Dear God, 01101101*

March 27th, 2009

Simon Delivers!These days you can practically do anything on the interweb. Be it grocery shopping, being an annoying friend or finding time between rounds of WOW to find someone to do your dishes, it’s all easier online.

Which brings me to this… (::shudder::) Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s Your Dress Code, Sheep

March 25th, 2009

The conventional wisdom says we all need a dress code in white-collardom. It keeps employees presentable and garners respect for the organization. Supposedly.

Really, it’s instituted to maintain order and conformity among minions. It diminishes expression, reflects a lack of trust and is a remnant of a bygone era. Read the rest of this entry »

why the FB rework means nothing

March 19th, 2009

twibookFirst, let me bring focus to a bold few, Ben, @KatLikeWrites, Alauna, Jenski and TinkTrace (longtime friend of the Chasm staff) all weighed in. The rest of you were probably busy being inattentive friends, disgruntled coworkers or panhandlers. (All worthy distractions.)

Check the post for their full comments but here’s a paraphrase: Read the rest of this entry »

a woman’s world is horrifying

March 11th, 2009

Frito Lay A Womans WorldFor those that read my take on JCPenny’s “Doghouse” campaign, my reaction to the new Frito Lay‘s campaign should be obvious. Still, that won’t stop me (in spite of your silent protests).

What is “A Woman’s World?” Seems it should look something like the real world. If this is the case, after the introductory video, the real world is terrifying. Take a peek at the “Meet the Girls” section (if you hate yourself). Read the rest of this entry »

why randall stross is an idiot

March 9th, 2009

In a tweet last night (I caught this morning), @ConvincingIndie shared and article that has me thinking… If Randall Stross can be published in the New York Times, anyone with an eight-grade education and a MySpace account is ready for a byline. With one short article, he erodes intricate privacy concerns to caveman-speak.

…”disclosure becomes the norm and privacy becomes a quaint anachronism.”

Is he kidding? As more and more middle-agers add their boring to Facebook’s vast yawn network, we need more privacy, not less. This proves Randall can easily blather about a topic he misunderstands. (Journalism!) Read the rest of this entry »

open letter: tourism bureaus

March 5th, 2009

I had a couple conversations this morning along these lines…

Dear Most of You,

There you are. You’re the be-all, end-all for your destination. You’re where people turn to book their trips, learn about your locale and plan their travel. Except for one thing: you’re not. Read the rest of this entry »

the times goes crazy (yawn)

February 17th, 2009

Friday, under their “First Look Blog” the folk over at The New York Times Online went nuts and introduced a new “article skimmer.” As far as I can tell, they took the layout and concept of AllTop and added a blurb with an image. (Original!)

There will probably be ads among the articles. How will that affect the clean feel of it or the usefulness? What about user-generated homepages based on predetermined areas of interest? (A homepage with the top articles from Sports, World and Arts, for example.) Read the rest of this entry »