Thursday, June 03, 2004

OJR: RSS Feeds Can Build Web Traffic, But.. 

Engadget: "Damn, Phillip, you have enough iPods yet?" 

Another NY Times bit about R.S.S. Scroll down to "Simple Charity." 

I finally got a chance to read the WSJ article about RSS. They gave me authorship credit for the format, appropriately. I know how long they worked on the story, so it's much appreciated. The Guardian, in a deeply flawed article, said something very different about the origins of RSS. One wonders how they would react if I claimed to write an article of theirs that made a big difference in the world. You launch so many ideas, when one succeeds, it's nice to get credit for it. Anyway, there's no doubt why one got the story right and one didn't. The WSJ assigned a reporter, and he thoroughly researched it. The Guardian assigned a politician, and he wrote an ad for his cause, and they ran it as a news article. I hear that journalism works differently in the UK. Damn right about that.  

CIA Director George Tenet resigned. Who's next? 

John Robb's instant analysis of the Tenet departure. 

Buy or sell signal for stocks? Bonds? Gold? Oil? Tech? 

Skip's Italian Food Blog. 

The article about R.S.S. in the N.Y. T.I.M.E.S. does mention their feeds (I read too quickly) but it doesn't point to them.  

Martin Schwimmer doesn't know how he got hit by adware. 

Burningbird: "I can’t be the only person who is uncomfortable with the premise behind Spirit of America." 

Gizmodo reports on a sub-$50 digital camera you can buy at Walmart. 

Competitors 

In 1991, I wrote a training manual for Stewart Alsop's Demo conference (it's now Chris Shipley's show) that coached software developers on how to demo software. The piece is a little dated, using software buzzwords of the time, but the basic ideas never go out of date. Focus on comprehension, find the memorable feature, know that your prospect isn't as interested in your software as you are, practice your demo with friends, never use new software in your demos, and watch out for competitors who try to derail your pitch.

In the last few days we wasted way too much time because of a curveball thrown by a couple of really nasty competitors. It's true, we're competing over something that doesn't make money, a format, but as they say in academia, the less there is at stake, the more vicious the competiton, or something like that. I've been Mr Naive about this.

I'm going to work with users, they seem to appreciate what I do. The techies and developers, until further notice, are bums. I almost want to say I hate what the technology industry has become, but when has it been anything but back-stabbing, low-road bullshit. We could be so damned powerful if we just worked together, but that clearly isn't what's going on.

Seth Godin: "It's sad to see someone choosing to be stuck."

Competition can be good 

I've said many times, competitors can be your best teachers. They're perfect mirrors, look at a competitor and you can get an idea of what people see when they look at you. A good competitor knows you as well as anyone else, and vice versa.

I point to the competition when they're playing reasonably fair. It's not always good for business, but I assume our readers are smart, and that they'll make the right decision given all the facts. And by assuming readers are smart, we attract smart readers.