This is the first of a new type of post which I call "Geek Smatterings." I created a new category for it and everything. Geek Smatterings will contain short bits from my inner geek while rockin' to everybody's favorite Beantown band, Jason Haley and The Crosstown Links. The content won't be as nerdy as Jason's and probably not 100% technology focused like his, but I'm a geek with a link and I'm going for it. Now, on with today's smatterings.
SUBSCRIPTION IDIOCY. Speaking of Jason, his Interesting Finds for this morning listed Paul Graham's post on Web 2.0. A very good read, as Jason pointed out. Graham is author of "Hackers and Painters." I've not read the book, but Paul Graham's OSCON 2005 talk is in my Podcast Keepers playlist. So I really wanted to subscribe to Paul's blog. So I tried and tried to retrieve an RSS file and subscribe in RSS Bandit. After a couple of minutes I gave up. See ya, Paul. And it seems that I'm encountering this type of subscription idiocy more and more these days, especially with all of the feed burners, lickers and strokers out there wrapped around RSS.XML files.
EVERYMAN ON SONY. Much of the wired world is now aware of Sony's DRM debacle. It's fantastic to realize that the problem was discovered just two short weeks ago, demonstrating again the power of the blogosphere. Another issue is that Sony is not a uniquely bad guy here, but shares that title with the DRM pushers of all flavors, including that tangy Apple flavor. I hope the discussion continues. The "Everyman On Sony" angle is how ordinary people may simply turn off the Sony switch for a while. I noticed something about a new Sony media player on Google News today, for instance, and started to investigate when I thought, "why in the heck do I need to read about that? I'M not buying a stinkin' Sony product." The conclusion was involuntary and without debate. No Sony.
RSS BANDIT _IS_ ALIVE. Wonderful to read there's a roadmap for RSS Bandit. I thought it was just thrown up on SourceForge for kicks...and rather a long time ago now, too. No updates to the current v1.3.0.29 release since April.
LINK LISTERS. There are two good "link listers" besides Jason Haley that I look forward to reading: Joel Ross's "Ross Weekly" posts are lengthy lists of interesting happenings put into appropriately named categories. Really great. Ross Weekly is also in the form of a podcast, but I get a lot of value from the post itself. Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion Links posts that he seems to post darn-near every day are chock full of interesting happenings concerning the net, technology, the media and in marketing. I know there are other Link Listers I enjoy and hope to remember them in the next Smatterings session.