April 16, 2005
“Part II of answers to Shel Israel’s questions for The Red Couch book he’s working on with Robert Scoble. Also a bit of music from USA for Africa (1985). One of my neighbors is sitting outside my window, so I felt self-conscious. No matter. ;->”
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Good morning everybody, good
(00:02):
morning everybody, we miss C.S.
we do. It's the morning coffee
notes review
It's the good morning coffee
notes for you
That's right. It's morning
coffee notes for me and you
(00:23):
Hey everybody, it's huh April
16th
This is the fumbling around
morning coffee notes
I was I'm doing a lot of sort
of prep work here to get this
thing going and I mean in the
process
I'm completely losing all the
spontaneity that goes into
(00:43):
Creating one of these
magnificent morning coffee no
podcast deals
So I decided that while I'm
getting everything together
instead of just around sort of
like
You know thinking of things to
talk about and not talking
about them
I thought well, let's just get
the microphone going here and
we'll figure out how to get
(01:05):
these things to work and just a
minute
Well, I wanted to open up with
a clip of a song that was
Think it was like was it 1985?
Yeah
Yeah, USA for Africa
We are the world and I want to
play a bit of that not the
whole thing because I want you
to go out and buy the song or
(01:26):
Give money for Africa
Because it's a good cause and
oh cool the dishwasher
If you were hearing I don't
know if you can even hear it,
but in the background there was
a dishwasher going up there
It goes again
So much I thought it was
stopping but you know that was
all part of like being
spontaneous
I could have like waited for it
to finish and before I did my
(01:48):
morning coffee notes podcast
the
Well, let's see. Okay. First.
Let's do the music and here
here's a
To do do do oh wait first what
I have to do is I have to get
it out onto
Toodly ting ting ting ting to
that was a little Irish doodly-
doo
Ding ding ding ding ding. Why
(02:09):
isn't that showing up? I have
my little stupid
player thing
And I inserted it properly I
thought
Ah
It's a little motherfuckers and
showing up
Damn it
He is a motherfucker
(02:31):
Because we're on Windows. That
's why
The cool thing about Windows,
you know Mac users are so
pleased with themselves
They've got a new operating
system and they always like to
tell you well
We have it so much better than
you do. Okay?
Well Windows users we have an
answer for that is you do and
so what?
(02:51):
We like being losers
We like using the inferior
operating system. Why because
it's it improves our character.
It strengthens our philosophy
Who wants to be like I'm not a
Yankees fan yet
If you know if you always went
for like the best team in
baseball one would say well
God you got a roof for the Yan
(03:12):
kees, right?
But um, I'm not a Yankees fan.
I'm a Mets fan. I go for
philosophy and although it may
not appear
Okay, that Windows has a
superior philosophy to Macint
osh. In fact, it does
I know it seems weird. I know
it does but it does in us
(03:33):
Windows users are actually very
happy to be using this
system even though at a moment
like this I've inserted the
USB
to do DD DD the stupid little
device $49
MP3 player thingy and I've
inserted it into a slot the
operating system said that it
(03:55):
recognized it and
Then proceeds to not show it up
on the desktop because what I
was gonna do was
copy the song onto the stupid
little device and then
Then what was I gonna do I was
then gonna plug that into the
speaker and
Then
(04:15):
It's weird there's a guy
sitting right outside my window
I just realized it now. I have
to like do this thing and like
be aware that there's somebody
Like listening to me talk while
I'm doing it in real time. I
Don't like that very much
(04:35):
It's a problem moving in a
fucking apartment man
It's like I like living in a
house better because like it
was never anybody sitting right
outside your window
Anyway, let's find the stupid
music
To to to oh there. That's it.
No
Well, let's try this plug it in
and I'm plugging again. Maybe
(04:57):
the power isn't on
Maybe the power maybe the
battery ran out. That's a
possibility. Let's see. I'll
bet that's it
Let's try adding a new battery
here
Because then what I want to do
is I want to answer
I'm just gonna pretend I'm on
the fucking phone. How's that?
How's that for an answer? I'm
gonna put a new battery in here
and see if that helps
(05:17):
But then what I want to do is
answer the final questions
On shill Israel's questionnaire
thing
But the batteries out
Oh, what was that? I
Don't know if you heard that
did you hear that?
Let's see its power is baby on
(05:38):
Yeah, well seems to have helped
We only have two megabytes free
so I will have to delete
something
Because there's no doubt this
bigger
Okay, got one of these Belkin
seven port
things
Very nice. I found new hardware
(05:59):
It's a disk drive it says
And
There it is. It's drive I
So that was the problem the
problem was that it was out of
battery put a new battery in
and everything's fine
Okay, so there's a 21. Oh Bill
Gross
gives a lead him I
Thought Bill Gross would do I
(06:20):
listen to him
talking at the web 2.0
conference and
You got to tell you I was
pretty nauseated
the the trip there seems to be
that
They're sort of pretending that
the bubble ever burst and so
guy like Bill Gross gets up on
stage and they use the same old
(06:42):
Sort of like well gee, you know
, we were on a stage in
1998 raising money together and
I got more money than Bill but
Bill's a lot smarter than me
Okay
now
Tell me why that matters in
2004
Which is when this thing was
done
(07:02):
so Gross gets up and does a
demo of a
new web search engine and it
actually sounds pretty good
And I kept thinking while I was
listening to it. Well, all
right, it's a demo. I can't
really see what he's talking
about
And then I thought wow, you
know, how much better it would
have been if instead of going
(07:22):
to this conference
And I assume thinking that he's
talking like to like everyone
who matters
That if he like sort of went on
the road and in this day and
age what that would mean is
Basically sending an email to
some guys who have blogs that
lots of people read
Maybe even lots of blogs even
people that don't get read a
(07:43):
lot, you know, like maybe the
techno rati 100 or something
like that, you know and
And then you know
And then we could try it out
and we would use it not just
once but 25 times
And we would go poke around in
all the little nooks and crann
ies of it and try to figure out
what we like and don't every
(08:04):
time
Of course that we poke into
another nook and another cranny
We write about it and that
helps keep the buzz or start
the buzz for it
I don't even remember the name
of a search engine snap or
something like that
I'll find it out and I'll point
to it from today's scripting
news today is the 16th in case
I think I did say that
(08:24):
but
But you know so they go to the
insider conference and they all
sort of like you know talk to
the VCs and
Hey, you know even if the VC
gives you a lot of money
Then where are you because how
do you spend money to market
these days?
I mean really it's all like
basically getting the word out.
That's what you got to do
You gotta get people using it
(08:45):
so that they don't just talk
about it and then forget about
it. They have to feel like
Okay, you know every day I'm
gonna wake up. I'm gonna start
like looking in this search
engine instead of looking at
Google
And that's a real real tool
order, but that's the reality
It's you know, maybe he's got a
lot of innovations and I'm sure
he filed a few patents there,
but
Well, I think it takes more to
(09:07):
actually make it successful
Roll out these days. So now I
've got the music where I want
it
What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna
unplug this mofo from
USB and
Then let's see. So it's been
removed
And there's run DMC. This is
gonna be a bitch trying to find
(09:27):
it
Let's see, what was it it's USA
for Africa, right?
So I should have left the damn
window up on the screen. Oh
What was the number? Ha, that
'll tell us
I'm sorry. I'm sure you're very
interested in this and the song
isn't even all that great
(09:48):
Well, there it is
But what's so cool about it
actually is that it's got all
these great stars on it and
then and actually they're
saying something
It's pretty nice, you know,
okay, so you can hear those
people talking outside. They're
smoking too
Smokers good thing the window
is not open
Here we go. You ready?
the time when we need a certain
(10:36):
call when the world must come
together as one
, oh, it's time to let the hand
to light the greatest gift of
all. We can go on. Pretend to
be there by the day. That's the
(11:01):
one. So where will we see the
change?
. Team the Turner. Michael
(11:22):
Jackson.
. Diana Ross.
Here comes Deion Warwick.
(11:53):
Really Nelson.
That's Al Jarreau and here
comes Bruce Springsteen.
(12:19):
Kenny Loggins. Steve Perry.
That was Darrell Hall. Here
(12:44):
comes Michael Jackson.
Notice Huey Lewis and here's
Cindy Leper and Kim Korn and
(13:09):
Huey and Cindy.
And now Ray Charles, Bob Dylan,
Stevie Wonder and Bruce Spring
steen and everybody else.
And now we're going to see the
real thing. So let's start
giving.
And the choice we're making
(13:29):
will bring you out on the line.
Come and make a better game.
Yes you do.
We are the world. We are the
children. We are the ones to
make a better game. So let's
start giving.
(13:51):
There's a choice we're making.
We are the world. We are the
children. We are the ones to
(14:13):
make a better game. So let's
start giving.
We are the world. We are the
children. We are the ones to
(14:35):
make a better game. So let's
start giving.
I have a choice. You may or may
not know. Rich St. Louis. Rich
St. Louis.
You may or may not know what I
think. You may.
(14:55):
Come on, come on. We are the
world. We are the world. We are
the children. We are the ones
to make a better game. So let's
start giving.
There's a choice we're making.
We are the ones to make a
better game. So let's start
(15:16):
giving.
It's true we're making better
games. Just you and me. Yeah.
We are the world. We are the
world. We are the children.
We are the ones to make a
better game. So let's start
giving. So let's start giving.
(15:37):
There's a choice we're making.
We are the ones to make a
better game. So let's start
giving. So let's start giving.
It's true we're making better
games. Just you and me.
Okay, okay, okay. Thanks very
much.
All right, very good, very good
, very good. Okay, cool. We're
going to like totally scroll
this thing down. I don't know
how well that came through.
Hopefully you could hear enough
(15:58):
of it to sort of get the idea.
That was a big hit in 1985 and
there was a famine or not
exactly sure what in Africa.
And that was the music industry
's answer to it. It was kind of
spooky listening to it, hearing
Michael Jackson's voice in
there with all the controversy.
Of course, there is about
Michael Jackson. Anyway, so we
're going back now. The last
(16:20):
podcast that I did, actually in
terms of the chronology, it
would be like it is the last
one, but in terms of the actual
order in which they were
released this, the second to
last podcast.
And I answered four questions
that came from Shell Israel via
Robert Scoble for the book that
they're doing called The Red C
ouch. And I think that's what
(16:41):
the book's called.
And they've asked a bunch more
questions and sort of shifted
gears and I was kind of tired
at the time. And so I decided
to like do the next five
questions or let's actually one
, two, three, four questions in
another podcast.
So the next question is he says
, you've written with chagrin
(17:01):
about the way the press has
condensed and misquoted you.
Can you give a few examples?
Wow. Well, you know, basically
almost every article about
podcasting, I think actually
without exception.
The exception would be tidbits
did a very good, thorough job,
I think of researching and came
(17:22):
up with an accurate chronology
of, I mean, I have to go back
and look to make sure of this
because, you know, so that
would be sort of like a whole
slew of articles.
I think the most the worst
example I've ever seen was an
article that was written in the
Guardian of the UK newspaper of
(17:44):
apparently very high repute.
They wrote an article about
what they called the RSS wars
and made it highly dramatic and
said that I had made a peace
offering and and basically spun
all the all the events in in
sort of like the most dramatic
fashion possible.
(18:05):
And actually made up some facts
. The reporter was a part of the
story and didn't disclose that
at times he referred to people
without naming them and the
person was himself.
It's like talk about making
news. I mean, you know, the
problem with the press is that
they've become more important
in the story.
And in an ideal world, the
(18:27):
reporter would simply be a
conduit. It's what a reporter
should be.
In other words, something
happened and somebody's
reporting on it now, which is
more important.
The fact the event that
happened or the reporter that's
reporting on it.
And of course, the answer is
that the event is more
important than the reporter.
(18:47):
But in the world that we live
in today, that's no longer true
.
And this is a case where the
reporter was so way off that he
was actually in the story and
didn't disclose it.
This is exactly what you want
to watch out for.
We raised the issue with the
Guardian after this guy had
written a previous article.
Same person had written a
previous article in the
(19:08):
Guardian and they hadn't
responded to my own personal
call, you know, for, you know,
let's do a credibility check
here.
And maybe you have to issue a
mea culpa, you know, that you
screwed up and they completely
threatened me.
Actually, it was really amazing
thing.
So this time what I did was I
got two other people to
actually do the look.
One a technical expert, one an
expert on British press and
(19:29):
they still blew us off.
They said, you must have an axe
to grind with the newspaper or
with the author.
Well, yeah, maybe we do, but
what's the point?
I mean, you know, either you
are an expert on it, in which
case you might actually know
whether there's a factual error
or a whole bunch of factual
errors,
or you know nothing about it,
(19:49):
in which case your opinion
doesn't matter.
So, yeah, what they were saying
is that we know something about
the situation and it's
irrelevant.
In other words, a reporter
whose integrity is challenged,
and this is a clear case where
not only the reporter's
integrity was in doubt,
but the newspaper's integrity
was and still is in doubt, that
(20:10):
it needs to be handled in a
very professional, fairly hands
off arms length.
So this is a good time to be
objective.
And in my experience, this is
the exact place where most
professional journalists
completely lose their object
ivity.
They often get very rude and
sarcastic and dismissive.
(20:31):
They just have this barrier to
criticism.
You know, they don't want the
light shown on themselves,
which is so ironic, of course,
because a good journalist is an
expert in light shining
and shouldn't have anything to
hide when the light goes, you
know, gets shown on them.
But the Guardian completely
fell down on this one, and I
will never stop making this an
(20:51):
important, raising this
question about this specific
instance.
And I've written about it on my
Harvard weblog, which is blogs.
law.harvard.edu/dave.
And if you go into the stories
list, so you go to append
stories to that, you'll see it.
It's one of the very few
stories in that site.
(21:12):
And we go through detail by
detail what was factually
incorrect, conflict of interest
wise.
And, you know, all the problems
with that particular story, I
think it's an incredible case
study in journalism falling
down on its own credibility.
And then when called on it,
refusing to actually look into
(21:32):
seeing what.
And this is a newspaper that
has, supposedly has a special
function for looking into its
own integrity.
So, which, you know, is
nonsense.
I mean, the New York Times has
one too, and they don't do it
seriously.
None of these guys do.
And that's why we have blogs.
Ha, that's going to fit into
your book.
I mean, we have blogs because
(21:54):
we can't trust those guys.
And blogs, believe me, they get
vetted.
Lots and lots of people
examining it, what you say on
your blog.
And if you've made a factual
error, in my case, for example,
this is sort of a sidebar here.
One of the great things about
having a blog like scripting
news is that it's just an
(22:14):
incredible research vehicle.
If I want to get the answer to
a question, and it has to be in
the right subject area.
I mean, you know, if it like
the real sweet spot is a gadget
ry or server software or, you
know, anything techie.
And like I had a question about
(22:34):
BitTorrent a month ago, and
then I had another question a
few days ago, yesterday,
actually.
And these guys just like swarm.
I mean, and they just love
showing off that, you know,
when they have the technical
answer.
A few days ago, I had a problem
with an XML file, like just for
life, and you couldn't figure
out what the hell's going wrong
(22:55):
with this thing.
And I said, I know what's going
to happen here.
I mean, I'll put this up on
scripting news within five
minutes, I'll get the answer.
And then for the rest of the
day, people will be solving the
problem, even if I put a thing
up there saying, hey, you know,
the problem's been solved.
And sure enough, that's exactly
what happened.
And there's nothing wrong with
it.
It's really cool that people
are so anxious.
Sometimes when showing off
(23:16):
actually is a very generous
thing to do.
And so it's an incredible
research vehicle.
That's the nice side of it for
the author, the not so nice
side of it.
But equally important is when
they vet you and you make a
mistake.
And the only thing to do is
once you realize that you've
made a mistake is to say, I
made a mistake.
And, you know, I don't always
(23:36):
agree with people when they say
that I've made a mistake.
And so that usually or often
will end up in sort of a flamie
situation.
You have to go through that.
That's just like, but you
really do have to take each one
seriously.
And because if you don't, then
somebody else will.
And that sort of acts as a, you
know, as a check and a balance
(23:58):
in a way.
And the press is in this,
whether they know it or not,
whether they appreciate it or
not, whether they accept it or
not, they are now in this flow.
Their words and their actions
are considered as carefully as
those of a blogger.
And, you know, as Don Parks
says, like nobody likes to get
woken up in the middle of the
night.
Well, that's why they're
(24:19):
getting kind of angry with us.
They sort of trash us because
we, you know, as a group and we
're a very big group, millions
of people that we are looking
very carefully what they do.
So let's see, do I need a blog
to bypass the press?
(24:39):
That's question number six.
I couldn't Dave net do that for
you.
The answer is to the latter.
Yes, of course, Dave net good.
As I've said earlier, I think
Dave net is essentially a blog
in its essence.
It's a blog.
It's not in its form a blog,
but it plays, it plays the same
role.
It played the same role.
I don't write Dave nets anymore
because spam has just
(25:00):
completely eradicated the
utility of email.
It doesn't work anymore.
So if you want to find out what
I think you better come to
scripting news.
And this has created kind of a
problem is like, where do I put
my think pieces?
And I've sort of solved that
problem.
Like yesterday, I wrote a piece
that normally would have been a
Dave net or in the old days
would have been one where I
review the progress of the big
(25:21):
three portal companies, Google,
Yahoo and Microsoft in regards
to RSS.
And then it got it got seen as
a thing piece and got pointed
to quite a bit.
It's at www dot really simple
syndication.com.
If you scroll to through the
calendar to the entry for
(25:41):
yesterday, April 15th, you'll
you'll see the piece.
And so I've sort of found new
ways of doing the same thing.
The problem is the email broke
and blogs took off.
And so that's the way we're
going now.
You absolutely do need a blog
to bypass the press without
blogs.
We would have no ability to
change the technology
environment as we have done RSS
(26:03):
never would have happened
without blogs.
Neither would have XML or PC or
the middle web blog API or the
blogger API for that matter.
It's the effective use of blogs
to connect people together in a
way that everybody gets a
chance to speak in that, you
know, the sort of a meritocracy
.
We're, you know, the most
(26:24):
consistently attractive voices,
whatever that means are the
ones that sort of rise to the
top.
And you can get things done
with a blog and you can't get
them done with the press.
The press insists on handing
the baton to the big big
technology companies all the
time.
And they have a belief that if
you work for Microsoft, you're
(26:44):
more likely to be able to solve
a problem than somebody who
like doesn't work for a big
company when all evidence, you
know, is.
Says the other way is true.
It's that if you work inside of
a big company, then you know
how smart you are.
Okay, you still have to please
the hierarchy of the company,
which may or may not be very
smart or knowledgeable about
the area that you're working in
(27:05):
, or may have other agendas that
have absolutely nothing to do
with the quality of the
technology.
And then, of course, being in a
big company makes tends to make
people sort of feel like they
don't have to work as hard that
they've got this, you know,
sort of power behind them.
It breeds arrogance for sure.
You know, I can tell you, I
once chaired a session at Se
(27:27):
bold on web services.
This is really early days of
web services.
Sebold was still around and I
invited a guy from Google and a
guy from Amazon and those ass
holes.
I mean, that's really the way I
saw it were like they were
ignoring me and I was the chair
of the fucking panel and and it
(27:47):
's like they were so like pat
ting each other in the back.
These guys had been doing, you
know, panels together in all
kinds of different venues and
they were like just took it
took it over and I was there
Steve Zillers from Apple who
could have acted like an
asshole, but he didn't.
And Jake Savin from user land.
Those were the four guys on the
(28:09):
panel.
Sorry, I called you guys a name
, but you know what, you were
being assholes.
So there you go.
Anyway, I'm going to get in
trouble for that one.
That's my opinion.
You don't like it.
Tell us yours.
Should executives blog?
Well, okay, that's this is
question number seven.
Should executives blog and why
(28:29):
or why not?
Well, you know, there you go.
This is like a really crucial
question.
Okay.
And I don't, you know, I guess
people might expect me to say,
yeah, everybody should blog
blah, blah, blah, you know, but
it's going to be a long time
before every executive is blog
ging.
I think I would love it if they
(28:49):
would because it would mean
that we had had an upheaval in
our economic system and in the
way organizations work and an
organization sort of would be
more.
Part of the world that they
live in unless sort of
breathing your own fumes.
Certainly, a company that has
(29:10):
an executive who blogs is going
to have a better idea of where
they fit in and is going to be
seen as more approachable by
their customers and maybe given
a chance to implement some
ideas that customers really
will, you know, love.
(29:30):
And we'll make them want to buy
more product and thereby make
the company more profitable.
All these things are benefits.
The liability is that, you know
, now do you want to have
everybody in the company be a
spokesperson for that company
and, you know, is everyone
capable of being a spokesperson
for the company and, and
(29:52):
representing it well.
Maybe what they think is wrong
and maybe what they think is
not in the interest of the
company either.
Can you imagine, for example,
somebody with an executive with
a web log that's widely read
that decides, you know, he's
leaving the job and going to a
competitor and decides to like
dump some crucial information
onto the web, you know, and
(30:13):
sure they could in the past
talk to a reporter and maybe
give them that information and
leak it out, but it still
wouldn't have the impact of it
coming from the individual
themselves.
So it's a, it's a question to
step up to carefully.
You don't see a lot of
executives blogging.
You know, Jonathan Schwartz,
his son is basically the only
(30:34):
one that comes to mind.
And I think he's done an artful
job of it.
There was some controversy that
, you know, where he posted some
information that normally
wouldn't be disclosed or wouldn
't be disclosed in such a way or
whatever.
And it affected the stock price
and created some kind of, it
was, I think it was about
competition with HP.
And he said something about HP
that wasn't really all that
(30:54):
kind.
I'm not remembering exactly,
but I remember that there was a
controversy about it.
I remember thinking, well, so
what, you know, I mean, he's a
competitor and, you know, he
doesn't like HP, but we know
that.
I mean, if he did like HP, I
mean, really liked HP, maybe
they should find somebody to
run the company who doesn't
like them so much because, you
know, this is like a company
(31:16):
who competes directly with the
company that he runs.
So, you know, if you're looking
for an example, I guess look no
further than Jonathan Schwartz,
his son, he's doing an exempl
ary job.
To my knowledge, I don't think
anybody at Microsoft executive
level is blogging.
I know that there have been,
there's been occasional sort of
like, you know, forays into it.
(31:37):
There was an Apple executive
who marketed Ken Berresk and I
think his name, he blogged for
a little bit.
I know GM has a blog, but I
think it's run by their ad
agency, which to me, that means
it's not a blog.
You know, unedited voice of a
person is sort of my benchmark
of what makes something a blog.
I think I've already answered
number eight, which is the last
(31:58):
question, which is what makes,
what is different about a
company that allows blogging
and, oh boy, well, maybe I
haven't answered.
What is different about them is
that they, oh boy, you see, the
thing is that what I'm really
looking for, and this goes so
(32:19):
far across the board basically
in every area that blogging
touches,
is what I'm looking for is like
, never mind a company that
allows blogging.
What I'm interested in is blog
gers that form companies.
And because there you'll find
that the philosophy of, here's
(32:42):
another sort of key phrase, key
identity for blogging is come
as you are, and that's weird,
and we're just folks.
So it means like, you know, if
this is the joke, the joke way
of saying it is that he's blog
ging in his pajamas or he's not
wearing any pants or whatever.
I mean, that's a sort of cute,
(33:04):
maybe even derogatory, deme
aning way of saying come as you
are.
I mean, if you're wearing jeans
and sneakers and a t-shirt,
that's fine. We're just blog
gers here.
And so, you know, a company
that was built out of bloggers
would have an idea of what it
was doing, presumably.
(33:25):
A good company built out of
bloggers would know what it's
doing and would be already tied
into the community, would
already have a fantastic
publicity machine.
You know, public relations for
this company really would mean
relating with the public as
opposed to relating with the
press.
They would have so many
advantages over their
competitors. It's sort of like
(33:45):
when users form companies.
I wrote about this. It's how to
make money on the internet
version. There was a first
version written in 2000 and a
follow-up, I think it was 2002,
which basically says that it's
easier for a user to become a
manufacturer than for a
manufacturer to become a user.
And it's ironic because the
conventional wisdom is that it
(34:06):
's the other way around, that
users, you know, the reason why
we have to go to the mountain
and pray at the altar of the
geniuses that work inside the,
you know, hugely rich and deep
companies and big companies
that we admire so much is
because we poor little people
don't have the ability to do
what they can do, which I think
(34:27):
we pretty well debunked.
I think that actually the
active creativity is something
that only a person can do. A
company really can't do that.
And when creativity is the
product, then you know, you
have to look to a small group
and maybe just an individual.
And so the users basically will
get ideas for products and
(34:49):
manufacturers to the extent
that they can embrace that
concept and profit from it.
Well, that would be a company
that allows blogging would be
very well tied into the network
of users who are, you know,
thinking about their products
and not defending against them
and not trying to protect
themselves from them, but
(35:10):
rather, you know, enjoying the
interaction
and finding it very
intellectually gratifying to
learn from them. I wrote about
this in my piece about RSS
yesterday that the reason why R
SS has been successful to the
extent that it has been
successful is that it's because
(35:31):
the users are driving it and
not the tech industry.
The tech industry, Yahoo and
Microsoft as two examples of
doing it the right way are
basically just using the
technology as it came out of
the blogging world and finding
it that it works really well.
And, and, you know, my guess is
(35:52):
that if they had tried to screw
with it, they, they would have
been left out of it. And I
think that's by the way is
where Google is Google is going
to need to swallow its pride
and get in there and use the
technology that was created
outside of Google.
And it's hard for them to do it
because they've been such a
successful like juggernaut of
money making that, you know,
(36:13):
for them to think that perhaps
they could that some other
people had done something that
was worthy of them supporting.
Well, you know, they were born
on that premise. They didn't
invent HTML or HTTP. They built
a phenomenal company off of
those two standards.
And they need to do it again.
And the question is how far
(36:34):
will they have to slide before
they actually get this and
actually start doing it. Now, I
'd love to be proven wrong on
this one.
I'd love to find out that they
have a great aggregator in the
works and they have a new Ajax
version of the blogger
interface, you know, user
interface and a really fent
phenomenal API for that.
(36:55):
And it's all going to be
announced on Monday morning and
we'll spend next week just
figuring out, wow, you know,
look at how the world changed.
See, that would be that would
be lovely. But only if they
respect what everybody else has
done so that we don't all like
have to like, you know, justify
our existence after that, you
know.
But, you know, we'll see what
(37:15):
happens. Anyway, I really
appreciate it. Oh, wait, there
's one more. Oh, my God. Oh, my
God, there are so many more
questions.
Hey, how do I see blogging
changing business? Why did I
not see these? Some people call
you the father of blogging.
(37:37):
What's the biggest mistake a
corporate blogger could make? I
'm going to have to do another
one of these. That's obviously
the case.
Because, you know, I was just,
let's see where we are in terms
of time. Yeah, 37 minutes. It's
amazing how close we got to 40.
So I'm starting to get talked
out and it's looking like it's
a nice day outside. It's about
130 here in Florida.
So I'm going to call it a day
(37:59):
right now and wish you all have
a great day, a great, you know,
have some coffee.
If it's morning where you are,
like, take some notes and
listen to some great tunes and,
you know, keep on keeping on.
All right. See you later. Bye.
Good morning everybody, good
(00:02):
morning everybody, we miss C.S.
we do. It's the morning coffee
notes review
It's the good morning coffee
notes for you
That's right. It's morning
coffee notes for me and you
(00:23):
Hey everybody, it's huh April
16th
This is the fumbling around
morning coffee notes
I was I'm doing a lot of sort
of prep work here to get this
thing going and I mean in the
process
I'm completely losing all the
spontaneity that goes into
(00:43):
Creating one of these
magnificent morning coffee no
podcast deals
So I decided that while I'm
getting everything together
instead of just around sort of
like
You know thinking of things to
talk about and not talking
about them
I thought well, let's just get
the microphone going here and
we'll figure out how to get
(01:05):
these things to work and just a
minute
Well, I wanted to open up with
a clip of a song that was
Think it was like was it 1985?
Yeah
Yeah, USA for Africa
We are the world and I want to
play a bit of that not the
whole thing because I want you
to go out and buy the song or
(01:26):
Give money for Africa
Because it's a good cause and
oh cool the dishwasher
If you were hearing I don't
know if you can even hear it,
but in the background there was
a dishwasher going up there
It goes again
So much I thought it was
stopping but you know that was
all part of like being
spontaneous
I could have like waited for it
to finish and before I did my
(01:48):
morning coffee notes podcast
the
Well, let's see. Okay. First.
Let's do the music and here
here's a
To do do do oh wait first what
I have to do is I have to get
it out onto
Toodly ting ting ting ting to
that was a little Irish doodly-
doo
Ding ding ding ding ding. Why
(02:09):
isn't that showing up? I have
my little stupid
player thing
And I inserted it properly I
thought
Ah
It's a little motherfuckers and
showing up
Damn it
He is a motherfucker
(02:31):
Because we're on Windows. That
's why
The cool thing about Windows,
you know Mac users are so
pleased with themselves
They've got a new operating
system and they always like to
tell you well
We have it so much better than
you do. Okay?
Well Windows users we have an
answer for that is you do and
so what?
(02:51):
We like being losers
We like using the inferior
operating system. Why because
it's it improves our character.
It strengthens our philosophy
Who wants to be like I'm not a
Yankees fan yet
If you know if you always went
for like the best team in
baseball one would say well
God you got a roof for the Yan
(03:12):
kees, right?
But um, I'm not a Yankees fan.
I'm a Mets fan. I go for
philosophy and although it may
not appear
Okay, that Windows has a
superior philosophy to Macint
osh. In fact, it does
I know it seems weird. I know
it does but it does in us
(03:33):
Windows users are actually very
happy to be using this
system even though at a moment
like this I've inserted the
USB
to do DD DD the stupid little
device $49
MP3 player thingy and I've
inserted it into a slot the
operating system said that it
(03:55):
recognized it and
Then proceeds to not show it up
on the desktop because what I
was gonna do was
copy the song onto the stupid
little device and then
Then what was I gonna do I was
then gonna plug that into the
speaker and
Then
(04:15):
It's weird there's a guy
sitting right outside my window
I just realized it now. I have
to like do this thing and like
be aware that there's somebody
Like listening to me talk while
I'm doing it in real time. I
Don't like that very much
(04:35):
It's a problem moving in a
fucking apartment man
It's like I like living in a
house better because like it
was never anybody sitting right
outside your window
Anyway, let's find the stupid
music
To to to oh there. That's it.
No
Well, let's try this plug it in
and I'm plugging again. Maybe
(04:57):
the power isn't on
Maybe the power maybe the
battery ran out. That's a
possibility. Let's see. I'll
bet that's it
Let's try adding a new battery
here
Because then what I want to do
is I want to answer
I'm just gonna pretend I'm on
the fucking phone. How's that?
How's that for an answer? I'm
gonna put a new battery in here
and see if that helps
(05:17):
But then what I want to do is
answer the final questions
On shill Israel's questionnaire
thing
But the batteries out
Oh, what was that? I
Don't know if you heard that
did you hear that?
Let's see its power is baby on
(05:38):
Yeah, well seems to have helped
We only have two megabytes free
so I will have to delete
something
Because there's no doubt this
bigger
Okay, got one of these Belkin
seven port
things
Very nice. I found new hardware
(05:59):
It's a disk drive it says
And
There it is. It's drive I
So that was the problem the
problem was that it was out of
battery put a new battery in
and everything's fine
Okay, so there's a 21. Oh Bill
Gross
gives a lead him I
Thought Bill Gross would do I
(06:20):
listen to him
talking at the web 2.0
conference and
You got to tell you I was
pretty nauseated
the the trip there seems to be
that
They're sort of pretending that
the bubble ever burst and so
guy like Bill Gross gets up on
stage and they use the same old
(06:42):
Sort of like well gee, you know
, we were on a stage in
1998 raising money together and
I got more money than Bill but
Bill's a lot smarter than me
Okay
now
Tell me why that matters in
2004
Which is when this thing was
done
(07:02):
so Gross gets up and does a
demo of a
new web search engine and it
actually sounds pretty good
And I kept thinking while I was
listening to it. Well, all
right, it's a demo. I can't
really see what he's talking
about
And then I thought wow, you
know, how much better it would
have been if instead of going
(07:22):
to this conference
And I assume thinking that he's
talking like to like everyone
who matters
That if he like sort of went on
the road and in this day and
age what that would mean is
Basically sending an email to
some guys who have blogs that
lots of people read
Maybe even lots of blogs even
people that don't get read a
(07:43):
lot, you know, like maybe the
techno rati 100 or something
like that, you know and
And then you know
And then we could try it out
and we would use it not just
once but 25 times
And we would go poke around in
all the little nooks and crann
ies of it and try to figure out
what we like and don't every
(08:04):
time
Of course that we poke into
another nook and another cranny
We write about it and that
helps keep the buzz or start
the buzz for it
I don't even remember the name
of a search engine snap or
something like that
I'll find it out and I'll point
to it from today's scripting
news today is the 16th in case
I think I did say that
(08:24):
but
But you know so they go to the
insider conference and they all
sort of like you know talk to
the VCs and
Hey, you know even if the VC
gives you a lot of money
Then where are you because how
do you spend money to market
these days?
I mean really it's all like
basically getting the word out.
That's what you got to do
You gotta get people using it
(08:45):
so that they don't just talk
about it and then forget about
it. They have to feel like
Okay, you know every day I'm
gonna wake up. I'm gonna start
like looking in this search
engine instead of looking at
And that's a real real tool
order, but that's the reality
It's you know, maybe he's got a
lot of innovations and I'm sure
he filed a few patents there,
but
Well, I think it takes more to
(09:07):
actually make it successful
Roll out these days. So now I
've got the music where I want
it
What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna
unplug this mofo from
USB and
Then let's see. So it's been
removed
And there's run DMC. This is
gonna be a bitch trying to find
(09:27):
it
Let's see, what was it it's USA
for Africa, right?
So I should have left the damn
window up on the screen. Oh
What was the number? Ha, that
'll tell us
I'm sorry. I'm sure you're very
interested in this and the song
isn't even all that great
(09:48):
Well, there it is
But what's so cool about it
actually is that it's got all
these great stars on it and
then and actually they're
saying something
It's pretty nice, you know,
okay, so you can hear those
people talking outside. They're
smoking too
Smokers good thing the window
is not open
Here we go. You ready?
the time when we need a certain
(10:36):
call when the world must come
together as one
, oh, it's time to let the hand
to light the greatest gift of
all. We can go on. Pretend to
be there by the day. That's the
(11:01):
one. So where will we see the
change?
. Team the Turner. Michael
(11:22):
Jackson.
. Diana Ross.
Here comes Deion Warwick.
(11:53):
Really Nelson.
That's Al Jarreau and here
comes Bruce Springsteen.
(12:19):
Kenny Loggins. Steve Perry.
That was Darrell Hall. Here
(12:44):
comes Michael Jackson.
Notice Huey Lewis and here's
Cindy Leper and Kim Korn and
(13:09):
Huey and Cindy.
And now Ray Charles, Bob Dylan,
Stevie Wonder and Bruce Spring
steen and everybody else.
And now we're going to see the
real thing. So let's start
giving.
And the choice we're making
(13:29):
will bring you out on the line.
Come and make a better game.
Yes you do.
We are the world. We are the
children. We are the ones to
make a better game. So let's
start giving.
(13:51):
There's a choice we're making.
We are the world. We are the
children. We are the ones to
(14:13):
make a better game. So let's
start giving.
We are the world. We are the
children. We are the ones to
(14:35):
make a better game. So let's
start giving.
I have a choice. You may or may
not know. Rich St. Louis. Rich
St. Louis.
You may or may not know what I
think. You may.
(14:55):
Come on, come on. We are the
world. We are the world. We are
the children. We are the ones
to make a better game. So let's
start giving.
There's a choice we're making.
We are the ones to make a
better game. So let's start
(15:16):
giving.
It's true we're making better
games. Just you and me. Yeah.
We are the world. We are the
world. We are the children.
We are the ones to make a
better game. So let's start
giving. So let's start giving.
(15:37):
There's a choice we're making.
We are the ones to make a
better game. So let's start
giving. So let's start giving.
It's true we're making better
games. Just you and me.
Okay, okay, okay. Thanks very
much.
All right, very good, very good
, very good. Okay, cool. We're
going to like totally scroll
this thing down. I don't know
how well that came through.
Hopefully you could hear enough
(15:58):
of it to sort of get the idea.
That was a big hit in 1985 and
there was a famine or not
exactly sure what in Africa.
And that was the music industry
's answer to it. It was kind of
spooky listening to it, hearing
Michael Jackson's voice in
there with all the controversy.
Of course, there is about
Michael Jackson. Anyway, so we
're going back now. The last
(16:20):
podcast that I did, actually in
terms of the chronology, it
would be like it is the last
one, but in terms of the actual
order in which they were
released this, the second to
last podcast.
And I answered four questions
that came from Shell Israel via
Robert Scoble for the book that
they're doing called The Red C
ouch. And I think that's what
(16:41):
the book's called.
And they've asked a bunch more
questions and sort of shifted
gears and I was kind of tired
at the time. And so I decided
to like do the next five
questions or let's actually one
, two, three, four questions in
another podcast.
So the next question is he says
, you've written with chagrin
(17:01):
about the way the press has
condensed and misquoted you.
Can you give a few examples?
Wow. Well, you know, basically
almost every article about
podcasting, I think actually
without exception.
The exception would be tidbits
did a very good, thorough job,
I think of researching and came
(17:22):
up with an accurate chronology
of, I mean, I have to go back
and look to make sure of this
because, you know, so that
would be sort of like a whole
slew of articles.
I think the most the worst
example I've ever seen was an
article that was written in the
Guardian of the UK newspaper of
(17:44):
apparently very high repute.
They wrote an article about
what they called the RSS wars
and made it highly dramatic and
said that I had made a peace
offering and and basically spun
all the all the events in in
sort of like the most dramatic
fashion possible.
(18:05):
And actually made up some facts
. The reporter was a part of the
story and didn't disclose that
at times he referred to people
without naming them and the
person was himself.
It's like talk about making
news. I mean, you know, the
problem with the press is that
they've become more important
in the story.
And in an ideal world, the
(18:27):
reporter would simply be a
conduit. It's what a reporter
should be.
In other words, something
happened and somebody's
reporting on it now, which is
more important.
The fact the event that
happened or the reporter that's
reporting on it.
And of course, the answer is
that the event is more
important than the reporter.
(18:47):
But in the world that we live
in today, that's no longer true
.
And this is a case where the
reporter was so way off that he
was actually in the story and
didn't disclose it.
This is exactly what you want
to watch out for.
We raised the issue with the
Guardian after this guy had
written a previous article.
Same person had written a
previous article in the
(19:08):
Guardian and they hadn't
responded to my own personal
call, you know, for, you know,
let's do a credibility check
here.
And maybe you have to issue a
mea culpa, you know, that you
screwed up and they completely
threatened me.
Actually, it was really amazing
thing.
So this time what I did was I
got two other people to
actually do the look.
One a technical expert, one an
expert on British press and
(19:29):
they still blew us off.
They said, you must have an axe
to grind with the newspaper or
with the author.
Well, yeah, maybe we do, but
what's the point?
I mean, you know, either you
are an expert on it, in which
case you might actually know
whether there's a factual error
or a whole bunch of factual
errors,
or you know nothing about it,
(19:49):
in which case your opinion
doesn't matter.
So, yeah, what they were saying
is that we know something about
the situation and it's
irrelevant.
In other words, a reporter
whose integrity is challenged,
and this is a clear case where
not only the reporter's
integrity was in doubt,
but the newspaper's integrity
was and still is in doubt, that
(20:10):
it needs to be handled in a
very professional, fairly hands
off arms length.
So this is a good time to be
objective.
And in my experience, this is
the exact place where most
professional journalists
completely lose their object
ivity.
They often get very rude and
sarcastic and dismissive.
(20:31):
They just have this barrier to
criticism.
You know, they don't want the
light shown on themselves,
which is so ironic, of course,
because a good journalist is an
expert in light shining
and shouldn't have anything to
hide when the light goes, you
know, gets shown on them.
But the Guardian completely
fell down on this one, and I
will never stop making this an
(20:51):
important, raising this
question about this specific
instance.
And I've written about it on my
Harvard weblog, which is blogs.
law.harvard.edu/dave.
And if you go into the stories
list, so you go to append
stories to that, you'll see it.
It's one of the very few
stories in that site.
(21:12):
And we go through detail by
detail what was factually
incorrect, conflict of interest
wise.
And, you know, all the problems
with that particular story, I
think it's an incredible case
study in journalism falling
down on its own credibility.
And then when called on it,
refusing to actually look into
(21:32):
seeing what.
And this is a newspaper that
has, supposedly has a special
function for looking into its
own integrity.
So, which, you know, is
nonsense.
I mean, the New York Times has
one too, and they don't do it
seriously.
None of these guys do.
And that's why we have blogs.
Ha, that's going to fit into
your book.
I mean, we have blogs because
(21:54):
we can't trust those guys.
And blogs, believe me, they get
vetted.
Lots and lots of people
examining it, what you say on
your blog.
And if you've made a factual
error, in my case, for example,
this is sort of a sidebar here.
One of the great things about
having a blog like scripting
news is that it's just an
(22:14):
incredible research vehicle.
If I want to get the answer to
a question, and it has to be in
the right subject area.
I mean, you know, if it like
the real sweet spot is a gadget
ry or server software or, you
know, anything techie.
And like I had a question about
(22:34):
BitTorrent a month ago, and
then I had another question a
few days ago, yesterday,
actually.
And these guys just like swarm.
I mean, and they just love
showing off that, you know,
when they have the technical
answer.
A few days ago, I had a problem
with an XML file, like just for
life, and you couldn't figure
out what the hell's going wrong
(22:55):
with this thing.
And I said, I know what's going
to happen here.
I mean, I'll put this up on
scripting news within five
minutes, I'll get the answer.
And then for the rest of the
day, people will be solving the
problem, even if I put a thing
up there saying, hey, you know,
the problem's been solved.
And sure enough, that's exactly
what happened.
And there's nothing wrong with
it.
It's really cool that people
are so anxious.
Sometimes when showing off
(23:16):
actually is a very generous
thing to do.
And so it's an incredible
research vehicle.
That's the nice side of it for
the author, the not so nice
side of it.
But equally important is when
they vet you and you make a
mistake.
And the only thing to do is
once you realize that you've
made a mistake is to say, I
made a mistake.
And, you know, I don't always
(23:36):
agree with people when they say
that I've made a mistake.
And so that usually or often
will end up in sort of a flamie
situation.
You have to go through that.
That's just like, but you
really do have to take each one
seriously.
And because if you don't, then
somebody else will.
And that sort of acts as a, you
know, as a check and a balance
(23:58):
in a way.
And the press is in this,
whether they know it or not,
whether they appreciate it or
not, whether they accept it or
not, they are now in this flow.
Their words and their actions
are considered as carefully as
those of a blogger.
And, you know, as Don Parks
says, like nobody likes to get
woken up in the middle of the
night.
Well, that's why they're
(24:19):
getting kind of angry with us.
They sort of trash us because
we, you know, as a group and we
're a very big group, millions
of people that we are looking
very carefully what they do.
So let's see, do I need a blog
to bypass the press?
(24:39):
That's question number six.
I couldn't Dave net do that for
you.
The answer is to the latter.
Yes, of course, Dave net good.
As I've said earlier, I think
Dave net is essentially a blog
in its essence.
It's a blog.
It's not in its form a blog,
but it plays, it plays the same
role.
It played the same role.
I don't write Dave nets anymore
because spam has just
(25:00):
completely eradicated the
utility of email.
It doesn't work anymore.
So if you want to find out what
I think you better come to
scripting news.
And this has created kind of a
problem is like, where do I put
my think pieces?
And I've sort of solved that
problem.
Like yesterday, I wrote a piece
that normally would have been a
Dave net or in the old days
would have been one where I
review the progress of the big
(25:21):
three portal companies, Google,
Yahoo and Microsoft in regards
to RSS.
And then it got it got seen as
a thing piece and got pointed
to quite a bit.
It's at www dot really simple
syndication.com.
If you scroll to through the
calendar to the entry for
(25:41):
yesterday, April 15th, you'll
you'll see the piece.
And so I've sort of found new
ways of doing the same thing.
The problem is the email broke
and blogs took off.
And so that's the way we're
going now.
You absolutely do need a blog
to bypass the press without
blogs.
We would have no ability to
change the technology
environment as we have done RSS
(26:03):
never would have happened
without blogs.
Neither would have XML or PC or
the middle web blog API or the
blogger API for that matter.
It's the effective use of blogs
to connect people together in a
way that everybody gets a
chance to speak in that, you
know, the sort of a meritocracy
.
We're, you know, the most
(26:24):
consistently attractive voices,
whatever that means are the
ones that sort of rise to the
top.
And you can get things done
with a blog and you can't get
them done with the press.
The press insists on handing
the baton to the big big
technology companies all the
time.
And they have a belief that if
you work for Microsoft, you're
(26:44):
more likely to be able to solve
a problem than somebody who
like doesn't work for a big
company when all evidence, you
know, is.
Says the other way is true.
It's that if you work inside of
a big company, then you know
how smart you are.
Okay, you still have to please
the hierarchy of the company,
which may or may not be very
smart or knowledgeable about
the area that you're working in
(27:05):
, or may have other agendas that
have absolutely nothing to do
with the quality of the
technology.
And then, of course, being in a
big company makes tends to make
people sort of feel like they
don't have to work as hard that
they've got this, you know,
sort of power behind them.
It breeds arrogance for sure.
You know, I can tell you, I
once chaired a session at Se
(27:27):
bold on web services.
This is really early days of
web services.
Sebold was still around and I
invited a guy from Google and a
guy from Amazon and those ass
holes.
I mean, that's really the way I
saw it were like they were
ignoring me and I was the chair
of the fucking panel and and it
(27:47):
's like they were so like pat
ting each other in the back.
These guys had been doing, you
know, panels together in all
kinds of different venues and
they were like just took it
took it over and I was there
Steve Zillers from Apple who
could have acted like an
asshole, but he didn't.
And Jake Savin from user land.
Those were the four guys on the
(28:09):
panel.
Sorry, I called you guys a name
, but you know what, you were
being assholes.
So there you go.
Anyway, I'm going to get in
trouble for that one.
That's my opinion.
You don't like it.
Tell us yours.
Should executives blog?
Well, okay, that's this is
question number seven.
Should executives blog and why
(28:29):
or why not?
Well, you know, there you go.
This is like a really crucial
question.
Okay.
And I don't, you know, I guess
people might expect me to say,
yeah, everybody should blog
blah, blah, blah, you know, but
it's going to be a long time
before every executive is blog
ging.
I think I would love it if they
(28:49):
would because it would mean
that we had had an upheaval in
our economic system and in the
way organizations work and an
organization sort of would be
more.
Part of the world that they
live in unless sort of
breathing your own fumes.
Certainly, a company that has
(29:10):
an executive who blogs is going
to have a better idea of where
they fit in and is going to be
seen as more approachable by
their customers and maybe given
a chance to implement some
ideas that customers really
will, you know, love.
(29:30):
And we'll make them want to buy
more product and thereby make
the company more profitable.
All these things are benefits.
The liability is that, you know
, now do you want to have
everybody in the company be a
spokesperson for that company
and, you know, is everyone
capable of being a spokesperson
for the company and, and
(29:52):
representing it well.
Maybe what they think is wrong
and maybe what they think is
not in the interest of the
company either.
Can you imagine, for example,
somebody with an executive with
a web log that's widely read
that decides, you know, he's
leaving the job and going to a
competitor and decides to like
dump some crucial information
onto the web, you know, and
(30:13):
sure they could in the past
talk to a reporter and maybe
give them that information and
leak it out, but it still
wouldn't have the impact of it
coming from the individual
themselves.
So it's a, it's a question to
step up to carefully.
You don't see a lot of
executives blogging.
You know, Jonathan Schwartz,
his son is basically the only
(30:34):
one that comes to mind.
And I think he's done an artful
job of it.
There was some controversy that
, you know, where he posted some
information that normally
wouldn't be disclosed or wouldn
't be disclosed in such a way or
whatever.
And it affected the stock price
and created some kind of, it
was, I think it was about
competition with HP.
And he said something about HP
that wasn't really all that
(30:54):
kind.
I'm not remembering exactly,
but I remember that there was a
controversy about it.
I remember thinking, well, so
what, you know, I mean, he's a
competitor and, you know, he
doesn't like HP, but we know
that.
I mean, if he did like HP, I
mean, really liked HP, maybe
they should find somebody to
run the company who doesn't
like them so much because, you
know, this is like a company
(31:16):
who competes directly with the
company that he runs.
So, you know, if you're looking
for an example, I guess look no
further than Jonathan Schwartz,
his son, he's doing an exempl
ary job.
To my knowledge, I don't think
anybody at Microsoft executive
level is blogging.
I know that there have been,
there's been occasional sort of
like, you know, forays into it.
(31:37):
There was an Apple executive
who marketed Ken Berresk and I
think his name, he blogged for
a little bit.
I know GM has a blog, but I
think it's run by their ad
agency, which to me, that means
it's not a blog.
You know, unedited voice of a
person is sort of my benchmark
of what makes something a blog.
I think I've already answered
number eight, which is the last
(31:58):
question, which is what makes,
what is different about a
company that allows blogging
and, oh boy, well, maybe I
haven't answered.
What is different about them is
that they, oh boy, you see, the
thing is that what I'm really
looking for, and this goes so
(32:19):
far across the board basically
in every area that blogging
touches,
is what I'm looking for is like
, never mind a company that
allows blogging.
What I'm interested in is blog
gers that form companies.
And because there you'll find
that the philosophy of, here's
(32:42):
another sort of key phrase, key
identity for blogging is come
as you are, and that's weird,
and we're just folks.
So it means like, you know, if
this is the joke, the joke way
of saying it is that he's blog
ging in his pajamas or he's not
wearing any pants or whatever.
I mean, that's a sort of cute,
(33:04):
maybe even derogatory, deme
aning way of saying come as you
are.
I mean, if you're wearing jeans
and sneakers and a t-shirt,
that's fine. We're just blog
gers here.
And so, you know, a company
that was built out of bloggers
would have an idea of what it
was doing, presumably.
(33:25):
A good company built out of
bloggers would know what it's
doing and would be already tied
into the community, would
already have a fantastic
publicity machine.
You know, public relations for
this company really would mean
relating with the public as
opposed to relating with the
press.
They would have so many
advantages over their
competitors. It's sort of like
(33:45):
when users form companies.
I wrote about this. It's how to
make money on the internet
version. There was a first
version written in 2000 and a
follow-up, I think it was 2002,
which basically says that it's
easier for a user to become a
manufacturer than for a
manufacturer to become a user.
And it's ironic because the
conventional wisdom is that it
(34:06):
's the other way around, that
users, you know, the reason why
we have to go to the mountain
and pray at the altar of the
geniuses that work inside the,
you know, hugely rich and deep
companies and big companies
that we admire so much is
because we poor little people
don't have the ability to do
what they can do, which I think
(34:27):
we pretty well debunked.
I think that actually the
active creativity is something
that only a person can do. A
company really can't do that.
And when creativity is the
product, then you know, you
have to look to a small group
and maybe just an individual.
And so the users basically will
get ideas for products and
(34:49):
manufacturers to the extent
that they can embrace that
concept and profit from it.
Well, that would be a company
that allows blogging would be
very well tied into the network
of users who are, you know,
thinking about their products
and not defending against them
and not trying to protect
themselves from them, but
(35:10):
rather, you know, enjoying the
interaction
and finding it very
intellectually gratifying to
learn from them. I wrote about
this in my piece about RSS
yesterday that the reason why R
SS has been successful to the
extent that it has been
successful is that it's because
(35:31):
the users are driving it and
not the tech industry.
The tech industry, Yahoo and
Microsoft as two examples of
doing it the right way are
basically just using the
technology as it came out of
the blogging world and finding
it that it works really well.
And, and, you know, my guess is
(35:52):
that if they had tried to screw
with it, they, they would have
been left out of it. And I
think that's by the way is
where Google is Google is going
to need to swallow its pride
and get in there and use the
technology that was created
outside of Google.
And it's hard for them to do it
because they've been such a
successful like juggernaut of
money making that, you know,
(36:13):
for them to think that perhaps
they could that some other
people had done something that
was worthy of them supporting.
Well, you know, they were born
on that premise. They didn't
invent HTML or HTTP. They built
a phenomenal company off of
those two standards.
And they need to do it again.
And the question is how far
(36:34):
will they have to slide before
they actually get this and
actually start doing it. Now, I
'd love to be proven wrong on
this one.
I'd love to find out that they
have a great aggregator in the
works and they have a new Ajax
version of the blogger
interface, you know, user
interface and a really fent
phenomenal API for that.
(36:55):
And it's all going to be
announced on Monday morning and
we'll spend next week just
figuring out, wow, you know,
look at how the world changed.
See, that would be that would
be lovely. But only if they
respect what everybody else has
done so that we don't all like
have to like, you know, justify
our existence after that, you
know.
But, you know, we'll see what
(37:15):
happens. Anyway, I really
appreciate it. Oh, wait, there
's one more. Oh, my God. Oh, my
God, there are so many more
questions.
Hey, how do I see blogging
changing business? Why did I
not see these? Some people call
you the father of blogging.
(37:37):
What's the biggest mistake a
corporate blogger could make? I
'm going to have to do another
one of these. That's obviously
the case.
Because, you know, I was just,
let's see where we are in terms
of time. Yeah, 37 minutes. It's
amazing how close we got to 40.
So I'm starting to get talked
out and it's looking like it's
a nice day outside. It's about
130 here in Florida.
So I'm going to call it a day
(37:59):
right now and wish you all have
a great day, a great, you know,
have some coffee.
If it's morning where you are,
like, take some notes and
listen to some great tunes and,
you know, keep on keeping on.
All right. See you later. Bye.
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