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The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
Oh My God, the RSS Feed Actually Works!
Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
Praise for Daily Blah:
"It is fun to watch the author's navel-gazing joy." - Sunday Times (UK)
"It's really funny and informative." - Dave Eggers, author
"The Blah is becoming a daily destination for me." - Richard Marsh, Playwright
"I like it, and I don't." - Fiona Hogg, Teacher
"Better than Xanax." - Lessley Andersen, journalist
"Dude, lay off the crack pipe." - Souris Hong-Porretta, gamesmith
Friends, Bloggers, Countrymen ... lend your ears to these people. I come not to bury them, but praise them.
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Dan
Cole
Emily B
Emily G
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Jee
Jewelz
Kaila
Kathryn
Mac
Robin
Slim
Souris
Mr. West
My TIME articles
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Online column index
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Daily Blah for... Friday, April 23, 2004
This Email Brought To You By ...
I got my Gmail account a couple of weeks ago. I wish I'd mentioned it before, because now it seems everyone and their aunt in the Bay Area is getting the Wonka golden ticket-esque invite from Google to set up a beta account. I was first, dammit! But I didn't mention it, largely because it hadn't been very useful (it only worked on my PC, which I'm using less and less of late. As of now it appears to work, albeit sporadically, on this here Mac). In fact, all I've done with it so far is test the controversial system whereby the server will scan the text of your message and try to give you subject-appropriate advertising down the side of the screen. (So shocking is this idea that the California Assembly recently moved to ban it; Google certainly wasn't expecting that).
Of course, the first thing I had to do was take the ad system for a spin. I asked P to write me a message laced with product placement; she composed a love poem that mentioned Kleenex, Nike, Myoplex, Lenox China and Elizabeth Arden lipstick, among about a dozen other brands. Curiously, the only one Gmail picked up on was the lipstick. When I opened the message, it gave me ads for Sephora. Next she tried forwarding steamy articles about the new British crazes for toothing and dogging; they produced no ads. Nor did another ad-fishing expedition from my friend Aaron, who tried to goad the server by mentioning "viagra" about five times.
Now when I come to look at my inbox, I see even the Sephora ad has disappeared. The only email with ads? Something else P forwarded me: a company giving away free mini-iPods. Because the company is based in Columbia, South Carolina, I've got ads for real estate in Columbia, trips to Columbia, the University of South Carolina and the South Carolina Technology Alliance. Poor Gmail server, it worked so hard on this one. I haven't the heart to tell it how way off base its ads were.
Want to join in the fun but don't have a Gmail account yet? Send a brand name-filled email to ctaylor@gmail.com, and I'll let you know what showed up.
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