Four-page Jeep ad shrouds USA Today editorial content. (Click for larger)

If you’ve picked up a USA Today in the past two weeks, you’ve probably noticed that the paper has been missing one crucial element—its front page.

Well, to be fair, the front page is still there, per se. It’s just hidden within the fold of a four-page Jeep ad (see image).

This marks the first time USA Today has allowed for such unorthodox advertising, but at $1 million-plus from Jeep, it seems the deal was just too tempting to pass up.

According to industry publication MediaWeek, USA Today’s senior vice president of advertising, Lee Jones, says that in the past, concerns about editorial integrity and circulation deterred the paper from selling ads of this nature. But now, market demand and the quality of the ad have eased these worries.

“I think it’ll have minimal impact on single copy sales,” Jones said. “The look and feel will be very close to the way the paper looks.”

While the ad may or may not impact newspaper sales—I’m still waiting for the figures—since when does aesthetics trump integrity? I’m not saying that USA Today is being unethical or even just a little bit naughty, but I do think that Jones is reaching when he implies that the ad is a-okay because it looks good.

The truth is that if USA Today and other papers weren’t buckling under the recession, neither they nor their parent companies would ever allow for advertising to hide vital content.

But as we all know, journalism jobs are dwindling and media companies, especially newspapers, are having to rethink their advertising strategies in order to stay afloat.

So, what do you think about USA Today’s move to sell ad space not just on, but in place of its front page? Do you think it violates their journalistic integrity? After all, how could they run a potentially negative story on Jeep if the paper is wrapped in images of the Grand Cherokee? Or—do you think that desperate times call for desperate measures, and that this will in no way influence editorial content?

Selected further reading from News-Geek.com:

• Kiyoshi Martinez: America’s Most Famous “Angry Journalist” on Our Struggling Industry
• Scared of Losing Your Job? Start Studying.

To commemorate this joyous occasion, I took this photo of young Herbie frolicking in the yard this morning:

Fun facts:

• Herbie’s full name is Herbert Ashmont Mycynek. As he himself is long, fast, and red, it’s only fitting that his middle name pay homage to Boston’s Red Line. (Ashmont is an end stop on the line, which I rode frequently while living in Boston.)
• Herbie’s initials spell “HAM.” We think this is cute and moderately funny.
• His “likes” include: Learning, growing, playing, chewing, eating, sleeping, barking in his sleep, and hunting his big fluffy bed as if it were a gazelle on the Serengeti
• His “dislikes” include: Cold weather, rain, bed time, bath time, and other dogs who hang out on our lawn
• Favorite quotation: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight–it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” — Mark Twain

Though we had an official photographer, one of my favorite pictures from our wedding came from my friend and former radio co-host Matt Williams

To commemorate this milestone, the site will launch “Facebook Stories,” a collection of short, user-submitted blurbs about how Facebook has changed our lives.

According to Zuckerberg (sister of CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg), a “Facebook Stories” Web page will list selected tales by location and themes such as “finding love,” “coping with grief” and “natural disasters.” Each story will be limited to just 420 characters, or the maximum length of a status update.

You can submit your own story via a simple form. And, if your story becomes popular and gets more “likes” than most stories, it could be featured on the site for all to see.

Here’s the story I submitted:

FB turned my wedding into a social-networking event! When we got married, we had a full “wedding week,” typical of my Indian people. Several of our friends photographed everything–sangeet, chura, various parties, our two (Hindu and Lutheran) weddings, our reception, etc.–and promptly uploaded their pics. One of the best gifts I received was an inbox full of loving comments from those who couldn’t attend.

What kinds of stories would you submit?

July 21, 2010 Update: Be sure to hit up http://stories.facebook.com and vote for your favorite stories! You can “like” mine here–that is, if you really do like it.

An outtake from the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” cover shoot, courtesy Beatles.com – As a kid, I’d often listen to this album on repeat during long car rides (save for “Octopus’s Garden,” anyway, which I admit I skipped every time.)

To say that I am a music “fan” might be a bit of an understatement. When it comes to artists I fell in love with when I first truly discovered music at age 11, the full word “fanatic” is more appropriate. There was a point in my youth when I could hear a few notes from any song in the Beatles or Queen discographies and easily Name That Tune.

As an adult, I’ve settled into a more subtle appreciation of the bands that introduced me to audial bliss. Though I can no longer Name That Tune when it comes to the songs I don’t particularly like, I do still go through cycles where I will listen to no other artists for weeks. This is probably a little strange, given that my musical tastes are extremely varied now.

Last week, my friend and fellow blogger, Sheena Barnett, sent out a Facebook message to several musicians, acquaintances and friends asking us to name our favorite Beatles tracks.

I quickly realized that this was going to be difficult. Sure, I can name some songs I don’t like: There aren’t many that come to mind, so that makes it easy. But a favorite?

Immediately, a dozen tracks flooded into my head all at once.

So, I took a rather nerdy approach to select a “favorite.” Here’s what I told Sheena for her blog entry on the topic:

I’ve never been able to pick a favorite anything. When you ask me to name my favorite Beatles song, you might as well be asking which hair on my head I love the most. So, in order to participate in this fun survey, I had to get creative.

I opened Excel and listed about 40 songs that I love, any one of which being my “favorite” depending on my mood and the day’s events. I then entered a formula so that the program would pick a “favorite” for me.

I know, that’s one pretty clinical procedure for something as emotional as music, but there you have it.

So at this moment, my favorite song is… *drumroll* “Norwegian Wood.” I love this song for the melodies, the harmonies, and for George’s masterful use of the sitar. He takes the quintessentially Indian instrument and brings it forth to fit naturally with the Beatles’ music. Dislikes include that it’s about John’s fooling around on his first wife and that the main character (according to Paul) sets a woman’s flat on because she made him sleep in the bath, but those matters aside, it’s a very solid tune with a lot of soul behind it.

But most honestly, my favorite Beatles song tends to be whichever Beatles song I happen to be listening to at the moment.

Yes, I programmed an Excel spreadsheet to select a favorite Beatles tune for me. How else was I supposed to pick one?

Tell me about your relationships with music: Do you have favorite songs and artists, or do you find it as difficult as I do to choose? Which bands and performers really “speak” to you, and why?

Image courtesy the Daily Mirror

Newsflash!

According to rock star Prince: “The internet’s completely over.”

I guess it’s time for us Web journalists to pack up our netbooks, shut down our blogs, and go back to dead-tree news, just as God intended.

The 52-year-old rocker sat down this week with the Daily Mirror’s Peter Willis for a rather bizarre, though not un-Prince-like interview, during which he proclaimed to the reporter:

The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.

Let me write that down. Numbers…are…bad. Got it.

Still, I shouldn’t make too much fun of Prince.

All general weirdness aside, I learned a long time ago that even if someone is misguided in his opinions (understatement of the year here), he usually has a decent reason or two for feeling the way he does.

It should come as no surprise that Prince, like many artists who struck it famous before the Napster Age, is a big opponent of internet file-sharing. Although he regularly gives away innumerable free copies of his own CDs, the artist takes an ethical stance on blatant piracy. Basically, he’d rather give his fans a gift than have them pry it from his hands. That’s an opinion I can respect.

Most recently, Prince gave the Daily Mirror copies of his forthcoming CD, “20TEN,” to insert into the paper this Thursday as a free gift to subscribers. Obviously, “20TEN” will be released in CD-format only, and will not be licensed to iTunes, Amazon MP3, or any other internet-media stores.

Unfortunately for Prince, however, just because he says the internet is a dead medium, that doesn’t make it in any way true.

He’s free to avoid iTunes–more power to him–but he must understand that as long as he produces listenable music, people will distribute it online.

Even the iTunes Store stopped using digital-rights protection technology in 2009, partly because Apple executives finally realized that DRM is virtually useless–there’s always a workaround.

If UK Daily Mirror readers get their hands on “20TEN” on July 8th, you have my word that someone, somewhere, will start distributing it by the 7th.

It’s the internet. On this playing field, smart, pimple-faced, pro-free-information teens have the advantage.

I decided to collect the pictures and put together the following video:

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

NOVA airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m., EST. Check your local listings for more. (Image courtesy NOVA)

In honor of Independence Day, NOVA will air “Missing in MiG Alley,” an hour-long documentary about the American and Russian soldiers who fought in history’s first “jet war,” the Korean War. The program examines the new piloting techniques and innovative jet technologies that would change combat forever.

Below, you’ll find an interactive comparison of the dueling Russian MiG-15bis and the American F-86 Sabre, which I created for the show’s companion site on NOVA Online.

The MiG and the Sabre pushed aviation technology to its limits during the Korean War. When they met in dogfights over the Yalu River, in an area nicknamed MiG Alley, both fighters overshadowed their predecessors through sharp climbs, steep dives, tight turns, and nearly supersonic speeds. They were closely matched in myriad ways, but the planes’ designers made different structural and aerodynamic trade-offs while developing their rival jets. Along with pilot skill and luck, these technological differences helped determine which side prevailed in any given dogfight. Take a close look at these two pioneering planes and see how they differed. (Just click on the image below and the interactive anatomy will pop out into a new window.)

Click above to compare the MiG-15bis and F-86 Sabre

NOVA’s “Missing in MiG Alley” will air on PBS this Tuesday, July 6 at 8 p.m., EST. You can check your local listings for additional air dates and times.

If you own a newer digital camera, you’ve probably noticed that it displays a little square over your subject on the view screen as the lens brings the subject into focus. If there are people in your shot, the camera will try to find their faces so that you can get a clear image of your friends rather than, say, the table in front of them.

Image courtesy Facebook

The technology works similarly on Facebook, except it’s designed to help you label photos you’ve already taken. It cuts out a lot of tedious and time-consuming clicking on the users’ part by determining for them if an object in a given photo is a human face. It then pops up a little box where the user can simply type an auto-detected person’s name. If you don’t yet have access to the new functionality, here’s what it looks like (at right).

It’s only a matter of time before developers refine the facial-recognition algorithms to detect and tag friends’ faces for you. And from there, who knows what this could mean for the continuing battle between privacy advocates and those in favor of information sharing on the internet?

I’m not a big proponent for either side of the debate. Sure, I want my privacy, and I want owners of the sites I use to be honest and forthright about what they plan to do with my information, but I also don’t have a whole lot to hide. I obey the law, I don’t go to wild parties, and my life, in general, is kind of boring. Additionally, I’m a realist: If I don’t want people outside of the Web to know my deepest, most personal thoughts, then I won’t share them online either.

Even still, I have to admit it’s all kind of creepy. I mean, why did Facebook have to advertise wedding-related products and services when I was engaged and then, as soon as I changed my relationship status to “married,” why’d they have to start advertising baby stuff?

I felt pressure from Facebook to start having kids before my own mother even started on about it!

But, I digress.

We all know that Facebook already advertises products to us based on our interests, age, gender, relationship status, and so forth. Yet one wonders what else they’ll do with it, particularly now that developers are slaloming down the slippery slope of tagging us with information we might not want to share, potentially by recognizing who we really are versus whom we might claim to be.

Facial-recognition technology already exists and has a number of applications. The FBI has used it to find bad guys, and now American police officers are doing the same. According to various recent reports including this one from The Daily Mail, any officer with a smartphone could feasibly fight crime through photography:

Police in the US are using an iPhone app to take photos of suspects and instantly compares them with a criminal database.

The app employs biometric information such as facial recognition software to help police identify suspects within seconds.

Known as MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System), the system lets police officers take a photo of a suspect, upload it into a secure network where it is then analysed.

Maureen Boyle of The Enterprise newspaper in Brockton, MA, produced the following video about the iPhone app for the paper’s YouTube page:

Back to social networking: If you’re a criminal and you’re dumb enough to put pictures of yourself on Facebook, you deserve to get caught. But what about those of us who are innocent? Should the authorities be able to comb through our information just because they can? Intellectually, I’m inclined to say “yes” because I’ve got nothing to hide, and I’m all for chasing bad guys. But part of me wonders how this is any different from illegal wiretapping or spying. Something just doesn’t feel right.

What do you think?

It’s good to be king. Or, at least it would be if your rivals weren’t trying to assassinate you at any given opportunity. But that’s how it goes when you’re head honcho on the internet, where users can be as fickle as fashion and everyone knows it.

A few days ago, Digg founder Kevin Rose Tweeted and then quickly deleted some intriguing (though not particularly surprising) gossip:

Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon “Google Me”, very credible source

Rose hasn’t commented further on the could-be social-networking site, but his post is ironically still visible through Google’s caching feature, which has preserved the snippet for prosperity.

The Tweet has created juggernaut of rumors and speculation, and now others are coming out of the woodwork to confirm that “Google Me” is very real.

Former Facebook executive Adam D’Angelo posted the following today on his own site, Quora:

Here is what I’ve pieced together from some reliable sources:

* This is not a rumor. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it. I am completely confident about this.
* They realized that Buzz wasn’t enough and that they need to build out a full, first-class social network. They are modeling it off of Facebook.
* Unlike previous attempts (before Buzz at least), this is a high-priority project within Google.
* They had assumed that Facebook’s growth would slow as it grew, and that Facebook wouldn’t be able to have too much leverage over them, but then it just didn’t stop, and now they are really scared.

Now, Google has tried and failed at creating the “next big thing” in social networking a handful of times already. Buzz is useful, but who do you know who uses it? What about Wave? And Orkut…? Well, I’ve said everything I need to say about Orkut already. (See “Why EVERYONE Loves Facebook” / March 28, 2010)

That said, I don’t doubt Google’s abilities to give people what they want. They still run the best and most-used search engine on the internet, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

So what must “Google Me” do to win over Facebook’s user base?

Here’s what I think:

• Guarantee Privacy: Users will only take so many months-long privacy fiascoes before finally jumping ship. Facebook needs to accept that while people love to share, they also love the freedom to choose what they’re sharing and with whom. I understand the temptation to sell our information to advertisers, but just don’t do it. A happy user is a loyal user.
• Don’t Enforce Awkwardness: Remember the good old days before the internet when we could simply avoid the people we didn’t want to talk to? We were communications ninjas: “Oh, I’m sorry, I must have missed your call”; “Did you come by? I wasn’t home.” Now, if we don’t want to be someone’s pal anymore, we have to declare it. We must “ignore” their friend requests or, if they’re already our Facebook “friends,” we have to physically delete them. It’s all so drawn-out and dramatic. And don’t even get me started on the concept of “frenemies.” (See “My Social Media Blackout: Confessions of an Addict” / April 18, 2010)

  If Google can create connection tiers (acquaintances, coworkers, friends, family, etc.) and make it easy to create privacy settings specific to these different groups, I’ll be the first to sign up. Sure, you can do this through Facebook to some degree via “friends lists,” but the feature can be difficult to use. Plus, because Facebook calls everyone a “friend,” someone you barely know might be offended when they realize you’ve hidden your wall from them. It’s not particularly logical, but it’s true.

  At least with tiered connections, you’ll have the chance to set your boundaries with people from the beginning.

• Don’t Be Creepy: If I want to connect with my junior-high band director’s uncle’s neighbor, I’ll find him myself. Don’t get all creepy on me and search through my connections’ connections’ connections for people I probably have no desire to “friend.”

  Don’t get me wrong: This recommended friends thing is a great idea on paper. But at the very least, give me the option to disable it if I don’t like it.

That’s it from me for now. What do you guys think?

Meet the cuttlefish, one of the brainiest, most bizarre animals in the ocean.

This mystifying creature has many senses and abilities that are alien to us humans. For example, while the cuttlefish can’t hear, it can detect sound in the form of pressure waves traveling through the water. The unique animal can also change its coloration, shape and texture at will, mimicking floating vegetation or rocks on the seafloor.

Yet when danger looms, this relative of the octopus can jet away at great speeds, shooting out a smoke screen of ink or using its ink to create decoys of itself that sit suspended in the water.

How does the cuttlefish accomplish all this? Well, I created a Flash interactive for PBS’s NOVA that explains many of its tricks. (See below.)

You can also learn more about the cuttlefish by tuning into NOVA’s “Kings of Camouflage” on your local PBS station on Tuesday, June 22. (Check your local listings.)

Until then, take a look at select parts of cuttlefish and learn more about how this master of deception and disguise functions. Simply click on the labels below for more information.

“Boohoohoo! I drink my coffee at Starbucks! I must be a cog in the machine!”

All of that angst—it just seems so absurd now.

Last weekend, my friend Brianna “Spacekatgal” Wu made headlines worldwide after security officials at Yankee Stadium turned her away from the Yankees-Red Sox game because she had her iPad with her. Undeterred, she got back in line and sneaked the iPad in anyway.

During the game, she posted about the incident on the IGN forums:

The security people told me [iPads were] not allowed and I was turned away at the gates. Why on earth would they have this policy? Terrorism concerns? I couldn’t get an answer. I snuck it in under my jacket. I bring it to Fenway all the time and they don’t care.

Smaller than most laptops, the 9.5″ iPad looks like a larger version of the 4.5″ iPhone

Yahoo! Sports soon picked up the story, as did CNN, Fox News and CNET. Even as I write this blog entry, I’m seeing new headlines about the matter pop up on Google News.

So far, Yankees officials haven’t said why iPads or laptops are banned, other than that they pose “safety and security” issues–at least, according to several vague reports. My best guess as to why the devices are really banned is that they might prove distracting to fans who want to watch the game. But having used the iPad, I don’t see how it, with its 9.5-inch screen, is all that much more distracting than a smartphone. In fact, unlike the 4.5-inch iPhone, the iPad can’t take pictures or place calls.

I scored an exclusive interview with Wu earlier today. Here’s what she had to say about the ban and the subsequent media frenzy:

Q: So exactly what happened when you got to the security gate at the stadium?
A: When I went through the gate, the security guard asked me “Is that an iPad?” I thought she was just another person curious about iPads, because they’re so new. I get this several times a day. I told her it was an iPad, and she told me it was not allowed in the stadium. I asked her, “Can you tell me why?” and she said it was because of the camera. I told her the iPad doesn’t have a camera, and she just kept saying, “It’s not allowed in.” I realized debating the point was useless.

She told me that there was a bar across the street, and I could rent a locker and put my stuff inside. Given the drunken fight I’d just witnessed on the street outside that bar, I didn’t want to do that. I decided to sneak it it. I exited the gate and put the iPad under my jacket in my husband’s backpack, and went into another gate.

I was pretty nervous about security inside the game confiscating it when I started posting about the event on the IGN board, but I quickly realized they didn’t care.

Q: Why do you think they didn’t want you to bring the iPad in with you?
A: I guess the iPad could be distracting, but no more so than I find all the drunken people at a baseball game. I’ve never seen someone pick a fight because they were using their smartphone.

I think it sucks. I’ve been to Fenway about 10 times, and it’s a really relaxed atmosphere. In contrast, the overbearing security at Yankee Stadium put me on edge a bit, and I’m not talking about the iPad policy. There were people guarding every section, inspecting tickets. It just seemed unnecessary and Big Brother-esque.

Q: This issue has stirred up quite the media circus. Do you think this will lead to Yankees officials rethinking their ban?
A: I really don’t know. I think the Yankees are the Microsoft of baseball, and aren’t especially receptive to public opinion. I doubt anything will change.

Q: Fair enough. But I can’t be the only one wondering this: Why would you even want to bring an iPad into a baseball game? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of being there?
A: I got bored. When the Yankees play the Red Sox, it’s always a 4 hour game. I tune out in the middle.

It seems like at every game I’ve every been to, many other girls also bring things to keep themselves entertained. Kindles, a book, their smartphones. I think many people just want something to do during the lulls in the action.

Q: What kinds of things do you do to occupy yourself during these lulls?
A: I actually Facebook with my friends and tell them about the baseball games. I can usually count on a sarcastic comment or two from you, News-Geek.com, about my love for the Yankees. I sometimes post pictures from my phone. It’s just the way people my age operate, live-blogging the fun parts of our lives.

I read comic books, I read the news, I post on the IGN board, I Facebook. I have the 3G model, so there’s almost nothing I can’t do.

Q: Do you take your iPad with you everywhere you go?
A: I am never without my iPad. I also have a Macbook Air, and I carry it in my purse with me. I like to be connected, and I like to sneak in work wherever I can. Some girls carry bags with beauty products; I carry my computer.

Q: Don’t people at games or elsewhere ever get annoyed with you for distracting them with your iPad?
A:Quite the opposite. I constantly have strangers asking to use it, and asking questions. It’s a novelty, and there’s a lot of curiosity about it. One time, I had one stranger ask to demo it, and they immediately went to the Bank of America app to log into my bank account! It really freaked me out!

I’ve never had someone complain, though after reading so many hundreds of negative comments [following the incident at Yankee Stadium], I suspect some people might be rolling their eyes at me.

Q: Is there anywhere you wouldn’t take your iPad?
A: There is literally nowhere I wouldn’t bring my iPad. It’s 1.5 pounds, why be without it? It hasn’t left my side since I bought it, except when I run outside. I’d bring it to a wedding, a zombie outbreak, I’d even want to be buried with it.

Q: A wedding? Would you use it during the ceremony?
A: No, but I’d probably sneak off at some point and check my Facebook.

Q: You have some pretty strong opinions about this stuff. Do you think the Yankees owe you an apology, or at least a better explanation for why they ban iPads and laptops?
A: No, of course not. We all put up with arbitrary rules all the time. That would be incredibly entitled of me, even through I think their policy is stupid.

Q: Do you think you’ll risk smuggling your iPad into Yankee Stadium again?
A: Probably not. Knowing the policy, I might just leave it at home and surf on my iPhone instead. I don’t want to be a jerk to the team I love so much.

People have to understand: We came all the way from Boston to see this game. We were on foot all day, touring the Natural History Museum. I had my iPad with me, of course. I had no idea about this policy. I bring the iPad to Fenway all the time and they don’t care. But knowing the rule, I wouldn’t want to break it again.

Q: Are you surprised by all the media coverage?
A: I am beyond surprised by the media coverage. People have e-mailed me stories from all over the world, and in 7 different languages so far. I’ve already seen over 50 stories that mention me by name. My sneaking the iPad in has been discussed on CNBC, and ESPN. I cannot believe it.

Maybe the coverage took off because of all of the juxtaposed social issues involved. The iPad is the new, trendy status symbol, and you’re pitting it against baseball, a slow-paced, traditional game. Mix that with the Yankees, who are both the most loved and the most hated team in baseball, and you have a story with a lot of interesting angles.

But the coverage is still very strange to me. I posted this to the IGN board, to a subsection we call the Mac GB, or “General Board.” We’re a small subset of the giant forum, and a close-knit group. I’m very fond of most of the people I post with. I’ve bought and sold Macs with them, we discuss Apple news every day, we play Steam games together, we solve each others tech problems and so on.

I feel like it’s not just me who’s gotten the attention, but all my Mac friends on the Mac GB as well.

Q: Now that this story has hit media worldwide, have you found that bloggers, reporters and commenters tend to support you in your defiance of the Yankees?
A: Judging from the comments, I think most people think I’m a stupid girl who doesn’t appreciate sports and should leave her iPad at home. There must be 1,000 comments saying “Just watch the game!” The response has been incredibly negative towards me. I have never been one to worry about upsetting other people, though. I’ve found all the negativity highly amusing.

I think MatLu, my friend on the IGN board, said it best: “There’s nothing more American than seeing a stupid rule and then proceeding to immediately break it. That’s how this great country started. Bri was just doing what comes naturally to all Americans, especially for Bostonians. It’s American instinct.“ ♦

Fascinating. So what do you guys think?

It’s been a pretty terrible technology month for me. My beloved first-generation iPhone died while I was at a conference in Las Vegas two weeks ago. Then last week, my server at TopClassHost suffered a major hardware failure, essentially killing News-Geek.com. The long and the short of it is that a drive containing all of my site information died and, while downloading all the data, the backup drive died, too.

I can’t say that this site is my life. My husband is my life. My family and friends are my life. Nonetheless, this site contains a huge chunk of my existence. It illustrates my skills and accomplishments, and it serves as a living archive of what I’ve done and an indicator of what I am capable of. It is not melodramatic to say that News-Geek.com is truly a part of who I am.

Last Thursday started off nicely. I posted a pretty fun piece on GEEKWARE, which my friends and readers seemed to enjoy.

I noticed the outage a couple of hours later, but only began to worry that evening. Down time is nothing new; every site experiences it sometimes. But my site had never disappeared for more than an hour at a time since I launched it five years ago.

That night, I sent out a couple of concerned e-mails and received confirmation that my data was gone. I felt like I’d gotten the wind knocked out of me. Fortunately for me, however, I’m not a moper. In fact, I feel like I went through the five stages of grief in two hours and one night’s sleep. As they say, “A house pulled down is half rebuilt.” By Friday morning, I was ready to rebuild this house of my works. And that’s what I’m doing now.

As you can see, I’ve restored my posts, pages, widgets, and layout. There are a few files that I’m still trying to track down, but the site is mostly back to it’s old self.

“A house pulled down is half rebuilt.”

GEEKWARE creator Nicola Harper turns obsolete electronic waste into popular fashion accessories (image courtesy of GEEKWARE)

A former waste-management engineer in Edmonton, Canada, Harper collects old electronics from landfills and recycling centers, cleans them, dissects them, and then reassembles them into “GEEKWARE,” her popular line of home/office products, gadgets, and jewelry. (Fellow tech nerds might recognize Harper’s circuit-board necklaces from the ThinkGeek superstore. They’ve ordered about 500 of them from her already.)

GEEKWARE is a one-woman endeavor and Harper’s day job. She left waste management in 2004 to focus on her products. She still works with trash all day (actually, let’s call it “e-waste”) but now she’s able to sell it back to the very people who might have thrown it away in the first place. How’s that for recycling?

I can’t wait for iPhones and all the current technologies to become ‘old’ so that I can take them apart and craft with them. – Nicola Harper

I had the pleasure of interviewing Harper earlier this week. Here’s an excerpt from our chat, followed by a slide-show featuring some of her products.

Q: You’ve spent your entire career working with waste in one way or another. I have to ask: What gets a girl excited about digging around in garbage?
A: I’ve always been curious about where our garbage goes to and what happens to it after it gets there. Whilst taking my undergrad degree in civil engineering [at Nottingham University in England], I realized I could actually be part of the solution and decided to study waste-management engineering in Canada.

It was a super exciting job! You get to design landfills and recycling plants to ensure that waste is disposed of efficiently and with the least damage to our environment.

Q: How did this lead to GEEKWARE?
A: I used to visit so many landfills in my old job and get really frustrated by the amount of waste piling up. I really wanted to do more–to get my hands on all of that waste and actually make something out of it rather than watch it get crushed for recycling.

I now run GEEKWARE full-time as a one-gal operation. I started out doing small local craft fairs, selling a few recycled artwork pieces made from wine corks and diskettes. Now I have a full line of products that I make out of my home-based studio and sell world-wide through the Web site. I’ve gone from selling a few items at a Christmas show 6 years ago, to making and packing up to 100 orders a month.

Q: You have quite the interest in geek culture for someone who doesn’t possess too many high-tech devices herself. Why is that?
A: It’s true that I’ve never owned a cell phone and my computer is 10 years old (though it still runs well enough for me to use it for 5 or more hours per day). I don’t wear a watch, either.

But, I’m really fascinated by technology in terms of culture, economics, and, well, waste. I marvel at the speed at which newer models of things come along and how fast the older ones become obsolete when there’s not really anything “wrong” with them. I like seeing how they are made, and taking the technology apart and seeing what’s inside. I also love working out how I can repurpose the pieces into something else, giving them a new usefulness.

I’m not really interested in what the technology itself can do. (That is to say, I don’t care about iPhone apps, etc.) Rather, I’m more fascinated by how the technology is made: How is it held together? What screws did they use to manufacture it? How many different types of plastic did they use? Is it recyclable? These kinds of things interest me.

Q: You make an array of cool products, from vintage film-reel clocks to floppy-disk notebooks. What other products can we expect to see in the future?
A: Look out for more customizable Mac products. I have some ideas in my head for monogrammed Macbook cuff links and earrings. I can’t wait for iPhones and all the current technologies to become “old” so that I can take them apart and craft with them!

I get such a kick out of people liking my creations. I’ve had couples order cufflinks for their entire wedding parties, and it makes me so happy to think of the joy I’m bringing to people’s lives.

You can see the epic stunt below, in all its Flip video glory.

This video illustrates in 2 minutes and 37 seconds why I spent 14 years (or half my life) transforming into such a huge multimedia geek. How can you not love this stuff?

Plus, if I were to start a “Stuff Indian People Like” blog in the vein of “Stuff White People Like,” I can guarantee that “When non-Indians embrace our culture” would be really high on my list, somewhere between “Ripping off Hollywood” and “Driving a Camry.”