Steve Lambert » Wallet Keys Phone. i love this
via visitsteve.com

i’ve had a tradition of saying “Phone, Wallet, Keys” to myself as I exit my abode since I was about 9 years old. Steve has a brilliant sign

Posted via web from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

There's A #Hashtag For That. My Web 2.0 keynote video (and slides)

This week, I had the honor of presenting a keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC. My topic was hashtag warfare on Twitter, and I titled my talk, “There’s a #Hashtag for that.”

Here’s a really high quality video with slides below. Enjoy. Spread the word! Hire me to speak at your conference/school/organization and talk smack about the latest medium using the latest medium

and here are the slides

 

Posted via web from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

You don't have to move out of your neighborhood to live in a better one. #Pioneers

Posted via email from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

For the next few days, I'll be taking part in the #Pioneers conferene. Here's what that means
2009 is the 400 year anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing from Amsterdam (Holland) to New Amsterdam (NYC). All year, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have been celebrating with cultural events, tourism programs, and various other commemorative actions. The Pioneers program is part of that celebration.

The Pioneers Sessions will celebrate the common values of creativity, diversity and entrepreneurship in Amsterdam and New York City and the two cities’ shared history of urban greatness that began 400 years ago with the journey of the Dutch ship “Halve Maen,” commanded by Captain Henry Hudson across the Atlantic in 1609. The sessions will bring together a group of selected Pioneers-today’s cutting edge thinkers and entrepreneurs in diverse professional fields-for a transatlantic dialogue into the frontiers of civic engagement and social entrepreneurship in Amsterdam and New York City. Participants will be young professionals drawn from a broad range of fields including academia, the arts, business, health, education, government, grassroots activism, media and technology. Pioneers will gain knowledge and inspiration from exploring how innovative thinkers from different cities and disciplines are meeting the challenges of urban, social and civic engagement.

I’m one of 20 New Yorkers that went to Amsterdam in April to meet and work with 20 Amsterdammers as part of this Pioneers program. We listened to lectures, are touring each other’s cities, workshopping and brainstorming on how to create the best cities we can. Over the next few days, NYC will play host to the Pioneers from Amsterdam, and I’ll be posting updates to Twitter and Facebook from the conference. If you see the #Pioneers hashtag, this is what I’m talking about.

To sample a bit more of what has come from our cultural exchange, check out this video I shot in April with Kirsten van de Hul discussing the (somewhat secret) history of Dutch dependence on slavery.

and another

Posted via email from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

woohoo. i just got some pretty awesome hate mail. i'm a poser clown!

I just got this via my website, and I thought I’d pollute the twitterverse with it, since it’s someone else’s content and all. I’ve removed the sender’s name to protect the guilty.

Subject: you
Message: Wow you suck suck suck. What are you supposed to be doing? You’re not really funny, you don’t seem especially smart, and all the content I see coming out of you seems to be linked to someone elses content. You blow! You suck! Stop polluting the twitterverse you poser clown…

Posted via email from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

My Web 2.0 Expo keynote is today at 1:35pm ET, and you can watch it online for free
I’m giving a talk at the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC today and it will be live streamed.

here’s the topic. it’s all about hashtag warfare on twitter. it’s live streamed but you’ll have to register for a free account to view it

I encourage you to watch all the keynotes. They run from 1:30-3pm and, I’m basically opening for these awesome people: Douglas Rushkoff, Gina Trapani, Anil Dash, Brady Forrest and Scott Berkun

Posted via email from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

Microsoft stores show why we should have kept the Electric Slide away from white people
via crunchgear.com

Crunchgear has already pointed out that these Microsoft Stores are clear knockoffs of Apple Stores, and this spontaneous dance thing is a knockoff of Improv Everywhere

But this scene is troublesome for reasons beyond that:

  • It just hurt my heart to watch this. It made me feel bad in my heart! It was deeper than pity and more potent than sadness. I just kept thinking: “No, no no no.” and “But why? Why, why why why?”
  • I had to force myself to sit through it. It was like watching a child pick its nose, slowly and then bring it to you full of pride as if the kid had done something worthwhile. 
  • How is this supposed to encourage sales? If I’m walking by this in a mall, I see a bunch of brightly colored t-shirt wearing people dancing in unison, and I’m thinking: “Oh that’s nice. They’ve let the developmentally challenged out for a field trip.”
  • It’s way too long. It’s actually the full four minutes and 45 seconds. Who does that??
  • WTF does this have to do with helping people understand Microsoft products? Will corny dancing help prevent spyware and viruses from destroying your computer?
  • What’s up with those people not dancing and not even paying attention to the dancing? They’re just on laptops in the background like this is a normal situation. This is not normal! It demands attention! Horrific, cringe-inducing attention!
  • Why do I have a feeling this is all Steve Ballmer’s fault? 
I can only hope no one at Microsoft has heard of the Cupid Shuffle yet.

Posted via web from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

My second appearance on This Week In Tech is available for your enjoyment

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, Baratunde Thurston, and John C. Dvorak

Modern Warfare 2 is the biggest media launch of all time but PC gamers are hopping mad, how come usability expert Jakob Nielsen’s site looks so bad, and so long Geocities…

via twit.tv

I’ve loved listening to this show for years, and now I can say I love being on this show. Geekfest and lots of fun, silly and occasionally substantive conversation. Make sure you get to the end when I rant against the “convenient oppression” of Apple.

Show is available in every format imaginable at http://twit.tv/221

Posted via web from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

The Gitmo-fueled Prison Economy Boom And Illinois

This is what I saw on my television screen as CNN switched from live coverage of President Obama’s town hall in China to a story about Guantanamo’s future: “Illinois Prison A Mini-Gitmo?” I had the TV muted because I was still tuning in to the town hall on my laptop. I assumed the Gitmo reference to Illinois prisons was about the rampant culture of torture and corruption reported out of Chicago jails.

Short excerpt from the Chicago Police Torture Archives

  • May 1972 – Jon Burge is promoted to Chicago Police Detective and is assigned to the Area Two detective division on the south side of Chicago. Area Two serves a mostly African-American community, and it is here that the military training in torture he received in Vietnam first begins to arise in the context of his police work.
  • Aug. 1972 – the first allegations of torture and abuse against Jon Burge and other Area 2 detectives are made by three African American men arrested and held at Area 2, Mastin, Smith, and Hill.
  • May 30, 1973 – Anthony “Satan” Jones is tortured by electric-shock and suffocation with a plastic bag by Burge and his men while in custody at Area 2.
  • 1977 – Burge is promoted to Sergeant at Area 2.

Instead CNN was referring to Illinois being the latest to join the prison economy gold rush set off by the planned closure of Guantanamo Bay and the resulting need to find alternate “housing” for current inmates.
A proposal to house federal prisoners, including some detainees from Guantanamo Bay, in a largely vacant maximum-security prison would be an economic boost to struggling northern Illinois, state officials said Sunday.

There’s always something perverse about economic development driven by imprisonment but it’s even more perverse to see Illinois raise its bloodied hands and offer itself as a solution to the Gitmo shutdown. Of course, it could be the state’s secret plan to preserve that authentic Guantanamo feel by forgoing the supermax prison and throwing the detainees right into a Cook County jail.

Posted via email from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

Facebook update exonerates teen according to Newsday story supported by passive aggressive business model
I was reading this fascinating story about a teenager who served 12 days in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He was finally released when prosecutors acknowledged he couldn’t have committed the robbery because he posted to Facebook from his father’s Harlem apartment at the same time. Happy for the kid. Annoyed that the testimony of his entire family as to his whereabouts wasn’t enough to keep the young man out of jail for twelve days. Also annoyed then when I tried to watch the video linked in the story, an annoying Newsday popup blocked my experience the entire time. Rather than telling me I couldn’t see the video unless I was a subscriber, the video played in the background with the annoying registration box permanently floating above it. Passive aggressive douchebags.

Posted via email from baratunde’s internet scratch pad | Comment »

1 of 35
Themed by: Hunson