Hey, folks. I know my writing here has been a bit sporadic lately, but it’s mostly because I’ve been writing posts like these for Mashable. It’s so long that one might convert it to PDF and proclaim it an e-book *cough* Seth Godin *cough*, but I’ve refrained myself from it - this time.

Together with the secret to life, universe and everything, I’ve discovered that Twitter outages have been starting points for the most interesting discussions in the last couple of months. Perhaps we should pray for more?

I’m checking out Time’s list of 50 best websites of 2008 and I don’t get it. Sure, these are all nice sites, but I fail to find any criteria upon which this list is based.

A quick skim through the list reveals very different types of sites and services. Hulu is there, which means that the list isn’t global, since Hulu doesn’t work outside of the US. TinyURL isn’t really a destination site which you’re going to visit often; it’s a service you’re going to use through a bookmarklet. I’m glad that PixelGirl Presents, a long-time favorite of mine, got a mention, but that site hasn’t changed in years; why is 2008 the year when PixelGirl Presents deserves to be in the top 50?

In short, the list is a totally random assortment of interesting websites. Which is not that bad in itself, but I think that Time should try harder to establish some criteria for lists such as this, if it wants to stay more relevant than the next “I’m gonna make a big list, hit Digg, and go away rich” blog.

If the standard way of watching Google Maps is boring you to death, a game in which you can drive several different vehicles all around the map might be a welcome refreshment.

The game, developed by Geoquake, is based on Google Maps API for Flash, which enables it to run at smooth 40 FPS (as always, it didn’t run smooth for me at all, but that’s probably just my bad luck).

Don’t expect hours of gameplay with this one, though: it’s just a simple display of what can be done with an API. You can choose between 4 vehicles and control them with the mouse or the arrow keys, but the fact that you don’t have to stick to the road and can drive over buildings somewhat kills the joy.