http://amit.asaravala.com/ en-us amit@asaravala.com 2008-07-17T21:25:10-08:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001098.php Some friends are doing some cool stuff this week: Ben, who runs Virtually Blind and is an expert on legal issues in virtual worlds, has had an op-ed piece about the future of the Internet published in the Wall... 1098@http://amit.asaravala.com/ life 2008-07-17T21:25:10-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001079.php First, I'd like to say that the Wife is pregnant and we are having a boy. Yes, thank you. It's true. We are quite excited about this. But that's not the story I wanted to tell you. The real... 1079@http://amit.asaravala.com/ life 2008-01-20T23:23:34-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001071.php Yoda stamp the post office does release today (That's the headline as it shows up in my news reader. The actual headline on the article is different, but still amusing.)... 1071@http://amit.asaravala.com/ writing & publishing 2007-10-25T13:45:14-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001068.php 1068@http://amit.asaravala.com/ oddities 2007-10-01T17:05:29-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001055.php I'm pretty tough on products that have bad user interfaces, especially technical products. For instance, within three weeks of getting a Comcast (Motorola) DVR, I gave everyone who spent more than two minutes with me a treatise on just... 1055@http://amit.asaravala.com/ writing & publishing 2007-07-23T22:42:32-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001036.php I am enjoying a bottle of Hefeweizen from Gordon Biersch, a local brewery, when I notice that the label describes the beer as being full of "citrus, bubble gum, clove, and banana" flavors. I stop and imagine what it... 1036@http://amit.asaravala.com/ life 2006-11-21T21:13:02-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001023.php By itself, this story -- about a 74-year-old woman whose personalized license plate (NWTF) was rejected because some DMV employees think NWTF refers to a bit of Internet shorthand (wtf) -- is already perfect. But the fact that it... 1023@http://amit.asaravala.com/ writing & publishing 2006-08-07T21:54:49-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001021.php The latest issue of the New Yorker has an article about citizen journalism and discusses, in part, OhmyNews -- the organization that hosted me at the International Citizen Reporters' Forum in Seoul last month. I haven't quite yet decided... 1021@http://amit.asaravala.com/ writing & publishing 2006-08-03T22:05:36-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001020.php This one is for the in-laws, since I've been boring them with some of my posts recently and since every good editor knows it's never wise to alienate the core audience: The latest issue of Fortune magazine features a... 1020@http://amit.asaravala.com/ writing & publishing 2006-08-03T21:42:17-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001013.php Good lord. I've just returned from the conference on international citizen journalism -- at which many of the discussions focused on overcoming government and corporate censorship (both explicit and implicit) -- and the news today is uncannily about government... 1013@http://amit.asaravala.com/ technology 2006-07-17T21:41:18-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001012.php Greetings from the OhmyNews International Citizen Reporters' Forum in Seoul. The conference so far has been quite interesting: a good mix of stories from the people building publications based on user-contributed content; and from the people who are actually... 1012@http://amit.asaravala.com/ technology 2006-07-13T18:36:42-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001010.php I'll be at the OhmyNews International Citizen Reporters' Forum in Seoul this week, moderating a panel featuring Craigslist's Craig Newmark, Ourmedia.org's J.D. Lasica, and Witness's Bryan Nunez. We'll be talking about the technologies that are enabling (or could enable)... 1010@http://amit.asaravala.com/ life 2006-07-08T13:36:24-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001004.php I'm going to be giving a real brief talk at the Creative Commons Salon next Wednesday about how Creative Commons licensing is helping nonprofits get information about technology. There will be other speakers, too, giving much more interesting talks... 1004@http://amit.asaravala.com/ technology 2006-06-08T15:55:43-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/001002.php Buried at the bottom of an article about the University of Pennsylvania's commencement ceremonies: Comedian Yakov Smirnoff, who earned a master's degree in positive psychology, was among the approximately 6,000 graduates. "In America, Jodie Foster speaks at your university's... 1002@http://amit.asaravala.com/ oddities 2006-05-15T19:55:39-08:00 http://amit.asaravala.com/archives/000997.php From an article about magician -- er, endurance masochist -- David Blaine and his little accident last night: As early as on the second day of his challenge, Gunel said, there was evidence that Blaine was suffering liver failure;... 997@http://amit.asaravala.com/ oddities 2006-05-09T10:47:13-08:00