Disqus - Latest Comments for app103

Re: Unacceptable Words

app103 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:33:00 -0000

I am reminded of the famous piece by Mark Twain, in which he proposes how to simplify the English language. Some of the rules he came up with resemble what today's youth do when communicating with each other in casual settings.

And I think that is the key here, the context in which one is communicating. It is perfectly acceptable to condense your thoughts to fit within a character limit, by whatever means necessary, provided your abbreviations can be understood by those you are communicating with.

I think it only becomes a real issue when those abbreviations pop up where they are not understood, not considered the norm, and do not fit into the writing style one would expect in the given situation.

An example would be how the name DonationCoder is abbreviated on that community's forum or within their chatroom, as simply DC. We, the members understand that, but to an outsider in another setting, they might mistaken DC to mean Washington, DC, so one has to be careful not to use that type of abbreviation in settings where the meaning isn't so obvious.

Another example is how Friendfeed users abbreviate their community name to just FF, which on Twitter could be mistaken to mean Follow Friday, or in another setting could even be mistaken to mean the Firefox browser.

I do not believe that some day we will be reading long news articles where everything is abbreviated like an SMS message. The kids of today do not turn in their homework written in this manner, because they understand the time and place for such language, and that isn't when there are no restrictions on length or one is expected to express oneself to a certain standard.

I believe the people that use such abbreviations are a lot smarter than other people give them credit for. For one, they know how to effectively communicate within the restrictions of any given technology. This does take some thought. It goes against everything they have been taught is correct. They not only invent their own form of the English language, they are also quite good at deciphering it, too, and within the context in which it is expressed.

Re: Sorry FriendFeed, But I Agree With Robert Scoble

app103 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:44:16 -0000

Yes, the really great discussions are fewer and farther between than they used to be, but I don't think it has anything to do with friendfeed becoming cliqueish, because I don't think it has.

I would like to see more of that type of discussion, myself. There were a few channels that I thought had some hope, but they seem to have fizzled out, with nobody posting in them any more.

But at the same time, you have to understand that anywhere you go, an unpopular view isn't likely to be embraced, and is likely to be jumped all over. Subjects like politics, religion, race, and gender disparity are traditionally topics that can cause much heated debates and argument when opposing viewpoints are expressed. But that's a good thing, in my opinion, so let it be so. On most "nice" forums, they are the forbidden subjects, for just this reason. They can turn friends into enemies at the drop of a hat and make otherwise nice people turn into "monsters".

But if you have something on your mind you'd like to discuss on these subjects, by all means, post your views, no matter how unpopular you think they are. When kept to oneself, an unpopular view can be nothing but. But out in the open, no matter how heated the debate gets, it has a chance to becoming more popular, as you have the opportunity to change minds.

It is better to post the topics you'd like to discus than to complain that nobody else is posting the topics you'd like to discuss. Take charge and be in control of the content in your feed. And don't worry, I won't unsubscribe if you say something I don't agree with. I am not that petty, and I prefer to follow people that speak their mind, even if it is contrary to my point of view.

Re: http://cranialsoup.blogspot.com/2009/01/add-twitthis-button-to-your-blogger.html

app103 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:30:56 -0000

You do have the first line mentioned. Paste the code right after it and make sure you are pasting in the entire code.

Re: http://cranialsoup.blogspot.com/2009/01/add-twitthis-button-to-your-blogger.html

app103 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:55:36 -0000

That is way above and beyond the type of support I am willing to give for
this. I am not prepared or willing to give free 1-on-1 lessons in Blogger
template coding.

I am sorry.

Re: http://cranialsoup.blogspot.com/2009/01/add-twitthis-button-to-your-blogger.html

app103 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:12:31 -0000

I am not affiliated with the TwitThis service and can't offer any fixes for
anything that may go wrong on their server.

The messages you are getting are not a result of my code or anything that
you did wrong. It is an issue with TwitThis. They are the ones having the
problem. There is nothing you (or I) can do except wait for them to fix the
issues on their end.

Re: http://cranialsoup.blogspot.com/2009/01/add-twitthis-button-to-your-blogger.html

app103 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:19:25 -0000

I wasn't aware the image URL had changed, since I could still see the old
image showing up.

Thanks. I edited my post.

Re: http://cranialsoup.blogspot.com/2008/07/u-comment-i-comment-exchange-your-2.html

app103 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:58:35 -0000

In case you haven't noticed, this post is more than a year old and I have switched over to Disqus for my comments and they use nofollow. So I no longer give out nofollow links to anyone, not even the older comments that used to be dofollow.

And now I have the power to edit too, so I can take out the spammy links, if the comment is otherwise good except for that.

Re: Project Retweet: Why It Will Change Twitter for the Better

app103 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:41:43 -0000

And the introduction of a flood of avatars from people you are not subscribed to into your stream will just make the ads they plan on pushing just that much easier to "accept", subconsciously, by first being desensitized by the new RTs. Quite clever of Twitter, if you ask me.

Re: 10 People You Won’t See on Twitter Anymore

app103 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:41:31 -0000

There is a guy that has his washer connected to twitter and it sends tweets when his clothes are done & ready for the dryer. That is clearly a bot, but this is something personally useful for him, since he gets alerts to remind him to go attend to his laundry. He doesn't follow other people with his account and the people subscribed to that account, besides himself, are only subscribed for the 'weird factor". I don't think this guy's washing machine should be banned from Twitter. It would be a real shame if it was.

Re: Amazon Hits 1 Million Twitter Followers And Gives You a Free MP3

app103 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:07:54 -0000

I got School of Seven Bells - Wired For Light

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002G6FA42/

You can preview the full track here: http://www.last.fm/music/School+of+Seven+Bells/...

Re: RSS: interesting or boring? (Hint @marshallk and @louisgray, we’re not normal)

app103 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:05:58 -0000

I love RSS because there is so much potential for creatively using it in so many ways. The only real limit is in the developer's imagination.

I would have to say the most useful RSS reader I have ever used (Pop-up Cody), automatically shows me new posts from my favorite site within 15 seconds of the post being made. (my forum posts show up in that long before they show up in friendfeed).

Unfortunately it's only for that one site and the feed url is hard coded into it.

Since it is quite specialized to the site it was made for, it includes some features you won't find in other RSS readers, such as post count total of the person that made that post, link to their profile, link to send them a donation, their average number of posts per day, when they were last active, how long they have been a member, and current status. It also shows who was the topic starter and in which section the topic was started.

Btw, it was RSS that brought me here to comment on your blog. I was messing around in Newzie, one of the greatest desktop RSS readers ever made for Windows, designed for speed reading a large volume of feeds. I could not even begin to explain how many options you have with it and all the different ways you can view your feeds. It completely blows Google Reader away. The only reason for using Google Reader is if you are into the social stuff they added. (I just wish Newzie was still actively being developed, because there is so much more they could add to it)

Re: FriendFeed Comment Widget

app103 — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:34:29 -0000

I am having some trouble getting this to work on a Blogger blog. The blog is here: http://allwordyandjunk.blogspot.com/

It's not picking up the comments and likes that are posted on the items here: http://friendfeed.com/allwordyandjunk

Now I added it exactly the same way I did on my own blog, which works quite well on my blog, but it doesn't want to work on this one.

For example, this post: http://allwordyandjunk.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-j...

has a like and a comment here: http://friendfeed.com/allwordyandjunk/04c0086c/...

But you'd never know that looking at the page on Blogger.

Am I doing something wrong? Or does this just not work on group blogs, or not work for feeds posted to a friendfeed group, even though I added the group name in the script so it can find the page?

And if it won't work because it's a friendfeed group, is there any way you can make it support that?

Re: Why do FriendFeed users feel jilted? Or, an examination of erotic impulses

app103 — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:17:49 -0000

Have you ever tried to report a serious issue to Facebook? I am referring to something like a security problem that has the potential to affect a lot of people and not something personal like your account being deleted.

It's just like reporting a plumbing problem or leaking roof to a slum lord.

You can't get in touch with them and it won't get fixed. You can not report a security issue to facebook unless you are tattling on a specific user for posting "bad" pics, videos, or links.

They require a name of who to blame (and delete their account) to be reported along with the issue or the form will not submit.

Meanwhile, the roof continues to leak, the toilet is still backed up, there is a big hole in middle of the floor, and the furnace is shutting out the pilot lights on everyone's stove whenever it kicks on.

That was what I meant.

If you have used friendfeed yourself for any length of time, you know the team is approachable and there is a way to report issues, multiple ways in fact.

As far as MySpace goes, their chief security officer was not hard to find (2 clicks from the main page) and they make it quite easy to contact him, so maybe selling out to myspace wouldn't have been as bad you you implied.

And the rest of my original comment is a reference to their horrible IP and privacy policies which allow them the right to take everyone's submitted content, pics, videos, etc and do as they please, including exploiting them for profit.

Are you aware that Facebook can take the photos submitted by every user and start their own stock photo site, selling them to anyone they want, for any purpose, including commercial, without asking the user's permission, notifying the user they are doing so, and not even crediting the user as the source.

Just because they are not doing that now (as far as we know) doesn't mean they can't, or won't. And there is nothing you can do to stop them if they decide to do it, since you agreed they can and gave them the right, by having an account and posting the content.

Maybe, just maybe, a lot of people are not upset about this sale to Facebook because of their love of friendfeed, but in fact because of their hatred of Facebook and it's ways, things that are not likely to change because they have Friendfeed's talent working for them now.

I am watching friendfeeds userbase shopping for a new site in much the same way one shops for a house to buy. If you were right about their feelings then they would be looking for a new site in the same manner that one looks for a date, not a house.

Re: Why do FriendFeed users feel jilted? Or, an examination of erotic impulses

app103 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:54:18 -0000

I think my feelings are more similar to how one loves and feels comfortable in the home the live in, then finds out the owner of the building sold it to a slum lord that will most likely ransack your apartment when you are not looking, conducting guided tours of your bedroom while you are off at work.

Re: Delicious Founder: I Wish I Had Not Sold to Yahoo

app103 — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:31:02 -0000

How about StumbleUpon? It's not just for discovering links. With their toolbar in Firefox, there is no need to bookmark it in your browser AND add it to the service, it does both in a single shot when you add it to the service, tagged too. If ever comes a day where StumbleUpon ceases to exist, you'll still have every last bookmark archived in your browser's bookmarks. And it's all automatic. You'd lose a lot less than with any of the other services out there. All the rest of the services depend on you remembering to export your collection on a regular basis to back them up yourself, and some don't even give you that option.

Re: Its not about Friendfeed, Its about Friends – A Requiem

app103 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:41:51 -0000

I have said this before, many times, and I will say it again: Friendfeed is the first and only social network to capture and hold my interest for more than a week, and make me feel like I belonged.

It was different...so very different, so very special. It quickly became home. Yes, it's the people and that is what I wish I could take with me when I leave friendfeed...every last one of them.

Re: You are SO unfollowed!

app103 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:09:53 -0000

You could also use tircd + xchat, then write yourself a perl script to automatically kick anyone that talks. In about a day or 2 the list should be small enough to unfollow the rest manually.

Re: You are SO unfollowed!

app103 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:01:17 -0000

I find myself subscribing to much more non-English ones than before, mainly because of Micah's translation script. Before I had to copy & paste to translate and that just took too much time. Now it's all automatic and wonderful.

Re: MySpace Launches MySpace Graveyard [Parody Video]

app103 — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 03:11:12 -0000

I have never had a Myspace account and I never will, but that doesn't mean I find it to be completely useless. The only use I have had for myspace has been for music, and much less so since they stopped allowing me to download files.

Re: Musing and Gadgets - Musing and Gadgets - Techcrunch vs Twitter

app103 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:55:49 -0000

There is a big difference between the documents from Watergate and Twitter.

While the person(s) supplying the documents from Watergate clearly didn't have a right to them, it was a "whistle blower" act, and the Washington Post published them for the public good.

TechCrunch received stolen documents from a criminal, a cyber-terrorist. Publishing this stuff further victimizes the victim of a crime, and does nothing to serve the public good.

What scandal was revealed in the published documents? What crimes of Twitter were uncovered? None!

What TechCrunch did isn't that much different than publishing photos of a violent rape in progress, with name and address of the victim, but withholding the victim's phone number.

I might expect actions like that from a trashy tabloid, but not any publisher that expects to be taken seriously.

Re: App Development Request: The Web’s Opinion About One Topic

app103 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:36:38 -0000

Backtype might be helpful, as they pull in comments from twitter, friendfeed, and also blogs. Not the same as a Google blog search because it's focused on the comments only and not the blog posts themselves.

Re: A Quick and Inconclusive List of Software I Like

app103 — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:59:39 -0000

On Windows, you might want to try Surfulater. You can create articles from the clipboard, and edit them, pasting in more blocks of text or adding in notes. And in the cases of saving web content, you can opt to also attach a copy of the original page to the clip, which is handy to see the original, in case you have edited the clip. (Surfulater is not freeware and databases are stored on your PC, not online)

Or of you want something super heavy duty that can do almost everything but make coffee, you might want to try SQLNotes/InfoQube.

Re: 19 Twitter Desktop Apps Compared

app103 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:23:32 -0000

You missed one: your favorite IRC client (xchat, mirc, etc). It is possible with tircd. Bonus is that you can write scripts for most IRC clients....like one that auto-unfollows anyone that mentions "get more followers with ___"

http://code.google.com/p/tircd/

Re: Notional Framework for Monetization Web2010

app103 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:56:07 -0000

In a way, that's part of the problem. You are thinking small and just for you when what we really need is something large that can benefit us all. (not intended to discourage or condemn your ideas)

Ultimately, I would love to see a large company with a lot of reach get involved, not as a middleman looking to stuff their pockets with a chunk of the donation funds like companies such as TipJoy do, but as a benevolent non-profit community service project, for the purpose of collecting and distributing the funds.

The one company that comes to mind that could easily pull something like this off, is Google. They are about the only ones I can think of that have the kind of reach required for the implementation and widespread adoption of this kind of system.

Re: Notional Framework for Monetization Web2010

app103 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:13:32 -0000

Why is there always so much focus on advertising as the way to monetize content while allowing it to remain free? I think a large scale voluntary donation based model similar to the one at donationcoder.com could work, if not at least supplement it.

It needs to be quick, easy, and secure for users to deposit into the system, and it needs to be as easy as clicking a "like" link to send a small amount of money to a content producer.

And I would define a content producer as one that contributes to the system, both with their own content and sharing the content of others.

In other words, if I share a link to one of your articles on a social network, and everyone likes, both of us should be rewarded for that, as we both played a part in either production or distribution of that content.

DonationCoder is one of the very few successful microdonation based sites/communities on the web, and one could learn quite a lot from examining their model and listening to what they have to say about their experiences with the whole concept.

Between their about page and this article from their founder (written after their first year), you'll find a lot of information that could be the springboard for much bigger and better ideas.