More here. Some really nice words from Michael.

The thing that’s surprised me about this is it didn’t leak in a month. Probably helps that I didn’t tell all but a few people, but it’s cool knowing that in the age of uber-gossip it never leaked.

The video below covers more (serious NSFW language warning…I no longer have to watch my f*cks quite so much). The key points: 1. I want my weekends back (although it wont happen for sometime, but at least I have control over that aspect 2. I’m a little tired (the whole Louis Gray thing being case in point) 3. I feel that if I’m going to kill myself doing this (blogging) it should be building something I own or have a stake in.

The other news is that I’ve soft launched the new site The Inquisitr. More details here. It still needs some tweaking and I wont be going hell for leather posting until the morning (still clearing up some TC stuff…and I need some beer ). It goes without saying that I’m excited about it, and I believe the mix of tech, pop and funny stuff is pretty unique. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll have more to say on that in the coming weeks.

My thanks to all those people who sent well wishes across when the news broke. I’m stoked and humbled by the response.

I’ve never once tried to interfere with my old site, The Blog Herald. I sold it and that was the end of the matter. It did well under Matt Craven and the folks who bought it from me, but a year later Splashpress bought it and turned it into a poor mans Problogger with little or no news and I completely stopped reading it. The site always did advice, even before Problogger, but it was an occasional special that complemented the core news function of the site, it was never meant to be the main source of content. The original motto (since dropped) was more blog news more often, and I always prided myself on being the first with news from the then new blogging world.

Fast forward to this year and some sanity has prevailed. I believe Thord Daniel Hedengren is editing the site now and I’ve always thought highly of him, and he’s bought back Matt Craven and David Krug. Suddenly The Blog Herald has become a decent read again (news wise…I still don’t like the self help stuff, but it’s not dominating anymore) and I re-subscribed to the RSS feed.

Then someone decided it would be smart to switch from a full feed to a part feed. [insert loud WTF here]

I know in years gone by that I took a side in favor of this, but I always looked at it from the publishers viewpoint, which in short is all about preventing your feed being scrapped, but I never really considered it from the user/ readers viewpoint. Put simply, to me today a part feed is as useless as tits on a bull. The jury has long since decided that full feeds are the way to go.

So here’s my little bleg: TDH or who ever made the decision, please go back to full feeds. I know the scraping sucks, but it sucks that your readers cant read all the content in a feed reader either. Just as the site was getting good again, you’re now turning people away, and that makes no sense at all.

This is staggering.

Congrats to Michael on a position well deserved. I cant remember if a blogger has ever made the list before, maybe Drudge but he’s never counted himself as a blogger. It’s perhaps a watershed moment that a Blogger can be counted in the Top 100 most influential people in the world, next to world leaders and uber-celebrities.

I’d say blogging has come of age, but that was really 2004. It’s something big though: a new level of maturity perhaps, an acceptance that blogging and bloggers have a major role in todays media landscape.

I was suppose to be at the Future of Journalism summit in Sydney today but I’ve got too many things on to have made it, but I would have love to have bought this up. Perhaps someone will.

Mark Rizzn Hopkins writes over at Mashable how he’s pissed off with Firefox. He’s not alone. I dumped Firefox 2 and switched to Flock after trying Safari for a short time (it doesn’t play nice with WordPress). Then I tried Webkit for a while, super fast, and now I’m back at Firefox 3 as everybody told me they’d finally fixed Firefox and all was good again.

It’s not good. It’s better, but its better than crappy. FF3 still crashes, still leaks memory (not always, but particularly on streaming video sites), and has other bugs that don’t make my day miserable, but they’re not a positive contribution either. Just going to write this post and I couldn’t type in FF3: had to close one tab (had less than 10 open) to get FF to allow me to type again. Maybe I’ve got rose colored glasses, but I think FF 1.5 will be remembered as the last great Firefox release, because I never remember having any of these problems then, even going back as far as 0.8 beta.

To answer Rizzn’s poll question: yes, I’d happily pay for a browser that was stable, quick and bug free. Note though that it would REALLY have to be all of those things, and so far I just haven’t seen a browser able to meet that criteria.

I’ve been burdened for months by a bad case of email bankruptcy. My inbox has been constantly full of unread emails, and it keeps getting worse and worse (on a busy day I might get 400 odd emails). It had gotten to the stage that in the last 2 weeks I was forgetting to write up posts or follow up on leads, and I was getting emails from people asking me why I hadn’t done things. I’m far from alone in this problem, but I decided enough was enough.

I’ve never read Getting Things Done before (and I still haven’t), but I was aware of the concepts behind the book/ system, so I did some more research and this is what I’ve changed.

GTD Software

Things is a brilliant package but only so far in that it’s extremely simple to use. It’s not as fully featured as some other packages I looked at, but the barrier to entry is that much simpler; the short form is I worked this one out in minutes, where other packages I wasted an hour on without any luck.

You use it by adding things you need to get done to it, sort of like list making/ task management. Ctrt + Alt + Space brings up a pop-up box for new entries, and you can drag and drop links to anything into this screen: in my case emails.

So what I did Sunday was sit down and go through my email, including my “follow up” folder which I’d started avoiding. Drag and drop the email in, add a note saying what it was and the action, tag it (TechCrunch, duncanriley.com, general…whatever), put a date due on it (you can also add someday if it’s not a priority but you want it handy) so today (monday morning) I’ve started the morning with a list of things to follow up or action.

The next trick was before working my way through the list, I started with email first (well after a quick glance at Techmeme and TechCrunch so I knew roughly what was happening for context on any emails), it took 15-20 minutes but I’d cleared up the entire nights email and was back to square one (well a week back, I still haven’t cleared the full backlog yet, but if you were starting from empty, you’d have an empty inbox). Emails that need to be deleted are deleted, ones that require followup are added to Things and dragged into a separate folder.

Now all I had left was a list of things to be done.

Clear workflow

The hardest habit to break is my usual read everything in Google Reader first. I decided the way I’d tackle this was to do the first two action items in Things First, then read my feeds (noting that I have Techmeme Firehouse in Twitter in case anything is breaking). So I did, one post, two posts…and it wasn’t even 10am, then I started reading feeds but only in order of importance (I allocate my reading list into A, B Web 2.0, Personal, General and other categories). 2 folders down, I switch back to the list. Another post done. Go back and spend 10 minutes with the next Google Reader folder, switch back to list etc etc….

One of my other bad work habits has always been having way too many tabs open in Firefox, to the point that I often get lost in terms of which tab has which thing open etc… I decided the better way to do this was to make sure I close every tab after I write a post, and only have tabs open that are relevant to the post as I do it (aside from a core 3, Reader, Techmeme, blog entry page). What I found immediately is that I could research and reference far more easily than from half a dozen or so tabs open that a relevant and grouped.

Will It Last?

Monday’s are always pretty quiet as it’s Sunday in the States so perhaps this morning might not be a typical day, but it feels good to be writing this post before midday having written 4 posts with another 2 definites in the system, half a dozen space fillers if it gets real quiet, and all my other tasks I need to get done ready and waiting. I even went as far as adding in one day a week to update Facebook friends, another for LinkedIn etc…. everything spelled out.

It won’t work for everyone, and obviously requires some discipline, but I’m already excited by the allocate email to GTD system by itself: hopefully now I wont forget to respond to emails or write up posts and my email bankruptcy will be checked at the door.

I’ll report back in a week with an update to see how this system works under pressure.

Re: this, Rage against the machine

On a more serious note, simple rules: Twitter for Breaking, Goog Reader for reading, use aggregators like Techmeme and others to pick up the stuff you miss.  Now if only I could sort email….but shhhhh, we wont mention that dirty word today.

CNet reports that Andrew Baron has pulled the auction for his Twitter account. It was a clever little publicity stunt from day one, and credit to Andrew on it, but the following sounds severely retarded:

Essentially, he said, a fellow Twitterer wrote him suggesting that the people who were bidding the eBay auction well into four figures were “all spam marketers, people who will do anything just to get their name out there, people who don’t understand Web 2.0 and blogging.”

“I already knew,” Baron said, “there would be a great range of different types of (possible) outcomes. But I believed that I would be able to manage the outcome by trying to make a positive outcome for the buyer, for my friends and followers. Even if it wasn’t a good fit, I (believed) I could work with them. But after I heard that they were all just spam marketers, that just kind of killed it for me and I didn’t want to risk that.”….

Instead, he insisted to me, he just felt very uneasy about having the account–and his many followers–fall into the hands of people who didn’t necessarily have any idea how to use the account in a way that benefits all concerned.

WTF did he think would happen? that some utopian hippy would buy the account and spread peace and goodwill to his followers? lolz

Time for some appropriate Ben Folds Five

Good news: YouTube’s partner program is now available in Australia, Japan and Ireland. I’ve applied, no idea if I’ll qualify.

Now for the WTF: I had Nova on in the car (wife had been in the car, otherwise it would have been on ABC Local Radio) and their sad excuse for a news came on a 8am (sad as they seemingly read the headline only), and it went something like this

“If you upload videos to YouTube ads will now have to run on your videos.”

Apparently the partners program = forced advertising on YouTube. I should be so lucky…well I might be if I get approved, but we’ll wait and see.

Mark Glaser has a post up today on the virtues of the so-called “social media press release” (pic above): The Social Press Release: Multimedia, Two-Way, Direct to the Public. He runs through the arguments in favor of it and how apparently PR folk are starting to use it.

Perhaps I’m old school…ok, I am old school, but I’ve been dealing with media releases since 1997, when I was taught in a job how to write a good press release, so I have no issues with the current format of press releases and I don’t see an immediate need to dump them for this format, although I do take on board that others may prefer the style.

Press releases can be both bad and good, the bad usually comes from people who have no real idea how to write one. I get a mixture every day, some I read, some I just delete.  How a media release should work: short intro that includes exactly what’s in the release (the hook), second paragraph that expands on the details in the first one, maybe another paragraph if needed, two paragraphs of quotes (always important when pitching at the MSM as they may run them) then a concluding paragraph. Ideally the press release should never be longer than a page. That’s the formula I was taught and have always followed.

Here’s my issue with the social media release, and I think it’s a fatal flaw: there’s no hook. Leading with contact information is bizarre because contact info is only relevant for a follow up and is always best left in the footer. But to then have the headline below that, and “core news facts” with bullet points on the release….where’s the hook? General rule of thumb is you’ve got seconds to hook someone reading your press release before they delete it/ trash it: headline should lead with an immediate description (hook) of what the offering is. Good headlines help, but it’s that opening introduction that most people will read, you need to hook them there (headlines can’t always convey the vital info). Rejig a social media release to open with a hook then I’d think it would work a lot better.

I’ve been a big supporter of the WordPress designer community over the years, and I’ve gone into bat for honest WordPress designers before, often at my own detriment.

I’ve been looking around for a new template after a couple of failed attempts on Scriptlance and oDesk to get anything done. I ended up at Solostream and bought the WP-Magazine theme thinking that I could at least use it as a framework for what I had in mind. Now when I signed up I accepted that I could only use the work on one site, and that there would be a credit in the footer, but I didn’t read the EULA until I’d opened the now paid for template (in fact there is zero link to the EULA on the buy page so it was my first opportunity). Maybe I’m being a little too harsh here, but given I’ve just paid for a template I didn’t expect this:

WP-Magazine Theme 1.0 Basic END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT AGREEMENT

IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY: This End-User License Agreement (”EULA”) is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and Solostream Web Studio for the SOFTWARE(s) identified above. By installing, copying, or otherwise using the SOFTWARE, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. If you do not agree to the terms of this EULA, do not install or use the SOFTWARE.

1. The SOFTWARE is licensed, not sold.

2. GRANT OF LICENSE.

a. You MAY modify, install and/or use the SOFTWARE on NO MORE THAN ONE (1) website or blog owned by you.

b. You MAY NOT remove or modify any credits in the page footer area of the SOFTWARE.

3. DISTRIBUTION.

a. You MAY NOT sell, rent, lease, lend or otherwise redistribute the SOFTWARE in any form.

b. You MAY NOT sell, rent, lease, lend or otherwise redistribute derivative works based upon the SOFTWARE.

4. RESTRICTIONS.

a. You MAY NOT not use the SOFTWARE to perform any unauthorized transfer of information (e.g. transfer of files in violation of a copyright) or for any illegal purpose.

5. SUPPORT SERVICES.

a. Solostream Web Studio may - but is not required to - provide you with support related to your usage of the SOFTWARE.

6. TERMINATION.

a. Without prejudice to any other rights, Solostream Web Studio may terminate this EULA if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this EULA. In such event, you must destroy all copies of the SOFTWARE and remove it from any and all websites owned by you.

7. COPYRIGHT.

a. The SOFTWARE is protected by copyright laws and international treaty provisions.

b. You acknowledge that no title to the intellectual property in the SOFTWARE is transferred to you.

c. You further acknowledge that title and full ownership rights to the SOFTWARE will remain the exclusive property of the Solostream Web Studio and you will not acquire any rights to the SOFTWARE except as expressly set forth in this license.

d. You agree that any copies of the SOFTWARE will contain the same proprietary notices which appear on and in the SOFTWARE.

8. NO WARRANTIES.

a. Solostream Web Studio expressly disclaims any warranty for the SOFTWARE.

b. THE SOFTWARE AND ANY RELATED DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON INFRINGEMENT.

c. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE REMAINS WITH YOU.

9. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.

a. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOLOSTREAM WEB STUDIO BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING OUT OF THE DELIVERY, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SOLOSTREAM WEB STUDIO HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN ANY EVENT, SOLOSTREAM WEB STUDIO’S LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER THEORY OF LIABILITY WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF U.S.$1.00 OR LICENSE FEE PAID BY YOU.

10. MISCELLANEOUS.

a. Should you have any questions concerning this EULA, or if you desire to contact Solostream Web Studio for any reason, please contact by electronic mail at: michael@solostream.com.

No thanks for giving us money, no thanks and we might be able to help you if you get stuck. No, just lost of nasty legalese.

The take away bonus on this is the footer link is an SEO scam as well, linking “WordPress theme” back to Solostream; I’d accept a link back to them, but at a time where Google is nuts on paid links I’m paying for trouble having a blatant link like that there.

If I’m wrong, tell me, it’s why I’ve written this post. I’m seriously thinking about deleting the template and writing the $79 off as a tax loss.

Update: following the comments I think I’ll hold on to the template. As I said to Michael in an email: the EULA scared the shit out of me, completely. My only condition is that if I use it he assures me that he won’t pull it per the EULA, I think that’s the part that scared me the most, particularly given that it when I’m finished with it, it is unlikely to be identifiable. My skill set when it comes to WP templates is editing existing ones, I couldn’t start one from scratch to save me. I intend to spend hours customizing this, but I don’t like the idea that when I do so it could be pulled out from under me.