July 14, 2003
Is the Internet an Application?
Robert Scoble thinks so:
I believe the Web became such a success because it was a single app that did so much. I was a BBS, then Prodigy, then AOL, then CompuServe, then came to the Web in 1995, so pretty early on (certainly not first, but certainly before 99.9% of people got on).
No.
He's wrong. The Internet is a service. Applications are built on top of the infrastructure provided by the Internet. The Internet helps to deliver the World Wide Web, E-Mail, Newsgroups, Instant Messaging, and so much more.
AOL isn't an app either. It's a service. AOL is a service provider--at least in this context. AOL is also a big evil media company, but that's a side issue.
I know he knows better, but this bugs me in the same way that people who say "My Internet is down!" do. They really mean "My Internet connection is down!" but don't know it.
Down on the Net
Apparently the Internet is Shit:
And look what we've done with it. Food wrappers and soap operas now tell us to visit their websites. Money is pumped online by people who can't even spell HTML. All manner of pointless and irritating content is continually poured down the infinite hole of data, unfiltered and over-appreciated. In accepting freedom of speech, we can't hide from its consequences - which in this case is millions of terabytes of unreliable information, badly designed and clumsily written. We have failed our own creation and given birth something truly awful. We're just too busy cooing over the pram to notice.
I'mn not saying I agree, but go read it and decide for yourself.
Check Out Feedster's Backlog
Ray and I were just talking about this feature for Feedster the other day. What do you know? Scott already had implemented it as Feedster Backlog.
If you want Feedster to index your entire weblog, all you need to do is generate a new RSS feed with everything you've ever blogged in it and then give us the URL to it as well as your existing RSS url. What we'll do is load the old posts, discard the duplicates and then get it all indexed.
So I've setup a full feed here using this MT template.
Scott rocks.
Revenge of the Denny's Sausage
If you're on a road trip through Oregon and California and find yourself at the local Denny's ordering the "French Slam" for breakfast, do yourself a favor. Do order the sausage to go with it. If you do, make sure not to eat it.
You'll spend the rest of the day with a very bad feeling in your stomach and no appetite for the next 24-36 hours. You'll feel like you need to barf it all up, but it won't happen. You burp now and then, careful not to burp too hard, tasting the sausage a little bit each time. It'll just ripen in your bowels for a while.
This concludes today's public service announcement.
Back Home
After a long drive and a few mistakes, Ray and I arrived back in the Bay Area at roughly 4am this morning from Portland. I hadn't slept but managed to fix that pretty quickly. (Just got up a few minutes ago at 11am.)
Lots to catch up on. Apparently Yahoo is buying Overture. It's about time that happened.
I have many pictures to upload and a few older entries (from the trip) to post later today.