Because I know you all miss my posts while I have no Internet access at home due to the house move, I’ll provide you with comic relief in the form of some of YouTube’s cream of the crop.
Everyone loves Star Wars. Everyone loves kids. Everyone loves YouTube. (sort of.)
“Thousands of homes face losing phone lines after cable thieves struck. Police were alerted today at 9.30am to the theft of high-value cables near Cambourne. […] A mobile police station has been sent to the area and high-profile police patrols have been mounted in a bid to reassure residents.
BT engineers are working on restoring the lines but it is not known how long this will take. DS Chris Balmer said: “We do not yet know the exact number of homes which have been left without phone lines however we believe it could be a few thousand.
“BT are working as quickly as possible to restore the phone lines. If you area aware of any elderly or vulnerable residents please check on their welfare. If anyone saw any suspicious activity around manhole covers please contact me. Scrap metal thieves who rip up telephone cables were warned by police they are putting lives at risk”, reported in the Cambridge News.”
Seriously, what’s that all about? No phones? No internet?
However, to lighten the tone, I thought I’d accompany the news with some interesting archeological findings, also reported recently.
“After digging to a depth of 100 meters last year, Russian scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one thousand years ago.
Not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200 meters and headlines in the US papers read: “US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibers, and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Russians.”
One week later, the Kenyan newspapers proudly reported the following: “After digging as deep as 500 meters, Kenyan scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have concluded that 5000 years ago, their ancestors were already using wireless technology.”
This evening, looking at the activity on Twitter, I was fascinated to see how quickly the usual Jaiku crowd had migrated. For those who haven’t noticed, Jaiku was showing a big fat 502 Bad Gateway error for a number of hours before it was replaced by the Jaiku birdie telling us that busted hard drives were to blame for the downtime.
Now, Twitter is notoriously flaky and known for going up and down more than a kid’s see-saw in a busy park in midsummer. Yet, everyone flocked over as the default alternative to Jaiku. If it wasn’t Twitter, it would have been something else. Pownce? Facebook? Seesmic?
In a magpie-like fashion, the web 2.0 crowd will look for the next shiny thing. I know. I’m one of them, and I sure as hell am guilty for chronically creating accounts on every new service, just to promptly ditch it and move on.
So what makes a service people come back to? A site that makes it past the 12-18 months “best before” date? Or are all new web 2.0′ish services destined to peak quickly then die just as fast? Lots more thoughts to add on this, but first, I’m interested to see what everyone else thinks.
I’ll leave you on this thought… What if Twitter and Jaiku were down at the same time? Would the world collapse? Or would everyone’s productivity increase by 200%?
For now, I must go tweet about how sick I am of packing boxes. It’s more bearable than it was some years ago but it still bites.
Dan Germain blogged about the ultimate job at Innocent Drinks, one of creative writer.
Anyone who knows the Innocent brand and loves it as much as I do will agree that these are big shoes to fill. The writing is one of the assets that make the (somewhat overpriced) smoothies seem so much more appealing than their less expensive, but not so adorable, supermarket’s-own alternative.
They’ve created a new benchmark for fun, cute and downright comical writing, so if you feel that you’re suited for the job, give ‘em a ring on the bananaphone or apply for the job!
[Via Gapingvoid on Twitter]
Tomorrow morning, really bloody early, I’ll be heading off to Barcelona to attend Mobile World Congress, an event of gargantuan proportions (from what everyone tells me). I’ll be blogging as much as possible on the Taptu blog and twittering away*. If I’m lucky, I should have the time to post a few videos to my Qik profile.
If you’re also attending Mobile World Congress, then pop by and see me at the Taptu stand, 7D42, in hall 7 and join me for a coffee or a beer!
[* Thanks to Alex Payne at Twitter, I now have the username Vero, which uber-rocks!]
In early January, Chris Messina and many others kicked off the new year with “theme words”, ideas that should help them focus their efforts.
I thought I’d share the #themeword I picked a month ago and have been following since. It’s “exploration”, in every sense of the word.
Exploration in the travel sense. I want to see more of Europe. I’ve been in the UK for some years now but haven’t had a varied holiday track records, going mainly to Canada to see the family and Menorca for a touch of sun. I want to see the Italian countryside, check out the Scandinavian winter to compare to the Canadian one, see more of France, especially the South. I unquestionably want to fly out to New Zealand to see my sister during her stay there, and I want to give some parts of the US another go, even though I’m not so fond of Maricans.
Exploration of business opportunities. Last night, while invoicing a few older pepsmedia clients who have ongoing hosting contracts with us, I realised how far I’d come in confidence, knowledge and general business sense since we started. Every year, every month, I can see that we’re producing better projects, making clients happier and feeling more in control of our business. It’s hard work, but it’s genuinely enjoyable and rewarding. I look forward to another year of growth and new ideas, pushing myself further than before.
Exploration of skills and abilities that are currently nascent or unused. I know too well that it’s easy to sit within your existing comfort zone and use exclusively the skills you already master. It allows you to look good, always in control, but it doesn’t take much to fall into a much-dreaded routine. As my inspirational and downright wonderful grandfather always showed me, you stay young by continuing to learn. There’s a world of possibilities out there, and I don’t see a reason to stop now.
Exploration of my friendships and relationships. There are so many great people in my life with whom I don’t spend enough time, I want to take advantage of our soon-to-be new house’s dining room and back garden to have as many dinner parties, bbqs and social get-togethers as possible, enjoying life and good company.
While exploring - and my life in general - seems to be about more, more, more, faster, faster, faster, I also want to think in terms of less and slower. Taking me-time to breathe and think and focus myself. Eating better, at the dining table and without the tv on. Having evenings where both Andrew and I can relax without worrying about work to be done.
So far, it’s looking like it’ll be a good year… What’s your themeword?
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