Energy saving search...

Use Google for all your searching?  Concerned about the environment?  If the answer to both of those is yes then you need to try Blackle.

Apparently it takes more enegy to display a white screen than a black one so the people at Heap Media created Blackle which delivers the same results from Google but on a black background.  As of writing this 123,591.010 Watt hours had been saved.

They make use of the Google custom search engine (which is something that Optiem has done for certain clients) but take it in an interesting direction by tailoring it specifically to a certain set of internet users.

Technorati tags: search, google, conservation, green

Beef up Firebug with YSlow...

So now we have extensions to add-ons in Firefox.  You can download YSlow now from the Yahoo! Developer Network and boost the results you get out of the excellent Firebug add-on.  With YSlow you can analyze web pages that you are working on listing such things as:

• number of components (including their type)
• total size of the web page
• changes to make the page performance better

If you haven't already downloaded the latest version of Firebug, do it now and then add YSlow.  Also watch the creator of Firebug talk at the excellent YUI Theater.

Technorati tags: firebug, yslow, firebug, extension, addon, development, web, coding

Number 1 in Google...

My blog post that mentions the story of the 40Gb per second connection is number 1 in Google for the term "40Gb per second".

Not bad out of 47,000 results - I'm chuffed to bits :-)

Technorati tags: google, "top ranked", blog, search

Popfly could let everyone mash-up...

There's something new over at the Microsoft camp, it could be very cool, and it's name is Popfly. Now I don't have an invite so I'm only going by what I've read on the Popfly site and other blogs but it does seem that this is a lot like Yahoo! Pipes on steroids. The promise is that you will use the set of online visual tools to create mashups, gadets and even web pages. You'll be able to share them with other users by grabbing the code and getting the user to add them within an Iframe on their site (something I personally hate but if it's good enough for Google). Making use of Silverlight, is a step forward and makes the whole thing look slick. There is also the Popfly Explorer which works with Visual Studio. Watch the Popfly how-to video for a better look at how it works. I'm strangely divided about this offering from Microsoft. Personal experience with the software they've offered, in the past, for building anything on the web has never put out anything but a ton of over-complicated junk, but their tools are easy to pick up and ubiquitous and the teams have now made great strides in cleaning up their output. This could be a great tool to extend the web from the root users up, but it could also be the arbiter harbinger of the return of sensory overload homepages so prevalent in the 90's.

Technorati tags: popfly, microsoft, web2.0, mashups

Mapping the trends of Web2.0

Strangemaps has this great look at Web2.0 trends based on the map of the Japanese subway.  The company that produced it also has a clickable online version.

Technorati tags: web2.0, map, trends

iPhone & Safari3 CSS not the same...

John Allsopp has been testing iPhone CSS against that of Safari3 and, quelle surprise, they aren't the same!

This document, along with CSS3 are great bookmarks to test your new CSS against.

Technorati tags: CSS3, iPhone, Safari3

Monday link list - 2007-07-23

• microformats and OpenID in the next IE?
• New Google meta tag - unavailable_after
• Eric's Archived Thoughts: Individuals and Communities
• Open Library (Open Library)
• Ingenuity 3.0 in Cleveland - via George Nemeth's Flickr set
• Desktop Tower Defence

Technorati tags: communities, openID, "meta tag", cleveland, game

Swedish Granny gets 40Gb-per-second Internet...

Sigbritt Lothberg is a 75-year-old from Sweden who possibly has the fastest residential uplink in the world courtesy of her son, a networking expert.

Yahoo! News has the whole story.

Technorati tags: internet, swedish, connection

Problem with Technorati talking to ma.gnolia

Since starting this blog I have had a couple of hiccups with Technorati.  Not big things, don't get me wrong.  I thinks it's more of a result of the web moving as fast as it is at the moment.

First thing was getting Technorati to notice my bookmarks on ma.gnolia.com.  Ma.gnolia has instructions for this using the "embed claim" method.  Technorati does not use that method anymore and have now gone over to a widget approach.  Add to this, the only option I got when trying to claim my bookmarks URL was "post a claim" - no "quick claim" which only requires a username & password.

A couple of emails with Todd Sieling at ma.gnolia alerted them to the problem.  Todd was helpful but we could find a solution.  Then a little late-night lateral thinking on my part and bingo!  Would Technorati look at the URL they issue within the claim post, if I added it manually as a new bookmark in ma.gnolia? YES!

1.  Copy the URL of my ma.gnolia link blog
2.  Log into Technorati > My Account > blogs
3.  Paste the URL in the "Claim a blog" field at the bottom
4.  I then only got the "post claim" so choose that
5.  Copy the URL from the piece of code that Technorati displays
6.  Manually add that as a bookmark into your ma.gnolia account
7.  Back to Technorati and "release the spiders"

You can see it at http://www.technorati.com/people/technorati/davidmead.

So if you have tried to claim your links in ma.gnolia and didn't get anywhere, try that.

My other problem I had was that this blog had no authority after running for a few weeks (I'm not expecting Tantek status here, but something surely).  My posts were showing up but still nada on the love.  Then I looked under http://www.viewfromw6th.com/ instead of http://optiemdave.blogpost.com/ and success!  But the downside is I can't edit the URL claimed and I can't seem to find a way to merge the two.  So I had to claim both and replace the widget on the site.  The other part of this particular problem was I had to manually go in and get Technorati to ping the blog.  The information was out of date on their site since Blogger has changed how they do things.  I'm hoping this change in claimed URLs helps that.

As I said, not big things, but enough to cause me some frustration.  I did check everyone's FAQ's and send in requests for help using the appropriate forms but just a standard reply from Technorati so far.

I suppose it just goes to show that even the big boys are having trouble keeping up with our breakneck world of tubes.

Technorati tags: technorati, ma.gnolia, blogger, problems, web2.0, claim

Print stickers using your images

MOO | Stickers - Print stickers using your images  - Jeremy Keith posted his own on Flickr.

Listening to your users...

Whilst reading Zeldman.com I came across this post about trouble he was having with iLike.

The interesting thing is the company hadn't responded to the customer support email he'd sent, but found out about it by a Google Alert and reading their RSS feeds.  This is something that Optiem has been talking to our clients about for sometime now.  Use all the tools out there to see where the conversation is happening and join in!

It's nice to see a company using the tools out there to deal with this sort of problem - To me this is more Web2.0 than candy colors and gradients.

Technorati tags: zeldman, rss, "google alerts"

Monday link list - 2007-07-16

• Bazooka : The free PHP tumblelog engine
• Using CSS 3 selectors to apply link icons - via CSS3.info
  
• SEO in the Web 2.0 era
• Clever marketing play on YouTube
• Leaflets: iPhone apps that grow on you.
• Gridgets - more iPhone goodies
• Direct to internet TV - Warren Ellis
  

Technorati tags: iphone, tv, seo, css3

Mobile Friday...

Seems quite a few things happening in the mobile world at the moment.  Of course the iPhone launch a little while ago and already people are developing and tweaking their products to suit. eBuddy on iPhone is one so you can now IM all your friends using this IM aggregator on your new iPhone.  Of course we had the blending of the iPhone which caused bandwidth issues for the blendee, but I assume the selling of the blended iPhone on eBay will help Blendtec out with the cost a bandwidth upgrade.

For those of us without iPhone's you can still send Items to your Google Calendar from your Phone which cool but what Google giveth, Google taketh away - introducing AdSense for Mobile.

Though I love to keep up with the mobile web, I don't use it at all.  My pay-as-you-go Motorola invariably runs out of money, battery or both before I realise it.  Maybe when some Far-Eastern company releases an 80Gb iPhone knock-off with a $20/month unlimited plan I can be an early adopter.

Is Google Video the newest torrent client?

The NLPC has released a pdf which shows there are hundreds of full length movies and TV series available to watch on Google Video. Has the removal of a specific length for content turned Google into the next torrent client? Those available include:

• Akira
• Click
• Dave Chappelle Show
• 300
• The Wire season 4

Though there are no links I'm sure you could use a certain search engine to find them ;-)

Technorati tags: google, video, bitorrent, free, illegal

Flock 0.9 released and a new way to listen to radio...

Flock 0.9 launched this week, coming out of testing, and the Flock website has got an overhaul (to mixed reviews) as well.  Even after testing ended, Flock is still my default browser at work.  A couple of things were still missing from this release for me as I've upped my blogging, but I found an add-on that seems to be filling the gap.

Blog+ is an add-on from mctones and has a plethora of goodies for the blogger, including:

• XFN on links
• a microformats hCalendar
• tagging alternatives including Technorati
• ability to have the Flock blogging window in a lower pane

Something else I came across, thanks to Warren Ellis, was TUN3R.com.  This online worldwide radio organizer lets you skim through stations, much like finding those crazy Euro stations at the end of the dial when I was younger, or search for artists or genres.  The stations sound better in iTunes than streaming through the browser and TUN3R lets you open one you've found in a lot of different players with one click.

Technorati tags: flock, flock09, blog, addon, radio, music

Monday link list - 2007-07-09

• Live broadcast TV on your computer using MS Livestation - via Mashable
• Apple release developer guidelines for iPhone
• SONY release motion graphic and visual fx marketing movie - via Netdiver
• Make claims and get credibility
• Directory of sites using OpenID
• Nielsen types, "Write articles, Not blog postings"
• CSS Redundancy checker

Blogged with Flock

semacode generator...

Andy Mabbett posted a semacode for microformats.org on the Wiki.  I have mentioned, on other blogs, my interest in semacodes, shotcodes etc. Andy pointed to Semafox which lets you create them on the fly from a URL. You can see the semacode for this blog and if you have a capable phone, let me know if it works. This is definitely a technology that is still sitting in the wings.

Blogged with Flock

Monday link list - 2007-07-02

With the 4th July Holiday and a mad couple of work days I've just got time to do a little house-keeping and post some older links stuck in my Flock clipboard.  Enjoy.

• The Appleseed Project [open source Social Networking software]- via Warren Ellis
• Viddler.com - Upload, Enhance, Share [tag your video]- via Warren Ellis
• Home - mymobilesite.net service [mobile web server]- via Warren Ellis
• KrawlerX [integrated social networking software suite]- via Enterprise 2.0
• 3D rotate command for Fireworks - via Alan Musselman

Blogged with Flock