·:[ Sound and Fury ]:·
• • • • •

The things people will do with Flickr. Here’s a game fastr, where you try to think like the rest of the crowd. Fascinating.

For those of you already enjoying GoogleTalk, they’ve announced that they’ve opened their service to federation. As they say, “Service providers just need to support the XMPP standard for server-to-server federation and their users will be able to talk to our users (and vice versa).”

Note that this is different from the AOL Instant Messaging (AIM) paradigm where service providers must pay AOL a fee to federate. Like many of us, Google is advocating what they call “service choice” — the idea that IM should work like email or your phone.

Go figure.

At least for those of us who know a Romance language as their first. Blame the tones, says this article by the BBC

I believe it.

A few years back, we traveled to Beijing for vacation. As is my custom, I learned a few phrases to help me get along. Not that anyone could ever mistake me for a native - I’m so white I’m translucent - but that it’s a courtesy to at least try. Because I knew even then that Mandarin isn’t easy, I also bought maps and a pointy-talky book.

Since we tend to go off the beaten path a bit, we were soon far from any English speakers. No problem. After all, I knew how to speak Chinese! I saunter over to a line of taxicabs, and confidently state my intended destination. The man looks at me as if I had two heads. I repeat myself. Same blank stare. So, I pull out my map and point to the location. Ahh, hah! He understands. He then repeats what I had been saying (to my atonal ear it sounded like what I had said) to the other cabbies. Riotous laughter ensues.

To this day I don’t know what I had actually asked for, but apparently it was quite funny.

In any case, I’m now going to learn Mandarin. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Read his Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Among his gems:

• Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
• Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
• We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
• what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

His eloquence speaks volumes.

Flickr has long been the place where the crowd posts their photos. Marking each with their own tag, a community of sorts has been developed. Now, one clever flickrite has merged the photos of 50 different members, all of whom used the same tag. Some are benign, like soup. Some you can actually discern, like the Eiffel Tower. Others, like sadness and happiness or shadows, have an ethereal quality to them.

Anyone who has ever tried to work from home with small children knows that such a thing is nearly impossible. Even trying to squeeze in a phone call can be difficult. Some enterprising souls in New York City have combined a workspace with day care. Two Rooms allows freelancers, part-timers and other flexibly-scheduled parents to really get some work done, while their children play in the next room.

This one is non-profit, fueled by grants. However, I can’t imagine that this won’t be franchised soon. Please mention me in your web site when you get rich.

Google has put together Google Pack of what they call “essential” software for new computers. Things like Acrobat Reader, Norton Anti-Virus, Firefox and, of course, a number of Google products. Neat idea, but why does a third party have to do this? Why doesn’t the original manufactor provide things like this?

The obvious short answer is because these applications are free and the best of their kind. The computer makers don’t have to do it; people will find Adobe without them. The company that would do it might prove that they care just a little bit more about their customers.

At the same time, by the time the computer hit my desktop, I’d probably have to upgrade half of the applications anyway. Maybe I’m being curmudgeonly about this.

Anyway, it’s a neat bunch of tools. Enjoy.

PowerPoint is not a good way to make a sale or to make a decision. It’s not. Really.

Evidence the continual attempts to squeeze this round peg. Lately, Guy Kawasaki lays down some rules about giving a PP pitch to venture capitalists. His basic advice (10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 pitch font) isn’t bad; the underlying premise is. The best way to convince someone to give you their money is tell a compelling story.

And you can do that without any slides at all.

If you must provide something for people to look at, hand out a single sheet of paper with the important information you want them to remember. Your name, contact information, salient points. Send it to them ahead of the brief, so they can be ready for questions. Okay, maybe the head folks won’t read it, but their staff will. Then use all of your one hour meeting to have a discussion.