Gmail Labs

Have you used Gmail Labs?

Gmail Labs allows you to use experimental features. These add-ons are created by Google employees on their creative time. 20% of every employees’ time is supposed to be spent trying to think of something new and innovative. The Gmail engineers have an outlet for their 20% in the Gmail Labs.

There are many useful features in labs. I use Offline, Youtube Previews, Forgotten Attachment Detector, Mark as Read button, Undo Send, Title Tweaks, and Google Calendar gadget.

As you can see, Ihave faith in Labs, and it’s very easy to turn off if a script is making your Gmail hang.

Use it.

Mashups

I was thinking about mashups earlier today…

A mashup is a song that is actually all samples of many other, usually famous, songs. The point of a mashup is to constantly change the song but to make it sound smooth and natural. It’s really music A.D.D., you hear a clip of a song, and before you can get sick of it, theres a new song. The most notable artist of mashups is Girl Talk.

Now, the question is how legal, or rather, how ethical do you think mashups are?
Should they be allowed? If so, should each sold song give a tiny cut to every sampled artist?

Think about it…

Digital Media

We’re so used to optical media like CD’s and DVD’s (including Blu-ray) as being a cheap, disposable form of media.

Flash memory is becoming cheaper and cheaper almost daily.
Do you think that flash will ever surpass optical media in cheap disposability?
At that point, we would be able to distribute music and movies on a much more reliable and consistent format.

No need to worry about scratches, easily broken drives due to many moving parts, and truly large size.
Flash memory has become tiny, to the point that a CD looks almost archaic.

So, the question is, will flash be the memory to dominate them all?