"GeoURL is a location-to-URL reverse directory. This will allow you to find URLs by their proximity to a given location. Find your neighbor's blog, perhaps, or the web page of the restaurants near you."I thought this was kinda neat. It's a geographical database of urls. Sounds odd, I know but basically what you do is find out the longitude and latitude of your site (i.e. your primary location, not the physical location of the server.) Then you add some custom meta tags to your site and then add yourself to their massive database. Once the database has been updated you can view all the sites that are in your area. A really neat idea. So now you can find the closest people to me! Interesting internet history side note: The URL location is also called a "GeoURL ICBM Address" because in the days of yore, the same name was given to the "form used to register a site with the Usenet mapping project, back before the day of pervasive Internet, included a blank for longitude and latitude, preferably to seconds-of-arc accuracy. This was actually used for generating geographically-correct maps of Usenet links on a plotter; however, it became traditional to refer to this as one's ICBM address or missile address, and some people include it in their sig block with that name. (A real missile address would include target elevation.)"
Icontacular
See that....on the right....those icons? Click on one....no wait, hover over it first, then click on it. Pretty cool, huh! It's a plugin called Topic Icon that allows you to associate an icon with each of the categories you have in your blog.I took it one step further by creating an index like on slashdot that displays the topics near the top of the screen. So now you instantly know what kind of content you'll be reading, be it humor, a rant, technology or something else of equal interest. Thanks to Dan Sandler for letting me use his awesome image for my tech icon
Why the internet isn't cool anymore
So this image got me thinking (and discussing with Mike) about how the internet just isn't cool anymore. The days of "internetting" til 3am are long gone, at least for me anyway. I remember when I was in college, I would be up til the wee hours "exploring" the internet. There was so much to see and do and discover. There was always somewhere you hadn't been before, someone you hadn't talked to, some thought you hadn't considered before. But now there's nothing fun out there anymore, nothing out there that hasn't already been done.Mike summed it up nicely "I was thinking, "I"m bored and Mindy's at work, I'll browse the Internet for a while" And then I though, "Damn, I've already gone through my email, slashdot, cnn, and somethingpositive. What else.... ?" "
That's very true. Everyone has a collection of sites they visit regularly and beyond that, it's the occasional chance discovery or referral that leads you to something new or exciting.
I used to be able to stay up til all hours just clicking away. Now I just can't do that. For a number of reasons:
- there's no reason to; it's rare I find something compelling enough to keep me awake that late
- Deanne: AAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLEXXX! What are you doing down there?!
Me: Fucking around on the internet
Deanne: But it's 3am!
Me: .....yup.
That's a conversation that will never take place because a) i can't make it to 3am anymore, and b) i would get my ass kicked.
- I'm usually exhausted by 10pm anyway. When Deanne was out of town for a few days, I tried staying up late to get some work done, and even with the aid of copious amounts of coffee, I barely made it past midnight. (I need to get some exercise.)
I think, well for me anyway, working with the internet for a living (and not enjoying my job) has kind of diminished a little of the "mystique" of it all. I work online all day, and when I come home, I don't really want to spend the rest of the day clicking around in the vain hope I MIGHT find something interesting. Coupled with the fact I'm usually exhausted by 10pm and you have a very mundane internet experience. I think maybe because using the internet feels like work, I have no desire to use it outside of work. I remember when I was about 18, Mike and I stayed up for hours reading about hacking, phreaking, networking, the internet, etc. It was fascinating, utterly fascinating. Now, if I read an article on networking, I can feel my eyes glazing over. If it's a story about hacking, it usually contains misguided media hype about how he or she is a "terrorist" or some bastard kid (or both.)
When I was younger, I used to be part of the internet "community" or AN internet "community" (not sure if it's "the" or "an".) I was a member of a part of society that was moderately early adopters of the "Interweb", back when it was "oooo internet ahhhhh websites." Now my mom is a computer junkie and, well, that's just not cool anymore.
I think corporations play a big part in that. Everyone and their grandmother has an internet presence (that's a fancy way of saying website.) You have all these companies out there providing "eSolutions" and "CRM blah blah." Nobody cares anymore.
When I lived in Hong Kong and England, I viewed the Silicon Valley with a sense of awe. It was the place where the magic happened. I watched documentaries on startups and VCs, read Wired magazine religiously, and hungered for my chance to be involved in this burgeoning revolution.
Now when I read a Wired article on a new technology or website idea, all I can think is "That's a gay idea."
BTW, the awesome image was done by a guy called Dan Sandler who submitted it for the slashdot t-shirt contest. There's talk that ThinkGeek might be printing it! I'll post when it becomes available