October 2007 Archives

Wikipedia is a frequent discussion in schools about whether it's an acceptable resource for students. Many teachers are wary of students using it. They view it as unreliable because anyone can write anything in it. But another way to look at it is quality checking and contribution. But this professor in Washington state has decided that students should add or edit entries in Wikipedia. AP: Wikipedia Becomes a Class Assignment.

I'm concerned about the culture match between a company that makes trash bags and bleach and one that makes personal products. Burt's Bees is one of my favorite brands. I hope Clorox is spending their $925 million wisely. Reuters: Clorox profit little changed and to buy Burt's Bees and San Francisco Business Times: Clorox to buy Burt's Bees for $925M

Interesting survey found that people earning more than $100,000 are more likely to apologize for mistakes than those earning less than $25,000. The reasons suggested: higher-income people are less defensive about mistakes, it's easier to apologize than ask permission, and the fact they earn more indicates they have stronger people skills and can be successful in organizations. CNNMoney.com: Want a higher paycheck? Say you're sorry

Following the news that Microsoft was investing $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, the total value of Facebook can be determined. TechCrunch found that its current valuation, Facebook is the 5th most valuable U.S. internet company, below Amazon, and ahead of Barry Diller's IAC and Salesforce and Monster. Facebook is extremely hot right now, but I wonder if the WSJ wasn't right with Is Facebook the Geocities of today?

Facebook grew up on college campuses, but will users still find it as valuable when they move into their 30s with family and career demands. That's the risk of the investment Microsoft is making.

Effects of too sleep among children is well know, so why do schools still insist on early start times, especially for high school kids? NY Times: Personal Health: At Every Age, Feeling the Effects of Too Little Sleep

Jakob Nielsen wrote in 1998 essay Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines that headlines on web pieces need to be different than on print pieces because they are read out of context with the print article and because there is no supporting data, such as photos, logos, etc, around the headline to help readers understand the headline.

Because of these differences, the headline text has to stand on its own and make sense when the rest of the content is not available. Sure, users can click on the headline to get the full article, but they are too busy to do so for every single headline they see on the Web.

Revisiting this topic this month, Nielsen says while active voice is better there are some occasions where passive voice might work better.

Simple sentence structure, active voice, and positive statements have been key Web-writing guidelines for more than a decade. I don't want you to abandon these good ideas. They do improve content usability in most cases, particularly for body text.

However, recent findings from our eyetracking research emphasized the overwhelming importance of getting the first 2 words right, since that's often all users see when they scan Web pages. Given this, we have to bend the writing guidelines a bit, especially for elements that users fixate on when they scan — that is, headlines, subheads, summaries, captions, hypertext links, and bulleted lists.

On Boing Boing the article has generated a discussion about Nielsen and his views.

Following up on Linux visibility now reaching NY Times, WSJ. Steven Yelvington has switched his grandmother and his mother-in-law to Ubuntu's Linux.

Grandma can use it. Kids can use it. Installation is not a problem. In many dimensions, especially performance, security and nagware-free user experience, it's superior.

It can have problems, though:

If you don't collide with hardware that the manufacturer won't support on Linux, you're set.

If you do, you're stuck, at least until the Linux developers guess their way to success.

When the NY Times (The Next Leap for Linux) and WSJ (How far behind is Linux?).

The pieces were more toward everyday users who might be thinking of trying Linux. Their opinion was that while there are many things good about Linux, especially Ubuntu, it's not a replacement for Windows for most folks.

NY Times: "(S)ince common tasks like watching a movie or syncing an iPod require hunting for and installing extra software, Linux is best for technically savvy users or for people whose needs are so basic that they will never need anything other than the bundled software." WSJ: "If some of Linus Torvalds's own family members back in Finland don't use Linux, what hope is there for the rest of us?"

The pieces were on the eve of Ubuntu's newst release "Gutsy Gibbon". For Linux users the reviews are very good:

* Wired News: Review: Ubuntu's New 'Gutsy Gibbon' Brings Linux Out of the Jungle
* Digg: Comments on Wired story
* Boing Boing (and comments): New Ubuntu Linux release is easy, sexy

Rising gasoline prices, increasing traffic (see bizjournals' Where the toughest and easiest commutes are) might cause one to think of biking to work.

The biggest risk in biking is safety of the biker, which is topic of Freakonomics blog entry Will bicycling to Work Get You Killed? Yes, fatalities for bikers per kilometer are 12 times higher than drivers (study was made in Europe). But, in typical Freakonomics style, non-bikers have 39 percent higher mortality.

Lifehacker: How To: Digitize old records and tapes. Includes tips on using Audacity to clean up recordings from vinyl albums and tapes.

Typical supply/demand issue. Paidcontent.org hosts a seminar on the economics of blogging as a paying job and finds that falling ad rates and more competitors are driving down the income a blogger could expect to earn. The seminar also said blogging is like to grow because advertisers are becoming more comfortable with ads on blog sites.

But the advertising market is very results focused in onlne advertising. Says Jeff Burkett, director of sales ddevelopment at Washingtonpost's Newsweek site:

We have solid double-digit CPMs. But aside from that, brand advertisers are not interested in how many clicks do they get. What they care about is ‘Am I reaching my target audience?’

Financial Times is opening it's content up for 30 days before putting it back behind the pay wall, paidcontent.org reports. Looks like the headline should have been First NY Times, then FT, then WSJ ...