I have cleaned up the sidebar; unfortunately, in it’s prior avatar, it was rather bland. Changes were made to the tag cloud and a category cloud has been added.

One of the major changes in the side bar is addition of Duckduckgo as the default search engine for this site. I have been using it extensively over the past few months and I recommend it thoroughly. I have been in touch with it’s developer, who’s put in his own money and has interesting ideas that are being implemented. My only concern about not using other search engines is the opaque policies on privacy and building up an online user profile to track down the individual customer. The technology isn’t perfect but a major impetus on social network has it downsides.

I am a big fan of RSS; I can’t imagine my life without it. Flipboard and other news readers have gained prominence in recent times, are all RSS readers. Unfortunately, a reader is as good as dead; I haven’t seen any major revamp of Google Reader as yet. I do have some ideas panned out about an ideal RSS reader (namely extraction of data and analyzing and categorizing data in real time), but there has been no development of late. (The only example that comes to my mind is Mutt, but it does not have a GUI front end and it’s terminal interface appeals to it’s users so it’s static there). Feed Daemon is a great client for Windows but I don’t use it so it’s disappointment again.

Nevertheless, now you can have RSS feeds for each category listed. The default has been applied after the revamp so you would get to see it more prominently on the cloud.

I haven’t updated “About” page so a cleaning there is also warranted.

The idea is to make it easier to port OUT the content; rather than the people coming on to the main site. Please email me in case you find any problems in accessing the content since I have extensively checked the implementation on my side.

 

Related articles

• Clean up (broadbandblog.in)
• i*Pad App Recommendations: News (jezlyn.wordpress.com)
• RSS Feeds (cnstumors.wordpress.com)
• Flipboard gains Instagram integration, is now twice as fast (9to5mac.com)
• RSS and social media icons (airodysseynet.wordpress.com)
• Flipboard: Threat and Opportunity (mondaynote.com)
• Wanted: A Smarter Alternative To Flipboard (fastcompany.com)
• All the loveRSS (talkaboutlocal.org.uk)
• RSS readers in decline? (e1evation.com)
• RSS Lenin’s Rope (abcrsstest.wordpress.com)
• Apologies to RSS readers (andrewphelps.com)
• [Insite] Making the most of RSS: readers reviewed (journalism.co.uk)
• Will Social Readers end-up like RSS Readers? (eqentia.com)
• Goo To End RSS Reader And Movie Sharing Service (asiajin.com)
• 5 Best RSS Reader apps for iPhone, iPad (madrasgeek.com)
• DuckDuckGo Brings Private Searching And Zero Click Results To Android (androidpolice.com)
• DuckDuckGo – The Next Major Search Engine? (appreaders.com)
• Google’s New Search Layout Test: Borrowing From Blekko & DuckDuckGo? (searchenginewatch.com)
• SeatGeek Powers Artist Listings For DuckDuckGo (seatgeek.com)
• How to use Web and Twitter feeds for news surveillance (pandia.com)
• Flipboard To Release New Version Thursday: Here\’s What\’s New [PICS] (huguesrey.wordpress.com)
• FlipBoard versus Zipe: Two FREE iPad Apps to Read Social Updates the Magazine-Style (searchenginejournal.com)
• DuckDuckGo Adds Yelp, The Free Dictionary To Search Results (searchengineland.com)
• Blekko (broadbandblog.in)
• Why People Use DuckDuckGo Over Other Search Engines (businessinsider.com)
• Wolfram|Alpha & DuckDuckGo Conspire to Eat Google’s Lunch (searchenginewatch.com)
• How DuckDuckGo is fighting an 800 lb gorilla (Video interview with Founder) (thestartupfoundry.com)
• Two “Google Killers” Form Partnership (webpronews.com)
• How to create a Tag Cloud (trytotakeover.wordpress.com)
• Add Tag Clouds to SERPs with Search Cloudlet (blogs.sitepoint.com)

Tags: android, Appeal, Broadband, default search engine, DTH, Google, GUI, iPhone, Media, Microsoft, privacy, search engine, search engines, Site Updates, Social Media, tag, Twitter, Windows

As per the blurb on Forbes,RIM Looks To Revive Smartphone Push With BlackBerry 7 – Great Speculations – Buys, holds, and hopes,

…..the introduction of the latest version of its smartphone operating system BlackBerry 7, and unveiled two new BlackBerry Bold smartphones based on this OS.  The new OS has a few improvements over preceding versions like faster performance for touch-screen navigation, web browsing, video and gaming and support for Near Field Communication technology.

The problem with Blackberry is that for a long time, it has been a “de-facto standard” for the enterprises. Over a period of time, it was forced to look at the growing market share of the other companies; most notably Apple. Of course, I was smitten by it, at some point in time, but after my Android experience, I doubt whether it is really required. Of course, it comes with it’s warts and all, but indeed, it was for the first time that I actually owned a touch phone that worked.

Hence, it is not surprising that with about an average hardware component, Blackberry should flounder. Reports of it’s “imminent demise” are probably over-rated by it’s detractors but it still capable of fighting in with the punch. This is not an endorsement (like what a twerps do on their twitter accounts); however, the major sore issue (with ANY smart phone company) is the lack of a decent after sales service.

Of course, RIM India was under a lot of cloud in recent times (it’s still not clear whether it has been sorted out or not), still is a matter of concern. Hence, even though Blackberry Messenger is a great option (surpassed by an interesting “WhatsApp” on Android), it makes reaching out to your contacts a breeze (in these so called flotsam called as “Social”).

Related articles

• Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones v2.0 (Beta Refresh): Support for OS 5.0 is here! (blogs.blackberry.com)
• RIM Updates Facebook for BlackBerries Beta (phonescoop.com)
• RIM Reveals New BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Smartphones (geniusgeeks.com)
• RIM Updates Twitter for BlackBerry Beta (phonescoop.com)
• Twitter For BlackBerry Version 2 Beta Available On Beta Zone (pocketnow.com)
• RIM Gets More Social (morbium.wordpress.com)
• RIM shows off updated BlackBerry Bold (theglobeandmail.com)
• What’s the No. 1 factor keeping you loyal to BlackBerry? [poll] (zdnet.com)

Tags: android, BlackBerry, DTH, Google, India, Near Field Communication technology, Opera, operating system, Smartphones, smartphones, Twitter, Web Sites

I had “cleaned up” the clutter recently; taking away a shit load of the “social integration” and the crap. In my opinion, social integration is useless. Hence, any overt reliance on Twitter or Facebook is bound to be difficult for the companies/start ups that aim to rely on them for their needs.

Although, they may be good for SEO/search rankings, I prefer to abhor them, keeping the Twitter account strictly for seeking immediate resolution to complaints or check out the new web sites which rely on OAuth log in systems. Then it is a matter of just disconnecting them.

There was an interesting post on OMG Ubuntu site on LiveFyre; hence this is a follow up post to bolster the argument in favor of LiveFyre.

Related articles

• How to integrate social media with your website (nancyloderick.com)
• 3 Web 2.0 startups worth watching (globalneighbourhoods.net)
• Webinar Recording: How to Integrate Social Into Your Website (web-strategist.com)
• Webinar Recording: How to Integrate Social Into Your Website ” Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang … (seome.me)
• Introducing the OMG! Ubuntu! Android app (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• OAuth: Refreshed and More User-Friendly (twitterrati.com)
• Spring Cleaning for Tweets: Top 5 Ways to Freshen Up Your Twitter Account (socialtimes.com)
• Keep It Simple: Integrating Social Media With Your Blog (everything.typepad.com)
• How to Successfully Integrate Social Media Into Your Site (blogs.sitepoint.com)
• How Did Jesse James Come Clean to Sandra Bullock? (eonline.com)
• 4 Solid Reasons for Social Integration (hyperdiskmtkg.wordpress.com)
• 4 Solid Reasons for Social Integration (hyperdiskmktg.wordpress.com)
• GetJar Adds Social Media Integration (socialtimes.com)
• 2010: The Year Social Went Viral (blogs.constantcontact.com)
• Have you Spring-cleaned your online profiles? (craftzine.com)

Tags: android, DTH, Media, Reliance, Social Media, Telecommunications India, Twitter, Web Sites