Friendster couture: random profiles on tshirts. From Gawker:

"Friendster couture -- Another example of Friendster run amok: Tom Gillis from Glossosaurus is making t-shirts with random Friendster profiles on them. [Tom, right, in a t-shirt featuring Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing's profile]. Friendster t-shirts [Glossosaurus]"

There are so many overlapping memes in that photo, I fear the entire blogosphere may implode any minute now. On his blog, Tom says: "If there's any interest in this, I'm going to be selling [random Friendster profile shirts] for $10 (hand made and unique) + $5 for shipping outiside Chicago (up to 3 shirts).... pretend it's 1993, and this is a zine or something. Except that then there wouldn't be anything like Friendster, and we'd all be wearing fake auto mechanic t shirts with other people's names embroidered on them." Discuss
[Boing Boing Blog] 
11:45:42 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Creative Commons: comes to Communist China [Blogalization Community] 
11:38:07 PM      comment []   trackback []  



"Blog Change Bot" [Daypop Top 40] 
11:33:54 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Getting Back Into Shape While At The Office?. rhuntley12 writes "Personally, I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day with very little actual work. Your also started to get a little belly and out of ... [Slashdot] 
10:20:07 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Sites you might be interested in.  Nanodot: Slashdot for futurists, managed by Foresight.   Smartmobs: group weblog (needs a redesign).  Daily Rotation:  filtered newsfeeds from tech sites, including weblogs. [John Robb's Weblog] 
10:17:18 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Technorati talks FOAF. Technorati reads the FOAF file from your blog and creates a profile. Your picture from your FOAF file and a link to your profile shows up when you appear in people's cosmos listings. A good reason to get a FOAF file. TypePad has FOAF built in. If you want to build a FOAF file, you can go to this foaf-a-matic site (thanks for the link Sifry) and make a FOAF file. Put the FOAF file on a server and point to in from your blog with a link tag like this:

<link rel="meta" type="application/rdf+xml" title="FOAF" href="http://joi.ito.com/foaf.rdf" />

FOAF stands for "Friend of a Friend" and it is a project to create a machine readable format for putting information about yourself and your friends on web pages.

Here's Marc Canter's profile

Update: As Dave Sifry says in the comments section, you must get an account on Technorati and "claim your blog" before it will make a profile from your FOAF. You can do that here.Technorati reads the FOAF file from your blog and creates a profile. Your picture from your FOAF file and a link to your profile shows up when you appear in people's cosmos listings. A good reason to get a FOAF file. TypePad has FOAF built in. If you want to build a FOAF file, you can go to this foaf-a-matic site (thanks for the link Sifry) and make a FOAF file. Put the FOAF file on a server and point to in from your blog with a link tag like this:

<link rel="meta" type="application/rdf+xml" title="FOAF" href="http://joi.ito.com/foaf.rdf" />

FOAF stands for "Friend of a Friend" and it is a project to create a machine readable format for putting information about yourself and your friends on web pages.

Here's Marc Canter's profile

Update: As Dave Sifry says in the comments section, you must get an account on Technorati and "claim your blog" before it will make a profile from your FOAF. You can do that here. [Joi Ito's Web Lite] 
9:50:32 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Thoughts on micro-content, metadata and trends. My investors, my readers and a variety of other people keep trying to get me to explain what I'm interested and why I'm interested in it. Here's a first shot at this. Thanks to Steph, Kevin Marks and others on #joiito for a first pass edit. I've put it on the wiki as well so we can continue to work on this. [Joi Ito's Web Lite] 
9:48:35 PM      comment []   trackback []  



asynchronous scribbling. Netomat is a new service that allows you to post test, drawings, photos, sounds, etc on the web and have others interact with them. The service is currently in beta and is somewhat slow, but give my page a try... [tingilinde] 
8:07:12 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Tim Porter, on the blog of the Dallas Morning News' editorial board: "It takes the decision-making out of the room and into the public... Smart move. I'll expect other papers will follow suit." [Corante: Corante on Blogging] 
7:58:23 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Virtual Dali. A wonderful website about the great surrealist. Plain brilliant. Via dublog. [The Cartoonist] 
6:51:28 PM      comment []   trackback []  



The Impending IP Crisis. Factomatic writes "With the supply of IP addresses expected to run out by 2005 due to the popularity explosion of the Internet and the expectation that ... [Slashdot] 
6:50:15 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Public weblog portability.  I was e-mailing with xian about the portability of weblogs and how to maintain presence online.  Sure, there is nothing you can do if the people who own the domain you are using shut down your weblog or go out of business in regards to a seamless transition, however, there is alot that can be done.  Like what?  Here are some ideas for a service that would be really useful:

• First, I would start with single repository of weblogs where the owner of the weblog can change the location of their weblog and other descriptive data by signing into an account.  This service would need to be tightly controlled and trusted.   If you don't own the domain, your hosting company or hosting sponsor would need to support the account creation.   If you don't get this support from the domain owner, you are truly SOL (an old pilot term).  
  
• Second, weblog tools would need to support the option of using this repository as a means of keeping blogrolls and RSS subscriptions up to date.  A once a day check for new changes is all it would take.
  
• Third, this repository would be extremely useful if you could update Google and Yahoo automatically so that search returns on their tools find the intended data.  For example:  replace jrobb.userland.com with jrobb.mindplex.com.  In this case, all the the links to posts made in the past would work.  If there was some glitch in the folder structure, it couldn't get much worse that 100% 404 errors.

[John Robb's Weblog] 
6:49:12 PM      comment []   trackback []  



FOAF day. Technorati's support for FOAF pushed me over the top to create a file. For your FOAF'ing pleasure, I'm putting up the links that I looked at all in title="FOAF-a-Matic">FOAF-a-Matic.

To look at who knows who, the FoaF Explorer and bookmarklet

Danny Ayer's list of Edd Dumbill's FOAF tricks. I've already done the digital signature.

The FOAF project

The rdfweblog .

FOAF on the Atom Wiki [Ted Leung on the air] 
6:48:46 PM      comment []   trackback []  



More FOAF.

• Marcus Campbell has autofoaf which searches your OPML blogroll for FOAF files and updates your FOAF file with any new entries.
• Ken MacLeod has written a FOAF checker that checks a signed FOAF file and retreives key information. That information can be used to do things like supply comment poster information on weblogs.

[Ted Leung on the air] 
6:46:52 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Chris Lydon interviews Doc Searls. [Scripting News] 
6:42:56 PM      comment []   trackback []  



More on weblogs in business.

Thomas Burg points to B- Blogs Listing (see also for I-Blog Discussion List) and BloggingWorks Workshops. Business blogs world is speeding up. [Mathemagenic] 
6:29:38 PM      comment []   trackback []  



The World Summit on the Information Society. "Civil society" gears up for Geneva and Tunisia talks on the digital divide, basic communications rights. [Blogalization Community] 
6:12:18 PM      comment []   trackback []  



The Sharer of Secrets - Anonymous Blogging

The Village Voice had a very nice long piece on anonymous blogging that hangs on the story of Hasidic Rebel using an anonymous blogging tool called Invisiblog.  Invisiblog uses GPG and the Mixmaster anonymous remailer network which allow blogging without any need to divulge identity.

"Political activists, independent journalists, whistleblowersâo[per thou]anyone who is prevented from publishing by repressive laws or threats of violence" can benefit from covert-blogging software, writes Charles Farley of Invisiblog. Indeed, over the past year, online diarists in Cuba, Iran, and Tunisia have been jailed for publishing. Like these writers, Yeedel and several other Hasidic bloggers have put their lifestyle, if not their lives, on the line with their contentious chronicles.

Interestingly much of the writing on invisiblog blogs is much more about emotions and feelings than politics or revolution.  It feels stragely like evesdropping on a phychiatric session instead of listening to a bullhorn-wielding, masked anarchist.

[By way of BoingBoing]

[Corante: Amateur Hour] 
5:57:05 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Digging Holes in Google. Kurt LoVerde writes "Though google has become synonymous with searching, the folks over at MSN have written up an interesting article on our favorite search ... [Slashdot] 
5:52:45 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Tools for boycotting the RIAA. Sure, we'd like to boycott the RIAA, but how do we go about it? With the RIAA Radar, that's how. The Radar can tell you whether a particular album was released by a member of the RIAA. Not only that, it will show you the RIAA membership of the top 100 albums as well as the the top 100 non-RIAA albums on Amazon. There's even a bookmarklet. [via magnetbox] [MetaFilter] 
5:51:06 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Biz Stratergy MS uses. Google: the God that failed? is the title of the article on MSN Slate. All of us know Microsoft is working on a new search engine technology. Till date everyone considers Google to be the Guru. MS obviously doesn't like that, so what it is doing? Well, the same thing it always does - to survive competition, eliminate it. The reasons being given by the article are pretty silly and more aimed at 'faming down' Google. Here's why... [MetaFilter] 
5:43:29 PM      comment []   trackback []  



A Poli-Geek's Wet Dream. GWU's Encyclopedia to the 2003/2004 Election Cycle - I was impressed when I checked out "Democracy In Action", GWU's excellent breakdown of everything political in the 2003/2004 cycle. It features an excellent detailed comparison of Democratic presidential candidates (e.g., here's my personal fave) featuring their voting record, stances, finances, and organization. Also, you can understand how a candidate campaigns in NH or IA, see ads that were placed by interest groups, check out which member of congress has endorsed who, where all the staffers from the 2000 election are working now, -- you can even see who's on the Green Party's Presidential Exploritory Committee. Thanks, GWU -- I'll never be productive ever again! [MetaFilter] 
5:42:22 PM      comment []   trackback []  



Popup Blocker Mayhem.

No doubt about it, popularity of popup blockers is rising above the ignorable level for those who use it for legitimate reasons.  Google Toolbar and Mozilla/Firebird are two primary causes.  Content-rich services like AOL, MSN, and Yahoo are likely to add fuel to the fire with controlled popup blocking which will block everyone else's but their own and their partner's.

While I hate annoying popup ads like everyone else, I feel that blocking all popups amounts to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Popup is a very useful tool in UI designer's toolbox and it would be a shame to lose it or resort to using complicated pseudo-popups, artifacts that just looks like a popup window.

For now, I am advising everyone to avoid using popups until we can find a cheap solution.  One solution I am looking at now is the use of copyright law to discourage use of popups for advertising by businesses.  The idea is simple:

Copyright and restrict use of a unique string or image that popup blockers can use to recognize legitimate popups.

The ultimate cause of popup ads is money.  And, where there is money, there is usually someone who can be sued.  While I hate unnecessary litigations, I prefer simple social solutions to complicated technical solutions.  There is a major flaw in this solution though.  There is no powerful industry association like RIAA to stab the legal jeopardy straight into the heart of popup advertisers.

[Don Park's Daily Habit] 
5:27:47 PM      comment []   trackback []  



More IBE Info.

If my post on Voltage Security peaked your interested in IBE (Identity-Based Encryption), check out O'Reilly interview with Terence Spies (cool last name for a security startup VP ;-), VP of Engineering at Voltage Security.  If you are math-enabled or just want to roll your eyeballs, this page is a good starting point.  BTW, some parts of Voltage's IBE technology is patented.  But this shouldn't surprise anyone since VCs are not likely to invest in a patentless security company.

[Don Park's Daily Habit] 
5:26:27 PM      comment []   trackback []  



If I could be Steve for a day..... Don't take this too seriously, okay? But since Guy and I were talking about stuff, and it turned into a little chat about blueskying future technologies... [Teal Sunglasses] 
5:15:17 PM      comment []   trackback []  



»Blogs are the democratisation of publishing«. BBC: A blog for everyone. »You know a web trend has reached a high pitch of popularity when AOL starts including it in its basic software. But can blogs be truly mainstream?« [Der Schockwellenreiter] 
5:06:19 PM      comment []   trackback []  



The Smart Patrol. New old clips at The Bunker: Devo, Dead Kennedys with "Holiday in Cambodia', Comsat Angels, John Foxx and many more.

Sad: Please note due to lack of web space / server limit they are only clips! (Approx 1 minute To 2 minutes maximum).Hopefully the clips will be changed every other month or so.

If anyone out there ... ... can supply similiar clips of more esoteric groups (1970's Kraut Rock, Early C93, NWW, Death In June, This Heat, Early 4AD - Mass, Rema Rema & more!) via Mpeg, Divx, Video or Dvd please let me know , Thanks. (Not me of course - mail the guys at The Bunker.) [The Cartoonist] 
4:52:16 PM      comment []   trackback []  



InfoWorld:  Debate over RSS. [John Robb's Weblog] 
4:47:23 PM      comment []   trackback []