Incredible. Don't hesitate to make him go on the right path again, hehe. - Zu aka ElijahBailey
Our kid sings the advertisements from TV and the radio... I HATE that!! - Lindsay Donaghe
Mine is starting to go down this road... "Dad, I NEED ..." I take the opportunity to try and explain the differences between needs and wants - and this of course has absolutely no impact <ughhh>. - ChangeForge | Ken Stewart
Make sure he only consumes/pays attention to the net and load his browser with ad blockers. Then he'll only watch ads on YouTube cause they're funny... - Sean Kelly
Just don't let him watch the infomercials on late night TV! Next thing you know he'll be wanting to buy a house for zero down so he can flip it... - Jeff P. Henderson
i cannot understand why people have television .. is it because everyone else has television? ... it is such a crude medium, artisitcally, aesthetically, adds nothing to life, steals your time to be a target of advertising, and is bad for your brain waves ... why do it to yourself? - Gregory Lent
Gregory, we rarely have the TV on, but he usually watches it for a short time each morning when I'm getting ready. - Duncan Riley
I distinctly recall running much faster in my Air Jordans, just saying. - Geoff "Maverick" Schultz
Gregory, I don't own a TV personally, but I think your assertion is severely overbroad. I remember watching Sesame Street and NOVA and Win Ben Stein's Money and National Geographic specials (and yeah, some total crap, too), and I think I turned out okay. IMHO, the answer is for parents to, well, *parent* their children... spend time with them, mostly away from the boob tube but also alongside the boob tube to help youngsters critically digest and dissect what they see. - Adam Lasnik
I mean, yeah, you can shield your kids in some pollyann'ish existence, but do you really think they won't be exposed to crass materialism, commercialism in other aspects of their daily lives? Why not teach them thoughtfully to cope, to understand? Hiding them from stuff is not the answer. - Adam Lasnik
My young brother watches all those home makeover shows. He insists on being consulted befote we plan amy decorating. Sigh. - Roberto "Maverick" Bonini
I remember my eldest boy running through the house with a lego spaceship yelling, "Stop! In the name of Darth Vader!" - Justin Long
Not to mention my youngest, 4-years old, boy, singing the theme song to transformers... (the cartoon version that is) - Justin Long
Mel: "We're launching in English only today, but plan to add new features and support for more languages in the coming months, so stay tuned." http://googleblog.blogspot.com... - ※Fu※
Fu: Congrats! thanks for the info & I look forward to the new features. just a small but important point, you launched only in US English today :-) - Mel.Buckpitt
Brian, they seem to mention that RSS is not available yet so probably that means it will arrive at some point. But quite true - better sooner than later. - Svetlana Gladkova
dude. techmeme is not gonna get squashed by this change in blog search. It is a big improvement, but try using it. techmeme is much much better from a usability standpoint. google's advantage is in the sources it polls and potential traffic - Rodney Rumford
Considering I spend far too much time on Google Trends and blog search and next to 0 time on TM, this is already a done deal for me. It's more just icing on the cake. - Cyndy
"u" appears in government letters??????? Shesh, what are people thinking? - Roberto "Maverick" Bonini
they're working on a leet speak version for when the kiddies reach taxable age - gotta keep ahead of the game :) - alphaxion
Yes, government uses "u". We iz ur govermins, bailing out ur banks. :) - Morton Fox
I used to have the contact info for an agent at the IRS who wants these forwarded to him for investigation, but now I can't find it. I'll post it if I do. - Jack Carlson
“Realized again that I appreciate FF, Twitter, and other social networking sites more when I have 2+ way conversations vs replying / commenting to someone else who just keeps on talking / typing over others.”
Something many of the web celebrities should finally realize - people subscribe to them to converse, not to listen only. - Svetlana Gladkova
@Svetlana Agreed. But many of us are guilty of this, not just those "A list". Is it agenda, focus, openness, misjudging others interest in a topic, or...? - Lora Heiny
@Lora: Many - true but those many rarely expect the attention those A listers expect to enjoy. So if someone can't handle this attention, we can't accuse this person because he does not even ask for this type of attention. - Svetlana Gladkova
via twhirl
I'd argue that TC isn't driving the traffic it once was. There have been several start-ups lately who posted on forums that the TC traffic isn't what they would have expected and the the downside is that a lot of other blogs won't bother to cover after TC has. From a PR standpoint, I'm not sure it's worth the risk, do you? - Cyndy
In my experience it's still driving a ton of traffic. But YES, navigating the competitive issues is a real and ongoing challenge. There are a couple of different ways to do it successfully and achieve broad coverage (including TC), but they mostly require existing relationships and social capital and know-how on the ground. Not being an asshole PR person or over-aggressive CEO helps. Having the kind of news that no one wants to miss out on, though, is even better;) - Joshua Dilworth
In terms of TC driving traffic more recently, I think that there has been a dip across the board -- just think even of your own reading habits over the last 6-8 weeks. The same number of blog posts are going up, but I think they're collectively getting less eyeballs because we're a lot more tuned into current events, the NYT/CNN/WSJ etc. right now and giving the likes of TC less mindshare than we might otherwise, even despite topical posts that link into public affairs. - Joshua Dilworth
Steve Spalding is so awesome! "You are looking for the rapture of the geeks — the freedom, fame and success that only semi-anonymous bits and bytes can offer, and I’m supposed to help you get there.
It’s the reason that bloggers blog and content producers produce content." - Joshua Dilworth
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A Must See: So now they try to solve the problem by having this credit bubble actually extended and I think the $700 billion will be like a drop in the bucket because the total credit market in the U.S. is something close to $60 trillion, then you have the CDS market – credit default swap – of around $62 trillion. Then you have the whole derivatives worldwide worth about a notional $1,300 trillion. So the $700 billion is really nothing and the Treasury is just giving out this figure when actually the end figure may be $5 trillion.” Read the full article - Michael Fidler
To me the important question is "Can you pull your data back out of the cloud, or is your data locked in somehow?" At least at Google, we always want to make it possible to back up your Gmail, Blogger posts, Calendar, Docs, etc. - Matt Cutts
thanks Matt for the "other" side of the coin point of view - Steven Hodson
as i said elsewhere, it is unclear whether rms' cloud computing concerns revolve around *privacy* issues, *portability* issues, both, or neither. my guess is that just saying "you can export the data" wouldn't make rms go "oh, i guess it isn't 'worse than stupidity' then." ;-) - Karim
currently #18 on Hacker News - cool stuff - Steven Hodson
@Matt Cutts: The problem here is that the trend now is to move to the cloud as much as you can and setting web apps against desktop apps has made us think of either... or instead of a combination of web plus desktop. And if you move completely to the cloud, what's the point in having all your documents on your desktop if you can't open them without going to Google for that? - Svetlana Gladkova
It's definitely Scoble's list. That's how I found you. - Neill Adamson
thanks, yes I've just googled and realised - of course I should have checked your comments here first! - Chris Nuttall
@Chris: Actually whenever there's something I don't understand with my stats or comments, I check FF first to see where the buzz is - and almost instantly find the answer :) - Svetlana Gladkova
via twhirl
you're right, the FF search function is usually my first port of call, having one of those doh! Monday mornings - Chris Nuttall
Had the same experience, Chris. At first I thought it was something I said, then I read Scoble's post and realized it was something HE said. =} - Craig Eddy
@Chris: Hope you will recover the Monday morning soon and will fully enjoy the new subscribers. - Svetlana Gladkova
via twhirl
@Craig: Very true, it is interesting to see Scoble effect in action on so many people all at once :) I only received a dozen or so new subscribers over the weekend but I guess it was because of the weekend with new people subscribing constantly all morning. I must have underestimated the power :) - Svetlana Gladkova
via twhirl
This is an app some friends and I built to encourage registrations among college students in exchange for concerts from Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Wyclef Jean, and Jason Mraz. Check it out. By the way, alumni votes count. So help your school and help get more young Americans to the polls! - Christopher Sacca
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OMG I am so glad you did this! I had this idea last election and someone told me it would be akin to paying people to vote which would be illegal in some way. That's what I get for listening to others. - Erica Baker
We did a lot of research into this. Leaving it non-partisan keeps us in the clear. Or, so the lawyers tell us. :) - Christopher Sacca
What happens when they don't have any incentive? This disturbs me on some level, even if it is non-partisan. Let's face it, most professors aren't non-partisan. - JillMissesSnuggling
To me these things sign up uninformed, fairly apathetic voters. Often events / groups like this combine it with heavy propaganda on who to vote for. While in this case I suspect Chris has the best of intentions - I find the whole food / concert / pony ride for registration thing a bit iffy :) - Soulhuntre
via twhirl
Wow. Only on FriendFeed can one find people opposed to voter registration drives. :) - Christopher Sacca
I'm not opposed to voter registration drives. I'm opposed to rewarding people for something they should do because it's a responsibility we have in this country. And even if you register these people, it doesn't mean they'll actually get to the polls. This demographic doesn't tend to vote even when mass drives result in tons registered. I think somehow you are still missing the bigger problem here. (And again, it's almost impossible to keep anything non-partisan on a college campus.) - JillMissesSnuggling
I'v been to a number of GOTV concerts on college campuses and all I've ever seen is *information* about the candidate(s) made available to the concert goers. Have you seen lots of *propaganda*, Soulhuntre? - Ayşe E.
@JMS I don't understand how making an effort to reach out to young people is so wrong. Do I think that all of these kids will register and show up? No. Just like all of the people who put stuff in their Amazon shopping carts don't necessarily end up checking out. Nevertheless, if I can help bring more awareness to the process and make it more accessible to young people, I will. - Christopher Sacca
I haven't said it's wrong. It's great to reach out. Are you listening? I said that I think it's wrong to reward them for doing something they should do because it's the right thing to do. Have a concert, fine. Don't make it a contest though. Have something that will draw a ton of this age group in and provide them with education. Again, don't make them win it. While it may not technically be illegal, it still seems rather unethical. That's what I'm saying. - JillMissesSnuggling
Ayse - have I every seen propaganda at registration drives? Hell yes I have. Most campus registration drives are not "register and vote" they are "register and vote - here, use this pen provided by candidate x, along with his tasty free soda. Oh, and remember, candidate bob really cares about you!". On paper is that what they claim to do? no. In reality is it what they do? Yes. Is that what Christopher is doing? I said I didn't think so. - Soulhuntre
As for the whole concept? Frankly i am not sure if I want people in the electorate who only registered cause their favorite band told them it was cool. - Soulhuntre
@Soulhuntre Oh, you mean in contrast to the really sophisticated analysis so many other voters make? :) - Christopher Sacca
@Christopher - adding MORE unthinking voters to the pool is not the answer to the ones already there. Frankly? I'm with Heinlein on this :) - Soulhuntre
getting people to engage is the first step - and if it takes a musician serving as an effective role model, then so be it. Having spent time with will and wyclef (via Chris), i'm confident their message to youth voters is about getting educated to make informed, powerful choices, not just rocking the vote because it's cool this year. - hunter walk
I'm always skeptical of people who need some kind of reward to care about voting. I can't help that. - Brian Norwood
Props to you and the brothers iLike, Sacca. Love it. - Dave Morin
+1 Christopher Sacca. JMS, what is your problem with rewarding people for doing things they "should" do, as long as the reward isn't coming out of your pocket? If I bake a pie, and decide to give a slice to people for voting, what business is it of yours? - Karim
JMS, aren't you familiar with the fact that George Washington won election to the Virginia House of Burgesses basically by getting all the eligible voters (white land-owning males) in the county drunk on rum punch? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...) Would you say Washington's actions were "not technically illegal" but "still seem rather unethical?" - Karim
we can't have YOUNG people engaged and interested in politics, oh noes! 'cause we know how THEY vote, wink wink nudge nudge say no more. - Karim
Soulhuntre, as for "Frankly i am not sure if I want people in the electorate who only registered cause their favorite band told them it was cool," I think it beats people who voted only because someone got them drunk off their ass. That's how Washington got his start in 1758. Madison once tried to NOT do this in 1777 (bribe the electorate) but found "the old habits were too deeply rooted to be suddenly reformed," and lost. - Karim
"The people not only tolerated, but expected and even required to be courted and treated. No candidate, who neglected those attentions, could be elected." -- James Madison - Karim
Soulhuntre, thx for your reply. Not questioning your response to Christopher; just curious what you regard as propaganda. Seems one person's propaganda is another's advocacy. But are we really concerned that people are influenced in their opinion by the use of a pen w/ a candidate's name on it? Seriously? When there's voter fraud,vote suppression, and outright disinformation afoot? - Ayşe E.
"The credit crunch and foreclosure problems are failures of government policy. In fact, what we see now is a market correction to foolhardy government policy. Congress' move to bailout lenders and borrowers who made poor decisions will simply create incentives for people to make unwise decisions in the future. English philosopher Herbert Spencer said, "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."" - Craig Eddy
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I wonder if the government ever agrees to admit its own failure given the current situation and maybe will stop forcing every country in the world to build a similar political and economical systems as well? - Svetlana Gladkova
