April 2006
6 tags
First Look: Dan Gillmor and Backfence
Dan has folded Bayosphere into Backfence, a community “information network” based in DC, and moved his blog there:
[from Welcome to Backfence]
The new site will reflect Backfence’s hyperlocal style much more than mine, though as noted I’ll continue to blog here and do everything I can to make this transition a smooth one. I will offer my advice to Susan DeFife,...
3 tags
Wikology's Web 2.0 Companies List
Was alerted to the existence of yet another web 2.0 list by JC Mae Palmes, at Wikology, an “open business directory” which I guess is controlled in a Wikipedia-like manner.
5 tags
Tagging behind-the-firewall. Questions.
Over at Taxocop (a wiki dedicated to taxonomy, social networks, knowledge managment, and information architecture), there is a discussion going about the use of “social tagging” — by which they mean what we all call tagging, meaning user-generated, unmediated tags linked to information. When you dig into the comments, you see that the heavy hand of centralized control is...
3 tags
Russell Beattie on The Last Page
So Russell is hanging it up. This, too, is a natural part of life: people come, people go.
I seldom read Russell in the past year, and never really warmed to him. Not that that has anything to do with his turning off the light. The reasons to stop are as ideosyncratic and imponderable as the reasons to start. There are probably millions who quit every year. Maybe these guys, like Dave...
8 tags
First Look: Blinksale 2.0
I had some advance warning that a new version of Blinksale, the Web 2.0 invoicing app, was in the works (see here). Today, I took a look. Basically, the team has added the complement of invoicing, which is receiving invoices from others, which they refer to as “Purchasing”:
The caption in the screenshot tells the story. You might receive an invoice from another Blinksale user. ...
9 tags
The Stampede To Concentration
I guess I am unsurprised by the conservative, anti-Internet tides once again rising, in the form of recent commentary from Mick Carr and this recent Businesspundit piece:
[from Businesspundit: Is Concentration the New Competitive Advantage?]
[…] will the successful companies (and employees) of the future be the ones that can do the hard things? Will concentration be a major source of...
6 tags
How do you plan to use Google Calendar?
So, Google has started to incorporate Calendar elements into Gmail. The obvious Outlook-ish invitations work:
I love Google calendar, and have switched over, perhaps for ever. The integration with Google Maps is a killer, and the invitation system is boss:
I couldn’t get the supposed “auto recognition” of events to work reliably, although Philipp Lenssen at Google...
5 tags
danah boyd, Wikipedia, The Fuzzy Hat, and All That
Cousin danah (not really, but aren’t we all cousins, really?) articulates how the Wikipedia process is broken, chronicling how it has led to so many inaccuracies in the entry about her:
[from apophenia: on being notable in Wikipedia]
I can’t fully put my finger on why the media-centric thing bugs me, but it does. The media has decided that i’m an expert because of my...
3 tags
Guy Kawasaki is Wrong about Blogs
Guy Kawasaki has been tearing it up since he launched his blog, but he is wrong about a lot of his recommendations in The 120 Day Wonder: How to Evangelize a Blog. He is consistently off in tone, like 90 degrees off course.
His first point:
1. Think “book” not “diary.” First, a bit of philosophy: my suggestion is that you think of your blog as a “product.” A good analogy is...
4 tags
Garett Rogers on Google Calendar Task
Garrett Rogers has spent some time productively poking at the javascript in Google Calendar, and surmises that completeable tasks are soon to be rolled out:
[from Google Calendar task list feature | Googling Google | ZDNet.com]
I found some code that suggests they will be adding completable events — or “tasks”. This would be nice because the only thing that even resembles a...
6 tags
First Look: Shiira
I am tired of Firefox losing it’s mind — must be a memory leak in there, somewhere — so I have periodically looked at alternatives. The obvious alternative, Safari, feels too clunky, somehow. I tried Camino and I might go back to using it since it is supposed to be fast, and it supports stuff I use all the time, like blummy, but I don’t like the way any of these...
6 tags
Conference perfection
Euan Semple is a guy I first met in the flesh when he and I and a bunch of other people self-organized a small conference called the Symposium for Social Tools a few years ago in London. It was a ball, and we pulled it together in a couple of weeks. Some open space stuff, some presentations: all fun.
He has a few words to say about the the unconference meme:
[from The Obvious?: A word or...
8 tags
AIMSpace or Outerspace?
Wow. The hype and antihype is really swirling around the direction that AOL is taking with the project formerly know as AIMSpace, and which now looks likely to be called Head On, as I wrote about yesterday. The “MySpace Killer” meme culminated in a Business 2.0 blurb:
Indeed, word on the street has been that Time Warner’s (Research) AOL would use its AIM instant messenger...
7 tags
AIMSpace or Outerspace?
Wow. The hype and antihype is really swirling around the direction that AOL is taking with the project formerly know as AIMSpace, and which now looks likely to be called Head On, as I wrote about yesterday. The “MySpace Killer” meme culminated in a Business 2.0 blurb:
Indeed, word on the street has been that Time Warner’s (Research) AOL would use its AIM instant messenger...
3 tags
First Look: Grouptivity
I came across a new social survey web app, called Grouptivity.
First Look
I logged in, created an account, and selected a simple template for a ‘grouplet’, in this case inviting a few friends out for cocktails. There are a long list of predefined template to make ‘grouplet’ creation easier, such as questionaries for setting up carpools, parties, organization meetings,...
6 tags
Is it Head On or AIMSpace?
There have been a number of recent posts about AOL’s plans to launch a new social networking app, like Jason Calacanis’ recent piece where he simply — and enigmatically — reprints a Dave Winer one-liner — “I just heard a rumor that AOL is going to challenge MySpace, “head on,” to be announced in approximately two weeks.” — and then...
2 tags
Clothe Stowe: The Bidding Frenzy Heats Up
The auction for the Clothe Stowe project opens at 12:00pm PT, here. It’s a dutch auction at eBay which I described here.
I have made a few small modifications, based on various recommendations:
I was thinking greedy, but I have dropped the starting bid to $1 per day. Who knows where it will end up.
It’s a ten day auction.
I pulled back a few days so I can were something...
5 tags
The Big Giant Head doesn't know anything
Ajit at Open Gardens makes what seems like a small observation (see Open Gardens: A web 2.0 FAQ), that the principle that should take precedence in Tim O’Reilly’s list of Web 2.0 features is the second: harnessing collective intelligence.
This has led to a number of folks agreeing, along with Tim himself, that all the other stuff is just machinery to support people interacting,...
7 tags
Blogging for Fame....and Maybe Fortune
A relatively lopsided discussion between Jason Calacanis and Alan Meckler at WSJ.com, Can Bloggers Make Money?, where Jason overpowers with hard data about CPM rates and Alan restates the conventional wisdom.
The truth is that blogging is an egalitarian and edge medium: anyone can start a blog. Some years ago William S Burroughs (in Words Of Advice For Young People) said “Any old soul...
4 tags
New Visionaries: Chris Messina, formerly of Flock
Since the interview I had with Chris Messina, he has left Flock, but the arguments he makes for socializing the experience of browsing — which is the driving force behind that company’s Firefox-based browser — still stand up. A great guy, and I am sure he will be doing great things elsewhere. Check out his blog at FactoryJoe.
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5 tags
Research Supports Conversational Index
Some research by a University of Amsterdam researcher and Buzzmetrics support the principles behind the Conversational Index, namely that having lots of comments (they didn’t look at trackbacks, lamentably) is an indicator of a blog’s importance:
[from ResourceShelf]
New Research Paper (DRAFT): Large Scale Study Looks at Comments Posted on Weblogs (8 pages; PDF) This time the...
5 tags
Memewatch: Valleyschwag
Since I announced auctioning off 240 days of T shirt wear (see this and that), I have been relentlessly needled by my entire social network. Mostly people think I’m whacked. David Hornik mentioned the Valleyschwag deal, where you can get schwag sent to you monthly for $14.95, without having to actually go to conferences or sleep on the moldy rug at a Bar Camp in Delhi to get the T...
8 tags
Blogs Multiply. Our Heads Explode
Dave Sifry has posted new news about the Blogosphere: It continues to grow, and the rate of growth continues to increase:
[from Sifry’s Alerts: State of the Blogosphere, April 2006 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth]
Technorati now tracks over 35.3 Million blogs
The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months
It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
On average, a new...
6 tags
Memewatch: Social Media Analysis or Blog...
Over at the Church of the Customer, Ben McConnell suggests that corporations are going to have to find or train people to track what’s pertinent to the business in the blogosphere:
[from Job title of the future: social media analyst]
All of this seems to point toward a new job responsibility inside companies whose growth depends on word of mouth: social media analyst.
If a social...
4 tags
Memewatch: Etroduce
Chris Nolan (not the American journalist, the Canadian geek) has coined a new term:
[from Chris Nolan.ca : Etroducing… the etroduce neologism]
Hello, I’d like to etroduce you to…
Used for online introductions. Reminds me of Gary Turner’s equiantances, which I have been using for years.
2 tags
My Top 10 Sources: Profound Writers
Check out my Top 10 Sources:
Anne Zelenka writes good stuff on web 2.0 architecture/design/development; Fred Wilson is a really smart VC, even when I disagree with him; David Hornik is the funniest VC alive; Anne Gallagher authors insights on “pervasive computing, space and culture;” Martin Geddes opines about tel/internet strategy; Debi Jones is one of the great minds in...
2 tags
Clothe Stowe: 240 Days Wearing Logo T Shirts
I have created the ebay auction for the Clothe Stowe project, which will go live at 12pm noon PT Wed Apr 19:
eBay: Clothe Stowe: 240 Days Wearing Logo T Shirts (item 6052184746 end time Apr-26-06 12:00:00 PDT)
[Update: Apparently, the link only works for me, since I own the account. But it’s there.]
Make a note, set an alarm, whatever. I have already heard back from over 10...
2 tags
Blogging is a Body Business :-)
A friend commented last week, while I was traipsing around the Bay Area, that I seemed to have a penchant for white T shirts with software company logos. And it’s true that I like them. It’s almost a uniform for me: blue jeans, white T shirt, my grey fleece sweater, cap on backwards (it’s not a beret), and various sorts of footware.
So, I had a brainstorm — partly...
3 tags
Invitation-Only Conferences: Necessity, Or Social...
Lee Wilkins, a friend based in London, pinged me via Gtalk Sunday, asking if I could wheedle an invitation for him to the upcoming Web 2.0 conference in November. “Huh? You mean getting comped? I don’t think so” I responded. He clarified that the conference — wildly successful and over-crowded last year — had gone over to invitation-only:
[from Web 2.0...
5 tags
Rebecca Blood: Flickr and "collaborative...
Rebecca Blood coins a new term, collaborative journalism:
[from How Flickr single-handedly invented collaborative photojournalism :: Rebecca Blood]
What is collaborative journalism? I would define it as news reporting, enabled by the Internet, done by a dispersed, unorganized group of people — or a group that spontaneously (and temporarily) organizes around their interest in a particular...
5 tags
Jeff Jarvis Calls For An Open Ad Marketplace
Jeff Jarvis is calling for an open source-based movement to instrument the blogosphere so that everyblogger can particiapte in advertising revenue, and cut out the intermediaries, like Google:
[from BuzzMachine � Guardian column: Open ad marketplace by Jeff Jarvis]
It is just too difficult today for advertisers to join in the exploding world of blogs, podcasts, citizens’ media, and the...
6 tags
Google Calender - Sharable and Easy to Use
Got the tip off that Google had finally released the beta of it’s long-awaited Calendar fromCNET News.com’s Elinor Mills.
I took a look, and it seems a fully functional but fairly austere and clean design, and incorporates nearly everything I would want in an online calendar: multiple calendars, import and export of calendars, iCal support, alerts/notifications (including to cell...
7 tags
First Look: Basecamp Integration in Blinksale
I had an email exchange with Josh Williams of Blinksale following the recent post on Blicksale 2.0 coming down the pike.
Stowe: Integration with Basecamp?
Josh: While the BC integration is not public knowledge, it also does not take a rocket-scientist to speculate that we’re working on that. So, if you want to blog that you’ve heard from us that BC API integration is on the...
5 tags
37Signals Lost the Signal (for a Moment)
Getting Real is a smart, readable, and mind-bending manifesto dedicated to debunking the misconceptions of death-march, stalinist style software development, and simplifying the inscrutable processes that lead to building high quality software. Inspired — perhaps indirectly, since it is never explicitly referenced — by the Agile Programming movement, Getting Real is at once an...
3 tags
Starting From Zero: Day 90
So the 90 day period is over, and the result: Rank: 3,130 (818 links from 382 sites). Started at 0 links from 0 sites, with a rank of 1M+. RSS readership is steadily growing, too:
This will be the last post in the starting+from+zero series.
My understanding of the Technorati algorithms is that rank is determined based on a 6 month window, so I willl revist 3 months from now, and see if I...
7 tags
Items of Interest: 2006.04.11
An interesting discussion is bubbling all over the place based on the success of 37signals’ Getting Real e-book. Jason Fried shares some numbers here. In 30 days they’ve sold 5800+ licenses, nearly 10% of which are 10 copy site licenses, and they’ve grossed like $120,000, with functionally zero expenses (completely discounting the labor of writing the book). Does this...
5 tags
First Look: Blinksale 2.0
[from email]
After several months of planning, design, and development Blinksale 2.0 will be released to the general public in less than two weeks. You read right: Less than two weeks.
Blinksale 2.0 is no small upgrade, and we believe you’ll be thrilled with the improvements. Here are just a handful of the new features in store:
Recurring auto-billing (great for web hosts!)
...
3 tags
Cluetrain Again, User Generated Content
Powazek suggests we drop the term “User Generated Content.”
[from Powazek: Just a Thought: Death to User-Generated Content]
Calling the beautiful, amazing, brilliant things people create online “user-generated content” is like sliding up to your lady, putting your arm around her and whispering, “Hey baby, let’s have intercourse.”
They’re ...
3 tags
Word Of Warning To Modern Nomads: You Are On Your...
Another element in the world of being a modern nomad — those working in public spaces with pricey computers — is a return to the mores of the middle ages: when bandits strike, you are on your own. A rash of laptop robberies is plaguing SF cafes these days, as criminals take advantage of nomadic geeks, as in this recent case:
[from Laptop thieves descend upon wireless cafes /...
4 tags
New Visionaries: Dave Sifry, Technorati
A few months ago, I spoke with Dave Sifry about Technorati, and the blogoshere. The most interesting (and enigmatic) aspect of the conversation was the seeming convergence of search technology and media aggregation. Is Technorati adding editorial value to the mix?
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Or download this episode...
5 tags
Watching The Watchers: Samuel Freedman on Artisan...
Samuel Freedman, a Columbia University professor of Journalism, posts at the CBS.com blog, and joins in the citizen jolurnalism antihype. The interesting historical observations that he makes — for example, that jounalism has long been considered an occupation, not a profession, until the industrial era grabbed it and turned into into an industry — are overpowered by his desire to...
7 tags
Out Of Time: We Are Working Less, But Watching...
Recent research on how we spend our time shows that we have more free time than ever before:
[from The land of leisure]
A pair of economists have looked closely at how Americans actually spend their time. Mark Aguiar (at the diaries ask people to give detailed information on everything they did the day before, and for how long they did it. The beauty of such surveyFederal Reserve Bank...
5 tags
First Look: Critical Path's Contact-Centric...
I stumbled across a press release [pointer from Christopher at Social Infrastructure, a new voice] about Critical Path’s New Memova Messaging Solutions for Service Providers that are contact-centric, rather than messaging-centric:
[from the Press Release]
Critical Path’s contact-centric approach puts contacts — rather than the email or messaging application — at the...
The Contact as Centre of the Universe
Spread throughout my recent writing, a certain latent idea is lurking, incompletely articulated, which I summarize in the title: the individual is the new group.
About a decade ago, the one of the then-current terms of art for social tools was groupware, and the term was intended to impart the core metaphor: groups need to collaborate, and tools need to be defined with that in mind. As a ...
4 tags
Marc Canter on Supernova
Marc has a big gripe about Supernova:
[from Business as usual - on the conference front by Marc Canter]
OK - I’m officially complaining now. The speaker’s list for Supernova has been officially sent out and guess what? Its all the same people - AGAIN?
I mean how many times do we need to hear from Dave Sifry, Mary Hodder, Joi Ito, Dan Gillmor, Werner Vogels, Jeremy Allaire, Amy Jo Kim,...
4 tags
London 2.0
Umair Haque is trying to get a London 2.0 group going.
Maybe DC 2.0 and the groups in other cities that are NOT San Francisco — like Toronto and NY — could affiliate somehow. For example, we are planning a 2 day event in the Fall — supposed to have write up in hand in a few weeks — where day 1 is a camp-like event (the Camp) and day 2 (the Summit) is a more or less...
3 tags
Memewatch: Pinkomarketing
Tara Hunt and a posse of other bright minds are throwing around the nifty term, pinkomarketing, defined in a Martin Luther style Manifesto:
[from Pinko Marketing]
The Pinko Marketing Manifesto (a very rough beginning):
Commie Marketing is about the end of the Marketing Manager, Director and anyone else who thinks they have control over the message, market or ‘brand’
The...
3 tags
First Look: Mindcanvas
Mindcanvas is a research service that employs game-oriented research techniques and intuitive visualization technologies to help realize product and service features:
[from MindCanvas | A research service from Uzanto]
MindCanvas is a rapid research service to gather insights about your customers’ thoughts & feelings. Online surveys require users to complete boring html forms. We...
4 tags
Tom Coates on Social Media
Tom Coates begins a presentation on social media by saying that he doesn’t know what the heck it is — is it social software, a subset of social software, or what? — but he then turns around, and does a pretty good job chasing it down:
[from What do we do with ‘social media’? (plasticbag.org) by Tom Coates]
It was the popular arrival of the web that started the...
3 tags
Supernova is not that Super, anymore
Ok, I have to say it: Supernova might not be that super, anymore.
Kevin Werbach is a great guy. I really like him, and I am glad he hooked up with the Wharton school, but… The conference has seemed to be awfully centrist since the first year in DC.
I give Kevin all sorts of credit for daring to ask me back after I was the panel moderator on a session about the “future of...