One of the coolest Web sites I've seen recently is not from Google, or Microsoft -- or some Web 2.0 start-up in the valley. And, it's not technically even a real Web site. Instead, it's mostly an ad for the Sprint mobile broadband card. I've never seen an "ad" that was so compelling. (via Boing Boing)

First and foremost, the Sprint Now site uses real-time data to show you real statistics using a fake Web aggregator.

I was walking through an insurance agency the other day. I figured -- if there is any place to see a lot of client apps running on the desktop, this would be it. A big server in a back room closet, Windows XP running Word and IE, a lot of people trying to talk someone through a claim.

There's been a lot of rumblings about Windows 7, the next Microsoft OS which will probably arrive in late 2009 or (more likely) early 2010. A few have said Microsoft is scared of Linux -- especially on netbooks -- and that open source software will finally, eventually trump commercial offerings.

I've been trying to beat StumbleUpon into submission these past few days. It is a good aggregator ala Digg, and a bit of a rising star -- I have noticed an influx of traffic here at my blog and some "friend" activity. (By the way, I think every social net defines friend a bit different. StumpleUpon is more serious about the term, as in -- friends you actually know in real life. You can subscribe to someone's feed, or send them a friend request.

The other shoe has dropped in the YouTube.com licensing deal to host feature films.

I wrote about Internet slang yesterday -- the origins of such terms as FWIW, BRB, and LOL. It was an interesting exercise trying to track down how these terms started. Many of the comments so far -- very polite and helpful, for the most part -- have mentioned two main ideas.

The first is that the piece is essentially an etymology of slang abbreviations in the digital age, but does not include the shorthand used on HAM radios or in the military.

YouTube.com announced today that they'll soon start hosting feature length films -- possibly as soon as next month. CNET reported that the Google-owned viral video site, known for contributing to the budding career of talented actors like Obamagirl and Tay Zonday, is in negotiations with at least one major movie studio. Recently, the site started hosting full length TV shows and has made agreements with record labels to host music videos.

Okay, so you have bookmarked all the sites I listed in two previous blog entries, right? (I had a top ten list and 20 lesser known sites.) And you found a few more using this recent Computerworld story? Do you have the popcorn ready, and did you vote?

Over the past few weeks, I've been testing the Digg Labs tools, researching the idea of graphing the Web, understanding its machinations and which links are popular.

The browser that was supposed to take over the world seemed to die a painful death. Chrome may be lightening fast, but the browser market only has room for one or two champions.

In case you just arrived from a distant galaxy (in which case, it's probably too late to become an American citizen), there's a presidential election next week on Tuesday.

In roughly the same week, Microsoft will be creating the most incredible lame ducks in the history of computing and, a week later to the day, either John McCain or Barrack Obama will turn George W. into a president with absolutely nothing to do until he retires in January. It's a frightening concept, really.

Like every other American, I'm gearing up to vote next week in the presidential election. The priority right now: figuring out where to vote, because at the last state election I showed up early in the morning only to find out my polling location had changed. It meant waiting in line longer and wasting gas.

Microsoft hinted at a cloud platform a few weeks ago -- now they have revealed all of the details. Strangely, while the new Website provides plenty of details about Azure, the downloadable tech preview sign-up just says "coming soon" for now. I suppose they figure all the elite developers are at PDC watching the first demo of Azure.

In a post on Friday, Valleywag not only placed TechCrunch in the deathpool, but tossed in the very idea of a Web 2.0 company in the process. According to the tech gossip site:

"When the smoke clears after the crash and burn of the money machine behind today's tech startups, there's one word no one will ever write into a business plan again: Web 2.0."