The (mean) green mile

So, I took a tour of the lovely offices of the Fort Myers News Press in downtown Fort Myers, Florida yesterday to talk business about opportunities for my blog and bloviate about my experiences so far in SW Florida....

Anyway, long story long, I ran into this young, intrepid reporter named Ryan Lengerich, a strange fellow in a green shirt and Birkenstocks, who rides his bike to work everyday using the bus system--while on deadline!--during Florida's rainy season.

This may sound like no big deal to you but the buses down here in SW Florida are--to a native New Yorker and anyone from up north--, let's just say, quite deliberate *cough* pony express *cough.

I myself am without a ride until next week so I feel Ryan's pain and I made it a point to meet him and trade war stories about laying over for an hour between bus departures and not being caught after the dreaded cut-off time of 9 p.m.

His column about his bike + bus experiment to save gas money is very interesting and begs the question "what would you do to save gas money?"

Is it feasible to even bike to work in your city (for any reason)? What would you do if gas hit $5 per gallon as some predict before the end of summer (or $6.48 per, like in Amsterdam)?

What do you think?

Armstrong on CNN: Its time for the percolator?

Mario Armstrong aka THE client aka the multifarious one has added the role of professional percolator to his long list of crazy, media personalities. You have got to see what he pulls off on CNN!

Check it out here

And sorry for the janky hyperlink folks...But CNN doesn't offer embedded video clips (arrrghhh!)

But, Go Mario! The 3Free Media team is a-percolating with you...

Cambridge Study: Misspellings don't matter

Aoccrdnig to reeasrch codnucted at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are tpyed, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit odrer.

This is very interesting. But, it's about five years too late. I tried to explain to my journalism profs that misspellings were irrelevant but they didn't buy it. Where were these Cambridge brainiacs in college!?

Here's the study if you want to read further..

Web 2.0? What does that mean?

The title of this blog post is probably the defining question of my generation--the supposed "me" generation of YouTube, Ipods and MySpace.

What is "Web 2.0" is simple. It is not how you can use the internet, but the converse: how can the internet use you?

The Web 2.0 strategy--and I hesitate to call it a strategy because it's really just common sense--is to allow users to blog, upload and remix the internet as they see fit. No longer are users content with just idly standing by and watching the television. They want to take the narrative that you give them and add their own voice. In short, Web 2.0 is not just a fancy, one-liner. It's an actual conversation between man and machine.

If you're a visual learner, not a textual guy/gal like some of us, then you need to check out this epic video about the Web 2.0 posted by cultural anthropologist, Michael Wesch. It is the undisputed alpha and omega guide to Web 2.0 (with pretty cool visuals too)...