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Yesterday, I made a note to myself to chime in on the subject of being “addicted” to the Internet, following Tim Bray’s post on the topic from a couple of days ago, so here it is. I don’t mean to poke fun at or anything, as I’ve definitely heard stories – and seen, from a little bit of distance – of people who are truly “addicted” to the Internet, but I’m 100% sure that the Internet as a whole are so core to my daily doings, that it probably has one “negative” for every three “positives” that come about for most of us. On one hand, it’s been very responsible for me getting my last two jobs, both because of my “skills” in the space and by being visible within it. [Thanks, LinkedIn!] On the other hand, it’s something that when you try and keep up with all the things you’re interested in, want to read / follow for your job, and still have an active social life, get things done at home, go to work every day, and so on, it gets to be crazy.

I won’t harp too far on this, but what I think I might start doing, sort of off the suggestion Tim made about his own habits, was maybe take myself “offline” a little bit during every day – and still use my computer for things, just “disconnect” from things like IM, Twitter, and so on for a little while as I’m trying to do other things. Heck, even having it all running while I’m trying to write a blog post keeps me from keeping to regular habits here and on my other Web projects. Unfortunately, the ubiquity of Web-based tools for coding and whatnot keep everyone “online” all the time, rather than designing locally and viewing things there, then publishing. Real-time isn’t always the best thing for us all, I’m guessing.

I’m also thinking that a firm plan on reading the RSS stuff I’d like to pay attention to needs to come back. I’ve gotten so used to catching stuff of interest via Facebook, IM, Twitter, and so on that I’ve been really bad at clearing through my RSS on a regular basis. Of course, this probably means I’ll have to start getting up earlier and do a better job of clearing my RSS of things that I don’t follow regularly, but what can you do.

Anyone else have any solid GTD or other tips about keeping connected but staying focused? I’m figuring I’ll take a step or two and see how that works for me.

I have a great time making fun of random things that happen in the world on Twitter and via texts with friends, but I’ve got a few things that seriously need some clearing up, and I’m taking a moment to post them here. And yes, I’m having a good time with this list, which is mostly focused on existing within a public space, and paying attention.

• It’s great for people to be able to commute with their spouse / significant other, and a lot of people who ride the ferry in the morning do so. That said, I’m thinking that after walking through the doors of the ferry terminal to the outside world, stopping RIGHT THERE to kiss goodbye as you go your separate ways is probably not in your best interest. You’re not THAT overwhelmed with affection that you can’t move three feet out of the way, are you?
• Something else I notice that’s pretty consistent in transportation locations is that if there’s four or six or more doors exiting / entering the building, people ONLY use the one or two that are currently open that have a line of people walking into them. Why not step out of line and use one of the many others, rather than stepping on the heels of the person in front of you who’s going too slow for you or whatever. And those of you in line, why are you surprised when someone uses a door next to you? Are we so brainwashed by driving on the right (or the left, if you’re into that) that we follow some inane rule like this?
• Walk in a straight line. That doesn’t mean you can’t avoid people on the busy streets of whatever city you’re in or whatever, but if there’s no logjam, and you’re conscious of the people around you, is it THAT difficult to not just randomly wander left and right when people don’t feel like walking the pace you’re going?
• I know the buildings are really tall, and there’s some cool stuff to see, but if you want to stop and take a photo / gawk / check it out / point at Superman, could you maybe step outside of the middle of the sidewalk before doing so? Also, this isn’t your local mall, walking in a wide line of six people is kind of ridiculous.
• I know you don’t want to exceed the speed limit, but the zero cars in the two lanes next to you and the eight hundred of them lined up behind you is probably a sign. You’re not intimidating anyone.
• If you drive a car service vehicle, do you have some rulebook that I don’t know about that says that all lanes are yours, and that signals don’t work?
• Pulling away from the gate and backing up six feet “on time” does not mean an “on-time departure.” It means you’re skating on a technicality, lying to all your paying customers, and deserve the complaints you get.
• If you’re a reputable business, it’s probably smart to use some sort of copywriter to help (or at least do a final edit) on your advertising / signage / whatever. There are a lot of people like myself who will a) make fun of you on the Internet b) not use your service because they can’t get past the errors or c) all of the above.

That’s all for now. I’m sure there’s more.

Riff the cat is officially not the brightest bulb in the house, although he has officially decided that chasing shadows, glinty objects, and light refracting through wine glasses is his new thing to do. How fascinating.

I won’t recap or re-cover all the things that a lot of people have already done over the last few weeks since writing last, but I wanted to say a couple things about this year’s presidential election. Just a few years ago, we were talking about how Howard Dean had harnessed technology / the Internet in order to cause the stir that he had during the 2004 election season (or had the Internet “invented” Dean, as Wired’s Gary Wolf wrote at the time), and this time around we’ve elected a president that not only took in scores of dollars via the Internet, but has used a number of our favorite multimedia sites to keep us all in the loop since winning.

I’m not only psyched about what might be coming next, as someone who supported Obama, but digging how we’ll be “discussing” politics going forward. Irrelevant of your party affiliation, you’ve gotta admit it’s pretty cool when the president-elect is embedding his acceptance speech on ustream.tv:

Live TV : Ustream

 
Or how one of my favorite bloggers / podcasters, Jay Smooth made his one last motivational push on his illdoctrine.com podcast:

 
Change.gov is being regularly used to get updates from the transitioning party (though we could use some more two-way tools, IMHO), and we’re hearing talk of a more technologically-able White House, come January. The point of it all is that just like a lot of people follow celebrity news, technology folk will have their own batch of things to pay attention to, such as what’s being used in the Oval Office now, and so on.

This is the end of your political discussion for the moment.

If you know me personally, you probably know that I’m a fan of rocking a t-shirt most of the time, and if you really know me, you’ll know that the iron is not my friend. All that said, about a year or so ago, Lara and I picked up this Crease Release product, made by The Laundress, at Bathroom down in Greenwich Village.

We’ve shown it to a couple of people, and my mom’s even asked us to pick her up some. Of course, it doesn’t stay on shelves like Nintendo Wiis at Christmastime, and that’s because it damn sure gets wrinkles out of your clothes. You literally spray it once or twice on your shirts (I used it on a fave Quiksilver sweater this a.m.), pull them in one direction or another (yes, while you’re wearing it, even), and voila!, no wrinkles. Seriously. So if you’re in NYC, go to Bathroom and see if they have any. Otherwise, keep an eye on it online.

This has been the one and only time you’ll see anything from me about how to get wrinkles out of your clothes. Seriously.

On Saturday, I caught in my Twitter feed some comments from Nicholas Patten about something awesome, coming soon. That something turns out to be “Viva La Hova,” a collaboration (of sorts) put together by Mick Boogie and Terry Urban, mashing together Jay-Z’s lyrics with Coldplay’s music. I can’t be 100% sure, but it looks like it might actually be coming out tomorrow, October 27. Will be on the lookout, for sure.

Remember the “Wassup” ad campaign from ‘99-’02 that Budweiser had been running, featuring (and created by) Charles Stone III? Well, the guys are back, and making a statement about our country, the economy, and even the planet while sharing their support for Barack Obama. Props to Todd Defren for posting about it earlier (proving that Twitter is crazy amazing, yet again). Check the spot below, put together through the 60frames crew and the original cast.

 
The vid is only showing 336 views as of right this exact second, but I expect that’ll change. What do you think about the spot?

[update] As of about 11am Eastern on Saturday morning, the video has about 358K views to date – that’s quite a bit, but I’m definitely surprised that it’s not more. Let’s see what the weekend holds for it.

This morning, you’ll never guess who made it on the CBS Early Show? No, not me (though I did manage to get in one of the shots from the crowd), but Lara! You can check out the segment for Nikon’s “Look Good In Pictures” below, and here’s the original article for your reading pleasure.
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I’ve seen a lot of horrible things being thrown around in political campaigns, but this news is pretty terrible. It seems that some individuals shot a black bear in the head in Cullowee, North Carolina, took it to the campus of Western Carolina University, and draped its body with Barack Obama campaign posters that appeared to be stolen from someone’s property.

Seriously, people – is this where it’s at? We’re at the point where killing an animal (and yes, I’m aware that bear hunting season is apparently open there) and making it “represent,” apparently, a political candidate to make your feelings known is the way to go? Forget people talking about racial issues for a minute here, and let’s talk about reality checks that clearly need to be grasped before we can ever be realistic about progress as people in this country. I just don’t understand people, at all. Or, as Jon put it ever so perfectly, this morning, “WTF is wrong with people?”

That’s what I’d like to know.

Check out this absolutely awesome ad for MasterCard, featuring hockey legend Bobby Orr.

 

Hockey heads will most certainly dig it, like AdFreak did. Check the higher-res version for “Timeline” over at Glossy, along with another spot that hockey heads will dig, “Pep Talk.”

Full credits below the fold.

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