Category: General

“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. ” – David Weinberger

“…there’s no strong brand in podcasting – except for iTunes. And iTunes doesn’t really care about podcasting. Which means there’s an opportunity there. The podcast format is still brilliant…” – Peter Van Dijck

I think the first mistake made in podcast-land is considering it something different. Different than a blog, different than radio, different than video, different than an mp3 file, different than a conversation. That made the world very small, lame, and self-defeating. ‘Podcast’ rides atop all those things.

Hell, technically, all you have to do is make use of the ‘enclosure’ tag to be a podcast. Yes, as a communication form, the best ones have their own aesthetic and aren’t just ‘time-shifted’. But the idea of a podcast directory is as unmaintainable as a locked iPhone.

The Twittergram work I did a while back reminded me of the podcast-client that I’d like to see. It’s on the list of things to revisit after I launch this other app. Why? Cause it rides atop.

When we moved from Chicago almost 5 years ago, I got a lot of snickers and jeers from my co-workers. Completely understandable given that Chicago sees itself as the second city and all the reports of Mayor Daley trying to make it into NY without the bad parts.

It’s the quality of life that separates the Twin Cities from that cross-country rivalry. That’s continually highlighted in the recent WSJ article: The Twin Cities Hit ‘Critical Coolness’.

The quote, “It’s such a get-out-there and do something culture,” reminds me of Rex‘s MSP vs SEA comparison (can’t find the like right now) – everyone in MSP has a side project.

UPDATE: Rex’s comment reminded me that MSP has far more in common with PDX and SEA than ORD. But if you’ve spent anytime in the PNW you already know that. There’s been times that I’ve wondered if there’s some sorta high-speed tunnel between MSP and PDX.

I saw these two tweets side-by-side over the weekend. I read them fast and thought that spin and Calacanis were talking about the same product. It’s a floor cleaner, it’s a desert topping, it’s a publishing channel, it’s a weight loss supplement.

Despite not having written in a while, I’ve gotten some excellent comments on the look of this site.

“…I don’t know if that’s artsy or what, but I wasn’t all that impressed.”

and the more concise:

“conspicously vacant”

Perhaps suck.com had the same problem 😉

Either way, this site’s role has changed, and it needs to do more than it did when I refreshed it last.

Also, last week kicked off the full kitchen remodel here at HQ. In an effort to minimize stress, anxiety, and any jinxes, I’m holding off writing about it until it’s over.

While Toki Pona‘s minimalism feels too much like Newspeak for my taste, the notion of creating a new common-use language is an intriguing thought. Especially if the language’s biases were deliberate – and I agreed w/ them 😉 – from the beginning.

Initial thought: a highly technolibertarian version of Dutch.

Thanks to: Hobbies in everything- Tyler Cowen

Back in HS XC, the Rice Lake race was one of a handful of races I always looked forward to. Aside from being a very competitive race, the course had an interesting features – back then, it started out around the Community College’s baseball diamond, as people fought for position and got into their pace around the fencing it was inevitable that people would stumble and fall.

And the crowd would count the fallen runners – 1…..2…..3……4

Thanks to JimmerC for the memories.

Kris pointed me to a ‘which tech-celeb are you quiz?‘:

“You are like Jason Calacanis in that you have a very important view of yourself. You have had success in the past and that success puts you in a place of importance that you are very, very aware of. You enjoy the finer things in life and make sure that your approach to business, blogging and life protects your pet pleasures.”

Aside from the layer of smarm and the spats with Dave Winer, I can dig that.

As soon as I got my new phone, I turned the ringer off. I’m alerted of new messages and calls via BluePhoneElite – not disturbing anyone else in earshot.

It’s quiet in the house during the day, no constant tv or radio. Interupptions of all kinds are reduced to a minimum.

Elsewhere, TVs are blaring, satellite radio jabbering, phones are ringing, car alarms are going off, all while civilized people are trying to have civilized conversations at a civilized volume.

So, no we can’t complain about ADD and be excited about a new way to buy ringtones.

“One of the things I find most vexing is the implicit idea that acquiring a system is all you need to take care of a problem….that you’re going to be more organized because you have a PDA.” – Merlin Mann

MP3 of Merlin Man’s Inbox Zero Talk @ Google

And from the Q & A session:

“Everytime you start worrying about taxonomy, do 3 tasks.”

For my money, that’s a fantastic information architecture tip.

Elsewhere

“I’ve spent a lot of my life engaged in devising careful taxonomies that I end up never using.” – Sam Buchanan