Valleywag has a funny story about a Google employee who used Street View to propose to his girlfriend. Basically he knew when the Street car taking the photographs of the street would be coming around to his house and arranged a sign that the car would see. Impressive.
Thought Provoking
Will Self @ Google
Thought Provoking, TravelColdplay and Stuff White People Like
Music, Thought Provoking, WebFrom Vanity Fair.
It is important to be aware that an affinity for Coldplay can cause an immediate loss of respect among “advanced†level white people. The best way to earn the trust of these people is to say “Coldplay is this generation’s U2.†(Note: this is an insult.) Advanced level white people are often the poorest white people in terms of money but the richest in terms of credibility and respect.
More appropriately, in my opinion Coldplay are this generation’s Dire Straits.
Shops track customers via mobile phone
CRM, Tech, Thought ProvokingThe technology can tell when people enter a shopping centre, what stores they visit, how long they remain there, and what route they take as they walked around.
The device cannot access personal details about a person’s identity or contacts, but privacy campaigners expressed concern about potential intrusion should the data fall into the wrong hands.
Now this is what I call responding to your market.
In the case of Gunwharf Quays, managers were surprised to discover that an unusually high percentage of visitors were German – the receivers can tell in which country each phone is registered – which led to the management translating the instructions in the car park.
Natascha Kampusch Purchases Kidnapper’s House
Thought ProvokingAustrian kidnapping victim Natascha Kampusch has purchased the home in which a man held her captive for over eight years in a cellar dungeon. “I know it’s grotesque — I now have to pay the electricity, water and taxes on a house I never wanted to live in,” she told the German magazine Bunte. But she said she would prefer to own the home herself to protect it from vandals and keep it from being torn down to build row houses.
The questions I’m asking are
Where did she get the money?
Who got the house after her kidnapper killed himself?
Life Before Death
Germany, Groundbreaking, Photography, Thought ProvokingA photographic project that made me think about mortality. Walter Schels took photographs of patients at a cancer ward before and after death. The really nice part of the gallery is the mini-stories about the subjects and how the thought about their situation.
Fed Bail Out
Thought Provoking
Drinking mate sought for £7 an hour
Thought ProvokingA man who is afraid his father could be lonely has advertised for a drinking companion for him – at £7 an hour
Russian McDonalds Wedding
Thought ProvokingEnglish Russia is a great site showing the weirder aspects of life in Russia. This entry is particularly intriguing where a couple get married, travel by the underground and have the wedding dinner in McDonalds.
Fantastic!
Recycle an airplane as a house?
Groundbreaking, Thought ProvokingVery Short List picks up this amazing article about a grandmother who bought a plane for $2000 and turned it into a house. Ingenious