Back to blogging with Flock
After another long layoff, it’s time to get back into blogging. I’ve just installed Flock 1.0 RC, and it’s great. I love the People sidebar, where I can track my Facebook friends’ status updates as well as my Twitter friends’ updates. Now if only they could also integrate the Meebo FF sidebar, then we’d be in business. I didn’t like the earlier beta version of flock, but this one is going to stick, I think.
So what’s been going on in my life? I’ve moved from being a Software Developer to a TPPM (Technical Product/Program Manager, but who’s checking?). My new group - Personalized Recommendations, still at Amazon.com. It’s… fantastic. Exactly the job I want. We’re doing some great, great work, and I’ll be posting when we have some updates worth talking about.
Some new developments - Amazon launches a Digital Music store thats (1) cheaper than iTunes, (2) better quality than iTunes, (3) DRM-free, and (4) we’ll pay Associates 4x for referrals compared to iTunes. Plus, more selection, thanks to a general disgust for Steve Jobs from the record labels.
Facebook - Mark Zuckerberg grabs Ballmer by the balls and laughs all the way to the bank. Nice one. Microsoft’s bright earnings report notwithstanding, I don’t see how Microsoft benefits from this. It’s really going to come down to what special perks MS gets from Facebook, because cornering the Facebook in Europe market doesn’t get me excited.
FriendFeed is pretty cool - as long as you read it in your RSS reader. It’s not a destination site by any means, so I’m not sure where the money is going to come from, but that’s not my problem. Besides, Paul Buchheit can afford it - he did, after all, create Gmail.
More tomorrow.
Dave
Blogged with Flock