General

Update: My Feed management services RFP

FeedBurner wins hands down.

It looks like no other feed management service has the stones to take them on. The FeedBurner reply was the only response I received. I saw traffic from multiple companies that offer Feed management services but none replied to my RFP. I will not mention any names of the lurking companies since they didn’t want to reply.

So In the coming weeks I will be migrating my feeds over to FeedBurner. I am happy to be moving my business to a Chicago based company. FeedBurner did meet most of my requirements though I prefer to use Google analytics for my web traffic analysis. Mint looks cool I will have to do an RFP for Analytics.

I will provide a more detailed post on FeedBurner later.

Recommendations, Reviews

An interesting article on Gopher

Six Apart has a great interview with Paul Lindner one of the creators of Gopher. It is an interesting exploration into Internet history. I also like the “we’re Hiring” plug at the end. Working with interesting and talented people is always a plus. It you are into software development check out the “worse is better” link, it’s an article by Richard Gabriel titled The Rise of “Worse is Better”.

So check it out it’s all worth reading.

Links Summary:
Six Apart interview with Paul Lindner

The Rise of “Worse is Better” by Richard Gabriel

Technology, tomcarroll.org

Update on my RFP for Feed Management Services

Well, I put out my RFP for feed management services last Thursday. I have received one thoughtful and rapid reply from FeedBurner (a Chicago company, that makes me happy). I have received visitors from some other companies that offer feed management services (You know who you are) but none as of this post have responded. So I will leave my RFP open until the end of the week.

On Friday August 11, I will make my decision and publish my findings.

So, if any of you lurking companies wish to take on FeedBurner, you better get to it.

Links:
reply from FeedBurner

Sunday Favorite

Sunday Favorite: Morning Bridge

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Morning Bridge, originally uploaded by Automatt.

The Bay bridge in the morning. Another photo from the San Francisco bay area. Beautiful, but I bet the traffic isn’t.

Enjoy.

Links:
Automatt’s Photo RSS feed via Flickr

question, Technology, tomcarroll.org

My RFP for Feed management services

I am looking to migrate from my WordPress generated and managed feeds to a third party service. So I thought I would spell out my requirements.

The important stuff:

  • The migration to the service must be seamless for my current subscribers (Yeah I know all 3).
  • The service should provide a suite of metrics that allow me better understand who, how often, when, how long, how many times (You know what I mean, the numbers).
  • In the case that I choose to leave your service, I must be able to migrate my feeds transparently and also be able to migrate my usage data.
  • I would like support for one click subscription to the various news readers.
  • The service must have tight wordpress integration.
  • Integration with analytical packages say like Google analytics
  • feeds must be human readable
  • I would like it to support leave comment from the feed.
  • Configurable support for social network services like Digg or del.icio.us (Sometimes I want it on, sometimes off)
  • Support for the widest set of RSS extensions (This is what I mean)
  • A strong record of availability, reliability and scalability (I might hit 4 subscribers someday)
  • Should support multiple feeds per site, no limit.
  • Integration to see where my feed is bookmarked and subscribed (share.opml.org, del.icio.us, Google reader ect…)

The not so important stuff:

  • Advertising, I prefer none. ( I know that say for a free service this is negotiable)

A free service must support the first 3 bullet points in my important stuff list. The rest Is negotiable. I may be willing to pay for no ads and really cool features. I would like to see a track record of satisfied customers, transparency is good. So that is it so far, if I think of more I will be sure to spring it on you in the 9th hour.

So make your case (reader recommendations welcome)

attention, Reviews, Technology

Cognitive Economy: A Great Podcast

Verna Allee gave a presentation at MeshForum 2006 on Value Networks. I think this is a great presentation. She describes:

“A value network is a way at looking at any purposeful organization, company, or network. It is any web of relationships that creates value through complex, dynamic exchanges of tangible and intangible value.”

She makes the case that the economic theory for the new economy is still undefined. She also details how companies have no good way to measure the value of intangible assets. She says the traditional measures are tied to the the creation of tangible assets, which is then reinforced by current economic theory and practice. My favorite part comes at 36:07 minutes into the podcast, she makes a case for using Living systems as a way to think about the new economy (built on intangible assets like Information, talent, capability). At this point she describes why living systems are so great, because the are capable of renewal and are intelligent (an Autopoietic system). Living system’s are Autopoietic because of two types of exchanges; the first type is an exchange of matter and energy, the second type is an exchange of Intelligence (a.k.a. cognitive exchanges). I think she is on to something.

The cognitive economy is really about exchanges of intelligence. If you have not really followed my posts on the Cognitive economy listen to this presentation.

Steve Gillmor if you haven’t heard this presentation yet, you should listen to it. Ed Batista you will also find this presentation interesting. I will have to listen to this one again, I know I’m not doing the presentation justice.

Check it out.

Link Summary:
MeshForum 2006
Verna Allee presentation Value Networks at MeshForum 2006 via IT Conversations
IT Conversations RSS feed
More from Verna Allee
More on Autopoiesis via Wikipedia

Food for Thought

Thinking about the Long tail (Core Dump)

I was listening to the Resignation Gang (Part 3) and was interested in the arguments around how people like to get their news and inversion of the network. I have a couple questions running through my mind:

Does the head of the Long tail exist because the market has been unable to deliver meaningful specialization?

  • Does the impact of low cost software and hardware make specialization more affordable?
  • Do improved information strategies make specialization more accessible and understandable for the tail?

The idea that the head of the tail exists because of inefficiencies in the market makes me think that mass market and mass production are dying. It will linger for a long time but it will die. From content to pharmaceuticals to services, all will be become capable of serving the tail.

If the network is inverted does that make everyone a part of the tail?

  • What opportunities exist in a infinite tail scenario?
  • What is the most efficient mechanism for value creation?

I was thinking that affinity based collaboration may become the new organizational model. In order to manage the scale and complexity of the infinite tail, an economy based on cognitive products and services will be required. I don’t foresee anytime in the near future when we will be dealing with less information. The growth in the amount, type and quality of information will force people to seek solutions that a match the efficiencies of the market and of their own cognitive processes. The cognitive economy will arise as a function of the emergence of the infinite tail.

Links:
The Gillmor Gang RSS feed
Resignation Gang (Part 3)

Technology

FiveRuns an Interesting Company Using Ruby and Rails

I heard about FiveRuns on the Web 2.0 Show Podcast. From the FiveRuns website:

FiveRuns has developed a new breed of systems management software — a simple, straightforward, open-source answer for your monitoring, analyzing, reporting and predicting needs. Monitor and maintain your systems wherever you are and whenever you want with little more than a web browser and an Internet connection

Their platform is built on Ruby and Rails. They are also planning to provide a Rails application monitoring service. I think the idea that mundane services and applications need an excellent experience is a a very insightful approach for a systems management company to take. With complex system management tools there can be at times too much information, which can confuse the mission of a systems management tool. I think that it is funny that some of the large systems management tools require a team to manage the systems management tool.

FiveRuns gave a presentation on building scalable Rails applications at RailsConf . The presentation is an interesting read if you are into Rails. There seems to be a great deal of opportunity for FiveRuns to win the business of companies that traditionally can’t afford a systems management suite. They are currently in private beta but check them out looks interesting.

Links:

FiveRuns
Monitoring Rails Applications in Production Environments warning PDF

The Web 2. Show RSS Feed
FiveRuns on the Web 2.0 Show Podcast

blogging, Sunday Favorite

Finding Content For Sunday Favorite

I spend a bit of time looking for a great piece of non-text for my Sunday Favorite post. The majority of time I look through Flickr. I like posting content of talented photographers, so that others might enjoy their art. Here’s the catch I have vowed to only post Creative Commons licensed photos. I have begun to use the Flickr Creative Commons search to make my quest more efficient. The real bummer is there are some great photos out there, but they are standard copyright (All rights reserved).

Now I don’t have a problem with standard copyright, but it makes putting together my Sunday post more work than I want it to be. I would bet many people don’t even think about the type of licence they use. For those that do think about the license they use, they need to understand that using a Creative Commons License does not mean you are giving away your work. In my case it allows an avid fan to try and spread the word.

So check out a Creative Commons License.

Links Summary:
Creative Commons License
Flickr Creative Commons Page