Some generally neat websites

Lifehacker - general tips and advice.
Deadspin - sports commentary.
Things you'd never believe you'd find in NYC

found via PC Magazine's Top 99 Undiscovered Web Sites and The Top 101 Classic Web Sites of 2006

(no subject)

Puppy Bowl III
(not quite as interesting as the game, which thanks to the rain had many turnovers, but definitely more interesting than the commercials - only the careerbuilder.com ones stood out to me, the ones with the white collar workers in the forest fighting it out.)

Web 2.0

Ever wonder what the heck "Web 2.0" refers to? I'd heard about Web 2.0 on this blog or that blog from time to time, but had assumed it was just in reference to the project to create an academic-specific Web separate from the larger WWW, which would be faster by being run on separate servers and landlines AFAIK. Turns out that wasn't it at all. Its more of a paradigm shift in how the Web is thought of and used, I think.

This video does a great job introducing the concept in an entertaining and educational way. "The idea is that by separating the content from formatting restraints, we can better use, exchange, connect…" (which I take in part to mean, programs like FrontPage have made knowing HTML unnecessary for creating usable web pages, although I believe the idea is more about XML).

My only quibble: I don't think "we" as individuals will be the ones organizing it. Creating it, yes, but not organizing. As John Dvorak has asked, is the only solution to finding stuff on the web the search engine/Google concept, where virtually the whole Web has to be stored on servers somewhere in order for it to be queried? Unfortunately, right now, that's all there is.

(hat tip: Armed Liberal @ WoC)