Thanks to Tara Hunt for giving me an invite to Skitch. I’ve been jonesing to use this ever since I saw Guy Kawasaki demo it back in the beginning of the year.
Nothing too meaningful to say about it yet, other they’ve just completely replaced the aging, somewhat Macintel compatible, slow-as-molasses Snapz Pro. God, I can’t wait to uninstall that app. This is already so much easier and useful to use.
Not completely in the vein of the rest of the blog, but I thought I would throw this out to see what I got from all y’all.
So, my brother, his wife and their 4 year old are visiting Seattle for the next several days and my sister in law is worried we’ll just sit around the house and talk rather than going out and doing everything their is to be done while they visit.
While I’ve lived in Seattle almost 2 years, I still don’t know the area that well (certainly not as well as natives) and I came up with a counter itinerary to their original.
For first time visitors (with a 4 year old) to Seattle, here’s what I recommend:
There is a lot to see here that doesn’t involve going inside and/or paying anything.
This could include:
Downtown
Pioneer Square – oldest neighborhood in Seattle, hit Elliot Bay Books. I’m not sure if it’s the dirt or the old buildings that remind me of San Francisco the most.
Ballard
Chittenden Locks (free) – these are real, working locks for small, medium, large and xx-large boats. It’s really cool.
Fremont
The Troll, Lenin Statue and ICBM
Bainbridge Island Ferry (Free) – unless we take the cars.
I haven’t been to Bainbridge Island, but it sounds like a great place to visit. If nothing else, it’s a free ride across the Sound with sweeping views of downtown.
Snoqualmie Falls
Falls and town that were in Twin Peaks – taller than Niagra Falls
Golden Gardens or Alki Beach or Matthews Beach (free) –
in the city beach but only if it is nice and warm.
Discovery Park
Very large park (are we still in the city?)in Seattle with great views
Washington Park Arboretum and Japanese Tea Garden
As an aside, this is the first place I saw a bald eagle in the wild.
Rent Paddle Boats on Green Lake
Weather dependent.
Seattle Duck Tour
This is ridiculous, but maybe fun. Tour the city in vehicle that ultimately ends up in Lake Union and Portage Bay
$23 for adults $13 for kids.
Other thoughts and suggestions would be much appreciated.
So, I’m digging the new street level view on Google Maps. It is very cool to be able to walk around the streets of San Francisco (although for some reason, they couldn’t make it down my old street). But apparently the Google Bus is getting a little too close for comfort for some.
Today’s New York Times is reporting on a woman who saw her cat in Google Maps, in her second floor window. Yow.
Now, I’m all for new technology (and I love the street level view), but I could see where this might give you the heebie jeebies. From a privacy standpoint, I’m not sure where I stand on this, but if Google had pictures of me in a bathing suit (oh boy), I think I might be asking them to take it down too.
Wired has a great collection of interesting locations and people doing strange things that people have found using the new service (where the above image is from, um, but the other ones are real-ish).
Ah, Lee and Sachi LeFever, you’ve done it again! I love wikis, but often explaining a wiki to people who don’t use them can be difficult. And honestly, until Wetpaint, I didn’t recommend wikis to non-technical people as the wiki text used, while easier than HTML, isn’t that easy for non-techies to pick up.
Them: “what’s a wiki?”
Me “um, it’s a web page that anyone can edit”
Them“oh, like Wikipedia? you mean I can edit that?”
Me: “ya, like Wikipedia, except it can be about anything you want”
Them: “oh…That’s … kinda neat. But why would I want to make an encyclopedia about something else?”
Me: “no, no, it doesn’t have to be an encyclopedia. It can be anything you want it to be. It can replace long email threads, it can replace message board thread gone amuck with the same questions over and over again. Wikis are really versatile.”
Them: “oh… Hold on, hold on… Anyone can edit Wikipedia? How is it so good?”
Me: “Ugh.”
For a quick look at what a wiki is, click below for CommonCraft’s video. Thanks again for your help crystalizing this topic, Lee and Sachi.
Although a bit tedious at times, here is the video version of a ransom note explaining copyright law through the works of Disney. Happy Monday.
[via Slashdot]
If you want to veg out in front of the web this Friday afternoon, the brilliant Twittervision (and Flickrvision) guy, David Troy has put out a 3D version of the app. Not really useful, but really pretty and an impressive use of what you can do on the web these days with APIs and an active imagination.
It even works in Safari!
Twittervision 3D – no glasses required.
