This is one that got me smiling: The government of Italy has set up a text messaging service for consumers to check the wholesale prices of various foods on-the-fly. With soaring gas prices, the cost of food has also been on the rise, making consumers a lot more weary of what they’re shelling out for those gallons of milk. Or tomatoes. Or arugula leaves (you get the idea). The idea is that by making information about foot prices easily accessible, consumers will be able to make more educated decisions about where they buy and what they’re paying for their food.

Let’s say Bob’s Vegetable Cart charges 2 Euros for a head of lettuce, but you think that sounds a little high. Well, now our dear Italian friends can simply send a text message “lettuce” and get the wholesale prices sent right to their phone. Presumably if our tech-savvy shopper seems to think he’s getting ripped off by Bob, he can go see if Randy’s Produce Trolley across the street will give him a better deal.

I think the basic concept of educating consumers about how the free market does (and should) work is a great idea, but I ask this: If our shopper is familiar enough with technology to shop via text message, would it not be easier for them to access such a service online at home? Isn’t this a bit like texting your husband to see whether there’s anything he needs picked up at the store, rather than picking up the shopping list he made before you leave the house?

Admittedly, the cell phone culture is probably very different in Europe than it is here in the United States - and I certainly applaud the use of SMS - but it still seems a little silly to me.

Your thoughts?

via BBC

Do any of you remember the joy you felt when you turned on the television to watch your favorite show, and discovered that this week’s episode happened to be a musical episode? One of those special episodes in which the writers decided to throw every common-sense limitation in the writing, throw in as many television-industry inside jokes as they could, and (of course), make the characters break into song every few minutes?

Meet the short, internet-based series that doesn’t just have one shark-jumping episode - but is entirely based off that sweet, wonderful concept: Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog was written during the WGA strike earlier this year by the Joss Whedon (who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, apparently), and it is glorious. It’s the story of an evil “mastermind” trying to get into the League of Evil, while (naturally) trying to get the girl. Oh, and it’s all told as though the show were an entry in Dr. Horrible’s Video Blog. With singing.

There will be three, 16-minute episodes released online this week, but only this week, so check it out sooner rather than later at DrHorrible.com.

I’m sitting in the Downtown Mudhouse right now, facing the desktop they have set up there, and having far too good a time. What do most people do when they get on a computer at an internet cafe? One of two things. They either A) Check their email, or B) Check Facebook. But the good folks over at Mudhouse can’t have people on Facebook, taking up the computer for hours…

Now some (such as the Charlottesville City School’s tech department) deal with this problem by simply blocking the offending site. But whoever is in charge of that desktop at the Mudhouse has too developed a sense off humor for that. You see, if you try to visit Facebook on that particular computer, you are redirected to the websites of various non-profit organizations, such as Computers4Kids, or some Linux webpages.

And I must say, it’s far too amusing, watching someone sit down at that computer, set on checking their Facebook profile. Strawberry-Banana smoothie in one hand, the mouse in the other, they open up Firefox. They start tapping on the keyboard. Enter.

Cue: Head-tilt.

The still-unsuspecting individual then hits the back button. They type the address in again. Click.

Cue: Hands flying up in the air, resting on their head.
Cue: Contortion of face, first of surprise, then of anger. You can almost hear the curses they utter at the computer in their mind.

And this is how I spend my Wednesday afternoon… I’m not creepy…