oops. in a previous post, i mistakenly implied google chairman/ceo eric schmidt was going to be the commencement speaker at michigan’s graduation. i got my google peeps mixed up, b/c it was actually larry page who spoke. my bad.

one sentence review: not bad … for a geek.

tech guys are usually terrible speakers (craiglist’s craig newmark spoke at berkeley last year. he purposefully did not write a speech, and surprise, sucked harder than anyone i’ve ever seen in the hundreds of commencement speeches i’ve watched), but at least larry page was adorable, talking about his father and the michigan legacy that he is (page graduated from the engineering school back in the day). i don’t think page has ever been known for his oratory skills, but at least he was coherent. resounding praise, i know.

so “shakeup” might be exaggeration a little, but apparently people are up in arms about google’s new favicon (that little icon next to the URL. mine looks like an orange skunk). everyone has an opinion, and mine is that it rocks. google clearly heard about my anti-capitalization movement (use uppercase only if it’s required for clarity), and i support the move to simplicity. capital letters are only window dressing. spread the word.

speaking of favicons, two gripes:

1. google reader really needs to change theirs. it looks like an icon for some second-rate, pre-tetris children’s game. rounded corners? ick.

2. i HATE it when sites don’t have one. it makes my job really hard when my tab looks like this and all the icons are the same:

on gchat, appropriately.

Ben: you also wish you had a yellow dot
me: yes
me: i was thinking about this a lot
me: i wish we could choose from many dots to portray our emotions chromatically
Ben: all I want is a yellow.
Ben: I don’t need no f’ing mood ring
me: why yellow?
Ben: Yellow means “I’m probably here and welcoming your attempt at conversation with me, but don’t be offended if I don’t respond to you within the next 10 nanoseconds
Ben: well, we have green and red. yellow was the next logical “in-between” choice.
Ben: the political moderate of gmail status indicators.
me: hm
me: then what is orange?
Ben: orange is what red wishes it could be.
me: yeah
me: no one pays attention to red anymore anyway
me: i’m trying to start an anti-red revolution
me: so red means something again
Ben: I like that idea.
Ben: from now on, if I’m red, Im not talking.
me: hm. good idea
me: or at least respond in 30 min
me: as punishment
Ben: hahah.
Ben: and all the responses will be to berate the offender
me: yes
me: all caps
me: ARE YOU COLOR BLIND?
me: actually, green and red are unfortunate colors for the color blind
Ben: RED = STFU
Ben: well, that would make for an interesting world.
Ben: at least the red/green color blind people.

the conversation then devolves into confusion over colorblindness, but you get the point. let’s give the red dot meaning again!

yes, i’ve gone and done it and put some ads on my site. i’d tell you to click on them so i can get money, but that’s illegal, so i’m not telling you to do that. i’m more interested in what kind of ads google finds appropriate for my site. want a pet skunk? well now my blog tells you how to find them …

attention: from now on, my gchat status will always be green-dot available. i’ve come to realize that every time i say i’m away when i’m actually sitting at my computer, i am living a lie. let’s be honest: the only times i’m actually away are when my gchat is off completely or when i’m idle (orange dot). i’m not fooling anyone, and it certainly doesn’t stop people from messaging me.

the whole away status thing is a vestige from our AOL/AIM past anyway. remember when they wouldn’t let you have a custom status if you weren’t AFK? remember when they were called “AWAY” messages, but we all used them instead to indulge our narcissism with cute zeitgeisty witticisms? you totally weren’t cool if you ever put up “sleeping” in your message. no one cares what you’re doing. they want to know how you feel or in what clever way you’re doing it.

but now we have facebook and have google telling us it’s ok to tell people what we’re thinking, even when we’re around. thank you, google, for legitimizing our overblown sense of self-importance. thank you.