Posted on March 28, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

GOOGLE IS GOING TO THE S&P 500:

Google is trading up nearly one percent today on the back of news that it has set a date for trading on the S&P 500 Index. The Standard & Poors 500 Index is the United States’ — and arguably the world’s — most prestigious index, composed of publicly-held giants selected for liquidity and as representative of the main U.S. industries. An announcement by AFP states that Google will be set to join the index after March 31st.

Posted on March 28, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

Torrent Spy is under attack from entertainment legilators but is taking none of it:

Lawyers for Torrentspy say the lawsuit is an attempt to make the BitTorrent system itself illegal.

People use BitTorrent as a way of downloading content, often illegally sharing copyrighted material.

Torrentspy says it does not host copyright files and obeys requests to remove links to such material.

Posted on March 28, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

There are protests in France.

183rd Edition of Carnival of The Vanities

Posted on March 22, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 15 comments

Here it is: the 183rd Edition of Carnival of The Vanities! Hosted here at Blogger Idol, some of you will remember my previous hosting at The Global Perspective: I hope this one turns out to be just as enjoyable. Blogger Idol is more blog-centric, covering all the latest in the blogosphere: kind of like my personal gossip column.

Before we start, I want to direct you to the following story:

Well-Known Blogger Arrested In China

This is a timely and very important piece, and anyone who feels strongly about the potential for the blogosphere should care about the plight of the talented Wu Hao. I’ll be following up on the story soon, so keep coming back to Blog critics.

As far as I know, it’s Conservative Cat next week that is being Vanitified … someone else tell me if this isn’t right and post an update.

NOW, let’s kick off … here are the posts with all my irritating commentary included!

Picks of The Week

Fearless Philosophy for Free Minds analyses the Hollywood Hypocracy (now that’s a fantastic title)

Great Reading: I really enjoyed The Third Iraq War Anniversary from The Liberal Wrong Wing:
With over 2,000 American service men and women perished, the Iraq War is closing in on its third anniversary. The situation in that nation has not gone as well as many of us had expected it to.

I liked Dodgebloggium’s look at Prescott’s latest antics.

TMH’s Bacon Bits recollects and lanches out over unions in “Anti-Union Rant” Bernstein’s Capitalist Manifesto fans will appreciate this.

Koranteng’s Teli on Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.: Living The Scientific Life says “Goodbye, Beautiful Dream

Blueprint for Financial Prosperity argues that no one should ever consider taking part in a clinical trial for financial compensation: Don’t Do Drug Tests For Money

In a league all of its own this week: Searchlight Crusade on Critics and the War On Terror:
Homeland Security is a joke, but it’s a joke because they think they’re performing a sinecure.

Culture

The Library Girl makes me feel guilty about reading, and I think I’m a read-a-holic: this week she’s engrossed in Edmund S. Morgan’s biography of her childhood hero Benjamin Franklin

Don Surber on Reuters and Korea’s Yellow Snow

Early Impressions Of Life In Floyd:
I am a new settler in a place that poets, farmers, and hard-working business people have helped create. We are a county with one stoplight
and more creative genius than you could imagine. This is Floyd, VA, a place which embraces both outdoor plumbing and fibre optic infrastructure. It feels more like home than anywhere else I have ever lived.

Do It Like Fins Does It from The Challenge

Scary Employee of the Week over at Workplace Prof Blog

The Missing Link defends author Michael Crichton

BP Warp looks at the Two Different World We Live In: Desktop and Mobile. After all the Google-Sun shennanigans I’ve been involved in, I can’t really look at the word “Google” right now without sighing, but this is a good piece which extracts an interesting point from the search engine giant’s annual report.

Also, check out Birds Of The Mid-Atlantic over at A DC Birding Blog

Advice

Taxing Fat at The Missing Link

Did you know that when you apply for a mortgage that Credit Bureaus are selling your mortgage inquiry? Well, now you do.

Get That Presentation Right! Valid stuff.

Religion

This week is the week when we read about the Red Heifer on the Sabbath before the month before Passover. Find out more at Reb Chaim HaQoton: Ruste Taurus

Humour

As always, there’s a lot of great pieces in humour this week. We kick off with A Swiftian Rant: National Meat Out

Laryngeal Bleep Implant Improves Political Discourse
The level of political discourse in America has improved by a whopping 43% since the Laryngeal Bleep Implant became a requirement for all politicians early last year, a new study shows.

The Nose On Your Face: Interview Transcript satire

Baboon Pirates explores the amusingly titled Case of The Origami Taco

Irish humour at it’s most noirish: Uncle Roy’s Wake

Another great piece from The Skwib: The Big Guy Checks The Numbers

Politics & Ethics

Vote Republican to save the earth from pollution. Blog Resistance is Futile says, “You Bet!”

Brian J. Noggle explores Dick Cheney’s sense of humour

And Shiloh Musings asks some pertinent questions about Compensation

Perrero gets lost: My Party Left Me?

Does President Bush have a secret plan for winning the war in Iraq?

The People’s Republic of Seabrook on Another Dumb Award

Desert Light Journal asks if journalists need some special privilege that sets them apart from everybody else in order to do their jobs well:Journalist shield laws

Hurricane Katrina is almost a memory now, except for the political accusations. However, here is an example of what one company did to help the victims immediately and continue to help them today: Mary Kay and Katrina

Centrarion covers the Debate on Afghanistan

Is greed an essential part of virtue? Find out at Gooseing the Antithesis

The Radical Libertarian debunks statist ethics in an excellent, persuasive piece.

Watcher of Weasels: Freinds With Benefits

Economics

64 of the best posts from “Free Money Finance

As the season draws nearer, professional journalist Kay Bell keeps an eye on taxes

This almost made pick of the week, except I thought the dialogue was just a little stilted in places. Nevertheless, Business Growth: Empower Your Staff makes some essential points:
Entrepreneurs are an independent lot. That’s why they took the risk of going into business for themselves. Along with that fiercely independent nature is a reluctance to ask advice from others. That reluctance is often especially true of seeking new business ideas from members of the company staff. This can be a very dangerous policy for business owners, especially when the company is poised for growth and expansion.

Kirby on Finance thinks we may be overly discounting the future of our time

Personal

Me-Ander frets over Lost Luggage: I actually read this today having just got off a flight, which made it appropriate.

Big Picture, Small Office talks about The Panic Room

Multiple Mentality on Multiple Bypass Surgery

And there it is … a great collection. Now go look around the site, comment frequently and come back.

And yes, just in case you are wondering, I am the blogger who started the GOOGLE SUN speculation.

Blogrity

Posted on March 15, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 4 comments

I’m inventing a new name for A-list bloggers, or bloggers who achieve unprecedented fame: Blogrity.

It’s time such immortals were donated a proper appelation. I’ll draw up a Whose Who of Blogrities …

Anonymous Celebrity

Posted on March 14, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

A celebrity is blogging anonymously:

I need recognition. I know this sounds selfish/egoistic/megalomaniac from a girl who is known by more than 1 billion people (last official press count) but it’s true. I really, really, really, really, really, really REALLY need someone just to tell me how well I’m doing. We ALL need that … (come one, we all need that).

Fascinating reading, if you like this kind of thing. Ill keep watching this one to see what happens.

What Americn City Are You?

Posted on March 12, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

You Are Las Vegas


Wild and uninhibited, you enjoy all of life’s vices.
You’re a total hedonist, especially with sex, gambling, and drinking.
You shine brightly every night, but you do the ultimate walk of shame each morning.

Famous Las Vegas residents: Wayne Newton, Howard Hughes, Penn & Teller, Siegfried & Roy

What American City Are You?

Business Writers at Blog Critics Are Ruling

Posted on March 11, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

A little while ago here on Blogger Idol I published a request for business writers for Blog Critics, where I am looking at starting a “business” news and opinions page - one of those who got back to me, Greg, with a degree from MIT and a host of quality writing expereince, amde the cut and has penned his first piece for the blogsite.

Google Is A-Go-Go Gone has been picked up by numerous article search engines, including Digg.com and Reddit, and is now at the top of today’s “most popular” list of articles.

This budged my three articles on Google over there out of number one position! Well done Greg - fabulous reporting.

Google In 20 Years

Posted on March 11, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 2 comments

Slibe.com - Free Image Picture Photo Hosting Service

Carnival Of The Vanities and Blogger Idol Links

Posted on March 11, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

Readers, you have all been very patient. I apologise for the incredibly light posting recently - you are going to have to bear with me for three more days as I finish four assignments and fifty pages for the end of the third term of my MBA here in Oslo.

I’ll be around as much as possible, but in the meantime, come on over to my other blog where 181st edition of The Carnival of The Vanties has been hostd this week - you’ll find about fifty stories there, all of which are very well written, erudite and diverse on topic matter.

Also, I haven’t had any response back yet from the great link exchange idea I’ve put out here yet, so let me restate it: write something about Blogger Idol on your site, e-mail with the link at danielmarkharrison@gmail.com, and I’ll do the same for you. What I’m looking for in particular is feedback: what do you like about Blogger Idol, what don’t you like etc. Write about it, talk about it … talking is, after all, cheap.

I’ll be back with you as soon as possible.

Blogger Idol Promotions

Posted on March 6, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

Visits to blogger Idol are going through the roof!

Just last month the average per day was in the 300’s - today they stand at nearly double that. So far, over the last few days, we’ve had 700-something per day.

This is an incredible record for growth. I’m going to try and get a stat meter up on this site so everyone can see the phenomenal results, but I’m delighted this is obviously gaining momentum in the blogosphere.

To get Stats up even higher, I’ve got a promotional offer, which I’m going to extend and make even better as time goes on. Write about this site on your blog, saying what you like about it, or in some cases maybe, what you do not like, and I’ll give you a promotional piece.

When you’re done and you’ve published something, send me an e-mail at danielmarkharrison.blogs.com, and I’ll write something about your blog, which will be personally interpreted et al. If I really like your blog, I’ll also add you to the links bar - and may even write about you on some of my other sites.

I notice also we have had a visitor from the New York Times server here today too, so maybe we’ll hear from them soon. I’m actually rather starting to enjoy this project now, as we’re going ahead full steam.

Blogger Idol is gaining influence: rock on!

Blogging, New York Times, and Wal Mart PR

Posted on March 5, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

Here it is, from The Global Perspective:

What you are about to read is quite possibly the most serious media story of the year to date - albeit it that we are only three months into 2006. It is a tragedy and a drama all enveloped into one great act of Romano-Greek proportions. It is a story on the face of it that looks like harmless fun, like the idle naivite of a hungry business journalist, but is, at heart, more serious than most of the scandals to break the national press in some time. It is the story of a deep rooted jealously, of an attempt at deliberate manipulation, of one corporate behemouth outsmarting another, and the power of a few, little voices triumphing over the bellows of those with corporate jets, unlimited expense accounts, holiday yachts sitting in Monaco, and access to half the world’s population at the swish of a pen. Its players are no less than America’s greatest institutions: Wal Mart, bastion and providor of 5% of the United States’ GNP, and the New York Times, the suffering institution who, still tainted by the light of the Jason Blair scandal, hit by a spiralling circulation, annual revenue and internal political crises, will go to any length to destroy even the first inkling of competition.

This is the story then of Wal Mart, Michael Barbaro of the New York Times … and an as yet unknown camaraderie of political blogs: so far most notably the Iowa Voice, Marquette Warrior, Redstate and Outside The Beltway. I have been privy to private phone conversations, e-mails and transcripts of what appears to be an act of bitter rage by an established business media hack who may have realised he is being left out of the game just as his lowly contemporaries are being courted. Hence, for much of the information in this piece I have relied upon what is already available online right now, as I am still not at liberty - through personal confidentiality agreements - to reveal the deeper agendas that seem to be in play, but I shall, as best as possible, endevour to hint at them.

With the seemingly endless rise in popularity of the blogosphere as a medium of news and entertainment communiction there has been little end to speculation and reluctant wonder from the traditional media establishment over the validity and longevity of it all: daily, readers of national newspapers the world over are now subjected to the case study and opinion as to where the medium is headed, and what it all really amounts to.

There is of course, good reason for this. A phenomenon of any sort that gains momentum at the exact same time as its ancestors are busy trying to save the fate of their own is newsworthy topic of the highest order - when this concerns the very issue of the distribution of news itself, even more so. For just as newspapers and television broadcasting journalists are struggling to work out how to keep their audiences coming back for more - and hence keep their lucrative advertising revenues rolling in - it seems that people are flocking in droves, not only to read blogs, but to comment on them, promote them, explore every column inch of them, and even to donate money to the best of them. It is enought to make any seasoned hack - who, above all means of motivation, relies upon egotistical abasement more than any - envious to the likes of Othello. How, after all, could common Casio claim his cherished turf?

This was the state Barbaro, business reporter for the New York Times reportedly found himself in recently as he reviewed some blogs’ favourable reports of earnings giant Wal Mart. He noticed what he perceived as a suspiciously continous pattern emerging - prominent bloggers were at once writing positive things and refuting negative PR about Wal Mart.

Was The New York Times being sidelined by Wal Mart executives in favour of blogs? Why, after all, was he not filing these very reports himself under the masthead of America’s greatest media institution?

Rather than admit to himself that PR aimed at blogs was being perceived by rich corporate executives as more meaningful than that aimed at established media institutions, Barbaro decided there must be a conspiracy going on and to get in contact with these bloggers, according to Marquette Warrior, the first to go public earlier today with revelations that they had been contacted in relation to a piece the business hack was penning: “It will be interesting to see whether Barbaro tries to spin this campaign to cultivate bloggers as some sort of sinister conspiracy,” the authors of the blog wrote. ” Of course, all tipsters and leakers have their own agenda. Manson’s is to support Wal-Mart. The leakers in government that the Times uses want to undermine the Bush presidency. The job of a journalist is to exploit the agenda of a source without becoming captive to it. Wal-Mart is in this, as in supply chain management, ahead of the curve. They are recognizing bloggers are a force that needs to be cultivated and catered to just as corporate PR people (and political activists) have long cultivated and catered to the traditional media.”

The revelation was picked up by Reynolds of Instapundit immediately, and was soon followed by the author of the web’s most popular mid-western political blog, Iowa Voice, where I myself am a Guest Author:

Without getting into what he asked and all that, I just want to comment on the implications that bloggers have been “told” what to write and what to say about any number of subjects from any number of sources … All that Marshall (Senior Executive at Wal Mart) asked was if I would be interested in getting news updates every once in a while on stories/issues about Wal-Mart. Since I was already signed up for other sites that provided the same thing (some for Wal-Mart, some against), I said “ok”. I saw no problem with it, and to be honest, I still don’t. I have a number of similar subscriptions from any number of sources: MoveOn, the Kerry campaign, the Nussle campaign, the Leonard campaign, the DNC, the GOP, and so on. In other words, I get updates from BOTH sides of the issue before I go shooting off a post. I look into the facts before I form an opinion and before I write a post. Most bloggers get some form of press release or “insider info” .

The piece went on to disclose the potential nature of Barbaro’s piece:

“I’m pretty sure this piece is going to be either a hit-piece against bloggers, a hit-piece against Wal-Mart, or quite possibly both,” and the author was also quite candid about his open-policy to receiving PR from big corporations:

Just so we’re clear: neither Wal-Mart, nor anyone connected to them, have ever said “Here, print this”, and they certainly haven’t offered any money to us. They invited us to visit the HQ down in Bentonville, but I declined (they didn’t offer to pay for that, either). I have zero problem with ANY company, group, or politician issuing a press release to a blogger. After all, it’s their job that they get their side of the story out as much as possible.

Not in Michael Barbaro’s oppinion, apparently. His line of questioning to the above bloggers seems to have been aggressive and penetrating - as if he was searching for a sign that Wal Mart was planting stories he himself should have been honoured with. In reality, of course, it is just that Wal Mart has recognized that the game is changing.

While AOL also declined to discuss margins, or any other numbers, we would assume 50,000 downloads (of AOL instant messanger are taking place) daily as a conservative guess” write Scoble and Irael in their new bestseller “Naked Conversations”, “What would that cost with a traditional marketing campaign like direct mail? … $2 million dollars daily. Free versus $2 million a day? You choose.

The truth is, Reynolds, Malkin and a few others are changing the nature of journalism, and corporations are waking up to this. Courting a senior journalist with luxury dinners at Le Cirque and lavish holidays is no longer a publicy acceptable or financially efficient option of creating positive PR when compared to the alternative: opening a free, exciting, and honest dialogue with real people, writing about what they see and feel. Newspapers have become static forms of broadcasting too, and they are under pressure to change: until readers can link, trackback, and comment on stories they are only increasingly frustrated by the lack of interaction and response they get from papers such as the Times. Neither does Wal Mart most likely perceive it beneficial to be associated with a newspaper which has a reputation now for making stories up: since the Jason Blair crisis, there has been no end of scepticism over the paper’s credibility.

Most worrying is if Barbaro was panning on writing a piece in the Times about how Wal Mart is telling bloggers what to say - because this is evidently untrue. Seeking to eliminate competition by going one better on quality is all very well - trying to achieve it by manipulating opinion for news is not.

Of course, the saddest part of the story is that Barbaro, seemingly seeking to eliminate the competition, by discrediting both Wal Mart and the bloggers in his aggresive line of questioning, has shut himself out of the domain of this lucrative information sphere all the more. It remains to be seen what Barbaro decides to write: there are still confidentiality clauses to be kept, private e-mails and telephone conversations to be revealed, and many more stories to be told, but this may well be the new beginning of the end for the masthead that will soon once have read “All The News That’s Fit To Print”.

Paris Has Her Own Place In The Blogosphere Now

Posted on March 5, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 1 comment

Over at Celebrific - owned by the former owners of Blog Herald - Paris Hilton now has her own catagory.

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Writes celebrity blogger “Alison”:

There’s only room for one Paris in Hollywood and in my heart.

Response To BBC’s Thompson

Posted on March 5, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 3 comments

I have written to Bill Thompson of the BBC to tell him about my response to his comments yesterday over the Judge Business Scool Affair, which appeared here.

The following is the e-mail I sent:

Bill,

Thanks for clarifying your article recently over at Blogger Idol, and for the visit.

I admire a lot of the things you are doing, so I didn’t want to appear to belligerent, but I must say, I find myself unable to agree with you on this one … the organisers, as I have said in my reposte, obviously chose you as their token blogger because of your reputtion for honesty, accuracy and thoroughness, and as such, I think it was your duty - and I think it is the duty of every blogger - to check the facts BEFORE going to press.

Let me give you an example to highlight this. There is currently a very big story concerning one of the blogs I write for which involves a journalist from a national periodical … I am, however, bound by a confidentiality clause and thus not at liberty to write about it. My initial instinct was of course to write the whole affair up and click “Save/Publish”, but I was very conscientious in checking out whether this was permisable beforehand, and as such, have found out that that is not the case. My contact told me I was going to be able to write about the story - just not for now.

My point is, I checked the facts. There are honest and dishonest, good and bad, conscientious and idle people everywhere - there always have been, and there always will - blogging does not necessarily give the dishonest/bad/idle ones any more kudos because of its reach - if anything, it makes the negative PR these vagrants will receive all the more damaging once their intentions are found out.

As for you, I’m honoured such a erudite and qualified journalist came to pay me a visit, so thank you.

If you do want to retort from one of your own platforms - be it your blog, the BBC website, or wherever - there are several places you can link too as I write for a number of sites, I would also have you link back to my own personal blog, The Global Perspective (http://www.danielmarkharrison.blogs.com) - where the retort also appears.

As for the above story, I’ll get in touch with you perhaps once I’m allowed to talk about it and give it to you to write about as a concillitory gesture for coming back at you so strongly in public.

Thanks for your work.

Yours Sincerely,

Daniel

I believe this is a fair and polite reposte: let’s see what he has to say.

Strictly Confidential

Posted on March 5, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 3 comments

There is nothing as frustrating as sitting on an enormous story that you know is going to break waves right over the blogosphere.

Unfortunately, I am debtrothe to a confidentiality agreement right now, which means I can’t talk about it. Suffice it to say, however, that it involves all of the following characters:

1. A Fortune 500 Company
2. A National U.S. Newspaper
3. A few blogs

I’ll write about it here and over at my personal blog, The Global Perspective, once I get the chance.

Political Blogging

Posted on March 5, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 3 comments

Blogging has reached The White House:

A few dozen House Republican press secretaries gathered on Capitol Hill on Friday to try to make sense of the power of blogs within Washington and what it means for their bosses.

Thompson, BBC Blogging & The Chatham House Rule

Posted on March 4, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

Bill Thompson of the BBC has sent me a reply (also in the comments) after my post here titled “Don’t Blame It On The Blogging” which claimed he might have done more due dilligence before blogging about an event organised by the Judge Business School in the U.K. which was under the Chatham House Rule. The rule is essentially more like an Honour Code and means one is not allowed to reveal any prescient details. My point was that a worker shouldn’t blame the tools:

Thompson is a good writer, but he shouldn’t blame his own laziness to check the facts about an event on blogging, and neither should anyone else. It’s a poor excuse that is often used when a new medium is adopted … The fact is, blogging, like anything else, is just a medium, a platform. The age-old social norms and expectations still apply.”

Thompson obviously sees it differently: “Hi there,” he starts:

I don’t think you’ve followed the point I was making, which is that the easy availability of a public medium - the Web - and tools to get stuff up there - blogging platforms - are changing the dynamics of some forms of social interaction, and that those who organise, host or attend meetings of this type need to take care. The organisers were sloppy, not me, since they had invited me as their token blogger - but I could have been acting maliciously too. Five years ago leaking the comments at such a meeting would have needed access to the press and someone willing to publish, now it just needs a blogger account. So I do think that in this case the new platform has a wider impact.

As much as I like Bill Thompson and really admire some of the great things he is doing for this medium - he is a champion advocate of New Media and has proved himsef a daring journalist to embrace radical new technologies so easily - I don’t really get his point on this one.

Take the following extract from the above:

The organisers were sloppy, not me, since they had invited me as their token blogger - but I could have been acting maliciously too … So I do think that in this case the new platform has a wider impact.

While blogging undoubtedly has a wider - and potentially more perilous - impact upon the negative PR or betrayal of insiders to reveal confidential issues of organisations, I do not see how it in itself is culpable or for that matter particularly relevant to Thompson’s example. There have been honest and dishonest people around for centuries, and there will be those two types of people for centuries more to come: that more of the dishonest ones might have a larger soapbox to shout from now is of no relevance to Thompson having not checked relevant facts with the organisers of an event to see what he was and was not permitted to write about.

Above all however, I find Thompson’s claim that “the organisers were sloppy, not me, since they had invited me as their token blogger” the most implausible, for presumably he had been invited based in good part on his reputation for honesty, accuracy and thoroughness: the organisers did not invite any blogger at random to the event - they invited someone who they had carefully selected and who they thought would write a high quality, informative piece that was within the house guidelines.

There is far too much of both credit and criticism given to blogging where it is not due or apt: blogging is a means of communication, nothing more. While it may reveal or exemplify certain aspets of human behaviour due to the immensity of its reach, it is not a substitute for them.

Kenyan Blogger Breaking News

Posted on March 4, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

A blogger is breaking news over at Boing Boing after a series of raids in Kenya on newspaper and television offices (more photos over at this link):

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Here are some stills taken during the raid from internal CCTV cameras. The raid were carried out by a rapid response unit code-named the Kanga Squad, detectives from Nairobi provincial CID headquarters and officers from the General Service Unit. They are wearing bright orange reflective vests with “QRU” for Quick Rescue Unit/Quick Response Unit which indicates their day job of fight hardcore criminals like carjackers, bank robbers and murder hit squads.

These pictures are very disturbing. In some of them they have an employee spread eagled on the floor with a gun pressed against his/her head and a boot in his/her face. Remember these are NOT criminals being man handled like this. These are Kenyan men and women who went to work only to be pistol whipped and roughed up by an elite police squad.

This illustrates very well what I have been arguing today over here.

Washington Post gets Del.icio.us

Posted on March 4, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 0 comments

Blog Herald reports that the Washington Post is looking into serving up del.icio.us tags for bloggers to link back to:

The Washington Post is now serving up del.icio.us tags on all of its articles:

Washingtonpost.com is now working with Yahoo’s del.icio.us to offer tagging capabilities on all articles on the Washingtonpost.com site. The del.icio.us tagging addition is quite nice and an innovative way for the Post to attract more readers who use the del.icio.us tag, bookmark and search service. Likewise, the New York Times has a similar tagging partnership with Looksmart’s FURL bookmarking & tag solution.

This is curious, as recently when I sent a trackback to a URL of a Washington Post article I was referring to - just to see what would happen - I noticed quite a number of hits from the internal server of the national newspaper: my conclusion was, and still is, that they are already tracking what bloggers are doing/saying about them.

It’s only a matter of time before online newspapers wake up to the fact that by offering comments and trackbacks their potential readership will be hugely increased. I’m actually surprised it hasn’t been adopted already.

Another indicator that newspapers are becoming more blog-like.

A Blogger Thinks I’m Hot

Posted on March 4, 2006 by Daniel M. Harrison | 4 comments

A blogger thinks I’m hot: rather an unusual response to my post “Getting Rich & Famous In The Blogosphere”, but nevertheless, a flattering one.

The admiring reader posted: “Sorry, but I have to say this - you are incredibly hot!”

The truth is however, the photograph on my blog “The Global Perspective” was taken on a summer holiday in Spain, when just about everyone looks half decent.

Does make one think however: perhaps blogs are the latest pick-up spot for the otherwise socially shy?