SANY0095, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

And I'm scheduled to play football, too. Nice!

Link: BuzzMachine � Blog Archive � Local ain’t easy.

Jeff has been talking about how efforts like Judy's Book and Riffs go about trying to get users to contribute content, and whether or not content from strangers is of value to anyone.  People are trying to go about solving such problems by essentially "paying" for content and "scoring" the content via ratings, trust measures, etc.

Seems very heavy to me.

How about something more lightweight, like this...

1. I query my network (my real network, not one I built on an online social network) for a recommendation:
   1. Queries never have to take place on the website, nor does anyone have to be a member to answer them.  I start out by uploading or just plugging in/pointing to some kind of address book of friends.  Then, I contact a single e-mail/sms number/IM bot preset to output my query to a certain group.  So, I could IM "askmyfriends" and AOL, and it knows that ceo21 is me and that it should hit my database of friends.   
   2. I ask it something simple like, "Does anyone know a cheap Thai restaurant near Union Square?"  It knows what "thai restaurant" is and it knows "cheap" from "good" or "fast".  As for Union Square, it might not be able to figure that one out, so it might just IM me back and say "Where is Union Square?"  Then, I'd have to tell it a street address and it would probably send me back something silly like, "Is this where Union Square is in New York for everyone?"  Yes...  but thanks for asking, because "my office" might mean something else to someone else.
   3. The question gets sent to all my friends via e-mail.  First timers also get a little note saying "This note was sent via "askmyfriends".  Do you want to be contacted differently the next time Charlie needs to ask his friends for a recommendation?  Do you want to check out some of the answers people have been giving on the site?  etc...   This way, they can sign up to get an IM themselves, or an SMS... or some ordered "presence" combo.  EDIT:  To counter spam (thanks for the feedback, Jeremy), two fixes: 1) Ten of my friends may, at first, get a note saying "Charlie has just joined a service to help him ask his friends for recommendations.  We want to make sure he's not spam.  Is he legit?" Once you get a certain about of yeses, then it allows the message to go through, to make sure I'm a real person.  A certain about of "this is a spammer" messages bounce me off the system.  2) My contact database may only be build through my e-mail inbox.  So, I can only add people who I've e-mailed at least twice and they've e-mailed me back twice in the last month. Other ideas are welcome.
   4. They can respond the way the got asked the question (not only through a site), and the service can try and enterpret the results given the criteria I put in.  When Fred texts back "lemn grs", given that I was asking for a thai restaurant near Union Square, the service could check back with him and ask, "Did you mean Lemon Grass?"   They could even ask for a rating (how cheap is this?), but that's it for the follow up questions. 
   5. This quick little back and forth generates a lot of metadata.  It connects me to me and Fred w/o even requiring either one of us to "add to friends" or requiring anyone to signup.  All I did was point my question to my contact list, and Fred responded.  What it also did was tack on a vote and perhaps even a specific rating to a local restaurant from someone I know and trust.  Because, at the end of the day, that's all I'm really looking for...  not a site that I need to play on all day.
   6. The website for this service would be an afterthought... a way to collect and present most importantly, my own stored queries and answers.  Because, like del.icio.us, you can go a long way by just solving a simple problem (in this case, storing and allowing me to easily retrieve recommendations) for one user.  The network affects come second.  You can then ask to seek out recommendations from friends of others, because if Fred gives me the Lemon Grass tip, and I liked it, I might also want to see recommendations from the people who are tipping him off, particularly in the same category.  In fact, maybe you don't even allow people to add their own content.  All you can do is get recommendations from others by asking a question.  (Sort of like not letting people self-tag.) 

There are key differences with this idea than from what's out there:

1. The service gets built not by getting people to contribute first, but by getting people to solicit the content from others for their own benefit.  Its not "join this site and list your favorite places" its "please answer my quick question right now."  That's microchunking.
2. Decentralization comes first.  A lot of people built a site and then work on SMS, IM, chat, e-mail plugins later or as an afterthought.  How about someone built these communication tools first and save the AJAX for desert?
3. Social networking is implicit.  We're connected because we've actually connected on a Q&A, not because I've added you as a contact, friend, stalker victim, etc.  This is a much more natural and passive way to build out a users real social network.
4. People join after using the site and contributing content.  After people have answered a few questions, you can remind them in the question e-mails, "Hey, thanks for all your great recommendations... if you ever need to go back and find all 4 of them, they're conveniently stored here.  If you want to ask your friends to help you out for once (since you've been so helpful to them), you can do it here as well."  Someone could participate heavily and never have to join anything, upload a photo, etc.

Business model?

Well, in addition to advertising, how about selling restaurants access to the best local critics and let it go blindly through to the users who recommend the most.

So, if I'm opening up a new Italian restaurant in Brooklyn near Gino's, I think it would be worth it for me to invite the top ten local Italian restaurant recommenders to my restaurant at half price, no?  From a raters perspective, I think I'd probably answer more questions if I thought some dinner coupons would come my way.

Multiply that for movies, music, bars, books x hundreds of cities.... you get the point.

Maybe you wouldn't even need advertisers... you could just "sell the right to offer free stuff to the sneezers."

Who are these clowns on the subway?, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

I like his commuter shoes better than mine.

In spite of my newfound popularity in the Phillipines (they were the only ones viewing my profile and e-mailing me) and the "19/f wanna chat, go to my profile on naughtyhighschlrs.com" crowd, I'm tired of Friendster.  I just killed my profile.

It was fun at first.  I even went on some Friendster dates that worked out pretty well, admittedly.  But now, its just a pain.

Its one thing to not provide any value...   I never get any new friend requests because the service is losing users, and not gaining any.  If that was the only issue, I would just leave my profile and let it drift.  But, I get spammed by fake hot girls trying to send me to porn sites elsewhere.  Why am I spending any time deleting those notification e-mails (which don't show me the message, requiring me to go to the site to check them out) if I don't get any value from the site?

So, it was fun while it lasted, Friendster, but well...   even above all this, the reality is, its not you, its me.  I'm not the kind of guy you're looking for.  You need someone more valuable.  Someone who clicks on all the ads, perhaps?  Someone who wants to list things for sale in the Friendster classifieds or start/join a Friendster group.  You want someone who wants to sign in and invite more friends to the service as soon as they enter before they even check their Friendster e-mail.  You want someone who wants to skin their Friendster profile, but not actually have full flexibility on the format.  You deserve better.  I'm sure you'll find better friends...   just look at the hundreds of people who aren't on Myspace and/or the Facebook.  I'm sure there are some of those people out there for you.  I'm just not that guy.

Link: Coat Idol.

Selection   Votes 1) New University Coat (with Thinsolate) 42% 20 2) Columbia Men's Leather Bib Hipster Jacket 8% 4 3) Kenneth Cole Reaction Wool Peacoat 17% 8 4) Kenneth Cole REACTION  "Boxcar" Coat 17% 8 5) Andrew Marc's Marc New York 8% 4 6) Leather Car Coat 8% 4 48 votes total Poll results are subject to error.  Pollhost.com does not pre-screen the content of polls created by Pollhost customers.

Has TV learned nothing from the music industry??

Link: NBC might sue TiVo over PSP and iPod support - Engadget - www.engadget.com.

I know, I know, I'm doing a terrible job of keeping up... but I've been busy fixing the layout of this blog.  :)   Well worth it so far, no?   This is the end of phase one.  In phase two, I'll be fixing the layout of the sidebar and reorganizing some of the bells and whistles.

I rediscovered Ghostbusters not too long ago.  I never really realized the quality of the writing before.  Almost every single line in the movie is either funny or just plain good.  The commercialization around this movie really made it cheesy, but if you go back to it years later, its actually a fantastically written movie.  The humor is often subtle and I don't think you pick up on half of it unless you see it a few times.

"Do you have any hobbies?"

"I collect spores, molds, and fungus."

The other thing I like is how genuinely New York the movie is.  So many of the extras couldn't get any more Gotham, from the unsuspecting Upper East Sider who walks into the corpse's cab, the Mayor, and all of the wiseass cops.

"You do your job, pencilneck, don't tell me how to do mine."

Nice cameo by local anchorman Roger Grimsby, too...  I remember Grimsby and Bill Beutel every night at dinner on Channel 7.  Little details that just make the whole thing a little more authentic...well, as authentic as you can get a movie about catching ghosts.

"What are you supposed to be, some kind of cosmonaut?"

"No, we're exterminators.  Somebody saw a cockroach up on 12."

"That's got to be some cockroach."

"Bite your head off."

This is also a movie that never should have had a sequal, and I think the cheesiness and commercialization of the franchise really detracted from the original.  But, you know, Ivan Reitman's got to put some food on the table...  which, if you've seen him lately, doesn't seem to have been an issue.  Same with Ackroyd.

I'm finally upgrading my site template over the holiday weekend...

Biking Hazards, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

A week or so ago, I had a flat tire on my bike... the bike store found the culprit.

I hate "Best of" lists.... unless, of course, I'm on them.  Then I have an entirely different opinion.  :)   Check out the "Biz Bloggers" list.  Honerable mention.  Not too shabby!  Thanks!

Link: Mighty: God's Informed People '05.

My best friend Brian, who I know for twenty years now, since we first played t-ball together the summer before first grade, has invested in a new business with his brother Jim.  Its called Diamond Player Development and its a great place to fine tune your baseball skills if you really want to develop into a top tier player.

When I was younger, I had coaches who played favorites--got other kids more playing time.  It wasn't until I was put on a team that was so bad that there was no way anyone was going to cut into my time  that I even started to get any good.  By then I  was 13, and although I developed into a  pretty good contact hitter and a solid outfielder, I really didn't have much of a chance of making my high school or college teams.

I always wish I had real coaches when I was at critical points in my development.  Well, I went down to DPD last weekend and I saw firsthand what kids have the advantage of today.  There were kids in batting cages who were getting videotaped and had their swing analyzed by a pro instructor.  Who knows how good I could have been with that kind of technology!  Ah well.  I suppose corporate softball will have to do.

So anyway, Brian and I spent some time in the cages on our own.  Think of this video as the "before" video.  Maybe Jim will will be kind enough to point out all the stuff I'm doing wrong.  I know one thing I have an issue doing is really turning my hips and using my legs to generate much power.  They turn, but they're not really planted very well and so its just more like spinning my wheels and not going anywhere.

View this clip on Vimeo

So drop on by to DPD or if you have a team or individual that wants some real coaching, contact Jim.

I just had an unsettling experience.

As I was leaving the our office to walk down to the train at Union Square, I spotted a man fall down as he was stepping onto the sidewalk.

Tara's got a great post on how our generation is truly living online more and more everyday...

Link: ::HorsePigCow:: life uncommon: My so-called online life.

What I'm saying is that things are going to get interesting as more and more people migrate online. I don't know if it will bring us closer together or further apart.

I do know that we can connect easier with people all over the world - enabling all sorts of opportunities. On the flipside, we are choosing to interact online more often than offline, so what does that do to intimacy?

What I find is that a lot of this online stuff fuels intimacy.  Just the other day, a placement agent called me about a deal.  He sent me pitch deck and when I replied with a thank you, he clicked on the blog link that I have in my e-mail footer.  He called me back ten minutes later to tell me all about how he used to be really into the canoeing and kayaking community back in the 70's in Philly.  All of the sudden, he became a multidimensional person to me... not just a phone call and an e-mail Powerpoint deck to be screened and triaged.

Yesterday, I got a pitch from a guy in Latin America who asked about my leg. No better way to get free sympathy than to blog about your various injuries.

When I blog, my friends are able to catch up on my life so that, the next time I actually do see them they know what's going on.  We don't waste time "catching up" with monologues, but just actually conversing and sharing real time together.  It invites people I'd never know to comment, exchange, and impact my thinking.  More people know that I'm dating someone now than anyone I've ever dated, because I blog about her.

That's intimacy, to me.   Its different than we've previously known it to be.  Call it Intimacy 2.0.  :)

Fast, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

It appears as if 31.2 is terminal velocity on the city end of the Brooklyn Bridge for me. It's not enough to send be back to the future, but it will do.

Nifty new help section...  cool!

Link: del.icio.us/help.

Link: apophenia: MySpace blamed for alienated youth's threats.

"Another beautiful MySpace article: Online Terror Threat Hits Local High School. The "terrorists" are two boys who are threatening to show up in school with machine guns. As a result of their posts to MySpace, most students didn't show up for school. The school district is pissed and blames MySpace for enabling students to "post their thoughts and ideas" without surveillance. They are deciding whether or not to sue MySpace."

I'm just glad most of the parents allowed their kids to stay home.  After Columbine, I think if my future kids told me they shouldn't show up at school because of some kids posted terror threats, I'd make sure they didn't go to school.  They should be thanking MySpace.  What if MySpace took those comments down before anyone saw them, and then those kids actually showed up at school, guns blazing?

Then, I'd sue MySpace.  But that's what parents seem to want.  "Take it down... hide their eyes...   keep them locked up."

If you're a parent out there, create a MySpace account.  Don't spy on your kids.  Ask them to be your "friend" on it.  If they don't want to be your friend, get your own friends on it. Get them to teach you how to put up music from your favorite bands.  Help them fix your template. 

I really think some kids might accept it, because they'll think its funny, but more than anything else, you'll seem like a parent who either "gets it" or is trying.  So, instead of getting freaked out about what's on MySpace, contribute your own content and join the crowd.

Accident Prone, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

This is what happens when pedestrians run out into the street between cars and you're nice enough to try to avoid them.

"In eighteenth century London or Paris, sociability did not depend on intimacy.  Strangers meeting in parks or on the streets might, without embarrassment, speak to each other.  They shared a common fund of public signs which enabled people to conduct a civilized conversation without feeling called upon to expose their innermost secrets  The romantic cult of sincerity and authenticity tore away the masks that people had worn in public and eroded the boundary between public and private life.  As the public world came to be seen as a mirror of the self, people lost the capacity for detachment and hence for playful encounter, which presupposes a certain distance from the self." - Christopher Lasch, Culture of Narcissism

When I was in high school, I read On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

I don't remember that much of it, but I do remember the importance of conversation...  Two of the guys in the book used to get together for these extreme "brain dump" sessions where they'd literally spend hours, even a full day or two, just talking about everything... Everything. 

The didn't let time constraints get in their way.  They just talked until they were done.

College was a little bit like that.  I was so fascinated by new people that I often ignored the clock for the tradeoff of some good topical exploration.

Blogs do that to some extent, but I feel like they're  somewhat self-reenforcing.  They're great for attracting likeminded people or at least people talking about the same topics as you, but they're  kind of bad for discovery. 

I don't think anyone's quite figured out that algorythym yet...  "people and things not like me at all that I would still find interesting."  How do you find something you've never sought after before, yet something you weren't consciously avoiding?  And, how do you do it in a limited way?  I could subscribe to a blog about metaphysics, but I'm really not that interested in it as a totally new pursuit. 

I'd read a post a week on it, though. 

That's why I loved those college dorm conversation.  Dorm life stuffs you in with people you might not have ever encountered otherwise.  Your friend group is random and accidental, and it takes you some time to gravitate towards more similar people.  I think that's good, to a large extent, to develop this kind of a network, but I also find myself pining for a little more of a mix...  People whose worlds are really interesting who introduce me to new stuff.

Dating never quite worked for this...  In theory, dating introduces you to a fascinating set of people with diverse interests, but the reality is that most people want to meet people just like them.  I never met an artist who found it really interesting to date a business guy.

Where was I?  Oh yeah... Conversation.  When is the last time you had a really interesting face to face chat with someone semi-random about a topic you usually don't talk about?

While I'm doing an address change for a misdirected order:

Customer Service Person:  "I do apoligize as I am from Canada myself...  Broadway is spelled B-r-o-a-d-w-a-y, is that correct?"

My question is, was she apoligizing because they don't have any Broadways in Canada or because Canadians are poor spellers, which would be news to me.

Landed, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

On the beach past the Palasaides...