One year ago, I started clock. And I turned 32. Amazingly enough, as I turned 33, I’m still writing clock. I haven’t posted every day, but this is item 446, so some discipline has prevailed.
Enough with the blog-navel-gazing.
Lesson for today: be careful what you ask for.
So I see Simon Willison raving about Quicksilver, and my first thought is “Aha, someone else has read Stephenson’s latest.” But no, Simon is referring to a LaunchBar-like application which is free, and — if the blog hype is to be believed — better!?! I’ve downloaded the application, and I’ll try to use it in place of LaunchBar over the next few days. Follow the link to Simon for other opinions and a tutorial — it’s necessary.
Lawrence Lee, of Userland and Tomalak’s Realm, did reply to my query about the future of Radio. Thanks, Lawrence. Seems most of the energy, recently, has gone to supporting the infrastructure and easing the start-up for new bloggers… which makes sense given that this is still very much a nascent market. But I’ll have to wait and see. Honestly, my laziness will probably leave me using Radio a while, without renewing. Since I have my own webhost, Radio will function just fine, without updates, indefinitely. Again, a user-friendly feature I appreciate. I guess I would be fond of Manila (the server product), but it’s not aimed at, or priced for, individuals, even if it is relatively inexpensive as these things go.
Maybe I’ll noodle around with some other programs for some other domains I’ve got lying around… in my free time?
Installed Mac OS X 10.3.3 last night. So far, so good (knocking on…).
NPR’s Neal Conan reads listener mail on Talk of the Nation (apparently a Monday task). Today, one reader asked how he could trust anything on the internet. Sreenath Sreenivasan, a Columbia University new media professor and a columnist for the media Web site, Poynter.org, runs through some obvious good ideas (check facts, etc.) and then calls out CNET News.com for having a strong corrections policy, along with its good tech news. Kind words, indeed. Sree doesn’t mention any other sites, although there are certainly others with strong, clear policies. That’s rewarding that News.com came to mind first. Working with strong, ethical people (journalists, in this case) is a pleasure.
I’ve been using Radio Userland for my blog for a while. I actually tried it first back in 2000, around when the boy was born… I’m not sure it was even called Radio then. I’ve been publishing this blog for nearly a year, and my year license is about to expire. That event is triggering some thought about what’s next. Do I stick with what’s familiar, or is it time to make the move to something that’s seeing a bit more advancement and is web-based?
I’ve appreciated the desktop backup of the client approach, and I’m very fond of the philosophy of not locking in my data (all XML files). But a web browser is still what I do my editing in, so why not convert to a location-less tool for posting? Radio — both here on my Mac and at work on my Windows PC — has a recurring habit of eating CPU time, even to the point of slowing down my typing (which, in a modern computer, is insane). Also, I’m lazy, but I still want better URL structures, better comments (not pop-up, and not dependent on a central service), and an easier-to-follow community-based support (since the company is small enough that I’ve found support hard to come by).
I’ve also been surprised that when I wrote the company in response to the polite “your license will expire soon” email I received, I never got a response. I have some valid questions, like “What’s the future of Radio?” since it hasn’t seen any improvements that I know of for a couple of years. It’s possible any reply never made it through my spam filter, so I’m not angry, but I am disappointed. And the spam filter isn’t that strong — it let in the original notification, and since I replied to the address, it should have been whitelisted.
Anyway, I’m possibly restless (but also lazy/busy), so ideas about tools you’re happy with are invited… and any links on how to convert Radio files into the suggested tool are also welcome.
Glad to see Technorati take another step forward. Still labelled beta, but clearly much further along than previously. Good luck Rich, David, Dan, et al.
Yeah, I finally caught up with the rest of the you and watched Lost in Translation (thank you, Netflix). A quiet movie that didn’t drag = worth the time. And, maybe, the hype. (Although I dislike the pop-up on their website trumpeting the awards the film has won. If you’re that thrilled, put it on the home page already!) I couldn’t stay awake for all the special features, but word is that Bill Murray does the Bill Murray thing in the ‘making the film’ documentary. Which is good, since the film isn’t a venue for the Bill Murray that (Stripes) automatically (Ghostbusters) comes (Caddyshack) to (Quick Change) mind. Confession: I have not yet seen Caddyshack all the way through. I promise to complete my education soon.
Clayton Christensen recognized that he hit a home run with The Innovator’s Dilemma. A smart man, he swings at a similar pitch the next time around. With Michael Raynor (previously a student of Christensen’s) as a co-author, Christensen wrote The Innovator’s Solution. Where Dilemma was more description, Solution adds prescription. In other words, what the hell do you do to avoid the “dilemma” since — as both books underline — smart managers and good companies are predisposed to facing this challenge of innovation.
There are various answers and theories, all of which are aimed at the manager trying to “create and sustain” growth. The authors don’t pretend it all boils down to the 13 main points they call out at the end of the book, but it’s certainly useful to have a vocabulary for shared discussion. Two ideas from the baker’s dozen continue to resonate with me:
I’ve been part of a growth-focused company that cared not a whit (at first) for profit (read: Snap.com/NBCI). I also believe that things are looking up at work, which is exactly why it’s time to find areas which will move from fringe to commonplace over the next 2-3 years. In the phrase that Solution repeats several times, with appropriate allusion to Wayne Gretzky’s immeasurable talents, “Skate to where the money will be, not where it is.” (Thereabouts, if not exact words.)
I finished the book a few weeks ago. While I was reading it, I noted that Jay Small thinks print newspaper design is ripe for disruption. He posits that perhaps website design can be the disruptor, although there are various points of view out there now about how stale news website design already feels. I’ve heard people at work lament the loss of some of the flexibility and convention of print layouts! That grass really is greener!
I strongly encourage people to read this book. I’m not a business-book junkie, so maybe I lack the experience to fully place it within the ‘pantheon’ of its type, but I appreciated that it was (a) clearly written (b) well-researched (c) avoided over-simplifying and (d) aims for greatness without claiming greatness. At a few points throughout, the authors note that few companies ever disruptively innovate more than once. Even once is impressive, so twice is something to shoot for, indeed.
Have you updated yet? I’m waiting a bit longer, just in case there are any of those nightmares out there waiting to be discovered.