YouTube is Google's first real community

11/28/2006

Now that the buzz has begun to settle, here are some rough thoughts on the pricey acquisition. It's been about a month yet the average YouTuber still feels gloomy that about the whole thing. Here are some quick and rough thoughts:

I highly doubt that the quality of the site is going to deteriorate. Google has a significantly high ratio of shipping great products and innovating spaces. Look at search, GMail, or Reader for a clue.
Copyright was an issue with/without the acquisition. Copyright is still copyright, and it will always be a threatening factor no matter what.
Google may integrate YouTube, or it's features into other Google products. Perhaps there will be more innovation with video search. Or perhaps Google could offer personalized search for YouTube - collaborative filtering and searching the site needs to be improved.
Sometimes Google releases cool open source tools. Maybe will see some scriptable goodies come out of the deal.

All this said, I think this is Google's first test at managing and sustaining a community. Orkut never hit critical mass, so I have never counted it as a big player. Yet this particular deal puts Google in the ranks of Yahoo! now. You can bet that greater emphasis will be placed on integrating YouTube users into the Google fold. Whatever may happen to Google Video is still questionable. A tip to Google: make each and every YouTube user feel comfortable. Comfort the community, and they will pay you back in dividends.

1200+ "sucky" product reviews

11/25/2006

I am in the market to replace my two year old PowerBook G4 power adapter, and was recently glancing through the Apple online store. On the product page, I could not help but look at all these bad reviews.

What depresses me the most is that Apple has not even fixed this issue - and it's been years. I suppose they have simply moved on to the new MacBook line (their adapters "suck" too). Some of these product reviewers have some really traumatic stories:

sparks + overheating + strange noises (some people in the reviews call it a "sucking" sound) produced by the adapter
fraying! - I thought these apadters were able to withstand the throughput
exploding chargers = fire

What sucks the most is that the cost for the adapter is $80! What a rip. Apple: fix your product accessories or you are going to lose 1200+ customers.

Glancing alternative song structures with Graphviz

11/23/2006

Here is the song structure - based on previous/next words of some of my favorite songs. Click on an image to see it in a larger size.

Incubus - Aqueous Transmission

Radiohead - Idioteque

Muse - Falling Away From You

Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (part one)

Foo Fighters - Aurora

Interpol - The New

Beatles - A Day in the Life

I am interested in comparing some of these alternative song diagrams to more radio/poppy ones. I might even try looking at all the tracks of an album too.

Note, I am leaving all the analysis to your interpretation. After all, music is an art. I am merely curious if it is possible to visualize a possible "hit?" At any rate, Happy Thanksgiving!