Your new neighbor: EveryBlock Chicago
May 4th, 2008
Filed Under News | Leave a Comment
With the current barrage of ‘Web 2.0′ type sites out there, a new one emerges for Chicago and its many neighborhoods. EveryBlock Chicago is sort of a mashup, combining crime data from the Chicago Police Department, news articles relevant to a neighborhood from the local papers and media outlets, license and inspection data from city public records, business reviews from Yelp!, and a while lot more.
EveryBlock could be, in my opinion, quite useful, as it eliminates the need to go search ChicagoCrimes.org, Yelp!, the city’s website, etc. to get the most up to date info about my neighborhood. The site also allows me to explore other neighborhoods throughout the city, handy if you’re considering a move to a new neighborhood, or just trying to find out what to do and where to avoid. I think once this site gets some publicity and gains some traction, it will be a must-check site for many in the city.
Google Maps + Chicago Transit = WIN!
April 8th, 2008
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Google Maps has finally teamed up with the CTA to provide route information, as well as directions using transit. They give a few examples, such as O’Hare to Wrigley Field, Midway to Comiskey Park (Sorry, guys, I refused to call it US Cellular Field or The Cell), and University of Chicago to the Sears Tower.
Just in testing a few locations from my home to other destinations around town, it seems to give very reasonable directions via train and bus. And as a bonus, it doesn’t do stupid things like make you take a bus for a 1 block walk. Yay Google!
The Great Ringtone Debate
November 5th, 2007
Filed Under Rant | 1 Comment
I’m a big fan of Gapers Block, a local Chicago site. One of the regular features of Gapers Block is “Fuel,” a forum where a question of the week is posted, and the users answer and debate. The current topic is “What’s the ringtone on your cellphone?” This seemingly has turned into an anti-cellphone and anti-ringtone diatribe by many users. To quote one user, C-Note, “Vibrate. Ringtones are for shitheads.” Now, I realize that there are many, many people who have really bad ringtones — really loud unintelligible rap or the really loud unintelligible attention-seeking female starlet du jour. I hear it on the streets, trains and buses.
But I take a different approach to ringtones. First, I make my own. I’m not really interested in paying $2.99 or more to my provider (in my case, ‘The new at&t’) for a ringtone. Furthermore, I don’t like their selection. I tend to make my own. It’s fairly easy. I use an audio editing program, and trim the song or sound effect down to ringtone size, and upload it to my phone. I end up with higher quality tones that are usually unique. For instance, my ringer for business calls is an office phone (sounds like the phone ring they use in 24). I also have my phone set up to ring differently depending upon who is calling me, so I know before even looking at the phone whether I want to answer it or not. There is a camp which believes the phone should always be on vibrate. I, however, miss a lot of calls when the phone is on vibrate because I don’t always have the phone in my pants pocket. If its in my coat, my hoodie, or plugged in to the charger in another room, I would invariably miss calls. And being self-employed, missing calls is not a good thing.
Not all ringtones are bad. Sure, there are offenders more often than not, sonically assaulting you in public. But when done right, with moderation and taste, ringtones are a good thing.
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It's Web 2.0, baby.
