Author: Randy Stewart

John Battelle and Economy of Intention

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date November 1, 2006

I had a great time at last week’s Blog Business Summit. I met a lot of people whose work I respect a great deal and people that I found that I had a lot in common with. John Battelle is someone that I hold in very high regard because he inspired me very early on.

I got an opportunity to hear Battelle speak Friday and he’s as well spoken in person as he is on his blog. The content of his speech inspired me yet again. I’ve read his book, The Search but I don’t think I truly realized how powerful an idea “The Database of Intention” truly was. Adsense and Adwords best illustrate the power of the intention economy and it is those products that have put Google where they are today.

Why FM Publishing?

Given all of that, I still have a lingering question. If Battelle truly believes intent will triumph over content, why did he start a “content” based publishing business, rather than one based on intent? I asked John that very question.

Essentially John replied that in the near term there are tons of advertising opportunities for content. To me that future seems limited. This limitation and distinction is currently being well demonstrated when comparing Yahoo’s quarterly earnings versus Google’s.

I relearned a valuable lesson that day; sometimes your idols let you down. Battelle isn’t a visionary, but he has spent his career being able to recognize them and to report on them, and in a limited way, to capitalize on them. I hope he will be able to learn the lessons he is teaching to capitalize on his Database of Intentions in the future.

Photo by Niall Kennedy.

Geek Fun

Textmate Halloween Icon

textmate halloween.jpg

Totally off-topic, but I got a nice little surprise after I updated TextMate today.

Instead of my normal TextMate icon, I got the image you see here. God, I love this program!

[Update from the comments]

Simon Dorfman Says:

“And if you open two or more files and once so you get the document side drawer, the page area has a spiderweb image instead of the textmate icon.”

Very cool! Thanks, Simon.

Google Video

Diet Coke and Mentos, Part Duh

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 30, 2006

Feeling much like most sequels do, the EepyBird boys are back. Bigger and better than their first video, but lacking the wonder and awe. This time, they’re getting paid by Google, not Revver.

TechCrunch reports on the deal between Google, Eepybird and their new sponsors, Diet Coke and Mentos (You’d think that Diet Pepsi would beating down their door). According to the report, this will be the first of many sponsored videos from Google Video, but this doesn’t appear to be for just anyone. Google is focusing on the top producers, rather than their typical long tail.

Unfortunately, the biggest loser in this deal is Revver, but this certainly proves their business model.

Apple Microsoft

Scoble on the Zune

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 26, 2006

After watching Scoble’s Zune video yesterday, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Zune, but I did know one thing for sure, the Zune pm lacked something… I know. It was enthusiasm. Man… I know Scoble isn’t MTV, but Microsoft, try sending the guy that makes me wanna buy this thing. Oy.

Bizhack thinks the Zune pm is a buzzword generator.

In any case, Scoble’s take on the “device” is here and it is pretty scathing.

As a big fan of the iPod and a long time Apple fan, I want the Zune to not suck. Competition is good and having someone nip at your heels keeps you on your toes.

Conferences Site News

Business Blogging Summit

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 24, 2006

This week, Seattle hosts the Business Blogging Summit from Wednesday, October 25th to Friday, October 27th. I’ll be on hand to pick up valuable tips from the folks that are there as well as meeting up with some people that I met back in July at Gnomedex.

I’m looking forward to meeting up with folks who are interested in social media, so if you are coming to the show, drop me a line so we can meet up.

Consumer Electronics Games Links

Links for Friday, October 20, 2006

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 20, 2006

Hands on with the Zune
A little fan boyish, but nevertheless, a first peak at the Zune player from Microsoft. Sharing sounds a little kludgy, but this is a 1st generation concept.

Another point of view on Warcraft
A tale of someone who isn’t addicted to Worlds of Warcraft. I’m not addicted either. I’ve never played it :-).

Google Yahoo

The state of online advertising?

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 19, 2006

If you think of Google (GOOG) and Yahoo! (YHOO) as bellwethers for online advertising, you have to be scratching your head today. Or maybe not. I think Yahoo! may be the canary in the coal mine.

Google

Ad Slowdown, What Slowdown? – GigaOm
Google revenues surge on ad strength – Financial Times
Google’s 3Q Profit Nearly Doubles – AP
Google revenues surge on ad – MSNBC

and from a few days ago

Yahoo

Dear Google Bulls: Yahoo! Comments still suggests a problem – Henry Blodgett
Dot com bubble 2.0 – Slashdot.org
Yahoo shares fall on 3Q profit decline – AP

So, we’ve got Om Malik in one corner (who just started his own venture backed, advertising funded blog network) saying online advertising is strong versus Henry Blodget (Web 1.0 cheerleader who helped inflate so many dot coms) who thinks that we might be heading into familiar territory.

So who do you believe? If there is one thing that I have learned from being in business on the net for the last 11 years, diversify your revenue streams. Ad sales is a cyclical business which means you have good years and you have bad ones. Ask CNET or Yahoo! who limped through the downturn in 2001-2004. Ask eBay, who didn’t have any problems during the bust, but who is currently buying its way into growing businesses.

God, I hate to say it, but I think I agree with Blodget…

Links

Links for Thursday, October 19, 2006

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 19, 2006

Om on Steam
Mr. Malik today talks about the baby steps that the gaming industry is taking into digital distribution. Steam is the digital distribution arm of Valve Software, makers of the popular Half Life series, and recently they have started distributing other game makers’ games.

Games, while heavily pirated online, would benefit greatly from pure digital distribution as Xbox Live seems to be proving. Valve seems to operate a somewhat “locked box” model like the closed system of the Xbox 360 and presumably the PS3.

Midsummer Night’s Virtual World
Interview with the Indiana University professor, Edward Castranova, who won a grant to create, “Arden: The World of Shakespeare,” online game. The idea behind the game is to create a virtual petri dish to study virtual worlds. Castranova wrote the book Synthetic Worlds last year and is the head of IU’s Synthetic Worlds Initiative. This doesn’t sound like the next WoW, but the study should be interesting.

Turning Social Networks into Dollars
CNET talks today about how social networks are devising ways to make money from their users through targeted advertising.

Mac LightScribe Software
So, unfortunately, if you already own one of these drives, it doesn’t look like this will help, but LaCie has created the first software to create LightScribe discs on the Mac. LightScribe, is a technology for CD burners that can burn an image on the top of discs that you burn. Pretty cool stuff and finally available for the Mac.

Downloads Links Video YouTube

Links for Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 17, 2006

PopSugar gets $5mm in funding from Sequoia
Blog network for â€œyoung, hip womenâ€ got a nice kitty from the folks at Sequoia. It looks like PopSugar’s main site has been growing a fair clip on their main blog (see graphic) and are doing a bit more than just blogging with a little bit of social networking thrown in. With women marrying and having kids later in life, this is a strong demographic that is under-served on the net.

UndoTV launches…kinda

Looks like Chris Pirillo and Leo Laporte are getting the band back together for one more show…or an online revival of the TechTV gang of old. The site also looks to be a hub for getting other folks involved uploading their own reviews and tech related content. Looks interesting, although, this could just be a channel on YouTube, so I’ll be curious to see how they differentiate the product.

Apple General

Nerd-tastic!

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 16, 2006

A bit of digression-

Here are pix from a couple of events that I’ve gone to recently.

Woz

woz.and.scoble.jpg

First, a couple of Friday’s ago, Steve Wozniak was interviewed on the UW campus by Robert Scoble (I say interviewed, but Scoble didn’t get a lot in edge wise). Woz is someone that I have always respected a lot because it has always seemed that he was a highly unlikely revolutionary. Money and fame hasn’t changed him as he seems to be as lovable a nerd as ever. Great stories from the man who brought computers to the rest of us.

Woz Trivia – apparently, Woz was once the highest scoring player of Gameboy Tetris so many times in Nintendo Power magazine that they asked him to stop submitting his scores.

Hopefully, Scoble puts his video up soon so you can watch this highly animated talk.

John Hodgman

Second, John Hodgman visited Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Company to promote his book, Areas of My Expertise, going into paperback. Readers may be familiar with his Daily Show work or maybe his Apple ads as the lovable dufus, the PC. If you get a chance to see John on his book tour, I highly recommend it. His reading and routine are quite witty and his book is side-splittingly funny.

John is pictured with my friend, Suzi.

Why FM Publishing?

Photo by Niall Kennedy.

picture by respulveda

Google

Yahoo

Woz

John Hodgman