video is that it further reinforces the idea of creating a Google user ID, much like gmail and the froogle shopping list. The more they can do this, the less they have to be cutting edge on search since people will be attached to their product for something besides search. To a certain extent they are following Yahoo!'s model of starting out as a search engine and then introducing more and more web services.

A great blog that addresses the decline of the water-cooler (or is it watercooler?) media event.

http://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/

Frankly, I like the sea of choices that we have, though I miss the ability to discuss a TV show with my friends without having to sync up the people who wait for the DVD, the people who tivo and the people who watch it live.

Everyone's favorite meeting organizer site that was oddly popular during the 2004 presidential campaign, Meetup.com is now charging for their service. While I think its nice that they get paid for their site, I really don't see them being that successful. Current members can just as easily go to their next meeting and grab email addresses from members and then use a gmail account to send updates and/or a blog page to keep members informed.

The only thing that will keep them afloat (assuming google or yahoo! doesn't introduce a free competitor) is if they have achieved the network effect of having them be the default place for online meeting organization. If they are the go to place when someone says 'Hey, we need to organize a meeting' then they will be okay. Similarly if they are the go to place when someone says 'Hey, I'm looking for a currently existing group of like-minded people to talk about my love of Gram Parsons' then they might be okay. Since I have a few groups that I belong to and they communicate to me via email and not meetup.com, I'm not optimistic.