Planet Abell

Ordinarily I would Tweet this question — but my question is about a potential Tweet I haven't been able to make, despite several attempts on two occasions a week apart. So I am going old school, a blog post, to whisper in Times Square to be heard in Budapest. Here is the text of the Tweet that will not be posted: "M" is for the merriment you give me. "A" is for the ass that I become. "R" is are you having a martini ? Yes. Okay, I know it's trite. Looking at it, it's like the joke you have to explain. Cute by 1/2. Let's all look past that please. Why has this Tweet been, apparently systematically, suppressed? I know what you're thinking. I replaced "ass" with symbols, dots and a cute by 1/2 "[REDACTED]. No soap. So I have been reduced to subterfuge. This post will automatically post to Twitter, with a URL and a headline designed to create interest. If anyone knows what might be the reason this particular string of 110 char...

Twitter started selling ads -- sort of -- in a modest attempt to get the Twitterati used to the idea that the start-up, valued at $1 billion based on private placements, is entitled to make serious money. So far, the sky hasn't fallen. Twitter doesn't need to make a lot, operationally. The company has fewer than 200 employees and manages a sea of servers. Tech support, marketing and maybe one HR person. In an interview with BBC radio, I talked about what Twitter is doing, what they aren't doing, and what they might do. I might have used the "dip their beak" metaphor instead, if I had thought of it. But on second thought, I'm glad I didn't. Hate those forced metaphors.

Like many proper news organizations, we at Wired.com use the venerable Associated Press Stylebook as an arbiter to determine whether we write “one” or “1″ or whether it’s “Calif.” or “CA.” But the trouble with venerable is that it gets old and boring. So we were delighted to learn of a disruptive newcomer to the writing style game. And the best part is that it’s on Twitter. The Fake AP Stylebook (I can just see the AP lawyers falling out of their Aero chairs) tells us that we should “Precede basic statements of fact with ‘allegedly’ to avoid accusations of bias: ‘the allegedly wet water,’ ‘the allegedly poisonous poison’” — well, that rule tracks pretty good (or is it “well?”) with that other style guide. Full story on Wired.com's Epicenter Blog

Power Lunch appearance as part of a discussion on social media and the enterprise.

In an article in Monday's Wall Street Journal Jessica Vascellaro argues that the tipping point has arrived for the heirs apparent of e-mail, one of the internet's first, most defining — and most abused — applications. Can this be? In an appearance on CNBC's Power Lunch today I got the chance to bat this idea around a bit, but not enough, so the conversation continues here. Vascellaro has it just about right , i think, and although reports of the death of e-mail are obviously premature it's fun to look for signs of a paradigm shift within a paradigm a mere 38 years after the first e-mail was sent . After all, haven't many of the other original internet protocols already been shown the door, like Usenet , WAIS , Gopher and Archie ? What makes e-mail so invincible? Continue reading on Epicenter

Another cruel reminder. Via TweepRoll .