Category Archives: Reading List

Reading List August 19, 2005

Leave a reply

• Jeff Jarvis vs. Dell: Blogger’s Complaint Becomes Viral Nightmare (Mediapost via Micro Persuasion) – More about Jarvis’s continuing customer service saga with Dell.
• Google’s Choice (Moore’s Lore) – What Google should do with their new, not-ill-gotten gains.
• On an Honor Roll (Rolling Stone via Patrick Eakes) – An interview with one of my favorite musicians, Dave Grohl, who was a drummer for Nirvana and is the frontman for Foo Fighters.
• Mapping Out a Website for a Small Retail Store (WSJ Startup Journal) – The owner of a small gaming store outlines the process he went through in setting up his website.  Very useful info.

Reading List August 18, 2005

Leave a reply

• Innovating Once Again (A VC) – Fred Wilson points to Tom Evslin’s efforts to self-publish his book, but in a whole new way.  Fred calls it "Books 2.0" which is a play on the "Web 2.0" that is the du jour tech movement.
• Self Publish or Perish (Fractals of Change) – Tom Evslin explains how he’s going to self -publish (see above), and also refrences some other notable self publishers in the online world.
• WSJ: Self-Publish or Be Damned? Not Always (Andy Kessler) – The author recounts his self-publishing education and success.
• Advice for Authors (Seth Godin) – Seth has some insights into publishing, best of which is publishing houses do best with authors that are already successful without them.
• Media no More (Jeff Jarvis) – This is a very good post in which Jeff explores the world of media, and takes a hard look at what is happening to media as we know it.  In a nutshell he points out that in the case of non-fiction media is becoming conversational, or better put it is becoming two-way instead of one-way.  He also looks at what is happening in the fictional world and why he seems less patient with the oldest medium, the book, yet still wants to write one.
• Enjoy Your Laundry (The Post Money Value) – A post about a positive customer experience.  The author has been staying at a Hampton Inn (which he gave positive reviews in a post last week) but they don’t have laundry facilities.  They sent him to the Embassy Suites next door, which led to a memorably good encounter with Shiela, the person manning the desk at Embassy Suites.  Let’s just say that they’re getting some of his business in the future.
• Luxury’s Long Tail (Fast Company) – Is it still luxury if everyone can get one?
• Einsteinovation (Reveries.com) – Even the most esoteric scientific ideas can have an impact on the real world.
• Building the Perfect Team (Always On) – Tips on building a team at an entrepreneurial company, written by a serial entrepreneur.

Reading List August 17, 2005

Leave a reply

• A New Dimension? (A VC) – A venture capitalist looks at what’s next in web/software services, and he thinks it is "relevance."
• VC Cliche of the Week: The Short List (A VC) – How companies looking for a round of funding should build their short list of prospects.
• Smart Islands = Stupid Groups (The Post Money Value) – Canada Air ticks off the author by not accepting a discount offer he received because it is "web-only" and despite the fact that the website is down.
• Barnes and Noble: Usted tiene una pista? (The Post Money Value) – A Barnes and Noble store in Burbank posts a sign intended for their hispanic customers, but written in English.
• It’s Time to Talk Trash (Micro Persuasion) – CooperKatz’s newest client blog is for a company called simplehuman.  Looks interesting.
• Fire Hose Pants (bookofjoe) – Pants made from the same material used to wrap rubber firehoses.  I need to get me some.
• Dear Mr. Dell (Jeff Jarvis) – Jeff writes an open letter to Michael Dell about his "Dell Hell" experience and explains why he thinks Dell should become egaged in the online conversation.  Worth the read simply for the excellent articulation of why "blogging" et.al. is an important development for all businesses.

Reading List August 16, 2005

Leave a reply

• The Death of a Web Service  (A VC) – Fred Wilson offers some rules for web service providers to live and die by.  Since he uses Bloglet as his example of a service that could potentially die (that’s the service that delivers this blog by email) and I use Bloglet, this hit close to home.
• ‘As the blogs gain scale, they lose the demographic purity that made them special to begin with’ — Nick Denton (bookofjoe) – Blog readers are younger and wealthier than the average internet user.
• If Bloggers Had Been Around Throughout History (Six Apart) – My blog platform provider has a little fun with alternative history.
• Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet (Business2.com) – Google is buying up unused, or dark, fiber-optic cable nationwide and speculation is rampant about what they’re up to.
• Putting Jesus in Every Mailbox (New York Times) – Some evangelists go "AOL" with a 1979 film titled "Jesus." Now available in DVD!
• The Big Moo (Reveries.com) – Seth Godin and friends have come up with a unique way to get their book in the hands of thousands.
• Historian vs. Traveler (Reveries.com) – Why one book became a blockbuster and another didn’t.

Reading List August 15, 2005

Leave a reply

• How About the About Page (Post Money Value) – Why are all "About" pages the same? Technorati’s is a little different and Rick Segal likes it.
• Orikaso Folf Flat Bowl (bookofjoe) – bookofjoe is the newest daily blog read for me.  The author is based in Charlottesville, VA and finds some of the most interesting products you can imagine.  This plastic bowl is part of a set of plastic ware that each folds to a flat sheet…perfect for travel.
• 15th Century "Blogging" (Rexblog) – Rex Hammock links to the British Libraries digitized versions of 15th century "Festival Books."
• Book Excerpt: Google Goes Public (John Battelle’s SearchBlog) – 1,000-word excerpt from the chapter of Battelle’s Google book that covers the IPO in 2004.
• The Real Estate Bubble Pops Here (Moore’s Lore) – Dana Blankenhorn thinks that the real estate bubble is ready to pop, and I think he’s right.  It’s really beginning to feel like 1979.
• Hints of Sanity (Blog on the Run) – Lex compiles a short list of pieces that feature other "traditional Republicans" (my phrasing) who take umbrage with the current Republican Party and the "moronic" Bush Administration.
• Frimærkesprog (Reveries) – The history of the practice of using stamp placement on a letter or postcard to convey a secret message.  Believe it or not this also has something to do with why we pre-pay for stamps.
• Open vs. Closed (A VC) –  Fred Wilson writes that hackers at MIT (in Fred’s vernacular hackers are a good thing, not the criminal types most commonly associated with the term) understood the value of "open" systems over 40 years ago.  Now the general public is beginning to see the value through services like Flickr and del.icio.us, and as Fred says, "It’s about time."
• "The subject matter varies but the governing sensibility remains consistent" (bookofjoe) – Joe republishes a post describing a magazine that launched in 1996 and just published its 7th issue. That’s my kind of publishing schedule. The subject of the post is the author’s description of the magazine, which should be writ in stone above the desk, or wherever any publisher/editor will see it every hour of her working life.
  

Reading List August 11, 2005

Leave a reply

• Hampton Inn – Free can be classy (The Post Money Value) – The combination of free wireless internet connection, a free breakfast, a clean room and nice touches on things like soap make Hampton Inn a winner in this businessman’s eyes.
• New Medium and New New Thing = SOS (The Post Money Value) – Rick Segal explains why the new medium (blogging) hasn’t changed businesses all that much (same old s***).
• What Blogging Does to Journalists (Moores Lore) – How blogging has turned MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann into a more "conversational" journalist.
• Critique the Critique: Stuever tells off the Washington Post (The Media Mob via The Lex Files) – A Washington Post reporter takes the paper to task for its obsession with navel gazing.
• There’s Always a Way (Washington Post via The Lex Files) – As the sub-title says, "Exemptions From Ethics Rules Allow Lawmakers to Accept Almost Anything."
• The Real Lesson from Cardsystems (Loose Wire) – The Cardsystems debacle was all too common in the company’s delay and obfuscation in reporting the problem.
• 10 Things That Should Be Free (B2Day) – Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia) has a list of things he thinks should be free online.
• Identity & Behavior (Reveries.com) – Who we are can shape what we do.
• French Tips (Reveries.com) – Should tipping be ended?

Reading List August 10, 2005

Leave a reply

• The Weight of the Company on His Shoulders (A VC) – In his ‘Cliche of the Week’ Fred Wilson talks about how CEOs who have the weight of the company on their shoulders can deal with the ‘lonely at the top’ syndrome.
• On the Topic of Epidimics a Story About SARS (Freakonomics) – The author tells of the security at the airport in China when his newly adopted daughter set off the monitors put in place as a result of SARS.
• Something Worth Worrying About: The Avian Flu (Freakonomics) – Links to a blog with some pretty scary information on the avian flu.
• The Roman Catholic Defender of the Faith (and of condom use if it’ll keep him from paying child support) (Blog on the Run) – Heaven forfend there’s a little hypocrisy in Vaticanville.

Reading List August 8, 2005

Leave a reply

• Blogging As You Go Belly Up (BusinessWeek Online) – An entrepreneur starts blogging in May, just in time to chronicle his company’s demise and his impending personal bankruptcy.
• Respond or Die (MicroPersuasion) – Steve Rubel takes the case of Google not talking to CNET and uses it as the basis for a post on why PR professionals need to respond to all media, including bloggers and citizen journalists.
• "Search" Book Excerpt (John Battelle’s Searchblog) – This excerpt from Battelle’s book looks at how Bill Gross came to invent/develop pay-per-click advertising at GoTo.com (Overture).
• The WiMax Imperative (Moore’s Lore) – Dana Blankenhorn on the meaning of the FCC’s ruling that the telecomm companies don’t have to lease their lines to competitors, and what wireless providers have to do to compete.
• Indeed (A VC) – Fred Wilson’s group, Union Square Ventures, just invested in a paid job search service called Indeed (think Google Adwords for job boards).  In describing the investment he does a very good job of explaining the concept and rationale of paid job search.

Reading List August 7, 2005

Leave a reply

• Web 2.0: It’s a Great Time to be an Investor (Venturepreneur Partners) – An article by a venture capitalist that explains how the Web is changing from a "medium where information is simply published and remains static, into a
  platform where applications reside and services are distributed."
• How to Write Using Stream of Conversation (Rexblog) – "I believe those of us who try to understand and interpret what is
  taking place when social media intersect with traditional media often
  place an emphasis on the idea that the article is the beginning of a conversation. However, reading Joi’s complete post, I’m reminded that an article (or post or story) comes mid-stream in the conversation."
• Outgrowing the Grownup (Moore’s Lore) – How Eric Schmidt might be screwing up Google.
• Google Balances Privacy, Reach (CNET via Moore’s Lore) –  Is Google a threat to your privacy?
• The War on Truth (A-Clue.com) – An opinion piece about the "war on truth" currently being waged by conservatives in American politics.
• The Drawdown Lowdown (Reason Express) –  Possible scenarios for US troop reductions in Iraq.
• The London Flypaper (Reason Express) – "Standard pro-war flypaper doctrine has all the young Muslims
  flocking to Iraq to die for Allah, not staying home and trying to blow stuff up.
  Pointing this out does not mean claiming that George Bush is to blame for the London bombing of 7/21 or 7/7,
  the straw man that Bush supporters love to toss up."
• Up in Smoke (New York TImes Magazine) – The Freakonomics guys look at what happened to crack cocaine.
• Ostentatious Obscurity (Reveries.com) – Owners publicize their restaurant by making it a secret; unlisted phone number, no signs, hostess that denies its existence.  Only in New York.
• Rules of Success-The Path of Least Resistance (Blog Maverick) – Mark Cuban says that the secret to success is providing the path of least resistance, or in other words make things as easy as possible for customers, not yourself.

Reading List July 29, 2005

1 Reply

• Memo to Dell – Jeff Jarvis Does Matter (The Post Money Value) — Overheard conversations of two bank tellers who didn’t buy Dell, one specifically because of Jarvis’ blant (blog-rant) about Dell’s customer service.
• What Teenagers Think Email Is (Rexblog) — "It’s something used to talk to ‘old people’."
• Good Lord (John Battelle) — McKinsey consultants write not well.
• Google Patenting Ads in Syndicated Feeds? (John Battelle) — Next, world domination by the Googlies.  Really it’s about Google patenting something that some people already seem to be doing.
• Book Excerpt: The Birth of Google (Wired) — How the Googlies got going at Stanford.
• We are the Web (Wired) — Article about how wrong the pundits were about the web 10 years ago, what it really is today and what it might become in another 10 years.
• Payday Loans Now Online (Moore’s Lore) — Slimy business makes its way into cyberspace.
• Magic Word (Moore’s Lore) — The real "c" word: communist.
• Q&A with the Next Generation (The Real Money Value) — Smart kids aska smart guy some good questions.