Monthly Archives: January 2006

I’ve been meaning to try out Second Life for a few months now and have been resisting, largely because it sounds waaay too addictive. I finally broke down and tried it yesterday and, indeed, it’s a fascinating experience. Continue reading →

Sony just released an electronic book product. The interesting part is their display technology, from a company called E-ink.
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If you know anyone with autistic children, or teachers of autistic kids, tell them about TeachTown. They just launched their debut product, “TeachTown Basics”, an educational software service that helps autistic kids learn.

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During my time in the MSN Search team we worked hard on making advertising “relevant and accretive to the user experience”. In other words, if you’re thinking of displaying an ad to your customer, make sure the ad actually helps the customer accomplish something they want. This is one of the premises modern search engine businesses are built on: the ads on search result pages are useful more often than not, because they are based on the words you yourself typed in. It’s simple, it’s relevant, and it works.

Many online businesses are heading in the same direction—relevant ads, often text-based rather than graphical—and backing away from the untargeted ads typical of old-school Web portals and conventional media such as TV, radio, and print. Sadly, most brick-and-mortar world companies I’m familiar with simply haven’t grasped the “useful advertising” concept, or don’t care to. Case in point: Esso (Exxon Mobil) recently installed TV screens in their gas stations around Toronto.

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Check out this article about James Frey, the author of the book “A Million Little Pieces” that I recommended a few weeks ago.

For shame.

Steve Eisner emailed me the article, and he says: “I haven’t read [the book] yet but I’m sure it’s still just as good when filed under fiction… just funny to see the things people do to build a persona “. Well, I think he’s right: it’s still a good read, albeit tinged for me by some sheepishness and mild buyer’s remorse. Thanks for the link Steve.

Just got back from a great west coast trip, a fun-filled holiday season, and a long break from writing.

Lots of happy things to celebrate:
Steve and Kiko got married. WOO HOO!
Rachel and Ryan got engaged. WOO HOO!
Troy and Megan got engaged. WOO HOO!
Oliver and Maya got engaged. WOO HOO!
Darek and Amy had a beautiful baby girl. WOO HOO!
Leo and Alethea had a beautiful baby boy. WOO HOO!
I didn’t break any body parts snowboarding. WOOOOOO HOOOOO!

Happy New Year everyone!