Not that I really care about it much 

...but in this apparently exhaustive roundup of whither Nick Douglas possibilities, where's Podtech? That seems most likely to me.

Tom's new stuff 

I've been meaning to check out Tom's new opath stuff. Looks neat. Truth is I exhausted myself on OPML, thinking about it all the time for a couple months recently while putting the ebook together, and I'm giving myself a rest.

All the recent talk about Web 3.0 has reminded me I mean to try to understand semantic web stuff, too. I'm not sure if I have the head for it. Where would be a good place to start reading? The thing that strikes me about it, from the little I know, is a lot of it seems quite theoretical. The way I've become accustomed to teaching myself internet things is to study something that's up and working that I find interesting, and change things and see what happens.

Busy? 

Here's a BuzzVote poll in a Widgetbox widget. I don't think I'd put it on my sidebar. Too commercial-looking or something that doesn't strike me quite right. Would you? (Oh, maybe that's a better poll.)

Maybe MySpace types like that? (Oh, that's a poll too.)

Later: Another slight problem with the widget is it doesn't work. It hasn't been showing up since I added a third poll at BuzzVote. Let's try the BuzzVote widget directly instead of going through Widgetbox.

Here's the Flash version:

And here's the Javascript, "slim design":

Besides the Giant Sequoia School of Design aspect, they don't show the results, except for a fleeting look after you first vote. What if you wanted to come back later and see a later tally? That's what I want to see after I've voted, rather than an ad for the survey site, or in addition to the ad.

I think there's a opportunity here for a plainer, maybe cosmetically customizable poll widget. No, I haven't tried them all. Anybody know if one that looks a little less commercial?

At work I use Survey Monkey, which lets you make templates, and can be made to look fairly decent. But it's really in a separate category from fun polls.

Still later: Looks like the Widgetbox script (first one displayed) started working again.

You think marketers are finally getting timeshifting? 

I think maybe they are. I can't find the reference now. I think it was in Broadcasting & Cable, but the writer remarked that big advertisers had been dragging their feet on advertising in TV shows delivered on demand because viewers can fast-forward through the commercials.

But now GMC is sponsoring CBS shows on Comcast's OnDemand service. Maybe they realized that when a viewer really plans to watch something, her attention is worth more. Anyway, that's the value I see.

I watch Numb3rs on OnDemand, and I don't think I've ever skimmed through the commercials. They keep them short enough that it would be a hassle to do the queuing up.

Numb3rs is also available on the CBS site. Ha! What do you know. I actually figured out the direct link to the Flash page by peeking at the Javascript file. I'm not usually that crafty (or just don't want to take the trouble). Interesting they're using PHP, but Perl, too.