Our ski season doesn't start until late next month, but I am going snowboarding tonight, yeehaa.
Never been to an indoor slope before, but this should be good to try out the new board and make sure it is all set up right. I had a lesson when we were in Whistler last year and the instructor totally changed my stance around...it is taking some getting used to.
Apparently I had it all wrong for nearly 15 years!...that the instructor wasn't much older than 15 is a whole other story :)
PCWorld recently did an interview with Biz Stone of Blogger, who apparently acknowledged that yes Blogger were considering doing an Enterprise version(?!). Brilliant! Now I don't feel so stupid...
See, back in early 2004 I went to SXSWi. One of the coolest things about it was the Blogger Booze up at Club DeVille. I had a few drinks and when I got the opportunity to introduce myself to Blogger bigwig Jason Shellen I said something like, "So, have you guys ever thought about doing an enterprise version of Blogger?".
At the time I felt an instant cringe because it seemed like such a stupid thing to ask, and Mr Shellen's facial expression, followed by the hasty retreat he soon beat, seemed to confirm that idea.
Of course it may just have been that I was three sheets to the wind and what I actually said was completely unintelligible...but whatever the case I am comforted to know now that it wasn't a completely idiotic thing to ask.
I'd be surprised if they did actually do something for enterprise, but it's nice to know they thinking of us.
David Galbraith points out that Evan Williams is an investor in EVDB...even more impressive though, Chuck Norris is the CTO...don't mess with EVDB.
And while we're mentioning David Galbraith, founder of Wists.com, here's a prediction. Given the connection between him and Nick Denton, what's the bet that Fleshbot rolls out an "Adult" social booking marking service built on the wists system.
I've been noticing a growing number of 'blog consultancies' popping up, and to be frank it just seems a bit like selling snake oil.
Blogs, as content management systems, are not exactly rocket science, so you don't need a blog consultant, just a web dude.
Blogging, as a communications practice, is a bit different to traditional business communications, but still, all you really need is some simple advice...
If you are a small biz and want to communicate better with your market, just start by listening and you'll soon get the swing of things.
If you're a large corporate and your communications department doesn't grok blogging then you should buy them a copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto, because real blogging does require some new perpectives. Once you've got that 'markets are conversations' culture going on then you should start listening, and after that you can start blogging. Sure, you might want to create a charter for internal bloggers so they know what the boundaries are, but you hardly need a Blog Consultant for that.
UPDATE: What big companies will need is actual bloggers. Committing to the conversation means writing, and commenting, and responding, and being part of the conversation. In my experience this will be one of the biggest hurdles for corporates with traditional sales and marketing functions...no one will have the time to maintain a blog. To which I would ask why they don't have time to engage customers! Still, that's the reality. To get past that inertia and make blogging part of the 'way we do things around here' it will require dedicated resource.
Someone should do something with the Upcoming API and Google Maps...that would be cool. Pick a date on the calendar and search by metro to see what's going on in town tonight. It's all there.
Bob Wyman has made a great post articulating the business implications of structured blogging, and prospective search.
I have been digesting this one for a few days now, and there's a lot to grasp, but the potential is tantalizing. A couple of thoughts spring to mind...
- Where does FOAF fit in?
- I've said before that I think Ping-O-Matic is valuable as a central clearing house for prospective search engines. I wonder if this takes on new significance in the context of commerce and prospective search.
- To call it 'structured blogging' is a bit misleading, cause it isn't about blogging per se...it sits well with blogs, but its more about structured data regardless of blogs (as CMSs) or blogging (as a communications channel). eg. No reason why the news web site couldn't get in on the act by structuring their online classified listings in this way.
Anyway, this stuff is going to be important, although it is fair to say we're a ways from standards at this time. Phil Pearson has a good summary of the various nascent efforts (via).
I'll be in Amsterdam next month so will try to catch the Flickr Peep Show if I can get some time to myself.
I have been spending a bit of time thinking about Flickr recently...which will be apparent when I launch the new site later this week...wink wink ;)
I was pondering all the half baked web site ideas I have had over the past few years and realized that I have launched a bunch of websites, some which worked and some which didn't...here's a quick list (as much for my own reference), roughly in order of their appearance...
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Great news, Dogster Wins A Webby!. Go Ted!
Whoa! Ben Hammersley just posted this news about the BBC opening itself up via API. Check it out at backstage.bbc.co.uk
I can't wait to see what coolness comes out of this.