Michael Lee's Train of Thought

One of the more interesting web technologies is the idea of "Crowd Sourcing" or "Idea Management" -- getting the community a chance to submit idea, vote for good ones, and go ahead from there.

Something like the Citizens Briefing Book is an interesting way for technology and government to combine together. It's still a bit rough -- but in many ways, that's encouraging to me. I'm sure many of the ideas that will pop up aren't really politically practical, especially since the kind of people likely to show up and vote on a site like that aren't necessarily the same people that vote -- but it's a great use of the technology above and beyond making better coffee and a better laptop.

Very interesting...

Labels: it, politics, webapps

I know that sometimes it is easy to misplace your cell phone -- and I know that more than once I've looked for another phone so I can call my cell phone. Another way to do this is to go through this website -- which means you don't even have to find another phone.

Labels: gadgets, webapps

I've joined the cool kids on Facebook.

Labels: webapps

It's impressive how much a power outage issue in SF impacts the whole internet...

Labels: computers, webapps

I was a bit surprised to see that Apple is releasing Safari for Windows. I only occasionally use Safari, as I primarily use Firefox across all the platforms that I use. Just like Fake Steve Jobs.

However, I downloaded the beta version of Safari for Windows, and it's a bit odd. I don't really think that "typical" Windows users are going to use it -- it'll be good for web developers, and especially good once you realize that's how iPhone applications will be delivered. I'm a bit skeptical about how much the iPhone will really take off, though elements of it look really good and I think it'll be good for the smart phone industry as a hole.

One of the strange things is that Safari doesn't feel like a Windows application -- it feels even less like one when running on Windows than iTunes, perhaps because we've had a decade worth of experience in how a browser on Windows should be like. But I think it's a bit strange that as people are critical of applications like Firefox and the like that aren't fully Mac-like, that it's ok for Apple to make software for Windows that isn't like any Windows software.

That said, I suspect that the main users of Safari on Windows will be web developers...

Labels: firefox, mac, webapps, windows

I've signed on to Twitter. I'm not quite sure I see the whole utility of it yet, but I was curious enough to sign on to it.

Labels: webapps

I'm starting to use Google Reader for my RSS feed reading -- and as you can see if you read my page directly you will see that I've added a list of items that I've decided to share -- and that list is also available on its own here.

There are certainly a great number of things that I discover that I don't have time or any particular reason to write massive articles about but just want to pass along.

Labels: webapps