Will the Machines Love Us?

Is foursquare’s back-patting automation an indicator of the robo-lives we’ll one day live?

Here’s the scenario. You’ve spent a night out at a tech conference in Austin. You didn’t go over board but you did spend some time out. You “Checked In” as you stopped from party to party. And now, you enter your email (Gmail) and find…

Hey there -

Congrats! Your checkin to Speakeasy just unlocked Super Swarm – Know what you call a 50 person swarm at SXSW? The Hilton Lobby. So we upped the ante to 250 and you still nailed it. Well played!

A nice little note reminding you that someone cares. Albeit a pre-programed message, and an automated response – this type of thing could seriously become a mainstay of gps-tracking, online living, digital life.

Just my two cents.

Posted via web from My Posterous Blog

Yelp Review: White Rose Bar & Grill

White Rose Bar & Grill  

Categories: American (New), Seafood

Overall: The White Rose Bar & Grill has quite a bit to offer, generally though I'm willing to try another place first.

Weak points: Food. I haven't tried their signature Hot Rocks, which surely are an experience and -so they claim - real delight. I have had drinks, sandwiches, appetizers, and plate dinners.

Strong points: Atmosphere is defiantly a strong suit. The location is nice. The available off street parking is also convenient. And the building and table/seating is relatively elegant and of good, albeit a somewhat conventional, taste. There are multiple bars in the White Rose (three in total ~ for a real adventure travel to the smoke bar) and if you like having the game on, meeting type-A personalities, you'll probably like this place.  

In Conclusion: The White Rose is a little bit corporate and a little bit home town unique. It carries the emblem of the White Rose (York County) district, but hopefully not the essence in full. Brunch there can be nice, as they offer outdoor seating and it's hard to mess up brunch.

Posted via web from My Posterous Blog

On the Plane

Sitting  on the plane on my way to sxsw. Flipping between my counter-culture magazine and a book on gaining political and marketing power through effective communication a 7 inch monitor embedded in the back of the seat in front of me 20 inches from my face flashes with the hyper-consumerism my magazine tells me to subvert.

I'm glad for a depature of the norm. It is - at least half true - what they say, that, "the road heals all wounds". Luckily I'm already getting that "actualized" feeling that often comes with travel and i'm reminded even as i write of the history of travel writers. Their lineage is full with half-baked stories of fantasy too grand for illustration.

Yet, my hope entails the expression of these moments. Moments when the traveler finds something too great to express - something too grand to behold. Yet, there we go, traveling on into depths of self-discovery, into unchartered territories for perhaps the greater good, or even more possibly selfish reasons.

Whatever it is that compels us to travel, i'm content - for the moment - to simply propose my theories about it and document.

Posted via web from My Posterous Blog