Random Note: DNA's Dark Matter

Scientific American's The Hidden Genetic Program of Complex Organisms grabbed my attention last week.  This could be the biological equivalent of the discovery of dark matter.  Basically, the 'junk' or intron DNA that forms a majority of our genome may not be junk at all, but rather control code that regulates the expression of other genes. 

The programming analogy would be, I think, that the protein-coding parts of the genome would be the firmware or opcodes while the control DNA is the source code that controls when and how the opcodes are executed.  Aside from the sheer coolness of understanding how life actually works, there's a huge potential here for doing useful genetic manipulation.  It's got to be easier to tweak control code than to try to edit firmware... (Free link on same subject: The Unseen Genome.)

Things in Need of a Feed

Syndicated feeds are much bigger than blogs and news stories; they're a platform.  A bunch of use cases, several of which actually exist in some form, others just things I'd like to see:

• Blog entries for blogs I'm interested in
• Feed of all comments on entries I've authored
• News stories matching a custom filter I've set up
• Traffic conditions on my customary route(s)
• Fedex shipping feed giving status and history for all of my packages
• Customer support feed giving status and history for all my issues (any company)
• Product safety/recall information for everything I buy
  
• Amazon feed of new books matching my preferences
• All new material by a specific author (on any blog or online source)
• Feed of new feeds, of various types:
•   Just my friends
•   Authored by people whose blogs I already subscribe to
•   Filtered on personal profile/interests
• House for sale listings
• Newly discovered prime numbers (okay, a niche audience)
• Airport flight status alerts
• Movies in my Netflix queue and recommendations
  
• Audio / video content pushed onto my iPod (Podcasting)
• Auction information

Addendum 11/11:

• Multiplayer game results feed
  
• New government publications feed
• New computer virus alerts feed (with metadata giving virus signatures)
• Book queue
  

Niche Markets

Niche markets are where it's at: Chris Anderson's The Long Tail is exactly right. The Internet not only eliminates the overhead of physical space but also, more importantly, reduces the overhead of finding what you want to near-zero. When your computer tracks your preferences and auto-discovers new content that you actually want, it enables new markets that couldn't otherwise exist.

Update 10/11: Joi Ito's take.