CNET | Croncast - Life is Show Prep

Make better RSS feeds by not making them

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:00:20 -0400

Did you pick the content of the RSS feeds that you are syndicating from your site right now? Or did you let your readers pick?

Within reason my guess would be that most of you answered, yes then no. I know on my sites, even this site, I would have answered the same.

The solution isn't to create more feeds. The best solution is for publishers to create no feeds at all. Let your readers make their own.

Here are a couple examples why this is a better method for content syndication than relying on your own editorial skills.

Example 1: How not to do it.

Don't get me wrong on this, CNET is offering nearly all of its content up for syndication. This is an excellent strategy to create value from older content. However, do readers really need the option of subscribing to 100 plus predefined RSS feeds? Simply, no.

Finding feeds for the topics you are interested in is difficult. The worst of it is that you can only access them individually, i.e.; you want 10 of feeds, copy and paste them one by one into your feed reader. Sounds like a party to me. If you have more skills you might use a service that rolls all of them up into one feed for you. I would guess that about three people have done this.

Why overwhelm your readers like this? And besides, it is pretty intimidating for someone new to the RSS game. Shouldn't they be able to access your content in a way that makes it relevant to them?

Example 2: How to do RSS right.

What you see above is one of two flavors of how to let your readers pick what they receive in RSS feeds. It's a simple and easy to use text input that allows readers to enter keywords and phrases that they want in their feed. There's nothing fancy, easy access to old content in the straight-forward way that RSS is delivered; updates of the newest items first and set number items in the feed, usually twenty-five.

What the second screen shot shows is the magic of thinking differently about RSS feeds. This image demonstrates what happens when someone clicks on the 'advanced' link. The reader is then given control over every aspect of the RSS feed. They choose the content, when it is delivered, how much content, in what order (none of this newest stuff first mumbo jumbo - great use for episodic content) and how many updates to get at a time.

Who is better to choose than the person doing the consuming? RSS needs to be like Burger King where a customer can have it their way.

When this concept is applied to large volumes of content the value of it increases with each new article or podcast. Imagine if you could have this type of access at the NY Times or with your local paper. Even the obits from 30 years ago are now of value again. Value to the reader and value to the publisher with ad inventory.

The future of content syndication isn't in prescriptive channels created by publishers. The future is in the subjective choices of the consumer. They neither need or want every product that you have to offer.

We need to be smarter about our syndicated content via RSS and take into consideration how to make that user experience more satisfying. Whether it is by allowing users to pick topics or order of updates, something needs to change. Why? Because it is all about attention; the premium of which is measured in subscribers, influence and the influence of those subscribers.

Tags: RSS CNET readers consumers interaction

What is the best camera phone?

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:42:45 -0500

I'm going to be returning my iPhone to my former employer and want to continue mobile live photo blogging. Sure I have my Treo but the photo quality isn't in the same ballpark as the iPhone.

I've looked online at the Sony Ericsson K800i which is supposed to be the best mobile camera. This is great but it is missing a QWERTY keyboard which make the blogging part much easier than having to click the 7 on my phone 4 times to get to the letter S. Lots of letter 's' in the English language.

I've also looked at the Nokia N95 and the Sony Ericsson K850i but sans keyboard I am not as excited.

Do you know of any alternatives that might have a 3.2 megapixel or higher camera and a full keyboard? Maybe something that has yet to be released? How about a camera with EVDO or EDGE support?

Tags: camera phone Sony Ericsson K800i Nokia N95 Sony Ericsson K850i camera phone with qwerty

Smartphone absurdity, I want just one

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 12:23:33 -0400

I didn't realize how absurd this smartphone crap was until the day before yesterday. We have a potential client using Blackberries as podcast players. Which was no big deal since I worked on a solution a few years ago at my day job but I needed to get the same version as the client. Hence a new radiation hot spot for my palm.

Now in the house:

1 Treo 700 (mine, Verizon)
1 xv6700 (Betsy, Verizon)
1 iPhone (work, AT&T)
1 Blackberry 8703e (work, Sprint)

Two of them are for work, like I marked them above, but it is ridiculous. They all do like one thing better than the others, one carrier's plan is better priced or the network makes all the difference. What do I mean?

Best sounding as a phone:
1. Treo
2. iPhone
3. Blackberry
4. xv6700 (horrible)

Ease of use as a phone:
1. iPhone (my mother-in-law could use it)
2. Treo
3. Blackberry
4. xv6700 (need 3 hands to make a call)

Ease of use overall:
1. iPhone
2. Blackberry
3. Treo
4. xv6700

Best OS:
1. xv6700 (windows mobile 5.0, too bad everything else about it sucks)
2. iPhone
3. Treo
4. Blackberry

Best media playback:
1. iPhone (wonder why?)
2. xv6700
3. Treo
4. Blackberry

Best keypad:
1. Blackberry (update: thanks Garrick for pointing out I misspelled it the first time -LOL)
2. Treo
3. xv6700
4. iPhone (it's pretty . . . hard to use quickly)

Best sms device:
1. Treo
2. Blackberry
3. xv6700
4. iPhone

Best email device:
1. Blackberry
2. Treo (would be third if AT&T edge were faster)
3. iPhone (on wifi this is second)
4. xv6700

Best web device (network):
1. Treo (doubles as EV-DO modem, love it)
2. xv6700 (doubles as EV-DO modem, never used it)
3. iPhone
4. Blackberry (locked into a special start page, blah and doubles as EVDO modem but Sprint rates are insane)

Best web device (wifi):
1. iPhone (experience much like real browsing
2. xv6700 (fast but reformats pages)
The other two are AWOL with no wifi capability

Best camera:
1. iPhone
2. Treo
3. xv6700
Blackberry is without

Best network:
1. Verizon
2. Sprint
3. AT&T

Best overall:
1. iPhone
2. Treo
3. Blackberry
4. xv6700

Taking all of this into consideration and my experience with all four operating systems and form factors, I have decided that my ultimate phone and carrier combo would look something like this:

An iPhone on Verizon's network, use as EV-DO modem, with an add on keypad and GPS onboard. That would get an 'ooh la la' and an amen.

Tags: iPhone xv6700 Treo 700 Blackberry 8703e Verizon EVDO Sprint GPS

Skype phone

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:26:54 -0500

It has come to my attention after five hours of research and visiting retail stores (which would make my search about 8 hours) that the internet and retailers are slacking. The internet is resting on it's global ass scattering reviews to the winds and retailers seem to be basking in the orange glow of Vonage. That is except Fry's (my favorite place to nerd out) which seems to be basking in plastic rubbermaid bins full of returned open boxed VoIP handsets and Taiwanese trinket USB phones.

That brings me to the point of even writing this, imparting a bit of what I have learned so that the internet will seem less slovenly when you search for Skype phones.

There are a two varieties of Skype phones:

1) Computer needed to make calls
2) Computer not needed to make calls (which I would prefer)

And the rest shakes out from their like this:

Computer needed to make calls
1) USB
2) USB to wireless handset
3) USB dual mode (dual mode is code for connects to your regular phone line too)

Computer not needed to make calls
1) WiFi handsets
2) Ethernet (connects to your router via cable)
3) Dual mode with ethernet (think Cisco iPhone)

The best place to start your search for a Skype phone is Amazon. They have a pretty comprehensive selection and with user reviews from nerds and those less tech savvy who have used the gear.

After that hit Google and search for the phones you're interested in and pay attention to blog posts since most are personal reviews of the phone This phase of the research is where I was able to begin to narrow my choices based on my desire to not have to use my computer to make a call.

Right now I am interested in:
Netgear SPH101 - WiFi and has speakerphone capability
Belkin WiFi - WiFi
Polycom C100S USB
Philips VoIP841 (not for sale yet)

Once I make up my mind I'll do a review.

Tags: Philips VoIP841 Netgear SPH101 Polycom C100S USB VoIP handset

Croncast - Betsy and her husband Kris Ep. 90

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 05:28:13 -0400

Croncast - 2005-06-17.mp3

Show: #131
Length: 32:19
Format: mp3
Bit rate: 64 kbs
Size: 14.8 mb

Croncast - Betsy and her husband Kris Ep. 90

Here we go everybody, Betsy and I talk about our super white trash mecca weekend that began with a skiing squirrel in an above ground pool, the Wisconsin Dells the Tiajuana of the Midwest.

Betsy talks about her bathed in gasoline seagulls from Mexico while the baby pukes on her hand, how I will be in charge of the man and how his memories of this trip will probably be great and Betsy's will be, "Thank god I didn't have to go to the waterpark." and a short bit about how Betsy and her mom used to just call me at work and tell me they were leaving for vacation.

Listener Russ sent us this about naming pharmaceuticals;

"Vi---meaning hard ( as is Vitamins,minerals,rocks,,HARD )
Agra--meaning root ( agriculture etc...)
so ViAgra = Hard ROOT"

and Ben sent this version;

"Viagra is taken from the word "Viagraha," which means Tiger in Sanskrit."

Good thing this isn't CBS because I am not going to check these facts. Betsy and I fit Viagra, Wal-Mart and Nascar into the same 5 minutes, proof positive we've been living in the midwest forever, we get into Wal-Mart being evil and their funding of NPR shows, the darkside equivilant of this; Darth giving a free shirt to Yoda with his likeness and Yoda sporting it day and night.

Our long distance Casey Kasem shout out to Melanie from Nova Scotia, all songs being euphemisms for sex, Wang Chung? and Billy Ocean and his commercial for his song.

Tom sent in a notice that my new car was one of the top 10 "Nerdmobiles" by CNET look for the Scion xB, we talk about Betsy's love fluff and we wrap with a final story of my youth and the small town.

Tags: betsy croncast hard viagra sent