All posts by Chris

taking web 2.0 up a notch

Web 2.0

Brian Dear just posted a ginormous, well-thought-out post on “where Eventful and EVDB fit in the Web 2.0 universe”:http://blog.eventful.com/archives/2005/10/a_reponse_to_ti.html. It’s primarily a response to Tim O’Reilly’s post asking “What is Web 2.0″:http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html but it’s also leading up to the “Web 2.0 conference”:http://eventful.com/events/E0-001-000179267-5 this week.

I love how well we fit in this new ecosystem. I consider that a good sign, both about the Web 2.0 concept (it’s not just a buzzword) and about EVDB itself. Like I’ve said before, it’s really refreshing to work on something that’s both on the cutting edge and well-received by the general public.

UPDATE: Tim O’Reilly posted a nice response to Brian’s response:

bq. Brian Dear’s wonderful point by point analysis of how EVDB matches up with the points in my Web 2.0 meme map. I’d love to see more Web 2.0 companies giving this kind of feedback!

go see Serenity

Film

I rarely ask you to do anything for me, but this time I’m imploring you: go see “Serenity”:http://www.serenitymovie.com/ this weekend. Not later, not on DVD, but this weekend if you can. My motives are selfish: I want someone at SciFi to notice it and say, “Hey, that would make a good TV show.” Better yet, I want Mark Cuban to say, “Hey, that would make a good HDTV-straight-to-DVD/download show.” But that’s probably pushing it.

Just see the movie. I guarantee you’ll have a good time.

the family of tool users is growing

Science

Chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and even some birds have been shown to use (and sometimes even fashion) tools in the wild, for a variety of purposes. The latest find is that “gorillas use tools in the wild”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4296606.stm, which means that there isn’t a great ape that *doesn’t* use tools.

As much as the world hates to think this, it’s becoming more and more obvious that the difference between humans and other animals is one of degree, not of kind. We haven’t developed some innate difference, we just happen to have found a runaway combination of existing qualities like social networks, tool use, and language.

banned books week

Holiday! Celebrate!

It’s Banned Books Week, a time to celebrate our (rapidly shrinking) ability to read stuff that other people tell us not to. So go “do something naughty”:http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/actionguide/actionguide.htm and maybe read a book, too.

an eventful week

Technology

We just launched a complete redesign at work. The site is now called “Eventful”:http://eventful.com, and it’s geared toward making event sharing as engaging as possible. (The company is still called EVDB, but I won’t mind if you call it Eventful too. It’s easier to pronounce.) As I posted in a “comment this morning”:http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/001788.html:

bq. We worked like crazed beavers to get the new site out. Please do check out the new search features, the all-new social networking, and the brand-new levels of privacy on everything from calendars to venues. And the spiffy new sticker for adding events to your blog.

Once you have, please please please “let us know”:http://eventful.com/feedback what you like (and especially what you don’t). We’re still working like crazed beavers on that next rev…