Geeks are us ... at Astoria cafe

By /
Flickr: jack at the computer 27-nov-2003And I checked whether the label 'geek' was OK to use and it is (think 'gay' is OK for those that want to use it) ... but 'nerd' is a no-no (using the previous analogy think 'homo').

Anywho, I went along to Astoria to ostensibly put a face to the name Richard MacManus the writer/blogger behind the extremely valuable and readable Read/Write Web ... and I succeeded. He's a nice fella, asked some pertinent questions and is most definitely at an interesting stage in his Read/Write life as he endeavours to ramp up to the 'next level' - I wish him the best with the "community" and "public speaking" challenges he might put in front of himself :-)

But it wasn't just Richard as his meeting was tacked on the front of a long running (18month+) weekly (?) meet-up of like minded techo's from all around Wellington. I had a fascinating chat with Mauricio of GeekZone and ???? Darryl Burling (huge apologies for forgetting your name - but you are so right with this Darwin Award contender), Software evangelist at Microsoft, around what makes a site have repeat visitors - the consensus was 'community' but I had to disagree and say 'content' - probably both really.

It was interesting to talk around how they saw the future ... very technical, very connected and everyone with the gadgets and wanting to use them. I don't think that's the case but ...

It also highlighted that I am most definitely of an age, some of my views are 'old' and there's a challenge for me to ensure that my thinking is reflected in what's happening not only for my generations (and those that came before me) but those that are scootling up behind me and living/breathing this stuff. Although in my defence no-one I know is doing the 'life online' quite like me and still refers to PCs/mobiles as the be-all-and-end-all and not the content and relationships from collaboration I'm working with.

All in all a great introduction to some very passionate and highly motivated individuals doing some very cool stuff, I look forward to bouncing ideas of them in the future and definitely being challenged in return.

Finally, I also met up with Simon Moore from Puku Golf Ltd that had an interesting challenge. His company has (for undisclosed reasons - well, not for me to tell) registered around 168 domain names - all built around the concept of making a circle on your keyboard. Example - look down at your keyboard for the letter 'g', around that letter are 7 others that circle it (f, v, b, h, y, t and r) - that makes one of the domain names registered - www.fvbhtr.com - and there's many others - get it to work if you can!
I follow that progress with avid interest and look forward to the viral marketing that must surely come.

Comments

Post a Comment

Be kind

Popular articles

Make Your Public Event Calendar Usable To All

Image
If you run a sports club, this post is for you. If you are on a community committee, this post is also for you If you host events, this is for you. If you put on shows, this is for you. In fact, if you do anything that has a date/time component that you'd like to share with people, this is for you . Yep, probably for all of us. Sharing calendars can be both: an effective way of letting everyone know a complete and utter technical pain in the bottomly region If you've posted up an events page onto your website you know how difficult it is to keep up to date, how the readers have to keep coming back to get the latest changes and don't even think about integrating with somebody else's "events page". Ok, so we all know the problem. What's the solution? iCalendar (normally shortened to iCal) ... yep, it's a geek word that you will come to know and love just as much as RSS. In fact, think of it as RSS for calendars. But that's enough geekery, if you want

The Difference Between One Million And One Billion

Image
It's feels like a billion is just a bit bigger than a million. Obviously it's bigger but it fits on the same scale as a million, surely. It doesn't. A billion is so so so much bigger than a million. I've trawled the internet finding graphics and videos that show the VAST difference between one million and one billion. Oh, and just to finish with a different misconception about space starting with the classic opening line from the great Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy : “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

Catastrotivity, The How To

Image
Exurb2a on teh Interwebs (don't ask me I'm not down wiv da kidz) is a a channel/person/"content creator" that I've only recently discovered and I very glad I have. His videos cover everything, are productions of genius with a lot to say, and can be very funny through some quite deep stuff. He also did, a few years ago, a mini series called Catastrotivity . In 6 episodes of about 10 mins each he gives you the OK, the "Go do it", the "Don't listen to them!" that he's learned over the years of creating. It's is very VERY good. Whilst the above is YouTube you can also get it as a podcast via Spotify, I did, you should.

[Updated] Pubs of 2024 Monmouth

Image
"Back in the day", yada yada yada, yes we all know there were more pubs than people, there was a pub every two houses, the largest number of pubs per square mile than anywhere in the known universe, there was a pub named after each and every one of us, and yet, YET we only ever went to same one every time. Monmouth has changed, it now only has 10 pubs.  "Ten! Ten? It used to be ten pubs just in the top of town. There were ten pubs I'd walk past to get to my local." Yes, yes ... times change, we now have 10 pubs in Monmouth . Oh, and the Mayhill but that seems to be more a ghost pub, it can be seen but only in the dark and no-one will believe if you say you went in. Monmouth, a town in Wales (YES, it is in Wales ), a town that has a population of around 10,317 (as at 2021). A town who's 1980's population was, well, I don't know, despite a century of censuses being taken, it's impossible to find (1991: 8,206 | 2001: 8,877 | 2011: 10,508 | 2021: 1

Reflections In Blue

Image
Of course "Reflections In Blue" Is a jazz album. Art Blakey and his Messengers Would love you to hear it. Coooool.