Day: January 6, 2005

So the folks at Ludicorp have a hit with Flickr, as many have noted… more power to them. The interesting part, as I was reminded by this light-hearted post comparing Flickr to a MMRPG (via Jeff Veen) that Ludicorp was originally founded to create the Game Neverending. At this point, the folks at Ludicorp have even removed the references to that project, which was their original goal as a company. Can’t blame them, but take a look back to January 3, 2004, courtesy of the Wayback Machine. I never played/saw what they were working on, but if they ever go back to GNE, expectations will be high.

I do “blame” Flickr for making blogging about metadata all the rage. I’ve done my own navel-gazing here, but my head is starting to spin… or is that my eyes are starting to droop? Nevermind.

Dave Winer notes the introduction of podcasting by NPR’s On the Media, and cites the press release claiming this is the first NPR program to do so. I don’t know how long Future Tense has been podcasting, but it certainly didn’t start today. Future Tense is from American Public Media, which most of us here in the United States would hear on an NPR radio station… but maybe it’s not literally an NPR program. Details, details.

I’ve listened to a few podcasts, but so far it’s not for me. First, I read faster than people talk. Second, I don’t have a good time or place for listening. I can’t listen and read/type at the same time with any effectiveness, and my commute is by bicycle, foot, or bus… and I’d rather read when I’m on the bus. If I had to drive anywhere, I’d probably get interested, and get an iPod, and the whole nine yards. (Tangent: when typing “the whole nine yards,” I wondered why isn’t it ten yards? Where does that phrase come from? For once, the internet lets me down. The Google results I scanned throw out various ideas, but come down on the side of uncertainty.)

Anyway, I’ll let this blogging trend run without me, even if I chase the hype in other ways.

TiVo is fighting to protect its name from generic usage (December 13, 2004 article from NYT… in the $ archive already, sorry). I don’t really care whether they are successful or not, but I imagine they are doomed to failure. In the long term, inventing a new word and creating a new category of service/product are pretty rewarding, no matter how the business turns out. Yes, it’s not my money or my company, but take the longer view. Also, do you really want to discourage amusing comments like this one from Brent Simmons?