Extras

The difficulty of scanning podcasts…

Posted on by charlie

I’ve been spending the past few days catching up on my manifestos from ChangeThis. They just handed over the management of the whole site to 800-CEO-READ. Nonetheless, I knew Seth Godin was one of the founders, but read about the other folks there and followed the link to Amit Gupta.

Funny guy, go read him.

But, one comment caught my eye:

Link: Amit Gupta’s Blog.

There are more blogs than I can absorb and sort through already, but as Seth points out, at least I can spend 10 seconds on a blog and know if it’s worth my time or not. Not so with a podcast. As the number of available podcasts grows, the problem of figuring out what to listen to becomes greater.

When I was at Les Blogs back at the end of April, Caterina Fake, of Flickr fame, made a comment that stuck with me: ‘you can’t scan a page of videos as you can a page of photos’.

It shook me, becuase I am a video guy and I just love posting videos from the road to my blog. But, she’s right, it’s not easy to know what a video is about or how long by just looking at a screen shot or some numbers.

The same thing will happen with podcasts, as Anil mentions. You really can’t scan them rapidly as you can with text or photos.

Indeed, this harks back to some discussions we used to have at work about audio and video and that, while both are information rich, they aren’t easy to browse and hence have a lower importance in one’s Lifeblog.

Musings

gapingvoid: how to be creative (long version)

Posted on by charlie

I had the good fortune of meeting Hugh at Loïc’s Paris schmooze-fest, Les Blogs, back at the end of April. We had a nice long chat about our weird backgrounds, how we got to where we were, and a bit of musing of where we’re going. What’s funnier, I’m looking forward to the day I can afford to have Hugh fit me
with a suite or jacket. 😉

I hadn’t realized until today, but I had downloaded Hugh’s article, How to be Creative, from ChangeThis, the manifesto site (great site, BTW), a long time ago. And it was appropriate for me to read it today. In the past week, I had a juicy book deal vanish just as I was about to start the work, I turned down a really cool gig a bit too fast, and then had a potentially great and fun new gig deal stall and die just as the negotiations were getting somewhere. It is no wonder that I have been trying to get back to basics – my obsession with creating things: stories, macromolecules, experiences, relationships, stuff.

‘How to be Creative’ is not about how to become creative, but how to live being an obsessive creative person and tips on how to deal with that ‘burden’. The manifesto speaks heaps to my constant turmoil between my creative urges and my need to feed the family. It is also full of many nuggets of wisdom as only Hugh can deliver them.

I suggest that if you are the creative type, that you read this a few times.
 

General

More on the end of TheFeature

Posted on by charlie

I’m a bit peeved and don’t feel like waiting until Monday to find out:

It’s one thing for a publication like TheFeature to fold – that’s just the way things are. But, it really stinks when 5 years worth of content are gone in an instant.

Sure, someone has to pay to keep all that conent up and the same reasons that made TheFeature disappear are the same ones that don’t permit it to just keep the contnet live – even that costs money.

In all the talk around the web, sighing about the end of TheFeature, I don’t think anyone cried for the content. But, isn’t permanence what it is all about?

Will TheFeature content ever be made available again? Heck, I have links to some really great articles.

I think I need to have a chat with the lads from TheFeature.

As an aside, I used to write for a site that vanished. I contacted the site and they sent all the content files to me on a DVD. Can something similar be available for TheFeature that others could keep or serve from elsewhere?

Announcements

Carlo Longino has resurfaced at MobHappy

Posted on by charlie

Yet another blog on Mobile? I think not. Russell (who comes highly recommended by mobilejones – here) has started a new blog with a huge potential readership and has hooked in Carlo from TheFeature (RIP) as a partner.

Great duo. Good luck guys!

Link: MobHappy: Welcome Carlo.

I’m delighted to say that this also leaves Carlo free to join MobHappy, as my partner. We want to continue the best traditions of TheFeature of quality comment and opinion on everything happening in mobile technology. As both Carlo and I have always tried to do, we want to bring you the news that matters and try and analyse why it matters. And we have a unique combination of in-depth knowledge of both the US and European markets, respectively.

Announcements

The end of TheFeature

Posted on by charlie

TheFeature is gone. I remember the begining from before I joined Nokia and I was there very close to the owners when it was at the end.

May the spirit live on.


The End of the Road

By TheFeature, Thu Jun 30 12:15:00 GMT 2005

Five
years ago, we set out to build a community to explore the mobile
Internet. Now, that community is strong enough to move ahead on its
own.

When TheFeature.com was launched in the fall of 2000, it was a
pretty revolutionary idea — a corporation like Nokia setting up an
independent, non-branded site with the task of getting people thinking
and talking about the future of mobile communications. Its goal was
straightforward: "TheFeature aims to be nothing less than a voice — an
opinionated, independent voice for the mobility community." With the
dramatic changes in the Internet publishing landscape since then, and
the rise of blogs in particular, TheFeature’s role as a leader in the
community perhaps isn’t as necessary as it once was, with many quality
sites discussing relevant topics and providing outlets for the vibrant
community that’s sprouted up around the mobile industry.

So in
that sense, we can say "mission accomplished." It’s with a heavy heart,
then, that we must reveal this will be the last post on TheFeature.com.
When the site launched, 3G was still a far-off, almost pipe dream
concept, and GPRS was barely a reality. We helped begin a conversation
around these ideas; we now leave that conversation to carry on in the
community that supported us.

TheFeature has always, at its
heart, been a community — so we extend an enormous thanks to those who
participated in it, either by commenting or interacting, just reading
or linking to us and carrying on the discussion of ideas presented here
in their own space. We couldn’t have accomplished everything without
you. We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to all our contributors,
particularly those that have worked with us over the last two years.
We’ve been very fortunate to assemble a staff of some of the best
thinkers and writers, who in turn have worked tirelessly to come up
with great stories to share.


Now is the time for us to step
back, and let the conversation and community move forward on its own.
It’s been a great ride, and we’re glad that everyone could join us. So,
would the last one out please turn off the lights…

02 Jul 05 – I can’t seem to access it, hence no link. Sigh.