Scripting News

Tue, 06 May 2003 20:48:53 GMT

Back in Cambridge, 5PM Eastern. Back east. Feels right.

Tue, 06 May 2003 21:35:06 GMT

Diego Doval's review of blogging API's, and the discussion that followed is an absolute must-read for developers working on either side of the interfaces. There really hasn't been enough analysis of the APIs until this piece. He did a really good job. I've posted further comments here.

Tue, 06 May 2003 21:20:53 GMT

Over the last few days a number of people have asked me how to get started blogging. Now with the understanding that I own a lot of UserLand stock, here's my best advice. If you work somewhere with a Manila installation, get them to give you a site there. It's really powerful, and having all the software on a centralized server can be quite convenient. Another choice is to find a commercial Manila hosting service and pay them some money to host your site. That can cost a bit more than some people want to spend. I also highly recommend Radio UserLand, which puts all the blogging software on yoiur computer, and also includes a RSS aggregator, which amplifies your Web reading. It's got a free 30-day trial, after that it costs about $40 per year.

Tue, 06 May 2003 20:50:03 GMT

John Palfrey asked me to debate Jon Bonne at MSNBC about the value of citizen blogging in the 2004 presidential election. I reluctantly agreed, figuring I'd get slimed with all kinds of gratuitous boasting about how they check facts, and know all the insiders, and have big budgets, etc etc. I wasn't disappointed in the first round. He begins his rebuttal to Citizen Bloggers in NH with this gem: "The elusive part of the feedback loop in election reporting has always been the voter." That's like saying the elusive part of skiing is snow. The elusive part of cooking is food. The elusive part of sex is (use your imagination). I'll have a rebuttal tomorrow.

Tue, 06 May 2003 20:50:58 GMT

A place for comments on this debate.

Wed, 07 May 2003 00:01:40 GMT

Bonne has a LiveJournal site.

Tue, 06 May 2003 22:25:30 GMT

Dan Bricklin in rebuttal to Jon Bonne.

Tue, 06 May 2003 21:09:41 GMT

Google search for Jon Bonne, MSNBC.

Tue, 06 May 2003 20:59:41 GMT

Oh by the way, there's another Dan Bricklin piece in today's NY Times. I like Dan, but why is he so endlessly fascinating to these guys?

Tue, 06 May 2003 20:15:52 GMT

I held my breath until Corante supported RSS, and now, whew, I can breathe again. They did a nice job. And now Berkman's favorite Meryl Streep lookalike, Donna Wentworth, is subscribable.

Tue, 06 May 2003 20:23:09 GMT

Should we assume that the BBC checked the facts in this glowing account of the first week of iTunes? The Apple press release was predictable. The BBC story is a rewrite.

Tue, 06 May 2003 20:19:26 GMT

Scoble: "I'll be offline until Monday, when I start my new job."

Tue, 06 May 2003 19:54:49 GMT

Don Park: "Wiki is like a fun house for cheery gully dwarves, endless interconnected rooms with five-feet high ceiling and no housemaids."

Tue, 06 May 2003 20:11:24 GMT

Doc Searls on Microsoft vs the Principle Of Good Enough. This came up at the TTI conference yesterday, and my mind substituted Good with Bad. That's what really wins. Kind of a merger between POGE and "It's even worse than it appears," which should be the software designer's motto, if it isn't already. Praise Murphy!