A few interesting links from the depths of teh interwebs:
- Singel-Minded: How Facebook Could Beat Google to Win the Net – Wired’s Ryan Singer makes an interesting case for Facebook to challenge Google in the realm of advertising. Right now, Facebook only advertises on their site (in a small, relatively tasteful fashion), but it’s only really a matter of time until they make the same move Google did with AdSense. And their advantage their is that Facebook has much more usable data about people than Google. The operative word there is “usable”, as Google certainly has lots of data about its users, but it seems Google’s mantra of “Do no evil” will come back to bite them in the ass. Google’s promised not to use search history and private emails, etc… to help target ads. Facebook has no such restrictions, and the ads on their site seem to be more targeted (they’ve recently been trying to get me to buy Neal Stephenson audio books, which would be a pretty good bet for them… if I hadn’t already read everything that guy’s written). This got me wondering, is targeted advertising the future and will people be ok with that. Everyone hates commercials, but would they hate them if the ads were for things you wanted? Obviously privacy is a concern… or is it? It’s not like Facebook has been immaculate in the area of privacy, and yet it’s as popular as it ever was. I don’t necessarily see it as a good thing, but it will probably happen, and somehow I doubt Google will take it for long without figuring out a way to leverage all that data they’ve been collecting…
- If We Don’t, Remember Me: Animated gifs have long been a staple of the web and while they’re not normally a bastion of subtlety, this site is. They all seem to be from good movies, and I think this one is my favorite. (via kottke)
- The Tall Man Reunites With Don Coscarelli for John Dies at the End: I posted about this movie back in 2008, then promptly forgot about it. I just assumed that it was one of those projects that would never really get off the ground (folks in Hollywood often publish the rights for something, even when they don’t necessarily have any plans to make it) or that Coscarelli was focusing on one of his other projects (i.e. the long-rumored sequel to BubbaHo-Tep, titled Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires). But it appears that things are actually moving on JDatE and some casting was recently announced, including long time Coscarelli collaborator Angus Scrimm (who played the infamous Tall Man in the Phantasm films), Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown. This is all well and good, but at the same time – I have no idea what roles any of these folks will play. None seem like the two leads (David and the titular John). Nevertheless, here’s to hoping we see some new Coscarelli soon. I think his sensibility would match rather well with David Wong (nee Jason Pargin). (Update: Quint over at AiCN has more on the casting and who’s playing what)
- Curtis Got Slapped by a White Teacher!: Words cannot describe this 40 page document (which is, itself, comprised mostly of words, but whatever). Its… breathtaking.
That’s all for now.