flying in Freeport last night

// mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

10,000 posts!

Wow! When I started hiptop Nation, I assumed it would be around for a few months - sort of a temporary diversion put in place until Danger built their own set of moblogging tools for hiptop users. Instead, a vibrant community sprung up, and things got very interesting very quickly, and I knew hiptop Nation definitely had a future - becoming a community project as opposed to *my* project.

It's been wonderful to watch the community grow - and change. From the core techie early adopters, we added the young/urban target market of T-Mobile and most recently we've welcomed international hiptop users from Canada, Singapore, the Cayman Islands and Europe. Not to mention the multitude of users who defy any demographic category - the "regular" folks who simply know fun and useful technology when they see it.

I am also amazed to watch a group of hundreds of active users conduct themselves in such a civil and respectful manner. People here have different political views, backgrounds, and passions - and yet I've never had to step in with the Internet standard-issue "fireproof suit" to douse any flame wars, delete any over-the-top posts or kick anyone off the site. If you participate in any other community sites besides this one, you realize how rare this is, and I thank everyone for making us an exception to the rule.

I was talking with someone about moblogging the other day, and I described what was happening here as people "augmenting life". For the past two years(!) I've been using my cameraphone to capture images and slices of my life that, for the most part, normally would have slipped through my memory by now - as have many others here. Whether you are blogging for yourself, your family, your friends, or the world at large, having a tool that is always on, always with you, always ready to grab a photographic and mental snapshot of your immediate present, changes not only the way you share your world, but also the way you experience your world. Or, at least it does for me.

Often I am asked, "So what's the business model? What's the plan?" Here it is: to keep collecting unique and varied bits of reality from around the world, and meet some cool people along the way. It's been working out so far, and I don't see any reason to change it now.

// mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

// mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

Here is the second in what will probably be a continuing series of me poking around the back shelves of the kid section of my library: Four shots from space-themed pop-up books, including 2 pics from Disney's "The Black Hole" (1979), Buck Rogers and Return of the Jedi.

// mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

A cool night in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Riding the rides, playing the games and watching the fireworks. Summer fun! // mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

// mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

Let's see what happens when I bring a cooler full of water balloons down to the playground on a 90 degree day :)

// mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

The wild blueberries were not ready for picking yet, so we found a u-pick place with high-bush blueberries. Note the honor system for weighing and paying (a scale, pricing chart and basket in an empty room) - that such a system can work is one of the nice things about living in Maine.

Just as we got started we were soaked by a powerful and refreshing cloudburst. Ahhh :)

// mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

Hi everyone. Newer members to hN may not be aware that we do actually keep track of things from time to time and publlish stats in our Fun With Numbers section. I don't have time to do a complete update right now, but we are long overdue, so consider this post a Fun With Numbers updatelet. It includes a new top ten bloggers list, which is what most people want to see.

Some general comments: Mike Lee's impressive blog-a-thon showing extended his already commanding lead. If you want to drive up your count, consider participating next year! There are a lot of newer members who have an impressive count for the short time they've been here. If they continue at the same pace, we'll probably be seeing them in the next FWN update. We have a few folks from around the globe where Danger has recently released the hiptop - thanks and please keep blogging Europe and Singapore!

On with the numbers!

There are now a total of 642 unique bloggers (or members) at hiptop Nation.

There are now 27,637 pictures on hiptop Nation.

Top Ten List (followed by position in last update's list)

1. 705 - mlee (1)
2. 415 - arepem (2)
3. 343 - kale (4)
4. 282 - mike (7)
5. 265 - foremank (6)
6. 261 - bustagroove (3)
7. 232 - mwsmith (9)
8. 225 - divinity (new!)
9. 215 - phatbudsjay (5)
10. 204 - lilman (new!)

Thanks to everyone moblogging here - you're the ones making hiptop Nation an interesting place to hang out!

// mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish

I will blog the final result tomorrow... // mikepop via hiptop * AIM: drjellyfish