Blogging About Blogging LXXXIV

We don't do link exchanges, but when we learned that QuickMuse liked us, we had to give a hells yeah.

Turns out, we liked it before.

We knew it was a good idea.

Pay attention!

Twitter? I Hardly Know...

Earlier this week, Chris Brogan let me know about Twitter, a new SMS-driven service brought to you by the people who made Odeo and Blogger.

I learned about the service following a management buyout of Odeo's assets by Blogger cofounder Evan Williams and Biz Stone, which feels kind of odd. Web 1.0 meets Web 2.0 and then some!

And as a half-assed member of Dodgeball, I'm torn.

Twitter does a lot of what Dodgeball does, so I'm feeling some reluctant feature replication angst. But so far I've wanted to use Twitter in ways I don't use Dodgeball.

I use Dodgeball to tell people where I am, hoping that they'll join me -- and only when third, fourth, and fifth wheels aren't unwelcome. I use Yelp, which isn't SMS'd based -- yet; come on people! -- to let people know where I've been and where they should go.

How do I use Twitter? True to their mission, accidentally and incidentally enough, to let people know what I'm doing. Right now.

If you check out my Twitter history, such as it is, you'll see that it's all here I am, what I'm doing, what I'm thinking kind of stuff.

True, I could easily use Dodgeball, which already has a baked-in friends list (for me, at least). I have very few friends in Twitter so far, and half of them (one of two) are skeptical of the service's need -- to send such shout outs.

Dens does this all the time, and to good effect. But I'm not sure I want such updates on my phone, persistently... and constantly.

So far, I like Twitter's on-page accumulation, even though I'm starting to feel some need for phone alerts (which I just signed up for) -- and to wonder why there's no contextual advertising on the Twitter pages. (Turns out there is; it's just very subtle. Give me a sidebar online, and you'll be in the clear, Ev!)

Will I eventually abandon Twitter for Dodgeball in terms of mental updates -- vs. physical updates? -- perhaps, but probably not. Do I wish there were a way to unify all of these things? Hells yeah.

Google should buy Odeo and Twitter, merge the latter's IM and other functionality with Dodgeball, augment Google video by way of YouTube with Google Audio vis a vis podcasts, and rock the casbah.

Until then, you should send the following message to shortcode 40404 -- the best shortcode ever:

follow h3athrow

Seriously. I want more Twitter friends. And I need to find a way to pull my Twitter updates into Media Diet. Then you could know where I am, where I've been, what I'm thinking about, etc. -- all in one place.

Products I Love XX

I got my Sony Reader in the mail while I was at the Forrester Consumer Forum in Chicago. I ordered it at the end of September, was distressed by the back order, and was thrilled to get it so soon -- I expected it next month.

It's been a long time since I've felt the technolust I experienced upon learning about this ebook. (I was a little late to Scott's mention.)

What do I like? The form factor, primarily. The Reader is about the size of a half-standard Moleskine notebook and might weigh just slightly more. I also love E Ink's display technology. It's readable by ambient light, not backlit, which is much more human and natural. And I like the idea of being able to carry hundreds of books in my day bag -- rather than the two or three I usually tote around.

What do I dislike? Not being able to highlight text and annotate, which I do actively in "real" books. I also dislike the bookmark procedure. As far as I know, there's no way to delete bookmarks on the Reader itself, just in the PC-only (Were I not using a Thinkpad for work, I'd not have bought this.) desktop or laptop software. So I see myself accumulating more bookmarks than I need on the Reader as I read; I'm not sure if new bookmarks should replace old bookmarks in the same text, but there you go.

The Reader comes preloaded with some full texts -- 1984, for one! -- and a whole bunch of excerpts to tempt you to load up in Sony's online ebook store. So far, I've spent most of my new-purchase $50 allowance -- Freakonomics and The World Is Flat, which I've restrained from buying (This is the perfect way to read these books, I think.); Digital Hustlers, a history of Silicon Alley; and East Coast Rising, a manga about an underwater New York. Based on my read so far of the latter, I'm not convinced the Reader is good for high-resolution artwork -- some lines get dropped or distorted -- but it's good enough to read, if not to repurpose.

I've also returned to Project Gutenberg, which I think will be a mainstay. I've grabbed a 1920s history of the United States, Thoreau's Walden, and the King James Bible.

The Reader feels brilliant. And it's a good step forward for ebooks. We'll see if it catches on.

Cautionary tale: This afternoon, I went for a walk to see C., whom I haven't seen for several days. When we hugged, it got dislodged from under my arm, and fell to the sidewalk. The Reader didn't break. It got dinged, yes. On Day One of owning my new Reader, I scratched the matte-black surface in several places. But it didn't break, I lost no data, and I have anecdotal data that if dropped from waist height, the Reader will be OK. That's good engineering. (I still don't recommend it.)

From the In Box: Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

In response to this post:

Thanks for the B roll! November 22 (the day before Thanks.g). Channel 7 News in Boston. -- Dennis Crowley

Thanks, Dens. Hey, Media Dieticians, look for me! (And Dennis; it's his TV party.)

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

I've only worked here about six weeks, and the neighborhood's starting to feel like home.

This noon, J. and I ducked out for lunch, and just downstairs, we ran into Dennis Crowley of Dodgeball. Apparently, they were shooting a segment for Channel 7 in Boston, and if you watch the news tonight -- or sometime soon -- you might very well catch me in the B roll.

Then, on the way to lunch -- we walked around a little to find just the right spot -- we bumped into J., a woman I used to work with at Fast Company. She recommended a couple of places we might want to check out for our midday meal.

After eating, then, we ran into E., another woman I used to work with -- and who now designs for a relatively new travel magazine.

What are the odds -- that I would run into so many people I know within such a short amount of time? Felt nice, it did. Nice.

Cost Cutting by Call Cutting

Are you spending too much on your cell phone bill? No need, says Nokia. Nokia's new Cost Control program lets you limit the length of your yap sessions.

When you make a call, set the desired length of the call. When the limit is reached, you'll automatically hang up. Cost cut!

Seems interruptive and irritating to me. At least on the receiving end. Does the service give you the opportunity to limit the length of incoming calls?

Mixed Busy Signals

A couple of related news items today raise some interesting questions about the future of the home phone. I misplaced my cell phone for more than 24 hours last weekend, and it catalyzed some interesting experiences and feelings. I'll most likely write about that at greater length in the future.

One thing that I can say with some certainty right now is that getting my phone back would've been easier had I had a landline at home. I do not. All I have is my cell phone. And it turns out that I'm not alone.

According to recent research from Telephia, more and more households are abandoning their landlines. It's not critical mass yet -- the largest wireless substitution rate is only 19% in Detroit, but the signs are there.

Meanwhile Boost Mobile plans to launch a new service called Text to Landline. For your normal SMS price -- 10 cents a message -- you can send a short text message to someone's home phone. It'll be translated from text to voice, and you'll be informed whether the message reached a person -- or an answering machine.

While the service is positioned as a way for people who prefer to SMS to be able to communicate with people who don't -- or don't have a cell phone -- it stinks of communication avoidance to me. Shades of voice SMS, by which you can send a voice message to someone's in box, I'm not sure Text to Landline will further or foster human interaction all that much.

What think you?

Subscription Prescription V

Mitchell's Home Delivery Services, which has been trafficking in door-to-door delivery of newspapers, beverages, and other items since 1946, recently introduced a new service: Universal News on Demand.

Offering more than 6,000 magazines, the service allows you to order periodicals for delivery to your home or office. You can place one-off orders, or place monthly reservations for the magazines that matter. And as soon as Universal News -- the largest independent retailer in New York -- receives the copies, they'll be on their way... within two hours.

I am in lust. The media geek in me is pretty giddy right now.

Update: If you want your magazines delivered within two hours, there are ZIP code restrictions and a $25 fee. If you want your magazines delivered the next morning, there's a $15 fee. Orders of more than $100 bring increased delivery fees.

Movie Makeover?

I also watched the Sci-Fi Channel original movie Haunted Prison.

If you can't get Gary Busey, hire Jake Busey.

Somehow, the resemblance seemed more important before I knew they were related.

Flip his hair around some, and there you go!

Magazine Markup Language

Tonight I spent several hours reading -- and marking up -- the current issue of Fast Company. It's a magazine I worked for for eight years -- I was hire No. 17, I helped launch the Web site, and I helped launch the blog -- and it's a magazine I love dearly. Dearly!

It was, I think, an interesting exercise worth encouraging. I plan to send my markup -- a Sharpie'd copy of the issue and two construction paper pages with notes -- to the current editor in chief.

And I think it's an experience other Media Dieticians should pursue. Take your favorite mag -- or a magazine you want to encourage -- and read it. Take notes on the pages of the magazine as you read. What works? What doesn't? Think in terms of design, source selection, and story selection. Look for consistencies and inconsistencies. Lend praise -- and criticism.

At the same time, write the editor a letter. Keep it to two pages, max. And keep you major ideas to three to five primary points.

Then mail it, unedited and uncopied, to the lead editor of the title. Be sure to say how long you've read the book, whether you subscribe, and who you are in relation to the magazine.

They may not respond to you, but my guess is that no one else will do that this month, and that they'll pay attention to it -- and discuss it with other editors, writers, and team members.

If you really love the magazine, do it again.

I know I will.

Plug and Play Hudson River Weekend

This past weekend, C. and I headed up to the upper Hudson River valley for a fall foliage weekend away. We had a wonderful time, and I offer this shake-and-bake itinerary as a tool Media Dieticians can use to organize their own two-day trip.

Day One: Saturday

• Rent a car from Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Greenpoint.
  
• While on the way, eat a late breakfast at the Horizon Diner in Ramsey, New Jersey.
  
• Walk out to the Saugerties Lighthouse in Saugerties, New York.
  
• Browse at the Inquiring Mind Bookstore & Gallery in Saugerties, New York.
  
• Shop at the Hope Farm Press & Booktraders in Saugerties.
  
• Eat a late lunch at Taste of Home.
  
• Stay at the Quality Inn & Conference Center in Catskill, New York.
  
• Eat Dinner at the Creekside Restaurant & Bar in Catskill.
  

Day Two: Sunday

• Eat breakfast at the Diamond Street Diner in Hudson, New York.
  
• Visit the Fireman's Firefighting Museum in Hudson.
  
• Go to and hike around the Olana State Historic Site.
  
• Eat lunch at the Swoon Kitchenbar.
  
• Shop at Hudson City Books.
  
• Get a cup of coffee and a snack at the Muddy Cup Coffee House.
  
• Eat a late dinner at Imperial Palace after you get home in Greenpoint.
  

You can see the Yelp reviews for the whole itinerary. You can also see photos from the weekend.

And you can do it yourself! Let me know what kind of weekend you plan!

Head Set-iquette

The U.S. has always been lacking in cell phone etiquette. While Scandinavian cell phone makers and service providers took a stab at educating people about the social ins and outs of the new form of communication, nobody bothers to do that state side. So we're left with a world of people holding private conversations in public -- and the streets as a stage for verbal performance.

A new study released by Samsung indicates that cell phone etiquette is better on the West Coast than it is on the East. Just a bit, but better.

In the UK, this kind of etiquette might be acted out as peer pressure. It seems as though people seen talking on their cell phones while driving are being targeted by other motorists who disapprove of the practice.

Fifty-eight percent of motorists admitted they felt intimidated by other motorists if they used their mobile phone while driving.

Better hang up than get banged up!