A couple days ago I installed Helvetireader a script for firefox that gives Google Reader a spiffed-up interface centered around a cleaner look.I hadn't really even used it enough to weigh in my two cents on the subject when Google itself released an update to their standard interface:It not only cleans up the look with a plainer font but addresses some organizational issues by allowing you to collapse some of the side bars. This is a design issue I've been looking for for some time since if you have a healthy (insane?) amount of feeds the sidebar can quickly become difficult to maneuver. Here's hoping this marks the beginning of more improvements for the interface. Or perhaps someone will have to prod Google into making a move with yet another hack.Where are the Gmail like themes? (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

Buzzfeed links to a new trend I have to admit the title is definitely more interesting than the execution ... but oh what a concept... (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

Just saw this commercial on the T.V. during my riotous trip to California. This little Bluetooth headset-looking thing is basically a gigantic hearing aide. Hear the emcee yell at your Bingo! game.. creepily spy on your neighbors and children. Bring to parties to eavesdrop/stalk attractive women! It's amazing! (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

Shaq on TwitterKottke has an extensive assesment of Shaq's ventures into the Twitter-verse. Certainly interesting and certainly one of the most all encompasing examinations of anyone's Twitter-workings. (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

A recent skirmish with net neutrality led me to actually use a Yahoo proxy to access Google. Apparently "I'm feeling lucky" doesn't translate very well into Chinese and then back to English. (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

I love the beginning of this trailer. I hear the movie is good as well... (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

This article by the New York Times was on Digg's front page and by now must be common knowledge. The sacrifice of privacy our new president-elect must make will undoubtably be difficult especially since, as this article points out, Obama is as addicted to his smart phone as the rest of modern, western civilization. What was more astounding to me, however, was this sentence from the article: "Mr. Obama, however, seems intent on pulling the office at least partly into the 21st century on that score; aides said he hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American president to do so."Really? Really? First president to have a laptop on his desk? I can't say I would be shocked to discover that Bush was a technophobe -- I understand the luddite philosophy even if I disagree with it. But if Obama were to for some reason not use a computer I would fear for our country. So a step in the right direction but shockingly one 16 years over-due (if not more). (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

Check out this park and landscape in Prague. I have mixed feelings about modernist architecture. It always looks amazing in photography but often is bleak and imposing from the ground level. More recent construction like this, however, re-writes the perspective on a human scale. It looks very functional, almost inviting. (via bad banana blog) (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

ironic sans has a brilliant post featuring Google street views of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (the address for the White House in D.C.) from around the country. Suffice to say the address in each town does not always live up to it's famous counterpart. (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)

For reasons I cannot go into at this time I have been advising over the course of the pass several weeks a person older than myself in the ways us younger people (can I still claim that?) use social networks. Most specifically we've been looking at Facebook and Twitter. I've been hesitant in my advice for a few reasons: 1. I am basing my lessons purely on my own personal observations with no real outside citations and 2. I have had at length conversations with others my age (I'm 28) about how we don't fully understand how people who are younger than us use these resources. However, in thinking about these things I have just proven correct one of my tenets of social web sites. I had been telling my tutee that Facebook is more casual and merely an extension of real-world relationships and twitter is a bit edgier in that it does not rely on approval for connections to be made. Instead Twitter is less about friendship and more about reputation. Browsing around the web today I just discovered some evidence which seems to prove me correct.I just read an article from Kottke.org about Facebook and Twitter and decided to look Jason Kottke up on both networks. Given Jason's status as an internet celebrity it's not surprising he has a large number of Twitter followers (nearly 10,000 as of this writing). A glance at his Facebook page is quite a contrast, however. He has a mere 13 friends. Interestingly he does have a public profile meaning that anyone can browse through a large amount of info on him -- that's something for a separate post.This probably comes as no surprise to anyone who regularly uses both forums but given that I have been teaching someone social etiquette on these sites it's nice to have outside verification of my assumptions. I wonder if anyone has done a comprehensive book on how people use Web 2.0. I suspect that it would be outdated shortly after writing it. Until then we'll have to live with Internet Party as a singular source on the topic. (originally published at natecooper.net read more there)