Actually, the announcement was last Friday, May 17, 2008.
For older web dorks – such as me – Webmonkey was required reading. Thau’s Javascript tutorial, how to used PHP & MySql to create dynamic sites (wow! how revolutionary!), the lastest shots in the Browser Wars – Webmonkey had it all.
And now it’s back, as a Wiki.
If you’ve never checked it out, do so.
Those of you who have, well, I’m sure you’re as pleased as me.
Tim Bray – whom I respect as much as any tech blogger out there – writes about how we are at multiple inflection points tech-wise today.
Read the whole thing; check out the comments, as well.
What’s somewhat hard to understand – especially for younger techies (I’m nearing 50) – is that all this programming/networking/computer stuff is really really young.
The Web – depending on what event you pick to commemorate the birth – is only 10-15 years old. The personal computer – as we know it today – about twice that old. And today’s iPhone can pretty much kick the ass of any computer built before 1960 or so.
The Industrial Revolution began almost 200 years ago; the computing revolution pretty much began during World War II, and it really didn’t come out of the lab until the 1970s.
I think Tim is right – a lot of things are up for grabs right now; a lot of work is going on making what we now consider normal in one category (programming languages, networking and so on) to be considerably different tomorrow. It may not even resemble what we are currently familiar with. Consider how GUIs displaced command-line interfaces and cloud computing – long the fear of Microsoft and led to the infamous Browser Wars – is now becoming a reality. (And people wonder what MS sees in Yahoo…it’s the cloud, stupid.)
Clay Shirky gave a much-blogged-about speech at the Web 2.0 conference this April, and I’ve wanted to read it (not much for watching same), but I haven’t stumbled upon a transcript – until now.
(Looking for video of the event? Head over to Jeremy Zawodny’s blog…)
It’s a nice snapshot of where we are today internet-wise, with some ponderings on the future – with no real answer. Just that we are on the brink – or at the beginning – of something huge.
Highly recommended.
SickoIs it one-sided? Yes.
Is it sensationalistic? Yep.
Does it cherry pick item to get the biggest bang for the buck? Of course.
But the discussion of how the U.S. – the richest country in the world – can’t provide the same level of basic health care as less-affluent countries for those who need it the most (i.e. the un-rich) is breathtaking.
Really makes you think, and makes one somewhat ashamed to be an American.
Over at Kottke.org, Jason points to a list of the 50 Greatest TV shows ever.
Now lists such as this always create controversy (how come my favorite show isn’t on the list??), but this one is so off the charts strange that it’s tough to take seriously.
As Kottke points out, it contains way too many new shows (Dexter is in its third season, and it’s already one of the top 50 of all time?) and some of the rankings are, well, odd. Buffy the Vampire Slayer at No. 2? WTF?
But for me, this list is highly suspect for what it is missing. It is missing ALL of the following shows:
Now, you could quibble with any one or more on this list, but can anyone really say NONE of these shows rate a top 50 ranking? That’s weird.