Why I don't use Google Reader anymore

I used to be the biggest user of Google Reader. At one point the Google Reader team told me I shared more items than anyone else. But lately it's a rare month I've checked into it and Twitter is in the process of adding a new feature -- lists -- that is getting me off of Google Reader altogether.

Why?

Several reasons:

1. Google Reader is FREAKING SLOW. It sometimes takes longer than a minute to open it up. "But my Google Reader account is super fast," I can hear you saying. Yeah, but you don't have any friends and you don't have many things you are subscribed to. Compare to Twitter lists or Twitter itself. I'm following 10,000+ people. More than 100,000 are following me. Yet Twitter opens instantly.

2. Google Reader's UI is too confusing. Yeah, I know how to use it, but really, do we need "like" and "share" and "share with note?"

3. It makes me feel guilty. I have 1,000 unread items. Twitter doesn't tell me that. 

4. The social network features suck. Managing friends in Google Reader is slow, and hard to do. Not that Twitter or Facebook is perfect but they are a LOT better than Google Reader. I am following more than 10,000 people, brands, objects etc in Twitter. THERE IS NO WAY I could do that efficiently in Google Reader.

5. I see most news faster on Twitter than in Google Reader. Where did Marissa Mayer announce Google's deal with Twitter? On Twitter. It didn't show up on my Google Reader until later after everyone had written blog posts.

6. Headline scanning is easier, and more interesting for some reason in Twitter than even in Google Reader's list view.

7. Did I mention it's many times faster to open Twitter than Google Reader?

8. iPhone apps are much more robust and better for sharing, retweeting, etc. Google Reader apps (and I have five on my iPhone) don't make it easy to share and reading on them isn't as nice as it is on, say, Tweetie.

Add it up and I just don't look forward to opening Google Reader the way I once did.

So, want some examples?

Well, here's some lists (you'll need to have the new lists feature -- unfortunately only about 25% of Twitter users have that so far, if you can't view these you'll need to wait a few more days until Twitter turns on your account):

1. Tech News Brands. These are brands like TechCrunch, New York Times, Mashable, Venture Beat, and many others. 331 news brands included here, but no people. This list is awesome and contains NO NOISE of the "I had a tuna salad sandwich for lunch." This kind of list is going to prove revolutionary for Twitter users.

2. Tech News People. These are the journalists and bloggers who report the tech news. So far I've gotten 177 people on this list (expect all my lists to grow over next few weeks as I go through my Twitter account).

3. Venture Capitalists. This list has a TON of venture capitalists. More than 300 when I wrote this post.

4. My favorite Twitterers. For the past two months I've clicked "Favorite" on Tweets more than 7,000 times. These are the 500 people I faved the most. (I would have added more people to this list, but 500 is the maximum that can be placed on one list).

On my Twitter account you'll find many other lists too that I'm working on, but these four are the most built out ones.

What lists would you like to see me build?

Do you agree or disagree that Google Reader is becoming less and less useful now that Twitter and Facebook are hyper popular? If you disagree, why?

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The Googlephone: Google gears up for attack on mobile-phone market http://j.mp/7Yrn6X

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HP announces iPAQ Glisten http://j.mp/8PAdTB

The smartphone sports a 2.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen (QVGA), 3G data, WiFi, GPS and a 3.1-megapixel camera – all powered by Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional.

Link: http://j.mp/8PAdTB
Title: HP announces iPAQ Glisten for AT&T, and no one cares
Source: http://www.intomobile.com/2009/11/24/hp-announces-ipaq-glisten-for-att-and-no-one-cares.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IntoMobile+%28IntoMobile%29
See who is talking about this page: http://j.mp/8PAdTB+
Brought to you via http://bit.ly

Find more info about HP iPAQ Glisten here: http://g.clipotech.com/glisten

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Lifestreaming: Evolving the Model from Import and Aggregate to Hub and Spokes

Lifestreaming started out initially as a model that revolved around importation and aggregation: a place to roll-up all your streams. But that's changing.

Now that Facebook acquired Friendfeed and the noise on Twitter is at near cacophonous levels, I am seeing a new model emerge for lifestreaming. This one centers on using a site as your hub, having it syndicate out to all your spokes (where you engage around it) and then bringing some of the conversation back to your site. It also seems to help people focus their content in more useful ways.

Mark Krynsky, who I had a chance to meet in LA last week at XPrize, summarizes this shift for lifestreaming nicely in this post. Here's how he diagrammed it...

And this closely mirrors what others, like our creative director Jared Hendler, Fast Company and others have observed about Posterous.

Facebook, Twitter and RSS all have a big problem - too much noise, not enough signal. This new approach for lifestreaming, however, coupled with Posterous' outstanding reader (depicted below) is forcing me to make smart choices about who I follow. I am finding myself turning more to the Posterous community for cool stuff since, they too, seem to recognize that too much nose is bad, signal is good.

Maybe I am crazy, but I think the simplicity of the Posterous platform - which helps us get closer to signals and away from noise - will be the next site to capture the hearts and minds of the digerati, particularly as they tire of the noise.

   

Click here to download:

Lifestreaming_Evolving_the_Mod.zip (883 KB)

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24 Direkt sänder rättegången mot The Pirate Bay direkt på nätet

På måndag 16 februari börjar rättegången mot The Pirate Bay i Stockholms tingsrätt. Det kommer att bli en av de mest uppmärksammade rättegångarna på lång tid i Sverige. SVT direktsänder ljudupptagningen av hela rättegången via 24 Direkts webbplats och kommer i efterhand att lägga ut rättegångens olika delar som klickbara filer.

Det är fortfarande inte möjligt att sända bilder från rättegångar i Sverige, men ljudupptagning är tillåtet. I rättegången mot The Pirate Bay kommer åklagarens och målsägandenas sakframställning, vittnes- och expertförhör och så småningom slutpläderingarna att bli möjliga att ta del av i sin helhet, som ljud via svt.se/24direkt.

24 Direkt har tidigare sänt ljudet från en del uppmärksammade rättegångar i TV, men väljer nu för första gången att låta publiken följa en hel rättegång via webben.

Rättegången sänds direkt på svt.se/24direkt mellan kl. 09.00-12.00 och 13.00-senast 16.00 följande dagar:
Måndag 16/2-fredag 20/2.
Måndag 23/2-fredag 27/2.
Måndag 2/3-onsdag 4/3.

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The new Posterous bookmarklet lets you grab photos, video, and text right out of the page you're already on!

The Posterous bookmarklet is a special bookmark that lets you quickly grab content out of the page you're on. You can click and drag to select text and click "Share on Posterous" in your bookmark bar, and you'll get the Posterous bookmarklet window that will let you edit text, add a comment, and choose which site to post to. Just click the bookmark on its own and it will auto-detect all large photos, video and media on the page, even from your friends blogs or posterii.

If you use it in conjunction with Autopost, suddenly the bookmarklet becomes a universal bookmarklet that you can use to post to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and any other blog that Posterous supports.

Click here to install it and start posting right away.

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Nine Unique Bridges (Engineering/Art)

 

 

Pedestrian  Bridge, Texas  This beautiful arched bridge in Lake Austin was a private build by Miro Rivera Architects and is used to connect the client's main house to the smaller guest house on the  other side of the water.  The idea was to make the bridge seem as natural as possible within its surroundings  and to do this they made the decking and reed-like hand  rails as imperfect as possible.  The result is a bridge that looks extremely fragile but definitely worth the  risk. Octavio  Frias de Oliveira Bridge, São Paulo ,    Brazil          Opened in May of this  year, the Octavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge is a stunning x-shaped cable-stayed bridge that crosses thePinheiros River in Sao Paulo .  It's design is unique in that the 2 curved decks of the bridge cross each other through its x-shaped supporting tower, an  illuminated structure that stands 450ft tall and has  attached to it 144 steel  cables. Kintaikyo, Iwakuni , Japan         The original Kintai Bridge was built in 1673 and didn't stand very long until it was damaged due to flooding.   It was then rebuilt and survived for more than 200 years until a typhoon battered it to death in 1950.   The bridge that stands now over the Nishiki Riveris the 3rd build and looks magnificent, it's 5 wooden archesdisplaying an incredible amount of detail and craftmanship.  Interesting fact:  no nails or bolts have been used to build the arches, only clamps and wires. Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge , Brasilia , Brazil        The JK Bridge in Brasilia is a lesson in elegant bridge design.   The 3 huge arches diagonally hopping over the deck of  the bridge give the structure an amazing visual fluidity and make the whole 1.2km bridge look effortlessly cool.   Since being built the bridge has won awards for its design but is still massively underappreciated on a wider  scale. Rolling  Bridge, London , UK         Thomas heatherwick's award-winning rolling bridge is an ingenious addition to the grand union canal system  in london and is unique in its design.   Unlike regular movable canal bridges, the rolling  bridge curls up on itself to form an octagon by way of  hydraulics.  It's an amazing sight and a reminder that a fresh perspective can produce great, innovative results, even when dealing with a structure as common as a  bridge. Beipanjiang  River Railroad Bridge, Guizhou , China         BeipanjiangRiver Railroad Bridge in Guizhou is  an enormous railway bridge that was built as part of the  much larger 'Guizhou-Shuibai Railway Project'.   Connecting 2 mountains over a deep ravine, at its  highest point the bridge's deck sits 918ft above the ground (to compare, at its highest point the Millau viaduct's deck clears the river underneath by 890ft).  The bridge has succeeded in connecting 2 of the country's poorest areas. fontfont Loading mentions Retweet Comment (1) » clementine says... Jan 22, 2009 Subscribe Amazing Water Drops Never seen anything like this , it's beautifullllllllllll, this is a real talent           Click here to download: Amazing_Water_Drops.zip (268 KB) From waterdrop Loading mentions Retweet Comment (7) » clementine says... Jan 25, 2009 Subscribe The Top 5 Gadgets of 2008         Click here to download: The_Top_5_Gadgets_of_2008.zip (93 KB) 1. Optoma Pico PK-101: Of all the gadgets on this list, this is the one that James Bond is most likely to carry. That is, it's the coolest gadget of the year. It's a pocket projector — meaning you plug the 4.1-inch gizmo into your iPod or iPhone, and it projects your movies on a wall, or even on the seat back in front of you on the plane. It displays images crisply on a surface as close as 8 inches away and as distant as 8 feet away, even in daylight. The super-bright Pico weighs 4 ounces and is smaller than many cell phones.  2. Mitsubishi LaserVue 65-inch HDTV: If you've got several thousand dollars to blow on a TV, chances are you've also got all kinds of other ways to entertain yourself. But this is, quite simply, the best TV money can buy. The first HDTV to use lasers for its display, the LaserVue has a wider gamut of color than any TV on the market — a palette that rivals films in movie theaters — and consumes two-thirds less electricity than similar-sized LCD and Plasma HDTVs.  3. Apple iPhone 3G: It doesn't handle email as well as the cheapest BlackBerry, and as a telephone, it's no better than most cell phones. But this is the gadget that launched the era of mobile computing, and what an epoch that promises to be! With 10,000 free and paid applications  4. Nikon D90: It's a single-lens reflex camera! It's a single-lens HD video camera! It's two digital cameras in one, and that's what makes this the first camera you should consider if you're ready for a hefty upgrade. With a set of features that will please the most demanding of photo prosumers  5. FoxL Bluetooth Speaker: It's a pocket-sized Bluetooth speaker for your MP3 player and a hands-free communication system for your car. Critics love the FoxL speaker, which, though no bigger than an eyeglasses case, transmits sound that's rich enough to please a cranky audiophile. Wirelessly tether it to your cell phone, take it along in the car, and a built-in microphone allows you to handle phone calls on the road. From TIME Loading mentions Retweet Comment (3) » nischal says... Jan 22, 2009 Subscribe Understanding Engineers Take 1: Two engineering students were walking across campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?" The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She took one look at me, threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said to me, 'Take what you want' , so I did." The second engineer nodded approvingly. "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit." Take 2 To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. Take 3 What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers? Mechanical Engineers build weapons and Civil Engineers build targets. Take 4 Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of the human body. One said, "It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints." Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections." The last one said, "Actually it must have been a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?" Take 5 Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet. Take 6 An architect, an artist and an engineer were discussing whether it was better to spend time with the wife or a mistress. The architect said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring relationship. The artist said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because the passion and mystery he found there. The engineer said, "I like both." "Both?" Engineer: "Yeah. If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume you are spending time with the other woman, and you can go to the lab and get some work done." Take 7 An engineer was crossing a road one-day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week." The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want." Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket. Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess and that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girl friend, but a talking frog, now that's cool." Loading mentions Retweet Comment (8) » « Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 18 19 Next » API Privacy Policy Terms of Service Our Official Blog Explore FAQ Help Mobile About Send Feedback