John Dvoark has a great column on Marketwatch titled:

Web 2.0 showing signs of Bubble 2.0 already | Commentary: Everything is about exit strategies, not good products

This really hit home. Attensa is right in the "Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0" cone. We've had several "contemplate your navel" marketing/sales department debates on whether to sponsor the Web 2.0 Expo this year. We just came back from ETech and we came to the realization there are two kinds of conferences. One has pundits and the other has punters (not terribly complementary Brit slang for customers - no disrespect intended we just like the alliteration. Really, we love our customers. Really).

This week we took a pass on the Web 2.0 echo chamber and we opted for punters. We're glad we did. We are attending the AIIM conference this week which is focused on enterprise content management and printing systems. Big machines, big players (IBM, Microsoft, ECM, Adobe, Canon, HP, Oracle and more) and big attendees (Boeing, Bank of America, Proctor and Gamble, Intuit to name a few) with big ideas and big plans for integrating enterprise RSS into document management workflow's.

Here's John's on the Web 2.0 Expo.

"From what I could tell, it was an event for people who wanted to get rich quick in tech and get out quick. Oh, and it was obviously for people between the ages of 22 and 29. If you are over 30, you're already a loser."

And here are mine:

At AIIM, quite the opposite, real business people,focused on enterprise content management and printing systems. Big machines, big players (IBM, Microsoft, Documentum, Adobe, Canon, HP, Oracle) and attendees with big pockets for the right products.

Look real people with gray hair, suits and decision making authority solving real content management and workflow problems.

As I see it, people who are interested in buying stuff like this (I have no idea what this is but it sure looks important) are interested in tackling content management and output problems with a vengeance.

Here's John on Web 2.0 Expo again.

"...the sheer number of people (thousands) that sat patiently in the large keynote auditorium, while speakers droned on and on about nothing, was more than a little creepy. Bring back Werner Erhard!"

"The event itself was characterized by sessions that did nothing more than discuss "exit strategies." Hey boys and girls, how about making a good product before getting into exit strategies? Is that asking too much?"

"I don't recall seeing something about customer satisfaction, but plenty about customer acquisition."

As for me, an EST graduate who back in the day paid my $1000 to "Get It." I couldn't agree more. Bring Back Werner Erhard! I think Attensa "Gets It." It's not about exit strategies. It's about building things like the Attensa Feed Server to get put web feed workflow to work.

It just keeps getting better. On the heels of our Attensa Feed Server 1.1 announcement in February, let me introduce to you - the Attensa Feed Server 1.2.

There are a lot of great new features and capabilities that integrate publishing, search and discovery tools all focused on collaboration.

Here's a run down on the big new features. You can see more screenshots here. You can read the Attensa Feed Server 1.2 news release here.

Effortlessly Create Custom Feeds and Publish Content Using Email Clients

With the newest version of the Attensa Feed Server, users can publish, distribute and read Web feeds using Microsoft Outlook or other email clients. Users can easily create custom feeds and use their email client to write and forward content to the newly created feeds. Content can be added to the feed as easily as forwarding an email.

Enhanced Attention Reporting - Feed Rankings and Discovery

Managers, team leaders and admins can access new reports based on Attensa’s unique AttentionStream analytics. Community feeds can be ranked by the number of subscribers. Users with permission can discover and easily subscribe to new feeds. Reports can be used to identify must-read feeds and the most effective communications channels for getting information to specific users and groups. Detailed Attention reports are searchable based on feeds, groups and users.

Three Search Tools and Techniques to Discover and Channel Highly Relevant Content

Search Feeds and Articles Stored on the Feed Server

Users can search across feeds and articles stored on the feed server and easily subscribe to new feeds that capture their attention.

Search the Open Web with Persistent Search Tools

We've integrated precision search resulting from our partnership with the Real Time Matrix. Administrators and users can set up dynamic searches across 18 Web, blog and social network search engines. The ability to add search from premium content providers is also available. Search feeds are hosted on the server and can be channeled to specific users and groups. Users can add new searches through the Attensa Feed Server’s Web reader.

Simply typing search keyword queries once will launch searches across multiple search engines. Search results are updated automatically on a continuous basis.

Search Custom Content Channels Using Precision Search Tools

Users can create precisely focused search channels that automatically and continuously deliver exactly the content they are searching for without duplication. Precision search differs from conventional indexing searches by matching and filtering results in real time. Researchers can fine tune their search criteria, in real time, to deliver exactly the information they are searching for as soon as it is observed on in the content channel.

Designed for Scaling Efficiency and Lower Total Cost of Ownership

The Attensa Feed Server scales more efficiently than conventional clustered server approaches used in competitive enterprise RSS solutions. The server uses Attensa’s AttentionStream™ processing to intelligently manage and direct workload demands to task specific servers. AttentionStream processing running on the Linux OS lowers TCO by requiring fewer servers to support workloads and reduces software licensing costs.

Want to see a Feed Server 1.2 demo? We can do that for you.

There’s been a lot of buzz and puffery surrounding the promise of Enterprise 2.0 technologies to improve information flow and collaboration.

So instead of heading off to another Web 2.0, Office 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 echo chamber conference, we're trying something new by heading to the AIIM Expo in Boston.

This is the first time Attensa is exhibiting at AIIM. Our objective is to get an Enterprise 2.0 sanity check from the people who are deeply involved in business intelligence, knowledge management, collaboration and content management.

From our point of view, most business collaboration today revolves around portals that aren’t being used effectively, tidal waves of email and attachments and conference calls. Of course, we think there’s a better way using Web Feed Workflows. That's why we are so interested in getting feedback from the enterprise experts who live and breathe this stuff.

If you're in Boston or heading for AIIM stop by booth 3201 and tell us what you think. Believe me we're interested in your feedback.

Fifth in a series from Attensa.

Using the River of News to Stay in the Flow

Attensa for Outlook lets you choose the way you want to scan and read your feeds. In addition to the Outlook view, you can read your feeds in a "River of News."

Dave Winer, a pioneer in RSS, coined the term River of News. He uses two analogies to create a mental model for using the River. Think of it like watching boats go by while you sit on a river bank, or think of it like dining at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Either way the idea is the same. Interesting things flow by and you get to pick and choose the items that capture your attention.

Here’s his description:

But there's another kind of reader, an aggregator, that works differently, and I think more efficiently for the human reader. Instead of having to hunt for new stories by clicking on the titles of feeds, you just view the page of new stuff and scroll through it. It's like sitting on the bank of a river, watching the boats go by. If you miss one, no big deal.

You can even make the river flow backward by moving the scrollbar up. To me, this more approximates the way I read a print newspaper, actually it's the way I wish I could read a print newspaper -- instead of having to go to the stories, they come to me. This makes it easier for me to use my brain's powerful scanning mechanism. It's faster, I can subscribe to more, and my fingers do less work.

With Attensa for Outlook you can choose from four article views in the River of News.

Favorites: The Favorites option sorts articles using a sophisticated formula based on the amount of attention you pay to the articles in each of your feeds.

Priority: The Priority option sorts the articles by an even more sophisticated predictive ranking formula based not only on what you read but when you read it.

Date: The sort by Date option displays the most recent articles first, regardless of which subscription those articles belong to.

Article Ranking:  This new approach matches content cues with personas based on our in-depth analysis of reading behaviors and delivers a powerful, personalized, attention-driven reading experience. Attensa's unique AttentionStream Learning Engine observes and learns from the user's feed and article reading behaviors and works on the principle that past and present actions predict future behavior. Deep analytics of article content are matched to a personalization system that automatically prioritizes and recommends new articles that will be of interest to the reader. Articles can be prioritized across all of the user's feeds or they can be prioritized by categories to provide continuous context to the user's specific interests.

There is no one right way to read feeds. Try all three until you find the view that works best for the way you work.

Drag Your Must Read Feeds to the Top. You can override the formula-based listing by dragging and dropping specific subscriptions to the “Manual Order” areas of this window. Move subscriptions to the top if you always want to view the articles in those subscriptions first—the articles in those feeds will always be displayed at the top of the list no matter what weight the subscription has.

You can also drag your least read feeds to the bottom. Move subscriptions that you don’t care much about, but still want to keep available, to the bottom of the list.

Use the automatic prioritization to help you organize your feeds. Every once in a while, start at the bottom of the list to see if there are articles of interest. If there are always the same feeds at the bottom of the list, think about unsubscribing from the feeds and deleting all the remaining articles.