April 2013
1 post
March 2013
16 posts
Appcide: The death of Google Reader
As someone who get involved in RSS feeds back in 2002 at Netscape.com, where we used them for personalization for news feeds, and who has been a staunch RSS/XML output user since that back in the day, I am both shocked and furious that Google decided to shut down Google Reader on July 1, 2013. Dudes, I would have paid money for the thing!
I’ve got more than 1,000 feeds in my reader, and like many infogeeks, I use the reader to index and search on topics in a way that Google Alerts doesn’t offer.
It feels like Facebook ruined their search, and now Google is killing a tool that is one of my favs in their suite.
Lesson: None of it is truly free, and if you want to protect your experience, maybe you’re better off paying up front.
Reading: Google Reader Shutdown a Sobering Reminder That ‘Our’ Technology Isn’t Ours - Forbes http://onforb.es/ZNunde
“Google was doing a public service for the news and blogger community by keeping Reader going. Understandably, the Reader shutdown was received not just as the end of an era but almost as an attack on those who count on it for traffic and attention. Over at Techcrunch, Sarah Perez had this reaction: “Don’t be evil? If that’s the unofficial Google motto, then the company has failed to deliver today. Among the products Google just announced it plans to sunset (read: kill off), beloved feed-reading service Google Reader is now on the chopping block.”
—Google’s Strange Attack on Bloggers and the Public Internet: the Massive Reaction to Reader Shutdown - Forbes
“Google’s announcement today that it is destroying Google Reader, the most popular RSS syndication tool was a massive blow to the blogging community – and to most of those speaking out tonight via social media, an entirely unnecessary attack on an important corner of the public Internet by a company with more than $50 billion in revenue and a newly-won reputation as a tech giant on the move.”
—Google’s Strange Attack on Bloggers and the Public Internet: the Massive Reaction to Reader Shutdown - Forbes
Is tumblr the best place to blog right now?
Is this the best place for me to start blogging again? 10 months ago, I said I was going to redesign my name site, which feels old and stale. Good luck with that—doing Oakland Local, my hyperlocal start-up, and some side projects, like consulting, takes up all my work cycles, pretty much.
Yesterday, I had a brain wave? Why not just blog on tumblr? At least until I come up with a better idea (and one that is neutral in its impact on 3,0000+ and 10 years of blog posts on moveable type and blogger.
Where are you blogging? What advice do you have for moi?
March 6 Webinar: Raising Visibility: Building Audience, Engagement and Reach
I am doing a webinar for The Knight Digital Media Center at USC and The Knight Foundation’s Community Innovation Challenge Project on March 6 from 11-12 PM, Pacific time. The topic is Raising Visibility: Building Audience, Engagement and Reach and there are some free spots left for the class—go to http://bit.ly/YGIfUe for more information and to sign up.
Here’s some more info on the class:
What’s this about? Raising visibility for your project teaches you how to increase both online awareness and community outreach and engagement for your project,. This one hour webinar that will take participants through the basic elements behind successful online promotion via social media and through local events and outreach in your community .
Who will benefit from this session? Everyone involved in managing and promoting a project will learn about best practices, tools and techniques for increasing audience engagement, driving traffic and engagement through social media, optimizing web traffic through SEO, syndication and distribution, and using data to fine-tune results.
What we will talk about:
• How to use Facebook and Twitter to increase engagement
• How to optimize headlines and content for SEO optimization
• How to build syndication and distribution partnerships to increase visibility
• How to use basic measurements to fine-tune results
Please check it out if you’re interested; there is also going to be a 4-week virtual class in April 2013 on this topic that I am teaching.
February 2013
2 posts
Oakland unveils new flag with "YOLO" as city motto
First announced by Oakland Unseen, the City of Oakland has officially unveiled its new city flag replacing “1852,” the date it was founded, with its new city motto: “YOLO.”
Good one
January 2013
5 posts
“Aaron’s death demands a great deal of soul searching by the US Attorney who decided to massively overcharge this young man and the MIT administrators who decided to involve Federal law enforcement.”
—The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime” « Unhandled Exception
