Fred Wilson calls for everyone to stop hating YouTube.

I'm certainly not a YouTube hater- it won my Web 2.0 Wars series.  And I agree with Fred that the neatest stuff on YouTube is not the "pirated" stuff that maybe shouldn't be there.  It's the user-created stuff.

But, but, but...

I think the absurd valuations that all of these bubble blowers are trying to associate with YouTube depends in large part on its ability to serve a lot of "pirated" content.

And...

I think we have to make a distinction between people who dislike YouTube in and of itself and people, like me, who only dislike the wildly overinflated valuations that the circus barkers yell at us from inside the greater-fool tent.

YouTube would be a great site, community and service if it didn't have one clip of pirated content.

But it does.  The ironic thing is that most of the content producers weren't really complaining.

Until some dumbass started squawking about how many billions of dollars YouTube is worth.

Why not just sit back and let YouTube try to come up with some revenue streams and then ask them how much money they make?

The answer, of course, is impatience, greed and the complete lack of scale. 

Earl Moore has a list of reasons why some people don't link.  I can add some additional reasons why I think a couple of bloggers I used to read don't link:

 

(a) I was picked on in high school and this is my revenge on the world;

(b) if I link to you, people will realize that you are right and I am wrong, and I like to feel right;

(c) for the first time in my life, I am at the top of the food chain in something and I like the feeling of ignoring people who wouldn't give me the time of day in the real world; and

(d) I'm pretending that my new media blog is an old media newspaper, and old media newspapers don't link to new media blogs.

Claus is having his own set of problems with Firefox.  Fortunately, my crash problem seems to have magically fixed itself- perhaps via an extension update.

Did the latest Colorado gunman use MySpace to research his victims?  According to John Dvorak, a CNN story intially reported a rumor that he did.

TechRepublic has 10 ways to become a better blogger.

Here's how to use your webcam as a motion detecting security device.

Only a Fool Would Buy That: Everyone's favorite billionare, Mark Cuban, on YouTube.

I Know You Are, But What Am I: HP's Patricia Dunn at a congressional hearing.

Why don't we all just agree that MySpace is worth more than everything else on earth combined, so we can stop writing about it?

Randy Morin is exactly right.  Those who, by intent or by laziness, don't link are damaging the utility of the blogosphere- both as a conversational medium and as an information resource.

Rogers and Seth on Seth's Wikipedia imprisonment.

I watched one of, and perhaps the, best music films I have ever seen tonight.

Festival Express.  It's available at Amazon, and via Netflix.

In the summer of 1970, a chartered train crossed Canada carrying some of the world's greatest rock bands. The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Ian & Sylvia and others traveled, partied and played great music together for five days, stopping in major cities along the way to play live concerts.

It was all filmed.

The concert footage is great- the first number by The Band is worth the rental all by itself.  But the best parts are the impromptu jam sessions that occurred on the train between concerts.

I love this film, and recommend it highly to any fan of great music.

Henry Blodget says that MySpace could be worth $15 billion (yes, that's a b) in a few years.  He bases his argument on the current value of Yahoo.  He also says it could be worth less than Newscorp paid for it ($600 million).  While I'm not sure Henry did much other than set out the vast range of possibilities, he ended with a sentence I very much agree with: "One big search deal--and an obsession with music-related content--will not a $15 billion company make."

In related news, Forevergeek debunks the myth of 100 million users.

Zingu: fun with photos.

Tags: kents news, links

I'm even more sold on Jericho after the second episode.  Good writing, good acting.

And a powerful anti-war message.

The last scene tonight, when Hawkins was thumbtacking the cities that have been bombed, was a very powerful scene.

I'm looking forward to this show.

I really, really enjoyed the Scoble Show segment with Thomas Hawk.  I could watch him shoot and talk about photography for hours.  I probably learned more about photography from that segment than most of the photography books I have read.

Tom Morris talks about the SXSW panel on tag skepticism.  No one, and I mean no one, in the real world cares about tags.

Firefox 2 Release Candidate 1 is out. Ars Technica takes a look.

Limewire gives the RIAA a taste of its own medicine.

Farmgate asks if America still needs its farmers.  The answer, happily, is yes.  Read this interesting post to understand why.

Bad Teddy: a Paddington Bear kills 2500 fish in a fight at a fish hatchery.

I watched The Matador this past weekend and thought it was great.  I was not a Pierce Brosnan fan before, but I am now.  A must see for fans of offbeat movies.

Every Simpsons episode.  Online.  South Park too.

Seth Finkelstein on the future of the internet.

Tags: kents news, links

And hang it on the wall.

Kevin Briody on Facebook's move to open its network to anyone:

This is a bad idea. A classic example of inappropriately twisting a business model to justify investor demands and market expectations.

Amen.

It's another example of the completely out of whack scale (or lack thereof) in the Web 2.0 space.  Facebook gained a big advantage, a huge mindshare and an identity apart from the "me too" of social networking by doing one thing very, very well- connecting college students.

Facebook is now willing to toss away much of that advantage by opening its gates to everyone in a silly attempt to be MySpace.

One day someone is going to make descisions based on something other than trying to squeeze the last dollar from the mythical Web 2.0 buyer.

When that happens, it will be time to needlepoint again.

Tags: facebook, web 2.0

Doc and Dave Winer are talking about Gastonia.

I can add to this conversation with one of the best insurgent country songs ever.

Gastonia by the Star Room Boys.

Album available at Amazon.

Tags: gastonia, star room boys

GideonTech has the 10 worst tech portrayals in film.

Robert Scoble introduces his new video podcast.

Dwight Silverman has an interview with Apple target Russell Holliman of Podcast Ready.

Groom, brother and father fight over booze at a wedding reception. (via Obscure Store)

Tags: kents news, links

Piczo is a social networking site, geared toward young teenagers, that actually does something about online safety- unlike MySpace and others.

Piczo is a closed system- there's no way to browse pages or to search. There are numerous ways for parents and others to report inappropriate behavior. And best of all- Piczo has full time staff reviewing all complaints and claims to take swift action to protect its members.

This sounds like the sort of site I was describing last night when I was calling MySpace out for yet another round of smoke and mirrors in the name of user safety.

I haven't tried Piczo, and much of what I report here comes from the C|Net story, the TechCrunch story, the Piczo safety page and the Piczo parents' page.

I really wish Piczo would require parental approval before allowing kids to register, but other than that one material omission, it seems to have a good approach to online safety.

The question then becomes a choice between a "safer" network and no network at all. I suspect that when my kids get to the networking age, I will first try to write a secure site for them and their friends to use to connect online. If that's too nerdy or Daddy-infested for my kids, we'll have to talk about it. I'm not naive enough to think I can keep my kids from the internet, but I'm certain I can and will exert influence over where they go and what they do there.

My buddy Tom Morris pokes some logical holes in my dark alley theory and compares MySpace to a large city, like New York, Boston or London. He says that problems like the ones at MySpace and elsewhere can't be solved by technological means. And he says that, since MySpace has more rules than the web at large, it's at least incrementally safer than the world wild web.

Most of what he says makes sense. I guess the difference that I keep clinging to is that my kids can't go to New York, Boston or London without me, but they are permitted to (and will almost certainly demand to) go to MySpace, etc. all by themselves.

Sure, I can forbid them from doing it at my house, but what about at a friend's house? I have to be watchful and involved, but I want sites like MySpace to make it easier for me to control where my kids go and what they do online- not harder.

Piczo seems to be to be a step in that direction.

Tags: piczo, myspace, social networking

The Pew Future of the Internet II report tells us that by 2020, we'll be living Bladerunner-style:

Tech "refuseniks" will emerge as a cultural group characterized by their choice to live off the network. Some will do this as a benign way to limit information overload, while others will commit acts of violence and terror against technology-inspired change.

Wisdump has its Top 10 Web 2.0 losers.

Techmeme has enacted sponsored posts- an interesting advertising angle.  Here's Gabe's announcement and here are the pricing plans.    Here are notes on the first three sponsors.  And here is Dwight Silverman's take.  My initial thoughts are that this is a clever alternative to traditional advertising, and as long as Gabe picks the right sort of sponsors, it ought to work well.

George Ou on proof that Antivirus software slows your computer to a crawl.

Tags: kents news, links

MySpace wants us to stand up and take notice of its new safety initiative.  Is this something meaningful or just more lip service?  Let's take a look.

The big plan, it seems, is to publish a guide on safety tips, get Seventeen magazine and the National School Board Association to tag along, and put a link to these safety tips at the bottom of every MySpace page.  Oh, and they plan to distribute copies of the guide to schools all over the United States.

Yep, a guide with some safety tips will stop those murderers and pedophiles dead in their tracks.

For one thing, don't most schools ban MySpace under the so-called MySpace law?  If so, are teachers going to spend time going over how to do safely what students are not permitted to do at all?

This is just more lip service, with some conscripted allies along to muddy the water a little.  I'd love to know the basis on which Seventeen magazine and, particularly, the National School Board Association lent their names to this effort.

In the flurry of lip service one very funny thing happened.  Seventeen magazine's editor-in-chief opened her mouth and out came these words: "My mom was the person who told me not to walk down the dark alley by myself, not the person who created the dark alley."

Well, aside from the fact that she just compared MySpace to a dark alley, here are a couple of differences between that dark alley and MySpace that come to mind:

(1) that dark alley doesn't make millions or billions of dollars by enticing kids to walk down it;

(2) that dark alley isn't owned and operated by a major media company;

(3) that dark alley is located in some outside place, likely far from home, as opposed to inside every computer in the world.

There are lots more differences, but you get my drift.

I'm all about educating kids.  And I'm all about monitoring what your kids do online.

You can't expect MySpace, even if it is making millions and billions of dollars, to guarantee a safe environment.  Parents have to monitor and stay actively involved in their kids' online activities.

But for some company that makes millions or billions of dollars by providing the so-called dark alley to take the position that it's up to mom to protect the kids from said dark alley...well, that's just about the most absurd thing I have ever heard.

MySpace should take a few of those millions or billions of dollars and hire hordes of people whose job consists of nothing other than surfing around MySpace all day and night, looking for both potential troublemakers as well as inappropriate content and personal information.

Or maybe require parental approval for people under 18 to sign up.

The dirty little secret, of course, is that if MySpace did all of that, its coveted user base, many of whom think they want a place away from mom and dad where the rules are looser, would cry foul and, perhaps, spend less time clicking those lucrative ads.

The fact remains, however, that parents expect MySpace to do a lot more than it seems willing to do in this regard.  Eventually, the smoke and mirrors will fail and congress and/or lawyers will press the issue.

In sum, you can do a lot more than MySpace seems to be willing to do and still rely on parents to be vigilant. So far, unfortunately, MySpace seems to want to do as little as possible while giving lip service to the problem.

Tags: myspace

Hugh has a funny drawing and an interesting post about the work vs leisure schism.

The real question in my mind is whether, taken as a whole, technology has been used to create more work time or more leisure time- or maybe both.

I have thought a lot (don't ask me why this keeps popping into my head, but it does) about how much easier it is to get things done at night now than it was 125 years ago.  Back then, most of the work around these parts was done outside.  After the sun went down, it was pretty hard to work the fields, manage livestock, build fences, etc.

Then comes the engine and electricity, and all of the sudden lighting things up- houses, cars, tractors, etc. became much easier.  The efficient work day was expanded by hours.  At the same time, however, technology was making the work easier and faster.

Other technological advancements- typewriters, telephones, airplanes, computers, word processing, fax machines and the internet added to this effect. 

So you had a longer period of time to do what took less time to do.

And leisure time was born.

Some took advantage of this extra time to work less, and some used it to work more.  Over a hundred or so years, different philosophies about work and leisure (which includes not only playing golf and goofing off, but also family related activities) evolved.

Some believe that devoting much of this extra time to work will have a proportionate effect on their income and place on the corporate ladder.  That's probably true to a point- I have certainly devoted a good chunk of my technology-created extra time to work.

But where's the sweet spot?  At what point does the return from another hour at the office diminish to the point it is no longer efficient?  At what point does an extra dollar become less important than an extra hour with your kids- who grow up so fast?

This is a hard equation for people like me - and I suspect Hugh also- who have a hard time really relaxing.  I know that if I don't have a project at home to work on, I get very fidgety.

But sometimes, you simply have to- or at least need to- slow down a little.

I don't like new age semantics any more than Hugh does, but I think balance is the right word for this.

I'm not sure where the fulcrum lies, but I know it's very hard in this technological world to hold up both ends of life all the time.

Tags: work, lifestyle

Men's Health has 18 Tricks to Teach Your Body.

An amazing photograph. (via Dave Rogers)

Recommendation list for Science Fiction books.  My favorite science fiction book is one I read when I was around 12- Andre Norton's Star Man's Son.

Top 10 coolest things spotted on Google Earth.

SportsLizard has 5 reasons why video downloading won't catch on.  I agree with all of them, but the only one that really matters is reason number 5.

Tags: kents news, links

I hadn't logged onto AOL in about 1000 years, but now that I've been sitting by my computer for about 60 straight hours waiting for Mike to answer my question, I'm pretty much down to the dregs of my internet destinations.

So, I fired up AOL tonight while I waited for Mike to get finished drawing impossible sledding courses for Dave Winer (that is a cool game, by the way- especially when you realize that guy really is Dave).

I wandered over to AOL Radio and rooted around a bit.  AOL has some XM channels, which is redundant for me- since my car, my computer and my DirecTV already have it (I wish I could get Sirius free somewhere so I could listen to Channel 14- Classic Vinyl).

But I was surprised to find some stations on AOL Radio that I really liked.  Under the Rock channels there is a great psychedelic rock channel (Spirit's New Dope in Town is playing right now), a southern rock channel, one with only rock covers, a Rolling Stones channel, and a one-hit wonders channel that is hit and miss, but worth a listen.

Under the Alternative channels there a pretty good 80s alternative channel.

Under Country, there is a good alternative country channel and an outlaw country channel that I liked.

I heard a few ads, but they seemed short and well spaced.

I don't know if I'll become a regular listener or not, but I might.  AOL Radio is definitely something to like about AOL at a time when AOL probably needs a little love.

Tags: aol, internet radio, music

Esther Dyson on Google and Yahoo and click fraud:

[T]his thing won't get cleaned up until the advertisers - the ones who inject the money into the system in the first place - start requiring more accountability from their partners, starting with Google and Yahoo! and ending where the money ends.   As a collection agent, Google and Yahoo! may not really care...until they are told to care.

If I were the CEO of one of the big online ad buyers, I'd call my marketing director into my office and make him or her explain this to me.  I'd want to know exactly what my company was doing to demand that Google and Yahoo become part of the solution and not part of the problem.

I'd make sure my marketing department wasn't asleep at the switch in the name of budget allocation protection.

Tags: click fraud

Seth has a post about the 8 free things that every site should do. Let's take a look.

1. Register with Technorati.

I agree with this. Technorati is the best way to see who is talking to you, so you can talk back to them. It's also the best way to see what other sites are making you an involuntary correspondent by hijacking all of your content in the name of a little click fraud. I haven't been to New York in a decade, but I'm a regular correspondent for one site based there. I wonder when my paycheck will arrive?

Technorati is also good for your ego, because every time your linkcount starts to get too high, it will magically get cut in half.

It's not perfect, but I still like and use Technorati daily.

2. Become a Digger.

I've been on record for a long time as not terribly excited about Digg. But when I read that post the other day about Digg and Netscape, I dipped my toe back into the waters a little, visiting Digg and registering for Netscape. I added Digg and Netscape submission buttons to the bottom of my posts- so readers, please submit away.

I'm not sold, but at the moment I am willing to consider that Digg and Netscape may be good places to find news for my Morning Reading series, and possibly to attract some traffic.

We'll see.

3. Build a Squidoo Lens

I haven't got the slightest idea what this is. Let me go investigate....

OK, I'm back. I'm still not really sure what Squidoo is, but by golly I have a lens. The only thing I know for sure is that as soon as I have earned $1 million, Squidoo will send my earnings to Rabbit Rescue. I bet Shelley will send her earnings to Squirrel Rescue.

4. Get Your Team to Spread the Word

Well, first I have to have a team. Anybody want to be on my team? Lucky Dog would be happy to be on the Newsome.Org team, but he can't type or spread the word. Unless the word is "Woof," and I don't think that's the word.

But, he can chase small mammals. Like squirrels.

I'm going to have to put this one on hold for a bit until I can gather a team.

5. Issue a Press Release

OK, here's mine.

"Newsome.Org, a blog written by developer, lawyer, musician, father, and all around cool guy Kent Newsome is a great blog that everyone in the world should read. The web address is www.newsome.org. For more information, please contact Newsome.Org's public relations officer, Lucky Dog at luckydog@newsome.org."

Paging Lee Gomes: Hey Lee, can you do me a favor and pass this along to whoever is doing the front page story for tomorrow? Thanks.

6. Get a Sister Site for Testing

Well, my sister is still on dial-up and hasn't even agreed to sign up for Flickr, so I'm thinking this one might be tough. Hang on while I call her....

Well, she couldn't get the internet to come up in Outlook Express, which is the only internet application she ever uses. So I took things into my own hands.

Here's my sister site. So check that one off the list.

7. Google Analytics

I have this one already, thereby proving once again that Seth is getting all of his good ideas from me.

Maybe Mike Arrington's trademark lawyers can write Seth a letter on my behalf. I'll settle for half the proceeds from the sale of his next book.

8. Don't Be Boring

Uh Oh. This one might be tough.

Here, to prove that I am not boring, is a random passage from Wuthering Heights:

I refused staunchly. At length her suspense was ended: the travelling carriage rolled in sight. Miss Cathy shrieked and stretched out her arms as soon as she caught her father's face looking from the window. He descended, nearly as eager as herself; and a considerable interval elapsed ere they had a thought to spare for any but themselves. While they exchanged caresses I took a peep in to see after Linton. He was asleep in a corner, wrapped in a warm, fur-lined cloak, as if it had been winter. A pale, delicate, effeminate boy, who might have been taken for my master's younger brother, so strong was the resemblance: but there was a sickly peevishness in his aspect that Edgar Linton never had. The latter saw me looking; and having shaken hands, advised me to close the door, and leave him undisturbed; for the journey had fatigued him. Cathy would fain have taken one glance, but her father told her to come, and they walked together up the park, while I hastened before to prepare the servants.

Tags: blogging, blog building, humor

I've really enjoyed Mike Miller's Be a Good Dad blog.  It keeps me thinking about my most important job- being a good dad to my kids.

One of my great joys is playing games with my kids.  Here are a few of the games we play.

The Game

This car game is a Newsome family original, though I bet many families have made up similar games.  Luke is too little to play, so we divide up into two teams.  One parent and one kid on each. Each team counts the following things (only the first team to point it out gets to count it): Volkswagon Beetles, police cars, school buses, taxis, planes, helicopters, water towers, cats, dogs, mommy cars and daddy cars (being the same make, model and color, but not necessarily the same year).

This is our most long-standing game, and is simply called "The Game."

The Alphabet Game

This car game is the same one played by generations of families.  In our version, it's each player for himself (no teams).  Only one letter per sign can be counted, so if one person gets a letter from a big sign first, the other players can't get any letters from that sign.  Pylon signs, even those with multiple panels, are considered a single sign.  The kids can use license plate letters (very helpful for the X's and Z's), but the grown-ups can't.

Before Delaney could identify letters, we played a derivative of this game called the sign game, similar to "I Spy," in which we took turns pointing out a sign ("I see a Wendy's sign").  If someone sees it before it's out of view, it becomes that person's turn.

I Spy

"I spy with my little eye...a lizard."

This classic game is a restaurant favorite of ours.  Players can ask for the following hints: high, low or medium; in this room (since you can often see outside or into other rooms at restaurants); statue or not (since many of the restaurants we go to have little ceramic, concrete or plastic animals, etc. scattered about).

Who's Missing

This is our current favorite.  I like it because it teaches concentration and memory.  One of the kids will assemble 10-15 of their little plastic animals.  Most of them are dogs, cats or other small mammals and they are 1 to 2 inches tall.  My kids name all their toy animals, and so most of them have permanent names.  The kids will teach me the names of the animals, and then remove one or two of them while I close my eyes.  I have to figure out which ones are missing and tell them by name.  Then I do the same to them.  It's a lot more fun than it sounds, and the kids really get into it.

The secret is to move some of the ones you don't remove around to mess up the pattern.

Family Soccer

I've talked about this family staple before.  We have a small soccer field in the yard.  Either I play one of the kids one on one, or we have two teams, with one kid and one grown-up on each.  There are trees at roughly the 40 yard line that grown-ups cannot go beyond.  In other words, an adult can't get too close to the other team's goal, so their kicks have to be from pretty far away.  The kids can go anywhere thay want, including right to the opponent's goal.

These rules make it surprisingly fun and competitive, though the rules will have to be adjusted soon to give me a chance, since my kids are getting bigger, faster and better at soccer.

We have lots of other games we play, including board games like Sorry, Trouble and Clue.

What are some of your favorite family games we should try?

Tags: games, family fun

Amid the wild cheering and vast overvaluation that continue to inflate the Web 2.0 circus tent is a growing chorus of reason, trying valiantly to insert some logic and business sense into the conversations.

Dick Parsons, CEO of Time Warner, says what every other right-thinking CEO in America must think- that YouTube and Facebook are being overvalued.

Fortune Magazine has a story about Google's chaotic search for it next big hit, which would be its second:

[I]t's clear from Google's tentative lurches into new forms of advertising and its spaghetti method of product development (toss against wall, see if sticks) that the company is searching for ways to grow beyond that well-run core.

Business Week has a cover story on click-fraud, the dark side of online advertising which has resulted in a growing distrust of the online advertising model:

In June, researcher Outsell Inc. released a blind survey of 407 advertisers, 37% of which said they had reduced or were planning to reduce their pay-per-click budgets because of fraud concerns. "The click fraud and bad sites are driving people away," says Fleischmann. He's trimming his online ad budget by 15% this year.

Meanwhile, a few bloggers continue to ask the questions a lot of the Web 2.0 cheerleaders don't like to hear.

Nick Carr talks about lowered estimates for online ad spending.

Warner Crocker, who in a later post says I am a navel-gazer, asks the great question that my belly button lint has spelled out so many times before:

I'm still puzzled by the hustle to move everything to a web-service with money based on advertising (I know not every web service goes this way, but most have at least an eye on that model) when we have a culture that, in general despises advertising of any stripe. But yet, onward we go as we stick ads on this service and that.

The out of whack scale of much of Web 2.0 is the culprit for both the bubble blowing insanity and the cautionary chorus.

Until enough people demand that reason, good business sense, a sustainable revenue model, and some semblance of scale be introduced into the equation, we will always have the barkers hollering cash at the door to the tent and a crowd of people clutching their wallets and wondering whether they should step inside the tent or join the chorus.

Tags: web 2.0, click fraud

No particular theme- just great music.

I play some great, hard to find songs by Guadalcanal Diary, Love Tractor, Country Joe McDonald, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show and more. The rare vinyl segment consists of a great Stoney Edwards number and one by Leon Russell I bet you've never heard.

If you enjoy the RanchoCast, a great mix of classic rock, alt. country, rare vinyl, blues and tech talk, please tell your friends about it.

Click here to listen or download. Or just click this play button for a quick preview.

Podzinger users can get it here.

Windows Media 11 will be DRM-crazy, with no way to back up your licenses.  This is one of the many reasons why I have never and will never buy DRM-infested music.

Here's a page with lots of handy geometry links.

Dumb Little Man on Why Top Employees Quit.

TechCrunch has a post on the redesigned MeeVee site.  I have been using MeeVee a little.  The thing that kills MeeVee for me are those video and other ads that pop up when you click on a show for episode information.

Jeremiah Owyang reports that Paypal will soon offer online storage.

Beware the dangerous TIVO.  I don't think I watch more TV since I've had TIVO, but I do watch different TV.

Zooomer has announced a new email feature.

 Tags: kents news, links

With a big red beacon, and a flag, and a man on the rail.

Last night I wrote in another post that people who think the blogosphere is their road to riches don't want to engage those who raise issues that might make people think the oasis up ahead is a only a mirage.  I implied that the reason they don't is often because they have not thought about some of the issues raised and prefer to try to ignore the skeptics into silence.

And then I fire up my feeds this morning, and find one of the most unbelievable posts I have ever read.  Strike that- one of the most unbelievable things I have ever read.

Mike Arrington, the head cheerleader for Web 2.0 and the blogosphere's biggest star, bashing the guy who writes Dead 2.0.  Let's examine some quotes.

Mike says "He's taken some hard and sometimes unfair shots at startups and at individuals (yes even me), and a lot of people probably don't like him very much for what can be considered unfair attacks on them or their companies."

Where to start?

Well, for one, the "unfair shot" at Mike was a post, partly critical, partly complimentary and likely somewhat tongue in cheek, about the happening that is known to some as TechCrunch 7.  In fact, Mike himself responded to the post and, at least then, didn't seem too upset by it.  Regardless, while the post did poke fun at the blogstar mentality, I didn't find it to be all that mean spirited.  If you want to be a star, that sort of thing comes with the territory.

And it was certainly not as bad as calling someone as asshole in a post title, as Mike has been known to do.

And then this little nugget, from Mike's post:

Should he be fired?

???

Later, Mike changed "Should" to "Will" and added a new final paragraph suggesting that this (whatever this is) will likely blow over.  And he even gave lip service to freedom of speech.  But even with the change, is Mike honestly suggesting that the Dead 2.0 guy should or might get fired for expressing his opinions in an anonymous blog?  What if his opinions had mirrored Mike's exactly?  Should/would he be fired then?

Either there is a lot more to this story than meets the eye, or Mike is so far off base here that he can't hear or see the game.

The so-called outing of the Dead 2.0 guy came via this post by Nic Cubrilovic.  His post also contains some good information about anonymity- or the lack thereof- in the blogosphere.  Nic did not give the name of the Dead 2.0 guy, a decision I applaud.  He just made it clear that he knows who he is.

Isn't Nic the same guy who is rumored to be the editor of the new TechCrunch enterprise blog?

So a friend/employee of Mike Arrington outs (sort of) a guy who has been critical of both Mike and his beloved Web 2.0.

Hmmm.

I'll leave you with one last quote, from Mike in a comment to his post:

"Startups have enough variables to contend with to reach success without loose cannons creating yet more hurdles to overcome."

I have a question for Mike (which I bet he won't answer).  What defines a loose cannon?  Is skepticism about the Web 2.0 business model a loose cannon?  Is it being critical of you?  Or is it something else?  Please clarify this for me.

And, by the way, I voted No.

Tags: blogs, blog building, web 2.0

Neatorama has a story about 10 Scientific Frauds that Rocked the World.  Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!

Copyblogger has 5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post With a Bang.

And if that doesn't work, play the personality card... The Prometheus Institute (the sheer power of that name bends me into linking submission) has Five Tips to Increase Your Likeability. 

50 of the Funniest Homer Simpson Quotes. "Marge, don't discourage the boy! Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals! Except the weasel." (via Randy Morin)

Fred Wilson on the haphazard approach Technorati seems to take when it comes to updating blog stats.  Fred never gets updated.  I get updated every few hours, but my linkcount bounces up and down like a basketball- my numbers today are probably half what they were 6 months ago, and I get a lot more links now than I did back then.  Technorati is good for seeing who links to you so you can respond, but I'm not sure it's all that accurate as far as the stats go.

Rosa Say on Humility in the Workplace. (via Richard Querin)

Tags: kents news, links

I was talking with some friends about music today and we got on the topic of live records.

Here are my favorite live albums (at least as I listed them today), in order.

1. Allman Brothers - At Fillmore East
2. Grateful Dead - Europe '72
3. Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive
4. Bob Seger - Live Bullet
5. Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More From the Road
6. Emmylou Harris - At the Ryman
7. Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus
8. Mother's Finest - Live
9. Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
10. James Brown - Live at the Apollo

So what are your favorite live albums?

Tags: music, live albums

I've continued to subtract and add to my blogroll as I put into action my conversational manifesto.  I've found some good new blogs, and I've dropped a lot of blogs that seem to talk at you and not with you.  It's a work in progress, but I'm getting there.

TDavid has a very interesting post today on the conversational blogosphere.  He makes some good points that I'd like to respond to.

He gives a pretty accurate summary of the Web 2.0 movement, in which so-called companies try to get traffic by giving stuff away in the hopes that either Google or some clever VC will monetize that traffic for them.  The biggest mistake Web 2.0 made was the de facto requirement that everything be free.  It turns web sites into billboards and results in an upside down measuring stick by which the cost side of the balance sheet, traffic and use, is hailed as a worthy substitute for the revenue side and traffic matters much more than the prospects of the application that draws the traffic.

It would be hard to create a more upside down business plan.  It will work for some, the way the lottery works for some.  But it will fail for the vast majority.

TDavid's not very excited about my archive search capabilities here at Newsome.Org- and I can't argue with a thing he says about it.  I used to use a Perl script to do searches, but I dumped that in favor of Google.  I'd welcome any suggestions for a better search platform.  Once I find a better search approach, I'll move the search box up.  Stuff like this is exactly why I enjoy blogging.  You never know how something you create works until people other than you try it out.

He also makes a very good point about blogs that are designed to make money- that some of them are very good, notwithstanding their purpose.  He cites Lifehacker and Download Squad as two such blogs.  I agree and would add TV Squad and Techdirt to that list.  I am a huge fan of Techdirt.  Having said that, while some are closer than others, I don't really view those sites as blogs.  They use blogging platforms for content management, and they are interactive- but I see those sites as more of a new media news site or magazine than a blog.  For me a blog is, ultimately, a way to engage in distributed conversations with others.  Or maybe a way to exercise your writing skills- as TDavid suggests.  It might be splitting hairs- and by no means am I discounting the value of those sites.  They just aren't traditional blogs in the way I think of blogs.

The problem with many money-oriented blogs is that, because they are selling something- be it an idea or an ad- they aren't interested in entertaining the other side of the argument.  It you try to engage them on the issues that they hope or believe will make them money, they simply ignore you.  Which, at least in my mind, validates the other side of the argument.  It's fine to use the blogosphere as a flea market to try and make a quick buck, but if you are going to claim to be a citizen of the blogosphere, you should at least be willing to engage other viewpoints.  If not to convince them, then at least to show that you've thought about some of the concerns they express.

TDavid affirms the argument made by Shelley Powers the other day- that we can get plenty of traffic without diving into the chaotic and ultimately unfulfilling echo chamber that is, too often, the A-List blogarena.  I enjoy talking with some high traffic bloggers, but when I do, it's not because they have traffic.  It's because some of them still value conversation and the exchange of ideas over self-importance.  The ones who start believing their own bullshit get booted from my blogroll in favor of those who view blogging as a mode of expression and not as a way to make up for real world inadequacies.

The more I think about it, the more I start to think that it's only a few of the mega-bloggers who screw the whole system up for the rest of us.  Many mega-bloggers seem to be interested in the same sort of stuff that the rest of are seeking.  The problem is that a lot of the normal exchanges get drowned out by the bluster of the attention-mongering children that sometimes pose as the blogosphere's resident intellectuals.  Plus, real world friendships bond some of the good guys to some of the not-so-good guys.  How else can you explain Doc Searls' continued involvement with Steve Gillmor.  No one, not even Doc, can convince me that Doc isn't secretly dismayed by at least half the insanity that comes out of Steve's mouth.  But Doc stands by someone who, I assume, is a long time real world friend.  You can't blame him for that.

The trick is for those of us who share the same blogging philosophy to create a de facto discussion group, build some momentum, and welcome the new voices who wonder over to our campfire and take a seat.  If we can do that, all of these collateral issues will take care of themselves.

TDavid is a good and thoughtful writer.  I'll take him up on his offer to look back at things on 9/6/11 and see how the blogosphere, and our roles in it, have changed.  Put it on your calendar.

In the meantime, take a seat by the campfire and tell a story or two.  Otherwise, this blogging thing starts to feel like work. Low paying, thankless and boring work.

It doesn't have to be that way- if we work together.

Tags: blogging, blog building, conversation

I just watched the series premiere of Jericho, and so far I'd say it is shaping up to be a great show.  Lots of good stuff in the first episode- that was an intense moment when they realized that Atlanta had been blown up too.

Most shows I like (Surface, Invasion, Threshold, etc.) get canceled almost immediately, so I hope I'm not cursing this show, but I am looking forward to it.

TVSquad has a mixed, but mostly positive review.

 

Tags: tv, jericho