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July 18, 2005
Micropayments and rel="payment" attribute
Jay Deadman has an interesting proposal to create a simple micropayment mechanism for content creators. He proposes adding "payment" to the "rel" attribute. When added to a blog, it would provide an easy way to subscribers to contribute via the tip jar:
Since this is an open protocol, any tool can use this info to connect viewer with the videoblogger to give money.So the link would look like this:
<a href="http://www.dropcash.com/campaign/roygvib/momentshowing/" rel="payment">Pay Me</a>
I created a page at DropCash that will let you donate money to me.
rel="payment" is then thing that FireANT or Mefeedia can tell its a Payment button.We were very excited because its so simple.
You are just sending someone to a URL...which could be anything:
a paypal account, a way to buy your DVD, a place to donate to "save the whales", a page that gives me your P.O.Box to mail a check.
It's up to you where you want someone to go to pay you.
Let's see if this goes anywhere. The tag wouldn't provide enough info to iTunes to say, charge a certain amount for a download (although I doubt the amount would be exposed in the RSS feed anyway...or would it?) It is a very simple mechanism; however, sometimes simple = most effective.
Update
Based on the comments in Jay's post, it looks like a few vloggers are already trying it out
Posted by davehod at 07:10 AM | Comments (0)
Pirillo Interviews Rick Klau from Feedburner
Chris Pirillo has a great podcast with Rick Klau from Feedburner. Pirillo asks good questions about RSS and the value that Feedburner brings to the table.
Posted by davehod at 05:06 AM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2005
Fred Says - "Too Clever by Half"
Fred has a great entry for all entreprenuers/would-be entreprenuers.
Look in the mirror, this just might be you.
Posted by davehod at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
A Sign Clear Channel is Worried
Here's a sign that podcasts have caught the attention of Clear Channel
From Billboard's Radio Monitor, 7-11-2005:"The great thing about radio is that it's local—it's focused on local
content. Sirius and podcasting can't create local content. Podcasting
is a great thing. Have you listened to any of these podcasts? It is
painful."
--Mark Mays, President/CEO Clear Channel Communications
Coming from a company that produces quite a bit of "local" content hundreds of miles away from the actual broadcast area, this is pretty laughable. The fact that he is slagging podcasts as "painful" tells me that he is trying to build an argument against the "Indies" (to use an Apple term). I have to wonder why the CEO of Clear Channel would do this - perhaps he is worried about the potential impact podcasting could have on his company down the line?
Posted by davehod at 06:38 AM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2005
Jungle Run Half Marathon
We did the Jungle Run Half Marathon in Los Gatos yesterday. Although this was the third year Firstwave has put on this event, it was my first time running it. Firstwave also does several other events, including one of my personal favorites, the Santa Cruz Half
The weather was a bit warm as the usual Pacific marine layer was a no-show. The temperature for the 7am start was around 65-70 degrees. The race began on time (always a good sign) with about 300-400 runners.
The first 4 miles of the course were fairly uninteresting. We wound through parts of Los Gatos and then into Campbell. At the 5 mile marker, we entered onto the Los Gatos Creek Trail and ran back towards Los Gatos, passing through Vasona. The last 3+ miles of the trail were an out-and-back, almost to the base of Lexington (I was happy we didn't have to run to the top! I've done that before and it is a hike). Most of the trail was shaded and very scenic.
Overall, here's how the run rates in my book:
Organization - The race was well put together and the course was clearly marked/staffed. Grade: A
Course - The Los Gatos Creek Trail was great; however, the first four miles, including a not-so-great run down Winchester Blvd, detracted from the overall experience. I'd highly recommend re-doing this part of the course. Grade: B-
Aid-stations - The aid stations were located as advertised. All stations had water, some had Cytomax also. One thing to work on for next year - the sight of a 30-gallon trash bag in a garbage can being filled with water from a garden hose isn't that great. How about some bottled water out there? Grade: B
Swag - The short-sleeve shirts were nicely designed, as was the finisher's medal. I've run larger races with swag wasn't as good. Grade: A
Posted by davehod at 01:36 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2005
Metric: Podcasters Mailing List
Looks like the Podcasters mailing list is seeing a good uptick in traffic since the release of iTunes
Several things to note:
* The data is as of 6/6/2005 10pm PST. The numbers may flatten out as the month goes on.
* The data includes the 4th of July holiday weekend in the USA
My personal observation has been a noticable increase in traffic on the list, with an unusual number of "Help, I'm a newbie" type posts. (In addition to the debates about Podcast Alley and iTunes caching files) Looks like the iTunes debut, coupled with the numerous stories in the mainstream press about iTunes/Podcasting are starting to draw new users (publishers and listeners)
Posted by davehod at 01:20 AM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2005
FeedBurner Rolls Out iTunes Support
As promised, FeedBurner has rolled out iTunes namespace support.
Great job Dick/Eric! You guys just keep rollin' out the features.
Posted by davehod at 06:27 AM | Comments (0)
iTunes RSS Issues
Here's a great post about iTunes issues with their RSS parser/namespace. (Note the best info is in the comments)
Hard to believe that Apple would do this one:
.
iTunes sends only two HTTP headers: “Accept: */*”, and “User-Agent: iTunes/4.9 (Windows; N)” (presumably platform-specific). It does not support ETags, Last-Modified, gzip or zlib compression, or RFC 3229
Anyone know how often Apple polls?
Posted by davehod at 06:11 AM | Comments (0)