Random Episode 11: The Future of Digg, New Favorites, and More

Tim, in the name of time management, it’d be great if you’d post a list of the points you guys discuss. That’d save me from having to pay super close attention to the 34 min video.

I love the light teases Tim makes of Kevin 😛 Always the funniest parts of Random!

I tried out Livemocha myself and I have to say that the actual material in it is as bad as Rosetta Stone and actually uses a very similar lazy template set-up. There were too many holes (no genders/articles to indicate genders with words, course useless to get beyond absolute basics etc.) and the translations (same for all languages) not being tailored to specific cultures could be felt as quite unnatural. It’s an effective business model since all they need is a translator for the content, but it’s going to ultimately hold back the actual learners.

The website’s main advantage is to find native speakers and to skip the course material entirely and just get their Skype details. That aspect of it is free and definitely recommendable since it’s one of the biggest social networks of language learners (despite wasteful courses).

I’m also a big fan of Lonely planet’s phrasebooks for the reasons you outlined! I’d recommend people check out the “meetup” website or couchsurfing to find natives and other learners and get off their computer and try to use the language with people in person.

There’s this temptation to find the “perfect” course to learn a language, but what we really have to do is mix in some studying with actual application. For Tim that’s logically going to happen since he is travelling to the country to use it very soon, but most people who spend years studying will unfortunately end up nowhere and just end up forking out thousands of dollars for new materials. They’d progress a lot faster if they used the languages (by Skype or in person) in conjunction with studies.

Loved yet another Random episode! When you talk about languages, you always leave it for the last part. I’ll retweet this to fellow language lovers but recommend they start the video there 😛

@Tim,

It’s probably not a good time to ask considering you are still neck deep finishing your upcoming Superhuman book, but have you considered writing a book on effective foreign language learning some day?

@ Kevin,

I can’t wait to see the Digg iPad App. Now I just need to get an iPad…

@Benny,

I agree there is no “perfect language course”, and in fact, I often recommend that learners stay away from “courses” as teachers, textbooks, and CDs tend to spend too much time trying to teach you “about the language” instead of exposing you to the actual language itself. As you know, the former can be interesting but does little for reaching fluency in a language. Courses do have their place but they are certainly not a requirement, especially in today’s world of podcasts, blogs, IPTV, etc.

Hurry up with the book Tim! Can’t wait.

Do you plan to go for another best seller?

Hey Tim, as always enjoyed the episode! I have tried both RS and LiveMocha, and have to say that I found LM to be a much easier and more effective way to learn a foreign language. I think I WILL look for the Pimsleur CD, have heard great things about that as well (maybe they will have them in the Chinese bookstores here).

Can you recommend some fave coffeshops, pubs, etc to visit in Amsterdam?

Queens Day! A citywide swap meet? How has that not caught on in this country?

Good to hear what’s going on with Digg and can’t wait for the new book. Have a blast in Turkey.

This show makes me feel like I should be buying more Apple products (I don’t have any at the moment).

Evernote sounds interesting, especially for travel, menus abroad would be a good thing to take note of.

I still want need a pair of cord rounds, I remember when you wore red ones on a previous episode 🙂

Stuff mentioned:

The Next Web—http://thenextweb.com

Queesday—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensday

DialyBurn—http://dailyburn.com

Kevin is CEO of Digg—http://digg.com

Scalable database system: Cassandra—http://cassandra.apache.org/

Sonos—http://sonos.com/random

Logitech Squeezebox—http://www.logitech.com/en-roeu/speakers_audio/wireless_music_systems

Pandora—http://pandora.com

Rework by 37Signals—http://37signals.com/rework/

How to Break a Terrorist by Matthew Alexander—http://howtobreakaterrorist.com/

http://amzn.com/1416573151

Philip Rosedale—lovemachineinc.com

http://lindenlab.com/about/management#rosedale

http://secondlife.com

Philip’s awesome pants: Cordarounds—http://www.cordarounds.com/catalog/

Nassim Nicholas Taleb—http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/

http://twitter.com/nntaleb

Evernote—http://evernote.com

LiveMocha: Communal language learning—http://livemocha.com

Pimsleur Audio language learning CDs—http://www.pimsleur.com/

Lonely Planet travel guides and phrasebooks (complement to Pimsleur)—http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

EduFire: Live video learning—edufire.com

[I think i got everything…]

I knew that tattoo was fake! :)))

I love hearing the news on digg and whats in the pipeline for release. Love the Rework suggestion, just finished it and it’s a great read. Black Swan was a tough read on the flip side, and at times it was getting a little to technical for my tastes. Overall it certainly challenged my thinking and gave me a new outlook on large scale events.

new cat?

Tim! I can’t believe that you are learning Turkish – I live in Texas but I’ve studied Turkish now for 2+ years. I fell in love with the country and the language after living there for six and a half months. I still have a lot of friends who live in Istanbul who I could connect you with – who might be able to show you around, give you pointers on using the language, etc. I can also answer any questions you might have about getting around, places to visit, etc. Just email me and I’ll hook you up.

?yi ?anslar dostum, görü?ürüz.

Tim, why haven’t you hookup FB Connect on this blog?

Any plans for an itunes feed Tim? These would make great listening while running! 🙂

Wow- Love Machine Inc. has a cool concept behind their products.

Not a comprehensive summary, but here is a list of some of Tim’s and Kevin’s suggestions from the video (for those too lazy to watch)

Language Learning

Pimsler Audio CD’s

EDU fire

Evernote – Tim is a sponsor and huge advocate of it’s potential

Recommended books:

Black Swan

How to Break a Terrorist

Sonos.com – music in your home (sophisticated software/hardware)

Nassim Taleb

Twitter – @nnTaleb

Fooledbyrandomness.com – logical fallacies – his book

@PhilipLinden – second life creator

http://www.LoveMachineInc.com – new project

Employee-to-employee praise

Looking forward to the new book. As per your suggestion in “Tim Ferriss – SCAM!” i’m now reading Seneca’s “Letters from a Stoic.” Fabulous suggestion!

Hey Guys!

I’ve been using Mixxer Language Exchange to chat with native speakers for years now.

http://www.language-exchanges.org/

You just sign up and exchange Skype info and jump right in!

For those with too little time to watch the full vid… Has anybody thought about a “light” version that just skims over the subjects? Users can then delve in and grab what they need further down the line.

Do people really not have 30 minutes to spend on something that interests them? That seems a little ridiculous. Break it down and watch 10 minutes a day over three days if you are really that busy. These guys used to try to keep it under 20 minutes, but lots of people requested longer episodes. I guess there really is just no way to please everyone 🙂

I second the request for the iTunes feed – as a video podcast – please! That would be very convenient. I always find your posts interesting, Tim. Thanks!

Tim,

I love to *Digg* and I’m a member of your “Four Hour Work Week” tribe. I Love your ideas – I just wonder if your model is suitable for the masses, and if it is sustainable over the long haul?

Many of my contemporaries (who had govt. or corporate jobs) are now retiring. I, on the other hand, have reinvented myself numerous times, have very colorful stories and songs as result. I’ve hung out on the streets with homeless songwriters, and I’ve rubbed elbows with the elite and have sat in briefing room at the White House. My philosophy has always been “I’d rather enjoy one exquisite piece of Godiva, than acres of Hershey Bars.”

I’m just now emerging from a sabbatical after loosing my last *job* in traditional media. I’ve spent this past year learning, retooling, renewing, regrouping and strategizing my next tactics to leverage my history, knowledge and relationships to generate new revenues for my next adventures.

I’ll be doing this as long as my battery is re-chargeable.

Peace,

Pam Mark Hall

Video Notes:

Tim talks about his week in Amsterdam, the Queen’s Day celebration, The Next Web, the status to his upcoming book and DailyBurn’s business exit.

• Reference: The Next Web http://thenextweb.com/

• Reference: Queens Day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koninginnedag

• Reference: Tim’s upcoming book http://su.pr/2iZgRr

• Reference: DailyBurn.com Exit http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/20/iac-dailyburn/

-Business Exit def. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/exit.html

Tim’s recommendations

• Book: How to Break A Terrorist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Break_a_Terrorist

• Clothing: Cordaround http://www.cordarounds.com/blog/

• Person: Nassim Nicholas Taleb http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/

– Taleb’s book: The Black Swan (same link as above)

– Nassim Taleb on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nntaleb

• Website: Livemocha.com- Language learning http://www.livemocha.com/

• Product: Pimsleur Direct- Language learning http://www.pimsleurdirect.com/

– Turkish: Lonely Planet Phrasebook (Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/Turkish-Lonely-Phrasebook-Arzu-Kurklu/dp/1864503165

• Website: eduFire.com- Language learning http://edufire.com/

Glenn

• Glenn on tour with Delivering Happiness Book Team http://www.deliveringhappinessbook.com/

Here’s my hack for Pimsleur. I used my protools to double the playback speed then put it on my I-pod. So I can review the whole Spanish Level II and III in under two weeks comuting time.Once you’ve heard it at the regular speed the fast playback is good ear training.

Regarding the connection between Turkish and Japanese… If you look at a linguistic map of the world, you can see a huge curved swath starting from Turkey in the west and going up through Russia, Mongolia and ending with Korea and Japan in the east. This is the Altaic (some linguists add other stuff as well) group, and it has a lot of common elements such as vowel harmony and so on. Here’s a very brief overview if you’re interested:

http://www.krysstal.com/langfams_altaic.html

which scanner is kevin using for evernote? i’m looking for a scanner that can handle a large volume of multipage documents (college notes –> evernote!), and am curious which scanner on the evernote website he found useful (i found them to be underwhelming). thanks!

Just to set the record straight:

Wealthy people do not jump in and out of gold to make a quick buck when the markets tumble. Wealthy people hold gold because they understand how truly fragile the casino really is. Wealthy people understand that Keynesian theories are corruptible at best, and that the Federal Reserve is a man made institution.

Gold is not a paper or digital asset to be traded on 10, 20, or 30 minute charts.

Gold is the ultimate hedge (history tells us this). When you have real money, you get scared, and physical gold helps you sleep a little better.

Who cares what price it’s at today, in the long run, paper is dead….

@ Brian, Not to say I know anything about gold but at that point in the video they were talking about the book The Black Swan, which (as reviewed by Chris Anderson on the amazon page) argues

“The problem, Nassim explains, is that we place too much weight on the odds that past events will repeat (diligently trying to follow the path of the “millionaire next door,” when unrepeatable chance is a better explanation). Instead, the really important events are rare and unpredictable.”

Irony… Gotta love it.

Hey Tim,

Another great episode! Sorry to keep drowning you with comments on the new book but you kept mentioning writing and it made me think is there going to be any sort of insight as to what it is going to include? Is it going to basically just talk about pushing your body’s limits or is it going to include more practical topics like different work out regiments and dieting?