Mashable Monthly: I Is a Reporter

Last night, for the first time in months, I looked at my Google Analytics and found that my most popular keywords are "insists upon itself" and "diarrhea bear". Thanks to all three of my loyal readers who continue to raise the intellectual bar. As a result of your influence and power, I've been accepted into the blogger lounge at Mashable's Monthly event to cover four demoing companies - Oosah, WeAre.US, Artiklz, and Strands.

OOSAH
Oosah allows for 1TB of storage and is a site for users to manage their media files; however, according to their backgrounder, Oosah "is emphatically not a file sharing site; it is a user-generated content hosting, management, and sharing site". What does that mean? Oosah is a media file storage service with easy mobile access.



WEARE.US
Weare.us is a site that aims to "empower patient communities to take control of their lives by providing social resources and an environment for sharing". As the former online strategist for the Breast Cancer Fund, I see this site as the darling site of the evening. I was fortunate enough to happen upon the founder's wife who told me that the idea for the site came about after she experienced health issues during her pregnancy and could not find the right online community in which to interact. The site fills a need for individuals to share real life experiences with real people. I think this might be the next generation of Ning - with communities pending approval of course. [My profile on Weare.Us >>]


ARTIKLIZ
Perhaps the most elusive service of the night due to their lack of public demo, Artikliz allows content providers to aggregate info on each of their individual blog articles. Good or bad, any comments or votes pertaining to your blog article (across platforms and services) will appear on the same page. In other words, Artikliz aims to increase transparency and give a one-stop psychographic 360. It's like Sylar from Heroes' ability to hear what everyone is saying.


STRANDS
According to the website, Strands "gives users the ability to record their activities and keep track of their friends across multiple social networks and services. Based on aggregated profile info, Strands enables discovery of new things based on your own behaviors as well as those of your friends and influencers." In other words, we are looking at a combination of Me.dium, Delicious and FriendFeed.


THE FRINGE: What Would Cory Doctorow Do? As a Canadian, I love obscure Cory Doctorow References. Naturally, Fake Cory Doctorow Twitter Feed speaks to me. Some of my favorite lines include, "Googled my name. Still less hits then Lessig. Damn" and "Putting together a papercraft scene from my young adult novel Little Brother". I am one of only 90 or so followers, but I know bizarre, geek hilarity when I see it. Fake Doctorow is the XKCD of Twitter. Whoa. That last sentence was too nerdy to handle. I'm going to need to turn up the hoser. Memo to self: Lucky Lager pyramid + woods + bb gun

Thanks But No Thanks on that Product Road Map to Nowhere

I wrote a post on the train about how it was surreal to see Perez Hilton alongside Neal Stephenson in this month's Wired, but now I just want to leave you with a classic Garfield moment. In other words, sigh...Mondays...



We've all been here before. It reminds me why I could never be a full-time graphic designer. Developers and designers should take a page out of the Sarah Palin play book and say (in true Alaskan accent), "Thanks but no thanks on that product road map to nowhere."

The High Seas, 2 Cups and one girl & Ukuleles

Two major great events have happened in the past week.

1. Firstly, only two days after Talk Like a Pirate Day we went sailing on the high seas of Santa Cruz with Cen, James and Swerdlow. My sweetheart played Captain Calico Jack Rackham while I played Anne Bonny. Judging by the amount of weight I've gained lately, I'll have no problem pleading my belly.

2. I made matching cups. This is not a clever innuendo. I actually sat down with 2 different clumps of mud, plopped them down on a spinning pottery wheel and sculpted 2 matching cups with my bare hands. This is a real accomplishment given that my hands resemble tiny brown hams. I now know how Michelangelo felt when he formed David from a single piece of marble. Firstly, comes the realization that you've created more byproduct than actual product. Secondly, despite what the world may want you to believe, you realize that you are in fact a useful human being with hidden talents.

There is a guy on the Caltrain playing the ukulele and he's great. Today is a great day.

Caltrain

Yesterday they had to pull a person off the Caltrain tracks in the tunnel between the 22nd St. station and the Bayview station. As I sat there under the dimmed lights of the emergency sign, I realized I was more nervous about the gangster staring at me across the aisle than I was about the kid on the tracks. This morning the homeless man sharing my bench got pooped on by a pigeon. I thought it was better not to tell him since he was already swearing under his breath. The young thugged-out Latino on my other side didn't tell him either. At 8:02 the homeless man, the Latino guy, the train conductor and I shared a hearty laugh when a man wearing a blue tooth and carrying a recumbent bike, threw a fit after missing the 7:59 train.

Typography

Typography has been hot for a while. The acclaimed film Helvetica paved the way, with Font Conference close behind. Today I noticed a really beautiful Smashing Magazine post on Table of Contents design. While you may turn up your nose at my obvious font fetish, would you seriously trust a bank whose logo incorporated Curlz MT? A friend recently told me she refused to interview a designer with a curriculum vitae written in comic sans. When in doubt, keep it clean. If you like something you see and don't recognize it, check out What the Font.

Crested Butte: Colorado Musings

Last night we got back from a wedding in Crested Butte, Colorado and this morning I'm back on the Caltrain to work. I had forgotten all of the great things about being in a small town. The stars are bright, people smile at you on the street, and without all the noise, there's always time to think. This last one is important. I see how people from NYC, LA and SF judge small town folk and I don't think it is warranted. It's true that there are redneck towns, but there are also towns where you don't lock up your bike, where your steak is a 4H club champion and where you're welcome everywhere. Crested Butte is the latter. I'm glad I got to see it, and it's telling that Jane and Joe hold it so dear. Congratulations kids!