Who are you? It’s a fundamental question when dealing with people through the dark void of the internet, and a pressing issue for security and privacy. So, what does the future look like for verifying identity?

Here’s a very cool presentation about just that. Three years old, but still very very relevant, and the presentation style makes this an easy, quick watch.

Enjoy:

And don’t miss Dick Hardt’s full site on Identity 2.0:

This ad campaign caught my eye with its very funny (and timely) parody of political campaigns.

It is one of the most clever advertising schemes that I’ve seen online in quite some time. It’s built with such entertaining detail that the target audience has already invested a significant (and memorable) chunk of time before even finding out what the product being sold is. It rewards curiosity, and assumes that the audience will be savvy, and will appreciate being talked “up” to, rather than being lectured or shouted at.

The entertainment value of the campaign also helps to ensure viral spread through Facebook and even just old-fashioned word-of-mouth (or newfangled word-of-email forward).

Kudos!

CNN has decided to sell custom, on-demand t-shirts featuring headlines from their website. No, I’m not making this up.

There seems to be very little rhyme or reason behind their choices of which headlines are permissible for t-shirts — not all of the daily gems can be plastered onto an oh-so-esoteric cotton tee.

And, of course, it has to be “Beta,” since that term has lost all meaning.

Sarcasm and condescension aside, Woot has a far more entertaining way to look at this marketing misstep:

PS: I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from a website that still posts such sensitive, journalistic links as:

Ah, yes. I suppose sensationalism’s best friend is voyeurism.

Matt Pestinger, 18, started his group, “Your relationship doesn’t count unless it’s posted on Facebook,” as a commentary on today’s world, he said in an e-mail. …

“Our generation is much more open with these types of things being on the Internet, Facebook and MySpace,” [Ashley] Shinn said. “We don’t have any secrets or anything. We don’t hide anything. We show everything to each other. Since we don’t have any shame in anything, we don’t hide it.” …

“I’m not sure what they did before Facebook,” [Taikein Cooper] said.

Read. Discuss.

When is a coin worth more than face value? When it is invested with a striking visual (and tactile) design.

(Via, Daring Fireball.)

Perhaps the simplest tribute is the best:

A fascinating look at a prototype sketch of the iChat “bubble” conversation interface design from 1997.

(Via, Darling Fireball.)

Yes, it seems that even NASA astronauts sometimes forget and leave their iPods in the hot sun out on the dashboard while they’re away…

(click to embiggen)

(Via 9 to 5 Mac.)

UPDATE 3/18: If you have an interest in other objects traveling into orbit, you might also like this piece on OSU president Gordon Gee’s bow tie, as well…

Have you ever wondered what wild animals do all day? Now, through the magic of modern technology, you can follow the life of a deer in Eastern Pennsylvania.

The deer has been fitted with a special collar with GPS device and and cell phone (to transmit SMS messages with the current GPS location). A clever system captures the data from the collar every few minutes, and saves it to a spreadsheet. The data is then automatically made available on the web in Google Maps/Google Earth format.

It’s fascinating to take a look:

(Via Google Earth Blog.)

I’ll send you to the link first so as not to spoil a very well-written post. Meet me back here for a short nostalgic waxing afterwards (if you want):

Brings back fond memories of the first time I travelled with my first-generation iPod in early 2002. Despite the fact that it had already been an entire Christmas season since the iPod had been introduced, the crack team of TSA scanners at LAX accosted me and demanded to know what the device was.

“It’s an iPod”

“A what?”

“It’s an MP3 player…”

Blank stares. I worry that they’re going to take my precious new baby and chuck it with the knives, scissors, and other Instruments of Destruction.™

I tried getting simpler: “It plays music… like a CD player, but without CDs.”

I had to show them my headphones and how they plugged in, as well as describe how one ‘puts music into it’ before they finally let me pass.

I always look back on that scene with a smile — within just a year or so, there would scarcely be anyone on Earth who hadn’t heard of an iPod.

(Link via MacNN.)

UPDATE: Also in MacBook Pro news, Steven Levy has discovered that the laptop is so thin, it might have gone out with the recycling:

(Via Daring Fireball.)