Well, that was fast. It took me about six hours before I cancelled that Verizon DSL service I'd signed up for. I needed technical support because of an issue related the wiring in the building (my apartment is wired up, but isn't properly connected to the local loop) and instead of getting someone to help I was merely passed from person to person. After the EIGHTH person passed the buck, I told them to connect me to someone who could cancel my service. After that person transferred me to someone who could actually do that -- no joke! -- I cancelled. One interesting factoid: if you tell them you're going to cancel, even if you've only been a customer for a few hours, they'll offer you two months of free service (obviously I didn't bite).
Five days
Ah, yes, five days without internet access at home, all because someone disconnected the one cable feeding our entire building. Guess it doesn't help that the junction box is easily accessible from our roof -- or that it's just a rusting piece of junk. It didn't help that my EV-DO backup totally crapped out, too -- I couldn't get connected for more than 30 seconds at a time. The solution? I just did something I swore I'd never do: I signed up for Verizon DSL so that I'll always have a backup.
Creativty Now and Creativity Then
I've been kicking it at Tokion's Creativity Now conference this weekend, and so far it's been disappointing. All of the discussions today have been meandering and pointless, with nearly every panelist (apart from Cory Arcangel) seemingly to the oblivious to the explosion of creativity that's taking place online right now, with few insights into where the real energy is today. It's as if the past five years of the internet never happened. Not that there aren't tons of smart, interesting people at the conference; it's just that most of them are in the audience, not up on stage.
One other thing I couldn't help but notice: this is the first conference I've been to in years where there isn't a single laptop out -- no one in the audience is blogging anything that's going on. I suppose that's fitting.
Me in the media
It's true, I'm doing my best to become overexposed:
BusinessWeek.com's readers picked Engadget as one of their favorite blogs, and somehow this pin-up shot ended up in the October 9th issue of the magazine. I was hoping I'd score a centerfold, but no such luck. [Thanks to Jill for snapping that photo and Dave Z. for the scan!]
Paul Gillin is writing a book called The New Influencers, and as a part of the book he's profiled Robert Scoble, Steve Rubel, Dan Bricklin, and....me! The book is being published by Quill Driver Books next year, but in the meantime he's posting the book up now and inviting readers to correct any mistakes and comment on what he's written. The chapter about me is here.
When I was in Amsterdam this past July I sat down for an interview with Tonie van Ringelestijn from Bright. I can't actually read the interview, but every issue of Bright I've seen makes a convincing case for learning Dutch.
I scored some serious time on Danish TV this past weekend. Yeah, that's right. DANISH TV. Even though most of Dags Dato's segment, "Eksplosion af Blogs," is in Danish, they decided to subtitle, rather than dub, in my dialogue. This link should work, but I think it'll only work in IE.
And as far as I know, you can still catch me every Wednesday evening on HGTV's I Want That! Tech Toys.
Lost lost?
Alright, I can't be the only one who was disappointed with last night's episode of Lost. The first five minutes or so weren't bad, but the rest of the episode was just a meandering mess. I can forgive the occasional drab episode in the middle of February -- it's hard to keep the momentum going for 23 straight episodes -- but they sort of have an obligation to nail the season premiere if they expect people to stay interested and keep watching, don't they? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll pick it up and move the plot forward over in the next couple of episodes.