THE REINY DAY GUIDE TO TECHNOLOGY
May 2000
- Would you believe that in Japan, poop is cool? Plastic poop trinkets bring good luck? Is there anything that can't be commodified? And while we're on the bodily functions subject, if you have an open mind, you will probably be amused by the techniques offered at Let's Masturbate. If that isn't enough, check out the The Phallic Symbol Collection (especially this surprisingly distubing painting).
- Salon carried an article about a company that is releasing a product that will track every word you say in a chat room. I happen to think this is the worst idea ever.
- Slashdot linked to an incredible visual trick. Just so you don't go completely mad, there is not black dot.
- From the donations-with-a-click department comes the Rainforest Site. Why not pop over and donate land for free?
Why not be a peach and submit a topic idea?
Feature: reading online
If you can get over reading off a monitor, there is actually quite a lot of literature online. I don't mean normal web content; I mean books. The On-Line Books Page is a great place to start. They list 11,000 full titles (searchable) and even include a Banned Books section. In addition, Bartleby.com publishes thousands of free online classics of literature, nonfiction and reference. 1st Books sells thousands of eBooks for download (in text format), but also offers hundreds of titles for free.
Richard's Realm has an extensive collection of free erotic stories by various writers (submitted to the site by the authors). The stories are text files, and can be gotten anonymously. The stories come in six categories: New, Straight, Gay-Bi-Lesbian, Group, BDSM & Spanking, and Fetish. Each story is annotated with keywords and you can leave a message for any author, or submit your own stories anonymously.
Just to clarify, an eBook is a book in some format that you can either download or order on disk. You can read them offline (meaining you don't have to be connected to the internet), but they only exist on your computer and if you want them on paper you have to print them yourself. Several companies are working on a technology to print and bind books as they are ordered, so that you can receive actual books, but they are printed at your reqest, so you would have access to more titles than a bookstore could hold. I'm sure other creative distribution methods will be invented in the near future.
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