http://www.fifthandmain.com Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:49:49 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Via Gruber at DaringFireball, I found myself laughing aloud at this: Open source natural language processor that attempts to identify idiotic comments on the web — like a spam filter for stupidity. UPDATE: Their server seems to be struggling to handle the traffic, at the moment. http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/07/stupidfliter/ Jeri Cartwright posted this at the Media Relations blog (excerpted here) regarding a recent stretch of layoffs in Utah -- her home turf. Many interesting things to think about in a few short passages. Content is still king. Talk all you want about new media, but someone has to write the ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/07/the-market-for-real-journalism-will-continue-to-change-whats-coming-will-be-better/ Courtesy of ReadWriteWeb this afternoon, "Corporate Social Networks Are A Waste of Money, Study Finds", original post at the WSJ here. In summary, Ed Moran at Deloitte did a survey of 100 major brands that have online communities. They all suck. What does "suck" mean in this case? Thirty-five percent ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/07/deloitte-says-branded-social-networks-are-a-bomb/ Just as news continues to pour in about shrinking magazine subscriptions across the industry, MagCloud pops up to shake things up a bit. Still in beta, so publishers are by invite only, but definitely check out the service. It looks to fill a niche in industry publication that has long ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/06/magcloud-magazine-self-pulblishing-print-on-demand-press/ I've been talking with my man Brad Trnavsky for what seems like years about his need for Internet Greatness. But, Brad isn't a would-be pornographer, as far as I know, and he doesn't have any direct connection to the Revision3 Internet Mafia Clubhouse. He's a sales guy. And a geek. So about ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/06/local-boy-cleans-up-nice-salesmanagement20com-profiled-by-benevolent-ning-dictators/ Steve Jobs can do what he damn well pleases, thank you very much. If he -- and team Apple -- demonstrated anything in yesterday's WWDC Keynote address, it's that. Because frankly, they took their stage time yesterday to demonstrate a whole lot of old news, and they buried the hidden ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/06/apple-wwdc-keynote-iphone3g-and-snow-leopard/ As soon as this technology incorporates Multi-Touch a la the iPhone or Surface, it'll be something really worth looking at. Right now, it just blows me a way a little bit. From scientificblogging.com: The HoloVizio is a 3-D screen that will allow designers to visualize true 3-D models of cars, engines or ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/06/holovizio-3-d-holodeck-001/ I caught this article by Paul Farhi on washingtonpost.com this morning covering CNN's use of their fancy new "Magic Wall" in the on-going election coverage. The Magic Wall was developed by Perceptive Pixel, the company leading the large-format chage for the multi-touch operating system developed by founder, Jeff Han. Multi-touch ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/05/washington-post-clogging-links-in-articles/ When I was employed by big-corporate PR, I used Google News Alerts religiously. Still do. It's a fantastic service, constantly filtering the Google index for current news relevant to my search query and delivering it to my inbox every day. At Apollo, I was interested in news about our company, ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/04/how-to-use-google-news-and-blog-alerts-to-build-your-populist-media-empire/ Had a meeting at a new agency today -- 2Plural/evive. I don't know what their name is, actually. The letterhead says evive, and looks cool as a palindrome, but the website is 2plural, as is the moniker on their cards. A bit of identity crisis there, about which I'm sure ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/04/meeting-at-2pluralevive-and-the-curse-of-flash-websites/ Here is the first of four pieces I'm working on for Health Net of Oregon. The video was originally part of a four-part series on the communities that Health Net serves through their customers, intended for staggered launch in 2007. Unfortunately, it took far too long to get the four ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/04/health-net-of-oregon-humane-society-now-up-on-vimeo/ I don't particularly want to comment on the quality of the production here -- MS clearly put some money into this concept, which I believe speaks for itself. But if you have to make something like this to sell the act of selling your products, is that a sign that ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/04/microsofts-internal-vista-promo-video/ Back in early February, I wrote about a wonderful presentation-cast response to a reader email that Lessig delivered on his blog, eloquently stating that he supported Obama, and why he chose to do so. Here is another wonderful opportunity to see one of today's great orators discussing the primary process, the ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/03/lessigs-open-letter-to-pennsylvania/ "My name is Damon Wright, and I'm a business writer." That's true. My name is Damon. It's my middle name, used six years ago the hide my participation in the Apple campaign from my then-day-job. I had thought that I'd exhausted my 32 weeks of fame, but someone has just posted ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/03/damon-wright-apple-switch-video-rears-its-ugly-head/ Thanks so much to Daniel Burka for this nod to his friend and photographer Steven Desroches. Desroches took the photo linked below at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. It captures so much brilliance of story-telling composition in one, single frame. Fearless This is, after all, an example of how to describe ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/03/telling-a-brilliant-story-with-no-words-at-all/ This is a good summary from Jason Calacanis summarizing his take on "Scoble's Law" (wow, I can't believe Scoble is coming up with a law behind his name): "The less you talk about yourself, the more folks will talk about you." This is more of a cardinal law of organic self-promotion, ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/03/more-on-that-cute-sarah-lacy-why-she-is-a-fuse-connected-to-a-stick-of-toilet-paper/ It is hard to describe the disaster that befell Sarah Lacy at the SxSW conference in Austin this week. In an interview with the often-tight-lipped Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Lacy managed to single-handedly turn her audience into an angry mob, wielding Twitter posts like pitchforks and torches, all aimed at ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/03/sarah-lacy-modern-journalist/ Announcing the Air Poo. Available Summer, 2008 http://www.airpoo.com http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/02/poonovation/ Just got this episode of a new "Quarterlife" parody from good friend Daniel over at the Independent Comedy Network. If you don't think the writer's strike has been good for new media producers, check again. As far as pilots go, I would watch this over ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/02/28-life-from-icn/ Here's something that's NSFW: a viral video picking up steam on YouTube that reveals what the animals are really saying on the BBC hit documentary series, "Planet Earth." Put on those headphones and proceed at your own risk! http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/02/f-planet-earth/ I've been AWOL for the last four or five days now, trekking to Tulsa for the funeral of my grandmother, Wanda Peters. I have some more thoughts to share on her passing and will get caught up there soon. In the mean time, thank you for your patience as I ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/02/in-salt-lake/ One of my favorite podcasts is WebbAlert, a technology news show hosted by Morgan Webb, highlighting daily tech news and social media memes. It's daily, no more than about six minutes per episode, and Webb does a good job of covering the geek news I need with a ripe sarcasm ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/02/devry-sponsors-webb-alert-shows-big-ed-has-nose-for-new-media-after-all/ Here's a wonderful piece showcasing the purity of art taking place in online media. Think of it as "Johnathan Livingston Seagull: Redux". Leo's Song from impactist on Vimeo. http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/02/leos-song/ Senator Barack Obama Originally uploaded by Stephen Voss I saw the "Yes We Can" video (in the "Featured Video" box on the front page) for the first time a day or so after it hit the net. Until that point, I had passed on this election cycle's rhetoric. After eight years of ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/02/america-is-ready-for-an-orator-again/ Watch this video. It's a presentation cast of Laurence Lessig giving what I believe is one of the best summaries of why we should be considering Obama strongly, particularly those of us who were Edwards supporters, as requested by Lessig supporter. It is not only a great talk, but a ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/02/why-lessig-is-4obama/ Maybe it's because I'm a child of the 70's and 80's that I have a deep personal affinity with actors and celebs I've never met. I'm a Reagan-era kid, after all, the actor-politician cemented for me a sentiment that the most important work of all is that of telling stories, ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/01/christopher-nolan-on-heath-ledger/ Apollo Group leadership thumbs their collective nose at the courts, saying that the $277.7 million verdict against them "will not have a material adverse affect on its business or cash flows." While it's thrilling that the company has enough cash to cover the bond and the finding, investors should note: the ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/01/apollo-group-says-verdict-wont-have-affect-on-business-misses-point-entirely/ My daughter Sophie is currently enrolled in a Chinese language immersion school. She's in kindergarten now and her teachers have started introducing the kids to simple oragami projects for crafts time. Then, in a sweet bit of synchronicity, her godfather received a book on some creative origami projects that you ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/01/applecom-robert-lang-profile-the-art-and-science-of-paper-folding/ Interface Design and the iPhone I found this thanks to John Gruber at Daring Fireball and have been waiting days for the video to come back on line. It's Edward Tufte performing a superficial dissection of the iPhone's human interface design choices. It's a treat to hear someone as adept in the ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/01/edward-tufte-on-iphone-human-interface-design/ Just caught this on TechCrunch via Daniel Burka on Pownce -- not sure how it slipped by me! Pownce, the long-compared-to-Twitter micro-blogging tool, comes out of beta tonight. Great news for Daniel, Leah Culver, and Kevin Rose, who've worked hard to build a great tool for social aggregation. I've been using ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/01/via-techcrunch-pownce-goes-public-tonight/ Jens Alfke writes a great insider post on his decision to leave Apple and move into life as an independent developer. The whole thing is worth reading, but the part that gets to me is this: It’s deeply ironic: For a company that famously celebrates individuality and Thinking Different, Apple ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2008/01/rarity-apple-employee-talks/ Mr. Mailer belonged to the old literary school that regarded novel writing as a heroic enterprise undertaken by heroic characters with egos to match. He was the most transparently ambitious writer of his era, seeing himself in competition not just with his contemporaries but with the likes of Tolstoy and ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/11/norman-mailer-dies-mcgrath-write-up-at-the-times/ Axia College of University of Phoenix MySpace PageI haven't posted much about my experience at University of Phoenix. It's a big place with many challenges and, even with nearly a decade under my belt there, I'm ill equipped to comment on most of them. But I find this one downright ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/11/proof-the-myspace-has-jumped-the-shark-axia-college-myspace-page/ I just thought the only ONLY thing that defined the Red Sox was that they couldn't win the world series. So then they won, and they're not really the Red Sox anymore. They're just some anonymous team that players leave so they can go cut their hair and ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/10/amusing-baseball-quote-of-the-day/ Today, the WSJ reports that Apple has reduced prices on all their DRM-free tracks to $.99, making the per-track price equal to that of tracks with DRM throughout the store. In addition, they have launched a wide new selection of indie artists and labels under the iTunes+ moniker, making Apple ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/10/apple-reduces-itunes-prices-brings-parity-to-drmd-tracks/ Wow. Did I ever misjudge this band. I hereby take it back -- almost everything I said about them a few weeks back.If you're not following the Radiohead saga, several weeks ago, the band made news when they announced they would not sell their new album on iTunes because the ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/10/radiohead-retraction/ Amazon launched their MP3 store -- as widely predicted -- but did it in the first commercially viable fashion the market has seen since iTunes debuted years ago.Others have tried, but all have failed to gain much ground on Apple's store, not because of onerous copy protection schemes, but because ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/09/amazon-launches-public-beta-of-amazon-mp3-bests-apples-itunes-plus-by-17-million-tracks/ This week, mean ol' Uncle Curt Siffert from curtsiffert.com joins Shane and me to talk up the week of oddities. A man gets struck by lightning. In the penis. A University of Florida student is tazered on YouTube. The New York Times prints a story on how the Iranian President ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/09/testing-pluging/ I won't buy the next Radiohead release. As a matter of fact, I haven't thought about Radiohead in years. I remember Radiohead listening parties in college, but since the advent of the iTunes Store, they've fallen off the radar.Until this morning, when I had a chance to catch up on ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/09/radiohead-misses-the-point-allows-integrity-to-interfere-with-distribution/ Between Dan Frakes and John Gruber, we have a great summary of the current mess that is the ringtone business, particularly as it is addressed by Apple: What it comes down to is, as Gruber so eloquently put it, that “the distinction between ringtones and songs is an artificial marketing ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/09/apple-muddying-up-the-already-ridiculous-ringtone-business/ This came in courtesy of Irina Slutsky's Pownce feed this morning: The Project for Excellence in Journalism compared stories on user-news sites with content from traditional news sources. A key finding: The news agenda of the user-sites -- Reddit, Digg and Del.icio.us -- was markedly different from that ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/09/social-and-mainstream-news-interests-are-different-says-project-for-excellence-in-journalism/ For years, Apple's made waves by wholly replacing successful products with radical revisions that truly evolve the product line. Today's "Classic" announcement is an interesting departure. I'd fully expected the company to discontinue the current larger iPod with Video in favor of an iPhone-form factor phoneless iPod. They did introduce ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/09/new-ipod-classic-busts-apples-product-introduction-scheme/ The squabble between NBC/Universal and iTunes -- the latest squabble -- is particularly amusing. The network has said they're pulling their content and -- in related news -- said they're launching a new service of their own, Hulu.com. The new portal has not launched yet, but the splash page up ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/09/hulucom-early-contender-to-join-the-ranks-of-obscurity/ On August 1, 2007, I broke up with my employer. There's another post in me on that point, and it has something to do with why I haven't posted here in exactly that long. But for now, I need to talk about MySpace. Because today, I broke up with her, ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/08/letter-to-myspace-we-had-a-good-thing-once/ Full Disclosure Here: I'm a former employee of Cadence Management Corporation, and I'm also a contractor. Plus, I genuinely like the folks who work there, and I think they do good things. That said...I'm working on a voice over for the Cadence ProjectMaster 4.0 Online software demo. It's about 10 ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/08/cadence-projectmaster-40-online/ By all accounts I can find, Apple has sold roughly a million iPhones since it launched on June 29. That makes a million people setting up the new phones in the US alone, and what is likely a healthy percentage using the Gmail email service. Personally, I have about six Gmail ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/07/using-gmail-on-the-apple-iphone-solution-when-good-intentions-go-bad/ Here are some thoughts, and an experiment in fighting link bumping, from LZZR.com, an SEO weblog -- interesting take on some of the current "nofollow" controversy. Why it is good to link to LZZR http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/07/links-from-lzzrcom/ About three months ago, I ripped the shrink wrap off my monthly WIRED magazine and found a note from the publisher. They were doing a special run in partnership with XEROX around a piece on hyper-personalization on the web. If I was one of the first 5,000, the note said, ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/07/my-wired-cover/ I don't use a Blackberry. In spite of the cult of Blackberry, I've always found the device difficult to navigate. Even the new Pearl, with the cute scroll-wheel, is marred by the funky keyboard layout. I just can't get used to typing on keys that have more than one character ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/07/blackberry-messenger-a-trip-through-the-internet-time-machine/ If there was any sarcasm in my post on John Harwood not being able to remember the URL of his new weblog -- and there was -- I take it back completely. John emailed me today to let me know where to find the blog, discovering the post I'd written ... http://www.fifthandmain.com/2007/07/chautauqua-john-harwood-blog/