Thursday, December 29, 2005

At the end of 2005, why am I working on an aggregator? 

Geek dinner tomorrow night at 6PM in downtown Palo Alto. May sneak out for spicy noodles.  

Two interesting and related developments today in OPML-land. First, Kosso has an OPML browser, but don't be fooled, it's actually a nice Flash-based feed reader, and a good complement to the River of News aggregator I'm working on. Then quite coincidentally, Dan MacTough just released an OPML renderer for WordPress. It allows you to create expand-collapse blogrolls. Also very nice! We're really starting to cook some tasty meals in this department.  

Amazon is hosting author blogs. This is a very good idea. A few years ago I urged Martin Nisenholtz at the NY Times to offer Times-hosted blogs to people who are quoted in Times articles. It's still a good idea and still not too late. Eventually everyone who's quotable will have a blog, and then they'll be kicking themselves that they didn't get in there early. Amazon is doing the right thing. Barnes and Noble should have done it first. Postscript: Maybe Amazon isn't actually hosting blogs. 

Candid account of where New Orleans is at from an anonymous correspondent. 

Mike is right, I like everything about Magnatune.  

New York writer Betsy Andrews "volunteers in some of New Orleans' best restaurant kitchens as they struggle to bounce back after Hurricane Katrina."