NICK DOUGLAS — The domain paradox: Domains used for actual online companies are terrible (zooomr.com, browster.com, del.icio.us) while domains registered for no good reason are wonderful (fancytrousers.com, stuffonmyfriends.com, supr.c.ilio.us). Here are ten fantastic domains that have been claimed — and five that haven't.Claimed
NICK DOUGLAS — Take a deep breath and exhale with me: Ommmmmm! Our editor Chris mapped out the path to blog nirvana earlier this month. Now I'm proud to present a heatmap locating popular blogs (and a few major web sites) among the four spheres of audience reaction: Affirmation, indignation, titillation, and stimulation. Spot Gawker, TechCrunch, Dooce, Michelle Malkin, Ze Frank, Engadget, and more!
NICK DOUGLAS — Digg grew from a tight community of power web users and fans of founder (and former Tech TV star) Kevin Rose. Now it's a popular destination that sends hundreds of thousands of users to dozens of sites a day. As Digg's role on the Internet has changed, Rose and his team have had to adapt how the site works. But some changes seem counterintuitive. What does it mean that this week, the site stopped honoring its "Top Diggers"?
NICK DOUGLAS — Underneath all that decorum and collared polyester, geeks have crazy personalities waiting to bust out. Normally they have to suppress those personalities to appease investors and look like Real Important Bosses. But when they find their time to shine, they pull poses that would make Star Wars Kid proud. Here are the top ten photos some geeks wish time forgot. (Warning: some shots are a touch NSFW.)
NICK DOUGLAS — The Coast Guard searched yesterday for Turing Award winner James Gray, who was last heard from on Sunday when he piloted his yacht out of San Francisco (in good weather) to scatter his mother's ashes. At Microsoft, Gray (Berkeley's first computer science PhD recipient) developed technologies that led to ATMs and online shopping; his research also made mapping programs like Google Earth possible.
NICK DOUGLAS — You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than the bowels of the Internet, where you could be swallowed by the Spam King to be digested over a thousand years or trapped in a battle with a patent troll. Here are the Internet's monsters on display, ending with the ultimate slimeball who disgusts everyone from Boing Boing to Craigslisters to Fox News.
NICK DOUGLAS — Quick update on the creepy laugh of Google VP Marissa Mayer (which I discovered last year): It's now the third most popular ringtone at Ringtone Soup, a site which allows users to upload and download clips for their phone. Maybe that's because of Jim Buckmaster. Friends say the CEO of Craigslist was obsessed with her laugh when Valleywag put it online, playing it over and over.
NICK DOUGLAS — I don't watch Lonelygirl15 either. Okay, like, two episodes, and they didn't entertain me. So here are seven YouTube stars, all less known than her (though you definitely saw a few of them before) who will rock you in the face.
NICK DOUGLAS — The tech industry is huge and ungainly, but it's not impossible to get a grasp of its daily news. There are ways to deeply understand tech through hours of reading per day, but for the busy pro with only 20 minutes for tech news, use the following daily process.
NICK DOUGLAS — "Oh my god Web 2.0? More like Bubble 2.0!" Okay, good start. But to really intimidate non-geeks and show how you're so over Web 2.0 (as proved by the five parody logos you uploaded on Flickr and auto-inserted into your blog), you need to break out these advanced tactics.
NICK DOUGLAS — Another year and the bubble hasn't popped! Sysadmins and C-level execs alike, you deserve something special, like a drink named after you or your latest achievement. And Yahoos deserve a drink all to themselves. So after the first champagne, order these official cocktails for techies in 2007!
NICK DOUGLAS — As fantastic as the baton-controlled Nintendo Wii may be (I found it's most fun after White Russians and a tequila shot), it seems like the only game anyone plays is Wii Sports. So what other games would I like to see? Click the thumbs to see the gallery. Props for the "let's Photoshop the covers" idea to Mike Monteiro.
NICK DOUGLAS — There are two types of top ten lists: the ones on Letterman, and, well, funny ones. The latter is neither. Instead, it's ten real rules for making attention-getting top ten lists.
NICK DOUGLAS — This was not a healthy year for the language, but it was damn good for technolinguists. Words like *Camp and Web 3.0 built on the popular buzzwords of earlier years, while Wikiality and Series of Tubes mocked the silliness of the Internet. For the top ten words in tech this year:
NICK DOUGLAS — The Wall Street Journal published a scare-story today on how handheld devices make parents neglect their children. Children "are fearful that parents will be distracted by emails while driving, concerned about Mom and Dad's shortening attention spans and exasperated by their parents' obsession with their gadgets."
NICK DOUGLAS — It's 8 PM and I'm bored, hungry and sober. What went wrong? I'm at one of the thousands of poorly-planned events that plague the business world. While this is a Silicon Valley blog, the following rules apply to all industries. Here are the seven ways that businesses and organizations ruin events:
