Simple needs

So, at the end of the day, my needs are quite simple.

A plug.

An open wireless router.

A place to throw down my laptop.

Life is good..

Today I'm hangin' with my son, "little bit", at Florence Mall. The reason we are hanging out at Florence Mall 2 days before Christmas is the subject of a different rant... But, that's where we are.

Turns out, there's a wall plug (one of the few) outside of The Coffee Beanery. It's conveniently located right next to their store front cafe tables.

Fired up the wireless card and I found an open router... And so here I am slammin' out this post.

It brings me to a thought.

How is design of public places going to change over the coming years?

Are all restaurants going to put plugs at every table and open routers in the place so that their patrons feel at home and stay longer (and spend more)?

Heck, with the meeting of my simple needs, I really don't care how long my wife and daughter shop. I'm good to go...

Another interesting thought... Is my laptop and a decent cup of coffee all I need to feel "at home"? Have we identified ourselves so much with our online habits that, through that channel, we can gain comfort and security?

Hmmm...

Anyway, about why we are here.

We are classic procrastinators in that we have yet to get a picture of our newborn with Santa. So, here we are, two days before xmas, out battling the malls. Yea, stupid, I know, but that's how it is.

Turns out, there's a 3.5 hour wait to see Santa. Are you kidding me?

Makes me think of two ideas. First, why not create a "Santa watch" like what Gas Buddy did for gasoline prices? Wouldn't be that hard... The second thought is, why not auction off the places in line? I would SOOO drop $50 to jump to the front of the line.

I guess they don't require Santa's Helpers to have an MBA... :)

Well, as I sit here, I do have some work to get done. From my family to yours, we hope you have a wonderful, safe and happy holiday no matter how you celebrate it or whom you celebrate it with.

Just celebrate and know that there are infinitely wonderful opportunities just around the corner in the new year!

Merry Chirstmas & Happy Holidays!

- The Crawfords

Google Vs. the KnownWorld...

And then there was one.

Saw this interesting post by TechCrunch concerning Google's 2008 plans. The thing I find interesting is that it seems as if a good deal of their plans are starting to come together...

So initially, they launch Google Desktop. It was initially billed as a way to find stuff on your desktop -- a search engine for that mess you call your personal rig.

Next they start launching applications... Google Spreadsheets. Google Word processor. Then they buy JotSpot which is a great wiki and collaboration platform.

Then it comes out that Google Gadgets are these little desktop (and iGoogle) widgets which run on the Google Desktop framework.

Boom.

Google has the apps and now the installed framework on your computer for you to take them off-line. Spreadsheets. Mail. Documents. Calendars. Wow. Microsoft Office, for free, online and off.

Be ready for a meltdown in Redmond, WA.

Never a dull moment. :)

Nice Nav...

Today, while looking at sites for one of my prospective clients, I stumbled across the following site:

http://www.whereandwheninvitations.com/

The design is kinda cute, but I really liked the slide effect added to the navigation bar.

I'll have to dig into this one to figure out how they do it without leveraging Flash. It's especially snazzy when you notice the effects behind the martian's hand.