pluckfeedoftheday

Be Fabulous for Less with BudgetFashionista

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:07:00 GMT

She says that she is not a size two. She's not a millionaire or even a thousandaire, for that matter. She's a very normal person with a love of fashion and a lack of cash. If you want to look and live great on budget, then welcome friends, this is the site for you.

Kathryn Finney started the Budget Fashionista blog to help share her knowledge and love for saving money. She has since hit the big time with spots on The Today Show, CNN, Fox Network and starred in numerous Finney family movies. She spends her spare time crank-calling credit card companies, using her glue gun with reckless abandon, plotting ways to get Marc Jacobs to premiere a line at Wal-Mart, and having lunch with her imaginary best friends, Andre Leon Talley and Isaac Mizrahi.

If you love the look, but lack the cash, then check out the Budget Fashionista today:

Web Site: www.thebudgetfashionista.com

Feed: www.thebudgetfashionista.com/atom.xml

pasta and vinegar. GPS pigeons and I really have no idea.

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:36:00 GMT

Since this is mostly definitely a long tail pick as Feed of the Day, I'll let the author explain what it's about and then share a few posts to prove the point:

a personal weblog by nicolas nova: research + daily scanning about location-based tech, video games, tangible interactions, ubicomp, hci/cscw, user experience analysis, innovation and various weird things

Since I only have a vague idea what any of that means, I'll focus on the "innovation and various weird things" bit. I'm a believer in Mr. Smith's specialization in trade (even if he was kidnapped by Gypsies as a child). A few picks:

Pigeons and GPS. Now get them to use Google/MSN/Yahoo Maps.

Inflatable stuff in space. Seems like a great idea.

Play doh as an interface to control digital media. Really.

A great post on what Nicolas is really interested in.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/staf/nova/blog/feed/

Website: http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/staf/nova/blog/

*Plato in Play Doh, joins us from Maybe Quarterly.

Travelocity - Burn your own travel feeds. RSS makes flying fun.

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:42:00 GMT

When you think of the "best" uses for RSS, what comes to mind? In no particular priority, I think of: general news, political news, and tech news. Of course there is always the Long Tail stuff, but as Tom Hanks said, "I save that one just for myself."

Today we're looking at Travelocity's super-duper, custom RSS feed builder. What makes it super-duper? Easy. You can burn your own feeds, based on:

The type of trip you're interested in.

Your destination(s)

Your starting point(s)

Apparently the Travelocity gnome, believes that you should "have it your way!" I'll let you build your own feeds, but have supplied one of my own below, using: Trip Type = Outdoor. Departure city = Austin. Destination = Seattle.

After you're done choosing your trip, choose your RSS reader (Pluck is a nice choice) and subscribe. Nice and easy. Gnome guaranteed.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://rss.travelocity.com/rss/travelin_from_Austin_to_Seattle

Website: http://rss.travelocity.com/

Flickr's most interesting puppies

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 10:35:00 GMT

In case you weren't certain, here are few things that rock:

Dogs

Photo sharing

Dogs + Photo sharing + RSS

Thanks to the folks at Flickr for the service and more thanks to the Flickr users sharing their stuff. Enjoy!

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_puppy

Website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/puppy/interesting/

*Photos courtesy of adampsyche, chotda, and zonepress, respectively.

A Socialite's Life. Thankfully more than stories about some hotel in Paris.

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 07:25:00 GMT

Forget about Paris, there are greater fools to choose from as you gaze in wonderment at Hollywood "reality." What once was the purview of checkout stand displays, celebrity blogging is the perfect companion to the firestorm political blogs that constantly draw so much attention from readers and MSMers.

A nice, relaxing way to fill the time after some heated political debate? Maybe. Whatever the case, where do you turn for fun-filled news about the foolishness of your (least) favorite celebrities. One pick to consider to help satiate your need for Britney/Kevin/Brad/Angelina/Jessica/Nick/Jessica/whoever news can be found at A Socialite's Life, today's Feed of the Day.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://socialitelife.com/index.rdf

Website: http://socialitelife.com/

All Too Flat. It helps if you're a looney.

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 00:20:00 GMT

You don't have to be a looney like Owen Wilson to appreciate today's Feed of the Day - All Too Flat - but it might help. If you'd like to invest in your sense of humor, you could do worse then this. Looking like Hansel is one such example.

The name is important. If you don't get it, go here.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.alltooflat.com/rss/atf.rss

Website: http://www.alltooflat.com/

*Image from HugeReviews.com. Nice teeth. Worse jewelry. Yes, I realize it doesn't come from today's Feed of the Day. It's just a funny picture.

The Social Customer Manifesto: What does your customer want anyway?

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 09:07:00 GMT

Imagine a little scenario:

You're a customer of wireless company ABC, and recently paid $499 for a new 2-year contract and the super duper phone (with headset attachment) shown here.

After a few minutes of intense use, ~~the rubber band~~ your favorite attachment breaks and you can't use your phone any longer. So what do you do?

You call your wireless company, hoping to speak with a helpful customer service rep. Although elusive as a unicorn, you believe you'll find one. So you call and plead your case.

Shifting roles to the CSR, you have the backing of a multi-billion dollar company that loudly and incessantly proclaims how much it loves its customers. Oh, management may have made a few policies about how to help those same customers. As the CSR, how do you respond to ? Two options:

Ship the customer a new phone/attachment thingy.

Tell the customer they can buy a new attachment thingy for $199 or $99 if they extend their contract for another year. Helpfully remind them they should purchase an insurance policy for $99, which would have covered the first purchase. Somehow work into the conversation that the customer is to blame for having a big FAT head, which broke the attachment.

Sound familiar?

Personally, the problem isn't really "the problem." As a customer, I assume things will go wrong from time to time, so I'm not really surprised. The real problem though, is how the other side solves it. Or if they even try.

The Social Customer Manifesto is all about figuring out what the customer is saying . . . and then actually listening to them. It's a crazy idea, but in today's always-on, conversational personal and business world, companies can do amazing things by listening to their customers (even if Clayton Christensen notes an issue with going overboard). To that end, I suggest you have a quick read of Christopher Carfi's Manifesto.

Even helpful for those outside the Web 2.0 echo chamber. Maybe even more so.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.socialcustomer.com/index.rdf

Website: http://www.socialcustomer.com/

*Image from Portland Independent Media Center. They don't like cell phones.

Starbucks Coffee Blog: Addicts and bad investors welcome

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 06:39:00 GMT

Two things for you coffee and caffeine addicts out there, one with RSS, the other badly in need of RSS (for we RSS addicts):

Starbucks Gossip and Too Much Coffee Man (the grinning idiot to the left). Since more than a few invest in Starbucks instead of saving for retirement, perhaps you'd be interested in getting the scoop on where your dollars are going. If not, you can check if TMCM is actually your alter ego.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/

Website: http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/

*Image of Too Much Coffee Man, but I found it here.

Radar Online: Where has the teddy bear gone?

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 12:06:00 GMT

B.J.: What do you want to be?
Radar: A hot lover. Or even a cold one. I don't care.
B.J.: What makes you think the army could help you with that?
Radar: When my Uncle Ed came home from World War I, his mother could tell from the look in his eyes that he hadn't been a good boy in France. She cried for three days. I just know when I get home, my mother's going to look at me and chuckle for a week.

Wasn't M*A*SH a great show?

Today's Feed of the Day, Radar Online, shares none of Radar O'Reilly's innocence and all of his knowing everything about everything superpowers. Or in the spirit of the Long Tail, they're all about celebrity stalking for pop culture junkies. You don't have to admit (confess) your addiction, but may find it better (worse) by checking them out.

What will you find? Well, the current (as of 11/17/05) intelligence, has appropriately deep stuff like:

Brittany Murphy falling victim to "a double-barreled dose of Hollywood bitchslappery"

Joaquin Phoenix "thinks a frog is eating his brain"

Isn't reality great?

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.radaronline.com/index.xml

Website: http://www.radaronline.com/

*Radar image from Smokey's Office. Blame Smokey. Quote from TVs Other Ten Percent.

Banterist: Why it may be good that the elderly don't adopt technology very quickly.

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 15:24:00 GMT

Busted. Been have you? Yodaspeak calls for a visit by the Grammar Cop, so the Banterist Department of Corrections lends a hand and shares some of the better stuff he finds. Anyone who can find choice stuff like this deserves a spot in Pluck's Feed of the Day Hall of Fame. Most are even grandmother friendly. Two more:

Rose bokays

Jombo hotdogs

But the Banterist himself, Brian Sack, doesn't stop with the Grammar Police. Oh, no. He has a few ideas for improved Xbox controllers, including one for Tom "I'm nuts" Cruise and Paris "I'm xxx" Hilton.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Banterist

Website: http://www.banterist.com/

*Image from Banterist, presumably his discovery.

EU Rota. The EU, Wheels, or Valkyries.

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 13:16:00 GMT

After a brief hiatus, Pluck's Feed of the Day is back. What can I say? Life gets in the way sometimes. However, we'll see if my explanation of today's selection - EU Rota - is up to snuff.

What's a "rota?" No promises on accuracy, but I've found a few possible explanations* that might be fitting for EU Rota:

A Latin word for "wheel," also used for measuring distances

A Valkyrie who decided the fates of battlefield combatants (e.g. dead or not-dead vikings)

A schedule

A rotating cylinder in a monastery used to exchange/receive mail and food - the only contact monks in such monasteries had with the rest of the world

Combined with "EU," a blog about the European Union

I think it might be either a monastery-bound (isolationist?) Valkyrie deciding the fates of the monks in the European monastery. Or a play on the EU wheel as it spins round and round. Or I'm totally reaching. Yep.

A few excerpts to address your inner Valkyrie:

Environmentalism: Ooops - Greenpeace munches some coral reef while studying "the effect of global warming on the coral reef." I'm sure the reef is glad someone is looking out for them.

Grave robbing - Did you hear about the UK animal rights activists that dug up the body of a woman whose family bred guinea pigs used in medical research? Who does things like this?

Voluntary air travel taxes - an insight into how EU governments market tax plans. Ick. When legislators and bureaucrats start redefining words, you know it's going to come out of your pocket.

Enjoy!

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://eurota.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Website: http://eurota.blogspot.com/

*Thanks to Wikipedia for help.

Web 2.0 has a Shadow.

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 10:04:00 GMT

Taking a quick stroll down the information superhighway - you really need to be quick, you know, so you don't get caught in a mashup (not to be confused with a Bjork mash-up) - I found a few telling Web 2.0 signposts.

Do an image search on Google for "Web 2.0." Look closely and you'll see the Rodney Dangerfield image shown here (being peed on) from Dave Winer's Scripting News. Funny.

Do a similar search on Flickr and you'll see Michael Arrington's picture (you know, Michael from Techcrunch, with a great graphical explanation of Web 2.0, shown below.

So it isn't all hard work and geekery in the Web 2.0 world. It's also funny as data becomes free and forms free associations. It reminds me a little bit of some of the stuff I used to create using voice recognition software about seven years ago - sometimes hard to understand, often hilarilous.

But what would Web 2.0 be without a Shadow? Well of course Shadows offers a Web 2.0 group, with a growing array of user-discovered/recommended links and discussion posts. Drop by and share your thoughts and recommended "trusted sources."

My favorite? some post about Web Two Point Oh! Great resource on how to build a Web 2.0 company and get rich. Quickly. Really.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.shadows.com/rss/group/web2

Website: http://www.shadows.com/group/web2

*Image from Scripting News, courtesy of Rodney Dangerfield.

Triple Pundit: MBAs with sustainability in mind. Trees are our friends.

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:17:00 GMT

First, I'm very aware that yesterday was Tuesday, even if Mr. Staubach is a Monday-morning CEO. Tuesday is still a perfectly useful day.

As for today, we're taking a look at the "dreaded source" of consultants, I-bankers, and other "suits." That's right, we're looking at MBA students! Oh the horror!

Triple Pundit, written by MBA students at the Presidio School of Management (think Bay area), a business school with a definite twist: they like trees. And birds. And fishes. And all of the little things, including the Wall Street bull, which is not a little thing. A clip from Presidio's site gives you the official scoop:

The MBA in Sustainable Management at Presidio School of Management is unique in the field of higher education. While individual courses on business ethics and environmental management now exist, few programs engage faculty and students alike in the process of integrating—at all levels—social and environmental values with the application of practical business skills.

This program is designed to prepare professionals to position their organizations—private, public or non-profit—to be leaders in the practice of Sustainable Management.

A sustainable management MBA? Very unique. Inspired by The Corporation? I doubt it, because Presidio actually embraces capitalism, business, and all that stuff.

The posts at Triple Pundit aren't just tree hugging fun, but cover just about everything an environmentally conscious, but interested in disposable income MBA student (and you) might want to know. Two from their "Carnival" series:

Carnival of the Green - from City Hippy and Triple Pundit

Carnival of the Capitalists - sustainable greed is good?!

See, MBA students aren't all Gordon Gecko wannabees.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.triplepundit.com/index.rdf

Website: http://www.triplepundit.com/

*Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Google Image Search.

Monday Morning CEO: Roger Staubach, football, real estate, and blogging

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 13:33:00 GMT

We cover lots of tech stuff at Pluck's Feed of the Day, because I like tech stuff and I believe most RSS users are still very oriented towards technology and new media. But many new adopters aren't similarily focused, thanks to the power of the long tail (niche). And so it goes with today's highlight, Roger Staubach's Monday Morning CEO.

If Roger is new to you, check out Wikipedia's and/or About.com's snapshot of his football career with the Dallas Cowboys, followed by his venture into real estate. His blog, Monday Morning CEO, is his recent foray into citizen journalism. A few posts give you a sense of what he cares about:

Extra Mile in HOV Lane - I like this statement from Roger, "At the Staubach Company, we konw there's not much traffic on the extra mile."

Kickoff weekend = football talk

Hall of Fame Racing - Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman's Nascar team announces new drivers

Yahoo saves $40 MM

So if you want to relive some of your/the Cowboy's glory days, Roger's blog might be a good place to start.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://roger.staubach.com/feed/

Website: http://roger.staubach.com/

*Image from Cincinatti.com

ChangeThis: So you want an argument? A thoughtful argument?

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 09:58:00 GMT

We're taking a look at ChangeThis, the pick for today's Feed of the Day. Inspired by "Agent of Change," Seth Godin, ChangeThis is trying to use new media to change how important issues are discussed. No more sound bytes. No screaming, hysterical finger-pointing, making "really serious charges," or changing the subject.

Why? In their own words:

We’re betting that a significant portion of the population wants to hear thoughtful, rational, constructive arguments about important issues.

I applaud the idea, but does anyone take the time to move past sound byte-sized arguments? I believe readers like you are likely candidates for just such a "solution."

ChangeThis publishes "manifestos" detailing an argument for/against a particular issue and - here is where new media comes in - releases them to influential bloggers and subscribers. If the manifesto is "good," it will disseminate and weave its way into the culture. The bad ideas will wither and die on the vine.

That's their argument. So, does it resonate?

One more thing. If ChangeThis was inspired by Seth Godin, was Seth Inspired by Monty Python's Argument Sketch?

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChangethisNewsletter

Website: http://www.changethis.com/

*Image from Scott Berkun, Essay 40. No idea where he got it from.

The Broken Road's customer insight: sex sells. big deal. bad idea.

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 09:53:00 GMT

To wrap up Pluck's Feed of the Day - for this week - I've found a little Blogger-powered blog about using customer insight to drive product management and marketing decisions. I'll let you discover the details about what she's blogging about, but will share a little excerpt from a recent post on an American clothing manufacturer using what amounts to amatuer porn to market it clothes . . . and it's not Abercrombie and Fitch (they look like angels in comparison).

AA, the latest apparel company to hit the fashion scene, is capitalizing on it vertically integrated, “sweat-shop free” operations and its sexually charged advertising to sell T-shirts and other basic, no frills type clothing. . . .

However, its founder, Dov Charney, doesn’t believe this operationally efficient strategy is enough. As
Charney explains, “the whole sweatshop-free, made in American thing is no longer a selling point – “It’s like a sexy girl who keeps telling you she’s sexy; it’s nauseating” – but will always form the core of American Apparel’s success.

So, Charney has adopted a different strategy, a strategy that has been around forever, use sex to sell products. He has taken his in-house approach to design and production and applied it to their advertising, which is where the controversy begins.

Charney takes many of the ad photos himself, often using female employees as models. What started a couple of years ago as mildly boundary pushing crotch shots of models has now escalated to gritty amateur porn. “Meet
Lauren,” exclaims one print ad, in which a young comely blond is photographed only wearing socks while performing a self-satisfying act. The ad reads “Safe to say she really loves her socks.”

The obvious irony is AA's "sweatshop free" approach to manufacturing, as though they really care about their workers. Apparently they think sexual exploitation is an acceptable corporate practice though. Looks like they've missed consistency by just a little bit.

You really should read the rest of Carrie's post on the subject, including why AA "gets away" with it and whether or not it's a successful long-term marketing strategy. Continue the post at: When is Good Taste Not in Style?

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://noroadmap.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Website: http://noroadmap.blogspot.com/

*Image from the BBC

Somewhat Frank (ly) speaking

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 06:53:00 GMT

Many of you feed readers love the seeming demise of the mainstream media and not a few of you are helping reshape what constitutes "news." Stepping outside the Web 2.0 echo chamber for a moment there are two observations I'd like to make about media in this forever brave new world:

The mainstream media views bloggers and other aspects of the more conversational Internet with disdain and lacking the credentials/credibility earned from professional journalism. In short, bloggers are hacks and not worth listening to.

The blogosphere believes the MSM - or aspects of it, depending on your particular perspective - is misleading and prefers soundbytes and empty-headed "reporting" to accuracy and depth.

So no love lost between the two groups, at least not from the 10'000-foot view. Oddly enough that many in the MSM use the blogosphere to make their living, viewing it as an ideal source for hot, controverisal, and career-making stories. Bloggers, eBay, Google, Craigslist, Match.com, Yahoo!, etc. having in turn made MSM disintermediation (this is better written then spoken) into a professional sport and occupation.

Since the MSM is taking it on the chin according to conventional wisdom, what do they think about the next-generation Internet? I suggest that the smarter ones aren't just paying attention, they're embracing and actively encouraging the change. It's the best form of career security, kill your job by creating a better one.

Somewhat Frank, by Frank Gruber, is an example of a "smarter one." He still has his job with the Tribune, but he's wisely chosen to play in the tech sandbox, helping the Tribune with its new technology services. A few recent and notable posts:

Online Revenue: Newspaper's Most Promising Prospect

How Influential is the Blogosphere?

Visiting An Alpaca Farm

So the last one has nothing to do with news media. It does say something about niche content though. Oh, the fellow in the top picture isn't Frank Gruber, just another guy named Frank.*

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SomewhatFrank

Website: http://www.somewhatfrank.com/

*Alpaca picture by Frank Gruber. Odd picture (top) of Frank Ghigo, photogenic astronomer and high ranking Google image search for "frank."

Zero Intelligence: Keep your toys, butter knives, and smarts at home. We don't need no education.

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 11:37:00 GMT

Part of my task at Pluck's Feed of the Day is to provide a worthwhile diversion from your standard daily activities. One of the best ways to both divert your attention and to share something "worth knowing" is to find truly odd and idiotic behavior that thankfully is such a major component of everyday life.

It's a little like downhill skiing. When you're on the chairlift and you see someone wipe out, you cheer (unless they're really hurt, then you make an "ooooooooooooh" sound.) Wipe outs are always best when someone else can see and appreciate your fun.

Odd and idiotic behavior is a little like that. The picture to the left is one such example, which I found by searching on "intelligent." You be the judge as to what makes it so "smart."

Setting, the odd side aside for a moment, let's look at idiotic behavior, this time documented and discussed by Zero Intelligence. The author, Jim Peacock, does a superb job of pointing out the idiocy common to many school's zero tolerance policy, which result in kids being expelled from school . . . for being kids. Jim describes zero intelligence as follows:

Zero Intelligence is a play on "Zero Tolerance", the knee jerk reactionary policies that plague our school systems. The implementation of a zero tolerance policy is the equivalent of giving up on common sense, reasonability and intellect. All infractions are grouped into types with uniform punishments regardless of the individual facts of the incident. Posession of Advil is treated as if it were equivalent to pushing crack. An honor student with the wrong type of pencil sharpener is punished the same as a known delinquent with a switchblade would be. Improper use of an inhaler leads to arrest as assault with a weapon. It is easy to see why we call these "Zero Intelligence Policies".

The most frightening part of the above paragraph is that all of the examples cited are real. They are not hyperbole or fiction for effect. They all actually happened in various school systems in the United States. These and countless other incidents show just how badly zero tolerance policies fail our children.

For parents and folks who care about common sense, this one is definitely for you.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.zerointelligence.net/index.rdf

Website: http://www.zerointelligence.net/

*Image from WearComp.org.

Porkbusters: Cutting wasteful government spending. Contact your elected pork barreler today.

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 06:49:00 GMT

We'll cut right to the point (pun intended). As you are aware, true spending cuts (not just cuts in the rate of spending increases) are a very rare occurrence at most levels of government, especially where the U.S. Congress is concerned. Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but pork barrel spending is unfortunately a politician's best friend.

Most of us understand a fairly straightforward principle: one cannot consistently outspend income without the vicious great white sharks of debt someday dropping by to collect payment. Or something like that. The point is as a citizen of this great nation, we should expect and ask our elected officials to act with a modicum of sense and not spend citizens' money with such senseless disregard to basic principles of financial management and sound judgment.

And here's were bloggers and general Internet aficionados step in. Porkbusters is a blogosphere effort to call attention to government waste (spurred on by enormous spending following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, etc.). Just recently though, the N.Z. Bear noted a shift in focus:

Porkbusters is shifting its focus from raising awareness of pork to calling attention to specific legislation that actually starts eliminating pork. The first bill that we are focusing on is sponsored by seven Senators who have styled themselves the "Fiscal Responsibility Team": Tom Coburn, Sam Brownback, Jim DeMint, John Ensign, Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and John Sununu."

Sadly, I'm unable to find a porkbuster-specific RSS feed, so I'm substituting the feed from the Truth Laid Bear, which does include updates to the porkbuster project. Check it out and call your elected pork barreler to cut pork barrel spending.

We support the Fiscal Watch Team Offset Package!

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.truthlaidbear.com/index.rdf

Website: http://www.truthlaidbear.com/porkbusters.php

Shadowboxing: The good, the bad, the Ugly on Shadows

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 07:47:00 GMT

Pluck's Feed of the Day is an effort to combine: (1) recommended RSS feeds and associated publisher websites and (2) a bit of commentary on some of the fun/distracting/useful stuff we come across on the WWWW (wonderful world wide web). Today's choice - Shadowboxing - fills that role quite nicely as Shadows user Haikumama blogs about the stuff she finds on Shadows.

<plug>In case you didn't know, Shadows is Pluck's social bookmarking service, combined with personal and community search.</plug>

A few of her more fun and/or acerbic posts, just to give you a flavor to her Shadows musings:

The Gospel Mime

Sucklarious

Yes dear, cheese tastes good

Welcome to the new week.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.easyjournal.com/rss/shadowboxing.xml

Website: http://shadowboxing.easyjournal.com/

Halloween Blog: Tricks and Treats

Sat, 29 Oct 2005 07:55:00 GMT

With a picture like this, what else is there to say? Subscribe to the All Halloween Blog and get your scary freak on.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://allhalloween.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Website: http://allhalloween.blogspot.com/

Image from All Halloween Blog.

Scientomogy Blog - Tom Cruise, couch abuse, and other lunacy

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 06:39:00 GMT

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://scientomogy.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Website: http://scientomogy.blogspot.com/

So the other day we blogged about impulse buying and the type of nifty stuff you find at the checkout stands at your local grocery store. No, I don't subscribe to the Enquirer. Yes, they qualify as high comedy, if for no other reason than far too many people actually believe their copy is "true."

Scary. But then we come to Tom Cruise. Boy he's been on one for a while now, but the best part is that his behavior makes tabloid journalism look like C-Span. Minor exaggeration, but to quote Monty Python, "he's a looney."

In case you missed the coverage (where have you been hiding?), I came across this compilation of screenshots from Mr. Cruise's appearance on Oprah. For more fun on Tommy boy, check out our Feed of the Day, Scientomogy Blog and read about the legal fun they're having with the Church of Scientology. Be careful that you don't tick them off though, or you might find Darth Tom showing up at your house.

Images from: Passion of Cruise and Willisms. So sue them, not us.

Dilbert Blogs. Dogbert Con-sults. Are you a PHB?

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 04:56:00 GMT

You heard it here first. Or maybe second. Either way, you're here and Dilbert, Dogbert, Ratbert, maybe Wally, what about Asok?, hopefully not the PHB, and Scott Adams are blogging. It's about time! Here's a clip from Scott's first post:

Welcome to my first blog entry.

If you’re reading this on company time, congratulations on beating the system. If you’re reading it on your own time, you really need to find a job where they pay you to do this sort of thing.

You know the drill, so we'll move right out of the way and let you do some clickin' and subscribin' . . . and find out how closely your life tracks Dilbert's. It's scary how many pointy-haired bosses are "out there." Just don't become one yourself.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS Feed: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/rss.xml

Website: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/

Zimbra, meet Outlook. Outlook, meet AJAX and disruption

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:09:00 GMT

Disruption, AJAX is thy name. Many of you are either using or making next-generation Internet software, and AJAX is the disruptive technology that may clean the clocks of established players. Lots of folks have sounded the death knell for Microsoft in the past, so take pronouncements from journlists and pundits with a grain of salt.

Yet the combination of broadband and high-speed wireless + some fancy-shmancy coding (AJAX or otherwise) makes for an interesting story. If you can get as good (better?) functionality, at lower cost and with everywhere access, the story is downright compelling. Will we still need shrinkwrapped software? If not, do traditional market channels - especially for Microsoft - still matter?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Either way, you'd do well to take a look at today's Feed of the Day - Zimbra - because they've already developed a full-featured, Web 2.0 enabled, super-duper, email client . . . and it's AJAX powered to boot. Check out the demo for a cool overview of what makes Zimbra interesting for consumer and business users. Plus, they use lots of buzzwords on their site, including: AJAX, collaboration, open source, and beta.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.zimbra.com/blog/index.xml

Website: http://www.zimbra.com/blog/

The Impulsive Buy . . . must avoid endcaps and buying checkout junk.

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 02:37:00 GMT

So you spend lots of money on certain things, including "investments" in various morning, mid-day, and evening beverages and possibly a few other things . . . stuff you can't stop buying. Ever wonder why people purchase stuff like the Weekly World News or similar checkout stand junk (I'm using junk euphemistically here)?

Several possible reasons:

The can't get over how life imitates the X-Files.

Clinton's behavior can only be explained by an alien connection.

They miss Elvis.

They're addicted to the impulse buy.

Oooooooh. Tough choice. I'm sure everyone is true, but we're really concerned with number four, the impulse buy addiction.

You know why. The Impulse Buy is today's Feed of the Day, because they sometimes post about the weird consumer products people buy for no seemingly rational reason. You know the reasoning, the rational man goes to the grocery story for milk and comes back with:

Cheap bath towels

Monster Energy XXL drinks - Bear wrestling is a bad idea. Go to sleep.

A horrible-looking Starburst drink

Oh, they're witty too. Enjoy.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/wordpress/feed/

Website: http://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/

Apple - Feed right from the source

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 07:20:00 GMT

Wrapping up "all things Apple" week here at the Feed of the Day, we're turning right to Apple to serve up some trusty and tasty feeds to complete your Apple RSS feed needs. Two from the source:

Apple - Hot News
http://www.apple.com/main/rss/hotnews/hotnews.rss

Apple - Movie Trailers
http://www.apple.com/main/rss/trailers/trailers.rss

Have a great weekend!

* Image courtesy of kaleidoscopic lemming.

What's on Tonight: What's up with citizen television?

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:33:00 GMT

True or false: TV is dead. Long live citizen television.

So how will/is television being disrupted by next-generation Internet technology, especially podcasting and videocasting? Allen Weiner, Research Director with Gartner, thinks the impact is already happening and it will profoundly change the viewing media landscape.

Based on what we're seeing in the news industry and disintermediation of the traditional main-stream media, I'd say Allen is spot on. So what does he have to say about it? Plenty - he's a blogging machine. Here are a few selections from his blog, What's on Tonight?

What This is About: TV Begins to Die

For decades, TV programming has been built on the theory of planned obsolescence. Theatrical films are a close second in this category, but what other industry has such a low success rate? Even when you lower the threshold of "success," network (and now cable) programming is just plain awful.

This is why network television will die. It will die quickly and with a loud thud that will be heard across the fruited plain.. . . more

MADcast: NewsCorp Courts The Digital Future

In today's MADCAST, Allen and Mike engage in rampant speculation regarding NewsCorp's future after its purchase of Intermix and the company's announcement of an Internet division to handle online
business for its sports, news and entertainment properties.

Why it seems like just yesterday that we were reading about Rupert Murdoch telling his fellow captains of the media industry and the Internet was changing everything . . . click for audio MADcast (podcast, but MAD!)

Video Clip: 2005 Wiener Dog Nationals

Hey, how did this end up in here? It's about TV, really.

TV Station Balks At Video Clip

I was asked by a local TV station to take down a video clip I shot at the station as part of a charity event. It was an on air, in-studio cut-away in which a representative from one of the nation’s most significant charitable organizations aimed at eliminating one of the most frightening illnesses in the world, was being interviewed. I did not show anything about the TV station that would be competitive or secretive to competitors. Somehow, the clip upset the station. . . . more

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://whatsontonight.blogware.com/blog/index.xml

Website: http://whatsontonight.blogware.com/

*Weiner dog shot from www.2dorks.com

The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Tricky. But it works.

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:34:00 GMT

Want to succeed as a influential blogger? Think you know how to do it? Three steps:

Step 1
Be the unofficial source for something that people get really, really, really excited about. It helps if they go nuts about it, say like people did during the great iBook sale. Also figure out a way to inspire things like Ellen Feiss (see our post from a few days ago). You should also consider "being the unofficial source for all things Apple and get lots of attention in the proces" approach to successful blogging.

The good folks at Weblogs, Inc. have done just that with The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Step 2
Post pictures like this:

Step 3
Don't get sued for posting Apple rumors. Let someone else get sued and pay the collective legal bills for others in the business of sharing scoop, rumors, and other fun stuff.

Here endeth the lesson.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.tuaw.com/rss.xml

Website: http://www.tuaw.com/

*You should be able to guess that TUAW is the source of the nifty Steve Jobs clock. If not, now you know.

macTV Videocast: Get your fruit with audio and video

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:43:00 GMT

By now you should have notice a pattern. If not, pull yourself away from the ultracool iPod with video, music, lasers, swizzle stick, and better battery performance (?) and you'll see that Pluck's Feed of the Day is on an Apple kick.

Why?

My laptop keeps overheating and burning my hand. And it's not an Apple. I don't know if Apple's Powerbook would do this, but it looks cooler than the other side of the pillow and probably weighs less than the tank I'm carting around.

But you're here for other reasons, which I'm happy and able to help with. Here are a few:

Andy Hertzfeld tells us about Steve Jobs' reality distortion field. Neat.

Bono debuts in this iPod video ad. Do the rest of the U2ers get chapped about this?

The history of Microsoft - according to macuser. Yep, that's Bill.

Of course, macTV has much more to offer. Navigate their way below.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://live.watchmactv.com/?feed=rss2

Website: http://live.watchmactv.com/

*Images from macTV. Even the one of Bono which they got from Apple.

ThinkSecret: Winning Friends and Influencing People.

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 04:39:00 GMT

These guys should write a book. Or maybe they have and I don't know about it. Perhaps a made-for-tv movie? It'd probably be popular in California, although I suspect some lawyerly folks might not have a sense of humor about it.

But ThinkSecret knows all about people who struggle to see the fun in life. Since they've been in hot water with Apple for a while now (what's the status on the lawsuit fellas?), you might worry about submitting some of those "insider tips" for fear of being sucked into a litigation black hole.

No worries. They're all about keeping their sources anonymous.

You can even join in with fellow Mac-followers at the AppleNova Forums, and read about such things as:

The Madonna iPod Nano

Find out the answer to the classic, "Where's my new $%@# powermac?"

Computers and Sofas. Yep. You read it right.

If you're more the lurker type, don't be shy, stop by ThinkSecret to get the latest scoop on what Mr. Jobs and Co at Apple are working on. You might be glad you did.

RSS Feed of the Day

RSS feed: http://www.thinksecret.com/rss.xml

Website: http://www.thinksecret.com/

** Image from Viet Nam Net - I have no idea if it's really theirs.