Last year I tried out a number of different start pages - Pageflakes, Google IG, Protopage, Fold (now defunct), etc. and found some issues that irked me with most of them - Google IG’s modules were too big, pageflakes had organizational problems, and I don’t even remember my beef with protopage (I think it was loading time). After all the testing, I settled with Netvibes and have been using it as my start page/feed-reader ever since.

I haven’t tried Google Reader (nor do I plan to) just because I’m making a conscious effort to stop feeding the Google borg. The big G has way too much info already. Let’s just hope Netvibes doesn’t get acquired by Google.

» Continue reading “Netvibes Updates, Plans to Launch Open Source Widget API”

The other night I went downtown to take a photo of this sign:

This is Infinium’s sign that (for now) still graces a building in downtown Sarasota, Florida. The company moved to Seattle some time ago.

Infinium Labs was the former name of Phantom Entertainment Inc., the company behind the Phantom Game System. Aptly named, it was one of the biggest examples of vapourware anyone has ever seen.

The company burned through $75 MILLION dollars of investment capital with nothing to show for it, except a laptop keyboard that to this day has not materialized.

» Continue reading “The $75 Million Keyboard: Infinium’s Phantom”

This Thursday I wrote an post for Center Networks called “Dear Kevin Rose, Please Create a Photo Section” which was an ad-hoc petition to gauge support for the suggestion. The Digg received over 6,600 votes (and counting). Kevin Rose himself added a cryptic comment to the Digg: “hmm :)” (which received 400+ thumbs up). Friday Techcrunch picked up this story and also linked to the post.

I went through and read almost all of the comments on Digg, Center Networks, and Techcrunch - I was interested to see people reactions and commentary. Some of the users had great suggestions of their own - particularly about grouping the photos into either an art section or consolidating everything into a media category.

» Continue reading “Alternatives to Creating a Digg Photo Section”

I’m just amazed at how bad MSN’s AdCenter is - even after having all this time to grow and improve? . Without ado, here are some reasons why MSN AdCenter is a flaming pile of poo:

1. Retro Beta. This might be the first time I’ve ever seen a product launch THEN regress into beta a year afterwards. The “new” version that just came out just got a “beta” sticker attached to it. I thought the natural sequence of events was “beta -> lots of testing -> not beta”. I’m just waiting for the announcement: “Coming in 3Q, 2007: MSN AdCenter Alpha.”

» Continue reading “MSN AdCenter: How Doth Thee Suck So? Let me Count the Ways”

A few days ago Techcrunch mentioned a new service that just came out called Linked in a Box, which lets you embed a compact widget on your site or blog with a summary of your LinkedIn profile.

» Continue reading “It’s My Linked In a Box! My Linked In a Box, Girl”