Web Culture

By "this thing" I mean the thing in the picture at left that looks like an overhead shot of a poorly designed hedge labyrinth like the one Jack Nicholson gets snowed-in in The Shining. Or a crossword puzzle designed by a drunk. Or a Rorschach test interpreted by Picasso during his Cubist period. You've probably started seeing them on ads and other places.

And, no, they're not a square barcodes. They're more like a barcode square(d) or cubed or some other geometric increase which explicates a QR code's expanded and versatile capabilities.

What's your online screen name? Have you adopted or subverted the name of a famous or fictional person? Is it your spouse's pet name for you? Is it a handle left over from your now-embarrassing CB days, good buddy? Something that describes your political leanings or sports team loyalty? Your college nickname? Your porn name? (Mine is "Skippy Tenth Street," one reason I don't use it.) 

In what may be the ultimate turn on Apple's "there's an app for that" marketing catchphrase, the Catholic church has endorsed an iPhone application called Confession. The app can be used to track a user's sins, and suggest ways to atone for them.

Sometimes, a gadget comes along that shakes everything up.  Ten years ago, that gadget was the Apple iPod. Four years ago, it was the Apple iPhone.  Last year, it was the Apple iPad.