Sunday, July 24, 2011

Hold for release - do not publish - yet.



It is sad to see such a great and natural voice disappear in such a tragic manner. Amy whinehouse's voice that is.  Her death by drug overdose was not unexpected. If you were organizing a bet on which star was likely to die, you barely got more than one-to-one for Amy Winehouse. Newspapers and television channels had an obituary on file, ready to go. Among various other ones labeled "hold for release - do not publish - yet", you'll likely find:

  1. Pete Doherty
  2. Charlie Sheen
  3. Whitney Houston
  4. Brooke Mueller
  5. Johnny Knoxville and gang
  6. Lindsay Lohan
  7. Fidel Castro
  8. Hugo Chavez
  9. Kim Jong-Il
  10. Nelson Mandela
  11. Margaret Thatcher
  12. Steve Jobs

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Google plus hangout is like meeting in a pub. Although serve yourself.

In recent article in the Huffington Post, Google's Head of Social Vic Gundotra likes to compare the Google Plus Hangout feature to sitting on your front porch.
"It allows you - in a very nice way, it's not socially awkward - to say, hey I'm hanging out on my porch," Gundotra said in a recent interview. "I'm available, if you're available too, you can join."
Coincidently I recently explained the feature much differently to my parents. European style. Who even has a porch in Europe? No, no, Google Plus Hangout is like meeting in a pub. When you start a hangout, you advertise "I'll be at the bar. Come join me." Your friends will know which bar, at what time and even know which side of the bar you'll be hanging.

I didn't have to go into a long explanation of how the feature worked with my parents. It was as clear as a nice cold Belgian trappist.

Google might be on to something with their hangouts. (check out also the longest hangout)