Random Chuck

Investigative Journalism Is Over

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 11:10:30 -0500

Investigative Journalism Is Over

I’m a Joker?

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:46:16 -0500

I’m a Joker?

Did Comcast just jump the Net Neutrality shark?

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:12:36 -0500

Did Comcast just jump the Net Neutrality shark?

Apple’s RAID Software

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:36:48 -0400

Apple’s RAID Software

CloudPipe “Fat Ping” Suggestion

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:15:38 -0500

CloudPipe “Fat Ping” Suggestion

Google Reader is wrong

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:34:20 -0500

realtimerss:

RSS is not email. It can be confusing because there are feeds that are like email. For example, GMail offers a feed of your inbox. I’ll concede that feed not only is like email, it is email. A reader for email feeds probably must behave like an email reader.

I certainly agree with Dave. This is without a doubt the biggest failure of RSS readers in general. I don’t like to leave legit email unread and these tools actually make me feel just as guilty about hitting the “Mark All As Read” button as if I were deleting unread emails. In fact, I consistently nuke RSS feeds that I get automatically signed up for in new versions of my mail and browser apps. That’s not how I want to read my RSS feeds.

There are other feeds that you never want to miss a post on. If a member of your immediate family has a blog, you probably want to see every post. Or your boss or teacher or best friend. For those feeds you need a simple feature in your reader that allows you to click on the name of a feed to see all the posts from that feed.

This is a critical issue. I think if Google Reader added better support for reading lists, I’d be happy. There ARE critical, low-bandwidth feeds that I never want to miss a post from. (And yes, there are Twitter posts from the same sorts of users that I’d like to never miss as well.) If I can have a list that is news “spew” and another list that is “unmissable” feeds, I’d be quite happy. It’s absolutely wrong to treat all feeds the same.

What makes it unique: RSS syndicates news.

Yes, but it syndicates other stuff, too. Failing to acknowledge that in a general purpose reader tool will always leave some segment of the user base unhappy and underserved.

I Win the DARPA Network Challenge!!!

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:01:54 -0500

I Win the DARPA Network Challenge!!!

Twitter Proxy Project

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:15:35 -0500

Twitter Proxy Project

Twitter with a Brain

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:12:52 -0500

Twitter with a Brain

This Is Cool!

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:21:41 -0500

This is the obligatory first Tumblr post. Tumblr seems to fall into the sweet spot between inane 140 character spew and the “FML” posts on Facebook and the challenging “blank page” of WordPress. I intend to post stuff for my “geek” audience, rather than the old high school crowd on Facebook or the unknown folks on Twitter. Here we go!