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professional RSS reader for hire

chrisbowler:

So I announced the other day that I’ve quit my job and will now be entering the world of self-employment. Obviously, Fusion will be a big part of that move. But it’s not quite at the point where it can support me and my family so I’ve arranged for a few other gigs.

While looking into various opportunities and preparing to transition, I’ve fallen behind on the news and my RSS feeder is filling up. And I thought to myself, “Self, there are many others in the same boat. There is an opportunity here.”

So I’ve decided to flog my services: professional RSS reader. Not only will I read your news for you, but I’ll summarize it all and tell you what you think about it as well. All nicely wrapped up in a loverly designed daily email.

Reduce your stress—hire me now: me AT chrisbowler DOT com.

This is brilliant on so many levels, I don’t know where to begin. There are sure days when I could use it though.

The young people enjoy it when I get down verbally: Bon Jovi’s faces seen vs. faces rocked, ca. 1986: two views

The young people enjoy it when I get down verbally: Bon Jovi’s faces seen vs. faces rocked, ca. 1986: two views

This is awesome. I love this from the comments:

“This interpretation gains strength when the other lyrics you cite are taken into account: it is highly improbable that Bon Jovi had "been everywhere” by 1986, or that he walked “these streets” with “a loaded six-string” on his back. Given his already burgeoning fame, public perambulation with his instrument of choice would not have been wise. Even if we were to take Bon Jovi at his word here, the case is only strengthened for a number of faces seen and rocked greater than 1 million.“

Annie Lennox – Backwards/Forwards – An Earworm Mashup (via djearworm)

“I’ve always held a deep respect for Annie Lennox and her music, so when she gave me her multi-track masters to mash up, I was thrilled. The task was to tie together all of her solo career into single song and video, and I could deconstruct it as much as I wanted! Woohoo!”

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Daring Fireball: Microsoft’s Long, Slow Decline

Daring Fireball: Microsoft’s Long, Slow Decline

“Microsoft seems to have conceded that the enthusiasts who’ve switched to the Mac in recent years are gone for good. Their apparent goal for Windows 7 was merely to make something better than Windows Vista. If Microsoft were a healthy, functional, competitive company willing and able to honestly assess its own shortcomings — like the Microsoft of the ’90s that conquered the entire industry — their goal would have been to make something not just better than Vista, but better than anything else on the market, including Mac OS X.”

As usual, Gruber nails it. Not quite sure how any one guy can be so consistently spot on and express those ideas so perfectly. Like Microsoft should be doing, I come to every blank page thinking “I want to write something better than Gruber.”

Fusion

Those of you who are visiting the site will notice a slight design change and, more importantly, a new addition to the right of the content area. Thats right, it’s an advertisement. Not just any regular advertisement mind you, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
Here’s the thing. I never have wanted ads on my site. I even mentioned such in my post on Value. Based on that premise, placing ads on patrickrhone.com is a huge about face for me and might even cause some to scratch their heads in wonder.
Anyone who knows me knows I hate most advertising on the web. Everything I said in my Value post still stands. I never considered advertising on this site because, to me, it detracted from the value of the content and did not enhance it. It seemed just some blogger’s low rent way of making a few extra bucks off of their site. I continue to hold this view, nothing has changed there.
What has changed is that I now make one exception – Fusion Ads. A big part of how they are different is right on the front page of their site:

“Fusion rethinks traditional advertising by offering well-designed, premium advertisements to an engaged audience. The distinguishing factor between Fusion and typical ad networks is that only a single Fusion ad is shown per page, and each ad is displayed prominently ‘above the fold’ on all sites in the network. There are currently fifteen advertisement spots available, and with the exception of “roadblocks”, all ads rotate equally between each of the thirty-two sites and services.”

“While this is contrary to the traditional wisdom of advertising — cramming as many ads as possible on a page — we believe that the value of Fusion’s ads are that they’re exclusive. With a single, unobtrusive ad shown on each page, sponsors don’t have to compete for attention among other advertisers, and readers don’t feel insulted by flashy banner ads”

I love Fusion Ads. I love the design. I click on them. I buy products from them. I unblock them from my ad blocking software. I keep them on in Tweetie and actually have scrolled back through my tweets to try catch ads I have missed. I don’t do this only because I like and respect the folks at Fusion and want to support their hard work (which I do). I do this because I often can’t wait to see what the next ad is and will reload a page I am on with a Fusion ad to see if I get one I have not seen before. It’s crazy. It’s just not like me. I feel like such a gushing fanboy even admitting to it. It is one hundred percent true. I feel Fusion ads actually add value to my content.
Then there is this, taken from the copy on their front page:

Membership to Fusion is by invitation only. By controlling the quality and relevance of the sites on our network, we preserve the integrity of the advertiser’s target market. Sites on Fusion are the best in their class — chosen based on their exceptional quality of content and established readership.

In other words, to be invited to join the Fusion Ad network is an honor. Especially considering some of the other sites that are members, I see it as a stamp of approval from a well respected peer. A sign that, somehow, I have managed to write enough quality content or sphere of influence that I would be among those respected enough to host Fusion Ads.
I could not be more happy about being so previously wrong.