Saturday, October 31, 2009

“Memory Lane: XKCD Pays Tribute to GeoCities” plus 6 more

Mashable: "Memory Lane: XKCD Pays Tribute to GeoCities" plus 6 more

Memory Lane: XKCD Pays Tribute to GeoCities

Posted: 26 Oct 2009 02:09 AM PDT

xkcd_260 Ah, you kids that were born after 1990 probably have no idea what horrors us geeks of old had to endure in the early days of the Internet. Of course, what was painful then is nothing but a fond memory now, so I'm sure many folks will shed a tear when they see today's issue of popular online comic XKCD.

The execution is perfect: the awful background, the annoyingly blinking text, the barely readable blue links and the horrible HTML. This is how 90% of sites hosted on GeoCities looked like (and there were a lot of them, believe us), and yes, it's all imprinted forever in the collective memory of Internet users from 1995 – 1999.

Kudos to XKCD for the effort, and if you're wondering what all the fuss is about, GeoCities closes down today, with all its data being erased. Nice knowing you, we'll never forget you, unfortunately.

Tags: geocities, xkcd

U2 on YouTube, LIVE from the Rose Bowl

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 08:32 PM PDT

It's one of the biggest live-streamed events this year: in a matter of minutes, YouTube will go live with the U2 Rose Bowl concert video stream on the Official U2 Channel (update: stream now live, show starts at 9pm PT). The stream will be available in 16 countries and could see hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions or more – flocking to the site. It's a massive technical challenge, but if anyone can handle that load, it's Google.

As we wrote of the event earlier this week:

The Google-owned video website has streamed the Outside Lands concert and an Obama press conference in recent months, but now it's going to stream the Rose Bowl concert of one of the world's most popular bands: U2

The live streaming event, which begins on Sunday, October 25th at 8:30 PM PT, will be available in 16 countries. The live feed will be available on the U2 Official Channel, and feature a live Twitter feed of chatter about the concert, exactly like what the company did for its full-length viewing of Taxi Driver.

The bigger question for us techies: is YouTube about to get into live streaming and tackle Ustream and Justin.tv head on?

Reviews: Twitter, YouTube, ustream

Tags: U2, youtube

Facebook Recommends Reconnecting with Ex-Lovers, Dead Friends

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 07:30 PM PDT

Facebook, it seems, is falling victim to the insensitivity of the algorithm. The site's new "reconnect" feature was well-intentioned, I'm sure: Facebook wanted to reunite friends who haven't connected in some time. This is a noble aim.

Unfortunately Facebook's algorithms can't account for some less desirable scenarios: according to Twitter reports, the site is recommending that users reconnect with ex-girlfriends and ex-boyfriends. It's recommending they reconnect with their (current) husband or wife. It's even advising people to reconnect with friends who have died, causing obvious distress. These aren't isolated cases: there are scores of Twitter reports of these issues.

The new Facebook is wonderful and I'm thoroughly addicted to the new Live Feed. But please Facebook, take a second look at your Reconnect feature.

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Real Life iPhone Costumes Put Your Crappy Halloween Outfit to Shame [VIDEO]

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 03:34 PM PDT

iphonecostume Dressing up as Balloon Boy, Kanye West or some other Internet hit this Halloween? Don't even bother: these real life iPhone costumes already took 1st and 2nd place for best novelty outfits ever.

The costumes took 3 weeks to build, with each weighing 85lbs and requiring a car battery to be worn between the wearer's legs. An iPhone 3GS is attached to a 42″ LCD screen (not touch screen, alas), turning the wearer into a human-sized iPhone. Co-creator John Savio writes:

This all started two years ago Reko Rivera and Bobby Hartman created a wearable large iPhone costume with a real 37″ lcd tv. An iPod was attached with a looping video of a real iphones screen in normal use. This time with the help of John Savio and John Matthews the team created yet another amazing rendition of the new iPhone 3GS…The team has about $2000 into the two costumes and has no regrets!

Does geekery know no bounds?

[via the Macrumors Forums]

Tags: costume, iphone

GeoCities Closes Tomorrow: Goodbye, Old Friend

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 02:39 PM PDT

geocities So, we've come to the end of the road. The service that hosted the first website for a generation is set to close down tomorrow.

If you're a GeoCities user, you've been given plenty of warning, but you can still hop over there and get your data out today before current owner Yahoo turns out the lights. Meanwhile, the Archive Team's Geocities Project is doing its best to archive as many GeoCities pages as possible, meaning that selected pieces of Internet history will be preserved (including hundreds of "Under Construction" gifs salvaged from the site).

As we wrote of the shutdown earlier this month:

Back in the proverbial day, GeoCities was the place where many a modern-day internet nerd cut his or her teeth. After a spectacular dot com purchase of $3.65 billion and an equally spectacular dot com bust, its closure marks the end of one of the earliest ages of the social web.

Yahoo, of course, has been busy slimming down and cutting costs under CEO Carol Bartz. With the company's focus elsewhere, it makes sense to shut down what is essentially an internet relic. Still, to those who look back with nostalgia, October 26 could well be a wistful day.

Do you have fond memories of GeoCities? Let us know in the comments.

[via Computerworld]

Tags: geocities

Hallow-Meme: Internet-Inspired Halloween Costumes

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 12:07 PM PDT

Don't have your costume ready for Halloween yet? Internet meme site Know Your Meme wants to help. The site has launched the Hallow-meme Costume Builder, which aids you in creating a Balloon Boy costume, a Kanye West & Taylor Swift outfit (for couples), a Three Wolf Moon costume for three people, and many more besides.

It's a smart move from Know Your Meme, a spin-off from video-blog Rocketboom: not only does it give the site more visibility this Halloween, but the use of affiliate links means that the site could bring in a few bucks from geeky Halloween revelers.

Tags: costumes, hallow-meme, Halloween

OCNN: Chad Ochocinco to Launch Twitter News Network

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 10:05 AM PDT

Chad Ochocinco's Twittering has repeatedly gotten him into trouble with the NFL, but he's nonetheless embraced his online fans, launching an iPhone app and hatching plans to fly Twitter users to games.

Now the irrepressible Cincinnati Bengals receiver is indulging his love of Twitter yet further: he claims to be launching a Twitter-based news network with Motorola. He's branding it the "Ochocinco News Network" (OCNN) with the slogan, "If I break it, you might as well believe it".

The details are sparse, but it seems the plan is to equip players with Motorola phones and have them Tweet out news before the major networks get wind of it. How that's different from simply using Twitter as he does now is unclear, but perhaps there will be a centralized site aggregating all these Tweets. It's a move that's likely to further anger the NFL, which has been caught in a cat and mouse game over Ochocinco's Twitter use.

It's intriguing to ask whether this may be a trend: what becomes of sports reporting once the sports stars command publishing and distribution platforms of their own?

Reviews: Twitter

Tags: ochocinco, twitter