I couldn’t tell from this article about YouTube adding captions to all videos whether you will be able to get a transcript of the video or just see captions while the video is playing. If you can get a transcript, did YouTube/Google just release a free audio transcription service? I can see uploading interviews to YouTube and then cleaning up the voice recognition mistakes. It would sure beat typing out an entire interview.

I LOL’d. This post is as good a place as any to note that the media response to Chat Roulette echos the response to Twitter around this time last year. Basically, they had been so burned by ignoring Myspace, and took too long to understand Facebook, they weren’t going to get fooled by Twitter and so they jumped in both feet first. Chat Roulette went from internet sensation to all over the media in record time. I imagine that the next platform to take off will get covered in the traditional media BEFORE it becomes popular online, thus creating an interesting paradox.

Silicon Valley Insider has a long story on how Facebook was founded with some purportedly new accusations.

New information uncovered by Silicon Alley Insider suggests that some of the complaints against Mark Zuckerberg are valid. It also suggests that, on at least one occasion in 2004, Mark used private login data taken from Facebook’s servers to break into Facebook members’ private email accounts and read their emails–at best, a gross misuse of private information. Lastly, it suggests that Mark hacked into the competing company’s systems and changed some user information with the aim of making the site less useful.

Ruh roh. It’s hard to tell how much of this was new information, though the fact that the accusations from ConnectU came a week after Facebook launched gives the accusers credibility in my book. Also, the $65 Million settlement… Well, yeah. That says Facebook is giving them some credibility, as well. And the accusations of using user data to login to the email addresses of users? That jibes pretty closely with how (un)seriously Facebook takes user privacy. I wonder if any of this will get picked up by the traditional media, and I wonder if the SVI investigation will hold up to journalistic standards…

Via Eric Andersen

In case you want to play a free co-op version of Missile Command, Atari just released one to celebrate it’s 30th birthday.

Every word from this 1995 Newsweek article on Why the internet will fail is gold. EVERY SINGLE WORD. I can’t wait to read their 1951 article on why television will never work.

Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping–just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet–which there isn’t–the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.

Via Eric Andersen

These paintings by Dan Lacey, The Painter Of Pancakes, must report to badpaintingsofbarackobama.com immediately. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Via Kerry

I’ve got nothing but anecdotal evidence, but curling is going viral. What looks like a combination of bocce and bowling ON ICE is sweeping the nation. The Tweets, Facebook status updates, the demands that curling be put on the TV at bars on Friday and Saturday night? This is EXACTLY what soccer wants out of the World Cup/Olympics every couple years. What’s causing it this year? I mean, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen curling.
Someone is going to open a curling bar in Brooklyn in the next year. Mark it, dude.

As of this writing, I still don’t have Google Buzz on my computer – these thoughts were gleaned from find it enabled on my iPhone. First reaction: Holy crap, I love it.

This app wouldn’t have worked 3 years ago, but Facebook and Twitter have been doing heavy lifting, training “Social Media Experts” and technophobes alike how to (over)share. Broadly generalizing here, but a lot of people probably find their Facebook accounts bloated with too many people they don’t care enough about. By limiting Google Buzz to the users you communicate most with, Google has made the hard cuts for you.

I wonder if people will share differently than they do on FB or Twitter. What do you think?

Microsoft probably invested millions of dollars and several months to come up with a word they could turn into a verb like ‘To Google’, but Buzz feels natural right off the bat. For what it’s worth, I like ‘to Buzz’ infinitely more than I like ‘to Tweet’.

Since I only saw it on my iPhone, this may change, but it’s potential as a mobile app is amazing.

Privacy issues aside, the Buzz Map and the “Nearby” feature of the mobile app are incredibly voyeuristic and addictive. With links to a users Google Profile, it also makes the web a lot more local and personal.

What will Facebook’s undoubtedly ham-handed response be? Another move that outrages privacy experts, looks bad, and is hard to use?

When Google exposes my data, somehow I expect it, maybe I’m an apologist. When Facebook does it, people get MAD MAD MAD.

I think Twitter remains relatively useful, but this hurts Facebook a lot.

Also, whither Foursquare?

What do you think?

An Onion oldie, remixed by Nerviosismo (I think?).

As soon as the iPhone came out I wondered, “What will be in the next one that will make all the people that have one now upgrade.” There were a few ideas, better camera, better GPS, etc. Obviously adding a video camera to the 3GS was a huge step. It wasn’t enough for me to switch, but it was enough a product change that I considered it. Here are some thoughts about what people want in the iPhone 4.0. So far, it focuses almost entirely on the OS. I’m curious, though, are there any hardware changes that would be especially exciting for you? (OK, OK, besides battery life.)