First, the podcast: Microsoft, Google, and the DOJ Privacy Case (7.21 MB mp3 )

During a meeting today at the Microsoft Search Champs Conference in Redmond, WA, Yusuf Mehdi, Senior VP of MSN Information Services, discussed the recent blowup involving the U.S. Government’s subpoena of personal information from major Search Engines including MSN, Yahoo, Google, and AOL. This was not the first time that the U.S. Government has requested information from corporations in this manner. It was, however, one of the most talked about, spurred on by a press release from Google, who announced that they had turned down the request. Soon after, it was revealed that both Yahoo and MSN has complied with it, casting an instant shadow over those companies. In response, Ken Moss, general manager of MSN web search, provided a few relevant details of the case on the MSN Search Blog.

Continue Reading: Microsoft Didn’t Give User Data to DOJ in Privacy Case (podcast)

Scott Karp is having trouble getting linked. The other day the proprietor of Publishing 2.0 and managing director of research and strategy for Atlantic Media admitted that despite emailing influential bloggers (Dave Winer, Jeff Jarvis, and Steve Rubel), he’s been unable to get them to link to his site.

Continue Reading: In the Blogging World You Don’t Have Sex on the First Date

Noah Brier:

“On a personal level attention data seems to have the most potential as a way to power some kind of recommendation engine. If you could plug in all my RSS feeds, attention data, del.icio.us bookmarks, etc. into some kind of system and then compare it all to the same data from friends, I could probably get some good recommendations.”

Here’s part 1 of a list of trends I saw gaining momentum in 2005 that I see growing even more important in 2006. Part 2: Synchronization and Local Store

This started out as a list of technological trends, with RSS, Ajax, and Ruby on Rails being the headlines, as all three had huge years in terms of implementation and being squacked about. But these things, while interesting, aren’t really trends in the way that people are using the Web. Instead, they’re trends in building. Nothing illustrates the disparity between technology and usage more than the what Yahoo had to say in their October whitepaper: RSS-Crossing into the Mainstream. They claim that while over 1/4 of all Web users consume RSS in one way or another, only 4% know it.

So, in the spirit of usage I offer the following trends, focused on the way that those in the curve use the Web. Those ahead of the curve are probably on to whatever will get mainstream next year…

Continue Reading: Trends to Watch in 2006

As any blog grows, so do the demands on its writer’s time. An increased audience means increased attention, both positive and negative. Requests to look at this new product or write about that new company begin to come in just about the time when you’ve gotten into a groove writing, when your audience is becoming familiar with you and you them. In other words, at the point when you most clearly see that your audience really doesn’t want another product pitch.

Being a part of the Web20Workgroup has been a boon to Bokardo, and presumably, to the rest of its members. It meant an immediate increase in readership. And it meant a closer relationship with other bloggers who are firing off some of the best blog posts out there. The recent additions of Robert Scoble, Steve Rubel, and Stowe Boyd demonstrate that the Workgroup is attracting some of the most-read bloggers on the Web.

Continue Reading: Parcelling Out Attention: Handling Requests for Product Placements on your Blog

Steve Gillmor:

On the Net, word of mouth is driven by attention.

Seth Godin interview with e-consultancy

Q: “Interruptive online ads are thought to damage brands, yet we still see an awful lot of advertising clutter on the major publishing sites. What would you say to these publishers and advertisers?”

A: They’re not listening, so I can’t say much of anything.”

Also:

“There’s zero evidence that you can build a brand with interruptions online that don’t lead to action. Zero.”

I haven’t seen a quick and easy introduction to Web 2.0 yet, so I created one over at Squidoo:

Introduction to Web 2.0

Continue Reading: An Introduction to Web 2.0

Alex Barnett and I were fortunate enough to get two of the foremost Identity thinkers on board at the same time for a podcast recently. Dick Hardt is Founder and CEO of Sxip Identity, and is well-known for his Identity 2.0 talk he gave at the OSCon and Web 2.0 Conferences. Kim Cameron is the […]

Continue Reading: Identity/Attention Podcast

In Living in a Networked World: is Less More? I suggested that we’re seeing a dramatic and unique shift in software: to social software that is much more valuable than the siloed applications we were used to. In this dramatic shift, Less is More becomes a well-deserved battle cry, but it is more a result […]

Continue Reading: Living in a Networked World: Redux