Too much to see and do - where do you start?

Robert Scoble is like Dave Winer - he's feeling overwhelmed. Not him personally, but he is clear that most of us are. He rightly asserts that there are too many ideas and companies now and many of them will not achieve critical mass - not because they're not great, but because there isn't enough attention spectrum left.

I think one way to avoid this overload is to stop aiming products at our own sandbox and start aiming them towards mums and dads, executives, knowledge workers, cafe owners and others who don't care about myspace, or social bookmarking or making youtube videos.

Another way is to just let the information flow over you. Stop trying to hold onto it.

As I have written previously to Dave Winer and about Constant Pile Reduction Mode it's important to remember news was never supposed to be read like email. No one went through their newspaper and marked off each and every article. They browse and they get what they can about their world before going off to live their real lives.

With this in mind, publishers need to start offering tools to their users that are designed with this reality in mind.

I am reminded by a great quote from the movie "American Beauty"

"it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment..."

Great movie - I suggest you rent it!

Chris Anderson says "Steal my book"

Chris Anderson is happy that his book is now available on BitTorrent. The reason for his happiness makes me happy.

"My publishers want to make money, and I like them so I usually do what it takes to keep them happy, but in truth I just want to be read/listened to by the largest number of people. Leave it to me to figure out how to convert that reputational currency into cash--just get me in front of the biggest audience and I'll do the rest. My agent doesn't want to hear this, but I'd rather take a smaller up-front advance or lower royalties in exchange for more liberty in distributing free versions, because I think I'll actually be better off in the end.

As Tim O'Reilly puts it, "Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy".

As I always say - people just want to be heard.

I have had a fascination with this idea ever since my first major project - both on real radio and online which boasted huge levels of audience interaction (forums, chat, participant generated content etc) back in 1997. The slogan - "Don't just listen - Be Heard".

It has been a constant theme in my work.

Chris won't go hungry because of this little breach in his rights. He will only earn more audience and a louder voice. He will make his money from better jobs, more opportunities and a bigger booking fees.

The reality is though, us other content creators who are far less well known will have to find another way to make money from the long tail.