Category Archives: Reading List

Reading List September 23, 2005

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  • Reed’s Law (A VC) – Some serious math jockeying as it relates to the calculating the value of networks.  Put on your beanie, cause you’ll need it to grasp this one.
  • Web 2.0 Doesn’t Does Exist, eBay + Skype, and Network Scale Economies (BubbleGeneration via A VC) – Okay, you’ll really need the beanie for this one.  It’s the basis for the A VC post I linked to above, and it’s basically about the math behind the network effect.  I think I get about 10% of it.
  • Blogonomics (BubbleGeneration) – We think of blogs as free, but they are not.  As the author points out it takes time and effort to find new blogs worth reading and that is a "cost."  That’s why most peoples daily reading ossifies.
  • Complaint Letter of the Year (Puree Soiree) – Only a Brit could write a complaint letter this good…or bad depending on how you look at it.

Reading List September 22, 2005

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  • Transparency Please (A VC) – Fred Wilson doesn’t want John Roberts to be confirmed as Chief Justice because he didn’t answer questions about his personal opinions on matters that may come before the court.  Fred’s tired of all the obfuscation in DC, as am I.
  • Surreal In-Flight Programming (Rexblog) – Rex writes a post about how some of the passengers on the JetBlue flight that was having landing gear problems yesterday were watching the whole thing unfold on their TVs. (JetBlue has screens on the backs of all its seats and provides free satellite TV).
  • Who’s Grass is Greener? (Gotriad) – Which city has a better social scene, Winston-Salem or Greensboro?  A resident from each city debates that issue, and interestingly the Greensboro resident likes Winston-Salem better and vice versa for the Winston-Salem resident.

Reading List September 21, 2005

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  • Maybe You Should Decide (Micropersuasion) – Steve wonders if he should float pitches on his blog so readers can help decide what he should publish/run.  BusinessWeek is wondering the same thing.
  • WSJ Steals Our Story, Again (paidContent) – Rafat Ali is ticked off that the Wall Street Journal picked up a story he broke and didn’t attribute him.  Go get ’em Rafat.
  • Google Defends Self on Blog (John Battelle’s SearchBlog) – Google is being sued by Authors Guild and defends its position on its blog.
  • Who Will Audit the Red Cross? (Moore’s Lore) – Dana Blankenhorn would like to know if how the Red Cross is doing in response to Katrina.  Stories about problems are beginning to surface and he rightly asks if their true and if anyone is keeping an eye on them.
  • Google Flattens the World (Moore’s Lore) – Dana doesn’t think Google’s recent moves are aimed at taking on Microsoft, rather they are aimed at taking on the entire computing-telecommunications complex.
  • Guilt the Gift that Keeps on Giving (Michael’s Corner) – Via Patrick Eakes I found this Greensboro-based blog and I’m now a subscriber.  Michael’s take on guilt as a parenting tool is really making me think. 
  • Continued Demise of the Old Media (The Third Rail) – John Trainer thinks the New York Times has screwed up: "’All the news that’s fit to print’ just doesn’t work any more.
    It wouldn’t have been so difficult for you to plug yourselves into the new mainstream – the Washington Post did it by creating blog links that referenced most every blogger who, in turn, referenced one of the Post’s stories. Too liberal, too conservative, that’s not the question. Just simple tit for tat. Engagement, not detachment. The public is now apparently demanding ‘All the news that fits, we print.’"
  • True Genius: Kevin Murphy Wins MacArthur "Genius" Award" (Freakonomics) – Kevin Murphy is a colleague of Steven Leavitt’s and Steven isn’t bashful in his praise of the man who was recently named a MacArthur Fellow.
  • Exploding TV (Jeff Jarvis) – Jeff talks about the Viacom deal to buy iFilm (same story broken by Rafat Ali, and not properly attributed by WSJ).  According to Jeff it’s a "media changing moment."
  • Surprising Partners: Adding Blogs to an Existing Non-Profit Community (Global PR Blog Week) – Another very informative article from the online conference for the PR community.  This one focuses on the online community building efforts of the March of Dimes.
  • Blogs and Press Releases (Global PR Blog Week) – Shel Holtz argues that blogs can’t and won’t replace the venerable press release.  He doesn’t think they should, either.
  • Porn Site Offers Soldiers Free Access in Return for Photos of Dead Iraqis (Online Journalism Review) – The title’s pretty self-explanatory, but the OJR makes it even more interesting by taking a hard look at the role that the porn site is playing.  The thinking here is much more involved than you would expect.

Reading List September 20, 2005

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  • Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web (PDF file, via A VC) – Seth Godin has posted a PDF guide to blogging and it’s free.
  • Alacra Wiki (via A VC) – Alacra, an aggregator of premium business information, has a wiki.  Could be useful on the work front.
  • Wikis (A VC) – This is a good look at the value of wikis and provides links to some good wiki info.
  • Adding Your Voice to the Conversation: Why CEOs Should Blog (Global PR Blog Week 2.0 via Doc Searls) – This article provides a nice perspective on CEO blogging and also gives lots of useful links to corporate blog resources.
  • Corporate Blogging 2.0 (Blogwrite for CEOs) – Debbie Weil thinks that the 2,000 employee blogs emanating from Microsoft provide a window in the company’s true soul. Microsoft even has it’s own Deep Throat. Me thinks Debbie may be right.
  • Minipreneurs (Trendwatching.com via Jeff Jarvis) – This newsletter piece pulls together a bunch of disparate information to highlight the trend towards consumer selling via eBay and many other services.
  • Banned Books Week (Library Boy) – This post is about the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week. Among the top 10 most frequently challenged books in 2004 is Maya Angelou’s "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and John Steinbeck’s "Of Mice and Men."  Sheesh.
  • Spam Blogs (A VC) – Fred Wilson is finding more spam blogs now that Google has entered the blog search game.

Reading List September 18, 2005

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  • Sometimes You Are The Dog (Patrick Eakes) – Patrick had a bad round of golf during a tournament, thought about throwing in the towel, but to his credit he didn’t.
  • Hackoff.com – A Must Read (A VC) – This post points to a new blog-based book publishing adventure that the book author calls a "blook."  That’s the 2005 winner of the dumbest "coinage" to date.
  • Man on the Street Tests (The Post Money Value) – The author provides a series of questions you can ask to get a handle on how prevalent certain phenomena are in your community.  Tops on the list is to say to someone you’ve just met, "Hey I love the blog" to see how many are actually blogging.
  • The Triangle: Limits of Blog Power (Daou Report – Salon.com) – A very interesting look at the relationship between the "netroots", media and political power structure.  They are the three sides of a triangle that the author believes is the new political reality.

Reading List September 15, 2005

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  • Dave Sifry – Don’t Order a Body Bag Just Yet (The Post Money Value) – Why the reporting of Technorati’s demise is premature.
  • Yahoo Launches "Instant Search" (John Battelle’s Searchblog) – Yahoo announces launch of search tool that shows results below the search box as you’re typing.  There’s some real value there as the tool will help you refine your search terms without continually having to type-search-repeat.  John’s favorite line from the release: "Why feel lucky when you can be right?"
  • eBay Motors + Google Maps = Mashup Heaven (Business2) – A blogger combines eBay’s car sales data and Google Maps to show location of all cars for sale on eBay Motors.  The guys at Business 2.0 conjecture on the next step: eBay incorporating Google Maps themselves and then having Google’s text ads appearing on the page.  It’s a business mashup!
  • Because That’s the Way We Have Always Done It (Blog Maverick) – Mark Cuban hates the "because we’ve always done it that way" reasoning. Reminds me that all the good entrepreneurs I’ve met have always been "why" folks.
  • Michelin’s Bibendum (Reveries.com) – A fascinating article about the history of the Michelin Man.  Warning: it includes the words "Latin gerundive."
  • Fat & Fit (Reveries.com) – Gyms are starting to hire trainers who aren’t hard-bodies. Could it be that people are beginning to realize that six-pack doesn’t necessarily equal fit?  I know a lot of skinny smokers with incredible abs who can’t walk down the street without gasping.

Reading List September 14, 2005

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Reading List September 13, 2005

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  • Seven Deadly Sins (A VC) – Fred expands on a few of the seven deadly sins for entrepreneurs that venture capitalist David Beisel posted about, speaking of which…
  • Seven Founding Sins (Genuine VC) – David Beisel looks at seven deadly sins commited by many company founders.  They include inauthenticity, sloth, extravagance, taciturnity, greed, arrogance and indecisiveness.
  • Skype-eBay and Today’s Lesson (The Post Money Value) – To see the potential in the eBay purchase of Skype you have to think big.
  • Where’s the Dog Bowl? (The Post Money Value) – Rick Segal thinks that Microsoft isn’t "eating its own dog food" when it comes to the use of Outlook with the IMAP protocol.  The real interest to me is that it was the first thing I’ve read that helped me understand what IMAP means/does.
  • Positive Image and Context (The Post Money Value) – Rick has an interesting take on the memo written by the now-resigned head of FEMA, Michael Brown.  He points out that in the context of the entire memo the infamous sentence “Convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public” isn’t really bad.  His feeling is that if Brown had used plain language like “You’ll need to keep the red tape crap in check, show people their
    gov’t actually cares and paying taxes has somewhat of a point.”     then this wouldn’t have blown up into a PR disaster.  He makes an interesting point.
  • NYT’s Brooks Revealed that "from Day One," the Bush White House "decided our public relations is not going to be honest" — Why Hasn’t He Written About This? (Media Matters) – During an interview on the Chris Matthews show David Brooks said that from day one the Bush administration wasn’t going to admit mistakes, even if it meant being dishonest.  Duh?
  • Jackson Compares FEMA Contracts to ‘White-Collar Looting’ (San Jose Mercury News) – From the article, "The Rev. Jesse Jackson suggested Sunday that
    the federal government was encouraging ‘white-collar looting’ by
    awarding no-bid contracts to favored companies to rebuild
    hurricane-ravaged areas, rather than giving those displaced by the
    disaster priority for jobs." The Rev. is beating the same old drum, and it’s going hurt the people he should be trying to help.  The jobs need to go to those who can do it best, period.

Reading List September 12, 2005

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  • Swimming to New Orleans (AlterNet via Moore’s Lore) – A first-hand account of a New Orleans native’s venture back into the city the weekend after Katrina.
  • Hurricane Katrina Timeline (PMwiki) – A wiki with a timeline of the Katrina disaster.  Fascinating, even if a third of it is factually off (which I doubt) due to the "citizens media" aspect of this, it’s a damning statement on the performance of the US government.

Reading List September 5, 2005

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  • The Age of Cheap Oil and Easy Ignorance is Over (Dave’s Travels) – Dave says we need to share responsibility for creating the situation that led to the disastrous response to the aftermath of the Katrina disaster.
  • What Dave Said (Rex Hammock) – Rex, who is Dave’s (see above) political polar opposite, says that people with opposite political leanings, but similar "foundational convictions" end up coming full circle to meet each other.
  • You Can’t Cross-Examine a Hurricane (Is that Legal? via Ed Cone) – I’ll let the post speak for itself: "Mike Chertoff is probably one of the 2 or 3 smartest people I have ever known…
    Mike Chertoff is a career prosecutor, and an outstanding one by any
    measure. He is a law enforcement guy in every fiber of his being. It’s
    how he made his name…Mike Chertoff doesn’t know natural disasters.  This is why he would say, without seeing the absurdity of it, that a hurricane followed by breached levees was an unforeseeable succession of catastrophes, rather than foreseeable parts of the same catastrophe…So what do I think? I think that we are seeing what happens when a
    career prosecutor tries his hand at civilian disaster relief. And more
    generally, I think we are seeing what happens when a nation gets so
    fixated on its human enemies that it forgets its other vulnerabilities."
  • Bush’s Hurricane Response Time (Joe Write) – Joe compare’s the time it took Bush to get on the ground after different hurricanes.
  • War on Error (Doc Searls) – Doc describes quite well the issues we face as our national priorities change and we focus on the politics of governance as well as the politics of elections.  Yes, they are different.
  • The Scandal of Katrina (Buzz Machine) – Jeff Jarvis has quotes from two sources, one an editorial from the Times-Picayune and the other an interview with the president of Jefferson Parish that call for the immediate firing/replacement of the leaders of FEMA.  They offer compelling testimony for why this is necessary now, not later. Not sure if I agree with them, but like I said it is compelling.
  • The Bursting Point (New York Times) – David Brooks compares the current climate in America to the 70s; he doesn’t think it’s quite as bad thanks to a robust economy, but he thinks it’s still bad enough that we’ll see political changes.  Personally I’m wondering if the economy might start looking like the 70s too.
  • The Unsinkable Data Center (business2blog) – Seems that there’s a data center in New Orleans that has stayed operational throughout the disaster thanks to a diesel generator and a deeply buried cable.  An employee has kept his blog going throughout as well.  A full article from a Wired magazine about the center is here.  And in the ironic news of the day, the data center was built by Enron:)