Marcoullier.com

The news feed is at the core of Facebook app virality. I throw a sheep and all my friends learn that they too can throw sheep. Simple enough. There is an emerging group of services that aggregate one’s online presence into a global news feed – what you do at Flickr, Twitter, Delicious, etc.

Should SocNet-based apps should be included? It would obviously benefit the app providers, but what about the users? FB users have an expectation of privacy, so the answer is likely no. But what about sites like MySpace, with primarily public profiles? Should they be included?

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I was privileged to attend a press screening of U23D at the Metreon today. It’s been getting killer buzz for a reason. My thoughts:

• 3D movies are ready for primetime.
• 3D + Imax = Hugely impressive.
• Give Bono the Nobel Peace Prize already!
• The Edge is one hell of a guitarist. His Bullet the Blue Sky solo was awesome.
• Learning the bass means staring at Adam Clayton whenever he’s onscreen.
• Poor Larry Mullen Jr. isn’t aging so well.
• Makes me believe again that music can change the world.

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1. Navigation and advertising takes up 70% above the fold. What. The. Heck.
2. They’ve ignored why people use the site and buried the reviews below the fold.
3. The speech bubbles make it hard to scan the reviews
4. Unnecessary page loads to slice data – rub some ajax on it

The good news is that all of this is fixable. The bad news is that it won’t be – by the time a design hits the public, there’s too much investment (emotional and fiscal) to allow for significant changes. Reminds me of the Allmusic redesign years ago – it still blows.

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Given Dave Winer’s well-documented experiences with Apple repair, you’d think I’d get the picture. Instead, I dropped another $1,400 on a Mac Mini, wireless mouse & keyboard and a second Airport Extreme.

Whatever you do, DO NOT throw away the Airport Extreme install disk.

I am currently unable to connect my new Mini to any network drives because Apple doesn’t let you download the Airport Disk Utility from the web site, and I mistakenly threw away the CD. Good lord, Apple, join the 20th Century and let your customers download utilities from your web site.

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Seriously, I’ve been getting into the blogging thing again and I’ve found that the 100-word cap is making it easier for me to remain committed.

Unfortunately, I am in the middle of a domain transfer to a new hosting provider and have been hesitant to post new stuff it may or may not be accessible for the next few days. I’m still writing blog posts though, and will post them all when the transfer is complete.

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According to my nutritionist, there are three primary contributors to weight loss:

Sleep: 7 – 9 hours nightly is optimal
Exercise: Multiple times per week
Nutrition: Protein, Fruits, Veggies

Sadly, the life of the entrepreneurial father of young children does not allow for such things.

Sleep: 4 – 6 hours a night, and unlikely to change
Exercise: Other than tossing the kids around, not so much
Nutrition: This is where I can actually make something happen

Starting today, I’ll post my weekly weight-in numbers and see if a little public pressure can’t create a fourth contributor.

Today’s weight: 240 pounds.

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Tokyo Police Club released my favorite album in 2006, and it’s only 16 minutes and 22 seconds. I recently read that they’ve finished recording their first full length album and are mixing it right now. Here’s hoping that the new album is just as good, only longer.

Bonus: I can (very poorly) play the bass line of this song.
[ Link to YouTube, since WP keeps screwing up the embed code. ]

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Loads of discussions in the last year about VCs being obsolete. Computing and bandwidth are cheap enough that guys in garages take something from launch to sale without ever taking capital. MyBlogLog did it. I recently turned down money because I could prove the idea cheaply.

And then there’s Mark Pincus. He’s convinced that his idea will be huge, and he’s gone from zero to 27 employees in six months and just announced $10M in funding from some of my favorite people. All while I was screwing around trying to prove my ideas were viable. Kudos, Mark. Lesson learned.

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My mom was a total flower child in the 60s but never made it out to the West Coast. She couldn’t believe the Fillmore is still around, so I’m taking her to a show on Thursday. We’re going to see moe., who I’ve never heard before, but they describe themselves as a mix of Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan and Gram Parsons. Should be one heck of a live show.

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