Despite the fact that I used to work for a "widget" company, I've long been a believer that you need to find a way to get in the feed.  Feeds change.  They're live, full of activity, and people notice them.  They're the backbone of the blogopshere, Facebook, and even MySpace has gotten into the action with its own feed of status updates when you login.

FriendFeed just came out and it aims to help me aggregate all the various feeds of my friends into one place...  essentially creating an open, portable version of the Facebook newsfeed.

I see two issues with that.  One, by number most of my friends who aren't necessarily 2.0Heads don't really have a lot of feeds, or even any.  It seems to me that this isn't nearly as much of a consumer problem as it is a publisher problem.  There are more people consuming content than producing it... and certainly A LOT more people consuming content than the number of people producing it in multiple places.  Perhaps that's why most people don't use aggregation tools.  RSS consumption is still very low and if you think for a second that the average blog is only read by less than a dozen or so people, that makes sense.  I hate to break it to you gurus, but the great majority is absolutely content living inside closed data silos like Facebook and MySpace and doesn't think anything of it.  Hell, people are still using Snapfish for photos, believe it or not.

The other thing FriendFeed fails to address is the atmosphere of social places.  MySpace has a different atmosphere than Facebook.  As danah pointed out, people don't pick one or the other because they are "better", they choose them because the atmosphere matches who they are.

That's why, despite its overwhelming database of information on people, Plaxo's Pulse is never going to turn into an interesting space where people want to hangout, and why I highly doubt that FriendFeed is ever going to be more than just a commoditized utility.

Ok, back to my idea.  As one of relatively few publishers who does produce a lot of feeds, I'd like a better way to get them into my blog than widgets.  No one regularly consumes my widgets or even notices that they've changed.  I want a way to aggregate my own world, but more importantly, I want very specific controls over how it gets published.  Think the del.icio.us autopost, only way smarter.

Basic premise:  Hosted "[insert feed] of the day" posting mechanism.   You throw any RSS or XML feed into it and you can tell it to pull data and post it to your blog on a regular basis.  Most importantly, you control what it pulls, how often, and the format.

So, it needs to do the following:

Accept any RSS or XML feed and pull either the last X entries or be smart enough to pull all the entries since the last time it got the feed.  Or... post every time it hit x entries.

Then it needs to do scheduled blog posting via XML-RPC... work with Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger, etc.  I'd have the ability to create custom titles for these posts as well.  "My last.fm listening this week..."

Plus, the platform should be social in that if I create a really great algorithm for how/when I want to post my last.fm data, other people should be able to use that same template.

I'd also like to be able to insert advertising into each post.

Here's what I'd use on my site:

2 days of New York Startup Jobs of the Day posts from Indeed RSS feeds, Tuesday and Thursday.

Friday, I'd post "Music I Listened to this week" from last.fm.

1 day of the last few days of Brooklyn news from Outside.in.

Move my del.icio.us autoposting over to this to post anytime I hit 10 del.icio.us links... so no more onesies.

1 day of thumbnails of my last week's Flickr photos if there are any.

Service will be located at iminurfeedz.com.  :)

If anyone would like to go out and build this, I will happily promote it and donate the domain name.

When you get up to a critical mass of blog readership, you start getting a different kind of conversation from the crowd.  Most of it is fantastic and I'm lucky to have it, but some of it, not so much.  You get form letters from people marketing their new services to bloggers, LinkedIn and Facebook friend requests from people you've never heard from before, solicitations for link exchanges, blog network invitations and a whole host of Starbucks invites.  These aren't necessarily bad things, but a lot of them are just, well, out of the blue.  It's the blog equivalent of asking for sex on the first date...  or even before the first date.  Call me old fashioned. 

Since most of these people have never read my past blog posts about these types of things, I'm going to summarize my stance on all of them here.

First off, this is my personal blog.  I do not, as a matter of intention, "review" products the way Techcrunch does, so please don't ask me to review anything.  I'm happy to check something out and give quick feedback, but I'm lot actively looking for review submissions.

I am always, however, searching for products that will answer my own selfish needs, and so I'll sometimes write about a product's ability or inability to provide a useful service.  This does not occur as the result of a review request.  It does happen as the result of notes that begin, "Hey, remember when you were looking for "x", well I found (or "we have", if you're a marketer) a product that solves your problem."  This shows you're showing me something because you think your service applies to me specifically, not just because I have a lot of blog readers.

If you still insist on pitching me something with an actual pitch letter, then please please do not blow smoke in my face and tell me that you read my blog all the time.  Its ok if you don't.  A lot of people don't.  Most people don't.  (My mom does, though...)  I know who many of my blog readers are because they show up in MyBlogLog or they comment or I read theirs and see my link on their blogrolls.  People who emerge from the abyss to pitch something are not easily believed to be
"long time, first times."

As for all of these social networks, I basically use two... Facebook and LinkedIn.  Facebook is a place for my friends.  By friends, I mean people who I've met, hung out with, or would actually hang out with if they were in the same city.  Just because we met professionally does not mean we're besties, but rest assured, I value you immensely either way--as a reader, as a professional, as a colleague, etc.  If we are professional and reciprocal contacts in real life, please do feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.  Reciprocal is key here, though.  Reading my blog or just being in nextNY but never having met or spoken to me is one way, not reciprocal.  Just because I have a lot of LinkedIn contacts doesn't mean I just add everyone.  I need to be able to at least know you enough to recommend you on some basis, even if we just had a few side words over a specific blog post.  The first time I hear from you should not be without an introduction on LinkedIn.  That's like showing up to my office out of the blue and saying "Do you want to have a meeting?"

And then there's this odd little Plugoo box that gives you a direct means of IMing me.  It connects straight to AIM, which I'm usually on, and, I hate to admit it, I generally answer even when I'm working.  So, if you're ok with continuous partial attention, because you probably caught be doing something else, I'm usually up for a little Plugoo chat write through that little box.  Try it.. .it works!  It is quickly becoming my favorite widget.

As for in person meetings, you should know that I do not drink alcohol or coffee (I will go for a SBUX skim chat, though...).  The alcohol thing is just a personal preference...there are no problems with me that you need to worry about in that area, but it does provide an interesting social dilemma when people ask to meet up for a drink.  I do frequent lots of bars (you can't play on as many sports teams as I do without doing so), and don't mind them at all...it's just that when I do go, Sprite is my drink of choice, as my friends know.  If you're cool with that, then sure, by all means, ask me out for a drink.  I'm all for it. 

Lunches work great for me, although I try to spend them with contacts I already have and friends, too.  I try not to take blind lunches too often, but they're not so bad, because at worst I get fed. 

That's always a good thing.

If you really want to meet up, connect, network, etc...just hangout where I hangout...simple as that.  You can usually find me on weekends at the Downtown Boathouse Pier 40 location where I kayak and volunteer for our public kayaking program on the Hudson.  That season goes from mid-May to mid-October.   Other than that, I try to make as many nextNY and NY Tech Meetup events as I can.  It's always easier to catch up in person when I'm already planning to be out somewhere with other tech folks, as opposed to finding other times and taking time away from other things, which I'm happy to do, but we have to start somewhere.

Ok, is that fair?

I just got an invite to a "Meet and Greet" hosted by The Action Network.  The Eventbrite invitation gives invitees plenty of opportunity to donate--citing a "suggested" donation--but you can go for free if you want.

There's only one problem with the invite.   I have no idea who The Action Network is, what they do exactly or how I got on their e-mail list.  I checked out their site and it says their mission is to "encourage, sustain, and develop volunteerism among young people in New York City."  When you click on "Program" to find out how, you get a "This page is under construction" message.  There are no names and no pictures of any actual people on the site. 

I'm going to assume that there are well intentioned people behind this endeavor (hopefully) but there's absolutely no way I'm going to show up to an event that asks for money before I even know who's asking that is run by people who won't publicly associate their names with the program.

Does anyone know who is running this and whether or not this is real?

Two bits of anti-stealth today... now that we're out of our apartments for the first full week and living within the friendly confines of Return Path, we're feeling pretty psyched about our ideas.  We'd love to share them with you, and so we're holding an open product feedback and brainstorming session this Thursday night at CRESA's offices in midtown.   It will take place at 6:30 and probably run until 8:30.  Details and link to RSVP here.

Also, we diced to open up our Monday morning meeting notes to the public, so you can further track our profess.    You can see how we're diving up the work, our progress, etc.

• blog.pmarca.com: The Pmarca Guide to Career Planning, part 1: Opportunity
  Def need to post on this via the Path 101 blog
  (tags: path101 careers)
• Silicon Alley Insider: Announcing The SA 100...Please Send Us Your Input!
  I heard I was nominated... that's really cool.
  (tags: nextNY)
• JobVent - Read Job Reviews and Rate Your Job
  (tags: careers path101)

1985, 1987, Ojeda and the hedge clipper, Orel Hershiser, they can't hit for El Sid, trading Randall K for no Johnny no, Ojeda for Hubie Brooks,  Wally Whitehurst, Trading Coney away, Pete Schourek and Eric Hillman, Anthony Young keeps losing and losing and losing, the worst team money can buy, Bret Saberhagan, Vince Coleman, Bobby Bo, Gooden's demons, I don't think McReynold's saw it right away, The Future: Pulsipher, Isringhausen, and Wilson, Butch Huskey, Bernard "I'll never hit like this" Gilkey, Kent for Baerga, Carlos Baerga, Rey Ordonez, Hideous Nomo, the Todd Hundley in leftfield experiment, Mel Rojas,  Piazza driving in 100 meaningless runs a year and grounding out into 100 double plays a year, Armando Benetiz...  Armando friggin' Benetiz, Kenny Rogers can't throw a strike, Izzy for Billy Taylor, Todd Zeile, Subway Series, Piazza plunked, Roger Clemens tossing wood, Mo Vaughn, Roger Cedeno, Jeromy Burnitz, Shawn Estes, Roberto Alomar, Tom Glavine, the Mike Piazza at first experiment, Kaz "I am under contract for $7 million to play short, even though I can't field the position" Matsui, Anna Benson, Victor "This is the guy we got for Kazmir?"  Zambrano, Doug Mientkiewicz, Kaz Ishii, Duaner Sanchez's cab ride, Mota juiced, Lima Time, Wright's second half slump, Shawn Green, Pedro hurt, The Catch... and they still lose, Yadier Molina, losing Bradford, Oliver, Bell and Bannister, Carlos Delgado, Reyes's second half slump, Mike Pelfrey, The Poison Pen, The Collapse.

They'll break your heart, these Mutts.

I haven't decided who I want to vote for yet next year.  I don't like Hilary.  Barak is ok, but I'm a registered independent, so if he doesn't win his own primary, I can't support him anyway.  On the Republican side, I always liked Rudy as mayor, but I don't think he's the least bit qualified to be President.  As for the rest...   I dunno, just too many to keep track of at this point. 

And I keep holding out hope that Mike Bloomberg will run... that he'll go all in and spend a billion on making it to the White House...  and make the tough choices that need to be made.  When he was Mayor, he made tough, but smart decisions about closing firehouses and raising property taxes because the city was in a in a tough financial spot after 9/11.  His approval rating sunk to the lowest approval rating any mayor has ever seen since they started taking polls of mayoral approval ratings.  The way he spoke at Cooper Union the other night, he made me believe that he was a guy willing to make tough decisions in Iraq where, as he put it, "there were no good choices."

There's only one problem with Mike Bloomberg... 

...he's not running.

And, until he says he's in, his "campaign" tactic of being an outsider who just talks on the sidelines isn't going to pick up any traction.  Why?

Being the President of this country requires a ton of passion and dedication.  When I hear that the Mayor is "considering" running, that troubles me.  That would be like someone "considering" a marriage proposal.  When I ask someone to marry me, they better say yes right off the bat, because I don't think I really want to marry someone who has to think about it.  More so than anything else, I imagine that the one serious prerequisite of the Presidency is that you absolutely know you want to be President.

I think that's part of the reason people couldn't get behind Al Gore the first time around.  I think for a lot of people, it just didn't really seem like he wanted to be President that badly...  like he was running because he felt like he had to.... like that's what sitting VP's do.

I've heard that there are a lot of things Bloomberg needs to do first before to prepare to run, like selling the major media and business information company he built from the ground up.   Fine, but, at some point, this becomes like that like from Spaceballs:

"What are you preparing. You're always preparing. Just go! "

I've heard that Bloomberg doesn't want to join a race that he doesn't think he can win.  Well, sorry Mike, but that's the minimum risk that is required of you to run--to face the fact that you might lose.  This isn't going to get handed to you... especially not as a third party candidate.  You need to go out and grab it for yourself, and frankly, its surprising to hear that a successful entrepreneur would hesitate to enter a race because he doubts he could win.

You have to give people something to hang their hat on...a parade to get out in front of.  I'm not going to go join a campaign to coax you into the race.  I want you to run, but if you don't want it enough to say it, every day that passes gets me closer and closer to figuring out who else I can support that actually wants this.  Without actionable items, without something specific to ask people to do, its going to be difficult to get people to care at all.  There are plenty of people who want to support you, but even more people who don't know anything about you.  That takes time, not just money, and I'm afraid that if you wait until Super Tuesday, you're not going to have enough time to convince people that you actually want to be President.   A lot of people just aren't going to wait around that long.

So, for now, I'll support the person of Mike Bloomberg, who has done an amazing job for this city, but I can't support the campaign of Mike Bloomberg if it doesn't exist.

A lot of people think starting your own company is a risky proposition.  Sounds like it, right?  Oooh...  could "blow up".  Sounds dangerous.  Images of shrapnel.

Maybe I'm naive and oblivious... but I'm really not that worried, like, at all.

I'm working on Path 101 fulltime and the only income I get now is from my adjunct teaching at Fordham, which is sort of like my checking account's equivalent of flapping its arms as it falls off a cliff.  Yet, somehow, I know it's all going to work out.  I'm confident we'll get our angel round raised... people are lining up now...  but on the chance we don't get all of it, we'll make do with what we have.  We'll take on some consulting if we have to.  It's not ideal, but there's a fallback plan, and frankly, the fallback plans aren't so bad.

Maybe I'll need to start liquidating to fund this.  I already know...  first it's the 401k, than the apartment, and then the car.  Yes, the car is the last to go.  Not ideal, but at least I've faced the reality of the situation.  I can deal with it.

And if this whole thing doesn't work out... if we can't get something compelling built or can't grow the user base or can't monetize, and we have to close up shop.  Then what?  I'll be upset, no doubt, and disappointed, but...   I'll survive to die another day.  I'll just get a job somewhere.  I believe I'm employable and have no fear that I'll wind up homeless on the street.

So what's really the big risk?  I mean, even in the worst case scenario, I'll learn something...  I'll learn a lot, actually.  It will build character and I'll meet a lot of great people along the way...  and build a great relationship with Alex, too (or kill each other... either way). 

Frankly, if you think about what I could gain or lose by taking this on vs. not taking it on, I think I've got a hell of a lot more to lose by not doing it.

• InterviewUp Aims to Help You Prep For Job Interviews
  Another point solution that will most likely be a feature of Path 101.
  (tags: path101 careers)

Mario Cuomo is such a likable guy...  He's giving a great intro for Bloomberg.

Ok, Mario, a little over the top intro for Brokaw...   

Brokaw starts off pointing out his change of parties and changing baseball team affiliations.... obviously, this isn't word for word.

Should Lee Bolinger have allowed the President of Iran to speak of Columbia?  Bloomberg gives a supportive free speech answer.   

Should President Bush speak with the President Iran?  We shouldn't be talking to him directly at a high level, but should be talking to every country on the face of the earth at some level.  Inappropriate and incendiary to allow him to leave a wreath at Ground Zero.

Are we safer now than we were in '02 or '03?

Is Rudy Giuliani exploiting his role in 9/11, particularly during the last anniversary ceremonies?
He was invited, as were lots of other political figures.  He was the Mayor at the time and the face of New York at the time... important to have him there.

How are the Democrats shaping up for '08?

I find both parties...  rather... blame ourselves for instant, soundbite answers, allowing candidates to duck tough questions, because the public doesn't demand answers to tough questions.  For both parties, we don't really grill the parties enough.  The press should help us look at qualifications, information.  This country is in big trouble... we've lost relationships.  We've got trade issues.  We're hurting our environment.  We have very few friends in this world.  We have a lot to be proud of and shouldn't be ashamed about what we bring to the party, but we have an arrogance and a go in alone approach.  I don't know what the solution is for Iraq any more than anyone else does, but none of the choices are good... but the real problem is rebuilding relationships around the world and not go in alone.  Why we tried before isn't important, but we can't do it anymore.

We have domestic problems, like healthcare.  Western Europe spends less money than we do and has a higher life expectancy.   What are we getting for our money?  Current plans offered by candidates aren't realistic.  At least they're trying.  Mitt Romney at least instituted a plan.  Socialized medicine doesn't seem to be working so bad in Europe.  If I was a candidate, which I'm not, but you can keep a secret, right...    well, because of the partisanship, there are things that you can't address and if you're running... if you're a democrat you just can't demand troops out fast enough, if you're a Republican, you can't say you want to raise taxes... the result is that we as voters don't get straight answers during the primaries.

Would you order a pullout of troops by April 15, 2008?
If you pull them out quickly, you lead to a massacre and destabilization...  Look we want them out as soon as possible, but picking a date... there are no easy answers here.  We need to find a way to get these people to live together, all the various groups... Jordan is a lynchpin in that region as well.

Does the President have a Plan B for Iraq?
You have to ask the President.  You have to be willing to ask people, try things, but have courage to stick to your instinct.  I wasn't party to the intelligence.  I don't want to talk about how we got there.  I don't know what I would have done.  Congress certainly voted to go to war.   Most congresspeople voted to go to war in the first place. 

Has the President failed to ask this country enough?
One of the worst things we've ever done is treat returning soldiers the way we did in Vietnam.    We have an all volunteer army and they still show up even though they know what they're going to face.  You're right that the rest of us don't really feel the pain of this war, other than the families of those troops.    Bush should find better ways to talk to the public about why we're there, not a partisan thing the way it is now.  We don't trust the military leadership anymore.  In many cases, we're not even supplying our troops with the right weapons systems because even creation of arms is a political activity.   Back in Lexington many years ago, we're now like the British were there...fighting an insurgency... a trained military.

Shift gears...  NYC has the most improved public school system in the country...
Don't thank me... thank the taxpayers, teachers, principals... the public has invested... teachers have gotten a 43% raise.  We have a long ways to go.  For decades, people said black and latino kids can't learn, so we created a two class education system.  I'm very proud of the fact that the gap, even though its intolerable that it exists, is closing.  Its easy to blame the unions for everything.  Generally, the teachers are hardworking, flexible, honest.... I'm glad we have them.  Generally, they're interested in improving the lot of their members.  Truth of the matter is that Randi Weingarten has been able to deliver a lot.  Joel Klein has been able to deliver a lot.  It's been a good balance.  It's an example of the fundamental thing you need to do is having accountability.  We're a lot closer to having accountability than we've ever had.  We're going to deliver report cards on the schools to the parents and sure people are going to scream, but we need to be able to talk honestly about the problems.  Teachers want to work here.  People want to work with an organization that is successful.  We're even giving incentives for the really good people.  Our teachers are working very hard and you can see the results.  The results are there.  Its a big school system. 

Should there be a mix of charter schools and vouchers?
Competition in the public school system is good... even the UFT runs a charter school.  Charter schools are places where you can innovate.  There are things that have worked elsewhere that we're trying... we're trying things, not with public money, where we don't know if they are going to work...  its worth trying.  You take a 2000 person school and break it up into 4 and you get double, triple the graduation rates.  With vouchers, there are just some fights you just can't win.  Plus, I'm not really sure that vouchers really work. 

Why wouldn't you run for President of the United States?
There are lots of candidates out there.  There are other ways to make a contribution.  I've been very lucky and modestly successful in business.  I'd like to able to say that this administration really advanced the ball.  My next career will probably be in philanthropy.  I've got the best job... its a job where you have to deliver results.  If I were to say that I want fifth avenue to run northbound tomorrow, you'd see signs changed and a cop on every corner, it might be a dumb idea, but you'd say it.

Just don't try it on the West Side, please...
Well, you know, we can be a model for everyone else here in this city.  There are only 14 cities in this country with populations of more than 100k that are safer and you've probably never heard of most of them.  We're going to drop the crime rate by a large amount... a record amount.

After Super Tuesday, if you're not happy the choices, are you absolutely ruling it out?
My first priority is a Subway Series...   I'm not a candidate for President.  The right question is what are the qualifications.  We took great pains to have a scorecard of things that I promised... and its never a big story.  People just focus on the things you haven't done.  The public focuses on what does work.  If you want to have a smile on your face, walk out with the belief that things are better than you think and things can get better.  People are coming here and staying here.  Even when countries hate us, people still come here.  Its American freedoms, American science, but people still vote with their feet and they come here.  One year, I closed six firehouses, raised property taxes and put a smoking ban in and if you can do that you can do anything.

• Advice for Computer Science College Students - Joel on Software
  (tags: careers advice path101 computerscience)
• I just made my own Facebook app in 5 minutes using Widgetbox
  (tags: facebook widgetbox web2.0 cool)

Widgetbox has just made public their new "roll your own Facebook app" app called Application Accelerator...   I took my blog and made an app out of it in 5 minutes.

It doesn't do much of anything, but it's pretty friggin' cool that I was able to make an application that anyone can download right now.  Go ahead... let's see how many users the "This is going to be BIG" app can get.

So now I guess I'm a Facebook developer, too. 

Go here and create your own Facebook app...

SAI says that the deal is worth $65-80 million.  In the wide open web, Vault has struggled to keep up with its paid subscription service and offline job guide sales.

Either way, the valuation certainly bodes well for Indeed...

Cosmo: Posit: People think a bank might be financially shaky.
Martin Bishop: Consequence: People start to withdraw their money.
Cosmo: Result: Pretty soon it is financially shaky.
Martin Bishop: Conclusion: You can make banks fail.
Cosmo: Bzzt. I've already done that. Maybe you've heard about a few? Think bigger.
Martin Bishop: Stock market?
Cosmo: Yes.
Martin Bishop: Currency market?
Cosmo: Yes.
Martin Bishop: Commodities market?
Cosmo: Yes.
Martin Bishop: Small countries?
Cosmo:  I might even be able to crash the whole damn system.

- Sneakers

Fred wrote a little while ago about the tough times that are ahead for the web.   Even my partner has a habit of saying that he worked for some startups during the "first bubble", which, to me, presumes a second.

Fred gives a number of macro factors that could effect the cycle and says, "none of those factors directly affects web/tech and the venture markets. But it does directly affect the psychology of the investors who fund the market and to a lesser extent the entrepreneurs who drive it".

Well, if that's the case... and it's about psychology, should we be feeding that psychology with all sorts of talk about a looming crisis?  We shouldn't be naive, of course, but every investment has risk and dumb money will always lose money.  There will always be startups that go under, but that doesn't mean that when the first big one does, we should yell "fire".   That's going to make it worse, because then you'll clear the strategics and the public money out of the room, and you'll wind up choking your own portfolio and your own company.

So, on a positive note, here are five reasons why I don't think we're going to see "Bubble 2.0".  The macro economy is definitely a shakey, but I think you're going to see the tech sector show some resilience this time around.  Here's why:

1. Burn is significantly lower.  In the late 90's, companies raised hordes and hordes of cash because they were spending a lot more than you're average Web 2.0 company.  There were a lot of high burn networking equiptment companies and the dot com's were advertising on television.  Now, you're seeing companies like Mozy get sold to EMC for $75 million after only raising less than two.  Even a company building boxes like SlingMedia only raised about $55 million, making their $380 million acquisition probably a nice win for all involved.  How much would they have raised if this was '99?  $200 million? 
2. VC's aren't tossing around cash like they used to.  In the late 90's a lot of VC funds were up in the $750 million range, and this was for EARLY stage investing.  They were actively competing with the public markets for deals, causing ridiculous valuations and overfunding.  They blew through those '99 funds, often times, in just a year.  This time, you're seeing VC's complain that they just can't get that much into their companies because they just don't need them and you're not seeing too many companies take more than they need, mostly because they don't want all that preferred money sitting on top of them.
3. Incest is low.  In other words, back in the late 90's, there was a lot ponzi action going on.  You had lots of startups selling equipment and services to other startups.
4. No Year 2000 bug.  Millions, probably billions of dollars were spent on internet consultants to fix the Year 200

"The New York attorney general’s office says it has been investigating Facebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif., for the last month. Investigators posing as under-age members of the service said they could gain access to a wide range of pornographic images and videos and were “repeatedly solicited by adult sexual predators on Facebook.”

Have you seen the "pornographic images and videos" application in Facebook?  I must have missed that one.

Here's a question... if someone e-mails you porn through Hotmail, is Microsoft responsible?  What's the difference between that and private communication through Facebook?  Perhaps they ought to look int arresting the sexual predators instead of trying to hold a social network witchhunt.

Do you know who it is?

I'll give you a hint... he doesn't live in Gracie Mansion.

But... it is, in fact, our Mayor.

Cooper is holding an event that I think is worth pouring into the streets for, because the tix are free if you get there on time.  This line is going to make the line for Shakespere in the park look like a walk in the... um... park.

Yeah, so anyway... here are the details...  See you there!

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and journalist Tom Brokaw at The Cooper Union Dialogue Series, Tuesday, September 25th at 6 p.m.
The event is free but seating is limited. The latest in The Cooper Union Dialogue Series, this event features a conversation between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and journalist and former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw on issues of national importance. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis the day of the event, September 25, 2007 starting at 4:00 p.m. in front of Cooper Union's Foundation Building: 7 E 7th Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues. The free event begins promptly at 6 p.m. in The Great Hall. The doors will close at 5:45 p.m. Cooper Union's President George Campbell Jr., the host of the event, and former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo will make opening remarks introducing the speakers.

• 7 reasons I switched back to PHP after 2 years on Rails - O'Reilly Ruby
  (tags: ruby php)
• MyWorkster
  Interesting.... competitor in the profiling area...
  (tags: path101)
• FREE Logo Maker - FREE Logo Creator - FREE Online Logo Design
  (tags: cool design logos path101)

I missed this over the summer:

"Nevada based YouDeparted provides an encrypted electronic safe deposit box with up to 5GB of space that can be accessed by loved ones in the event of a members death."

The funny thing is, I blogged about a form of this idea months before the service came out:

"...Sometimes, I think about what might happen to my digital presence when I'm gone. ...people's blogs and MySpace pages become comment section shrines, only because that's the only thing the public has access to.

In my case, at some point, my Typepad subscription and domain registration would expire, and my blog might disappear.

Now, lucky for me, I know a couple of folks over at 6A and so if news of my unfortunate demise reverberated throughout the blogosphere, I hope they might be nice enough to make my blog a freebie.

But then what of my email buddies, Twitter friends, and friends across various social networks? How would many of them even know I was gone? That's prob a big issue. Many of my digital friends, like all those dozens of prospective Match dates waiting in my inbox, wouldn't even know I was dead.

Enter Digital Plot. Digital Plot would enable you to carry out a very specific set of intructions to be carried out for your digital world when you pass.

Sure, its a little different, and more about the digerati, but still, the concept of leaving digital instructions for the Big Day is the same.

The main difference?

These guys went out and did it!

Execution is everything.  The idea is nothing.

What I would do if I was them is to device an upsell mechanism for all of these digital places... domain registry, blog services, hosting companies, etc.   Allow them to offer YouDeparted members a small payment on the side up front that allows them to insure their blog or page will live in perpetuity.  Would I pay Typepad an extra $15 up front to ensure that my blog lives after I die?  Sure.  Does it cost them much to host a blog that no one posts to anymore...  not really.... especially since the liklihood that my page gets any traffic years after I die is pretty slim.

The service is a good idea, but I think if you really want to get word of mouth going, you need to offer something to the geeks.

I got two comments on my previous post about some creative ways to get some elements of my startup done (some quick and dirty ways to get a logo) that I'd like to address.

First, Nate's comments...

"Don't settle on a logo early and don't let someone outside the company do it. Yes, you need a better one -- and fairly soon ;-) but don't lock yourself in and don't lock your eventual full-time designer out of the process."

I like this angle.  It makes sense to me that a designer, especially one that we'd like to hire full time, might not want to get handed a logo that may or may not square with their vision for the look and feel.  That's an excellent point.

Now, Rachel's comments.  I don't know who Rachel is, but she seems to be (or believe herself to be, given her tone) an expert in something...

"Corporate identity (logo design/graphic look and feel) is brand expression, which is the derivative of brand essence, which you haven't done any strategic work on..."

Personally, I don't believe that seed stage startups should do "strategic work" on corporate identity.  They should build a useful product, period.  So many times, web services do fancy redesigns to make things look good when they flat out fail on improving the usability of the product.  "Brand essence" = good product.  You think people use Apple because they like the logo?  No, it's because their products are functional and easy to use.  All the brand positioning in the world won't save a product if it doesn't just flat out provide utility.  Do you think Craigslist does strategic work on its brand essence?  Having met Craig, I'd say I highly doubt it.  I mean, hell, they don't even have a logo.

Actually, they do.  Here it is:

Craigslist

Snarky?  Yeah, because I'm just snarking back to her comment about my presentation:

"It's a mess from a sheer presentation standpoint. Clean it up, format it, get those headlines right, just get some look of discipline in there and the VCs might overlook your age and inexperience"

It may be a graphical mess... I don't pertain to be any kind of expert, but it is also on Google Docs, so things got bumped around a little.  In fact, that's the very "essence" of the company... open, out there, direct...   but figuring as we're having little trouble attracting interested folks, perhaps other VC/angel pitches aren't messy enough.

But the real kicker is this:  "get some look of discipline in there and the VCs might overlook your age and inexperience".   

Rachel, how old do you think the average internet entrepreneur is that gets funded by VCs these days?  Certainly not a lot older than 28. 

And my inexperience?

So tell me, how many people are out there who have been a product manager during the launch of a new product, evaluated early stage startups for a top tier VC firm, taught both undergraduates and graduates in classes that they developed from scratch, ran a mentoring program for both a professional society and a school's alumni organization and also created a professional organization that currently has over 1,000 members?

Perhaps I haven't run an enterprise software product and taken revenues from zero to fifty million, or led three startups in completely unrelated spaces, but I dunno, from my vantage point, I couldn't imagine being any more fortunate that I have been to get the exact kind of insight and experience  needed to make Path 101 a success--plus not to mention the absolutely fantastic network of people I've built up to help me.

So, instead of trying to "grab the conversation by the emotional cojones" which is, trust me, what a lot of entrepreneurs try to do ("We're going to change the world, you'll see!") I'm more interested in solving a real problem with a useful product.  A lot of marketing "experts" think that it's all about "sexing up" the pitch.  I've been on the other side of the table (have you?) and trust me... sex doesn't sell in a good VC firm, nor does it sell a sophisticated angel investor.  A good idea backed by the appropriate passionate entrepreneur in a market ripe for disruption is what we're selling here and I'm quite confident we'll do just fine.