Google opts-out of allowing publishers to opt-out: (From the WSJ - Free) “Google Inc. will resume scanning copyrighted library books into its search engine after a self-imposed hiatus, despite the efforts of some publishers and authors to block it from doing so without the copyright holders’ permission.”

Why e-mail should be more like RSS: I’m one of those people who barely scratch the surface of using all the features software offers. Then, one day, I’m thinking, “I wish I could do this” and after poking around a little, I discover the feature was there all along.

For example, using (on my Mac) NetNewsWire, I have lots of RSS feeds organized in a hierarchy of folders (It looks a little like this screen shot on the Ranchero website, but mine is way more obsessively organized. When I travel, I usually spend some time pruning feeds from the list, or moving feeds from one folder to another.)

Long ago, I came to the conclusion that all feeds are not created equal. Some I want to be refreshed very often, and I want to check them as soon as they are refreshed. Others I want to check only in the evening. Some I like to see on the weekend. Some, I can wait until I “get around to it.”

So, duh, I just discovered (from the rockstar of organizational hacks like this, Merlin Mann) that NetNewsWire has my dream feature, one that’s probably been there forever - and one I wish I had on my e-mail. By choosing the “Info” option under the “Window” menu, I can set up custom refresh schedules for each feed, or for an entire folder of feeds. You can even set it up to opt out of a manual refresh of all feeds.

Can you do that with e-mail? Let mail from person A into my in-box immediately. Let mail from person B into my in-box only once every hour. Let mail from person C into my in-box every full-moon. Etc. If we had RSS-mail instead of e-mail, we could.

Update: Thanks to those power Mac mail users who have headed me into a higher state consciousness. As much as I thought I was a filtering fool, there apparently is much more I can do.

The Jarvis effect? After the market closed today, Dell said “BOO!” to its shareholders:

“Dell posted preliminary third-quarter earnings below expectations amid weaker sales to U.S. consumers and in Britain….Dell, whose shares fell as much as 5.1 percent in after-hours trade, also said it would take charges of about $450 million in the third quarter for costs of repairing some computer systems for customers…”

Observation: In hindsight, when he blogged his frustration with Dell last summer, Jeff Jarvis was experiencing something that the company is now admitting was taking place on a much broader scale. (However, I guess Forbes would call Dell a “victim” of a blogger attack.) Here, we have an example of a frustrated, then angry, articulate blogger serving as a leading indicator of underlying problems.

Happy Halloween: My friends, the Mathews, let a few of us have some fun painting the front of their home on one of Nashville’s best streets for trick-or-treating - Whitland Ave. Fortunately for the neighbors, the house is undergoing major renovations and is about to be painted by some pros. (I helped paint the jack-o-lantern.) Stay safe tonight.

All the news fit to blog: The NY Times is aggregating blogger-reaction to the nomination of Alito to the Supreme Court.

Observation: Nice to see the editors at the NY Times recognize bloggers are more than “attack” dogs. However (and with some irony), sites like Memeorandum are doing a better job following bloggers commenting on NY Times stories than the NY Times is doing itself.

Tracking these conversations is beginning to look like an Escher staircase.

(via: Nashville is Talking)

Single focus: Advertising Age is sponsored by a single-advertiser advertiser this week: Infinity. Gee, I wonder if the readers of the magazine will get confused about where the advertising stops and the edit begins. I wonder if the media and adveretising professionals who get the magazine will be really outraged about this. Not.

(via: David Shaw)

Seeing double Google: When I saw the WSJ Headline “Google Weighs on Madison Avenue” (free), I thought I’d already blogged it…but then I remembered the story I blogged had “dominate” in the headline (Google wants to Dominate Madison Avenue, too - NYT).

Observation: Is it news that Google is in the advertising business and “brokers” ads? That model, as I’ve said AdNauseum, is the basis of AdSense ads that appear on the web pages of publishers (including bloggers) other than Google. For months, we’ve read they are experimenting with using this sales agent business model in other media. I’ve tried really, really hard to find something newsworthy in these two new articles, but can’t. Apparently they are written for readers emerging from spending the last couple of years under a rock.

Where I’ll be: If you’re at any of the following places, let’s meet.

This week:

From Tuesday night until Thursday mid-day, I’m in New York. I’ll be around the Folio Show much of that time.

On Tuesday night, I’ll be attending the Folio Awards.

On Wednesday, I have some meetings in New York, but will be attending some panels and will be around the Folio Show most of the morning.

On Thursday, from 9:00-9:30 a.m. (not from 10:00-10:30 as originally scheduled) the Folio folks asked me to do a “Thirty minutes with” session in the Americas Ballroom I. According to the show’s organizers, it’s your chance to “pick my brains.” Ouch.

From 9:45-11:00 a.m., I’m on a panel in the editorial track called, “Innovative Ways to Connect With Readers”

(In Washington, D.C. (Tysons Corner) On Thursday night) I’ll be hanging with Rafat’s posse at the MediaNext mixer

Coming up soon:

November 14-17, Chicago, American Business Media’s “Top Management Meeting“

On Monday, the 14th, I’ll be on a panel of the “Web Strategies for Smaller Publishers” Seminar.

On Tuesday, the 15th, I’m on a panel (1:30-2:30 p.m.) that looks especially fun:

Blogs: Extraneous or Integral?

(Note: I haven’t been told whether I’m to take the “extraneous” or “integral” position. However, seeing the other panelists, I think I’ll take the “extraneous” position for fun.)

Moderator: Tony Silber - Editor & Publisher, Folio:; Red 7 Media, Inc.

Panelists:
Alison Fahey - Editor, Adweek and creator of AdWeek’s Adfreak
Rex Hammock - President, Hammock Publishing, Inc.
Kathy Rebello - Editor-in-Chief, Business Week Online

Friday, Nov. 18, Philadelphia

I’m speaking at a one-day conference, “Web 2.0:  Current Realities and a Look to the Future”, for members of NFASIS, which used to have a much longer name. the National Federation of Science Abstracting and Indexing Services (NFSAIS). (Stop laughing: While not scientific, I am excellent at being abstract.)

Halloween fun in Nashville: After the Titans game (ugh), my wife and I went to some friends’ house. These friends live on Whitland Ave., one of Nashville’s most trick-or-treat friendly, in-town neighborhoods. My friends are doing some major renovations on their home and are soon having it painted. They decided it would be fun to invite several of us over to give their home an interim paint job for Halloween. Man, did we ever. So, if you’re in Nashville tomorrow night and happen to be near Whitland, drive down the street and look for the house that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. (I’ll post some photos tomorrow.)

Note to Apple: Hey, Apple. You asked Al Gore, the creator of the Internet to be on your Board. You should at least comp a Mac setup for the creator-philosopher-evangelist of RSS and Podcasting. [Anyway, he deserves it. ; )]

Note: I know Dave (like Al) can afford shopping at the Apple Store.

IBMA Fan Fest: It’s strange how thousands of people can come to Nashville from all over the country to attend an incredible three-day indoor, four-stage music festival that has the same artists who tens of thousands of folks go to Telluride or Merlefest to hear — and so very few people from Nashville even know it’s taking place. I guess if the local media doesn’t cover it, that’s what happens.

Update: I’ve added a few photos from the event to my Flickr site.

What Dave Winer said: (From the NY Times) “I love podcasting because it turns us all into investigative journalists of our own lives.” A great story on podcasting being created by real folks (and the equipment they use). Not the cliché story on how podcasting has been taken over by big media companies. Also, it seems to have more outbound links embedded in the story than a typical NYT piece.

Speaking of the NY Times, they also have a rather long story about Google and, guess what, Google “wants to dominate Madison Avenue, too.”
I suggest the NY Times keep that headline handy for any number of future stories: “Google wants to dominate (INSERT WORD HERE), too.”

Wow: QTVR Gettysburg Panoramas at VirtualGettysburg.com. History buffs, beware. Your next 30 minutes are blown.

(via: Coudal Partners)

Dilbert insights: Scott Adams’ new blog is killing me.

Why I won’t be blogging this weekend: If you’re into real country music, this weekend in Nashville is made in bluegrass heaven.

So, let those popified-country folks head to Manhattan.

I prefer authentic.