the tindog coffeehouse

Om Malik has taken issue with ISPs (and the FCC) over the emerging trend of metered broadband Internet access. Currently, most cable Internet and DSL accounts allow for unlimited usage, but ISPs such as AT&T and Comcast are hoping to place a monthly usage limit in the plans, gouging charging customers for any overages (similar to most cell phone plans).

He states:

While 5 GB [the limit imposed by New York ISP Frontier] looks pretty sizable – Comcast claims that their average broadband subscriber only uses 2 GB per month – in reality, it’s nothing. It’s essentially two movies in HD. Once you go over the limit, the meter ticks over faster than a San Francisco taxicab. That would limit the amount of Internet a consumer can use on a daily basis, thereby limiting the amount of time people spend on Facebook, MySpace, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo or any one of numerous services.

The situation would be no different than the early days of dial-up, when the pain of dialing up prevented us from being always on the network. When broadband came along, things changed, for usage of services like Google skyrocketed, Skype came along and YouTube became part of our lives.

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FOUND is an online collection of random lists, notes, and photos that people find and submit. Sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they’re sad, but usually they’re just weirdly amusing.

Like this one:

things to accomplish in my career

- create my own computer.
- build a laptop
- create my own graphics card.
- create my own video game
- create my own computer company
- or work for Alienware
- have a huge house
- live with only my friends

Well, if you’re gonna dream, dream big.

It’s time once again for the Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week.

Really? Again?

I love the Discovery Channel, but seriously, how much more do we need to learn about sharks? I vote for rotating out different animals. Elephant Week? Cool. Bat Week? Sure. Dung Beetle Week? Maybe not, but they could time it to run during election years.

Overall, I really like the new Facebook design. BUT… I can’t seem to get past a few issues with it.

Here are my frustrations so far:

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Gina Trapani at Lifehacker has called into question many of the numerous productivity studies floating around that show we are burdened by “information overload”, our productivity siphoned off by the endless flood of email and the tendency to multitask.

The longer I do this, the more I suspect that a good part of the “information overload” story is a myth cooked up by folks who don’t know how to use the internet well in order to demonize something they don’t understand. I get more done via email and surfing the web than my parents ever did using phones and libraries, even when I’m having a bad day and switch to my email application the moment I see a new message notification.

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Now, this is just wrong.

The Fox 5 news anchors in Las Vegas have had fake McDonald’s iced coffees in front of them for two weeks as product placement.

Fake coffee on the real news, two plastic cups permanently filled with some kind of bogus drink. The anchors aren’t even supposed to acknowledge them, McDonald’s reps explain.

In related news, those smiles aren’t genuine either.