Craigslist on Google Video

Some random thoughts on Google Video: 1.) will it be a substitute for Blockbuster, netflix, DVDs, etc.? 2.) How does it compare to iTunes video downloads? 3.) Will there be anything of educational value there, and if so, will they offer a teacher discount? If I find out anything, I'll report back.

In the meantime, there's a video called "24 Hours on Craigslist," which looks interesting. According to the Mercury News, Craigslist had 8.7 million visitors in September of 2005. The same article, excerpted below, compares Craigslist to a new service by - of course - Google.

"EBay and craigslist are the dominant online marketplaces for now. But there are signs that Google may try to shake up the status quo. The Mountain View company recently launched Google Base, an online database that accepts a variety of content from individuals, including classified listings. And Google has also filed a patent application for a service called Google Automat, aimed at making the posting of classified-type ads fast and easy. As usual, however, the company has been vague about its long-range plans."

The Power of Randomness

"It seems that creativity will flourish when we increase our chances for seemingly random events to occur. The best way to work this randomness into our thought patterns is to develop the habit of being exposed to new ideas, people and concepts on a regular basis. If we take the time to plan for this randomness by limiting our distractions, we can increase our ability to solve problems."


The quote is from Mark Sincevich, writing in his column called Creative Corner, which appeared in the latest Small Business Opportunity Magazine.

The blogosphere and Internet as a whole, certainly, are great ways of increasing the power of randomness.

About the photo: it comes from a site called VisualComplexity.com .

"VisualComplexity.com intends to be a unified resource space for anyone interested in the visualization of complex networks. The project's main goal is to leverage a critical understanding of different visualization methods, across a series of disciplines, as diverse as Biology, Social Networks or the World Wide Web. I truly hope this space can inspire, motivate and enlighten any person doing research on this field."

"The intent of WebTraffic is to develop prototype 3D visualizations of online behaviour - user paths across cyberspace. The project is lead by Antoine Visonneau, with colleagues in the Center for Design Informatics, Harvard Design School. Their latest designs used VRML to visualize traffic within a website, with the vertical gray bars being individual pages and the red lines links between them."

Note: Wouldn't it be interesting if one of these visualizations of online behavior turned out to look like dendrites in the brain?