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Tech Trends: time to ditch RSS?
Getting news these days is more work than it used to be.
In times of old, reading the local newspaper was probably enough: you could get local, national and international news in one place, and it was neatly categorized by its perceived importance.
As yesterday's CNN.com story on "hyperlocal" news explains, that's changed. Now some publications focus exclusively on local happenings. Many news consumers turn to dozens of blogs, Twitter feeds, news stories and video links to get their daily fix. It's more work, but potentially there's more of a reward, too. For some, this is a sign the media is becoming more democratic: everyone gets a voice.
But for the reader, sorting through all of this online information can be a maddening and infinite task.
Enter the RSS reader, which brings headlines and scraps of information from your favorite sites to you in one place. But, as a recent Slate post suggests, there's a growing backlash against the RSS mindset partly because the interface is so artless. When you get all of your news through RSS, it all looks the same. There's no design flair, no prioritization of the content, no local flavor to the text-based feeds. It's like shoving the contents of all of your favorite boutique and thrift stores into a Wal-Mart-style warehouse.
Farhad Manjoo writes that his once-beloved Google Reader has become more of a chore than a pleasurable reading experience:
You know that sinking feeling you get when you open your e-mail and discover hundreds of messages you need to respond to—that realization that e-mail has become another merciless chore in your day? That's how I began to feel about my reader.
Other news sites point to further reasons RSS may be falling out of favor: The Guardian, out of the UK, suggests RSS is being overtaken by Twitter. TechCrunch offers up an obit for the service.
Manjoo, of Slate, points to a retro solution to RSS headache, which he pulled from the blog DesignNotes. The basic idea is to use browser tabs instead of RSS, to organize them into neat folders, and then to open them in groups. That way you can still see some Web design, and all of your news isn't shoved into a two-line, modular box. From the DesignNotes post:
... I bookmark blogs and place them in folders in Firefox that then become tabs that I can open. What that means is that within a couple minutes I can open between 35 - 60 blogs and sites ... My tab method is as follows. I've named them M1, M1B, M2 etc... the M1 is a bunch of blogs that I check out quite often during the day and as the folder numbers progress the less I check them out. The last folder (M5) is for new blogs and sites that I'm checking out. It's a test phase to see whether after a couple weeks if they'll make the cut to be placed in one of the other folders.
Now, I know how to make bookmarks (I even share some on Delicious), and I have 15 tabs open on this browser window alone, but I wasn't sure how to make bookmark folders that I could open in bulk. For those of you who are similarly clumsy with browsers, here's what you do in Firefox: open up a bunch of sites you want to put in a folder; from the Bookmarks tab, select "Bookmark All Tabs"; give the folder a name ("tech blogs" for example); then, when you want to see all of your favorite tech blogs, just pull up the folder, again from the Bookmarks menu, and select "Open All Tabs" from the bottom of the list.
And Shazam! All of your favorite sites in tabs. The major problem seems to be that this method can clutter your desktop. It's also a bit more difficult to constantly check to see when your favorite blogs have updated.
What do you think? Have RSS feeds, as DesignPosts says, become a "never ending chore?" There are plenty of RSS evangelists out there: what do you have to say? Any other methods for making online news faster and more fun?
I'm going to try out the tabs method this week and will report back on how it goes. Until then, jump into the discussion in the comments.
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SOURCE: CNN: http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/06/tech-trends-time-to-ditch-rss/
Facebook Turns 5 But Can It Survive?
I have been reading a lot about Web 2.0 - the revolution, the buzz, you name it. However, what I have been finding is that these tech companies that strive to promote Web 2.0 just aren't making any money. Don't get me wrong - Web 2.0 was completely necessary to help bring us all together, create standards, promote new technologies, but let's face it - we need money to survive. So, it doesn't surprise me that articles like the one below are starting to be published.
I propose Web 3.0 --- Make Money on the Internet, however you can.
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Facebook turns 5 -- but can it survive?
By CNN's Simon Hooper
(CNN) -- A Web site started by a student as a way of staying in touch with friends which became a billion-dollar business and a global phenomenon celebrated its fifth birthday Wednesday.
Around 15 million users update their statuses on Facebook daily.
Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he launched Facebook from a Harvard dorm in 2004. Within 24 hours more than 1,000 of his Harvard classmates had signed up for the social networking site and one month later half of those on campus had a profile.
Five years on, the Web site claims more than 150 million users worldwide while Zuckerberg, now 24, in 2008 was named the youngest billionaire on the planet -- with an estimated fortune of $1.5 billion -- by Forbes magazine.
Writing in Time on Zuckerberg's inclusion in the magazine's 2008 list of the most influential 100 people in the world, Craig Newmark, the founder of the Craig's List Web site, said Zuckerberg had created a Web site which created "a social network that not only reflects your life but maybe expands it."
Along with sites such as MySpace and Bebo, Facebook has also been credited with bringing social networking into the mainstream, with politicians, businesses and celebrities jumping on the bandwagon.
According to Facebook figures, around 15 million users update their statuses daily. More than 850 million photos are added to the site each month while the average user has 120 friends.
Meanwhile, Web sites such as Facebook were widely credited with helping Barack Obama secure victory in last year's U.S. presidential election by helping him connect via the Internet with younger, previously disengaged voters.
In a blog published Wednesday to mark Facebook's birthday, Zuckerberg said the site offered a way of making the world more open and giving people a voice to "express ideas and initiate change."
"The culture of the Internet has also changed pretty dramatically over the past five years. Before, most people wouldn't consider sharing their real identities online," Zuckerberg said. "But Facebook has offered a safe and trusted environment for people to interact online, which has made millions of people comfortable expressing more about themselves."
In a new Facebook first, the Web site featured at last week's World Economic Forum in Davos with users contributing to live discussions and polls that were flashed onto big screens during sessions with world leaders.
Speaking to CNN, Randi Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg's sister, said politicians and businesses were looking to Facebook as "a place for insight and to get a real time pulse."
Yet questions still remain about the finances behind Facebook's remarkable expansion. The company has attracted more than $200 million in investment from venture capitalists while in 2006 it rejected a reputed $1 billion bid from Yahoo!
In 2007 Microsoft did pay $250 million for a 1.6 percent share -- a figure that gave Facebook a total projected value of some $15 billion.
But with the global financial crisis hitting web advertising, Facebook's core revenue stream, those sort of figures now appear to belong to a bygone age.
"What Facebook isn't yet is a slam dunk success," said Adam Lashinsky of Fortune magazine last month. "It is selling advertising, it is bringing in revenue but it's not wildly profitable even if it is profitable at all.
"There is no question that it has entered the zeitgeist but that doesn't mean that it has progressed beyond the stage of being cool or viral or exciting to being a mega-business success the way that Google, Microsoft or even its arch-competitor MySpace is."
Yet in an industry prone to short term fads and rapid evolution, Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday he remained committed to making sure that Facebook remained as relevant in the future.
"Building and moving quickly for five years hasn't been easy, and we aren't finished," he said. "The challenge motivates us to keep innovating and pushing technical boundaries to produce better ways to share information."
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/04/facebook.anniversary/index.html
Picture Source: CNN - Facebook picture: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/TECH/02/04/facebook.anniversary/art.facebook.gi.jpg
Author - By CNN's Simon Hooper
This is funny -
Ok...I am going to say that I am a pretty responsible person. First off, I can't lie. I have tried, but the truth always comes out. With that said, my back is freakin' killing me today. I can hardly walk. Despite the pain, I got myself in my car and into the office. Now, I know that I don't have a very physical job (although, I did just take out all the garbage because no one else will), so I don't have to worry about hurting my back further - it still hurts. In fact, the pain is throbbing in my back as I write this story.
I think that people are lazy. I agree, I don't always want to go to work, but that is what we are paid to do. The philosophy of making a lot of money with little work is not true, nor will it ever be. This meltdown in the US is going to show people that.
So, yeah. Read this story...
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One-third of workers play hooky
By Jason Ferrara
CareerBuilder.com marketing vice president
If you decided to stay home from work today because your psychic told you to, would you tell your boss the truth or make up an excuse?
Continue reading...
Most memorable excuses
If you decide to take tomorrow off, it behooves you to tell the truth. But if you'd rather get a little creative, take a look at what other excuses employees have given for not going to work:
1. Employee didn't want to lose the parking space in front of his house.
2. Employee hit a turkey while riding a bike.
3. Employee said he had a heart attack early that morning, but that he was "all better now."
4. Employee donated too much blood.
5. Employee's dog was stressed out after a family reunion.
6. Employee was kicked by a deer.
7. Employee contracted mono after kissing a mailroom intern at the company holiday party and suggested the company post some sort of notice to warn others who may have kissed him.
8. Employee swallowed too much mouthwash.
9. Employee's wife burned all his clothes and he had nothing to wear to work.
10. Employee's toe was injured when a soda can fell out of the refrigerator.
SOURCE: CNN ---- LINK:
Continue reading...
I'm throwing all of it out
You may or may not know this, but I love peanut butter. It is one of my favorite foods, and if you have been following the news, you may have noticed that peanut butter companies have been recalling peanut butter due to a salmonella outbreak. Well, at first, the peanut butter that I buy wasn't listed, however, I recently read that Kellogg is now recalling their peanut butter. So, my peanut butter is going in the garbage. It makes me a little sad because I hate being wasteful, but I can't put my health at danger. Goodbye peanut butter. I will replace you when this scare is over.
Read....
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Kellogg Peanut Butter Recall: More Products Recalled
HOPE YEN | January 17, 2009 08:03 AM EST |
WASHINGTON — What began as an investigation of bulk peanut butter shipped to nursing homes and institutional cafeterias has broadened with the Kellogg Co. recalling 16 products and federal officials confirming salmonella contamination at a Georgia facility that ships peanut products to 85 food companies
Kellogg had asked stores earlier this week to pull some of its venerable Keebler crackers from shelves as a precaution. But in a statement late Friday the Battle Creek, Mich., company announced it was voluntarily recalling the crackers and other products in light of the problems in Georgia.
The nationwide salmonella outbreak has sickened hundreds of people in 43 states and killed at least six.
"The actions we are taking today are in keeping with our more than 100-year commitment to providing consumers with safe, high-quality products," said David Mackay, Kellogg's president and CEO. "We apologize for this unfortunate situation."
The recall includes Austin and Keebler branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, as well as some snack-size packs of Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies and Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies.
Sandra Williams, a compliance officer with the Food and Drug Administration in Detroit, advised consumers not to eat the products and to contact a doctor if they have any symptoms. She also urged careful disposal of the tainted products to avoid the risk of homeless people finding and eating them.
"Kellogg reacted promptly to this potential public health risk after receiving notification of the potential problem from their supplier," Williams said.
On Capitol Hill, the House Energy and Commerce Committee requested records as it opened its own inquiry.
Although the investigation has gone into high gear, FDA officials say much of their information remains sketchy. And new cases are still being reported.
"This is a very active investigation, but we don't yet have the data to provide consumers with specifics about what brands or products they should avoid," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's food safety center. Although salmonella bacteria has been found at the Georgia plant, for example, more tests are needed to see if it matches the strain that has made people sick.
The investigation includes not just peanut butter, but baked goods and other products that contain peanuts and are sold directly to consumers. Health officials say as many as one-third of the people who got sick did not recall eating peanut butter.
"The focus is on peanut butter and a wide array of products that might have peanut butter in them," said Dr. Robert Tauxe, director of the foodborne illness division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials said they are focusing on peanut paste, as well as peanut butter, produced at a Blakely, Ga., facility owned by Peanut Corp. of America. The concern about peanut paste is significant because it can be used in dozens of products, from baked goods to cooking sauces.
Federal officials said they are focusing on 32 of the 85 companies that Peanut Corp. supplies, because of the time period in which they received shipments of peanut butter or paste. The companies are being urged to test their products, or pull them from the shelves as Kellogg did.
The government is also scrutinizing a grower, raising the possibility that contamination could have occurred before peanuts reached the processing plant, which passed its last inspection by the Georgia agriculture this summer.
Peanut Corp. has recalled 21 lots of peanut butter made at the plant since July 1 because of possible salmonella contamination. The company, which suspended peanut butter processing at the facility, said none of its peanut butter is sold directly to consumers but is distributed to institutions, food service industries and private label food companies.
But Kellogg Co., which gets some peanut paste from the Blakely facility, asked stores late Wednesday to stop selling some of its Keebler and Austin peanut butter sandwich crackers. The company said it hasn't received any reports of illnesses.
Peanut Corp. said it is cooperating with federal and state authorities. On Friday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote the company requesting inspection and internal records dating back four years.
Health officials in Minnesota and Virginia have linked two deaths each to the outbreak and Idaho and North Carolina have reported one. Four of those five were elderly people, and all had salmonella when they died, though their exact causes of death haven't been determined. But the CDC said the salmonella may have contributed.
The CDC said the bacteria behind the outbreak _ typhimurium _ is common and not an unusually dangerous strain but that the elderly or those with weakened immune systems are more at risk.
The salmonella outbreak is the second in two years involving peanut butter. Salmonella is the nation's leading cause of food poisoning; common symptoms include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.
___
On the Net:
FDA: http://www.fda.gov/
Kellogg's: http://www.kelloggcompany.com
___
Associated Press writers Kate Brumback and Mike Stobbe in Atlanta and Lauran Neergaard and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington also contributed to this report.
SOURCE: found on huffingtonpost.com
LINK: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/17/kellogg-peanut-butter-rec_n_158715.html
In Japan: Day 1
Well I made it.
I am in Japan. It is great - it almost feels like I never left. I had a long trip, and I am very tired today. It is 11am Christmas Day here, and I feel like I should be going to bed already (it is 8pm Christmas Eve for my family and friends in the US).
I went to the fish market this morning with Ryuichi. It was cool to see all of the different kinds of fish and seafood. We bought tuna for sashimi and eel for lunch. Japanese people like to eat their fish fresh and usually eat it within two hours of purchase from the market.
So far, everything has been great. I will write more tomorrow.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
HAAH - This would suck
More ice is melting - Global Warming?
I think Global Warming is an important issue that we all need to address. It is also a very controversial subject. Rather than fighting about it, I think we all need to listen up and really help out. This is our world that we live on. If we want to survive, we need to start taking care of this.
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Ice melting across globe at accelerating rate, NASA says
By Emanuella Grinberg: CNN
(CNN) -- Between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion tons of ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska has melted at an accelerating rate since 2003, according to NASA scientists, in the latest signs of what they say is global warming.
This image shows the changing rate of mass in mountain glaciers on the Gulf of Alaska.
Using new satellite technology that measures changes in mass in mountain glaciers and ice sheets, NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke concluded that the losses amounted to enough water to fill the Chesapeake Bay 21 times.
"The ice tells us in a very real way how the climate is changing," said Luthcke, who will present his findings this week at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco, California.
NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission uses two orbiting satellites to measure the "mass balance" of a glacier, or the net annual difference between ice accumulation and ice loss.
"A few degrees of change [in temperature] can increase the amount of mass loss, and that contributes to sea level rise and changes in ocean current," Luthcke said.
The data reflects findings from NASA colleague Jay Zwally, who uses different satellite technology to observe changing ice volume in Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctica.
In the past five years, Greenland has lost between 150 gigatons and 160 gigatons each year, (one gigaton equals one billion tons) or enough to raise global sea levels about .5 mm per year, said Zwally, who will also present his findings at the conference this week.
GRACE measured that mountain glaciers in the Gulf of Alaska lost about 84 gigatons each year, about five times the average annual flow of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, according to NASA.
"Every few extra inches of sea level have very significant economic impacts, because they change the sea level, increase flooding and storm damage," said, Zwally, ICESat Project Scientist. "It's a warning sign."
Melting ice, especially in Greenland and the Arctic, is also thought to contribute to global warming, Zwally said. When the vast ice sheets and glaciers melt, they lose their reflective power, and instead, oceans and land absorb the heat, causing the Arctic waters and the atmosphere to warm faster.
"We're seeing the impacts of global warming in many areas of our own lives, like agriculture," Zwally said.
As an example, he cited the pine beetle infestation of this summer in the forests of Colorado and western Canada.
"They were believed to be spreading because the winter was not cold enough to kill them, and that's destroying forests," he said.
In the 1990s, Greenland took in as much snow and water as it let out, Zwally said. But now, about 15 years later, sea levels are rising about 50 percent faster, making the global climate situation even more unpredictable.
"The best estimates are that sea levels will rise about 18 to 36 inches by the end of the century, but because of what's going on and how fast things are changing, there's a lot of uncertainty," he said.
SOURCE: CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/16/melting.ice/index.html
Switch, switch, switch!!!
Now is the time to switch! I have always been a hater of Explorer. As a Web Developer, the Explorer browser makes my job twice as hard because the browser doesn't like to follow the rules. Read this article!
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Major flaw revealed in Internet Explorer; users urged to switch
Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:49AM EST
The major press outlets are abuzz this morning with news of a major new security flaw that affects all versions of Internet Explorer from IE5 to the latest beta of IE8. The attack has serious and far-reaching ramifications -- and they're not just theoretical attacks. In fact, the flaw is already in wide use as a tool to steal online game passwords, with some 10,000 websites infected with the code needed to take advantage of the hole in IE.
Virtually all security experts (as well as myself) are counseling users to switch to any other web browser -- none of the others are affected, including Firefox, Chrome, and Opera -- at least for the time being, though Microsoft has stubbornly said it "cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw." Microsoft adds that it is working on a fix but has offered no ETA on when that might happen. Meanwhile it offers some suggestions for a temporary patch, including setting your Internet security zone settings to "high" and offering some complicated workarounds. (Some reports state, however, that the fixes do not actually work.)
Expedient patching or switching are essential. Security pros fear that the attack will soon spread beyond the theft of gaming passwords and into more criminal arenas, as the malicious code can be placed on any website and can be adapted to steal any password stored or entered using the browser. It's now down to the issue of time: Will Microsoft repair the problem and distribute a patch quickly enough to head off the tsunami of fraud that's about to hit or will it come too late to do any good?
Meanwhile, I'll reiterate my recommendation: Switch from Internet Explorer as soon as you can. You can always switch back once the threat is eliminated.
Links for other browsers to try: Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera
SOURCE: Yahoo! News - Tech: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/111811
Cold enuf 'fer ya
This is funny -
__________
Cold is relative
*Cold is Relative..........and a good part of this is true!*
60 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Wisconsin plant gardens.
50 above zero:
Gulf Coast people shiver uncontrollably.
People in Milwaukee sunbathe.
40 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Wisconsin drive with the windows down.
32 above zero:
Distilled water freezes.
The water in Green Bay gets thicker.
20 above zero:
Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, and wool hats.
People in Wisconsin throw on a flannel shirt.
15 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Wisconsin have the last cookout before it gets cold.
Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Wisconsinites close the windows.
10 below zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Wisconsin get out their winter coats.
25 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Wisconsin are selling cookies..........door to door.
40 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Wisconsin let the dogs sleep indoors.
100 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Wisconsinites get upset because they can't start the Mini-Van.
460 (-459.67 F below zero):
ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero, zero on the Kelvin scale.)
People in
Wisconsin start saying...'Cold 'nuff fer ya?'
500 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Wisconsin public schools will open 2 hours late
The 5 Dirtiest Foods
Watch what you eat everyone! The weird thing is I used to eat all of those daily (except Scallions).
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The 5 dirtiest foods -- Healthy Living on Shine
by Sarah Jio, Vitamin G, Glamour Magazine, on Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:56am PST
How would you rate your food-safety IQ? I know someone who never washes their fruits and vegetables after bringing them home from the market because he believes that they're washed at the store. Um, no. Read on to learn about what some call the "5 dirtiest foods" and for a food safety wake-up call...
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The dirty food list, according to this fascinating piece I found over at AOL Health include the following:
Eggs: While most eggs aren't going to make anyone sick, experts estimate that more than 2 million germy eggs (as in Salmonella infected) get into circulation each year, sickening 660,000 people each year and killing as many as 300. Um, maybe we should think twice about eating that cookie dough (or, judging by our conversation on Vitamin G, perhaps you'd rather take your chances?). How to buy cleaner eggs? Make sure the carton says they're pasteurized and never buy a dozen that contains any obvious cracks or leaks.
Peaches: They're pretty, but that's just skin-deep. Health experts warn that peach skins are doused in pesticides before they make it to grocery store to prevent blemishes. On average, a peach can contain as many as nine different pesticides, according to the USDA. This is one fruit you might want to buy organic (which may have blemishes, but won't have pesticides). (Here's How Peaches Can Help You Build Muscle.)
Pre-packaged salad mixes: Surprise! "Triple washed" doesn't mean germ-free say experts. Pathogens may still be lurking so be sure to wash your greens before tossing in your salad bowl. (Don't make these salad mistakes!)
Melons: Get ready to be grossed out. According to the article, "when the FDA sampled domestically grown cantaloupe, it found that 3.5 percent of the melons carried Salmonella and Shigella, the latter a bacteria normally passed person-to-person. Among imported cantaloupe, 7 percent tested positive for both bugs." Ewww. Your best bet: Scrub your melons with a little mild dish soap and warm water before slicing. (Stay healthy with these delicious winter fruits!)
Scallions: Blamed for several recent outbreaks of Hepatitis A, and other bugs like the parasite Cryptosporidium, Shigella and Salmonella, scallions present a food safety problem because of the way they grow (in the dirt) and lack of proper washing. While you can't control what happens in restaurant kitchens, you can give them a super-duper washing at home before cooking with.
Other dirty foods in the article include chicken, ground beef and turkey, raw oysters, and cold cuts. Click here to read 5 more.
The bottom line: Don't be afraid to eat these foods, just be aware of the precautions you need to take before enjoying them. Most food-borne illnesses are the result of hygiene carelessness somewhere in the food chain. Protect yourself!
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your food safety awareness and diligence? Do you wash all your produce? How about pre-packaged salad mixes? And what about melons? Do any of you wash the exterior with soap and water before slicing. I do, and I'm patting myself on the back right now.
SOURCE: Shine - from Yahoo! : http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-5-dirtiest-foods-327375/
