Thursday, August 17, 2006
on using Windows Live Writer
I was going to write about using the brand-spanking-new Windows Live Writer blog editor, but as you can see it requires the .NET framework. I refuse to install that on my machine. My Windows laptop is fast, runs smoothly, and has crashed exactly twice in four years (knock wood)—and I am not messing with that by installing some bloated framework just to test a blog editor. Sorry. It would be unlikely to sway me from using Performancing for Firefox anyway.
So as not to be all negative nelly on you, I will say that when I first saw the announcement about Windows Live Writer the first thing I thought was "cool, I'll try it and write about it!" I don't talk lovingly about Microsoft, and have great internal conflict about having a Windows-based laptop, but lookee here—Microsoft made a product that supports a whole host of blogging platforms besides their own, right out of the box: Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, LiveJournal, even Radio Userland and so forth. They get a gold star for that. Also, it's free. Another gold star. Sure sign of the apocalypse, don't you think?
Since I won't be discussing it, let me point you to people who are:
- at Digital Inspiration, here (basic) and here (tips and tricks)
- a post at Freshblog rounding up some other posts
- a review of WLW at Performancing , including user comments
[cross-posted at Blogger in a Snap]
technorati tags: windows live writer, blogging
I was going to write about using the brand-spanking-new Windows Live Writer blog editor, but as you can see it requires the .NET framework. I refuse to install that on my machine. My Windows laptop is fast, runs smoothly, and has crashed exactly twice in four years (knock wood)—and I am not messing with that by installing some bloated framework just to test a blog editor. Sorry. It would be unlikely to sway me from using Performancing for Firefox anyway.
So as not to be all negative nelly on you, I will say that when I first saw the announcement about Windows Live Writer the first thing I thought was "cool, I'll try it and write about it!" I don't talk lovingly about Microsoft, and have great internal conflict about having a Windows-based laptop, but lookee here—Microsoft made a product that supports a whole host of blogging platforms besides their own, right out of the box: Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, LiveJournal, even Radio Userland and so forth. They get a gold star for that. Also, it's free. Another gold star. Sure sign of the apocalypse, don't you think?
Since I won't be discussing it, let me point you to people who are:
- at Digital Inspiration, here (basic) and here (tips and tricks)
- a post at Freshblog rounding up some other posts
- a review of WLW at Performancing , including user comments
[cross-posted at Blogger in a Snap]
technorati tags: windows live writer, blogging
Monday, July 24, 2006
briefly on the technorati update
For those of you who use Technorati and/or read the Technorati blog, you'll note that they rolled out a major update to the interface.
Looking at the bullet list of updates, or just the site itself, one will see a lot of IA/GUI changes. Having spent all of about a minute looking at the new site, and my first impression being "huh, that's a lot of color," clearly I'm not prepared to say anything else about it. These are the most important things to me:
For those of you who use Technorati and/or read the Technorati blog, you'll note that they rolled out a major update to the interface.
Looking at the bullet list of updates, or just the site itself, one will see a lot of IA/GUI changes. Having spent all of about a minute looking at the new site, and my first impression being "huh, that's a lot of color," clearly I'm not prepared to say anything else about it. These are the most important things to me:
* Technorati's rolled out a major update [...] to our back-end systems.I don't give a flip about color and IA if the underlying numbers aren't right. I still hold to my statement that of all the blog searchy things out there, Technorati's has always been (for me) the most consistent and accurate. Maybe I'll say more when I actually use the new stuff.
* We've made some major speed and accuracy improvements in core search.
* Link counting is a lot more accurate and timely.
Monday, April 10, 2006
categorizations (and why folksonomies work for me)
[This is stream-of-consciousness ranting. Don't look for a well-formed thesis, supporting evidence, or a conclusion of any type.]
I don't usually get bent out of shape about these things, but I've been in a pretty bent out of shape frame of mind for the last couple of weeks because of some stupid not-my-drama crap that I'm not blogging about.
Oh, what are the "these things"? Categorizations. I hate them. I hate them because I've never fit into any one category of anything, and when people put me into one category or another, it nullifies my membership in other categories and that pisses me off. [Note: when I say "me" I really am just speaking for myself, but I also hate it when people categorize other things just one way or another and nullify their talents in other areas as well...but I don't know if that bothers others like it does me, so I won't use other people as examples.]
This is why folksonomies are awesome. Roll your own! Tag yourself/your content/whatever in ways that are descriptive and meaningful and if tags overlap then people can see that hey, this defies categoriziation as one thing or another.
What got me riled up this time? Well—and really, if you know me, you'll be surprised that I give a flying fuck at all about this, but it's been a crappy couple of weeks so go with it—in the BlogHer blogrolls this blog was originally in the "personal" and "technology & web" and "academia" categories (ugh, categories) and now apparently I'm just a personal blogger.
Now, I realize that in the last few weeks I've been all about the cats and the recipes and the miscellanous slices of life or whatever, but I'm the freaking technical director of an interactive media company. I write technical books (and am trying desperately to finish off the 3rd edition of one of them), including one on blogging. I have a sidebar full of how-to posts for bloggers and users of Firefox [there's your technology]. Oh yeah, and I am a grad student, not just for kicks but because I'm trying to transition back into academia. I'll even be one of the cool kids (next month) as I'll be presenting a paper at a conference [there's your academia].
But because I write about all these things equally as often, which is to say not one thing predominantly, I'm just a personal blogger. This is a "life" blog. I would be absolutely fine with that, if it didn't apparently preclude me from being anything else. Yes, I could submit the little form that says "hey, I'm miscategorized" but really, I think if I was once three things and now I'm just one, there's a reason for it (to them).
But in category-land, as opposed to say, tag-land, you can only be one thing.
I would say this holds true for "mommybloggers" which is a label I hate because a hell of a lot of the "I blog about life and things and I happen to be a mother and talk about my kids a lot, too" bloggers actually blog on innumberable topics, but as soon as they mention their kids, they're a "mommyblogger" which does have negative connotations in the blogosphere. [Not at all to me! I'm a huge fan of people and their kids! I mean the same people who always ask "where are the female bloggers" and answer it with "they're off blogging about their kids" which is just so incredibly not true.]
[This is stream-of-consciousness ranting. Don't look for a well-formed thesis, supporting evidence, or a conclusion of any type.]
I don't usually get bent out of shape about these things, but I've been in a pretty bent out of shape frame of mind for the last couple of weeks because of some stupid not-my-drama crap that I'm not blogging about.
Oh, what are the "these things"? Categorizations. I hate them. I hate them because I've never fit into any one category of anything, and when people put me into one category or another, it nullifies my membership in other categories and that pisses me off. [Note: when I say "me" I really am just speaking for myself, but I also hate it when people categorize other things just one way or another and nullify their talents in other areas as well...but I don't know if that bothers others like it does me, so I won't use other people as examples.]
This is why folksonomies are awesome. Roll your own! Tag yourself/your content/whatever in ways that are descriptive and meaningful and if tags overlap then people can see that hey, this defies categoriziation as one thing or another.
What got me riled up this time? Well—and really, if you know me, you'll be surprised that I give a flying fuck at all about this, but it's been a crappy couple of weeks so go with it—in the BlogHer blogrolls this blog was originally in the "personal" and "technology & web" and "academia" categories (ugh, categories) and now apparently I'm just a personal blogger.
Now, I realize that in the last few weeks I've been all about the cats and the recipes and the miscellanous slices of life or whatever, but I'm the freaking technical director of an interactive media company. I write technical books (and am trying desperately to finish off the 3rd edition of one of them), including one on blogging. I have a sidebar full of how-to posts for bloggers and users of Firefox [there's your technology]. Oh yeah, and I am a grad student, not just for kicks but because I'm trying to transition back into academia. I'll even be one of the cool kids (next month) as I'll be presenting a paper at a conference [there's your academia].
But because I write about all these things equally as often, which is to say not one thing predominantly, I'm just a personal blogger. This is a "life" blog. I would be absolutely fine with that, if it didn't apparently preclude me from being anything else. Yes, I could submit the little form that says "hey, I'm miscategorized" but really, I think if I was once three things and now I'm just one, there's a reason for it (to them).
But in category-land, as opposed to say, tag-land, you can only be one thing.
I would say this holds true for "mommybloggers" which is a label I hate because a hell of a lot of the "I blog about life and things and I happen to be a mother and talk about my kids a lot, too" bloggers actually blog on innumberable topics, but as soon as they mention their kids, they're a "mommyblogger" which does have negative connotations in the blogosphere. [Not at all to me! I'm a huge fan of people and their kids! I mean the same people who always ask "where are the female bloggers" and answer it with "they're off blogging about their kids" which is just so incredibly not true.]
Labels: blogging
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