Loïc Le Meur blog

0 The Authority of Fatblogging 2.0

Did you notice the invasion of horrible diet 1996 style advertising campaigns on most leading tech blogs?

It is not even only in the ads, some write about "fat-off 2009" in the editorial itself. I was so influenced by their authority that I had to start a diet myself under heavy pressure. I am so desperate I even started moblogging what I eat at lunch and dinner.

Recession has no effect on this type of advertising. We will always take weight in December and try to get rid of it in January, that is recession proof! In any case this "Flat Stomach" brand must have the wrong message to run such an idiotic advertising message. Fortunately some A-lister friends just do not give a shit.

"1 Flat Stomach Rule: Obey"

"Gain flat stomach fast!"

"fat-off 2009: 10 tools for losing weight or staying in shape"

...because we are not idiots like the coach potatoes watching home shopping TV ads. Or maybe we all are and the advertisers know it. If they put their money on these blogs, they must have good results.

0 Cool Media Partnerships Happened in 2008 on Seesmic

I certainly miss many of them (feel free to comment) but here are a few links I was sending to a good friend in a media company which are good 2008 examples inspiring us on what we can do in the future, I just thought like sharing them here.

BBC using Seesmic and then integrating videos of seesmic members on TV (commentary). The result on their site

CityNews local Canada TV using Seesmic

NHK Japan integrating Seesmic videos (at the end of the show)

XFiles White Labelled Seesmic received 2500 video comments from fans at the movie launch

Washington Post branded player integrated into Washington Post, example "can McCain win?"

Indiana Jones Movie launch press junket with questions from journalists

example with Steven Spielbergand some coverage from the Guardian

0 Skype 2.8 For OSX Video Review With Screen Sharing

Here is another video review of Skype 2.8 for OSX in addition to the disruptive technology one: playing with the latest version of Skype for OSX you can download as of today (and see the new features on OSX). It now has wifi boingo access point per minute usage, screen sharing and a few other features such as chat room priority or notes on a given contact profile. I am giving a demo in this video.

0 Apple Revolutionizes The Keyboard

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

0 Building a Successful Startup is like Building a Pyramid

I could not have said it better than Paul Buchheit, co-founder of Friendfeed, in his post "Overnight success takes a long time". The most difficult for an entrepreneur is to keep building on his vision and disregard the army of people who say he will fail. I feel that too with Seesmic, very often. You have to keep building while so many people criticize what you do but listen at the same time to the criticism that makes sense. Difficult exercise, what criticism make sense or not... When should you not listen and go ahead or listen and stop or change direction. I also see every negative post or comment about Seesmic as a sign of attention, that people care about it. I try to see it as an opportunity to learn. But truth is sometimes you just have to keep building and not listen to those who tell you that it will fail.

Building new and different things take time, here is how Seth Godin in his book "Tribes" that I am reading now, nails it:

"What you do is courageous. It requires bravery. Managing doesn't. It might be hard work, but it feels safe. Changing things-pushing the envelope and creating a future that doesn't exist yet (at the same time you're criticized by everyone else)-requires bravery."

Thanks Paul for sharing these thoughts with us, especially also about having enough runway ahead of you to make the startup a success. Right, it takes 3 to 5 years to make a success. Or a failure. It would be a pity, but at least our days are so exciting we wake up at night to build something else around our products or for an idea that just suddenly seems obvious. My days are never boring. Scary and stressful, yes, but never boring.

0 Top Ten Sources Of Traffic for This Blog in December 2008

1. Google (organic)
2. direct
3. techcrunch.com
4. techmeme.com
5. twitter.com
6. google.com (referral)
7. netvibes.com
8. msn
9. live
10. friendfeed

update: according to Scott Rafer Google organic is search and google.com referral is probably Google reader. These are from Google analytics. The learning for me is that tweetering and friendfeeding more gets more traffic to your blog while most people think it diminishes it. Oh and there is much more info about this blog analytics from lookery.

0 Golden Gate Park Run With Chris Sacca With Google Earth+Video Play

I had a fantastic run with morning, 1.5 hours and nearly 10 miles in the Golden Gate park with Chris Sacca. I love running and talking we have not been running very fast (about 10 km/h pace) especially for Chris who ran an iron man, but we have been chatting about many exciting ideas during the run. Anyway, I felt like playing with both Seesmic, Cam Twist (and Cam Twist Studio which allows mutlicam) as well as Google Earth with the GPS route of our run thanks to my Garmin Forerunner 305 watch and motionbased.

You will find the result in the video below, I find it very exciting that I can create a video like this so easily, even though I clearly reached the maximum processor/graphics limits of my 4 years old MacPro, makes me feel like changing it...

The run in Google earth

and the statistics from motionbased

0 Tim Ferriss Advises at least one 2-3 Hour Lunch or Dinner Every Week

It is incredible how much we have in common with Tim Ferriss who advises us to have at least one 2 or 3 hours lunch or dinner per week:

"Slow meals = life. From Daniel Gilbert of Harvard to Martin Seligman of Princeton, the “happiness” (self-reported well-being) researchers seem to agree on one thing: meal time with friends and loved ones is a direct predictor of happiness. Have at least one 2-3-hour dinner and/or drinks per week — yes, 2-3 hours — with those who make you smile and feel good. I find the afterglow effect to be greatest and longest with groups of 5 or more. Two times that are conducive to this: Thursday dinners or after-dinner drinks and Sunday brunches."

0 A Very Interesting Video on How The Real Time Web Works in the Backend

Zac has a very interesting video on how the real time web is built and works (or does not work). It is somehow technical but I can understand it so probably anybody can. It also started a conversation around it, basically to avoid sending requests all the time to the server to get real time, but receive it in real real time. Zac has more links on his blog post, very interesting video Zac thanks. "Our one and only Seesmic Nathan" gives more details on how we provide the real realtime in Seesmic. Nathan explains how we should move away from a "file protocol".

0 One Word to Describe 2008 Mashup

Thank you all for having participated, you were about 50 when I launched the editing (and made it in the video) and 88 total as I write this, very cool, here is the result I hope you like it.