Morrie the Toupee Salesman » web 2.0

Top Digg Unpromoted Stories 2009-04-04 to 2009-04-11 (Manual Intervention Required)

Owen — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:33:27 +0000

New lows (or I mean highs this week). I’ve had to edit my list of top unpromoted stories because clearly there’s a new kind of bucket created specifically for Jon Gruber. Doesn’t show up in the API, search, anywhere. So I’ve manually added it. The rank is arbitrary, so I’ve made it no. 1 (where it would be if there hadn’t been intervention – not by me).

Diggs	User		Rank
2657	petekazanjy	How to block the DiggBar – Digging the anti-digg	1
270	Fishdicks	Gay Fish (Long Version)	968
266	iFrame	Great Collection of Beautiful Free Templates	963
252	BartGatsby	What Would Web 3.0 Look Like?	949
252	Jenocide312	It’s Not Easy Being The Life Of The Orgy	948
247	englishchick	Digg is indispensible for writers	944
246	MrBabyMan	Pirates XXX: A Battle Over Porn at the University of MD	943
241	Jenocide312	Lizards That Squirts Blood From Their Eyes	939
239	beatnut2k4	AT&T Rapidly Expanding Network to Accommodate New iPhone	938
237	naderventura	End of America Movie	936
234	Jenocide312	Caught on Tape: Man Explodes Gas Pump, is Engulfed in Flames	931
228	jboitnott	So You Think You Can Digg?	927
227	legendsjammer	Digg Voting System Applied to SXSW Music Festival	926
227	insider85	10 Reasons Why Being A Teenage Entrepreneur Sucks	925
225	alapoet	Prosecutor Drops Medical Marijuana Case Against Quadriplegic	924
224	MyCarteBlanche	Punks Kill American Hero’s Dog	923
221	xdvx	Digg Says Diggbar is NOT Evil And Is Lifting Visitors By 20%	921
220	Jenocide312	One Taco Truck Apparent Cause of Local Teenage Obesity	918
216	amabaie	Google knows where you live (sort of)	913
215	TalSiach	10 Signs You Might Not Be A Great NBA General Manager	912
213	1KrazyKorean	Scantron’nomics: How Scantrons Work & How To Beat Them	911
207	michaelpinto	Deciphering Digg: Itchy Trigger Finger and the New DiggBar	910
206	ThePowerDigger	Somebody Stole a Blond Woman – 911 Call (Audio)	909
204	msaleem	New Anti-Gay Marriage PSA The Dumbest Ad Ever	908
204	Jenocide312	6 Secret Ways to Save on Your Next Vacation	907

Upcoming Speaking Gigs

Owen — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:42:05 +0000

I’m talking next week at the Code Factory for the Ottawa eBusiness Cluster – title of the talk will be “2 Years in Web 2.0 Land: What I Learned.” Right now I’m thinking something themed around this classic Hugh MacLeod cartoon:

but I guess I need to expand it some.
Also coming up, I’ll be talking at PHP Quebec in early March on agile development and team building and stuff.

I love this guy

Owen — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:35:26 +0000

“Greenspan, who presents similar claims to have had an uncredited role in Facebook’s origins, said he has no intention of suing the company. He has, however, plunged into a quixotic and surprisingly adept legal effort to challenge the company’s registered trademark. In addition, he’s using the experience of publicly criticizing Facebook to inform his own startup.

…Still, the company just down the road is a preoccupation for him, even when discussing ideas for the startup he plans to build independently.
I tend to work on very big, long-terms ideas, which can be great if you get tons of funding … like Facebook has,” Greenspan said.”

Meanwhile the best that the genius behind facebook can come up with, most likely with massive PR help, is “Every 100 years media changes.”

Emphasis added by me.

Link

A Sad Day for Social News (maybe)

Owen — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:22:37 +0000

Hacker News might be banning valleywag. Michael Arrington crows. Valleywag is basically a techcrunch competitor. They report on the same companies, the same people. The difference is the editorial slant. Instead of the hushed reverence of the business press, they have a tabloid mentality. So basically they’re being banned not for their content, or for spamming, or any of the other unwritten conventions of social news sites. They’re being banned for their editorial stance. It’s ironic, because I remember the same antipathy towards techcrunch at another social news site (where I worked).

Sometimes You Prove Your Own Point Without Trying

Owen — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:36:49 +0000

Reading this article in the NYT one thing jumped right out me. No, not the intergenerational shift in news consumption, though that’s part of it. No, not the observation that people in their twenties have way more friends than I do, that’s just common sense. No, it was the sudden intrusion of what’s probably a Times Style Guide-approved abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator. In the world of twitter, digg, texting, etc. etc, capitals with periods – U.R.L. - is probably an indication that your style guide needs to be upgraded.

Quote for Today

Owen — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:16:57 +0000

“Techmeme is a template for a gazillion me-too bloggers who manage to write a dozen posts a day without ever expressing an original thought. That, depressingly, appears to be a successful business model, at least for now.”

Link

More Fascinating Drivel

Owen — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:42:28 +0000

From one Gary Vaynerchuck. If by “good” he means content-free and by “bad” he means “intelligent,” then I’m 100% in agreement. I’m gonna do the opposite of a hat tip to Scott Beale this time – I want my 2 minutes back, Scott, bill in the mail.

Quote for the Day

Owen — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:02:22 +0000

“It’s clear that the real growth in the Web 2.0 sector is happening outside of the Bay Area”

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9896632-7.html

Traffic Spike

Owen — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:53:22 +0000

I had a minor traffic spike yesterday, unusual since I haven’t posted much lately. I assume it’s because some people out there wanted to see if I had an opinion on the latest digg rumor and the latest Jay Adelson denial of that rumor. On the denial, shouldn’t MS or Google people be denying it? The article is about them and some other unnamed companies preparing bids – there isn’t anything about digg actually doing anything, so it’s easy to say for Jay to say it’s innaccurate. Since the article doesn’t say anything he is responsible for, he’s just expressing an opinion.

On the rumor – I’m feeling a bit sorry for Michael Arrington this morning, as probably the main result of this is that his credibility takes a hit. Other that, it’s just another rumor, perhaps a trial balloon, who knows… I’ve been hearing these things since May 2005.

Usual disclaimer.

The things kids say these days…

Owen — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:16:38 +0000

Love the Dave Winer comment here:

“…At a blogging conference, an open discussion, a young person asked me how much a guy my age could really understand about blogs.”

ex·pe·ri·ence
-noun
…
4. knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered, or undergone:a man of experience.

In my experience (and I have experienced similar comments) arrogance is a really bad substitute for experience.