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The Muppets have launched a podcast with movie reviews hosted by Statler and Waldorf. See, despite my stand on character blogs, I think character podcasts are ok. The reason is a podcast is not a dialogue. It's a controlled message that has a unique delivery channel - RSS. Weblogs are dialogues. And dialogues require real people (unless they're for kids).
Fear. You can just feel it in the air, can't you? There is fear everywhere that Google has become too powerful. As John Battelle notes, the tide of public opinion is starting to turn from loving Google to fearing them. Perhaps. But I have news for you. Google's not the only monarch to watch - or fear - anymore. Despite the media's fascination with all things search, Wikipedia is waiting in the wings as the next Google. They (or maybe that's “we”) are the emerging king disruptor; the one entity that we will soon fear most, if not already.
Let's take a walk through history. King Disruptor I was Microsoft. For years this king attracted legions of fans for providing access to information; for making getting on the Internet easy. However, soon the once-loved king saw its popularity erode once Microsoft invaded one too many industries.
At its peak, Microsoft ruled the technology kingdom like a tyrant, leaving fear everywhere in its wake. This reached a climax when it slayed the emerging prince with so much promise, Netscape. Later, as Microsoft invaded the nations of telecommunications, cable, gaming and media, it began to attract more ire. Eventually, the fear rose to a fever pitch and it was determined that Microsoft crossed the line. It went too far.The people - the people's government that is - rose up to dethrone the king, or at least slow it.
In Microsoft's wake a new ruler emerged - King Disruptor II, commonly known as Google. With its lightning quick search technology, friendly face and “do no evil” motto, Google won fans around the world. But eventually they too, like Microsoft, began to face enemies when they went too far. Now, for all of Google's contributions to society, King Disruptor II is viewed as a scary king. This will surely continue as Google grows, moving its tentacles in to areas like books, classifieds, email, news, shopping, advertising, entertainment and more. It will only become a bigger target.
History is about to repeat itself. A successor to Google's throne is waiting in the wings - it's Wikipedia, King Disruptor III. Like its predecessors, Wikipedia is powerful because it provides access to largely accurate information that can be hard to find. This king, however, is unlike any other because it operates in a completely democratic way. It's run by the people, without any grand financial ambitions. This doesn't mean its rule will be perceived solely as a benevolent one, however.
Already, Wikipedia instills a deeper fear than either Google or Microsoft did when they were at such a young age. It's the emerging king. Will it face the same scrutiny and fate as its predecessors as it expands? Certainly. But this time it will be far more difficult to slow. Yes, King Disruptor III - Wikipedia - might rule for years. And perhaps this may just be the way it was meant to be.
The London Daily Telegraph newspaper has started podcasting selections from the print edition. Each day, the podcast features three key articles selected by the editor.
This model could become a revenue generator for some newspapers if it clicks with younger “readers.” I would gladly pay my local paper if they offered a customized podcast summary of all of the articles I care about. Long term, in the distant future, customized paid RSS feeds (audio or text) will erode print completely, especially once flexible e-paper becomes a reality.
Technorati Tags: newspapers
Nathan Weinberg today points to an AJAX-based RSS reader called OneFeed. The aggregator uses a three-paned interface for displaying feeds.
One observation here. None of these web-based readers - yet - displays the content you click in a feed within an aggregator pane, as some desktop readers do. Someone will try this soon, if they haven't done so already. If it's Google, Yahoo or Microsoft it could cause a significant power shift in how content is monetized if you think about it. Imagine if Google, with its reader, or Yahoo, with their new mail-based aggregator, employed this tactic and ran text ads. You'd never leave the shelter of their dome. Sites that were once called portals could actually earn that moniker legitimately by wrapping contextual ads around other people's content and then monetizing it. No one's doing that right now, but somebody surely will in the months ahead. It's too easy.
Scott Gatz at Yahoo says that the latest “build” of the Yahoo Mail beta includes a full post RSS reader. I see it in my account. It more or less has the same functionality as Newsgator or Thunderbird, but it's missing a couple of key features. For starters, I can't mark an item read or unread. It's also integrated with your feed store on My Yahoo. However, the problem is if you read an item on My Yahoo, it's still there in Mail and vice-versa. There needs to be an option that facilitates this. There's also no support for in-line podcast playing. These are small quibbles. I am sure that Yahoo will work these out. Below is a screen grab. Note that you can post to 360 or save an item to My Web 2.0. A nice start!
Technorati Tags: Yahoo
Security researchers at Trend Micro are warning that RSS is a lucrative target for future bot worm attacks. What's worse, they're saying the onslaught will hit once RSS becomes a feature in Internet Explorer with Windows Vista. This isn't a surprise. Once you have a technology that brings in data to the desktop and it becomes popular, it's going to be attacked. Microsoft should be installing precautions so that IE is locked down when Vista launches next year. But are they? Only they know. I bet they are.
Technorati Tags: microsoft, windows vista
I just read on Playlist about a site called RadioTime. This is a paid service that works with PCs or Macs and provides time-shifted access to over 37,000 terrestrial broadcast and streaming music and talk stations from around the globe. For an annual fee of $39, you can record programs, essentially turning your iPod into a radio TiVo. What a neat idea.
RadioTime offers a list of news, sports and other radio programming. However, it's real value is in its search capabilities. Simply enter your zip code (as I did here) and you can see what's available in your market. A free seven-day trial is available on the Web site.
Technorati Tags: iPod, Media, Radio, Time Shifting, TiVo
Check it out. Jack Klugman (aka Oscar from the TV show, The Odd Couple) is blogging and podcasting about his friendship with the late Tony Randall. (Via FeedBurner)
Harvard Business school chimes in with their obligatory article about the power of corporate blogging for public relations. What's notable about this piece, however, is the advice offered by experts on how to have a distinct focus, feature distinctive voices while remaining open to comments.
Google is preparing to make a hard push into the classified ad space, according to this job listing. The job opening seems to confirm earlier rumors around “Google Automat,” a service that could tie into the Google Base database service and “Google Purchases.”
According to the job listing, Google is growing their “world- class sales team to assist in the sale of targeted advertising solutions to advertisers in the Classifieds space...As a member of Google's Vertical Markets Group, your main responsibility will be to develop and execute on a strategy for driving ad sales with all advertisers in the Classifieds category on a national/international level, working with all sales channels and resources (DSO, ISO, Online).”
Does this mean that Google is trying to compete head on with Craig's List? It sure seems that way.
UPDATE: Greg Yardley has evidence from a Microsoft blogger that the software giant is also targeting the online classified market with its new Freemont project.
Technorati Tags: Advertising, classifieds, Google, Google Automat, Google Base, Microsoft
You can tell when customers love a product when they create a song to honor it. (Via TUAW)
The Going the Distance discussion I wrote about in this week's PR Week, which is housed on The New PR Wiki, is now open to firms of all sizes. Please email me to get involved. Other reactions ....
* Cymfony
* Ketchum PersonalizedMediaBlog.com
* Mike Manuel at Voce
* Voce at Voce
* Hill and Knowlton
* Constantin Basturea
* Jim Grisanzio
* HousingNewswire
* David Berlind
* Wagner Communications
* Capulet Communications
* BL Ochman
* Mike Bawden
* Chris Perry, Weber Shandwick
* Trevor Cook (Trevor, see I acknowledge! I'd love to keep talking, but I am one dude with a busy day job and a PC PowerBook.)
This was a tough one to get right. I am all for open communication, but I wanted to make sure we had the right people in the room who can create change on a large scale. It looks like we achieved both and that I made the wrong decision to keep it “closed” at first. I apologize if this offended you. Regardless, we're on the right track now so let the conversation continue.
Perhaps what's most shocking here (other than the press release itself) is that he has raised $280 so far! Wait. Before you go blog about this, it seems as though I am partly to blame, according to this FAQ ...
“Tagtextual is a term coined by Steve Rubel on his blog in January 2005, it means using tags to advertise. Rubel suggests that tagging will 'give the marketer new ways to reach engaged consumers by sponsoring tags'. He says that this might be over various websites. I am giving advertisers the opportunity to do it here for the first time. This will serve as a time capsule as the first Tagtextual Advertising website.”
The picture says it all. Oh and he takes PayPal.
Technorati Tags: del.icio.us, Tagging, Tags
Loic Le Meur points out that Nokia has launched a special blog site to serve both media and bloggers interested in the Nseries N90 phone. Its sole purpose is to supply content creators with resources about the N90. Interesting idea.
Billboard reports that iPod-friendly Rush Limbaugh video clips are on the way. Meanwhile, Broadcasting and Cable says Disney will roll out a massive effort to use iPods to promote the upcoming film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
Technorati Tags: vidcasting, Vodcasting
BusinessWeek is reporting that the next version of Windows - Windows Vista - may ship on August 31. What's notable here isn't the scoop itself, but how they got it. Someone sent them an internal blog post written by Chris Jones.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows Vista
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