Miami.com returns

Yes, in another blast from the past, the Miami Herald has revitalized its old city directory/guide website, Miami.com (see an original version from 2000 at the Internet Archive). This time it's a beta release so not quite ready for prime time? See it at Beta.Miami.com. (For many years since Miami.com was abandoned the URL has been going directly to the Miami Herald's website at miamiherald.com.)

So far it seems a bit more ambitious than the old website, which consisted of pulled-together neighborhood guides from the archives, along with a beach guide, restaurant reviews, and the like. But then again: this one consists of neighborhood guides, restaurant reviews, and things like Jodi Mailander's guide to old Florida sites and Enrique Fernandez' paen to the Cuban Sandwich. (I'm pretty sure the sandwich story is from the archives, but hadn't seen the old Miami guide before.) There's an additional aspect to the project, encouraging readers to become contributors to the site, possibly becoming a social network.

Well, well. What is old becomes new again. I think of all that work abandoned all those years ago, now to have the idea revived. I guess it was one of those Knight Ridder projects that was too far ahead of its time, like Viewtron.

In other Miami news, Miami411's Gus Moore announces Rick, formerly of Stuck on the Palmetto, is coming out with a new review of South Florida blogs soon.

Thanks for the heads up to Critical Miami.