Dear readers, I'm going to abondon this blog and I will never post anything to it.
BUT, I will be more active on my old blog, where I used to write somehow in-depth articles. I enjoyed it, and I think that I should write more there than here.
Nothing will actually change, just the website. And this will from now on, be: The BiValidator: http://xhtml-css.com.
So see you there! I promise, there will be good stuff :)
No, I'm not an expert myself and never claimed to be an expert :)
This idea came to my mind when my friend Anna told me about NaNoWriMo, how she did it 5 times, and how efficient it is.
So I thought to myself: how about asking people like Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, and other people to take a challenge where they'll create a new personnality known by its nickname and nothing else. And starting to promote it, making that new entity evolve and gain audience and sympathy.
That would be a very intersting experiment in both marketing and socialmedia. The challenge if you (yes, you're invited too) take it, is to demonstrate how a "normal" person can draw interest, success and sympathy. In other words, prove that it's really doable for and by everyone if they apply some of the ideas you're using/preaching.
I'd really like to see many people taking this challenge, and I think that it will be a very entertaining and educating experience. So? Ready? :)
People who know me, know that I'm almost against everything. I am very, very sceptical :)
But I always try hard to explain my views. So, in this post I'll try to explain my view about the so-called OpenMicroblogging Standard, and why I believe that it's "vain". This will be somehow a detailed response to what Jesse Stay wrote on Louis Gray's blog.
Let's define things first:
Micro-blogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually 140 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, MP3 or the web. (From Wikipedia)
So just to be sure, microblogging is actually blogging in a smaller format. In other words: sharing small content.
The question now: is there any concept that we used to use for blogging and that can't be used for microblogging? Do we really need a Yet Another Standard? I'm asking this while thinking about the very nice article by Tim Bray: "Don’t Invent XML Languages". Because it's really easy to define a new XML dialect everytime we feel the need, but is the need that real —always?
The blogging era brought some really interesting concepts. We do have OPML for reading lists. RSS/ATOM for content aggregation and reading and Trackbacks (which some people think are dead) for replies.
Can't we just use these three ideas for microblogging? What makes microblogging so special that these concepts won't work or won't be enough? This is my question, and the day someone answers it and gives real and logic arguments, I'll stand corrected and be convinced about the necessity of another standard.
Phew! I shouldn't, but I'm laughing. I'm really laughing of the whole brouhaha! I mean, people are speaking about "reports" that something, you know, happened... like if it was big news, a scoop... come on! This is just one guy leaving. A pissed off guy (someone you know by his nickname). That's it.
First things first. Let me clear one thing: NoiseRiver won't close just because someone leaves Friendfeed (be it the NoiseRiver's Developer -insert sarcastic drum rolls here- ) Don't you see that it would be so childish to be true? I mean... come on!
Second, and that's a regretable thing. Louis and Duncan should have put updates to their blog posts to mention what I told in the comments. Actually they should have sent me an email at the first place. But you know what? If it wasn't that stupid coincidence about the DNS issue, I wouldn't commented at all. But yet, that's thier blogs, and as long as there isn't insults -which is something that Louis and Duncan will never make- it's all fine for me.
I won't justify my leaving again, I hate goodbyes that last forever and I DO NOT care if some people think that I'm crying or asking for attention. The people I do care about, those who know me, know that "selfish attention" would be the last thing I'd be asking for, and I'm not asking for it. I choosed to publish my rant on google doc to make it public without letting people know that "I" wrote it. Not that I worry about the reactions, but the best goodbyes are the more silent ones. The piece was wrote just to, humbly, make people think about some issues in Friendfeed and the social web in general. Robert Scoble whith whom I was chatting when this was published just spread the news. I do not blame him, he's a friendly and humble chap'. And to be true, I still don't care about the silly comments this whole thing recieved.
See? I am NOBODY, and always claimed to be a nobody. That's why I choosed a nick. I'm not promoting something about myself, and do not have a personal brand to defend. The folks who know me, just know that I love Jazz (especially Coltrane), that I love python, smart and simple ideas, and I happened to be the NoiseRiver's Developer.
Now I'm hesitating to push the "publish" button for this post, because if it brings again the fuss my leaving generated that wouldn't be fair. The main reason and goal of this post is to let people know that NoiseRiver is NOT shut down. And to thank people for thier emails and kind words. Thank you folks! I'm really moved by your words!
Oh yes!
One whole month of delightful developping. I remember the first day it was released and the plug that Louis Gray and many people gave it! Phew! It's simply phantastik!
What started as a little challenge after some discussions I've had with some people on FriendFeed like Robert Scoble, Louis Gray, Duncan Riley and many others, suddenly became a very nice app with so many features that are not even present in FriendFeed itself! Sorry folks, but I really feel proud :)
Not only proud but so much grateful for many people that helped me by issues reports, ideas, fixes, opinions and tons of nice and kind words everyday. And that's the real magic of this experience! I was so encouraged by friends on FriendFeed that I was able to deliver at least one (if not two) features daily! So I'd like to say a BIG, no, no, a HUGE thank you!
Thanks to them, NoiseRiver is humbly the most complete FriendFeed App out there! It includes almost every possible feature that the main FriendFeed's UI includes plus a dozen of new ones.
People don't believe that NoiseRiver is "alpha", and some even wonder what will it be when it goes "beta" or even a final product. I sincerly don't know, but one thing I'm sure of, is that I'm fueled by people. By nice ones and even harsh ones too :) Nice People inspire me, encourage me, and I never feel tired in doing what I'm sure will please them.
Thank you folks for making a coding life that nice!
Hello folks,
Today, I'd like to tell you about one of latest features of NoiseRiver that has been released since my last update.
Last Monday, Robert Scoble started an intersting discussion about how comments clusters maybe confusing and redundant sometimes on FriendFeed. For example, we start a discussion about the latest Louis Gray's blob post, because we saw that URL shared on Google Reader by someone, and then someone else shares the same thing on del.icio.us, and so on... we may end up with dozens of comments clusters on the same subject. This is "comments fragmentation" inside FriendFeed itself.
What would be intersting is the ability to gather all the comments clusters about the same subject, group them in one place and see how people react, and have a better opinion, be more informed etc.
This, in fact, is the mission of the "watch feature" of NoiseRiver! You want to follow discussion on a subject? Click on the "eye icon" of the entry to watch it, and whenever you meet or another NoiseRiver's user meets an entry about the same thing, the entries get grouped and you may see similar entries (and comment clusters) in one place just by clicking a link (Show Similar).
The feature was coded in about 4 hours, it's still experimental, but from my own tests it works just fine and it really helps me group comments clusters easily!
Hi folks!
I'm crazy when it comes to programming! But, I must admit that I'm really lazy and not that good when it comes to writing blog posts --while I really should do it. In fact many features were added to NoiseRiver since my precendent post (a week ago) and I think that it's time to give people some updates here on the blog --even if I was posting Live Dev' Updates in FriendFeed.
So here we go:
Say you've seen a blog post (or any url) posted on FriendFeed, and that you're done with it. And you want to hide any further posts about the same URL. FriendFeed doesn't offer this kind of hiding, so I added it to NoiseRiver. Now you can see a URL only once if you want.
You want to reply to someone in the comments cluster? Simple, click on the green little arrow and it will bring you with a comment box already filled with this person's nick.
Many people admited that filling their interests by giving them all at once in the "Your interests" page was a little bit annoyong. Ok! Now you click on a little icon (a heart with a tag) beside each entry and a little pop-up shows with some keywords. You decide how much you like/hate them. Click and with some ajax magic, you're done!
The same idea as in "on the fly interests settings" was implemented for people. And this is really nice! Trust me. All you have to do is hover a user's name in the page, a tooltip shows, you select from a dropdown box how much you like/hate their entries and tada! Ajax makes your settings saved on the fly. And your whole flow will be filtered/highlighted with these settings in mind.
I was really eager to have this feature in the API. I asked for it in the FriendFeed's API room, and I didn't got an answer, so I went to the google group and asked for it again! And there, Bret Taylor told me that it's actually available and that the doc was not up to date. In a matter of 10 minutes, the feature was in NoiseRiver! Now you can refer to single entries in NoiseRiver with permanant links (permalinks) --Expect other cool features with these permalinks ;-)
Yes, not yet available in the FriendFeed's UI. You can share pictures and sounds directly from NoiseRiver and people will see them and listen to them in friendFeed or NoiseRiver easily! Look at this: on NoiseRiver or on FriendFeed.
I always somehow delayed that media thing because of the lack of complete doc and the big variety of media content that are shared on FriendFeed, but now i'm starting to make it available in NoiseRiver! This is very very complicated, believe me. But I'll fully integrate it! :)
During the week, there was a big fuss about the new iPhone and NoiseRiver was the cure for some people who didn't wanted to see anything about it! It worked fine and the filters were much improved than anytime before thanks to people reproting issues! Thank you Tim, Alexander, Dread, Brian and everyone who helped! :)
Well that's it folks, it has been a real pleasure to code these things, it was a real fun and some people are already enjoying them! So I'll cary on, and I really welcome all your suggestions and questions! Come and join us in the room!
