Netly News

In Search of a God Shot

Technology put a man on the moon, but it has yet to enable the average Joe to make a perfect shot of espresso. Scores of websites are devoted to this topic. For my money, none is better than Coffeegeek.com which I scoured some years back to come up with my current rig: a Rancilio Silvia. I adore Miss Silvia and use her daily while my dog Sticky sits at my feet. But the machine is for people who like to fiddle--and not everyone wants to grind beans, pre-heat demitasses, tamp at just the right pressure, "temperature surf" and do all the other hoo-ha necessary to produce a perfect shot (or "God shot," as they call it on Coffeegeek). Even the lazy have a right to God shots at home, I suppose.

(Read the rest of my column here.)

Stuff I didn't have room for in the magazine: One disadvantage of the Francis Francis X7 is, you must use Illy's coffee capsules. Not that the coffee is bad—it's delicious, if you want a classic cup of Italian espresso. But it limits you.

Indeed, for the past few years, I've been using Miss Silvia to make my version of Cuban-style, cafe con leche. I buy delicious, whole beans, from a site in Miami, Java Cabana. My pick: Pilon Gourmet Espresso beans, by the case. It's cheap--only $6.60 a pound--and shipping is free. I grind the beans every morning in my Mazzer Mini burr grinder and make triple espresso shots, which I mix with a lovely combo of milk and evaporated milk. It doesn't get any better than that.

Google Wants to Friend You

Thanks to a new Google project, soon any Website can be its own Facebook.

Upping the stakes in its ongoing battle with the popular social network, Google announced today that it was getting into the "social plumbing" business — giving every website a way to add a limitless number of applications and a means for those sites' users to communicate among themselves.

The initiative is called Friend Connect and it begins tonight when any site can apply to be in the Google pilot program (they call it a "preview release") here. Note: that site won't be live until Monday night. During the next few days, Google will choose one or two dozen sites to participate. Over the course of the next several months, the company will collect site, user and developer feedback on how the program is working. Then, if all goes well, in a few months Google will open up Friend Connect to any website or blog that wants to participate.

Here's how it'll work. (And forgive me for using my blog as an example; we need the traffic.)

(The rest of my time.com story is here.)

Craig's Gist

[Image: LA Times.com]

Last night, I was in New York for the Time 100 dinner, and arrived at the same time as Craig Newmark. There was a long, red carpet out front and people lined up at the curb to see the celebs. (Robert Downey Jr., Rupert Murdoch, John McCain, Mariah Carey & etc.) Mike Arrington, Jay Adelson, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg were among the geeks honored this year.

One of the things about the 100 is, once you're inducted, you can return to future Time 100 dinners—which is why Craig was there. As we walked in, he told me he'd been to three so far. I trotted along behind him but stopped when we had to go through a kind of chute that was lined with with photographers. "Who are you?" one of them yelled. "Craig Newmark," said his publicist. I hung back with her as Craig sauntered onto the firing line.

You would have thought Paris Hilton had just arrived. The paparazzi went nuts, blasting away at old Craig. I figured he'd be mortified, but no, he was clearly enjoying himself and even pulled out a Coolpix and snapped some shots of the shooters shooting him. "For my blog!" he explained. I wish everyone were sa sweet as that guy.

The Coolest Thing That Ever Happened To Me

Immortalized in Episode Two of Sn4tchbuckl3r's's Second Chance. Thanks, guys!

Microsoft buying Facebook? Not likely.

Two words: Marc Andreessen. I suspect he'd never join Facebook's board if he thought that selling out to Microsoft was an option. (I love taking  one rumor to debunk another.)

Google's Art of War—With Facebook

I don't know anything about art, but I know a little about Google. And I Googled this: Jeff Koons.

He's the artist whose "Chrome Tulips" decorated Google's minimalist search box yesterday morning. Lovely stuff. Beneath the empty box was a link to something called iGoogle Artist Themes ("What happens when great art mixes with your homepage?") Users who clicked on the link got to choose from among 70 artists' "themes." From the likes of such commercial artists as Marc Ecko, Diane von Furstenberg, NIGO, Michael Graves and Dolce Gabbana, users could select a theme and personalize their iGoogle page, a place that Google dearly hopes will quickly become your start page.

It seems pretty sweet. More free stuff from Google! And, by the way, raise your hand if you never used iGoogle or even knew it existed.

Read more on Time.com