I'm The Boss @ netmobs, past CEO of b5media, author of Blog Marketing and a hardcore Canadian
Oct 28 2005
Okay, all details are now sorted out. I’m going to AdTech from November 7-10. This is a huge relief for me, after nearly making it to 2 major conferences in the last month, and missing out on both of them because of logistics.
I’ll be there largely representing b5media and some upcoming big news on that front, I’m sure I’ll be talking about Blog Marketing as well – since it comes out a week later and everything.
Anyways, if you’re heading there, let me know and we’ll figure out how to hook up!
Oct 26 2005
Film Gecko (a new b5media blog) points out the new Chronicles of Narnia trailer.
Yowza.
Any fears I had of being poorly adapted, or not doing the characters and pure magic of Narnia justice have been put to rest. I’m not confident it’ll be “Lord of the Rings good”, but it’ll at least be “Harry Potter good”, which is enough for me.
I have to be honest and say my skin was tingling the whole preview. Watching something you grew up with come to life (much as you imagined it) on the big screen is such an incredible thrill. I’m hoping more of these classic adaptations of epic books come to life.
How about Asimov’s Foundation series, for one? 
Edit: Link corrected.
Oct 26 2005
While I’ve never been “anti-Linux” (I believe it’s one of the best OS’s in the world, particularly for single-purpose servers like webservers, caching, etc)… I’ve never had to personally manage or personally use Linux to any degree. The extent of my Linux knowledge was that “cd” was change directory, “top” showed me what was going on with the machine and “ls” showed the contents of directories.
In the last week, though, I’ve had to become more accustomed than ever, thanks to some issues with the b5media server.
While I’m not exactly a powerhouse, I’ve figured out how to (with help from friends, Google, etc):
- make my way around directories, copy files, view filetypes, edit text files using vi, etc
- work with top and ps and various other tools to figure out what’s going on with a server
- reconfigure apache and mysql, in fairly basic ways, to optimize how they work
- setup a cron job
- kill, maime and otherwise do serious damage to runaway processes
And a variety of other minor tasks. I’m all impressed with myself, obviously. Not sure I enjoy Linux (anymore than I’d enjoy working with DOS again), but then this is all server stuff and I’m not sure how much “server stuff” can actually be fun (though I do love buying and setting up hardware).
Oct 25 2005
This isn’t actually a proposal, more of a “thinking out loud”. Most spam blogs, “splogs” for short (how stupid of a name…), are powered by Google’s Blogspot service. Certainly not all of them, but a good number of them (between 2000-3000 of them are created on Blogspot every day according to recent analysis).
My question is, since you own the copyright on your blog (or, at the very least, most people have a Creative Commons license which makes copying okay as long as it isn’t for profit), and since spam sites are stealing that content, if you go to Google and ask them to remove the content – and they don’t, or they don’t have sufficient safeguards in place to protect against content theft using their automated systems…
Is there legal grounds for action against either the spammers OR Google? Not that I care about the money, but it’s the principle of the matter. 90% of all spam blogs happen on either Google or MSN. They don’t happen on TypePad. They don’t happen on LiveJournal. They don’t happen on Yahoo’s service. They happen on Google and MSN Spaces.
Are these entities responsible for monitoring and removing copythefted content on their servers? If so, is there any reason thousands of bloggers can’t demand that their content be removed from those servers and – if Google doesn’t comply – is there any reason a lawsuit (class action or otherwise) can’t be launched?
I guess this seems to me like the filesharing services. Yes, there are legitimate uses to them. But, if you don’t protect copyright holders sufficiently, you’re liable for the illegal activity taking place.
Again, I have nothing particularly against Google. I don’t claim to be a lawyer (and, being Canadian, I’m not as familiar with the US legal system as I could be). I’d just like, y’know, the content I wrote to actually be on my site making me money instead of on someone else’s making them money.
Thoughts? Am I off my rocker on this one (feel free to say yes)?
Oct 24 2005
Like so many others I’ve become introspective on my last 4 years of gaming, which has largely been centered around Microsoft’s XBox console.
Ever first I since started gaming on a Commodore 64, I’ve always loved video games. For me, games fulfill one of two desires: socializing and working my mind.
Any game which doesn’t allow me to either play with friends, or think my way through a problem simply isn’t worth playing. So it was early on that I came up with a list of criteria for every generation of console, and so far it has served me very, very well:
1. It must push multi-player gaming
2. It must be easy to use, and not crash constantly
3. It must “get out of the way”
4. It must have several killer features above the competition
5. Great games
In past generations, I chose the NES (due to multi-player focus, as well as interesting peripherals), the SNES (ditto… Sega’s systems until then were weak in both these areas), the Genesis (better graphics, better controller, better multiplayer games), the Nintendo 64 (multiplayer, better games, the rumble pack and RAM upgrade, GoldenEye) and the Dreamcast (killer games, loads of multiplayer, decent controller, innovative features, best graphics).
When it came time to buy a console in the current generation (PS2, Gamecube and XBox), my choices were fairly clear. The PS2 had nearly no 4-player games. The multiplayer games were hardly there. This was a “single-player console” – something it did quite well at. In addition, constant hardware failures (even in today’s units) and a controller I’ve yet to ever feel like I was in charge of pushed me away. Which left me a choice between the Gamecube – with less powerful graphics, more innovative games (but less of them) – and the XBox.
The XBox was my obvious choice. In fact, here are my top 10 reasons for loving the XBox (and the reasons I would still buy one today, if I had to make a choice today):
1. XBox Live: Love it or hate it, the fact that there’s a centralized service, with shared friends and contacts and messaging between all games is huge. Sony will try and emulate this in PS3.
2. Hard drive: Yes, it made the console huge (biggest console EVER). Yes it added to the price. And, yes, initially it meant Microsoft lost money on the console (as a note, Microsoft now makes a profit off of each Xbox sold, just in case you cared). But not having to buy 3-4 memory sticks (ahem @ all my PS2 friends) was a huge draw for me. I still have 45,000 free blocks on my XBox.
3. Break-away cables: If you’ve ever had kids, you know that this is perhaps the single greatest piece of evidence that Microsoft actually put real THOUGHT into the console. This is the first console that’s never fallen down, never cracked, never had a controller ripped out of my hands when someone ran over or tripped over or walked through a cord. Heaven, let me tell you.
4. Multiplayer focus: From Halo to Tony Hawk to Counterstrike to a dozen other games I can play with all kinds of friends, the Xbox has more multiplayer-focussed games than any system in history.
5. Halo & Halo 2: Every console has great hits (especially the PS2). But for me, these are two of the best games ever made. It’s nothing you can put your finger on, it’s just a variety of things. I love introducing people to Halo 2, dropping them into a great level and watching them get completely engrossed in it. The first time someone steals a vehicle from someone else is pure heaven.
6. Built-in networking: The Dreamcast first had a modem, but Sega never really capitalized on it. The PS2 kind did and kinda didn’t (not initally). The built-in networking is huge, and since the XBox is effectively a PC (for good or bad), in terms of architecture, it allows anyone to connect to a regular network.
7. Media Center Extender: Yep, stream movies and pictures from your PC to your TV via your XBox. This is a feature you’ll either love or hate (just like the Media Center), but for those who love it, it’s huge. No other console does (or likely will anytime soon) do anything like it.
8. Fable & KOTOR: While there are lots of fantastic RPG’s for the PS2, I’m a bit of an RPG hypocrite. I enjoy them, but I want to play an RPG where I can PLAY and not worry about the intricacies of class and weapon balance, what order I’m doing things in, etc. Both KOTOR and Fable let me do this incredibly well. They both had their flaws, and neither deserves to win any awards, but they’re both really good games for the non-RPG RPG’ers out there (like me).
9. The games: The Xbox library isn’t as large as the PS2’s, but for me it’s the perfect mix of sports, FPS, RPG, action and “other” games. When I finally sold my XBox this week I had a wide variety of games from all of these classes, and I’ve rarely felt that there was a game I was missing (except GTA… Which is now available).
10. XBox Live: This is the XBox’s killer feature. It deserves at least 2 mentions.
11. The tools: Sure, I said this would be only 10, but 11 doesn’t really impact me directly. Microsoft has built for Xbox the best set of developer tools ever produced. Every developer loves working for the XBox. In fact, EA has switched all primary development for their games to the XBox tools, and they then port the games to other systems. It’s that good.
As I look forward, it seems that my choice is equally clear. While the Revolution and PS3’s specs aren’t really finalized yet, and while nobody’s really played either console (the PS3 might, if we’re lucky, make its way to North America in October of next year) there is still enough talk from the makers to figure out what the focus for each console will be.
In short, this is:
Revolution: Flip gaming on its head, get back to the “fun” of gaming.
PS3: More of the same, with more power.
360: More of the same, more power, more Live, fixing stuff that bothered certain gamer groups.
Realistically, the Revolution is the only one doing anything truly revolutionary this generation. The 360 will completely push the XBox Live experience to extremes no other console will match in this generation. Live will make or break the 360. It’ll have better graphics, better networking, wireless controllers, better features here and there. But where the real push will happen, and where the differentiation will happen, will be in the Live area.
And for me, this is why I’m buying a 360 in 3 weeks, and why I sold my XBox this week. It gives me more great games (including XBox Arcade, for family games), gives me a better multiplayer experience (since most of my friends no longer live in the same town) and gives me more choices.
If you love the PS2, you’ll likely love the PS3. And that’s fine.
But, the 360 is the console for me because, like the XBox before it, it lets me be the gamer I am, instead of trying to change me into somebody else’s idea of what a gamer should be.
Oct 24 2005
I’m always surprised anytime anyone doubts the power of blogs to touch consumers. Too many detractors still think of blogs as this nebulous place where teenagers gripe about homework or their latest boyfriends, or where people with nothing better to do try and prove their importance by talking about what they don’t know.
Blogs are powerful. Examples of the power of blogs to directly impact consumers are popping up with increasing frequency and intensity. The New York Times’ recent piece illustrates this by talking about consumers who blog about the brands they love. Another great example comes from John Engler, where he talks about the excitement he’s getting from reading the Bare Naked Ladies’ blog.
Great stuff, especially this:
Reading their entries as they make these latest recordings has me looking forward to spending money on their new album…
That’s marketing by blog, and it should be a case-study. Each member of the band is getting in on the action, letting me learn a little more about who they are individually, as well as pumping me up for the new album by letting me be part of the experience.
Oct 24 2005
My next book, You Can Blog (being co-authored by Aaron Brazell) is currently well underway. For it, we’ve decided to happily borrow the Naked Conversations model of reviewing and editing: doing it in public.
The idea is that we’ll post the first drafts in public, allow anyone who wants to to contribute, and ultimately have a better book.
So, if you’re interested, head over to the You Can Blog blog, add your comments, ask questions, whatever!
Oct 24 2005
Just as a note, Ensight will be becoming part of the b5media network effective November 1. Initially this won’t mean any real changes (besides less and/or different ads). Long term, I’ll likely go with one of the b5media templates and so forth. This will always be just my personal blog, though, so I’m not entirely sure how the content could or would change.
Just a heads up that if things do start to change around here (design wise and such), this is why. The design you see now was really meant as an interim design until I brought Ensight into b5. “Interim” just ended up being 3 months longer than I thought it’d be
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Oct 23 2005
Just in case nobody caught the change in the Amazon release date, Blog Marketing official comes out in 3 weeks: November 15th.
This is incredibly exciting to me. The book went to the printers 2 days ago (a day ahead of schedule), and is being published over a month early. This is largely because we wanted to be the first business book on blogging out there, and we didn’t want Naked Conversations to up their publication date and beat us.
In theory they still could, but at this point there isn’t much we can do to get it out there faster. The print run will be done soon, it will be shipped and then it will go on sale. The book has already been picked up by a number of international publishers and is being translated (as we speak, apparently) into several other languages. Deals have also been signed with retail chains, major online stores, schools and all kinds of things.
It’s incredibly exciting to watch the publisher spin up and do what they do best: create visibility for great books. Everyone that I’m working with at McGraw-Hill has been fantastic throughout this process. The entire team has been amazing – from my Acquisitions Editor (who stayed on through the whole project) to my Technical Editor, Reviewers, Copyeditor, Production Editor as well as the whole marketing team (I don’t want to name them unless they want to be named, though I’m incredibly proud and humbled to have worked with them).
Writing a book is one of the best and hardest things I’ve ever done. It’s a hell of a lot of work (more than you ever imagine), it’s frustrating, nerve-wracking stuff where you can go from the highest high to the lowest low in just minutes. I’d imagine this is more true for first-time authors, but either way writing my first book was an incredibly emotional experience, but also an incredibly rewarding one.
It has been my lifelong dream to write a book, and thanks to people like Mitch Tulloch and Sean who helped me realize I could do it, and to people like Neil (my agent) and Margie (my editor) for helping make it a reality.
There are more people to thank throughout this process than I have space for.
This book was really a labor for blogging, bloggers and the blogosphere as a whole. I first proposed the idea in May of 2004, at while point several people (including, ironically, Robert Scoble who’s now writing a competing book) said it was a stupid idea. Then in October when I started seriously thinking about it, it made a lot more sense.
Now it’s happening and, in many ways, the book is my way of saying “thank you” to bloggers everywhere. I wouldn’t be anything if people like Sterling Hughes and Jeremy Zawodny and Robert Scoble hadn’t inspired me to blog. I wouldn’t have even found business blogging or my own voice if it hadn’t been for friends in the business blogging community like Rob and Todd and Wayne who started blogging at about the same time as I did and helped mold me.
Ultimately I feel like I live an incredibly privileged life – not materially so much as in the amount of joy and peace and fun I have every day effectively doing “blogging” (writing, blogging, speaking, consulting, training, etc) for a living. And it’s thanks to every blogger out there that I can do this, that I was able to find a publisher for the book and ultimately that (hopefully) the book will do well.
I’m not going to be cheesy and say it’s every blogger’s duty to buy a copy, because that’s silly. And I’m not even going to ask for links (though I’m not going to turn them down). I’ve now done my “part”, and the rest is up to the quality of the work and the quality of the relationships I’ve made over the last 3 years. While I want the book to succeed, I don’t want it to do so simply because every blogger bought a copy.
Success for this book, to me, isn’t in how many copies are sold. It’s in how many companies are helped to understand blogging. So feel free to link, or to recommend the book to friends or to buy it for your company. I won’t mind. But the moment I’ll feel like this book is a success is the moment I get an email or a phone call or a letter from a company (or meet them in person) and they thank me for something the book said.
Because a book can’t be a success if it doesn’t actually bring value. So, fingers crossed that I managed to do the blogging community a service in writing this. It’s been a long, hard journey but one that has already been worth it to me, even if the book never sells a single copy.
Oct 23 2005
Just a note that the PokerStars Blogger Poker Tournament gets under way at 4pm EST. To play (sorry, if you haven’t registered yet it’s too late), launch the app then click “Tourney” in the game select area, then sort by name and go to “Inaugural PokerStars Blogger Championship” and select “Tournament Lobby”.
A few folks have said they’ve been having problems finding the room, so I figured the official name might help
Update: Btw, I’m on Skype so if you want to chat while we all lose, drop me a line
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