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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A Good Bostonian, Universal Hub Co-founder Adam Gaffin

Universal Hub

The Weekly Dig compiles a list of Good Bostonians:
"Nine extraordinary human beings who make this city a better place."
The list includes includes my Universal Hub Co-founder Adam Gaffin:
"'What the daily papers can't do very well is cover daily stuff in the neighborhoods,' Gaffin says. 'I hope that what I can do is show people stuff that they're not going to read in the daily papers.'"
I'm quoted.

Here's the full piece I sent in. The parts in bold were included in the article:
Adam Gaffin has stepped in where legacy media has failed.

Early on, Adam realized the benefit of highlighting the writings of Boston area residents online. He has become a trusted source and filter, taking the chaos of the internet, and presenting it daily to Universal Hub readers.

Jakob Nielson recently wrote, "In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action."

Over on Universal Hub, Adam provides a platform for all the lurkers on the web. Don't want to write a blog? You can comment. Don't want to browse the web searching for the good stuff? Adam finds the good stuff for you.

Adam adds his editorial spin to the interesting, news worthy and quirky blog posts he finds on the web. Adam is like Boston's John Stewart
.
Thanks Weekly Dig and writer Ellen Prezepasniak. I sent in an email to ask them to make the [universalhub.com], at the bottom of the article, an active link that goes to the site.

More irony on the web.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Object Not Found

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Object Not Found
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Object Not Found, originally uploaded by stevegarfield.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog is so NOT a blog. After the episodes were taken off the web, the pages they were on were removed too.

Original links:

Act I, Act II, Act III

If you try to go there you get this message:

------
Object not found!

The requested URL was not found on this server. If you entered the URL manually please check your spelling and try again.

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

Error 404

drhor2.securesites.net
Tue Jul 29 11:59:20 2008
Apache/2.2.8 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.8 OpenSSL/0.9.7m
------
That's so not blog-like. They lost all the value of people linking to those pages, pages I might add that were just video on a web page.

If they were truly blog posts, the pages would still be up like this one.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Act II

If you want to see Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog - Act I FREE on Hulu, start here, on a real blog.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

If you want to see Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog - Act II FREE on Hulu, start here, on a real blog.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Act Three

If you want to see Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog - Act III FREE on Hulu, start here, on a real blog.

Those links will NEVER die AND you can leave comments.

You can also go directly to the FREE Hulu page: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Hulu.

Hey, it's the future of web video. ;-)

Or you can go to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Static web page, where you can buy Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on iTunes. Another indication of where web video is headed. Too bad the iTunes store doesn't allow more people to sell videos.

Monday, July 28, 2008

eddie murphy's giant head on the interstate

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Cars, Don't Stop For Pedestrians!


utterz-image

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Elusive RARE White Squirrel Spotted at Jamaica Pond

The elusive RARE White Squirrel was spotted at Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plain. This time, out in the open along the water. You never see that.

"Its an Oriental Tree Squirrel with the scientific name Callosciurus finlaysoni (Callosciurus translates as "beautiful squirrel") found in Thailand and other parts of South East Asia. So if you sighted a white squirrel here in North America outside of captivity, its almost certainly a color variant of one of our many native species of the genus Sciurus"

via White Squirell Institute

Saturday, July 26, 2008

I ate lunch with McCain!

BILD MEETS MCCAIN IN RESTAURANT BEFORE HISTORIC OHIO PRESS CONFERENCE
I ate with McCain!
HE DOWNED 5 SAUERKRAUT-BRATWURST BALLS NEXT TO ME +++ MCCAIN IS FAT +++ HE DIDN’T SWEAT AT ALL

Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant

BY JUDITH EATSKY
As a handful of reporters waited at Schmidt’s Fudge Haus for John McCain's press availability, a BILD reporter met McCain all alone – at Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant in Columbus' German Village neighborhood of Ohio! Here's the incredible account of Judith Eatsky’s meeting…

It's 16:02pm and I’ve been eating lunch at Schmidt's Sausage Haus in Ohio. A man in a suit approaches me and says: "JohnMcCain is about to come and eat ...“ Shortly after half past four and he actually arrives! John McCain is wearing a blue suit, white shirt – and a crooked smile!

"Hi, how’s it going?“ asks McCain in his raspy voice. My heart beats. "Very good, and you?" I say. McCain replies: "Very good, thank you!"

McCain (with weak arms and a tired back) asks the waitress to throw a 78 on the record player with some traditional German music. He hums quietly.

He goes and picks up a pair of Sauerkraut-Bratwurst Balls with left hand and eats. Then, amazingly, he picks up the sausage! Very slowly he lifts it, first 1 bite with his right hand, then 1 bite with his left. He breathes deeply in and out and takes a sip of water from his water glass.

Shortly before five o’clock McCain comes over and sits directly next to me.

McCain says, "It's clear Sen. Obama doesn't understand what's at stake here. It's pretty obvious he's taken this position to secure the nomination of his party"

Then he looks at his watch and says to his bodyguard: “It’s time, let’s go.” Quickly I ask: “Mr. McCain, could I take a photo?”. “Of course!” he answers, before asking my name and coming over to stand next to me.

“My name’s Judith” I reply. "I’m John McCain, nice to meet you!” he says, and puts his arm around my waist. I put my arm around his shoulder – wow, he didn’t even sweat! WHAT A MAN!

This is a parody of the BILD article: I worked out with Obama!

How To: Take a screenshot of your iPhone 2.0

Jason Snell at Macworld.com tells us how, Taking screen shots with iPhone 2.0.

Hold down the HOME button, and briefly press the top button.

The screen shot is saved in your camera roll.

Then you can email it to flickr. (Once you've set up a mail to flickr email address)

Configure your email upload settings here.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Hy-Line Cruises Community


Hy-Line Cruises Community, originally uploaded by stevegarfield.

The Hy-Line Cruises Community launches, inspired by my video, "High Speed Ferry To Nantucket."

After I filmed this video I sent it in to Hy-Line.

Betsy Koch, Hy-Line's Assistant Director of Marketing, decided to embrace social media. I advised her to utilize existing social networks and to encourage people to share their own photos and video.

Check out the Hy-Line Cruises Community.

Disclosure: Hy-Line Cruises gave me a round trip fare and parking as a thank you.

Obama in Berlin July 24, 2008 - Panorama by Michael Stoß

Panorama Flash
www.panoramas.dk/2008/flash/Barack-Obama-berlin.html

Panorama QuickTime
www.panoramanews.de/qtvr-barack-obama-in-berlin-2008-1.php

Blog Post
news360.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/barack-obama-fordert-gem...

Barack Obama's Speech in Berlin
my.barackobama.com/page/content/berlinvideo/

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Bike Riders need to follow the rules of the road


utterz-image

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Video: Barack Obama Berlin Speech



Testing out the new CBS Radio video platform.

Wordle: Barack Obama Berlin Speech: 'A World That Stands As One'

City of Boston Does Not Make it Easy to Pay your Real Estate Taxes Online

The City of Boston does not make it easy to pay your Real Estate Taxes online.

I followed the link from the back page of my Real Estate Tax bill, and was then placed in a maze of web pages that all looked alike. It took me three pages to get to a tax payment screen, and then I had a hard time entering my Parcel ID. Poor documentation on the data entry screen.

When it came time to pay, the only option was to copy down hte information from my checking account. The City of Boston should look into accepting more payment options like Credit Cards and PayPal.

Join me now on a trip through the current state of poor user interface on the City of Boston website. We probably spent thousands to develop this from city hall worker specifications.

City of Boston Online Services

The only web address on the Tax Bill is :

www.cityofboston.gov/trac/

If you go to that page, you can't pay your taxes from it.

It's the "Taxpayer Referral and Assistance Center"

What do you click on to pay your taxes?

"Online Services"

Of course.

City of Boston Taxpayer Referral and Assistance Center

This is where you can pay your City of Boston Tax Bill:

www.cityofboston.gov/online_services/

Well, not yet. You still have to click on "Property Tax"

City of Boston Real Estate Tax payment page

This is the City of Boston Real Estate Tax payment page:

www.cityofboston.gov/realestate/

This Form asks for a "Parcel ID (10-digit number)"

But on the Tax Bill you have:

WARD (2 digits)
PARCEL NO. ( 8 digits with an embedded "-" ).

The form should ask for you to enter your Ward AND Parcel ID.

It should also programatically remove the "-" is people enter it.

Note: The helpful PARCEL ID description is no where near the data entry field.

What to do?

Put this URL on the Real Estate tax bill: www.cityofboston.gov/realestate/

Then you end up on the payment screen for Real Estate Taxes.

Clarify the data entry area for WARD and PARCEL and have the computer allow the "-". Just programatically strip it out.

Allow additional forms of payment.

Allow sign up for automatic deductions from checking or credit cards so you don't have to manually pay. ( The City of Boston Water Department should add this feature too )

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Boston Globe Loses New Media War - Boston.com 0, ABC News 260, TPM 63

The Boston Globe writes about the new John McCain online video contest, The media is in LOVE with Barack, and DOES NOT LINK to the contest, and DOES NOT EMBED the videos. ABC News links to the contest and embeds one video, Talking Points Memo (TPM) links to the contest and embeds both videos.

NO COMMENT
The Globe doesn't allow comments either. The others do. ABC news wins that contest with 263 people commenting on the article, as of this posting.

The Boston Globe continues to disappoint.

Here are the YouTube videos. Easy enough to embed.

Video 1 - Obama Love


Video 2 - Obama Love V2


Take a closer look.

Boston.com - McCain camp says media love Obama
McCain camp says media love Obama

NO LINKS to the contest
NO VIDEO EMBEDS
NO Comments ALLOWED

Article:
www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/23/mccain_cam...

ABC NEWS - McCain Campaign Mocks Media Relationship With Obama
McCain Campaign Targets Media "Love" For Obama In New Videos

ONE Video Embed
LINK to the contest
LINK to NYTIMES article
LINK to ABC News Blog
(263) comments

Article:
blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/07/mccain-campai-1....

TALKING POINTS MEMO (TPM) - McCain Campaign Targets Media "Love" For Obama In New Videos
McCain Campaign Targets Media "Love" For Obama In New Videos

LINKS to the Contest
EMBEDS BOTH Videos
(63) comments

Article:
tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_c...

Jerry for President 2008


Jerry for President Button > ItsJerryTime.com | CafePress

Jerry from It's JerryTime! is running for president too. On his blog, Jerry Announces Bid for President!.

Poster for Obama rally in Berlin

Monday, July 21, 2008

Clean Your Weber Grill

Weber



Mobile post sent by stevegarfield using Utterz. reply-count Replies.  mp3


UPDATE:
It's not paint! See the comments.

iTunes Separates Video and Audio! Wow!

iTunes Separates Video and Audio! Wow!
iTunes Speparates Video and Audio! Wow!, originally uploaded by stevegarfield.

I complained about video being mixed up with audio in the iTunes Store on the Audio vs. Video panel at PodCamp Boston 3 on Saturday and Apple fixed it today!

Well, I read the email frorm the Apple Store, that they fixed it, today. They actually fixed it on Friday. Probably anticipating what I'd be saying on the PodCamp Boston 3 panel.

Great job listening Apple! Too bad it only took a few years for you to do it. ;-)

Creative Commons Photo License Broken, twice in one day!

PodCamp Boston 3 Shirts - Front
PodCamp Boston 3 Shirts - Front by Financial Aid Podcast, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND

Two sites reposted Christopher Penn's Podcamp Boston T-Shirt photo today and each made an error in following his Creative Commons license.

The above attribution how I think Christopher Penn's photo should be posted on other sites when shared. Christopher doesn't ask for Share Alike which asks to put the same license on the photo when used elsewhere, but there's no harm in adding it, if you like.

First up is the Geek Force Five Blog:

Geek Force Five uses CC BY-NC-ND without Attribution

NO ATTRIBUTION.

I sent Chris Clark at Geek Force Five an email and I'm sure he'll add it. I'm just posting here, to use this as an example of how many very good blogger, don't even realize the correct way to use flickr photos.

Update: Chris Clark fixed it right away. Just forgot to add the text on there when he posted. Thanks!

It's flickr's fault.

Next up is Adam Sell's Boston.com blog, Go To It:

Globe uses CC BY-NC-ND photo Commercially

USED COMMERCIALLY.

He needed to ask Christopher if it was ok to use the photo before using it on a site like Boston.com. Obviously commercial. If he already asked, great, but I tried to comment on the Globe's site and got this error after submitting the comment:

Boston.com Comments are Broken

The I hit the BACK button on my browser and got a Boston.com sign in screen:

Boston.com Requires Login

D'oh!

So I don't know if he asked or not.

It's flickr's fault.

Flickr's photo sharing tools do not make it easy to carry along the license info when you repost a flickr photo.

With Flickr's new SHARE THIS feature they are carrying on the YouTube method that if you click on a photo, you'll end up on the video's original page and be able to see the license info over there. That doesn't follow the SHARE ALIKE CREATIVE COMMONS license.

Many people don't get that and will copy the photo from the Geek Force Five and never even know to give Christopher Penn attribution, and might even give credit to Geek Force Five.

That wouldn't be right.

More info here:
New Feature Request: CC License on Flickr SHARE THIS code