Soliciting Fame

The only thing I have to say about the new FriendFeed hype is that I’m kicking myself for not taking action on the good ideas I have. I basically threw this idea past a few friends over a year ago and I never pursued it. Live and learn.

Hopefully they’ll be able to monetize it some how. I see way too many sites that have neat ideas but don’t make a cent. *cough* YouTube *cough*

I’m slowly moving toward a completely decentralized way of working. I wrote earlier about migrating all my email to GMail and having access anywhere. I also use Google Docs for school projects and I’ve recently been trying out Microsoft Office Live. It’s a really decent product I hope to make more use of in the future.

For at least a year I have been using Netvibes as my homepage. It’s a great tool that I use as my RSS reader and it keeps me posted on all the news I’m interested in. Netvibes is an awesome tool because of all the widgets. Right now I mostly use the Digg and Facebook widgets, but you can add tons of things like your Flickr, Twitter, or any Web 2.0 account. Also available are maps and even Pac Man!

There are thousands of types of content you can add to Netvibes, and with RSS feeds the options are limitless. It’s a really smooth interface that doesn’t require you to ever leave so I have it permanently in my browser as the first table (collapsed using FaviconizeTab, a great FF extension).

One thing that has been boggling my mind for a while is how Netvibes manages to make money. I never see ads and they never push any sort of premium product at me… hopefully they are doing it somehow so I don’t lose their service! Netvibes also recently introduced the next phase of their product codenamed Ginger.

You can browse through my public Netvibes “universe” here: http://www.netvibes.com/ericwarnke

Google’s Lat Long Blog has posted an update and a video about users from the US, Australia, and New Zealand, being able to now edit Google maps on the fly like a Wiki. It looks awesome.

Unfortunately, being the poor ignored Canadian that I am, Google has chosen to overlook their largest trading partner and not include us. I’m not impressed.

Here’s the videos released:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Taujbud9DKA

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNT-JRyWykM

Just finished reading a great article over at Wired. It talks about the personal lives of Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, the geniuses behind Penny Arcade.

My favourite part:

Krahulik agrees. “One time in high school, someone broke into my locker and stole my stuff, so I had to wear gym clothes for the rest of the day,” he says, wincing at the memory. “I developed humor as a defense mechanism. Now I drive a fucking Mercedes.”

Read it here