几天前，Douglas Bowman决定去Google出任视觉设计主管（via InsideGoogle）。代表作有blogger.com（这个拿了best-looking Google homepage的奥斯卡）和Wired（blogger的模板，Wired的模板，更多模板）。1998年Douglas Bowman创立了Stop Design，设计风格粗放、浓烈、原生态，看上去又酷又现代。
他在Google的任务，是为所有的产品，建立统一的视觉语言表达。Google的品牌运作，开始进入形象的层面。不知这样的成熟，是否会削弱那种特立独行的酷？感觉上，Douglas Bowman的设计风格，比较符合Google的形象。
看来，无论N.0时代，好的设计永远是有需要的。
Info20余波未息，再说些胡思乱想，算是终结。
去图书馆的人越来越少，是个沉重的问题。但，好在我们并不孤单，比如：去电影院的人越来越少了，读纯文学的人越来越少了，看书/读报的人越来越少了。起码我们站在了高雅的队伍里，而且还有永远的明天。是的，书不会消失，阅读需求也不会消失，不过，大众的阅读行为和浏览习惯却一定会改变。
当“每一本书中的每一个词都被互相耦合、串接、引用、摘 录、排序、分析、注释、混合、重组，并且被融汇到比已往更深的文化中”（粗体为Keven所加），当书的片断通过“也许是近50年来最重要发明的链接和标签”，流淌到你的屏幕上时，坐在图书馆看书会不会成为一种奢侈的享受？
当去年11月美国国会图书馆宣布创建“世界数字图书馆（WDL - World Digital Library）”，第一笔300万美元的资助来自Google时，我们会高兴。当李开复把Google使命解释为“以前是问书本，现在是问互联网，问搜索引擎，将来还有更多的模式”时，我们会不会有些不爽？当Google拿出12亿美元巨资，以忽略回报的方式，来推出图书搜索、拯救全世界失传、绝版的书的时候，我们该是汗颜自身的无力，还是痛恨Google来分享使命抢夺饭碗？
看看Google的2.0运动。当Google把服务和收入相对分离的时候，就将会借助强大的商业基础，谋求进入社会公共管理的体系，成为人类社会的信息/知识中心。Google扛起了“整合天下信息”的历史使命，我们需要做些什么？
也许，我确实走得很远了，甚至走到了“敌人”的那边，让雨禅师“不屑”了，呵呵。不过，我还是想说：我是卧底！
| 米饭和包子打群架 米饭仗着人多势众 见了包着的就打 豆沙包 糖包 蒸饺无一幸免。粽子被逼到墙角 情急之下把衣服一撕 大叫：看清楚 是卧底！！！祝同志们端午节快乐 |
5月30日，IAB 和 PwC 宣布：2006年第一季度，美国Internet广告收入，达到创记录的39亿美元。较之2005Q1的28亿美元，增幅38%；较之2005Q4的36亿美元，增加6%。
“消费者的习惯在不断改变和成熟，对于这一快速增长的广告平台，企业在积极地投入更多的广告预算，以便在合适的时候抵达合适的受众”。
来源：PwC/IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report (www.iab.net)
美国网络广告市场收入的年度数据，1997-2005，单位：亿美元
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机器终于可以比较准确的解读了人的动作指令了， 而且还不用开颅这种酷刑。 这个故事告诉喜欢欺负身体有障害的同学的小朋友， 以后千万不要这么做了， 还击你的很有可能是和机械战警手臂一样强壮有力的胳膊……
不禁小小地想象了一下未来学校的腥风血雨， 以及男孩子们过年的时候最想要的礼物。
The Live Local team shipped a major update this week with a bunch of new unique features. Coverage in blogs and other online sites has been really positive, but they all seem to focus on the same couple of features. We wanted to spotlight some of the other goodies that are often overlooked, while also providing tips for the big ticket features that might not be obvious.
International Coverage
Until now, International support in Live Local has been thin, focusing on North America. Not any more! With this release we introduced maps all over the world, street address lookups in nearly 30 Countries and driving directions in places you’ve probably never heard of. You can just as easily get Directions form your Hotel to a club in Amsterdam as you can from the same hotel to one in Budapest. Also new in this release, we have begun rolling out super high-res aerial and birds eye imagery that you won’t find anywhere else online. The UK is the first area covered, but as promised we’ll just keep rolling out the imagery over the coming weeks. The Google Earth Blog has a good look at this feature and how it stacks up to competing offerings.
Live Messenger Integration
Probably one of the most useful features we’ve ever popped out. This lets you and a friend on your Messenger contact list navigate a single shared map! If you’ve ever tried to help a friend pick a hotel in a new city via phone or try to agree on a place to meet to throw a Frisbee, this is your feature. You initiate the Messenger conversation from within Live Local – Use the ‘Share -> Share in Messenger’ menu (just above the map) to display your Messenger Contact list. Choose a contact and they will be alerted to accept your invite. When they do, a conversation window will open with your map loaded from Live Local. When you drag the map, it updates on their display as well. If your friend does a search for Thai Restaurants, you both see the results. If you right click on the map to add a custom pushpin, it is displayed for both of you. Give it a try! Works in MSN Messenger 6.0 or higher including Live Messenger.
Microsoft Outlook Integration
Coinciding with the launch this week, a free Windows Live Local plugin for Microsoft Outlook hit the streets that integrates maps and driving directions into your calendar items and appointments. The must have feature here is the automatic buffering of a meeting’s reminder based on estimated travel time!
Traffic
Lots of coverage has focused on Live Local being the first major mapping site to offer traffic flow data drawn right on the streets as an overlay. Slick indeed, but when you add a layer of real-time Traffic Cameras for a region, you suddenly have an indispensable tool that you’ll bookmark and use everyday. Check this out in Houston for example. The traffic Camera overlay is via a bit of user generated content that takes advantage of another new feature in this release known as Collections. Check to see if a traffic cam Collection already exists for your city and if not why not be the first to create it. Your entire city will thank you!
Collections and Live Favorites
Collections are just what they sound like – a grouping of stuff on your Scratchpad that you want to save together. From a list of restaurant recommendations that your friends have told you about, to a Collection of your best hikes in Italy. Collections are easy to create and share, and with the integration we’ve added for Live Favorites, it’s also easy to keep track of Collections sent to you by friends that you want to recall later. Lets say they send you this Collection of Beach videos from TurnHere.com. In the viewer is an ‘Add to Favorites’ link that will add a permalink for the Collection to your live Favorites. You can then view all of your faves from within Live Local by going to the ‘Collections -> Favorites’ menu.
As you can see, we packed a lot into this release. Give it a try and let us know what you think. Your feedback will shape the next release, just as it has these past three. And for the coders reading this, all of the details of the latest map control and API can be found on Alex Daley’s blog so you can get started building all of this goodness into your own applications..
---Chandu Thota, Steve Lombardi and the entire Virtual Earth Team
