Posterous, Tumblr, Twitter... which do you use?

I just signed up for Posterous. Their whole focus is that you can very easily post through email. That's fine and all, but Blogger and Tumblr (and maybe even WordPress) all offer that, too.

Anyway, I'm checking it out and wondering what you use for your publishing endeavors: Blogger? WordPress? Tumblr? Twitter? Posterous? I know there are more, dozens more. I'm sure I've signed up for a few that I've forgotten about.

Vote on which ones you use in the poll (upper right corner) and then leave word in the comments about which is your favorite and why.

My own experience on the Main Street Plaza

Image courtesy of Flickr.

"Two men say they were singled out and treated unfairly by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because they're gay. Salt Lake City police arrested the two for trespassing when they were asked to leave the Church's Main Street Plaza but refused to do so," reported KSL earlier this month.

A lot has been said about it. The first I heard of it, it went something like this: "All they did was kiss each other on the cheek and they got arrested!" I was doubtful that was really the case. Regardless, that's what was being circulated around the 'nets. I patiently waited to hear both sides of the story.

Not too long after, the Church released a statement saying the two men "engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol." Well there ya go. However, the misinformation had already been spread, nationwide protests have been scheduled, and bad things are still being said about my church and my faith.

I believe the Church was, and is, completely within their rights to enforce the rules they have on their private property which, by the way, are very strict. Allow me to share a personal experience I had on the Main Street Plaza.

One night I was there as part of an LDS youth group. It wasn't a huge group, maybe a dozen of us total, including leaders. While we were there, a security guard came out to talk to us because apparently we were getting too "rowdy" (I use that term loosely because I personally wouldn't have considered our behavior as disruptive). He was polite, but firm. Of course we toned it down a couple of notches, no harm done. But keep in mind - we were there as part of an LDS church activity... with our Bishop and they came out and told us to behave.

This experience illustrates two things:

1. They're strict.
2. They're strict with everyone.

I'm absolutely confident if a heterosexual couple was engaged in "passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol" the actions taken would have been the same as what happened to these two gay guys. So please stop making hateful, angry comments about my faith (or anybody else's for that matter).

I feel like this sometimes

If needed, click the image for a larger view. Via xkcd.

Baseball hat FAIL

I don't think the FAIL should be attributed to the hat, but rather the person wearing it.

Via the FAIL Blog.

Architects never cease to amaze me

Check the awesome stair/kitchen counter integration here.

Upon further reflection on the concept, I can see how it might be problematic if you have pets and/or small children. Still cool though.

What do you think? Would you like this in your home? Leave word in the comments.

From here via swissmiss.

Why I paid $20 for a water bottle

I don't drink enough water. This morning I had four plastic, disposable water bottles in various places around my office. I save them from meetings with the goal of refilling them and being better about hydration (that's important you know). They're usually forgotten; my goal remains unaccomplished and my office looks even more cluttered.

On Saturday I bought a $20 water bottle.

I buy little 3x5 Moleskine notebooks and carry one with me everywhere I go. It costs $11.

Why does someone pay $20 for a hollow piece of metal with a lid or pay $11 for what essentially amounts to a stack of paper and a rubber band?

People pay a premium for brands for a number of reasons, but one of the main reasons is because they can drive people to act on their purchases. Allow me to explain.

I could jot down random thoughts and ideas on just about anything. Why pay $11 for a Moleskine notebook? It doesn't make me a better writer - but the brand and story behind the notebooks makes me want to write.

I had plenty of water bottles sitting in my office that would have served the purpose of providing me with water that I never filled. Now that I have a nice, stainless steel water bottle I drain the thing probably three or four times a day.

Which is worth more: A spiral notebook that costs a dollar that I never write in, or an expensive notebook that I love filling with thoughts, notes, goals and lists? As a consumer, I'm willing to pay more for products/brands that inspire or engage me in some way or another.

If someone gets a pair of running shoes they're excited about, they're more likely to go running.
If someone gets the nicer paintbrushes, they may spend more time working at their painting.
If someone is excited about their water bottle, maybe they'll drink more water.

The challenge for companies is to create brands and products that engage and inspire so people are willing to pay more.

What brands/products do you get excited about? Are there any that inspire you? Let me know in the comments.

Moleskine photo courtesy of Flickr.

Estimation

This hilarity is brought to you by xkcd.

Awesome: an example of augmented reality (on the iPhone)

Awesome stuff. It's nice to see this kind of thing becoming available mainstream.

What kind of augmented reality app would you like to see on your phone? Leave word in the comments.

Via Zach Holmquist.

Music video done entirely with webcams

Talk about an editing nightmare. Not to mention directing all that. However, I think it was well worth it. The overall effect is refreshingly original.

Wow. It actually happened. Google announces they're developing an operating system: Chrome OS

The gauntlet? Thrown down. The line in the sand? Drawn. The end? Is near. True to numerous rumors over the last few years, Google announced today that it is developing an operating system, meaning it will join Windows, OS X and Ubuntu in the OS wars. It will be called Google OS Chrome (borrowing the name from Google's browser).

"...The operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web," said Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management at Google. Hmmm... think he's talking about Windows?

If Microsoft felt threatened about how much time people were spending in online apps versus their expensive (and bloated) desktop apps, they should be peeing themselves about now.

"We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. ...Most of the user experience takes place on the web. ...Users [w]on't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work."

Think about it: what do you do on a computer?

• Search for things (browser, obviously)
• Email (browser)
• Social networking (browser)
• Listen to music (more and more it's the browser, thanks to sites like Pandora and Last.fm)
• Look at friends' pictures (browser)
• Word processing (possible in the browser via Google Docs and others, although not very popular...yet)
• Spreadsheets (see above)
• Cropping/editing photos (browser - have you checked out Photoshop.com?)
• Chat (available in the browser through Gmail or sites like Meebo.com)

So if we're spending all this time doing things online (for free), why pay Microsoft $500 to upgrade Windows and Office, hmmmmmmmm?

That's exactly the question Google hopes you'll ask yourself.

This also has the potential to (eventually) have an adverse affect on the hardware market. As more and more of what you do involves being online, how much do you care if Intel releases their new Core i7 processor Extreme Edition? Unless you're a gamer or doing processor-intensive work (video editing, AutoCAD which, really, could be done from a server somewhere if we had the bandwidth most of Europe enjoys) a lot of what you do on your desktop can be executed on a server in the middle of North Dakota.

Your computer can just be a browser. Period.

Of course, this is the idea behind netbooks which have proven quite popular (Sprint is even offering a netbook for 99 cents) and is where Google OS Chrome will first launch...just in time to make people wonder if they should pay for Windows 7.

UPDATE: In the words of Michael Arrington: 

Don’t worry about those desktop apps you think you need. Office? Meh. You’ve got Zoho and Google Apps. You won’t miss office. Chrome plus Gears plus Google Wave plus HTML 5 and web platforms like Flash and Silverlight all combine into a single wonderful computing device. The Internet Is Everything. All the OS has to do is boot the damn computer, get me to a browser as fast as possible and then stay the hell out of the way.

URGENT: Dream come true or hellish nightmare?

The assimilation has begun. Starting April 17, 2010 our frozen, furry adversaries to the north are selecting people at random and will make them Canadian citizens - even if they don't live in Canadia. Seriously. I'm not joking. I would never joke about something like this:



Does this scare the $#%! out of anyone else?

Sure, they dress it all up as if we're going to be happy about it, dancing around our bedrooms while hockey players and mounties make sure we drink ourselves into a maple syrup-induced stupor. Pure propaganda. Do you know who else used such propaganda to make people feel good about trying to take over the world while he trimmed his little, square mustache and greasy comb-over? Exactly.

Sadly, my conspiracy "theory" was right. I always thought the idea of hoarding guns and ammo in a fortified basement-turned-bunker was for nut jobs and wackos but you'd better believe I'm hitting West Valley tonight and not coming home until I have a trunkload of questionably-legal automatic firearms. With scopes.

How long until France does something similar?

Perhaps I'm overreacting. Maybe they won't try to take us by force (at first). In which case I actually hope they pick me and make a big deal about it and bring a bunch of news crews and cameras and reporters to my house because it would be one of the only times I'm my life where I would justify the blatant use of profanity and respond with, "#@$@#$$%^&*&$#@ no!"

What do you think? Am I overreacting or do you want me to save you room in our basement-bunker? Leave word in the comments and be quick about it - who knows how long it will be before they shut sites like this down. 

VIVA LA RESISTANCE!