A blog readers wish...

Like many people, I find myself spending more and more time reading blogs. Frankly, I'm probably spending too much time reading, and not enough time writing on my own....

On any given blog, even those written by folks I respect, there's often too many posts that have little or no interest to me... whether its fatspam from Jason Calacanis..... (btw, Jason has a right to post whatever he wants, but that doesn't mean that I have to pretend to enjoy sifting through it.)

... or looking at pictures of deformed rabbits on Boing Boing. Boing Boing, in fact is a perfect example of what is both right and wrong about blogging. Just about every piece on there is interesting (on some level) creative and thought provoking. But on any given day, I may only be interested in only one or two of the DOZENS of posts on Boing Boing. And it takes time to sift through to find the stuff I like. Why can't my RSS feed only pull down posts from one or two of their writers? Why can't my feed be customized so I only receive feeds on topics that are of interest to me?

Perhaps I'm technologically challenged, but I can't see a way to customize the content on my RSS feed. It would seem fairly easy to do... any help out there?

Revol trials ad-supported wireless service

Regional carrier Revol is testing an ad supported wireless service, reports RCRNews.

“The key to our solution is that it delivers content in a seamless and
unobtrusive manner that will be accepted and welcomed by consumers,” said Jon
Jackson, Mobile Posse’s CEO. “By giving consumers the opportunity to opt-in and
specify the types of content and offers they would like to receive, we are
bringing to market the mobile advertising solution of choice.”

I get it. People like relevant advertising and content. And they also like paying less on their wireless bill. But if you're going to require that people opt-in for ads and content in order to garner those savings, you'd better make sure that the interface is fun, easy to use, and offers lots of choices regarding ads and content they see. Right now, most of the mobile interfaces I've seen aren't there yet.

I'm sure the results of this trial will be very positive - but so were most of the email coregistration programs back in 2002. Consumers may enjoy the novelty of this program now, but I have a feeling we will see response rates quickly fade, and the ad delivery mechanisms grow increasingly obtrusive.