Jason Clarke

During the summer I made much hay about being disgusted with Technorati’s absymal level of service, uptime, and results. It’s only fair, then, to note that in my own anecdotal experience I’ve noticed a signifigant improvement in Technorati’s service over the past few weeks.

Congrats to Technorati for listening and responding to the complaints of its users. Technorati, at least for now, is back, and I for one am glad to have them.

This is really cool: Mickey Kaus and Robert Wright have launched a new site called bloggingheads.tv (a take-off on “talking heads”, hehe).

It’s a video blog of sorts, with Wright on the left side of the video and Kaus on the right. The unique part: Both men are sitting in (apparently) their own separate offices, speaking into video cameras and communicating with each other via microphone. Somehow, they’re splicing each of their own videos into one, creating a single show with a split screen (Okay, I’m not explaining this all that well. Just go check it out).

Some quick reactions: This is a unique, innovative take on video on the web. Both commentators are smart and funny. As is necessary, the site provides plenty of contextual, metadata about the video. Especially valuable is a “topic view” where you can click directly to video clips pertaining to a particular topic. Also great: you can subscribe to either a video feed or an audio (podcast) feed of the program. Really, really excellent stuff.

This is a “talking head” show with no bombastic, idiotic host asking insanely stupid questions. Instead, it’s two smart folks talking about current events. So far, blogging has had a revolutionary impact on newspapers. Next up in 2006 and beyond: TV.

Steve Rubel is what I like to call “a blogger’s blogger”- among other reasons are his long series of posts about how to extend/improve your blogging/online geek experience. So, here’s an idea for Steve, a post I’d like to see him write:

“How to maintain multiple blogs”

Now that Steve is maintaining not just his own Micropersuasion blog, but also one on skin cancer (not to mention his Across the Sounda podcast with fellow PR guru Joseph Jaffe), I’d like to hear his unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities of being a multiple-blog-blogger:

* How do you maintain interest (and quality level!) in two blogs, each with divergent subjects?

* Do you set any “rules” or guidelines for how often you’ll post to each?

* How do you shift mindset when shifting from writing about one topic to another?

* Does one blog have to be your “default”- or, let’s say you were sick or busy and you only had time to update one, do you update one or neither?

* It’s hard to “launch” a blog- how do you get a 2nd (or 3rd?) one off the ground while serving the audience of the first?

If you have 11 spare minutes, I highly recommend you click over to Coudal Partners site to view their new short film, Copy Goes Here. It’s pretty darn good!

“I don’t regret going. Everybody dies, but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq. It’s not to me. I’m here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live, not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators, to do what they want with their lives. To me, that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom. Now this is my mark.”

-Capt. Jeffry Starr, the 2,000th American Solider killed in Iraq, in a letter to his girlfriend.

Family of dead Marine upset with N.Y. Times

Steve Rubel has been a great read for many months now. His blog, Micropersuasion, has served as an invaluable guide to the ascention of blogging as a mainstream promotional tool, Web 2.0, RSS, and much more. Today, Steve announced that he has skin cancer.

Ever the blogger, Steve plans to write about his experiences publicly at skincancerblog.net.

Best wishes to Steve for a speedy recovery.

Steve’s announcement also reminded me that I’ve been remiss in not mentioning that one of my other favorite bloggers (and writers), Cathy Seipp, recently announced that she’s had lung cancer for going on three years.

Reading both Cathy, as well as her daughter Maia’s blog, together is one of the most thoroughly enjoyable online experiences. Both women are bright, hilarious, and true. I can’t say much except that I wish Cathy and Maia the best as they battle Cathy’s unfortunate condition.