michael’s thoughts

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Archive for May, 2009

Kindle DX is the Kindle I’ve Been Waiting For

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

I have been excited about the prospect of eInk readers for a long time.  Back in January of 2006 I wrote about looking forward to the Sony Reader but expressed that a tabloid sized version that would allow me to read periodicals is what I really want.  It looks like Amazon’s upcoming Kindle DX will finally realize that dream.

I’m a fan of books.  I read a fair amount and I like having a bookshelf of paper volumes.  I’m not sure that I would use an eInk reader to take the place of my paper novels.  The value for me in an eInk reader is in periodicals and PDFs of technical manuals.

I have a paper subscription to The Economist but there is no value to me in having piles of previous weeks issues laying around my house.  I wouldn’t mind switching that to an eInk version.  And as I wrote back in January 2006 I’d love to be able to get trade press such as Daily Variety delivered electronically.

I also download a lot of PDF manuals for various technical products.  I don’t like to print them out as it’s a waste of paper.  On the other hand, I am not thrilled with reading lengthy documents on an LCD or CRT screen.  The main reason I haven’t bought an e-reader so far is that they have not had good native support for PDF.  The Kindle DX does support PDF without having to convert the file which is a must-have feature for me.

I haven’t preordered a Kindle DX but if the user experience reviews are positive once it’s released I think I may purchase one.  The selection of periodicals available in the Kindle store is limited but I hope it will expand over time.  It really seems like an excellent platform for regional trade papers.  If I could get Variety and the Hollywood Reporter on the Kindle I’d consider renewing my subscriptions to those papers.  Digital delivery is the future of news.  At least for me.

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Playing Around with FriendFeed

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

FriendFeed LogoI’ve been playing around with FriendFeed for the past week or two.  It does a lot of things better than Twitter.  Notably I am not limited to the 140 characters and it allows a conversation around a post.  The conversation piece is pretty key.

Twitter LogoOn the other hand, it doesn’t have quite as mature an API and the third party apps for FriendFeed can’t compete with the third party Twitter apps.  I have BuddyFeed on my iPhone but unfortunately the FriendFeed API does not allow modification of my subscriptions so I’m limited to reading what I’m already subscribed to.  With Twitter, I’ll often find a mention of someone new made in a tweet of someone I’m following and decide to follow that new person.  To do that with FriendFeed is overly difficult at the moment.

I have decided not to cross-post my Twitter content to FriendFeed.  This is an area where best practices have not yet emerged.  I think it’s best to keep the content separate.  They are different services.  I follow many of the same people on Twitter and FriendFeed and I don’t want to see duplicate content.  In fact I wish there were a way to filter out all content posted from Twitter that does not have a reply on FriendFeed.  Perhaps there is such an option, but I”ve not found it.

I have also configured my blog to post its updates to FriendFeed.  Apparently there is support for Disqus comment integration, although I can’t figure out how to turn that on.  Hopefully that will be coming soon.  I like the idea of a single conversation around an idea instead of having it fragmented across varoius sites.

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Categories: tech | Comments

Tweets on 2009-05-10

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

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Tweets on 2009-05-10

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

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Tweets on 2009-05-10

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

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Tweets on 2009-05-10

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

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On Internet Writing Styles

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

I bury the lead. A lot. Most of the time, in fact.

I am aware of the inverted pyramid structure for writing newspaper articles. I understand search engine optimization. I realize that getting to the heart of the matter quickly is good for eyeball retention and PageRank. But I still bury the lead on most of these posts.

This web site is my personal voice. And I don’t speak in the edited prose of a newspaper column.  I tend to speak in anecdotes and asides.  When I’m relating a fact I tend to turn it into an opportunity to tell a story.  To add context and opinion.  That’s just my personal style.

It doesn’t apply in all arenas of life.  When I write work emails or communicate verbally with colleagues on business matters I tend to be very concise and to the point.  But I don’t consider this web site to be a professional endeavor.  It reflects the style of my personal life, not my office communications.

I’ve thought about trying to write more in a more professional tone that would help out my search engine results and perhaps attract more readers.  But in the end, it’s not faithful to the spirit of what I’m trying to accomplish.  So I’m comfortable with the trade-off.

Categories: life | Comments

This Week in Startups

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Jason Calacanis has launched a new talk show style podcast called This Week in Startups.  The first episode came out on May 2nd, featuring Brian Alvey who founded Crowd Fusion.  There is also a tech news segment and I enjoy Jason’s “John McLaughlin” style predictions.

Overall it’s an enjoyable show, but it’s long.  I wish I had more time to watch/listen to these types of podcasts.  Unfortunately I don’t even have time to listen to hallmarks like This Week in Tech.  So I doubt I will be a regular viewer of This Week in Startups, but for those who have the time I’d recommend it.

I’m still waiting for when I can download this kind of content to my TiVo.

Categories: business | Comments

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