Keyboard cat is a full-fledged phenomenon. Even my mom knows about it, and I wasn't the one to tell her (Stephen Colbert was).
The meme stems from a lovable costumed feline whose owner gets it to play a keyboard. By cutting it into any video, it provides a humorous effect, a cross between the "wrap up your acceptance speech" music at the Academy Awards, and the large hooks they used to use to drag off actors in vaudeville shows.
If you've been itching to create your own Keyboard Cat video, but don't have the software to do it, fear not. There's Webware for that. Bobsworth Industries, which makes some other fun Web tools, has put together the Auto Keyboard Cat.
You just drop in any YouTube URL, and pick when the cat should come on. It then streams the two clips together. You can then pass that URL on to a friend who sees both clips together.
It's missing a few things I'd love to see, such as the option to take that video and embed it elsewhere. You also can't play any more of the source video once the Keyboard Cat starts playing. Some of the most masterful works on YouTube use this technique and it's quite funny--although again, this tool simply combines the two clips together.
To make your own keyboard cat, you just drop in the YouTube URL or ID and pick when you want it to begin.
(Credit: CNET)I discovered Hotspotr at SF Beta this past week. It's a neat little service that mashes up Google maps with a local Wi-Fi hotspot finder. The real pull of the service is you can rate and comment on hotspots as you would with restaurant reviews on a review site like Yelp. It's the perfect service for the casual Wi-Fi traveler to benefit from road warriors who are willing to take the time to review a wireless access point.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
The ratings aren't just things such as the overall quality of the wireless signal either; you also can rate food and drink, outlet availability, and whether it's better for work or play.
One of the neatest parts of using Hotspotr is its zoom technology called GZoom. GZoom lets you draw a simple rectangle to zoom into precisely the part of the map you want. Sure you can accomplish something similar by simply double clicking on the spot you're looking for, but GZoom lets you select certain regions with much more accuracy.
Hotspotr has listings for more than 1,200 cities right now and a mobile version of the site for use on your cell phone.
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