Seems San Jose resident Madeline Fox was crowned Cookie Queen at yesterday's World Series, commemorating her ability to stack 24 Oreos, more than anyone else in her age bracket. I know, it sounds like an Onion article but it's not.

I want to go out and buy a bunch of Oreos now, because stacking 24 really doesn't sound that hard... Now, stacking 24 Madelines, that would be a challenge (the pasteries, not 24 children!).

(Sorry for the fluff piece but I'm totally exhausted from sleep deprivation the last few days. Thanks to girl in black for the link).

New ways to present heirarchical (and bi-directional heirarchical) data on the web is a passion of mine. I still think there are better ways than breadcrumbs (yahoo), hyperbolic links (inxight, and HotSauce MCF), and heirarchical menus (everywhere). One interesting presentation can be found at Links 2 Go. They give you visibility up and/or down two heirarchical levels depending on how populated those levels are (GUI example).

This system works well for me, but depends on a relatively small and relatively constant branching factor, otherwise there are simply too many links going into and out of each node. With a well-balanced tree, you don't need to worry about other list-navigation systems like fisheye lenses (UMD: HCIL, MacOS X Dock).

A combination of a balanced heirarchy, directed entry point into the heirarchy (like when Yahoo's search returns categories before sites) and a lens-based analog navigation might be just the thing for a future OS. We could finally put our video cards to good use!

Argh, busy week. I'm working on our first interactive prototype for my groups web project in UI Design class, I'm still working on AOLiza and Cameo updates, as well as changes to this very page, I have tons of reading to catch up on in my other classes (Cogsci, CogNeuro and Philosophy), not to mention something happening nearly every night this week, and the Gaskells Ball on Saturday. I have no idea what I'm going to wear.

To top it off I'm starting to make some serious grad school decisions and breaking ground on applications, and at the same time I'm arranging interviews at interactive companies, because I'm still undecided as to whether I should go back to my career (which I really enjoy) or head straight to grad school to get my HCI masters (which I would probably also enjoy).

And, of course, my TeleBears tade for Spring Class registration is on Thursday, so I have to get that figured out as well or I won't graduate in the Spring at all!

So I'm enjoying the Yahoo hits, but there are a whole bunch of people coming straight to AOLiza without referres. I'd suspect Harper's, but they just listed fury.com as the url, so these folks must be coming from somewhere else.

Did you see AOLiza mentioned in a newspaper or something? Give me a clue!

So I bet some of you have started to see commercials for Cybiko, a $130 'wireless PDA'. You actually have to dig pretty deep into the site to understand what it can and can't do, but it's still a nifty toy that puts both tamagochi and lovegetty to shame.

In a nutshell, Cybiko is a cross between a gameboy and a walkie-talkie. The wireless connectivity is only between Cybiko units, and not a CDPD or Ricochet-style saturated network. It does have internet access when it's plugged into your Windows box, or when it's within radio range of a Cybiko that's hooked to a windows box with a net connection. Range is about the same as an 802.11 wireless network (300 feet outdoors, 150 indoors, conditions permitting).

It has several games and applications included like a peer-to-peer and internet email client, a tamagochi game, and a few others, most or all of which can be played by several people at once if they're within range of each other.

Will it be a hit? Probably a huge hit in very limited markets. Cybiko has a free SDK so writing custom apps shouldn't be difficult, and there are plenty of areas which could benefit from local-area digital communication between units at that price point.

Will it be an end-consumer hit? It's certainly what they're aiming for, but I don't think it'll be mainstream. Schools that don't clamp down on pager and cellphone use by students will certainly see a lot of these crop up with students in the next few months (up to 100 units within range of each other can share a common chat room). In other areas, the saturation of people using them in a limited geographic area would probably be too small for 'spontaneous communication' to happen except for a few select areas like baseball and football games, a few cafes I can think of in San Francisco, and other cultural niches where enough early adopters climb on board to convince others of the devices utility to them.

Basically it's a really cool idea, and though it has limitations, $130 ($99 at Amazon!)and no recurring fees makes it an impulse buy if you can think of a sue for it. I wouldn't be surprised if the linux community eats these up, buying two, one as a base station hooked to their computer and the other as a roving net terminal to surf the web (insomuch as you can surf on a 160x100 pixel screen) and control their computer and X-10 devices (an MP3 remote, a way to write email on the couch, etc). It'll probably follow a similar pattern to the family band radios, but with lower saturation and more specialized uses.

Third-party freeware developers will definitely make or break this product in all sectors except for the teen market. It would be a very good idea for Cybiko to seed a couple hundred pairs of units with Linux, ex-Newton, Palm, and WinCE developers, as these people could create the true killer app, and nothing inspires better than free hardware.

Lastly, AOL has purchased a significant stake in the company, which probably means they want one in everyone's backpack or purse, because when everyone's on AIM all the time, who needs a cellphone?

If anyone gets or already has one of these, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Why oh why do Sharpie dry-erase markers look so much like sharpie permanent markers? Now I have to get a new dry-erase board because the ink just won't come off!!! ARGH!

I remember this happened once in a meeting at Levi's. Our (CKS's) general manager was using the wall-whiteboard (the entire wall was a whiteboard surface) and didn't find out until he tried to wipe a bit out that he was using a permanent marker instead of a dry-erase. This has become my mental image of 'Faux-pas'.

No, not Chicago. It's very, very windy in Berkeley (and the rest of the bay) today. I found a crack in one of my windows, and another day like this will probably blow it out. Still the sky's never been clearer (or the air drier) and it's a really neat feeling. It's a feeling of Fall and the coming Winter, but not the pine and chill that usually signals the progression of the seasons. I forgot about this kind of air, this kind of smell, because we don't get it every year, but it brings back old memories, and that's nice.

AOLiza was selected as a Yahoo Pick of the Week today! Keep those hits and letters coming!

Finishing up a redesign of the AOLiza page. The original design , while neat and innovative (It's still okay for other people to call things innovative, right Microsoft? You haven't trademarked the word yet?), it didn't work well when there were more than ten or twelve conversations there. The new layout will be more informative and make navigation a lot easier. It'll either be up Monday or Wednesday.

This billboard mistake is clearly a gimmick. Ten to one odds says it's actually a Nader billboard. It's sad that CNN actually picked up the story, playing right into advertisers hands. We'll see on Monday.

I encourage folks to check out the third Put Those Words To Use Contest. Ignore the posted deadline and submit as soon as possible.

This reminds me of a chinese proverb I (sadly) saw enscribed on the wall of a San Francisco Post Office: "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." Give these words a go and you may never forget them!

PS: If you do enter, drop me a cc.