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Syndication is powerful and amazing. Microsoft tried with Active Desktop and Channels in IE 4.0 and 5.0 back in 1997. He jokes about the success of Active Desktop. In 2002 Don Box blogged on GotDotNet.com, and in 2003 they hired Scoble. In 2005 feed are everywhere. MSN Spaces has 15 million users, 1500 MS employee blogs, MSN Search feeds on every query, and hundreds of feeds on microsoft.com, MSDN, and other Microsoft sites.
This all started with browsing, with the blue underlined text. After browse came search. Search is still being innovated to this day. Today, the thing is subscribe. Subscribe is more than a feature, it is really a new approach. I can subscribe and say what is interesting to me, and the machine will bring me what I like. People will keep browsing and searching, but it is how they will find more things to subscribe to. Compared to the first time someone sees a TiVo. It changes the way you use the Internet. Full summary after the jump.
Click to continue reading GnomeDex 5.0: Longhorn Hearts RSS, Dean Hachamovitch Keystone
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Dave is the opening Keynote at GnomeDex, and he believes that it should be done non-conference style. His idea is that his Keynote should be more like a discussion rather than a speaker/audience type of relationship.
In the mid-90’s he wrote an essay called Bill Gates vs The Internet. The Internet has changed the way software vendors do business, as it has simplified the way a lot of the things that we do today are done. eBay, Yahoo!, Amazon all competing with each other in one way or another, yet the platform they use is the same - the Internet. None of these companies developed the platform, so it puts them all on an even keel. That is the power of the Internet.
Talking about eBay, they thought they would be absolutely dominant, going so far as to purchase PayPal to keep everything internal. Nowadays, people are realizing that they don’t need eBay as much as they thought they did. I actually agree, as nowadays everyone I know uses the free Craigslist rather than going to eBay to pay their exorbitant fees.
Dave says the W3C was ineffective. There has not been any effective evolution of the web. Not that they are stupid, but rather the dominant Internet vendor had the power to say whether the net would evolve or not. This is why the people took the power back through things like RSS.
After about 20 minutes of not being able to grab an IP address from the wireless network (too many PC’s!), Dave was finally able to get on the network. Now he begins his demo - an OPML based blog publishing tool. Shows the backend of ScriptingNews. He can edit an OPML file, and it edits his website in realtime, and it is ridiculously quick. He then showed how he edits his Smart Blogs area, again just using an OPML file and clicking save. It really has the look and feel of just typing in a text editor and clicking the save button - it’s that quick. Even changing the header graphic is as simple as browsing to a file and clicking on it. Refresh the browser and it is there. Truly amazing.
Even better, Dave added an MP3 Podcast to the blog simply by browsing to and selecting an MP3 file. The blog publishing software then creates the RSS feed with all appropriate enclosures. This really looks like it will allow anyone to do these things that previously only us techies have been able, or willing to do.
The network is once again down, so Dave discusses why this is open source - which is fantastic news. Users can add on features, such as a spell checker. Dave thinks this is the next phase of the web. News changes, but there are plenty of things that don’t change, such as the names of the Major League Baseball teams. He is trying to develop a tool for both needs - changing information as well as information that does not change. He does not think that you can get top of the line development for something like this from a corporate environment. Open source is the way to go. There are about 60 testers using this - he hoped to launch it at Gnomedex, but it isn’t quite ready. He will open the doors when he knows that at least 80% of those who download will have a great experience with it and be excited about it. They are working on both a Windows and Mac version - Windows is farther along, but they will have both.
Someone asks a question about why Dave doesn’t have permalinks, comments, trackbacks. Dave responds that he does have comments, but only on posts where he wants to allow them. Usually, they are all flames. Flamers want to get you entangled in their mess. He doesn’t want to put up with that, but he doesn’t have an objection to trackbacks, comments, etc. on a blog.
Someone asks what Dave was demoing, invoking laughter. He forgot to name the product. It is called “The OPML Editor”. Someone else asked about the name. No one knows what OPML means, less than 1 out of 100 people. That could be a turn off. Dave says that people don’t know what RSS is either, but if you use NetNewsWire, you don’t need to know what RSS is even though you are using it.
After talking about The OPML Editor a bit more, Dave ended the keynote by having everyone sing Yellow Submarine. No, I did not participate. Not a Beatles fan.
Click to continue reading GnomeDex 5.0: Dave Winer Keynote
Longhorn Hearts RSS: Images of IE 7 and Longhorn Screen Saver
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, PC / Laptop, Software,
Okay, I just snapped these pictures while sitting here at GnomeDex 5.0. Check this out, what you see above is Internet Explorer 7 running on a very new Longhorn build. When you visit a website that has an RSS feed, an orange and white RSS button will appear in the toolbar. If clicked, you will then be brought to the screen you see above. You can increase and/or decrease the size of each post, as well as subscribe to the feed. IE 7’s visual implementation of RSS is what I would call extremely similar to Tiger’s Safari 2.0. That being said, I am really happy about the fact that Longhorn will be featuring a central feed location. In layman’s terms, any feed subscribed to will be stored in a central location within the OS. The beauty of this is that any application can be written to access this feed with your permission. As an example, Dean Hachamovitch showed how the Longhorn screen saver displaying a slide show of images downloaded from an RSS feeds enclosures. When showing the images, there was a caption on the bottom right which consisted of the first paragraph or so of the blog post in which the images were sent in. Read more at my post on Venturus. Here is an image of the Longhorn screen saver using RSS:
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The discovery store just dropped what is quite possibly the most ridiculous gadget yet - the LED pet water bowl - on the unsuspecting masses. I had no idea such a thing could exist - nor do I really know why such a thing needs to exist. It’s a pet water bowl that has a ring of green LED’s (what - not blue?) surrounding the top that light up when the bowl is less than 1/4 full. I mean really - can’t people tell if the bowl has water in it by looking at it? Do they really need to spend extra money to add lights? Not to mention that Rover would be pretty freaked out by the concept of drinking from a bowl that lit up and blinked at him. Then again, maybe that is reason enough to give it a buy.
| Discovery
Chris Pirillo opened the show, welcoming everyone to GnomeDex 5.0. Below are some of the key points of his opening. Interestingly enough, the Bell Harbor Conference Center here in Seattle had to upgrade their WiFi system for all the GnomeDexers. The best part was his mom came down to start snapping images, distracting Chris and causing a breakout of laughter. Chris took it in stride, walking over to give his mom a kiss. The GnomeDex WiKi is up as well.
Thank You’s:
- Ponzi, Lockergnome’s CEO
- Bob Fogarty, LockerGnome’s Editor
- Jake Ludington, Chris Pirillo Show Partner
- Steve Gillmor, The First IM
- LockerGnome Contributors
- GnomeDex Sponsors
- Every Single Gnomedexer
Ground Rules:
- Always use the microphone
- Blog, Cast, Snap, Share
- Take extended rants/agendas outside
- Play nice, play fair
- No unnecessary upload/download
Click to continue reading GnomeDex: Chris Pirillo Opens The Show
GnomeDex will be under way in just under five minutes. Lockergnome.com’s yearly People Aggregator aims to have their best year yet, with influential Internet minds, a large group of entrepreneurs, and a few announcements as well. I expect Attensa to announce a Microsoft Outlook RSS reader at some point. Check back with Venturus throughout the day for live GnomeDex 5.0 updates.
Click to continue reading Live Blogging GnomeDex 5.0
An online research company called Entertainment Media Research has recently released the 2006 Digital Music Survey. The survey, using information collected from 4,000 people, says that 35% of consumers now download tracks legally thru the Internet. They estimate the number will continue to climb and eventually surpass the 40% who continue to obtain music illegally online. The main reasons cited for using legal downloads were fear of prosecution, viruses, and low quality.
Read More | Reuters
eMachines has just dropped the MCE bomb on the general public but offering a sub-$600 media center. It’s does not have the worlds best specs, but for a price that most people would consider reasonable for a device that can manage all of their digital media, I’m ecstatic. It features an Athlon 64 3400+, ATI Radeon Xpress 200, 200GB HDD, 1GB RAM and a dual-layer DVD burner. It should be available at Best Buy and Circuit City shortly for $599 after a mail in rebate. Of course, if you are a heavy sepnder, you could always just go for the high end. People like you don’t normally let an eMachine anywhere near their vicinity.
| engadget
Battlefield 2 Hits Store Shelves
Posted by Oscar M. Cantu Categories: First Person Shooters, PC, Role Playing Games,
Today is the day Battlefield 2 for the PC hits the shelves. Here’s your chance to play the game before you buy it. Since this game is so popular, many servers are becoming overloaded. Thanks to TDG, here’s a list of mirrors for your downloading pleasure. What’s the big deal with this game? Check out the features and decide yourself if its worth to try it out or wait until our review soon.
KEY FEATURES
- Online multiplayer action with up to 64 players on the PC.
- All-new gameplay engine brings the immense locations to life complete with realistic physics and dynamic lighting.
- Maps scale to the number of players engaging in battle for a unique and intense experience every time.
- Take control of over 30 land, sea, and air vehicles, including tanks, helicopters, hovercraft, fast attack vehicles, and fighter jets.
- Choose to battle as U.S., Chinese, or Middle East Coalition troops, each with their own unique arsenals.
- A variety of soldier classes including Assault, Sniper, Special Ops, Combat Engineer, Medic, Heavy Weapons, and Anti-Tank units.
- New state-of-the-art weapon systems, including wire-guided missiles and laser designated bombs.
- Material penetration feature makes sure players know the difference between cover and concealment.
- Character Persistence and Growth. With in-game success, players increase their rank from recruit all the way to General and unlock new weapons, medals, and more.
- Join a squad or select the new Commander Mode to assume the strategic role of a battlefield commander directing his forces.
- Full in-game community support including, buddy lists, stat tracking, live chat rooms, and in-game clan creation.
- Voice over IP supported with headset.
Read More | Mirror List Courtesy of TDG
Read More | Battlefield 2 Home Page
CNN reports on a Welsh designer that’s coming up with another useful advancement in technology in sportswear. The “Smart Goggles” designer Katie William’s has come up with a small heads up display in the goggle lens to keep track of laps and time the swimmer. I’m hoping this gets adapted quickly into sunglasses for running, biking, and other sports. Then we can get all, you know, Predator on you.
| CNN via PopGadget
