Carmichael's Position

But I Do My Best Work In There!

I've be told before, that I do my best work sittn' on the porcelain throne!  I'm pretty sure those who offered that opinion did not mean it as a complement.  But in reality I think many would be surprised how many "Innovative Ideas" were arrived at as a result of a few minutes of semi-uninterrupted "Private Time".

So I had to laugh today upon hearing about a Plaque Brad Feld, the Primary VC at my former company NewsGator, paid to have installed at a Bathroom in one of the University of Colorado's new buildings.

Brad contributed $25,000 to have the honor of a restroom in the University of Colorado Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society, (ATLAS) building named after him.  The Plaque reads:

"The best ideas often come at inconvenient times. Don't ever close your mind to them."

I like that... Brad continues to do things that, usually when we are drinking with our buddies, many of us simply talk about doing .  Action! 

Investor buys naming rights to University of Colorado restroom

BOULDER, Colo.—Venture capitalist Brad Feld hopes that using the men's room named in his honor will be an inspirational experience.

... Feld, managing director at Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capital, both based in Boulder, said he wanted a plaque "to inspire people as they walk in to do their business."

Some of his best ideas have come while he's on the toilet or in the shower, he said. "It's a good time to reflect. It's a quiet moment."

That last sentence is debatable in certain circumstances, but otherwise...

I tell you... All the more reason to find a idea or invention that you can take to market to become EXTREMELY WEALTHY!!!  So you can do these types of things.  I'm just not sure which breeds which? Does money breed eccentricity or the other way around?

Time for me to think this through a bit... pass the prunes!

The Future of Screen Interaction Technology

Computer,TV, HDDVD, what ever your poison, this is the next technological step in the process.

http://www.perceptivepixel.com/

Video:

We are already seeing advanced touch screen technology in Apple iPhones and iPods and Microsoft's Surface.  But expect the explosion over the next coupla!  Find your investments where you can!

"Vista continues to improve..." Duh, can't help but to!

From my friend Glenn Berry from his Blog "Glen Berry's SQL Server Performance"...

If you are running Windows Vista, you should consider applying these two updates from Microsoft.

First is the December 2007 Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update that fixes lots of issues with 3rd party and Microsoft applications.  Second is "An update that improves the performance, responsiveness, and reliability of Windows Vista is available", which fixes issues with hibernation and improves disk I/O performance (by up to 15%).

Windows Vista continues to improve and mature.

Duh...  It can't help but to improve!  Am I going to download the updates?  You bet!  Like a cancer patient going to Mexico in hopes of the miracle cure, I am praying that the upgrade will miraculously convert my OS to XP or MAC OS "Leopard"! And like those desperate afflicted souls, I too am anticipating I will be disappointed in the outcome, and my Vista infliction will continue.  Hmmm, wonder what the side effects will be?  

In this political year where perception is EVERYTHING!  Microsoft is losing the Perception War of quality and usability.  Hell, Window's ME is looking appealing compared to Vista!  I have been, as well as thousands of others, very frustrated with "Vista."  It is cumbersome, slow, hogs the RAM, and I too have run into numerous incompatibility problems relating to installation and reinstallation of various software applications! 

I just bought a Toshiba Satellite X205 T7100 1.8 w/2 gig of RAM.  It has Vista Home Premium on it.  Ohhh for XP!  I have a severe case of "Buyer's Remorse," and I'm telling you my next computer acquisition is going to be a MAC!  If I'm going to have to relearn an OS, it might as well be a GOOD OS!

Would this be an "Apple iPoo'd" ?

Sorry Bored...  Oh and what ever you do... DON'T CLICK THIS LINK!

Yep... I Remember '94

"24" if it were filmed in '94! [Video Link]

That's nothing... Try reading Red Storm Rising now...  and to think, DVD was still 2 years away!

Ok, But How's a Sierra Hotel Fighter Pilot Supposed to Pick Up Babes with That Thing?

 

I mean really, outside of the Flight Suit, the hottest thing going for your properly decked out "Fighter Jock" is his (and it's hot on "her" too) helmet!  Remember "Mav"?  Well hell, Topgun would have had a whole different look to it with this thing....

 

Or the Blues "Cool Dude" dome cover...

 

probably more like something... well like this...

Oh sure... the technology is probably stellar (I mean being able to see through the floor is pretty damn cool...)!  But damn it... we're talking fighter pilot's egos here!  One must realize how fragile these guys can be.  Now the "Attack Guys" they probably have no problem at all with these helmets, after all Attack Guys had charm and character to fall back on.

But with Today's F/A community where the communities have blurred, and the Gemini (duality of man) nature of things it will be a tough fashion trend to cope with... I guess the rearview mirrors on the canopy rails will be focused outside the cockpit from here on out.

Curious... I'm thinking next time I call support, I'm pressing "2" for the "Spanish" help.

I had a problem today with McAfee screwing up my e-mail delivery.  I called Comcast originally who I had to tell what I had read in the various forums about my error message.  Then after not being able to get the problem to reoccur, he forwarded me to McAfee support.  OXYMORONIC!

After getting a hold of Ishtar,  I spent the next 5 minutes spelling Carmichael.

C-A-R-M---- No!...  "C"  No not "P"... "C"  I'm telling you minutes passed in the ol' "Spelling Dance."  Finally he go my name right.  To which he realized that I did indeed have McAfee but I purchased it through Toshiba and not Comcast.  "Yoooll hav to coll a differennt numbah tank you berry much!"

Well that different number started with the recording "Please have your credit card ready... you will be charged $2.14 per minute for McAfee support..."

SAY WHAT!!!!

Nice!  I just paid you for your dumbass virus protection, that is now screwing up my business and to get rectification I need to pay you more for your own screwed up product. 

Of course if any of the support guys are reading this, their first accusation of me would be "But you don't know if it was our product, Vista, or Outlook or Comcast screwing things up."  Answer = "Right Sparky!"  But because you have the $2.14/minute work-avoidance message on your support line, you're going to take my flack!

Now back to pressing #2 for Spanish.  I was talking to a buddy of mine at lunch and we came to the conclusion that we'll bet $10.00 that if I pressed #2 for Spanish the dude (or Dude-ette) on the other end of the phone would not only speak pretty good Spanish, but I bet better ENGLISH than Ishtar does! 

Customer Support is what I do, and when you lose sight of your customer... well hell you need to begin losing customers!  Good luck on my re-up McAfee!

My Departure from NewsGator

As many of you now know tomorrow (11/9/07) marks my final day at NewsGator.  And it is with mixed emotion I greet this milestone.

My tenure at NewsGator began three and a half years ago when, at my weekly pool league, Greg Reinacker innocently enough asked me if I would be willing to work with him as his new idea for bringing RSS Feeds directly into MS Outlook was beginning to catch on.

"What's RSS?" I asked... and after a Sears Tower sized elevator pitch on the concept of NewsGator I said, uh... "Let me think about it..." 

"And... What the hell is a NewsGator?"

Obviously I agreed at some point to take Greg up on his offer.  I reported to work in April of '04 at the lavish 2nd floor office/loft of Greg's house... 

"Hey John, maybe we ought to look into getting you a desk or something to work at huh?... don't worry I have a desk chair you can use..."  Famous words to numb your butt by!

Anyway, NewsGator had begun.  Initially we envisioned an entirely different path than what has resulted now some 3+ years later... "No plan ever survives first contact" and all...  and NEVER survives VC advice! Right, Wrong or Indifferent!  We initially focused on providing a delivery mechanism for Premium "High Quality" full article content from known (and not so well known) publishers and writers.  Yeah that panned out!  Looked good on paper, but having to explain the dynamics of RSS and Feed Subscribing to, well... EVERYONE!... really took some time and creativity.

But for those with vision, the structural part of NewsGator and concept of information organization and access within Outlook as well as a web-based interface was intriguing.  And it was in June of '04 Greg decided to accept VC funding from Brad Feld and the folks at Mobius VC.  Wow!  Funding!

"Hey Greg, can I get another chair?" 

- "Yeah, go ahead and take one from the dining room table"

We then set our sites on expanding our employee count!  Cuz Greg was now having to hob-knob more and program less... We brought Lane into the office/ dining room suite at Casa de Reinacker... Let me tell you, Lane is awesome!  I have met no one better at rapidly sizing up a situation, formulating his assessment, compiling a cogent sentence to describe it, then deliver with properly cadenced inflection, dripping with sarcasm resulting in all around him on the floor with laughter!  We needed it then (and still do today). 

Lane's view of Greg's kitchen, and the "Old Growth Forest that used to be pizza in the refrigerator" was not one to be envied!  I was glad to have the loft, and Greg was happy I had taken to nailing his various '80's posters to his wall, instead of lying on the floor.  I still bet to this day that loft is the only room in his house to have anything hanging from the walls!

"Hey Lane, by the way, would you like an Office Chair instead of the Dining Room chair your in?"  Lane opted against "Iron Butt."  Smart man that Lane!

Over the years we continued to grow and continued to try to identify what we wanted to be when we grew up!  We eventually focused our efforts on an Enterprise Platform utilizing a centralized database of feeds, content, and community relevance data.  And those efforts continue to this day, albeit in much better digs than Greg's house!  And with many more employees!  3 office spaces later and employees numbering close to 70, NewsGator has indeed grown to become an influential player in the "Web 2.0" sandbox! 

As would be expected as employee #1 at a start-up, I have transitioned in roles at NewsGator from, Premium Content Solicitor, to Marketing Evangelist, to Cold Calling Outlook Sales Ferrengi, to Inside Sales Lacky, to Enterprise Sales Exec (securing our first 4 enterprise sales), to Director Client Services taking care of our 70+ Enterprise Customers and 20+(at the time) Private Label Media companies in their pursuit of Web 2.0 (always hated that moniker- lacks panache) initiatives.

Much fun has been had over these years and I am proud to say I was part of this fine team of people.  There is a phenomenal brain trust here and it will be tough to leave these fine folks.  But alas, I must move on my ADD has once again reared its head. 

I bid farewell to "Uncle NewsGator" and set sail for seas unknown, at a new company with familiar faces, in a new industry with boundless opportunity... and I hope a comfortable office chair!

Thanks Greg... it was one hell of a ride!

By the way... I still feel the Logo should have been something like this...

Creativity Around the Office

Working at NewsGator, I am surrounded by creative people... Being in a Web 2.0 Software company will promote that type of person.

However, I have to say that I was caught off guard by one of our employees' creativity in the break room.  You see we're one of those cool companies that provides free fattening agents  snacks for our folks.  These nutritional goodies include M&M's (peanut doncha know!) Bowls of Snickers bars, Red Vines, Pop-tarts etc... you know good wholesome food to help creative minds bloom!

Well a few months back one of our employees came up with a brilliant idea to have dispensers replace the "free-for-all" bowls.  You know the bowls, the ones where no-one uses the "provided spoon" for scooping the contents into their "I have no idea where those have been... ahhh chooooo!.... hands!"  The cool new dispensers are kind of a "No charge" gumball machine.  Place your hand under the dispenser, twist the knob, and voila', goodies in hand!  Looks like this:

Great Idea!  We've got a bank of these things dispensing all manner of goodies:

 

Like Assorted nuts... Chex mix... The aforementioned M&M's...  And of course

  Cheese and Crackers... or if you're lucky Peanut Butter and Crackers!

Aaaahhh NewsGator... breaking the daily monotony with a sledge hammer!

God luv'em!

Hmmm... What Will My Mom Think?

I'll be damned...  "Carmichael's Position" has been rated "R" . 

What I find extremely humorous is the "Why?"  Evidently it is because I have mentioned the following terms:

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

• breast (12x)
• stab (2x)
• death (1x)

Heheheh! 

• Breast?  I don't recall using this term at all, much less 12 times I probably have referenced BOOB!  But maybe the algorithm they use can figure out that I was referring to John F'n Kerry and thus the term was appropriate... just say'n. 
• Stab -- As in HOROZONTAL STABILIZER an aircraft control surface... Morons!
• Death -- Well hell!  What ever you do do not talk about death, this way no one will know its coming. We want happy idiots no need to scare folks by mentioning the word death.

Flight Tracking Technology

I continue to be amazed at our uses of Technology. 

Yeah, I work for a company that is indeed on the cutting edge of information delivery, and I do indeed find our products (NewsGator, FeedDemon, InBox, NewsGator Go, etc...) extremely useful in pulling in and efficiently rendering information at the locations I want.  Great!  I use it every day!

But, this post is not to advertise my company's products (as useful as they are).  More I realized how far we have come in the modern "Immediate Access" age we now live in. 

A couple of tasks I accomplished this evening illustrated this to me. 

• First, I am picking a friend of mine up at Denver International Airport (DIA) this evening. Note that in an effort to avoid noise complaints (that is until everyone moves close to it... then, duh, complains!) and to allow continuous landings, Denver has the foresight to place their SUPER HUGE Airport out in the middle of nowhere... Yeah kinda like Kansas.  It's some 45 minutes (without traffic) from my house.  So it is important that I have accurate arrival information on my buddy's flight so I don't end up out in the boonies waiting for hours for his flight to arrive.  I turned to this cool site!  http://flightaware.com/ .  Once I put in my friend's flight information not only was I provided with his REALTIME flight status, and anticipated arrival time (3 hours late) but I was also provided with a Map of his current location,

airspeed and altitude!  It also rendered the weather that Ken was having to fly around, adding to his delay... Very Cool!

• And the second Technological advancement is Amazon.com!  The world's best invention for we procrastinators when occasions like "Mother's Day" and "Father's Day" are nigh!  No I won't divulge what I purchased for my dear Pops, let's just say well... It damn well wasn't the SNJ!

Spyware Bill Equates to a Good Start

But it needs more teeth!

In a report today on Market Watch:

                

Spyware bill gains momentum              

By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch

Last Update: 2:40 PM ET May 2, 2007

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Consumers may get federal protection from computer criminals who steal their personal information as Congress seeks to safeguard the growing Internet commerce market.

On Wednesday, members of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary approved by voice vote to favorably report the "Internet Spyware Prevention Act of 2007" -- without any amendments -- to the House floor, pushing it one step closer to becoming law. A day before, the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security approved the bill.

"Spyware is a serious and growing problem for American consumers and businesses. Thieves are using spyware to harvest personal information such as Social Security numbers and credit-card numbers for use in a variety of criminal enterprises," said U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., at the subcommittee hearing.

Spyware is a program placed in a computer through the Internet used to gather information about the computer's user -- without the user's knowledge. In 2006, consumers spent $2.6 billion trying to block or remove spyware from their computers, according to testimony at the hearing.

The act would impose a prison sentence of up to 5 years for using spyware in committing another federal crime, and up to a 2-year sentence for hacking into a computer and altering its security settings or obtaining personal information with the intent to defraud or injure the person or damage a computer.

5 years and 2 years?  That's all?   No! No! No! If you really want to put a dent into spyware, identity theft, phishing etc. the penalty has to be MUCH MORE severe!  I'm talking minimum (not "up to") 15 and 10 respectively.  And preferably in a cell with a 400lb overly amorous twidget lover named "Goober-Joe-Bob" who prefers to go by the name "Snookums"!

Seriously!  Great start, but please put some frigg'n teeth into it!  Make the threat of punishment for such a destructive act actually a deterrent to these predators!

 

NewsGator in the Schools

Many of my readers (all three of you...) know I work for Newsgator Technologies as the Director of Client Services, but I usually refrain from publishing too much "Work Related" stuff here for a variety of reasons.  The biggest one is that I do not want to even begin to go down a path where  readers remotely think that my personal views have thing one to do with the views of this Company, this company's board, this company's executives, any of the employees, any of the employees family members, their pets or house plants etc...!  Heheh... Very far from it usually!

The opinions expressed on Carmichael's Position are mine and my commenter's alone!  Ok, now that that is out of the way...

Today, I am compelled to write about something specifically relating to our company.

As a preface,  I am regularly asked what we do.  Great question.  Generally there is not an "Elevator Pitch" to be had in response to that question.  We do a lot!  Here's my stab at it.

NewsGator provides to individuals and enterprise users, synchronized access to published content (RSS enabled feeds) from literally tens of millions of sources, delivered when they want it, where they want it; be it on a desktop application (Outlook, Feeddemon, Net News Wire) via the web (Newsgator Online), on a mobile device, or even from a mainstream media branded web application (USA Today, SF Gate and Newsweek) or any combination thereof.

That's the basics.  We do much more than that even... and one of the cool things we've enabled is the following:

Newsgator provides a "Private Label" capability for Media Companies, Associations, and other organizations like schools to provide their customers, members, or parents/students access to proprietary, customizable, dynamic information web pages. (An aggregator in the skin of the organization providing it.) All powered by Newsgator's Platform.

Detailed:

• Branded Readers: Add a branded Web or desktop reader in weeks. Add our mobile RSS reader to your site in just a few hours.
• Syndication Solutions: Buzz (popular feeds), NewsCast (blogs, news and podcasts), Headlines ( from specific feeds) to augment existing content
• Community Publisher: Let your users generate content from blogs, photos and wikis and publish them on your site

One of the coolest implementations of this technology outside the mainstream media comes from a partner company of ours, Directory Xpress and their "MyInfo Page" service they are leveraging in schools across the country. 

As expressed in selected quotes from an article posted in today's Jacksonville Business Journal:

The MyInfoPage service, a product of local [Jacksonville FL] online communication company Directory Xpress Inc., of which [Paul] Kasinski is CEO, is a Web page for each school that can be divided into personalized pages for each teacher and faculty member to communicate with parents and students. Employees of the school can use their personalized pages to post homework assignments, upcoming events or weekly news from the school and receive comments from families, like an interactive, online newsletter.

...At Holy Family [school], about 88 percent of families are logged into the service...

...Plus, the use of NewsGator Technologies Inc.'s Really Simple Syndication Private Label Platform program allows users to gather news from many areas, not just the school's site.

..."It's not necessarily about the technology anymore," said Walker Fenton, general manager at Denver-based NewsGator. "People just want the ability to consume content, personalize and interact with the content, and those are the tools we bring to the table."

...Increased communication with parents has helped teachers go more in depth with subjects and information studied in the classroom, said Riska, a fifth-grade teacher at Hendricks Avenue Elementary. Through MyInfoPage, they can communicate to the Hendricks parents specific focuses and future plans.

I highly recommend reading the entire article and/or visiting the NewsGator and Directory Xpress websites for more information (or you are welcomed to drop me a note, I might know a little about the company ;-)).

These projects were some of our original implementations of our Private Label /Hosted Solution outside of Mainstream Media, and I am thrilled that our service can be leveraged in such a way as to empower a better learning environment for our children, our teachers, and our community as a whole.

As a side note I want to publicly commend Paul Kazinski, CEO of Directory Xpress for his vision and determination in seeing this to fruition.  Job well done Paul!

And as well, I want to recognize:

Dan, Doug, Brian, Ria, Andy, Walker and the rest of the NewsGator Development and Management team for a job well done.  Congratulations!

Nice to See a Spammer Go to Jail!... Finally!

In a report this morning from Internetnews.com ...

First U.S. Felony Spammer Loses Appeal

America's first convicted felony spammer may finally be on his way to prison.

The Virginia Court of Appeals Tuesday upheld the November 2004 conviction of Jeremy Jaynes, who was charged with three counts of using deceptive routing information in sending bulk commercial e-mail.

Although prosecutors sought a 15-year jail term for Jaynes, a Loudon County, Va., jury sentenced him to nine years in prison.

..."[Jaynes] sent thousands of e-mails at random to AOL subscribers whose addresses were among the 107 million stolen AOL e-mail addresses stored on discs in his possession," the appeals court ruling states.

9 years is way too short for this kind of crap!  These scum (E-mail Spammers, Phishers, Sploggers (Blog Spammers) , Trackback Spammers and all the rest...) deserve much worse!

How about... 25 years to Get a life! These types of predators have no social redeeming value, other than nurturing a now required Anti-Spam, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Virus industry.  I'd be fine with a public caining by everyone who received one of his bogus e-mails and knee to the groin by everyone who was duped into actually providing any money to this vermin!  That or solitary confinement with a TV that plays nothing but Punky Brewster re-runs!

If we get serious about PUNISHING these dirtbags instead of offering them a $100,000 job after they serve their "Country Club" prison sentence for their "Expertise," maybe... just maybe we might see some improvement in our digital lifestyles and be able to get some work done!

Trying out Microsoft's Window's Live Writer

I saw today in a Computer World Article that Microsoft released a Blogging tool that is supposedly compatible with my Typepad account.  I've had some complaints in the past relating to the "ease of Blogging" as it relates to "Offline Creation and Composition" as well as ability to accurately monitor exactly how the page is going to render on the blog post itself. 

Window's Live Writer claims to facilitate a better writing experience for bloggers.  Some of the features include:

True WYSIWYG blog authoring. You can now author your post and know exactly what it will look like before you publish it. Writer knows the styles of your blog such as headings, fonts, colors, background images, paragraph spacing, margins and block quotes and enables you to edit your post using these styles. 

Photos, you can insert a photo into your post by browsing image thumbnails through the “Insert Picture” dialog or by copying and pasting from a web page.

Once you’ve inserted the picture, Writer provides contextual editing tools to modify size, text wrapping, borders, and apply graphic effects. Writer also allows you specify a smaller thumbnail to that will link to a larger image for detailed viewing.

Compatibility: Writer compatible with (of course) "Windows Live Spaces but also works with other weblogs including Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress (and many others).

Writer also supports RSD (Really Simple Discoverability), the Metaweblog API, and the Movable Type API.

So, they have my interest...  I have decided to download the application and begin to test it.  So far so good... It appears to have a pretty intuitive interface with operations where you would expect them.   And already, I like the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) nature of printing in the exact space I have allocated on "Carmichael's Position" for my posts.  That is... My print area is imported directly from my blog so I know exactly how the layout is going to appear... Very Cool!

They also provide a Photo insert capability that I truly hope works out as advertised.  I have inserted a JPEG of what the interface looks like above.  I simply clicked the "Insert Picture" link in the right column and it opened a browse window (as experienced in most all windows applications) again, now I know what to do with it because I have done this operation 1,000's of times in every other Office application.  I am curious to see how the image renders if clicked on in my published post.

And finally on this cursory look at Live Writer they include the ability to import your Category Tags from your blog (a growing in importance feature) allowing you to properly tag your post for better discoverability.

Well that's about all I have for now... Back to the day job, but I will continue to publish using Live Writer for my posts to accurately assess the pros and cons. 

Wireless at Casa De Carmichael

Finally!  It looks like I am no longer a complete Techno-heathen! 

I'M FREE!

I broke down and bought a wireless access point to facilitate a few network changes I want to incorporate around the house.  I even figured out how to set up the secure access encryption.  Oh sure... sounds easy to all you propeller-heads out there, but for me... this is definitely "One Small Step!"

The coolest thing is being able to sit in my yard and blog, surf, or work, without being tied to my way too cluttered desk.

Next two toys on the runway, a new cell-phone (looking at the TREO 700W) for work, and a new printer-scanner-fax-copier, the three I have are way too out of date and poor print quality.

Robert Scoble to Leave Microsoft...

Wow!  Now there's a headline out of the expected...

I've had the privilege of meeting Robert a couple of times at a couple of Blog/RSS related conferences.  He's a pretty down to earth guy, who has definitely put blogging and the power of bloggers on the map.  He has also been known to speak his mind (which is what you should do on your blog) about all of what he views as good, bad, and ugly about the Goliath he worked for Microsoft.

The beauty of it all is that Robert probably did more for Microsoft PR than Waggener Edstrom ever has.  Hell, according to my Newsgator Subscription to Robert's blog he has over 20,841 subscribers! And that's just Newsgator users!  Those are interested parties getting a daily dose of behind the scenes views of Microsoft, and the unfettered opinion of a pretty bright and articulate voice.

What I really have to smile at is the Headline on USA Today (heheh I'm sure Robert never thought he'd have an article written about him in a National Paper when he first started Scobleizer)...

  "Irreverent blogger to leave Microsoft..."

Normally, I would consider this headline Redundant!  "Irreverent Blogger..."  uh... Duh!  But in Scoble's case I would not necessarily consider him to be Irreverent, rather... Pertinent?  Observant? Useful?

Anyway... I add my best wishes to Robert to a long list of other well wishers, for a long and successful career at PodTech.net.  I look forward to keeping up with his escapades on Scobleizer...

Assuming his presence there doesn't wipe out their servers again! How's this for the first press release in the neo-Scoble era? 

"Scoble-Effect and Blog-Effect Bring Down PodTech for One Hour"

Rupert Murdoch Gets "IT"

Can't teach an old dog new tricks huh?  Well there's an "Old Dog" out there teaching an industry "New Tricks."

As is often the case, Rupert Murdoch gets it!  In a presentation he recently made to the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, he stated, "Adapt to new technology or die!"

This was not directed at individuals in the room other than a Warning of the impending relegation to the modern day "Buggy Whip Factory" for the 4th estate, their industry!  Specifically the printed daily news.  Come on kids... you remember a Newspaper! It even outlasted:

• Vinyl Records
• Ticker Tape
• Reel to Reel
• 8 Tracks
• Don Johnson's Aftershave!
• William Shatner's Musical Career!
• Jessica and Nick!

Sorry, I digress!

What's important to realize now is that Rupert is on the right track once again.  In our instant gratification society we want our information YESTERDAY!  Not tomorrow morning.  It's not uncommon to hear conversations that start like:

"Hey did you catch this story in the paper this morning about.... something international"

"Yeah I caught it on CNN last night after my son heads up'd me about the story he read on a Blog on his cell phone! The Internet had a great story first hand from someone who was there and actually uploaded digital pictures of it."

The newspaper is outdated 6 hours after an event!  Editors will argue that a newspaper performs the service of researching and being more deliberate in ascertaining the facts of the story, thus delivering a higher quality product to the consumer!

BS!  It is not the Newspaper that does this.  It is the staff, the reporters, the photographers, the columnists!  The "Newspaper" is the wrapper!  These entities can still perform the same quality service of in-depth research and reporting, just get over the idea that the delivery has to be via ink and paper!  And the day is coming, if not upon us, where this delivery is certainly secondary to all other forms of media delivery.

Mr Murdoch goes on to state, "A new generation of media consumers has risen demanding content delivered when they want it, how they want it, and very much as they want it."

Hmm... Sounds like our old Tag Line... "Content, When you want it, where you want it, how you want it!

More from Rupert,

"There is only one way. That is by using our skills to create and distribute dynamic, exciting content," he said.

"But -- and this is a very big but -- newspapers will have to adapt as their readers demand news and sport on a variety of platforms: websites, iPods, mobile phones or laptops.

What is not expressed in this article is the known answer in certain circles.  The circles I travel in!

News Organizations need to learn 3 letters!  RSS!  This is how content can be distributed to literally Billions of people in minutes on the device of their choosing!  Web, Desktop, Laptop, Mobile Device, Television, you name it!  News and other information can be delivered and custom selected by the consumer!

It is not just publishing!  Is is providing users and customers with the right tools to easily access this information.  Companies like Newsgator are leading the way allowing a very easy to deploy customizable RSS reader and aggregator for media companies to provide to their customers.

Some in the "Newspaper" world are already proceeding down this path!  SFGate is an excellent example!  As well as the Denver Post. And others are not far behind!  Well known names in this space, will "not go gentle into that good night!"

The Virginia Government is using RSS

I learned this morning that the State of Virginia is distributing information via RSS from their online portal.  This is great news, as this format gains in popularity.  It is nice to see on the Virginia site and in the press release that they do a fairly decent job of explaining what RSS is and how it can benefit the consumer to receive information in this fashion.

Rather than visiting all of your favorite sites a few times a day, you can bring the Web to you!

An RSS Feed allows users, after downloading news aggregator software - which is usually free or very inexpensive - to get content as soon as it's updated.  You don't have to check a Web page over and over to see if it has new content; as soon as it does a message pops up on your desktop and the Web page comes to you.

The only issue I have relating to this is that they do not make more noise about this new technology from the main landing page.  It is contained in the "Online Services" section of their site, and then requires a click within that to gain a full understanding of what this is all about.

In the press release they are properly excited about the fact that the:

Information Feeds Receive More Than 600,000 Hits in the First 60 Days

This is continuing proof that the format is gaining in popularity, but that it could still stand to gain from more front line marketing exposure.

I would advise any organization or corporation that is planning or has begun an RSS initiative to incorporate a strong PR and Marketing campaign to fully leverage the functionality of this format and gain the benefit from the increased traffic and blogosphere buzz they will receive.

I do appreciate the mention and the link to NewsGator, unfortunately as is often the case NewsGator is only mentioned as an Outlook application when in reality we are so much more!  (Caution! Marketing plug follows!)

FYI NewsGator has a number of offerings to exceed the needs of those who really want to leverage RSS.

1. A Free! Online Aggregator primarily designed for the consumer
2. Business Edition that includes the Outlook Application, Online, a Mobile Device capability and can syncronize feeds between all of them.
3. A custom solution where NewsGator works with an organization to create a branded aggregator to be used by the organizations clientele or members.
4. And soon to be released an Enterprise platform

What's the point of RSS without the aggregator to process and organize it?

Transparent Screen? I think not.

This is too cool not to share with you all...

Done simply by taking a digital picture of what is behind your computer and then saved as your wallpaper.   And then for the true experience take a picture of it all combined.

Many more of these images can be found here.

Reading the Target Corporation Tea Leaves

Scanning the headlines in my NewsGator, I ran across this:

Target requires blogging skills for media relations people http://www.fullcirc.com/weblog/2005/05/target-requires-blogging-skills-for.htm

In addition to Nancy White, It turns out that a number of others have been discussing this in recent days, Kevin O'Keefe over at LexBlog, and David Gammel over at High Context to name two.  And as referenced in the title of this post about reading the tea leaves... by me back in December last year! 

The message is clear and growing in momentum, "If you want to stay on top of the Corporate Communications game you had better start hiring people who understand the Blogosphere!" 

And by that, I mean much more than just being able to log into your Blogger or Typepad account and writing about your cat.  You have to fully understand how RSS enabled information can be consumed, distributed, searched and re-posted across the Internet.  You also have to know how to track (monitor) the conversations taking place in the blogosphere about your company, your competition, your CEO, and even YOU! using "Keyword Monitoring Feeds."  And, you have to know how to track statistical data relating to your posts.

RSS and Aggregation are only going to grow in popularity and usefulness, the early adopters are in the past, it is no longer "Early."  Companies are beginning to see the writing on the wall (or on the blog in this case) that the communication dynamic has shifted and individuals are now empowered with knowledge and a voice.  Companies need to follow suit, with people who know how to do it.  Early hires are going to have to come from the ranks of us who started as Blog-hobbyists, but it will not be long before formal institutions and technical training schools have classes in Blogging.   And not just from the technical perspective but from the Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Human Resources, Marketing, and Sales perspectives.

Many have already turned to experts in our industry for advice and recommendation; experts like: Dave Taylor, Robert Scoble, Kevin O'Keefe, Charlie Wood, Steve Rubel and T. L. Pakii Pierce.   And I hope more do everyday. 

RSS and Blogs are absolutely one of the best ways to reach an audience that is specifically interested in the message you create.  The only people reading your content are interested parties.  Internal communication can leverage this medium in its ability to open the dialog while leaving a historical record at the same time.  Those new to the conversation do not need to be forwarded a whole bunch of e-mails etc... they can now simply read the history of the posts to get up to speed.

Other possibilities of how to leverage Blogs and RSS are:

• Engineering- Process identification and reporting
• Retail- Weekly sales deals (only those interested in your products will subscribe to the RSS feed! That's better than the Sunday Circulars!)
• PR- fastest way to the eyes and ears of the business world
• Transportation- Schedule Updates in RSS, Fare Discounts and Deals
• Hospitality- Deals and interesting events posted via RSS

The possibilities of this medium are limited only by the imagination, it is nice to see companies begin to get imaginative.

Denver Post Has the Right Idea for Mainstreaming RSS

Gil Asakawa, the guy who runs the Denver Post Bloghouse has a great post today on what the Denver Post plans on doing with Blogs and (more importantly from my point of view) providing an easily understandable way for “Joe and Mary Sixpack” to consume RSS feeds and Blogs.  Their solution is in the form of “NewsHound.”

…But I think the valuable lesson from AOL’s glory years is that to help make technology accessible to regular folks you gotta make it plain, simple and fun. And you don’t dwell on the technology. You have the technology in the background, working its magic, but you let the user just make easy choices and click buttons to do the things she wants to get done.

So back to the Post. Along with our RSS feeds, which of course will be accessible to anyone with an RSS reader, we’re going to launch a branded DenverPost.com reader called News Hound.

The plan, not surprisingly, is to offer an “AOL-ized” experience to help non-technical users make sense of this fancy new RSS thing, and make it clear it’s just a cool new and simple way to choose the news they care about. I’m hoping the concept will contribute to making RSS mainstream.

He referrers to it as AOL-izing RSS, which is somewhat ironic in its relationship in that:  Techies hate the three letters AOL and its “commoner” user interface – and- Non-techies have no clue what the three letters RSS represent.

I work for one of the major players in the RSS Aggregation space, NewsGator, and we have a wonderful suite of services and tools to help everyone from the novice user to the Enterprise IT manager consume and distribute RSS feeds in an efficient and fairly easy manner.  But I agree with Gil, that for the average not-so-technically inclined, like my parents and a number of friends of mine, any interface that does not have big friendly buttons to click on, that use plain English, and are descriptive in their nomenclature is easily dismissed by the intimidated user.  This, in the larger view, is highly unfortunate, as they are left out of using what we who live in the RSS world have come to recognize as an extremely useful and convenient method of attaining information.

In the interest of full disclosure, NewsGator is working with the Denver Post in developing this solution for them, and it has been a great combined effort thus far.

Al Gore to Receive a Webby Award

... for the "pivotal role he has played in the development of the Internet..."

At first I thought someone was pulling my leg.  But no! These folks are serious in presenting Al Gore a "Lifetime" achievement award for his contributions to the Internet and the world wide web.

The Webby Lifetime Achievement Award: Former Vice President Al Gore

Setting the record straight on one of recent history's most persistent political myths, The Webby Awards will present Former Vice President Al Gore with The Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of the pivotal role he has played in the development of the Internet over the past three decades. Vint Cerf, widely credited as one of the "fathers of the Internet," will present Vice President Gore with the award.

Good Lord!  Actually I have a bit of a beef giving any politician a "Lifetime Achievement Award" but to give ole' Al any credit for the Internet is like giving Dan Quayle an "A" on a spelling test! 

Image courtesy of Silly Toons and Pics (unknown copyright)

Well I guess Dick Nixon will be honored next for inventing digital (oops analog) silence!  18.5 minutes of it anyway.

Cutting down RDF... with... a herring!

A wonderful “Power Nerd” post!  Living in geekdom has its occupational hazards, but I must confess the inner-geek in me found this actually humorous.  What is actually quite interesting about a post like this is…

Those of us who know, and even understand Monty Python humor use this knowledge as a litmus test to see if others understand how our minds function and whether or not we would be socially compatible.  Same can be said for a number of other pop-culture icons:  Buffy, Rocky Horror, Raising Arizona, Black Adder, Hitchhikers Guide… you either get it, and you are deemed acceptable, or you have no clue and are permanently deemed unworthy.

Here’s the point of the analogy…  The same is beginning to apply to RSS, you either get it… or it’s just not right for your…… [idiom sir]….Idiom!

Thanks Charlie…   

None shall pass without formally defining the ontological meta-semantic thingies of their domain something-or-others!

F