From the category archives:

RSS

There were two semi-related bits of news yesterday that have the potential to give WordPress-powered blogs even more of an edge in Google search rankings. Two small changes that are going to change how we find and use information, and it all comes down to one word: PubSubHubbub (PuSH).
First we got word that all 10.5 million WordPress.com blogs would support not only RSSCloud but also PuSH. That’s a lot of blog content there. Enough to make a serious difference on its own. At the same time Automattic released the PuSHPress [...]

{ 6 comments }

Something has been bothering me about Twitter lately. It has nothing to so with the service, the people I follow, or those who follow me, I think it has something to do with establishing the right atmosphere for me to be productive. I have found it too easy to get caught up in the stream, distracted, but also disconnected. Wanting to be there so I don’t miss anything, but at the safe time wishing I could tear myself away.
It’s not a good feeling. It’s not a healthy state of mind.
And [...]

{ 2 comments }

I don’t buy terribly many books anymore, or magazines, and certainly not newspapers. A bit of an ironic statement from someone who’s first book comes out in January, but I don’t equate publishing with paper. I assume that my books will have more life in digital editions than in paper ones. I’ve been writing in the digital medium far more than I ever have (or will) in works published on paper.
While it isn’t Earth-shattering news that newspapers, at least in print, are dying off. Local newspapers, the hyper local kind [...]

{ 0 comments }

Scoble was always one of the staunchest proponents of full-text RSS feeds out there. Back when I was a pro-blogger trying to crank out lots of posts in a day (or hour), I agreed with him. It was much more helpful (and better for my custom, local feed searches) if the feeds were full-text. I wasn’t as hard core as Scoble and others by not subscribing or unsubscribing to partial text feeds, but I preferred them. Sounds like Scoble has changed his tune of late though:

In 2006 I wrote that [...]

{ 3 comments }

I’ve been a hard-core RSS user since the beginning of my blogging days and I think I’ve tried almost every RSS reader out there. Mashable just put out the Top 10 RSS Readers (as chosen by readers) … good list I think:

Top 10 Mashable Reader News Readers
10. Reeder (iPhone) [warning: iTunes link]
9. Times (Mac)
8. Klipfolio
7. Shrook (Mac)
6. NetNewsWire (Mac)
5. Twitter
4. FeedDemon (Windows)
3. NetVibes
2. Feedly
1. Google Reader
[From Top 10 News Readers Judged by Mashable Readers]

Oddly enough, I’ve used all of these apps. Right now I’m using 1-3, at the [...]

{ 1 comment }

It’s not hard to get blogging, regardless of what blog engine you use (though WordPress is the best IMHO), but there are tricks and tools that make life easier for you. At WordCamp Victoria I decided to distill and talk about the blogging toolkit that I’ve built up over the years. Tools like blog editors, image editors, RSS readers, note gathering tools, even Twitter clients.
Usually bloggers start out like this …
Domain: check
Web host: check
WordPress installed: check
What’s next? The tools. The goodies. The tools that make the job a little easier. [...]

{ 10 comments }

Earlier yesterday I wrote a post lamenting the state of RSS readers–RSS Readers–Why have you forsaken us? Part 1: Setting the stage–and I didn’t have a solid idea of how RSS readers could improve themselves. I couldn’t put my head around a better UI or workflow (besides one-click subscribe), then that afternoon I hit this piece of news–WordPress Just Made Millions of Blogs Real-Time With RSSCloud–and some gears started turning. A few hunks of rust came off and the protestations of my brain being forced into gymnastics was audible across [...]

{ 1 comment }

With all of the discussion of whether RSS is dead–RSS: A good idea at the time but there are better ways now | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com–or not–Marshall Kirkpatrick, Technology Journalist » If You Think RSS is Dead Then That’s Your Loss and It’s a Big One–I think we’ve glossed over a key part of the problem–RSS Readers. Dare Obasanjo took this topic head on–Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life – The Top 5 Reasons RSS Readers Went Wrong–but I don’t think it go the attention it deserved. As I’ve been [...]

{ 2 comments }

Since I am an info glutton my ears perked up when I saw that the invite-only beta status had been taken off of LazyFeed. Come on, if Louis Gray likes it …

louisgray.com: No More Beta Codes: Lazyfeed Is Open for Everyone
The product's uniqueness is one of the more innovative services I have seen in 2009, which was a big part of why I practically have had a part-time job as a beta code broker, trying to gain people access to the site. As of today, that unpaid gig [...]

{ 1 comment }

Sometimes I wonder if the river of information we swam in during 2004, which became something more like a fire hose in the past couple years, has now become one of those super storms that people tell their grandchildren about (I remember the summer of 2009, when data moved faster than computers could store it in a cache…). Reflecting on how quickly something “made” the news back in 2004 (when both Steve Rubel & I started blogging), it might take a day before something reached critical mass. Today Twitter provides [...]

{ 0 comments }

Yeah I love TweetDeck , it’s open all the time and one of the first things I installed on my netbook. TweetDeck is the only way I’ve found I can get much out of Twitter at all. Iain is a very talented guy and eventhough I didn’t “get” TweetDeck at first, now I do.
Om Malik thinks Iain getting $500k in angel funding is a sing of Twitter insanity, I have to strongly disagree.

[From Tweetdeck Funding…a Sign of Twitter Insanity]

TweetDeck freakin’ works. Everyone who I’ve turned on to it [...]

{ 1 comment }