An open letter to DeWitt and the Buzz team: Why Buzz sucks

Note: This open letter is strictly from a writer’s (content producer) point of view and is not intended as an attack in any fashion.

Dear DeWitt and the Google Buzz Team,

Just to clarify something based on the note above – I think there is a lot of potential for Buzz or I wouldn’t be wasting my time writing this (or the other posts I have written about Buzz) and even though I personally think you – meaning the whole team (and by extension Google as a company) – screwed up badly on the launch of Buzz that shouldn’t diminish the potential for the product.

There are times though where as a writer, or content producer, who uses Buzz as an auxiliary notification system I really get pissy with you. Unlike the Friendfeed or Twitter; or even Facebook, practice of either just posting the headline or the headline and an excerpt Buzz takes all our content and posts it .

Now how can I say this nicely: NOT!

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Braindead TechCast EP23: Techmeme Fridays and no obscene bonuses for us

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  • Posted 1165 days ago

It’s the end of the week folks and you know what that means around this neck of the woods – yes it’s Techmeme Friday. The show every Friday where Sean and I take a rip on the headlines found at Techmeme – every tech bloggers dream aggregator – at the time of the show.

This week I was betting heavily on that Techmeme would be loaded down with regurgitated SXSWi stories; except I was way off as iPad crap seem to be the flavor of the hour. We did manage however to start the show of with a bit of a rant over a $5 million bonus  (not counting stock options) for 6 months worth of work – nice Job if you can get it.

Posts mentioned in the show.

Apple Estimated to Have Taken 50,000 iPad Orders in First Two Hours – MacRumors
Apple iPad — model A1337 — phreaks the FCC – Engadget
iPad ‘Mute’ button magically turns into ‘screen rotation lock’ – 9 t0 5 Mac
Google to strip unique client ID from future Google Chrome installs – Download Squad
Tim Cook Receives Bonus of $5 Million and Stock for Performance During Jobs’ Absence – MacRumors
Formspring prank story plagues Twitter – The Inquisitr (OMG did some-one goof?)
Brightkite’s Sneaky Plan To Get Regular Users Into Location: Group Text – TechCrunch

Enjoy the show

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Braindead TechCast EP22: Location, location, location … eh who cares

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  • Posted 1166 days ago

Well folks it appears that the annual SXSW conference in Austin Texas is just around the corner which of course means we are going to be inundated with a spewing forth of news and hype – heavy on the hype – about the newest lovechild of Web 2.0 – Location (cr)Apps.

This of course was the spark of tonight’s show with myself and Sean where we start of with a bit of interesting news that it appears that Twitter is going to be rate-limiting people at the conferences. No, I’m not joking.

From there we branch out into a larger conversation about this inane go0-goo-ga-ga over location based web apps and services.

Posts referred to in the show

Twitter to SXSW: You’re Using Our Product Too Much. – New Comm Biz
Revenge of the Cable Guys – BusinessWeek

Enjoy the show.

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The Social Media Expert game – been there, talked about it

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  • Posted 1167 days ago

Social Media experts: the new lemmings

Yesterday my boss over at The Inquisitr Duncan Riley wrote an excellent post about there being a trust crisis looming when it comes to the so-called social media experts that have proliferated like some bad weed. As he puts it

I’m sad to report that in March 2010, the crisis is here.

My first pointer was at the Media140 conference in Sydney in November 2009. I hold no grudge against the organizer, who I’ve since learned is fairly switched on. But she was compromised by the sponsors, and the speakers who she was forced to line up. I’ve never been as gobsmaked before to see speaker after speaker get up and say “I’ve been on Twitter for 6/12/18 mths because I was told to join by my boss/ someone told me I should join and this is my experience.” Apparently being on Twitter for 5 minutes gave these people the license to speak for 5-25 minutes on being a social media expert.

But that was November.

In March, the madness has become like an outbreak of the plague, particularly among the PR/ Marketing crowd, not only in Sydney, but mostly.

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Braindead TechCast EP21: Blogging for pennies. Ya that’ll work.

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  • Posted 1168 days ago

It gets really tiring to hear how little people think that those bloggers who decided to make a career out of writing on the web deserve to make. Whether it be the stupid uproar over ads (which we talked about in last night’s show) to arsine ideas like micropayments that will never work for smaller, more niche, bloggers.

As you can tell from that tiny rant Sean and I tackle yet another stupid idea for creating revenue for bloggers which then leads into the really mind-boggling money they want for the glasses you will need to watch 3D television.

We end off the show talking once more about how much of a bad idea it is to try and build a business around another company’s services that can get yanked or changed at any time, not to mention the fact that the company might decide that what you are doing is a good idea – good enough for them to do as well.

Posts referred to in the show

Out: Blogging for dollars. In: Blogging for pennies – VentureBeat
Cost of glasses show just how ridiculous this idea of 3D TV is – The Inquisitr
Trust And Safety - Twitter Blog

Enjoy the show

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Here, let me take that wool off of your eyes

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  • Posted 1168 days ago

If there is one thing that is constantly being crammed down our blogging throats it is that if you write great content the masses will come.

New bloggers will hear this over and over as they scour the web for all the blogging tips that they can find. After all, we all want to be counted right up there with the big boys ’cause we know our ideas and thoughts are just as good; or better, than theirs.

I hate to be the one to break it to you but here is a simple truth: it’s bullshit.

You can write stuff that is as good as Godin, Scoble, Brogan; or any number of the great bloggers out there, and you’ll still; for the most part, end up being just another voice that is part of the great white noise known as the Blogosphere.

Sure there is nothing better for one’s ego to be recognized by Robert Scoble or have Om Malik say that the loves your stuff which I have had happen – a long time ago now though. It’s a rush; but a rush that will probably be gone at around the same point  those same people have forgotten who you are.

Blogging relationships are for the most part very transient especially when it comes to the big boys mixing with those of us out in the blogging ghetto. I’m not grousing here – just stating a simple fact: if you aren’t part of the blogging upper crust your chances of breaking into this old boys club is next to nil.

This doesn’t mean you should stop what you are doing and run with your tail tucked between your legs to the easy world of a 14o characters. The truth doesn’t change the fact that you probably can write stuff that is just as important or better than those big names.

You should write about what matters to you whether it be about the stupidity that Social Media is devolving into or the newest technology that rocks your boat. You might not reach the levels you dream about but you can be sure of one thing – your opinions and thoughts do matter.

And who knows …. maybe … just maybe you might hit the right sweet spot that will help make you one of those must read bloggers we would all like to be.

I’ll be keep my fingers crossed for you.

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Braindead TechCast EP20: Moronic Monday where life is more than lumps and craters

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  • Posted 1169 days ago

Due to the fact that Monday’s are generally pretty slow when it comes to tech news of any worth Sean and I decided that it would be the prefect day to do a show that talks about some of the more moronic stories of the previous week. These are stories that are either too stupid to even acknowledge in a post of its own or they just struck us as being totally moronic on more than one level.

So on this Monday we are proud to present our very first Moronic Monday’s show and these are some of the news items from the past week that made our moronic list.

Top Microsoft Exec Suggests Internet Usage Tax, Money Would Fight Cyber Crime – The Inquisitr
Farmville Valued $1 Billion Higher than Twitter – SiliconANGLE
RIAA Claims Music Pirates Hurt Haiti Fund Raising – Torrent Freak
Amazon Reacts To Colorado Internet Sales Tax Measure By Firing Its Colorado Associates – HuffPo
iPhone Sausage Stylus comes to the US – SlipperyBrick
Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love – Ars Technica
Advertising is devastating to my well-being – Brian Carper
Rogue New Jersey ‘Doctor’ Putting His Caulk in Women’s Butts – Daily Intel
Canada drops plans for politically correct anthem – Reuters

Enjoy the show

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Do we really want a Facebook Web?

Your parents are probably on Facebook, as are your kids and there is even a chance your grandparents are on Facebook as well.

You neighbor is probably there playing FarmVille and you stand a good chance of getting Friend requests from the corner-store clerk at some point. Even those neighbors and irritating jerks from work are knocking on your Wall. Even people you wouldn’t have anything to do with anywhere else will eventually seek you out.

Yet we continue to flock to Facebook in droves but for what?

In the homogenized world of pastel blue Facebook it all reeks of  sameness. Any changes they make to the service are only meant to achieve two things: keep you safe and comfortable in the Facebook womb and to provided increasing numbers of eyeballs to advertisers and marketers.

It seems that every other day we hear of yet some new way that Facebook is trying to make itself a safe replacement to that mean, nasty, and uncertain online world. From teaming with PayPal so you can easily spend money within Facebook to the possibility of its own email system everything is geared to remove you from ever needing to go anywhere else on the web.

As Louis Gray points out

But Facebook has become that go-to site that absorbs what many other sites used to. It has become the platform for sharing photos, the platform for messaging, the platform for casual games, and personal connections.

Just as Google wants to index all the information in the world Facebook wants to index all the social interaction on the web.

But what exactly are we getting in return for all this blandness and sameness? Games that are nothing more than ways to keep you on the service and spending money? Endless quizzes that for the most part are nothing more than marketing ploys?

Is this really the web we want?

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