News.Com: Microsoft's in-house sociologist. Q&A with Marc Smith. Microsoft has a big investment in online communities, and has not had until recently many tools to enhance that investment. What Microsoft wants around communities is what every enterprise does, which is a peer-support, knowledge-management application. [Tomalak's Realm]
How to deal with broken feeds
How to deal with broken feeds. Tim Bray writes about how to deal with broken PEAW feeds: “I would absolutely require basic XML well-formedness.” Me, I would absolutely love it if I, as an aggregator developer, could require well-formedness. In other words, if a feed isn’t well-formed, then NetNewsWire would not parse it and display… Continue reading How to deal with broken feeds
FTC Chairman Criticizes Anti Spam Legislation
FTC Chairman Criticizes Anti Spam Legislation. CNET is running a story stating that the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission today criticized the current crop of anti-spam legislation initiatives stating that although well intentioned, they “will do little to solve the current spam problems” and could be even “less useful” than existing laws the FTC… Continue reading FTC Chairman Criticizes Anti Spam Legislation
What's in a Name?
What's in a Name?. FC Now reader Tom Asacker asks, “What does Fast Company mean again?” Our founding editors, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber, expand on how we consider “fast companies” in the June 2003 editor's letter. We also offer 10 make-or-break questions you We also offer 10 make-or-break questions you can use to gauge your… Continue reading What's in a Name?
Placing blame and the power of geeks
Placing blame and the power of geeks. So it's becoming clear that the power outage started in Ohio – but they're not sure at this point exactly where, how and who is responsible. A really interesting thing was said in this article, by a Michael Gent, head of the North American Electric Reliability Council. In the ensuing… Continue reading Placing blame and the power of geeks
Information Architecture for Designers book site
Information Architecture for Designers book site. The book site has been launched for Peter Van Dijck's Information Architecture for Designers: Structuring Websites for Business Success (link to pre-order from Amazon), complete with table of contents, sample chapter, and templates for producing IA deliverables. Congratulations, Peter. [ia/ – information architecture news]
Texting Teens Sink Flix
Texting Teens Sink Flix. According to this story in The Independent, texting teenagers have taken a bite out of this summer's movie blockbuster revenues. (Thanks, Ashley!) In Hollywood, 2003 is rapidly becoming known as the year of the failed blockbuster, and the industry now thinks it knows why. No, the executives are not blaming such… Continue reading Texting Teens Sink Flix
Keeping the lights on
Keeping the lights on. If you don't want to go without power during the next blackout, Slate recommends picking up the EU3000, a portable generator from Honda which pumps out 2,500 watts of juice. … [Gizmodo]
NYTimes
NYTimes. Bush opts to delay power grid improvement proposal. Why? A more efficient power grid would save customers in the north east and CA $500 m a year. It would raise prices for power in the south, Bush's political base. Guess who lost that political equation? Basically, CA (54) and the north eastern states NY (36), PA (23), CT (8), VT (3),… Continue reading NYTimes
Why Your ID Is Such Easy Picking
BW Online | August 14, 2003 | Why Your ID Is Such Easy Picking. With Social Security numbers so commonly used on insurance and health-care cards, a stolen wallet can easily lead to a much bigger headache [ … ] These days, Social Security numbers are gold mines for thieves, since the numbers are widely… Continue reading Why Your ID Is Such Easy Picking