Author: Justin
Google Acquires Aardvark – Will it Be Integrated into Buzz?
Aardvark is a free service I’ve been using for a while now that lets you ask questions and finds people who can answer them… I’ve used it to ask questions about food, cars, soldering, and baby issues. It’s integrated into Google Chat and Gmail, so I’m used to using it with Google products… and they’ve been in the spotlight at recent tech conferences, so it only make sense that Google has acquired them.
I will update my prior post regarding Buzz predictions, as I believe Aardvark functionality will be merged with Buzz eventually.
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UPDATE: Aardvark is listed as an application in Google Labs but is currently only a static page with a link to the Aardvark website.
Predictions about Google Buzz
(most of these have already been posted in my Buzz feed)
- Google Buzz will directly or indirectly help cause the downfall of Facebook and maybe Twitter as well
- Google Wave functionality will be integrated into Buzz; Wave may eventually cease to exist
- Those worried about the privacy issues regarding people being able to see who you communicate with the most will finally realize that e-mail and chat perhaps aren’t the best way to go about having an affair anyway – just ask any senator
UPDATES:
- Aardvark functionality will be merged with Buzz eventually, even if only as a default category,filter in Gmail at first (with a cute little aardvark icon located under the ambiguous one for Buzz).
Buzz needs permalinks for entries and comments, especially for shared onesUpdate: Done.- Come to think of it, Google Chat needs to be integrated into this big mess as well. Update: There is now a Reply by Chat link under every Buzz post and comment made by a user with whom you’re allowed to chat… Was it always there? I thought I looked for one.
- Depending on how well this integration is carried out, Google will either have created an indispensable all-powerful app, or a huge mess (that will probably still be indispensable, just more of a pain in the ass). It’s kind of like an MS Office moment for Google.
- In addition to the permalinks for every post/comment updated above, you can perform a Buzz search with the following string, by adding your search terms at the end (join multiple search terms with a plus symbol in between): https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#buzz/search/
- Anybody can comment on any Buzz marked as Public
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Related: Stop Google Buzz From Showing the World Your Contacts
Having to set buried privacy settings that should have been activated by default? This is sounding more like Facebook every day. Now all we need is mindless games in the vein of virtual crime syndicates and point & click agriculture!
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My latest Buzz:
“I’m not worried about Buzz privacy concerns because Google already pwns all of my e-mail, scheduling, and contact info anyway. I just assume that they will one day do something stupid/evil with it so I won’t be as disappointed when that time comes.”
the roots of rivalry
Actually, they love each other – they just can’t stand each other a lot of the time.
These photos are nearly a month old, but I wanted some more photos of Mina in her cute pink onesies since she’s already grown out of most of them.
Virtual Jam Session – Dumbfoundead
“8 people with 5 instruments originally from 4 Continents speaking 3 languages for 1 song.”
ztrip sent me this vid and I was hooked from the first few bars of the Moloko sample. This Dumbfoundead guy has some pretty funny vids up on YouTube.
Cool Last FM tools
If you use last.fm, you might want to try these:
HacKey looks for patterns in the keys of your favourite songs. Apparently I like G major (18% overall).
I linked to this site once already but it’s good enough to get another: Normalisr ranks your favorite artists and albums by an estimation of how long you have spent listening to them.
Blogger FTP Deprecation
I only mention this because there are still a few people with blogs publishable to cosmicbuddha.com via Blogger (even though they are no longer really updated), including T, G-man, and my mom. Google is cutting you off because it costs them too much money. If you want a blog here, I’ll set something else up, so let me know.
On the Mic
I’m writing this while taking turns recording dialog for textbooks with Kylie, a recent graduate from Indiana State University currently teaching at our Language Center. I’m still pretty wasted from the past couple of days, helping with our faculty’s annual International Fair.
I know I’m really behind posting new photos of the babies, but truth be told, I haven’t really been taking any, either… Sometimes raising babies feels like combat, with violent spurts of intense action and getting in small batches of sleep when you can in between.
Like I said, I was pretty tired and went to sleep earlier than usual next to Max, but he woke up and threw a fit at four in the morning and woke up his sister, too, so Nam and I had to hold one each, One or both of them always need to be carried at times like this, so we both ended up shuffling around like undead in clumsy figure eights, in separate rooms so that when one went to sleep, they wouldn’t be woken by the other again. Max’s tantrum was around an hour long, so we ended up waking up partially and from there it always feels like you have to climb a hill all day long; sometimes a quick nap in the afternoon is a necessity, be it in the parking lot or in the office when nobody’s around for a couple minutes.
On the brighter side of things, Max likes going to school now. Until ten or so days ago, parting at the nursery school gate was a big ordeal; crying baby and guilt-ridden parent. Now, however, his face lights up when he sees the school coming up, and last week he even slammed the gate shut on Nam – it’s nice picking him up now as well, since he smiles after not seeing you all day and doesn’t cry anymore. It’s kind of a highlight of the day, now. It’s easy to forget that we were contemplating pulling him from school altogether and waiting until he was older just a couple weeks ago… Your child’s tears make you act drastically at times.
Mina is almost 2 months old (born Dec. 6) drinking milk at an incredible rate, weighs over 5 kilos (born at 3.5), and has GROWN OUT OF HER ONESIES. She is now wearing the biggest size onesies that Max was wearing at 6-8 months. She punched me square in the eye this morning and it hurt.
OK, it’s my turn on the mic again, gotta go.
Pulling plugs again
The Kujira Crown has a mysterious problem with its plug contacts corroding at a high rate – enough to affect performance after just two or three weeks. I originally thought it could be fixed by using colder plugs, but that hasn’t helped at all. As it turns out it doesn’t seem to be caused by the engine running hot at all – the Crown’s been parked for a month since I haven’t renewed insurance on it yet. I pulled the plugs once and cleaned them a few weeks ago and only started the car to keep things running a couple times during that period. However, I took it for a spin around the neighborhood after the battery died last week and noticed the low end was really weak and sputtery, so I pulled the first plug. Corroded green again. Back to square one.
I pulled the rest of the plugs today in anticipation of insuring and using the car again next week, and found water on the threads of plugs number three and five. I hope that doesn’t mean something too bad. I’m drying everything out with a fan and under the sun this afternoon. Perhaps it is not too much to ask that this solves the problem.