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The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
Praise for Daily Blah:
"It is fun to watch the author's navel-gazing joy." - Sunday Times (UK)
"It's really funny and informative." - Dave Eggers, author
"The Blah is becoming a daily destination for me." - Richard Marsh, Playwright
"I like it, and I don't." - Fiona Hogg, Teacher
"Better than Xanax." - Lessley Andersen, journalist
"Dude, lay off the crack pipe." - Souris Hong-Porretta, gamesmith
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Daily Blah for... Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Do the Shuffle
Perceptive readers might suspect that hidden under my review of the iPod Shuffle (below) lay a suspicion that it was a bit of a swizz, and that you would be better off buying the full-sized and full-priced thing. For such is what I thought at first, so fiercely loyal am I to my 60GB iPod Photo. But yesterday, accompanying me on my Martin Luther King Day walk around the city, the Shuffle won me over. First of all it was incredibly easy to plug it in and load up with exactly the music I wanted -- I'll take this playlist, please, and that one, and that one, and then fill the rest up with random music. Happy to oblige, says the Shuffle. Just give me a minute or two.
Then, with the soap-on-a-rope attachment, I slipped the incredibly light thing around my neck (which is one of the less interesting places the Shuffle has been since it arrived on Thursday night; my housemate took it on a walk herself, and came back declaring she had discovered what her cleavage is for). It was very nice not to take up precious pocket space with my iPod, and dangling it around your neck is -- for the next month or so, while they're still novel, and thanks to Apple's famed inability to meet demand with supply, extremely rare -- quite a fashion statement. I got a lot of looks and questions. In six months time, of course, the only fashion statement you'll be making wearing it this way will be "I've got $99 to spend on an iPod."
Luckily, someone has already come out with a jewel-encrusted Shuffle cover to help up that particular ante. Or perhaps you prefer the idea of taping it to your sunglasses?
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