Quote of the (yester)day: (I’m catching up) (From “Are CEOs A Tech Gap in Themselves? You Bet”, Businessweek): “Outside the tech/net space itself, CEOs, by and large, do not go online, know little about blogs, and are increasingly divorced and distant from their customers, their employees, their managers and their global partners (most of whom live and work online).”

Bill Gates and one of the most respected technology experts on the planet: On Paidcontent.org, Rafat Ali is reporting from the “D” conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal. Rafat also posted this photo of Bill Gates and the WSJ’s Walt Mossberg, the MC of the event, on Flickr. Seeing that photo made me wonder if the topic of this commercial came up in a conversation between them. Dan Farber is also reporting from the D conference , but no word on whether or not Bill and Walt touched on the touchy topic of the PC and Mac “WSJ spot.”

Technorati Tags: apple, mac

Offline today: Day-trip morning. Back late this afternoon.

A win for “the rest of us”: While offline over the weekend, I missed the news that a California appeals court ruled against Apple in its misguided lawsuit against bloggers. The case will journey through the courts for years, no doubt. A good sign for now, however.

Dad blogging: My daughter’s graduation over the weekend was one of the most amazing events I’ve ever attended. She had the very special privilege of attending an old (hers was the 209th graduating class), prestigious and tradition-honoring New England boarding school. She is one of those unique kids who was aware every moment she was on campus, what a privilege it is to live and learn and play in such a rarefied place. Her graduating class is filled with extraordinary athletes and scholars and artists from exclusive zip codes and also from inner cities, from almost every state and five continents. They are among the most intelligent and competitive — yet most loyal and caring for one-another — groups of people I’ve ever observed. Yet I can say, among those incredible kids, no one has ever loved the school — “The Academy” — more than my daughter. And (excuse the boastful dad beaming through) I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud than when it was announced that she was being honored with a very prestigious award for embodying the high ideals and character and heritage for which the school has long been noted. My daughter is one of those special people who naturally, unknowingly always give back more than they take. She inspires me with her determination to make the best of any situation. She’s had her share of not making the team, of not getting invited, of not scoring the best: but she’s never allowed herself to be defined by what she’s not accomplished, nor has she let set-backs keep her from trying the next time, the next season, the next class. I could go on, but I value her privacy. She knows I love her: I’ve told her every day of her life. But she’ll never know how much she inspires me and her mom — or maybe she will one day when she has a daughter of her own.

Liner notes: One last “daughter” note. One of the graduation weekend traditions of my daughter’s high school is an awards luncheon attended by 1,500 or so family members of the 200 graduates. Before the ceremony, the school’s headmaster, who is retiring this year, asked our daughter to play, as a form of benediction to the event and to his tenure with his last graduating class, a favorite fiddle piece of his: Ashokan Farewell (iTunes link to a version produced by the tune’s composer, Jay Ungar). Many people are familiar with the haunting melody as it served as the theme song for Ken Burn’s PBS series, “The Civil War.” While it was written in 1982 by a Jewish guy from the Bronx (his description), its style is evocative of a Scottish lament that captures a sense of melancholy and tragic loss associated with the Civil War.

Two weeks ago, my daughter played the same tune at the memorial service of a teacher who inspired her the most during her high school career: a  gentle, aging English teacher who has inspired decades of the school’s students and whose life came to an end after a long struggle with cancer. He loved playing the banjo and after hearing my daughter play the fiddle at a school assembly her freshman year, he invited her to take part in the informal bluegrass and folk music jam sessions that he and some other faculty members enjoyed. Perhaps it was their shared love of a unique style of music that later in the classroom, helped ignite in her a love a literature — she’s always been a “numbers” person.  Hers was one of the last courses he taught, his sickness weakening him steadily over the past year. He continued to live in a house on campus and so, along with her current English teacher, a guitarist who also had been inspired in his youth by the banjo player, my daughter was able to continue to visit and play for their beloved teacher, mentor and friend. And when he was too frail to take visitors, my daughter and her current teacher, recorded a collection of his favorite tunes for him to listen to.

He loved the tune Ashokan Farewell. And, he especially loved the simple, yet emotional way my daughter performs it.

The first time I heard the tune — 16 years ago on the PBS series — I teared up. On Saturday, as it was played by my daughter as a farewell to her retiring headmaster, to her friends and to the faculty and staff she has grown to love, and as a final farewell to the distinguished gentle man who inspired in her a love of literature that will last a lifetime, I had tears streaming down my cheek. Afterwards, several people came up to me and asked about the tune’s origin — assuming it was southern in origin. (Which, again, makes sense, as its Scottish style is a direct influence on the Appalachian sounds that would eventually blend into what is now called folk or roots or old time music.) However, in one of those coincidences of fate, while named for a community in New York state, the tune was first recorded for the PBS series in a studio that is located just a few miles from my daughter’s school –  in the same stunning and historic valley she (and I) have come to love. So — in a beautiful metaphor for my daughter  — it was from that valley the tune began its journey into the world and into the hearts of so many it has touched.

Time to get personal: I’ll be blogging lightly, if at all, for the next few days as I’m involved in some very fun festivities related to that little girl’s graduation from high school. Wait! How could this be happening? This is my first time going through such an event as a parent (by the way, when did this become a multi-day process?) and, as any parent who has gone through this can tell you, it’s quite strange thinking that someone who just last week looked like the girl in the photo can be graduating from high school. As I’ve made it a practice never to include my children’s names on this blog (I’d rather them find their names elsewhere when they discover the wonders of Google ego-searches), let’s just say, “the near graduate” is about the most wonderful daughter a Dad and Mom could ever hope for. I’ll try — but will remain extremely cryptic about locations and names (to protect the innocent) — to blog a few highlights.

Web 2.0®: I’d like to commend the CMP attorneys for defending their “pending trademark” of the term Web 2.0®. Despite the obvious fact that I’m no a lawyer, here’s my take on it: Tim O’Reilly popularized the term and started a commercial venture with it two years ago. The corporate entity behind the term and conference clearly should be in control of where the term is used. In fact, I think anyone who uses the term Web 2.0® in any way should be sued by CMP and should be prepared to spend their kid’s college tuition defending themselves. I can’t applaud the CMP lawyers enough for their courageous efforts to discourage everyone from using the term Web 2.0®. I, for one, am happy to adhere to their demands.

rexblog flashbacks:  Why the term Web 2.0 means nothing and Yes, Virginia, there is a Web 2.0.

Update: The defense begins. It’s the use of Web 2.0® in the title of a conference they argue is their property: “Just as O’Reilly couldn’t decide to launch a LinuxWorld conference,
other event producers can’t use “Web 2.0 Conference,” the name of our
event.” I agree. (However, does this mean O’Reilly is considering removing the word “Linux” from the titles of books it publishes?) I think consumers need to be protected from the misapplication of the “Web 2.0″ term so, again, I consider the attorneys to be heroes here. I mean, if anyone could use the term Web 2.0® in a conference title, then people who go to those conferences might believe that Web 2.0® is something other than what one would learn by attending an official Web 2.0® conference. And (isn’t this obvious?) one can only imagine the mass confusion that would result if anyone could start defining what Web 2.0® is? No, I agree with the lawyers on this one:  there should definitely be an official Web 2.0® conference at which the definition of exactly what Web 2.0® means can be determined and defended.

Wikiwhacking: Ross Mayfield: “Wikipedia isn’t dead” (I agree, but don’t understand the headline, however).

Dave Winer: “Now if the strongest advocates of Wikipedia would start talking realistically about the weaknesses of the approach in addition to the strengths, the utopian stuff, we might be able to work together to improve it. But there’s no evidence of that in the latest round.”

I am a Wikipedia zealot and I spend a great deal of my evening hours tending an ambitious project, Smallbusiness.com, much of which resides on a Mediawiki platform. However, I’m in agreement with Dave on this one, especially regarding Wikipedia. As much as I’m a wiki-zealot, I realize that Wikipedia can often be misunderstood and the information found there can be misapplied by casual visitors who don’t — despite disclaimers blaring out — realize what’s taking place. Lots of people end up there after a Google search and merely see Wikipedia as “a free encyclopedia.”

Used correctly — understood correctly — Wikipedia is one of the true wonders of the Internet. However, my rule still stands: “Use Wikipedia as a gateway to facts, not a source of them.” The same is true for what you learn in blogs or the New York Times, for that matter. That so much information and knowledge is available in so many forms and from so many sources is utopian. However, there is a downside to that, also, if everyone treats everything as having the same level of authority.

Technorati Tags: wiki, wikipedia

TV blogging: Except for a few snippets, I skipped this season of American Idol — come to think of it, I skipped all the previous seasons except for the end of last year’s (I’ll admit it: I’m a Carrie Underwood fan.) However, I did tune in the final 30 minutes of last night’s show (while the DVR was churning away on Lost in the background — more on that in a second.) Sorry, but the show was awful — the singing bad and the staging schmaltzy. That shaved-heard rocker guy singing a Burt Bacharach tune has to be the low point in his career. Unfortunately, it’s also the high point, as it was seen by more people than will ever see him do anything else. (The WaPo’s Lisa de Moraes captures the event accurately.)

On a positive note, however: I must say that, to be in her (what?) 80s or 90s, Dionne Warwick still looks great…and so what if she was, as Randy would say, a little pitchy, she’s still got the stuff. At least she sold me a few downloads last night.

But Prince? What was that all about?

The Alabama contingent of rexblog readers are, no doubt, happy the guy who used to sing at the Flora-Bama won. Actually, I have it on good authority that one person who reads this blog has a friend who knows Taylor — or something like that: Auburn frat-party thing. So, does that make the rexblog three-degrees of separation from the Soul Patrol? Taylor’s fine and, for that matter, Katherine McPhee ain’t bad, but they’re no Carrie Underwood.

As for Lost, I thought the writers did a good job weaving disparate threads together and putting some explanatory touches on some things. They also threw in some intriguing curves. Of course, I’m always a impressed when writers can introduce some Russians in an igloo into a show that takes place on a tropical island. When do the polar bears return?

Come to think of it, I have a third-degree of separation from Lost, as well. One of the lead characters (I’ll skip the specifics) graduated from the high school that on Sunday, a young lady who is one of the lead characters in my life, will also graduate.

Classic HITS the van: No doubt, this photo has been around for years, but I just saw it for the first time. It’s a shot of a mini-van owned by a radio station in Newfoundland, HITS 99.1. Unfortunately, when the minivan’s door slides open, the letters of HITS get shuffled in a most amusing way.

Technorati Tags: humor

Connect the dots: Jason Fried: “Bloat is a function of time, people and money.“ Ephraim Scwartz: “What would happen if Microsoft and all of its technology disappeared tomorrow?.”

Nicholas Carr* on the ‘death’ of Wikipedia: “Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that “anyone can edit,” was a nice experiment in the “democratization” of publishing, but it didn’t quite work out. Wikipedia is dead. It died the way the pure products of idealism always do, slowly and quietly and largely in secret, through the corrosive process of compromise.”

The issue: Locking down pages. Nicholas’ post is a bit hyperbolic and, I assume, contains a bit of snark (if so, very nuanced snark). It also links to a column titled “Wikis are a waste of time” which is, itself, a waste of time, but a clever flame trolling for incoming links.

*Update: Duh. I originally had David, not Nicholas, attributed — sorry. (David gets pointed to a lot here.) And thanks to Kevin Salwin for alerting me.

Happy feet: If you’re a runner (or, like me, a really, really slow jogger) who already owns an iPod nano, the announcement of the Nike+iPod concept is one of those things you look at and say, “My lovemarks are mashing up.” (The real dream product, however, would not only mashup Nike and an iPod Nano, but it would throw in the GPS function of my Garmin Forerunner 301.) I may be slow, but geeky toys make jogging more fun.

New Nashville business blog: Dirk Plantinga sure knows how to get a link from me. He says he started blogging after hearing me speak at the Nashville Technology Council (although it was Brittney or Nick who inspired him, no doubt). And today, he helped launch a blog for the company he works for, the direct maketing firm, Acxiom-direct. (And talk about link-magnet: One of the first posts recommends Robert Scoble and Shel Israel’s book, Naked Conversations — which, by the way, I also recommend.) Also, Dirk: I know Jay Graves.

Technorati Tags: businessblogging, nashville

Top ten lies of Guy Kawasaki: Guy lists ten things not to believe when he says them — answering an obvious question from Dave Winer. He came close to using my suggestion with his “I don’t care about my Technorati ranking” lie.