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22 Jan 2010 12:30

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Offbeat: Star Wars Kid, the sequel: An awkward sword expert in a sweatsuit

  • Remember “Star Wars Kid“? It was one of the earliest viral videos and it ruined the kid’s life for a number of years, mainly because he didn’t put it online. This guy is like a grown-up version of “Star Wars Kid,” except he knows how to use his sword and perhaps doesn’t realize how awkward the sweatsuit and ponytail make him look. We look forward to this guy becoming a pop culture phenomenon, too.

28 Sep 2009 21:34

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Tech: Usability supergenius Jakob Nielsen: Don’t let fads suck you in

No matter your opinion of the controversial Nielsen – who wrote an early book on hypertext back in 1989 – he’s a fascinating interviewee. source

02 Jul 2009 15:06

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Biz, Tech: We want you to retweet this, but you won’t ’cause it’s self-referential

  • What the frack? It’s true. We want you to talk about us, but a recent set of statistics gathered by internet smart guy Dan Zarrella shows that you won’t retweet this because we’re talking about ourselves. Really, it plays into the viral nature of the Internet. You’re way more likely to trust your friends finding something than us saying it.
  • Other notes Zarrella also notes that if you want to be retweeted, you need to include a link. A link is key to the process, and nearly 60% of retweets have one (versus fewer than 20% of non-retweeted links). Also: Say something original. Make up some stuff! Use some unusual big words! Play on our emotions! But make sure it’s original.
  • Our takeThis explains a lot about how people use social media, but not everything. Seemingly everyone on Twitter’s a marketing expert who would like nothing better than for you to retweet them. Some people are better at this than others – the social media equivalent of Neil Strauss. But in the end, we don’t want to be gamed. source

05 Jan 2009 22:42

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Offbeat: Was Stonehenge a trance music hotspot?

An expert says it was perfect for ancient raves. Don’t trust him; he’s a DJ, too. source