Archives for 2007

A couple of days ago

February 21, 2007 by Michael Boyle

A couple of days ago

something quite unique happened. Evan Williams (CEO of Obvious, co-creator of Blogger) put Odeo up for sale: Obviously: Looking for Odeo’s new home. He followed up with an interesting piece on his weblog about the lack of a marketplace for websites. It’s a very interesting development – Odeo isn’t a runaway success, but it’s not a failure either. It’s a marginally successful site that could, in the right hands, become a very good if not great site.

The traditional approach to unloading a property like that is to hype it beyond recognition until some big company can be goaded into buying it. But that wouldn’t serve Odeo well at all, and so Williams is charting an alternative path. As Anil Dash implies, that Williams has “Thank you” money is both refreshing to see and, ultimately, good for the web and the future of the industry.

On my way out to dinner tonight,

February 16, 2007 by Michael Boyle

On my way out to dinner tonight,

I heard on the radio that Ryan Larkin has died. Larkin was a gifted artist – a film animator – and tormented man who finally succumbed to brain cancer following years of abuse. I’ve written about Ryan a couple of times before here, and he was a fixture around my community in Montreal for as long as I can remember.

My most poignant memory of Ryan is from Oscar night 2005, when the short film about Larkin won the Award (though I tactfully left this out of my post about that special night). The bar was packed that night, and there were many people from the film world in Montreal as well as a pack of the Copa regulars, who all knew Ryan because he spent time there almost every day. At one point, all of the excitement was clearly upsetting the poor guy, and he walked by a friend of mine that he knew and quietly asked if she could help him get out of there. It was all – the attention, the alcohol flowing so freely, the cheering and the crowd – simply too much. Ryan Larkin was a sensitive, tormented man, and we are all the poorer for his passing.

Shiny new site (well, new to me)

February 16, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Shiny new site (well, new to me)

from Adobe: myFeedz – the social newspaper. I haven’t yet seen what they’re really trying to do with this, but it’s pretty slick.

Great turn of phrase

February 13, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Great turn of phrase

from Cory Doctorow today. And correct, too:

There is no future in which bits will get harder to copy. Instead of spending billions on technologies that attack paying customers, the studios should be confronting that reality and figuring out how to make a living in a world where copying will get easier and easier. They’re like blacksmiths meeting to figure out how to protect the horseshoe racket by sabotaging railroads.

The railroad is coming. The tracks have been laid right through the studio gates. It’s time to get out of the horseshoe business.

One of the chief Chowhounders

February 12, 2007 by Michael Boyle

One of the chief Chowhounders

made it back to Montreal and enjoyed himself: Montreal – The Chowhound’s Promised Land. Some of the most serious gushing I’ve ever read about any city’s cuisine. I’ve been to all of those places often (I lived within 5 minutes’ walk for years) and he’s bang on – and the funny thing is, he only visited one “name” restaurant in the piece. [via Kate]