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About the author

A picture named daveTiny.jpgDave Winer, 56, is a visiting scholar at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and editor of the Scripting News weblog. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.

"The protoblogger." - NY Times.

"The father of modern-day content distribution." - PC World.

"Dave was in a hurry. He had big ideas." -- Harvard.

"Dave Winer is one of the most important figures in the evolution of online media." -- Nieman Journalism Lab.

10 inventors of Internet technologies you may not have heard of. -- Royal Pingdom.

One of BusinessWeek's 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

"Helped popularize blogging, podcasting and RSS." - Time.

"The father of blogging and RSS." - BBC.

"RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's 'Really Simple Syndication' technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's 'Rich Site Summary', which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows." - Tim O'Reilly.

8/2/11: Who I Am.

Contact me

scriptingnews1mail at gmail dot com.

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Recent stories

Recent links

My 40 most-recent links, ranked by number of clicks.

My bike

People are always asking about my bike.

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Here's a picture.

Calendar

December 2010
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Nov   Jan

Warning!

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FYI: You're soaking in it. :-)


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Dave Winer's weblog, started in April 1997, bootstrapped the blogging revolution.

Dan deletes his Twitter account Permalink.

Daniel Bachhuber joined us for this week's Realtime Brunch.

He's a nice-looking young developer guy who moved from Portland, Oregon to the Big City to work at the J-school at CUNY.

He also writes WordPress plug-ins. Interesting guy.

He did something I've been thinking about -- he quit using Twitter and Facebook.

I had to shake his hand so I could say I shook the hand of someone who had quit.

I talk about it, but I haven't had the guts to do it yet.

I even have a site ready for the day I do it.

http://qwitter.us/

Every time I adorn it with another hamster cage I'm thinking. Thinking.

But I believe in not slamming the door on the way out. So that's all I"m going to say now. :-)

Anyway, here's the post where Dan announced that he deleted his Twitter account.

His girlfriend wasn't pleased.

But the deed was done.

A picture of a slice of cheese cake.

Union Square, the hub of the known universe Permalink.

If you're looking for the single place in NYC to position yourself for maximum access to the rest of the city, Union Square is the place for you.

You can get to the upper east or west sides, the financial district, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, the airports.

It's only one of two Manhattan streets that has a cross-town subway, the miraculous L train, which is probably responsible for the resurgance of Williamsburg, which is a single stop from Manhattan and just three stops from the magic of Union Square. (The other cross-town street is 42nd.)

On a walk today I happened by an entrance to the subway that tells the story.

Realtime blogging Permalink.

At breakfast this morning Jeremy said something I've been thinking. He wants to be able to blog a single idea, without researching anytihng. A note like the notes he puts in the book he keeps in his breast pocket.

I said I agree! In fact that's what Scripting News was like in the early days.

DaveNet was where I wrote my longer pieces. It was more like what people think of as a blog today.

The Realtime Brunch Permalink.

Jeremy Zilar and I have been having a roughly weekly breakfast in Manhattan for much of 2010, usually at a wonderful French restaurant in the West Village. We'd usually have the same meal, Feuille de Brique. Very tasty.

Since I moved to the east side we've been in search of a replacement and today we may have found it. The Silver Spurs diner at 771 Broadway. It has all the features you look for in a regular tech meetup place.

1. It's relatively empty for the morning meal on a weekday morning.

2. The tables aren't nailed to the floor so they can be reconfigured if 20 people show up.

3. The prices aren't bad.

4. It's got a bit of kitsch.

In fact it reminded me of Buck's Woodside, but without the kooky quirkyness.

So if we have a breakfast meeting don't be surprised if I ask to meet at the Silver Spurs on Broadway.

Walking in Manhattan Permalink.

A picture named street.jpgAs you weave among the obstacles on the sidewalks of Manhattan, it's easy to get distracted from your thoughts and pay attention to the people you're encountering. It's okay to do that if you're at a stop, but if you're in motion, if your eyes engage with another that signals that you would like to negotiate. Not good. A sign of weakness. Whether the oncoming traffic is aware or not, he or she will take advantage of this weakness and charge right into your path, all the while not making eye contact. There is no appeal.

All you can do is shift out of their path, but even this won't avoid a collision because your adversary will unconsciously shift closer to you. Your weakness is attractive. Your space is up for grabs. At this point you have no choice but to collide, and in the etiquette of NY street walking you're responsible.

That's why the people who check their smartphones for text messages or emails while walking so totally command the sidewalks. They are heat-seeking missiles, and it's your heat they seek.

I don't think this is just New York, it's a feature of the human species. We seek companionship.

For a while in 2005 I lived on the beach in northeast Florida outside St Augustine. The beach is so long and relatively empty, they let you drive on the beach to find the perfect spot to bathe, and if you're willing to drive a bit you can be alone. So I would drive to a secluded spot, park my car and go out into the surf. When I came back, more often than not, there was a car parked right next to mine. They could have parked anywhere in a mile in either direction and had it all to themselves.



© Copyright 1997-2011 Dave Winer. Last build: 12/12/2011; 1:36:58 PM. "It's even worse than it appears."

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