Notices by Richard MacManus (ricmac@mastodon.social), page 6

That said, I have always been an early adopter in the 'new media' world, and so I don't think most people in that industry have grokked the importance of ActivityPub, Mastodon, platforms like Eleventy and Buttondown (both of which are very customizable and web-friendly). This is a *new* new media. Incidentally, one of these podcasts I listen to claims the "open web" is dead, but I don't think they understand what the open web is these days.

I listen to a couple of media podcasts and I think many people in "new media" these days think all the craft has gone out of online publishing — because of newsletter platforms like Substack, the dominance of 'old social' (X, FB, et al), and the decline of webpages in general. But what I've discovered since ditching Substack for an 11ty/Buttondown combo is that I'm *crafting* my own online presence again, similar to what I did with blogging in early Web 2.0. Craft on the web is *back*, not dead.

I'm currently writing up an interview with the founders of @owa, about Apple's shenanigans with mobile web apps (PWAs) in Europe. If anyone has any hot takes on this issue, I'd love to hear them! https://mastodon.social/@owa/112013397968848581

Do you remember a time in your career when you realized you were EARLY on something that was now mainstream? For me it was at the Web 2.0 Expo in SF, April 2007. The IBM booth on the trade floor featured IBMers milling around in red shirts—not IBM blue—and doing on-the-spot classroom sessions with microphones and videos. As a fellow blogger quipped to me, “I don’t go to Web 2.0 conferences to listen to IBM." Me neither, but it proved we'd made it! https://cybercultural.com/p/022-web20-expo-2007/

My trip to Silicon Valley for the inaugural Web 2.0 Expo in April 2007, where I meet several Read/WriteWeb colleagues for the first time and enjoy the expanding tech bubble. Featuring some well-known names: @adactio @anildash @chrismessina @blaine @simon @esokullu #internethistory https://cybercultural.com/p/022-web20-expo-2007/

Does anyone remember using RealAudio in early 1996? I'm researching this era of the web currently, but I'm struggling to remember what it was like using RealAudio...other than it was pretty buggy! So if anyone has memories from late 95 or early 96, sing out please. The attached image is from Mary Meeker's 1996 "The Internet Report" (via https://www.businessinsider.com/the-coolest-web-sites-from-1996-2016-4). #internethistory

@evan I agree. Would be especially useful now that we have all these different social media platforms to monitor!

Do you remember...AJAX homepages! Aka "start pages". My Feb 2006 writeup (warning: buzzwords): "...this new kind of homepage isn't just a place to store all your content and links. It'll house your widgets, gadgets and web services too. And [...] having an open API platform to build widgets and web services is going to be crucial for the growth and survival prospects of AJAX homepages." https://web.archive.org/web/20060317200954/http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/?p=127 (image: Q-BEE, Flickr) #internethistory

@Gargron I thought I had set up brid.gy to be the go-between, but I must've done something wrong somewhere... thanks for your reply.

Webmentions.io isn't recognizing my link from Mastodon -- anyone know why?

https://webmention.io/cybercultural.com/webmention/Lca1cUHelb7YZ9g5bw8U

testing webmentions (pls ignore) https://cybercultural.com/p/021-iphone-debut-2007-rww-network/

It’s a pretty remarkable process, to write first on his website and then syndicate *the whole thing* across various social media platforms. As for myself, I have at least (re)learned that I have to keep hold of my writing on a website I fully own and control (Cybercultural.com), even if I haven’t yet worked out an optimal way to promote it on social channels. In any case, long live Pluralistic (and, I hope, Cybercultural too). https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/111963982352617501

If only there was another instance they could jump to… (maybe soon, but who knows!) https://mstdn.social/@Mediagazer/111911302214889814

I had a good run with ReadWriteWeb and got a nice outcome, but more than a decade after I sold it I do regret that I didn’t make it into a lifestyle business. I write about this in upcoming chapters of my serialized book, when describing the personal and business stress of 2011 in particular. I admire people like @gaberivera and @mariapopova, who built their indie sites and still run them sustainably as small but successful businesses. That’s the right way to do it.

I’m so mad at Chris Dixon for appropriating the “ReadWrite” brand. I mean, he could’ve entitled his book “CryptoCrunch” or “GigaOwn”, but no he had to choose the name of *my* former tech blog to sully. Anyway, if you want to read a proper history of Web 2.0, check out my own current book (sadly, there is no full-page New York Times ad to help promote it): https://cybercultural.com/p/introduction-to-bubble-blog-book/

It's time to take back the internet from those corporate data sharecroppers! For more info, please check out my full-page New York Times advert and ignore the fact I'm a partner at a powerful VC firm in Silicon Valley that funded many of said sharecroppers. *

* Also, that "readwrite" brand name looks familiar...can't quite place it...

Here's a blog post explaining more about my move from Substack to an Eleventy/Buttondown combo for my newsletter Cybercultural.com. With special thanks to @lene and @jay, whose prior work helped me create this post-Substack solution. https://ricmac.org/2024/01/26/why-i-migrated-my-newsletter-from-substack-to-eleventy-and-buttondown/

Takes me back… https://mastodon.social/@Gammitin/111817586829696169

New from me @TheNewStack -> Locofy's new "Large Design Model" (LDM) enables users to convert a web design into frontend code with the click of a button. I spoke to the founders. https://thenewstack.io/locofy-launches-large-design-model-to-turn-designs-to-code/ #AI #LLMs #frontend

In June 2006, I interviewed Yahoo at Supernova about its so-called "open platform" and then struggled to get a word in edgeways at BloggerCon. (The latest in my serialized memoir, Bubble Blog: From Outsider to Insider in Silicon Valley's Web 2.0 Revolution.) https://www.cybercultural.com/p/016-the-core-values-of-blogging #InternetHistory #Web20 #Blogging