Posts Tagged ‘Blogs’
December 26, 2008
The mix this week is more culture than tech. Most of the podcasts I sample were off for the holidays, or they had recorded episodes in advance, so I went a little farther afield. [See all lists.]
Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 4 Comments »
Tags: Benjamin Button, Bernard Madoff, Blogs, Books, Books on the Nightstand, Brazil, cheese, Coffee!, Coffeegeek, David Fincher, Dinner Party Download, drinks, e-books, Eating, espresso, Frank Sinatra, grok, John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton, Jonathan Larroquette, Keanu Reeves, Kindle, Leo Laporte, Mad Men, movies, mozzarella, Obika, parmesan, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, protean gestures, Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction, Seth Romatelli, The Coffee Song, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Uhh Yeah Dude
December 20, 2008
I subscribe to the feeds of hundreds of blogs through Google Reader (see shared links to some of them at left), but the list of blogs I actually enjoy reading is short. I’m always looking for additions to that list, and here are some strong contenders, in alphabetical order:
Cognitive Daily The “daily” part seems to be a misnomer, but the topics are always fun and interesting. How many tabs do you have open on your browser? Caffeine, memory and the brain. Is it sexist to think men are angrier than women? Another blog from the same site is The Frontal Cortex, also in the same vein and infrequently updated; the author was featured in last Sunday’s NYT Magazine.
Consumerist This is was one of the best blogs in the Gawker Media empire (sold to Consumer Reports on 12/30). And it’s only gotten better since the start of the Great Depression II, despite some staff cuts. Frugal tips from America’s cheapest family. Customer call center horror stories. Crowd-sourcing rumors like the Wal-Mart iPhone. Abuses by the credit-card industry. How to write complaint letters to consumer-abusing corporations.
The Daily Beast Tina Brown‘s ripoff of The Huffington Post is better-written, better-designed, better edited and more provocative than the original. Brown attracts big-name talent, and there’s a coherent editing philosophy (unlike the endless stream of often-predictable blah-blah at HuffPo — 250+ items on Friday alone! More than 60 already today! I need an assistant to read it). The Beast is attractive and well-organized with some cute ideas. Too bad it launched on the eve of the Great Depression II. Just don’t try to turn it into a magazine. I’ve canceled most of mine.
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Posted in Blogging | 1 Comment »
Tags: 43 Folders, Blogs, bookmarks, Consumerist, David Byrne, Delicious, dlisted, Facebook, Fail Blog, feeds, Flickr, Friendfeed, G.I. Joe, Gawker, Kung Fu Grippe, Last Night's Party, Luc Sante, MacBreak Weekly, Merlin Mann, Perez Hilton, podcasts, The Daily Beast, Tina Brown, TMZ, Twitter, Web browsers, You Look Nice Today
December 16, 2008
Name of iTunes Playlist: The Older Faves
Rules: Rating is greater than *** (3 stars). Last played is in the last 12 months. Last played is not in the last 6 months. Date added is in the last 24 months. Play count is greater than 5 times. Skip count is zero. [See all lists.]
Top 10 From the List
1. “Sirena” by Calexico on “Convict Pool” Playcount: 8.
2. “Summersong” by The Decemberists on “The Crane Wife.” Playcount: 8.
3. “Story of an Artist” performed by M. Ward on “The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered.” Playcount: 8.
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Posted in Smart Playlists | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Andrew Bird, Andrew Bujalski, Arcade Fire, Bishop Allen, Blogs, Calexico, City Room, Daniel Johnston, Decemberists, Eric Hutchinson, Feist, fires, Funny Ha Ha, Harvard, In Rainbows, iPhones, iPods, iTunes, journalism, M. Ward, music, Mutual Appreciation, Neon Bible, R.E.M., Raidohead, Rilo Kiley, ringtones, The Essex Green, YouTube
November 20, 2008
I recently skimmed a galley proof of “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis. The book, available from HarperCollins in January, is structured as a series of rules or aphorisms about how Google does business, with some anecdotes from Jarvis about things he has observed in his groundbreaking work as a blogger and media consultant.
The book reads like an expanded version of a PowerPoint presentation on the conventional wisdom of Web 2.0. Transparency. Learning from your customers. Simplicity in design. Always being in beta. The importance of links and search engine optimization. The information wants to be free business model. The let-it-all-hang-out-in-public lifestyle of Twitter and Facebook and blogs. (Jarvis gave an overview of his thesis in the Guardian on Monday.)
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Posted in Paper & Ink, Social Media | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Blogs, Books, computers, data, Facebook, Google, Jeff Jarvis, macs, SEO, technology, Twitter, Web 2.0
November 10, 2008
I read blogs for my job. I used to read them for fun. There was a certain satisfaction circa 2002 in answering the question, “where did you hear that?” with the name of a blog the other person had never heard of, which by now is a blog that person is sick of reading. Of course, now dogs have blogs. Dogs. Have blogs. This is deplorable. One good thing about the old Internet was that we didn’t know they were dogs. And we thought they were fascinating.
Good blogs have a few things in common. They are the often the product of an obsession, or a collection of obsessions. They are reported. And, yes — well-curated links count as reporting. Good blogs are surprising. They are fresh. They break news. They are visually interesting. They make us laugh. They make us email our friends. They are sometimes deep. They update frequently. In other words, they are nothing like the lame personal blog you are reading.
The true test is whether you return. Here are 10 blogs that get my repeat business. That means their feeds are in my top folder in Google Reader, and I scroll through the headlines every day, even if I don’t read every post. They are not, generally, mean-spirited or political or full of opinion.
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Posted in Blogging | 1 Comment »
Tags: Apple, Blogos, Blogs, cycling, Google Reader, Jason Kottke, John C. Dvorak, Kevin Kelly, macs, Matt Haughey, NYC, Tools, wtf
November 5, 2008
Eddie and Kay, circa 1950, Nick's in Greenwich Village
When the news of the day seems particularly big, I wonder what my parents would think about it all. They’re dead, and gone with them are all the stories and family lore that I only half-listened to when I was younger. Rattling around in my head are half-remembered snippets of conversations about their childhoods in the Great Depression, long-ago presidents and wars, those scary Beatles with their rock and roll, pulp fiction and radio dramas. They lived through World War II, the atom bomb, the invention of television, Vietnam, hippies, Watergate, pet rocks, disco and the bad old 70′s, the Cold War, the Iranian hostage crisis, recessions and more.
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Posted in Blogging, New York, Paper & Ink | 9 Comments »
Tags: Blogs, cancer, children, computers, death, fathers, generations, Internet, parenting, smoking, technology, Web
October 22, 2008
It’s a great week for John Hodgman fans. Hodgman — you know, “The Daily Show” expert, the guy who plays the PC in Mac ads. He is suddenly everywhere: back on Jon Stewart’s show last night, talking to “Rachel Maddow” on Monday night, guest blogging on BoingBoing, Twittering about the presidential race, showing up in some new Mac/PC ads out, making appearances in New York, various blogs and podcasts. It’s all about promoting his new book, “More Information Than You Require,” officially released Tuesday.
By the way, if we are heading for another Great Depression, we’re going to need more than 700 hobo names.
Posted in Paper & Ink | 5 Comments »
Tags: Blogs, Books, computers, experts, hobos, John Hodgman, Jon Stewart, NYC, Podcast Zeitgeist, Rachel Maddow, The Daily Show, Twitter
October 1, 2008
Updated March 12, 2011.
Hello, my name is Patrick LaForge.
@Palafo is a purely personal and non-commercial blog, a public notebook about a few of my obsessions — the Web, technology and computers; media of all types (books, podcasts, blogs, Twitter and social media, and music); and my quest for the perfect cup of coffee.
I am no relation to this guy nor am I the president and CEO of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team.
By some happy accident, I am an editor at a local newspaper in New York, where I am currently the editor in charge of news presentation, which is a fancy yet imperfect way of describing the copy desks and aspects of Web production.
I was also the founding editor and one of the creators of the paper’s blog about New York, City Room. The blog you are reading is not affiliated with those enterprises in any way, and I am responsible for its content, which follows my employer’s ethics policy.
This blog is updated erratically. I spend more time posting on Twitter; you can follow me there: @palafo.
Thanks for reading.
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Posted in Blogging, Coffee!, iPhone Apps, Moving Images, New York, Paper & Ink, Podcast Zeitgeist, Smart Playlists | Comments Off
Tags: Atex, Blogs, City Room, Edmonton Oilers, names, NYT, palafo, Patrick LaForge
