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links for 2007-12-17

Dec16
2007 Written by Amy Gahran
McDonough.com
Despite the bow tie, this is one very smart guy worth listening to. Today’s lesson: Focus on becoming better, not on being less bad.

  • Life Without a Laptop, Week 1 | 43 Folders
    “iPhone fills that sitting on the couch void. Sometimes I still feel a lingering ghost pain when I want Google a bit actor on CSI. I’m sure I’ll give in to laptop envy again at some point, say, if Apple starts making that coveted sub-notebook.” (tags: hardware mobile)

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6 Comments
  1. corinne's Gravatar corinne
    December 17, 2007 at 8:02 am | Permalink

    Amy, I shared the observation (plus a link to your Poynter column) with Jason Rosenberg that authority does not equal popularity and he seems not to get the point:

    “Technorati measures authority based on number links a website receives from other websites. While we are using Technorati to help determine, popularity and reach, Technorati is not the final word in how a blogger gets credentialed. As it says in the information form and the application, a blogger can list the influence the blog has on their specific community. Reach, authority and influence are the determining factors in the process to become a credentialed blogger at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.”

    Apparently the word “authority” doesn’t mean what Jason thinks it means. In Technorati, authority is defined as:

    “Technorati Authority is the number of blogs linking to a website in the last six months. The higher the number, the more Technorati Authority the blog has.” (Techorati Support FAQ http://support.technorati.com/faq/topic/71)

    It’s a popularity index. Maybe they don’t cover vocabulary in political communication.

  2. carolyn little's Gravatar carolyn little
    December 17, 2007 at 8:24 am | Permalink

    Check out all of Baker Manufacturing’s free-standing height-adjustable tables at http://www.bakermanufacturing.com. Of note is NEXT our most recent innovation in Height adjustable tables. The unique independent leg system has no connector bar under the surface, increasing leg room and storage capacity by up to 50%. It’s aesthetics bring a light, friendly yet refined look to height-adjustable tables. Glides on the feet make it highly mobile. NEXT comes with three adjustment mechanisms, electric, crank or pin. In addition, NEXT has the lowest environmental impact of any height-adjustable table on the market. It’s independent leg design requires relatively few materials, less packaging than conventional tables and less fuel to ship…and it’s surprisingly affordable. Check it out.

  3. Amy Gahran's Gravatar Amy Gahran
    December 17, 2007 at 11:12 am | Permalink

    ROFL!!! Good one, Corinne! I’m going to highlight that comment as its own post.

    - Amy Gahran

  4. Amy Gahran's Gravatar Amy Gahran
    December 17, 2007 at 11:19 am | Permalink

    Carolyn, thanks for mentioning Baker’s products. I’ll check them out too.

    In general, my frustration with trying to find a small height-adjustable work surface — just enough to hold my laptop and trackball, really that’s ALL I need — is that the mfrs who offer these products don’t offer simple pricing guides online for these items. It seems they’re usually sold as part of a “workspace system,” and that’s NOT what I need. I just need a small height-adjustable table.

    I don’t want to have to download your PDF brochures or wait on the phone with your sales reps just to get an idea of 1) whether you’ll even sell me only the piece I want, and 2) About how much it’ll cost.

    What can’t you furniture mfrs just make buying from you SIMPLE????

    Sorry to vent, but it’s a big frustration. Especially since the frustration of dealing with office furniture mfrs has led me to put off buying a better ergonomic setup for too damn long.

    - Amy Gahran

  5. corinne's Gravatar corinne
    December 17, 2007 at 11:47 am | Permalink

    But wait–there’s more. I heard offline from Jason who had this to say:

    “As I said in my blog post, Technorati’s authority tracks incoming links from a blog. Engaget has an authority of 31,000+ links so it has a very high authority. It doesn’t make it an “authority” on a topic but it does measure reach into the community and how the blogger’s voice is heard.

    Here is a link to a technorati blog post that I found for you by googling technorati and authority.http://technorati.com/weblog/2007/05/354.html”

    (That was nice of him but I found an FAQ just by typing ‘authority’ into Technorati’s search box.)

    Jason: “As I mentioned in the blog post, we are also allowing bloggers to list any kind of influence they’ve had on the discussion in the blogosphere.”

    I asked Jason what the standard for that was, and why he’s using Technorati and not BuzzLogic (which you think is over an issue of cost, Amy).

    But based on everything he’s told me, it appears that all the criteria for credentialing bloggers are subjective.

    Personally, I think he’s making it up as he goes along.

  6. lauren's Gravatar lauren
    March 1, 2008 at 7:23 am | Permalink

    Carolyn, thanks for mentioning Baker’s products. I’ll check them out too.

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