Friday, November 04, 2005

Web hotness

  • An interesting way to look at airplane traffic. Occasionally the clutter and chaos of our everyday world can be made into something redeeming.

  • Yahoo! has updated their mapping service to compete with Google Maps, which has become the default map for many. It's a little slower than it should be and it uses Flash so some older comps may need to upgrade, but it has its own flavor, namely live traffic reports and it's only a Beta product so it will improve.

    And finally, a public service announcement

    The image “http://launchcast.launch.yahoo.com/radio/clientdata/1/images/clientlogo.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. = The image “http://www.stopdrugs.org/images/crack.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    Yahoo! Music LAUNCHcast RADIO is pure crack. A few weeks ago when I posted on it, it was a mere infatuation. Now it is a full-fledged addiction. I'm talking about a rob your grandmother, steal a stroller with a baby in it type of addiction. I avoid work depending on what is playing despite the fact that I can pause it. I have no problems admitting this. I think that is the first step towards beating any addiction. But I don't need to beat it. I can quit anytime I want. I'm in complete control here man. Who cares if I changed my Internet Service Provider just to get the Verizon Yahoo! DSL package that offers you the LAUNCHcast plus for free? You wouldn't have done the same? I could have lived with the monthly 600 song limit, restricted song skipping, garbled sound and "The Man Show" ads on repeat. I could have.

    LAUNCHcast has single handedly revitalized my interest in music. I don't have the time or money to buy all the CD's I am interested in and commercial FM radio has definitely failed to sate this desire. So I combined my tastes and curiosity with Yahoo's! vast database of music and advanced selection algorithm to create the ultimate radio station.

    What is so exciting is the fact that your knowledge and diversity in music fuels recommendations that just your expands your tastes even further. The more you listen and rate, the better it gets. The better it gets, the less music you have to ban and more music you have to write down to look up later. Not to mention you can listen to other people's custom stations.

    Startsnitching is my Yahoo! station.

    Where else can you get some suprisingly hip-hop influenced late Miles Davis, a drop of Modest Mouse, a little "Rocketman" and some "Gimme the Loot" to almost get you fired at work when you sing along a little too loudly?

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