October 05, 2007

Treasure

here.

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feed yer style

Congrats to our good friends at stylefeeder! Oh sure it's all facebookfacebookfacebook now, but who got em started on MySpace? Huh? :-)

Oh Canada!

Good Job Bush! You did Bin Laden's job for him, just like he wanted!

If we're lucky, Canada will swoop its Mounties down here and conquer our asses.

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October 04, 2007

meeting me meeting you grieving

Some people subscribe to feeds for Technorati tags, so that they get quick access to all blogs with, say, the tag of Web 2.0, or Technology, or Atlanta. I do that. Except that the one that I check the most often has nothing to do with blogging or business. It is the tag for 'grief,' because that's the way it should be.

That's where I first found this brave woman's story, began admiring her spirit, her willingness to open up to us in the face of loss so enormous, her will to keep moving keep talking keep showing: this is how much I hurt. The community that has gathered around her, mothers-not-to-be, at least not yet, breathes her pain. The rings of her grief ripple outward, touching so many.

Her seventh pregnancy just ended with the premature delivery of her baby girl, who lived only a couple of hours. It is the seventh in a line of pregnancies that have given reason for hope, but sent her home with no baby in her arms -- and this time once again to the cemetery.

I ache for her.

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1970s Thursday Continued, 1978

1970s Thursday Continued, 1975



1970s Thursday Continued. 1972

oh what a time to be alive.

It's 70s Thursday!!

October 03, 2007

New Math: Social Network v Social Graph

Dave McClure is taking flack for adding a new term to the already jargon infested web 2.0 sphere with his coining of "social graph" as some subset or superset or different-but-similar-to term for social networks.

Stu AKA Stowe takes a stand against the redundant redefinition of what he believes is a good enough and valid term in "social networks" and views social graph as a marketing ploy that needs to go away.

Doug AKA Dave says that something about the mathematics of all of this makes social graph not just a valid, but a useful descriptor for whatever it is we are all doing here here together online instead of being outside in the park with our kids.

I usually agree with Stowe because Stowe makes a lot of sense and has the balls to call people on bullshit when it gets smelly around here.

But I actually have been looking for a term that represents my participation AMONG (not just in) social networks, my travels between and around, my friends shared and not shared among and between spaces, collaboration that takes place with others from these spaces, and the bridges that I hope one day will take me from here to there without having to replicate myself. If THAT is what social graph is referring to, then I think it's a useful term: The graphing of the entirety of my online participation.

I'm down with that.

I have no idea if I am making sense. Don't know much about algebra...

update: just read Dave's latest post which basically talks all about social graphs relating to activity INSIDE a social network--in this case Facebook. So, I'm back with Stowe again. Nothing new here. Not the right term. Needs to go. Or re-define it as above. kthxbye.

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October 02, 2007

Global Technology Roundup








PSA, you dirty birds

From the looks of my referrer log, which has had Numerous Visits over the last few days from one post's Technorati tag of pink eye, you had all better be exercising proper hygiene and hand washing techniques this month. No excuses! PE Gets Around.

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what's in an icon?

Donna Bogatin has an interesting point in her post on LinkedIn v Facebook in terms of women. She notices that the icon 'mascot' on LinkedIn is most decidedly male -- suit, tie and executive haircut -- (and I'd note predictably non-ethnic) even on the sections of female members.

Donna's right--it is a little thing--but what it reflects is not so little, especially in the week when the techmeme leaderboard reminds us all that the road to the top is littered with reciprocal-linked male voices.

Despite Dave Winer's positioning me as a feminist zealot, I don't self-identify as a feminist. Maybe it's my own ignorance, but I don't understand feminism quite. I'm pro-people, pro-men and pro-women, and I'm pro elevating the voices that are generally overlooked because those are where the answers are. If the answers to the pressing questions of our day were inside the heads of those we hear blather on ad infinitum, then problems would already be solved.

Anyway, that little linked-in guy leaves a lot to be desired.

And why do we need him at all?

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October 01, 2007

Listening Goes Pro

BMO BMO BMO has decided to unveil a new business model as he sets out on a his Public Listening tour, venues TBD.

I’m hoping to tap into the lucrative after-dinner listening circuit. Deliver a few keynote listens. Collect a huge fee. And so on.After dinner I get up at the podium and I listen to three or four hundred people telling lame jokes and droning on self-importantly.

He has already listened to thousands worldwide. Shouldn't your organization be next?

BMO BMO BMO is represented by Jeneane Sessum. Contact her at 678-294-0900 to book BMO BMO BMO to listen at your next corporate event, workshop, or conference.

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ArringtonMeme - the Leaderboard is Live

Holy Crap It's Sports! The Techmeme Leaderboard is Live, with Mike Arrington in the lead (I'm still trying to figure out the metrics) at Number 1, beating such old media as Computerworld, Forbes, and the The New York Times, and such new media figures as Dave Winer and Valley Wag.

I have to note, I see two things: high profile traditional media outlets and a lot of popular white tech guys. Where are the Michelle Arringtons? The Darla Winers? The Jackie Jarvises? The GigaOphelias? Dude, who moved my uterus?

I'm sure I'll be checking the Leaderboard from time to time, but it doesn't look that different from the Technorati Top 100 from a blog perspective. New boss/Old boss type thang.

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whatever happened....

...to Blogger.com's feature where you could re-publish your entire blog when things started to get slow and smoooshy?

I hate when companies call core functionality "features" and then add them and remove them all willy nilly.

mmmmrmrmrmrmumblemumblemmmrmrmrm.

The Battle of the Business Models for Web-Based Apps

Today we get more proof that Microsoft believes it can compete with Google Docs & Spreadsheets (possibly the worst branding ever for a great offering--that name came straight out of product management into beta no doubt) by releasing Office Live Workspace, which Microsoft calls “a new web-based feature of Microsoft Office which lets people access their documents online and share their work with others.”

A web-based feature of a desktop product. Hrrrmmm.

Well, it's fascinating messaging. Calling this a feature. Read on and you'll see that Microsoft plans to charge $$ once you exceed the 1,000-document limit. And no one knows how much. Charging for a feature. Now that's smart. Not.

According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, there's "...no word on how much, if anything, Microsoft plans to charge once users have more than 1,000 Word, Excel and PowerPoint files..."

Microsoft, Let me get this straight: You're going to charge me to buy your software. And if I decide I want to use it specific "feature" I pay again.

Exqueeze me, but no thanks. I already have thousands of word documents that I created using the software I paid for. I'm sure not going to pay extra money to work with them online when I can do it for free with Google. Google's live revisioning and collaboration features work great. Why would I ever want to pay to use Office online?

The problem here is that Microsoft is trying to plug a square business model into a round hole. Microsoft Sells Software. Google Sells Ads. Google can give away CAPABILITY, can ENABLE, can FACILITATE for free because it makes money off of something unrelated to its core functionality, the reason we use it. Microsoft's model is to make money off of product and support, off of the thing we actually buy.

That's why Microsoft can't can't compete with Google on web-based apps, and why Google CAN compete with Microsoft. It's about the business model. It's about smarts of Google of coupling its revenue stream with something unobtrusively unrelated to the core service it offers to customers.

Google does it better than anyone. Microsoft still needs to find a way to do it at all.


why am i experimenting with payperpost

1) I want to understand the model.
2) I want to understand the user experience.
3) I want to see if it's possible for us to create our own ad copy, the way we would write it not as per any messaging from the top down, and get paid for it.
4) I want to experiment with online ad models - can Ad Poetry work? has anyone tried? I'm going to.
5) I can.
6) I want to experiment with the A-List culture. How will associating with those whom the Techno Elite have deemed "trash" affect my blog?
7) Does Google care? Will Google punish me?
8) Splogs or Moms earning extra money--which is it?

If I can answer any of these questions for myself, then it will have been worth it. And generating a couple hundred bucks would be nice too.

we'll see...

when you care enough...

Been to the dollar store lately? Seen all the Christmas decorations that have been on the shelves since September 11? That's a clue that the holidays are a mere quarter-of-a-year away! No time like the present to start thinking about what gifts to give your beloved Family Of Origin.

Saying, "I love you despite your felony conviction" is easy with Gift Baskets from Gift-Lover.com. There are more than a dozen categories to choose from, and you get free shipping on orders over $150.

Nothing says, "I'm thinking of you on the day of your parole hearing" like a Nut Pack. And the Doctor's Orders basket is just right for Uncle Ted, if you can sneak it past the nosy night nurse at the rehab center.

As with all sponsored ad opportunities, I try to check them out by looking at their sites, but rely on PPP to do that upfront work. I see on the policy page that Gift-Lover offers a 30-day return policy with 100% satisfaction. Hey, that's more than you get from most web 2.0 companies! ;-)

September 30, 2007

Jennapallooza Winds Down

One final party guest remaining, entertaining the birthday girl by playing with her gifts. We are blessed. A wonderful daughter with good friends. I am so tired. I love her so and now she's 10. The mystery of time's passage takes my breath away.

Jennapallooza continues

we are all off to Justice for Girls, a clothing store where they will be rockstar fashionistas for an hour.

they were up til 2. i was too. up at 5 in a panic. then better. now off in the van.

nearing completion.

pinata later.

Raising a Manufacturing Class in a Knowledge Worker World

David has a great post about what is NOT happening in even the Very Good public schools of the Northeast: Seeking, Learning, Adapting, Thinking, Multi-tasking. Instead, the same type of education that was so effective in creating an industrial-age workforce is being shoved down our kids' throats. Even in high school, where David's son is memorizing state capitals. Wow. That will help on the line at GM. If there IS a line at GM on this side of the world when David's son graduates.

The amount of time our son is being required to spend memorizing whether Bismarck is the capital of North or South Dakota will dwarf the total amount of time he would spend in his lifteime looking it up at Google. This is information that adds nothing to this comprehension of the world. Memorizing the dates of the states' admissions to the union might at least sometime in his life help him notice a relationship of some consequence — that Texas was admitted before the abolition of slavery has some possible effect on his understanding, whereas that Austin is the capital will only matter if he runs for governor of Texas and doesn't want to look foolish in the debates.

There is a real opportunity for new media thinking to start embedding itself in public school education. But if you think corporations are closed and risk averse, try talking to the administration at your kids' school.

David ends with an "arrrrrgh". I concur. But what can we do to move schools from the purpose they were built for (to create factory workers) to enablers of the connected world?

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Wanna Win a Free Raleigh, NC Getaway?

Why take trip to Raleigh? Well first of all, there are GOOD TECH JOBS there. Get off the plane and grab the classifieds. Once you have a good job and have the dough to have fun, there's also a great Art Museum, a cool Museum of Natural Sciences, and more incredible food than you can shake a stick at. The North Carolina state capitol, Raleigh has a moderate subtropical climate, with moderate weather in the spring, fall, and winter. Fall is the perfect time to visit, maybe decide you want to move there. If you're like me, you could consider starting a new life as part of the witness protection proram. With a median family income of just over $60K, you could find a worse place to make a new start of it. If you're a parent, you know that the kids are hyper as hell now that they're back at school, making it a perfect time for a Fall Getaway for the whole family. Maybe visit the 2007 N.C. State Fair. You could win a Free Raleigh Getaway receive:
-One night accommodations for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley
-$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro
-Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners
-2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre
-2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
-2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

The Home of Red Hat awaits you. What you waitin' for, Willis?

muffins were moldy :-(

it's cupcakes for breakfast.

sleepover live blogging

my bff audrey stopped by and we did what any grownups would do during a kids' sleepover party. made faces at the camera. she wasn't even a-scared-a my pink eye. she is so kewl.





sleepover live blogging

3 asleep 3 awake. kthxbye.