onfocus

A peek behind the curtain at Facebook with an anonymous FB developer.

"...Brad's work was altogether more messy and funny and human and passionate and complicated, just like the man himself. I can offer no more succinct summation of the man than that he was a good man and a good friend, profoundly funny and profoundly kind." Anil shares some memories of Brad.

"...the hero is the most damaging person on a team, particularly on a team that’s supposed to be writing high-availability or otherwise mission-critical software." Interesting analysis of team dynamics. [via jessamyn]

"One user following another in social media is analogous to one page linking to another on the Web. Both are a form of recommendation." Amit Singhal on how Google ranks Tweets for real-time search.

Rules for PR folks who want to work with bloggers. "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE means FOR IMMEDIATE DELETE."

I find myself referring to this classic by Eric Raymond frequently. I can't believe I haven't bookmarked it already.

If you wonder why people care about Net Neutrality, take a look at this image. It's going to give me nightmares. [via torrez]

"I figured I'd chime in with my own experiences as a woman, except I want to try and reconstruct as best I can exactly how this instinctual fear evolved for me and what it really means in practice..." Chilling comments that made me see the world in a different way.

"[Fighting takedown notices] increase the 'cost' of sending cease-and-desists, as they make potential claimants consider the publicity risks being made to look foolish, bullying, or worse." These stories are great, but rare.

"...there is one asset that is still quite significant and the value of it is growing, not shrinking. It is their large, well trained, and well connected salesforces." A nice contrast to Clary Shirky's recent article Rescuing The Reporters. [via anil]

Hey, these HTML 5 attributes actually work on the iPhone! I set this up on the forms at Fuelly Mobile.

"I think you’re safer dealing with people who can improve your site holistically." Rafe responds to Derek's SEO rant.

"The good advice is obvious, the rest doesn’t work." Derek on SEO. In summary, hire a good designer not a self-proclaimed Search Engine Optimizer and design for humans not algorithms. Couldn't agree more.

It'd be great to hear her speak and the W+K space is cool.

"The Federal Trade Commission will try to regulate blogging for the first time, requiring writers on the Web to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products." I wonder how many people they have dedicated to this. Because they're going to need more.

ahh, dreams. [via joshua]

Privacy, Security, Lock-In, and Downtime. Gina runs down some problems with outsourcing your data management.

"The cloud, however, comes with real dangers...If you entrust your data to others, they can let you down or outright betray you." A good summary of some problems yet to be solved with cloud computing.

"Enclosure is a process whereby a resource held in common is taken into private control....The acts of enclosure of the information age are about social assets, they are subtle and invisible, and they are being implemented, to a large degree, by peer pressure." [via anil]

"...she decides that she will 'whisper in the ears' of Silicon Valley’s Who’s Who -- the entrepreneurs behind tech’s hottest start-ups, including Jay Adelson, the chief executive of Digg; Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter; and Jason Calacanis, the founder of Mahalo." The new world of social media PR.

This is so true.

YouTube can play HD, but you have to hack the URL to make it happen.

The history and current state of product placement on TV. [via Fimoculous]

A collection of tips for preserving your digital materials by The Library of Congress. [via Long Views]

"[McCain] is not only 'breaking his word' he's breaking the law."

"The campaign...includes television and online ads and 'phone and in-person conversations with influential mommy bloggers.'" Beware mommy bloggers praising corn syrup.

The mullet strategy for naming a startup: one part business, one part party. [via magnetbox]