Time for a little roundup of some loose ends rattling around my brain these days. But first I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be taking Sundays off from posting starting yesterday. I’m getting some more freelance work, and I’m going to dedicate most of my weekends to that for the near future. Now, on to a Monday Night Grab Bag!

1. Joost
Last week I got my beta invitation for Joost, and I’ve been playing around with it some. For those who don’t know, Joost is a new Web 2.0 company that has created an application for streaming television on your computer. As opposed to the majority of Web 2.0 apps, which use your Web browser to push their user interface, Joost is a program you have to download and run locally. Another innovation of Joost is their adoption of a peer to peer back end for distributing the server load of their streaming content.

So far, it’s worked really well for me. I think I was one of the first couple of rounds of the OS X beta testers, and the program is a little buggy. Also, besides MTV, BET, and Comedy Central, there aren’t many channels of recognizable programming. I know that CBS just signed a contract to supply content, and I’m sure other networks will follow suit. But for now, there isn’t a lot on that struck my fancy.

If Joost takes off, I think we’ll start to see a lot more of these hybrid client apps that run on your desktop with Web 2.0 functionality. And on a related topic…

2. Adobe Apollo
Adobe has released a new runtime environment and SDK for developing applications that could run a lot like Joost using traditionally Web-only programming languages (HTML, Javascript, Flash, etc.). I haven’t downloaded it to check it out yet, but Apollo and Microsoft’s Silverlight could set the stage for the next Web revolution. Or they could fizzle. Time will tell.

And speaking of fizzling…

3. The Web 2.0 Bubble
I subscribe to Mashable, a blog that covers news and trends in social networking sites. It’s an excellent blog, but every day I’m amazed by stories they cover of some new Web 2.0 startup getting funding for letting users share pictures of their cats or some such thing. It reminds me a lot of the last days of the Web 1.0 boom during which investors were throwing money at any- and everything that had .com at the end of it. The recent buzz around twitter, a fairly useless one-trick pony with a funny name and some shiny graphics, has me worried. Could twitter be the death knell of Web 2.0? I can only hope investors and entrepreneurs are wiser this go around.

So there you have a few things I’ve been thinking about recently. Looks like I’ve got some waiting and seeing to do. I’ll keep you posted down the road.

In the interest of full disclosure, I had a crappy day at work today, and my mind isn’t really in a blogging place right now. But I thought I would share with you several things I’ve been thinking about lately that may or may not end up as full blown posts down the road.

1. Podcast reviews
I’ve been listening to several new podcasts recently, and I’m thinking about offering my thoughts on new and established podcasts. Yesterday, I discovered that Kevin Smith has one, and there are a few others that I’ve followed sporadically that I’ve been thinking about subscribing to again. It’s a really exciting medium that I need to become more familiar with.

2. Blogs about blogging
As I gain more experience as a blogger, I plan to offer some advice and tutorials about the art of blogging. At the moment, I’m far from an expert, but I think my experiences as a fledgling blogger might be of interest. One of the first topics I plan to tackle in this arena is my response to one point that Joshua made in his “9 Lessons for Would-be Bloggers” piece: Everything is beta. His post is still pretty fresh, and I’m going to ponder it for a day or two before I respond.

3. Follow ups
I’ve got several projects in the air right now: losing weight with Web 2.0, Project Opus, redesigning roblindsey.com, and getting my fantasy baseball league started. I’ll be following up all of these with posts in the near future.

4. Linux pre-installed on Dell and HP computers.
I’m a big believer in the open source software movement, and Linux is what started it all. Recently, I installed Ubuntu on my old Windows HP, and I’ve been playing around with it a good bit. I plan to write an article with my opinion of the potential for Linux to be pre-installed on factory computers. I need to do some more research first. So that post will be down the road a ways. Maybe by the time I get around to it Dell or HP will confirm that they’re doing it.

5. St. Patrick’s Day or, as I like to call it, my birthday
As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m turning 30 this year. Though I’m typically a pretty even-keeled guy about stuff like this, I can feel some thoughts about this milestone bubbling in my brain (or maybe I’m just having a stroke!). Nonetheless, I’ll probably forgo my Weekend Web Developer piece on Saturday in favor of a meditation on turning 30.

So there you have a look into the future of One Thing New. I’m pleased with the work I’ve done so far. I realize that the scope and focus of this blog is sometimes nebulous and kind of abstract, but I hope it’s at least been interesting. Thanks to all who have been reading.