Ok, I thought I was missing something about the Google Feed Reader. I thought it was clumsy and flashy and mostly usefless for the way I read blogs.

Chris Selland makes me feel less alone. [here]

Paul Kedrosky is not amused. [here]

Brad Hill says interesting, but call me when you’re ready. [here]

Bud at The Community Engine says that it is not user-friendly. [here]

Sean Coon: flashy AJAX + proprietary sandbox == Google wants to own your experience. [here]

Google’s UX staff take a vacation, return to horror and destruction

I’m sticking with Rojo.

Technorati: google reader

IceRocket: google reader

Tags: ajax, blog, community, EAD, Google, google reader, HTML, HTTP, IE, it, LAN, Om, One, pr, RSS, Technorati, tn, web

For all you local vloggers, there is a vlogging mini-conference coming up in Worcester, MA.

When: Monday, October 3rd, 6 p.m.
Who: You and your interested friends
What: “Meet the Vloggers” Worcester
Why: To learn more about videoblogging and build community
Directions to WPI: http://www.wpi.edu/About/Visitors/directions.html
Campus map to find the Campus Center:
http://www.wpi.edu/About/Visitors/Images/walkingmap.pdf
(The Campus Center is #6, behind Alumni Gym (#3) and next to Olin Hall
(#23). The star is where they are building a new Admissions building and the
circle in the center of campus is a fountain. These are just mentioned as
landmarks.)

Jan McLaughlin, a videoblogger (vlogger) from New York, will be visiting and
we will be presenting about videoblogging. This will include everything from
what equipment to use to how to drive traffic to your site, how to build
community through videoblogging and how to subscribe to news feeds using RSS
so you can watch other peoples’ videos. This will be a fun, interactive
presentation. I hope you can make it.

Thanks to Carl Weaver for the info.

Tags: blog, Blogging, community, feeds, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, IP, it, LAN, Om, One, pr, RSS, traffic, video, visitors

23 miles. Each way.

Every working day, I am supposed to merrily get in my little car and drive 23 miles to work. I know people who drive farther, sacrifice more, with nary a complaint.

Well, now I am complaining. I’m done. It’s over. This gig has run it’s course.

I won’t go into the frustrations I have with my current job. It’s not the company’s fault. I suppose it is my own for missing the opportunities within the organization. But I guess it’s hard to go for the brass ring, if you’re not sure this is the ride you want to be on anymore.

I think that I have known that I was done for a long time, but it is very hard to admit it. I am an enemy alien, the only income-earner, 3500 miles from “home”. With a mortgage, two kids and a bunch of other things, sometimes you just make do, hoping things will get better.

They aren’t getting better.

Now I have to figure out what to do next. Until then, I will have to be the living dead in the office, going through the paces, feeling every second in this place become one more second that has slipped away from me.

What brought this malaise on?

On Friday, I had an interview with Microsoft. They were/are looking for bright people to help them grow their new ad service and analyze the reams of data that will be coming in.

And I bombed the interview.

I know I bombed; there’s no way around it.

And you know what: I’m not good enough for Microsoft. And I knew it before the call was over. I could hear the screening interviewer saying to herself: “How do I get this guy off the phone?”.

There it was, the chance to move back to the West Coast, to work with people who are trying to do cool things. Maybe not the coolest things, but cool things.

I miss the West Coast. I miss my in-laws. I miss being able to come and go when and where I please. I miss being able to work for the employer I want, when I want. I hate not being able to take on side contract jobs that interest me.

I miss the freedom of being at home.

23 miles gives you a lot of time to assess the future.

Tags: business, cool, cro, current, data, EAD, frustration, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, IP, it, LAN, media, Microsoft, Om, One, pr, RSS, run, tn

Business 2.0 is asking how much you would pay to read the NY Times online. [here]

My response: why? I don’t read newspapers anymore. I would pay nothing to read this online, when I can get news free from Reuters, BBC and Yahoo!, and commentary from blogs.

MSM just does not understand. Their model is broken. It is 300 years old, and it is finally succumbing to it’s own dead weight.

The forests of the world are breathing a sigh of relief.

BusinessWeek, trying to support its brethern through it’s lame attempt to “blog”. [here]

Tags: bbc, blog, business, EAD, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, it, NY Times, Om, online, RSS, Yahoo!

Om Malik points out a potential threat to blogs: OSX 10.4 “Tiger”. The new Safari that ships with this OS comes with the RSS reader turned on by default!

That upgrade while great for the consumers, could come as a big shocker for those blogs whose feeds are included as part of Safari’s default starter package. Infact it could be the biggest stress test for RSS thus far!

Most RSS readers are set to poll for updates every hour, and imagine when half-a-million Tiger Safari users who start hitting a server at the same time, pulling down RSS updates, because they have not changed the default settings. Server meltdown? Or an unintended denial of service? Apple says that most of the default feeds are going to be major news sites like CNN. New York Times, and LA Times. At this time they are not including any personal blogs as part of the default list. Even for them it is not going to be easy.

As a Web performance geek, I ask you: do you measure and monitor the performance and availability of your blog infrastructure?

Didn’t think so….

Enjoy the Weekend!

Tags: app, Apple, bandwidth, blog, EAD, feeds, GigaOm, HTTP, IM, IP, it, LA Times, Malik, Om, Om Malik, performance, personal, RSS, Safari, server, update, users, web, Web Performance