Disqus - Latest Comments for calamityjake

Re: RushmoreDrive = Dumb idea

calamityjake — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:54:09 -0000

Right, I agree that race-based search results probably don't make much
sense, and I don't think location-based results should necessarily be
the default, but I'm sure google keeps track of use based on location
and could easily give users an option to search with location-biased
results. And that would be a lot more meaningful than trying to
acommodate the cultural diversity of an entire ethnicity.

Sent from my iPod, forgive any typos.

Re: RushmoreDrive = Dumb idea

http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/08/16/rushmoredrive-dumb-idea/ — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:47:04 -0000

That makes a certain amount of sense to me, Jake -- location-based filtering, I mean. But that's not what we're talking about, really. RushmoreDrive is filtering based on race, and making assumptions about preferences as a result (i.e., soul food instead of "white" food, Whitney Houston, etc.). In fact, when it comes right down to it, I'm not sure I like location-based filtering either -- I like the option to search Canadian results, but it bugs me when Google forces me to go to google.ca.

Re: RushmoreDrive = Dumb idea

calamityjake — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:38:40 -0000

Matthew, to respond more to your tangential point than the main one:

I think the idea of British results actually makes a fair amount of sense, and I wonder whether Google (or some other search site) actually does adjust its results based on the location of the user's IP. I mean, Google automatically sends me to google.ca when I'm on Canadian wifi--why shouldn't the results they give me be similarly sorted based on my location? Like I said, that seems very doable, and I wonder if anybody's already doing it (just without creating a startup that will never get much use).

Re: Death to Twitter’s “Older” Button

Jason Nassi — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:58:59 -0000

Invite sent!

Re: Death to Twitter’s “Older” Button

calamityjake — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:11:10 -0000

Jason:

Interesting. Well, as you say, plenty of Twitter's direct (and indirect) competitors have much more useful interfaces/APIs, but as long as Twitter has the lion's share of users it'll be hard to dislodge. For example, FriendFeed can do everything Twitter can, and much more, but outside of my geekiest friends nobody uses it (and if few people use *FriendFeed*, it's safe to say that almost nobody's using Plurk or any other competitors, either). And as long as all my friends are on Twitter, I will be, too.

So I guess my point is that Twitter is in a lucky position, because of the network effect of its critical mass of users, and now that they seem to have at least muffled the uptime problem I'm hoping they'll start addressing some of the more glaring interface problems. If they don't do it, and soon, I'm pretty sure Facebook is going to figure out a way to make its status feature as easy to use and ubiquitous as Twitter ever was.

I don't know anything about Socialthing, but if you can send me an invite I'll definitely check it out (calamityjake at gmail dot com). Thanks!

Re: Since we last spoke

snowmit — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:37:29 -0000

The gelatto place was on Denman for sure. Turn left when you walk out the door of Tanpopo and then keep an eye out. It is on the same side of the street and I remember yellow /orange decor.

Re: Since we last spoke

calamityjake — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:24:01 -0000

To save you the googling: http://www.tanpoporestaurant.ca/

Re: Since we last spoke

calamityjake — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:22:22 -0000

Sushi: Tanpopo Japanese Restaurant (1122 *Denman* Street)--$24 for
everything on the menu, including a bunch of cooked stuff as well as basic
sushi options.

Gelato: I don't remember the name of the place, but I think it's also on
Denman. I highly recommend the green apple, grapefruit, and lime basil
sorbettos. We didn't even make it to the real gelato section.

Re: I’m 3000 miles and 18 hours of testing away from a vacation.

calamityjake — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:16:12 -0000

Thanks, kat.

Re: Digg this: Google to gobble Digg?

calamityjake — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:56:39 -0000

I think you're right--the combination of Google News and Digg might be a good one. The Google News algorithm works quite well, but adding a bit of humanity to the process might make the results more interesting/useful. Plus, without being integrated into something big (Google, NY Times, MSNBC, CNN, maybe Yahoo is still relevant enough), Digg has a pretty clear ceiling on its usefulness. Once anyone with a google login can play, the data will get a lot more interesting.

Google already does something Diggish on its search pages--results that get clicked on are valued higher than those that don't--but a more explicit voting system might be worth instituting there, too.

Re: I’m pretty upset they omitted Starship Troopers.

calamityjake — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:43:50 -0000

I have never seen Miller's Crossing! Onto my netflix queue it goes.

They also left off Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which if you're gonna put dumb comedies on the list is a pretty glaring omission. But, as you say, the omissions are basically the whole point.

Re: Nobody cares about my other posts, however.

calamityjake — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:42:07 -0000

A) It is a cropped image of molten lava, which I picked because it matches the color scheme. I don't love it, but it's an improvement over the old design.
D) I will probably move again some other August, but hopefully not for a few more years. And I will never, NEVER, do it myself, no matter how much it costs.

Re: 100 best reads of the past 25 years

calamityjake — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:29:05 -0000

But I was an english major --I should really have read most of the "literature" on this list, if not the popular trash that made it on because it sold a lot of copies (looking at you, Da Vinci Code). I guess that's what retirement is for.

Re: This site inspired me

calamityjake — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:11:26 -0000

Um, dude, I think this *is* satire. Maybe the fact that the linked site is saccharine, inane, and obviously stupid should have tipped you off.

You didn't happen to take the whole "Apple is suing to shut the site down" thing seriously, did you?

Re: Could Anything Disrupt Google?

calamityjake — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:48:25 -0000

"The guys hosting the cloud will have big pipes. Rent space in a cloud, copy the internet there. Now you've got 'your' copy of the internet, browse at will."

Isn't that just what Google does?

Re: Attn: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver

calamityjake — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:41:07 -0000

I'm not sure, yet, but I'm thinking Seattle from Aug 7-10th or so, SF
perhaps during the week before that (Aug 4-7th?). I'm in Boston now,
studying for the bar, and will be heading down to DC sometime in September.

Re: Renovations

dan — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:48:20 -0000

it's good now (that you changed it)!

Re: Renovations

calamityjake — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:07:06 -0000

What looks wrong?

Re: Google Reader sharing = kind of lame

http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/05/05/google-reader-sharing-kind-of-lame/ — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:00:03 -0000

I hope it isn't too, Jake -- and I'm not suggesting user base doesn't
matter, because it does. But I think features matter too. And don't
get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Google Reader -- I basically gave up
Netvibes for it, and the main reason was the sharing.

Re: Google Reader sharing = kind of lame

calamityjake — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:52:58 -0000

I dunno. I agree that the changes are kinda mild, but they're not insignificant (I've been pushing for both for a while now). And Google has something FriendFeed doesn't--a lot of users. And when it comes to social networking, I think user numbers is the big deal (assuming you can meet a baseline of usability), and anything Google builds into Google Reader has a huge user base.

That said, I would of course like more interactivity and better functionality. I'm hoping Google isn't done working on this stuff just yet.

Re: iPhone Canada: Pay me now, or pay me later

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:58:03 -0000

I hope you are right, Jake -- but I have had my hopes dashed before.

As for launching with the 3G, see above :-)

Re: iPhone Canada: Pay me now, or pay me later

calamityjake — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:06:33 -0000

AT&T's data plans for the iPhone are surprisingly reasonable--it was notably cheaper than the standard data plans when it first came out (I think the price may have pushed down other phone/provider data plans since then). I have heard bad things about Rogers, but I expected AT&T data plans to be prohibitively expensive, too. So I hope for my frozen northern cousins' sake that Apple "persuades" Rogers not to screw its customers in this case.

PS: Think there's any chance that Rogers will be launching with the 3G iPhone?

Re: Clay Shirky and the “cognitive surplus”

calamityjake — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:14:58 -0000

I'm not sure I would go quite this far, but I think you're on the right track. Television is a passive medium, but that doesn't mean it's worthless. Even if you take Shirky's hypothesis as correct, he elides the many examples of online interaction spurred by TV. I'm not going to get too deep into it, but think of TelevisionWithoutPity or the recent Gossip Girls profile talking about the many internetty aspects of its fandom. Many bloggers (though not all) rely on traditional media to give them material to discuss, disdain, and disagree with--a shared cultural experience enriches our personal interactions.

But I did like the speech--the anecdote about the little girl looking for the mouse was pretty persuasive. As Mathew says above, it's just not a black and white issue; the changes Shirky anticipates ARE coming, they just aren't going to spell the end of television (nor does Shirky suggest they will--only that they will take a bite out of the time we spend on TV).

Re: This game looks very educational!

calamityjake — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:16:32 -0000

Well, he's got to learn how to hijack a vehicle and take out a bunch of cops at some point. The important thing is that he do it in a safe and welcoming environment.

Re: How Twitter is like soap, or Soylent Green

http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/04/16/how-twitter-is-like-soap/ — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:49:04 -0000

I agree, Jake -- Twitter's end game is unclear.