Lifestyle posts

There is no question that there are a ton of planes in the sky at any given point. Understanding just how crowded the skies are requires more than just a bird’s-eye view, so someone took a satellite-camera view and turned it into a nifty video. As the shadow of night passes over the different continents, it’s clear that flight patterns are based upon the sun. Many flights leave the US east coast in the middle of the night, flying against the shadow to land in Europe at dawn. Heading west, there seems to be no reason to go against the shadow, so the vast majority of congestion in the air happens from morning…

It’s no secret that many of us who work in an office with a computer spend a good portion of our time doing things that are “less than productive.” Twitter, Zynga, online Fantasy Football – there are so many things polluting our work experience that we not available to us less than a decade ago. SocialCast explores the relationships between how we waste our time in the office when it tries to answer the question of whether the 8-hour workday is productive or pointless. It’s a good questi0n that seems to become more relevant as time goes on. With many experts recommending against blocking sites like…

What started as an online diary for lonely people to express their thoughts to nobody in particular (or in some cases, nobody at all) has grown into one of the most powerful aspects of the Internet. For many, it’s where we get our news rather than from mainstream media. For others, it’s become a full-time job that pays the bills through advertising and sponsorships. Some blogs are worth millions. This graphic by Flowtown illustrates a time line of where we’ve been and where we are now. Have bloggers evolved to their ultimate state as alternative journalists, public relations portals for businesses,…

Social media blackmail. When called anything other than blackmail, it’s something that people normally talk about with a positive sentiment. Ordinary people who get extra “power” by being good at social media making big businesses bend at their wills – it’s the way we want it, “sticking it to The Man.” It’s also something that falls under the category of “what’s wrong with social media in 2011″. First, a brief story: Using “Klout” To Whine And Moan There was a time when ordinary people would have to break the law or win the lottery to get the attention of the masses. Social media has made it possible…

If you were a fan of Tron or are a fan of Tron: Legacy, you’ll survive nicely in one of these fabulous chairs. Designed by Dror Benshetrit for Walt Disney’s Signature line, they will be on display at Design Miami 2010….

Scott’s girlfriend, Leslie, was a power user of the popular Mom community site CafeMom. Scott sought to enlist their help in crafting his proposal to her through their popular Achievement Awards program. He sent Cafe Mom the following e-mail to initiate the proceedings: “I have a dilemma, and I was hoping your staff might be willing to accommodate a unique request for a one-of-a-kind feature. My girlfriend is a regular user of your site, spending hours of her time every day on the Answers section. I recently purchased a ring, and I am planning to propose to her. I would like to ask if you will work with…

I remove people from Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks on a daily basis — not by choice, but because there is too much information — but I never thought of the consequences. I always just assumed that there is an understanding between people in the digital age. But one day changed everything for me: I had removed someone who didn’t take it so lightly, and he made me feel guilt and pain that I had not felt since high school. What was I becoming? He was nice to me. He engaged me in conversation, retweeted articles that I posted, and joined in on conversations that really got me thinking. It…

Don’t mess with Benedict XVI – guy is all up on this internet business like ain’t never been seen. Dude has his own YouTube channel. Heavy. But the internet is serious business, and Benedict wants us to remember as such, issuing a warning to web-goers the world over last week. His Popage cautioned internet users that the web has “numbed” young people, creating an “educational emergency – a challenge that we can and must respond to with creative intelligence.” According to AFP, the Pope claims a large number of young people “establish forms of communication that to do not increase humaneness but…

Want the dubstep version of “Because I Backtraced It” on your iPod? This dream has come true with Dirpy, a cheeky little app now in Beta that lets you turn your fave YouTube or Google videos into lovely ear candy. It only works with Google and Youtube’s API’s, but that is more than enough for most people to get their fix. Needless to say, the audio quality on these videos is generally not the best, so the resulting MP3′s may be equally not as awesome. Unless you are a discerning audiophile, you’ll be less concerned about tonal quality and more concerned with your favourite remixes becoming magically…

For some time now, net neutrality has been a ’cause celebre’ for web geeks. The idea – that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally, regardless of source, content or intent – is one that’s pretty compelling. It speaks to the democratic ideals of the web as a place where anyone can get their message out as long as they have access to a computer. Yet, lately, a couple of statistics have arisen that might threaten to throw a wrench into plans for enshrining net neutrality into law. First is that during prime time, Netflix consumes up to 20% of all bandwidth. Second is that, during that usage,…