Maybe it was my recent re-read of " Mr. Google's Guidebook" where the author portrays Google as a butler who only shows you select portions of the mansion: and ignores the rest.

To some extent, this is true. But, as I wander through my delicious.com links looking for a previously bookmarked gem, I notice that lots of my links are actually not well known. Sure there are some that another 8,000 or 10,000 people have bookmarked. But some have fewer than 10 or 20 duplicates.

Here then, is a selection of some of my obscure bookmarks. Things that I think are interesting and worth reading, but have clearly not been found my many people yet (taking delicious users as a representative sampling).

The number in parentheses is the number of people, besides me, who have bookmarked the link.

1. (23) Technology & Internet: Nick Carr (author of The Big Switch & Does IT Matter?) summarizes an algorithm written by Carnegie-Mellon researchers that gives you which 100 blogs to read if you want to get the most bang for your reading. They do this by comparing the internet to a water distribution network.
   http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/10/the_science_of.php
2. (6) Economics, Startups, & Venture Capital: Fred Wilson (venture capitalist at Union Square Ventures) gives some graphs & background information on the returns of VC investment from 1969-1997.
   VC Fund Performance - Some History: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2007/11/vc-fund-perform.html
3. (4) Internet & Marketing: Darren Barefoot (Vancouver-based technologist & social media consultant) summarizes 14 trends of marketing that he got from a Seth Godin webinar.
   Notes from a Seth Godin Webinar: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2007/11/notes-from-a-seth-godin-webinar.html
4. (1) Design: Slideshow in Wired Magazine shows some industrial design from concept to prototype.
   Birth of a Gadget: Inside the Industrial Design Process: http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/multimedia/2007/11/gallery_gadget_birth?slide=1&slideView=2
5. (4) Animation: A clock comprised of hand-written numbers. (I've had to track this down over the years as the URL has changed.)
   http://fun.drno.de/flash/hand.swf
6. (12) Design & Color: Some took the time to reproduce the 2007 IKEA catalog: but with no images, just the overall color.
   Color averaged IKEA catalogue: http://infosthetics.com/archives/2007/11/salavon_color_averaging_ikea_catalogue.html
7. (5) Innovation & Creativity: Bob Sutton quotes his book "Weird Ideas that Work" about how difficult it can be to live with innovation.
   "The terms creativity, innovation, and fun are often used in the same breath. But before you rush ahead to build or join an innovative company, I feel obliged to warn you about the hazards. Working in an innovative place can be annoying and frustrating, or worse."
   Why Creativity and Innovation Suck: http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/12/why-creativity.html
8. (19) Unusual Computers: Lifehacker shows us a tiny computer that is completely solar-powered.
   "E1 runs on 8 watts of power, has no moving parts and is completely silent. E1 looks like the James Bond of low priced Linux computers. It runs Puppy Linux, comes with an optional solar panel and an optional 10.4 inch monitor."
   Tiny Solar-Powered Linux Computer: http://lifehacker.com/software/stuff-we-like/tiny-solar-powered-linux-computer-328777.php
9. (11) Design: 37signals talks about where their designs have gotten ugly around the edges and why they think so.
   "Software can get crufty quick - especially around the edges. We work hard to keep the cruft out, but we can't win 'em all.
   "We're currently digging through Basecamp looking for those dusty corners so we can clean them up."
   When cruft creeps in: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/730-when-cruft-creeps-in
10. (4) Food: Wired Magazine talks about Louis Rossetto launching a new line of Chocolate:
    "Rossetto and his business partner, Timothy Childs, have launched Tcho, a startup that aims to do for cacao beans what Starbucks did for those other beans. To them, chocolate isn't just a processed food; it's an agricultural product with its own terroir."
    http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-02/st_15rossetto