we always like to give a bit of a shout out to atlanta-based business that we particularly like, and we are not doubt fans of the atlanta-based startup regator, a blog aggregation and filtering service. we particularly like the fact that regator hand picks the blogs fed into it’s service, which while potentially reflecting bias on the part of the fliterers (although if it does it’s indsicernable to us), has the great affect of ensuring that junk stays out of the feed.

either way, reagtor launched it’s iphone app today (download here) and we are more than impressed. it’s easy to navigate with a crisp ui. additionally they enabled landscaping, which is a huge bonus for any app that wants to build web browsing into the app (ahem tweetdeck) and seems on first use (we played around with it extensively on the bus this morning) to be almost bug free (again, amazing for a first cut iphone app.)

kudos to regator on a job well done!!!

in other atl web start-up news we are intrigued by spitter.com which looks to be a regator-type aggregator for sports combined with social-networking forum thingys. since it’s atlanta-based and sports oriented we’ll probably check it out and if we aren’t too lazy we might give you a report.

also, we don’t know why we are writing in the first person plural. we pledge to stop this immediately upon conclusion of this post.

we promise.

Did you see this? ABC News took notice of the community-driven, social-media-enabled crime prevention going on here in the ATL. This segment looks specifically at Atlantans Together Against Crime, webcam video surveillance in the home, and community vigilance in EAV combining civilian patrols with the likes of Twitter and Facebook to get the word out. Click through the image to watch the video at ABC.com:

i thought i would take a moment in this space to give a shout out to a local entrepeneur i would like you all to get acquainted with. the guy, albert or @ialbert if you are a twitter nerd has taken his love of twitter and turned into an apparel business selling the original “eat. sleep. tweet.” t-shirt and other twitter themed apparel.

this author actually met albert last night at the atl tweet-up (and in interests of full disclosure he gave me and many others a free t-shirt) and i thought his stuff was cool enough to pass along. and since they are local and atlanta-based what better place to put it out.

you can check him out at eatsleeptweet.com.

also check out the site for his parent company micah apparel where you can learn all about his very strong commitment to social responsibility and clean water.

hope you like. i know i did and am already loving my new eat. sleep. tweet. t-shirt.

lots of people around these parts are becoming obsessed with twitter, the catchy, addictive little microblogging service that let’s you post whatever to the world in 140 characters. what i think is most amazing is the way the service has taken off as a marketing platform for marketers savvy enough to grasp how to use it. several atlanta-based organizations have figured it out. i thought i would share with you the atlanta stuff that i follow on twitter, just in case you are curious. would love it if you would drop your faves in the comments:

@atlantamusic – the atlanta music guide, keeps you up-to-date on all music going down in the atl
@atlanta_steam – atlanta’s lingerie football league franchise. this is pretty silly but too silly to pass up. btw – how sad is it that none of our major francises can figure out twitter (braves, hawks, thrashers> but the atlanta steam can?
@ATLHOMER – atlanta sports thought from the ultimate homer
@beeratlanta – the atlanta beer guide. i don’t drink but if i did this resource would be invaluable
@criminalrecords criminal records twitter feed – a highly entertaining feed from one of atlanta’s best independent merchants
@earl_eav – the earl – the newly created twitter feed for the popular east atlanta restaurant and music venue
@myATLevents – myATLevents – a great feed of atltana events
@peachyruns – Big Peach Running Company – twitter feed for the greatest running store in the world. a must-follow for atlanta runners

got all that?

good, now i have just one more that is a must follow:

@atlantametblogs – that’s right we are on twitter now too. give us a follow for updates and fastest notification of new posts.

and of course you can follow this intrepid author at @jeherv.

I’ve lived in Atlanta for fourteen years, nearly ten of those have been in East Atlanta. When I moved to my neighborhood I never realized that I’d be able to relive my teens/early-twenties a mere handful of blocks from my house. The time machine into which I step is also know as The EARL.

At The EARL I’ve seen performances by Dick Dale, two-thirds of Hüsker Dü (namely Bob Mould and Grant Hart performing solo shows), Mission of Burma, as well as others. And this weekend I’ll be at there twice, to catch both performances put on by The Long Ryders. Here’s the kicker about this… these shows will be the first United States shows put on by The Long Ryders in over twenty years, they are likely be their only performances in the United States, and there is a chance that they may never get back together again.

For those of you not as old as me, The Long Ryders were up-and-coming “alternative” music stars back when “alternative” music was in its infancy. In those days The Long Ryders toured the globe headling shows and were scheduled to tour with bands such as U2. However, their path to rock stardom was interrupted when some of the band members chose other paths and the band broke up in 1987.

Tickets for the shows can either be purchased via Ticket Alternative; or at The EARL on the day of the show.

So, your intrepid blogger here went to the Unwrapped event to check out the local internet scene.  I’ll have to admit I’m not much of the “scene” type – I don’t meetup, I don’t Tweetup (or whatever).  Most of the folks I know who blog I know socially, and then it turns out they blog, too.  I had coffee with Rusty once, and I think that is the fullest extent of people I have met through blogging or reading blogs.  I like Groucho Marx’s line, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member”.

So the Unwrapped event wasn’t my usual day-after-Christmas thing.  However, I was pleased to run into Thomas Wheatley and Jamsmooth, both friends of mine who happen to blog.  I was supposed to meet up with Will, but that didn’t happen (it has only just occured to me while linking to his profile here that he has a picture of himself on the page that would have aided me in meeting up with him.  I am that smart, people).  

While attempting to find Will, I asked Tessa if she knew him – figuring that the person who put the thing together and who everyone assured me was the social maven of the crowd would be able to point me in the right direction.  Turns out Tessa also went to high school in town, and we had a fun game of “do you know” that actually turned up quite a few names from middle and high school.  Atlanta is quite a small town in that regard, in that it turns out that some of our middle and high school debauchery took place within two degrees of people.

Tessa pointed me in the direction of Will, but it turned out to be the wrong Will, which accounted for considerable social awkwardness on my part and an interesting exchange regarding internet social heirarchies.  Wrong Will, I will call him, commented that apparently the first wave of people at Unwrapped had been the programmers and I guess “industry” types, while the bloggers were supposed to be coming “in force” later on.  Wrong Will, of course, was a tweeter.  I couldn’t help but wonder what the implied heirarchy to his comments were – were the programmers better than the bloggers, and the tweeters better than all of us?  Or was there some different structure?

I would like to think that we all fall into the larger social heirarchy above the random Drivin and Cryin fans that wandered into Vinyl from the show, but I’m not so sure.  Regardless, I had a decent time, met a few people, and paid way too much for parking.

Some of the people I remember from a recent quick Saturday-night run to the Edgewood Kroger:
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One of my favorite local blogs, Pecanne Log, wrote a post yesterday about a great Atlanta mystery: Why are Downtown and Midtown so damn dead after dark and on weekends? I think everyone who lives in Atlanta is confounded by its inexplicable car culture, and the lack of a thriving and bustling city core.

For my part, I think the problem is three-fold: One part fear of crime, the poor, and crappy schools, one part irresponsible development that throws up more junk while neglecting the existing infrastructure, and one part geography: Most great American cities have grown up around a limiting geographical feature, usually a body of water, that hems it in and forces it upward rather than sprawling out. Pheonix, Dallas, and Atlanta are all limited by the room they have to spread their wings; NYC, Chicago, DC, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco. . . all are hemmed in and yet empowered by their geographical limitation.

What is the problem? What is the answer? I have no clue. Does anyone really think that Atlanta will be a great city in the vein of a New York or Seattle? I have my doubts.

Anything else you see as a great Atlanta Mystery?

3 quick hits:

1. Kangaroo Attacked the Zoo Keeper

It’s over pretty quickly and the zoo keeper got away w/ only some bruising.

2. Kool Korners is indeed closing

So says the indispensable Disposable Income blog. I’ll admit that, despite working nearby, I never ate a cuban sandwich there. :-(

3. Kid Rock Takes His Waffle House Very Seriously

Video of last year’s Kid Rock versus Waffle House fight.

Happy Tuesday

Sorry. I’m not all that good at gallows humor.

Anyhow, the local news is all about local news in the form of the AJC cutting staff and WXIA’s news director stepping down.

Me? I get all my information from the internets and the watercooler (an actual watercooler who bears a resemblance to Wall-E).

I rarely watch the TV version (save for the weather, how Atlantan of me) and I occassionally link/blog the paper version, though I prefer CL’s reportage and their blogs.