Ever heard of a vook?

January 29, 2010 by alameda

Perhaps the next best thing, according to an Alameda company!

Vook Inc.’s product is a multimedia application that works on a computer’s Internet browser and can be downloaded to an iPhone or iPod Touch. The software displays the text with accompanying video clips. Called a “vook,” it’s a digital mashup of video and books, with a dash of popular social networks Facebook and Twitter thrown in for seasoning.

Explosive internet speeds? :)

January 29, 2010 by alameda

It looks like we might finally have a workable alternative to Comcast, as a result of AT&T installing their U-verse service in Alameda.

I was curious to see how these cabinets look and in the process, came upon reports of them actually exploding due to faulty batteries! The reports were from 2008, so it is entirely possible that the problem(s) have been fixed by now.

Ask what your iPhone can do for your city

October 10, 2009 by alameda

Would be very handy if we had something similar in Alameda to this iPhone app:

Ask not what your city can do for you; ask what your iPhone can do for your city. Starting today, Pittsburgh became the first U.S. city with its very own iPhone application, iBurgh which allows Steel City residents to use their devices to snap pictures of civic embarrassments and hazards and upload them directly to municipal public administration.

If somebody does develop such an app, perhaps they won’t call it iMeda :)

Flavors of India

September 27, 2009 by alameda

Nah … this is not an India related travelogue :)

In a recent post, Lauren mentioned that an Indian restaurant would be opening up soon on Park St. As luck would have it, I had dinner with some friends at Flavors of India over the weekend … these are the very same folks who will soon be setting up shop in our fair town. If my experience (and that of others) is any indication, they could very well endup giving the other Indian place (on Buena Vista) a run for their business.

Just in time for Halloween

September 12, 2009 by alameda

A marginal improvement from January!

(What might’ve been) Webster Freeway

September 6, 2009 by alameda

Check out this mashup of the freeways that were planned in the 50s and 60s, but never built (thankfully!). Included among the plans was a southern crossing of the bay bridge that would connect SF  to 880 South via Alameda!

This would have been an additional crossing S of the Bay Bridge, terminating in Oakland (two approaches in Oakland: one along Alameda and one along Doolittle to the I-880/Hegenberger interchange). The history of the Southern Crossing goes back at least to 1948, when the state department of public works prepared a report on additional toll crossings of San Francisco Bay.

Chronicle discovers Alameda … part deux

September 5, 2009 by alameda

Great article in the Chronicle on the theater and the revival of Park St.

When the curtain rose at the newly refurbished Alameda Theatre, it wasn’t just the vintage movie house that glittered once more. It was Alameda’s entire downtown. The theater was the catalyst that changed everything,” said Robb Ratto, director of the Park Street Business Association. “Compared to how things used to be around here, whether it’s day or night, it’s like night and day.

Chronicle discovers Alameda!

August 28, 2009 by alameda

Perhaps this is a record for the most number of Alameda related articles in the Chronicle on a given day. 4 (FOUR!) articles in today’s paper. Inquiring mind wants to know … what do we owe this to and what took them so long? :)

Kite and wind surfing in Alameda

Alameda Restaurants

Alameda Victorians

(The piece de resistance) Alameda braces for change

The last article elicited the very predictable Pavlovian response (comment) from the usual suspect about some imaginary threat or the other. The bloke perhaps sees conspiracies lurking behind his own shadow, but I digress!

Who needs driveways?

August 24, 2009 by alameda

Before and after pics.

Paradise unpaved indeed!

The “elite” 8!

July 24, 2009 by alameda

We always knew Alameda was special (why else would we live here?). Here’s a new report appears to validate this and is hopefully is the start of a long term trend.

They’re the East Bay’s elite eight — cities where assessed property values have bucked downward trends and eased the pain city governments are feeling from the recession. Alameda, Piedmont, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda have all seen their assessed property values increase, albeit slightly, according to data from the Alameda and Contra Costa counties’ assessors’ offices.