2005

I’ve recently added a neat new feature onto my blog – a “Listen to audio version of this post” link at the end of each post (only on my website). It’s powered by a really cool new app called Talkr.com. Every time I write a post on Read/Write Web, Talkr converts it into an MP3 … Read more

sponsored by: This week: Wrap of Microsoft RSS news, reblog/reblg, Attention, Yahoo 360 go-live, Late Show style Top Ten for Web 2.0. Microsoft RSS Wrap The biggest story of the week, probably even the year, was Microsoft’s bearhug embrace of RSS. They got Dave Winer’s blessing and they made all the right sounds in their … Read more

There has been a lot of coverage already about Microsoft’s RSS in Longhorn announcements, so my aim here is to distil it and get to the essence of it. I’m doing this for my own benefit really, but hopefully my notes help others grok it too. The obvious place to start is Robert Scoble’s blog … Read more

MediaPost reports that Microsoft’s MSN portal is advertising for bloggers. At first glance, this is right up my street. I’ve been trying to get an ongoing and secure 20 hour/week writing gig for months, with no success – i.e. I’m still at my day job! So my first thought was: is this potentially my breakthrough … Read more

In the tradition of David Letterman, I’ve come up with my own topic-focused Top Ten list. Top ten signs you spend too much time thinking about Web 2.0: 10. When arranging to meet with your friends in town, you suggest a “point of presence” instead of a meeting place. 9. Your child asks you for … Read more

I have a feeling this is going to be hugely significant. Dave Winer wrote today: “On Friday you’ll see how deeply integrated RSS is in the architecture of the browser. But that’s just the tip of what may turn out to be a very big iceberg. The people at Microsoft noticed something that I had … Read more

Apparently tiny font size means more Adsense revenues. Sad… and how the heck this promotes “greater Reader participation” is beyond me, unless by that they mean squinting to read the blog’s content and shading one’s eyes to avoid the glare of the ads. [via] Originally published on ReadWriteWeb (archived copy)

Morenews is filtering through about AOL’s re-design. AOL is probably second behind Yahoo in terms of the number of users it has, although it’s far behind Yahoo in terms of marketing itself as a media company. If you look at AOL.com’s homepage right now, for example, you’ll see it still largely promotes itself as an … Read more

Congrats to fellow Wellington boy Michael Campbell for winning the U.S. Open in golf today! A huuuge achievement! And I love this quote from him afterwards: “I thought before the round started, nobody’s really taking any special notice of me. Just a quiet kiwi hanging around, there and thereabouts. If I play well, I could … Read more

For some reason, three of my favourite blogs posted self-referential reflection posts at pretty much the same time. An excuse for me to pay homage to them (and some other blogs I enjoy). In no particular order: a) PaidContent.org is the most professional blog that I know of and I’ve been an admirer for a … Read more

Jupitermedia analyst David Card thinks AOL is preparing for a big fattie splash into the RSS pool. He says: 1. The new version of MyAOL is “essentially an RSS reader”, albeit not as slick as how Apple does RSS in its Safari browser. 2. “AOL has a deal with Feedster to provide 7 million user-selectable … Read more

On 31 March 2005 a Google US patent was made public that reveals interesting data on how they rank your website. Patent number 20050071741 was actually filed on 30 September 2003, but it was only made public at the end of March. Darren Yates did some analysis on it – some of his observations (mixed … Read more

Now that Web 2.0 is all the rage and wholewebsites are being devoted to it, I feel it’s time to get my due as being the first blogger in this space. Therefore from now on, I’d like you all to refer to me as the “Father of Web 2.0” whenever you link to me. Now, … Read more

Ok, this morning’s post was silly. Now here’s a serious one. I will go to San Francisco this October, for two reasons. Firstly to attend the Web 2.0 Conference (why should I miss out on all the fun!). Secondly to get a job in America, so my family and I can live there. I’d made … Read more

John Battelle’s posted details of the second Web 2.0 Conference, to be held in San Francisco on October 5-7. This is something I’d really really love to attend, but it’s looking like the travel costs are going to be prohibitive – for a po’ kiwi looking to become self-employed this year. Sometimes I really really … Read more