At what point does the information overload become too much, crossing the line from data to noise? Read/Write Web shows ever-growing millions of blogs indexed by Technorati, more stories per day from TechCrunch, a representative Web 2.0 blog, and Seth Godin says too many people are simply blogging about blogging, delivering noise over substance.

Meanwhile, in the real world, it looks like Apple is having significant traction, doubling computer sales in a year, and seeing iTunes grab more share from the competition. In fact, on the recent stock market weakness, I bought into AAPL in a big way, at $86.30 a share. It sounds expensive, but is at a discount from my last sale, and I was certainly in the green by end of day. Could be a longer-term buy and hold. On with the links...

Read/Write Web: The Attention Economy: An Overview
Seth Godin: The Disappointment of the Noisy People
TechCrunch: Digg Should Sue Wired

The Unofficial Apple Weblog: iTunes use increased in 2006
MacRumors: Analyst: Mac Sales Grew Over 100% In January

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In the first TAB post following my "Apple Should Dump Purchased Items" fiasco last month, I speculated on just what the core applications are that define the Macintosh experience. While iTunes and the iPod have made traction on the Windows platform, Apple has held its other core applications, with the exception of QuickTime, close to the vest. iLife is Mac-only. Safari and Mail.app are also Mac only. What would happen if Apple ported those apps to Windows? Would it help with the "iPod Halo Effect"?

This time around, the story was better received, and I didn't get laughed out of Dodge. Good thing. That may have further damaged my ego.

That's the idea behind my most recent contribution to The Apple Blog, titled What Core Apps Define the Mac?. Per agreement with them, I will not be cross-posting the piece, but instead, have provided a link. Enjoy.

I am a sucker for statistics, and I am a sucker for TiVo. While the DVR company has gone to great lengths to assure customers that none of their individual viewing habits will be distributed, TiVo often aggregates larger pools of data and reports on the results - letting us know which actors and actresses are proving most popular, which shows are best seen live, and which are more frequently seen when time-shifted. But I am sure they have the ability to show me my own TV viewing habits, and I beg them to open the vault - to let me know, my statistics.

I want to be able to know:

* Over the last 30 days or 1 year, how many shows did I record and later watch?
* How many of those shows were dramas? How many were sitcoms? How many were live events?
* How many hours have I spent watching Law & Order in the last year?
* How many hours did I watch A's baseball?

I want to know:

* How many total hours did I watch TV?
* Do I watch more TV on the weekends or weekdays? Which days?
* What were my top ten shows viewed by number of minutes or episodes?

If TiVo can track total viewer data, and I know that it can give me suggestions based on other shows I watch, record and offer "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down", then I know that TiVo can enhance its service by showing me my own viewer statistics.

I've moved way beyond the issue of privacy. Google tracks every search I make in my search history. Google tracks how many RSS feeds I read per day, on which day, at which time, and from which sources. Last.FM tracks how often and when I listen to a particular song out of iTunes, and which artists are my favorite. If the data is there to be tracked, then I want it tracked.

I want to know if I kept the percentage of "Reality Shows" or "Soap Operas" below 1/2 of one percent all year long. I want to know what percentage shows I see within one day, three days or five days of their being recorded. I want the data.

TiVo, I know you are storing the information. Please open up the vault and let us have a peek inside.

Lifetime Subscription Holder Louis Gray

Update: A must-have for the "My TiVo Statistics" would be the option to mark viewing as being tracked or not tracked, much like Apple has "Private Browsing" for Safari, or Google search tracking can be Paused. If I don't want the wife to know I'm watching South Park, and she wants to hide her watching The View, that works.

Traveling can be hard - not so much in the changing of hotels, and driving or flying from one city to another, but for me, one of the biggest issues can be "Internet Separation Anxiety". Yes, I made that up. By being away from the laptop, I am missing out on everything going on - news alerts, updated blogs, sports scores and stocks, for example. This last week, it didn't help when our 17-year-old beagle put her foot down and made the situation even worse.

Upon arriving home late Friday night, and still being on East Coast time, I didn't want to do anything but sleep, so I put off my usual daily RSS feed reading in Google Reader to Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, I jumped into Google Reader and started going through the more than 500 items that had accumulated, one by one. Just as I had started, I got up to answer the phone, leaving the laptop on the floor, screen open. When I returned, I saw the dog literally walking on my keyboard, trying to use the laptop as leverage to jump on our bed. As I shooed her away, I saw she had somehow clicked the "Mark All Items As Read" link in Google Reader, instantly evaporating all the feeds, and Google couldn't get them back.


The Paw Stomp is where the dog made her dent in my RSS reading...

Instantly, a day and a half of the world's news and blogs were gone. Conversations and debates were held and I couldn't hear them. Product announcements and bugs went by without my knowing. And my dog didn't care. So, that old adage about the dog eating your homework? Maybe it does happen? I sure can tell you that the weekend didn't get off to a very strong start after seeing Molly (the dog) using her hind legs to point and click my news away. It's even more remarkable when you consider some dogs will actually get the newspaper for you...