I Am Not Interested In The Kindle

Or in any e-book reader, for that matter. And here’s why: The quagmire of DRM and proprietary file formats.

I have quite a few books on my bookshelves that are more than 20 years old. Some are even older than that. A few were printed before I was even born. Five years from now, will any file formatted for the Kindle be readable anymore, on any system? Possibly, if the product does well enough.

But what about 7 years from now? Or 10? Or more? Not so likely.

I’ll pass.

Blogroll Dilemma

For several years now, I’ve used Bloglines as both my web-based feed reader and my blogroll manager for the blog. However, Bloglines has been getting a little flaky lately, and I’m in the process of transitioning to a new feed reader. Currently I’m using Google Reader, but am not certain I’m going to stick with it.

At any rate, I am not using Bloglines right now, and that means that the blogroll you see as I type this is not the list of blogs I’m currently reading. Call me nit-picky, but I feel it’s important that the blogroll on my blog is the actual list of sites I’m reading, so this bugs me.

I’m going to experiment with exporting my OPML into WordPress, maybe look for a new plug-in to see if I can keep it in synch automatically.

Why "The Valley" Should Like Obama

Barack Obama is getting support for a lot of reasons, but his new set of proposals for integrating technology into government is another good reason for folks in this neck of the woods to pay attention to his candidacy.

VentureBeat has a rundown on Obama’s “technology platform”. Here’s a few takeaways:

  • Obama wants to open more of the governmental process. For example, the public should able to comment on the White House website before legislation is signed.
  • He calls more aggressive government support of broadband access.
  • He supports network neutrality.
  • He want to open the wireless spectrum so that winners of the 700 MHz band auction don’t just camp the spectrum in a bid to lock out competition.

Slightly less praiseworthy is his proposal to raise sanctions against companies offering “indecent” content. Fining networks $250,000 for dropping an f-bomb on TV is not going to make a more child-friendly society. Still, on balance, it’s a solid plan.

Six Apart's Judo Move

I’ve migrated off of Movable Type, but it’s hard to stop paying attention to a company whose products I used for four years. Today, Six Apart launched what they’re calling the Movable Type Community Solution — a set of white-box social media tools built onto the Movable Type blogging platform.

It’s an interesting move that should help solidify their place as a provider of enterprise-class tools. And given the realities of the marketplace, it’s a smart one. The window of opportunity for unseating WordPress as the principal provider of blogging tools on the consumer end is very firmly shut right now. Rather than trying to fight a losing battle in WordPress’s face, they are instead choosing to go where WordPress is not and get firmly entrenched there.

A very judo-like move — flow to where the antagonist is not. Let’s see if the execution matches the strategy.

Nitpicking "The Big Picture"

It’s a rare day that I get to say something like this, but I think Barry Ritholtz missed the point a little in his smackdown of the WSJ Doctor the Dollar? article today:

When a currency falls as precipitously as ours has, it is, in no small part, a referendum by foreign governments (and their private investors/traders) on a country and its government. We know that the current administration is not particularly popular overseas. Its no coincidence that since they took office on January 20, 2001, the dollar has fallen ~35%.

The dollar has not fallen because foreign governments don’t like George W Bush (although he’s undoubtedly unpopular). It’s the policies this administration has implemented that have caused the dollar to weaken.