I'm going to make one prediction for 2006, maybe I'll do more tomorrow but for now, this is it. I predict that 2006 will see an explosion of new aggregators. I realize that many consider them a commodity now but I really don't think so. There is so much left to do in this space and so many different ways to go.
Dave is working on a new one, focusing on podcasts and reading lists. I'm very anxious to see how this looks especially the reading list aspect. It's a concept I'm excited about.
There are so many new RSS feeds out there beyond just blogs. Perhaps we will use multiple aggregators depending on the context. At any rate, next year, aggregators will be launched that help users deal with the flow of information coming their way.
Technorati Tags: rss, aggregators, 2006predictions
My boss reminded me that you can now go to http://my.earthlink.net/weather/ca/monrovia and get the weather for Monrovia. That will work for any city-state combination we have. So for example, here's Cambridge and Chicago.
I had forgotten we implemented that. Very cool to see. Now we just need to do it for more of our data.
I also want to expand the definition of these URLs from just human-centered. I think it is better to call them data-centered because not only are they useful for humans but also for their creation programmatically. Now that I know I can create a URL for any city-state, I can write code to grab that data if I wanted.
Technorati Tags:
humancenteredurls
Chris Heathcote talks about the need for our URLs to be more human-friendly as opposed to the normal CMS style ones we see today. By thinking about the URL, we can offer users easier ways to find data or services.
For example, on our start page, it would be awesome if you could find the weather for Monrovia by going to this URL: http://my.earthlink.net/weather/91016 or seeing the latest value of the EarthLink stock by going to: http://my.earthlink.net/stocks/ELNK. With a little work, either of these can be done and maybe you can add /rss to the end of each and get back a RSS feed. The possibilities are endless once you start returning useful data with the URL.
The larger question though is whether users will think to explore your site this way or if they will continue to only go where links take them. It's tough to say but the more sites which have easy-to-hack URLs, the better chances everyday people will start doing it.
Technorati Tags:
humancenteredurls
Finally, I can talk about it since Dave Thomas just posted about it on his blog. EarthLink is hosting a Rails Studio here in the Pasadena offices at the end of January. Should be a great time and hopefully the first of many developer community events we are part of.
Technorati Tags: rails, pragmaticprogrammer, earthlink, rubyonrails
Mark Watson is starting to write a message system in Ruby. Definitely something to keep an eye on if you need something like Java's JMS.
A year ago, I started my day in orientation, went to lunch with my friend Gregg and new boss Joe, came back to my new office and started to setup my new computer. Today won't be the same way but it does amaze how quickly a year can move.
I think I've learned a ton this year, both positively and negatively. I've dug into some new technologies which I've really enjoyed. I've found out how not to lead a big project.
Overall, the year has been OK. I wish I could give it a higher grade but I can't. 2006 though, that's a totally different story. I just wish it would get here a little quicker.
My mantra for the new year is taken from the Mini:
Let's Motor
The movie was amazing, definitely a must-see. I couldn't believe the number of kids under six in the theatre though. Maybe I'm just an overprotective parent but I just can't see taking either the Princess or the Good Doctor to see it, no matter if they want to or not.
It's been tough enough trying to explain that Kong was both good and bad and that one of the reasons he was bad, was because people were mean to him. The problem is taking it the next step and going into how just because people are mean does not mean you can be mean back.
Technorati Tags:
kingkong
Bren over at Slacker Manager has posted a very good introduction on how to use del.icio.us. One of the more difficult things on the Web today to explain is del.icio.us. I'm sure most of it is the name but I think now at least, I could easily point to this overview and give people a better foundation on how it can be powerful.
Dave has some interesting thoughts about the success of both Google and Yahoo. The basic idea is that successful companies are ones who do not try and jail their users into their site, not letting them know about what else is available on the Web. Instead, companies send their users away and in turn, the users come back because of the value the original companies have given them.
It is this value which I find interesting and the toughest part to replicate. If Google wasn't the search engine it is, it wouldn't matter if they sent people away because no one would use them. I go back to Google because I know there is a 98% probability I will find what I'm looking for, no matter where on the Web it is located. The same is true for Yahoo and its news. It doesn't matter what publication publishes the story or what site I eventually land on, I found the headline on Yahoo and that is where I'll return.
One of the beauties of RSS is the ability it gives us to make this relationship happen without a company as a middleman. I can aggregate feeds directly, moving thru them at my own pace, following links to remote sites but still being in control. Any company that wants to have user loyalty has to give power back to the user or that company will fail at establishing any sort of relationship with their users.
I meant to post this yesterday but Christmas trees got in the way. Six years ago on December 10th, I posted a little note on BaristaLog saying:
I've decided to move this beyond just a storehouse of my Java code. I want to document my normal days and what code I'm writing for my job as well.
And with that, my blogging lifestyle started, that's a joke by the way. I've never been a prolific blogger. I've had my moments of longwinded posts but generally I like pointing to other people doing cool things with little comments interspersed. I have been thinking about this though and I do want to expand my thinking and writing. We'll see.
All I know is that blogging has been something I've really enjoyed and I'm looking forward to continuing down its path.
Interesting article about Facebook at the WSJ, specifically about whether or not students realize how much information they are giving out with their profiles. Of course, most of the examples are on the extreme side and I think it is a bit over the top to make blanket statements about the dangers of the site when a very small number have had any problems.
That being said, I do think that anyone working on a social networking site of any kind should consider privacy and security high on the development list. You need to walk a fine line between wanting as much information from users as possible in order to help find different types of relationships and respecting the need for the user to have privacy.
Perhaps a way to do this is to have layers of accessible information. The outer layer just has basic data which isn't especially deep but should be useful. As a person becomes more trusted to a user, the more information is available to them. This type of thing is modeled in real life in the sense that there are many things you will only tell your friends which you would never tell someone you just met.
Technorati Tags: socialnetworks, facebook, privacy
Leonard proposes that the Muppets perform the Book of Acts instead of Lord of the Rings. I like the choice of Kermit as Paul but I'm wondering if they will be able to make him mean enough to be believable as Saul when he was going after the early believers.
Also, I see Fozzie Bear being Silas because of the friendship with Paul. Also, Rolf and Gonzo being Peter and John for no real reason other than they are another pair. And as far as the Holy Spirit coming down as flames of fire at the beginning, why not have little Swedish Chef's above the heads, definitely fits with the speaking in tongues.
Russ just posted about last night's Mobile Monday up in the Bay. 230 people got together to watch some demo's and socialize. Where is the Mobile Monday for LA?
The site hasn't been updated since August where it talks about a September meeting which I don't know even happened. You would think that there would have been companies wanting to show things off for the holidays or at least get people back together. Maybe the starters of the local chapter have lost interest? Who knows? Hopefully something will get started again, maybe after the first of the year.
Technorati Tags:
mobilemonday, mobilemondayla
Right now, at Stanford, When 2.0 is going on. It's an one-day conference put together by the PC Forum folks. The agenda looks very interesting but the wacky thing (for me at least) is that I just heard about it this morning when Dave posted about it. I'd like to think that in the greater than 150 feeds I have in my aggregator, someone would have mentioned but alas, I guess I'm not subscribed to the right feeds.
I like the emphasis on time and calendars and schedules and all the extra things we deal with day-to-day. I don't like the $1195 price tag but I don't think the conference was geared for me. I do look forward to reading any blog posts though. Hopefully there will be some.
Technorati Tags:
when2.0
I don't know how many times I've told myself that I would do something once a certain threshold had been met. It didn't matter whether it was money in the checking account, time during my day or whatever else it was, I told myself I would get in gear. Of course I didn't actually do it but that's beside the point. Actually no, it isn't besides the point, it is the whole point.
Instead of believing that the answer to what we want is out there and in someone else hands, this is an invitation to seek answers from within. It's an invitation to ask ourselves, "why not now?" It's an invitation to live a whole life with no regrets.
I like the above part of that post. You can't look to the external factors when deciding what you are going to do. You have no control of those. You really have no control if/when you'll get a raise or be put on some new project. It is up to you. You have to be proactive in getting there. Making the excuse of waiting until someone else does something will just leave you frustrated with yourself.
I've tried to mention to a few of my co-workers as well as a boss or two that I think creating a weekly podcast. Our development group has plenty of personality as well as technical expertise. I'd love to hear people talk about things they are working on, no matter if it is on our roadmap or not. Rails, Spring, Hibernate, Lucene, JMX and many others could be talked about without giving any company secrets away.
Why should we do it? Well, I can give you a pat answer and then I'll give you an additional reason which is much more selfish. The pat answer is we have plenty of knowledge we could share with other developers. We deal with issues of scaling other sites don't. We use a variety of technologies that I mentioned above which are not always the easiest to get going and use.
Now, the more selfish reason kind of goes along with that to some degree. We do have a great team and I want others to know about it. I'd love for EarthLink to be a sought after place of employment for people wanting to work with the latest technologies, doing incredible things for millions of people. Much has been said about the current online world being one that is GYM, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. You can throw in Amazon, eBay and Apple as well and then obviously you have the smaller companies doing cool things. Well, we should be included in that conversation. I realize that if you looked at our offerings right now, you wouldn't think so but that will change, believe me, it will.
So with all of that being said, I hope soon to let you know about this but if not, know that I'm still trying.
Technorati Tags:
podcasts, earthlink
Update: Stuart has released the code since he doesn't think he'll be able to spend much time on it.
Stuart Halloway has posted examples of a new DSL (domain-specific language) which will simplify the creation of beans in Spring.
The current XML configuration has been one of the more difficult issues in Spring to deal with at work. It definitely takes a little bit to wrap your head around it and any problems with the XML can be difficult to track down.
Hopefully, something along these lines will allow more flexibility and better error tracking.
Technorati Tags:
springframework