Quick ways to learn al little or waste some time. From February 2007. 

Urban Ninja: I was looking for info about “free running”, the wild acrobatic sport featured in the opening chase during the new Bond flick. I stumbled on the Urban Ninja on YouTube. Wow! This kid takes free running and combines it with insane acrobatics for some wild antics. I did find kids more daring (read, stupid), but none had the finesse and athleticism of Urban Ninja. (See him fly. )

Podcasts: This is my new radio! I went through a bunch of my favorites Web sites (racing, technology, etc.) and looked for podcasts. I load up my MP3 player each day and try to listen when I walk to the bus in the morning or over lunch, before I go to sleep or during other idle time. Check out the pages of your favorite sites for podcasts, sometimes buried in RSS feeds.

Wikipedia: For so long, referring to Wikipedia elicited blank stares from most listeners. When I started “I read a great piece about net neutrality on Wikipedia”, the conversation used to die. Now, more people know of the user-generated and user-edited encyclopedia. Maybe it’s those top rankings on Google. Kids use it for school work, news reports reference it. (Click me. )

Wikimapia: What happens when you combine viewer-generated information (a wiki) with Google maps? “Wikimapia”, of course. The wiki has become the way for users to contribute information to a site. We use one at work as a form of intranet, and Wikipedia is an example of wikis on the grandest of scale. Wikimapia combines maps a la Google or Yahoo!, then lets users overlay information about particular points or areas. Want to tell folks about your favorite watering hole? Post it over the location on the maps at Wikimapia for all the world to see. (Click here. )

YouTube: What a great way to waste time! It’s also a great way to see news clip, commercials and other stuff you may have missed. I spent one session watching the UK versions of the latest Apple TV campaign. What a riot. Yeah, it’s a way to waste time. And there are a few copyright issues. Videos from ebaumsworld provide a good example. Eric Bauman (ebaum) “borrows” other peoples’ videos and slugs his watermark in the corner. Until I got wise, I thought the Treadmill Dancers were an ebaumsworld video. (I don’t want to say “Boycott ebaumsworld”, but...Boycott ebaumsworld!) Cases like that aside, people want their video to be seen, and YouTube is a great way to share with the world. Some folks are going to have to rethink (again) the power of copyright. (Like you really need to, but check it out here. )