Top > Dave's World > Weblog Archive > 2005 > September > 16Previous/Next


Scripting News, the weblog started in 1997 that bootstrapped the blogging revolution.
 
Permanent link to archive for Friday, September 16, 2005. Friday, September 16, 2005

A new chapter in my dad's MBA Toolbox. "Once you start looking for business opportunities, you are more likely to find them." Permanent link to this item in the archive.

A picture named ball.jpgTitleist, a company that makes golf balls, clubs and accessories, now has RSS feeds. Really smart. Golf is a conversation, and if you make golf balls, you want to be part of the golf conversation. The golf part of RSS is largely a void in 2005, so if you're Titleist, why not move to fill it? It's cheap. An example of RSS-as-advertising; much more powerful than advertising-in-RSS. Why pay someone else to hitch a ride in a conversation, when you can host it yourself? Much more cost-effective, and appreciated by customers. People don't like intrusive marketing as much as they like finding commercial information they're looking for. As Doc Searls says, there's no demand for messages. But there is demand for golf balls, says Titleist. Both are right.  Permanent link to this item in the archive.

I cross-posted on the Really Simple Syndication site, it'll be interesting to see if Memeorandum picks it up. Like Scoble, I find it's changed the way I think about blogging. Not many of these tech gadgets do that.  Permanent link to this item in the archive.

PaidContent interviews Martin Nisenholtz of the NY Times. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

BusinessWeek profiles anonymous blogger Mini-Microsoft. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Bret Fausett: ICANN Adopts RSS...and Podcasts! Permanent link to this item in the archive.

A parable of Postelia Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Once upon a time there was a fictitious continent named Postelia, and it had a wonderful network of trains. You could go anywhere you liked, every town had a station, and there were subways too, every neighborhood had a stop, and you could get from the main rail line to one of the sub-lines, and through a complicated set of "peering arrangements" your pass on one line would gain you entrance to the other. It was very convenient to get around in Postelia, and inexpensive too. While America, Europe and Asia were choking under clouds of gasoline exhaust, the skies of Postelia were clear. Birds sang, children played and life was good!

To make the system even more terrific, there were conventions. If you went into a station you'd find that there was a pattern. The low numbered tracks were for inter-city express trains, the high-numbered ones were for tourists and students and went to resorts or places of historic interest. The odd-numbered tracks went north or east, the even-numbered ones went south or west. There were hot dog stands on tracks whose numbers were divisible by five, and news stands on tracks whose numbers were divisible by 12.

And at every station, on Track 24, there was a Traveler's Aid station. That meant that if a Postelian lost his wallet while traveling, or got tired and needed a place to sit down, they could go to Track 24, where they would find someone with a helpful attitude and a hot cup of coffee. Some tourists knew about the Track 24 convention, and those that didn't could find the information in one of the many tour guides. Or they would learn about it if they asked someone on the train where to go for help, or if they stopped a friendly policeman, or asked a vendor at a hot dog stand. Most people didn't know about the Track 24 convention, but the people who helped people, did. The information wasn't known by many people, but it was widely available. A subtle difference.

And that concludes our story for today.

     

Last update: Friday, September 16, 2005 at 4:59 PM Eastern.

Dave Winer Mailto icon

 


Community Directory
A picture named folder.gif Seattle Mind Camp Roll
A picture named folder.gif On this day in
A picture named folder.gif News.Com top 100 OPML
A picture named folder.gif BloggerCon III Blogroll
A picture named folder.gif TechCrunch reviews
A picture named folder.gif Tod Maffin's directory of Public Radio podcasts
A picture named folder.gif Adam Curry's iPodder.org directory
A picture named folder.gif Memeorandum
A picture named folder.gif DaveNet archive
A picture named folder.gif Scripting News sites
Click here to view the OPML source for this directory.

Click here to see a list of recently updated OPML weblogs.

Morning Coffee Notes, an occasional podcast by Scripting News Editor, Dave Winer.

September 2005
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
 
Aug   Oct


Click here to see an XML representation of the content of this weblog.

Click here to view the OPML version of Scripting News.


          


© Copyright 1997-2005 Dave Winer. The picture at the top of the page may change from time to time. Previous graphics are archived.


Previous/Next