Just got back from a nice ride...  my usual route around Westlake has been interrupted by road construction, kind of fun discovering some new rides.  I'm going to be sad when the Olympics are over - what will I do late at night?  (Sleep?)

So Joe Biden is Barack Obama's running mate.  So be it.  A safe choice, he's run for President himself (in 1988, and briefly earlier in the 2008 election), and presumably chosen in part because he's chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.  Among his activities Biden presided over the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas, while chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; I guess we'll hear more about that...

Note: It is remarkable that the Wikipedia entry for Biden has already been updated!  Wow.

I have yet to try Microsoft's new Photosynth software, but everyone is raving about it...  This is an online tool which stitches together multiple photos taken of the same thing to create a 3D environment.  You could take a bunch of pictures of the inside of your house, for example, make a "synth" from them, and then "walk" through it.  Stay tuned...

Speaking of cool 3D representations, check out this awesome panorama taken from the 30 meter platform in the Beijing water cube.  Very cool, and the voiceover by a U.S. diving team member is a nice touch.  [ via Kottke ]

David Harsanyi: Let's chuck the drinking age.  Yeah, let's...  at least make it 18 instead of 21.

Aaron Schwartz: How to launch software.  (Really "how to launch a web application"...)  Some good thoughts here, basically he points out that a single massive launch without a good beta period is a recipe for disaster.  Of course beta testing is always a good idea, but the single massive launch does have its advantages - like getting everyone's attention.  His counter-example, GMail, isn't really a prototype for most companies because most companies aren't Google :)