Alltop.com: blog topics for all
Over the past few months, writer, venture capitalist and tech evangelist Guy Kawasaki (plus a team of online helpers) have built a powerful new resource for All Things Blog. Launched in March 2008, the site Alltop.com aims to achieve “cessation of Internet stagnation” by providing “aggregation without aggravation.”
Alltop is basically a ready-made feedreader, with topics divided neatly into categories and displayed at a glance on individual, color-coded pages. Started as a celebrity gossip amalgamator, Alltop now boasts over 100 categories with more coming online all the time. There are even entire blogs devoted to the new topics being added.
I was excited to see that last week Kawasaki and crew launched africa.alltop.com, which features blogs like afrigadget and The Zambian. This week they launched aids.alltop.com (with HIV info and resources, too). The pages represent a smart and simple way to track all that’s happening in these domains.
Some other Alltop topics of interest to Pop!Tech readers:
good.alltop.com
green.alltop.com
nonprofit.alltop.com
science.alltop.com
socialentrepreneurship.alltop.com
tech.alltop.com
The Alltop lists are hand-built, so the category selections are not always comprehensive. Still, they’re a great resource for quickly locating and listening to a wide range of voices from all corners of the Internet.
Because Guy is such a voracious consumer of media and just generally an innovative thought leader, I sent him a few quick Pop!Techie questions that he was kind enough to answer:
Q: When is the last time you were amazed?
A: It depends on what you mean by amazed. Like religious, life-changing experience? It’s been a while. Like delighted in something that’s an unexpected joy? Then everyday my kids amaze me. Yesterday I had a hat trick playing hockey–that amazed me and everyone else playing. 
There are more than seventy people helping me with Alltop by tweeting announcement to all their followers–that amazes me too.
Q: Who inspires you?
A: I don’t have these heroes like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Oprah, etc–not that they aren’t heroic. The people who inspire me tend to be “unknown”–for example, the people who go right into the thick of poverty and violence and try to make the world a better place. Teachers, for that matter, who change the world one student at a time. Those are inspiring people.
Q: What’s happening right now that you think might have the potential to change the world?
A: Alternative energy research impresses me. Oil’s days are numbered–someday we’ll look back and say, “Wow, once society got fed up with a dependence on oil, we got off that drug a lot faster than anyone predicted.”
We look forward to seeing what Guy and Alltop roll out next.
Comments
James Aug 19, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Alltop is pretty cool. I often go directly there after reading my close personal contact feeds in my Google Reader account to get a look at what the rest of the world is doing.
Jenny, Bloggess Aug 19, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Alltop kicks ass. Also, in real life Guy is much less spotty. I suspect you’ve accidentally posted a picture of Jackie Chan. I think that happens a lot.
SJ Ciske Aug 19, 2008 at 12:55 pm
That can’t be guy - too handsome - must be the hockey and Pilates!
Michelle Riggen-Ransom Aug 19, 2008 at 1:28 pm
New picture up that reflects the true, non-spotty spirit of Guy Kawasaki!
The Art of Innovation: Guy Kawasaki Sep 5, 2008 at 10:16 am
[...] few weeks ago, Michelle reported on Guy Kawasaki and his site Alltop.com, which I am now surfing on a weekly basis. I’ve always found it [...]