Teach Chrome New Tricks

When Google Chrome is open, you can press CTRL-M to open a user profile dialog box. Select the drop-down menu, select , give your profile a new name, and then Chrome will ask you if you want to make a shortcut for this user profile.

I said yes, then dragged the shortcut into my Windows Start area, right underneath the other Chrome shortcut that replaces the Internet Explorer option for Internet.

Awesome, huh? And for a while I believed some of the old posts about how Chrome didn't support multiple user accounts, like Firefox does.

Contest Entry

I noticed this link today on the Google home page:
Explore the world of Google books. Play the game today.

So, I did. The game walks you through several questions and requires you to use your Google-searching skills to search through Google Books to find the answer. I completed the game in just a few minutes. At the end of the game, you have a chance to submit your scores, and enter a contest. Today's entry prompt was, "In 50 words or less, describe what you think reading will be like 100 years from now."

50 words - it's harder to write shorter works than long ones [["I made this longer letter only because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter." (Brownie points if you can identify the speaker and leave it in the comments.)]]. Then I thought about some of the poems Jill has been sharing on her blog, so I decided to write a free form (is that the right descriptor?) poem as my 50 word answer to the prompt:

Reading -
What is that?
Today I gain knowledge
through a direct link to my mind.
Yesterday's books
are tedious -
why waste the time reading,
and thinking?
Just plug in and obtain.
The link gives me new thought
I can obtain with its key word.
Mind meld removes need to read.

Reading 100 years in the future -- what do you think?

No pictures, says this village

Google continues its march towards global domination in all things search-related as it recently released Street View for Google Maps in the UK. Coninuing to snap photos from the public roadways, Google employs contractors (I suppose) to drive their car around with a nifty camera on top taking pictures.

While I continue to be amazed that people don't know about Street View and all the amazing things it offers (from OSINT that ousted a U.S. spy plane base to finding directions to your friends house to the randomness of life), there are some who feel threatened by the views Street View has to offer.

In fact, The Times Online reported that a "Village mob thwarts Google Street View car." The article states, "Angry villagers formed a human chain to thwart the progress of a Google Street View car that was in the process of taking photographs of their homes."

Now, Google is very conscious of your privacy and has an easy way to request that pictures you feel invade your privacy be removed or blurred.

The townspeople argued that it would promote theft, targeted at the more affluent homes in the area. Balderdash! says one of the commenters:

Wouldnt it be easier and much more effective for a burglar to just walk past the front of your house? street view is after all, the view from the street? how can you invoke privacy laws when the photos are taken in a public place? I wonder if we'll see all the angry people in the pictures!! hope so.

Have you tried Street View yet? What do you think?

Google is smarter than Twitter

(No, this isn't just equating $$$$$ to IQ ... but that probably works, too.)

Twitter gives us the bird?

I saw this the other day and meant to post something about it. Spatially Relevant takes a few paragraphs to talk about the "interesting ... business dynamics" observed regarding social (micro?)networking phenomenon, Twitter. And provides a few suggestions for improvement. We'll see if anything happens with this ol' bird.