i'm japanese but i think this applies to me and the other bloggers in japan as well.

And 11...

Say "mainstreaming" with a straight face... ;)

Part of the art of being a cool kid is knowing how to attach yourself to trends that will soon spill over into the mainstream. This way you get to say "I was doing that before everyone else" (and get dates). The geek value proposition is similar - find something that's valuable to your fellow nerds and rework it into a mainstream utility (and get VC).

It also works in reverse - geeks, to be cool, just apply your energies towards fashion and music. Shopping at the right stores and finding the right parties is just like staying on top of the latest Rails revs - once you subscribe to the right blogs and apply the conventional group wisdom, everything works out.

Why listen to me? Cool kids: APC New Standards, AF1s, Bowery loft. Geeks: Web.py, to_json.

Yep - this is a bingo.
Ten out of ten for me.
Nicely done.

Tom

1. Have a blog
Just started a week ago http://blog.crisscross.com
However, I much prefer to write comments on other people's blogs. BTW, don't you think it is a bit selfish when people comment about your posts on their blogs instead of commenting on yours? Or is that just the way it is?

2. Knowingly use RSS
Just got multiple feeds going in IE7 yesterday. So I have been actually using RSS for one day, even though in all of my sites we have been supplying RSS feeds for a couple of years :)

3. Understand Web 2.0
The Web 2.0 uncertainty principle: If you understand it, you don't know it.

4. Think anything built with Ajax is “cool”
If you look at most AJAX functions you will notice that they don't actually save the user much time. Even so they make the page slicker. However, I don't think anything built with Ajax is cool. Ajax doth not the product make.

5. Think blog “A-Listers” are “cool”
Nope. I think end-users are cool.

6. Use a “memetracker”
Nope. I don't want to work to get my news.

7. Want to own your “attention data”
Whatever.

8. Podcast
Never listened to one, but have written a business plan and got sponsorship for a professional-quality podcast we will start shortly about Tokyo life :)

9. Use a beta version of anything
Everything I make is a beta ;)

10. Were ever picked on in school
Unfortunately, yes.

Didn't you miss out "11. Think corporations are evil (especailly Microsoft, and except Google)"?

I suppose what I learned form the above is that you don't need to actually use something (RSS, Web 2.0, Ajax) to know it's value, but it probably helps.

Nerd Pride!

"(body) Nerd pride - The Nerd Pride movement, modeled on the Gay Pride movement, was started at MIT by Professors Gerald Sussman and Hal Abelson. Nerd pride paraphernalia includes baseball hats, buttons and - of course - pocket protectors.

"My idea is to present an image to children that it is good to be intellectual, and not to care about the peer pressures to be anti-intellectual. I want every child to turn into a nerd - where that means someone who prefers studying and learning to competing for social dominance".

-- Gerald Sussman, quoted by Katie Hafner, "New York Times", 1994-08-29."

Yes to 1-9. No to number 10. So, what am I? Here's what my personality test says:

http://www.personaldna.com/report.php?k=swjDijf...

I actually think the bar is higher for true geeks, particularly in this techy world. I mean if all it takes is to know what AJAX is . . .