I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow, and given all the alst minute stuf that remains to be done, this will likely be my last post until I get back in September.

Have fun, play nice, don't play with matches, and keep outta the liquor cabinet!

3:00:22 PM    

Gadgets blog with a paid blogger. Nick Denton's launched a gadgets blog called Gizmodo, with a paid blogger (Pete Rojas)!

Nick sez:

I have no idea how much Gizmodo can bring in revenues. All I know is that weblogs are a compelling form, gadget addicts are all online, and it's easy to plug into Amazon's electronics store.

Most importantly, this is a low-risk commercial experiment. Most media companies have an overblown editorial staff, an ad sales force, and overly complex publishing systems with a team of primadonna sysadmins to maintain it. By contrast, Gizmodo will be a couple of hours a day of Pete's link-picking skills, some automatically generated Amazon.com links, and $150-worth of Movable Type. Media has never before been this lean.

Nick's open to suggestions for the site -- any ideas? Link Discuss (Thanks, Nick!) [Boing Boing Blog]

Go Nick!

8:07:52 AM    

In Case of Armageddon, Break Out the GIS [Slashdot]

There is a complete GIS map of NYC that is stored on computer. Every building plan, every sewer line, everything that they have records for, all in a 3D map. So, should anything happen to NYC, they could rebuild it, brick by brick, if need be. They are currently working on setting up redundant back ups of the files in remote location, as a part of their disaster planning.

7:49:45 AM