Tyler Hunt

I find myself more and more frequently scanning for a “vote” button after reading an article of interest, or a stumbling upon a site I would like to return to someday. I look for such a button not because I really care about sharing it with a hoard of karma mongers, but because I’d like to have a record of it to return to someday. A perpetual browsing history of sorts, where the best of the best bubble to the top. Only, more often than not, my only option is to submit the story to a social bookmarking site such as del.icio.us or Digg. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of these sites. I use them both, and relish each of them in part, but despite the unique features and communities they provide, I still feel there something missing from the browsing experience.

Maybe my need can’t be handled by a mere web application, but instead requires something higher up, at the browser level, say.

But this brings me to the question of intent. Why do I have this desire to save these sites? I rarely, if ever, return to view them again. And when I do, it’s often possible to find the site through a Google search or some other means instead. So then, is it my desire to return to these sites driving my desire for a suitable bookmarking solution, or vice versa? Could it be that this desire is an extension of the digg mentality that everything can (and should) be categorized and prioritized and submitted to the mob for review and validation?

The whole concept of centralized authentication for the web has always seemed like a nice thing to have, but the implementations always had major faults (like being owned by Microsoft, or relying on a single centralized server). OpenID is setting out to solve the common problems associated with such a system, and from the looks of it is doing everything right so far. The system they’re building is completely distributed (anyone can run a server), and they have even made Ajax login capabilities one of the key requirements (in the sense that it’s possible, not mandatory). There’s a nice little demo on their site to show how this might work. It almost brings tears to my eyes.

Daniel has taken it upon himself to spread the Fanta jingle throughout the facilities of the UCF whenever he makes a carbonated beverage purchase. As if Kiki, Capri, Sophia, and Lola’s ditty gracing the big screen during the pre-show weren’t enough, you can hear Daniel’s biweekly performance in the Engineering 2 building on Mondays and Wednesdays. Or, if you can’t make it then, you could always just check out the Fanta web site, that’s full of bright colors and catchy sounds that will keep you entertained for hours. You can meet the Fantanas, make a movie poster, or even do a little role-playing and become your favorite Fantanas and enter the Fanta Wave Rider race on Fantana island.

It seems that more and more online newspapers are now requiring user registration, even if you all you want is to read a single article. To counteract this annoyance, BugMeNot.com keeps a database of logins for over 5,000 web sites. The site is built on user submissions, so if they don’t have a login for a site you’re trying to access, you can easily submit your registration information for the benefit of others. It’s a simple but effective way to circumventing the registration process at sites that shouldn’t require registration in the first place.

Images of posters in New York City have been making the rounds lately. The iRaq posters are a spoof of the iPod silhouette campaign, only instead of people getting down with the funky beat, they’re getting their war on with machine guns and rocket launchers. The slogan at the bottom reads “10,000 Iraqis killed. 773 US soldiers dead.” While I don’t agree with the anti-war sentiment that I believe is being expressed by these posters, I do have to give props to whoever came up with the clever idea of ripping off Apple’s marketing efforts, even down to the dotted “i”.

Google’s under-development email service, Gmail, claims to offer 1 GB of storage space, and the few lucky people who have been chosen to beta test the system are now finding out how valuable their accounts really are. Recently, Gmail accounts have been popping up on eBay, where you pay a fee to the owner of one of the exclusive accounts to set up an account for the high bidder. Based on this same principle, Gmail Swap has popped up as a marketplace for all kinds of offers in exchange for the chance at swiping a desired username before Google opens the floodgates to the world.

Jeni (my brown girlfiend) passed this on to me the other day. I’m not sure how this came about, but Burger King thought it would be cool to have a guy in a chicken suit at your dispoal, and hence Subservient Chicken was born. You can tell him to do just about anything and he’ll do it. Read a book. Watch TV. Do jumping jacks. Give it a try and see if you what kind of crazy things you can get this chicken to do.

A few weeks back, Daniel and I were working on a project together, and for one reason or another ended up Googling for the word exit. This brought up a rather bizarre series of results, none of which could be chosen solely based on the appearance of the word in their contents. This came up again tonight, as we were checking how the rankings for the term had changed since the last time. Instead of posting my own theories about this phenomena, however, I’d like you to leave your own conjectures as a comment.

I’ve always found the concept of open source media to be appealing. The thought of having access to raw video footage or recording studio tracks offers a sense of freedom and adventure that may be attractive merely because it is so contrary to the will of the RIAA and MPAA. Apparently Claire and Sherm were thinking along these same lines when they came up with the Jay-Z Construction Set. With nine variations on The Black Album, and a load of samples and breaks, it’s designed to be a self-contained starter kit to creating your very own Jay-Z remix. This brings up a lot of legal implications, but by distributing it through BitTorrent they seem to have avoided any lawsuits or cease and desist letters up to this point.

My brother passed along a link to me the other day for the Suburban TrunkMonkey. It’s all about the monkey in the trunk who takes care of your dirty work for you. From attacking intruders to distracting cops, he’s got you covered. For a local dealership, these spots are very impressive, professional-calibre work. They’re highly entertaining and totally out of the ordinary. I don’t know if they have actually broadcast these on TV out in Oregon or not, but the Suburban Auto Group sure has a winner here whatever the case may be.

I remember watching Goldeneye for the first time, and being amazed at Boris’s ability to manipulate a ball-point pen. I’ve always thought it would be cool such have such a talent, but never put enough thought or effort into it to actually get out a pen and practice. Apparently a lot of other geeks thought this would be a cool ability to possess as well, as there are entire sites devoted to the art, Pentrix being one of them. It’s all about the “pen spinning revolution,” that is taking place. There are videos with all of the different moves and tricks you can do, articles discussing the best pens to use, and a community forum where pen tricksters can share their latest achievements. And as with most such communities on the web, there’s an element of modding. It’s all about getting the right weight ratios. So I haven’t tried any of this crap out yet, but I really should. It would give me a more productive use of my pencil than my other favorite classroom pastime.

Kirby has a new digital camera, and a new online gallery to go with it. After we both struggled through a failed attempt at getting Gallery set up, he went with another photo gallery package called Coppermine Photo Gallery. Check out Kirby’s Pictures to see his super-clear macro shots and some scenic views from Cleveland, TN. And as he would say, “leave comments!”

As far as school days go, today was one of the best of the semester so far. With H2O’s campus ministry starting up, Robin and Lauren spent the day at a booth outside the student union, inviting all in sight to come check us out. Daniel and I hung out with them for a few minutes between classes, and just happened to be in the right spot to be in a photograph for OrlandoCityBeat. We also hit up mealplan, our new usual spot for lunching, and were joined by constant stream of new people that turned our table into an H2O party.

More on OrlandoCityBeat: Having never heard of this publication, and interested in their indie-style journalistic approach, I checked out their site. There’s a lot of good stuff here if you’re looking for new things to try in and around Orlando. Ever since icFlorida.com went the way of WFTV there just hasn’t been a good source of new on local happenings. Its fresh design and affiliation with the Orlando Sentinel add up to a great local experience without pushing overly ad-laden pages. With restaurant reviews and insight into the local music scene, OrlandoCityBeat could prove to be a reliable source for Orlando entertainment.

In yet another brilliant article from the prolific writers over at kuro5hin.org, Guerilla Gardening introduces in a new concept in the genre of urban activities of questionable legality. The idea is to find unused land in the urban landscape, and plant something there to improve the quality of the environment and the terrain. While planting some edible food for harvesting made the most sense to me, I imagine it would also be entertaining to plant flowering species, as well. Then there’s always weed:

“The very act of taking someone else’s land and using it to your own end is in itself a political act. Whether or not you want your guerrilla gardening to act as a political message, with publicity and it own public impact is entirely up to you and the way your horticultural deeds are constructed. Planting pretty tulips on old industrial estates is one message, growing marijuana outside government offices is quite another. The choice is yours.”

Looking for something fun to pass the time during the holiday break? Download one of the numerous papercraft templates from Yamaha, including some very detailed motorcycles that could be mistaken for the real thing if printed on lifesize paper. There’s also a whole slew of animals: enough to make your own zoo. These things are amazingly clever and beautifully colored, and are available in a vector-based PDF format, so they could be scaled to just about any size you can print. Cut them out, fold them up, and glue them together. Only a Japanese company could produce something this cool as a web site freebie.