I like it alot, along with the article. Really well written with an understanding of what twitter is. - Steve Garfield via twhirl
I like it too. Quote: "For many people — particularly anyone over the age of 30 — the idea of describing your blow-by-blow activities in such detail is absurd. Why would you subject your friends to your daily minutiae? And conversely, how much of their trivia can you absorb? The growth of ambient intimacy can seem like modern narcissism taken to a new, supermetabolic extreme — the ultimate expression of a generation of celebrity-addled youths who believe their every utterance is fascinating and ought to be shared with the world." The author forgets that its not limited to youths. Hands up the over 30's. - Roberto Bonini
And the 50+ group. Age doesn't necessarily define you. It's just a number. I like the expression but what I find is that it is mostly a "read-only" experience for most. Very little commenting going on. Agree it is a me, me, me activity. - Dave Ploch
Caroline, NO idea LOL Print it out and bring it to your local nail salon? haha - Mona N.
hey if any1 finds out where I can get them.. shot my an email pls !! - Peter Dawson
You could get a ton of places to print them as a decal or, you could get a nail tech who specializes in nail art to do it for you. By the way Mona..this site is cool. I added it to my Greader :D - Candace Holly
Caroline in photoshop it would be the inverse filter I think :) - Fred Grott
Goths would love it, everyone else wouldn't even notice unless they themselves were geeks. However, Better than the ghetto hundred dollar polish by far. - Gina K
Blast from the past... Veronica Belmont favorited these June 3 before you joined FriendFeed http://friendfeed.com/e/cb4e5d... But they aren't Vedia's pic [Flickr, 7/1/05]. Here's the biggest photo I found (500x348) http://de.fishki.net/pics2/bin... Funny, I bookmarked them on Del.icio.us because I hadn't joined Flickr back then. Mona posts and gets 63 likes. Veronica posts and gets 6 likes. It's certainly livelier on FF now. Go Mona... - Mitchell Tsai
Mitchell - A,B,C or D-list. FF IS the great equalizer. (Something we've needed for a very long time) Amazing find! - Charlie Anzman
Great post Duncan, that is exactly why I started LeWeb in Paris, even though it will feel bigger as we have 1500 people I try to preserve the spirit you are describing here for Gnomedex. I will really try to make it next year. - Loic Le Meur
It's always the people! Must say hadn't heard of Gnomedex till you started posting. Sounds great. - Kate Foy
Loic you are just bribing everyone with the food. ;) - Nicole Simon
Frankly, I've had enough of public stupidity and hysteria. If I'm taking pictures, examining benchmarks, or geocaching, inevitably, someone will start questioning me or calling the police. If I'm in a public area and not doing anything criminal, mind your own business. - Morton Fox
Aren't the TWIP guys coming out with a "Photography is Not a Crime" t-shirt soon? - Andy Roth
It's just a mock up so far. I took John Worthington's idea and whipped this up real quick last night. If TWiP does not make them, maybe I with John's approval/participation could have some made up and make them available to everyone who wants one for a reasonable cost. - Jeff P. Henderson
Don't forget to check out PitchEngine- it's kind of the point- refining pitches- enabling Twitter, FF and Facebook integration. The media side will be rolled out in a couple weeks. http://pitchengine.com - Jason Kintzler
Glad to see conversations on the subject. Evolving media requires evolving relationships. Bloggers and PR people have similar goals. The good ones will find mutually beneficial ways to bring new information to the world. - Matt McGinnis
I think your overall medal count rankings are off - you are ranking solely by total medals, but it is more subtle than that (golds are prioritized higher). - Rob
"During his interview at The Start Conference, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg announced that BuddyPress will be released before the end of the year. Based on the multi-user version of WordPress, BuddyPress has the features we all expect from a social network: friends, profiles, and tasteless photo galleries." - Dave Winer via Bookmarklet
@Jeff But it's open source (that alone is an advantage) and it's integrated with Wordpress, giving it a potential install base of millions (or at least hundreds of thousands) of blogs that can use the software. - sebmos
And it supports all the common weblog formats and protocols. It's compatible with lots of stuff that social networks typically are not. Tooools. - Dave Winer
As lame as "BuddyPress" sounds, I can actually imagine it becoming the backbone of an open-architecture 'social' web. Cry havoc and let slip the plug-in scripters of war! - Rob Sterling
So, speaking of thousands of sites using this, I expect there will be some common method of post and commenting based on something like openid? - Ernie Oporto
Hmm, it'll be interesting to see how much of this they hack into wordpress.com. I imagine people are screaming for this stuff already. :D - Stephen Shores
Dude, Aaron. You don't even know. That may quite possibly be the number one pick up line I get. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN You got *ss for an Asian" ...and people wonder WHY I hate clubs/bars - Mona N.
@Cyndy: How do you read a numbered list where 9 items are blank? - Derick Valadao via feedalizr
I couldn't even imagine using that line. Anywhere. Anytime. - Aaron Brazell
Well, I mean... it's loaded. First of all its disrespectful, even for *me*. Second of all, Jesus, it's race-baiting. :-p --- And I'm really really disrespectful at times, by the way :-p - Aaron Brazell
Mona: When I do finally meet you, you better bet you know what I'm saying now :) - Justin Korn
JK: I will drop kick you in the head ;) @Aaron: It's the same, all over the country (NYC/LA/SF/Boston/DC) but then again, this is at clubs/bars. - Mona N.
Mona - I've had an avatar in SL since Nov 2006. What's your av's name? - Tad - just Tad
Mona: No doubt. But, like Justin, now I will use the line on you. But I can haz ninja skillz so will sidestep your headbutt. - Aaron Brazell
I'll see in a few weeks, bitch! ;) SEA, you're going right? @Tad: SECOND LIFE = DO NOT WANT - Mona N.
No I won't be in Sea. But will be in SF next weekend. Avoid me. :) - Aaron Brazell
Seattle, dude. You're not going? Aug. 21~ RE: SF, Wordcamp? - Mona N.
Yeah, Seattle's not working out. But yes, re WordCamp. I'm presenting. - Aaron Brazell
Nope, just looked at my calendar, I'll be in Tahoe :) - Justin Korn
Justin: "There will be a cocktail party starting at 9 p.m. at Pete’s Tavern, about 1.5 miles from the venue. (Closest Muni stop is King St. and there are plenty of parking lots around)." http://2008.sf.wordcamp.org/sc... - Mona N.
LEGO + bacon + Star Wars + FF (both FriendFeed and Firefox) + anything and everything with a power switch = insta-date. Unfortunately, I get the WORST pick up lines. EVER - Mona N.
What's to like about this type of mindless crap polluting Friendfeed these days...? *gawd* why is it that if women wants attention it has to be some sex inspired bullshit...? FAIL!!! - Mario Olckers
I would add "11. Women know men better than men know themselves." - Hayk Hakobyan
worst pickup lines Mona N? I cannot imagine you getting all the worst ones with that personality of yours.. - Fred Grott
Ones that women don't know, and vice versa:) - Igor Poltavskiy
Where in the Sam Hill did THIS come from?! :O - Mona N.
Shall we fill it out then? 1. women mature faster mentally, than men. 2. Women are often more social than men. 3. Women live longer. 4. Women dream about their wedding at age 3. 5. Women are physically weaker. 6. there's more of them on this planet. 6. Not all women are good cooks, hygienic, or care about nice things. 7. women shave. 8. women like it if you keep the seat down. 9. some women keep short hair after a certain age (why?). 10. some women have some breasts. I could go on… Don't stereotype men, pls - Vincent van Wylick
Mona - It bubbled up from the FF ooze. - Russellreno
so they are not allowed to make money now? - Jamie
You fail to understand my qualm, Jamie - I take no issue with app developers who charge for their wares, it's when they release an app for free to boost ratings / rankings, then switch to a paid version and land themselves in the top X list instantaneously. It's just as janky when the App Store launched and developers were renaming their apps to appear at the top of the list. It's just *BAD MARKETING* that pisses me off. - l0ckergn0me
Well, good marketing, because it works. But bad ethics. It's basically figuring out a way to lie without actually doing it. Anyway, it's manipulating their way to higher rankings. - WazNeeni
Chris, could you share the app names? - Akshay Dodeja
What you're pointing out is that these "Top" lists are too simple to be useful to you in a highly competitive environment. Any system is going to be gamed. Think about it: my guess is the tallies are going to be biased towards early developers too. A good system will have to avoid this too. - Loren Heiny
Loren...how 'bout Sales (not d/l's) per Month. That would wipe out both of those issues. - WazNeeni
I noticed an app or two doing the same thing. I immediately uninstalled their app. I don't support such gimmicks. - Corvida
I haven't paid for an app yet on my iPod touch. Figured I'd let the market mature a bit. - Bill Sodeman
But you are assuming that THAT is the SOLE reason they switched to paid. How do you know? Maybe the app got popular, and they thought, I could make some money from this instead of giving it away. Should they have instead waited until it was no longer popular, off the Top list, and THEN switched it to paid? :P - Andru Edwards
Andru, c'mon - even you're not so naive to believe that "Crazy Lighter" was worth free two days ago, with other ezone apps going for .99, then suddenly ezone saw the light (no pun intended) and raised the price right at the moment it could outseat the #1 paid app? That's a slimy tactic. - l0ckergn0me
He's gotcha there, Christopher. Maybe they wanted to test the waters to see if *anyone* would want it, with the plan of being a paid app the whole time? - WazNeeni
I dont misunderstand your qualm Chris. I just don't think its valid. Is it taking advantage of a loop hole in the AppStore? Sure. Is it *wrong* to do so? Hell no. Its great marketing and a chance for the dev to make money on his app. Are you honestly saying you would not take advantage if the same situation applied to you? Its effectively SEO what is taking place here. And something as trivial as changing the price of an app is entirely within his rights as the developer. Blame the game, not the player. - Jamie
Jamie: "Is it *wrong* to do so? Hell no." Are you ethically bankrupt? Clearly , no need to answer. No one is saying that he shouldn't make money on his app. Of course he should. I feel like I'm watching a presidential campaign ad that is taking what someone said and spinning it.The bottom line is he's taking advantage of a loophole and gaming the system. Certainly not illegal, but certainly not ethical. Apple should close this loophole by resetting the counter or creating a new counter for paid downloads. - Greg
I agree with you completely .. business or not .. it's just plain shady - Todd Loren Sinclair
@Jamie @Andru @WazNeeni - Looks like Apple agrees with me. The Top 100 list doesn't include "Crazy Lighter" anymore. It must've been removed at some point this afternoon. Hopefully, they've set it up so that when an app goes from free to paid (or vice versa), it also loses its rankings / ratings for that app type. - l0ckergn0me
Bravo Apple. Ethical business practices prevail in spite of those who live off the scraps. - Greg
It seems to be fixed for me. (Canadian iTunes store) - Granteezy
@Chris: sometimes you are birlliant, sometimes you're a donut - this is one of those occasions. - Dennis Howlett via twhirl
@Chris not quite - I admitted its a loophole which Apple needed to close. But thats a separate issue. What I am arguing is that a developer taking advantage of that loophole by simple changing the price of *his* app really isnt that big of a deal. Hes just trying to make money. And to be labelled slimy and talking about shame is a bit over the top. @Greg - I can do without the character judgement from yourself thanks. - Jamie
@Jamie if you base your arguments on ethical issues and then give your opinion you can't then take my ability to offer my opinion off the table. Anyway...on we go. - Greg
Excuse me - but isn't this what Web 2.0 is BUILT on? Release something for free, get traction, user base and good will then transition to a paid model? - Soulhuntre
@ Greg you are completely missing the point. Lets just say that Apple fail to close the loophole; you are effectively saying that a developer can't ever raise the price of his product without being labelled slimy. If by not supporting that notion, that makes me "ethically bankrupt", then so be it. But wow @ folks thinking its that serious. There's much more to worry about in the world of 'gaming' web services than one devs right to adjust the pricing of his very own product. - Jamie
Just to clarify, I am talking in general, not specifics. If this ezone company is taking advantage of it specifically for that purpose, sure, I am against that. I am just saying, I don't see anything wrong with RANDOM COMPANY putting out a free app, then seeing it shoot to, say, #3 free app, and then saying - wait, I can charge $2 for this and can be making a killing. So they do. I am all for it. Now, if a company is doing it JUST to be at the top of the paid apps list, I find that to be dicey. - Andru Edwards
Hi Simon from ezone here. For the record, we're not trying to 'game' the system and land the #1 paid spot (but of course we aren't complaining!). If/when Apple plugs the loophole we will continue to give away all our apps for free for the first couple days to build awareness and then revert to paid. We've never been featured in itune's picks, new, hot, etc., and offering free apps is a way to get heard above the noise. How about supporting us small devs rather than labelling us unethical slimeballs. - Simon Edis
More on this here. http://www.doipod.com/ipod/200... Seems there are pretty consistent feelings about the nature of this approach to publicity. - Greg
I agree Chris, it is stupid to allow a company to so easily manipulate the rankings. - Andrew Fielding
I opted to just go read a book. I'm reading 'The Box'--the history of the shipping container. It's an exciting day :-) - Andrew Leyden
lazy summer afternoon...time for tea out on the deck! - Susan Beebe
Loic: I feel the same way to a certain extent. I think that people need variety and some longer form stimulation. I just bought a HARD COVER BOOK on Michelangelo and his subversive work on the Cistine Chapel. Its refreshing to read more than 140 characters at a time. It's all about balance. I don't think that the quality has gone down with online writing as much as after a while it all just seems the same. Online I feel well informed, but give me a good book and I feel like I really learn. old school. - Scott Lockhart
Funny you said that. I want on unplugged vacations (i.e., no blogs, no social networks, no IM, no mail) for about 2 weeks. It was so good. I needed to flush out my brain. - fbrunel
When you come back online, you see some things quite differently. - fbrunel
Rather than information overload, it feels more like information tolerance. Like when you eat nothing but chocolate for a while, and at first it's great but it gets very old very fast. Same thing happens with all things web: getting a new information source resets your palette. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
i find that my own writing is boring, too. focusing on video is helping me find a fresh voice. - Alex Williams
This is spam/scam territory. I definitely will not be visiting that site anymore. Is this even legal? - Brian Sullivan
Brian, they're auto generated ads, I can assure you that Allen isn't purposely placing those ads and you have nothing to fear on CN - Duncan Riley
Doesn't matter whether they are auto generated or not -- that sounds like a cop out. Obviously whoever they are doing business with is somewhat shady - Brian Sullivan
Thanks Duncan! I should wish i had those ads, they probably pay a ton :) - this is a joke by Louis - trust me, i don't have any viagra or male enhancement ads on cn! - Allen Stern
Cruel joke if it is indeed a joke. Louis? - Brian Sullivan
Timeout. This is not a joke. I promise. When I was entering the comment in the screenshot, this is what I saw. I made the screenshots, but I assumed it was just ad fill. - Louis Gray
hmm, ok louis - checking my ad networks now and will report back in moments - what the F! the only network that would even have the remote option of serving all four slots simultaneously is tribalfusion - no other ad network sits in all of those slots at once. - Allen Stern
either way, Brian, sometimes contextual advertising throws up stuff like this, doesn't mean you have to shoot the person who is running the ads...and BTW, at least one of those spots is an Adsense unit! So blame google - Duncan Riley
Ok, I just checked tribalfusion and don't see anything related to this - they are the ONLY one serving ads on the right so this has to be related to them somehow - I have submitted a ticket pointing to this discussion and once I hear back (probably on Monday) I will update everyone. I promise you that I spend a TON of time every day (for the last 12 years) verifying the ads that run on my sites - I take great pride in it. I am sorry Louis for this but thanks for letting me know so I can investigate. - Allen Stern
Allen, do you know any other blog that uses Tribal Fusion? I'd love to check those out as well. - Louis Gray
Ducan -- if you have ads on your site you are responisble for the content as far as I am concerned. Ad brokers have mechanisms for controlling the ads displayed. If obectionable or ads for illegal products are shown the site owner is responsible (and that includes Google ads). No free lunch. If you take the money you take on the responsibility. - Brian Sullivan
Brian, I think you're overthinking this here. Allen is a classy guy who works hard to keep up the reputation of his site. This is clearly an exception, not the rule. I found it amusing and shared it. This isn't "dump on Allen day" and I am sure he's working to get this resolved. - Louis Gray
Allen, sent you updates via e-mail. The real question is, are any of you seeing the ads also, or am I the only one? Because that would signal something else... - Louis Gray
Louis: I am not dumping on Allen. I don't know Allen -- I am contenting on the site and its apparently scam/illegal based advertising. Allen may have to work harder to maintain the reputation of his site. - Brian Sullivan
At the risk of inciting the CPM gods' wrath, I clicked around to a bunch of pages, and never got the Viagra ad set. - Mark Trapp
Whoever is serving ads is serving based on the geographical location of IP. I get ads for WestJet (a Canadian domestic airline) so tracking down the ads may difficult. - Brian Sullivan
I must live in Viagra-land then. :-) My wife sees ads on cleaning Windows XP and AT&T. - Louis Gray
There is also some sort of ad rotation going on as well. I suggest Allen take the screen snaps to his ad provider and demand an explanation, an apology and a guarantee that such ads will not appear again. - Brian Sullivan
I think its interesting to know that the ads are contextually based. Im not at all accusing Allen of wrongdoing, however, if a journalist is using contextual based advertising, it seems like they might be more inclined to use certain words in their article based on what they believe the outcome of the ads might be. Here, while Allen probably didn't use a trigger word for Viagra on purpose, having that in the back of his head and wearing both hats (the journalist&sales) is somewhat of a conflict of interest. - Andrew Baron
louis - i will email you off ff so we can try some things to verify where it is - either way i will report back - Allen Stern
I was going to try this out, but then realized that this might be a sly plot to make me disable Adblock Plus. :) - possible248
I am not objecting to Viagra ads -- if Pfizer wants to advertise on Allen's site and Allen is ok with it. But the ads are for illegal prescription drugs (aren't all those available by prescription only)or are a scam. - Brian Sullivan
Brian, Andrew and all: Allen is 100% in the clear on this and it is 100% my fault. The funky ads were no doubt due to the first Mac OS X virus I've ever had. More on that soon. Apologies to Allen for having this issue, although humorous, drag him through the mud. He's never run Viagra ads, and won't ever. (I think I'll post on this tonight) - Louis Gray
I apologize for being so tenacious here and to Allen for indirectly impugning his integrity but I thought it was important to pursue - Brian Sullivan
Louis and Allen, I am still not making any accusations and as you can see above, Im not attacking Allen in particular though my original comments still stands. There is the common practice use of contextual key word advertising on journalistic blogs like Center Networks. When you wear both hats, and your job is to sustain (as you saw it with your headline) and maximize profits (a self-fufilling business intent), while also wearing the hat of being journalist (integrity), it leaves the audience wondering: "Could it be possible that the writer tweaked the words of an arti
