iAlja's Online Hub

Click here to stop the newest threat to Internet freedom

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:06:50 +0100

Click here to stop the newest threat to Internet freedom:

A new global treaty could allow corporations to police what we do on the Internet. Last week we successfully pushed back the US censorship bills — if we act now, we can get the EU Parliament to bury this new threat — add your voice now!

iAlja: I'm in love with Pinterest (and why that matters)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:07:19 +0100

iAlja: I'm in love with Pinterest (and why that matters):

My latest blog post in which I try to justify all the time I’ve been spending on Pinterest and to extract some valuable lessons.

Design For How People Learn (Voices That Matter)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:46:55 +0100

Design For How People Learn (Voices That Matter):

Design For How People Learn by Julie Dirksen is a must read book not just for learning designers, but for anyone who has every tried to make their colleagues or friends learn something new. And doesn’t that describe most of us?

The book is packed with practical tips and vivid examples that can guide you towards better learning experiences regardless of your field of work. So, what are you still doing on this page? Go on, visit the book’s website, peek inside the free sample chapter, and buy this wonderful book!

P.S.: I saw this book mentioned enthusiastically on various blogs, but I think I stumbled upon it first on Garr Reynolds’s 10 great books to help you think, create, & communicate better in 2012 list, so you might want to check that one out as well.

And so it begins...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:42:00 +0100

Yep, Google did it. It was just a matter of time, really. But knowing that it was going to happen doesn’t make it any less painful.

Ok, sure, at least they will be making it easy to toggle between personal and global search, though I do wonder if the average user will even notice or understand this mess.

And I fail to see what Google+ has to do with my world. I’m not using it, my friends are not using it, so how is this “My World”? My World is on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, …. But I guess there is just one social network to rule them all in the Googleverse now? Hell, they don’t even want us using Google Reader to be social anymore!

And you just gotta love the official announcement Search, plus Your World. It’s full of poetic bullshit that can be summarized as “we’re doing it for your own good!”, but it’s pretty clear they are only doing it because they want to get hold of more of our information.

And here I was, thinking Google was still about organizing “the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful” (source). Silly me. Apparently, it’s more about controlling the world’s information. All we can hope for at this point is that they’ll know when to stop (though I doubt it). Or else this just might be the beginning of the end for the mighty search giant, who stopped focusing on search and instead decided to become the playground bully. Maybe that’s the big catastrophic event predicted by the Mayans for this year? ;)

Anyway, it’s good to see Twitter is pissed off. I am as well. Not just because of a yet another #googlefail, but because we’re surrounded by half-baked beta Google products. And it’s supposed to be ok because they’re “open” and free. If they are so keen on search, why does search in Google Reader, their own product, suck so much? Why isn’t there an easy way for me to search my +1s (argh, I hate that name…) and automatically share them with people wherever I want to?

I’m seriously contemplating replacing Google Search with Bing for a month and see how it goes. And that makes me sad. Wasn’t Microsoft the evil one not long ago? Guess Google wants to take over that title as well.

#pencilchat on Twitter

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:06:45 +0100

This might be the most brilliant meme I’ve ever stumbled upon: #pencilchat on Twitter. Written mostly by educators, frustrated by the resistance to “pencils” they (we) have to fight against on a daily basis. I certainly believe pencils can be a great tool if you sharpen them regularly and use the right end. Go pencils!

Hint: replace “pencils” with your technology of choice. I suspect this meme could easily be transferred to other fields as well.

The Lean Startup | The Movement That Is Transforming How New Products Are Built And Launched

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 09:48:27 +0100

The Lean Startup | The Movement That Is Transforming How New Products Are Built And Launched:

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries is a business book that everyone should read. It’s not just for people running or working for startups, it’s practically for everyone who is striving to stay competitive or relevant in today’s fast changing world. It’s for big corporations, it’s for government agencies, it’s for freelancers, it’s for teachers, it’s for students. It’s a nice, easy read with tons of valuable lessons that will challenge the way you see the production of new things, from physical products to all sorts of services and even intangible knowledge. Highly recommended!

750 Words - get in the habit of writing three pages a day

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:50:19 +0100

750 Words - get in the habit of writing three pages a day:

I’ve just discovered this website (I know, I’m probably late to the party…) and I think it’s pretty badass. It challenges you to write at least 750 words every day. Yep, every single day, no excuses. How’s that for a good writing practice?

I’ve only been using it for a couple of days, but I really hope I can make a habit out of this. After all, there are badges to be earned! #want

Experimenting with Google Reader "Share" alternatives

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:42:48 +0100

Yep, I’m still upset about the recent changes to Google Reader. And no, sharing everything on Google+ is not a valid alternative, I don’t want to spam people’s feeds every time I go through hundreds of posts in my Reader.

But I think I found a nice little hack to imitate the old Share functionality. You can keep using the +1 button to share posts just as you did before. Selected posts are then displayed on your “+1’s” tab on Google+ (here’s how you can make sure it’s visible on your profile). But the problem is that Google doesn’t provide an RSS feed for that page. I guess that’s just another attempt to force people to spend more time on Google+ *shrugs*

Luckily, you can use a service like Dapper to create an RSS feed of your Plus Ones. Just follow the instructions from this post: Use Dapper To Create RSS Feeds From Any Page, Including Google Plus Posts. (Hint: your +1’s page URL is the same as the URL for your posts page, except it ends with “plus ones”; for instance, this is my +1’s page: https://plus.google.com/114358985182522646484/plusones)

So, from that you get an RSS feed of your shared… errr… I mean, your +1’s items like this one. And to make things a little more pretty, I even set up a Paper.li paper - iAlja’s Web Scout - that aggregates items from that feed.

I know, I know, it’s not an ideal solution, and there are several limitations, but it will have to do while I wait for a real alternative :)

Google Reader Backlash: 10,000 Users Sign Petition to Save Old Version

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:04:08 +0100

Google Reader Backlash: 10,000 Users Sign Petition to Save Old Version:

Apparently, the Google Reader sharing/following niche had at least 10,000 fans. And some pretty interesting, unexpected use cases:

“Among those loyal users: Iranian activists. Google Reader is the most visited site in Iran, having gained much of its popularity during the “green revolution” of 2009. The country’s government has banned most social networks and blogging services; Sharebros inside the country say Reader has been an extremely useful way to share news and comments under the radar.”

Will you sign as well?

Google doesn't understand Google Reader

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:32:13 +0100

… or perhaps they do, but they decided it was worth less than the potential dozen or so new Google+ users. Yes, I get it. Google Reader is a niche product. The sharing/following functionality Google decided to kill to force us to use +1 buttons was probably only used by a small minority of geeks.

But I’m one of the geeks, and sharing/following was what made Google Reader my favorite Google product (beside search). And a product I’d be willing to pay for.

Alas, starting today, Google Reader has turned into just a reader. A not particularly readable reader for RSS feeds, one of many. The gray and whitespace overdose perhaps even makes it a worse reader than many sexy ones we’re seeing on the iPad.

And no, sharing on Google+/Facebook/Twitter is not really an alternative to what we had. The dynamics of RSS reading is different from interacting with friends on social networks, where the emphasis is on serendipitous discovery and real time news. Usually, I check Google Reader about twice a day, and I used to mark several items in quick succession as interesting (the magic Share button that would share items with my followers), but out of those I’d only post one or even none to Facebook or Twitter to avoid news feed spam.

So basically, Google just killed a unique functionality that Google Reader provided without offering a real alternative. I honestly don’t think that will provide a significant increase in Google+ usage; the geeks using sharing/following on Google Reader aren’t really the ones Google has to convince to start using Google+. If anything, Google has just made me even more anti-Google+ with its aggressive push throughout their services. I guess that’s what you get for the price of free.

And I’m really, really hoping that a good sharing/following alternative for RSS feeds will soon show up! Any suggestions?

The Crazy One — Steve Jobs tribute (by ksegall2) I’m still...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:55:00 +0200

The Crazy One — Steve Jobs tribute (by ksegall2)

I’m still in shock. Yes, we should have been expecting it, but we all hoped Steve would make it through. He was too young to go, and he probably had so many ideas that could have completely changed entire industries.

I just find it difficult to hold my tears back today. Steve Jobs has really managed to make a difference in the world with his vision, passion, and leadership. It just won’t be the same without him.

I consider myself lucky that I’m writing this on my iMac, that I run today with my iPod Nano, that I’ll be soon reading Steve’s biography on my iPad, and that I’ll be able to get the new iPhone 4S at the end of the month. These are not just tools, they are magical devices that bring joy and even manage to make work more fun.

Thank you, Steve. For everything.

Tumblr Is A Pageview Machine, Now Bigger Than Wikipedia | TechCrunch

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:21:26 +0200

Tumblr Is A Pageview Machine, Now Bigger Than Wikipedia | TechCrunch:

Wow, way to go, Tumblr! I’ve certainly been spending more time on Tumblr lately. Not as much as on Facebook or Twitter, but it’s still a great online destination, especially for niche communities.

A New Class of Social Apps on Facebook (by...

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:15:40 +0200

A New Class of Social Apps on Facebook (by theofficialfacebook)

Welcome to the semantic web, curtesy of Facebook.

How to enable Profile Tag Review on Facebook?

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:14:01 +0200

This week Facebook announced some pretty neat changes to the way we share content. It is now easier to see and control who you share your content with, control the visibility of your profile elements and we have the ability to manually approve tags on photos or posts before they appear on our profiles.

Profile Tag Review is a great feature, but when I got the new sharing/privacy changes today, I found out it wasn’t turned on by default. That’s why I created a step by step tutorial that shows you how to check whether you have Profile Tag Review enabled and how to turn this awesome feature on. Hope you find it useful!

Tutorial: How to enable Profile Tag Review on Facebook?

Mobile Opportunity: The Case for Software Patents

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:24:03 +0200

Mobile Opportunity: The Case for Software Patents:

I find it quite amusing about how the Android fanboys are reacting to the current “patent wars” among the big tech companies. Poor Google, that little, helpless small company that can’t defend itself… Oh, wait.

Well, if we should feel pity for anyone (and I don’t think we should), it would be Apple, who’s being sued by far more companies. Just take a look at this handy “who’s suing whom” chart and count the number of companies suing Google. Hmmm…

I tend to agree with the advice given by Michael Mace in the linked blog post:

If it bothers you, stop reading the news stories about it. Or sit back and enjoy it as theatre. It’s hardly an important enough issue to justify stripping the patent protection from every small software company in the US.

Though I still dream of the day when companies will focus more of their energies on innovation instead of blatantly copying what Apple does. Yeah, Apple has awesome products, but I’m pretty sure others are capable of awesomeness as well. After all, even Microsoft managed to be innovative with Windows Phone 7 (even though it isn’t selling that well - yet?).

Subjot: bridging the gap between Twitter and Facebook with subjects and dicussions

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:06:13 +0200

Subjot: bridging the gap between Twitter and Facebook with subjects and dicussions:

New blog post on my main blog about Subjot, a new social network that has some interesting ideas about the way we share content with our friends. On Subjot, you are encouraged to talk about different subjects, and your friends given the choice to follow what they are interested in. There is also a lot of emphasis on discussions, not just sharing content.

I really think content filtering will be a big trend for social networks in the next few years. There is a lot of noise, and a real need to cut through that noise by providing relevant content users care about. Subjot certainly provides an interesting approach to this problem.

One step at a time: the journey of a runner

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:17:00 +0200

One step at a time: the journey of a runner:

To keep track of my running journey that will hopefully lead me towards a half-marathon and beyond, I recently started a new blog on Tumblr dedicated to running. New followers welcome! :)

iAlja: Making Tumblr my online home

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:48:33 +0200

iAlja: Making Tumblr my online home:

How and why I decided to use Tumblr as my online hub.

Can We Ever Digitally Organize Our Friends?

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:33:00 +0200

Can We Ever Digitally Organize Our Friends?:

Great write up on pros and cons of organizing our friends into Circles, Friend Lists and what not. I completely agree with the fact that management of such lists is a huge challenge, and that we are not really good at systemizing people in such an explicit way.

I also don’t think Google’s Circles are the right answer to the problem yet. Yes, they are pretty, but they aren’t really addressing the underlying problems.

Original post and comment on parislemon:

As opposed to a silly and pointless argument as to why Twitter needs to be more like Google+, Kevin Cheng (who happens to work at Twitter), has a really excellent look at Google+’s key feature: Circles.

Cheng gives both positives and negatives about Circles. But overall he seems skeptical not just about Circles, but the whole idea of attempting to organize people online using tools. This is similar to Paul Adams’ (formerly of Google, now of Facebook) thoughts. And this rings true to me.

I’ve been thinking about all of this a lot lately as well. And while I’m far from drawing any clear conclusion, my initial thoughts are that grouping seems to work well for mobile, ephemeral states. This is why group messaging works, and why I think something like Color, while poorly executed, is interesting.

Trying to create explicit groups for you entire social graph and being forced to maintain them just doesn’t seem tenable to me. Some people may think it is now because something like Circles offers a nice-looking tool, but I think as time goes on, they’ll stop maintaining as well.

29 Ways To Stay Creative (via TheNextWeb Shareables)

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:20:31 +0200

29 Ways To Stay Creative (via TheNextWeb Shareables)