Visiting the CNN Diner

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CNN_convention_blog.jpg

This is a pic of me and Thom Patterson, one of the guys blogging the convention for CNN. Last night, Stephanie Vautravers from CNN invited me over to the CNN Diner for dinner and drinks, so I swung by.

I talked to Thom a bit about how CNN put together its blog for the convention. No Movable Type or Blogger - CNN just modified its web publishing software slightly to accommodate the blog - and I use the term "blog" loosely here. It's a blog in the sense that the convention news is fresh and is posted as it happens, but there are no comments, trackback links or anything else you might expect to see at a blog - just news in near real time.

Thom tells me that he and his partner Todd Leopold edit one another's stories just before they're posted. I didn't want to ask the question, but what makes CNN's blog a blog? To me, it's just quickie news stories of interest from a couple roving reporters. But it's cool anyway.

A couple minutes after this photo was taken, the Kobe Bryant news hit and bumped the convention news down on the CNN.com home page. It was kind of cool to see how CNN makes real-time decisions on what stories comprise its home page and how reporters adjust to that decision-making as they gather the news.

By the way, the milkshakes at the CNN Diner are to die for. ;-)

You Can't Have It Both Ways, Alan

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JupiterResearch is tangling with eMarketer again...

Will someone please explain to me how anyone could possible claim that what eMarketer does is copyright infringement? A data set isn't copyrightable, especially data you put out in the public domain.

I saw eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey on the 212 cruise not too long ago, and I told him exactly how ridiculous I thought Jupiter's lawsuit was. In addition to having no legal leg to stand on, I thought Alan Meckler should be grateful to Ramsey and eMarketer for helping build JupiterResearch's business. After all, who does a better job of publicizing Jupiter's data and driving new customers than eMarketer? Nobody, that's who.

Paging Mr. Meckler... You can't have it both ways, guy. For years, eMarketer has been publicizing Jupiter data. I'd bet that eMarketer is indirectly responsible for building a good chunk of Jupiter's business. After years of enjoying this free publicity, Jupiter turns around and sues eMarketer? Some gratitude... Oh, and Mr. Meckler? You can't throw data out into the public domain and then continue to control its fair use. If your stuff is so valuable and proprietary then keep it private. Don't post it on your website - let customers pay for it. Anything you choose to make public is just that - public. So get off eMarketer's case already and write them a nice letter of thanks for all the help they've given you over the years.

The Cabin

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cabin.jpg

This is the cabin on the island. Craig's grandfather built it by hand. You'll notice the deck is falling down in the front. Shortly after I took this picture, Craig took the deck down with the help of two friends and constructed a new deck with some rough-cut lumber he brought back from the mainland.

The cabin has two bedrooms in back, a kitchen and a large living room up front. There is no electricity or running water. The cabin is lit by propane and oil lanterns. There's a hand-dug cesspool under the cabin, so there's a working toilet, but you need water from the lake (brought up by bucket) in order to flush it. During colder months, the cabin is heated by a cannon stove in the living room, which I'm told heats the whole thing rather nicely.