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  • 1 min read

Blogging 101 article in NYT

Scripting News: 7/15/2005: Dave points to the New York Times article by Rich Meslin, Blogs 101. It's a very nice collection of Blogs of general interest as a good introduction to the world of Blogs.

"If you want to get the feel of Web logs and blogging, visit some of these sites. Most blogs carry links to other blogs on related topics or that the author likes. This page is under development; feel free to suggest your own finds. Business and sports suggestions are particularly welcome." (from New York Times)

It's a really nice starter list, but Rich, how about providing your list as OPML as well? Technorati Tags: blog, OPML

  • 2 min read

[GEEKY] Using OPML for master lists of feeds

I encounter more and more organizations or people who are collecting lists of feeds or blogs for one purpose or another. With BlogBridge we have the BlogBridge Topic Experts. Global Voices have their collection of international blogs (very cool!) And of course, anyone using a feed reader or aggregator has their own list of subscriptions. Anyone who is making a list of blogs or feeds (or I suppose, URLs of any kind) that is not secret or private, would do well to record that in a simple OPML list. And the 'handle' to that list or collection is a URL. Lets see. Instead of telling people, you can find my list of best restaurant blogs as a BlogLines list, or as this html page, or as a BlogBridge Guide, you refer to that list by the URL of the OPML. It's a subtle shift: instead of thinking of OPML as a handy interchange format, start thinking of it as the most elemental format for representing a hierarchy on which all others are built. (This insight is clearly inspired by Dave Winer's new OPML stuff, particularly the service which accepts and serves up OMPL files.) Going on. If this is a good way to think about things, then this argues that the OPML service and format at its core should remain minimalist. That as people decide to layer other semantics (as they will and should) onto their lists and hierarchies, that these be kept separate or separable from the OPML. I am not sure where this leads. I am just musing to myself (with all of you listening in.) Technorati Tags: blog, Geeky, OPML

  • 1 min read

In my other life…

I just updated this site a little to have some more up to date information about my consulting business. Yes, you know about this blog, and you know about BlogBridge, but perhaps if you ever clicked on the links on the right of this you will have noticed that they were old and decrepit. Well, they are new and much nicer now. Still nothing profound, but at least informative if you are looking for me to do work for you!

Technorati Tags: Consulting

  • 1 min read

Can you spell Tchotchke?

DSCF0009.JPG In the continuing efforts to rid my house of junk, we are donating a whole bunch of nice Tchotchke briefcases. For the heck of it, and to expand recent innovations in "laundry blogging" let me introduce you to Tchotchke Blogging. Here you see a selected history of the computer industry in the last 15 or so years. Also, you see the evolution of my interests and attention. Let's see, there are several Demo bags of course. And if you look, there are multiple (and in fact duplicate) Venture Capital bags. A couple of Java Ones (more recent obsession) and who remembers the Internet Showcase, a competing conference to Demo which lasted only a few years. Ah, a trip down memory lane. Technorati Tags: funny, java, tchotchke

  • 1 min read

[GEEKY] Google page rank patent

This is not about patents, it's about technology. In Google's recent patent application they reveal some interesting and possibly surprising tidbits of how they rank your web site. (via Sadagopan's weblog on Emerging Technologies,Thoughts, Ideas,Trends and Cyberworld)

"How many years did you register your domain name for? If it was only one then Google could hold that against you. Why? Because the majority of Spam websites only register a domain name for one year. A domain name registered for a longer period implies that the owner is more likely to be legitimate and serious about their web site." (from Buzzle.com)

Technorati Tags: google, searchengines

  • 2 min read

Business opportunities in blogville?

All software has bugs, no doubt. So pulling out one story to make a point isn't really fair. (Especially recalling the story about stones and glass houses.) But if I looked I know I could find story after story , including some that I could write from first hand experience, about the terrible rough edges on all the software on which our much beloved blogosphere runs. And from that observation and those stories comes the premise of this post. Here's one of the stories:

"It all started two weeks ago when I undertook the " drop-in" upgrade from Movable Type 3.14 to 3.17. Well, "drop-in" is not really the word. I had made some changes to my server configuration that I thought should not affect Movable Type and, in fact, did not for version 3.14. However, because of a change in an open source library component that is a dependency for Movable Type 3.17, my configuration broke Movable Type 3.17. As a result, Movable Type was not properly pinging the technorati server to put my tagged links in their tag repositories. There were other smaller and larger issues that I independently tracked to this same dependency." (from "The Community Engine Blog, Distributed Tagging Hell", emphases added.)

From my observation of this and many other stories, there is no blog server or service out there that I would call commercial grade. I don't see evidence that the current incumbents are going to deliver what is required. Here are some of the requirements for that, as I see them:

  • Installs reliably on any supported server. Doesn't require administrator to be a technical wizard. Once installed, stays installed.

  • Measures up to enterprise requirements in scalability and security.

  • Integrates with other enterprise infrastructure, particularly databases, web servers, directories, access control and enablement.

  • Is self evident to the end users, requiring minimal IT support during initial deployment and longer term adoption.

My bet is that with the growing prominence and publicity around blogging, around now is a good time to start a business to build just that. And let's not get clever about this… It's got to be recognizably a blog server, not some crazy adaptation of an existing product that gets the word "blog" slapped onto it. And on the other hand, not some wild hybrid of blog, wiki, and knowledge management. Just a really great, industrial strength, blogging system. I am convinced that such a beast would make money and that the time is finally ripe for it. What is much less clear is whether it is sufficient to start a business. You know what they say: "Is it a business or just a product?" … "Is it a product or just a feature?" I think I will write more about this. Technorati Tags: blog, commecialsoftware, money, vc

  • 1 min read

Good space shuttle writing

If you, like me, are a space buff, you will find these pieces about space- shuttle safety very interesting (and follow the links too.) So check these out:

"They're going to kill more astronauts" (from Terrestrial Musings) and "Nobody's Perfect" (from Tech Central Station.)

  • 1 min read

“Why are our politicians so full of themselves?”

Another excellent Peggy Noonan column:

"How exactly does it work? How does legitimate self-confidence become wildly inflated self-regard? How does self respect become unblinking conceit? How exactly does one's character become destabilized in Washington? …" "…What is wrong with them? This is not a rhetorical question. I think it is unspoken question No. 1 as Americans look at so many of the individuals in our government. What is wrong with them? " (from Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal)

I always love her stuff!

  • 2 min read

The myth of the safety of signed code

This is commonly accepted wisdom : When I download and install an application on my computer (any platform) it is a accepted wisdom that if the application is signed with a recognized and valid certificate, I am practicing safe download and my computer isn't going to be damaged. This belief is so entrenched that I will probably be labelled as "just doesn't get it" by the cognecenti for saying that the emperor has no clothes. In many cases for most users, there's no additional safety. When users download an application that is not validly signed, they get various forms of ominous warnings about their computer being exposed to grave danger. So far so good. However if the certificate is valid, the speed bump is removed, they are happily told that the application was signed by for example "Microsoft Corporation." and if they trust Microsoft they can download in comfort. That's the myth. There's the flaw. Why? Two reasons: first , many people use software from lesser known companies… Let's say the message is "… if you trust software from Matrix Software in Madrid Spain" then you can download in comfort. Even if you think you know Matrix Software, you certainly don't know whether in Madrid has other companies called Matrix Technology, or Matrix Inc., or Matrix Systems, each of which could be a malware producer. Second, related reason: Let's say the message is "… if you trust software from Sun in London, U.K. …" then you can download in comfort. How do you know if this is _the _Sun Microsystems that you thin it's about? The myth is promulgated every time a user is reminded that it's dangerous to run unsigned or not validly certified software and that it's perfectly safe to run certified software. As you can see, it's pretty easy for a malware provider to sign their software with a valid certificate and get the help from the OS vendors in gaining undeserved trust from end users. Why has no one called out this myth for what it is? The emperor has no clothes!