OK, *now* the internet is a series of tubes.

January 16, 2007 11:58 AM

Who'd have guessed? Turns out that Senator Ted Stevens was simply a man ahead of his time. The internet really is a series of tubes.
posted by Tubes (30 comments total)

[*sigh* Shoulda trademarked my name while I had the chance...]
posted by Tubes at 12:01 PM on January 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

But where does the "snow" in tubesnow fit in?
(Obligatory reference to "10 Worst Domain Names")
posted by wendell at 12:05 PM on January 16, 2007

I thought it was tube snow as well.
I was expecting some kind of edgy snow boarding site.
posted by 2sheets at 12:07 PM on January 16, 2007

Well, blow me down and send me an internet!
posted by Dr-Baa at 12:09 PM on January 16, 2007

Eponysteria or self-link? There are 1404 ways of answering this question.
posted by rxrfrx at 12:19 PM on January 16, 2007

I snowboard now, but I used to snowtube when I was a kid.
posted by Tubes at 12:30 PM on January 16, 2007

Who would I want to send a mean internet to?
posted by wendell at 12:31 PM on January 16, 2007

Wendell, don't you dare clog my truck with your mean internets! Tube, my first thought was "Damn, spam account, spam post," until I looked at your user number.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:48 PM on January 16, 2007

It took a few years but Tubes finally succumbed to the siren's call of self-linking.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:12 PM on January 16, 2007

*Hanging my head in ignorance* and afraid to ask this question. This Tubes thing sounds like an interesting idea to me. What do you more techno savvy guys think about it?
posted by nickyskye at 1:16 PM on January 16, 2007

I think it sounds like a private network only presented with gradients and rounded corners.
posted by klangklangston at 1:34 PM on January 16, 2007

White dopes on punk!
posted by hal9k at 1:44 PM on January 16, 2007

I hate these Johnny-come-lately $5 self-linkers.
posted by cortex at 2:25 PM on January 16, 2007

sorry, hal9k, a much better fitting Tubes lyrical reference would be:
Well, you can't have that, but if you're an American citizen you are entitled to:
a heated kidney shaped pool,
a microwave oven--don't watch the food cook,
a Dyna-Gym--I'll personally demonstrate it in the privacy of your own home,
a king-size Titanic unsinkable Molly Brown waterbed with polybendum,
a foolproof plan and an airtight alibi,
real simulated Indian jewelry,
a Gucci shoetree,
a year's supply of antibiotics,
a personally autographed picture of Randy Mantooth
and Bob Dylan's new unlisted phone number,
a beautifully restored 3rd Reich swizzle stick,
Rosemary's baby,
a dream date in kneepads with Paul Williams,
a new Matador, a new mastodon,
a Maverick, a Mustang, a Montego,
a Merc Montclair, a Mark IV, a meteor,
a Mercedes, an MG, or a Malibu,
a Mort Moriarty, a Maserati, a Mac truck,
a Mazda, a new Monza, or a moped,
a Winnebago--Hell, a herd of Winnebago's we're giving 'em away,
or how about a McCulloch chainsaw,
a Las Vegas wedding,
a Mexican divorce,
a solid gold Kama Sutra coffee pot,
or a baby's arm holding an apple?

posted by wendell at 2:26 PM on January 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sounds pretty good--is it? 2gigs free storage, "private" file sharing service that seems to be targeted to my grandmother... am I missing something?

And where are all these companies getting their storage from--is it really so cheap, these days?
posted by Squid Voltaire at 2:43 PM on January 16, 2007

I prefer this network of tubes.
posted by zamboni at 2:52 PM on January 16, 2007

And where are all these companies getting their storage from--is it really so cheap, these days?

Interesting article related to this and other issues (bandwith, etc.) from the AP yesterday:

"So far, when it comes to making money, the online video explosion is mostly about potential. Studios selling TV shows and movies for download, and Web sites like YouTube that link ads to user-generated content, stand to reap billions from the Internet's hottest trend.

But a select group of companies whose products exist largely outside the public view are already profiting handsomely. Led by industry powerhouse Cisco Systems Inc., the network equipment makers are seeing their gear snapped up by service providers who must upgrade their networks to accommodate surging Internet traffic and booming broadband demand."

more ...

posted by ericb at 2:56 PM on January 16, 2007

Say, that's a nice-looking site.
posted by metaly at 3:45 PM on January 16, 2007

nickyskye, I think it is pretty good. It's like BitTorrent with social networking and all the complexity wrung out of it.

(In fact, it sounds very much like Groove, which has morphed/crippled into Windows Meeting Space.)

I'm sure there are many technical reasons why BT or eMule or whatnot may be "better" and we'll be arguing that for some years, but applications like Tubes will probably be very popular in the near future.
posted by dhartung at 4:09 PM on January 16, 2007

[steps out from behind metaly]

Be a shame if something were to happen to it, if you get my drift.
posted by oats at 4:56 PM on January 16, 2007

Thanks for the informative, sane, clear comment dhartung. Much appreciated. :)
posted by nickyskye at 5:29 PM on January 16, 2007

Totally tubular, dude.

But why does this FPP have two links to the same page?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:34 PM on January 16, 2007

Send an internet on Friday, and your recipient will get it on Monday! Because it's not a truck.
posted by clevershark at 6:32 PM on January 16, 2007

If you want tubes, there's no better source then the Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corporation !
posted by delmoi at 7:43 PM on January 16, 2007

I believe I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some world-class snark here, but I have nothing.

Alas, my self-link is all about Bigfoot's dermal ridges.
posted by Tube at 8:51 PM on January 16, 2007

...a personally autographed picture of Randy Mantooth...

wendell just took me back to the 70s with full-size GI-Joe figures, narrow wooden skateboards, and Emergency!

...Tube, my first thought was "Damn, spam account, spam post," until I looked at your user number.... - Devils Rancher

Tube is a young 'un (40978) -- I'm the vet (1404)

See the confusion you've caused, Tube? You and Tubes and YouTube and UTube and Sen. Stevens can all expect a call from my attorney-- er, wait, he's calling me now... something about a Fee Waybill...?
posted by Tubes at 9:54 PM on January 16, 2007

I saw an ad for this start-up on the back of the free Metro fishwrap in Boston. The ad pretended to be an article dated sometime in 2010. The lead presumptuously predicted the future by way of faux retrospect, saying "We went back and listed the brightest new websites of the past 10 years, and the results won't be surprising..."

Then there was a sampling of the sites they namedropped. 2005 was MySpace, 2006 was YouTube, and 2007 apparently was this other tubes site. It was the most presumptuous piece of advertising garbage I'd seen in a long time.

Additionally, they listed Napster as the site for 2004. Uh huh.

Might be a nice concept, but the advertising execution simply reeks of post-2001 dot com hubris.
posted by Spatch at 5:28 AM on January 17, 2007

(sigh -- always preview first)

I meant pre-2001 dot com hubris, of course.
posted by Spatch at 5:29 AM on January 17, 2007

Hmm the poster is named tubes - OMG SELF LINK KILL KILL KILL
posted by Mister_A at 6:36 AM on January 17, 2007

god i can't wait until this "web 2.0" bullshit ends.
posted by jcterminal at 2:07 AM on January 18, 2007