Saturday, January 01, 2005

Mike Lehman: The Podcasting Song. Very excellent. 

Beach pictures. 

One of my predictions for 2005 has already not come true. McDonald's has extensive wifi support. This is amazing to me, because while driving I make regular stops at McD's for coffee, ice tea and bathroom breaks. Not once did I see signage for wifi, or anyone using a computer. This led me to conclude that their experiment with wifi in SF and Silicon Valley a couple of years ago went nowhere. Far from it. There are hundreds if not thousands of McDonald's with wifi. On my drive up the east coast in a week or so, I'm going to evaluate their service. If you have any experience using their wifi, please comment here. 

A new on-the-road Morning Coffee Notes, recorded early this morning on I-10 in the Florida panhandle. Lots of random topics, with lots more on the continuing identity discussion, including three rules for successful format and protocol work. (There are more rules coming soon.) 

Niek Hockx says that 2005 will be the year of the enclosure. 

Today's gorgeous sunrise over I-10. 

The last mile to the Atlantic Ocean, to the tune of Talking in Your Sleep. 

And finally the last fifty yards to the Atlantic. 

Adam Curry, the curator of the decentralized iPodder.org directory, explains how it works, what it does, and what it doesn't. There's room for more software, more services, it's a resource, says Adam. 

The day after tomorrow Adam gets on a plane and flies into Miami, at the same time I drive down the coast. For the next couple of days I'm going to chill out and do some work in preparation for the meetup.  

The last Gillmor Gang of 2004, a huge tech-mashup on identity. 

Congrats to Dan Gillmor (Steve's younger brother) on winding up his long run at the SJ Merc, and looking forward to hearing more about the new career as Pied Piper of amateur journalism in the US.  

Something new 

In order to make something new happen, you have to be willing to shed something old. This was a central theme in yesterday's Gangup. Dan is giving up his paycheck at the Merc, for presumably a less sure paycheck somewhere else. But in doing so, he expresses an optimism that is uniquely American. Over the horizon is something fresh, something interesting; it's different -- in a good way.

So here we are, in a new year, again. As you get older time speeds up, until you get to the new year before the old year ends. Get even older and the new year starts before the old one had really gotten underway. You end up snapping your head left, then right, then quickly left, then right again, and put your hands over your ears and wail "I'm soooo confused!"

That's life. You get old, then you die. Inbetween hopefully you had a laugh, had a cry, heard a good story, told one, had a friend, was a friend, took a walk, read a book, invented something, thanked someone for something, remembered someone you loved and eventually -- was remembered by someone who loved you,

I tell my friends that I feel lucky, I've lived to see what life was like after my own death. Really. Every day is like that. It's really a blessing, because it's easy to shed the angst that accumulates by living. "I'm just a ghost," I think to myself. That adds a special quality to life.

Last night waiting in line at a local supermarket, in Florida, with the smell of the ocean everywhere, I thought of my uncle, and wished he was here. He used to go to Thailand, Kho Samui, every couple of years, for a month at a time. What would he have thought? All of a sudden his stories would have meant more. But when he died, the stories went with him. The stories fade as time passes, and what's left are the places, the memories, the void I feel in a Florida town, with the beach smells. The experiences feel alive, even if one of the key actors is not.

Who knows what 2005 will bring?  

Here's my list of predictions:

1. We'll all give something up.

2. We'll all take something on.

3. If I make it to May 2, I'll turn 50. Praise Murphy!

4. Identity will remain a mess.

5. RSS will remain a success.

6. A major on-air radio talk show host from the left or right will realize that he or she can build a new market for his or her work by allowing people to download it in MP3 format linked into an RSS feed and listened to on an iPod.

7. A political leader, a candidate for some office, will emerge from the blogosphere. People will call this open source candidacy.

8. The term open source will come to mean nothing.

9. Cory Doctorow will sue Adam Curry for saying "Boing" when he's happy. (Postscript: Mark F at BB asks if Curry cures Alzheimers. Does that mean they aren't suing?)

10. New tools for blogging will emerge allowing more complex structures of ideas to flow publicly through the Internet.

11. More people will call the Internet the Inkernet.

12. There will be a wifi signal at the top of the Empire State Building and in every truck stop in the US. Also in every Best Buy. McDonald's won't embrace the Internet.