You’ve probably heard that famous quote, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” It’s taken from a cartoon that appeared in the New Yorker over a decade ago, but it’s remarkably accurate. For instance, how can you assume to know know anything about someone merely by reading their Windows Live Space? How do you know I’m not really a 70-year old woman (or a dog, for that matter)? Because nobody would make up the crap that comes pouring out of my head, that’s why.
I was goofing around on Yahoo!™, and stumbled across their new avatar workshop tool (I use the term “tool” loosely, since that would imply there’s a practical application for it). For those of you who aren’t familiar with an avatar, it’s a graphical representation of yourself that you project in cyberspace. In your avatar, you can be anything from a Care Bear to Sanjaya. See that icon of yours truly on the left side of the main page? That’s my Windows Live™ avatar (although not a very creative one, since it looks exactly like me).
Anyway, I decided to kill a couple o’ minutes and see what damage I could cause. Here’s the likeness I constructed with the basic tools on Yahoo!™. Notice the second one is holding a baby — the variety of available props is dazzling (before any of you send me hate mail for referring to a baby as a “prop,” remember that it’s just make-believe, people).
Turns out Yahoo!™ is launching their own version of Windows Live Spaces, called Yahoo!™ 360°. I’m too lazy to keep up one blog (namely, the one you’re reading); the thought of setting up another “space” makes my brain hurt. So, I’ll be sticking around here for the foreseeable future. Although, it might be neat if the gods o’ coolness at Microsoft decided to give us loyal ‘softies some swell custom avatar workshop tools. You gotta be competitive, right?
– Greg
gregsedwards 