Yes, and thankfully nice warm running water. Towel looks like it was doggedly chewed, though. I guess it's funny to me that there's a TV in the room, a minibar, even wireless (albeit for-pay, via T-Mobile), but not something as basic as soap and shampoo. Could it really cost 'em that much? - Adam Lasnik
Edythe you are so amazingly positive. :-) I'd be grumbling. I personally wouldn't wash my hair with hotel shampoo and could use my phone or tablet as an alarm clock. But no soap?!? Who packs soap? - Joanmarie
Soap? Alarmclock? Sham -- how you say, Shampooing? Ach, you Amerikaners, you are so soft, so weak! Here we rise with the sun, perform calisthenics, plunge our bodies naked into the river which runs icy with snow-melt, and emerge clean and refreshed. Of shampooing we have none. - Karim
Great link, John! Everyone should check that out. Patricia, I'm still laughing at the way you pack. Edythe, yep, though it's far from my first time in a small German town :-). Still, maybe I'll venture out. Mark, amusingly true. Joanmarie, amusingly, yeah, I packed my own shampoo and all other toiletries (and my cell phone does make for a fine alarm clock). But, indeed, I didn't pack soap. Oh well, shampoo can double as that. Or maybe I could use my extra toothpaste or mouthwash :P - Adam Lasnik
Penn jilette always requests that the bible is removed from his room before he checks in. - Riona MacNamara
I'd love to see the hotel clerks' reactions to that :) ("Um, you'd like us to do... what?") - Adam Lasnik
Death powered by assumption. The new web. Some of us (read: outside California) still use voicemail. - Bwana McCall
I use mine to ignore phone calls...even though they are followed up by a text msg. So do I use it? - Jay Martin
Arrington's activity the past few days, and pointing to Friendfeed in that piece are long overdue ... and welcome. No doubt TechCrunch now pointing here will increase the diversity of the audience, and increase the dialog. As for voicemail, there are still a few of us that like to escape the electronic world every so often. When I get back, it's in my e-mail - Charlie Anzman
I agree! In 10-15 years, VM will die. The boomers will take VM with them... - Shawn Smith
I think it's a really interesting use of Twitter. And this guy is no amateur. He's a published novelist. (His last novel, "Hooked," was a bestseller.) - Leo Laporte
very interesting. i enjoy the suspense and the 140 character constraint on twitter makes for a nice bite-size story. following. - Matt Musgrave
@dlangendorf was working on something like this for a while, as were others. There need to be lots of creative experiments with emerging social media, not just talk about the platforms themselves. Artists often show us the most interesting, non-obvious aspects. In mobile this is certainly the case. - Dean Terry
I guess of memento more than anything (as Carlos mentioned above), but also it feels a little like After Hours. Listen, I'm not going to un-follow it or anything, because I think it's a great idea and if it goes in a cool direction, it could the first in a new media format, at least in English. I read a while ago about SMS novels in Japanese (see http://xrl.us/kj6fj). I guess Twitter makes it feel very current, so I really want it to work. - Gregory Cohen
The discrepancy is that even if IP addresses alone aren't personally identifiable, a list of videos watched correlated by that unique identifier may be. Consider AOL's problematic release of 'anonymized' search data. The unique ID had no personally identifiable meaning, but linking searches into a search history did, since some of those searches were for their own name, address, or even SSN. In YouTube's case, a watch-history that includes some very rarely-watched videos in addition to the more popular videos can give an accurate picture of who the user is, especially when they watch the personal videos that they themselves uploaded. - Kevin Fox
A problem with "owning" part of the Internet. Better would be millions of distributed video content sites, not owned by anyone. - nadim
I don't think anyone who simply watches needs to be worried. Youtube merely streams videos. Even if one were to stream copyrighted content, no copy is made by the viewer, unlike say, a VCR. Youtube may have exhibited without permission however I suspect any user lawsuit will be for uploading. On the other hand, Youtube's use of filtering technology gives them a defense against a contributory infringement claim, but their own content "standards" kill a DMCA safe harbor defense. IANAL, though. - Andrew Feinberg
Nadim, it's called Bittorrent, and it exposes your IP much more freely. What exactly constitutes "personally identifiable" is a very complex issue -- as Kevin points out, almost anything can be personally identifiable with enough data processing or in combination with other data sources. The judge and Viacom are the guilty parties here, trying to blame google only distracts from that fact. - Paul Buchheit
Google's choice in this matter is keeping those logs in the first place. They can't hand over information they don't have. If the information is useful to them in aggregate they can not log IP addresses/username information to begin with. That way they can't hand it over, period. Of course, I have no idea what value this data collection provides to Google, but the choice is still theirs. - nadim
This "don't store it" argument is silly. Should Google also not store my email in case Viacom decides that they want a copy of that as well? What we need is actual legal protection. Saying "don't store it" is just running away from the problem. Viacom will soon be getting access to your PC and government mandated ISP logs, and it won't matter what Google has saved. - Paul Buchheit
In this specific case, I believe not storing the information would have prevented the information from being disclosed to Viacom. They are going after the low hanging fruit, and Google has what they need readily available to hand over. Going to individual ISP's would be much more work, and currently I don't think ISP's are prepared for these kinds of requests (correct me if I'm wrong). You're right that in the future this may change, and we do need a legal solution either way. - nadim
Paul, there is a huge difference between storing my email and tying my IP and ID to views. And Google arguing with the EU that they had the right to do exactly that for things like ad targeting is what got them into this mess in the first place. - Cyndy
Also, I think Google could have put up more of a fight handing the data over, even appealing that decision. They definitely have the legal resources and clout. Their relationship with Viacom seems more important to them than protecting user data. Yes, I realize there is some speculation on my part here. - nadim
First, Google has a storied history of fighting orders to disclose user data. Second, people are conflating Google's desire to collect and associate user names and IP addresses (which LOTS of sites do) with Viacom's discovery request for the same information. Users voluntarily give such information to Google. They aren't voluntarily supplying it to Viacom. - mrshl
Cyndy, my email is much more private than my youtube viewing history. If Viacom can get whatever data they want, what's to stop them from taking my email too? - Paul Buchheit
Adam, it refreshes on its own. Likely an issue with Twitter's reducing API calls. - Louis Gray
its a really lovely peice of work imo. Actually makes twitter feel slick... - Zee from WeDoCreative
There isn't even a preferences pane for some reason so I have no idea how often it fetches my tweets. Other than that, I like the presentation alot. - Adam Helweh
No preferences??? I think I'll stick with Hahlo and Fluid. - Parvez Halim
It's cool but they need to integrate some more features. But still awesome - Timo Heuer
Its a great start. Not even 1.0 yet. Group idea is great. ( Loving the Digg/TRS group :P ) Integrated search is a plus. Also, the multi-line text field for inputting tweets is great. Wish Twitterrific had that. - Gary Bacon II
twitter say thank you to tweetdeck - finally you have become useful! (thanks to summize too! ;)) - Dieter Schwarz
Just installed it....it is twitterrific on steroids....love the summize integration - ....
The application could not be installed because the AIR file is damaged. Try obtaining a new AIR file from the application author. :(( - Javid
:-" who want to send me the .air file ? :ِ - Javid
Javid I get the same error as well. - Mack Collier
Javid I had someone email me the file, and it worked fine. Also noticed that when I DLed the file, it was only 289KB in size, the ver I was emailed (that worked) was 476KB. - Mack Collier
Looking forward to further reviews about this. Looks promising. - Barbara K. Baker
Ok, I'm loving this so far. My #1 requested feature for Twitter is the ability to group/filter by classes of people. Thanks TweetDeck!! - Don MacAskill
I think the group feature is great. But, I'll only use it if it includes friendfeed. - Gerard Barberi via twhirl
Can someone tell me why the same thing wouldn't work in Web app that was Gears-enabled? Just wanting to know. I hate having to have a run-time installed to do this crap. - mrshl
"Under the new plan, parents with two kids in Google day care would most likely see their annual day care bill grow to more than $57,000 from around $33,000.
At the first of the three focus groups, parents wept openly. As word leaked out about the company’s plan, the Google parents began to fight back. They came up with ideas to save money, used the company’s T.G.I.F. sessions — a weekly meeting for anyone who wanted to ask questions of Google’s top executives — to plead their case, and conducted surveys showing that most parents with children in Google day care would have to leave Google’s facilities and find less expensive child care." - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet
Strangely written -- hard to believe this is in the NYT: "Faced with this dilemma, Google decided that the way to solve the dual problems of a too-long wait list and a too-large subsidy was — are you sitting down for this? — to get rid of C.C.L.C. and make the Kinderplex more like the Woods!" - Paul Buchheit
Sergey Brin comes off as a real gem. Looks like 'don't be evil' is morphing to 'let them eat cake'. Amazing what a 40%+ drop in share price can do. - Peter Simard
I found it odd that NYT quoted Sergey multiple times but each quote was disputed by Google PR after the fact. Seems like their PR folks are trying to do some "damage control"? - Alex Barbara
$57,000 just for someone to watch your kid? Remind me to not have kids for a while.. - Alex Barbara
Slowly but surely the shine will finally come off of Google and reality will set in. - AJ Kohn
The sense of "entitlement" is pretty stunning to an outsider who is an occasional visitor. It's pretty obvious (to me) that the "gimme" attitude is going to be an albatross around Google's neck when the time comes that their stock price returns from the stratosphere and settles around something reasonable and in line with the true value of the company. - Jason Wehmhoener
Geez. I don't know one solution that didn't generate new problems as a result of its having solved an old problem. Can't win no matter what in the eyes of the media. Also, this is news-worthy enough to be in the Times? - Ginger Makela
I have no thoughts on the day care issue in and of itself but people changing "don't be evil" into "do no evil" makes me grind my teeth. http://www.google.com/search?q... - Erica Baker
@Paul, agreed -- it's a strangely written story. The writer's bias is clear. Using heresay from employees then vaguely referring to the official statements. - Sprague D
$57,000 was for two kids... and after the price reductions, it won't be that expensive. - Michael Leggett
The author feels that employee-provided day care should be a requirement just like health insurance (not sure I agree), but fails to applaud Google's effort to make it available to those that want it. A 700-child waiting list (over 2 years) is unreasonable as is Google paying a $37,000 subsidy per child. I love working at Google... and I want them to stay around. Paying that large a subsidy is irresponsible to its employees and its shareholders. - Michael Leggett
You could argue that they should just lower costs then... but the main cost is the teachers (as it should be). Google believes teachers should be paid more and I'm proud that they are putting their money where their heart is by doing just that. If you don't want to pay so much, you can always find day care else where, right? Am I missing something? - Michael Leggett
When I visited HP I noted that they don't have the coffee carts anymore that they used to have. The employees noted that other benefits had gone away too. When the high profitability phase of a company ends, the benefits usually go away. At Microsoft they tried taking away things too, like towels in locker rooms, and the employees rebelled. - Robert Scoble
wonder what is average daycare costs there, in area? - silpol
It's absolutely incredible that day care would cost more than the mean national income ($48,201 according to Wikipedia). I understand that this is Silicon Valley, and therefore not applicable to the rules of the rest of the country, but still...it's astounding. - Spinn
We were paying $21,000 a year for two kids and that was top of the line in Charlotte. In theory I like the idea of company sponsored childcare but in reality I don't want my employer to have any influence over my kids. - Lori Reed
I posted this to reddit and got on the front page :P - Bjorn Tipling
probably I have to stop bitching about local tax - I pay monthly for not-full-day at kindergarten in about 100 meter from my house about 130 EUR, for full day it might reach 200 EUR/month max, i.e. annually 2400 EUR (~3600 USD)... hmmmmmmm - silpol
"Google can’t just have low teacher-child ratios — it has to have the lowest of anybody." - Shouldn't it be high teacher-child ratios? Unless they want more children to less teachers. - nadim
I had a hard time believing this was a NY Times article when I first saw it. Talks about child care at the beginning, then references a blog post talking about how Google is not a good place to work and then goes on to detail the child care issue. - Turker Keskinpala
@Michael -- $57G's .. not expensive? ... I don't even make that much in 2 years anymore .. - Steven Hodson
"If Google had really wanted to do something path-breaking about its day care crisis, it would have spent less time creating elitist day care centers and more time figuring out how to “scale” day care for everybody no matter what their salaries." - Gabe Schaffer
Even $33k for 2 kids seems like a lot -- at $16/hr it seems like you could just hire a babysitter for 8 hours a day to watch your two children. For $57k you could just hire a child psychologist full time. - Gabe Schaffer
@Steven I didn't mean it wasn't expensive. It is expensive. I meant it won't be as much as $57k. Maybe I'm not being fair... but I thought the article was bias (not invalid). It does raise some interesting issues... are companies responsible for providing child care? Something seems backwards with how we live when we work so much that we expect our employer to take care of our children. I don't know the answer... but good things to think about. - Michael Leggett
"The Knight Rider GPS (www.knightridergps.com) takes both its sound and style from the 1980s television show about a computerized talking 1982 Pontiac Firebird named KITT. William Daniels, the actor who was the voice of the sleek black car, narrates the unit’s driving directions. The device, which sports a black exterior and flashing red lights, can be personalized to use one of 300 common names in the greetings and random phrases it utters." - edythe via Bookmarklet
funny stuff ... but I wanted to get off at FF as well ... identi.ca is a station half-built :) or else at least let me off at Kwippy since I just wrote about LOL - Steven Hodson
well you have to pull the cord or something to get off Steven! - Allen Stern
Very creative dialogue. I think I'll just continue a mad hop between the various stations. - possible248
"One question for Ear-a-round is whether it can be made cheaper than fencing. At $600 a cow, that is not obviously yet so. Dr Rus, however, is working on getting the price of the hardware down to the $100 that farmers will pay. Meanwhile Dr Anderson is about to start working out how many cows actually need to be fitted with Ear-a-rounds to control an entire herd. He hopes that, by identifying a herd’s leaders and fitting out them alone, this number can be reduced to a handful." - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet
That's just calling out for a good WiFi hotspot caption, but I've got nothing. - Ken Sheppardson
Of course, once you put this thing on the head of a herd leader all the other cows will laugh at him. Maybe it can be concealed under a top-hat. - Ethan Jewett via twhirl
Oh. I pictured virtual cows mooing 'en garde!' - Andy Wibbels
This is less sophisticated technology than an iPhone. I'm sure with an AT&T subsidy they can get the cost to $199 per cow (with 2 year contract). Seriously, though, this has other implications -- changes in movement could be provide diagnostics for cattle illness (moving slowly, not roaming as far, etc.), or telemetry could be added (temperature, heartbeat)... whole "cattle drives" could be conducted over the web... at least until the hackers break in and steer your herd onto an interstate... :-D - Karim
Paul - lol "just like people." so there are cow "influentials?" - Karim
“My son is asking another entrepreneur about his business. Makes me proud. Is asking same questions I would be asking: why would I use your service? What makes it special. Entrepreneur answers back "you sound just like your dad." heh.”
mini-scobleizer.com (not a real site) :) I saw Loic interview Daniel...Loic said something like it felt too limited, somebody else tried the same thing. He suggested that Daniel do something like organize teen communities for seesmic and he'd be first customer... - Pokai
Your son should have an account in friendfeed - MicroDump
Daniel is inspiring - he's living the life I wish I could have at that age. The next Ben Casnocha... - Jesse Stay
Yuvi: my son is into WoW, not blogging or FriendFeed. - Robert Scoble
Can I send him after Commissioner Tate? She's obsessed with "protecting children" - Andrew Feinberg
Andrew: Patrick hates people who try to censor what he sees. But you can't change the minds of people who see the world like that. - Robert Scoble
*sigh* so, so true...her fact checking is awful though...I've nailed her several times and she runs away from me in heels now. Protection != control. - Andrew Feinberg
Jeremy, I never would. It shouldn't be a one or the other proposition anyway...indeed, that's how the story in that direction happened. - Duncan Riley
Duncan is so talented on many fronts. Re: Excluding Techcrunch (or running out of space). Controversy sells. Mike Arrington is a master of the headline tweak, jab pull. It takes many forms. - Alex Hammer
thanks for including WinExtra duncan - I appreciate that - Steven Hodson
no probs Steve. As I mention in the post, if anyone has more ideas for page/ content let me know. Surely there must be a combination out there that will offer a quick look at a given topic that isn't being served by an existing service (the memes page here meets that for me...very handy) - Duncan Riley
Happy 4th of July to all. Living in a country where you can freely photograph your world is a beautiful thing. Take some great photographs today. - Thomas Hawk via Bookmarklet
It's gotten so bad that I have to regulate myself. I use a plug-in for FireFox called Leechblock that you can use to limit your time during the work day.: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-... - Dan Kaplan
huh? F5 just blips my Mac's little sound level at me. - Thomas Hawk
@Thomas F5 = Command + R on a PC. Refresh. - Parth Awasthi
Yes, FF is the new internet addiction. F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5... - Tad Donaghe
The only way to solve this problem is for you people to post quicker ;) - Earl E Morningwood
@Jason you essentially just told Amy Winehouse she should check herself into rehab - how likely do you think we are to match your show of discipline? lol ; ) - Marco
At some point we just need FF to auto-refresh every second and include a pause button so we can stop the action to read stuff that catches our eyes. That would be pretty freaky, huh? - Tad Donaghe
it has been eating into my reading and sleeping time - RAPatton
What? Reading Friendfeed isn't constructive or creative? - Tom Landini
Sometimes I interrupt what I'm doing (re-reading the manual for Twilight Struggle) just to check for new FriendFeed action. Totally addicted. - Akiva Moskovitz
I do that too. But now we're going to see the Incredible Hulk. - Robert Scoble
F5=Crack. Crack is Whack. Flickr = Crack. FF is the new Flickr. - Russellreno
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O... It helps if you don't notice the walls of the maze aren't very high and there are these people looking down on you. - Karim
RusselReno, I had to double-check to make sure that you weren't Steve Gillmor - Todd McKinney
time consumption is simply the manual behavior. Get an auto refresher and save a micro second. ;) then again, if you want to remain aware, you have to read everything! - thecolor
use twhirl and updates come automatically to your desktop... no need of refresh, layout is awesome (discussions, etc) - Gustavo Munoz via twhirl
If we could get paid for using FriendFeed, wouldn't we all have our own private islands? - possible248
More like one palm tree, a couple of rocks, and a sewage outflow. - Akiva Moskovitz
That's the Mississippi version of FF I believe. Goes great with FriedOkra and FriedGreenTomatoes - Tad Donaghe via fftogo
The cool feature here would be to post Mahalo activity updates to FF, "Joe Smoe just created the page _____'. You should totally hire a social media guy ;) - sean percival
This is important stuff - great work, Chris! - Todd Mundt
Hey Chris. Great blog post. i think personal brands and company brands (like Forrester) mutually benefit by mixing the brands together. - Rodney Rumford
My business partner (at the time) stopped renting offices in 1997. Since then I have worked from a home office, participating in various enterprises, building personal brand and generating income. So for me this is a reality -- but I am in an knowledge based industry that lends itself to this style of business (and it suits my personel style). Many businesses and people though couldn't work this way. - Brian Sullivan
Long one but well worth the read and some dialog! - Charlie Anzman
