Nerd Meridian

Hackathon.run();

Will — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 03:44:36 +0000

Clearspring Hearts Radiohead

Will — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:38:11 +0000

Ok so sorry for the pseudo-spam, but like everyone else, I really like Radiohead. So I had to share the fact that they have a widget on the Clearspring platform, and they used that widget to release their live New Year’s performance, Scotch Mist. Coolio.

Check out it’s Clearspring home page too.

WidgetDevCamp DC

Will — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:31:41 +0000

Fun for the whole (geeky software types) family!

I’m glad to be a part of helping to organize what should be a super fun local DC tech event: WidgetDevCamp DC. Come one, come all, and let’s talk about modular web applications (psssttt it’s not just widgets anymore), Facebook, start pages, blog sidebars, and the rest. Want to write code? Want to design some UIs? Want to learn what the heck we’re talking about? Join us! Check out the site or join the mailing list.

When did video game ads get so cool?

Will — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:02:33 +0000

I’m by no means a serious gamer — with kids and a busy job and such, free-time comes at a premium. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t get seriously blown away occasionally by the craziness that is the gaming industry, as well as the increasingly amazing art direction. And beyond the actual games, even the whole ad/trailer space has somehow gotten really interesting and short-film-like in the last little while. And yes, the opportunity cost of watching some good trailers is way lower than that of staying up all night playing an actual game. The Xbox360 crowd, especially, has some really great ads. Couple highlights for the folks who live without game culture…

Kind of a classic at this point, here’s a game ad, for a shooter no less, that’s really more of a mood piece. Its all about the music, obviously, but someone over at the ad agency (McCann-Erickson San Francisco) had a pretty inspired idea here — focus on the game, yeah, but in a totally new way. Gears of War is the game.

Another interesting ad, though this time more of an interesting urban set piece with absolutely no connection to video games whatsoever. A good ad nonetheless.

And lastly, a trailer for Bioshock (which doesn’t appear to be at all suitable for playing with my toddler). Holy cow.

So, um, go out and buy yourself some video games and waste a bunch of time. Just tell yourself its “art”.

Fight of the Conchords === Funny

Will — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 06:47:59 +0000

Ok, I realize Flight of the Conchords isn’t exactly a secret, but if you haven’t seen them, they’re funny. And I wanted to share that. Folk parody duo, I guess you’d call them. They have a show on HBO, too. Here’s a song. “Business Time”.

Excellence as memorial

Will — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:41:57 +0000

Ok so obviousy the VA Tech thing is not the most uplifting story in the world. I heard the head of the ENGR dept, Dr. Ishwar Puri, on NPR yesterday though, and thought I’d share. Interesting interview. Check out Morning Edition for a listen.

Blank Plastic Cards

Will — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:25:41 +0000

I was playing around with Ning, and I noticed a Google ad on the sidebar for “Blank Plastic Cards”. Intrigued, I clicked on it. Lo and behold, a very pleasing site selling blank plastic cards (makes sense I guess). If ever I am looking for a blank plastic card (maybe a Pantone 242 to go with that Magentic Fields song), now I know where to go.

New Jobby Job: Clearspring

Will — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 20:06:24 +0000

On the day-job front, I’ve recently joined the team at Clearspring, a distributed app/content/widget startup in the area. I am psyched — they’re well-positioned, smart, and have a solid model and big customers even at this early stage. Check out the site to learn more, but as you know I’m a big believer in high-value infrastructure for the distributed web, and think Clearspring has the right idea. Well, now that I work there, I guess I can say that I think we have the right idea.

I’ll be heading up the developer platform outreach side of things, and blogging at the Clearspring Community Blog. Drop by if you’re into it.

Jam of the Week

Will — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:38:51 +0000

Heard these guys on KCRW yesterday. Specifically, on an always-great show called Metropolis. If you’re into mashups, doesn’t get much better than The Arbiters. Lauryn Hill, Gimme Shelter, Mercy Me, holy smokes.

Hot Time, Summer in the Suburbs

Will — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:01:17 +0000

So the suburbs have their advantages, and I guess I live close enough to DC proper (about 2 miles) that it still feels sort of metro-like. I miss NYC, but at least my kids can go to a good school and play on some grass without having to ride the subway for 20 minutes first. Anyway, this morning we went to the Clemyjontri park, which is basically the biggest, most structurally-accomplished park I have ever seen (check out the pic). It’s total craziness, I’m always afraid someone is going to kidnap my children. The suburbs are rubbing off on me I guess, starting to develop irrational fear of, well, everything.

On the way, I took a slight wrong turn, and somehow ended up in a “restricted government facility”. We got the whole treatment — pull over by the orange barrels after driving around all the cement barriers, talk to the police, etc. They eventually let us turn around and go to the park, but it was kind of weird. My wife thinks I look like a terrorist so she was stressed out. I guess the two toddlers in the back seat convinced them that we were harmless. My theory is that there are alien corpses stored there. Or that it’s the “undisclosed location”. Anyway, a little adventure for a Saturday morning.

Then we got home and I went to get a new propane tank for our grill.

Ah, modern American life.