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In addition to the State of the Word presentation we talked about last week, there was a half hour or so of questions and answers that followed. You can also check it out on WordPress.tv, which now plays everything HD by default.
Category Archives: Asides
“We have the largest and deepest audience profiles on the web.” — David Fleck, general manager of advertising at Disqus. Translation: We’re tracking everyone who visits a website with Disqus enabled and building a profile of them based on the content of the sites they visit and any comments they leave. “Deeper” than Facebook.
“So I’m particularly excited to announce that we’re bringing our native advertising product, Sponsored Comments, to the world of programmatic and we’re doing it on a global basis. […] Starting today, Xaxis clients, which include some of the best brands in the world, will buy and place Sponsored Comments advertising across much of the Disqus network.” Translation: It’s not comment spam if we’re getting paid for it.
I was just reading some comments the other day and thinking how it’d be great to see some sponsored brand content there instead of users, like there already was on the rest of the page. Glad there’s a solution for that on a global basis now.
The other day I saw and really enjoyed the great Searching for Sugarman documentary, which I’d recommend. While reading more about the entire story of Rodriguez I found that tragically the director of the film, Malik Bendjelloul, took his own life this year. The Observer has a look into his life and his other work, as well as the situation surrounding his death.
First Time Movember
Automattic is participating in Movember for the first time this year, and so to join I shaved for the first time in the better part of a decade. (Before and after pictured above.) For those not familiar with it, you shave clean on November first and grow and groom a mostache (no beard, goatee, etc) through the course of the month, and when people comment on how ridiculous you look you encourage them to donate to Movember which is a non-profit which has raised over $500 million and funded over 800 programs in 21 countries. (Wow!)
I doubt I’ll be able to match the ‘stache of some of my more hirsute colleagues, but it’s for a good cause and seems like good fun as well. If you’d consider dropping a few dollars in the hat to support men’s health, here’s the link to the Automattic team page where you can donate to support the entire team, which is currently ranked #163.
Milky Chance Wrecking Ball
“I will personally continue to advocate for equality for all people until my toes point up.”
— Tim Cook
That’s from Tim Cook’s “I’m Proud to be Gay” essay in BusinessWeek today. It’s beautiful, brave, and amazing, and I love that idea of fighting for something until your last breath, it’s a very Southern expression. Here’s to Tim’s toes not pointing up for many, many years to come.
WordCamp San Francisco, the original, starts tomorrow and the tweets are already starting to stream in. On Sunday at 11AM I will deliver my State of the Word address, our annual look at where we’ve been and the road ahead, and even if you can’t make it you can livestream the SoTW and the entire weekend for just $10 from the comfort of your own home. 16+ hours of WP entertainment for the price of one movie ticket! (Or might be a sleep aid, depends on your perspective.)
We’re not trying to build the next Snapchat — we’re trying to build the next WordPress.
— Josh Miller from Facebook
Uh, okay! From the Verge’s article Facebook's new Rooms app brings bite-sized forums to your iPhone.
Luca Sartoni writes How I fell into the rabbit hole: life and work at the distributed wonderland.
Joe Boydston, the self-described “crazy running guy” who runs as far as 90+ miles from the airport to WordCamps or meetups when he lands, has written a bit about how to run better. At our company meetup he ran running workshops and coached a lot of people including myself, and applying his suggestions I’ve been able to do a lot better.
Fracking company teams up with Susan G. Komen, introduces pink drill bits for the cure, presented without comment. Hat tip: Kristin Grimm.
“The biggest misconception engineers have when thinking about moving into management is they think it’s a promotion.” — Lindsay Holmwood writes It’s not a promotion – it’s a career change. Hat tip: Gary Pendergast.
The Observer writes Happy 20th anniversary to Dave Winer – inventor of the blog. I’ve gotten a huge amount of inspiration, help, and feedback from Dave over the years, and I’m really happy he’s still at it.
Listen now . When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling. Try that for practice.
— Ernest Hemingway
Bill McKibben writes from Among the Marchers of the climate change march the other week. Hat tip: Chip Giller.
With the relaunch, NewYorker.com runs on WordPress, a more robust, user-friendly CMS. “We’re looking at almost total upside there,” Thompson tells me. Because the tools are no longer getting in the way of producers doing their job, NewYorker.com is now able to publish a greater volume of stories every day. The site used to top out at 10 or 12 stories each day: now, it publishes around 20 per day. “It’s a lot easier to be productive now, and we can now make the site fresh a lot more quickly than we used to,” says Thompson.
How The New Yorker Finally Figured Out The Internet in Fast Company. Still my favorite magazine in the world. Also the reason I started spending more time in New York. Hat tip: Kelly Hoffman.
I got a chance to try the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 (DK2) the other day, specifically Sightline: The Chair. I’m not sure what to say except it was magical. I don’t think it replaces screens, but Oculus-style VR is definitely the future of entertainment. Thanks to (the newly retired) John Vechey for sharing it with me.