Reader warning: venting ahead.

This from a recent financial times article:

“Some analysts suggest Apple should launch an iPod Shuffle with an LCD screen. Others argue Apple ought to introduce iPods with new capabilities and functions, such as a handheld computer, satellite radio, wireless e-mail capability and a phone.”

This kills me. It really does. Read more…

A while back I wrote an article on the apparent development of a new meme: “creative communist”. Let’s just say I was an early adopter (I bought the t-shirt). At the time I had written that article I noted that “Today, on Google, the search ‘creative communist’ or ‘creative commie’ returns 1800 results.” And in an update on that same article I noted that 16 days later the same search resulted in only 1700 results. Today I decided to look into how this little meme was doing and I got 615 search results. I suppose there’s a minimum to this sort of thing. I mean as long as banapana is around there will be a few references to the specific phrase. But there’s no doubt that this little meme is losing steam and in a year has lost half of its search results.

There are an awful lot of folks who seem to think that tagging is the next big thing and that it is going to increase the effeciency of the web to a large degree. But I find myself agreeing with Mark Glaser over at topix.net who argues that tagging has yet to find a way around the eventual problem of spamming. I don’t think tagging has inherent in it a solution to spam, either, but I do think that combined with “white lists” of fellow taggers in Friendster-fashion could create a kind of trusted search that uses human brains to keep the spammers locked out. Read more…