Day: January 9, 2006

There are three calendars in my life.

First, there is my Outlook calendar, which I view on my Treo most often.

Second, there is my wife’s calendar, which lives on paper.

Third, there is a kitchen whiteboard, for the month, with the highlights of items which affect us both.

I’m investigating calendar solutions for a specific workflow problem at work, so the coincidence of seeing Tim Bray’s post PHP Calendar Fun tied together my personal mix with my professional need, though his solution isn’t for me.

I’m intrigued by how complicated the problem is for someone with significant technical chops and whose spouse is also a professional in the industry. What about the rest of us?! I’m not likely to convince my wife to go digital here.

I know many folks are itching to solve this problem now. Like every other late 1990s idea maybe the environment and infrastructure has caught up with the enthusiasm.

Enjoy this news analysis from April 1999: Calendars key to portals’ progress.

Just as 1998 was the year the Web discovered free email, 1999 is turning out to be the year of the calendar.

Ummm… not quite. Maybe it’s 2006?

I hope so.

(When.com isn’t resolving… it was a long time ago when the founders sold the company to AOL/Netscape.)

Newsvine is in private beta. Like many others, I expect, I’ve added my name to the waiting list. In the meantime, I’ve read a few reviews from those who have seen it.

• Hypergene MediaBlog » Heard it on the Newsvine: First impressions, which comes from the Amazoning the News team (which gives it a lot of weight in my book).
• Steve Rubel doesn’t give many specifics.
• Newsvine – Seeding the Vine. First Look! has a more in-depth look.
• Or just read a bit from the leader: Newsvine: First Day Traffic, Reviews, and More

In some ways, I envy these teams the opportunity to start from scratch, learning from what’s gone before and building on the latest technologies and ideas. The challenge, of course, for these newer sites is finding an audience. Newsvine, beyond its use of new technologies and interfaces, is offering to share the revenue generated from its audience’s activity.

Newsvine is going to pay people to be, in effect, good editors. If there is enough money in the system to make that an effective business platform for people, an eBay for news judgment, then it’s very powerful. But that’s the business. First, let’s see how it works for delivering information.

Why is this different than MetaFilter, which I’ve never really followed? Does news get created here, or noted and followed up on? Human-friendly, Web 2.0 savvy version of Slashdot for anything, not just tech? (Yes, I’ve seen Digg’s rise, and the recent discussion about the causes.)

I’m curious about the use of AP (Associated Press) content. I expect this seeder content is to avoid the blank slate problem, but I can’t imagine this kind of generic (by definition) content will suit the audience that Newsvine wants to attract.

When I get an account, beta or otherwise, I’ll post my own review.