Google: Wave, an early version of a collaboration and communication tool, was recently announced and released to developers. It consolidates email, instant messaging, blogging, wikis, multimedia, and document sharing, into one interactive application. By presenting Google: Wave to the community now, Google has committed the project to open-source development in hopes of inspiring IT professionals everywhere to find revolutionary new ways to apply their own applications to Wave, before the product’s launch later this year.
Well its April Fools Day 2009, and we’d better be ready for the barrage of productivity wasting distractions that always seem to crop up on what is becoming the web’s favorite holiday
On January 16th 2009, electronics superstore Circuit City issued a press release gavelling another nail in the coffin of the current economy. Beginning Saturday January 17th, the company will begin liquidating its assets in order to pay its creditors and pass quietly into the footnotes of business history. The announcement does not come as any great suprise, However, it potentially signifies what may be the official beginning (and the first overt casualty) of the U.S. recession on a blue-collar level, a downturn that has been flagging the economy since early 2008.
Circuit City had hoped to use the Christmas Season, and Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, to reorganize itself sufficiently to stay in business, a feat that pudits hoped would buoy concerns about a consumer level recession. While Circuit City will not have been the first company affected, or even bankrupted, by the recession, its closing foreshadows the future of Economics and expectancy for 2009 and perhaps the next 3-7 years.
Skeptics and fans agree that Sony has whiffed more than a few times with the PS3. This 2008, however, closed with a significant boost to the console’s profitability. A small part of this has been a very successful model of micro-transactions. Another has been a resurgence of interest in franchises that were mostly overlooked the first go around, when the user base was significantly smaller. Games like ‘Drake’s Fortune’ might have faded into obscurity, if not for the release of a trophy system on the PS3.
How I came across this Blog is a bit of a story itself. While I am still trying to wrap my head around the larger of the two, here’s a story that I found too moving not to share.
The following comes from guest-blogger, Old East Cross:
Ypsi’s last Shaw at Café Luwak
Café Luwak has on display, through the end of January, a collection of artifacts as significant to the subtext of the city’s history as anything you’ll find in the Historical Museum: the art and personal effects of Mike Shaw, the last Shaw in Ypsilanti.
Mike’s ancestors reached Ypsilanti in 1823, the same year the city was founded. They owned the land many our homes rest on, and Mike’s great-grandfather, a mason, laid the stone foundations for many of our homes.
Mike died this past August in his final Ypsi apartment, reportedly of heart-failure, and someone anonymous to me, rescued a portion of his art and belongings from the curb as his apartment was being cleared for the next tenant. What was salvaged is now on display at Café Luwak and includes Mike’s art, hand-stitched coat and journal.
RT @majornelson: Among other things, you'll hear our discussion on why exploiting a glitch crosses the line into cheating in games. [Amen!] 9 months ago
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Mike’s ancestors reached Ypsilanti in 1823, the same year the city was founded. They owned the land many our homes rest on, and Mike’s great-grandfather, a mason, laid the stone foundations for many of our homes.
