3 posts tagged “opinion”

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Sites seen in recent times

By far the gizmos out there are getting better.


I was quite impressed by Uber's interface, if not for its function, which is merely an aggregator/media sharing site. I can post YouTube videos there- so what's wrong with using YouTube for that? Because I can't share or post pics and links there. For some strange reason the Uber people want you to have a US ZIP code in order to login.Oh, and two accounts may not use the same email address as that must be the username. Bad luck if you're in a band.

For link sharing, I was also impressed with Plum and DownFly. Plum lets me post links and media directly to Facebook via the confusingly-named Plum Shoebox that seems to use separate login credentials. This has gotten me mixed up on several occasions. Lose this guys- I want to discover your service via Facebook but then fall in like with it and login directly on your home page.

Downfly lets you import from my other new darling Plaxo, and also post links directly to Facebook users. These people that you post to get the page beneath your comment and they can comment on the link themselves. The whole thing is run from a Firefox add-on, as is Plum, but with a drop-down menu of all your friends and groups.

Post a comment Tags: review, web2.0, opinion

The Problem(s) with Widgets

…is that most of them just aren't very good. That is, not that they aren't well-made. I mean they are pretty, and they do the job they were intended to do. But they're not even one-trick ponies, they're more like one-trick gnats.
Do we really need a Widget for every RSS feed out there? I understand. These are for people that are only interested in one thing, one news source, and they don't know what RSS is, and they don't care. Wouldn't it be better to teach them, and download a proper Feed Reader application?

The Second Problem of Widgets is that there are too many of them written as countdown timers for mundane events, like a TV show premiere. OK, once that date has passed-- Apple, Yahoo, Opera, are you listening? -- I want them out of the normal download lists and escorted to a retirement area.

Honestly, if I wanted a piece of history I think the Wayback Machine would be a better place to visit, wouldn't it?

The Third Problem of Widgets is that there are too many different kinds. Everyone's doing it their own way. Maybe I'm wrong- this could be the Future of Computing, where everything is a Widget.

Post a comment Tags: computers, widgets, opinion

Maybe Wikipedia aint the place for me

There are a couple of problems. One is the amount of articles and talk pages you have to read before you can get started. I read a few of these, but certainly not all of them.

After I discovered a few articles that weren't to my liking -- that is to say they were missing mention of early mac software articles -- I made entries on the appropriate talk pages. Nothing happened. No one stopped by. Perhaps I ought to tag them with the "help" tag to see if any senior wikipedia editors drop by.
The other issue is these editors that can't handle an article with no references. Surely deleting them isn't the answer. I am quite happy using this information knowing that it isn't backed up with references, as long as I know that first. I will be sure not to quote it or use it in any scientific papers.
Deleting these articles surely dishonors those earnest folk who may have spent quite a while trying to make a contribution. I believe they should stand, but with the disclaimer about the lack of references right at the top of the article.

Post a comment Tags: web2.0, opinion