2007 Archives

Article — 13 November 2007 — 298 words

Blocking Beacon

I am usually a defender of Facebook. But this time I think they have overstepped the line and have introduced a ‘feature’ that makes me personally uncomfortable. From The Facebook Blog: Just as Facebook shares your on-site interactions with your friends through News Feed, we now give you an option to let News Feed share […]

Article — 12 September 2007 — 2,026 words

Shove your partial feeds up your RSS

Media — Technology

(Yes, every post I write about RSS must contain the hilarious “‘RSS’ sounds a little bit like ‘arse’” pun.) I have a request for those people who publish RSS feeds. Make them full feeds! I know there is a supposedly a debate about whether partial or full feeds work best. Well, that is not really […]

Article — 7 September 2007 — 2,187 words

20 reasons why I will put my blogs on my CV (and three reasons why I might not)

Business — Society — Technology

Yesterday I looked at the dilemma facing a blogging job hunter (ie. me). Should I put my blog on my CV? Rhys Wynne and Rich Minx think that blogging gives you lots of skills that employers find desirable. The Devil’s Kitchen has added his thoughts here and asks if there are any more skills that […]

Article — 6 September 2007 — 740 words

Should I put my blogs on my CV?

Business — Personal — Technology

Here is something that I’ve been pondering about quite a bit recently. A few years ago it was all bad news for bloggers who have jobs. Getting sacked because of your blog stuck fear into so many that it the concept even spawned its own word: dooce. People who have been dooced are not in […]

Article — 22 August 2007 — 831 words

Facebook apps are revealing their potential

Society — Technology

My latest internet addiction is Scrabulous. Jeremy Bentham thought that humans wanted to maximise pleasure rather than pain. Goodness knows what he would have thought if he saw me inviting Facebook friends to play Scrabble against me. It has mostly been a demoralising affair. I hadn’t realised quite how rusty I was at Scrabble. I […]

Article — 18 August 2007 — 646 words

Why do those social bookmarking links exist?

Media — User experience — Web

There is a fixture of the modern web that I really don’t understand. And in terms of annoyance it is probably second only to Snap Preview. Millions of links to social bookmarking websites littering the bottom of every news article and blog post written. You know the ones. “Digg this!” “Send to del.icio.us!” “Pimp-me-do to […]

Article — 2 June 2007 — 995 words

…Other social networks are dead

Technology

I was explaining how, sitting here today, it is difficult to see why anyone would want to sign up to a social network that isn’t Facebook. While MySpace used to be the market leader, it was always far too annoying and buggy to remain on the radar for long. Every time I visit MySpace I just get […]

Article — 2 June 2007 — 1,025 words

Facebook Applications are great…

Technology

I have some thoughts on Facebook, which seems to have become a phenomenon over the past couple of months. Two or three months back it seemed to reach a tipping point. It is now no longer the preserve or procrastinating students. Now Facebook seems to have made itself the social network to be on for […]

Article — 21 March 2007 — 971 words

Can’t be RSSed

Technology

I have been thinking a little bit about RSS recently (it’s the sort of exciting life I have). For whatever reason, I don’t seem to have as much spare time as I used to. Or at least, I don’t have as much time to read blogs as I once did. That’s what it feels like […]

Article — 11 January 2007 — 1,025 words

Joe Blogs knows nothing. So what?

Current affairs — Media — Technology

There was something interesting in that report about Scottish blogging on Radio Scotland from a couple of weeks ago that I never got around to writing about. Tim Montgomerie of 18 Doughty Street and Conservative Home was asked about a concern that some people might have about the blogosphere — that people who don’t actually […]