google reader
.:google reader: feed me:.
from the site:
With Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your e-mail.
in a nutshell:
i used to have bookmarks upon bookmarks upon bookmarks upon bookmarks in my browser’s bookmark folder. i spend time meticulously combing through them for news and information from my sites…and it would take a considerable amount of time. it was worth it because if you’re not doing that kind of thing and you work in the interactive/marketing/technology business, you are worthless. then along comes RSS…this amazing, fantastic technology that makes it possible for you to subscribe to sites that provide you with RSS feeds directly to content that you want to see. you can read a quick slug to see if the information is relevant for you or not and you can then move along quickly to the next if it’s not. however, RSS hasn’t really been picking up much with the ‘regular ol’ user’ market until the past couple of years. part of the reason is that:
1. the general web-browsing populace (read ‘not tech geeks’ or web people) have really known what it is or what it does and why they should use it
2. nobody has really known what kind of software (feed aggregators) is the best to use. some you have to pay for. some is free. some is web based. it sucks and it’s confusing for the normal user.
in the usual google fashion, they put out this really great feed aggregator called ‘google reader’…and if you don’t have it, you should go out and sign up for an account immediatley. it came out in 2005 or so, but it really wasn’t all that cool…until now. the interface is clean, it’s easy to populate, and even if you’re using a similar type of application, changes are you can export your content out of that application and into this one. for example, i’ve been using bloglines , and it took me all of about 2 minutes to get google reader setup.
one google to rule them all…one google to bind them……….
dating on demand
.:your future boyfriend:.
a friend at work sent this little nugget of accidental hillarity my way. i promptly proceeded to spit and drool water all over my desk, i chuckled so hard. a couple of things to note before you watch the video:
1. the guy is serious. this is not a joke.
2. i’ve confirmed its authenticity due to this portion of the e-mail from my friend:
“What makes it even better is that Louis was my TA in Geography 110 at my college. He used to recite the names of all of these anime characters alphabetically on demand. He also sported a fanny pack and hi-tops the likes of which I haven’t seen since 1991. Flippin’ sweet.”
joost
.:joost: TV over IP:.
from the site:
“Joost™ is a new way of watching TV on the internet, which uses new and established technologies to provide the best of both the internet and TV worlds. We’re in the process of making it as TV-like as we can, with programmes, channels and adverts. You can also see some things that we think will enhance the TV experience: searching for programmes and channels, for example, as well as social features like chat. There are many more new features to come!”
in a nutshell:
this is the hot new trend, friends…IPTV…or televison delivered hot and fresh to your door over the internet. netflix is going to roll out a similar on-demand service to it’s subscribers at no extra cost. microsoft will be launching their new service that will work with the xbox 360…further establishing that particular product as more than ‘just a video game system’. i’m sure you’ll see sony following suite here soon.
but joost…joost is a product of the same company that brings you skype, a hugely successful low-cost IP phone service.
it’s currently in beta, and you can sign up to be a tester. my feelings are a little mixed for this particular service right now. watching television on my computer does not really excite me. i do enough on my computer during the day…why would i want to further cement myself in front of the thing when i could watch my rather nice, large, easy-to-watch flatscreen from the comfort of my couch? is there really any argument? of course, don’t expect watching on your computer to last long. a way will be found where you can stream all of this stuff to your TV through a settop box or the use of another piece of equipment…like an xbox 360 for instance. that could potentially be done given that a windows media player conversion process is built into the Joost player…but we won’t get into that here.
for the time being, just believe me when i tell you that you shouldn’t be surprised to see your cable or satellite bills start to decrease over the next year or so. the market is starting to heat up quite a bit…and joost will be one of the pioneers. (more…)
geni
.:geni in a data driven, flash designed social networking bottle:.
from the site:
“geni is the fast, free, fun way to create your family tree – and stay in touch.”
in a nutshell:
geni is actually something that i think could possibly be pretty useful and cool…something with a little more meaning than just another stupid social networking site. of course, i could be biased. my dad likes doing that family tree stuff, and so i think that i have kind of inherited a little bit of that.
geni is in beta, and definitely feel like it. it’s a little slow right now, and some of the interface design leaves a little to be wished for. but the idea is solid. you’re easily able to start a family tree for yourself and immediately start adding to it. as you add people to it, the option to add an e-mail address is one of the first things you can input. this sends an invite to the person, and then the person can input as much or little information that they’d like. and again, as they add more people to it, they can invite…and so on and so on. so it’s a great viral tool. when you as, as the creator, go back to the site, you can actually see how your tree has grown by how much other people are responding through their input. that’s all cool by itself…but the really cool thing is that, eventually, it appears that it will start making connections to other people for you. so…you know when you go to myspace and see ‘you’re joined to 1 gazillion trillion other people’ in your profile? in theory, geni would allow to see all of those paths…and in turn see what your relation to the person is.
wouldn’t it be funny if you started this and found out a year later that you had married your cousin or something…?
ha………ha….
yeah.
