The Matt Effect

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot

So, I just found out that I made Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.  My comments?  I’m not too surprised.

If you are anyone on the tech scene, or you’ve ever read an edition of Wired, you know about Digg.com–the user powered news service. But is Digg really oriented on bringing the user news? From a look at their content, not entirely.

With a quick glance at the stories that are on the front page right now, it is unfair to classify some of these as “news.” As of 9:41 pm EST, November 19 2006 the following stories are on the (technology) front page:

• The Top Ten Things I Love Most About Woz

• Ejector - Eject ANYTHING from your Mac

• UK RFID Passports Cracked Already

• How Apple’s Mail can greatly reduce spam, if not make it go away completely

• Real time graphic equaliser made from FIRE!

• BIZZARE Moving Optical Illusion

• Worlds Highest Website

• Yahoo’s Brad Garlinghouse Makes His Power Move

• Al Jazeera International chooses Apple Technology

• Walmart getting a lot of Zune returns?

• The easiest way to send Super Large Files!

• Customers Angry about no Nintendo Wii on Amazon.com

• Google Web Search - Sexy Dark Blue Redesign and more!

• Microsoft Lied to Novell. See a Patten Here?

• 1043 programming exercises

Of those, I would consider a grand total of 3 links “News Quality.”  The rest?  Well you decide, they included: A fan’s blog entry, a link to an application, and email tutorial, a YouTube Video, a Flash file displaying an optical illusion,  a website that seems to be about.. nothing, a blog entry about the Zune, a file sending service, link to amazon.com comments, Google screenshots, and a programming reference page.

Not exactly what I’d call CNN Headliners.

And how about this story?  Even if it doesn’t make it to the front page, it is still on the site isn’t it?

As you can see, the community isn’t the greatest lot of editors for people looking for tech news.  This is why Slashdot is not dead, nor is it in danger.  Digg is not a tech news site, and Slashdot is.
So if Digg isn’t a  news site, then what exactly is it?  The classification that seems most fitting is “Content Portal.”  Digg is a content-rich collection of information, not necessarily news, that its users find important.  If users want to share something, the Digg it.  If they don’t, they don’t.  But we as a group of everyday techies are not editors, and we certainly aren’t weeding out the extras.  So please, don’t call Digg a news site.  It is not.

The latest installment to the MCR record collection is nothing short of awesomeness.  The album brings a new twist to the former vampire-themed underground band.  The album, supposedly, is a rock opera in which the main character dies, and journeys the earth.  Gerard Way and the gang have certainly show their stuff on this CD.  The band as a whole has some obvious influences including Queen, Pink Floyd, and possibly even The Rolling Stones.  But don’t be fooled.  This is still the same MCR you’ve come to love over the past couple years, just imagine them ten years older.

With evident vocal effort (and a success at that) along side beautiful guitar accompaniment,  this CD marks a high point in this young band’s career.  Unfortunately for them, they have now set the bar really high.  While they seem very experienced, just how young these guy are is still evident.  The album wasn’t as much of an evident “Rock Opera” as I was expecting; but none the less, it was very well done.

Matt Rating: 

1. He’s really bad at writing batch files
2. His site sucks. No one goes to it.
3. His IRC room sucks. No one goes to it
4. He has his own IRC command to get people thrown at him
5. He has a horrible taste in music
6. He plays soccer
7. His roof is made of tin
8. He sleeps with little boys
9. He thinks Alt-F4 will fix his hotkeys
10. His blog is pink

10. His hobbies include singing in church, being quiet on trips, and diabetes.

So today is the official release of (+44)’s debut album, When Your Heart Stops Beating. It is comprised of 2/3 of the original members of Blink-182: Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker. Added to the mix are Craig Fairbaugh and Shane Gallagher. I must say, this CD was better than what I anticipated, but its certainly not blink. (+44) has a more poppy feeling, mixed with ballads of depression. Certain songs like When Your Heart Stops Beating, Lycanthrope, and 155 bring back the feeling of childish punk rockers. However, the more solemn songs like Weatherman, Little Death, and No, It Isn’t are a sure sign that these guys have grown up, and have more to say than just “I wanna have sex with grandpa”.

If you’re into punk or alt rock, I’d definitely recommend this cd. It gives a different feeling to the scene of music, and it’s not just your generic “alt group”. Overall, I think Hoppus and Barker did a fantastic job.

Matt Rating:

Well, I must give lots of props to Jeff for coming up with this idea.  This is a very cool service now offered by Besttechie, and I think many people will find it quite useful.  Wordpress is a very simple, yet very useful blogging system, and what else is cooler than having your own page on Besttechie?!  This is going to bring new members to our community, and help our current community grow to communicate with each other even more.

Jeff: fantastic idea on your part.   I hope to see this blogosphere grow beyond beliefe!

Matt