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Entries from July 2006

Four Pillars: Generation M and e-mail

July 24th, 2006 · 4 Comments · Four pillars

Thanks to Dave Morin for pointing this article out to me, suggesting that e-mail is losing its clout in a Generation M context. Like Dave, I love one of the quotes, from a Ms Kirah at Microsoft:

“Like parents, they try to control their children,” she says. “But companies really need to respond to the way [...]

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Another 95 theses

July 24th, 2006 · No Comments · Four pillars

I guess it’s been a long time since Cluetrain. So long that someone could write 95 theses for “geek activism” and do so without mentioning Cluetrain. Shows I’m growing old.
This came to me via Cory. It’s worth a read. Gives you a flavour of some of the current emotion, particularly in the context of DRM. [...]

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Four Pillars: Thinking about social software

July 23rd, 2006 · No Comments · Four pillars

You may have seen this story already, about a Bezos investment vehicle putting an undisclosed sum of money in 37signals, a firm that resolutely repelled all funding boarders before.
My post is not about Bezos or about 37signals, but about the comments this story has attracted.
Soon, we are going to have to figure out the answer [...]

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Four Pillars: On snowballs and seeds and digital rights

July 23rd, 2006 · 7 Comments · Four pillars

We spent the weekend with my mother-in-law down in Chichester. She lives in a wonderful flint cottage, quintessentially English in every respect. Including its garden.
Of late she’s been thinking of moving home, mainly to switch from living on four levels to living on one. She’s a talented artist and sculptor, and is very meticulous in [...]

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Thinking about Snakes and Planes

July 21st, 2006 · 1 Comment · Four pillars

We’re seeing a shift from:
Seen the movie. Bought the video. Got the Tshirt. Got the fridge magnet.
To
(co-)Shot the movie. Mashed the video. Designed the Tshirt. Made the fridge magnet.
Interesting.

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Sleeper spam

July 20th, 2006 · 5 Comments · Four pillars

This may be familiar to most of you, but it was a revelation to me. So I thought I’d share it just in case.
Malcolm and I were chatting this morning, and the subject of comment spam came up. Both of us had noticed that of late, there had been a profusion of comments that made [...]

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Inadvertent sledgehammers: The Last Post

July 20th, 2006 · 2 Comments · Four pillars

I’m glad my faith in the “system” in India was not misplaced. The sledgehammer was inadvertent indeed.
Thanks to Chukti, I now have quotable information from the authorities in India. It appears that some truly inflammatory material was published on one of the blog sites and an emergency response team was activated as a result.
There is [...]

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Four Pillars: Pew Internet on bloggers

July 20th, 2006 · No Comments · Four pillars

I shall comment on it later, but last night I finished reading the latest report from Pew Internet titled Bloggers: A Portrait of the internet’s New Storytellers.
As usual there’s much I agree with, and some bits I don’t. What is important is that we continue to build a body of evidence that explains, interprets and supports the value of social [...]

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More on inadvertent sledgehammers

July 19th, 2006 · 5 Comments · Four pillars

I hear that all restrictions on access to blog sites in India have been rescinded. It is likely that the patchwork nature of the imposition of the controls is reflected in the process of taking the restrictions off. More later.

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Four Pillars: On the borderless blogosphere

July 18th, 2006 · No Comments · Four pillars

Many financial institutions banned staff access to internet mail. So the staff used proxy sites.
Then they banned (or at least tried to ban) proxy sites. So the staff used Google to get to the site.
Then they banned that (or at least tried to). So the staff used Babelfish or its equivalent.

I could go on, but [...]

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