• Selling Ads on Facebook Is a Tempting but Risky Business | Wired.com
  Quote - While Facebook earned respect for ringing the come-and-get-it dinner bell to developers, that level of benevolence seems incompatible with its $10 billion ambitions. (via PaidContent.org)
  (tags: socialnetworks advertising facebook)
• Good news for airline passengers | New York Times
  Quote - During the past decade, deaths from airline accidents have dropped 65%, to one fatal accident in about 4.5 million departures, from one in nearly 2 million in 1997.
  (tags: travel)

I don’t actually follow baseball until the playoffs, so I’m not quite sure how we arrived at the surreal place where the Cubs win their division and the Red Sox win their’s — on the same night. However, such impossible possibilities as having a Cubs-Red Sox World Series are why I love sports. So, with apologies to fans of all other playoff teams — I completely understand your loyalties — forgive me, a baseball fan free-agent, for thinking it would be great if the Cubs win an extra-inning seventh game against the Red Sox.

Apparently, there will soon be an upgrade to Facebook that will address one of its more obvious and serious flaws — the whole “tone deafness” to any forms of social networks that seem grown-up. According to the “In the Works” section of “What’s New” on Facebook, “(FB will soon) let you organize that long list of friends into groups so you can decide more specifically who sees what.” I interpret that to mean that Facebook has finally recognized that the “friends” you went to elementary school with and the “friends” you work with may, actually, not have anything to do with one-another. (However, I’m sure they’ll be promoting this feature as one that will allow you to keep the list of girls you dated in high school from seeing the girls you date in college.)

I can think of many other grown-up fixes they need: the “how you met” options are among the most obvious. The long-term killer item, however, is the ability to export identity information and networks. When Facebook becomes an open platform on which I can manage my identity and social networks everywhere, it becomes one of the few technologies I’d consider vital — up there with e-mail, telephones and the clapper.

(via: Nick O’Neill)

Later: The “via” source I credited, Nick O’Neill, was over-the-top in calling this feature a “Linked-in” killer. Frankly, there are features Facebook already has that will kill Linked-in if that company doesn’t respond — but, no doubt, they will respond. It is my belief that Linked-in, Google, Yahoo!, Ning, People Aggregator, et al, can all kill Facebook if they agree on a set of open standards for social networking and identity management. However, it is also my belief that Facebook can choose to “lead” rather than fight, as well. I’m a fan of Facebook, as I’m a fan of, say, Apple. However, Facebook should not pursue the “closed” model of Apple or they will end up with a small market share of cultists who, in 20 years, will still proclaim their (our) superiority over the 98% of the world who hasn’t see the light.

Technorati Tags: facebook, social networking

• The magazine industry - out of vogue | Economist.com
  Quote - It’s a long, slow sunset for ink-on-paper magazines, says Felix Dennis, but sunsets can produce vast sums of money. (via: Martin Stabe)
  (tags: magazines)

There’s no date on this piece by Tim Manners at FastCompany.com, however I just ran across it today and especially liked this quote:

“…if we’re not helping people live better lives, we are not helping ourselves. If all we are doing is interrupting people who don’t have time for interruptions, we can’t expect their attention. If all we are doing is annoying people who have zero tolerance for annoyance, we can’t earn their trust. If all we are doing is pelting people with endlessly irrelevant messages, we can’t claim their loyalty. And if we can’t claim their loyalty, we don’t have a prayer of a positive return-on-investment.”

I hate to sound braggadocious, but can’t help myself from giving a shout-out congratulations to the Hammock Publishing corporate spelling bee team for annihilating the competition in tonight’s 14th Annual Corporate Spelling Bee, benefiting the Nashville Adult Literacy Council.

Fittingly, they went ahead on the word annihilate and won on the word braggadocio.*

A perennial power-house in the competition, this is the second time the team has brought home the first-place trophy — a very big one, as I recall. Nearly as intimidating as this year’s Titans O-Line are these Team Hammock spelling ninjas: Jamie (2-Cs-in-Zucchini) Roberts, Megan (MeganG) Goodchild and Bill (The Spellinator) Hudgins.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I have never come close to making the team.

*corrected from an earlier version.

Longtime readers of the rexblog know that I have a list of “All the Apple rumors you’ll ever need.” It comes in handy because I can say, simply, “That’s rumor #3″ when I read a “new” rumor about a “mutil-touch PDA 1.5 times the size of an iPhone and sporting an approximate 720×480 high-resolution display that comprises almost the entire surface of the unit. The device is further believed to leverage multi-touch concepts which have yet to gain widespread adoption in Apple’s existing multi-touch products — the iPhone and iPod touch — like drag-and-drop and copy-and-paste.”

As a long-time observer of Apple rumors, I’ll offer the following guesses: It will be larger than 1.5 times the size of an iPhone. And it will not be called a PDA and the brand “Newton” will not be applied to it or any product ever in the future of Apple Inc. — at least as long as Steve Jobs is there.

My guess: The product’s brand will use the word “nano,” as in MacBook nano, iMac nano, Mac nano. It will emphasize that it’s a small, touch-screen computer, not a large personal digital assistant.

Last guess: There will be a long line waiting for it on the day it comes out and I will be standing in it.

Chris Silver Smith posted a photo of a set of buildings that when viewed from a satellite, forms the shape of a swastika. It turned out that the buildings were part of a 40-year old Navy barracks complex. To change the appearance of the buildings on Google Maps, the Navy has approved $600,000 to modify walkways, landscaping and rooftop solar panels. According to the AP, “the Navy decided to alter the buildings’ shape following requests this year by Anti-Defamation League regional director Morris Casuto and U.S. Rep. Susan Davis.”

via: Search Engine Land.

Seth Godin quotes Michael Brooks, the publisher of Concrete Wave magazine. Among the nuggets:

“I am not publishing a magazine – I am helping to document and foster change within skateboarding. The magazine is part of a greater movement within skateboarding. Concrete Wave exists to spread specific ideas. The more people we can spread these ideas too, the more success we achieve…I am not merely building readers or subscribers – I am building a cult of supporters, each of whom will further support the cause and bring in more readers and subscribers.”

As I’ve said on this blog several times, the key to success in magazine publishing is to matter to the reader. And by “matter,” I mean be a magazine people can’t bring themselves to throw away. Brooks gets it, big time. Here’s a quote from a recent post on his blog:

“If information is free and you happen to be in the business of information (aka magazine publisher) then you better be offering up more than just information. Your magazine must not only reflect your readership, it must inspire them.

And, on the magazine’s website, perhaps the best-phrased goal I’ve ever read:

“Our goal is to publish a skate mag that is so good, you’ll want to put it in your will.”

I’ve never owned a skateboard in my life but he’s convinced me to subscribe.

• Observations of Value of Facebook | Susan Mernit
  Key quote - There’s a lot to savor, and a lot to be learned, and I am still eager to see what next big thing the FB experience is training us for.
  (tags: socialnetworks facebook)
• 15 Billion More Reasons to Worry About Facebook | Kara Swisher
  Quote - Silicon Valley can now be considered to be at Delusional Level Red. Or green, given all the cash that is being shoved in Facebook’s direction now.
  (tags: socialnetworks facebook)
• Whats in Googles Name? NYT Bits Blog
  Funny - The word Google comes from the measure of how many different claims can be invented against a company with such deep pockets.
  (tags: humor)

Scott Karp, one of the smartest people I know, thinks mobile devices aren’t ready for prime time when it comes to having a meaningful online experience.

Rather than disagree with Scott (whose blog, by the way, is #9 on the “Advertising Age Power 150″of blogs that follow media and marketing) and engage in a meaningful debate, mobile browser developer Russell Beattie immediately attacks Scott personally by calling him a moron and telling him to shut the, well, it goes down-hill from there. Scott may be opinionated and, once in a great while, wrong, but a moron?

I have no idea whether or not Russell’s debate points make sense. I didn’t read past the second sentence. While I’m sure Russell is not a moron, I know for certain his approach is moronic.

I have no idea whether or not Russell’s current project, a mobile browser, is any good. But his approach to evangelizing it sure seems moronic.

Later: Matthew Ingram apparently made it all the way through Russell’s post and writes, “Russell’s post seemed so angry and over the top that it made me wonder what else was going on. I certainly don’t think that Scott said anything as moronic as Russ is making it out to be.”

Also, to clarify my earlier point, as well. His fluffy use of the “F” word is not why I object to Russell’s post. It’s his use of the “M” word. It’s the intellectual laziness displayed when he attacked Scott personally, rather than attacking Scott’s point of view.

I guess some people will do anything to get press credentials in order to keep from paying to gain access to DEMO. BusinessWeek writer (and blogger) Stephen Baker says he’s getting pings from folks attending DEMO that someone is at DEMO, wearing a Stephen Baker, BusinessWeek, badge and IT’S NOT HIM.” When asked, the person is cleverly saying that, oh, he’s the other Stephen Baker at BusinessWeek.

While John Gruber’s post on the new Amazon MP3 download service is filled with interesting facts and dead-on observations, his math regarding the profitability of music sold via the iTunes Store is a bit suspect as he dismisses the significant “costs” associated with servicing the downloads, i.e., “acquisition costs” and marketing expenses. Moreover, the point being made by others is not that Apple makes no money (sorry for the double-negative) from selling music — rather it’s more about dogs and wagging tails. Even if you use Gruber’s inflated numbers for what Apple “gets” from selling digital music, it’s a rounding-error compared to what it “gets” from selling the hardware used to organize and play that music. And, more importantly, the profit margins on those hardware products dwarf the thin margins of selling music downloads. iPods, et al, are brilliant golden eggs — the iTunes Store is goose feed.

Again, I agree with Gruber’s observations about Amazon’s missed-opportunity by launching their MP3 service ten-years too late. However, I can’t help but believe the numbers-crunchers at Amazon helped to delay the launch by continually pointing out just how lame the margins are on selling music downloads.

Admittedly, I’m no fan of the iTunes Store. As much as folks who read this blog may consider me an Apple fan-boy, the Apple iTunes Store does not benefit from any halo-effect of my admiration for certain other Apple products. Indeed, I hate the Apple iTunes store and its ridiculous authorization and DRM approaches. You can blame it on the record industry all you want, but the iTunes Store’s implementation of DRM makes a mockery of Apple’s typically savvy approach to pleasing the customer with ease-of-use elegance. Unfortunately, iTunes Store is filled with “gotcha” tricks that seem designed to make the customer feel like an idiot, or, worse, a victim.

I’m sure I’ll get plenty of drive-by shots on this post from people who haven’t read this blog over the years and know of my regular suggestions to anyone who uses the iTunes Store to immediately burn a CD of music purchased there and to strip-out the DRM as quickly as possible. Yet, I’ve also learned that real-people in the real-world have no idea how to do that (including members of my own family who have had to re-purchase certain iTunes purchases recently). If you want to know how absurd the iTunes Store is, tell an Apple Store “guru” that your hard drive has died on your Mac and the only place you have your purchased music backed up is on your iPod. He’ll say, “I can’t officially tell you this (wink-wink), but there are ways to do that” if you search on Google.

I’ll stop ranting there. I’ll still use iTunes (the desktop software) and I believe there are certain free things on the iTunes Store — iTunes U, for example — that are modern marvels. But there’s no magic — and a lot of potential agony — in purchasing music via the iTunes Store.

Bring on all the competitors possible.

Sidenote: I regularly back-up all music to an external hard drive and have burned all music (6,000+ tunes) to DVDs.

Update: An impressively-instantaneous e-mail response to this post suggests I should check out mediamaster.com for storing and accessing my music collection. I haven’t checked it out, but not having such a feature incorporated in the iTunes Store is one of my core-problems with it: It should provide me “access” to my purchased music…forever.

Update II: Those witty Amazon MP3 folks are selling an 89¢ DRM-less version of the Feist tune, 1234, to help kick-off the new store. The tune is the #1 download of the day. You’ve heard the tune because it’s the one played endlessly on the new iPod nano commercials. For ten cents more, you can purchase a DRM-ladened version on the iTunes Store. For the record, I think the song sounds like Shania Twain trying to go alternative, and failing.

• Nashville’s Band of Outsiders | New York Times
  Quote from Ann Patchett - I live in Nashville and I don’t listen to country music. It is not such an uncommon state of affairs. (This piece echos lots of what I’ve written in this blog on the topic.)
  (tags: music nashville)

If you’re counting, I think the Trump magazine that will be announced on Tuesday will be the third (or maybe fourth) magazine with that name attached to it. Like the other Trump magazines, this one will be “a magazine devoted to ways to spend a great deal of money.” And while it will be distributed in the same Trump properties, it’s not the same Trump magazine that was distributed in all the Trump properties from 2004 until earlier this year. This one will be different, because it will also be sold at the news stand for $5.95.

Wait a minute. According to the New York Times, this new Trump magazine will, according to its publisher, “do stories on private jets, the interiors of the new jets, new lines of Louis Vuitton luggage, Mikimoto pearls, stories on very high-end jewelry like Cartier, travel around the world, golf clubs, fashion…It’s definitely aimed at the reader who doesn’t have to ask how much it costs.”

So why wouldn’t they price it at $9.95? Or $50.95?

$5.95 seems awfully cheap for readers who don’t have to ask how much it costs.