Thursday, April 25, 2002

How to influence members of traditional media? Let's say one's opinion matters to the editor and publisher of a popular newspaper or magazine; you have some influence. Let's also say that we believe that newspaper or magazine would be well-served to make their news feeds available via RSS.XML. What's the proper layman's (non-programmer) language to use with a business person to explain what might be required on his end? How much time is his I.T. staff going to spend working on the problem? What resources must they have at their disposal? What showstoppers might exist in their past decisions that would make the move overly challenging or costly? 10:54:50 PM     Comments[]

Life can be such a rat race! Yesterday I linked to this. It told of the demise of www.dooce.com, the weblog of a talented designer and writer. I don't necessarily care for some of the subject matter or the foul language I read there. But, the expertise, ability and talent overflowed in the work! I've watched the comments posted here. Near the bottom of the comments someone posted using the name and email address of another extremely talented designer. Finally, out of respect, the person that had been 'impersonated' entered a civil comment/retraction. I'm not sure what I (really) believe about punishment for malicious hacking, violating security, web impersonations, etc., but I'm reasonably sure that penalties can't get too severe for idiots who do absolutely ridiculous pranks with information systems that exist for 1001 reasons other than their amusement! 6:33:04 PM     Comments[]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... WorldCom sought to ease fears about its financial status after reporting weak quarterly results. The No. 2 long-distance carrier isn't planning on reintegrating MCI Group and said it has $2 billion in assets it could sell. [Wall Street Journal] 5:53:32 PM     Comments[]

Immersed in "design" For two days I've plowed through every good design of a weblog I can find looking for ideas and techniques. Mark Pilgrim was right when he valued content over form. But, I can't help myself. Some of the designs of these sites simply invite readership. Sure, I'm only going to read a grand total of 2 posts about somebody's cat, but without the great design, I'd read far less than that! This whole HTML thing is impressive when you see it done right. Now I'm hoping that all of it isn't so tied to someone's artistic flair that design-challenged morons like me can never produce good-looking work. Top 10 Web Design Lists. TaskZ maintains a Top 10 List Archives and its newest addition is the Top 10 Information Architecture and Interface Design Sites. List is pretty accurate, in my opinion. [Link LucDesk]... [meryl's notes] 5:50:28 PM     Comments[]

What's another rss feed? #67 Agency.com has started a weblog. It's a moveable type system, so it also has an rss feed you can subsfribe to. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] 5:35:43 PM     Comments[]

I've now subscribed to enough sites that... I can just about make it through my morning news aggregator by 5PM. If everyone lived like me. we'd need 3.4 planets [Inside Gretchen's Head] 5:33:59 PM     Comments[]

The very essence of terrorism... is the set of fears and worries that well up in all of us when rumors of suicide bombers at the mall or chemical explosions in Manhattan or fires in hotels happen and we can't immediately determine whether or not our lifestyles are threatened or an accident has happened. DRUDGE: "URGENT // Fire hits high-rise Castle Beach Hotel on Miami Beach" [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson] 5:30:02 PM     Comments[]

Who's Zoe or is this another Google Box/Instant Outliner tool? Zoe: "Do for email what Google did for the Web."  [Scripting News] 5:25:53 PM     Comments[]

And then... Zoe: The goal is to do for email what Google did for the Web."  [Scripting News] 5:23:47 PM     Comments[]

This afternoon... another attempt at understanding how to (neatly) add graphics to posts a complete revision of Radio Static 11:14:18 AM     Comments[]

On the go, I'll forfeit printing, but little else! Hand-Held Computer Believes That It Belongs on a Desktop. Each generation of hand-held computers gets a little better at sustaining its users between visits to their PC's. But a model by the OQO Corporation, which is based in San Francisco, has ambitions to replace its desktop counterpart. By Chris Gaither. [New York Times: Technology] I'm ready for the device that is truly portable - not luggable - and is as feature rich as my desktop system without the annoyance of connecting a mouse, a network cable, a power cord, etc. Ten years ago, doing those things was ok for the new-found freedom. Today, I want to take off without worrying about forgetting something! 9:27:26 AM     Comments[]

Quality = conformance to requirements! The Workaround: 32 Steps to Frustration. Some software companies often don't even try to fix what is wrong with their product. They say it's up to you to "work around" the problem. By Peter Meyers. [New York Times: Technology] 9:18:52 AM     Comments[]

Repair, yes - restore data and programs - not likely! Tech Support on Wheels. House calls may not be a thing of the past after all, not with the growing brigade of PC doctors available to repair home computers on the spot. By Lisa Guernsey. [New York Times: Technology] 9:16:46 AM     Comments[]

More education - what is blogrolling.com? Blog Update. As you will see, I finally updated the blog roll. I really gotta start using blogrolling.com. No more of this only-once-a-month updates. [Inside Gretchen's Head] 9:12:45 AM     Comments[]

Remember when HP was a bunch of engineers with great products who didn't know how to market (spin) their story? Hewlett Executives Defend Decision Before Vote. Carleton S. Fiorina defended a decision not to disclose to shareholders internal reports that raised doubts about the benefits of a merger with Compaq. By Steve Lohr. [New York Times: Business] 4-25-02, 9:03AM Stock price $16.91. Let's see where we are in a year! 9:04:15 AM     Comments[]

How can we possibly remain immune? FBI alert: Bombers may target malls. Suicide bombers may be planning to strike shopping malls and other public areas. [USA Today : Front Page] 8:57:13 AM     Comments[]

Helen Keller. "We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world." [Motivational Quotes of the Day] 8:38:02 AM     Comments[]

W. C. Fields. "Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people." [Quotes of the Day] 8:35:39 AM     Comments[]

Same issue, different company? Isn't HP in court right now with questions about whether or not "projections" might have been a tad inflated to get "the deal" done? AOL Has Huge Loss; Shares Rise. AOL Time Warner reports higher-than-expected sales, but takes a breathtaking $54 billion charge to cover stock losses. Meanwhile, executives pledge to rev up flagging online ad sales. By Joanna Glasner. [Wired News] 8:32:24 AM     Comments[]

© Copyright 2002 Steve Pilgrim.