Simler is people just like you.

By connecting you with people that think the same way, Simler makes the world a smaller—and better—place for everyone.

WTF? It will connect me with people who think just like me? I can find people who think like me with no trouble at all. What I want social media to do, what I need social media to do, is to expose me to lots of people who don’t think like me. I need to be connected to diversity, to different people, thoughts and opinions. That’s what social media has been great at doing and that’s a vital role which it needs to continue to play, both in my life and in society in general.

Simler seems like it will be very attractive for intolerant people who have serious issues with others who don’t think or believe the same things. Do we really need a social media site which promotes intolerance, tunnel vision and groupthink? Crazy religious and political extremists seem to do a great job at that already.

Maybe I’m really wrong here. Maybe I’m overreacting to Simler’s tagline and it will turn out to be a great site for more innocuous activities, such as connecting with fellow hobbyists, sports fans, etc. I hope that’s the case.

Amy (@TheFabulousOne) tweeted that she had cleaned out her office and was getting rid of her flat-panel monitor. I’d been wanting one, so I asked how much she wanted for it. Being the awesome person she is, she gave it to me in exchange for doing some work on her computer.

A couple of days before this, my wife Tracie’s personal trainer had mentioned that his PC monitor at home had died and he now had no way of using his computer. Since we now had a perfectly good 19″ beast of a CRT monitor which we were no longer using, passed it along to him.

This kind of stuff used to only happen in more closely-knit communities such as neighborhoods. Now, it can span the entire Valley, thanks to Twitter making the entire city a closely connected neighborhood.

When I look at the image, I wonder when all of the different marks and textures came from and when they happened. Some seem to be paint and some seem to be scratches. Tracie and I both wonder if the orange isn’t from a child with a crayon.

I’m also amazed at how the black/brown mark in the upper left makes all the difference in the image. Without it, the image would be just boring.

Leno was never my favorite of the late-night guys, so I probably won’t watch his new show regularly. But people who loved him on the Tonight Show will probably still love him on his new show.

Throughout the two events, I heard a lot about how many journalists are integrating new media into their daily work, but how many other journalists, as well as executives and corporations are struggling to understand the impact and usefulness of new media. After hearing Greenfield’s commentary, I realized that many in journalism are hung up on the business and format of their particular media, instead of being focused on the basics of delivering a good story. It really shouldn’t matter to a reporter in a print-based medium that their story will be published online, nor should it matter to a TV reporter that their story will be available via streaming video, rather than aired on a TV channel.

It also shouldn’t scare any reporters (or executives, for that matter) that their stories will be commented on and debated immediately, thanks to user comments on web sites. I know that many of these comments devolve into a cesspool, but good public comments should be welcomed by journalists, not shunned. Journalists don’t hand down knowledge from above, they report on the communities in which they work and in doing so, need to listen to what the communities have to say.

The great hallmark of new media is that it fosters two way communication. This is what old media isn’t used to, and is what smart media companies and journalists must embrace to succeed.

Windows laptops are the uncouth construction workers at the job site. MacBooks are the classy, beautiful woman the workers whistle at when she walks by.

Image #12 from Phoenix 21

Today, we were the fortunate recipients of one of Tyson Crosbie’s images from his Phoenix 21 exhibition. We’re displaying the image in our home for a month as part of Tyson’s Home Exhibit social experiment (vlog posts here and here). Although we weren’t initially selected, Kevin Spidel bequeathed his image to us, since he’s in the process of moving.

This morning, Tyson and Jamie came over to with Image #12 to install. We chose to put it in our living room, where we have a wall that’s just the right size to display the image. As you can tell from the photo, we have very red walls, which contrasts nicely with the colors and textures of the image.

Both Tracie and I love the image and the way it looks in our living room. We’ve discussed how awesome it would be to purchase the image and redecorate with it as the inspiration. Unfortunately, we don’t have the budget to do that now, but it’s good to dream.

After having looked at the image for a few hours now, I wish our walls were smooth instead of textured. When the daylight coming in is just right to accent the wall texture, I think it conflicts slightly with the textures of the image. But, that doesn’t happen all the time, and the wall texture isn’t all that distracting.

We’re honored to be entrusted with Tyson’s work. Much thanks and gratitude to he and Jamie for installing the piece and to Kevin for passing the image to us. More blog posts to come!

Original?

I was looking at my can of Coke today and I realized that it proudly proclaimed that it’s “original formula”. I got to thinking, “What exactly do they mean by  original?” Obviously not the actual original, as cocaine-laced soft drinks are generally considered by law enforcement to be illegal narcotics. Also, they probably don’t mean the classic formula used in the golden era of the 1950′s, when Coca-Cola in this country was still made with cane sugar.

So it seems that when Coke says “original formula”, they mean the post “New Coke” original formula, made with cheap high fructose corn syrup and distributed in cans and plastic bottles. Seems rather misleading to me.