Microsoft exec Eric Rudder takes the Nine Guy to Paris over on Jeff Sandquist's blog. We handed out a bunch of nine guys to Gnomedex'ers. It'll be interesting to see if we get any new pictures.

Phil Weber: Robert still flies coach.

:-)

Hot news: John Battelle is reporting that Google will launch online video playback tomorrow.

Discussion: PaidContent.org: Report: Google to Intro Video Playback Monday.

Om Malik's Broadband Blog: Google to launch online video playback.

The Kelsey Group: Google video gets real.

Lost Remote TV Blog: Google Video launches today.

My comments are down again. Sorry.

The reaction to MS's RSS announcements continue to roil the Internet:

Marc Canter (the guy who started Macromedia): "Incredible things happened!"

Marc, I agree, but the credit doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the RSS team who coded this stuff. I hate it when other people get credit for the work I did late at night. This team has been busting their behinds to get this done. They rock in my book.

Steve Rubel is asking "what default RSS feeds will IE7 and Longhorn carry?" Excellent question. Not mine for one. I'm not broad enough. I vote for the New York Times. They are the big journalism name that first supported RSS.

WeBreakStuff joins the crew who think Microsoft messed up: Why Microsoft is wrong about RSS.

Brent Simmons (the guy who wrote the best Macintosh-based RSS aggregator): Fun at Gnomedex. "Will Microsoft’s support of RSS help make syndication more and more popular? Yes indeed, and that’s a good thing, and so I’m glad."

Rick Segal answers back the Head Lemur with a long post. "I'm either a disgruntled X employee or a kool-aid drinking shill depending on how you read this."

Bill de hÓra: Expect better.

Last week I sent John Furrier more than 10,000 visitors (he told me that yesterday) to listen to his podcast. He is on a major roll. The people he's had on his podcast, Podtech.net, in just the past few days are simply amazing. The guy is a one-man broadcasting station.

I think I know how he does it. He's nice and self effacing. Says he's not a pro and all that. Sorry, John, that went over last week. This week? That won't fly anymore. You're just too good.

There's a ton of citizens journalism projects coming out. NowPublic is a cool one I got a demo of yesterday.

You can upload stories, footage, or vote on already posted stories.

The feedback about Microsoft's RSS announcements on Friday continues to flow in at a pretty good clip. I'll slow down on linking unless there's someone who makes a point that hasn't been made already. One example is Rich Miller over on Netcraft who wonders about the security implications of RSS.

I'm never gonna say a system is totally secure. That's a recipe for disaster. But, we should come to the PDC in September ready to talk about this topic with the community and our thinking on the topic. This is something we all need to do a lot of thinking and work on. Longhorn's three pillars now are safer, simpler, and sexier. We'll be talking a LOT about the "safer" part of Longhorn. We've gotta do a better job there or no one will listen to the other two pillars.

Yesterday when I was walking around the Gnomedex conference floor I happened across James Prudente. He had a very cool Motion-based Tablet PC recording studio. That caught my eye. There were quite a few Tablet PCs at Gnomedex this year, way up from last year. But, the Tablet PC wasn't what caught my eye.

It was his software. It was also his enthusiasm for the new world of podcasting. I love meeting geeks who love using their own tools and showing them off.

James is one of three such geeks I've met this past week.

James software is called MixCastLive. Visit his blog and read all about it. It's .NET based and lets you build a professional podcast. He has a screencast (a video demo) of how his product works.

I got a demo and it's awesome stuff. I'm buying a copy.

Now, before I get to the other two podcast-tools-makers-who-eat-their-own-dogfood there's a fourth one, Evan Williams, the guy who started Blogger. He gave me a demo of his tool, Odeo, last week at Supernova. I don't know why his tool is getting so much hype when there are other tools out there that have shipped. Odeo, though, has a nice simple interface. But, it's very unfinished (the version he gave me access to can only be used as a directory and not as a way to record podcasts yet). And, he, unlike the other three folks here, doesn't have a podcast of his own. To tell you the truth Evan, that puts you behind the other three here in my mind. Innovators who use their own stuff are, in my experience, more responsive and more likely to keep updating their tools even after the money runs out. Eating your own dogfood is an attribute I look for inside Microsoft. If I find a team not using their own stuff and being excited by pushing it around, I get scared.

OK, back to the enthusiasts who are building interesting podcasting services. Another one is Eric Rice. His Audioblog.com service is a great podcasting/videoblogging place. It's been up for more than a year, he told me. And, he sure is enthusiastic about what he's doing. His site, EricRice.com, includes a blog, an audioblog, and a videoblog.

You can use Audioblog.com via a phone, too, and it's a mature banged-on service.

The last of the eating-their-own-dogfood three is Adam Curry. I heard an ad for his "podcast" on Sirius Radio today. Wild. Anyway, his software team is working on CastBlaster. Adam was always mobbed so I didn't get a demo, but it's getting praise and you can get a beta already where Odeo requires you to know Evan and get him to give you a personal invite.

Look inside your Snickers wrappers. There's a URL and a code. They are starting a stealth marketing campaign. 150 million chocolate bars will have this code over the next few months. You win prizes. I just got one and joined. The URL is http://www.mobseen.com. Interesting. Fits into Seth Godin's "Free Prize Inside" marketing ideas.

Joining in it's basically social software where you can post pictures and other stuff and win prizes.

At the beginning of Gnomedex Chris Pirillo defined several new terms, called Gnomenclature, for the blogosphere to use. One of them was Scobull. Made me laugh. Chris and I had a great time at the conference. By the way, Scott Beale's photos are great. I had breakfast with him this morning and he has this super dooper Canon camera. I'm so jealous.

There were so many cameras at Gnomedex. I don't even know where to go for the best photos. I'm sure the Wiki will have a bunch.

Last night Chris and Ponzi were given a couple of standing ovations. It was a remarkable conference. One of my favorites I've ever been to.

I'm off to meet a bunch more people for breakfast at the first Starbucks at 10 a.m.