Scripting News

Robert Scoble

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:37:55 GMT

Ted Leonsis

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:51:16 GMT

A new view of NY Times news

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:01:06 GMT

After spending a day with the old keyword page, and getting bored with it, I came up with a new way to look at news, something I've not tried before, that might be fun and/or useful

http://nytimesriver.com/keywords.html

Since it's likely to change again soon, here's a screen shot.

How it works. Every hour, as usual, it does the nytimesriver scan. Every story is linked to in the database undern all the keywords it references. Then the report, in HTML, is prepared, with the keywords in the left column, and links to all the stories in the right colum. The list is sorted by number of references, the keywords with the most references appear at the top of the list.

So today, baseball is the top item, with 15 references. The teams, the Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies, rank high. For some reason (heh) the Boston Red Sox don't appear, even though they're still in it, and the Yankees, even though they've been eliminated (yay!) are near the top at position 10.

It's another leaderboard! (Oh shit.)

The stories age, and are removed after 24 hours. After all this is news, not olds.

If you have comments, post them under the screen shot, linked above.

PS: Note that since the list just started up today, the initial stories, even though some are already 24 hours old, will remain in the queue until tomorrow morning at this time. So the list will be artificially fat today, it'll thin down tomorrow.

Help, I need really solid expand-collapse code

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:25:40 GMT

I really need a rock-solid expand-collapse display that I can integrate with Scripting News.

If you're reading this in RSS, flip over to the home page and have a look. See how the pluses and minuses work? There are a bunch of problems:

1. Doesn't work in Opera. Deal-stopper. Opera users are cool folk.

2. I don't like the indentation. I want the text flush-left.

3. Takes too long to display. I want it to be instantaneous.

4. Must be multi-level. I haven't tested the code I'm using with more than two levels.

I know it can be much better, because I see it done better in lots of places.

Looking for help from people who know their Javascript. Me, I'm into other things (obviously).

Mock up a Scripting News home page with your code, and post a pointer, and we'll test it out. When it's done, everyone will be able to use it.

BTW, I know there are people from the Radio community that have stuff in this area, I just don't know how well supported the stuff is these days. It's been a while.

Colin Faulkingham has a mockup that works in Opera, etc.

More NY Times digging

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:07:25 GMT

Before heading over to the Web 2.0 conference at the Palace Hotel in SF this morning, I couldn't resist doing some more digging into alternate user interfaces for news reading based on the NY Times keywords.

One thing I learned the hard way is that when you access the Times site from a script (not through a browser) if you try to read an article that's too old (not sure what the time limit is) it tries to redirect you to a login page (which is pretty pointless considering that there's no human being around to log in). I hit this problem yesterday, and then hit it again this morning, but couldn't remember what the problem was. So by writing it up this time I hope to remember.

No doubt some debunked hack journalist posing as a tech industry mogul will slander me for this, but the ~~asshat~~ asshole has no idea how blogging works, and who the fuck cares what he thinks anyway.

"cheesecake"

NY Times topics in OPML, the mother lode?

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:59:03 GMT

Amyloo was digging around the NY Times code weblog and found this OPML file, weighing in at a monstrous 3.3MB that contains some mysterious but rich data about the NY Times and a guide to using the Times to cover special topics that I don't think anyone outside the Times knew existed, but there it is, in a public folder, so lets have a look.

1. There are 10522 top-level headlines. There's no structure to the OPML, it's absolutely flat.

Here's an HTML rendering of the list: timestopics.html.

2. It's a subscription list. Each item has four attributes, type, title, htmlUrl and xmlUrl.

3. The htmlUrl for each element points to a page of stories for the topic. For example, here's a page of stories about table tennis. On that page is a link to an RSS 2.0 feed containing the same information.

4. The xmlUrl links for at least some of the elements are broken, the error appears to be very simple, if you replace the ampersand with a question mark, it works.

If you look around at the topics you'll see it's an incredibly rich set of data. Here are just some of the topics that begin with the letter T: Tableware, Taste, Tattoos, Tax Credits, Tax Evasion, Taxation, Taxicabs and Taxicab Drivers, Tea, Teachers and School Employees, TED Conference News, Teflon, Telephones and Telecommunications, Television, Television Sets, Table Tennis, Terra Cotta, Terrorism, Tests and Testing, Textbooks, Thanksgiving Day.

NY Times metadata

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:54:06 GMT

If you do a View Source on a NY Times story, you'll see that there's lots of metadata in the HTML, including keywords for most of the of the stories.

Behind the keywords is a taxonomy that I haven't seen, but would like to. I asked them to make this public, both at my meeting there last Thursday and in a phone talk this morning. I think there could be a lot of value in the Times taxonomy, it might even set a standard.

In the meantime, I wrote a script last night that tracks the keywords in NY Times stories as they flow through the nytimesriver application. Here's a report that's updated once per hour.

http://nytimesriver.com/keywords.html

Obviously it would be interesting to be able to click on the keywords to see what articles reference each of the keywords. And it would also be nice to have a cumulative list and a daily list. Right now all we have is the cumulative version.

But it's still pretty interesting, bordering on fascinating to think of the possibilities if they provide the framework behind these keywords.

When the pros try to figure out how what they do will continue to make sense after the Internet achieves all its promise, this may be an example. The metadata is generated by librarians, and we don't as yet have our own librarians in the blogosphere (though some might disagree). And it's possible that after a release of the taxonomy that something like Wikipedia may happen, with the public taking over maintenence of the taxonomy. No one knows what will happen, but one thing seems clear, there can be value in a news organization beyond the reporting and editing it does.

Unsung flow-builders

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:27:56 GMT

Over the last week, I've been writing about the disconnect between flow and rank. Paradoxically, sites that are ranked high don't always deliver a lot of hits when they link to you.

On the flipside, there are some sites that are rarely on Top 100 lists, or talked about very much, that deliver substantial flow. Two of them stand out, one a veteran site, and the other a relative newcomer.

1. Daring Fireball is a thoughtful blog written by John Gruber that focuses on the Macintosh. Since I've returned to the Mac in 2005, and have been writing more about Mac issues, I've started getting links from this site, and when I do, they usually send between 1000 and 2000 readers my way. And they're generally interesting people with useful information and ideas. I follow Gruber on Twitter and have learned that he is a Phillies fan and therefore disappointed this year. His posts are interesting there too, and irreverent, which I like of course.

2. A Digg-like memetracker, news.ycombinator.com is in the same league as TechMeme, about 1000 hits for a highly ranked piece. I don't know much about the site, I'm not a regular reader, and I don't know much about the people who visit from this site.

iPhone SDK coming in Feb

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:32:21 GMT

Apple announced that there will be an SDK for the iPhone.

Hooray!

Funny sign at Web 2.0

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:56:12 GMT

Thanks to Bijan Sabet!

Nokia N810

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:08:33 GMT

Just read about this on Engadget.

I know there's a Nokia breakfast in SF starting at 8AM, which I will not be able to make, but as an N800 user, if this product really is coming, I can see two thing right off the bat that address major problems with the previous model. 1. Nokia makes good keyboards, but the old model doesn't have one. On-screen keyboards are a pain, even relatively good ones like the one in the iPhone, but the one in the N800 is not particularly good. 2. The other notable feature is the screen resolution, which looks pretty fantastic.

Anyway, I've asked my contacts at Nokia for info as soon as it's available, but it seems like the Engadget guys are on top of it. If you have any more info, please post a comment here. Thanks.

Later...

Nokia did announce the N810 (data sheet pdf).

Here's a high-res picture.

A video showing the N810 in action.

Flors: What the N810 means for maemo developers.

Apple's iPhone SDK announcement

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:45:32 GMT

Note: There was no permalink for the story on Apple's news website, here's the full text, with permalink. DW

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers¹ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

It will take until February to release an SDK because we¹re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once‹provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones‹this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.

Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than ³totally open,² we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone¹s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.

We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.

Steve

P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch. [Oct 17, 2007]

Beware the exclusive

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:04:37 GMT

Web 2.0 companies, observe how Loic rolls his product out. It's done personally. Not with a big bang, but with nurturing, one user at a time, at first, then it will fan out, but it will always have the personal touch, because it began that way.

In contrast, giving an exclusive to one press person or one blogger can be much less effective. It may get you on top of the ladder for a moment, but the glory fades fast, and then what? And your first impression is in the hands of someone else. What if he or she doesn't like you or your product? (Or worse, if they have a conflicting interest, I've seen it happen.) You could get sandbagged.

Most PR firms show you how to do the big bang rollout, because that's all they know. But even the greatest promoters, with the most press credit (I'm thinking of Steve Jobs) won't rely exclusively on the press to carry their product. They guide it, they put their personal signature on it, they create an experience.

No doubt in the next few days there will be a lot of rollouts because of the Web 2.0 conf in SF. The only ones you'll read about here, with any positive juice, are the ones that roll out with personality.

Loic is a great promoter

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:02:21 GMT

It's been a real thrill to watch Loic Le Meur roll out his new video community tool called Seesmic. He's got the French touch, a bit self-deprecating, he's good at seduction, keeps his ego in the background and puts the focus on the users, where it should be.

As he's been seeding people one by one, they create videos which then appear on Twitter (heh) so people who don't have Seesmic get an idea what it's like through the eyes of people they know. This immediately creates a feeling of envy, but if you beg Loic he gives you an activation code, and off you go -- ready to become his next evangelist. Feeling priviledged to be his next evangelist. It's like Tom Sawyer and the fence.

He reminds me so much of Jean-Louis Gassee in his prime, when he had all the Mac developers wrapped around his finger, and loving it.

I have an idea of where Loic wants to go with this, and it's going to be big. It'll be a fun ride, and fun to watch a master promoter at work.

PS: Here's my latest Seesmic video, a demo of FlickrRiver. You may have to turn up the audio to understand what I'm saying, or use headphones. We're going to do something fun with the people at Le Web 3 and FlickrRivr. Thanks to Loic for also having a curious mind.

PPS: Beware the exclusive.

New toy

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 05:51:12 GMT

Another bug bites the dust

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:45:04 GMT

I just fixed another bug in the category processing in Flickr-to-Twitter. It's amazing that such a small piece of code can have so many bugs.

This time, the problem was if you had two tags on a photo, one of them was the one that was supposed to let your picture pass, and the other was a tag for some other purpose. You'd think the pic would flow through to Twitter.

Well, it should.

But it didn't.

Now it does.

That's what I'm saying

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:43:39 GMT

I like the way Lemon O'Brien expresses himself.

Paolo gets an iPod Touch

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:49:47 GMT

I had a great Skype talk with Paolo yesterday. He was driving his car, in Italy near his home in Trieste. The connection was great, it was like living in the future.

One of the things we talked about was the iPhone. At first I talked about it as if Paolo had had one from the outset. He feels that close, and he's the kind of person who would get the latest Mac toy on Day 1, just like me. Later, when he said he just got his iPod Touch, I realized of course, this is one of those things we got here in the U.S. that they haven't gotten yet in Europe. Don't worry, they have some something we don't, a strong currency. :-(

So here's his first writeup of the iPod Touch.

The small picture

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:38:41 GMT

Why is it that the highest-rated sites, some with supposedly hundreds of thousands of subscribers, only generate a couple hundred hits when they link to you?

As Pete Cashmore on Mashable says, it's because the subscriber numbers don't reflect actual readership. The people who subscribed may not even be aware that they are subscribed. Or put another way, we haven't learned yet how to measure what's valuable, we only have the crudest ways to measure value, so crude as to be meaningless.

Ultimately what matters to me is not how many people subscribe to my feed, rather how much of a connection I can make with the people I want to connect with. I'm satisfied that the people I care about read my site, and the aggregators flow mostly the wrong people through my posts with the most sensational headlines, ignoring the ones with the greatest value, imho.

I'm a blogger not a broadcaster. Blogging isn't about mass markets, it's about the small picture. My small picture (and for you, yours). I'm trying to draw a picture, create a frame of reference that's personal, not corporate. I'm a zig to corporate media's zag. I am a blogger. I am personal.

I don't want a hundred thousand ghosts "subscribing" to my feed. I want to influence the thinkers of the tech sphere, and I'm satisfied that I do. No leaderboard is ever going to reflect that, even though my site is often favorably rated by them.

I want rating services to provide clues about what I should be subscribing to. I want them to find not what's popular with the masses but what will be valuable to me. My favorite movies are not the ones the masses like, I prefer art films and ultra-violent comedies (I like everything Quentin Taratino does, for example).

It's a simple matter to apply collaborative filtering to this problem, we've even done it in SYO. These ideas need revisiting now that everyone else seems to have caught on that this is a problem worth solving.

Fred Wilson: "I totally agree about engagement being the right metric."

Photo set: Berkeley Hills, sunny after rain

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:48:14 GMT

Instead of using my iPhone and Twittergram to post real-time pictures, I used the Nikon and took higher resolution pictures.

The leaves are turning, and the sun was out after a huge rain. I thought there would be some good pictures, and there were.

Click on the picture above to see the set.