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12 June, 2004

RSS Advertising

Microsoftie Robert Scoble writes: RSS advertising? Business Opportunity?

Bill Flitter, VP of marketing at Pheedo, took me and Patrick to lunch today. He's been in the advertising industry for years and sees RSS as a business opportunity.

He knows that advertisers are going to want to reach people who subscribe to feeds. I agree. He's already working with publishers to add advertisements to RSS feeds. He wants to work with industry leaders to build best practices for feed advertising. It's important, he says, that the industry hold itself back and keep from spamming people.

Give me a break. Has it ever occurred to these morons that people subscribe to RSS feeds because they don't have advertising? But it's inevitable, I guess. Every good thing eventually gets corrupted by advertising. And there will always be companies like Pheedo who want to jump on a bandwagon and ruin a good thing. Positioning it as an anti-spam company is pure genius.

Scoble continues...

In order for weblogs to improve and big publishers to turn on more feeds, we need to find a workable revenue model.

No we don't. There are lots of excellent blogs out there, written by people who don't make a penny for their efforts. And if the suits at the news sites really think that they are losing ad revenue because of RSS feeds, maybe they should just stop providing the feeds. Throw RSS advertising into the mix and RSS will be destroyed. Then we'll all be looking for the next "cool thing" after RSS.

I've already dumped the InfoWorld RSS feed because of their RSS ads. In the past, their RSS feed led me to visit their site 3-4 times a week. Since I've unsubscribed to the the RSS feed, I haven't been to infoworld.com at all.

I took a quick look at Pheedo's site. As far as I can tell, Pheedo pretty much represents everything I hate about the Internet. Quote:

Pheedo helps advertisers and publishers harness the opportunities and meet the challenges of the new syndicated content movement.

Yeah, right. The same old "opportunities and challenges" BS. I've heard it all before. Yawn. Yep, it's another movement that demands some advertising attention.

And another quote:

We are rethinking online advertising and delivering new tools to address the opportunities and challenges of this 100% opt-in, consumer controlled, syndicated content medium.

Right, RSS is opt-in. But once the ads start flowing, it's no longer consumer controlled. RSS will become as obnoxious and unusable as PC Magazine's Web site. Hopefully, people will be smart enough to simply stop subscribing to RSS feeds that have ads, and let the market adjust itself while companies like Pheed wonder why their master plan isn't working.

Syndicated content is just fine as it is, Pheedo. Please butt out and find another way to make some quick money on the Internet.

But they won't butt out. And even if they did, the idea is out there and a dozen other start-ups are waiting in the wings. Bloggers will welcome RSS advertising as an effortless opportunity to make a few dollars every month, and the bean counters at the news sites will gladly eat a free lunch for the opportunity to turn off consumers even more.

OK then, here's another challenge (or is it an opportunity?): How about an RSS aggregator that filters out the ads placed by Pheedo? I just might pay for that.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Blather

What is Blather?

blather is words. bunches of words, strewn about in a twisty tangly web of pontification, insight and nonsensical delight.

but really it's an experiment to see what shape this will take when left at your mercy. take a gander and let us know what you think.

This probably sets some kind of record for the most internal hyperlinks at a Web site.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Top-50 Microsoft Downloads

Here's a list of the Top-50 Most Popular Downloads at Microsoft's site. Nothing on the list is very interesting. Mostly security fixes and service releases.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Pop Icon Candles

I've seen Jesus candles like this in the Mexican section of the grocery store, but I've never seen Pop Icon Candles. Here's the Debbie Harry candle.

Once I had love, and it was a gas.
Soon found out I had a...glorious proto-punk goddess Debbie candle!
(Made of glass.)

$12.00


�

Posted on 12 June, 2004

An Excel Compiler

Savvysoft has released an Excel spreadsheet compiler called TurboExcel. Designed primarily for complex calculation-intensive models, they claim the product can make your spreadsheet run 300 times faster.

How does it work?

TurboExcel takes an Excel spreadsheet and outputs a DLL file which can be read and used by other systems (your original spreadsheet stays intact), including front-, middle-, and back-office systems. This new file runs as fast as if a programmer had rewritten the spreadsheet model in C++, and it's just as portable and cross-platform. That's because the file is written in C++.

I looked through the entire Web site, and found no mention of pricing. It seems that you need to contact the company to get that kind of information. Conclusion: It must be very expensive.

They do, however, offer a free trial -- but you'll need to contact them to get it.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Yesterday's News Online

From BBC News: 19th Century news going online.

More than a million pages from 19th Century British newspapers are to be put online by the British Library. The project will cover 100 years of news and images from newspapers which are out of copyright.

At the moment, anyone wanting to look at the texts needs to visit the Newspaper Library in Colindale, North London. A searchable website with digital copies of the newspapers is expected to be ready in 18 months' time.

Now that will be interesting.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Baseball Blackouts

The second game of the Padres / Yankees series will be played this afternoon. It would sure be nice to watch the game on TV. But, thanks to FOX Sports, the game cannot be televised.

It seems that FOX Sports has exclusive TV rights to all baseball games that start between 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm on Saturdays. The Padres game is not on their schedule, so I'm out of luck.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Stink Blasters

A line of toys called Stink Blasters.

The brainchild of Morrison Entertainment Group (MEG), Stink Blasters are figures endowed with their namesake stinks - from Dog Breath Danny and Sweat Sox Sammy to Tony Anchovy and Rotten Egg Reggie. Just squeeze each Stink Blasters' soft head and the character emits a d'stinktive smell.

"Stink Blasters is just good old fashioned boys fun", said Joe Morrison, president of MEG. "It's low tech and non-violent with a unique look and a great product feature that makes it something every boy will want. While our target is 6-11 year old boys, we've found that Stink Blasters get a laugh from just about everyone�

Shown here is Porta Potty Paul.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Austin Post Cards

I don't think I've ever been to Texas. But if I were to visit that state, I'd probably choose Austin as my destination.

Here's Austin Postcards:

This site is here to share a collection of items from Austin, Texas history. The site is built primarily around my postcard collection, but will also house a continuously growing assortment of photographs and ephemera relating to the people and places of historical significance to Austin, Texas.

Shown here is a 1915 postcard that shows a derailed electric streetcar.

(Thanks Casey)

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Google War

Enter two search terms, and the battle begins: Google War.

I've seen this sort of thing in the past, but this one is better because you can view the recent battles that people have staged.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Writing Books For Children

If you've ever thought of writing a children's book. here's a great resource: Children's Writers Brainstorming Lists.

Save yourself some effort. Instead of wracking your brain, trying to find the perfect specifics for your story, just check out one of these lists. Or use these lists to brainstorm characters, conflicts, settings, and more.

Actually, these lists might have lots of other uses. there's a list of 108 body parts, a list of 120 kinds of clothes, and even a list of 1,436 unusual occupation titles.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Recycled Links, Part 33

These links were posted on the J-Walk Blog about a year ago. Good stuff that you may have overlooked.

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Make Some Indian Music

Click some button, and you've got instant music from India: The Indian Shankar Drum Ganesh Machine.

(Thanks confetti)

Posted on 12 June, 2004

Chineses Cookware Antenna

Here's an article that describes how to use Chinese cooking utensils to make a DIY WiFi antenna.

Make 2.4GHz parabolic mesh dishes from cheap but sturdy Chinese cookware scoops & a USB WiFi adaptor!

The largest (300mm diam) shows 15-18dB gain (enough for a LOS range extension to 3-5km), costs ~US$5 &

comes with a user friendly bamboo handle that suits WLAN fieldwork- if you can handle the curious stares!

(Thanks John Fleming)

Posted on 12 June, 2004