The River

My buddies at Architecture for Humanity this morning launched the beta version of the Open Architecture Network, “a stand alone site that allows will allow designers, community groups, NGO’s and others to post projects, browse others, comment and review projects, discuss relevant topics, contribute to shared resources, collaborate with each other and access project management tools to support their work”.

They’re unveiling the site at the TED conference today. The idea of the site, as for the organization, is to help designers and architects use their talents for the greater good of those in need all over the world. Commendable, for sure, and pretty damned cool besides. AFH rocks!

P.S.Wired ran a story on the site today.

So, I guess it makes sense, working at Federated Media, but it’s still strange to find out what your colleagues had for lunch — 10 feet from your desk — on the Internet.

I only heard this weekend that Dynamic Logic’s COO Tom Deierlein, who was called up by the Army to go to Iraq about a year ago, was shot by a sniper in September. He’s OK, and seems to be in good spirits, but he’s got a long road to (hopefully) full recovery.

The company has set up a Web page for Tom where people can comment and share well wishes.

Just wanted to post to say you’re in my thoughts, Tom, and I’m hoping you heal quickly and remain in good spirits. It sounds like you were doing great work over there, especially in helping poor children and needy Iraqi families. Sorry things turned out the way they did, but am happy you’re back in the U.S.

By chance, I hit the Internet Archive Wayback Machine today and noticed that The River actually has entries dating back as far as 1998.

I remember that design… the first after I actually learned how (somewhat) to use PhotoShop.

I’m so pleased Jason “Trickster” Chervokas has turned his sharp mind and excellent writing to the subject of media again. If only because I can link to it from this, my very neglected blog, and chime in with agreement. Of course, I’m not the only one linking. Fred has shared an applicable personal experience, as well.

I had a conversation the other day with a guy a bit younger than myself, who didn’t believe people (specifically young people, like college-aged and teen-aged) would pay for media. I think they will — maybe not those folks but their parents, for sure, if it’s priced reasonably — if they can access it on their terms. I find myself not buying from iTunes nowadays, when I used to do so fairly regularly, because the proprietary format doesn’t play on my TiVo. (BTW, I tried the Apple device, whose name I forget, to play iTunes songs on my stereo, and it sucks, at least for PC users.)

UPDATE: Tom has some thoughts, too.

Spotted near a Berkeley soccer field/skatepark — a silver Lexus SUV with California license plate “RSS”. Anyone we know? I know Dave Winer’s recently moved to Berkeley, but does he drive a Lexus? (Sorry no photo. Cameraphone’s batteries were dead.)

UPDATE: Only on today’s Internet would I be able to actually determine that it’s definitely not Dave Winer’s car. How? Because he posted on Amyloo’s community car roll. (He used to drive a Lexus, but no more…)

Ever since I’ve been trying to download Google Earth (for 2 days), I’ve been informed it’s “temporarily” closed. Bummer.

Google Earth downloads temporarily delayed

Thanks for your interest in Google Earth, but we’re sorry we can’t offer you a download right now. As you know, Google Earth is in beta, and we’re still building out our ability to take on new users. We’re making good progress, and expect to be able to accept new downloads shortly, so we recommend you check back daily at earth.google.com. We hope to be able to welcome you and other new planet surfers soon.

Fred posts today on “the big Rolodex.” (Interesting how the brand name sticks around even when the products themselves don’t.)

Spent a bit of time recently myself (following Brad’s lead, actually) migrating things to Plaxo and trying to de-dupe an Outlook address book that’s been mangled by years of trying to synch with Palms, my phone’s Symbian OS, Yahoo! Mail, etc. It’s scary.

Anyway, Fred has some interesting thoughts, which echo my own, about the quality of contacts, the recency of contacts, etc. It’s been a really interesting experience to shift coasts recently and find that “local” contacts are now far away, and “distant” contacts are now right around the corner.

I’m headed to Los Angeles to talk e-mail marketing to a group of folks from AGI. Will be there this evening and tomorrow. Looking forward to discussing interactive marketing with folks with a lot of experience in direct. Change of scene will be good, too.

The things you happen upon while doing product research on Amazon.com… (for an ice cream maker, in this instance)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars This “Iced Cream” stuff is good!, April 12, 2005

Reviewer: MusicalGenius “Jeremy” (Minneapolis, MN US of A) - See all my reviews
I have led a very secluded life. I grew up in a very prominent New England family, (I’m sure you have heard of them, but I will not say which family. Just know that I’m a multi-millionare who has never worked a day in his life except at my Mashed Potato bar)
When I was growing up, I had never heard of Iced Cream. I hear that many children enjoy this treat. I was not so lucky.
Most of my childhood was spent in my extremely large room playing the latest videogames on extremely large television sets. If you have seen the movie “Richie Rich” starring McCully Culkin, that is the closest experience to my childhood I can explain. Except he had nice parents.

I did not.

My parents didn’t let me have “the devil’s energy” (sugar).
It wasn’t until recently when I wanted to upset Mother, that I tried my first taste of Iced Cream at a local Mall. It was WONDERFUL! I was hooked.

I bought this immediately, I needed my Iced Cream all the time, I didn’t care if it was 4am, I would need it! Now I can make it myself! And there is no greater treat than something you make yourself. No matter what Mother says.

The best part about this machine is you can make whatever kind of Iced Cream you want. Some of my specialties include “Tuna and Anchovy Iced Cream” , “Turkey With Stuffing And Gravy Iced Cream”, “Tequilla Iced Cream”, “Whiskey Sorbet”, “Onion and Baked Bean Iced Cream” and of course “Mashed Potato and Gravy Iced Cream”.

Ah, there is still some serendipity on the Net.